A/N: This is the first part of a challenge I received from the wonderfully talented fanfic author, worldsapart. I won't reveal the terms of the challenge until the last part, so nothing is spoiled. I hope you like this, it's a totally new ship for me to write, and I'm doing my best! Please please R&R!

Part One: Flatmates with a Fatality

Ginny Weasley cracked her knuckles loudly as her fourth-year Hufflepuff students headed toward the door of her Transfiguration class.

"Don't forget to read chapters five and six!" she reminded them sharply, as they were filing out. "You're going to be tested on that material next class!" She could hear several of them groan, but didn't care. She was strict, but knew the students still thought reasonably well of her, particularly as she was now the youngest professor in the Hogwarts faculty.

She remained in her seat several minutes after her students left, stretching backwards and just thinking to herself. There was one more period left in the school day, but the fourth-year Hufflepuffs had been her last one to teach for the day. She chose the quiet moment to just allow her mind to relax for a bit, drumming her fingers on the desk until she remembered the letters in the pockets of her robes.

Two owls had arrived over breakfast, each bearing their own letter, but she never liked reading her mail in front of others and had placed them aside to wait for an opportunity to be alone. Finding that opportunity now, she pulled them out of her pocket and examined the two scrolls.

Ginny immediately recognized both sets of handwriting. Pulling the first scroll open, she read the untidy scrawl:

Ginny,

So how is it to be back at Hogwarts? Sorry I haven't written for a while, I just figured I'd let you get comfortable first.

The shop is doing really well, of course. Completely raking in the Galleons. George is still having a real rough go of it, but I think he's starting to do a bit better. He's drinking Firewhisky less often, and has actually started going out once every couple of weeks. He and Angelina talk a lot, too. I think that they are comforting each other, but I'm starting to get the feeling that's not all there is to it.

But if things keep getting better for him, I might stop working here. Well, not full-time, anyway. I was thinking about trying to get accepted for Auror training like (the next two words were clumsily scratched out) Harry and I used to talk about. So we'll see.

That's all I really have for an update. Nothing else new - except Mum is fussing over Victoire so much, I think Fleur is going to need a restraining order!

Talk soon,

Ron

The hasty striking out of Harry's name didn't go unnoticed by Ginny, as much as Ron appeared to have attempted to black it out entirely. She sighed. She felt sorrier for Ron than she did for herself, if she was to be perfectly honest. Maybe she wasn't moving on, but she wasn't just choosing to put the pain out of her mind, to forget that they were ever hurt. And yes, it still did hurt, but she believed it was better that way.

Glancing at the small, neat, perfectly even script on the second letter, she reluctantly unrolled the scroll and started to read. It began in the same way the writer was now always beginning her letters to Ginny:

Dear Ginny,

I'm sure you aren't going to write back to me, as you have yet to respond to any of my previous letters, but as I specified to you some time ago, I still wish for contact with you of some sort, even if it has to be one-sided. And as I say every time, and will most certainly continue to, I am aware that this is extremely selfish on my part, and also that I know I do not deserve to even have these wishes. Such is my flaw, and I am sorry to inflict that upon you.

The middle part of her letters always contained personal news and updates:

I wanted to write you to tell you that we have achieved an important breakthrough very recently! After months and months of hard work done entirely in secret, we have achieved success! I wish I could tell you more, but cannot due to risks of owl interception. But I know you will learn of the results soon.

Ginny let out an annoyed grunt. This part of the letter was consistently vague at best, and she wondered to herself why she wasted her time reading the letters in the first place. They were uninformative, and terribly predictable. The last part would always read the same, too:

Please know that Harry and I never intended to hurt you or Ron. I am sorry that things happened the way they did, but I can't change the past, and there is no point to changing the present. The situation is as it is, and I hope one day you will be able to forgive me for hurting you and your brother.

With Love Always,

Hermione

Ginny re-rolled the first scroll, and placed it in her pocket. Her hands pausing only for a moment, she then proceeded to crumple the second scroll into a ball.

Leaning back in her chair again, she pulled out the pins that held up her hair and let it fall down into the long plait she now always kept it in. Playing with the end of the braid, she thought about when she first found out about Harry and Hermione how she had considered chopping off most of her hair. She was still glad that she changed her mind, realizing the very idea to be juvenile and pointless. But she still never wore it down any more.

Her morose thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the classroom door. She jumped, and turned around.

"Oh! Hello, Professor McGonagall," Ginny said, startled, and stood up. "Sorry, I didn't see you there."

"Good afternoon, Professor Weasley," McGonagall answered. "May I have a moment of your time?"

Ginny's brow furrowed, but in amusement. "You still won't call me Ginny?" she asked.

McGonagall's mouth formed a tight line that was very nearly a smile. "I have told you before, Professor Weasley, that until you start calling me by my given name that I will not do the same for you. I may be your former teach and the current Headmistress, but I would like it if you could begin to think of us as colleagues," she replied.

