Title: Glass Hearts
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: All books.
Genre: General, Romance, Humor.
Era: 1970-1981.
Main Characters: MWPP, Lily.
Ships: James/Lily, Remus/Marlene McKinnon, Sirius/OC
Summary (for chapter): Sirius has a new fling. We see some of what's going on outside of Hogwarts. Someone apologizes for the last blow out.
Sirius was on his bed working on the Marauders Map when James stomped into the dormitory. He was sweating a bit, and his hair stuck straight up, indicating he had been flying. "Have a nice party?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah," James said, taking off his shirt. "And then Evans went off of me afterwards."
"Not again," Sirius said nonchalantly.
"She's pissed at you, you know," James snapped. "She's not talking to any of us because you yelled at her."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "When did I yell at her?" he asked.
James grabbed a change of clothes, giving him a nasty look. Like all of Evans' stupid mood swings were Sirius's fault, and he could have done something to prevent her from being such a. . .a girl. "In the Great Hall about Aubrey," he said.
It took a moment to register in Sirius's mind. "I didn't yell at her," he said coolly. "I told her to stay out of our business."
"Well, I would agree with you," James said. He went into the bathroom, shutting the door.
"You're an emotional wreck," Sirius called after him.
This was why he never got serious with girls. Too many sleepless nights, too many arguments, too much work. He had snogged Jewel Mufflet the other day, but he had a feeling she only liked him because of the incident this summer when her and Juniper had walked in on him while he was stark naked in James's room. Life was too short to fall in love.
His concentration on the map broken, Sirius shoved it under his bed and grabbed his shoes. Remus was studying somewhere, and Peter was snoring loudly. That boy slept like a rock. Sirius left the dorms, in search of something to do. Maybe he would ruin Remus's day. Maybe he would find Jewel again.
A few people were scattered around the common room. Marlene McKinnon was reading the paper. Sirius walked over to her. "Anything not horribly depressing today?" he asked.
Marlene looked up, looking slightly surprised as he sat next to her. "Not really," she said. "The Minister just announced he's going to resign."
"What?" Sirius asked. He took the paper from her. There was a picture of Hansen Fredericks standing behind a pulpit, looking nervous. "That stupid idiot."
"He says that the war is taking a tremendous toll on his family life," Marlene said, "and he's moving to Bora Bora."
"Where is that?" Sirius asked.
"Beats me," Marlene said with a shrug.
Sirius shook his head. "It won't be long before You-Know-Who has control over the Ministry," he said.
"Or before the Ministry has no control at all," Marlene said.
The two of them sat in silence for a moment. They had both grown up in this war. Sirius knew how many times her dad came near death. He and James idolized her dad, and her older brothers had been wicked cool. Sirius's family, on the other hand, was on the other side of the war. He had no doubt that Bellatrix was following You-Know-Who, and Narcissa would be soon with that rat of a husband Lucius. He sighed as he thought of their hideous wedding he had been forced to go to this summer. That had been the last straw, he left that afternoon while his mother screamed and raged and Regulus watched quietly.
"My dad says they're losing credibility," Marlene said. "He doesn't like to talk about the war much. I think he just wants me to enjoy life. But anyways, he says that the Aurors don't have access to as many places as they did before. They're losing respect."
"It's because of dunderheads like Fredericks," Sirius said. "Maybe Dumbledore should become Minister of Magic."
"And then Hogwarts would be open for You-Know-Who," Marlene stated. "He's the only one keeping us safe."
Sirius paused, considering this, and decided it was probably true. You-Know-Who had broken through most of the wards in the wizarding world; he might be able to break through Hogwarts's as well, even though they were Dumbledore's. He probably relished in the thought of brainwashing children from the time that they were eleven and weeding out those he didn't think were worthy enough to learn magic. Like Evans. And Remus. But You-Know-Who feared Dumbledore, for some reason.
Sirius stood up, passing her newspaper back to her. "See you later," he said.
"Bye," Marlene said.
He walked out of the common room. He went down the corridors, thinking about the war. He and James were taking classes to be Aurors, along with Kingsley Shacklebolt, Frank Longbottom, and a handful of other students. It was the only way he could picture himself helping. His family would go into conniption fits once he was announced in the Daily Prophet as accepted trainees, but that pleased him more than it should.
Sirius thought about Regulus, and wondered where his brother was going. He was hanging around with Snape and Avery more often. The whole lot of Slytherins were evil gits. Sirius didn't want his brother around them at all, but Regulus didn't listen to Sirius. They never talked, anyway. On the train Sirius had congratulated him on becoming a prefect and told him not to go nazi on him, but since then they hadn't had a normal conversation. They used to argue good-heartedly about Quidditch, and Sirius would give Regulus pointers, but not this year.
Deep in his thought, Sirius didn't realize he was walking into the line of fire. Too late did he see Violet Moss approaching him. He swore silently as she smiled at him. "Hi, Sirius," she said.
"Hey, Vi," Sirius said.
Violet flipped her blonde locks off of her shoulder. "Are you going to go with me to the first Hogsmeade trip?" she asked, batting her eyes at him.
"I'm afraid not," Sirius said. "I'm already taking someone else."
