Dealing With the Consequences

A New Acquaintance

Ginny sleepily opened her eyes sometime in the middle of the night, trying to figure out what had woken her up. The bed creaked under her weight as she got to her feet. She crossed the room and halted in front of the cradle sitting there. The soft noises coming from inside it seemed to get lost in the big, silent room, and Ginny couldn't help but think that they seemed quite misplaced.

She bent over and put her arms around the little person in the cradle that was supposed to be sleeping, then picked him up and gently started to rock him while humming a lullaby her mother always sang to her when she was small. It always made her heart ache, because she hadn't seen, nor talked, to anyone of her family members for almost two years. Three or four times had she spoken to Hermione, just to let everybody know that she was okay, but their last phone call had been more than six months ago.

Wandering through the room she noticed how cold it was. Empty and black, no sign of warmth or love at all. She hadn't put any effort in changing it, to make it more inviting, but now she almost felt sorry she hadn't. What a horrible place to let a child grow up in.

The baby snuggled closer into her arms and let out a murmuring sound. Ginny walked over to the bed, lying down onto it and placed her son next to herself. How he reminded her of Sirius. Although he had gotten her brown, sparkling eyes, his hair was pitch-black and his character almost identical to his father's. Stubborn and temperamental yet charming every time he laughed.

Ginny sighed and wrapped the blanket around her legs. She had begged Hermione never to tell anyone where she was, and so far Hermione seemed to have kept her promise. But somehow that wasn't as good as it had been in the beginning. Sometimes Ginny caught herself wishing for someone to knock on the door. She only left the flat when she bought food or other necessities, but never did she go out to meet other people or to make friends. Her whole life circled around her son, and she intended to keep it that way.

A sudden knock on the front door broke the silence. Ginny thoughtfully rose from the bed, pulled a thin dressing gown over her naked shoulders and started walking towards the outer door. She cursed herself for not having built in a peephole and hesitantly unlocked the chain and pushed down the door handle. At the sight of the person standing outside, her hands started to shake and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Hi, Gin," a familiar, but at the same time unfamiliar, voice greeted her. "May I come in?"

Ginny swallowed and nodded at the person on her doorstep, then quickly moved aside to let him in and shut the door. When she'd let go of the door handle she didn't really know where to put her hands, so she started to play with the silky fabric of her dressing gown as she watched the person walking around in her living room.

"Nice place you've got yourself, Gin" he said, not sounding convincing at all.

Ginny knew how awful her flat looked, how cold and unwelcoming. Similar to her bedroom there were no photos or other personal belongings lying around except for a little, red tractor with green stripes which had been thrown into a corner quite carelessly. It was her son's favourite plaything. She had bought it for Christmas last year in a Muggle shop and since then he had been playing with his 'twacto' every day.

"Listen, Harry, you came here for a reason," said Ginny, her voice trembling a bit. "I have better things to do than to engage in small talk with you in my living room in the middle of the night, so I'd welcome it if you hurried up a bit."

Just as Harry was about to answer, the door to the bedroom opened and a little boy came padding out, rubbing his eyes with tiny hands.

"Mummy?" he whispered, his eyes still shut against the dazzling light.

"I'm here, Jason," Ginny mumbled, walking over to the boy and lifting him up. "Now, Jay Jay, why aren't you in bed sleeping?" She gently stroked his hair and kissed him on the forehead.

"Bad dweam!" answered Jason, with a big yawn.

"Well, you don't have to be afraid, sweetie. Mummy will protect you with her magic and no one is ever going to hurt you." She smiled at him and pressed his little body against hers in a tight embrace. Then she glanced over to where Harry was standing.

He was looking at the boy with an expression of surprise and recognition in his eyes. He ran a hand through his messy hair and looked rather bewildered as he attempted to say something, but somehow the words seemed to get stuck in his throat and he just let out an indistinct sound.

"Did you say something, Harry?" Ginny turned to face him, and as she saw how he looked at her son she blushed

"Oh, I'm sorry; I haven't introduced you to Jason yet," she mumbled. "Jason, I want you to meet one of Mummy's friends from England. This is Harry." She put Jason down and took hold of his hand.

"Harry, this is Jason, my son," she said, shoving the little boy towards Harry, who was standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

They halted in front of him and Ginny took a step backwards so that Jason slowly could eye the older man. Harry cleared his throat and then knelt down to face the little boy. For a while they stood there sizing each other up, then Jason stumbled forward and gave Harry a quick hug before running back to his mother and hiding behind her leg. Harry let out a little laugh before rising again. Ginny noticed the questioning look in his eyes and sighed.

"Come on, Harry, just ask me," she said swiftly. "I know what you're thinking. He looks astonishingly like him, don't you think?"

"He does," said Harry, not pretending he hadn't understood. "When...?"

"A while before I left. It was just one night and, well..." she sighed again as she thought about the events two years earlier. "It feels like a million light-years away now, though. A bit unreal."

"As much as I'd like to hear this; I think we'll have to postpone it. I came here for a reason, Ginny. You won't like it, but I haven't travelled all this way for nothing. You're coming back home with me," said Harry swiftly, before shooting her a determined glance.