Lily picked up her quill and notebook, noticing Marlene staring at the one James had given her.
"You can use it, if you'd like." She said.
Marlene snorted. "And talk to who, James?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of Sirius." Lily said softly. Marlene looked up quickly, her cheeks flushed.
"I er, sort of already did." She pushed the notebook towards Lily. "Sorry."
"It's…fine." Lily said. She wondered if Marlene was going to tell her what they had talked about, when she realized she already knew. She narrowed her eyes at the door, then shoved her things into her book bag angrily.
"Er… Lil?" Marlene said hesitantly.
Lily ignored her, and walked out of the D.A.D.A. classroom. She marched straight to their next class, knowing well that was where her boyfriend, Peter and he would be.
She swung open the door to Charms, and saw them sitting and talking calmly. They looked up at her arrival, and James smiled. His smile faltered when he saw her expression.
"Er… Lil?" James said uncertainly.
"I need to talk to your… friend." She sneered the word, motioning for Sirius to get up. He did, with a tentative look to his friends who just shrugged.
She pulled him out of the classroom and into the hallways.
"I can't believe you! You apologized to her through the book?"
"Well, it worked on you!" Sirius said, raising his hands as if she was going to hit him. She realized she still had a heavy book in her hand, and she dropped it into her bag.
"James didn't cheat on me you slimeball!" She shouted. "How can you even think these two scenarios are equal? The blame was both on James and I! This time, it's only your fault."
He winced, and she ignored it.
"Well, what did she say?" She questioned impatiently.
"She didn't really specify whether or not I'm forgiven…" He said. Lily gave him a look that said he had better go on if he wanted to keep his head attached to his neck. "And so I asked to see her tonight."
Lily was quiet for a while, staring at the tile floor and biting her thumb nail.
"What did she say to that?" She asked quietly.
"She said she'd think about it." He said grimly. At this, Lily looked up to his face. She looked like she was searching for something there.
"You don't still…" She trailed off.
"Love her?" He said. Lily nodded. "Yeah, I do."
"Sirius!" She moaned. "Sirius, why are you doing this? You can't just play with a girl's heartstrings like that! Marlene may not look it, but she's fragile!"
He snorted. "Lily, we both know Marlene is not fragile."
"Well she has feelings!" Lily said angrily. "And you're messing with them!"
He hesitated. "I just need to talk to her." He said softly.
She shook her head and turned to walk back to class.
"Lily, wait." He grabbed her arm. She turned around to look at him. "Try to get her to meet me okay? Please?"
She said nothing for a while. "I'm sorry, I can't. If it were up to me, you would just leave her alone Sirius. Sorry." She said, then turned and walked into class, where everyone else had arrived when they had been talking.
Sirius realized Charms was one of the classes he sat with Marlene in. It had always been James and Lily, Remus and Jane, and he and Marlene as the sitting partners. He looked over to see Jane sitting in his usual spot.
Sighing, he walked over to Remus, and the empty spot beside him.
"Sorry mate." He apologized, knowing it was his fault Remus couldn't sit with his girlfriend. Remus nodded, then silenced him with his finger, pointing to Professor Flitwick who began to talk.
Sirius sighed again, and began thinking of what he would say to her that night if she showed.
She didn't show.
He waited patiently for an hour in The Room, but there was no sign of her. He sighed, then prepared to leave. He asked her to come at 7 o'clock after all, and now it was 8:03. She wasn't coming.
He pushed open the door and heard a slight intake of breath. He saw Marlene standing by the wall looking startled.
"Er… hi." She said.
He was speechless, and so he just said the first thing that came to his mind. "You do know the planned time was seven right?" He asked.
She smiled at the ground. "Yeah I know. Everyone told me not to come… they should've realized that the more they told me not to the more I would want to."
I would've known. He thought. It was true; he did know this about his girlfriend and he had used reverse-psychology on her numerous times.
"And so it took me awhile, but I finally decided to come. So…" She trailed off, motioning to the door. "Should we…?"
He opened the door for her and she walked in. He shut it behind them quietly.
"Well, I'm here." She said, sitting on the couch. "What did you want to talk about?" She asked. It never occurred to him that she would act this casual about the whole thing. He thought there might even be tears involved. But this was Marlene; he should have realized she'd be normal about it.
