He would have liked to have a hooded cloak or something, but perhaps that would have drawn more attention to him in a place like this. Everyone was wearing normal everyday business robes, and some in Muggle suits and dresses. The regular business wear for the Ministry of Magic. He didn't want to stand out, and with how healthy he looked now as compared to what he'd looked like in the pictures distributed from how he was in Azkaban perhaps no one would recognize him anyway.
There was a small part of him that felt like it had all been a rouse. He was going to get thrown back into a cell by the end of the day.
The Daily Prophet had been wrong before, and Dumbledore had been wrong before. The Wizengamut had most certainly been wrong before too. That was why one of the first people he saw stepping out of the lift was Lucius Malfoy who'd been a full blown Death Eater, regardless of whatever lies he strung together to get out of any prison time. The Wizengamut had been bribed to deny the use of Veritaserum on those accused Death Eaters. There was no doubt in his mind.
That morning Sirius had visited Gringotts and been greeted by the Goblins as the Nobel Lord and Head of House Black. His first course of action was to empty and close out any of the imprisoned Black line still holding a vault under that name. Anything that had been left in Andromeda, Narcissa, Bellatrix or Rudolphus' vaults was transferred to the main Black Vault which only he had access to.
Andromeda was the only cousin he thought well of and was happy to learn that she had long ago removed anything that associated her with the Black name. Narcissa had kept a few items in her personal vault, but no gold. Bellatrix had married due to a betrothal contract only and thus had kept all of her inheritance and personal items of value in her Black name, that made Sirius spitefully giddy. His brother Regulus had disappeared long ago and had a small fortune in his vaults that had not been touched in over fourteen years.
The Goblins had been very accommodating, asking only a few hundred Galleons for 'processing fees'. It was a palfrey amount to him and he didn't hesitate to sign it over to them.
His last order of business had been to transfer a thousand Galleons to the Weasley family vault. Any more and he imagined Arthur would have been too offended to accept. That amount he could argue that the man take it by way of apology and gratitude.
It would be a discussion for a later day, if he were to be in the free world after this visit.
"All will be well." Dumbledore said beside him.
"Believe it when I see it." Sirius grumbled. The old man had met him at the muggle entrance and come through with him.
They checked in with the Security desk who did a double check and nearly wet himself when he saw Sirius, who did not yet have his wand back to check it in.
The sigh that Dumbledore gave when Sirius used his Azkaban wanted poster as a form of identification only reinforced in Sirius' mind that it had been the right move. What kind of Marauder would he be if he had done it any other way?
Gringotts was able to use his blood, the Ministry wasn't set up for that, and the ponce working the security desk wouldn't have been able to cast the necessary spells.
"What's this birds name?" Sirius asked once they stepped off the lift and headed for the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's office.
"Amelia Bones." Dumbledore told him. "She is very sharp, and I trust her to keep her word."
"Albus." Called a woman from down the corridor. She was a brunette in her early thirties with a nice figure under her black pencil skirt and white blouse. He could tell she had a no nonsense attitude in the way she walked, briskly and purposeful in her kitten heels. She caught up to them and opened the door to the office they had been about to knock on. "Welcome." She let them in. "Can I get you two a tea or a coffee? I'm afraid we still have to wait for Mr. Crouch."
"Tea would be lovely. Thank you Amelia." Dumbledore told her.
"And you Mr. Black?" She turned to him.
"Nothing." He looked wearily at the carafe's at her side table.
She poured Dumbledore's tea and handed it to him, then poured herself a coffee and took a seat, surveying Sirius. "Sorry." She said simply.
"I don't mind waiting."
Her lip twitched. "I meant about your time in Azkaban. I'm sorry. On behalf of my department."
"You were hardly here at the time." He raised an eyebrow at her.
"No, I was finishing up at Hogwarts then, but I still feel the need to apologize to you for what happened to you, and rest assured that I will be taking steps to insure that it does not happen to someone else again."
She was direct. She was looking straight at him with no hint of nervousness or making any placating gestures. She wasn't attempting to put him at ease or using any political moves to sway his opinion of the Ministry. She was honestly just apologizing for what had happened to him. It wasn't what he'd been expecting.
"I will take that coffee." He told her.
She inclined her head and went back to her side bar as the door to the office burst open again. "How nice of you to knock. By all means, please come in." Amelia simpered sarcastically as Bartimaeus Crouch barged in.
"I was delayed." He dismissed her remark and levitated a chair over to sit beside Sirius. "How did you escape from Azkaban?" He looked back at the open door where his assistant was standing on the other side and waved his wand so it would shut then looked back towards Sirius. He had been the Head of the Department when Sirius was imprisoned, so he was invited to be there for this meeting.
"Crouch. How nice to see you. If you don't mind, I was just about to enjoy a nice sip of coffee." Sirius ignored the mans imploring look and accepted a cup from Amelia. He'd caught a glimpse of the Weasley red at the door and knew it was Percy standing on the other side of the door and wondered if he knew yet. "Mmm. Still tastes fresh, thank you." He gave a nod to Amelia.
"Mister Black." Crouch said sharply as a request for his question to be answered.
"I found the motivation and got out. Swam to shore." He told him evasively.
