Chapter 16 - Wait No More

Hey there! SO, I think this is my second chapter in less than a month, are you proud of me? I'm proud of myself. There are a few bits I'm not particularly happy with in this chapter, but I really really wanted to upload today, so voila! Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year (I know I did) and I wish you all the best 2014 possible.

Also, I'm on 93 reviews now, and I would absolutely die with happiness if I reached 100 with this chapter… Please? *flutters eyelashes* Okay, get on and reaaaad!

- PIAM3

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise!

I learned to live half alive,

And now you want me one more time,

Who do you think you are?

- Christina Perri, Jar of Hearts

Dreams of a white Christmas came true on the morning of Christmas Day 1976 as the group of Gryffindors woke to a wintery welcome, the snow blanketing everything outside. It was late, the sun was already rising, its shadows twisting and dancing as it climbed higher into the sky. The snow seemed to be decorated with miniscule crystals, finely polished and glistening in the winter sun. James was the first to wake and whooped loudly when he saw the massive pile of presents crowded underneath the fir tree in the corner.

His whooping woke up most of the others and Lily, Remus and Mary sat up yawning and stretching; Sirius, Peter and Marlene slept on, but even though they weren't doing anything exciting, it was Sirius and Marlene that caught their attention: during the night, their sleeping bags (which had been strategically situated next to each other by the others) had got even closer and Marlene's blonde head was pressed against Sirius' chest, that was rising and falling as he snored lightly. His hands weren't quite around her, they were just next to her as if he had wanted to hold her but just hadn't dared to. Marlene herself was smiling ever so slightly in her sleep and she shuffled even closer to Sirius subconsciously as she sighed happily.

None of them had seen anything like it and were shocked and amazed. Neither Sirius or Marlene were particularly affectionate people and to see them so vulnerable and comfortable together was a shock to the system; it was like seeing a lion purring or wolf play fetch – you knew it could happen but never thought you would see it. It seemed so wrong and yet so natural at the same time.

Leaning over, Remus shook Peter awake and pointed to Marlene and Sirius cuddled up. Blinking blearily, Peter got up and fumbled for his camera. Once he had got it out of his over night bag, he snapped the picture and printed it carefully, flapping it to dry the wet ink before passing it around to the others. The black and white forms of Marlene and Sirius looked so peaceful in the photo as they moved closer to each other, smiling in their sleep.

"Brilliant, we can use this to blackmail them in the future!" James said happily, tucking the photo into Peter's bag for safekeeping.

Lily just rolled her eyes and moved to wake them up. "Oi, you two, wake up! Present time!"

Sirius jolted awake before looking up at Lily then across at Marlene, scrambling away, "Shit, what was I-?"

Lily giggled, "You looked adorable!"

"I don't do adorable. And this shouldn't be happening, this can't happen," Sirius insisted, resisting the temptation to push the blonde strands of hair off Marlene's face.
Marlene woke up slowly and felt his comforting warmth shift away, mumbling incoherently and grabbing his arm.

"Sirius," she muttered, still half asleep.

Frowning, Mary watched as Sirius shook her off, steadily turning pink from embarrassment.

Once she was awake enough to realise what she was doing, she yelped and immediately let go of his arm and pulled away, glaring at him.

"Okay who put me next to Sirius and who made us… do that?"

Lily snorted with laughter, "You did that, not us."

Luckily Grace and Harold entered the room at that moment, saving Sirius and Marlene from further embarrassment, although they all kept chuckling.

"Right, who's ready for presents?" Harold cheered, clapping his hands together, and laughed as they all attacked the pile of presents willingly.

Wrapping paper flew everywhere and screams of delight could be heard from everyone as the long awaited presents were revealed: everyone had clubbed together to get one present each but because of that the presents were exactly what the person wanted.

James got a pair of mirrors which puzzled him at first but the Marauders said they would explain later and a box of all new Fire-Forks (designed to be placed at the table and explode on contact); Remus had got a new gold Gobstones set and a book on werewolves (no one but the boys got it); Peter got a set of Muggle Beatles records; and Sirius got a glorious leather jacket that immediately put on, grinning madly.

