Author's Note: Written for Final Round for Season 6 of the QLFC
Final Round: This or That?
Team: Pride of Portree
Position: Captain
Captain's Prompt: pairing Lily/Marlene
Word Count: 2,990
Beta Love: crochetaway litfreak89
Additional Author's Note: Not much is known about Marlene except for the fact that she died after a Death Eater attack on her family and that she was a member of the Order. My story will be about Lily's friendship with Marlene based on what is known about both of these characters.
A Righteous Fire
Lily Evans was silent on her first trip up to Gryffindor Tower after the Sorting. When she'd received her letter, it had seemed like something out of a fairytale. Lily, who'd always been at odds at Muggle school while her elder sister excelled at everything, had believed that her life would begin at Hogwarts.
The first blow had come when she was Sorted into Gryffindor. The Sorting Hat had told her that it was her destiny, but Lily disagreed, especially after Sirius Black and James Potter had been placed in the same House.
One of the prefects had led the girls up to their dormitory. A few of the other girls had already started chatting with one another. It was obvious that they knew one another well. Taking a deep, shaky breath, Lily did her best to hold back tears— she could cry quietly once she closed the curtains around her bed.
"Oi. Evans, was it?" Lily was startled out of her self-pity. She turned to see a girl with wild auburn hair and a gap-toothed grin. The girl stuck out her hand. "Name's McKinnon. Marlene McKinnon. It's a bit different than you thought it would be, isn't it?"
"What...what do you—" Lily blinked confusedly and shook the girl's hand.
"This. Hogwarts." Marlene grinned again and sat across from Lily.
"Yeah." Lily grasped at the hems of her sleeves. "I guess, I just thought that things would...just make sense."
"I know what you mean," Marlene replied. "I mean, I'm the first true witch in my family in a hundred years. Everyone else in my family is a Squib or non-magical. So I'm the only one. Everyone's counting on me to become the star of the McKinnon family."
"I've never been the star of anything," Lily replied ruefully.
"Well, now's your chance!" Marlene said, taking her hand and squeezing it. "You and me, shining bright. We'll show the others what's what!"
Lily pulled her hand back and shook her head. "I don't feel so bright right now."
"I'm sorry," Marlene said, looking suddenly shy. "I always muck things up by coming on too strong. I just want you to know that you're not alone. And...um...if you ever want to talk, I'm right over here. We're neighbours now."
"Yeah," Lily said, smiling. "Thanks, Marlene. I feel a little better now."
Marlene held her thumb up and grinned. "But of course! That's what friends are for!"
There were three things that Marlene McKinnon cherished above all others. The first was her love for her family. The second was her love for her friends. She and Lily had been thick as thieves within a week of their first year. The third, however, was something that she dared not speak of to anyone.
"Aw, Lils, do you want to talk about it?" Marlene said as Lily waved to the three second year students she'd been tutoring in Potions.
"How can you always tell?" Lily turned, her cheerful smile fading. "Are you some sort of Seer?"
"No, but I wouldn't be much of a best friend if I couldn't," Marlene said, putting her arm around Lily. "Now then, please tell me what's wrong, or I'll hex you."
Lily snorted. "That's no way to ask!"
"I'm not asking. I'm demanding. Politely," Marlene corrected her.
"It's about what happened by the lake…" Lily looked at her feet. "Do you think I was wrong not to forgive him?"
"Which one?" Marlene asked, her eyes narrowing. "Potter the Ponce with his inflated ego or Slytherus Snake with his Dark Arts and Death Eater friends? If you ask me, they should get a career as Giant Squid food."
"Oh stop it, Mar!" Lily said, but she was already grinning.
Marlene didn't tell Lily about the clouds of noxious energy that swirled around students like Potter and Snape. Both of them were so different from one another, yet both equally pungent. Potter's pride smelled like old gym socks. Snape's obsession with the Dark Arts smelled like something foul left in the basement for too long. Lily's scent was, as always, one of copper and spice, but her sadness gave her the added scent of rain and salt. Marlene longed to pluck it away from her friend and make everything better, but that wasn't the way her gift worked. Instead, she made jokes, told silly stories, and made up humorous limericks until Lily finally smiled and the scent of rain dissipated. It left only a tiny wisp of sadness that was far too deep for anyone to reach tightly wound around a troubled ball of infatuation for the Gryffindor boy she constantly told Marlene she'd never date in a million years.
"Well if it isn't little Miss McMudblood."
Marlene could hear the twisted grin in Avery's voice in the split second before the hex hit her in the back, freezing her in place.
"Hm." Mulciber, who'd appeared from her left, walked around her and looked at her body appraisingly. "A bit fatter than I'd like, but that's never stopped you, Avery."
"Animals like her are good for only one thing, anyway," Avery said, and Marlene tried to call out as he lifted the back of her robes, exposing her knickers. The smell of his ill intent would have made her gag if she'd been able to move.
It was then, as she struggled against the spell and the pressure of his hand on her lower back that she smelled it— copper and fire.
A ball of fire shot past Marlene and slammed into Mulciber, and he flew backward, slamming his head into the stone wall behind him. He didn't even have time to cry out.
