This chapter went through so much reconstruction and so many revisions---I really hope you guys enjoy it...
* * Harry’s POV * *
Sirius.
He was lost in his own world of misery as he desolately remembered his godfather all over again.
Sirius used to come here, but now he can’t; because of me, he’ll never come again.
A new wave of pain from missing his godfather, his mentor and his friend, passed over him; all the fresh cheerfulness, the renewed spirit was forgotten.
Ginny coughed quietly, “Do you want to keep going?” she asked gently, startling him out of his thoughts.
“Hmm?” he gradually remembered they had been going somewhere and then suddenly felt the tingling in his toes again, “Oh yeah…right.” He put up the barrier, with the fake strong face he had used all summer to avoid questions, and followed her, still essentially lost in his own world. As he sloshed past the tree it quickly straightened, regaining its original position blocking the entrance and Harry realized they were in a completely enclosed area.
“Wow…” he whispered, the shock of seeing it momentarily replacing the depression.
He clamored out of the freezing water and seeing a way down carefully descended the rocks. At the bottom he looked up and stood in complete awe. He couldn’t believe that this was made by nature; it was absolutely enchanting. He was brought out of his thoughts by a faint laugh from above, but as he looked up at Ginny she quickly looked away from him shyly. Her laugh reached his very soul and slowly some of the cold numbness brought on by the recent remembrance of his godfather was warmed, and he felt a slight contentment as he gazed up at her appreciatively. Everything around him overwhelmed him, distracting him from his pain. The sun sparkled off her beautiful hair and he was caught in between awe at the magnificent waterfall before him, and the magnificent girl above him. She looked down cautiously, and reassured by the pleasant expression on his face beamed back at him.
“Well? Are you coming?” He called up to her.
She giggled and he grinned slightly as she gracefully made her way down the dangerous rocks. He reached his hand out for her and as she took it his skin tingled.
What?
He gazed at her face, a strange longing coursing through his veins, and then she jumped the last distance, the force pushing her into his arms for the second time. He was holding her again, but this time as she turned away he held on. She turned back surprised and he was acting without thinking. He was suddenly filled with desires he’d never imagined; he ached to kiss her, to simply hold her in his arms forever. She closed her eyes, and then blinked her long lashes, staring into his eyes through her own deep chocolate ones. She shifted her weight slowly and he realized what he was about to do.
I can’t kiss her! It’s Ginny! She’d probably pound me, and then Ron would be next! What are you thinking? Then again…Ron nearly seemed to suggest on the train… No! Let her go you git!
He shook his head slightly blinking, “Thank you Ginny…for everything I mean.” He half-heartedly loosened his hands, and then backed away before he could change his mind.
She was simply standing there, gazing at him, unaware of her beauty, of how much she meant to him. What was remarkable though, he realized, was that not only was he in admiration of her as a beautiful girl, but as a true friend, the only person that could bring him out of his misery, the only one who could have helped him begin to come out of such grief only moments ago with her melodic laugh.
“It was nothing,” she replied quietly, still watching him.
He looked up from the ground and into her eyes, and he knew she understood. He slowly turned back towards the waterfall and she followed suit. “It’s… incredible, I can’t even comprehend how something so magnificent was created...” He looked at her as he realized he was describing her subconsciously.
“Yeah,” she breathed. The pair headed towards the end of the clearing and sat resting against some trees.
Harry glanced furtively at the red head next to him, and rolled his eyes at himself.
Ridiculous.
As he let his mind wander it again drifted to his godfather. I wonder how he found all this… Harry smiled sadly to himself as he felt tears welling dangerously, only Sirius could’ve managed to hide an entire waterfall! And only he would have used the marauder password. Wait…he looked back at Ginny curiously, How could Ginny know the password? She never knew about the map!
As if on cue Ginny seemed to recognize his thoughts and interrupted the stillness.
* *Ginny’s POV* *
She sighed disappointedly, but sadly knew he wasn’t ready for anything yet… he still needed time to heal.
“It was nothing…” she murmured resignedly.
He looked up at her appreciatively and then back towards the waterfall and she followed his gaze.
“It’s…incredible,” he declared in a low voice.
You’re incredible…
“I can’t even comprehend how something so magnificent was created....”
“Yeah,” she replied, distracted by her thoughts.
They sat down leaning against trees and watching the water race down the rocks. Harry’s expression slowly hardened, and as his eyes tightened she knew he was once again brooding on Sirius. She rested her head on the bark, looking at the branches above her.
Is it better to talk about him or leave it be?
She looked back at Harry and he tilted his head and furrowed his brow, as if suddenly struck by many questions, with no answers in sight.
She sighed…alright, here goes nothing. Merlin, please don’t upset him!
Ginny took a deep breath and began, “You know, he was miserable, being trapped here all the time,” Harry looked up in surprise, “And not just last year: when he was a child. His parents were horrible; well, you’ve seen what his mum was like: always yelling, furious that her son was not some cold-hearted, Muggle-hating Slytherin.” Harry was watching her intently, hanging on every word, but she refused to meet his eyes quite yet. “Well, last summer before you came, Sirius would often disappear hours at a time. Sometimes we figured he was with Buckbeak, sometimes in his room thinking or still recovering from Azkaban memories, but sometimes we had no idea. So, one day Ron and Hermione were really going at it…
* * *
“Ron! We have so much to do! We cannot just sit around doing nothing: the house is a disaster, that horrible portrait won’t stop screeching, we have no idea what the Order is up to, and we have O.W.L.s this year!” scolded Hermione as Crookshanks darted off her lap, as if recognizing what was coming.
