Chapter 15 - Paradise

A/N: Hello there everyone! Another chapter, and an extra long one too, feel special. This is my little Christmas present to you - cute Blackinnon. Next chapter is back to angst so be warned. New Year Parties next;) Now, go read, enjoy then review maybe?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise from Harry Potter!

When she was just a girl,
She expected the world,
But it flew away from her reach,
So she ran away in her sleep
- Coldplay, Paradise

Huddled under a thick, woollen blanket on the squashy sofa, Marlene shivered even as Sirius' warm arms encircled her. She'd been at the Potters' house a matter of seconds but already she was clutching a steaming mug of hot chocolate and was warming up. Sirius was resting his chin on her shoulder and Marlene was incredibly grateful for his body warmth. The Potters were hovering around nervously, as were the rest of the Marauders, Lily and Mary.
"You okay?" Sirius mumbled and Marlene nodded slightly.
"I'm okay, Sirius honestly..."
Mrs. Potter was muttering to her husband but for now her fears could wait: Marlene was safe.

(9 hours earlier)

The tawny owl flapped steadily across the inky sky until it reached the red-brick manor, set back from the road by a winding drive. Arriving over the grounds, it set off a series of intruder charms that alerted the people sleeping restlessly inside. Dawn wasn't far off and the horizon was glowing with the prescience of sunlight, flecks of golden light spraying the lower sky. The family stirred inside the house as Mr. Potter grumbled about 'bloody owls' and opened the front door to receive whatever parcel the bird was carrying. It didn't land on Mr. Potter's outstretched hand as predicted, but flashed past, attacking James who was standing sleepily behind him.

"Whoa," James yelled, eyes wide as he was startled awake.

It settled down once James took it and he extracted the letter from the owl's leg. Ruffling its feathers before taking off again, it vanished into the sunrise, leaving them all speechless.

"What did it give you, James?" Grace Potter said quietly.

They all turned to look at the envelope he was clutching, the red wax seal disturbingly familiar.

"I recognise that handwriting," Sirius slowly said, "That's from my brother."

James kept turning the letter over in his hands and Lily nudged his shoulder. "Go on, Potter, open it then!"

"I'm just worried about what it might contain," he admitted. Slowly, he peeled back the seal and carefully pulled out the letter. Reading it to himself, he gasped.

"Potter,
Josh McKinnon asked me to send this on to you. This isn't because I like you, or want to associate with you, it's because Marlene doesn't deserve this.
Regulus Black"

James kept rereading the letter and passed it to his mother who scanned it quickly. Inside the second envelope was another letter, in Josh's neat writing.

"James (and Black if you're there),

If you get this then Regulus has kept his word and sent it to you like I asked. We're in trouble. Well, Marlene is in trouble, anyway. Our aunt and uncle are insisting that she marry the Avery kid and when she refuses, Uncle hits her. I knew it wouldn't be good here, but I didn't expect this. I can't say more incase this is intercepted and I get Marls into even more trouble, just trust me, it's bad.

Please, if you can, get her out before they do anything irreparable.

Yours, Josh McKinnon"

"Shit," James shouted as Sirius wrenched the letter out of his hand and read it out loud. Everyone stopped muttering and stared at Sirius as he finished reading, horror painted on their faces.

"Married to Avery?" Mary said, "Why is that so bad? Not that I want her marrying him, but you seem to over react to it."

Sirius figured that now was the right time to explain what had happened to Marlene at the hands of Avery before he hit MacDonald or something similar.

"It was a month ago, or around about," Sirius started slowly, everyone's eyes - not just Mary's - fixed on him, "When she was still trying to get into trouble. Avery found her, and, well... He tried to, y'know, r-"

Mrs. Potter looked very disturbed and rested her hand on Sirius' shoulder, "Sirius, dear, we understand."

"If I hadn't been there..." he whispered, hanging his head.

She pulled him in for a hug but he swatted her away like he always did, having never really liked affectionate gestures.

"The question is, how are we getting Marlene out?" Lily piped up, looking around at the circle of her friends, a determined glint in her emerald eyes.

James grinned at her and saluted, "Well said, Evans."

