Disclaimer: I own nothing; JK Rowling does.
Pairings: James/Lily, Marlene McKinnon/Gideon Prewett, Alice Longbottom/Frank Longbottom, Marlene McKinnon/Sirius Black, Fabian Prewett/Dorcas Meadowes, Molly Weasley/Arthur Weasley.
Summary: This story takes place in twenty-five hours (hence the title), from December 17th, 1979 at midnight to December 18th, 1 A.M. It follows the members of the Order of the Phoenix and their friends, family and enemies as they live through the day the photograph Moody gave Harry in OoTP was taken.
Genre: this story will be a mix of lots of different genres, depending on the chapters: general, romance, adventure and angst.
Author's notes: This is a response to mackgirl's character challenge on HPFC. The challenge is to write a 25-chaptered fic, each chapter focusing on a different character and a different prompt - both will be mentioned at the beginning of each chapter. I'll try to update as soon as possible, and also to keep the story canon compliant. This first chapter can be read alongside my Gideon/Marlene oneshot I'm a Loser.
Once again, I borrow the nickname Mack from lyin', and also the fact that Gideon works for the Hit Patrol. If you like this story, you'll love hers.
1
Wand - (Marlene)
In the deep of the night, Marlene McKinnon raised her wand.
"Who's there?" she demanded.
She was glad that her voice didn't quiver, no matter how afraid she really felt. There was a stifled snigger, and Marlene could have sworn she recognized it, but it was midnight and she'd had a long day, maybe it was just exhaustion.
"Show yourself or I'll curse you!"
It was just her luck: her first night shift at St Mungo's and there was an intruder. Healer Fenwick would be disappointed if she screwed up (she still couldn't get herself to call him Benjy outside of St Mungo's). She hoped against hope that it wasn't a Death Eater and that she would get the chance to report to Healer Fenwick.
There was another chuckle.
"You wouldn't," said the voice.
Something moved in the dark; Marlene lowered her wand, recognizing the voice – and the face, once it was out of the shadows.
"I don't even have words for this," Marlene muttered, her hands on her hips.
Gideon Prewett was smiling down at her, not looking the slightest bit sheepish.
"Happy birthday, Mack!" Gideon said cheerfully.
Marlene was still glaring at him.
"Do you even know how much you scared me?"
Marlene was so angry with him she'd forgotten to keep her fears to herself – after all, a member of the Order of the Phoenix wasn't supposed to be scared. And a Trainee Healer neither, probably.
"I'm sorry," Gideon said, but his broad smile and amused eyes belied his words. "I didn't mean to scare you."
His grin vanished and she wondered if perhaps he felt a bit guilty, or if this sudden change of expression was merely to trick her.
"Oh, really?" Marlene said sarcastically. "You… I can't believe you… don't you ever do this again, Prewett, or I'll – I'll –"
"Or you'll kiss me?" Gideon said innocently.
The obnoxious smile was back on his face. Marlene turned so that he couldn't see her blush, even though he probably wouldn't have seen it in the dim light that their wands provided.
"Or I'll hex you," Marlene corrected. "You're so stupid sometimes."
"Yeah, I've been told. Maybe that's why I made it on the Hit Patrol, don't you think?" Gideon said smugly.
Marlene blinked, gazing at him thoughtfully for a while.
"You're so much like Sirius sometimes," Marlene said.
She smiled as she anticipated his disgusted expression.
"McKinnon, you just broke my heart," Gideon said darkly.
"Sounds fair," Marlene shrugged, "seeing that you just scared the hell out of me. I imagined Healer Fen – Benjy's face if he –"
"But it's your birthday," Gideon interrupted, the twinkle back in his blue eyes. "It's been your birthday for eleven minutes, actually. And I wanted to be the first to wish it to you."
Marlene's heart almost skipped a beat and she had to look away so that he couldn't read her eyes. She didn't like the way he made her feel, sometimes. She almost smiled, but then she grimly wondered if this wasn't part of a stupid contest between Gideon and Sirius as to who would get the girl.
"Thank you," Marlene finally said, her voice devoid of any emotion. "But I'd rather you owled first, next time."
Marlene looked at him again and saw that his eyebrows were raised.
"That would take out all the fun," Gideon pointed out.
Marlene had to agree, but she said nothing. Gideon, looking suddenly rather nervous, ran a hair through his dark red hair. She liked teasing him and saying they were almost auburn, and Gideon would protest that it sounded like he was a girl.
"That's for you," Gideon said quickly, handing her a dubiously-wrapped present.
Marlene bit her lip to prevent herself from chuckling; it was obvious Gideon had wrapped it up himself, the Muggle way. Even though pureblood Gideon sometimes made fun of Muggle-born Marlene, he had obviously done his best.
"I have no idea how Muggles survive without magic," Gideon just said, shaking his head.
