AN: BEATER 1: Write about a character thought to be 'dead' coming back to life. [5. (quote) If he's dead I'll kill him. —Chas, Emmerdale./8. (pairing) Andromeda Black/ Ted Tonks/11. (object) television]
Word Count: 1458
war is over; still got a fight to win
By MagicMinnie
The war was over.
Flocks of owls took to the skies in broad daylight; wizards and witches celebrated on the streets of Muggle Britain as though the Statute of Secrecy was no longer a thing.
Marlene could barely believe it. Finally, she could take her younger sister back to the world they'd been forced to run from. Of course, they wouldn't be able to return to their home, which would be nothing more than ashes. They wouldn't be able to return to their family — the Death Eaters had seen to that. And then, there was the added detail that the Wizarding World thought that she and Annie were dead.
For weeks after the attack on the McKinnon's home, Marlene had felt guilt like never before. Leaving her friends, leaving Sirius, to think that they were all dead felt inhumane.
She imagined the situation being reversed. She'd be furious at whoever had the audacity to pretend they'd died. Expecting nothing less than anger, she decided to face the Magical World alone. Marlene dropped Annie at the Muggle school she'd been attending and then apparated to a side street off Diagon Alley. Keeping her head ducked low, she pulled her coat around her and walked fast. She didn't want to be recognised yet.
Everywhere she looked there were broad smiles and excitable exchanges. After years of war, it felt extremely odd.
Her plan was to head to Gringotts first and reclaim the McKinnon vaults, but unfortunately, something else caught her eye. On a stand to her right was a stack of this morning's Daily Prophet. Her eyes widened as a familiar face stared up at her from the front page. The headline read: BLACK JAILED FOR 13 MURDERS.
"That can't be," she whispered to herself.
She picked up the paper in shaking hands reading fast.
Sirius would never murder innocent Muggles; he would never follow Voldemort. The whole article read like a fantasy.
"Once a Black, always a Black."
Marlene's eyes snapped up to the shopkeeper who was now standing in the doorway watching her through narrowed eyes.
"Terrible really. That poor baby would still have his mother and father if it weren't for that monster leading You-Know-Who straight to 'em," the man said.
"Baby?" Marlene queried.
"Harry Potter. C'mon, where have you been...?"
"Harry Potter." Marlene echoed the name, her mouth quickly turning dry.
But, if the shopkeeper was telling the truth, then that meant Lily and James were dead. Marlene dropped the paper back on the stack and then stepped backwards, slipping off the curb. How many of her friends were dead?
What didn't make sense was that Sirius hadn't been Lily and James' secret keeper — Peter had. Sirius had confided that in her, worried that if he died, no one would be able to support Peter with the burden of being the only one who knew.
The world was spinning as Marlene lay on the cobbles. She was aware that the shopkeeper was speaking and people were staring but before the man could stretch out his hand to help her, Marlene apparated away again.
She found herself standing in biting wind and rain that stung as it struck her exposed skin. Through the grey and dismal rain, Marlene could see the outline of a thatched cottage. She couldn't imagine herself living in such a miserable area, far away from anyone — Muggle or Magical. But from what she knew of Andromeda and her husband, they loved the countryside. Considering every time she had visited it had been raining, it never felt beautiful or picturesque or any of the adjectives she'd heard Andromeda use.
Knowing she was about to give the couple the shock of their life, Marlene dawdled. She pushed their gate open, pebbles crunching underfoot as she approached the pale blue door.
Marlene hesitated and then knocked once, stepping back off the doormat.
"Andy, get the door!"
Marlene swallowed thickly and braced herself as the lock clicked. The door creaked when it opened and Marlene watched as Andy's face went from smiling through about thirty different emotions before settling on shock.
"M—Marlene? Is that...?"
Marlene noticed the woman's hand flicked to where her wand was stored.
"Yes," she said quickly. "Andromeda, it's me. Please let me explain."
"Ted," she called out.
