"Marlene!" The brunette heard overhead as she walked out of her home, it was cold outside and her older brothers had already been playing for an hour or so. It was the summer before Martin, Marcel and Rod were to start their first year at Hogwarts. She knew that change was overhead, but she ignored it, she didn't want to acknowledge it.
"I'm coming." Marlene grunted as she threw her broom over her small shoulder. At just five years old it was never easy for her to keep up with the boys, but she managed to do her damnedest at for that she knew they included her. Her mother had pulled her hair into a neat bun on the top of her head, a stray hair always poking out here and there no matter how hard her mother tried. Her knobby knees shown through the bottom of her dress, the scars from falling down one too many times showed. Mounting the broom she kicked off and joined the boys in the air who were in the middle of a heated Qudditch match, the quaffle being a muggle football they had likely found near by.
"Marls, you can be on my team." Martin insisted, not wanting his younger sister to feel left out, he was always good fro including her even when she hardly deserved it. She glanced over at the teams to see Martin had Rod and Marcus while Marcel had Rabastan and James. She let out a sigh, the oddest definitely weren't in Martin's favor. He had picked her and and Rodolphus because they weren't the strongest, her age holding her back and Rod lacked the talent for the game. The only thing that might save them was Martin's uncanny ability as a chaser and Marcus was one hell of a keeper. Marcel was a beater at heart but they had put him on chaser, not needing beaters with just the seven of them. James was built for a broom, even at their young age of five it was obvious. Rabastan was eight and likely to give the best chasers a run for their money. While they had the other team outnumbered, the others had them outskilled.
"Go!" Rabastan called out as they all began moving, Martin directed her and Rod to stay put and keep their eyes on the football. They knew if they by some act of Merlin got the ball they had to toss it to Martin or Marcus. She watched as the boys went into a frenzy, all trying to intercept the ball as it was tossed among them. James had it first, who quickly and almost fearfully tossed it to Marcel who then threw it to Rabastan who under some misguided notion tossed it to Martin. 'Oh, hell Rab." She heard as Marlene let out a giggle. "What you two are bloody twins?"
Martin moved in the opposite directions as the boys moved to corner Marcus leaving Marlene and Rodolphus open. He tossed the ball to Rodolphus who quickly panicked before it was given to Marlene. She shook her hand frantically looking to see that Marcel was moving to take it from her when Rabastan appeared beside her yanking the ball from her hands. She force of the ball being taken from her knocked her small figure off balance as she slipped from the broom and fell towards the ground. She squealed in terror, their brooms were not children's brooms despite her mother's constant protests and thus they were easily thirty feet in the air. She braced herself for the impact but instead she was jerked upwards as Rodolphus hands clasped her own in his. Marlene was only mildly aware that she was crying as Martin came down grabbing her from Rodolphus who had pulled her onto his own broom and stared at her, unsure how to comfort the small girl. "Oh hell, Rabastan you did it now." She heard James say as Martin dismounted and began eyeing Marlene over. Her mother already frantically running from the house, likely hearing her only daughter's squeals of terror.
"Rodolphus." Marlene was able to hear threw her tears as her mother scooped her up into her arms. She watched over her mother's shoulders as Rodolphus and Rabastan's mother grabbed her oldest son by the arms, shaking him violently. She could hear Rodolphus protests as she threatened her son with his father. Her bottom lip pouted out as Rodolphus glanced back at her, his face etched with fear and pain. It was a look that Marlene wouldn't forget soon and the last time she would ever see either of the Lestrange brothers even remotely look her way.
Later that night as she questioned her mother as to why Rodolphus' mother treated him that way she was assured that what Rodolphus did in catching her while she fell was the right thing to do some other disagreed because her parents didn't agree with things going on in the Wizarding World. Some moms and dads took that out on their children and while it was wrong, there was nothing that she could do.
Marlene went with her mother to take the twins to the train station, her mother not letting her out of her sight since the incident with the broomstick. She waved goodbye to her brothers who rushed to see who would get the best seat. They caught the corner of their eye, Rodolphus was leaving his mother who wasn't showing the slightest bit of emotions. That's when she saw it, the bruise on his face, her breath caught in her throat as he looked at her, it looked to be a week or so old, likely coming from the night. He flinched as she looked at him, looking down at his shoes instead before boarding the train. She looked up at her mother who grimaced before putting on a smile and looking back at her daughter. "Let's go home."
Marlene McKinnon was just a mere seventeen years old when her entire world changed, things had never been simple for her, not by any means but they had been better than what they were now. She had normal things to worry about, things that she didn't think much of. Graduation loomed overhead, just a mere week away, she was anxiously awaiting the marls from her NEWTs and overwhelmed by what she would do for the next fifty or so years of her life. She had decisions to make and time that was wasting away as she smoked too many cigarettes and took too many shots of firewhiskey.
It was evident the darkness outside was making it's way into the castle but what she was even more aware of was the lightness outside. As she sat, eating with Lily and James who had come so long since the first time they had sat in those seats, they gazed lovingly at one another talking about what they were going to do after graduation. Marlene knew that the ring that was hidden in his truck in his dorm upstairs was the only thing on his mind. She had been sworn to secrecy and while Lily was her best mate, her loyalties laid with James on this one.
Mary was buried deep in her book and didn't even look up to take a bite of her dinner, she had studying to do and was swapping notes with Remus. The two were studying over things, everyone in a while she would hear a curse under Mary's breath who likely discovered something else she should have mentioned in an answer. Sirius was in his own world, turned with his back to the Gryffindor table flirting with Amelia Bones at the Hufflepuff table, she rolled her eyes, wondering when he would ever change. Peter was quiet, looking over the prophet, his eyes gazing up every so often by always going back down. It was this moment that she would reflect on over and over again in the future as her life continued changing she would remember that she had these people in her lives. They loved her and she loved them. They had always been there for her and she hoped it stayed that way.
Authors Note: And that's that. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. It was short to give you a backstory on Marlene and Rodolphus. There will be some heavy Marlene/Rodolphus but some equally heavy Marlene/Sirius. Hope you're ready for this. I know I am! See you babes soon.