A Marauder's Guide to Falling Together

Chapter Twenty Three

"Sirius?"

Marlene wasn't entirely sure how the mirror was supposed to work but she was lying in bed, holding it in front of her waiting for some sort of response. Before long his face appeared looking sleepy and he stifled a yawn before answering.

"Trouble sleeping?"

"A bit," she admitted. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's two in the morning," his eyes glanced sideways presumably to check the time and then he laughed. "What did you think I'd be up to?"

"I don't know," she felt embarrassed. "You're just usually up at this time at school. Maybe I thought you and James were prowling around the village pranking people?"

He snorted and then rubbed at his eyes. "You've clearly never see Rose when she's angry. We're not that stupid."

"I don't have to keep you," she could tell that he was still half asleep.

"Did you have a bad dream?"

"No." Truthfully for the first night in what seemed like forever, she had not awoken from a nightmare. It was almost as though her body had been programmed to wake up and she guiltily wanted some company.

"Just missed me then did you?" he smiled cheekily.

"I'm still feeling bad about earlier tonight," she replied shamefully. Dinner had been slightly tenser than she would have liked it to be. Her sour attitude towards her friends had consumed the evening and she hadn't lingered around long after dinner before heading home with Tom. Not that he would have minded; the less time she spent with Sirius in his eyes, the better.

"I meant it when I told you that I wouldn't baby you," his eyebrows creased, "but when you're wincing in pain I'm not just going to ignore that. You can understand that, right?"

"Yes. I'm sorry."

Sirius seemed to contemplate her for a bit before he smiled sleepily. "I'm going to try to get some more sleep. We can talk more in the morning, okay?"

"Goodnight Sirius."

"Goodnight Mar."

**

Marlene never did have the opportunity to meet with Patrick for the coffee he had suggested. She didn't mind much as it was evident Sirius was against the idea and she didn't fancy causing more frustration between them. Besides, the last week of the holidays went by quicker than she had anticipated and before she knew it she was headed to Kings Cross station with the boys in tow.

"How did studying go last night?" Sirius had asked her when he hopped into the back of Uncle Tom's truck.

"Oh you know, brilliant," she said tonelessly. Truthfully, it hadn't gone as well as she would have liked to admit and she knew that she would be requiring the extra assistance from either Sirius or Lily with her Transfiguration assignments.

He smiled as if reading her thoughts but didn't reply. James had finished loading his trunk and joined them shortly after, spending most of the ride into London shamelessly talking about his relationship with Lily. Marlene was only half listening though; she was too absorbed in her own thoughts to listen to James repeat himself ten times over.

Not that she wasn't happy for the couple. Lily was her best friend and she was ecstatic that she had finally found someone that made her happy, even if it was James Potter. She should have guessed that this would happen eventually as James was a really persistent character and his unlawful ability to charm was bound to finally make a dent in his pursuit.

"Dad wanted me to pass along his thanks for the fire-whiskey," James leaned into the front of the cab, "Mum even tried it. I daresay she was a bit tipsy last night."