A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm so sorry I haven't updated sooner, but volleyball has been crazy! You know, club season, and whatnot. Enjoy!

Peter looked triumphant, James and Remus looked upset. They deposited several gold and silver coins into Peter's palms.

"You made bets? How the hell did you make that a bet?" said Sirius, indignantly because of his embarrassment. Remus rolled his eyes.

"It's quite simple actually, Sirius. Wormy here said you were acting weird because you fancied McKinnon, but we were skeptical. Wormy's usually right about that, but–"

"I'm not stupid, Moony!"

"Are you quite sure, Padfoot?"

"Shut up, prat."

"Is that an admission? I think it is what about you, Prongs?"

"I'd say it sounds very much like an admission."

"It wasn't an admission, you bloody idiots!"

"So are we not going to talk about the fact Pads is in love?"

"Fair point, Wormy!"

"Fair point indeed. Sirius, what are you going to do?"

"What am I going to do? Moony, I'm not doing anything!"

"Why the hell not? You love her!"

"Exactly, Prongs. I love her, so I'd rather not take any chances."

The light atmosphere of the boys dorm took a dark turn as Sirius started to pace.

"I love her. I love her so much, and I didn't even notice! It's been so gradual that I was in the middle before I knew I had started. She makes me laugh, and even if she fancied me a little bit, which she doesn't, it would be because of me. Not my reputation. Me. That's mostly why I love her, I think. She doesn't look at your reputation; she doesn't look at your grades, or your friends. She looks at how you act. She makes judgments after she meets you. And here's the thing; she's warm and friendly and ridiculous and smart and a good laugh and beautiful. She's such a rare kind of person that I want the best things for her because she deserves them. I am most definitely not the best thing for her. So Remmie and Prongsie and Wormy, I'd like not to mess this up thank you very much."

Sirius glared around the room. James and Remus seemed to be in a state of perpetual shock.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going for a fly." With that, the dark-haired boy stalked out of the room, and then slammed the door with a bang.

"Damn," James muttered.

"Damn is right!" Remus seconded.

As Sirius flew at neck-breaking speeds around the castle, the Marauders hatched a plan in the dorms, and Marlene McKinnon screeched.

"LILY! DOE!"

Lily and Dorcas rushed into the girls' dorm to find a wide-eyed Marlene peering franticly at them.

"Tell me I did not just think that Lils. Please, please tell me I didn't!"

"Mar, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Dorcas, however, had a theory about what Marlene's panic had to do with.

"Mars-Bars, was it about Sirius?"

Marlene's jaw dropped.

"How did you know?!" she hissed incredulously.

"I told you to think about him and you were unresponsive for an hour."

Blushing a deep red, the blonde dove into her bed. Lily looked shocked.

"Mar!"

"What?! Doe told me what I did, but I didn't believe her!"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"You know Doe! She told me to think about it, and I thought about it!"

"You were unresponsive for an hour!"

"So?" she said defensively and crossed her arms with a scowl. "He's a baffling subject!"

Lily sputtered. "Well, but, erm. YOU WERE STILL THINKING ABOUT HIM! HA!"

"YOU WOULDN'T LAUGH IF I TOLD YOU WHAT I WAS THINKING!"

Lily smirked. "So tell me what you were thinking."

This time it was Marlene who was sputtering. "Well, um–"

Lily smiled. "Tell me! You know I won't stop bugging you 'til I get it out of you."

Marlene sighed. "Fiiiiiiine, I'll do it."

The girls pushed their beds together and lay on their stomachs in a circle.

"It started on Wednesday, I think. . ."

