Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
A/N: I'm just going to leave this here.
"Something doesn't feel right," Sirius said.
Marlene rolled over and laid her hand on Sirius' chest. Sirius lay wide awake, staring at the ceiling. They lay in companionable silence for a moment, listening to the wind howl against the bedroom window of their flat. It was Halloween, three days since James and Sirius had decided to make Peter the secret keeper. Peter had gone into hiding and Sirius had taken extra precaution in warding their new flat.
"I'm going to go check on James," Sirius said decidedly.
Marlene shrunk up as Sirius rolled over her and off the bed. She rolled over to watch him dress. "James and Lily are probably getting ready for bed, Sirius. You'll wake up Harry and Lily will murder you herself."
"Then I'll check on Peter," Sirius said instead. He pulled on a t-shirt. "I just have this bad feeling."
"It's Halloween. There's a big chance I'll be called in to work," Marlene sighed as she sat up on her elbows. "I want to go to bed."
"Then you go to bed," Sirius said, walking over to the bed and pressing a kiss to her forehead and hooking her hair behind her ear. "I won't be out too late."
"Alright, but tomorrow I'm supposed to go on assignment. Godric knows when I'll be home. We've got a decent lead, but we've been chasing the Lestranges for weeks."
"Well if you catch them, give Bella my love," Sirius said smirking.
Marlene rolled her eyes and laid back down in bed. "I love you, despite your imbalance."
"Love you too, Legs."
Marlene curled into bed and fell asleep as she heard the locks on the door. She didn't remember what she was dreaming about, but she woke up covered in sweat. She jumped as an owl knocked it's beak against the window. Swearing under her breath, she climbed across the bed and undid the latch. No sooner had she opened the window had another bird flown in. Two owls from the ministry.
Marlene was just unrolling the first parchment when Alice's patronus appeared. Marlene tossed her blankets off, prepared to head into work. Alice' voice however, froze her to her core.
"Voldemort has fallen. There is an emergency Order meeting. The Auror offices will be overrun. Death Eaters are in fall out. Meet me at the ministry. Report to the Order that you are safe." The cat vanished in a wisp of pearly smoke and Marlene was left staring at the opposite side of the bedroom, trying to work out all that she had just heard. If Voldemort was dead, then the prophecy came true, but both Alice and Frank and James and Lily had secret keepers. Marlene was still alive –
"No," Marlene said leaping out of bed. "Sirius?" Marlene yelled.
She checked the toilet: empty. She checked the second bedroom: empty. Sitting room: empty. Marlene looked out the window, but Sirius' motorbike was still gone. A sharp knock sounded at Marlene's door. Marlene darted to the bedroom and grabbed her wand. She was returning to the sitting room when the door to her and Sirius' flat was blasted off its hinges.
"Disarm," Moody barked.
Marlene tightened her grasp on her wand. "Identify yourself," Marlene ordered.
"We last spoke at the cottage, in the cellar. What did we speak of?"
"My shift at the Department of Mysteries. You asked me if I had your cloak, but I'd already given it to Diggle."
"Have you been briefed?" Moody barked.
Marlene glanced back at her bedroom, she hadn't opened the letters from the ministry. "No I – Alice' patronus came, she said Voldemort – is dead? Moody, Sirius left hours ago –"
"Black is the spy," Moody barked so harshly that Marlene recoiled. "We know he was the Potter's secret keeper, and ya' should know, McKinnon –" In that moment, all the air was sucked out of the room. "– the Potter's are dead."
Marlene let out a breath. Somehow her hand found the mantel of the fireplace. The sitting room was closing in on her. Her chest clenched as she tried to breath. The first thing she could think to do was shake her head in refusal. The word no found her mouth several times before Moody was helping her into an armchair. Hot tears burned her eyes and streaked her face.
"We need to find, Black. He'll be rallying the Death Eaters. They're in a right state," Moody informed her.
"Sirius?" Marlene croaked. Her brain wasn't connecting. "Sirius – he wasn't the secret keeper, Moody. Peter was."
"Pettigrew?" Moody asked in disbelief.
"James and Sirius thought Remus was the spy. Sirius didn't think it would be a good idea for him to be the secret keeper. He knew he would be the obvious choice. You don't believe me?" Marlene said as Moody regarded her skeptically. "I'm not lying, you can get Dumbledore, he'll know if I'm lying."
"Dumbledore says Black was the secret keeper."
"That's what James and Lily wanted everyone to think. They thought Peter would be safe, they – Peter's the spy," Marlene finished in a whisper.
"Yer' in shock, McKinnon."
"No – I – we've got to find Sirius," Marlene said tears springing back into her eyes. "He'll kill Peter. He's going to kill Peter," Marlene said leaping out of her chair. Marlene pushed her hair out of her face as she searched around the room for her cloak. She grabbed her Auror robes, instead, and pulled them on over her night dress.
"Yer sure?"
Marlene slipped on one shoe. "About what? Am I sure Sirius is innocent? Yes," Marlene cried angrily, her other shoe dangling from her hand. "Aren't I at least trustworthy? Have I ever once been suspected of being a spy?"
"Ya could be covering for Black…"
"I wouldn't cover for a murderer," Marlene shouted.
"What about Regulus?"
Marlene gaped at Moody. He didn't believe her. "Regulus saved my life," Marlene said in disbelief. "He told me he hadn't killed anyone."
"But ya knew he tortured countless others," Moody snapped. He looked wild.
Marlene's chest was heaving. She bit her lip and glanced away from her mentor. If Moody wasn't going to help her find Sirius, then she was going to have to do it on her own. "I'm leaving, Moody. I haven't got time for this."
"I think ya better come to the ministry with me," Moody said, catching her arm.
"You're kidding," Marlene said angrily. "You're taking me into questioning?"
