Sunday morning came far too quickly for Marlene. She couldn't remember what time she had finally fallen asleep but she had awoken at quarter to five in the morning when the portrait hole opened and the boys returned rather loudly from whatever they had been up to.

"A bit late to be getting in don't you think?" she said sleepily with slight agitation from her uncomfortable position in the chair she had awoken in.

"Says the girl who's still awake," James said simply.

"You woke me up," she huffed as she gathered up her book and made for the girls staircase. She was too tired to properly register the conversation and when she awoke a few hours later in the comfort of her bed it had become a foggy memory.

"I'm going to sleep a bit longer," she mumbled to Lily and Mary when they had pestered her into rolling out of bed. "I didn't sleep well last night."

Luckily Lily must have understood and did not continue to press the matter in her usual fashion. Mary was famous for sleeping in through breakfast so she was happy to oblige and return the favor.

"Don't sleep in too much or you'll miss lunch too," Lily said with humor. Marlene resisted throwing her pillow at their retreating figures out the door.

When she awoke later the clock registered that it was ten in the morning and she had indeed missed breakfast. She didn't feel hungry so she wasn't panicked by this fact. She lay in bed for an additional twenty minutes or so before finally dragging herself out to shower.

Lily and Mary were not in the common room when she sauntered down. She wasn't surprised to see that there were only a handful of students in the chairs; most of them were seventh years most likely studying extra hours in preparation for their upcoming N.E.W.T.s. A notice on the billboard caught her eye and she casually walked over to it for a better look.

It was a Hogsmeade notice for Valentine's Day. Marlene's stomach sank a bit as she realized what this meant for her. Bert was due to be discharged from the hospital wing, if he hadn't already, and she was not going to be able to avoid the situation forever. Would she want to go with him? She really didn't feel like she had much time to figure things out.

After she realized that she still had a bit of time before lunch she decided to head to the library in search of her friends. The library was fairly empty so it made it quite easy for Marlene to determine that the girls had not opted for an extra study session and she was left puzzled as to where they might have disappeared to.

Marlene began wandering the nearly empty corridors in contemplative silence. She rather enjoyed the peaceful walk; it allowed her to continue piecing together what exactly her next move ought to be. She passed through a corridor with magnificent windows that overlooked the courtyard and for the first time of the day she was actually drawn to admire the weather outside.

The sun was shining brightly and even though there was a thin blanket of snow on the ground, many of the students that were enjoying the warm day were only wearing thin sweaters. There were many students lounging by the great lake, some were out for a walk and a few even seemed engaged in the muggle tradition of building a snowman. Of course, upon closer inspection, the snowman began coming to life and Marlene watched in amusement as two of them began dueling with the tree branches they had been provided.

Lily's red hair was not hard to miss. Marlene found them rather easily as they had taken up a spot under a large oak tree by the great lake. It had become a favorite spot for the girls last spring and quite often they had spent their afternoon and evenings studying and reading under its shade.

"I saved you a muffin," Mary offered a blueberry muffin from her book bag when Marlene had joined them. Marlene politely thanked her for her kindness but still didn't feel all that hungry. She picked at the muffin top a bit, taking a few bites before giving up completely and tossing the remnants into her pocket.

"Did you see the notice they posted this morning?" Mary asked suggestively and Marlene felt another wave of nausea hit her. She attempted to smile feebly which was not missed.

"Did I miss something?" Mary asked questioningly, her brows had creased slightly.

"Um," Marlene started before divulging the information she had provided with Lily the night before, strategically leaving out anything that pertained to Black.

"It's Black, isn't it?" Mary was quick to conclude.

Marlene sighed heavily. Was she that obvious? It seemed as though her best friends had picked up on her feelings long before the thought had even crossed her mind and she couldn't help but feel annoyed at her obviousness.

She decided to voice this to them.

"I wouldn't say you're being obvious," Lily stated blatantly. Mary nodded in agreement. "We just know you really well and you should see the way you two interact with each other."

"What does that mean?" Marlene felt helpless.

"It means that the two of you would make a very cute couple," Mary added brightly. Marlene groaned.

"Well it doesn't matter anyways," she slumped against the large trunk of the tree. She started twirling a piece of her hair between her fingers in contemplation. "I'll admit that I have feelings for him but it doesn't change anything."

