Sirius felt an odd sense of Déjà vuas him and all their friends congregated in the classroom at the end of the day. It was just the same as before with some small changes though: Dexter and Emmeline were present not to mention Marlene didn't look like she was about to storm out this time. It had been a while since he'd had a good plan and it was nice to have them all together despite the circumstances.
"Okay, thank you for coming everyone," Sirius said, standing tall at the front of the classroom, "Just to fill everyone in, Ora is missing - "
"WE KNOW! YOU LITERALLY INVITED EVERYONE THAT WAS AT THE PARTY!"
"Dorcas!" Sirius glowered, "But good point ... alright, no recap is needed then, we can just get straight to it. We need to figure out two things. Firstly, where she is and secondly, how to get her to come back with us," Sirius said firmly, "Ora is stubborn and smart but I believe we can do it ... Dexter, why are you raising your hand?"
Dexter looked around with confusion at Sirius's remark, "Is that not how this works? I have something to say."
"It's more of an open discussion. We're not first years, we can shout out," Sirius replied, his words accompanied by a flippant gesture.
"Well, with all due respect, I'd rather raise my hand, thank you," Dexter replied, "I'm not sure where she'd go but I do have an idea of how we could get her to stay. I'd like to take a look at the contracts that Ora has written over the years. We had a slight browse over them a while back during one of our revisions sessions at the start of term when she was thinking of rewriting them and I noticed that she likes reciprocal clauses ... can you see where I'm going with this?"
Everyone remained blank face other than James who raised a single eyebrow of confusion, "My best bet would be on Sirius and Ora's contract. I presume, the majority of the clauses would have applied to both parties as I doubt Mr Black would have signed it otherwise - "
"You give him far too much credit," James sniggered, "He signed it because of all the kinky - "
"I signed it because of the reciprocal clauses!" Sirius cut in suddenly before engaging in a two second mischievous glower match with James, "You were saying?"
"There's bound to be a section or a clause on both parties being present for a certain situation, it seems like something she'd put in just to be safe - "
"There was!" Sirius said suddenly, pressing his head into his hands, "I can't remember exactly ... it was on page five ... something about if the other one needed a date then the other one had to go with them ... I can't really remember."
"No matter, I can browse through it. It will be an intriguing read no doubt, I assumed she was very thorough," Dexter smiled, "Ora's more likely to trust her own word rather than ours. That's how we make her stay. If that doesn't work, there are some laws on truancy that I'm sure will be rather convincing..." For a moment, his eyes gleamed and Sirius wasn't entirely sure he liked the sound of it. Still, Dexter would never hurt Ora so he decided to let the lawman do his thing.
"Alright, a few of you can help Dexter with that," Sirius said firmly, "I'm guessing the rest of us should try and figure out where she might be."
He eventually decided that him, Emmeline, Marlene, Lily and Peter could brainstorm together. Whilst she was close to Dexter also, one look at him and the contracts suggested he would be in his own world for the next few hours so they decided to leave him alone. Instead, they figured James would complete the set. He didn't know Ora even if he had faced the wrath of her tickling jinx once but he'd be good for moral support.
•••
"It had been a while since we'd last spoken and even then, we mostly just stayed at school and sat on walls and discussed well, you or James," Lily admitted.
"She liked the Gryffindor common room ..." Peter added before shaking his head, "Padfoot, Emmeline ... I really think you two should be leading the discussion."
That was a good point but now that it came down to it, there was a lot of awkwardness, both feeling like they had something to prove about who knew the girl best. To add to it, Emmeline was finding it hard to meet Marlene's eyes after lashing out at her. She knew she'd been harsh, especially as Marlene had been dealing with her own issues, even if her methods of getting over them were deeply flawed. Having her here now just made Emmeline feel worse, especially as public apologies in front of the group weren't really a thing.
"Padfoot," Both James and Sirius were sat on his desk, one boy nudging the other. Sirius still didn't respond though, "Time's of the essence ... Padfoot?"
"I'm just thinking," Sirius said at last.
"Emmeline," Hearing Marlene use her full name stung a little, especially when it was laced with such cool apathy, "Any ideas?"
"I don't know," She admitted miserably, "She likes a lot of places, Norway, Brighton, London ... but none of them were special to her in the sense that she'd run away. Her favourite places were all in the school, empty classrooms where she could get some privacy, the lake she could run by, the window sill she sat on when she used to feel alone ... that's where I'd go look for her but she's not there."
