Later that day, Ginny was standing in her room getting dressed for dinner. Jason was jumping up and down on the bed looking at his mother admiringly.

"Mummy looks nice," he said and jumped even higher on the creaking bed.

Ginny smiled at her little boy and thought about how gifted he was. He already talked understandably at the age of fifteen months, when most children just let out indistinct syllables. She looked proudly into Jason's eyes, and was yet again taken aback by how remarkably similar they were to hers.

"Come now, Jay Jay, we have to go downstairs. Everyone is awaiting us." She caught the little boy jumping straight into her arms, and after a quick glance into the mirror they headed for the kitchen.

When Ginny pushed the door open a wave of delicious scents hit her in the face. She stepped through the door and immediately the lively discussions about this and that halted.

"Ginny, where have you…"

"…been hiding?"

Fred and George rushed towards their little sister and stopped in front of her with big grins on their faces. She leaned in and gave them both a kiss, feeling a bit irritated for not being able to hug them; Jason was in her arms, struggling to get down. He had spotted Harry and was eager to get a hold of his glasses.

"And who is this little fellow?" Fred reached out a hand to Jason who eyed his hand suspiciously before grabbing a strand of Fred's red hair curiously.

"Jason, these are your uncles, Fred and George."

"You can just call us Fredge, we don't mind," George said to Jason and then turned to Ginny, "Gin, we could take care of our nephew for a little while, if you feel like saying hello to everyone."

"Thanks, George, that's nice of you." She handed him the little boy and walked towards the table where everyone had watched the incident.

She was soon surrounded by family and friends talking to her animatedly, and soon her feeling of discomfort had vanished. But when she looked towards the furthest end of the table, she met a couple of grey, icy eyes, gazing at her enigmatically, like she was used to them doing. Immediately she felt her insecurity return and her eyes turned to where Jason was sitting with Harry.

When she turned back to face Sirius' gaze again he had gotten to his feet and was crossing the room. He halted in front of Harry and Jason and bent down. Ginny watched the three of them curiously. Jason got off Harry's lap and tottered towards Sirius who was holding out a hand for the little boy to grasp. As he did so, Ginny saw Sirius' face light up for a brief moment and a warm feeling filled her chest.

Sirius looked up with a slight frown and when he noticed that Ginny's eyes rested upon him he hesitated and pulled his hand back. Jason who had tried to grasp Sirius' hand but now didn't find anything to take hold on, started wobbling uncontrollably. He let out a frightened scream and his eyes searched the room for Ginny. She had always saved him from every danger.

Right before falling onto the hard floor, Sirius caught Jason and pulled him into his arms. The boy started crying heartbreakingly, but Sirius instantly tried to comfort Jason with gentle words, rocking him back and forth in his arms. Ginny smiled slightly when noticing that the little boy stopped crying and seemed to be calming down.

She sat down on a chair and watched her little boy in the arms of his father, who obviously had no problems with holding Jason the right way, because the boy didn't object or try to free himself from Sirius' grasp. When Ginny felt a hand on her shoulder she looked up and saw Harry smiling at her.

"He knows, right?"

"Isn't that quite obvious? I mean, the way he holds him right now…" She looked over yet again to the two persons whispering things in each other's ears, which were meant to be heard by no one but themselves "I'm just wondering if I really did the right thing, Harry. I really don't know."

"Although I don't know what your intentions were, I'm sure you had a good reason for doing what you did. I trust your instinct, Gin. You'll just have to do that too."

He squeezed her shoulder and then went over to help Molly set the table. She looked over yet again to where Jason and Sirius had been just a few seconds ago but found the place to be empty. She searched the room for them, but couldn't find them anywhere. Ginny arose to look if they had gone outside, but suddenly found herself looking into Sirius' eyes.

"I think this is yours," he said with a slight smile playing around his lips, and handed her Jason.

"Yes, thanks, Sirius," she answered, her cheeks turning red.

Sirius frowned and for a moment he looked as if he was going to pull back again but instead he said, "You want to come out to the garden and take a walk? We… have quite a lot to talk about."

Ginny was surprised by the question; she had expected Sirius to be mad at her, to greet her with icy silence, but this caught her off-guard. Several emotions flooded her heart, mostly one she had tried to suppress for so long… too long.

"Alright, I'm just going to ask Harry to take care of Jason for a while, and then I'll come out. You just go ahead." Sirius nodded and went out through the door to the garden. After handing Harry her little son, Ginny followed Sirius out to the garden.

He was sitting on a wooden bench waiting for her, and as she sat down he immediately opened his mouth, "I want to take care of you, Ginny. I want to help you and Jason in every possible way, but you're backing away and I don't know what to do"

"W-What?" stuttered Ginny, and looked at Sirius with a baffled expression "What are you talking about, Sirius? You d-" Sirius cut her off with an impatient movement.

"Let me finish. I know I haven't been there for you and Jason, and I know I have to make it up to you, if you'd just let me."

"I've never asked for your help, Sirius," Ginny stated.

"I know That's the problem. You're shutting me out, and you have no right whatsoever to do so. I want to take care of Jason and be the father he deserves to have, but if you won't let me, I can promise you, I'll find other ways to get what I want." Sirius looked at her, a strand of black hair hanging down in front of his left eye.

Unaware of what she did, Ginny lifted her hand and put the strand behind Sirius' ear. Noticing what she had just done, Ginny flushed and quickly pulled her hand back, but to no effect since Sirius' eyes already twinkled impishly.

"You need me, Ginevra; you just haven't realized it yet." With that he bent forward and gently touched her lips with his own.