Maureen McKinnon was stirred from her nap by the sound of a soft tapping at her door. She slowly pushed herself up into a seated position, still rather sore, and swung her pleated blonde hair over one shoulder. Caroline Potter poked her head around the door and smiled.
"Look at you!" she beamed. "You're glowing, Mo."
"I'm swollen and sore," Maureen complained, swatting off the compliment. Caroline tiptoed across the room, peeking into the bassinet beside Maureen's bed.
"She's beautiful."
"She's easier to admire when she isn't tearing out of you."
"Oh please, she's well worth it." Caroline reached into the bassinette carefully and picked the baby up, still tightly swaddled in the blanket the midwife had laid her to rest in. Maureen was thankful that the baby had drifted asleep almost immediately – although she'd be awake and hungry soon enough.
"Have you picked out a name?" Caroline crept over towards the bed, careful of the baby's head in her arms, and sat down beside Maureen.
"Alfred wants to name her after his mother."
"Elvira?" Caroline gasped. "That's awful."
"I know." Maureen had pretended to consider the name only to pacify her husband. She knew deep down that she had a very different name picked out for their new baby girl. "She's going to be Marlene," Maureen announced proudly. She liked the idea of a daughter with a name so similar to her own. Men named their sons after themselves all the time, it seemed only right women take a turn at it – with a twist, of course.
"Marlene," Caroline said, grinning as the baby's blue eyes fluttered open. "I think it suits her quite well." She began to fuss and Caroline handed her off to her mother to be fed. Maureen struggled for a few moments to get Marlene to latch. She was such a tiny thing, and yet already incredibly stubborn.
"I think she'll be just like her mama," Caroline said, stroking Marlene's arm.
"Its fate, isn't it?" Maureen said. "You've just had a son and now me, a daughter."
"I know," Caroline agreed, her eyes lighting up with excitement. "They'll be in the same year at Hogwarts."
"Their birthdays are only months apart."
There was no stopping the two of them once they'd set their minds on something. It had always been that way. How many times had they sat by the fire in the Gryffindor common room, heads together, plotting some wonderful scheme? The trouble they'd gotten into… Maureen only hoped her children would be better students.
"James and Marlene," Caroline chimed. "It's got a nice ring to it, don't you think?"
"We should just get it over with and marry them now." The two women laughed.
"Marlene McKinnon," Maureen looked down into her daughter's bright blue eyes. "You have quite the future ahead of you."
Peter had been sleeping, rather peacefully actually, before his bedroom door was swung open and Evan Rosier stormed in.
"That bitch!" he bellowed. He was holding a wad of tissues against his nose as he paced back and forth in front of Peter's bed.
"What's happened?" Peter asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Your little friends sniffed us out." Peter's stomach dropped. "Loads of good you are, our inside source without any bloody information!"
"They've heightened security!" Peter squealed in his defence. "I don't know anything, no one does!"
"We lost our source from the Department of Mysteries, we had to kill her before they could get to her." Evan was still pacing, steam practically blowing from his ears.
"Who was it?"
"Shacklebolt, some other girl I couldn't recognize, and that McKinnon bitch," Evan spat, "broke my fucking nose."
"I can fix it for you if you'd like—"
"Please, I don't trust you pointing that wand of yours anywhere near my face." Peter couldn't dispute that; he'd never been particularly talented with magic. He wasn't talented at anything though, was he? "We're going to kill her," Evan vowed. "We're going to make her pay."
Peter had been fantasizing about making Marlene pay for her crimes for almost a year now. He would make her hurt the way she'd hurt Aldora… he would cause Sirius the pain that had been done to him. Peter had spent months pretending to be friends with her, pretending he didn't imagine wrapping his hands around her neck whenever they were alone….
"When?" Now that the moment grew closer he was nervous. Could he really do it? Could he murder Marlene after nearly ten years of friendship?
