PART ONE: Point Coquille
Chapter Two
Hush Hush: The Heretic
"They'll come for him, you know."
"Everything they've done to that boy is illegal."
Marlene remembered a novel she had read once, not so long ago, where the main character had left the duel heavily injured and gasping for his life. The author had described the wizard's state as ghostly.
Ghostly.
His eyes vacant. His breathing slow and ragged. His pallor pale and ghostly. If anything, the author meant the wizard's presence was slipping.
It was when Sirius was rushed to his room that the memory of the novel had struck Marlene.
Sirius looked ghostly.
The sight of his unconscious figure rattled a fear inside Marlene that she had never felt before. A fear that froze her to the core and made every other moment of fright she had experienced before now seem hollow. Empty and childish.
The time she thought she'd forgotten to do her Astronomy homework. The first time she had to present in front of a class. Even the mild panic she felt when she confused the order of her Transfiguration and Charms O.W.L.s on her study schedule.
The magnitude of those fears quivered in comparison to the pins and needles she was now feeling in her hands.
Marlene spent the rest of the evening doing a strange dance between the living room and the kitchen to the erratic rhythm of her heart. Her purpose was unknown and misplaced in the unfolding, for lack of a better word, situation. Firstly, and naturally, the Potters were the most focused on Sirius seeing as he was basically their family. Her own family was far more advanced in any magic Marlene knew, let alone allowed to perform, in order to help. They were helping in whatever way they could before settling into the living room in silence.
How did the muggles do it?
The need to disappear into her surroundings was the strongest of her instincts every time she replayed the Sirius' collapse. It left her in an uncertain limbo between offering the very minimal help she could and staying completely out of the way.
Marlene hid behind the frame of the kitchen's entrance as she tried to calm her own shaky breathing. She tugged at her fingers and scratched gently at her palm to fight away the pins and needles. She brought the same hand up against her stomach, trying to quell the sickening feeling rising up her throat with its pressure. Her eyes found the intricate designs on the white walls.
Sirius Black was hurt. He was very hurt.
What if he was irreparably hurt?
No. Shut it.
She blinked harshly and pulled her hand away from her stomach. Her palms pressed firmly against her eyes in attempt to gather herself. The image was burned into her mind the tighter her eyes squeezed. Quickly Marlene opened her eyes and looked around the bright, white, and abandoned kitchen. Several dishes were now left cold and forgotten on the counter tops. Absolutely nothing was helping to dissipate the persistent anxiety of the unexpected guest just floors above her.
She made her way over to the kettle and did the only thing she could think of to do.
Silly girl. Making a pot of tea when someone upstairs is—
No. Shut it.
Marlene found herself dawdling back and forth between teas. As if the contents of the kettle would somehow influence the course of the night. Influence the blood that was on his face. Influence his pallor. Influence the state of his wounds. The tinkering rattle of the teacup against its saucer brought her attention out her spiral of thoughts and down to her pale and shaking hands.
Earl Grey or Chamomile?
Redbush or Rose infused?
Marlene didn't have enough fingers and toes to count the times she must have rearranged the tea tray. Bidding her time and thinking of how ridiculous she'd appear at the doorway of the living room with a tray of tea. As if they were politely hosting a guest. She stared down at the completed tray. The white and blue fine china ornately poised just the way she has been taught in finishing class. Suddenly, she realized its silliness and the embarrassment seeped in.
Sirius Black was upstairs.
Sirius Black was upstairs, hurt, and unconscious.
The same Sirius Black she had been dreading to see. Sirius Black, whose last encounter with her was less-than-friendly and consisted of littering her Astronomy O.W.L. notes in the corridor. The same one whose name was liberally littered denigratingly in her letters to Benjy.
And all Marlene could do was arrange a tray of tea.
With a defeated sigh, and one last glance to the tray, Marlene slowly made her way back to the living room.
"This is reckless."
She stopped short.
That was the hushed angered tone of her mother. Her brow wrinkled and made to move forward when her mother spoke again:
"How can they think of permanently taking him in?" Marta McKinnon continued.
Her mother's hissing whisper was getting louder and suddenly the unwelcomed trail of pipe tobacco met her—her father was stress smoking. Marlene would usually smell the woodsy bitter scent when her father was facing a particularly tough case at the Ministry.
