I received some questions, so just to clear things up:
1) Fiona does NOT know that Marlene's memories are returning.
2) Addie was born on August 11, 1980 (yes, I changed the continuity of the McKinnon's deaths, sorry)
3) This chapter opens in early October, 1981
A big thanks to those who followed/favorited/reviewed the last two chapters:
Guest, Guest, I-Owe-Not, more1weasley, HurricaneKatrina01, c00k1es, Wheezy8, JadedLights07, Samantha, Sydrianfan4ever, Chintz, wouldtheywriteasongforyou, EeeBee, fairer3333, castielpls, deant33, Porge123, Mommy'sLittlePyro, eveningstars, LionessoftheEast, PatronusIsAMockingjay3
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Trigger warning: Minor character death
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October 14, 1981
Marlene rubbed at her eyes before taking another sip of coffee. It had been four days since her ill-fated trip with Addie to McKinnon Manor. She had returned with tear tracks on her cheeks and shaking hands, but when Fiona had asked what happened, she only shook her head and retreated upstairs. But not to sleep, no not to sleep. The memories only came when she slept, and she didn't want to know more. She was scared. So she stayed awake.
Marlene poured herself another cup of coffee. She was so tired.
"You're looking a bit peaky, dearie," Fiona said late that afternoon when she returned from her shift at the hospital. "Are you feeling alright?"
"Hm?" Marlene turned her attention from the view out the window to the older woman. "Oh y-yes I'm f-f...ine," she stuttered out through a yawn.
"Have you been sleeping? Marlene, you look exhausted." She sounded genuinely concerned now.
"Yes. I was just restless last night, that's all," she defended.
"Alright. Now where's our little Miss Addie?"
"I was just about to wake her up from her nap," Marlene replied, and she rose, feeling like a zombie, and left the room.
Having roused and changed Addie, she returned downstairs to help Fiona with dinner. She set Addie on the kitchen floor, leaving the little girl to crawl about and cruise in circles around the table using the chair backs for support.
"I was thinking about roasting some -" She spoke over her shoulder as she washed the potatoes.
"Marlene," Fiona interrupted her. "Look."
Marlene turned around to see Addie standing unsteadily with one hand grasping a chair and the other stretched towards her mother.
"Do you think she's going to-?" She whispered to the older woman.
Fiona nodded.
Marlene stepped forward, leaning down and stretching her arms out towards her daughter.
"Addie! Come here little angel! Come to mummy," she crooned, smiling and beckoning to the little girl.
With a determined frown on her little pink mouth, Addie took one tentative step, released the chair, and then tottled the remaining three feet on her chubby legs into Marlene's waiting arms.
"You did it! Fiona, she walked!" Marlene crowed happily, spinning her daughter in a circle and earning delighted shrieks and claps from the little girl.
"She sure did! Oh I remember when my boys started. Never could keep them still after that," Fiona said fondly, laying a hand across her breast.
Marlene beamed down at Addie. Her daughter's first steps; she was so proud. With a sinking sensation in her stomach, her smile slid right off her face. Sirius should have been there.
That night, after helping Fiona wash up after dinner, she made her way upstairs with a sleepy Addie in her arms. She had a feeling the exhausted, droopy-eyed expression on her daughter's face mirrored her own. If avoiding the memories for a bit was the price of no sleep, well, she supposed it was worth it. After seeing the destruction that had befallen her family home she found herself filled with doubts. What if she were to discover that everyone she loved had perished? True, she had been lamenting the fact that Sirius had not been there to see Addie's first steps, but it would be so much worse if it turned out he was dead and would never see his daughter at all. Her mind reeled as she went over possible scenarios that could have befallen her friends and family, each one more terrible than the last. The world of her memories was a world of magic, but it had also proven to be a world in turmoil with plenty of suffering.
After readying Addie for bed, she settled into the old rocking chair in the corner of her old room and pulled out one of the children's books that Fiona had kept around from when her own sons were little. Not two pages in, however, she found her eyelids beginning to droop. She shook her head roughly, and continued on.
.
August 3, 1976
"The chicken is delicious, Mrs. Potter," Marlene said honestly before bringing another forkful of the roasted meat to her mouth.