"Soon," Evan vowed. "Alecto agrees, we'll act as soon as possible." Evan paused finally, staring down at Peter. "We're going to take out the whole family."
"All of them?" Peter asked, his voice grown small.
"They're blood traitors, they deserve to pay for their crimes against the Dark Lord." Peter's stomach turned. Marlene's sister Amy was expecting her second child, she had a young daughter, they didn't deserve to die, did they? Could such a cruel fate be rationalized for the good of the cause?
"You can finally be useful, Pettigrew." Evan came over to the side of the bed. He still had a handful of tissues pressed against his nose. He looked terrifying, leering down at Peter in the darkness. Peter felt like he was still sleeping, trapped in a terrible nightmare. "You're going to track her movements for us, figure out when she'll be with that disgusting family of hers." A frightening grin came upon Evan's face. "Then we'll strike."
Peter didn't know if he had the guts for it. In fact, he was quite certain he didn't. He would not only aid in Marlene's murder but the death of an entire family. How could he take part in killing a child? A woman who was pregnant? The very thought made him queasy. It was evil. It was madness. How could he possible rationalize it?
War is messy, he could hear Aldora saying in his head, and sometimes we must make hard decisions we do not want to make in the name of justice.
If Peter did this they would never doubt his loyalty again. They would know that he was committed to the cause, that Aldora had trained him well. She would be proud if she could see him now, throwing everything he had behind the Dark Lord. Maybe, one day, Peter would remember this moment, the moment he chose, the moment he decided that the good of the cause came before any morals or personal feelings.
He was a soldier, and a soldier's only job was to follow orders.
James woke with a fright. He had an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach, as though his body were anticipating something his mind had not yet caught up with. Lily was still asleep beside him, rolling over onto her side, red hair covering her face from view. James reached out, stroking it delicately, pulling it back behind her neck. He climbed from bed and travelled down the hallway to his son's room.
Harry's door was ajar, a nightlight basking the room in a soft, yellow glow. Harry was asleep in his crib, his soother in his mouth, his blanket wrapped around him. Everyone was safe. It was nothing but a bad dream James told himself. Just a stupid dream.
Either way, he couldn't fall back asleep. He put the kettle on downstairs and sat, waiting for the water to boil. It was only a second that his eyes slid shut but when they fluttered open again he was no longer alone. His eyes widened.
"Mum?" James blinked, expecting the figure to disappear when he did so but she remained. She sat across from him, the corners of her lips turned up, a sheepish smile upon her face.
"My darling boy," she said, her voice exactly as he remembered it. "You're so handsome."
"What're you doing here?" James shook his head. "Where have you been?"
"Right here," his mother assured him, folding her hands atop the table. "I've been here the entire time."
"I don't understand…." He was afraid to look away, terrified that she'd disappear if he did. She looked just the same, the same grey-streaked hair, the same rosy cheeks. She looked healthier than she had when James had last seen her. She looked happier too.
"You won't stop it, my love," she said, James failing to follow. "It's too late."
"What're you talking about?"
"Go to her," she told him, "it is the last chance you'll have. Be with her now."
"Lily? Is something going to happen to Lily?" James' stomach was in knots. The kettle had begun to whistle but he didn't move. "Who is it, mum? Who's in danger?"
"Be brave, sweetheart."
James had a thousand questions, who was "she"? Was this vision of his mother a warning or simply a figment of his imagination? Perhaps he was still dreaming, yet, the thought that his mother had appeared to warn him about Lily being in danger made his stomach sink. He couldn't lose Lily, not now, not ever. She was the only thing that kept him sane, the only thing that kept his world spinning.
"James?" He jumped. Lily was standing behind him in the kitchen doorway, adjusting the rope on her robe. "The kettle." It was still whistling, blowing steam from the top of it. James stood up and turned it off. He meant to pour the water into his mug but instead, he turned around and drew Lily into his arms.
"What's happening? Is everything okay?" she asked, still sounding half asleep.
