On the eve of James Potter's 17th birthday, Sirius had a very strange thought.

Marlene McKinnon was beautiful.

It wasn't that he hadn't noticed how attractive she was before - he always did have a thing for blondes - but there was a difference between noticing someone's beauty and acknowledging it. Marlene wasn't just fit, or pretty, or good-looking, she was beautiful. It wasn't a quality he'd ever really attributed to anyone before - he'd never paid close enough attention to. Sirius had never thought of beauty as an external thing - to him, it was much more than how someone looked, it was how they thought and lived, it was essentially who theywere. Sirius shook himself out of his thoughts and gulped down his firewhisky, grimacing a little. A very strange thought indeed.

o-O-o

Sirius Black was staring at her. It wasn't the first time she'd felt a boy's eyes on her that night - she'd been dancing for almost an hour now - but it was the first time it didn't make her feel uncomfortable, or irritated. Because Sirius was looking at her in a way she'd never seen him look at anyone before. He seemed…observant. And in awe. As though he was admiring something from afar. Admiring her from afar. She stopped dancing suddenly and looked right at him. He didn't flinch or look away - he wasn't embarrassed to be caught looking at her because he wasn't doing anything that warranted shame. Suddenly she felt a very strong urge to go and talk to him - it wasn't like any of the other impulses that she'd squashed that night, this wasn't the result of illicit substances floating in her bloodstream, it came from something deeper. Something that shifted in her chest and made her feel this inexplicable need to go and talk to Sirius Black.

"Hullo." Marlene said, sitting down next to Sirius. He sent her a sidelong glance, he hadn't been expecting her company.

"Hey." He said softly, turning to look at her. Her blonde hair was slightly messy but her eyes were wide and alert. Clearly, she wasn't even close to intoxicated.

"Jamsie's seventeen." She said in an amazed tone. "That's crazy, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I mean, I turned seventeen in October, but this is just…strange."

"That's because it's James, he isn't supposed to get older."

"Our resident Peter Pan." He commented with a smirk. Marlene knew that she should say something in response, but she decided to address something else instead.

"You were staring at me just now." Her tone wasn't accusatory, merely curious.

"Yeah."

"Why?" She didn't even know why she was asking, but the answer seemed important to her.

"You're beautiful." He said and then grimaced. "That was so soppy, but it's true." And for some reason, it sounded true. She didn't shake her head like she usually did at compliments because she wanted to believe he thought that way. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I feel strange, Marlene."

"So do I." She whispered. Somehow, they'd gotten much closer and despite the noise around them, he heard her perfectly.

"I know this is strange, but I want to-"

"Me too."

"But we shouldn't."

"No, Prongs would kill me."

"And he'd hate to have his best friend taken away from him."

"Yes, he would."

"So we shouldn't."

"No."

He could see that she wanted to continue arguing, but instead of saying something she merely leaned forward and lightly pressed her lips to his. He started a little, but didn't pull away, beginning to reciprocate after a moment. It wasn't particularly heated or passionate, but it was more significant than all of the kisses he'd had so far. It was softer, sweeter, it meant more - and just like her, it was beautiful.