Chapter 3

Marlene boarded the train and found an empty compartment rather quickly. After putting her truck away, she sat down and looked out the window. Lily would be in the Prefect's compartment. Alice would probably be with Frank. That left Mary, and Dorcas. Mary would most likely sit with Emmeline Vance, Marlene's swore enemy, and if the latter hadn't acquired a boyfriend, she should be here soon.

Her thoughts drifted to Regulus. Should she go down and talk to him? She didn't know if she would be welcome down with the Slytherins. She sighed and looked out the window. Her friends would be here soon enough.

The compartment door slid open and Sirius Black stood before her. His hair was longer than the last time she'd seen him. It feel elegantly into his face. He had grown too. She guessed he was about six feet tall, but she could be wrong. His gray eyes pierced into her blue ones, like a lion watching its prey.

"Can I help you?" Marlene asked confused.

"Yes, you can," he answered before sliding into the compartment and sitting across from her. "Is it true that you're engaged to my brother?"

He reclined back and put his feet up next to her. Marlene looked at his feet and back at him. She continued to do this until he rolled his eyes and sat his feet on the floor.

"Thank you, and why do you want to know?" Marlene eyed him cautiously. She didn't think Regulus and Sirius spoke anymore. That was the only way she could think of that Sirius found out about her and Regulus.

"Just answer the question," he snapped.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Marlene retorted.

"Please?" the sarcasm was evident in his voice.

"You know it doesn't help if you're not sincere," Marlene told him.

Sirius snorted. "You're marrying a Death Eater and you want me to be sincere."

"He's not a Death Eater!"

"He might as well be!"

"What do you even want?!" Marlene was exasperated. He barely spoke two words to her in the past six years and now he wanted to dictate her life?! Well, he had another thing coming.

"I came to warn you," Sirius told her, regaining his composer. "If you really are friends with Lily and Mary then you'll drop Regulus right now."

"Look, I don't need you, of all people, telling me how to run my life," Marlene stated. "I can do that myself thanks. Besides what makes you think you have the right to come in here and tell me what to do? I have been making my own decisions for the past six years and I will continue to make them on my own."

"I wasn't trying to tell you want to do," Sirius rolled his eyes. "I was trying to save you from making the biggest mistake of your life."

"Says the boy who sneaks out of school every night," Marlene retorted.

Before he could say anything else, the compartment door swung open again and this time Lily appeared. Her red hair was as long as ever. Her almond shaped green eyes scanned the room stopping on Sirius. She was pissed off.

"What are you doing here?" she snapped, her eyes narrowing.

Sirius glanced at Marlene before standing. "Nothing, Evans." He brushed past her and went back down the hall.

"What was that about?" Lily asked annoyed. She reached down and gave Marlene a quick hug.

"Nothing," Marlene replied. "Are you ok?"

"No!" Lily flared. "He got Head Boy! I mean it's. . . .him."

"Who's him?" Marlene asked curious. Whoever it was must have gotten under Lily's skin.

"Potter!" Lily growled. "I can't stand him! Then he has to go off and get Head Boy! I mean really? What was Dumbledore thinking?! I mean it's Potter! He couldn't manage to run a daycare if the intrusions were laid out in front of him! You know, he's not even going to try and be a proper Head Boy, he's just going to use this time to flirt with me and try to get me to go out on a date with him! It's exhausting really."

Marlene smiled. James Potter had been obsessing over Lily since first year. Marlene always thought it was cute, but Lily found it annoying.

"Wipe that smile off your face," Lily glared. "I don't need this. Really I don't. How am I supposed to focus on N.E.W.T.s and my head duties if I have to worry about him too."

"I'm sure you'll manage," Marlene wasn't going to sympathize with Lily. She thought Lily over reacted sometimes. "Besides maybe he won't be that bad."

Lily snorted. "I highly doubt that."

The compartment door slid open for the third time that day to reveal two girls. The first was a few inches shorter than the other. Her long brown hair fell in ruffles behind her back. She flicked her bangs out of her bright blue eyes. Dorcas hadn't changed much since Marlene had seen her.

Alice, on the other hand, had. Her hair now reached her cheeks. It used to be so long. Marlene liked it much better this way. It brought out her brown eyes. She smiled at the other girls causing her dimples to come out. Yes, Alice Prewett was a very pretty girl.

"Ally! Dorky!" Marlene exclaimed jumping up. She hugged both girls tightly. They were, after all, in a better mood than Lily.

"Hey," Lily mumbled giving each of them a brief hug before sitting back down to pout.

"Is that any way to greet a friend you haven't seen for two months?" Alice asked playfully.

"Sorry, but I'm really not in the mood," Lily told her.

"James is Head Boy," Marlene explained.

"James as in James Potter?" Dorcas asked astonished.

"Yes," Marlene smiled looking over at Lily.

"Don't give me that look," Lily barked. "I know what you're thinking. Nothing is going to happen. At all. Goodby. End of story. Oh no, wait something will happen, I'll probably knee him before the year is up!"

