A:N/ Okay, you're all really going to hate me for this chapter later, and Remus is going to hate me again because this will be the second time I've broken his heart. (Dun dun dun!) This is a TRAGEDY! If this thing Remus does is way too abrupt, I'd be happy to hear about it. This fic has almost all the chapters I'm going to give it—maybe three more. For the sequel's title, I was thinking, The Last Word in Lonesome is Me, like the Steve Miller song. Tell me if you hate that. With no further ado, please allow me to present...

Chapter VIII: St. Patrick's Day

I went back to class the next day because James thought I should. He told me that I should do something to keep me from thinking about it constantly. I threw myself at everything I was doing, and spent all my spare time studying. That night at dinner Lia very determinedly sought me out and chased me down when I tried to leave. I wanted to see her, but I didn't want to tell her.

"Remus," she said, holding my arm tightly to keep me from running away, "What the hell is going on? There's a rumor going around that you've lost your wits, I can see you've been crying, which I've never seen you do, I haven't seen you all day, and you're avoiding me. Explain yourself." I felt tears run down my face. She blinked and put an arm around my shoulders. "What's eating you, Moony? You can tell me."

"Voldemort killed his parents, Lia," Sirius said. There was a hush in the conversation around us, then whispers.

"Oh," she said. She took a deep breath between her teeth. "Oh." She sat on the bench. "I really—I don't know what to say." She paused, and then said as if to herself, "Well, don't that beat all."

I sat next to her. "You don't have to say anything," I told her. "It's done. It's over. It doesn't matter what you say." I'll admit it was a little rude, but I think I can be excused just once.

She smiled sadly. We kissed and she went back to her table.

The funeral was the next week, and I remember it like I remember full moons—just a few images. The priest giving me the holy bread (my mother had been Catholic before she had come to Hogwarts), some flowers, and the black. I'm very glad I don't remember what my parents looked like dead.

After that, life pretty much went back to normal. My life never went back to the way it had been, but I started enjoying things again—just a little. One thing rather put my teeth on edge, however—Snape, Bellatrix and Regulus Black (Sirius' cousin and brother) and a few other Slytherins would often retreat into corners, whispering, whenever I came into a room. I don't know to this day what they were doing, but it clearly had something to do with Voldemort. A few weeks after the funeral I started going out with Lia again. It seemed my parents' death had pulled us closer than ever, and I told her absolutely everything. James and Lily finally started getting along, and Peter still lacked a girlfriend. Things continued, and N.E.W.T.s were studied for.

One day James came back from Quidditch practice blushing slightly.

"Let me guess," Sirius said, barely looking up from his notes. Lily's going out with you, finally."

"You betcha." James dropped into a chair.

"When's the date, and what's the incantation for a Confusing Charm?" I asked.

"St. Pat's day, and confundus maxos."

"Thanks," I scribbled it down. My mind was racing. This was exactly what I'd been waiting for....

"And Lily says you and Lia can come, too," James told me.

...Exactly. "I think we will, if she okays it."

She did. I sent the message three days before St. Patrick's day, and had it owled to me. The day of, I was so nervous I got my head all the way through the sleeve of my shirt before I noticed that it was the wrong hole. Everybody laughed at me, and James yanked it off.

"What's the matter, mate?" Sirius asked. "You look like you've got a tiger on your tail."

"A tiger in front of me, more like," I grumbled, getting my pants on the right way.

"You haven't had a row with Lia, have you?"

I laughed. "Not yet."

"Then what is it?"

"You'll see soon enough." I put it in my coat pocket wrapped in my handkerchief. I willed my hands to stop shaking (and was unsuccessful) and sat on my bed to wait for everybody to go to breakfast.I didn't eat anything at breakfast.

At eleven we went down to Hogsmeade. I met Lia at the gates, then we found James and Lily. We all went down, chatting about this and that, and there was a constant buzz of nerves in my head. I am insane. This is crazy. Why am I going to do this? It nearly drove me insane.

We went to the three broomsticks for lunch after James and Lia had an argument about Filibusters in Zonko's. I didn't eat anything for lunch, either, and I barely noticed I was hungry. But I finally saw some sense in what I was about to do, and I thought that it might actually work.

James and Lily went to another table to talk about things, and I knew that it was time. I blinked, took a deep breath and looked at Lia. She was gazing absentmindedly at me, stirring the cherry that floated in her smoothie with her straw. She looked like the stereotypical ditsy blonde, with her untidy ponytail, glitter lipstick, and vacant expression. But I knew that she did it on purpose. She had told me once, joking, I thought, that if she looked like a ditsy blonde she could put people's knees on backwards while they made fun of her. Would this really work? I looked for some sign, some omen that this would work. Lia smiled thoughtfully. That was all I needed.

I took it out of my pocket without looking down, and dropped it. All according to plan. I knelt down to pick it up. I wasn't quite sure that she had heard it hit the ground, but I only got one shot with this.

She looked down. I held it out to her, and she gasped.

"Will you marry me?" I whispered.

"Oh, god—Remus—yes," she spluttered. I put it on her, and she kissed me. It was so perfect!

Somebody started applauding, and there were sudden flashes of light (outside my head or in, I couldn't tell) and I realized that I was still on the floor. But I couldn't get up, not now....Finally she let me go and I could blush in peace. Everyone was still applauding, and Madam Rosmerta had her camera out. By dinner, the world I knew would know. But it was worth it.

"You did good, mate!" Sirius shouted.

A/N: So...I hunger for your opinions. By the way, I think Ginny's real name is Virginia. Why doesn't anybody like Virginia?