Rotten To The Core

Football practice had become Marlene’s favourite part of the day. She had never liked the boring routines of everyday life but football gave her something to look forward to at the end of the day. Just an hour of kicking the ball and slide tackling and sweaty congrats when a goal was scored. She didn’t even care that she was the only girl because when it came to skills, she knew she could beat them all in a heartbeat. Except maybe Sirius. He was the only one on the team that could match her intensity and they both loved it. When one got the ball, the other would be on them in an instant. It offered some room for bonding as well because at the end of every practice, James would call them both over to congratulate them. The three of them had been talking more because of that and Marlene was starting to get closer to them. It was only their third day in Udiria and Marlene was already becoming friends with the Prince and his best mate. Way to get to the top quicker. They had just finished practice and, yet again, James called them both over.

“Great work today guys! Sirius you’re getting really good at playing defence and Marlene you’re drive to get to the goal is incredible, you both really give each other a run for your money!”

“Thanks mate! Marlene you were a beast out there, where did you learn to play like that?” Sirius asked, wiping sweat from his forehead.

“I guess running is just a skill I picked up from the Isle, never know when you'd need to run into a fight”

“Don’t you mean run away from a fight?” James asked, confused. He clearly didn’t understand the way of life at the Isle.

“No, run into a fight. Do I look like the kind of person that runs away? I’m throwing punches left right and centre and don’t even get me started on sword fights, they’re my specialty” She said while putting her hook back on. She tried playing with it on their first day but was told to take it off for the risk of taking someone's eye out. If anything, she thought that made it more fun, someone could even get a cool eyepatch out of it, but she didn’t protest. She didn’t want to make a bad impression on her first day.

“You know what, I'm not even gonna ask.” James said, taking his football boots off and swapping them for his other, more princely shoes. “How are you guys settling in by the way? I’ve only really seen Regulus about so I haven't had a chance to ask the rest of you.”

“Yeah it’s going really well! The others seem to be happy too, I mean Remus is always just walking around the school writing little notes on his map but he seems happy with doing it so i haven’t questioned it, and Mary has been spending so. Much. time. With Lily. Not that I’m complaining or anything, I love that they’ve become so close so fast, but like it’s all the time. Every time I see one of them, the other is there too.”

“Yeah I’ve been noticing that too, it's amazing how fast they’ve become friends.” James said. Sirius gave him a confused look, like he’d said something wrong.

“Friends? Really? Mate, are you that oblivious?” Sirius said laughing. Marlene smiled too because she knew what Sirius was on about. She thought it was obvious but apparently James didn’t.

“What? Did I say something wrong?” James seemed genuinely scared that he had said something bad which just made Sirius and Marlene laugh more.

“They’re not just friends mate, they’ve gone a step further” Sirius said, waiting for the realisation to set in but instead, James said,

“They’re best friends?” which made Marlene burst out laughing. There’s no way the future king was this oblivious.

“They’re fucking.” She said, still laughing at James’ innocence and trying to stop her eyeliner from smudging. A mix of realisation and shock crossed James’ face as Sirius flung an arm around his shoulders, still laughing.

“It's ok Jamie, you’re just not used to seeing when a girl likes someone. When it’s one of the boys you’ll be the first to see it!” James laughed at that too. Then something changed in his face, like another sudden realisation.

“Oh my god.” He said, “I need to find someone” with that, he ran off back into the school's main building, with only one shoelace tied.

“What was that about?” Marlene asked, confused.

“No idea, probably just missed a meeting or something, you know, future King of Udiria stuff” Sirius said, shrugging it off. “I still can’t believe he didn’t see the whole Mary and Lily thing, it’s not like they’ve been hiding it in any way. I mean I literally saw them kissing under the stairs to the dorms last night”

“God they really don’t care do they.” Marlene said laughing.

“Anyways, I’m gonna go have a shower so I’ll see you for practice tomorrow?” Sirius said, grabbing his stuff.

“Yeah, you better be ready for me to beat your ass again!” Marlene said, as Sirius walked away, leaving her alone on the field.