On the Hogwarts Express, Lily had successfully avoided both James and Sirius until she realized that she had to meet James in the Heads compartment to introduce themselves to all the prefects.

"Damn it," she muttered as she stood outside the compartment door, about to go in. A voice behind her stopped her in her tracks.

"Oh, is the Mudblood Gryffindor our Head Girl this year?" Bellatrix Black drawled, her wand out already. Lily, taken by surprise, allowed the Slytherin girl to disarm her effectively. She was helpless.

No, she wasn't, she decided. She still had her voice, and she could use this to her advantage.

"You killed Chloe," she accused, knowing this would bring out a strong reaction in Bellatrix.

She was right; and as Bella faltered, she made a grab towards her wand. But behind Bellatrix was now Rodolphus Lestrange, and he sent her skidding backwards with a flick of his wand.

"No she didn't," he smirked, his wand out towards her too. "I did."

She was shocked. No, she was completely dumbstruck. She had only said that to Bellatrix to surprise her! She hadn't actually thought that one of them had killed her friend - she had assumed it had been someone older, someone out of school.

Suddenly, the two Slytherins wands flew out of their hands and into the Head Boy's outstretched hand from where he stood behind Lily.

"Fifty points from Slytherin for a deliberate provocation and attempted assault of the Head Girl," James said. "Now I suggest we head inside so that we can get on with the meeting."

Lily sighed with relief, "James! Thank God!"

In response, he tilted his head to one side and looked up at her through his lashes pleadingly. "Forgive me?"

"Only if you'll forgive me," she replied, smiling. "I was wrong to get so mad with you and I shouldn't have made you choose between Sirius and I."

"Yeah, but I was in a bad mood anyway, flower."

She snorted. "Flower? That's the best you could come up with?"

He chuckled lightly, fingering a strand of her golden red hair. "Uh-huh. And," he said, giving her a conspiratorial grin, "I kinda like it."

Lily blushed, "Me too."

He kissed her spontaneously, and when they pulled back she asked: "What was that for?"

"Well," he began, studying her complexion teasingly, "I didn't think it was possible for your cheeks to be the same colour as your hair."

"I should be really mad at you right now," she grumbled, running a hand through his messy hair.

He smirked. "Let me guess. My charm and amazing looks are putting you off."

A slow smile worked its way across her lips. "Yes, actually."

Remus clearing his throat from behind them silenced the happy couple.

"If you two are nearly finished now, can we get on with the meeting?" But he was smiling as he held the hand of the girl standing next to him.

"Hey Moony, Kendra." James greeted the two Gryffindor prefects.

"KJ, if I could just say again-"

"You're glad to see me out of that coma," Kendra finished for her friend. "Yes Lily, I know. You've only said it, what, about a thousand times?"

They laughed, both secretly glad that Kendra was indeed conscious and alive.

"I think we all are," remarked Remus, before pecking his girlfriend on the lips.

James covered his eyes, "Moony! Please, I didn't need to see that!"

"You're hardly one to talk," Lily reminded him, and he looked down abashedly.

"Now, back to that meeting…" Kendra hinted, and they all went inside the Heads Compartment where all the other prefects were waiting and began the meeting.

xXoXx

Meanwhile, Sirius and Mel were sitting in a compartment with Peter, and Sirius and Peter were exchanging occasional remarks. Apart from those passing words, the compartment was silent. Lily had been right, thought Sirius bitterly, in saying that Mel wouldn't open up to him any more. She wouldn't talk to him and he'd had to find out what had happened to her from James, for Lily and himself were still not speaking to one another.

He was absolutely appalled with Mel's parents, and at himself for not realizing that she never talked about her home life with him. Most of all, he was going to miss her presence on the Quidditch field, and he cursed her parents for taking away her favourite thing to do. Sirius felt terrible for not picking her to be a Beater last year, more than ever now.

