Disclaimer: It's all J.K.'s. The title of the chapter, "Strangers in my bed", is taken from the song "Nothing Left But Me" by The Cruxshadows.
A/N: I'm wondering if this story should be classed as AU, but I don't exactly know what that means. Help with the definition would be excellent. I'm not a very prompt updater, am I? School started…many distractions…I'll do what I can. I must admit, I've been having some difficulties thinking of ideas for this fanfic.
Chapter 3: Strangers In My Bed
Ginny shut the door. She was glad to get away from Sirius. She'd felt a new kind of tension between them that had never been there before, and she didn't like it. She wanted to be around him and get to know him, but at the same time she desperately wanted to get away from him. She felt herself falling for him, and she knew that she was purposefully trying to avoid it.
She looked at the clock. It was 4:30. Excellent; she didn't have much time to kill until dinner. She began rummaging around in her room, unpacking her trunk and putting everything away. She made sure to keep all of her stuff on one side of the room, in this case, the side farthest from the door; she knew that Hermione was anal about keeping her side to herself.
Meanwhile, on the floor below, Fred and George were busily creating a makeshift zoo for their gnomes when Ron barged into their room. They hastily jumped in front of their cages, but not before Ron got a glimpse of them.
"What the hell is that?" Ron blurted, his eyes wide.
"Just a little…experiment…" said Fred, twisting his hands behind his back nervously.
"We trust you won't tell anyone," George chipped in. The twins took hold of Ron, forcing him towards the door.
"Like hell I won't!" Ron protested, struggling to get out of the twins' grasp. His struggles abruptly halted when Fred slipped him a few Galleons, and he peaceably exited the room.
"Dinner!" called Molly Weasley. In a matter of moments, everyone in Number 12 Grimmauld Place was seated around the kitchen table, ready to dig into roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, stewed carrots, and homemade rolls. Sirius had seated himself next to Ginny, much to her mutual joy and annoyance – joy, because someone truly liked her, and annoyance because she didn't know what she wanted from him yet. Fred and George had strategically placed themselves across from Ron, staring pointedly at him, daring him to tell their mother about the gnomes. Assorted other members of the Order were heaping food onto their plates.
"No one had any trouble moving in, did they?" asked Mrs. Weasley. "I had a wonderful day; it's so nice to be back here again. I took a lovely long walk out in the garden…" And Mrs. Weasley was off on one of her infamous conversation-starting rambles.
"She never shuts up, does she?" Sirius murmured to Ginny. Ginny felt her cheeks heat, but tried to play it cool.
"No, she never seems to realise that no one is listening to her."
"Mmm. I can tell." Sirius spooned some mashed potatoes into his mouth.
"Pie!" shrilled Mrs. Weasley, interrupting their conversation. "Warm apple pie! The famous Molly Weasley recipe!" Ginny rolled her eyes. According to her mother, every recipe that she made was famous. Ginny accepted a piece of delicious apple pie and devoured it.
A few minutes later, Mrs. Weasley and Tonks began clearing the table. Fred, George, Ron, and Lupin went outside to play two-on-two Quidditch in the meadow. Ginny started up the stairs to her room, but Sirius pulled her back. They looked at each other for a moment, Sirius apparently forgetting what he'd been meaning to say. Just as Ginny was about to pull away and huff up the stairs, annoyed, Sirius cleared his throat.
"Er…d'you want to go walk in the garden?"
Ginny raised her eyebrows at this unusual request, but nodded. They continued silently out into the garden.
"So…erm…this is the garden?" Ginny stated stupidly, to break the awkward silence.
"Uh. Yeah. Hey, look – our apple tree is finally growing apples!" Sirius led Ginny over to a huge tree, which was indeed full of ripe apples. Ginny got a slight feeling that this was all planned out, but she didn't really care. She sank into the grass under the tree. Sirius jumped up and grabbed an apple from a branch before following suit.
"Here," Sirius said, tossing the apple to Ginny. "Have a bite."
