It hadn't occurred to Sirius just how many people would want to pay their last respects to Albus Dumbledore. It really hadn't. Somehow, whenever the thought of the funeral crossed his mind, he'd always pictured only Hogwarts's students and staff and the Order. Yet, all it took for Sirius to realize how wrong he'd been was looking out the window of his wife's office – shortly after arriving to the school through the recently re-connected floo –, which allowed him to see the hundreds of people huddling near the spot facing the lake where Dumbledore's body was to be buried. Never mind that the ceremony wasn't supposed to take place in less than an hour at least…
"… and I'm not even counting the ones that must be camping outside the gates by now," Sirius narrated to his wife while he looked out the window, shifting as he unsuccessfully tried to find some sort of angle that would allow him to spot the gates.
"We all know Dumbledore was always a very popular man, despite the latest criticisms," Mia mumbled absently behind him as she picked up from the floor what seemed to be a note that had been slipped under her door. As she opened it, Mia immediately recognized McGonagall's pragmatic handwriting.
Mia,
There are a few things I needs to discuss with you and Sirius as soon as possible. Please come to find me as soon as you read this.
Minerva McGonagall
"What's that?" Sirius asked as he turned around saw the little note in her hands.
"A message from McGonagall," Mia said. "She wants us to meet her – says she needs to discuss something with us."
"Does she say where she is?"
Mia shook her head. "Probably in her office."
"Yeah, but which one? Her usual office or… you know, Dumbledore's old one."
That was a good question, Mia observed in thought. It still felt foreign thinking of the transfiguration teacher as the school's headmistress but, truth to be said, that was her role now. Dumbledore's office was hers. But something told mia she hadn't taken up that right yet, though… she'd seemed too devastated, too busy in the previous day to even care about… trivialities such as moving to a new office. Mia ended up shrugging. "We can just ask around," she suggested.
"Yeah, I guess," Sirius agreed, shrugging too. Sometimes he just wished he had his own copy of the marauder's map… it would save him so much time sometimes.
It seemed they were lucky that day, since, barely a minute after leaving Mia's office, they ran into the Head Girl, who was running an errand for McGonagall and confirmed that the headmistress was indeed in her old office and not in Dumbledore's.
When they reached the office, the door was open as the older woman busied herself attaching a little note to a school owl's leg before sending it flying out of the window. Though McGonagall didn't look as bad as she had in the previous day, when she had barely seemed like a shadow of herself – pale, reddish swollen eyes and oddly silent – the headmistress still looked rather down that morning with dark circles under her eyes, which revealed her sleeplessness.
Mia cleared her throat before she and Sirius stepped in. "Minerva, is this a good time?"
The teacher looked up at them, startled for a moment. "Oh, Mia, Sirius. I was just finishing what I was doing. Please, come in," she told them, sitting down as they stepped into the office with Sirius closing the door behind him. She gestured with her hand towards the chairs in front of her unusually disorganized desk – parchment cluttered all over it –, indicating for them to sit down too.
"We saw your note," Mia told her. "What is it you need to talk to us about so urgently?"
McGonagall sighed and, before uttering any word, reached for her wand and pointed it to the door. The sound of the lock being shut echoed in their ears at the same time the voices of a few students walking and talking outside ceased suddenly. Satisfied, she lowered her wand. "Two things, actually," the headmistress said, sighing. "I'm not sure if Harry has told you that I've already talked to him yesterday morning."
Sirius nodded. "He mentioned it," he stated.
"Then you may already know that Potter was rather… secretive concerning why he and Albus left the school in the evening of the battle," McGonagall said – judging by her tone, both Sirius and Mia cold tell that that fact annoyed her. "I have to ask… if you're aware of what they were doing, I would like to know about it."
That one caught them by surprise. Maybe they should have predicted that McGonagall might drill them for answers but, for some reason, they hadn't…
"Minerva…" Mia started, uncertainly. It seemed ironic that the secret that had bugged her so much for being kept from her, the Horcruxes, was now the one she had to refuse to reveal. "We can't… We can't tell you that."