"Okay, Minerva," Ginny answered, suppressing giggles.

"Thank you, Ginevra," McGonagall responded with a wry smile of her own.

"Hey!" Ginny involuntarily exclaimed.

McGonagall cut her off before she could further object. "We just agreed to call each other by our given names," she pointed out.

Ginny did her best not to sulk, as she was still vying to properly impress her new employer. "Fair point," she said. "What did you want to discuss?"

Despite the room being completely empty, McGonagall looked around, an intense expression on her face.

"Minerva?" Ginny urged her. "What is it?"

"This conversation would be better suited to my office. If you would care to follow me…?" McGonagall invited her. Ginny nodded and followed her lead out the classroom door.

Approaching the large statues guarding the Headmaster's office, McGonagall cleared her throat and muttered, "Albus." The statues stepped aside, and the two women entered the room.

"Please, have a seat," McGonagall indicated a chair to Ginny.

Ginny sat down obediently, still wondering what she had been called in for.

"As you are well aware, the Order of the Phoenix has still been secretly and continuously battling the Ministry of Magic since You-Know-Who's death," McGonagall started.

Ginny sat up a little straighter. It was indeed seldom that she was approached with Order business, and she was very interested.

"With Umbridge at the helm of the Ministry," McGonagall continued, a look of extreme distaste apparent in her expression, "this has not been easy. However, the victories we have obtained are still significant. Hogwarts, as you know, is now self-governed once again, after I spent the entirety of last year pushing the appeal through the Wizengamot. And we believe we are close to presenting information that will have our dear Minister," the disgusted look returned, "impeached."

Ginny nodded. She knew most of this, and was unsure of where this was going.

McGonagall coughed quietly. "The Order of the Phoenix is well aware not only of your abilities, but in your long-held interest in aiding us," she said. "I have asked you in to my office today to request your assistance with a current Order matter."

"Absolutely!" Ginny exclaimed, excitedly, before calming herself. "I mean, certainly, Minerva. I am happy to lend my assistance to the Order in any way possible."

McGonagall smiled. "I am glad to hear it," she answered. "And please know, Ginevra, that you will fully be considered an Order member upon your partaking in this task."

Ginny smiled widely. She had wanted to join the Order for a long time, now, but was always told she was too young, or inexperienced. Her eagerness was completely evident. "So what did you want me to do?" she asked.

"There has been a project worked upon in greatest secret by Kingsley Shacklebolt and Miss Granger that has at long last come into fruition," McGonagall said in a low voice, leaning forward.

"I guess you're going to let me in on her little 'breakthrough' she mentioned," Ginny replied.

McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't aware you were still in contact with Miss Granger."

Ginny stiffened. "I'm not," she answered flatly.

Unsure of what to say, McGonagall continued with her speech. "A member of the Order has been obtained for us," she went on. "And every additional member is of great value to the Order. This is a strong and powerful ally, who will certainly assist us should a new battle break out. However, we cannot have him seen. By anyone, you must understand. It is far too dangerous for him and for us. This is where your assistance is required. With Hogwarts under self-governance once more, he can be safe-harboured here. We were hoping you could do so for us, Ginevra."

Ginny held her hands up. "Wow, um, okay, go back a couple of steps for me. I thought I was to be carrying out a mission for the Order?"

"This is your mission, Ginevra," McGonagall affirmed gently.

"Well, that's boring," Ginny complained. "I thought I was going to get to really work for the Order! Help with the research or the fight or something. I've been waiting for years, and I get to safe-harbour someone? That's it?"

"This is what we need you to do for us, Miss Weasley," McGonagall confirmed sternly.

Ginny looked surprised. "We're back to Miss Weasley, now? Not even Professor? What happened to Ginevra?" she asked.

"If you insist upon whining as a child might, then I must address you as I did when you were one," replied McGonagall, with a wry grin on her face. "Not every mission involves research or fighting, or battling it out with the courts or experimentation. And every step is equally important. We really do require your help. No one else can be trusted with the guarding of this individual at this time."

Ginny's brow furrowed. "And you know I can?" she asked.

McGonagall nodded. "Not one member of the Order has any doubt in your abilities or loyalties. I have already taken the liberty of expanding your living quarters, as well as adding an extra bed and private bathroom, in order to make this mission easier and more comfortable for the both of you."

Ginny grinned. Not only was she getting to do significant work for the Order, but she was getting a private bathroom as part of the deal. There was just something about McGonagall's choice of words that confused her.

"You know I'll be happy to do anything I can, Minerva. I just have one question – what do you mean that a member was 'obtained'? Don't you mean 'recruited'?" she asked.

McGonagall shook her head, and gestured to the corner of her office. Ginny turned around to see Sirius Black was sitting in a chair, blankly staring straight ahead.

