Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from my OC's
Chapter Eight
"Why are you avoiding me?" I ask, grabbing Sirius' arm as he hurries past and pulling him into an empty broom closet.
"I'm not." Sirius replies coldly, shrugging my hand off of his arm. "I'm going before someone gets the wrong idea."
"Since when does Sirius Black care about giving people the wrong idea?" I reply, crossing my arms over my chest and blocking his way out of the closet.
"Move." He sighs, eyeing me up and down. As his eyes trail over my body my cheeks heat up and I realise how close to each other we are.
Sirius has been avoiding me like dragon pox for just over two weeks now; whenever I join the others in the common room he gets up and leaves. It's rather frustrating and Lily confronted me about it this morning claiming that something must've happened with Sirius for him to react like this.
"Make me." I reply, raising an eyebrow at the dark haired boy. Sirius groans and runs a hand through his dark hair before leaning back on the wall behind him. "C'mon Black, we've got a quidditch match tomorrow. You've got to take one for the team."
"You're making it sound like it's a bad thing to have to talk to you." Sirius laughs, pushing off the wall so that he's standing so close to me that I can see the flecks of black in his steely grey eyes.
"You're making it feel like it's an effort to be my friend." I reply angrily.
"Oh Mar," Sirius laughs, reaching up to brush a strand of hair from my face. "It's not an effort to be your friend-"
Suddenly the broom closet door is yanked open consequently making me land on my butt on the hard, stone floor.
"Ow!" I yell, looking up at a furious James Potter. Sirius reaches down and pulls me to my feet however when he touches me James pulls out his wand.
"What did I tell you?" James growls, pointing his wand at Sirius' throat and backing him against the wall.
"Prongs-" Sirius starts, holding up his arms in defence.
"James!" I yell, grabbing him by the back of his robes and pulling him off Sirius. "What in Merlin's name are you doing?"
James rounds on me however his expression softens when he sees how angry I am.
"Mar-" James protests however I shut him up with a glare.
"What is going on?" I yell, looking between the two dark haired boys. "You two never argue."
"I told you that Marly was off limits!" James yells, ignoring me and turning back to Sirius. "You have plenty of other girls to fool around with in broom closets but she is not going to be another one of your conquests!"
"Prongs-" Sirius protests, moving towards his friend. "Prongs, listen to me."
"No, Padfoot!" James throws his arms up in the air. "I listened to you last time and you swore that nothing was going on, even if she did kiss you. You promised me that it meant nothing-"
"Wait, what?" I exclaim, looking between Sirius and James in shock. "I did not kiss you Black, maybe in one of your twisted dreams-" I trail off when I notice that Sirius' expression is extremely serious.
A crease forms between my eyebrows as I think back to that drunken night...
"If you don't be quiet I may have to do something to make you." I say a sly smile on my face.
"Well then... I'm just going to keep talking Mar because that's hardly a thr-" Sirius starts but I cut him off by pressing my lips against his.
"I- er, I have to go." I whisper; turning on my heel and sprinting back to the Gryffindor common room. How did I forget that? If it meant nothing then why didn't Sirius tell me?
"Mar?" Alice asks a worried expression on her face as I run into the common room and rush straight up to our dormitory.
"Marly?" Lily asks worriedly when I throw myself onto my bed.
"What happened?" Alice asks, slamming the door shut and standing in the middle of the room; her arms crossed over her chest. "James went storming out of the common room... he looked really angry Mar. What happened?"
"I bloody kissed him!" I yell, sitting up to face the two girls and tugging at the roots of my hair.
"Who? James?" Alice asks screwing up her face in disgust. "Because number one he's dating Lily and number two you're like siblings-"
"Not James, you sicko!" I exclaim, throwing a cushion at her head.
"I don't know why I'm friends with you; you're always chucking cushions at me." Alice laughs, throwing it back at me.
"Who did you kiss Mar?" Lily asks her tone wary.
"The other night, when I was really drunk... it's so stupid! I didn't even remember it happened until James mentioned it." I groan, burying my face in my pillow.
"You kissed Sirius?" Alice exclaims, "I knew you liked him but I didn't know you were going to act on it."
"You like Sirius?" Lily asks, plopping down on the bed next to me. "You didn't tell me that."
"That's because I don't want to like him Lil." I mumble, letting my hair cover my face. "He sleeps around, he's arrogant, he's-"
"A good friend." Lily finishes my sentence and I glare at her but my facade soon disappears as I realise what she's saying is true.
"It's ok Mar." Alice laughs, slinging an arm around my shoulders. "We all have high hopes when it comes to love."