"What about her Mum?" James suggested, "Maybe she went to be with here?"
"No, she doesn't know where she is and she wouldn't lie to me like ... like I ... I lied to her," Emmeline suddenly shook her head, all of her feelings welling up inside of her once more. Emmeline hadn't actually cried about it yet, even on the night it had happened. Yet, for some reason, this small thing suddenly set her off, tears welling up in her eyes which threatened to roll down her cheeks.
"Emmeline, are you alright?" Lily asked as Emmeline shook her head, suddenly slinging her bag over her shoulder and jumping down from the table.
Her words were garbled as she murmured, "Sorry, I have to go," before rushing out of the room in a flurry. Once she was out, she suddenly let herself go, slumping down against the wall as the tears rolled down her cheeks freely. Of course she couldn't even be allowed one moment of peace as less than a few seconds later, the door opened again. Her reaction was instantaneous, jumping up and attempting to shield her cheeks with both hands.
"I thought you were crying out here," Marlene stepped forward, "You're not hiding it very well."
"Why are you here?" Emmeline managed to say through suppressed sobs, "I was mean to you ... why do you want to help me again?"
"Because I manipulated you and then you threw me under the bus and then I was mean to you and you were mean to me, all cancels out," Emmeline didn't laugh, "Sorry ... bad joke, bad timing ... look, we agreed to help each other get over our shit so here I am and, well ... maybe your my friend too and I care about you, something like that."
"You're not angry?"
"I was a bit pissed off about ten seconds ago but then I realised your best friend and crush is missing so figured I should go easy," She took a tentative step forward, putting her arm around Emmeline before awkwardly guiding her towards the classroom opposite, "Here, I sense you're not the kind of girl who likes to be seen crying - "
Marlene opened the door but cut off abruptly as upon opening it, three pairs of eyes belonging to First years playing Gobstone stared back at her.
"Please don't take our Gobstones! They're very expensive and could definitely be traded in for several galleons!"
"Jeremy, NO! Don't tell the robbers that!"
"Okay... almost sounds like you want me to steal your Gobstones there, buddy," Marlene replied, slamming the door shut before turning to the still crying Emmeline, "Well, that was a horrible idea..."
For a moment, Emmeline didn't reply before managing a small laugh despite her sobs, "I-it's okay ... that's the first time I've laughed in days really ..." Just as quickly as it came her tears returned and Emmeline found herself crying on Marlene's shoulder. Quickly, Marlene led them away, managing to eventually find a hidden dead-end corridor for Emmeline to cry in freely.
"God, I'm a mess." Emmeline finally managed to stammer out after a good ten minutes of non-stop crying, "Tell me on a scale from gross to swamp monster, how bad do I look?"
"You still look pretty, just ... sad," Marlene admitted. For a moment, she held her gaze before diving into her pocket, pulling out a tissue, "Here ... your cheeks are wet from all the tears."
"Not as bad as your shoulder," Emmeline half-laughed, dabbing at her face, "Sorry about that."
"No problem," Marlene shrugged, "Trust me, I'm no stranger to people crying on my shoulders."
"Thanks," Emmeline replied, "What is wrong with me? When Ora's here it feels like I just hurt her and now she's not, I can't even hold myself together long enough to help get her back. I'm feel broken - "
"I don't think you're broken, Em, you're just a teenager in a shitty position who used shitty coping mechanisms just like well ... me and most of us really. Ora uses contracts, Sirius used sex and ditching, Lily cries or lies and I ... I manipulate. Doesn't mean we're broken and can't get better. Honestly, it feels crappy right now but I'm sure when Ora comes back, she'll be more than willing to talk it out. She's not going to get rid of you because you fancy her, she knows how hard that can be and your her best friend of almost three years for God's sake. It will get better, Em, you're far from broken."
"What if I can't figure out how to fix myself though?"
"You will," Marlene assured her, "Unrequited crushes are one of those things almost everyone's had ... we're all on hand to help, just trial and error, I guess. When there's a will, there's a way, that's my thinking for better or for worse."
At last, Emmeline let herself smile, "You know, you're not as much of a bitch as you let on."
"I most certainly am," Marlene shrugged nonchalantly, "You witnessed it firsthand but I'm trying to get less bitchy so glad to see it's working. You'll get through this, Em, and if all turns to shit, I'll stick around."
