Title: Glass Hearts
Rating (of chapter): PG-13
Summary: Marlene and Mary go to a Hobgoblins concert and run into Sirius' brother. There's also a murder of a Hogwarts student family member.
--
Mary decided that her and Marlene were best friends for some very good reasons. They had gone to Hogsmeade to buy clothes, spending their parents's money, and then come back at Mary's place to get ready. After fooling around in the bathroom with beauty charms and their hair for an hour, they left with Mary's dad to the Hobgoblins concert.
Like the Quidditch game, they separated from Mary's dad as soon as they could. Mary and Marlene made their way to the front of the crowd, close to the stage. The Hobgoblins were a popular rock band with some of the most attractive young men Mary had ever seen. They had been featured in Witch Weekly earlier on this summer.
The two of them danced and enjoyed the music. By the end of the concert, Mary's voice was hoarse. They went backstage with her dad while the band was cleaning up. Mary saw a few familiar people in the back room; Celestina Warbeck, Regulus Black. "Isn't that Sirius's brother?" Mary asked Marlene quietly as they got a few drinks from a table in the back.
"Yeah," Marlene said.
Mary took a sip of butterbeer, watching him across from the room. She had heard that Regulus was there with her brother the night he was arrested. She fleetingly wondered if Regulus knew where he was now. After a moment, Evan Rosier joined him. Mary rolled her eyes, looking away. "Of course Slytherins have to be here," she said.
Marlene smirked. "I don't get why Regulus even hangs out with them," she said.
"Why wouldn't he?" Mary asked. "He's a Slytherin from a pureblood family."
"Point," Marlene said.
The band came in, bringing cheers and applause from the inhabitants of the room. The singer, Stubby Boardman, smiled modestly and made his way over to the drinks table where Marlene and Mary stood. He wore Muggle clothes; torn jeans and a leather jacket. "Ladies," he said, nodding to them.
"Nice job tonight," Marlene said.
"You guys are wicked," Mary added. She put out her hand. "I'm Mary."
"Nice to meet you," Stubby said, shaking her hand. He took a drink of his water and looked at Marlene.
"I'm Marlene," she said in response to his unasked question.
"Marlene and Mary," Stubby said, nodding his head approvingly. "Mmmm."
An hour later, they were still hanging out backstage. Mary was sharing a cigarette with Stubby Boardman, her legs draped over his lap casually. Marlene was talking with the guitarist about the latest Quidditch games. Stubby's hands were on Mary's legs, his fingers drumming a beat.
Evan Rosier and Regulus Black walked over to them and sat on the couch which sat across from them. Mary gave them a look of cool dislike, exhaling her smoke. "Evan," Stubby said. He leaned forward and shook Rosier's hand. "How long have you been here, mate?"
"At least an hour," Rosier said. "Have you met Reg?"
Stubby shook his head, nodding to Regulus. "Wotcher," he said.
"Regulus Black," Rosier said, clapping him on the back.
"Ah," Stubby said. "Your brother's Sirius."
Regulus sighed. "I just can't escape him," he said.
"We hung out at my concert in Wales," Stubby said. "Him and his friend James."
"They're in my year at Hogwarts," Mary put in, wanting some of the attention back.
"Are you a Gryffindor, too?" Stubby asked.
Mary nodded proudly. Rosier scoffed. He looked at Stubby, raising his eyebrows. "You like 'em?" he asked.
"Yeah, they're pretty cool," Stubby said.
"We all got into a fight a few months ago," Rosier said.
"House rivalry?" Stubby asked, taking a drink of his firewhiskey.
"Something like that," Rosier said. He looked at Mary. "What was it again, MacDonald?"
"He called your father a bastard," Mary said shortly.
"Right," Rosier said.
"I think I recall Sirius taking you out with a Body-Bind Curse," Mary said. She gave him a smug smile. "Right?"
Rosier glared at her as Mary took another drag of her cigarette. "I think I recall your brother taking someone out with a Killing Curse last week," he said. "But I could have been mistaken."
"You're a real arsehole, you know that?" Marlene yelled at him.
Mary looked away, gritting her teeth and finishing off her cigarette. She fought back tears; she wasn't going to cry in front of Rosier and Black, no way in hell.
"All right, all right," Stubby said loudly before Rosier could respond. "The backstage of a rock concert is no place to fight. It's a place to party. Firewhiskey, anyone?"
There was a moment of tense silence. Mary looked back at the Slytherin boys. Rosier had a smirk on his face. "I'll take some," he told Stubby.
"Let's play a drinking game," Marlene suggested.
"Auror's daughters drink?" Rosier asked.
"Your dad's an Auror?" the guitarist next to Marlene asked.
"Christopher McKinnon," Marlene said proudly.