He felt that he should be the one to comfort her, because he'd been through the exact same ordeal as she had and he knew exactly how horrible it was to be cut off from your own family forever.

And most of all, he wanted her back. He wanted to hold her in his arms and stroke her dark hair. He wanted to slide his ring back onto her finger, and he wanted to see her smile, really smile, as if she was actually happy. It was hard for him to admit it, but he missed her.

"Wormtail," he said suddenly. "Have you ever really loved someone? Have you ever wanted them to take you back, really bad?"

Peter opened his mouth to respond, but Mel was faster.

"Peter?" she asked sweetly, and he nodded to her to show that he was listening. "Have you ever thought that you were in love? Have you ever wanted to marry someone, but then realized that you weren't really in love at all?"

Ouch… Sirius flinched, locking his eyes onto hers, forcing her to look up. "Have you ever been an idiot? Have you ever made the only girl you love hate you?"

Peter stood up and left, muttering something about 'getting changed,' but neither of them noticed.

"Have you ever been raped, Sirius?" Mel asked him scathingly. "And then been almost forced into sex by the one man you've ever wanted?"

He gasped. So that was why she had never…

"Mel, I…" he started. He wanted to hug her and tell her everything would be alright, but he was worried that she would push him away. He couldn't screw this up, he couldn't!

"I don't know what to say," he said quietly, watching her face for her reaction. He was shaking, terrified of ruining what little they had left between them. "If I had known, I would never have… called you all those names. I thought you didn't like me. I thought you didn't want me, like I wanted you. Hell, I'm so sorry. Looking back on it, I can see how scared you would've been. I thought you were playing with me, Mel, but you weren't. I wish I had never tried to force you into it, because it screwed everything up between us. I still love you, Lissa, but if you don't feel the same way, I'll… I'll understand," he finished, his face pale and raw with fear of rejection. This was it: do or die, make or break.

When she replied, she spoke slowly, but not calmly. "I… wish I had told you, because I see now that you'd have been much more supportive than I had thought you would be. I thought you would hate me, or even worse, not believe me. That's what my parents did. I was nine, and my uncle touched me in my bedroom. He took away my virginity. I thought that in not telling you, I was saving myself and our relationship. But I was wrong."

"Who else knows?" he asked softly. Her explanation had solved a lot of mysteries that had surrounded her for the whole course of their relationship.

"Lily and Kendra. I had nightmares for ages, and I had to tell them when I came to Hogwarts. Sirius?" She asked slowly.

"Mhmm?"

"Could we try again? I mean as friends."

He was only mildly disappointed. It was still brilliant that they were going to be friends again, just… he wanted more.

"Yes," he answered, "I would love that."

But there was something he would love more…

"Me too," he heard her reply, but he doubted they were thinking of the same thing.

"Hey, Lissa… if you ever want to talk about it - the whole getting disowned thing - I'm here. I've been through exactly what you've just had to experience and I know that it isn't pretty. I know what it's like to hate your parents and I know perfectly well what it's like to leave your family. So if you want to talk… you can talk to me." His offer was sincere: he knew it would help both of them to talk over their family issues together.

"I just might take you up on that sometime," she responded, smiling at him. He loved being the one to make her smile.

"So no Quidditch," he mused, shooting her a sympathetic look. "That's gotta be hard."

She raised her eyebrows. "Someone's been talking to James…"

Sirius blushed slightly. "Well since you wouldn't tell me, and Lily and I aren't exactly talking, I had to go see Prongs! Really," he said in a more serious tone, "How are you gonna deal?"

"They've kicked me out, and I come of age this year anyway, so I think I'm going to try out," she said thoughtfully.

"I don't see why not," he said, "You'll definitely get in."

She frowned. "I didn't last year."

"You and I both know that was a mistake," he scoffed. "You're a fucking awesome beater, Lissa."

"That's not what you said last year," she reminded him again. This annoyed him - she seemed determined to dwell in the past.

