Sæglópur

Pray For You

Summary: 'The Marauders may have been frivolous, inconsiderate and even irrational, but they were never considered stupid.'
Word Count: 6,367
Authors Notes: I am going to be posting the next couple parts to this story soon, so if you enjoy, you have no reason to fret! I do love constructive comments, but no flames please. As those are just cruel.

The Marauders may have been frivolous, inconsiderate and even irrational, but they were never considered stupid. Not even Severus Snape or Lily Evans could have called the three main boys of the group stupid. James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were all incredibly talented and gifted wizards, no matter to which subject they applied their magic. Peter Pettigrew, though not a complete imbecile, was usually left to keep guard while James and Sirius tried new things; Remus was there to make sure that if they were going to break the rules, they were going to do it right.

It was on a cold and windy September night that Sirius came up with the idea to attempt sending his mother into another dimension. He thought it a rather brilliant idea, as did James. They figured that with nearly 7 years of formal education they could easily pull it off. Remus, who could never really say no to any of their ideas, spent the better part of his weekend looking for a way to turn the book he had pilfered from Sirius’ mother into a dimensional portkey.

“It will require some potion ingredients,” Remus told his two friends. “Boomslang skin, monkshood, and a few other things. I have the list right here.” He held up a small piece of paper.

“Good, tonight I’ll slip into Slughorn’s supply closet, while you keep him busy, Padfoot.” James said, snatching the paper out of Remus’ hand. Sirius nodded enthusiastically, then turned around to talk to a particularly busty sixth year girl.

Stealing the supplies from Slughorn’s office proved incredibly easy for James, and Sirius was relieved when they stumbled, unscathed, into the darkened, empty common room. James and Sirius concluded that it was more than safe for them to carry out the experiment immediately.

Upon their return to their dorm, Remus had a small cauldron of liquid bubbling away, no more than one sixteenth full. James asked if it was enough, but Remus was quick to reassure him.

“It’s more than enough. All we have to do is add those last ingredients, let it simmer for a bit, and then pour the liquid into the middle of the book. There is an incantation needed as well, but it’s fairly simple.”

The boys waited for a few moments as they watched the liquid boil down and congeal, and waited impatiently as Remus poured the potion carefully into the middle of the open book, and watched, fascinated, as the pages absorbed the liquid and all the magic it contained. Sirius pointed his wand at the book and whispered the small incantation, and smiled as a small light emitted from the book before it closed itself.

Sirius placed the book on his bedside table, and made a mental note to put the book in his trunk the next morning. He had it all planned in his head: he would put the book in his mother’s library, where she would one day pull it off the shelf; it was so simple and easy he almost gave himself a pat on the back. Peter had already fallen asleep in his bed (he slept like a rock), finding the whole thing boring, and the rest of the boys followed suit by jumping into their own beds and promptly falling asleep.

* * *

Ginny loathed Grimmauld Place, but as the headquarters for the Order, she really didn’t have much of a choice but to sleep in an old and dusty bedroom. She guessed that it must have been Sirius’ mother’s room when she noticed a vanity in the corner. The mirror was broken, and the silver brushes and combs were tarnished, covered in dust.

Ginny couldn’t help but laugh, the vanity was just like Walburga Black’s mind before she died: cracked, broken, and covered in dust like it hadn’t been used in years.

Ginny looked around the large room, and despite the riches of the Noble House of Black, the bedroom was plain and did not display any wealth whatsoever. The curtains were a dark burgundy, and matched the sheets on the bed. The fabrics were soft, but not opulent. It was only when Ginny saw the mini-library that covered a whole wall, and flanked both sides of the bed that she realized the extensive wealth of the Blacks.

She stepped closer to one of the cases and saw just how much money had gone into the restoration and maintenance of the books. The titles were painted in real gold, and when she pulled out some titles she saw that everything was hand written with beautiful gothic letters, all on silk sheets of paper.

However there was one book on the shelf that stood out a little more than the rest, as if someone had put it there so she would be drawn to pick it up and read it. As she got closer, she saw that this book was not at all like the others, the spine being worn and cracked, and the gold paint having seemingly flaked off. She pulled the book out from in between a few others, not even paying attention to what it was titled.

