heart wants what it wants

Marlene stuffed her bags above the seat once she found a compartment to ride in to Hogwarts. It was almost hard to believe that it was already September 1st already, but then with how quickly time seemed to fly by when they weren't in school it made sense that it'd already be time to go back. And she wasn't really complaining because she enjoyed Hogwarts. Sure some of her classes were awful to sit through, like History of Magic, but the majority of them weren't that bad really. It also meant she could see her best friend again, and she didn't mean James. She'd just seen him that morning. She meant Lily, the girls had shared a dormitory since 1st year when they'd met and they'd pretty much been best friends since and while they did see one another occasionally during the summer there was always other things that prevented them from spending more than a day or so together.

"Oi you're on time Marls, what's up with that?" James Potter asked as he walked into the same compartment as her and messed up her hair before starting to put his own things about the seats.

"Ugh! Piss off Potter." She replied swatting his hands away from her before flipping him the bird. "You're so annoying."

---

"Ah the joys of you two fighting before noon, I've really missed that." Remus said as he walked into the compartment after James and right into the usual Marlene/James banter than went on on the train ride. "Didn't you stay with the Potters last night Marls?" He asked while he put his things above the seats then turned to look at the blonde.

"Oi! Remus who's side are you on here?!" She said pushing his shoulder and causing James to laugh,

This was all pretty usually for them really. Really the only thing different than normal is that Marlene had stayed with the Potters for the entire last week of their summer because her parents had to leave town for something important and hadn't trusted to leave their kids alone at home that whole time. Which to be honest made complete sense to everyone. The McKinnon's could be well they could be a pretty rowdy bunch if they wanted to be. Anyways, Remus was sure that had Marlene not been with the Potter she would've been nearly late, as usual.

"Wait where's Sirius? Didn't he get here with you two?" Remus finally asked realizing that he knew why Peter wasn't there, Peter was probably stuck in a crowd trying to get to the train, Sirius however was usually literally right behind James when they got on the train because he was in the middle of telling James something important.

@ Hemmings.

Sirius couldn’t keep the look of pure disgust as his mother cooed over his younger brother – pathetic, one would think he was going off to war and not school. His mother was ridiculous – always babying Regulus like he was Merlin himself. “You could learn a thing or two from him.” His mother snapped at her oldest son, narrowing her gaze at the filth who bore her precious last name – ruined her blood line. “Oh, shove off.” The oldest son scoffed in annoyance, paying no mind to the look of loathe his mother threw in his direction. Final Sirius had enough and wondered off – his good mood somewhat deflated because of his mother and lump of a brother. He was still certain that he didn’t belong to that family, there had to be a mix-up.

Why hadn’t he stayed the night at James’? He did so every year, but for some reason he decided to break tradition. Oh right, Marlene. Sirius wasn’t childish enough to avoid the girl, but he needed to get his feelings together before being around her – or else he might do something idiotic and lose the girl. That was a blow his usual guarded heart could not take – plus he would hate to be the reason their tight-knit group of friends broke apart.
It didn’t take long to locate his friends in the busy train – their voices travelling even when he was a few compartments down from where they all sat. They were always the loudest group of teens, something him and James often took pride in.

“Looking for me, Moony?” His voice was cheerful as he clamped his hands down on both Remus’ and Marlene’s shoulder – hoping to get a rise out of at least one of them, preferably Marlene. She was always at her best when insulting him. “I’m sure the lot of you missed me terribly and I do apologize for you keeping you waiting for such along time.” Dropping his hand the teen lifted his bags overhead with ease and took a seat in the corner of the small compartment, offering Potter a happy grin. He was just glad to be around familiar faces he actually enjoyed after months of being with his family.

---

“Mummy, I’m going to be late for the train…” The blonde warned softly – her mother always did this; not that Eleanor found herself agitated with her actions – she knew it was hard for the older woman to see her only child be whisked away to a world she couldn’t even begin to understand – even after five years Eleanor still found herself a bit overwhelmed. “You know how I just miss you!” The woman let out a cry as she rubbed at her eyes, her makeup smudging down her reddened cheeks. Hearing the train whistle it’s warning the blonde frowned, knowing she needed to cut this short, “I know, but I’ll be back for holiday and I’ll write to you every chance – I promise, just like last year!” Her words, as comforting as she tried to come off, were rushed as she glanced over her shoulder. The last thing she wanted was to miss the train! How would she get to Hogwarts then?
“Yes, yes very well.” Sensing her daughter’s desperation, luckily, Mrs. O’Malley finally released her petite frame from her grip. “You better be on your best behavior Ellie and I expect letters every day.” Already scurrying towards the platform the girl threw a reassuring smile over her shoulder, “Every day!” She promised, shyly thanking the older student who helped her with her luggage. After waving to her mother once more the Hufflepuff began to hurry down the tight aisles of the express, just praying there was a seat open for her – far, far away from the Slytherins. She would rather endure sitting in the toilets for the rest of the ride over sitting with them – she didn’t mean to pass judgment, but they were all so vile towards her and anyone else “below” them.