Mack and Mal had come to Potter Manor that afternoon to meet with James' parents about some Order business, and Marlene had come along to spend a few hours with James. Her brothers had returned home, but she decided to stay for dinner.
"How many times must I ask you to call me Dorea, dear?" James' mum asked kindly. "And I am afraid that it is the house elves' cooking that you praise so kindly, and not my own."
But Marlene didn't get a chance to respond because in that moment, they were interrupted by the sound of the fireplace roaring to life in the next room, and a dull thud as someone tumbled out of it.
"Charlus?" Dorea turned to her husband, confusion writ on her elegantly lined face. "Were you expecting someone?"
Charlus shook his head and turned to his son. "James?"
"Nope," James replied, popping the P.
"I'll go see who it is." Mr. Potter rose from the table, and with his wand drawn, walked carefully into the next room.
Dorea, James, and Marlene waited with bated breath until -
"DOREA! Dorea come quick!"
"Mum?" James asked, rising from his chair to follow his mother. "What's going on?" He turned to Marlene.
"Oh, come on," she said, grabbing his arm and yanking him through the doorway.
The sight that greeted them made her dinner rise in her throat.
"NO!" She screamed, falling to her knees.
"PADFOOT!" James howled, lurching forward.
His parents were crouched over Sirius' battered form sprawled in front of the fireplace. There were bruises darkening on his face, his arm was clearly broken, and there was a deep gash on his abdomen that stretched from the base of his left ribs to meet his right hip that had sinister looking black lines spiralling and twisting out from it. A curse wound. Dark magic.
Marlene tried to crawl towards him, reaching, reaching -
"Charlus! Get them out of here! I need to work!" Dorea shouted, running her wand over the wound on Sirius' stomach and muttering under her breath.
"No! I'm not leaving!" James shouted, trying to elbow his way past his father.
Marlene scrambled across the floor, trying to reach Sirius around James and Charlus. His blood was pooling on the ground far too quickly. The knees of Dorea's robes were soaked from where she knelt beside him, and Marlene watched with detached fascination as the lilac fabric slowly bled to red.
"Get them out!" Dorea screamed once more as Marlene reached out for Sirius.
Her fingers just brushed his wrist when she was yanked to her feet by a strong grip around her upper arm. Before she had even a moment to register what had happened, she was thrown from the room alongside James.
"You can't keep us out!" James bellowed, throwing his shoulder into the door to no avail. It had been locked and warded from the other side.
On unsteady legs, Marlene went to him, wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and the two teens sunk to their knees in a heap, their sides pressed to the door. Charlus' wards blocked any noise coming from the other room, but James had his ear pressed to the wood regardless.
Hours later - the horizon was starting to fade to a dusky purple heralding the dawn - Dorea slipped through the door. Her graying hair was pulled haphazardly into a knot at the base of her neck, and there was a smear of dried and cracking blood on her pale cheekbone.
The elderly woman held up a shaking hand to silence James and Marlene's questions before they could make a sound.
"He's going to be alright. He's fighting down a fever, but it should break soo-"
"Can we see him?" James blurted, interrupting his mother.
"Just for a few minutes," Dorea nodded, and James was up and dashing through the door before Marlene even had a chance to register Mrs. Potter's words.
Sirius had been moved to the couch, and the spot in front of the fireplace had been cleaned of blood. Marlene thanked Merlin for small favors; she didn't know if she could handle the sight of him lying in that pool of red again. His face was pale and slick with sweat, but the wound on his abdomen was mostly healed into an angry red line left visible by his bare chest and the blanket pooled around his hips.
James was on his knees beside Sirius, grasping his friend's hand with a white knuckled grip.
"Padfoot," she heard him whisper in a choked voice.
Marlene didn't know how to comfort James - they had never been terribly close - so she simply sank to the ground beside Sirius' head and chose not to comment on the tears leaking from James' eyes.
She pushed the damp strands of Sirius' dark hair away from his forehead with shaking fingers. How could a parent do such a thing to their own child? She had no doubt that Sirius' injuries were a result of Orion Black, and that Walburga, as always, had simply stood aside and allowed her husband to beat and curse their son within an inch of his life. It was despicable, it was -
Sirius shifted on the couch, indecipherable murmurs falling from his lips. His eyes moved rapidly beneath his lavender eyelids, and she prayed that whatever he saw in his fever dreams would bring him peace.