"How do you play?" Mary asked.
"When it's your turn, you say something you've never done," Marlene began to explain. "If other people have done it, they have to take a drink. And it has to be something you're capable of doing - not something like I've never been a boy. It's fun, I played it with Sirius last Christmas."
"At Andromeda's party?" Mary asked.
Regulus scoffed, rolling his eyes. "You two went to that?" he asked.
Marlene gasped a little bit. "He speaks!" she exclaimed.
"Very funny," Regulus said.
"Yeah, we were invited," Mary said. "It was pretty cool."
"Okay, I'll go first," Marlene said before any nasty comments could be made. "I've never smoked gillyweed."
And the game was off.
Fortunately for everyone's sanity, Rosier left half an hour later. He was hurling sarcastic comments here and there, and Marlene was about to hex his head off. Everyone was a bit tipsy, but they continued the game on for a while. After a while, they were sitting around. "Firewhiskey is heaven," Regulus said. He was leaning back on the couch, his eyes closed.
Mary leaned up against Stubby, smiling at him. "You're really . . . sexy," she said softly.
Stubby smiled back at her. He kissed her. He caught her a bit off guard, but she didn't mind. She leaned into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck. It was a bit sloppy, both of them a little drunk, but hell, she was snogging a rockstar.
After a few minutes, there was a flash. Mary pulled away. There was a woman with a camera standing at the end of the couch they were on. She had a small badge on his shirt that said Witch Weekly. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"Don't worry, she's just a reporter," Stubby said.
Stubby persuaded her into ignoring the reporter, despite the fact that Mary knew something was wrong with the situation.
Half an hour later, they were still on the couch. "Hey, do you want to go to my hotel room?" Stubby asked Mary, his voice low.
Mary gave him a sly smile. "Maybe," she said. She looked over at Marlene, who was still talking to the guitarist and Regulus. Stubby led his hand up her thigh. "Hey, Marlene, I'm going to go to Stubby's hotel room."
Marlene looked at her. "What?" she said incredulously.
"His hotel room," Mary said. "Just stay here until we get back."
Stubby pulled Mary up off of the couch, grinning. Marlene stood up as well, taking Mary's other arm. "No," she said. "We need to go home."
Stubby looked at Marlene with a confused look on his face. "Oh, come on," he said. "Don't spoil the fun."
Marlene glared at him, pulling Mary away from him. "Sorry, Stubby," she said. "Maybe some other night."
Mary paused, looking over her shoulder at Stubby. "Goodnight," she said, smiling at him.
Stubby looked extremely disappointed, as did the guitarist on the other couch. Marlene marched out of the backstage room, pulling Mary along with her. "How on earth are we going to get home?" Marlene muttered to herself.
--
Jewel walked down the steps, rubbing her eyes. She got unto the ground floor of Andromeda's house. She walked into the kitchen and was greeted with an interesting sight. Juniper sat at the table with an issue of Witch Weekly in her hand, and Sirius and James were huddled behind her. Jewel raised her eyebrows. Remus, who sat at the other end of the table, gave her an amused look. Peter had his head down on the table, and he appeared to be sleeping.
"What's the gossip today?" Jewel asked.
"Mary and Marlene," Juniper said. "They were at the Hobgoblins concert last night, and Mary was snogging Stubby Boardman."
"The main singer?" Jewel asked. She began to look around the kitchen. There were eggs cooking, the toaster had bread in it, and knives were chopping vegetables. "This looks good. Who's cooking?"
"Sirius is," James said.
"You know how to cook?" Jewel asked, slightly surprised.
"It says Mary was sleeping with Paul Brendell, too," Juniper said.
"Paul Brendell?" Jewel said.
"That dirtbag," James said, shaking his head. He walked away from Juniper, stretching his arms above his head. "Come on, Sirius, I'm hungry."
Sirius was reading the article over Juniper's shoulder. Jewel walked over to see what was so interesting. The headline of the article was Are Gryffindor Girls Getting Into Too Much Trouble? There was a picture of Mary MacDonald snogging Stubby Boardman. The second picture tipped Jewel off to why Sirius was so interested. Marlene McKinnon sat next to the the guitarist of the Hobgoblins and none other than Regulus Black. The three of them were laughing, and Marlene pushed Regulus's shoulder lightly. She had a bottle of firewhiskey in her hand.
"That's your brother," Jewel stated.
"Thank you, Miss Obvious," Sirius said. He walked past her to the stove.
Jewel rolled her eyes at Remus, who smiled at her. His light brown hair was slightly messy. She realized Sirius was in his boxers and James wore pajama pants. It looked like she was the only one who had bothered getting dressed that morning. "So, is this pajama breakfast?" she asked.