Mr. Potter spoke up: "I can call in some of my friends at the Ministry."

"No, love, keep the Ministry out of it," his wife warned.

"We can help!" Mary said enthusiastically, bouncing up and down.

Lily nodded, "Yes, please let us help!"

They all clamoured to join in, and after a silent conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Potter, they both sighed.

"Fine, but you have to ask your parents for permission," Mrs. Potter said.

They so rolled their eyes but agreed to the one condition, knowing full well that they wouldn't say anything to their parents and would just lie about it.

The 'rescue' was set for the next day, after eating, and all of them were up early and eating breakfast before 6 o'clock rolled around. Lily, Peter, James and Remus were quiet with nervousness whereas Mary was excited to be doing something to help and Sirius was burning with quiet anger. Ever since they had received the letter from Regulus he had been torn between wanting to thank him and wanting to throttle him – he always had conflicting emotions towards his brother and this wasn't helping.

Crowding into the hallway, Harold Potter took charge of the excitable teenagers and quieted them down.

"Right if you're coming with me, you need to listen exactly to what I say."

"What about Mum?" James asked, frowning.

"I'm staying here for when you silly lot come back. If you get hurt..." she said, smiling nervously.
Harold and Grace Potter, having raised an energetic James and then Sirius too, were used to cuts and bruises and weren't too concerned about that part of the adventure but were concerned that someone would purposely be trying to hurt the children.

"We won't, Mrs. Potter," Remus said reassuringly.

"Yes, well, you'd better be going," she replied, prodding her husband's shoulder to encourage him to get moving.

"Goodbye, dear," he said lovingly and kissed her cheek, "We won't be long."

They all - including Mr. Potter - grinned at the prospect of using some magic on the people who had hurt Marlene.

Only Mr. Potter could apparate (or would admit to being able to - the Marauders all could, having taught themselves a few months ago during the summer holidays), so they were taken by sidelong apparition, James and Lily first, then Mary and Sirius and finally Peter and Remus. Once they were all there, they ducked behind the tall, for hedge and squatted as Mr. Potter filled them in on the plan he had devised the night before with Mrs. Potter occasionally giving her input.

"Right, James and I, being fairly respectable Purebloods will go to the door and inquire about Marlene. Mary and Lily, I personally think you should stay out of sight and-"

The girls started to protest but Harold stopped them.

"Of course I can't make you listen to me, but you are Muggleborns and while I respect you immensely, Mr. and Mrs. Avery will not. If you insist on going - which you seem to be - you'll be going with Sirius, Peter and Remus to find Marlene if they don't agree to let her come home with us."

James nodded, "Yeah, if talking doesn't work - which I doubt it will - we'll leave which is your cue to sneak to the back and get her out."

They all agreed to the plan, and Harold and James apparated to the front door and rapped sharply. A house elf scurried to the door.

"Yes sirs, how my I help?"

"Can we speak to Mr. and Mrs. Avery, please?" Mr. Potter said politely.

The scruffy, malnourished house elf trotted back down the dark hallway and turned off into a perpendicular corridor.

James and Harold didn't talk while they waited: they were both too tense for a mindless conversation and instead they chose to wait in silence. Eventually when the house elf's pattering footsteps returned with the Averys, Mr. Potter coughed to clear his throat and extended his hand for Algernon to shake.

He didn't shake it.

"What are you doing here?" Algernon said coldly, squaring his shoulders.

Mr. Potter ignored the insulting tone and looked the other man straight in the eye, "I'm here about Marlene, your niece."

"I know who Marlene is," he replied, raising an eyebrow, "What about her exactly?"

Mathilda stayed quiet, choosing to glare at the Potters.

"We're concerned because she was meant to arrive at our house yesterday and she's not," he said firmly, looking at the couple in front of him warningly.
Mathilda spoke up for the first time, "Marlene is perfectly fine, thank you for your concern."

"Bull shit," James spat and Mr. Potter gave him a warning look.

"Son, watch it..."

"Sorry," James muttered as both the other adults looked shocked.

