A/N: I've been mostly lurking in the Harry Potter fandom for almost 10 years now. This is the first time I've ever written HP fic, so we'll see how this goes. I'd like to find someone to Britpick future chapters for me, so if you're interested please let me know. This will be a multi-chap fic & it will eventually be AU, but not for quite a while yet.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. No profit is being made here, it's just for fun. Everything belongs to JKR.
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Light in the Storm- Chapter 1
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Although he never regretted joining the Order of the Phoenix, the meetings, Sirius had to admit, could be incredibly boring at times. This was one of those times.
He sat at a round table in the Order's secret headquarters, more commonly known as the basement of the Hog's Head. The goat smell that was barely detectable upstairs was much stronger in the basement. Sirius preferred not to think about it.
He had the greatest respect for Mad-Eye Moody, but the old Auror had a tendency to drone on and on about certain subjects. Right now he was in the process of ranting once again about the importance of "constant vigilance" and how no one took security seriously enough in these dangerous times. A quick glance at James, seated to his left, told Sirius that his best friend was just as bored as he was.
Sirius tried to listen, but he just couldn't focus. The fact that Marlene McKinnon, who sat on his right, kept putting her hand on his thigh didn't help. It was quite the distraction. He thought about nudging her to get her to stop, but the truth was that he enjoyed it, much like he'd enjoyed that night last week.
"… and everyone needs to think of a security question or several to ask your family members to be sure they aren't Death Eaters in disguise…" ranted Moody. Marlene's hand was on his thigh again. She patted him twice before running her hand up and down the length of his thigh. He gave an involuntary shiver in response, causing James to turn and look at him.
"You all right, Padfoot?" he asked under his breath.
"Yeah, it's nothing," Sirius whispered back. Marlene's hand was still on his thigh. He hadn't told James about his encounter with her. Ever since they'd left school and James married Lily, they hadn't seen each other as much as they were used to. The Order and the war certainly hadn't helped matters. He did try to visit James and Lily whenever he could, but he couldn't help but feel like an unwanted third party.
Finally, Mad-Eye finished his speech and Dumbledore concluded the meeting. The members of the Order slowly began to make their way upstairs, away from the basement's anti-Apparation jinxes. Sirius was both surprised and slightly relieved when Marlene went upstairs without saying anything to him. He really didn't want to explain what had happened with her to James at the moment.
"Sirius, we'd love to have you over for dinner this week," Lily was saying. "Sometimes it seems like we hardly ever get to see you."
"I know," he replied "Too much Order business, but I don't have any missions to complete this week." He smiled. "Dinner would be great." He followed James and Lily upstairs and bade goodbye to them as they Disapparated away.
The pub was almost entirely empty. Aberforth Dumbledore was putting glasses away behind the bar. Marlene stood in the corner, a cigarette dangling from her red lips. Her dark brown hair framed her face in elegant waves and her hazel eyes pierced his pale grey ones. She took a drag on her cigarette before she spoke. "I thought I'd wait for you."
Sirius took a cigarette of his own out of his pocket and lit it with a Muggle lighter. There was a certain amount of satisfaction in doing things the Muggle way. Even three years after he left his family for good, he still took every chance he got to reject everything they believed in.
He grinned at her. "You enjoyed yourself?"
She grinned back. "You know I did. Would you care for another round?" Her voice lowered to a purr.
"I would like that very much indeed," he said as he moved closer to her. "Your place or mine? Mine's a bit messy, but…" In truth, his flat was more like very messy.
"Mine," she cut him off. She put out her cigarette & Disapparated. Sirius followed suit and appeared in her living room a moment later.
Marlene's Diagon Alley flat was small, but quite comfortable. Her living room consisted of a couch, a pair of squishy armchairs, and a fireplace just big enough to use for Flooing. There was a wireless in one corner and a Muggle record player in another. Sirius smiled when he noticed it. He had one of his own, enchanted to run on magic.
Marlene took off her jacket and hung it on a coatrack by the door. Sirius followed suit, hanging his leather jacket up beside hers. "Please make yourself comfortable," she said as she went into the tiny kitchenette. He sat down on the couch.
A minute later, Marlene returned with a bottle of Firewhiskey. "Care for a drink?" she asked. "I know you like your Firewhiskey."
"You're right."
She conjured a pair of glasses, filled them, and handed one to him. He took a sip.
"You can never have too much Firewhiskey these days," he said.
"You've got that right," Marlene replied. "Things are getting worse." She became somber.
"I know." He took another swig of Firewhiskey. "It seems like it will never end. He's never going to stop, not till everyone who opposes him is dead."
Marlene moved closer to him and looped her free arm around his waist. Sirius tensed at the contact, but relaxed after another swig of Firewhiskey. "We never know if this day could be our last. I think we ought to live in the moment while we still have the chance." As she spoke, she slid her hand underneath his shirt.