"Promise me you won't leave the house today, you or Harry."
"What?"
"Promise me, Lily, please!" James insisted. He was terrified. Terrified that his mother's presence was an omen of warning. His wife and son were in grave danger.
"I promise," Lily assured him, squeezing his shoulders reassuringly. James exhaled a sigh of relief.
"If anything happened to you… I don't know what I'd do."
"Nothing is going to happen. You've just had a bad dream, is all." James could feel himself giving in, his limbs relaxing, mind coming to rest. She was right. It was just a bad dream. His mother was gone and the only person left in the kitchen with him was Lily, safe and sound.
"Let's go back to bed," James said, his face nuzzled into her neck.
"Okay," she agreed, taking his hand.
Alice was on the graveyard shift. She did her best to avoid working night shifts, especially now that she had a baby at home, but she hadn't been able to weasel her way out of this one. There was a cold going around the office and too many people on the team had owled in sick already. Alice was stuck, she, Kingsley, and a handful of the younger Aurors on the team.
"Please give Neville lots of kisses for me and remind him that I love him," Alice begged her husband before he left the office at five.
"You realize one night away from home is not going to make him forget you?" Frank always found her worrying amusing.
"Still!" Alice insisted. He agreed, simply to appease her, and she watched jealously as he left the office for the night.
Night shifts were, on average, boringer than the regular office hours. Rarely did they receive anything more than a few reports from old ladies, certain they'd seen suspicious activity taking place around their neighbourhoods which turned out to be nothing more than the antics of rowdy teenagers. Of course, it was hard not to be on high alert with a war going on and people going missing every day.
Alice and Kingsley were lucky to have their seniority; they were able to avoid being forced to go out into the field to follow up on reports - a responsibility placed upon the shoulders of the younger team members in order to provide them with "experience". Most of their experience involved freezing their asses off or being stuck in the pouring rain, staking out areas that turned out to have no relevance to any Death Eater operation.
With only six of them on duty, Alice and Kingsley were those with the most experience and therefore, in charge for the evening. They got to stay behind in the office and do paperwork (though it wasn't much more enjoyable than being stuck in terrible weather).
"Three more hours," Kingsley announced, sliding his chair across the office, towards Alice's desk. "Do you think you can make it?"
"I think I'll need more tea." Alice could feel her eyelids growing heavy. She couldn't sit still for that long, bent over her desk reading document after document. Every few minutes her eyes darted towards the clock on her desk and she grew more impatient with how slow time seemed to be moving.
"Make me one too, won't you?"
"Milk and sugar?"
"You know me so well," Kingsley grinned, sliding back across the floor towards his own desk. Alice was in the office common room, just pouring hot water into two mugs when she heard a commotion from inside the office. She and Kingsley were the only ones there, someone on patrols must have come back. Alice poked her head around the corner and saw Flora Mackenzie and Jeremy Fletcher standing before Kingsley, both looking flustered.
"Sir, we got a report from someone in Diagon Alley that there was a Dark Mark sighting just outside of London."
"Do you know what area?"
"They gave me the name of the closest intersection, I think I can get us there." It was always stressful, making sure they managed to land in the right location when their tips were rarely very clear.
Kingsley looked towards Alice, both silently acknowledging that the night was about to take a turn for the worst. They most certainly would not have time to drink their tea.
"Let's go," Kingsley announced, the four of them came together, holding hands. Flora was at the front, the leader, and she apparated the group them to the middle of an empty cornfield. Alice couldn't see much between the tall stalks of corn but Kingsley and Jeremy, who were much taller, pointed towards the west.
"There," Kingsley said, using his wand to light the way. "I think I see it." Alice felt vulnerable, moving through the tall greenery, not quite certain where she was going or what surrounded her. It wouldn't take much to catch them off guard when they could hardly see a thing.
