Sirius rolled over onto his side and leaned back against the pillows: an afternoon full of love affairs was a success. Marlene stretched out beside him and closed her eyes sweetly. The sun shone brightly through the open curtains of his apartment in Muggle London, which he once shared with James, but then lost to a friend for the sake of the marriage ring and the overly strict, eternal head girl Lily. Not to say that Sirius cared too much.
Marlene had a rare day off today. Alastor Moody changed his anger to mercy and grunted something like praise when Longbottom, Alice, and Marly herself brought him a bunch of Death Eaters and granted all three a free day.
Marlene settled on Sirius's chest and began to draw runes on his tattoos. Black pressed a kiss on the top of her head.
"We need to get ready for the ball..."
"Sure. Your mother won't let me in the door," Marlene drawled, sighing.
Sirius propped himself up on his elbow.
"Stop it. You are a Slytherin! You, one might say, direct me to the true path. In her opinion, anyway."
"Yeah, and I'm also the youngest Auror, and every week I catch High Society cronies who turn out to be Death Eaters in disguise. What will happen if they see me at the ball and recognize me?"
Sirius was silent for a moment, playing with Marley's blond curls until she calmed down and lay back down. Then he spoke:
"What do you know about Ancestral Magic?"
"All that nonsense that my venerable father has hammered into my head since childhood. Purebloods, strived to maintain their power at any cost, because of this they sinned with incest, arranged marriages, and other horrors. Hatred for all who are below them on the social ladder, contempt for the Muggles. Madness and death at the age of forty-five from an exhausted magical reserve."
Sirius snorted and ruffled her hair.
"I see that your father has not progressed further than the biography of Lucretia Black, who was famous for her love of bloody orgies, and Marcus Malfoy, her dearest husband, who staged a real genocide among weaker wizards. Yes, you are right about something, it was like that in the distant past, when we were scattered, ignorant, and slowly but surely were losing our strength..."
"That is, to the Alliance?"
Sirius nodded.
"That was long before the Alliance. Tell me why did your grandparents let your father marry a Muggle woman? Where did the stories about the Family Magic, strength, and Heirs go?"
"I don't know. We are from Scotland, we seem to have less strict laws, especially when it comes to marriage. The clans, you see, there in ancient times everyone was husband and wife to each other. And they say even McGonagall once had a non-wizard husband."
Sirius laughed and rolled over, leaning over Marlene.
"Nonsense. And it's not about your Scottish origin. It's about the Laws of the Family. A wizard from a pureblood family can marry a non-witch, take her into the Family, under his protection, and thereby ensure protection for both her and their possible children. Like the chevalier knights, we had to take care of those who were weaker, because, in the event of a catastrophe, it was we who had to rebuild this world from ruins. Therefore, a wizard could marry a Muggle, not vice versa."
"Chauvinism, that's what it is!" Marlene snorted. Sirius kissed her pouting lips.
"Come on, Marley, you know, the man is stronger, both physically and magically, and if I lost my reserve, my strength would still be enough to save you. Alas or fortunately, Family Magic is behind me. And although its power is not easy to accept, it will protect me, and with me, my Chosen Bride."
Marlene frowned as she grabbed Sirius by the bundle of pendants dangling from his chest.
"Black, we've started this conversation a thousand times already. I do not want to get married! We are still too young to bind ourselves with vows and oaths. You've seen enough of the Potters and you've thought of something."
"No, Marley. And it's not about the Potters, Longbottom, over there, he's been carrying the ring in his pocket for a month, and he still can't catch the right moment."
"And it seems that he's done his waiting, yesterday, right after the capture of the Death Eaters, among the corpses and ruins, he proposed to Alice."
Sirius whistled, "Well done! So, why didn't you tell me?"
"Did I have to report this to you before sex or after?"
"During. Don't grumble, Marley. Dark times are coming, we need all the magic we can muster. Didn't I tell you about the games of immortality that Voldypants is playing?"
"You did, but what does marriage have to do with it?"
"Besides, Marley, I don't want to lose you!" Sirius fumed. "I remember how you were dying three months ago in St. Mungo's, and I rushed along the corridor like a hunted animal and could not do anything! And you did not have time to recover, as you again rushed into the pool with your head! And if you were the Chosen Bride of the Family, magic itself would protect you."
Marlene cupped Sirius's face in her hands, caressing his cheek, running her finger over the thin line of scar he had received, again protecting her.
"And who's grumbling now? You are Padfoot, and I am Rogue. Remember how much we broke and bend the rules and how many times did we escape death? I want our lives, Sirius. I want to drink ale at speed, I want to ride a racing broom and race with you on a motorcycle, I want to go to field practice together, and then steal from your parents the Ogden's which is hundred years old. I don't want to get old, I don't want this boredom. Remember when you taught me how to be an Animagus? Remember how we laughed when we found out that my form is a fox? And how did we run all night through the fields and forests, chasing the fireflies?"
Sirius sank back onto the pillow and held Marlene close to him. He drew circles on her back for a while, trying to calm her pounding heart.
"Do you think I don't want all of that? But over the past three months, I almost lost you first, then my brother, then my cousin, then Narcissa landed in the hospital, unable to save the child for the umpteenth time. I'm scared, Marley. If it were me alone, I could have done it, but I feel responsible for those I love, so I will do anything to keep you safe."
"Even if it is the marriage imposed on us by your parents?"
"Nothing is imposed yet, and I haven't told them anything yet, you must first join the Family, and then we have to manage a lot of strong and ancient magic, but if I can at least try to protect you, then I'm ready to try."
"I am not ready, Sirius, I don't want all of that! We did not dream about it at all!"
"I know, Marley. We were lucky to be born at the wrong time."
"Introduce me to this Maya, she has a strange effect on you. It's like she has managed to change you completely, you became completely serious in a few weeks, you read a collection of Ancient Laws, run around to appointments, and made peace with your parents."
"Is it bad?"
"Not bad, but once you said something completely different."
"I did, and I almost lost you and my family."
Marlene blew a strand of hair off her forehead and leaned over to Sirius. "Okay, may it be so, but you owe me a race on brooms for beer!"
"As you say, Mrs. Black."
"Sirius, I'll curse you, I swear!"
"But first you will kiss me?"
"But first, I'll kiss you."