By the time the girl, who was now exhausted from walking up down the length of the train, stopped at a compartment. It looked practically full, but there was the smallest bit of room she could hopefully squeeze into. They all seemed friendly – silently the girl prayed her naïve nature wouldn’t get the best of her. She never proved to be the best judge of character.
“Um, excuse me…” Her voice was soft against the clatter the group produced. As heads turned her way she hurriedly dropped her gaze to the carpet floor, “Do you mind if I join you? Everywhere else seems to be full.”

"He didn't stay last night." James said plopping down onto the seat and kicking his feet up in the seat as well, before Marlene went right ahead and took a seat on top of his legs. "He was probably worried Marls here would murder him in his sleep or something." James said pushing her a little to try and get her to move. "Lord woman you're breaking my legs!"

Marlene just continued to sit there, and flipped him the bird yet again. "You're just being a baby, I don't weigh that much. And for your information I would not have murdered anyone while they were asleep." She said leaning back some and trying to get a bit more comfortable, before finally getting off James lap and moving his legs, then sitting down and putting his legs in her own lap, which was much more comfortable.

"They might've missed you terribly, I however did not." Marlene replied to Sirius when he'd walked in with her best smile. She wasn't going to say that she hated him with every fiber of her being or anything crazy sounding like that, since she didn't exactly hate him. Marlene did however not always get along with Sirius. There were times when he was such a cocky arse she just couldn't deal with him. And for the most part he usually pissed her off. When he wasn't pissing her off or getting on her every nerve just breathing the same air as her though they got on pretty well. And she knew as well as he did that if they could both agree on something then it was best to stay out of there way. More often than not though the pair didn't really see eye to eye on things. "I am curious though, why didn't you stay with the Potters this last week like you usually do?"

---

Remus had sat on the opposite side of the compartment from Marlene and James, and of course ended up laughing at them again and all the bickering they did. Sometimes they bickered so much he wondered if they really were related. He was kind of shocked that Sirius hadn't stayed with James this last week though since he always stayed there. And well Remus highly doubted it had anything to do with being afraid Marlene would murder him. While he wouldn't exactly call her a saint or anything and he'd seen first hand what she could do when pissed off, he didn't see her as the girl who'd murder anyone. Least of all Sirius. Even if neither of them could admit it there was something between them they couldn't deny forever.

"I don't think she would've murdered you Sirius. I mean she did let you live after that whole quidditch thing last year and I think we were all afraid she'd hurt someone with your bat but she didn't." Remus said laughing again and smiling at both Sirius and Marlene. That entire incident had been kind of entertaining to watch. Marlene was an amazing seeker for the team, probably good enough to go pro if she wanted, she just didn't do well when the Slytherin team cheated to try and knock her off her broom so they could win, or just cheated in general, which was often. And so she'd stolen Sirius' bat right from his hand when the game was over and tried to hit someone with it. Sirius of course had gotten the bat away from her so she didn't hurt anyone and get kicked off the team. But Remus was sure the look she'd given him hadn't been a pretty one.

Remus turned to look at the entrance to the compartment when he heard an unfamiliar voice, and well of course he saw an unfamiliar face. He wasn't against letting someone else sit with them though. It wasn't like the compartment was full. He wouldn't be able to promise that she would've be uncomfortable at points, and he was sure she'd probably end up thinking they were a little bit crazy, but he wouldn't mind someone else sitting with them. Not like they were likely to talk about certain things anyways since there were still a few things even Marlene didn't know about them so adding someone new to the mix wouldn't be a big deal.

"Sure, we've got a bit of extra room so come on in." James said before Remus had the chance to say anything at all.

@ Hemmings.

