Chapter 7: Confessions

Christmas was approaching fast bringing shorter days and snowfall with it. Lily and Marlene had finished packing and were enjoying their last few hours of being able to use magic at will. For even though Marlene was of age, using magic at Lily's house could result in Lily being reprimanded and possible expelled. The four Marauders were huddled in a corner pouring over a bit of parchment no doubt planning one last prank before the Christmas holidays.

At nine o'clock Lily got up and joined Remus who had left his friends and was waiting for Lily so they could start their rounds. Peter and James got up soon after packing away the piece of parchment.

"Sirius mate don't be long, if we want this to work we got to be up early, that way by the time it happens we'll be on the train." James said as he walked up the stairs to the boys dormitory.

Sirius nodded and went and sat beside Marlene on the sofa. He placed an arm round her and pulled her close. Her head resting on his chest he softly kissed the top of her head. "I have a confession to make." He whispered loud enough only for her ears.

She looked up at him. "Go on." She prompted when he didn't say anything for a while.

"I think I...." Sirius knew what he needed to say he had memorised but when it finally came to say it, he couldn't do it. He swallowed. "I'm going to miss you." He finished, that wasn't what he was going to say and Marlene knew it.

"Oh." She said trying to keep the disappointment of her face. "It's only for two weeks. You going back to James'?"

He nodded mentally kicking himself for not saying what he wanted to say. "Charlus is taking us flat shopping. I'm seventeen now and my Uncle Alphard left me some money. As much as I love Charlus and Dorea Potter, I can't slum at theirs for too long."

"That's nice of your uncle." Marlene said glad the conversation was moving away from Sirius' confession.

"Yeah poor soul got blasted off the family tree as well." Sirius rolled his eyes.

They sat in silence for awhile. It wasn't an awkward silence, is a was a silence that stated they were happy enough not to say anything.

Marlene snuggled closer into him, curling her legs under her she brought her head up and lightly kissed him on the cheek,

Sirius smiled and turned his head slightly so that her lips brushed against his. Returning the kiss he shifted and gently pushed Marlene down onto the sofa. He lightly pressed his forehead against hers.

"I'm going to miss not being able to do this for two whole weeks." He said before kissing her lightly on the nose and then on her lips.

Marlene didn't say anything and deepened the kiss.

Sirius took her bottom lip and sucked on it pulling his puppy dog look.

It worked Marlene giggled and gently pushed Sirius away. "What?"

"You're meant to say I'll miss this to." Sirius pouted.

"How could I when you were distracting me with kisses."

Sirius waggled his eyebrows. "You mean like this?" Sirius took her lip again and began gently sucking on it like before.

Marlene closed her eyes, let out a small moan and ran her fingers through his hair. Tilting her head back she opened her eyes to see an amused look on a certain redheads face.

Sirius looked up. "Lily, Remus. Hello." He said calmly.

Marlene blushed red and sat up gently pushing Sirius. "Good rounds?"

Lily nodded still smiling. "I'm heading up." She said grabbing the book she left on the table.

Marlene extracted herself from Sirius and gave him one last kiss. "Same. I'll see you in the morning." She said smiling as he pulled his puppy dog eyes again.

Sirius watched them both leave and turned to Remus who was smirking on the armchair beside the fire.

"You could've warned us!" He exclaimed.

"And ruin the show?" Remus replied in mock horror, dancing out the way and running up the stairs as Sirius tried and failed to hit him.

The holidays flew by. Christmas had been and gone and everyone was busy getting ready to welcome the new year. Lily was in the kitchen washing up and Marlene was helping by drying and putting away. Mr and Mrs Evans had braved the cold and the crowds and had nipped to the local supermarket to buy everything they needed for New Years dinner tomorrow. Lily's sister Petunia and her new fiancé (for he had proposed on Christmas day) were sitting in the living room.

Marlene and Lily were having a mini bubble fight blowing bubbles into each other when the door bell rang. Lily heard Petunia get up and answer it so she went back to the washing.

"Think if I give your sister some money she'll buy me a bottle of wine to give to your parents?" Marlene asked placing the pan she had just dried on the shelf.

"I highly doubt it. She'll probably just ask why you can't just magic a bottle." She shook her head in dismay, she really wished her sister would accept magic. "Anyway my parents were delighted with their shortbread you don't need to buy them anything else."

Marlene looked as though she was going to argue when Petunia pocked her head round looking petrified. "That boy from Spinner's End is asking for you."

Marlene and Lily shared a look. "Tell him I'm in here."

A few seconds later Severus Snape walked in and walked over to Lily putting a finger to his lips. "Lily I'm hear to apologise. You wouldn't listen to me at school so I'm here to do it on your home ground surrounded by..." He paused. "Muggles."

Marlene raised her eyebrows, but because this had nothing to do with her, didn't say anything. She placed the tea-towel on the table and went to leave.

Severus turned around at the sound of someone moving, his eyes narrowed. "McKinnon. What are you doing here?"

Lily spoke up, "She's here as my guest. Severus we've had this conversation before. It's not going to work."

Severus whirled back around frustrated. "Damn you Evans can't you see I'm confessing!"

Lily looked shocked her eyes wide, Marlene just stared at the sixteen year old Slytherin. The silence was broken by a rather portly man coming into the kitchen to raid the biscuit tin.

