Hello, Loves! How are you today?
So, this is like my favourite chapter so far. I had a lot of fun writing this and i don't know, i just like it. Once you read it, you might think i'm joking when i said that, but i'm serious, i had a lot of fun writing this. Anyway...
Disclaimer: Don't even.
Recap: Oh, God, a lot happened: Lily and James are paired as potions partners. Quidditch tryouts are coming up and Lori Timmon wants to be Keeper, but James and Sirius don't want that because she's mean and rude and a bitch. Eli still hasn't talked to Terri, but she tells Lily that they are fighting because their parents are fighting. Alice Fawley sees Aylin Fernley with a muggleborn and Arabella Layfield shames Aylin publicly. This leaves Lily to pick up the pieces. Eli, Marlene, James, and Sirius still have their concpiracy theories going about Professor Turing. Did i miss anything? God, I hope not.
Friday afternoon brought happiness to the Gryffindors. Quidditch tryouts gathered a good number of hopeful candidates out to the pitch at 5 o'clock. Lily, Eli, and Maria were in the stands watching with a few other students because Marlene made them come.
The current Gryffindor team went as follows: James was captain and chaser. Angela Rodwell was the other chaser. Sirius and Marlene were beaters. And Bradley McKinnon was Gryffindor's star seeker for a year now. Eric Tomkins was usually the keeper, but due to his arm injury, he was out for the season, leaving two holes in the team: Chaser and keeper.
James separated the candidates into two groups, those looking to be chaser and those looking to be keeper. James had Angela work with the chasers, creating a mock game on one end of the pitch. On the other, he and Marlene were testing out the keepers by trying to score on each one.
Lily watched mostly for Marlene. Sirius was keeping track of the mock game, and Bradley was playing keeper for it, since they didn't have anyone else. So Lily watched as James and Marlene threw Quaffles past each candidate and through the rings with mild interest.
Eli was going off about Professor Turing and one of her classes while Maria did her best to calm her. Lily barely paid them any attention. Instead, she focused on Marlene, who seemed off today. She had barely eaten breakfast or lunch and had barely spoken in any classes. Even now she flew sloppily and was slow and obvious about everything she was doing.
"C'mon, McKinnon," Lily heard James say, "you're barely trying."
Lily saw Marlene mumble a "sorry" to James before they continued.
"Are you staring at James?" Eli's voice cut through Lily's thoughts and brought her out of her own mind and into reality again.
"What?" she said, looking over at them. "No. No! I'm looking at Marlene. She's been off all day."
"Yeah, she barely even looked at Johnny Carters in Transfiguration, and she's had a crush on him since second year," Maria said.
"And she didn't even flinch when I mentioned the twins getting another detention today," Eli added.
"What did they do now?" Maria asked.
"Talked back to McGonagall or something. I don't know the whole story," Eli said.
"The point is," Lily interrupted, "something's wrong with Marlene."
"What are we gonna do?" Maria asked.
"I will talk to her, I guess," Lily sighed.
"Good," Eli said, also sighing. "I don't like those heart-to-heart talks. I can't do them. I usually say something wrong."
"Is that why you still haven't talked to Terri?" Maria asked.
"Precisely," Eli said.
"Well, you have to talk to her sometime," Lily said coldly.
"No, I don't," Eli said, her voice light, as if nothing were wrong.
"Eli, you're going to regret this later," Lily warned.
Eli opened her mouth, but before she could say anything Maria pointed to the pitch and said, "Look! They're done!" And, sure enough, there was a huddle of students holding their brooms and listening to James. After a minute, they split.
They walked to the back of the pitch, where the locker room door was, just as Marlene walked out. They called out to her but she ignored them and just walked quickly up to the castle. And it almost looked to Lily like she was—
"Crying!?" Eli exclaimed. "But Marlene never cries!"
"What do you think happened?" Maria asked, looking at the locker room door.
"I don't know, but I bet Potter had something to do with it," Lily said. "But we will see her at dinner. Come on." They started walking up to the castle after Marlene.
xoxo
As James scored for the seventh time against a third year, he started becoming very worried. So far, the only person showing any skill was Lori Timmon, whom James did not want on the team. What if he had to go with her?
But his future keeper, whoever it would be, wasn't the only problem; his current, reliable beater was also a problem. He had never seen Marlene play so badly, and he became worried that she would continue to not play well all season. Okay, maybe he was getting ahead of himself, but Marlene was doing worse than some of the kids trying out.
"C'mon McKinnon," James called to her, "you're barely trying."
