A/N: Guess what!?!?!?!?!? I'M DONE!!! This is finished! The End! No more! Hopefully I can get back my lovely readers who encourage me and give me comments!

For the last time: These characters aren't my magical doing; they're J.K. Rowling's.

Cricket and Max Mann (and their parents), Emily Steele, Charlie Ashfield, and Professors Mac, Shore, and Zinski are part of my spell :)

It was a few days before the seventh years were scheduled to take the NEWTS and Cricket and Remus once again found themselves revising in the library.

And once again Remus couldn't concentrate. It wasn't because of his lack of contact with Cricket this time. Since that first study session, they always were touching some way. Either holding hands, or if they were sitting next to each other, their shoulders, knees, or feet were connected. This time he had one of his arms against the back of her chair while he scanned through his notes.

No, it wasn't because of lack of Cricket why he couldn't concentrate; it was because he was nervous. There was something he desperately wanted to tell her—or rather ask her—but he couldn't get the courage to do it.

"Are you alright, Remus?" Cricket suddenly asked.

Remus immediately smiled nervously, "Of course! Why wouldn't I be alright?!"

Cricket placed a hand on his bouncing knee, "Well, you can't stop fidgeting and you haven't turned the page since we've gotten here. Tell me what's wrong."

Remus squeezed the shoulder under his hand and smiled. "It's really nothing. Don't worry about it." To prove his point, he turned the page of his book and stared at the text. It's only Defense. I'm as ready as I'm going to be for this one.

Cricket scowled at him for lying and went back to her studying.

Remus sighed mentally. He wouldn't be able to keep it to himself soon. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and saw she was already engrossed into her reading. He continued to watch her until she glanced up at him and caught him watching.

"What?"

"Marry me."

"What?!" Cricket's eyes widened.

Remus' eyes widened as well as he realized what he had said. He groaned into his hand, "I take that back."

"What!?! You can't just take back your proposal!"

"No! No! I don't take back the proposal! I just meant the location. I didn't want to do it this way, here, while we're studying."

"Oh, Remus," Cricket grabbed his face and kissed him. "Yes," she whispered.

Remus pulled her closer, "Really?"

"Of course; I love you."

"I love you, too." He smiled lovingly at her before claiming her lips in another kiss.

=-=-=-=

Cricket turned into the room with her wand drawn, but it flew from her hand and she was suddenly pinned to the wall with invisible hands.

"Look who decided to join us," a voice hissed.

Cricket looked up into blood-red eyes. "Voldemort," she gasped.

"Don't speak the Dark Lord's name!" a masked man shouted from next to her as he yelled out "Crucio!"

Cricket screamed and barely heard someone shouting, "That is quite enough, Malfoy."

When the pain finally ended, she struggled for air, but managed to say, "Where's my mum?" She looked around frantically and froze on the doorway to the kitchen. "No, Mum!" Mrs. Mann was lying unmoving, her face forever frozen in a look of horror and her eyes staring off into nothingness.

Cricket sat up quickly gasping for air. She frantically looked around her and saw the rest of the seventh year Gryffindor girls sleeping peacefully. Cricket cradled her face in her hands and wiped away the perspiration from her brow. It was only a dream. Tears leaked from her eyes. Except it wasn't a dream; it really happened.

Fearing she would wake one of her roommates, Cricket slipped from the bed and pulled one of Remus' sweaters over her head. She grabbed her heavy comforter and wrapped it around her shoulders and made her way to the common room. School was almost out, meaning it was almost Summer. The fireplace had long since retired for the season, but Cricket still positioned herself on the couch in front of it and stared at the black chars on the brick. Content with her seclusion, she let the tears break free and she cried for her lost mother.

"Cricket?"

"Remus," she blubbered through her tears. She could make out his form coming at her with a bare chest and sweats before she was enveloped in his arms. "I had a dream about Mum. I keep replaying when I found her on the kitchen floor."

Remus shushed her and rocked her side to side. "I know it hurts. I know." He let her cry a few more minutes before murmuring in her ear, "Remember you said she's free now. She would always have been in danger because of your father." Cricket slowly started to calm down and Remus noticed her breathing had evened out. Realizing she had fallen asleep, Remus slid an arm under her knees and lifted her into his arms. He walked off to his dorm room thinking it had been a while since they'd shared a bed at night.

=-=-=-=

"Remus?" Cricket woke slowly, but immediately knew whose arms she was resting in.

"Hmm," he grunted.

"Where are we going to live?"

Remus cracked an eye open and stared sleepily at her. "It's too early in the morning for such a serious question. Go back to sleep."

"I'm serious!"

"Sirius is across the room. Sleeping. As should you be."

"Remus," Cricket whined.

Remus mock glared at her. "Maybe I should take back that marriage proposal."

Cricket poked him in the chest hard, making him wince. "Stop joking around. I just want to know if you had any ideas where to live. We can't exactly afford a place on our own. I own my mum's place, but..."

"We don't have to move there. It'll hold too many memories."

"Not too many. I've rarely lived there."

"I don't want you to relive that all the time. We'll find another place to live."

"What if we sold it?"

"It'd give us a start to find an apartment somewhere," Remus absently said.

"Where will we live until then?"

Remus studied her before reaching into his nightstand drawer for a letter. "I know this isn't the most ideal situation, but it'll give us some time to get on our feet."

Cricket took the letter from Remus and read it through. "Live with your dad?"

"It's a decent sized house, and he's mostly gone because of work. Could you handle living there for a while?"

"I don't care where we live. I'll be happy as long as I'm with you."

"We can work through this. We've gone through tougher situations."

Cricket smiled in agreement and allowed him to pull her closer for a good-morning kiss.

Remus smiled into the kiss as he twisted her engagement ring, the one he one day thought he'd never give her.

Yep. I'll be happy as long as I'm with you.

The End

A/N: Hope all is well! :)

Keep an eye out for my new story called Becoming Hermione! :)