Chapter Nine - Reasons

So you asked for a quick update, eh, how about this!

Although this quick update is a one off, I'm currently working on another multi-chap Blackinnon/Jily but that shan't be put up until it's all finished. Once I've uploaded chapter ten, I'm going to go back and edit all the chapters, checking typos and grammar issues, and generally sorting it all out. So if you spot any mistakes in any chapters, leave a review or PM me saying where it is and I'll check it!

Anyway, hope you like the chapter!

(And Nonna Nitto, I can't give you either safe Lily or feisty Marlene in this chapter, but they will be back eventually! I have some feisty Marlene planned in the next chapter or two.)

-/

They hadn't mentioned the kiss at all, and barely looked at each other the next day, Marlene too embarrassed with her slip up, Sirius fantasising too much to speak to her. Of course, try hadn't done anything more than snog, and Sirius wasn't one to swoon over girls /at all/, but he couldn't get Marlene out of his head all day. If he was honest, the kiss wasn't anything special, Marlene wasn't as experienced as lots of other girls, but it still lingered in his thoughts, and he couldn't help but imagine what it might've been like if she'd been laughing not crying. But that wasn't allowed to happen, because he hadn't gotten so much as a glance from her, and while he assumed it was because she thought it was a mistake on her part, it was really because she was so embarrassed.

Sirius was attractive, no one could deny it, and charming, dangerously charming really, and he could have whoever he wanted if he put his mind to it, so why had he chosen her? The thought stayed in her mind, confusing everything even more for her. Marlene had thoroughly enjoyed the kiss, more so than any other; that wasn't the point, he hasn't spoken to her all day, not even a "Alright, McKinnon?" And it was hurting more than it should. After all, he was only cheering her up, right? The kiss didn't /mean/ anything big, just a way of stopping her crying, surely. Neither of them entertained the thoughts the had dwelled on last night, especially the ones that involved fancies, because in the harsh light of reality, they would destroy eachother: Sirius was never committed to anything, flitting from girl to girl, kissing another before he had dropped the last, and was never in a proper relationship. The only thing he stuck to was his friends, and he had this defensive mechanism so when he cared about someone, he either pushed them away to hide the emotion, or held them close and never let them go. Most of the time he chose the former.

At the moment, he was too confused to make a decision about what to do, because he had a stray thought in his head that he didn't like one bit. You fancy her, is whispered to him, admit it you do. And he was in no hurry to admit it, so he tried to do his best to get rid of the annoying voice, that sounded weirdly like Lily's, to the back of his mind and keep it there. Marlene knew she didn't fancy him, after all, he was a git to her most of the time and gave her no reason to like him, but she did admit she wanted to kiss him again. She had always thought the stories were just that - stories - but he had proven that they were all perfectly true, and the girls who claimed he was the best snog in Hogwarts probably weren't exaggerating. But Marlene was not going to be one of his play things, and she steeled herself against the rather large part of her that wanted to go and kiss him again right now.

Right now was in the Common Room, in front of everyone including Emmeline, who she accused not too long ago of choosing Sirius over her, Mary who would tease her mercilessly, James who would probably kill Sirius if he tried anything and Remus, who would smile like he'd known all along, which he probably did, damn boy. So Marlene stayed where she was, working on homework while Mary sat on Remus' lap to do hers, which Remus (normally the stickler for 'sitting in a correct position') didn't seem too fussed over. With the while Lily problem, Mary didn't really want to leave the Tower much, because she was Muggleborn as well and although she wasn't that scared, she didn't feel the need to risk it. If the Slytherins had a vendetta against Muggleborns, Mary was not going out there alone until they were caught. Th others had agreed this was probably sensible.

Both Marlene had James had refrained from saying that they might never be caught, that the war was only getting worse out there and more and people were disappearing every week. James didn't want to say it because no one knew which family was next, and only those in league in with Voldemort were safe, so there was no point saying it: everyone knew they were in danger. Marlene didn't want to say anything because she did not want to be reminded that her family were in grave danger, with no word from them for a month and a half. She wanted to avoid that thought at all costs, even more than the thoughts about a certain Sirius Black.

