The events of the past few days had left Ginny with a lot of time to think about the way things were going in her life. As sure as she had been about dating Harry when he'd asked, she was beginning to have second thoughts. Every time she watched him with Hermione, she became more and more certain that she wasn't the right girl for him. Anyone with eyes could see that Hermione was on a different level with Harry than anyone else was. Ginny needed to discuss this with someone. When she went down to the kitchen for some tea that night, someone walked right into her path.

"Sirius can I ask you a personal question?" Ginny asked as she poured her tea.

"That depends. Is it a girly question? I don't know anything about girly stuff." He grinned at her.

"No, it isn't a girly question. I would go to Mum, Hermione, or Professor McGonagall if this were a girly question. It's about Harry." She watched his face to see if his expression changed.

He set his cup down. "I knew this was coming, you know. I may not be the most observant where relationships are concerned, but I've seen people in love before, and Harry is definitely in love with Hermione."

"I know. The thing is, I love him too, but I can't compete with her. She's a match for him intellectually, emotionally…they've experienced so much together that no one else can give them quite what they need except the other." Ginny sighed. "What do you think?"

"I think that this reminds me of another person who came to me with the exact same situation you have now. It was late in Fifth Year, and we had just come in from the second full moon we'd spent with Remus…

"Padfoot…"James sat on the corner of Sirius' bed. They were all quite tired, Peter had already fallen asleep, but it appeared as if James had something very pressing that he needed to discuss.

"Yes, Prongsie? Whatever do you need at 3:30 in the morning?"Sirius pulled off his shoes and tossed them under his bed.

"I'm having a bit of a problem."James sighed. "And I'm talking to you about it because you're my best friend...but don't kill me when you hear what it's about, okay?"

"I can't promise you anything, but go ahead. I do need my beauty sleep you know."Sirius lay back and waited for James to speak.

"I don't think sleep can help someone as ugly as you Padfoot, but you can try as soon as I'm done. It's about Lily." Talking to Sirius made the whole situation a bit more complicated than it was, since not only was Lily his sister, but she was a Marauder too, and Rule Number 7 of the Ten Rules Marauders Must Keep was "A Marauder should not cause pain or unnecessary grief to another Marauder or Marauder family member held in high esteem."

"Let me guess…You really like her, love her even, but you know that she's desperately in love with Winter and you just want to do what's best for her because, as I said, you love her?"

"Right. I don't want to cause any trouble, you know, because she's your sister and all that, and you, Midnight, and Moony would kill me if I hurt her, so I just want to know what you think I should do." James ran his hands through his perpetually messy hair.

"Do you really want to know what I think, James? I think that you should talk to her, and tell her exactly what you just told me. I think you'll find that she probably feels the same way, but doesn't want to hurt you either."

"Why does it sound like you've talked to her about this too?"

"She is my sister, Prongsie. We talk."

"You don't talk to Regulus much."

"That's because he hangs around with a bunch of Slytherin thugs."Sirius pretended to be sick. "Our Slytherins aren't thugs."

"That's true. Gawain and Severus don't spew a bunch of pureblood garbage either."

"So what you're saying is that I should just talk to Harry. Have you talked to him about it?" Ginny took a sip of tea. That story had made her feel a lot better.

"No, but I think Severus did. He didn't want Harry to drag out your relationship if it wasn't working out. That's what he said at least, you know how Severus is."

"I do. He's much nicer now. I hope that carries over into class."

"I'm sure it will. He doesn't have to listen to Dumbledore or Voldemort anymore."

Ginny put away her tea and hugged Sirius. "Thanks, Sirius. You're not the most likely person to go to for relationship advice, but it worked in this situation!"

"You're welcome. Glad I could be of service."

Ginny went back upstairs to find Harry. He was, as he'd often been recently, in the library with Hermione. They were working on another new spell, but she wasn't sure what it was. "Hi, guys. Do you mind if I borrow Harry for a minute, Hermione?"

"Go ahead. He was just about to go get a book from his room anyway." Hermione smiled at Ginny.

"So what can I help you with, Ginny?" Harry gave her his undivided attention. When Ginny looked into his emerald eyes and saw how happy he was, she knew she was doing the right thing.

"Harry, you know how you asked me to go out with you a few days ago?" She absentmindedly noted that he was wearing an old t-shirt of Ron's. He'd been doing that a lot lately. It appeared as if most of Ron's wardrobe, even the most worn out pieces of clothing, had made it into Harry's possession.

"This isn't really working." They both said together.

"You're right, Harry, it isn't. I'm not the right girl for you. You need someone who will follow you anywhere, do anything for you. Someone who is a good match for you intellectually, someone who's always been there for you and always will be…and I think you know who that is." Ginny grinned. "She's right through the library door."

"Do you really think so? You aren't going to hate me for the rest of your life or anything like that?" Harry turned to look back at Hermione, her head bent over a think book, and knew that what Ginny was saying was true.

"Don't worry about it, Harry. We're still friends. You don't have to worry that I'm going to murder you in your sleep or something. Merlin knows you have enough people willing to do that already."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Only you could joke about that without me getting angry at you. That said... it's much safer for me to have you on my side than theirs. Your hexes are quite legendary." Harry dodged Ginny's arm. "What was that for?"

"You're acting like Professor Snape again!"

"I can't help it! He is my uncle, you know. It's genetic. Remind me, tomorrow after the trial and everything, provided we aren't tossed in Azkaban for 'assaulting a Ministry Official with a large book', to ask Uncle Sirius if Mum every acted like Uncle Sev. Then we'll know where I got it from."