Father's Minion

Chapter Title: Unclear Destinations

Author's Note: Happy new year all. Can you believe it was a little over a year ago that I started this story? I'm sorry that I'm slow on the update, but last year I made the resolution that I was going to finish this fic and I plan to do that. Thank you to all those who have been waiting for this chapter. Pay attention I promise that most of the things in this chapter are important to plot development. To all my D/G lovers reading this, there will be D/G…I promise, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and I would be crazy to try to fit them together within this confined period of time and make it believable, but I'm not making any promises to the end pairing of the story. For all you know I could be an avid Ginny/Neville shipper…then where would you all be? (Insert evil laugh here) anyway…I hope that you enjoy the chapter. Please review!

She hadn't meant to do it of course. She'd just been really angry was all. She still wasn't entirely certain if the whole incident was her fault anyway. It certainly seemed possible. She'd seen them together; he was smiling at her and hanging onto her every word as though they kept him breathing…and something inside Reda just…snapped. Reda couldn't see the girl weasel's appeal. In all honesty she did have a pretty face, but her body was slightly bony in many places…there were so many other people that he could fancy, and yet he fancied someone who didn't necessarily exude magnificence.

Reda sighed and threw her Transfiguration book across the room. She rubbed her temples thinking back to earlier in the day. She'd seen them laughing and walking around the lake; Reda had been wishing to set fire to the girl weasel's fiery locks, and the next thing she knew, the tree next to her had burst into flames. This of course had attracted the attention of quite a few people in the vicinity, including John and little miss weasel miss.

"Oh sweet Merlin," the girl had gasped, "Are you alright, here come here, back away from that tree."

She'd pulled Reda away from the flaming tree and shoved her into John's arms. John had looked down at Reda stunned for a bit before he smiled down at her. In that moment Reda had forgotten that she had been jealous of the Weasley girl…what was her name again?...Ginny? How could she be jealous of someone when it was obvious that John held that look for her and her only. John broke her dazed ranting by continuing looking fondly at the redhead who was dousing the tree with water, rather than the redhead in his arms.

"Isn't she amazing?" He'd asked in rapt awe. Instead of anger; a feeling of anguish pooled into the pit of Reda's stomach and swarmed to the surface, she'd tried really hard not to cry, but in the end there was no getting around it. Amazingly enough there was a sudden downpour of rain, and the Weasley girl was once again with them.

"This rain came out of nowhere," she'd exclaimed, and then she'd turned her concerned eyes to Reda, "Oh, you must be so frightened, look you're shaking!"

Reda couldn't correct the nitwit; couldn't tell her that the fact that she was shaking was because she couldn't compose her silent sobs. It didn't help her situation when she realized that they were all getting soaked to the bone. The Weasley girl was standing there while her shirt clung to her like a second skin, causing John to stare openly. This made Reda's sobs evident and the rain poured harder.

"Oh dear," the Weasley girl muttered, "Come on John, we need to get her inside."

That had basically been the end of it; they'd led her inside where she'd thankfully met up with Draco. Reda had run soaking and sobbing into Draco's arms, while Draco yelled at John for not escorting a young lady in sooner, and didn't he know how to take care of a female, and glared when he saw that John's cloak was covering Ginny. Ginny in turn had screamed at Draco for being so rude to people and didn't he know that they'd only been trying to help and that he shouldn't be such an insensitive prat all the time. Draco had stormed Reda off with him to the Slytherin dungeons and she hadn't protested, she was now angered and embarrassed by her whole display and just wanted to sleep.

Now here she sat glaring at the wall and wishing that she could make John give her a moments notice.

"There's no point to it," she told herself bitterly, and prepared to head to the Great Hall for dinner.

XxXxXx

"Where were you?" Sirius roared at the small redhead in front of him. He'd been out of his mind for the past half an hour wondering where she'd gone, yet here she was. Soaked through her clothes and pulling off her trainers.

"I was out," she answered lamely.

"Out? And where precisely is 'out'?"

"I was walking with John okay!"

Sirius growled at the mention of the boy's name. There was something about the boy that just didn't sit well with him. It might have been due to the fact that the boy reminded him an awful lot of a Malfoy, or it might have been that there was just this eerie feeling of dread Sirius got whenever the boy was around, but the animal in him definitely didn't trust the boy.

