Hey all! I'm back with the next chapter. Thanks to bhanusripalle for reviewing and favouriting, and MyFlutteringWings for favouriting. And of course to Kalavinka for your constant support. I can never thank you enough.
Him and Her just crossed a thousand reads, and I am really happy about that :) A heart full of thanks to all my readers.
By the way guys (I know it's old news) did you try the patronus quiz in Pottermore? I got an eagle. What's your patronus? And your house? Tell me!
Before you read the chapter, I hope you aren't very allergic to fluff, because there's going to be some of it, and no darkness, in the next few chapters. If so, I'm sorry; I'll make up for it in the future. This chapter marks the end of our beloved Marauders' third year; this is set during the summer holidays before the start of fourth year.
Enjoy!
Babysitting
7th July, 1974
The sitting room of 12, Grimmauld Place was silent. A warm fire burnt in the old fireplace, and sitting by its warmth, a dark haired boy flipped across the pages of a book. His hair often fell into his eyes, clouding his vision, forcing him to brush it away with mild impatience.
The fire crackled now and then, and from the kitchens, the sound of utensils clanking, as Kreacher worked on the dinner, could be heard, but apart from that, the house was quiet.
"Sirius?" a female voice suddenly called from the fireplace.
The boy jumped at the sound, and fell off his chair in shock, landing on the floor, book and all.
Dusting himself up, he looked at the fire. Where there had only been flames and burning logs, now sat a head — a pretty face with blonde locks falling on it.
"Sirius?" the girl asked again, looking at him.
"Sorry, do you want my brother?" Regulus Black asked with as much politeness and dignity as he could muster after suffering from a rather embarrassing fall. The girl's eyes widened in understanding.
"Oh, you must be Regulus!" she smiled at him a little. "I've heard a lot about you from Sirius. Would you mind calling him? I'm Marlene McKinnon."
Still a bit dumbstruck, Regulus nodded, and hurried away up the stairs to his brother's room. Sirius was sprawled on the bed, snoring.
"Sirius!" Regulus took hold of his brother's shoulder and shook him. "Wake up!"
"Get away, Kreacher," Sirius mumbled into the sheets. "Sirius, it's me, Regulus. And Marlene McKinnon is asking for you!" Regulus tried again.
The mention of the girl's name had an immediate effect. Sirius sat up in bed, wide awake at once, making his younger brother wonder just how significant the girl was to him.
"Marlene? What? Where is she?"
"Downstairs."
Sirius blinked. "Don't be silly, Reg. There's no way Marlene can be in the house," he frowned at his brother.
"But she is!" Regulus insisted. "She's got her head in the fire!" He added excitedly, "How does she do that?"
Sirius' eyes widened as comprehension hit him, and he gave his brother an affectionate grin.
"Oh, Reg, you can easily do it with floo powder. The poor girl must have grazed her knees sitting on the floor for so long by now," he added with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Let's go."
A few seconds later, the two boys were rushing downstairs. They came to a standstill before the fireplace. Marlene's head was still there, looking around with a bored look.
"Hiya, Marls," Sirius greeted her.
Marlene's face broke into a smile, but her eyes narrowed. "Took your time, didn't you, you lazy bugger?" she said in an accusatory way. Sirius only gave her a wink and shrugged.
"Thank Merlin you appeared at last, anyway. Come with me."
The dark-haired Gryffindor frowned, puzzled. "Hey, hey, hey, lady, slow down! Firstly, what the hell are you doing here?"
"Mum and dad are out with all the rest of my siblings, and I've been left behind to babysit Maria. She's driving me nuts, Sirius, I need your help!"
Sirius rolled his eyes affectionately.
"All right, I'm coming. But I can't stay for long." He picked up a pinch of the floo powder kept on the mantle.
"Tell mother I've gone to play with the muggles on the street if she comes back early," he grinned mischievously at his brother, and threw the powder into the flames. "The McKinnons' house!" he barked out into the fire, and stepping in, vanished in a roaring flash of emerald flames, leaving Regulus standing there with raised eyebrows.
-o0o-
Sirius straightened up into the McKinnons' sitting room, dusting soot and ash off his dress. His friend was standing a few feet away, beaming at the sight of him. Once she had ascertained that he was free of dirt, she rushed forward and wrapped him in a tight hug. He couldn't help his smile at that; try as he might, he couldn't deny that he loved being hugged by her; he was one of the few, very few individuals who were allowed that privilege, and her hugs made him surprisingly warm and content.
"Thanks for coming, Sirius! You're the best friend a person could ever ask for!" her sweet voice chirped into his shoulder. He tried to keep a straight face but couldn't stop beaming at her cheerful mood.
"You're lucky that I wrote about my parents' invitation to the Notts' dinner party. How would you have managed things otherwise?"
"Oh, I'd have blasted the door of your house back and whisked you away right under your parents' noses," she said with a completely straight face. He laughed.
"So where is our little troublemaker?" Sirius asked, looking round. Marlene groaned.
"I wish I knew. Merlin, Sirius, I'm sick of kids."
"No, you know you aren't," he grinned, lifting her off the ground and swinging her round.
"I suppose you're right," she chuckled once she was dropped back to her feet, "because I simply can't hate you, can I, you big baby?"
"Hey, I'm offended!"
