"This was a bad idea," Regulus stated, pacing nervously off to the side of the Entrance Hall.
Marlene, who had been peaking around the doorway into the Great Hall, turned back to glance at him briefly, a kind expression upon her face.
"Everything will be fine," Marlene informed him, in an attempt at comfort. It didn't do much for Regulus, though.
"Sirius is going to hate me forever!" Regulus insisted.
At this, Marlene finally focused her full attention on the Slytherin.
"Reg," Marlene began, grabbing the younger boy's hand in her much smaller one, "Sirius is pretty positive that you hate him because he was the one who left you. But we're not going to worry about that, alright? Everything will work out, in the end. You'll see."
Regulus still didn't look entirely convinced, but he nodded his agreement anyway.
"I've found them," Marlene said now, jerking her head in the direction of the Great Hall, behind her. "Are you ready?"
"Do I really have a choice?" Regulus questioned.
"Not this far in the game," Marlene informed him. "Unless you'd rather ditch school to find good ol' Jos and seduce her and have it written up in Witch Weekly or something, thus finding as legitimate of a source as possible to expose Sirius to her less than faithful ways and disillusion him to what he probably views as her magnificence. However, with that plan, I doubt Sirius would spare a thought of forgiving you. Ever."
"We'll stick with the original plan, then," Regulus said promptly.
"That's what I thought," Marlene intoned with a slight nod of her head and holding her hand out for Regulus to take. "Now, let do this thing."
Looking incredibly nervous and as if he would much rather be doing just about anything else right now, Regulus grasped her much smaller hand in his own.
"And do try to look as if this isn't paining you greatly," Marlene advised him, catching sight of his expression out of the corner of her eye.
"Yes, yes, I know I'm infatuated with you," Regulus reassured her. "Don't worry, I did read the memo on all of that—'puppy love' did you call it? Also, if I fail the Charms quiz I should have been studying for rather than reading that note, I blame you."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, just call my lawyer," Marlene said with a distracted wave of her hand. Regulus merely looked at her cluelessly. "And moving on," She continued rapaidly, "We'll be going in to lunch now."
It was just after twelve o'clock and the Great Hall was just about overflowing with students, ravenous after a long morning of lessons. As such, most of them were paying more attention to the spread of delicious food before them than the two people who had just entered the Hall. But as the Gryffindor/Slytherin duo made their way to the other side of the room where Marlene's friends were seated, a hush seemed to sweep across the room, not that the seventh year Gryffindors took immediate notice of it.
"What are lot talking about?" Marlene asked, sliding into the seat across from Dorcas, releasing Regulus' hand in the process as he took the seat next to her, looking a bit stiff.
Dorcas broke away from her conversation with Lily and Remus. "That quiz McGonagall told us about earlier."
Marlene frowned slightly. One, because she had just noticed that Sirius wasn't seated with the rest of their friends. And two, because she couldn't recall the Deputy Headmistress saying a single word about any type of quiz in this morning's class.
"We're studying for it later, if you'd like to join us," Remus offered.
Seizing the opportunity (although Sirius was apparently M.I.A. at the moment), Marlene immediately turned to Regulus with an innoccent expression upon her face.
"You don't mind if I cancel our plans for this afternoon, do you, Reg?" Marlene asked sweetly. And at this, it seemed as if Marlene's yearmates had finally noticed the presence of the Slytherin sixth year at their table.
"Er…um…no, not at all, I suppose," Regulus said less than succinctly.
"Excellent," Marlene said, ignoring her friends' stares and the whispers resounding throughout the Hall.
"Uh…Marlene?" James questioned his star beater, looking quite confused and sounding slightly as if he thought someone was trying to pull something on him. "What's Regulus Black doing here?"
"And why are you clearing your schedule through him?" Dorcas had long been questioning her best friend's sanity, and here was her proof that the redhead had finally cracked…well, alright, she'd concluded that long ago, but further evidence was always helpful.
"Well, you see, it's like this—" Marlene began, but did not get the chance to continue because, at that precise moment, Sirius finally decided to show up.
"Sorry I'm late, all," Sirius announced, swinging a leg over the bench and taking his customary seat next to James, placing the bespectacled boy in between himself and Marlene. "I just had to send a letter to Jos."
At the mere mention of his girlfriend's name, everyone (minus Sirius, who had yet to notice his younger brother) turned their attention back to Marlene, as none of them had any desire whatsoever to hear one more word uttered about how utterly fantastic the blonde Quidditch player was.
"You were saying…" Dorcas prompted her friend.
A wide grin spread across Marlene's face and, as her official best girl friend, Dorcas couldn't help but notice that it looked a bit too happy.
"Regulus is my boyfriend," Marlene said cheerfully, causing an immediate reaction from her friends.
Dorcas had a look of complete and utter doubt on her face; she didn't believe a word of it. Lily, seated in between Dorcas and Remus, and Mary and Alice, seated on Dorcas' other side, merely wore confused expressions at the sudden announcement; Marlene hadn't ever mentioned anything about dating anyone before. Just a glance at James' face showed that he was already choosing the exact wording of the Unbreakable Vow he was going to force Marlene to make, so as to prevent her from sharing any of the Gryffindor Quidditch team's secrets with the Slytherin seeker. Remus, meanwhile, had a calculating look on his face; after Sirius' recent behavior he didn't find it doubtful that Marlene would turn to his younger brother for comfort, though he wasn't sure whether or not he actually believed it yet. Peter hadn't even noticed, as he was currently fully immersed in the large pile of food on his plate. And then there was Sirius.
As soon as the words had left Marlene's mouth, Sirius spit out the gulp of pumpkin juice he had just taken, effectively bringing an end to Peter's obliviousness as he happened to be the unfortunate soul seated across from the dark-haired boy.
"And we were planning on spending our afternoon break together," Marlene continued on without the slightest indication that she had noticed her friends' (and particularly Sirius') reactions. "But I suppose there's plenty of time for that later, isn't there, Reg?"
Looking only slightly like a deer caught in the headlights, Regulus swiftly gave an affirmative nod.
"Are you feeling alright, Marly?" Dorcas questioned hesitantly.
"'Course I am," Marlene said easily, entwining her fingers with Regulus' once more. "I've never been happier."
"Mars," Sirius leaned around James so as to look Marlene directly in the face, the expression on his face saying that he couldn't quite believe what he had just heard. "Did you just say that you and Regulus are…dating?"
"Yeah…" Marlene said, doing her best to look annoyed that she had to repeat herself. "Like I said before: he's my boyfriend."
It was at this point that Sirius appeared to stop breathing, as his face quickly became more and more red with a slightly purple hue to it. He opened his mouth to speak again, but Marlene beat him to it.
"You know what, Reg?" Marlene turned back to Regulus, effectively ignoring the older Black. "Forget making up for the lost time later, why don't we get out of here now? I'm sure we can find a few much more entertaining activities to do rather than sit here…"
And without another word, Marlene was out of her seat once more, pulling Regulus after her and leaving behind one fuming and seven highly confused Gryffindors.
I'm just another thing for you to roll your eyes at honey
You might have him but haven't you heard
I'm just another thing for you to roll your eyes at honey
You might have him but I always get the last word
Whoa