(A.N. : I know many people haven't reviewed these last few chapters, as they have probably given up on the story seeing as I haven't updated in a long time. I was going to wait a few more days and see if more people reviewed, because the more people I have on the edge of their seats then the more incentive I have to write. But seeing as I don't want to keep the few of you that have bothered to review waiting much longer - here it is. THE FINAL CHAPTER. (I think. Lol.) ENJOY!)

Harry stared at Lana's bloody, lifeless body. He couldn't believe it. It seemed to him that everyone he loved was destined to die. Maybe he was just destined to be alone. Alone in all of this. In that moment, everyone was still. Quiet. Everyone had thought Lana more or less invincible. Especially Harry, after everything he had heard and read. But it occured to him that not once had Voldemort used the killing curse on her. His breathing returned to him slowly, and he realised his wand hand was slackened at his side. He forced himself to look away from Lana, and to Lupin.

Lupin stopped struggling, and fell to his knees. His eyes widened in horror as he fully realised what had just happened. Now he was truly alone; no James, no Sirius, no Lily, no Lana. Just him. Looks like the werewolf will make it through the second war in once piece. Just like he did the first. He felt guilty every single day since that Halloween for being the survivor - and now his guilt was doubled.

Moody hung his head in respect for his fallen comrade. Snape, as ever, remained almost emotionless. James, keeping his wand on Lucius, spun around in time to see why everyone had gone quiet. Lana, his 'partner in crime', had finally died, as so many others had, at the hands of Voldemort. A great sadness pulled at his heart. Kingsley wiped blood from his forehead and conjured up some bonds to hold Lucius and Bella together.

Crabbe and Goyle lay motionless on the floor, having been hit by several Stupefy spells at once. Lucius bit his lip hard as he saw Lana dead. "Don't even pretend to be upset," growled James.

Bella screeched with laughter and Erica came running back into see her only daughter lying dead on the floor. Voldemort merely stared at her.

Cutting through the silence with a knife, a high shrieking noise span around the room, accompanied by a strong gust of wind, that span around and around. A white mist appeared on the floor, covering Harrys feet and Lanas body. The ice cold wind whipped around them all, almost lifting Harry off his feet. His teeth started chattering and he pulled his robe tighter around him. Looking over at Lupin, Harry saw that he hadn't moved.

The mist rose, thick and white, steaming up Harrys glasses, and he found he could no longer see. The shrieking turned into more of a scream, and the wind whipped the white mist slowly formed the shape of Lanas body.

A horrible scream rose from Lana's body as her ghost was re-animated. She stood and backed up against the wall, screaming and clawing at herself, panicking. Ground yourself, she thought to herself, or it'll never work. And all this will have been for nothing.

Lana looked at the shocked faces around her, and let out a loud, roaring laugh at the furious expression on Voldemorts face. The cuts on her body didn't hurt; she couldn't feel a thing. A jet of green light and a roaring wind came flying at Lana, but the spell went straight through her body and hit the wall behind her.

"Can't kill someone who's already dead..." said Lana, standing up, her feet hovering an inch or two from the floor. "Ooh..." she said, looking down. Lana struggled for a few seconds, trying to get herself on the floor, and she finally succeeded. "Woah..." whispered Lana, as she looked at her hands and saw that they were a pearly translucent colour. "I wasn't sure for a minute whether it had worked or not...."

"You got yourself killed on purpose?" Lupin asked, in disbelief.

"Ummm...YEAH....duh!" said Lana, pulling a face at Lupin.

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR DAMN MIND?!" Lupin screamed at her.

"Temper temper Remus..." said Lana, shaking a finger at him. "Tut tut."

"How?" asked Voldemort, furious at himself.

"Unfinished business, duh." Lana answered, thinking it was pretty clear.

"What unfinished business?" Voldemort asked slowly, trying to figure out what she was doing.

Before he could answer his question, Lana was over at James' side. "UNTIE BELLA! DO IT! NOW!" she screamed at him.

James, completely and utterly terrified by Lana's total - stupidity or cleverness or whatever, he didn't know, did as she asked.

