β"What happened to me last night?"
β"You know, it's a really long story.."
β"Shitβ Marlesβ" Sirius pants into the muggle telephone. "I have a huge favour to ask."
β"Merlin, Sirius. One would think you're getting attacked." Marlene huffs in exasperation, running a hand down her face. "Anyway, what do you need? Andβ are those explosions going off?"
β"Yes!" He hisses. "I'm supposed to be babysitting Andy's daughter for the night."
β"Andy? Andy as in Andromeda, your cousin?" She blinks, confusion evident in her voice. "Okay..so what's the problem?"
β"I've never been with her alone before, and I have no idea how to deal with children!" He groans from the other end. "She exploded her food, and now she's running around the house half naked and changing her face into a duck to scare her cat."
β"Are you serious?" Marlene laughs. "Man, that's hilarious!"
β"Please, Marlene, can you come over? I can't do this alone!" Sirius whines, another explosion going off. "You're the closest and everyone else is busβ Dora get down from there!"
βMarlene pulls the telephone away from her ear, looking down at the now cut call. She snickers lightly, slipping on her jacket as she calls out to her mom.
β"Ma! I'm heading out for a bit, I'll probably be late home!" She yells as she walks out the door, not bothering to wait for an answer.
βSirius is trying to wrangle the metamorphmagus from the ceiling light, the toddler now having a bird face, laughing as Sirius tries swiping at her with the broom when the doorbell rings.
βHe points at Nymphadora. "You stay right. there." He huffs before turning and going to answer the door to a familiar sight of blonde hair.
β"Your saviours here!" Marlene grins, making jazz hands.
β"Merlin, you're like an angel!" Sirius sighs, shoulders visibly sagging as he opens the door wider for Marlene to enter the house.
β"And? Where's this kid you claim is giving you trouble?" She snickers, looking up at the ceiling to where Sirius points in exasperation. Marlene whistles, a laugh escaping her lips.
β"Well, she certainly looks like trouble." She snorts, placing hands on her hips. "Oi! Kid! If you come down from there, I'll give ya' a chocolate!"
βThe words immediately catches the 5 year old's attention, the girl immediately coming down to stand in front of Marlene with a suspicious look on her face.
β"Who are you?" She puffs up her cheeks, arms crossed over her chest in what she believes is a menacing stance. "Mum said never to take anything from strangers." yet she still holds her hand out (because Sirius is here, and deep down she knows Sirius would never let anything happen to her)
β"I'm Sirius' friend. Names Marlene." She ruffles the younger girls hair, taking a mini chocolate out of her jackets pocket and placing it in the outstretched hand. "What about you, kid?"
β"Nymphadora. But I hate that name call me something else." She grumbles, nibbling on the chocolate.
β"Sure thing, kiddo." Marlene laughs. "She's a sweetheart, she can't be that bad." She whispers to Sirius.
β"She's just acting, give it a few minutes." He whispers back.
βAnd a few minutes later, Marlene was proven wrong
β"Dora! Stop! You're going to flood the house!" Marlene yells in distress at the younger girl who connected a hose pipe with the tap and started spraying both her and Sirius, and then lost control after opening the tap too wide but wouldn't let them near her, laughing all the while.
β"Oh Merlin, Andy's going to kill us. She'll hang us by our necks." Sirius stresses, hiding behind the couch which was soaked right through.
β"We just have to get her away from the tap and then we can clean up." Marlene sighs. "Nothing a little magic won't be able to fix."
β"I get Dora, you get the pipe?" He reasons, Marlene nodding in understanding before they move stealthily.
βEventually, Sirius manges sneak up on Nymphadora, grabbing the girl from under her arms and pulling the girl away from the pipe, to which Marlene snatches it and yells in triumph.
β"I've got it!" She grins, her clothes soaked, quickly moving to switch off the tap, the water slowly stopping.
β"Finally.." Sirius sighs, yelping when Nymphadora's head knocks into his chin which causes his head to hit against the cupboard, hard. His vision swims, the last thing he hears is Marlene cursing before everything goes black.
βMorning comes and Sirius finds himself laid down on the partially dried couch, Nymphadora curled up on his side, asleep at last.
β"Merlin.." Sirius groans, holding his head as he sits up, making sure not to wake the sleeping toddler beside him. "What happened to me last night?"
β"You knocked your head against the cupboard and passed out, and Merlin are you heavy." Marlene grumbles from the floor, Sirius' head snaps to her.
β"You're still here?" He gapes, before shaking his head as he looks around at the now cleaned living area. "Marles, you're like an angel. Did you seriously clean up while I was out?"
β"It wasn't that hard, I just did some cleaning spells." She snorts, shrugging her shoulders. "You're welcome, though."
β"Thanks, I owe you a favour." He grins, head turning when he hears the door opening, both Andromeda and Ted walking in with smiles.
β"Oh! Hello, Marlene. Let me guess, he called you over to help with Nymphadora?" Andromeda laughs softly, Ted chuckling along with her. "I told you, you wouldn't be able to take care of her by yourself."
β"Whatever.." Sirius pouts, grumbling under his breath.
β"Oh, don't pout, I'm sure you did fine for a while." Andromeda giggles, looking at Nymphadora asleep on the couch with a soft look. "Did anything interesting happen? She's usually up by this time but it looks like she's dead to the world."
β"You know, it's a really long story.." Sirius laughs nervously.
β"Why's the hose pipe in the house?" Ted calls from the kitchen, Andromeda's head snaps to look at Sirius with a look that says 'tell me everything right now and don't you dare lie to me'.
β"I think that's my cue to leave..." Marlene stiffens, laughing nervously. "I'll see you back at Hogwarts, Sirius! Good luck!" She yells over her shoulder before bolting.
βWhat was that saying now again? Leaving your friend to the wolves..yeah, that's exactly what she did.
