Chapter Four
"You must be hungry…would you like another bat?"
Ginny's eyes flew open.
That certainly wasn't something that you heard every day.
"Careful, now! You're getting feathers everywhere!"
Nor was that.
She hopped out of bed and apprehensively made her way down the corridor.
She peered into a room and her jaw dropped.
A large hippogriff was sitting against the wall.
Sirius was snuggled up next to it.
He looked up and cried, "Morning, Juniper."
"Is that…is that Hagrid's old hippogriff!?"
"Yep," Sirius happily said, "His name's Buckbeak."
"Why…why is there a hippogriff in your drawing room?"* Ginny slowly asked.
"Because he wouldn't fit in my bedroom."
Ginny's shoulders sagged and he smirked.
"It's a long story," Sirius chuckled, "Wanna say hello?"
"Err…sure?"
"Remember to bow," Sirius instructed, "Not too fast…and maintain eye-contact."
She did as she was told.
Fortunately, Buckbeak dipped his head.
Ginny sighed with relief.
"Good job!" Sirius cried, "And I got it all on tape."
"Tape?"
Ginny saw that he was holding up a strange device.
"I found this in my bedroom the other day," Sirius cheerfully said, "I must have left it behind when I ran away."
"What is it?"
"A video camera," Sirius explained, "A Super 8, to be exact."
"Video?"
Sirius smiled and gently explained, "See, Muggle photographs don't move around like ours do. So, they use this device to make it happen. It also adds sound."
Ginny's eyes widened and she whispered, "And they invented that without magic?"
He nodded.
"Wicked!"
Sirius beamed and cried, "I also found this…"
He gestured to a record player.
Ginny smiled and he gingerly put on a record.
Her smile increased as an upbeat instrumental filled the room.
"This was a really popular Muggle band," Sirius explained, "Known as…"
"The Beatles," Ginny finished.
Sirius raised his eyebrows and said, "Err…yeah! How did you…?"
"Everyone knows who the Beatles were," Ginny pointed out.
"Fair enough!" Sirius laughed.
He began to dance around as George Harrison sang:
Here comes the sun
Doodoo doodoo
Here comes the sun
And I say, "It's alright."
Ginny laughed and danced alongside him.
The two did every corny dance imaginable – from the robot to the sprinkler.
Sirius eventually headbanged and Ginny cracked up, leaning against the wall for support.
"What is going on in here!?"
A very tired Mrs. Weasley had appeared.
She gaped at them and cried, "You do realize that it's 5:30 in the morning!? And you haven't been giving that hippogriff bats again, have you? It'll stink up this whole house."
"Nope," Sirius lied.
Mrs. Weasley's eyes narrowed.
Sirius reached over and turned off the video camera. Ginny realized that it had been playing the entire time…recording their childish antics…recording their fun…
"Well, Ginny," Mrs. Weasley sighed, "As long as you're up, you might as well clean your room."
"Why?"
"Hermione's coming tonight."
Ginny confusedly shrugged.
"She'll be staying with you, of course," Mrs. Weasley explained.
"Wh…what!?" Ginny cried, "You didn't even ask me!?"
"You and Hermione are friends," Mrs. Weasley pointed out, "I figured that you wouldn't mind."
"Well, I do mind!" Ginny argued.
Her mother was already out of the room.
Ginny sighed and Buckbeak made a song.
"I know, mate," Sirius mumbled, "But she doesn't listen."
Ginny amusedly glanced at him.
"What?" Sirius innocently said, "You don't speak hippogriff?"
She burst out laughing and Sirius looked quite proud of himself.
Both of them turned as the record started skipping.
George Harrison was simply repeating the words:
It's alright.
It's alright.
It's alright.
Sirius dashed over to fix it.
Ginny took a deep breath and ran her hand across her face.
It was going to be alright.
She was going to be alright.
oOo
"Ginny? Ginny, what's wrong with you!? GINNY!"
Sirius stopped in his tracks and turned towards Hermione and Ginny's room.
He knocked on the door and called, "Everything alright in there?"
The door was whisked open in a heartbeat and a frantic Hermione cried, "Something's wrong with Ginny! She's thrashing around! I think that she might be having a seizure!"
"Alright, alright, steady on!" Sirius cried, "No need to panic!"
