Loralei was only speechless for a moment, then she took a deep breath, and replied. "Yes, I will marry you."
He kissed her, before holding her tightly. "I love you."
She smiled. "I love you too."
He pulled away from her to reach into his pocket. "I have something for you." He pulled out the little black velvet box that held her mother's ring.
"You're the one who had it." She said breathlessly.
"Do you want to see if it fits?" He teased, they both knew that it did.
She nodded, and Sirius slid the ring on, it fit her finger perfectly.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Loralei went to visit the Weasleys the next day, hoping to beg Molly's forgiveness for not saving her little brother. Little did she know that Molly thought there was nothing to forgive, she tried to save him, and nearly got herself killed in the process.
Molly embraced Loralei the moment she saw her. They both dissolved into tears almost immediately, falling to their knees in the doorway.
"I'm sorry I didn't visit!" She cried. "We had to put together the funeral."
"I'm sorry I missed it." Loralei sniffed.
"You were in the hospital." Molly told her. "You needed to get better."
Loralei stayed quiet, leaning her forehead down on Molly's shoulder. "Are you okay?" She asked, pulling away to look at her.
Molly grimaced. "They were my little brothers. I'll never be the same again."
"Do you want to know what Fabian said before he died?" Loralei asked her quietly.
"Am I going to like it?" She asked.
"It's the saddest thing I ever heard." Loralei told her honestly.
Molly nodded. "Tell me."
"He was the second to die. He told me he didn't want to live without Gideon anyway." Loralei told her softly.
"Wow. Is everything trying to break my heart?" She sighed.
"It broke mine too." Loralei whispered. "But I don't think we're going to be untouched by the war anymore. I think we're all going to break in some way."
"Are you still going to become an auror? You're going to be on the front lines..." Molly looked down.
"I will, but I'll be keeping everyone safe. I won't let anything hurt your family again." She promised.
"But you're a part of this family." Molly told her.
Loralei smiled a bit. "I have to be an auror, though. I can't just stand by and let people die without trying to stop it."
"That's exactly what Fabian and Gideon said to me after they told me they got in."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"You got engaged and you didn't even tell me until now?" Lily demanded. "You could've owled me last week about this!"
"I was a bit busy." Loralei rolled her eyes.
"So have you picked a date?" Lily asked.
Loralei shook her head. "No. We want to wait until the war is over to get married."
"Translating to that you don't want to be like James and I and rush to get married since there is a war." Lily sighed. "Am I maid of honor?"
"You bet." Loralei told her. "The day we get word that Voldemort is dead, Sirius and I will set a date, even if it's just at the Ministry to get the piece of paper signed.
"Lore, your dad was the last Minister of Magic. You're probably going to get it signed the moment you walk into the building." Lily told her.
Loralei shrugged. "Either way, it's going to be small. You thought your wedding was small? Mine is going to be smaller."
Lily laughed. "Okay, I take it that I'm invited, and your brother."
"Remus too." Loralei nodded. "Besides that, I don't know."
"Sounds like a plan. Whenever you're ready I'll help you both plan it." Lily told her.
"I'd hope so. I ran around town with you for your wedding." Loralei teased.
"You loved it."
"Oh, I also loved the having to pay for muggle things with muggle money. That was fun." Loralei rolled her eyes. "I still have some, and have nothing to use it on."
"Deal with it." Lily looked at her friend sadly. "When do you leave for Hogwarts?"
"Next week. We have to survey before the students come, and they want to see how much damage them torturing us did on our brains." Loralei muttered, looking down. "They say they're trying to protect us, but I think they think that there's something up with us."
"How do you know that there isn't?" Lily asked. "You went through an ordeal, Lore. Maybe this isn't the best place for you."
"Why? Because I'm not a man like most of them?" Loralei asked.
"No." Lily frowned. "Because you are not someone who can sit still very well, and if you need time to heal, we both know you'd lie to get out of a sickbed. Maybe you just need to sit still for a while."
"I don't want to sit still for a little while. I want to fight. I want this war over." Loralei told her.
"You can't stop the way by yourself." Lily replied.
"I know, that's why I'm helping, or, why I'm going to help." Loralei stated. "I can help, and that's all that matters."
"You're not a soldier." Lily told her.
"No, but I'm going to be an auror, and that's better."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"I'll visit you this weekend." Sirius told her, as he helped her bring her trunk to the Knight Bus.
Loralei nodded. "We can go to the Three Broomsticks, just like the old days." She smiled sadly.
"I'm going to miss you." He told her, running his fingers through her hair, pushing it away from her face.
"I'm going to miss you too. We've practically lived together most of our lives." She said, giving him a quick kiss. "See you this weekend."
"Take care of yourself. He said.
"I will."
"I love you." He told her.
"I love you too." She touched his face lightly before stepping on the train, and Sirius picked up her trunk to put on it. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
He laughed sadly. "Where's the fun in that?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Loralei and Katie got fed up with Hogwarts quickly. A place they used to love quickly became a boring part of life. Get up. Survey the castle. Check the checkpoints. Get checked out by Madam Pomfrey. Walk around the castle. Work out. Duel. Go to bed. The last two they didn't have to do, but they weren't going to let themselves get rusty for no other reason than they haven't practiced.
They were there for a total of two weeks before the students showed up. They were impressed with having aurors on campus, and even more excited that they knew them since they were recently out of Hogwarts. Moody had told them to say that they were aurors since they would not be questioned by the students. If they added the, "in training" they would not be as respected.
"I feel like I'm such a slacker here." Katie told Loralei as they walked around the castle grounds one night.
"Why?" Loralei asked.
"I feel like we're skipping all our classes." Katie scrunched up her nose in distaste.
