Sixth year was harder than the students had expected. Most of the free time was spent catching up with classes, practising for Quidditch or preparing for N.E.W.T.s. With whatever free time they had for themselves, Marauders made sure to keep themselves entertained with harmless pranks and such.
"This is boring!" Sirius exclaimed loudly, making a lot of heads turn in his direction, who were quietly studying in the library. "Then just leave Padfoot; Prongs and you are done with your homework," Remus didn't look up from his parchment as he scribbled on it in his neat handwriting.
"We can go to the Quidditch pitch," James turned towards Sirius, who stretched his limbs as far as he could before scooping up his books in his hands and getting up with a grin.
"Wormtail, do you need our help?" James asked before getting up from his seat and stacking his books.
"No, I think I finally got a hang of it," Peter gave an assuring smile to James.
"Alright, let's go then," James turned towards Sirius as he picked up his books, putting it in his bag and hanging it across his shoulder as the two happily started walking out of the library.
Sirius had his arm draped around James's shoulder as the two walked to the Quidditch pitch, talking casually and minding their own business when someone bumped into Sirius's shoulder causing his books to fall down with a thud.
"For Merlin's sake," Sirius muttered and let out a heavy sigh before his eyes drifted to who had collided into him.
Avery had a smirk forming on his lips that made Sirius's blood boil. Sirius bit his lower lip in frustration and clenched his fist, making his knuckles turn white.
"Watch where you're going Black," Avery looked at Sirius and then at James.
"Let's just walk it off," James whispered to Sirius who let out another sigh and bent down to pick up his books lazily.
Avery casually pushed one of Sirius's book aside with his foot, making Sirius shut his eyes tightly in frustration. When he looked at Avery, James could see the rage in his grey orbs and his lips set in a straight line, he was clenching his jaw so tightly James wondered if Sirius's teeth were alright.
Sirius straightened up and stepped closer to Avery, making Avery take a step back. "Are you going to be this childish?" Sirius spat, "You are lucky I am not hanging you upside down right now like your fellow Death Eater Snivellus," there were audible gasps from the students standing around, watching, at the use of the word Death Eater. "He'll tell you how delightful it is to put on a show of what is underneath your trousers for the whole school to view," Sirius completed as he pulled out his wand.
Avery pulled out his wand almost immediately and without as much as a warning uttered "Alarte Ascendare" sending Sirius a good ten feet across the courtyard, where he landed on his back with a loud thud. The gasps from the students became louder when Sirius didn't immediately get up. The force with which he was thrown across the courtyard was greater than he had expected and his back had absorbed all of the shock, he had to take shallow breaths between the waves of pain.
"Did he break his bones?"
"It sounded like it"
"Look at it"
"Call Professor McGonagall"
"Can you hear us?"
Sirius could hear multiple voices at once, but he could hardly breathe let alone respond to any of the voices. He turned his head to see James shooting dancing flames towards Avery to chase him away before rushing towards Sirius.
"Padfoot!" James sat on his knees besides Sirius, and Sirius gave him a weak smile, looking at how James had his brows furrowed together, gulping in hard. "It hurts a lot, doesn't it?" he asked him in urgency and all Sirius could do was give him a weak nod.
"We should get him to Madam Pomfrey," Sirius could recognize the voice even in the chaos around him. He felt stupid that even though he was hurting, barely able to breathe, his heart still skipped a beat when Marlene's face came into his view. Her eyes showed the gentle concern Sirius had only seen from his brother, friends and the Potter household.
"I can't move him," James told Marlene in a low voice, his eyes were obviously looking at something Sirius couldn't see.
She took Sirius's hand in her own as she sat down beside him and Sirius turned his face towards her, his breathing hitched unintentionally making him groan in pain. It was like Marlene's hand fit perfectly in his hand and the thought made Sirius smile. He had never held a hand that was softer. He could see Marlene's eyes glistening with tears as she tried to keep her eyes strictly on Sirius's face. Sirius wondered what was it that everyone else was looking at that he couldn't see himself.
Even through his shirt, the students could see how one of the bones of his ribcage was sticking out to his left side from its usual position in a grotesque way. It was no wonder Sirius could not breathe properly without hurting and could barely move.
It was only a few minutes until Professor McGonagall came rushing towards the chaos and shooed students away, asking to give Sirius some space. Marlene let go of Sirius's hand and a frown settled on his lips and he instantly craved for the warmth of her touch. "How did this happen?" Professor McGonagall cried. Before James could start speaking, Professor McGonagall cut him off, "Where are the rest of your friends?"
"Help him up quickly and take him to the infirmary" Professor McGonagall instructed James and two other Ravenclaw boys standing close by who helped Sirius sit up and he let out a loud groan and his hand flung towards where his bone was sticking out and as soon as he touched it, the colour from his face disappeared; wild eyed, bewildered, mouth opening and unnatural stillness settled in Sirius's body.
