Sirius had spent all of his teenage years wishing that he could be good enough to be with Marlene, to believe that even if she felt the same he would be able to give her everything she deserved. It had been almost a year now, since they had finally got together and he still spent a vast majority of their days together feeling like he was the luckiest guy that ever existed. This past week was the first time that real life managed to sneak up on him and take that young and in love sensation and completely knock it on its head with something else. Almost like real life was saying, âiâm still here, and have some shit to prove it.â  Mind you, he still hadnât quite managed to shake the feeling of his heart skipping a beat everytime he heard Marls come home. It actually managed to evoke a small smile from him as he lay on the sofa. He had lost his brother, but he had Marlene.Â
Though he hadnât been injured severely enough to be worthy of a trip to St Mungoâs, his ribs still ached as he slowly moved to stand from his laying position. One of those hooded twats had chosen to fight Sirius without magic, which Sirius sometimes preferred if he was being honest and although he definitely won, the arsehole he had fought had managed to kick Sirius to the ground at one point. Managing to stand just before Marls entered the living room, his face lit up just at the sight of her.  âPlease tell me youâve brought food.â Sirius said with a playful grin as he slowly walked towards her. He knew that she would see past his thinly veiled attempt to not talk about what was going on, but he would also need a prompt to start.Â
As he got closely, his brown eyes started to scan her face, he had been so tired the night of the attacks he hadnât managed to fully check her over.  âAre you alright? How was work? Moody is gonna punch me into next week if i miss another training session.â
âNo,â she chuckled, shaking her head as she shrugged her jacket off and dropped it on the back of a chair. âThereâs a lot of food in the cupboards.â Perhaps she could have done with getting something on her way home, if only so that they didnât have to worry about cooking. But then that was one of the perks of magic; it didnât take nearly as much time or effort as it did for muggles. âPlus I was more concerned with getting home to see you, so I wasnât really thinking about food.âÂ
There was always a part of her that worried about Sirius in some way, just as anyone worried about a loved one in these times, but the news of Regulusâ death had given her cause to be more concerned than usual. No matter what had happened between the two brothers in years past, they were still brothers.
âIâm okay,â she assured him, arms looping up and around his neck as she pressed a quick kiss to his lips. âWork was... fine, but long. There was a lot to do even after... well, you know. And thereâll still be more to do tomorrow.â That could wait until then, though. Now that she was home, all she wanted to do was switch off for a little and focus on better things. âHow are you?âÂ