"Why do you insist that you talk to him? Why don't you talk to a nice boy like Harry?" At his remark Ginny snorted and Sirius flashed her a look.

"Oh, what? You were serious…Sirius…" she burst out laughing and Sirius had to fight the urge not to throttle her, never mind the fact that she'd saved him, but he was extremely angry with her temper and her horrible jokes were really starting to irk him.

"Of course I was serious. What's wrong with Harry?"

"Trust me, nothing is wrong with Harry," she said the tone in her voice had changed and Sirius noticed that her countenance seemed more closed off as if there was something there that she didn't want him to see.

"You still like him don't you?"

"Still? Was I really that transparent before that you knew I used to like him?" Ginny asked appalled by the revelation.

"I'd heard stories."

"Oh Merlin," Ginny groaned bringing her hands to her face and rubbing her forehead.

"Listen Sirius, whatever you've heard just forget it. Besides…Harry's been avoiding me like the plague lately. I don't know if you've noticed it or anything, but the only time Harry ever comes near me is when he really needs to speak with you. Even then I have to pretend I'm not there."

"Doesn't that tell you anything?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, it tells me that he's being an insane git."

Sirius growled in frustration, he hadn't had much time to talk to Harry, but the time that he did have he could tell that there was something that had been bothering Harry, besides that usual impending doom that awaited the poor boy. Harry had told Sirius about the prophesy and in all honesty, Sirius hadn't been too surprised to hear it. He'd felt horrid that the poor boy had to carry the burden. Then Sirius' thoughts turned to the fiery girl before him.

She was infuriating that was for sure, yet there was something that intrigued him to no end. She was very snippy with her remarks and livened the conversation. He'd almost throttled her more times then not, she'd become almost unbearable to be around and he knew she was only doing this because she didn't want to have a "watch dog". Can't she see that I don't like this arrangement anymore than she? Sirius rubbed his calloused hands against his face and peered between his fingers at the girl. She was currently removing different layers of clothing.

"Can't you warn a man before you start getting undressed," barked Sirius finding it extremely hard not to stare at the undershirt that was clinging to the young lady's body.

"I'm sorry; I didn't realize that you were incapable of keeping your eyes closed," she snarked.

"A little warning would have been nice nonetheless. Can't you do that in the bathroom?"

"Why? You always get angry when I'm not by your side," Ginny replied innocently starting to unbutton her skirt. Sirius threw his hands to his face and muttered, "I'll be waiting for you outside," before he disappeared into the hall as Snuffles. Ginny shrugged to herself and continued changing her clothes.

XxXxXx

It had been about three days since Ginny had last ditched Sirius and she was really trying to be nice to him. She understood that he hated the arrangement just as much as she did, but she didn't see the necessity in it all; she hadn't had any more "episodes" and she felt great. Once she and John had gotten past that first hurdle of his awkward infatuation, they had become really good friends and she found that she enjoyed his company. There were times when she'd feel as though he was still holding on to old feelings he held for her, but she'd just have to remind him that she didn't like him like that and he'd back off for a moment. It always hurt her to push him away, because he could be really sweet when he wanted to. This mannerism of his was something that baffled her entirely because he was so much like Draco in many other aspects.

Ginny looked around the hallway to make sure there wasn't an angry Snuffles on her tail. It wasn't her fault that she needed time alone…she just needed this. As Ginny made her way outside she heard voices, but she knew that is wasn't human speech she was hearing it sounded hissy and serpent-like. Parseltongue. Ginny was careful as she made her way around the corner and stopped in her tracks when she saw Harry kneeling on the ground picking at some grass, but he was conversing with something and in that moment Ginny saw what it was. Lying in the grass was a garden snake, though it seemed rather large for a garden snake and Ginny blinked once or twice when she realized that this particular garden snake had amber eyes.

Suddenly from somewhere Ginny heard:

"You will be found."

Ginny went extremely still, she wasn't certain where the voice had come from, but if she had to guess then she would guess it came from the snake. Too shocked to move and not wanting to make her presence known yet, Ginny stood stock still. Luckily it was Harry who answered the snake.

