Chapter 2: After the loss of Sirius

A/N: Please note that I 'borrowed' some lines from some of the HP films in this chapter, partially because I thought they were amusing thrown into a different context. This chapter begins with a flashback, but it ends with Harry conversing with Ginny about a few important matters. The incantation for the Bat Bogey Hex was inspired by the scientific name for the Flying Fox genus - which involve some of the largest bats in the world. All the more painful for Malfoy!

This, Ginny thought, was not the way the day was supposed to play out.

The last day of exams was not supposed to end with her and Luna coming along on a mission to rescue Sirius, in spite of Harry's stubborn objections.

It wasn't supposed either to result in herself, Luna, Neville, Ron, Hermione and Harry all in captivity inside Umbridge's Office. Thankfully, the toad had left with Hermione and Harry, but quite exactly what Hermione was planning to do with the 'Headmistress,' she had no idea. Both after all were disarmed, though she had to admire her friend's calm nerves and quick thinking. If it had been her, she'd have probably tried to throttle Umbridge as soon as they were outside – for setting Dementors on Harry, for even thinking to use that vile curse on him, not to mention turning Hogwarts into a prison in all but name.

Meanwhile, Harry's Godfather was having his will to resist drained from him slowly, curse by curse, and here they were, absolutely bloody useless.

Why did Ginny believe that Harry was correct? The question didn't even enter her mind – he was after all the only reason she and her siblings still had a father. He'd never failed anyone, least of all, herself.

She dragged her mind back to the garishly-decorated room, all with those horrible mewling kitten portraits. Their noise had risen to a crescendo before, when Umbridge was about to curse Harry. Only Umbridge could nearly destroy her love of cats.

Meanwhile, the preening little ferret in front of her was once again strutting around like he owned the place, casually toying with Harry's wand. At least they were no longer gagged, she thought.

"-and you, of all people, Longbottom? What did you forget this time? Maybe you thought we didn't have eyes everywhere."

Ginny looked across at Ron, giving him a shrug as he looked questioningly at her. If neither of them knew what Hermione Granger was up to for sure, then she guessed none would.

Malfoy had spotted the interaction between herself and her brother.

"And you two, Weasel and Weaselette-"

Crabbe laughed as he strengthened his hold on Neville again, Millicent Bulstrode tittered and Warrington smirked unpleasantly as he held Ron.

"What's Potty dragged you into this time? Did he get another little nightmare again? It was quite the scene when he screamed, wasn't it, Crabbe?"

As Crabbe nodded thickly, Malfoy advanced until he was standing nose to nose with Ron, his grey eyes boring into her brother's.

"So you think your Mudblood sidekick and Potty can outsmart our Headmistress? Not smart, I fear expulsions might be in order…..then again, it might mean you two can start saving up to buy your dream home. Though that might take a century – don't your family sleep in, er, one room?"

"Piss off, ferret," Ginny muttered, causing Malfoy to whirl on her as Ron shook with barely suppressed rage.

"And you, the youngest weasel of them all. Your boyfriend left you here to play hide and seek with the Mudblood?" Ginny gritted her teeth at the mention of Harry, but then laughed in Malfoy's face, causing him to jump back slightly. She tried to put her regret at not being able to let Dean know what she was doing out of her head. Now was not the time….

"You jealous or something Malfoy?" she teased, not caring about Ron's raised eyebrows. As Malfoy's face turned to an ugly pink, an airy, mild voice chimed in from the back of the room.

"Your head must be full of Wrackspurts, Draco. I suggest you read the Quibbler to find a way of curing it…"

Malfoy's lips quivered as the rest of the Inquisitorial Squad snorted with exaggerated laughter.

"Potty, Loony, Mr. Forgetful, the formerly long-molared Mudblood, Weasel and Potty's future wife. That's what I call a full house of lunatics."

"Get bent, Malfoy," her brother barked, causing even Ginny to jump as she herself scowled at the Inquisitorial Squad's leader. Malfoy raised an eyebrow as he advanced again on Ron. He raised a hand.

"Warrington, get out of the way, please." Malfoy tucked Harry's wand into his outer jacket pocket and curled his right hand into a fist as Warrington loosened his vice like grip.