On the other hand, Lily had been given a set of advanced spell books (the others had just sighed when she told them that), Mary acquired a pair of glittering crimson high heels, identical to ones her favourite Muggle film character wore, and Marlene unwrapped a box filled with 40 galleon coins. She was slightly confused but Lily jumped in to explain.

"We couldn't get your wand back from your aunt and uncle's house, and /we/ couldn't buy you one – the wand chooses the wizard and all – so we got you the money for a new one. Is it okay?"

Marlene grinned madly and tackled her friend onto the sofa, "Best present ever!"

"You don't mind about your old wand, then?" Mary checked.

"Nah, new start, new wand."

Those with families back home left after breakfast with promises to write and plenty of tight hugs, but as soon as the front doors were shut, James turned to Sirius and Marlene with a mischievous smirk.

"How much trouble can we get up to in a week, d'ya reckon?"

Sirius clapped him on the back, "Oh plenty, Prongsie, don't worry."

Marlene groaned, "Oh Merlin save me."

"You love me really," both the boys said at once, smirking in a way only the Marauders could.

"After six years, that still scares me."

They turned and raced back into the manor, chuckling, Marlene working to hide her light blush when Sirius turned back and winked at her.

After lunch, Mr and Mrs Potter, James, Sirius and Marlene all apparated into Diagon Alley for some late holiday shopping. The teenagers were heading to Ollivander's to buy Marlene's new wand while the Potters wandered around, before both groups met back up for lunch at a little Muggle café they knew of.

James and Sirius slipped back into their usual joking friendship, which Marlene just had to laugh at. Pushing and shoving each other as they sauntered down the mains street, their laughter rang through the crooked alleys. Behind them, Marlene shook her head in amusement and then shrieked as they turned to her with identical grins, grabbed one her arms each and proceeded to drag her along the street towards the famous wand shop.

"We warned you about being slow," James called, pulling Marlene into his arms, "Pads, get her legs!"

Hoisting Marlene higher, he threw her over his shoulder while Sirius wrapped his arms around her ankles and they carried her along like two Muggle builders carrying a ladder. Marlene yelled loudly but stopped protesting when she realised they wouldn't drop her.

Attracting many curious stares as they moved down Diagon Alley in that particular fashion, they arrived at Ollivander's Wand Shop in no time.

Mr Ollivander himself greeted tem as he shut the door before turning to the trio.

"So, Mr Black, Mr Potter, Miss McKinnon, which one of you am I serving today?"

"Me," Marlene said quickly, stepping forwards.

Ollivander nodded and gave her a half bow before disappearing into the labyrinth of shelves. James was watching him with interest, having always been fascinated at how the wand chose the wizard, while Sirius leaned against the front desk, hands deep in his jeans pockets. Marlene was trying not to watch him, and instead was determinedly staring out of the window. Eventually, after a few tense minutes of silence interspersed with mumbles from Ollivander, he emerged carrying a whole handful of wand boxes.

"Ah, Miss McKinnon, try this one first please: 9 inches, dogwood, supple."

She took it, eager to get her wand and go, and swished it around. Somewhere behind her, the window smashed violently, making them all jump and leap for cover, James throwing up a quick shield to stop them being hit by the razor sharp shards of glass.. Taking the wand back quickly, Ollivander placed it back in its box, "No, no!"

James stopped the shield spell and fixed the window before anyone else got hurt and turned back to watch his friend try the second wand.

"Hmmm… Holly, dragon heart string, 10 inches, good for Charms."

More cautious this time, Marlene picked it up gingerly and gave it a tiny wave. The dusty fireplace roared into life, belching smoke and fumes, sending them all into fits of coughing and wheezing, backing away from the fire in an attempt to escape. Marlene dropped the wand like it had burned her, and the inferno died down immediately,

"No, no, /definitely/ not," Ollivander gasped through the smoke and snatched the wand away and vanished the smoke.

Sirius couldn't help but laugh, but was silenced b a furious glare from Marlene.

"Third time lucky, maybe? This one's a rare one – not many wands were made with silver birch. A very unusual combination when you factor in the unicorn hair and only 8 inches of length. It's a wand for a /powerful/ witch or wizard, but judging by the reaction from the wands that didn't work you have the ability to be a very powerful witch, Miss McKinnon."

