After that day in the Great Hall, Sirius effectively ceased speaking to Marlene. But although he never communicated with her directly, he made it quite clear how much he disapproved of her relationship choices. Attempting to be the bigger person, Marlene made no verbal reply—to Sirius or any of their friends, who were all quite uncomfortable with being caught in the middle of everything. Rather, she threw herself into her "relationship" with Regulus, and therefore her schoolwork as the younger Black spent a majority of his time in the library. Marlene McKinnon had never gotten such high grades before in her life.
Things finally came to a head one day during Quidditch practice, though.
Gryffindor Quidditch Captain James Potter was quite the fan of early morning practices, nevermind the extreme cold and the frost on the ground. The weather at 6 a.m. on this particular October morning was no different.
Marlene forced herself to exit the warmth of her nice, soft bed at the blasphemously early hour, her only consolation being that Sirius would also not be getting any coffee this morning either, as Remus had quite effectively hidden the substance he had long ago labelled as contraband. The redhead had found that, while she was still quite in love with her former best friend, lately she couldn't help but gain a sense of satisfaction with anything that disrupted what she viewed as Sirius' otherwise perfect life. Clearly it was all his fault, however, because he was obviously being the bigger idiot of the two of them, and the only thing allowing this…disagreement to drag on, not that Marlene was really doing much to end it herself.
In short, Marlene's motivation to get up that morning and go to practice weren't entirely for all the right reasons.
Old habits die hard, though, and Marlene was the last member of the team to drag themselves down to the Quidditch Pitch that morning. She, however, liked to delude herself into thinking it was because, as the only female member of the team, James had direct access to everyone else's dorms, and was thus able to more personally harrass them into not oversleeping, leading to the rest of the team usually arriving on time.
"Well," Sirius drawled when Marlene entered the locker room, slightly slurring his words due to the fact that he was still half asleep. "Now that everyone's here, can we finally get this thing started, Prongs?"
The next half hour could most easily be described as one of pure agony.
Sirius and Marlene were the beaters for Gryffindor, and together made what was arguably the greatest pair in Quidditch history at Hogwarts. Failing that, individually they were each quite talented, which wasn't exactly a good thing, now that they were on less than speaking terms.
"Sirius!" James hollered from across the field, calling Sirius by his actual name in his frustration, rather than the nicknames they had referred to each other by since they were fifteen. "The point of hitting the bludger is to distract the other team, not to practically unseat your fellow beater in an attempt to make yourself look better!"
Mockingly, Marlene stuck her tongue out at Sirius.
"The same goes for you, Marlene," James then shouted in her direction. "Don't think I haven't noticed your sloppy playing as well. The two of you are supposed to be partners!"
"You alright, 'Lene?" Marcas questioned, pulling his broom up alongside his sister, who was now shooting death glares at their captain.
"Maybe if she wasn't too distracted by thinking of her boyfriend, then she would play better," Sirius said from his position several feet below the pair of McKinnons.
"Marcas," Marlene began patiently. "Kindly tell my fellow beater that he's just upset because I actually have talent on the Quidditch field, unlike his dear Jos."
"'Lene…" Marcas muttered in warning, but it was too late.
"You leave her out of this!" Sirius yelled, quickly rising so that he was at eye level with Marlene, though several feet away from her still. "She's got nothing to do with this!"
"And Regulus does?" Marlene challenged him. "Face it: you're just jealous that my boyfriend has more prospects in life than forever being a bimbo like your girlfriend."
"Better than being a junior Death Eater," Sirius snapped back.
By this point, the entire team had drifted towards the arguing pair. James made to break the two of them up, but Max shot the older boy a look. The tension had been building up between Sirius and Marlene for so long that it would practically be suicidal to get in between them now.
"Even if that was true, it's not my fault, is it?" Marlene quickly shot back. "He's not my brother, is he? I was a good enough role model for my brothers that none of them saw it as necessary to follow around any dark wizards with puppy-like devotion. But I guess that can't be said for everyone, now, can it?"
All was silent for a brief moment, before Sirius' expression darkened and Marlene realized she had gone too far with that one. No matter how long they had tried, Marlene, James, and Remus hadn't been able to shake Sirius of the guilt that it was his fault that Regulus had turned out the way he did, when in truth it was their mother's. And Marlene had just gone and thrown it all in his face. Merlin, what was wrong with her? She claimed to love Sirius and yet she was being so cruel to him.
"Sirius, I—" Marlene began, but was promptly cut off.
"Save it, McKinnon," Sirius snapped. And without a further word, he sped away; he was off of his broom before his feet ever touched the ground.
She's not a saint, and she's not what you think
She's an actress, whoa
But she's better known for the things that she does on the mattress
Whoa
Soon she's gonna find stealing other peoples' toys on the playground won't make you many friends
There was an awkward pause, during which Sirius stormed off the pitch, before James seemed to regain his senses.
"That's practice for the day," He said, not bothering to raise his voice as the whole team was practically in a huddle by this time anyone. Marlene could tell how shaken up he was after the argument, and wondered if anyone else could hear it, too. "Everyone go get something to eat.
Arkie Alderton and Brevis Birch, the keeper and third chaser respectively, were the only two to leave the pitch however. Marlene, in a slight state of shock, remained hovering in midair, with her two brothers on either side of her, looks of concern etched upon their faces, and also looking as if they were both ready to catch her, if the need should arise. James, meanwhile, was staring pensievely in the direction that Sirius had disappeared off to.