"Sorry," she said back.
James kept playing, but watched Marlene carefully. He would have to talk to her. As he scored on the last student, he told Marlene to keep them going without him. He flew over to where Sirius was watching the fake match, looking for the most skilled.
"Anyone good?" James asked.
"Yeah, actually," Sirius said, grinning. "There are a few who aren't too bad, kinda surprising, really. But one kid is really good." Sirius pointed to a second year boy.
James slapped his hand. "Don't point, you idiot. The others will see."
"Sorry," Sirius said, halfheartedly. "So, did you have any luck with the keeper position?"
"Only with one person," James said regretfully.
"Please don't say—"
"Lori," they said the name at the same time. Sirius sighed. "Great," he said sarcastically. "Just great."
"And what makes this better?" James said, just as sarcastic. "Marlene's playing worse than a muggleborn first year."
Sirius glanced over at Marlene and sighed. "Wonderful. Why don't we just throw away the cup now?" He watched Marlene throw the Quaffle so badly that the second year that deflected it looked more surprised than Sirius felt. "Okay, can we end this? I'm tired and I wanna eat."
James whistled for everyone to land. "Okay," he said when everyone had landed in the middle of the pitch around him. "I would like to thank everyone for coming out, we really appreciate it, and we are sorry, but only two of you will be picked. We will post the new chaser and keeper tomorrow along with the information on our first practice. That's all, go eat."
Everyone disbanded. Marlene went to the locker room and started to take off her gear. James and Sirius walked up to her.
"So, McKinnon," Sirius started, "we noticed you were a little off today. Wanna talk about it?"
"Black, I am not in the mood," Marlene said, threateningly.
"McKinnon," James said, his voice harsher than he intended, "we need you at your very best, even for something like this. I can't have you playing like that. So tell us what's wrong, or fix it yourself, but either way you need to get over this as soon as possible. Understood?"
But when Marlene turned around, both boys were surprised to see tears in her eyes. In six years of knowing Marlene McKinnon, they had never even heard of her crying. James immediately felt like the worst human being on Earth.
"You know what, James?" Marlene said, her voice cracking. "I don't need this drill sergeant attitude from you. It might work every other time I play like shit, but not now. I'm…" She took a shaky breath to calm herself. "I'm sorry I played so bad. I'll be better n-next t-time." She turned away before the first tear came, not wanting the boys to see her cry.
As she walked out, both James and Sirius stood in complete shock for a moment. Marlene had never been known to stand down from a fight. If she was yelled at she would yell back, louder. If she was hit she would hit back, harder. She had never just accepted a beating like the one James had just given her and neither boy knew how to react.
Sirius was the one to break the silence, saying, "Wow, I feel like a douche for you."
"Thanks," James said, sarcastically. Then, more sincerely, "I hope she's okay."
"C'mon," Sirius said, walking towards the door, "we'll see her at dinner."
xoxo
Upon walking into the Great Hall, Sirius immediately noticed that Marlene wasn't there. He made up an excuse and left, making his way toward Gryffindor Tower.
When he stepped through the portrait hole, he saw that the common room was quite empty. Empty, that is, except for Marlene, who sat in a corner at a table… crying.
She didn't hear Sirius approaching until he was almost at the table, but even then she didn't look up from her arms, which were protecting her head while she cried. "Look, Lily, I'm fine. I just need to be alone."
"Well, I'm not Lily and you don't look fine," Sirius said, sitting across from her.
Marlene's head shot up and she looked at Sirius. Her face was blotchy and red, her eyes bloodshot and swollen, and her cheeks stained with tears. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to apologize," Sirius said. Then, as an afterthought, "And to see if you were okay."
"Apologize for what?" Marlene asked, burying her head inside her arms again.
"James, mostly. He feels really bad."
"He didn't do anything wrong," Marlene's voice was muffled, but still audible. "He was just the cherry on top of the shitty day."
"Want to talk about it?" Sirius asked.
"Not really."
"Well, how about some firewhiskey? I have some in my dorm. I would be happy to share if you don't tell anyone."
Marlene picked her head up. Her face was considerably drier and slightly less red, but she still didn't look good. "I could really go for some firewhiskey."
Sirius grinned and ran to get it. By the time everyone came back from dinner, both were slightly drunk. No one seemed to notice, or if they did, they didn't say anything.
But the hours went by quickly and Marlene found herself in bed, and having forgotten all about her troubles.
xoxo
Saturday morning was much different than Friday night. It started fine, with laughter and smiles, but ended with fear. In life, Reader, there is often fear. And that is none more true for the lives of these young witches and wizards.