"What's he saying?" James asked quietly, looking at Marlene with a dead expression in his hazel eyes.
Marlene leaned closer to Sirius until she could feel his hot breath on her ear.
"Help," he mumbled, so quietly she might have imagined it. "Help me, Mum."
.
September 16, 1976
"...wanted to let you know that Michael and Katherine have finally set a date for their wedding - July 11th. I tried to tell Katherine that nine months is not nearly enough time to plan, but the dear girl looked at me as if I were mad. When I tried to explain to her that putting together the event of the season was no small task, Michael scolded me for "going overboard." He told me they want no more than forty guests. Forty! Can you believe the nerve of that boy? He should know better than to deprive his poor mother so. I was expecting a hundred, at least. But he and Katherine insisted that it be kept small for practical reasons. I suppose they're right; it would be terribly difficult to apparate over a hundred people past the wards. This war certainly does put a damper on things.
Oh, I almost forgot! The big news: Tyler proposed! Merrick came home last night with the loveliest ring on her finger. I have to say I was skeptical about that American boyfriend (fiance now!) of hers, but he makes her happy, and he has excellent taste in rings. Your sister is over the moon. She's always so serious, but she's been walking around the house on air all morning. The twins have been teasing her mercilessly, of course, but not even your brothers can bring down her good mood. Now if only those two boys could find some nice girls and settle down themselves, I would be a very pleased mother indeed. You know it makes me so happy to see that even in these dark times you children are able to find light and love. I'm sure your father, wherever he is, is very proud..."
Marlene smiled as she poured over her mother's letter for a second time. Deirdre McKinnon had a bubbly personality that could not even be contained on paper, and her letters never failed to brighten Marlene's day. Her mother was right; it was nice to see that her siblings were capable of finding love and making lives for themselves even amidst the rising darkness of the coming war.
.
February 2, 1977
"Max," Marlene pleaded, laying a hand on her little brother's shaking shoulder. "Max, please talk to me. Don't shut me out right now."
"Go away," the teenage boy snarled at her. The venom in his voice was weakened by the tears staining his cheeks.
"But -"
"I don't want to talk about it!"
Marlene choked on a sob and tore from the common room. How could he not want to talk about it? Their brothers - Mackenzie and Malcolm - were dead. Their family was disappearing before their eyes, and he didn't want to speak to her? It was too much to be pushed away by one of her only remaining brothers.
When her adult family members joined the Order, she had known there would be a chance that they could lose their lives, but no amount of knowing could have prepared her for the realization that her twin brothers were dead. They would never play another prank, never make another joke, never grow old together like they'd always planned. Mack and Mal had come into the world together and been inseparable ever since. They said their first words on the same day, got their first kisses from the same girl, received the same OWLs and NEWTs, and now they had died together. It was fitting, she supposed.
Rubbing furiously at her wet cheeks, she stumbled up the stairs to the owlery. She had to send a response to their mother, telling her that she and Max would floo home tomorrow for the funeral. Using the first school owl she could find, she tied the letter to her mother to its leg, and sent it on its way. She watched the bird disappear on the horizon before sinking to the feather-covered floor; she wasn't ready to return to Gryffindor tower and face her friends yet.
She didn't know how long she sat on the stone floor of the Owlery shivering in the February cold - long enough for her to lose feeling in her behind and for her joints to become stiff - before Sirius entered the tower and settled himself on the ground beside her.
"Did Lily tell you?" Marlene asked. Sirius hadn't been present when she received the letter bearing the news.
Sirius nodded and looked at her with concerned gray eyes.
"You gonna be okay, Marl?" He asked quietly after several minutes of silence.
"I don't know," she whispered truthfully. After the loss of her father, she thought she could never feel such pain again. But there she was, mourning family members once again. She didn't have any more room for grief in her heart; she didn't know if she could take it if anything were to happen to her mother or remaining siblings.
"Lily said Max wouldn't speak to you?" He phrased it as a question despite undoubtedly knowing the answer.
"It's his way of coping," Marlene shrugged. "He just wants to keep his mind off it for as long as possible."