Ginny ran her index finger up and down the spine, and over the scratched cover of the book. She could tell that the book must have been a favorite, showing all the clear signs of being read a thousand times. Ginny placed the book flat in one hand, and opened it with the other.

All she expected was white pages and black ink; but what she got was a black and cloudy space that pulled her into itself and sent her slamming against a cold stone floor.

* * *

It was a loud crash that woke James and Remus, shocking them both out of their beds. James stood only in his boxers and was frantically searching for his wand and glasses, while Remus was dressed in his baggy flannel shirt and trousers lighting all the candles in the room in an instant.

Ginny painfully collected herself and after a moment she was up on her feet and staring at the last two people she thought she would ever see. She took a step back, clutched the book to her chest, and looked around the room.

The room was just like Harry and Ron’s dorms had been before Hogwarts had been attacked. There were the same velvet curtains around the beds, and the same ancient (but never thread-bare) rugs that covered most of the floor.

“Professor? Har---” She stopped herself when they looked at her like she had gone mad.

“I wouldn’t touch that book if I were you,” said a deep, low voice that sounded so familiar and made her feel like she was 14 again. She took a deep breath and her eyes widened as Sirius came into her line of vision. She dropped the book on the floor, and began to take a hesitant step forward.

“Sirius!” she gasped. “You’re here… you’re a-alive.” She almost reached out to touch him, but stopped herself. She was so captivated by the young Sirius Black (who was dressed in as little as James) that she didn’t even pay attention to the others.

“Well, whatever you were doing nearly killed me from shock,” he said, smiling and looking at his two other friends. “What are you doing here, and who are you?”

Ginny looked at Lupin, who looked so much younger than had as her professor, thinking he would explain. The Lupin she knew would have helped her out, but this was him as a boy and not as an adult and professor. She looked away quickly when she realized exactly what she was looking at and turned her attention to James.

“You!” She whispered, causing the three of them to look at each other in puzzlement and then back her.

“Who. Are. You?” Sirius said slowly, just like he would as if he was addressing a 5 year old. Ginny continued to stare at them, and was distracted by a loud tapping at the window. Sirius brushed past her, to get to the window. Ginny looked down at her feet and shivered. She hoped that it was all a weird dream, and that she would wake up in the dusty old bed with a cramp in her back.

Sirius gave the large tawny owl a few Knuts and broke the seal on the letter, “It is from Dumbledore. I assume you are Ginevra?” he said, scanning its contents. She nodded, her back to him. “Well, he wants you to go to his office immediately.” He paused for a moment and she heard the smile in his voice as he spoke again, “Seems that we weren’t the only ones awake at this unholy hour.”

Remus and James let out soft and barely audible laughs, and she took that as her cue to leave. She mumbled a quick sorry before she ran out of the room as fast as she could, hearing something about someone sleeping like the dead, and barreled down the stairs to find Dumbledore.

The staircase was already open, saving her the trouble of guessing his password, and she sprinted up the stairs as fast as she could. She saw his door wide open, and was greeted by a smiling, younger Dumbledore, who was wearing a blue-gray nightgown, and a nightcap that looked like the evening sky.

“Miss Weasley, I was wondering when you would be joining us here,” he said, smiling and motioning for her to sit down. Ginny sat down as she was instructed. It was one thing for her to see the Maurauders alive, but seeing Dumbledore again made her eyes well with tears.

“What is going on?” She said, and tried not to sob. “I don’t understand.”

“Well, I dare say that it has something to do with the boys that you just met. They seem to be under the delusion that I am not aware of what they up to, but this evening they foolishly made an advanced Dimensional Portkey. It seems that you must have picked it up.”

“All I did was open a book,” she said, weakly.

“Well, it seems that Mister Black was trying to send his mother into another dimension, but it looks like you were sent instead of her. Which he would probably be grateful for,” Dumbledore laughed a little to himself.

“How long will I be here?”

“I imagine for quite while, so I have no choice to enroll you into classes. I imagine that you will find this agreeable due to the-” he searched for a word, “unfortunate circumstances that have occurred in your time.”

“You know about everything,” she said breathlessly. He nodded and all she could do was yell out how in surprise.