Algernon spoke up again, hand on the door knob, ready to close the door, "I don't know what you're insinuating, Mr. Potter, but I don't like it. Please leave my grounds and do not attempt to contact the children under my guardianship again."

"Mr. Avery," Harold said carefully, "If you have-"

"Are you suggesting we've harmed Marlene?" Mathilda interrupted, pretending to look shocked and upset, like any caring relative would.

"No but..."

James zoned out and looked behind him to get the others' attention, who were still hiding behind the tall hedge, and tell them to move while the Averys were distracted. It was clear that their attempt at diplomacy wasn't working in the slightest, and they needed to act quickly if they wanted to get Marlene out of the house safely.
Sirius saw James' quick glance and nudged Remus, who nudged Peter, who passed it on to Mary and Lily at the end of the line. They had agreed to let Sirius do the magic as he was over age and didn't have the Trace on him any more. And because he seemed the most relaxed about breaking into someone's house and re-kidnapping their friend.
Sneaking around the side of the garden, keeping well below the top of the thick, low hedge, they crept around until they reached the back of the house.

James saw them go and muttered out of the corner of his mouth to his father: "Keep them talking."

His father nodded and continued to respond to the Averys' questions and retorts, and James continued to watch as the heads of his friends disappeared behind the wall of the house before turning back to the increasingly heated conversation.

Sirius led the way, having been the house once before a few years before for a dinner party. He waved them over to the back door, and Remus whispered to him the spell to boycott the security charms. After a few times he got it right and the metal lock slid open and the door clicked back revealing a dark pantry with house elves scuttling about in between the cupboards and shelves. The group slipped in one by one and luckily the house elves were too busy to take notice of them. Silent as they tiptoed past the hallway, Sirius smirking and waving at James who rolled his eyes, Lily poking him to remind him to behave, Remus directed them up the stairs, whispering under his breath. Despite her ministrations to Sirius, Lily couldn't help but smile reassuringly at James.

Once the group were upstairs, they split up to search the many corridors: Lily and Sirius took the left corridor, Remus and Mary took the right leaving Peter to keep watch at the stairs and to give a signal (a creak of a door) if Mathilda and Algernon left the argument and started to walk back inside because then the young Gryffindors would have to evacuate with or without Marlene. They hoped desperately that they would leave with Marlene and not have to leave her after getting so close: it was unlikely they would get a second chance.

The corridors seemed to stretch on forever, but luckily Remus and Lily had been quick to point out that they only needed to check rooms with locks or traces of magic on them. Pushing on every door to check if it was unlocked or not, they moved along slowly taking time to be thorough. Lily and Sirius had gone down half of their corridor when they heard a creak from the stairs and froze in horror.

"False alarm," Peter hissed as quietly as possible, "Sorry!"

Sirius rolled his eyes and tried the next door: locked.

"Marlene?" he murmured, hoping for anything but silence. Unfortunately there was no reply and the pair moved on to the next room.

On the other side of the house, Remus and Mary were moving a bit quicker and were having a bit more success; the door they had just tried was both locked and had traces of magical spells on the door handle, which Remus identified as locking spells.

Resting her head on the thick, mahogany door, Mary called quietly: "Marls, darling, are you there?"

There was a hasty shuffling of someone getting off a bed then a few seconds of silence before a reply came.

"M-Mary?" the voice said, cracking painfully after days without use.

"Marlene, yes, thank fuck," Mary said, relieved, and turned to Remus. "Remus, get her out!"

"Okay, go and get the others quietly while I unlock this door."

The tiny blonde nodded and rushed off back down the corridor to get the others.

Remus turned back to the door and took out his wand, pointing it at the polished, worn doorknob that had seen better days.

"Marlene can you just stand back for me?" Remus asked and heard her shuffling backwards, "Great, thanks."

Muttered spells tumbled out of his mouth as if he were reading straight from the text book and soon enough, like before, the door swung open of its own accord, the lift from the revealed window opposite framing the thin figure of Marlene. By this point, Mary had fetched everyone else and they were crowded around the doorway. Sirius pushed to the front and was the first to step inside.

