The late summer sun was streaming through open doors into a kitchen. Three teenagers were sat at a table; two boys and a girl. The two boys were eating breakfast, the girl was reading a newspaper.

"Hey, Marley, pass the butter," one of the boys said cheerfully. The girl didn't look up from her newspaper. "Marls?"

Her brown eyes appeared over the top of the paper. "What?"

The boy who'd addressed her grinned. He had similar brown eyes to her, but his were behind glasses. "Are you hanging?"

"No James, I'm not. Unlike you, I can actually handle alcohol."

The other boy got up under the pretence of clearing the plates away. He bent over the girl.

"LOUD NOISES!" he shouted cheerfully, causing James to laugh and Marley to wince and hit him.

"God, I hate you Black."

He smirked. "You love me really McKinnon."

She gave him a filthy look, and stormed off.

James was still laughing. "Oh Sirius. I'm so glad you live here now. We can piss her off 24/7."

"But she doesn't live here, James."

"She pretty much does."

"Only because I'm here. If I wasn't, she wouldn't bother spending so much time with you."

"Stop being an arrogant arse," James grinned.

Sirius laughed. "James, I will never ever do what you tell me."

James pouted. "You have to now. I'm Head Boy!"

"Have you told Evans yet?"

"Er, no. She shouted at me after we got off the train so I haven't spoken to her all summer. Maybe she'll have warmed to me in absence."

"Doubt it. She's a lost cause."

"We'll see," James smirked.

The boys left the kitchen, and walked through a large hallway and climbed the stairs. They turned to the first bedroom on the right. Marley was throwing clothes into a trunk.

"What are you doing?" James asked her.

"Going home."

"I'm sorry? I was under the impression you lived here."

"Very funny."

"I'm serious. You've been here, what, three weeks?"

"Well we're going back to school tomorrow. I have to pack my stuff."

James rolled his eyes. Marley had a lot of stuff, even for a girl. "Have you heard from Lily this week?"

"Yep."

"Is she Head Girl?"

"Yep."

"Did you tell her I was Head Boy?"

"No. I thought it'd be a nice surprise for tomorrow." She grinned. "Fuck, I've been spending too much time with you two. I didn't know I could be so mean."

"I did," Sirius said, leaning against the door frame.

Marley made a rude gesture at him, before walking over to the fireplace and disappearing in a flash of green fire.

"Rude," James grumbled. "She didn't even say bye to her favourite cousin."

"You're her only cousin, James."

Marley pushed her way through the crowd of students milling around on the platform, looking for her friends.

"Marley! Over here!"

She followed the voice and found Lily Evans, Mary MacDonald, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.

"You look nice, Marls."

"Cheers, Remus."

"We were just discussing who's been made Head Boy," Mary said. "Lily doesn't know who it is. It's not Remus, like we all thought it would be."

"You mean he didn't tell you?" I said to Remus and Peter, who looked confused.

"You know who it is?" Lily said. "Who is it?"

"James," Marley said, grinning.

"What?" Everyone said at the same time.

"Please tell me you're joking." Lily looked absolutely horrified at the thought. "James Potter?"

"MARLEY!" A loud voice shouted, and she was knocked over. James had tackled her to the ground. "I missed you."

"You saw me yesterday, idiot."

"He's Head Boy?" Lily still couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Yes, Lily, I'm Head Boy," James beamed.

"I think I need to go and sit down," Lily said faintly, and walked up to the front of the train where the Prefects compartment was. James and Remus followed her.

A hand appeared in front of Marley's face, and she grabbed it and got up.

"You know Marls, I wish you'd told me what you were going to wear, so we didn't match."

"Fucking hell Black! It took me ages to pick this!"

They were both wearing ripped jeans, black t shirts and blazers. Marley was wearing black stilettos and Sirius was wearing trainers.

"Hmmm. I suppose you look good... not as good as me though," Sirius grinned.

"I could bloody well hex you, Black."

"Shall we er, get on the train then?" Peter asked, trying to diffuse the tension.

Marley climbed on first and threw herself into a window seat, fuming. Sirius sat in the opposite corner and deliberately looked away.

"You two really have been spending far too much time together," Mary said, looking from one to the other.

"James' fault," they both said at the same time, and smiled.