Her father smoking. Her mother's tone higher and tenser than she had heard in years. The stain in her curious ears was almost automatic, but the quiet creeping near the wall was not. Had her heart not been thumping so hard in her ears, she wouldn't have had to basically press her ear to the wall.
"How can they think of permanently taking him in?" Marta McKinnon let out a frustrated breath. "Their kindness will be the end of them. I've told, Euphemia. They'll come looking for him, you know. You know those types, Egbert."
There was a pause.
Egbert McKinnon puffed out a breath. "Their fondness for the boy outweighs the risk." The calmness in his voice was eerie.
"But to put us at risk too?" For a composed and stoic witch, Marta sounded frantic. Something in the pit of Marlene's stomach dropped. She wasn't sure she'd ever heard her mother frantic.
"Everyone will know, Egbert. Everyone. We're not exactly in a remote location. The boy has plainly come into the belly of the beast."
There was a beat of silence before Marta continued cautiously. "Every longstanding wizarding family is here, Egbert." She was straining the sentence through her teeth with as much composure she could manage.
Marlene froze and her brow furrowed. She was right. Point Coquille wasn't exactly known as a muggle holiday destination. Majority, and if not all, families that took up residence every summer on the shelled shores of Point Coquille, were traditional wizarding families. Names that traced as far back before Merlin's time. The village was known for its magical connection. But what did that have to do with Sirius?
As far as Marlene knew, Sirius was upstairs, unconscious, and wounded. The last thing on her mind was what the wizarding community would think about hosting Sirius, as they had every summer. Even if Sirius was famously known as the Black family outcast, who constantly picked fights with his family members, and remained absent at most social events. What did it have to do with Sirius?
She heard her father exhale loudly before saying coldly, "Everything they did to that boy was illegal."
"He was reckless." Marta interjected haughtily.
"Marta." Egbert's tone came warningly.
"Splinched, Egbert. He splinched."
Splinched?!
They wouldn't start learning how to Apparate until the beginning of next term! How could it be possible that Sirius already managed to Apparate all the way to St. Ives from London without a single lesson and being underage?
"Marlene."
A firm voice came from behind. Marlene quickly wheeled around to meet Edmund's stern and serious face. The night's event was creasing lines into his tanned face. A chastising and disgusted look formed. His dinner jacket was long forgotten in the dining room and his dark brown hair, always pristine, now slightly tussled. Her heart leapt to her throat where a squeak was immediately muffled. She could feel the colour leaving her once warm face. There was always something about Edmund's presence that rattled her from inside and caused invisible ropes to pull her into proper form. The fear dissipated and a frown creased her once gaping mouth.
"Edmu—"
"You know better than that." He interrupted coldly before walking past her and into the living room.
Brilliant.
Marlene allowed herself to fully lean against the wall in the empty foyer in order to gather herself.
"How is he?" Edmund's voice was clear and crisp. It was a clear message to Marlene: stop the childish behaviour and get inside the room.
Egbert cleared his throat and Marlene imagined a waft of smoke escaping him. "He was in quite a state." He answered sombrely. "Splinched on the beach. Luckily, Fleamont brewed Dittany for the trip in case of any emergency. They expect he'll recover just fine."
Marlene felt the pressure on her chest rise suddenly.
"Right." Edmund said hesitantly, thinking better of asking or saying more.
Then silence fell among the McKinnons once more and Marlene's figure slinked out of the hallway with a tray of tea in mind.
The week following Sirius' unexpected arrival Marlene hardly saw sight of the Potters—especially James. He would make an appearance for lunch or dinner, but the rest of James' time was spent in Sirius' room. It's almost as if he had turned into a vessel that once housed the obnoxious James Potter. He wouldn't feign polite conversation nor bother excusing himself as he'd hastily get up from the table. With him, he'd always take a prepared tray of food upstairs. She wasn't sure if she was expecting to see Sirius. The awkward days consisted of Marlene tip-toeing through the hall of bedrooms and chasing away the image of Sirius' beaten state when she'd see his door.
Marlene had started feeling like a stranger in her own home.
Were they just supposed to pretend that Sirius Black had not stumbled into their holiday home beaten, unconscious, and ghostly? She had exhausted the thought to its last fibre. The memory of that night muddled against the one of their last less-than-friendly encounter.
Leaving the Ancient Runes Classroom.
Talking animatedly with Remus about the upcoming Astronomy O.W.L.
