The French Redhead☆Jily AU

《ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ #21》

28th August 1976, France

Rose Evans was perfectly aware that her youngest daughter was troubled. She could see it. The way Lily tried to read a book, but her attention wavered, the way she tried to cook, but almost forgot to add salt, the way she was absent-mindedly knitting a green scraf right now...

Rose kept her book aside and turned to Lily. She said, "Lils, what's wrong?"

Lily looked up into her mother's eyes, the same light blue eyes Brielle had inherited.

"Well, I am not in trouble. Marlene is," she said slowly, keeping her half-finished scarf aside.

"Oh?" Rose raised her eyebrows. "And how is that?"

Lily smiled grimly. "Well, she loves a guy. One of our muggle friends, in fact. They got into a small problem some days ago...and they ended up sno--kissing. The worst thing is that they haven't talked about it and Marls thinks the guy doesn't think anything about the kiss. She's very sad and refuses to eat, or come out of her home."

Rose stayed silent for a while. "Does the guy like her?" She asked after a while.

"I think he does," Lily said. "Marlene does not. When I said this, she became really angry and all."

Rose sighed and said, "That is why grandma used to say: Don't meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger."

Lily laughed and said, "Then, it is all said: Go not to the Evanses for counsel, for they will say both no and yes."

"Well, kinda." Rose shrugged casually, making Lily smile even more widely.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So, sis, catched the latest match between the Wasps and Tornados?" Miachel McKinnon asked his sister casually.

"Hell yeah," Marcus said, "you should have seen it, Marly! It was amazing!"

Marlene ignored them, instead choosing to stare miserably out of her window.

She watched the grey clouds, so much like Sirius's eyes--

No, she told herself, stop thinking of him, McKinnon.

"Marly," Miachel said softly, pulling at her honey blonde strands. "Marly, tell us what happened. Why are you behaving like this?"

In spite of herself, Marlene choked out a sob, and tried to hide it with a rather vigorous cough. Marcus wiped a tear which was trailing down her cheek and shifted on the couch, so that he was facing her.

"Is it a boy?"

The way she let out another sob only confirmed his suspicions. He gritted his teeth together angrily.

"Who was the bastard?" He demanded furiously. "I'm going to kill him within minutes if you want me to. Just tell me who."

Marlene shook her head quickly.

"Marly," Miachel said gently, "don't cry, please. I hate it when you do that." For him, it broke his heart to see his sister cry like that. She only cried a few times, such as when their grandmother died, and when she broke her ankle nearly six years ago.

"Shh," Marcus muttered, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Don't."

So Marlene lay there, sobbing as her brother comforted her, until all three fell asleep. Later, Melania McKinnon came inside with a blanket, which she wrapped around them and kissed their foreheads before she left.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

29th August 1976, London

"Bro, you look like shit," Regulus told his elder brother. He went over to the window and pulled the curtains aside, letting sunlight stream inside the room.

Then, he proceeded to throw the empty firewhiskey bottles in the bin and pulled the covers away from Sirius. He did look like shit. His usually styled hair was messy and had split ends, something that would make Sirius faint, Regulus was sure about that.

Then his skin. He was sickly pale and looked weak and tired. He also had dark circles and he kept muttering insults about himself.

"Sirius," Regulus said, staring down at his brother. Sirius made a small grunting sound and rolled over on his stomach, avoiding the light. Regulus prodded him with his own wand, frowning.

"Wake up, Sirius. I'll have to call James if you don't," Regulus threatened. Sirius made no motion to move. Defeated, Regulus dragged James inside the room and left for breakfast.

Cautiously, James rolled Sirius over. His best mate coughed and took a peek at him, then groaned and clutched his head.

"Headache," Sirius mumbled. James sighed and made him drink a purple potion.

"Come on, mate, we've to clean you up." Then, James made Sirius take a bath, brush his teeth and by the time Sirius had his clothes on, James had brought his breakfast on a tray.

"Eat. We need to have a talk," James said firmly.

And, Sirius knew, whatever this talk was, it would end up with him gulping down another large bottle of firewhiskey.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

30th August 1976, France

"Okay, books, quills, parchment and ink," Mary read off her list as she and her friends stood in Swift Alley, the magical portal from the muggle world which connected to the wizarding world.

"O-kay," Frank said as he walked inside the stationary shop with Remus, leaving the girls to go to the bookshop.

"O. W. L.s this year," Marlene said gloomily.

"Fuck them," Mary said wisely.

"Fuck them indeed," Marlene agreed.

Behind them, Lily shook her head with a highly amused smile. They bought the books, then the stationary supplies and had some nice French desserts before leaving the alley as they got ready for their upcoming school year.

Though little did they knew how exciting this year could be. But, patience! I need Hufflepuffs in that crowd! Have mercy on a poor author!

*~*~*~*~*~*~

31st August 1976, London

"He's gone insane," Katherine muttered to James as they stuffed ink pots in their shopping bags.

"I know, right?" James whispered back as he glanced at Sirius, who stood beside Regulus in the bookshop in front of them.

Kate turned her hair purple and her eyes blue as she walked out of the store, and into the bookshop.

"Well," James said after a while, "we need to get him to France during Christmas."

Little did he know how bad this would turn out. And, oh no, not for Sirius. For James.

A/N: THIS IS NOT GONNA END SO SOON BITCHES!!!! I'm not sane or consicious enough to write a proper author's note so take care and stay safe.

Love,
~Aurora♡