"Is it me, or is my rebellious side rubbing off on you?" Sirius teased as Marlene sat down next to him by the Black Lake. "It's way after curfew, my dear Marlene."
"Oh shut it," Marlene said.
"You weren't expecting me to be here, were you?" Sirius asked.
The blonde looked down. The only reason she was breaking the curfew rule was that so she can have some time alone with Sirius.
Marelene watched Sirius sitting alone by the Black Lake from the girl's dormitory window for the seventh time this week, aka everyday of this week. She had no idea what he was doing down there and no idea why she'd want to be there with him, but she promised herself she's going down tomorrow.
Ok, she did know why she wanted to be there. She was hopelessly and ridiculously caught up in him.
"Would it matter if I expected you to be here, or not? I broke curfew and went down to the Lake. It doesn't matter who I thought would be here," Marlene said.
"Marlene," Sirius said. The way he said her name…
"Marlene," Sirius said, in a tone that resembled his name. "Be careful, alright?"
She nodded, still surprised by his worried tone, and walked away with her sister who insisted on her helping with the Blast Ended Skewts she had recently shown Professor Kettleburn.
It wasn't like Sirius to worry about such stuff.
"Oh, it matters," Sirius said and laughed.
"Honestly, I don't get you, Sirius," Marlene said, getting up. Sirius grabbed her arm.
"Wait! I just wanted to know why you're here of all places," he said.
"For someone who acts so smart, I'm sure you'd know why!" she snapped. Marlene never snapped at Sirius.
"You think we haven't realized?" Mary said. "Lily, Alice and I notice the way you look at him.
"One minute you're angry at the world, and then Sirius says a plain 'hi' and you're as happy as Father Christmas!" Alice exclaimed.
"I can't even remember one day you've at least snapped at him," Lily said.
"Like you used to do to James?" Marlene asked. "Look at you now, not a minute goes by that you don't think of him."
"What's the matter, Marlene? Since when were you ever this moody?" Sirius asked.
"I'm here because you're here, okay?" Marlene yelled and Sirius smiled.
2 months later…
As they walked hand in hand around the Hogwarts grounds after curfew, Sirius whispered, "You know I love you right?"
"I'm here because you're here, okay?" Marlene yelled and Sirius smiled.
"Good, because I'm tired of waiting," he said and captured her lips in his.
"I love you, Sirius," Marlene said. "I can't believe it's only a week until we leave Hogwarts for good."
"Yup, and then we'll join the Order," he said. "Then we'll get married and have twelve kids."
"Oh we are not having twelve kids, Black," Marlene said.
"You are one stubborn woman, McKinnon," and with that, Sirius kissed her. "I love you," he whispered and they continued their midnight stroll.