long time, no see {lily}

[hellbourne]

It had ben a while since Marlene had seen anyone. The widely publicised Death Eater Attack had taken her out for a good couple of weeks, and although the mental images weren't as scarring as what poor Lachlan and Emily had to endure, the physical pain was something else.

Marlene had been attacked first and knocked out cold with a hard blow of the Cruciatus Curse. The next thing she knew, there were hospital lights, a stabbing pain in her side and four cracked ribs and a broken collarbone. While it was easy for the bones to heal, the internal bleeding had kept her at St. Mungo's under intensive care for over a week. Only Sirius had come to see her. Come to think of it, there wasn't much reason for the handsome Gryffindor to take time out of his day to see her, but she hardly complained.

Professor Dumbledore had given strict instructions not to talk to Emily, Lachlan or Marlene about the incident, and while most of the students were good to his word, it didn't stop the snarky comments in the corridor or the constant stares that seemed to follow them around.

It was a lovely day outside and Marlene wasn't going to let her depressed mood keep her indoors. It had been weeks since she'd basked under the sun's rays and her skin started tingling with excitement at the thought of it. The doors to Hogwarts were already opened and Marlene took a tentative first step out onto the grass. Less than a hundred metres in front of her was where the attack had happened. She tried not to think about it and pushed past a group of sneering Slytherin third years. She could do this.

Marlene spotted a friendly face in the distance - a friend she hadn't seen in the longest time. Smiling, Marlene raised her hand above her head and waved over at Lily Evans, who was already sitting down on the green grass near the lake. "Lily!" Marlene said, her smile turning into a grin. She rushed over to meet her friend and took a seat next to her on the lush, green grass. "Long time no see."

[/justify]

[lilyevans]

She had felt guilty about the attack because she had not been able to help her friend out. To know that Marlene had been a target was just sad. Because Marlene was the sweetest girl that she had known, but she hadn't known the other victims of the Death Eater attack. She had wanted to go visit her friend but she was forbidden from doing so, and hadn't found a way to do it. She wished she could've been there, to talk with her friend during this horrible time. Of course, naturally she was here, and all things considered it wasn't the best place to be. Hogwarts wasn't as safe as they had hoped for it to be. Professor Dumbledore had forbidden them from asking the victims any questions about the incident and she was mroe than happy to agree not to do it unless the victim brought it up first.

She had tried to keep her mind off of the events in question because she didn't want to dwell on what could have happened or how badly it could have been. She had a book in hand, something she'd brought with her from her muggle home. The book was called Cinderella, and it was one of her favorites. It was a present that she had gotten from her mother when she was young, it had actually been Petunia's idea to get it for her, as a part of her birthday celebration when she was just turning eleven.

She had just flipped a page in the book when something made her look up, and when she did she saw Marlene McKinnon waving to her and she acknowledged with a wave of her own hand. She folded down the corner flap of the page she had been reading on and closed the book, as Marlene promptly joined her on the grass. "Marlene! How are you? It's been far too long since I've seen you." She said greeting her friend as Marlene was older, a year ahead of her in school. She sighed. "I'm sorry about not coming to see you when you were gone. I couldn't even get out of the castle....without someone watching over me like a hawk." It was true, muggleborns like herself had been on alert since the crisis but it hadn't meant that she hadn't wanted to visit Marlene in the hospital, it had been just the opposite. She had always wanted to visit her friend but she just hadn't been able to figure out a way around the rules. Normally she wouldn't even consider breaking a rule but she'd do anything for one of her friends, because they were important to her, more than anything else was.

[hellbourne]

Marlene smiled at her friend and waved away Lily's apology with her hand. "Lils, it's okay," she said, laughing a little. "From what I gather it was pretty difficult to get out of the school at the time anyway - wasn't there a lockdown or something?" Marlene shrugged. There had been some strange rumours going around; some of them involving Marlene, Emily and Lachlan, and others saying that they were actually attacked by pirates.