The wand was just inches away from Ginny's fingers…

Malfoy landed a harsh blow to Ron's solar plexus and he crumpled with an 'oomph!' Wheezing, he struggled in vain to get back up. Malfoy casually kicked him, causing him to roll over, spread-eagled.

"That's how I feel about Blood Traitors."

His attention was solely fixed on Ron. Big mistake. Malfoy failed to notice the silent blow to the ribs Ginny gave her captor. As the other girl seized her in a headlock, Ginny's fingers brushed Harry's wand. Succeeding in gaining a grip the second time around, she poked Harry's wand in-between the girl's ribcage and shouted "STUPEFY!"

She couldn't see the effect her spell had, but she saw the flash of red, felt the sudden total release of her captor's grip and heard the painful impact with Umbridge's desk.

Malfoy whirled around as she managed in rapid order to Stun Millicent Bulstrode, who, no longer holding Hermione, had possession of all their wands. Malfoy proceeded to whip his hand into his other pocket, but Ginny was too fast for him.

"Expelliarmus!" she shouted, and Malfoy was blown backwards to hit the doorway, his wand flying into the air. Ron, who had succeeded in giving Warrington a bloody nose, caught it and without a second's pause threw it out the open window. He then raced for the pile of discarded wands beside Millicent's still form. Grabbing his, he proceeded to Stun Warrington as the latter cast a hex that barely missed Ron's face.

Ron then threw Luna's wand back to its rightful owner as she matter-of-factly stomped on her captor's feet, broke free of her grasp, and shot a Full Body Bind curse for good measure. She winced as the Slytherin girl fell to the floor with a disproportionately loud thump.

Crabbe had tightened his grip on Neville again, leering unpleasantly as the latter began to turn purple. Ron threw Neville his wand. As Crabbe tightened his grip even further, Neville pointed his wand behind his head and choked "Im- Impedimenta!"

As Crabbe's grip slackened, Neville struggled free, gasping wildly and collapsing to all fours while Ginny put down Harry's wand as she leaned beside her friend.

"Great job, Neville, really good work."

"Yes, quite impressive," said Luna serenely as she also leaned down and patted his elbow. Neville's cheeks reddened slightly as he recovered his balance.

There was a scuffling noise from the other side of the room. Malfoy had begun to recover. Ginny in a flash spotted her discarded wand on the floor beside Millicent and dived for it as Malfoy grabbed Warrington's wand and cast a Stunner that flew barely inches above her head. Jumping out from under cover, she aimed directly at Malfoy's face and cast the hex she'd longed to use on him.

"Pteropus Mucosis!" she shouted, and watched in satisfaction as Malfoy let out a ridiculously high-pitched scream and clawed at his face as large bat-winged bogies began to fly out of his nose and flap around his face, blinding him as he sank to his knees and lashed out blindly at them, whimpering loudly all the while. All the members of Dumbledore's Army watched with fascination as Malfoy finally managed to get to his feet again, bump loudly into the wall (Ron snickered at this), then reach the door, open it, and run away. As he did so, Ginny heard one last yell.

"My father will hear about this, Weasley! You're a dead woman walking!"

Ginny raised an eyebrow at Ron, who looked a little unnerved at her hexing abilities.

"Was that…" he began.

"Bat Bogey Hex," she answered matter-of-factly. "Not only that, but it was flying fox bogies, which are even worse," she finished, certain that a mile-wide grin of satisfaction was plastered all over her features.

Luna looked back at the prone form of her captor. "That wasn't very pleasant," she said mildly. "Rather loud, in fact."

Both Ginny and her brother jumped as Crabbe began to recover from his Impediment Jinx, though Ron's rapid Stupefy put paid to that particular oversight. But Neville was transfixed by the view out over the Forest.

"What's up, Neville?" Ron asked, coming to stare over his right shoulder, Ginny doing the same on his left. Neville wordlessly pointed to an eruption of birds from the top of the Forest canopy as the movement of something large shook the blanket of foliated branches. Just then, a flash of red pierced the darkened interior of the forest. Intuitively, all knew where Harry and Hermione were.

They rushed off, making sure that Harry and Hermione's wands were collected. The journey to the Forest felt like it was over in an instant as they heard distant braying and a gigantic roar of pain in the darkness beyond.

