The night before she was due to return to Hogwarts to start her final year, Éponine had her trunk opened on her bed, while she decided what she wanted to pack and what needed to be packed for the upcoming term. So far, she had the majority of her robes and the rest of her uniform, along with several of her textbooks, but she had been procrastinating for the last hour, leaving the job unfinished. As she sorted through her room, she couldn't help but get distracted by several things that had found their way to the bottom of her trunk over the years.

Whether it was a sock without a partner or an old quill, she realised just how messy she allowed her trunk to get. But the latest discovery tucked in the corner, was a little golden snitch.

Immediately, a heavy sigh passed through her lips as she collected the snitch in her hand and looked it over. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it to the naked eye as the delicate wings started to flutter in her hand, but at one point, the snitch had meant so much to her. It was the first snitch that Regulus had gifted her, with the promise that he had plenty more to catch for Éponine.

She hadn't attended a Slytherin match since the two went their separate ways, thinking it would be too awkward to be cheering for the team her ex was on. Not to mention, Éponine wasn't feeling much House pride after realising just how wrong Salazar Slytherin had been. At one point, she believed that Salazar was promoting a peaceful alternative by demanding segregation at Hogwarts. She thought because she hadn't been promoting violence and death that her beliefs were correct.

What a wake-up call that had been when she realised just how wrong she was and how scary it was to know that she wouldn't be the last to be taught that segregation wasn't a bad thing.

Tossing the snitch over her shoulder, it landed on her bed and seconds later, a dash of ginger shot out of the corner. Éponine turned around to see her small furball of a kitten had managed to make his way onto the bed and was currently attacking the snitch as if it were his prey. She couldn't help but laugh because as small as he was, he was putting up one hell of a fight as he hissed and spat at the little golden orb.

"Toulouse," she called to him after he rolled off the bed and hit the floor, "just what in Merlin's name do you think you're doing?"

Toulouse, of course, did not answer her verbally but reappeared as he poked his head out from under her bed and looked directly at her. She had only had him for a short time under her care, but already, he was proving to be incredibly intelligent as he responded to his name. He was rather vigilant too, often alerting Éponine if someone was approaching her bedroom or the home depending on where she was in the flat.

James was the first to point out that Toulouse did not resemble a normal cat, but was more than likely sired by a kneazle. Judging by the large eats and the plumed tail, it was difficult to argue the possibility, and James warned her that while Toulouse was tiny currently, more than likely, he would end up becoming a very large cat in time. Although for the time being, Éponine jokingly claimed that Toulouse was mixed with a Puffskein because of how round and fluffy he was.

Suddenly, Toulouse meowed at her and before she could respond, there was a knock at the door.

"That's some hearing you got there, Toulouse," she said before turning her attention back to the door, " come in!"

The door opened and Sirius poked his head in. "Have you finished packing? Lily invited us over for dinner. We don't have to go, but I figured you were getting tired of cooking or me bringing home pub food all the time."

"That sounds great," Éponine told him, " I'll be out in a few minutes, I'm almost finished here."

Sirius nodded his head, smiling in her direction before he left and closed the door behind him.

As soon as the door closed, Éponine could feel the warmth of a blush rushing to her face. She didn't know what was coming over her in the recent days, but every time she was around Sirius as of late, she felt almost jittery. She scolded herself internally each time for it too. Part of her knew that she was still hung up on Regulus, especially with how things had ended so abruptly between them. But Sirius had been there when she needed someone the most. He had done so much for her in such a short amount of time.

However, she told herself that she wasn't developing those types of feelings for Sirius, she was only getting confused between thoughts of gratitude while being in the company of a handsome man. Or maybe she was getting confused because Sirius and Regulus resembled one another, and Sirius was treating her the way she wished Regulus would treat her.

Either way, she deemed her feelings as wrong and scolded herself over and over, but it still didn't stop her from blushing whenever he left. So, she decided to just blame it on teenage hormones.

The next morning, Éponine was up early, rounding up every last minute thing that needed tending to. Toulouse watched her every move from the top of her bed until she lifted him up in her arms to bring him and her trunk out of the bedroom. Sirius had gotten up early too, although neither one of them had said anything to each other since waking up. There seemed to be something on both of their minds that they were both refusing to acknowledge.

Éponine didn't know what was running through Sirius' mind at the time, but she definitely recalled the conversation she had with Lily the night before. After dinner, Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter had gone outside to discuss "important matters" that Éponine wasn't allowed to hear, leaving her in Lily's company. However, it was Lily, who brought up the conversation with one simple statement that nearly brought Éponine to drop the glass in her hand.

"You and Sirius were looking awfully cosy together at the party and tonight at dinner, he was stuck on every word that came out of your mouth. Forgive me if I'm reaching, but is something going on between the two of you?"

