Marauders Era 1977 with Jessy753

[Blackinnon_love]

James knew when to pick his battles with Lily, and this was not one worth pursuing.

He took a deep breath and looked to his best mate with defeat. "Can't win 'em all."

James sighed as Sirius went on his mini rant on how much Marlene over-reacted. He seemed beyond annoyed at Marlene's actions. He had to admit his childhood friend was in the wrong and that she acted rashly.

Still, he knew Marlene and was certain that she had her own reasons for acting like that. He also felt a bit protective of her as Sirius gave attention to the birds he would usually ignore. No doubt he was a flirt, he knew his friend had a bit of an ulterior motive. He shook his head as Sirius engaged the girls.

"Pads, Marlene over reacted. I agree with that." He also reached for more bacon and took a small break to chew on a few pieces. After taking a long sip of his pumpkin juice, he continued.

"I know Marlene. She doesn't often act like that. She can have a temper and is really irritable when she's on her period." He learned first hand that roughhousing with her was a major no-no when she was around her time of the month.

He took a banana from the fruit bowl and started to peel it. "still, I sense that she was upset by much more than some silly prank and a few puns. It's not like her to be upset by this. She typically would bust your chops back or just tell you to shut the hell up"

He then remembered their trip to diagon alley. Sirius had run off to console Marlene after Lily made a silly joke about being pregnant. Perhaps the two incidents were alike?

"You know mate....she acted this same way in diagon alley...or at least very similar. Did you two discuss anything that might explain this strange behavior?"

He didn't want Marlene and him to be over before they even started. Marlene seemed so happy with Sirius. His best mate seemed happy too. In fact, it's possible that Sirius felt differently about Marlene than he had about any past affairs.

Marlene heard someone entering the loo and rushed to snuff our her cigarette. She was waving the air in front of her when Lily's voice was heard. She then used her wand to clear out the smoke. After using a sanitary charm in herself, she walked out of the stall to join her friend.

Her hair was still stringy, her eyes were filled with water and she looked down feeling like a complete jerk.

"I don't want to go to class today...or this week...or ever"

She choked back her tears and sat on the porcelain throne.

"I-I didn't mean to overact...something came over me and"

She bawled Roderick used to poke fun at my body.....I starved myself to fit into an uncomfortably small dress and he still called me porky

She sniffled and blew her nose.

"I-I think he used some of the trigger words...he-he used. Plus...I'm not feeling well at all...and I look terrible"

Marlene wasn't often self conscious- in fact she was often over confident. It was the lowered self esteem Roderick gave her that made her self-conscious about her looks at times.

"Knowing Sirius he probably wants to dump me and thinks I'm a bitch"

 

[Jessy753]

Sirius looked at James and nodded absentmindedly as he downed his pumpkin juice while rolling his eyes. He was unnerved by what had happened but that was nothing a drag on a cigeratte wouldn't change. Still he preferred staying out of the brunette girl's way. He had absolutely no intentions on getting more juice on his robes. Unlike the popular opinion, he didn't like being the center of attention. Well, if it was bad attention like that at least.

"Thank you.", he muttered under his breath as James agreed with him that Marlene had overreacted. A simple prank shouldn't provoke such a harsh reaction after all. So he was simply unnerved by this situation. But at least it felt good that Prongs took his side on this. Part of him had already expected him to side with Marlene on this but he obciously didn't. Still Prongs made him think about something. Was this linked to that ex of hers..? He couldn't explain it but he had a feeling... And that one brought him to another thought.

He suddenly turned to Prongs and looked dead serious. "We need to do something. But I cannot tell you why. I promised someone not to spill it but that doesn't mean I can somehow maneuver around it as long as you don't ask too many question.", he spoke quickly and quietly "We need to do something about that Ravenclaw Roderick. Believe me when I say that he's worse than Snivellus and his wannabe Death Eaters. We might get in trouble with McGonagall and lose house points but it'll be worth it in the end. Are you in?"

"Well, Slughorn would be disappointed to hear that. Besides as a Head Girl I cannot support that kind of behavior.", she joked and smiled friendly at her best friend. Lily went over and hugged the girl. Despite of the fact that she hated seeing Marlene smoke, she still walked over and hugged her.

"Ahh, don't worry. Those blokes will always be morons.", she waved off the fact that Marlene tried to apologize. To Lily there was nothing to apologize about. Sure her reaction had been a little drastic but everyone had bad days and so did her best friend. Some days were better than others after all. She was about to lend an ear about whatever something was when her best friend continued to speak.