"How?!" Crouch demanded.
"Doggy paddled." Sirius smiled to himself at his joke and took another sip of the coffee. It really was a nice flavor and tasted recently brewed as well. He noticed Dumbledore pause his movements of drinking from his own cup then at his answer and gathered it was a sign that he saw the humor in it.
"Mister Black. If you could please elaborate." Amelia asked nicely.
Sirius caught her eye. She really was quite the looker. Bones, he was sure he'd gone to school with a Bones girl that was a year or two ahead of him, she must have been her younger sister. He noticed she wasn't wearing a ring on her finger.
He set down his cup on her desk and moved his chair back. She and Crouch stood, probably thinking he was about to walk out, but he stood where he was and transformed into his Animagus, Crouch made a strained noise but Amelia just looked surprised and thoughtful. Sirius winked at her in his Padfoot form and changed back. He pulled his chair back forward and picked up his coffee, once more taking his seat.
"You are an unregistered Animagus?" Crouch asked angrily. "That is against the law. How long have you been an Animagus? It must have been since before going into Azkaban." He turned to Amelia. "He could have used this form to carry out Death Eater tasks with no one seeing him."
Sirius pulled up his sleeves. "You see any tattoos on my arms?" He showed his forearms.
"He has been cleared of any charges in regards to being a Death Eater." Amelia told Crouch with warning. "If you try to accuse him again then we will need to make a point of trying EVERYONE that was cleared of being a Death Eater, and this time we'll use Veritaserum and see what happens."
Crouch took his seat again, he knew that trying him for being a Death Eater again would open up every other case. While he had been relentless about it the first time around, the world was at peace now, dragging that all up again would put a black spot on his name, and bring up his own family history. "Still." He calmed down. "Being an unregistered Animagus holds a penalty."
Sirius barked in laughter, startling Crouch. "That's what? Sixty days in Azkaban? How about this, you take 60 Galleons off of my reparations and consider it 'time spent'." He glared at the man.
"The Dementors could not effect you when you were in your Animagus form?" Amelia asked.
Sirius noted that her eyes were twinkling slightly. She'd liked that he'd taken her predecessor down a peg. He'd held the position she did two department heads before she'd come to it, but she'd always noticed he looked at her disdainfully, like he thought she couldn't possibly manage the position.
"They effected me still. They just couldn't find me when I was in that form, so they would not have been able to see me slip through my bars and make it out to the Apparation dock."
"That was three years ago. Where have you been hiding since?" Crouch asked impatiently.
"Disregard that question." Amelia cut in. "We have no business knowing, that was not the purpose of your visit here today." She turned to Crouch. "Thank you for joining us, you may leave." She waved her hand in dismissal.
Crouch looked like he wanted to tell her off, but she arched her eyebrow at him in challenge. He stood abruptly from his chair and left the office slamming the door on the way out.
"I think he'd be a frog if he were an Animagus." Sirius pondered. "Something about the eyes."
Amelia did her best to hide her smile. "I have something for you." She opened a drawer on her desk and retrieved his wand.
Sirius sucked in a breath. He hadn't used wand magic since the night of Halloween 1981. He reached out with a shaky hand as she handed it to him hilt first. A full body sigh took over him as warmth radiated from his hand all the way through his body. "So much better." He moaned.
"Thank you for coming in Mr. Black. I can only imagine how you must feel about the Ministry, and what if took to come in here today." Amelia stood to show them out. "Albus, thank you for agreeing to escort him. And for bringing this all to light."
Dumbledore put down his tea cup and stood. "We cannot be so arrogant as to be unable to admit our wrongs. I myself had believed he was guilty. How wrong we all were about so much then." He accepted her hand when she offered it, though not to shake it as she'd expected. He kissed the back of it and headed out.
Amelia stifled her surprised laughter at that and turned to bid adieu to Sirius. "You'll be hearing from me about your reparations. If you need anything from this department, please don't hesitate." She held out her had to him as well.
Sirius maintained eye contact with her as he slowly brought her hand to his lips as well. Her hand smelled faintly of vanilla and coffee and it was very soft under his lips. "I look forward to hearing from you." He told her in a low voice. Her face did not betray her then, the set of her lips, the color of her cheeks, even her pupils stayed exactly as they were, but the goosebumps on her arm told another story about his effect on her. He felt a slight victory at that. "Thank you, Miss Bones."
He let her hand go and left the office, catching up with Dumbledore on the way to the lift.
"What are your plans now you have your freedom and your wand back?" The man asked him.
Sirius groaned at the mental list in his head that was getting longer and longer. He'd need a House Elf. Not Kreachure, someone that would actually be loyal to him and not his mother.
He would face all that tomorrow. Tonight, he would go back to Hogwarts and to Remus and the kids. One more night to mentally prepare for returning to his childhood home.
()()()
She was running a finger absentmindedly up and down his thigh as she read. It was wildly distracting, and he was pretty sure she didn't have any clue exactly what kind of hormones she was calling up inside him while she did it.
They'd tried reading over these magazines and newspapers in the common room, but it was so uncomfortable. The library would have been equally so, and the couches around the common room were always occupied. They could have probably gone up to the sixth-year boys dorm, but at certain points there would be five of them looking over the articles at the same time and taking notes of worthy events.