I pick up a cushion and smack her with it.
"Ow, again with the cushions." Alice laughs, hitting me back.
"Oh it's on." Alice laughs, picking up another cushion and smiling deviously at me.
"C'mon Mar, it's the first match of the season, you have to play." Alice yells, pulling back my bed covers and throwing my quidditch gear at me.
"I don't want to." I groan, placing a pillow over my head and turning away from the excitable girl.
Alice is an extreme quidditch fanatic however she can't ride a broomstick to save her life.
"You can't avoid him forever, Marly." James says, waltzing through the doorway; causing Emmeline Vance and Mary MacDonald to squeal in surprise.
"James, you aren't allowed up here!" Lily exclaims, shoving him back towards the entrance.
"Aren't you even going to ask how I got up here?" James asks, raising and eyebrow at Lily and pulling her in for a kiss. The red head visibly relaxes in his embrace however she soon pushes him away and straightens her hair.
"I've given up wondering how you lot get away with things." Lily grumbles, heading into the bathroom to get ready.
"Anyway Marly, get up, get changed and get ready to whip some Hufflepuff arse!" James exclaims, pulling the pillow from my grasp and yanking me out of bed.
"James." I whine, rubbing my eyes and pouting at the tall boy.
"You might just convince me Marly," James starts, "Alas, I have grown wise with age and your tricks no longer work on me."
"Oh shove off James." I grumble, pushing him towards the door and getting my quidditch robes ready to put on.
"That's the spirit!" James exclaims, clapping his hands together in delight and heading out the door. "I want you downstairs in ten minutes!" He calls as he leaves.
I quickly pull on my gold and red robes; whilst Alice runs a brush through my long blonde hair.
"I think Lil's going to need to braid this for you." Alice tells me, tugging at another knot in my hair. "It's a real mess."
"Thanks Alice." I grumble, scrubbing my teeth with my toothbrush. "I need to be downstairs in a minute."
"I'll try this new spell I was reading about." Lily replies, waving her wand before I can protests.
"If my hair falls out Evans I swear to Merlin I'll-" I growl, splashing some water on my face and pulling on my shoes.
"Right let's go!" Alice announces, whisking us from the room before I can make any more threats.
The three of us practically slide down the stairs and into the common room where the rest of the Gryffindor quidditch team are waiting. I avoid eye contact with Sirius and go to stand next to Caspar. (A/N I changed it so that Caspar - Marlene's younger brother - is on the quidditch team, sorry)
"Right, now Marly's finally decided to grace us with her presence, we can go to breakfast." James announces, spinning on his heal and leading the team from the room.
"You nervous?" I ask Caspar; reaching up to ruffle his golden hair.
"Why do you always do that?" Caspar whines, running a hand through his hair to mess it up in the 'right way'.
"Because you're my baby brother." I laugh, linking my arm through his as we enter the great hall.
"But I'm taller than you." Caspar pouts, slumping onto a bench in the great hall. The Hufflepuff team are slowly arriving along with many other students.
"That doesn't change a thing." I reply, sticking my tongue out at him and taking the bowl of porridge that James hands me.
"Got to get some food down you Marly." James says, making sure everyone on the team has breakfast in front of them. "You skipped dinner last night." He scolds, "I don't need my best seeker collapsing in the middle of the match."
"Thanks for your concern." I laugh, flicking a grape at him. "But I will not be collapsing today."
"Good. Now, team, I want you to play hard today. I know that it's only the first game but this can give us the head start we need to win the quidditch cup." James announces, looking at every team member. "Now, let's eat and then we're head down to the changing rooms so we can prepare ourselves." I roll my eyes at his inspirational talk.
"Why is Sirius staring at you?" Caspar whispers, glancing at the dark haired boy. My eyes flick over to his slouched body and I quickly look away when his grey eyes meet mine.
"I- I don't know." I reply; my voice shaking.
"You're such a shit liar." Caspar laughs, spooning some porridge into his mouth.
"It's complicated." I reply, poking my porridge with my spoon.
"It's only as complicated as you make it Marly." Caspar replies, standing up with the rest of the team and dragging me with him out of the great hall.
"I just... I don't want to risk getting hurt." I reply quietly, looking at my feet as I walk.
"What's life without a little risk?" Caspar smiles, pushing me towards Sirius who's walking a few feet away from us.
Cautiously, I fall into step next to him and it takes him a couple of seconds to realise that someone is there. Slowly he raises his head, flicking his dark hair from his grey eyes, to look at me.