Loralei laughed. "Well, I bet if we ask Dumbledore real nicely, we can attend one of the DADA classes...being aurors and all."
Katie's face brightened. "That would be a nice thing to do." She nodded. "It's better than catching kids making out in hidden corners. I'm starting to get sick of it."
Loralei laughed. "Just think of it, a few years ago that was us."
Katie fought laughing and rolled her eyes. "Maybe that was you...I never got caught. If I did, then my parents would have disowned me long ago."
"How long have you and Colin been together?" Loralei asked her.
"Since forth year. He's my first love." Katie smiled, looking down. "So, we've been together for-" she counted on her fingers. "-five years, almost six." She looked up at Loralei asked. "I'd ask you the same question, but I remember the rumors." She laughed. "Was Sirius your first love?"
Loralei shook her head. "But he is my best one. I think that's all that matters, you know? We just fit together." She shrugged.
"And now you're getting married." Katie said.
Loralei nodded. "The moment that the war settles down."
"How does Sirius feel about that?" Katie asked.
"He just wants the promise that we'll be together forever, he's fine with waiting. He's not so fine with us being stuck here, though."
"I wonder why." Katie laughed. "Colin isn't so happy either. He doesn't know why they're separating us from the people we love when we could get killed for being blood traitors or muggle borns or something." She frowned.
Loralei looked down, unable to look at Katie.
"What?" Katie asked. "What aren't you telling me?"
"The only reason Bellatrix didn't let Dolohov kill me was that Voldemort has a plan for me. I don't know what it is, or why I am special, but I didn't tell Moody...I didn't want us to be hidden away because of it." Loralei told her. "I didn't want us to be pushed into a box for our own protection, and now we are anyway."
Katie stared at Loralei. "Shouldn't you do something to keep you out of his hands then?"
Loralei shook her head. "If he really wanted me, we both know that nothing would get in his way. He doesn't care how many followers he loses."
Katie nodded. "That's true, but what could he want you for?" Katie looked over her friend, thinking. "Wait, you know how some part veela's have a certain gifts."
"Do you?" Loralei asked.
"No, but my mother does. She can change the weather a bit. Like if it's cloudy she can make it rain, or if it's just a bit cloudy she can make the sun come out." Katie stated. "Manipulates it a bit."
Loralei thought for a second. "I see things. Not all the time, but sometimes."
"What kind of things?" Katie fished.
"Future things." Loralei told her.
"Like?"
"When Sirius ran away from his house, he showed up at my door all beat up, and I saw it just before it happened." Loralei told her. She wouldn't usually tell anyone, but since it could be because of her unknown parentage, Katie could have some insight since her mother was half veela.
"That's probably in your blood." Katie said. "Have you ever thought about looking for your blood parents?"
The thought had always been in the back of Loralei's mind, but she was always too scared to look. What if they didn't want her? If they wanted her, wouldn't they have tried to find her a long time ago?
Loralei shook her head. "No. Not particularly."
"It's not betraying your parents, if that's what you think." Katie told her. "It's just seeing who you came from. At the very least you get to find out more about your genetics."
That made Loralei feel a bit better...at least more distant from it. Less emotionally involved. "I guess that would be interesting." Loralei agreed.
"Well, you are half Veela, right?" Katie asked. "Aren't most registered in England?"
Loralei nodded. "Just like we are when we come here, they get ID's just like us."
"So we just need to get permission to look at the files, or you do. We could find out more about who your mother was."
"How do I know it's her?"
"I look just like my mother when she was my age." Katie told her. "I think you'll be able to tell, Lore."
Loralei nodded. "Okay, yeah, maybe we should check it out."
"Who knows, maybe your mother is some famous seer, or something." Katie bumped her hip against Loralei's.
Loralei laughed. "That would be something, wouldn't it?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"How are you both adjusting here?" Dumbledore asked Katie and Loralei. He called them to his office early one morning.
Katie yawned. She wasn't a morning person.
Loralei hit her shoulder, making Katie make a face at her.
"We're good." Loralei told Dumbledore. "It's not very exciting here, I'm happy to say."
"Yeah, the worst thing is petty fights in the hallway. Too unorganized to be anything important." Katie agreed, giving him a tight lipped smile.
"Good, good." Dumbledore nodded. "And how are you both healing? Moody informed me that you both went through quite an ordeal. I know neither of you want to be here."
"Do we make it that obvious?" Katie asked.
"It's not that we don't want to be here, it's more of we would rather be with our families." Loralei told him. "We never thought we'd come back to Hogwarts."
"I understand, and that is why I called you here." He told them. "There is a secret society that we would like to ask you both to join."
"What is it?" Katie asked. "I mean, we're not going to go streaking or anything, right?"
Loralei covered her mouth to stop laughing as Dumbledore chuckled.
"No, nothing like that." He smiled. "It's called the Order of the Phoenix. It's about protecting people. I know you both seem to be very into that."
Loralei and Katie looked at each other and nodded. "Yeah, sounds about right." Loralei agreed.
"You don't have to agree right away, but there is a meeting tonight. You may see a few familiar faces there." Dumbledore told them.
"I'm game." Katie said.
"Me too." Loralei nodded.
"Come here tonight at eight." Dumbledore told them. "Then you will see what you'll sign up for."
A/N: So a lot happened in this chapter! I think it's about time for the Order to get involved, don't you?
.7: Yes! Sorry about that, but I think everyone already knew the answer... Haha. Thank you!
koryandrs: Thank you!
Blue Luver5000: Thank you!
C.B. Weasley: Don't worry! I'm still sad that they're gone. I liked having them around. Thank you!
Please review!
Kat