Sirius and Professor Lupin had taken off and Harry and Ginny hung back to finish up their breakfast. Harry wasn't saying anything. His blushing from her innuendo had gone, and he was staring at what was left of his breakfast contemplatively.

Ginny moved around to sit beside him. "You never mentioned about your relatives." Ginny gently prodded. She'd talked about her family around him often enough, and felt kind of awful that she hadn't asked anything about his family, or home life. Everyone knew the story of what happened to his parents. But she hadn't even noticed he'd said nothing of the Muggle relatives he lived with.

Harry tore up a his piece of toast, seemingly ignoring her.

Clearly it was something he hadn't mentioned to anyone. Professor Lupin looked shocked and a little outraged at Sirius' words. Hermione had never mentioned anything either, but she seemed the type that was able to keep a secret. And Neville would have never mentioned anything to her about that either in respect of Harry's privacy.

If Harry didn't want to talk about it then, well she didn't want to pry, or make him feel uncomfortable. But she hoped that they had the type of relationship where he felt he could tell her things. Even the bad things.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" She offered. "Since we've been excused from our morning classes." She mused. "And even if we hadn't, well. I don't think it'll hurt us too much to skip two more classes."

Harry nodded and stood up. She took his hand.

It was his turn to ponder things over. She'd been the way he was now just after she'd left the headmasters office.

They walked silently out to the lakeside and wandered along the shoreline.

"There're mermaids down there." He said, looking out at the water. "The were part of the Tri-Wizard Tournament." He led her over to sit on the ground by a tree and cast a warming charm around them. "The champions had to rescue someone from the bottom of the lake."

"Sounds exciting." Ginny commented, hoping he'd keep talking.

Harry let out a single snort. "For the champions maybe. But the rest of us were just stuck staring at the surface water for an hour."

Ginny chuckled. "Yeah, that part doesn't sound very fun."

"It was pretty cold too." Harry traced a pattern in the snow. "Hermione was actually the one that Victor Krum had to rescue."

Ginny's eyebrows went up at that. "She never told me that!"

He shrugged. "She doesn't talk about him much. I think they still write each other a bit, but that's it. They went out for a while when he was here, but didn't continue anything romantic after he left."

Ginny hummed in response, then thought about their friend. "She doesn't seem very close to Lavender or Parvati."

"She mostly hangs out with Neville and I. Those two girls are a little too.. I don't know, gossipy? Girlie?"

"Well, I'm glad she's deemed me worthy of her friendship. Besides her being really nice, and super helpful with my studies, I just generally feel comfortable hanging out with her. When she doesn't have Ron's tongue in her mouth anyways." She added as an afterthought.

Harry gave a little smile at that.

Ginny sighed. He was still all in his head. She shifted so she was straddling his waist. He sucked in a breath in surprise.

"Harry." She cupped each side of his face in her hands. "I know you have a lot going on in your head. Can you please let me in on some of it? If you don't want to talk about your home, then please tell me something else. I think it'll make you feel a little lighter."

He chewed the inside of his lip and ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. "It's just. It's a lot."

She leaned down and kissed him softly. "Which part?"

"All of it!" He leaned back, misjudging where the tree behind him was and hitting his head on a root. "Ouch."

Ginny giggled and pulled him to sit up again. They shifted around so he was properly leaning back against the tree trunk, and she turned around to lean her back against him, settling between his legs to look out at the water.

"So now I will be getting a family vault, a title, and.. like, land and stuff."

"Probably have a house somewhere too." She added.

He sighed. "And everyone just assumed I knew." She could hear the frustration in his voice.

Whether it was intentional or not they could only speculate on. If she'd just found out that she was coming into an inheritance in a year that she'd need to manage she'd be a little overwhelmed too. But when you didn't know who exactly to direct any aggression about that at, she could see him being slightly angry with himself about it. "Well, there was a lot of chaos happening when you.. when your parents. Um. When the war ended." She tried the least hurtful way to say that. "And with your intended guardian getting hauled off to Azkaban, I'm sure the fact that you had a few Gringotts vaults wasn't a high priority."