He entered the room and saw that Ginny was indeed thrashing about. She was tossing and turning beneath her blankets, her face contorted into sheer agony.
Her mouth was open and she appeared to be silently screaming.
"Why isn't she…why isn't she making a sound?" Hermione anxiously asked.
Sirius spotted Ginny's wand on the bedside table.
And suddenly, it clicked.
His eyes widened and he whispered, "Because she doesn't want you to hear."
"Hear what?" Hermione gasped.
"It's alright," Sirius quickly said, "She's alright."
He paused as he realized that that wasn't quite true.
Yet, he didn't say that to Hermione.
He waved his wand and cried, "Enervate!"
Ginny's eyes immediately flew open.
She sat up and frantically looked around.
"It's alright," Sirius gently said, "You're okay."
"Ginny, what happened?" Hermione cried.
Ginny mouthed several words before immediately halting.
Sirius waved his wand again and cried, "Finite!"
Ginny swallowed and whispered, "I'm…sorry."
"Don't be," Sirius quickly said.
"Are you okay!?" Hermione demanded.
"I'm fine," Ginny replied.
Yet, she was drenched with sweat and her chest was rapidly rising and falling.
"You most certainly are not!" Hermione argued, "Ginny, what happened!?"
"Go back to bed, Hermione," Sirius abruptly said, "She's alright."
Hermione stared at him as if he had three heads.
"Hermione, please!" Ginny pleaded, "Please, can…can you forget that this happened?"
Hermione looked indignant but reluctantly nodded.
Sirius grimly smiled.
She wasn't about to forget.
But at least she was kind enough to drop the matter.
Sirius, however, was not.
Instead, he jerked his head and said, "Follow me, Juniper."
Ginny hesitated before obeying.
She warily followed Sirius down to the kitchen.
"Do you want me to make you some tea?" Sirius asked, "That always helps me. Either that or hot chocolate. Which do you prefer?"
Ginny gaped at him.
"It's not that hard," Sirius chuckled, "Tea or cocoa?"
"I…cocoa, I suppose," Ginny grunted.
"Good choice!" Sirius cried, "Kreacher!"
The house-elf immediately appeared and Sirius sternly said, "Prepare two cups of hot chocolate and some biscuits."
The house elf stomped over to the stove, grumbling and cursing.
Sirius sat down and folded his hands.
Ginny was trying to subtly glance in any other direction than his.
"So," Sirius finally said, "I guess that explains why you couldn't sleep."
Ginny sighed.
"Silencing Charm," Sirius continued, "That's brilliant, really."
Ginny had found a marvelous stain on the table that required her attention.
"Let me guess," Sirius thoughtfully said, "At Hogwarts, you pull the drapes around your bed, so that nobody can see?"
Ginny's eyes widened.
How did he know?
"At least, that's what I did," Sirius declared.
Her head finally shot up.
Sirius was giving her a kind smile.
"I didn't want anyone to realize that I was having nightmares," Sirius explained, "Could you imagine if word got around the castle? Madam Pomfrey would be shoving instruments into every hole in my body."
Ginny giggled.
"One day," Sirius went on, "I thrashed around a bit too much. I woke up to James and Remus freaking out. I finally had to admit it to them. And do you know what they did?"
"What?"
Sirius grinned and said, "They made me some cocoa."
Ginny's face broke out into a smile.
Kreacher brought over the mugs and Sirius lifted his.
Ginny lifted her own and they drank for a few minutes.
Sirius wiped his mouth on his sleeve before saying, "They didn't care. Well, that's not true…of course they cared. But it never changed how they saw me."
He leaned back in his chair and snorted, "Of course, Moony kind of stole the permanent spotlight when it came to revealing deep secrets that were hidden for years. Compared to that, having a few nightmares was nothing."
Ginny laughed.
"And then," Sirius gently said, "They told me that I could always talk to them."
Ginny's smile widened as she understood the underlying message.
She hesitated and asked, "Did you talk to them right then?"
"No," Sirius admitted, "And they understood. But I knew that, when I needed to, they would be there."
Ginny beamed and whispered, "Thanks, Sirius."
"You're welcome."
She hesitated and added, "I…I honestly don't feel like saying anything right now."
"That's okay," Sirius gently said, "But when you want to…I'll be here."