This happens to be one of those nasty, unrealistic stories where Sirius has mysteriously reappeared from the dead. Sirius was one of my favourite characters and I couldn't just ignore him, but at the same time I had to get rid of Harry with the Horcruxes. I know that most of this doesn't mesh with HBP, and I don't really care. If you don't like it, then you can stop reading now.
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. It all belongs to J.K. Rowling…lucky bitch.
Rating: M, in anticipation.
A/N: Spilt Glass – thanks for your amazing review.
I would do one of those annoying "GIVE ME THIS MANY REVIEWS OR I WON'T UPDATE" ploys, but they're annoying. It would be nice if I got some more reviews, though.
This chapter makes reference to where all of the bedrooms are. I attempted to draw it out, but I'm horrible at Paint. Here's my idea of the layout of the house: http / img . photobucket . com / albums / v443 / kagebrie / number12 . jpg (remove the spaces, of course)
Chapter 2 – Back At Number 12 (a/n: yeah. I know. I'm awful at titles.)
Ginny Weasley stepped out of the fire, brushing the ashes off of her clothes. She'd chosen to wear Muggle clothes – dark-washed jeans, leather flip-flops, and a plain brown shirt – and now she wished she hadn't. The stylish jeans felt constricting, the shirt's lack of sleeves provided for many painful gnome bites, and the flip-flops had a tendency to slip off.
"Hello, Ginny," said Tonks, who was seated at the kitchen table, along with Sirius, Lupin, and the rest of the Weasleys. "Would you like a sandwich? We were just having lunch."
"Rather late for lunch, isn't it?" Ginny asked, washing the dirt off of her arms. "It's almost four o'clock. Nice hair, by the way." Tonks's hair happened to be a neon purple colour, which matched beautifully with her deep purple robes.
"Thanks. Y'know, purple is the colour of royalty, and I was feeling kinda royal today." Tonks twitched her nose, adding some deep purple streaks into her hair. "As for the lunch, well, we weren't expecting Molly home to cook for us. And we all know how well Sirius cooks." Sirius rolled his eyes. "So we decided that we could make do with one meal instead of the two."
Molly looked uncertain. "That's probably not healthy, Nymphadora…with You-Know-Who's supporters protecting the Horcruxes as fiercely as we're trying to locate them, you'll need your nourishment."
"It's Tonks, Molly. And we ought to be going, in any case; we're due to meet Mad-Eye and Kingsley in fifteen minutes. We've a mission tonight." Tonks stood, scrunching her face up. She changed her hair to a less-noticeable grey-streaked brown and added wrinkles on her face. "I've got to change these robes, too." Bidding everyone farewell, Lupin stood and Apparated. With a loud crack, Tonks followed him.
Sirius shook his head. "It's always a damned mission. Always a mission. Why can't I ever do anything to help, damnit! I'm a bloody feared murderer. You'd think that I could intimidate the fuckers, but no. It's always, 'Stay at home, Sirius. You can't help us, Sirius. This is your place, Sirius.'" He slammed his fist down on the table. There was a moment of shocked silence.
Molly finally spoke up. "The children…I've never heard such vulgarity in my life…"
Sirius suddenly opened his eyes, as if realising something. "God, Molly, I'm sorry…I don't know what came over me…I…er…well, I ought to show you to your rooms. Come on." He motioned towards the door.
Molly Weasley grabbed onto her husband's arm, steering him towards the other door. "I think we'll be able to manage, Mr. Black," she snapped.
Sirius was left standing bewildered in the kitchen, surrounded by the four youngest Weasley children.
"It's alright, Sirius," Ginny said. "Mum does that all the time. Earlier today, I said 'bloody', and she about had a fit. I'm sixteen! She'll get over it."
"Erm. Right. So…your rooms. This way. Your luggage has already arrived and it's in your rooms." Sirius led them out to the stairs. Ginny noticed that they were her favourite kind of stairs. They were of the sort that wrapped around in order to take up less room.
Sirius stopped briefly on the second floor landing. "Your parents are in that bedroom over there. The other one is extra…sometimes members of the Order use it. Lupin stays in it, Tonks stays in it…" Sirius suddenly looked uncomfortable.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Sirius, we're all grown up, you know."
"Okay. Would you rather me say, 'Lupin and Tonks reside in there, fucking each other's brains out every night'?" Sirius asked. Ginny laughed and shook her head, letting her straight and shiny red hair flip from side to side. Sirius had never noticed her hair before; she'd always kept it up in a messy ponytail. She'd certainly done some growing up in her fifth year at Hogwarts – mentally, and, he couldn't help but notice, physically. He wondered briefly just how much she'd grown up, but a picture of Molly Weasley immediately popped into his head. His questionable thoughts of Ginny disappeared, and he continued leading the Weasleys up the stairs.
"So, this is the third floor. The boys' floor, if you will. Ron, your room is over there." Sirius pointed to a door across the landing. "I got bored over the spring and painted it orange. Actually, I redid most of the house. I know you like the Cannons. Fred and George, that's your room. It's across the landing from Ron's, so hopefully you won't get into too many brotherly fights. That room," he pointed at the room in between the two, "is currently unoccupied."
Fred, George, and Ron quickly disappeared into their rooms. Ron wanted to unpack all of his Cannons memorabilia, while the twins were planning on unshrinking their gnomes and conjuring up some cages for them.
Sirius and Ginny continued up the stairs. "Well, Ginny, your room is up here, on the fourth floor. There're floors higher up, but this is the top residential floor. Most of the ones up there are servants' quarters and stuff. That's my room, and your room is across from mine. You've got an adjoining bathroom to yourself and Hermione, who will be your roommate, provided that no one moves into that empty room between ours. That's Buckbeak's room, but he's pretty quiet, as long as I take him for his nightly fly. He shouldn't bother you."
Ginny nodded, opening the door to her room. She gasped in delight when she realised that it was painted bright blue. "That's my favourite colour! Brilliant, Sirius!" She hugged him. Sirius was surprised. He didn't make any effort to hug Ginny back; he stood stiffly, engrossed in his own thoughts. Did she have some sort of interest in him? Did teenage girls often hug adult men if they didn't really like them? He felt a familiar stiffness in his pants and sighed inwardly. This was exactly what he'd felt for his many lovers.
All alone in Number 12 during the school year, he'd often sought out female company. Muggle schoolgirls, married witches, magically enhanced…it didn't matter. Maybe he'd talk to them for a while, then he'd fuck them, more for the release and the togetherness than for the pleasure. They'd stay the night and then leave, sometimes giving him their number, inviting them to call him. He never did, of course. There had been dozens of them, those one-night stands, hoping for something that Sirius couldn't give them. He'd come to the conclusion long ago that he had no emotion left. He cared for Harry, yes, but that was more out of a sense of old comradeship for his father than anything else. Sirius had promised James to care for Harry, and care for Harry he would. But Sirius had never truly loved, and he believed that it was his destiny never to do so. So he used the women, screwing them and then ditching them. He sincerely hoped that Ginny would have the sense to stay away from him. Ginny deserved more than that.
"Er…Sirius?" Ginny asked, interrupting Sirius's train of thought. "You okay?" She'd stepped away from him – a wise move, Sirius thought – and he momentarily wondered just how obvious his erection was.
"Yeah, Gin. I'm fine. Just spacing out." The two shared a moment of awkward silence. "Well…I'll be in my room."
"Yeah. Thanks for showing me around." Ginny turned and walked into her room. Sirius watched her hips swing and her hair swish before she closed the door behind her. He sighed, running his hands through his messy black hair, and retreated into his own room.