The room was spotless apart from the bed, which was made but had clearly been slept on. The blinds were shut, leaving the room cloaked in darkness and shadows, hiding Marlene's state. That was probably why she had done it.

Standing only a few meters from the disheveled girl, her friends could infer a lot: for one, even in the short space of time she had been confined her she had lost a lot of weight, and her previously athletic body just looked starved; you could also tell she had cried and wailed and protested to her aunt and uncle's regime as her eyes were red from crying, mascara smudged and stained underneath her turquoise eyes; and finally they could tell that being locked up like a wild animal had been driving her insane as there were dents in the wood on the floor and scratches on her bare arms where she had clawed at herself in frustration. Added to this were the multicoloured bruises littered over her arms and legs, some turning yellow, some still an angry purple.

Simultaneously they gasped and pushed forwards but Marlene room a step back.

"If... If you're going to pity me you can get the fuck out," Marlene said grimly, pointing a finger at each of them in turn, and making eye contact.

They shifted guiltily and she rolled her eyes at them.

"Can we just get out of here?" she said, speaking again, her voice much weaker as she shivered.

Lily pushed last the seemingly frozen Sirius and launched herself at Marlene, clinging to her, "I missed you, Marls."

Marlene choked out a sob as they surrounded her for a group hug.

Creak.

"The signal," Mary whispered, warm brown eyes wide open in fear, "They're on their way back..."

"Shit," Sirius swore and grabbed Marlene's hand, pulling her out of the door.

Lily and Mary stopped only to grab some things of the bedside table, like a picture of Marlene's family before they were killed, before rushing out too.

Down the stairs, abandoning caution, past the hall, heads turning, angry held after them, they fled, only pausing as the jets of light swooshed past their ears and exploded in a crackle of sparks.

"Where's Josh?" Marlene panted as they dashed into the pantry, "Where is he?"

They all stopped, faces masks of horror.

"Fucking hell," Sirius swore again, "I'll get him, where is he?"

"You /forgot/ h-"

"Where is he?"

"Left corridor, last door on the right," Marlene said quickly as Sirius passed her over to Lily and nodded before disappearing back into the hall. More yells and hexes followed him up the stairs.

Lily encouraged Marlene to follow her out of the back door however she didn't need much encouragement as her uncle's livid rage reached her ears.

James appeared at the back door and dragged them out, "We need to go /now/! Dad's trying to get to Sirius before they hurt him but we /need/ to leave!"

"James, the Trace," Lily started.

"Doesn't matter, this is a Pureblood house, the Ministry won't be able to tell," James explained furiously, "Remus, you're good at apparating, you take Marls and Pete, I'll grab Mary and Lily. Just outside my house, okay? Dad can get Padfoot and Josh."

"I'm not leaving without-"

"Yes you are, Marlene," James retorted as he caught Lily and Mary's wrists and twisted away into space.

Remus also didn't give her time to argue as he grabbed her shoulder and Peter's under they too apparated away, Marlene's outstretched hand reaching towards the back door.

Meanwhile, Sirius was blasting open the door Marlene had described, not caring that the dark, expensive wood was now charred and battered.

"Come on, McKinnon," he snarled, pushing the younger boy out of the room and down to where James' father was on the verge of having to duel the irate Algernon Avery.

"Mr. Avery, I assure you I didn't-"

"DON'T LIE TO ME, POTTER," he roared, "WHAT WERE THISE KIDS DOING HERE?"

"Dad," Sirius called lightly, arm around Josh's shoulder, "We're ready to go."

"YOU!" Algernon growled, jabbing his wand towards Sirius, "You little blood-traitor, what are you doing? I've a good mind to hex you until you scream and show you what will happen to bastards like you."

"Touch my son and I /will/ lay you out on this floor," Harold Potter said coldly, a deadly glint in his eye. "Sirius, have the others gone?"
He nodded, "Just us left."

"Good," Harold nodded and stood in between Josh and Sirius, a shaking hand on either of the boys' shoulders, "Let's go then."
Before either of the remaining people, Mathilda and Algernon, could react, they were gone leaving terrified house elves, blasted walls and a murderous man in their wake.