Sirius however, despite /wanting/ to forget all about Marlene McKinnon, still had yet to tell James about Marlene crying. He reflected that it was odd that someone crying was a good sign, and it was almost humorous that James would smile about Marlene being so upset, but in the situation, crying /was/ a good sign: it meant she was coping with the loss of Lily rather than bottling it up. Sirius decided he'd tell James that night, when the girls weren't around and James would be sensible about it all. He flopped on his bed, already changed into his checked pyjamas, and waited for James to finish. James emerged from the bath room with his Gryffindor pyjamas on and his glasses in hand, ready to out on his bedside table. Remus and Peter were still downstairs, where Remus was helping Peter finish his Herbology assignment, so they had the dorm to themselves to talk.

Sirius started carefully, unwilling for James to find out that they had kissed, not particularly wanting to be killed tonight.

"Prongs..."

"Yeah?" James said, getting into bed.

"You know when I went after Marlene? Well..." Sirius said, trying to word it right.

"Well what?"

"I... Comforted her, well, my version of comforting, and she... Um... She cried a bit," he said, abandoning all hope of saying it properly and just muttered it.

"She did?" he said eagerly, "As in, a little cry or a big sobbing, wailing mess?"

Sirius smiled at that, "Oh definitely a sobbing wailing mess, I think she'd almost drowned us by the time she'd stopped!"

James nodded, pleased, "Thank Merlin, she needed it. And you /did/ comfort her?" It wasn't that he didn't trust Sirius, he just didn't trust Sirius to understand Marlene.

Sirius smirked slightly, and looked James in the eye, "Oh I comforted her alright, Prongs."

James was oblivious to the double meaning in his words, and just smiled, happy that Marlene was on the mend now. She wasn't going to get better while Lily was still gone, but she wouldn't get much worse at least.

James wasn't sure how he was keeping calm about Lily's absence actually, because although he wasn't dating her, he was never going to deny loving her, and each day without seeing her was like a stab in the chest. It physically hurt him to know she was in danger, and while Remus could sympathise with his involvement with Mary, it wasn't the same, not quite, because that was a more recent development whereas James had loved Lily for years now. And the fact that Mary was still safe in the castle. He didn't know what he would do if she died, he shuddered at the thought, and never got to kiss her just once.

After class, Marlene had retreated to the Library to escape from James' pleased looks at her and Sirius' broody glares, neither of which she understood, to try to finish her Care of Magical Creatures diagram of a Hippogriff. It was tedious work, especially when you worked alone, and Marlene felt her mind drifting off labelling a Hippogriff's wings and more toward the thoughts that were plaguing her nightmares. After an hour, she had only written two more labels, and hasn't finished drawing the head at all, and had been doodling on a scrap of parchment instead. Resting her head on the table, she allowed herself half an hour of sleep. After all, she said, trying to convince herself, she hadn't been sleeping well, and a nap couldn't hurt could it? She was asleep almost straight after she closed her eyes.

(IN ITALICS)

"You will tell me about them, and you will tell me now."

Mason winced as another cut was carved into his cheek, and Claudia McKinnon screamed in fear as his eyes flickered shut. The man turned to her next, ginning evilly.

"Poor, poor little blood traitor. You see what happens to those who disobey me, Mrs McKinnon, do you see? You may think Marlene is safe, but we have our methods, we can find her too," he crooned, "Want her to join you? We could have a... family reunion, with some /close friends/ present too."

His snake like gaze flickered to the bruised and unconscious red-head in the corner, and Mrs McKinnon shook her head, "Please, please, leave her alone, she's just a girl!"

"Oh really? What can you do to stop me?" Voldemort laughed. She had never seen Voldemort, and didn't know what he looked like, so the faceless figure was terrifying Marlene.

Claudia realised that she was helpless, and struggled against her magical bonds, trying desperately to defend Lily, who she was fond of, and her eldest son, who was slumped against the wall, looking far younger than 21 with his blonde hair scruffy and dusty.