Marlene put her hand lightly over Sirius's hand and helped Sirius take his hand off from his side slowly and gulped in the lump forming at the back of her throat. Sirius's face slowly started turning towards his side where he had felt his bone but Marlene's voice stopped him. "Sirius!" she said in urgency, "Keep your eyes on James," she collected herself and pointed towards James on his right.
"Come on Padfoot," James gave Sirius a small smile and with the help of the two other boys, helped Sirius up on his feet.
"Ms McKinnon run to the infirmary and tell Madam Pomfery a student is coming in," Professor McGonagall instructed Marlene, who nodded and jogged towards the infirmary ahead of Sirius.
Heart pounding, taking two stairs at a time, Marlene dashed towards the infirmary as fast as her legs could carry her. Ignoring the staring students, professors and ghosts; the only image the was clouding her mind was of Sirius. She wheezed as her lungs gasped for air but only came to a halt when she reached the infirmary and opened the door in an urgency, causing Madam Pomfery to jump.
"Ms McKinnon," she turned towards Marlene, and studied her face curiously, waiting for Marlene to catch her breath before she could speak.
"Professor McGonagall – asked me to –" Marlene could feel her throat burning as her lungs gasped for air.
"Take a breath my dear," Madam Pomfery came closer to Marlene and put her hand on Marlene's shoulder.
"Sirius is hurt!" Marlene exclaimed, taking in a deep breath, putting her hand over her heart as if to calm it down.
"Mr Black?" Madam Pomfery questioned, looking behind Marlene towards the door.
"His bone – is sticking out" Marlene pointed towards her ribcage as she gulped in the lump forming at the back of her throat again. "They are bringing him in," she turned around to check if Sirius was here yet.
"Oh Merlin!" Madam Pomfery took her hand off Marlene's shoulder and quickly walked towards her working station where she had all of her concoctions.
Their attention was immediately diverted when they heard a loud groan from right outside the infirmary. Marlene's head snapped back and she noticed Sirius's ashen complexion, his face closed in grimace, and him barely able to hold his body up. Her hands covered her mouth immediately to stop any sound from escaping her lips.
As soon as he was helped on the bed, Sirius let out a painful scream and Marlene had to consciously hold herself to not go to his side at once. The boys backed up to let Madam Pomfery have her space and Madam Pomfery immediately started unbuttoning Sirius's shirt.
"You should all leave," Professor McGonagall spoke calmly when she noticed none of the students had moved from their place. The Ravenclaw students immediately left, throwing a last glance towards Sirius but James and Marlene couldn't move.
As soon as Sirius's shirt was moved out of the way, something caught Marlene's eyes. Sirius had several long slash scars on his pale torso as if he was deeply cut with something sharp. She quickly looked towards her feet and tried to get the image out of her mind but in vain.
"Ms McKinnon take Mr Potter with you," Professor McGonagall said when she noticed that James had no intentions of moving.
"Please Professor –" James started, but was immediately silenced by Professor McGonagall.
"Mr Potter, you can wait outside but let Madam Pomfery help your friend without distractions," Professor McGonagall said firmly.
"James," Marlene moved towards James and he looked at her. "We'll wait right outside the door," she told him in a low voice and James let out a loud sigh before storming out of the infirmary, Marlene hot on his heels.
"I will kill Avery!" James spoke from between his teeth as soon as they were out of the infirmary.
"I don't think Sirius would appreciate you going to Azkaban for his sake," Marlene told him and he finally looked at Marlene.
"You saw how horrible it was, he was screaming," just when James completed the sentence, they could hear another scream from inside the infirmary and Marlene had to physically put herself between James and the infirmary door to stop James from barging in.
"James, it's not going to help Sirius," she reasoned with James. As much as she wanted to go in herself, she knew it was useless for either of them to be inside at the moment.
"He's my brother, I can't stand and see something happening to my brother. He couldn't walk, we dragged him here," James's voice cracked at the end of the sentence. Marlene could see it in James's eyes that hurting Sirius or any of James's friends was the breaking point of his patience.
"He is going to be fine," Marlene assured James as best as she could but she knew her words hardly mattered. She didn't want to leave without knowing if Sirius was alright but she knew James would feel better with his friends by his side and someone had to inform them.
"Where are Remus and Peter?" she asked James, making James look at her curiously.
"In the library," James answered in a low voice, closing his eyes for a second to collect himself before opening his eyes again.
"I will tell them to come here, and I will get Sirius's books from the courtyard," she told James, who stood there as if a deer caught in a headlight, a thousand things going on his mind at once.
"Don't go in there, alright?" Marlene instructed James and he gave her a single nod.
As she started walking away, James called her out before he could stop himself. "Marlene," he said, making Marlene turn around and look at him. He wanted to ask her if she fancied Sirius, but right now when he saw her gloomy doe eyes and remembered the concern in her eyes when she saw Sirius in the courtyard, he knew it without a doubt that she liked Sirius.