"Oh...", she spoke and frowned a little. Normally the redhead was full of advices except when it came to this topic. She didn't know what to tell a victim of abuse. What was appropriate and what not? Lily didn't know and she simply continued to stroke her back.

"And rubbish. You don't look terrible. Just a little dishevelled with lots of cute paw prints on you. At best people will think you carry mini puppies around.", Lily tried to cheer her up, adding "I mean how lovely would that be. Having thousands of small pups walking over your skin. Though I'm more of a cat person myself. I imagine it being fun. Besides who cares what that moron thinks? You rock the bad hair day! Wanna rock it together?"

She looked genuine as she finally let go off her hug and placed both hands on her shoulders. "Besides do you really think he's gonna dump your arse? We talk about Black here. If he didn't want to date you, he wouldn't have asked in the first place! We talk about a notorious one night stand man there. He might have his downside and believe me a huge downside but he likes you. Even the dumbest person can see that. So ignore the ones who might say just because she has a bad hair day he's gonna break up. Rub it in those jealous girls butt and walk around with your head held high!"

 

[Blackinnon_love]

James could tell that his friend was still pissed about what had happened. He continued to eat his banana in silence and reached for some coffee, goodness knows he would need it today.

Chances were that Lily would be royally pissed at him all day and might take her frustrations out on James. It would probably be a good idea for him to give the girls their space. Prongs and Pads were due for getting together with the other blokes for something open to only them. Perhaps they could plan something super cool to kick off the beginning of their last year?

Sirius seemed in deep thought as he pondered Potter's suggestion that something else entirely could be bothering Marlene. He watched his face turn serious as he informed him about the new proposition. "Reddit?" James whispered back as he glanced over at the Ravenclaw table and saw the dark haired 7th year with his cool air of arrogance, neatly pressed clothes and bored expression as a fellow housemate expressed admiration for the rich pureblood.

He knew that he was obnoxiously pompous and that he often walked around with an "I'm so perfect" attitude. He also was a favored student of Slughorns. He knew that Roderick was the last person he would add to his Christmas list, however, he never thought anyone worse than Snivellus existed.

"Worse than Snivellus...are you sure about this? You're not trying to just get on Regulus' nerves or anything are you?" He knew the two brothers were on bad terms an at times liked to wage wars between each others' friends. Not that James knew of what individuals Regulus associated with, he just figured that may be how he had heard of him.

James nodded his head "I'm in...but could you please tell me why he is worse than Snivellus and Death Eater wannabes?"

Marlene was grateful to have such a wonderful friend like Lily. She didn't care how awful she looked, whether she reeked of smoke, or what she did. Her best friend always pulled through for her.

She embraced the redhead back and gave a small peck to her cheek. She still was sad and knew her makeup was most likely running.

"I know...they are morons...but I still over-reacted...maybe I am trashy...like Roderick to me."

Marlene gulped back tears as Lily stroked her back...she really had no idea what she expected from Lily...perhaps she just needed to talk to a friend?

She half-smiled when Lily told her it looked like little puppies left marks all over her skin. It was a cute thought....afterall, the bracelet she was given had marks just like the ones on her.

"I guess that sounds pretty cute...little puppies all over my face. I just...I'm a bit down on myself for feeling like shit. I never felt these things about myself until....I was hurt." She whispered the last part.

Marlene shook her head and laughed a little in spite of her terrible emotions. "Rock the bad hair day? Really?" She messed up her hair more for laughs and looked in the mirror. She looked like an extra in a muggle horror movie!

"Oh Godric....I feel like I am part of those low-budget films you sometimes watch with me at your house....eek!"

She washed her face and decided to redo her hair with the pigtails again...only this time with bones in her hair as barrettes!

"I guess I might as well roll with the punches" She considered Lily's comments about Sirius obviously liking her enough to keep her.

"Well, that's true...but I wasn't really pleasant to him....perhaps revenge is in order? or...perhaps I act like nothing happened and bust his chops back? I need some good material to get him back with"

She already had one comment in order, bu it was more a mock at herself than at him. She was ready to go into Slughorns classroom thanks to her best friend.

 

[Jessy753]

"Yes, that bloke over there.", Padfoot agreed as Prongs looked towards the Gryffindor table. Once his brother chipped into the conversation, Sirius couldn't help but roll his eyes. Not everything was about that idiot. But still his gaze shortly flicked to the Slytherin table to his idiotic brother's space. Ever since Sirius had left home things had gone downhill for his little brother. He felt still protective towards him but it had no use. How did you help someone if that person didn't see the downward spiral they were on..? He pondered over the thought for a moment but pulled himself out of it. This wasn't about his family for once.

