Sirius woke up with a grumbling stomach and instantly stretched his body, only to be covered with a feeling of dread as he remembered touching his bone what felt like only a few minutes ago. His eyes flung open and his hand immediately went to his side, but nothing seemed out of ordinary. There was no pain or discomfort, it was as if nothing had happened at all. But he distinctly remembered not having any feeling in his legs and yet right now he could wiggle his toes and move his legs. His eyes scanned the his surroundings and though he remembered being dragged to the infirmary, he was in his room.
He could hear Peter's soft snores and wondered if he was dreaming before. He could remember the warmth of Marlene's touch, surely that wasn't a dream, right?
Slowly, he sat up in his bed and was only startled when he saw James sleeping on the floor by his bed, curled up in a ball and shivering in cold. He pushed himself off the bed and sat down besides James. Taking his spectacles off, which were on the verge of breaking because of how James was sleeping, Sirius supressed a laughter threatening to erupt from his throat.
"Oi Prongs," he whispered, shaking James ever so slightly. James woke up with a start and sprang up straight, looking around in confusion. His eyes finally landed on Sirius and a wave of panic washed over his features.
"Padfoot, what – please get back on bed," James's voice was loud and panic stricken. James stood up and helped his best friend sit up on the bed.
"Why were you sleeping on the floor?" Sirius asked, returning James his spectacles, which James wore promptly and let out a big yawn.
"You were groaning in pain when we bought you back to the room, I was too scared to get in the bed with you, thinking I might hurt you accidentally, so I sat down near your bed, I don't know when I fell asleep," James explained and Sirius could feel his heart swell up with love for his best friend and brother. James had been so thoughtful ever since Sirius had met him and Sirius didn't know what he would do without James. He didn't want to find out either, he knew it for a fact that life would be hell without James by his side.
"Prongs, you must be cold, get in your bed," Sirius's voice was tight, a lump forming at the back of his throat. He wanted to tell James just how thankful he was for him and his friendship.
"I will, but how are you feeling?" James inquired, his brows furrowed together and an apologetical smile forming on his lips.
"I feel just fine, doesn't even feel like I was hurt," Sirius answered earnestly. Madam Pomfrey had some wonderful skills, she could heal just about anything and everything. Before James could answer anything, Sirius's stomach growled again and announced how hungry he was.
"Are you hungry? Do you want me to get you something from the kitchen?" James asked Sirius. Sirius chuckled at how James was treating him as if Sirius was breakable. Sure, Sirius got hurt but it was only because he let his guard down, which was not going to happen again.
"I can get myself something Prongs, you go back to sleep," Sirius assured his best friend but James only shook his head. Tip toeing to his bed, James picked up the invisibility cloak lying on the bed and the Marauder's map lying on the nightstand near his books.
"I am hungry too," he turned towards Sirius with a smile which Sirius returned with a smile of his own. Sirius looked at his nightstand to pick up his wand and immediately noticed all his books missing.
Remembering how the fight with Avery started in the first place, he wondered if his books were still lying on the cold floor of the courtyard? "Prongs, where are my books?" he asked, picking up his wand and walking up to James.
"Marlene has your books, I think," the mere mention of her name set Sirius's heart to race at an alarming speed, he could feel the tips of his ears getting heat up. Thankfully the darkness in the room and his dark long tresses covered his ears.
"M – Marlene?" Sirius stammered, and James had a hard time keeping a straight face. He gulped in hard as if to gulp in the smile forming on his lips and then looked at his feet before responding to his friend.
"Yes, she told me she would get it from the courtyard, it wasn't until our bedtime when we returned with you from the infirmary, she must have gone to bed, I didn't have the time to ask her for your books," James explained as nonchalantly as possible, hoping for Sirius's face to give away something but it didn't. It was like Sirius's face was frozen, not even his eyes were moving!
"Let's get food," Sirius responded in a low voice and immediately walked ahead of James out of the room. Trying to hide the excitement growing inside him. In his brain, he had an excuse to talk to Marlene and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep the smile away from his face.
"Padfoot wait!" James whisper shouted as he closed the door behind himself as slowly as he could, without making a noise. He watched Sirius disappear around the corner and heard him already making his way down the stairs by the time he was done closing the door and rushing after him.
He found Sirius standing near the entrance leading up to the boy's dormitories, frozen, looking straight ahead. He slowly poked his head out to look at what Sirius was looking and had to withdraw his head back as quickly as possible.
