A/N: Hello! Thanks again to Nonna Nitto and apoorvam77 for reviewing, and I'd like to say again to you people peeking at my story: it doesn't hurt to leave a few words, and even if it's 'I don't like this fanfic at all' I'd really appreciate it! I don't want to seem pushy, but if you write stories yourself you'll know how much reviews do to help the story, and they inspire me to write!

Disclaimer: I don't know own any of the characters, places or ideas that you recognise fomr JK's work, I only own the OC's and the plot;)

Chapter Ten - Broken Promises and Revenge

She had stormed upstairs and immediately locked herself in the bathroom adjacent to their dorm, bolting the door, using Collorputus /and/ sitting against the door. Marlene did not care that they were worrying about her, she couldn't stand to be in the same room as Emmeline or Sirius right now, and was still reeling over Emmeline's accusations.

They others were all screaming noisily at each other downstairs, and Marlene could hear the hurried footsteps of the younger students racing up the stairs to their dorms to escape the fight. Marlene curled up behind the door and sobbed, covering her ears as she heard Sirius' voice over the others. Luckily for her, they were a little too far away to hear their exact words. If she had been closer, she might've heard Emmeline's angry comments about Marlene being a slut, and she might've heard the loud slap when Mary hit Emmeline round the face. She didn't hear James' angry shouts at Sirius, and the ensuing fight and Mary screaming at them to stop, and she definitely didn't Siris confession.

"Sirius what the HELL?" James shouted once Marlene had left the Common Room, and Emmeline looked smug and Sirius struggled for an answer.

Mary turned to Emmeline, face cold, "Don't look so smug, Emmeline, you just accused her of lying about her parents' DEATH!"

Emmeline laughed, "It's probably true, Mary, stop defending her."

Sirius and James turned as one to Emmeline and their faces were dark.

"What. Did you just say?" Sirius snarled, and James looked about as murderous.

She didn't look quite so confident now. It hasn't ended in Sirius realising Marlene was a slut, it had ended in all her friends turning on her angrily.

"I... I... She's a liar!" she said determinedly.

"NO SHE FUCKING ISN'T," Sirius shouted, taking a step forward, but James held him back.

"Sirius stop it!" he said calmly, although he was just as angry at both Emmeline and Sirius.

Mary looked nervous, torn between her best friend, Emmeline, and Marlene, who was in the right here. What Emmeline had said was uncalled for, but she too was annoyed at Marlene for not telling them about her and Sirius'... relationship... Or whatever it was.

"NO! This /bitch/ said that Marlene was a fucking liar and that she was just attention seeking!" he snarled, not taking his eyes off Emmeline, who was decidedly scared. She had never seen this side of Sirius before.

"Padfoot, LEAVE it," James said sternly, "Because we need to find Marley."

Sirius wasn't any calmer, but held it in. He would rant at James later and probably punch a wall, but now he had been told the obvious, he knew it was true.

"Come one then!" he snapped, "Let's go!"

"Yes, Pads, gimme a sec. And can I just say, I'm still pissed that you're messing with her…" James said slowly, not wanting to say it but knowing he needed to. Sirius couldn't mess her around, not his sister.

"What?" Sirius snarled, turning back from the stairs to James.

"You can't mess her around," James repeated, more firmly. Maybe now hadn't been the best time to start this...

"I'm /not/!"

"You so are."

Emmeline looked on happily, while Mary stood by, desperately trying to stop it.

"How exactly am I messing her around?" Sirius asked throughout gritted teeth.

"For a start you've snogged her twice," Emmeline put in, but faltered and stopped when Mary grabbed her arm and dragged her over to the other side of the Common Room.

"You - keep out of this, don't you think you've done enough damage?'

Sirius glared after Emmeline, then turned to James, "SO? You've snogged girls more than once before, haven't you."

"Oh yeah, plenty of times, but /I was dating them/. Are you planning on dating Marls?"

Sirius had been about to say something, but James' question caught him off guard, "I… I…"

"I'm going to take that as a no, then. So stop playing with her, Sirius, she's fragile enough as it is!"