Laughter rung off the walls of the sitting room as the two ran around in a playful chase. Sirius couldn't remember a single day in the rest of his summer holidays when he had enjoyed himself so much. He was glad he had mentioned about the Notts' dinner party in passing in one of his letters to her last week.
"Sirius!" Marlene laughed helplessly as Sirius grabbed her down to the couch and tickled her without mercy. "Enough! We need to go find Maria."
Sirius relented, allowing her to sit up and then pulling her up to her feet. "Okay, so we need to find your sister. Did you try calling to her?"
"I did. But the cheeky little devil won't bother to respond. See," she raised her voice, "Maria, come down at once! Maria, come on!"
They waited for a minute or so for a response. Nothing happened.
"Alright," Sirius laughed, "I'll try. Hey Maria!" he called out loud. "It's me, Sirius! I'm here to play with you. Come to me so that we can have lots of fun!"
There were a few seconds of silence. Sirius saw Marlene open her mouth to say something, most likely, "See, I told you," but suddenly, there came a pattering of footsteps on the stairs, and a small head with a tousled mass of blonde hair and features very similar to her older sister peeked from the doorway.
"Really?" The little girl asked curiously, "Are you really Sirius?" Sirius grinned and gave a sidelong glance at his friend, who was now gaping like a fish.
"Yes, I'm Sirius Black," he said to Maria. "Would you mind coming to me? Let's be friends."
The young girl looked at him appraisingly, and then nodded. "Do you play house?"
Sirius wasn't exactly sure what that was supposed to be, but he nodded anyway. "Sure! Let's do it."
Forty five minutes later, he found himself pretending to drink tea from a toy cup for the fourth time and nibbling on his sixth choco-chip cookie (which was actually quite good).
"Would you like some more sugar?" Maria asked. "Er, yeah, I guess," Sirius managed. He shared a look with Marlene, and her expression clearly said, 'Now you know how I feel about this'. He sure empathised with her now. He hadn't had the best of childhoods, but he was infinitely glad that he hadn't had to play at having a tea party with Regulus.
"Marlene talks a lot about you, you know," Maria said suddenly in the act of pretend-stirring sugar in her cup.
"Hey, I don't!" her elder sister protested immediately.
"She does." Maria put on that smug air that kids often do when they think they know more than their elders. "I know that you like blue macaroons, that you got detention from your professor till the end of school year last year, that you have three other friends, and that Marley likes y—" But she could say no more, because Marlene had clapped her hand firmly over her mouth.
"That is enough," she said firmly but dripping sweetness. "Maria, you should have a little nap, shouldn't you? You must be so tired from playing..."
"Mmmph!" Maria protested, but then Marlene swung her over her shoulder and strode out of the room. Maria's screams of protest could be heard even from the upper floor.
"That was solved." Marlene returned after two minutes. "I locked her in her room." She plonked down in the couch beside Sirius. "That was some bother!"
"Why did you stop her?" Sirius asked, a sly grin creeping into his face. Marlene reddened.
"Nothing. She talks too much."
"Didn't seem like nothing to me."
She huffed. "You know what? You talk too much as well."
And without warning, she began an onslaught of tickling on him.
"M-Marlene! What—?" Sirius gasped, doubling up in laughter.
"Payback time!" the blonde sang out gleefully, pushing him down and climbing on top of him.
"Hey, no, stop —" After ten minutes of playful struggle and loads of tickling, Marlene collapsed on top of Sirius.
"Thanks for coming," she sighed to her friend. "You lit up the day."
"As did you," Sirius admitted, yawning.
"Y'know, I think I'll catch a wink," Marlene mumbled. "I'm just so..." she yawned, "... tired. Let's hope Maria's fallen asleep." And without further ado, her eyes shut.
Sirius was wondering what to do with her as a dead weight over him, but with his eyes slipping shut on their own as he watched her, he didn't get much of a choice.
-o0o-
"Well, well, well! What do we have here?" A gleeful voice woke Sirius up. He sat up hurriedly, and sent Marlene sprawling in the process.
"Wha—?" the young McKinnon sat up on the floor, groggily massaging her head. Marlene's elder brothers, Michael and Malcolm, were grinning at them.
"Looks like we have an item over here!" Malcolm laughed. "Sirius and Marlene sitting in a tree —"
"— K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Michael finished.
"Shut up, you two!" Marlene grumbled, scowling. Her face was red. Sirius was pretty sure his was of the same colour.
"We weren't —" he began, but then his eyes fell on the clock. "Merlin, I'm late! Mother will surely be back by now!" He hurried to the fireplace without losing a second. "Bye Marlene! I had fun! Bye guys! See you later."
"Yeah, come soon!" Michael called. "Or our dear Marley poo will get heartsick."
"Michael!" Marlene screamed. But Sirius heard no further, as he threw the floo powder in and disappeared into the emerald flames.
The day went really good, was his only thought as he landed out of the fireplace in 12, Grimmauld Place, a goofy grin on his face. That is, until he saw his mother's murderous expression as she sat in an armchair by the fire, Regulus cowering by her side.
"SIRIUS!"
Oh, well, let's deal with it, Sirius thought as he stepped forward to face his mother's wrath, Marlene's flushed, smiling face still stuck in his mind.
How is it going, then? I can see how exceedingly fluffy that is, but what can I say, it's a creation of about a year ago. Anyway, tell me what you think about it. Suggestions? Questions? Fire off! Until next time, friends.