"Hey Dorcas, where are you off to?" Sirius called from the sofa in my flat that him and James seemed to have taken up permanent residence on.

"... Out." I should have realised instantly the suspicion that this would cause but I was too busy being excited about having my own secret scheme. It wasn't so much a scheme really but it was a secret as I knew that if Sirius and James knew I was going to talk to Marlene, they wouldn't be able to help themselves and would meddle.

"Out where?" Sirius said, peering over the back of my sofa.

"Out to... Tescos."

"Tescos, huh? To buy what? You went for your weekly shop there yesterday..." Sirius said in a mystical voice.

"How could you possibly know that?" I asked, shaking my head at him as I grabbed my jacket. Sirius wiggled his eyebrows but refused to give me an answer which raised even more questions.

"But seriously, Dorcas where are you going?" James asked.

"I told you Tescos." I said quickly trying to hide the fact that their questioning was making me slightly flustered, "I'm buying... more Oreos."

"Okay, that checks out." James said, turning back around, "We'll be here when you get back?"

"Since when did my house become a public hangout?"

"Since we became friends. We switch between houses, Dorcas, we've all got to take our turn." James said with a grin. I was tempted to point out that he had never taken his turn in letting us stay at his house but I wanted to be out of the door as soon as possible. Sirius and James looked like they still had endless questions in them but I was out of the door quickly and slammed it behind me so that even if they did ask more, I was out of earshot.

I felt a strange sense of excitment as I dashed down the familiar grey streets. I could see how Sirius had got so excited about his scheme. I didn't even have a scheme with Marlene, just a plan to talk to her and for it not to be a trainwreck and I was already hyped.

I was on such a rush from the adrenaline that I opened the door with such force that everyone in the whole damn café turned to look at me which lessened my adrenaline just a little bit. I wasn't going to let it deter me though, I had come to the café with a purpose and damn it, I was going to fulfil that purpose. I walked purposefully towards Marlene, preparing exactly what to say.

I had my opener perfectly planned out which was unfortunately ruined by Marlene speaking first, something that I'd completely forgot to take into account.

"Dramatic entrance there, Dorks." Marlene said with a grin. Part of me wanted to tell her I hated the nickname Dorks but I wasn't about to correct my crush who had spoken to me first and basically made me slightly speechless. All my plans relied on me opening the conversation but I wasn't going to let this fail, I'd have to use my remaining confidence to get through this.

"Well, that's me. Dorks the Dramatic." I said with a confident smile even though inside I was cursing myself for reinforcing the awful nickname. Knowing my luck, she'd be calling me Dorks all the time and it would catch on until people forget that my name was Dorcas not Dorks. I decided not to think about it too much and focus on the current task. I could focus on the awful nickname later, one problem at a time.

"Really? I thought Sirius was the Drama Queen in your trio, you always seemed a lot quieter and understated." I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that but a small voice at the back of my head was telling me to keep the conversation alive with a question. There were so many things I could have asked her in response to that but of course the only thing that sprung to mind was this:

"My trio? What's my trio?" Way to go, Dorcas, I though but it was too late to change the question now.

"You, James and Sirius..." Marlene said slowly, clearly trying to conceal a laugh, "Dorcas, are you okay? You seem a bit... you know... spacey today."

"I'm always a bit spacey, to be honest. Are you spacey?" I made a mental note to just stop asking questions until I could think of ones that didn't make me look very slow witted.

"I guess I am a bit. Well, easily distracted is probably a better word for it. I don't zone out but I'll suddenly fixate on something ridiculous or weird. Like yesterday, I was meant to be serving this old guy - "

"Not the same one as before?" I asked, feeling slightly more relaxed than I did a few minutes ago.

"No, not him, thank god. He was bloody awful, I think I'd quit if he came back." She said with a smile, "No, just some guy. Anyway, I'd just taken his order and I noticed this pigeon outside trying to pick up this chip on the pavement and it was really struggling and I just got sort of hooked... is that really weird?"