He said nothing, he only ran his hand up and down her forearm absentmindedly.

"At least you didn't find out on your seventeenth birthday by getting a letter from Gringotts or something." She tried to point out the bright side.

"Yeah. I guess finding out now is better than that. Time to wrap my head around it before it actually comes into effect." He leaned his forehead against the back of her head.

"Hey!" She had a light bulb turn on in her mind. "My brother Bill works for Gringotts! I'm sure he'd be alright with you asking him questions about all this. I mean. I know you have other people you could ask, but he's one more, in case."

Harry kissed the back of her head. "Thanks." Then he groaned. "I don't know what your parents must think of me."

She rubbed his arm. "What do you mean?"

"Well I didn't say a single word to them besides 'nice to meet you' before I bolted out of there after you."

"Harry, my parents trust Ron and my's judgement. And it isn't like they have no idea who you are." She pointed out with a snicker. "Plus there was quite a situation that happened there. I think you'll get a second chance at a first impression. If you want one."

"What do you mean 'if I want one'?"

"Well. Meeting my brothers was one thing. Meeting my parents was another, and completely sprung on us." She said carefully. "And we've only been going out for a month."

"What? That's. I." He fished around, looking for his words. "Ginny. I'm not weirded out because I met your parents, it's because I could have made a better impression. You and I aren't just a passing fancy." He tensed up slightly at that. "I, uh. I mean. To me, this isn't..."

Ginny grinned and turned around enough to give him a kiss to shut him up. "I don't think of you as a passing fancy either. Otherwise I would never have..." She stopped and felt a blush spread over her face before turning back around and hoping he would catch on.

She wouldn't have gone as far with him as she had if he hadn't felt like he was just a passing fancy. He'd touched her intimately just this morning. Only about an hour ago. It had felt incredible, and she didn't know how to deal with the overwhelming desire of wanting more. There was a little voice in her head saying that it was too soon for more. Then there was another louder one saying 'why wait?'

Even if they didn't last forever, she wouldn't regret having her first time be with him. He was bound to be gentle and considerate about it.

He hugged her tighter for a moment before loosening his grip, but still keeping his arms around her. "How are you feeling about Sirius Black being... Sirius Black."

"Urgh." She leaned her head back on his shoulder, and a shiver ran through her. "It's kind of gross. My dog was a thirty-something year old man." She shivered again. "And Percy and Ron's rat was a Death Eater!" She said louder. "That is entirely terrifying."

"Maybe we should learn that spell that forces an Animagus to reveal themselves. I'm kind of wanting to use it on Hedwig." Harry joked.

Ginny swatted his arm. "Actually. That would give me piece of mind." She chuckled. "But still. My dog was an escaped criminal." She stated in a daze before shaking her head.

"And that escaped criminal is my legal guardian."

"Once the charges are dropped anyways." Ginny pointed out.

"Um. You're sure he never was in the room when you were changing?" He asked tentatively.

"Gross. Harry!" She moaned. "Please don't even make me think over it."

He chuckled again and kissed her neck.

"You think you'll go and live with him next summer if he's cleared?" She asked, thinking it would be nice if he was somewhere connected by Floo so they could visit each other until they turned of age.

Harry took his time thinking over it. "I don't know. I don't even know him."

"Do you think it'd be better than where you are currently living during the summers?" She played with the sleeve of his cloak. It was the most evasive way she could ask about the Muggles.

"Yes." He said softly.

She sighed and said nothing. Hoping that he'd elaborate if she gave him some time.

"They mostly leave me to my own devices now that I'm older. But only so long as I have all my chores done. And when I'm there I get all the chores."

"What did they do when you were younger?" She whispered.

"My coordination got me in a lot of trouble. Like if I accidentally broke something. They'd just... you know, lock me in my room. Or... not feed me."

She couldn't stop her chin from warbling at that.

"I didn't have clothes that properly fit until I got my Hogwarts uniform. Everything was hand-me-downs." He told her. "Which wouldn't be a bad thing, except that my cousin is about ten sizes larger than I am. And all of my clothes were ripped, or stained in some manner."

She remained carefully silent, knowing that this must be incredibly hard for him to share with her.

