A/N: We have reached the point of canon divergence!
If Sirius were to encounter a time-turner version of himself at age 16, that teenager would probably have to be taken to St. Mungos from the shock he'd suffer when he found out the plans of the day. This was not supposed to be the plan. He'd never thought any of this was for him at all. He still wasn't sure if he deserved it, but he'd accepted that it was happening.
He'd never even been to a jeweler before. What instance would he have had? It was all new territory as he looked at the different rings on display under a magical barrier meant to keep people from touching things.
This jewelry shop should write a personal note of thanks to James Potter.
It was by James's doing that Sirius was there and ready to give them an inordinate sum of gold for something extremely small and fairly non-functional. But his best friend had put a bug in his ear and now he couldn't get it out. He'd meant not to think about the whole… marriage… thing until later. Really truly he had. But then James brought it up and there was genuinely no good answer to "why?"
He knew he didn't want to cause more pain for either of them if one of them didn't make it. But it was like when he couldn't admit that he loved her and couldn't call her his girlfriend. It didn't actually mean that he wouldn't have been devastated if he'd lost her. Saying it just meant it could be out in the open. It meant he could enjoy the good part, while living with the crippling fear that was already there.
Marlene was due for dinner at her parents' with the rest of her family...what was left of her family… and Sirius decided that was his opportunity to go pick out a ring.
He'd only just walked out of the jewelers with the square cut diamond ring with the little moonstones on the side when Dumbledore's phoenix patronus came.
"The McKinnon House has been attacked, come at once."
Sirius apparated out immediately. When he arrived in the Mckinnon family's yard, he saw Mad-Eye Moody trying and failing to cast an incarcerous at a moving target.
The house was on fire. There was blood on the ground. Sirius didn't know whose.
Minerva McGonagall was there, attempting to subdue the fire, which looked like dark magic to Sirius, who'd grown up surrounded by exactly that. It looked like fiendfyre.
"Marlene!" He screamed involuntarily. He didn't see any of the McKinnons. Had they been inside? Where was the attack? What had happened?
Mad Eye cast a killing curse at the fleeing death eater. This time he hit his target. The wizard fell to the ground like a puppet who had his strings cut.
Sirius had never seen a killing curse hit before.
He approached Mad-Eye, who looked wounded. He was bleeding from the nose, but he was still on his feet.
"Where are the McKinnons?"
"They were all inside. Ambushed. The Older boy, Gawain, put up a fight. He was still alive when I arrived. Took Wilkes down with him when the fiendfyre got him. And the others. I'm sorry. All we can do now is hunt down the slime that did this and put them away."
Sirius could hear the pain in Mad-eyes voice, channeled into anger. But everything started to seem like a far away echo as soon as he heard that all of them were gone. He felt his legs collapsing under him. Hot tears were rolling down his face.
Marlene…
He should have been there with her. If he'd just gone with her maybe she'd have been safe. Or at least he'd have been dead too.
He couldn't live without her. He'd find the rest of the wizards responsible for murdering the woman he'd been out buying an engagement ring for, he'd kill them, and hopefully himself too in the process. This world wasn't livable anymore.
He wasn't sure know how long he stood there on his knees sobbing before Minerva McGonagall was there with a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm so sorry, my boy. I know… what it's like to lose someone you love. I know nothing I say will help right now, but I want you to know you aren't alone."
The world was spinning at a rapid pace but then he heard a faint little quack and it all came to a screeching halt. He stood up and looked around. He heard it again.
That could be her. It could.
"I'm sorry Minerva… I've… I've got to go."
He followed the faint sound until it got louder. It seemed to be coming from a bush near a 3rd story window.
He looked around and the quacking became louder. It was her. It had to be her, trying to alert him.
"I'm here little duck. I'm here. Marlene. You're… alive. Marlene?"
He knelt down and found the tiny injured animagus the ground. It looked like she was in pain, and she obviously couldn't walk, but from what he could tell there was no bleeding.
"Did you jump from the window?"
She couldn't answer, but that must have been what happened.
"You're hurt. I have to get you help."
She quacked frantically as if to object.
"You're afraid they'll find out you're still alive. I could bring you to Lily? She's an animal healer but trained to heal humans as well. She'll be able to fix you as a duck and we can see about you until you're strong enough to phase back. We can keep you hidden. I'm so sorry Marlene...I should have been here. I'm so sorry."