“Wouldn’t you like to know, little Marlie?” His teasing took a brief pause as he glanced towards the door of their compartment and gave a tilt of his head. Did he know her? No, never seen her in his life – so after politely smiling in the stranger’s direction ( figuring Prongs would be the one to tell her if she could stay or not ) he turned his attention back to Marlene; who admittedly was looking particularly gorgeous this fine morning. Propping his feet into the girl’s lap, not minding the fact that Prong’s were already placed there, he leaned forward some – as if he was in the act of telling his dear friend some grand secret, “You see..” He began, pausing to allow his gaze to sweep through the familiar faces – well except for the new girl, who he boldly winked at before looking back to Marlene, “I was afraid to be in the same room as you, really.” He admitted with a mock sigh, slumping his lanky frame against the wall of the train.

“Merlin knows you’ve wanted a nice shag with me and I didn’t really want you jumping my bones at James’ house – it would be traumatic for us all really.” He finished with a wicked grin as he winked at the girl – he probably looked ridiculous, but he lived for getting under that girl’s skin. She made it all too fun. “I’m quite sure Potter missed me though – you must have been a bore.” Growing tired of taunting he glanced back towards the new girl, half amused that she was having such a hard time with her bag – but then fortunately, seeing as he wouldn’t have to get up, she finally seemed to get it. Moving so most of his body was shifted to Marlene he stretched his legs out across to the other side of the compartment, “I’m Sirius, Sirius Black.” Of course Sirius had to be the first one to greet the girl – he was the looker of the bunch, or at least in his opinion.

---

Even after she was given the go-ahead the girl was cautious of the group of people – they seemed rather rambunctious, but none the less she joined them. It was either the band of friends or the toilets, which she had already done one year and she wasn’t keen on reliving that mortifying moment of her life. “Thank you so much,” She gushed softly, keeping her attention on the boy with the glasses – seeing as he was the one who spoke first and he didn’t look too threatening. It took her a good few minutes to lift her luggage, but she was determined and finally all of her work paid off and it slid successfully into the spot above the seats – that was only mildly embarrassing. With a timid smile she took a seat beside the boy, who was the first to look in her direction but said nothing, but her gaze soon fell to her lap when she took note of the playful wink from the other boy– her cheeks almost immediately reddening, not because she was interested but because she wasn’t used to that kind of attention; or any attention really.

Definitely a rambunctious lot, not what she was used to – most Hufflepuffs kept to themselves, at least the ones she had come into contact with. Sirius was a peculiar name, but she made no comment. Eleanor was used to “Muggle names” so most of the names she learned in the Wizarding World always struck out as odd to her, but she couldn’t help but to find most to be beautiful. “Pleasure to meet you, I’m Eleanor O’Malley.” Her cheeks still a light pink she smiled at the boy, Sirius, she could tell she was either going to really enjoy his company or completely loathe him – but in her nature the latter was highly unlikely.

Marlene couldn't hold back her scoff in response to Sirius and his accusation that she was the one who wanted to shag him. "The only thing Merlin knows," Marlene started, "is that you're the one who wants to shag me. Not the other way around. So I think that you just afraid of a little rejection." She finished before tossing her hair over her shoulder and pushing him off of her not even caring if it would've pushed him out of the seat or not. And once she was done with that she finally took a second to look at the new girl who'd just walked in a sent her a smile. She was sure the poor girl had no idea what she'd just walked into though. It was kind of nice though to see a new face.

"I advise that you ignore him, he's kind of an arse." Marlene told the girl before sending a sweet smile Sirius' way. "It's nice to meet you though Eleanor, I'm Marlene. Oh and this thing here who thinks I'm a footstool is James." She said figuring she'd let Remus introduce himself. "You could meet Lily too, but she decide to sit in the prefects compartment because well she's a prefect."

---

Remus was not about to get involved in whatever the hell was going on with Marlene and Sirius. He'd learnt better than to get involved in all that usually. So he let them do whatever then introduce themselves to the girl who'd walked in before finally speaking. "I'm Remus." He told her simply holding out his hand for her to shake, since well that was how he always introduced himself to new people. It was just how he was taught to do things and he'd always stuck to it. He was kind of hoping though that Sirius didn't make her too uncomfortable or anything. Sure everyone else here was friends with Sirius and could deal with his usual manners, including his nature to literally flirt with almost every girl who attended Hogwarts, that didn't mean others who weren't as accustom to his ways could deal with him and be comfortable.

"So are you in Hufflepuff?" Remus asked Eleanor figuring he might as well engage her in conversation and make her feel as welcome as he could. He really just wanted her to feel welcomed and comfortable. Even if he wasn't always the best at making friends, and sometimes he wasn't exactly sure how to talk to certain people he always tried his best. He just knew what it felt like to be left out or feel weird around literally everyone around you and like they didn't want you around for whatever reasons that had. And so he refused to make others feel like that around him.

