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Sirius’s Decision


“So when are you going to tell me about Costa Rica, Black?”

Marlene McKinnon caught Sirius’s hand in the corridor. He grinned sheepishly and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, “Hey Marlene,” he said.

“Hey,” she replied.

Lily walked up behind Marlene, having been on their way down to the Great Hall for lunch when Sirius had attempted to sneak by to the corridor that led off the entrance hall. He was holding the parchment that Lily recognized as the Marauder’s map, though he’d folded it quite quickly to hide it from Marlene’s eyes and now held it half behind his back, level with his hips. Marlene ran her fingers down his tie, as though she were holding onto a dog’s leash. Sirius’s grin was awkward.

“I really don’t have -- the er, the time at the moment -- long story, you know, I’m… I’m running a bit late… supposed to be meeting the lads…”

“Well you’re going the wrong way if you’re meeting them,” Lily said, “Gryffindor tower is upstairs if you recall. Though I haven’t seen much of you in it this weekend… Where have you lot been?”

Sirius shrugged as flippantly as possible, “Oh… you know… places to go… people to prank… really we’ve been quite busy.”

Marlene frowned, “Too busy for your girlfriend?”

Something squirmed about inside Sirius and he murmured, “Too busy for anybody, really…”

Marlene pulled his tie so that Sirius was forced to bend forward and she gently placed a kiss on his lips… a lingering, teasing sort of kiss, the sort of kiss that should’ve tightened his muscles and made his mind go blank… the sort of kiss that women give a man when they want to weaken their knees and remind them exactly what it is that they have to offer. Marlene slowly let Sirius out of it after a moment, and he backed away, a bit breathless from it, staring at her. “Well, when your busy… just remember there’s more where that came from…” she smiled at him and winked, then nodded to Lily, “C’mon. We’ll get him go find his lads.” She turned and flounced away.

Sirius stared after her.

Lily paused, watching Marlene go, then looked at Sirius with a raised eyebrow. “Where have you been? The lot of you?”

“The Shrieking Shack,” Sirius said honestly. He put a hand to his lips. “Is she angry with me?”

“I think she’s sort of worried that you’ve lost interest. It’s driving her a bit mad, really, the wondering,” Lily answered. “Honestly, I haven’t really known what to tell her. Have you lost interest?”

Sirius said, “I… dunno.”

“Lily, are you coming?” Marlene called from the door of the Great Hall, looking back.

“I’ll be right there,” Lily replied. She looked at Sirius, knowing she only had a moment or two before Marlene would start to be upset with her for getting more attention from Sirius than she, Marlene, his girlfriend, had gotten. Sirius was still rubbing his lips with the tips of his fingers. “You look perplexed,” Lily observed.

Sirius asked, “Perplexed?”

“Yeah…” Lily studied him a moment, her eyes narrowing, then… “Is there somebody else, Sirius?”

Sirius cleared his throat, “Somebody else?”

“Somebody besides Marlene? Are you seeing another girl?”

“No,” Sirius replied honestly. “Why would you think that?”

Lily shrugged, “It’s just that a kiss like that… Well, when Pandy gives Xenophilius that sort of kiss, he doesn’t go off to play with the lads after. That’s all I’m saying.” She turned and started off.

“Lily?” Sirius called.

She stopped and looked back, halfway across the entrance hall already. “Yes?”

“What if there was somebody else? Someone I was… interested… in maybe seeing?” he asked.

“Then I should think you’d better tell Marlene as soon as possible,” Lily answered.

Sirius nodded. “Right.”

Lily hesitated, then asked, “Who is it?”

Sirius shook his head, refusing to answer.

“Do I know her?” Lily asked.

Sirius said, “Yeah, you know them.”

Lily smiled, “Is it McKenna?”

Sirius shook his head, “No…”

“Meg?”

Sirius didn’t wanna play this game. “I gotta go, Lily.” He ducked away quickly, pulling the map back up to eye level and unfolding it as he ran off down the hallway that led off the entrance hall.

Lily stared after him for a long moment, contemplating… and then her eyes widened. It couldn’t be… could it? “Sirius!” she called and she ran after him, her feet thumping on the floor as she hurried, trying to catch up. “Sirius!!!” She looked both ways up and down the hall, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. She hurried to the right, knowing the left came to a dead end ahead, and rushed down a short flight of stairs, “Sirius, wait, I have to ask you something!” she called, but there came no reply. She ran past a painting of a bowl of fruit, but there was no sign of Sirius anywhere, and finally she gave up and made her way back to the Great Hall, excitement coursing through her at the possibility that perhaps… just maybe…




Sirius climbed back through the trapdoor in the Shrieking Shack, “SOMEBODY ELSE GOES FOR THE FOOD NEXT TIME,” Sirius yelled as he climbed up, clutching several covered bowls of stew and a long baguette, his bag clinking with more bottles of butterbeer and a bottle of mead. “AND NEXT TIME, WE USE THE INVISIBILITY CLOAK!” he added. “I GOT STOPPED BY MARLENE MCKINNON, NEARLY DIDN’T MAKE IT BACK…” He climbed the stairs and pushed his way into the room.

The boys were in the middle of a colossal pillow fight, Peter on the bottom of a pile of Marauders, shouting and holding up his pillow as a shield as James leaned across it, held up by Peter’s raised feet pressed against his stomach, whapping Peter with a pillow that was leaking feathers about the room with every swing of it. Remus was laughing and hitting James with his own pillow, which had already gone flat, the feathers that had filled it already covering the entire floor.