"I screwed that up too," he said with a heavy sigh. "I seem to screw up a lot of things, don't I?"

She nodded wordlessly. The compartment was once again quiet for a while. Then Sirius spoke.

"Lissa?"

She sat up. "I'm listening, Sirius."

"Are you with anyone?" He asked curiously. He wanted to know whether she had gotten over him completely.

"Do you seriously expect me to tell you, Sirius?" She laughed, "And have the Marauders bashing the poor guy's brains out! No, I'm not."

"Aw, we wouldn't sink that low!" He protested, but he was laughing too.

"You know what'd be an awesome nickname for you?" She asked, still laughing.

"What?"

Mel smirked at him. "Stud muffin."

Sirius choked, and she had to pat him on the back to stop him coughing.

"Okay then…sweetie pie," he managed to say when he had his breath back.

"Right, Casanova," she countered, now sitting next to him.

He glared at her. "Baby cakes."

"My ickle Shnookums," she cooed, patting him on the head.

"Shut up, Chubby cheeks," he growled.

"Widdle widdle snuffles!"

"Cherry blossom!"

Peter opened the compartment door to see the two of them shouting out cute boyfriend and girlfriend endearments at each other, and he blanched. Half an hour ago, they hadn't even been speaking to each other, and now they were laughing and joking together! How had that happened?

He had always had a bit of a thing for Mel, and he had hoped that with Sirius out of the picture, that maybe he might've had a shot… but he could see now that Sirius was in no way going to give her up.

"I'm not even going to ask," he announced dryly, looking pointedly at the pair of them.

"Oh hey Pete!" Sirius said, then resumed his previous conversation, if one could call it that. "Jelly bean!"

"Pickle pie!"

"Snickerdoodle! Hah! Take that, Lissa!"

"That's the best you can do? Come on, stud muffin, how about this one? Cuddle Bunny!"

"Is that all you've got… Heffalump!"

"You know how to flatter a girl, snuffles! What about kissy wissy?"

"You're losing your touch, love bug!"

"Ooh you wish, my little roly poly pixie!"

"Please! You're doing my head in!" Peter shouted, clutching at his head.

"Pudding pop!"

"Sexy pumpkin!"

"Why thank you," said Sirius, smirking.

"I win!" Mel yelled, doing a little victory dance in the confined space of the train compartment. "You lose, snuffles! Shame! Sucky stud muffin… you're going down!"

Sirius grinned at her infuriatingly. "You know, that last line could be taken really badly…"

"Mind out of the gutter, stud muffin," she reprimanded, rolling her eyes.

"Isn't it weird?" he wondered, "This is just like it used to be, back before we broke up."

Mel looked down, her smile gone. He knew he had said the wrong thing and pushed her too far, once again. "Must you?" she asked softly. "We mucked that up pretty badly, but I think we can make this friends thing work if we both try."

"If we both try, Lissa, we can do any-bloody-thing we want," he murmured, and only barely did he fight off the urge to grab her and snog her senseless right then and there.

She looked at him strangely, before speaking: "Wow. So this is our last year at Hogwarts!"

"Yeah," he echoed, having just realized it himself. "Wow."

"Hey, what are you guys gonna do when we leave?" Peter asked them curiously.

Sirius nodded towards Melissa. "Ladies first, Lissa?"

"Well, I'd love to play Quidditch professionally," she said, her face lighting up as she spoke. "But if that didn't work out, I think, erm, it would be cool to work at the Ministry. And I wouldn't need many qualifications to be a secretary or anything."

Sirius looked shocked. "What?! Mel, you're smart enough to at least pass all your NEWTS - you'll be fine!"

She shrugged, looking away. "What about you, Sirius?"

"Auror," he replied firmly. "Definitely."

Mel's heart thumped uncomfortably; she didn't like that idea. "But won't that be dangerous?"

"Yeah, I guess it will. But I really can't think of anything more interesting or fun to do," he replied. "Peter?"

