SO SORRY ABOUT THE MESS I'VE MADE OF TRYING TO RELOAD THE FIRST FEW CHAPTERS! THIS, HOWEVER, IS THE NEW CHAPTER. THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE!

Good news - I have prewritten enough chapters to last until the end of September if I update every Monday, and hope to write enough, before I begin my last year of school this Thursday, to last until the end of October. And don't worry - although Sirius may not feature much in the next two chapters, which are integral to the plot later on, he will be in most of the chapters, playing a major role, until the end of the story, and in the sequel. Sorry about the mess, but hope you enjoy this chapter! Lol EllieBaby xxx

"Love is when you shed a tear and still want him, it's when he ignores you and you still love him, it's when he loves another girl but you still smile and say I'm happy for you, when all you really do is cry." - Anon

After the exams, the rest of the term sped by, a melee of results (mine were good, even the DADA practical), leaving feasts, packing and a few pranks on the part of the Marauders.

We were sitting on the train home, snacking on chocolate frogs and trying out the new Bertie Botts Every Flavour beans, which happened to be soil, plastic and spaghetti bolognaise. Even with Lily's unfortunate eating of a slug flavoured bean, we were having a good time, promising to write to each other over the summer, talking about our summer plans and enjoying the feeling of release from the pressure of NEWTS.

All to soon though, the train pulled into King's Cross, leaving us to make tearful farewells. Although I would be seeing all of them at various points over the summer, but still, I would miss them.

"Stupid trunk!" exclaimed Lily as she pulled it down from the rack with Katie's help. "Why does is have to be so heavy?"

"Because you have way too many books in there, Lils." replied Katie. "Pack less books and it'll be lighter, plus you'll have more room for clothes."

Lily caught my eye and we smiled at each other. Lily always had way too many textbooks whilst I was likely to have way to many novels. Katie on the other hand had a bomb of clothes, Alice had a load of makeup and Megs tended to forget stuff: it just goes to show how every girl is different.

We dragged our trunks along the carriage to the nearest door, Lily's emitting a shushing sound as it was too heavy for her to lift. Stepping onto the platform, I noticed that one of the buckles was undone, which would most likely mean a repeat of the beginning of term and I thought with trepidation that I still hadn't learnt from the mistake and had packed my underwear on top.

By the time I turned around to help Lily, her trunk was already in the air as it wobbled dangerously over the gap between the platform and the train. I lunged forward to grab it, but was too late as it fell into the arms of one James Potter, who caught the handle in one hand and with the other arm steadied Lily about the waist, before she followed her trunk in the perilous gap.

With only one hand, he hoisted her trunk up onto the platform whilst, after making sure she was steady, he removed his arm from her waist. She blinked down at him, still standing in the train doorway.

"Alright there, Lily?" he asked.

"I'm... fine." she replied, still looking confused. "Um... thanks for..." She gestured to her trunk and then her waist.

"No probs. Wouldn't want a fellow Gryffindor crushed under the train. Particularly you. We'd have no chance at winning the House Cup next year if you weren't there to accrue most of the points." He grinned at her.

She flushed and looked down, clearly embarrassed. This was a Lily that you didn't tend to see around James Potter; pink cheeks which radiated embarrassment but at the same time maybe... could it be... a little bit of pride at his compliment.

I grinned to myself – well done James Potter.

"Well," he smiled, "I'd better go find my parents; they'll be wondering where I am. Have a good summer, Eva- Lily." He caught my eye at the last bit and hastily amended her surname to her first name.

"You're going? Yeah... well... – I mean... Bye!" she stuttered.

I held out my hand for a high five as he walked past me, which he gave, then I quickly moved my hand to my hair as Lily's gaze swung to me.

"Mhuh. That was embarrassing. Saved by James Potter." She remarked.

"I'm sure he would have done it for any 'fellow Gryffindor'. Or maybe even a Hufflepuff. Who knows?" I replied.

"It was weird though. He didn't try to ask me out or tell me that he would be thinking of me over the summer, or some ridiculous thing like he normally does. I wonder why that was?" she mused.

"He must be over you, Lils. He hasn't asked you out for an age now, and yeah, I don't think he even minded when you were flirting with that Ravenclaw guy in front of him the other day. All good, huh?"

"Um... yeah. All good." She replied.

Again, I had to hide a smile. Lily Evans was not as indifferent to James Potter's charms as she would have you believe. My plan was working. Not that I'd tell him that: somewhere in this plan was a line I had drawn between helping Lily and betraying her, and although the whole plan might be classed as betraying her (I did have my doubts, I can tell you), telling James how Lily felt about him definitely came on the betrayal side.

XXX

The summer after my sixth year was fantastic. After the stress of the first year of the NEWTs course it was great to just relax and take it easy for a few months, before "The Year From Hell" as last year's seventh formers called it was upon me.

In July, the Logan Summer Barbecue went without a hitch, Megs and I, with a few of my brothers' friends and some of my Muggle friends, winning the singing contest. The most embarrassing bit was when some of the boys on one of the other teams decided to do a photo slide show of me set along to the song "She's So Lovely" for the "About a girl" category.

Apart from that, it was fantastic: I saw my wacky Aunt and my 5 year old cousin, my grandparents and all my muggle friends and relatives. I then went on holiday with my family to Turkey for two weeks and apart from being stung by a large wasp, had a relaxing break, although due to my skin tone, came back only with what my mum liked to call "a golden glow." I think she was trying to be kind. Personally, I my skin was much the same as it had ever been, with maybe a few more random freckles dotted about.

