An image of colour on an etch-a-sketch, a vision of dazzling colour blown oh so quickly away by the wind, a dead girl's smile as the wind whistles through the trees, he never thought that it would end this way. If anything, he was supposed to die, she was always supposed to live and now, well they might as well both be dead because Sirius Black doesn't even know if he's still breathing, doesn't even care, perhaps even wishes that he wasn't.
It does not help that they say all the wrong words, that they don't even tell her story right. They talk about a girl who fought for peace and died trying to protect those she loved; they talk about how she would have made an inspirational auror and how she will be greatly missed. He shakes his head in disgust at them all.
In their praising of this unknown girl they fail to mention Marlene. They don't speak of the vengeance that was always and forever in her heart, they fail to mention how the war broke her into a million pieces until she wasn't even sure if she was good anymore. What annoys him the most however is how good they make her sound; Marlene McKinnon was never that sweet in life. She was never that responsible, she was never any of that. Marlene McKinnon was perfectly capable of walking into a room of death eaters, infuriating them and then daring them to try their luck at killing her. He couldn't count how many times he'd had to save her; he couldn't count how many times Regulus had had to help him save her.
You weren't supposed to be envious of the dead but today Sirius couldn't quite help himself. While they prattled on about this girl that he didn't know, Sirius could see, in his mind's eye, Marlene and Regulus, together in death, the way that he and Marlene had always been in life.
It had never been a secret, Regulus' love for Marlene and the connection between them had always been different, Regulus saw another side of Marlene, perhaps he even saw the girl that these people kept talking about. More than once Sirius had wondered what would have happened of his younger brother had of followed his footsteps into Gryffindor. Marlene had often told him that it was the two of them against the world and that no matter what choice he made between good or evil, Regulus would never be able to change that.
Sirius wondered if death changed that.
He is the last to say something and for once, when he stands in front of a crowd, his mouth is dry and he finds himself confusingly unable to speak. What is he supposed to say? His eyes catch Emmeline's bloodshot ones and drink in the reassurance there; she was Marlene's best friend, closer than sisters. She seems to tell him, 'she would've wanted this.'
He swallows and starts, "Marlene Mckinnon was definitely not perfect," he can almost see her, shaking her head beside Emmeline, berating him for insulting her at 'her party'. He shakes his head ruefully, "but i think i might have loved her."
/ for the Hogwarts Games pole vault event, sorry it's bad but i have sailing tomorrow so there was a deadline