Disclaimer: only Malika (and Jane, butshe isn't that important)belongs to me...

Chapter 5

Summer of 1994

The summer passed by quickly for Malika.

In July, most aurors had to assist the preparations for the Quidditch World Cup. Those who didn't have to help with the Cup, were in too small numbers to handle the regular auror work. On top of the usual work, they were still searching for Sirius and as if that wasn't enough yet, a woman called Bertha Jorkins had dissapeared under strange circumstances. Needless to say the summer was very busy.

Malika often had to work late and had barely any spare time left. Luckily, Remus didn't complain too much about the fact they barely saw each other.

As usual, he was understanding, listened to her complaints, cooked dinner, and massaged her sore feet after another day of running around like crazy, trying to get her work done.

In the meanwhile, Malika kept writing letters to Sirius. Most of their letters talked about Harry, Malika's work and things that were going on in the Wizarding World. They never talked about the past, and somehow they managed to never mention Remus in their letters either.

It wasn't logical, seeing as Malika lived together with Remus, and she knew Remus too received often letters from Sirius. But she figured it was better this way.

By the time August came, Remus had found himself a job in the Muggleworld, like he had done before he went to teach at Hogwarts.

Malika sometimes wondered why he bothered, she earned enough for the both of them to live from, but she understood he didn't like to have to depend on someone else.He had always told herhe hated what he called 'charity'. So Malika didn't say anything about it anymore.

Before she knew it, the World Cup had come.

While the spectators arrived, Malika was patrolling the field where many families had already set up their tents. She had to oversee the activities and make sure no-one did offend the strict rules.

So far, she had to stop someone who wanted to try out some magical fireworks, she had caught some children who tried to sneak some fizzing whizzbees to the non-magical children of the owners of the field they used for the encampments and she had arrested a group of forgers, who tried to sell their tickets near the entrance.

And the first day had only started.

At one point, she had seen an all too familiar face in the crowd and for a moment, she thought she had been hallucinating, because she could swear that she had seen James. But then she realised that it had been, in fact, his son, Harry Potter.

It was the first time in almost thirteen years she had seen him (except for that one time at Hogwarts, somewhere in January, and it had only been a glimpse then too), it had felt good this time, or at least less painful then that time at Hogwarts, but that might be because now she knew the truth about Sirius. Or it might be because it was the second time she saw a glimpse of him and was more prepared for it this time.

Then, her work demanded her attention again, some culprits were trying to spike the only source of fresh water in thevicinity.

October 1975 (Marauders 6th year)

Malika had planned to go to bed right away after her long conversation with Sirius, but as she reached her dormitory, Lily was waiting for her, demanding an explanation for the scene she had walked into earlier.

Malika told her friend what she thought had happened; how Sirius had told Snape how to find Remus, how James had stopped Snape, and how he had been yelling at Sirius when they had entered the common room. She ended her story with how she had tried to comfort Sirius, letting out the kisses they shared.

Lily was shocked about what she had heard, but apparently decided to stay out of this, because she didn't say anything about it. What she said instead, however, surprised Malika even more.

With a pensive look, Lily remarked, "So, James does have some feeling of responsibility inside of him, doesn't he. I'm actually surprised, maybe you were right about him, maybe he isn't that bad."

When she looked towards her friend however, Lily quickly continued.

"But that doesn't mean I'll go out with him, so don't look at me like that. Besides, I'm dating Leonard, remember."

Malika didn't say anything; she merely smiled at her friend.

Lily decided to quickly change the subject.

"So, about you and Sirius, what is really going on now?"

Malika shifted uncomfortable, she couldn't lie to Lily, it never worked anyway, so she decided to tell the truth.

"We are dating now, but don't tell anyone, Lily, we want to wait until the Marauders have worked out their problems before they find out about us."

Lily smiled and nodded.

A little while later, both girls were fast asleep.

000

The next week would count for many students as one of thestrangest weeksin their time at Hogwarts. And that was certainly the fact for Malika and Lily.