"I think that's what you need."
"What?"
"To get your mind off of it, if only for a little while." He smiled at her weakly, and she raised a skeptical eyebrow in return. "Here, I've got something that'll make you laugh."
"I highly doubt it," Marlene grumbled, dropping her head onto his shoulder.
"I wouldn't speak so soon, if I were you. I've got another installment in the saga that is the story of Sirius Black, Casanova of Hogwarts," he shot her a cheeky grin that Marlene returned weakly.
"What's a Casanova?" She mumbled miserably, but he didn't seem to hear her.
She didn't think she had it in her to laugh at a story of one of his many exploits with another dimwitted girl. It was hard enough to fake amusement on any other day.
"So there are these two twins - Ravenclaws - named Bonnie and Betsy, or maybe it was Betty and Brittany? Anyway, it doesn't really matter. Well they look exactly alike, you see, and..."
Marlene gritted her teeth and clenched her hands into fists so tightly she could feel the moons of her nails threatening to break the skin of her palms. She couldn't handle this right now.
"Sirius."
"...I mean, did they really expect me to remember or even notice that one of them has a mark on her -"
"Sirius!" Marlene shrieked much louder than she had intended.
"Marl? What's wrong?" He looked at her with wide eyes. The innocent expression on his handsome face was too much.
"I - I just can't -" She stuttered, pushing herself away from him on the wall and clambering to her feet.
"Can't what?"
But she didn't answer, instead turning away from him and bracing her hands against the ledge of the window on the opposite wall of the tower.
"Marlene?" His voice was close behind her.
"Don't touch me!" She snapped when she felt his hand on her shoulder.
"What's wrong?"
"What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG?!" She hissed, rounding on him so quickly her blonde hair fanned out behind her. "I'll tell you what's wrong! My brothers are dead! My brothers are dead, and I'm in love with you, and I don't have it in me anymore to pretend that it's funny to hear about you being with other girls!"
Sirius stared at her with a shocked expression that might have been comical in any other situation, his mouth opening and closing in a manner that was reminiscent of a fish.
"Just," Marlene drew in a shuddering breath. "Just leave me alone," she whispered as she pushed past him and fled from the Owlery.
.
May 9, 1977
"I can't believe you're finally going out with someone," Mary Macdonald said for perhaps the fifth time that morning.
Marlene rolled her eyes at her friend and exchanged an exasperated glance with Lily. It was a Hogsmeade Weekend, and the May sunshine illuminated the Great Hall as the girls polished off their breakfasts. Marlene had finally agreed to go on a date with Preston Sanders, a very handsome seventh year Hufflepuff, much to the surprise of everyone. It would be the first time she accepted an invitation from any boy. She and Sirius had not spoken in more than passing since she told him she loved him three months prior, and she finally decided to admit that it was time she moved on. So when a hopeful Preston had approached her five days ago in the Charms corridor and asked her to Hogsmeade, she'd found herself agreeing. She didn't quite feel butterflies at the sight of the Hufflepuff's charming smile, but she supposed the warm feeling in her stomach when she caught his eye from across the Great Hall was enough.
"Yes, Mary, I believe you said that already," Marlene gave a long suffering sigh, causing Lily to snort indelicately into her goblet of pumpkin juice.
"Don't tease," Emmeline chimed in with a friendly glare. "You can't blame me for being surprised. You've only turned down about, oh, twenty guys at least since third year. I think I'm even more surprised that any of them even had the courage to ask anymore."
"Didn't Sanders ask you in fourth year, too?" Lily asked.
Marlene nodded. She remembered the event from two years ago. She had turned him down then, foolishly hoping to spend the day with Sirius, only to find out that he was taking some pretty Ravenclaw to Madame Puddifoot's instead.
"So why did you say yes this time?" Mary pressed, her light brown hair swinging dangerously close to the plate of toast as she leaned across the table to get closer to Marlene.
"Watch you hair, Mary," Lily warned. She was always looking out for everyone.
"I decided it was time," Marlene replied mysteriously.
She caught Lily's eye, and the redhead offered her a small smile before glancing down the table with a scowl to where the Marauders sat, laughing obnoxiously as James stood on the bench and reenacted hexing Snape the night before. Lily was the only other one who knew about Marlene's feelings for Sirius and what had transpired in the Owlery in February.