"So, you know what they were doing," the other woman concluded.
Sirius had to nod. "We do. Harry told us"
"It might be important," McGonagall told them.
"It is important," Mia confirmed. "And, believe me, it's not because we don't trust you that we can't tell you. It's just… it's safer this way. And it's something you and everyone else do better not knowing. We made a promise to Dumbledore and it's not the sort of promise that… expires after death."
The headmistress pursed her lips for a moment and sighed. "It's not just about what they had to do when they left, is it?"
Sirius shook his head at that. "Not even close. It's a lot more complicated than you think."
There was a silent pause after his words, which was only broken by McGonagall's voice about thirty seconds later. "Is it dangerous?"
"Yes," Sirius confirmed. He couldn't even imagine how much himself…
McGonagall decided to make just one last plead before completely giving up on the matter. "Maybe if the Order knew, we could help with that," she said.
"If he thought the Order could help, Dumbledore would have told you about this himself," Mia told her. "I'm sorry, Minerva, but neither us nor Harry can tell you about this. The least people to know it, the better."
It seemed to McGonagall that she had no other choice but to trust them, as much as it bugged her. "Very well," she said stiffly. "Promise me at least that, if a time comes when you need my help in this matter, you will tell me about it." That was the most she could demand – she knew better than not to trust Dumbledore's judgement after so long knowing him...
This time, Sirius nodded. "I think we work with that," he said.
"So," Mia said, then, anxious to change the subject, "you said you had something else to talk about…"
McGonagall nodded, resigned. "Yes, yes. That other thing I mentioned is about the Order. I have a… not so easy request to make you, I'm afraid…"
"A request?" Sirius asked, curious.
The other woman nodded. "As you know, Albus was the secret-keeper of the Order's headquarters. But with his… death… well, the arrangement of secret-keepers changed. Dangerously."
"What do you mean?" Mia inquired, confused.
"I mean that now everyone who'd been told about the Order's headquarters became a secret-keeper," McGonagall explained.
"Everyone?" Mia asked in disbelief.
"Everyone," the other teacher confirmed.
"Snape included," Sirius concluded, receiving a sullen nod in return. "Damn it. Just when you think that creep can't screw us over further…"
McGonagall cleared her throat disapprovingly before she spoke. "As you can imagine with a… Death Eater as a secret keeper, meetings can no longer safely take place in Lily and James Potter's old house in London or any of the other locations we usually use for that purpose, such as the Shrieking Shack."
"So, where can we meet now?" Sirius asked. "Hogwarts?"
She shook her head. "That thought occurred to me but I had to refute it. Aurors are now constantly watching the gates and the borders… it would be impossible for the whole Order to get into the school without being spotted and raising too many suspicions… It's too much of a risk when we all know that there may be hidden You-Know-Who-sympathizers within the ministry…"
"So, where, then?"
"Well, Arthur and Molly have offered their shed, which seems like a fitting solution. Nonetheless, Alastor insists that we need to reinforce the Burrow's wards before risking meeting there and that's where we have a problem," McGonagall said, huffing. "The Order needs to meet urgently – even today, if possible – to figure out what to do now that Dumbledore is… gone and that gives us no time to completely reformulate the Burrow's wards on top of everything we already have to do. We need to meet somewhere else and the only place that Alastor finds safe enough for us to meet in right now is… well, is your house."
There were a few moments of silence, during which Sirius and Mia simply stared at her. "Our house?" Sirius eventually asked uncertainty.