"You're saying I'm trying to make it /worse/?!"

James was normally able to understand where Sirius was coming from, Merlin, everyone knew they were practically brothers, but this time he knew Sirius was wrong. Sirius was wrong, and he couldn't see it. So James just shrugged, not wanting to provoke Sirius tonight when everyone emotions were frazzled. Sirius didn't take the silence as a good answer, and even if James had spoken if probably wouldn't have been positive. There was more Black in Sirius than he would admit, and although it wasn't necessarily his fault, he didn't do enough to contain it, and his face contorted with anger, "I would NEVER hurt her!"

"But you are, can't you see, Sirius? She doesn't want to be a play thing," James snapped, "Whatever you're doing isn't helping her.

So Sirius did what he always did in situations he couldn't talk himself out of, his reaction similar to that of a caged animal: he lashed out. His fist caught James on the jaw, and he stumbled backwards, pulling Sirius with him as he struggled for balance. They toppled to the floor whacking each other furiously, rolling around like mad men, landing hits wherever they could. Mary screamed and raced over, "STOP NOW!"

They didn't pay much attention, Sirius completely over reacting to it (like usual) and James never being one to run away from a fight.

Mary sighed, and despite being a tiny girl, she tried to drag Sirius off James, unsuccessfully, of course, but her intervention seemed to bring them to their senses. Sirius' arms were aching from James' punches, and James' nose was bleeding, and they glared at each other venomously. Emmeline seemed relieved that Mary stopped chewing her out over the incident, and folded her arms stubbornly.

"You are all ridiculous!" Mary huffed, the blonde looking rather intimidating despite her lack of physical strength, "How is you two sprawling on the floor hitting each other going to help Marlene in the slightest?"

James had the decency to look guilty, but Sirius, who was still insulted at James' last comment, ignored her.

"Sorry Mary," James sighed, wiping his nose on his sleeve.

Sirius grunted in reply.

She unfolded her arms to re-fold them the other way, and looked towards the stairs.

"Come on, we're sorting this out."

James stared at her, "Now?! She's going to be horrible to deal with!"

"James you absolute wuss," Mary scolded, "She needs us!"

Emmeline made a motion for the stairs, but Sirius stopped her, "You, /Vance/ are not going anywhere but here."

She winced at the use of her last name, but nodded, knowing she deserved this, and sat down on the sofa, legs tucked underneath her.

Mary waved at James and Sirius to follow her up the stairs, and they got out their wands to levitate each other up the stairs, Sirius' anger simmering down now Marlene had been mentioned, James knowing Sirius would be fine soon, his own disappearing as quickly as it had come.

Marlene was still in the bathroom, blocking out the sounds from downstairs as she wiped furiously at the tears streaming down her cheeks. Her eyes were puffy to the point where she couldn't see properly, and she was shaking with grief, loss and anger. As a fresh bout of tears started, she heard footsteps on the stairs, and familiar voices. She didn't want to listen to them apologising for Emmeline, as far as Marlene was concerned, that bitch could do what she liked. She was no friend of Marlene's if she was even thinking that. The door to their dorm opened quietly, and she recognised Mary's hushes and guessed Sirius and James weren't far behind. She didn't want to see them, she just wanted her parents back.

"Marlene?" Mary whispered timidly, looking around the room.

Marlene stayed quiet.

"Marls? Please!" James said, louder, peering under the beds, and heading towards the bathroom door, "Marlene!"

"McKinnon, I have a bruise on my face for you, you'd better talk," Sirius tried, completely untactful as usual, but for some reason she didn't want tact. She just wanted someone to scream at.

She let out a small sob, which they heard right away, and hurried over to the bathroom door, pushing on it with all their might.

"MARLENE!" Mary shouted, "Come OUT!"

Marlene shook her head, realised they couldn't see that, and croaked out a, "No. I'm not coming out."

Sirius growled quietly, "Marlene McKinnon, now."

She repeated herself, "No no no, I'm not coming out."

