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Title: Complex Touch

Summary: For the sake of the Order, Ginny Weasley takes a mission to go back in time to find a Horcrux for Harry. She just never expected to fall in love with a familiar future convicted escaped murderer. And that's just the beginning of the difficult times ahead for her.

Disclaimer: I only own the plot.

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Chapter Eight

Misbehaving Students

"Do you know how dangerous it is to be wandering around without the supervision of the professors?"

Rosmerta's sharp tone caught Ginny, James, and Sirius by surprise. They had exited the tunnel and walked straight to the Three Broomsticks with hopes of getting a hot Butterbeer. Outside it was cold and the streets were empty. Ginny had felt a strange sense of fear at the sight of the dark streets, having never been at Hogsmeade during the night, and rushed to get inside the pub. Before they entered the pub, James and Sirius had assured Ginny that Rosmerta wouldn't care that they had stopped by but their words were proven false.

The witch Ginny could hardly believe was Rosmerta, though she was just as pretty as she would be in twenty years, had immediately taken them to the furthest corner of the pub as though they were misbehaving children- which they were, in all reality. Sirius and James looked shocked while Ginny was curious.

"We never quite followed the rules-" James began, a flirtatious note in his voice that Ginny had never heard before.

"Yes, well now is not the time to be searching for trouble!" Rosmerta said, putting her hands on her hips.

"We're not searching for trouble, dear Rosmerta," Sirius said charmingly.

Rosmerta's stern face didn't waver.

"How many times have I heard that from you two?" she asked them.

Rosmerta was frowning disapprovingly at the boys. It seemed that Rosmerta hadn't quite realized that Ginny was there also. After a moment Rosmerta took a deep breath and glanced around the pub. Then she took them to an empty table that was nearby and had them sit. Taking their order, she turned to leave and get the Butterbeers. She stopped mid-step.

"I have a bad feeling about you three being out tonight…"

James grinned.

"We can protect ourselves," he told her.

"But how do I protect myself from the wrath of Dumbledore if he were to find out I knew you three were roaming around Hogsmeade and I didn't tell him about it, especially if something were to happen to you?"

Without waiting for their answer, Rosmerta turned and walked away. Ginny raised her eyebrows at James and Sirius when they turned their attention to her.

"I think she's right," Ginny said. "Perhaps we should leave."

"Leave? We just got here!" Sirius bared his teeth in a smile. "Don't take her words to heart."

"I don't know," Ginny muttered, remembering the fear she felt at the sight of the dark Hogsmeade. "I have a bad feeling too-"

"Merlin!" Sirius cried out. "Do you really think bloody Deatheaters are going to attack Hogsmeade at ten o'clock at night when no one is out?"

"We're out right now and so are the rest of the witches and wizards here!" responded Ginny, waving her hand at the tables filled with people. "What makes you think you know what the Deatheaters are going to do anyway?"

James, seeing the fight that was about to occur, tried to stop Sirius from answering but his friend just shrugged him off, his heated eyes on Ginny and Ginny only. Ginny frowned, her own eyes narrowing. Who did Sirius think he was to just throw away Rosmerta's warnings? That could get him killed one day- it would, actually, get him killed one day. Instead of staying safe at number 12 Grimmauld Place he didn't listen to Dumbledore's orders and ran off.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Sirius asked, his words coming out as a growl.

"Exactly what you think it means," Ginny hissed. "Deatheaters are mad and will do things we'd never think they'd do!"

With her words Sirius began to laugh. His laughter caused Ginny to suck in a deep breath, more to calm herself than anything else.

"Ginny, Padfoot, that will do!" James said, managing to stop the fight from continuing. "Everyone can hear you two fighting."

Sirius frowned before nodding, showing that he agreed to end the fight. Ginny simply leaned back in her seat, feeling the itch of being uncomfortable come over her. Maybe she was overreacting but she knew the destruction Voldemort's minions would cause and have caused. They didn't understand and, from Sirius' carelessness about Deatheaters, Ginny could see that. Soon, though, they would understand.

