A Marauder's Guide to Falling Forever
PART FOUR
Written by alliegrl
Chapter Eleven
Peter?" Marlene wiped at one of her eyes, trying to rid herself of the tears that had collected but not yet spilled. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here with some people from work. Are you okay?" He was looking at her with genuine concern. Marlene didn't know Peter very well, he had always kept to himself at Hogwarts even when she had begun to hang around with him and his friends. But even though he was quiet, he had always been kind.
"Yeah I'm fine," she lied. "I'm just trying to find Emmeline so that we can leave."
"Is Sirius here with you?" Peter's brows pinched together, contemplative or confused, she couldn't be certain.
"No. I haven't seen Sirius in a few weeks."
"Oh." He brought the bottle he was holding in his hand to his mouth to take a drink. "I just thought maybe you guys were talking again."
"Why would you think that?" She hadn't seen Peter since the last Order meeting so she wasn't certain how he would draw such a conclusion. It wasn't like she spoke to any of her other friends often either, not even Lily. They had been rather distant with one another ever since – well, since she left.
"He's just been distant lately. I haven't seen him much either. But when I do he's pretty moody." He dropped his voice and leaned in to whisper, "I didn't think he was doing specific Order business." Back to regular volume. "So I figured that he was spending all his time with you and just moody because you were fighting or he was worried about you." Then suddenly he looked sheepish, "Sorry. Just with your history..."
Sirius was distant and moody? What did that mean?
"No, I don't know what he's been up to," she admitted, wishing that she did and ignoring the fact that Peter was bold enough to straight out remind her of her ongoing relationship issues with Sirius. He wasn't completely wrong.
"Hmmm," Peter frowned again. "Hopefully it's nothing. If you talk to him, maybe you can figure out if somethings bothering him. He won't talk to anyone, not me, not Remus. Even James is struggling to get through to him."
"Is that so?" Now Marlene's brain was focused on something other than Patrick. She was contemplating apparating over to Sirius's flat instead of going home when a delicate finger tapped her on the shoulder. Startled out of her thoughts, Marlene spun around.
"Hi," Rose said, smiling. Her cold demeanor had vanished. Then she glanced over Marlene's shoulder, which wasn't difficult because she was so tall. "Oh hello Peter!"
"You too know each other?" Marlene asked, confused.
"We work with one another," Peter admitted, blushing slightly. Marlene could see why; Rose was gorgeous and her veela like qualities would be alluring to any man that looked her way.
"I just wanted to check and see how you were doing," Rose continued, directing her attention back to Marlene. "I am sorry about Patrick. He's been rather stressed lately, and I'm afraid he's made a few bad decisions lately. Not that that makes what he did right, but as I'm sure you have guessed he has had feelings for a while. It hasn't been easy on him waiting around to see if you felt the same way."
"I don't," Marlene grumbled, her eyes still unable to look away from the flawless features of Rose's face.
"Yes, yes, I think that was made abundantly clear. I do hope that you are alright." She tucked a piece of blonde hair behind her ear and it seemed to shimmer. Marlene averted her eyes out of fear she was staring rudely.
"I'll be fine. I just need to find my friend and get out of here," she repeated what she had said to Peter.
"Actually there is something else I'd like to talk to you about if you aren't in a terrible hurry?" Rose took a step closer and suddenly the heavy scent of her floral perfume clouded Marlene's senses.
Marlene bit her lip, contemplating. Patrick was nowhere in sight and Rose was being very kind to make sure she was alright after the whole episode on the other side of the bar. But she really didn't feel like lingering around for long in fear that another confrontation might present itself. Also, her thoughts were still focused on Sirius and the conversation she and Peter had been having about him. She snuck a sideways glance to Peter; he was still standing there ravenously drinking his drink and his cheeks flushed pink. It seemed to Marlene that Rose made him nervous.
"Okay yeah I can spare a few minutes," she said. It would give Emmeline more time to find her and that alone would prevent a second argument of the evening. If Marlene left the pub without her then she'd be in for a night of a major guilt trip. Leaving without warning was a sure fire way to get on Emmeline's bad side again, and she wasn't even completely out of the danger zone yet from her first offence.
"I'm actually looking for some extra help at the Ministry. We've been rather swamped in the administrative support department and I could really benefit an extra set of hands. Obviously I am not trying to meddle like my brother, but I'm aware now that you are no longer at the hospital and wondered whether or not you might be available?"
"Are you offering me a job?" Marlene asked, surprised. She hadn't been expecting that. Rose didn't even know her until this evening.
