Christmas at Headquarters
After spending the most terrible hours of their lives in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, Ginny and her brothers returned as cheerful as ever: their father had been injured by a giant snake while working for the Order of the Phoenix... but he was alive and would recover in no time! In no time at all, the Weasleys and Harry set off for St. Mungo's with Tonks and Mad-Eye as escorts to visit Arthur.
Ginny soon realised it was a real miracle that her father was alive because he was in really bad shape and looked devastated. But not as devastated as Harry when they returned from St. Mungo's at the end of the day...
"He couldn't have been possessed by Voldemort!" Ginny declared resolutely to her brothers, that evening before dinner. Ron flinched at the name of Voldemort but didn't protest, still thinking about his friend who was sleeping upstairs. The kids had used Extendable Ears to eavesdrop on a conversation among the adults and had heard Mad-Eye speculate that Harry, having that kind of vision of what was happening in Voldemort's mind, might have been possessed... but that was practically impossible. "Since we got back from St. Mungo's he won't even look us in the face, and that's because he's convinced he was possessed by Voldemort, but it's not true. We have to make him see reason, guys!" she added, pacing nervously back and forth in the room.
"Easy," Fred commented sarcastically, flopping heavily onto his sister's bed.
"A walk in the park," George added dejectedly, mimicking his twin and also collapsing onto the soft mattress.
"I know... but we have to at least try."
"Hermione will figure it out, she's great at these things," Ron reassured them optimistically, brandishing a short letter in his left hand. "She wrote me this and said she's coming here to Grimmauld Place before Christmas: we shouldn't worry."
Ginny was about to retort when the sound of a door opening made them all jump: it was their mother.
"Dinner's ready: come down everyone," she ordered. "Ron, tell Harry and tell him that... well, if he wants to stay in bed to rest I can save him something. Poor dear, he must be really tired," she added, mortified.
Ginny gave Ron a very sad look and followed her mother into the kitchen, where a large table set with plenty of food and few people to enjoy it awaited. The girl took a seat next to Tonks, and wishing everyone a good meal, she began to eat her stew in a practically absent manner. Several times, Sirius's gaze fell on her, but the girl didn't want to meet his eyes: the matter of possession had brought to mind many childhood memories she would have preferred to forget. Memories related to Voldemort, or rather, to her former best friend from the diary: Tom Marvolo Riddle.
She was the first to get up from the table and announce she was going to rest upstairs, but she hadn't even reached her room when her wrist was caught in a vice. A tattooed hand had grabbed her: Sirius's hand.
"Yes?" was Ginny's quick reply to that gesture, while trying to sound totally indifferent. But all that came out was a kind of choked mutter, something Sirius did not fail to notice.
"You and I need to talk, red," the man said decisively, leading her to his old bedroom.
As soon as Sirius opened the door to his teenage room, Ginny inhaled a strange smell: the room was decorated with Gryffindor banners, and the girl couldn't help but snicker when her view was covered by numerous photos of girls in bikinis.
"Very pretty," she commented, nodding at the girls and barely holding back a giggle. "But they're Muggle models... strange that your mother let you keep them up here: I thought she didn't approve of her eldest son's tastes!"
"Permanent Sticking Charm," Sirius replied mockingly, strutting around the room. "That old hag could never peel them off the walls, it amused me to irritate her. Anyway... we've come here to talk."
"But I have nothing to tell you."
"And yet you do, you were as present as a dead snail at the table. What's bothering you?"
"Nothing!" she replied too quickly; she didn't want to talk about possession. "I just feel sorry for Harry: he thinks he was possessed by Voldemort when we all know very well he could never have teleported from the dormitory to London," she sighed and fixed her eyes on a moving photograph. "Hey, those four boys don't look like Muggle models in bikinis! But... oh my... that's Harry and... wait! That boy with the glasses is his father, right? James Potter. And he looks like Remus... no,
wait... who are you?" she added in astonishment, frowning as she looked at the photo of four cheerful teenagers in the Hogwarts park: their smiles were nothing short of contagious.