"No, I mean I'm hardly one to talk on weird. I helped my friend scam your co-worker." I said, instantly regretting bringing up my involvement in the Lone Wolf Scam.

"Yeah, that's a bit odd to say in the least but I guess it all worked out in the end. I haven't seen Remus in a few days actually, he's been on different shifts to me." Marlene said, "I must ask him how it went when I next see him, I'm nosy."

"How did he manage to get so much time off work?"

"He didn't. The Boss didn't come in at all for a month, he never does anything really." Marlene said.

"Who is 'The Boss'? Lily mentioned him a few times but I've never seen him." I said, glad that the conversation seemed to be finally flowing.

"I met him once... he was tall and loud. He was quite an intimidating figure, he interviewed me at one of the tables, gave me my apron and then promptly disappeared. I don't think Remus even met him, he did a phone interview or something. He's an odd one." Marlene said distantly.

"He sounds odd..." I realised that the conversation was dying yet I hadn't worked up the confidence yet to ask her out or something so I had to think up a way to keep it going, "Do you think it's odd that I was involved in the Remus scheme?"

There was an awful silence as Marlene considered what to say, twirling a strand of her golden, blonde hair around her finger. I willed time to speed up so that I could find out how much she was judging me.

"It was a bit odd, I don't think I'd do it but I'm quite a straightforward person. I can't lie and I don't want to lie. But I can also see how you could get sucked into it, he is your best friend. He's hot and apparentely we trust attractive people more even if they're total idiots. You have to admite, he is pretty damn hot - I should know, I got off with him," She said which she clearly said to lighten the mood but instead it made me feel a slight pang of jealousy, "... plus he's quite a big personality, quite charming. He probably gets his way a lot so whilst I think it was odd that he came up with it in the first place, I don't judge you for joining in."

"That's good..." I said, relief flooding over me, "Marlene, you said you can't lie so can you answer one question for me? Do you like Sirius?"

"What? No, we got off once because he's hot. I don't think we'd mesh well together, he's quite loud and dominating and so am I. Loud people need quiet people to balance out like Remus and Sirius."

"...or me and you." I muttered under my breath.

"What?"

"I said... that's so true." I bluffed quickly, impressed by my own quick thinking.

"Oh, right." She said. She had one of those smiles that seemed to lighten the whole room and it was just so pretty that I almost lost my power of speech again, "So to answer your question simply, no. I am not interested in Sirius Black."

This confirmation gave me a sudden burst of confidence and impulsiveness.

"This is crazy but I was wondering if maybe you wanted to hang out some time." I said quickly. For a second she looked at me blankly and I knew that the nerves were kicking in now so I wouldn't have the confidence to repeat myself. Luckily, her blank face soon turned into a smile as she nodded her head slightly.

"Sure, why the hell not." She said with a smile, "When were you thinking?"

"I don't know... this weekend? I'm training with Lily on Saturday morning but I'm free in the afternoon and Sunday." I said, trying to hide the fact that my heart was beating ridiculously fast with excitement.

"Sounds great - "

"Excuse me, but I've been waiting to order for almost five minutes now!" I whipped around to see a short, angry young woman behind me.

"Maybe you should have said something then." Marlene said with an obvious fake smile.

"I didn't think I had to - " The woman began which seemed to be a good cue to leave.

"I need to head off anyway, don't want to distract you anymore." I said, trying to appear nonchalant to cover up the fact that I literally bursting with excitement.

"Ah, alright then. I'll see you later." Marlene said with a grin which quickly vanished as she turned to the woman, "Don't look at me like that, I'm taking your order now..."

I didn't hear the rest of it as I was out the door quickly, speed walking away until I'd turned the corner and was out of sight. The moment I rounded the corner, I stopped to do a mini dance. It was necessary, I'd managed to talk to Marlene without it becoming too awkward (a little bit of awkwardness was guaranteed with me) and I'd invited her to hang out and she'd said yes.

Everything was coming up Dorcas.