A Glimmer within a trial

A/n I got it up, and about a day before I thought I would (You can thank insomnia for that). My stories will be coming awfully slow for the next two weeks because of finals and everything, but I'll pick up the pace when I get out on break the 14th. I didn't want to put the Christmas part in until next chapter (that is where most of the plot will unravel). But, I lost where I was going somewhere in the middle, so this chapter basically turned into a short bunch of fluff. Thanks for the reviews, if I get more reviews, I might get the next part out quicker (hint, hint)!!

A Glimmer within a trial

Part 4

"Kimberly, wait. We can explain," Ginny shouted trying to pull Kimberly away from Sirius.

"He's going to kill aunt Liberty, and all you guys can do is sit there and watch," Kimberly pouted, still a little confused. Kimberly was shaking, looking like she was about to cry. Shelby pulled her in her arms to try to calm her down. Kimberly looked up, and seemed to take in the smiling face of Shelby. A wave of recognition seemed to swipe across her face.

"Aunt Shelby, you're here too?" Ginny was shocked. She didn't know Shelby was Kimberly's aunt too.

"Yes, It's all right. Sirius is a friend."

"What do you mean a friend? A friend that goes around killing people?"

"Shh, calm down Kimberly, and we will explain it to you."

After about an hour of explaining everything to Kimberly, and answering all her questions she finally decided to believe Sirius was innocent. Reluctantly, she shook his hand, and agreed that Sirius should come to Liberty's house over the holidays.

"I have a question for you Kimberly," Ginny said once Kimberly was finished interrogating. "Is Shelby your aunt too?"

"Yes, Liberty is my father's sister and Shelby is my mum's sister." Ginny started giggling at this, and had to calm down as everyone else was staring at her funny. She quickly took a breath to hold the giggles in. She didn't want to say anything yet, but she believed she just discovered why Kimberly was always one of Snape's favorite students.

"Well, if you three don't mind, I believe the students have some homework to attend to," Dumbledore said, dismissing Ginny, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Kimberly from his office.

"Does anyone else badly want to know the story between Sirius and Liberty," Ginny asked as they headed toward Gryffindor.

"That is something we are going to find out when we go to Liberty's for the holidays," Harry said decisively. That was one thing Ginny was growing to love about Harry, once he decided to do something, he wouldn't back out.

The time between then and Christmas seemed to fly by. Before they knew it, beautiful decorations were put up in the Great Hall, and teachers were pushing load of homework on the students to do before the holidays came up.

The night before they left to Liberty's house, Hermione and Ginny were packing up their stuff. Ginny seized this moment to talk to Hermione for a change; she hasn't gotten to do that for a while. Hermione was like the big sister Ginny never had, so Ginny enjoyed including Hermione in a little girl talk every now and then. She knew she needed it sometimes, and Hermione was looking like something was bothering her.

"Is something wrong Hermione?"

"No, not really Ginny. I guess there is one thing…"

"What is it? You can't keep everything to yourself you know," Ginny chided.

"Well, okay. It's Ron."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "All right, what did he do this time?"

"It's that Hufflepuff girl, he's just always staring at her. It's like he's surveying her every move."

'He is,' Ginny thought miserably. Though out loud she said, "Don't worry Hermione, he's not staring at her for the same reasons you think."

"Then why is he?"

"I can't tell you. You just have to trust me Hermione, you are the only girl in his life."

"Do you know something Ginny? Please tell me."

Ginny felt bad about not saying anything, but she knew she shouldn't. She could get Bridgett in a big mess. "I just know Hermione, that is all I can tell you."

"Are you absolutely positive Ginny? You're not hiding anything?"

"Hermione, I consider you a friend. If there was something you really needed to know I'd tell you, and I'm telling you Ron does not like Bridgett. 'That's an understatement,' she thought. Ginny knew Ron absolutely hated Bridgett.

"I believe you," Hermione finally concluded.

"Great, now that that's all settled, how about we go down to the common room and play a game of exploding snap?"

Hermione agreed, and they headed down to the common room. Hermione got out her deck of cards, and they began to play. A little while later, Ron and Harry came down to join them. They were all pretty excited about going to Liberty's the next day, and that was about all they could talk about.

"So Ginny, did Kimberly say what Liberty's house looks like," Hermione asked her.

"Just that it is fairly roomy, especially being as she lives alone. Kimberly said there would be plenty of room for all of us."

"Why does she have such a big house if she lives alone," Ron asked.

"Kimberly said it was once her parents. She had a lot of brothers and sisters, but You-Know-Who attacked them. The only survivors were Liberty, and Kimberly's dad. They were pretty tore up about it, and Kimberly said her dad just couldn't stay there after what happened to his family. So, he moved out, and Liberty stayed. She works for a highly successful company, and had the money to repair the house from all the damages that occurred."

"Wow, that's sad. I didn't know that about Kimberly's dad," Harry said, putting his arm around Ginny.

"I've known about it ever since I first met Kimberly. I told her I was from a big family, and she said her dad used to be too. I don't think Kimberly's dad likes to talk about it much, but Kimberly speaks freely about it."

They sat by the fireplace for a little while longer, chatting. Over all the excitement, Ginny was sure she'd never get to sleep, and tomorrow would never come. At around midnight, she finally decided to try her luck at falling asleep.

"I'm going up to bed," she declared to the others.

"Night Ginny, pleasant dreams," Harry said to her.

"Hope you have pleasant dreams too Harry."

"Ah, I will, and I know just whom I'll be dreaming about too," he said, giving her a wink.

"Yuck, cut that out," Ron said throwing a pillow at him. "That's my sister."

"Oh, and like I don't have to run around you and Hermione all the time, hearing you say things like that to her." He turned to Ginny and snickered, "It's sickening, some of the things they say to each other. You're lucky you don't have to go to classes with them together."

Ginny laughed as Ron and Hermione's faces reddened. "All right Harry, that's it," Ron said.

Ginny thought for a second Ron was going to punch Harry, but instead, he picked up the pillow, and hit him over the head. Suddenly, Harry put his hand to his scar, and started moaning, "Ah, my scar. It's burning."

"Harry, are you all right, I was only joking. I didn't mean it," Ron was saying. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny rushed to his side.

"Nice one Ron, now you've really done it," Hermione scolded.

"I was only fooling around," Ron countered. As those two were arguing, Ginny saw Harry wink at her, and the corners of his mouth curved up into a slight smile. Harry took advantage of Ron and Hermione arguing, and swatted Ron on the top of the head with the pillow.

"You two are gullible," Harry cracked.

"Oh yeah, we'll see about that," Ron countered. Pretty soon, they were in an all-out pillow fight. They didn't realize how much noise they were making, until Professor McGonagall came in to force them to bed.

"Detention for all of you as soon as you get back from holidays," she growled.

Ginny couldn't help but think the detention was worth it. She hadn't had that much fun in a long while, and she was glad to get out of her rut. After struggling, she eventually fell asleep. She dreamt about what the next day had in store for her.

A/n Hey, you should be happy. At least I didn't leave it at a cliffhanger!!

Disclaimer: I don't own them!!