This is a beast. JadedLights07 - this is for you. How's this for lengthy?
Trigger Warning: Torture, Death, Violence, Murder, Loss, Horror and Gore. ***Some of the flashbacks are not for the faint of heart!***
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October 20, 1981
"Six days," Marlene said, her voice devoid of emotion. "Six days? Why would I be..."
She trailed off.
"Well, we were hoping you could help us with that? You were calling out names in your sleep. Mack? Mal? Sirius? Does any of that mean anything to you?" Her doctor questioned.
Marlene flinched under the woman's penetrating gaze.
"I have no idea why," Marlene lied, hoping she sounded more convincing than she felt. "And I don't know who M-Mack or Mal are." Her voice broke as she spoke her dead brothers' names. "And Sirius is, well..."
She gestured to the ring she wore on her finger.
"Yes, we know all about Sirius, dear," Fiona said soothingly.
Marlene was sure that she would be questioned further, but she would just have to deny having any knowledge about her life before waking up in that hospital over a year ago. Yet why would she have been asleep for six days? She'd gotten ill once before when she'd had a large influx of memories. How had she lost her memory to begin with? She had long since deduced that it had been some sort of magic related event - either a curse or some sort of accident. Perhaps her body was fighting off the effects of whatever the magic was and it was simply taking a toll on her? She didn't know, but she had to get her memories back as quickly as possible. It was futile to try and stop them from returning, that much was obvious. And with the revelation of her brothers' deaths, she felt a growing sense of urgency to discover what had transpired in the four year gap between her last memory and the present.
"Marlene," a voice interrupted her worried thoughts. "Are you listening?"
"Uh," she looked up to see Fiona with narrowed eyes and a pursed mouth. "No, sorry," she mumbled.
"I said they can't find anything wrong with you, so they're going to keep you here for a few more hours for observation, and then we'll go home when I get off in time to pick up Addie and make dinner at home, alright?"
"Oh, yes, that's fine." Marlene smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring manner, as Fiona patted her on the hand and left the room.
After returning home and fixing a small dinner with Fiona, Marlene crawled into bed and tucked in Addie beside her, wanting to have her daughter close after being apart for so many days. She brushed the dark wisps of hair from the little girl's sleeping face as her tired mind wandered. She wished her sleep would bring her the same peace she saw in her daughter's face, but she knew that there was little chance of that. With a resolute sigh, she pulled her covers up tighter to combat the October chill and willingly drifted off into scenes and images off her past.
.
December 22, 1977
"Sirius, why are we even looking all the way out there? I thought you wanted to get a flat in the city?" Marlene grumbled into her scarf.
It was cold, she was stressed because Christmas was in three days and she still hadn't finished her shopping, and all she wanted to do was go have a nice dinner with her boyfriend before he had to return her to her home for the evening.
"Humor me, Marls," he said smoothly as he snaked an arm around her waist in preparation to disapparate. "I think you're going to like this one. Besides, I fancy a walk on the beach."
And without giving Marlene a chance to reply, he disapparated them away with a pop.
They landed in a back alley behind a white washed building with two large waste bins placed neatly beside a weather wooden door. The first thing Marlene noticed was that it was much warmer, so she gladly loosened her scarf and undid a few buttons on her muggle coat. The second thing she noticed was that the air smelled like the seaside.
"Where are we, again?" She asked Sirius.
"Devon. Lynmouth to be exact," he replied, taking her hand in his and starting off towards the end of the alley.
Marlene wasn't sure exactly where in Devon Lynmouth was, but it was clearly somewhere by the sea, and certainly not where she and Sirius were going to end up living. They were flat-hunting together because Sirius had decided it was time he moved out of Potter Manor, and he wanted Marlene's input, for she would be moving in with him after graduation. However, she had been under the impression that he wanted a flat in London to be closer to the action of the war, seeing as the both of them had already approached Dumbledore about joining the Order of the Phoenix upon graduation.
Marlene had once had her reservations about the Order, having no desires further than seeing her family all alive when the dust settled. However, having lost her twin brothers the year before after already losing her father, uncle, and cousin in her first year, she just couldn't sit by and hide her head in the sand. She wanted to fight. She wanted the people who had hurt her family to die, and she wanted to be the one to do it.
"Oh, this is lovely!" Marlene exclaimed when they reached the mouth of the alley to come out onto a charming little street lined on one side with small shops and pubs, and by a small harbor on the other.
"I knew you would like it here." Sirius squeezed her hand. "Come on, we've got an appointment."
"With who?"
"The bloke who owns the house we're going to see. We're meeting him in here." He gestured to a windowed storefront with a faded blue painted sign that read "Kirby's" in cracking gold lettering.
The inside of the pub was warm from a fire roaring in the corner, and despite the weathered air about this place, the well-polished counter and small collection of tables and booths made for a welcoming impression. The only occupants were a pretty waitress with brown, curly hair chatting up an elderly couple at a table by the window, a man at the bar that looked to be sinking into his shabby brown overcoat with his hand wrapped around a pint, and an elderly man polishing bottles behind the counter.
Sirius grinned at her reassuringly, and steered the two of them up to the counter.
"Hello there, kids. What can I get you?" The elderly man said kindly, his eyes smiling out from a face lined with wrinkles that evidenced many years of laughter.
