Jealously Wears A Green Mask | Jily

4: We Were Doing Rounds

''Your room is honestly the most disgusting place ... " Marlene informed Sirius for what felt like the five hundredth and fifty second time since they had escaped up there an hour prior.

Sirius glared over at her, they were sitting on opposite ends of his bed, piles of books and parchment between them. "You're the one who got us kicked out of the library," he said pointedly.

She looked up from her essay and shook her head, "Did not! You're the one who thought it would be funny to make all of the colored inks in the library explode in rainbow order!"

Sirius smirked, "Who would have thought purple was such a popular color?"

Marlene had no good response to that; she too had been rather amused by the river of purple that had poured from the previously intimidating Slytherin quidditch captain's bag.

"Truce?" she offered, and Sirius nodded and leaned over for a long and cumbersome secret handshake.

For another five or so minutes they managed to work in silence; Marlene marveling at Sirius's odd dedication to actually doing work, and Sirius doodling pictures of tap-dancing mice on the page that was supposed to be his Transfiguration essay.

"I wonder how Prongsie is faring," Sirius mused, giving his fourth mouse a cane and a hat.

Marlene snorted, "Miserably."

Sirius sighed, "I'd like to fervently deny that claim and insist that any friend of mine must have at least some small ounce of charm ... but Prongs keeps proving me wrong whenever I defend him, so I've given up. He just didn't pick up my knack for dealing with the ladies."

"Cause you're such a lady killer," Marlene snorted, but upon seeing the challenging look on Sirius's face, decided it was best to not pursue the matter further. It probably wouldn't do to try to convince the boy she really wanted to be with that he wasn't any good at getting girls.

"Yes, I am," Sirius responded defiantly, "but Prongs ... isn't."

''There is something we can agree on," Marlene laughed, "Poor Lil. She finally wakes up to her own feelings just as James manages to convince the world that he's over his. You know she organized this whole dance just so he could ask her out?"

"No!" Sirius gasped; tap dancing mice and fake essays forgotten, as he leaned forward "Really?"

Marlene nodded eager1y, pleased to have someone listening who liked gossip as much as she did, "Yeah! And then the dumb idiot goes and blows it all by asking another gir1 out!"

Sirius was pretty sure Marlene was insulting James in a loving manner, but he had to at least attempt to defend his dingbat of a best friend, "I mean," he attempted, "He did ask Mary out in an attempt to win Lily."

Marlene blinked and Sirius laughed, "Okay," he admitted, "It does sound really stupid."

Putting down her quill again, Marlene reached over to awkwardly pat Sirius on the shoulder, "S'okay, Lily will knock some sense into James in the end."

"Poor Mary," Sirius sighed, "Has anyone bothered to think about her?"

Marlene laughed, "Of course I have. Remus will swoop in and save the day the second James deserts her."