Ollivander held the light wand box out to the now nervous Marlene and she slid the textured lid off to reveal the milky wood of the wand, streaked with silver and a pale, misty grey where the wood had been weathered. Winding its way around the handle were a series of vines, perfectly engraved and overlapping in a way that reminded Marlene of the way ivy had grown on her parents' house. Nearer the tip of the wand were leaves, unfurling from the vein-like stems, so realistically se expected them to grow off the wood.

The wand seemed to emit moonlight, and energy pulsed around it, whether from a reaction to Marlene or simply the power of it.

She desperately wanted this to be her wand, and somehow she knew it was; Marlene had an inexplicable urge to hold it, to own such fragile beauty. Her fingers were trembling as she carefully lifted it out of the padded case and held it in her left hand.

"Give it a go, Marls," James whispered, shattering her thoughts.

Straightening up, she held it out at shoulder level and flicked in around in a lazy circle, too captivated to try a specific spell. She wasn't focussing on one thing in particular, but the wand seemed to be.

Sirius was smiling softly at her, having noticed how much she loved the wand. As she smiled back, the wand seemed to love in her hand and cast a warm, golden glow like a candle in a dark room. His eyes widened and she laughed, the glow changing with her mood, transforming from candle-light to sunlight, illuminating the whole gloomy room.

"Yes, this is your wand," Ollivander muttered and hobbled over, "Good Merlin, this is your wand, Miss McKinnon."

She breathed a massive sigh of relief, barely being able to believe it was /hers/, it had chosen /her/; she held the pale wand close to her chest in something close to reverence.

The rest of it didn't matter: she paid, she was guided outside by James and Sirius, all the while clutching her wand and walking around in a daze.

That is, until Sirius noticed what was written on the posters plastered on almost every free wall in the place.

In a matter of seconds his face had gone from boyish enthusiasm to sullen withdrawal and he stopped talking mid-sentence. Almost involuntarily he clenched his fists and clenched up.

Worried, Marlene approached him cautiously and poked his arm to grab his attention. He looked up, eyes dark,

"A-Are you okay? Did I do anything?"

He shook his head and turned back to the direction they were walking.

"Sirius," she said more firmly, "Look at me!"

James was hovering a few metres away, worried.

"What?" Sirius said reluctantly.

"Are you okay?" she repeated and caught his eye at last.

Sirius sighed and returned his gaze to the posters. Seeing where he was looking, she gripped his arm as she gasped.

"Shit, Sirius is that-?"

"Yes, that's my cousin," he spat, face twisted with bitterness.

On closer inspection, it was obvious who it was: Bellatrix Black, her raven black hair crazy as she leered at the camera, pale face gaunt and sunken. The black and white printing only highlighted her arrogant features and the snake like eyes, glaring out of the poser. Her sneer was cruel, ruthless: the person who had taken the photo had been killed afterwards, the poster said, do not approach for any reason.

"Sirius, I-"

"Leave it, McKinnon."

She tried not to feel offended by his interrupted and the cold use of her last name – even though she had slowly become used to being called Marlene it reminded her that her and Sirius were not friends. She might want to be friends, but that was a different matter; better to squash any emotions attached to him now before she got hurt.

New Year's Eve, 1976. The sense of excitement and dread permeated the air inmost households containing teenagers wanting to party and get drunk, and it was the same in the Potter household.

James and Sirius were buzzing with energy; Marlene not so much. The boys were running around owling the other half of the Marauders and trying to convince Marlene to actually go to the New Year's Party at the infamous Prewett twins' house. The twins were the year above the Marauders and were revered by the quartet for their mischievous as well as their partying side.

Their parties were almost and legendary as the party throwers, and this more than anything was what had attracted the boys that night, However there were multiple reasons for Marlene wanting to avoid the party: some of her bruises hadn't healed yet and still seemed to act like a beacon if she wore anything more revealing than a long sleeved t-shirt; she didn't have a dress anyway, due to the fact that all of her clothes had been moved to Algernon and Mathilda's house and were irretrievable; and she wasn't a mad fan of parties, seeing as something always seemed to happen to ruin the night.