“I cannot reveal my secrets Miss Weasley, but I do know about most of it. And of the things that I do not know, I have no urge to have any further knowledge.” He stressed the last sentence, so she knew exactly what he meant. “And that brings me to the final point, you cannot, and I repeat, cannot alter the future. You must promise me you will tell no one what you know about the future.”

“But some people might live---“ she began.

“It is not your decision who lives or dies. You must promise me, Ginevra.”

“Of course sir.” She swallowed hard, and looked down at her feet, not liking the promise she just made.

“As I said before, I must enroll you in classes,” he said after clearing his throat. “And I have decided to bump you up a year. You were quite advanced in your lessons, were you not?” Ginny nodded. “Besides, you might learn something from those boys you just met.”

Ginny looked around the room, and tried not to see the future cracks in the walls, and the little drops of blood sliding down the side of Dumbledore’s face. She shook her head, to rid herself of the images, and finished listening to Dumbledore’s instructions. He told her which dorm room she would be in, and informed her that he had clothes and supplies for her already in the room.

She always knew he loved to be prepared, but she couldn’t figure out how he knew. She blew it off, knowing she would never know, and left his office and headed to her dorm.

* * *

Ginny woke up to a loud squeal and sat up in bed so quick that she had given herself a head rush.

“You must be our roommate!” A girl said standing by the side of her bed, and coming down upon Ginny to hug her quickly. “My name is Alice, and this is Lily.” The girl pointed to the red head in the corner who was buttoning up her shirt. Lily turned around and smiled as she reached for her tie.

Ginny couldn’t help but feel nauseous when she saw Lily looking so young and so alive, and couldn’t help but feel guilty, thinking that it should have been Harry spending the time in the past. Ginny shook her head one last time, and cleared her throat, trying to get the image of future corpses out of her mind.

“Oh, I am Ginevra, but call me Ginny.” She said, standing up and looking for a trunk that held her clothes. The two girls said something about meeting her in the Great Hall for breakfast, and Ginny quickly walked to the bathroom to have a shower.

She finished quickly, and when she was back in her room she saw her wand sitting on the bedside table and she couldn’t help but laugh to herself. Only Dumbledore would have been able to find her wand, even before she knew it was hers.

She quickly dried her hair and went down to the Great hall, where Lily had saved her a spot, and was waving for her to sit down. Ginny quickly strode down in between two tables, and ignored the whispers of people asking who she was. Ginny stopped for a moment when she saw that the spot that had been saved for her was in between Lily and Sirius.

“You aren’t going to stand there all day are you?” Lily asked jokingly, reaching over and pulling Ginny towards the table.

Ginny smiled awkwardly as she sat down, and she knew instantly how Harry had become so kind and courteous even after having grown up with the Dursleys. She felt a small pang of guilt, but ignored it, and began reaching for food. She hadn’t eaten since hours before she landed in Hogwarts-Past, and was hungry enough to eat a whole thestral.

She had just finished buttering her toast when Sirius started invading her space and talking to her.

“So, why were you in my room last night?” He said, wiggling his eyebrows at her. “I mean, I knew I was irresistible, but for you to come into my room while I slept... how flattering!”

“Black, shut up,” Lily cut in. “Don’t listen to Sirius, he is an utter arse.” Lily started laughing as James patted her on the shoulder and agreed.

“I am wounded that my best mate won’t even come to my defense! Evans, punch him for me.” Lily was just about to disregard what Sirius had told, and kiss James, when she realized that she was going to have to run all the way up to the Astronomy Tower to make it to class on time.

“Oh, I totally forgot to give you your schedule, Dumbledore gave it to me yesterday afternoon. Here you go,” Lily said handing Ginny the sheet of parchment, then running off to her own classes with James trailing behind her.

Sirius was just about to say something to Ginny, but she quickly ran off in the other direction.

* * *

Ginny was fiddling with a quill and taking the top off of her ink pot when someone sat down beside her.

“Looks like we have the same classes,” Sirius told her, after snatching her schedule from the edge of the desk. Ginny tried inching away from Sirius, but for each inch she moved back away, he came two inches closer. “If you try going any further you will fall off of the bench.”

Ginny tried to laugh and pretend that having half her arse hanging off the seat was comfortable. Sirius sighed, wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her up beside him, so she wasn’t hanging off the seat.

