A Marauder's Guide to Falling in Love

Chapter Twenty Five

She waited in the common room for him to return but after an hour she felt her eyelids growing heavy and decided that her time was better spent in the confinements of her bed. She observed the map from under her covers and watched when James had returned, unaccompanied, but by the time sleep had overcome her body there had still been no sign of Sirius, Peter or Remus on the map.

She awoke the next morning well after eleven. Mary and Lily had left her to peacefully sleep in and she was thankful because the second her eyelids fluttered open she let out a soft groan from the pain omitting from her body.

A quick scan of her reflection in the bathroom mirror indicated that she had suffered various scrapes and cuts, along with a few severe bruises that she was lucky enough to cover with her sweater. Her ankle was a different story and she felt the slight swelling of it before she had even had the chance to look at it. It was slightly discolored with a hue of purple and felt tender to touch but the worst of it was the limp that she was forced to use when putting pressure on it.

She gathered the map from under her pillowcase and was happy to note that Sirius appeared alone in the common room and she hastily made her way down to see him.

She hadn't seen him ever look as distraught as he did in the moment she first glimpsed him. He was staring off into space with a purely pained look on his face that did nothing to enhance his already natural good looks. He looked up at her when she stepped off the landing and his brows furrowed in what appeared to be resentment, causing Marlene to recoil at his intensity.

"Here's your map," she handed it to him and he hurriedly folded it away without a word to her. "Were you ever planning on telling me that you are an illegal animagus and that Remus is a werewolf?"

Sirius looked up at her with surprise. She had gathered from his expression that he had been hoping she hadn't pieced it all together.

"I don't think this is the right place to have this discussion," he said solemnly.

"There's nobody here," she said firmly. "I already checked the map."

Sirius shook his head though and she was obliged to agree that the sensitivity of their conversation matter wasn't something that they should ever risk being overheard.

"Let's go for a walk," he suggested instead and the painful throbbing in Marlene's ankle reminded her that a walk was probably not the best idea.

"Fine," she said, ignoring the pain that was shooting up her leg. The two of them exited the common room in silence and only after they had descended down the first flight of stairs did Sirius happen to notice the limp in her step.

"You're limping," he stated obviously. "Let's swing by the hospital wing first so Madam Pomfrey can take a look at it."

"I'd rather not see her," Marlene insisted stubbornly. "I will just deal with the pain."

Sirius was fairly persistent though and before Marlene could even register where he had been leading her, they were standing outside the familiar white doors leading into the infirmary.

"Remus is here," he said quietly so that Marlene would not be surprised if they caught a glimpse of him.

The curtain around the farthest bed was closed though, and no noise emitted from it that gave her the inclination that Remus was probably still asleep. Madam Pomfrey had rushed over almost immediately as they walked into the hospital wing to examine Marlene's ankle.

"It looks like it's just a slight sprain," she looked at Marlene conspicuously. "What did you possibly do to cause this?"

"Peeves was chasing us and I slipped on the stairs," Marlene lied instinctively. She sounded so convincing, even to herself, that she would have believed the story had she not been at the scene of the real accident the night before.