For the first time ever, I was standing in front Sirius' apartment without the intention of seeing him.

I had already seen him yesterday, when Marlene and I had checked up on him.

I didn't even know if he was there today. Because for the first time, I was here just to see Marlene.

To have a girls night. Like real friends.

I found myself bobbing up and down giddily with an excited buzz filling up every part of me when Marlene opened the door and greeted me with a little hug.

"Hi Frey! Come in!"

After I greeted her back, I did just that and left my purse in the hallway, following Marlene to her and Sirius' shared bedroom.

I felt weird standing in that room. I'd never been in here before, and honestly, it hadn't been on my bucket list.

Still, it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. The bed was made and there were only a few of Sirius' clothes on a chair next to the bed. No clues for... Stuff they did that I didn't want to know about.

There were many pictures standing on the shelves, I noticed. Of Alice, Lily, Dorcas and Marlene, and of the marauders.

I couldn't help but smile when my eyes fell onto a picture that showed me and Marlene.

Sirius had taken it one time after our training had ended. Marlene had her elbow propped on my shoulder (since she was one head taller than me) and looked really happy.

"That's a great photo, isn't it?" Marlene spoke up behind me, following my gaze. "I love it. It was the start of our friendship."

She nudged my shoulder.

Friendship.

My heart fluttered. Marlene was such a nice and pure soul, and somehow she'd decided to befriend me. While it hurt at first, now it was one of the best feelings ever. I felt so grateful for her.

"Yeah." I smiled.

"We should take more pictures together, though," Marlene frowned. "That's the only one I've got of us. It can't stay that way, can it?"

My smile couldn't get any wider, even though I usually hated being on photographs. "Sure, if you want to."

"Of course!" She turned around and opened her cupboard behind us.

"Now, what've we got?" Marlene whistled happily, occasionally looking back and forth between me and the clothes in her cupboard.

"It's summer, but I think it might get chilly in the evening, so let's take a thin jacket with us... And it's a muggle concert, so wizarding clothes are a no as well."

In this moment, I realised that I didn't even know what concert we were going to visit. "Who are we watching anyway?"

"Uhmm... Some muggle artist? I can't remember his name, because I didn't buy the tickets."

"Huh?"

"Yeah," Marlene's grinning head appeared from behind the cupboard's door. "I won them on some radio competition. Those people were really fascinated by my magic tricks."

She wiggled her eyebrows and I couldn't help but burst into giggles.

"So you just signed up to brag? You didn't even care about the tickets!?"

"I mean, I did want to go to a concert," Marlene defended herself. "I just didn't care of whom, and I didn't really feel like paying, so I signed up on this competition."

I shook my head amusedly, coming to join her in front of the cupboard. "Only you."

"Yeah, I mean, I gotta make the best out of life, right? Nobody knows how long it'll be." She gasped. "I got the perfect dress!"

I followed her movements when she took out a short and golden, glittering party dress.

"For me or for you?" I wanted her to clarify.

"You, of course!"

I tried to not let my distaste for the dress show.

"Um, I think I'll pass that one. I don't really like short dresses or V-lines. In case you haven't noticed, my boobs are almost non existent. They can't fill a dress like that!"

Marlene pursed her lips and bluntly stared at my chest.

"Hmm, you've got a point."

She turned around again and continued to rummage through her clothes.

"Uuh." She took out a grey top. "This will suit your eyes nicely. And with this," she grabbed a red skirt with a grey tartan, "You'll be the prettiest girl on the concert."

I doubted that, since a), I was me, and b), Marlene would definitely get that title. It didn't matter what she was wearing, she was just a beautiful young woman.

She had naturally really fair blond and beautifully wavy hair that always contrasted her dark but warm chocolate coloured eyes. She was tall and skinny and had a heart of gold.

I was rather small, definitely not as skinny as Marlene, just average, and with eyes that couldn't decide which colour they wanted to have. Same went for my hair, not to mention that it was abnormally straight, lied flat on my skull and had absolutely no volume, which I hated.

That was partially the reason why I almost always used my braiding charm to make my hair look less boring.

Today it was braided to the back my head, sort of looking like a little wreath. That way, it wouldn't get stuck on my neck in case I started to sweat.

"Thanks," I still mumbled with a blush forming on my cheeks. I took the clothes from her. "Won't this be too big for me?"

Marlene scoffed. "What do we have magic for? Just put it on, then we'll see where we've got to make it smaller or tighter or whatever. You know where the bathroom is, right?"

I nodded and made my way over to it. In there, I checked my hair again and put on the clothes. To my surprise, it actually did look quite good on me. Just the top was a little too big, but I liked that the skirt went to my knees.

Smiling, I returned to Marlene, who was now wearing a blue (slightly) cropped top with bell-bottomed trousers.

"Look at you, gorgy hun!" She grinned.

"Look at you!" I replied, really really flustered. "You look amazing!"

"Aw, thanks." She grabbed a jacket and thew it at me. "I found the jacket that matches you skirt."

I looked at it. It really seemed to be made of the same fabric.

Marlene clapped her hands giddily. "Can I do your make-up now? I've already got mine."

I didn't even try to suppress my smile. Fact was, that I basically never used make-up, except for some mascara from time to time.

It wasn't because I didn't like make-up, but because I didn't know how to do it and I didn't know what products I'd have to get. I'd tried it sometimes, using Mum's or Francisca's stuff, but it had always looked horrible.

"Sure," I grinned. I was excited what Marlene was gonna come up with.

"Then let's get back to the bathroom," Marlene announced and pushed me back through the door. "Do you have any special wishes?"

