It all began a month before school started.
Marlene McKinnon was being forced to have dinner downstairs with the family. She was dreading it. And not because her mother was a bad cook or anything. Then again, she wasn't even sure if her mother even bothered to cook, she probably made the house elves do it for her, the lazy sod. Marlene swore at herself; that was no way to speak of your family, even if they did hate your guts. Then again, that was another one of the reasons she was dreading this dinner; it was just going to be plain awkward. She rarely left her room during the summer; not even for meals. She ate out or in the safe confines of her room. But she hated listening to her parents drabble on about current wizarding affairs, muggles; the main topics always stayed the same. But the real reason, the main reason she didn't want to be there was because of the guests. Every year they had this dinner, which was only tolerable in the first place because it only happened annually at the end of summer. The families they spent it with differed (although Marlene felt obliged to mention that they always stayed no less than fully pureblood families). These families were all the same type as her own; arrogant and boring. Thay all skithed on about the same stupid things her family did and they always had scowls on their faces, no matter what the circumstance. She tried desperately to picture any one of them laughing once but failed. Marlene always felt out of place surrounded by these people. She felt a scowl approaching her own face just thinking about being with them but quickly dismissed it. She never bothered to find out beforehand which family they were spending it with; the less time she spent talking to her family, the better.
Marlene checked the time and reluctantly rolled out of bed and stared at her closet for 2 minutes before deciding what to wear. She plucked a short black dress from her wardrobe and pulled it on. She stood on front of her mirror and noticed that the dress she had chosen was just above the knees, in her opinion, the perfect length. She then proceeded to style her raven-black hair into a low bun, a few pieces still hanging at the sides of her forehead. She slid a large decorative flower hairpiece through her bun in an effort to spice it up from her usual attire. She pulled on her heels that matched the golden decorative piece in her hair and put a number of beauty products on before deciding she didn't care enough to go through any more trouble than a quick squirt of perfume on her way out the door of her bedroom. Besides, she was late and she couldn't bear the thought of her mother's cold eyes staring accusingly at her for being late for more than a minute or two and she was late enough as it is; she knew the stare would last at least 2 minutes, even if she ran.
She could feel her breathing getting faster as she climbed down the spiral staircase, coming to a halt a few steps before the end of the stairs. Why was she so nervous? She went to this dinner every year. Although, if she were to be honest with herself, she got nervous every other year too. She laughed at herself inwardly and descended the last few steps of the spiral staircase that led to the dining room, smoothing her dress before coming into view of all that were seated at the dining table. Marlene forced herself to speak up as soon as she met her mother's accusatory eyes. "Sorry I'm late, I... couldn't find the right shoes." she lied. Her mother broke the silence that was consuming the dining room. "No matter, we're all here now" she said with a discerning tone. She shuddered with anger as she sat at the only available seat at the table. Why must they all be so judgmental? All she did was show up a few minutes late and everyone at the table was looking at her like she had just flashed them her knickers. She began to eat the food that had been at her place before she sat down.
At first she listened to the conversation and ate her food like her mother had taught her to do at events like this but she quickly became bored and began looking around and surveying her fellow guests. Marlene then realized that this years lucky family was the Blacks. Marlene didn't mind the blacks, although she was only friends with one, him being Sirius.
Herself and Sirius had a funny kind of relationship; they bickered most of the time but remained friends all the same. She smiled at the thought of Sirius being here now; If he was, this might just be bearable. Might even be enjoyable for once in her life.
But Sirius was not much to go on, considering his family hated him probably as much as her family despised her. She didn't know the ins and outs but all she knew was that Sirius spent most of his time at James' place as a result of it. She wished that she could spend summer with her friends but she knew that she would be unable to convince her mother to allow her to do such a thing, considering she wasn't friends with many other pureblood girls; Her mother would have a freak attack if she so much as asked to stay with Lily.
Marlene looked up at the faces surrounding her at the table, blocking out their undoubtedly boring conversation. She first noticed the sullen face of Regulus Black. Marlene wondered what had him so upset but then recalled what Sirius had said in that letter he sent her a while back; It had said that Regulus was fighting with his girlfriend and he had been lashing out at him for weeks. Marlene examined Regulus' face, feeling her own face flushing with anger at the thought of him being mean to Sirius. But she then recalled that his girlfriend was a muggle and realized that he wouldn't have been able to vent his anger to his parents because of their blood pride. She then looked to the scowling faces of whom she knew belonged to Orion and Walburga Black, Sirius' parents. They were in deep conversation with her parents about something Marlene had no interest in. She scanned their faces, feeling anger toward them for being so cruel to Sirius. Sirius was a slimy git, but she couldn't see how anyone could possibly stay angry at him for too long. She also failed to see any of Sirius' good looks in either of their wrinkled old faces...