The morning started when Lily woke up. Marlene was in the shower and Maria and Eli had already gone to breakfast. Arabella and Tammy were not in the dorm either, leaving only Aylin, who was sitting down at the desk, brushing her hair in the mirror.
"Good morning, Aylin," Lily said, stepping out of bed.
"Good morning, Lily," Aylin, smiling to Lily in the mirror. Ever since Arabella left Aylin, and Lily had comforted her, Aylin was spending much more time with Lily. Lily was even starting to consider the fact that Aylin might actually become a friend to them, that is, if Maria, Eli, and Marlene would be less insistent upon not liking Aylin.
"How are you doing?" Lily asked cautiously.
To Lily's surprise, Aylin laughed. "Not having Arabella Layfield talk to me or Tammy Furst following me around isn't that bad actually. So, I'm pretty okay."
"Good," Lily said, smiling. "You know, you're free to hang out with us. You know, Marlene, Eli, Maria, and me."
"Um, I actually don't think that they like me that much," Aylin said, turning to look at Lily directly.
"Well, they kinda don't," Lily said, looking away. "But that's just because they're used to you being mean and with Arabella. Once they get to know you, I'm sure that will change."
"Thanks, but I think it just wasn't meant to be. That's okay though. I mean, you're pretty alright," Aylin said before turning back to the mirror.
Lily wondered if that was her idea of a compliment, but Lily didn't press because Marlene walked out of the bathroom.
Lily took her shower quickly and when she got out, she found just Marlene in the dorm. As she and Marlene started to leave she thought of something, "Marlene, are you okay? Yesterday you didn't seem like yourself."
Marlene sighed and looked, for a moment, worse than Lily had ever seen her. "Well," she said, as they reached the common room, "yesterday I got this—"
But she was cut off by the Marauders running into the common room from the boys' dormitory. Sirius was chasing James as fast as he could around the room while Peter and Remus calmly walked in and watched.
"What are they doing?" Lily asked Remus, both her and Marlene forgetting about the conversation they were having only a second ago.
"James thought it a good idea to steal Sirius's brush. His favourite one," Remus answered.
Marlene laughed. "Does he have more than one?"
"The one thing he prides himself on above anything else is his hair," Remus said, his voice jokingly grave. "He's always saying the reason he takes such good care of it is so that he doesn't look like Snape."
Sirius jumped over the couch and onto James, both of them landing on the table in the center and breaking the glass into a million pieces. They rolled over and over each other before Sirius jumped up triumphantly, brush in hand. He pointed it at James and said, "Not today, evil-doer!" He scurried back to the dorms practically unscathed.
James, however, was quite scathed. He grimaced at Remus, Peter, Lily, and Marlene, all of whom were laughing. He slowly got up from the pool of glass on the floor, groaning in pain. His clothes were cut up all over them and, in some places, blood was seeping through.
Lily stepped forward and pointed her wand at the table, saying, "Reparo." Glass started to fly back to the table and assort itself back to what it had been originally. Some shards even flew out of James's skin and clothes.
James got up shakily and walked slowly to the dorms to change. "A word of advice to all of you," he groaned as he passed them. "Don't take Sirius's brush."
Within a few minutes both boys came down, but this time, James had a piece of parchment. He went to the notice board and pinned it up. Lily and Marlene read it.
New Quidditch Team Members:
Keeper: Lori Timmons
Chaser: Dale Marshfield
First practice is next Friday at 4
Don't be late.
Practice schedules will be passed out at that time
"What the hell, Potter?" Marlene asked, glaring at him. "Why is Lori our Keeper? She's got an attitude worse than yours! And you spelt her name wrong, by the way. It's just Timmon, not Timmons."
"Really?" James asked, looking at the poster. "Oh, then she's gonna be pissed when she sees her jersey. And the reason she's on the team is because she was the only good one. I don't like it either, but we have no choice." The group started to walk down to breakfast, James and Marlene falling slightly behind the others.
"She better be good," Marlene grumbled.
"Hey, McKinnon," James said, cautiously, "about yesterday—"
"Oh, James, I'm really sorry about that," Marlene said, her voice apologetic and, almost, defeated. "I really hope you don't blame yourself, it wasn't your fault. I was just having a bad day."
"You're okay now, though, right?" James asked.
"No," Marlene admitted. "But this shouldn't affect my playing anymore."
