Just thinking
The heat was pressing down upon the group, larger this time, that stood ranged about the walled garden, laughing as Ron attempted to wrestle George to the ground, an enchanted ball struggling equally hard to escape the clutches of the pair of them and continue its aimless twisting path unfettered.
The two of them fell over in an undignified heap, hard to the baked ground, limbs entangled in an angry embrace as they grappled for the ball. The winner this round was the ball itself which flew out from either's grasp as Ron pried open his brothers fingers.
As the object of the game rebounded on its helter-pelter path around the lawn, the boys all chased after it eagerly, seeking to be the first to gain possession or to be ready to take it from whoever did.
The girls hung back slightly from the group, wanting to be a part of the fun on this sunny day, but not quite so confident of their place in the game. Not much chance that they'd keep hold of the ball in any case with that lot after them, and the game was really more or less an excuse to fight each other playfully- with no real aim or winner.
Ginny was fast, and a good wriggler, having spent her entire life with older brothers and their games, but she knew all too well that she was no match for any of the older boys in strength, and feared how silly she'd look trying to tug the ball away from someone who could swing her round in the air like a child.
She never used to have these insecurities when she was younger and it was just her and her brothers back at the burrow. Then she would charge straight in fearlessly, trying her hardest to compete with them at whatever they did; ignoring all the taunts that she was too young, just a little girl - and when she inevitably got hurt in the fray, she would sit; stubbornly biting her lip and refusing to cry as the tears welled up in her eyes.
The difference, she supposed, was that she was really not a little girl anymore. And it wasn't just her brothers she was playing with. The boys fighting over at the other end of the lawn seemed to be having some kind of mass brawl, bodies pinning each other to the ground in ways that looked, well, downright compromising….. and while the thought of being pressed up against her own brothers was slightly uncomfortable, the idea of finding herself thrown to the floor by Harry - or, God forbid, Sirius - was enough to make her blush.
As she stood, hovering in indecision, the ball came flying out of nowhere straight towards her face. She caught it as a reflex, and then, realising the onslaught of maleness about to launch its collective self at her; shrugged and taking the opportunity to play in earnest, ran as though the grim were at her heels, swerving and twisting her way through the shrubs at the side in a bid to outwit her pursuers.
She sidestepped Fred, and narrowly snatched her ankle out of the grasp of Sirius, breath catching in her throat. Gleefully she ran, until behind some fruit bushes, she was knocked to the floor by a grinning Harry. His weight on top of her, he set his hands to the struggling ball, but as she looked up he paused, meeting her eyes, and parted his lips, just a fraction.
Tense again, Ginny got up, wrinkling her brow in puzzlement. Had Harry been about to say something? Or was he… thinking about kissing her? No. He'd never looked twice at her back when she had liked him so much. Or did she still like him? Life was confusing sometimes - even when you weren't being possessed by an evil diary….
Ron now making off with the ball, laughing at the surprise on Harry's face, they came to a standstill in the centre of the lawn. She couldn't help but watch with morbid fascination as first Harry, and then Sirius, each peeled off their sweaty muggle t-shirts to reveal… slim, toned torsos… with …. Ginny ran her tongue over her bottom lip, rapt, as Sirius turned and stretched, a line of sweat running down the centre of his chest to where a line of dark hair disappeared into the waistband of his ripped and faded jeans.
How could she not think about how good they looked and how she would like to….to what?
Oh Merlin, that thought could not be finished right here. Unformulated concepts leapt to the girl's mind. Hazy, yet decidedly featuring the path of that lucky bead of sweat and her own pink tongue.
She blinked and looked quickly at Hermione, but the other girl's attention had stayed purely fixed on the main action of the game; where Fred was sitting triumphantly on Ron as George pulled at the ball trapped between the two.
Ginny recognised the focused yet distant look in her eyes
Ah. Thought Ginny. I guess I'm not the only one with a crush….
