After the trip to Diagon Alley, I didn't see the Marauders again. I wrote them letters and they each sent me a birthday gift when my birthday finally rolled along, but I didn't get a chance to visit them again. I missed them all a lot.

For that reason, as the first of September came along, I was both awaiting and dreading going back to Hogwarts.

I would miss my parents, but I would also miss my siblings since, once at school, we didn't get to hang out as much. Whenever I got back to school after an entire summer, I always felt a homesickness that took me a while to recover from. To top it all off, sixth year was said to give a lot more homework than fifth.

On the other hand, I would be able to see my friends more than just once every two weeks, as had been the case recently. I would also see Regulus again, and that was something that I was really anxious for. I hadn't seen him anywhere in Diagon Alley when I'd gone there. I missed the castle, having classes... I even missed playing Quidditch.

As I stood in my bedroom, packing my trunk, my mind wandered to the previous year, and all that had happened since then. I remembered the Fiendfyre that I'd suspected Thorfinn Rowle had been behind, I remembered each Quidditch game and winning the Inter-House Quidditch Cup, I remembered James and Sirius incessantly bullying Severus Snape... I remembered how I had defended him and gotten into the huge argument with the Marauders... Suddenly, the memory of Snape dangling upside down and soap bubbles emerging from his mouth, gagging him, resurfaced once again...

I shook the bad memories away and reminded myself that this was a new year entirely. I had long since made up with the Marauders and decided that I would see if people really could change. Thus far, though James and Sirius loved to tease and make jokes at someone's expense, they were good friends to Remus, Peter and I. I was in too deep, because I loved each of my friends too much. Perhaps that was a good thing.

I made a mental list of everything I would need to bring. I packed all of my clothes and shoes, pocketed my wand, stuffed as many of my favourite books as I could fit into my trunk. I made sure to bring my quill and enough parchment to possibly last me half a year, my broomstick, the invisible ink and eraser to reveal it that Regulus had given me and anything else that I needed.

My family used Floo Powder once again to get to King's Cross Station. Even Dad, who was used to Muggle means of transportation, used the Floo Powder.

When we finally stood in front of the Hogwarts Express, I looked at my parents nervously. I was sad to be leaving Mum. I would miss Dad, too. After all that he'd said to me before about me becoming an Auror, there was a part of me that could never forgive him... He was my father, though, and I still loved him. Sometimes he was so nice that I felt bad for being so angry at him.

I hugged both of them tightly. I lingered with them for a moment before walking up to the train with Corey and Ainsley. I looked around for one of the Marauders, and I saw Sirius standing a little way away. I said goodbye to my siblings, who both got on the train, and dragged my trunk over to Sirius to greet him.

I put my trunk and Dorfingryff's cage down, stood on my toes and flung my arms around him. "Hey."

"Hey, Bianca," he said, hugging me. "Long time no see."

I pulled back to get a better look at him. "Sirius, are you wearing a beret?"

Sirius gazed at me and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Mais oui, I am, don't I look positively dashing?"

"Certainement," I replied sarcastically in my best French accent. "Mais aussi très féminin."

"You insult me," he said, pouting. "Au contraire, ma chère. I personally think this beret makes me look very manly."

"Sure," I said.

"Where'd you learn to speak French?" he asked me.

"I took a class in Muggle school when I was younger," I said. "Do I speak it well?"

"Very," he said.

"Shall we get a compartment?" I asked.

"Hold on a second, I'm waiting for the three Potters," said Sirius. "James and I Side-Along Apparated with—with Mum and Dad, but then they realized they forgot something so they went back. They should be here soon."

"OK," I said.

I lifted my trunk again and we waited for a few minutes.

Sirius inhaled sharply all of a sudden, and I turned around, only to see Orion and Walburga Black, Sirius's parents. They were standing beside Regulus. Sirius was glaring at all of them, letting out a low growling noise deep within his throat.

I let myself look at Regulus for a moment. He hadn't noticed me yet. I could tell he had gotten taller since I had last seen him. His face looked older and even handsomer, though he was very pale. He was expressionless again, and his blue-grey eyes looked completely blank as his parents nodded curtly at him and spoke in whispers, probably gossiping about people around them.

Finally, Sirius's parents noticed their eldest son, whom they had disowned, standing a little further off. They met his glare and I felt a wave of anger at them. They both looked absolutely disgusted with Sirius and were giving me dirty looks as well. That was when my eyes met Regulus's, and I just wanted to kiss him. He looked so uncomfortable, so out of place, with his own parents.

I was snapped out of my own thoughts when Sirius cracked his knuckles and surged forwards. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded.

"I..."

"No," I ordered. "Don't. Just leave it alone. Look, I know you're angry at all of them, and I'm angry at them for you, but you've just got to ignore them. Please."

"Fine," he huffed.