"Come on!" Ron bellowed as he outstripped the rest of the group, face set determinedly with Ginny hot on his tail. The stakes were simply so high, every second counted.

To her relief, she spotted a most alarmed-looking Hermione and Harry, small twigs and dirt all over their clothes and hair. To her horror, she noticed pebble-sized spots of blood over Harry's face and shirt. Absolutely bloody typical. The Chamber. The various cuts caused by the Whomping Willow after his and Hermione's late-night antics in Third Year, which she'd finally been told about by Lupin and Sirius. The wound caused by Wormtail's dagger the previous year.

She shook herself. There weren't any wounds visible on Harry. This time.

"He's covered in blood again," she sighed exasperatedly at Ron, whom, she noticed, was anxiously scanning Hermione for presumably any sign of injuries too. "Why is it he's always covered in blood?"

"Hmmmm?" Ron replied absent-mindedly, his eyes still scanning Hermione. "Oh – yeah. At least for once it isn't his own." In spite of the grim situation, Ginny chuckled slightly. It was to be the only bit of levity for quite some time.

A matter of hours later, they would all be fighting for their lives. Then…..nothing.

..Until she came to in the Hospital Wing, a gaunt-faced Ron with bloodshot eyes leaning over her. She heard the news; how Hermione was still not entirely out of danger in the bed opposite her as Madam Pomfrey administered potion after potion to heal the internal injuries caused by Dolohov's curse, how Neville had faced down and even briefly been tortured by the very same madwoman who had robbed him of his parents, how Ron had narrowly avoided strangulation in the Department of Mysteries thanks only to Dumbledore and the Order's timely intervention, and worst of all, how Sirius had died. She dissolved into silent tears, a few apparently also dripping from Ron's nose onto her exposed neck as both siblings clung to each other like limpets to a rock.

She wasn't just crying for Sirius, or for concerns about Hermione's safety, she knew. She was also crying because she knew full well what Harry would be feeling like right now. That it was all his fault that so many people had been endangered. Worse though for Harry in the sense that his beloved Godfather had been killed.

All for nothing.

June 20, 1996.

Ginny came to in the Hospital Wing, the first glow of the rising Sun casting a brilliant glow on the Lake. Yet again, she mused, a peaceful, beautiful morning marred by tragedy. The one silver lining was her ankle had been fixed in a jiffy, and Dean was going to briefly drop in and see her later today, though she'd already told him to not reveal anything in front of Ron. After another night or two as a precaution, she'd be free to return to Gryffindor Tower.

Ron and Hermione were unfortunately going to remain under watch for much, much longer. She couldn't place what the enchanted brains had done to Ron, but whatever it was, it wasn't pleasant. As for Hermione, she'd thankfully woken around midday the previous day, but of course her ribs and stomach still stung and ached like a hundred Doxies had bitten her. Luna and Neville's beds were absent; they'd presumably been cleared to leave just before she woke up.

She turned to her right and found Harry dozing in a nearby chair, a small vial of Pepperup Potion beside it. Just then, the Boy Who Lived stirred and opened his eyes, yawning widely as he did so. Raising her hand in greeting, she gestured over to a nearer chair for him to sit on.

"Hey," she whispered. "What brings you here?" Harry cleared his throat, swallowed nervously and leaned closer.

"Couldn't sleep very well. After what happened in the Ministry, I needed a reminder that everyone else….." he tailed off, and Ginny knew she didn't need to have Hermione's brain to fill in the missing word survived.

"How long have you been here?" she asked tentatively.

"Huh?" Harry yawned. "Oh, probably since three." He looked as if he had the burden of the whole world on his shoulders. Then again, being Harry, he probably did. He looked out at the sunrise, clearly afraid to look into her eyes.

"Ginny, I'm so very, very sorry that I got you involved in-"

"Harry?" Ginny interrupted sharply. "Shut up. You've clearly forgotten exactly who insisted on coming over your objections, you bloody stuck up, noble prat."

Harry nodded. It was clear that his mind was far away. "Anyone visited yesterday?" he queried, breaking the long monotonous silence.

"Yes, Dumbledore as well as Mum and Dad stopped by. I told Mum and Dad you were exhausted and needed rest, but you really should've been down here. They'd have talked some sense into you." Harry remained silent, but he shook his head. That got her volatile temper going.

