Chapter 4: A Boy With Hair

Hello all! Sorry this took so long, I had some writer's block and my computer got taken away, blah blah blah. This whole chapter is basically Blackinnon, a new-found love of mine, but some other friends will appear in the chapters to come, so don't worry.

I have to be honest, I don't really like this chapter, but I wanted to put something up. I'm also working on some one-shots- trying to keep writing for the few of you that have reviewed. Thanks to everyone who followed me/the story, I really appreciate it!

Sorry if its too angsty, I was watching Skins. Some swearing/slightly suggestive content to follow.

WHAT'S UP: The Gryffindors are back for their sixth year at Hogwarts. Sirius Black spent the summer at his best friend James Potter's due to his familial situation, Marlene McKinnon and Mary Macdonald spent the summer together in Spain, and Lily Evans spent the summer reading, and suspects something went down between Sirius and Marlene. A rocky start to the train ride leaves the two in a compromising position.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters in this story. They all belong to JK Rowling (queen).

ENJOY!

To the Marauders, Marlene McKinnon was a confidante, a classmate, a teammate, and a friend. But two boys in the group wished for the latter to have the prefix 'girl' in front of it.

Of course, neither of them would ever admit it.

To Remus Lupin, Marlene McKinnon was the only person who had beat him in Herbology for five years. Her hair reminded him a little bit of his mothers, and she was one of the nicest people he had ever met. Unbeknownst to the rest of the Marauders, he told her about his 'furry little problem' in fourth year. She never told a soul.

To James Potter, Marlene McKinnon had been the first girl he had had a crush on when he first came to Hogwarts. She had brushed past him on the Hogwarts Express when they were only twelve, and knocked his shoulder.

James liked her because she had apologized profusely for accidently bumping into him.

It took him five minutes to bump into another girl. This time, she had bright ginger hair and brighter green eyes. She knocked into his shoulder as well. She didn't say a thing, and he was the one who ended up apologizing profusely.

As she turned on her heel and walked away from him, his affections had changed.

Marlene McKinnon was also a wicked Quidditch player, and being a halfblood, introduced James to most of his favorite Muggle bands. In his adult years, she became one of the closest friends he would ever have.

To Sirius Black, Marlene McKinnon was a bit like a boy with hair.

Of course, he never told Marlene this. Although he was sure that if he did tell her, she wouldn't take it the wrong way. Sirius told Marlene first when things started to go wrong at home. Marlene's father had left her and her mum, a Muggle, when Marlene was young, so she understood how it felt strange to have a family that wasn't what everyone else considered to be 'normal'. Over Christmas break of their fifth year, both of them had stayed at Hogwarts. And, due to some unforeseen circumstances, they were the only two Gryffindors in their year to do so. Marlene's mother was away on a holiday on her own, something Marlene had encouraged. And Sirius (though he hadn't told anyone) didn't feel safe to spent Christmas with his family.

So they spent Christmas Eve together, sitting by the fire and gorging themselves on Chocolate Frogs and Fizzing Whizbees, playing endless games of Exploding Snap.

And they spent Christmas Day together. Marlene watched in awe as Sirius pushed away the meticulously wrapped presents laid out for him under the tree. Each label was adorned with different curly scripts spelling out long-winded Pureblood names. Christmases with her mother were lovely, but never with very many presents or a delicately garnished tree.

Sirius watched as Marlene unwrapped the perfume from Lily, the records from Mary, the dress from Doe, the candles from Hestia, and a cardboard box covered in seashells from her mum. It was full of plastic key rings, colorful gem necklaces, miniscule snow globes and other sundries. There were little notes attached to each item, telling Marlene about the place each object had come from. A note at the bottom of the box detailed how much her mother missed Marlene and her best wished for the rest of the school year.

Somehow, Marlene guessed how the latter gift hurt Sirius, and quickly distracted him with a trip to the kitchens. Sirius offered a shortcut, hoping Marlene wouldn't notice the shortcut passed through every place in the castle where mistletoe was located.

Marlene noticed, and ducked her way out of every attempt.

In the days following, the two of them found themselves indulging in each other things they had reserved only for their respective best friends. By New Year's Eve, they both realized they were each other's best friends.

The two of them hailed in the New Year at the top of the Astronomy Tower. Marlene wore her new dress and perfume, hoping he would ask her about it. Sirius noticed, but didn't ask. He brought alcohol, but they ended up sober.

They decided simply to chat for a few hours, fully expecting to end up in their separate rooms before midnight.

But somehow, Marlene ended up with her head on Sirius' shoulder, and Sirius ended up with his arm around Marlene.

Five minutes to twelve struck.

'Marlene.'

'Mm.'

'It's nearly twelve.'

'I know.'

'There's a tradition in the wizarding world, you know.'

'Is there?'

'At least, there is in pureblood families.'

'Ah yes, the wonderful pureblood families of the wizarding world.'

'Hey, once you've been subjected to them for sixteen years, you have war stories.'

'Alright, go on then.'

'In pureblood families, New Years usually begins with every family repeating their family motto, three times, all at once. It's pretty bloody silly watching your 100-year-old uncle try and get some stuffy old Latin term through his fake teeth while trying not to fall asleep.' Sirius laughed, and Marlene felt the vibrations through his chest.

'My family was never really together at New Years. Mum couldn't afford to get us to wherever the rest of them were, and my gran and that were too old to come down to us. So Mum gave me sparkling apple juice and told me it was champagne and we would watch the fireworks on the telly.'

There was a pause in the conversation as Marlene considered whether or not what she had just said had been too much.

Three minutes to twelve.