“So really, why are you here?”

“Umm… Well, it is kind of like a transfer from my old school.” She said, unable to look at him. Ginny was usually so good at lying, but having those steel-gray eyes boring into her head made her unwind.

“Smashing. Where are you from?”

“Wales,” she said a little to quickly.

“That is funny, you don’t sound Welsh,” Sirius paused, and then spoke again. “Where are you from in Wales?

“Uh…” Ginny knew absolutely nothing about Wales. It might have been part of Great Britain, but she was never good at geography. “Cork, actually.”

“I thought Cork was in Ireland,” he said, trying not to laugh.

“Well, there is one in Wales, too. It is like a baby whale, really,” she almost died when Sirius started laughing.

“Okay, then why did you show up in our room last night?” Sirius’ voice dropped as the professor came into the room.

“Well, I was traveling from a very far away place, and got a little bit confused. You know how it is, right?” She looked at him for the first time, and she almost bit through her lip.

He was gorgeous. She tried to remember what he had looked like after Azkaban, and after spending months on the run then hiding out it the dirty shack he used to call home. Sirius had cheekbones as sharp as broken glass, and eyes that reflected light just as well. His eyes were like liquid platinum, and made her cheeks burn. He was tall, and held himself gracefully and he swept his black hair off of his pale face with long slender fingers.

“Yeah, I used to travel with my family a bit when I was younger,” he said quietly, even for a whisper. He looked down for a moment and then back up at Ginny. “You might want to stop biting your lip, it looks like it is about to bleed.” Ginny turned bright red, and bit the inside of her cheek instead. “I mean, I have made girls bite their lips like that before, but all I did was touch your shoulder.”

“You are sick,” she said laughing along with him.

“ Mister Black and Miss…” the professor paused to look up her name, “Weasley! I am trying to teach.” Sirius apologized loudly, and then started to snicker as the professor turned back around. Sirius continued to say rather inappropriate things in her ear, making her laugh, and landed them a detention later that evening.

Despite the up coming detention, the rest of the class had passed along easily, and Ginny had for the most part been able to ignore the fact that she had been thrown back in time.

Sirius seemed to have taken a rather quick and amusing liking to Ginny, and took it upon himself to show her around the school that she knew like the back of her hand, but also showed her some things that she had never noticed before. He even introduced her to some of her new schoolmates.

“Ah,” Sirius drawled as they rounded a corner in the dungeons leaving Potions. “There is my wonderful cousin Bellatrix.” Sirius was only a few meters behind her when he called out to her. “Cousin! Bella! It has been so long since I have seen you.”

Bellatrix slowly turned around, and Ginny remembered who she was instantly. Ginny knew she couldn’t kill her in the very halls, but she was having a hard time controlling herself.

“I hope you fucking die, Sirius,” Bellatrix said, and passers by oo-ed and laughed, some even stopped to watch the cousins battle it out. “ I see you have made another little friend. I can’t believe it, the red hair and freckles look even worse on her than they do on that Mudblood your boyfriend is shagging”

“Go to hell,” Sirius ground out, and was about to step forward and have some choice words with his cousin in private, when he noticed Ginny walking up to Bellatrix. Ginny was only a couple feet away when she began talking to her.

“Bellatrix, you have such nice hair!” Ginny asked, in a voice that just dripped with honey.

“It is a hell of a lot better than yours,” Bellatrix laughed, and so did the boys behind her.

Ginny turned her head back to Sirius and smiled at him as he stood a few feet behind her, with his brows knotted in confusion. Ginny turned back to Bellatrix, let out a small laugh and grabbed her hair with one hand, and smacked her with the other.

Bellatrix fell backwards against the wall, and tried to get up, maybe even punch her aggressor back. But Ginny was on top of her at the speed of light, and punching, elbowing, kicking and doing anything she could to inflict pain upon the girl beneath her. Ginny was screaming and hitting with all her strength, not even stopping when Bellatrix got a few hits in herself.

Sirius and the other bystanders stood shocked for a moment, but quickly jumped forward to pull the girls apart. Sirius grabbed Ginny around the waist and had to pull Ginny off with all his strength. Even as he was lifting her she still kept hitting Bellatrix. Sirius was a few feet back when he let Ginny down on her feet, but still held her so they wouldn’t start fighting again.

