"What?" Lily was blinking at her with an emotionless face.
Marlene sighed. She had known that this was going to be an interesting conversation. The girls had met up with one another on the Hogwarts platform and Marlene had been quick to suggest to Lily that she was in desperate need to account for her holidays.
"I was surprised when I didn't hear back from you," she said almost dismissively before Marlene had even had a chance to speak, "and then I remembered that you probably wouldn't have the chance to reply to me while your family was around. I didn't even think that you wouldn't have the ability to send me a letter later."
"I'm really sorry about that," Marlene offered sincerely. "I really wanted to reply to you, believe me!"
And then she delved into her story of Christmas, watching Lily's face slowly pale and her smile falter.
"He's your cousin!?" she asked incredulously. Marlene nodded solemnly.
"Well then I suppose they deserve each other don't they?" Lily replied bitterly. The tone in her voice compared to that of the positive letter she had written to Marlene over the holidays regarding embracing family crossed Marlene's mind. It seemed apparent that something further had happened with Petunia since she had written it.
"What now?" Marlene pried, hopeful that Lily was feeling generous.
"It seems that they've moved up the wedding," Lily sighed. "Conveniently to a time when I am unable to attend because of school."
"Oh Lily," Marlene gave her friend a reassuring hug, "I'm so sorry."
"I guess it means that we can miserably miss it together," Lily laughed lightly once they had pulled away.
"It's a date," Marlene smiled. The girls gathered their belongings and began the search on the train for the compartment they assumed Mary had been saving for them. Once they found her they wasted no time filling her in on the events over the holidays.
It seems that she had also had an eventful Christmas as yet another inevitable breakup with Davey had transpired. She surprisingly didn't feel like discussing the matter and seemed rather indifferent about the subject.
"We broke up," she had said simply when the time came around for her to share. "Not much else to say about it."
Lily and Marlene took the hint and didn't pry any further.
The train ride was unusually long and uneventful. It seemed that a good portion of Hogwarts students had stayed at the school for their holidays as there were hardly any passengers on board.
"I would have thought everyone would want to be around their loved ones at a time like this," Mary had mused once the conversation had come around.
"I suppose that people just feel safer at Hogwarts," Marlene added but she couldn't help but agree with Mary that she would much rather spend as much time as possible with her family in such trying times.
Reading comprised the majority of the three girl's time on their ride home and not much conversation was offered until they had arrived safely at the Hogsmeade platform. Hagrid was greeting students in his usual fashion on the platform, guiding the students to the carriages that would take them to the castle. The chatter of the great hall was eminent as they entered in through the entrance, the anticipation of the feast quite possibly the most important thing on everyone's mind. Marlene felt her stomach growl and realized that chocolate frogs were probably not the most sensible meal she could have filled up on during the day.
The Gryffindor table was nearly filled by the time they entered and a quick scan of the table revealed that there were empty seats next to the Marauders. Marlene felt Lily tense up slightly at her side but never the less moved forwards to claim the chairs.
"He didn't message me once," she whispered quietly as they approached the table. The tone in her voice seemed surprised but nevertheless happy.
"Good evening," she offered politely as they sat down. The boys hardly glanced up at her from the intense conversation they appeared to be having.
"Hello Evans," James said simply before immersing himself back into his conversation.
Lily looked taken aback for a moment before smiling and focusing her attention on the head table. Once all the students had taken their seats, Professor Dumbledore rose from his seat and waited patiently for the chatter to die down.
"Good evening students," he announced cheerfully.
"Welcome back returning students, I'm sure you are all quite famished so let the feast begin."
"I feel guilty admitting that I didn't study all break," Lily acknowledged ruefully in between a swig of her pumpkin juice. "It was nice for once not to be focused so heavily on my grades."
"I suppose with Petunia being out of the house it gives you less reason to keep yourself busy?" Mary asked curiously and Lily nodded her head in agreement.
"I think that must be it," she sighed with relief. Marlene always knew that Lily prided herself in keeping busy; it only made sense that her strained relationship with her sister could be one of the underlying causes.
Surprisingly enough, the boys did not further acknowledge them. It did not seem to bother Lily too much and she was quick to absorb herself back into her prefect duties with Remus at the conclusion of the feast.
"I'll see you guys upstairs," she said as she kindly waited for Remus to bid goodbye to his friends. The two of them hurried off for their meeting as the rest of the hall began to exit for their dormitories.
"Heard from Bert lately?" Mary asked while trying to make idle chit chat. Marlene took a sharp breath. She had forgotten all about him over the holidays.
"No," she replied simply.
"I think he want's your attention," Mary pointed over towards the Hufflepuff table where the boy in question seemed to be making his way over through the crowd.
