A Marauder's Guide to Falling Forever

PART FOUR

Written by alliegrl


Chapter Fourteen

Cassandra's house sat in the same state as every other time Marlene had visited. Luckily the storm had not followed them, and a crisp wind without a single trace of snow christened the streets. Sirius seemed dazed, likely not expecting that Marlene was willing, or even capable for that matter, of apparating the both of them. She didn't even bother to account for all her body parts before running towards the uneven pathway.

"Marlene!" Sirius yelled after her, the sound of his voice caught in the wind and echoed. The wind whipped her hair behind her as she ran, breathless and determined, towards the glowing light that emitted from the first story window.

She smashed her hand against the door and she was rewarded with a loud crack of splintering wood. Sirius was beside her within seconds and his hand clasped around her shoulders to spin her around. She could tell that he was irritated.

"Are you going to tell me what is going on? I'd like to be prepared in case we are walking into something dangerous," he growled in a low undertone.

"Right," she said. She hadn't thought of that. She owed Sirius a minimal explanation so she breathed out very quickly, "I've been here before. This is what I've been doing for Dumbledore. There's no danger. At least, I don't think there is."

Without awaiting a reply, her body spun around to focus on the door. She brought her fist down against it again, even firmer this time indicating the urgency of her visit.

"Cassandra!" she yelled out, hopeful that the woman might hear her.

"It's important we get inside?" Sirius asked her. His irritation disintegrated as he quickly entered into Order business mode. He would expect answers later and she would deal with that when the night was over.

"Yes," she said hurriedly, though she couldn't explain to him, or even herself for that matter, why it was important to be inside the manor.

Sirius reached for the doorknob and Marlene warned him, "Alohormora won't work. Trust me, I've tried." He offered a peculiar sort of contemplation, then grabbed for the knob and twisted. Marlene didn't even care that they were preparing to break into the house without invitation. She needed to be inside, and it was nearing seven. To her surprise the door was unlocked and swung open effortlessly.

The dark hallway appeared foreboding and Sirius stepped in front of her as a shield. She scoffed at his chivalry and pushed him aside. "Lumos," she said, and the tip of her wand illuminated the pathway leading into the unpromising foyer. Quickly she entered and hurried towards the living room where a soft, subtle glow lit up the interior.

Her heart skipped a beat. The room with five odd walls bore no portraits, nor were the bookshelves filled with books and trinkets, even the chairs in the center of the room were no longer positioned to seat company. But even more disheartening was the peculiar cabinet, the sister to the cabinet nestled comfortably in Elphias Doge's study, and the fact that it was not there. The room was completely empty.

"No," she said with frustration. "No, no, no!"

"There's nothing here," Sirius said from behind her. He was scanning around the walls looking for something meaningful.

"Of course there's nothing here," she snapped. Sirius gave her a weary look but didn't seemed too irritated by her rude outburst. "There was a cabinet right there." She pointed a long, slender finger that shook anxiously towards the corner of the room where it had once stood.

"A cabinet?" he mused. "Was there something inside it?"

Marlene groaned. Sirius's presence did nothing to ease her frustration. She knew that it wasn't his fault because he was completely clueless to the significance of their visit. She wished in that moment that Dumbledore had allowed her to openly share her mission with others so that she wouldn't need to spend her time trying to explain now.

"Look I know this is frustrating for you too." She looked at him and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. "I wish I could tell you more about why we are in this room specifically, why this cabinet is so important, but I'm not sure that I could explain it even if I wanted to."

"I wish I could help you Marlene," he sighed. Sirius moved across the room towards the empty space where the cabinet should be. "I just wish I knew how."

"All I know is that I was supposed to be here at seven. There was a large cabinet in that corner and I was positive that I needed to see it again." Her legs felt weak and she dropped to her knees on the dusty floor.

Sirius stood a foot away from where the cabinet had once rested. He stared into the empty space for well over a minute before he spun around to look at Marlene; a look of triumph plastered to his unfairly handsome face.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Marlene asked wearily.

"I'm rather gifted when it comes to Charms," he said arrogantly while his smiled widened, causing Marlene to scowl.

"What does that have to do with anything?" she snapped.

"The brightest student to ever grace the hallways of Hogwarts," he continued.

"That's debateable. You do remember Lily, right?" She entertained him with a roll of her eyes.

Sirius laughed. "Your cabinet is still right here." He pointed his wand to the empty space and muttered an incantation. The space immediately revealed the same beat up, rusty cabinet she remembered.

"How –"

"Disillusionment charm," Sirius sounded smug. It was evident that his ego had followed them to Germany. Normally Marlene would have rolled her eyes or commented on his arrogance, but she pulled herself from the floor and flung her body across the room and right into his chest.