Mrs Potter couldn't do anything about the third problem, but she definitely fixed the first two.

After James and Sirius had pleaded with her and agreed to do hours of chores (even though she had been planning on doing it anyway and just wanted to get some chores out of them) she agreed to pop to the Muggle part of London and procure a suitable dress for the occasion. She returned about and hour and a half before they needed to leave and passed the dress and a tube of cream to Marlene, winking.

"The dress is to wear, the cream will clear up the bruises – I borrow-stole it from work," Grace said with a mischievous smile that made Marlene wonder whether it was just his father that James got that trait from.

Marlene just stared after her, her respect for the woman increasing tenfold, as James dragged her upstairs and instructed her to get changed. Not wanting to seem ungrateful, and more than half of her worries gone, she felt she had to go so she got changed quickly, applied the cream and a bit of makeup to hide the bags under her eyes and went to check herself in the mirror.

Crimson and gold seemed to cling to her before flaring out like flames down to her knees, shots of gold woven into the deep red fabric and when she moved the whole dress shimmered like it was covered in a fine sheen of glitter, the main skirt of the dress moving so lightly it made Marlene feel like she was hovering. Was this why people liked dressing up? She felt amazing: she felt beautiful.

"You'd better be ready!" James yelled up, "Because me and Pads are leaving!"

She raced down the stairs after slipping on her black pumps and grinned at the boys who were wearing matching suits.

"Don't you two look adorable?" she teased, and James pretended to faint as he looked at her.

"Marlene, no, too pretty, back to your room you can't come with us," he joked, while Sirius watched with an unreadable expression, hands in his pockets.

Marlene didn't know what to make of the fact that Sirius was staring at her and occupied herself by ruffling James' hair and forcing him out of the front door. Brushing past Sirius, she felt his hand graze hers and a shot of electricity seemed to travel up her arm and down her spine.

They apparated together and walked up the pathway to the Prewetts' house the usual enchantments protecting the old house having been taken down for the evening. James reached out to knock on the door but it was opened before his knuckles made contact with the door and the roguishly good looking face of one of the twins appeared, his freckled face beaming, hazel eyes twinkling.

"Hullo," he said, smirking.

"Hey Prewett, which one are you?" James checked.

Marlene laughed and hugged Gideon, "It's Gid, obviously! He's got a freckle just above his lip and Fab hasn't."

"You two are friends?" Sirius asked, a curl of jealousy snaking through him.

"Oh the very best," Gideon Prewett said with a wink towards Marlene as he led them in.

"The Prewetts have always been family friends, me, Gid and Fab used to prank Molly while she flirted with Arthur!" Marlene explained, rolling her eyes at the memory.

"Which reminds me, Mum and Dad are hiding somewhere on the other side of the house, they won't bother us," he reassured the group as he pushed the old, worn door which could probably do with being replaced, to reveal an already crowded room with people from multiple houses and years milling around, bottles in the hand.

"Welcome to the party you lot, Marls!" the other half of the Prewett twins called from where he was lounging on the sofa.

"Hey, Fab!" Marlene called back, shaking her head in amusement.

He raised his bottle of Firewhisky to Sirius and James, and blew Marlene a kiss.

A few hours later, he might be on the verge of drunkenness, but that curl of jealousy had manifested itself into a fully-grown, mood killing emotion. The poison ivy of jealousy was slowly tightening around Sirius and suffocating his enjoyment.

It had started with the flirting – which was bad enough – but when one idiot suggested Truth or Dare, he knew it wasn't going to end well.

Problem was, no one else seemed to realise that.

They gathered in a large circle near the fireplace and the rules of the game were quickly decided upon ("Gotta have a go, forfeit's you gotta drink a whole bottle o' alcohol…")

"Who's going first?"

"I will," James slurred from next to Sirius who had rescued him from the grips of a girl wanting a snog with the brilliant James Potter.

Gideon grinned, "Truth or dare, Potter?"

"T-truth?" he said carefully.

"Boring," Sirius jeered, taking a sip of Firewhisky.

Everyone thought for a moment before a sixth year girl they vaguely recognised as Jessica Beatley piped up with a calculating look in her eyes, "Why do you go after Lily Evans all the time? She doesn't like you."

