Disclaimer: Thank you JK Rowling for creating such a wonderful world and letting us play with it here on Fanfiction!
5th year:
"Whatcha doing?"
Marlene didn't look up. In fact she didn't acknowledge that he'd spoken at all. Sirius Black leaned forward, and waved a hand in front of the blondes face. She blinked but continued scribbling furiously on her practice exam. Sirius leaned back sighing.
It was spring and the first nice day of the season to boot and all anyone wanted to do was study. Even James was currently in the library with Remus and Peter, on the pretense of studying. Sirius bet it was more for the hope of spotting Evans than to actually study though. Sirius on the other hand was bored and didn't want to study anymore, not that he really had been.
He rested his head on his hand and continued to watch Marlene thoughtfully. She was rather pretty when she was studying. She was weirdly more relaxed than usual, not worried about her facial expression or what she should say or how she looked, her long thick wavy blonde hair pulled back into a low pony as it always was when she studied. Sirius liked that - liked seeing her more relaxed. But he'd been sitting with her and watching her study for far too long today. It was time to take a break. Now he just needed to figure out how to get the 5th year resident bookworm to take one.
He started taping the fingers of the hand not holding his head up on the table in a careless pattern, a small smile on his face. He saw her face twitch in annoyance and his smile grew. After five minutes of this she finally looked up, her blue eyes sparkling.
"Honestly Black, you know I'm studying so what could you possibly want?" Her tone was exasperated but Sirius knew Marlene too well; he noticed the slight tensing of the muscles by her mouth that indicated she was trying not to smile. Sirius was one of the few people who knew how to get Marlene to relax without studying and he knew it.
"Don't you think you've studied Potions long enough?" Sirius asked sweetly.
"No," Marlene replied bluntly. She cocked her head to the side. "You do realize exams start in two weeks, right?" Sirius waved her off, unconcerned.
"I merely meant why don't we take a break from Potions and study something else."
Marlene narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Sirius fixed his face in a mask of innocence.
Marlene finally sat back and set her quill down. "Alright. What are you suggesting?" Sirius beamed.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her out the portrait hole with a, "Come on!"
He felt more than saw her surprise as he pulled her along, but after an initial, "Wait! Sirius, don't we need our books?" And the reply, "Not for a practical!" she allowed herself to be pulled along with no resistance.
When they reached the oak front doors Marlene stopped and pulled her arm away.
"Sirius," she said warily looking toward the doors.
He responded with his signature puppy dog eyes.
"I promise we'll be studying, Mack," he swore. Yes he had an ulterior motive, get outside, but if he had to he'd make this excursion into a practical.
Marlene chewed on her bottom lip thinking. Sirius knew she was wrestling with her control freak self who needed to be studying and with her desire to not be cooped up in the castle any longer and debating whether it would be worth it to trust Sirius that he actually intended to study while also enjoying the outdoors.
"Come on Mack. Would I ever lie to you?" Sirius beseeched. She met his eyes and smiled.
"Yes. But I trust you. Let's go." Marlene then left a surprised Sirius and headed out the doors. Sirius grinned despite himself and followed her out.
Outside Marlene's normally perfectly kept hair was being rustled about in the wind giving her long waves that sexy wind tossed look. Sirius swallowed. She turned to him then a small smile on her face. She was radiant.
"Where to now, Black?" She asked a small smile on her lips, still using his last name to keep up the pretense that she might still be annoyed with him but he wasn't buying it. Already some of the tension from exams had seeped away from her. Sirius smiled back in answer - how could he not when she looked like that?
"Follow me." He led her down towards the lake and proceeded to walk to the far side, Marlene trailing along just behind him.
It really was a beautiful day: sunny and warm a gentle breeze rustling the new leaves on the trees, and through their hair, the smell of summer on the air.
"Did you know spring was my favorite season?" Marlene spoke softly from behind him. Without turning Sirius smiled. He had, but like hell he'd admit it.
"I didn't. Why is that?" he asked instead. His smile only grew at her answer.
"Because spring feels like coming alive, like I've been dormant for too long and I'm just waking up. Everything is new and I feel like the whole world is before me and that anything is possible."
Sirius cast a glance back at her and what he saw he'd be embarrassed to admit quickened his heart and almost made him stop in wonderment.
She was beautiful but not just physically cause Sirius had felt that kind of attraction to girls before and this wasn't like that. This even he recognized as something different; but then it always had been something different with Marlene McKinnon.
Marlene's hair was blowing gently, her face set in softness, the stresses of the past weeks and stress over upcoming exams nowhere to be seen, her body carefree for just a moment, her eyes soft, looking around in contentment and with just a little bit of feverish excitement. Sirius caught himself before he said something stupid like that she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen and suddenly her blue eyes met his gray ones. He started and continued on saying instead, "Oh yeah McKinnon? Well maybe that's because it is." Marlene smiled.
They soon reached the little tide pool, so to speak, of the Great Lake that Sirius had been heading for. He stopped under the trees and proceeded to take his shoes off and roll up his pants and his shirt sleeves, his tie slightly askew. Marlene stared at him.
"Uh, Sirius? What are you doing?" She asked.
"Prepping for our practical. I suggest you do the same," he easily replied. Then he shot her a wink and began wading into the cool waters of the lake, his wand held casually in his hand to clear away the muck his feet were tossing up, his eyes searching the waters.
"Er - just what kind of practical is this exactly?" Marlene asked from the shore biting her lip. Sirius looked back at her. The stress was creeping back onto her face and Sirius didn't like that one bit. Luckily, Sirius found what he was looking for. Bending, he pulled up a slimy green plant. He held it up triumphantly.
"Water plants! It's a practical for Herbology," he said with gusto. Marlene's eyes widened with interest and surprise. Soon she was wading out to him, bending her head close to look at the plant. Sirius smelled her vanilla and coconut shampoo and began rambling on about the plants magical properties and how it was useful lest he do something crazy like try to kiss her. If Marlene noticed his rambling was a cover she didn't act like it instead listening raptly and asking questions or adding her own knowledge about the plant.
Soon they'd relaxed into an easy system and the pair proceeded to wade and do the same for all the aquatic plants they found in the shallow pool of the Great Lake. Sirius was surprised to find he was actually enjoying himself. He'd always had a weird fascination with Herbology, especially water plants and it was a good excuse to both be outside and spending time with Marlene.
Not that he particularly wanted to spend time with Marlene. They were friends. Just friends.
"Sirius! Over here! I think I found an Armesic Waterdragon! I didn't even know they could be found in the Great Lake!" Marlene's excited shout caught him. Sirius turned to her to see her bent over a plant in the shallows the ends of her hair dipping into the water, pure delight and happiness on her face. Smiling Sirius made his way over to her. No they were just friends.
a/n: So I realized awhile back when I first wrote the Remus Lupin chapter of this that there really are a lot of untold stories for these two so I've deiced to do something a little different with this story and add some more chapters! Each of the chapters will be written a bit differently, from differnt POVs and with different narrators but they will all be about Sirius, Marlene and their friends. I have a few more that I know I want to write (and some I've already written) but I also wanted to open this up to user input. What I mean by that is that each of these chapters might contain mention of a story or event that you want explored more - for instance the first chapter is only ever told from Remus's POV and a lot happens off scene, as it were, that he wasn't involved in and had to infer (most of which he did a bang up job on - but he still missed a lot, this couple was rather sneaky...), so if you want further explanation for one of those instances then let me know and I'll see what I can do! Or if you think this all is a very stupid idea and that I should have just left well enough alone with the first chapter then let me know that too! I won't be offended :)
