Remus and Marlene returned from the kitchens about an hour past curfew. She knew that if Lily had been in the common room when she arrived back that she would be in an all new level of trouble than she had been in their previous year. Now that Lily was Head Girl she suspected that her oversight of Marlene's occasional late night traipses was not a force to be reckoned with even with Lily's one time momentary lapse in judgment when they had skipped class.

Luckily though, both girls appeared to have retired to their dormitory for the evening and the common room was filled with only a few stragglers. Not quite feeling the urge to go to bed, Marlene informed Remus of her intentions to finish the essay that she had been working on when he had interrupted her in the library.

"I'd join you," he said regretfully, "but the full moon is tomorrow and I really need my rest tonight."

Marlene nodded in understanding and bid him goodnight. She watched him trudge up the stairs to the boy's dormitory before rifling through her bag to continue working on the essay that lay forgotten at the bottom.

She was nearly finished the essay and was ahead of schedule for a change as she had spent the majority of her Saturday confined within the library, determined not to fall behind like she had last year. She had witnessed far too many students succumb to the pressures of their N.E.W.T.s and she did not desire to be one of them.

Despite the fact that the essay was near completion, Marlene scanned over the contents of her writing at least a half dozen times while making marks and adding notes that she had somehow forgotten to mention. By the time the clock in the common room chimed midnight she had grown weary of the Charms material and moved on to her Transfiguration notes.

They had continued on from their previous theory in sixth year regarding human transfiguration. The practical aspect of it was much more complex than she had originally anticipated but with Sirius's help during the last term, she had felt far more competent in her abilities and, despite the difficulty, she still managed to struggle less than she had in previous years.

Writing an essay on the subject matter was a completely different task than the practical though; she and Sirius had gone over so many notes and books and lectures on the matter that she felt like she knew it better than the back of her own hand. The essay came together quite nicely and for once she knew what it must feel like to have a natural knack for the academics.

Watch out Lily! She joked to herself but after scanning over what she had written, she had to admit that even Lily would be impressed with it.

The portrait hole swung open around a half past twelve as she was a few paragraphs into her second essay. She vaguely heard it open and close but had been so concentrated on her writing that she hadn't particularly paid attention to the additional company that had joined her until Sirius had plopped down into the space on the couch beside her.

"Hi," he said simply and Marlene glanced up at him with surprise.

"Oh," she was startled and her hand bumped the bottle of ink that had been sitting beside her. It splattered across the parchment and she let out a soft string of expletives as it slowly stained the words that she spent the better part of a half hour writing out.

"I'm sorry," Sirius said sincerely. He pulled out his wand and the ink disappeared from the pool that had collected around her but the damage had already been done to the essay and was unsalvageable.

"Its fine," she held back her annoyance. It hadn't been his fault exactly, but she was bothered that she had been so absorbed into her work only to have to start all over. "You're coming in a bit late aren't you?"

"Yes I suppose," he said with a small grin, "but you know me."

Marlene nodded. She hadn't noticed whether or not he had been accompanied with anyone else but the common room was empty and if he had been with someone, presumably James and Peter, they were long gone.

"Apart from the ruined essay," he said sheepishly, "how are the rest of your studies going?"

Marlene couldn't help but feel a little sad by the question. He was surely trying his best to make friendly conversation with her and she appreciated that he was making an effort at all.

"I suppose they are going well," she smiled at him. She noted the way that his eyes sparked by the light of the fire and the amusing glimmer that gleamed at her from them reminded her of a carefree Sirius that had been up to no good. She mentally wondered what he had been up too to be out so late.

"Remember my offer," he reminded her generously.

"Well since you ruined my essay," she said humorously, "you could write me a new one if you desired."

"Are you asking me to cheat?" his eyes lit up with amusement at the thought and Marlene laughed.

"Of course not," she rolled her eyes with disdain.

"You're wearing the necklace," the statement caught Marlene off guard and it took her a brief moment to realize that he was referring to the necklace that he had given her back in the summer for her birthday. Her hand instinctively shot up to touch the cool metal that was resting against her collarbone and she rubbed the charm between her thumb and index finger unconsciously.

She had nearly forgotten about it. She had pulled it out of her trunk a week into the semester while she was scrounging around for her standard book of spells. Normally it was hidden well beneath the layers of her school uniform but she had taken her sweater off earlier in the evening to get more comfortable.

Sirius was smiling at her and it was enough to make her heart skip a beat. She couldn't help it; she could feel the familiar blush creeping across her cheeks.

"Do you want it back?"She watched his smile flicker before she realized how incredibly rude she must have sounded.