Hermione had suggested using one of the unused classrooms and transfiguring some couches. They wouldn't have the comfort of a fireplace like they would have in the common room, but it was the best option.
Friday evening they'd all started looking over the publications that had come in. There were a lot of them. The Quibbler was a monthly magazine, and the Daily Prophet was, well, daily.
Harry had no problem pulling from his vault for the measly six Galleons the Daily Prophet had asked. The whole idea was genius. He'd been wanting to know what had happened with the last war and what happened after and hadn't even thought about getting the Prophet to find out.
If he'd voiced his wishes to Hermione or Neville maybe they would have come up with this idea sooner, but he hadn't.
It was such a simple solution too. Everyone else found out this information from reading about it. And he had spent a bit of time looking through the shelves at Florish and Blotts looking for something about the last war but hadn't found anything. Now he was kicking himself for not thinking of the Journalism angle.
Hermione had of course been completely gung-ho on this whole endeavor, and actually made up a list of details they could concentrate on and comparing and contrasting the publications and what was written before and after the war in regards to the people it referenced.
Harry was pretty sure she would be keen on being the person to put together a book about all of it.
Last night they'd all been there pouring over the material, with the exception of a visit with Sirius and Remus to confirm that he was in fact a free man. This morning after breakfast though Neville headed off to the Greenhouses. Ron and Hermione had started off reading a bit, but then went to the library to finish an assignment, or snog in a broom closet. One or the other.
Gryffindor Quidditch practice was after lunch as well, so Harry and Ginny only had two more hours that they could dedicate to this until possibly this evening as well. And he couldn't even manage to concentrate on what he was reading because Ginny's hand would not stop stirring up lustful memories of what they'd done in the Prefects bathroom a few days ago.
He swallowed deeply and blinked a few times, trying to clear his head enough to actually absorb at least a little bit of what he was reading.
Her little finger traces up and down changed in pattern, now she was swirling her fingers in figure eights and he couldn't help but wonder how it would feel if she did that on his bollocks.
The words on the paper were nothing more than ink splotches now and he was seeing a design forming from the spacing between the words. She was driving him mad with want. They hadn't had time for more than a few kisses since they'd been out by the lake on Tuesday. It was Saturday. That was basically a year in teenage hormone time. They'd cuddled together while with the others, and held hands and such, and that all felt great, but still.
"Ginny." He said with a strained voice. She looked up from her newspaper with her little smirk and that mischievous glint in her eyes that said she knew exactly what she'd been doing to him.
"Yes Harry?" She asked innocently. "Something catch your... interest?"
She was intentionally teasing him until he was at his breaking point! He didn't even respond verbally. He tossed his newspaper to the floor and ripped her magazine right out of her hands before pulling her lips towards his and devouring them. He felt her smile against their joined lips and nipped at her lip to get her gasping so he could set about exploring her mouth with his tongue.
She was responding with equal vigor and gave no sign of protest when he leaned her back on the couch, he wanted them pressed together as much as possible.
He trailed his hand up her side and under her shirt as his mouth moved down her neck. She arched her back as his lips met the dip in her collar bone and she let out a lovely little gasp when he slid his hand under her bra to her soft breast, letting out his own groan at how good it felt to palm her there.
She moaned and shifted underneath him, allowing him better access and spreading her legs so he could nestle in between them.
It had only been a week ago that she'd first touched him, and he'd spent weeks trying to hide his erections from her. Now he didn't know whether she wanted to feel them, or how to ask her to take care of him again. He didn't even know if he should be putting his weight on her there.
"Harry. Please." She panted and bucked her hips.
"Please what?" He said between the licks and kisses he was trailing back up her neck, while inhaling the intoxicating scent of her hair. "Tell me what you want." He groaned deeply. He couldn't tell what she would allow. How far was too far. He needed it spelled out explicitly, and hopefully before his hormone driven excitement made him embarrass himself, because her soft and perky breast was in his hand, she was writhing underneath him, and every time he sucked at a spot on her neck he couldn't help calling up the image of her sucking on him in a particular spot on his body.
She quickly raised her arms behind her head, pushing on the arm of the couch and shifting her body down so that their clothed privates met and they both hissed in pleasure. "This is what I want." She moaned wantonly and rocked against him.
"Fuck!" He cried in relief and ground into her. He pulled his hand out from under her shirt and gripped the underside of her thigh so she'd wrap her legs around him. "God, you made it so hard to concentrate on anything else." He couldn't help saying as he rubbed the underside of his shaft right up along where it most wanted to go and pulled the image to mind of his cock making a home inside of her.
"Yes." Ginny gripped the back of his trousers and egged him on matching his movements. "God, I've been so horny." That made him buck even harder against her. She'd wanted this just as much as he wanted to give it to her and that was so hot to hear.
If only they weren't wearing trousers! The zippers were not causing the same smooth feeling as he'd had when they were in the bathroom. It was too harsh an interruption and he was desperate for that same feeling. He let out a growl of frustration. She was wearing trousers today too.
