Chapter 22 - Curiosity Killed the Snake
If we're only ever looking back
We will drive ourselves insane
As the friendship goes resentment grows
We will walk our different ways
- Bastille, Bad Blood
One week on and life was almost back to normal. Mary hadn't returned from the hospital yet but their detentions were over, Lily was talking to James in a vaguely friendly manner again and Marlene was thawing (albeit at snails' pace). The school hadn't stopped talking however, and rumours were everywhere and on everyone's lips. Marlene wondered if the Hogwarts Rumour Mill ever ran out of things to say.
Thursday morning found everyone seated at the end of the Gryffindor table eating some breakfast before another day of school work, lessons and avoiding talking about their problems and worries. Not that they are in silence because James, Remus, Peter and Lily ignored Marlene and Sirius' stony silences and made conversation. Well, it was more like Marlene's silence and Sirius' broody stares at Marlene which she steadfastly avoided.
Sighing, Lily turned to her friend seated next to her. "Marlene, if you're not going to play nicely at least avoid sitting opposite him at the table so we don't get this all the damn time!"
Marlene raised her head from looking at her plate of toast to snap back at Lily but her mouth stayed hanging open in surprise and actually broke into a wide grin. "Mary!"
The other girl came bouncing along towards them, a very pleased grin on her face with her school bag over her shoulder. "Morning all! All better and needing to see you all like, now!" she called chirpily and plenty of heads, not just the Gryffindors she was talking to, turned to stare at her.
"Mary!" Lily squealed, squeezing along the bench to make room for her quickly, "How are you?"
"Absolutely spiffing," Mary laughed, replying in her own way as she plonked herself down and flung her bag on the floor underneath the table. "I feel better than I have in a while. A long while! I think that rabid dog did me more good than harm," she added, winking at Remus who smiled gratefully back.
James laughed loudly and pushed his glasses back up his nose. "The girls were too quiet without you, MacDonald, I'm glad you're back."
Having stayed silent until this point, Marlene realised something and glanced up quickly, a sparkle in her eyes. "You do rknow you've got a week's worth of work to catch up on, Mare?"
"And you do realise that the work was sent to me at St Mungos once they realised I'd be there a while, silly, I'm all set," Mary said happily, smiling at Marlene.
Marlene rolled her eyes at Mary's bubbly behaviour but she wasn't going to complain, not if it kept the others off her back about a certain Sirius Black.
Chuckling at Mary's antics, James grinned across at Lily who smiled back warmly, in such a good mood that she was willing to be overly friendly even with James Potter.
"Now you lot, if you've finally finished playing around with your breakfast we have Transfiguration first and McGonagall won't let us off even if Mary is back," Lily reminded them with a laugh, picking up her bag and finishing her goblet of pumpkin juice.
Sirius stood up, grabbed his leather satchel and headed out without a word; sighing apologetically, Remus followed after his moody friend, worn school bag full to the brim with text books and papers, the undone buckles flapping as he hurried out. Peter scurried after him too, looking back at James who was still seated.
"I'll be along in a minute, Wormtail!" James called and Peter left after the others with a smile.
The girls all got up together, going along with the steady stream of people on their way to lessons at the same time. Walking in between Lily and Marlene, arm around both their shoulders, James grinned broadly even though Lily shrugged his arm away with a good-natured eye roll.
"Alright there, Marls? I feel as though we haven't talked in ages," he said, pouting at her.
She also rolled her eyes at him in amusement. "That's because we haven't, idiot. You've been off gallivanting on full moons and flirting with Lily."
"James does not flirt with me!" Lily called over the hubbub of noise in the Entrance Hall.
James just laughed. "Gallivanting? Nice word, McKinnon. No 'gallivanting' for you then?"
"Who would I gallivant with, James? Dumbledore?" Marlene joked, snorting.
"Oh I don't know... My pal Padfoot, maybe?" he said slyly, giving her a side-long smirk.
She glared at him. "I am not doing anything with Sirius..."
"You haven't... You know?"
"Definitely not!" Marlene said quickly, almost dying on the spot.
Lily sniggered as she nudged Marlene. "You were pretty close at the Prewett's party..."
"We were so drunk it was unreal," Marlene protested, "I am not going to shag Black because I hate his guts. We are never going to have sex!"
"Who's fucking my brother?" a cold voice sneered, "Oh, McKinnon, of course. I should have guessed. Has he knocked you up yet?"
"Regulus," James said curtly.
It surprised Marlene every time she saw Regulus - how could he go from being the thoughtful person she knew he could be to this cold copy of the older Slytherins?
"Potter, do you happen to know where my darling brother is today? Finally not hanging around with blood traitors and Mudbloods?" Regulus smirked, handsome face so like Sirius' you had to do a double take.
"Or is he just with the other Mudblood, the coward and the werewolf?" continued an oily voice from the corridor on their left.
Lily paled and looked around for a way to get them out quickly but to no avail.
"Ah Snivellus, still lurking around where no one wants you?" Sirius said, voice calm but boiling with anger under the surface as he strode over quickly.
"Brother," Regulus smirked, grey eyes locking with Sirius' near identical ones.
Sirius narrowed his eyes.
Marlene noted that Sirius' were a lighter colour, more silvery and were flecked with a dark green. Regulus' were darker and more black than grey.
"Sirius," James warned, "Leave."
