Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The song "Candy Man" is by Christina Aguilera and I do not own it in any way. "Utopia" is by Sir Thomas More.

Desperado
Chapter Four: Candy Man

He really had me working up an appetite
He had tattoos up and down his arms
There's nothing more dangerous than a boy with charm

"You never have war unless you choose it, and peace is always more to be considered than war."

CRASH!

Marly looked up from her book, Utopia, nonchalantly and glanced out the door from the headquarters' library. Straining her ears, she thought she could hear someone swearing under their breath from the foyer. Not entirely in the mood for company, she returned to her book.

Since Remus had left to go underground, Marly found herself at headquarters more often. Part of the reason was because she was bored without Remus at the flat, but it was mostly because of the mess that had begun to accumulate in the week he had been gone. Without Remus there to clean non-stop, Marly realized that she wasn't exactly the most cleanly and organized person in the world.

CRASH!

"Bloody hell!"

Marly looked up once again, the swearing much louder than it had been before. With a resigned sigh, she used her bookmark to hold the place she had stopped at and got to her feet, following her ears to the origin of the noises.

Before she knew it, Marly found herself at the entrance to the kitchen. She observed the scene with an amused expression on her face. It looked as though Sirius was desperately trying to make some sort of food, but couldn't find the correct pan, as the contents of the cupboard were strewn around the kitchen tile. His head was completely hidden within the cupboard.

"Looking for something?" Marly asked, stepping over the pots and pans that varied in just about every size and shape.

Surprised, Sirius jerked his head upward, smacking it hard on the top of the cupboard. He let out another swear, making Marly drop to her knees so she was at eye level with him.

"Sorry," she apologized quickly as Sirius gingerly touched the top of his head.

"It's all right," Sirius replied, rubbing the spot for a moment and then looking at his fingers, as though he expected to see blood. "I didn't think anyone else was here."

"I was in the library," Marly explained. "Are you all right?"

"I've been in worse spots," Sirius admitted. He looked around and an annoyed expression filled his face. "I'm trying to find a frying pan."

"Uh…," Marly looked around and lifted up a small frying pan that was just next to him. "This is a frying pan."

"No, it isn't," Sirius said indignantly. "A frying pan has holes in it."

"What are you talking about?" Marly asked, raising an eyebrow. "You use a frying pan on the stove."

Sirius let out a laugh and gave Marly a look. "No, you use a frying pan to strain stuff."

"That's a colander," Marly corrected, smirking at Sirius. "You didn't take Muggle Studies at Hogwarts, did you?"

"I took it my third year and decided that I didn't need to know anything else," Sirius shrugged.

"Maybe you should have taken it," Marly commented, getting to her feet and walking over to a different cupboard. She jerked it open and took out a white colander. "Is this what you're looking for?"

"Yes," Sirius nodded, getting to his feet as well and taking it from her. "Thank you."

"Why do you need a colander anyways?" Marly asked, pulling herself onto the counter.

"I want some spaghetti," Sirius shrugged.

"Why don't you just, you know, wave your wand?" Marly implored. "You don't exactly seem knowledgeable when it comes to the art of Muggle culinary."

"I made a bet with James that I could go a week without magic," Sirius explained, looking down at the strainer and biting his lip.

"Do you even know how to make the spaghetti?" Marly asked, noticing a grocery bag on the counter.

Following her gaze, Sirius said, "I bought noodles and sauce, but I'm a little clueless after that."

"Well, my dad's a Muggle," Marly said, jumping down from the counter, looking around, and picking up a fairly decent sized saucepan. "He always made us dinner when my mum had to work late, so he would teach Anna and me how to not rely on our wands and magic." That said, she pulled out her wand and waved it over the mess Sirius made, causing the pots and pans to fly back into the cupboard without so much of a sound. "Well, not completely rely on our wands."

"Are you volunteering to make me dinner?" Sirius asked as Marly turned on the sink and began to fill the pot with water.