"I will be what?—Was I lost?" Ginny realized that Harry was speaking in parseltonuge and she could understand him. Ginny tried not to panic; Dumbledore had assured her years ago that Tom's traces were gone from her. To be certain she'd tried opening the chamber once more, relief had washed over her when she realized that she could no longer speak the language, and yet here she was able to eavesdrop on Harry's conversation with a snake.

"She will understand." The snake continued cryptically, but Ginny had a good idea that the snakes reference was to her being able to understand their conversation. Ginny could swear she saw the snake wink at her, but that couldn't be possible. Harry was still staring confusedly at the snake.

"Your girlfriend is here," the snake offered lazily. Ginny's heart sped up and she took a step forward hoping Harry wouldn't realize that she could understand what he was saying.

"Hello Harry." Harry spun around quickly and blushed furiously glaring at the snake.

"She's not my girlfriend," Harry hissed in parseltongue not knowing that Ginny could understand him. Now Ginny was the one blushing furiously. Did he honestly find the thought of being with her unappealing? Ginny didn't have time to dwell on this however as the snake repeated.

"She will understand." Harry gazed at Ginny now and the open ended emotion she saw there scared her. She tried to train her features so she wouldn't betray the fact that she knew what he or the snake was saying. Both she and Harry stood awkwardly waiting for the other to say something. Ginny's mind was working furiously, trying to grasp something, any excuse as to why she was there; the honest truth being that she herself wasn't certain why she was there.

"I…erm…was just going to the lake…" Ginny offered lamely.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." She nodded still feeling extremely awkward.

"Would you…would you maybe like to—erm—I mean. Well you were already heading that way and—"

"Yeah," she answered before she had time to really think about it. All of a sudden the tension seemed to be lifted and Harry smiled at her.

She decided that she liked his smile very much.

XxXxXx

The paws slapped the floor as Snuffles rushed down the hall. He'd have to speak with Dumbledore about her. He sniffed the air catching her scent, it seemed to be everywhere. She'd managed to shake him after lunch.

Snuffles stopped and sniffed at the air again, there it was, that scent…so distinctly Ginny and yet not. In his years of being an animagus Sirius had learned to use the abilities that his animagus form allowed him. Every person holds a scent, each scent as unique and unduplicated as the person's genetic structure; even the Patil twins had different scents; distinct; beyond the fragrance of perfume and hair potions, beyond the scent of parchment and quills, beyond robes and shoes. This scent is individual and distinct, more distinct than sweat, a scent that only an animal can know. When a person says that dogs can smell fear it goes much deeper than that, a dog can sense emotions and a dog can sense beings.

Snuffles followed the scent to a deserted classroom at least that is what one would think if one didn't have a dog's nose. Snuffles made his way quietly into the room; this room in particular had been the Muggle Studies room when Sirius had attended Hogwarts. There, sitting on the sofa was a sight that Snuffles never thought he would see. There sat Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley lips locked as though they were melded together. Snuffles was aware of the urge to growl ferociously at them, but he quickly extinguished that feeling.

Upon taking a deep breath Snuffles realized something. This girl was not Ginny Weasley, this girl who looked like her and smelled like her was not her, it wasn't the inward scent that smelled different…it was the outward scent. This person smelled like Spanish spices and soil. The real Ginny Weasley usually smelled like the Gryffindor common room and pumpkin juice. Upon even further inspection Snuffles found that the boy wasn't Draco Malfoy, but that Gryffindor first year that followed Ginny around all the time.

Snuffles was preparing to leave; it wasn't the first time that his nose had led him astray, he was always searching for the minute scents when he searched for specific people because the outward sense can be deceiving. The most unnerving part about this situation as well as so many others was that this girl, whom Snuffles had found out was a Slytherin, had the same exact genetic scent as Ginevra Molly Weasley. Snuffles really needed to talk to Dumbledore now, but he was finding it extremely difficult to pull himself from the room.

The girl had taken John's hand and was leading it up, underneath her shirt. While doing so her other hand was busy trying to unbutton the boy's pants. Snuffles was having troubles not going slack jawed at the scene before him, it had been a long time since he'd been with a woman, and to see these two kids going at it, though wrong in some sense he was sure, was more exciting than it should have been.