"I thought you girls were joking!" a voice said humorously from behind them. The remaining Marauder boys were within a foot away from them and had clearly been listening in. James was looking amused while Sirius had what appeared to be furrowed brows.
"Joking?" Mary didn't understand.
"About McKinnon snogging Aubrey in a broom closet," Potter offered her an explanation. He was laughing quietly but his counterpart did not seem to find it so amusing.
"I'm not snogging anyone in a broom closet," Marlene felt her cheeks turning pink. This was not turning out to be a comfortable conversation for her and the boy in question was slowly getting closer, surely he would have no trouble hearing them soon.
"Not yet anyways," Mary was grinning enthusiastically and James let out a howl of laughter.
"Hey Marlene," Bert had finally made his way over. He shot the boys an inquisitive glance at the sound of James laughter but quickly averted his gaze back to Marlene. "How were your holidays?"
"Oh they were good," she blushed furiously, willing that Potter and Black would disappear. Mary wasn't making things any easier as she was stifling her giggles beside her.
Bert looked between the teens uncomfortably.
"Ignore them," Marlene said quickly and made a step away from the group so that they were heading in opposite directions. "They clearly had too many cheering charms earlier in the day."
"Alright," he said skeptically but smiled at her friends with a quick wave as Marlene steered him away.
"Oy, McKinnon!" James shouted out to her but she had managed to put a number of students between them and his voice was slowly drowning out.
"I didn't realize you were friends with them," Bert mused quietly. He was obviously referring to the boys and it was the first time that Marlene toyed with the notion that the Marauders could be considered friends.
"We're not really," she hastily decided that she wasn't quite sure what she considered them too be.
"I meant to write you," he smiled sheepishly. It was clear he wasn't interested in pursuing a conversation about the Gryffindor boys and Marlene was more than happy to oblige.
"Oh," Marlene didn't know what else to say.
"The household was a bit crazy this year," he continued on. Marlene was vaguely aware that they had begun heading in the direction of the library. "Too many people crammed into one tiny house makes for a rather uncomfortable holidays!"
"Tell me about it!" Marlene laughed humorously. She knew all too well what that felt like. She felt slightly more at ease as they strolled through the scattered hallways, exchanging in light chatter. She had shared her horror of discovering that her cousin was marrying Lily's sister and he had empathized by revealing that his brother had married a troll of a witch during the summer and she had made it impossibly difficult for anyone to relax during the holidays.
"My mum can't stand her," he sighed deeply, "but she's part Veela and had my dad wrapped around her fingers from the moment they first met. He gave in a bit to some unnecessary frivolous wedding details without consulting mum and, well, that just led to quite a bit of tension before school started."
They had somehow made their way through the empty hallways to the vicinity of the Gryffindor common room. The halls were illuminated with candlelight from the torches on the walls; their shadows flitted across the floor in an eerie, yet satisfactory comfort as Marlene embraced the normality of the Hogwarts castle's surroundings she had become so familiar with over the years.
"I've never been up here before," he said simply while looking around. "Where's your common room?"
Marlene pointed towards the end of the hall where the portrait of the fat lady hung against the wall.
"I suppose I shouldn't steer you in the opposite direction now that we're here," he smiled. He had turned and looked down to catch his gaze with Marlene's. His green eyes were twinkling, illuminated by the candles adjacent to where they were standing. His grin widened a bit and his hand reached out to move a strand of Marlene's blonde hair out of her eyes.
She blushed at his touch but she couldn't tear her eyes away from his gaze. His hand lingered a moment on her face before he slowly dropped it down to his side.
"I'm glad we got to catch up," he said softly. He did not attempt to make a further move and for this, Marlene felt a mixture of disappointment and relief.
"Me too," she said with a small smile and she hesitated for a moment before she started to turn towards the Gryffindor tower, offering a wave goodbye. "Have a good night Bert."
"I'll see you tomorrow," his grin widened and he waved in reply making the butterflies in Marlene's stomach flitter around with intensity. "Goodnight."
Only Lily was waiting for her in the common room upon her entrance. There were very few students left and the quietness of the room led Marlene to believe that last minute homework assignments were more than likely the cause. Lily was happily reading her muggle fiction novel that she had been engrossed in on the train and almost didn't notice Marlene's presence until she had sat down on the couch next to her.
"Oh hey," she said while looking up from the pages of her novel. "I wasn't sure if you were going to make it back before curfew."
Although Lily was normally a stickler for the rules, Marlene couldn't help but notice the goofy grin that her friend was omitting.
"After what happened the last time I was caught out after hours?" Marlene shuddered involuntarily, "No thank you."
"Don't fancy another detention with Black?" Lily smirked at her briefly before returning her attention into her book.
