Painted Scars // WOLFSTAR

Year Three: Marlene McKinnon

Sirius stood discreetly, pressed up against the wall of the Gryffindor Common Room, passing furtive glances over at Marlene and Remus. The pair were chatting animatedly about something and–shameful as it is–Sirius' curiosity piqued. He strained his ears to catch a word of their conversation, but they were either speaking in too-hushed of tones, or he wasn't standing close enough for their words to reach his ears.

"Hey Sirius," James said distractedly, walking over with his mind slightly preoccupied. The stealthy approach startled him, making Sirius jump and hit the corner of the table next to him with his leg. "What're you up to?"

"Merlin's Beard, James, give a bloke some warning!" He wasn't paying much attention to the situation, so Sirius painfully angled his body so that James couldn't see the scene he'd been devouring, the top of his thigh aching. James' gaze flickered to his face for the first time, face scrunching sympathetically.

"Oh, sorry, mate," he said, looking where Sirius held himself in pain. His eyes instinctually looked past the open space above Sirius' shoulder, so he had to straighten himself out with some difficulty so that James wouldn't see what was behind him. "I was just wondering what you were doing."

"What? Me? Nothing."

"...Right," James agreed skeptically, scanning over Sirius' guilty expression. "Well, since your birthday's coming up... I was thinking we could throw a party! We could invite all those friends of yours, what's that one girl's name? Mary?"

"Oh, well, she's not really–"

"And we could invite Marlene! How cool would it be if Remus and Marlene got together on your birthday?" Sirius' eyes widened, slightly thankful that James couldn't see into his mind. If he could, he'd likely have some questions about what Sirius'd been doing before he walked over, and he likely wouldn't have just said that.

Ever since the day Remus found the three of them researching how to help his transformations get easier, he'd sworn to himself that nothing would get in the way of them coming up with a plan. Unfortunately, they had to do this all in secret, which meant that Remus had begun to feel a bit left out. While they'd been down in the library all those times, it seemed that he and Marlene had gotten a bit closer.

Which was fine, obviously.

It was just...Sirius just had a few small issues with it; and while he had set them up in the first place–yes, he understood the irony of the situation–he wasn't sure that he wanted all of Remus' time to be taken up with some girl.

So, he was spying on them. Really, it wasn't as creepy as it sounded, he just didn't want Remus to get swept up in things without him keeping a bit of an eye on the situation! And, if they did eventually get together, that would be great! (Even if it was on his birthday.)

"Super cool," he said, voice slightly strained. He shifted the topic, "So a birthday party, huh? You think you can pull it off?"

James looked appalled, as though Sirius had offended him greatly. "I don't think anything, Black. I know it. This is going to be the best party that has ever been thrown. People are going to talk about it for generations."

"And here I was thinking that you'd be getting your expectations up," Sirius said dryly, throwing him a tight-lipped smile.

"You think too little of me."

Sirius shrugged. "Get to it, then. I'm expecting the best part I've ever seen." It was clearly bait, but James jumped on it immediately, wishing him a rushed goodbye before heading out to do what Sirius could only assume was party planning.

As Sirius turned his attention back to Marlene and Remus, his mind was buzzing. The pair were clearly about to split up, and the relieved pressure on his chest made Sirius hit himself over the head.