Lana focused all her strength and grabbed Bella by the throat, and began to drag her across to the Veil, which had started fluttering slightly a few moments ago.

"The Veil requires a sacrifice -The murderer of Sirius - that would be you, Bella," Lana began to explain, "Also, to pull this off, the dead person and the person doing the casting need to be joined - I don't mean marriage - I mean a very old and forbidden spell which Sirius and I used to bind our souls together - And they also need to sacrifice themselves. Thing is, I didn't fancy throwing myself through the Veil - so I got myself killed beforehand. As a ghost, I should stand more chance of being able to get back. They say that we can't mess with life and death - not can't, it's WON'T. We can. Well, I can."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" screamed Lupin, "YOU CAN'T DO THIS! THINK OF HARRY, THINK OF ME!"

"I am dammit and that's why I'm doing this!" Lana muttered the Ancient words. "kuun kehran kelmean alta tuli tunne. kuin varjo kuin uni menneiden aikojen kuin kuollut, vainaa seuruassa elavien.kuun kehran kelmean alta tuli tunne. kuin varjo kuin uni menneiden aikojen kuin kuollut, vainaa seuruassa elavien.kuun kehran kelmean alta tuli tunne. kuin varjo kuin uni menneiden aikojen kuin kuollut, vainaa seuruassa elavienkuun kehran kelmean alta tuli tunne. kuin varjo kuin uni menneiden aikojen kuin kuollut, vainaa seuruassa elavien.."

Black sludge started to seep out of the Veil, from all around it. The words around The Veil lit up in blood red and began to shine. A roaring came from inside the Veil, and the piece of material that covered it disappeared - appearing instead - a huge swirling vortex. People's screams came from it, and for once, Bella wasn't laughing. Instead, she went rather pale.

The only people who could see what was truly inside the Veil was Lana and Bella - and suddenly Lana wasn't so sure of what she was doing. In that moments hesitation, Dumbledore burst through the door behind Lana.

Lana quickly flung a screaming Bella into the Veil and waved goodbye to Lupin and Harry. "See ya soon....Maybe...." she said, before diving in after Bella.

~*~*~*~*~*~ THE GHOST ROADS~*~*~*~*~*~

Lana stepped through the Veil, her hair being whipped around her. On this plane, she had physical form. The cuts inflicted on her by Voldemort were suddenly very painful. As she wiped at the tears on her face, she noticed they stained her hand red. Blood tears. Well, the Veil required blood.

She looked down and the dress she was wearing was also red. It wound around her neck, two strips covering her breasts, joining the dress at her hips. Her back and most of her front were bare. She turned to see her reflections in the water and her hair had been tied up, into a high ponytail. Frowning, she noticed the reflection of the moon in the water had been covered. Looking up slowly, Lana saw Sirius, clothed in black trousers, bare feet and no shirt. His long back hair and youthful looks had returned - but the expression on his face was not one she had expected.

"What did you DO!" asked Sirius, his voice full of anger.

"I found you..." Lana said softly, turning to face him.

"Have you lost your mind?" he asked, grabbing her roughly on the arms.

"Now you sound like Lupin...Sirius, please don't do this to me. I did all this for you. For us." she said, trying to free herself from his tight grip, but with no luck.

"You got yourself killed in front of our Godson? You let him watch you murder someone without showing remorse?" At this, Lana laughed. "How do you know if this is going to work? How do you know this is even what I wanted?" he asked of her.

"Ouch...Sirius, please..."

"You're nothing but a stupid little girl Lana. Anything could have been unleashed from the Veil. Anything could have gotten through."

"No it couldnt. I opened a one-way door. For me and Bella to get through." said Lana.

"Oh you're so arrogant. As it turns out, what you did worked. So far. Now whats your plan?" asked Sirius.

"To bring you back with me." said Lana softly, as Sirius let her go.

"You can't." said Sirius, not looking at her.

"What?" Lana asked.

"You can't. It's not natural." Sirius couldnt look at her. After two months of waiting, of hoping that Lana would figure it out - he now realised that they couldnt do it. Who knows what sort of ripple effect it could have on world?

