I've been without internet for hours, I'm struggling and using all my data to post this chapter. Please, comment for my sacrifice (lol). Anyways, it's my day-off, tomorrow will be another exam-day for me.

A day in Hogwarts was hardly normal. With magical owls, magical letters, enchanted ceilings and spells being thrown in the corridor against the rules; 'normality' wasn't a word that most people would use to describe anything that happened there.

However, the Marauders knew how to take a "normal" Hogwarts day and turn it into a spectacle.

It was the first day of October when Sirius Black walked into the Great Hall for breakfast in hot pink clothing; everything in him was hot pink: long trousers, dress shirt, tie, shoes, socks, even the shoelaces. His hair, however, was still as dark as usual, but this time it wasn't down to his shoulders, it was pulled up to a badly done bun that was held in place by his black wand, that no longer went well with his outfit. He didn't seem to mind, as vain as he was – he had a huge smile on his face and an open posture to whatever came his way.

"Oh, good God," whispered Amanda in shock, as the good muggleborn she was.

"What is happening?" Rosalie wondered, though her tone was not of shock, it was of amusement.

"That ought to be good," Amanda added.

Luna watched everything in silence, nervousness blooming in the pit formed in her stomach. She had no sensible reason to be that nervous, after all she wasn't the one wearing such a revolting outfit so early in the morning, but there was a sense of anxiety growing in her chest, warning her that something horrible was about to happen. It was that very same feeling that she had when she saw him standing with James Potter in that corridor, requesting to talk to her – that feeling of impending doom, unable to be stopped. Perhaps, however, it was something else entirely, because she had been feeling that awful anxiety every time that her eyes found Sirius in a room.

There was no denying that Sirius had broken her heart; so, perhaps, that feeling was just a mending organ still pumping blood while broken in a thousand small pieces.

"He does look good in pink, a rather rare colour to work," Pandora mused while preparing her morning tea. "However, I don't believe he likes himself in pink."

"He always likes himself in anything at all," Morris complained.

Luna couldn't deny it.

Sirius was always a proud boy; she knew that before she even began any sort of relationship or engagement with him. He rarely apologised for something more serious than an accidental brush of shoulders in the corridor, his vanity took a hold of him every time he was to be seen in public, and – though he said the contrary – he was just like the rest of his family: constantly worried over the public opinion over his image. Now that any contact between them had been broken and burnt, it was easier to see and even to mock, though such cruel thought stayed only in the back of her mind during her moments of quiet solitude, where her hurt was bigger than her kindness.

It was due to his pride that Sirius didn't even blush when he stepped on the bench and jumped to the table, standing on the small space between Peter's and Marlene's plate of food. His pink shoes glistened at the sunlight.

"Mister Black, get down from that table this instant!" McGonagall shrieked from her place at the high table.

"Ladies and gentlemen, and my beloved Minnie, I have an important announcement to make," Sirius said loudly, ignoring McGonagall's warning, though he did appear nervous when she got up from her seat. "I, from this day on, due to a bet that I have lost, am swearing off any woman for the rest of the year."

Remus, sitting near the one empty spot, clearly saved for Sirius to sit on once he was done with his absurd announcement, busted out laughing, though he tried to muffle his laughter with his hands. James leaned back, back against the wall with a smile of clear delight – he had been the one to propose the bet if his reaction was anything to go by. Peter's laughter was not controlled like Remus', it loud and unashamed, comfortable for having his friends around him.

Some of the more extroverted girls hummed their disapproval loudly, others made whispering comments to their best friends beside them. It was the reaction of the boys that caught the attention of some people – while the bravest whooped loudly, others started giggling like children.

Luna's shock was hardly able to be covered.

"Oh my God," whispered Amanda once more. "This is... not what I expected."

"Did you expect anything at all? I don't even know where to begin to expect coming from those boys," whispered Marta, jaw still ajar. "There are things that I have never thought that those boys prove to be capable of, it's rather impressive."

"Impressive is McGonagall's patience," Morris said.

Rosalie giggled at the sight of McGonagall raising the end of her dress-robes as she stumbled towards the Gryffindor table with a characteristic frown and mouth open, ready to scold whatever behaviour she deemed inappropriate when, clearly, Sirius had already crossed the line of what could be done at the breakfast table.

"Such personal announcements can be made in more discreet ways, Mister Black," she said. "Get down from the table, now! Awful, awful manners you have. I have half a mind to write to Lady Potter!"