The cornfield ended at a white picket fence, which marked the start of a new property. It was dark, and difficult to see anything that wasn't right in front of them. All four of them struggled over the fence and moved slowly across the grass. There was a building, not too far ahead, that Alice could just make out. Closer and closer they got until Kingsley (who was at the head of the group) stopped. They all followed his gaze, and saw it too, the green glow of the mark, hanging above the house. They moved carefully towards the edge of the property, watching for any sign of movement, any indication that there were still Death Eaters around.
It was Kingsley who led them forward. As the most senior member of the team, he called all the shots. He ordered them to scale the side of the house and then he and Alice came around to the front together, Flora and Jeremy close behind. It was not until then, when they stood before the red front door, that she realized she had been there before.
The front door was ajar, the hinges on it broken. Inside the house was dark. Alice had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach as Kingsley stepped forward, his wand pointed ahead of him. She knew this house which meant she likely knew its inhabitants. She couldn't imagine anything good waited for them beyond that broken front door.
Alice was close behind Kingsley. There wasn't enough time for him to warn her about what lay ahead. The light from his wand landed upon a body on the staircase. A woman, lying diagonal, her neck bent at an inhuman angle. This was a sickening sight but not an unusual one, not something Alice hadn't seen a million times before. It was the bodies that lay on the living room floor that sent a shiver up her spine.
"Holy shit." She recognized the faces before Kingsley did. It was hard to see in the dark but Alice recognized the sweater that one of the victims was wearing because she had purchased it. It had been a Christmas gift for Marlene, in sixth year, when they'd done secret Santa.
"We're in the McKinnons' house," Alice realized, looking up at Kingsley in horror. Kingsley didn't miss a beat, he turned around to the other two behind him.
"Fletcher," Kingsley said, looking towards Jeremy, "send word to Moody. Tell him that the McKinnons have been found murdered in their home. Tell him to come immediately."
"Yes, sir," Jeremy nodded, rushing from the house.
"Flora, can you continue a search of the house? See if there are any other victims?"
"Of course."
Alice waited until they were alone before she stepped forward and fell to her knees beside Marlene's body. She was lying on her side, her face covered in long, blonde hair. Alice pulled it back behind her shoulders so that she could see her face. Her eyes were still open, still the same shade of blue but without their usual sparkle. Alice reached out in vain and felt for a pulse but her body was already beginning to go cold.
"Alice," Kingsley spoke cautiously behind her, "come on, you shouldn't have to see this."
"She looks so scared," Alice said, tears filling her brown eyes. "For Merlin's sake, look, she looks terrified Kingsley. What the hell did they do to her?"
"I don't know," Kingsley sighed, "I don't want to know."
Tears rolled down Alice's cheeks and landed onto Marlene's lifeless body. She kept expecting her to sit up, to say something, to tell them it was all a terrible misunderstanding, she'd only been sleeping. It was impossible for Alice's brain to wrap around the fact that Marlene McKinnon was dead. Marlene was not supposed to die. Marlene was meant to survive this war, to outlive all of them, she was going to change the world, that's what everyone had always said.
Alice wanted to punch her fist through a wall. She wanted to scream at the top of lungs, cursing the person who had done this. Marlene deserved a happy, long life. She deserved adventure and laughter and the chance to grow older than twenty-one. She had been robbed of everything. Her life, her family, her future. And all for what? Some stupid war.
Alice hadn't realized how long she'd been sitting there, leaning over Marlene's body, too afraid to step away, until Flora reemerged and announced that the house was clear but she had found the body of a young man in the kitchen along with a house elf. Alfred and Maureen were a few feet away, across the room from Marlene. Sometime after that, Kingsley found the lights and the house came to life, all of its horrors plain to see.
"Alice." Kingsley's hand was on her shoulder, he spoke softly, comfortingly, from behind her. She was not the first grieving woman he had dealt with. "Flora is going to contact Frank, let him know to come to get you."