"No," he snapped, "Because once again we are letting them get away with insulting us like this. He doesn't get to endanger Remus or scorn you or insult Lily or make cutting remarks about Marlene!"
"Actually not them so much," Snape sneered, "Mainly the others."
"Oh look, here comes the werewolf!" Regulus said lightly, waving to Remus.
Sirius snarled and lunged forwards but James caught him and dragged him backwards, having seen the signs just in time.
Following Sirius over, Remus, Mary and Peter looked pale and nervous.
"How badly did you hurt her, Lupin?" Snape said with a pleasant smile, masking the cruelty underneath. "How many scars did you give her? Shame she didn't die..."
"It'd be one less Mudblood cluttering up the castle," Regulus agreed calmly.
Remus was as pale as a sheet and trembling like a leaf. "Severus..."
"Oh piss off, Lupin," Regulus said venomously, smirking at Sirius and all his friends. "If you think no one will find out about your little secret you're kidding yourself."
All four of the Marauders gave him scared and absolutely furious expressions, especially Sirius, while Lily stepped forward, bag clutched to her chest and her Prefect face on.
"Ten points from Slytherin each for threatening a pupil," she said, trying to stop her voice from shaking. "But they're empty threats, Regulus, now get along to class."
"Lily," Snape said suddenly, "I didn't mean to-"
"Oh you didn't mean it, Sev-Snape? You just accidentally said all that? I don't think so. Ten points each," she said firmly. "We're not friends. Not if you would do this to people who are truly my friends. Now. Get. To. Class."
Snape slunk off, still looking back at Lily who avoided his gaze desperately. Regulus followed, giving the same sorts of looks at Sirius who glared at him.
Once the two Slytherins had gone on their way, the Gryffindors continued on their way too, Peter muttering something to Sirius to try and comfort him as he brooded silently over Regulus and Snape. The girls each had very different reactions: Lily looked shaken like she always did when confronted with the unwanted face from her past, Snape, but tried to hide it as best she could to prevent her friends from worrying over her; Mary was torn between fretting over everyone seeing as they all seemed to have some personal connection to what had happened or just trying to turn it into a big joke so they could all lighten up a bit; and Marlene just wanted to get out of there, away from the accusations and the kiss, away from the reality of the hatred between the relationships gone sour a long time ago, but most of all she just wanted to get away from Sirius Bloody Black and his annoying protectiveness of her. It wasn't helping her plan to leave him along and get over him and it wasn't helping her mood either.
They walked to class in silence.
"How are the wounds doing, Mudblood?" Snape called across the corridor on the way to Potions the next morning, "The 'rabid dog bite' healing well?"
Again, Sirius' near identical younger brother wasn't far away, the usual arrogant smirk plastered on his face as he saluted Marlene who was glaring at them both menacingly, trying to put them off causing a scene. Regulus just widened his smirk.
"Piss off, Snape, no one cares about your questions," James said, clenching his fists.
Peter was looking intimidated and hid slightly behind Mary who was trying to maintain a neutral expression, like Snape's words didn't bother her.
"Piss off?" Fuck off!" Sirius snapped, stepping forwards aggressively, enraged that for yet another time he had to watch Regulus oppose him and side with his enemy. It was painful and despite acting like he didn't care about Regulus it was impossible for him to watch and not want to intervene.
"You know it's funny," Snape remarked with a sly smile when no one answered his question, "There was a second year student who was scratched by a dog last year..."
"Hilarious," Marlene said sarcastically, "We all enjoy laughing at people's pain too."
"Shut it, McKinnon," Regulus hissed, taking a step forwards.
Whipping around to growl at Regulus, Sirius also moved forwards but Peter put a hand on his arm to try and keep him back.
"Yes, it is amusing," the slimy haired boy said, "Because Madame Pomfrey healed his wounds in about ten minutes - he was back in the Common Room by the end of the day. MacDonald here had to stay in St. Mungos for a week and now has permanent scars which doesn't sound like anything a measly dog could do."
James narrowed his eyes, "Where the fuck are you going with this, Snape?"
"What I'm trying to say is that this wasn't a dog bite. Personally, I think it was a w-"
Furious and storming forwards, face like thunder, Sirius grabbed Snape by his green and silver tie and pushed him up against the wall of the nearly empty corridor. "Finish that sentence and I will kill you."
If Snape was scared of Sirius in that moment he didn't show it. "I think it was a werewolf bite," he said calmly, reaching for his wand.
Before anyone could intervene and stop him, Sirius had seized Snape by his thin neck, slammed his back into the wall again roughly and had pushed his face close until it was only centimetres away from the darting, black eyes and long, hooked nose of Severus Snape.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," he hissed, spitting on him purposely and driving his fist into the other boy's stomach furiously.
As Sirius punched him, Snape let out a small gasp and a whine and tried to curl up instinctively; he tried to pull his upper half down to cradle his tummy but was stopped by Sirius' hand, which was still tight around the other boy's scrawny neck.
"Padfoot!" James yelled, lunging forwards with Peter following behind as their friend repeated the viscous punch and whacked the Slytherin's head against the wall, snarling.
"Padfoot, get off!" Peter begged, tugging insistently on his arm.
Just as Sirius was about to hit Snape again James grabbed Sirius around his waist and arms, pinning them to his side, and wrestled the raging boy away. Sirius was stronger but James was more determined and eventually he was far enough away to allow Snape to stand up, wheezing.