Just as James sighed, Rosmerta appeared, placing a Butterbeer in front of each of the students. She appeared slightly more relaxed and had a guilty expression on her face. Apparently she had been listening in on the fight between Sirius and Ginny. Ginny grabbed her drink and took a sip, allowing the warmth to spread through her body. Relaxing slightly, she looked up at Rosmerta.

"How are your drinks?" The older witch asked.

A smile came to Sirius' lips easily, as though he hadn't just been fighting. His eyes, though, still seemed a bit dark from anger. Ginny turned away from Sirius, frowning.

"Delicious, my dear," Sirius said, reaching out to take one of her hands. "Just as delicious as you are."

Rosmerta began to smile when Sirius kissed her knuckles.

"Forgiven, are we?" James questioned, his voice teasing and his eyes sparkling.

"Of course." Rosmerta laughed. "How could I be mad at my two favorite boys and… oh! Where have my manners gone to? In all the rush of seeing you three… I'm Rosmerta."

Ginny introduced herself to the woman she already knew from her many visits to Hogsmeade as a child.

"It's very nice to meet you. These boys need a girl to keep them in line."

"Keep in line!" Sirius asked, his voice holding fake outrage, though it sounded nothing as his voice did only minutes ago. "Now, dear Rosmerta, you cannot be serious. I thought you loved us-"

"And I do," She answered. "But I'm sure you're both heartbreakers back at Hogwarts, especially from what I can remember…"

Sirius and James were grinning cheekily.

"Hogwarts does miss you so," Sirius told her.

Rosmerta began to laugh again, shaking her head at them. She then looked away from their table, her laughter stopping and a shocked expression coming to her face. Ginny turned in her seat to see what had caught Rosmerta's eyes and gasped when she saw who had just walked through the door. Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Professor Slughorn and Professor Sprout had come into the Three Broomsticks.

Ginny snapped her head to look at Sirius and James but saw they were gone. She gasped when something suddenly tugged her down from her seat, under the table. Her head hit the table when she tried to straighten her back and she cursed. Stopping, Ginny rolled her eyes at the grinning faces of James and Sirius.

"This is impossible," she whispered. "What are the chances of all four Head of Houses coming to the Three Broomsticks while we're here?"

Ginny's words caused Sirius to give out a bark of laughter. James elbowed his friend sharply in the side and pointed towards a group of feet walking towards the table. It was surely the professors' and Ginny felt an odd burning in her stomach. She was going to get caught out of Hogwarts without permission when Professor Dumbledore had so graciously allowed her to stay in his school.

"My, that laugh sounded familiar." Professor Sprout.

The feet stopped right in front of their table and James grabbed Ginny's shoulder, pulling her closer to him and Sirius, who were further away from the teachers.

"Very familiar," Professor McGonagall said sharply. "Like Sirius Black."

Rosmerta's glittery high heels stepped closer to the four pairs of feet.

"Come, come," Rosmerta said, sounding out of breath and anxious. "I have a table for you four further back."

The feet began to move away from the table and then disappeared from view, going to the other side of the pub. Wasting no time, Sirius grabbed Ginny's wrist and darted out from under the table. James followed right behind them and they ran out of the Three Broomsticks, giving Rosmerta a wave goodbye when she glanced over at them.

Ginny reached back and grabbed onto James' sleeve, pulling him towards her as they sprinted into the shadows of a building. When they were sure they were out of view Sirius let go of Ginny and Ginny let go of James. They stood in the shadows in silence for a moment before Ginny began laughing, covering her mouth with her hands. She leaned her back against the building and continued to laugh. It took only a moment of Ginny's contagious laughter to affect Sirius and James and they soon joined her.

"Perhaps we should leave," Ginny suggested to the boys again when they all stopped laughing.

