Chapter 9
"Oh my gosh," Lily spun around to face Marlene and Sirius as they were heading back up to the castle. "I gave you detention for the night of the full moon."
Oh no. What were they going to do? How was James going to control Remus all by himself? He couldn't do that right?
Sirius snorted. "Finally figured it out, Evans?"
"It's fine," James told her. "I can handle it."
"Are you sure?" Lily asked putting a hand on his arm. Sirius gave Marlene a look and she just shrugged. No one ever really knew what was going on with Lily and James. They would be mad at each other one moment and flirting or loving up on each other the next. Marlene didn't understand why they didn't just get together already. Everybody knew it was coming. Well, everyone except Lily and James and maybe Emmeline.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," James smiled. "Trust me, it's not the first time this has happened."
"That was one time," Sirius protested.
James rolled his eyes. "Long story."
Lily rolled her eyes. "I don't even want to know."
Marlene smiled as they started back up to the castle. Remus was waiting for them at the entrance, along with an annoyed looking Emmeline Vance. Marlene rolled her eyes. Of course, the jealous twit would be waiting for James. She was probably going to cling to him for the rest of the day. Honestly, couldn't the girl see that James and Lily were meant for each other?
"Where were you guys?" Remus asked when they reached them.
"Just went for a walk," Sirius supplied.
Remus gave him a disbelieving look, but didn't say anything more.
"Were you with them the whole time?" Emmeline inquired sweetly. Too sweetly.
"Why?" Marlene asked. "Afraid Lily will steal him away from you?"
Emmeline's jaw hit the ground, Remus stared at Lily and James, Sirius barked out a laugh, James was looking between Lily and Emmeline cautiously, and Lily was glaring at Marlene.
"First of all, James and I are just friends, and will remain so," Lily clarified. "Second, you were with us the whole time, nothing happened."
Emmeline huffed turning on her heel and storming back up the castle.
"Emmeline!" James called running after her.
"What was that for?!" Lily rounded on Marlene.
"I don't like her," Marlene said glaring after Emmeline. "She's a trashy-"
"I don't care!" Lily shouted, interrupting her. "That was no reason to imply that James and I did anything, other than talk! You're spending too much time with him!"
She turned on her heel and marched up to the castle. Marlene watched her go a bit sad. Maybe Lily was right. Maybe she was spending too much time with Sirius. But Sirius was nice to her and made her feel at ease and good about herself. She didn't think he was that bad. Besides Marlene liked how he made everything go away and she could just relax.
"So touchy," Sirius muttered.
Remus raised an eyebrow at him. "What were you doing anyway?"
"Showing the girls around the forest," Sirius replied simply.
"Oh, well, you should be careful in there," Remus told him. "You know there are bad things in there."
"Don't worry, Moony," Sirius smirked, "we didn't run into anything."
Remus rolled his eyes. "Come on, we're going to be late for class."
"I'll be there in a minute," Sirius told him. "You go on."
Remus nodded. "Alright, come on, Marlene."
"I'm going to wait for Sirius," Marlene stated. "You go on. I'll make sure he gets to class on time."
Remus looked suspiciously in between them before turning and walking back up to the castle. Marlene sighed as she watched him go. She really didn't know why she said she would stay with Sirius. It was a slip of the tongue really. Quickly she turned back to Sirius to see why exactly he wanted to stay. When she did, she saw him pulling out a cigarette and lighting it up.
"Want one?" Sirius asked blowing smoke into the air.
Marlene bit her lip before nodding. Sirius smirked before taking one out of his robes and handing it to her. Reaching out slowly, she took it and twirled it in between her fingers before putting it between her lips. Pulling her wand out, she sucked in and light it. The smoke rolled through her lungs more smoothly than the last two times she had smoked. Sirius was right. It did get easier with time.
"So what made you decided to stay with me?" Sirius asked.
Marlene blew out some smoke before answering. "I wanted to see what you were up to. Besides, someone has to make sure you get to class on time."
"And that's going to be you I suppose?"
"Yep," Marlene nodded. "Can I have another one of these, just in case."
"Sure, McKinnon," Sirius said before pulling another one out of his robes. "Here."
"Thanks," Marlene nodded.