"She's expecting an owl. I warned her beforehand of Sirius' transgressions," James dismissed.

"Transgressions," Professor McGonagall repeated in a mocking tone. "Down, Sirius!" she said.

Sirius, upset that his announcement had been cut short, jumped from the table to the ground with a loud noise. He looked at the professor and smile as serene as the rain.

"I'm completely single for the rest of the schoolyear, Minnie, sorry," he said, trying to sound as gentle in his rejection as he could.

Luna looked down, trying to find something in the situation to find funny or at least amusing as the rest of the people around her seemed to be doing, but she knew too much. Sirius, all gentle and kind in his joking rejections was not truly like that; he was cruel and mean, and he knew where to hurt. Sirius said himself to be a Gryffindor of its purest form, but the truth was that he was a Slytherin in its worst form: he went for the throat to get exactly what he wanted.

Perhaps she was judging him far too harshly in the cruelness that he had committed towards her; a rejection thinly veiled as an attack to make sure she would never approach him in any way, shape or form. But she couldn't stop herself from holding and coddling her grudge against him in an overly emotional way.

"No, Mister Black, you said you were sworn off women, which does not mean single," McGonagall reminded him. "I might be old, but my ears have yet to fail me in the meaning of words that I'm able to hear."

"Oh, how foolish of me!" Sirius said, turning to James in mocking surprise. James was no longer as happy as before. "I should've worded it better when I proposed such a strict consequence for a bet."

"Fucking hell," James grumbled.

"Mister Potter! 5 points from Gryffindor for the colourful language!" Minerva scolded, but there was a discreet smile on her lips. "And pay attention to Mister Black's words in the next... bet you have, consequences can be dire if you allow someone as foolish as him to carry his punishments as victories."

James shook his head, lowering his head in shame.

Peter laughed even louder, now accompanied by several people around the Great Hall in all tables. They all understood that Sirius had manipulated the bet to go exactly as he wanted. Remus, however, was not laughing – he was staring right at Sirius, eye wide and cheeks gaining colour.

Something seemed to click in Luna's mind. Her breath turned to stone, vanishing suddenly from her lungs.

Luna looked away, trying her best to keep herself together, but at doing that she found Regulus Black's eyes stuck to her. He wasn't laughing either, if she paid attention enough, she would dare to say that he looked somewhat worried.

Pandora touched Luna's back.

"Should we get out of here? You're restless," Pandora whispered.

Luna shook her head.

"I'm fine."

"You're clearly –" Pandora started, pushing herself to get up from her seat.

"Pandora, please, just... don't –" Luna started, jumping up from her seat at once. Pandora froze, taken aback. Luna willed herself for calm and took a deep, slow breath. "Stay here, eat your breakfast. I need to be alone for a while, please."

While Pandora understood in the more logical side of it, knowing that Luna seeking the comfortable and familiar solitude was expected, there was a small, egoistical part of her that was somewhat hurt by her request of time and her cold, cutting tone. Still, while she lowered herself to sit once more in uncharacteristic silence, Pandora had to force herself not to weep in public.

Luna knew that the guilt for her tone and words would assault her as soon as her mind stopped jumping from thought to thought, unable to give her time enough to dwell on a single one for more than a second. So she stumbled out of Great Hall as discreetly as she could, wanting for her woes to attack her only when nobody else could see her.

Useless, because she had been followed.

"Luna, are you alright?" someone called out.

She held back her tears once more, looking up and blinking to dry her eyes before turning to the person.

"Jonathan," she greeted.

Jonathan Hoffman was a half-blood from Suffolk that came from a real middle-class family, unlike her that called her small house a cottage and dared to say she was a middle-class member when she knew her mother took far too many shifts to put actual food on the table. He didn't know the relief of his mother when he went to school, he knew only her longing for his return. He didn't know pain. He didn't know her. But he knew her name. They were of the same year, and he was also a Ravenclaw, even though he insisted on walking with his friends from Hufflepuff and Gryffindor most of the time, leaving the rest of the House to not know him well.

"Are you quite alright?" he asked.

"Just... dizzy," she lied.

"I thought so," he said. "I saw you coming out and you looked unwell, so I followed to make sure you were alright –"

"May I help you in any way, Jonathan?" she asked. "I... really..." she stopped herself, unsure of what to say. "I've got to go soon. I have classes."

He smiled.

"I don't think you do. It's Saturday," he reminded her, raising his eyebrows. "Are you sure you are feeling well?"

"Oh, yes, sure," she said.