McGonagall nodded. "It was Alastor's idea, not mine and please don't feel pressured to go along with this. We only considered it because, well, your father made that house into a fortress back when he lived there and then Albus himself did his share in reinforcing the protection. After Hogwarts, Grimmauld Place may very well be one of the most well-protected places in the Wizarding World. It would just be for this one meeting…"
For a moment, Sirius and Mia glanced at each other and it didn't take them more than a second to figure out that one was just as hesitant about the matter as the other. Grimmauld Place was their home, the place where their kids lived and played – where little Alex and Mary were at the moment being watched by Andromeda Tonks, whose babysitting services had been offered by her daughter for that afternoon. They weren't sure if they were comfortable with a group of people meeting there to plot against You-Know-Who…
But then again, they knew it was a necessary thing… Losing Dumbledore and the attack to Hogwarts changed a lot of things – they needed to figure out what they had to do from then on, how to control the damage already done and that needed to happen soon, as McGonagall had said. It wasn't like they didn't trust the people on the Order to be in their home.
"What do you think?" Mia asked her husband at some point.
"I think… I think that if we want to organize ourselves to fight back, we can't make a huge issue out of this," Sirius decided, before turning to McGonagall. "I mean, as long as everyone is careful not to be followed and reveal the meeting is there to someone outside the Order…"
"Of course, of course," McGonagall said immediately, nodding. "We're considering only revealing the location of the meeting to most members a few minutes before it takes place as a precaution – we trust everyone, of course, but we can never be too careful."
Mia nodded slowly – well, at least the fact that they were taking so many precautions soothed her fears. "So… tonight. Meeting at our house," she mumbled flatly, looking at Sirius, who nodded in return.
"Tonight it is," he said.
McGonagall sighed. "We can't thank you two enough for agreeing with this in such a short notice," she said. "Hopefully, this will be a productive meeting. Merlin knows we have quite a number of matters to discuss."
"I imagine we do," Mia agreed absently.
"Well, I suppose this matter is solved, then, only a few dozens more for me to handle now…" the older teacher concluded, saying the last part under her breath, probably not even realizing she'd said it out loud. She huffed and grabbed a few of the rolls of parchment from her desk as if she'd just realized how messy it was, shoving them into her drawers, frustrated.
"Minerva, do you need some help?" Mia asked, realizing just how overworked the headmistress seemed. She could only imagine how many letters and crisis situations she'd answered that morning already – although keeping busy usually helped getting one's mind off things, maybe McGonagall was going a bit too far.
The other woman shook her head, more stubbornly than anything else. "No need. I'm just still getting used to the…" she hesitated while picking up a few more pieces of parchment, giving them a quick read before either shoving them into the drawer or putting them on a 'to do' pile, "headmistress duties. And then there are the owls from parents and the… funeral too…" She said that last part in a slightly strangled tone, like she was fighting very hand to keep herself together at the moment, on top of all her old and new responsibilities – Minerva McGonagall might be known for being a tough woman but even she could only take so much… Her eyes suddenly feel on a little note resting on the desk that had been covered under all that mess. "Oh, for the name of Merlin…"
"What is it?" Sirius asked.
"Madame Maxine!" McGonagall said, standing up with a jump and causing the 'to do' pile to fall on the floor, creating yet another mess, which she really didn't seem to care about. "Oh, I completely forgot about her! She should be arriving any minute for the funeral and I forgot to warn Alastor… make sure her carriage can pass through the school wards… It will be a disaster if she can't…"
Mia stood up too and got on McGonagall's way before she could speed out of the room. "Why don't you let me handle that, Minerva?" she suggested softly. "I'll find Moody and pass on the message for you, and then I won't mind accompanying Madame Maxine to the funeral site. Maybe you need to… delegate a little more."
McGonagall hesitated for a moment but sighed a few seconds later, realizing she'd probably sounded like a madwoman only seconds before, and nodded. "I suppose you're right. Thank you, Mia."
"No need for that," Mia replied before turning to Sirius. "I'll meet you later at the funeral, okay?" The look she gave him after that, together with a soft nod towards McGonagall, was clearly a request for him to stay with the headmistress for a few more minutes just to make sure she wouldn't flip or something.
