Fall Term 1980
To my favorite duckling,
Life is terribly boring since you left. Now I don't know what to do with myself. Not that I really knew what to do with myself when you were here, but the same is still true.
James should be returning to The Order in another few weeks. Which is probably a huge relief to whatever poor soul has to read the notes I've kept on the files they have me going through.
Did you know that we have files on pretty much everyone? Some people are just not interesting enough to fill up a file. I keep waiting to come upon someone with a really interesting criminal record or rumors of consorting with harpies or something. But it's rarely anything good.
Here's my best find from this week. Brought to you by the file we have on one Rabastan Lestrange. Mr. Lestrange was placed under arrest in the summer of 1978 for impersonating a non-corporeal entity. Apparently the sod got it in his head that it would be a great use of a Thursday evening to powder himself down and go "ooooooo" at a churchyard. His fun, alas, was cut short when the ministry was contacted. This is sort that gets chosen as The Dark Lord's creme de la creme.
I hope you're having more fun than I am this past week. I miss you terribly. It's deeply upsetting that I've become the sort of wanker who writes letters that say 'I miss you terribly'. I do hope that the sudden penchant for sentimentality will abate when you're home.
-Sirius
Dearest Sirius,
I heartily enjoyed your last letter. I broke out into laughter when I read your account of Mr. Lestrange's arrest for impersonating a ghost. It did not escape notice from girls in my dorm. They have no room to judge me. Most of them are thoroughly ridiculous. I'll bore you with the particulars because I have little else to do this evening.
Mary rolls her eyes at me every time I mention you. I think she's jealous that no one writes her hilarious letters. She's actually rumored to be seeing one Reginald Cattermole, who has the distinction of being the boy I dated for a whole year, in attempts to prove a point to my elder siblings. Perhaps I should have more sympathy for poor Mary. The sour look on her face might just be because she remembered they have a date coming up or something.
My friend Carolyn, another occupant of the 7th year Hufflepuff girls dormitory, decided over the summer that she's the future Mrs. Fabian Prewett. This is all well and good excepting that Fabian Prewett has no idea that she exists. That seems to be a requirement for dear Carolyn. She has many admirers in our year, but she is not the least bit interested. Much to the sorrow and woe of one Barty Crouch Jr. of Slytherin, who pursues her relentlessly. I wonder if she'd lose interest in Mr. Prewett if he were to become aware of her. Do you know him? Perhaps you can introduce the two so she can move on to the next far-fetched love of her life.
I have a Hogsmeade visit coming up weekend after next. I mention this not because I want you to accost Carolyn with the presence of Fabian Prewett, but because I'd like to see you. I have a task I'd like your help with, but I think it would be better to discuss it in person. And since you miss me terribly and all, it shouldn't be too painful for you to come meet me in town. Let me know if you'll be able.
I miss you terribly too, but I'm sure you already knew that. But I'll put it in ink to appease your newfound sappiness. I'm quite fond of this quality in you, truth be told.
-Your Duckling, Marlene
Dearest Duckling,
Of course I'll meet you in Hogsmeade! I'll be so unbearably happy to see you that I won't even be bothered if I happen upon Argus Filch out on the town. You should take this as the highest form of flattery because Filch and I have a long and detailed history. none of it involved one iota of my wanting to run into him anywhere. He's really the most inconvenient person that there is. His whole job while I was in school was comprised of thwarting my efforts in having a good time. Do you ever find yourself thwarted? What is the Hufflepuff version of a good time? I'Ll bet it involves the kitchens.
How goes the saga of Hufflepuff dormitory? Is Carolyn still in love with Mr. F. Prewett? He's quite dashing so I can't fault her there. Has Mary ever stopped looking sour? Did she go on a date with the famed Reginald Cattermole?
I will not inquire about the particulars of that doomed love affair, but it sounds as if you were not heartbroken. I'm glad to hear that. If someone's heart must be broken, it shan't be yours. Perhaps it'll be mine, because I still miss you terribly and I haven't found any cure for this incessant sentimentality. I have the day that I visit you circled on my calendar and James has made comments. I am glad that you find my being a sap endearing, because at this point it seems like it's unlikely to abate.
Next Saturday at the Hogs Head. I'm counting the minutes!