Humiliated, he braced himself on the wall for balance, pulling a face at the pain in his chest and took a few long, gulping breaths as he loosened his tie.
"You're mental! I'll get you expelled for this, Black!" Snape hissed, shooting daggers from his eye towards the still struggling - but tiring - Sirius, "Then you really will have no where to go. You'll all pay, all of you, and then you'll be sorry!"
"Severus," Regulus said calmly, voice contrasting to his wild eyes locked on his brother. "Severus, now is not the time. We have things to be doing that aren't antagonising Mudbloods and Blood Traitors."
Sirius tried again to throw off his friends and lunge at Snape but they were both ready for it now and pushed him back against the opposite wall. Not caring about the consequences if he did manage to break loose, he continued to struggle until long after both of the Slytherins had disappeared around the corner of the empty corridor.
"Sirius," James said in warning as he slapped Sirius around the face harshly leaving a red mark on his friend's cheek. Knowing that it was the only way to snap Sirius out of the red-tinted sight he was looking through, he did it again until Sirius' feral gaze turned on him.
"Let me go - I have to go and fucking snap the bastard in half right this fucking second. Let. Me. Go," he snarled, twisting around in another attempt to slip away.
Never one for violence or real fighting, Mary was looking absolutely terrified of him and took Lily's hand, hoping her friend wasn't quite so scared. The red-head wasn't so nervous about his anger, more like what he might do in his anger, either to Snape or James and Peter. Marlene was torn between maintaining the icy silence between them and helping him calm down like she was sure she could.
His movements were less staccato now but his stormy grey eyes were still flashing dangerously as they bore into the wall that Regulus and Snape had vanished behind.
Stepping forwards suddenly after an internal battle, Marlene touched his sleeve lightly, so lightly he could barely feel it. Sirius' dark gaze flickered up to hers and for a moment she was almost scared enough to pull away.
"Please calm down," she mumbled, looking up at him anxiously.
Sirius stared at her furiously for a moment, unable to talk.
"Padfoot," Remus continued, "It's not worth it... Don't..."
Taking a deep, ragged breath, Sirius' shoulders dropped and after looking away from Marlene he finally squeezed his eyes shut and let it go.
"I will kill him."
"Merlin's sake, leave it!" James said with wide eyes.
Marlene stayed where she was but lowered her eyes as Sirius returned to boring a hole into her skull with his gaze.
"I'm calm, see? Calm."
Lily gulped and tried to find a distraction. "Shit, guys, we're almost twenty minutes late to Potions!" she yelled after looking at her watch.
James guffawed. "Miss Evans swearing? What has the world come to?"
She shoved him into the wall as she pulled her bag higher onto her shoulder and set off. "Come on! We have to get a bloody move on!"
Reluctantly Sirius relaxed his tense muscles and James let go of him. Marlene then dropped her hand and followed after Lily as she sent him a worried glance, Mary running after them both and yelling at them to wait.
"Padfoot, you're not calm and you have to be. Now," James said firmly.
"Yeah, you can't actually kill him, Sirius!" Peter said worriedly, slightly unnerved by his eyes.
"Did you fucking hear him?!"
Remus rolled his eyes. "Yes, Sirius, funnily enough we are all blessed with the power of hearing. But by getting angry and defensive you practically confirmed what he was saying!"
Still shaking with anger, Sirius turned to the wall and brought his hand back to slam it into the stone to let out some of the fury in him but James caught his wrist and forced it down.
"No, Sirius, come on. Let's go and blow up some Slytherins' cauldrons and see how much we can piss off Lily by asking for help, okay?"
"Okay," the boy replied bitterly.
The Marauders all sighed with relief: crisis diverted. For now.
Snape had kept his word: everywhere they walked people covered their mouths with their hands and sent the group of Gryffindors side-long looks, muttering quietly amongst themselves and staring with rounded eyes.
Mary was apprehensive, unsure as to why she was the focus of so many looks; Remus was petrified, constantly checking to see if the curious stares turned into ones of disgust like he knew they would if Snape did what he had threatened.
"I hear it was a dragon…"
"Don't be stupid, a dragon would have killed her!"
"A werewolf then? Wasn't it close to the full moon when she went to St. Mungos?"
"Maybe… She seemed jumpy but there aren't scars on her face – there are always facial scars!"
James didn't blink (not even at the ridiculous statements about werewolves) and just smiled reassuringly at his friends and continued walking, keeping half an eye on Sirius. Boiling with anger that hadn't really subsided overnight, Sirius walked along just behind Mary, Remus and James, hands in his pockets moodily. Marlene was behind him still with Peter, Lily and Josh who had scurried over when he saw his older sister go past.
"Hey Marls!" he called, pushing through the throngs of students to reach her.
She turned around slowly and forced herself to smile. "Hey, Josh, how are you?"
"I'm fine," he grinned, "What about you? I heard you got into a spot of trouble last week, what was all that about?"
Shrugging, she pulled her school bag further onto her shoulder. "We were out on the grounds after curfew and we got a detention."
"Didn't one of your friends get attacked or something?" he asked curiously, pushing his glasses up his nose.
Marlene gave him a warning look. "Yes, by a wild dog. But that's not really-"
Josh missed her look and interrupted her. "I heard it was a-"
"Josh as much as I love you please shut up!" Marlene said quickly.