The girl, finding boldness, stuck her hand inside the Gryffindor's pants and that is when John was jolted out of his reverie. He looked at the girl before him and removed his hands from her body and his lips from her neck. He then removed her hand from his pants.

"John, what's wrong?" the girl asked innocently, but the boy was still trying to regain his composure.

"I can't do this," John stated. Snuffles thought that the girl would surely be put out by this, but instead she smirked at the boy.

"Oh yes you can, you seemed very functional just a moment ago." John looked at the girl in disgust.

"You don't understand Reda! You're not her," he spoke softly while trying to button his pants. Reda shot her hand forward and stopped his movements.

"Is this about her?" she sounded severely hurt. Tears seemed to be pooling in her eyes, but it seemed as though the boy wasn't paying attention, his features had gone goofy and he was staring off into the distance.

"She's just…everything. She's perfect," he gushed.

"Yes, pretty perfect princess Ginny Weasley," Reda spat. It was then that John actually looked at her.

"Are you crying?"

"No," Reda fought furiously to keep her emotions in check, but she just wasn't as good as the rest of the Slytherins when it came to emotion concealment.

"She could never love you. Not the way that—" the girl broke off seeing the change in the boy's features.

"What?" John's features had clouded and he looked murderous. Reda recoiled a little but continued in a persistent manner.

"Ginny, she…she could never hold the feelings for you that you hold for her. She's a fifth year John!"

"So."

"So she'll most likely want to date people her own age."

"Listen Reda, I know how you feel about me." John stated. Reda gulped and looked at him waiting for him to continue.

"You look an awful lot like her," John admitted. Reda looked hopeful and leant in to kiss him, but he placed a finger on her lips.

"But you're not her," he stood slowly and started tucking his shirt back into his pants before adding, "and you never will be."

Snuffles was so interested by the scene in front of him that he didn't notice that there was a person behind him until they touched his fur.

"Hey Snuffles, does Ginny know you're here?" Snuffles turned around to spot Peter Handle the Hufflepuff boy that looked like his godson. Snuffles barked in response knowing that the boy couldn't understand him, but he was eager to get out of the room now that his presence was noted.

"Handle, what are you doing here?" John Azar spat. The Harry look-alike noticed the whole room now.

"Oh, hello Azar," the contempt in his voice was clear; he then spotted the girl still on the couch, "Reda." The boy's eyes softened upon seeing her there. She nodded at him and stood up to fix her clothes. Peter's eyes widened as he realized what he just walked in on.

"Oh, erm…I suppose I'll just be going. I saw Snuffles in the doorway and thought that Ginny might want to know that he was out of the common room." Peter muttered. At the mention of Ginny's name John Azar perked up and looked toward Snuffles.

"Yes she would want to know. Don't worry about it Handle, I'll take him to her." John stated not leaving room for much argument. Snuffles was about to bark in protest when Peter came to stand in front of him.

"Do you even know where she is Azar?" Peter asked.

"No but I'll find her," John moved forward towards Snuffles.

"But I know where she is. I will take Snuffles." Peter didn't back down. John sighed and looked at Reda than back at Peter.

"Well, I'm coming with you. I was hoping to talk to Ginevra anyway and besides; Reda and I are finished with our business," Reda flinched at his simple dismissal of her presence. John drew his robes around himself and motioned to the hallway.

"Shall we?"

XxXxXx

The wind whipped her hair around her and she wished that she'd thought to bring her heavier robes.

"Here," Harry said, placing his robes over her shoulders, "you look like you're cold."

"Thank you." Ginny responded reveling in the warmth of his cloak. They had been having nice little snippets of chats, they talked about Quidditch, and classes, they had even talked about Cho (Harry swore up and down that he didn't like her anymore, but someone else).

Mostly they had just enjoyed each other's company and walked without saying much. Harry stopped her suddenly and pulled her to face him. Ginny's breath caught in her throat as she stared at him, waiting for him to make a move.

"Ginny…Ginny I—" but his statement was cut off by the barking of a large dog as it came toward them followed closely by three people.