The only light in the common room was that coming from the fireplace. It danced softly on Marlene's face, making her blue eyes shine like sapphires. Her face was just as unreadable as Sirius's face and even though Sirius wanted nothing more than to ask a million questions, he was tongue-tied.
"Sirius," Marlene breathed, her expressions immediately softened. It went from being distressed to relief in a nanosecond. Sirius wondered if she was concerned about him. He liked the thought but told himself to not get ahead of himself.
"Why are you up so late?" Sirius asked before he could stop himself. He pondered if he had stepped out of line. The food and his growing hunger were long forgotten, all he could think of was the girl standing in front of him and his eyes drifted to her hand that he had held in the afternoon and started thinking how it would feel to hold it again.
'Because I was worried about you,' Marlene wanted to tell him. "I couldn't sleep," she responded instead. Sirius's eyes were back on her face and she felt like she was losing her mind, wondering just what was going on in Sirius's brain.
"Are you okay?" Marlene couldn't help but ask as her eyes scanned his torso and she immediately remembered the horrid slash scars on Sirius. In her eyes, those scars weren't ugly, rather it looked like a painful story waiting to be told.
"I am fine," Sirius's words bought her out of her trance and she immediately looked into his grey orbs, and felt her cheeks burn up slightly, as if a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
James thought it would be best to leave them alone. If anyone would hear their conversation, it was embarrassingly obvious that the two had feelings for each other, he thought of going back to his dormitory and slowly turned around.
"I was going to get something to eat with James," Sirius's voice stopped James dead in his tracks and he turned around again. "James?" Sirius's voice made James come out to the common room awkwardly, hiding the invisibility cloak and the Marauder's map behind his back.
Both Sirius and Marlene had their eyes on James when he joined Sirius and gave Marlene a smile, who nodded and smiled back.
"Are you both hungry? I can get you something," Marlene offered, and James and Sirius shook their heads, mumbling how they would take care of it by themselves.
"Lily always keeps some snacks with her in the room, that would be better than to just go roam in the corridors after bed time," Marlene told them and James froze immediately, Sirius turned his gaze to his best friend with a smirk.
"I am sure Lily won't mind," Marlene completed and Sirius looked at her with the same mischievous smile.
"I am sure she would when you tell her you gave it to Prongs," Sirius jested, making Marlene chuckle as she rolled her eyes and Sirius immediately felt his heart skip a beat.
"No, trust me, just wait here," she told both the boys as she skipped up the circular stairs leading to the girl's dormitories, disappearing with light footsteps, leaving behind a stunned Sirius and even more stunned James.
"Prongs?" Sirius asked once he recomposed his face.
"What if Lily really hates the idea of sharing her snacks with me?" James turned towards Sirius and Sirius couldn't help but let out a chuckle, confusing James further.
"I don't think something as simple as sharing snacks would rile up Evans," Sirius put his hand on James's shoulder. He knew James never wanted to leave a bad impression on Lily or get on her bad side, but he was being too paranoid about it. As much as Lily disliked James, Sirius didn't think it was enough to make her angry over something like sharing snacks; Lily after all was very kind and gentle.
When Marlene appeared with two big packets in her hands, Sirius dropped his hand to his side and turned to Marlene who held out the snacks towards Sirius and James with a grin. "These are some muggle chips that are just too delicious and I had some marshmallows," Marlene told them excitedly.
Sirius and James exchanged glances and then their stomach grumbled again, making Marlene laugh, they both had their faces turn a bright shade of pink in embarrassment. "Take it, it will help you survive till breakfast," she handed the muggle chips, that neither James nor Sirius had ever seen before, to James and the Marshmallows to Sirius.
"You can take Lily out sometime to return the favour," Marlene told James cheekily with a grin, whose face was now a shade of tomato. Sirius let out a muffled laughter.
"So, that means Sirius should take you out to return the favour as well," James responded after a few seconds. He had a big grin playing on his lips when he noticed a wide-eyed Sirius glaring at his feet and Marlene who couldn't hide the blush on her cheeks.
"No, he shouldn't just take me out to return any favours," Marlene replied to James with a smile, leaving both the boys stunned. If Sirius had his eyes stretched wide before, his eyes looked like they would fall out of his sockets any moment now. She waved them good night before walking towards the stairs leading up the girl's dormitories.
"Do you mean he can take you out just like that? Is that a date then?" James shouted back, as Sirius struggled to cover his mouth with his empty hand to shut James up. All they could hear was a small giggle before Marlene completely disappeared.
