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“Sirius Orion Black! For the last time I’m not going to go spend an hour on a FRIDAY sitting in that stuffy auditorium just to hear you sing, I hear enough of it in the common room” Marlene whined stubbornly.
“Oh come on Marls! Lily and James can’t go because it’s their one year anniversary today, and Peter has a detention. Therefore someone has to go and keep Moony company! Besides this is different than karaoke, I’m singing with an entire choir, and we've been working on the show for months, can you just humor me for one night!” Sirius pulled out all the stops in his pleading, the truth is, Marlene was planning on saying yes, she just enjoyed seeing him grovel.
“Remus can handle himself, he’s a big boy, but maybe if you give me your deserts for an entire week I’ll consider it”.
Sirius groaned obnoxiously, “Okay fine, but you better compliment me after the show”.
“I will make no such promises” Marlene teased while getting back to her chemistry notes.
Although she will never admit it (to avoid inflating his already overblown ego) Sirius is one talented singer. That being said, a school choir concert was far from Marlene’s scene, she personally saw no appeal in a bunch of kids crammed into risers to sing long songs in Latin. But Sirius always come to congratulate her after games, and he keeps her from going insane in Slughorn's class, so showing up for him felt only fair.
So here she was tonight, on her way to meet Remus in the common room. Remus was standing with two small arrangements of flowers in his arms.
“I thought we could each give him one! I still can’t believe Sirius convinced you to come!”
“Yeah well he wouldn’t shut up during Chem, and Slughorn was getting annoyed with us, so after a couple minutes, and some pudding negotiation, I decided to cave,”.
“I don't think there's a person alive who could say no to him, especially when he pouts, he’s like a puppy”.
“I’d say more of a leach than a puppy. Tell me again why I dated him?”.
Marlene and Sirius had ‘dated’ almost two years ago, in reality however, Marlene and Sirius were both closeted, and they had faked a relationship so that Sirius can get his parents off his back, and Marlene could avoid Mary who was constantly trying to set her up with guys.
“That’s a mystery to this day, really Marls, I know you needed a beard, but why would you pick someone so below your league”.
“I could say the same for you”.
“W-what? What do you mean” Remus stopped dead in his tracks and looked at Marlene nervously.
“I mean with Benjy last year? You were way too good for him.” Marlene clarified warily.
“Oh, yeah, definitely, I thought you meant something else at first”. Marlene wasn’t quite sure what Remus thought she was saying, but she decided to drop it due to how nervously he’d reacted. They arrived at the auditorium, and they managed to get seats in the third row. Remus put a jacket over his seat, and went over to speak to Mr. and Mrs. Potter who were sitting front and center. Marlene flipped through the program reading the names of people in the choir, there were some names she recognized, but no one she knew well enough besides Sirius. She was shocked to see a lot of modern songs on the list. More importantly, she noticed that under the song Shallow, it had read, ‘Soloists: Sirius Black and Dorcas Meadows’.
“Rem come here you have to see this” she called Remus over and pointed to his name.
“Oh lord of course he has a solo, always the star of the show that one”. Remus said with an eye roll. He sat down into his seat, and opened his own copy of the program.
“Who’s the girl he’s singing with, Dorcas Meadows?” Marlene asked curiously.
“Oh I think I know who she is, she’s in Ravenclaw, she’s a year below us, Sirius has talked about her here and there, but I’m yet to meet her”. Marlene nodded, and pulled out her phone to text Sirius a quick good luck. The lights started to dim, so she silenced it and tucked it into her back pocket.
Kids in white shirts, and black pants filed onto the stage as a song Marlene didn’t recognize began playing from the speakers. Sirius came on stage with his signature grin, and of course he ended up being front and center. He looked around and made eye contact with the Potters, who were waving excitedly at him, and then his eyes made his way up to her and Remus. She couldn’t help but notice how his stare seemed to linger on Remus, and the way Remus lit up entirely when Sirius saw him. The songs were fairly enjoyable, and she was impressed with how natural Sirius looked up there. They had done three songs so far, and Marlene knew Shallow was next.
Sirius stepped up to one of the center mics, along with a girl who she had to assume was Dorcas. Instantly Marlene had a moment of panic by how pretty she was, she had black curly hair tied into a halfback, and dark skin but not quite as dark as Mary’s. Dorcas looked to be slightly taller than herself, with a curvier build. Her lips wore a beautiful rose lipstick, and they were curled into the cutest smile she had ever seen.
She was so distracted by Dorcas, that when Sirius started singing, it startled her slightly.
Tell me somethin', girl
Are you happy in this modern world?
Or do you need more?
Is there somethin' else you're searchin' for?
I'm fallin'
In all the good times I find myself longin' for change
And in the bad times, I fear myself
Marlene cheered along with the rest of the audience and turned to face Remus who was completely awestruck. She chuckled slightly at her friend until an angelic voice began singing.
Tell me something, boy
Aren't you tired tryin' to fill that void?
Or do you need more?
Ain't it hard keepin' it so hardcore?
