Marlene tried to shut the door behind her as quietly as possible but the click of the lock woke Alice up who was barely asleep.
"Marlene? Is everything alright?" she propped herself on her elbows and whispered to her friend, who had jumped at the sound of her voice.
"Yes, go back to sleep," Marlene assured her, her hands on her heart – a vain attempt to calm it down.
"Are you sure?" Alice's eyes followed Marlene, who quickly got inside her bed.
"Yes," Marlene's voice squeaked as she suddenly remembered what happened moments ago.
"If you say so, but if something is troubling you, wake me up," Alice gave Marlene a stern look, and Marlene nodded in response.
She pulled the blanket to her face, her eyes still wide open. Marlene touched her lips, a small smile appeared on her face. The thumping of her heart hadn't quite slowed down. 'Sirius and I – kissed!' she thought excitedly. She had to cover her mouth to stop the excited squeals at the back of her thought from escaping her lips.
"Prongs wake up!" Sirius shook James, pulling away his blanket.
"What happened?" James woke up with a start, he barely had time to register his best friend's words.
"You asked me to tell you everything that happens, right?" Sirius had to tell someone or he might go crazy!
"Yes, what happened?" James asked, his hand reached for his spectacles. Sirius handed it to him and waited for James to wear it.
They heard shuffling from the other two beds, "Should I wake them up?" James asked.
"I am already up because of Padfoot's loud voice," Remus groaned grumpily, rolling over to his stomach.
Sirius couldn't even get himself to respond to his friends. "I kissed Marlene!" Sirius breathed; he couldn't believe his own words!
Remus jumped up and sat facing the other two boys, the hint of sleep in his eyes was now exchanged with surprise. James opened his mouth and then closed it a few times like a fish.
"When – what?!" James exclaimed, finally finding his voice.
"Just now, and – I can't sleep now – she left abruptly," Sirius replied, his thoughts were far away, replaying the kiss in his head over and over again.
"She left?" Remus asked, throwing an odd glance at James.
"We kissed, and she said good night and left," Sirius's brows creased together.
"I am sure it's because she was surprised," Remus tried to reason with Sirius.
"Yes," James agreed, nodding fervently.
A grin slowly appeared on Sirius's lips. He got up from James's bed and walked to the centre of the room. Taking a spin, he let out a chuckle. "I kissed Marlene!" he repeated happily. His best friends laughed as he crashed on his bed and stared at the ceiling, remembering the way Marlene felt under his touch.
"He's going to be up all night," James laid down in his bed first, followed by Remus.
"Merlin!" Remus chuckled, shaking his head, pulling the blanket back on himself.
The next morning, even though Sirius had hardly got a wink of sleep the night before, he was up before his friends. He couldn't stay in bed when he knew he would get to see Marlene today. So many questions were playing in his head, and he had the answers to none. 'Should I greet her?' 'What should I say when I see her?' 'Would it be awkward if I kiss her again?' 'What if she didn't like it last night?' 'Should I sit with her in the class?'
He was so excited for the day that he was perhaps one of the first ones to reach the Great Hall for breakfast, dragging along his friends, who told Peter all about Sirius's late-night rendezvous.
Sirius was already eating his breakfast when Marlene walked in the Great Hall with her friends. She was literally walking in between her friends. With the dark circles under her tired eyes, Sirius could guess she hadn't slept well either. He liked to think it was because of the same reason as him, but he had to warn himself to not get ahead in his thoughts.
He noticed when Marlene and her friends passed Sirius; Lily looked at James and gave him a small smile, and he hoped for Marlene to turn to look at him. But his smile dropped from his face when she looked straight ahead and walked past him as if nothing had happened.
"She – didn't even look – at me," Sirius mumbled, his eyes still focused on Marlene, hoping to catch her gaze. But Marlene sat down with her friends like every other day and served herself breakfast.
"It's like nothing even happened for her!" Sirius exclaimed, turning towards his friends.
"I am sure it's because she is shy," Peter shrugged, looking at Marlene and then back at Sirius.
"But – should I talk to her?" Sirius asked, he couldn't keep his eyes off Marlene.
"And say what?" Remus asked, taking a bite of his toast.
"I don't know!" Sirius could feel the frustration seeping through his bones, but it disappeared just as quickly when he watched Marlene laugh with her friends. A warm and fuzzy feeling grew from his heart and spread through his entire body, and he couldn't keep the smile away from his lips. His skin tingled when he thought about last night.
