Things weren't the best for Harry and I. It just got worse for us every night. I refused to eat a lot whenever we ate dinner. I thought Mrs. Weasley had noticed this, but I didn't pay attention to her. Harry was making her become worried as well.

The last day at Headquarters, after dinner, I headed to my room when I saw Harry with his back against the wall and he was crying his eyes out.

I went to him and leaned down towards his face. "Harry? Are you okay?"

He just looked at me. "Max, am I a bad person?"

I looked at him with sadness. "No, Harry." I wanted to cry myself. I pulled him in for a hug as he cried on my shoulder. "Hey, it's okay, Harry."

He pulled away and looked at me. I wiped his tears that were still falling from his face. "Can I stay with you tonight?" he asked. I nodded in response. "You're the best sister ever."

I smiled a little. "I know."

He smiled weakly and headed off to his room. I went into my room and started reading over all my books that I needed this year. They were all boring books, but I was bored and had nothing else better to do. I was also worried about Harry. He was so upset earlier, and I was worried that it would get worse when we went back to school. But what if it happened to me as well?

Around eleven o'clock, Harry came into my room. His eyes were still red, but at least he wasn't crying like earlier.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," he replied.

"Do you feel better?"

He sniffled a little before he answered. "Yeah." He crawled into bed with me and placed his glasses on the bedside table. He laid down on his side and looked at me while I was looking at the ceiling. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," I replied.

"No, you're not. Is it Cedric?" I looked at him and nodded. "I'm sorry."

I shrugged and turned away to face him. "I don't want to talk about it."

Harry grabbed my waist and turned me around again. "Maybe you should talk about it."

"No, Harry."

"Why not?"

"It's too painful to talk about." I felt tears springing in my eyes. So, I looked back up at the ceiling.

"Max, look at me." I looked at him. "I've learned that talking about things that are painful makes it better. I don't know what pain you're feeling right now, but you know you can talk to me."

"You're right, you don't know what pain I'm feeling right now. You didn't have a girlfriend that was murdered right in front of you."

Harry sighed. "I'm sorry that I even said anything."

"I'll talk to you about it some other time."

"Fine."

Our eyes finally shut and we fell asleep.

*******

It was finally time to go back to Hogwarts and I was more happy than ever. Despite everyone probably talking about us, I knew that Harry and I would get through it.

At the station, a dog started barking beside Moody. "Padfoot! You'll blow up the entire operation with all that barking!" We saw the dog go into a room and he transformed into a human.

Harry slid into the room, followed by me. "Sirius, what are you doing here? If someone sees you--"

"Harry, what's life without a little risk? You and Max, of all people, should know what it's like to risk your life." He grinned at us and motioned us to sit down.

"We don't want to see you get chucked back in Azkaban," I said.

"Don't worry about me." He grabbed something out of his pocket and gave it to us. "I want you two to have this." It was a picture of people. "Original Order of the Phoenix." Sirius started talking about everyone in the photo. Our parents were in the front row. "A day doesn't go by where I don't miss your dad," he said, "and your mother...she was so beautiful. Just like Max."

I smiled a little. "Do you really think there's going to be a war, Sirius?" I asked him.

"It feels like it did before," he replied.

"We'll be ready," Harry commented. "Right, Max?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

Sirius chuckled. "You two are so brave. I want to apologize about the other night. I didn't mean to lash out at you like that, Harry. Max, I'm sorry for thinking you weren't able to handle yourself."

We nodded and stood up to give him a hug. "It's okay," we told him.

"You two look out for each other, okay? I'll see you soon."

Once we left the room, we headed in opposite directions. Our stuff was loaded on the train and we were planning to meet Ron and Hermione in a compartment. As we were about to get on, something caught our eye. It was a man in a black suit. As we got closer, the man's face was...oh, no.

Voldemort.

"Harry...that man...his face..."

"I know."

We started to hear voices again. I tried to shut my eyes, but all I could see was Voldemort. He was trying to mess with us again. I could feel it. Harry could feel it. It was impossible to get rid of him.

Harry...Maxine...Harry...Maxine..

"Let's get on the train, Max." Harry pulled my arm and helped me on the train. Ron and Hermione weren't at our compartment yet, which gave us time to talk in private.

"What the hell is happening to us?" I asked my brother.

"I have no idea," he replied.

After Harry said that, Ron and Hermione came in and sat across from us. "Hey, guys."

"Ron, can't you see they don't want to talk right now?"

"I was only saying hey."

"But just look at them. They look tense."

"That doesn't mean I can't say hey to them."

"Can you guys please shut up?" I asked harshly. "Sorry. We're just...it's been a rough few weeks."

"We know. Everyone's noticed," Ron said.

"Thanks, Ron." I looked back at the window.

He was being such an arse right now. I hated to admit it, but it was true. He may have thought that he was joking and all, but it was not funny. For the last few weeks, Harry and I had been going through hell. I wasn't in the mood for jokes from Ron.

The whole ride there, we sat in silence. There was nothing to talk about. Well, there was something, but we didn't want to talk about it. What was going on with us had nothing to do with the entire school. It was between me and Harry, and no one else.

Once we got there, we all got off the train and started walking towards the carriages. We were stopped by Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

"I'm surprised the Ministry's still letting you two walk around free. You better enjoy it while you can. I expect two cells in Azkaban with your names on it!" Harry lunged for Malfoy, but Ron held him back. "What did I tell, you two? Complete nutters. Especially this one." He grabbed me and pushed me against the train.

"Get off of her!" Harry yelled.

"Don't expect me to feel sorry for you here. As long as we're both here, I'm no longer the nice guy you know during the summer. Whatever we have ends here." He whispered more stuff in my ear. "Too bad your boyfriend isn't here to wipe your tears." I felt him smirk against my ear and then he got off of me. His friends were laughing as they walked away.

"Just stay away from us!" my brother yelled at him. Then he looked at me. "You okay? What did he say to you?"

I shook my head. "Nothing."

I started walking towards the carriages. Cho was on the one in front of us and she smiled at Harry. I still hated that bitch. She was drooling over Cedric all last year. She even led poor Harry on, thinking that he actually had a shot with her. No one was allowed to mess with my brother like that. No one.

"Hey, guys," Neville came up behind us, holding a plant.

"Hi, Neville," we said.

As a carriage pulled up behind us, Harry and I saw something we never noticed before. Something was pulling the carriage. A beautiful creature that was a dark gold color.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"What's what?" Ron asked in confusion.

"That thing, pulling the carriage," I pointed out.

"Nothing's pulling the carriage," Hermione informed us. "It's pulling itself, like always."

Harry and I were still looking at the creature that we could see for some reason.

"You're not going mad." A dreamy voice said from inside the carriage. "I can see them, too." It was a girl with long, wavy, blonde hair, who was reading something. "You're just as sane as I am."

We all got in the carriage, where there was an awkward silence for a moment.

Then Hermione spoke up. "Everyone, this is Loony Love--" Hermione stopped herself when she realized what she was about to say. "Luna Lovegood."

Luna smiled as we all were silent again.

"Interesting necklace," I commented.

"It's a charm, actually," she replied. "It keeps away the Nargles." We all looked at her funny. "I'm hungry. I hope there's pudding."

"What are Nargles?" Ron asked in a whisper.

"No idea," Hermione whispered back.

With that, we all kept our mouths shut, letting the carriage be the only sound ringing in the night.