Several people passed the compartment on their way to find seats. Several girls stopped to flirt with Sirius, until a younger version of him passed, glared into the compartment, and Sirius slammed the door shut, shattering the windows.

"What's going on there?" Marley frowned.

"None of your bloody business, McKinnon."

She simply stared at him.

Sirius sighed. "He signed up over the summer."

"How do you know? I mean, is it definite?" Peter asked.

"He showed me his Mark at Uncle Alph's funeral. So yeah, it's pretty definite."

Mary repaired the window and Sirius sat brooding.

"You should tell Dumbledore," Marley said quietly.

"Yeah, I will."

"Have you thought about his offer?" Marley asked suddenly.

"Yeah. I'm going to do it."

"Me too. How can we not?"

"Care to fill us in?" Mary asked.

"No," Sirius snapped. Mary, used to his attitude, just rolled her eyes.

A couple of hours passed by before James, Lily and Remus returned.

"Mary, Marley, I need to talk to you both," Lily said, standing at the door. The three of them made their way to the now deserted Prefects compartment.

"What's wrong?" Mary asked her, once they were inside.

"James. He's... different."

"No he's not," Marley snorted. "Trust me, I spent all summer with him."

"He's behaving himself. He didn't insult anyone, or hex anyone... do you reckon he's under the Imperius curse?"

Marley and Mary burst out laughing.

"This isn't funny!" Lily said hotly.

"Lily, did you see him chuck himself at Marley? He's definitely himself, and not Imperiused," Mary laughed.

"Are you sure?" Lily turned her green eyes onto Marley's brown ones.

"Yes," Marley said. "Sirius and I have been with him every day for the last two months. There's no way he got Imperiused."

Further down the train, the four boys were finally reunited.

"Anything good happen over the summer?" Peter asked them.

"There's a new potion that's been invented," Remus said. "It's supposed to tame werewolves during their transformation."

"Awww, that's no fun," Sirius said, looking disappointed. "I like our midnight adventures on a full moon."

"Speak for yourself," Remus muttered darkly, remembering the pain of transforming. It never dulled, and he never got used to it, even though it had been nearly fourteen years since he'd been bitten.

"Between Quidditch, Head Boy duties, NEWTs and Lily, I don't think I'll have time for full moon escapades," James said regretfully. "Sorry Moony."

"It's alright," Remus sighed. "Dumbledore wrote to me and told me he'd got enough in to last the year, but I still have to go to the Shrieking Shack... just in case."

The girls returned then.

"Any good gossip?" James asked, his hazel eyes sparkling mischievously.

"I heard that Amelia Bones and Amos Diggory are going out," Mary said, giving a meaningful look to Marley and Sirius.

They both shrugged.

"Clingy," Sirius said.

"Pathetic," Marley countered, and they both grinned at each other.

Sirius pulled out a cigarette, lit it, took a drag, and passed it to Marley.

"Marley, you don't smoke," Lily scolded her, shocked.

Marley shrugged. "Sirius is a bad influence."

Lily rounded on James. "Are you going to let them do that?"

James laughed. "I learned a long time ago that you can't tell Sirius Black or Marlene McKinnon what to do. They just ignore you."

Lily glared at him. He sighed. "Come on guys, put it out."

"Or what?" Sirius laughed. "What are you going to do? Put us in detention? You wouldn't dare."

"Wanna bet, Padfoot?"

"Yes, actually Prongs, I do," Sirius leaned back, amused, and Marley passed the cigarette back to him. "Why is it covered in red stuff?"

"It's lipstick," Marley said. "You know, the stuff you get all over your face when you pull some random girl."

Sirius took the last pull and flicked the cigarette out the window. "There, it's gone. Happy now?"

Over the course of the afternoon, the seven teenagers resorted to different activities. Marley reapplied her make up. Sirius stared out the window. Lily read a book. James and Peter talked about Quidditch. Remus read the newspaper. Mary wrote a letter to her family. Eventually they got changed into their school uniform as the train began to slow down. They pushed their way off the train.

"Come on," Sirius muttered, grabbing Marley's hand and pulling her towards a horseless carriage.

"What's going on there?" Lily asked James, looking at Marley's blonde head and Sirius' dark head disappear through the crowd.

"What?" James asked.

