Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.
Written for Hogwarts Assignment 4 - Wizarding Geography, Task 1 - Meeting in Secret
Beta'd by the lovely Gus-Gus
Word Count - 972
Secret Squirrel Meetings
"You're not actually studying Arithmancy at seven thirty on a Sunday morning, are you?" Sirius asked, slumping into the chair beside Marlene at the desk she had claimed at the back of the library.
"It's never too early for maths," she protested, finishing her equation with the flick of her quill before she looked up at him. "Late night?"
"Party in the Hufflepuff Common," Sirius confirmed, rubbing at his tired eyes.
"Hufflepuff?" She asked, raising her eyebrow.
Sirius shrugged. "It's always the quiet ones. Let me tell you, once they get alcohol in them, the Hufflepuffs are wilder than us on our best days. They put us to shame."
Marlene snorted. "Well, get your books out. Hungover or not, you've got studying to do."
Sirius groaned but pulled his Muggle Studies book from his bag, dropping it onto the table with a dull thud.
She giggled at the expression on his face. "It's not that bad," she said, opening the book to the correct chapter. "Why did you even take the course if it irritates you so much?"
She saw his face darken and when he hesitated to answer, she didn't think he was going to tell her. Just as she was about to start explaining in more detail the chapter he'd been struggling with, he started talking.
"At first, it was to piss my parents off. You've heard the stories of what they're like, I'm sure. Everybody's heard the stories about the Blacks. I thought I'd be able to dash off an owl for it, just to irritate them, and that would be it."
She nodded slowly.
"I didn't expect it to actually… interest me, you know? Muggles, I have no problem with, but I've never really had an interest in them either, so it came out of nowhere. And now… now I'm struggling to keep up, which drives me insane, because I don't struggle with school work."
When she raised an eyebrow at him, he shrugged. "I'm not going to pretend that I struggle when I don't, McKinnon. Magic… it comes easily. I instinctively understand the theory, and very rarely do I have a problem with a spell or making a potion. But this?"
He waved his hand at the book irritably.
"This might as well be written in swahili for all the sense it makes to me."
"You know, Sirius, there's no shame in finding something difficult. There's only shame in giving up without trying. Are you ready to do this?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Hit me with it."
She looked at the book and then back at Sirius. "Please don't tempt me."
…
"How'd you do on the Muggle Studies test?" she asked Sirius when she passed him in the Great Hall.
He glanced briefly at his friends before scoffing. "I aced it, McKinnon, what do you think?"
Rolling his eyes, he turned back to his friends without giving her a second glance. Marlene walked away and joined her own friends, but over the course of dinner, she couldn't help but glance back at him.
What the bloody hell had that been about?
…
"I'm sorry."
She looked up from the book she'd been reading.
"For what?" she asked, resting her arms on the table.
"The way I spoke to you at dinner the other day. I was an arsehole and I shouldn't have been. I just… they can't know that I'm not aceing Muggle Studies okay?"
"They're your friends, Sirius. They won't think less of you."
He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I, they, can't find out. Please."
"You're really going to have me tutor you in secret?"
He shrugged. "If that's what it takes. Please, Marlene. I just… can't."
With a deep sigh, Marlene nodded her head. "Fine. Right, this week, we're looking at kitchen appliances."
"House elves exist for a reason, McKinnon."
"You know, there's still the option to hit you with that textbook."
…
"McKinnon, you're a lifesaver. I'm pretty sure I just passed my Muggle Studies NEWT with flying colours."
Marlene smiled at him. "Good. I'd have been disappointed if you didn't, the amount of times you've commandeered me for your secret squirrel meetings."
"Secret Squirrel? You couldn't go with something more manly?"
She shrugged. "It's not up to me to stroke your ego. That's Mary's job, or Alice, or Helene… whichever one it is this week."
"Careful, Marlene, you're jealousy is showing," he replied, a wicked smirk on his lips. "If you wanted a more intimate payment for your help, all you had to do was say so."
She shook her head, her smile falling away to a look of disgust. "I might have been your secret tutor, Black, but you can take a running jump off the Astronomy Tower if you think I'd ever be your secret girlfriend."
"I don't have girlfriends, McKinnon. I have dates. Singular. One time thing."
She shook her head. "And I thought you'd grown up. More fool me."
…
"I miss you. Stupid I know, because you were never mine, but if I'd grown up when I should have, you'd have been mine, I think. I know you used to think I was an immature pig, but I think you were at least half charmed by me, most of the time."
Sirius shook his head.
"And you never did hit me with that book, no matter how many times you threatened me with it. So I miss you. And I wish I'd matured in time to show you that you did matter. That I did care."
Standing up, Sirius conjured a bunch of flowers to lie against the headstone. "I'll come and see you again soon, Marlene. We might've had to move our secret squirrel meetings, but we can still have them."
With a brief touch of his hand to the marble stone, Sirius apparated away.
Also Written for;
Character Appreciation - 11. Muggle Studies
TV Show - Bones - Marlene / "It's never too early for math" / Book
Serpent - 54. Ribbon Snake - Quill