Lily, who had snuck in with Remus a little later went red with indignation anf folded her arms. Remus had offered her a lift to the party seeing as she wasn't of age yet and he lived fairly near by. Unfortunately an incident with Petunia screaming at 'filthy wizards invading the house' meant they had been late.

James grinned soppily, "Because she's loyal, and kind, and fiery, and passionate, and protective, and loving, and brilliant, and smart, and okay so the fact that's she's amazingly beautiful doesn't hurt either and she's-"

"I think that's enough," Sirius interrupted hastily when Lily spluttered at James, and he noticed and turned beetroot red, trying to act natural when he had just admitted all of that right in front of her.

"Uh, alright Evans?" he mumbled while Marlene clutched her sides as she laughed, waving at Lily and Remus in the corner,

"Prongs, let's move on. Ask someone…"

"Oi, Alice, truth or dare?"

"Ummmm, dare!" the round faced seventh year grinned, her Gryffindor side showing a bit now she'd had a few drinks.

They must have been playing for an hour, the requests getting more and more outrageous as the guests got more and more drunk. Sirius' jealous feeling was starting to die down a little more every time Marlene declined the dares to kiss people (instead just drinking more alcohol and consequently being far drunker than most people) but eventually she couldn't ignore the teasing and so when she chose dare and was challenged to kiss someone, she didn't attempt to protest or insist on the forfeit either. Everyone looked around in surprise when she flicked the bottle round and watched it intently. Spinning ever slower, she waited, biting her lip, hoping against all hopes that it didn't land on the dark haired, steel eyed boy to her left. Luckily for her, it didn't Unluckily for said boy, it ground to an agonising halt in front of Gideon.

He wiggled his eyebrows at Marlene and she grinned back. Someone wolf whistled while Gideon dived towards her and kissed her quickly.

As he pulled away, a voice called: "That wasn't a /kiss/!"

Marlene rolled her eyeliner-rimmed eyes and obliged the caller by pulling Gideon towards her and kissing him, fuelled by the alcohol in her system.

Just next to her, Sirius was practically boiling with envy. He smashed his empty bottle down with such force that it cracked and turned his head pointedly away from the sight; James looked at his friend sympathetically before coughing loudly to interrupt the increasingly heated kiss,

It look a little longer for them to break apart but eventually they did much to Sirius' relief, Marlene red faced and flustered, Gideon grinned happily, shirt collar slightly crooked.

Sirius shot a grateful look a James who patted his back, "Didn't particularly want to see him eating her face either, mate, it's okay."

"I don't care who she kisses," he ground out, almost snarling.

"Suuuuure you don't," James said knowingly, winking across at Lily and Remus, who gave him thumbs up in return.

Yet another hour passed and even Sirius – who could hold his alcohol extremely well – was verging on drunk, seeing as the twins kept refilling everyone's drinks when they weren't looking and the fact that most people were forfeiting meant that everyone was either completely smashed or about to pass out.

Moving around the circle slowly, soon it was Marlene's turn again and she was definitely too drunk to think straight so chose dare. Like her, everyone was too fuzzy in the mind to recognise where the line was and when not to cross it.

Of course, her dare crossed the line.

"Take the dress off," some seventh year boy slurred after she had mumbled 'dare'.

Readily, she complied and reached up for the straps on her shoulders. Reacting quickly, Sirius growled in an extremely possessive way and twisted round to face her before lunging forwards, making people jump, and pulling Marlene to her feet sharply.

"Dare forfeited," he snarled and then proceeded to drag her out (although he wasn't rough with her, just to the others wh were in his way) before she could go any further with her actions.

"Sirius, what?" she mumbled, eyes wide but blurry as he slammed the door shut behind them, furious.

"You were going to strip off in front of them all!" he snarled and kicked the wall, "Do you have no bloody self respect?"

Her eyes were slightly out of focus as she looked up at him, the alcohol literally clouding her vision, making it look like there were three of him in front of her. Marlene shivered involuntarily as his fingers grazed her bare shoulder to push her strap back to its original position.

Pouting, she leaned against the wall and reached out in an very uncoordinated way to grab his arm to steady herself, "I was dared Siri…Siriush… Why is your name so fucking hard to say?"