"I understand if that is an awkward offer considering," her hands gestured in a rolling sort of motion towards the direction they had both come, "well, you know. Patrick. Of course that wouldn't interfere with your place in my department. I've just heard such great things about you. Patrick always spoke highly of your work ethic."
"Your department?"
"Oh yes, I run the support unit for the Minister. It can be monotonous at times, isn't that right Peter?" Her eyes roamed back to Peter whose cheeks seemed to turn a violent shade of crimson at the extra attention.
"Oh no, no," he squeaked. "It's a great job."
"You're too kind, Peter." She smiled, her kind eyes twinkling even in the dim lighting of the pub. "What do you say, Marlene? Would you like to consider it?"
"Uh." Marlene wasn't certain, her mind was too occupied elsewhere. "I wasn't expecting this to be honest. I'll have to think about it."
"Oh yes, of course. I understand. Please get back to me soon. I'm really in desperate need and hope to fill the position soon." Then she looked to Peter again, smile stretching even wider. "Lovely to see you Peter, I hope you are having an enjoyable evening?"
Peter nodded vigorously, eyes averted downwards to the floor. Marlene was really starting to feel sorry for him. How could he manage to work day to day with her as his boss? He could barely string a sentence together in her presence, let alone complete any sort of work.
"Wonderful. Do take care, both of you. I hope to hear from you soon, Marlene." She offered a casual wink and then gracefully floated away, leaving Marlene even more fuddled with her thoughts.
"Why is she offering me a job?" Marlene rounded on Peter. His fluster seemed to have ebbed away slightly but he still appeared uncomfortable. She noted that he had completely polished off his drink. She had never bothered to ask what sort of work he did at the Ministry, even though she knew he had obtained a job there.
"I'm not sure. We haven't really been that busy in the office though, so I'm not certain what type of work she is referring to." He shrugged.
"What department do you work for again?" Marlene asked. Rose had mentioned it, but she hadn't been giving her full attention to the details of the conversation.
"Support staff. Rose was right, it can be pretty monotonous. We do things like the paperwork nobody wants to do, preparing visitor passes, scheduling apparition tests and filing away license registrations. That sort of stuff. It's a good job though. The pay is nice, and it helps to keep in the loop with – well, you know," he leaned in again with another whisper, "the Order."
It did seem like an excellent opportunity when he put it that way. A sudden thought struck her like a bolt of lightening. If she worked at the Ministry, it would make it all that much easier to get herself information about the Department of Mysteries. This was the answer she had been looking for.
"Peter!" she exclaimed, causing him to jump. "This is perfect!"
"It is?" He appeared confused but Marlene offered no further explanation. "I need to find Emmeline. I'm so sorry to run off on you. If you see Mary can you please tell her I'm sorry that I couldn't stay to talk?"
Marlene didn't wait for his reply before darting into the crowd. She'd grab Emmeline and fill her in on her plan, then she'd apparate to Sirius's place and figure out what was going on with him. Screw Patrick. He wasn't going to ruin her evening.
In fact, she probably should be thanking Patrick. If he hadn't gotten himself involved in her life she wouldn't have even been at the pub in the first place. The thought caused Marlene to scowl. No. She definitely would not be thanking Patrick.
She caught sight of Emmeline chatting with some guy she didn't recognize, and by judging her body language alone indicated to Marlene that she had likely found Colin as well. She pushed through some more people, their boisterous laughs ringing in her ears but not loud enough to completely drown out her thoughts.
"Emmeline!" she yelled, waving her hand to catch her friend's attention. It took another yell before Emmeline's head snapped in her direction. Her face lit up and she grabbed hold of the man's arm, yanking him forward.
"Oooh here's Marly now." Marlene heard Emmeline say, presumably to the man. "Marly! Marly this is Colin."
"Hi Colin," Marlene breathed, making very brief eye contact before grabbing at Emmeline's shoulders. "We need to go."
"Oh." Emmeline's face dropped. "Wait. Did you find Patrick? Shoot. I'm sorry, I got distracted." Her eyes flicked to her left as if to indicate why exactly she had gotten distracted. But it didn't matter to Marlene anymore, Emmeline needn't bother putting an early end to her evening. Marlene had already accomplished what they had set out to do.
"You know what, its fine. You stay. I have to go see Sirius anyways." Marlene let go of Emmeline's shoulders. "We'll talk later."
"Black?" Emmeline's face contorted into confusion as Marlene began to turn away. "What about Patrick?"
"Talk later!" Marlene called over her shoulder and then disappeared back into the crowd.