"They. They hate magic." He whispered. "They knew I was a wizard, and about my mum and dad being a witch and wizard, but never told me. When I found out it was my eleventh birthday, and Hagrid was the one to tell me." He paused. "That was the reason that they'd called me a freak my whole childhood."

Ginny let her silent tears fall. Not letting herself wipe them away lest he stop talking.

"I had no idea that I was famous until Hagrid took me through Diagon Alley. I guess it kept me grounded, you know, being belittled by my family." He paused a moment. "When I met Gilderoy Lockhart, and his over inflated ego, there was a moment where I wondered if I'd have turned out like him if I'd known." He sucked in a breath. "Snape treated me like I was an egotistical blowhard for my first year, and part of my second. Then he calmed down a bit." He shrugged.

"You." She needed to clear her throat. "What is your cousin like?"

"Dudley. He's my age, but he treats me like how his parents taught him to treat me." He shrugged again.

"So, not like a sibling then."

"No. More like his own personal punching bag." He told her wryly.

She couldn't control it any more and turned around to try and be closer to him. She pulled his lips to her own and wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"Ginny." He gasped when he pulled his mouth away from hers, which seemed to take great strength on his part.

She hummed in question as she trailed kisses along his jaw.

"Ginny. I don't need pity kisses."

She stopped and pulled back, upset about that. "I'm not kissing you now out of pity." She argued. "It's because I want.. because." She searched for the right words. "I need you to know that I'm here." She stated finally.

He blinked at her. "What? I know you're here." He indicated to how she was straddling him and had a good grip on his tie.

"Okay. Not that I'm here in the physical sense. Just... that I'm not going anywhere. That I want you to know that you deserve so much better than those horrible people." She exasperated. "Pity kisses would be one's that someone feels they have to give out of obligation. Mine are because I couldn't manage to keep my hands off you any longer. Because I want to comfort you, and make up for all those time's you didn't have someone there to comfort you."

His face flushed slightly as he stared at her in wonderment. "Ginny." He croaked.

"Please." She begged. "Can you just kiss me now?"

A smile crept onto his face before he closed the distance between them again.

()()

Harry and Ginny came across Ron and Hermione on the way back to Gryffindor Tower just before lunch was due to start.

"Ginny." Ron nearly shouted and rushed over to her. "You okay? Where have you been?"

Ginny shook her head to try and dismiss his concern. "I'm doing better. It was just a huge shock."

"Of course it was." Hermione agreed. "I was shocked and I'm the least effected here." She trailed her hand down Ginny's arm in a comforting manner, then turned to Harry. "What about you? Are you okay too?"

Harry squeezed Ginny's hand a moment, then lessened his grip, not letting it go. "Still wrapping my head around things."

"Course you are." Ron nodded. "This whole thing is crazy." He turned to Ginny. "Mum and Dad want to meet up this coming weekend in Hogsmeade. At the twins flat. They want to... I dunno. Discuss this as a family." He shook his head dismissively.

"Dumbledore has already left to the Ministry to present his proof of Sirius Blacks innocence. For now he is staying with Professor Lupin." Hermione whispered to them.

"We know." Ginny nodded slowly. "We ran into them in the kitchens." There was a flicker of something that crossed her face that Harry wasn't quite familiar with, but it brought a smile to Ron's face quick enough.

"Gave it to him good did you?" Ron grinned.

Ginny struggled to keep a smile off of her face. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hey!" Came a call from down the corridor. It appeared that classes had let out, as Neville was walking towards them with a sea of people filtering into the area behind him. "Where've you lot been? Missed three classes." He exasperated before eyeing Hermione in particular, as that was not something she would have done unless absolutely necessary.

Harry felt bad that Neville had been left out of this. They'd been spending less and less time together now that Harry had Ginny, Hermione had Ron, and Neville was working towards his Herbology Apprenticeship. Plus Quidditch.

Ron and Ginny gave each other a weary look before turning to their partners with a look that clearly indicated that they'd be trusting their judgement on this one.

"We do have a pretty crazy story for you, but there are too many people about right now." Hermione told him.