"Look, will you come out and stop crying please, Marley, for our sakes if nothing else," James said tenderly.

She sobbed again, then rubbed at her eyes angrily. She was tired of being weak and crying at everything. She blamed Sirius for that, he'd said it was alright to cry, he'd said she was allowed to. But it didn't help her at all, it made her worse: the more she cried, the more she wanted to curl into a little ball and cry until she ran out of tears. And that wasn't a good tactic in school. When she got home at Christmas she could crawl under her duvet and sob her heart out, if she would even be allowed home anymore, but now she had another month of school to face, and she was not weak. She was a Gryffindor, and Gryffindors were always brave. She dried her eyes on her jumper, and took a deep, shaky breath.

"Okay," she sighed, knowing they wouldn't leave her alone until she agreed, "Give me a minute," she added, looking at herself in the mirror and almost starting crying again.

They stepped back from the door, understanding completely. She grabbed her hairbrush and attempted to sort her hair out, but gave up and consequently just pulled it into a messy ponytail to keep it out of her face. She couldn't do much about her red eyes, but she re-did her makeup to mask some of it. Taking one more deep, oxygenising breath, she unlocked the door slowly, and pulled it open.

They were all in a sort of circle around the door, like they subconsciously thought she would try to run for it and needed restraining, but Marlene didn't want to run away, she wanted to shout and rage and hit people, especially two people. Unluckily for her, only one was in the room. Sirius had his arms crossed across his chest and was looking at her with a mixture of acceptance and annoyance, James' hair was even messir than usual the amount of times he had ran his hand through it nervously in the last few minutes, and Mary had her hands on her hips, looking rather intimidating for her 5'3 form. Marlene gulped when she saw their expressions: they didn't care that she was bing horrible, they didn't mind that she had run off, and they still cared about her. That was what mattered to her most, but she couldn't help but feel that if Lily was here it would be so much better. And she needed someone to blame for that, so she blamed the one person she knew the accusation would hurt, Sirius.

"What do you want?" Marlene sighed, rubbing her face to mask the redness of her eyes, but they all saw it anyway.

"We want to talk to you," Mary said softly.

"And make sure you're okay," James added, running his tigers through his hair again.

Sirius didn't say anything, just stared at her, expression now completely unreadable,

"W-well, what is there to s-say?" she gulped, "My p-parents are d-dead and there's noth-nothing you can do."

Her voice was angry but broken, but it strengthened a bit as she continued, "So why are you here? You can't help me, or promise it'll be alright like some people did, what's the use."

Mary looked up at her and her eyes were pleading, "No one's promising that, Marls, I wouldn't promise that."

"Nor would I," James commented, "Sirius?"

Sirius couldn't say it; he had promised it, just the other day, he'd told her that it would be alright, that her parents would be fine, Mason would be safe, he'd /promised/. And by Marlene's expression, she remembered too.

"Oh but Sirius did promise that, didn't you?" Marlene said coldly, after a few uncomfortable seconds of silence, "You promised me they'd be back safe."

James looked furious, because they were in the middle of a war. You shouldn't say anyone would be safe, because everyone was in danger.

"Padfoot, did you?"

He nodded miserably, and Mary hit his arm, "Idiot, Sirius, idiot."

"He promised, he said he knew they were safe!"

"It was to make you feel better!" Sirius protested, looking around wildly.

"So you lied to me?" she said, changing tact.

"Marlene, this is ridiculous!" he laughed, "I was trying to make you feel better!"

"Oh yeah, you did that brilliantly when you snogged her," James cut in sarcastically.

Mary sighed, "Don't you get involved, James..."

Sirius scowled at his best friend, "Don't make me punch you again."

"You /punched/ him?!" Marlene gasped, looking between James and Sirius in disbelief, "Why?!"

James gritted his teeth and said nothing more.

Marlene was getting angrier and angrier: Sirius did all this just to snog her? He was so fucking dead. /And/ he punched James, that was not on. Not at all.

"Sirius Black you /prick/," she snarled, turning to him with clenched fists.

"I'm the prick?! He was suggesting stuff that was not true!"

