Chapter 8: "Ginny…"

Sirius stood up from the piano and walked over to the large window on the side of the room. The dull morning sun shone in, contrasting greatly with the gray interior of the music room. The dusty, velvet curtains were tied loosely to their sides and when the light breeze blew into the room, dust rose up from the curtains in large grey clouds.

Sirius gazed out the window into the dark grey meadow. His hands were clasped behind him and the expression on his face seemed peaceful and content. He stood there for a few moments, basking in the silence, as beautiful and comforting as the music had been.

At that moment, the door to the music room which he had carefully closed creaked open. Sirius frowned, annoyance flitting across his previously comfortable expression. He didn't turn around though; he didn't want to tear his eyes away from the window and he didn't want to ruin the exquisite silence with his footsteps. But then he heard them. He heard just what he didn't want to hear.

Footsteps.

His heart froze and he was about to turn around when a warm body flung itself around his arms and chest and its hands clasped together tightly in front of him. He twisted his neck around to look behind him.

It was Ginny and her face was buried into his shirtless back. Before he could protest and remove her tight clasp on him, she began to shudder and loosen her grip. Soft, muffled gasps escaped from behind her hair covered face and her hands were rubbing angrily at her eyes. Sirius turned his head around awkwardly and lightly put his hands on her shoulders. He peered down at her.

"What's wrong, Ginny?"

Ginny only shrugged his hands off her, staring at her feet while tortured, tearful gasps escaped from her throat.

Sirius reached over and and held on to Ginny's wrist. Taking it, he gently led her over to the piano, seating her on the edge. He leaned down and tilted her chin up with his finger. She let him, tears still dribbling messily down her cheeks as her dark brown eyes stared woefully up at him.

Sirius felt his heart begin to pump harder as he took in her cascading curls of dark orange-red, her smooth pale face, her small, delicate nose, and her beautiful, big, round, almost doll-like eyes framed with pretty light red lashes. The welling tears in her eyes seemed to hypnotize him. He gazed her, enthralled.

Ginny looked away from his intense gaze and broke the silence, "You're not Harry."

Sirius blinked in surprise. "No, I'm not," he replied.

She turned to look back at him carefully, "Then who are you? And why do you look like… Harry? …And…" – she looked away – "…where is Harry?"

Sirius smiled ruefully, not wanting to break the heart of such a beautiful, exquisite creature.

"Answer me," she demanded quietly.

He thought frantically of ways to divert her attention, "Why aren't you cursing me? I could be a dark wizard."

"You're not. Grimmauld Place has a protective spell placed around it. Now please answer my questions."

Sirius sighed.

"Please."

He sighed again, defeated. "I'm Sirius," he said quietly.

Ginny stared at him.

Before she could say anything, he continued. "Harry tried to kill himself. He didn't manage to completely do so. He met me at the gate… the gate between life and death where I had been waiting since I had died. And then, he traded lives with me…"

There was a painful, hesitant pause. "So where's Harry now?"

"He's where what we call the Unknown. It's where people who've passed away go, to heaven, to reincarnate…" Sirius shrugged sadly, "We don't know what happens in the Unknown. Just that it exists."

Ginny's eyes welled up with wet tears and she gulped miserably. "That's impossible," she whispered, trying but failing to convince herself that what this man told her was a lie.

"I'm really, really sorry Ginny. I didn't have a choice in it either, or I would have never let him do that."

Ginny brushed silent tears off her face roughly.

Sirius raised his head, staring blankly at the pale grey ceiling above their heads.

She began to whimper softly.

The sounds of her crying made Sirius' heart ache. His previous moments of bliss all felt meaningless to him now. What was he thinking? He couldn't do anything for anyone, much less heal them. Look what he was doing to Ginny. He clenched his fists miserably, not wanting to look down and see her tear stained cheeks and trying in vain to block out the heart breaking sounds of her cries.

After a few moments of uncomfortable, miserable, silence, Ginny stood up, shivering. She stood there, just a mere few centimeters away from Sirius, with her head lowered.

"Sirius," she said quietly, "I'm going to go now."

The sight of her beautiful doll eyes dulled with misery made Sirius want to cry. Before he could stop himself, he took a small step towards and her hugged her tightly to himself.

Ginny's body was cold and he shivered lightly at the touch of her skin but welcomed that shiver. It meant that he was really holding her. Ginny felt perfect in his arms. Every curve of her body seemed to fit perfectly into his own. And now that she was in his arms, she didn't let go. Instead, she clutched him tighter to herself. Her cold fingers kneaded into his bare back and her head was laid comfortably against his chest.

Sirius ran his hands through her hair. She responded, losing her comforting, innocent position and standing on her tip toes, pressed her lips forcefully against his. He returned the kiss the best as he could, and it seemed to satisfy her. Ginny's face began to flush and she broke away roughly from their kiss.

"Lie down," she whispered.

He obliged and she reached down to pull off the only clothing he was wearing; his pajama pants. She teased them slowly down while running her fingers along his chest and legs. When they came off completely, she crawled on top of him, kissing him passionately. Sirius couldn't control himself, caught up in the moment, the only thing he could think of doing was taking Ginny.

Sirius rolled over and her pressed her down so that his knees were on both sides of her. Gently, slowly, he began unbuttoning her night gown, leaving her completely revealed. He stared at her, awestruck.

"Ginny…"

The sound of his voice seemed to wake her up. Her eyes opened wider, filling up with shock. She pushed him off herself as hard as she could, frantically clasped the two sides of her nightgown close infront of her and fled out of the music room.

Sirius sat there, on the cold wooden floor of the music room. He lowered his head in misery.