I didn't talk to her for nearly the rest of the year. Every now and then, our eyes would meet as they had so many times before, but we no longer talked. Noelle ended up finishing the Charms project by herself and that was that.

I didn't talk to Sirius for as long as possible, either. I couldn't seem to get over the fact that he went out of his way to make my life and others involved with it miserable. He never found out about Noelle and me, though, which was good; I don't think I would've been able to cope if he had.

It was the last day of my fourth year when Noelle and I talked.

I sat on my up turned trunk at the Hogsmead platform. At that time, I hadn't slept for weeks. The person who was killing all of the Muggles had been found. He called himself Lord Voldemort and my parents… wanted me to join his group of followers called Death Eaters, like my cousin Bellatrix has so eagerly done.

I sat on my trunk with a much different expression than those around me. Many were laughing and joking with each other. I glared at my shoes. I soon found myself, however, glaring at two pairs of shoes; one mine and the other a pair of Mary Janes. Slowly, I raised my head to find Noelle standing nervously in front of me.

"Uhm…" she stammered. "I was wondering if maybe I could write you over the summer," she said quickly. I stared up at her. After what I had done, after I hadn't talked to her for half a year, she still wanted to write me over the summer.

"Sure, if you want," I said hoarsely. She smiled at me. I tried to smile back, but my muscles were unfamiliar with the feeling.

"Are you all right?" she asked, lightly tracing the dark circles under my eyes with a finger. I nodded and pulled away from her touch. She frowned slightly and took a step back. "I—I guess I'll be going, then," she whispered. "I'll talk to you over the summer then, right?"

"Yeah." She started walking away from me. I couldn't let this happen. Not again, not like before. "Noelle!" I yelled after her and stood up abruptly. She turned around in surprise as I ran up to her. "I'm sorry," I murmured. "I'm sorry."

She stared at me for a minute before hugging me. "I know you are," she whispered in my ear. "I am, too."

Than she looked up at me. Grey to grey, our eyes met as they always would until the end of time…

Author's note: I was debating on whether or not to complete this, but then I read all my reviews and I'm really pleased! I'm still not sure about a sequel (?) I'm working on three other fics right now, so PLEASE let me know If you'd like to see a sequel and I'll see what I can do! Gracias!

~Salty