A Marauder's Guide to Falling Together

Chapter Eight

Remus and Marlene returned from the kitchens about an hour past curfew. She knew that if Lily had been in the common room when she arrived back that she would be in an all new level of trouble than she had been in their previous year. Now that Lily was Head Girl she suspected that her oversight of Marlene's occasional late night traipses was not a force to be reckoned with even with Lily's one time momentary lapse in judgment when they had skipped class.

Luckily though, both girls appeared to have retired to their dormitory for the evening and the common room was filled with only a few stragglers. Not quite feeling the urge to go to bed, Marlene informed Remus of her intentions to finish the essay that she had been working on when he had interrupted her in the library.

"I'd join you," he said regretfully, "but the full moon is tomorrow and I really need my rest tonight."

Marlene nodded in understanding and bid him goodnight. She watched him trudge up the stairs to the boy's dormitory before rifling through her bag to continue working on the essay that lay forgotten at the bottom.

She was nearly finished the essay and was ahead of schedule for a change as she had spent the majority of her Saturday confined within the library, determined not to fall behind like she had last year. She had witnessed far too many students succumb to the pressures of their N.E.W.T.s and she did not desire to be one of them.

Despite the fact that the essay was near completion, Marlene scanned over the contents of her writing at least a half dozen times while making marks and adding notes that she had somehow forgotten to mention. By the time the clock in the common room chimed midnight she had grown weary of the Charms material and moved on to her Transfiguration notes.

They had continued on from their previous theory in sixth year regarding human transfiguration. The practical aspect of it was much more complex than she had originally anticipated but with Sirius's help during the last term, she had felt far more competent in her abilities and, despite the difficulty, she still managed to struggle less than she had in previous years.

Writing an essay on the subject matter was a completely different task than the practical though; she and Sirius had gone over so many notes and books and lectures on the matter that she felt like she knew it better than the back of her own hand. The essay came together quite nicely and for once she knew what it must feel like to have a natural knack for the academics.

Watch out Lily! She joked to herself but after scanning over what she had written, she had to admit that even Lily would be impressed with it.

The portrait hole swung open around a half past twelve as she was a few paragraphs into her second essay. She vaguely heard it open and close but had been so concentrated on her writing that she hadn't particularly paid attention to the additional company that had joined her until Sirius had plopped down into the space on the couch beside her.

"Hi," he said simply and Marlene glanced up at him with surprise.

"Oh," she was startled and her hand bumped the bottle of ink that had been sitting beside her. It splattered across the parchment and she let out a soft string of expletives as it slowly stained the words that she spent the better part of a half hour writing out.

"I'm sorry," Sirius said sincerely. He pulled out his wand and the ink disappeared from the pool that had collected around her but the damage had already been done to the essay and was unsalvageable.

"Its fine," she held back her annoyance. It hadn't been his fault exactly, but she was bothered that she had been so absorbed into her work only to have to start all over. "You're coming in a bit late aren't you?"

"Yes I suppose," he said with a small grin, "but you know me."

Marlene nodded. She hadn't noticed whether or not he had been accompanied with anyone else but the common room was empty and if he had been with someone, presumably James and Peter, they were long gone.