"How drunk are you| But for fuck's sake, they were all staring!" he replied, tensing up as she trailed a finger along his shirtsleeve.

"They can stare if they want to," Marlene said calmly, with a bat of her eyelashes and a little giggle.

Sirius reacted violently and punched the wall half a metre away from her head, making her flinch in shock, a little sluggishly though. "Fuck this. He can't, I don't want him to, you're… You're…"

Blinking in confusion, she moved her hand from his arm to his clenched jaw, trailing a finger along it softly which made him suck in a sharp breath and take a step forward.

"You're drunk, you're drunk, you shouldn't – I shouldn't be doing this," he muttered to himself as Marlene continued to trace the outline of his face, seemingly memorising it.

"I'm what, Sirius?" she said, proud that she managed to say his name but still confused.

Knowing he could never answer that question to her face, he instead to close the small gap between them, pressing her against the wall as his self control broke and he kissed her passionately.

Marlene gasped but didn't exactly pull away. Instead he grabbed his collar and pulled him more firmly against her. The kiss wasn't gentle or comforting, he wasn't wiping her tears or murmuring words in her ear, she wasn't sobbing or kissing him for need of someone to love, it was driven by a need to be as close to the other as was humanely possible, a need only exaggerated and made greater by the quantities of alcohol consumed.

Music bled through the walls as the kiss intensified, Sirius' hands creeping towards the bottom of her dress and her bare legs. Gasping, Marlene shifted position and nudged her leg against his, prompting Sirius to lift her up and wrap her legs around his waist.

Both of them knew, even Marlene intoxicated as she was, that this was a pretty stupid idea, and Sirius especially knew he was basically taking advantage of her. There was no doubt in his mind that Marlene wouldn't be doing this sober, but he couldn't control his need any more and just let himself kiss her. In fact, they were both in such a state (Marlene being dunk and Sirius having no self control left to speak of) that if not for the timely intervention of their mutual friends, the situation would've gone a lot further than just heavy snogging.

Coughing awkwardly, James averted his eyes as he tapped Sirius on the shoulder, "Um, guys, it's almost midnight we figured you might want to be in there for the count down or something…"

At the sound of a voice, Marlene jolted sharply out of whatever drunken, mad haze she had been in and scrambled to push Sirius away. She was panicking inside, having told herself that the last time they kissed had been just that – the last time. Marlene was not one of those girls happy to be kissed and then pushed aside, and Sirius Black – Sirius Bloody Black – had made her do just that. And she was pissed off now. And drunk. Which was never a good combination.

Sirius sighed with annoyance, "Prongs, you had to interrupt, didn't you?"

"Yes, /we/ did have to interrupt. Because otherwise you two would've had sex against that wall," Lily put in, smirking as she folded her arms.

"No we would not have," Marlene snapped angrily, pushed into a wild fury with the smirking people surrounding her, "Because, and listen to me well, he is a man whore and I hate him. Do you understand me?" She tugged her crumpled dress back down, smoothed out her unruly waves (which Sirius had only made worse – another reason to hate him at the moment) and stormed back into the party, leaving a dejected Sirius behind.

He had come so close, so close, to convincing her hat he wasn't just going to hurt her, but then they had to get drunk, didn't they? He had to ruin it.

James and Lily, however, were clutching onto each other to stay upright they were laughing so much and Sirius glared at them, which only made it worse. He dragged them back inside just as everyone started counting down the New Year.

"SIXTY!"

Lily shut the door behind them, wiped the tears of mirth from her eyes before patting Sirius on the back. Leaning against the wall, Remus next to her, James off yelling the count down, Lily watched as Marlene made a beeline for Gideon in the crowd looking very determined in her mission.

"FIFTY!"

Put out, Sirius wandered back over to Lily looking thoroughly miserable.

"Go after her, Sirius, kiss her! It might make a difference… Go on!" she encouraged, pushing him back into the party. But Sirius eyes had hardened from hurt to annoyance, and he shook his head as he melted into the cheering group of people. He knew what she would do – she'd kiss the fucking ginger kid and he'd sit at the side like a naughty boy. Well fuck that, he thought, not happening.