"Thank you," he smiled weakly and Marlene smiled back before descending the staircase and making her way to the library as quickly as possible.
She spotted Remus and Peter relatively quickly, their noses in their books; not having the slightest idea that their friend was severely injured. Peter noticed her before Remus and nudged Remus in the arm to make him look up.
"Marlene?" Remus asked in a low voice.
"Sirius got hurt in the courtyard, a few minutes ago, he is at the infirmary, James is waiting there alone, you both should go," Marlene tried to be as calm as possible but watching both Peter and Remus collecting their things as fast as they could, mumbling a thanks and rushing out of the library, she knew her face gave away too much.
She walked out to the courtyard to pick up Sirius's books and wondered if someone had already done that. Much to her surprise, Sirius's books and quill were lying right where he had dropped it. She bent down and quickly collected everything and carried it back to her dorm.
Her friends were talking amongst themselves when they watched Marlene with her sombre expressions making her way to her bedside table where she stacked Sirius's book on top of her own books.
"Marlene is everything okay?" Lily asked and Marlene quickly turned around, her hand accidentally knocking all the books over in the process.
"Merlin's beard!" Marlene muttered in frustration and absentmindedly started stacking up all the books and kept it on the bed.
"What happened?" Mary quickly got up from her bed and helped Marlene keep the books on the bed.
The problem was, Marlene couldn't get Sirius's face out of her mind, the way it twisted in pain, she couldn't get his screams out of her mind or the scars she saw on his torso. She was thankful she hadn't looked at the bone sticking out of ribcage once his shirt was out of the way otherwise, she would have lost her mind. She just wanted to know if Sirius was alright.
"Uh –" Marlene could already feel the lump forming at the back of her throat. She cleared her throat but it made everything worse and she could feel the tears burning the brim of her eyes.
"Avery hurt Sirius," was all she could manage before the first tear dropped on her cheek that she wiped away quickly. Lily, Mary and Alice exchanged glances before Alice spoke.
"Is he severely hurt?" Alice asked, getting off the bed just as Lily got off her bed.
"One of his bone snapped in half and it was sticking out from his chest and – he couldn't walk," Marlene was barely able to hold her tears back when she remembered his screams again and finally her tears rolled down her cheeks as she let out a fit of sobs.
"Oh Marlene!" Lily quickly wrapped her arms around Marlene's shoulders and Marlene hid her face in the crook of Lily's neck as Lily softly patted Marlene's head.
"It was horrible," Marlene spoke in a muffled voice.
"It's going to be fine, Madam Pomfery will fix everything," Lily comforted Marlene but Marlene wondered if Madam Pomfery could fix the scars on Sirius's torso and how did he get those in the first place. If whoever gave it to Sirius was still after him to hurt him and if Madam Pomfery could fix that!
Lily helped Marlene sit on Lily's bed as she cradled her softly until Marlene stopped crying. "You have the softest heart," Lily gave Marlene a weak smile, their hands resting in Marlene's lap.
"I almost thought she was crying for Black," Mary let out a chuckle and Marlene froze, recomposing her face quickly before her friends could catch on.
"You can go see him once he gets better," Alice chimed in, sensing Marlene's discomfort at Mary's words.
"Of course," Lily nodded and gave Marlene another smile before letting go of her hands.
Marlene on the other hand wondered if her feelings for Sirius were deeper than she had previously thought. For her, Sirius was like a protector. She always knew he was silently helping her whenever she needed help. When she had caught Sirius in the hallway with his hand bloodied and had later heard the rumours that Sirius had gotten inside the Slytherin dormitories to beat up Mulciber because what he did to Mary and herself, she knew it wasn't just a rumour.
Marlene always thought that Sirius was standing right behind her, not fighting her battles but helping her if need be. She was brave but not an idiot to think that battles, especially the ones that they were in right now, could be won by themselves. She knew she could trust Sirius without either of them ever stating it in words.
But watching him in the courtyard today opened Marlene's eyes. One, the war wasn't between the adults outside Hogwarts, sadly, the war had come till Hogwarts. The intolerance was growing and even the walls of Hogwarts couldn't do anything to keep it out. Second, Sirius wasn't just Marlene's protector for her anymore. She enjoyed watching his eyes light up when he smiled, her heart ached watching his face twist in pain, and she wanted to cry as his scars came into light.
There was absolutely no point denying it anymore – Marlene knew it for a fact. He had crept his way into her heart and Marlene had fallen for Sirius Black.
She also knew she wasn't the only one at Hogwarts who had Sirius in her heart, but rather than cursing herself for falling for Sirius; Marlene couldn't help but smile stupidly. She wasn't planning on seeking Sirius's affection but being clear in her feelings gave her an odd peace of mind. It didn't matter what Sirius felt for her, she knew what she felt for him.
A/N: Hey Readers,
Thank you Aamarylis for such an adorable review! Keep leaving your reviews and let me know your opinions. Hit the follow and favourite button if you like the story. Keep reading!
-JT