A/N: I hope you all had a wonderful week last week! We're back with Blackinnon Fest and this little Muggle AU! This story will post all this week, and then next week there will be one more story to wrap up the month! Next week's story is a short sequel to my Blackinnon Spies story, Reconnaissance. If you haven't read it jump over and read that in between these chapter updates!
Vignette
Expect the Unexpected
Her dress was sticking to her skin and not in a good way.
Marlene wiped her hair from her face and cursed. It wasn't enough that she was running from a party that had the potential to make a new career, a new start. It wasn't enough that she'd caused a scene, screeching at the cretin who thought he could touch whoever he wanted. It wasn't enough that she'd probably just ruined any chance she had at breaking into the London modeling scene. No, none of that was enough. There needed to be one more thing to make her night miserable, and the fates decided it had to be rain. And not some light drizzle, oh no, it had to be pouring, a torrential flooding of cats and dogs, the kind of rain that cascaded from the heavens like an angry waterfall out for revenge.
Her phone buzzed in her clutch tucked under her arm and in her attempt to retrieve it she lost her balance in her sky high heels and crashed down on the pavement. Marlene swore as she rubbed at the pain in her hip and wrist.
"Marlene?"
She tried to pretend she hadn't heard that voice. She tried to convince her brain that she was hallucinating under the stress. She told herself that the rain was so loud she was hearing things that weren't there, couldn't be there.
And she would have succeeded if a strong hand hadn't wrapped around her shoulder and an umbrella came to cover her.
"Marlene, it's me."
"Do I want to know how long you've been standing there?" She didn't look up at him, focusing instead on the umbrella in his hand.
It felt so good not to have the rain pelting her face.
"Longer than you'd like." His voice was warm and so familiar that if she were any other woman she would have cried. "Your fall was graceful if that's any consolation."
"Of course it was." Marlene grimaced against the pain as she moved to stand. He immediately pushed his hand under her arm, helping to lift her from the pavement. "Don't take this the wrong way, but how did you get here? You were in Germany."
"I moved back to London a few weeks ago." He pulled her a step closer. "And don't take this the wrong way, but are you actually going to look at me or is my umbrella the only thing you're tolerating my presence for."
Marlene closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she looked up at him, his black hair slightly damp as it hung around his ears and neck, his gray eyes danced with mischief like they always had so many years ago, and his lips quirked up to the left with the same smirk that had ensnared her when she'd first seen him.
She couldn't stop the smile that pulled on her lips. "Hello Sirius."