"What do you mean, it doesn't change anything?" Mary looked confused. "You're going to break up with Bert aren't you?"

Marlene shrugged her shoulders. She still hadn't worked that much out yet.

"You can't possibly keep leading him on if you don't like him," Mary said with sheer shock.

"I do like him," Marlene said with slight annoyance. She couldn't tell if she was lying or not.

"Just be careful," Lily added wisely. "These situations never end well."

Marlene decided on the less intelligent way of handling her situation. She decided to ignore it and hope for the best. At dinner that evening she quickly hurried into the hall and sat with her back to the Hufflepuff table so as to avoid Bert. She was even lucky enough to finish her supper quickly and hurried out of the great hall before he had had the chance to approach her.

"If he asks can you please just make some excuse?" Marlene pleaded quietly in between a mouthful of mashed potatoes. Lily didn't look overly impressed but she had agreed to this request.

She must have looked like a bit of a disaster having only spent about ten minutes shoveling down the food on her plate. Her stride could have been easily confused for a slight jog as she dashed out of the hall and through the corridors into the safety of the common room.

She was even lucky enough to not run into the Gryffindor boys that evening either. Having decided that fate was not on her side this time she decided to leave nothing to chance and holed herself up in the dormitory for the rest of the evening, surrounded by a large pile of homework and textbooks.

"I am going to get this all done," she said with determination when Mary looked at the stack of books surrounding her bed. "I have no distractions tonight."

"Good for you," Lily said approvingly but even she seemed a bit dubious that Marlene was handling her situation properly.

Despite the amount of emotional stress that Marlene seemed to be experiencing, she was able to focus clearly on her assignments and had been quite proud at how much she had been able to accomplish. She hadn't quite managed to reach her goal of finishing everything but even Lily seemed impressed with how much she had actually managed to complete.

"I haven't even started this assignment," she admitted guiltily while looking over Marlene's Herbology essay. "I almost dare say it slipped my mind that Professor Sprout had even assigned this."

Even though Marlene had easily managed to avoid her predicament all day Sunday, she was faced with the daunting realization that Monday brought a whole new dilemma for her. Avoiding Bert at breakfast had been easy, he seemed completely absorbed in what appeared to be a last minute assignment or studying so he hadn't even tried to acknowledge when she had entered the great hall. He was still nose deep in his book when Marlene left for double potions but she was faced with an entirely new problem when she realized the empty seat next to Sirius was intended for her.

"Oh crap," she said sharply under her breath to Lily. She had forgotten they were assigned partners to each other.

Lily gave her a sympathetic look.

"You know I'd gladly trade partners if I could," Lily indicated to James who was sitting at the table in front of Sirius. He glanced up at the girls when they walked into the room and smiled at Lily before continuing on with his conversation with Black.

Marlene got the impression that Lily might only be half serious. The two of them had seemingly been doing really well at working with each other. James hadn't even asked her out once since they had been paired off with each other.

Lily gave James a small smile as she settled into the chair next to him and offered him a polite "Hello Potter."

Marlene took her seat next to Sirius. He didn't look up at her.

"Good morning," she muttered quietly. He replied with a simple nod.

They weren't able to avoid each other much longer and were quickly engaged in small chatter asking one another to pass ingredients or to continue stirring the potion while the other scribbled some notes. Marlene was happy that he had refrained from making any sort of harsh comments towards her potion making abilities and concluded that his previous attitude to her surely must have been from tension leading up to the Quidditch match.

Although, she still wasn't entirely sure he was over the fact that they had lost only two days ago.

Lily laughing interrupted Marlene's concentration. She glanced up to watch her friend interacting with a boy that, not so long ago, she wouldn't have been caught dead conversing with.

"I would have never thought of slicing it that way," James was saying with amusement. He was staring at Lily's precise cutting skills and Marlene noticed that she was straying from the written directions and instead dicing the sneezewort at a slight angle.

Lily seemed genuinely pleased at his praise to her potion making skills. A couple of months ago he would have been arrogantly trying to impress her. This Potter sitting in front of her seemed to have toned down the ego and was engaging in a polite and friendly conversation with her best friend. Lily seemed to be enjoying the exchange.

"Watch what you're doing McKinnon!" Sirius's voice snapped her back into reality and she realized that she had grabbed the scurvy grass instead of the lovage. Her hand was moving to dump the wrong ingredient into the cauldron.