"You leave me with little choice, Mr. Black," Marly flashed him a smile over her shoulder. "I can't just stand by and watch a train wreck in the kitchen."

"You don't seem to have much faith in me," Sirius pointed out with a playful smile.

"Doesn't look that way, does it?" Marly asked, turning on the gas on the stove and waving her hand over the burner so it ignited.

"There you go showing off again," Sirius said jokingly as Marly put the saucepan on the burner.

"Sorry," Marly apologized. "It's a bad habit."

"How much can you actually do?" Sirius asked as Marly pulled another pan out of the cupboard and ignited another burner the same way.

"Oh, I don't know," Marly sighed, running her finger along the top of the tin can that held the spaghetti sauce to cut it open and poured the contents into the pan.

"Sure you do," Sirius pressed. "Can you do big things?"

"What do you mean 'big things'?" Marly asked, standing back and waiting for the water to being to boil. "I can't make the entirety of England to ignite in flame, if that's what you mean."

Sirius let out a laugh. "Can you make the dining room table levitate?"

Marly turned and held out her hand. She furrowed her brow, concentrating on the table and what she wanted it to do. After a few seconds, the table lurched upward, knocking over one of the chairs. She turned and looked at Sirius.

"Seems that way," she said with a smirk, registering the impressed look on his face. She withdrew her hand and the table dropped back to the floor. "Any other tests?"

"No, no," Sirius shook his head, still looking quite surprised. "I'm envious, what can I say?"

"It's mighty handy around the house," Marly shrugged, looking into the pot and then back at Sirius. "It's nice not to have to carry my wand around me at all times when I'm cleaning or cooking or whatever. Remus gets quite jealous."

"Moony tends to get jealous easily," Sirius nodded as Marly backed up, leaning against the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"He does, doesn't he?" Marly mused. "I suppose it's part of his charm."

"Something like that," Sirius smiled, allowing Marly's stomach to flop slightly.

After about forty-five minutes, a spaghetti dinner for two was set at the table. After exhausting such games as "I'm shopping in Diagon Alley and I'm buying apples," they had decided on playing Truth - a game Marly had always shirked out of playing with her dormmates, but didn't mind playing with Sirius.

"Cantaloupe."

"You don't like cantaloupe?" Sirius asked, his jaw slack.

"It's disgusting," Marly said simply. "You like it? And no, that doesn't count as my question, before you try to swindle me again."

"It's my favourite fruit!" Sirius replied, still shocked. "And, I'm pretty sure that was your question."

"Was not," Marly replied, spinning her fork in her pasta and smirking at Sirius.

"I refuse to answer any question you might say then," Sirius said indignantly.

"Then I do believe you fold!" Marly exclaimed triumphantly. "I win."

"Okay, okay," Sirius sighed, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms. "Ask me a question."

Marly laughed at how broken up he was being, then asked, "Do your tattoos mean anything?"

Sirius looked down at his arms, which each had black tattoos covering them. "Other than that I'm terribly hardcore?"

"Well, no doubt they just scream hardcore," Marly nodded. "Do you have a naked woman somewhere that I can't see?"

"Honestly, I think that they were just my last hurrah before I skived off on my family," Sirius said thoughtfully, as though he had never really thought about it before.

"What do you mean about - "

"I'm pretty sure you already asked your question," Sirius interrupted. "That would make it my turn."

"Fine," Marly pouted, shoving her fork into her mouth.

"What is your life motto?" Sirius asked, looking at Marly appraisingly.

Marly swallowed hard, hesitating before she answered. She had been banking on him only asking the simple favourite colour and where are you from type of questions. "Honestly?"

"Honestly."

"Well," she started, taking a deep breath. "Dance in the rain just to get soaked. Call a friend just because you care. Smile just because you can. Laugh just to make people stare."

"It even rhymes!" Sirius exclaimed, then gave her a coy smile to show he was kidding.