“Bitch!” Bellatrix screamed at her as she held her face.

“I hope you choke, you crazy whore!” Ginny screamed even louder, and fumed as Sirius pulled her roughly up the stairs and towards the tower. They were only a flight of stairs away from the portrait when Sirius pulled her around and had a funny kind of smile on his face.

“I gotta say, that you are one weird girl, Ginevra. First, you show up by my bed in the middle of the night, holding one of my mother’s books--- which I never asked you about, actually--- and then you go and beat the hell out Bellatrix.” He stopped for a moment, and laughed a little. “Are you trying to get me to fall in love with you, or are you just like this all time?”

Ginny turned a deep red, and looked at her feet as she tucked her hair behind her ear. “No, I just really didn’t like the way she spoke to you. That, and I have a horrible temper. And call me Ginny, I hate Ginevra,” She looked up at Sirius and he laughed again.

Ginny had to admit that his laugh was just the same as it was when he was older. It was deep and rich, and it made her toes curl in a strange way. She felt unbelievably lame, and turned an even deeper red.

It must have been her colour change that made Sirius realize that her face was going to bruise if they didn’t take care of her minor injuries.

“I can’t really take you to the infirmary, seeing as the woman hates me, but we have got some good stuff that will make sure you don’t bruise to bad.” He said, touching her elbow lightly and guiding her back up to his room.

Ginny knew she shouldn’t have been surprised when they walked in on Lily and James kissing. The couple stood in the middle of the room with their hands clasped, and Ginny couldn’t help but giggle as Sirius started to cough loudly. Lily’s reaction was instantaneous as she jumped back and slapped James across the face. James was laughing as he asked her what that was for, but Lily ignored him once she saw Ginny’s face

“Oh my God! What happened?” Lily exclaimed moving away from James and towards Ginny. “Sirius, you just met her and already you are beating her!”

“Sodding bugger, no. She got into a fight with Bella,” Sirius announced, laughing.

“Whoa, and she didn’t hex you, or kill you. Wow,” James said, clapping Ginny on the shoulder.

“You should have seen the punches she was throwing. No potions are gonna make that swelling go down. Speaking of, I am gonna make sure you don’t look like a bruised peach.” Sirius said, walking over to his trunk and digging out his first aid supplies. Being a Marauder, first aid was often needed.

“Oh, I am James by the way. I guess we didn’t really get a chance to meet each other last night,” James extended his hand to Ginny, and she shook it, feeling the warmth of his hand and still barely believing it was the hand of a real live person.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I just got… You know,” Ginny trailed off and scratched her head.

“Don’t worry, many a morning do I wake up in foreign places! It was only last week that me and Sirius woke up naked, in each other’s arms, at the edge of the forest.” Sirius and James laughed, while Ginny and Lily looked at each other with great concern.

“I hope James is kidding, but he and I better go. I will see you later tonight Ginny, and maybe we can have a mini-slumber party.” Lily said smiling.

“Can I come?” James asked, as he led her out the door, and waved good-bye to Ginny and Sirius.

“No, James. If you don’t have breasts you can’t come.”

“But…” James and Lily’s voice trailed off as they walked down the stairs, and Ginny couldn’t help but smile.

“They really love each other don’t they,” Ginny sighed, and sat down on Sirius’ disheveled bed.

“Of course they do. I am happy for James. I don’t think anyone else actually saw how dramatically grief stricken he was when ever she said no.” Sirius said, as he dabbed the potion on the side of Ginny’s face, and apologized as she winced.

Ginny tried desperately not to giggle as Sirius touched her temple lightly, making sure that she hadn’t been concussed, but she did let out a little yelp when Remus and another boy entered the room and announced their presence.

“Ginny, you saw Remus last night, and other guy is Peter,” Sirius said pointing to them and waving them over. Remus smiled and waved a hand as he went over to his trunk to pick out a book, but Peter thought it would be better to get a closer look at the girl on Sirius’ bed.

It took Ginny only a spilt second to remember who he was, and what he had done, so when he was close enough to her face and about to touch the area where she’d been hit, her right arm swung around and almost hit Peter on the side of the head. Sirius saw the arm swing and caught it only an inch away from Peter’s face.