"Didn't you get the owl?" James asked, sitting on the counter.
"Where are Andromeda and Ted?" Jewel asked.
"They had to go to Ted's parents' house," Remus told her.
"They left us here? Alone?" Jewel asked.
"Crazy, huh?" James said. "You guys want to go to the lake at one?"
Jewel looked at the clock. It was ten o'clock now. "One sounds good," she said. "Or even noon."
"I forgot a bathing suit," Juniper said with a frown.
"You don't have to wear anything, technically," James said.
Juniper shot him a glare. "I can Apparate home quick and get it," she said. "Sorry, James. Maybe some other girl will go swimming in her starkers with you."
"Maybe," James said with a shrug.
--
If there was anything Sirius would miss about James's house, it would be the river by his house. Of course, he didn't know when he would move out. Hopefully later rather than sooner. Although getting his own flat next summer would be ideal, he knew he would miss the Potters.
Jewel was laying on her back next to him, looking up at the August sky over them. It was cooling down, but it was still hot. Sirius sat on the riverbank, dipping his toes in the river. They only had about a week left until the start of their seventh and last year at Hogwarts. Sirius felt mixed feelings of anticipation and sadness. The summer was ending, and it would be their last summer they would spend on vacation between school years. He was excited for his last year at Hogwarts; he was sure it would be the best of all seven of them. And then he would go on to the adult world, hopefully into Auror training.
Sirius turned to look at Jewel, who had been working at an orphanage the Ministry had set up recently. There were about twenty kids there, children whose parents had been killed, children whose parents had abandoned them. Jewel said that over the last month, kids were shuffled in and out while the Ministry searched for a home for them.
Sirius lay back next to Jewel. Sometimes he couldn't work the two of them out. Honestly, the first five or six months of their relationship hadn't been very serious. Although they called each other boyfriend and girlfriend, they weren't all that exclusive. He hadn't even really gotten to know her until around Valentine's Day. Maybe some of the charm from their prank still had effect on him.
"I can't believe it's almost the end of the summer," Sirius said. "It flew by."
"Yeah," Jewel said. "It was crazy."
"Seventh year is almost here," Sirius said.
"We're going to have to grow up," Jewel replied.
"But not yet," Sirius said.
--
Lily yawned at the breakfast table as she stirred her oatmeal. An owl came in with the paper. She gave him a knut, and he left the kitchen. Good thing Petunia wasn't around. She hated owls. Petunia avoided being in the same room with Lily for more than five minutes, though. She opened the paper and looked at the front article.
OGDEN'S FAMILY THREATENED BY DEATH EATERS
Harver Ogden, voted less than a year ago to be the acting Minister of Magic, has reported that Death Eaters threatened to kill his family if he did not listen to their requests. The threats started in December and carried on through until recently. Having recently told his wife, he and his family decided to face the Death Eater's threats head on. His family has fled the country and Ogden has taken control of the Ministry back into his own hands.
Ogden explains this was his reason for a number of moves thought questionable by the general wizarding body, including taking certain rights from Aurors and Hit-Wizards. Until yesterday, Aurors and Hit-Wizards could only report to a crime scene if specifically called. They did not have the right to intervene in attacks. They were also not being paid overtime, even though the average Auror and Hit-Wizard works eighty hours a week. There were also plans to take the priveleges of the Ministry-paid healthcare St. Mungo's offers away from all immediate family members of the employees of the Magical Law Enforcement Department.
Ogden claims he is "tired of living in fear" and wishes to "administer the correct rights to the men and women fighting for our safety." He continued to say, "The only way this war will end is if we do not cave in to fear of You-Know-Who and his followers, but face them head-on."
His family's safety is in question, of course. Death Eaters usually follow through on their threats, but we hope that Ogden's wife and two children, both younger than twelve, will live beyond these death threats. There is also the question of Ogden's extended family, including his mother, his sister, and his sister's family. Ogden himself now has two personal bodyguards as opposed to previously only one.
Lily read through the article, riveted. Harver Ogden was Candace's uncle. She ran upstairs and wrote a quick owl to Candace.
Candace,
I read the article about your uncle. You're all right? I'll see you in a week, but I just want to make sure you're safe.
Love,
Lily
--
Candace was cooking dinner when they came.
Her parents sat in the living room, playing card games. The Auror who had been assigned to protect them sat at the kitchen table, reading the Daily Prophet. The sun was setting outside, casting shadows on their lawn. Humming to the WWN, Candace waved her wand towards the potatoes. She was getting the hand of cooking with magic. She watched as the knife cut the potatoes, smiling approvingly.
The Auror - his name was Trent Hartford - stood up quickly, whipping out his wand. He sent a silver stream of smoke out of the tip of his wand.