"Yeah. We promise we'll fill you in later." Harry assured him.

"But first, I'm starving." Ron moaned.

"Uh. Okay." Neville said, looking a little put out. "Are you going to your afternoon classes?"

"I think we should." Ginny said to the group, just as it looked as though Hermione was about to say the same thing. "We'll just be brooding about this otherwise."

"It isn't really something to brood about." Hermione pointed out. "It's just rather fantastical."

"He wasn't your dog." Ron pointed out. "I can't stop thinking about all the times I spent with him, and if he saw anything I'd rather have kept private." He shivered.

"Uhh. What happened to your dog?" Neville asked.

Harry shook his head. "Later Neville. Come on, lets go get some lunch." He tugged lightly on Ginny's hand to bring her along back towards the Great Hall.

There was a giggle behind him. "Um, Harry." Hermione snickered. "You might want to brush off your cloak."

He immediately tried to look over his shoulder and see what she was talking about.

Ginny let go of his hand and peered at his back, blushing slightly and smiling to herself before patting down his back. "You've got dead leaves and such stuck to the fabric." She paused and pulled a dead leaf out of his hair too, handing it to him with a big grin.

Harry took it and gave her a quick kiss. "Worth the embarrassment." He whispered.

Ginny rejoiced internally and felt a blush creep onto her face.

()()()

"I call to order this emergency meeting of the Wizengamut on this the 6th day of November 1997." Spoke the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge. "We are here to discuss the case of the escaped convict Sirius Black." He tilted his head to the gentleman to his left. "I present Albus Dumbledore who has new evidence on the matter of which the meeting has been called. Dumbledore, you have the floor."

"Thank you Minister." Dumbledore stood and retrieved a box from his pocket. "Lords and Ladies, members of the Mugwamp. For three years we have been searching for the escaped convict Sirius Black, imprisoned for the crime of murder and for being associated with the fallen Dark Lord and passing on privileged information. Recently I have discovered that this Mr. Sirius Black was never in fact convicted."

There was a low murmur among the members in the assembly, and more than a few gasps.

"It has appeared that the charges that were claimed against Mr. Black, he was never properly convicted of, nor did he commit." He impressed the seriousness of of his last words with a meaningful eye cast upon his fellow people.

"That cannot be!" The Minister stood up.

Dumbledore raised a hand to try and placate the Minister and stop further outbursts arising.

"One of the charges, for the murder of Mr. Peter Pettigrew, we have discovered that Mr. Pettigrew did not die that day. He was in fact an Animagus and spent 12 years living in hiding, disguised as a pet for a prominent magical family."

Further murmurs of shock and scandal sounded out from the benches.

"What proof have you of this?" Asked one of the senior Mugwump members.

"I hold in my hand the remains of Mr. Pettigrew." He levitated the box so it would hover in the arena. "I warn you that this will turn back into a three-years decomposed body."

"Perhaps, for the sake of removing any sense of skepticism we might let someone else remove your spell?" Amelia Bones offered. As the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement she had the highest authority when it came to hearings and trials. In this space, she was merely a representative of her department, but still highly trusted.

"Of course." Dumbledore gestured for her to remove his spells.

The small box expanded further and further outwards, its cardboard sides ripping apart and falling away, revealing to everyone the decomposed corpse of the man in question. Peter Pettigrew's face had been shown in all the newspaper segments run alongside the warnings about Sirius Black, showing him as one of the victims of the mad escapee.

"How do we know that he has only been deceased for three years?" Someone called out. "And even if he has. How did he die?"

"An unfortunate incident." Dumbledore nodded. "The family he sought refuge with housed him for over a decade, believing him to be only their pet rat. It was as a rat that his neck snapped and the family buried him with their other departed pets in their yard."

"Who is this family?" Lucius Malfoy asked.

"I have requested their head of house attend our meeting today to confirm this story." Dumbledore gestured to Arthur Weasley, who had been seated silently off to the side.

Minister Fudge had been staring at the body that was slowly rotating around, suspended in the air. He must have felt Dumbledore's eyes on him which pulled him back to focus. "Yes." He indicated for Arthur Weasley to rise. "Please tell us what you know of this."

