Okay, my greatest apologies!!! Exams have already started and I am halfway through (don't worry I'm still alive). As of now, I still have Elementary Maths, Physics, Mother Tongue and Geography to go! I'm done with Social Studies, English, Additional Maths, Chemistry and Literature. Wish me luck! I have tons of things to remember by the next couple of hours before bed! Thursday, my hell will be over!!! Every particle of me itches for the arrival of that special special day...

To make up for severe lack of posts, here is 6 pages of postage just for you! I hope you like.

Post 62

"Harry," I called and he turned to me. He headed towards me and I motioned for him to sit down.

Settling next to me, he kept quiet.

"Harry, I wanted to ask you some things..." I said.

"I can't say much..."

"Well... say what you can."

He nodded and looked down.

"Is James... well," I said hesitantly. "Your dad?"

He turned to look sharply at me, his startlingly green eyes quivering slightly as he looked at me. "Yes..."

"You look amazingly like him..." I said softly with a smile. "But you... you have your mother's eyes, don't you?"

He too smiled to himself, as though reminded by a happy thought. He nodded.

"I know only one person who has eyes as brilliant as yours..." I said a little louder, smiling to the heavens. "Lily."

"How did you find out?" he asked.

"The way you looked at them," I replied with a small grin.

"I miss them."

My smile faded and he obviously realized what he had just said as he frowned and started shaking his head. "I mean... no, that's... well, what it is... they're-"

"They're not in your life, aren't they?" I asked slowly, eyebrows furrowed.

He let out an unsteady sigh.

"Dumbledore said I shouldn't reveal anything that might change the future..." he said.

"The way you looked at them..." I repeated in what seemed like a trance. "It was sad..."

"I can't say anything, okay..."

"Almost bittersweet..." I continued. "Harry... what happened to Lily and James?"

"Listen, I can't tell you," he suddenly snapped. "What if I told you they would die in a car crash, and you can't change the future but would you go out anyway and stop them? Would you?!" He demanded loudly.

I looked down. He was right. I would. I sighed heavily.

"Your hug with Sirius..." I said sadly. "You missed him too."

"Yes, I did..." he said, his shoulders drooping and his voice softening.

Sirius was going to die in his future. I knew it. The way Harry looked at him. I could tell he had loved Sirius very much, like a father. Especially if James wasn't there... Sirius might have stepped in. And in some way or other... he had died.

"Sirius... died a couple of years ago," he whispered, as his eyes glistened with tears. "He never came back..." he added, his voice hoarse. He seemed to have forgotten he couldn't reveal anything that might change the future but seemed too overwhelmed by his emotions to realize.

"Hhow?"

"It was... my fault... now he's gone," he sobbed. Then he suddenly wiped his tears. "I'm afraid of losing him again when I go back to the future."

"Then don't go back..."

"I have to. I can't change the future... Nobody can. It'll change more things than you and I can imagine."

Slowly I placed my hand on top of his trembling ones, grasping them in mine. They were unusually cold against my touch and his eyes snapped to me in slight surprise, but he didn't pull away. Then suddenly, I thought I heard a small click but it was probably another door somewhere around the castle. The towers were so close together.

"Did... Sirius... well," I hesitated wondering or not if I should ask. "Nevermind..."

I remembered how devastated I'd been when I thought that Sirius died. In a way, he had before.

"When did Dumbledore say you're going to go back?"

"He said soon... he's readying a potion that'll undo whatever made me come here..."

"Maybe you should spend more time with Sirius, Lily and James, while you can..." I suggested.

He shook his head slowly. "I don't want to grow too attached... the pain of losing them again is unbearable..."

I looked pitifully at him. Never have I met someone so troubled and so miserable in my life. "I think you should... you're never going to see them again..."

"But I don't want to feel like I'm losing them a second time," he said.

"Well... you think about it..." I said. "We should leave before curfew starts..."

I got to my feet and Harry too. I returned to the dungeons while he wandered off on his own... I wasn't sure if Dumbledore gave him a room or if he was heading towards the Gryffindor common room but he disappeared from view and I didn't think of it anymore.