He looked around. "Oh… Sorry…"
"Doesn't matter, Josh, forget it. We're just a bit nervous at the moment because there are so many rumours going around and none of us want any more," she said tiredly, rubbing her temples.
Josh smiled at her and patted her shoulder. "Sorry again though."
"No problem, little brother," she said with a small laugh. "Also I'm really sorry that you can't come to the Potters' over the holidays."
"Did you honestly suspect Aunt and Uncle would let me go? They're only not making you come back because of the fuss the Potters' would make and you're turning 17 anyway," he said sadly.
"I'm really sorry, it's less than a year till your birthday though, and it's not too much longer."
He smiled up at her. "Marls, I'll be fine, what with my 'Claw intelligence and all. I'll bore them to sleep with my superior knowledge."
"Nerd," she teased, poking his chest lightly.
Because they were less than a year apart in age, their parents had feared they would argue constantly but it had almost made them closer than they would have been if the age gap was larger. Mason had been 21 to their 16 and it made sure that he was 'above' them in that sense - they had tended to gang up on him when he was made to look after them. Hogwarts had changed their relationship a lot, being in different houses, years and having very different friendship groups but they still had a strong bond; even their families death and their now dismal home life couldn't change that.
"You just wish you were as intelligent as me, Marley," Josh scoffed, sticking his nose in the air.
"Nuhuh, you wish you were as hot as me!"
"Who's the one with the girlfriend, can I remind you?" he teased back, then frowned. "You're not dating that dude are you? Sirius Black?"
Marlene laughed so much that everyone nearby turned to watch, including Sirius and her friends, Sirius looking slightly less sullen as he raised an eyebrow at her.
"Dating him? Oh, no, Josh, we've just snogged a few times and – he's listening isn't he?"
Josh nodded, smiling at Sirius slightly.
"Yeah, Daniel – that guy we met last holiday? I'm still talking to him. He's an excellent snog…" Marlene said loudly, "We owl every week!"
"Marlene, I don't want to hear this," Josh laughed, playing along and pulling a face, "Please make out when I'm not around, though, won't you? That was disgusting."
"He's very attractive too, don't you know? And sweet. I like a sweet man."
Sirius turned away looking annoyed and Josh let Marlene know.
"He's going now. Merlin, Marls, why are you trying to piss him off? He looks in a bad enough mood already!"
Marlene waggled her eyebrows. "It's fun! And he deserves it."
"If you ever need me to punch him in a protective brotherly way, just give me a shout," her brother replied, rolling his eyes.
Marlene smirked. "I'd love to see you try, Joshie," she laughed, looking down the hallway and into the Great Hall at the muscular Sirius with his angsty expression and messy hair and then to the much shorter Josh with his fluffy blonde hair, wide blue eyes and books.
"Oh, I'm sure I could bruise him a little bit!" Josh said indignantly.
"Is this before or after he puts you in the Hospital Wing?" Marlene snorted.
Josh scowled. "You'd stop him!"
"Course I would, but this is Sirius. And anyway, I can handle myself…"
His playfulness had gone. "No really, Marls, if he does anything I am going to get mad. I can't do angry older brother like Mason but I can do annoyed younger brother with a nasty hex."
Marlene looked down quickly at the mention of Mason's name and they both grew quieter.
"I miss him," Josh mumbled, "And he should be here to send the boy Howlers and beat him up if he looks at you the wrong way and it's fucking shit that he's not here."
Marlene gulped and nodded slightly. "S'okay, Joshie, we'll be fine. I think even you could be scary via Howler. I'll tell you if I need you, yeah?"
"Sure. He'll be screaming from the afterlife whatever happens," Josh replied with a little, forced smile, "I can picture him now, Mum and Dad telling him to calm the fuck down already, Marlene's fine."
"And you think he wouldn't do the same for your girlfriend? Merlin, Josh, she'd get the same treatment." She pulled an angry face and adopted a very bad impression of Mason's voice. "Who's this little Claw anyway, Josh? She good enough? She getting all Outstandings? NO? Merlin, Josh, have standards!"
Josh laughed. "He'd be a little nicer than that. And yeah, he always was biased against Ravenclaw – you stupid Lions muck everything up!"
"Ha, Gryffindor is the best and everyone knows it!"
Before an only half-joking argument could develop, Mary came bustling over from the Great Hall and tapped Marlene on the shoulder. "OI!"
Marlene rolled her eyes and turned to Josh. "You could come and eat with us if you want? Give Sirius protectively angry looks across the jam?"
"Nah, I'm meeting Emma and Robert," Josh said with a grin.
Mary made kissing noises behind her friend and fluttered her eyelashes.
"Tell her I said hi," Marlene said, cutting Mary off by placing her hand over her mouth.
Josh grinned and waved as he walked off to try and find his friends in the throngs of people making their way to breakfast.
"Oi, Marlene, you listening now?" Mary said impatiently. "Are you coming or are you gossiping?"
"I was just catching up, Mare!" Marlene laughed, "I'm coming now! Where's the fire, you idiot?"
"Hey," Lily said as they both sat down, Mary still about to burst with some untold story.
"Why is she so… Mary-ish?" Marlene sighed.
"Because… Well… It's not that exciting Mary, for Godric's sake!" Lily said, exasperated, "In fact he's an idiot and he doesn't need any more attention."
