Ginny did as Sirius told her to and left without a word. None of them said anything the whole trip home, the only noise being their breathing. Not the normal silence, but a tension that was so great if anyone held a match to it, it would begin sparking. Nothing was making sense to her, and she hated being treated like a child. She knew the first chance he could; Sirius was going to tell Harry everything. It was not fair to her, it was her brother. Upon walking into the flat she went straight to the couch to sit down.
"Ginny, would you mind going into the other room while I talk to Harry?" Sirius asked her.
She couldn't believe it, he honestly was going to do as she suspected.
"Fine, I'm going for a walk," she replied, changing out of the shoes she had worn to the hospital into her boots, and tied back her flaming red hair into a pony tail.
"Stay here on the grounds," he told her firmly.
"Yeah," she replied, her tone lacking any real respect.
She was angry, pissed off to be exact. How could they do this to her? Now more then ever she wished she could just go home. Walking down the stairs, she tried to stop brooding so much. It would do no good to be around other people looking like she was ready to blow something up. Not that she really cared.
Once outside, she went to walk around the pool area, to maybe sit down. It was late-morning, but there were already people outside. A few that looked like they had a little too much to drink the previous night, and a few that appeared disgusted over the others. You could tell what ones believed they were better then everyone else, and that included Jessica.
Filthy tramp was all Ginny could think of as she tried to leave the pool area unnoticed so as to not cause a scene. She wasn't that lucky, because as she reached the fence she was confronted with Jessica's blue eyes, which almost seemed to be inflamed, rather then cool.
"Where do you think you're going?" Jessica asked her, a slow smirk appearing on her plastic looking face. Or at least that's how it looked to Ginny.
"I don't need this," she said coolly, attempting to walk around her.
"I thought you'd want to know what Harry likes in bed," said Jessica, the smirk fully there now.
She could just feel the heat rise to her face. Her hand, coming to rest on her wand, she was debating with herself which spell to use.
"Don't be so haste," said Jessica. Ginny hadn't noticed that she already had her wand out and pointed.
"Would you rather puke slugs all day, or cockroaches?" asked Ginny, her voice shaking in anger. She never had heard herself talk that way; normally she was calm, even in the worst situations. Now her mind was spinning and her body tense. This was the last thing she'd needed.
"Do you really want to do this in front of witnesses? Meet me in between building 5 and 6, at midnight. Don't be late," said Jessica, Ginny couldn't help but wonder why she made a quick exit.
"Scared?" she asked.
"You wish firecracker," she replied, tucking her wand into her pocket and walking by.
A sick feeling settled into the pit of Ginny's stomach. Only one person has ever called her, "firecracker."
Tom Riddle.
A light headed sensation started at the top of her head and spread to the tips of her toes, she felt like getting sick and passing out at the same time. All the colors were swirling in front of her eyes; she kneeled down, bending her knees and placing both hands on the cement of the sidewalk. She could feel the heat off of the pavement burning into her hands, as though they were sharp pieces of glasses piercing into her skin, it was all she could do not to completely collapse on the spot. Body aching, she somehow reached up and grabbed the chain link fence, which turned out to be hotter than the pavement, her fingers curled around it anyway. Getting onto one knee, she felt another pair of hands over the top of her own, assisting her with balancing her weight so she could get to her feet.
"What happened?" asked Harry, his tone showing concern once she was standing again.
"Nothing, just a little light headed, it's too hot out," she answered, not looking him in the eyes.
She couldn't tell him, this was her problem. It was probably just a coincidence anyway. After all, that wasn't Lord Voldemort in front of her that was another student from Hogwarts. Even if it was him, she would deal with it. She didn't need Harry trying to save her. She wasn't a little girl anymore. She could handle Jessica, Voldemort, or anyone else for that matter.
"Let's get you some water," said he said gently, snapping her out of her trail of thought.
They walked hand-in-hand back up to the flat. Her head remained down most of the time, especially if he was looking at her. She hated lying to him, since it was so early in the relationship.
"Do you want ice?" he asked her smiling softly.
"If you were in the heat this long, that's not a good idea," commented Sirius coming into the room.
"Yeah, I'm fine without it," she said, returning the smile.
The night continued on almost uneventful. Almost.
They were all in the living room, doing their own thing. Sirius was in a recliner, filling out some paper work for a local Witch and Wizard Magical Community Academy, to further his study of Potions, which had been his worst subject in school.
Harry was doing his homework that he had been putting off, an essay on the dangers of transforming individual limbs into that of another species. He was on the floor, in front of the coffee table, with three books wide open, sucking on the end of his sugar quill.