Ginny awkwardly bit into the apple, acutely aware that Sirius was intently watching her eat. (A/N: Like the adverbs?) After taking a few bites, she handed it back to him, running her tongue across her teeth to assure that no apple bits were caught in them. He bit into it eagerly, devouring the apple in huge mouthfuls. Ginny watched him eat, noticing his full lips. Maybe he would be a good kisser, she thought. Quickly shaking the thought out of her head, Ginny initiated conversation.
"So…how do you like living here all year?" she asked. As soon as the words escaped her mouth, she chastised herself for blurting out such a stupid question.
"It gets kind of lonely, especially since it lacks such excellent company as I am enjoying right now." Impressive choice of words, no? Ginny thought so, laughing and thanking Sirius for the compliment. Sirius shrugged. "I'm just telling the truth."
Ginny flushed. She sensed the growing attraction between them and instinctively began thinking of ways to repel it. She'd never been a fan of serious relationships, preferring halfhearted flings where her suitor was infatuated with her and she had no feelings for him. Hermione called it a control complex. She always had to be in control, always had to have the guy chasing her, willing to do anything for her, when she couldn't care less.
"Y'know…this would be a good climbing tree," Ginny commented. "Would you mind helping me up?"
Sirius looked at her strangely, but consented to lift her up and into the tree. Ginny was glad that she'd worn jeans and not a skirt; she was even more grateful that these jeans happened to be stretch jeans and supercomfortable. Sirius waited until Ginny had climbed a few branches up before jumping, catching the lowest branch, and pulling himself up after her. Ginny had to admit that she was impressed by his strength. After climbing a good way up, she found a nice nook and wedged herself between the branch and the tree trunk. Sirius, slightly out of breath, lay on his stomach across the same branch.
"You're good at climbing trees," Ginny observed, shifting her position so she could comfortably face Sirius.
He shrugged. "I guess it's a product of my family life. I always came out here and climbed when my family became too much for me to bear. I'd sit in the tree and think and they'd search for me but never could find me." He half-grinned, recollecting his mother running around the garden, screaming for him, never bothering to look up. "Of course, it got me in horrible trouble. A good many beatings I got for hiding. They'd ask me where I was, but I never told them. It was my one refuge…I couldn't let them know. I couldn't let them take it away. I guess now I could Apparate up the tree, but I'd rather climb."
Ginny sat still for a moment, digesting this information. Then she spoke. "I kind of had the same problem, but I didn't have any trees to climb. My parents never laid a hand on me…never…not on any of my brothers, either. They were just so overbearing. Still are. It's hard to tolerate sometimes. There's always someone around saying 'Ginny, do this' or 'Ginny, be more like that' or 'GINEVRA, STOP THAT!' I'll go up to my room and there's someone on the same floor, always. My dad or my mom or Fred or George or Ron... And the house is so small that I can't get away, I'll go into my room and shut the door and I can still hear them and they can still hear me. There's nowhere to go for refuge."
Sirius nodded. "I know how you feel." He paused, running his hands through his hair, still – amazingly – keeping his balance on the skinny limb. Ginny sensed that he had something more to say. Finally he spoke. "Ginny, I really like you. And I think you like me too." She nodded. He sighed in response. "I don't…I don't know…" Suddenly he sat up, showing no intentions of finishing his sentence. He wrapped one arm around Ginny, using all of his balancing skills to keep himself from crashing to the ground. Ginny closed her eyes, anticipating what was coming, and Sirius didn't disappoint. He leaned in, gently kissing her, wrapping her in his arms.
It reminded Ginny of her first kiss all over again, except that this kiss had all of the passion that hers had lacked. Her kissing virginity had been taken by Michael Corners in the hall one day at Hogwarts. It had been sloppy and he had almost missed her mouth completely – totally unromantic. Ginny had kissed many times since, but none quite compared to Sirius's. She relaxed, letting herself go. It felt as if she were falling, blissfully falling…
Everything went black.