Ch. 1

It was the end of the second week of summer holiday and I hadn't heard from Noelle. I figured she didn't want to seem desperate for my conversation, but I did miss talking to someone—anyone. I even missed fighting with Sirius.

Sirius had run away the third day of the holiday. He left no note, no sign he had left except for an unnaturally tidy bedroom. I had been the first to notice Sirius was missing when I went looking for one of my Herbology textbooks in his room early one morning.

I lay on my bed, my mind almost too exhausted to stay awake, but too active to fall asleep. Sirius left me… he forgot about me…he didn't care. I leaned over my bed and picked up the damned Herbology book and threw it at the wall, wishing I had never found it in his room.

It hit the wall with loud thud and slid down, a scrap of parchment fluttering out. My heart skipped a beat. I ran to the book, reaching out my hand cautiously, trying not to get my hopes up. I picked up the scrap of parchment and turned it over, only to find Noelle's handwriting, giving her address.

I swore loudly and kicked the wall. "I don't care!" I bellowed at her note. "I don't care about you! I don't care about your stupid address; I care about my brother!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, my Herbology textbook exploding from my lack of control. I punched the wall with my fists until they were bleeding and then took to kicking it. I stopped when I heard something snap and felt a sharp pain up and down my foot.

I fell to the floor, angry tears pouring down my face. My brother knew what was going to happen to me this summer. He knew what Mother and Father were making me do. He knew, but he didn't care enough about me to take me with him. I wiped away my tears with the back of my hand, replacing it with blood.

The adrenalin flowing through my veins wore off and my foot and fists started to throb painfully. I got up slowly, using the wall to steady myself and stumbled out of my bedroom, fell noisily down the many steps, and passed out.

The next thing I knew, I was in St. Mungo's. There were a few bandages around my knuckles and my foot felt as if it fell asleep, but I was otherwise fine. I sat up and looked around me. It was a white room with one picture with a beach scene. The table beside me had nothing on it except a glass of water and two letters on it.

I opened the first one.

Dear Regulus, it read.

I hope your summer has been going well so far. My parents and I took a trip to Germany! It was very exciting and I learned loads about the magical population there. Did you know that they receive their mail like muggles? They don't even use owls!

Please write back soon!

Sincerely,

Noelle Keller

I opened the other letter without much thought.

Oh no! We're coming to see him! I do hope he's alright.

~N. Keller

The fist letter must've arrived while I was in St. Mungo's. I figured a nurse had replied to the letter, telling her I was here, though, I wasn't sure how Mother and Father would react.

I looked around again. There was no sign of either of my parents. A nurse walked in to check on a sleeping patient beside me who's head was wrapped in bandages.

"Excuse me!" I called over to her. She looked up at me. "I was wondering if you've seen my parents anywhere…"

"Oh, no," she said, fluffing the pillow magically for the patient. "A house elf brought you in and then left. Would you like us to contact them, though?"

"No, no," I said hurriedly. "I'm fine, thanks."

No sooner had she left when the doors burst open and Noelle Keller ran to my bed, hugging me tightly and talking very fast.

"Ohmigosh, are you alight? I knew I should've written you sooner! What happened? Are you going to be okay? What did you do?" She gave me a worried look as her parents just stood in the background.

"I'm fine," I told her. "I just…got a little frustrated. My brother ran away and, well, I haven't exactly been taking it well. My Herbology textbook got the worst of it, though." She looked relieved and pulled up a chair to sit as close as she could to me.

"What time is it?" I asked her. Her mother glanced at her watch.

"It's around one in the morning," she told me and stepped forward. "I'm Angeline Keller," she said, holding out her hand to me. I took it very lightly, as my bandages were still on. "This is my husband, Joel." Noelle's father nodded at me, not exactly frowning, but not smiling either.

"We'll be getting some tea," he told Noelle and her parents left the room.

Slowly and cautiously, as if nervous, Noelle reached out her hand to my side and gently took my hand in hers. I glanced at her and saw that she had turned a very deep shade of red and kept her eyes on her shoes.

"You must be tired," I said to beak the silence. She nodded but kept her eyes down. I pulled my hand out of hers and instead put my arm around her shoulders which were conveniently right next to mine.

Her head bobbed every now and then from trying to remain awake and, finally, I pushed the railing on the bed down and invited her to lay her head in my lap. She did so and almost immediately fell asleep.

I looked down at her calm face, stroking her hair idly. I couldn't believe that just a few hours ago I was screaming that I didn't care about her. I guessed I was too high on painkillers to see sense, but something in the back of my mind said that maybe—just possibly—I was moving forward.

Author's note: Yay! New story new story! Anyways, I'm excited! Moving Forward is going to have a lot more dark romance, which is the best kind, right? There's a lot more Sirius only because I still think he's awesome (If you thought I hated Sirius, you can take a look at my story Chaos, Friends, and Hogwarts: The Marauder Tales and see for yourself!).

I know this is a long Author's Note, but I just want to say how happy I am that I'm continuing this story. The first couple of chapters are mainly fluff, but the story will get going soon!

Review please!

~Salty