“Calm down,” he laughed, but held onto to Ginny’s arm making sure she wouldn’t take another swing, and pressed himself closer so her other arm was trapped. “I think she is still a little riled up from the fight with Bellatrix.”

“So that is what everyone is talking about. The new girl has beaten up the darkest witch in our school,” Remus said, hugging a large book to his chest. “I assume Sirius is thanking you for that.” Remus smiled and walked over to the door, pushing Peter in front of him, who was too shocked to say anything. “I think Wormtail and I will be off.”

Remus gave Peter a final nudge out of the door, and Ginny could hear the smaller boy saying, “he never used to date girls like that before.”

Sirius let go of Ginny’s hand, and moved away from her. “I can understand why you would be compelled to hit Bellatrix, but Peter is pretty harmless,” Sirius said, standing up and loosening his tie.

“He is a dirty little rat, that’s what he is,” Ginny scowled, but softened when she saw the look on Sirius’ face. “Errr, I mean, he gives off bad vibes.” Ginny tried to sound casual, but ended up coming off like an idiot, so she decided to shut up, and wait for Sirius to jump to his friend’s defense.

“Well, I suppose that one time when he accosted Dolohov’s sister did give him the reputation as a creeper, but don’t we all make mistakes?”

“Yes, I suppose we do,” she said laughing. “But, just be careful around him.” She glanced around, and tried to hint at Peter’s future treachery, but Dumbledore made her promise not to say anything, so she simply stood up and said it was time they made their way to detention.

Ginny made her way quickly out of the room, and was quite pleased that Sirius had run up behind her, and fell into step.

“Are you following me?” She asked jokingly.

“May I remind you that we both have detention,” he said as they made their way through the common room.

“Which is entirely your fault. So if we end up having to clean the Qudditch change rooms with tooth brushes, we are using yours.”

“I can deal with that. Only if you are the one who is bent over cleaning.”

“You are absolutely perverted!” Ginny said laughing, and slapped his arm. For most boys, saying something like that would have been rude and slightly frightening. But Sirius did have a certain charm about him.

“I bet you love it.” He blew her a kiss.

The two of them finished their stroll to the class in near silence, but neither could wipe the smiles off of their faces. The detention itself was long and boring as both of them had to sit for hours since the professor made them write lines.

I will not disrupt the learning process. I will disrupt the learning process. I will not disrupt the learning process. Ginny rolled her eyes each time she thought about what they were writing, and even turned around to show Sirius how ineffective she thought the punishment was. Sirius reciprocated and let a small laugh catching the professor’s attention.

The professor then launched into an hour-long lecture about the importance of discipline. Ginny couldn’t really remember what he said, but thought she would always remember the feeling of Sirius’ eyes on her back.

“I love your hair,” he whispered when the teacher had turned his back for a moment.

I like yours as well, she thought.

* * *

When Dumbledore offered to bump Ginny up a year she had been thrilled, once the shock had worn off. What she hadn’t expected was to be buried beneath texts books trying to catch up to the other students in the Seventh Year. She wasn’t doing as bad as Peter Pettigrew, Sirius told her. But when she had sunk to that level of comparison she almost cried.

Whether it was because Sirius was a randy bastard, or a total gentleman he had offered Ginny his help in her subjects. Ginny didn’t really care which Sirius was, so long as it got her grades up. The fact that Sirius was man-pretty, as Luna used to say, was just an added bonus.

“Why is it x? I don’t get it,” she asked him. The two had found a quiet classroom, and were sitting beside each other working on their Arithmancy assignment.

“It doesn’t have to be x, it can be anything.” Sirius said, erasing the x and putting an m in its place.

“What! Why did you do that? Now you just ruined the equation,” Ginny huffed and scowled at him.

“It is just a variable! It doesn’t matter.” Sirius was being awfully patient, and was definitely helping Ginny. Whenever she felt like she was being overwhelmed, his smile would cheer her up, and his words of encouragement would give her the little push she needed to continue.

“Well… That is crap.” She said, pointing to the paper.

“Yes, it is. But we both signed up for this class, so we are stuck with it and its large amounts of crap.”

