{ supernova }

Sirius shoved the covers back and sat up. “What do you want me to do Marl?” 

“I don’t know, entertain me?”

“I’m bored.”

“Well that’s good to hear,” Alice chuckled, “What’s brought about this sudden optimism?”

“I seriously have no idea, just woke up in a good mood I guess.” Marlene shrugged, a small smile still on her lips.

“This is going in the scrapbook so we can always remember a time Marlene was happy.” Lily joked before taking a picture of her friend.

Marlene rolled her eyes but posed quickly for the photo, a grin soon finding their way on her lips. “I was happy before! You know, at Hogwarts... Where all the good parties were.”

Marlene’s smile only widened further, her eyes were even sparkling with unusual happiness. She didn’t know why she felt this way, only that she woke up that morning with a new-found happiness, though it was unclear how long it’d last. “If I had a secret, I’d tell it. But I think I just woke up this way, must’ve had a good dream.” 

Sirius looked down at her and shrugged a shoulder slightly. “Like I said last time, we all handle grief differently.” He then looked around the room once she opened the door and sighed lightly. “This’ll be a relaxing job.” Shoving his wand into his back pocket, Sirius ventured further into the room and started picking up the photos, being careful of the glass on the broken frames. “This is a nice picture.”

Marlene looked at the photo behind his shoulder and smiled lightly. “Yeah, that is a nice picture. I think it’s the last photo of my brothers and I... All together.” Marlene turned away and started busying herself with picking up various items off the floor and chucking them on her bed. “We were in France, I think. Family vacation.” 

“Come on then, I’ll help you out now. This needs to dry.” He flicked his wand and all the windows in that room came open before he headed out of the room. 

Marlene smiled briefly at Sirius, before padding out of the terribly bright green room, pausing briefly to adjust to the light before walking all the way down to her room, again pausing briefly. She turned to Sirius, an apologetic look on her face. “It really is trashed, like... I don’t know. It’s just       hard few weeks, I guess.” She pushed open the door with a sigh, and soon she was standing in a room filled with ripped papers, broken photographs and various items strewn across the floor. 

“Don’t be absurd,” he scolded lightly, studying her. “You’re here. You’re a good person because you want a better world. You’re passionate, I know you are.” But after she posed the question, Remus was silent. The soft chatter from passersby down below sounded monumentally loud. “I’d like to think I am,” he said decidedly, eyes staring straight ahead. “The cause is made up of everyone I care about. I don’t particularly fancy a life without them in it. And I know I’d sacrifice myself for them in a heartbeat.”

“I don’t really have anything left to lose, Remus.” Mary confided quietly, casting her eyes downward. His words warmed her however, and a smile took place on her lips, lighting her face up. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost Lily, or Mary, or Doe. Or you, Sirius and James. But I don’t    I don’t know.”

He grinned when he heard her laugh. “I should give this one to Lily and James.” Sirius gave her a wink then laughed a little himself. “Eh, I’m just trying to make the place look a bit more welcoming.” Now he shrugged a shoulder and listened to her about her room. “There’s a spell for that, unless you like tidying in the Muggle way, I can give you a hand?” He offered.

“I’m sure they’ll have a great time. I bet James’ll go out of his mind, though.” Marlene grinned. “I prefer tidying the Muggle way, gives me time to clear my thoughts out a little. You’re welcome to help, of course.”

“It is quite bright, huh?” Sirius laughed. “The Muggle in the store told me it’s a great colour… now I’m not so sure.” He glanced over at her. “My room is very Gryffindor-y, have you seen it?” 

Marlene laughed quietly, it certainly was a sorely missed sound coming from her; she rarely laughed anymore. But today she woke up unusually happy, so in true Marlene style, she just rolled with it. “I’m sure green is a favourite colour, but so is purple. Or blue, even.” She offered him a small smile before shaking her head. “Nah, haven’t had the pleasure. My room is kind of... trashed, unfortunately. Haven’t had the time to clean it.”

“Well this looks more… colourful?” Sirius dropped the paint roller onto the covered floor and looked around the room he had just finished painting a rather bright shade of green. It had taken him a while to figure out how everything worked, but he got there in the end by himself. He was stood with his back to the door, wearing old clothes and had paint all over him. 

“That’s bloody bright,” Marlene commented with a small laugh, taking her time to survey the room with mild interest. “Why green, though? Would have thought it’d be red, you know, to show house pride and whatnot.”

“Optimistic,” he noted casually with a pensive raise of his eyebrows. “Maybe not the innocent, definitely the good. They’re the ones willing to sacrifice themselves for their cause, at least in this war. But you shouldn’t think about all that too often. It only makes each day a little worse than it already is.”

“I don’t know if I’m a good person,” Marlene admitted quietly, refusing to meet Remus’ eyes and instead focused them on the unsuspecting people below. “Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for this cause? I don’t think I am.”

Lily smiled sadly. “Honestly yes. I would rather you broke things. It’s not like we can’t fix them and sometimes you just need to.” Lily smiled before looking at all the breakable things around them. “I honestly don’t know how many times I’ve broken the ugly vase Petunia sent me for my wedding.”

“I don’t break things, Lily. I’m not that kind of person, I’d rather break bones than meaningless things.” Marlene replied quietly with a mere shrug of her shoulders. With a small smile, she stubbed out her cigarette. 

“Yeah? I’m glad to hear it – things have been relatively quiet as of late, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing–” 

“Tell me about it, it’s kind of unnerving. Everything being quiet, kind of like the calm before the storm, eh?”