Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition:
Position: Beater 1 for the Holyhead Harpies
Prompts:
Write about someone's passion for Defence Against the Dark Arts.
3 (word) procrastinate
4 (picture) teacup by an open book
6 (song) 'Check Yes, Juliet' by We The Kings
Word Count: 2,592
Thanks to Lizzie and Ever for beta'ing!
A not-too-serious bit of fluff about a more unusual Valentine's date. Enjoy!
"Oi! McKinnon!"
Marlene groaned and quickened her pace, the sound of her heels echoing around the dungeon walls. To her dismay, the footsteps behind her sped up to a lazy jog just seconds before an arm slipped around her shoulders.
"Get off me, Black." She spat his name out like poison as she shoved his arm off.
He cradled his arm and stuck his lower lip out in a childish pout. "There's no need to be so rough, Marl. Unless, of course, you like it that way…"
She immediately regretted the sideways glance she gave him—which, in her defence, was just so he'd see her roll her eyes at him—as she caught the wink that had won over so many of the witches in Hogwarts.
She was not about to become one in a long line of Sirius Black's conquests.
"Just get on with whatever you came to bother me with. And if it's about bloody Potter wanting me to talk to Lily again, you can tell him to take his wand and—"
"Alright, chill out. Actually I wanted to ask you something. Which would be a lot easier if you'd just slow down and talk to me."
The clicking of her heels became even faster as she broke into a jog, just to spite him. She could barely contain her anger when he sped up, too, keeping up easily with his stupidly gangly legs.
"Valentine's Day is this weekend," he said. "Are you going to Hogsmeade with anyone?"
In spite of her silent vow to reach the safety of the Black-free zone that was her dorm, Marlene stopped dead in her tracks. "Are you asking me out on a date?" She felt her cheeks turn red as she let out an audible snort.
"Well, I'm trying to, if you'd give me a chance." He seemed to be pretty relaxed, leaning languidly—and somehow still arrogantly—against the wall.
It wasn't as if this was the first time she'd been asked out, but Marlene seemed to remember the other boys displaying some degree of nervousness. Sirius' confidence angered her, and she regained her steely composure. "Oh, so no one in your little fan club wants to go? What about the other girls you've been out with in the past month? Or are you aiming for a new record for how many girls you can date in a term?"
"Something like that." He grinned. "You know James and I can make your life Hell until you say yes, right?"
"Sirius, you can't threaten someone into going on a date with you." She felt a twist of satisfaction as his arrogant smirk seemed to falter, if only for a split second.
"Maybe not, but you know it would be easier just to say yes. I need a date so I can have an excuse not to go with those other girls who get their heads filled with ideas of Valentine's Day love. I'd much rather avoid all that soppy crap. What better way to do that than to listen to how much you want to curse my balls off all day?"
She rolled her eyes. "As temptingly romantic as that sounds, someone's already asked me."
"Who?"
She was taken aback by now shocked he sounded, and more than a little hurt. "It's actually none of your business, Black." She turned on her heel. "I hope you enjoy your day alone."
"It's fine. If you must know, this was all for a bet anyway. I guess Remus wins this one." Sirius lifted his chin up in defiance, but she could tell he didn't have to deal with rejection often.
With a final glare, they stormed off in opposite directions. Marlene (who did not, in fact, have a date) guessed she could probably find a geeky Ravenclaw alone in the library who'd jump at the opportunity to take her out on Valentine's Day, and Sirius would have to tell Remus to get his story straight in case Marlene decided to congratulate him on his win.
Don't sell your heart. Don't say we're not meant to be. —S.
Marlene rolled her eyes at the note that had floated in front of her, regretting the effort it had taken to stop it falling into her potion—which, she noticed, had turned murky grey while she'd been distracted. She shot Sirius a glare and proceeded to wave her wand at her cauldron. Luckily Professor Slughorn was ill, and their cover teacher seemed to know even less about potions than she did. Not that it mattered—James and Sirius had charmed the poor substitute to his chair, so he was too busy struggling to see Marlene's failure of a potion.
"Marl, are you alright?" Lily looked concerned.
"Just stupid Black and his stupid bloody notes."
Lily sighed. "How many have you got now?"