"She's really pissed isn't she?" Alice whispered amused.

"Yeah," Marlene nodded.

"I am going to murder someone before this train ride is over," Lily ranted. "I mean really James of all people?!"

All three girls stared at her opened mouthed.

"What?" Lily asked.

"You called him 'James'," Dorcas stated flatly.

"No, no, no!" Lily shouted. "This can not be happening! I'm dreaming! Yes, that's it! I'm dreaming and when I wake up this will all go away."

"I think his charms worked on her," Alice smirked.

"Shut up, Alice!"

Alice raised her hands in defense. Lily glared at her before pulling at her hair. Marlene knew Lily was overreacting now, but that was just Lily for you. She over analyzed things all the time. Sometimes it was a good thing, sometimes it was a bad thing. Marlene had gotten used to it so she didn't pay to much attention to it. However, some people passing by seemed a bit disturbed by it.

"Lils, he can't be that bad all the time," Dorcas rationalized. "Besides if he is, then just tell us and we'll take care of it for you."

Alice snorted. "If he tries anything, then we'll do more than just take care of him. We'll castrate him for you."

This caused Lily to smile.

"So if he tries anything at all?" Lily asked tentatively.

"Yep," Alice replied. "I promise."

"I'm acting like a drama queen," Lily mumbled. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Alice told her. "We're used to it."

Lily hit her arm playfully. "What did you guys do over the summer anyway?"

"Nothing much," Dorcas was the first to answer. "I pretty much spent it at home."

"Same here," Alice smiled. "Except I went to the World Quidditch Cup! It was amazing! I would have invited you guys, but my dad couldn't get that many tickets."

"Come on, Lils," Marlene encouraged. "Your turn."

"What about you?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That's alright go ahead."

"Ok, well, I meant this guy," Lily told them blushing. "His name was Matthew. He was really sweet. Well, anyways, he moved in next door. Petunia and I got in a really huge fight about him, but I'm getting ahead of myself. So Mum and Dad told us that some knew people moved in next door. So we had to invite them over for dinner, right? Mum and Dad like to get to know the people who live around us. Petunia didn't want to answer the door so I had to. The sight I was greeted with. He was six foot three with blonde hair and oh those blue eyes. I mean he was gorgeous. Anyways, so I let them in after making an utter fool of myself. So later we had to entertain Matt and Petunia keeps trying to flirt with him, but he just sort of let her down easy. Well, Petunia went into because it was her turn to do the dishes and Matt and I decide to go for a walk around the block. We walked and talked like we'd known each other forever. So when we got back to the house, he leaned in ever so slightly and kissed me. It wasn't not very long, but that's what was so sweet about it. Petunia must have seen us have seen us through the window because when they left I went up to my room and she was there waiting. She accused me of trying to steal him away from her and how I was the most horrible person in the world. She also accused me of being a freak and putting a spell on him to make him like me. After all of that, she stormed out of my room. I didn't know what to do so I just stood there for a moment before I started to cry. I mean I knew she disliked me, but I just couldn't take her crap anymore. I let it all out right then. I didn't want her to stay mad at me so I was going to tell Matt that I couldn't be with him. I explained the situation to him and he was so understanding. It lasted until July 16th. Matt and I had gone down to the park and we were talking when he reached over and kissed me. Of course, I kissed him back. I mean who wouldn't? He told me that he wanted to be with me and that it didn't matter what anyone else thought. At this point, I was like 'Oh sweet Merlin, please don't let me be hallucinating'. We spent the rest of the summer together, but he went back to his boarding school before I went back to Hogwarts. We agreed that it was best if we were just friends after that."

"Wow, Lily, that is so sweet!" Dorcas exclaimed.

"Even I have to admit that sounds wonderful," Alice looked like she was in awe.

"Lily, he sounds really nice," Marlene smiled.

"Now, Mars, come on tell us about your summer," Lily turned to Marlene.

Marlene didn't want to tell the other girls about her engagement to Regulus. She didn't know if they would like it.

"Well, you know how my mum wants me to marry a pureblood right?" Marlene started from the beginning. "Well, I'm engaged to Regulus Black."

Marlene waited for the yelling to start. All her friends could do was stare at her.

"What?"

"You're joking right?" Alice looked like she was going to be sick.

"No," Marlene replied hanging her head. She felt awful. She knew her friends would hate her now.

"Oh, Mars, I'm so sorry," Lily moved to sit next to her. "We'll figure a way out of this. I promise."

"He's not that bad," Marlene mumbled.

"What?" Alice nearly yelled. "You've got to be joking? He's pretty much a Death Eater!"

"He is not!" Marlene shouted. "Please, I don't want to talk about it. Can we just drop it?"

Suddenly the train lurched and they came to stop.

"We'll talk about this later," Alice said sternly.

At least, it was put off for now. Marlene smiled as she saw the castle she knew to be home.

A/N: Hello! Hope you liked it! So what did you think of Sirius? Do you like Regulus or Sirius better? Review and let me know!