A Marauder's Guide to Falling Together

Chapter Thirty One

Time seemed to pass by much quicker than Marlene would have liked. True to her word, Lily had devised a strict and sound study schedule for both of them by the time Marlene had finished with her last detention. She had even asked the Marauder's if they had wanted to join in on it to which she received the most horrified responses. Only Remus seemed intrigued by the idea and from time to time would join the girls in the library after dinner.

Sirius didn't seem to mind that they didn't get a lot of quality time together that did not revolve around their studies. Lily had finally admitted, rather difficulty, that Sirius was far better suited to continue helping Marlene with Transfiguration. Marlene fathomed that it must have been rather difficult for her to do so but she appreciated the chance to spend any amount of time with her boyfriend, and it was the perfect excuse after all.

He was however, rather difficult to talk to after James had admitted to losing the Marauder's map to Filch. Marlene was almost thankful to have the excuse to confine herself in the library so as not to endure the stagnant aura that followed after the group in the first few weeks following the night in question. Eventually James tired of Sirius's broodiness on the subject and carefully reminded him that he was not the only one to make a horrible mistake. Sirius seemed to change his attitude quite quickly after that.

The application package to St. Mungo's was another story. Marlene had initially tried not to leave it to the last minute as Professor McGonagall had recommended, but she was procrastinating badly. Remus had surprisingly proved to be a rather excellent resource in helping her finally settle down and complete it. Towards the end of March, as the deadline loomed closer, he had holed himself up in the library with her for nearly the entire week leading up to the full moon. He was in all certainty, an amazing friend.

"Well," Marlene breathed a sigh of relief. She was standing in the owlery with the thick application package securely in her hand. "This is it then."

Sirius grinned at her but said nothing. She attached the package to one of the school owls and watched apathetically as it took off into the early morning sunlight.

"You don't look very excited," he mused after Marlene had turned to head back into the castle. "Surely you must feel relieved that that's over with?"

"Relief?" Marlene looked thoughtful. "Yes, absolutely. One less thing that I need to think about. And now I can put my sole focus on studying for N.E.W.T.s."

"Are you ever going to take a break from that?" Sirius raised an eyebrow. "There's still two entire months to go before you have to worry about the bloody tests."

"There's only two months left," Marlene corrected him. "All the more reason to work harder."

"I thought you were different than Evans," Sirius laughed, "but you're like a carbon copy of her come exam time."

"Not everyone can be insanely gifted like you," Marlene pursed her lips.

"While this is true," he said smugly, "you're not giving yourself enough credit. You've improved drastically over the last few weeks. I wish that you'd just trust me when I tell you that you'll do fine."

They had skipped out on breakfast so that Marlene could get her package out early but her stomach rumbled and she regretted not asking Lily to grab her a piece of toast. They had to pick up the pace a bit in order to reach the dungeons in time for class so their conversation became quite sparse. She didn't mind though; the silence was comfortable now that she had one less weight off her shoulders.

"Do you know what I am looking forward to?" Marlene said quietly as they entered in through the Potions classroom door. She didn't wait for Sirius to respond before she continued. "We're bound to be switching partners soon. I'm not sure how much more of Madley I can take."