All My Cards are Here - Marauders+Wolfstar+Jily

Chapter 2: friends, old and new

"Leave some girls for the rest of us, won't you?" James said.

Sirius was saved from answering by the opening of the elevator doors. The four of them navigated through the winding hallways until they reached room 1510. The door was open, but James still knocked politely.

Marlene looked up, "Oh hello boys. Come in and close the door behind you."

The four of them sat down across from Marlene. She sat at a large desk filled with papers and photographs of different bands. Behind her were large glass windows that only fed into Remus' intimidation.

"So, this is the Marauders," she said.

"That's us," James replied, only a little bit of nerves in his voice.

"Tell me about each of you. What you play, how you all know each other, all that."

"Well, I'm James Potter. I am the lead singer and I sometimes play guitar. I grew up with Peter Pettigrew," he gestured to Peter, "who plays keys and then I met Sirius Black at school, he's the drummer, and the three of us became friends."

"Sirius Black," Marlene interrupted, "Any relation to Black Banks?"

"That's my family's company," he said with only a bit of tension.

"So Orion Black, is that your father?"

"Yes," Sirius said. He wasn't one to normally give such short answers.

"And you want to be a rockstar? Surprising."

"Yeah, well. I'm full of surprises." From his tone, it was clear Sirius did not want to speak about this. Marlene didn't back down though.

"Don't give me an attitude," Marlene said sharply. "You think I'm going to be the only person asking that question? If you hadn't noticed the music industry is full of judgmental assholes." Remus wanted to laugh but he held it in. Marlene may be intense but at least she was honest. "People are going to look at you and look at all that money and a life set out for you and wonder why the hell you chose music."

She then turned her attention to Remus, "Same with you. What's your name again?"

"Remus Lupin. I play bass."

"How'd you get those scars, Remus?" she asked pointedly. There was clear tension in the room and Sirius looked like he was three steps away from murdering someone. But Remus wasn't worried. He got these questions all the time.

"Oh, I was mauled by a werewolf, you see," Remus replied casually.

Marlene gave him an amused look. "Really?"

"Yeah, don't go on moonlit walks in the woods. I apologize in advance if the full moons interfere with the band's schedule."

Marlene full-on laughed, but then said, "Really though, what happened?"

"Accident when I was a kid," Remus said with a smile. "Can't even remember it, actually." There was one gift that came from these scars, Remus was an excellent liar.

Marlene smiled. "That's how you answer an uncomfortable question. Take notes, Mr. Black." Sirius looked at Remus with an unreadable expression. "You all should be prepared for all kinds of intrusiveness. If you make it big, people won't think anything about you is off-limits."

"You think we could make it big?" James asked.

"Sure," Marlene said. "Your music is good - catchy, yet interesting. I especially liked that last song you played at the bar. It had heart. Not to mention that you're all attractive young men. If you play your cards right, you could have something here."