Great, Éponine thought to herself at the time, if someone else had noticed that means it was becoming more obvious. But finally, she had the opportunity to talk about it and hoped that she would be able to get some advice as to what to do.

Before Sirius and the others walked back inside, Éponine made it clear that she was confused. She was bold enough to tell Lily that she still thought about Regulus but realised that she needed to move on because Regulus was making it very clear that he was not going to change, not for her, not for anyone. And she wasn't sure how Sirius felt, but she figured that he saw her as a little sister more than anything, even though there was only a year and a half difference between them.

Lily's advice started off reminding Éponine that she was young and due to the previous expectations and traditions of her family, had not been able to experience a normal dating life. She reassured Éponine that it was normal to still harbour some feelings towards Regulus since he had been her first relationship. And maybe it was a good thing that she was developing feelings for someone else because even if Sirius didn't like her in those respects, it showed that she was still able to move forward.

Sirius had a tendency to date around quite a bit. Éponine remembered one of his girlfriends in school that often kept him in check when he had a tendency to lash out. But they were no longer together, and since then Sirius had dated others. But as of late, Éponine had noticed he hadn't mentioned dating anyone. However, she mostly wrote it off as him being too busy with whatever was keeping him out into the early morning hours, and coming back to the flat stressed and tired.

"Maybe you should go on a couple of dates while you're at school," Lily told her. "Nothing too serious, but you know, go to Hogsmeade with someone. Have some fun. Then if you're still having feelings towards Sirius, at least you'll know that it's not just your hormones talking as you put it. And then maybe you can see where it goes from there."

It sounded like a solid plan, but currently, she was stuck in the same room with Sirius before they were set to leave for the platform and she had no idea what to say to him.

Thankfully, before she could say anything to him, Sirius spoke first. "Do you have everything you need? Are you ready to go?"

At such a moment, it sounded like an older brother asking his little sister if she was ready to head to the platform. But after Éponine nodded her head, he reached out and grabbed her hand, and the wave of confusion returned.

At King's Cross Station, Éponine didn't notice the swarm of people around her first, but rather the fact that Sirius had yet to let go of her hand as they walked on. She had Toulouse situated on top of her trunk that Sirius insisted on pulling along as well. She walked along, staring at her feet, for the most part, attempting her very best not to blush in his presence.

After making their way through the barrier, Sirius finally let go of her hand, and it was pretty much time for them to say goodbye.

"Well, I should probably go find Gian on the train," she said as she grabbed Toulouse into her arms, "no doubt that he's probably been on board for a while knowing him. But...um....I'll write. Let you know how everything's going and...and...."

Dammit, she thought to herself, how much longer was he going to make her stand there and suffer? Normally, Sirius was bouncing around with energy, making jokes, playfully insulting her or something along those lines. The way he just kept standing there, completely silent was making her uncomfortable and she could feel the rambling start to take over as she tried to fill in the silence.

All it took was Sirius taking one step towards her to get her to shut up and she was thankful to be put out of her misery. But the last thing she expected was Sirius leaning in and gently kissing the corner of her lips.

"Have a good start to the term, Nin," he said, still relatively close to her face, " kick some arse."

He took a step back and the familiar grin that she had become accustomed to, returned to his face.

"Keep an eye on her for me, Toulouse! Make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble!"

Éponine could only watch as Sirius cast one last look over in her direction before he passed through the barrier, leaving her alone. She couldn't help but one hand up and touch the corner of her lips, the jittery feeling intensifying. A small but rather giddy giggle escaped her before she shook her head and realised she needed to board the train.

It didn't take her long to find Gian as he was already on the train as she anticipated. She left her belongings and Toulouse in his care, while she informed him that she needed to head to the Prefect's carriage to greet the new and returning prefects. She made her way to the carriage, which didn't take very long, but she wished she had waited just a few minutes longer so that others would be present.

Because as soon as she entered the compartment, she could see that Regulus was already there. Casually sitting, leaning back in one of the seats, like he didn't have a care in the world. She was tempted to walk back out and wait for others to arrive. However, as she went to turn, something caught her eye, leaving her to turn her attention back to him, or rather, to his robes.

Pinned clear as day to the front of his robes was a Head Boy badge.

"Oh, you have got to be joking."

A/N: Those of you who have been with me for a while and read some of my other works, you know how I feel about love triangles. So I'm just going to blame all of you for being terrible influences. Anyways,  cendriia has outdone herself yet again with another beautiful work of Éponine! Thank you so much, and of course, thank you all for reading. I hope you're enjoying the story so far and I hope you enjoy what is to come because I just completely rewrote my original plan.

Buckle up.