"Are you asking who I am? But... but... obviously, I'm the handsomest!" Sirius replied, pretending to be offended and pressing a hand to his heart.
"So you're him," the girl pointed at James Potter. That boy looked like a cool and carefree version of Harry, and she quite liked that: a Harry similar in character to that young man in the photo would lead to a party for all her hormones.
"Oh-ho!" Sirius exclaimed, bursting into laughter similar to a bark and moving away from the photo to throw himself onto his bed. Ginny was visibly embarrassed as she continued to stare at the photo and the carefree face of James Potter. "Caught! You can't like the father without liking the son, since they're practically identical. You like my godson, eh? My suspicions are confirmed!" and he burst into laughter again.
Ginny didn't respond, and pretended to study the photo intently while her mind worked feverishly.
"Wait..." Sirius said suddenly, jumping up and widening his eyes. "I'm not joking and don't play dumb with me, red. I know very well you like my godson, I've always known and don't blame my hallucinations for this story!" he added, now too excited by the fact that he was right.
"I liked him when I was little," the girl promptly said, without any embarrassment. "But the crush is over, it was just a little girl's dream. Now I have a boyfriend who cares about me, who doesn't treat me badly and doesn't ignore me," she added, thinking that version of her love life was quite distorted to be real. In reality, she didn't even know what to say: Harry was not indifferent to her but she couldn't tell Sirius... consequently, she couldn't even tell him that she had a boyfriend she didn't care much about, because then Sirius would reach the truth.
How could she be so stupid?
"You liked Harry when you were little?" repeated Sirius.
"Yes, only when I was little."
"Come on!" Sirius burst into laughter again and gave her a little push. "When you looked at him, you seemed very passionate. I could almost see James staring at Lily hoping she would notice him, even when he said he felt nothing for her: he had exactly that look. I really thought I was hallucinating because of you two and saw them everywhere continuously!" he ran a hand through his hair with a distracted gesture, the smile still on his lips. "Yes, hallucinations! Continuous hallucinations... just because you and Harry are identical to my old friends."
"Whatever, but the fact remains that your godson has always ignored me and treated me like shit, and now I don't give a damn because I'm taken!" Ginny insisted with growing anger, because talking about that topic always made her highly irritated. "What do I care about someone who has always ignored me? I'll just have fun," she waved her hand carelessly, "and I'm perfectly fine with that. Yes, I'm perfectly fine with that and I'm taken!" she added, feeling really very repetitive and boring as much as a Binns lecture.
She turned her back on Sirius before he could say anything, and continued to mutter incomprehensible things of which only "what do I care?" or "he's always ignored me!" or "I just want to have fun with my friends!" and other similar things could be understood that she continued to repeat endlessly, like a madwoman just out of the asylum.
In response, Sirius just grinned.
Over the days, Ginny bitterly regretted having spoken to Sirius about her disastrous and messy love life: the man had done nothing but stealthily watch her and Harry, especially her throwing desperate glances at the boy trying to attract his attention and convince him to talk to them, or at least to look them in the face. With Hermione's arrival, the kids' hopes were rekindled like a lightbulb: she would surely convince their friend to talk to everyone again and make him see reason. But Hermione had absolutely no intention of doing so...
"WHAT?" exclaimed Ginny and Ron in a high-pitched voice, taken aback by that statement.
Hermione simply smiled, a smile that said she always knew more than everyone else.
"Damn, Hermione... we've been waiting for you for a long time for help, you know very well I'm not good at these things!" Ron retorted, reaching the height of hysteria and looking at his friend as if he couldn't believe his own ears. He stood up and began to march in front of the girl as if she was a culprit confessing her murder. "You can't tell us you won't help us: Harry avoids us every chance he gets... even during meals!"
"He's right, he's been hiding ever since he came back from St. Mungo's!" added his sister, with evident anger.
