A/n: early chapter because I love you all :)

Sirius puffed out his cheeks and plopped onto the couch next to Marlene.

"Hey Marls," sighed Sirius.

Marlene put down her book onto her lap. "What's wrong?" she asked gently, seeing the slightly distressed look on Sirius' face.

Sirius shook his head and put his face into his hands.

Marlene thought about this notion. "C'mon, Sirius. You gotta tell me what's making you feel this way."

"Reg."

"Oh," said Marlene. On the outside, she was calm. On the inside, she secretly loathed Regulus for not supporting his brother. "What'd he do?" Marlene inquired further.

"So- you know how Christmas is coming up?"

Marlene nodded, unsure of where this was going.

Sirius took in a deep breath. "Reg told me that our mother and father want me to go home during the Winter break and-" he gulped. "They wanna talk to me about 'something'".

Marlene rubbed Sirius' shoulder's soothingly. "I'll tell you what you should do, Sirius. First, you tell them kindly in a letter that you won't be joining them for break. Second, you take that letter and you shove it up their-"

"Mar, there are first-years here," said Sirius abruptly, cutting her off. "They are all also looking at you."

"Of course," Marlene flipped her hair over-dramatically. "They look at me 'cuz I'm so awesome."

"I'm awesomer."

"I am personally offended."

"So am I."

Some of the first years had started to giggle.

Marlene saw this and began to laugh so hard that she suddenly stopped laughing and ran out of the common room, saying that she had to pee.

Sirius snickered as she ran out of the common room.

He thought about what Marlene had said. He decided on writing that letter Marlene had suggested- Sirius just wasn't going to follow the second part of her instructions.

Dear Mother and Father,

I am writing to inform you that I will not be joining you this Christmas break.

Love, Sirius

He scratched out the ending a couple times...

Sincerely, Sirius

Hmm... no.

Respectfully, Sirius

I mean... It's not like he had any respect for them.

From Sirius

That was the best one.

Sirius folded the letter up and put it in his pocket to mail later.

Marlene didn't seem to be coming back- one of the teachers was probably trying to get her to stop laughing and creeping out the younger students.

Sirius decided to head up to his dorm where he caught James studying the Marauders Map closely.

"What's up?" Sirius asked.

James suddenly jumped and closed the map abruptly. "Er- nothing."

Sirius raised an eyebrow and ran to James to catch a view of the map. "I knew it," said Sirius triumphantly. "But seriously- it's like you're stalking Lily at this point."

"I'm not stalking her!"

"You kinda are..."

"I'm... er..." James struggled to come up with an excuse. "Stalking everyone?"

"Oh yeah?' Sirius folded his arms defiantly. "Like who?"

"Like... uh..." James thought quickly and picked the first person that came into his head. "Marlene!"

Sirius smirked. "Well? Where have your epic stalking abilities led her to?"

James checked the map and flushed a deep red. "Er- courtyard."

Sirius knew he was clearly lying. "Gimme the map."

"Nope."

"James."

"Noooooo."

"Accio Map."

The map zoomed into Sirius' hands before James could even try to stop it.

"On the third floor with Danny Jackson?" gaped Sirius. "Is she-?"

"I really don't know, Sirius," said James quickly. "Just- ask her or something."

Sirius bit his bottom lip, not quite knowing how to feel. Betrayal? Despair? No idea.

"I'l be right back," said Sirius bluntly, exiting the dormitory swiftly and flopping onto a sofa in the common room, ready to wait for Marlene.

A/n: NOOOOOOO I don't like this and I'm literally the one writing it.   the irony of life   
Anyways, I love you guys so much! I was just counting the total of the reads on both of the books- It's about a 1000! :)

I love you guys so much!

- Love, Jui W.