It was one thing for him to push down his trousers so that he was only in his pants, but to ask her to do the same. He couldn't have at this point without it coming out like a desperate demand anyways.
She made the decision for him as her hand slid down to where they were joined, and she started at his top button. He pulled back quickly so he was on his knees and finished undoing the button and pulling down the zip, seeing she was doing the same with hers.
She lifted her hips and shimmied her trousers down and slipped them off one leg while he stared with dark eyes at her knickers, noticing a little pool of moisture that had leaked through at the center, unconsciously stroking himself once at the sight of it.
Ginny grabbed at the middle of his shirt and pulled him back down on top of her, curving her back so they met more completely. They both hissed in pleasure at that less obstructed contact. He could feel how hot she was there right radiating through to his dick. His eyes rolled back in his head, knowing just how hot the entirety of it would be were he to claim their virginities right then.
Their mouths met again and her hips were moving in this circular up and down motion and it was driving him nuts. He grabbed her hip to steady her while humped against that wet and warm spot over and over again.
He could still feel her desperately trying to continue her movements and that was pushing him over the edge. She let out a long groan and arrested her movements as he carried on desperate for his release.
Inadvertently he pulled back a little too far and when he was bucking forward again the tip of his erection hit that sweet spot at her core and delved inside about an inch, stopped from going any further inside her only by the scraps of fabric they still had on their lower parts.
"Fuck!" He shouted at the sensation of his head burying inside her and he came, unable to stop his hips from still bucking slightly as he shot his load.
The pleasure centers in his brain were firing off like rockets, but he had enough piece of mind to completely halt his movements anymore after he was truly spent. It took a moment for him to become aware enough to take stock of what had just happened.
He hadn't meant to do that. He'd just been so overcome with need that he couldn't stop himself from finishing right after it happened.
Ginny was completely still underneath him, and he was trying to calm his panic enough to open his eyes and see what her reaction would be. This panic in his brain didn't let it occur to him that maybe now would be a good time to remove his still erect head from where it had decided to go without permission.
When he finally opened his eyes and saw Ginny had her head tilted back and was biting her lip he didn't know what to do. "Ginny?" He worriedly whispered.
"Mmm." She moaned. Then did something that caused his eyes to roll back in his head again.
She started circling her hips again.
Her tight wet heat was only closed over about that inch of his still fully hard erection and while it wasn't moving any further inside her with her movements, the sensitive head was sending jolts of pleasure through him with every roll of her hips.
He was transfixed on her face while she did this. Her mouth was slightly open, her pink tongue touching her front teeth. The flush on her cheeks and spreading down what he could see of her chest to under her shirt.
She liked it.
She might actually cum again.
He moved his hand to touch her in that spot that had helped set her off the other day, and she cried out when he found it. Putting pressure there with his thumb he traced circles there in time with her movements and soon enough there was an unbelievable tightening around his head as she whimpered and cried out.
He buried his face back in the crook of her neck, losing the ability to hold it up any longer at this new sensation.
Her body relaxed slowly and that movement caused him to slip out of her. They both lay there breathing heavily.
Ginny tangled her hand into his hair and started massaging his scalp lazily. It felt wonderful on top of what had just happened. "You're going to make me fall asleep." He smiled and shifted down so he could use her chest as a pillow. He smiled wider when she let out an audible response that sounded something like 'ngaaw' and decided she might need a little more recovery time before she would be able to carry on proper speech patterns.
He had just made her cum twice after all, he thought proudly.
It would have been wonderful to just close his eyes and have a nap right there on top of her, but they were actually in a rather public place and could be walked in on at any moment. That wasn't something his horny brain saw as a problem before they did that, but now that he was spent and realized his trousers were hanging off of one ankle logical thinking was returning.
Resentfully he pulled back from her and managed to get to his feet, letting out a snicker at how his balance was a little off, then pulling up his trousers. He knew there was a silly grin on his face as he looked down at his beautiful girlfriend, but he didn't care.
Her face was flush with pleasure, a very content smile on her lips and her once tidy hair was all over the place. Her bare legs were on display for him and the center of her knickers were now thoroughly soaked.
Kneeling down beside the couch he couldn't stop himself from kissing the inside of her knee on her left leg, then placing another one slightly higher, then higher still up her warm thigh. It was calling to him.
He felt her shift on the couch and looked up to see her on her elbows looking down at him with her warm brown eyes, her chest rising and falling heavily.
Harry knew that if she kept looking at him like that, and if he kept kissing his way slowly up her leg then they would be on the road to doing something that had occupied his dreams since the first time he saw her. But that annoying little voice inside his head was telling him not to.
They would be expected at lunch, then they had Quidditch practice, then she and Ron were supposed to go into Hogsmeade for their family meeting.
He didn't want to have sex with her for the first time, properly, only to have all these obligations right after. Reluctantly, he reached down and pulled her trousers up her leg and moved out of the way so she could pull them on properly.
She sat up after doing up the button and he sat down beside her. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked.
She snuggled up beside him and nuzzled into his neck, sending delighted shivers down his spine. "Not right now." She whispered. "But it was amazing."
He rested back into the corner of the couch and she nestled comfortably beside him and they both drifted off.