"Think about it... here the only one who can solve everything is you. You, Gin... exactly you," Hermione unexpectedly said, looking at her friend intensely. Ron also turned to stare at his sister, raising an eyebrow skeptically.
WHAT THE HECK?
"Don't make those boiled fish faces, you understand!" Hermione cut them off.
"I don't..." Ron mumbled quietly, and he seemed sincere.
But Ginny suddenly understood everything and cursed herself for not having thought of it earlier: she had been the only person close to the boy who had been possessed by Voldemort, and who better than her could make him see reason and refute that idea? Obviously, this would include a brief recounting of her experience to finally calm the boy who was in a state of deep shock... but she could and had to help him because she really was the only one who could.
She gave a big smile, and Hermione left the room, gloating victoriously.
Ron was visibly puzzled. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he burst out.
"You'll see. Oh, damn the devil... I've been so stupid!"
"Damn the de...?" Ron repeated, widening his eyes, allowing incredulity rather than an amused smile to appear on his face. "Wait, I've never tolerated this code talk thing you two do... you girls are impossible! Can you tell me what the hell is going on?" he added, scrutinising his sister with anger.
"Alright. Do you remember my first year?"
"How could I forget the terror of when you were taken to that damned Chamber of Secrets?"
This time, it was Ginny's turn to widen her eyes: her brother had never talked about how much he and the others had suffered for the loss of their sister, who they thought was dead rather than possessed because of a stupid diary. Suddenly, affection for Ron welled up inside her, and she felt much more disposed towards him than she had been before.
"Right, I was possessed by You-Know-Who so I'm the only one who can put an end to his paranoid thoughts. I mean, do the math... I'm the person closest to him who can accurately describe those effects."
Ron still had a stunned expression, then hurried to nod because he understood. They remained silent for a moment then the door opened, and Hermione made her victorious entrance, followed by a Harry Potter whose expression was as cheerful as a Flobberworm. The scene would have made Ron laugh if it hadn't been for the fact that the depressed boy was his best friend.
"So, how do you feel?" Hermione asked, marching towards the bed and sitting next to Ginny.
"Fine," the boy replied, stiff as a Quidditch pole stuck in a certain place.
"Oh, don't lie!" Hermione became impatient. "Ron and Ginny told me you've been hiding from everyone since you got back from St. Mungo's!" she added, and Ron's ears turned a frightful shade of scarlet.
"Oh, they say so?" Harry asked grumpily, looking angrily at the two.
"Yes, it's true! And you won't even look us in the face!" Ginny snapped angrily, unlike her brother, not embarrassed at all.
"It's you who won't look me in the face!" the boy retorted.
"Maybe you were looking at each other in turns without ever meeting eyes," said Hermione, hinting at a slight smile.
"Very funny!" the friend commented, quickly turning his back on her.
"Oh, stop playing the misunderstood! Listen, they told me what you heard last night with the Extendable Ears..."
"Oh, yeah? Everyone's talking about me... I'm getting used to it!"
"We wanted to talk to you, but you've been hiding since we got back!" Ginny intervened resolutely, barely snorting.
"I didn't want to talk to anyone!" Harry replied unflappably, with an enormous cheek. A cheek so enormous that anyone would want to slap him and shake him to make him realise how visibly stupid he was.
"Well, you've been really stupid since I'm the only person you know who's been possessed by You-Know-Who and I can tell you what it feels like!"
Her blood had now reached her brain, and she could swear that her anger had done some good: Harry had frozen next to the door, and Ginny would have sworn that his face was of total embarrassment... besides the fact that he had just realised he had been really, really, really, really foolish.
"I forgot," was the boy's feeble response.
"Lucky you," she replied coldly.
"I'm sorry... so you think I wasn't possessed?"
"Do you remember everything you did? Are there moments of blankness where you don't know what you did?"
He seemed to think about it, then declared, "No..."