"It's not natural. Then why have I been allowed to do it? Sirius, you know better than me that if we are not meant to do something, then it won't work. But this has. It has worked. Sirius look at me. LOOK AT ME!" Lana screamed, her voice breaking as tears fell from her face.

"We can't, Lana, it's not right. Think of all the other people who have been murdered - why cant we bring them back?" he asked, tears clouding his eyes.

"You mean Lily and James?" Lana asked. Sirius nodded. "Because we're not meant to. Sirius, I didn't know if it was going to work. I didn't know if I'd die and that would be it. But it wasn't. They - whoever they are - let me come back to complete my destiny. Sirius, you can have a whole different destiny if you just come back with me. Please."

"No." Sirius turned from her.

"Sirius...Please." Tears flowed faster down Lanas face, "We don't have much time." Her heart was breaking, all over again. "Please."

"Don't make this any - "

"SHUT UP!" shouted Lana. "How could you do this to me Sirius? HOW? Oh God...I feel I've been lied to. I don't - Sirius - Please..." Walking around to him, Lana grabbed his hand, holding it firm as he tried to pull it away from her. "I love you. I need you. I cant live without you. Please - I said I'd do anything to get you back, give up everything - and I have. My own life. I love you."

"Lana let go of me." He knew what he had to do - he couldn't let this come to pass. It would disrupt the natural order of things.

"No. I'll never let go. Please. Please Sirius - please. I'm dead anyway if you don't come back with me. Theres nothing for me to live for. No reason for me to get up - or carry on fighting."

"Don't you understand? It's wrong." Sirius finally brought himself to look at Lana - her long brown hair, how he was going to miss running his hands through it when they kiss, as they lay in bed together in the morning - her big brown eyes, now stained with tears - her nose, her cheeks, her lips - this was more than he could stand.

"Please. Sirius I need you. I love you. Dammit dammit dammit." Lana screamed in pain, and clutched tighter to Sirius' hands. "I love you."

"No." Her pain was more than he could stand - especially when he knew that he was the cause of it. Emotional pain can scar you and hurt you a lot worse than anything physical. He knew that for himself. The pressure of her hands clutching his - he would miss that too. He'd miss the way she was so selfish and yet so un-selfish. He'd miss the way she kissed, the way she spoke, the way she breathed when she was sleeping.

Lana felt as if her insides were being ripped apart. She sank to her knees as she realised there was no way she could persuade Sirius to come with her. Her sobs made her whole body shake, "No no no no Sirius please please....I need you...I love you - Come with me come with me NOW!"

"I'm sorry...I can't." He knelt down beside her and tried to wipe the tears away from her face, but he couldn't because she kept hitting him away, but she gave in and they just held each other.

Sirius opened his tear filled eyes and saw the Boy stood a few meters away. Sirius knew - then and there - that he had to send Lana back right away, or the gap would be too big and she wouldn't be able to return corporeal.

"Lana - ," he began to say, but the words choked in his throat. "I love you. I'll always be with you."

Lana looked up at him and she knew what was coming. "No, Sirius, no, no - " But she was silenced as he kissed her hard on the lips, becoming gentler as she stopped protesting. Lana clung onto him with her hands, not wanting to let him go. The tears still ran down and stained her face.

The portal that Lana came in by opened behind her, and Sirius picked Lana up and threw her through it. As he threw her, he realised she had been muttering something through her sobs.

~*~*~*~*~*~ THE D.O.M ~*~*~*~*~*~

Voldemort and his Death Eaters had disappeared seconds after Dumbledore had burst in.

Moody was filling in some blanks for Dumbledore. Harry and Lupin were sat on some steps a few metres away from the Veil. Harry hadn't spoken a word since Lana had jumped into the Veil. Snape was over with Tonks, who had apparently been under the Imperius Curse.

A blackness fell over the room and a huge bang was heard, as Lana was flung from the Veil. Light filled the room on Lana's still, bleeding, tear- stained body.

But there was no Sirius.

Dumbledore conjured a stretcher and placed Lana on it. Lupin put his arm around Harry and helped him to walk. Tonks stumbled along slowly with Snape. Moody took one last look at the still Veil before following behind them.