Voldemort smiled cruelly, and raised his wand to Lily again, "Crucio."

Lily's emerald eyes opened wide as she screamed, and Mrs McKinnon joined in, and the green light flickered over her son and husband, who hadn't moved through out the session.

When Voldemort ended the spell, he gazed down at the four prisoners with no mercy in his dark eyes, and lowered his wand. Only Mrs McKinnon was awake now, and she shivered in fear and rage, "Please, have mercy, have mercy!"

A thin smirk spread across his pale features, and he twirled his wand in his fingers absentmindedly, "Mercy?"

"Yes! Please! Let us go!" she whimpered, crawling over to her husband and son with difficulty.

"I have no intention of letting you go, blood traitor," he sneered, laughing a her naive thought, "If you want mercy you can have it, but on my terms."

She nodded eagerly, "My son, please."

He laughed, "Your son first? Of course."

Then, although Claudia had expected the ropes to vanish, Voldemort didn't release Mason, but green light flickered around him, and his body slumped to the floor, dead.

He turned to Mr McKinnon and repeated his 'mercy' while Mrs McKinnon screamed, shaking violently, tears streaming down her face as he family were killed.

He turned to Lily, and coldly struck her down as well, before returning his gaze to Mrs McKinnon, "Mercy, Claudia, mercy."

Her screamed echoed through her head, and she screamed and screamed.

(NORMAL TEXT)

She sat bolt upright, her eyes wide open as her screams were muttered by shouts of fear and shock, and people gathered round her to see what was wrong.

Marlene heard screams, and wondered why they didn't stop, until she realised that she was the one making the sounds, and the next one died in her throat as she held herself tight. There were hands on her arms, shaking her, and voices muttering around her, soothing words she didn't hear. She pushed her chair back, grabbed her bag and fled, ignoring the calls after her, not that she could hear them as the sound of those two fatal words spinning round and round overtook everything. She knew it was a dream, they weren't dead, they couldn't be, but it was so real. Her mother would have begged for Mason's sake, and tried to protect Lily, her father would have tried to fight, but only have been hurt for his efforts, Mason would have been so angry when the Dark Lord threatened her, Lily would be the one who passed out first, and she could see the green light in her eyes, it was like she had been there.

She didn't know where she was going as she shook off the hands that grabbed her and she ran past, hair free and tangled, eyes red and tears still flowing down her cheeks.

"MARLENE!" James shouted, trying to grab her but she dodged his grip and ran on.

The girls stared after me, having not seen her lose control in a while now, and they were sure to be pleased later that she was coping, now they had only concern for their friend. All of them started after her, but James and Sirius, surprisingly, held them back, explaining she just needed to cry. Mary and Emmeline shared a look when Sirius explained to them that she had cried before, after he'd comforted her and they all noticed how his eyes didn't quite meet theirs, and Emmeline made a 'cha-ching' noise at Mary, waggling her eyebrows but there was a steely GOIG in her eyes, almost like annoyance, "I'm guessing you owe me five galleons, Mare."

Mary huffed, and rolled her eyes, "Shut it, Em, he hasn't said anything."

"What are you talking about, MacDonald?" Sirius frowned.

They giggled, giving Hestia a 'we'll explain later' look, and shook their heads, "Nothing, Sirius."

He narrowed his eyes, but Hestia jumped in, "Black, leave it, who said it had anything to do with you?"

Sirius seemed put off by her sharp remark, and glared at her before stalking off towards Gryffindor Tower.

James just shook his head at the girls antics, and headed to the Library with them, leaving Sirius to sulk. He knew Sirius well enough to know that he was probably going to go and pace the dorm, in a mood at people for no good reason. He wasn't normally this jumpy, but with Lily still not back, and Marlene so depressed, it was reflecting badly on Sirius. So he left his best friend be, having promised to help Emmeline with her homework while Hestia and Mary looked for books.