"I… Marlene." He sighed impatiently. Her eyebrows rose at his tone. "I'm so sorry."
She looked up this face, but her face was expressionless.
"Then why'd you do it?" She asked, looking at the wall.
"I don't exactly have a reason." He said honestly. She snorted.
"That's so like you, isn't it?" She teased. He stuck his tongue out at her, then grinned. She rolled her eyes jokingly at him, smiling. He paused. Were they… flirting?
She was still smirking, and he walked over to where she sat on the couch. Their knees were centimeters away from touching, and he struggled to keep it that way, not wanting to be too forward.
She sighed and put her chin in her hands. The small movement had made their knees bump together, and they were now touching. She tilted her head to look at him, and his breath caught in his throat. His knee was burning where her knee was touching it, and he turned to face her completely.
Then without thinking, he leaned in closer to her until her face was inches away. They were both quiet for a moment; looking into the all too familiar eyes they had just by now memorized the exact colour and shape of.
"It was a mistake." He whispered softly. She could feel his breath on her cheeks, and without thinking, she moved closer to him instinctively.
Their noses were touching, and she felt his lips brush against hers slightly. She barely even felt it.
"Mistakes are meant for learning," She whispered, pulling back from him. "Not repeating."
She scooted over to the other edge of the couch so they were now far apart. "Now what did you want to talk about?" She asked, as if nothing had just happened. She rolled her eyes and crossed her legs. "Let me guess: You're extremely sorry and you want to be friends."
He gulped. "Not exactly."
She raised an eyebrow.
"You got the first part right. But I don't want to be your friend, I want to be your boyfriend."
She rolled her eyes. "Of course you do. That's why you were eating off that Ravenclaw's face?"
He winced. "That was a mistake. I already told you."
"And I told you; it's not a mistake if it's not the first time you've done it. After that, it's a choice."
"I didn't choose to cheat on you!" He exploded suddenly. Marlene raised an eyebrow and said nothing, letting him cool down. He took a deep breath, steadying himself.
"Sorry." He said. She nodded.
"You know what Sirius?" She asked. "I think it'd be better if we just forgot about all of this. Let's just go back to September, before we started dating. Let's just be friends again."
"I can't be your friend Marlene. Not after what we've been through." He said honestly.
"Well I sure as hell can't be your girlfriend. Not after what I've been through." She told him honestly. It was truly amazing how they were still so comfortable telling the complete truth to each other; even now. Sirius sighed.
"I guess we can try." He decided. It was better than losing her forever.
She got up, and held out her hand for him to take. He took it, and she helped him up. She let go of his hand once he was up, but he gripped it tighter, not letting her let go of his hand. She gave him a look, and he grinned at her.
"Let's go back to September, yeah? When we were friends. And I could do this without it being weird."
"Sirius…" She groaned.
"It was your idea Mars bar." He told her cheekily. Their smiles both faltered at the use of his nickname for her, and endless memories flew past them.
"We can't do this." Sirius said, dropping her hand.
"We said we'd try okay? And that's the best we can do. I refuse to walk by you in the hallways and look down at my feet as if you're a stranger and we've never even met. Not after all we've been through. So please… can we just try?"
He bit his lip and smiled at her. She smiled back, and walked to the door.
"Was there anything else you wanted to tell me?" She asked, before walking out. She stood there, still in her Gryffindor uniform. Her tie was crooked and her shirt was un-tucked from her black skinny jeans. She raised a hand to flick a piece of dark brown hair that was in her eyes, and he remembered the countless times he had done that for her before kissing her. He didn't think before blurting out what was on his mind.
"I really believe you were the greatest thing that ever happened to me." He told her.
She pushed the doors open, then turned around to face him.
"Me too." She said quietly, as the door swung close and she stepped out from his sight completely.
AN: I liked writing this chapter so I hope you all like reading it! Tell me if you did in the reviews please (yes, that means you silent reader). :P
But thanks for reading, and I hope you continue to, because soon the Christmas Holidays are coming up, and I've got loads planned for that! So stay tuned!
-Taylor :)