Hogsmeade weekend arrived quite quickly and it seemed that the entire castle was anticipating the event. At the conclusion of Charms on Friday afternoon, Professor Flitwick was actually the first to flee from the classroom leaving a distraught Lily who had intended to debate him some rather challenging points of view she had had with him over the Charms essay that he had handed back in class.

"Ask him on Tuesday?" Mary offered with a shrug, "Enjoy the weekend, won't you?"

It seemed that Lily was determined not to enjoy her weekend, at least not in Hogsmeade. She opted to stay behind on Saturday to continue on her Ancient Runes translation that Marlene knew she had finished well over a week ago. The reason for her decision was not hard to discover but both Mary and Marlene neglected from bringing the subject up out loud to Lily; James Potter.

Despite his obvious attempts earlier in the semester to continue his constant pestering on Lily it had seemed for a short while that he had finally lost interest in the pursuit. Of course, it soon became obvious that Marlene had been mistaken when the notice for Hogsmeade had been posted and James made it his only priority to see to it that Lily accompanied him.

The constant bickering in the hallways soon subsided as Lily began taking shortcuts and dodging the halls between classes. Although she never did manage to escape him, as he always seemed to know exactly where she was.

"I don't get it," she said with annoyance the evening before their Hogsmeade trip. "I specifically went up four floors to use the girl's lavatory at the end of class so that I could avoid him afterwards and he was waiting for me outside. How in Merlin's name did he know where I was?"

Marlene listened with less interest than Mary; she had long ago stopped questioning how the Marauders did some of the things they did as her time spent with them revealed them to be much more talented than Lily would ever admit to give them credit for.

As Saturday morning rolled around Lily unveiled that she had made plans with their dorm mate Alice Prewett to go over Charms notes.

"You're welcome to stay and join us if you'd like," Lily offered hopefully.

She was busying herself behind a book on her bed; it was clear she did not intend to leave the dormitory until after the students had left for the small village as she was still in her night clothes and hadn't yet bothered to shower.

"No thanks," Marlene shook her head and Lily waved them goodbye. As the Mary and Marlene descended the staircase, Marlene was quick to notice the eager look on James' face as they came into view. His face became crestfallen the second that he realized Lily was not with them and his gaze immediately fell back to the wand he was twirling between his fingers.

Marlene realized that the boys had been waiting for Lily's arrival; or, more appropriately, the boys had been waiting for James who refused to leave until Lily's arrival. She felt a surge of pity on her classmate and signaled Mary to hold on as she wandered over towards the four Gryffindors.

"She's not coming," Marlene said simply to James and he looked up at her with a dull expression.

"What?" he tried to sound nonchalant but Marlene's raised eyebrow told him that she knew better.

"Sorry mate," Sirius shrugged before picking himself gracefully up off the couch. Remus and Peter both stood as well and James sighed with the realization that he ought to join them.

Marlene turned quickly and rejoined Mary and the two girls headed out of the portrait hole and made their way to the entrance hall. Mary began gushing instantly about the activities that she and Davy had planned together, and although she never said it, Marlene assumed that snogging in the corner at Madam Puddifoots would comprise most of the day's activities.

Davey was waiting for them at the entrance hall and greeted Mary with a stiff kiss and Marlene with a less than enthusiastic half smile. Marlene returned the gesture unwillingly; she had never liked spending time around Mary's boyfriend and it would seem that he shared a similar standpoint.

"I thought that Marlene could join us on the walk and the three of us could stop at Honeydukes before we start our date," Mary say hopefully and Marlene felt a sickening twist in her stomach as she observed the pained look that Davy was giving her; not even bothering to attempt to hide it.

"You know what," Marlene said sharply while looking disdainfully at an eye avoiding Davy, "I'd really hate to interrupt your plans. I'll catch up with you later Mary."

"Oh it's no problem Marlene," Mary said cheerfully. "We'd love for you to join us."

Apparently Mary was the only one that was oblivious to the clear tension. She forced a smile instead and brushed past the couple and out the doors.

Even though it was the beginning of December, the sun was shining brightly and warmly over the grounds and some of the snow had even started melting along the pathway. She loosened her scarf slightly halfway on her walk into the village and took her alone time to admire the beautiful scenery around her.

The walk passed by quite quickly and soon Marlene was standing in the entrance to the bustling street filled with what seemed to be the entirety of Hogwart's population. She looked around hopefully, trying to figure out where she should stop first and the sight of Remus's waving arm from the entrance to Zonko's caught her attention.