"Some Slytherins came over asking if we knew who the werewolf who attacked me is," Mary blurted out, eyes wide.
Marlene visibly paled. "Shit, do you think they know?"
"No, I don't, but you can probably guess what happened…"
"Sirius made an ass out of himself?" the blonde guessed with a dramatic eyeroll.
Lily nodded and took a bite of toast.
"The Slytherin's got a broken nose and a split lip now!" Mary added.
"Yeah, and Sirius has got a week's worth of detentions," Lily said dryly.
Hitting her head against the table, Marlene groaned for the idiot that was Sirius Black. "Twat. Where are the boys now?"
"Sirius left, obviously, and the others followed. I think Peter brought along food for them," Lily said, a small smile twitching at the corner of her mouth despite the fact that she didn't condone what Sirius had done.
"He's such a fucking twat," Marlene exclaimed, "He doesn't know when to stop and when what he's doing is fucking hurting someone!"
"Hmm, are you still talking about the Slytherin?" Lily said, smiling slightly.
Marlene gave her and Mary withering looks as her other friend giggled.
Suddenly there was a tap on Marlene's shoulder and she turned quickly, about to snap at whoever it was because they'd interrupted.
"Professor Slughorn!" Lily said hurriedly, trying to tell Marlene who it was. "How nice to see you!"
"Hello, Lily, lovely to see you too," Slughorn said with a wide smile, gazing fondly at his favourite student, "I was wondering if you could pass a message along for me?"
"Of course, Professor," Lily said politely.
Marlene groaned and tried to move away: it was common knowledge to everyone but the Professor that she wasn't fond of the Potions Master and right now his rather large stomach was right next to her face and she wanted to be sick.
Giggling at her, Mary made a vomiting noise and motion. Lily glared at them both and turned back to Slughorn.
"Could you please tell a Mr. Black that he has a detention tonight and for the rest of the week as I have been informed by a Mr. Snape that he attacked him earlier this week. I will not let him attack my students and get away with it, thank you Lily."
"Sure Professor, anything else?" she replied, rolling her almond shaped eyes at Sirius' second set of detentions within 20 minutes.
"Ah, now you've reminded me… There's a Slug Club meeting tomorrow night, same time as usual. You two ladies are very welcome too, of course, as well as, ah, uh, Mr. Black and Mr. Potter…"
"Oh thank you Professor, we'd love to come, wouldn't we Mary, Marls?" her voice was light but there was a dangerous tone to it, warning them to be polite unless they wanted to join Sirius in detention.
"Sure?" Mary said, confused and Marlene muttered something under her breath that would definitely have landed her in detention if Slughorn had heard.
Lily kicked her under the table and Marlene sucked a breath in through her teeth.
"I'd love to," she said blankly, narrowing her eyes at Lily.
Luckily Slughorn didn't notice and beamed jovially at them before he waddled back towards the staff table at the top of the Great Hall.
"I am not going to his little dinner party," Marlene said heatedly once he was out of earshot, "He only wants me there because I'm Pureblooded!"
"And he only wants me there because – wait, why does he want me there?" Mary said, confused.
"Because you were attacked and that makes you exotic enough for him," Marlene said in a bored voice. "He collects people and it's disgusting."
Lily glared at her again. "Don't be nasty, Marlene, he's nice enough!"
"He's a fat pervert!"
"He is NOT!" Lily snapped, "Stop it."
"Oh he so is… 'Hello Lily, I love you, Lily, I like collecting talented students and boasting about them'."
Mary rolled her eyes. "Marlene, leave it. You need to come to keep me company – I hate dinner parties with a passion."
"Anyway, why don't you go and check on Sirius," Lily cut in, still offended, "His nose was bleeding pretty badly."
"Why would I care?" Marlene asked coldly, trying to ignore the fact that her heart lurched when Lily spoke.
"Because you looove him," Mary suggested, waggling her eyebrows at her friend who was getting increasingly annoyed.
"Yeah goodbye guys," she said, irritated, grabbing her bag and getting up.
"But you haven't eaten anyt-" Lily cried, eyes wide but Marlene didn't respond, just kept walking. "I messed up, didn't I?" Lily sighed, "I shouldn't have mentioned Sirius. She's so touchy about him…"
"She's touching something of his," Mary sniggered, winking at Lily.
The red-head wrinkled her nose. "That's disgusting, Mare."
Mary started to munch on a piece of her toast happily, ignoring all the looks they were still attracting, "Oh I do my best, Lily, I really do."
"Padfoot, mate, honestly, did you have to fucking punch the dude?" James said, exasperated.
Sirius didn't respond and paced the empty corridor, everyone already being in the Great Hall eating except for the Marauders.
"Prongs is right," Peter added, "He was trying to get a reaction from you and he fucking got one…"
"No shit, Wormtail?" Sirius snapped.
"Don't get mad at him," James sighed, "He's right, you know."
"I'm fucking mad at everyone!"
"Calm down, Sirius," Remus cried as the taller boy resumed pacing and cracking his knuckles threateningly.