"McKinnon." He nods at me and continues walking, looking away from my face.
"Sirius-" I start, his steady stride falters slightly at my use of his first name and an unreadable expression passes over his face; however he soon regains his composure and carries on walking.
"Sirius, don't ignore me." I say, grabbing his arm to stop him from walking. He flinches away from my touch however he stops and turns to face me.
"What do you want? We need to get to the changing rooms or James is going to flip-" Sirius starts coldly.
"Don't give me that crap." I interrupt Sirius; causing his eyebrows to shoot upwards. "Oh you know James is just going to give his usual half an hour long speech." I reply, scowling at the dark haired boy.
"Someone's feisty this morning." Sirius tries to fight the smile that's breaking onto his face.
"And someone else is grumpy." I quip back, raising a light eyebrow at him.
"Why did you run off yesterday?" Sirius asks, stepping closer to me so that I have to look up to see his face.
"I- I was embarrassed." I mumble, my cheeks heating up. I look down at my feet and ignore his burning stare.
"Why?" Sirius asks sounding shocks.
"Why?" I ask in shock. "You're asking me why I was embarrassed that I threw myself at you? Are you taking the piss?"
"N-no. Mar that's not what meant. Well, it is what I meant but if it meant nothing then why are you embarrassed. You were drunk." Sirius stutters. Sirius Black stuttered! "Unless... It did mean something to you?" Sirius asks, turning my face to look at him.
I clench my jaw as my cheeks heat up however my gaze is unwavering.
"Don't flatter yourself." I smirk. "If it meant something to me I would've remembered it." There's a pained expression on Sirius' face however I ignore it and flounce off to the changing rooms.
James gives me a dirty look when I arrive late to his speech but I just roll my eyes and take a seat on the bench next to Jessica Ashworth; a dark haired sixth year girl and chaser for the Gryffindor quidditch team. Sirius arrives shortly after me and James dramatically waves his arms around and scolds Sirius and I about manners and being on time.
Most of the team are half asleep by the time James announces that we'll be going out in a few minutes and everyone rushes to grab their brooms and line up at the entrance. As always I'm at the back of the line and James is at the front.
"WHO ARE WE?" James shouts, facing all of us.
"GRYFFINDOR!" We reply is excited voices; I can feel the adrenaline pumping through my body as my heartbeat increases.
"AND WHAT'RE WE GOING TO DO?" James yells.
"WIN!" We shout as the doors open and we mount our brooms before zooming out onto the pitch.
The blue and red crowds of students are cheering for Gryffindor loudly and they're all holding up banners and posters.
"GO, GO GRYFFINDOR!" A continuous chant resounds around the stadium and I grin over at my team mates. Sirius catches my eye, however not even his sour mood can keep the smile from my face.
This is where I belong; up in the air on a broomstick without all the worries of NEWTS or the war or... anything. Slytherin are, of course, cheering for Hufflepuff as they'll do anything not to support Gryffindor.
"Right, I wanted a clean match!" Madam Garney yells, watching as James shakes hands with the Hufflepuff captain Evan Yadwick.
"That's all you'll get from me." James grins at Madam Garney, therefore making her shoot him a displeased look.
I fly up so that I'm above the middle of the pitch and therefore I have a good view of the match and the pitch so I can spot the small golden snitch.
"Potters got the quaffle!" Reece Jordon's voice echoes around the stadium, "Potter's arranged a great team this year; of course McKinnon is seeker but we all know she's the best out there, and Black is still beater but he's pretty good too. Sorry!" He laughs, seeing Sirius' scowl directed at him. "I'm only joking Black. Wait, what's this, a bludger heading straight for McKinnon- ah and Black's done his job. See, I knew there was a reason you were on the team Black."
James, Reuban and Jessica dart around the pitch; throwing the quaffle to one another and we manage to score 30 points in the first 15 minutes!
"This is looking good for Gryffindor, however what is going on with Hufflepuff this year?" Reece Jordon's voice announces. "Oh, that was a good hit from little McKinnon."
Since Cas and I both play on the Gryffinfor quidditch team; the commentators have taken it upon themselves to name Caspar 'little McKinnon'. He's always whining about it because the marauders always make innuendos about the term.
After Hufflepuff have scored once and we've scored three more times, I notice something flit in and out of my line of sight. The Hufflepuff seeker is off in a daydream about Merlin knows what and she doesn't notice when I suddenly dive.
"It looks like McKinnon's spotted the snitch!" Reece Jordon announces, I can hear Gryffindor chanting in the background however my mind is focused on the gold ball that's almost in my grasp.