Once she realized that he was beckoning for her to join him she hurried across the street to his side.

"Hey Remus," she smiled politely and was greeted with an equally friendly gesture.

"Thought you might like some company," he said lightly, "Couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Mary." His demeanor at the mention of this changed slightly to a hint of disapproval but it was quickly masked as the various eye catching gadgets within the shop caught his attention. Soon Marlene had even managed to crack a large grin as a third year student from Slytherin was startled by a nose biting teacup – the masterful work of James and Sirius, she presumed.

Marlene spent the better part of an hour wandering the store with Remus. She had only ever visited the store once on her first visit to Hogsmeade but had quite quickly dismissed the practical souvenir boutique as childish and far from her interests.

As she admired some of the finer commodities that Remus pointed out to her – carefully avoiding the dungbombs – Marlene was ashamed to admit to herself that she had not given the store enough credit and that the gags and whimsical merchandise were in fact quite entertaining.

After purchasing a deck of self-shuffling playing cards for her parents, Marlene resisted the temptation to buy a 'grow your own warts kit' to use on Snape, the latter of which she admitted shamelessly to Remus as they exited the shop.

"James and Sirius must be rubbing off on you," he said with a twinkle in his eyes after she confessed this.

"Speaking of," she turned around in the middle of the street and began scanning the crowd for the other boys. "Where exactly are they?"

Remus smiled and shrugged but Marlene was not convinced that he was being completely honest. She did not further push the subject but instead followed Remus into a few other various shops before arriving outside the Three Broomsticks.

"I think I'm going to pass today," she hesitated momentarily on the threshold of the doorstep leading into the busy pub. She caught sight of the other boys sitting at a table through the open door that Remus held open. Although she had enjoyed her day with Remus, she did not fancy the idea of sharing the rest of her afternoon with his friends.

"See you at the castle then?" Remus waved goodbye and she exhaled deeply with a sense of accomplishment; she had managed to have a successful day of relaxation. Just as she began thinking this, her thoughts drifted to the impending Transfiguration homework that was waiting for her at the castle. Homework had finally crept back into the foremost of her mind and she was no longer able to avoid it.

The walk back to Hogwarts passed far too quickly and she immediately headed for the Gryffindor common room. Lily and Alice were nowhere to be found and Marlene concluded that they must have taken refuge in the Library. She settled herself into a chair in the deserted common room and began the tedious practice of her slightly improved vanishing spell.

"Evanesco!" she said firmly and watched pleasantly as the snail that was slowly crawling across the desk began to disappear slowly before her eyes. She had been working at it consistently for the past few weeks; squeezing random attempts at vanishing food items off of the table at dinner when nobody was watching. The problem was that she was still failing miserably most of the time with anything larger than a walnut and she was exerting all of her unused time and energy into working on this.

The rest of the hour was quite successful for Marlene; she was fully able to vanish the snail completely in one attempt. A few students began trickling in afterwards and the buzz and excitement from the students still engaged in their day's activities created a large distraction for her concentration. By the time Mary had arrived back, Marlene was quite ready to be finished with her studies as the Marauders were tagging not far behind with such loud and boisterous obscenities that she wouldn't have been able to continue on even if she had tried.

Lily was not seen until dinner time when she walked into the great hall with Alice. James had obviously said something as she passed by but Lily dutifully ignored him. Marlene was sure she had heard a loud curse from where James was sitting but when she looked towards him he had immersed his mouth with a large amount of food and was staring ruefully down at his plate; stabbing his broccoli with unnecessary force.

Lily was oblivious to this, or at least extremely good at hiding it and instead settled herself into the vacant spot next to Marlene and began reaching for the nearest item of food. Marlene was quick to express the accomplishment of her afternoon with Transfiguration and was rewarded with an acknowledging smile from Lily.

Mary was in the middle of excitedly sharing the - rather dull in Marlene`s opinion - date that she had had that day when a shadow overcast the table from behind Marlene and Mary faltered as she looked up from across the table. Her stunned look at being interrupted quickly turned into a small smile and her sentence was cut off short as she closed her mouth and refused to continue further.

Lily and Marlene, both curious, turned in their seats to see what had caused such a satisfactory distraction for their friend.

Bertram Aubrey stood smiling behind them and he was looking intensely at a slightly taken aback Marlene.

"Hey Marlene," he said politely before nodding to Lily and Mary in acknowledgement.

