AN: Written for the final round of the QLFC.
Team: Pride of Portree
Position: Keeper
Prompt: Sirius/Marlene, AlwaysPadfoot's OTP.
"Keep up, boy. We haven't got all day!" Walburga Black's voice carried down Diagon Alley, from her position outside Ollivander's to the point where her eldest son was staring into the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies.
Sirius rolled his eyes at his reflection, before schooling his features into an expression intended to look respectful and a little like he thought himself above the other people out shopping. Glancing at his reflection once more, Sirius thought he'd only really succeeded at making himself look constipated.
"You look constipated," a voice said from next to Sirius as another reflection joined his in the window. A young girl, probably about his own age, stood alongside him. Her dark hair was cut almost as short as his own and her wide grin made her face light up with glee. Sirius hated her.
"Sirius Orion Black, do not make me repeat myself again!" Walburga screeched, making Sirius wince. The girl's grin got even wider and she winked before walking away. Sirius hoped he would not meet her at Hogwarts.
The journey on the Hogwarts Express was as eventful as Sirius had hoped it would be. Enemies were made and alliances were formed all in the space of a few hours. Unfortunately, the dark-haired girl had returned to Sirius' life.
"Hey, Potter, what are you doing with a Slytherin?" the girl had asked, once again grinning as though the world was a joke and only she understood it.
"Avoiding smelly little girls like you, McKinnon," James Potter had replied, demonstrating a lack of maturity that he and Sirius would later be infamous for. Sirius simply glared at her and filed away her name for future reference. He had, of course, heard of the McKinnon family. They were kind and good, simply the opposite of the Black family. It was a pity that she was so annoying, Sirius thought. Considering how much her mere existence would irritate his mother, she'd have been the perfect acquaintance for him to have.
The Sorting was almost perfect. Sirius was placed into Gryffindor without even having to request it; the Sorting Hat knew that it was where he belonged. James was placed in Gryffindor too, although that had been certain even before he strode to the front of the hall and placed the hat on his head. The other two boys in their house didn't seem too bad either, although the one called Peter had been under the hat for almost five whole minutes.
Unfortunately, the two girls Sirius and James had met on the train had also been put into Gryffindor. Lily Evans, a girl with fire-red hair and an equally fiery personality now sat opposite him, seemingly determined not to make eye contact with anyone. McKinnon, whose first name Sirius now knew was Marlene, had taken the seat next to him, immune to the glare he shot at her when he told her that he was saving that seat for James.
"I'm sure Potter can find his own seat," Marlene said, still smiling widely. "He's a big boy now, he can take care of himself."
James, having heard the end of this conversation on his way to the table just rolled his eyes and took the seat next to Lily.
Over the course of the meal, Marlene coaxed Lily out of her shell until she was talking and giggling happily and not glancing across at the Slytherin table anywhere near as much as she had been. By the time the prefects instructed the first years to follow them to the dormitories, the two girls were walking arm in arm and laughing at some joke Sirius was clearly not privy to.
"Those two," Sirius said to James, pointing at the girls, "are in serious need of a pranking."
"Lily, wait! I'm sorry!"
Sirius watched as James chased Lily up the path to Hogwarts, occasionally leaping to one side as he dodged the hexes she shot over her shoulder. He briefly considered following them back, but decided he didn't want to waste his first Hogsmeade weekend. Unfortunately, with Remus in the Hospital Wing and Peter in detention it looked like he would now be spending the day alone.
"She's got a good aim for someone who isn't looking," a voice from behind Sirius said as he saw James double over in the distance. Sirius turned to see Marlene, still wearing that inane smile, also watching their friends' retreat.
"What do you want, McKinnon?" Sirius almost growled, not really in the mood for banter. Marlene just shrugged, her grin never wavering.
"Company," she said. "My best friend has just run off, chased by your best friend. I figured that means you're available."
Something about the way Marlene said the word 'available' made Sirius hesitate, but as he didn't particularly want to spend the day alone he acquiesced. Marlene flashed her smile at him before walking off down the street, beckoning Sirius to follow. He stayed put for a moment, watching her walk away. She may be irritating, Sirius thought, but she's got a damn good backside.
Two shops and a few barbed remarks later, Sirius wasn't finding Marlene quite as annoying as he had done before. The girl had a good sense of humour and that smile suddenly seemed less fake now that he looked properly. Her hair had grown out a bit since first year and now more closely resembled James' than his own, although it looked considerably better on her.
Sirius' thought process was interrupted by a pair of soft lips pressing against his own. Stunned, he was unable to respond for a moment, but he was suddenly sure that he actually wanted to respond. This irritating, grinning, stupid, beautiful, stuck-up, wonderful girl was kissing him and he was enjoying it. At that moment, nothing else really mattered.
From that moment on, Sirius and Marlene were an item. They still bickered almost incessantly, but now they stood closer together while doing it. None of their friends could understand the attraction, but the couple seemed happy enough. Life went on pretty much as it had before, except Sirius was occasionally absent from the dormitory in the evenings and spent less time at the Potters' home during the holidays.
Although Sirius would never admit it, he thought Marlene was perfect for him. She understood that he didn't want to be joined to her at the hip like most couples seemed to be. She was quite happy to let him continue to sit with his friends in class as long as he made some kind of effort to see her at least most evenings. She did not force horrifyingly public displays of affection on him that would make onlookers nauseous, but she didn't complain when he practically swept her off her feet on Platform Nine and Three Quarters, in full view of his parents.