"I… I don't really know, guys," Peter stuttered. It was true. He had never really thought about what he would do with his future, but he supposed he would do whatever the other Marauders were doing.

His thoughts stopped abruptly as he heard Melissa scream.

"Oh! Hey, it's gonna be so weird without Lily in the dorm!"

Sirius laughed. "Yeah, it'll be quiet without Prongs."

"Uh-huh," Peter agreed, only half-listening to their conversation now.

"Snuffles?"

"Yes, Lissa?" Sirius replied. He decided he rather liked her odd nicknames for him.

"Would you mind? If I did go with someone, I mean."

He felt something heavy compressing his chest and forcing him to breathe heavily. He was unsure why, surely it wasn't that big a deal that she wanted to hook up with other blokes?

"I, um, well… I guess I- don't really care," he managed. "We're not… you know, anymore anyway."

"Yeah," she said sadly - or was it just his imagination? "I know."

"We keep getting back to that, don't we?" He asked cynically.

"You were the one that said it."

"But you brought it up in the first place."

She sighed. "You know, I sorta wish it hadn't happened. We were good together, hmm?"

Sirius bit his lip and felt it begin to bleed. She gasped and leant forward instinctively, forgetting about their situation entirely. She couldn't stop until it was too late, and she pressed her finger to his lips and wiped the blood off.

But if anything surprised them, it was the way he reacted. Sirius grabbed her hand and used it to pull her towards him. He could stand it no longer. He placed his hands firmly on her shoulders and pressed his mouth to hers.

He felt her mutter something into his lips, and her hands pushed them apart. He looked down at them - two perfect hands - sitting on his shirt. She seemed to realize, and she took them away, refusing to look at him.

"What was that?" he asked roughly, feeling the bitter taint of rejection in his mouth.

She looked down, embarrassed, and did not speak.

"You can't do this, Lissa," he said. "You're breaking my heart."

She looked surprised. "You kissed me!"

"You were the one with your finger on my lips - don't deny it."

"No, I don't deny that," she replied. "But we're better off apart, we always argued when we were together."

"We're arguing now!"

She narrowed her eyes. "Are we?"

"Aren't we?" He asked, matching her stare.

"Do you call this an argument, snuffles?" she asked softly, staring intensely at him. "But there's no violence, or name-calling."

"Yet," he said, looking sulkily at her.

"Aw, you know I'm right, really."

Peter snorted; they both looked at him in surprise.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing, it's just… for exes you two do a lot of flirting with each other." He said, blushing.

Mel and Sirius looked at each other.

"Was that flirting?" Mel whispered, and suddenly their lips were locked, moving as one. She could feel his hands moving around her waist, and everything in her life was alright again. She heard him moan softly, and exulted that she could bring out this response in him.

They vaguely heard the door to their compartment open and then close as Peter left, disgusted at their 'shamelessness' and slightly jealous of his fellow Marauder.

She let it continue on for a while before she stopped him.

"Not here, snuffles."

Sirius whined in disappointment - he was well and truly aroused now, and he wanted her more than ever. "Huh? Why not, love?"

"A train compartment, Sirius? How unromantic can we get?" she wondered. "Sorry, stud muffin, but I want our first time to be somewhere special, not just at the first opportunity we get."

He snorted, but let it go. "So what does this make us, Lissa?"

"Well, if you'll have me… the prospect of being your wife doesn't look so bad right now," she answered honestly, kissing him.

In response, he swiftly pulled out the little box from his robes pocket and slipped the ring on her finger.

Wow! So Sirius and Mel are back together!! And they're engaged AGAIN. Yay!

And yes, Kendra has finally recovered and hopefully will be a lot more positive in the future (ie, not depressed.) Next chapter should have some more Remus/Kendra action which I'm sure lots of you have been missing!

Please, please review! I won't update until I get me some reviews! Yes, I know. I am a sulky child. But you all love me anyways...

xx

Baby seal