"Oi! Remus!"
London accent.
Her hands tense. Her smile fades.
Against the wall, across the corridor, two raven haired boys are leaning languidly.
Her plan is to swiftly move past them—no eye contact.
But as she walks past the wall of mischief makers, he leans in slightly towards her:
"Wotcher McKinnon."
She looks him dead in the face. Tense jawed and rolls her eyes.
The same face she saw, but now bruised and ghostly.
The thought haunted her throughout the week and any chance she thought she'd have at distracting herself was substituted for the anxiety of asking her parents' permission for Benjy to visit.
The house fell into a strange blend of silence and evasive conversation. Sirius' presence had boiled down to the unspoken entity in the house. His presence was known, but not seen or spoken about among the McKinnons. During breakfast one morning a tired looking Euphemia had requested that it be best if Sirius' presence in their household were kept quiet until "things settled down". What exactly needed settling down, Marlene was unsure of, but she had a few guesses. She thought of Benjy's unanswered owls again and the fear that came with the need to speak to him.
Marlene was curled on one of the brown leather chairs of the living room. Her copy of Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes flopped open on her lap, slightly forgotten as she has been dozing off ever since the heat had worn down. The evening's soft chill swept in a lullaby with every breeze. Slowly, Marlene was being hushed to a light sleep by the pattering of the rain, the cool breeze, and the far off crashing of the angry sea.
An intense and forceful knock resonated through the house. It shuddered its way across the ceiling and through the hallways. The living room was the first room to be filled with the knock and it settled itself on top the tense silence. Marlene's once bleary eyes were now alert and searching the room for the source.
A sudden tight silence took hold of the room.
The pattering of the rain.
The quiet whistle of the wind.
The crashing of the sea.
The conversation among the Potters and McKinnons had waned out as they shared a knowing glance. They had turned their attention to the foyer. There was a strain in Edmund's perfect posture, his hand wound tightly on the paper he had been reading.
Something was off.
Marta's brown eyes sought out Egbert and she pressed her lips in a tight line. As if to stop herself from the thought that lingered on the tip of everyone's thoughts. Marlene glanced between the elder wizards and a cold chill worked its way up her spine.
Something was certainly off.
The knocking came once more. This time, more intense and more forceful than it has been the first time. The first time was polite, strictly business. The second, was a warning.
It was Fleamont who finally stood up and made his way out of the living room to answer the door. They sat still for a beat of silence listening to Fleamont's steps as he made his way to the front door. Edmund had now sat up to attention. He snuck a glance around the room and locked eyes with his father. Marlene was scrambling in silence for the same, no one would meet her gaze, for an answer or explanation.
Footsteps. Silence. The creaking of the front door opening.
"Good evening, Orion."
Clear and crisp the sentence could be heard in the living room.
At the name Euphemia and Egbert got to their feet. Both elder wizards looked hesitantly to one another before looking back to the entrance of the foyer.
"Good evening, Fleamont. I am aware of the unlucky hour to drop in, but I am sure you know why I'm here." The deep and smooth voice greeted them.
But regardless of the voice's soothing tone, Marta visibly tensed at its sound. She looked to Euphemia who made to move to the foyer, but her hand shot up to hold her back. Marta gave her a look that read: 'Just… wait.' And so she did as they waited for the next words exchanged.
But the following words exchanged were too hushed and too polite to be heard all the way to the waiting living room. Marlene was worried she might be breathing too hard and maybe they couldn't hear anything because of it. Taking precaution, she held her breath and tried to lock eyes with anyone who would explain to her what was going on. But it all seemed to begin to make sense. In a moment of embarrassment for her own lack of enlightenment and cleverness, she realized why exactly Sirius Black had entered their holiday home in Point Coquille battered and splinched.
Suddenly, there was an elevation in the voices and a scuffling of feet. It was then that Egbert McKinnon made his way abruptly out of the living and into the foyer where the voices were growing louder. Marta's grasp on Euphemia's wrist tightened.
"Orion. See reason—" Fleamont tried.
"Potter. This is the last time I will offer you my courteousy. I've come to collect what's mine." Orion's voice had fought its way through the foyer where his presence was very much known.
"I have to echo Fleamont's call for civility." The tone of diplomacy her father took was one Marlene had recognized too well.
"This doesn't concern you, McKinnon." Orion said with much more force, the politeness evidently stripping from his one smooth tone.
