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elliemarchetti · 7 months

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The Queen of the Quills - Blackinnon Edition (part 3)

Since I started a new series set in this universe I thought I'd continue in tandem with this story too. Reading The Queen of the Quills - Jily Edition will not be mandatory to understand the developments of Sirius and Marlene's story, but some details could be shared, therefore, for anyone wishing to fully enjoy the experience, I will leave a small index in the notes which acts as a reading order.

Blackinnon Edition - Chapter 1 Blackinnon Edition - Chapter 2 Jily Edition - Chapter 1 Blackinnon Edition - Chapter 3

Read this and my other Marauders Era stories on AO3

Plot: Sirius joins James and Euphemia at the McKinnons' for dinner, unaware that his mystery girl is the homeowners' daughter.

Words: 1614

On a late Saturday afternoon, right at the start of May, Sirius found himself on the front steps of the McKinnons’, one hand rapping the brass knocker on the door, the other wrapped around a large bouquet of fiendishly expensive tulips. A house elf with a ridiculously hawkish nose opened almost immediately and Sirius gave him his card, which he looked at for barely a quarter second before nodding and murmuring to follow him. After all, he was expected.

What was unexpected, however, was the sight that awaited him when he was shown into the antechamber of the McKinnons’ drawing room. Behind a half-open door, his mystery lady was perched on the edge a green damask sofa, a vision in ice-blue silk, her face decorated by a wide smile as she listened to a rather bad poem spewing from an old man’s mouth.

The entire scene, Sirius decided, was most disagreeable, and he found his free hand curled into a tight fist as he waited to be announced. He scanned the room slowly, trying to decide if his blow would fit best in the right eye socket or the left one of the wizard who was at best a widower who wanted a second wife, young enough to be his daughter, and at worst a bachelor who had waited too long to marry. Whatever the truth was, the fact the mystery lady was in that living room couldn’t make her anyone else than the famous Marlene James always spoke of. Could this be the suitor he had told him about? It couldn't be, not after he'd seen her punch someone much younger. Another thing he struggled to reconcile was the image he had of her, little more than a child after her second year at Hogwarts, and that of the beauty in a ball gown, her hair styled and a little makeup on, levitating an unconscious man who dared to approach her in the wrong manner. She was even prettier now, relaxed in the waning sunlight…

“Sirius!” a familiar voice exclaimed, snapping him out of his thoughts. Mrs. Potter, who must’ve already been there with her son, immediately held him in a maternal embrace, something he incredibly yearned for during his travels. They had seen each other just a few hours earlier, at lunch, but Euphemia must also have missed the man she kept describing as somehow a second son, and every opportunity seemed good to spoil him with affection as if he were still a lanky student asking to spend the night to avoid arguing with his parents.

James’ mother was, without exaggeration, the most loving person he knew, and that hadn’t changed after she lost her husband and unborn child. The pain certainly made her look older than she already was, but she still held herself well, her clothes excellently tailored and her grey hair neatly pinned. When Sirius returned to her door six years after his departure, she welcomed him with open arms and made sure to update him on all the gossips he might have missed, including the weddings of his cousins he no longer spoke with. He wasn’t surprised that Narcissa had married Mr. Malfoy, they were Hogwarts sweethearts and after all, just like James, he too was the only heir of an important family, moreover one that appeared on the Sacred Twenty-Eight list, as did the Blacks, but that Bellatrix, the most rowdy and grouchy of the three sisters, had decided to settle down was unbelievable.

“Mr. Black,” said another woman, probably Mrs. McKinnon, when Euphemia finally let go of him. “You honour us with your presence.”

“The honour is all mine,” Sirius replied, although the only thing he wanted was to finish the introductions quickly and move on to the part where he was presented to Marlene. Who knows what her reaction in seeing him would be like, and above all, who knows if she would recognize him from their most recent meeting or from his friendship with James. Whatever the answer was, it had to wait, for they still had to talk about the flowers, where they came from, and how difficult it was to import them directly from Holland, especially in winter, even though they were right in the middle of spring.

“They must’ve been terribly dear,” Mrs. Potter commented, only to be jokingly reprimanded by her son.

“What could he possibly respond to that?” he asked.

“With the price?” suggested Sirius, with a devilish half-smile.

“You would never be so crass,” James retorted, with a dismissing wave of his hand.

“Tell me later,” his mother whispered out of the side of her mouth, “when he’s not listening.”

