"Ladies, ladies..." Sirius said as both Emmaline and Marlene wrenched away from his grip. "I'm really not loving this whole progression between you two. You're both completely breaking my queer heart. Not to mention what you're doing to each others hearts!"
Marlene was standing beside some rubbish bins, staring ridiculously hard at them as Emmaline stared at Marlene's back.
"It sounds like Em was moping about nearly aa hard as you were Marly, what do you reckon on that?" Sirius questioned.
Marlene didn't budge.
Sirius sighed. "Mar..."
She turned around. "I don't want to get married but I also don't want to break up. There's - there's too much rubbish happening right now, all at once, with the war. And I'm not ready to be married yet. I'm still trying to get used to us being - you know - public. I -"
Emmaline made a face, "Being public? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Emma! Come on! You're not an idiot. You know people are horrid to - to people like us, and you know my parents don't know... and nor does my brothers, only Annalee and - and if we get married or even engaged they'll all have to find out... and Annalee is only barely alright with it... and I'm bloody terrified alright?"
"But Marlene --"
"It's not that I don't love you, I do love you, so much, Emma! It's just that I'm scared to lose my family!"
Emma's eyes softened. "Marley..." she whispered.
Sirius was looking pretty pleased with himself.
Then - "Oi. Mackinnon!"
Marlene and Emmaline both turned to look as Remus came trotting across the lawn, looking something somewhere between hurt and livid as he approached.
"You just kissed my husband!" Remus said angrily.
Sirius made a motion for Remus to stop talking, slashing a finger across his throat. Remus already had done the damage, though.
"You did what?" Emma rounded on Marlene, who turned bright read.
"Bloody hell Remus - I just nearly had fixed them!" Sirius turned around to face Remus.
"I --" Marlene stammered.
"It meant nothing!" Sirius said, yelling more at Remus than the girls.
"Nothing!" Marlene turned to look at Sirius, a bit hurt.
"What did you intend it to mean something?" Sirius spluttered, "Surely not, after all this time."
"It bloody well better of meant nothing, given you've just said all you've just said!" Emmaline snapped.
"Not to mention that HE IS MY HUSBAND?" Remus said, grabbing Sirius's wrist and holding up his left hand where the wedding band caught the sunlight. "You oughtn't have meant for it to mean anything!"
"Also I'm gay as fuck," Sirius put in, "And it would be just a travesty."
Marlene shook, staring around between them. "I - I wasn't thinking right, okay? I don't know what came on me. I'm an idiot. And I didn't think it meant that like Sirius and I were going to shag or anything like that --"
Sirius shuddered, "God no."
"Hey, she's hot! You'd be lucky to have her!" Emmaline snapped.
"Really, Em? Really?" Sirius said. "Pick your battles, girlfriend." He turned back to Marlene.
"I just have always loved you Sirius, and so yes the kiss meant a good deal, but not -- not like I think anything would change or become more than what it was!" She stared at Sirius, their eyes meeting. "I have always loved you Sirius Black with every fiber of my being... We're the same soul in so many ways and - I swear - in another lifetime, I would have fought so much harder for you than I did in this one. But no - I know that you and Remus are everything to each other, and I never dreamed of breaking you up or anything like that. I wouldn't accept it if you tried." She looked at Remus, then. "I would never. And I'm so very sorry that I stole a kiss from him that ought to have belonged only to you... But... he said pretty words, Remus... Words I needed desperately to hear... and - I mean - how do you resist that in the moment?"
Remus had his hands in his pockets. He knew all about kissing Sirius Black inappropriately because of him speaking pretty words. He could almost fee the stairs in the Gryffindor common room beneath him even as he thought of it.
Marlene took a deep, shuddering breath. "I'm sorry Remus."
Remus nodded. He couldn't not forgive her for it. He had done the same thing after all.
Marlene looked at Emmaline, "I'm sorry, Emma."
Emma looked sad and slightly betrayed but she nodded, too.
Sirius waited a moment, but silence fell over them, and finally he cleared his throat.
"What?" Marlene asked.
"Since you're on handing out apologies?...? Possibly one you've forgotten...?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.
Marlene looked at Emma then Remus, who both looked appeased, then back to Sirius. "What? To you? You loved it. I owe you nothing." But he could feel her apology vibes just the same.
Lily was waiting for James when he stepped through the floo. "James Charlus Fleamont Potter," she said.
"I know, I shouldn't have done that," his voice was shaky, "If Dumbledore hadn't stepped in, I think Moody might have ---"
Lily had grabbed hold of his shirt and yanked him into a kiss so hard that he stumbled, laughed against her mouth, and then got his senses more about him and kissed her back.
"And I didn't even bake for that one," he mumbled, eyes still closed.
"You're so bloody hot."
"What? What was hot?" James asked, opening his eyes and looking at her with confusion.