"No, Reg's not part of it. I don't even know if he knows that arse. But even if he did, it'd only be a nice benefit!", Sirius exclaimed and thought about how to say the reason behind it without telling too much. "I... He manipulates people or his girlfriends in particular into hating themselves and...and gets off on it. Believe me it's just worse. At least those freaks haven't done anything else than talking until now.", he gestured to the Slytherin table at his last sentence. He simply hoped that Prongs for once wouldn't put one and one together and associate this with Marlene. He had a promise to keep after all.

Lily smiled at Marlene as she seemed to lighten up and even crack a joke of her own. "But you're a cute extra.", she winked at her and joked "One I would totally nail." The redhead laughed over that part and wrapped an arm around her for empathize her statement and gave Marls a wink.

"Oh I'm so into the thought of getting back to the two.", Lily said with a smirk and looked mischievous at her best friend "Remember how Slughorn taught us about Amortensia the other day?" The redhead simply grinned knowing that it would take things perhaps a little too far but Black deserved it nevertheless. "I could brew something and we could add something of Severus in it so he starts drooling about him. Could get some nice laughs outta it and just imagine Potter's face." It was almost like James had rubbed off on Lily already.

The redhead offered Marlene her arm so they could link it and walk to potions together. It was one of her favorite subjects even without Severus. She had taken a liking on the subject and she liked Slughorn despite of his weird club. It was filled with either pretentious or quiet people. The professor seemed to simply enjoy having talented students around him in case they would become important one day. At least so it seemed...

 

[Blackinnon_love]

James still could not piece together why such a random bloke at the Ravenclaw table was at the height of Sirius' revenge plots. He knew he didn't like to discuss his concern for his brother and often saw Wannabe Death Eaters as the bad guys. Something about else had to give. Was this an old money family he despised?

His confusion doubled when he found out it had nothing to do with Regulus. He listened carefully as Padfoot explained the need for making the fellow the target of his plans. His mouth dropped open....past girlfriends? Makes them hate themselves? Since when did Sirius care about who did what with their girlfriends? Merlin knows he went through a bunch himself.

Finally, it hit him...was Marlene one of his exes?!? It would explain so much...Godric...his childhood friend...that's why she was so distant in 5th year...could it be?

He looked to his friend in horror "Marly?!?" He whispered in disbelief. As Sirius described the sick ways this inhuman wizard acted...he could hardly contain himself.

"I'll go over there right this second and f--- him up bad" he whispered back rolling up his sleeves. He was ready to raise hell.

Marlene started to feel like her old self as she adjusted her barrettes and gave out a playful "Yelp". She shook her head and then tackled Lily to the floor.

"Arf, arf...I say now...now..." She panted acting like a sloppy dog and even licked Lily's face.

She laughed as she helped her friend up. She took out some peach body spray and used it on her robes before offering some to Lily. Her face became mischievous as Lily outlined her revenge plot.

"Oh my Godric Gryffindor....that is the best idea ever!!" She howled with laughter imagining the look on James face.

"I say we try it today...while both blokes are without their beautiful potions buddy and stuck with each other...maybe" she started grinning "we can make him serenade him! Know any good charms...and embarrassing love songs to make him sing?" She was lost with Muggle music...save for some doors or Rolling Stones. Nothing too gooey.

Marlene took her friend's arm and walked to potions with her. They were still a little early.

 

[Jessy753]

"Merlin, Potter!", Sirius exclaimed so unlike him. He grabbed James's arm and simply shook his head as indication of a no. Normally he wasn't the one to talk sense into anybody especially Prongs. He would be the one to run after his best friend to help no matter what. But this was needed to be handled carefully so that bloke wouldn't link it to Marlene. Or if he did so that he wouldn't raise hell to her.

"We need to be careful about this. Marls will kill me if she finds out that you know! Besides we need to plan this carefully! Just think about it.", he spoke and continued "We need to plan this and not just run over so he knows what's up. We need to do it in a way Marly might think it's connected to her past but cannot prove it!" He looked urgently at Prongs hoping he did understand. It might backlash on all of them, if acted out wrong.


Lily squealed as she was tackled down on the ground. She laughed and tried to squirm away. "Ahhh....", she laughed harder as Marlene licked her face and exclaimed "You're so gross, McKinnon!" Still she smiled at her a big time but tried to move away so she wouldn't get licked. Eventually she took her friend's hand to stand up again.

