the_debt_of_time

Sirius turned to see Marlene McKinnon approaching him. Well, shit. He nodded at
her, trying to be polite. "McKinnon."
"You didn't answer my card this morning." She pouted, her blue eyes flashing as
she tossed her long blond hair with one hand. "Hurt my feelings."
"If you didn't notice, I had quite the pile-up of mail." Sirius chuckled, purposely not
making eye contact.
He had gone back to his room after the debacle in the Great Hall, fully intent on
finding some good sweets that he had sneaked away in his trunk. He wanted to bring them
down to Peter in the hospital wing. A card on his pillow stole his attention, however, and
he recognised Marlene's handwriting immediately. He burned the thing without opening it.
"What can I say? I'm a popular bloke."
"I see that."
"My date's in Honeydukes," he explained when he saw her looking up and down
the street as though she were preparing to Disapparate away with him Side-Alonged against
his will. Considering the shitstorm of Love Potions that came in his mail, he would not put
it past her. She had not exactly been amicable about him not wanting to shag her again.
"New girlfriend?"
"You know me better than that." He laughed, hoping to remind her of how
unreliable he was. "When have I ever had a girlfriend?"
"I thought I came a little close." She leant in, touching the collar of his robes.
"Wouldn't you say? I thought what we had was pretty special."
"Special, sure," Sirius acknowledged, not wanting to hurt her feelings. "Fleeting,
though. I'm not good with the commitment stuff. You know that." He shrugged his
shoulders, hoping that it would shrug her off of him, but she held on tight.
She stared hard into his eyes, and Sirius groaned in irritation. He knew that look. It
had been the look she had given him the morning after he left her in front of the Shrieking
Shack after their first snog. It was the same look she had given him later when she saw him
after their first shag—where he also up and left her. It was determination. Marlene
McKinnon did not take rejection well, and Sirius did not like needing to give a firm no to
the girls that got a little clingy.
The Ravenclaw, however, was pushing it as she leant in much too close for his
liking—at least for his liking while he was on a date with another girl.