This wasn't something to be encouraged, but in a way it became a sort of tradition with them. When either of them felt the need to talk or drink a glass of wine peacefully they would meet up at the Ministry in his office and pulled out two wine glasses. Sirius usually preferred whiskey but from whiskey he could get a bit too dizzy, and if they were to keep to their decision to never leave a bottle opened there, it meant that they had to finish it. At first they tried to meet up elsewhere, but this seemed more comfortable for Sirius especially, and in comparison to going at a pub, it was plenty more expensive and the atmosphere wasn't one of relaxation. If Moody would find out that Sirius was using his office for stuff like this he would probably get into trouble, but it wasn't like he was trading secrets with the bad side. This was Marlene and seeing as she was very mush on their side, he didn't believe that it was something over which he could get in trouble.

It all started since they were in school, not the drinking part, but the talking. Sirius had been trying to talk to her to see whether or not he could hook her up with James, during the days when he was fed up with what Lily was doing to James. Getting closer to her had been difficult especially since Sirius wasn't particularly good at getting on a personal level with anyone. The people he had close to him mainly the guys with only one exception, Dorcas, knew him because they saw him go through one thing and another, but even them were pretty blind to the dark details. For example, James only knew of his mistreatment because of the night when he showed up at his door step with bruises and cuts covering big parts of his body. They never openly talked about how he got them, but James was smart enough to read between the lines. The other guys knew of his dark past from the jokes Sirius made about his parents, like “If mother would find out that I'm dating a muggle-born, she would have a heart attack. That is if she had one.” because even if he never told any of them what had happened between himself and the Blacks, he was able, at some point, to have a laugh at all of it. Other people would either get shocked when they would hear them talking like that, or would see it as a sick joke. As for Dorcas, from the first time when she heard him joke about it, this being after they started going out, she saw beyond the joke and when she approached the subject he tried playing it cool, but wasn't very successful. Nor was she in making him open up, only making him dismiss the subject all together, and since then it had been something that they never discussed.

Getting her and James to hook up in sixth year didn't work, but not because she wasn't good enough for James, but partly because she deserved to be more than a hand-me-down, or a second choice. That and the fact that James only had eyes for one certain red-head. But even though his plan didn't go accordingly they still remained friends and then good friends, but never something else. It wasn't that he hadn't considered the possibility, but if they would go there it would probably end bad and destroy their friendship. Aside from that she was in the Order and he tried to stop himself from getting into anything with women from the order because they had to work together as a team and trust each other in a combat situation. That and the fact that he thought that Peter had a crush on her.

On the other hand, he found it very easy to talk with Marlene, very easy for him at least. Whereas when it came to talking about it to other people, he would either make stupid jokes until the subject was dropped or tell them to piss off. With Marlene there was no pressure or worrying about what she'll think about all of it, or fearing that she'll try to mother him, like it was with Emmeline for instance. She just listened to the few things he had told her. Even with her, he was merely dropping hints, not telling her how many times they used the Cruciatus Curse on him or all the other ways in which they made his life a living hell. But she listened to him. In the same fashion she listened and was there if he was turned upside down because of Dorcas. She knew that he had certain feelings for her and also knew that he hated having them. Marlene knew in a nutshell what he did and also saw how Dorcas had been after he broke up with her, but was still there to listen. At times they would go further than just listen and also help in a way. For instance if they would go out with friends and Dorcas would come along as well and bring a date (as rarely as that would happen) Marlene would keep him company if she would notice that he wasn't in the best of spirits, and if the situation were reverse, he was sure to do the same.

That was another reason for which he couldn't ever think of some sort of emotional or sexual involvement happening between them. He hadn't been the only one who shared stuff over the years, but her too.

James didn't understand these nights of wine tasting and so Sirius stopped mentioning of them to him. Usually they would meet up before going out with the rest of the group and at some point James thought that there was another reason for which they would meet up, but it was generally the fact that they got along great and it wasn't like James, Remus or Peter had much time to hang out. A few months ago, when James tried to tease him about it, saying stuff like he sure doesn't lack in the shagging department or that he was getting off the market, going steady and such, Sirius was worried that Dorcas would take what James was saying as true, and he still wasn't sure about that.

It was well past work hours and the ministry was mostly empty, so he made it to his office with no problems. Even the lights were dimmed down, giving the hallways a eerie atmosphere, but he couldn't be troubled by that. He had the bottle of red wine in a bag strapped over his shoulder and a new pack of cigarettes in his jeans back pocket. Most of the doors in the Auror department were impossible to open by anyone else aside from the Auror who's office it was, not even the cleaning lady couldn't get in without the office door being opened by the Auror himself. That was mainly because some, if not most of the files were extremely secret and dangerous if fallen in the wrong hands.

Once in he placed two glasses of wine on the desk and sat himself in the chair behind it. The building was silent and his mind had no distraction to prevent his thoughts from going to the morning when he woke up next to Dorcas at James' place. They haven't met much since then and he was unsure of whether he dreaded or not coming face to face with her, seeing as both their reaction had been quite weird. As he lit the last cigarette from yesterday's pack he tried not to think, but it was a lost battle with his own mind, as it always was when it came to her. What really pissed him off was the fact that no matter what he did, no matter what happened between them or him and some other girl, nothing seemed to succeed at making him get over her. Not even pretending in front of her and his friends that he moved on, pretending in the hopes that it will cease being pretend.