The redhead arranged her robes properly and looked into the mirror. "Do you think I would look better with another hair colour?", she eventually asked out of the blue. As a child and even a teen she had despised her red hair. Thinking she looked so pale and alienate with it compared to most people. It had gone so far that she thought about coloring them in Muggle fashion or trying out different spells.

"Well, the songs shouldn't be a problem. But someone needs to convince Slughorn that it's a good idea to hand us the love potion back. I mean I can lower the affects a little and perhaps we can figure out a way to conceal the particular smell.", she said in thoughts. Normally Lily would be against revenge plots that involved her former best friend. But she couldn't bring herself to care much. For once it wouldn't hurt him but most likely just greatly confuse the Slytherin.

 

[Blackinnon_love]

James felt a tug on his robe and saw Sirius shaking his head "no" at him. After taking a deep breath he nodded. It was strange that Sirius was being the sensible one in this situation. He was right that being rash only borrowed unwanted trouble - they needed to conserve their appetite for trouble for the real plots.

"Mate...I really had no idea....I won't tell her...but...she's like my sister". He thought back to 5th year and remembered Marlene being standoffish and irritable. Could it have been then? He frowned at the thought.

"So...what exactly...did he do to her?" He was curious to know about what had happened to his childhood friend. It sort of hurt that she trusted Sirius with these details and not him. Afterall, they knew each other since they were kids.

"So...what kind of plan did you have in mind? I mean...it's hard to accomplish this without Marlene knowing about it...or that bloke catching on...he is a Ravenclaw after all"

Marlene laughed and tickled her before helping her BFF up. She adored the redhead's colorful locks and was perplexed by her proposition.

"Well...if you really want to - go ahead. I think you're lovely though. I always envied your red hair." Marlene took out her lip gloss and mascara and did a small makeover on her. "You're so naturally beautiful Lily - you really don't need anything to look gorgeous." She took out a wand and gave her hair a nice feather to make it look full.

She smiled at her friend "I will support any fashion decision you make - but I will also be honest" She stuck her tongue out at her.

Entering the classroom, she found a spot for them in the middle of the classroom.

"So...anything we need to set up before showtime?" she asked.

She was ready for the fun to happen.

 

[Jessy753]

Sirius watched James clam down unsure of what to say. He had already said too much and he knew it. But there was no going back. Once his best best mate asked for details, Padfoot shook his head. "I'm afraid Marls should tell you that as soon as she's ready to...", Padfoot told James reluctantly. Normally he wasn't one to keep things from his best mate. But he shouldn't have told him in the first place so he wouldn't go on. "I'm sorry but I already shouldn't have told you from the start... I don't know why she's uncomfortable telling you but I won't continue to kiss and tell..."

After a moment of silence Sirius shrugged. "To be honest with you. I don't know. Nothing what I come up with seems appropriate and / or has my signature written all over. But I want to show everyone what kind of arsehole he is.", he finished and crinkled his mouth. "So I would go with a little bit of Veritaserum and perhaps a public statement. But it doesn't seem to be going well.", he crinkled his mouth and seemed clueless. It became more and more frustrating, the longer Sirius thought about the matter.

"Funny enough, I always adored your hair colour.", Lily laughed and shrugged a little, "as a child I was always jealous that my sister had the brunette hair and I was stuck being a ginger. It always makes me looked so sunburnt" Lily chuckled even more and looked down to her feet for a moment. She hadn't liked her white complexion and stupid almost seemingly none existing lashes. The red of her lashes made it way too easy for them to fade with her face. So, she was more than thankful for the Muggle invention of mascara.

"But thanks. Perhaps I'll try it one day... Just to see if brown suits me better than this stupid red.", she shrugged unsure if she felt like committing to it. She had thought about it for years. But never gone through with it. "And yes, please, honesty!", she agreed with a smile.

Lily thought about what they needed. "Well, we need a good potion to make Slughorn happy so he agrees on giving me a vial. Perhaps some mint to at least try and conceal the smell...", she spoke trying to figure out what Severus would do. This mindset always got her good grades in Potions so perhaps it would help them here as well. "And we need to make sure Black drinks it when he's near Severus or that we have something from Sev to link those two..", she said and looked at her best friend for her input.

 

[Blackinnon_love]

James was a bit taken aback by Sirius' refusal to share details. He understood that Marlene was a private person, however it hurt that she was reluctant to share her issues with James. At the comment "kiss and tell" he looked at his best mate. He could tell this was different from the other times. Sirius actually saw Marlene as more than his "weekly flavor".