"It was a gift," he said slowly. He looked contemplative. "Why would I want to take it back from you?"

"I'm sorry," she said hastily when it became apparent that Sirius was offended. "I really shouldn't have said that. I just wasn't sure if it's awkward that I'm wearing it." She could feel the embarrassment of the situation getting the best of her; why hadn't she just kept her mouth shut?

"Don't be sorry," he said softly. Marlene chanced a glance upwards to his face and noted that his brows had creased slightly with consideration. "It's only awkward if you make it that way."

"It's getting late, I should probably get to bed," she was getting uncomfortable and wished for nothing more than to hide away in her four poster bed. Her hand moved forwards to the table to grab her textbooks but she was pleasantly surprised when Sirius's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

"Stop doing that," he sounded annoyed and Marlene felt herself cringe slightly at the tone. He did not release her wrist immediately and only did so when the tenseness in her arm loosened a little. She allowed herself to drop her hand back to her lap as she looked at him expectantly.

"Stop doing what?" she couldn't help herself, although she knew better than to ask.

"Stop running away from me when things become uncomfortable," he said simply. Marlene looked up into his eyes and noticed that his creased brow was still prominent but he was examining her with much more deliberation than he had been previously.

"You're right," she sighed heavily and slumped back into the couch.

"I've been worried about you," he said finally after a few moments of silence.

"I know," she replied sadly. "You don't need to worry about me, I'm fine."

"Are you?" he seemed skeptical and raised an eyebrow to show that he did not believe her.

"It's been a rough couple of months Sirius," she said dejectedly. "I think you and I both know that this hasn't been the easiest of situations."

"It seemed pretty simple to me that night in Godric's Hollow," his voice was nearly void of emotion but Marlene was certain that she picked up a slight note of resentment. "You do remember that you told me you wanted nothing to do with me, right?"

"Yes," Marlene replied meekly. His piercing gaze made her shift uncomfortably and the lack of emotion left her mind reeling with curiosity for what could be playing around in his thoughts.

"I've been trying to understand," he pushed when Marlene made no attempt to speak further. "Do you really despise me that much?"

"Despise seems like such a harsh word to use." Marlene felt ashamed that he felt that way and she could feel an abnormally large wave of guilt pass over her. His expression didn't change much as he continued to stare questioningly at her.

"Perhaps you should elaborate on a more appropriate term," he suggested effortlessly. She squirmed uncomfortably in her spot on the couch but the motion didn't seem to faze Sirius.

"Of course I don't despise you," she finally said breathlessly. "I didn't know what else to say."

"Being my friend is that horrible, is it?" Sirius seemed rather infuriated now.

"Of course not," she cried desperately. "Sirius, what I did was terrible and I have no plausible excuse for lying to you other than when we broke up, things were not great between us. I am not saying that my behavior in this was acceptable but I really felt like I had no other choice at the time. Being your friend is much too painful."

"Do you know what's painful? Believing that the girl you love wants nothing to do with you. "

His words slapped her hard across the face. He loved her? She could feel her pulse quicken at his admission. She chanced a glance upwards to meet his eyes but she noticed that he had looked away and was staring out the window apparently deep in thought.

"Sirius – "

"I'm sorry," he interrupted her. "That wasn't fair. I'm not trying to upset you, in fact I had no intention of talking to you about this. It's just the necklace reminded me of something and I couldn't help myself."

"I'm so sorry Sirius." Marlene could feel the verge of tears welling up in her eyes. She couldn't bear to see just how badly she had hurt him. "I never wanted –"

"You're right, it is getting late," Sirius said quietly interrupting her from finishing her thought.

She could sense that Sirius was finished with their conversation so she grabbed her book bag and removed herself from the couch. She hesitated in front of him but wasn't quite sure what it was she was waiting for. He had made it clear to her that he wasn't interested in speaking further on the subject and the results of their conversation hadn't panned out quite as desirable as she would have liked.

"Thanks for the chat Marlene," he said simply as she moved across him towards the staircase.

"Goodnight Sirius," she replied back with a slight hitch in her voice that she hoped he had missed. He didn't acknowledge it and only spoke to her again when she had taken her first step up the winding staircase.

"I'm glad you're wearing it," he called out after her quietly but she caught it before she had disappeared.

"I'm sorry?" she asked him with slight confusion.

"The necklace," he continued, "it looks good on you. I'm glad you decided to wear it."

She couldn't help but notice the next morning that Remus had not been present during breakfast as she hadn't been expecting him to be gone so early. She wasn't the only one to notice this though; Lily had apparently been waiting for him to show up in the great hall before Potions and commented on his absence on their way to class.