"But, actually, there is a way that you can help me," he admitted, scratching the back of his head. "I was wondering if you'd like to come with me to Hogsmeade today."

If Luna's head had stopped spinning for a single second since the announcement of Sirius Black, she might have understood what Jonathan Hoffman had said right away, but all she did was stare stupidly at him for a least a few seconds, mouth open in shock and without blinking.

She was distracted by how absolutely unbelievable everything was. Jonathan was far too handsome for her with his black hair, big brown eyes, and brown skin; how could someone like him could like someone like her?

"Yes," she blurted out before the 'chance' disappeared.

Jonathan smiled.

"Great!" he said. "I'll see you on Saturday? We can go together from the Great Hall; at 10?"

"Sure thing," she said, nodding.

"Your friend, I think her name is Pandora, she's engaged to Lovegood, right?" he asked. She nodded. "Good, call her to come along, too. Xenophilius will be here." Seeing Luna's confusion, he smiled and shrugged. "I'm friends with Xenophilius and he told me he'd be coming to visit his fiancée."

"Oh, I see, yes. I'll tell her," Luna said.

Shifting nervously in her feet, she tried her best to smile back at him, but it looked more like an odd reaction to something she ate. Luna quickly swallowed, trying to pass that facial expression as an almost chocking experience.

Jonathan didn't seem to realise, because he just smiled at her, said his farewells and walked right back into the Great Hall.

Luna didn't move from where she stood.

"What the fuck?" she whispered to herself.

She didn't understand what was happening at all. What sort of messed up reality was she in where people like Jonathan Hoffman were interested in her and Sirius Black sworn off women to date just men publicly?

Luna was never the sort of girl to be scared to talk in public or be seen doing something remotely embarrassing, especially if attention on her meant that there was no attention on Pandora – who, indeed have trouble with speaking in public. But still, when October 4th came, Luna's hands trembled as she tried to pick her best outfit.

It was Scotland, after all, so trousers were – for sure – the base. The high-waisted bellbottoms that she had were very muggle, but they made her feel good about her body, making only the good parts of her be big, and the addition of the black belt also helped build her silhouette. However, she had stood around the room for almost thirty minutes with her bra, unsure of what to wear. It had been Rosalie that sacrificed her favourite shirt (a stripped horizontally black and white shirt) to make Luna feel good about herself, telling her to add a jacket on top of it because it was cold; though Luna's brown jacket wasn't all that pretty (and quite old), it was warm enough, which did look better along with the brown boots that she had put on.

It was the first time in a long while that Luna stepped out of the room with her hair down, no braids in sight.

"Stop shaking!" Marta said, glaring at Luna. "Pandora, tell your friend to calm down."

"Calm down," Pandora parroted automatically.

Luna made a face to Pandora, but the girl just smiled.

"Jonathan has been talking about you for a few months, apparently," Amanda said. All the girls looked at her. "I asked after she told us that she was going out with him today," she immediately defended herself.

"You know a lot of people," Pandora said, nodding impressed. "Because of that, you know a lot of things. You'd get along well with my brother."

Amanda smiled at Pandora, not wanting to say that she did not want to get along well (or badly, or at all) with Evan Rosier.

"I never went out with anyone before," Luna mumbled, cheeks heating up.

Marta raised her eyebrows. "Not even with the guy that you were –" she started.

"Marta," Rosalie quickly cut her off.

Marta stopped.

Pandora answered for Luna. "He never took her out on a date," even she seemed somewhat disappointed. "He wasn't a good friend to her."

Luna smiled at Pandora in the mirror as she brushed her hair.

Rosalie shook her head, also disappointed at the nameless man.

"Well, there's only a first time for everything," Rosalie said, dismissing Luna's fears. "Nothing is going to go wrong, so stop looking like you're about to weep. Jonathan is a nice person, and he's waiting for you and Pandora downstairs."

Pandora smiled serenely as she fixed her long pale blue robes around herself, looking like the pureblood princess her parents had raised to be a good wife. Luna had done her hair in intricate braids that fell over her back as a yellowish curtain against the skin that the robes left naked on her back.

"Go on!" Amanda insisted, pointing at the door. "We might see you out in Hogsmeade. We'll go later."

Luna nodded, fixing her trousers around her hips before offering her hand to Pandora, who was quick to take it. They didn't even look back before going out the door of the dormitory and down the stairs.