Marlene emptied her pockets. Scraps of parchment scrawled with Sirius' handwriting fell onto the desk. "There's at least twenty; all since he asked yesterday afternoon."
Lily picked one up, grinning at the words. "I'll be waiting—wishing, wanting, yours for the taking," she said, deepening her voice and barely masking her giggles. "And this one—'I'll wait for the stars to align.' Where does he get this stuff?"
Marlene grabbed another. "Wait, here's another good one. 'Here's the countdown: Three, two, one, now fall in my arms.'I turned around after I'd read it and he was standing right behind me."
"'Kill the limbo. I'll keep tossing rocks at your window.' Huh—I thought that was just a Muggle thing."
"It is." Marlene sighed. "I had no idea what he was talking about. Any normal wizard would just send an owl, or knock on the door, for Merlin's sake."
"I don't know, Marl, maybe you should just say yes. It doesn't seem like he's giving up any time soon."
Marlene snorted. "Potter's been asking you out for two years now and you haven't said yes. Why should I?"
"With Potter it always sounds like a marriage proposal. At least Sirius made it clear it's just one date that he doesn't even want to go on."
"Yeah, really makes me feel special, that does."
"But you don't want him to make you feel special! He's doing that now with all these notes and you hate it." Lily put a hand on Marlene's arm. "It will be easier, I promise."
The sound of footsteps approaching from behind quickly quieted their conversation.
"What are you two gossiping about?" Sirius asked. "Looking at my notes, I see, Dearest."
"Please go away, Black. You've already ruined my potion." Marlene was too fed up to adopt the mocking tone she usually held in conversations with her least favourite Marauder.
"I hardly think it's fair to blame me that you were so overcome with lust that you forgot to keep an eye on your potion."
Marlene narrowed her eyes. "If you're here to ask me if I've changed my mind—"
"—your answer's no, you wouldn't touch me with a ten-foot broomstick, I'm more revolting than a Flobberworm... Honestly, I'm just here to collect more excellent insults."
Marlene exchanged a glance with Lily. "I've changed my mind, anyway. I'll meet you outside the Great Hall at eleven tomorrow?"
A look of shock flashed onto Sirius' face. "Thought you had a date?"
"Thought you didn't care?"
He grinned. "So tomorrow at eleven. I'll be expecting an insult to make up for the one I've missed out on today."
"Oh, don't worry, Black. I'm sure there'll be plenty."
Marlene took out some parchment and began to sketch a Hippogriff, planning on procrastinating her way through the rest of the lesson, having deemed her potion a failure. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she nearly missed the parchment that landed on her desk. She turned to raise a questioning eyebrow at Sirius before opening it.
The view is getting better with you by my side. S.
After a split second of contemplating what on Earth he was talking about this time, she dropped the note into her cauldron, taking great satisfaction in watching it dissolve into the liquid within.
"Well, I'm glad you didn't make an effort," Sirius said by way of a greeting, looking Marlene up and down in her jeans and Quidditch hoodie attire. It was too big for her; her fingertips just poked out from the long sleeves.
"I didn't see that there was any point trying to impress." She started towards the open doors and the village beyond, stopping when she felt a hand grab her wrist.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Marlene eyed him warily. "Hogsmeade. Where you asked me to go."
"I did no such thing." Sirius looked mildly offended. "I have no desire to try and find a booth at The Three Broomsticks amongst all those couples, and Heaven forbid we should end up in Madam Puddifoot's."
"So where are we going then?"
"It's a surprise." With that, he turned on his heel. Marlene hurried to catch up as Sirius set off into an endless maze of staircases, corridors, and secret passageways which she swore she'd never seen in her six years at the school. As they reached the top of a tightly spiralling staircase, Marlene found herself facing two heavy oak doors.
"Just in here." He waved his wand at the door on the left-hand side.
It swung open to reveal a tiny room—perhaps a little bigger than a broom cupboard—which was flooded with bright light from a window on one side. On a little ledge in front of it sat a steaming cup of coffee, next to an open book.
"Do we duel for the drink?" Marlene asked.
Sirius looked at her sheepishly. "Sorry, one of the House-Elves brings up a cup when someone steps on the top step of the staircase. It's only ever me who comes up here. I forgot to tell her I'd have company."
"It doesn't matter. I'm not a fan of coffee anyway. That's pretty impressive—the whole thing with the step, I mean. How did you do it?"