They moved slowly to the Library, concern for Marlene flooding back now Sirius had stormed off, and they discussed it in detail. They reached the Library soon after, and a fifth year Hugflepuff informed them about what had happened to Marlene, recognising them as her friends.

"Why did she start though?" Mary asked, frowning at the Hufflepuff.

The boy shrugged, "She'd been asleep and was gripping the table, and just woke up screaming! No idea why, sorry."

James thanked the boy and they gathered her stuff from him, putting it at their table and they tried to ignore the curious stares they were getting.

Marlene had retreated to her alcove again, her school bag in her lap, and she shook with fear and shock. The worst bit of the nightmare was knowing that it really could be happening right now, and she was powerless to stop it. She tugged at her hair, and buried her head into her hands. She knew her friends had been worried by her silence, but this was worse to her, all this screaming and crying and running off. They wanted her to cope, but cope by crying, and she didn't know how this was classed as coping. She was a mess, a crying, nervous wreck, and she hated it. If it had just been her parents missing, or just Lily, she might've managed, but it was the people she loved most all gone at once that had tipped the balance. Every day she was expecting the ivory envelope with the black seal she had learnt to fear from stories Mason told. That envelope meant death, it meant an auror had died, and every time the owls flew in she panicked, knowing soon there would be one for her as the oldest remaining child. She didn't know whether her parents were dead, and her little brother didn't even know they were missing yet (she'd told him all sorts of stories about how they said they couldn't write on the mission etc) and she was dreading explaining it all to him. On top of that, the days without Lily to keep her grounded were stretching out, and she was slowly drowning in fear.

She played with the strap of her satchel while she calmed down, and listened to the sound of the castle: you could hear owls all the time, no matter what, sending messages to teachers or pupils, or letters home; you could always hear the pupils unless it was last curfew, and you could always hear the wind, especially when you were higher up in the castle like she was now. She closed her eyes and blew out, trying to stop thinking for one minute, to just let herself relax.

It was impossible, especially when she heard footsteps outside. If Marlene had been thinking sensibly, she might've recognised the footsteps as Sirius' but in the state she was in, she just panicked and curled up, clutching her wand tightly, seeing the green light in her eyes as she shivered.

"Marlene?"

She whimpered and squealed, "GO AWAY!"

Sirius didn't go away, being the stubborn idiot he was, and pulled back the tapestry and sat next to her like he had done the previous night, "Hey, I'm not going anywhere."

"Please, please," she said, them realised she sounded like her mother begging for mercy, and scrambled as far away from him as possible, "Go away, leave me alone, Sirius."

"Nope, not a chance," he insisted, grabbing her wrist to stop her running off again.

She flinched at the contact and tugged, but his grip was too strong and she couldn't break free.

She didn't know why she was so scared of him, but it seemed that anyone she got close to was killed, and she didn't want the next dream to be Sirius dying in front of her, his usually sleek black hair all over the place, bright grey eyes a flat, dull, dead colour.

"Marlene," he hissed, "Talk to me, please,"

She shook her head furiously, and tried again to get away.

"Please, Marlene, you're scaring me," Sirius whispered, looking at her with wide eyes.

She didn't want to scare him, just wanted to get away, so Marlene turned to look at him, sinking dejectedly back down to the floor, legs tucked under her awkwardly.

"I-I..." she started.

He didn't know what part of him told him to do it, but he pulled her onto his lap, and wrapped his arms around her small frame, not being able to bear seeing her scared eyes and shivering limbs any longer.

She gasped, but held herself against him: he was so warm and she was so cold, so so cold. It was weird, being so close to him, but it felt... right, almost, like this was the only natural thing to do.

Sirius was still overcome by the feeling that this was what he needed to do, and was amazed she didn't flinch away from him. But she seemed to be slowly relaxing against him, and he rested his chin on the top of her head, inhaling deeply.

"Come on, Marlene, talk to me?"

She sniffled miserably, still refusing to talk.

"Marlene!" he said, starting to lose patience.