I'm falling
In all the good times I find myself longing for change
And in the bad times, I fear myself
Wow, not only was Dorcas beautiful, but so was her voice, Marlene slightly blushed while watching her perform. It was Remus’s turn to smirk at his friend, causing Marlene to elbow him in the side. Dorcas and Sirius moved back with the rest of the choir, and Marlene continued to occasionally glance at her. In a few more songs, the concert was over, and families were filing out of the auditorium to go and meet their kids. Remus and Marlene followed closely behind the Potters as they made their way out.
“There he is! Our star, wonderful job Sirius my boy!” Fleamont called while giving Sirius a pat on the back. They each hugged him, and gave him a large bouquet of flowers. He posed poshly as Euphemia snapped a picture of him.
“Go get that co-star of yours so I can get pictures of you two”. Sirius gave an apologetic look at Remus and disappeared into the crowd in search of Dorcas. A few moments later he reappeared with his arm draped around her lazily.
Dorcas introduced herself to Mr. and Mrs. Potter, and they complimented her on her performance. Suddenly her eyes drifted to Marlene, and when their eyes met, Dorcas gave her a sweet smile, which Marlene returned nervously. Sirius and Dorcas posed for a picture together, and Euphemia and Fleamont said their last goodbyes before making their way out of the crowd.
“YOU CAME” Sirius yelled bringing Marlene into a hug.
“Yeah yeah of course I did you big sap, how could I say no to extra desert”. He then went on to hug Remus, and Marlene returned her attention to Dorcas, who was standing awkwardly next to Sirius clearly not sure what to do.
“You were really amazing!” Marlene blurted, “I’m Sirius’ friend Marlene!”.
“Oh he’s mentioned you a few times, it’s nice to meet you, I’m Dorcas!” They shook hands and Marlene’s heart started to beat slightly faster. Marlene was expecting to hear a fake cough from Remus, but when she turned to the side both him and Sirius were gone.
“I- Where did they go? Are you kidding, Remus has my phone!”. Dorcas chuckled slightly at her, and Marlene lightened up slightly.
“Ahh, I see, so that’s the famous Remus, I figured as much”.
“Oh yes, they’re both insufferable, I’ve listened to Sirius pine for the past two years, it was especially bad while we were dating!”.
Dorcas raised an eyebrow, “I’m sorry, he was pining over someone else while you two were dating? And you’re still friends?”.
Marlene laughed at her confusion, “I should have worded that better! We didn’t really date, we were beards, but we like to joke as if we actually dated”. Dorcas' face lit up slightly at the mention of being beards, or at least Marlene thought it did.
“Here have these'' Marlene said while holding out the flowers, “They were meant for Sirius, but he already has two, he decided to ditch us for Remus, and you were waaay too good to not receive any flowers,”. Dorcas took the flowers with a blush and thanked Marlene.
Suddenly Sirius came barreling back towards them with a blushing Remus in hand. Marlene raised an eyebrow at them, and Sirius beamed proudly.
“Cas we have to go back and meet with the rest of the choir” Sirius said without letting go of Remus’ hand.
“Oh right I nearly forgot! It was nice talking to you Marlene!” She began walking towards the backstage doors, and Sirius followed her after standing on his tiptoes to kiss Remus’s cheek.
“I’ll see you later Moonbeam!” Sirius shouted.
“Yeah nice to see you too Sirius” Marlene called sarcastically while laughing at the goofy smile on Remus’s face. “So?” she asked with a wink.
“Oh shut up Marls! Don’t act like I didn’t see the flowers you were meant to give Sirius in Dorcas’ arms” Remus replied coyly.
“No, no, no, this is completely different, I’ve watched you two pine for 2 years, I want details!”. Remus gave her the lips zipped motion and he began to speed walk down the hall away from her, “Remus John Lupin you can’t get away from this”. However, his long legs had already got him fairly far, and Marlene was too lazy to chase after him.
When she made it back to her dorm room, Mary and Lily were up chatting about Lily’s anniversary date, while sitting on Mary's bed. Marlene flopped onto her own bed, and joined the conversation, until she felt her phone buzz in her pocket.
Do_Sol_Mea_dows has requested to follow you on Instagram
Marlene smiled and accepted it, and scrolled through her account. The top of her page was the picture that Euphemia had taken, along with a short video from the concert. She liked the photo and contemplated on leaving a comment.
“OMG MARLS WHAT’S THAT FACE FOR” Mary shouted before jumping onto her bed to peek at her phone. She snatched it from her and ran over towards Lily, “Wowzers she’s pretty Marls! Dorcas Meadows? I’m not familiar”.
“Oh I know her! Sirius mentioned she was bi” Lily teased with a giggle. Marlene wasn’t sure if she should be annoyed, or excited to hear this new development.
“Holy shit Marls!” Mary yelled again while jumping.
“What? Come on now, give it back or I’ll use my footie skills on you” Marlene threatened emptily.
“Okay, okay, fine, but I’d check your DMs if I were you”.
Marlene never opened a message so fast in her life
Dorcas: Hey Marlene, I was wondering if you’d want to meet up with me at Hogsmeade tomorrow?
Marlene: Sounds wonderful, I’ll meet you outside your common room, Ravenclaw right?
Dorcas: Yup that’s me :)
Marlene: Great! I can’t wait!!!!
Marlene ignored the pleading of her friends just as Remus had done to her, and she went to bed thankful that Sirius Black asked her to come to his show. She might even let him keep his desert! But probably not...