a/n-so, I will admit, it was just a tad depressing to get a grand total of one review for the first chapter, but I've put that behind me and decided to update. I'm thinking that the reason not to many people are reading this is because of the pairing. However, if you go read the stories I'm co-authoring with An-Jelly-Ca (which you can find the links for on my profile) then you can read more about the wonderfully amazing pairing that is Sirius and Marlene. Of course, if you're still not convinced, then I feel that I should tell you that our two stories are actually about all of the Marauders and Lily too, not just Marlene and Sirius. However, you all probably don't care, so I'll just stop typing now. Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer-I don't own Harry Potter or the lyrics to the song "Don't Give Up (You Are Loved)" which is by Josh Groban.

Second Year

"Hey Sirius!" A twelve-year old Marlene said enthusiastically to Sirius as she sat across from him on the train.

It was September first, and they were about to leave for their second year at Hogwarts.

"You're here awfully early," commented Marlene. "You know the train doesn't leave until eleven, right?"

Sirius did not respond in any way to Marlene's comment. He merely continued to stare blankly out of the compartment window. Marlene frowned slightly at this. She leaned forward and waved her hand in front of Sirius' face. It took a moment, but he finally blinked, and looked shocked to see her sitting before him.

"Oh, hey Marlene." He said slowly. "I didn't know you were there."

At this, Marlene's frown became even more pronounced. "Why are you so gloomy, Sirius? You're being all…serious. And the perfect word to describe your mood is black. That's not good you know. I thought you didn't want to live up to your name."

"I don't." Sirius said shortly. "But being that way ruined my summer."

Marlene was silent for a moment. Then, "What happened?"

Sirius shrugged. "The better question would be, what didn't happen? The answer would be everything. I wasn't too miffed that I didn't get any mail last year, and I really didn't mind staying at school and away from the family Christmas. But I didn't really realize how…mad my parents were about my being in Gryffindor."

"Oh…" Marlene said slowly. "I'd forgotten they were obsessed with Slytherin. Did they totally ignore you all summer?"

Sirius nodded. "It wasn't too bad, I suppose. I can't say I ever really liked my parents; they're too obsessed with all of that pureblood rubbish. But spending all summer reading old copies of Witch Weekly and the Daily Prophet that Kreacher never threw away can get pretty old pretty fast."

"You should have owled me." Marlene said, as if that were the obvious solution. "I would've sent your parents a howler, telling them to be…more accepting of your house."

A faint grin appeared on Sirius' face. "That would have ensured quite a bit of conversation with my parents…quite a bit of loud conversation. You may have gotten a howler in return, as well."

Marlene laughed. "I told you we were doing this Gryffindor thing together, didn't I, Sirius?"

"Yeah." Sirius said, rolling his eyes and sounding very exasperated. "I just didn't know it was going to give me so much free time at home."

"One day, Sirius," Marlene vowed solemnly, "One day we'll be able shout it out to the world that we're proud Gryffindors. And the world is going to listen."

Don't give up

Because you want to be heard

If silence keeps you

I…I will break it for you