one; I'M GOING TO REGRET THIS

Marty was mind-numbingly bored.

From her place behind the register, she could see all corners of her father's store, that is, if she bothered to look up from the fashion magazine in her hand. Brown eyes were critical as she read all about the newest trends she hadn't been privy to while at school.

Her father had left the keys with his only daughter, proclaiming that he trusted her to keep a handle on his beloved store so he could call it an early night. Her brother had disappeared into the streets of London hours ago when Frank Longbottom and Fabian Prewett had rocked up in a car which Marty knew neither had any business driving.

She flipped the page of her magazine, humming in interest at the model's flared jeans and her gaze flickered to her own. She wondered if she could fix her jeans to look like that f if she'd have to dip into her savings to purchase a pair.

The buzzing of the slushie machine stopped, and Marty lifted her gaze from the jeans to watch as the mixer began to turn once more, the machine whirring back to life when it did.

Marty desperately wanted to close up and head upstairs to work on her revision without distraction, but she didn't want to disappoint her father by closing up earlier than usual. Even if they hadn't had a customer in at least an hour and her father wouldn't mind in the slightest.

She sighed deeply as her attention returned to her magazine. She flicked the page, making a noise of disgust at the outfit which had grabbed her attention immediately, and not in a good way.

"P would get a kick out of this." She muttered to herself, dog-earring the glossy page with a giggle. Her best friend, and self-proclaimed designer to the stars, would be horrified by the clashing of colours and just about everything to do with the outfit, "I'd quit if I had to wear that, Ozzy."

The aging cat by her chair whined low in his throat as Marty leaned down to scratch behind his ear. She'd kept her legs propped up on the counter and was careful about petting her cat, not wanting to fall for the seventh time.

She continued to judge the next trend on the page as the bell above the door chimed, and she felt the chill of the December night before the door was closed once more.

"We're closing in about twenty." She called out, not removing her gaze from the stylish makeup look and the article on how to achieve it.

"I won't be very long." The deep voice answered, "Where're your bandages? And smokes?"

"Centre aisle for all your medical needs." Marty chirped, making mental notes to sharpen her eyeliner pencil so she could recreate the cute look as the man bustled to the second aisle, "Smokes are behind me. Pick your poison, darling."

"Usually go with the Capstans, but I'll be grand with whatever." The voice became closer, so Marty placed the magazine down on the register, and careful to not startle Ozzy, she got to her feet.

She hummed to herself as she found the key to unlock the case and slid the glass across, "I'm more of a Winfield gal myself. Dad gets them imported in from Australia if you wanna try those."

"I'll get one of each, can't hurt to t. . ." Marty grabbed both packets from their places as the customer trailed off. She closed the glass back over and locked it once more, "Wait, Sheehan?"

Marty frowned to herself and quickly turned, fingers inching to where she kept her wand stashed into the pocket of her hoodie. Her eyes widened when she realised just who it was in front of her.

"Black!" She exclaimed as her need for her wand to be in her grasp became long forgotten when it became apparent that it was Sirius Black and not someone who could be of a threat.

"Sheehan!" He repeated, "What are you doing here?"

Marty stared at him weirdly for a moment before she glanced down at the counter separating them, as well as the bandages he'd dumped beside the register.

"I work here." She answered, lip quirking at the sheepish look he donned, "The hell are you doing here?"

"I live on the other side of the park." He told her, gesturing to the massive park that Marty and her brother had spent their entire lives exploring and hanging out in, "Uh, lived."

"No shit." She laughed, "I've lived here my whole life. It's crazy that I've never run into you."

"Yeah." He muttered, and Marty watched as he winced when he scratched at his nose.

"What happened?" Damn her curious nature.

She'd allowed her attention to travel the expanse of his face, taking in the bruising eye, the bleeding lip and cheek. How his body tremored and the nervous way his eyes darted about the store. Like he was waiting for someone to pop out from one of the three aisles or burst through the door and begin cursing him.

It set Marty on edge, the hair on the back of her neck prickling. She shoved her hands into her pockets, tension leaving her body when her fingers brushed the ingrained handle of her ash wand.

He stared at her for a moment. They weren't friends, and the only time they'd ever actually talked was once in their second year during Astronomy and again earlier in the week when she'd screamed herself hoarse at Snape and then at him. Before she then mumbled a quick word of gratitude to James and ran from the Infirmary as if she'd been hit with a stinging jinx as Remus began to wake. Still, he found himself opening up to the first familiar face he'd seen all week.

"Left home." He muttered, "Had enough."

"I bet." She responded, wide-eyed as Sirius did everything to not look at her, "Sorry."

He shrugged.

Marty didn't not like Sirius Black, and it wasn't for any particular reason. She had never formed an opinion of the Gryffindor until a week earlier, and even then, it wasn't a strong opinion. The real target of her ire was Severus Snape. All she'd wanted to do was know why he was skulking the halls after hours, you know because it was her job as a Prefect, but he'd dragged her along to the Whomping Willow and demanded her to press a specific knot in the base of the tree before he'd forced her down. The steep slope had led her to trip and sprain her ankle. And just when she thought her night couldn't get any worse than potentially being murdered by a slimy git, she'd come face to snout with a fucking werewolf.

She rubbed at the healing bruise on her left forearm at the memory.

She blamed Snape for that night, but when she'd learned that it was Black that had told him all about the knot in the Willow tree, she couldn't help but resent him for it too. It was stupid because he hadn't forced Snape to drag her there when they'd run into one another, but that night was one of the scariest of her life. She wanted, no needed, to blame just about anyone she could.

"You're not gonna fix yourself up with those." She murmured, nodding to the wrap bandages he'd dumped on the counter. Her lip twitched when his face fell in disappointment.

"What will I need?" He questioned.

Marty stared at him for twenty seconds, enough time for him to squirm beneath her intent gaze. She couldn't find a good enough reason not to help him out, not her brother returning with his friends and all of them finding Sirius Black in their midst, not even the stench muggle whiskey that she could smell from where she stood. She didn't want to know how he got his hands on that.

Her eyes flickered to the clock, fifteen minutes until closing.

"I'm gonna regret this, aren't I?" She murmured.

"What?"

Marty locked eyes with Sirius, "Am I going to regret helping you?"

"Probably." He nodded, face solemn, though his eyes twinkled.

Marty cleared her throat.

"Can't hurt to close early just this once." She spoke, and not wanting to pull the heavy horizontal door up, Marty ducked beneath it before she made her way over to the entrance of the store, twisting the lock on the handle.

She flipped the sign to 'CLOSED' and pushed a frame on the wall up to reveal a small alarm box. She punched in the code and pressed the enter key. Letting the photo frame fall back into place, Marty spun on her heel and made her way back over to where Sirius still stood.

Well.

At least she wasn't bored anymore.

"Come on upstairs, and I'll patch you up."

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lmao i got halfway through marty's interaction with sirius before i realised that i haven't even considered which house marty will be in.

starting the year off right with the first chapter of last line poem first and honestly, marty and sirius make my entire life, their friendship is gonna be elite. happy new year everyone!

thanks for reading

~r