"No, I-I c-can't, Sirius, I'm s-sorry," she said, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes again.

She hated how weak she felt, she hated how weak she looked to Sirius, but most of all she hated how safe she felt in his arms.

He realised snapping at her wouldn't help her at all, and tried to relax again, "Please, Marls?"

The use of her nickname caught her off guard, and she looked up at him in shock.

"I... I guess I could..."

"Okay," he smiled, "You can trust me, promise. On Marauder honour."

Marlene giggled slightly and took a deep breath.

"I fell asleep, in the Library," she started, eyes glazing over as she remembered what she'd seen, "But I had a nightmare, I've been having them for weeks..."

Sirius frowned.

"And then I... I saw..." she choked, "It was my mum and dad. And Mason, and Lily..."

Marlene clutched at him a little tighter, squeezing her eyes shut, "And You-Know-Who -"

"Voldemort. His name is Voldemort," Sirius interrupted.

She nodded, "Voldemort... He was talking to my mum, about mercy and stuff. And she asked him to give mercy to Mase..."

Sirius didn't need to ask to know what kind of mercy Voldemort would mean. "He killed them," he said quietly.

"One by one," Marlene whispered.

"Oh Marlene," he sighed, "It sounds stupid to say, but, it's just a dream."

She pulled away quickly, eyes wide, "But what if it isn't? My parents haven't written all term, they weren't at the platform, Lily is no closer to being found, Sirius, what if they're all dead?!"

He tried to pull her back, "Marlene, I know they're not."

"NO YOU DON'T. Stop acting like you care about me, you don't, you don't, you DON'T! You don't know what it's like, the constant worry, the fear, the dread, the stupid, tiny hope!" she yelled, wrenching free and standing up, "You. Have. No. Idea."

He was stunned, having been expecting more crying, not her yelling at him. He shot up to standing, and took a step forward.

"I do know."

"How? You don't know, I know you don't," she sobbed hysterically, hitting his chest to get him to move out of the way. She needed to run, to hide somewhere the bad news couldn't reach her, somewhere the war didn't affect her.

"Marlene, I know because I can see what it does to you, to James, hell , to me! I care about Evans too, you know?" he explained, not letting her run.

Marlene looked up at him, snuffling, and the spark died again, her shoulders slumped. She returned to the weak Marlene again.

"I'm sorry, Sirius."

"I'm sorry too, Marlene."

And neither of them could say who started it, but they were kissing again, and as Sirius backed her up against the wall, kissing her hotly, Marlene knew she wouldn't run away. Sirius wouldn't let her run away unless he was running with her. She wrapped her arms around her neck, like she needed to be close to him, he made her feel safe, and her school bag lay forgotten on the floor, all thoughts of leaving long gone. She had always thought the rumours about Sirius were made up, fangirls who wanted to exaggerate spreading lies, but she had only kissed him once before, and only for a short time, and she knew now they were not lies. Sirius Black was every bit the kisser they claimed he was. So when he kissed away her tears and wiped her eyes, she allowed herself that feeling of warmth, the feeling that she never allowed herself anymore for fear of getting to close to someone, and she found that she didn't mind it was Sirius, that in fact she'd prefer it to be Sirius.

He had wanted to stop her crying the minute he saw her run past from the Library, and known in the back of his mind this would happen eventually. She was vulnerable, so very vulnerable, and scared, and tired, and hurt, looking like a little lost puppy with her big eyes and turned down mouth. And what do you do with a little lost puppy? You look after it. He knew he wanted to make her smile again, to see her eyes twinkle again - just to cheer her up in the slightest was an achievement to him. It didn't occur to him that he was taking advantage of her. After all, she wanted to kiss him too, that was obvious, so when she didn't protest, he immediately saw his chance. The draw was magnetic, both Sirius and Marlene knew that, but only Sirius realised it was dangerous. James, along with the girls, would kill him if he messed her around, and he might end up only making it worse, but right now he couldn't keep his thoughts in line long enough to stop.

