A Marauder's Guide to Falling Forever

Chapter Forty Four

"I hear you on that," he laughed. "Nearly another full moon."

A sense of unease washed over her, as though someone was watching her. Instinctively she surveyed the room expecting to catch Sirius spying on them. But he wasn't even in the room. Nobody else seemed to be interested in their conversation from what she could tell.

"Looking for Sirius?"

"Is it that obvious?" Marlene turned her attention back to Remus. His expression was pained and suddenly she had one more thing to add to the list of things she was stressing about. "I'm so sorry Remus. I imagine this has been difficult for you. He'll come around eventually."

"Don't be sorry, Marlene. I understand that Sirius doesn't trust me right now, and that's not on you." Remus said and the sadness in his voice was unmistakable. "But I just want to know if they are safe. That's all I'd like to know. If you can't give that to me I'll understand and won't bring it up again."

Marlene bit down on her lip, torn with confliction. Carefully, without meaning to reveal anything, but still assure her friend at the same time, Marlene nodded once. "Yes."

Relief flooded Remus's face and he smiled. "Thanks Marlene - "

A loud crash to Marlene's left cut him off from whatever it was he was about to say, and both he and Marlene jumped with surprise as Peter fell forward into the space beside them, knocking over a potted plant in the process.

"Sorry!" he squealed apologetically from where he was face down on the carpet. "I tripped on something over there."

"Are you okay, Peter?" Marlene asked hurriedly while bending down, offering her hand to help him up and see if he was alright. Peter scrambled on the floor, righting himself without accepting Marlene's assistance.

His eyes were wide and he looked highly embarrassed as he avoided eye contact with either of his friends in front of him. "I'm fine, thanks," he muttered. "I should probably watch more carefully where I'm going."

"Is Wormtail embarrassing himself again?" Sirius's voice joined the conversation, and Marlene felt his arm snake around her waist as he stepped into the circle. Immediately she felt his body tense beside her as his gaze moved from Peter and onto a quickly paling Remus.

She jabbed him in the elbow in an attempt to dissuade him from causing Remus any further discomfort. She knew it wouldn't likely do any good; when Sirius's mind was made up it was damn near impossible to dissuade him. It was also apparent that he either missed or ignored the scowl on Peter's face. She couldn't blame Peter; Sirius's comment to his friend was less than friendly.

"Sirius," she said with a warning tone, "be nice to your friends."

"Moony," Sirius said curtly, completely ignoring Marlene.

"Hello Padfoot," Remus replied. But his words came out shaky, and it was obvious he was uncomfortable being stared at with such intense scrutiny. Sirius didn't even bother to hide his ill feelings towards Remus, and Marlene felt her annoyance begin to bubble into anger.

"Right so Remus and I were having a private conversation," she said, emphasizing the word private and hoping to drive home the hint that he should leave.

Of course it did no good because Sirius only replied, "Were you now?"

Her fuse was short and she decided to vocalize her inner feelings. With a fierce authority she snapped, "Go away Sirius."

She felt his grip around her waist loosen and he looked down at her with astonishment. She imagined that it was hard for him to see her still chumming with Remus, the person he suspected responsible for breaching the trust of the Order, but it was tiresome for Marlene to even pretend to appease his antics. She didn't care if he knew how stupid she thought he was being.

"It's alright, I was getting ready to leave anyways," Remus said hastily before Sirius had the chance to respond. "Good to see you Marlene." He offered her a simple, sad smile. Then he turned his attention back to Sirius and Peter, who was still standing awkwardly a few feet away and watching apprehensively as though a fight may break out at any moment. "Sirius. Peter. It was nice to see you both again."

Marlene scowled. Even after all Sirius had put him through, Remus was still polite and respectful. Why couldn't Sirius do the same?

"Hold up, I'll leave with you," Peter called out to Remus's quickly retreating figure. He barely offered a glance to Sirius and Marlene before issuing his hurried goodbye. "See you two later."

And only after Peter had exited through the front door and the sound of it closing met her ears did Marlene round on Sirius. Her mouth hung open with intent to give him a piece of her mind but she was quickly accosted by Emmeline.

"You know, I've been trying to chat with you all night Marly," Emmeline flounced up beside Sirius, and Marlene didn't fail to notice how he took the opportunity for the interruption to try and sneak away.

"Oh no you don't," she snapped at him, reaching out to grab hold of his arm and holding him firmly in front of her. "Emmeline, I'm busy at the moment. Stop asking me questions about the Potters. I have no idea where they are. And if you don't mind I need to yell at my boyfriend."

"And you said you weren't any good at lying," he said slyly under his breath after Emmeline had begrudgingly given up and walked away.

For a fraction of a second the guilt crept up on her that she hadn't been a good liar when Remus had asked her. She contemplated sharing this with Sirius but then she thought about his reaction to Remus earlier, and how he would react to such an admission. It only took another second to decide that this was information that Sirius didn't need to know.

Besides, it was her turn to yell at Sirius.

***

A/N: Two more days....Ahhhhhh!