"Prongs!" Sirius could no longer keep his shy smile away from his face, he knew James could see how he was blushing, he wondered if James could also hear how loud his heart was beating with what just happened. Deep down, Sirius wanted Marlene to respond to James.
"Marlene likes you," James announced before he turned around to make a run for their dormitory, with Sirius following him hot on his heels, laughing up the stairs as they went back to their room.
Just as James's hand was about to touch the handle of the door of their room, the door flung open and James almost tripped forward. Both of them were greeted by a bewildered Remus and Peter.
"Where have you been?!" Remus pulled them both inside and close the door behind with a loud thud.
"We were hungry, we went to look for snacks," Sirius replied and saw as Remus's face immediately softened as he put his arm around Sirius's shoulder, wrapping him in a warm hug. Sirius had a big grin on his face, his free hand wrapping around Remus's torso.
When the two dropped their hands Remus spoke, "Are you okay now?" and Sirius replied with a nod. Remus then turned towards both the boys, his hand resting on his waist as he let out a loud sigh.
"We were so worried about where you two were, you were gone when I woke up!" Remus looked at the two boys.
"Were you that worried about us Moony?" James jested, draping his arm around Remus's shoulders and smiling brightly.
"Yes, I don't want to see you both getting into any shenanigans that would leave you paralysed," Remus playfully punched James's stomach, a small smile slipping from his lips.
"I was paralysed?" Sirius's eyes grew wide in shocked, no wonder he could not feel his legs when James and the other two boys were dragging him to the infirmary.
"Yes, your lower spine was broken in two halves," Peter answered, shuddering as he remembered his friend screaming in pain when Remus and he had reached the infirmary.
"I am so happy and relieved that he is walking around now," Peter completed with a smile and the other two Marauders nodded happily in agreement. "But you should sit down now," Peter told Sirius.
The Marauders gathered on Sirius's bed and opened the two packets and happily watched Sirius taking in a mouthful of snacks; after all he hadn't eaten since lunch, while the rest had to begrudgingly take dinner when Professor Dumbledore had come to visit Sirius in the infirmary and sent the three boys to have dinner with Professor McGonagall.
The next morning on a bright Sunday, Sirius anxiously waited for Marlene to show up for breakfast in the Great Hall. His leg was shaking wildly under the table, his fingers picked on the toast in front of him, his heart pounding so loudly against his ribcage he could hear it in his head. His eyes kept drifting towards the entrance of the Great Hall every few seconds, anticipating for Marlene's arrival. His friends had picked up on what he was doing but kept mum, only exchanging glances and smiling to themselves.
The next time Sirius glanced towards the entrance; his eyes finally landed on the one person he was looking for since morning. His leg stopped shaking, and his body visibly relaxed, a small smile crept its way on his lips and as soon as their eyes met, Sirius thought his heart would stop beating.
"Staring is rude Padfoot," Remus jested, making Sirius look down on his plate with a furious blush playing on his cheeks. He shoved his toast in his mouth when he knew Marlene and Lily were passing by behind him but what he didn't anticipate was Lily's voice calling him out.
"Black," he turned around so fast, he felt like he had given himself a whiplash. He probably looked like a dog, which was ironical, his mouth full of food. He noticed how Lily was holding Marlene's hand, trying to supress a laughter. "How are you now?" she asked politely. Sirius chewed on his food as fast as he could, gulping down quickly. He could hear his friends snickering in the background, "Don't choke on your food," Lily told him, licking her lips as she tried very hard to not laugh.
"I am fine now," Sirius replied with a smile, running his hand through his long black tresses and then his eyes fell on Marlene, who was looking at her feet. He then looked at Lily and briefly caught her looking at James.
"You can sit with us Evans," he tried to give his friend a payback for last night. He could feel James pinching the side of his stomach, and he wiggled under his touch.
Lily let out an awkward chuckle as she shook her head, "our friends are waiting, but thanks for the offer," Sirius was bewildered at her response. He was waiting for an insult, a rude response but this was unlike Lily Evans and on top of that, she practically ran off, Marlene following her at a lot slower pace.
Sirius immediately got up from the bench and called her out, "Marlene." Marlene turned around, a small smile on her face, she tucked her hair behind her hair and looked at Sirius with her big doe eyes.
"Do you have my books?" he asked her, stepping closer to her. Though his eyes kept trying to hold her gaze, she did everything in her power to avoid his curious eyes and she simply nodded.
