Chapter 12: Trouble in Paradise.
Nudging the door slightly he checked to see if the coast was clear. Seeing that the common room was empty he bounded across the room and opened the next door with ease. He stared up at the looming flight of stairs. Undecided if his plan was going to work. He tentatively placed one paw on the bottom step. When nothing happened he let out a low bark before bounding up the steps.
He had seven doors to choose from. But she had never spoken which room was hers. If she was looking for his room then she would have no problem as they had decorated their door with their names and "Keep Out" signs in various languages – including Ancient Runes and French.
Logically speaking she would be in the second from the top, the sixth one, but this was Hogwarts and things aren't done logically. He sniffed. She had been wearing perfume yesterday and he could smell a bit of it mixed in with the smell of wet-dog. He let out another quiet bark and padded up the stairs in a way that made him true to his name.
He was following the smell of the scarf. The scarf she wore that day when she found out who he was. For some funny reason she hadn't washed it. Reaching the door right at the top of the stairs, he stood up on his back legs and opened the door with his front paws, dropping down silently as it creaked open. He held his breath, his beady black eyes watching and his ears pricked in case anyone had heard. Nobody stirred so he backed up against the door closing it with his behind.
The girls dormitory was different than the boys. For one thing it didn't smell as bad. Not that he thought their room smelt, just that this one smelt of four different perfumes mingling together like a potions classroom. Only sweeter and not sweaty. The room was laid out differently as well. Unlike the boys room they only had four beds, but where the fifth bed should have been they had four wardrobes instead. He padded over to them and used his teeth to pull one open. It was Mary',s at the bottom was her trunk and hung up were her clothes. He knew it was Mary's because of the Ranger's scarf that was stuffed in a boot.
He nudged the door closed with his nose and went and sat on the carpet in the middle of the room. He would have to tell the boys about the wardrobe idea. He figured the girls must've conjured them or transfigured them but it certainly kept the place tidy. Thanking the moon for being bright he used it to find the bed he wanted. Opening the curtains with his teeth he watch her sleep awhile, before leaping gracefully into the bed, doing a full circle and settling down to sleep. His lips pulled back bearing his teeth, he was smiling.
Marlene stretched and her arm hit something warm and fluffy, rolling over she opened her eyes and came face to face with a Grim. Letting out a strangled cried she moved away from it and promptly fell out of her bed.
"It's too early to be screaming and falling out of bed." Mary moaned pulling back the curtains of her own bed and peering down at Marlene on the floor.
Marlene jumped up embarrassed and quickly closed her curtains. "I had a dream that I failed my NEWTs." She lied lamely.
Mary nodded a look of disbelief etched on her face. She shrugged, grabbed her wash bag and set off towards the bathroom, muttering about early wake-up calls and that sun hadn't even risen yet.
Marlene sighed and turned towards her bed. Now that she was awake and had a clearer mind she knew exactly who had given her a surprise that morning. She poked her head round her curtains and glared at the dog on the bed.
Sirius Black grinned a doggy grin, his black eyes watching Marlene. He let out a small bark and licked Marlene's face.
She grimaced and used her pillow to wipe away the dogs' saliva. Pushing the Animagus back she pressed a finger to his nose. "You are in so much trouble Black."
Sirius just responded with another lick to her face.
"Gah!" Marlene leapt out of the way of the dog and glanced around. She had an audience.
Bex looked at her her eyes wide with suspicion. "If you got Black in there tell us how he did it so we can sneak our boyfriends up as well."
Sirius took that as his cue to jump down from the bed and strike a pose. He looked around at the four girls a big grin on his face he didn't however get the reaction he was looking for.
Marlene was livid her mind was working overtime to come up with an excuse to explain why there was a dog in her bed. She sat back down on her bed and stared at Sirius, she didn't have time for his games today. Not since Martyn had owled her yesterday. Lily looked amused but hid the fact that she knew who the dog really was. Bex and Mary screamed.
Lily panicked and hushed at the two girls to keep them quiet. Straining hard she listened for any footsteps that indicated the screams had been heard. When nobody burst through the door. Lily turned to the two girls who were staring at the dog as though it was going to bite their head off.
Sirius whined dejected and jumped back onto Marlene's bed, he placed his head on her lap and looked up at her with puppy dog eyes.
"It's a Grim!" Mary stammered running to her bag and pulling out her Divination book. "Marlene think carefully on which side was it waiting for you. Your left or your right?"
Marlene sighed: "It's not a Grim."
Bex looked unconvinced; "How do you know?"
Marlene faltered; "Because... it's my neighbours dog." She grinned sheepishly. "My neighbour Mopsy is this batty old woman who takes in stray dogs.... S...Snuffles is just a mangy stray mutt." She finished. The girls relaxed accepting Marlene's story.
Sirius frowned at Marlene's choice of nickname. His eyes becoming narrow and more menacing. Lily stifled a giggle and headed into the bathroom.
"If you get past the scariness, he's quiet cute." Mary cooed, stroking Sirius on the head.
Marlene rolled her eyes, pushing Sirius onto the floor she grabbed her clothes and returned to her bed, closing the curtains around her.
Mary and Bex exchanged a look. "Why are you changing in your bed?" Mary asked as she removed her pyjamas.
"I don't want the dog to see." Marlene replied. Peering around her curtain she saw Sirius watching her friends change with interest. His tongue hanging out and his lips pulled back into a grin. Sighing she threw her robe over him so he couldn't see. "He's very intelligent." She muttered when Bex and Mary looked at her as though she had lost her marbles.
"He's a dog? Aren't dogs meant to be dumb and idiotic." Mary replied changing quickly all the same.
Sirius growled menacingly from under the robe and Mary jumped back in surprised.