“Oi! I leave you lot alone for maybe an hour and you go and destroy the place!” Sirius said, pretending to be angry.

“Oh shut up and grab a pillow and get in here,” laughed James.

Accio pillow!” Sirius called and a pillow flew over from the bed and Sirius rushed forward, joining the fray, “WATCH OUT… CHAMPION PILLOW SLINGER APPROACHING!” and he wound up and whap! The pillow caught James in the side, who hollered out with laughter and the whole lot of them - Remus, James, and Sirius, who’d come leaping at the bed, toppled over the side to the floor.

“I’M KING Of THE BED!” shouted Peter, standing up, “I WIN! I WIN!”

“You don’t win,” Sirius yelled and he swept his pillow at Peter’s legs, sending him falling down over the top of them. They all grunted as Peter’s weight landed, smooshing down the heaviest on poor James, who was at the bottom of the pile of them. Remus was wheezing with laughter.

“TRUUUUCE!” wailed James, barely able to breathe between the weight of the other three and the laughter caught in his throat, “Truce! Truce!” He had tears in his eyes from laughing so hard.

Sirius grinned and jumped up, “THAT MAKES ME WINNER!”

Remus rolled over as Peter got up and James lay there on the floor, looking a bit like a crushed bug, his glasses askew, eyes twinkling brightly, “Blimey you lot nearly killed me,” he panted.

“I brought stew,” Sirius informed them. “And a baguette.”

“Brilliant, I’m starved,” answered Peter.

“You’re always starved,” Sirius said, and they all laughed as Peter scrambled over the beds and ran for the bowls of stew.

They divvied up the baguette and sat about, pulling the lids of the stew and eaten ravenously, as though they hadn’t eaten in all their lives (even though they’d had a breakfast of no less than five chocolate frogs each less than three hours before). They were sopping up the broth with the bread and flinging carrots at one another (“Don’t waste the carrots, you blithering idiots, that’s the best part!” said Remus, flicking a bit of asparagus at them instead.) When they’d finished, they lay about the room on their backs, their bellies full and still exhausted from all the laughing and wrestling during the pillow fight.

“I doubt I’ll ever eat again,” murmured Peter. “Well… at least not until dinner.”

The four of them laughed.

“Well somebody else is going for dinner, I’m not going again,” Sirius said quickly. “I got apprehended by Evans and Marlene McKinnon in the entrance hall, accosted because I haven’t had time this term to snog with Marlene yet.” He rolled his eyes, “It’s a full time job, keeping that woman at bay. She’s just that addicted to… to all of this…” he waved his hands at his body.

“Yes, because all of that is quite addicting,” James said sarcastically.

“I apparently drive her mad,” Sirius answered. “Evans said so.”

Remus stared up at the ceiling.

“I don’t know if I can take anymore of it, really,” Sirius said, yawning and leaning back. He closed his eyes, “The old ball-and-chain is a bit much for this freebird.”

James smirked.

“I think I’ve made a decision that it’s come time that I free my wild horses…”

“You’re breaking up with Marlene?” Remus sat up and looked at Sirius’s lounging form.

Sirius didn’t open his eyes, “Mmm… yes, I reckon I probably will. It’s for the best. I’m just not the -- the er, relationship sort of guy, I guess. Least not the way that Marlene’s interested in, anyhow. I just don’t have the time to invest, you know? With the extra class this term and all… there’s simply loads of homework… and we’ve got to live up to our name as Marauders - there’s pranks to plan and execute… and the Moon Nights and all… I just have a lot on my plate right now, I can’t spend 24-7 sitting about snogging a girl.”

“I’d spend 24-7 snogging a girl if I could,” Peter commented. “I’d just forget about everything else except snogging.”

“Maybe you should take Marlene, then,” Sirius said.

“In a heartbeat, if she’d have me,” Peter said, “But no girls like me. They’re all after you and James!”

“Not all of them,” James murmured.

“And I’m just not interested in any of the girls right now,” Sirius added. “I need a… a break from girls.”

“They’ll all be heartbroken, I’m sure,” Peter said, “But they still won’t even look at me. I’m the fat ickle one they never look twice at.”

Remus said, “Don’t worry, Pete, I know how you feel.”

“You don’t even want them to look at you,” Peter said, “You want the boys to look at you.”

“And none of the boys do!” Remus said, he laughed, “At least you have a chance. Somebody’s going to fall for the rolly-polly cuteness that is you. There’s nobody that’s going to fall for a half-blood, scarred up, mangled old mess of a werewolf like me. I’ll probably never find somebody. But I bet you will. I bet it wouldn’t even be hard if you gave it a go and just was yourself around the girls.” Remus gave Peter a friendly smile.

“I’m sure there’s someone for you, Rey,” said Sirius suddenly.

Remus laughed, “Until they find out about my furry little problem, perhaps.”

“Maybe you’ll find somebody that finds your furry little problem… endearing,” Sirius suggested.

“Endearing!” Remus snorted. “Yes, I see it now, my lover’s looking into my eyes and he says to me, ‘once a month you transform into a werewolf and try to eat me, love, but that’s alright though, I find it rather endearing when you do!’ That’s going to happen.”

“I doubt it would be said like that exactly,” Sirius said.

James glanced at Sirius, who flushed and looked away.