-Your Sirius
It was really a wonder, Marlene thought, that Sirius still treated her like a fragile little flower. She wondered how many shades of shocked he'd be when she suggested he help her in her highly illegal endeavors to become an animagus.
From the moment he'd let it slip out that he was an unregistered animagus she couldn't shake the thought from her head. It could be extremely useful. It was a much neglected branch of transfiguration and she thought it would be good to know. And since she happened to have a… Sirius…who'd already been through the whole process it would practically be a walk in the park, surely.
If he agreed to help at all. He was under no obligation. But they were… close. And Marlene thought he would be loathe to say no to her.
She stood up and smiled more excitedly than a kid in a candy store when she saw him walk into The Hogs Head.
He greeted her with a hug. She kissed his cheek. She wasn't sure how that whole thing was supposed to be now. Their whole dynamic was strange since that kiss.
It wasn't that it was bad or distant between them. The letters he wrote her were not even plausibility deniable as platonic. But the romantic nature of their relationship was just there. Never acknowledged. He didn't want to say the words. She thought she might have to wring it out of him. He was just the type to be afraid of his feelings and try to avoid them at all costs. He pretty clearly had feelings. But he wasn't here to discuss his poorly hidden feelings. They were there to discuss to prospect of turning into a duck.
The pair sat down on opposite sides of a little round table. Sirius realized he was staring and that neither of them had said anything and he tried to correct that.
"Good to see you?"
"Thanks for coming. I've just… been thinking."
"That's a very dangerous activity you know. James recently told me that I ought to steer clear of it it all together to avoid wrinkles."
"Very funny… I'm not particularly concerned about wrinkles. But I am concerned about war. And being able to move undetected. I'm not exactly the best at… stealth…"
"So you were thinking of taking classes from a muggle ninja? I saw a film with one of those one time. He was quite sneaky!"
"You're really the worst. Why did I even ask you to come again?" She smiled while she disparaged him.
"Because you missed my winning smile?"
Marlene rolled her eyes. Though there was quite a large helping of truth in his assertion, and she might have felt a flutter in her chest when he winked at her, he was still very irritating. Irritating and handsome. Irritatingly handsome.
"Uh huh. Right. Also I wanted to discuss becoming a duck."
"...Beg Pardon?"
"That's what I'd be. If I were to become animagus."
"You… want to become… a duck animagus. And you're asking me to help you. This… leads me to believe you will not be going to Professor McGonagall about it and doing things on the up and up."
Marlene only nodded in the affirmative in response.
"Gaaaah. I'm a terrible person who lead my sweet little duckling into a life of duck related crime."
"You give yourself far too much credit! I have been headed for a life of crime, duck related or otherwise, for quite some time. I'd hardly have doodled your name all over my notebooks in 4th year if I was a stickler for the rules."
"You… doodled my name on your notebooks? Why?"
Marlene felt her face heat up with embarrassment, but she wouldn't let that distract her from the topic at hand.
"Shut up. Are you going to help me with the potion? You've obviously done it all before."
"You aren't giving me much of a choice, are you? I don't know what to make of this sudden aggressiveness. I mean… I kinda like it. But also you're a bit scary."
"Good. I can steal all the ingredients. And obviously the mandrake leaf part is on me. But can you manage to meet me when it's time to brew? And when I do the first transformation? Can you be sneaky or do you need ninja lessons?"
"I can meet you by the willow. I'll be padfoot. Just tell me when. Better I be there than you do it alone. Besides… I'm a little excited about seeing you as a little duck."
"You'd better be."
Dearest Duckling,
I hope you've found the map useful. It's been out of use, and I thought it would have to wait for my little godson to take up the marauders banner. You, though, have turned out to be much more of a marauder at heart than I would have thought possible for a sweet Hufflepuff duckling.
You'll use the map carefully, of course when the full moon is upon us. You remember the particulars.
How are you doing with the mandrake leaf? I know it's vile. Peter mucked the whole thing up 3 different times just with the mandrake step alone. But I have faith in you my little duck.
Work is the same as ever, though I'm glad to have James back. I've told him all about you, of course and he's looking forward to meeting you over the winter hols.
Will I get to meet your army of Badgers? Perhaps I'd embarrass you and you'd rather avoid it. It isn't my goal to be embarrassing. But you are very adorable when you blush so It doesn't give me much motivation to stop.
I'll see you in precisely 19 days! Not that I'm counting or anything…
-Sirius