They fell back to not talking, just like the day before, only this time, Sirius couldn't help but give her sneaky glances, which, luckily, no one saw. She looked more cheerful today, like telling someone about it had made it seem more like a dream, which was all it was, really. They all walked down to breakfast together, all chatter and laughter: even Marlene put in a comment or two on the day's lessons, and Sirius smiled as he watched her.

They sat at breakfast happily, everyone's mood improved because Marlene's was. For the first time that week, she wasn't picking at her food, and loaded it up high with toast and jam. She dug in happily, her appetite returning totally. Whatever Sirius said before they kissed had certainly comforted her, and some of her fears were gone. James was giving her suspicious glances, wondering why she had suddenly become so cheerful, but he wasn't about to complain. He gave Sirius a look, and shrugged, which Sirius returned with a grin.

Mary walked over, and sat down next to Marlene, after talking to Hestia at the Ravenclaw table. She smiled at Marlene and almost toppled off the bench when Marlene gave her a small smile in return. She stared round at the others, who shrugged, and Sirius, who smirked.

Remus looked up and grinned at the other Marauders, "Post's here."

They gave eachother mischievous smirks and Emmeline, rightly, looked worried.

"What are you planning, boys?" she fretted.

James sniggered, "Don't you worry, Emmeline dear."

"Oh but I do."

The others, in their worry over what the Marauders were planning, failed to notice the ivory envelope with the black seal that had been dropped in front of Marlene. She hadn't touched it, and was merely staring at it in horror. Her heart was shattering into a million pieces as it sat there, and she blinked furiously to stop the tears spilling over. This was another nightmare, she was sure of it. It couldn't be happening. It couldn't. Sirius had been so sure, he had promised they would be fine. Another person might've blamed Sirius for giving them false hope, but Marlene froze in her spot, mind blank except for one thought: they were dead. She grabbed the envelope and crumpled it up, as if that might stop the truth from reaching her, and fled the hall immediately. Her friends all turned their heads to her, all concerned, but there was nothing visibly wrong with her. Only Sirius noticed the crumpled paper in her hand, and had a gut wrenching hunch as to what it was. He didn't mention it to the others, hoping Marlene would tell them herself, or prove his suspicions wrong.

Everyone's emotions were completely fried when McGonagall came and informed them quietly on their way out of the Great Hall after breakfast that the Aurors had a location for Lily and were planning the rescue as they spoke, but that it might be another week yet before they could get her out safely. They all walked back to the Gryffindor Common Room in silence, hopeful smiles on their faces, just looking at eachother with a little light in their eyes, a little weight off their shoulders. Emmeline was happy, extremely happy, but there was a part of her angry. Marlene had run off for no reason whatsoever, and had worried Professor McGonagall, who had seemed concerned when they said Marlene had disappeared only minutes before. She was angry that it had taken so long for them to find her friend, and she was angry that they weren't getting Lily out /now/ and that they were waiting before breaking her out. She wasn't really angry at Marlene, but seeing as she couldn't find the Aurors to shout at, she had to resort to shouting at Marlene instead.

So when they reached the Common Room and saw Marlene curled up in a ball in front of the fire, they rushed over to tell her the good news. The opened letter was on the floor in front of her, and she was staring at the flames intently. James got in first.

"MARLENE! They know where Lily is, they're getting her out!" he yelled at her, putting his face in front of hers and grinning. She looked at him and smiled faintly, no sign of her pain visible. James seemed confused over her less than enthusiastic response.

Then Emmeline came over, and started to scold her, "Where /were/ you! You just ran off, we had no idea where you'd gone and -"

"Em, I'm really not in the mood," Marlene said tiredly, interrupting.

Emmeline huffed, and out her hands on the hips, "You're not in the mood for hearing that your best friend is still alive? What a good friend you are," she said sarcastically.

Marlene looked at Emmeline blankly. Her parents were dead, Mason was dead, what did it matter?

"Marlene! Are you listening?"

She wasn't, and she really didn't care. They were dead. She was the oldest McKinnon. She was an orphan. An /orphan/. Her brother was gone. Dead. What did Lily matter?