For the first time since first year, the Marauders couldn't be seen together. Though almost no-one in school knew what had happened, it was obvious that something had separated the earlier inseparable James Potter and Sirius Black.

After that night, James refused to talk to Sirius, and when Remus returned from the Hospital Wing after three days, he too ignored Sirius completely.

So, Sirius decided to hang out with the girls, sit with them duringmealtimes, classes and in the common room. They received many strange looks from their classmates, not only because they had never hang out together like this before, but also because Lily was known as a Marauder-hater. It was actually a strange view indeed.

Needless to say, after a few days Lily was sick of Sirius them following everywhere.

Another problem that rose out of this situation, was their study circle in the library. One day, Sirius had decided to follow them even there, this of course proved to be a problem when they arrived in the library, where Remus was waiting for the girls, as usual.

At first, Remus only sat there, glaring at Sirius, but when the latter didn't leave, Remus stood up brusquely, and left the library, before Malika could stop him.

It was at that point that Malika decided she had enough of this.

That night, she climbed to the boys' dormitory, when she was sure James and Remus were both there, while Sirius was in the common room. She figured it didn't matter if Peter was there or not, he just followed his friends' decisions anyway.

Malika knew Sirius had tried to speak to the others at first, but when they didn't want to listen after his first attempt, he gave up, claiming he had at least tried, and it was now their turn to come to him.

Malika had watched them all closely the last days, although she hadn't had a chance to talk to Remus or James, with Sirius following her around. She knew they were all miserable, with their fight going on. The Marauders needed each other, but they were all too stubborn and proud to admit it.

As she reached the door of the Marauders' dormitory, she knocked and entered without waiting for a response.

The boys looked up as she entered; Peter simply smiled at her and returned to the cauldron cake she was eating, James frowned at her and asked her what she was doing there, but Remus' reaction really shocked her, he just glared at her. It was the first time she had ever seen him looking like that towards her, and it hurt her more then she had ever thought possible.

She swallowed quickly, and forced her eyes quickly away from Remus, towards James.

"I want to talk to you guys."

"I suppose this is about Sirius", James asked.

Malika nodded.

Now, Remus spoke up, with an uncharacteristically harsh voice. "There is nothing to talk about. You have no idea what this is about Malika, so keep out of it." And in aquiet voice he muttered. "Besides, it's obvious whose side you've chosen."

It was now Malika's turn to get angry.

"I have not chosen anyone's side, Remus. Like you said, I have nothing to do with this, so how could I chose a side, it is not my choice that Sirius keeps following Lily and me around!" She sighed frustrated. This wasn't going like she had planned.

After letting herself calm down a bit, she continued. "I may not know whatexactly is going on between you guys, but I do know that this fight has to stop." She raised her hand when both Remus and James opened their mouth to protest. "The four of you have always been so close, and whatever has happened, it is not worth throwing away five years of such a friendship. I know you all need each other, I know you three miss Sirius just as much as he misses you. I want you guys to be friends again, not for me, but for yourselves. Please think about what I said."

Malika looked all of them in the eye for a moment. James turned his gaze away from her, Peter looked at her in awe, and Remus just stared back, with almost a hollow look, but deep down, she could see a flicker of something she couldn't place.

Then, Malika left the boys' dormitory, and returned to the common room.

000

Apparently, her little speech hadn't missed its effect, because after that night, the Marauders had been just like they used to be.

Consequently, Malika's and Lily's bond with them was back to normal, which meant the girls had again their almost daily study circle in the library with Remus, Malika hang out with the Marauders from time to time, and Lily ignored them most of the time.

This left another issue for Malika: her still new relationship with Sirius. While the boys had their fight, they saw of course enough of each other, but now the Marauders were back to normal, Malika and Sirius didn't have much time for them to be together, partly because the other boys didn't even know yet they were together.

At last, Malika figured it was time for them to know too, and Sirius reluctantly agreed. They had been together for almost four weeks and didn't even go together to Hogsmeade because the other boys didn't know.