"Goodday, sir," Sirius said politely, "My name's Sirius, and we spoke on the - er - telephone and -"
"Oh, Mr. Black about the cottage! I can't say I expected you to be quite so young. Say, would you two care for a pint before I take you out there? It's on the house."
Sirius agreed and pulled her onto a stool beside them as the old man filled them two pints of muggle beer. Marlene kept her mouth closed and listened to Sirius and the man toss pleasantries back and forth. She'd never said more than five words to a muggle in her entire life, but she knew Sirius had spent a fair amount of time in muggle London since coming of age, especially when he had been in the market for his damned motorbike.
"Relax, Marls," Sirius whispered soothingly into her hair and began to rub comforting circles on her knee under the counter. "He's just a muggle, he won't bite."
"I know that," she hissed back, embarrassed at having been called out for being afraid of a muggle.
"Here we are then!" The old man said cheerfully as he slid two pints of a frothy, amber liquid towards them. "Now, I've met your Sirius here, but I'd like to introduce myself to you, young lady," the man said, turning towards Marlene. "My name's Charles Kirby, and this here's my pub."
She stiffened. Had she ever had a muggle directly address her before? Sirius squeezed her knee under the table, prompting her to respond.
"Oh, uh," Marlene cleared her throat. She was a McKinnon, where were her manners? And furthermore, how could she expect to fight Death Eaters if she was frightened by a muggle old enough to be her grandfather? "My name is Marlene. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kirby, sir," she replied sweetly, extending her hand across the bar for him to shake.
Roughly twenty minutes later, once Sirius had finished his pint and Marlene had taken a few grudging gulps of the foul liquid, the two Hogwarts students found themselves rebuttoning their coats and following Mr. Kirby out to his little car so he could take them to the cottage that Sirius was so excited about showing her. She climbed into the cramped rear seat while Sirius sat up front and talked muggle football with Mr. Kirby.
The drive took no more than twenty minutes down narrow, sandy roads, and they eventually pulled to a stop in front of a small, white washed stone cottage with door painted the same blue as the sign over Kirby's Pub and a large lawn and garden that surely looked wonderful in the summer. There was a large tree that stood tall at the eastern corner of the cottage and a little kissing gate that opened onto the gravel path that cut through the garden to the front door. Marlene sighed; this was just the sort of place Sirius would fall in love with. He may have hid it behind bravado and rebellion, but a large part of him yearned for the domestic peace he felt he had been denied as a child. Just not quite yet, she'd thought.
Taking Sirius' arm, the pair followed Mr. Kirby up the path and into the house. Along the way, the old man explained that his wife had once grown everything from potatoes and leeks to roses and daffodils in the garden.
"Daffodils - your favorite," Sirius whispered in her ear as they walked.
"Potatoes - yours," she quipped back, earning a sharp bark of laughter from her boyfriend.
The inside of the cottage was cozy with low ceilings and windows that let in plenty of light. She noted that the fireplace was exceptionally large, and thought that it could easily be magically altered to be adequate for a floo, only to chastise herself for forgetting that there was no way they could ever live there. They needed to be in the city for the war.
Mr. Kirby showed them the kitchen, the three bedrooms, and the den, all the while adding anecdotes about raising his son there with his late wife. It was two floors, with the two smaller bedrooms and a bathroom up top, and it was certainly small, but she couldn't deny that she could see herself living there. More importantly, she could see herself living there with Sirius and one day maybe...
"Would you like to see the beach?" Sirius asked her, gesturing to Mr. Kirby who stood beside the back door watching the couple hopefully.
Marlene nodded, and followed out the back door and down a narrow little path that cut through the back yard and a collection of seaside shrubs, grasses, and small trees out onto the beach. The ocean was dark from the reflection of the overcast sky, but the sand stretched on uninterrupted for quite a ways in both directions. It was obvious that there were no close neighbors.
"Sirius," she began delicately, pulling him aside. "This is lovely. I love it, I really do. Maybe someday we can -"
"I know, I know," he grumbled as he tugged a hand through his dark waves that were quickly becoming wild from the sea air. "The war."
"I'm sorry. But we have to be in London, surely you realize that?"
"I do. I just...wanted to take you here. Maybe someday, when all this shit is over, right?" He tugged her close and buried his nose in her hair.
"Nothing would make me happier."
She brought her face up to his until their cold noses touched before pressing a light kiss to his lips.
"You know, it's not a bad broomstick - or motorcycle ride - from Godric's Hollow," Sirius said conversationally as they walked slowly back up the path to the house. Mr. Kirby had returned to wait in the car to give them time to discuss alone.
"Godric's Hollow? So you can go back and visit the Potters?"
"Well yes, but I was referring to the cottage that James wants to get for him and Lily when the war's over."
Marlene had to laugh at that. "James wants to get a house with Lily? Sirius, they've been dating for less than two months, and I don't think they had a civil conversation until this summer."
Sirius only shrugged.
"You know," Marlene prodded with an impish smile. "That reminds me of our bet. I do believe you owe me ten galleons?"
Sirius shook his head indulgently and pulled her affectionately into his side. "And a box of Honeydukes, if I remember correctly."
"Hmm, you could always just admit that I know our friends better than you do, and we can call it even."
"Absolutely not," he laughed. "I will buy you every damn piece of candy in that shop, but I will never admit that."
.
