Disclaimer: Neither of us are JK Rowling so neither of us own anything except Jet, who belongs to a few people. WantsToBeAWriter13 owns 2/5th as does MarsBarBlue and loverofwriting113 owns one tiny little 5th. Ha-ha. We hope you enjoy it and don't forget to R&R!

Alone

As the hands on the clock crept towards half past ten, the Gryffindor Common Room slowly began to empty until, at twenty minutes to midnight, only six students remained. It was Saturday April 13th 1977, the night of Marlene McKinnon's seventeenth birthday.

The six still up were herself, her boyfriend Sirius and her friends; Jet, Sirius's twin sister, James, Remus, Jet's ex-boyfriend, and Peter. The record player was playing songs off the new vinyl album Jet had given her earlier that day and all of them were dancing, bottles of Firewhiskey or Butterbeer in their hands.

Marlene was dancing with Sirius and one of his arms was snaked around her waist holding her close.

"Happy Birthday." He whispered, his words only slightly slurred as he bent down to whisper in her ear.

Across the room, however, there was one person curled up in a chair, empty bottle of Firewhiskey in hand, not joining in. Sighing and watching Remus sway along with the music, Jet conjured herself a new bottle and, closing her eyes, took a long gulp, not even noticing the burn at the back of her throat as she swallowed.

"Why aren't you joining in? You're normally the life and soul of the party." Somebody's warm breath tickled the back of her neck and the soft voice in her ear made her jump. She opened her eyes and looked behind her. Remus was stood behind her seat, a sad look on his face.

"Yeah. Things change." Her answer was cold as she got up. She threaded her arms around James and proceeded to dance with her best friend, not looking back at the boy she knew she truly loved. The song came to end and James smiled down at her.

"Hey, cheer up," he said, smiling and giving her a tight hug, "Thanks for the dance, though." Jet had to laugh but the smile died on her lips as she turned around, coming face to face with Remus again.

"Jet...Please...?"

"Please what?" She knew she was being unforgivably rude but she couldn't help but hate him for having such a strong hold on her, not after what he'd done.

"Please don't be like this. Here, this is your favourite song, dance with me." He extended a hand, and, her heartbeats quickening, she took it.

From across the room, still held in Sirius's loving embrace, Marlene looked on at Jet and Remus dancing together again and smiled. She would've given her best friend a thumbs up but she wouldn't have noticed. Jet's eyes were closed and her head buried in his shoulder, enjoying the moment.

"See," she whispered, "That wasn't so hard, was it?" She didn't move her head, wishing she could hold him close forever.

"It was nice." Remus told her, "I miss this, Merlin, I miss you Jet, but I could've killed you. Don't you see? I'm doing this for your own good."

"Look, yes, I get it, this whole twisted protecting me nonsense. I'd understand it if you had killed...someone-" she couldn't bring herself to say 'me' "-But you didn't so, Remus, I don't."

"I wouldn't expect you to." He tilted her face up to his with a finger, "You weren't the one who nearly killed the person you love more than anything in the entire universe." She sighed.

"You are so melodramatic. Your hyperboles are getting a little old." He smiled wryly.

"Why thank you, I just tell you honestly how I feel and you tease me for it. I love you." He grinned again and leant down, pressing his lips to hers. Her heart stuttered and thumped against her ribs in an erratic, disjointed manner as she stretched onto her tiptoes to deepen the kiss.

Everyone around them stared at them in astonishment, the two of them had barely spoken to each other in almost a month and yet, there they were in the middle of the Common Room, entwined in each others arms, their lips locked. Unaware of anything but each other, they didn't pull apart for several long minutes.

"Have you changed your mind then?" Jet asked breathlessly, with a wide smile. Remus's soft, loving expression faltered.

"Jet, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to give you false hope. I can't change my mind. I love you baby, really I do, but I can't risk it happening again. I hate myself...I didn't mean for you to...I shouldn't have kissed you. I apologise." Jet went white, the smile melting off her face. Everyone watching looked shocked and Sirius looked positively murderous.

"Hey. That's my sister you-"

"Sirius, don't. I can deal with it." Her expression mirroring her brothers perfectly she stalked over to the seat she had vacated twenty minutes ago and picked up her bottle of Firewhiskey. Remus followed, murmuring more apologies.

"Shut up and go away." She told him aggressively, turning on her heel and flinging the contents of the half empty bottle in his face, before storming upstairs, sobbing, without another word.

Marlene extracted herself from Sirius's tight hold and made to follow Jet. She changed her mind halfway across the room and she too approached Remus. She swore at him and told him exactly what she thought of him in very colourful language.

"I'm sorry," was all he seemed to be able to say.

"You will be." She brought her hand up and slapped him hard across his damp cheek. "I can't believe that you just did that, you complete and utter prat!" She gave him one last, hard look and vanished up the stairs after Jet.

"Jay?" She whispered, "Jay? Are you okay? Stupid question I know." Marlene heard Jet laugh quietly from behind the hangings of her bed. "Can I...uh...Come in?"

"'Course." Marlene pulled the curtains apart and found the other girl curled up on her bed, clutching a pillow to her chest, already in the large Quidditch jersey she wore to bed.

"Remus's?"

"Do you have to ask?" Jet's large, violet eyes were red rimmed and her mascara was smudged.

"He's a loser, forget about him."

"D'you think it's that easy? We went out for nearly a year and I've liked him so much longer than that. He isn't a loser at all, I love him and I feel so alone without him."

"I know, I know. But you've got me and James and Sirius...and Peter, too, I guess."

"Thanks Marlene, sorry for ruining your party."

"It's okay, you're more important. I had a great time anyway." She threw her arms around her best friend and hoped that things would somehow get better soon.

...

We hope you enjoyed our first joint effort and we hope there will be many more!

Please R&R, reviewers get a chance to comfort Remus, who is also suffering. First reviewer gets a Remus-shaped cookie.