"Remus was supposed to do rounds with me this evening," Lily said with disappointment at the realization, "I completely forgot that he wasn't going to be here."

"I already told Remus that I'd take his place this evening," James had heard her from a short distance behind them. The group of students had been heading towards the dungeons and, surprisingly, Lily didn't seem all that disappointed by his offer or by the fact that he had obviously been listening in.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" she asked hesitantly. The two of them had been spending an awful lot of time on Head duties lately and Marlene suspected that Lily felt guilty that James had gotten roped into more work on his night off.

"It's no problem!" he said with assurance and Lily's smile widened genuinely.

It was a bit unusual to witness their exchange as anyone that had known James and Lily from previous years knew that they had been notorious for not getting along. Despite the fact that it was unnerving to see such a change in their encounters, it appeared to be equally amusing to the Slytherin students who had gotten wind of their conversation outside of the classroom.

Avery and Nott were snickering with whatever snide remarks had been made quietly within their group but it was Snape's paled expression of perverse revulsion that caught Marlene's eye. He was watching James and Lily with complete hatred but neither of them seemed willing to pay the group of Slytherin's any further attention. It appeared that Snape's initial attempt after the welcome speech to sabotage their relationship had failed miserably.

"Mind your own business," Sirius barked irritably at them as they passed by into the classroom and Snape's expression deepened. It was apparent that his dislike for Sirius had intensified since more recent events.

"What sort of potion are we brewing today do you think?" James settled into the chair beside Marlene while they waited for the remaining students to filter in around them.

"Draught of the Living Death," Marlene said dully as she rearranged her quills neatly on the desk in front of her.

"You think so, do you?" James said with an attempt at a joyful laugh and Marlene wondered how he could possibly have so much energy since she assumed he had been out with Sirius the previous evening.

"I don't think so," she said pointedly before directing her finger towards the board at the front of the room. "It says so on the board. What I'm curious about it how you could possibly have so much energy this morning?"

"Practice," he said with a cheeky wink but upon closer inspection she could see the tiredness etched into the lines under his eyes.

"How's Remus's mother doing?" Marlene knew that James would understand her question even if any prying ears did not.

"She's doing well this morning, resting for a few days I imagine before she'll be her old self again," he smiled politely and Marlene took his answer to mean that Remus was probably already in the hospital wing awaiting the full moon that would grace the sky later that evening.

"I'm glad to hear that," she said earnestly before she was interrupted by Professor Slughorn and the commencement of class .They were indeed introduced to the preparation for concocting their most difficult potion to date; the Draught of the Living Death.

Sirius had joined their table to wait for James like he normally did at the end of class. Nothing much had changed between them since their conversation the previous night; in fact he failed to acknowledge her presence like every other day and she was left feeling quite as defeated as she had before their encounter.

She was slightly more relieved to see that Natasha hadn't accompanied him to the table on this particular day like she had grown accustomed to. Marlene was tired of watching her witty attempts at flirtation with Sirius. Her unwelcome presence to her and James' station always left Marlene feeling nauseous and irritable and she knew that Natasha was purposefully gloating in Marlene's misery by the knowing smirks she wasted no time shooting at Marlene whenever she caught her eye.

Despite the hopefulness she had felt due to Natasha's lack of presence, she took his silence towards her as a sign that he was still considering their conversation last night. She was still trying to process everything that had been said and couldn't wait for the opportunity to talk to Lily about it.

She chanced a glance at him as she gathered her things and for a split second their eyes connected. She braved the first move and offered him a polite smile before moving away from the desk and joining her friends who were waiting for her at the door.

"It was much easier this time around," Lily informed Marlene and Mary on their way to lunch after they had concluded what Marlene had deemed to be one of the most miserable Potion classes in her history of Hogwarts.

"I imagine so," Mary said sarcastically. It seemed that she had had an equally dreadful attempt at the potion.

"Professor Slughorn did mention that everlasting elixirs were a bit more complicated but I think attempting it in its more difficult state gave me the definite advantage this morning," Lily continued on, clearly ignoring Mary's cynicism.

Marlene was surprised when James sidled into the seat beside Lily and even more surprised that Lily received him fondly. He was joined by Sirius and Peter and despite the slight tension that appeared as he sat down across from her, Marlene decided to make the best of it since Lily seemed to be enjoying herself.

"How'd you do with your potions, ladies?" Sirius broke the silence by asking both Mary and Marlene about the previous class. Mary didn't seem interested in responding so she shrugged her shoulders as a response.

"Oh you know," Marlene said slowly from beside her friend, "the usual."

