And here's the second chapter. I hope the first one didn't disappointe you.
Thanks to Hillstar for reviewing and Fea just me for favouriting and following.
Disclaimer: Not mine. I wish it were, though.
Lost in the Castle
10th September, 1971
"Marlene, hurry up, or we'll be late for class!" Lily's voice was getting steadily high-pitched as her nervousness increased. The redhead was bouncing on her heels, getting more and more unstrung with every passing minute.
"I'm coming, I'm coming — now where's my Transfiguration book?"
Marlene had woken up late that day, and Lily, being the good friend that she had so soon proved she was, had given up on breakfast while the blonde tried to get her appearance anything close to neat. Her blonde ponytail flying as she looked around for her books and quills that seemed to have chosen just that morning to go missing, Marlene McKinnon was quite a mess.
"Marlene—!" Lily sounded on the verge of tears now.
Their first class was McGonagall's, and Lily Evans clearly didn't intend to get a blot on her perfect reputation anytime soon. But the problem was that Marlene's book hadn't even offered a glimpse just yet. The other girls in their dorm had already left.
"Lily, listen," Marlene said, forcing a fake calm into her voice, "just go without me. I don't want you to get late because of me."
Lily teetered on the edge of her decision, biting her lip in hesitation while a part of her clearly itched to leave.
"But —"
"Go on, I'll follow in a minute. Give McGonagall my excuses if I'm late."
After another second of hesitation, the redhead nodded.
"See you!"
And in a flurry of red hair and black robes, she was gone from the dorm.
It took Marlene five more minutes to find her copy of A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration, and another five to set all her things right in her bag, and then, she was rushing down the corridors and climbing up the stairs almost blindly.
It was only after she had slowed her pace down to some extent that she realized that her surroundings seemed unfamiliar, and were certainly not those which she had got accustomed to seeing near their transfiguration classroom. She bit her lip in nervousness. Where had she gone wrong?
All this week, Michael and Malcolm, her elder brothers, had insisted on walking her to all her classes, insisting that they "could not bear to see our baby sister getting lost", and it had taken a lot of screaming and yelling on her part to convince them that she would be able to manage just fine by herself. And here she was, lost on the very first day she had been left alone by her overprotective brothers.
But where did I go wrong? Marlene simply couldn't understand. She had followed all the instructions that her brothers had practically drilled into her head — left turn, walk straight, up a couple of staircases — what was wrong?
And then it struck her.
"There's a staircase on the way to the Transfiguration classroom that takes you to a different place every Friday. Remember that." Michael's words echoed in her head. And today was Friday.
Shit.
She should have taken the other way, which the others probably had taken. How could she forget?
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
Marlene felt like crying. Now here she was, somewhere in this huge castle with no clue where to go. How was she supposed to reach her class now? A tear leaked out from her eye.
"Hello! Marlene, isn't it?"
She turned around towards the source of the voice, hurriedly wiping her eyes on her sleeve. Steadily staring at her was that boy she had shared her boat to school.
"Sirius, right?" she pulled up a smile despite her anxiety. He nodded.
"What are you doing here? Don't we have class now?"
"I — I got lost," she admitted reluctantly.
"Oh! Then we can go to class together!" he grinned broadly, not losing a sliver of his brightness. She nodded, falling into step beside him.
"Thank you."
"No need," he waved her off.
He added after a brief pause, "I never got around to talking to you much after the first day."
"Yeah, that's true," she conceded.
Although they had got on well the first day, they really hadn't interacted much other than polite smiles and small talk ("Could you please pass the salt?" or "I wish Binns' lessons were even a bit more interesting." "Who doesn't?"). He mostly walked around with the other three Gryffindor boys in their year, and he and James were practically inseparable already. And while James himself was a good friend of her (they had known each other since they were kids), she hadn't been able to talk to him much as Lily, her now (and new) best friend, had taken a strong dislike to him.
They walked ahead together, chatting away with each other. Marlene's panic slipped away in Sirius' jolly company. That boy was like a burning torch, he had such a cheery character.
"You know the way, don't you?" she asked, almost lazily, at length. The question was, she believed, quite unnecessary, given the confidence in Sirius' behaviour.
"Um, well, I'm lost too, you know," he said sheepishly.
"WHAT?" Her heart stopped for a second, her panic returned full force. "I had been counting on you, Sirius!"
"Merlin, relax, McKinnon! We'll find the way."
She huffed, but only kept to his side only because there was no one else to go to. And to be honest, his cheerfulness was infectious.
But as he had said, she needn't have worried. After a few instructions from the portraits who were only too happy to offer help, they found themselves in front of Professor McGonagall's classroom.
"Told you we'd reach our destination," Sirius grinned at her.
"Yeah, well, thanks," she smiled at him.
"So, friends?"
"I'd love to be." Their hands met in a firm handshake.
"Now let's go in and face the music." Sirius gave her a slight push. She nodded, and together, they opened the door and stepped in. At once, the entire class looked at her.
"Miss McKinnon, Mr Black, may I know why you are late?" Professor McGonagall's severe face greeted them.
Marlene would have been surprised at herself when her hand found Sirius' and held it tightly, had she not been looking down on the floor in shame and fear.
"Sorry, professor, we got lost." It was Sirius who answered on her behalf.
McGonagall's expression softened ever so slightly.
"Although I am aware that this problem is common among new students, I must request you to be more careful henceforth. You may take your seats."
Nodding gratefully, they walked over to their benches. As he neared his seat, Sirius arched an eyebrow at their still joined hands. Blushing, Marlene dropped it.
"Thanks," she mouthed, and made her way to sit beside Lily. As she passed, she heard James say to his friend, "I told you I could have waited behind for you."
Smiling, she sat down in her place. Lily gave her a raised eyebrow at her unwavering smile. Marlene only shrugged, bending forward to begin taking notes.
I just got a new friend, was her only thought. And somehow, she felt sure that this friendship was not going to be one to break off easily.