()()()
The door creaked open into number 12 Grimmauld Place, clearing a few cobwebs in the process. Sirius cringed at the noise, and even more so at the dark and depressing entryway.
It was disgusting.
If he could bring to mind the image of his soul just before he'd escaped from Azkaban, this is what it would look like. Peeling wall treatments, dusty frames of hated family member portraits. The horrible red runner down the stairs with multiple unknown stains marking it. And there were bound to be many thousands of spiders and doxy's just waiting to drop on him when he least suspected them.
The kids had come to visit him at Remus' suite once more after dinner yesterday and Ron told him about how they were getting all the Daily Prophets and Quibblers from back around the end of the war. Ron's girlfriend had gone on about the lack of information readily available from around that time. No books about it, not being taught in History of Magic and such. But he caught an exchange between Ginny and Harry then about her exuberance.
Remus was all for them learning about that time but warned them that it wouldn't be a pleasant trip down memory lane, and that most of what was reported should not be taken at face value. It was a big undertaking that they were talking about.
The rest of the night was just he and Remus. They'd discussed what he should do with his family home now that it was in his possession properly again. The Fire Whiskey involved in that discussion led to several silly ideas. One of them was to get ostentatiously flowery and bright wall paper to do up his parents old bedroom in. There was a kind of paint you could get too that would make it shimmer and constantly give off a small amount of light.
If he'd come straight here after escaping, or even a year or two after, particularly if he hadn't managed to heal some old wounds by living with the Weasley's and receiving such loving care, then this task he'd set out for himself would have been far too much.
As it was, he now had an extra House Elf that he'd hired to help him. There was no doubt in his mind that Kreachure would have been next to useless, and bigoted against him.
That elf had loved his mistress and she hated Sirius, so the elf hated Sirius.
This new elf was timid, but there was something endearing about that. He'd been completely filthy and was given clothes by his previous owner which made him a huge bargain. The goblins had done the bonding ceremony then and the elf was instructed to wait until he was called before heading to the Black house.
Sirius walked through the entryway to the lounge on the right. The double doors sounded awful as they opened inward. There was a musty smell to the room that made his nose crinkle. It was like the elf had been using this room as his toilet for the past ten years.
With a scoff he closed the doors and went across the hall and to the kitchen.
It was also in a dismal state. The sink had a constant drip and there were splatters all over the work area with 'things' growing from them. Dishes were piled up all over the place, and there were various containers knocked over in the open cupboards.
The elf had lived in a closet off the kitchen before he'd left. He opened the door to the closet and saw the elf sitting there, cross legged.
"Did you not even care that someone had entered the house?" Sirius asked him harshly.
"I knew it was the mistresses disappointment. I feel your magic." Kreachure said slowly rocking back and forth.
"I see you've been keeping up your mistresses house." Sirius scowled. "Do you want clothes? Or a beheading?" He asked honestly. There may not have been anyone to serve in this big empty house, but that wouldn't stop House Elves. It was their whole mission in life to keep house for their masters. All the previous House Elves had their heads hanging on the walls upstairs and growing up with this one he knew that the elf saw it as something to aspire to.
"Not my mistresses house anymore." He kept rocking and shaking his head back and forth.
Sirius rolled his eyes and shut the door to the closet and went back to the entryway. "Dobby." He called.
CRACK
"Dobby is here Master." The eager and timid elf exclaimed.
"Good. Look. This place is absolutely disgusting. The old House Elf has not kept it up, in fact he's let it fall into an abysmal state." He gestured around. "I haven't even been upstairs yet but clearly we need to start work right away."
The elf's eyes went so wide Sirius was concerned they might pop right out of his head.
"I think we need to do this floor by floor. This spot right here I am thinking is the cleanest on in the whole place." He pinched the bridge of his nose trying to think of where to even start.
"Dobby will get right to work Master" Dobby looked around. "Does master know where the broom closet is?"
"You can try asking Kreachure. He's in the closet beside the oven. Through there." He pointed to the kitchen and Dobby hurried off.
He pulled out his old wand with a sigh. He was still adjusting to the feeling of having it back in his hand. After all this time he was going to have to get used to using it again. The only magic he'd used over the past decade was to become his Animagus self, and it was true with magic; if you don't use it, you lose it.
Getting this place in habitable shape was going to take a lot of magic.
And possibly a Weasley touch, he thought as an image of his home for the last three years came to mind.
()()()
"Urgh. My legs are killing me." Ron moaned as he and Ginny headed from the Quidditch Pitch down the path towards Hogsmeade.
Ginny agreed with him. Practice had been pretty brutal today. Her shoulders were certainly feeling it, but she was still riding quite a high from earlier. She'd hinted to Hermione over breakfast that she and Harry hadn't found much time for just the two of them that week, what with everything that had happened and all. Hermione of course cottoned on and had pulled Ron away from the little study group that morning.
Ginny'd been pretty antsy and hormone fueled these past few days and got the impression that Harry was feeling along the same lines. She had not expected what had happened on the couch that morning though.
But she'd been prepared for it.
Part of the girls night on Monday had been brewing a contraceptive potion.