In truth, the detention hadn't been all that bad. Sirius had been exceptionally well-behaved during their evening together. Marlene supposed that much of that had to do with the fact that the rest of his posse wasn't present at the time, however.
"What did you two talk about?" Lily casually asked while still staring fruitfully at the pages in front of her. Despite the fact that her attention seemed elsewhere, Marlene was aware that her friend was devoting her full attention to the question.
"Mostly about our holidays," Marlene recounted. "He brushed back my hair when we were saying goodnight."
Lily's face moved quickly away from the book and her eyes widened brightly. Her face had cracked into a gigantic smile.
"Did he kiss you?" she asked eagerly.
"No," Marlene said disappointed. She couldn't help the resurge of her previous mixed emotions on the matter and quickly accounted this to Lily.
"So you don't know if you want him to kiss you?" Lily asked in amazement.
"No, I'm not quite sure how I feel about the whole thing."
Lily looked contemplative for a moment. Her long, slender fingers drummed the back spine of her novel and she shifted her weight in the couch so that she was in a more comfortable position. She looked pointedly at Marlene for a few moments before speaking again.
"Does this have to do with," she suddenly lowered her voice to a whisper, "Black?"
Marlene spluttered slightly as she realized what Lily had just said.
"I'm sorry," she choked slightly, "did you just say Black?"
Lily nodded. She looked serious in her question and Marlene was left reeling with confusion.
"I do not like Sirius Black," Marlene finally said firmly. She hadn't ever consciously entertained the idea of feelings for him but the idea sounded absurd to her.
"Ok," Lily said believingly. "I just see how much extra attention he's been paying you lately, it's just unusual to see him around a girl so often I had to wonder."
Marlene shrugged the thought out of her mind and refocused their conversation back on track. Her newly discovered feelings for the seventh year Hufflepuff left her little time to dwell on the meaning behind Sirius Black's sudden increase of attention. She liked Bert, but her lack of experience in relationships left her feeling uneasy and completely out of her element.
"I should go to bed," Marlene stifled a yawn. Lily nodded her head but had absorbed herself once again in her novel. She made no move to remove herself from her place on the couch.
"Goodnight," she offered instead and Marlene bid her the same before heading up the staircase towards their shared dormitory for what she hoped would be an uninterrupted, peaceful night's sleep before beginning classes in the morning.
Bert was waiting for her outside the Potions classroom the next morning. She was quick to notice him, casually leaning up against the dungeon wall. He was smiling politely to the students passing by but it was only when his eyes caught sight of her that his face broke out into a large grin.
The butterflies were instantly stirred up again in the pit of her stomach at the sight of his presence. Marlene felt her nerves get the better of her as she approached him.
"Good morning," he said, the smile never wavering from his face. He politely acknowledged both Lily and Mary before asking Marlene if he could walk her to lunch.
"Of course," she smiled shyly at him and did not miss the amused look that passed between her friends as she said this.
They strolled ahead of Lily and Mary, Marlene was vaguely aware that their eyes were boring into their backs in obvious anticipation for what would happen next.
Either Bert hadn't sensed the awkwardness of the attention they were drawing or had chosen to ignore it, he was quick to engage Marlene in an animated conversation about his upcoming Quidditch match. She slowly allowed herself to forget about her nerves and absorbed herself in their conversation.
"Of course I can't offer up too much information to you," he winked casually at her when the conversation had turned into team tactics. "My opposition is within earshot."
Marlene glanced over her shoulder and noticed for the first time that James and Sirius were within earshot of their entire conversation. She scowled at them when she noticed that they had been listening in. James smiled happily at the realization that they had been discovered but Sirius's expression did not waver.
"Will you be going to the next game?" Bert asked hopefully and Marlene refocused her attention back to the boy walking beside her.
"Yes of course," Marlene said happily and was enlightened to see that this answer pleased him.
"Excellent," he said, his eyes flashed brighter and for a brief moment his hand brushed against hers as the crowded hallway they had begun walking through had forced them closer together. The contact was so quick that Marlene wasn't sure if she had imagined it and Bert made no acknowledgement that it had occurred.
They parted ways at the great hall with friendly goodbyes and Marlene was thankful that her friends had chosen not to make a big deal of it as she settled into her seat across from them.
"I like him," Lily said subjectively, "he seems really nice."
"I agree," Mary nodded her head in agreement and the subject quickly moved along to the befuddlement potion that they had been introduced to during the previous class.
Marlene did not see Bert for the rest of the afternoon and it was only during dinner that she was able to catch a glimpse of him sitting with his friends. He caught her eye and smiled at her, causing her to feel another sense of warm appreciation.