A Marauder's Guide to Falling in Love

Chapter Eight

Bert hadn't made any further attempt to communicate with Marlene since the afternoon they had spent together. Marlene thought she would have been more irritated by this thought but the unbearable amount of homework and increasing pressure to complete assignments three weeks leading up to the Christmas holidays left no time for her to dwell on it.

The first time Marlene had a moment to contemplate his lack of communication was the last day of term during the evening feast as she was entering the great hall with Mary and Lily. The girls were engaged in a discussion about their upcoming holidays. All three of them were relieved that they would be boarding the Hogwarts express the next day to unwind with their families for two weeks.

"Although, I'm not sure how much relaxation will happen at my house," Lily wrinkled her nose with distaste. "Petunia is bringing home her boyfriend Vernon for the first time."

It was common knowledge that Lily and her sister, Petunia, had a very strained relationship. After the first two years at Hogwarts it was something that she no longer spoke of often. They had had a falling out when Lily had received her Hogwarts letter and Lily presumed that Petunia had been overcome with such jealously that their relationship had become unsalvageable. After meeting Petunia during the summer of their second year, Marlene felt inclined to agree.

"All she talked about all summer was this bloke," Lily continued on with annoyance. "And apparently she even asked Mum to keep me away for the evening when he's supposed to arrive. Of course that didn't go over very well. I'd almost rather I didn't have to endure it."

"Hey Marlene!" a voice echoed across the noisy chatter that filled the hall and interrupted the conversation. Marlene lifted her head to search for the source. She spotted Bert waving at her from a distance of about ten feet away but he made no movement to approach her.

She smiled feebly and waved back before returning her attention to her friends. They continued walking towards the Gryffindor table and slowly her smile turned into a frown as she allowed herself to finally ask herself why she had not heard from Bert sooner.

She recalled that afternoon they had spent three weeks earlier and how lovely the day had seemed. The realization that their goodbye had been anything less than awkward left her questioning whether or not he had been genuine that he had wanted to see her again. Even more so now that she finally had time to process the fact that it had actually been three weeks ago, did she realize that maybe the awkwardness was because he hadn't enjoyed his afternoon with her as much as she had with him.

"He keeps looking over here at you," Mary said which managed to finally snap Marlene out of her daze.

Marlene had sat with her back to the Hufflepuff table purposefully, and therefore could not easily see if Mary was accurate in her statement. She didn't feel the desire to turn around and make an obvious gesture that suggested she was aware of his attention, so she settled with a casual shrug as a response instead.

"I thought you liked him?" Mary only replied with confusion.

"I barely know him," Marlene said truthfully, but she refused to admit to the butterflies she felt in her stomach when she looked at him.

Lily gave her a knowing look and Marlene could feel her face flush a brilliant shade of crimson. She grabbed another scone and stuffed it into her mouth quickly with the hope that the conversation would be directed elsewhere.

After dinner, the girls were quick to make their way back to the common room in comfortable silence. None of them spoke a single word until they rounded the familiar corridor and the portrait of the fat lady demanded the password.

"Kerfuffle," Lily said dully.

"I should think so!" The fat lady straightened her shoulders and raised her chin up as she slid forward to allow them access. The common room was still deserted as they had been the first to leave dinner, but was short lived as the portrait swung open almost immediately after they had entered and more students began to fill the room.