"Freaks who marry Freaks, breed Freaks." He muttered as he pushed passed the angry wizard.

"Vernon." Petunia hissed from the door. She had been listening into the conversation from the hallway. She had seen what Vernon hadn't.

Snape had raised his wand at Vernon, raging that he had been interrupted.

Marlene gasped. "Dudley get out." Vernon glared at her.

"It's Dursley you freak."

Marlene just shrugged him off. "You dare Snape. You use magic here Lily gets the blame, you use magic on a muggle and you won't see Lily at Hogwarts ever again!"

The words seemed to sink into Severus because he lowered his wand and glared at Marlene.

Vernon saw the wand and knew enough about his future sister-in law that when someone pointed a stick at him he was to get out of there as fast as his fat legs would carry him.

Severus growled in defeat. This hadn't gone as planned. Waving his wand threateningly at Marlene, Severus stormed out. Petunia and Vernon scuttled out of his way and shut themselves in living room.

Lily sat down at the kitchen table. "He knows I don't feel like that towards him." She shook her head in dispair and stood up. "Come on let's finish the dishes and before you ask: I'm okay and thank you.

"I have a confession to make." Lily said once they were both ready for bed. It was four o'clock in the morning, they had welcomed in the new year with style. Mr Evans had brought some fireworks and had set them off in the back garden, Marlene had them taught them the Scottish version of Auld Lang Syne and Mrs Evans had insisted on chucking Vernon out of the house before midnight with some whiskey so he could be the first footer.

Marlene let out a small laugh. "Is that on everyone's things to do before 1977? First Sirius, then Severus. I'm afraid you're too late however it's already 1977...." she was interrupted by a well aimed pillow.

"I'm confessing that you might be right. I think I may like James Potter more than I'd like to think." For once Marlene was speechless. "Ever since he's stopped annoying me and has become more mature, well this Christmas had made me realise that I miss his arrogant ways." Lily had been pondering on this for almost the whole holiday. They had shared a compartment with them, she had also spent the day in Hogsmeade (back when Sirius and Marlene were visiting her parents) with him, he was still arrogant but he wasn't showing off around her. That fateful Hogsmeade day she had imagined him to put his arm around her and drag her to Madam Pudifoot's instead the four of them got a table at the Three Broomsticks and she and James had a lovely conversation about the upcoming Charms essay and it's similarities with the previous weeks Transfiguration homework. Despite the company Lily had enjoyed that day.

"You don't realise you need something until you lose it." Marlene said wisely which earned her another pillow. "For that you can sleep without pillows tonight."

Lily laughed.

The next day everyone was busy. Lily and Marlene were packing for their train journey the next day, Mr and Mrs Evans were making dinner. Petunia was helping her parents and Vernon just sat in front on the T.V. It was a fairly peaceful day until New Years Dinner. Vernon had been intrigued by the mysterious teenager yesterday.

"So is that Snape boy your boyfriend?" He asked his mouth full of mash potato.

Lily ignored him but Mrs Evans looked at her daughter bewildered. "Was Severus here dear?"

Lily nodded, "Remember I told you we had a falling out? Well he tried to apologise again."

"What was it he called you? A Mud-Bath?" Mr Evans asked. He wasn't sure about this Snape boy. While at first he was happy that Lily had someone she could talk to about magic he'd had a lot of problem in the past with people who lived close to river.

Marlene snorted into her drink, she'd have to tell Sirius that one later.

Lily smiled as well. "Mud-blood."

"Well it doesn't seem that offensive."

Marlene spoke up, "It's our equivalent of calling someone common and impure. It's a derogatory term and means that people like Severus think muggleborns are beneath them and aren't worthy."

"Kind of like you are to us then." Vernon said with a sharp laugh.

Lily glared at him. "What do you mean by that Dursley?" Her voice rising.

"Well you freaks, are beneath us you aren't doing anything to help the world. Where were you in the first world war? In the second? What about now with all these mysterious deaths? Eh?" Vernon was getting very red in the face.

Lily stood up, "We're doing a lot more now then you'll ever know." She half but screamed.

Mr Evans stood up and put a reassuring hand on his youngest daughters shoulder.

"Vernon dear maybe it's best if you go into the living room and cool off." Mrs Evans said trying stop the fighting.

"Come on Petunia lets go for a walk." And to Petunia's surprise as well as everyone at the table Vernon got up and stormed out the house leaving his plate of food behind. Petunia followed after him grabbing their coats from the cloakroom.

Lily was practically seething with anger. Marlene had noticed the Evans' crystal collection looking a likely target for some uncontrolled magic so she took matters in to own hands.

"Come on Lily." She said gently leading her away from the table. Lily's parents – who had seen Lily angry before and knew what happened, were grateful Marlene was trying to calm her daughter.

A/N: It's taken me ages to find the perfect place to end this chapter. (That and I'm finally able to play my Christmas present and taking my Sims on World Adventures is very exciting :D) I did have another paragraph (well line) but deleted it as it could be added on to Chapter 8 which I hope will be exciting *crosses fingers* I have tried to establish more LilyXJamesness but nothing major is going to happen till seventh year :D. Please R&R I'm just gonna watch the snow fall it's like Hogsmeade up here big freeze mark 2 :D