Sirius looked at him with a mixture of incredulation, anger and despair. Did they not get that they had to do something? Did they not understand that they not only had to stop Snape compromising Remus' already fragile position in the castle but they had to stop the fucker dragging Regulus down with him into the Dark Arts? Remus was Sirius' best friend after James, a brother and fussy mother all in one and so far from the monster he believed himself to be that Sirius wanted to shake and scream at him until Remus knew it too. The complete opposite of the werewolf inside, he was intelligent, rational, thoughtful and good. Someone like Severus Snape, who deserved to be kicked out of Hogwarts instead, was not allowed to ruin his whole life.
"I can't calm down! How the fuck are you so calm when all that bastard wants to do is ruin your life?" Sirius raged.
Peter had seen Sirius like this many times before but never like this, never quite so out of control. There was a lot more 'Black' in him than he'd ever admit and the more he bottled it up, the worse it was when he finally released it. He was venting it all now and Peter was secretly a little terrified.
"Because I know that no one seriously believes that Mary was attacked by a werewolf and no one apart from Snape himself really suspects me of being the werewolf anyway," Remus explained with a shrug, looking up at Sirius tiredly. "What can he do anyway?"
"He could-"
"Someone is within hearing distance," James warned, looking up from the Marauders' Map as the charm he had set up to tell them when people were close enough went off. "Guys!" he repeated when they continued arguing in increasingly loud voices, Peter even joining in timidly.
Sirius stopped talking abruptly and put his hand back up to his still bleeding nose.
"Hello?" Marlene called, "Boys? I know you're around here somewhere… I heard what happened, Lily and Mary told me."
Freezing at the sound of Marlene's concerned voice, Sirius took a step back to lean against the wall as James nudged him and waggled his eyebrows. Sirius shoved him away even though he knew he was only joking.
She wasn't sure if she should be worrying over Sirius Black's broken nose due to cocky arrogance and a death wish when she was supposed to be cutting him out of her life before she fell in love; unfortunately for her she was very concerned and was finding his angry expression and pacing simultaneously concerning and very attractive. Still she had to maintain this cold front for her own benefit – she would not allow herself to fall in love with Sirius Black and that was that.
"Yeah," Peter said with a small shrug, "Sirius here decided to be his usual over protective self and thump this Slytherin brute for mentioning the word werewolf."
"He was asking for it," Sirius snapped, holding his nose still which made his voice go higher and squeakier, more like Peter's voice than his usual low, husky voice, and James tried not to laugh.
Leaning against the wall opposite the four Marauders, Marlene tried to avoid staring at Sirius (although it was difficult when his own gaze was locked on hers angrily). "So you punched him and so he broke your nose?" she asked scathingly.
"There was a little more pushing and shoving first, I remember," James interrupted, "And Sirius did give the guy a black eye and a split lip at the same time…"
"Well that's just great," Remus said sarcastically, "Thanks for leaping to my defence."
"Moony…"
"No, Sirius, I didn't ask you to hurt him, I didn't ask you to get hurt yourself!"
"He knows, I know he knows! Snape told him and if we don't do something that little snotty haired git will tell everyone!" Sirius roared, letting go of his nose so he could jab a finger back towards the Great Hall.
"Just leave it, Sirius," Remus said warningly. He was tired of his friends acting like he couldn't look after himself when in fact he was the one who transformed into monster each month and was more than capable of getting rid of Slytherins who knew too much if he wanted to.
Marlene was similarly pissed off: once again here was another fine example of Sirius Black not noticing how his actions would affect other people. Not intimidated in the slightest by Sirius' furious expression, she nodded in agreement. "I'm sure Remus is a big boy, he doesn't need misguided Daddy Sirius to beat up the bad guys..."
James muffled a laugh, disguising it as a hasty cough.
Turning around to face her, Sirius narrowed his eyes. "What did you just say?"
"Padfoot..."
"What are you going to do? Punch me?" she snapped, "Wait, no, because you know damn well you can hurt me in plenty of other ways!"
"What have you done now, Sirius?" James said protectively, eyes flickering between the clearly upset Marlene and the defensive Sirius.
"Nothing!" Sirius protested.
Marlene laughed. "He's right! He's done nothing! But I get it, James, don't worry! He wants to stay Sirius 'I don't give a fuck' Black who's only problem is which Slytherin to punch or prank next and how his hair looks in the morning. So frankly I'm not going to give a fuck either."
James shot Sirius a 'we're going to talk about this later' look and tried to give Marlene a comforting glance. She just folded her arms and glared at Sirius, daring him to disagree.
"Also, Black, you've got detention for a week from Slughorn," Marlene added, trying to bring this back to a topic that wasn't going to rile her up. "For attacking Snape, you know? It doesn't fucking work, Black, give it up."
And then she walked off, trying to ignore the fact that she knew exactly how to heal his nose and didn't like seeing him in pain.
The next evening, Marlene almost thought she was as jumpy as she had been trapped in her Aunt and Uncle's house. She was supposed to be getting ready for the Slug Club party later that evening but instead she was trying to convince Lily to let her stay in the dorm pretending to be ill. To cut a long story short, Lily wasn't letting her.
"Marlene, come on, put the dress on, pretty yourself up and let's go! It's not so bad, the food is amazing and you might even get to make eyes with some hot, intelligent Ravenclaw," she tried, already dressed in her outfit, just in the process of taming her wild hair now.
Mary was sold on the food part, even enthusiastic when the Ravenclaw was mentioned.
"Fine!" Marlene yelled, dragging herself out of her bed and into the bathroom to shower, change and apply make up. Lily beamed happily.