The rest of their time passed in silence. Marlene let the smoke envelope her. It was nice to let go and forget about her responsibilities. Leaning her head against the wall behind her, she closed her eyes and relaxed. She felt Sirius' eyes on her, but didn't say anything to him. Right now she just wanted to forget that he kissed her and forget that Regulus would be hurt by it, if he ever found out. She didn't want to think at all right now. Eventually though, her cigarette was at it's end. Sighing, she put it out.
"Ready to go?"
"Yep," Sirius grinned. They vanished the remains of their cigarettes and preformed a few cleaning spells before heading to class.
Marlene sat next to Dorcas for the rest of the day. She didn't want Lily to think she was spending too much time with Sirius. It's not that she didn't like Sirius. She did. A lot. However, she didn't want Lily to know that, especially after what happened between them. Sirius didn't seem to mind though. He was preoccupied with the Marauders, who were talking in hushed tones all through class. Marlene assumed that they were planning out the full moon.
They were in Charms at the moment and Marlene was watching Lily take notes in front of her. She really didn't want Lily to be mad at her. She hated when Lily was mad at her. Sighing she grabbed a piece of parchment and scribbled Lily a quick apology. Before throwing it onto Lily's desk, Marlene looked over at the teacher to make sure he wasn't looking. Lily looked at the note then Flitwick before turning to face her.
"What?" she snapped quietly.
"I'm sorry," Marlene apologized. "You know she gets under my skin."
Lily glared at her for a moment before sighing. "Alright, you're forgiven, but never do that again."
"I won't," Marlene smiled. "Promise."
Lily smiled before turning back around. The rest of the class finished uneventfully. Marlene packed her books up and headed for the door. She waded through the crowd of people going to dinner. Finally, she was starving. It wouldn't be long before she was sitting with her friends enjoying her meal. Suddenly she found herself pulled into a dark corridor. It was more like a secret passage. Then she realized she wasn't alone. She felt a body close to hers. Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the darkness.
"Did Evans forgive you?" Sirius muttered against her ear as he kissed down her neck.
Tingles ran through Marlene's body. Her skin felt on fire from Sirius' touch. Her mind seemed to go blank for a minute. Sirius noticed this reaction and smirked against her skin. Marlene leaned her head back breathing heavily. She needed to stop this now, but it felt so good. Just for a few more minutes. Sirius kissed her neck and bit softly on it. That was going to leave a mark.
"Yeah," Marlene breathed trying to stop herself from kissing Sirius again.
He seemed to sense this because he pulled away. "Are you ok?"
"Sirius," Marlene sighed. "We can't do this."
Sirius stepped away from her with a hurt look on his face. Marlene didn't think he cared that much about her. He looked truly sincere. She didn't mean to hurt him. She really didn't, but she couldn't do this to Regulus. He trusted her and she couldn't betray that trust, even if she really wanted to.
"Why?" he sounded like he was being strangled.
Marlene bit her lip. "I'm sorry. Really I am, but I can't do this to Regulus. Imagine how much this would hurt him if he found out. I can't do that to him. Besides you don't want to date me or kiss me, for that matter. I don't want to hurt you or him, so it's best if we just end this right here. We can still be friends though."
Sirius' face had turned stony at the mention of his brother's name. "This is about Regulus? I thought you understood that he was a bad guy. He's going to be a Death Eater! Why can't you see that?! He's not the goody two shoes you think he is! If you want him, fine, I won't bother with you in the future, but don't come crying when he goes off and joins the Death Eaters."
"Sirius, that's not-"
"Just go."
The way he said it was so cold, so detached. It hurt Marlene. She didn't want her friendship with Sirius to end, but he clearly wasn't interested in being friends. Marlene blinked back tears that stung her eyes, and hurried away from the corridor. She didn't know why she was so hurt by Sirius' words, but they cut deep. She practically ran all the way to her room. Dinner didn't interest her anymore.
She throw herself down on the bed as soon as she reached it. How could he be so cruel? Marlene didn't want to care, but she did, but it was who she was. She cared for people too easily. Her mother said it was her naïve heart that did it to her. Lily said it was because she had such a big heart she couldn't help, but caring. Either way she wanted the pain to go away.
"Marlene?" she heard someone ask from the doorway.
Quickly she wiped her tears and turned around. Lily stood in the doorway, with a concerned look on her face. She made her way over to the bed and sat down.