She put her hands on her shoulders comfortingly, giving a half smirk which only grew wider as Emmeline smiled too. Perhaps it was the fact Marlene had made her feel better so quickly or maybe that the orange and pink hues from the sunset made Marlene look so damn pretty but Emmeline suddenly felt herself leaning in, pulling Marlene into an unexpected kiss. As their lips gently met, Marlene seemed to stiffen a little before suddenly relaxing, her hand snaking up Emmeline's back before suddenly pulling away in shock.
"Em ..."
"Oh shit..." Emmeline's eyes widened, "I'm sorry ... I shouldn't have done that, it's just we kissed that time before and just now, you were ... being so nice and said I should try things to get over Ora and ..."
"Em, please," Marlene smiled slightly, a faint pink blush to her cheeks, "I mean ... it's fine, I get it. Any other time, I would totally kiss you back, I mean, you're cute and brilliant as well as sassy which is kind of a clincher for me but ... you were also just crying on my shoulder moments ago. If I kissed you back, it would be shitty of me," She stood up a little, holding out her hand, "Once you're in a better place kiss me again and see what happens, okay?"
Emmeline stood up too, not entirely sure how to feel about it although she didn't feel weird which was definitely good, "Why are you holding out your hand?"
"To hold yours, you nugget," Marlene laughed, "Come on, let's go back to the others."
•••
"Any sign of them?" Sirius asked Peter who was peering out the door for the five hundredth time.
"Nope," He replied after a pause, shutting the door and sitting back down again.
"Padfoot, what are you writing?" James asked, forcing Sirius to look up from his piece of paper. The vague shame on Sirius's face meant only one thing and James picked up on it fast, "Mate, no ... please tell me you're not still writing those things..."
Sirius looked away shiftily, "No ... well, maybe ... but it's just they're little reminders that er ... keep me grounded and - "
"You're scared that she'll come back and sue if you don't?" Lily guessed with a small giggle.
"... perhaps," Sirius admitted. Both answers were true really, "Anyway, Wormy's right, we should get along."
"Maybe I should go and find them," The lines on Lily's forehead furrowed as she said this, hopping down from the table, "I love Marlene but sometimes she has a tendency to make sad people feel worse as opposed to better..."
She hurried out of the room to find the other two girls before they too went missing. After she was gone, the boys fell into silence, none of them quite sure whether to continue with half their team gone.
"Going out on a limb here but I reckon we should just carry on as even when Emmeline returns I don't know how much help she'll be," James said, "She seemed really upset."
"Yeah, she did," Sirius sighed, "Even when she comes to me for our termly confession, she's never sad, just a bit het up."
"You know, if you two don't know, why don't we write to her Dad?" Peter theorised.
"He said he didn't know where Ora was," Sirius said, "Apparently, Flitwick had to apparate over and calm them down by showing him the latest tracking technologies Wizards have available, they're very worried."
"All those tracking facilities and they still haven't found her," James laughed, "Well, from what you've said the Dakotas do have a knack for dissapearing acts. Miria hasn't been seen in years, right?"
Sirius nodded, "No, she must be crazy talented to just ... vanish like that. Apparently, Ora Sr. and Dawid were transfiguration experts though, so I'm not surprised. Ora Sr. managed to smuggle so many people out of Poland completely undetected, Dawid was one of them."
"Who's Dawid again?"
"Her Grandpa," Sirius replied, "They're very close."
"Oh?" James sat up a bit, "What did he say when he found out Ora went?"
Sirius thought about it before suddenly realising something odd, "Very little apparently, come to think of it. He was an odd fellow though. He was the one who stole the car for Ora and cancelled some big thing to meet a woman with white blonde hair. That wasn't the only thing he was oddly relaxed about - "
"What else was he chill about?" James jumped, getting into the call and response thing.
"Miria, his daughter that apparently hadn't been seen in years. He still called her his Miria, didn't seem upset that she'd dissapeared off the face of the earth at all..." Sirius suddenly jumped up from the desk, "We need to get to Bristol right now."
"Padfoot, why...?"
"Because I'll bet my arse he helped Miria escape to a new life when things got hard just like he did. He must have made her untraceable so it was as if she'd dissapeared from the face of the Earth and if we don't get to Ora quickly, we might lose her forever..."