Marlene was unable to string her words together; a familiar feeling to the last encounter she had experienced with this particular boy. She looked deeper into his intensely green eyes and found her thoughts become lost just like the words she had been trying to speak.

He was unfairly good looking, although nothing in comparison to the gorgeousness of Sirius Black. In his own way he was justifiably handsome and Marlene was sure that he was even more so than the last time she had laid eyes on him. Of course, this could be mainly due to the fact that she was undoubtedly staring at him for longer than was politely necessary. So long, in fact, that Lily had to jab her elbow into Marlene's side, breaking the uncomfortable awkwardness lingering between them.

Marlene blushed as she realized this and mumbled an incoherent "Hello."

"I heard that you were having some difficulties with the Vanishing spell," he continued on as though he hadn't noticed anything unusual about their exchange.

Marlene knew that she must look horrified as Lily kicked her shin quite forcefully from under the table to encourage her to reposition her facial expression. Marlene shot her a furtive glare in response and looked back to Bertram.

She was horrified that news of her failure in such a transparent spell had leaked to someone that she didn't even know.

"Marlene has been improving, she was just telling us how she spent the majority of the afternoon mastering the spell," Lily wasted no time jumping in to save the conversation which was clearly sinking fast. Marlene nodded slowly, still unable to string her words together.

"Oh," he said slightly disheartened, "I was actually coming to offer my services on the subject, you know, see if I could give a few pointers and help."

"She would love that!" Lily exclaimed brightly despite the incredulous look that both Marlene and Mary were giving her.

"Great," Bertram looked amusedly from Lily back to Marlene and chuckled softly. Marlene melted inside. "How does tomorrow afternoon sound? I'll meet you in the library after lunch."

"That sounds perfect," Lily smiled and Marlene nodded automatically.

Bertram smiled and offered his goodbye before disappearing to the Hufflepuff table and joining a group of boys that he had been seen with previously. All three girls continued to follow him with their gaze until he was safely nestled at the table and engaged in a conversation before they tore their eyes away and back to each other.

"What was that?" Marlene asked skeptically at a smug looking Lily.

"I just got you a date," she said matter of fact and that was all she would offer on the subject for the rest of the evening.

Bertram was already waiting for Marlene when she entered the library after lunch the next day and he seemed genuinely happy to see her when she dropped into the seat beside him. Marlene felt a soft flutter in her stomach as he smiled charmingly up at her from behind the book he was reading.

"Vanishing the unvanishable?" she read from the tattered cover before he closed it and set it down on the table to give her his direct attention.

"Just thought I'd do some light reading while I waited," he said casually.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," she laughed softly, "I can barely vanish a snail, let alone far more difficult objects I'm sure they have listed in that book."

"You don't give yourself enough credit," he seemed sincere and Marlene felt the flutter in her stomach increase profusely. She smiled at him and realized that she felt surprisingly comfortable with this boy who she barely knew.

"So where should we start?" She questioned indicating towards the Transfiguration book she had brought with her.

"How about you show me what you can do," he suggested, "then we can go from there."

Marlene pulled out her wand and pointed it firmly at the text book he had previously been reading. She focused her mind on the textbook disappearing and recited the incantation she had begun tiring of hearing. When she opened her eyes the text book lay unharmed in front of her as though nothing had happened at all. Which, as it turned out, was exactly what had occurred.

Bertram looked thoughtfully at the textbook and then back to Marlene.

"You have excellent concentration," he said with surprise, "but you are definitely lacking with concise direction and you don't seem rather confident that you have the ability to do it. It's quite clear from your reaction that you expected nothing to happen. I noticed that you're wand movements are a bit off as well."

"Erhm," she said slowly. It was not new to her to hear that she lacked confidence in her abilities. On many occasions Sirius had repeatedly adjudicated to her that she was lacking in that department and more often than not she had forced herself to believe that he just didn't know how to help her. Hearing a second opinion, or third if you counted Lily's agreement with Sirius's conclusion, was comforting and also disheartening for Marlene to hear.

"Relax," he chuckled lightly, "I know exactly how to help you."

Unfortunately, the rest of the afternoon was a dud because after Marlene's fifth failed attempt at vanishing the textbook they resorted to casual conversation until Madam Pince kicked them out of the library for talking.

They continued their conversation into the hall, seeming to forget that the sole purpose of their encounter was to be studying Transfiguration – Marlene beginning to realize that it was probably just an excuse to see one another.