He picked her up gently and wrapped her in his jacket, before apparating to the Potter house.
He banged on the door.
"Lily! Open up. James! I need help!"
Lily came to the door. By the look on her face, she'd heard about the attacks.
"Marlene got out but you can't tell anyone and you have to help. She's an unregistered animagus. And she's hurt."
Lily nodded wordlessly and lead them into the kitchen in haste. She rummaged through a cabinet and grabbed a kit of something from the back.
"James!" She called out.
James came running down the stairs, and into the kitchen. He had expected his best friend might have shown up in a state of grief or even injured, but he hadn't expected him to show up in his kitchen with a duck.
"Why is there a duck?"
"The Duck is Marlene. She's an unregistered animagus. And she's hurt. I don't know how bad."
"Marlene… I'm so glad you're alive." James said to the small mallard hen who was currently being examined on his kitchen counter.
"Sirius… under any other circumstances I would have a lecture for you about getting Marlene mixed up in something dangerous and illegal… but it looks like in this case it saved her life. So… I can't be anything but relieved."
"She insisted on it. I knew but it was all her. She's brilliant. I need you to heal her though. I think she's stuck like this. She couldn't walk when I found her"
"Did anyone else see her?"
"Not that I know of, but I only got there after. We'll have to ask her when she can answer."
"It looks like her left side took a beating. Her wing was crushed in several places. Her leg and one of her ribs on that same side are broken. She'll be in a lot of pain, but I can heal her. James, you send word to Dumbledore that Sirius is staying with us tonight. He'll think nothing of it. Sirius you can stay here while I do the healing, but I need complete silence."
She got straight to work, administering two different potions with a dropper before pulling out her first in the series of healing spells set the bones back in place. Then the subsequent ones were focused on healing the breaks and finally easing the pain.
"It'll be morning before she's strong enough to phase back. I'd give her dreamless sleep potion but I don't know the proper dose for a duck. When she's human again we'll see what we can do to help her. She won't be alone. I promise both of you that."
"Lily I can't thank you enough… I'm… I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Well you're stuck with me and you never get to find out. Go check on James. I'll make sure Marlene gets some rest."
Sirius nodded and headed to the sitting room. James was staring into space like he'd been hit with a petrificus totalus.
"I know. I feel the same way Prongs."
"It's… not what I thought it would be. None of this is a great adventure. Everyone is dying. The bastard might be after my son. He's a year old Pads! How am I going to raise him in this world? Last week we were thinking of asking Marlene to be his godmum and now she's only barely alive and that's because she's a rule breaker and a duck."
"It's a terrible time to be alive. I thought she was dead, Prongs. Mad-Eye told me she was dead. He was swearing vengeance and that was all I felt like I had left before I heard her little voice. You know, I should have been there. I should have been there and fought with the rest of them. I was… I was buying her this. It's so stupid." He grabbed the little black velvet box, still in his pocket and gave it to James.
"You took my suggestion to heart, and I'm glad you did. You might not have been able to make it out like she did."
"I'm an animagus too. You know that full well."
"I know, but you aren't a bird. Padfoot can't fly."
"Well neither could Marlene. At least not well. And she must have been injured before she phased. It looked like she hardly flew at all, but just jumped from the little attic window and hoped for the best."
"It worked. She was very brave. I hope she says yes, Pads. You have to be her family now. We will too."
Sirius hadn't had time amidst the chaos to process the fact Marlene's whole family was gone. They'd been unflinchingly accepting to anyone, regardless of their magical heritage or anything else about them save their own character. People like that deserved to live to ripe old ages. But now Marlene was alone.
She wasn't alone. Sirius was going to be with her every step of the way. He couldn't replace her family, but he could make sure she knew that he loved her and would do anything in the world for her. He'd protect her at all cost, and let her lean on him while she grieved. She'd done that for him and they'd hardly known each other. He had to be strong for Marlene now.
"We have funerals to plan, not weddings. Besides she has to stay hidden. She's safer if the enemy all think she's dead. We know there's a spy. She'll want as few people as possible in the know."
"You're right, of course. But you should still give her the ring. You have it anyway. And maybe that will give you both something to look forward to. When all this is over."
"It's hard to picture what it'll look like when this is over."