Her eyes didn't leave Marlene, nor did she moved even a fraction from where she stood in the doorway. Neither of them moved. Andromeda's eyes searched Marlene's as though she was trying to figure out what the hell was happening. There were footsteps on the hardwood floor and then Marlene heard Ted speaking.
"Andy? Andromeda, what's wrong—?"
Ted was far taller than either of them with mousy brown hair and large glasses resting atop his head. His blue eyes widened.
"Marlene?!"
He took one stride towards her, past Andromeda, and engulfed her in a hug. Marlene froze. She hadn't been hugged by anyone but Annie in a long time.
"So it is?" Andromeda asked.
Ted breathed in. "It is."
Marlene had almost forgotten about Ted's sensitivity to magic. A rare condition that made him very in tune to the magic around him, including people's unique magical signature. She breathed a sigh of relief — convincing them could have been exceptionally difficult.
Next thing she knew, she was sandwiched between them both.
For a long moment, Marlene closed her eyes and revelled in it. But soon, she realised why she'd come here, of all places.
"Sirius," she said suddenly.
Andromeda's stiffened at the mention of her younger cousin's name and then she pushed Marlene to arm's length.
"Marlene, he—"
"Andy, perhaps we should go inside?" Ted suggested.
All three of them were being soaked by the rain so Andromeda quickly agreed. Ted dried them off in the hallway with a wave of his wand, and Marlene slipped her shoes off by the door beside a row of others.
"Where's Nymphadora?" Marlene asked as her eyes fell on a particularly muddy pair of children's shoes.
"She's at my mother's for the weekend," Ted responded.
Ted lead them through the house. The decorations were quaint and distinctly Muggle-orientated, probably as Ted was a Muggleborn. In the living room, all their furniture was pointed at a black box with moving pictures on one side; a television. Andromeda picked up a black object — a TV wand, as it had once been described to her. She pointed it at the television and the dull chatter coming from it stopped when the screen turned black.
"Please, sit. I'll go make some tea," Ted said.
He disappeared without another word and Marlene heard him clattering around in the kitchen.
"Marlene, I can't believe you're here," Andromeda said. "We thought—"
"My sister and I, we escaped last minute," she explained. "I had to keep her safe. But Andy, Sirius, he couldn't have done those things."
Andromeda looked solemnly away at the television as though trying to will it back to life just to break the awkwardness. "Marlene, I'm sorry, but he did. He did—"
"—he didn't!" Marlene's voice raised far louder than she'd intended. "He wasn't Lily and James' secret keeper. It was Peter!"
Andromeda frowned. "But Peter's dead, Sirius killed him."
Marlene dropped her face into her hands. "No. No. That idiot! If he's dead, I'll kill him. Peter being alive could save him — could prove he didn't betray James."
Only Sirius would do something so stupid it would almost be impossible to prove his innocence.
"Did he not get a trial?" Marlene asked.
"No." Ted's voice made them both jump. "The Aurors aren't interested in the truth; they're interested in making it seem like they're cleaning up after the war. They've adopted a 'no trial' policy for Death Eaters."
Marlene felt herself go pale. The thought that Sirius was trapped in Azkaban, that he was innocent, made her heart ache.
"He's innocent. He doesn't even have the Dark Mark." Marlene could feel herself getting tense and upset quickly. "I need to help. He's..."
"...all I have to come back to." Marlene finished the sentence in her head, rather than aloud, and then swallowed thickly.
Andromeda and Ted shared a long look. She'd seen them do that many times in the past; they often seemed to have silent conversations. It always freaked Sirius out that all they had to do was look at each other and then suddenly there was a plan.
"Okay," Ted said, putting three mugs of tea down. "It won't be easy. You essentially have to come back from the dead, Marls."
"We'll fix this," Andromeda said, putting her hand over Marlene's. "You have our word: we will figure all of this out."
The war was over.
But Marlene? She still had a fight to win.