It was Marlene who broke the silence, though.
"What have I done?" She moaned.
"'Lene," Marcas began tentatively. "Are you feeling alright?"
"Of course she's not, you idiot," Max told him. "And it's all Sirius' fault."
That got James' attention. "What are you talking about? Marlene—"
"Don't you dare defend him, James Potter," Max said threateningly. "You know as well as I do that things have been off with Sirius since August, ever since he began dating Joscelind."
"He has been rather more annoying than usual," James conceded, never the one to want to see faults in his friends, no matter how irksome he often thought them to be. He rounded on Marlene then. "But why would you say something like that to him, Marlene? You know as well as I do how touchy he gets about the whole Regulus thing. Of course, now that we're on the subject of Regulus, what in Merlin's name were you ever thinking when you decided to start dating him? He's Sirius' younger brother!"
"I'm not dating him," Marlene muttered. What was the point in keeping up appearances, now? There was no way Sirius was ever going to be in the same room as her again, let alone have a conversation with her so that she could explain exactly how she felt about him.
"What?" James, Marcas, and Max all yelped at the same time. Had it not been for the topic, Marlene would have laughed—or in the very least cracked some semblance of a grin—at the expressions on their faces.
"We aren't dating," Marlene stated, louder this time. "We never were. We were…It was just…I wanted to make Sirius jealous, alright?"
While James and Marcas looked beyond confused, it was Max—little Max, forever a baby in his big sister's eyes—who wore an expression of complete understanding. She knew he was remembering a certain encounter the pair of them had had with Joscelind towards the end of the summer (though Max had, admittedly, been lucky to escape it alive, as he had spent most of the conversation slightly unable to intake any oxygen whatsoever, but those details were neglibible at the current moment), and the short conversation they had had afterwards.
"I knew there was a reason you didn't argue with me…" Max muttered, more to himself than as an actual conversation starter.
"What's he talking about?" Marcas questioned.
"Nevermind that," Marlene replied with a wave of her hand. "All that matters is that I've messed up. Sirius is clearly never going to speak to me ever again."
"But…why'd you even want to make him jealous in the first place?" James still looked confused.
Marlene gave him a pained look.
"I'd imagine he's only being this slow because it's Quidditch season," Max stepped in quickly. "He's too focused on winning the House Cup in his last year to figure out that his two best friends could possibly be on the brink of becoming the most hyperactive, over-caffeinated couple in the history of the world—if they were still on speaking terms, that is."
Both Marcas and James just stared at the youngest McKinnon for a moment. Marlene could tell by their ever-changing facial expressions when realization finally dawned on each of them.
"I have been a staunch supporter of Simarl from a young age," Marcas stated with a certain air of approval in his tone.
"I have no idea what 'simarl' means," James began, "But yeah, Padfoot and Mars would basically make the perfect couple, after Lily and myself, of course."
"Yeah," Marcas agreed. "Except you and Evans aren't a couple, remember? And Simarl is obviously Sirius and Marlene's couple name. Duh."
Marlene was momentarily distracted from her brother's insanity (A couple name? Already? Really? Had it been that obvious to everyone except her for so very long?), by the look on James' face when Marcas pronounced the two Head students not a couple.
"James," Marlene began slowly. "I've noticed you and Lily spending a lot of time together lately. Is there something you two aren't telling us?"
"Not at all," James said swiftly. "Now, I do believe we were discussing you and Sirius, weren't we?"
"Yes," Max agreed. "I think you should go for it, Marlene."
"Go for what?" Marlene questioned. "There's nothing to go for. Sirius is going to hate me for the rest of my life, now. And can you blame him? Can any of you honestly say that, in his place, you would forgive me for what I said? And, on top of that, believe me when I said that for all of this time, I've been in love with you? And gee, I was only pretending to date your younger brother to make you jealous. Yeah, I can see that one going over really well."
"I don't know, 'Lene," Marcas began tentatively. "You and Sirius have been friends for a long time. He might listen to you. You deserve that much before you officialy declare your friendship over."
But Marlene was shaking her head before he even finished speaking.
"I've really screwed this one up," Marlene stated. "All I wanted was to get some revenge on Sirius for dating that awful cow and completely dropping me in the process, but it's gone too far, now. Clearly I do revenge too well."
With another shake of her head, Marlene finally began her descent. No matter what anyone said, or might think, she knew that her friendship with Sirius was as good as over now. She had never seen him as angry as he had been earlier, after what she had said. And, she supposed, it served her right. She had taken things just a bit too far. There really was nothing left to do about it, though.
It was a short time later, as she made her way back up to the castle and the lure of warm food, that Marlene finally resolved what to do about it all.
Clearly the best thing to do would be to just let Sirius be. She wasn't going to give up her friends over this, but she would give Sirius some space, away from Marlene. And, well, at least he seemed happy with Joscelind. And Marlene supposed that she could live with it, if it was what made Sirius happy, after what she'd done to put him down.
After everything that had happened in the few short months since the school year had started, Marlene looked to the remainder of her time at Hogwarts with a new resolve. She would make the most of what time she had left, even if it was without her oldest and best friend by her side. But if only she didn't do revenge quite so well…
She should keep in mind
She should keep in mind
There is nothing I do better than revenge
a/n-So, basically, I lied. This isn't the last chapter. And the next one might not be either, so I won't tell you it is. Also, I do believe that at sometime in the future after this story is completed, there will be a story each on the subjects of James and Lily (in the BTR verse) and Sirius and Marlene's couple name.