Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. All rights go to respective owners.
WARNING: This oneshot is rated M (for depictions of violence/murder).
A/N — A big thank you to Cupcakeyyy for beta reading this story!
Darkest Day
Marlene McKinnon knew that she should get up, but she really didn't want to at the same time. She was awake enough to know that it was early, much earlier than when she would normally arise, yet her mind dearly desired to return to sleep. She had just woken from a wonderful dream. It seemed that, even though she couldn't be with her ruggedly handsome lover in real life, he still found a way to be with her in her dreams. A small smile graced her lips as she remembered their last meeting.
It had been risky. She had been going into hiding the following day with the rest of her family, but she had to see him. She wanted to tell him the news in person because she didn't know how long she would be in hiding. If she were honest, she didn't know if they even had tomorrow. Sighing, she tried to forget the war and simply stay in the moment of remembering the look of pure joy on his face. She knew this moment she was indulging in wouldn't last long — she would have to get out of bed and face the day eventually — but she wanted to stay there for as long as she could.
She rolled over onto her back, eyes still closed, and sighed in content. She was trying hard to not think about when the last time she felt this rested — three months and 21 days — when a piercing scream shattered the quiet.
Her eyes snapped open and she immediately froze in panic. Leaning over her bed stood a masked Death Eater, with a knife raised above her. Before she could blink, the Death Eater plunged the knife into her lower abdomen.
Pain. It ripped through her body and consumed her mind. Everything around her went numb and gray.
No, no, no, no, no! she thought. Screams echoed and ricocheted throughout the house. Hazily, she assumed some of them were hers.
The Death Eater viciously yanked the knife out and moved to stabbed her again, when her bedroom door blew off its hinges.
"Marlene!"
The Death Eater turned towards the shout, raising his wand, but quickly collapsed in a flare of green magic. Through the pain, she was barely able to register the fact that her brother and father were running into the room.
"Marlene! No!" her brother shouted, as he pulled back blood-soaked sheets. "No! Dad, help!"
Marlene lifted a trembling hand and felt her stomach. Her brother turned away and moved to stand guard at the door. She raised her hand and saw that it was covered in red.
Her father knelt by her side and began waving his wand over the wound, quickly chanting spells. The world was hazy and Marlene felt herself growing colder. Her brother and father's voices swirled around her and through the pain, she caught snippets of their frantic conversation.
"…the baby…"
"…poison…"
"…not going to make it…"
"…wanted to send a message…"
"…have to leave…"
"Marlene, honey, we have to go now," her father lifted her off the bed and carried her towards the door. She buried her head into his shoulder and let a hand fall down to her stomach. She realized it had been heavily bandaged, although it had done little to stop the bleeding.
"The … baby?" she murmured.
"We just have to get past the anti-apparition wards. Then we can get to safety," her brother quickly explained, glancing at their father. "It's going to be okay, Marlene—"
BOOOMMM!
The walls were violently ripped apart, sending large splinters of wood flying into the air. Marlene felt herself get thrown out of her father's arms, before slamming into a piece of rubble and falling to the ground. Stunned, she lay there without moving.
The pain in her stomach was joined by a new pain in her upper arm. Clutching her abdomen with one hand, she reached up with her other and felt her arm. Eyes widening, she looked down and saw a shard of wood had deeply embedded itself in her bicep. She knew it would be worse if she tried to take it out. Trembling, she got on her hands and knees. She steeled herself, knowing she had to keep moving.
"Dad? Dad, we have to get—"
"Oi! This one is still alive!"
Looking up, her heart stopped at the sight laid out before her. Her brother and father lay unmoving, blood pooling beneath them, in what used to be the second floor hallway. Now it looked like a war zone. If things could possibly become worse, they quickly did, as about half a dozen Death Eaters closed in around her.
As she scrambled to her feet, her hand brushed against a stray wand on the ground. Picking it up, she realized it was her father's. Struggling not to cry, she raised the wand before her. Her father and brother were dead — she was sure her mother was as well.
Blood steadily dripped to the ground from her wounds and in that moment she almost broke. Her baby. Her baby was dead and he had never even had the chance to fully live. It was truly over.
She was the last one left.
It was in that moment she knew that she was going to die. The cavalry wasn't going to make it this time.
She closed her eyes and tried to ignore her sure fate, as she heard the Death Eaters gather around her, closing her in. She knew it would be over soon, but at the moment she couldn't bring herself to be scared. All she felt was a soft wave of calmness as she was thinking of another time and place where it was just him, the love of her life, and herself.
.oOo.
"I can't do it," she groaned.
They had been training all day. Sirius had insisted that if she was going to join the Order, she was going to be put through the same regiment trainee Aurors had to complete. At the time, she had readily agreed. But now she wasn't so sure. She hadn't known there would be this much running.
"Hey," Sirius pulled her to her feet, "no quitting. We still have two more miles to run. And then strength training. Some say the push-ups are the hardest, but I personally hate pull-ups." His eyes gleamed with amusement.