She and Harry had just taken their relationship to a new level and if her hormones were starting to take the drivers seat like that, then she wasn't going to chance it. Her mum had drilled that into her head. The Contraceptive Charm was very effective, but only if you remembered to use it. The potion on the other hand was only needed once every four weeks.
Their nap had rolled right into lunch time and they hadn't actually talked about what had happened and how far they'd gone before rushing to grab a bite so they wouldn't collapse during practice. She'd kept trying to fight the blush that came to her face when she thought about it, but they'd very nearly had sex.
And thank Merlin she had taken that potion this week because even with two scraps of cotton between them, where he'd been when he finished was... well, inside her, and it had stayed there. Thinking about it now she was happy she could blame the cold wind on her cheeks as she hurried along beside her brother, because the way she'd carried on for another round, just remembering it had just gotten her so hot.
They made it to the twins flat and let themselves into the warm sitting area with greetings to all.
Every Weasley was there, even Kenneth who ran up and attached himself to his aunt's leg. She beamed brightly and picked up her little mister, giving a big kiss to his squishy and warm cheek while he giggled loudly at her tickling his side. "AGONY!" He squealed in his always yelling voice. He wasn't quite able to enunciate 'Aunt Ginny' yet, so it came out 'Agony', which everyone got a kick out of.
Ron swiftly took him from her arms to give him some hugs and tickles himself while she went around the room giving hugs to the rest of the family.
Bill and her dad were sitting at the far end of the room nursing a glass of scotch each while Percy and Charlie looked to be talking about Ministry business, and the twins were with mum in the kitchen area while she gave them instructions on some dishes she'd brought over to stock their fridge.
The twin's flat was tiny with all the redheads piled in here at the moment but would have had abundant space for its regular use of just the two of them while possibly entertaining a lady friend or two.
"Gin-Gin!" Charlie called her over to he and Percy. "What's this I hear about you and a boyfriend?" He teased.
"You have a boyfriend already?" Percy asked. "Isn't it quite soon for you to be seeing someone seriously?"
Ginny felt her hawk go up at that. Pompous Percy and his opinions. "No. It is not 'quite soon'. I've known him since before the train ride to Hogwarts, and we were just friends for a month before we finally admitted we both wanted more." She argued. "And, Ron has a girlfriend." She pointed out.
"Yes. Well-" Percy started, but Charlie put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a look that made Percy re-consider whatever he might have been about to say.
"Your father and I have met them both." Their mum came over and assured Percy. "Harry was quite the nice young man. I did like how his first concern was you dear." She kissed her daughter's forehead.
Ginny smiled at the gesture. "Thanks mum. He said he was worried how he'd come off. Said he wanted a second chance to make a first impression."
"Oh posh. He has no need to be worried." Her mum waved off the idea that they could have possibly not liked him, or Hermione.
"Did you say Harry?" Percy asked. "As in Harry Potter?"
Ginny just took a deep breath and stared him down, daring him to say anything more on the subject.
"We met ickle Ginny's boyfriend. Seemed someone might have warned him off us." Fred pouted.
George put an arm around her shoulders. "Now why would you want to deprive us of our fun? Your first boyfriend and we can't even turn him into a Canary." He shook his head.
Kenneth pushed some legs aside so he could stand in the middle of them. "LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!" He spun around on one foot and stared up at Ginny expectantly waiting for his praise at his new trick.
"That was amazing!" She gushed. "Can you show me again?" And he spun around again while his uncles and his dad chuckled and applauded.
"Alright!" Their dad stood up. "Thanks for coming Weasley's. Now, we have a bit of news to share with you and if you could all find a seat."
They pulled over the dining table chairs behind the sofa and Ginny led Kenneth around to sit with her on the floor in between where her mum and Bill were sitting.
"Now then." He started. "You have all heard about how Sirius Black was found innocent this week?" They nodded. "Well I don't know if you boys caught it." He looked at his five eldest. "But I was actually at the first Wizengamut meeting about it because the key piece of evidence was found at the Burrow."
"The key piece of evidence was Peter Pettigrew." Percy pointed out. "That was what had brought them to get his wand."
"Yes." he said with a slight nod. "It turns out that Peter Pettigrew was an Animagus. And he had been hiding with us in plain sight. A rat."
"Scabbers?" Bill exclaimed.
"Scabbers was Peter Pettigrew?" Charlie made a pained face.
"WHAT YOU TALKIN BOUT?" Kenneth asked loudly.
Ginny stroked his hair and gave a kiss to his nose to quiet him down. She concentrated and summoned a toy car that had rolled over by the fireplace to occupy him. He promptly climbed off her lap and rolled it all over the floor.
"He was dug up by Albus Dumbledore and he countered the Animagus spell." Their dad went on.
"My. Rat." Percy sounded like he might vomit, or possibly pass out.
"Whoa! Hope you never wanked in front of him." Fred said, earning a smack upside the head from his mum.
"Yeah. Same to Ron." George chuckled, earning himself a smack from Charlie, who was closer that mum was.
"Urgh. I'm trying not to think about it." Ron shuddered.
"Why are you acting like this isn't news?" George asked him.
"We found out on Tuesday." Ginny told them. "I assume you lot are being told now because Sirius Black doesn't have to be in hiding anymore. He's innocent."