June 24, 1978
Marlene grinned as she linked her arm with Lily's and watched the Marauders move her things into Sirius' flat the muggle way. Peter was tottering dangerously under a box that was obviously far too heavy for him, and she caught a glance of Sirius charming the trunk James was dragging to weigh so much that it couldn't be moved an inch. Remus was exasperatedly requesting that his mates hurry it up so they could go get dinner because he was so hungry that he was worried Moony would make an early appearance if he didn't get some food in him soon. The six of them were riding high on the wind of their Hogwarts graduation two days earlier.
"Do you think we'll ever be this happy again?" Lily sighed beside her.
"What are you talking about? Oh course we will," Marlene assured her friend, tightening the link of their arms briefly. "I know things are rough right now, but they'll get better." They have to, she added silently.
"I know, I'm just...so scared. I'm so scared all the time. I'm always wondering when I'm going to open the prophet to see your name, or James', or my parents or - oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to mention pare-"
"Lily," Marlene sighed at the unwelcome reminder of her dead father and subsequently all her other dead family members. "It's ok. Let's just enjoy this day, and we can worry about everything else tomorrow?"
"Ok," Lily set her jaw firmly. "Ok. Now let's help the boys finish up so we can get some food in Remus before he has kittens."
Marlene looked at Lily in confusion. She would never understand muggle sayings.
.
July 30, 1978
"Marlene McKinnon! You'd better hurry your arse up or I'll -" Sirius yelled from the living room before Marlene interrupted him.
"I thought you liked my arse just the way it is?" She said with a deliberately saucy wink as she entered the living room where Sirius was waiting impatiently.
"I do in that dress," he said roguishly as he eyed her up and down.
"How much?" Marlene breathed as she sidled up to him.
"Want me to show you?" He said roughly, wrapping an arm around her waist.
She didn't answer, and instead pulled him into a deep kiss. He responded instantly, fisting one of his hands into her loose hair and digging the fingers of the other into her hip. He trailed his lips down the column of her neck, earning a breathy gasp.
"I think I'd like it better in no dress," he murmured into the crook of her neck as he slid the strap of her dress from her shoulder.
"I-I thought you said we were running late?" She gasped out as his lips suckled at her collarbone.
"Dammit, woman," he groaned. "Next time, let's just be late, yeah?"
"Even for dinner with the Potters?" She replied cheekily, smoothing out her dress and checking her hair in the reflection of the mirror on the mantle.
"Well, maybe not. What was taking you so long anyway?"
"I needed to look perfect," Marlene mumbled.
"You always look perfect," Sirius said smoothly, causing her to roll her eyes.
"I need to look as good as Lily, ok?" She snapped, fighting a blush.
"As good as Lily? Marlene, what on Earth are you talking about?"
"This is the first time Lily and I will both be having dinner with the Potters as the girlfriends of their sons, and I don't want them to like her better than me, ok?" Marlene let out in a rush, crossing her arms over her chest.
Sirius looked at her with wide eyes for a moment, as if waiting for her to start laughing as tell him that she was only joking.
"Come off it, Marls. You've known the Potters since we were kids." He looked at her expectantly, still waiting for the joke. "You're not having a laugh, are you?" He asked quietly, tucking a strand of her pale hair behind her ear.
"No, I'm not bloody having a laugh. I'm serious."
"Actually, I'm -"
"Don't even say it," she warned, able to see the bad pun coming from a mile away.
"Marlene, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever laid my eyes upon - and I've laid eyes upon a lot of them."
"Are you trying to make me feel better?" She sighed.
"I'm getting there, alright? Now hush," he held one long finger to her lips and she pouted against it. "As I was saying, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, but that doesn't matter. I don't love you because you've got lovely eyes and a nice arse," he paused to wink at her. "I've known you all my life, and my greatest regret is that it took me so damn long to realize that I was in love with you. I know I'm arrogant and reckless, and I'll probably hurt you, but that doesn't mean that I won't lay the world at your feet if you ask for it."
He brushed a kiss across her forehead.
"I love you because of the person you are. You've always had my back, you call me on my shit, you've given me more love than I deserve, you know exactly how I take my coffee and...Marlene, I'd like nothing more than to spend every single one of my days in your presence. I love you. The Potters will love you because I do. So stop worrying; you're wonderful."
Marlene was absolutely speechless. With her eyes still trained on Sirius' and her mouth slightly open, she reached a hand up to wipe a drop of moisture from the corner of her eye.
"I love you too," she whispered.
"Now can we please go to dinner? Because they may love you, but they might like me a little less if we keep them waiting much longer." Sirius smoothed both his hands over her hair to cup the back of her neck and pull her in for a soft kiss.
Marlene only nodded, still dumbstruck from his confession, and followed him into the floo.
They arrived in the familiar living room of Potter Manor - with Marlene casting a wary glance at a spot on the floor she remembered as once being stained with Sirius' blood - to find James, Lily, Dorea, and Charlus all seated on one of the sun porches enjoying drinks and the balmy summer evening. James was the only one to acknowledge their lateness, and only with a suggestive wag of his eyebrows in Sirius' direction when his parents were distracted. Not long after, the six of them found themselves seated around the grand dining table that Dorea had shrunk for the occasion and enjoying another fabulous meal courtesy of the Potters' house elves.
Marlene had finished her meal and was sipping on a glass of Dorea's special elven wine while Sirius drew nonsense patterns on her bare leg that seemed to be edging higher and higher up her thigh under the table when they heard it.
CRACK.
It was like the sound of winter ice on a frozen lake cracking under too heavy footsteps.