"Sounds good to me," he told his wife just as she used her wand to unlock the door and remove the silencing charms McGonagall had placed on it, before walking out.
Just as Mia closed the door behind her, awkwardness filled the room. So, he was supposed to stay there, making sure McGonagall wouldn't throw a barking fit, which sounded like a ridiculous thought on itself for him… but what was he supposed to tell her? McGonagall wasn't just the type of person one talked about the weather with or any other small-talk-related topic… He was too used to only sit in that office when he was being lectured to oblivion.
"Sirius, you don't have to stay here," McGonagall said at some point as if she could read his mind, sounding much more composed than before. "I'm fairly sure I am not about to have a mental breakdown as Mia seems to believe. Though, I have to agree with her about delegating." The older woman stated, sighing. "I believe that in a few weeks you and Mia will have to be back in this office to discuss which one of you will take over the position of Head to the Gryffindor house."
Sirius looked surprised. "Really?"
McGonagall nodded. "I'm afraid with these new… headmistress responsibilities I'll have to give that up. And since you and Mia are the only members of the school staff that came from Gryffindor other than me…"
"No, I wasn't asking about that. You're actually considering me as well as Mia to be the Head of Gryffindor? I was under the impression my… not-so-squeaky-clean record at this school sort of pulled me out of the pool of choices."
"Well, I'll admit that in terms of… behaviour, Mia would be my obvious choice. Not to mention that you have some very… lax criteria to give out detentions, which we would certainly have to work on. But, out of the two of you, Mia has a much busier class schedule than yours, which would give you more time to deal with the position," McGonagall explained before taking a breath. "Truth is, Sirius, that you have grown to become a much more respectable person than, I confess, I would have expected, considering your… 'rabid troublemaker' years. Merlin knows there are a handful of Gryffindors who need to do the same."
Sirius's lips curved into a smile at his old teacher's words. "Did I mishear you or you're actually wishing that some kids would follow my example, Professor? Can I get that in writing? Nobody will ever believe me when I tell them if I don't bring proof."
The headmistress's eyes narrowed as she gave him a stern look. "Wipe that smile of your face, Black, and quit gloating."
For some reason, her tone still freaked him out the way it did back when he was the so-called 'rabid troublemaker', so he really couldn't help obeying her and remaining quiet.
The older teacher sighed – she'd always had a soft spot for troublemakers even though she had always made sure that wouldn't make her go soft on them. "You turned out well, Sirius," she ended up offering. "That's something you should be proud of. Without gloating."
Sirius grinned again. "Well, since we're in a complimenting mood, I should point out that you were always my favourite teacher… after Binns, I mean. James and I could never play exploding snap in your classes the way we could play in his."
McGonagall shook her head disapprovingly. "You had some nerve, Black. Now, get out of my office – I have work to do."
He did as she said, standing up and chuckling on his way out. Yet, his good mood disappeared as soon as he opened the office's door to step out and had to groan at the sight opposite him. Rita bloody Skeeter apparently getting ready to knock. Why hadn't he left a minute before?
"Well, well, Mr. Sirius Black. It's been too long," the reporter said, shooting him a fake smile as her hand rubbed the lapel of her own deep-purple suit.
"Really? Then why do I feel just the opposite?" Sirius replied.
Her smile widened, as she reached for her dreadful crocodile-skin purse, pulling out a note-book and a hot-pink quick-quotes quill, which was apparently replacing her previous acid-green one, which Mia had snapped a couple of years before. "How about a quick one-on-one? How's young Harry? I hear he's had a sort of mental breakdown over the death of poor Dumbledore. Do you have any comments on that? Is it true you and your lovely wife are considering committing him to St. Mungo's?"
Sirius narrowed his eyes at her. "Skeeter, the only person who's going to have to be committed to St. Mungo's is you if you think I'm going to comment any of that sh…"
"Sirius!" McGonagall's voice came warningly from behind him. He turned around and saw the headmistress glaring at him as she approached. "There are students in this hallway!"
