He finds her in the astronomy tower late one night.
Her pretty cursive name is always there when they've had a fight, or more deaths are reported in the Prophet, or he shags someone else.
She's in the astronomy tower a lot, late at night.
And she doesn't even have to turn around to know the footsteps against the stone floor belong to him.
"How do you always find me?" She asks, watching Venus.
He smirks a little, thinking of the map he had left open on his bed. "You're magnetic."
She lets out an exhale that is half laugh, half exasperation. "What do you want?"
She wants to scream. But not tonight. Tonight she is exhausted. Tonight four more witches were killed in London.
Tonight is not a night she can allow herself to find his little games romantic, she tells herself.
He slowly walks towards her. It's all a part of the game. The slower the footsteps the more quickly she wants him to be beside her. He's had so many years of practice he doesn't even realize he's playing.
She stays put, arms resting on the railing. It's freezing cold, but they both love it. The wind adds chill to their bones and pink in their cheeks and it makes them feel alive.
They wait to see who will speak first.
And as always it's Marlene, who knows perfectly well she is giving in, as she's done before. But she can't let him win, not really. So she doesn't say what he wants her to say.
"The stars are beautiful tonight." She muses.
She says it, partly because it's true, partly because it will annoy him, and partly because their beauty makes her sad.
He exhales. He didn't realize he had been holding his breath. "I've always hated astronomy."
"How ironic." Her eyes still haven't left Venus, and instead she focuses on the sound of his breath beside her.
He places his hand casually and deliberately on the rail. She pretends to ignore it. It's a dance they've perfected many times.
"Quite." He agrees with her.
She tears her eyes away from Venus and looks further up, towards different constellations that paint the velvety sky.
"They're all dead you know." She says bluntly.
She takes him by surprise, something Marlene does on occasion, when she wants to.
"Are they?"
"Yes. They died billions of years ago."
It makes him a bit sad. Confirms something he can't quite put his finger on.
"Mum sent me an owl just before midnight." She looks at him. She loves his eyes.
He doesn't say anything, he never does, because he knows she needs her time to be dramatic. He's not being belittling or mean when he thinks that, because he knows he's the same. Dramatic, like everyone says. That's why they fight so often.
The tears that threaten to spill over onto her cheeks confirm his thoughts.
"Four dead. In Banchory." He watches her lips and his ears drown in her thick Scottish accent. "I can tell she's terrified."
His fingertips ghost over her hand as he leans into kiss the tear that has escaped away. "It will be okay Marly."
Her heart flutters and she feels guilty. They're talking about the dead and she wants to snog him senseless. So instead she pretends to flinch away from his touch. "Don't kiss me." She warns, but her voice is weak and they both know it.
He resumes his position leaning against the railing and his hand pulls away from hers. "Are we going to talk about what happened?" He asks.
"I don't want to talk about it." She lies.
She's making him angry now with this stupid game of her own. "Well that makes a change."
"Don't, Sirius." She says. And this time her voice isn't weak.
By this point they both start to feel a little bit of adrenaline. They're coming up to the big fight. The climax of the night. They both delight in it almost as much as the dénouement that comes after.
"You had your tongue down her throat." Each syllable is scary as it falls purposefully from her mouth.
"It was a mistake." He almost sounds like he doesn't care (he'll try to wait for her to explode first, before he gets really angry).
She almost laughs. "It always is, isn't it?" More hot tears slip out.
He clenches his jaw in frustration. She's being particularly stubborn tonight. He looks at the stars.
"I know I'm not your girlfriend, Sirius. But you can't keep treating people like they're nothing and expecting them to crawl back to you."
Then why do you keep coming back? He thinks to himself. He's glad he didn't say it out loud, because she would have started screaming and slapping him right then and there.
Anger bubbles up inside her when he doesn't respond. Why don't you care? She wants to screech. But instead she wants to hurt him. Because that's the little game they play.
"That goes for Remus as well." The words tumble from her mouth before she has time to stop them. Shit. But she has to own it now. She has to play the heinous bitch, a by-product of the scorned lover. Her stupid mouth and racing brain always forces her to play the parts in this game she doesn't want to.
Blood rushes to his face but he convinces himself she won't see it in the dark. "Don't bring him into this."
"And why shouldn't I?" She raises her voice louder, turning away from the rail, towards him. Offensive stance assumed.
Because you think it will humiliate me, and I don't want to give you the upper hand, he thinks.
"We all know what you two have been doing together." The tone of accusation in her voice is clear.
"Don't fucking talk about things you don't know anything about!" He shouts. They both stop. The game doesn't feel good anymore. It's gotten too real, too much. It's better just to argue over a silly kiss rather than this type of secret.
"James knows." She plunges in the knife, because even though it doesn't feel good anymore she has to keep playing. Because what will they do if they don't see it through? He would just walk back to the common room and leave her there.
"He's too disgusted and weirded out to even let on that he knows but he does." She twists. She's sobbing now. "Everyone knows but no one says anything! You're going to ruin everything if you're not careful!"
She tries to make it sound like he will ruin him and James' friendship, but he knows its not what she truly means. She's begging him not to ruin what they have together. Whatever it was.
He can't even think of James and… that. It makes him feel sick. And suddenly it's his turn to have hot tears burning at his beautiful grey eyes and it makes her melt inside, even though she doesn't want it to.
The moonlight shines against her blonde her and makes her turn silver. "I love you, Sirius." She tells him defeatedly. "I love you and you're going to ruin everything."
They take each other in for a few moments before succumbing to the tension and embracing. All Marlene can feel is red, and the comforting scratch of his stubble against her face. All Sirius feels is silver, and her wet tears against his cheeks. Their hearts flutter and pulses thump and her hands are in his long hair as his grope at her arse.
Idiot, she would think looking back, stupid over emotional romantic idiot. She didn't know if she was referring to herself or Sirius. Probably both. Then she remembers she is on her period, and she blames everything on that.
They'll both never talk about Remus again. At least not like that. It made the game too risky. For both, it threatened the end goal – to touch and feel victorious.
Remus is mostly gone from his mind when he lays her down against the stone floor. The freezing January air makes her nipples hard and gives her breasts goose bumps, which he admires with great satisfaction. She brushes the dark hair away from his face and smiles and he smiles too. And all is forgotten for a while. Because they're in the middle of a war. Because they're teenagers. Because they think they could die soon.
As Sirius grunts above her and Marlene lets out breathy moans, she admires the stars above her.