She shifted closer to look at the book that Lily was reading. "Cin-der-ella?"

she said, unsure of how to pronounce the title of the novel. It looked very different to any such book that Marlene had ever read. "What's it about?"[/size] she asked as she pointed towards the front cover.

"So, Lily,"[/size] Marlene started, looking her fiery friend in the eye. "What's this I hear about you and Potter, huh? Don't go snogging him too hard, we still need him for the upcoming match against Ravenclaw,"[/size] she joked, lightly punching her friend in the arm. She knew that Lily had no interest in James, but it was fun to watch her reactions all the same. Marlene, on the other hand, had been seeing quite a bit of Sirius as of late (not that she was complaining, of course).[/justify][/blockquote]

[ ooc: sorry it's so short and crap. my muse isn't fully functioning at the moment :c ][/size]

[lilyevans]

She smiled. Taking a deep breath she looked at her friend. "Okay. And yes, it was pretty hard to get out. I was out on the grounds, I just didn't know that others were out there, they weren't supposed to be. I think there was a lockdown, but as Prefects, we were given permission to check the grounds, that's I suppose why I feel so bloody guilty that I wasn't with you guys. I know you're going to say that's not something I should be feeling, but I really can't change it." She chuckled, lightly as she was in a good mood.

She shrugged as she was hoping that everything would be okay. But she didn't feel like it would be, but she had to keep hoping things would turn around. She wasn't the depressing one, as she usually looked at things as though the cup were half full as opposed to half empty. She was no stranger to rumors and one of the best ones not only were about that the three of them were attacked by Pirates, but also they were supposed to be taken as slaves. That was one of the rumors she knew had gotten squashed early.

She held the closed book in her hand. "Cinderella. It's a muggle story. It's about this young peasant girl called Cinderella, her mom died when she was really little, before she had a chance to really know her. As she had been just a baby when her mom died. Her father remarries a few years later. This woman had two young daughters of her own. At first the three were kind to Cinderella. But when the girl was about eight years old the father dies, leaving the girl to be raised by her stepmother. That is when their true colors come out. How hateful they really were. How they don't care for Cinderella at all. Cinderella grows up, becoming a slave, whenever the family went anywhere, she had to carry the stuff the family purchased. Then there was a notice that the prince was giving a ball, that every eligable woman in the village was able to attend. The woman's family did not want her to attend. She went to the ball anyway with the help of her fairy godmother. When she arrives, the prince spots her and the two dance. She loses her glass slipper at midnight when she's trying to leave when her fairy godmother's magic would run out. Without knowing her name, he goes out to try and find her. It is once he locates her, he has the glass slipper in hand. Knowing the only way to find her for sure is to slip the glass slipper on every foot of every lady in the village. He sees her, and puts the slipper on her foot, and realizes she's the one he danced with at the ball, the one he loved. After the two realize they love eachother and he asks her to marry him. He didn't even have a ring, returning the slipper was his way of proposing to her. She accepts and the two live happily ever after." She said with a grin.

She loved that story fiercely. It's my favorite story, I recieved the book from my mother, although my sister Petunia helped pick it out. It was one of the last kind things my sister did before we grew apart when the letter from Hogwarts arrived. Telling me I'd been accepted to the school. Of course now, she hates me, because I'm a witch and she's not." She sighed, it was hard to talk about her big sister, and not get too upset.

She looked at her friend and grimaced when Marlene brought up none other than the arrogant toe rag James Potter. "Don't make me sick, Marlene. He's arrogant and a monster. Not worth the time of day for me to even consider talking to him much less anything else." She knew her friend was only joking but she was dead serious. She punched her friend lightly in return. "That'd be like me asking if you and Sirius have snogged enough!" She grinned as she knew how Sirius could be with the ladies.