Ginny didn't really think he was studying, or doing much of anything for that matter, but enjoying the sugar taste. She though, was lazily taking her time, reading a romance novel; Hermione had allowed her to barrow over the summer. Considering the smart book-worm her close friend was, she had expected something educational with she had simply placed the book in her hands, and said it was one of her all time favorites. And was the perfect boredom fix in the summer. Well, Ginny couldn't help but disagree. Normally she'd call it disgusting, but it wasn't that either. The sweet parts were wonderful, the confessions of love. But the actual sex, as she read, didn't seem to have any meaning to it. It was just something they were doing, like playing a game. She was lost in though, thinking of these things, when there was a knock on the door.
"I'll get it," volunteered Harry, hoping up from his spot on the floor.
She grinned to herself; she'd been right about him. Though when she saw who was at the door, she nearly got up as fast as he did. It was this man delivering flowers, his shirt said, "Mary's Magical Minis." But what the guy was holding looked far from being 'mini' at all. The flowers had to of been as long as three feet, and the buds as big around as her wand was long. The three flowers were opening and closing, snapping toward Harry with their razor looking teeth.
"Delivery for Virginia Weasley," he said, in a sense of panic.
"That's me," she said reaching for somewhere in the middle of the stems.
Before she could ask who they were from, the man had apperated.
"I know what those are," said Sirius, joining them.
"I'd like to know before they bite my head off," she said impatiently, the flowers growing angry.
Sirius took his wand out of his pocket, and pointed it to the very bottom of the stems. They began squirming in her hands, and if it weren't for the buds trying to take a bite out of her, she would have said it tickled.
"Slupertrinus," he said, rather calmly, unusual to her for what was happening.
At that instant, the flowers fell asleep. Placing his wand down on a side table that was to the right of the entrance of the door, he picked a card out from the middle of the sleeping buds.
"'To My Firecracker, With Love,'" He read allowed, his head then turning to Harry, "Is this your idea of a joke?"
"I didn't send them," he said, sounding offended.
"How do Iâdispose of them?" She asked, eyeing them nervously.
"Like this, go open the porch door Harry" said Sirius, taking out his wand and walking next to the glass door.
"Frincikle," he said, the tip of his wand had a flame coming out of it, like a lighted match.
He reached his left hand out to take the flowers, his right wand hand attempting to stay steady, but quivering. Sticking over half of the top portion of flowers out the door, he lit the very bottom of the stems. For a brief second she believed he had dropped them, but they were sent flying out into the air. Sparks going off in every direction, after about going twenty feet up, they burst, spelling out, "Firecracker."
"Who sent you those?" asked Sirius, looking at her sternly.
"I have no idea," she told him.
But she did. She knew it had to of been Lord Voldemort. Her pride and being tired of being treated like a child was too much for her to confess the truth. The fact that it could be a coincidence was the only thing that kept her calm the rest of the night.
After Harry and Sirius went to bed at about eleven, she pretended to do the same. Out of the corner of her eye, the clock seemed to tick by so slow. Using her wand as a light, under her blanket she continued reading her novel. She was almost finished with it now, the end bothered her. Just because the young girl was forced to move six states away, they put an end to the relationship. They couldn't make it work. She found this so sad, and wondered what would happen if her and Harry had to go to different schools, as the muggles had to go to different colleges. Would they be over as easily?
She didn't have time to brood on this for long, as she saw the clock read ten till midnight. Sneaking out wouldn't be a simple task. She couldn't go just out the door; she had to go out the porch, because the front door would make too much noise. Luckily, she had cleverly left the porch door wide open, after the flowers. Taking a straw from a glass, she walked onto the porch. Pointing her wand at it, she transformed it into a rope. Then after tying it to the edge railing, she stepped on and over it. Lowering herself foot by foot, she could feel the sliding of the rope forming blisters on her hands. She could heal them with a potion later, no one would ever have to know she was out, she reassured herself as her feet touched the ground. The walk seemed longer then it normally would, because she was dreading what she would find. She was barely half-way there when she was stopped, by a hand covering her mouth. The next thing she knew, she heard someone say a curse and she fell into a dreamless sleep.
She woke to lying down on a cold stone floor. Looking up she appeared to be in someone's cellar. There were all kinds of pipes, wires and circuit breakers. Suddenly she understood where she was, in the cellar of one of the apartment buildings. Her arms and legs ached as though they had been beat on, and when she looked at them, there were bruises and scrapes. Clothes covered in dirt, she got to her feet and looked for the stairs. All she had to do was turn around, and that itself was hard because of the sharp pains in her left knee. Just as she reached the first step, there was no mistaking who had opened the door at the top, the exact same moment.
Harry Potter.