It was only then that he recalled that fact. With a quick glance around as he stepped away from the doorway, Sirius noticed a bunch of giggling third-year Ravenclaws and a few seventh years unsuccessfully pretending that they weren't trying to listen to the conversation. As McGonagall sent all of them away with one single look, he made a mental note to try and control his language from then on, even if the most annoying reporter that there was record of in his mind was standing right opposite him.
"Rita," McGonagall started, standing just outside her office with a not-so-pleased look on her face – this time, not directed to Sirius but instead the reporter in question, "I don't recall allowing your presence here in the school today."
"Oh, well, you cleared the presence of one reporter for the Daily Prophet," Rita said, smiling as she reached for the media pass she was wearing on the breast pocket of her suit. "As it happens, I work for the Daily Prophet and was sent to cover poor Dumbledore's funeral."
"Really?" Sirius asked, doubtfully. "Because I recall hearing you'd taken an extended leave of absence due to some… personal bug issues." When Rita smiled, daringly showing him her perfect white teeth and apparently not caring one bit about his implied threat, Sirius decided he'd had enough. Why not be blunt? "You know, with you being an unregistered beetle animagus so you can eavesdrop on people and write sketchy articles about them."
McGonagall's face was filled with outrage. "I beg your pardon?" she all but yelled, looking between him and Rita. "An unregistered animagus… using transfiguration for such unethical purposes?"
"Why, but that's where Sirius here is wrong," Rita said, awfully calm. "I'll admit that I am indeed an animagus and can take the form of a beetle at will but I would never use that fact to spy on people." Judging from the tone she was using, it didn't seem like she was even a bit interested in sounding believable to him or to McGonagall – she knew well enough neither had any love or respect for her, so why try? "And as for being unregistered, as it happens, I filled the paperwork for registration years ago but it appears it… got lost. Those papers weren't found until last week when a very helpful clerk at the ministry just happened to find them misplaced in this old achieve. Can you believe it?"
"Not for a second," Sirius replied dryly.
Rita ignored him, though. "Now, thankfully, everything was officialised and I am no longer at fault to the ministry. I mean, not that it was my fault when I was… Seemed only fitting to go back to my regular work now that I have nothing to lose."
She might as well have made a victory dance and sang 'You can't blackmail me anymore,' in a childish tone, Sirius thought as he gritted his teeth. "I can only imagine how much you paid to put little fairytale in motion," he said through his teeth.
"Who needs money when there are clerks in the ministry so needy for some… loving?" she asked casually under her breath.
Sirius shook his head slowly. "Wow, Rita, that's a whole new level of dirty for you."
McGonagall cleared her throat before she spoke. "Now that we are sadly enlightened about Rita's return to work," she started, turning to the reporter in question, "I'd like to know what you were doing right outside my office. I hope it wasn't eavesdropping."
Rita smiled unpleasantly, snapped her fingers, casing the hot-pink quill to ready itself to start quoting. "Well, Minerva…"
"It's Professor McGonagall for you," the teacher said coldly, "Minerva is only for friends and colleagues."
Go, McGonagall, Sirius observed mentally, grinning daringly at Rita, who seemed to be shooting arrows with her eyes.
"Well, Professor McGonagall," Rita corrected herself, clearly displeased, "I was hoping for a statement from you, concerning what happened in this school the day before yesterday and Dumbledore's fate at the hands of Severus Snape. If you could give me a minute in your office with you…"
"There will be no need for that," McGonagall said quickly. "Here's my statement: The attack to Hogwarts was unexpected and unfortunate, yet, thanks to quick interference of several aurors and other individuals, the consequences were minimized. We guarantee the parents of our students that we are taking all measures we find necessary to ensure their safety. As for Professor Dumbledore, his death was a great loss to the Wizarding World and he will be mourned and remembered by all of us here at Hogwarts, starting today with his funeral. I have no comment about Snape or anything else. And you'd better quote me word by word, Rita, because if you don't, I may have a certain talk with our minister about your animagus registration. You'd be surprised at how interested Amelia Bones can be about small matters like this one…" And with that, McGonagall took one step back and slammed the door on Rita's face.