"What has she done to our friend?" James jested, laughing loudly with Remus and Peter, but Sirius couldn't care less.
On the way to their first class with Slughorn, Sirius and James walked together behind Marlene and Lily. Neither of them spoke a word, and suspected that the girls hadn't even noticed them walking right behind.
"Do you want to sit with Robert during lunch?" Lily asked Marlene teasingly and Sirius felt his body get rigid.
'Why Robert? Why not Black?' he thought to himself, a frown settling on his lips.
"Lils!" Marlene punched her friend lightly, a giggle erupting from her lips.
James looked at Sirius with a puzzled look on his face, Sirius shrugged.
"I should've never told you!" Marlene continued, looking at her feet.
"You think I would've never found out?" Lily had a grin on her face and Sirius wondered what had Marlene told Lily.
Sirius dragged James ahead of Lily and Marlene, not wanting to hear any more of it.
"Alright Evans?" James had a smirk on his face as they passed the two girls. Sirius also couldn't help but throw a glance at Marlene, who gave him a small smile before looking away.
Slughorn was talking about Everlasting Elixirs animatedly, pulling out small colourful glass vials from his briefcase and writing down the ingridents on the blackboard behind himself for students to copy.
Sirius had his head on the table, his face towards Marlene, still stuck on the fact that Marlene and Lily were talking about Robert. "Why Robert?" Sirius asked in a whisper.
"Padfoot," James sighed, continuing to scribble on his parchment. "Wouldn't it be better if you took notes?"
"I'll copy from you," Sirius's eyes never left Marlene, who had her gaze fixed on Slughorn.
"Staring at her would help you get the answer?" James asked.
Sirius felt his chair being kicked from behind and he immediately turned to glare at Remus, who was writing down as if he hadn't done anything.
"You are being creepy now, stop staring," Remus spoke under his breath.
Sirius sighed loudly, "Why do you think Robert?" he turned to ask Remus, who somehow always had the answers.
"If you are that bothered about it, just ask her," Remus replied coolly, making Sirius snicker.
"Is there a problem Mr Black?" Slughorn's voice made Sirius turn around to face him quickly.
"Not at all Sir, please continue," he replied, crossing his arms in front of his chest and sinking back in his chair.
Slughorn shook his head and continued talking about whatever that purple potion in his hand was. Sirius had already zoned out by the time Slughorn had gotten to explain the second property of the potion.
Thankfully, Transfiguration was better than Potions. They were practising basic non-verbal spells but being Professor McGonagall's class, nothing was ever basic and she expected her students to perform well.
"Prongs, should I send her a note? We can meet after class," Sirius suggested, already tearing out a piece of his parchment.
"You're being an idiot," James snorted, his eyes widened when he noticed his friend had tore a part from his Potion's notes.
"What would you do if King was after Evans?" Sirius asked his friend, now looking directly at him.
"I dealt with Snivellus pining after Lily, King would be no problem," James shrugged. James still hated the thought of Snivellus crushing on Lily and James knew it well Snivellus's feelings were still there and still strong.
"You have a point, but – she is behaving like nothing happened, is a kiss not a big deal?" Sirius felt like tearing his hair out.
"Are you sure you weren't dreaming Padfoot?" James smirked, looking down at his book when he caught McGonagall looking their way.
"Are you doubting me? I can't believe this – my own best friend!" Sirius sounded offended; he hadn't been dreaming it had actually happened! But watching Marlene and now James asking this question, he almost doubted himself.
"Mr Black! Miss Evans!" McGonagall's voice bloomed through the class. Sirius and James looked at Lily, who was frozen mid-sentence talking to Marlene.
"Evans getting in trouble? This is new," Sirius noted, smiling to himself. Lily had never been given a detention in 6 years! They were going to witness history.
"Is there a problem?" McGonagall asked sternly, both Sirius and Lily shook their heads.
"If you don't want detention, swipe places," McGonagall continued, glaring at Sirius and looking more softly at Lily.
Both of them froze in their place, the same thoughts running through their heads. Sirius couldn't sit with Marlene! He could barely focus when she was sitting in the row next to him, if she sat beside him, he would lose his mind.
"I expect you both to quickly get up," McGonagall wasn't joking when she crossed her arms in front of her chest.
Sirius and Lily started picking up their books, parchment and quill. Sirius looked at James from the corner of his eyes and he found some comfort when he noticed James sitting there like a deer frozen in headlight.