"Fraid' I have to," Moody said. Moody caught Marlene glancing at her wand, still on the floor where she'd dropped it. "Better not to try, McKinnon."
Moody escorted her to the Magical Law Enforcement Offices where she was left alone in a cubicle for nearing an hour. Marlene bounced her foot as she waited. She knew every second Sirius went free was a second closer to Sirius proving he was a murderer. Sirius would kill Peter or he would die trying. Maybe she was in shock, because all she could think about was getting to Sirius. James and Lily couldn't be dead. Marlene had lost too much.
"McKinnon?"
Marlene looked up at a tall blonde haired man dressed head to toe in black. "Marlene," she said, standing up and holding out her hand.
"Marc's brother?" Marlene winced. Her brother and the rest of her family had been murdered only months ago. "Sorry," the officer amended. "Sit down." It wasn't a request.
Marlene pulled her cloak tighter and sat down in the chair near the desk. The officer laid a file on his desk and flipped it open. Marlene could see her ministry identification photograph on the first page of the file. She looked so young, a bit peaky, but she'd been drinking fairly heavily at the time.
"Tell me about your relationship with Mr. Black. When did it begin?"
"Hogwarts," Marlene said. "I'm sorry, but is this going to take long?"
"Somewhere to be?"
"Well half of England thinks my boyfriend murdered our best friends and the Auror offices are in upheaval."
"Yes, you're an Auror," the officer said, lifting Marlene's file to better examine it. "Newly graduated."
"Every second you waste interrogating me, you could be spending looking for Peter Pettigrew. He was James' and Lily's secret keeper. I know for a fact."
"Is anyone else aware of this fact?"
"Yes, you're trying to wrongfully arrest him for a murder he didn't commit."
"Black's family has an outstanding history with criminal behavior –"
"Fine, arrest him and check his arm, I was in bed with him less than six hours ago, he doesn't have a mark."
"Double agents sometimes forgo branding," the officer explained.
"Use Veritaserum," Marlene snapped.
"My dear, we would need a court summons. With the current state of things that will take weeks."
"Sirius is not a traitor, and you have no evidence that I have anything to do with Voldemort." Marlene stood up.
"I'd like to ask some questions about the night your family was murdered."
"The night Sirius saved my life?" Marlene asked angrily. "You had better not be insinuating that Sirius – or I – murdered my family. This entire ministry knows how close my brothers and I were –"
"But they were not close with Mr. Black."
"Because I had premarital carnal relations with him," Marlene half shouted. "Which everyone in the ministry also knows."
"Miss McKinnon, please lower your tone."
"Marlene," Alice gasped as she appeared outside the cubicle in her Auror robes. "I came as soon as I heard. I've already spoken with head of department. He'll be down in a minute to clear your name."
"Miss McKinnon is a key suspect in the murder of –"
"Miss McKinnon is an Auror," Alice cut the officer off darkly. "All Aurors are on duty. I would know, since I have a one year old infant at home, and instead I'm here, wasting my breath of you." Marlene glanced between the officer and Alice. Even though Alice was miniature in size, her temper rivaled even Lily's on a good day – or it did rival Lily's. Marlene clenched her fists.
"Fine," the officer said. "Pending clearance this investigation will continue at another time suitable to Law Enforcement and Auror offices."
Alice glowered at the officer and grabbed Marlene's arm. She tugged Marlene out of the cubicle and out of the office. Her grip was deathly tight and dug into Marlene's arm as they waited for the lift in the corridor. Alice was seething.
"Have you any leads on Sirius?"
"Have you?" Alice cut.
"He's innocent, Alice. Peter was secret keeper," Marlene repeated for what felt like the millionth time that night. "Please, believe me."
"You've heard what everyone is saying by now," Alice said as she folded her arms.
"I know. I protected Regulus and now everyone thinks I'm doing the same with Sirius – but Alice, besides you, Lily and James were my closest friends. I was practically James' sister. Lily asked me to be Harry's Godmother –"
"– which you declined."
"And you know me better than anyone. Do you think I would have made a good Godmother? No. I barely make a good anything. But that's neither here nor there. You really think Sirius would kill his best friends?"
Alice stared back at Marlene for what seemed like an eternity. Finally she sighed, "No, I don't think Sirius would murder his best mate."
"Doesn't it make sense that Peter would be the spy? He's – Peter. He's a coward," Marlene said maliciously. Alice blinked. "I've never trusted him – never liked him. He's a follower and I told Sirius months ago that out of Remus and Peter – I told him –" Marlene was shaking. Alice reached out and touched Marlene's shoulder. "They're not dead, Alice, Harry's not dead. They can't be."
"Harry's not dead, Marlene," Alice said slowly.
"What?" Marlene held her breath. "They're alive?"
"No – no one knows how it happened rather – we barely know what happened at all. Voldemort killed Lily and James. He is suspect of trying to kill Harry, but somehow Harry survived and Voldemort – is gone."
"No one's ever survived the killing curse," Marlene said shaking her head. She glanced at the lift which had come and gone two times since they'd been waiting. Law enforcement rushed around and past them, oblivious to their conversation.
"The mark on his follower's arms has faded. Our spies say this could only mean that Voldemort is dead. Dumbledore has sent for Harry, everyone in England has probably heard or is hearing by now."
"Harry lived?"
"Harry is the boy who lived."
A/N: I normally write out an outline before I post stories, and then I write about half of the story before I start to post it. I just want to warn everyone right now that I have no future chapters written for this story. I am encouraged by reviews, however, and I do have a general idea of where I want this story to go. Backstory for this story can be found in my other Blackinnon fics, but I will try to write this as a "stand alone". I make no promises. I don't like to have limitations when I write. I hope you enjoy this idea as much as I do. Let's see where this takes us.