Eventually all three girls were ready and Lily lead them down towards Slughorn's office, magically extended for the dinner party.
"Good evening, ladies!" Slughorn boomed as he opened the door for them once they had arrived. "Can this fine young gentleman here take your jackets?" he added, gesturing to a dressed up Benjy Fenwick who grinned at Marlene.
Handing him their coats and filing through, muttering thank you's, they entered the room and Marlene and Mary gaped: the room was lit with a golden light but they couldn't place where it came from; there was a large oval, mahogany table where Slughorn's Potions Cabinet normally was, surrounded by seats; and milling around were people from all houses and all years, most of them none of the girls recognised. The three Gryffindors took seats next to each other about half way down the table, looking around as everyone else sat too, leaving two moth seats pretty much opposite them.
Slughorn noticed them looking and smiled jovially, resting his hands on his expanding waistline. "Two more new members, actually, I do believe I mentioned them to you?"
There was a knock at the door.
"That'll be them now. Regulus, dear boy would you mind getting the door?"
Everyone turned to watch as Regulus got up carefully and disappeared into the entrance hall where a sound like a growl was heard and the Slytherin reappeared hastily looking a little more ruffled than before with a wide-eyes James Potter and a cagey Sirius Black following.
Marlene immediately ducked her head but despite that the two boys spotted her and the others straight away, seating themselves in the two remaining seats opposite.
"Evening," James said cheerily, grinning across the table to Lily who rolled her eyes.
"Now," Slughorn said happily, "Everyone's here so we can start! Shall we introduce ourselves first for the benefit of our new guests? I'm Professor Slughorn - but you should all know that." He chortled to himself and a few people laughed politely.
"Lily Evans," Ljly started when no one else wanted to and nudged Marlene.
"Marlene McKinnon," she said quickly, looking to Mary.
Mary scowled and rolled her eyes, "Mary MacDonald!"
"Hestia Jones!"
"Benjy, Benjy Fenwick," the seventh year said.
"Josh McKinnon," said a voice from the corner and Marlene craned her neck to see her brother. Josh grinned and saluted her as she rolled her eyes.
"James Potter and-"
"Sirius Black," Sirius said coldly, glaring at everyone like they might challenge his name.
Now it was the Slytherins' turn.
"Regulus Black," the youngest smirked, looking over at Sirius who refused to acknowledge him.
"Severus Snape," called an oily voice from the boy next to Regulus as he looked along the table at Lily.
"Christopher Avery," the dark haired Slytherin in the corner sneered and Marlene involuntarily shuddered, her grip on her napkin tightening.
A few more people spoke up: a Muggleborn who was related to a famous Muggle scientist (the Slytherins all sneered), a Ravenclaw whose father had discovered a new antidote and a few more but Marlene had stopped listening by that point.
"Now that we all know each other and are friendly-"
Sirius snorted loudly and James muffled a laugh. Lily scowled at them and James stopped quickly.
Slughorn continued, not looking put out at all. "Now we all know each other and are friendly, let's eat!" Waving his wand, the lids on the platters vanished revealing all the succulent food,
"Dig in!" Slughorn said happily and began loading his own plate.
Everyone started too, but Marlene didn't. Noticing, Lily leaned over, frowning slightly at her friend.
"Marls, aren't you going to eat something? He hasn't poisoned it, you know!" Lily said softly, noting her friend's pale face and slightly shaking hand under the table.
"I want to leave, Lily," Marlene whispered, keeping her voice low so it couldn't be heard over the calm conversations around the room. "He's looking at me and I want to leave."
Lily looked up to see who Marlene was talking about: Christopher Avery was staring at Marlene with a glint in his eyes as he cut up his chicken. When he saw Lily looking he chuckled to himself and lifted his glass mockingly.
"I feel like the chicken," Marlene added.
"Oh, Marlene, he can't do anything here. Not with a teacher around and definitely when Sirius is on the warpath – he's not getting within ten feet of you, honest," Lily said comfortingly, resting her hand on top of Marlene's.
"If it helps," Mary said, leaning over, "Avery just winked at Sirius and then looked to you and James had to physically restrain him."
"Great," Marlene said sarcastically.
"Why are they even here?" Lily said, intrigued.
"Well," Mary said giggling slightly, "Seeing as James is also looking over here, I'm guessing they came for you two. Possibly the food, but most likely you two…"
"Sirius wouldn't come here just for me," Marlene hissed, "I've been a bitch to him constantly!"
"Buuuuuut he's got this massive great big crush on you," Mary smirked, "And we all know he doesn't give up."
"No, Marlene's right I'm afraid," Lily sighed, "There's no way he'd come to one of these things, Slughorn's been inviting him for years and he's always refused – and there are far too many Slytherins he hates here."
Mary shrugged, "Maybe he just came to back James up then, but for whatever reason it is he is here and he's looking out for you, Marls."
"Great," Marlene repeated, going back to fiddling with her napkin, slowly pulling it apart to try and calm her nerves.
Throughout the whole meal, she only picked at a bread roll and occasionally took a sip of soup that Lily made her have. The rest of the time she kept tearing up the napkin in her lap until it was practically dust. Try as they might, Lily and Mary couldn't get her to eat anything else and eventually they gave up.