"FOURTY!"

Who would annoy her the most? Aha. He knew just who to find: he'd seen her earlier, he knew she was here.

"THIRTY!"

Jealousy and anger bubbled inside of him as she span around, searching out that waterfall of ink black hair and the girl that came with it. That would prove to everyone that he didn't 'have feelings for McKinnon' or whatever it was they all seemed to be insinuating.

"TWENTY!"

Lily looked on in panic, knowing full well what he was planning on doing. Marlene was heavily snogging Gideon Prewett and they were doing just as much, if not more, than her and Sirius had been doing minutes previously. Sirius had found whoever he had been looking for and Lily groaned, "No, no, Sirius Black you almighty prick!"

"TEN, NINE, EIGHT!"

They had to stop this fast, and she grabbed Remus' arm, dragging into the masses trying to push through and pull both couples apart before anyone got hurt.

"SEVEN! SIX!"

"Remus, we have to stop them!" Lily yelled over the noise and they sped up. Sirius definitely had his hand up the girl's dress but luckily Marlene was a little preoccupied to notice just yet.

"FIVE… FOUR…"

Everything seemed to collectively slow down as the count down got ever closer, giving Lily and Remus time to push through the last group of people but they'd gone, swpet away in the tide of people still cheering.

"NO! No, James, this can't – we have to stop tem!"

"Lily, we can't do anything now, all hell is going to break loose. They purposely tried to hurt each other, I don't think we should get involved.."

"THREE!"

"James, they deserve each other!"

"TWO!"

"Look, they're both coming back to mine afterwards whatever happens, I'll make sure they…"

"ONE!"

Sort this out, but go, find Marls I'll get Sirius!"

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Completely out of breath and looking extremely ruffled, Marlene broke the long snog as Gideon smirked triumphantly down at her. Turning her head to grin at her friends – or where they had been before – she saw only Lily, eyes wide.

"Lils, what's wrong?"

"You need to come now, just keep looking at me, not behind you, don't look – MARLS!"

Marlene had, of course, looked behind her and her caught sight of exactly what Lily, bless her, had been trying to save her from seeing: Sirius, against the wall apparently having a very nice time sucking the life out of Emmeline Vance's neck.

"Gideon, I'm sorry, I – uh – I have to go… Now…"

Marlene began to push quickly past people towards the door to grab her boat and go, James, Lily and Remus following as fast as they could. She was shaking with anger, disgust as, if she was honest, jealousy and hurt.

"I'm leaving," she spat, "You are welcome to stay, I wouldn't want to ruin your night."

Lily tried to grab her arm, but she had already apparated out, leaving her three friends standing there, despairing.

Marching back into the main room, Lily went straight over to Sirius and dragged him off Emmeline and threw him against the wall with a strength no one knew she had, "Oi, mister, you going to explain why you had to be such an almighty /douche\?" Lily snapped, glaring at him and jabbing him with her finger.

"Evans, Lily, what-wha?!" Sirius spluttered at the sudden removal of Emmeline from under his hands.

"What the /hell/ are you doing?" she demanded, not giving up, "You can't just do this you little douche I cannot believe you!"

Emmeline smirked and tapped Lily's shoulder, "Hey, Evans, do you mind? We were kind of busy, if you know what I mean…"

"Yeah, I saw – hell, we all saw, slut," Lily hissed and James raised his eyebrows, starting to see why people were scared of her.

"But now Sirius is coming with me." He started to protest." "You are coming with me Sirius. Because he has some apologising to do. Come on, you idiot."

And with that she grabbed Sirius' arm and half marched half dragged the taller boy out of the room before passing him over to James.

"Make sure he apologises properly, James," she said sternly, then sighed and shook her head.

Remus blinked at her and she frowned, "What?"

"Head Girl Lily just got a trial run, I think," Remus said with an amused smile but hugged Lily, "Nah, I'll go home. No point being here if you lot are all off to discipline this one."

"Oi, I am here you know!" Sirius cut in.

James rolled his eyes and pushed him towards the door.