All of the occupants at the table froze.
"Mum, Dad," James said, his voice seeming higher than usual. "What was that?"
"I -" Dorea began before she was interrupted by another crack, only louder this time.
"Charlus!" She turned to her husband, and Marlene's stomach dropped as the older woman's face rapidly drained of color. "The wards!"
No sooner had the panicked words left Mrs. Potter's lips had the rest of the table's occupants leapt to their feet, wands drawn.
"We have to go now!" Lily yelled to the others, grabbing onto James' arm and preparing to disapparate.
"It's no use," Charlus stopped her, his voice grave. "They'll have cast their own wards by now - on the floo as well."
With a quick wave of his wand, he dispatched a silvery patronus in the shape of a bear that went soaring through the nearest window. Marlene's head turned to watch its progression just in time to see the cracks begin to form in the windows.
"Everybody get down!" She screamed, grabbing onto the two closest to her - Sirius and James, and pulling them under the table.
But she didn't move fast enough, and she felt the rush of air and broken glass against her back as all of the windows in Potter Manor shattered simultaneously and blew inwards. She felt blood began to flow warm and wet down the exposed skin of her back and shoulders, and she could see a large gash already staining the side of Sirius' face red.
"What do we do?" James hissed, all of them now thrown to haphazard heaps on the floor from the attempt to hide from the busting windows.
In the silence that followed his question a series of pops could be heard from outside.
"We fight," Dorea replied, reaching a hand out to her son.
"And we hope we last long enough for the Order to-"
Charlus' words were cut off by the boom of a far away door being blown off its hinges.
"They're here, they're here, oh Merlin they're here," Lily chanted quietly.
Marlene grabbed Sirius' hand for support as she said in a voice that was not as strong as she had hoped it would be, "Come on, we can't fight them from under the table."
Trying to be quiet, hoping not to alert the Death Eaters to their location just yet, they crept from beneath the large table. Charlus gestured to the windows and then pointed towards the door in the corner of the dining room that led to the kitchens. Marlene shot a confused glance at Sirius, and he mouthed "outside" in response. She nodded in recognition - it would be better for them to get outside where they could not be cornered and maybe even have a chance of making it past whatever wards had been cast to keep them from disapparating.
After Charlus had determined that the kitchen was in fact clear, they hurried into the next room and made directly for the door. They could hear the sounds of Death Eaters only a few rooms away, and Marlene thanked Merlin that Potter Manor was so enormous.
They passed two house elves cowering beside the cabinets, and Lily urged them in hushed tones to flee while they could. The elves shook their head vehemently, but after an order from Dorea, they both disappeared with loud cracks that had Marlene instantly cursing the creatures. There was no way the noises would go unnoticed.
Sure enough, not a moment later, shouts and pounding footsteps could be heard closing in on their location. Charlus flung open the door, and they all dashed through it. Marlene glanced over her shoulder at the last moment to see a red spell rushing in her direction before everything went dark.
Some time later, Marlene struggled to summon the strength to lift her aching body from the carpet in the Potter's living room. She surveyed the scene in front of her with horror. Eleven Death Eaters. Eleven against six; they hadn't stood a chance.
Two Death Eaters lay stunned on the floor, a third in a pool of his own blood slumped against the couch. His neck was slit almost to the bone by a curse too Dark to have come from Lily or any of the Potters. Likely Sirius' doing, her mind supplied, and she shivered slightly.
The six of them were disarmed and magically bound. Lily was unconscious, James' glasses were cracked and his face was bloody from what looked like a broken nose, Dorea looked worse for wear but born no visible injuries, Charlus' arm seemed twisted at an impossible angle and he was bleeding from a cut to the thigh that didn't look good.
Marlene turned her head to the left to see Sirius. His lip was split and he had a shadow darkening around his eye, but that was the least of his injuries. There was a large burn visible through his scorched robes on his upper left arm, and he would periodically grimace in pain at tremors that could only be the effects of some sort of Dark curse.
"Well, it seems our source was right when they told us we would find excellent spoils at the Potters' this evening," said one Death Eater with curly auburn hair and a lean face. He looked to be just shy of thirty Marlene didn't recognize him, but he seemed to be in charge of the attack.
Sirius snarled at his words, surely thinking along the same lines as she - they had a spy in the Order.
"It seems you have a rat in your little club," spoke a second Death Eater, laughing at his own words and earning a few chuckles from his comrades.
"Shut your mouth, Avery," Marlene spat at her childhood friend. He may have been wearing a mask, but she would recognize that voice anywhere. "No one wants to hear the filth that comes out of it."
"Marlene, no!" She heard Sirius hiss in response to her taunt.
Another Death Eater flicked his wand in Sirius' direction, silencing him.
"What was that, McKinnon?" Avery asked, sidling up to her prone form. "Are you really stupid enough to speak to me that way when I have you and your little friends at my mercy?"
He grabbed her by her injured shoulder - causing her to see stars - and yanked her up into a sitting position. Marlene looked up into his face - no matter the mask, the pale green eyes were ones she had known all her life - and all she could see was him taunting her in a Hogwarts corridor following her father's death.
Instead of answering his question, she spat at his feet.
"Insolent cow!" Came a female shriek - Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius' cousin.
"Indeed," Avery said before backhanding her across the face so hard she felt her teeth rattle and tasted blood almost immediately.
"Leave the girl alone!" Charlus shouted, his voice managing to sound threatening even in his current position.
