AN: I originally had a different proposal plan but I went with this one instead. The other one was at Christmas under an enchanted mistletoe but that would have been too long of a wait. Once again I am not JK Rowling.

There was a flurry of hugs and kisses from friends and family. Sirius had dropped a hint to my parents and they had showed up. Remus and Tonks were there too the later wearing her own ring. The diamond hit the light just right and glistened. She and I hugged each other and I made her promise to write me since our plan would be doable. All I had to do was ask Sirius.

My mum came running over tears streaming down her face and a little bump showing. She wrapped her arms around me and held me close.

"You two will be so happy together." Mum said smiling.

"I know we will." I said nodding.

Dad came rushing over and he threw his arms around me. "Congratulations Honey."

"Thanks daddy." He pecked me on the forehead. Sirius was being patted on the back by Order members and he looked as if he had just won the lottery.

"FIVE MINUTES!" The conductor yelled. Students jumped and rushed to the train.

"If you will excuse me I would like to go say goodbye to my fiancee." I said smiling brightly. Mum and dad both gave me one last hug and I made my way over to Sirius.

"Sirius?" He looked up and smiled at me.

"I should really get on the train." The smile on his face dimmed a bit. Suddenly he pulled me into his arms and he was kissing me again. People were whistling but I didn't care. I pulled him closer to me and we swayed slightly.

"Have a good term." I nodded and he pushed me towards the train.

Students congratulated me left and right as I made my way onto the train. Anthony looked like he wanted to say something but the moment he tried his face broke out in boils. It sounded suspiciously like sorry.

Harry ran up next to me with Ron by his side. "Never a dull train ride."

I laughed heartily and we walked onto the train together. Luna came over to us and slipped her hand into Ron's.

"Congratulations Hermione," she said her gray eyes large and round. Ron started a conversation with her and they whispered quietly.

"Thanks Luna." She smiled and went back to her conversation with Ron. Ginny came up to Harry and pecked him on the lips.

"Don't you have prefect duty?" Harry asked holding Ginny's hand.

"Oh Ron we forgot in the excitement." I said grabbing his hand hand and headed for the prefects compartment. The first thing I noticed when we walked through the door was the fact that Draco Malfoy was not there. Pansy was and she glared at me complete disgust and revulsion on her face. I took an automatic step back and bumped into Ron. What the hell was her problem?

"You okay?" He asked steadying me.

"Yeah I'm fine." I said taking a seat. Anthony was across the room looking into a mirror trying to get rid of the boils on his face and failing. Somehow he managed to make tentacles grow out of them.

The meeting passed quickly and Pansy kept glaring at me. I shifted uncomfortably and left the compartment as fast as I could. Hannah caught up to me and smiled.

"Can I ask you something?" She whispered.

"Sure," I said shrugging.

"Is it true that you fought in the Battle at the Department of Mysteries?" She asked in a hushed voice.

"Yes it is." I said nodding.

"Is it also true that Neville was there?" Where was she going with this?

"Yes..." A slight blush tinged her cheeks. "Do you like Neville?"

She blushed redder and nodded her head in a quick jerky movement. "Yes."

"Good for you Hannah he really is a great guy." I said a smile spreading across my face. She and I passed a compartment full of Slytherins who all glared at me.

"Hannah?" I asked in a hushed voice.

She turned to me and whispered back.. "Yeah?"

"Why do all the Slytherins keep glaring at me?" I asked softly looking back at the compartment where Pansy entered. Draco gave me the finger and I turned away quickly.

"I think its because of Sirius." She said softly biting her lip.

"Why?" I asked surprised.

"He's a pure-blood and your muggle-born. They find it absolutely abominable for you two to be together." I sighed and closed my eyes I had a feeling it was something like that. "You might want to be careful Hermione." She whispered darting a look back at the compartment. "Anyway what's the story between you and tall dark and handsome?"

I giggled and smiled. "What do you want to know?"

"How about why he would be with a mudblood like you!" I growled and cast the hex before I could stop myself. Draco was hit hard and flew back into the wall, I wasn't the only one who hexed him. Ginny walked up next to me her eyes dark and Hannah's wand was pointed at Draco a furious look on her face.

"Oh dear," a deep voice said behind us. The three of us turned quickly to see a large teacher with an impressive mustache looking at Draco. He had a slightly amused look on his face and flicked his hand at Draco who woke with a gasp.

"Would you three come with me to my compartment?" He asked a strange glint in his eyes. I followed behind him my stomach felt like lead. We were so in trouble. The man stopped and opened the compartment door and sat down a table that had been shoved in there. What the hell?