"Never!" James responded. "You haven't properly enjoyed yourself yet."

Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Well I'd rather not have a detention," she informed them.

Sirius grinned at her. Apparently their fight was already forgotten to him and, because of that, she relaxed considerably. She did not want him to be angry at her and she didn't want to be angry at him.

"We've got quite a lot planned tonight," Sirius told her. "We've still got to stop by Zonko's before the owners leave the place for the night."

"Then we'll stop by the Shrieking Shack…" James and Sirius shared an amused look before turning their attention back to Ginny.

She had her eyebrows raised. Did they really expect her to be scared of the Shrieking Shack? Even when she was younger and didn't know that it had been Remus who went to the shack for his transformations she hadn't been frightened. She thought it rather stupid to be frightened of a building that hadn't been inhabited by ghosts for, well, almost twenty years. Then she learned of the truth of the Shrieking Shack and found herself even more entertained.

"Am I suppose to be scared?" she asked them dryly.

James snuck his head out of the shadows and glanced up and down the streets of Hogsmeade. With his nod of approval, the three students walked out of the shadows and began towards Zonko's Joke Shop.

"Not afraid!" Sirius cried out, leaning his face close to Ginny's. "Miss Stiles, are you sure you're a Hufflepuff?"

Ginny smirked then began to giggle and James joined her. Sirius leaned his head away from her, his eyebrows rising.

"What do you think inhabits the shack then?" Sirius asked her, grinning.

Shrugging, Ginny decided to play with their minds a bit. She knew things that they didn't know she knew and they thought they were extremely clever… so why not play a bit of a joke on them?

"Not a rough crowd of ghosts," Ginny answered. "Perhaps Peeves goes there and messes around, screeching and destroying objects. Or maybe… maybe your friend Remus visits there once a month."

She made her tone light and joking but she saw James and Sirius stiffen in shock. Sirius was the first to recover, a grin coming to his lips. He threw an arm around her shoulders and pulled her towards him.

"Have an active imagination, don't you?" Sirius tugged on a piece of her hair.

Ginny swatted his hand away before stepping out from under his arm.

"Not as active as yours," Ginny responded sweetly. "Making a boy's head swell twice its original size before a Quidditch match against his team… How do you come up with that stuff?"

"Pure talent," James said, pleased with the compliment. "We also have much time to muse new pranks in our many detentions."

"Surely you won't use any of those pranks against me before the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff match?" Ginny asked, making her eyes go wide with innocence.

Sirius begin to chuckle.

"Surely," He answered her, giving her a wink.

She grinned and their conversation stopped as they stepped in front of Zonko's shop. The lights were out. Apparently the owners had already left. James muttered a soft 'damn' and Sirius sighed loudly.

"Off to the Shrieking Shack, then, even though someone-" Sirius pointed a finger at Ginny. "-isn't frightened of it?"

James nodded seriously when Ginny smiled.

"Of course, of course," he said to Sirius.

They started through the streets again, this time taking a path that led away from the town. Ginny looked up at the dark sky, taking in the stars and the half moon. It was a beautiful night even though Ginny still felt an occasional chill run up and down her back.

"We're having a contest with the Prewitt twins," James spoke, filling the silence.

"A contest?"

A dozen butterflies seemed to have escaped into Ginny's stomach at James' words. Her uncles! How could she have forgotten about her twin uncles? She had been so distracted, so busy with homework, that seeking them out from the large amount of Hogwarts students had completely left her mind.

James nodded, seeming to think her interest was for the contest rather then the mention of the Prewitt twins.

"It's me and Sirius against Fabian and Gideon; those are the twins," He informed her. "It's to get as many detentions as possible before the end of this year."

Ginny blinked, surprised.

"Are they much of trouble makers?"

"Not the way we are," Sirius cut in. "They're wicked at causing havoc with the Slytherins though. They fight more Slytherins then we have ever and get detentions for it all the time. They're quite brilliant with hexes."