Jonathan was indeed waiting for them, sitting in the corner of the Common Room with one of the books from the shelves there, distracted in the story he was reading. He didn't see Luna coming down with her friend, nor did he hear her the first time that she called his name. It was only the second that he looked up with a big smile on his face.

"Luna! You're ready, hello," he said gently. "Pandora, hello."

"Hello, Jonathan. Xenophilius has wrote about you, he speaks nothing ill," Pandora said.

"That is good to know," Jonathan answered. "Shall we go, then?"

"We shall," Luna agreed, letting go of Pandora's hand.

While Jonathan offered Luna his arm, he offered nothing to Pandora, who was glad that she wouldn't have to find a polite way to refuse such attentions. The couple walked in front, Pandora walked in back.

They had decided not to take breakfast before going to the tiny wizarding village, agreeing to eat on any restaurant that there was.

Luna didn't remember Hogsmeade all too well, but she was glad she was going with companionship this time around. The year before she had gone only once (accompanying Pandora and Xenophilius as a poor excuse of a chaperone for the couple), and the year before that she had gone twice – at first, she had said it was because Pandora didn't like going, but the truth was that she knew far too well how Sirius showed off his dates around the village with little shame for their ever changing faces.

She couldn't stop herself from smiling a bit, though she controlled herself not to show her teeth.

"I'm glad that you accepted to accompany me today," Jonathan said.

"I'm glad that you've asked me to accompany you," she answered, looking at him by the corner of her eyes.

He smiled at her.

"The truth is, I rather like you, Luna," he admitted. "Listening to you in class and talking to Pandora is fun. You seem like someone that understands a lot more of the world than people think you do."

"You're just saying it," she dismissed.

He chuckled, stepping on a leave that made a noise. He cleared his throat, looking away from her.

"I've heard that you broke things off with your boyfriend, and though I was sorry to hear that, I was also very glad," he admitted. "I have been thinking on trying my chance with you for a long time now."

"And why didn't you? Before now, I mean," she said.

"Because –" he hesitated, looking at her again. "You really don't know?" She shook her head. "It was rather obvious that you were in love someone. You'd spend the whole day daydreaming about whoever that was. And then that girl asked you out and you said no, but said that you did like girls, just... wasn't in the mood of going out. It was pretty clear."

"I never noticed how obvious I was," she admitted, looking down.

"I don't think everybody noticed because of those things, I think that I was just already paying attention to you for a while now," he said. She blushed deeply. "It's alright, I'm not afraid of admitting it."

"But you were afraid of talking to me?"

"I was afraid of your rejection," he corrected.

"And if I do reject you now?"

"At least you gave me a chance," he lied.

He shifted nervously in his next step.

They were almost at Hogsmeade.

"You... do look beautiful today," he told her.

She smiled.

"Thank you," she said.

"I do miss how muggles dress. Coming here and seeing mostly wizarding robes all the time does get tiresome, especially when you fear you're missing something important in the other world," he told her. "My father is a muggleborn, so he understood my side when I first complained about it, but my mother did not, pureblood as she was."

"Who's your mother?" Luna asked.

Pandora smiled to herself. Jonathan chuckled.

"Vanessa Lovegood," he answered.

Luna gasped in surprise. She turned to look at her friend over her shoulder, who just smiled and nodded.

"Any relation?" Luna asked, suddenly interested.

"Vanessa is Xenophilius' cousin," Pandora answered.

Perhaps because all that Pandora ever knew was marriage and the idea that any romantic rendezvous would end up in a marriage, there was some excitement in the expression of the familiarity levels between the two couples, because if Luna went ahead with such a relationship, then they would become – finally – real family; connected by marriage, yes, but real family, nonetheless.

Luna looked at Jonathan once more.

The boy took a few steps to the left, going faster than his usual pace to reach the door of the Three Broomsticks before the girls, opening the door and holding it open for them, he let them in before walking into the pub himself, closing the door behind him.

"Let's sit in the table at the far corner?" Jonathan offered. "It gives us good view to the door, so we might see Xenophilius walking in."

Luna nodded, smiling at him. Pandora was already walking to the far corner table, where she usually liked to sit since it was the quietest, without even listening to Jonathan. He seemed to find that amusing by his smile, but made no comment.

"I shall get us drinks. Go on and sit with your friend," Jonathan said.

"Thank you," she said. "It means a lot to me that you're being so kind to both of us."

Even when doing her best to flirt in the same manner that she had seen women doing in films and on the telly, Luna had never been the most coquettish of women as natural ability. She never learned to bat her eyelashes or how to giggle with good enough sound to be heard, but not enough sound to become obnoxious. All that she knew that worked was kindness and truthfulness, because that was what she had seen Pandora use with Xenophilius.