Her thought train was cut off by the sound of her mother's over-enthusiastic voice, the one she only used when guests were present. "Marlene, we were just speaking to Orion and Walburga about their son Regulus, you've met Regulus before, haven't you?" Marlene looked up and exchanged glances with Regulus, both of them smiling briefly before continuing to eat but Marlene made the brave decision to speak up for once. "Yes, we've met before, why do you ask?" she asked, genuinely interested and minding her manners. Marlene was usually left out of the conversation at these dinners, which she'd rather than having to initiate conversation. Marlene's mother's tone changed suddenly to a far more grim one and Marlene wasn't sure if she had brought it on with her question but her mother replied, in a very uninterested manner, "I ask because the two of you are going to be married after you graduate."
Marlene swore that she nearly fell of her chair when her mother oh-so-calmly said the words that made her heart drop 100 miles. "What?!" she exclaimed in a shocked tone. All manners had gone out the window now. She looked over at Regulus and caught a glimpse of disappointment in his eyes before he changed his tone, realizing that his parents were expecting him to say something, along with herself. Regulus swallowed and simply replied "It would be my pleasure to marry miss McKinnon." Marlene sat at the table, mouth agape. She couldn't believe it. Her heart was pounding and she felt trapped. Her mother looked her stark in the eyes. "I said you will marry Regulus" Her mother gave her a look that clearly read "Do as a I say, Marlene. If not we can talk about it later." But Marlene knew if she left it until later she would not win this newly forming battle. Thoughts were flying through Marlene's brain faster than a hippogriff on steroids. "I don't love Regulus Black and he doesn't love me!" was definitely one of them. Marlene placed her cutlery firmly on the table, preparing for what she was about to do.
"I won't." she announced firmly. Her mother's former smug look was now replaced with one of absolute horror, which, admittedly, gave Marlene a small amount of pleasure. "What did you say?!" exclaimed her mother, clearly unimpressed. Marlene stared directly at her mother, eyes welling up with tears. "I said I won't!" she said, her voice cracking with emotion. Marlene's father then stood up, clearly distraught. "How dare you speak to your mother like that! Apologize!" he said, pointing an accusatory finger at Marlene. She rose from the table, seething with rage and sadness. "Not a chance, old man!" She said, raising her voice and rising up to meet his height now that he was standing. Before she knew it, her knees had buckled from the shock of her father's hand striking her right cheek. She kneeled on the ground, tentatively clutching her red hot cheek with one hand and supporting her weight with the other. She rose form the ground, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "I won't, no matter what you say!" she shouted, running up to her bedroom and slamming the big wooden door as loud as she could, she then proceeded to pack everything she could into a big trunk with her initials on it, tears now openly falling from her eyes.
As soon a she could fit no more into her trunk, she carried it down the spiral stairs, making a lot more noise than necessary. She would be surprised if James couldn't hear it from his home- that gave her an idea... When she reached the bottom of the stairs however, she ran straight into her father. "And where do you think you're going?" he shouted, giving Marlene a fright at how loud his voice was. "Anywhere but here!" she shouted back, shoving past the large man and making a mad dash for the door. Someone blocked her way. "You foolish girl! come back here this instant and listen to me!" He announced at the top of his lungs.
Marlene, getting sick of her father, whirled around faster than she knew she could and screamed "I WILL NOT!". She shoved past her human-shaped obstacle, making another mad dash for the door when suddenly she heard the words "CRUCIO!" being screamed from the other side of the room. She only had a second to consider who it might be aimed at until she fell the the ground, crippled with pain and biting her tongue to save herself from giving them the satisfaction of her bloodcurdling scream. She felt the pain of 1000 red-hot knives being stabbed into her and she vaguely wondered if she had been sent to hell for some unfathomable reason.
Marlene was curled up into a ball on the floor when she heard the laughter of one of the witches from the Black family,
Bellatrix approaching behind her. She heard some kind of dark magic being cast upon her and feeling her arm grow moist, she looked down to see a large gash slowly growing on her arm. Marlene was determined not to give up. In one swift movement, she pulled the carpet form underneath Bellatrix's feet, causing her to fall,
as did her concentration meaning Marlene had enough time in the confusion of the surrounding wizards to jump forward to the front door, grabbing her trunk and apparating to the one place she knew she would be safe. The Potter's.