Ginny tilted her head, wishing to know more on her uncles. Her eyes connected with Sirius' and she studied him for a second. He looked so different from the Sirius she knew… he was so young and carefree… so handsome.

"Aren't you Head Boy?" Dragging her eyes away from Sirius', Ginny looked at James. "How are you suppose to get that many detentions without having to step down from the position?"

James sent her a large smile.

"Dumbledore knows of our contest," James said, nodding to himself. "I told him that I'd only be able to accept if he'd look over the fact that I would be getting a ton of detentions…"

"And he let you be Head Boy still?" Ginny asked, shocked. She began to giggle when James nodded. "That's ridiculous!"

"Isn't it? But he told me I couldn't back out of a contest, especially with the Prewitt twins, who would never let me live it down."

The trees that loomed over the three students suddenly cleared away as the boarded up Shrieking Shack came into view. Walking up to the fence that surrounded the shack, Ginny, Sirius and James stared at the shack.

"How many detentions do we have now, anyway, Padfoot?"

"Not too many but I don't think they have that many either… Aren't we on our sixth detention?"

"Sixth? I thought we just did our fourth last week!"

"I've been keeping count, James."

Ginny looked away from Sirius and James as they continued to talk, her eyes drifting towards the trees. A soft wind was blowing and the glow from the moon caused everything to look almost ancient. Looking from the trees to the path, Ginny froze. Though it was dark Ginny was sure of what she saw… a hooded figure was coming towards them, not yet emerged from the path. Whoever it was would have definitely seen them and Ginny feared that it was not a professor or a random witch or wizard.

"Sirius," Ginny croaked.

A rush of adrenaline hit Ginny.

"There's someone coming!"

Sirius and James looked to where Ginny was looking before also going into a moment of shock. They seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Ginny, that perhaps this hooded person was a Deatheater, and the three reacted as one. Jumping over the fence, they ran towards the Shrieking Shack. Ginny had pulled her wand out and James and Sirius were doing the same as a shout sounded.

"Potter! Stop!"

Ginny stumbled to a halt. The voice was feminine and Ginny knew who it belonged to right away. James stopped running and turned around, a bewildered expression on his face. Sirius' mouth was dropped open in shock as he too turned to look at the hooded figure. Running towards the three students, the hooded figure stopped at the fence before allowing the hood to the cloak to drop.

Lily Evans stood before them, frowning. Nobody moved until Lily spoke again.

"Get your arse over here, Potter!"

Ginny looked at Sirius and James, who were staring at each other.

"Is that-"

"Yes."

"But…"

"Why is Evans here?"

Slowly James began towards Lily. Sirius and Ginny hesitated for a moment before following him. James was searching Lily's face in confusion and surprise and Lily looked mildly uncomfortable.

"What are you doing here?" James asked.

Lily raised an eyebrow, pursing her lips. James sighed and jumped the fence. Silently, Sirius and Ginny copied his actions. Sirius didn't stay silent for long though.

"I never thought I'd see the day Lily Evans would sneak out of Hogwarts to come join in on some mischief!" Sirius said.

"I did not sneak out to cause mischief!" Lily snapped. "I came to warn you that the professors were coming to Hogsmeade."

There was absolute silence after her words. Even Ginny, who hardly knew Lily, knew this was something the auburn haired girl would not normally do.

"Why would you do that?" asked James, his voice strained.

Lily sighed.

"Do you know how many points Gryffindor would lose for your stupidity? I'm Head Girl; I'm suppose to stop trouble from occurring!"

Ginny's eyes narrowed in thought at Lily's words. Though the boys might have believed what the Head Girl said, Ginny did not. She could see the way Lily's cheeks flushed at James' question and how she had shifted her weight awkwardly. Quickly, Ginny tried to remember what Harry had said on his parents and their relationship.

"My mum didn't like my dad at first… But they started dating in their seventh year, that's what Sirius and Lupin told me… They got married right out of Hogwarts."