As soon as it was gone, there was a series of pops! Candace let out a scream as three hooded men Apparated into their kitchen. How had they broken through the wards?
The Auror immediately started dueling with them. Candace ducked down behind the kitchen island when one of the Death Eaters threw a spell at her. She heard her parents yelling, her dad joining the duel. When a Death Eater ran around the island, Candace did the first thing that came to her mind; hexed the knife towards him. It stabbed him in the stomach. She kicked him in the back of his legs, knocking him over, and then pointed his wand at him to Stun him.
Before she could, though, another Death Eater grabbed her from behind. She let out a scream, starting to kick and fight against her captor, but he pointed her wand at her neck, digging the tip into her throat.
"I'll kill her," the Death Eater yelled.
The spells stopped for a moment. The third Death Eater and Hartford stood still, their wands pointed at each other.
Candace's mum sat by the kitchen table, her husband's head in her lap. She was sobbing; he was motionless. Candace's heart slammed against her ribs. "Dad!" she exclaimed.
"Shut up!" the Death Eater said, jabbing her with his wand. "Drop your wand, Hartford, or I'll kill her."
"Don't please!" Candace's mum yelled.
Hartford paused. He looked at Candace, then back at the Death Eater. He put his wand on the kitchen island, holding his hands up in surrender.
Candace's captor let out a harsh laugh. "Now that we've taken care of him," he said, "bring Ogden here."
"What?" Hartford asked.
"Bring him here!" her captor shouted.
Tears started to stream down Candace's cheeks. Not her dad . . . oh please, let him not be dead. Just hurt, just Stunned, not dead. All reason and logical thinking fought against her heart and emotions.
"I don't have any way -" Harford began.
"Crucio!"
Candace was overtaken by unbearable pain. She wasn't aware that her body dropped out of the Death Eater's arms or that her mother was screaming, her mind was focused only on the knives stabbing into her body.
Suddenly, it stopped. Candace lay on the ground, panting, crying. Her mum was sobbing across the kitchen, and Hartford glared at the Death Eater standing over Candace. "Please," Candace's mum pleaded. "Please, leave her alone. She's only a child."
"Only a child?" the Death Eater repeated. He looked down at Candace. "How old are you, missy?"
"Seventeen," Candace panted.
"Obviously old enough to send her knife into my colleague's stomach," Death Eater said, kicking her in the side. Candace winced, closing her eyes. He pointed his wand at her again. "Hartford, I'm not going to tell you again. I want Ogden here now. I want him to understand that the Dark Lord does not give threats he will not carry out should the circumstances call for it. I want him to understand that until he does what the Dark Lord wants, every person in his family will die until he is the only one left. And I want him to understand that if he still isn't cooperating after we kill everyone he cares about, we'll kill him, too."
Hartford glared at the Death Eater. "I can't contact Ogden," he said loudly.
"Crucio!"
Candace felt the pain again. She let out screams, overpowering her mother's. She cringed on the ground, trying to bear it. It stopped again. Candace let out a sob. "Shut your mouth!" the second Death Eater yelled at her mum.
Her mum covered her mouth, sobbing quietly. Candace looked at her mum, meeting her eyes. "I'm all right, mum," she said.
"I'll ask you one more time," the man standing over Candace said to Hartford. "Get Ogden here."
There were more pops! In a frantic moment, Candace was sure she was going to die. Then she realized the newly Apparated people were fighting against the Death Eaters. Candace made a grap for her wand while spells flew around above her head. The two able Death Eaters were now outnumbered. There was a green light, killing the man who had taken Candace captive. Candace Stunned the man who was stabbed, who had been trying to duel against a boy with blonde curls. After a second look, Candace realized it was Frank Longbottom.
A dark woman battled the third Death Eater on the ground with Hartford by her side. He was soon Stunned on the ground. Candace ran to her parents. "Is he alive, mum?" she asked.
Her mum began sobbing again. Candace's worst fears were confirmed as her mum shook her head. Candace grabbed her dad by the shoulders, shaking him. "Dad, dad, dad," she said, tears streaming down her face and blurring her vision.
Candace put her face by her dad's, sobs emitting from her body. Her mum's wails filled the kitchen. Candace sat up, wrapping her arms around her mum and crying into her shoulder.
The three members of the Order of the Phoenix watched silently. Dorcas shook her head. "That's one thing I won't get used to," she said quietly.
--
A/N: I swayed from the main characters for most of this chapter, but seventh year is coming up!! There will be tension between James and Lily, the war intensifies, trouble brews for Sirius and Jewel, and more! I made a new story, so please subscribe for updates: fanfiction .net/s/5577126/1/Glass_Hearts_the_Seventh_Year