"Who?" Violet asked, hiding her jealousy horribly.
"You'll just have to find out," Sirius said. As he said this, he tried to think of who he could ask. Jewel - it would be common courtesy. Maybe Candace. She wasn't looking so bad.
Violet looked annoyed, then shrugged. "That's cool," she said. "I'll see you around."
Was he seriously that lucky? Sirius nodded. "Yeah, bye," he said. He made his escape while she let him, darting down the hall towards the library. If there was any place Violet Moss was never seen, it was the library.
He found Remus in the back, studying Transfiguration. "Hey, Moony," he said, sliding into the open seat next to Remus.
Remus nodded at him, not looking up from his homework.
"Aren't you going to entertain me?" Sirius asked.
"I have to finish this essay," Remus said.
"Why does the world hate me?" Sirius muttered.
Remus didn't respond. Sirius got up and started strolling the aisles for Quidditch magazines. He found Jewel in the Astronomy area. He walked up behind her and whispered into her ear, "Hey."
Jewel nearly jumped out of her skin. "Oh, my god," she said, elbowing him in the stomach. "You scared me half to death."
Sirius laughed, rubbing his stomach. "Sorry," he said. "What are you doing right now?"
"Trying to find something on Mars," Jewel said.
Sirius paused. He considered asking her if she wanted to snog, but then decided he had more tact than that. "Mars, huh?" he said, turning to the shelf.
A few hours later, he met his friends at dinner. "How's everyone been?" he asked.
James still looked upset; he was stirring his pumpkin juice into his soup. Remus shrugged. "I finished my essay," he said. "Thank you for leaving me alone."
"No problem," Sirius said.
Peter pulled a blonde hair off of Sirius's collar. "How was your afternoon?" he asked, looking pointedly at the hair.
"Splendid," Sirius said, pulling the lambchops towards him.
No matter how much James may have hated Lily Evans that day, her ignorance of the strongest relationships James had ever had did nothing for the feelings he had for her. Over the next few days, he tried to ignore her. He wouldn't look at her, or make jokes in her presence; he tried the silent treatment as she had treated him with. Needless to say, it did nothing. He still noticed her flash of red hair in the corridors, heard her laugh during meals and watched her do homework in the common room.
James vaguely wondered if there was something immensely wrong with him. He always knew he was a bit obsessive, but he never knew just how much he noticed about Lily Evans. Perhaps Sirius was slipping his love potions daily. He watched his best friend daily, keeping his goblet to himself, but there was no suspicious activity. He also kept his food to himself, despite the nagging voice in the back of his head calling him paranoid.
He first saw the notice for the first Hogsmeade trip when Sirius and he were getting back from their first Quidditch practice. They had a pretty solid team this year. "Are you going to try asking Evans again, mate?" Sirius asked, smirking at James.
"Shove off," James said, shrugging Sirius's arm off of his shoulders.
"You never know," Sirius said in a sing-song voice. He started mussing up James's hair and James pushed him off again as they went through the portrait hole. Sirius fell back into a third year, laughing. He took no notice at the third year girl who stared at him in admiration and continued to tease James. "The two of you could go to Madam Puddifoot's and laugh the day away . . . "
Remus sat in the library on a Monday afternoon, a week after James's first Slug Club meeting. Remus had noticed his friend struggling between hating Lily for whatever she had said and treating her how he had always treated her. He had pretended to be blissfully ignorant, and so far, it was working rather well. He had more important things to worry about; NEWT-level classes that he needed to pass, for instance.
"Hi, Remus," Lily said, setting her bookbag down. "Can I sit here?"
"Go ahead," Remus said.
Lily took the empty seat on the other side of Remus. She glanced around. "Remus. . ." she trailed off. "I have to tell you something."
Remus looked up at Lily. "Yes?" he asked.
"Well, I don't know if Potter mentioned it at all," Lily said. Remus tried not to show his disappointment; he just couldn't escape it, could he? She cleared her throat. "Last week, we got into an argument. I don't know how it even began. . .oh, I was saying that Sirius is a jerk to everyone and James doesn't do anything about it. Then I was saying that Sev - Snape - he had a reason to hate them, and then. . .then I started yelling about you and Peter. It was so stupid, really."
She stopped for a moment. Remus was unsure of what to say; was that all?
Before the silence stretched into anything awkward, Lily continued, "I started telling James that I could tell you hated being with them and that they always got you into trouble and they just drag you around and - I just - god, please don't tell James, but I'm sorry." She finally met his eyes. "I'm sorry I said those things about you. I have no idea what your friendship is like."
She fell silent, and she looked like she had just gotten a huge load off of her shoulders. "Oh," Remus said. "Well. Um. Don't worry about it. James probably didn't take you seriously."
"He was really angry," Lily said, playing with a quill. "He hasn't talked to me much, either. I mean, it's kind of nice, but I don't want him to think that you told me those things or anything."
"But you don't want to apologize to him?" Remus suggested.
"Gods no," Lily said. "I hate apologizing to Potter."
Remus laughed. "It's because he's so smug when you do it," he said.