"The way you just -- stood up to those guys -- like it was nothing. Like you were one of them. Like... it didn't matter that they were superiors and they're bloody ALASTOR MOODY and ALBUS DUMBLEDORE and all that. You were -- you were just as powerful as them, equals and --" Lily shook her head. "I don't know. Just... It struck me all at once just how... grown up.. and..." She stared at him a long moment, then gasped and grabbed his shirt again, "Just damn," she muttered, pressing his mouth to his a third time.
James was smirking when she broke apart from him again. "I guess I'll just have to be... authoritative... more often."
"Yeah?" she asked. "And what's that like, Potter?" She tilted her head suggestively.
James grinned, lip hanging up on his tooth. "Well... I mean... Evans, if you like me being authoritative, then perhaps -- you --" he was trying so hard but his voice just wouldn't come off with the sternness it needed and he laughed, turning red. "I can't. Bloody hell, I can't look at you and be harsh. You're too pretty
"Well I can!" Lily snapped. And he blinked at her in surprise, an amused look twinkling onto his face. "No! Don't you smile, James Potter! Get upstairs and get that ridiculous clothing off of your body. RIGHT - NOW!" She pointed.
James's eyes widened and then he ran for the stairs, laughing. He tripped halfway up, and Lily had to fight to keep her fake angry face on as he scrambled to his feet and rushed the rest of the way, glancing over his shoulder to blow her a kiss.
She wondered how long she should make him wait.
Then she rightfully wondered how long she could resist, knowing what would be waiting for her up there.
"Okay wait. I'm out of the loop for one day and not only did Marlene and Emmaline break up, but they may - or may not, you're not sure - be back together again?"
It was later that evening - the Order meeting over, plans made, and time for Lily's surprise party that she wasn't supposed to know was mere hours away. Sirius had arrived early with gossip and the instruction to distract Lily while James, Peter, and Remus decorated.
Lily was braiding her hair, staring into the mirror in the gorgeous palace-sized powder room in the upstairs of the Potter's house. The room was big enough that she had a vanity and a sort of walk-in closet area in a separate room from the actual shower, bath, and loo. The walls were pink and there were pictures of serene landscapes and encouraging phrases and fluffy towels in white, beige, and pink colors -- all things James hated but knew she liked and he'd modeled it sort of after a prefect's toilet with how spacious and wondrous it was in there.
(Truth be told, it was the one room he'd done with magic because he knew she would love it so much if her private toilet was bigger on the inside.)
Sirius was perched on top of her Hogwarts steamer, a load of creamy face-mask goop hardened on his face, hair in a bun a top his head, and an unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth ("You will not light that thing in my perfect, gorgeous toilet!" she'd said, and he'd agreed to keep it unlit, but if he sucked on it hard enough he reckoned he could almost - almost - feel the nicotine getting through the filter anyway.)
"They left it all very ambiguous," he said. "Marlene was going back to her parents' house when they left, but -- but at least they talked."
Lily sighed. "I can't believe I missed all this."
"Marlene snogged me," Sirius added, pretending to be more interested in his fingernails than her, though he was actually watching for her reaction.
He was not disappointed.
Lily whipped around so hard she dropped her hair and the plaiting fell out. "WHAT?"
Sirius grinned. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and his eyes twinkled all grey and evil from behind the face mask. "We went for a walk in the park and she kissed me. It wasn't really a snogging. A peck, really. Well, no - not a peck. It was a bit longer for a peck. And wetter, too. But altogether not awful, I suppose. I mean, if she was a boy it would've been rather a good kiss."
"Marlene kissed you? You're not even exaggerating?" Hair forgotten completely, she walked over and sat on the trunk with him.
Sirius said, "With lips like mine, who doesn't want to kiss me?" he waved his palm at his mouth.
"I've never done," Lily said.
Sirius puckered and closed his eyes.
She stared at him. "Wouldn't it just give you a turn if I did it!"
He peeked with one eye.
"I know where that thing has been, Sirius Black, and I'm not going anywhere near it."
Sirius snickered and dropped the pucker. He put the cigarette on his knee and said, "Remus was jealous and I fucking loved how jealous he got, but that's a secret, so shhh, don't tell him. I felt so wanted."
Lily laughed. "Maybe we should take a picture of you right now with that mask on and see how wanted you are then?"
Sirius grinned.
"So," Lily said, "Was Marlene's kisses as good as you recall them being?"
"Please. We never really snogged back then." Sirius said. "Merlin's buttcrack!"
"Really? But you both always bragged on and on and --"
"Evans," Sirius said. "C'mon."
"You were both making it up then?"
"We planned what to say together!" Sirius laughed at the memory.
"WHAT?"
Sirius snickered. "Yeah. I joked about it first, but then Marlene heard the lads teasing me about it and she asked once if we ought to actually do the snogging. So we made an appointment."
"An appointment." Lily snorted. "How the bloody hell did you lot think you were straight?"