[hellbourne]

Duh. Marlene smacked herself in the forehead - how could she have forgotten that Lily was a Prefect? "Lils," Marlene said in a hurry, grabbing her friend's hand tightly. "That must be why they didn't target you. You weren't at the table at the time when we got our detention slips." Marlene, Lachlan and Emily had all received detention slips from Filch at the time of the attack and were told to go outside and wait for Hagrid's orders. Lily, amongst the other prefects, would have been out patrolling the school and grounds to make sure that everyone was inside having dinner. Perhaps Filch had a detention slip for her, but he just couldn't find her anywhere.

The attention of the fast-paced conversation was soon turned to Cinderella, the story that Lily was holding in her hot little hands. Marlene listened attentively to the story that Lily had to tell and soon became fascinated with the story and just how very muggle it seemed. BUt, it was a love story, and that was one of the main things that had drawn Marley into the story that Lily was telling.

"Oh, wow, Lils." Marlene said breathlessly. "That sounds like such a lovely story. No wonder it's your favourite!" She flashed her best smile at her friend. "Although, I am sorry to hear about Petunia," she said in a somber voice, touching Lily's hand again. Marlene wasn't particularly close to her own brother, and somewhat knew what Lily mean when she said that the two of them had grown apart. Although, her brother went to Hogwarts - a sort of one up on Petunia.

"Is it jealousy?" she asked, hoping that she wasn't prying into family business where she wasn't welcome. "Is that why she won't talk to you - is she jealous of the fact that you're a witch? Either way, I'm really sorry, Lily. That sucks."

She couldn't help but howl with laughter at Lily's reaction to James. "Hey!" she said in return, going bright red. "Sirius and I haven't actually been on our date, yet," she confessed, her voice dropping and her face still flushing pink. "So there hasn't been any snogging at all." But, hopefully Marlene's wishful thinking would help when it came to that matter. Lord knew she spent most of her day thinking about it.

"So, how's fifth year going? Have they started prepping you for your OWLs yet?" Marlene asked, feeling a bit more relaxed. She stretched her legs out in front of her and lay her head back down on the grass, putting her hands behind her head. The sun was so inviting and Marlene felt as if she could have stayed there with Lily, all day. "It gets pretty hectic."

[/justify][/size]

[lilyevans]

She smirked at her friend. "Yeah but I didn't even see Potter out on the grounds at all...didn't see him doing his rounds either. Who knows where he was during that time. I was by myself, all night. If I had been there, even if I hadn't gotten detention I'd have gone out there with you guys. Irregardless of what Filch or the others had anything to say about it." She said softly as she looked at her friend. Come to think of it, Filch giving them detention slips during that time seemed odd to her, especially because of the lockdown as it was. But questioning him would have proved to be not worth it.

She was relieved when the conversatin turned back to something that didn't seem as dangerous, the story of Cinderella. It made her sick to think of how things had changed since then. "Well Severus had alot to do with our falling out. She disliked Severus almost as much if not more so than James and his little gang. I guess I still don't know why I've got magic and she doesn't. I suspect she's jealous but it's not like I asked for all this to happen. It just did. The thing is do you know she wrote to Professor Dumbledore asking if she could attend too? When Dumbledore politely refused her request as gently as possible, that was when she turned her back on me and the wizarding world as well. I hate the fact that my magic has separated us."

She spoke gently and chuckled when Marlene started howling in laughter. She knew that Marlene and Sirius hadn't gone out on their date yet but it was only a matter of time until she caught them in the corridors snogging. She'd rather snog just about anyone else than to snog the arrogant Potter.

"Fifth year is typical, you know just being a Prefect. Newts, yeah I can't believe it's that time already. They haven't started quite yet but they are about to. Although I've started the preparatins for my own sake. The last thing I want is to fail them." She said with a grin as she had relaxed further. She sat Cinderella in her lap as she hoped the weather would continue to be nice like it was. "Hectic I can handle, arrogance I can not."

[hellbourne]

Lily grimaced. "Maybe Remus was just doing the rounds instead. You know how the four of them share their prefect duties around..." she shrugged, feeling her stomach drop slightly. It was a bit unfair that Lily had to do all of the prefect duties sometimes. Marlene made a mental note to have a word to the Marauders about their responsibilities.