"I don't think you're in any position to give orders, Potter," drawled the leader.
"Only trying to teach you all some manners, Burke. I seem to remember that's something your father struggled with when he was your age as well," Charlus said harshly, his voice betraying none of the pain he was surely feeling.
"Dad! What are you doing?" James cried at his father's rash words.
Marlene's heart twisted at the elder Potter's bravery. Taunt the Death Eaters so that they forgot about their other prisoners.
"Yes, what are you doing, old man?" Came a rough, but quiet voice from a Death Eater towards the back. He was tall and thin, and Marlene noted that his hands shook slightly.
"Waiting for you to get on with whatever you came here to do." He paused to take a labored breath. "As you've so kindly alluded to, I'm not getting any younger."
Dorea whimpered as Burke twirled his wand once before pointing it at Charlus.
"Do shut up," he sneered with a roll of his eyes before whispering, "Crucio."
Mr. Potter's spine went rigid as an inhuman noise tore its way from his throat and he collapsed to a writhing heap on the ground. James and Sirius fought furiously against their bonds, and Dorea began to sob.
"Stop! STOP! PLEASE!" She cried for her husband.
Bellatrix shot a disgusted glance in Dorea's direction before returning her gaze to Charlus' contorted form. With a smirk, Burke lifted the curse, leaving his victim panting and whimpering.
"What's going on? James? James, what's happening?!" Lily's panicked voice cut through the following silence. It seemed that Mr. Potter's cries had roused her.
"It-it's okay Lily," James said with a pained glance in Lily's direction where she was struggling to move into a sitting position with her bound hands.
Dorea, who was closest to the redhead, shifted her legs so that her foot brushed the other woman's shin; it was the most comfort she could offer.
"We're going to be alright, dear," she whispered through her tears.
"No," Burke grinned, fingering his wand. "Actually, you're not."
"Avada Kedavra!" He hissed, and a beam of green light rushed from the tip of his wand and slammed into Dorea's chest.
"NOOO! MUM! NO!" James cried.
"DOREA!" Charlus bellowed, his eyes wide and disbelieving.
Sirius struggled harder than ever before against his magical bonds, a silent scream on his lips. Lily had gone impossibly pale, and her chest was heaving.
Marlene began to shake, staring at the collapsed form of Mrs. Potter. She was just...dead.
"YOU MONSTERS!" James spat.
Burke cast him a cursory glance before addressing his prisoners as a whole, "Now, are we on the same page as to just how this is going to go?"
He stalked over to Marlene, who had remained silent through the whole ordeal, and grabbed her roughly by the chin. "Am I clear, Miss McKinnon?"
Marlene swallowed her tears, dragged her inner Gryffindor from wherever it had crawled away to, and said with a strong voice, "Crystal."
"Enough with the theatrics, Burke," spoke the tall one with the shaking hands. "We've interrupted dinner, and I'm feeling a bit peaky myself. Must we continue to drag this out?"
"I don't recall Him putting you in charge of this mission, Lestrange," Burke snarled. "Should I have Rodolphus take you outside and remind you how to respect your elders?
Lestrange's hands shook more violently until he clenched them into fists, but he remained silent. Marlene wasn't sure if she was thankful for that fact or not. She didn't know if she wanted to continue to drag it out, but if Charlus' patronus had been received...surely there was help on the way? What if the Death Eaters had cast more wards?
She glanced to her left where Sirius still sat, magically bound and struggling against a silencing spell. He must have felt her gaze because his wide, horrified eyes flicked from Dorea's still form to meet her own. Marlene's chest tightened at the silent terror in his silvery eyes. Dried blood caked to the side of his face from a cut sustained from the broken windows. She reached out in her mind, nipping him with the tendrils of her magic, trying to offer him some sort of comfort.
"I love you," she mouthed.
He nodded, and silently mouthed the words back with shining eyes.
"Alright, cousin, time to break up this little lover's moment," Bellatrix sang with mirth that did not suit the situation. She stalked over to Sirius in three long strides and slapped him across the face.
Sirius' head snapped sharply to the side, but upon it's recoil he fixed his mad cousin with a dangerous glare before he mouthed with unmistakable clarity, "Bitch."
Bellatrix screeched and pulled out her wand. "How dare you, you filthy blood-traitor! Shame on my House! CRUCIO!"
Sirius' body went rigid as he slumped to the floor. Bellatrix shot a triumphant glance in Marlene's direction, before flicking her wand at Sirius, lifting the silencing spell. Marlene felt bile rise in her throat as his screams filled the room for a split second before he clamped his mouth shut, grunting through his teeth and glaring up as his cousin through the pain.
"Enough!" Burke shouted, and Bella reluctantly lifted the spell. "It's no fun when they don't scream." Then he rounded on Lily. "But I bet you'll scream, won't you mudblood?"
"No! Leave her alone!" James pleaded as his girlfriend's eyes went wide with fear.
"Don't worry, little Potter. Your girlfriend's just a mudblood, and there's no fun in breaking one of them."
"And there's no fun in breaking children either," Charlus interjected, his voice more weary than it had been before.
"So eager to be under my wand?"
"Perhaps."
"Burke," a man she didn't recognize under his mask interjected in a stiff voice. "Get on with it."
Burke twirled his wand for a moment before smirking, seemingly having come to a decision.
And then several things happened at once.