They strolled through the corridors talking and laughing as though they had known each other for years and before they realized where the time had gone, students were already heading down to the great hall for dinner.

"I'm sorry we sort of bypassed the Transfiguration studying," he said sheepishly as the great hall came into view. He didn't really seem all that sorry but Marlene didn't mind in the slightest. She had enjoyed her day getting to know the seventh year Hufflepuff boy whom she had discovered was a chaser on his team. Vaguely, she recalled his face to one of the players she had seen during the first match of the season and suddenly the reason for James and Sirius's apparent dislike for the boy became obvious.

"It's okay," she laughed softly, "I enjoyed today."

He paused briefly outside the entrance into the great hall as though he was about to say something and Marlene held her breath hopefully. A few seconds passed by before he shifted his gaze towards the Hufflepuff table, ran a hand casually through his hair and grinned widely as he looked back at her.

"We should hang out again," he said eagerly.

"Oh," Marlene wasn't sure if she had been able to hide the disappointment in her voice.

"Soon?" he reached across the distance between them and gave her arm a slight affectionate squeeze before he turned and headed into the hall. Marlene followed behind him and turned in the opposite direction towards her own table searching the crowd for two familiar faces.

Marlene glanced back towards Bertram's table – or Bert, as he had asked to be called – and smiled timidly as she noticed the group of boys he was sitting with were looking over at her.

She found Lily and Mary and settled into the seat across the table from them, turning her back to the boy she had just spent the afternoon with and was instantly bombarded with questions.

"We didn't really work much on Transfiguration," Marlene admitted guiltily. She was surprised when Lily's smile widened and her friend began laughing.

"Of course not," Lily said jokingly. "I never thought you would."

The common room was surprisingly crowded later that evening and it was a challenge to find an empty table. They managed to secure one further towards the back of the room which suited them just fine as Lily was still working on avoiding James.

They immersed themselves in a few games of exploding snap before Marlene tired of the game and sat back to watch the other two begin a round of wizard chess. As she sat staring at the chess board she was only vaguely aware of what was going on around her.

Her mind drifted to the warm fuzzy feeling that she had experienced when she first laid eyes on Bert in the library and how intensely it had grown when he had looked into her eyes and smiled.

She smiled outwardly at the thought.

She was more confident than earlier that Bert hadn't ever intended on helping her studying for Transfiguration after speaking with Lily. She had also taken special attention to the conversation earlier in the day where he had revealed that Transfiguration was not particularly his best subject. Although not nearly as dreadful as Marlene but definitely not the top of his class either.

It was comforting to Marlene to know that someone was actually so interested in getting to know her that they had been so forward about the whole matter. Of course, he hadn't specifically asked her out either and she was feeling slightly befuddled about the awkwardness of their goodbye.

She was so completely lost her thoughts about the nature of her blossoming relationship that she failed to notice when someone sat down next to her. It wasn't until a hand began waving in front of her eyes that she snapped from her reverie and whirled around in her seat to stare blankly at the boy beside her.

"Can I help you?"

"How's your vanishing spell coming along?" Sirius ignored her obvious rudeness and offered her what appeared to be a genuine smile.

Marlene stared at him, blinking a few times, and felt far too exhausted to exert any energy to omitting a response. Instead of speaking, she shrugged her shoulders lazily hoping that he would take the hint that she was in no mood to engage in conversation.

"Surely your lack of enthusiasm isn't a reflection of your feelings of my presence," his grin widened.

"Of course not," Marlene smiled feebly at him. She had turned her gaze back towards the chess game that was still going on between her friends and lazily stared off into the distance again.

"What's the matter with you, McKinnon?" Sirius said jokingly. Although he seemed humored by her she also sensed an underlying irritation that she wasn't giving him her full attention.

"Nothing."

"Alright well," he ran a hand through his hair carefully, mimicking the trademark gesture of his counterpart. "I just thought I'd let you know that I have a bit of free time tomorrow evening if you wanted some more help with your Transfiguration."

He removed himself from the chair beside her and headed off in the opposite direction without as much as another word. As she watched him walk away she began feeling guilty that she had acted so rude when he appeared to have good intentions.

"You are a bit spacey tonight," Mary muttered as she contemplated her next move, "you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine," Marlene sighed and craned her head over her shoulder to look back at Black and his friends. They were laughing about some undoubtedly silly thing and Marlene felt a flare of agitation that Sirius had managed to stray her thoughts back to him.

