Chapter Text
December 1976
Marlene watched as Jeremy tried to coach Nicole to a chess victory over James. She was doing so well that Marlene half expected James to call for Sirius to help him out; Sirius was the best of them at chess — though for a while now he usually refused to play. She sort of understood why, chess had been something he’d done with Narcissa, she’d taught him how to play, they’d played together all the time, and now Narcissa had just completely removed herself from his life. Marlene looked around, wondering where he’d gone. She took the bottle of Champagne from the bucket and topped up Mrs Potter’s glass on her way out of the room. In the kitchen she spotted Sirius through the patio doors. She slid them open and stepped out into the cold night air.
“It’s snowing.” Sirius said, and she reached up to brush it off of his shoulders. He hadn’t put a coat on and she touched his cheek. He felt too cold, what was he thinking, standing out here all alone? She had a nagging suspicion and it always left her feeling so helpless.
“Might even settle.” Marlene said, they’d be ankle deep by now if they were back in Scotland; there was just something so magical about winter at Hogwarts. “What are doing out here all by yourself? Nicole is thrashing James at chess with the set she got in her Christmas cracker, of course Jeremy’s helping her, they’d probably be quite evenly matched without him…” She was rambling now. He was in one of his moods, and she wasn’t sure how to deal with them…those times when he got quiet and withdrawn; the dark, bleak moods that left her fearful that she’d never see that smile she loved so much ever again. They were few and far between, and they never lasted. But even so, she wanted to pull him out of his own head.
“I just needed five minutes, I didn’t want to bring anyone down so I just slipped out.” Sirius shrugged. He took her glass from her and had a sip of the Champagne.
“Do you want me to leave you alone?” Marlene asked.
“Don’t you dare.” He said quietly, she laced her fingers with his and squeezed his hand. They watched the snow fall around them, Celestina Warbeck had been replaced by a soft instrumental number which meant that her father had commandeered the gramophone. “Would you like to dance?”
“What?” Marlene laughed.
“It’s this thing were someone moves in time to the music—”
“Shut up.” She groaned, rolling her eyes. He was trying, she was sure of it, trying to force himself into a better mood so he wouldn’t worry her. She wanted to tell him that he didn’t have to do that, but she couldn’t find the words. Sirius set her glass down on the patio table and lifted her hand to back his shoulder. He placed a hand on her hip and took her other hand in his. They started to move. Marlene doubted that either of them were any good, but she didn’t care. Sirius spun her around the skirt of her velvet dress lifted around her thighs.
“Did I mention that I like your dress?” He asked, a grin turning up the corner of his mouth.
“You mentioned something like that. Did I mention that you look good in burgundy?” Marlene smiled, sliding her hand down from his shoulder to fiddle with one of the buttons of his waistcoat.
“You did mention it, yeah. And like I said, I look good in every—” He said, but Marlene cut him off with a kiss. They jumped at the flash of a camera and saw James stood in the kitchen.
“Go away, James.” Sirius muttered.
“Hey, I was taking photos of you two dancing, it’s not my fault you started kissing.” James shrugged. “I think I should stay here though, the neighbours are going to complain if you start having sex on the lawn.”
“We’re going to have a falling out if you keep interrupting us, Jamie.” Marlene muttered, leading Sirius back inside.