"Not true that you were using me? Not true that you kissed me when you knew I wouldn't protest?" Marlene said with disgust, her lip curling, "You make me sick, Sirius Black."

He knotted his eyebrows together, and opened his mouth to respond, but Marlene shut him up by slapping him round the face.

"Don't try and say anything to cover up, you did and you know it. You promised me things you shouldn't have, and lied to me, /used/ me while I was weak. I trusted you, and you lied to me," she spat, not feeling remotely sorry when his cheek was red with her hand print.

Mary stared in horror, and James started to feel guilty for bringing that back up again: he was sure Sirius hadn't tried to lie to her, but he himself hadn't been completely honest with Marlene either. Maybe James should've told her what he knew, rather than talking about her with his parents, he conceded, but he was not saying that now: he didn't particularly want to be slapped as well.

Marlene let out one more heart-wrenching sob and pushed Sirius away, "Leave me alone. I don't want you to talk to me, or to have anything to do with me."

"Marle-"

"No. Don't even try," she warned him.

"Please, it wasn't my fault this happened!"

Then a totally irrational thought popped into her head, but in her already confused state, she clung to it, and to the excuse. When people die, there's something to blame, a disease, old age, whatever. When they're killed by masked men that have no recorded name, there isn't. And most people /need/ someone to blame for a death. Marlene held onto the one person she wanted to hurt most, and blamed it on him.

"It was your fault, you and your family killed them," she snarled, pushing his shoulder, "It's. All. Your. Fault."

James widened his eyes so wide they looked about to pop out. You never ever compared Sirius to his family, EVER. His family was a no go area to start with, but saying he was like them? He wasn't sure what Sirius would do, but it wasn't going to be nice. Sirius was currently breathing very heavily, staring at Marlene in shock, and James was amazed he hadn't erupted yet.

"You don't mean that," he croaked, pleading.

Marlene had completely lost control of her emotions, and tossed her head back and laughed, "Yes I do. You told me they would be fine, and then your family murdered them. Tell me how that isn't your fault?"

"You little bi-"

"Sirius, no," James said sharply, but Marlene had already slapped him again, and was stalking out, tears threatening to fall again.

"MARLENE WAIT!" Mary cried, flustered, and ran after her friend, but the door to the dorm had been slammed in her face with an echoing finality.

They looked at each other dumfounded while Sirius closed his eyes and took a deep breath to try and calm down.

"She's lost it," James said, staring at a spot on the wall opposite, "She's totally lost it."

Marlene woke the next morning and washed and dressed without talking to either of her dorm mates, and Emmeline didn't even bother to make an effort, merely scowling after the blonde while Mary sent them both disapproving glares. Marlene didn't want to talk to anyone, so focused was she on hating Sirius, that she locked the bathroom door behind her straight away, and concentrated entirely on looking perfect. No one could know what he had done to her just yet, and he was going to pay for using her like that. He was going to regret messing with Marlene McKinnon. Very, very deep down, she knew he hadn't touched her parents, but she needed someone to pin her problems on, and Sirius was close at hand, so he would have to do. She fastened her hair in a sloppy bun to do her usual makeup, got dressed and redid her hair before she exited the bathroom and quickly grabbed her bag, and headed silently down to breakfast, not giving either Mary or Emmeline any recognition. She brushed past James, Remus, Sirius and Peter in the Common Room without so much as a nod, and Sirius looked after her miserably, while Remus shot him a sympathetic look, having been updated once James and Sirius had left Mary the previous evening.

She took a shaky breath before entering the Great Hall, and sat well away from any of her fellow sixth years on the Gryffindor table, ignoring the boys entirely when they joined her five minutes later. They tried to include her in their conversation, and the attempt became increasingly lame as she brushed them all off, and stared down at her plate of scrambled eggs instead. They eventually gave up, and resorted to giving worried looks at her and each other.

"I'm not really sure what's wrong," Peter said and Sirius sighed.

"Don't worry Wormy, it's complicated."