Ginny whipped back around. "But… he's dead!" she blurted out. "How… what… I don't understand! The dead can't be brought back to life properly, Dumbledore said!"

"This is what Kingsley and Miss Granger have been working toward," McGonagall said firmly. "We had a very unusual situation in Sirius here. He was not dead when he fell through the veil in the Department of Mysteries, merely stunned. Never before has an individual passed through the archway separating life and death without actually… well, dying first. We would certainly be unable to bring back other members of the Order. Remus, Nymphadora, Alastor Moody, your brother… they are all, most unfortunately, beyond our grasp," she finished sombrely.

Ginny turned around again, taking in a good look at Sirius. He was still blankly staring straight ahead, and hadn't said a word.

"Um… why is he just… staring? Can he still talk?" she queried.

"It has only been mere hours since the perilous rescue mission extracted him from the archway, and managed to secretly bring him all the way here from the Department of Mysteries," McGonagall answered. "We believe his mind is in a temporary state of shock. Poppy Pomfrey had a look at him; he should be fine soon enough."

Ginny walked over to where Sirius was sitting, and waved a hand in front of his face. He didn't flinch, he didn't even blink.

"You're sure?" asked Ginny, sceptically.

"Positive," McGonagall answered, through there seemed to be some uncertainty in her tone. "In the meantime, we must get him to your room. You two now share your sleeping quarters, and it will be your task to ensure he stays there until we are able to accommodate otherwise, or arrange for his safety if he is needed outside the castle. But unless I indicate otherwise to you, he must not be seen wandering the castle or the grounds. You will keep his company, take care of him for now, and please, let him know how valuable he is to us, should you get the opportunity. And it is of paramount significance that you fill him in on everything that's happened since his disappearance when he comes to. He is likely to be very confused, potentially disorientated, so please, tell him everything while at the same time being as gentle as possible."

Ginny nodded. She knew to trust in what McGonagall said, and that she wouldn't refer to anything as 'Order business' unless it was of the utmost importance. "Shall I sneak him to my room now, while all the students are still in class?"

"That's the idea," McGonagall replied. "Thank you for your help, Ginevra. The whole Order thanks you. Now go on, before the last period ends!"

Ginny led Sirius back to their now-shared quarters in the castle, as quickly as possible. She held his wrist and gently pulled him through the castle hallways. He followed slowly, and with a heavy step, still blanking gazing ahead, and not saying a word. The trip back to her room seemed to take forever, and Ginny grew increasingly nervous as they went, worried that the last period would end, and students would suddenly pour into the halls and see the supposedly-dead criminal, Sirius Black.

When they reached her room, she breathed a deep sigh of relief, having managed to make it unseen the whole way. Ginny surveyed the room and saw that it indeed was bigger, and there was now an extra bed and an additional door, which she assumed led to the private bathroom that McGonagall had been talking about.

Suddenly, outside her door she could hear a great deal of movement and chatter.

"That was close," she breathed, and turned to Sirius. Unsure of what to say exactly to someone who didn't seem to be looking at or listening to anything in particular, she decided to do her best to treat him carefully. "You've had a very long day, I'm sure," she said. "You'll want to get some rest."

She took his wrist again and led him to the extra bed. As he just seemed to hang there, standing in front of it, she placed her hands on her shoulders and sat him down.

"I have to go get some dinner, so I'm heading to the Great Hall now… would you like me to bring you back anything?" she asked, fairly sure she knew what the answer would be.

She was right – there was no answer.

"Well, just relax here then," Ginny continued, as though he had in fact given her a proper answer. "I'm sure you'll get hungry soon enough, and when you do, I'll make sure the house elves fix something nice for you."

She moved to the door, apprehensively, as she was beginning to get deeply concerned for the man sitting on the bed, who at the moment seemed more like the shell of a man. What if Madam Pomfrey was mistaken, and there was something seriously wrong with him?

Ginny shook the thought out of her mind for now. She had to follow McGonagall's instructions, but she would keep a very close eye on his state. She opened her door to leave for dinner. "I'll be back soon," she promised.

For the next three days and nights straight, Sirius remained catatonic in the seated position on his bed. Ginny wondered if his eyes shut when she turned the lights out for the night, if he was sleeping or awake, if he had lost his mind, or even if he was fully alive again. McGonagall had made no mention of the mission to her since that first day, and she knew better than to bring it up, particularly outside the Headmistress's office.

Sitting on her own bed, reading, she wondered to herself if perhaps it was about time to bring Madam Pomfrey or McGonagall by for a re-examination, but her thoughts were interrupted by a vaguely unfamiliar, croaking voice.

"You're… you're a Weasley," Sirius said hoarsely, his voice clearly unused for quite some time. "The daughter. Was it… Jenny?"