“I hear you!” James exclaimed, exasperated, but their back and forth was interrupted by a male voice coming from the other room, the same that was reciting poetry a minute ago. The man looked amused, as if he was used to that kind of exchange, and moved with such confidence to approach them that made Sirius understand he must be at home too. And if he had been left unattended with Miss McKinnon…

“James!” Mr. McKinnon exclaimed by a way of greeting. “We were waiting for you for tea! You know how much Marlene loves to have it together before dinner.”

“Me, huh?” the girl screamed, getting up from the green damask sofa, undoubtedly unaware there was an unknown guest, for whom she should’ve behaved with greater grace.

“I can’t quite decide if you all are being terribly polite in not wanting to join us unprompted or exquisitely rude,” the man joked once his daughter reached his side, putting an arm around her slender shoulders and therefore blocking his own view on her slowly dying smile, the only hint in her demeanour that showed she recognized Sirius and wasn’t happy to meet him again, especially in front of her parents.

“Exquisitely polite, perhaps?” his new acquaintance suggested, amused. What Sirius wanted to silently show to Miss McKinnon was that he wasn’t a threat, and he bore her no ill will for her brusqueness at his cousin’s dance, but at the same time he wished to prove he could be also funny, a pleasant person to be around. The opinion of other people had never mattered so much to him, and especially that of a young woman, but he wanted to fix things, or start again on the right foot, because something special had happened when he witnesses her display of fierceness and pragmatism, and although he didn’t want to put a name on it, he sure wanted the explore the foreign feeling.

“Oh, definitely not that,” replied Mr. McKinnon, patting his shoulder as if they were old friends.

“The alternative, of course, is…” started James, but Marlene concluded the sentence in his stead.

“Terribly rude?” she asked with a grin, then looped her arm through her best friend’s to lead him in the drawing room. As if by magic, the other members of the little groups followed suit and took their seats in a remarkably efficient way, as if they were afraid the graceful young girl might scold them as if they were undisciplined soldiers and she was a feared general.

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“I don’t know how anyone could consider you a rake,” Marlene said to Sirius as soon as they had a semblance of privacy. “Your sense of humour is far too superb, while rakes are essentially cruel.”

Her comment seemed to surprise him, and he stared at her intently, searching her brown eyes as if he was looking for something. Maybe a comment on the little encounter they had at Mrs. Tonks ball, but she wasn’t in the mood, too happy and lost in the narrow ring of green just outside his pupils, the color as deep and rich as moss, to spoil the mood.

“And you wouldn’t classify James as rake?” he asked, one of his brows lifted in a rather superior manner.

“He only thinks he’s a rake,” she corrected. “There is a considerable difference.”

Sirius snorted. “If James isn’t a rake, I pity the woman who meets the man who is.”

“There is more to being a rake than seducing legions of witches,” Marlene said blithely. “If a man can’t do more than poke his tongue into a woman’s mouth and kiss…”

“You shouldn’t be speaking of such things, you shouldn’t even know about them,” he sputtered, his tone feeling like his throat was closed for the embarrassment.

“We seem to have veered away from the original subject,” she replied, shrugging the other topic aside. “All I meant to say is that a rake’s humour has its basis in cruelty. He needs a victim, for he cannot imagine ever laughing at himself. You, Mr. Black, are rather clever with the self-deprecating remarks.”

He seemed unsure whether to thank her or throttle her, but what she said was simply the truth, or at least it appeared to be after teatime. They hadn't talked much, but Marlene had listened to him exchange jokes with James and her father, and had really appreciated the way he had addressed the two older women, showing innate respect for the female gender.

“My dear Marlene…” he started, and her lips parted slightly in surprise.

“Surely you’re not going to force me to call you Miss McKinnon after all we’ve been through,” he said with a dramatic sigh.

“We’ve been through nothing, you ridiculous man,” she laughed, although she was infinitely grateful that he had pretended not to have met her before, except when they were both significantly younger. “But I suppose you can address me informally nonetheless.”

“Excellent,” he nodded in a condescending manner. “You may call me Sirius, then.”

#blackinnon #marlene mckinnon #sirius black #james potter #i don't remember how to put dividers on tumblr #and at this point i'm afraid to ask #you all have cute things you made on other programs #and i just want something easy to add from whatever device i'm posting from #can you “follow” someone on ao3?#because if you can and you like my longer fics you should definitely do it #tumblr is going to be my drabbles paradise #just give me time

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