"McKinnon," James said, lowering his voice to be sure the others wouldn't hear, "you know you can tell me if something's wrong."
Marlene smiled. "Don't want your 'tough guy' persona to be discredited?" James shrugged and she laughed. "I know I can tell you. You're a good captain, and a better friend."
"You're not going to tell me, are you?" James asked.
Marlene laughed. "Nope," she said, quickening her pace to join the rest of the group.
The six Gryffindors talked all the way down to brekfast, their conversation light, not a care in the world. After all, they were just teenagers. And teenagers shouldn't have to worry about anything.
But, even as they got to the Entrance Hall, they could feel that something was wrong. Their conversation slowly died down and they looked at each other.
But it was when they stepped into the Great Hall that they knew something was really wrong. The tension in the air was overwhelming. Everyone was talking in hushed voices, no one was laughing, most of the food had yet to be eaten, even the Slytherins were not themselves.
Instinctively, Lily looked up to the staff table. If Dumbledore was normal, then maybe it was just some bad food, or the students were all tired. But Dumbledore wasn't there. Neither was Professor Turing. And when Lily looked at McGonagall, she saw that the woman looked older and more tired.
The six Gryffindors took their seats at their respective table, next to Maria and Eli.
"What's going on?" Lily asked them.
"You haven't read the paper?" Maria asked.
Lily looked on the table to see her owl, Pertwee, still holding a copy of the Daily Prophet along with a few other letters. She took it from him and read the story on the front page out loud:
"Death Eaters Spotted in Hogsmeade
Last night villagers in Hogsmeade said they saw Death Eaters just outside of the small village.
The reports came around midnight, after one of the cats in Hogsmeade created quite a ruckus upon seeing the hooded men in masks. The cat woke several people who were immediately alerted to the Death Eaters.
Several aurors were sent out, but by the time they arrived, the Death Eaters were gone.
Though no one came out to us, for their own safety, we understand that these Death Eaters were close to Hogwarts.
Headmaster at Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, stated, "These 'Death Eaters,' as they call themselves, are just ignorant young witches and wizards who do not know enough of the world. They pose no threat to us and we are not worried."
It is still unknown who the Death Eaters were, or what exactly transpired, but we will keep you updated as the story unfolds."
Everyone sat for a moment in silence. Then, James said, "Well, I, for one, would just like to point out that Professor Turing is not here. Coincidence?"
"How can you joke about this?" Lily accused.
"Well, I'm not worried, so…" James shrugged.
"How can you not be worried?" Lily could not grasp the idea of having murderous lunatics on your doorstep and not being afraid.
"Because Albus is here. That Volde-whatever won't attack with Dumbledore waiting for him," James reasoned. "Trust me. We're perfectly safe."
"Maybe inside the castle," Lily shot back. "But what about our Hogsmeade visits? Do you think those are safe? Did you think of that?"
In truth, he had not. But he wasn't about to admit to that. "We are safe out there, too. They don't pose any real threat."
"They've killed before," Lily said.
"No," James corrected. "Their big, bad leader did. And he won't attack children in broad daylight to be seen by everyone."
"So you think that the followers of a murderous sociopath can't kill either? Or attack innocent students?"
"No, but they plan. They strategize. The only reason they did this was to scare people." James looked around at the students, still talking quietly and not eating. "And it looks like it worked."
"So what does Professor Turing have to do with this?"
"I don't know, but she and Dumbledore both aren't here right after criminals are spotted outside of Hogwarts? Pretty suspicious."
"He does make a good point," Eli said, earning a nod from James.
Lily stood. "I can't do this right now." She walked out of the Great Hall and headed immediately towards the library. Maybe she could get away from James and everyone else there.
xoxo
At dinner, Dumbledore and Professor Turing were sitting at the staff table like normal. Perhaps it was Dumbledore, or maybe just time, that made the students go back to their normal selves, talking and laughing. Although, there was still tension in the air, and definitely still fear.
Before the food appeared on the plates, Dumbledore stood and called for silence. The Hall was quieter than anyone could ever remember.
"By now, I expect that you all have heard the news. It is true. Death Eaters were spotted outside of Hogwarts." Somehow he spoke softly with concern and love in his voice, but loud enough for everyone to hear him without the use of a spell.
"Now," he continued, "I expect you were at least somewhat frightened, upon hearing the news. But I would like you to know that you needn't be. Hogwarts is a safe place that no Death Eater can get into. And especially no 'Dark Lord.' And, as of right now, all Hogsmeade visits are still on. They wish to scare us. Do not give them what they want. If you were in danger, I would not hesitate to inform you and your families. I do hope you all trust me enough in this matter." He looked out over the students, who were still extremely silent. "Now," he continued, "let us eat."