"Well I think you made an excellent choice," Mary gushed. "Preston Sanders is so good-looking, and he's Quidditch Captain too!"
"What's that got to do with anything?" Lily sniffed.
"You know, Evans, some would consider being Captain an appealing quality," came a loud voice from behind the girls.
"Not that it can really compensate for the Hippogriff dung between his ears," came a second voice. She knew that voice - Sirius.
Marlene glanced over her shoulder to find James standing proudly behind Lily and Marlene. He was flanked by his friends, but Marlene turned around pointedly without looking in Sirius' direction.
"Some would also consider humility and manners to be appealing qualities, as well," Lily said airily, staring James down with her bright green eyes. "Perhaps thats why you don't seem to have a date to Hogsmeade today, Potter?"
"Care to change that, Evans?" James smiled disarmingly, and Marlene chuckled when Lily sneered in response.
"I'd rather go with a Slytherin."
For a moment, James looked like he'd been slapped, but he recovered quickly.
"Your loss, Evans. Don't worry, I'll still be here when you get tired of those Slytherins," he replied, before quickly snatching up her hand, brushing a kiss across her knuckles, and retreating with the rest of the Marauders in tow.
Marlene glanced sideways at Lily with a smug smile. "Are you blushing?" She teased.
The other girl's mouth opened and closed several times before replying hotly, "I'm flushed with anger."
Marlene shook her head knowingly while Mary and Emmeline roared with laughter.
Several hours later found Marlene walking side by side with Preston Sanders down the main street in Hogsmeade. Preston was a nice boy, handsome, good at Quidditch, and dressed well, but she found herself hopelessly bored. They'd already visited most of the main shops, which Marlene had been happy to do, but the conversation in between proved to be rather uninspiring.
"So what do you want to do now?" She prodded.
"Oh, um, whatever you'd like," Preston replied unhelpfully. Marlene had to resist the urge to sigh. He was trying so hard to please her; it made her want to slap him.
"We could go get a butterbeer?" She offered.
"Alright," he agreed and reached down to take her hand for the first time that day.
Marlene's pulse jumped as their fingers brushed, but before she could grasp his hand, he tripped ungracefully and landed face-down in the dirt. She had to clap a hand over her mouth to stop from laughing.
"Are - are you alright?" She asked warily, trying not to look to amused at the sight of her date in a heap on the ground.
"Someone jinxed me!" Preston hissed angrily as he clambered to his feet. He waved his wand to rid himself of the mud that had stained the front of his robes.
"It's okay if you tripped," Marlene said quietly.
"I didn't trip! Someone jinxed me!" He insisted.
Marlene glanced around, but there was no one nearby.
"If you say so," she mumbled before heading in the direction of the Three Broomsticks with her lackluster date in tow.
Once they had gotten their butterbeers - Preston had all but forbidden her from purchasing her own - and found themselves a small table by the window, Marlene found her head filled with possible excuses she could use to return to the castle early. Perhaps an unexpected illness, or a suddenly remembered Potions assignment...
"So will you be coming?" Preston's voice called her back to the present.
"Coming?" She asked, not knowing to what he was referring.
"To my match against Ravenclaw next weekend," he prodded.
"Oh, uh yeah, of course. I go to all the matches."
"Good, good. Well I'm glad I'll have you rooting for me," he said confidently.
"Uh, actually..." Marlene trailed off awkwardly. She hadn't been planning on rooting for Hufflepuff at all.
"You are supporting my team, aren't you?"
She swallowed uncomfortably.
"Well, I was actually going to support Ravenclaw. You see, if they win, that'll put Gryffindor in a better position for -"
"I'd prefer for you to support Hufflepuff."
"Ex-excuse me?" Marlene choked on her butterbeer and looked at her date incredulously.
"Well it would be rather embarrassing for me to have you supporting the other team," he shrugged as if he were informing her of the weather.
"And why should it matter? I'll be supporting the house whose win will put us in the best position for the Cup," she said forcefully, feeling her ire beginning to rise at his presumptuous attitude.
