A/N: I don't own Harry Potter or any related characters
This is for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Word count: 1252
Her fingers touched the fabric of the veil, not crossing through the archway, but stopping just short of actually being inside. The curtain fluttered forward, brushing against her hand. Tears pricked her eyes.
"It's not fair," she whispered, letting them fall to the stone ground. They made wet splotches where they hit.
"I love you," she added. "Loved you," she corrected herself, wondering if the feeling of pain would ever go away, if her broken heart would ever mend. She didn't believe it could. For the longest time, she'd held out hope, some strange form of hope, that he'd return, that this was all some prank gone wrong. Days turned to weeks, to months, and finally to years.
Ginny had just turned nineteen. It had been five years since Sirius had fallen through the veil, since he'd disappeared to never be seen again.
"I never should have fallen for you. I was a child, an idiot child with an even more idiotic crush on a man too old for me. Guess what, I still feel it, the breaking when I think of you, the beauty when you'd laugh or smile. You were one of the few people who saw me. Everyone sees the twins, sees perfect Percy and Ron. You saw me for me, not just the daughter Mum always dreamed of. Not that I was much of that," Ginny muttered, not trying to hide the bitterness in her voice. Molly Weasley hadn't wanted a tomboy for a daughter, sure, she'd claimed to love Ginny just the same, but Ginny wasn't what she'd dreamed of in a daughter.
"Remember that night George got his ears hexed? He was eavesdropping on me and Harry and I hexed him. You thought it was funny. I made them cauliflowers because I know George hated cauliflower and you said I should have made them brussel sprouts because that's what you and James did once. I miss hearing those stories. I miss you. I know it's been years, and I should move on, especially since I never should have fallen in love with you in the first place. I mean, maybe it wasn't love then, but it's become something like that. After you died, Harry got your house. I moved in because I wanted to give me and him a chance, but that didn't quite work. I started snooping and I found it, Sirius. I found the diary you kept hidden in your old room underneath the loose floor plank. I've been reading it and we have a lot in common. Is it possible to fall in love with someone who's gone, just because of their words?"
Ginny paused, listening for a moment. She knew she couldn't be caught down here, she wasn't supposed to be here. She didn't care, she needed to talk to Sirius, or at least, the veil. She'd tried to sneak in before but had been caught twice, both times she managed to come up with some semi-valid excuse and not get into trouble. Then she'd been out of the country. It was always on the anniversary of the Sirius' death. Tonight had been the first time she'd managed it.
"Harry's getting married. He found someone who worked out better than me, someone who wasn't in love with a dead man. He's marrying Susan Bones, she's the daughter of Amelia Bones, you might know her. She's one of the ones who was on our side in the ministry. I wish you could come back, come home and see Harry get married. He'd love that. I'd love that, could just imagine? Me walking in with you on my arm? You'd make me look amazing, oh, and a black dress maybe? I'm sorry, I know I'm babbling, I just can't talk to anyone about any of this, not about how I feel. They'd never understand."
Ginny heard a large clock somewhere striking midnight. She counted the chimes as they echoed through the building and her own bones. She closed her eyes as the last one, the twelfth one sounded.
"Make a wish, as the clock strikes twelve, tell no one and from your heart the wish shall delve," she whispered, scrunching up her face as she made a wish, the same wish she made every birthday, every shooting star, every time she saw a wishing well.
With her eyes closed, she didn't see the veil start to glow a silvery white. In the room with no windows, she didn't see the stars start streaking like beams of light across the navy sky. She didn't hear the ocean's song as the waves gurgled and bubbled, all water being connected in some way. All Ginny felt was the temperature of the room start to rise, her skin prickle as the air started to crackle with electricity around her.
Her brown eyes flew open as the veil fluttered violently, whipping in the air, cracking as it moved. The room seemed about to burst when suddenly, everything fell silent, every movement stopped. Ginny, herself, was completely frozen as the a dark shape formed on the veil, growing larger and larger until a hand pushed aside the fabric and a man stepped out of the blinding light. Ginny felt her body release, felt as though she could breathe again. Standing before her, not aged a day, was Sirius Black.
"Sirius?" she whispered, her eyes blinking back tears again, but this time not of sorrow, but a strange joy she couldn't describe.
"Ginny? Where am I?" he asked, looking around. Ginny stepped towards him, her heart pounding in her chest, in her ears. She'd done it, somehow, she'd done it.
"The department of mysteries, it's where... where you died," she whispered.
"I died?" he asked, a confused look crossing his face.
"You fell through the veil, Bellatrix hit you something and you fell. What happened after that? Do you remember?"
"I...I saw Lily and James, we hung out like old times. It felt right, but not real. Then I heard your voice talking to me, about me, telling me about prank idea?"
"Harry's wedding. If I showed up with you, that would be, no one would believe it, I mean you're supposed to be dead."
"Harry's getting married? Right, you said something about that, Amelia's niece. How did you do it, Ginny? How did you bring me back?"
"I haven't the foggiest clue honestly. I just kept wishing, and hoping, and wishing and tonight, something happened, and there you were."
"So now what? How long have I been gone?"
"Five years today, I'm nineteen now."
"And you're invited to Harry's wedding?"
"Yes, Susan's almost a friend, and Harry's, well, he's Harry. The wedding's next week, but I did already check the plus one because just in case, you know?" Ginny asked. Sirius nodded.
"Good, because you're going to be bringing a plus one, and you'd better be wearing that black dress you mentioned earlier," Sirius replied, reaching out and taking Ginny's hand. She smiled at him, her entire body feeling as though it was suddenly filled with energy. She's wished him back and now, he was here, holding her hand.
"It's at my place, um, I guess you should come over, I mean, unless you want to ruin the surprise. Harry's living at Grimmauld Place."
"I'm sure you're flat is fine," Sirius answered, allowing Ginny to lead him out of the department of mysteries, past a sleeping security troll at the front of the building and out into the night air.