Helloooooo everyone! Happy Friday! I hope you're all doing well. I finally got my Halloween decorations up yesterday so I'm in a super happy mood! Well, I am as long as I ignore the kids screaming at each other in their playroom -_- I just used the 'you wait til your dad gets home' line on them and I realized I sound like my own mom lol. Oh well.

So I had a reviewer ask for longer chapters. This will be the last 'short' one, and after this the chapters will be longer. I mean, this is my first fanfic ever so I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing. Picture that meme of Charlie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia; that's how I look trying to figure out which direction I want to go with this lol.

As always, a huge thank you to my Garebear for doing the beta work, and thank you to all you readers! If you have time, please review. I want to know what you all like about this story, and what you don't like (but please be nice, I cry easily). But anyway, have a great weekend, and enjoy your Halloween if you celebrate it! My family and I will all be superheroes :D

xoxo Malleycat

Chapter Ten

The portrait of the Fat Lady granted Marlene entrance when she gave the password ("Mandrake Root"), and she walked into the Gryffindor Common Room with a slight blush still dusted across her cheeks. The room was fairly empty, to Marlene's relief, as the younger years had an earlier curfew and lights out time. Lily and Remus weren't there it seemed, probably off starting their Prefect rounds. Marlene could never remember which days they had their duties, so if they were both missing at the same time, she could be sure that's what they were doing.

Mary was also not present, but then, she'd always been one to head to sleep early. Marlene was more of a night owl, and she had spent many a night staying up late with Lily and the Marauders. Fifth year was no exception, as their courseload had seemingly doubled in preparation for their OWLs. Mornings were her worst enemy. Her friends all knew to not even bother her until after she'd had at least one cup of coffee in the morning. Sirius teased her endlessly for preferring the dark drink over tea, as a proper Pureblood young lady ought to. That didn't change the fact that she was hardly coherent in the morning.

A flurry of whispers near the fireplace caught the blonde's attention, and she saw the Marauders, minus Remus, sitting on one of the couches. Sirius was in the middle, with James on one side and Peter on the other, and they were looking at something Sirius held in his hands. She smiled slightly at the sight. Knowing the boys, it was probably something they didn't want others to see. So of course Marlene dropped her bag to the ground and silently crept up behind them. She brought her face close to Sirius' ear grabbed his shoulder suddenly as she asked loudly, "What've you got there?"

It was a good thing she'd been prepared for him to whip his head around, otherwise she'd be on her way to Madame Pomphrey with a broken nose. Sirius' startled movement caused James and Peter to jump and look back also. Marlene laughed at the expressions on their faces.

"Where did you come from?" asked James as Sirius quickly stuffed something in his school bag. Marlene rose an eyebrow at that, but didn't comment.

"Just finished my nightly practice," she replied instead. "What are you boys up to?" She picked her bag back up and dropped casually into a chair next to the couch where the boys were sitting. She curled her legs up under her, trying to get comfortable after the long day.

"Nothing." The three boys' voices rang out together innocently. Marlene knew better.

"Is that right?" she murmured, arching a brow as she looked at them calmly.

"So anyway," Sirius loudly interjected. "How was your study… date?" His nose scrunched slightly on the last word, as if he'd meant to say something else. James scowled, and Peter chose that moment to scamper up the stairs. He didn't like getting between his friends when they argued, and since Marlene was protective over her friendships with the rival House, he assumed it wouldn't be long before they all started shouting.

"It was fine, Sirius. Carrow simply explained the potion in a way I never would've thought to." Marlene shrugged one shoulder. "Then I went and did my practice, and now I'm here," she concluded. She purposely left out the fact that Amycus had come with her to watch; it would only make her friends upset to know that she'd (mostly) willingly spent time with him.

Sirius' face clouded for a moment, and James gave him a look that Marlene couldn't decipher. "Right, well, I'm off to bed," he announced awkwardly, rising and clapping Sirius on the shoulder. He winked at Marlene, waved, and disappeared up to the boys' dorm. The blonde suddenly felt nervous. He couldn't know that she'd been with Amycus, could he? But then, she did have suspicions that one of the Marauders owned an Invisibility Cloak, so it was possible that one or more of them had spied on her. The thought made her bristle. What she did in her own spare time was no one's business but her own.

"Marlene," Sirius started, before pausing. He scrubbed his hands over his face before pushing his fingers through his hair distractedly. Merlin, he's handsome, Marlene thought, not for the first time. Her friend sighed and tipped his head back against the couch, staring at the ceiling. Marlene frowned slightly and stood, crossing to the couch and sitting next to Sirius. She sat sideways, so one leg was tucked up under the other, and her elbow rested on the back of the couch, using her hand to prop up her head.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly. It wasn't often that Sirius didn't have something to say, though it seemed he was thinking hard.

He squeezed his eyes shut. "Do you… do you like Carrow?" he finally ground out, sounding exceedingly uncomfortable.

"What?" Marlene laughed in surprise. "What in the world would make you think that?" She placed her free hand on the boy's arm, causing him to look over at her. His fingers fidgeted together as he studied her.