Ron rolled his eyes, “Bloody hell, Hermione! School’s only just ended! Take a break! That’s what it’s meant for!”
“O.W.L.s Ron! Do you understand how important those tests are?!” she retorted, voice rising threateningly as she stood up quickly.
“No, but I’m sure you’ll tell me,” he muttered under his breath. He glanced up to see if she had heard and her eyes were flashing.
“Well apparently I have to Ronald Weasley because you just never learn, do you?” she shrieked.
* * *
“Well, I started inching towards the kitchen, to get away from them, but just as I turned around, I saw Sirius dart out the back door in his dog form. I really didn’t want to be dragged into the argument, and I was rather curious where he kept getting off to, so…I followed him.” She shrugged and finally looked up at Harry, inquiring of his reaction. He was staring at a random spot of grass, but as she stopped talking he looked up quickly, urging her to continue. She smiled reassuringly and continued, “Well, he was trotting slowly, lucky for me, and followed this brook until he got reached the knobby tree…"
* * *
Sirius shook himself, getting all the water out of his fur and transforming back into his human form; Ginny paused, unsure what would happen. He pulled out his wand grinning to himself.
“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”
Ginny gasped silently as a large, twisted tree bowed out of the way and a pathway was cleared. Sirius took a step forward, and then stopped. “Well come along before it closes up!” he called. Her eyes widened as he turned around expectantly, smiling warmly at her. Ginny grinned guiltily and came out from behind the tree.
“How long have you known?”
“Ehh… I smelled you once we hit the woods,” he winked, “Come along then!” She cautiously stepped through the opening, and then froze in awe…
* * *
Harry was still gazing at only he knew what, but this time had a half smile, thinking of Sirius’ genial character.
“So, we came down here, and sat at these very trees, and he told me all about his childhood: how he used to explore the woods to get away from his mum, or his nasty little brother, and one day came across this,” she explained, gesturing with her hands, “We were out here for hours, and he explained how he’d hidden the path and the password and…um…” she hesitated.
How much can he take?
He met her eyes steadily, “And what, Gin?”
She sighed heavily, “And all about your dad, how he was the only family Sirius ever had…”
The two sat silently next to each other, entranced in their thoughts. Harry, sat motionless, his eyes focused inward as he took everything in slowly and dealt with his grief. Ginny however, smiled at the memory, and wiped a tear from her eye at the memory of Sirius. Her mind reverted to the last part of their conversation, and she glanced nervously at Harry, wondering if it was true…
* * *
Sirius talked about James quickly, each word tumbling out of his mouth, partly because he had so many great stories to share, and partly because it was so painful to relive. Slowly Sirius trailed off, reminiscing back to his Hogwarts days, and by doing so became more relaxed, temporarily forgetting all the burdens he carried and behaving more like the “innocent” marauder he had once been. He suddenly glanced at Ginny and laughed quietly to himself.
“What?” she asked suspiciously.
“Nothing…just thinking,” she glared at him playfully and he laughed, “Alright, I was just thinking, how remarkable it is how history repeats itself.”
She smiled curiously, “What do you mean?”
He grinned mischievously, “Well…James was a fool for Lily. He loved that red head more than anything, more than pranks if you can believe that!” Ginny laughed, “And well…”
“Well what?” she asked exasperatedly.
“Well, he’s not quite ready yet, but he will be soon and then, well…” Ginny stared at him eyes wide, impatient for him to get to his point and he grinned wickedly, his eyes twinkling, “Like father, like son!” he exclaimed, and kissed her on the head quickly before turning back into a dog and trotting back up to the brook…
* * *
Ginny smiled to herself again at the memory, and then looked around her, reentering reality. Harry was still musing, but instead of sitting statuesque, was now picking at the blades of grass by his knee. She glanced up at the sky, squinting at the bright sun, and realized how long they must have been sitting there.
“You ready to head back?”
He looked up blinking, “Oh, sure.”
The two slowly made their way out the opening and back down the path, but try as she might Ginny still couldn’t completely straighten out her grin as she thought about what Sirius had said.
“What are you smiling about?” he asked quietly. She looked up with wide eyes to see him gazing at her curiously.
Nothing! Not you! Crap! Um… she racked her brain quickly, and then spouted out the first thing that came to her mind…
“Plan!”
He stared at her for a minute and raised his eyebrows.
She blushed and coughed, “Err…I meant…I, well, I sort of have this plan…” she paused and then continued as he gave her a confused half smile, “It’s about Ron and Hermione,” she added mysteriously.
“What about them?” he asked cautiously.
“Well…” she said tilting her head to the side and smiling playfully as she regained her composure, “What would you say about…how can I put it…helping them get together.”
He gave a small laugh, “I’d say it could be interesting…what do you have in mind?”
“Well, nothing up to Fred and George’s standards, of course, but I think it’ll do the trick…” she replied jokingly.
“Well, in that case, I’m in… what do we have to do?”
Okay, ch. 6 we head back to Hogwarts, and finally the Ron/Hermione prank is pulled…
Here I must do my customary beg for reviews...just pay me the same courtesy you would like your readers to do for you...
And as always, if you want to receive a notice of when this story is updated, simply email me at themarauderfanfics@yahoo.com with ‘Ginny’s Love’ in the subject or message!
And thanks to my beta Harry luvs Ginny, she’s gone through so much grief with this story along with me and been a tremendous help!