by Noqui
He had visited the Weasleys during the previous summer, but Ginny had been in Romania with Charlie, her older brother, so he hadn't seen her in a while.
"It's been some time, Ginny", he said out loud, hoping to sound casual, which he almost did. Ginny stopped, turned, and looked at him.
"Harry!" she replied, the firm look on her face fading, and a smile burst on her lips. Harry also noticed that a deep blush spread on her cheeks.
How have I missed that blush! It makes her really cute, Harry thought.
"How have you been?" he asked her.
"Oh, nothing special", she replied, widening her smile. "And you?"
"Nah, not much", he lied. "Had a nice summer?"
"Yes, thanks for asking. I visited--"
"Charlie in Romania, I know", he finished her sentence. She nodded, smiling.
"And I heard you visited the Burrow", she said.
"Yeah... Of course, with my rotten luck, on the only week you weren't there."
Upon hearing this, Ginny tilted her head. "You mean you've missed me?"
She looked disbelieving, and Harry cursed himself mentally. Why couldn't he have noticed this gorgeous girl years ago, when she was interested in him, too?
He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Uh, yeah?"
This brought a most beautiful smile on Ginny's lips. Harry had never seen a smile half as beautiul and lovely as what he was looking at right now.
"I'm flattered", she piped shyly.
"Well, theres' no--" Harry started.
"GINNY!" shouted Colin Creevey from right next to Harry's ear. Harry clasped a hand on it.
"Ginny dear, we must go take some new shots, don't we? Look at the weather and all, you'll be fabulous! Come, sweetie, come on!" And with this, Colin - waving his camera around madly in excitement - dragged Ginny away from Harry. Ginny smiled a quick, apologetic smile at him and then followed Colin faster.
Harry stood there, in the middle of the hallway, astonished. "What?"
"What what?" asked Ron Weasley, slamming a hand - gently, though - on Harry's shoulder. He was chewing a sandwhich.
"Has Colin become a bit... gay-ish during the summer?" Harry asked disbelievingly.
Ron shot him an odd look. "He's a photographer, for Charlie's sake, Harry! Of course he's a bit... gay-ish, if you want to put it like that."
"Not all Muggle-photographers are gay", reminded Hermione Granger, stopping next to her boyfriend Ron and giving him a quick peck.
"Yeah, but most of them aw, awn't they, Hawwy?" said Ron, his mouth full of sandwich.
"Ronald Weasley!" said Hermione disgustedly and slapped his head. "Don't talk with your mouth full!"
"So anyway", Harry cut in quickly. He felt a strom was brewing - again. "What's Ginny doing with Colin?"
"Oh, that'sh all becaush--" started Ron, but upon seeing Hermione's face, swallowed hastily before continuing, "D'you know Colin had a crush on Gin a long time ago? Well, anyway, once he got over it, he started to think, 'Hey, Ginny's very pretty even if she's head over heels for Potter!' and so... He asked her to model for some photos and here we go now. My little sister's modeling." Ron ended his story with a glum face.
Hermione smiled. "He's just jealous because his little sister's more famous within these walls than he is", she explained to Harry.
"Am not!" exclaimed Ron, surprised by Hermione's words. He had never even imagined Hermione would take Ginny's side rather than his. Okay, so he had. Okay, so he knew Hermione would take Ginny's side. So?
Harry found all this actually quite amusing. He also let his friends know that by smiling heartily.
"Traitor", muttered Ron, and returned to his sandwich.
"So Ginny likes being a model?" Harry asked Hermione. He knew she would know what Ginny thought about the aforementioned job, because the two girls were very close.
Hermione smiled and nodded. "Very much. Although she was a little shy at first", she added.
"LITTLE!" said Ron suddenly, tiny bits of his sandwich flying everywhere around him. "If Ginny's a LITTLE shy, I wouldn't wanna see someone who's even more shy than she!"
"Don't make fun of your sister", growled Hermione, making Ron's ears go red. "She's a sweet person. And it's nice she's got something else to do than to just sit around, dreaming about..." Hermione went suddenly pink, and shook her head. "Nothing."