"Marlene, what happened?" she asked, stroking her hair.
Marlene buried her face in the pillow. "I don't want to talk about it."
"I can't help you if you don't talk about it," Lily scolded lightly.
"Sirius kissed me," Marlene confessed lifting her head off the pillow. There the secret was out, even though it hadn't lasted long. Lily would probably be mad at her, but she didn't care. Not now.
Lily's eyes widened. "When?"
"Yesterday," Marlene said wiping her eyes.
"Why?" Lily asked, her voice held a bit of an edge to it.
"I don't know. He kissed me and it felt nice so I kissed him back."
"Ok," Lily nodded. "What did he do to break your heart?"
Marlene sighed. "Today he pulled me into a corridor and tried to kiss me again, but I told him we couldn't because of Regulus. After that, he got mad at me and just. . . .blew up at me. I don't really know why I'm crying, but he just acted like it was him or Regulus. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want to choose."
Lily shook her head. "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but. . . .pick Sirius."
Marlene glared at her. "Lily, I already made my decision. That's the way it's going to be."
"Fine," Lily huffed. "Let's go down to dinner, ok?"
"No," Marlene yelped. "I can't go down there after that."
"Marlene, what does it mean to be brave?" Lily questioned.
"Having the courage to face your fears," Marlene mumbled.
"Exactly," Lily nodded. "So let's go show him that you are not afraid to face him. Alright?"
Marlene nodded. She went into the bathroom and fixed her makeup. Sighing, she came out and walked with Lily down the stairs. No sign of him yet. Lily noticed Marlene looking around and grabbed her arm.
"Mars, it's fine," Lily told her. "I won't let him do anything to you."
Marlene sighed. "Thanks, but I don't think he'll even look at me now."
Lily shook her head sighing.
They entered the Great Hall with their heads held high. Marlene was disappointed to see that Sirius wasn't there. Sighing she sat down next Mary, who was talking to Remus. Marlene, however, had no interest in the conversation. Why wasn't he here? What if something happened to him? Why was she even worrying about him? She shouldn't be. So with that thought in mind, Marlene decided to put him out of her mind. She turned her attention to the conversation at hand.
Dinner passed uneventfully. Without Sirius there it seemed to take twice as long. All Marlene wanted to do was go up to her room and relax. Fate, however seemed to have other plans. As soon as she was out of the Great Hall, a hand descended upon her arm. She turned around to get the scare of her life.
Regulus looked so much like Sirius, that she almost thought it was him. When she smiled warmly at him, he smiled back.
"You wanna go down to the lake?" he asked.
"Alright," she nodded.
They walked down to the lake ideally talking about nothing in particular. As she talked to Regulus, Marlene forgot everything that happened with Sirius. It didn't matter that he was mad at her. Right now, she could just forget and let loose.
A thought came to Marlene's mind as she was talking to Regulus. "Reg, why do you think Muggle-borns are so bad?"
Regulus sighed. "I don't know. It's how I was raised. Besides, they don't know anything about this world, so why should we let them into it? It's not fair that they come in and take our jobs and our school and we just have to live with it? No, we should have the better jobs. We were here first. That's just the way it is."
Every word he spoke struck Marlene in the heart. She thought it might be a misunderstanding before, but apparently she was wrong. Sweet Regulus couldn't believe all of this pureblood mania. It just wasn't possible. She couldn't help, but feel there was still hope for him. That she could help him in some way. She at least had to try.
"Regulus, they have just as much right to live as we do," Marlene rebuked him. "They work just as hard as we do. Sometimes harder. Do you know how hard Lily studies for her exams? It doesn't matter that we came first. That doesn't make us any better than they are. We're worse than they are. We kill people because they don't have 'pure blood'. Would you kill a baby because it had magical talent, but it's parents were Muggles? Would you?"
Regulus looked down. "Look, Marlene, we have our differences can't we just leave it at that?"
"No, we can't. I can't just put what I believe in aside just because you want me to."
"I'm not asking you to," Regulus told her. "I just don't want to talk about it now."
Marlene sighed. "Fine." She would let him get away with it just this once.
Marlene made her way up from the lake a while later. She tried to convince Regulus that he was going down the wrong path, but he wouldn't be deterred so easily. Sighing, Marlene walked up to her dorm and plopped down on her bed. Lily came rushing in.
