Hi guys! So I'm here again, with my second multichapter story (second Blackinnon too, I see). This is going to be a long ride, sketching the lives of Sirius and Marlene from the start of Hogwarts to Marlene's death, so buckle up your seat belts! I hope you will enjoy this.

Before we start off, there are a few things I'd like to clarify:

1. This story will focus on various glimpses of Sirius and Marlene's life instead of being a continuous one (that would be too long and beyond me), like a collection of chronologically ordered one-shots. But most of them, of course, will be connected.

2. Please read the dates mentioned in the beginning of each chapter to get a better understanding of the story, as some chapters will be set months apart, while some others, only days.

3. I have tried to keep things as canon as possible. And I intend to complete this story, so please have faith in me.

Anyway, that was a long A/N. Moving on... All aboard! Let's get started.

First Sight

1st September, 1971

The scarlet train drew up into the little station of Hogsmeade in a billowing cloud of smoke. The doors opened, and students began to jump down onto the platform, dragging down their trunks with them, and some, hooting owls in cages. The previously quiet station was suddenly filled with youthful chatter.

"Hey, Alice!"

"Are you coming, Darren?"

"Come on, we need to go find a carriage!"

Among the crowd of seniors, the eleven year old students looked around in varied levels of confusion and nervousness. Some knew what came next; others had only a faint idea, while some simply stood in puzzled silence and trepidation, not having the least idea what to do.

Sirius, of course, was not nervous. Well, he told himself so. All right, the sheer number of students milling around was overwhelming, but it was fine. He waited with his trunk behind him, waiting for what was about to come. He could not wait to see the Hogwarts castle. Even his stingy aunts and cousins had given such glowing accounts of the place; he simply couldn't wait to see it himself.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" a booming voice was yelling over the hubbub of the crowds of students, old and young. Sirius took it as his cue to move. He looked around for James, his new friend, but the bespectacled boy was nowhere to be seen. He shrugged. He must have got separated in the crowd. He went over to the source of the voice, which turned out to be an enormous man with a bushy beard and beetle-like black eyes.

"Four to a boat!" he was saying, ushering students towards an array of little boats that bobbed on the dark waters of the Lake. "Not more than four in one boat! Come on, yeh lot."

Sirius walked forward towards one, only to bump straight into another student.

"Oomph!"

"Ouch!"

"I am sorry," he said automatically, the manners that had been drilled into him kicking in immediately. "I didn't see where I was going."

"It's okay," a feminine voice spoke, and he got a good look of the other individual. She had lovely shoulder-length blonde hair and deep blue eyes. She grinned at him. "Share a boat with me?"

He nodded and stepped into the boat after her, sitting down carefully. Two other students joined them, and the boats started off on their own, like a ghostly fleet.

He bid his time between staring at the rippling dark waters and inspecting the other students in the boats with him. One was a rather stuck up looking boy (he strongly suspected him to be a proud pureblood), and the other was a short girl with chestnut hair. She looked very shy. He decided that he wasn't interested in either of them. He turned to the golden haired girl he had bumped into. She was looking out into the distance with a gleam of interest in her eyes.

"So, what's your name?" he asked her.

"Marlene McKinnon," she replied with a smile. Sirius vaguely recalled his father speaking of some McKinnon once, whom he had had to meet at the Ministry. "And yours?"

"Sirius," he replied, withholding his surname. He had noticed quite early in life that most magical folk (apart from stuck up purebloods) didn't take too well to the name Black. Well, he couldn't blame them. His parents weren't the best of people.

"Sirius what?" she asked. Sirius frowned, feeling annoyed and yet liking the girl's inquisitiveness and sense of detail. He had used the same tactic on James too, and the boy hadn't noticed anything.

"Well, don't you have a surname?" she asked when he didn't answer.

"I do," he retorted.

"Tell me, then."

"Does it matter? You will find it out during the sorting anyway."

She huffed. "What's in a name?"

"I can ask you the same thing, you know, only turning it around," he said, a grin creeping up on his face.

She huffed again, and then sighed, defeated. Then, without warning, she burst out laughing.

He looked at her, wide-eyed, wondering if she was mad.

"What?" he asked, puzzled.

"Oh, nothing," she chuckled. "You are a funny guy. I like you, Sirius Whatever-Your-Surname-Is."

He grinned. He wasn't sure how long she would like him, especially if he got sorted into Slytherin, because she certainly didn't seem to be Slytherin material, but this was good for now. They spent the rest of their journey chatting happily with each other, just two children who had developed quite a liking for each other at first sight.

-o0o-

"Black, Sirius!" Professor McGonagall's voice rang out sharply. Sirius gulped. The Great Hall had gone deadly quiet at the commencement of the Sorting, and then everyone broke into low mutterings. Of course, as a Black, everyone expected him to be a Slytherin. But he didn't want that. When he had boarded the train, he had wanted to be different from his family, and the desire had only got stronger after his meeting with James and Marlene. He wanted to be anywhere, anywhere but in that house.

Not Slytherin, please, he thought as the hat was placed on his head, despite knowing the consequences of his wish. Gryffindor seemed fabulous, and Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were good enough as well. Just not Slytherin. A few seconds later, the hat cried out, "Gryffindor!"

Silence reigned for a few seconds, and then whispers broke across the hall like wildfire. At the Slytherin table, his cousin Narcissa was looking scandalised, an expression that was written on the face of every Slytherin. But his eyes sought only the line of first years as he seated himself at his house table. James was clapping enthusiastically and cheering. He searched for Marlene. As he found her ocean eyes from across the hall, she gave him a big smile and mouthed, "Nice, Black."

He grinned back, and his grin only widened when the said two sat down by his side only minutes later.

He had a new home. And a new family. He was happy.

So how was the start? Please, please leave me a review. Let me know of your queries and suggestions. Virtual love to all reviewers!