@ Hemmings.

"Even if that were true, McKinnon, I have a hard time believing you could shrug off my attempts." The boy mused with a smug smile - no girl ever resisted his charm, or whatever it was they fell for, and he doubted ( or rather hoped ) Marlene wouldn't either. Surprised by the shove Sirius almost found himself on the floor, but fortunately his quick reflexes came into play and he caught himself beforehand - how rude, somehow he would pay her back for that. "She's only afraid a beautiful girl like yourself would fall for my charm and then she'll have to live in constant envy - since she can't have me for herself." With a smirk he watched the girl's cheeks color a light shade of pink - the girl was attractive, but he was simply using her to get under Marlene's skin, silently hoping what he said held some truth, and she would be jealous - it was a game he played often, granted it wasn't fair to the poor girl's he hurt, but that still didn't stop him.

Poor Lily and her Prefect duties - the Black had a hard time believing they were anything close to amusing, just a bunch of stick in the mud tarts. "Have you won over our dear Lily's heart yet, Potter?" Sirius couldn't help but poke at his friend who had been running after that girl since the moment he laid eyes on her - unfortunately for him, but fortunately for Sirius' great amusement, she still seemed to turn him down every time he gave it a go. "We're missing Peter." Sirius commented with a quirk of his dark eyebrows - the pudgy thing was always trailing after one of them. "Have any of you seen him?"

---

Eleanor couldn't help but find the group of friends amusing, chaotic, but definitely humorous - especially Sirius and Marlene, it was as if the two bickered like a married couple. "Pleasure to meet you both," With a polite smile she nodded to the three across from her - somewhat thankful this Lily and Peter weren't there as well. She doubted there would be any room for her then. Though she was almost positive she was being used to get a reaction from the other female she still couldn't help but flush in embarrassment at the compliment, that was a first - nobody found her beautiful. She was a simple girl, a simple Hufflepuff with frizzy hair and twelve year old boy's body. "Nice to meet you, Remus." He, as well, had an interesting name Eleanor noted as her small hand found his and gave it a gentle shake.

Her first fear, thinking that the group of friends would ignore like everyone else, seemed a bit silly now that the boy, Remus, tried to engage her in light conversation - silently she decided he was the polite one of the group. "Mhm," She answered, her ears a soft shade of pink. She wasn't ashamed of her house, the people she met in it were lovely people, but the house was always overlooked and often thought of as inferior. "Gryffindor, yeah?" She questioned, biting the corner of her lip - she wouldn't be surprised if the boy she was speaking to was a Ravenclaw.

"Yes of course that's it," Marlene said replied, her words dripping in sarcasm. "I'm terrified of living a life of constant envy over girls you'd rather be with." She said rolling her eyes again. "Honestly Black could you be any more full of yourself?" She said shaking her head, he was so full of it that sometimes she asked herself how she somehow put up with him on the train ride every year, or really just in general since this was how he was all the time. Usually when she asked herself why she put up with him she ended up at the same conclusion. It wasn't always terrible being around him, and she saw him so often it was better to just deal with him than try and ignore him. Plus Marlene refused to stop being friends with James given they'd known one another so long, and she was above trying to break up one friendship just so she didn't lose her own.

Marlene tried not to laugh actually when Sirius brought up Lily, and James' undying love for the red head. It was actually quite funny to watch him try and time and time again to win Lily over but fail every time. Marlene would admit that there were times when she felt kind of bad for him too since she knew James really did love her. As odd as it might've been she really thought his intentions were true. Unlike Sirius James didn't flirt with every other girl in the room just to try and make someone jealous, actually she wasn't even sure how many girls he'd turned down just because he was so in love with Lily he couldn't bare being with someone else. Or at least that's the way she saw it. He still however had no won her over.

"No she still hasn't given me the time of day. But she will. This is the year I'm gonna win her over, I'm sure of it."

---

"No offense Prongs but you say that every year." Remus said chuckling a little at his friends futile attempts at winning Lily over. Remus wanted to believe however that his attempts weren't futile, because he did secretly think the pair would be perfect for one another, and that Lily loved James too and was just too afraid to admit it or something. Sadly though everything that'd happened between them didn't point in that direction though. At Sirius' words about Peter though he was realizing that Sirius was right, and the other boy wasn't with them. "I haven't seen him though he doesn't usually tail right behind me." Remus added knowing that while Peter was in their little group he boy usually tailed right behind James or Sirius given the two of them were much more popular.

