101 Ways to ditch the Date | SIRIUS BLACK

No. 55

Although she had no logical way of finding out, Emmeline was sure that Marlene McKinnon knew what she'd done and the knock on the door only confirmed it. Their game of cat and mouse was up and she could run no longer.

She'd realised it at the start of the week, ever since she'd seen the angry Gryffindor venomously glaring at her from across the Great Hall. Since then, Emmeline had adopted a 'never alone' policy, attaching herself to whoever would take her. Most of the time, it had been Ora although she'd even allowed Cassandra to try out feathered layers on her hair for the company. 

The week without Marlene had been nice, giving her some breathing space from the whole thing, allowing her to figure out some things which she'd been suppressing for some time. This was another reason she was afraid of the encounter as Marlene had a way of getting what she wanted and some of Emmeline's thoughts might be pulled out before they were fully formed.

Still, she knew she'd have to confront it sooner or later and when she heard the knock on the door, she knew had to go willingly. However, as she followed the girl out of the room, away from the safety of Ora and Sirius, regret began to seep in, especially as Marlene's face obscured with a curtain of hair preventing Emmeline from even reading the mood of the situation.

"Marlene, we could talk here - "

"In a corridor only a few doors down from your best friend? No, we will talk where I want us to," She snapped back, her tone overflowing with venomous snark.

The walk took a strange turn as Marlene led them outside, walking uphill before stopping abruptly near the Owlery. Another bout of nerves passed through Emmeline as she'd never been on the receiving end of Marlene's wrath before and didn't know what to expect.

After a pause, Marlene turned around, finally speaking, "Hey Emmeline, I was just thinking you would have been so good in Ancient Egypt."

Emmeline had been prepared for a lot of things but this was not one of them, "Why do you say that?"

"They worshipped snakes there!" Marlene hissed, "And you, Miss Vance are a snake! How could you do that to me? That's right, I know because snakes always get found out eventually ... and Sirius is very unsubtle. We were in that together, Emmeline - "

"I know and I'm sorry," Emmeline interjected, "But I panicked, she was going to find about me - "

"You could have said that we were doing it to show her the truth about Sirius," Marlene yelled back, "It wouldn't have been the end of the world and you didn't have to betray me like that!"

"I know and I'm sorry Marls - "

"Marls? No, Marls is for friends and I'm only friends with humans, not snakes!" Marlene shouted, "That was shitty what you did and in the end, it wasn't even me who suffered, it was Dexter! But do you know the best part? Sirius knows you were involved, I overhead them talking in the common room - "

"NO!"

"Yes, he figured it out and you bet he'll tell Ora," Marlene snapped, "She'll never want to talk to you after he's unleashed his poison, you'll wish you'd told her before because now you framed her friend and sabotaged her relationship and for what?"

"I just wanted to get her back, I just wanted it to things to be as they always were - "

"Oh really?" Marlene was on a roll now, pacing back and forth, "Because you never wanted Lily out of the picture, you didn't want Dexter gone either, just Sirius. They were 'taking' her as much as him. Besides, she still spent time with you! She - "