"Well, I think it just about covers every base of me," Marly admitted, nodding. "I wrote it when I went through my teenage angst years."

"That's pretty upbeat for being angst," Sirius smirked.

"You know what I meant," Marly rolled her eyes. "My Hogwarts years weren't terribly kind to me. You see - " She stopped herself, then grinned evilly. "I think I'll leave that for a different question, Mr. Black."

"Touché, Miss McKinnon," Sirius nodded. "Let's have it."

"Have you ever been in love?"

"I thought you were going to ask about my family!"

"I decided to save that until later," Marly smirked, then repeated herself. "Have you ever been in love?"

Sirius looked at Marly thoughtfully, then said, "Once. Her name was - well, is, I should say, as she's still alive and all - Jennifer Barrette."

"Never heard of her," Marly admitted.

"You wouldn't have," Sirius nodded. "She went to Beauxbatons and is a few years younger than myself. Anyways, she's a great girl and all, but we were better off as friends. However, she never really saw it that way and I haven't seen her since we broke up."

"Well, that's no good," Marly bit her lip.

"Such is life," Sirius shrugged. "Anyways, what's with you and Moony?"

"What about us?"

"Well, you two are awful chummy, aren't you?"

Marly let out a laugh. "Please - we've been best friends since primary. We kind of drifted a bit once we were both in Hogwarts with us being in different houses and years, but we still managed to stay friends, hence why I live with him now."

"So you two never - "

"Despite that that is a second question, no," Marly answered.

"Oh, well, Anna said - "

"Don't listen to a word my sister says," Marly interrupted again. "She has a knack for overanalyzing situations that aren't related to her in any way whatsoever, no matter how much she should leave her nose out of it."

"Don't we all?" Sirius asked.

"Anna more so," Marly rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I would've thought she'd be better off as a psychiatrist of some sort rather than playing Quidditch."

"Professionally?" Sirius asked, his jaw dropping.

Marly nodded. "Yeah, she's Seeker for the Holyhead Harpies."

"No kidding?"

"Yeah," Marly acquiesced. "I thought everyone knew."

"Well, she was brilliant at school and all, but I didn't know that she'd gone on after," Sirius nodded impressively.

"Would you like to go to a game?" Marly asked, then almost wished to take it back in case it sounded a bit too forward. "I mean, Lily, James, and I are going to a match next week Friday - "

"The 13th?" Sirius asked. When Marly nodded he said, "That's my birthday."

"Well, think of it as my birthday present to you," Marly smiled.

"In that case, I guess I have to go," Sirius shrugged. "You're giving me very little say in this matter."

"Oh, well, if it's that much of a chore - "

"No, no," Sirius said hastily, throwing me a grin. "It's either spend an evening of Quidditch with you, Mom, and Dad or resign to a night by myself."

"What a way to bring in a new year," Marly smirked. "You're going to be, what - "

"Twenty," Sirius supplied. "Merlin, I didn't realize how old that sounds until just now."

Marly laughed. "At least you're not turning twenty-one."

"Yeah, that would be loads worse," Sirius shot back.

"Ah, just the people I was hoping to see."

Marly and Sirius jumped in an almost comical manner at the sudden interruption. They both spun around in their chairs to see Dumbledore striding toward them, smiling at them.

"Hello, Professor," Marly turned. "Fancy some spaghetti?"

"No thank you, Marlene," Dumbledore put up a hand. "I just finished the most wonderful dinner at Hogwarts. Tonight was roast beef with the creamiest mashed potatoes I've ever tasted."

"I think that's what I miss most about Hogwarts," Sirius admitted, a dreamy, faraway look in his eye. "The food was spectacular."

"The Halloween feast was always my favourite," Marly divulged, a smile playing on her lips.

"Only the best house elves," Dumbledore nodded. "However, a discussion of food is not what brings me here today."

Dumbledore drew himself up a chair and sat on the opposite side of the table than Marly and Sirius. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the oak table and gazed at the two with his fingers lightly pressed together.