Sirius emptied his glass and kissed her. Her lips were full and soft, and tasted of Firewhiskey. He didn't have nearly enough time to enjoy them before she broke off the kiss. "I can think of a better place for this sort of thing, don't you agree?"
He smiled at her. "Of course."
They'd scarcely gotten in the door to the bedroom when Marlene pressed her lips to his. How was it possible for a single pair of lips to be so perfect? He wanted to feel them all over him, on his neck, on his chest, on his nipples, on his…
Marlene interrupted his fantasy by ending the kiss and
instead running her hands under his shirt. "Oh Merlin," she sighed, "you've got such a nice body."
She led him over to the bed, and there was very little talking after that.
**
When Sirius woke up the next morning, it took him a brief moment to remember where he was through the haze of drowsiness. Then he glanced over at Marlene's sleeping form lying beside him and remembered everything that had happened the previous night. It was the best shag he'd ever had, simply put. It was only the second time they'd slept together, yet she seemed to know exactly how to bring him to the brink of ecstasy and beyond. But perhaps she was just more experienced than he was. Not that Sirius wasn't experienced, but Marlene was five years older than him. I guess I like older women, he mused. First Madam Rosmerta, now Marlene…
Marlene interrupted his thoughts by rolling over onto her side, her back facing him. She was still asleep. His view of her ample breasts was ruined, but she did have an interesting tatoo to look at. It was a red rose, extending down from her left shoulder to halfway down her back. It was beautifully detailed, right down to the tiny thorns. But the most interesting thing about it was that it was a Muggle tatoo.
Sirius had never seen another wizard besides himself with Muggle tatoos. He'd been fascinated with them ever since he saw pictures of tatooed Muggles in his motorcycle magazines. The fascination continued when he saw them in person at a few concerts he'd attended. He knew he had to get some of his own, and so he'd got a pair of pawprints, one on each shoulder, and the constellation Canis Major across his upper back with his namesake star shown prominently.
He still got a bit of a kick whenever he got a new Muggle item. Sirius liked to picture his parents' reactions if they saw his flying motorcycle in particular. They would've been priceless. His father had died only a month ago, but some part of Sirius wanted to run into his mother in Diagon Alley one day, just so she could see him going around in a leather jacket and a pair of jeans. He recalled one memorable row when he'd come home for the summer wearing jeans and his dear old mum had thrown a fit and forbade him from wearing them. He'd had to Transfigure them in order to keep them from being thrown out by Kreacher. That was the summer when he'd finally had enough and run away to James's house. It seemed like that had happened ages ago now.
He turned his attention back to Marlene's tatoo. The deep red and vibrant green stood out against her pale, cream-colored skin. She really did have beautiful skin. It contrasted nicely with her deep burgundy sheets.
"Are you watching me sleep?" she asked, startling him out of his thoughts.
"I was admiring your tatoo. It's beautiful."
Marlene turned around to face him. "Thank you. I like yours too."
"Thanks," he said. "I'd always wanted a Muggle tatoo ever since I first saw them in a motorcycle magazine."
"I just wanted to be different. My mum is a Muggleborn, you know," she explained. In fact, Sirius hadn't known that Marlene was a half-blood. He chuckled.
"What's so funny?" she asked with a smile.
"I was just imagining how my parents would react if they knew I was sleeping with a half-blood," he answered with a grin. "My mother would be furious. Before I left, she kept lecturing me on how it was my duty to marry the 'right' sort of pureblood girl and produce male heirs to carry on the Black family name. I told her there was no way in hell I'd marry some pureblood twit just to have her precious heirs."
Marlene laughed. It was a nice sound- he liked girls who laughed, really laughed, not the sort who gave simpering little giggles. He'd spent plenty of time around the latter type during his parents' attempts to introduce him to the "right" sort of girl. "It must've taken a lot of strength to leave your family like that."
"Yeah," he said.
"I knew your cousins at school, you know. Andromeda was a year older than me and Narcissa was a year younger."
"Andromeda was always my favorite cousin. She still is, in fact. But Bellatrix and Narcissa were perfectly awful. As a matter of fact, Bellatrix still is." He shuddered at the memory of his last encounter with her during a battle between the Order and Death Eaters.
"With people like her in your family, it's no wonder that you ran away from home," said Marlene. She put her hand on his arm.
"It was the best decision I've ever made. I don't regret it. Not at all." After that, neither of them spoke for several minutes. The subject of his family was not something Sirius wanted to continue discussing. Instead he enjoyed the feeling of Marlene's hand resting on his arm.
"Perhaps we ought to get phoenix tatoos. Show off our pride at being members of the Order," Marlene mused.
"James and I already made Order shirts, but I like the idea of a pheonix tatoo. Perhaps we could get them on our upper arms?" Sirius suggested.
"Good idea," said Marlene. "Now it's getting late. We should probably get out of bed. Would you care for some breakfast?"
"Breakfast," he began, "would be excellent."