"Then You-Know-Who never possessed you: I had hours-long gaps I couldn't remember... I'd find myself somewhere and didn't know how I got there," the girl declared, trying not to think about the suave and cold voice she had heard in the Chamber of Secrets... the voice that called her stupid for trusting an invisible stranger, the same voice she believed was that of a friend.
"From starry skies descending, o King of Beasts!" Sirius was singing through the house.
Ginny immediately stood up, hoping Sirius would appreciate her help decorating the house.
"Where are you going?" Ron asked.
"I've done what I had to do, now I can leave you guys alone," she replied, crossing the room and not even glancing at Harry, who was still frozen next to the door. For a moment, she thought he wanted to stop her, but she didn't look back and joined the already tipsy twins and Sirius, who seemed to have started early.
"Firewhisky is bad, you know?" Ginny muttered, entering the living room and glancing at two empty bottles on the floor.
"Sweetheart!" called Sirius, approaching her and throwing a garland around her neck.
"You three are gone. Sirius, why can Fred and George drink that stuff and I can't?" the girl asked amusedly, watching the twins do the conga and sing Christmas carols while hanging garlands and clovers.
"Because we... hic... are... hic..." tried Fred.
"Because we are... hic... of age... hic!" George said, letting out a subdued giggle.
"What the hell?" hissed Hermione, horrified, watching the twins dance and sing with hiccups while Sirius gently handed Ginny a large bottle of alcohol, urging her to take a sip and see how good that stuff was; even Harry and Ron had just joined them, holding their bellies from laughter. "Hey, you're not seriously going to drink that, are you?" the girl added, worried.
But that's exactly what Ginny did, before choking and spitting it all out.
"Yeah, it's a bit too strong," Sirius muttered, looking at the bottle indifferently and taking another sip.
"I noticed!" hissed the girl, with a choked gasp.
"And since we're all here... Ron and Hermione, you two can hang the decorations there. I'll continue to help Fred and George with the garlands and everything else while you two," Sirius gave Harry and Ginny a mischievous look, who would have sworn the man was waiting just for that moment to get them together and watch them lovingly, "can take care of the Christmas tree, alone. You'll manage, come on... to work!"
"At your command!" Harry replied, much improved in mood, and approached the tree to decorate it.
"Sirius, you're really a..."
"Aren't you coming to help me, Ginny?" the boy asked, giving her a big smile and offering her his hand. Ginny was sure he wanted to make amends for treating her badly and having to awaken her nightmares, but the proposal to decorate an entire Christmas tree together was too tempting to refuse.
Sirius sniffed the air. "Simply: move it," he said.
"You're a dead mutt, Black," the girl threatened, but a moment later she was smiling and had grabbed Harry's hand.
As expected, Christmas at Grimmauld Place was truly wonderful, though everyone greatly missed Arthur's presence. Bill went back and forth to St. Mungo's now and then to keep him company between meals, and it was so unbearable for the kids that in the end, Bill gave up and stayed at the hospital with his father, bringing him a cake made by his wife with much love. It was the most beautiful Christmas they had ever spent together: they all filled their bellies, played Exploding Snap and many other wizarding games, and finally, exhausted and with bellies full of food, they started to chat merrily.
More than once, Ginny found herself threatening Sirius (even with her eyes!) but what Sirius said about her and Harry was true, that boy with the sparkling green eyes and the funny lightning-shaped scar on his forehead probably would drive her crazy. But maybe... it was she who had to stop: she should not look at him with visible desire in the presence of the entire Order of the Phoenix and Sirius included, she should not do anything that could reveal that her insides were dancing the conga when he spoke to her or when he smiled or when he looked her in the eyes. But that Christmas only made her realise that Michael was not the right guy for her, and she couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts and clarify things with him.
"...and James was holding Harry in his arms and didn't know how to change his diaper!" Sirius was saying, eliciting general laughter. "He wanted the godfather to clean his newborn's bottom, but I didn't even think about it and kindly told him where to go."
"How old were you?" asked Mad-Eye to Sirius.
"I think... twenty," he replied.