With a deafening boom, whatever wards the Death Eaters had put up broke, and several loud cracks filled the room announcing the arrival of the Order. Marlene felt the bonds on her wrists loosen, and a moment later, she saw her wand tossed in her direction and snatched it out of the air.
Burke, with his eyes wild and teeth bared, trained his wand on James struggling to his feet across the room.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" He screamed, the bolt of green barreling out of the tip of his wand.
Charlus Potter threw all of his weight into his son, taking the full force of the curse.
Marlene's jaw dropped as she saw his limp body fall to the floor, but she didn't have time to process it as a battle was ensuing between the Death Eaters and Order members.
"Protego!" She threw up a shield to block a yellow curse that had come from Lestrange.
"Expelliarmus!" She countered.
He laughed maniacally as he casually deflected her spell.
"Oculus Sanguin!" He spat.
She threw up a hasty shield, but the deep red curse shattered it a slammed straight into her. She didn't feel anything, so she returned with a curse of her own.
"REDUCTO!"
He lept to the side to avoid her powerful spell, losing his mask in the process. He shook his dark auburn hair from his eyes and gave her a nod of approval. Now she recognized him. Rabastan Lestrange. He had been a year ahead her at Hogwarts!
She narrowed her eyes at him, only to feel something warm and thick drip down her cheek. She hastily brought up a hand to wipe away the moisture, and looked down at her fingers in horror when they came away red with blood.
"Confringo!" She thought viciously. Lestrange rolled out of the way at the last moment, and her curse blasted a hole the size of two grown men into the wall behind him.
He gave her a feral smile before flicking his wand silently in her direction.
She saw no curse leave his wand, but suddenly found herself crumpling to the ground. The pain was greater than anything she'd ever felt in her life - a thousand whips flaying the skin from her back - white-hot knives in her gut - she screamed so loudly she thought she would go deaf from the sound. She barely noticed the blood rushing faster from her eyes as her heart rate skyrocketed.
And then it was over.
She looked up in time to see Lestrange fall to the floor with his body wrapped in bright purple flames flowing from Sirius' wand. But then another Death Eater shot a spell in his direction, and Sirius was forced to abandon his torture of Lestrange.
Marlene scrambled to her feet to cover Lily in a duel against Bellatrix. Sirius' cousin didn't mess around; more Crucios and Avada Kedavras left the tip of her wand than any other spell. Lily and Marlene were engaging in more acrobatic dodging than they were actual dueling. Dorcas engaged Bellatrix from the other side with such power and ferocity that Marlene and Lily were able to dash into the fray and move onto new opponents.
Things were winding down as the Death Eaters that hadn't been incapacitated apparated out when out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of Sirius' back disappear into the hall outside. On legs still unsteady from the Cruciatus, she followed him, and the scene that greeted her made her blood turn to ice.
In the dark, narrow hallway, James had Burke pinned to the wall with his wand drawn at the Death Eater's neck. His untidy hair was slicked back with sweat and blood from a cut on his forehead, and his wand arm was shaking. Sirius stood beside him, chest heaving and looking murderously at the man that had killed James' parents.
Marlene flattened herself against the opposite wall, not daring to make a sound. If Burke noticed her, he didn't say a word.
"Are you going to kill me, boy?" He taunted James. "Watch the light leave me eyes like it did your parents'?"
"Shut up!" Sirius snarled before swinging his fist into Burke's jaw.
His head snapped to the side, but when he turned back, he was smiling with blood on his teeth.
"Do it, James," Sirius ordered. His hand clenched and unclenched around his wand as if he wanted to do the deed himself.
James took a deep breath and steadied his arm.
"Ava-" He paused, his eyes darting back and forth between Burke and Sirius. "I...he killed my parents, b-but I c-ca -"
Sirius shoved him out of the way and leveled his wand right between Burke's eyes.
"Avada Kedavra," he hissed, his voice chillingly cold. "For your parents," he said somberly to James after letting the body drop to the floor.
James nodded stiffly, and the two turned, noticing Marlene standing with a hand clapped over her mouth and eyes wide at what she had just witnessed.
"Marlene -" Sirius choked out, looking stricken.
"Don't," she shook her head before flinging herself into his arms. "I'm just glad you're alright," she whispered, burying her head in his chest. The blood on her face left from Lestrange's curse soaked into his shirt.
"I didn't mean for you to see that," he murmured.
"It doesn't matter," she tightened her arms around him. "I love you."
.
March 15, 1979
Marlene's hands shook as she read over the letter from her mother again. An Order mission gone wrong. An ambush, the Death Eaters were waiting. They had known, somehow they had known.
Tyler was in a coma in St. Mungo's; they didn't know if he'd ever wake up.
Michael was dead.
Her strong, kind, brave brother was dead.
He'd taken five Death Eaters down before Roderick Travers killed him. He left behind his wife, Katherine, and their two month old baby girl, Daveney.
He left behind Marlene.
"Marls? Love, what is it?" Sirius came up behind her in their kitchen, placing a hand on her hip and a kiss in her hair. "Is that from your mum?"
Marlene turned around silently and placed the letter in his hands.
As Sirius read, his eyes grew wide and his face paled.
When he finished, he looked up at her, a question on his lips, but Marlene held up a hand to stay his condolences.
"I'm going to kill him," she said, her voice calm and even. "I'm going to make him feel such pain that he will pray for death, and then I'm going to kill him."
.