"Marlene, go upstairs." She heard her mother call to her coldly and frantically. Marlene turned her attention to her mother suddenly. Marta's stoic nature could not betray the tone Marlene had heard twice this past week. She sat stiffly and gestured to the staircase at the end of the room right past the opening to the foyer.
She had opened her mouth to protest but she knew better. Instead, Marlene had gathered herself from the armchair and picked up her book, but before she could move anywhere near the staircase had promptly strode in through the foyer. Immediately, Edmund stuck and arm out to stop her from moving any further. Orion Black stood before them, in front of the staircase Marlene had been instructed to go up just second before. Regardless, Marlene had frozen at the sight of the older Black.
Orion Black had the presence that demanded and commanded attention. In all black he stood tall, lean, and intimidating. There was a twisting fear in Marlene's chest where she could feel the breath she had been holding in. The similarities in the lines of Orion's face were disturbingly similar to that of the undeniably haughty aristocratic features of Sirius'. Orion's ebony hair, although greying and thinning, and his cold grey eyes were inexplicably the same.
"Where is he?" Orion hissed after taking one sweeping look around the living room. When the room and its inhabitants failed to give him his answer Orion's face, once so convincingly similar to Sirius', had become distinguishable by its raw rage.
"BOY!" He bellowed suddenly. Marlene has instinctively taken a step backwards. Her heart was hammering in her ears. Why wasn't anyone saying anything? Did he come for Sirius? Euphemia was now walking towards Orion with her face equally displaying her vexation.
"Orion, that's enough." Euphemia's direct and stern tone had no trace of the polite Euphemia Marlene grew up knowing. "You have done enough." Orion seemed to take her in finally, as his eyes ceased their search.
"He's here then." Orion said with much more calm. The impatience in his tone clearly peeking through. "Of course he is." He almost spat. Disgusted and irritated Orion looked up to the indoor balcony. He then looked to the staircase right below it temptingly before turning back to Fleamont.
"Bring him down here." Orion hissed and pointed a long finger harshly to the ground below him. "Or I will."
"You will do no such thing." Euphemia interjected furiously, but Fleamont stepped in.
"Orion. You cannot force the boy to leave with you. He won't. And you know it." Fleamont said. "He'll be of age soon. He's just going to find his way back."
"BOY!" Orion bellowed one more time. Just as his knock, the second time was a warning. Marlene took another involuntary step backwards and looked up to the indoor balcony. She could see James appear and peer over from the gallery. His usually gentle and boyish expression was set in harsh heated lines. Then, before she could take in the peculiarities in the people she thought she had known so well, from her mother's frantic tone, Edmund's poor posture, and James' red face— Marlene's breath caught in her throat as she saw another figure appear next to James. Peering down at the scene was the unspoken entity, looking better than the previous week but just as worn. Sirius Black with a livid look across the face. He quickly turned around and was making his way towards the staircase.
James looked frantically to stop him, "Sirius. Stop." And hurried after him down the flight of stairs.
Marlene hadn't noticed but she had stopped breathing almost entirely watching the scene unfold. Her eyes were darting from the elder wizards trying to calm the situation to the new figures descending the stairs.
A tense silence lay heavy on the room as Sirius took the final steps into the living room. Euphemia had moved towards Sirius, a softened look of her vexation present as she tried to get him back upstairs in bed. Sirius, in all Marlene's years of watching his interaction with Euphemia, had never paid her the amount of disrespect as he had then. He completely disregarded her, it was as if he had drowned out everyone in the room except for the looming figure set on him.
"What are you doing here?" Sirius hissed out with as much venom as he could muster. He stood tensely in front of the elder figure who seemed to almost mirror him in every fashion. From the manner they stood, looked, and spoke. Sirius wavered slightly, pale, but not ghostly. Orion almost smirked, and a nauseated feeling overcame Marlene. How could he smirk? Did he not notice he was standing in front of his injured son? Her stomach turned at another realization, one that she would not be able to blink away for years to come. She couldn't help but notice how much Orion smirking resembled a smug Sirius.
"I knew I'd find you here." Orion drawled. "That's how much of a man you've become." He almost muttered, but took too much pleasure in letting everyone hear. He accentuated every word.
Sirius didn't waver, as if the sentence had waved over him. He stared his father down. "I asked you. What are you doing here?" he said once more with much force. The second time, Marlene had learned, was a warning.