By lunchtime Marlene still wasn't talking to Sirius. Under the pretence of Snuffles, Marlene had snuck the Animagus out of her dormitory and taking him downstairs, the common room was empty giving Sirius the change to transform back to a human and to receive and ear full from his girlfriend.
He also received a telling off from James – although James found it hard to keep a straight face as he was secretly impressed that their Animagus forms deceived the girls staircase.
"Trouble in Paradise?" James asked as Sirius sank into his seat and pushed his empty plate away.
Sirius groaned and whacked his head on the table, upsetting a jug of water and letting it drip onto the floor.
Remus rolled his eyes and with a flick of his wand the water was cleaned up.
"I think you need to apologise." Peter said between bites of his sandwich.
"Don't you think I've tried that." Sirius said exasperated.
"Some Valentine's surprise huh?" Sirius looked up and saw Lily taking a seat next James and helping herself to some sandwiches.
"Lily!" He looked as though he could hug the red head. "You could talk to her."
Lily shook her head. "I'm sure you've had enough people shouting at you today, so you don't really need another lecture about immaturity and responsibility from me, therefore I'm going to say. Your mess. You clean it up."
Sirius sunk lower in his seat and groaned.
"Lily is right." James said much to the surprise of every one around the table including Lily. "Just try speaking to her, however my one advice is letting her cool off. You've heard her mother shout, don't let Marlene's anger get any worse than it is." He shuddered at some unpleasant memory.
Sirius groaned again, he thought the ear bashing he got this morning was bad, he hadn't realised there might be more to come.
She'd been angry most the day. Her usual calm and carefree demeanour had been replaced with sharp answers and a scowl that made even seventh year Slytherins back away in fear.
As soon as the bell from Defence had rung she has rushed down to the Great Hall grabbed a couple of sandwiches and taken them into the grounds before anyone had realised she had gone. She needed to cool off.
She stood at the edge of the lake, feeding her crusts to the giant squid, thinking. She was angry at Sirius was being so completely irresponsible and immature. She was angry at her self for losing her temper. She was angry at Sirius for being completely blind and acting as though he had done nothing wrong. Then there was her brother, out of the blue asking her if she was all right and apologising for the behaviour of the Death Eaters. The letter – which now lay in the Gryffindor common room fire place – was the main cause of her anger. Sirius had just added to it. Flopping down on the snow covered banks, she started making piles of snow, giving her something to do as she thought.
If Sirius finally realises what he did wrong, then I might forgive him. She mused conjuring a feather and sticking it on stop of her snowcastle. I think it was the fact that he scared me, that's why I'm so angry, he may have thought it would be wonderful for me to wake up and find him in bed next to me, when in actual fact it terrified me. If he can do it what's to say somebody else could do it, someone who isn't a friend. He didn't think of the implications before acting. She crushed her castle in anger. He also never thought about how he was going to explain the fact that he's a dog. What he's done is illegal if anyone found out then he, James and Peter would probably be expelled and Remus would have to be forced to leave school because everyone would find out.
The bell rang in the distance and Marlene jumped up. She had been out here for the whole of the lunch break without realising. Still fuming but slightly better she managed to replace her scowl, with a look that said, 'I'm okay but please don't ask any questions.'
"Ms McKinnon?" Marlene was just about to sit down for dinner, when someone stopped her.
"Yes? Oh you're the Divination Professor." She looked at the elderly lady with some surprise. She was hunched over and had flowing robes that were pitch black and her nose was rather long and beak-like. A black feather had been stuck in the back of her hair giving the impression that she looked like a Raven. Having never taken Divination she was surprised the Professor even knew her name.
"Professor Augury, dear." She said taking Marlene's hand and grasping it like a Grandmother would with her eldest daughter. "I heard from a few of my Students that you have been seeing a Grim." Marlene shot Mary and Bex a look as they tried and failed to hide behind a passing first year. "I would very much like to hear your story and I hope that you will allow me to interpret it."
Marlene rolled her eyes. There was a reason she didn't take Divination. "I'm okay thanks Professor." She carefully took her hand away from Professor Augury and went to sit down.
"My dear child, something as serious as this cannot be overlooked. Surely the fact that a Grim appeared to you on Valentine's Day is a sign that death is around in paradise." Marlene didn't miss that glance Professor Augury made in Sirius direction.
Marlene could feel her anger rising again but before she could retort Professor Augury had grasped her hands again.
"Come and see me after dinner and we'll have a little chat." She nodded dutifully before hobbling up to the teachers table.
Marlene closed her eyes, not wanting to know how many people now knew about her run in with a dog this morning.
Sirius made his second mistake that day. "Marl? Just ignore her. Divination is a whole load of tea leaves and predicting death at every corner. Nobody takes it seriously."
Marlene snapped. Her eyes flew open and she glared at Sirius. "Yes because we're all going to die. James and Lily are going to killed personally by Voldemort, you're going to die at the hand of your cousin and I'm going to be killed by random Death Eaters because I'm not important enough!" Marlene felt the tears coming to her eyes and before anyone could see she was crying, she turned and ran out of the hall.
Sirius made to go after her but Lily put a hand on his shoulder. "No I'll go, I think there is more to this than meets the eye. I don't think this is just about you." She turned to James. "Potter, you've known Marlene a long time, I think it's time you started putting two and two together and telling Sirius what you know about Martyn."
James started at her as she left the hall, the reason why he fancied her becoming clear once more.
A/N: Augury is a method of Divination which involves studying the flight of birds. Happy Valentine's Day. It wasn't until reading it through with my sister that I noticed that today (Sunday) is V-Day and it's V-Day in the story as well. Not bad timing :D