Sirius walked up to take Lily's seat beside Marlene and with every step he could feel his heartbeat getting louder. He quietly sat down beside her, without looking at her, keeping his eyes strictly on his table. He was already hypervigilant of his surroundings. Even the slightest of noise sounded like a gun going off, he tried to sit up as straight as he could.
A loud thud made Sirius jump, he turned to look at Lily dropping her books near her table and almost laughed when James quickly got up to help her gather her books.
Was it a hint of smile on McGonagall's face when she turned away from the class?
Continuing the lecture, McGonagall asked them to write an essay on the non-verbal spells they had discussed in the first half of the period and the whole class was dead silent as they started working on the essay.
It did no good for a jittery Sirius. He had to consciously tell himself that his eyes should be on the essay in front of him and not on Marlene. However, he did look at James and Lily and noticed them both just as flustered as him, trying hard to focus but failing miserably. At least they were smiling at each other when they caught each other's eyes. Marlene, on the other hand, looked composed and calm.
The class ended with Sirius being even more frustrated than before and a free period didn't help the cause either. Marlene had already left with her friends by the time Sirius came back to his seat to collect his belongings after submitting his essay.
"Just find her and talk to her, put yourself out of this misery," James said in a matter-of-fact voice.
"How do I find her? She can be anywhere!" Sirius complained loudly.
"The map," Remus whispered, rolling his eyes.
"Brilliant! I'll catch up later," Sirius grinned, turning around to walk back to their dormitory to look at the map for Marlene's location.
Beech tree at the edge of the Great Lake – that was Marlene's location when Sirius dashed out from his room. For the moment, she was sitting there alone, leaving Sirius to wonder what she was doing, but whenever he would see a dot anywhere near that area, his heart would speed up, thinking someone was joining her.
Thankfully, when the Beech tree came into Sirius's view, he let out a sigh of relief, finding Marlene sitting under the shade of the tree alone, reading some book.
She hadn't noticed him making his way to her and his voice made her jump. "Have you been deliberately ignoring me?" he asked, smiling at her reaction.
"Sirius!" she exclaimed, clutching onto her book tightly for a second, before relaxing.
He stood in front of her, and when she looked at him from under her lashes, he had a sudden urge to bend down and kiss her once again. He gulped in hard and looked away from her, trying to keep his train of thoughts straight.
"I've not been avoiding you; I didn't know you were looking for me," Marlene told him, closing the book in her hand.
"You didn't know – I was – why wouldn't I look for you?" Sirius stammered in disbelief. He sat down in front of her, cross legged.
"Why would you look for me?" she tilted her head to one side and sat up straight.
Sirius scoffed in astonishment, was it actually a dream? Had they really not kissed last night?! For Sirius, it wasn't just a kiss, he had practically declared his feelings for her, how could she take it so lightly?
"We – kissed," Sirius's voice was barely a whisper, his eyes on his hands in his lap.
"As I am sure you've kissed many girls," Marlene replied, trying to keep her voice even.
Sirius's mouth hung open and he instantly looked at Marlene. He couldn't believe she had compared what they had to his flings with other girls. How could she not see his genuine feelings for her?
"Not like other girls," Sirius barely managed to get the words out of his mouth.
"Why did we kiss?" Marlene asked, her brows furrowed together and her lips were set in a straight line.
"Why do you think?" Sirius questioned back, mirroring her expressions.
"I don't know! You couldn't do it back at the – the garden!" Marlene exclaimed, is that what made her question his feelings? That was absurd!
"Is that what is bothering you?" Sirius leaned forward. Marlene was hurt, her beautiful blue eyes could never hide what she was feeling.
"No, what is bothering me is why are you confusing me?" Marlene shook her head, but her gaze never left his eyes.
"How am I confusing you? I fancy you!" Sirius had his heart in his mouth when he realised, he had confessed his feelings without consciously wanting to. Marlene's expressions changed to that of surprise, before her face fell.
"That bit is plenty clear," she mumbled, collecting her book in her hand.
"What's confusing then?" Sirius asked, he watched Marlene get up from the ground. Just as she was about to walk past him, Sirius caught her wrist, stopping her dead in her tracks, the book in her hand fell on the ground between them, he slowly stood up. He twirled her around to face him, but Marlene kept her gaze on the ground.
"Are the rumours true?" Marlene whispered, and Sirius felt his heart drop to his stomach. He frowned thinking that Marlene had actually paid attention to the rumours going around Hogwarts.
"I am not a death eater and I don't intend on joining them, you can check –" Sirius was ready to show her his forearms, he didn't have the mark.