Preston's face flushed, and he opened his mouth to retort, but before he could say a word, his half-finished butterbeer exploded in his face, drenching his robes and hair in the sticky liquid. It took all Marlene had in her not to burst out laughing as she glanced around in search of the culprit. But when she heard the sound of a disembodied, but very familiar laugh, she found the blood rushing to her cheeks in anger. How dare he!
"Excuse me," she said quickly to Preston before leaping up from the table and following the invisible, laughing culprit out the door of the pub.
"Sirius Black!" She yelled once out in the street. "I know you're there!"
"I'm right here, there's no need to yell," came a voice from behind her, and Marlene whipped around to see that Sirius had suddenly appeared looking very handsome indeed. She cursed his genetics.
"What is your problem?" She hissed, shoving one of his shoulders roughly.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said innocently.
"You know damn well what I'm talking about! You've been hexing my date all day! Making him trip, the exploding butterbeer -"
"How do you know that's not just the poor bloke's incompetence shining through?"
"Argh!" Marlene huffed, throwing her hands in the air. "Why did you have to ruin my date? You know, just because you don't want me doesn't mean no one else is allowed to have me either!" She yelled angrily, feeling tears of frustration beginning to prick at the corners of her eyes.
Suddenly, Sirius closed the distance between them.
"You think that I don't want you?" He said, his voice low and intense.
Marlene swallowed, quickly regaining her composure.
"Of course you don't. I told you I was in love with you, and you proceeded to ignore me for -"
"You told me to leave you alone!" Sirius interrupted her.
"I didn't mean it! Why would I want you to leave me alone? I love -"
His lips crashed onto hers, swallowing her words. For a moment, she was too stunned to respond. Was she hallucinating? Was he actually kissing her? Yes, yes he was, she realized as one of his hands came up to tenderly cup the back of her neck. She responded enthusiastically, gripping the front of his shirt to pull him closer. His tongue ran delicately over her bottom lip, and suddenly it was all Sirius, the lingering taste of firewhiskey and sugarquills invading her senses.
When she felt herself growing lightheaded, she broke away with a gasp. His chest was heaving as he leaned his forehead against hers. She offered him a lopsided little smile, but he brought his hands up to firmly grip the tops of her arms and stared seriously into her eyes.
"I'm not like James. I'm not going to carry your books in the hallways or take you dancing or -"
"Sirius."
"What?"
"I hate dancing."
.
July 11, 1977
Marlene nervously straightened her dress robes for what felt like the hundredth time that day. She looked beautiful in the pale, shimmering gold gown with her hair piled on top of her head - she knew she did - but that didn't stop her from obsessively checking to make sure everything was in its place. She was at the event of the season, and while she was certainly not the center of attention, she was a McKinnon and needed to look perfect. Her family may have withdrawn from traditional Pureblood society over the past several years, but old habits died hard, she supposed.
It was Michael and Katherine's wedding, and the back lawns and gardens of her family home had been transformed into something out of another world. Fairy lights floated and twinkled in the air, glowing beautifully in the purple light of dusk, and the flowers in the gardens had been charmed to glow with an iridescent shimmer that added an ethereal touch to the whole scene. She felt like she was in a dream.
There wasn't an overwhelming number of guests. True to Katherine's wish, the number had been kept at forty. It was just as well; it would have been awfully troublesome to have had to apparate every single guest past the wards. The wards would only allow people to enter if they were accompanied by a member of the McKinnon family, Katherine, Tyler, or Dumbledore.
She stood off to the side of the dance floor, observing the guests in their brightly colored robes swirling about. Katherine and Michael were in the middle, and she thought that she had never seen her brother look so happy. He was staring down at his bride as if the sun shone out of her face. Marlene didn't blame him; Katherine looked like a princess. The splitting smile on her brother's face made her heart hurt.
"I've been looking for you," came a deep voice from behind her as an arm wrapped around her waist.
"Well you found me," Marlene replied as she turned in Sirius' arms to press a kiss to his lips.
"And just what are you doing hiding off in the shadows over here?" He whispered into her ear as he nuzzled her neck.
His breath tickled the sensitive skin, causing her to giggle and try to squirm away.
"Were you admiring the happy couple?" Sirius asked as he released her enough to allow her to settle comfortably into his side.