"Bloody hell," Ginny cursed softly. Harry looked at her in surprise but smirked just the same. Snuffles stopped a few paces away from them and looked at them imperiously. Ginny looked to Harry and only then noticed that they had moved together quite close when he'd stopped her. His hands were around her waist and her hands were placed delicately upon his chest. She had to fight the sudden urge to run her hands up and down his body. Harry had apparently just noticed their proximity as well because his eyes had gone smoky and he looked as though he was going to lower his mouth to hers any moment. Ginny wished he would just close the space between them, but the moment passed and a voice broke them out of their reverie.

"Hey Potter, hands off." John Azar was standing near Snuffles and had his hands crossed in front of his chest. Though Harry glared at the boy he still removed his hands from around Ginny. If Ron ever found out that he'd touched his sister, Harry would be a dead man.

"Hello John," Ginny greeted. She disentangled herself from Harry and moved towards Snuffles.

"I guess you found me. I hope you aren't terribly angry with me for…erm…leaving you," Snuffles growled at her to show her that she wasn't anywhere near forgiven yet.

"And you brought an army, wow! Did you think I was in that much trouble?" Ginny laughed.

"Sorry Ginny, I found him in the old Muggle Studies room and I thought that you might worry about him being out of the common room," Peter offered. He looked worried that she might be angry with him, but Ginny was amazed to see him.

"Peter! How have you been?"

"Just fine, thanks."

"And thank you for bringing him Peter; he sometimes likes to wander off on his own." Ginny walked up to Snuffles and gave him a very stern look, "What do I tell you about leaving the common room Snuffles? Bad dog…very, very bad dog." Ginny was enjoying giving Sirius a hard time when she noticed the third person standing there.

"Oh, hello. I can't remember your name," Ginny stretched out her hand.

"Reda," the young girl answered but didn't offer to meet Ginny's hand in any way.

"Right, how are you feeling?"

"Fine."

"Really? Because I was worried when we found you last week. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes." All of Reda's answers were clipped and they made Ginny wonder what she did to make this girl cold toward her. Ginny looked back at John and saw that he was still glaring at Harry who was looking at the group baffled. Harry grabbed her hand and whispered into her ear, "Ginny, can you see what I see?"

"What?"

"Well, that one there, he looks like me. And of course we've already established that John looks like Malfoy, but look at the girl." Ginny looked at Reda and didn't really understand why Harry had instructed her to do so.

"She looks exactly like you." Ginny now took a moment to really look at the girl.

"No she doesn't," Ginny stated.

"Yes she does," Harry said.

"No I don't," Reda said looking extremely bitter that someone had compared her to Ginny Weasley.

"Actually you do," John said looking at Reda sheepishly.

"So is that why you agreed to meet me in the Muggle Studies room?" Reda looked extremely hurt.

"What?" Ginny and Harry questioned together.

"Shut it Reda," John said. Something flashed in Reda's eyes and she looked like she was about to say something else when John walked up to her, grabbed her arm and dragged her from the group toward the castle. The group watched them leave with mixed apprehension and interest.

"I'll go make sure he doesn't do anything stupid," Peter said and smiled at Ginny before he directed his attention to Harry, "Nice to finally see the Harry Potter I'm constantly being compared to." With that he was gone.

When it was just Ginny, Harry and Snuffles standing by the lake edge Harry let out a sigh.

"That was weird."

"Yeah so many look-alikes, I was going to talk to Dumbledore about it."

"That's not the only thing Ginny. He didn't know who I was," Harry looked at Ginny.

"So? Not everyone is in love with you Harry," Ginny reminded him in a light tone, hoping it would suggest that she was done with her infatuation.

"No, I know that Ginny, but when I first found out about the wizarding world it seemed everyone here knew who I was. Each year with the new wave of first years I've had to deal with the fascination and awe as they see 'Harry Potter the Boy Who Lived', it wasn't any different this year…except those three. My name is constantly in the wizard papers…how could he not know who I was?" Ginny in all honesty was amazed by how perceptive Harry was. Everyone in the wizarding world knew who Harry Potter was; you didn't grow up in a wizarding home and not know who Harry Potter was, even if you belonged to a family of dark wizards. Unless Peter was a muggleborn there was no reason for him to not know who Harry was. And for some reason, Ginny had a feeling that Peter wasn't a muggleborn.

A/N: Well until next time which I promise won't take five months. By the by: reviews are what champions are made of. Shmily, Meg ()