The next day after classes, we were all sitting outside in the grounds under the large tree near the lake. Harry wasn't there. I haven't seen him all day. He hadn't attended classes nor did I see him at meals. I wondered if he had already left?

Sirius leaning against the tree, and I was snugly positioned in front of him with his arms around me. I was trying to make the water in the bottle I was holding freeze. I heard it was going to come out in the Charms test pretty soon.

"Glacius," I said. But the water only froze at the base with a small crackle. I let out a frustrated sigh. Sirius then reached over and tapped his wand on the bottle with a clink.

"Glacius," he said confidently and with a satisfying crackle, snowy white snowflakes erupted from his wand, entered the water and engulfed the bottle. And soon the water was hard ice.

"How did you do that!" I asked in astonishment.

He shrugged with a smirk and laughed. "Concentrate, I guess..."

"Well... I give up..." I said, throwing the hardened bottle aside.

"Have any of you guys finished the Potions essay on Moonleaves?" asked Remus, looking up from his scroll.

"Nope," said James, Sirius and Peter in unison.

"I have," piped Lily.

"You have?" asked Remus with a smile. "Great!"

"What help do you need?"

"Well... the properties of these Moonleaves, do they bloom every full moon or during a full moon and a new moon. And are they most dominant around the Indonesian islands... does that include the 2 largest islands, or does it also include the whole Archipelago..."

And Lily listened attentively as Remus explained all his homework problems. She was the only one that listened anyway. He was looking at her with a small smile tinged across his lips.

"So um... where were you last night?" Asked Sirius casually.

A dash of suspicion streaked through me suddenly. Why did Sirius ask? How did he know I was out?

"Nowhere important... why?"

"With that... Harry kid?"

"W-well... yes, we were talking," I replied.

"Yeah? What about?"

"Stuff..."

"What stuff?"

"Well, many things... irrelevant things..." I said slowly.

"Up in the North Tower... very nice and quiet there isn't it?"

"Harry and I were just talking..." I said firmly.

"So, did you find out why he oh so suddenly gave me a hug yesterday?"

"Do you think you could teach me how to do that Glacius spell correctly?" I asked, sitting up and facing him with a hopeful look.

"You're changing the subject!"

"No, I'm concerned about the test that's coming up," I replied innocently. I knew he wasn't going to get off it that easily though.

"Answer my question."

"You..." I struggled to find some sort of answer. "Reminded him of someone he lost."

"Ah..." he said softly, with a slight raise of his chin. He nodded slowly. "I resemble a dead guy."

"Hi," came a voice behind me.

I turn around and saw Harry dressed in a casual shirt and pants. His tousled hair ruffled slightly in the wind as he smiled his usual bitter smile on us all. I hadn't realized he was coming toward us until he spoke up. Neither did Remus, who was too engrossed in his Moonleaf essay, Lily pointing out some of the mistakes as he wrote and James was basically watching Lily. Peter I now realized, had disappeared, probably went down to the lake to catch the flying seahorses that were quite abundant during this time of year.

"Oh, hi, Harry," I said cheerfully. Somehow I saw him as a different person ever since our talk that night. I couldn't explain it, but it all changed. Now I see him as a strong, spirited boy who has experienced too much pain in his life rather than a lost, raving one who was gibbering about You-Know-Who. "Didn't see you there... would you like to join us?"

He smiled gratefully and settled down on the soft grass.

I watched him as he gazed sadly at his future mother and father. His forlorn gaze followed as Lily flicked her auburn hair behind her shoulder. Watching him, I earned an annoyed sharp slap on my elbow from Sirius for that. Lily who had just realized he was there, turned and gave a look of mild surprise.

She smiled beautifully and gave a little wave, "Hi, I saw you yesterday, are you new?"

Harry seemed almost shocked she had spoken to him. He snapped from his reverie and nodded with a weak smile.