"Not that," Marlene interrupted, her cheeks were already turning a light shade of pink.
"Then what?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows. There had been so many rumours circling him and his family lately, Sirius didn't keep up.
When Marlene didn't respond and kept her eyes firmly on the ground, Sirius reluctantly tucked the index finger of his free hand under her chin and lifted her face, making her face even redder.
"Tell me," he whispered, unable to take his hand away from her face, his fingertips brushed on her cheek. Sirius's heart started thumping loudly again and his mouth went dry.
"Are you – you… forget it – it's stupid," Marlene was a bright shade of red, averting his gaze quickly.
"It's not stupid if it's bothering you," Sirius told her earnestly. He never wanted a rumour to make Marlene question the sincerity of his feelings for her.
"When you leave Hogwarts – are you –" Marlene stammered, leaving Sirius more confused. If it wasn't about being a death eater, what was it about?
"Getting – married?" Marlene's voice was barely a whisper. Sirius snorted, is that what people had been saying? That was new. 'It would make Prongs' day if I tell him this,' He thought.
"And whom am I getting married to?" Sirius couldn't keep the smile from forming on his lips. His hand dropped from Marlene's cheek but he didn't let go of her wrist just yet.
"One of – your cousins?" Marlene's response was more like a question.
"Merlin! Is that what people think of me?" Sirius chuckled, he hated his cousins except Andromeda, but he even shuddered to think of her in anyway other than his cousin.
"Then why did you leave me at the garden?" Marlene asked, she still looked embarrassed.
"Marlene – it has nothing to do with how I feel for you; I am sorry, I didn't think I deserve you," Sirius gave her hand a light squeeze.
That made Marlene look up, the blush on her cheeks started fading away when her flabbergasted eyes studied Sirius's face. "Deserve me?" she questioned.
"You are so much better than me," Sirius replied, he should step back, but he couldn't get himself to.
"I don't think you are a bad person," Marlene mumbled, putting her hand over Sirius's hand.
"You don't know me," Sirius shrugged, looking away.
"You didn't kill anyone," Marlene's brows creased together, her lips were in a small pout.
Sirius spoke before he could stop himself, "Yet."
Taken aback was an understatement. Sirius could feel Marlene freeze under his touch and he looked up to see an astonished look masking her face. Did he scare her? He wondered how quickly would he make her run away from himself.
"I should leave, right? I will leave," Sirius rambled, nodding his head. He let go of Marlene's hands and turned around quickly.
"Sirius," Marlene spoke, making Sirius back turn around to face her.
Before he could register, Marlene stepped closer; wrapping her right hand around his neck, and creasing his cheek with her left hand, she stood on her toes and pressed her lips against his.
Sirius froze for a moment, and his heart leaped. Closing his eyes, he let his hands rest on her tiny waist, pulling her closer and deepening the kiss.
Breathing heavily, they parted their lips and pressed their foreheads against each other's. Marlene's hand that was creasing Sirius's cheek, trailed down to his chest and he felt his skin tingle under her touch.
He pulled his head back to look at her face, not letting her go. "Are you going to sit with Robert during lunch?" he asked, a cocky smile on his lips.
Marlene blinked a few times, confused at the sudden question and then she realised. Hitting Sirius in the arm, she made him let go of her. "You were listening to Lily and me?" she questioned, narrowing her eyes.
"You weren't very quiet," Sirius shook his head, grinning from ear to ear.
Marlene picked up her book and started walking past Sirius with short quick steps. Sirius followed her quickly, walking backwards in front of her. "Are you?" he questioned again.
Marlene gave him a light push, making Sirius tumble on his feet, landing on the ground. At first, Marlene was concerned, her eyes grew wider and the smile dropped from her face. Bending down to check if Sirius was alright; when she found him chuckling, she quickly straightened up and continued walking away.
"Are you?" Sirius shouted from between his laugh.
"Yes," Marlene jested, looking over her shoulder. That got Sirius to stop laughing altogether and he quickly got up from the ground, chasing after Marlene.
Watching Sirius right behind her, a giggle erupted from her lips and Marlene broke into a sprint.
"No! Sit with me instead," Sirius urged, a frown on his lips, trying to catch up with Marlene.
He caught her by her waist, making her laugh as she squirmed under his touch. The sound of her laughter made Sirius grin from ear to ear. "Sirius!" she giggled, breaking free from his grasp,
"Don't sit with him!"
"Fine, but I'll sit with my friends and you'll sit with yours."
"That's – not fair!"
"That's how it's going to be."