Arriving back at the Potter Manor, James hurried Lily and Mary inside and Remus appeared with Marlene and Peter. Another minute passed before Mr Potter, Sirius and a tired Josh apparated into the doorstep. Mrs Potter, who had been waiting nervously all morning, dashed outside with her greying hair falling out of its usually neat bun.

"Oh there you are!" she said relieved, pulling her husband and sons into a tight embrace before moving on to hug the others.

Ushering them all inside, she exchanged a look with Mr Potter who seemed deeply concerned. She followed his gaze to the broken Marlene who was at curled up on the sofa, arms pulling her knees to her chest as she stared at the wall opposite. James and Lily were fussing over her like mother hens and soon she was looking more settled.
Huddled under a thick, woolen blanket on the squashy sofa, Marlene shivered even as Sirius' warm arms encircled her. She'd been at the Potters' house a matter of seconds but already she was clutching a steaming mug of hot chocolate and was warming up. Sirius was resting his chin on her shoulder and Marlene was in extremely grateful for his body warmth. The Potters were hovering around nervously, as were the rest of the Marauders and Mary.

"You okay?" Sirius mumbled and Marlene nodded slightly.

"I'm okay, Sirius honestly..."

Mrs. Potter was muttering to her husband but for now her fears could wait: Marlene was safe.

Finally, she could laugh, smile and just live.

Finally, she was free of her family and the memories they brought up.

Finally, she could let herself love again.

In a matter of minutes, Marlene yawned widely, her exhausted eyes screwing shut as she did so. Pulling the blanket closer around herself, she relaxed slightly and leaned against Sirius, her head dropping into his shoulder. Content, she allowed her eyes to slide shut and her body to slip into the sleep it craved so desperately. Despite it only being about ten in the morning, Marlene was fast asleep as her body tried to catch up on the days and nights she had forced herself to stay awake, on guard.
Gathering Marlene carefully in his arms, Sirius stood up and looked to Mr and Mrs. Potter who were discussing something furiously in the corner of the living room.

"Mum, Dad, where should I take her?"

They stopped suddenly, as if only realising now that the teenagers could still hear them and Harold frowned slightly.

"We'll find a better place for her tomorrow, but seeing as none of the other guest bedrooms have been made up, James, could Marlene use your bed for tonight?"

James nodded at his mother, "Course she can. Padfoot, you take her up, we'll be along in a minute."

Holding her close against him, Sirius smiled sadly as he said goodnight to everyone and carried the slumbering Marlene up the stairs to James' room on the second floor. He tried to be as quiet as possible in order to avoid waking the shattered girl up, but he accidentally kicked the door open and winced as it slammed against the wall. Luckily, Marlene only stirred slightly and tightened her grip around his neck.

They reached the bed without any more calamities and Sirius lay her down on the soft mattress, gently peeling her hands off him. Tugging the snuggly, red and gold duvet back over her, Sirius pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead before stepping back.

"Goodnight, Marlene, I'm glad you're safe."

As he turned to leave for the door, Sirius realised that he couldn't leave her, not now, and he stalled. Halted, he span back around and gazed at her, her pale face pinched in pain in the eerie moonlight. He couldn't abandon her; striding back over, he seated himself at the side of the bed, head about in line with her shoulders, crossed his legs and closed his eyes. After that, he had no concept of falling asleep, or of anyone coming to check on Marlene and being surprised to see Sirius (and the giggles and gasps that followed that discovery), he just remembered the regular, comforting pattern of their breathing and the familiar sounds of home.

It was the next morning before either Sirius or Marlene woke up, although Sirius was awake well before the girl next to him.

Next to him?!

He opened his eyes, snapping awake, and sat bolt upright: somehow, he had managed to end up on the narrow bed next to Marlene, so close he could make out the faint freckles on her nose and the way her nostrils flared as she breathed out. Scrambling backwards, Sirius toppled off James' bed in shock, frantically hoping that no one had walked in on that. He checked that he was fully dressed – he was – before running his hand through his tangled black hair. Sirius knew he couldn't be seen like that, so he sent a quick look at the peacefully sleeping Marlene pushed a strand of knotted hair off her lips which made him shiver, and exited the room quietly, sneaking back to his own room two doors down the corridor.