The plates on the tables were immediately filled and students immediately began to talk. Everything was back to normal, because every student in the room, no matter what house or what family, trusted Dumbledore.
xoxo
That night, the Marauders were sitting in the dormitory talking and playing Exploding Snap.
"Why do you think they were here?" Sirius asked, referring to the Death Eaters.
"To kill us?" Peter said.
"No," James said, thoughtfully, "they aren't that stupid. Or at least, Voldemort isn't. They know they would never be able to get into the school. Or even past the gates. They were here to scare us, like Dumbledore said."
"Yeah, but, like, why Hogwarts?" Sirius pressed. "They have nothing to gain by scaring students."
"Maybe they were trying to scare the families," Remus suggested. "Quickest way to hurt someone is through their kid."
"Maybe," Sirius said, nodding, "but everyone knows they can't get into Hogwarts. Plus, they obviously didn't want to be seen. They were out at midnight, everyone was asleep. The only reason they were seen was because of that cat. So why were they here?"
James sighed, annoyed, and put his cards down. "Well, obviously, you've been thinking about this a lot. So, what's your idea, Padfoot?"
Sirius put his cards down, too, and looked at the floor for a few moments before looking back to James. "I think they were recruiting students."
There were a few moments of silence, in which Remus and Peter put their cards down and everyone stared at Sirius.
"Sirius," Remus said, the word sounding foreign on his lips since he only ever called Sirius Padfoot, "why would you think that?"
Before Sirius could answer, Peter asked, "Do you mean, like, recruiting them to be… Death Eaters?"
Sirius looked from Remus to Peter. He regretted saying anything. Hearing Remus say his name, and seeing Peter so scared made him feel guilty. He nodded solemnly to Peter, before looking to Remus and saying, "There are kids in this school who would gladly join them. And why else would they be here?"
Again, there was silence and the three other boys just stared at Sirius. Finally, James spoke up, saying, "Sirius, is this about Regulus?"
Regulus Black was a fourth year Slytherin and, though Sirius rarely admitted it, Sirius's brother. Regulus and Sirius had been close when they were younger, but started to separate after Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor. They barely looked at each other now.
Sirius hesitated, not looking at any of them. "It's not just him. But, yeah. I am worried about him, too. His parents, if they are with Voldemort, Regulus will join them. He's a sheep, he just follows." Sirius's voice sounded desperate.
"Sirius," James said, "even if he was going to meet them, he couldn't have. The Death Eaters disbanded before even the aurors got there. And how would he get out?"
"Just because there meeting was interrupted doesn't mean he wasn't planning to go. And Slytherins are sneaky. They probably found at least one of the passages out of the castle!"
"Sirius," Remus said, "your brother has never showed any interest in this sort of thing. And he is usually smarter than this. I don't think there is any reason to worry."
"And it will be a while before any Death Eaters come back after they were seen this time," Peter added.
"And we haven't even heard anything about his parents being a part of their cause, never mind Death Eaters," James said.
Sirius nodded after a few moments. He wasn't satisfied with their answers, but he wasn't about to drag this matter out any longer. "Thanks," was all he said.
They played a few rounds of Exploding Snap, their conversation and their moods growing lighter. Soon, though, they got hungry. James and Sirius were sent to get food from the kitchens.
It was after curfew, so they snuck through the corridors under the Invisibility Cloak. They saw Filch once and only saw the Hufflepuff prefects on the sixth floor.
However, as they were walking down the fourth floor, they heard something.
James grabbed Sirius's shoulder and stopped him. "Do you hear that?" he asked softly.
Sirius nodded. "What is it?"
James shrugged. "Let's get closer," he whispered.
They started walking down the corridor again getting closer to the sound. All of a sudden, James stopped, grabbing Sirius again. "It's crying," he whispered, so softly that Sirius barely heard him.
Sirius frowned and started to walk closer, forcing James to follow so that the Cloak did not uncover him.
As they got closer, they could see where it was coming from. In the middle of the corridor, there was a small alcove. They moved towards it, until they were right in front of it. It was about two meters into the wall. It had a window overlooking the grounds and, below it, a bench with a vase and a flower, with room on either side. They passed this small niche every day, but now it had two people inside.
Just to the left of the bench, Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon sat next to each other on the ground. Marlene had been the one crying.
