Chapter Twenty

Ginny could feel the air leave the room.

She was the first to speak, "Wh…what happened?"

"Two Dementors were in Little Whinging," Kingsley explained, "Harry was able to use his Patronus to save himself and his cousin. Unfortunately—"

"He used magic in front of a Muggle," Mrs. Weasley gasped.

Kingsley nodded.

Ginny felt as though hot needles were prickling her entire body.

"This is the last straw," Sirius croaked, "Forget what Dumbledore said! We need to get him here! Now! Call an emergency Order meeting!"

"Already done," Kingsley assuredly said, "However, I'm tremendously glad that you gave me that order. That way I can blame you when Dumbledore gets mad."

Sirius' worried demeanor briefly slipped as he snorted.

"They should be here momentarily," Kingsley continued, "I'm terribly sorry, Ginny, but I'm afraid that I'm going to have to kick you out."

Ginny didn't bother to argue.

She raced upstairs and burst into her bedroom. Hermione immediately leapt up upon seeing her frantic look.

"What is it?" Hermione gasped, "Ginny, what's wrong?"

Ginny told her everything.

The two woke Ron, Fred, and George and Ginny repeated the story.

The three spent the next three days trying to infiltrate the Order meetings. Unfortunately, it was to no avail. Their mother had put a strange charm on the door that sent them flying back whenever they approached. Tonks eventually pulled Ginny aside and whispered that it was an Imperturbable Charm. She told Ginny to flick Dungbombs at the door. If they flew away, the charm was still intact. Ginny did so for several hours before giving up.

She eventually retreated to the chambre de l'esprit. She sat next to the riverbed in the forest and tried to compose herself.

She emerged several hours later to the sound of angry shouts.

A smile spread across her face.

Harry was here!

oOo

Ginny was angry.

She was angry that she was angry.

She was angry that she was angry that she was angry.

She was angry that she was angry that she was angry that she was angry.

She was really angry.

And also a bit sad.

And maybe just a bit jealous.

Okay, definitely jealous.

And sad.

And angry.

Overall, she was a bundle of sour emotions.

She furiously paced her bedroom.

Ginny took a deep breath and whispered, "Get a grip."

After all, it wasn't that bad.

So Sirius had fought nail and tooth to let Harry be in an Order meeting.

So what?

So Sirius hadn't said anything about her staying, even though he knew that she was just as qualified as Harry to be there.

So what?

So Sirius had avoided her gaze when she had desperately tried to get his attention, silently begging him to help her.

So what?

Why would that make her upset!?

Ginny knew that she was being selfish. He was Harry's godfather! He was going to do everything in his power to care for Harry. Ginny knew that. She accepted it.

She sighed and sat on the edge of her bed.

It still hurt.

- Two Weeks Later -

The forest had all but disappeared.

Ginny miserably sat on one of the last remaining tree stumps.

She had just had one of the worst nightmares yet.

Tom Riddle had been taunting her, reminding her that Sirius didn't love her, that Sirius didn't like her, that Sirius couldn't even stand her.

Ginny sighed and brought her knees to her chest.

All of a sudden, the forest sprang to life. Trees and flowers rose up from the ground and bloomed. Wildlife appeared and pranced around. Ginny could hear the river in the distance. She stood up and looked around in wonder. She was certain that she hadn't done that. Then who…?

She turned and saw that Sirius was standing behind her.

He held up two mugs of tea.

Ginny sighed and said, "L…Listen…can you and Harry just give me a minute? I won't bother you after that. You two can stay in here for as long as you want."

"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked, "Harry doesn't know about this place."

Ginny blinked and said, "You haven't told him yet?"

"I wasn't planning on telling him at all," Sirius declared.

He pushed the cup into her hand and sat down.

Ginny hesitated before sitting next to him.

"This is our place," Sirius continued, "I'm sorry that we haven't been able to talk in the past couple of weeks. Between the Order and your mother, I've barely had time to breathe."

He took a sip of tea and added, "And I'll fully admit that I've been spending that little bit of breathing time with Harry. But that doesn't mean that I don't care about you. I promise."

Ginny's cheeks reddened and she whispered, "How…how did you…?"

"Oh come on, Juniper," Sirius laughed, "My parents absolutely doted upon Regulus and completely ignored me. Reg could do no wrong. Then again, I usually took the blame for whatever he did because I didn't want him to get hurt. The point is that I know what it feels like to be jealous, to be hurt, and to be ashamed that you're jealous and hurt. And I'm genuinely sorry that I made you feel that way."

"No," Ginny sighed, "You…you shouldn't be. It was stupid of me."

"Nah, it wasn't," Sirius assuredly said, "They're perfectly natural emotions. But as I've said before, you should know that just because I'm spending time with Harry, that doesn't mean that I don't care about you."

Ginny nodded.

Sirius took another sip of tea and said, "How have you been? I noticed that you didn't eat dinner tonight. Are you okay?"

"Oh, that?" Ginny chuckled, "Ron completely burnt the chicken. Didn't you notice?"

"I lived on rats for a year, mate," Sirius pointed out, "Even Ron's cooking is a feast."

The two laughed.

"So," Sirius gently said, "You're alright?"

"I'm…getting better," Ginny hesitantly said.

Sirius grinned and said, "Yeah…so am I."

Author's Note: The ending of this chapter a direct parallel to Chapter Three. I know that some of you are going to say, "Wait…that's it? Where's the rest of the chapter?" I know that the flames are coming; I know that a lot of you wanted Harry to be involved (or at least to have a line) but I just couldn't do it. Nothing felt right. I could have just rehashed the chapters in Order of the Phoenix. I actually started to do so. But it was so mundane. I hate copying text. I wanted to write something original and I wanted to write it from Ginny's point of view. After all, this is her story. Not Harry's. We already know Harry's story. We already know what happened to him at Grimmauld Place. I want to focus on Ginny's story. Much like Sirius, that doesn't mean that I don't care about Harry's story. But for this story, it's Ginny's time in the spotlight. Again, I'm sorry if people are disappointed but this scenario was the only one that I liked.