"I'm here to bring you home. To salvage the last bit of dignity of the family name you've taken too much pleasure dragging through the mud." Orion pressed. Both Black men were staring at each other as if two livid and guarded dogs meeting for the first time. Any sudden movement or noise would cause one or the other to jump.
There was beat of silence then Sirius did the unthinkable. He let out a loud chorus of barking laughter.
"Ho-home? Are you—are you mad? No. No. Don't answer that. I'm pretty sure I've got the answer to it." He said between breaths, "That's what years of inbreeding has done to the Black name. If you want to talk about lack of dignity to the family name, I think marrying cousins off to one another is a far bigger issue."
Orion snapped and his wand was flush against Sirius' throat, the chorus of laughter dying immediately. Marlene gasped and brought her hands up to her mouth in a foolish attempt to rectify her carelessness. Her wide brown eyes looked to James who was being held back by a furious Fleamont. Marlene wasn't sure when, but at some point Edmund had taken out his wand and was now almost fully blocking her view of Orion.
"Orion! That is enough!" Fleamont barked.
"Do it, old man." Sirius growled. "I know you want to. Do it, because there is no chance I am ever going back to that sick house."
"You will thank these people for their time, Sirius, and you will COME home with me and fix what you have so happily broken!" Orion was disturbingly close to Sirius' face. Orion's was red, his teeth bared in an animalistic fashion, and growling down at his son. His patience had run up, the faux politeness was entirely stripped away, and now he was ready to take Sirius kicking and screaming if he had to.
Marlene knew that Sirius was a ridiculously unpredictable character, creative at that, but he had never stopped surprising those in the room. Which is why, Sirius cocked his head back and spat with much vigour right in Orion's red face. Without a second thought and much time to stop him, Orion had bellowed out a curse and Sirius flew back into a side table.
"DON'T!"
The strangling cry had come from Marlene and it had stunned her as much as it had stunned everyone in the room with the little attention they could afford to give it. The only reason she knew it had been her, has been the hot tears in her eyes from the harsh scratching in her throat he scream had struggled out of.
Euphemia had rushed to Sirius' side as Marlene's cry had distracted Orion enough. Edmund's arm stuck out again and harshly pressed against Marlene, keeping her back as much as possible.
"GET OUT!" Euphemia bellowed from kneeling next to Sirius. He was attempting to shuffle to his feet now. The elder witch looked up to Orion with a rage that should not be rivalled, "GET OUT!" The scream scratched the surface of her chest before her frail frame began shaking. Sirius was struggling to hold himself up against the wall behind him. His grey eyes met Orion's, but there was no telling what Sirius was looking at or what he was searching for. Wouldn't it be hard to see through the foggy rage burning his vision?
"You heard, Mrs. Potter." This time it was Edmund's voice that took the room by surprise. Calm, calculative, but the edge in his tone was hard to miss.
"Leave now, Orion." Fleamont echoed. He stepped up around the wizard to block his view of Euphemia and Sirius. James, who was red and heaving a heavy chest, was now being held back by Egbert. Fleamont who was usually such a light and kind wizard was bordering on vicious. His own wand out as he stared down Orion.
The harsh pattering rain.
The loud howl of the wind.
The crashing of the sea.
It was as if Orion had finally taken in the room and the number of wands in it. He lowered his wand and did away with it as if he had never had any intention of using it.
"Keep him." Orion spat. "He's no use to us. Or anyone, for that matter." He gave Sirius one more look over as he would a pile of rubbish on the pavement.
"Again, I apologize for the hour." And with that Orion turned to leave but not before stopping and looking over his shoulder, "I won't forget this, Potter." Orion, along with the attention his presence once demanded, had disappeared as he stalked out.
The room remained silent as the words hung heavy. But Euphemia and James were already busying themselves with helping Sirius get up. He asked them to stop fussing over him as he limped straight back up the stairs, looking at no one as he did so.
Marlene watched as James and Euphemia followed suit up the stairs. Marlene realized why exactly Sirius Black had entered their holiday home in Point Coquille battered and hurt. Sirius was more than just the outcast of his family. It was much worse. He was their heretic.
So crawl on my belly 'til the sun goes down
I'll never wear your broken crown
I took the road and I fucked it all away
Now in this twilight, how dare you speak of grace
Broken Crown – Mumford & Sons