'I'm sorry about your Mum.' Sirius finally spoke.

'I'm sorry about your… entire family.'

Another pause.

Two minutes to twelve.

'There's a tradition in the Muggle world at twelve, too, Sirius.'

'Is there?'

'When the clock strikes midnight, they all sing this old Scottish song and… and, erm…'

'And?'

'They… well, couples, at least… or anyone, I guess…they… erm, they…'

'Oh, for Merlin's sake, Marlene-'

'They kiss.'

One minute to twelve.

'Considering Muggles, I thought it would be stranger.'

Twelve loud rings made them both jump.

'Midnight.' Marlene said.

Marlene wanted to kiss Sirius, but she didn't.

Sirius wanted to kiss Marlene, but he didn't.

'Do you want me to kiss you?' Sirius asked.

'Absolutely not.'

To Peter Pettigrew, Marlene McKinnon was the most beautiful person he had ever seen.

He had been in love with her for as long as he had known her, and hadn't told anyone.

And yet he was sure- absolutely sure- that he was in love with her.

But Peter wasn't one to intrude where he wasn't needed. So he watched Marlene come and go on multiple dates throughout her school life. He watched her fall in love with Nicholas Thisbe. And he watched as her heart broke over him.

He watched as she fell in love with his best friend, and he fell in love with her.

Two of the Marauders were in love with Marlene, but neither of them would ever admit it.

Marlene McKinnon had the summer of her life. She and Mary had taken the beaches of Spain by storm, and Marlene, for once, forgot about all the stuff she had left behind at Hogwarts. She forgot about Nicholas, she forgot about Sirius (stupid, stupid Sirius), she forgot about as much as she could afford to.

And she wished she could forget about this.

She and Sirius had both clambered into the nearest toilet on the train, ignoring strange looks from the students around them. Marlene turned on the faucet, trying in vain to save the top she had bought in Mallorca.

'Honestly, Sirius, you're the most useless person I've ever met!' She cried in frustration.

'Me? What about you? You swan in here acting like you own the place just because you have some fancy haircut and your skin's all brown and… and whatever…' Sirius exclaimed, trying to avoid the words beautiful and breathtaking. He pushed past her to splash water on his own shirt.

'Merlin, you git. You absolute git. You just don't realize.' Marlene felt herself tearing up, and turned from him, dabbing at her shirt.

'Realize what?' Sirius asked. He turned off the faucet.

'For Agrippa's sake, Black-' Marlene turned abruptly back to him, only to find him shirtless. She was too shocked to say anything.

'What, McKinnon?' He asked, wringing out his shirt.

'Why are you shirtless?' She hissed.

'I'm not going to let you ruin this shirt, it's Egyptian cotton!' Sirius turned the faucet on again.

'Sirius, could you be a bit more ostentatious please?' The blonde said sarcastically, and turned from him again.

'Why are you freaking out about this, McKinnon, it's not like you haven't seen it before.' Sirius said, referencing to shirtlessness.

Marlene's breath caught in her throat. She had done well to forget about the whole event, and now it was rushing back to her, in high definition, Technicolor images.

'Sirius.'

No answer.

'Sirius.'

Still no answer.

'Sirius, listen-'

'McKinnon, for once, let me just-'

'But we shouldn't be…'

'Marlene, honestly…'

'We're in the library, for Merlin's sake!'

'Do you not like the location? Would you like to relocate? We can Apparate to a beach in France if you like, much more romantic…'

'You're a prick.' Marlene giggled.

'I know.'

One grin, and she was gone.

'We promised, Sirius, to not bring that up.' Marlene tried to keep her voice steady.

'Well, I've brought it up. It's up, in the air, where it should be. We shagged, alright, and it's over.'

Old Marlene would've let it go. Old Marlene would've waited for him to leave and cried for hours. Old Marlene would've eventually forgotten about it.

But Old Marlene was gone.

She spun around to face him.

'Three months, I waited, Sirius. Three. Bloody. Months. I looked for an owl almost every bloody day; I waited for something – anything- from you. But there was no bloody declaration of love, no quick catch-up, not even a bloody 'how are you?' You promised me, you prick, and you broke it.' Marlene's voice cracked, giving her real feelings away.

For the first time, Sirius realized what he'd done. He had broken the promise, and he knew it as each day passed for the three months they'd been apart. He kept telling himself that he should have done something, and he never did. He hadn't done anything because he had been more scared than he had ever been in his entire life.

But he didn't tell Marlene that.

Marlene's face screwed up. Her eyes went cold. She pushed him, hard, and then left the toilet, slamming the door shut behind her.

Sirius swore, turned off the faucet, and pulled on his damp shirt.

'Marlene, Marlene, c'mon. Stop. Stop! Marlene, please!' Sirius chased Marlene, who was surprisingly quick, down the carriage.

Against all expectations, she did stop. She turned around, her arms crossed, lips pursed, waiting for him to speak.

'Not much I can say, Marlene. You know me.' He shoved his hands in his pockets and grinned again.

One grin, and she was gone.

'Unfortunately, I do know you.' She replied. 'But for some reason, I'm going to forget about this,' Marlene smiled slightly. 'If you do one thing for me.' She had a fistful of Sirius' shirt in her hand, and was pulling him slowly to the quieter end of the carriage.

'Oh yeah? What's that then?' Sirius grinned again, wrapping his hands around Marlene's waist, knowing full well what was coming.

Marlene answered by pulling his lips onto hers.

Lame lame lame lame lame.

New chapter to be up soon! Check out my one-shot, A Neck and A Jaw, and more one-shots to follow!

Cheers,

Mica xoxo