"Oho this will be a splendid lunch." Ginny, Hannah and I looked at each other with amused expressions and sat down across from him.

He asked us our names and what year we were in. Professor Slughorn seemed to enjoy having us with him and wrote out a handful of invitations and handed them to a third year girl in the hall. A few minutes later Blaise Zabini and Marcus Belby came in. Blaise glared at me but didn't say anything and Marcus looked confused. A blond Gryffindor boy who was a seventh year came in a moment later and smirked at me. I shifted uncomfortably and twisted my ring around my finger nervously. A moment later Harry and Neville came in.

"What are you doing here?" Harry and I asked at the same time. We looked at each other and smiled.

"We were invited." Neville and Ginny said. I laughed and leaned back.

"Well it appears some of us already know each other." Slughorn said looking around a smile on his face. Harry and Neville sat down next to each other and the later looked around nervously. Slughorn quickly made introductions and I leaned back waiting for my turn while he quizzed the people around the table.

"Hermione?" I looked up and smiled at Slughorn. "I saw Sirius Black propose to you before you got on the train. How long have you two been together?" He asked passing me some chocolate.

"We've been dating for about a year." I said taking a small bite of the chocolate.

"And is it true you two were in the battle in the Department of Mysteries?" Harry quickly made a motion for me to keep quiet. I shrugged nonchalantly and leaned against Hannah hoping he would get the hint and move on to her. He didn't take the hint.

"Did you really sacrifice yourself for Sirius, it was in the prophet." I trembled slightly but nodded all the same. I still had nightmares about that night. He frowned at my lack of responses and turned to Harry. I blew out a breath and Ginny grabbed my hand and gave it a small squeeze.

Slughorn questioned Harry for half an hour about his life and what happened during the battle in the Department of Mysteries. He didn't say much and most definitely didn't say anything about the prophecy. Unfortunately Slughorn brought it up all on his own.

"- this fabled prophecy for instance -"

"We never heard a prophecy," Neville said quickly blushing a bright pink.

"That's right," Ginny said staunchly. "Neville and I were both there too, and all this 'Chosen One' rubbish is just the prophet making stuff up as usual." Slughorn looked excitedly between the four of us waiting for someone to spill on what happened. Like we would ever tell him.

Slughorn told us more anecdotes about famous witches and wizards he knew till I was bored to tears. When the sun had started to set Slughorn had let us go.

"How come you guys ended up in there?" Harry asked the moment we got out of ear shot of the compartment.

"Draco called me a mudblood. It would appear the Slytherins don't like the idea of me with a pure-blood. The three of us hexed him and Slughorn saw it. Apparently he was really impressed." Harry's eyes were wide and he smiled at us.

"Better reason for inviting someone than because their mother's famous," Harry said, scowling at the back of Zabini's head, "or because their uncle —" he paused a strange look crossing his face "Hey I'll catch up with you guys in a minute." He said and darted towards the back of the train.

We made it back to the compartment and we quickly changed into our robes.

"What took you guys so long?" Ron asked his hair mussed and lipstick on his neck. Nice.

"Slughorn wouldn't shut up." I said pulling on my robes. Neville laughed and nodded in agreement.

"Where's Harry?" Ron asked pinning his prefect badge to his robes.

"He slipped off somewhere." I said pinning my own badge next to my gold locket that Sirius gave me. If he thought I was going to wear that diamond and ruby pendant around school he was sorely mistaken. It would be for special occasions only.

The train started to slow down and we made our way out the doors. Luna and I got into a debate about nargles and she kept saying they were real. Ginny was trying not to laugh next to me but every once in awhile she would snort.

Once we made it to the great hall I stopped and looked around. Something was wrong but I couldn't tell what it was. Ron, Ginny, Neville and I sat at the Gryffindor table and it finally hit me.

"Where's Harry?" I asked loudly. Oh Merlin... I looked around the great hall and couldn't see him anywhere. The others started to look around too and Ginny paled considerably. I was about to tell a teacher but the sorting started. What if death eaters had gotten him? My stomach churned uncomfortably and I bit my lip.

A moment later the food appeared on the table. Ron started in on his food immediately but Ginny and I only picked at it. I was about to stand up and go to a teacher when the doors to the great hall burst open and Harry walked in his face and shirt covered in blood. Ginny squeaked in horror when she saw him and I gripped the table tightly. Why was it he was always covered in blood?