A few hours later, the rest of the house woke up and Mrs. Potter started to organize the house elves to prepare breakfast while Mr. Potter went around the bedrooms waking everyone up.

James had taken the sofa in the room Remus and Peter were sharing as Marlene was in the bed in his normal bedroom. She was the last to be woken up as they all knew she desperately needed all the rest she could get. Eventually, however, when Mrs. Potter called them in for breakfast James was sent to wake her up.

Shaking her gently awake, James grinned down at her as he pushed his glasses back up his nose.

"Morning, Marls, do you know you've slept for almost 24 hours straight? Sirius is damn lazy and even he can't manage that."

Marlene replied with a very unattractive grunt and tried to push James away; he grabbed the duvet and dragged it off her. She curled up instinctively against the sudden cold and blinked sleepily.

Laughing, James threw her some transfigured clothes and left her to get changed, "You know where the bathroom is. Hurry up though, Mum's made pancakes and you don't want to miss out."

That definitely got her moving and she scrambled off the bed in a bundle of blankets limbs onto the floor before stripping down and stripping on the fresh clothes. Marlene sighed with pleasure: it wasn't that she didn't have access to clean clothes at her aunt and uncle's house, it was just that she had been too busy trying to escape and yelling at the door to remember to change.

She showered quickly, reveling in the hot water, and crept downstairs to the large, homely kitchen and saw everyone crowded around the long, worn, wooden table. Hovering by the door, she smiled to herself as she saw James and Sirius fighting over a pancake.

Lily looked up and beamed at her, bright eyes twinkling, "Marlene, finally awake! Come on and join us before these two pigs eat all the pancakes."

Disgruntled, Sirius and James started protesting as Marlene sat down carefully on a chair between Remus and James. Remus have her a warm smile and James continued to argue, Lily looking on in amusement. Handing a plate full of steaming pancakes to Marlene, Mrs. Potter smiled too, making Marlene feel at ease. She ate quickly and quietly, fully aware of the many pairs if eyes on her, and was soon finished. Stuffed, she leaned back and glanced around at them, and they all quickly – and badly – tried to pretend they hadn't been watching her. She rolled her eyes and pushed back her chair to leave.

"Where are you going?" James demanded, stopping debating with Sirius opposite for a second to call after her.

"I'm going to sleep…"

"Nu-huh," Mary grinned, "No you're not."

Remus rolled his eyes at the excitable Mary, "We're Christmas decorating!"

A smile twitched at the corner of Marlene's mouth, which turned into a massive grin and James whisked her onto his back and gave her a piggy-back into the living room, the others trailing behind Throwing her unceremoniously onto the well-cushioned sofa, James chuckled at her shriek of delight and he poked her stomach too.

"We were waiting for you, you can sleep now."

Marlene sat up and smiled gently at James, "Thanks, Jamesie. And to all of you, thank you for coming to get me."

Lily sniffed and wiped her eyes furiously, "I am not going to cry, I am not going to cry, I am not going to cr-"

She threw herself at Marlene and hugged her tightly, making Marlene giggle.

"I love you Lily," Marlene laughed.

Lily just mumbled in reply.

Sirius was bored of the 'mushy stuff' already and clapped his hands together to draw their attention, "Alright, what do we start with?"

"The tree!" Remus yelled.

"Decorations!" Mary and Peter shouted.

"Marls," James interrupted, "What do you want to start with?"

She grinned, "Oh, you have to start with the tree, isn't that a rule?"

They all laughed and flung open the massive trunk of decorations and began the long – but incredibly fun – task of decorating the Potter Manor ready for Christmas.

They were two hours in when the carols started.

James, of course, was first to belt out a few awful verses of a Muggle carol, but soon all four of the Marauders – even Peter who had been coerced by Sirius. Mary, Lily and Marlene were in fits of giggles and Marlene was crying with laughter, tears streaming down her cheeks as she watched them attempt 'Silent Night'.

