"Since then the longest he's held a job is for six months when he went to work for his brothers stocking shelves. However, they caught him slacking off one too many times and ordered him to pull his socks up or, as it was their last warning, he'd be sacked. Then, rumour has it, he pilfered from the till and was caught. They sacked him on the spot. Even his mother yelling at them for over ten minutes in public, which is how everyone came to learn he'd stolen from them, couldn't get them to 'rehire' him. "Since then he's only had the occasional job, but none have lasted more than two months; at which point he's either fired or it's all too hard for him and, according to him, no one should be forced to work so hard for a few measly galleons. At least, that's what Remus and Tonks have been able to learn through the meetings of the Order."
After shaking his head at the stupidity of the boy, Harry asked, "And the red-headed public merry-go-round?"
"Public merry-go-round?" asked Sirius; knowing who he meant, but not why he referred to her as a public merry-go-round.
"You know," said Harry. "Everyone gets a turn or three?"
Sirius looked back in shock for a moment until Luna, who was sitting right alongside him at the time, slapped Harry lightly on the back of his head and scowled at him. Then he roared with laughter.
"Everyone gets a turn or three?" he laughed. "Oh! That's rich!" And roared with laughter again.
"She used to be my friend, Harry," said Luna.
"Did she, Luna?" he compassionately asked. "Or, was she... almost from birth... already aiming to marry the Boy-Who-Lived and other people were just stepping stones on her way to that goal?
"I know she wasn't your friend at school, Luna," he said. "Her and your first year not withstanding, she had nothing to do with you until Hermione forced me to create the DA and you both joined, did she?"
Luna sadly looked away and quietly replied, "No." Luna's reaction had Sirius stop laughing. "Is Harry upsetting you, Luna? Want me to take him out the back and beat the ever-loving Merlin out of him for you?"
She sadly smiled back and said, "It's alright. Something he said just reminded me of a difficult time in my life. I've already come to terms with it."
"Sorry, Love," said Harry, contritely.
Looking back to Sirius he said, "There was either a badly kept secret or a vicious rumour in my fourth year and into my fifth that, for the price of a couple of sickles a blow-job was available; a galleon got you anal. The only thing I found out was you had to be in a certain broom closet at a certain time with your coins in your hand. I also found out it wasn't a bloke, as I first thought it was, when I found out you got to play with 'her' tits so long as you were also getting one or the other of either a blow-job or anal sex. "From the way they and other boys were carrying on, it wasn't until I was on Hadrian and had spent time sorting out my memories that I figured out it was Ginny. I figured out that, just from the way both Finnegan and Thomas would instantly shut up about it if Ron walked in, they were likely talking about someone it wasn't safe to mention in Ron's presence. Neville, however, seemed as oblivious about who it was as I was.
"That led me to reviewing other memories and, each time I heard it talked about, I remembered it was when Ron wasn't there. I also saw quite a few times when Ginny would look in some boy's direction, give him a nod and then hurry out through the portrait hole. That boy would follow less than a minute later. Then he'd come in about five minutes later with a dopey grin on his face and another boy would hurriedly leave; or she'd come back in and, sometimes, be still adjusting her clothing. The other girls also gave her the occasional filthy looks. "Individually... I never saw it. Yet, through the accurate hindsight of Occlumency, it became plain as day. Ginny was whoring herself out." He turned to Luna and said, "Sorry, Luna."
She curled into his arm and just rapidly shock her head for a long second. "Not your fault," she quietly said. "I Saw it happening. I didn't want to, but I did. There was nothing I could do for her because she pushed me away."
After wrapping his arm around a cuddling Luna, he asked Sirius, "So, what did Ginny do with her gift of a NEWTs-level Hogwarts education?"
Sirius replied, "Well, she graduated around middle of her year; nothing special, but not a failure like her youngest brother. I'd heard both her parents were trying to get her to accept a position at the Ministry, but she seemed to believe herself too good for that. I guess that's what growing up as a child into your early teens, believing you're already locked in to a destiny of being married to a very wealthy Lord, does to you.
"She tried out for a couple of the professional Quidditch teams of the British and Irish Quidditch League and, I believe, one gave her a reserve position; the Tutshill Tornadoes, not far from her parent's place - and Luna's - in Ottery St Catchpole. As far as I know she's still a reserve with them; chaser."
"Daddy's favourite team," said Luna, sitting up a bit again. "And I think Ginny's moving up into the starting line-up this year. That's good for her career, but a waste of a Hogwarts education."
"And Hermione," Harry sighed. "My pseudo, pain-in-the-bum, big sister. She's... happy and well?"
"She is," Sirius nodded. "She's studying law... both magical and muggle... or, as it is called there, no-maj law. I'm even secretly helping by paying for that. Well, secretly from her parents, at any rate." And grinned.
"Good," sighed Harry again. "Thank you."
"You're very welcome, Harry," he replied. "She, at least... like Luna... stood by you simply because she liked you and wanted to be a true friend."
"One day, once Riddle and Dumbledore are dealt with, I'll have to let her know I'm still alive," said Harry. "Pretty much the rest of magical Britain can go jump in the Black Lake, though."
This time, once the time was getting on a bit, Luna walked up the stairs with him. And the two entered his... their... room, together.
As Harry undressed, readying for bed, so too did Luna. However, Harry was deliberately not watching her as he knew that if he did 'Little Harry' would pop up and say 'Helloooo... Nurse!' Down to his boxers, he headed for the bathroom to brush his teeth.
Underwear was something he'd not had access to for years until the SG-1 picked him up. For almost his whole time on Hadrian he had to go commando. Before the 'Veil' he wore white 'Y' fronts bought from the cheap bin at the local by his aunt; the only 'new' clothes he ever received until he bought his first Hogwarts uniform. Now, getting back to Earth, he didn't think he could again wear something that would feel 'restrictive' around his twins.
He also didn't think he could wear pyjamas to bed again, either. On Hadrian he'd 'made-do' with just a transfigured sheet on the bed until he moved to the area where he built Safe Haven. Then it was just a sheet and a light blanket. But he did wear transfigured loose sleep pants, just in case he had to leap out of bed because the Jaffa had found him or something. There was no need for anything else.
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