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Sirius lay on his back, moonlight streaming in through the open curtains at the tall window. The crescent moon was beginning to wax steadily, heralding the return to full health of his werewolf friend, who had been in for dinner at number twelve for the first time since his latest transformation.
Looking at the moon always made him think of Remus, and the first times they had spent the full moons together as teenagers at Hogwarts. Always in the company of the other marauders, each taking the form of their respective animal counterparts as they ran free around Hogsmeade; arrogantly, recklessly, thinking that they could restrain the beast that Lupin became.
Sirius had always been the reckless one. Acting on instinct, because everything had always come easy to him. It wasn't that he never thought things through; it was just that he could never quite persuade himself of all the reasons why something was not a good idea quite in time.
Like the 'prank' he pulled on Snivellus, one full moon in their sixth year.
Like his legendary success with the female students - not to mention a couple of the teachers – no matter who they were, or who they were with.
Like the relationship that he and Moony had almost shared and he had monumentally screwed up.
Like his foolhardy decision to rashly track down and confront Pettigrew in the aftermath of the attack on the Potter's
Remus had always been the careful one, right from the time he had first met him as an tall, serious-eyed eleven year old, shy with his second hand books and his secrets to keep. It was James and Sirius - Potter and Black – who terrorised the school with their pranks even as they charmed them with their easy smiles and quick wits.
It was the two of them who later discovered how they could turn those smiles to good effect on the girls of their year and they quickly gained a reputation for being the most sought after boys in the entire school. Remus had his own small following, and Peter was more than happy to comfort those that had not found favour and got his share too. Between them, all the pretty girls in the school had been involved with a marauder to some degree or another - evoking fierce arguments when they clashed over the same girl.
Following a lengthy and determined onslaught, James had found a love that should have been destined to last forever in Lily Evans, the muggleborn witch who had tempered his arrogance and pride with her determined kindness and fiery disposition. Lily's long red hair and green eyes had fuelled more than a few of Sirius's own teenage fantasies – not that he had ever admitted this to his best friend; but Sirius had never learned to settle down and continued to play the field in which he was far more talented than even the quidditch pitch.
How could he say no to a pretty girl? Not to mention more than one of the boys…. If he wanted someone, Sirius had always gone for it. He would dare to seduce anyone and was always up for a challenge. And he always got what he wanted, where women were concerned at least.
That was how things had always been; before.
Of course, those days were long since gone and he and Remus were the only two left now. What had become of all those dreams they had when at school? James and Lily had been brutally murdered, and even the though this had freed the world of Voldemort's influence for the last fourteen years, it could never seem to make the loss worthwhile in Sirius's head. James had been family to him, and the thought that it was he who had persuaded him to use that rat Pettigrew as secret keeper had nearly driven him insane with guilt in Azkaban. Dark thoughts of vengeance had sustained him more than dreams of a life with Harry and with Moony throughout all those long years of torment.
The boy he had once been was still evident in his character, but the man he had become was angrier and more bitter than he should have ever been. His entire adult life had been spent alone, more as dog than man. It sometimes seemed that all the intervening years had never truly occurred at all. That he would wake to find himself no older than the others here…. Sweet merlin, but that boy looked like James!
A half smile flitted across his handsome features at the thought of his godson; today had been good for him, playing games in the sunshine as though they were all carefree and normal. He remembered with amusement Ginny launching herself through the air at George, long red hair swinging over her shoulder as she tripped him unceremoniously to the ground. That girl certainly had spark. Sirius turned over onto his side and attempted to find a comfortable spot on the large and endlessly empty bed.
There were still good things in the world, but it was a lonelier man who tossed and turned tonight, finding as ever that late at night, sleep evaded him.
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
Sirius was not the only one to lie awake, long after the lights had all gone out. On the floor below, each of the girls waited in silence in their separate beds, listening to the unfamiliar creakings of the old house and just thinking about what would never be. Never? No, well….no, itjust couldn'tbe…