Disclaimer: As we all know, I only own Larkime Cantrell and the rest of the Cantrell family. But, of course, we were all smart enough to figure that out.

Chapter Five: The Last Night

This is for the ones who believe their lives won't change
Hoping that someday things will mend and be the same
This is for the ones who have lost it all when all that's left to gain
Is a simple reminder that the things that we're blind to slip away.
-Amber Pacific.

The ink black sky, dotted with stars, twinkled down upon the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Larkime Cantrell sat silently upon the ledge of the dormitory window, staring out across the night. It was late, at least three o'clock A.M, but Lark could not sleep for the life of her. She knew she had to go back home and face pain and see her grandmother for the last time, lying dead in a coffin. Lark heard one of the other girls stir in her bed and looked around. No one had awoken. Lark sighed and slid off the ledge. She quietly crossed to her bed and grabbed her navy blue silk bathrobe. It slid silently onto her shoulders and Lark stole across the room and to the door. She shut it silently behind her and walked slowly down the stone staircase. Her bare feet made no noise what-so-ever as she padded across the Common Room to a chair in front of the dying fire. Lark collapsed back into it and stared into the flickering embers, thinking.

Tomorrow would be a hard day for her. The next week would be hard for her. But, as Lily had said, there was always the prospect of coming back to Hogwarts and having so much work to make up it would keep her up late for nights on end. Lark sighed. If only she had known...somehow, maybe she could've prevented her grandmother from dying...or at least prevented herself from feeling so much pain. She had never seen it coming. Lark ran a hand through her thick mass of now curly hair. People die, it's a way of life...but why did she have to feel so much pain?

A movement from the boy's dormitories shook her out of her daze. Lark's eyes were frozen on the boy's staircase. Who dared to come down here at 3:45 A.M? For a split second, Lark thought about running out onto the grounds, but no matter how late it was, there was bound to be a ghost, prefect, or worse, a teacher roaming the halls, just waiting for a rule-breaker. Now someone was coming down the stairs. Lark had no time. Even if she did try to go up to her dorm, the boy would see her. A boy with long, dark hair came into view at the foot of the stairs. Lark's already bad mood plummeted. Wonderful, just what she needed. Sirius Black.

Sirius looked straight at Lark and made a bee-line for her. Lark merely rolled her eyes and continued staring into the fire. Sirius sat right down next to her.

"What are you doing down here?" Sirius asked. Lark turned to him and gave him a withering look.

"I am just entitled to come down to the Common Room at 3:45 A.M as you are, Sirius Black." Lark's tone was a bit harsher than she intended, but she did not care at that moment. Sirius gave her a startled look.

"I didn't mean offense...I was merely curious. I know what you hide." The last sentence came out quickly and Lark could tell he had not meant to say it. Sirius looked as though he had uttered a disgusting insult and looked at Lark like she was about to blow-up. Lark, however, merely cocked her head to the side and a faint, bitter smile crossed her face.

"Do we not all hide things?" She asked quietly. Sirius looked at her with questioning, slightly fearful eyes. Lark nodded slightly and got up, preparing to go back to her dormitory. Sirius grabbed her wrist.

"I hide nothing." He whispered. Lark raised an eyebrow, and her little, bitter smile was back in place.

"Of course you do. You treat others as puppets, and you pretend to be so secure. You hide everything, Sirius Black. You are running from everything, including yourself. You do not have the ability to cope, so you get away by snogging every semi-attractive girl you meet. I know your type, and let's just say, to someone like me, you are to obvious." Lark twisted her wrist out of Sirius' grip and headed back towards the staircase, fighting back tears. Only later would she wonder why Sirius Black had come downstairs at 3:45 A.M, just like her.

The next day, Lark was waiting in the Entrance Hall for her family to arrive, standing with Lily and Remus. Lark was desperately fighting back tears, and the great oak doors opened. In came her mother and father. She had assumed that they left her other brothers and sisters at home. Lark wiped away tears and hugged Lily, then Remus. Remus held her very tightly.

"I'll send you an owl everyday Lark." He whispered in her ear. Her tears splashed onto his robes and she heard her mother mutter, "Locomentor Trunk!" Larkime turned and followed her mother and father down the drive, and heard the doors shut behind her. Lark looked up at the sky and sighed. She knew she was leaving behind half of her support system, and without them, she didn't know how well she could cope.