"Merlin's balls!" Avery growled, running around until he was standing in front of Marlene, his wide back blocking her vision. He drew his wand, but it was too late. A fireball had caught him in the groin, and he crumpled on his side with a whimper of pain.
Marlene shuddered, falling forward as the spell broke. But instead of hitting the floor instantly, she began to fall in slow-motion, her body floating as though she were almost weightless.
"Caught you," Lily said, her voice soft as she wrapped her arms around Marlene, pulling her back to her feet. Small balls of flame floated around them both, bathing them both in light, and Marlene could see two gaps in the ring. Lily's green eyes had gone almost golden in the light as she took Marlene's hand and led her up the stairs towards Gryffindor Tower.
"They think we're weak because we're not purebloods," Marlene said bitterly as they studied by the Black Lake.
"They're wrong." Lily looked up from her Potions textbook, her eyes narrowing.
"That doesn't matter when they do things...things like…" Marlene trailed off as the shame filled her.
"I have an idea." Lily closed her book and pulled a notebook from her rucksack. "I've thought about it ever since...well, it doesn't really matter now, but—"
"What we really need is a way to fight back against those bastards," Marlene said, "especially if you don't mind sharing some of those spells you've been cooking up. Like that fire one."
Lily shrugged. "I'm not all that good at dueling. My biggest strength is in Charms, though my Defense marks aren't too bad. That spell is based on the Glowing Orb charm we learned in our third year. It's just supposed to light the way. It's not really intended to be an offensive spell. I just...altered it a bit."
Marlene's lips turned up in a wicked grin. "Teach me, Lily. Please!"
Lily gave her a measured look. "Well, I guess I could...as long as you never use to hurt someone. Only if you have no choice."
"Absolutely. Cross my heart and hope to die," Marlene said, crossing herself and holding up her right hand.
"Ok, then. First, you have to do a swoop and a loop with your wand like this…" Lily began to explain the wand movements and Marlene eagerly began to mirror her motions.
In hindsight, Lily supposed that it was probably not wise to pull Marlene back into the silly nonsense that she and Sev had been working on together before their friendship had soured. Still, she was drawn to improvising spells and creating new ones. Not all of their attempts were successes, and Lily had not been happy when Severus had begun trying to introduce hints of Dark Magic into their experiments.
Marlene, on the other hand, hated Dark Magic just as much as Lily did. The spells they practiced together were strictly for defensive use...at least, that's what they both told one another. Lily's favourite was a spell that simultaneously disarmed and froze an attacker in place. Marlene, however, preferred elemental spells— orbs of fire that danced around her head, spouts of water shooting from the tip of her wand hard enough to knock someone over, and even bolts of electricity. Lily took issue with that after she'd lost the sensation in her arm for an hour and made Marlene promise not to use it.
They soon grew more ambitious and took the younger half-bloods and muggleborn Gryffindor students under their wings, teaching them simple defensive spells. It was a well-known secret that Death Eater sympathisers were beginning to garner support, and the attacks on students with Muggle parents on one or both sides of their family were getting worse. By their seventh year, Marlene and Lily had caught the attention of the Headmaster.
"I hear that you two have been quite busy," Dumbledore said kindly, his eyes twinkling from behind his half-moon glasses.
"Please! Don't punish Lily! I take full responsibility!" Marlene stood and bent forward over the table, her knuckles white. "She's worked so hard. She deserves to be Head Girl. Please, Headmaster!"
"Is this true, Miss Evans?"
Lily stood and glared at Marlene. "You idiot! As though I'd let you take the fall!" She turned back to Dumbledore, fire in her eyes. "I am just as much at fault for anything you see fit to punish us for, Headmaster. Being Head Girl means nothing to me without my best friend, and if I've helped just one Muggle-born stay safe, then it was all worth it!"
Dumbledore put his hands up to silence them both and shook his head. "Why, I am not here to punish you! I am here to offer you something."
Both girls looked at each other in confusion.
"You both are aware of the evil of Voldemort and his Death Eaters, are you not?"
They nodded solemnly.
"I have watched you work against evil in this school. I have seen your devotion to your friends and your families. War is coming, and it seems as though there is nothing that anyone can do to stop it." He paused for a long moment, his expression grim. "Have you heard of the Order of the Phoenix?"
"That sounds like the name of some sort of weird secret socie-OW!" Marlene scoffed, crying out when Lily socked her on the arm.
"Let him finish," Lily said, smirking when Marlene stuck out her tongue in reply. "No, sir. We haven't."
Dumbledore smiled. "Would you like to?"
It was one thing to join a secret society designed to aid in the downfall of Voldemort, but quite another to actually be part of it. The summer after graduation, Lily and Marlene trained for months under the watchful eye of Madam Le Prue. Lily excelled at Charms and disarming opponents, but her true strengths lay in healing and defensive magic. She figured out ways to charm large objects to levitate and serve as shields against enemy fire. Meanwhile, Marlene came into her own with attack magic. She could levitate knives and send them flying with precision to pin an opponent to a wall. She knew how to create a ring of fire around an enemy, then circle quickly as the flames rose and blocked visibility in order to hit them in the back with a stunner. Marlene's favourite, though, was to engulf an enemy in a solid wall of water and steal their breath, leaving them gasping or unconscious. Even their teacher was impressed at the sheer power in her spells but cautioned Marlene that there was a fine line between fighting for a good cause and becoming that which they fought against.