Ginny nodded and stretched her back. “Alright, let’s finish this, and then we can have some tea. Merlin, I could totally go for some right now.” Ginny mumbled the last bit to herself, and then braced herself for more learning.

“Okay, well how about we try something else? How ‘bout charms?” Sirius asked, and then rubbed his eyes. “Try and do the spell we learnt today in class.”

Ginny nodded and pulled her wand from her bag. She really wanted to impress Sirius, but she got side tracked by the grumble in her stomach, and the expectant look on Sirius’ face. She did a quick flick of her wand, but said the wrong spell for the movement. She would have just blown it off, but Sirius’ shirt had caught fire and he was jumping around trying to pat out the flames.

“What spell were you trying to do?!” Sirius asked her, and fixed his shirt.

“I was trying to do a warming charm,” She mumbled, embarrassed.

“We weren’t even learning those! They are sixth year material, anyways.”

“Oh. Well, I did miss a lot of classes in my sixth year,” she paused and looked up at Sirius. “You know, all that turmoil… In Wales…” She coughed. “Ummm, I sure could go for a cup of tea right now.”

“How about we take a break? Your brain isn’t going to want to learn, or cooperate, if all it wants is a cup of tea.” Sirius flicked his wand and conjured up a large pot of tea and 2 mugs. “How do you like you tea?”

“Well, I would like it with scones, actually. White chocolate raspberry scones like Hermione made once.” She said smiling, and couldn’t help but clap her hands when a plate of scones appeared in front of her. “I like two sugars and some cream, please.”

Sirius smirked, and did as he was told, and added the ingredients while Ginny took a bite of her scone. “They aren’t quite as good as the ones we had at home though…”

“Then why don’t you tell me about home,” he said, after moment. He handed Ginny her tea and started to drink his own.

Ginny took a sip of her tea and looked down at her homework. She had almost managed to forget about home and her family, but with such large reminders she felt like crying.

She took a large gulp of her tea and set it down on the table. She looked at Sirius for a moment and then started to pack up her things. Sirius was too startled to say anything.

“Did I say something wrong?” He asked at last. Sirius Black was often defined as debonair, and was definitely not used to girls getting up and leaving once he had showed off his magical talent.

“No! Of course not, I am just getting tired is all.” She said as she pushed everything into her bag. She got up quickly, and just before she fled from the room, she bent down so she was close to Sirius’ face. “You always manage to say the right thing. As well as the dirtiest.” She laughed a little, and he smiled back at her. She gave him a peck on the lips, and before the capillaries in her face could explode she ran off to her dorm.


* * *

“So, you like Black, don’t you?” Lily asked, sitting down beside Ginny and handing her some butter beer. Ginny had spent a few more study sessions with Sirius, but nothing exciting had really happened from the first, thought he brought it up often.

“Well, he is quite charming,” she answered nervously, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“He can be when he wants, that’s for sure.” Lily paused and took a sip of her drink. “I think he might like you, you know? Oh, believe me, Sirius Black is one of the most promiscuous boys in England. But since he met you, he has been turning down the girls who throw themselves down at his feet.”

“Uh… I am not sure whether you are trying to make me worried about sexually transmitted diseases, or if you are trying to convince me to like him.”

“The latter, Ginny. I have known him since I was eleven. And yes, for the longest time I would have given any thing to have been able to give him a good slapping around.” Ginny waited for Lily to continue. “Did you know that James father past away last year? Well, of course you didn’t. But I was in the Swiss Alps skiing with my parents, and it took days for his owls to arrive. When I finally got there, James was wrapped up in Sirius’ arms and asleep. Sirius had the darkest bruises I had ever seen in my whole life, because he let James take out all his pain and aggression out on him. I am not telling you that you should love Sirius or that you should even like him. I am just saying that if you do end up loving him, and he ends up loving you; you will be the second luckiest girl in the United Kingdom.”

“You are the first right?”

“Of course! James Potter is the only boy better looking than Sirius Black.”

“Riiiiiiiight,” Ginny said, laughing. “I guess I do like Sirius… A lot.”

The two girls squealed and giggled and even talked about the two boys’ in such inappropriate ways, that when Alice got back from her date, both girls’ faces matched the colour of their hair.


* * *