"Thank you for coming," he answered.

Luna walked to the booth that they had chosen as gracefully as she could, sitting beside her friend with a smile on her face.

Pandora raised her eyebrows. Luna couldn't hold herself back, she giggled like an overexcited child and covered her face to not look so ridiculous to whoever could see them.

"Do you like him?" Pandora asked.

"I don't know. I never talked to him before," Luna said.

"Don't you know if you like the person from the very moment that you meet them?" Pandora asked, confused. "I do and – Oh... Xen is here."

Though she had started it all in a very excited tone, something shifted during her sentence, and it wasn't Xenophilius' arrival, Luna knew. The man was there, indeed, talking to Jonathan with smile on his face and helping him with the drinks, but Pandora's eyes were slightly glassy as she looked through them.

"Panda?" Luna whispered.

Pandora blinked several times.

"Perhaps Jonathan isn't for you," she said, voice lower, just above a whisper. "If he was, you would know it right away, wouldn't you? Some people are just too... cowardly to search for true love."

Luna forced a smile, still finding her friend's reaction odd. She was contemplative until Regulus Black's words came back to her like a punch in the stomach, making her whole body become cold.

"Not everybody can just sense if the person is good enough for us from the first glance such as you," she tried to joke, but Pandora didn't smile. "Panda, what's happened? Did you –"

"Hello, Miss Rosier. Miss Lupin," greeted Xenophilius.

Whatever conversation that Luna had attempted to commence had died there.

Pandora turned to her intended with a relieved smile, body twisted to see every single detail of his face as he sat beside her, putting the four tankards of butterbeer in front of him on the table.

"Jonh has gone to the lavatory, he'll be back in just a moment," Xenophilius said to Luna with a smile.

Xenophilius looked more put-together than his usual state. His long, blonde hair was pulled back in a neat low ponytail, tied with a pale blue silk ribbon, made of the same fabric of Pandora's robes. His eyebrows had been plucked, his eyes seemed bigger and as blue as always, but more alive, as they looked whenever he looked at Pandora.

The conversation at the table was light, mostly focused on Xenophilius' job in the newspaper. A minute went by, then two and three... and, once four minutes had passed, Luna felt herself growing more and more distant. She knew the feeling of rejection since very young, but now she was more sensitive to it; she knew when she was being rejected.

And that was what she was.

She looked at the lavatory door as soon as movement was seen there by the corner of her eye.

Jonathan stumbled out of the small place only to be followed by familiar boys: Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and James Potter.

Jonathan was pale and wide eyed as he looked around the pub, clearly overwhelmed by something that had happened away from everybody else's eyes. It was Peter Pettigrew that reached for him, taking control of his body by the back of his shirt and gently urging him towards the door of the establishment when Jonathan met Luna's eyes and hesitated in his way out. James seemed to be the only genuine enough in his morals to look remotely ashamed by whatever actions had taken place hidden away from the others. Sirius and Remus looked around the pub without shame, without guilt – Sirius went to get drinks and Remus smiled at Jonathan, going as far as waving at him as the boy stumbled out of the pub.

"Oh," Luna did as she finally understood Pandora's warning.

"As I said, too cowardly for true love," Pandora lamented.

Perhaps it was the fact that Jonathan – ever so friendly Jonathan – didn't have the decency to talk to her before going and never talking to her again, but something in that rejection hurt even worse than Sirius'.

However, what Remus didn't count on, was that she was her father's daughter and all her hurt easily turned into anger.

"Miss Lupin –" started Xenophilius.

"Luna," Pandora lamented.

But it was too late, she was already standing up from the booth and marching right up to the group of boys that seemed to find nothing wrong with their actions, ready to teach them a lesson on what a scorched woman was meant to burn.

James winced as soon as his eyes caught sight of her moving towards them, he blindly reached behind him to warn Remus with a pull of his jacket. Remus turned around with a tankard of butterbeer in hands and his smile dropped.

"What did you say to him?" she asked, stopping right in front of her brother.

The boys were standing near the counter, getting their drinks, and all froze at the sound of her voice.

"What are you talking about?" Peter asked, trying to sound as innocent as he could, but he was always a bad liar and his voice wavered pathetically.

Luna's eyes turned to him, but her head did not. She glared. He looked down. She looked back at Remus.

"Why do you have to always ruin everything?" she asked.