"No, I can't do it! Stop! I'm serious!" she said, as he nudged her forward and started jogging.
"No, you're not Sirius! I am!"
He laughed at her glare and jogged back to her. Gently placing his hands on her shoulders, he looked her in the eye.
"Every Auror has this moment. Hell, maybe every soldier," Sirius said in an unnaturally mature tone. "It's the moment where you commit or bail. And if you choose to commit, there is no going back. Because there will come a time that you are going to have to make the hard call, a time when you can't quit. People's lives may be counting on you or you may have secrets that can never be told. Whatever it is, you can't quit."
Marlene nodded along. Intellectually, she knew he was right. She had to commit. Squaring her shoulders, she looked him squarely in the eye.
"Okay," she said.
"Okay?" Sirius repeated with a confused look. "Just like that?"
"Just like that," Marlene said with a grin. Then without warning, she pulled him close while stepping to the side. Sweeping his feet out from under him, she knocked him to the ground. Pinning his arms to the ground, she straddled his waist.
Leaning closely, she whispered softly in his ear. "That's for taking too much enjoyment out of pushing me in training."
Sirius grinned wickedly. "I know something we'll both enjoy," he said, as he leaned in to kiss her.
Marlene matched his grin. As her lips lightly brushed his, she abruptly pulled back. "Race you back to headquarters!" she said.
Laughing at his stunned expression, she apparated off of him and reappeared about twenty yards away. She started running, as she heard Sirius shout behind her.
"Where did you learn to do that?"
.oOo.
The two sides were at a stalemate, neither moving nor casting a spell for a minute. When it seemed like no one would ever move again, a Death Eater started cackling and broke ranks.
"Aw, the half-blood filth wants to fight! Or is she too sad about her precious family?" Bellatrix Lestrange removed her mask and idly twirled her wand in her hand.
"Leave it, Bellatrix," the voice of Lucius Malfoy sounded from the ranks of still masked Death Eaters. "She will not make a good … plaything for you. She will not last long."
Marlene stood her ground, but felt herself grow weaker as the seconds passed. She knew this was about to end soon. She struggled to keep her wand raised.
"Then just end it! We have more important things to do," Bellatrix spat.
An unidentifiable Death Eater raised a wand, but before a spell was cast, a cold voice cut through the night.
"I wish to see the half-blood myself."
The Death Eaters all bowed as one and stepped aside to allow Voldemort to pass and see Marlene. She stared into dark eyes and wanted to give up right then and there. It was over and she knew it.
Voldemort briefly glanced over her with a disgusted look. Clearly determining that she had no further use to him, he raised his wand.
"I am feeling gracious. Do you have any last words before I end what my Death Eaters should have already done?" he said in a cold, disinterested tone.
What would Sirius do? Marlene thought hazily.
"Yeah, I got something to say," her voice trembled slightly, as her vision started becoming foggy, "Your parents really loved you, didn't they? Keeping you after the abortion failed and everything."
She had no time to react to violently becoming disarmed. In the next moment, an unseen force pinned her to the wall and she felt the tip of a wand at her throat.
"Where are the Potters?" Voldemort hissed in her ear.
"Don't know," she snarled.
Voldemort glanced in her eyes. She tried to throw up her Occlumency shields, but they were easily battered down.
"Ahh, the Fidelius," Voldemort murmured to himself. Turning his attention back to Marlene, he pressed his wand harder against her throat.
"Who is their Secret Keeper?"
Marlene glared at him, throwing every last bit of magic and strength into her Occlumency shields. This was one secret he wouldn't get from her. Her friends were counting on her.
She would take this secret to the grave, and gladly.
"Go to hell," she spat.
The last thing she saw was a rush of green and then everything went black.
A/N 2 — The timeline for when Peter Pettigrew became a Death Eater is hazy at best in canon. There is no definitive timeline. Also, canon-wise Marlene McKinnon is stated to have died in October of 1981 (at least, according to the Harry Potter Wiki). So for the purposes of this story, this timeline of events is as follows:
* The Potters go into hiding in late 1979.
* Peter Pettigrew begins to pass on small bits of information about the Order to Death Eaters and Voldemort starting in the fall of 1980.
* The McKinnon family is killed in early October 1981.
* Shortly thereafter, Peter takes the Dark Mark and delivers the ultimate information to Voldemort: the location of the Potter family.
* James and Lily are killed on Halloween 1981.
Prompts:
(Year Long Scavenger Hunt — Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges) — Write a story with a scenario I will give you (500-word min.) [40 points].
Scenario: The sun is barely starting to rise and your character is drifting in that half awake state when someone screams and pain shoots through his/her stomach.
(Fairy Tale Challenge — Diagon Alley) — Rumpelstiltskin - Write about the loss of a firstborn child [10 points].
Optional Prompt Used: (Dialogue) "Your parents really loved you, didn't they? Keeping you after the abortion failed and everything."