Chapter 2:
Ah! Dear reader, the first sign of strife
Despair so thick you could cut through with a knife
Worry not, dear reader, it'll only get worse
As our princess will be afflicted by her "curse"
But yay, oh yay, the prince will cut in
Saving the day with a handsome old grin
But will he, dear reader, succeed in his task?
That is the question that you really should ask.
Sirius Black was attractive and he knew it. Yet there was no fun in the game if the girl knew it (and embraced it) too. Wooing a girl that wanted to be wooed took the woo! out of wooing. And, so, almost subconsciously, Sirius Black had chosen to woo Marlene McKinnon.
That's not to say that Sirius didn't want to date her for other reasons, of course. She was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, and headstrong and stubborn and brave to boot. She was fierce, and almost as loyal as he was. So it would be a difficult but exciting challenge – the best ones of all.
Still, so used to the game itself, as he was, that he'd almost forgotten what he wanted the prize to be. It'd been three years that he'd been after McKinnon (but not without various stops for other ladies on the way of course) and now it was habit more than anything. Of course, he actually did want her, but he knew that, more likely than not, he wouldn't get her.
He wasn't as daft as James was (still after all these years! Sirius sighed to himself).
So it was to his enormous surprise that, later that day, Marlene McKinnon pulled him aside. Never one to dilly-dally, she looked him straight in the eye and said, "Sirius Black, I fancy you."
It took his mind a moment to process that a moment in which he gaped at her, open-mouthed.
She didn't even blush, "Oh come on I know I've rejected you for three years, but you'd have to be daft to think I didn't fancy you. That's like saying Lily doesn't like James, for crying out loud!"
In a part of Sirius' mind was the thought: Lily likes James? But most of it was just shocked. She'd fancied him, after all these years?
"Naturally I never told you because you never meant it," he snapped out of it, about to defend his honor, but she stopped him before he could, "Oh Sirius what would I do without you?" she asked sadly. Then, stepping closer to him, she pressed a quick, chaste kiss to his lips, before wrapping her arms around him for a moment.
Before he could react (and react he would reader, trust me) Dorcas called from up front, where the others were, "Mar!"
Sighing, she pulled away from him and turned her back, trotting quickly away.
Now Sirius Black wasn't one of those people to be insulted and think of a comeback five minutes later. He wasn't one to think before he acted either, he usually just did what came naturally. But on that day, it took Sirius the better part of one hour's thought to come up with what he'd want to do next (and reader, keep in mind, Sirius Black is not one to sit and think through things slowly).
So it was after much thought that Sirius Black unglued himself from the wall he'd been standing at, and went to find Marlene McKinnon, who he considered just about the luckiest girl at Hogwarts, at that moment.
Alas, she was one of the unluckiest.
After failing to find her, he approached Lily and Dorcas, where they were sitting in the corner of the common room. Playing chess with no soul into it. Normally, Sirius would make some snide remark about their inability to play something as simple as wizarding chess (being rather good at it himself, of course), but there were more important things he had to take care of.
"Where's Marlene?" he asked them.
At that, Dorcas burst out crying, running from the room. Around him, everyone glared.
"What'd I say!" he asked them, but no one answered.
Beside him, Lily took pity on the poor handsome prince.
"You really don't know?" a glare was enough to prove it, "She's gone Sirius. Her parents pulled her out of Hogwarts half an hour ago."