"Sirius, you're brilliant!"

"You're just realizing this now?" His chuckle vibrated in his ribcage. Marlene pulled away from his body and stepped around him to where the large wooden doors called out to her. Her fingertips reached for the handle and she hesitated.

What was she getting herself into? She brushed aside her reservations and grabbed hold of the metal knob. She pulled it open and...

Nothing. It was completely empty. One gigantic, empty space. Her chest deflated and all hope suddenly washed away.

"The passage to which you seek answers," she muttered under her breath. "The passage," she repeated again and she could sense Sirius beside her, peering inwards. All of a sudden it clicked. "The passage!"

"What are you going on about?"

"I need to go inside there." She pointed towards it and he let out a snort. She shot him a look and explained, "It's a passageway."

"This night keeps getting more interesting by the second," he laughed. "Alright then, let's go."

"You're not coming with me." Marlene put her hand to his chest to stop him from moving forward.

"Like hell I'm not." he frowned, the lines of his forehead deeply embedded into his skin made him look almost menacing. "If that is a passageway, then you have no idea where it leads. I'm coming with you."

"I'm not a weak thing you need to protect Sirius," she reprimanded him.

"I didn't think you were." There was a warning tone to his words. "You are perfectly capable of taking care of yourself Marlene, I think you've made that perfectly clear. But I'm not letting you put yourself in danger while I wait here twiddling my thumbs. It's better for both of us to be there, just in case."

He was right and she scowled.

"Okay fine," she huffed before climbing inside. His wicked grin was the last thing she saw as he clambered in beside her, squeezing all remaining space from within the compartment. And then he pulled the door closed behind him and they were engulfed in darkness.

His body moved with laughter. "Here we go then."

"So is something supposed to happen?"

Marlene was annoyed that Sirius still found the entire situation humorous. If only he knew, he definitely wouldn't be laughing. "Because I know so much about enchanted cabinets," she hissed.

They were both crammed into the limited space that was definitely not meant for more than one adult person. The flutter in her stomach indicated that she didn't mind, even if her head disagreed and screamed at her to remove herself from where she was pressed up against him. But of course, she couldn't because there was physically no room.

"It's awfully confined in here." His voice was smooth like velvet. He seemed to silently understand what she was thinking. "Sort of reminds me of the things kids do at Hogwarts after hours."

She could sense rather than see him grinning indecently at the insinuation.

"Maybe we should try it out," he whispered into her ear. She was thankful that it was much too dark for him to see her face because she was pretty certain that her expression gave away to the fact that she wholeheartedly agreed.

"Snogging in a closet is hardly something to joke about right now," she forced out instead. But she made a mental note to revisit the conversation when they were in a less compromising situation.

"Who said I was joking?"

"We're here on Order business," she warned him and that seemed to do the trick. His body shifted and she realized that he was reaching for the door. "Wait –"

"It's doing us no good sitting inside this giant box."

The wooden panel groaned upon opening but the light from Cassandra's living room did not shine inwards to greet them. The room was now dark, only illuminated by a faint glow of the blue hued moonlight peering in through the window.

Sirius climbed out first more quietly than she thought could be possible for a man his size. His hand reached to grab hers and she clasped her fingers around his as he drew her outwards. But she did not step foot into Cassandra's living room, and her disappointment vanished entirely. She realized that it was not the bluish glow of the moon lighting the room, rather from a single torch on the wall, omitting a blue-white light.

Sirius walked around, surveying the black-tiled walls of the room they were enclosed within. Marlene was quick to notice that the room appeared to be missing something critical; there were no windows or doors. Sirius pulled her from her thoughts when he asked, "Where do you think we are?"

There was no rational way to explain why she knew the answer to his question, but somehow she did. "The Department of Mysteries," she breathed and Sirius's eyes widened.

"Seriously?" He scanned the room again, though there were no signs indicating that Marlene was correct.

"There must be a door of some sort in here," she said. She placed her palm against the wall and started feeling for one, but she could feel no trace of a crevice within the smooth panels indicating that one might exist.

Sirius was doing the same on the opposite side of the circular room. "Over here!" he called suddenly. A sharp clicking noise sliced through the air and Sirius pushed his weight into the wall. A section of the panel pushed open and the same bluish-white light radiated in the adjoining room.

"Have your wand ready," he instructed her. Marlene ignored the flare of irritation at his command, knowing that he meant well by it. Her wand held steady in her left hand, poised and ready should she need to use it.

They were in a circular chamber with dark marbled floors quite strikingly similar to the walls from the room from which they had come. The floor that stretched across the room was polished smooth and gleamed strangely, giving it an eerie effect. It almost looked like they were staring across a dark, motionless body of water under a midnight sky. Eleven other doors spread equally around the walls, each door framed by candles. Though the flames burned hot, no wax appeared to melt from their sticks.

