AN: Prompts will be displayed at the bottom to avoid them potentially giving away things.

To Grow Up (Fast)

AlwaysPadfoot

13th March 1980

For Marlene, something was different about today. She felt a little more on edge, the sky seemed ominously dark, and it seemed as though everything else mirrored those edgy, dark feelings.

Her walls were still alight with the flickering shadows that the street light outside created.. From where she lay, the glow-in-the-dark stars that Lily had given her five years ago were directly above her. One had fallen down in the night and was lying on the floor between the jeans and jumper she'd abandoned late in the evening. It was glowing in the corner of her eye, lost and confused like a missing child. Marlene didn't want to look at it; it just reminded her of the good times, before You-Know-Who. Before Lily and James went into hiding.

She turned over, looking across at the space where Sirius had been lying last night. He'd left a few hours ago since he was on call, and she was not. Auror duty beckoned and she wished that she'd gone as well.

Marlene stayed in silence for another five minutes before she heard something odd downstairs. She grabbed her wand and pulled on some jogging bottoms, crossing on tiptoes to her bedroom door. It didn't seem that she'd imagined the noise, because when she slipped out into the hallway her came face-to-face with her father

"Did you hear it too?" she asked.

He nodded and motioned for her to stay put whilst he crept down the hallway and towards the stairs. Marlene didn't want to stay back at all, but she also wasn't about to disobey her Dad either. She was joined soon after by her older brother: Ricky, who hurried behind their Dad, and her Mum, who appeared in the master bedroom doorway with her wand out and her housecoat wrapped around her.

Something was wrong.

Something bad was about to happen.

"If anything happens, you need to go and look after Annie and get her to safety."

Marlene's eyes drifted down the corridor to the room where her four-year-old sister was sleeping, probably undisturbed. She looked back to her Mum in disbelief.

"You don't really think someth —" she began.

All of a sudden she heard her Dad swear loudly and a flash of colour illuminated the space above the stairs. Marlene's veins filled with that familiar, yet powerful, a mix of fear and adrenaline like she was at work — or with the Order. She surged forward towards the stairs, but her mother wrenched her backwards.

"What did I just say?" she yelled over the noise beneath them.

Marlene stared at her Mum, watching the desperation filling her wide eyes before she reluctantly turned back. It was in that split second that they went their separate ways and Marlene had to run away from the fighting downstairs.

She turned back for a brief second, bright green light filling the stairwell. A strangle yell pierced her eardrums. Marlene froze in shock. She could hear her Dad yelling. Her Mum was screaming. Ricky had been hit by a killing curse. Her brother was dead.

A small voice cried out behind her, shocking her into sudden movement. "Marlene, what's happening?"

"Annie," Marlene warned. "Go back into your room."

"But Marls."

There was a huge explosion that shook the whole house. Marlene immediately spun on her heel and ran to Annie, snatching her up and slamming the door behind them.

What was she going to do? How could she apparate in this much distress without splinching herself or Annie? Not only that but they would have set up anti-apparition wards — it was out of the question.

She was panicking. Marlene put Annie down and pushed the dresser in front of the door. This was not like work; this was her family. She could hear people yelling and footsteps on the stairs. Her Mum and Dad had gone silent now and what that meant sunk in slowly. Marlene shook her head blindly. There was no way she could do this, not with her family lying dead downstairs. She felt sick with fear and trying not to visibly panic in front of Annie was near impossible.

"Marls, where's Mummy and Daddy and Ricky? Who's outside?"

Marlene slid to her knees in front of Annie, placing her hands on her cheeks. "They're not here, Annie. They're busy."

"What's the banging?"

"I need you to stay as quiet as you can," Marlene said, keeping her wand firmly in her hand. "It's very important. Can you do that for me, honey?"

Annie nodded silently.

Marlene's whole body jerked as a door was being blown in further down the corridor. It echoed through the house, making her ears ring. Without saying a word, she stared down at her sister. There was something deep inside her, telling her that this was it. She wasn't going to able to save her little sister from a group of Death Eaters; Merlin, even she was still a child at heart. Marlene hadn't even let herself grow up yet, she still jumped up and down at Quidditch matches. She still dove into everything head first without thinking.

There was yelling out in the hallway, more explosions and bangs slamming into the walls and doors.

Then, everything went silent.

There had never been a time when Marlene experienced silence like it. The momentary lull in noise made Annie relax, taking it for some sign of safety. Were they gone? Had they really left without checking every room? They surely knew that Marlene and Annie were living in the house, or at least Annie was. Maybe because she was just four —

Suddenly there was a slam behind her that knocked Marlene off her feet and into Annie. She quickly stood, pushing her sister behind her. There was now a large, smouldering hole where the door had once been.

"I'm sorry," she whispered before raising her voice. "Hold my hand and close your eyes, Annie."

She felt Annie shaking and pushing her body against Marlene's legs. A cloaked figure blocked the doorway and Marlene held her wand out. She cast a shield charm, but she knew that wouldn't hold off the killing curse.

A voice snarled over the ringing in her ears, "Get on your knees, McKinnon."

"It's a good job I can't swear in front of young children, but I'm sure you can imagine what I'd be replying with right now." Marlene sneered, trying to stop the tears from running down her cheeks at the prospect of not being able to protect them both.