"You know where he is?" Bill asked her inferring as much from her tone.
She nodded. "He went to his family home on today and went to speak to that Amelia Bones woman yesterday."
"Oh good." Mum sounded relieved, like she had worried that what the papers had reported might have been a rouse. Ginny had had the same concerns until Harry had received an owl before they'd seen him last night stating all was well and he'd still be in Professor Lupin's suite.
"And how do you know this when they don't?" Bill pointed to his parents.
"Well, he was her dog." Ron offered. "Sirius Black was Sirius Black."
The five eldest boys were silent at that revelation while Kenneth started calling for the dog and looking around the flat to see if he could find him.
()()()
It was dark when Ron and Ginny made their way back to Hogwarts. Hagrid had met them at the entrance gate at 7 to let them in and they headed straight for the classroom they'd converted to find their friends and partners reading quietly.
"Hey!" They greeted and dragged over some chairs. "What did we miss?" Ron asked.
"There are so many Death Eaters children that go here!" Neville exclaimed. "I mean. I knew some of them, but there are some not in Slytherin that I had no idea about."
"We've been adding pretty steadily to the list." Hermione gestured to the parchment on the table.
"How was your family dinner?" Harry asked them.
"Mum makes the best food." Ron smiled lazily and patted his stomach.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "They took the news pretty well." She explained how it took only a few moments for her brothers to pull themselves together and ask tons of questions that they didn't have all the answers to. Mum had started piling food onto the counter for them to gorge themselves with while the chatter about it went on endlessly. "But all in all, I think they weren't quite as affected as I was." She finished.
"Well, all of us refused to clip his nails." Ron pointed out.
Ginny shuddered and repressed the urge to vomit. The other three just made a face.
"What date are you at?" She pointed to the newspapers.
"September 1982." Hermione picked up her parchment full of notes. "There's been a lot of articles about how the world was getting back to where it was before the war and international cooperation picking up and such." They'd been receiving the papers in reverse chronological order and started with December 1982.
"Not much about the trials and all that yet." Neville flipped the page of his paper. "Here's another piece about the possible whereabouts of Wonder Boy over there." He teased showing a baby picture of Harry to the room.
Harry let out a groan but was smiling and shaking his head.
"Did you lot eat?" Ron asked.
"Yeah." Harry dropped a newspaper to the floor and grabbed a new one.
"Well. Are any of you a bit peaky?" He asked hopefully.
"If you're going to the kitchens then I'll come with you." Neville stood up and gave a stretch.
Ron gave Hermione a quick kiss to the cheek and walked out with Neville. Ginny picked up a copy of the Quibbler and got comfortable in her chair.
She was half way through the paper when she sat up a little straighter. "Any notes on Bartimaeus Crouch?" She asked Hermione.
"Oh, yes. The poor man. Finding out that your only child is a Death Eater and having to be the one to put him away there was a short mention of it in November 82." She grabbed her parchment. "They have an article about that in there?"
"Partly. This one is more about how both his wife and child died at the same time right after they'd gone to visit Junior in Azkaban and how suspicious that is." She read a little bit more and rolled her eyes. "Blaming some non-existent beetle for infecting the two of them when they shared their last visit."
"What, they both died at the same time?" Harry asked.
"Yeah. Says that the son was found dead by guards less than a week later, and the wife had stopped making public appearances immediately after their visit she'd passed away and had a closed funeral. Apparently she'd been suffering from something for a while and it had gotten way worse after her son was accused and committed."
"You think they somehow swapped bodies and the mother died in his place and Junior is just... around somewhere?" Harry asked.
"They could have used Polyjuice potion." Hermione said thoughtfully. "It makes you take on the appearance of someone else for an hour. If she managed to hide a flask or something she could have lasted looking like him for a while."
The three of them sat thinking about it for a moment. It was a wild theory, but if she was imprisoned and her mum was close to death, she'd do the same thing for her.
"We shouldn't tell Neville this possibility." Hermione whispered.
"Why not?" Ginny asked. Neville was as much a part of this little project as the rest of them.
"The reason that Barty Crouch Junior went to Azkaban, besides for being a death eater, was because of the part he'd played in... with Neville's parents." She explained.
"Oh." She leaned back in her chair to comprehend that. Neville hadn't said anything to her about his parents. She knew he lived with his Grandmother and assumed they had passed away when he was a child. The Quibbler just mentioned about Junior's indecencies on the day that Voldemort fell.
"I'm not going to write that one down." Hermione sniffed sadly. "It's just an assumption. And from the Quibbler."
"I know the Quibbler is a lot of bollocks." Ginny defended. "But it has some facts that the Prophet is too chicken shit to print."
"Language." Hermione admonished immediately.
"Sorry mum." Ginny teased.
"We got some little cakes." Ron announced coming into the room holding an armful of treats with Neville smiling behind him.
()()()
Harry pulled her into a little alcove on the way back to the common room before curfew. "Hey." He whispered and gave her a soft kiss.
"Hey." She wrapped her arms around his neck and stepped closer to him, giving him another longer and deeper kiss.
"About earlier." He started.
