Okay, so I'm cheating a little since this is an excerpt of a fic I have written in spanish (with a bit of editing so it works without much context), and is early Blackinnon, during their second year, slowly becoming friends.
Also, James is there too.
(Detention | Words: 879 | Blackinnon Week @blackinnonapp)
Just before the winter holidays, she had already had been in detention at least three times and was on her way to her fourth: cleaning the cauldrons used for potions classes, without the help of magic. It was, by far, the worst one yet, since what happened to ingredients when the potions were unsuccessful was downright nauseating.
—Would it be too ironic if I ended up vomiting into the cauldrons while cleaning them? —James asked from the back of the hall.
Detention was shared between her, James, and Sirius, and although she suspected it would have to be obvious for most students, Marlene did not know what they had done to end up there, just as they had been surprised to see her enter the dungeon.
—As long as I don't have anything to do with it, do whatever you need to, Potter —replied Sirius, who had his arm up to his elbow trying to scrape whatever was at the bottom of the cauldron he was holding, his nose wrinkled in disgust.
Her drifting mind, the very same that was responsible for paying little to no attention to her classes—and had landed her there in the first place—was anywhere but in the same room as them, until Sirius shouted at her. James had been trying to talk to her about the last quidditch match for several moments.
She had to blink a couple of times to refocus, remembering where she was and why, as well as the company she was in. Sirius kept half his arm inside the cauldron, but he hadn't taken his eyes off her.
—I—I wasn't at the match —she replied, once she was able to remember what James, behind her, was talking about.
A small wrinkle appeared between Sirius's eyebrows, but as far as Marlene could tell, it could well have been a reaction to whatever was at the bottom of his cauldron. She certainly didn't want to know what was inside hers.
—Oh, you didn't see my debut as chaser? —James asked, sounding a little disappointed.
It was a feeble thought, but Marlene felt a twinge of guilt at his words. James, after all, was still promoting the idea that Marlene would be a great addition to the team next year, especially after the whole team heard about the talks of Damien—her older brother and Gryffindor quidditch legend—taking the official position of chaser at Puddlemere United.
—I was with my family that morning —she finally confessed.
If she had told anyone else in her year, it would have aroused curiosity at most, but since it was James and Sirius, two sons of prominent magical families, Marlene hadn't noticed the connotation of her words. Usually, being taken out of the castle in the middle of term meant bad news. And although in Marlene's case that was true, it wasn't the kind of bad news that the two boys were, no doubt, imagining.
—Did something happen with your parents? —Sirius was the first to ask, still staring at her, and Marlene understood.
—Oh, no —she replied, horrified, even more so than she already was. It wasn't exactly clear why, but in recent years, several strange things had been happening at the Ministry, and disappearances and attacks for no apparent reason were becoming more common—. Nothing like that, just normal stuff, I guess. My grandmother hasn't been well the last few weeks.
Sirius relaxed his frown and Marlene felt James approaching them, having managed to clean his cauldron without getting sick, in search of the next one.
She could sense that the atmosphere around her had changed, and she feared that once again Sirius and James were communicating with each other in that strange way of them, without the need for words, which she disliked. If there had been more people around, she might have felt differently, but it seemed clear that whatever was going through their minds concerned her.
It was the idea that they were pitying her in some way that prompted her to act before James could say anything about her grandmother or her family. Clenching her hand into a fist, Marlene forced herself to scoop up the sticky substance at the bottom of the cauldron she was scraping and managed to throw it at James before any of the boys had time to react or stop her.
Sirius's bright eyes widened and a loud laugh escaped his mouth. At first, Marlene was almost as surprised as James when she felt the impact hitting him, but before she had a chance to regret it, she burst out laughing.
If she had to be honest, she probably hadn't laughed like that since the morning when she and Sirius had spent commenting on the trials of Gryffindor's quidditch team at the beginning of the year, yet she didn't have much time to appreciate it, since the boys had decided to take her lead and attack her back. They spent the next few minutes running back and forth in the potions classroom, dodging and throwing disgusting and questionable substances at each other at the same time, accomplishing the complete opposite of what they have been tasked.
When laughter drove professor Slughorn back to the classroom, he learned an important lesson in letting trouble makers do detention together.
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