"Yeah, like the fact that Sirius was a dick to her and she over reacted," James put in, taking a bite out of his toast.

Remus sighed, "James, he wasn't /that/ bad, you know what I told you," and gave him a meaningful look.

James rolled his eyes, "That doesn't excuse it at all, Moony, and you know it."

"And you're saying you wouldn't do the same with Lily?"

James choked, "Irrelevant!"

Sirius and Peter looked lost as James and Remus openly discussed Sirius' apparent crush on Marlene in hearing of both parties.

"Would you mind explaining what the fuck you are talking about?" Sirius started, "I'm lo-"

He stopped when he saw Professor McGonagall approach Marlene with an odd expression resembling sympathy.

She coughed, and Marlene swung round on her seat, one eyebrow raised.

"Miss McKinnon, the school was informed of the letter you received, and we're sorry for your loss..."

Marlene nodded but didn't say anything.

"And I wish to talk to you about it, and arrangements for the Christmas Holidays - I believe you and your younger brother were planning on returning home?"

"Yes, but clearly that's not happening now," Marlene said disdainfully, turning back to her breakfast.

McGonagall's expression hardened, "Miss McKinnon, I am still talking to you."

She didn't respond, and James sighed, looking at Remus in exasperation.

"Miss McKinnon, the school believes you would be able to stay with your aunt over the holidays until you're 17, and arrangements can be made then."

Marlene laughed coldly, "If, you know, my aunt's not dead by then too."

"Miss McKinnon!" McGonagall scolded, "That's not the right attitude!"

"Ah well, it doesn't matter when we're all going to die soon," she shrugged, finishing her food, the cutlery clattering against the plate as she dropped it.

Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows, clearly unimpressed.

"I know this is a traumatic time, but I still expect some respect from pupils."

"Professor, with all due respect," she said, not sounding respectful at all, just hacked off, "But I don't really care."

And she stood up, slinging her bag over her shoulder, and exited the Great Hall to incredulous expressions from McGonagall and sighs from the Marauders. She passed Mary and Emmeline on the way out, and as she brushed past heard a voice in her ear hiss, "Slut."

Mary cornered her after Defense Against the Dark Arts, where she'd been partnered with Sirius again much to her annoyance, and had proceeded to give him a black eye and a cut on his cheek in their duel.

"Marlene!" she gasped, racing to catch up with her friend.

Marlene looked back and stopped with a sigh, "What do you want Mary?"

"What the hell have you been doing today!?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mary gave her an incredulous look, "You've ignored me completely, and Emmeline, although that I can understand, but the boys as well? They haven't done anything but try to help you."

Marlene laughed, and looked Mary straight in the eye, "Sirius has done nothing but try to /piss me off/."

"No! You know that's not true," Mary pleaded, catching Marlene's wrist, but the taller girl shook her off and turned around again.

"I shan't listen to you if you're just going to defend him."

"Don't you think you're over reacting just slightly?" she tried again, catching up to Marlene again.

"No," Marlene said coolly, "No, I don't believe I am."

She stormed off, leaving Mary at a loss as to what to do. There was no way she could run and catch up with Marlene, not being particularly athletic, but even if she attempted to, she'd be late for Transfiguration. So she reluctantly headed off to Transfiguration, intending to tell McGonagall what Marlene had done now.

Before she'd reached the classroom, she bumped into the Marauders, all four of them discussing something closely.

"James!" she said, breathing a sigh of relief. James would know how to deal with it, he knew how Marlene's mind worked.

"Mary, where's Marlene?"

"I... I don't know... She walked off in the wrong direction," Mary said slowly.

Remus looked at James, "Check the Map."

James nodded, and took out the piece of parchment he always carried, unfolding it. Normally they would've hidden it from Mary, but none of them thought that particularly important at the time.

"What's that?" Mary asked, craning her neck to see, but with all four of them, even Peter the shortest, being taller than her, she couldn't see much.

"Don't worry, MacDonald," Sirius said absentmindedly, scanning the Map.

"There she is!" Peter squeaked, pointing to a figure near the dungeons, seemingly pacing outside the Slytherin Common Room.