In August, I went to Italy for two amazing weeks with my friend Cara. I had met Cara during the summer after my third year, when I was fourteen years old. The younger of my older brothers, Ethan, had had an Italian exchange partner called Rodrigo.

Rodrigo, or Roddy, as we called him, was a great guy, a little flirty and very good looking, but that only meant he fit in very well with my brothers. He fancied and was hated by a beautiful girl called Cara, also on the exchange.

It was a summer holiday exchange for the whole month of June, and during the first week of the exchange, after Roddy had been with for six days, Ethan and I were walking to Ethan's school to pick him up after a day out, arranged by the school. It was as we were passing the gates that I saw a girl in Ethan's class, Melanie Fforbes, screaming at this really pretty blonde girl, who was crying.

"You're such a slut! I hate you! And you're so lame! You're sixteen years old and you're homesick! How pathetic! I wish I'd never been partnered with you!"

The girl was stunningly pretty. She looked like she had just stepped out of the pages of a magazine, beautiful blonde, wavy hair, a hand-span waist and large brown eyes. Even with tears pouring down her face she still looked incredible. I am very impressed by anyone who can manage to cry and still look decent: as soon as one tear squeezes its way out of my eye, my eyes puff up and my face breaks out into giant red blotches, even on my forehead where there aren't any tears.

Melanie went on screaming at this girl in this manner. I thought it was pretty harsh, this girl was her exchange partner and from what I had garnered from the screaming she was homesick: this wasn't a pleasant way to treat a guest at all.

We passed by, my brother looking in askance at her, but the crying girl did not notice us. We continued on into the school, meeting up with Roddy. Roddy then realised that he had left his bag on the coach, and he and Ethan went back to the car park to retrieve it.

Whilst I was waiting for them, I saw the crying girl walking towards the teacher, and sidled closer to hear the conversation. I didn't normally hold with eavesdropping, but I wanted to make sure the girl was alright.

It turned out she wasn't. She started asking the teacher whether she could switch partners. The teacher replied that this was impossible – everyone had their own partners and no one else wanted to switch. The girl began to tell the teacher how mean her partner was to her, how she basically ignored her all the time and then slapped her when she tried to make conversation with the girl's boyfriend, just for someone to talk to.

Apparently Melanie's mother had heard how the exchange partner had been "flirting" with her daughter's boyfriend, when all they had been doing was talking about the weather, and Mrs. Fforbes had sent her to bed without supper.

The teacher looked pityingly at her, but said that unfortunately she couldn't do anything about this, except speak to Mrs. Fforbes. The girl begged her not to, saying that it would only make it worse. The teacher said the girl would have to endure it – there were only three weeks left of the exchange.

At this point, I saw the girl was struggling to hold back tears and decided it was time to intercede.

"Um... Excuse me? I'm really sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing your conversation, and if you..." I gestured to the girl, "If you wanted to switch partners, I'm sure my family would be more than welcome to have you."

The girl's face lit up. "Please?" she breathed to the teacher.

"Well, I'm not sure that's allowed. Who are you, dear?"

"I'm Rose Logan – Ethan's little sister. He already has a partner, but I have an older brother as well, who did Italian, and she can have my bed and I'll sleep on the sofa or something."

"Ah – right. Are you sure that your mother would be happy with this?"

"Yes... Well... I'll just ring her, and she can come right down and sort this out."

"Look, Miss Logan, this offer is very kind, but I don't believe that your mother would be happy, and the arrangements are difficult and..."

Normally, I wouldn't think of disagreeing so flagrantly with an adult, but the hope on the girl's face gave me the courage to contradict the teacher.

"I'm sure it'll be fine with my mum. There really is no problem; she – I'm sorry, what's your name?"

"Uh – Cara."

"Cara, right. Well, Cara can pack up her stuff at the Fforbes' and come and stay with us. We have enough room and we'll make sure she speaks English lots so there's no detrimental effect of her staying with another Italian, and if you just give me five minutes I can have my mum here and you can talk to her yourself."

"That does sound simple, Miss Logan, but what will I tell Mrs. Fforbes?"

"You can tell her that since she mistreated her daughter's partner, because sending her to bed without supper is mistreatment, and because her daughter slapped her, which I'm sure is not allowed, she is not allowed the privilege of having a partner. Besides," I added daringly, "isn't it Cara's choice as to whether she stays with them or not? If you don't allow her to stay with us then she might decide to return home instead, and miss out on the opportunity to improve her English, which is what her parents paid for. I'm sure they would be very unhappy to know that their daughter has been mistreated in such a way, and I'm sure they would be even more unhappy to know that nothing has been done about it. So you can't say her parents would abject either. And if Cara doesn't abject, her parents don't abject and my mum doesn't abject, then everything is sorted, isn't it."

The teacher gaped slightly at me, and I took this as the opportunity to ring my mum and ask her to come down to the school. Within ten minutes it was all sorted, my mum, as I said she would be, perfectly happy with arrangement. She was puzzled at first as to the swap, but when I explained to her the circumstances, and she recalled who Mrs. Fforbes was, her mouth set in a grim line and she put her arms around Cara.

Getting Cara's stuff from the Fforbes was quite embarrassing, but my mum marched right in and helped Cara to fling her belongings into her suitcase and various plastic bags, and then marched straight out, her head held high, her arm protectively wrapped around Cara's shoulders.

Arriving home, we all grabbed some of Cara's stuff and opened the front door. Ethan and Roddy were already at home, Ethan bounding up to Mum to tell her that he had lost me, and he and Roddy had been searching everywhere for me. I appeared from behind Mum, and he sighed in relief.

Then Cara asked – "Roddy? Rodrigo Mancinelli?" in much the same tone Lily would once have said "James? James Potter?"