Strawberries and Smoke
Well this is my first oneshot so be nice. I love the Sirius/Marlene Pairing. The are my main ship other then Lily/James. And even though I wish I did I don't own Harry Potter. That right belongs solely to JK. Well heeerrreee you gooooooo…
Marlene McKinnon smelled like strawberries and wild lavender. It was his favorite smell. He didn't like Lily, who smelled like Jasmine and ink, or Dorcas, who smelled like hairspray, chocolate, and coffee. He didn't like Mary, who smelled like vanilla and dust, or Alice who smelled of her cherry bubblegum and honeysuckle shampoo. He liked Marlene. She smelled like strawberries.
That was the main flavor with lavender spicing up the background. She smoked and drank but whenever she got near him he could only smell strawberries on her breath and rioting lavender in her hair.
When she was with him in her flat the wild lavender planted in the window box made the entire place fragrant and airy. Her clothes smelled like strawberries and her smile was like the sun over a wild Scottish moor. The one time he was ever in her flat alone it stank of cigarettes and firewhiskey, sweat and stickiness.
He hated how whatever she touched was contaminated with the stink of battle and smoke. He hated how when she swept into a room it smelled fresh and homey but if she would leave and forget so much as a glove, smoke would cloud the air, mingling with the smell of sweat.
He would come to her, smelling strawberries. He would leave smelling nicotine. She would wrap her arms around his neck. He would taste the sweet; lick the lavender off her skin. She would kiss him and then even the horrible smoke that pervaded the air around him after she left would be bearable. The sweat would be tolerated, the firewhiskey manageable. The smells of his childhood home became welcomed because he knew that with them there would come the cloying smell of strawberries, the rich smell of lavender.
Marlene smiled at him the day she died. She said she was going to the drugstore for some feminine items. She didn't come back. After an hour of waiting Sirius went out looking for her. The cigarette smoke taunted him as he ran through the streets.
When he found her she smelled like cigarettes and sweat. And blood. Blood was something he had never smelled on her before. Not after battles, not after fights. Marlene didn't smell like blood. She was a creature of smoke and strawberries. Lust and lavender. Sweat and sunshine. Not the thick coppery smell of blood. Never blood.
He sent out the alarm for the Aurors. The took her away. It was her funeral when he saw her next. She was clothed in a beautiful black gown. She would have hated it. She loved miniskirts and bright colors. She loved moving and eating strawberries. She loved watering her wild lavender that she grew in pots. She loved being alive. Marlene loved being alive.
Then Sirius thinks about the cigarette smoke. Sweat and firewhiskey. He thinks about the days he saw her crying on her couch in her little yellow miniskirt and bright orange top. He thought about the smell of smoke that had stained his flat with memories of her. Sirius thinks that he has no idea what Marlene McKinnon would really want. He has no idea who Marlene McKinnon really is. He can't even say what she smells like.
She was killed on her way home. She didn't have tampons or pads in her shopping bag. She had a pregnancy test. Sirius never got to find out if it was going to come out positive. He had really wanted it to come out positive. He had really wanted it to come out positive.
In Azkaban a year later he smells strawberries and smoke. He smiles.
Fin. Ta my first oneshot. Oh *smiles*. How time has passed… Well I hope you enjoy. The Amazing One