"What's going to happen to her?" Alice couldn't imagine Marlene's body being carted off by strangers, put into a fridge to preserve it until the time came for the examination and then, the funeral. She was going to be sick just thinking about it.
"You know what's going to happen, Al." Kingsley crouched down beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "Sitting here isn't going to make it any better. Trust me."
"I know," Alice nodded, snuffling back tears. "I just… I want to say goodbye."
"Okay." Kingsley kissed her cheek and then rose from beside her and instructed Flora and Jeremy to both leave the house for a few minutes so that she might be alone.
Alone, Alice sat there with Marlene, saying her final goodbye, tears streaming endlessly down her cheeks. She was gone. This body was empty, nothing but a vessel for a soul that had been taken so cruelly and much too soon.
Remus had been sound asleep when Frank shook him awake. He blinked his way into consciousness, trying to figure out for a second where and when he was.
"I need you to look after Neville," Frank demanded, rather than asked. "Can you do that?"
"What's going on?"
"There's been an accident," Frank told him. It was only then that Remus noticed Frank fumbling with the buttons of his shirt, rushing to get it all done up. "I need to go, Alice needs me."
"What kind of accident?" Remus' stomach sank. "What's happened?" He thought of James and Lily first. What an idiot he had been, pushing them away, retreating from their friendship at a time like this. How would he ever forgive himself for it if they were gone now, forever?
"You don't want to know Remus," Frank told him, shaking his head. Frank turned to leave the room but Remus followed him out, still not entirely convinced he wasn't dreaming.
"Is it James? Are he and Lily okay?"
"The Potters are fine," Frank assured him, hurrying down the stairs with Remus not far behind.
"What is it then?" Remus asked once more, not willing to let it go. Frank was pulling on his sneakers, tugging at the laces. "Frank," Remus insisted. He couldn't let him walk out the door without knowing what awful tragedy had befallen them now. Finally Frank gave in; he looked up from his shoes, his face drawn.
"It's Marlene," he told him. "She's dead. They killed her entire family."
Remus stood there, motionless, staring at Frank, waiting for the punchline. It never came. Frank stood up straight, running a hand through his hair.
"I guess now you know," he said and Remus knew exactly what he meant. You were wrong. Marlene was innocent. He gulped back the lump in his throat, watching Frank shut the door behind himself. He stood there in the entryway, frozen, waiting to disappear, wanting to be erased.
"Don't you dare," Marlene ordered. She stepped before him, her hair long and curly the way it had been when they were kids. She was in her Gryffindor robes. "You don't get to cry, Remus, not after what you did to me."
"I'm sorry," he whispered, his chin quivering. "I didn't think…"
"Bravo," she said, her tone chilling, "you've become the monster you always thought you were." He gasped and when he blinked she was gone.
He couldn't picture Marlene not smiling. He couldn't imagine her not tending to another, listening empathetically as one shared a tale of distress. How many times had he woken from an awful dream in the infirmary and found her at his bedside, waiting with a plate of muffins? Every bloody month. He'd never said thank you, at least not enough, and now he'd never have the chance.
James woke at the same time the next night, jolted from his sleep, overcome with an awful sense of fear. Lily was safe, tucked in bed beside him and Harry was snoring in his crib when he checked on him. So, as he had the night before, James tiptoed down the stairs and settled into the kitchen to make a cup of tea.
He waited, half expecting his mother to appear across from him again, but this time it wasn't her. James' heart nearly stopped when he looked up and there was Marlene, settled in the seat across the table, just as she had looked when he had seen her last a few days ago.
"Don't look so startled," she told him. "I won't bite."
"What are you doing here?" James shook his head. "You're not… I don't…." He stumbled over his words, unable to make sense of it all. Marlene was not a ghost. She was at home, in Diagon Alley, safe in bed with Sirius. James would know if something had happened to Marlene. He would know.
"How are you here?" James asked, his voice shaking.