"Dreaming about me?" Harry helped, his face falling a bit. Hermione looked at him with her eyes wide open.
"You... know?" she asked, disbelievingly, bringing a hand to her mouth.
"I've known for ages, but just now I realized I should've taken the chance when she... well, liked me very much. Besides, Ron just blurted it out."
Ron had, all of a sudden, stopped eating his sandwich. In fact, he had stopped moving at all. His eyes flashed with anger. "You... you're talking about MY little sister as your girl of choice?"
"No, he's talking about Pansy Parkinson", said Hermione dully. "You git! Of course he is!"
"I wasn't asking!" answered Ron.
"Why shouldn't he like her? She's sweet and kind, and obviously she likes him!"
"Guys!" said Harry loudly, stepping between his two glaring friends. "That's none of your business."
"Oh, you're right, I guess", huffed Hermione. "None of our business, is it, Ron? ... Ron?"
Harry and Hermione looked curiously at Ron, who was going very red in the face and breathing deeply and fast.
"Ron?" Hermione repeated, beginning to sound concerned. "Ron?"
"You have no right", began Ron hotly, poking Harry's chest with his index finger angrily, "NO right to break my only sister's heart!"
"Who's said anything about breaking hearts?" laughed Harry timidly, shaking his head.
"Oh, I know you, Harry. I know you." Ron nodded, determined-looking. "I know you."
"Stop poking me", Harry said coldly, shoving Ron's finger off. "Go poke... Go poke Hermione!"
"Don't you get me into this!" said Hermione warningly, crossing her arms across her chest. "Besides, Ron, didn't you say to me, just a summer or two ago, that you'd LIKE to see Ginny and Harry together?"
Ron shot Hermione a look that said 'yeah-but-that-was-different-back-then'.
Just as Harry began to seriously think he ought to move away from the two, he heard Ginny yell something to Colin, and then the large oak doors were opened, rather angrily. Harry turned to look at the scene.
"But... But Ginny dear!" Colin shouted after Ginny. She turned on her heels and glared at him.
"I'm serious, Colin!" she snarled.
"But you're not Sirius Black, are you?" said Colin, grinning unsurely, clearly attempting to make a joke.
Ginny's face fell, and her hazel eyes watered. "Never", she said with a minute and shaky voice, "never ever make a joke about Sirius Black." And she turned again, now facing Harry, Ron and Hermione, their faces grim, too. "I... I am so sorry..." she whispered, trying to fight back tears, but as the first pearly tear came running down her now pale cheek, she let out a sort of half-howl, half-whine, and ran away, covering her eyes with her hands.
Hermione laid a hand comfortingly on Harry's shoulder, but he threw it off.
"It was your loss, too, wasn't it?" he asked, sounding a bit angry. Then he turned to look at Colin, who stood on the stairs, looking positively nonplussed. "You heard her", said Harry icily. "Never make a joke about Sirius Black."
And, having said so, Harry stomped after Ginny, a depressed look on his face. Even as he walked away, he could hear Hermione say worriedly, "You know, sometimes I'm a bit scared of Harry. And for him."
Harry found himself sitting at the window, gazing absent-minded outside. There was a quiet sob from the other windowsill, and as he looked at it, he saw Ginny wipe her eyes furiously with her hands.
A lump appeared in his throat, and his eyes felt like they were burning.
It was hard for him to speak, but for the sake of Ginny, he knew he had to. "Are you all right?"
Ginny let out a louder sob and nodded at the same time. For Harry, this wasn't convincing. He hopped down from the windowsill and walked to her side, sitting next to her.
"I... I don't believe you", he said after a long time. "You look like you've cried."
Ginny's face twisted as she let out a quiet howl, and she buried her face into his cloak. Harry placed his hands awkwardly on her shoulders, feeling his own lump in the throat grow with every second.
They just sat there for a while, Ginny crying her heart out against Harry's shoulder, Harry trying to fight against his own tears.
"I'm... so... sorry!" wailed Ginny, peeking a red-eyed look at Harry. "It's... just... that... I've nev-her... ha-had... anyone to... t-to ta-halk to!"
Harry only nodded. He was afraid if he'd open his mouth he'd only start weeping, too.
"I... really... liked... S..." She didn't go further.
Harry felt his eyes water, cooling the burning feeling. "U-hm." He gulped with unease.
Ginny had stopped crying. She was now just sobbing quietly, holding onto the front of Harry's cloak, leaning her head on his shoulder. He was slowly moving his hand up and down her back.
"You've had anyone either, have you?" she asked, whispering. Harry looked at her, and found his eyes connecting with hers. He could see pain, loneliness and suffering in them, and also understanding and loving.
"N-no", he managed to say, and then felt his face twist, just like Ginny's had.
"It's OK to cry", she told him in a whisper. Harry shook his head, but she pulled him closer to herself, pulled him into a warm hug.
Harry had never been hugged like that before. It wasn't a motherly kind of hug, nor was it a friend's hug; it was more like being hugged by an emotion itself.
The burning sensation slowly ebbed away as he marvelled at the emotion. A voice in his head said to him that Sirius wouldn't have wanted to see Harry sad. And that Sirius had liked happy endings.
"Ginny?" he asked slowly, as if to not break the illusion of harmony he was holding onto.
She backed away an inch or so, to look at him, her face so close to his he could feel her breath.
"Yes?"
"It's good you're here."
The words came out so quickly, yet they sounded to Ginny's ear so sincere and wonderful.
"Come what may..." she replied with a small smile, "I'll always be with you if you need me."
"Padfoot would've thought you're an angel to say so."
"Sirius is now with his friends, your mother and father, and nothing can harm him anymore. He is an angel himself."
There was no longer a burning feeling, no watery or red eyes, no miserable faces. A wordless connection had formed between the two teens. They both wanted to ease the burden that lay heavy on their hearts, and for Sirius's memory they no longer wanted to be sad.
"Sirius once said you look like my mum. I think I'm beginning to agree."
Ginny tilted her head. "Really?" She thought about this for a few seconds, then added with a broad smile, "And you look just like your father."
As their heads neared, Harry murmured, "Perhaps it's history.."
"... repeating itself..." continued Ginny through half-open lips, closing her eyes...
About a week later, on a grey and rainy Saturday, Harry couldn't help but think that despite all the bad things that had happened to him, he still had his friends, and he still had Ginny.
He linked his fingers with Ginny's, and they both looked down at the gravestone that lay at their feet. They had buried a small, empty casket for Sirius's memory.
"I believe we have to thank Sirius for this." Harry's voice was hollow, but he fought to keep his straight face.
"Thank you, Padfoot", Ginny whispered, and patted the stone. "They wrote a brilliant memory line for him", she added with a grin.
"'Sirius Black. Rest in peace, Padfoot. You were a devil while alive, and now you are an angel. Things do change, but you never did. Thank you for everything.' Sounds like him, all right."
"I just hope we'll never have to go through something like this again", Ginny said, sounding worried.
"Come what may, Ginny. What will come will come."
"And we'll be facing the future boldly?"
Harry grinned as they walked away from Sirius's grave. "Exactly. Together." And he squeezed his girlfriend's hand comfortingly. "Now, what you say about a private modelling session? Just you, me and a camera?"
Ginny giggled as the exited the Hogsmead cemetery.
Neither of them noticed the three silvery, smoky forms of shadows that stood behind the gravestone.
"They'll be happy together", said the first one, his voice echoing. His words ended in a quiet bark.
"They remind me of us when we were younger", said the third one, holding on to the second one's arm.
The second one nodded, and smiled. "Now, come on, Padfoot and Lily. We'll be seeing them again."
"We could come visit them in a few week's time", suggested the first one.
"And their wedding!" exclaimed the third.
The second one shook his head amusedly. "We'll do so. I can't wait to see my son again."
And they vanished into the air.