"Why didn't you want to help your friend? Imagine if you had a son!" exclaimed Tonks, who that evening had dishevelled purple hair.
"Ah, I would have liked... I would have named him James Remus. Yes, James Remus Black sounds really good!" declared Sirius, causing a lot of laughter from Remus and again eliciting general hilarity, especially from the teenagers. "And he would have been as handsome as me, prankster as James, and... a chocolate eater like Moony," he added, stuffing a piece of chocolate in his mouth just for the sake of doing it.
"What do you think of James Sirius Potter?" asked Harry cheerfully, in high spirits.
"Yeah, what do you think of a comeback? What do you think, Gin?" insisted Sirius, whose sanity had gone to hell.
"I'd say... well... it's a nice name," she stammered, and Hermione gave her a fun look.
"What if it was a girl?" asked Ron curiously.
"She'd be named after you!" retorted George, and their mother ordered him and his twin to go wash the dishes in the kitchen, which the twins had to do while calling out each dish that shot from the living room to the kitchen.
"If it were a girl, she would logically be named Lily," said Sirius, casting a glance at his godson.
"Yes, my mother's name. And you, Ron?"
"Oh dear... it's still too early!" Molly burst out embarrassed, blushing all of a sudden.
"Let us have our fun!" Tonks cheerfully scolded her, leaning towards Ron to see what he had to say.
"Um... I'd like Hugo, as a name..." mumbled Ron.
"A friend of mine at Hogwarts was named Hugo, and his vigilance was never constant," said Mad-Eye unfazed.
"Hugo is a nice name, Ron. For me, if it were a girl, it would be... Rose," Hermione threw in, staring at Ron over the bristly fur of Crookshanks.
"And you, Tonks?" giggled Ginny amused, after she had finished watching Ron and Hermione exchange smirks.
"I'd name my son after my father: Ted," the girl replied, nodding.
"Ted Shacklebolt," burst out Sirius, and Tonks nearly choked on her Butterbeer. In reality, many of them made a horrified face because seeing Tonks pairing up with a calm and strange wizard for the girl's tastes was chilling. "No, excuse me... Ted Lupin sounds much better!" he corrected, and Ginny agreed with Sirius and high-fived him.
Tonks often talked to her about Remus, and Ginny was sure that Tonks had a secret crush on the man.
"SIRIUS!" roared the man in question, spilling all his Butterbeer on himself.
"What the hell are you saying, Sirius?" Tonks stirred, while the kids laughed and Molly ran to check the ruckus the twins were causing in the kitchen: they probably blew up all the dishes. "Seriously, I was shocked when I heard Ted Shacklebolt because with Kingsley... come on! He's not my type at all! But Ted Lupin is hallucinating, it doesn't sound very good... even though compared to Kingsley and the other Aurors, Remus is definitely the one with whom it could be done..."
At that point, Remus seriously advised the kids to go to bed.
"BUT NOT IN THAT WAY!" Tonks hurried to shriek, with her hair becoming redder as her face turned red. Sirius was doubled over with laughter, Remus was chugging his Butterbeer giving the girl fleeting glances, and the kids... ignored the man's advice because when the conversation got slightly spicier, they didn't want to miss it. "I mean, he would be the most appropriate for... well, you understand!"
Sirius said something that was preferably censored.
Molly, arriving just in time to hear that somewhat shocking comment, ordered the kids to go to bed, and they had no choice but to turn around for the stairs, starting to giggle about a supposed relationship between Tonks and Remus, or between Mad-Eye and Professor McGonagall, who had stopped by earlier for a Christmas greeting. When it also came to Ron and Hermione, the two in question decided to retreat leaving Harry and Ginny alone, while the twins below were making a lot of noise and babbling something about too slippery dishes.
"Mom must be going mad," said Ginny amused, peering over the stair railing.
Harry laughed. "Um... can you come to my room for a moment?" he finally asked, blushing slightly.
"Okay..."
