For Anka7995. Hope you enjoy!

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The first time that Marlene sees Sirius Black shirtless, she is speechless and not in the good way. She had heard horror stories about how the Blacks liked to "discipline" their children, spoken by women in hushed voices, their hands covering their faces, but seeing the mirage of scars littering his chest and a few disappearing from view, Marlene feels anger course through her body.

She slowly extents her arm, placing her hand gently on his chest, among the constellations of scars. It reminds her too much of the stars that he's famously named for. She looks up to meet his steely eyes. Standing in front of her isn't the self-proclaimed ladies' man, but a guarded individual. There's something different in his eyes; instead of laughter and mischief, there's something harder, colder.

He covers her hand with his own. "Pick one," he commands, his voice emotionless, "and I'll tell you the story of who put it there and what I did wrong."

She closes her eyes and shakes her head. Her heart hurts for him, for the pain that he went through. When she opens her eyes again, she notices that wall he had up moments ago is gone, leaving clear-as-day pain in his eyes.

Knowing nothing else to do, she leans forward and presses a kiss to the first scar she comes to. She can feel him tense beneath her lips. But she doesn't stop. She moves to the next one, kissing it gently too. After another two, he stops tensing.

He stands there silently as she kisses each visible scar. It takes all her will-power not to count them as she goes. She doesn't really want to know. After a long while, she finally presses her lips to the final scar on his back – it's about a centimeter wide in the middle of his back.

She slips her hands around his waist, hugging him from behind and pressing another kiss to his shoulder blade. He grips her hand tightly.

And they don't say anything for a long while. Not that Marlene minds, because she knows that Sirius understands what she was doing. She was creating better memories for the scars. She doesn't want him to think of only the punishments he received, but to think of caring and love.

A/n – so many thanks to Lizy for beta-ing this for me!