Arthur stood. "I am willing to testify under Veritaserum if necessary. We truly believed him to be no more than a domestic rat. He came into our family as a pet for one of my boys around Christmastime in 1981. His death was an accident that happened three years ago, and he was buried as a pet until Dumbledore discovered him."

"There is more." Dumbledore stated, quieting the cacophony that had erupted once more. "It appears that Peter Pettigrew... was a Death Eater." He gently spun the suspended body again and lifted it's left shirt sleeve to bare the forearm with the mark. The body then rotated around slowly once more, showcasing the marking for all present.

"This. This is unbelievable!" The Minister sputtered.

There was no attempt to quiet down the many conversations that came from everyone present at that.

The minister banged on his desk after conferring with his scribe. "Alright. Alright. We still must discuss the case of Sirius Black." The ministers gaze kept going back to the floating body and he would wince in disgust. "Can we please do away with the body? It needs to be properly processed by the medical examiner."

Amelia Bones did the honors of transfiguring the body once more, and nodded to one of the Auror's present to alert the necessary party to deal with the corpse.

"What of the eleven Muggle's that perished in the attempt by Sirius Black on Peter Pettigrew?"

"Mr. Pettigrew is the one responsible for that." Dumbledore stated sadly. "I pose that he knew Mr. Black would not have let him get away with the deaths of James and Lily Potter and acted accordingly to make his getaway."

"Was Sirius Black not their Secret Keeper?" Asked a younger member of the congregation who would have went to school with them.

"Sirius Black had parlayed that role to Peter Pettigrew, believing that Voldemort-" The room gasped and winced at the name. "Would be sure to go after he rather than Mr. Pettigrew."

The room at large took a moment to think that over. Dumbledore was sure to look at the faces of those he knew also bore the mark of the Death Eater. He knew they had claimed to have been forced to commit heinous crimes through threats or the Imperius Curse, but did not believe it. Nor did he believe that those who acquitted them think that either. It had just been a big game of politics when it came to sentencing after Voldemort's supposed downfall. Those who wished to look closely at the size of the Gringott's Vaults belonging to the excused Death Eaters would understand.

"How did he escape Azkaban?" A voice asked over the calamity.

"An excellent question. And one that will be answered after it is agreed that the only thing Sirius Black could actually be accused of is escaping his wrongful imprisonment."

"Absolutely not." Fudge cried out. "We will need the entire story from you Dumbledore. You must tell us everything you know. And we will need the man himself."

"So you do believe him to still be guilty of murdering Peter Pettigrew fifteen years ago?" Dumbledore calmly asked the Minister.

Fudge sputtered indignantly, turning quite red in the face. He never was one capable of making decisions on his own. He would want to confer with several other members of the Ministry before making any declarations.

And Albus Dumbledore was counting on that.

Amelia Bones spoke up. "Perhaps we should wait to hear back from the medical examiner." She offered. "Once we have an accurate time of death for Peter Pettigrew we will be able to confirm whether Sirius Black should be cleared of that charge."

"Yes." Fudge latched on to that idea. "We will wait until we hear back from the examiner."

"I will get his file from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and his wand would still be held at Azkaban." Amelia added on. "A simple Priori Incantem will tell us what his last spells had been."

"Yes. Perfect." Fudge agreed. "I call this session to a recess until tomorrow, at which time we will be able to confirm the innocence of the escapee Sirius Black on the charges of murder placed on him on November 1st, 1981."

()()

He had a case of jittery leg all through his afternoon classes. Telling Ginny those things that morning had been a little cathartic, but he was nervous about talking to Sirius Black and Remus later.

After dinner is what they'd decided.

Just Harry and Ginny.

Ron seemed to have come to terms with everything rather quickly. He was the type to just roll with the punches. Hermione, while entirely interested, realized that Harry would probably prefer less people there. No doubt she would bombard him with questions after though. Neville had been filled in on what happened in Dumbledore's office and had been dumbstruck, but stated he wouldn't have wanted to be invited to that tea party.