As the door closed behind them and they stepped into the room, something strange began to occur. The doors around them began to move; rotating clockwise, then counter clockwise, rotating around and shifting once more in a blur of speed, spinning madly. It looked like the room was a giant roulette wheel and they were betting all on black.

"It looks like the moving staircases," Sirius joked. His arm had relaxed and his wand trained to the floor. He was admiring the handiwork of the room as it reconfigured itself and when the doors stopped moving he smiled. "Well this should be fun."

She shot him a sideways glare. "I'm not sure 'fun' is a word I would use to describe this."

"It might help if I knew what we were looking for," he stated as moved across the room. His steps made no sound as they paced the marble.

Marlene hesitated. She wasn't entirely certain how to describe that to him. It was obvious that she was not going to be able to hide much from him at this point and she sighed with defeat. "I'll know when we find it. I'll explain it to you then."

He appeared to contemplate her and then he shrugged, turning his attention to one of the giant black doors instead. "Alright. So shall we just pick one then?" He probed. She looked to him with uncertainty and he grinned, making the decision for her. He pointed to the door closest to his right. "This one looks good."

"It looks like all the other ones," she laughed.

"Do you have a better idea in mind then?" he challenged, eyes teasing her with excitement.

"That door it is."

Sirius put his hand against the rectangular shape where the door handle should have been and he pushed. It opened smoothly and quietly, a hallway of darkness greeted them. "Lumos," he commanded, and then guided them through the entrance with his wand outstretched in front of them, lighting the way.

The room was enormous. If Marlene could wager a guess she would say that it was at least the size of two Great Halls combined. It was cold, dimly lit, and smelled damp and musty. She wrinkled her nose with disgust at the intrusive smell, and wondered if they might be far underground.

They stood at the top level looking down into a sunken stone pit to where rows of stone benches ran around the perimeter of the long, rectangular auditorium style chamber. In the center of the room a raised dais bore nothing but a simple stone archway.

"What do you think that bloody thing is?" Sirius murmured. The threateningly large stone arch stood tall, draped in tattered black curtains that billowed ever so slightly despite the fact that there was no wind blowing it.

"I'm not sure that I want to know," she whispered. Sirius had already started descending the stone steps towards it though, and Marlene scrambled to keep pace with him. "What are you doing?"

"Can't you hear it?" Marlene couldn't hear anything apart from their heavy footsteps bouncing off the chamber walls.

But as they neared closer a faint whisper of voices blew into her ear and she stilled. A chill ran the length of her spine and she let out a barely audible gasp of surprise. She threw him a get-me-out-of-here expression. "Sirius, can we leave please?!"

"I just want to look," he said calmly. The eeriness of the chamber didn't seem to bother him one bit. He stalled at the bottom of the dais and turned to look at her. His beautiful face was half illuminated by the light still omitting from the tip of his wand. His glorious, reassuring smile made her heart flutter.

She watched him climb the steps and admire the arch. Only when he reached out to touch the battered drapes did she yell at him, "Don't touch that!"

"They're just curtains, Mar," he laughed.

"Curtains don't whisper," she chided him. "Besides, this isn't the room we are looking for. We need to keep moving."

Back out into the circular chamber the door closed behind them and the doors began to revolve, shifting so quickly that she was unable to keep track of the one from which they had come. After they settled once more, she surveyed the puzzled look on Sirius's face as his eyes flickered around the room, analyzing the doors. It appeared that he hadn't been able to keep track either.

"Okay so which one looks good this time?" she asked humorously and Sirius rewarded her with a smirk. He pointed to one across the room and they made their way towards it.

The next room was even darker than the last. At the far end of the room of unknown size was a white figure that appeared to glow somehow. Her wand had been hanging limply at her side but she clenched her hand around it tighter and raised it protectively in front of her, also lighting the tip of the wand to add extra light into the darkness that surrounded them.

And then they were standing in front of what appeared to be a large mirror running the length of the wall and she relaxed. She was looking at herself; the girl staring back at her widened her eyes and reached down with her fingertips to press against her abdomen.

Marlene's scar suddenly let off a sharp twinge of pain, and she dipped her head downwards to confirm that she hadn't touched it. Her arms continued to dangle at her sides, not at all performing the actions that her reflection seemed to be. She realized instantly that it was not herself she was looking at.

"Marlene – "

She looked back up and the girl across from her was still firmly holding her hands to her abdomen, blood soaking through her clothing like spilled milk absorbing paper. Slowly at first, and then the blood was everywhere; pools of dark copper liquid spilling down her legs and into a puddle at her feet.