The first real argument they had was over Remus. Marlene was an intelligent girl and her attachment to Sirius had made her more aware of Remus' comings and goings. It only took a couple of astronomy lessons during full moon nights to make the connection in her mind between the moon phase and Remus' bouts of illness. At the beginning of his fifth year, Sirius succeeded in transforming into Padfoot for the first time and immediately began spending full moon nights with Remus, regardless of the consequences.
Marlene, naturally, was terrified when Sirius was missing the night of the full moon. Questioning James only earned her a couple of scathing comments about Sirius being gone because he was better at magic than James, which really did nothing to alleviate her worry. Peter was worse than useless, stammering and hiding behind James when she turned on him. Left to her own devices, Marlene could do nothing but panic until Sirius showed up early the next morning, looking a little sleep deprived but overall just like normal.
"Where the hell have you been?" Marlene hissed as Sirius climbed through the portrait hole. He started; he had expected to be alone at this time of the morning.
"Oh, you know me," Sirius replied. "Marauding around the school, causing mischief, that sort of thing." The feigned nonchalance was difficult after a long night of werewolf-corralling and he knew almost as soon as he opened his mouth that Marlene was not going to buy his excuses.
"You were with Remus, weren't you?" Marlene asked, not needing an answer as soon as she saw the colour rising in her boyfriend's cheeks. Sirius had never been able to lie to her.
"Do you not know how dangerous that is?" Marlene continued, somehow managing to shout without raising her voice at all. "Hasn't Remus made the severity of his condition clear to you? Do you never think about the consequences of your actions? You could have been bitten! You could have been killed! You could have—" she stopped suddenly, as the place where Sirius had been standing was now occupied by a large, black dog.
Marlene could not help a small smile forming on her face, even as she tried to stay angry. The things Sirius would do for his friends.
"You're forgiven," Marlene said, wrapping her arms around the dog's neck and smiling her wide smile, "but I hope you know that you really don't deserve me." A wet tongue dragging up her cheek and a doggy grin was the only response she got.
Walking down from Dumbledore's office, Sirius felt as though he were in shock. It was only supposed to be a prank. Snivellus would be scared, James and Peter would get a good laugh, and Remus would be none the wiser. Everybody won! Well, except Snape, but that hardly mattered.
Suddenly, Marlene's words from earlier that year rang through his head. Hasn't Remus made the severity of his condition clear to you? Do you never think about the consequences of your actions? These words repeated in his mind, drilling into his very soul until the full effect of what he had done hit him.
Snape could have died or been condemned to a fate worse than death. Sirius was hardly Snape's greatest fan, but he still didn't actually want him to die.
Remus could have been arrested. It wouldn't matter to the Ministry that Sirius was the one at fault, Remus would be the one to take the blame. Knowing Remus, he wouldn't even complain. He would allow the Ministry to remove him from school and charge him with murder, probably believing it to be fair. After the sentencing Remus would be executed, because not even dementors could control a werewolf prisoner.
Marlene's voice still rang in his ears. Dwelling on the words, he realised that he was not the person he'd thought he was. He was still his mother's son, a bully, an idiot and almost a murderer. Marlene was right. As he realised this, more of Marlene's words came back to haunt him. I hope you know that you really don't deserve me. At the time she had meant it as a joke, but now Sirius realised that she was more right than she'd known. He truly did not deserve someone like her when he would only end up hurting her, and she did not deserve to be with someone as despicable as him.
Two weeks later, Sirius was surprised by a fairly hard punch to his arm.
"What was that for?" he asked, looking around and expecting to find James. A flash of red hair was all he needed to realise that it was Lily.
"How could you do that to Marlene?" Lily spat, her glare practically burning him.
"It was for the best," Sirius replied, using his best privileged pureblood voice.
"For the best?" Lily parrotted. "You told her she doesn't deserve you, and somehow you've got her convinced that you meant something else and if she just waits long enough you'll come back to her and explain yourself."
"Tell her to move on," Sirius replied, trying to hide the fact that his heart was breaking.
"She can't move on, you stupid boy!" Lily's voice was rising now and she had attracted the attention of most of the common room, including Marlene herself, who was staring at Sirius with hope shining in her eyes. "She'll never be able to move on until you tell her something that she'll believe."
Sirius could think of nothing to do but turn his back on the girls and pretend that there was nothing wrong. Lily shrieked, a wordless exclamation of frustration, and left the common room, dragging Marlene with her. As they exited, Sirius could feel Marlene's eyes on the back of his head. He hated himself for what he was doing, but it was for the best. The worst thing was that when he had looked at Marlene, she was not smiling. From that day forward, Sirius never saw her smile again.
One moment, Sirius was duelling Bellatrix at the Ministry of Magic. The next, he was in the Gryffindor common room. Blinking, he cast his eyes around, trying to work out what happened.
"You're dead," a voice said from next to him.
Turning slightly, Sirius saw Marlene, looking exactly as he remembered.
"So are you," he said unhelpfully. Marlene's lips quirked upwards, but she did not smile.
"It's time for us to move on, Sirius," she said, gesturing at the portrait hole.
"Why are you here, if there's somewhere else to go?" Sirius asked. "You've been dead for over a decade, why haven't you moved on?"
"Lily told you why back in our fifth year, remember?"
Of course Sirius remembered. That conversation had haunted him throughout his years in Azkaban as one of his worst memories.
"I'll never move on," Marlene continued. "I'll just keep waiting until you come back to me."
Sirius swept her up into his arms and kissed her. At that moment he did not care if they were dead or alive or somewhere in between, as long as they were together again.
They walked through the portrait hole together, Sirius' arm around Marlene's waist. The smile that had disappeared from Marlene's face starting the day he had pushed her away had returned with a bright, beautiful radiance.