Marlene listened eagerly in silence as Lily explained the situation with Petunia and Severus. Marlene - amongst others - were of the opinion that Severus wasn't really one of the right friends for Lily, but being the person that Marlene was, she kept quiet about it. "Do you think if..." Marlene started, pausing to think about the rest of the sentence. "Oh, nevermind." She shook her head. She was going to ask if Petunia would be friends with Lily again if she stopped being friends with Severus, but it seemed like such an imposing question!

"Oh, Lils," Marlene said, playfully punching her friend in the arm. "You? Fail anything? You put in more effort than some of the Ravenclaws I know," she grinned warmly at her friend. "Sometimes I wish I had your discipline when it came to classes!" It would sure help out with Marlene's time management, that was for sure. Especially with all the Quidditch Practices that were happening - Marlene barely had any time for homework, let alone spending time with Sirius.

"Are you going to the Halloween ball?" Marlene asked as she relaxed and lay on the ground, putting her hands behind her head. The sunshine today felt lovely and Marlene was almost regretting having classes indoors. Winter would soon come and, to tell the truth, Marlene wasn't looking forward to it in the slightest. "I think I'm going with Sirius. It might be our first date," Marlene was unable to wipe the smile off of her lips or the excitement that flipped around in her stomach. "So I'm guessing you're not going with Potter," she joked, laughing wryly, "but are you going with anyone else?"

[/justify][/size]

[lilyevans]

It didn't take a genious to know just how close Remus was with Sirius, James and Peter. Not that it mattered, but Remus was the only one she could stand at the moment, followed by Sirius. "That's what scares me, because the four of them shouldn't be even involved with Prefect Duties, I could see Remus doing it, but there's something going on there, and I'll figure out just what it is, just wait and see." She said as she knew how things were, and well nothing was going to change any time soon. She didn't mind doing all of the work, because Remus did do his share except for a certain week of the month, and that was okay. Everyone had their off days didn't they? Even talking about Petunia made her upset, though it didn't show nearly as well as Marlene or anyone around might have expected when talking about one's sibling. She had known for years that witches and muggles alike had nothing but dark things to say about Severus and that bothered her as well.

"No go ahead you can say whatever you were about to. I can handle whatever it is you're going to say." Truth was she didn't know if she and her sister would be close if she had stopped being friends with Severus or if their relationship would have been torn apart simply because she was still a witch and Petunia wasn't.

She wanted to be closer with her sister, and then felt her friend playfully punch her in the arm, and she retaliated punching Marlene too, in the same place on her harm, even if it was done playfully....she was always careful not to let it appear as though it weren't hurtful. She grinned. "Yes, I could fail at some things, especially in relationships...not that I've tried to get into one recently. But I appreciate the support. And quite surprised actually that you think I've put more effort into things than the Ravenclaws as we both know they're pretty smart themselves."

Discipline was what was needed in order for her to continue doing what she did, like getting good grades. "Discipline. I just do the same thing I have always done, which is to effectively do my homework, long before the required turn in time. Besides it keeps me out of trouble." She sighed. She had almost forgotten about the Halloween ball. "Well I wasn't intending to, after all I don't exactly have a date for it, and I don't think Severus would want to go, he's not really all that sociable around certain groups, so I've noticed, especially James and his lot. Not that I can blame him." She smirked as she sat there on the ground and was perfectly content to stay right there. She was relieved that the sun was out as not only was it relaxing to be out there when the sun was shining but it made things feel so much brighter.

Although she enjoyed winter, she prefered spring when all the flowers would be coming up and the weather was near perfect. She grinned when she heard Marlene say she was going to the ball with Sirius. "Good for you. I'm glad to see it is working out so well with you guys. And no, not a chance. I'd never go to a ball, or any social gathering with someone as arrogant as Potter is. I think I'll steer clear of the ball unless someone asked me to attend with them, someone who isn't James Potter." She said in a matter of fact way. Just the idea of doing anything with Potter made her sick to her stomach.