Deepest, darkest fears revealed

Sirius sat there watching Marlene awaiting her answer to his offer. Of course he figured she wouldn't say much being the shy quiet girl she was, he just thought maybe helping her and Remus along might bring some happiness to the both of them. He may have seemed like nothing but a flirt and a mischievious person, but when it came to one of his friends Sirius, was just indeed that, serious. Especially over James, his friendship with him meant more than any of his own family memebers. Of course given the fact they disowned him and burnt his name off of the family tree didn't help matters much. But when it came to James, Sirius would do anything for him. Remus and Wormtail were like family too and he wanted all the best for them as well. The blush on Marlene's face proved to him that she indeed had a crush on ole Moony. But his features wouldn't betray this knowledge, instead he just nodded along as she spoke. He wondered if Remus had any clue pertaining to her feelings, he would think so but seeing as it was Moony and the things he had running though his mind he could never be sure. She tried to hide them but it was to late for her to do that. He decided then to not take it any farther, after all his thoughts would turn to Dory more often than he expected. With that he saw Meda and Marlene begin passing a note back and forth and decided to turn his attention towards his next tart.

Sliding his stool down to where Dory was sitting Sirius would grin at her and not say anything just yet. He wanted her to drink in his face. He knew he had been affecting her and he was quite pleased with that fact. Of course he affected just about every girl he's come into contact with but despite others views, he did not have an ego over it. It did make him bolder however. Sirius' reputation with the ladies was almost as big as his reputation as being a Marauder. He couldn't help that he couldn't keep focus on one girl for more than a few days. It just seemed to him his pranking took precedence over the responsibility it took to keep a relationship going. Dory though seemed to have a quality about her that MAYBE could change his opinion a bit. He was no easy catch, nor did he like the idea of being tied down to just one person. He might test her to see if she could handle him. Most girls couldn't keep up therefore becoming a bore and having to be let go. Could she handle his flirting with others? Was she able to not gripe and complain about him not being all lovey dovey? These were important questions to Sirius, he knew that, that may make him look shallow but nonetheless he was a Marauder and pulling pranks an practical jokes is who is. Perhaps he would chance finding out, looking at her with mischief in his eyes he would ask "So, the trip to Hogsmeade is coming up soon. You wanna go with me?" Almost shocking himself asking the question Sirius mentally shook his head. It was perfect. No doubt he would be hanging with James, Remus, and Peter during the trip. It would give him the perfect oppurtunity to see how she reacted when all four of them were together.

He gave her another sly wink as he noticed Moony enter the class. Excited to see his good friend Sirius watched him as he leaned forward and began speaking. It looked as though he spoke more directly to Marlene, he didn't know if he even saw that Sirius was there. He was sure he did however but just in case he stood up and walked over to where Remus sat. He waited until Marlene finished talking before he put his two cents in. "Flirting?" he asked laughing a bit, "I would say it was more along the lines of her unable to keep her hands off of me." He made sure his voice was loud enough so Dory would hear. Meda didn't seem to pay much attention to them, casually passing notes to Marlene. Thats only because Narcissa was in the room. "Besides, from what I can tell you two seem to have been flirting with each other." He gestured with two fingers pointing at both Remus and Marlene, referencing just moments before when he saw the apparent blush form on Marly's cheeks when he inquired about helping to speed things up. Nudging Moony with his elbow, he bent to whisper to him, "You sly dog, why didn't you tell me?"

"Oww," Marlene said teasingly as Dora nudged her. "You know I love you," she added with a grin.

Then she turned to Sirius as he answered to her comment and her eyes widened slightly, her cheeks turning a deep shade of red. She looked down at her books, flipping through the pages once more, not daring looking at Remus anymore. Why couldn't she just keep her mouth shut? Of course she had to talk and obviously get herself in trouble... Well, not really in trouble, but this was definitely going to be embarrassing. She closed her eyes for a second, hoping Remus had gone momentarilly deaf though knowing the chances of that happening were rather low.

When Dora spoke up, Marlene took her head between her hands, resisting the urge of banging her head against the desk. She sighed and looked at her friend pleadingly, willing her not to make any more comment while Remus was there.

"Because there's nothing to tell," she whispered. "Please can't we drop the subject? For now, at least..."

If she wanted to become friend with Remus, starting off with the wrong impression was definitely the wrong thing to do. Not that she wasn't interested but they had only just started talking... besides, she really didn't know how to act around him and she was pretty sure he felt the same way. This situation was beyond awkward.

Remus had noticed Sirius' presence, after all, how could he not. He was perhaps one of the few people he knew that he actively looked for in a crowd. Remus was perfectly alright on his own, but when he was with someone it was usually Sirius, James, or Peter, and at other times Lily, and so it would only make sense that he would look for any of them first. Although lately he had noticed that he had been looking for Marlene just as often. "Nothing yet. Well, you did miss these two flirting outrageously right under my nose but apart from that,"

"Well, I don't know that I missed it," he said with a teasing tone, referring not the fact that he hadn't heard any of it, but that he did not regret that he had not. It was good to see her smiling, after last night he had wondered how she was doing.