Neither Harry nor Ginny brought up what happened in the kitchens, other than to say that Ginny had made sure Sirius knew that wasn't going to get off easy if she had anything to say about it.

Remus had been at dinner in the Great Hall, looking quite happy and quite like he'd rather be somewhere else.

Ginny had merely pushed her food around on her plate, taking a nibble here and there. Hermione wasn't letting Harry get away with doing that though. She kept nagging at him to eat.

He'd manage one forkful every time she said something.

As soon as Remus stood to take his leave Harry grabbed Ginny's hand and she stood with him, heading for the doors. They walked beside the Professor, saying nothing until they reached his rooms.

"Finally." Sirius smiled from by the fireplace when they came in. "I was having Azkaban flashbacks being stuck in here." He joked.

"What? None from when you'd sneak girls around the castle." Remus teased and gestured for Harry and Ginny to move further into the room.

"Well, I'd need company for those flashbacks, wouldn't I?" Sirius waggled his eyebrows.

"I heard Dumbledore went to the Ministry with the rat today." Ginny interrupted them, attempting to pull them towards a pertinent topic. Her question stopped their boyish banter from going any further.

Again Harry was grateful for the women in his life. He didn't know where to start off with all the thoughts and questions running through his head. Ginny and Hermione were both God sends.

"Yes. He's been there all day actually." Remus said and went to the cupboard in his little kitchen to pull out tea cups and put the kettle on to boil.

"I never had an actual trial." Sirius told them. "That should help things along."

"But you have been evading arrest for three years." Harry puzzled. "Even though you were wrongfully incarcerated, doesn't that put points against your freedom?"

"They have the proof of his innocence in the form of P-Peter." Remus stuttered at his former friends name. "And..." He turned to Ginny. "Your parents are going to be character witnesses."

She tucked her top lip between her teeth at that, but said nothing.

Harry sat down beside her on the couch and they both accepted a cup of tea from their Professor when he handed them each a cup. The four of them sat awkwardly, waiting for someone else to start talking.

"You have a house somewhere?" Ginny asked with a little confusion. "You mentioned it earlier." She told Sirius, who nodded. "But, then why did you hide out at the Burrow instead of living there as a... well, human."

Sirius paused, and looked miserable about the answer. "Kreacher."

Remus even cringed slightly at that.

"Kreacher?" Ginny asked. "What the hell is a Kreacher?"

"It's a who." Sirius explained. "He was my family House Elf. Hated me, loved my crazy blood purity obsessed mother." He sighed. "And after being at the Burrow for the few days that it had taken me to finally... um, for the rat to be dealt with." He corrected his line of thought. "It was just. Well it was kind of wonderful." Sirius smiled. "You and all of your brothers were just so... great. Even when you were all fighting. The whole place was just a breath of fresh air."

Ginny blushed slightly at his description and Harry squeezed her hand.

"Azkaban was terrible. It was one giant cloud of depression after another. And so cold and lifeless." His eyes were actually glistening at the memory. "Coming to live with your family.' He choked slightly and let out a grunt to clear his throat.

Ginny shifted a little closer to Harry on the couch. He put his arm around her, and she snuggled in a little more.

"I remember it was about my third day there, and your mum had finally let me into the sitting room with you all. Probably something to do with you attacking me with cleaning spells and brush-." He cut himself off again. "Anyways. I smelt and looked much better. And I was laying down beside the couch and fell asleep and had a nightmare that I was still back in my cell. I must have been whimpering or something, because you woke me up."

The picture of it came to Harry's mind as he was saying it. He could imagine Ginny cooing over the upset dog, her family surrounding the two of them in a warm sitting room. A roaring fire, a few of her brothers playing chess. Her mum knitting one of the scarfs he'd seen her and Ron wearing.

Ginny wiped a stray tear away from her face. Hating that he was making her emotional in a room of three people, who could easily see how she was reacting.

"You were petting me and scratching me behind the ear and telling me that everything was okay." Sirius smiled endearingly at her. "You are a wonderful person Ginny."

Harry and Remus were entirely quiet. All three of them seemed to be waiting for her to say something, but she was desperately fighting the urge to let out a wail and wrap her arms around him in forgiveness. Instead she determinedly bit her lip and met his eye, giving him a nod of acknowledgement.