She nuzzled the side of his neck and gave him kisses there, pressing into him even more and humming. "Mmm. Yeah. Earlier."
"You were okay with that?" He asked huskily. She was doing her best to get him worked up again.
Ginny pulled back and met his eye. "I was okay with that twice Harry." She cocked an eyebrow at him suggestively.
He grinned. She had cum twice. He thought so, but getting the confirmation was exciting him. He'd been thinking about it all afternoon, and he'd realized that he might have pushed a boundary and she might have been upset about that after thinking it over or something.
Harry also realized that cotton wasn't the most leakproof material and remembered stories of sperm managing to get places.
He swallowed hard. "Um, but. About that. When I. When you." He fumbled for his wording. "It's just that I was, well he. Uh. It was right, um. There. When I. And."
Ginny blushed and lowered her gaze, playing with a button on his shirt. "I'm on the potion." She whispered.
"The potion." He stated, confused. What potion?
"The contraceptive potion." She bit her lip.
He was surprised by that. Did that mean that she wanted to? How long had she wanted more? Was it just a precaution? Because that had actually been needed today. "How long have you been on it?" He asked quietly, but in a rather high voice.
"Well. After waking up in your bed on Sunday I had a bit of a panic before you told me we hadn't. Then I figured it was probably a good idea to take it. Just in case."
"Does that mean that." His speaking abilities were completely lost when she looked back up at him. Her warm brown eyes were full of desire and conflict.
She licked her lips. "We've been getting pretty carried away. And I've loved every minute of it." She blushed. But there was that word again. "And I want to keep. Um, loving every minute of it?"
"Ginny. I don't quite know what that means." He managed to clear his head enough to find his voice. "I need you to tell me when I'm pushing you too far, because I don't want to get carried away and have you be upset at me." He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "That's why I needed you to tell me what you wanted earlier."
Ginny bit her lip and giggled a bit. "That was really hot."
"It was?" He asked. He hadn't meant for it to be.
"Yeah." She nodded enthusiastically with wide eyes. "And I really appreciate you not wanting to push me. But Harry." She cupped the side of his face. "I don't think there's anything you could do with me that I don't already want."
His jaw dropped. Nothing? He'd pictured doing all kinds of things to her and with her while he'd been wanking ever since he'd met her. "In that case." He said boldly and leaned down to right beside her ear, trailing a hand over her hip and to her sex. "I want to kiss you here."
She gyrated against his finger and whimpered slightly. "I want that." Her hand went behind his head and she pulled at his hair so she could capture his lips and devour them hungrily.
He pushed her back against the wall and lifted her up by her thighs so she could wrap her legs around him. It gave him a thrill to know that he was the only thing holding her up. Made him feel more manly in a pound-your-chest kind of way. His one hand moved up to cup her bum, tracing his pinky up to run along her slit over and over again.
"It's curfew in a minute." A voice called out into the corridor that sounded like Dean Thomas.
Harry rested his forehead against hers and tried to calm himself down. He wanted to find a secluded spot and go down on her immediately, even if he completely bollocksed it up, he knew he could still get her to finish. He'd done it three times this week.
Remembering that was not helping calm him down.
He rested her feet back down and hugged her close. "I love you." She sighed with her head rested against his chest.
He tensed up. "Err. Ginny?"
She pulled back and looked up at him again. "Yeah?" She smiled.
"You. You've said that twice now. And I'm just kind of, uh, wondering if." He hesitated.
"Said what?" She asked and scrunched up her nose a little in thought, then she blushed. "Oh! I've told you that twice?" She asked, her eyes clearing up of their dazed expression. "When did I say it before?"
"Tuesday. After we'd talked to Sirius. In the corridor." He told her nervously. "I've heard you say it to Ron, and Hermione, and even to Neville once as like, a tease or something. But only the two times to me and I was just wondering. Is it like, something you just say? Or."
"Or do I actually love you?" She finished warmly. "You're asking if I'm in love with you?"
He blew some of his fringe away from his eyes. "Yeah."
She reached up and removed the fringe out of his eyes herself. "Yes."
"You are?" He smiled slowly.
"Yes." She pulled his face down closer to hers.
"Really?" He hugged her tighter feeling a shivering excitement. He'd hoped so. There were other couples he'd seen over the years that would actually shout it to each other in the corridors and it had sounded rather fake. Sometimes he'd overhear people sharing a semi-private moment and telling each other that in the common room and he'd wondered if those couples were just being sappy, or actually were in love. And he had heard stories about how much his mum and dad had been in love. He had just never been told it properly so far as he could remember, and his hands were shaking at her admission.
"Harry?" She asked softly and cupped his cheek and maintaining purposeful eye contact. "I love you."
"I love you too." He breathed out before kissing those deliciously soft lips again. His heart felt like it had inflated with helium, like it was light and full and might carry him up to the ceiling.
"Now it is curfew!" Dean came out of the portrait hole a few yards away from, his voice breaking them apart.
They detangled themselves and walked hand in hand back to the Tower. "Sorry Dean." Ginny told him as they passed. Once he was out of earshot, right before they gave the Fat Lady the password she went up onto her toes and whispered right into Harry's ear. "I want to kiss you there too."