A/N: Here's the final installment! It's quite dark though, be warned!

Chapter 7: Trust

September, 1980.
Two days after the battle.

Marlene stayed with Hestia and Benjy over the next two nights. She had tried to go back to her flat but the sight of Caradoc's half-drunk mug of tea and his sweatshirt flung over the sofa in the way that he knew she hated, had made her stomach ball up and her throat go dry.

She had not shed any tears for Caradoc, she refused to. Instead, Marley was too busy worrying about him. She would not allow herself to believe that he was dead. However, Marlene realised, if he was not dead then he must have been horrendously tortured... The images of Frank and Alice at St Mungo's were all she could see.

Marlene could not forgive herself for leaving him to fend for himself with such an awful injury, no matter how much Hestia and Benjy tried to convince her of her courage. She knew that if she hadn't been so goddamned stupid as to try and kill the most powerful Dark wizard of all time then none of it would have happened. Hestia's life wouldn't have been endangered and Caradoc would be here with her now.

The rest of the Order left her to pace the front room of Hessie and Benjy's house (which doubled up as the Order headquarters). There were no words of comfort that they could give because all the thoughts and scenarios racing through her mind were likely to be true. To have told her everything would be okay would be to lie to her.

It was two days after his disappearance that Caradoc walked through the front door of the house, blood-stained and tired but alive. The site of his injury had been magically cleaned by someone; where his arm had previously been there was now a tiny stump, sealed and clean.

He barely had time to receive Marlene's embrace of relief and sheer happiness when Moody had him pinned against the wall.

"What was the first thing I ever said you, boy?" The grizzled Auror breathed the words, his face just inches from Caradoc's.

Caradoc swallowed nervously but kept his eyes fixed on Moody's, both the magical and non-magical eye.

"You said that you'd never seen a blonde make a decent Auror so I'd better be prepared to put some work in." It was the correct answer but Moody kept the young man pinned against the wall.

"Alastor, please! He's just been held captive by a bunch of murderous Death Eaters- we know it's him so let him go."

Moody shook his head slowly but released Caradoc who headed immediately for Marlene. The battle-scarred Auror's magical eye did not leave Caradoc's face.

"He's been Imperiused."

At this announcement there was uproar. Some wizards began to grab at Caradoc, attempting to drag him out of Marlene's arms, others just gasped at the revelation.

The dark haired girl, clutching desperately on to her accused boyfriend could not believe this.

"How do you know?" She yelled into the chaos. The clamouring of the other Order members died down at her words.

Moody spoke as gruffly as usual. "Experience, my girl."

"So you have no proof, you don't know for sure?"

"In these cases, you can't be going around giving the benefit of the doubt."

Marlene gritted her teeth and looked around the room. She could see no forgiving faces. Black and Potter, recently trained Aurors, were glaring at Caradoc as if he were about to Avada them at any second. She even saw a flicker of apprehension in Benjy's eyes.

"I trust him."

At once the noise began again. People were shaking their heads, trying to argue with Marlene. She just held her hands up, the look on her face silencing them all.

"I don't give a shit if you think I'm being naïve or irresponsible. I am going to do the only thing I know how to do; I'm going to stand by my friends, the people I would trust with anything. I refuse to let this war and the evils of Voldemort's," Even she flinched as she finally said the name out loud. "actions lower my moral standards or change my beliefs."

When her eyes swept the room once more, there were still no forgiving faces. Marlene resolved to keep her head held high.

This was easier said than done when they discovered the next morning that Caradoc had run away leaving only a note:

Marlene, I love you. I never want to hurt you but they don't believe me and I don't want to endanger any one of you.

Marley left the house immediately for her flat. She spent the next day packing all of Caradoc's things; she wasn't sure exactly why she was doing it, she just needed to do something.

The Patronus that alerted her was her brothers, a slender silver fox that relayed the message to her. Her heart stopped the second she saw the familiar shape and her throat felt horribly constricted as the fear in his voice, as he spoke of the Death Eaters charging through the house, enveloped the room.

Marley was gone the instant the fox began to fade away. She did not send for more help, by now one of the neighbours would have alerted someone.

A ragged, but brief, sigh of relief escaped her lips as she sprinted up the driveway. There was no Dark Mark hovering ominously above the cottage yet.

But she had spoken too soon. As she stepped through the front door, the sky behind her lit up where it had previously been dark. The light filtering in through the still open front door was green. She sprinted through to the main sitting room, feeling as though her lungs might burst and that she'd left her stomach somewhere behind her in the hallway.

