Shorter because I'm so busy. I'm sorry. Uni is kicking me in the teeth this time, and I got nowhere to run. I hope you enjoy it, though, it was a rather... cathartic chapter to write. Leave comments.

Pandora laughed so loudly, throwing her body back and curving her back as she gasped for air; the scene was so rare and unexpected that even Marta (in a terrible mood after an argument with Morris) started laughing along.

"It's a group dance, Luna, it's not that hard!" Pandora insisted.

"I never danced one before. What did you expect? We don't have balls in Bristol, Panda," Luna said.

"Why not?"

Luna raised her eyebrows enough to make Rosalie giggle.

"It's Bristol, Pandora," she laughed while answered.

Pandora clearly didn't understand but wasn't interested enough to ask what she meant by it once more. She changed subjects quickly, leading Amanda closer to Luna and whispering the instructions to the dance. She had gathered Marta, Rosalie, Amanda and Luna together to teach them to dance the dances that one must know for balls due to Luna's request to learn dancing.

"The Duke of Kent's Waltz is one of the most popular dances we have, it's usually the second or third dance in the ball," Pandora said as she fixed the couples. She put Amanda and Luna together, Marta and Rosalie together. They were across each other with a space between them, which Pandora walked through. "We start by doing a hand star."

"A what now?" Marta asked.

Pandora sighed, reaching for their hands.

Marta's hand joined Rosalie's above where Amanda's hand met Luna's.

"That's a hand star," she said. "Now, you turn to right – carefully, slowly. You have time." They slowly turned until they were back in their original position. "Now, to the other side!" They did.

Letting go of each other's hands, they stepped back into their places.

"Now, Marta and Rosalie join inside hands," she said. "Pretend there's another couple besides Luna and Amanda, they are standing beside them. You'll walk to the middle, and Luna and Amanda are going to step to the side – go on," Amanda and Luna stepped to where Marta and Rosalie had been. "Good, now you'll dance in the middle. Usually, people touch shoulders and give it a turn, but sometimes bolder people allamande."

"What the fuck is allamande?" Marta asked.

Luna giggled to herself at Pandora's frustration.

Pandora was quick to resolve it, rolling her eyes and taking Marta's hands, raising them above her own head and turning once, making their hands cross over one another, then turned back so their hands were parallel.

"In this case, specifically, it's this. But it is a Baroque dance as well," Pandora admitted.

Rosalie nodded, a lot more interested than any other girl (bar Luna, who was one step away from making annotations to remember every step perfectly).

"Now what?" Rosalie asked.

"Now, you'll switch partners for a moment. Technically, Marta's doing the female part, so she'd come and dance with Amanda, who's doing the male's part. You, as the male part, would come and dance with the third couple, in this case me," Pandora said. "Luna will wait." They didn't exactly dance, they mostly circled their new partners before walking back. "Now, you'd go with Luna and you with my hypothetical partner here."

Luna raised her eyebrows as she circled. Pandora had never used the word 'hypothetical' before.

"And then it'd be, Luna's and Amanda's turn to do the exact same thing."

They did the dance, which seemed to please Pandora enough for her to smile a bit to herself.

Delighted, Amanda laughed as Luna turned under their joined hands and stepped back into her place before circling the other 'couples' around them. It was a lot funnier to do these dances than she had expected when Pandora requested help to teach Luna how to dance. It was just the first dance that they were learning, but they were having so much fun that she hoped it wouldn't be the last.

And there were two more dances after it.

The Lady's Choice and the Prince of Wales' Waltz.

"I'm done, I'm done!" Pandora said. "You won't remember anything tomorrow if I bring another dance."

"Oh, please! One more, Pandora," said Amanda, still happy with their new hobby of learning old dances.

Pandora shook her head, determinate with her decision.

"I still have to teach Luna the Viennese Waltz later. Well, if her parents allow her to dance the waltz, of course," Pandora said.

That caught the attention of the girls, that turned to her, wanting more and more to know about the world that Pandora seemed to live in and where Luna was about to get into.

"Allow her to?" Marta said, frowning. "That sounds a bit backwards."

Pandora shrugged. "I'm engaged, so I got permission to dance the waltz in balls now," she said. "I don't like it, though. It's too intimate."

Amanda threw herself on her bed, still a bit breathless from dancing and laughing, but said nothing, just allowing Rosalie to sit beside her and lean against the headboard of the bed.

"It's a dance. It can't be that intimate," Rosalie said.

"Well, I don't really like physical touch, not when it's constant. This waltz is everything that I hate," Pandora explained. "Back when it was created, women would have to hang onto their dresses like cloaks so it wouldn't drag, and the men would help hold onto it, so their hands were clasped together and their bodies very close so it wouldn't slip. Nowadays, we don't raise dresses, of course, but the closed-position it's still used."