"Yeah!" Lily exclaimed. "It would be admitting that I was wrong. I just. . .why do they have to act like they rule the school? Why do they have to be arses about everything?"
Remus had wondered something along those lines - he loved his friends, but they were a bit. . .egotistical. He shrugged. "They're just stupid," he said. "They're just teenage boys."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Everyone tries to use that excuse," she said. "You're a teenage boy and you're not completely insufferable."
"I'm a special exception," Remus said shortly.
Lily laughed. "I think so," she agreed with him. She leaned back in her chair and took her hair down. Remus could understand why Lily's hair was James's favorite. It was long and thick and had the color of wine. He looked away, feeling guilty for a moment. Well, Lily was just a friend. After last year when they had been prefects together, they had gotten to know each other.
"Maybe I should apologize to him," Lily said.
Remus heard James's voice, followed by Madam Pince's usual hiss. James and Sirius came into sight a moment later, the two of them showered after their Quidditch practice. James stopped walking for a moment when he saw Lily sitting with Remus, but then joined the table.
"Good practice?" Remus asked.
"Yeah," Sirius said. "Brendell's a bit of a prat."
"He's got a brain smaller than the Snitch," James added.
"Potter," Lily said.
James looked at Lily, a suspicious look on his face.
"Sorry about last week," she said lightly. "It's really, as Sirius would say, none of my business."
There was a moment of silence. Sirius looked at Lily with his eyebrows raised. "Oh," James finally said, closing his mouth. "Whatever."
"Good," Lily said. She reached for her bookbag.
"Hey, are you going to Hogsmeade in two weeks?" James asked.
"Not with you," Lily said, smiling.
"Right," James said, as though that were obvious.
Lily stood up. "See you guys in Potions tomorrow," she said, waving as she left.
There was another moment of silence as the three boys pondered over what had just happened. "I don't think Lily Evans has ever apologized to me," James said.
"That's because you're the one who usually screws up," Sirius stated.
When the Hogsmeade trip came around, Sirius was going with Jewel Mufflet, his latest attachment, and Lily still hadn't changed her mind. Sirius doubted she ever would. James was going with Remus and Peter, which wasn't too much of a change.
Jewel and Sirius sat outside of an ice cream shop, sharing a shake. It was chilly and windy, but Jewel had insisted that she wanted a shake.
"Girls keep asking me if you're a good kisser," Jewel said, stirring the strawberry shake around.
"What do you tell them?" Sirius asked.
"The truth," Jewel replied. She smirked at him. "That you are. They ask me other things, too – how big you are down under, if you taste good, what your hands are like. And things not about your body, like if you're nice or funny or charming."
"What do you tell them?" Sirius asked.
"Honestly, I think your ego's big enough already."
"Not nearly enough," Sirius replied. He glanced at the shake. "Are you done with that yet?"
"Yeah," Jewel said, smiling at Sirius. "I've had my fix. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Sirius said. He stood up, holding his hand out for her. "Let's go somewhere."
"Good idea," Jewel said, standing up. Sirius left a few sickles at the table, including a tip.
Over the next few weeks, Sirius realized that Jewel Mufflet was unlike any other girl he had met. She had short blonde hair, dark brown eyes and a downtown London accent. She was a half-blood, so Sirius was sure that if his mother caught wind of it, she would disown him even more than she already had. She did amazing things with her tongue and unlike most of the obsessive, clingy girls at Hogwarts, she didn't really care about much involving Sirius. She hadn't memorized his schedule, didn't come to talk to him during every meal or wait for him by Gryffindor Tower. She knew nothing about Quidditch except that Beaters hit Bludgers and the Seeker caught the Snitch. He had never really noticed her before; she blended into the crowd until you got to know her.
James teased him about how much time he spent with her, but, compared to his last girlfriends, Sirius spent barely any time with her. They snogged every now and then during the week, and hung out maybe twice during the weekend. Sometimes they passed notes along in the corridors, but Violet Moss asked Sirius why he spent so little time with his girlfriend with a pouty look on her face. Sirius left as soon as he could.
Aside from Jewel Mufflet, sixth year was the usual. James was still obsessed with Lily Evans, Remus had read twenty-three books already and Peter had worked his flobberworm collection up to thirty. Sirius had put all of them in James's trunk, and, being blind when not wearing his glasses, James didn't notice the worms until breakfast. Peter and James had dealt out swift punishment, though the former was cursing Sirius with Jelly Legs because now he only had twenty-one flobberworms.
Aubrey had calmed down, but he was still a prat. Regulus was a shining prefect, and showed Slytherin prejudice in most cases. The exception was if his older brother was involved, then he didn't care what happened. Aubrey had taken points from Slytherin for this behavior, but it didn't change anything. Melissa Warbeck still showed remarkable control over the big-headed Ravenclaw. Sirius marveled at the control females had over males. Evans and Prongs, for instance. Warbeck and Aubrey. And, sometimes, Jewel and Sirius. But only sometimes.
Coming up soon. . .Regulus makes an appearance! We also see Marlene McKinnon a bit more, and she's yelling at Sirius most of the time for something stupid he did. James punches someone, and then Sirius's favorite day of the year comes around. . .his birthday!