"Thank you," Marlene said, smiling at him for the first time. "I really appreciate it, especially that you would go into such much trouble to wrap it."
"Don't make fun of me," Gideon said, but he was smirking.
Marlene started unwrapping her present.
"No!" Gideon said quickly. "Please wait till I'm gone to open it."
"Why? Are you afraid I might hit you?"
Gideon smiled apologetically.
"Humour me."
Marlene shrugged. "Alright."
There was a silence; Marlene looked away and fidgeted, her small fingers clutching at her Trainee Healer badge. In the distance, she heard someone calling her name.
"It's probably that man who drank too much Amortentia," Marlene rolled her eyes. "He's restless."
Gideon frowned. "He hasn't… tried to do anything to you, has he?"
Marlene looked at him coldly. "I'm perfectly capable of defending myself, Prewett, thank you. I don't need you to protect me."
"Fine," Gideon said, in a tone that indicated it wasn't fine at all. "I guess I should go then."
"Yes," Marlene said, almost forgetting that she'd been angry with him earlier as she looked down at the present in her hands. "I'm supposed to be working, you know."
"I know, I'll leave you to it. Happy birthday," Gideon repeated.
Marlene watched as he walked out of sight, not quite knowing what to make of him, as always. Then she started unwrapping the present and red wrapping paper (her favourite colour) fell on the floor carelessly.
It was a doll. An ordinary Muggle doll, with blonde hair, blue eyes and rosy cheeks, just like her. It wore a white dress with a stupid red heart on it. As a gift for her twenty-first birthday, it looked positively ridiculous.
There wasn't a card with it or anything, but Marlene knew what Gideon would have written on it. He loved to tease her by insisting that she looked just like a doll, innocent and harmless and breakable, while her personality was quite the opposite. She did her best to break that image by uttering more swear words than necessary, by fighting Evil and doing foolish things with foolish persons (number one was sleeping with Sirius Black, number two was thinking it could lead to something).
Torn between annoyance and amusement, Marlene shook her head and went to put the doll in her locker. She could give it to Moira; her youngest sister would be pleased. They were seven siblings and toys were precious.
She took a piece of parchment and quickly thought of something to write to Gideon. She scribbled I hate you, underlining the 'hate' twice, but it did seem a bit excessive. She settled for a simple You're not funny, and almost ran to the hospital's owlery, knowing she had to be quickly by her patient's side, no matter how annoying he was. She chose a tiny brown owl, which seemed to her the only one who didn't look up at her with mocking eyes (she definitely had to get some sleep) and didn't even wait for it to fly away.
As she finally reached the room where was the stupid Jones fellow who had drunk too much Amortentia, Marlene freezed on the doorway. Healer Fenwick was already there.
"Miss McKinnon, where have you been?"
His voice was calm and gentle, as always, but Marlene could see that he was displeased. She smiled apologetically at her boss, taking in his tired features, which made him look even older than usual. Even though Benjy was only ten years older than her, he looked almost forty, which was why Marlene had difficulty calling him by his first name outside of St Mungo's. That, and the fact that he was her boss here.
"I heard voices," one patient interjected.
Marlene did her best not to glare at her.
"Who was it?" Benjy Fenwick asked, frowning.
"Oh, no one," Marlene said lightly. "A false alarm."
There was a short silence, during which Marlene pulled at her blonde hair, hoping her boss would somehow let it drop.
"A false alarm which goes by the name of Gideon Prewett?" Benjy asked.
Marlene gasped. "How do you know?"
Benjy smiled wearily. "I ran into him while I was getting here. He –"
"I'm sorry," Marlene said quickly, feeling rush of guilt as she looked into her boss's friendly brown eyes. "I know I shouldn't have left the room, it won't happen again."
"Well, let's just say you're forgiven this time, since it's your birthday," Benjy said slowly, letting her know that he wouldn't be so understanding next time. "But no more boyfriends coming to distract you, okay?"
Just as Marlene was about to protest that Gideon wasn't her boyfriend (not exactly), Jones spoke up.
"You're too lenient," Jones said, and Marlene almost regretted that she wasn't the one he was obsessed with.
Marlene sighed and repeated, "I'm sorry."
Benjy nodded and squeezed her shoulder in an almost fatherly gesture. "I know you are. Happy birthday, Marle - Miss McKinnon."
Marlene smiled slightly at his attempt to maintain a semblance of formality.
"I'll take care of Mr Jones and Miss Lance, you go check up on rooms 130 to 150," Benjy said.
Marlene did as she was told and tried to keep her mind on her work and off Gideon and Sirius (almost every time she pictured Gideon's face in her mind, Sirius was never far away) and Order business. It was nearly one o'clock; seven hours later she would be able to go to sleep. Marlene knew that before she could throw herself on her bed to get some sleep, she would be assaulted by her three sisters and her three brothers, by presents and shouts and kisses, and it helped pass the time considerably.
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