"God James, you're dense," Mary said. "Marls and Sirius are holding hands. And they're not arguing as much as usual."

"I dunno. I suppose they've got used to each other now."

"Oi, are you lot coming?" Sirius shouted, poking his head out of the window of a carriage.

They followed suit and climbed in. Sirius and Marley were no longer holding hands, Marley was fiddling with one of her long blonde curls, Sirius watching her absently.

Lily and Mary watched the two of them curiously. They weren't sat close together, their body language didn't suggest that anything was going on. But they used to argue constantly, and they were both very good at hiding things that they didn't want others to know about.

Marley finally noticed Sirius staring at her. "What?" she asked him.

"Hmmm?" he shook himself out of his thoughts.

"You were looking at me weird."

"Oh, sorry. I was somewhere else."

The seven of them jumped out of the carriage when it pulled up at the castle. Marley was instantly knocked into Sirius.

"Oi, watch it," the person who had pushed her snapped. She looked up, and saw the greasy hair and prominent nose of Severus Snape.

"I think you should be the one to watch it, Snivelly," Sirius snarled, helping Marley up for the second time that day.

"Is that a threat, Black?"

"Sev, stop it," Lily said quietly. Snape turned his gaze to her, and stormed off.

"Are you ok?" Sirius asked Marley, his hands still lightly touching her waist.

"I really wish people would stop pushing me over today," she grumbled, and walked into the castle. The others followed her.

"Did you see him over the summer?" Mary asked Lily in an undertone.

Lily shook her head. "He keeps to himself now."

"I never could understand why you were friends with him," Mary said quietly.

"He was my best friend," Lily said sadly. "But he's one of them now." She cast a dark look towards the table where Snape and his friends were sitting.

"Do you think he's a Death Eater?"

"I don't know, Mary."

Marley was keen to get into bed after the Welcoming Feast. The other girls in the dormitory had other ideas, and wanted to catch up after the summer. Mary, Lily, and Alice Cooper were sat in the middle of the room, trading gossip.

After ten minutes of them not shutting up, Marley gave up on sleep and climbed through the window onto the roof.

"Fancy seeing you up here, McKinnon," said the familiar voice of Sirius Black.

"Couldn't sleep," Marley said, sitting next to him and grabbing the cigarette in his hand.

"Neither could I. James wouldn't shut up about his new plan to get Lily."

"Lily just won't shut up."

Sirius looked at her. "Why are you wearing my t shirt?"

Marley looked down in surprise. "Oh, it's yours. I must've packed it with my stuff before I left James'."

"Come on McKinnon, whip it off."

"Piss off Black. I'm not wearing underwear."

"Even better," Sirius smirked.

In the dormitory, the girls were watching out the window as Marley and Sirius chatted.

"What's going on there?" Alice asked eagerly.

"We don't know," Mary said. "He held her hand earlier when we walked to the carriages, then when Snape pushed her over he helped her up and wouldn't let go of her."

"And he helped her up earlier when James knocked her over," Lily chimed in.

Alice giggled. "Oooooh, James. Has he asked you out since last year?"

Lily scowled. "No. He bloody better not. He's Head Boy. I might kill him."

"James is Head Boy?! Is Dumbledore mad?"

"Probably," Lily said. "Maybe being a genius has finally made him crack."

Marley climbed back through the window, followed by Sirius.

"Hello ladies," he smirked.

Marley grabbed a fresh t shirt out of her trunk and pulled the curtains around her bed closed.

"No bloody peeking," she said.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Sirius said, trying to tease the curtains apart.

Marley was too quick for him. She pulled the curtains apart and she'd already changed. She threw the t shirt at him.

"Bugger off, I'm going to bed," she told him.

Sirius climbed back out the window. "Night ladies."

The three girls stared at Marley.

"What?"

"You gave him your t shirt. That's weird," Mary said bluntly.

"It was his, I accidentally packed it."

It was silent for a few minutes.

"Do you fancy him?" Alice asked, getting straight to the point.

"What? No!" Marley said.

"So what was with the hand holding and touching earlier?" Mary asked.

Marley shrugged. "He's just friendly."

Lily snorted. "Friendly. That's one way of putting it."

Marley rolled her eyes. "I'm going to sleep, so you lot can shut up."

The other girls climbed into their beds too, and switched off their lamps.