"I'm sure the both of you recall when I spoke to you about a mission," Dumbledore began, his tone very serious. "I assume that the both of you are still quite interested in following through with my request?"

"Of course, Professor," Marly nodded, looking at Sirius warily, who had an expression of utmost concentration on his face.

"Good, good," Dumbledore nodded his head. "Now, I chose the two of you for this mission for specific reasons that I am quite sure you will understand momentarily. As always, you have every right to decline the mission if you see fit.

"Now, Sirius, is it safe for me to presume that you haven't spoken to your younger brother, Regulus, in quite some time?"

Sirius made a derisive noise from the back of his throat and his eyes flashed angrily. "I haven't heard of or from him since I left Hogwarts."

"Yes, that is what James told me," Dumbledore nodded. "Sadly, our sources have been able to confirm on multiple accounts that he, Regulus, I mean, has become a Death Eater."

"You're joking," Sirius said, though Dumbledore's grave tone and facial expression told him that he was quite serious. "Voldemort took that git in his ranks?"

"It seems that way," Dumbledore nodded, a slight smile on his face, but it quickly disappeared. "I have thought nearly a fortnight about this situation and whether or not to act on it, but it seems as though it is almost too good of a chance not to.

"Sirius and Marlene, I would like it if, on a few occasions, trail Regulus Black and see if there is a chance of picking up any sort of information from him," Dumbledore concluded.

Marly nodded, but noticed that Sirius was looking less than pleased on her left.

"Uh, Professor, no offence, but this is quite a flawed plan," Sirius said frankly, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest. "In case you haven't noticed, even if I really wanted them to my family isn't about to welcome me back with open arms - Regulus least of all."

"I do realize this, Sirius," Dumbledore nodded slowly. "However, I am not asking you to become friendly with them. I only wish to see if you, as his brother, might be able to find some sort of information."

Sirius still had a sceptical look on his face, but nodded nonetheless.

"Now, Marlene," Dumbledore turned to address her, "as I said, I chose the both of you for specific reasons and I was not lying. Not too long ago, I was informed that you have some certain talents that you are far too modest in using."

"Were you, Professor?" Marly asked, giving Sirius an annoyed look.

Sirius held up his hands in protest. "Don't look at me! I only found out at the pub last week."

Dumbledore smiled at the two, then continued, "As I was saying, I think that you will find that these talents of yours will be exemplified once in a real situation and not just in opening cans of spaghetti sauce."

"We'll see, Professor," Marly said quietly, her face flushing.

"I do believe that is all, then," Dumbledore nodded. "I will alert the two of you in advance as to when you can expect your first mission to take place."

"Thank you, Professor," Sirius said, getting to his feet to shake the Headmaster's hand.

"It was my pleasure, Sirius," Dumbledore smiled at the both, then glided out of the room.

Once they were sure he was gone, Marly let out a long sigh, then gave Sirius a sideways glance.

"So, this should be fun."

"Oh, loads," Sirius nodded, chuckling quietly. "To think that we have to devote time to my manky brother - "

"You don't seem terribly chuffed about this," Marly pointed out the obvious. "Is it time for me to break out the family question?"

"I do believe that it is your turn," Sirius gave her an amused look.

"Well, let's have it, then," Marly crossed her arms over her chest. "What's all the negativity radiating from your family?"

"I'm sure you've heard the hordes of rumours," Sirius raised an eyebrow. "We Blacks aren't exactly unheard of."

"No offence, but I think everyone in the wizarding world has heard at least something about the Black family," Marly pointed out. "However, I'm not one for rabbiting, so I wouldn't mind hearing from the source."

"Honestly, I'm sure that anything you've heard is probably quite true," Sirius said, his face quite sad. "My parents are big supporters of Voldemort, although they aren't what I would call Death Eaters. I'm sure my mum is just overjoyed that Regulus went and signed himself up, however. I'm sure she was more than keen when the prat came home and showed off his own tattoo."

