James Potter had spent the majority of last night with Lily Evans, not in that way however, as per his usual disappointment it was strictly platonic. In fact, what had begun with a simple prefect patrol had spiralled into an epic display of civility between the pair. Too exhausted to wander back to Gryffindor tower, they had slept beneath Sir Cadogan. James was completely disbelieving of the fact she had not rejected his arm slinked around her shoulder. Nevertheless he had returned to his dormitory in the late morning with a delighted swagger. "Where were you?", he was greeted gruffly by the remaining marauders. "With Lily" James sighed contentedly. "Since when is her name Lily?, I didn't know she had a first name!" , joked Sirius. Remus looked up expectantly "You two didn't..?" he trailed off too dubious to proceed. "A gentleman never tells" said James with a sly wink. Unable to contain himself James gushed what he had been hiding, "We talked for at least three hours, and she didn't call me a prick!". "Not at all?" asked Peter incredulously. "Nope, not once!" James concluded proudly. "We had a kip near Sir what's-his-name!". Somehow it didn't seem right to burden the tangibly delirious James with his troubles so Sirius had smiled and joined in the banter, all be it with a disproportionately weighty feeling. He was uncomfortably conscious of this.
As if plunged into the world of Marissa he was astounded at how much everything around him resembled her or dredged up some faint memory of her. Even the benches in the Great Hall had some sort of distant connection to her-that being the day she had shuffled uncomfortably there directly from the sorting hat. Sirius was preoccupied with the fresh wave of dread at being sorted into Gryffindor; still, it hardly stopped him from admiring the then-unknown Marissa's lithe silhouette. He stabled moodily at a potato and pushed it back and forth. James spoke for the entire lunch about Lily's seemingly endless wondrous qualities-predominantly that of her nice legs.
Sirius was by now, aware of Marissa's reluctance to stray from the camouflage of shadows and safety of classroom corners. Of what little he knew about her, he yearned for the opportunity to know more. He detested the unfamiliar sensation of being unknowledgeable on such a topic that held profound interest for him. This was part of the reasoning behind following her to one of her lunchtime library sessions. James had regarded him with disbelief when he had responded to his question. "Oi Padfoot, where're you off to? You didn't even start your seconds!" "The library" Sirius had replied quickly "I have something important to do" he threw over his shoulder.
The library was a lot brighter than Sirius remembered; he actually hadn't been there since the introduction tour in back first year. Marissa sat at one of the empty oak tables in the cavernous halls of the library, with her curious quality of stillness and accompanied as always with a large amount of paperwork and tomes. Occasionally she dipped her quill in ink to scribble something or brushed her nose with the long feather. It was terribly ordinary, but not to Sirius. Marissa raised herself from the chair quietly, presumably to return the towering volume of books she held. Like a bird of prey, Sirius pursued, all the time concealed by the various imperial shelves, he merely wanted to look at her. She gracefully slipped each book back to its respective spot. Marissa turned and began to walk the length of a particularly empty row, the one where Sirius was hidden.
"Hi" he said suddenly but in a lowered tone, he didn't want the newly appointed librarian, 'Pince' or something, on his case yet. You never knew when she could be useful. She was so accustomed to her own company that she was unaware of how to react to a boy talking to her outside a classroom situation. This interaction was a source of enormous surprise to her; However Sirius Black's presence in a library came as a similar shock. It was suffice to say she was perplexed at this recent turn of events.
"The Bell Jar was great" he began conversationally.
"You liked it?"
"Yeah"
"Great"
"Yeah"
She looked for a way to fill the growing bulge of silence that had formed. She said the only thing she could think of, "And you didn't mind it was a muggle book?"
"Nope"
"And that the pictures don't move?"
"Nope"
"Well, I'm impressed!"
"You have nice taste in books", Sirius cringed at his inability to construct a more interesting sentence. However he was reluctant to use one of his lines that made females swoon and giggle at the audacity and sleaziness. It just didn't seem appropriate.
"Thank you"
An uncomfortable pause followed in which both simultaneously strained to think of something to bandage what was left of the dying conversation. Giving up on her search for a suitable revival, Marissa was the first to turn and continue on. Neither Marissa nor Sirius had anticipated his hand to cling to her arm loosely. She jolted at the unexpected shock of contact while he inwardly rejoiced at it. She gazed unshaking into his grey eyes that glistened with the promise of life. Unabashed and guided by some inner courage she was previously unaware of, she placed her thin hand on his shoulder, exactly like she had seen girls do in the movies. Excitement causing his heart to beat jauntily against his chest, he wrapped his arms around her waist. It was odd how insubstantial she felt in his grasp, unlike any girl he had held before. Sirius felt the grate of her protruding hipbone beneath her uniform. She was tantalisingly inches from him; it didn't take much to just reel her in that bit further. She nearly combusted internally. Her lips hovered over his and she had closed her eyes in avid anticipation. It felt extraordinarily natural as he began to slowly lower his face to hers.
Click Click Click Click Click
The clear repetitive sound of footsteps on the polished wood gave way to a particularly unwanted obstacle. Their arms retracted urgently from each other and the figures jumped apart at the arrival of a particularly pretty blonde. Elena Farren shimmied down the aisle and wound her way adjacent to Sirius. She did not acknowledge Marissa nor did she pay any regard to the intimate situation she had disrupted. Sirius opened his mouth to speak, intending to tell her to "Fuck off", he abstained not wanting Marissa to see him use these words again. Slowly and sensually, she raised herself closer to his lips, although never meeting them. She passionately trailed her arm along his waistband and let it rest on his hips. Sirius froze at this unanticipated arrival. Her familiar scent washed over him and he was incited with an urge to push Elena to the ground and run. Sirius was unusually still and unresponsive, Marissa was the last person he would want to see this encounter. The terrible tension that was ostensibly tangible shattered as Amos Diggory's muffled and impatient but hushed tones were audible from barely rows away calling his girlfriend. With a reproachful look in the voice's direction Elena brushed her fingertips regretfully along the length of his arm with a slow wink and reluctantly left as suddenly as she had arrived. The cloud of her strong perfume remained aloft in her aftermath. Marissa tore her eyes away embarrassed and ashamed, why had she permitted ridiculous fancies to engulf her?
"Marissa" he struggled for an explanation, but the only ones he could fathom were hopelessly feeble. The worst thing was Marissa pretended to be oblivious to him yet her brown eyes blazed with distrust and hurt. The lack of emotion said more than any amount of tears or fired accusations ever could. She simply walked. He maintained a quick pace beside her babbling a long-winded but earnest explanation. For a moment, before they were thwarted, they had been gloriously close and that was something he didn't want to erase. The visibly shaken girl dutifully packed her bag, impervious to his pleas to listen. Whirling around, he saw the full extent of her pain etched on her carefully constructed features. "I will never let you make me one of your sluts" she said venomously and wavered out of his proximity.
"What?" he yelped, the sting of her words sliced him harder than the pain of any crucio curse.
The noise they had generated had unfortunately alerted the librarian. Madame Pince bustled down the once quiet aisle with the intense look of a librarian with a purpose, her wand was brandished threateningly. It was too late for further attempted explanations as Marissa had hurriedly left, leaving a distracted Sirius to bear the full brunt of Madame Pince's rage.
Any reviews/recommendations/feedback etc. would be greatly appreciated. I have a vast array of illustrations I drew a while ago to accompany this story. If anyone is interested in seeing them, just let me know and I'll happily oblige. I hope you enjoyed the story so far, I'm equally incredibly grateful for all your much-appreciated views. A special thanks to the two lovely users who favourited this story-You both know who you are!