Still grinning, Sirius turned to the reporter one last time. "Isn't it great when you're treated just the way you deserve?" And with that, he walked away. As tempted as he felt to turn around and see just how pissed of Rita looked – and boy, she had to be royally pissed –, he stopped himself in time. One could only poke a wild animal like Rita so much without getting mauled…
Around one hour later, most of the crowd that had been attending Albus Dumbledore's funeral was already dispersing.
It had been a tragically beautiful ceremony: the weather seemed to have been mocking them, forming the most beautiful near-summer day, contrasting with the previous one; the merpeople sang from the lake in some unintelligible, yet enthralling language; hundreds wept for the fallen headmaster, from the bass-player of the Weird Sisters (who Tonks, likely among the top 10 fans of the band, didn't even have the mind to acknowledge, clinging to her husband through the whole ceremony instead) to Amelia Bones, the Magic of Magic herself; and finally, near the end, Elphias Doge, someone Sirius and Mia saw from time to time in Order meetings and who was, apparently, a friend of Dumbledore that knew him since his school days, said the most heartfelt eulogy they had ever heard. Afterwards, all there was left of the headmaster was the white marble tomb covering his eternal place of rest.
A few groups of people started to form, then, as everyone walked away from the tomb and Sirius and Mia ended up seeing themselves being approached again by McGonagall and a limping, grumpy (as always) Mad-Eye, who apparently wanted to discuss that night's Order meeting with them.
"You two saved us a lot of trouble by allowing us to meet at your place," Mad-Eye told them. "I suppose I should thank you for that or something."
"Yeah, or something," Sirius mumbled. "Just as long as you don't make a party out of it… Remember we've got impressionable kids under the age of three at home."
The other man grumbled something under his breath about trying to keep that in mind in response. "Anyway, I wanted to know if it's okay for me to drop by your place a little earlier to take a look at your wards, though," the former auror told them.
"Why? Is there something wrong with them?" Mia asked, alarmed, turning to McGonagall Hadn't she just told them less than one hour before that those wards made Grimmauld Place one of the safest places in the Wizarding World?
"How am I supposed to know that without checking?" Mad-Eye replied grumpily.
"Alastor!" McGonagall scolded the man. "I think that what Mia wants to know about is what makes you think the wards need checking at all." Judging by her tone, she didn't really know it herself.
The other man shrugged, turning back to the couple. "Look, odds are that they're fine but with Dumbledore gone, I need to make sure the share of protection he created for the house is still standing. You know some spells vanish after its caster's death – this sort of protection charms usually last but we need to be constantly vigilant." He seemed ready to extend his words into a full lecture about constant vigilance – as if they actually needed another one… – when suddenly he straightened himself up for someone behind them and gave whoever it was a respectful nod – or as respectful as he could manage. "Minister."
Sirius and Mia turned around at the same time to find Amelia Bones standing there on her own, apparently having ordered the aurors who usually guarded her personally to stand back, out of earshot. "Alastor, Minerva," she acknowledged the older two, "and Mr. and Mrs. Black. It's good to see you again. I wish we could have met under less tragic circumstances."
Mia nodded. "It goes both ways."
"Is there something we can help you with, Madam Bones?" McGonagall asked her.
The Minister of Magic nodded. "Actually, there is. I would like to join your… organization."
Sirius and Mia raised their eyebrows – they were fairly sure that the organization she was referring to was none other than the one that would be meeting in their home in a few hours.
"I beg your pardon?" the headmistress asked, stunned.