Sirius laughed and Marlene felt the tension in the air lift slightly. She smiled at the sound of his laughter and appreciated the gesture. Mary wasn't quite as receptive, however, as she tugged on Marlene's sleeve eagerly.

"I'm not really hungry," she said impatiently "and you promised to help me with my astronomy chart before class tomorrow."

"Okay," Marlene was a bit confused since she didn't recall making such a promise. But Mary seemed rather adamant to leave lunch and Marlene got the feeling that it was important she follow.

"Lily?" Mary asked but Lily waved them off; it seemed she was engaged in a conversation with James about prefect obligations that she wasn't prepared to cut short. Marlene waved goodbye and left the hall with Mary.

"You're welcome," Mary said under her breath as they headed for the exit.

"You don't need to be rude," Marlene said irritably once they had moved from earshot of the table. It had been a friendly encounter with Sirius and she couldn't help but feel robbed of the opportunity to makes steps at moving forward.

"I wasn't aware that the two of you were on speaking terms," Mary said back with an accusatory tone. "I thought you would be grateful that I saved you from having to endure anymore of his company. Are you already forgetting what he did to you?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that," Marlene mumbled petulantly. "And I'd appreciate it if you let me handle my own business. I don't recall ever saying anything negative to you when you were with Davey."

Mary's brows creased but she said nothing further. Marlene knew that due to her on and off relationship during the previous years, Mary had nothing else she could say on the subject. It appeared that Mary knew this to be true and she refrained from making any more comments about Sirius.

"How's Paul?" Marlene attempted to change the subject and was rewarded with a more uplifted Mary than had been with her previously. She hadn't spoken much of her relationship with him but revealed that he had invited her to visit his family in Greece for the Christmas holidays.

"Isn't that a bit quick?" Marlene asked hesitantly when Mary indicated that she was planning to go.

"I don't think so," Mary shrugged while directing them out into the courtyard. "My parents really like him and encouraged me to go if I felt comfortable enough on my own."

This surprised Marlene a bit as Mary's parents tended to be rather overbearing.

"It does help that my grandparents have known his family for years," Mary offered as an afterthought. "And my parent's know that I'll be safe as long as I stay with my family while I'm there."

Marlene shivered slightly; the weather was starting to get much cooler as they entered into October and she hadn't brought a coat along. They had settled against a brick wall outside in the courtyard and at the conclusion of Mary's comment both girls were content to watch as the students around them filtered by.

"I know something is going on," Mary finally said after a few moments. "I thought it wouldn't bother me but the more I try to ignore it, the more annoyed I feel."

"What do you mean?" Marlene hadn't noticed much frustration from Mary but then again she had also been preoccupied in her own business to really know if she had been even paying attention.

"You and Lily," she continued. "Everybody just seems to be keeping secrets and I don't like being kept in the dark."

Marlene was a bit astonished to listen to her friend. She knew that she and Lily had lied about the situation involving the boys and Snape but other than that she wasn't quite sure what other instances Mary might be referring too.

"Do you care to elaborate?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Well Lily is always off with James or doing head duties and you've been keeping to yourself a lot more than usual lately," she answered and it was not exactly what Marlene was expecting to hear. She almost breathed a sigh of relief as she realized she was not going to have to attempt another cover up.

"I can't speak for Lily," Marlene said after some consideration. "I know she's been really busy with her head duties and since James is head boy they are bound to be spending more time together. As for me, I've just been having a really hard time with my breakup with Sirius."

"Well I figured that much," she sighed heavily. "I just don't get why you won't talk to me about it."

"Would you want to talk to me about it if I was constantly belittling the person you still cared about?" Marlene said with a trace of irritation.

"I'm not really sure how you can expect me to think he's a good guy after what you told me –"

"He didn't cheat on me," she blurted out. Mary's eyes widened in disbelief.

"What?"

"He didn't cheat on me," Marlene repeated again more slowly. "I lied because it was just easier than talking about what really happened. We had a disagreement and things sort of unraveled from there."

"See this is exactly what I'm referring too," Mary huffed indignantly. "For whatever reason you felt like you couldn't talk to me. I bet you told Lily, didn't you?"

"I – " Marlene hesitated. Mary's question had caught her off guard for a fraction of a second but she attempted to compose herself before any damage could be done. "Why do you have to bring Lily into this?"

"You did, didn't you!" Mary had suddenly pushed herself away from the wall to swivel around and face Marlene. "I knew it. You two always lean on each other and leave me out. I don't get what I've ever done to either one of you to show that I'm not trustworthy."

"Mary, it's not a matter of trust," Marlene was trying desperately to turn their conversation around but Mary already seemed past the point of reasoning.