"Very well," the figure sneered, raising his wand above him.

Marlene cast a spell she knew wouldn't work. The ancient spell felt crowded in her mouth, the words hard to get her tongue around but the shield formed. If this was her only chance to save her family, then she was going to try.

Green flashed behind her eyelids. She felt Annie grip her hand and then she felt cold, so much cold.

22nd March 1980

"Mornin', Milly."

Marlene turned as she exited the apartment building with Annie in tow. Their neighbour, Matthew, waved to them as he cycled his bike back from his early morning ride.

"Oh, hey," she called, "how are you?"

"Good, thanks. You settling in alright, chick?" he asked, dismounting his bike as he reached the path.

"Yes, thank you for asking," Marlene replied. "I'm off to take Annie for her first day at school, aren't I, honey?"

Annie nodded importantly from behind Marlene. "I have a new bow for my hair, see?"

"That's very pretty, Annie," Matthew smiled. "You have a good day at school, okay?"

The small girl nodded and Marlene said goodbye before they started walking in the direction of the school she had found for Annie. After a few days she had decided the only way the Death Eaters wouldn't find them was to stay away from the magical world until the war ended — if it ended. Instead of going to someone, this was truly the safest plan she could think of. Her and Annie would live in the Muggle World, undercover. They were safe.

With magic she'd safely found them somewhere to live, but after forty-eight hours, she had locked her wand away.. If they were going to live with Muggles, they were going to have to act like them too. It wasn't as easy as it had originally seemed. In the foyer of the building there was a board that displayed the pictures of the people responsible for the maintenance of the apartment block. On the first morning they arrived, Annie had stopped and frowned up at the pictures.

"Why are they not moving?"

Marlene had been forced to smile weakly, roll her eyes at Mrs Lewis who lived below them, and pull Annie away towards the lift. Since then Annie had been saying things left, right, and centre. Trying to control her was, in Marlene's opinion, harder than not being able to use magic. That was coming from someone that usually used magic before she'd even gotten out of bed in the morning for most of her life. It was going to be hard, but if it kept them safe then that's what she would have to do.

Annie was quiet on the walk, kicking stones off the pavement and into the road as she walked. Marlene was concerned, because after everything, Annie had seemed okay. Quiet, but okay.

"Are you ready for your first day, honey?" Marlene asked.

"Yup."

"You remember that these people are Muggles?"

"Yup."

"You can't say anything about magic."

"Yup."

The five year old popped the 'p' and said nothing more — not even looking up. Marlene frowned as they walked along wet paths plastered with leaves. The school was in sight now as Annie ran her hands along the poles of black fencing. They were suddenly surrounded by other children and their parents walking in the same direction. Marlene felt so young. There were middle-aged women in groups talking loudly in thick, high-pitched accents that Marlene was only just getting used to, but she and Annie were alone.

When they reached the gate of the school, Marlene caught Annie's hand and knelt down beside her.

"Are you sure you are going to be okay?"

"Yup," she replied, popping the 'p' again.

"Look, Annie, if you have any problems at all, you get one of the teachers to ring me on the telephone…." Marlene began.

"I'll be fine, look they have a slide," Annie said excitedly.

Marlene sighed and the sisters exchanged goodbyes. Annie ran off towards the oher children, pink bag bouncing on her back, one of the teachers Marlene had met the previous day waving her over. Whilst Annie seemed fine, Marlene felt her chest tighten at knowing she was alone.

"First day?"

Marlene looked around to see a brown-haired lady smiling at her. She looked quite young too, maybe only five years older than herself. She had a blue leather handbag slung over one arm and was watching as the children formed lines in front of certain teachers.

"Yeah," Marlene trailed off, not sure what else to say.

"She'll be fine," the lady said, "that's a confident little girl you have there. The school here is lovely as well, she'll come home and talk your ear off. I'm Kate."

"Millie," Marlene replied. "That makes me feel a little better."

"It should. That's my son there," she said, pointing out a boy with platinum blonde hair, "he's in the same class as your daughter."

"Oh, Annie's not my daughter," Marlene corrected, "she's my sister."

"Ahh, right. Of course," Kate said, "I thought you looked pretty young to have a five year old."

"Our parents passed recently, so I'm taking care of her."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

For a long moment there was quiet between them as they watched the children begin to file inside the building. To Marlene's relief, Annie turned and waved animatedly before she disappeared inside, making her smile widely.

"Sweet girl you've got there," Kate said from somewhere to Marlene's right. "Do you fancy a coffee?"

Marlene hesitated, nervous about not being at home should Annie's teachers call.

"I'll drive us in my car."

She hadn't been in a car before so Marlene nodded. "I'd love a coffee."

The two ladies chatted more as they walked to Kate's car. Kate was kind and her laugh was loud, like she didn't care who heard. Marlene liked that — it made her feel safe. Even though Kate kept referencing Muggle things, Marlene found it easy to just listen and learn.

Maybe doing this Muggle thing wouldn't be so hard if she had a friend like Kate.

Competition: QLFC Round Seven

Prompt: KEEPER: Write about two witches or wizards going undercover in a Muggle town and having to learn to live like Muggles.

Word Count: 2120 (Not including Titles and A/N's)