Marlene

8-Regulus Black

"Where's Remus?" Marlene poked her head into the compartment that James, Sirius and Peter were sat in on the Hogwarts Express. Lily had gone off to catch up with Severus, and Marlene didn't want to talk to him, so she was hunting for Remus, so she could catch up with him.

"He's-eh," Sirius would not meet her eyes as he spoke. Marlene then noticed that James was smiling a little too widely and that Peter was staring at his feet.

"You three know something," Marlene entered the compartment and sat down across from Sirius, "you three know something about Remus."

"No-" Peter stuttered, "no, we don't-"

"Tell me," Marlene addressed Sirius. She knew that she would get nothing out of James, and Peter seemed to struggle with any social interactions with members of the opposite sex, so Sirius was her best hope. "Sirius Black, I swear if you don't tell me, then I'll-"

"It's not our secret to tell." Sirius met Marlene's steely gaze with an equally steely one of his own. The two were locked in a stare off for quite a long time.

"Well, I'll find out one way or another." Marlene slumped back in her chair. "I swear though, if Remus is getting hurt and you three didn't tell me, then I'm going to gouge your eyeballs out and feed them too you."

Peter didn't seem to like this threat. He let out a little squeak and covered his eyes with his hands.

Marlene slumped back in her seat and crossed her arms angrily.

"You know, normally when you make a threat like that, you storm out right afterwards." James pointed out.

"Well, Lily is with Snape, so you lot are my only source of entertainment," said Marlene.

"See Jamsie, she thinks were entertaining," Sirius grinned, "oh, I can feel a friendship forming already."

********

"Was that your brother Sirius?" Marlene asked Sirius across the table as the feast began, "Regulus was it?"

"Yes," Sirius was glaring over at the Slytherin table, "yes that's my lovely brother."

"I'm getting the picture that you don't like him much," said Marlene, glancing in the direction that Sirius was glaring and seeing Regulus sat beside Snape.

"I like him almost as much as I like History of Magic," said Sirius.

"So not at all then?"

"So not at all."

Marlene frowned. Sirius had never mentioned his family to her before, which was strange as most of the other people she had met on her first year had spoken about their families quite a lot. She even knew about James's family.

Marlene couldn't imagine being on bad terms with her sibling. Erica did annoy her at times, but Marlene could never look at the younger girl with such contempt as the way Sirius was looking at Regulus. It was hard to imagine what on earth had happened between the two brothers, but Marlene knew the Black family from overhearing her parents complaining about the old Pureblood families in the past.

The Black family was a major part of the reason that blood purity was so important in the wizarding world. Just by being sorted into Gryffindor, Sirius's family would see him as a blood traitor.