Once they had finished, to the relief of Mrs. Potter who had watched form the door with a mixture of amusement and horror, they collapsed onto the sofa, half squishing the girls.
Lily shrieked as James sat on her, "Potter, get off you heavy lump!"

James sniggered and just shuffled around as Lily's arms flailed wildly.

Grinning, Sirius got out his wand and waved it, muttering under his breath. Then he stopped and pulled Marlene closer to whisper in her ear. "Keep watching…"

She raised an eyebrow but did as she was instructed; nothing happened for the first few seconds and she was about to tell Sirius he had done something wrong when two stumps started sprouting from the top of James' scruffy head, slowly and majestically growing into a full pair of antlers, bedecked in tinsel and baubles too.

Lily slowly stopped yelling and started to curl up, clutching her sides as she laughed.

Bewildered, James turned his head and heard the jangle of the many decorations on his head, "Padfoot, what have you done?"

Mary fell off the sofa at James' angry expression, gasping for breath, "James, James, you're a reindeer!"

He caught sight of himself in the mirror opposite and quickly cracked up laughing, "No, not a reindeer, a stag am I right? Subtle, Sirius."

"To hell with subtlety, it's Christmas!" Peter piped up, his mousy face glowing with happiness.

Everyone cheered and James jangled his antlers, the Marauders just about managing not to die laughing at the odd sight.

"Marlene can I have a word?" The sound of Mrs. Potter's serious voice cut through their raucous laughter and they all fell silent.

Marlene nodded and pushed Sirius away so she could get off the sofa. Walking over slowly, she cast one confused look behind her as she left.
Grace Potter was old for the mother of a 16 (almost 17) year old, and looked old for her age as it was. Her hair, which had been gloriously auburn in her youth, had gone prematurely grey from raising one – then two – energetic boys but it wasn't her appearance that made you love her. Everything she did was for the benefit of others, and the only job he had ever wanted to do was being a Healer which she had been for almost 30 years: Marlene wasn't too worried about what might occur as she knew Mrs. Potter wouldn't deliberately hurt or upset her.

Grace shut the living room door firmly and smiled at Marlene, "You're not in trouble, dear, I just wanted to check your injuries."

"I haven't got any-"

"Marlene, we all saw them. I didn't do anything yesterday because you were so tired, but I can heal them now if you want?"

Marlene hesitated, unsure for a moment, but then reached for her her jumper and pulled it off quickly, revealing the hard skin on her arms and the violent bruises that clung there.

Mrs. Potter didn't flinch when she saw them as she was used to injuries as a Healer, and just got her wand out, falling each one lightly and whispering the needed spells under her breath. Each time the spell worked, Marlene would let out a quiet hiss before the pain subsided and the bruise seemed to be soaked up like a solo he of ink being a few minutes of quiet, punctuated only by Marlene's regular hisses and Grace's calm mutters, all the visible bruises were Potter straightened up and smiled gently at Marlene who was tugging her Christmas jumper back on.

"There you are, dear. If there are any more, just let me know and I'll sort them out."

Marlene sighed, grateful that the irritating twinges of pain from the marks were gone now, "Thank you, Mrs. Potter."

"Grace," she corrected, "You've known me too long for 'Mrs. Potter'."

"Grace then," Marlene repeated with a small to go, she out her hand on the door knob and the sounds of Sirius growling and the others' laughter reached her ears. It brought a smile to her face as she listened for a moment. Lightly, Mrs. Potter placed a hand on Marlene's shoulder and turned her back around.

"Marlene," she started carefully, with what seemed to be a smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth, "Is anything going on between you and Sirius?"

"What? No! Of course not!" Marlene responded a little /too/ quickly.

"Hmmm... In which case, while there may not be anything for you, Sirius definitely feels something for you. Be careful, Marlene, don't hurt him. If he trusts you enough to like you like that, it'll hit him very hard if you're not tactful."

Marlene smile faded away as Grace spoke and she hung her head, "I don't want to hurt him."

"I know, I know, but despite what you might think, despite the act he puts on, there's a lot of scars on him - he doesn't deserve another one, and nor do you."

And on that note she gave Marlene a motherly smile before gliding away, leaving her speechless.