He smiled at Eleanor and nodding his head. "Yep Gryffindor. Though on occasion people to think I'm in Ravenclaw." He told her not even sure how many times he'd been asked if he was in Ravenclaw by people he didn't know when he wasn't in his robes. There were even a few people in his house who wondered why he wasn't put in Raveclaw but he wasn't. And he didn't really know why he was put in Gryffindor but he was, and Remus wasn't about to question the sorting hat because surely it knew what it was doing. "Oh and those two are always like this, they clearly have thing for a each other but don't wanna admit it." He told her referring of course to Marlene and Sirius.

@ lord voldemort;

@ Hemmings.

Marlene rolled her eyes and shook her head, "I think you're an idiot if you think I actually have a thing for him." She said leaning back in the seat and flipping Sirius off for the second time since he'd walked into the compartment. "You're the one who's always coming onto me, clearly he's picking up on your love me not the other way around babe." She told him sending Sirius her own smug smile. "I do however think these two block heads are right though James, you've been saying that every year and you haven't really done that well in your quest to win over Lily." She said looking over to James and shrugging her shoulders sending him a sad smile.

"Don't get me wrong though I love you and I totally think if Lily gave you a chance you two would be a great couple. She has to give you a chance first though." Marlene said knowing that Lily so far wasn't giving James the time of day he wanted, and it didn't really seem like she was going to budge either, but then again Marlene hadn't inserted herself into the whole James and Lily thing either. Usually she did, especially if she thought two people were really meant to be together or should at least try being together to see if they should be together.

---

"Most people do," Remus said laughing a little, "I think I just have a kind of aura about myself or something." He said figuring that was what people thought. He didn't mind people thinking he was in Ravenclaw though really, hell there were times he thought he should've been rather than in Gryffindor. The thing was though that the sorting had one job and Remus was sure that it knew how to do it's job. "I beg to differ there Marls." Remus retorted shaking his head. "I'm not an idiot. Neither of you may want to admit it but it's so obvious you guys have a thing for one another." He said shrugging his own shoulders. He knew she might get upset but everyone thought it so it wasn't like it was just him.

Remus had to agree with Marlene though on the Lily thing. He loved James like a brother and he thought Lily and James would be perfect couple, but honestly unless someone intervened he wasn't sure James would be able to win Lily over on his own. And it wasn't that James wasn't capable of getting a girl because Remus was sure he was perfectly capable of it, James just needed a little bit of help when it came to Lily.

[ I don't feel like this was the best reply I've ever made! But I hope you like it! ]

@ Hemmings.

[ you're fine! I've been super busy working and haven't had a lot of time to be on mibba this last week anyways. I know all about writers block too! Sadly I'm experiencing it for like all my stories atm so even though I wanna get somewhere on them, I'm not. Oh and thank you! Your reply was also great as usual ]

Marlene shrugged her shoulders at Sirius' comment about her mum. "If me mum were here right now love she'd probably sigh, run her fingers through her hair and make some comment about how I'm the child giving her gray hair, and she has two boys." She told him rolling her eyes at him when he put his feet in her lap again. "I think me mum's given up hope on me becoming a proper lady." She added quite happy about that part. Don't get her wrong, Marlene had nothing wrong with being a girl, and well a few of her friends would fit quite perfectly into the whole 'proper lady' thing her mum was all about. That however was not Marlene. Marlene would rather be out on the quidditch field having fun than drinking tea in a stuffy dress. She enjoyed drinking firewhiskey when she could sneak some out of Hogsmeade, and she knew she could hold her own if need be. If Marlene was anything it was a free soul, and she was pretty sure her mother saw that.

---

Remus had no comments for the pair across from him, though he didn't usually have anything to say to those two. They were like this all the time as it was, and usually if he did say anything they'd get all defensive. It was like a cycle with them or something. Really he'd given up on trying to figure the pair out because every time he'd think he'd figured something out he'd just get more confused. That was pretty much how the relationship worked. And well when it came to James and Lily he wasn't involved in any of that either. He of course wanted Lily to give his friend a shot. Partly so Prongs would shut up about her, but partly because he thought they'd be a good pair too. That whole thing was more complex than he cared to really explain though. The more he thought about it though the more he was starting to realize his friends both kind of sucked at relationships. So if he ever needed advice they might not be the best people to ask for help.