"Someone needs to find her and-" James started, but didn't even finish his sentence as Sirius ran past towards the dungeons.

"Sirius, are you sure that's the best idea?" James called after him, but Sirius didn't stop.

"She's gone to find Regulus!" he said, "Isn't it obvious? Who else of my family is at the school? Who else can she hurt for what happened?"

James didn't know how Sirius had worked that out, but now he'd said it, it made perfect sense.

He groaned, "Fuck this, not Regulus... Come on, let's get to class, guys, Sirius has got this one."

Mary sent a glance after Sirius, but decided they might as well have a good scream at each other while they had the chance, "Come on then, McGonagall will be waiting..."

Marlene was leaning against the archway in front of the Slytherin Common Room, tapping her wand against her leg impatiently. She was waiting, as Sirius had predicted, for Regulus Black, and she was willing to wait all day for him if need be. She didn't know that the older Black sibling was working his way across the castle to her at the same time as the younger Black emerged from the dungeon Common Room and looked at her in shock and confusion.

Regulus knew of Marlene, of course he did, Bellatrix was always talking about how she wanted to kill the whole lot of them, but he didn't know she had succeeded, and he definitely didn't know why Marlene was here now. He was in the year below Marlene and Sirius, and had been the Black sibling that did everything right: he was sorted into Slytherin, showed an interest in joining the Death Eaters, supported the 'Purebloods are Better' view, as well as upholding the name of Black. Him and Sirius used to be pretty close, considering their differences, but once they were both at Hogwarts things began to change, and when Sirius left home, Regulus was left behind with no option but to accept the family ways. Even so, he had embraced their racist ways readily, and was already close to being a full Death Eater. He had, as Sirius always put it, 'gone to the dark side' and was no longer the innocent, loyal little boy Sirius had protected. Seeing Marlene (otherwise known as the blood traitor bitch at home) was probably not the best thing that had happened to him, and he gulped; Regulus didn't know why she was here, but her expression was a particularly nasty scowl, and she had her wand out.

"What do you want?" he sneered, hoping to scare her off.

It didn't work.

Marlene shrugged, "Revenge, I guess."

"Revenge?" Regulus inquired, raising a dark eyebrow so similar to Sirius'.

"Revenge," she confirmed, raising her wand, "Your family killed mine, I think I'm allowed to take you out."

Regulus laughed cruelly. Now he knew why she was here. "Poor little Gryffindor, how very /loyal/," he sneered, managing to make 'loyal' sound like an insult,

"Yeah, I am," Marlene retorted, not going to let him intimidate her, "So come on, get your wand out and prepare for a visit to the Hospital Wing."

"A little blood traitor bitch like you couldn't even give me a grazed knee," he sniffed, sticking his nose in the air, and starting to walk past.

Marlene totally lost it, and slammed him into the wall, wand digging into the gap under his jaw, making him squirm.

"Oh really?" she snarled, "Want to repeat that?"

"A little blood traitor bitch like you couldn't even give me a grazed knee," Regulus repeated calmly, fingering his wand in his trouser pocket that Marlene had forgotten to take off of him.

He cast a quick non-verbal Stinging Hex, and she recoiled, hissing, muttering counter jinxes quickly, before her eyes bored into his again.

"You're better than I thought you were," he remarked, "But not quite good enough."

She looked at him in confusion, which was what he'd been hoping, and he shot another spell at her while she was distracted.

Marlene dived out of the way and turned around to send a Stunning Spell his way, but he'd moved already and was the other side of the corridor, the red beam of light shattering and refracting off the stone wall.

He laughed, a cruel laugh, and his wand sent a jet of green light towards her at incredible speed, and she missed the Crucio by the fabric of her blouse, shrieking as she came so close to being hit.

"Maybe that's what happened to your darling family," he mused, keeping his eyes on her, "It's quite likely it lasted for days."

Marlene glared at him, sending a fling of different hexes at bind which he just managed to keep off with his shield charm, but the next hex she sent meant it flickered and died.