"I know," Marlene would say, rolling her eyes. After all, she hated Dark Magic. Lily, too, seemed to think that Madam Le Prue was far too cautious.
"Death Eaters won't ask us nicely to surrender," Lily said later when they were washing up, and Marlene laughed at the absurdity of the thought.
The war wasn't what they thought it would be. There were attacks in the night, chaos, screaming. There were knives in backs, and it was hard to know who to trust.
Lily, pregnant and scared, found herself tied up in a prophecy that she had no choice but to heed. She and James sat in Godric's Hollow simultaneously sick with fear and at each other's throats with boredom. Marlene and her mother had come when she went into labour; James and Sirius had fled after her first contraction. Lily couldn't speak, couldn't think—and then Marlene was handing her a swaddled newborn—her Harry—and there was nothing in the world but him.
"He's got your eyes," Marlene cooed.
"Oh, tosh. There's no way to know that for sure," she said, but as she fed him for the first time, he looked up at her wide-eyed and she could tell that Marlene was right.
"You're going to be a wonderful mum," Marlene continued. "And no matter what, I'll make sure you're safe."
"Well, you're his godmother, Mar, so I'll be holding you to your word," Lily said, holding Harry up to her best friend.
Marlene's eyes filled with happy tears and she bent down to kiss Harry on his little nose. He smelled like sunshine and hope. "Well of course! When I'm not encouraging him to get into mischief, that is!"
"Oh, you! You're worse than Sirius!" Lily stuck out her tongue.
"Hah! I'd like to see him try to outdo me!" Marlene said, and she opened her hand, allowing little forks of lightning to trickle out of her fingers and spark harmlessly in the air.
"Come on, Mar, not in front of the newborn," Marlene's mother said, clucking her tongue. "Leave the new mum and babe to their bonding."
Marlene grinned sheepishly. "You heard Mum."
"Go on, then," Lily said cheekily, "You'll have plenty of time to corrupt him when he gets bigger."
"They got Mary." Marlene's cheek was dark with blood, and she was breathing heavily, her robes torn.
"Oh Merlin, Mar, I'll get the dittany!" Lily handed Harry to James and ran to the medicine cabinet.
Marlene went to the sink and turned on the tap. Reddish water ran down the drain. "Taken, but not dead...yet. Which means torture."
Lily ran in and saw the long, jagged cut across Marlene's cheek. "It's deep."
"Stings a bit," Marlene said, wincing as Lily pressed gauze soaked in dittany against it. "Those bastards were throwing Unforgivables at us like they were going out of style. We can't just stun them. We need to do more."
"You know how I feel about those, Mar. They're Dark."
"Yeah, well maybe Mary would be here if we were able to use all the tools available to us!" Marlene yelled, her eyes pricking with tears. Her emotions were overflowing, and there was nowhere for them to go. Small arcs of lightning had begun to flow over her arms and into her hair, giving it a wild, bushy appearance. A small cloud began to form over her head, the smell of rain filling the air.
"Mar...Marlene! Stop!" A flash of pain lit up Marlene's cheek as Lily slapped her and she blinked, the overflowing power burrowing deep inside of her and stilling itself.
"You can't…" Lily was crying too, her hand squeezing Marlene's. "Please. Promise me. No Dark Magic."
"I promise to get Mary back," Marlene said, running out into the night.
"You can't go!" Lily was in a panic, urgently pulling Marlene's sleeve. "You have to wait for backup!"
"I waited last time, and you know how well that turned out." Marlene's voice was a growl. "It's my family, Lily. What would you do if it was your family?"
Lily released Marlene's sleeve, her fists balled up tight. "Please...be careful. I don't want to lose you too."
"And leave your boy without a bad influence of a godmother?" Marlene looked back, her lips turned up in a determined grin. "Never!"
The smell of flesh filled the air and Marlene doubled over with the scent of hatred and cruelty. A group of Death Eaters, their ghastly masks glowing in the moonlight, had placed a Shield Charm around her burning house. Her father was a Squib, her mother a Muggle. There was no escape.
"Hey!" Marlene cried out.
A few of them laughed at her. One of them made a lewd gesture.
Mulciber.
Something shifted inside of her and Marlene smiled inhumanly. Power built around her until her skin began to blacken and curl. There was no pain as the serpentine heads of fire burst from her chest and curled down her arms, hungry eyes locked upon the Death Eaters, who'd begun to back away.
"Too la-a-te!" Marlene said in a sing-song voice, raising her hands. The twin heads of fiendfyre nuzzled her palms and shot forward, mouths agape, to engulf the Death Eaters.
Their screaming was background noise as she stumbled forward, her body charred and burning from the inside out. She reached the front door of the burning building and froze in place, her hand raised as though about to knock.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, and then she was ash in the wind.