Sirius
Sirius(Padfoot)Black:
Remus kissed a girl, or so the Marauders think and Sirius doesn't like the feeling in his gut; he can't quite place it, anger maybe, did he want to be the first one to kiss someone? He couldn't place the feeling but he was definitely going to catch up to Remus.
Remus had been even more absent then usual and Sirius had been trying to keep him close while still trying to find a girl to snog, so far on the list there’s Marlene Mckinnon, a harder target she would take some convincing. Lily Evans, no way James would never forgive him and she hates him too much. Mary Macdonald, she would be easier but not easy to kiss, she’s more outgoing. There were of course all the girls that wanted to date Sirius Black but he refused to kiss those girls; he believed they would become too clingy. Of course the pool of women who wanted to date Sirius Black wasn’t that big in third year.
“Sirius, what are you plotting?” James, Sirius and Peter are at breakfast while Remus just quickly made Moony toast and took off.
“Hmm?”
“What are you plotting?” James reiterates.
“Oh um nothing, just unfocused.” Sirius lied. He was planning, he was planning how to get back at Remus for making him feel the way he was feeling.
As breakfast subsided the three of them made their way to potions where Remus was already reading and gathering the list of ingredients they needed. Peter sat down next to Remus and James next to Lily. Mary was out sick so the only other person he could tolerate was Marlene, “Wanna work together?” Sirius sat down as he asked the question and Marlene just narrowed her eyes at him as if sizing him up.
“Fine, as long as you take this seriously.”
“I've done everything in my life Siriusly.”
“I’ll take my chances with someone else.”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, but you gave me the perfect opportunity.” she just shakes her head and goes to get a few of the items.
“I can't find the frog brain and goose grass, can you go look?” he doesn't answer, but returns a moment later with the two items. When Marlene looks up to scold him for messing around she’s surprised to find him focusing on the instructions. It takes her maybe five minutes before she can truly wrap her head around it and by that time Sirius has already measured and put the first ingredient in the cauldron.
“Why are you staring at me?” he's started on the second ingredient so she turns back to the paper and picks out the third.
“I didn't mean to, you just look so out of place doing school work.”
“I know I'm not the most studious person but I do have mostly O’s in my classes.”
“Seriously?” Sirius just stares at her blankly before she realizes her mistake, “you're not kidding?” she says with a smile.
“No, I’m not. I’m from the noble house of Black.” Sirius waves his hands around dramatically, “I need to be the best or Mother will be upset, I just don’t talk about it all that often.” His voice quiets and Marlene realizes that he's not just trying to get a rise out of her.
“I mean I knew you were a Black… I guess I didn't think about the pressure that ensued.”
“Yeah well you're a halfblood.” Marlene's lips tighten and she almost breaks her pencil before Sirius can correct himself, “I mean… you don't have to ‘keep the bloodline pure’ and ‘make sure you're making your family proud’ because muggleborns don't have as many ridiculous standards placed on them.”
“You know I’m a halfblood right?”
“Yeah, but still.”
For the rest of the class they worked in silence, Marlene realizing how much pressure Sirius is under, especially being in Gryffindor, and Sirius hating his mother and wallowing in self pity. They get the potion right, and while not being the first one, theirs is one of the best. Marlene seems shocked by this news and Sirius doesn't pay any attention to it. He meets up with the Marauders and they head up to the dorm room where Moony starts to read his usual book, James polishes his broom, and Peter starts his homework. Sirius feels out of place, even more so once Remus decides to leave and meet whatever girl he’s decided to sneak around with.
Sirius loses his cool and decides to follow Remus, they make it to the astronomy tower before Remus sees him, “what are you doing Sirius?” he whips around and anger is clear on his face.
“You're sneaking around with a girl I want to know who!”
“I'm not-” Remus sighs, unsure of how to explain what he's thinking, “I’m not sneaking around with any girl.”
“Then what are you doing?!”