"You don't know what you're talking about," he dismissed. "That bloke is no good for you."

"Well, you go and let me decide that for myself, yes?" she said.

"Yes, because you clearly have such a good history of deciding what's best for you," Remus answered sarcastically, taking a sip of his drink.

She took the tankard from his hand and put it on the counter, wanting him to pay attention fully to her.

She could feel Pandora and Xenophilius moving to stand nearby, Xenophilius' shadow covered Remus' face for a second before he walked to the left of her.

"Why do you do this? What is wrong with you? Why can't I jut live my life without you getting yourself involved?" she asked him. "Even my love life can't be free of you. Aren't you content enough with your own life and you have to come take care of mine as well?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

Sirius shifted nervously where he stood, unsure of what to do or say to help out the situation, so he stayed in silence...

...for three whole seconds.

"Listen, Luna –"

"SHUT UP!" she yelled at him immediately. "You're another person that has no right to get involved with any aspect of my life at all. You're nothing to me. You're nothing of mine. Can't you just fucking leave me alone?"

He shut his mouth, pressing his lips together, knowing that he shouldn't get any more involved. Guilt tore him inside out, but he didn't fight back – he knew her anger was completely justified from his cruelty from the last time that they spoke.

James took a step forward, but hesitated when Luna looked straight into his eyes with the worst glare that he had seen in his life (and that included his mother's and Lily Evans' glares, which was an impressive feat). He took a sharp inhale when her eyes filled with tears when she looked back at Remus.

She took a big step forward, looking deep into her brother's eyes and curled her lip.

"You ruin everything. Nothing is ever good when you're involved!" she accused Remus.

"Alright, now. Wait a minute," James said, taking Luna's arm as gently as he could to pull her away.

It was faster than he ever expected. In one moment, he was trying to pull Luna away from Remus' hurt wide eyes before things got even more complicated and she did something that she might regret later; the next, he was on his back on the ground because Xenophilius Lovegood had pushed him with both his hands on his chest.

James stared at Xenophilius in shock, mouth ajar.

The thing is that Xenophilius was never a violent man. On the contraire, he was know for being overly pacifist, never fighting back in school even when people hurt him. The fact that he had pushed James away with strength enough to drop him on the ground was beyond surprising. Had it been a less tense situation, James would've burst out laughing in surprise, but for now all he did was get up slowly.

"Luna, you don't understand. He –" Remus started.

"People already don't like me," she whimpered. "And you keep making it harder."

Remus went silent, staring at his sister in an incredulous manner. It was like he had never seen her before.

Pandora stepped forward quickly, putting herself to stand between the two siblings and gently leading Luna away from Remus with her arms around her waist.

"Come, come. We'll go somewhere else," Pandora coached her towards her. "Come on, Luna, please."

Luna sniffled, hiding her face from the rest of the pub as she allowed her best friend to lead her away from the situation, walking willingly towards the autumn cold and wind, because that was better than having to be in the same room as those other people.

Xenophilius looked at the boys with his euphoria just under his skin, bubbling to come out, then turned and followed the girls out of the pub.

Sirius watched as James fixed his trousers around his waist and waited for the door to close once more.

"You alright, Prongs?" Sirius asked, casually.

"I'll have a bruised arse, but nothing much," James dismissed. "Moony, are you alright there?"

Remus didn't answer, he just took his butterbeer and hid his face into it while taking a long sip. Peter gently touched his back in a comforting gesture.

"She was angry," Peter mused.

"With reason, she has no idea what happened," James reminded them. "If Pads had not heard Hoffman –"

"Let's not," Remus cut him off. "Let her think whatever she wants. I don't care."

He put the thick glass pint back onto the counter with a loud noise, cleaning his mouth with the back of his coat and shoving his hands into his pockets.

Sirius looked out of the window, seeing Luna in Xenophilius' arms with Pandora standing beside her, unsure of what to do as she watched her friend's shoulders shaking. He almost thought of going out there to explain the situation, but looked away. At least Luna had people with her when he couldn't be. She deserved so much better than the crumbs of attention he had fed her for so long – a full friendship, a full relationship. A full life that he could not offer.

He reached for Remus, putting his hand on his shoulder.

"One day she'll understand everything," he whispered.

He hoped his own heart would believe it, but he was content with the way that Remus' green eyes turned to look at him and looked just a little bit less sad.

I know, please, don't hate the characters just yet. Give me some time, because everything will be explained (and more Regulus is coming soon, I promise).