When she saw the body she did not even stop to process it. Marlene leapt over the corpse of her mother, determined to reach her remaining parent and brother before they met a similar fate.

As she reached the kitchen, she was blinded by another burst of green light. Her father hit the linoleum with a heart-sickening crash. Her brother began screaming hysterically, the sounds of his fear mingled with the howling cackles of Bellatrix Lestrange.

Against the odds, Marlene felt her heart leap. Bellatrix was the most prodigious Death Eater, an incredible duellist but together she and Jonny could beat her.

The laughing woman had not yet realised that a murderously vengeful Order Member was behind her so Marlene tried to grab her brother's attention so they could attack together. As it was, he stood in the way of Marlene and her clear shot at Lestrange.

Marlene's courage suddenly failed her as her brother began to scream "Don't kill me, don't kill me!" repeatedly and his empty hands clutched at the counter tops.

Of course, he was under-age. His wand would be lying forgotten in his bedroom during the holidays; no matter how many times Marlene had warned him to always keep it with him, he never listened.

And so she dove forwards, regardless of how clear her shot was. The Cruciatus Curse missed both her brother and Bellatrix by an inch, however the Death Eater's Killing curse was right on target. Jonny joined his father on the cold, cold floor.

Marlene's scream shook the room and three people shouted the same curse at once.

"Avada Kedavra!"

None of the curses hit their mark. Marlene's bravery did not falter as the Lestrange couple faced her, wands raised.

She knew her bloodlust was enough to take both of them.

The duel commenced. Jets of light were flying everywhere. An onlooker could have been forgiven for thinking there were at least five people fighting.

Marlene was directing the spells non-verbally but screams of pain and rage were still endlessly pouring from her mouth. The trio moved into the study, overlooking the garden where Marley and Jonny had grown up together.

Rodolphus fell backwards with a slam, his body lying in the doorway. Marlene cursed internally for only firing a Stunner that time.

She had only paused for a split second to glance at the unconscious body but it was enough for the other witch to strike.

Marlene felt her body hit the desk, spasming uncontrollably as the agony of Bellatrix's Cruciatus curse rocketed through her body. Maybe I'll end up like Frank and Alice? Perhaps Diana will have to Obliterate me. The thoughts were garbled, barely making their way past the intense pain.

Once the curse had been lifted, Marley could do nothing but lay on desk illuminated by the moonlight. She felt as if she should be paralysed by the attack and yet her limbs kept moving involuntarily from the aftermath of the assault.

"I suppose," Bellatrix crooned in a sing-song voice, once Marlene had stopped twitching. "you think I'm going to kill you?"

Marley's wand was on the other side of the room. It had been flung from her hand as she writhed under the Cruciatus curse.

"Well, I'm not." Lestrange smirked. Marlene did not bother to feel surprise at the statement. I was hardly as if Bellatrix was going to let her waltz out of the front door and back to the Order. Of course she would kill Marlene.

Marlene was wrong though. Bellatrix began to cackle again, in triumph as she said "He is."

The Dark Lord's faithful servant snapped her fingers and a man appeared, silhouetted in the door frame. He stared at Rodolphus's lifeless form for a moment before advancing towards Marlene.

His one remaining hand clasped around her throat. She did not try to plead with him although what was left of her heart splintered into a million tiny pieces as he choked her.

At first she thought it was an illusion caused by the lack of oxygen to her brain. Where the clean stump was, a withered and dead looking arm began to grow. She was vaguely aware of Lestrange whispering "Serpensortia".

It was definitely an illusion, she confirmed to herself as, along with the new but withered arm, grew a snake. Its poisonous green body wrapped itself around his arm as it grew until the dead hand also began to grasp at her neck.

She only realised it was in fact real when the fangs plunged into her. Bellatrix grabbed her husband's body and Disapparated. The man with a snake for an arm remained for a while but left before the other Order Members could arrive. He set her corpse down gently.

Although no one else would ever know it, Marlene McKinnon had died in her lover's arms.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

She had fought and as he last breath had escaped, she knew with utter certainty that evil would not triumph while love reigned. And despite it all, she still loved him.

A/N: I hope I managed to convey my meaning through all that ickyness. And I hope you didn't think it was unnecessary darkness. I really wanted to capture the horror of this war.

Anyway. That's it, that is my Marlene McKinnon. I'm going to start planning Caradoc's story (which will be pretty grim) but that won't be up for ages. I am currently working on The Grass Is Always Greener though :)

Thanks to anyone who read this fic, I can't tell you how much I loved writing it.

And remember! It's never ever too late to review a story ;)

Elle Berry xoxo