April 29, 1979
"Do you, James Charlus, take Lily Edeline as your wife to love and to cherish as an equal in all things, to share in your joys and your triumphs as well as your losses and defeats? To stand beside for all your days to come?" Dumbledore spoke with a twinkle in his eyes.
"I do."
James Potter had never looked so serious in his entire life.
"And do you, Lily Edeline, take James Charlus as your husband to love and to cherish as an equal in all things, to share in your joys and your triumphs as well as your losses and defeats? To stand beside for all your days to come?"
"I do."
Lily's voice was quiet but clear, and the love shining from her eyes washed over the entire room like a blessing.
"Then I declare you bonded for life."
With a wave of his wand, the couple before him glowed brilliantly for a moment.
"You may -"
But James had already pulled Lily into a kiss so passionate it had the audience exploding into cheers and applause.
Marlene smiled so wide her cheeks began to ache, but she didn't care. This was perfect.
.
October 31, 1981
Marlene burrowed deeper into the warmth of her covers as she awakened.
James and Lily. She smiled. They were so in love. She remembered with a quiet laugh back to when she and Lily hadn't spoken for weeks after an argument they'd gotten over about her less than kind treatment of James. And look where they were now.
The day of their wedding had been a blinding moment of light in the otherwise suffocating darkness of the war. They had all lived in fear, every day, not knowing who to trust, not knowing if they would even make it home for dinner. But for that one day, every single one of them, from James and Lily to Dumbledore himself, had been able to forget just a little bit that they were fighting against the greatest threat in living memory, had been able to forget all that they had already lost. James and Lily were proof that, even in the darkest of times, light would always shine through - if only for a moment.
She heard Addie begin to stir in her crib on the other side of the room, and Marlene reluctantly dragged herself from the warm cocoon of her covers. Addie had pulled herself up to stand with her hands wrapped around the crib bars. Her dark hair, still in the form of baby-soft ringlets, was mussed from sleep, and her pretty grey eyes were wide and sparkling. Marlene let out a pained sigh at the sight. Her daughter looked so much like Sirius it made her heart hurt.
"Mumma up!" Addie commanded, bouncing a little.
"What do you say?" Marlene asked her daughter. The baby girl had proven to be a very good talker and listener, and she understood more and more every day.
"Up, pease!" She whined in her little voice, pouting adorably. Marlene had to smile at that. Her puppy-dog eyes and jutting lower lip made her look just like her father.
"Ok, angel."
She scooped the little girl up and balanced her on her hip. She walked over to the window and drew the shades aside, and Addie placed her chubby little hand against the glass.
"Brrr," she said, pulling her hand away and burrowing back into Marlene's chest.
"Brrr, is right. It's almost winter. Are you excited for winter, little love?"
Addie only looked up at her with a serious, confused expression on her tiny features.
"Are you excited for winter?" She repeated. "You'll see the snow, and we'll have Christmas."
"Santa!" Addie cried happily.
Marlene chuckled. She had told Addie all about Father Christmas the day before, and the American term for the fictional figure was Addie's new favorite word.
"Yes, Santa will come. But do you know what today is?"
Addie just babbled a nonsense jumble of words at her in response. Well, she was only a little over fourteen months, Marlene conceded; she had plenty of time to become a better conversation partner.
"Look," she pointed through the glass to a house across the street. Two children, one in a set of fairy wings and the other in a cowboy hat both with their school bags on and lunch sacks in hand, were being ushered by their mother into the car. "We'll have to get your costume on. You're going to make a perfect kitty cat for Halloween."
"Ha'ween?"
Marlene nodded. It was close enough.
"That's right, angel. Today is Halloween."
.
November 3, 1979
Marlene's heart sank into her stomach when she and Lily apparated to the cottage Merrick was sharing with Katherine and baby Daveney and the first thing she saw was the glowing green of the Dark Mark suspended above the little house. She shot a look back at Lily, a warning in her deep brown eyes, and the two young women drew their wands.
The door stood ajar. She pushed it open the rest of the way with a shaking hand.
The mirror that normally hung on the wall in the hall lay shattered on the ground. The glass crunched noisily under their cautious footsteps.
Lily grabbed Marlene's wrist tightly, stopping her from entering the living room.
"Wait," she mouthed. Before waving her wand slightly. "Homenum Revelio!"
When nothing happened, she nodded and released Marlene's wrist.
The sight that greeted them in the den made bile rise in her throat, and she had to clap a hand over her mouth to suppress it. Lily was not so lucky, and ducked to the side to empty to contents of her stomach.
The first thing she noticed was Merrick. She was sprawled upon the ground - almost gracefully - with her blonde hair fanned around her lovely face and her chocolate eyes staring unseeing at the ceiling. Her body was in perfect condition, and if it weren't for her empty gaze, she could have been simply asleep. The killing curse - at least it had been quick.
Marlene felt as if the blood was leeching out of her extremities. Another sibling dead. Her proud, beautiful sister who had always been a strong, immovable force in her life was gone. It didn't seem possible.
"Oh Merlin," Lily sobbed, bringing a hand to her mouth. "Oh God."
"Wha-" Marlene began, but her words died in her throat as she followed Lily's gaze to a spot on the floor further into the room.
Baby Daveney. The blood - it was barbaric - slaughter -
She conjured a blanket over the tiny body. She couldn't look.
But it was the sight at the far wall that made time freeze and her blood rush in her ears.