"In case you've forgotten, Harry, it's because of you and that connection – whatever it is, I don't care – with him, that we still have Dad around." Inwardly, she shuddered. Ron and Hermione had asked Dumbledore what had happened to Harry. Beyond briefly stating Voldemort had tried to attack him, Dumbledore had been coy.

As Harry nodded his thanks, looking at her properly, Ginny saw behind the fatigue and grief, a look of….what, exactly?

What had Voldemort done or said to him?

"What did he do? V-Voldemort." It was still difficult saying his name, but Dumbledore tended to be right about most things.

Harry sighed and inhaled with a shudder.

"He tried to possess me. Tried, and failed, I might add." He smiled reassuringly at Ginny as she nodded for him to continue.

"Well, he was fighting Dumbledore, he then…..went inside me, can't really describe it, and taunted Dumbledore to kill me. Then….I dunno, I thought about dying, about seeing Sirius….and he was gone."

"Grief drove him out?" Ginny whispered. Then she remembered the events of her worst year ever. "Then again, guess that fits. Any time I showed affection for anyone in that diary, he always appeared to hate it. And grief after all is just another form of love." She wasn't going to mention, even under pain of death, that the anyone more often than not really meant Harry himself. Then again, Harry probably knew from Tom what she'd written. That said, if he did know, he wasn't indicating it. One more of the things she liked about…

At that, Harry chuckled darkly, interrupting her thoughts.

"You sound like Dumbledore," he sighed, rolling his eyes slightly.

"Stop it," she smiled slightly, playfully hitting him. As they fell silent, the melancholy seemed to wash over Harry again.

She cleared her throat.

"Is there…..anyone you want to talk to about Sirius?" she asked softly. "We're all available if you need us, Harry. Maybe….if you wanted to reach out to Cho or something, I'm sure she'd understand, given last year…"

"That's done," Harry cut across her conclusively. He turned to her again, and Ginny did her best to feel guilty at the fireworks erupting in her chest at this piece of news.

"If I may ask….how did it all, you know…" Harry smiled at her encouragingly, gesturing for her to continue; he was clearly grateful the conversation was steering away from Sirius. The gesture encouraged her to be bolder.

" …end up going tits up?"

"Ginny!" Harry shot back, apparently scandalized at the bluntness of her language. Ginny shrugged.

"So what? You've forgotten again that I'm Fred and George's sister. And Ron's, too."

Harry rolled his eyes again.

"We had two arguments. One was, if you must know, on a date in that disgusting tea shop." Ginny grimaced. She'd briefly visited there with Michael, but she'd laughed him out of the place after thirty seconds and redirected him to Zonko's, then afterwards they'd met up with Colin and Luna at the Three Broomsticks. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear the rest. Then again, if it kept Harry away from thinking about his Godfather, so much the better.

"Go on."

"Well, I mentioned that I'd have to keep the date short because I'd be seeing Hermione afterwards who was with Rita, and…"

Ginny let out a peal of poorly suppressed giggles. Harry looked thunderstruck.

"Sorry," she finally choked, "but that is absolutely ridiculous. She thought you and Hermione were together?"

"Yeah," said Harry, running a hand through his messy-as-ever hair. "Lots of people do, I mean, Krum, Rita Skeeter…."

"But that would be a sight," Ginny chortled. "You and Hermione in front of Rita! As if – that girl's mad. Then again, Harry, it might have been wiser to say something else."

"Yeah, that's what Hermione said," muttered Harry. "Then she asked about Cedric…..if he'd said anything about her before he was, you know, murdered. So here I am, totally helpless as she's just sobbing away. God, what a nightmare it was."

Ginny's stomach turned to acid. What bad form Cho Chang had, she thought. The next time she played Quidditch against her and won was going to be soooo satisfying.

Then the annoying voice that inhabited her brain piped up again.

You're dating Dean, remember?

I don't fancy Harry, I just hate it when other girls emotionally manipulate him! She thought fiercely.

Really?

"Anyway, we haven't seen each other since the Marietta thing," she distantly heard Harry finish off bitterly. "She did point out the pressure her friend was under what with her mother working at the Ministry, but that didn't stop you, or Ron, or the Twins with Arthur, did it?