“I’m… studying, without you guys.”
“Seriously, that's all?”
“Yes, it’s just difficult to study with all of you asking me questions every two seconds.”
“Okayyyy.” Sirius turns and walks away, feeling like an idiot. Of course Moony would tell the Marauders if he was with a girl; on his way back down he sees Marlene.
“Hey, I saw you stalking Remus and didn't want to interrupt,” she pauses, unsure of how to continue, “curfew isn’t for like an hour.”
“I know,” Sirius starts motioning for Marlene to walk with him.
“Wanna hang out?”
“Why aren't you talking to the girls? Or whatever you guys do?”
“Eh? I guess I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Why wouldn't I be?”
“I don't know, our conversation in potions worried me I guess.”
“I’ll survive, I've been dealing with my family for thirteen years. Besides, school work is easy, and even if it wasn't, I like pissing my parents off.”
“Why were you stalking Remus?”
“He's been disappearing a lot, I wanted to know what he was doing.”
“What was he doing?”
“Studying.”
“I don't know if I believe that, but whatever.” They walk for a while, Sirius having no specific destination and Marlene just following Sirius. They end up outside in the courtyard, Marlene sits down while Sirius stays standing.
“Have you ever thought about why you guys don't get along with us?” Marlene was picking at her nails but she was still looking at Sirius.
“I don't know, I guess you guys don’t like us because you think we're immature.”
“Think? Sirius, yesterday you spent an hour trying to lick your elbow.”
“I was invested, I had to prove Moony wrong.”
“Did you?”
“No, but we can be mature and responsible when needed.” Sirius pretends to tighten his tie and shoots that Sirius Black grin at her.
“I’m sure.” she snorts. Marlene takes Sirius hand and pulls him down onto the bench, “thanks for taking potions… thanks for not messing around during potions.” Sirius snickers at how quickly she's learning not to use his name.
“Of course, I guessed grades were important to you; it was like working with Remus, and I'm not trying to insult you by saying that .”
“Remus is the only sane one out of you, I’m not insulted.” Marlene shifts so she's facing Sirius and Sirius follows her lead. It was easy for him to notice that she was very close to him. Sirius couldn't lie, Marlene was cute, but it didn't feel like anything James had described when he talked about Lily. his stomach didn’t flip and he didn’t want to stare at her forever and he didn’t understand what was so wrong with him that he didn’t feel that way.
He took a leap and leaned into Marlene, she met him halfway. They kissed for a minute before it ended. Sirius and Marlene looked at each other for a moment.
“That was,” Sirius felt his stomach flip, but… this couldn't be what James meant, he wasn't happy or excited he was terrified she'd want to kiss him again, “not right.” Marlene couldn't explain it either but it didn't feel the same as when she was around Mary, Mary could graze her hand and Marlene felt like she was on top of the world. This confirmed it for her, and that made her terrified.
“Yeah… definitely.” Sirius felt every muscle in his body relax as she confirmed what he felt, “sorry about,” he waves between them in a small pause, “this.”
“Not like I didn't lean in.” she laughs awkwardly before standing up, “I don't… I don't want this to be awkward. Eventually James and Lily will date and we're gonna need to be at least cordial and I just-”
“Marlene?”
“Yes?”
“I'm good with us being friends, like real friends, not just cordial friends.”
“Okay.” Marlene smiles a real smile for what feels like the first time in a long time; she's has a secret now but it's nice knowing who she is.
They walk back to the common room before heading up to their dorms, Sirius goes to his bed and closes his eyes not understanding what was wrong.
Remus throws one of his shirts at him and he can’t help but smile as Remus falls into his own bed. Sirius doesn't seem to notice his stomach flipping as he watches Remus fall asleep.
The next day Sirius comes bounding into the dining hall with James in front of him, Remus laughing next to him, and Peter on his other side rolling his eyes. This, this feels right. This is what Sirius wants to feel for the rest of his life. He could never lose the Marauders.