That was when we heard a crack. James had appeared with Mrs Potter, and Mr Potter followed not long after.

"Bianca!" said James, pulling me into a bone-crushing hug.

"Hi James," I said, grinning widely.

"Hi Bianca, how are you?" Mrs Potter asked.

"I'm great, thanks," I said.

Sirius remained quiet at my side.

"The train'll be leaving soon," said Mrs Potter. "You'd better hurry! James, next time please don't forget your Potions textbook!"

"He remembered to bring his Quidditch gear, though," Mr Potter added. "You can tell what his priorities are."

James smiled at his father, eyes shining brightly. James and Sirius both hugged Mr and Mrs Potter.

"Bye, sweetheart," Mrs Potter said to Sirius, wrapping her arms around him.

Sirius beamed and melted into her, closing his eyes and resting his chin on her shoulder. I could tell his anger was dissolving as he hugged her. "Bye, Ma."

She kissed his cheek sloppily.

I smiled to myself, glad that Sirius had finally found a proper family. From the corner of my eyes, I could see the Blacks sneering at the Potters. I turned to them and shot them the dirtiest looks ever, feeling the sudden urge to make a rude hand gesture towards them, but I pushed it down.

James hugged his parents, then we set off to board the train.

We found Remus and Peter to already be in our usual compartment by the time we got there.

"Finally!" Peter huffed. "Remus thought you lot would be late, but I told him Mrs Potter would never let that happen."

The Hogwarts Express finally surged forwards. I ran to the window, opened it quickly and stuck my head out, waving at my parents. They waved back until the train had passed through the station. I shut the window and stowed my trunk away.

"I forgot my Potions textbook, so I had to go back home and get it," James explained.

I took the window seat, like usual. Sirius laid his head across my lap, took his beret off and placed it on my head.

"Looks good on you," he said.

"Thanks," I replied.

We all sat down. Remus pulled out his book, Hairy Snout, Human Heart, and began reading it. He was only approximately halfway through the book.

"You haven't finished that yet, mate?" James asked.

"Oh, no, I have," he replied. "I'm just reading it again."

"I never found the appeal in reading the same book over and over again," said Sirius thoughtfully. "Doesn't it get boring since you already know what's going to happen?"

"See, Padfoot, that's the exact reason I read the same book over and over again," said Remus, putting the book in his lap. "I like to know what's going to happen. It makes things less nerve-racking."

Sirius looked at him blankly, so Remus elaborated.

"Look, if you read a book not knowing whether or not the protagonist dies, for example, you spend the whole time you're reading worrying about whether or not they will die. If you already know what will happen—if you know that, in fact, there is a happy ending—you can just continue to reassure yourself while you're reading. You'll have less to worry about, because you just know things will turn out all right and can just focus on the story."

What he said really resonated with me. I stared at him, but he blushed and lifted the book back to his face, continuing to read.

The whole while, Remus had to float between the prefect compartment and our compartment. He kept sneaking back to be with us, stealing Chocolate Frogs that we'd bought.

We all decided to change into our robes and uniforms. I went to the bathroom to change, while the boys just changed in our compartment. I couldn't put on my tie, though, so when I was done I went back to our compartment, covering my eyes.

"Everyone changed?" I said as I slid the door of the compartment open.

"No, we're all naked," said James.

"OK, you're just lying," I said, lowering my hand from my eyes to see them all fully-clothed. "Whew."

"But if I wasn't, you would've seen us all naked," said James, wiggling his eyebrows. "I'm sure that would've been a wonderful sight."

"I'm sure it would've been a disgusting sight," I contradicted, holding my tie. James scowled. "Hey, can someone tie my tie for me? Usually, I just use magic to do it at school..."

James got to his feet and grabbed the tie from my hands. He began to tie it.

"No," Sirius said abruptly. "That's not how the cool kids do it."

"What?" I asked.

He took it from James and unwrapped it from my neck. He plucked his beret off of my head, threw it down on the seat and tied my tie around my forehead, to match his.

"There," he said, stepping back. "That's a lot better."

"I can't wear it like this," I said. "Are we even allowed to—I mean, this isn't proper uniform..."

"Oh, hush up. Just wear it like that for now. I never get in trouble for it."

I sniggered, taking my seat again.

The train suddenly lurched to a stop.

"How are we here already?" Peter asked.

No one responded for a moment; we were all confused.

"We aren't," Remus breathed, furrowing his eyebrows.

I looked out the window of the Hogwarts Express. We were in the middle of nowhere; we certainly hadn't arrived at Hogwarts yet.

"Did the train break down...?" I asked rhetorically.

The lights suddenly went out.

My pulse quickened and I looked at the boys, but they looked just as scared and baffled as I felt. None of us dared to speak, thinking only of the worst that could happen.

Sirius broke the silence. "I'm sure it's nothi—"

Then came the screams.