This is the last post xD It's such a lame ending. Actually there wasn't supposed to be an ending there at all, but I had to when I broke this fic in two. Well, I hope you enjoyed my first ever story on Watch out for my next one. If you have added me to fav author I think, they do alert you if I start a new one right?

Anyway, thanks to you all who have stuck with me throughout the whole fic! –hugs- Look out for my next one!

Post 72

I cleared my throat quietly and with a small jerky wave I choked out a 'Hi' which came out softer than a whisper.

He looked at me with eyes that didn't tell anything. I couldn't see how he was feeling.

I stepped in gingerly, his eyes watching me and then they glanced down at his feet. I sank carefully onto the sit opposite him with a tiny, nervous smile. I withdrew the necklace from my pocket and glanced at it briefly in my hand.

"I don't want to keep it…" I whispered, holding it out in my hands, the shiny silver R glinting in the light of the small yellow lamps.

His eyes dropped to it and he swallowed but otherwise, didn't do anything.

"I-I want you to have it," I prodded. Why wasn't he replying? He was making me nervous. Sitting in that seat took up all the courage I had reserved for this. My heart beat faster than the chugs of the train across the tracks.

I pulled out the necklace from within my shirt watching as his gaze averted to it.

Slowly, very slowly, he opened up his palm. I dropped the necklace in it.

"Um…" Here it comes… the speech. I should have run through this before I actually did it. I didn't know what to say.

"Sirius…" I took a deep breath. It was harder than I thought. Especially when he was looking intently into my eyes. But I was avoiding his. "Throughout this few months… I-er… I realized that… that I couldn't put our relationship behind me. No matter how hard I try… you were always present in my mind… even though I tried to hide it. I realized I had been in denial with myself… I was lying to myself, thinking that- that I really didn't need you. But I was wrong. It was anger, jealousy, I don't know… But before we go our separate ways, Sirius… I well… I just want you to know that…"

I finished with a large sigh stuck in my chest. It didn't go as well as I planned. It even sounded a little lame. I let it out in a soft uneven shudder, watching him. He was looking down now, stroking the side of the curved heart with his thumb. Idly fingering it, keeping quiet. And finally he spoke.

"Why the change of heart?" He asked softly.

"James managed to bring out the feelings hidden beneath tons and tons of anger," I explained, not exactly knowing how to.

Our eyes met again. I was sitting right at the edge of my seat, our knees were almost touching. I wasn't sure if he had accepted me back or not. I wasn't sure of anything anymore. Probably it wasn't in his eyes.

I leaned forward, closer and closer… He stayed where he was. Our faces were inches from each other. I could hear his choked breath escaping his lips. And slowly, like couples on their first kiss, our lips met. I had almost forgotten his kisses. They were always full of warmth and loving, sometimes playful.

I was almost surprised when he kissed back. Encouraged, I deepened the kiss and it brought memories exploding in my mind. This was just like last time… How we'd lie in each others arms, talking and just enjoying nature's gifts. Maybe we could do that again.

His fingers trailed lazily across my cheek, sending bursts of tingles until they rested by the side of my neck, pulling me closer.

Soon we parted, looking at each other with renewed hope.

"I want you to be a part of my life, Sirius," I said, looking him straight into his cloudy grey eyes, slipping my fingers through his, interlaced.

"I've wanted that ever since we broke up…"

"Then maybe we could start now?"

Sirius' lips broke into his first smile in days. I smiled weakly back, a tremendous weight lifted off my shoulders and no amount of torrential rain hammering against the glass of the train could dampen my spirits.

Lightning pierced the sky like a blazing lethal blade, crisscrossing across the heavens followed by a loud roar of thunder. James and gang returned a while later.

"Hi! Everything… alright?" Asked James, his hazel eyes darting from me to Sirius and back.

I glanced very quickly at Sirius and smiled.

"Good…" replied James with a large sigh. "Uh, why don't you sit over there... um, Lily's coming over later… and uh… yeah."

"Oh," I said, nodding absentmindedly. "Okay."

I got out of my seat and flopped onto the one opposite, next to Sirius. We exchanged looks and then… that's it. James' voice suddenly burst the silence in the compartment.

"Oh! Guess what?!" he cried suddenly as though he had just remembered something.

"What?" Asked Sirius.

James settled down and so did the rest. Remus was eyeing him closely with a frown.

"James…" he said warningly.

"Tell!" I poked his shoulder.

"It's nothing, really," interrupted Remus.

"Ah, but its great news, I have to tell the rest!" replied James.

"James, don't!" pleaded Remus. "Please."

"Dear Mister Remus I-Have-No-Time-For-Girls Lupin… is no longer single," he announced with importance.

Sirius' jaw dropped. Peter snickered. I gasped.

"Who's the lucky girl?" I asked.