"Oh, I got James to help. It's Charms, which he's far better at than I am. Some sort of Detection Charm, followed by a transmitter to the kitchens."
"Some of those notes you sent flew like real birds. Was that James, too, then?"
Sirius grinned. "Mostly. I could've done it, but they would have been far clumsier. I thought if they were graceful and elegant they'd remind you of me."
Marlene laughed. "Did he not get annoyed, having to charm your silly little notes every lesson?"
"It wasn't every lesson."
She looked up in shock at the defensive tone of his voice.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap." Sirius had a guilty look on his face. "It just bugs me when people think I don't do any work."
"But you don't…" Marlene trailed off. "I've never seen you do work."
"Well, I do."
"Not in Potions, you don't."
"Potions is rubbish."
"Not in Charms, either, or you'd be better at it." She paused to think. "Wait—Defence Against the Dark Arts?"
Sirius nodded, not quite meeting her eye.
"It's fair enough," she said, sensing he wasn't planning on replying. "With all the rumours, it might be a good idea for all of us to start paying a bit more attention in those lessons."
"It's not that." Sirius sighed. "I find it really interesting, okay? I always have, but I spent so much time terrorising Professor Inchis that I missed half of it."
"You don't have to be so ashamed of liking a subject, you know."
"It's not just liking it, though. Even James is starting to think it's a little weird. I take down every word. I come up here to practise the spells every evening." Sirius grabbed the book on the window ledge. "I sit here for hours reading about it. I've worked my way through half of the Dark Arts section in the library."
"I didn't even know you knew where the library was." Marlene's voice was overly bright as she tried to lighten the mood by forcing back the teasing atmosphere that had been present earlier. She was failing miserably.
"I get Remus to take them out for me." Sirius gave her a half-smile. "I can't be ruining my reputation."
"What do you read about?"
"It depends. I started mainly with creatures—werewolves and the like—but now it's anything I can get my hands on. I don't believe it's all as black and white as it's made out to be in lessons. You see, if someone is under the Imperius Curse, would it be right to cause lasting damage in self-defence? Is it okay to kill a Werewolf on the night of a full moon, when for the next twenty-seven days he might have otherwise returned to a family and job? Then there're all the different defences. I'm not just talking about Shield Charms, but things like the Fidelius Charm—old, deep magic. If you go far enough back you can find ancient spells used for protection, although I'm still having trouble deciphering some of the runes. But from what I can make out—"
Sirius broke off suddenly. "Sorry. I guess I've been talking a lot."
The smile that she gave him wasn't the mocking one she usually reserved for Sirius Black—it was genuine. "That's the first time I've heard you talk without wanting to slap you," she said, laughing softly. "I feel like I've met the real Sirius Black."
"What do you think?"
"I think he's a lot less arrogant—and that he'd get far fewer dates—but I think I like him." Marlene blushed slightly and dropped her eyes to the dregs of coffee she was now swirling around in the bottom of the cup.
"Really?" It didn't sound like his usual sarcasm, or even like he was fishing for compliments. He sounded genuinely surprised.
"Of course." She found the courage to meet his piercing grey eyes. "For once it felt like I was talking to a real person. Someone with interests beyond dating the entire female population and pulling off the most extravagant pranks possible."
"I hope you realise that the last one is still a very real goal that isn't going away any time soon."
Marlene shook her head and sighed, but her lips were pulled into a smile. It faded as a thought crossed her mind. She hesitated, wondering if she was reading too much into his words. She took a deep breath. "What about the first one?"
"Well, dating the entire female population was never really a goal. I do have some standards. But I think I'm done with the serial dating."
"What made you change your mind?"
Sirius didn't answer. He walked to the window to peer out across the grounds.
"I was right. The view is better with you here."
Marlene crept into the dorm just after midnight, tiptoeing across the room so as not to wake her fellow Gryffindors. She'd just settled into her bed when she heard a whisper from the one next to hers.
"So I take it the date went well," Lily said in hushed tones.
"That was the most fun I've ever had on a date," Marlene said quietly.
"Are you going to see him again?"
"Maybe." Marlene rolled over, a secret smile breaking out in the dark at the thought of meeting Sirius Black in the tower again tomorrow.