He especially could tell as he outlined his ideas and his determination to get justice for Marlene. He could tell that his heart truly was into helping Marlene and making her feel good about herself. James nodded "veritaserum may be the trick.....do you happen to know any platforms he uses as a public figure? I think if we got Wormtail to infiltrate his secluded areas...ask promoting questions...I think we may have it" James felt a bit sure about his idea. Perhaps Remus also had ideas?

"You really love her, don't you?" He wasn't one to use love with Sirius...he knew better. Still, for some odd reason, he felt an air of compassion for his childhood friend off of Padfoot. He was obviously very protective of her. It was part of his dog persona. "We will help you, mate." As the hall started to clear out, he started to gather his supplies. "Time to head off to ole Sluggys".

Marlene raised an eyebrow at hearing that her "boring brown" hair was envied. "Really? My color is dull. I've always wondered how auburn highlights would look in mine. Plus..it makes you look like a fiery goddess." She smirked at her suggestively. "I'll bet James will be wowed by your feistiness" she howled with laughter.

She smiled at her friend with an idea at hand "say....maybe we should both change our hair color...a little of mine in yours..a little of yours in mine...or maybe a deeper red?" She loved coming up with creative ideas.

As they conspired their next move while waiting for the boys to show up, Marlene started to look through their book. She grinned at Lily and pointed to a rule.

In order for this extremely difficult potion to work...one must know the victims taste preferences. Each portion must be according to their tastes..and a binding favorite to attract them to each other

"So....we just need to know their favorite foods - I think Sirius will eat anything with meat...especially bacon...and we need a flavor they both like....what does Severus like?"

Jessy753

 

[Jessy753]

"What?!", Sirius asked as he felt his best friend's gaze on him. Padfoot could tell that James wasn't too happy with this situation but it wasn't his fault was it? He hadn't told Marlene to keep it a secret from her friends. After all even Evans didn't know about it for all he knew. It was strange to be trusted with something like this. People normally tended to give him strange looks because they either thought he was linked to his family or a blood traitor. Of course being a Marauder helped but there were still moments when people judged him for something he could do nothing about. So, it felt weird for him to be entrusted with something like that.

"Not really. But I thought the Great Hall or any other public place or class would do.", he shrugged. Sirius obviously hadn't thought things through as he knew that he needed help to make this work. "We should steal the Veritaserum first. Without it things won't work and brewing it on our own will take too long and the school year is going to be over.", Padfoot said and looked at his best mate. He ran a hand through his long hair thinking about what they needed to do.

He rose his eyebrow over Prongs asking him about love. His glance was a mixture of seriously and are you kidding me. "No offense, Prongs. But love's quite a big word.", he simply stated neither declining nor accepting his question. It was simply that Padfoot loved no-one. At least not in the way his best mate was inclining. He wasn't Prongs who had more or less successfully tried to pursue the same girl for years despite of having many other offers from other birds.
Sirius started to head towards the dungeon for their Potion class. "Did we have any homework?", Padfoot suddenly asked and grinned at James "Are you going to rub it into Snivellus's face that you're kind of dating Evans now?"

"Feistiness about what? My hair colour? I might go on a second date with that bloke but he honestly has no vote on how I have my freaking hair.", Lily answered in a way that made sure everyone understood she was serious about it. Yet she thought about Marlene's offer of changing each other's hair. It was actually quite interesting. "Perhaps we should try it. Use some sort of spell that makes our hair colour change for a few days or weeks so it's not permanent or leave roots like in the muggle way?", she suggested with a grin and continued "The red might seem interesting but in truth it just attracts instant attention. The muggles even say that redheads inherit the devil. So are you really up for that?" Lily smirked at Marls.

"Sev loves chocolate fudge and...and my mum's biscuits. But s'ppose sheppard's pie would do as well.", Lily almost replied automatically. She crinkled her mouth over the fact how readily and easily she was able to have that knowledge. Despite of the blokes various apologies, it still stung deeply and she looked down on her hands. The redhead didn't know what to do with it and why she still wasn't over Snape's betrayal. Perhaps it was linked to what she had felt for him. Lily might've never admitted it to Marlene but there had been a point in fifth year when the redhead had considered Severus more than just her best friend. So it had come as a big surprise when he called her that aweful word.
Her gaze went to the door to the class room as the Slytherin entered the room. He looked back at her and was obviously about to approach her when he spotted Marlene. So he retreaded and went to his usual spot in the left back corner. His gaze showed the same betrayal Lily felt. Of course she knew what it was about. James Potter. Their fights had always been about the Potter bloke. It was probably one of the reasons why she had always hated him in her childhood and early teenage years. Lily rose her chin almost arrogantly and pointedly looked away from the dark haired young man.