I'm heading straight for the ground however at the last second I grab the snitch and pull up again; holding the small ball above my head.
"GRYFFINDOR HAVE ONE! MCKINNON CAUGHT THE SNITCH!" Reece shouts.
I land and I'm soon surrounded by my team mates and even Sirius can't keep a smile off of his face.
"And that's the first game of the season over 210 to 10 points!" Reece is still commentating even though half of the students have emptied out onto the pitch or headed back to their common rooms to prepare for the Hogsmead trip this afternoon.
Finally I break away from the crowd and make it into the girls changing rooms. Jessica headed straight back to her dormitory because she wants to get ready for her date this afternoon.
"You flew pretty well." Sirius says, a smirk plastered on his face. I let out a small shriek in surprise and hold my top up in front of me.
"I'm getting changed." I hiss, trying to regain some dignity. "I was actually about to shower."
"Mind if I join you?" Sirius jokes, pushing off the wall and walking towards me.
"I do mind actually." I reply, raising an eyebrow as he comes to stand in front of me.
"That's a shame." Sirius replies, his voice is quiet and my eyes search his face for any sign of his thoughts. His skin is covered in a thin layer of sweat and dirt and his messy hair is even more unruly due to the wind.
He reaches out a hand and pulls the elastic band that was holding my braid in place until my hair flows down my back in messy waves. Sirius then brings another hand up to my face and pushes my hair back so that he can look at me properly. He leans down slightly and his lips are about to brush mine when Caspar comes charging into the changing rooms.
Sirius and I spring apart like someone lit a fire under us.
"Did I interrupt something?" Caspar asks a knowing smile on his face.
"No." I say and the same time that Sirius replies "Yes."
Sirius scowls at me and I send him a puzzled look.
"Anyway..." Caspar says awkwardly. "Hurry up we're going to celebrate in the three broomsticks, James said he'd buy me a firewhisky."
"Like hell he will." I reply, heading towards the showers. "I'll be out soon, you two leave. Now." I growl when Sirius doesn't move.
"I would like to propose a toast to out amazing seeker: Miss Marlene McKinnon!" James announces, standing up on his stool and raising his glass of firewhisky. The three broomsticks is packed full of Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws however I haven't seen many Slytherins about today. They all disappeared after the match.
"Marlene!" The majority of the student's chorus, causing my cheeks to flush bright red. I take a long sip of my own firewhisky as the rest of my friends begin chatting animatedly about the match.
"So, you in Marly?" Caspar asks, turning towards me; his blue eyes wide in excitement.
"What?" I ask in confusion.
"Were you not listening to anything we said?" Caspar asks, throwing his head back and laughing. "Oh Marly-"
Suddenly the wall to the left of us is blown apart and a stream of green light hits Caspar directly in the back.
"CAS!" I yell, jumping over the table to kneel down next to him. Students are screaming all around us and I can feel someone tugging on my arm and I'm partially aware of the curses flying above my head.
"We need to go!" James yells, grabbing Lily and Peter and throwing shield charms up as curses are thrown their way. "Padfoot, where's Marly?"
"Go!" Sirius yells, blocking curses that are sent at us. "I'll get Mar!"
Out of the corner of my eye I see Lily, Alice, Peter, Remus and James moving around the edge of the building; dodging curses and ducking under rubble.
"C'mon Mar." Sirius whispers, looking around us in a panic.
"Cas..." I sob, clutching my little brother's body. "Wake up! WAKE UP!" I scream, tears pouring down my cheeks.
"McKinnon!" Sirius shouts, grabbing me and pulling me into him as a huge pile of rubble lands where I was just sitting. I can no longer see Caspar and my legs give out when I try to stand.
Sirius manages to half carry me out of the broken wall; all the while blocking curses and firing his own. I attempt to help however my mind is unfocused and all I can picture is Caspar's lifeless body.
Finally we reach a small alleyway between two shops and Sirius leans me against the wall. I'm still sobbing and murmuring incoherent things.
"Mar?" Sirius asks cautiously, his hands on either side of my face. "Mar listen to me."
I manage to focus my eyes on him however they soon cloud up with tears again.
"Mar, we need to get to Honeydukes and take the secret passageway." Sirius tells me, wiping the tears from under my eyes.
"I- I can't. I can't do it. They killed him- he's gone-." I stutter, slumping back against the wall. Suddenly Sirius turns to face someone at the entrance to the alleyway; using his body to shield mine.