"Oh," she cried at the realization of her mistake but it was too late to save a couple of the pieces that had slipped from her fingertips and into the bubbling mass below. She held her breath for a moment before the cauldron let out a groan and slowly churned into a brown mess.

"I'm so sorry," she said quickly to Sirius. She had been so used to his frustration during the last few classes that she was bracing herself for the storm that was sure to follow. In fact, she hadn't been paying attention this time so she truly did deserve a good scolding.

"It's no problem McKinnon," he cracked a bit of a smile. "It's just a potion."

Marlene felt dumbfounded. This was a completely different reaction than the one she had been expecting and it took a moment for her to realize that he wasn't angry with her over it.

"Oh okay," she finally replied. The damage had already been done to the potion; no matter what Sirius did to reconcile it he conceded that the potion was a flop. Professor Slughorn easily agreed with his disappointment when he walked by.

Bert was waiting for her outside of the potion classroom and he offered his trademark smile when she walked out. Marlene forced herself to return it but she could feel the knot in her stomach growing tighter.

The difference this time was that when she approached him he reached his hand out and entwined it with hers. She hadn't even thought of the possibility of this happening and hadn't prepared herself for it. She felt her face growing hot at the realization that every other student around them would suddenly know they were a couple. She was surely not getting out of this one easily.

She listened patiently to Bert talk about his N.E.W.T. preparation he had been busying himself with. She had even accepted his apology for his lack of attention on Sunday knowing full well that she had been avoiding him anyways. She pretended to understand and then she busied her thoughts into other things as he continued on about stuff she couldn't bring herself to focus on.

"I'll see you later," he said sweetly when they had reached the great hall. Marlene froze in a moment of panic as he leaned in towards her. Thinking quickly, she moved her head away from him and reached her arms up to squeeze him in a quick hug instead. When they pulled away he was smiling so she was fairly confident he hadn't noticed her aversion to the kiss.

"Nicely done," Mary laughed quietly when she had settled herself at the table.

"Sod off," Marlene snapped back and was rewarded with a string of giggles from the girls sitting across from her.

The rest of the week followed a similar fashion. Sirius was ignoring her; or perhaps he wasn't and Marlene had forgotten what life was like before Sirius Black had given her the time of day. She couldn't be certain other than the fact that he only spoke to her in Potions and seemed mostly indifferent when he did.

Bert continued to meet with her after class. She was able to avoid the Hogsmeade question but still hadn't managed to figure out what she wanted to do about her situation. Lily and Mary were constantly reminding her about it, asking every so often if she had made a decision.

"No," was her answer each time.

She had been lucky that he had immersed himself in N.E.W.T. pressures and didn't seem to have much time to spend with her other than the occasional walk between classes. For this, he was constantly apologizing. Marlene insisted to him that it was fine, secretly relieved that she could put it off for another day.

"Hey Evans," Marlene tensed up a bit. The girls were spending their Friday evening in the common room in a mix of studying, girl chat and muggle card games. She hadn't even noticed James approach their table. He had been on such a nice roll during the course of January, Marlene almost felt disappointed that he was going to put Lily into a foul mood at the beginning of their weekend.

"Yes Potter," Lily sounded civil. She didn't even seem fazed that James Potter was standing beside her.

"So it's my mom's birthday coming up and after all the stuff she's done for me and Sirius over the past year I really wanted to get her something special."

This was not what Marlene was expecting.

"Right," Lily said "you had mentioned that the other day."

Mary exchanged a curious glance with Marlene. Neither of them, apparently, was quite sure what was going on.

"Naturally, me being such an amazing son, I need to make sure that I get the perfect gift. She's really been into muggle stuff lately and I figured you might be able to assist Sirius and me with some ideas. We're planning on going on the next trip to Hogsmeade and I was hoping that if the three of you ladies were going you might be willing to stop into the muggle shop with us and point out a few things."

Lily seemed to contemplate his offer.

"Of course I won't steal you away from these lovely ladies," James winked at the other two girls. His natural charm was very becoming. "It'll only take a few minutes and you can even just jot down a few items on a list for me and I can look for them myself. I'd really appreciate the help Evans; I know you have a knack for these sorts of things."

"I'll see if I can think of a few things," Lily said politely. She started shuffling the deck of cards in front of her. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to go to the shop or not, it'll all depend on what plans we have going on during the day but I will let you know."

