A Marauder's Guide to Falling Apart

Chapter Eight

It was after five o'clock before Marlene arrived home. After she had gone to her own apartment to change and eat, she settled down to accomplish the ridiculous amount of required reading she had been assigned by Donna. Emmeline didn't arrive until well after seven; her sudden and intrusive entrance caused Marlene to jump slightly before glancing upwards at the clock on the wall and realizing that she had lost track of time. She uttered a hasty goodbye before running out the door, down the flight of stairs and out into the cool breeze of the deserted residential street below.

She quickly walked a few blocks north to where the old, battered building that Sirius had shown her a few weeks prior was standing. It didn't look much different except for the fact that the broken window had been replaced and the glass now cleaned up.

She walked in through the entrance; an eerie and ominous groan greeted her as the door swung open and closed. She repressed the shiver that ran up her spine and caught sight of the apartment directory. There were no names listed – just a simple list outlining the apartment numbers. Marlene buzzed for apartment number seven, as Sirius had already mentioned his apartment number, and the faint click of the door let her know that it had unlocked. She wandered through the building until she found a door with a slightly off kilt number seven and knocked twice.

Sirius opened the door smiling. "How very muggle of you," he said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she frowned. Sirius moved to let her inside.

"You're a witch; you could have just opened the door without buzzing. Or better yet, if you had bothered to get your apparition license –"

"Would you stop badgering me about that," she cut him off, "I'll get it when I'm ready." She had actually contemplated attempting to surprise him by apparating over but she still wasn't confident that she would arrive in one piece, and figured that risking muggle detection or putting herself back in St. Mungo's wasn't the most ideal of circumstances.

She wasn't able to keep talking though as she was too busy admiring his place. It looked nothing like it did on the outside and could easily put her and Emmeline's to shame. It was much larger than she expected it would be and had a small loft that overlooked the large living space below. There were no hallways so she assumed that the loft was where his bedroom was situated.

"Wow," she couldn't help herself.

"I told you it was much nicer inside," he shrugged. "How was your first day?"

"It was good," she filled him in on the events of the day, conveniently leaving out the part about Patrick. She felt wrong by doing this but she wasn't in any mood to engage Sirius in discussion that she presumed would lead to an argument. Or at the very least, deteriorated moods for both of them. However, he did find it quite humorous that Natasha Madley had landed herself in Marlene's cohort.

"Bet that was easily the highlight of your day?" he attempted to hold back his humor but Marlene noted the amusement that was dancing around in his eyes as he said it. He cracked a sly grin and Marlene scowled.

"You think that's funny, do you?"

"Highly."

She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes before pushing past him to get better acquainted with his apartment. The most appealing part of the room and where her eyes were immediately drawn to, was the large masonry fireplace near the staircase leading upwards to the loft. The most peculiar thing about it was the fact that the old, shabby stonework was dangerously similar to the outside appearance of the building. It was definitely an oddity inside the beautiful apartment she was standing in, not quite matching its grandeur. However, the antiqueness of its appearance was oddly beautiful in its own right, and she caught herself staring at it more frequently than necessary.