"Right," Mary was clearly angry. "I'm heading to class now. Come talk to me when you two have decided that I'm worthy of being your friend."

"Mary!" Marlene cried after her retreating figure with exasperation. She slumped back against the cool brick behind her and closed her eyes when she realized that her friend was not going to stop.

I suppose I deserved that, she thought bitterly to herself. For whatever reason she was continually being tested and her emotional stability seemed to be on the verge of its breaking point.

The rest of the afternoon flew by quite quickly and whatever mood Mary had been in had substantially subsided by dinner. However, she still seemed touchy when she joined Lily and Marlene in the common that evening and conversation was considerably more strained than usual.

"How were rounds?" Mary asked dully when she had finally joined them. Neither Lily nor Marlene knew where she had spent the better part of her evening and she didn't offer up the information voluntarily.

"Relatively uneventful," Lily replied back almost brusquely. It was rather evident that she also wasn't in good spirits and that something was bothering her. All around emotions seemed to be quite high between the three girls and Marlene wondered whether or not it was related to their heavy course load or something else entirely.

"Fancy working on some Charms?" Mary questioned her counterparts in an attempt to change the conversation. She looked a bit uneasy and must have also picked up on Lily's bad mood. Despite Mary's outburst in the courtyard earlier, she was not normally the type to engage in a fight with Lily. After all, Lily was known quite well for her fiery temper and too many disagreements between the two girls had never ended well for Mary.

"I'm all studied out," Marlene sighed with dejection. "I couldn't possibly imagine doing any more school work this evening."

"I'm inclined to agree," Lily said to the surprise of both Mary and Marlene.

"Oh alright," Mary said with a shrug and excused herself to find Alice in hopes that she might take her up on the offer. Marlene suspected that she was still too frustrated to bother making much more effort, especially since Lily was on edge.

"What's eating you?" Marlene asked curiously after Mary had departed.

"I'm just thinking," Lily trailed off from her sentence but it was apparent to Marlene that something was bothering her.

"Care to share?" without wanting to pry too much she attempted one last time to engage Lily in conversation about whatever thoughts were seeming to cause her duress.

Lily looked over at Marlene with contemplation and opened her mouth as if to speak. She shut her mouth quickly and shook her head with slight urgency as if catching herself from saying something she might regret.

"No it's nothing. James didn't already come in did he? He left before I did and I don't see him in the common room."

"No I haven't seen him since dinner." Marlene did not want to meddle any further but she was genuinely curious what it was that Lily was keeping from her. She couldn't help but think that her thoughts involved James and it was unusual for Lily not to divulge what it was she was thinking of when it came to this particular topic. It was apparent that she didn't want to talk about whatever was on her mind and Marlene knew better than to disrespect her privacy. Lily would talk to her about whatever it was that was bothering her when she was ready.

Lily's gaze moved towards the window and she became silent. Marlene followed her gaze and her eyes focused immediately on the full moon that beamed in through the glass. It was full and prominent and Marlene's thoughts drifted back to the time during last term that she had so carelessly wandered out onto the grounds on such a night. Although the weather wasn't too much different this evening than that one, she couldn't help compare the difference in circumstances that separated the two evenings.

She had been dating Sirius at the time and had been less aware of what dangers accompanied such an adventure out onto the grounds. She figured that James' whereabouts were more than likely related to their monthly traipses through the grounds but didn't feel that sharing this with Lily was appropriate since she still didn't know if she knew they were animagi. She couldn't help but wonder what sort of mischief they might get themselves into on this particular evening.

It seemed that Lily was also lost in thought. She continued gazing out the window at the moon until Marlene had interrupted her thoughts by announcing that she was heading to bed. Lily nodded with a slight smile before picking up a novel from her book bag and informing Marlene that she was going to read for a bit before joining her.

"Don't stay up too late," Marlene mock scolded her but Lily didn't bother replying as she was already absorbed in the book she had lifted into her face.

Mary was still somewhere in the common room, undoubtedly studying with Alice as she hadn't bothered coming back and she wasn't present in the dormitory. In truth, Marlene hadn't paid much attention to her friend's whereabouts until she discovered that she was the first and only person in their room.

It was an unusual feeling for Marlene, as she was generally the last to arrive and she took advantage of the privacy by taking a nice long and relaxing bath before putting on her pajamas and settling into her comfortable four poster bed. As she drifted off she could hear the faint traces of howling somewhere outside in the far distance. She couldn't help but feel like the slightly agonized echo was symbolic to the surmounting emotions that continued to plague her before she succumbed to the darkness of sleep.