"Well good thing you're here," Sirius began, sounding extremely grateful, distracting Ginny from her thoughts. "Now if we get caught it's not only the Head Boy that will be in trouble but the Head Girl too!"

Lily's mouth dropped open, whether in shock or anger Ginny wasn't sure.

"How'd you even get here without the professors seeing you?" James asked, running a hand through his hair as he stared at Lily.

"The same way you got here," Lily answered, sounding disapproving. "The statue. I watched you go through it and was heading back to the common room when I heard Professor McGonagall with Professor Sprout, Professor Slughorn and Professor Flitwick."

The four students didn't speak. Ginny was biting her lip as she stared at the other girl. Lily Evans was someone Ginny didn't quite understand. She didn't punish Ginny for almost dueling in the corridors with a Slytherin, she cursed James to his face then tried to warn him of danger, and she seemed a bit… well, stuck-up.

"It really is time to leave now," Ginny finally said.

Lily looked at Ginny for the first time, different emotions flashing in her emerald eyes.

"I've seen you before…" Lily was frowning in concentration. "Recently… Haven't I?"

"In the dungeons," Ginny supplied the answer.

A look of realization came to Lily's face. She opened her mouth to speak, shut it before opening it again.

"I'm Ginny Stiles," Ginny introduced herself. "We haven't properly met yet."

"No, we haven't," Lily replied slowly. "I'm Lily Evans… Why don't I remember you before the dungeons?"

James was watching the conversation with glee, happy that Lily seemed more comfortable and less angry.

"I'm new," Ginny said.

"Oh! I've heard of you! Professor Dumbledore told us about her, didn't he, Potter?" Lily turned her attention to James.

"Yeah," James responded.

Ginny stared at the two in interest.

"What did he say about me?"

"Just to make sure you felt at home," Lily answered, smiling for the first time Ginny had seen.

"Introduce ourselves to you if we ever saw you. You know, the normal stuff," James continued, shrugging. "I didn't even know you were the new girl when we first… met… until you told us."

Sirius chuckled and Lily threw him a suspicious glance.

"New and already sneaking out of the school?" Lily asked, her tone more surprised then harsh. "I can't be too surprised that it's these two you snuck out with, though."

"Evans, please, you're making me blush," Sirius said, batting his eyes at her. "Your kind words always make me go a bit weak at the knees."

Ginny couldn't help laughing at Sirius' words. James sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head in exasperation. Lily simply ignored Sirius.

"Let's go back to Hogwarts," Lily said. "The professors could be leaving the Three Broomsticks any minute now and I don't want to get caught."

Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Go back yourself; we've seen the professors and we haven't been caught yet." He snarled at her a bit.

"No, we should go," Ginny agreed.

Lily sent Ginny a grateful smile.

"See?"

"Evans-"

"Let's just go!" James finally snapped, sick of Sirius and Lily's fighting. "She's right, we should get back."

Sirius stared at James in shock.

"You're really going to listen to her?"

"Yes," James answered shortly. "She's right, Sirius. We should be getting back."

Ginny bit her lip at the betrayal on Sirius' face. A distant sound caused Ginny to turn her head away from the scene however. Another similar sound was heard and Ginny's eyebrows furrowed. She couldn't quite make it out…

"Fine."

There it was again, closer to the group but still far away.

"Ginny?"

Pop.

Ginny looked in horror as a figure suddenly appeared on the borderline of the trees. Lily, James and Sirius snapped their heads towards the figure and the person slowly turned their head towards them.

Pop.

Another figure appeared, further away from the four teenagers. This figure, however, also seemed to feel their presence and looked at them. Nobody moved.

"Deatheaters," Ginny breathed out.

They had jumped over the fence and running before Ginny even thought of running away. What were the chances? How could this happen? Ginny cried out when a curse missed her by inches, hitting the ground next to her. She continued to run, holding tightly onto Sirius' sleeve as they ran through the yard in front of the Shrieking Shack.