Marlene noted that she had not spoken with Sirius since the detention they had shared over a week prior and she had still neglected to apologize for her part in it. She was confused why he would be so willing to offer her help after that.

She continued looking at the group of boys and for a moment envied the careless nature they seemed to possess. Of course she knew this was untrue; if there was anything she had been able to decipher that Lily had not, it was that these boys were extremely intelligent and just acted like they weren't.

As though Sirius knew she was thinking about him – or for a more obvious reason, that he had sensed her staring at him – he looked up and locked eyes with her.

Normally Marlene would have felt embarrassment that she had been caught, blushed, and turned away. This time felt different and she continued looking at him; a slight scowl playing about her expression.

He looked at her curiously. He seemed obviously interested in knowing what it was that she was thinking about and the silent connection between their gazes only intensified as the time passed by. He eventually grinned playfully and averted his attention back to his friends with the occasional glance back to Marlene.

She wasn't quite sure why she felt compelled to continue watching the four animated boys but she managed to keep herself preoccupied with the task for longer than she would have liked to admit.

Sirius eventually stopped looking back at her and Marlene grew aware of the lateness of the evening when Mary and Lily began cleaning up around her. She had been startled at first when Lily accidently bumped her leg as she stood from the chair beside her and as though she had only realized exactly what she had been doing for the last half hour, felt embarrassed.

She did not bother to look at the Marauder's as the three of them headed towards the girl's staircase and even when James shouted out to Lily and Lily turned to give James a piece of her mind, she did not falter on her destined path upstairs; the idea of turning around to meet the piercing eyes of Sirius did not interest her anymore. Instead, she continued upwards towards the dormitory determined to sweep him from her mind as though he had never entered her thoughts at all.

Marlene wouldn't have been able to avoid him for much longer even if she had tried.

Although usually prompt, Marlene was the last student to arrive to class and was surprised to discover that the only vacant seat left in the room was next to Sirius. He didn't greet her as she slumped into the chair beside him and only when she accidently knocked his textbook to the ground did he acknowledge her presence.

"So let's see how much you've been practicing," Sirius leaned back lazily in his chair and folded his hands behind to support his head.

Professor McGonagall had finished her lecture and the rest of the classroom was settling down to begin practicing their spells.

Marlene looked disdainfully at Sirius. He was grinning complacently back at her with a look of expectance. He raised his eyebrows after a moment as though to indicate that he was growing impatient with her silence.

"Evanesco," she pointed her wand at the snail that Sirius had placed on the desk and it instantly disappeared.

Sirius's smug look vanished almost as quickly. His brows creased slightly and a puzzled expression took form. Marlene felt a sense of accomplishment as she examined the expression on his face; he had obviously doubted her ability to finally accomplish the spell and she was enjoying what this was doing to him.

"Surprised, Black?" she smiled arrogantly against her better judgment.

His momentary lapse in composure quickly disappeared and he looked back at her and grinned widely. He chuckled lightly and Marlene felt a flutter in the pit of her stomach.

"A little," he said honestly, "You've obviously been practicing."

He inched his chair closer to the desk and his hand brushed her arm for a moment. The electric shock that pulsed through her body at his touch shocked her and she pulled away suddenly, startling Sirius at her movement.

"Relax McKinnon," he grinned as he pulled out some more materials for her to practice on. "I don't bite."

Marlene ignored him and instead envisioned him sporting defeating disbelief as she performed spell after spell flawlessly. With each passing spell, the look of sheer disbelief intensified on Sirius's face and she couldn't help but feel the pulsating joy of accomplishment as she watched him.

By the end of the period Sirius had managed to compose his surprise and was plenty more supportive with Marlene's progression than he had shown in the previous weeks. Marlene was appreciative that she was finally making progress and the positive reinforcement gave her an additional boost of the desperately needed self-confidence.

"Good job McKinnon, I see now why you didn't accept my offer last night," Sirius said as they began packing up at the end of class. His voice held a note of sincerity that Marlene hadn't ever heard from him before and she looked at him skeptically for a moment as though waiting for a snide remark to follow.

He answered with a genuinely sincere smile before joining in the shuffle of students heading from the classroom into the bustling hallway.

"I'm impressed!" Lily approached the space that had moments ago been occupied by Sirius. "All the practicing is finally paying off Marlene!"

Marlene beamed with pride and joined her friends as they exited the room and headed in the direction of their next class.