A month had passed without any complications. Life had been going great for Mel, being with James was everything she had ever dreamed of. He had been the best boyfriend to her, spending time talking on the roof to taking her out. She had been spending quite a lot time with the marauders as well, the bonds between them had strengthened so much in the past month that they already considered her a member of their circle.

Things with her father were okay, they were finally acting like a normal father and daughter duo, though she didn't knew if she had yet forgiven him. But they were taking baby steps.

And as for her slytherin gang, well they were getting more suspicious of her everyday. No one knew of James except Levi and Mel had to now actually divide her time between the marauders and the gang. They had been desperately trying to find where she was half of the time. Mel wondered how long it would take them to know about James. The only thing keeping her back from telling was their reactions, which she already had seen.

Rather than cursing her fate for the complications in her life, she had decided to live the moment making most of it. It's not like she could do anything else. Her birthday had passed a day before. Melisende has never been the enthusiastic type, it was natural she didn't care much about her birthday. For it just meant growing up and having responsibilities.

James had gifted her a small heart shape necklace, rose gold in colour. She was honestly surprised and wondered about the cost but James had just shrugged her away. Her slytherin gang had almost caught her with James, but miraculously he was able to apparat away.

It probably had been the best birthday she have had so far. Her final year was starting in a week, they had received their schedules and book list. Mel knew she would be the Quidditch captain this year too but she had never expected the badge of Head Girl with her mail. She had been totally blown away when she had learned that James was the Head boy.

What did really Dumbledore had been thinking? James and her never really got together in school all this years but she knew she wouldn't really surprised if Dumbledore knew they made up. She bet he was just waiting to see everyone's blanched faces.

Her supposed future engagement with Rabastan was still bothering her though. Associating with Dark Lord was not really what she wanted, but as for now she just decided to let it play out.

                                                                          *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Melisende was at the park with the Marauders when Sirius asked if he could talk with her in private. James and Remus looked at them weirdly, but shrugged chugging up the whiskey.

Mel gazed at the stars as they walked on the worn path. Sirius had still not spoken anything but she didn't want to rush him.

"You know that hogwarts is totally gonna be different this year right? I mean you and James were famous for pranking each other and arguing all the time. And now you guys suddenly made up", he spoke.

Mel nodded. "Yeah i am aware, though we have decided to keep it all secret, i mean the fact we are dating."

Sirius looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "It's going to be tough though, people are bound to notice".

She shrugged.

"So what is that you wanted to talk about?"

Sirius paused mid-step. Inhaling loudly, he spoke, "I wanted to speak about the letters".

Mel aahed, "Yeah i have been waiting of your reaction for quite a time now".

"When did he write them?"

"I don't know when he started but he i know that he still writes them", she answered.

Sirius paused, rapidly blinking his eyes but Mel saw the wetness in them. His voice broke as he stuttered, "A-Am i really that bad of a brother?"

Mel honestly didn't knew how to answer that, sure she knew how Regulus had suffered but she was not Reg, neither was she Sirius. She contemplated on how she should answer this.

"Well, you leaving kind of triggered him i guess. I mean everybody knows how your parents are, Reg from a young age probably believed that he could depend on you, he may have not been able to show it, that's how he was when i first meet him at school. It took him a lot of time to come out of that shell. I think he resented you for leaving him alone to endure everything, he felt jealous when he saw with the potters because you happily depended on them", she paused to see his face.

He nodded for her to continue.

"From what we have talked, i can say that he wanted to leave too, but couldn't because he isn't brave like you. It started to eat at him that you could now live freely, surely you were disowned and made a taboo topic, but you found a family that really loved you. After you left, your parents became even more serious, they wanted to erase the shame they felt, and the victim was Regulus".

She turned towards him, but he was looking far ahead in the darkness. "I never really thought about it like that you know? Regulus had always been the perfect son, they were always like Regulus this Regulus that. I know i was too rebellious for my own good, but i though after i left they wouldn't really have a reason to be angry".

"I can't imagine how he felt, i-i was too busy focusing on my sorrows", a tired sigh left him as he wrapped his arms around himself. "I screwed up big time, didn't I?"

Mel felt her heart ache, there was just so much sadness in his voice. Everybody believed Sirius to be juvenile, goofy and trivial but very few people knew that he was just as sensitive and thoughtful.

Removing her hands from the pockets of her coat, she stepped forward and hugged him. Sirius froze but soon Mel found his arms wrapped around her. She didn't have a sibling of her own, but she understood because she was just like Regulus, she lacked the bravery, had the same abominate background.

Sirius was sobbing softly now, as if the realisation was sinking in him rapidly.

"It's not too late to amend your relation you know?", she said rubbing his back.

He pulled back and looked at her in surprise.

"I know it will be very hard, but i can talk to him about this yeah? It will take time but i'm sure he will understand".

"But i don't want to trouble him unnecessarily, i have already caused him enough pain", he sobbed.

"You are still his brother Sirius, no matter what happened he still loves you, and i know you do too", she whispered.

Sirius looked at her for a long time, but he knew he wanted to apologise and start anew with his brother, the same brother who followed him like a puppy when they were young, who so hardly tried to imitate what his older brother did, how his face would lit up when he sneaked in snacks from the kitchen, how he would slowly crawl in his bed when he had bad dreams saying that he knew Sirius would chase them away.

Sirius smiled bitterly, "I-I will try my hardest".

Melisende smiled at him, grabbing his arm she dragged him back to James and Remus.

"Did you cry paddy?", was the first thing James asked as he saw Sirius.

Sirius looked at Mel who smiled at him, smiling back he turned towards James making a sour face, "Do you really think i would cry in front of a pretty lady?"

He was met with the coat James threw at his face, complaining that Mel was his girlfriend.

Looking at them joking around, Mel thought about how she never really realised when the marauders made their way in her heart. They were now her precious people and she was going to do everything to protect them from the evils in the world.

She smiled contently as she felt James's arm go around her instinctively. Closing her eyes she drifted into oblivion.

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Soooooooo, i don't know what to say. It's been a long time since i posted anything. I kind of just lost the track to write. I'm now in first year for engg, so i was busy with the workload.

But i am not going to abandon the story, the updates may take a while though.

Also Thank You so much for staying with this story. I sincerely hope everyone is doing well. Take care y'all.