"Excellent," James said happily. "Thanks a bunch Evans!"

As he was walking off Lily turned her head over her shoulder and shouted out to him.

"It's not a date, Potter!"

"Of course not," he replied back with a magnificent smile and a generous laugh. When Lily turned back to the card game she had a slight smile playing on her lips.

"Impressive," Mary mused humorously. Lily didn't acknowledge this.

Marlene had managed to avoid Bert for the weekend but by the time Monday morning rolled around, Lily was adamant that Marlene deal with the situation.

"I understand that you want to avoid a conflict," she said avidly, "but this has gone on long enough and sooner or later someone is going to get seriously hurt. Plus you haven't addressed your feelings towards another unnamed individual and I really think you ought to consider that factor while you parade around as someone else's girlfriend."

"Lily!" Marlene said breathlessly. Her head scanned around the hallway to make sure that nobody had heard her.

"Let her deal with it," Mary sided with Marlene but she, too, looked apprehensive.

"Would you mind letting me deal with my own business?" Marlene felt herself growing agitated. She appreciated her friend's concern but the pressure was making her feel worse about the situation. Looking for their approval was a daunting task.

"As long as you actually deal with it," Lily replied back but agreed to drop the subject. They had been walking towards the great hall for breakfast and Marlene had already had the subject lingering at the foremost of her mind since the previous night. She had always been a bit of a procrastinator; her imminent breakup was just like the Muggle Studies essay that she had neglected to work on during the weekend.

She had been toying with the idea of breaking up with him after breakfast; she knew that he would be headed towards muggle studies which would give her plenty of opportunity to talk with him as she walked her way to Potions. She had been planning out exactly what she would say to him before she chickened out at the idea and decided that before classes was the least desirable timing she could have. After classes seemed more promising but she ran the risk that he would ask her to Hogsmeade during their walk to lunch in which case would leave her unprepared to do it on the spot.

Marlene tried her best to drag out breakfast as she contemplated the right course of action. She barely paid any attention to the conversation her friends were having and they seemed extremely willing to let her entertain her thoughts.

The boys joined them shortly and Marlene had barely even been aware that Sirius had sat next to her.

She was vaguely snapped out of her thoughts when he waved his hand in front of her face.

"What?" she said distantly but she failed to listen to what his reply was.

"What's with McKinnon this morning?" she could hear James saying in the distance but she didn't care too much about the conversation that followed. She stabbed at the eggs on her plate, feeling no appetite to consume them and allowed her fork to absently swirl the pieces around.

She was only brought out of her reverie as the sound of the daily mail rushed into the great hall. A few dozen owls swooped around the room with their respective packages, dropping the parcels and whirring past student's heads in their head to exit.

A brown envelope dropped in front of her and landed atop of her battered eggs. The movement startled Marlene momentarily and she could feel herself jump back slightly as the brown owl buzzed past her, knocking her glass of orange juice over; the liquid immediately pouring down the edge of the table into her lap.

"Bloody owl!" she cried out while flinging herself to the side to avoid the stream of juice running off the side of the table and bumping Sirius in the process. "Sorry Black."

Lily had reached over with some napkins and attempted to mop up the puddle that had accumulated on the table and bench. Marlene was too busy wiping the spill from her uniform to pay much attention to anything else.

"They seem a bit frantic today don't they?" Mary mused quietly. She quickly engaged Peter back into the conversation they had been previously having.

Marlene's eyes focused back on her letter and she quickly threw down the soiled napkin to turn over the brown envelope. An elegant scrawl with her name embodied the front in handwriting she didn't recognize.

"Thought it might be from my mum," she said with disappointment. She hadn't heard from her parents in a few weeks and had been looking forward to hearing more about the upcoming nuptials of her cousin.

"I still haven't heard any more details about the wedding either," Lily said from beside her as if she had been reading her mind. "I think Mum and Dad are trying to convince Petunia to change her mind about the date."

"Wedding?" James asked curiously. Lily, to everyone's amazement, began filling him in on the details.

Marlene's attention to their conversation wore out quickly as she ripped the corners from the envelope and pulled out the neatly folded parchment from within. Her friend's animated conversation around her buzzed in her ears like a soft humming but their words lost meaning as she allowed her attention to focus completely on the letter in her hands.

