The Rise And Fall Of The Stag And The Doe

never let me go

"Where is he right now?" Marlene questioned Remus, dropping into the seat next to him.

Remus frowned. "Sirius was with him the last time I checked, which I don't know whether that helps or not..."

"I don't know what the hell got into him. I think he honestly is trying to lose his badge."

"Shit." Remus swore, his forehead creasing. "What do we do?"

Marlene raised her hands in confusion. "I haven't a clue...I'm sure he's just acting out, but if he keeps this up he'll lose his badge, McGonagall will demote him from being Captain and even kick him off the team."

"That's light punishment." Remus said, "He picked a fight with Macabee yesterday."

"The big hulking Seventh year?"

"Yep, McGonagall looked about ready to expel him."

Marlene let out a low whistle. "Well he's been trying to fight Lily all week. Every chance he gets, he says something awful or tries to trip her."

"I'm really surprised she hasn't fought back. What is she waiting for?"

"Probably is just letting him get it out of his system."

"...Still."

"I know," Marlene muttered in understanding, taking a large bite out of her mashed potato's. "I don't know...I've seen him with mood swings, and hormonal crap, but I've never seen him legitimately not care about the consequences to his actions."

Remus lowered his voice. "It's a little unnerving, you know how passionate he is. Imagine that going the wrong way."

"Self destructive...like Sirius?" Marlene murmured.

"Worse...with Sirius you can see it coming. You know what it will take to make him stop because he's falls into those moods often, but James...when have you ever seen him out of control?"

Marlene thought about all of the years she'd known him and honestly couldn't think of a single time. "Never."

"I haven't either, but I know of one time. When Sirius tricked Snape into..." He let the sentence die on his tongue, a disgusted look growing on his face. "James was irate, he punched a tree and then Sirius."

"I remember...Sirius had a huge black eye."

"You never saw James?"

"No. Sirius found me after it happened..." Marlene said her face darkening.

Remus sighed. "Maybe this is just a phase. It's perfectly possible that we are overreacting."

"Most likely."

The pair fell into an uneasy silence. It was broken up when they saw Emmeline Vance run out of The Great Hall, covering her face and sobbing.

"What the hell happened to her?"

Remus shrugged cluelessly. "I don't know."

Marlene frowned, moved out of her seat and walked over where Esmee was sitting with Alice. "Do you know what's going on?"

Esmee's face was full of rage. "Emmeline was caught by Kara Clearwater snogging... someone."

"...And? What's new about that?" Marlene wanted to know.

"It was my sister." Esmee said between gritted teeth.

"Oh..." Marlene grimaced, "I'm guessing Kara wasn't too kind about that was she?"

"No she wasn't." Lily muttered storming up to Marlene. "I just gave her three months worth of detention."

Marlene blinked in surprise. "What did she do?"