Order of the Phoenix Headquarters, February 1978
"We've only been here ten minutes and I'm already considering dropping out." James muttered miserably from beside Sirius.
Sirius grinned. "Well, what did you expect?"
"Oi- Potter, Black- if you want to have a mother's meeting you can do it somewhere other than here." Mad-Eye growled at them from the front of the room.
"Sorry, Moody." James and Sirius chorused sweetly, which earnt a small grunt.
"He's a charmer, isn't he?" Sirius muttered moodily, pulling a face at Mad-Eye's back.
"Careful, they say he's got eyes in the back of his-"
Suddenly, the door behind them swung open, revealing the dark-haired woman who had been stood in the hallway. "Don't lurk behind doors, McKinnon. It's how you get yourself blown up." Moody snapped, putting his wand away.
Marlene smiled lazily. "Sorry, Mad-Eye."
Sirius stared at her with wide eyes, he had to double-check his mouth wasn't hanging open. He hadn't seen her since graduation last July. Mad-Eye gestured grumpily to a chair between Lily and the Prewett twins which Marlene took happily; before she sat down, she took a quick scan of the room and Sirius could have sworn he saw her grey eyes hover over him momentarily.
"Now that everyone has bothered to show up." Mad-Eye started, with a quick glance over at Marlene who raised an eyebrow as though to say 'who, me?'. "We'll get started. So, there are five main rules to know about the Order. One, no Unforgivable Curses, you'll have to use your imagination if you want to catch Death Eaters. Two, whatever is said in this room, stays in this room. Three, no messing around-"
"I'm sorry Mad-Eye, but I'm going to need you to be more specific with that one-" James interrupted, earning a snigger from Sirius and a frown from Lily.
"And four, if you want out, tell me now, or else forever hold your peace." Mad-Eye finished. The room was silent, no-one made a movement. "Right, that's all sorted then."
"Sorry, Mad-Eye." Lily piped up. "But I thought you said there were five rules? That was only four."
"So, I did, Evans." Mad-Eye nodded with a dark look.
"Go on then." Sirius said. "What's the fifth rule?"
"Stay alive."
"Marlene!" Sirius called.
As the meeting drew to a close, Sirius could see Marlene at the other end of the room, heading towards the door with Gideon Prewett. She turned; her dark hair flicking out as she looked around the room. Sirius raised an arm and waved, regretting it instantly as Marlene caught his eye.
She whispered something to Gideon, who nodded and carried on towards the door, before making her way towards where Sirius was stood. As she got closer, he noticed she looked older than the last time they had met in the Great Hall.
"Sirius." Marlene said, smiling. "It's been a while."
"It has." Sirius nodded, his throat suddenly went dry. "How are you?"
"I'm okay. Just finished my Healer training." Marlene said softly. "You?"
"That's great. Er- yeah, I'm alright." Sirius shrugged, struggling to meet her eye. "I didn't realise you'd be here."
"Gideon asked me to come." she said hesitantly. "We're dating now."
"Oh." Sirius said, trying to keep his voice level. "Er- congratulations I suppose."
"Thanks." she smiled half-heartedly. "Well, it was nice to see you, I better-"
"Yeah me too." Sirius said flatly.
Marlene paused, looking uncomfortable. "I'm over it, you know- what happened at the party. It was horrible but he- Alistair- was okay and well, at least Dumbledore still let you graduate."
"Oh, yeah. No, I'm over it too." Sirius said quickly. "It was a long time ago."
"Good." Marlene nodded. "You've got a habit for beating yourself up about stuff."
"Do I?"
"You know you do." Marlene smiled, a real warm smile. Sirius let himself smile back.
"It's nice to see you, McKinnon." he grinned.
"You too, Black."
At the Potters that evening, Sirius looked down at his plate full of food as Lily laid it in front of him and smiled. "Thanks, Lil'."
"Yeah, thank you, Lily." Remus nodded, from the seat opposite Sirius. "Looks lovely."
"Delicious!" Peter beamed, already tucking in.
"It's no problem." Lily laughed, James kissed her cheek as she took her seat beside him. "Got to feed my boys."
The room fell silent as everyone made a start on their dinners and it stayed that way until almost every last bite had gone.
"I heard you spoke to Marlene after the meeting today?" Lily asked, turning to look at Sirius carefully. "How was she?"
"She looked good." Sirius said, gazing absent-mindedly at his dinner. "Just finished her Healer training."
James frowned. "She's dating one of the Prewett twins now, right?"
"Yeah." Sirius said flatly. "Gideon."
"Oh." Lily said, sounding surprised.
"I was thinking of asking her to go for a drink." Sirius blurted out suddenly, regretting the words as soon as he saw the look Lily shot James.
"I- I don't think that's such a good idea, Sirius." Lily said softly. "She's dating Gideon now-"
"As friends." Sirius added quickly. "Just to catch up."
"As far as I remember," Remus sighed, looking up from his dinner. "You two have very different ideas of friends."
"Fine then, I won't ask." Sirius muttered moodily. "Was just an idea."
"I'm sorry, mate, but after what happened last year. It might just be best if you stay away from each other." James frowned, looking uncomfortable.
Sirius didn't answer, he went pack to pushing the remainders of his dinner around the plate with his fork. He thought back to that night in the common room, perhaps they were right, the last time they had been together he had nearly killed someone and Marlene had tried to knock him off his broom. The image of Marlene, stuck in the corner, with that sixth-year's hands all over her still made his blood boil.
"What the fuck have you done?"
Sirius felt terror fill him as he looked at the lifeless heap on the common room floor, he glanced up at Marlene, who was staring at him with wide-eyes. "I think I've killed him."
He could feel James' arms still wrapped around his chest, holding him back. His knuckles were stinging from where they had hit the rough stone only moments before.
"Someone should go get Madam Pomfrey." Remus said as he hurried over from the sofa, he knelt down beside Alistair, pressing his fingers against his neck and pausing momentarily. "He's alive."
Sirius felt as though he might collapse from the relief. "He's alive." he repeated breathlessly.
"I'll go get Pomfrey." Peter piped up, running off towards the Portrait Hole.
Sirius looked back at Marlene, her eyes were still wide as she looked from Alistair's crumpled body to Sirius's bleeding knuckles. She met his eyes with a fearful look that he had never seen before, it made him want to hide with shame.