He fingers trembled slightly as she attempted to hold the parchment in her grasp. She hadn't made it far down the letter before the neat and elegant scrawl of emerald ink began to lose focus and become a blur in front of her.

Dear Miss McKinnon,

We regret to inform you of the unspeakable attack of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named that occurred in the early hours of the morning in the district of North Hampton. It is with our deepest condolences to inform you that both David McKinnon and Molly McKinnon of 146 Esterley Road were victims to the attack and pronounced dead on the scene by arriving Ministry officials. We ask that you meet immediately with your Headmaster to seek further information pertaining to the next steps going forward.

Marlene couldn't read any further. There was a list of contacts below but the names didn't seem to matter much in the context of things. She had stayed quiet, she was aware that her friends were oblivious to her and she felt as if time had momentarily stopped. The seconds felt like an hour as she re-read through the letter in utmost disbelief.

"Oh that poor girl," she could hear Mary saying. A few frantic cries had rang out across the great hall; Marlene was able to register that much. Mary's focus had been shifted to Remus to look at a girl from the Ravenclaw table that had fallen to the floor in her despair.

"Marlene!" Sirius said disdainfully from beside her. She supposed that he had glanced over her shoulder at the parchment and perhaps was already aware of what was written on it. She didn't care much.

She couldn't speak. Her hands finally gave out and she dropped the letter back into the pile of eggs below her. She numbly felt herself grasp for her book bag and clumsily push her way from the table. Her bag caught on the edge of the bench and she could hear a couple of her text books fall and scatter the floor.

Lily was looking at her strangely. She appeared to be confused why Marlene was in such a hurry.

"What's the matter with you?" her lips were moving but Marlene could barely hear the words amongst the bitter cries echoing out from across the great hall. Marlene stumbled backwards and felt her elbow jab into someone still sitting as she whirled on her feet and attempted to flee.

"Marlene!" someone was yelling now but she didn't stop to connect who the voice belonged to. Very quickly she was running, pushing through various students that had begun exiting the hall. She was rough in her haste to exit. She could barely breathe and the mass of students seemed to be extracting all the oxygen from around her.

She broke out in a run, not entirely sure where her feet were taking her. Her eyes began to well with tears; the salty blobs of moisture made it nearly impossible for Marlene to focus on where she was headed. Somehow she managed to find the girls lavatory and pushed through the door into the empty room behind it.

She ran straight through the ghost of Moaning Myrtle as she flung her book bag to the ground, its contents scattering outwards, and felt herself sink down underneath one of the leaking taps into a puddle of water on the floor.

"That is completely rude," Myrtle was sniffling. Marlene grabbed one of her textbooks and chucked it at her in complete rage.

"NOBODY ASKED FOR YOUR OPINION!" she was screaming loudly. Her textbook flew straight through the ghost and smashed hard against the brick wall behind her. Myrtle began whining hysterically as she flushed herself into one of the toilets. A large splash ensued followed by an eerie silence.

Quite quickly Marlene broke out into a distress of sobs. She could barely focus on anything else; the cold puddle of water underneath her, the leaking tap above her head, the sound of running water and the noise of the hallway chatter outside the bathroom door were just a buzz of unrecognizable sounds, foreign to her ears.

Suddenly a pair of arms had wrapped around her and had forced her into a firm embrace. Marlene shoved her head into the chest of an unfamiliar male as he held her strongly uttering words of comfort to her that she could not hear. Her grip on his shirt tightened as she sobbed into it, his arms instinctively pulled her closer, pulling her from the puddle on the floor and into his lap. Marlene felt completely helpless as she allowed herself to completely lose herself in her despair; not quite caring who it was that she was allowing herself to be so vulnerable to.

"Marlene," the voice of Lily floated into her ears but the tears were so overwhelming that she could not see anything.

"You should just go to class," the male voice was saying, "I will make sure she's okay."

"She needs to see Professor Dumbledore," Lily was replying quietly but Marlene did not hear what else was said. There was silence apart from her desperate cries and her comforter had eased into a pattern of soft shushes and stroking her hair. Eventually after what seemed like hours Marlene felt as if she had completely depleted her energy supply. Her cries had slowly dissipated into soft, noiseless convulsions of her breathing and her eyelids, grown heavy, closed instinctively and allowed the darkness to take over her body.