"Uhm. I don't know, actually. I trust you. Just get rid off the eye bags."

"Will do, will do."

After we'd bewitched my clothes to fit me better, and after Marlene used what looked like all of her make-up supplies on me, she handed me a mirror.

My jaw slightly dropped when I looked into the mirror. The girl definitely looked like me, but... pretty. Just pretty.

My skin looked smooth, my eyes had a pretty dark eyeshadow and my usually short lashes looked longer and darker than usual. Still, it looked natural, just how I liked it.

"Wow, this is perfect Marls, thank you so much!"

"For you always." She smiled. "Yeah, I've really outdone myself. Not that you needed it, though."

I inwardly rolled my eyes, but the grin wouldn't dissappear. "You're the best."

"I know." Marlene nodded happily. "And you are, too. We're a power duo, understood?"

I nodded until she looked satisfied with me.

"Alright. Now, are you ready to rock this concert?"

"Duh," I laughed. "Let's go!"

~~~~

"Girl", I hissed when the security guard in front of us handed Marlene our tickets back. It was the first time I'd looked at them and saw the details.

"Why didn't you say that we were seeing Elton John!?"

"Riiight! That was his name!" Marlene exclaimed, ignoring the weird looks from the security guards.

"How could you forget!?" I asked in disbelief. "He's one of the biggest artists on the planet!"

She shrugged, looking unimpressed. "Not as big as the 'Creepy Crackers'."

"I actually think he might be," I corrected amusedly. "You just haven't heard of him because you're a pureblood. Trust me, he's huge."

"Alright. " Marlene stopped and compared our tickets to the place we were currently standing in. "Let's see if he can convince me, then we'll continue this talk. We're right with this place, by the way."

Nice. We were pretty close to the stage. Just a pity we couldn't sit down.

But still, I wasn't done with Marlene. I knew that I had one thing that she'd love to hear. "He's also bisexual."

Marlene spun around to look at me, a happy glint in her eyes. "Nevermind, I think his music is going to be great!"

And I burst into laughter. "You're amazing, honestly."

"What?" Marlene grinned. "You gotta support your own kind! And bisexuals are the coolest people there are, so he's gotta be amazing!"

"I never said anything different."

Marlene smiled and laid one arm around my shoulders. She sighed happily. "This is gonna be the best night ever."

"Thanks again for taking me with you."

"Oh, of course. I've got to show you how amazing you are and that people actually want to spend time with you. I'm not faking it, don't ever think that, alright?"

I nodded. I didn't know how to deal with all of her compliments, but I still loved how she made an effort to make me feel worthy of having friends. She'd really made it her goal to change my Boggart.

Speaking of which-

"You didn't tell anyone, did you?" I asked quietly. I knew that it wasn't exactly great for the mood at a concert, but I really had to ask.

"About my Boggart, I mean."

Marlene's arm dropped from my shoulders. "Of course not! I didn't even think about it! That's your fear, and only you are allowed to share it with whomever you feel comfortable."

I let out a relieved breath. "Thank you."

"Stop thanking me already!" Marlene grinned. "All of this is the most natural thing in the world!"

"Sorry," I said, but flinched when I saw her pointed look. "I mean, not sorry."

Then I sighed. "It's just that people that aren't my mum or sister have never really made an effort when it came to me. That's only changed when I started befriending Sirius, so I'm not really used to it. I've never really had a picture-postcard best friend, you know?"

And I knew that I hadn't had to say that. I didn't want to complain and sound whiny.... But I'd needed to get it off my chest. It was something that had been affecting me my whole life.

Marlene just looked at me with an unreadable expression.

Except for the sound of people entering and filling up the venue, and the music in the background, it was quiet.

Just when I was about to ask her what she was doing, she spoke up.

"So let's be best friends."

My eyebrows instantly furrowed in surprise and irritation. She couldn't be serious, could she?

"But it's not that easy!" I said, taken aback. "People get to know one another, do stuff together and share their interests. They either like you or they don't, and depending on how much you actually like them, they become your best friend. That's not something you can just decide!"

"It's not?" Marlene asked back with a raised brow. "As far as I remember it, it's that easy. Kids make friends like that everyday, and strangely enough, it works. Just because we're not kids anymore doesn't mean we have to complicate things. So let's just do it like them. We are each other's best friend now.

And we're actually already further into our friendship than little kids are, when they spontaneously decide to declare themselves best friends. We've gotten to know one another and we even shared adventures! We work together, so we have the same interests, and I'd definitely be lying if I said I didn't like you, because you're literally the nicest person ever."

Some time during her speech, my jaw dropped. Her words were so genuine and incredibly nice! I'd never expected her to simply suggest this.

But I thought that she was right. Why did we have to complicate the simplest things?

It felt as if my heart was swelling in size when my face morphed into a huge smile again.

"Okay."

Marlene beamed back. "Great, Bestie. We're gonna have even more fun in the future! We're starting with this concert. And we'll continue with doing a traditional sleepover next week."

I just nodded, trying my best to not let tears of joy escape from my eyes and ruin Marlene's masterpiece.

"We sure will."

And with that, our first evening as official best friends began, and it was one of the best nights of my life.

Marlene was singing along at the top of her lungs without knowing any lyrics, gaining weird looks from everyone around us.

She didn't care, and I often found myself bending over laughing.

We were in each other's arms, shouting and singing, dancing and swaying happily.

It was only when I was at home again, lying in my bed and almost falling asleep, that I realised that I hadn't casted a single cheering charm on myself that day.