Sirius took it. He'd been around her for three years, and knew the toll having six older brothers took on her ability to express herself. She'd been hiding romance novels and tucking Teen Witch magazines under her mattress for years. Hell, she'd buried her head in his fur on more than one occasion to block irrational tears from her brothers.

Harry moved the conversation on from there. "Once you are cleared you are going to go back to your house though?"

Sirius pulled himself together. "Yes. Then I can completely gut the place as well." He gave a shiver. "Hated that house. There are horrible artifacts all over the place, and past House Elf heads mounted on the wall."

"Sirius actually used to spend most of his summers at your fathers house." Remus chimed in.

"Really?" Harry perked up.

"Yeah. As much as my parents would allow me. And they'd really only insist on my being home for about a week during the summers." Sirius smiled. "Flea and Mia were pretty old when they had James, so he didn't have any siblings, and they needed someone to entertain him." He laughed.

"Then he properly moved in when he was sixteen." Remus said.

"Yeah. The Potters were great. Then when I was of age my Uncle Alphard passed away and left me some money, so I moved out, but went back for dinner at least once a week until they passed away too." he said sadly. "They were so looking forward to being grandparents. But when they passed it was within hours of each other. Kind of sweet really."

"They had a good long life together." Remus nodded. "It is just so unfortunate that James and Lily had to join them so soon after."

The gloom settled around the room again.

"Is Dumbledore supposed to come here when he gets back?" Ginny asked once her emotions had settled down.

"I very much doubt that this will all get settled in one meeting." Remus spoke up. "But yes, I believe he will stop in to give Sirius an update."

"I'm surprised he didn't go there first thing this morning." Ginny thought aloud.

"I asked him to wait." Sirius said.

"What?" Ginny asked.

"Why?" Harry wondered.

"Felt like I owed you kids an explanation before the papers picked it up." Sirius mumbled and looked down at his trousers. Behaving in a manner much to young for his years.

"Oh..."

"Thanks." Harry said, unsure.

The four of them sat there silently for another minute before Ginny cleared her throat.

"We should probably get some of our assignments looked over." She told the two men. "We did miss our morning classes." She looked over to Harry, asking with her eyes whether he wanted to stay there, or head out with her.

Harry nodded. "Yeah. Probably should make an attempt." He looked back between the other two. "But we'll be back. Um. Tomorrow?"

"Excellent." Sirius beamed. "And if there's anything... I mean." He stood up as they two did. "Just, please don't hesitate to ask me anything."

Harry simply nodded and gave him a tight smile. They were trying to figure out their relationship and weren't quite sure what they would be to each other.

Once on the other side of the door and down the corridor a bit Ginny's shoulders lost some of their tension.

"Entirely awkward." She shook her head. "And emotional."

"It's bound to get less like that over time, right?" He asked, half knowing the answer already.

"I'm sure that by Christmastime we'll be making jokes about how my dog is your... uncle." She smiled.

"Godfather." Harry mindlessly corrected.

Ginny giggled. "Dogfather."

Harry let out a chuckle too. He tugged on her hand to stop her walking down the corridor. He pulled her close and she sunk into his embrace, resting her head on his chest.

"Thanks for being there." He whispered into her hair.

"Right back at you." She told him, her face still buried into his shirt.

He was so comfortable standing there with her. The thought of having to go into the Gryffindor common room and answer a million questions from Hermione was daunting, and Harry would rather just find some place to hide out with Ginny for longer.

Cuddling up in a bed with her sounded like a dream right then.

"Urgh." Ginny let out a groan. "We have to go back to Gryffindor."

"Maybe there's a chance Hermione will be in the Library." Harry sounded both doubtful, and hopeful about that.

Ginny giggled and wrapped her arms around him to hug him a little bit longer. She let out a sigh as he just held her. It felt so nice just to have her in his arms.

"I love you." She said to him tiredly.

With her head tucked against him the way it was she didn't see his eyebrows disappear into his fringe at her words. Nor did she seem to hear or feel his heart beat pick up.