Lily was ahead of the group and kept glancing behind her to make sure everyone was together. James was following behind her and Sirius and Ginny ran together at the end of the group.

Hogsmeade was attacked several times during the First War, Ginny could remember. She had heard Hermione talk of it, having read it in Hogwarts: A History. And now happened to be one of the times? Ginny felt as though she were in a book, an adventure story. But this was no story and, as a curse almost hit Sirius, she began to feel sick.

This was indeed very real.

Ginny gripped onto her wand tightly, glad that they were finally in the back yard. The Shrieking Shack's shadow hid them from view and they all stopped, breathing heavily. They heard no footsteps behind them and quickly huddled close together.

"Deatheaters? Why? How? They were trying to-to kill us," Lily whispered.

"We should keep running," James said right away.

"I don't hear anything," Sirius muttered.

"That doesn't mean a thing," Ginny responded quickly. "We have to think of where we're going to go."

"Back to Hogwarts!" Lily cried out.

"Well, yes, of course," Ginny said. "But-"

She stopped talking, sure she heard something. Everyone stopped breathing before Ginny began to talk again, her voice extremely low.

"Hogwarts is a distance away. We'll never make it. We have to go back to Hogsmeade and use the tunnel."

Lily was shaking her head, her eyes wide. James was staring at Ginny, a look of fierce determination on his face, and Sirius gave Ginny a sharp nod.

"We'll have to pass them to get back to Hogsmeade," Lily whispered. "We're only students, we can't fight grown wizards!"

Ginny nodded in agreement. Her mind was working fast, as it always did when she was in trouble. She had to think up some plan to get them back to Hogwarts where they would be safe and sound. Hogwarts was never attacked by Deatheaters before her fifth year after all.

"We can't get by them," James said as a grin spread across his lips. "But I can."

"What? No!" Lily hissed.

Sirius looked at James in confusion.

"How?" Ginny asked.

"My invisibility cloak. I'll catch them by surprise and they can't see me so they won't know what hit them!"

Ginny heard the sound again; the snapping of a branch. The two Deatheaters were slowly making their way towards the backyard.

"Brilliant," Sirius mumbled. "You can Stupefy them and we'll have no troubles!"

"Then we can all get back to Hogsmeade and into the tunnel with no problem-"

"There are more Deatheaters in Hogsmeade," Lily whispered. "Two wouldn't be sent alone!"

"Yes, well, we have to deal with one problem at a time!" Sirius whispered back.

James pulled his invisibility cloak out of his bag and flung it around him. Under his cloak, James was no longer seen by the other three students. Ginny grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her closer to the Shrieking Shack. Sirius followed and they leaned against the wall of the building, waiting.

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Author's Note: Well thank you for waiting for this chapter. I've had an extremely busy week. Hopefully I'll have chapter nine out in a few days! I feel the need to tell you that all of Lily's actions so far seen in this story will be explained. She may seem a bit of a snob, even Ginny noticed it, but she doesn't like Sirius and James one bit- or does she? Either way she's not going to be exactly pleasant to them when she finds them to be very conceited and not someone she'd want to be around. Just know she'll come around… eventually.

LilyInTheValley: Mostly, concerning your review, Severus had been very interested in finding out who the girl who knew Remus was a werewolf was. He asked around and, quickly, discovered she was new to the school and that her name was Ginny Stiles. Slytherins do, after all, keep an update on the goings of the other houses (in case they can use it to their advantage). Professor Slughorn is much easier to answer about. Once he heard of the girl who could, impressively, do charms without speaking on her first try he asked Professor Sprout about her. He wanted to know what she looked like and her age so, in case he ever came across her, he knew who she was. Her bright red Weasley hair makes her very easy to stand out.

Twinsofthesky: Hey! It's tryingtosay, from livejournal. I'm happy you've stumbled upon my dear old story!