"The Order of the Phoenix," Bones stated in a casual tone. "Minerva, I am no Cornelius Fudge. I may spend my days sitting at a desk in the ministry filling paperwork but I keep my eyes open to what is happening around me. I know Dumbledore re-instated the Order over a year ago and I know you were the ones behind saving my life last year back when Rufus Scrimgeour was killed. My late husband took part in the first Order and, now, I want to join too. I'd been meaning to approach Dumbledore himself or Kingsley Shacklebolt for a long time, since I thought they would be the most receptive to the idea of me joining as they've known me the longest. For obvious reasons, Dumbledore is out of question now and Kingsley is still recovering from the injuries he sustained in the battle. I don't think there's time to waste now."
Mad-Eye just stared at her for a moment. "Why that's just… you're the Minister. We can't have the Minister in the Order!"
"And why not? Is that a rule?" the woman countered. "Shall I remind you that, as Minister, I have access to resources nobody else does? Resources I am very much willing to share with all of you?"
"It's too risky for you," he countered. "Probably even considered illegal by some law."
"As a matter of fact, it isn't. I checked. I want to do my fair share at protecting my people and just sitting behind a desk certainly won't do for me!"
The argument continued between Mad-Eye, McGonagall and Bones for several more minutes with Sirius and Mia acting as mere viewers through the whole thing until McGonagall decided to move that discussion to her own office as it was getting too loud and they found it fitting to stay behind.
"Bones is winning that squabble, anyway," Sirius pointed out as they watched the trio walk towards the castle, following by Bone's pair of aurors. "As if Mad-Eye could ever out-argument her – it's no coincidence she was the youngest person to even make Head of the Law Enforcement department, not to mention Minister. Either Moody likes it or not, she'll be joining the Order today."
Mia noted. "I'm fairly sure this is the first time since the establishment of the Ministry of Magic that a Minister has showed herself willing to risk her neck in the front lines of the battle," she stated.
"Yeah, well, that's because most politicians are major woosses," Sirius pointed with a huff, looking around to see who was nearby. Several yards away, he spotted Harry alone with Ginny standing together under a somewhat isolated tree, talking with serious looks on their faces, like they were plotting something or just having some sort of heavy heart-to-heart. "And what are those two up too?"
"No idea," Mia responded, raising an eyebrow. They looked altogether odd: Ginny's eyes were fixed on the floor as Harry spoke to her about something at the same time he glanced at the groups of students near them and then at them, looking away just as he saw himself being observed.
Sirius and Mia dared themselves to approach the couple but didn't get the chance to get very close to them, standing on a path just close enough to be able to see their lips move at a distance but not enough to hear them, before something unexpected happened. First, Sirius could swear he saw a flicker of movement on Ginny's mouth as she looked up at Harry that could have either been a beginning of a smile or a sneer. And then, she yelled. Loudly.
"You what?" the redhead shouted at their godson.
He said something in return and, though his tone was much lower and impossible to understand, they got the feeling that he was trying to calm her down. It didn't work.
"You want WHAT?" Ginny yelled again, her tone so murderous that it caught the attention of everyone in a hundred-yard radius.
Harry seemed to be about to speak again when Ginny made yet another move, this one with her hand. She slapped him. Hard. He looked genuinely surprised by that, even more so than by the yelling, rubbing his cheek as he watched her speeding away like a red-topped hurricane.
In a rushed pace, Ginny reached the path where Sirius and Mia were standing, walking in their direction, headed to the castle.
"Ginny, what happened?" Mia asked her when she passed right by them.
The redhead looked at them, tears apparently of anger running down her cheeks. "Your godson is a bloody jerk. That's what happened!" she spat as she sped away, practically with smoke coming out of her ears.
That wasn't good, Sirius thought. That wasn't good at all.
A/N: Another chapter - not 8k word-sized, though... I hope you enjoyed it. Senior year of college is catching up with me - didn't think it would be this different from the other years... Anyway, at least I can still find time to write (thank god!), though not as much as I'd wish. Feedback is welcome! Review!