Rosalie got up, dragging Marta from her own bed and pulling her up, putting a hand on her shoulder and holding onto her other hand. Marta giggled as she put her free hand on Rosalie's side.

"Like this?" Rosalie asked, excited.

Pandora chuckled, and shook her head, walking closer and fixing the position.

Marta's hand went onto Rosalie's back, palm resting right under her shoulder blades and pushing the girls closer together. So close that their noses almost touched. Then, she stepped back and giggled.

"So?" she said.

Rosalie blushed and let go of her friend while Marta choked on her laughter.

"My, my, Luna, you're in for a treat!" Marta exclaimed.

She tried to look calm and collected, but Luna's face was already heating up.

"Usually, people look to the sides so it's not so intimate in front of everybody else, but I have seen couples dancing quite like that," Pandora admitted.

Amanda sat up, pushing herself up with her elbows. "Which version would Luna's boyfriend dance?" she asked.

"Face to the side, certainly," Pandora answered before Luna could think of the answer. "Regulus is far too shy for something so intimate in front of everybody, especially his family."

Marta's smile was beyond malicious when she turned to Luna. "...and in private?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

Luna sat in her bed.

"Regulus is the perfect gentleman even in private, Marta," she insisted.

Marta made a disappointed noise.

It was hardly a surprise when the study and tutoring sessions of the newly formed (true) couple, became more of a flirting session than anything. Or, at least, the closest thing to flirting that those two knew how to do, which meant that Luna was explaining Transfiguration to Regulus and he stared at her, not listening to a single word she said. Had she been talking about herself, he would've remembered, for all he could think about was her.

"...and – you're not listening," Luna complained from across the library table, narrowing her eyes.

"No. I'm not," he agreed. At least, he was honest. "The subject is rather boring. Now, go on, please, tell me of Christmas. What am I to do?"

She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Christmas? My, are you nervous?" she teased.

"Oh, certainly not. Your family doesn't make me nervous or scared, you do," he answered. "For them, we are together longer than the few days that we truly are. What do they expect us to be like?"

She leaned back on her chair, her posture not as ladylike as she probably imagined it to be. Her legs were apart, arms crossed in front of her and a frown while deep in thought, taking in consideration every part and personality of her family.

"Well, my family is somewhat conservative as well, not as much as yours, of course, but they can be judgy when they happen upon something that they don't like," she said. "So, whatever you would do in front of your family, I suppose is fit to be done in front of mine as well. Our hands, our talks... that would be fine."

"Is it acceptable to hold you?" he asked.

"When we're alone," she agreed.

He sighed, as if the idea of being kept apart from her for so long was simply exhausting.

"Are you to travel with me during the train ride?" he asked.

"I intend to. Why? Is it not... welcome?" she asked, confused by his question.

He smiled.

"It's welcome," he dismissed her worry, pulling the Transfiguration book she had with her towards him so he could take a look at it. "You know, I'm not exactly as hopeless in Transfiguration as I made myself seem before."

She smiled. "I know. I noticed."

He had the good sense of looking slightly embarrassed for being caught but was nonchalant in the way he leaned back as well, lips twitching as he bit back another smile. There was a little frown in his face and his eyes were not meeting hers now that she was smiling at him.

Worried, she raised her eyebrows.

"What is it?" she asked.

He opened his mouth to answer, then hesitated and closed it, looking away from her again. He took a deep breath, almost as if he was gathering courage to tell her something.

"Today is the day Sirius comes back to Hogwarts. His week of suspicion is over," he said, not looking at her. "He might come to talk to you –"

"I don't want to talk to him," she said firmly, cutting him off.

Regulus didn't seem too convinced. He looked, actually, rather cold.

"That's not true."

She stared at his cold eyes looking right back at her in almost defiance.

"What do you know of my wishes besides what I tell you out loud?" she asked.

"Enough to know that what you just said is a lie," he insisted, not backing down on his opinion.

"You're wrong."

Upset by that, Regulus crossed his arms.

"I know –"

"You don't know me yet," she said, not looking away from him even though she wanted to. "Whatever I once felt for him is dead and gone, buried even. My past... meetings with him are hardly ideal for our situation, I'm sure, but I have never lied to you. Why would I start now? Do you think me so petty as to leave you for him just because he has no one else to turn to?"

He raised his eyebrows at her, mouth working faster than his mind.

"Well, you are petty," he said.

Luna moved so fast that he flinched away, but all that she did was reach for her book and pull it away from his grasp, she shoved into her bag and started to gather all her school supplies to move away.