"Besides, from what I can tell you two seem to have been flirting with each other." Remus' smile dropped from when it had appeared when Sirius was boasting that Dorcas couldn't keep her hands to herself and Dorcas had replied that she hadn't minded the attention

. Well this was a bit uncomfortable, especially when Sirius nudged him and asked him why he hadn't told him. Perhaps this could be the reason, not that he said so outloud, Marlene didn't look too thrilled with the topic of the conversation either.

While he did have some sort of warm feeling for Marlene, their friendship was quite tentative, and for some reason it seemed that they only met one another when some outside force made it so, or when she was upset or injured. He watched as she took her head between her hands, and shot a small glare at Sirius, knowing that perhaps he was being a little unfair, he didn't know about what was going on in Marlene's life. The last thing she needed right now was stress. Remus' fingers itched to pull a piece of chocolate from his pocket. He really needed to ween himself off of the comfort food.

"Because, Padfoot, if there was something to tell you, you know that I would." he said, quietly. And wasn't that the truth, he kept very few secrets from them, and he wasn't exactly the world's best liar. He sometimes wondered how the three hadn't figured out right off that he was a werewolf.

The situation was awkward, and he knew that it probably wouldn't get any better unless something was done. He'd rather not have this looming over their heads and causing them both embarassment. There was nothing to be embarassed about, really. "Hey Marlene," he said leaning forward once again in his seat from where he'd leant back after being elbowed in the ribs. "You want to go to Hogsmeade with me?"

Marlene sighed lightly as she looked down, letting her hair fall around her face in an attempt to hide her still red cheeks as she played with her hands nervously, dreading Remus' reaction as much as Dora's ; she didn't want her friend to be mad at her because she hadn't told her about her interest toward Remus. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell her, but it had all happened so fast that she didn't know what to say, or if there even way anything to say. After all, they had only talked two or three times, along with the few stolen glances. And then the night in the astronomy tower, it had just felt so right, being comforted by him... she longed for the feeling of his arms around her once more, the close proximity of their bodies... sighing a little, she shook her head at herself to chase the thought away as she noticed her hands were trembling lightly and her cheeks were even warmer than before, and so probably much more red.

As she brought her hand to her cheek in an attempt to cool down her warm face a little, she caught a part of what Remus told Sirius, though not all of it. The only words that reached her were: "if there was something to tell you, you know that I would." She gave a small smile and looked back down, not being able to keep from thinking how alike they both were. After all, she had basically just told Dora the same thing. There wasn't anything to tell... was there? She slowly drifted off to her thoughts once more but didn't have the time to loose herself completely as she heard her name being said.

She looked up at Remus and blood rushed back to her cheeks as Remus asked her if she wanted to go to Hogsmeade with him, though this time it wasn't from shyness or embarrassement, but from excitement. Her eyes lit up slightly and she bit her bottom lip to keep herself from grinning. Instead, she smiled and nodded, deciding she would definitely have to talk with Dora later, but that for now she would just enjoy her moment. "Yes, that would be nice," she said, smiling at him.

A smirk set on her face, Bellatrix Black walked confidently into the DADA classroom. She saw Marlene, Dorcas, Remus and her (unfortunately) cousin Sirius out of the corner of her eye, but knew they weren’t worth her time, there were better things to attend to rather that looking at those filth. She kept her gaze set straight ahead and saw her sister sitting alone at a table reading from her textbook, well, not sure if you can call it reading. To Bella it seemed she was just glaring at the words.

She dropped her bag down near the side of the chair next to Cissy and took a seat. She crossed her ankles under the chair and snapped her fingers, expecting a house-elf to come shuffling about and hand her her things from her bag just like at home. Remembering she was indeed at school, not home, she rolled her eyes and sighed sternly while reaching down and retrieving her ink, quill, and text book and placing them in front of her on the table.

“What happened?” She asked, sensing her sister’s dark mood. She pulled her dark hair back into a pony tail before looking around the room. She spotted her other sister, Meda at a different table. “Did she do something?” She asked, although it was more thinking aloud. She had always gotten a strange vibe from Andromeda, the youngest Black sister. She always said and (to a point) acted as if she felt the same ways Narcissa and Bellatrix did, but there was just something strange.

Looking further around the room her eyes landed upon the filth that she must call her cousin. How did this happen? He was raised under the ways of the house of Black, yet he managed to turn out this way. It both amazed and disgusted Bella… more disgusted of course. On the chance it was him responsible for her sister’s mood, she said “He’s not worth your anger, it’s exactly what he wants. I find it much more calming and simple to just act as if none of them are there. As if it’s only the worthy in the room.” She explained.