"Weird... why hasn't Professor McGonagall told us?" she asked James quizzically.

"No idea, McGonagall-"

"Professor McGonagall," interrupted Lily firmly but also quite affectionately.

"Yes, well, Professor McGonagall," repeated James with a glance at Lily. "...will probably inform us about it sooner or later."

"Are you already sorted?" Asked Lily.

"Er... Y-yes, I'm in Gryffindor."

"Groovy," she cheered with a grin, thinking he had just been sorted.

"So Harry... haven't had any lessons yet, huh?" Asked Sirius good naturedly.

"No..."

"Nice life... when are you starting?"

"I don't know, really... I think I might be going away again..." he added.

"Going away? Why?" Asked James.

"Some... matters..." He gave me a brief glance and looked down on the grass again.

I could see the others exchange looks, feeling rather uncomfortable, so they decided not to pursue the subject. Which was fortunate.

"Hey, Harry... look at this..." said James, reaching into his pocket.

Harry turned to look and James brought out in his palm a struggling golden snitch.

"James! Where did you get that?" snapped Lily sternly.

"This is the one I nicked during fifth year, honest!"

"Well, thanks for your honesty for telling you stole it!" replied Lily. "That's school property!"

"C'mon, the school doesn't even realize its gone..." moaned James, rolling his eyes. "Play any Quidditch Harry?"

"Yeah," replied Harry, slightly more cheery now. "Seeker actually."

James' face broke into a grin. "Wow, awesome, we're looking for a better seeker... uhh," he lowered his voice as he pointed at a boy a distance behind him with his thumb, sitting on a bench. "Thomas isn't really very good.

"The only reason we won is because of my excellent Chaser skills. Even though the other team did manage to catch the snitch. But we Chasers brought them down with 18 goals to none!"

"Cool!" replied Harry enthusiastically.

"Yeah! We're aiming for the Quidditch Cup again this year..." he said but then his voice got slightly sadder. "But the Slytherin team have those new state-of-the-art brooms and they're wicked fast..."

I felt a sharp painful pang of guilt as he said that and pretended that I didn't hear it.

"Aww, well," said Harry, trying to cheer him up. "I'm confident Gryffindor will make it..."

I could see James looking at him oddly as he talked, as if choosing a perfect moment to...

Then suddenly, the whirring, buzzing snitch zipped from his hand. Harry, having spotted it, quickly snatched it in his right hand and brought it back to earth, as it struggled in between his fingers. James grinned wide.

"Harry, I'd be honoured if you could be our new Seeker," he announced grandly.

"Seeker?" asked Remus, his head finally raised from his scroll.

"Seeker?" piped Lily a split second after Remus, with a look of surprise.

"Seeker!" shouted Sirius in outrage.

"Seeker?!" cried the boy called Thomas. He rushed towards James and dropped to his knees.

"What do you mean new Seeker?!" He demanded.

"Relax, Thomas... only for a game, Harry won't be here for very long... our next game is this Saturday, and maybe Harry could play for this one," said James.

"NO! I live and breathe for our team! You can't replace me!"

"You're the best seeker we ever had! Nobody can truly replace you..." said James, his right eye twitching. "Just this once, okay?"

As faint pink tinges appeared on Thomas' cheeks, he nodded, "Okay..."

"So what's your surname, Harry?" asked James casually. "I never caught it. I need to tell Jamie the announcer soon that I'm changing Seekers."

And in his happy mood, he almost let slip his real surname. "Oh, Harry Pot-"

No! I had to think fast! And before I even thought of it, it had slipped out of my mouth. "Tin-ski ..." I butted in loudly, letting random words roll off my tongue. "...schmidt-zen!"

Harry seemed to have realized his mistake and nodded feverishly to James. "Yes... errr," he said unsurely, giving me a brief glance. "Potinskischmidtzen..."

"Well..." said James with a look of stunned silence. "That's err... a-" but couldn't seem to find a word.

"Tomato?" piped Peter who had just come back, panting his way up the slope from the lake.

"How can tomato be the word I'm searching for?!"