"I can ive you a lift back, Lily, if you want it, I'm going back too."
"That'd e great, Remus, thank," she said, shooting him a grateful smile before leaning up to give James a quick peck on the cheek, then ruffled Sirius' hair, "See you two on the train, make sure you apologise well, Sirius…"

James' jaw dropped and he gaped at her for a moment as Remus winked at him and escorted Lily out. They apparated away with a crack, leaving the pissed off Sirius and the stunned James standing in the doorway.

"R-Right," James said, trying to gather his wits, "Let's go, Ev-Lily's right, you've got some explaining to do."

As soon as Marlene stormed back into the house, tears streaming down her face, and up to her bedroom, the house elves scattered in fear and retreated into the kitchen when her door slammed. Mrs and Mrs Potter had gone out with friends for a more adult party, trusting the three children in their care to look after themselves, so no one else was in.

When James and the now concerned Sirius raced in, they could still hear the squeals form the house elves and James pushed Sirius towards the stairs and into Marlene's room where she had closeted herself.

"Marls," he called warily.

"Piss off, James."

He ignored her and gave Sirius one last push inside before he locked the door and clapped his hands together proudly, before wandering off to comfort the family's elves and nab some food while he was at it.

"James, I said-"

"It's, uh, it's not James."

"Black, for fuck's sake would you fucking fuck off please? I'm not in the-"

"Mood? I guessed," he said slowly, walking over to her bed, "Look, I'm sorry."

"No you're not," Marlene replied sullenly, sitting to glare at him furiously, "The others just told you to apologise."
"I am sorry," he snapped, "Let me explain."

"Talk all you like Black, I'm not listening," she said coldly, and lay back down but it was obvious that she was listening, however annoyed she was.

"So you were kissing that Prewett bloke-"

"Gideon," she interrupted, "His name is Gideon."

"Fine. You were kissing Gideon, right after we had been, whatever you would class that as," he mumbled, running his hand through his hair in a habit he had picked up from James over the years, "And, I don't know, I wasn't expecting you to go and snog him like that. So, I g-guess I was jealous. Ha, my, McKinnon, you made me jealous and – "

Marlene interrupted again: "You were /jealous/? That's what all of this was about?"

"Ys," Sirius spat out between gritted teeth, "Yes, for Merlin's sake I was jealous. Happy? So I was – "

"Finally. Finally!" Marlene said, throwing her arms into the air as she scrambled to her feet, "Finally you realise how fucking /hard/ it is!"

"Do you mind?" Sirius said, irritated.

"No, Black, I don't. Because for months and months you have been making me jealous. So fucking jealous. And finally you know how I feel!"

"You were jealous? Of what?" he said, narrowing his eyes.

"You! And your ability to not give a damn about anyone but yourself," Marlene hissed, blinking furiously to stop herself crying. "You just ponce around snogging girls and dropping them, and I – the stupid, reckless, idiotic, naïve little fool I am – thought I was different, that maybe I /mattered/. I guess I didn't because after they embarrassed me, you went and snogged Emmeline Vance of all the bimbos you could've chosen!"

"You do matter!" Sirius protested, "You matter to me, McKinnon, I promise."

"Ha. Hahaha. You have got to be joking." Her voice was flat, cold and emotionless. "I don't matter to you at all."

"You do, Marlene, honestly, but I don't do this, feelings, it's not my thing. At all. And I just- Urgh, I don't know."

"Precisely, you don't do dates and romance and anything that I want and maybe I could live with that, but right now, Sirius, I just need someone to be there, to love me, and you are not going to do that. Sorry."

He couldn't argue wit tat at all. It took him a moment to comprehend what she had said, and he widened his eyes.

"You have /feelings/ for me? Other than 'hey Black I want to hex you' feelings? Or 'friends okay' feelings? Holy fuck."

Marlene stared at him, furious, "Yes! How fucking long did it take you to work it out? Look, Sirius, I'm not going to give you the old 'I love you and now I'm leaving' trick because that's just harsh, but I can't just sit around waiting for you to mature enough to do anything about these feelings I have, alright? So I'm not waiting around more, Sirius."

"What?"

"You heard me," she snapped, folding her arms, "As far as you're concerned, I still hate your guts."

"You can't do this, Marlene," Sirius said desperately, "You can't do that."

But she was already gone.