February came to Hogwarts with a sign that the spring would be coming early, for the snow had already begun to melt and the trees were beginning to get their leaves back. This also meant that the last Quidditch match was approaching and Jeremy was getting more and more excited at the thought of putting his plan into action.
Things between Marlene and Sirius were a bit rocky, as Marlene didn't like the fact that whenever another boy uttered one word to her that boy would have a prank pulled on him. She knew that Sirius was the one behind it and despite many attempts at asking her boyfriend to stop the childish pranks, Sirius refused. Merely replying that he could do what he wanted.
It was after an argument in the Great Hall at breakfast during the first week in February that Marlene had stormed off to the common room. She headed up to the dormitory and noticed a box of chocolates on top of Lily's trunk. She picked up the box and opened it, noticing that none had been eaten; she popped one into her mouth. She knew that Lily wouldn't mind as they usually shared sweets around the the group and often switched clothes for the other to borrow.
As she popped a second chocolate into her mouth, she came to the conclusion that Lily had been right in saying that chocolate helps to make you feel better.
Lily shook her head at Sirius who was cutting up his sausages rather violently, scraping his knife and fork into the plate that it left scratches. Sirius avoided eye contact with Lily, knowing full well that Lily would lecture him on upsetting her best friend.
"Prongs, tell your girlfriend to quit the staring. It's putting me off my bacon." Sirius snapped.
"Sorry Pads, you'll have to deal with Lily yourself." James replied.
Sirius groaned and met Lily's furious gaze, causing him to feel like he was being told off by McGonagall.
"Spit it out Evans."
"Why do you have to insult her for?
"She started it."
"Because you have to prank any boy who says hello to her."
Remus and Mary left the table, leaving James, Lily and Sirius at the table alone. Sirius sighed heavily and chucked his knife and fork back down on the table.
"You want to know why? Seeing those boys with Marlene makes me jealous, it makes me feel that she might realise she's too good for me and she'll find someone better than me."
Lily rolled her eyes and muttered boys under her breath, causing James to smile a little. She returned her gaze to Sirius before speaking.
"Black you need to get it into your thick skull that Marlene has already chosen you, you drive her crazy. She likes the arguments as it keeps her on her toes and she also likes the time you spend together alone, for apparently you can be quite 'sweet' when it's just you two."
Sirius felt stunned, "She really said that?"
Lily nodded, "Go and talk to her, you still have some time before classes start."
Sirius hurried out of the Great Hall to look for his girlfriend. James took Lily's hand and placed a light kiss to the back of it.
"You're incredible, you know that?"
Lily smiled, "I wouldn't say incredible just yet but if it helps to get the two of them sorted then you can say I am."
Jeremy left the Hufflepuff common room a little later than normal that morning. He wanted to grab a slice of toast before classes began for the Professors of Hogwarts were getting so strict it was starting be like like some sort of boot camp when it got closer to exams. He was also wondering when Lily would eat the chocolates that he had gifted her for her eighteenth birthday, for it was part of his plan for revenge.
When he saw Marlene McKinnon hurrying towards him, he stopped and was shocked to see her place a kiss to his lips. He put his hands on her shoulders and shoved her away slightly, looking at her in confusion.
"Jeremy, sweetie. Have I upset you?"
He blinked before narrowing his eyebrows.
"Why would you have upset me, McKinnon?"
Marlene's eyes welled up, "Why are you calling me McKinnon? I'm your Marley."
Jeremy froze. He began to realise that Marlene must have eaten the chocolates for they were filled with a love potion. It was Lily who was supposed to be the one to eat the chocolates, if Lily had eaten them like she was supposed to then it would be James getting hurt. But as he saw a tear fall down Marlene's cheek, he smiled. This could work to his advantage.
He knew that most girl groups had the rule of not dating the ex of their best friends. Whilst McKinnon wouldn't have looked at him before unknowlingly taken the love potion, she certainly was interested now. Lily had hurt him with her words on her birthday and he wanted her to take the love potion and be his girlfriend again, getting revenge on Potter for taking Lily away from him. Now that Marlene had taken it, he could get revenge on Lily for saying those harsh things that had hurt him. He could create a wedge between Lily and Marlene, for Lily would feel betrayed that her best friend had gotten together with her ex-boyfriend.
Jeremy wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer.
"Marley baby, did you eat the chocolates I gave you?"
Marlene nodded and stared at him dreamily, "Yes although they ended up in Lily's trunk, do you think she knows about us?"
Jeremy shrugged, "I don't care, she's nothing to me anymore. You're my everything." he whispered.
Marlene sighed happily as Jeremy leaned in for a kiss. When Jeremy pulled away, Marlene pouted in disappointment.
"Sweetie, do we tell her?"
Jeremy shook his head, "Not just yet. Listen baby, Sirius Black will try and pester you because he thinks that you two are involved."
Marlene looked disgusted, "He's vile."
Jeremy smiled in satisfaction, "You tell him that you're in love with someone else and want to be left alone, can you do that for me?"
Marlene wrapped her arms around his neck and placed a kiss to his cheek, "Anything for you Jeremy."
The bell rang for class and Marlene said her goodbyes before rushing to meet her friends. Jeremy grinned darkly to himself as he headed to History of Magic, that was his revenge against Lily going well, now there was just the matter of taking his revenge out on James Potter.
When the bell rang for the end of the day, Sirius stretched and sighed with relief. He packed up his belongings and left Divination with Remus and left the classroom to head back to the common room. He hadn't yet had the chance to speak to Marlene after their argument that morning and he wanted to apologise for upsetting her. He hoped that she had calmed down and would accept his apology.
He and Remus dumped their bags onto their beds and headed back down to the common room, which Sirius was happy about as Marlene had just entered through the portrait hole with Alice. Sirius went over to her and tried to kiss her but she pushed him away harshly.
"What do you think you're doing?" Marlene shrieked.
Sirius blinked, "Look I'm sorry about what I said this morning and I'm sorry that I upset you but Marls, but come on there's no need to shriek at me."
Marlene shook her head and tried to walk around him to which Sirius grabbed her by the upper arm and spun her around. Marlene met his gaze and glared at him.
"Let go of me now!" she growled.
"What the hell is wrong with you!"
"You're nothing to me Black, you could never mean anything to me. I'm in love with somebody else."
At that Sirius instantly let go of his girlfriend, stunned by Marlene's revealation. Everyone in the common room had stopped what they were doing to watch the exchange between Marlene and Sirius.
"Since when?"
Marlene shrugged, "For a long time and he's far better than you Black. You're nothing but a vile womaniser."
And with that, Marlene turned on her heel and stormed up the girl's staircase, with Alice giving him an apologetic look and following Marlene a few seconds later. Remus patted Sirius on the shoulder and led him out of the portrait hole, both of them baffled as to what was going on with Marlene. Sirius felt betrayed, he and Marlene had been a couple for ages now and to find out that she had been in love with someone else the whole time caused his heart to ache.
A/N: So please don't hate me too much and I promise that Jeremy's revenge against James will be revealed in the next chapter. Please let me know what you think and the next chapter will come in the next couple of weeks depending on how busy I am.