"Hi, cool that you came on such a short notice," Marlene opened the apartment door before I even had the chance to knock.

She was already wearing an oversized hoody (probably Sirius') and leggings, her blonde hair taimed in a messy bun. It annoyed me (in the best way possible) that she still looked so pretty, even without trying.

Because it was evening and I had been about to enjoy my evening cuddling with Asklepius, since the bird strangely enough hadn't wanted to leave my side today, my hair was out of the braids for once, falling over my shoulders in fake waves. Although I had put in the effort of putting on proper clothes before leaving the house, I still didn't look as pretty as my best friend did.

I smiled at her. "Of course. Let's have a fun girl's night while the boys are out."

Because that's why Marlene had invited me over. She'd told me that Sirius, Peter, Remus and James had spontaneously decided to meet. She didn't know what they would do, but she'd told me that she suspected they wanted to celebrate something.

Marlene didn't feel like spending the evening alone, so that's what I was here for. And I always enjoyed hanging out with Marls, even if we ended up doing nothing.

I made my way past Marls, taking off my cloak and putting it to the others.

When I was taking off my shoes, Marlene already handed me the fluffy blue socks she stored in their apartment just for me.

I grinned and slipped them on. "Now, what's the plan?"

We went to the kitchen, where Marlene used a spell to heat up some water. "Chilling?" She poured us some tea. "We've got holidays, so I won't be participating in one of your study nights."

She handed me the cup and ignored my offended expression.

"Hey, I don't like studying either! I just ask you to do it with me so that I'm supervised and will actually do it! I will not study during the holidays, don't worry."

Markene clinked her cup with mine, smiling slightly. "So we're on the same page, great. What do you say about some Muggle TV?"

Caught by surprise, I set the cup down on the kitchen board, just so that I could gawk without fearing an accident. "Since when do you have a TV??"

Marlene lifted her chin proudly. "We want to widen our horizons."

"That's not true," a voice behind me said, and I quickly spun around to see Sirius standing in the kitchen doorway, his usual lazy smirk making my heart rate speed up like always. "Hey Frey." It looked like he was about to leave; he was already wearing his jacket to go unnoticed by muggles. "I saw my parents in London, so I made sure that they would see me walk into a Muggle technology shop. I just grabbed one thing that looked completely ridiculous and now we're having the best time with it."

I couldn't suppress my snort. "I thought you had Muggle Studies at school; how can you not know what a TV looks like?"

Sirius raised his hands defensively. "Hey, maybe I grabbed it because I subconsciously knew what it was and that I would like it, who knows? All I cared is that I made my old lady super super mad, and that alone was worth it."

"Only you," I grinned, shaking my head at his antics. Some people would never change.

"You just had to make us look stupid, didn't you?" Marlene accused when he was done with talking. She had her hands on her hips, playfully glaring at her boyfriend.

"Naw, that's impossible, I just made us look cooler, don't worry Marls."

Marlene scoffed. "I think you just proved my point," she muttered quietly, but Sirius straightened his posture and didn't seem bothered by the statement. Or maybe he hadn't heard it, who knew?

"Now," he took a few steps across the room until he was standing in front of Marlene. He embraced her, before pulling back and resting his hands on her shoulders, then he pecked her lips. "I wanted to say goodbye and wish you both a great night."

"Bye," Marlene answered, and Sirius made his way to me, pulling me into a brief hug, too. Well, maybe it wasn't even so short, but it felt too brief. "Bye to you too, Frey, thanks for babysitting her."

"Hey!"

Sirius left the kitchen with a quiet chuckle. "I love youuu," he said. "Bye, my favourite girls."

"Bye, have fun!"

"Goodbye!" we shouted back at the same time.

"Take care!" I added. Please.

One could never be too safe these days.

"I will, I promise. You too."

Then he waved one last time, turned on his heels and left the apartment.

Marlene sighed and returned her attention to me again. "Now that he's gone... TV?"

I picked up my cup again, shrugging my shoulders. I wanted to seem nonchalant, when in reality I was freaking out about all of my favourite shows and films I could watch with her now. "If you want to."

"Hell yeah, you choose the channel and I'll get the snacks."

"Copy that."

With a mock salute, I headed off to the living room, where I set my cup down on the little couch table. The remote control was also there, so I picked it up and looked through the different shows and movies that were playing.

I found a movie that I thought Marlene would like (because I thought that I'd watched and liked it some time ago), so I set the remote down and made myself comfortable, just when Marlene entered the room, too.

She was balancing two bowls, one with popcorn for her and one with crisps for me, and her cup of tea.

"What did you pick?" She eyed the screen while putting down the stuff in her hands.

"A comedy."

"Uuh, great." She flopped down next to me, picking up a blanket and throwing it over the both of us.

Click, click.

Click, click, click.

"Aargh, I just sat down!" Marlene groaned and looked around, searching for the source of the noise.

I already had my suspicion on what it was, so my gaze flew to the window behind us.

"Asklepius?"

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and got up to open the window for him.

"What is it with you today, buddy?" I murmured when he hopped in.

"Does he have a letter?" Marls asked, still sitting on the sofa, but ignoring the movie.

I shook my head no. "It's strange, he's been clingy like this all day. What's wrong, Askly?"

I stroked his cold feathers with my index finger, and he hooted softly before nudging my hand with his beak.

I looked out of the window, about to close it again, when my attention got caught by something below us.

My stomach churned.

"Marlene?"

She must've heard the tone of my voice, because she immediately got up and made her way over to us.

"Did Sirius leave the gate open?"

Marlene reached my side and followed my eyes.

"No," she said with a small voice. "He never does."