"Marls?" Mary whispered, "Marls what's wrong?"

She blinked and shrugged.

"Marlene, what's that?" James asked nervously, eyes on the crumpled letter.

She didn't really care what it was he was referring to, and stared at the fire still.

"MARLENE CECELIA MCKINNON LOOK AT ME!" Emmeline shouted, losing her temper.

Marlene turned her head, "What?"

"Where did you go! You had us a worried, McGonagall worried, you don't seem to care about Lily!"

She stood up slowly, letter in her clenched fist, and she thrust it at Emmeline angrily, all her resentment coming to the surface.

"Oh excuse me, Miss I'm-Always-Right, if I don't care about Lily, because I have a few more slightly more important things to think about right now," she snarled.

Emmeline laughed coldly, tossing her sleek black hair over one shoulder.

"Oh yeah? Like what," Emmeline sneered.

Marlene took a step forward, and Emmeline took one back, suddenly scared at the sight of Marlene's expression. Her eyes were wild but scared, and her long hair was twisted and knotted, her lips were red in the firelight. She narrowed her eyes at Emmeline and shook with rage.

"My parents are fucking dead, so if you don't mind, I'm not going to worry about what's happening to Lily," Marlene growled out, "Oh, and so's Mason."

They took a collective gasp, however James and Sirius seemed resigned to it. James had been corresponding with his parents about it, and had expected the worse; Sirius had caught a glimpse of the letter at the table earlier, and had guessed what it contained.

Emmeline was not always the nicest, and some people had even suggested she should've been sorted into Slytherin. She had a habit of finding out things she shouldn't know and using them against people. This was very useful if she was defending you, not so useful if she was against you.

"Liar!" she laughed, "You are a fat liar, Marlene McKinnon."

Both Marlene and Sirius snarled, although Sirius didn't know why he was so defensive over her.

"What. Did. You. Just. Say."

"You are a liar!" Emmeline repeated clearly.

Marlene's face tightened, "You are saying I would lie about my own family being /slaughtered/? Why would I do that?"

Emmeline smirked, "I don't know, but you haven't been totally honest with us this week, have you? There's been some sneaking around, hasn't there, Marlene dear."

She looked up, scared, "What do you mean?"

"I think Sirius should explain that, actually," Emmeline said triumphantly, folding her arms across her chest.

Marlene gulped and laughed weakly, "You know nothing."

James and Mary were so confused, Remus and Peter had already escaped the fight, and Sirius was glaring at Emmeline with such intensity, James was scared she might drop down dead.

The reaction was perfect, and Emmeline continued, "How many times have you snogged now? Two, three times? Oh sweetie, I'm not the slut anymore, you've kissed him more times than me."

If looks could kill, Emmeline would be dead twice over. James looked between Sirius and Marlene and knew it was true.

"Pads.."

"Prongs, it was -"

"I told you, you can't mess with her."

"I didn't!"

"Yes you did," Emmeline put in, "While she was vulnerable, am I correct? You used her, Sirius, like you used us all."

Marlene turned to Emmeline, and slapped her hard across the face, "Shut the fuck up! You don't know what you're saying."

Emmeline winced then recovered and just laughed at Marlene, "Needed his attention, so you made up a story about your parents? That's low."

She didn't know why she was being so bitchy, but she'd had a small crush on Sirius for a while, which she had convinced herself was more, and when she heard that Marlene and Sirius had kissed, she was out for blood.

Marlene growled and thrust the letter into Emmeline's hand again before walking off as calmly as she could. She was sick of being weak, and was going to make someone pay to this, for what they had done to her.

Hello! Me again.

So there's another chapter done, and trust me there's some drama coming up!

I'm a bit worried that Emmeline's character is inconsistent, but she's definitely going to cause more trouble in the future, that's for sure! And what will everyone make of the news? Hmmmmm;)

Remember, reviews can take only a few seconds but can make my day. That's a good trade, right?

- PIAM3 xxx