"Lily told me. Nikki," replied James like he was revealing the secret of the world.

Remus groaned as a deep crimson blush appeared on his cheeks. He muttered illegibly and focused his attention at a button on his coat instead while his friends chattered excitedly and teased him ceaselessly. Remus pulled out his copy of the Daily Prophet and hid his face behind it, hoping to block out his friends' taunts.

I noticed, on the front cover was a burning house completely engulfed in flame and many people rushing, scattering in all directions… screaming while a few cloaked figures held their wands over their heads.

In large bold letters, were the words "Death Eaters cause mayhem in muggle town". James seemed to have caught the article too, and he sighed heavily.

"Attacks again…" he muttered, shaking his head.

"With you-know-who at the height of his power…" said Sirius. "Expect more to come."

"It's amazing how safe we feel when we're at Hogwarts… and now, it's like being thrust into a jungle unarmed," said Remus.

"Everyone knows who you-know-who has always been afraid of…" said Peter quietly.

"Professor Dumbledore," I added.

"Why though? He had killed thousands of well-trained aurors… yet he's afraid of one old man?" asked Peter.

"Dumbledore's no ordinary wizard."

"Ah… another article on the second page…" sighed Remus. "The Ministry pleas for more aurors… it's practically suicide becoming one!"

"They're dying… one by one, although they take many Death Eaters as well," said Sirius.

"In the mean time, Death Eaters are being recruited… you know how you-know-who does it? It's either you become one, or death. Sadly many choose the former."

An involuntary shiver ran through my spine, talking about the issue that plagues the wizarding and muggle world.

"Muggles aren't spared… look at this town, left no survivors," said Remus, glancing at the first page where a woman had dropped dead in a flash of light.

"Ministry is having a hard time working out all the damages the Death Eaters caused… relatives in other towns wonder what happened to their aunts, uncles or grandparents…"

"Any information on you-know-who's whereabouts?" I asked.

"None… but the Ministry suspects he is somewhere near the town… though what good is that when he can disapparate and appear at the other side of the country in a blink of an eye?"

"This is why the Order was formed," said James. "I was thinking of joining it. They need as many members they can get."

"You can't, that's suicide!" squeaked Peter.

"I'd rather die than let Voldemort kill a hundred others," he said bravely though everyone flinched at the name.

Peter looked away uncomfortably and silenced. I stared out the window. What seemingly seems deathly calm, was actually blanketed by fear that resides in every living witch or wizard. Whether they'd live to see tomorrow's sunrise as they shut the curtains in the house… whether it'll be the last time they see their loved ones as they leave the house… The wizarding world was living in constant fear and it was time that we were pulled into it, from the safety of our nests into the real world.

Very soon, everyone quieted down. Lily did arrive a while later and cuddled close next to James. Hours past, long dreary hours…

Every minute drawing me closer and closer to the fate I must face…

And then we could feel the train slow down. Everyone perked up considerably. It slowed considerably until it was merely chugging along the tracks, ready to screech to a halt. Everyone started packing up all their things. Lily returned to her compartment leaving her promise to James she'd meet him later. Everyone else just packed in silence.

I stepped into the station. It was a warm night. The rain had stopped. Many parents were gathered there, waving energetically to their children. Everyone filed out of each of the carriages doors, jogging towards their parents and embracing them in a tight hug.

I had only walked two steps down the platform when I felt Sirius stiffen just next to me.

I turned to see what he was looking at.

A dark haired boy of around 14, with similar grey eyes, were being greeted by his parents. One of which I recognized was the older version of the woman I had seen in Sirius' memory. The boy I had seen occasionally in the Slytherin Common Room. He hardly socialized with anyone but stuck with his clique of two other boys.

"Your parents?" I asked quietly.

The man was ruffling his son's hair, his eyes beaming in joy. The woman was hugging him in a bone crushing hug, and she let him go to pinch his cheeks as she cooed motherly words.

"My darling Regulus is back home!" She squealed. "Did you have a good year? I'm fixing a special dinner tonight! Just for your return!"

Sirius rolled his eyes to the heavens. Then he cut past me, taking my arm and walked in the opposite direction, his trunk rolling behind him with a dull rumble of the wheels.

"Aren't you at least going to say hi?"

"No, I'd rather not," he replied. "I don't want to start my adult life with scathing glares from… them."

"Are you going back to your apartment?"

"Yeah. You?" he inquired. "Back home?"

I nodded. We emerged out into the muggle station, after been stuck in the long chattering queue for what seemed like hours. They wouldn't let all of us through at once. I walked along the lonely, quiet muggle station, which had only a handful of muggles walking around, the rest being passengers of the Hogwarts Express and their families.

This was it… the end of my schooling years. The end of one very eventful year and the beginning of a whole new life.