"Are you upset?" he asked, hesitant. "I meant that I saw you telling on Sirius after you broke up because he was with another person in –"

"In the library, where such contacts are forbidden!" she said, defending herself. "I'd do the same with any other couple for the simple fact that it keeps me on favour with the librarian, who allows me to take books that are not allowed out of the library home, literally out of school grounds."

Blushing for assuming (correctly), he looked away.

"You cannot tell me that was the only reason," he said.

"It might have given me more pleasure than it I would've felt had it been another couple," she admitted. "But I'm not petty. I'm vengeful and spiteful, but I'm not petty enough to hurt you and myself in the process just because I could have something – someone – that I really wanted. It would hurt my brother."

While he knew that it wasn't the whole truth, it was true enough for him to realise that it was all that Luna knew. She hadn't thought so far along with the plan, and yet she was taking everything really well, especially now that there was a possibility of their courtship becoming real.

And oh, how he longed it was real.

"I'm sorry," he said, thought the words sounded slightly bitter in his mouth, even if a lot less than he had expected. "It was not my place to say anything."

She took half a step back, not having expected him to apologise.

"It's quite alright. I... I shouldn't have taken it so personally, I know that it is a... concern of yours," she answered. "My reaction is shit in comforting you, so sorry about that."

He smirked by her words.

"We need to stop talking over one another and just assuming things," he grunted, unpleased by the situation.

"That we do," she said, relaxing back in her chair.

She knew that they wouldn't, both she and Regulus were proud enough to keep on talking until the other stopped and listened, the bad part was that neither of them truly think of stopping talking.

But, surely, they could work through it, especially when Regulus looked at her like that – like she mattered, like he could see her and was glad that others did, too.

Luna's scars were itching so much that her hands shook when she forced herself not to scratch herself. She knew that if she scratched herself, it would get worse and she would end up hurting herself – it had happened before, so lost in her annoyance and pain, she had kept on talking to Pandora and used her nails against her skin so hard that she had bled. She couldn't afford to do so, especially not in front of the boys, who would freak out at the sight of her blood seeping through her white uniform.

Still, she had to put her hands under her thighs at the train ride to stop herself.

"You look unwell," Evan said, looking at her through the corner of his eyes, sitting beside her, between her and Pandora. "Are you going to throw up?"

"No," she grumbled.

She knew how to do it. She had to focus on something else happening in her body, so she had closed her eyes and leaned her head back, focusing on the fact that her shoes were a bit too small (if her mother or father had any money, she would request a new one) and her toes were hurting a bit. She also focused on the way she could feel the wool of her skirt on her thighs, where the socks didn't reach. She tried to focus on the way her scalp was uncomfortable in one single place, where her hair had been too pulled in her braids.

Regulus' hand touched her knee.

"Do you need anything?" he asked.

Her skin was so warm even though it was winter that she could feel his warmth through her high socks and her longer winter skirt. He had just taken off his gloves now that they were settled, and the train had begun moving.

"No," she said, tone kinder.

Evan scoffed.

Barty was looking at her seemingly concerned, but quiet in his theories. She was uncomfortable, twitching in place and forcing her hands to keep still.

Slowly, colour returned to her cheeks and she stopped moving around so much. She opened her eyes and managed to find a more comfortable position. As she took a deep breath, she found Regulus watching her and ignoring Evan and Barty talking about Quidditch or the fact that the train's rocking had been lulling Pandora to sleep.

"Are you alright?" he whispered, leaning forward to talk to her.

She nodded. "Yes, just... a scar itching."

He raised his eyebrows.

"Scar?" he asked, confused.

She looked out of the window right beside her, not wanting to talk about it.

The world was so cold outside that the fog covered most of the ground and the snow was falling harder, the window had its corners frozen. Even from inside and with the protection of the thick glass of the window, it was like Luna could feel the freezing wind against her side and face.

"The snow is harder than expected for the time of year," Regulus mused, not knowing what to talk about.

"London will be better," she said as a comfort to him.

"But you won't stay in London," he reminded her.

She looked at him. More and more she was becoming surprised at the fact that he heard what she said, though she knew that she needed to get used to it.

"Well, maybe we'll get some snow in Caefwar, but it's usually just rain and gales," she admitted.

"Gales?" he asked, surprised.

"At the start to the middle of the month, yes," she said.

"Repeat the name of the village," he said.

She tried not to smile.

"Why?"

"Your voice changed," he said.

"Voices change when you speak another language," she said. She shrugged when he raised his eyebrows at her, urging her to talk. "It's 'Caefwar'," she said again.

"Caefwar," he repeated. She smiled. His pronunciation was better than most people's first attempt. "I like it. It just... rolls off the tongue easier than I expected."

