All the Young Dudes ( Sirius' Perspective )

Seventh Year : Mind Games

Sirius wasted no time in pulling Marlene through the portrait hole, announcing her presence to the common room and stepping out of the way with a flourish, as if she were royalty. Marlene grinned, blushing at the attention but delighted nonetheless as their friends immediately swarmed her.

Everyone needed to hug her, of course, and James and Lily rushed to take her bag and cloak as they ushered her over to the sofa near the fireplace. Mary looked as if she were trying to suffocate the poor girl, squeezing her so tightly that Marlene went a little red.

“We’ve missed you!” Mary told her, once she’d finally stepped back.

“I can see that!” Marlene shook her head, “Have you all been that bored without me?”

They settled down in front of the fire, ignoring the startled looks from a group of third-years studying in the corner. Remus meandered over and sat in one of the armchairs on the outskirts of the group, with a slightly wary look in his eyes. Sirius glanced behind him, but it seemed that Christopher had already disappeared—which was probably for the best, as Mary leaned in immediately and asked,

“How’s Danny?”

“He’s…recovering.” Marlene said slowly, smile falling away. “He’s at home now, mum’s driving him crazy as usual. He won’t…he won’t be going back to the Cannons.” She bit her lip, staring down at her hands.

“It’s a bloody disgrace.” James scowled, one hand curling into a fist, “If I was their manager, I’d—”

“He’s too badly injured, anyway.” Marlene interrupted him, shaking her head, “He’d have been off for the rest of the season either way; it’ll be months before he's back on a broom. So. Just as well.”

“Still bollocks.” James insisted, darkly.

“Yeah, well.” Marlene gave him a flat stare, “Can hardly blame them. I know I would have…anyway. Not worth thinking about.”

Sirius’s heart sank. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting; for her to have a miraculous change of heart, now that her brother was…? Well, it didn’t matter—obviously Marlene was still clinging to the same outdated ideas she’d had before. Sirius tried not to feel angry with her; after all, she’d been through a lot, it wasn’t like it was his place to tell her how to feel about what had happened. Still, he had to resist the urge to glance anxiously at Remus as she spoke.

Marlene cleared her throat, forcing a smile back onto her face.

“I’m going to talk to Madam Pomfrey as soon as I can; see if she recommends anything. The healers at St. Mungo’s were useless, more concerned with keeping him quarantined than actually helping him. Hardly anyone could answer the questions I had about transformations, or aftercare, or pain relief…it was like they’d rather I just stopped talking about him; like they wanted to pretend he wasn’t there…”

Her voice was trembling, choked with the tears the crept into her eyes. She blinked rapidly, clearing her throat. “I mean, I know what he is, don’t get me wrong. I know what he’s going to become. But he’s still my brother, for fuck’s sake!”

“Of course he is.” Mary said quickly, reaching out to take her friend’s hand.

Sirius’s chest felt tight. Something about Marlene’s words—he’s still my brother, for fuck’s sake—struck a bit too close to home. Part of him wanted to shake her, to fall back into their old debate about lycanthropy, to say ‘There’s worse things a brother can be, than a werewolf.’