"You know how," Marlene said, cocking her head to the side, a sly smile upon her face.
"It doesn't make sense, not unless you're…." Marlene's eyebrows rose. "You're not, you can't be."
"Can't I?"
His stomach sank. "No," he said, shaking his head once more. "No, you can't be. You aren't."
"James," she said, in that hopeless tone of voice you use when someone has completely missed the point. "You're going to be okay." And then she was gone. Vanished into thin air like smoke. Like a ghost, which, as James had already established, she was not.
You won't stop it, my love, the words of his mother's ghost replayed in his head, it's too late. James was in a frenzy. He paced the kitchen, back and forth, over and over; replaying the warning his mother had given the night before. He had thought it referred to Lily. He'd stuck to her like glue all day, made sure neither she nor Harry left his sight for more than a few minutes.
What if it hadn't been Lily, though? What if James had wasted his final moments with Marlene? He felt sick. There was an awful clench in his stomach, an awful pit that grew and would not be cured until he knew the truth, one way or another.
He found Lily, still fast asleep in bed, and sat beside her, shaking her softly into consciousness.
"What is it?" she mumbled, her eyes still closed. "Harry?"
"Lily, I…" James hadn't realized he was shaking until he tried to speak, his teeth chattering between words. "I… think something is wrong with Marlene. I think something has happened." This woke her up. She opened her eyes, pulling herself up.
"What do you mean?"
"It'll sound mad but I… I saw her."
"Saw her?"
"Just now, in the kitchen, like she was a… a ghost or something." Lily's face fell.
"No," she shook her head. "No, I saw her just the other day. She'd been injured while on a mission; she was taking a few days off from the Order. How could anything have happened?"
"I don't know." James cleared his throat, fighting off the tears that threatened to spill forth.
"No," Lily said once more. She reached out, taking James' face in her hands. "For all we know it was just a dream."
"But I wasn't sleeping, Lil." His eyes filled with tears. "I saw her, she was right there… she…." He lost it. He sobbed, heavy, chest-crushing sobs. Lily held him in her arms, rocking him back and forth, stroking the back of his neck. She reminded him over and over again that nothing was certain yet, for all they knew she was still safe, still alive and well.
They stayed like that, James fighting off the terrible fear that had overcome him until they heard a knock at the front door. They pulled apart, staring at one another with the same expression of dread. Lily got out of bed first, flying down the stairs, James close behind her. Alice and Frank waited on their front step. It was still dark out, the streetlights on behind them, no sign yet of morning light.
"Oh, please," Lily, said, her hand over her heart. "Please don't say it…."
"Perhaps we should come inside," Frank suggested. His wife, on the other hand, had already lost it. Alice stared at Lily, her bottom lip trembling, and when she opened her mouth to speak she began to cry.
"It's Marlene…."
James needed to hear no more. He'd known it before they'd even opened the door. Lily took them into the living room. She sat them down, made a pot of tea. James tried to stay there with them, to share in their grief, but his head was somewhere else.
He gave up. Instead, he located the pack of cigarettes he kept hidden in the back closet and stepped outside, trying to stay unnoticed. The sky was just beginning to lighten, a soft purple colour, a few stars still present in the sky. Soon the sun would rise and it would be the first one James and Marlene had not experienced together in twenty-one years.
He didn't know a world in which Marlene did not exist. There'd been one, he supposed, for the first few months of his life, but everything he could remember, every memory that mattered included her. His first day of school, his wedding, the birth of his son, she'd even been present when he'd said his first word for Merlin's sake. Now she was gone, dead, her body left to rot and decay, she would never be there again and he hadn't even had the chance to say goodbye.
"James?" He looked up, the cigarette held between his index and middle finger. Frank stepped outside, coming towards the picnic bench James was sitting at. "Do you mind if I join you?"
"Did they send you out?" he asked. His tears had stopped, thankfully, but they'd left behind a terrible numbness inside of him that James feared might never be soothed.