Sirius's grin was wide with amusement, "But neither of us really wanted to snog so instead we spent our appointment making up the story about our snogging. We didn't last much longer after that together."
"Well that and you told her you went to Costa Rica for the holiday instead of writing to her."
Sirius laughed. "Poor Marlene. Why the hell does she love me for, huh?"
Lily's voice was completely serious. "Because you're utterly and stupidly irresistibly lovable Sirius."
His eyes met hers.
"Lilith?"
"Siriumptious?"
"When you did the love magic on me... what was it like?" he asked.
Lily smiled. "You were the only one that I've done that I was laughing when it was finished."
"Laughing?"
"Yes," Lily said. "Just... It's like a flood of memories - good and bad and everything in between - and you're just such a light." She reached out and took his hand in hers. "I saw every lovely memory I had tucked away in my heart of you... and it was wonderful." She smiled at him. He smiled back. She looked at his hand, then up in his eyes. "Sirius?"
"Hmm?"
"It sounds silly and trivial now, so many years later and with so much different than it was then, but --" she laced her hand through his. "I'm sorry that when I was sorted Gryffindor and you held your hand up for a high-five... I'm sorry my eleven year old self was too much of a priss to give you that."
Sirius remembered exactly the moment she was talking about.
Subconsciously, he realized, it had bothered him all along - and he hadn't even noticed it until he felt the relief that followed her apology.
"Thank you, Lily," he murmured.
Lily nodded and she petted his hand and got up, walking back over to the mirror to get her hair plaited again and do her make-up. After all, she had a surprise party in a few minutes and she needed to be ready for it.
Sirius wiped away the mask from his face and watched her braiding and applying make-up, his eyes following her movements in the vanity mirror.
"Lily?"
"Yes?"
"Can you show me how to do the love magic?"
She was putting on mascara. "Yeah?" she asked, lowering the wand and turning 'round to look at him. One eye had dark, luscious eyelashes. The other hadn't been done yet.
"Yeah," Sirius said. "I want to do Rey."
"You always want to do Rey."
"I mean with love magic, you dirty minded ho."
Lily turned back and started doing the second eye with the mascara. When she finished, she slid the wand back in the rube and screwed the cap back tight. She put the mascara away in the plastic case she kept her cosmetics in. She plucked her way through several lip glosses, then chucked Sirius the cherry chapstick he liked so much. "I don't know if I can show you how to do it with Remus," she said slowly.
"Oh," he said, trying not to sound disappointed. He uncapped the chapstick and smeared his mouth with it.
"It's not that I don't want to or that I don't think you'll be absolutely brilliant at it. I think you'd be a natural at love magic, actually, but I mean because -- Well, I tried to do Remus myself the other night --"
"Kinky."
"--- and I couldn't do it. It was... it was so painful."
Sirius's eyes shot up to hers so fast. "Painful?"
"Yes. Oh my stars, Sirius, you have no idea."
"Worse than a cruciatus?"
"So much worse."
Sirius shivered. He busied himself with putting the unlit cigarette back into the little cardboard box.
"James won't allow me to do him."
Sirius looked up. "Who, Remus?"
"No himself - he won't let me do the love magic on him."
"He's literally your husband!" Sirius exclaimed. "How can you really do the love magic and not do him?!"
"I know, exactly. I need to... I have to talk him into it somehow. But he says it's too much and that there's stuff I don't know and that he doesn't want me to go through it all."
"Sounds like something Remus would say to me."
"What is it with our men and their protective tendencies?"
Sirius shook his head. "Dunno," he said, "Reckon they've formed a club?"
"P.W.O.P.T.S.O.F.N.G.R," Lily said.
Sirius thought a moment. "People who over-protect their significant other for no good reason?" he guessed.
Lily laughed, "How. How do you do that?"
Sirius grinned.
"You should be on one of those telly programs where folks bring their pets to do stupid tricks for the night show hosts."
Sirius laughed, "I'd win."
"You would - you're way too good with solving acronyms," Lily agreed.
"Not to mention that I'd be a talking dog."
Lily laughed much harder than she ought to have at this - mainly because she'd entirely forgotten that detail until he'd said it, and she doubled over.
Sirius grinned, happy to have gotten a rise off her.
"You know," he said, suddenly, "Remus would've never agreed to letting us become animagi if he'd known about it, but we became animagi and now I reckon he sees the purpose and he's glad we did it." Sirius paused, raising an eyebrow at Lily.
"Yes, but - James already outright told me not to do it so I can't just do it without him knowing about it. That would be going against his wishes and I want to respect those."
Sirius was tucking the cigarette box back into his pocket. "Hmm, perhaps, but he didn't tell me that I couldn't do him... You know. If I was to learn how. Then when he sees it doesn't kill a man perhaps he'd be a bit more willing to let you."
Lily shook her head, "How are you so brilliant? and diabolical?"
Sirius grinned.