Luckily not many people even glanced over at her, but the three people she'd really not have notice did: James, Sirius and Avery. Avery was still smirking and staring at her every now and again, making her feel even colder and even more uncomfortable; Sirius was torn between staying calm and going over and punching the bastard in the face; and James was genuinely very concerned, having clicked what was going on.
He caught Lily's eye after a few minutes. "Is she okay?" he mouthed.
Lily shook her head and mouthed back: "Clearly not, Potter."
He pushed his glasses up his nose and bit his lip. "Avery?"
"And Sirius…"
James rolled his eyes, "Should have guessed."
Everyone had descended into an awkward silence when they had finished eating and Slughorn clapped loudly to get their attention. Mary jumped and spilled soup down herself but Lily cleared it quickly with a charm before anyone noticed and laughed.
"Shall we mingle a bit before dessert?" the professor said, pushing his chair back with a loud scraping sound and getting up. "There's more room through the door to your left," he gestured.
Slowly everyone filtered through, Marlene clutching Mary's hand as Avery brushed past her, sneering. The tiny blonde glared at him warningly, which didn't scare him in the slightest but made Marlene feel a little better.
Once everyone was in the other room it was pretty much every house for themselves, with the exception of Josh and Hestia who were standing with the Gryffindors, and most people coupled off to talk. James had somehow convinced Lily to talk with him and she was even laughing at something he had said as he mussed up his hair yet again, hazel eyes bright behind his glasses. Mary was chatting animatedly with Hestia, Benjy and Josh, retelling some anecdote about her time in St Mungos. Snape, Regulus and Avery were muttering darkly in a corner, each shooting subtle glances at a different Gryffindor for very different reasons.
Standing in the opposite corner, Marlene saw Avery break away and scan the room – for her, she knew it was for her. Panicking, she ducked her head and immediately headed for the drinks table quickly, hoping he wouldn't spot her. She wrapped her arms around herself, regretting the bright red dress Lily had forced onto her now. She was so focused on not being seen that she had no idea where she was. She bumped suddenly into a broad chest and yelped as the boy grabbed her wrist, her heart pounding furiously.
Terrified, she looked up slowly, expecting to see the dark features, cropped hair and murky brown eyes of Christopher Avery. She definitely didn't expect to see the handsome face of Sirius Black, his stormy grey eyes fixed on her with worry clouding them.
"You okay?" he asked in concern.
Marlene gulped and nodded, hating the way his hand on her wrist made her feel so safe. "Yeah, I was j- I was just getting a drink…"
"I'll come too," he said, a hint of protectiveness creeping into his tone. Turning back to the Hufflepuff he'd been talking to, he shot her an apologetic smile. "Nice talking to you."
"Black, you really don't h-"
"I'm coming too," he repeated firmly, guiding her towards the table. "I don't trust Avery as far as I can spit," Sirius said darkly.
"I don't need you to protect me!" Marlene snapped, hating that she wanted to take back her words, "And I asked you to stay away from me." He couldn't turn on Mr. Nice Guy just as her plan was starting to work.
Sirius stopped walking so suddenly Marlene walked into him again.
"We need to talk," he muttered and changed direction, turning towards the door and pulling a protesting Marlene along behind him.
Once they were out in the corridor, Sirius stopped moving and turned Marlene around to face him.
"Sirius, please just let me go," she begged, "Let me go back in there or just let me go back to the Tower, I don't want to be here, I don't want to do this!"
"You need to explain this – all of this. I get that you're terrified of Avery but I'm trying to help, stop acting like I'm the bad guy," Sirius retorted,
"I don't have to explain anything to you," she laughed, wrenching her hand out of his grip.
"Yes! You do! Why are you so damn cold one second and next you're telling me to calm down and acting like we're friends again?" he said, his voice catching slightly. "That's not fair, Marlene!"
She laughed, the sound echoing slightly in the empty corridor. "Because you do the exact same thing, Sirius! One day you're Mr. "I don't care about anyone' Black and then you become someone who actually cares about me! And I can't let myself fall for that Sirius because he'll break my heart," she said pleadingly. "Already I'd do just about anything for you and that's not healthy, not when you don't even stop me from walking away from you."
"Marlene I-"
"No, this isn't up for discussion. Either you get your fucking act together or you stop making me love you."
When she'd stopped talking they both fell silent. She didn't want to move first and so they both stayed motionless.
Motionless until Sirius knocked her back against the wall, tilted her chin up and kissed her. There was nothing gentle or loving about the way he kissed her and there was nothing soft or wary about the way she kissed him back. Marlene ran her hands through his hair and tugged; he bit down on her bottom lip and sending her breathing shaky.
Feeling her self-control (and self-respect) slipping away, Marlene twisted her head away, flushing brightly. "Sirius…"
He licked his lips and hung his head. "I'm sorry."
Marlene shook her head. "That was as much my fault as it was yours. But it can't happen again, understand?"
Sirius sighed and nodded. "I understand."
"Be this Sirius all the time please, he's much nicer," Marlene mumbled, reaching up and kissing his cheek tentatively before she stepped backwards and walked away down the corridor, her arms wrapped around herself against the cold.
I'm not even going to attempt to apologise for how long this chapter took me to upload but hopefully the length makes up for it? idk guys, idek. Review?
Disclaimer: I don't actually own any of the stuff you recognise from JKR's work bc I'm just a poor high school student c: