Disclaimer: Ahh, those wonderful characters! I love them dearly, but they belong to J.K. Rowling!


** THE KNIGHT WITHIN **


I met him at 12 Grimmauld Place, Headquarter of the Order of the Phoenix, on summer holiday, before my fourth year at Hogwarts.


Our first encounter was not exactly pleasant. While cleaning the house at my Mum’s request, I had accidentally moved the curtain covering his mother’s portrait, and Mrs. Black’s horrible insults soon echoed through the house. Sirius had jumped to hang back the cover, glaring at me as if I was the clumsiest girl on earth.


“You are guests in my house!” He said, insisting on each word. “And guests aren’t requested to clean!”

A polite way to say, “Mind your own business”, I thought.

I did not insist. After all, why would I mess with the only wizard who had escaped from Azkaban? For a man who had scared the Fat Lady out of her frame, I would say he did not look that threatening. I bet he had been quite good-looking once. Obviously, I always had a thing for black-haired boys, with an inclination to play hero!


Our second encounter was not better. This time, Sirius had caught a bad cold during one of his frequent night walks. Sick like a dog, he had locked himself in his room, barking “I’B FINE, GO AWAY!” to anyone knocking at his door. As he did not show up for two days, my Mum had gotten worried. As usual, I had been the lucky ‘volunteer’ she appointed to bring Sirius a bowl of chicken soup.


So, here I stood, holding a tray in front of his closed door. Valiantly, I had resisted not one, but 4 “I’B FINE, GO AWAY!” and 3 “LEAB BE ALONE”.


“OK, Mr. Black!” I finally shouted through the door. “I will leave the bowl here, so you can sneeze your brain in whenever you like!”


That was quite mean, but at least, my words successfully pulled him out of his bed. The door suddenly opened, and an awful-looking Sirius pointed a finger at me.


“KEEB THE ‘Br. Black’ FOR BY FATHER!” He warned me, “NEBER CALL BE THAT … A…a…AaAATCHAAAAA!” A violent sneeze shut him up, before he finished his menace.

“Bless you!” I replied with a wry face. “Now, please, finish your soup without spraying it!”


Sirius looked at the tray, torn by some inner battle. He finally gave in, and took it from my hands,

“ALL RIGHD, THANKS!”

A polite way to say “Now, get lost!” I recognized easily that irritating habit to push people away, even when you needed them.

“Like Godfather, like Godson” I mumbled.

But somehow, Sirius had heard me.

“YOU’RE A VRIEND OF ‘ARRY’S?” He asked, and a smile lit in his bloodshot eyes. “KNOW ‘IM WELL?”

“Yes … I think so!” I replied, feeling a little surprised by his question.

“RIGHD! SID DOWN,” Sirius ordered. “AND TELL BE ABOUT ‘ARRY!”


He motioned me to stay out of his room (anyway, I really did not want to catch whatever virus he had). I sat on the floor, in the empty corridor, facing Sirius, who began spooning soup to his mouth with appetite.


I then told him all that I knew about ‘the Boy Who Lived’, how I had waved him off to Hogwarts the first time. Harry, I stated, loved having toast at breakfast, although he was unbeatable at frying bacon the Muggle way. I became rapidly unstoppable. Sirius was hanging to my words, grinning now and then when I mentioned how Harry loathed Snape, or his easiness in breaking rules. Then, I finally spoke about Tom Riddle, his diary, and how Harry saved my life in the Chamber of Secrets. The soup was long gone, but Sirius kept drinking all information I could give about his godson. I realized, afterwards, that I just helped him catching up on Harry’s life, on all those years he had missed, while locked away in Azkaban.


“A REAL BARAUDER!” He concluded, and pushed the empty tray towards me. “TELL YOUR BOTHER HER SOUB WAS DELICIOUS!”

Again, that was a polite way to say “I have finished, goodbye”.


I got the message, and headed downstairs, hearing the door shut behind me.


Since that talk in the corridor, Sirius became much nicer to me. I was now greeted with a warm “Hi, Ginny!” whenever we met. He could be charming when he wanted to. Fred, George and I often laughed to tears at stories about his mischief when he was still attending Hogwarts.


Then, Professor Dumbledore gave Harry permission to join us at Grimmauld Place. My focus turned to the Hearing going on at the Ministry of Magic. To while away our anxiety, Sirius and I played Wizards Chess while Harry was in court. Unlike my brother Ron, Sirius was not very good at Chess. His pawns disappeared quite rapidly, and soon my Queen was squashing his Knight in the most brutal way.


“Honestly!” I shouted to his Knight, “How could you NOT see her coming? Are you blind?”

“How can he see with that helmet on his head?” Sirius replied knowingly. “He is a Knight! He does not need to see. He just knows what to do!”


I looked at him, but he already turned his eyes back to the Chess board. Giving it some thoughts, Sirius certainly reminded me of a Knight. He was always ready to do battle, to blindly defend Harry’s interests, showing an undying loyalty to his godson.


With relief, we soon learnt that Harry was cleared of all charges. And it was time to go back to school!


I started my fourth year the same way I had begun the third, with Harry completely ignoring me. To him, I would be forever Ron’s little sister. He did not even wink when he learnt about me dating Michael Corner. I, on the other hand, was aching every time I saw him gape at Cho Chang. However, I could not help being his loudest supporter in Quidditch, and later, the most attentive member of the DA.


My Dad’s injury at Christmas was one of the worst moments of my family’s. Harry, my brothers and I were all rushed back to Sirius’ place for our own safety. We were worried sick about Dad, but Harry blamed himself for the attack. I could feel his pain, I could touch his fear whenever I saw him wandering mutely around the house. As usual, he shut all of his friends out in moments like these. Everyone, including Hermione, was tiptoeing around him. But I knew what to do, for having lived that burden before. I had to make Harry see the truth; we never doubted him, we cared for him, and together, we were stronger than Voldemort. I gathered all my courage, two precious allies (Ron and Hermione), and went to knock some sense into his untidy head.


It worked! Harry finally got rid of his guilt and started talking to us again. He never said anything to me, but I could find my reward in his ‘fresh pickled toad’ green eyes. They were shining with that ‘hero gaze’ again. My triumph was complete when Sirius smiled broadly, looking at me as if I was the bravest witch on earth. I smiled back, he understood! No word was needed!


I went back to Hogwarts with a whole new spirit. I felt fearless, ready to take on any adventure. My magical skills improved significantly through lessons, so did my confidence. I eagerly stepped in Fred and George’s plots against Dolores Umbridge. I boldly took on Harry’s job as Gryffindor Seeker, and caught the Snitch on my first game, right under Cho’s nose!


Somehow, this ‘new me’ did not suit Michael Corner, who shifted his shoulder to another girl to cry on. Curiously, losing him did not affect me, because I was drawing closer to Harry, and my heart was filled with a new energy. In fact, this restless heart had saved my life on that fateful night, at the Department of Mysteries. I was fighting by Harry’s side, defending a cause that exceeded our comprehension. I was also fighting by Sirius’ side, and saw him fall behind the veil.


For Harry, loosing Sirius meant an unfulfilled promise of love. When school ended, Harry went back to the Dursleys. I watched him suffer in silence, which hurt me more than my broken ankle. I missed Sirius too. No one could ever cheer on my mischief the way he had!


One day during summer, Remus Lupin came to the Burrow. He took me aside, and handled me a package wrapped in crumpled brown paper.


“Sirius asked me to give you this, in case something happened to him,” Lupin’s voice was sad and low. “He said you would understand.”


I opened the package and found a dirty square mirror with a note from Sirius:

“Hope this will help you SEE, because you already KNOW what to do.
From one knight to another!”


Remus recognized the mirror, explained to me what James and Sirius had used it for. He also remembered that Sirius had given Harry the other one of the pair. Before I could help it, tears ran freely on my cheeks. I held the mirror close to my heart, reading Sirius’s short note again. Yes! A wonderful way to say “Take my place on Harry’s side. I trust you!”


I kept the precious mirror as my personal good-luck charm. I carried it everywhere, but never used it until one day, I lost my head in Snape’s class and called him ‘Professor Snivellus’. Pale, gloomy Snape could actually turn red with wrath! It had cost me ten points from Gryffindor, and one night of detention in the Potions dungeon. Snape later told the other teachers that he had been called on an urgent matter for the Order, and had forgotten me in the locked, freezing classroom. After spending three hours alone, I realized something was wrong. As he had confiscated my wand, I took out the mirror and called Harry for help.


“Harry Potter!” I talked to my own reflection, my teeth chattering with cold.

I must have called his name several times before his puzzled features slowly replaced mine in the mirror.

“Ginny?” He asked, astonished. “How … Who gave you … What is going on?”


I told him the whole story, but keeping the ‘knight’ part just for Sirius and me.


“I just want to tell … you … that if you ever need me, or want someone to talk to, I’ll be … on the other side!” I added, my lips turning mauve.


I remembered seeing Harry smile through the misty glass of my mirror. He barely smiled since he lost his godfather.


“Looks like you’re the one needing help right now!” He decided. “I’ll go get you out of there!”

“Harry, wait! I’m in detention! And Snape …”

“Even Snape wouldn’t want you to freeze to death in his classroom!”


A few moments later, the door swung opened. There stood Harry, wand in hand, having rushed to my rescue in pyjamas. We went back to Gryffindor dormitories together. I felt all warmed up, walking with his arms holding the Invisibility Cloak above our heads.


“Uh … Ginny,” He uttered, looking at his feet, just before I climbed up the stairs to the girls’ dormitory. “Mind if … Can I … uh … ‘call’ you tomorrow?”


I simply nodded to his question, acting as cool as if he just told me that I’ve got red hair. To tell the truth, an overwhelming joy just took my breath away. Harry did ‘call’ me on the Two-Way Mirror exactly 21 hours, 17 minutes and 4 seconds after we said goodbye at the stairs.


He ‘called’ again the next day, and every day after. We talked about every thing. Homework, Quidditch strategy for our next game, Ron and Hermione getting together, and even the Order’s plans to fight the Dark Lord.


Harry told me, years later, that he actually fell in love with me the first time he saw my face in his dirty square mirror. All I knew was that Harry and I never felt lonely since then. I sometimes wished I could share that wonderful feeling with Sirius.


Wherever Mr. Padfoot might be, he could be proud to see me pick up his sword, and stand by Harry’s side through his many challenges. Voldemort and his Death Eaters may have taken Remus Lupin and many of our loved ones away from us, but he never could break our faith in each other. He never understood the power only true love could bring, and that power had ultimately defeated him.


Voldemort gone, we could all live our lives with a new hope. Harry proposed to me at Ron and Hermione’s wedding. My new sister-in-law was so thrilled with our engagement she promised to take care of all the wedding preparations for us. And so she did.


Hermione was indeed a walking library on wedding planning and had a logical explanation for every tradition. For example, she insisted on having the bride standing at the groom’s left side during the ceremony.


“In ancient times,” she informed us patiently, “the early Anglo Saxon groom so often had to defend his bride from would-be kidnappers, so she stood to his left, leaving his sword-arm free!”


Harry’s eye caught mine, we both grinned as Hermione went on with her lesson.


On my wedding day, I walked down the aisle, on my Dad’s arm, to marry the man of my dreams. Unlike our plan, I saw Harry wait for me, standing on the left side of the altar. He took my left hand, his loving smile just made my heart melt.


“Keep your right arm for the sword! You’re my hero!” He said, pulling me closer before we said our vows.


That was undoubtedly one of the best days of my life! I gazed, speechless, at my beloved husband. To me, he was much more than ‘the Boy-Who-Won’. He was my best friend, my happiness, my Harry. He was the one who had seen, like his godfather before him, the Knight in me!


*********


A/N: THANKS for reading! Please, do not forget to let me know what you think, OK?
Two-thumbs-up to Babygirl! Thanks so much for coming to my rescue, correcting wand in hand :)!
Siriusly yours, * Neli * ;) ;)