"Oh dear, has losing Mummy and Daddy got you angry?" he cooed, imitating his cousin Bellatrix's voice.

She growled and dropped her wand, leaping on him. She might not be able to out-duel the fifth year, but she was sure she could out-punch him. She hit his chest repeatedly, extremely satisfied with the groans of pain that Regulus let out, but he still had his wand, and for the second time he caught her with a spell. The Unforgivable was a lapse in judgment, to get expelled would mean the end of his chances to become a Death Eater: Voldemort only took those smart enough to make it to graduation, and Regulus desperately wanted to join him as soon as possible.

She was blasted backwards, and she had braced herself for impact against a wall, she felt herself caught by strong arms that pulled her upright. Marlene struggled against them, but Sirius turned her around and checked her over quickly, and she breathed out.

"Black, go away."

"No, now get behind me."

"Why do I- OI!" she yelled as he pushed her behind his back and stepped forward towards Regulus, who was picking himself off the ground, rubbing his chest and wincing.

"Ahh, big brother," Regulus jeered, his calm façade back in place.

"Regulus," Sirius said stiffly, "What the hell was that?"

"Your girlfriend here jumped on me," he said, looking extremely dignified for someone who had just been in a duel and a fist fight.

Marlene stepped forward, mouth curled down in anger, but Sirius out his arm out and stopped her, "Ah, I wish, but you didn't answer me."

"I think I did," he laughed, "She jumped on me."

Sirius sighed. His brother always made him impatient. "I know, I am fully aware of that, but why did you try to hex her?"

"Because. She. Jumped. On. Me."

"Oh no, I'm not talking about just then," Sirius said coldly, disgusted with Regulus, "I mean the Unforgivable you tried to use, what was it, Crucio? Avada Kedavra?"

Regulus sneered, "Crucio, but the bitch deserved it."

Marlene stepped forward again, and again Sirius stopped her.

"I'm not reporting that tonight, for Marlene's sake, but you'd better leave now before I let her kill you," Sirius stated simply, and Marlene grinned in appreciation.

Regulus gave one look at the manic expression on Marlene's face and scuttled off, only stopping to scoop up his wand from where Sirius had kicked it.

Marlene pushed away from Sirius as soon as Regulus had turned the corner, and scowled at him, "What the /hell/ was that about? Why are you keeping tabs on me? And why did you say 'I wish'?"

Sirius sighed. Here we go, he thought. "Mary told us you'd gone off before Transfiguration, and we worked out where you'd gone. As for what that was, that was me saving your ass."

He hoped she wouldn't ask about the 'I wish' again, because he didn't have an answer for that.

She sniffed, "I didn't need /saving/, I was doing fine."

"He tried an Unforgivable!" Sirius shouted, glaring at her.

"And I hit him back," Marlene tried to reason.

"I don't want you around Regulus," he muttered, "He's bad news."

"As you always say," Marlene retorted, "I know he is, Black, I don't need you to tell me."

"So why were you there?" Sirius snapped.

Marlene snapped back, "I was there to make him pay. Then I was going to make you pay. Can I give you a matching black eye?"

He winced at the memory of Marlene giving him the first black eye in DADA, "I'd rather not-"

She punched him again, but it wasn't enough to bruise him this time.

"Why are you still around? I've hit you, insulted you, hurt you, and you still look out for me? Why?" Marlene screamed, clearly frustrated with him.

"Because I care," he retorted, jutting his chin out determinedly.

"I know you don't care, Black," Marlene ground out.

"That's where you're wrong, Marlene, I care very, very much."

A/N: OOOOOOOH IT'S GETTING HOT IN HERE.

So, how did you like my Regulus? He might make an appearance again if you like him! And Sirius said he wanted to be her boyfriend, eh;)

Remember; leave a review telling me your thoughts!

The plot is definitely starting to come through now, and Marlene is on the warpath.

New chapter coming soon, promise, but I'm editing old chapters before I update, so it might be a little longer than usual.

Love to all you amazing readers, mwah!

-PIAM3 xxx