"Well, it's just, you had to meet him so early and I missed you at dinner, then you were gone so late, and he was -" He cut himself off with a shake of his head. He sighed heavily, and Marlene stroked her thumb over the bare skin of his arm where his sleeves had been pushed back without thinking.

"We're just friends," she told him firmly, forcibly holding back the blush that threatened when she thought about how Amycus had kissed her hand and gazed deeply into her eyes at the same time. "You know you're the only one for me," she added with a grin.

His gaze snapped back to hers again, his eyes slightly widened. Relaxing slightly, he gave a short chuckle. "And don't you forget it," he replied softly. Marlene squeezed his arm before releasing it and placing her hand back in her lap.

"Now, what were you boys looking at when I came in?" she asked him, tilting her head slightly.

Sirius adopted an innocent expression that Marlene could see right through. "Oh, erm, nothing. Just - just my Charms essay," he replied.

"Oh? Then you won't mind my reviewing it for you? You know my marks are much better in that class than yours." Marlene nearly laughed when Sirius gulped, but she managed to maintain her neutral expression.

"That's okay, Mars, James already looked it over for me," he said, avoiding looking at her. Marlene nearly rolled her eyes at the blatant lie.

"Very well," she answered, adding a heavy sigh for good measure. "Since you don't trust me, I'll just leave you be." She sniffed slightly and moved to get up off the couch. His hand grabbing her own stopped her.

"No, don't go Mars," Sirius said earnestly. His grey eyes were unreadable, but she thought the dominating emotion they contained was sadness. Marlene didn't have the heart to continue teasing him. "You know I trust you, right? You're my best friend after James." His eyes bored into hers. Somewhat taken aback by the sudden serious turn in the conversation, Marlene softened and relaxed back into the couch.

"Of course I know that," she responded softly. "You're my best friend after Lily." And it was true. After being around him almost constantly for the last four years, it was hard not to enjoy his presence. Most of the time, anyway. There were moments when Marlene wanted to throttle him, like when she spent days on a Potions essay, and he wrote his out twenty minutes before class started and still got a better mark than her. His natural intelligence was both incredibly frustrating and extremely attractive.

After a long pause, Sirius spoke again. "I don't ever want to give you a reason not to trust me. You already know most of my secrets, but there's some that I can't share." He seemed genuinely upset that he couldn't tell her everything, but Marlene understood. His hand still clutched her own where it lay on her leg, and she flipped her hand over to twine her fingers into his.

"It's okay, Sirius. I don't expect you to tell me everything. I was just teasing you." Her voice was gentle as she held his gaze. His relieved expression caused her to smile. Marlene leaned over and kissed his cheek gently, and he released her hand to wrap his arm around her shoulders. She snuggled into his chest comfortably. It seemed rather more intimate these days than it had when they were younger, which is why she rarely allowed herself to act in such a manner anymore. But they were alone in the Common Room as the hour was late, and no one was around to tease the two.

Marlene tucked her feet up on the couch and settled herself more firmly against the black haired boy. He pressed his cheek to the top of her head briefly from time to time as they spoke. It had been awhile since the last time they had each had the other to themselves. They talked for quite awhile, until the two fifth year Gryffindor prefects came back. Neither of the pair was embarrassed to be caught in a seemingly intimate embrace, and simply waved their friends away when they were scolded for ignoring the lights out rule.

The blonde was quite comfortable where she was, wrapped up in her best friend's arms in front of the dying fire. She was loathe to move, but her eyelids were steadily growing heavier and heavier. Reluctantly, Marlene disentangled herself from the warm embrace and stood. She stretched, raising her arms above her head and arching backwards to relieve the slight cramp from remaining in one position for too long.

When she looked back down to offer Sirius a hand up, she saw that he was watching her intently. She blushed slightly but he was already rising from his seat on the couch. He picked her bag up and handed it to her before walking her over to the stairs that led to the girls' dormitories.

Despite the way that things seemed to be changing slowly between them, Marlene was still relaxed enough in Sirius' presence to wrap her arms around his taller form for a hug. He stiffened slightly, only for a moment, before returning the embrace firmly. She pressed her face into his chest, breathing in the unique scent of peppermint and broom polish that was her Sirius.

"Good night, Sirius," she murmured.

"Good night, Marlene," he returned just as softly. She squeezed him slightly before stepping back and adjusting her hold on her bookbag.

She turned back as she ascended the steps. "Love you," she threw over her shoulder with a smile. As one of her dearest friends, she made sure he knew just how much she appreciated him. At first, it had overwhelmed him, and that was what had lead to him telling her about his home life growing up. She had known that it hadn't been easy for him, since his mother especially seemed a bit deranged, but she hadn't known the degree to which they had emotionally malnourished the boy.

"Love you back," he replied with an easy grin. It was much easier to say to her after years of practice.

Marlene smiled at him one last time before making her way into her dorm and then her bed. She fell asleep quickly that night, with a small smile on her lips.