"Damn right," Ginny nodded in affirmation.

"So then she attacked Hermione again, I defended her, and she got jealous and we just sort of split, I guess." There was no denying it now. Harry had turned red as he absent-mindedly rubbed the hairs on the back of his neck. Harry, blushing. That was a new development around Ginny.

"Thanks for the meeting in the Library earlier on this year," he suddenly blurted out. Giving her a slight smile, he continued.

"Thanks for giving me ideas about breaking into Umbridge's Office to talk to….Lupin. And I guess to Fred and George's distraction techniques. They really paid off didn't they, what with them and their new shop?"

"You gave them the gold, didn't you?" she interrupted, deciding to accept Harry's refusal to mention Sirius by name. Harry nodded. "Didn't want a Knut of it," he replied bitterly. "Not after Cedric. His parents should've got it, but as they refused, what could be better? I've got too much in my account at Gringotts, that I know."

"We're going to it," she piped up. "These holidays. Even Mum wants to take a look, and you've obviously invited." Harry grinned slightly at that thought, and once again, her stomach did a couple of joyful backflips.

Yes, a totally normal platonic reaction, right?

Shut up.

Ron stirred ever so slightly, and both Ginny and Harry whipped around as one. Ginny didn't really want her idiot brother to get the wrong idea about her and Harry, after all. Not to mention she hadn't yet told him about her ditching Michael and starting something new with his dorm-mate Dean. Thankfully, Ron turned over and resumed snoring loudly again, allowing the pair to resume their conversation.

So what are your plans?" Harry asked.

"How do you mean?"

"Next few days, I mean."

For some reason, she didn't want to tell Harry about Dean's impending visit. Then again, with Ron there, maybe it should've already been canned fullstop. Having her goofy prat of a brother carted off to Azkaban for murder was hardly going to be a good look.

"Same old same old." She airily waved a hand as the Hospital Wing was bathed in a golden glow.

At that, Harry stood up. She knew she hadn't managed to get through to him entirely. There was something he'd been hiding from her, and she didn't know if he'd ever reveal it to her.

"You off for breakfast?" Ginny queried.

Harry nodded.

"Thanks for the visit, Harry, you know you're more than welcome to see us afterwards, right?"

"Thanks," he replied, a flatness beginning to creep into his voice again. As he turned away, Ginny impulsively grabbed his wrist.

"You know about clouds having a silver lining, right?" Harry looked totally nonplussed, so she ploughed on, ignoring her idiotic pulse beginning to race as she thought back to the conversation she and Harry had in Grimmauld Place while her father was still in St. Mungos.

"If one good thing has come out of this whole episode, it's this: we know you're not dangerous. You'll never be dangerous. Not to us, anyway," she finished. Harry swallowed once, nodded and smiled, a non-forced one as she let go of his wrist.

"Take care Ginny, and thanks." And with that, he was off.

But Ginny knew that something still troubled him, and it wasn't related to him blaming himself or thinking he was dangerous. As it was, the conversation had been like dancing on glass, but at least she hadn't broken it and offended him. But that mystery still bugged her.

She turned to her friends, plus the sleeping Umbridge, and noticed with a shock that Hermione had awoken, and was staring at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Shut up," Ginny whispered back, prompting Hermione to offer a look of faux indignation. "Someone needed to kick some sense into him."

"I agree," Hermione whispered back, attempting to lean forwards only to hiss with pain at the attempt. In an instant, Ginny had whipped out of bed and was leaning beside Hermione.

"Take it easy, Hermione. Besides, I also wondered if you could do me a favour."

"Yes?" she enquired.

"Could you somehow distract my idiot brother when Dean comes to say hello? As long as we don't snog, it should be fairly easy."

"Deal," Hermione grinned.

But for some reason, she wasn't looking forward to seeing Dean again nearly as much as another certain individual.

She mostly managed to push Harry to the back of her head for the next few weeks, save for the time Ron tactlessly tipped his head towards Harry while suggesting she choose someone better on the Hogwarts Express home. Judging from the way a smirk was playing at the corner of her friend's mouth, she'd started slightly when Ron shot Harry a furtive glance.

It'll happen to you one day, Hermione Granger, she thought. One day soon.