The girl nodded and followed him hastily upstairs, hoping she would appear calm and indifferent in his eyes and hoping instead that she wouldn't appear too manic or too amused by the situation.
Now he's going to do something to me... she found herself thinking, the Butterbeer starting to take effect.
"Why do you want me in your room?" Ginny asked curiously, not embarrassed at all.
"I have to give you something," the boy replied.
It didn't start well, as a conversation.
"Something, what?"
"You have to see it."
It didn't continue well, as a conversation.
"I could have given it to you tomorrow, but it's better that I do it now..."
And it definitely didn't end well, as a conversation.
Ginny followed him into his room, thanking heaven Ron was locked in the bathroom for at least five minutes due to the embarrassing conversation, and as soon as they entered the room, Harry rushed to the closet and turned his back to her. The girl even thought he was taking off his clothes to put them in the closet and give her that thing, but in the end, she had to admit that the thing the boy wanted to give her was something else entirely.
"For you..." he mumbled, handing her a wrapped gift.
Ouch, it was really going badly.
"You shouldn't have!" protested Ginny immediately, this time seriously embarrassed. Harry continued to hold out the wrapped gift, and she took it in her hands, she had to take it in her hands. "I didn't get you anything, it's not fair!"
"To make amends. I'm sorry for making you relive the worst moments of your life because of my stupidity, I'm really sorry..." he murmured, mortified, as the girl slowly unwrapped her first Christmas present which seemed to be... a perfume with a wonderful scent. Or perhaps the buyer had been wonderful? Well, that too. "I know... it's nothing much, it's just a perfume like Ron gave Hermione -don't tell him- and I didn't do it to get a gift in return. I hope you'll forgive me," he added.
"I... don't know what to say..."
"Say yes."
"Yes... yes, of course!" she replied immediately, giving him a huge radiant smile. Then, happier and more smiling than she had ever been, she left Harry's room and thanked the boy for the gift which, however little valuable it might be... remained one of the most beautiful gifts of her life because he had given it to her.
"What is it?" Hermione asked curiously, yet smiling like an idiot in front of the package.
"A wonderful perfume... it was you, wasn't it?"
"No... I mean, I just gave him the idea!" she said, offended by the baseless accusation. She was almost risking falling as she put on her pajamas and rushed to get under the covers, with Ginny also smiling like a complete idiot. "I mean, you know Harry is clueless about these things, and I had to give him the idea that maybe with a gift you could forgive him, but I didn't tell him explicitly. He did everything himself, I swear!"
"Okay, I believe you," Ginny cut her off and couldn't help but smile.
"Things are going better between you two, right?"
"Yes, but Harry is dating that Chang."
"How do you...?"
"No, I definitely didn't mean to spy on them," Ginny hurried to say sincerely because that was the pure truth, and Hermione needed to know it. "I had forgotten my stuff because I had argued with Michael, and I saw them while... while they were kissing," she added, thinking back to that scene.
For the first time, Hermione seemed at a loss for words. Then she whispered, "Remember and never forget, I always bet that one day Harry will fall in love with you... I'm still betting on you, not on Cho Chang."
"Really?"
"Really!"
Translator's Note
Welp here is the second chapter, I have no specific schedule other than at least one chapter a week minimum. I think otherwise it will end up like last time and this translation will start to feel like a job thus lowering my interest. I've started reading a lot of ginny fics again so i rekindled my passion lol. If anybody has any questions or requests feel free to ask I'll see what I can do.
Anyways see you soon, maybe even tomorrow morning, and here is the OG author's note:
Author's Note:
Okay, I'm well aware that this chapter is very long, but I got carried away too, and I wanted to make the kids' Christmas really fun, since Rowling didn't give us even a taste of it. As you can see, Sirius is starting to realize that Ginny has lied to him and he wants to encourage this relationship at all costs (Rowling has stated that Sirius really did encourage this relationship) but Harry is still clueless and will only notice the girl when things start to get more complicated... damn Potter!
I hope you like it.