A Marauder's Guide to Falling Forever

Chapter Seven

Naturally she hesitated on the doorstep. Lily could be scary when she was angry, and no doubt she was livid with Marlene at the current moment. But eventually she would need to get it over with, especially since James had likely already revealed to her that Marlene had finally arrived home. The only thing that could be worse than Lily being angry at her disappearance would be Lily being angry that Marlene hadn't bothered to stop by first. Putting it off for a minute longer would only test Lily's temper, and she wasn't willing to risk it.

As her hand poised ready to knock the thought crossed her mind that running away seemed like an awfully better alternative to what she was about to do. Sirius's hand rested on her shoulder in a possible attempt to calm her, but it didn't do much to subside her nerves.

She shifted her gaze to survey that he was watching her carefully, like he had been ever since she had arrived home. He had insisted on accompanying her to the Potters house even though she asserted that she didn't need a chaperone. He brushed her off with a lame excuse about how he was planning to visit with James anyways, but it seemed much more likely that he wasn't willing to lose sight of Marlene just yet. She finally managed to push away the thought of running, and brought her fist down onto the door.

At first she thought they weren't home. It took a second knock and a few minutes before she could hear the undeniable shuffling of feet headed for the door. And then the lock clicked and the door swung open.

But it wasn't Lily that answered. It was James. He didn't appear angry like he had the night before, but Marlene suspected that could change shortly.

Sirius had insisted that James did not resent her for Euphemia Potters death. Since they had drawn a boundary to the physical aspects of their rekindled relationship, they had spent a large portion of the night conversing about everything that needed to be said. Marlene was unfortunately unable to tell him what she had been up to during her months away, but he hadn't seemed frustrated nor did he attempt to pry it from her. 

Even though Sirius told her that James did not hate her like she suspected he did, she still felt apprehensive standing in his presence, awaiting whatever judgment he had ready to bestow upon her.

And then his arms were around her, pulling her into him with such force that she felt the wind expel from her lungs. She had never embraced James before and noted that he smelled an awful lot like something sour. She wrinkled her nose in disgust and pushed away from him.

"James, what is that smell?" she asked while suppressing a gag.

"Smell?" he looked confused. Then his eyes glanced down to his shirt where Marlene's head had been resting. "Oh!" His eyes suddenly lit up. "You know we have a baby, right? They tend to have trouble keeping things down, if you didn't know."

Marlene felt her stomach lurch. Baby vomit. Disgusting.

But then his face became serious again and his gaze hardened on her much like she imagined it would. She stared back at him with equal intensity. James Potter would not get under her skin this time.

"Lily's – "

"She's going to kill me," Marlene interrupted before rolling her eyes. "Yes, I figured she would."

"No," he shook his head. "I was going to say that Lily's going to be so relieved to see you. I had a hard time convincing her to stay in last night after I came home. She was determined to hunt you down at Sirius's."

"Oh," she said, surprised. But then she also realized that it didn't mean she still wouldn't hesitate to take her head off after the initial shock had worn off.

"I'm relieved to see you," he said gently and his eyes softened behind his thick framed glasses. "We thought you were dead."

"Yes, I've heard" she replied. She could feel Sirius shift behind her and James's eyes flitted between them.