Come to game night, Lily said. It would be fun, Lily said. She failed to mention she wouldn't be attending this particular game night.
She caught a cold. 'Pfft, cold my ass,' Marlene thought to herself.
Marlene took a deep breath and raised her fist to the apartment door. At the very least, she was grateful for the fact that she didn't have to worry about other idiots around the university coming to wreak havoc on the night. The apartments were a short distance away from the school's dorms, and the four Marauder Boys were enough to deal with.
She gave three sharp knocks to the door, and it was only seconds later that the door revealed a tall, roguish guy leaning against the door frame with his arm raised up.
His dark hair was swept back, and his grey eyes glimmered with mischief. It matched the smirk on his face.
"Marley, Marley, Marley," he drawled time I'm a teasing tone, "I'm so glad you could join us."
Marlene took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes at him. It was no use correcting the nickname; this was far from the first time he or the others had called her that forsaken name. It was stuck to her now no matter what.
"Sirius," she said lowly with a quirked brow. "Are you going to let me in or not?"
As soon as Sirius opened his mouth to reply, a voice cut behind him, and a mop of dark curls appeared in the small space behind Sirius.
"Open the door for the lady already, Pads," the voice said. "Be a gentleman."
Sirius snorted and leaned his head back to glance towards the guy behind him. "I'm always a gentleman, James," he said as he took a step back. James mimicked his steps, and it left the door open with enough room for Marlene to head inside.
Her eyes swept over the partially clean sitting room. Drink bottles and blunts were typically scattered around the space, but there was something that happened to be missing right along with her dear friend.
"Where's the other half of your infamous group?" she inquired.
"Unimportan," Sirius waved off casually.
Marlene was immediately suspicious, but what could she gain from investigating that tidbit further? She'd let it go...for now. She was drawn from her thoughts by one of the guy's voices cutting through.
"What's the game for the evening, boy and girl?" James asked, rubbing his hands together. "I reckon 'Betrayal at House on the Hill' sounds like the perfect one."
Marlene raised a brow. "Good thing no one asked you," she replied. "That sounds like one of those parody slasher films."
Sirius snorted at the statement. "I agree with Marley. What about 'Ticket to Ride'?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "I've got the bike lubricate."
The brunette quickly shook her head and shooed Sirius away. "Nice try, doggy. Put the hormones away."
"Ruin all the fun why don't you," he huffed.
While Sirius pouted dramatically, James slinked his arm around Marlene's shoulders and grinned. "Don't be like that, Marlene. You know Sirius and I love a good challenge, and I bet you can have a lot of fun with the two of us."
Marlene pushed his arm away and folded her own over her chest. She could walk out that door just as easily as she entered it, but the need to spite the boys and prove that she could handle herself was too strong to resist.
"There's no challenge, James," she said. "It would be a waste of time thinking you could beat me in any of these games."
Sirius tilted his head playfully and gasped. To add to the dramatic effect, Sirius put his hand on his hip.
"Is that right? Sounds like she's daring us, Prongs." Sirius wrapped his arm around Marlene's shoulders just as James had and grinned. "Are you sure you wanna do that, little lady, hm?"
The brunette pushed his arm away all the same rather than responding verbally. She refused to be affected by them so easily. Marlene could do this.
James and Sirius stood side by side and sent Marlene daring glances; their statures practically oozing wicked arrogance.
Wait, what on Earth was she doing? It was a ridiculous notion to even consider! Honestly, she should have left the apartment when she realized it was only going to be the three of them. Yet here she was. Marlene wasn't meek and certainly didn't back down without a fight. Two out of the four Marauder Boys really think that they could potentially get the upper hand? She thought not.