TITLE━ Cigarette Daydreams ( * )
FANDOM━ Harry Potter
LOVE INTEREST━ Marlene McKinnon
TIMELINE━ Marauder's era (late Hogwarts years onwards)
CHARACTER NAME━ Phoebe Black ( * )
STATUS━ taken by bvbyteeth
SUMMARY━
Phoebe Black thinks her life would be rather peachy, if it were not for the fact that Sirius, her former best friend, has become a total git with his Sorting into Gryffindor house and apparently thinks that all Slytherins, including her, are the bane of all that is evil and the fact that her family is starting to go completely off their rockers with the pureblood propaganda and traditions and all that crap now that Andromeda has run off with a Muggle-born and reportedly had his child.
She would very much like to stay in Hogwarts this Christmas instead of returning to that House of Horrors, thankyouverymuch.
The only reprive comes in form of Phoebe's desk partner in Potions: Marlene McKinnon, Gryffindor, one of Sirius' friends and possibly the best thing to happen to Phoebe since their Sorting made everything go to shite. Marlene who Phoebe was taught to believe is a disgrace upon wizarding kind.
Phoebe tries to hate Marlene. She really does. But but suddenly she is everywhere. They have to work together on assignments, which makes them end up studying in the Library for hours and Phoebe finds she can talk to Marlene. And Marlene, with all her fiery temper and protectiveness fitting of her House animal, listens. She takes her seriously. She cares for her.
Suddenly, Phoebe matters for herself in a way she hasn't since her friendship with Sirius fell apart.
Phoebe Black tried to hate Marlene McKinnon and somehow she ended up falling in love with her along the way.
But with the inofficial return of one Lord Voldemort, she realizes that maybe she should have listened to her family and never gotten her heart involved in the first place.
NOTES━
🏹This happened when I listened to "The One That Got Away" and it kind of went off from there lmao
🏹I tried to keep it vauge in terms of family relations in the summary. Phoebe is a Black, but the more exact relations (whether she is one of the Black sisters, Sirius' twin or even Alphard's daughter) is up to you. What's important is that she is part of that group in the family and that while she is in the same year as Sirius, the Marauders & Marlene, she is the younger one between Sirius and herself.
🏹Sirius is her best friend growing up and they're very close (close enough for Phoebe to maybe try and be sorted into Gryffindor by choice to be with Sirius if she'd been sorted second and for Sirius to find that being a Slytherin would've been acceptable if he's with her). When Sirius is sorted into Gryffindor and Phoebe into Slytherin and they begin forming friendships with their respective housemates, their friendship sort of falls apart in a public and dramatic fashion, leaving no bridges behind.
🏹Phoebe's character is a little split in the sense that she personally has a more progressive stance in her family (depending on how exactly she is related to everyone, the biggest weight will either be on Andromeda's treatment, the polarisation of Regulus and Sirius&Sirius' treatment, or the way Alphard raises her to be more open and inclusive within the confines of her family - but all are factors). On the other side she sees the consequences of disobedience and cares about her family enough to not want to risk loosing them and getting hurt the way loosing Sirius hurt her and their current relationship still hurts her to this day.
🏹I like the idea that Alphard and Phoebe have sort of a father-daughter dynamic regardless of whether they're father and daughter or uncle and niece where Phoebe can approach Alphard about her struggles without fearing punishment or disownment and Alphard tries to guide her towards a path that isn't tainted by the pureplood propaganda and warped world view that's still within the confines of the Black family so that she doesn’t lose them as her family is important to her. He basically encourages her to question what she's been taught and stand on her own two feet. This is something that will still play a role even if she's a Black sister or Sirius' sister since she can't do that with any of the other adults in her immediate family.
🏹Marlene acts sort of as a safe haven, making Phoebe understand that her feelings are valid and that the world is in fact not as black-and-white as her family tries to teach her. She's also the one who supports Phoebe in a way her family doesn't or can't and Phoebe basically learns the courage to love herself and others the closer they get.
🏹You can change Phoebe's first name as long as it fits into the trend of Blacks naming their children after stars/constellations/moons (Phoebe is a moon of Saturn!) and that her names comes before Sirius' in the alphabet. Phoebe will be sorted first between the two.
🏹I'm also open to possibly changing the title, so dm me if you have another one in mind and we can chat about it!
SPOILERS━
🏹While Marlene and Phoebe get together at some point during Hogwarts (in secret! since,,, Phoebe's family lmao), it's up to you in how far Phoebe and Sirius do or do not reconcile.
🏹With Voldemort making more and more obvious moves to further his plans and the Black family gravitating around him, Phoebe is right in the middle of the tensions in the Wizarding World. Marlene is part of the group that stands opey against Voldemort and his Death Eaters and joins the Order of the Phoenix after graduation. What Phoebe does, if she leaves her family like Sirius or doesn't and tries to navigate herself within the Death Eaters like Regulus, while still being in a relationship with Marlene is also up to you. I do like the idea that Alphard's death might've caused some sort of rethinking for her to take a more aggressive/confident stance but Sirius' and Alphard's disownments might also make her go the other way.
🏹I think regardless of which way Phoebe goes, she still doesn't believe in Voldemort's cause. Even if she does end up on the opposite side of Marlene, she mostly tries to keep her girlfriend safe and they still continue their relationship in secret much the way they did in their time in Hogwarts.
🏹How Phoebe's story ends up is up to you. Considering how Marlene's story ended in canon, I think there's a valid chance that she might not survive the First Wizarding War but really go wild with it! I like the idea of a head-canon that there are little easter eggs in the Golden Trio era (like maybe Phoebe's name blasted off the tapestry or her being in the photo of the Order Sirius shows to Harry with Marlene or maybe just her being in Azkaban (lol) that is mentioned or something like that) since I'm always a sucker for those references to own characters in a plotline that's technically not strictly theirs. But, really, I don't have a specific ending in mind, as long as it's not too outlandish in the realm of HP-logistics, do whatever you want!