"Should I get them for you right now?" she questioned back, looking at him for a brief second before looking away again.
"No," Sirius replied in an urgency, making Marlene look at him finally and he was once again tongue-tied when her beautiful blue eyes looked right into his eyes. Sirius cleared his throat, "You can finish your breakfast and I can come with you," Sirius said.
"No, I will get them wherever you are," Marlene mumbled, he wondered what was going on in her mind when her eyes looked at his torso and then she looked back into his eyes. He settled on the fact that maybe she was looking for the bone that was sticking out of his ribcage yesterday, but that didn't seem right.
"Great Lake?" Sirius asked, hoping she would say yes and when she nodded slowly, Sirius automatically grinned.
"Alright," Marlene waved before walking to where her friends were already sitting and Sirius walked back to his friends and sat down with a heavy sigh.
"Padfoot were you trying to flirt with Marlene?" Peter asked in a hushed tone, leaving Sirius puzzled.
"If you were, that was a sorry attempt at flirting," Remus shook his head as he let out a snort.
"Why would I flirt with Marlene?" Sirius defended himself, huffing loudly.
"It's so painfully obvious, she likes you, you like her," James rolled his eyes and Sirius wanted to return the favour by pinching James back just like he had but he just crossed his hands in front of his chest. Was it really that obvious?
"I don't like her," Sirius told his friends but none of them bought it, rolling their eyes or snorting at Sirius.
"Yes, just like James doesn't like Lily," Remus jested, making James narrow his eyes at Remus in response, Remus smirked at both James and Sirius.
"If you flirt like that, you will die single Padfoot," Peter sympathetically smiled at Sirius, making James snicker. Sirius stormed on James's foot under the table shutting him up and then turned to Peter.
"Have you seen me flirting? I can get at least one girl to blush in just a few seconds; watch," Sirius straightened up and looked around the Great Hall for someone familiar.
When Sirius spotted a Ravenclaw girl, Marie, a beautiful muggle born, looking his way, he remembered how she would giggle with her friends whenever Sirius passed by. He looked at his friends for a brief second and mouthed, "watch" before turning to Marie.
He waved at her with a dazzling smile and her pale cheeks immediately turned bright red as she looked away, hiding her smile and face from Sirius. Triumphantly, Sirius turned back to his friends with a smirk. James let out a groan and Peter dropped his head on the table lightly.
"If only you could flirt with Marlene like that, it would be less painful to watch," Remus said before turning his attention to the Daily Prophet. Sirius could see Peter's shoulder shaking as he laughed and he threw a crumble of toast at Peter, making James laugh as well and all Sirius could do was huff as his friends laughed at his expense.
Sirius was waiting under the tree near the Great Lake for Marlene. His palms were getting sweaty and he kept wiping them on his trousers and pacing around the ground alone. Why had he called Marlene here? It wasn't like they couldn't meet in the corridors? He knew he wanted a few minutes with her alone, away from prying eyes and ears and just watch her, but was this wise?
There was no time to debate the idea anymore when he watched Marlene walk up to him. The wind was blowing her long blonde hair away from her face, she kept one of her hand on her black floral print skirt to keep it in place, and her other hand held Sirius's books.
Once she spotted Sirius, Marlene quickly jogged up to meet he under the tree where he stood frozen. Watching the way, her white blouse hugged her body close, Sirius had to remind himself to keep his train of thoughts straight. She held out the books for Sirius with a smile and Sirius quickly stretched out his hands to take the books from her, their hands brushing accidentally in the process.
"Thank you," Sirius choked out, trying not to focus on the touch too much. Remus and Peter were probably right, he was making a fool out of himself in front of Marlene but what could he do? He couldn't think straight when she was in front of him.
"You don't have to thank me," she told him, shaking her head and then giving him a smile. Sirius suddenly had an urge to run his fingertips on Marlene's pale cheeks, he clasped onto the books tightly.
"Are you free? Would you like to sit with me for a little while?" Sirius asked her, hoping for a yes. When Marlene looked behind herself, he almost felt as if his heart would drop to his stomach, expecting a no, he was prepared for it but then she turned towards him and nodded, stepping closer to Sirius, his breath got stuck in his throat.
The two of them sat down side by side, Marlene's legs spread out in front of her and Sirius sat cross legged, stealing glances of her face. His heart and mind were racing too fast for their own good but it wasn't like he could help it, especially when she would look his way and smile!