"I just don't know how to tell them," she was saying, softly, through tears.
Lily was rubbing her arm, comforting her. "Do you think you even should?"
"They have a right to know," Marlene said.
"But it will make things harder for them," Lily said, concern on her face.
"I know, I know," Marlene whispered. "But I can't leave them in the dark like that. I should at least tell the twins…"
James and Sirius had been watching intently, but now, James—oddly upset that Marlene had told Lily what was bothering her and not him—nudged Sirius, gesturing for them to go. Sirius nodded, but as he moved, his foot scuffed the ground, making a noise. They both froze.
Lily looked up immediately and shushed Marlene. "Did you hear that?" she asked.
Marlene sniffed. "Hear what?"
Lily looked straight at James and Sirius. For a moment, James had the sinking feeling that she could see them.
But then she looked away. "Nothing," she answered Marlene.
Marlene and Lily kept talking as James and Sirius snuck away, more carefully this time. By the time they had made their way back up to the fourth floor after going to the kitchens, the two girls were gone.
xoxo
Lily sat in the Common Room, talking with Maria and Eli. But as the clock struck ten, she worried about Marlene. She hadn't come back from dinner, and hadn't told anyone where she was going.
"I'm going to go find Marlene," Lily said, getting up.
"Don't get caught," Eli called after her as Lily exited through the portrait hole.
Lily spent a half hour roaming the castle before she found Marlene, in the alcove, crying. Lily rushed to her side and sat with her for a few minutes, without either saying a word, Marlene crying on Lily's shoulder.
Finally, Lily asked, "Marlene, what's wrong?"
"Mrs. Peters wrote to me yesterday," Marlene managed to choke out. "It's my parents. They haven't written to her in over a month. She's starting to get worried."
"Oh, Marlene," Lily said. "It will be okay. They are probably just very busy."
"And what about Brad? And the twins?" Marlene continued, not paying any attention to what Lily had said. "I just don't know how to tell them."
"Do you think you even should?" Lily asked, hesitantly.
"They have a right to know," Marlene said, knowing that if she were in their shoes, she would want to know.
"But it will make things harder for them," Lily tried to reason.
"I know, I know," Marlene said, weakly. "But I can't leave them in the dark like that. I should at least tell the twins. They can take the news well enough. They're strong.
"I don't know," Lily said. "Maybe on the outside. But what about Bradley?"
"He took it the hardest when—"
"Shh," Lily said, holding her hand up to quiet Marlene. Lily had thought she heard something. Was it Mrs. Norris? Or perhaps the Hufflepuff prefects she knew were patrolling tonight? She looked out into the dark corridor in front of them, but didn't see anything. "Did you hear that?" she asked Marlene.
"Hear what?" Marlene asked, also looking into the corridor.
Lily looked out for a few more moments, as if daring something to move, or someone to jump out. But nothing moved and no one jumped out. "Nothing," Lily said, turning back to Marlene. "What were you saying?"
"Brad took it the hardest when my parents left. I don't want to tell him that they might never come back," Marlene said, more tears spilling from her eyes.
"Then don't," Lily urged.
"Why don't you want me to tell them?" Marlene asked, slightly upset.
"Because," Lily stressed, "I know what it's like to be told something like that! I know how it feels. And that was with one parent, I can't even imagine what it feels like with two. I don't want them to feel like I did! Hell, like you do!"
"But would you not have wanted to know?" Marlene whispered, hoarsely.
Lily hesitated and thought about it. "I… I guess I would have preferred to know," she said softly.
"It might hurt," Marlene said, "but it's better than finding out after it's too late. I have to tell them. But I just don't know how."
"I don't know either," Lily sighed. "But I do know that sitting here, crying, won't do anything. Maybe you'll feel better with sleep. Or at least have an idea about what to do. Besides it's," Lily looked at her pocket watch, "eleven o'clock."
Marlene sighed. "Okay, let's go."
Yes? No? Good? Bad? I know, i'm a horrible person.
It's kinda funny, cuz i wrote this chapter weeks ago, and when i edit it, it feels like i'm reading a story that's not my own. I mean, sometimes i'm like, "Wow, that's really good writing, i might go places!" And then other times, i'm like, "Jill, you dumbfuck! What the hell is that even supposed to be?!" Idk, i just find it interesting how different editing is from writing...
Anywho, the next chapter is called "Problems Like These," and it should be coming out sometime next week. Bye beautifuls! See ya next time!
~Jill
MissSlytherin
XOXO