"Ginny," she corrected automatically, then it hit her that he was now speaking, and she should be prepared to have the conversation that McGonagall mentioned to her.

His eyes narrowed. "You look older than I remember," he stated plainly.

"What is the last thing you remember?" she asked carefully.

Sirius frowned for barely a moment, then stood up abruptly. "Bellatrix!" he yelled. "Where is she?" He reached by his side, finding nothing. "Where's my wand? Where's Harry? Is he okay?"

Then, taking in his surroundings, he suddenly seemed to realize what was wrong. "This is… Hogwarts," he said, an increasing note of panic and distress in his tone. "I was in the Ministry! How did I get here?" He turned to Ginny. "What's going on?" he demanded.

Ginny tried to make use of her best calming smile and manner. She walked over to him and took his hand with both of her hers. "Sirius, I think you should sit down," she said. "I have a lot to tell you."

Sitting on his bed, she explained to the best of her abilities what had happened to him, and the outcome of the war. She went through how and why he was brought back, going over the current state of the Ministry and the Order's work to change it.

After what felt like an hour's worth of her talking, Ginny stopped, and took a breath. She wondered how he was going to react to this. Would it be too much for a person to take, would he slip back into the catatonic state he had just come out of?

"So I didn't get Bellatrix," Sirius mused. "Is she in Azkaban now, or is she dead?"

"Dead," Ginny replied plainly. "My mother killed her in battle."

"Was it Avada –?" he started to ask, but Ginny cut him off, shaking her head.

"Nope," she interrupted. "She hit her with a Stunner, but so hard that it killed her."

"Wow," he breathed. "Nice one, Molly." He seemed to withdraw into his thoughts for a moment, before speaking up again. "And where is Harry now?"

Ginny took her hands back from Sirius. "I don't know," she answered flatly.

Sirius gave her a side-long glance. "I thought you were in love with him. How come you don't know where he is?" he asked.

Hearing this caused Ginny to nearly fall backwards off the bed. Jumping up and wheeling back around to face Sirius, she asked, "How did you know that?"

Sirius smiled for the first time since he'd been brought to Ginny's room. She was surprised to see the warm expression on his face, and noticed how much younger it made him look.

"Ginny, all the members of the Order knew. It was fairly obvious," he confessed.

"Damn it! Here I was, thinking that I had been doing such a great job of hiding it back then," she complained, folding her arms against her chest.

"You weren't," he chuckled. "But really, where is Harry now? I figured you'd know, of all people."

"Well, I don't," she replied, in a manner that indicated that the subject was closed.

Sirius sighed, and changed the subject. "So if I'm to be helping the Order again, when am I getting a wand?" he asked.

Ginny's brow furrowed. "That's a very good question," she said. "I'll have to look into that with McGonagall. We still have to protect your identity, which is why we're hiding you, but I guess we could get some Polyjuice Potion whipped up for you in order to take you out for a new wand."

"That's another thing," Sirius spoke up. "So I'm in hiding again? And what, they've given me a babysitter half my age this time? Does the Order not trust me now?"

"First off, I am not a babysitter, and I'm not half your age," Ginny grumbled at him.

"How old are you?" Sirius challenged.

She straightened up. "Twenty-one," she snapped.

"Ha! Exactly half my age," he answered, victoriously.

"I don't think so," she returned.

"How's that?"

"Well, you've been dead for the last six years. So you're not forty-two, you're still thirty-six!" she said triumphantly, before clapping her hands over her mouth, realizing the extreme tactlessness of her remark.

His eyes widened a moment, and Ginny was worried she went way too far, until he started laughing. It was a loud, hoarse laugh, almost like a dog's bark, but it sounded friendly and cheerful and genuinely very amused. Not letting her guard all the way down, she found herself beginning to giggle with him. His laughter was contagious.

"A girl like you would find some sort of a silver lining to this whole thing, I suppose," Sirius finally said, laughing petering out.

Ginny sat back down on her own bed. "What is 'a girl like me' anyway?" she asked.

Sirius shrugged. "A babysitter?"

She threw a pillow in his direction. "I told you, I'm no one's babysitter. Try and think of me as your flatmate, okay? That'll be good for the both of us."

"Fine, fine," he agreed. "We're flatmates, then." He paused a moment. "Well then, flatmate, where would I be able to get something to eat? I feel as though it's been years since I've eaten."

Ginny was about to say "it has", but she noticed a glimmer in his eye, confirming that he was indeed baiting her, and she resisted.

"I'd be happy to help you out, flatmate," she answered, mimicking his playful conversational tone. She headed for the door. "Wait right here, and I'll be right back with something good. And then we can go about getting to know each other. Might make living together easier, yeah?"

Sirius grinned. "I look forward to it," he replied.

Ginny was halfway to the kitchens when it occurred to her to wonder if he was referring to looking forward to the food, or to getting to know her.