Sirius sighed heavily and looked down at his arms. "Well, growing up I ate every word my parents said - everything from blood traitors to Mudbloods, pardon the term. Once I got to Hogwarts, though, I was sorted into Gryffindor and met up with Prongs and the others. I learned pretty fast how daft it is to think that just because I come from a family of wizards makes me any better than someone who wasn't."

Marly nodded. "I think that was one of the harder things for me during Hogwarts. The Head Boy my year was a Slytherin and although I was Ravenclaw and that was loads better than Gryffindor to him, he couldn't understand why someone with a Muggle for a father could actually have talent."

"Exactly," Sirius agreed. "Anyway, to make a long story short, I ran away when I was sixteen and that didn't please dear old mummy too much, so she disowned me."

"No!" Marly exclaimed, her eyes wide in shock.

Sirius let out a laugh that almost sounded like a bark. "Oh, Marly, it isn't as though my mum was an angel. She could've done worse things, in my own opinion. Personally, I was quite all right with an excuse to not have contact with them. It made things easier for me in the long run."

"I suppose," Marly nodded.

"And, well, all in all, that's why I don't get along with my family," Sirius shrugged. "We are on quite different sides of reasoning. You'll have that, though."

Sirius's blue eyes grew somewhat blank, as though he was recalling something. Marly opened her mouth to inquire, but he interrupted.

"It's my turn, though," Sirius said. "Why are you so shy about your powers?"

The question caught Marly off guard and she hesitated a moment before answering.

"Wow, well," Marly swallowed hard. "I suppose a lot of it comes from my upbringing. My mum and dad weren't fond of my sister and me showing off. Although we both have radically different talents, they were afraid that with us being girls and being so near each other in age that we'd constantly compete."

"Sometimes a little healthy competition can drive you to become better, though," Sirius pointed out.

"I agree," Marly nodded. "However, being in Ravenclaw made it very easy to find my competition. We really were some of the more clever students at Hogwarts, if I do say so myself."

"Naturally," Sirius smirked. "Still, you should make use of your powers. Playing off of what Dumbledore said, you could shock yourself with just how strong you are."

"Honestly, I think that's another big reason I'm so shy with them," Marly admitted, surprised that she was voicing this secret to someone she hardly knew when she had never even admitted it to Remus or Lily. "As you said yourself, not many people can do wandless magic, so not a terribly lot is known about it. While I would love to see just how much I can do and how powerful I might be, I'm frightened of the toll it could take on me."

"I'm afraid I don't completely follow," Sirius bit his lip. "Do you mean you think you could harm yourself?"

"Not just to me, but to the people around me," Marly nodded. "When I first joined the Order, I told Dumbledore that I would only join given the promise that I wouldn't have to do any large missions that included going out into the field. That's also why I haven't reapplied to be an Auror. I know it seems like cowardice, but I'm frightened that maybe if I do channel all of the power that I think I have I won't be able to control it. What if I really can ignite all of England in flames?"

After a split moment of silence, Sirius nodded his head. "I understand what you're saying."

"I know it's sickeningly noble and all," Marly smirked, "but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if someone was hurt or killed because of something I couldn't help doing."

The two fell silent again, each in their own thoughts. The only sound in the house was from the cuckoo clock sounding off from the library, signalling that it was midnight.

"I know it's your turn, but could I ask one more question?" Sirius asked suddenly.

"Just this once," Marly agreed.

"You said that you asked Dumbledore not to put you into the field when you joined the Order," Sirius mused. "However, you agreed to take this mission regarding my brother. Why is that?"

Marly smiled and gave him a pointed look. "I think you know why I agreed."

Author's Note: This is pretty lengthy, but I didn't want things to hang over into the next chapter. Do you forgive me? Of course you do. Anyways, thanks for reading and please let me know what you think, all right? All right.