"Yes," Marlene sighed, looking out on the dance floor once more. "They look so in love."
When Sirius didn't respond she tilted her head up. He looked awfully handsome in his dress robes with his hair - which had grown long in the past few months - pulled into a little ponytail at the nape of his neck. When he looked down to meet her gaze, she saw mirth shining in his silver eyes.
"What?"
"Oh, I wasn't talking about that couple," he chuckled.
When her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, he gestured with his chin off to the left. Marlene followed his gaze and had to roll her eyes when she realized just who he was referring to. Lily Evans, would have looked stunning as always in a pale yellow dress with her red hair falling down her back in waves if it weren't for that fact that she was very red in the face from yelling at a sheepish looking James Potter.
Much to everyone's surprise, Lily had agreed to be James' date to the wedding "because she was going to go anyway." Unfortunately for James, it looked like he had already done something to upset her and was suffering under the force of her wrath.
"Poor Prongs. I don't know when he's going to get it through his head that Evans just isn't going to happen," Sirius said with a shake of his head.
"Oh it's going to happen," Marlene said confidently.
"What?!" Sirius looked down at her in shock as if she had just told him the Chudley Cannons had won a match. "Has she told you something?"
"Of course not," Marlene shrugged. "She still calls him an arrogant toerag, but I think she's already half in love with him."
"Honestly, woman, have you seen the way she goes at him? She hates him," Sirius shook his head.
"No she doesn't," she replied with a knowing little smirk.
"Want to bet on it?"
Marlene rolled her eyes. Sirius was always turning everything into a wager.
"Fine, ten galleons and a box of Honeydukes chocolate says they'll be together by Christmas."
"Christmas? You're absolutely mental."
"But you love me anyway," Marlene smiled and pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw.
"Of course I do," Sirius replied softly, running a thumb along her cheekbone. "But I still think you're mental, so I'll take that bet."
.
October 17, 1977
Marlene had a free period before lunch on Tuesdays, so she was on her way to the library to get some extra studying in. It was only October, but she was already beginning to feel the pressure of her looming NEWT exams that coming June.
She was just rounding a corner on the fifth floor when she slammed smack into something hard. A chest. She looked up into the face of the owner. It was Sirius's chest, and he was white as a sheet.
"Sirius?" She asked worriedly as he grabbed her arm and began dragging her in the opposite direction back towards to Grand Staircase. "Sirius, what's wrong?"
But Sirius didn't answer. They turned the corner only to see the staircases packed with hurrying students all with similar looks of panic on their faces.
"Shit," Sirius hissed under his breath and pulled Marlene off in the opposite direction.
He yanked aside a tapestry of bowtruckles having tea to reveal a spiral staircase before tugging her up it. Moments later, they emerged panting on the seventh floor. Sirius pulled at her impatiently, but she ground her heels into the floor and yanked her hand from his grasp.
"Sirius Black! Tell me what is the matter!" She demanded.
"Ah, just -" he gritted his teeth and ran a hand through his dark waves. "We have to get to Gryffindor Tower."
He grabbed her arm and tugged her along with such force she had no choice but to follow.
"Why?" She panted out as they neared the Fat Lady.
"Because -" Sirius broke off to bark out the password and push her through the portrait hole in front of him.
The din in the common room was deafening. It looked as if the whole of Gryffindor House was crowded into the space.
"Because?" She reminded, looking up into Sirius' worried face.
"Because someone thought it would be a laugh to set off the Dark Mark," he replied grimly, pointing to a window that looked over the grounds.
Marlene shoved her way forcefully through the throngs of students until she was at the window and pressed her palms up against the glass. The October sky was hidden by rolling, dark clouds that cast the grounds and castle into shadow, but the entire scene was bathed in an ominous green light. Craning her neck, she looked up to see the glowing form of skull and snake, illuminated against the storm clouds.
.
October 20, 1981
When Marlene finally woke, she reached with her eyes still closed for the glass of water she always kept at her bedside. Her eyes snapped open in shock when her hand grasped at empty air. Above her were very familiar ceiling tiles. She was in the hospital.
The hospital? Why was she in the hospital?
