Dandelions

~21~

Sunday morning, Sirius woke up with his world in his arms. He smiled as he whispered in her ear, "Darling.. Harper. Wake up love." She stirred and opened her eyes. Her smile appeared as she sat up. "What time is it?" He looked around for a clock but no luck. "Don't know. Come on, we should get to our rooms and get ready for the day. Meet me at the black lake ok? I'll bring Moony, Prongs, and Wormtail. You get Mars and Evans."

She nodded, kissed him goodbye, and ran to her room. She pulled on Sirius's quidditch jumper, leggings, and some sneakers. Then it hit her, Gryffindor had a game against Slytherin next week. Fuck. She hurried out of her room and ran right into Amos. "Oh my Merlin, I am so sorry." He let out a light laugh and shrugged, "No problem. Heard about Evans and Potter. Don't sweat it, I know you. You'll figure out a way to fix it."

Filled with hope she nodded and ran off the Gryffindor common room. Lucky enough, Marlene and Lily were walking out of the portrait. "Mars! Come on. We're going somewhere." Marlene crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Can I ask where?" Harper rolled her eyes and dragged the two outside. "Fuck no, I'm not hanging out with the Marauders! Especially not that bloody cheating git." Harper turned around with a mean look on her face. "Your gonna sit down and listen, Mckinnon."

Marlene was taken aback never having been talked like that by her best friend. She nodded and walked over to them, sitting next to Peter. Lily had been quiet and just did was the others did."Thanks for coming.." Remus nodded politely at the two but only earned a scowl from Marlene. "What can I do for you boys?" She snapped. The tension was real as she stared down James. He was oddly quiet and looked heartbroken still.

"Marlene.." He said earning a look of rage from her. Harper was terrified of her at the moment. "Lily..You may not believe me but I'm going to prove that I was too drunk to function. Truth serum. Ask any question you want. I'm going to prove I would never hurt you on purpose, Evans.." Lily started crying and was held by Harper. Sirius passed the vial over to James, who chugged it. Remus pulled a piece of paper from his bag.

"Prongs. Did you mean to kiss Mary the night of February 13th?" The question made everyone's stomachs turned as they awaited his answer. "No. I regret it." Marlene didn't look satisfied so she stood up. "Alright, Potter. You've proved your point. Now answer this question. Why didn't you come to our dorm and talk to her? You didn't make an effort." This peaked everyone's interest and Lily sat up straight.

"I was scared. Scared I'd cause more harm then I did. Scared you wouldn't let me speak to her and you'd put me down more." Lily heard enough as she flung herself into his arms. "I'm sorry for doubting you." She cried into his shoulder. Marlene looked hurt by his words. "Do you all think that low of me?" Everyone went quiet as she looked around. She stomped off, leaving everyone in awkward tension. "Don't worry about her.. I'll take care of it." Harper nodded.

Sirius stood up and grabbed her hand. "We'll be back. Moony want to come?" Remus stood up and walked off with them to go find Marlene. They walked around the whole school till they found her hidden in the potions classroom. Remus sat down next to her as the other two sat in the chairs in front of them. "Marlene." She looked up and in her eyes was nothing but hurt.

"Am I that bad of a person?" She asked. "No! No, Mars. You just.. You just uh. Moony?" Harper tried but failed quickly. Sirius sat in silence but grabbed Harper's hand as he noticed the way she began to shake. "You just are intimidating. You don't let people explain and your strong-headed. It's good to be the way sometimes but others not so much. You should know Pr- I mean James would never intentionally hurt her."

Marlene began to sob into Remus's arm. "I don't know what's going on with me. I'm JEALOUS. Her and James? That's real love. Don't even get me started on Black and Rossi. You guys make me want to cry everytime I see you. I feel like i'm losing my best friends.." Harper felt guilty that she was now just confiding in them. She was so busy lately and hadn't made any time for her friend. "I'm sorry, Mars.. How about this? Tomorrow night - me, you, lily girls night eh?"

That seemed to cheer her up a bit as she weakly
smiled at her friend and nodded. Sirius helped her up and looked down at her. "Are you sure you aren't jealous that you aren't getting a piece of this fine ass?" That earned a slap from all three of the people with him. The four friends talked like nothing bad had happened between them and laughed like they'd never laughed before.

As they reached the black lake, Peter hurried up to them. "Save me. They've been snogging this whole bloody time." Sirius laughed and tackled the snogging couple making them yell. James looked at Marlene and asked, "Alright Mckinnon?" She nodded at him and looked to her other friends. "Alright Potter."

The friends sat outside and enjoyed the cool air of Sunday, February 15th. "It feels good that finally we get to just unwind and not deal with drama." Remus stated. "Cheers to that, mate." Sirius smiled at the boy. He wrapped his arm around Harper who laid her head on his shoulder. "Hey, Lupin? Whatever happened to that ravenclaw girl?" Marlene smirked at him. All eyes landed on the blushing boy. "We've been seeing eachother every now and then."

Whoops and hollars sounded from his friends as they were happy for their lycanthrope friend. "Full moon this week." Peter said which killed the whole
vibe. "Nice going, Wormtail. Butcher the happiness why don't you?" Sirius said scolding the smaller boy. "Leave him alone, Black. He was just talking." Lily shot back at him. All 7 of the friends began laughing at the small bickering going on.

"Well, well, well! Having a party but not inviting us? What a shame!" Lucius's voice sounded from behind Harper. She turned around to see not only him but Narcissa Black, Severus Snape, and Regulus. "Hey Snivellous, long time no see. In need of a good prank, yeah?" James perked up. Snape glared daggers at the boy and held his wand up. "Now, now Severus." Lucius said pushing the boys arm down. Regulus and Narcissa looked apologetically at the friends.

Regulus even mouthed to them, "I'm sorry." Earning a small nod from his brother, he quickly looked away. "So the mud blood and blood traitor are back together? How pleasant!" Lucius beamed at them. A sinister look appeared on his and Snape's face as James started to become restless. "Shut the fuck up, Malfoy or I'll hex you into oblivion" Lily said earning some courage. Marlene seemed to regain hers too as she stood up to be eye to eye with Snape.

"What's up Snivellous? Calling her a mudblood yet you've pinned after her so many years. She rejected you, eh? Must hurt huh?" Snape shut his mouth and looked to Malfoy for help. "Maybe your filthy family will be next, Mckinnon. I'll put in a good word with the Dark Lord." Malfoy spat at her. Marlene punched him hard in the face. Sirius stood up and held her back so she couldn't do more damage. "Calm down, Mckinnon." He whispered soothingly in her ear.

The 4 intruders walked off as Narcissa hurriedly looked after Lucius's face. "Nice punch!" Peter awed at Marlene. She looked to shaken up his words to respond but soon snapped out of it. She nodded and looked to everyone. "Lunchtime eh? Come on, I'm starved. I could eat a rat. Maybe a dog. Maybe a stag? I might aswell just go for all three and throw in a werewolf."

The 4 boys swallowed hard as the 3 girls cackled at them. They walked into the great hall, cheerful as ever, and looked like bad bitches. "Eat, Rossi! You're as skinny as a damn twig." James scolded her while stacking her plate high with food. Harper looked down at her plate and felt sort of sick. She shook it off and took a bite of her sandwich on top.