So, finally, one night, when Malika was sitting in the common room together with the Marauders, Sirius cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Guys, there's something I have to tell you."

The others looked up expectantly.

"Malika and I have been dating for almost four weeks now, we wanted to tell you earlier, but we didn't really find a good opportunity and well,.., so now you know.", he ended uncomfortably.

A shocked silence had fallen upon the group then, this wasn't really something they had expected, to say the least.

James was the first to recover. "Well, congratulations, I suppose." Then he grinned mischievously. "If you two need to use my cloak to sneak off, just let me know." He said with a wink.

Until that moment, Remus just sat staring at them, but upon hearing this last comment, he bolted upright and yelled, "I can't believe you two. I thought you were my friends. I thought you meant it when you said you were sorry and you missed us, Sirius, I thought you hang out with her because we weren't speaking to you, but apparently, I was wrong, you used that time to snog Malika, and you only came back to us when you had enough. And I thought at least you knew better, Malika, than to fall for someone like him. But if he breaks your heart, don't come run to me for comfort, because I warned you beforehand."

With that he stormed up the stairs towards the boys' dormitory.

Another shocked silence fell between the group of friends. Malika was utterly shocked, she didn't have any idea where that outburst had come from. Never had she seen Remus react like this. During the Marauders' fight, he had simply refused to speak to Sirius, but Malika had never heard him yell at anyone before.

After a short time, Malika stood up and announced she would go talk to Remus. Sirius tried to stop her, but she ignored him and went up the stairs.

She let herself in the dormitory without even knocking, and found Remus sitting on his bed, staring to the wall in front of him.

"Can we talk?" She asked softly.

He merely sighed.

"Remus, what's going on? Why are you so upset?" She approached his bed carefully.

Finally, he turned towards her, a troubled look on his face.

"I'm so sorry Malika, I didn't mean to blow up like that," he answered quietly.

"It's alright. Care to tell me what's wrong?"

He shook his head meekly. "Please don't ask me, I can't tell you, Malika, I...I just don't want you to get hurt."

"Alright, I understand." In fact, she didn't understand anything about it. Why would she get hurt? She laid her hand on his arm, at first he stiffened at her touch, but then he relaxed. She continued, "If there is anything, Remus, anything at all, you can always come to me, you know. I really care about you and I'll always be here for you, no matter what."

They looked each other in the eye for a few moments, he had a sad look in his eyes, but behind that, Malika saw again that same flicker she couldn't place.

Then, he turned away again, he whispered, "Thank you, Malika, I'll keep that in mind."

He glanced at her again, and continued. "I think I'm going to bed now, I'm tired, goodnight."

Malika was surprised by the abrupt end of their conversation, but she decided to let it go, although she still didn't know what exactly was going on, she was glad he wasn't mad at her anymore, because she didn't think she could bear to lose him.

She quietly told Remus goodnight, and returned to the common room.

Although he had told Malika he was tired, Remus couldn't sleep. His thought always returned to Malika, to the way she had looked at him, her dark brown eyes searching his amber ones for answers, the feeling of her soft hand lying on his arm. How could she say she cared about him, and at the same time date Sirius?

Remus knew he couldn't blame her, he had tried hard to not let her see how muchshe meant to him. He couldn't let her come that close, in the end it would only ruin everything, when she discovered what he was. And he couldn't bear to lose her. But in trying to make sure he wouldn't lose her, he had lost her anyway, and to one of his best friends, none the less.

The next thought that came up in his mind was: how could Sirius do that to him? Sirius knew how Remus felt about Malika, but Remus knew he couldn't actually blame Sirius either.

Only last year, Remus had told Sirius to go with Malika if he wanted to, although they both knew Remus hadn't really meant it when he said that.

The only one he could really blame, was himself, or even more so, the wolf, and so he did.

000

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Nascargirl05( ): Thank you for your review, I hope you like this chapter too.