As soon as Marlene had left the room, Lily had turned to Mary and Peter with a wicked grin, rubbing her hands together with glee.

"It's time I think, Peter, bring out the secret weapon!"

Mary was confused for a minute before a knowing look spread across her face and she giggled. Peter, who was generally forgotten about, had a mischievous smile on his face as he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. James, Sirius and Remus looked on in pride as they saw how Marauder-esque he looked.

Mary was about wetting herself as Peter unfolded the parchment and passed it to Remus. He looked at it for a moment before exploding into laughter and grinning wildly at Sirius before handing it to James.

James also beamed and ruffled Sirius' hair, "I didn't know you had it in you, mate!"

Sirius himself was utterly perplexed and made a Manitoba to grab the paper but Lily snatched it back and tucked it into her pocket.

"Oh no, you're not getting it just yet, Padfoot," Peter sniggered, winking at James and Remus who were clutching each other to stay upright.

You see, the previous night, Mary, Lily and Peter had stayed awake talking (mainly because the girls had realised that they knew nothing about Peter) until very late, and when they finally headed upstairs, Lily had poked her head into James' room to check on Marlene.

Marlene had been fine however Lily had definitely not expected to see Sirius Black curled up next to her. Squealing, she had grabbed the others and they too had been shocked. Peter had then proceeded to run and fetch his camera and take a snapshot of the sleeping couple while Lily and Mary grinned and grinned.

That photo was what they had just passed around; it was a Wizarding photo, but neither of the sleeping teenagers moved much in the photo, it was simply evidence of what had happened the night before.

Irritated that he hadn't seen whatever it was, Sirius made a lunge for Lily's pocket and wrestled the picture off her. Retreating back to his spot by the fire, he unfolded it and stared at it in horror. He looked I'm sharply and glared at Peter, who was still sniggering, and growled.

"What the fuck, Wormtail?"

James rolled his eyes at Sirius.

"Padfoot, aren't you just adorable when you're asleep?" he teased and Sirius growled again.

Deciding to join in the fun, Remus spoke up slyly, "I bet you had a good night's sleep..."

Snorting with laughter, Lily managed to speak without giggling, "That is, if they did much sleeping..."

Everyone exploded into loud laughter that hurt their sides while Sirius flushed tomato-red through a combination of anger and embarrassment. He shoved the picture deep into his pocket and vowed to burn it as soon as he was alone.

The days rolled by in a haze of friendship and laughter, light teasing and far too much chocolate when suddenly it hit them that it was Christmas Eve. Lily, Msty, Peter and Remus were leaving the next day after presents and breakfast to send Christmas with their respective families and after a short discussion, everyone decided to sleep together in the living room before waking early and exchanging presents. Harold and Grace happily agreed to the plan and transfigured sleeping bags in various colours for them all.

Once everyone had arranged the sleeping bags in a loose circle (subtly placing Marlene and Sirius next to each other) they curled up with bags of sweets and just chatted, enjoying the calm atmosphere. Marlene had nearly recovered physically but mentally she was still damaged: while everyone else was talking she would pull her legs up to her chest and stare at the wall, eyes loaded with emotion. She needed something to wake her up from the cycle of depression, and that something was coming sooner than they realized.

Sirius would nudge her and she would turn to look at him, smile slightly, and join the conversation for a few minutes before drifting off again. No one pushed her, they just tried to keep her grounded and attempted to stop her mind wandering.

The hours passed slowly, then all at once, the conversation never faltering as they talked ad ate; one by one, they dropped off to sleep, Peter and Remus first, then Mary and James, until finally Lily mumbled goodnight leaving half asleep Marlene with the wide awake Sirius.

Marlene was lying down, eyes only half open, with her blonde, messy waves spread across the pillow and onto the carpet. She was looking at Sirius sleepily who happened to be looking back, head tilted to one side like a curious puppy. Exhausted, her eyes slid shut and she let out a content sigh.

Leaning over impulsively, Sirius zipped her sleeping back up and pressed a fleeting kiss to her forehead.

"Merry Christmas, Marlene," he whispered, and she smiled in her sleep as he pulled away and fell asleep next to her.