Struggling against stiff limbs, she pushed herself up into an awkward, slumped position against the pillows before pressing the call button for a nurse. She had spent enough time in that hospital when she had first woken up and found out she was pregnant with Addie to not be terribly alarmed at waking up there. With all the time she spent hanging around and visiting Fiona and the other nurses, it had become something of a second home.
"Oh! You're awake!" A young nurse gasped from the doorway. She was a young brunette that had started a few weeks ago; Marlene thought her name started with an N. "How are you feeling? Are you alright? Do you need anything?" She fluttered nervously around Marlene, checking vitals and looking generally flustered.
"I'm fine, just sore, and I could use a glass of water." Marlene had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at the incompetent nurse who looked like she could be even younger than herself. "Shouldn't you tell someone I've woken up or something?"
"Yes! Yes, oh - I - yes! Let me just - I'll get you water too..." The young woman trailed off as she scurried out into the hall.
Marlene sagged back against the pillows to wait, and brought a hand up to rub at her temples. Her head was pounding something awful. She wondered how long she had been there, and what had happened. What was the last thing she remembered? She had been reading to Addie...hadn't she? Then, her dream-memories came rushing back, and Marlene realized that she must have finally fallen asleep against her will. That's what she deserved for depriving herself for so long, she supposed.
With a small gasp and a pain to her chest, Marlene remembered her brothers. Brothers she would never know outside her dreams now. She rubbed furiously at her eyes; she wouldn't be able to explain tears to anyone who saw. She couldn't exactly tell the muggles that her memories were returning.
This was why she didn't want to sleep! She didn't want to remember! She didn't want to wake up with her muscles still tense from the terror of a growing war, or to the pain of having lost someone she loved. Maybe that made her a coward, but...she was afraid of what would happen when she reached the end of her memories.
It was a thought that had been niggling at the back of her mind for sometime now. Why hadn't anyone come looking for her? Her friends and family were magical, for Merlin's sake; it couldn't have been that hard to find her no matter what had happened to land her in a coma in a muggle hospital. If no one had come looking for her, did that mean there was no one left to look? What sort of state did that mean the wizarding world was in? Surely not a place fit to bring Addie to...
She had to clap a hand over her mouth the stifling her rising sobs, and her shoulders shook with the repressed emotion. She was so scared.
"Marlene? Marlene, sweetheart, what's wrong?"
Marlene looked up sharply to see Fiona hurrying through the door with one of the doctors - one she didn't know.
"I - uh," she stuttered awkwardly, becoming acutely aware of how distraught she must look. "Just a bit disoriented about waking up in a hospital?"
"That's to be expected," the doctor, a middle-aged woman with a stern face, but kind eyes chimed in. "I'm Doctor Marks, but you can call me Carol. Marlene, can you tell me the last thing you remember doing?"
"I, uh, I was putting Addie down to sleep and - Addie!" Marlene jumped, finally realizing what had been bothering her from the moment Fiona walked in the room. "Where's my daughter?"
"Don't worry dear, I left her next door with Mrs. Fisher. She's fine," Fiona assured her, and Marlene relaxed once more.
"So you were putting your daughter down to sleep? Do you remember anything more recent?" Carol prodded.
"More recent?" Marlene's eyebrows knitted together. "How long ago did I put Addie down? Just how long have I been here?!"
She was starting to feel exactly as she had the first time she had woken up in this hospital, and the panic was creeping into her voice.
"You've been asleep for six days."
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I promise that's not supposed to be a shitty cliffhanger. It's just the most convenient place to break before the next chapter.
Ok, so I know this chapter is a little weak organizationally, but I do like the memories in this one, and Sirius and Marlene are finally together! How great is that?
Endless apologies for taking so long to update. The end of the semester is a very busy time, but I'm done in less than a week, so if my exams don't kill me, you should be getting many more regular updates in the future.
Some things to look forward to in the upcoming chapters: Some very upsetting memories, the end of Marlene's memories/dreams, Marlene and Addie return to the Wizarding world, and Marlene finds support from old acquaintances - but not the ones you'd expect! (If you think you know who it is, leave me a review, and I'll proclaim your genius when I post the relevant chapter)
Your reviews are all so wonderful, and they really do motivate me. You are all such fabulous people.