"Look who it is." A high pitches feminine voice cackles, "Its itty, bitty, Black. How's the new life?"
"Much better than the deluded ideas you have about blood purity." Sirius growls, stepping forwards slightly.
"Oh, and who's this?" The dark haired woman asks an evil glint in her eyes. Her curly, black hair is in an uncontrollable mess around her pale face and her brown eyes are sunken in.
She waves her wand in what seems to her to be a familiar way and I hear screaming; loud, uncontrolled screaming. A white hot pain sears through me and my body drops to the ground like a rock.
"She's a screamer." The death eater cackles, twisting her wand even more.
Suddenly the pain stops and so does the screaming. I peel open an eye to see Sirius facing off with the death eater woman. She continues cackling as Sirius duels her; blocking all of his spells with ease.
"Is that all you've got cousin?" She cackles, waving her wand in the air.
"CRUCIO!" Sirius yells, pointing his wand at the woman.
"Oh!" She exclaims, an evil smile plastered on her face. She managed to block the curse however she looks ecstatic that he used it. "You've got to really mean it to use that." She laughs.
"I do." Sirius growls, holding his wand up.
"It's more than a little crush then?" The woman smiles evilly, using her wand to flick some dark hair from her eyes. "Do you love her, cousin?"
Sirius clenches his jaw and his back visibly tenses.
"Oh, you do?" She cackles, glancing at my still body. "What's her name? She looks like a Malfoy."
"Don't talk about her." Sirius growls. "Leave Bellatrix, before I change my mind."
"Is that a threat?" She smirks, stepping forwards. "Or maybe she's a McKinnon; they haven't chosen a side yet. Yes, yes the Malfoy's married into the McKinnon's... that explains the hair." Bellatrix, as Sirius called her, seems to be talking to herself now more than Sirius.
"Get away from her." Sirius growls, protectively stepping between Bellatrix and I.
"Bella! The aurors are here!" Someone shouts from the mouth of the alley, she waves her wand one last time before rushing off and my vision turns black.
"MARLY!" James' voice screams, "No professor I don't care if it's not visiting hours, no listen, I really do not care about how many detentions you're going to give me, I'm going to see my sister!"
Opening my eyes, I look around to see that I'm in the hospital wing.
"Why am I always in here?" I croak out, reaching up an arm to rub my eyes.
"Marly!" James shouts in joy, almost throwing himself on top of me.
Suddenly all the memories from Hogsmead rush back; Caspar's lifeless body, that woman torturing me... all the dead people- My thoughts are cut off when a large sob shakes my body and James tightens his arms around me.
"I'm so sorry Marly." He whispers, I can feel his own tears on my skin and we silently cry over Caspar for a few minutes.
"Is everyone else alright?" I manage to choke out, thinking about how we all got separated.
"They're a bit shaken up but Padfoot- he told us most of what happened but he's keeping something from us Marly." James sits down heavily in a chair by my bed and takes my cold hand in his own. "It's nothing about who attacked you but, Marly, do you remember anything-"
"I'm not ready Jamie." I reply, a few tears sliding down my cheeks as I remember dead bodies of Hogwarts students and the searing pain of the cruciatus curse.
"It's ok; you don't need to talk about it." James replies, squeezing my hand in comfort.
"Where's Sirius?" I ask, looking around to infirmary.
"I tried to get him to come, Marly, but he won't visit you-" James starts.
"Wait, how long have I been in here?" I ask in confusion.
"About two weeks." James replies, looking at me in worry.
"TWO WEEKS!" I exclaim, "Where are my parents? Where's Cas?" I ask in a rush, attempting to get out of bed.
"Marly Cas-" James starts however Madam Pomfrey bustles over and interrupts him.
"Mr Potter why did you not tell me that she woke up?" Madam Pomfrey scolds, handing me vial filled with a pink liquid. "It's a reviving potion Miss McKinnon, once you've taken it you'll be fit to go back to your dormitory. Oh and Miss McKinnon, I'm terribly sorry." Madam Pomfrey has a sad expression on her face and I frown slightly at her retreating form.
"What's she on about?" I ask, turning towards James.
"You've been through a lot." James replies, avoiding eye contact and moving to help me out of bed. "Now let's get you back home to Gryffindor tower."
A/N: Another chapter finished. This one Is rather sad and some parts were quite difficult to write however this chapter ended up being over 4,000 words long! Anyway I hope you enjoyed it and tell me what you think by leaving me a little review (it only has to be a couple of words but it means the world to me). Thank you so, so much for reading and hopefully I'll have another chapter up soon!