Sirius could tell instantly that he crossed a boundry with his comment. Moony's glare told him that, and Marlene hanging her head fiddling with her hands, shying away attested to it even more. He didn't mean for it to cause any embarrassment. With that he would back off a bit, not wanting to make anyone anymore uncomfortable. Nodding his head at Remus with an apologetic look in his eyes, he hoped Moony would see that he understood and would tone it down. Turning to Marlene he placed a hand on her shoulder,"Forgive me Marlene, I didn't mean to make you nervous." He spoke to her in a comforting and sincere voice. He's only just met the girl and he's made a fool out of himself. Just then the door opened again, turning his gaze towards the entrance he saw that it was Bellatrix, his other wretched cousin. And to think, everything was going well up until then. She strutted in naturally taking a seat beside Narcissa. It disgusted him to see such pride, with both of them now in the room it was only a matter of time before they started harassing him. He didn't mind of course he was used to it, he would shrug it off. But they didn't immediately turn on him, perhaps it was Remus' presence that made them withdraw? Whatever the reason Sirius paid it no mind.

Now however, Andromeda was more wary than ever. Looking towards her he felt sympathy, she now had to disregard everyone inexplicably. She proved that thought correct when he saw her stand up and begin idly making her way towards her sisters. Shaking his head, he turned back to the group, there was nothing he could do lest he cause more trouble than what it was worth. He now had the desk to himself. MAybe Moony would come join him, now that the seat was vacated. Whatever the case Sirius decided to return to his seat and make himself comfortable once more.

Although Remus had not been seriously angry with Sirius, any residule bad feelings that might have been eased away as the other apologized to Marlene. He couldn't tell Padfoot what was going on with her, felt that it was breech of trust if he were to do so, but he appreciated that the other Gryffindor was perceptive enough to know that something was wrong. Still his shoulders were tensed as he waited for an answer from Marlene, hoping that she would say yes, and not sure what he would do if she said no.

As she looked up with a smile, he returned it with one of his own in response. That smile only grew as she agreed to go with him. "Yeah?" Remus would have said more, if it hadn't been for the fact that class would start soon. It was evident though that he was pleased that she had said yes to him.

Remus did notice though that Sirius was now sitting alone, and stood, grabbing his things and moving to the seat next to him.

Marlene looked up at Sirius as he apologized, feeling slightly surprised and uncomfortable. She hadn't meant to make him feel bad for his taunting, after all she had somewhat asked for it, and Sirius was not the kind of guy who didn't answer to things like what she had said, or so it seemed to her. But maybe the glare that Remus sent at him, which she caught out of the corner of her eyes, was one of the reasons for his apology. As he apologized, she smiled a little at him and shrugged lightly. "It's alright, I didn't exactly help myself with that comment I made. Though it was definitely acurate," she said, turning her head to wink at Dora teasingly.

Then she looked up at Remus, the blush still apparent on her cheeks as she bit her bottom lip once more, grinning lightly. When he smiled back at her, she almost lost all capacities of thinking and blushed once more, playing with the small silver chain around her neck as her fingers fidgeted lightly at the small butterfly hanging from it. When he moved to sit at the desk in front of her, next to Sirius, she let out the breath she had unconsciously been holding and smiled lightly to herself, looking down at her books as she let her hair fall over her shoulders, forming a dark curtain around her face. She then remembered Dora's presence next to her and took out a small piece of parchment, dipping the til of her quill in her bottle of ink and scribbling down a short note to her friend. She didn't want her to be upset by thinking Marlene had kept something from her.



Marlene looked up as she heard the door open once more and Melanie Jones, a seventh year Slytherin who she had never talked to, though she had often be sneered at by her, entered the room, followed by the professor. Marlene looked down at her piece of parchment, quickly finishing her note.



Marlene neatly folded the paper before passing it to Dora and opening her book at the page which the professor had just written on the blackboard. She looked up and placed her elbow on the desk, resting her chin upon her hands as she tried to concentrate on what the professor was talking about, though she couldn't quite focus on it and her eyes kept drifting to the back of the head of the boy who was sitting right in front of her. When it would happen, she would shake her head lightly and turn her attention back to the professor but it would only last a few minutes before she would return her attention to Remus.

"That's it, I have gone completely mad," she thought to herself.

Bertha walked into her second favorite class, DADA. Her Gryfindor robe swayed behind her. She spotted Marlene and Dorcas, and she sat down at thier table smiling. "Hello," she greeted, and then turned her attention to the rest of the class.


She grew bored, observing her peers, nothing interesting was happening. Marlene and Dorcas were passing a note, the awful Slytherins were gathered around more Slytherins, Remus was sitting with Sirius...BOREING! She leaned back in her chair, and crossed her arms. How could she deal with nothing to entertain her.

She smiled to herself, thinking of a way to cause commotion. She took out her wand.... swish and flick.... Dory's pen floated from her side, over her head and BANG BANG BANG, it hit the top of her head.

She quickly put her wand back in her pocket but not releasing it... Waiting for Dory to turn around and accuse someone. She opened her DADA book and pretended to read... She slipped her wand back in her pocket. Dory wouldn't get angry, Bee knew that... she just wanted some harmless fun.