Bite my tongue, bide my time
Marlene's mother always said that if anyone knew how to throw a party, it was the Blacks. Marlene didn't disagree. Their parties had lovely music and a wonderful array of people to entertain. There was delectable food and drinks that you would rather not know the ingredients to, but they tasted fine all the same. Still, knowing how to throw a party didn't necessarily make it one. Everyone in the room had blank smiles and straight shoulders, but their eyes betrayed their fear. No one dared to refuse an invitation from Walburga and Orion after all- although perhaps they all wanted to.
The probable reason for it was the current talk of France. The youngest Lestranges had sided with the Dark Lord! All of Beaxbatons had heard about it, why wouldn't they? Rodolphus Lestrange had been a phenomenal student, focused on his studies and rational-minded. As such, everyone knew about him. It wasn't really much of a shock in her opinion, not if you had known the Lestranges for as long as she had. Entirely focused on their pure-blood lineage they were, a fact she often complained to Regulus. He stayed oddly silent through it all.
"Lost in thought, Lady McKinnon? And here I thought you were a social butterfly."
Marlene was shaken out of her thoughts as she turned to face Sirius, her practiced smile for gatherings such as this already forming on her face. She thought he looked quite odd with his gelled-back hair and ill-fitting suit.
"I'm hardly a Lady- unless you'd prefer to be called Lord Black?" she said coolly, watching him wrinkle his nose in disgust.
"Alright, Marlene, you got me there. What are you thinking about?" he asked, leaning against the table.
She recognized his posture, of course: leaning forward slightly with a smile on his lips. His elbow was propped on the table beside him, and his shoulders were relaxed. His gaze was vacant and disinterested, but to others, it would give the illusion that he was engaged in an enthralling conversation with her. That scoundrel, he was using her to get out of having to converse with the other socially elite people at the party. Although she couldn't blame him, she would have done the same.
"Your cousin, actually," she mused, sipping some of whatever drink had been given to her, "Do you think her sister will follow in her path?"
"Well Andromeda certainly won't." he snorted.
"I know that, Sirius," she snapped, "She ran away years ago."
It had been quite funny at first, actually, it was the largest scandal that year. The Black family had nearly gone mad trying to cover it up and make up excuses for Andromeda's sudden departure from the family. Things quickly sobered after Sirius was nearly beaten by his mother to get information out of him. He was Andromeda's favourite cousin, he had to have known where she went! He vehemently denied everything, coming to the point of tears. Even if he had known, Marlene doubted he would have told anyone. Sirius was nothing if not loyal. Regulus had been somber for weeks after that, avoiding eye contact with anyone who approached him.
"You meant Narcissa," he said, pulling her out of her head once more. He shrugged and fiddled with the cuffs of his suit. "Narcissa doesn't have the guts to run away like Andromeda did- but she certainly isn't brave enough to join the Dark Lord either. Her boyfriend might, I don't know."
"Lucius Malfoy?"
She and him had never gotten on well. The Malfoys still had family in France and never quite got over the fact that the McKinnon name outshone theirs.
"Him," he nodded, "He might."
"And you?"
He threw back his head and laughed at the question, a barking sort of sound that caused a few heads to turn in their direction. She figured he must have exaggerated it at least a little bit to inform the gaggle of girls eyeing him that he was currently occupied.
"Hopefully, I'll be rid of this legacy by that time," he said bitterly. His words were cryptic, as though he had actually given it thought rather than it being wishful thinking.
She frowned. "Thinking about following in Andromeda's footsteps?"
He turned to her, expression carefully blank, and for a moment, he looked scarily like every other bland and boring person there rather than the reckless man that argued far too often with his parents.
"And who do you suppose I run away with?" he asked, his voice empty despite the teasing smirk he tried to give her, "You?"
She shivered at how much it didn't sound like him and lightly shoved him away. "Don't be daft. I would never run away with you."
He shrugged, looking out into the crowd. "Too bad."
And that was that. They finished the conversation and she was swept up into a dance with some man whose name she knew but didn't care to learn the personality of. And Sirius retreated to his room.
Too bad. Isn't that all their lives ever were?