"What are you doing?" she snapped.
"Um. . .sitting here," Marlene answered.
"Remus has a full moon tonight," Lily reminded her.
Marlene's eyes widened. "I forgot. Let's go. . . .where is it we're going again?"
"Down to the common room until they get back," Lily told her. "Then we'll go down to the Hospital Wing to see Remus, when the sun comes up."
"Got it," Marlene nodded before following Lily down the stairs.
It was midnight when Lily decided that she was going to work on her homework. Marlene was staring into the fire. Lily had told her to read so she could stay awake, but Marlene knew that wouldn't help her. She stared into the fire and watched the dying ambers. They were very pretty really. The red ambers sparkled as they faded. Maybe if she rested her eyes for just a little bit. She was just resting her eyes.
Marlene felt herself being shaken and opened her eyes. Marlene opened her eyes wearily. She could see an outline of red. Then Lily came into view. She stood beside Marlene pushing on her shoulder. She sat up and noticed that it was barely dawn. What was Lily doing waking her this early? Then it clicked. Remus!
Marlene hopped up and pulled her hair back into a bun. She nodded to Lily and they started down to the Hospital Wing. The walk didn't take long and by the time they got there, Remus was laying on one of the beds. Marlene breathed a sigh of relief. He was ok. Then she saw Sirius, James, and Peter. James looked ok expect for a small scratch across his forehead. Peter also looked unharmed. Sirius had a scratch across his cheek that didn't look deep, but other than that looked fine. How did he get that in detention?
Marlene stopped dead in her tracks when she saw this. Lily, however, ran over and hugged James. Sirius and Peter both looked at each other before backing away from them and over to Marlene. They hadn't noticed her yet; there was still time to get out. She could leave and pretend she was never here. But Lily had told her to face her fears. She had to face Sirius and that was that. Sirius seemed to notice at this point that he and Peter weren't the only people watching Lily and James. He turned and spotted Marlene. She watched as his gaze turned stony as it landed on her.
"McKinnon, what are you doing here?" Sirius asked.
"I came to see if Remus was ok," Marlene told him.
"He's fine," Sirius replied. "What are you still doing here?"
Peter looked very uncomfortable at this moment and slipped away.
Marlene rolled her eyes. "How'd you get out of detention anyways?"
"I slipped out after a while. Now why are you still here?"
Marlene glared at Sirius. "He's my friend, too. Besides, I had to make sure you doofs were ok. And you're not."
"What? I'm fine," Sirius said confused.
Marlene took a step toward him and tilted his head slightly. As Sirius winced, Marlene ran her finger under the cut. She shook her head as she looked at it. Sirius' eyes turned from stony to surprised in an instant. Marlene sighed and stepped away from him, only to be pulled back to his chest. Sirius smirked down at her. Marlene looked away. There were people in the room, they could not do this.
"We can't do this," Marlene protested.
"Come on, you know you want to," Sirius teased before he became serious. "Come on, Mars, please forget him. He's bad news. He's on the road to becoming a Death Eater and you know it. Please, just trust me."
Marlene bit her lip. She really wanted to be with Sirius, but at the same time she didn't want to hurt Regulus. The way she felt with both boys was amazing. Sirius brought out the wild side and made her feel like she didn't have to worry about anything, like she could live for the day and not worry about the consequences of what she had done. Regulus was sweet and gentle with her. He cared for her a great deal, she knew that much. Then they both had their down sides. Sirius had a temper and if he wasn't in a good mood then he would most likely snap your head off. Regulus believed in blood purity and probably won't let her see her friends when they got married.
Marlene sighed. She supposed she could hide it from both of them if she tried. That's what she would do. She would hide it until she figured out who she liked. So with that in mind, she turned her attention back to Sirius.
"Alright," she couldn't help, but smile. Sirius grinned and reached down to kiss her, but she put her finger in between them.
"Do you mind if we keep this a secret for now?" Marlene asked biting her lip.
Sirius looked back over at Lily, James, and Peter, who were all watching Remus before nodding. "Alright."
A/N: So this chapter isn't as long as they last one, but I thought it was pretty good. Hopefully I'll be able to update quicker the next time. Review!