"I supposed you're just good at it. Pandora struggled to say my middle name when she found out about it," she said.

Regulus fixed his posture, some pride in his face. "Well, am I allowed to know your middle name? When we signed our contract, you just told me the initial of it, but never told me what it was," he said.

Either from the cold radiating from the window or for the nervousness that settled in her stomach, Luna's cheeks and neck turned red. Her eyes went to Barty and Evan, still talking right beside them, but they were far too focused on one another to care about what was happening between them.

She pressed her lips, thinking. She didn't want him to mock her.

"If it makes it any better, my middle name is my grandfather's name. Arcturus," he said.

"I don't really like it," she admitted. "My middle name, I mean. Not yours."

"It can't be that bad." He furrowed his eyebrows, not understanding what name could bring such nervousness in a person. "My father once was called 'Oreo' when he was at the Ministry, I'm sure you can't surpass being called a snack's name."

She hesitated.

"It's Welsh."

"Welsh is a beautiful language," he said. "And from a country of beautiful history. A country of warriors."

Luna wasn't ashamed of being Welsh, she realised suddenly.

She was ashamed that she wasn't Welsh enough.

Her grandmother was Irish and even after decades of living in small villages of Wales, she still used her old slangs and spoke dearly of Ireland, longing to go home once more when she was feeling better. Her grandfather and her father were Welsh through and through; from the accent, to the jokes and the pranks, the drinks and food. And while she and Remus were born in Cardiff, there was little to no memory at all from where they were from.

She was too small when she was brought to London, and then to so many other cities. Remus remembered some of it, especially the one neighbourhood girl that he used to play with that everybody called 'Bach', but that wasn't her real name, and he couldn't remember what her real name was. By the time Luna could speak, she had her mother's accent.

"Briallen," she said, voice small.

"Briallen," he repeated in a sigh.

She held her breath.

He sounded delighted, enchanted even.

She swallowed.

Before she could say anything, she heard the door opening and Evan turned.

"Oi, mate!" he said, turning to the door right away, but he turned quiet.

Sirius Black stood at the corridor, staring at them. His eyes stopped on Luna before he took a deep breath.

"May I stay?" he asked her.

Regulus tensed up, eyes running to Luna, suddenly insecure. He was Regulus Black, he wasn't used to feeling insecure and threatened by someone that he could certainly take on a fight, but he wouldn't jump Sirius without real reason; even with Luna saying that whatever she felt for him had disappeared, Regulus knew that she wouldn't forgiving for getting into a second fight in the same year with the same person.

"You cannot," Regulus answered.

Sirius' nose twitched and his lips curled in a sneer.

"I didn't ask you," he said, annoyed.

Luna cleared her throat.

"You can't stay," she answered, getting involved in the conversation.

Sirius turned to her, eyes widening just a bit. "Are you going to let him decide things for you now?" he asked.

Luna stared at him for a few second.

"He's not deciding anything, I just don't want you here. I don't want to see your face ever again," she answered, firmly, though her hands were trembling in her lap. "You've done enough for a lifetime; I won't give you the opportunity to do more against me."

His eyes softened.

"It was never against you," he said, a solemn promise in his tone.

"It felt like it was. I don't need anything from you anymore. I don't want you anymore," she said, bitterness filling her mouth and her eyes narrowing into a glare.

Something that he saw in her facial expression made his nostrils flare and his jaw lock, eyebrows furrowing. Though he looked so angry, he took a step back, eyes widening in surprise and... something else. Hurt. Sirius had been hurt by his words being repeated back to him, and he understood that his cruelness (though a form to make her get over him faster) had worked differently than he had expected.

He took a deep breath and nodded, closing the door of the compartment.

He had nowhere to go.

He had no one to turn to.

Sirius, like Regulus had said before, was made to be alone.

It was standing not too far away from that very compartment that Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon found Sirius crying his eyes out in the corridor on their way to the loo. They dragged him along with them back to their compartment, and yet Sirius didn't stop crying and he wouldn't explain what had happened when they asked, his guilt far too choking for him to share.

So, Sirius is realising how serious the situation he is in truly is (I know, ignore the pun, please). 

Now to truly important matters:

Brazil is under a lot of rains in the south. One of our states is almost underwater. People are starving and have no clothes to wear, we are in winter - the south of Brazil is the only place in the country that might even snow, that's how cold it usually is. And it's only going to get worse. Please, find some way to donate clothes or food. Several countries have opened places for donations; if possible, anything would help: shoes, jackets, trousers, socks even. And WATER. We need water, there's no drinking water in some parts of the state due to roads being blocked due to the rain.

Any help is welcome and anything helps. Thank you, if you read up to this point.