"What about..." said Lily. "...Interesting?"

"Yes! That's a very, very interesting name Harry... um, I might need you to write that down for me..."

"Right yeah..." he replied, pulling out a scrap of parchment. "If I knew how to spell it..." he muttered under his breath just loud enough for me to hear.

Hey, at least I saved the future from being changed forever didn't I?

He scribbled his fake last name on the paper and handed it to James, who squinted, stared and blinked unbelievingly at it.

"Potin...ski..." but he soon gave up. "Your parents foreign, eh Harry?"

"Yeah," replied Harry, nodding. "Mum from here, Dad from... Switzerland."

"What about that Glacius spell, Sirius?" I asked, getting him back on to the subject as James and Harry talked.

"Well, you gotta tap your wand really, really lightly..." he said, plucking a flower growing from a nearby patch of grass. "Think cold thoughts and..." he tapped the tip of his wand on the flower's petal and then ice crystals formed on the petals, making it stiff. The ice crept across the flower and down its stem until it was entirely encased in ice. "...voila."

"Okay let me try..." I grabbed another flower.

"The field is going to be bare by the time you're done..." said Peter.

I ignored him and instead concentrated on the pale pink flower. Very daintily, I tapped my wand on it, saying Glacius under my breath. Think cold thoughts... the arctic, ice, glaciers, mountain tops, penguins, ice-cream... mmm... Shaking away the thought of ice-cream, I watched as ice crackled over the petals, engulfing it in a mist of cold ice. I instantly felt the coldness of the stem under my fingers but the flower wasn't completely frozen just like Sirius' was.

"Oh well, it's an improvement..." I said happily.

"Maidenhair... poisonous or not?" Asked Remus to the group.

"Not," replied Lily attentively.

"So with properties similar to that of the Moonleaf... would it be a good substitute for the Serenity Serum?"

"We don't care Remus," moaned James lazily. "Why do you always seem to be doing homework when we're resting?"

"Well, sorry if I'm trying hard to revise for the upcoming NEWTs," he snapped. "At the rate you're going, you'll be shocked to find that the exams are just a step away."

"He's right you know..." agreed Lily.

Remus smiled at her.

"Lily, you aren't studying either..." muttered Sirius.

"I've already done my homework," she replied briskly. "Besides James, we have that ball to plan remember..."

"What ball?"

"The Valentine's Day ball..." reminded Lily.

"Oh right... that..."

"I hate balls..." muttered Remus under his breath.

"Why?" Asked Peter curiously. "There's always so much food!"

Harry cast an annoying look at Peter but kept quiet.

"Well it's just another way to boast to other people you have a girl hanging off your arm..." he replied, not looking up.

"Just because you don't have one," laughed Sirius.

Remus' cheeks grew pink. "I have no time..."

"Well, I see it as a chance to appreciate your loved ones more..." said Lily and James smiled fondly at her. "That includes friends too..."

"The balls I've been to are all boring..." I said. "A bunch of grownups talking about business and politics."

"Don't you worry," said James confidently. "This is going to be the best, most fun ball ever in the history of Hogwarts."

"Why don't we get everyone to wear pink or red?" Suggested Lily.

"Ew!" Cried Sirius immediately. "Moi? In a pink dressrobe?!"

"Fine, just the girls then..."

"Maybe we should let everyone where what they want," said James. "But preferably pink or red. Excellent idea, Lily."

Lily smiled. "House Elves will handle the food... what about music?"

"The Weird Sisters!" said Peter.

"I don't think they would be available... I heard they were on tour," said Sirius.

"What about Elvira the Harpist?" asked Lily. "It's truly beautiful music..."

"I say a rock band," said James.

"A rock band has no place at a Valentine's ball, James..." I said, shaking my head. "Harpist sounds good..."

"I know, it's going to be so romantic..." said Lily with a huge sigh.

"Girls..." muttered Sirius with a tiny laugh.

All the while, Harry sat silent though a small bittersweet smile stayed on his lips.