"No, I thought I'd give them some time alone." Frank was looking down at his hands, folded atop the table. James assumed he was avoiding eye contact, not wanting to look at him with the pity he surely felt.
"Did you see her?" James asked. He took a long drag, waiting for Frank's answer, anticipating the sugarcoated one he would receive.
"I did," Frank nodded. He didn't say more than that, James assumed it was probably for the best.
"What about Sirius? Does he know?"
"Yes," Frank sighed. "He came just after I got there. He stayed with her until the Healers came to move her body." James knew Sirius would be hurting, most likely blaming himself. There was a part of him that wanted to comfort his friend but a larger one that knew he couldn't, not when his own grief felt so overwhelming.
"How the hell did this happen," he said in disbelief. Yesterday morning he hadn't had a single concern for Marlene's safety and today she was dead.
"Honestly? I think whoever did it knew them." James looked over in shock.
"Are you suggesting...?"
"Sirius? Nah, I don't think he could be that heartless and from what I saw, he was an absolute wreck. But I think whoever did this is a lot closer to the rest of us than we realize."
"So you think…" James hardly wanted to say it out loud, the words disgusted him. "You think that she knew her killer?"
Frank shrugged his shoulders, as clueless as James felt. He'd seen it though; he'd witnessed the scene, saw Marlene's lifeless body covered with a blanket. James clenched his eyes shut as he imagined her body being hit by the death curse, crumbling to the floor like a bird whose wings were clipped.
"I need to see her," James stated finally, the thought driving him mad. He hadn't been able to save her but at least he could say goodbye. "Please," he said, looking to Frank for help. "Please."
Sirius had done two things in the hours since Marlene's death: purchased a bottle of Firewhiskey and emptied half its contents. He was drunk, roaring drunk, and weighed down with grief. He moved frequently between feelings of intense sadness and the burnings of rage. He couldn't pinpoint exactly who he was so angry with, those who had murdered his girlfriend and her family or perhaps the universe that had taken away his happiness in the blink of an eye.
One moment he was holding her warm body in his arms as they fell asleep and the next he'd been standing over her lifeless body. How funny time was, how unpredictable and brutal. He couldn't stay in their apartment, which reeked of Marlene's memory. Instead, he rode his bike, rather recklessly, around London, over Diagon Alley and suburban neighbourhoods. In the end, once the sky had darkened and evening arrived, he landed at the end of the McKinnons' road.
The house was under a number of protection charms, meant to stop any muggles from entering the property. The house was dark, no one left inside. Not even Raffi, the family's long-term house-elf, who had been murdered along with the rest of them.
Sirius went around the back of the house, gazing up at the window that used to belong to Marlene, the one that used to look out upon the house's vast farmland. The lights were out. No one slept in her bed any longer, no one would answer if he threw rocks at the window now.
His eyes shifted towards the field to the west, the one in which he had proclaimed his love to Marlene, where he'd expected to die in her arms. He wished now that he had died. He wished he could've simply told her that he loved her and left, then and there, and avoided the heartache that followed. What was the point of any of it?
What did three good years matter when she died, all the same? She would never travel the world as she'd dreamed, she would never become a mother or get the chance to continue her work as a writer for The Daily Prophet. Sirius pursed his lips to try and hold off the tears but they came anyway. He couldn't stop them, just as he hadn't been able to stop them from murdering the woman he loved. The only woman he'd ever loved.
He collapsed to the ground, landing on his knees, his head turned up toward the sky.
"Are you happy now?" he howled, like a wolf to the moon. "Is this what you wanted?" No one replied. He was alone. Emptied of all he had to give, void of any happiness he'd had. Utterly, entirely, alone. He stood up, the tears cleared, and pointed his wand towards the house, shooting a string of fire at it, watching as the whole place went up in flames, orange light illuminating everything around him.
Now she was gone, really gone.
