A Marauder's Guide to Falling Together

Chapter Twenty Five

"She's horrendous," Marlene cried out before slamming her textbooks onto the table in the common room with more force than was necessary. "How am I supposed to do well in this class when my partner constantly makes snide remarks at me all of the time?"

"You remember who I'm paired up with, right?" Lily asked her skeptically.

"Yes, but you're you," Marlene shot her a doubtful look. "You could be paired up with a first year and still end up with the top potion in class. At least you don't have to worry about whether or not a Slytherin is going to hinder your chance at passing N.E.W.T.s."

Lily didn't say anything which was just fine with Marlene. They had just commenced the first full week since Marlene had been paired up with Natasha and she was merely looking to let off steam. She was beginning to rethink her initial optimism that being paired up with Natasha wasn't the end of the world. And if Marlene hadn't been happy about the pairing, it was nothing to how Natasha reacted about the arrangement.

"She's been an absolute nightmare," Marlene continued. "Nothing I do is ever right. She's constantly belittling me and pushing me out of the way. I might as well just not bother showing up to class anymore."

"Don't be ridiculous," Lily was apathetic. "You're not going to skip out on class because you and Natasha don't like each other."

"Loathe is a more appropriate term."

"Either way, you're going to grin and bear it for the next few weeks until we move on to new partners. Surely you can find a way to make it work until then."

Lily didn't budge on her lack of sympathy. As Marlene had been complaining about it all week she supposed that Lily was bound to tire of it eventually. However, her indifference on the subject caused Marlene to scowl.

"Don't look at me like that," Lily shot her a look. "You know that I'm just trying to be supportive in the most practical way possible."

Marlene didn't reply. Lily's way of handling things was quite different than Marlene's and she struggled to understand the way Lily's brain worked sometimes. Still, her advice was concrete even if Marlene was hesitant to admit it. Eventually her frustration died out and she opened the textbook in front of her to start working on her Charms essay.

She didn't expect to see Sirius that evening; it was the night of the full moon and the boys had 'Marauder business' to tend to. Marlene had learned that Lily was in fact aware that the boys were illegal animagus. Instead of being angry or disappointed, like Marlene expected her to react, Lily seemed mildly impressed that they had been able to pull off such a feat. She didn't even ask them any questions after they departed at the commencement of Charms class that afternoon, which surprised Marlene even more.

"What do you think the boys are up to all the evenings when they sneak out?" Marlene wondered out loud. She had asked Sirius numerous times but he never did give her a straight answer. "Apart from this particular evening of course."

Lily glanced up from her paper and looked contemplative. "I don't really know," she finally said, "I've sort of learned to stop asking questions that I don't want the answer to."

"Fair enough," Marlene said. Lily went back to her essay but Marlene wasn't interested in pursuing her own.

"Professor Dumbledore approved our request for the Valentine's Day dance," Lily said absently from behind her textbook a little while later. She hadn't brought up the subject all week and Marlene was ashamed to admit hat she had forgotten about it entirely.

"Oh," she said simply.

"You don't sound very excited?" Lily glanced up with a questioning look. "I thought you'd be jumping for any opportunity to spend more time with Sirius."

"Really?" she asked skeptically. "Are you sure that it isn't you that's jumping for opportunities?" Despite the fact that she remained quiet, Lily's face reddened confirming Marlene's suspicions. "Of course this was about you and James all along. Lily Evans, you romantic you!"

"So what if that played a small part in it?" Lily said under her breath with an unconvincing shrug. "James isn't really the overly romantic type; I figured the opportunity would give him a bit of a push in the right direction."

Marlene was shaking with silent laughter. After all the years that James had fruitlessly pursued Lily's affection, it was surprising to learn that he was lagging in the romance department.

"Stop laughing," Lily said with irritation. "It's not funny."

"Sorry," Marlene said breathlessly. "You're right, it's not. I just find it a bit ironic that after all this time it's you pursuing efforts with him."

Lily bit her lip and looked down into her book. "It wasn't my only intention. Of course I still think that the students here need something to look forward to. What better opportunity?"

"You're right," Marlene smiled. "I am thrilled that you found someone that makes you happy, Lily. Even if it is James Potter."

"Says the girl dating Sirius Black," Lily smirked. "I envy the two of you, you know."

"Me?" Marlene was slightly shocked. She had spent the majority of her years at Hogwarts admiring Lily in every possible way. It was difficult to imagine the roles being reversed.

"Yes," she said, "the way that he looks at you is impossibly magnetic. I've spent a great deal of time watching the two of you interact with one another; he makes you smile in ways I've never seen. Plus, he's always so affectionate towards you – and no, I don't mean the 'Frank and Alice' kind of affectionate. It's easy to see why you fell in love with him."

"Do you love James?" Marlene lowered her voice so as not to be overheard. It was pretty pointless as there were hardly any students in the common room, let alone within earshot, but she didn't want to take any chances.

"I think I'm starting to," Lily's face flushed again and she looked nervous. "It's all happening so quickly but I just don't know how he feels."

Suddenly, Lily's desire to fabricate a notoriously celebrated holiday of love and affection made a bit more sense to Marlene. She assumed that Lily was hoping to get James to profess his love to her. Of course, anyone that had a set of eyes could tell that James had been in love with her for years. "You know, you don't need a big dance and frilly dresses to get James to tell you how he feels," she decided to go with her gut and see whether or not her assessment was correct.

"I know that," Lily looked guilty. "I'd be lying if I said another way would be easier. How did you ever get the courage to tell Sirius?"

Marlene was quiet for a moment as her mind raced back to the day when she had uttered those three words for the first time. It wasn't exactly a memory that she relished because everything else about that day she wished she could forget. She had never told Lily when she had finally told Sirius how she felt so she couldn't blame Lily for asking. It didn't make her next words any easier, however. "I told him in Hogsmeade. Right after I saw him and Natasha kissing and right before –" she trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.

"Oh Marlene," Lily's eyes had grown wide. "I didn't know, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," she lied. She could feel her body tensing instinctively at the thoughts that had entered her mind. "Really, it brings us back to the conversation we were having when I first arrived," she said with a bitter laugh, "how horrible Natasha is."

Lily smiled half-heartedly; she was willing to roll with Marlene's attempt at deflecting the awkwardness of the conversation. "Well if she watches the two of you just as much as I do, it's not hard to see why she's so awful to you. She must be so incredibly jealous."