Wednesday was Marlene's least favorite day of the week. She liked extremes, from the very, very beginning, or the lingering last. Wednesday was smack dab in the middle of the school week, and it was too hard to spell. It was a day. Just a day. She woke up at just the right time. That never happened; normally she was up with enough time to take OWLS again, or so late she barely had time to put her clothes on properly. Considering doing something with her hair, she cocked her head slightly to the left. The tall, blonde girl who had been staring at her did the same. The girl stared at her with blue-green eyes, and a mouth with corners that upturned on their own. Marlene shook herself from her daze and slopped her hair in a messy bun. Already, she knew that it would fall out before breakfast ended, and she would complain all the way to Potions to Sirius who would roll his eyes and tell her she looked fine with her hair down. Smiling, she grabbed her book bag and thought of Sirius. No matter how haggard she looked after a hangover, no matter how decidedly bad her hair was acting, he always gave her some sort of off-hand compliment during their journey to the dungeons. Marlene was very pretty, but the way Sirius managed to make her feel stunning was incomparable. Nearly to the Great Hall, she finally noticed the implication of her thought. Stunning? Incomparable? I guess I didn't get as much sleep as I thought. Shaking her head with a smirk, she walked into the Hall.

In Potions, she felt particularly proud of herself for the cheeky remark she had made to Slughorn. She looked at Sirius who was looking at her with puppy eyes and a small smile. It was like James staring at Lily when she said he wasn't as stupid as he looked. She smirked.

In Charms, she was soaring past the moon as she perfected charm after charm. She saw Sirius who was looking at her with a warm emotion in his eyes. It was Remus looking at Dorcas when she fell asleep on the train. She smiled.

In Transfiguration, she had a concentration level higher than a dragon-tamer. She saw, rather than felt, Sirius poke her arm and widen his eyes. It was Peter looking at a picture of a Horntail, and furious she had strayed off her line of thought, she glared.

At lunch, she giggled at James grinning stupidly at Lily, and Lily trying not to blush. She made ugly faces at the Huffleslut and Gryffinwhore, and tried not to punch them in their make-up smeared faces as they giggled at Sirius.

During free period she worked efficiently, finishing nearly all of her homework. A curl bounced into her face, and she didn't mind that ink smeared her forehead. What she did mind is Sirius studying her with a curious expression the entire time.

At dinner, James was talking to Remus, and Lily to Doe. There were no bimbos to tease, and everything was boring. Chicken, white and brown and boring. Potatoes, beige and cream and boring. Everything was boring. As Lily noticed her best friend scowling at the chicken, she acted the logical human being she was and offered her roast. Also acting the logical human being, she was very confused when Marlene shrieked. And shrieked. And shrieked. Marlene was fed-up with boring, and didn't really care the entire school was looking at her as though she had lost her Gobstones. When Sirius offered her a roll charmed bright blue, she decided dramatics were the only was to thank him. Marlene threw herself at Sirius and landed in his lap. "OH THANK YOU, SIRIUS, YOU WONDERFUL WIZARD YOU." She made a ridiculous face and realized she was in his lap. Fighting a blush she added, "But really, thank you. I was starting to get hungry, but all the food colors were boring."

"Aw Marley, you make me blush!"

She decided to ignore him. "And don't heroes usually get rewards? Yes, they do. So you get a reward. My hero." She leaned up and pecked his cheek. WHY THE HELL DID I DO THAT?! She mentally slapped herself. She hopped off his lap and pretended that wasn't wonderful or awkward in anyway at all. To take her mind off her stupidity, she proved her brilliance by charming foods varied shades of fuchsia, indigo, and chartreuse. She stopped at the peas, and to show that they were disgraced from the kingdom of MarleneLand, she began to flick them at James. Her stomach rumbled, so she heaped a mountain of pink potatoes on her plate and into her mouth. Marlene felt the prickling sensation that meant eyes were on her and turned to see Sirius' eyes widen almost imperceptibly. She waved spastically, unsure of what else to do.

"Well, I'm going to go take a walk. See you lot later."

Did I do something? I scared him off didn't I? Dammit Marlene!

"Alright. Bye Sirius!" She continued to flick peas at James. Sirius looked like he was going to puke. Ceasing her rapid fire at James, who looked very irritated, she thought about her thought. I scared him off? Why the. . .! RED ALERT, RED ALERT!

She stood up abruptly. "I'm going for a fly."

Marlene trudged to the Pitch, and proceeded to fly at top speed to leave all thoughts of Sirius behind.