"Sirius what's happening?" She looked over to him. He was staring with horror at the other Marlene and his complexion had become ashen. All life had drained itself from Sirius and she moved closer to shake his arm. "Sirius!"

"Marlene – there's so much blood –" he choked out, a strange gurgling noise accompanied. She could feel him shaking beneath her fingertips as she grabbed hold firmly to the fabric of his shirt and shook harder, trying desperately to get him to look away.

"Sirius I'm right here!" she yelled at him. "Look at me Sirius, I'm fine, look at me!"

But he didn't. He continued to watch as the other Marlene crumpled to the ground, drowning in the sea of blood that bathed her body. Her face white like the snow that suddenly surrounded her, all signs of life beginning to slip away. Her wide eyes glossed over and the unmistakable realization she was dead caused Sirius to let out an agonized scream. He broke free of Marlene's grasp and ran towards the image.

"SIRIUS!" she screamed after him.

Sirius stumbled but never fell. He reached the glass and smashed his fist on it; a loud cracking sound filled the void but the barrier between him and the figure did not shatter. He rammed his fists over and over again, yelling for Marlene but unable to reach her.

The real Marlene stood in dismay, watching Sirius come undone without knowing what to do. She shifted her gaze to stare at her own lifeless body flayed on the ground, head lolled to one side and staring directly back at her, eyes black and ambiguous. And then the other Marlene's lips snaked upwards into a sinister, triumphant smirk. The real Marlene felt like she might be sick.

"It's not real," she said with a staggered breath. "Sirius, it's not real."

"It was real, Marlene," he cried. "It was real."

She ran forwards to him, trying to ignore the way her apparently dead counterpart continued to watch her tauntingly. "Look at me, Sirius." She grabbed hold of his arm once again and gave him another firm shake. "Look at me."

And so he did. Marlene grabbed his hand and directed it under her sweater and onto the bare skin of her abdomen where the scar throbbed fiercely, burning against her flesh as though a fresh wound once more. She repressed a grimace as the cool touch of his hand pressed against her.

"See? That's not me. I'm fine," she tried to plead with him. Sirius's gaze lingered on her stomach for some time before it trailed slowly up the rest of her body and finally fixated on her face. His eyes crinkled into narrow slits and a firm vertical line drew between his brows.

"Boggart." Sirius removed his hand from Marlene and turned around to look at the creature again. It suddenly dawned on Marlene that a Boggart would transform itself to play upon its victims worst fears. Quickly he said, "Riddikulus," and the smears of red liquid quickly turned into a rich, milky chocolate while the falling snow began to rain rainbow colored sprinkles.

"I'm a chocolate sundae, am I?" Marlene laughed. Sirius shot her a sideways smirk that didn't quite reach his eyes. He was very obviously still shaken up about the image they had just witnessed. "We need to get out of this room," she continued. She stopped laughing to tug at him, attempting to pull him away from the Boggart now floundering in ice cream.

He allowed her to lead him back to the door from which they had entered and she pushed it open with urgency, shoving Sirius out in front of her. She glanced over her shoulder to see the other Marlene no longer there. Instead, Bellatrix LeStrange stood in her place, wand raised as though poised to strike. Marlene hurried out of the room, ensuring that the door closed firmly behind her.

The circular room shifted again, a chaos of revolving black doors shifting around in an unpredictable puzzle, rendering a new sort of maze for them to navigate through.

"Let's just hope odds are in our favor that we don't pick that door again," Sirius muttered, clearly all traces of humor vanquished.

Though Marlene silently agreed with his sentiment, she outwardly asked, "That's what scares you the most?"

They stood in the center of the room and Marlene took a bold step forward so that she was within inches of him. His shoulders were sunken and he looked raked with disdain. The Boggart had erased any traces of playfulness that he had harbored earlier in the evening and it disheartened Marlene to see him in such a state. The one and only time she had ever seen him so distressed was back when she first returned to London. She reached a hand up to tenderly run along the side of his jawline; it felt smooth like silk.

His gaze dipped to her and simply he replied, "Yes."

Without giving it a second thought she reached upwards to grab hold of his head and gently brought his lips down to meet hers. Kissing Sirius was like a drug. Having been sober from nearly a year without him, the addiction reignited within her and she knew with absolute certainty that she would never be able to live without him.

It was short and when she pulled away his eyes remained closed, his breathing heavy.

"What was that for?"

"Because I love you," she whispered. "And I think it's about time, don't you?"

Sirius's eyelashes fluttered and he stared down at her, searching for something. His lip twitched into a smile. "Took you long enough."

Then he dipped his head again and captured Marlene's lips. Although it would be cliché to describe the kiss as though fireworks had ignited, Marlene felt it was the only comparable way to describe the feeling that his kiss incited within her. Sirius was her soul mate, and at last she felt complete.