Chapter 3:

For the week following the full moon, the Marauders weren't together. James, Remus, and Peter stuck together while Sirius stayed away. Whenever James and Sirius were in a room together they would shout at one another. Peter and Remus would try to talk to Sirius, but he wouldn't listen. Instead he told them to piss off.

In all of their years of friendship, there had never been a moment where Sirius and James went so much as a day without speaking to one another. Now the closest they got to speaking to one another was glaring or shouting. Sirius only returned to their dorm room to change clothes and shower. He spent his nights on the Common Room couch.

Remus and Peter promised that no matter how hard Sirius or James asked, they would not give the Map to them. Remus knew that if one of them was in possession of the map, they could easily avoid each other completely. Despite what Sirius had done, Remus didn't want him to suffer. He wanted everything to go back to normal.

The person who felt the worst was Marley. She knew that this was all her fault. If she hadn't have upset Sirius then James wouldn't be mad at him. Granted, she didn't know exactly what Sirius had done to piss off James. She knew that it must be something major.

"It isn't your fault," Lily assures Marley.

She shook her head. "It is. Even James has said it is."

Every chance he gets, whenever Lily isn't around, James will confront Marley reminding her it's all her fault. Remus always apologizes for James, remind him how out of line he is. James never apologizes for himself though.

Quidditch practices were horrible. With James, Marley, and Sirius arguing all the time they hardly ever got in a successful practice. James was quick to shout at Marley for every little thing, even if it wasn't her fault. Sirius would start shouting at James to leave her alone. The rest of the team had no idea how to calm the three of them down.

After a week of this, everything changed. James woke up that morning to receiving an owl on his bed. He reread the letter several times before he could fully comprehend the contents. Quickly he looked around, but Sirius was no where to be found in their dorm room.

He shook Remus awake. "Give me the map, Moony."

"Whaaaaa?" Remus yawned, looking at James through bleary eyes.

"I need it right now," the distress in James' voice was heartbreaking.

"Why do you need it?"

"I have to find him. I have to find Sirius." James said.

"It's in my trunk."

Without another word James quickly began tearing apart Remus' trunk until he found the map. He ran out of the dorm on the search for Sirius.

"I solomely swear that I am up to no good," James muttered as he held back a tear.

Searching over the map, while trying to stop the tears from falling was hard. Finally he managed to find 'Sirius Black' on the map. He kept an eye on it as he made his way towards him. As Sirius kept moving away, James quickened his pace. Suddenly he was running towards him.

"Sirius," James called out to him.

"Come to yell at me some more?" Sirius asks, his voice coming out as a croak. He hadn't slept in what felt like days. He didn't feel guilty about almost killing Severus. He felt guilty for putting Remus and the others in danger.

James shook his head. Without knowing what to say, he threw his arms around Sirius. He didn't stop the tears. He cried into Sirius.

"What's wrong?" Sirius asked him.

"It's Mum, Padfoot, she's been attacked." James cried.

"What do you mean she's been attacked?"

"She was walking home from the store...they-they used an Unforgivable Curse on her. She's in St. Mungo's now." James told him.

"Who put her there?" Sirius asked him.

"That's not important right now, she's-"

Sirius cut him off. "I have to know, James, who put her there?"

"Your father," James whispered.

Sirius backed away from James. James tried to grab him but he was too quick. Sirius grabbed the map and took off. He ran until he was sure that he had lost James. Too weak to carry on, he slid down the wall. Tears were falling down his cheeks. It was his fault.

Over the summer, before he had left home, there was a chance that he could have killed his father. As he was leaving his father dueled with him. There was a moment where Sirius could have killed him, should have killed him. He had been to weak to do so.

"Sirius?" asked a soft voice.

He looked up to see Marley Mckinnon staring down at him.

"Come to tell me I'd almost killed James' mum too?" he asks, not bothering to hide the hurt in his voice.

She kneeled down next to him. "It wasn't your fault."

"That's not what you said before." he whispers.

She wraps an arm around him. "I was hurt and took it out on you. You are nothing like your family."

"No," he shook his head. "It is my fault. I could have stopped him, I could have killed him. Then she'd be all right."

Marley grabs Sirius' face into her small hands, forcing him to look at her. "You listen to me, Sirius Black. You are hardly a Black at all. If anything you are a Potter. She's your mum just as much as she is James'. She loved you. She wouldn't want you to blame yourself."

"I should have killed him when I had the chance," he sighs.

"Don't talk like that. You are a better man than he is, Sirius, if you had killed him then you wouldn't have been any better than he was." She sighs, wrapping her arms around him.

He pulls her onto his lap. Breaking down, he cries into her. She runs a hand through his silky dark hair, comforting him the best that she could. After a moment she kissed his forehead, murmuring that everything would be all right.

They sat there for what seemed like an eternity, though it may have been only a few hours. After a while he got up, he knew what he needed to do. Without even thinking, he kissed Marley before rushing off to find James.

She stood there, watching him run away. Gently she ran her hand over the lips that his had touched not too long ago. As much as she tried not to, she couldn't help but thinking about that brief second as she returned to Gryffindor tower.