A.N—This chapter is dedicated to Drkness's Daughter, because today is her birthday. Also, to asdfman, here's some drama for you with more to come. Please read the A.N at the end of the chapter. IT'S IMPORTANT! This chapter is going to be short, but the next one will be longer, promise.

Disclaimer—If I was J.K. Rowling, Fred, Tonks, Sirius and Remus would never have died. So, there you go. I am not her…..That is all.

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Chapter Thirty Six

Finally Falling.

After Lily's party, everything went back to normal, well, as normal as it can get when it comes to Hogwarts. The Marauders were all friends again, the Slytherins hated us (and we returned the feeling) Marlene and Sirius kept creeping around behind our backs, Remus was trying to make up for all the days he was snarky and pissed and I was so happy I felt I could burst.

That was all before I looked at the headlines of the Daily Prophet today.

Skilsworth Family Found Dead.

Underneath this was a picture of the house, the Dark Mark hanging over it. I opened the newspaper and began to read;

Mr and Mrs Skilsworth of 17 Inkwell road were found murdered in their home last night. Their three of their four children, Sarah 10, Paris 8 and Luke 5, were also among the deceased. Aurors have confirmed that they were killed by dark magic and that the Cruciatus curse was used on the children. Their daughter, Paige (17), was at Hogwarts when the incident happened and can offer no comment. The public wishes Paige to know that they give their most heartfelt condolences.

I put the paper down. I looked over to the Hufflepuff table to seek Paige out. I knew her; we had played together as children. I had lived near Inkwell road, and I knew her parents. They had been kind people, they hadn't deserved this. I got up and went over to her, where she was being comforted by her friends and her boyfriend, Jonathan Wood.

I approached cautiously. "Paige?"

She looked up and I saw her eyes were red rimmed from crying and that her hands were shaking.

"Hello, Sophia. I suppose you've heard the news?" she croaked in a dead voice. I nodded and held out my hand to her.

"Why don't we go somewhere and talk? Somewhere away from prying eyes?" I asked gently. Paige was a sweet girl; I didn't want her to suffer anymore. She nodded and took my hand, muttering something to Jonathan. He nodded and he frowned in a worried expression.

I put my arm around Paige and led her out of the Hall, lots of people muttering and whispering. I shot them all dirty looks as I led her out of the Great Hall and to an empty corridor. She sat down near the window.

I took a deep breath. "I know how you feel."

"No, you don't." she said quickly. I grinned, beside myself.

"Yes I do. You feel lost, alone, like someone has reached their hand inside your chest and ripped your heart out. You feel like you've been punched in the gut so hard you can't breathe. You feel ice in your veins instead of blood and this all hurts so much, you feel like dying, but you don't, you just keep living."

She was staring at me in amazement. I smiled a little sadly at her. "My mother hated me, Paige. She hated me because she didn't want me, because she was stuck with me. When she died, I didn't mourn her, no, I mourned the loss that we'd never get a chance to redeem our relationship. Rejoice, Paige because you had a family who loved you and you know that they're safe now. No one can hurt them."

Paige wiped away the tears that slid down her face. "You know, the scary thing about this war isn't dying yourself…it's losing the people you love."

I nodded sadly. "Paige, the best thing you can do is to let all your anger, your sadness and your helplessness out now, so it doesn't build up and make you bitter. Trust me…been there, done that." I said, chuckling a bit at the end. I got a watery chuckle from Paige.

"Thanks Sophia. And I'm really sorry about your mum." She said, standing up to leave. I got up too, giving her a hug.

"I'm sorry about your family." I replied. I watched her walk off, shaking my head and holding back tears.

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It was Valentine's day on Sunday and I was actually looking forward to the day for the first time in my seventeen years of existence. Mostly because I had a boyfriend, but I also had a nagging suspicion about what James was going to do today.

I made sure Lily was wearing a pretty green blouse and jeans when we went down for breakfast. I had gone down in all black, despite the system of pink and roses and all that shit. Today, I was more curious about what was going on with Lily and James.

We sat down on a bench and started eating, Lily pretty much devouring her food so fast Sirius would have been impressed. I started when someone kissed my cheek and waved something blue in my face. I turned to see Remus sitting next to me.

"Happy Valentine's day." He said, kissing me full on the mouth this time. I smiled and pulled back. He then handed me the blue thing and I smiled because it was a blue rose. I had never seen one of those before so this was new.

"You too." I looked around. "Where's James?"

Remus grinned devilishly and said nothing, instead, stealing my toast and biting into it. He winked and I smiled; I knew what that meant. I turned to Lily.

"Hey, Lily-bean?" she looked up. "You remember that bet we made a while ago? About you and James? Is that still on?"

She looked a bit confused for a second before her face cleared. She smirked and buttered another slice of toast. "If he does it, then sure." She held out her hand and I shook it. We stayed in the Great Hall for another ten minutes, Remus being very annoying because of the way he was tracing circles on my thigh under the table. I was wearing jeans, but it was still a huge turn on. What made me pissed was he knew what he was doing and he was smirking about it.

James came in a moment later, a single white rose in his hand. He held it out to Lily, who simply stared at it.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Lily." He said, handing it to her. She blinked but took the flower. "I was wondering if you would like to go to Hogsmeade with me today?"

Everyone in the Great Hall was watching by now. This was the first time in months that James Potter had asked Lily Evans out and everyone was eager to see what hex she would use on him this time. I was grinning madly and I knew Remus was watching me, a frown on his face as he used that big brain of his to figure out what was going on.

Lily, still holding the flower, stood up so she was facing James. He gulped, obviously expecting her to start yelling, but instead he got the shock of his life. Instead of yelling, Lily threw her arms around James's neck and kissed him full on the mouth. To say he reacted swiftly would be an understatement. He swept her up into his arms and spun her around, amidst to cheers. I heard a wolf whistle and was surprised to see that Professor Flitwick had been responsible for the whistle. Dumbledore was beaming and McGonagall was collecting galleons from Slughorn.

Huh, what do you know?

Remus turned my chin away from Lily and James, both of whom were blushing like mad. Remus then began to kiss me so passionately, even Sirius called for us to get a room.

I pulled back and watched as Lily and James left the Hall holding hands, not missing the look of loathing on Snape's face as they walked past him. I frowned.

"You okay?" Remus asked.

"Peachy." I replied, still watching Snape as he stabbed at his eggs.

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Hullo again. Okay, so I have a request of all of my fabulous readers.

#1—Review! Seriously!

#2—I have been reminded by a faithful reviewer (clw317, thanks so much!) that I have not yet written about the Marauders pranking the girls to revenge themselves on the Polyjuice Prank in their 6th year. Now, I am not very creative when it comes to pranks, so I would like all my readers to click that little blue button on the bottom of the page, and in a review, give me an idea for the prank. I will give full credit to the one I choose to use. I would greatly appreciate this!

Mischief Managed,

Maddaz a Hatter