Katherine, her brother's beautiful widow, stood against the wall. But then Marlene realized she wasn't standing. Her arms were raised above her head, crossed at the wrists, and stuck to the wall by some invisible force. Her body hung limply with her toes just brushing the ground, and her head lolled to the side.
Her neck was slit clean across and blood, so strikingly red, flowed down slicking her dress to her body and pooling slightly on the floor.
Above her on the wallpaper, painted in the very same red that coated Katherine's body, was a single word.
MUDBLOOD.
.
December 31, 1979
"I'll go," Marlene volunteered.
She was at an Order meeting, and Dumbledore was asking for volunteers to go on a mission being led by Sirius and Sturgis Podmore that would take place in four days, two days after the New Year. They were raiding one of Yaxley's homes that was reportedly being used as a minor Death Eater base. Edgar Bones and Dorcas were going, as well as Frank Longbottom and James - much to their pregnant wives' mutual dismay. They needed one more volunteer. Marlene knew she shouldn't be going in her condition, she should stay behind...but word had it Travers would be there. And dammit, she wanted her revenge. For Michael.
"No you won't," Moody said gruffly, dismissing her offer. Dumbledore shot him a questioning glance that went unanswered.
"Why not?! I want to go!" Marlene made to stand in her chair, but Lily clamped a hand down on her thigh to steady her.
"I said no, McKinnon."
"Hey, wait just a minute," Sirius interjected, rising from his chair to stare Moody down. "This is my mission, and if Marlene wants to go -"
"I don't care if you want your little girlfriend to come and keep you company. I won't have her going with you. Now sit down, Black, so we can finish this meeting."
Sirius sank back into his chair, eyes flashing and shoulders tense. He and Marlene shared a look of mutual frustration but kept quiet.
The meeting was soon dismissed, and most of the members went to congregate in the next room for a drink to celebrate the holiday season. Moody and Dumbledore stayed behind, and Marlene pulled Sirius aside so that they could remain in the hallway after the others had left. Sirius looked down in her in confusion, but she only shook her head at his obliviousness and gestured towards the slightly cracked door.
He nodded in comprehension, and pressed up against her back so they could both get their ears close to the opening to hear the conversation between the two wizards on the other side.
"I would ask, Alastor, why it is that you forbade Miss McKinnon from participating in the mission. She is an exceptionally talented witch. Surely you cannot deny that she has grown in power since joining our cause?" Dumbledore's questioned in his serene voice.
"I have my reasons, Albus," Moody grumbled.
"I do not doubt that you do. I simply beg of you to share them."
"Black's powerful, he's a good strategist, he's got leadership skills, and he knows the inside of that house better than any of us, but I don't trust him. You know he killed two without need at the Potters' last year, and you saw what he did to Travers in that skirmish up north a week ago. Cursed him within an inch of his life, but let him live on purpose - and don't pretend you don't know why he did it, either."
Marlene looked up over her shoulder at Sirius, eyebrows raised. She hadn't heard about Travers.
"I left him for you," he whispered in her ear. She gave his hand a thankful squeeze.
"And what does this have to do with Miss McKinnon's participation?"
"You've seen how she's deteriorated - and I'm talking about her mental state as well as the...nature of her magic. He's trigger happy, and she's a disaster waiting to happen. They're a dangerous combination, and you know they'll do nothing to hold each other back if one of them crosses the line."
Moody sounded frustrated.
Marlene felt like she had been slapped. Had she and Sirius really become so destructive? She knew the war had changed them, and Sirius was fond of magic that flirted too close to Dark, but they were still of the Light. They were still good fighters.
"Albus, with all due respect, I'll say this once and I won't say it again. I don't trust him, and she's one dead family member away from a breakdown that'll wipe out everything in its path. Those two are mentally unstable and they feed off each other. I don't want them anywhere near each other on missions from now on. No overlaps unless absolutely necessary."
Marlene had heard enough. She grabbed Sirius by the arm and dragged him away from the door.
"Are you alright?" He asked her once they were far enough away to speak freely.
"Fine," she seethed, beginning to pace. "He just doesn't understand what it's like - doesn't understand why we - that we have to -"
"I'm gonna kill him," Sirius snarled, running a hand furiously through his hair. "How dare he say those things about me? How dare he say those things about you?"
"Moody's an arse."
"Agreed."
"Come on, let's go join the others," Marlene sighed, wrapping an arm around his waist and leading them into the next room.
"Finally!" Gideon Prewett called upon seeing their entrance.
"Take a little detour?" Fabian teased, eyebrows waggling.
Sirius only winked, earning loud guffaws from the twins.
The Marauders, the Longbottoms, and Lily were clustered over near the table laden with butterbeer, fire whiskey, and muggle champagne. When Sirius and Marlene joined them, James greeted them with a grin and two flutes of champagne.
"There you are!" He smiled, and Marlene noticed that his eyes were slightly unfocused. He practically shoved the glasses into their hands. "You've got to try this muggle stuff! I was skeptical at first, but Lily promised me I would like it, and well, it's bloody fantastic."
"Thanks, Prongs," Sirius grinned at his friend before tapping the rim of his glass to Marlene's. "Cheers, love."
He drained his glass in one gulp, and she just shook her head indulgently.
"We should all go out for a proper drink some time. Somewhere muggle, where we'll be safe," Sirius said, looking around the circle of their closest friends.
"How about this weekend?" Alice offered.
"Can't," Marlene sighed. "I'm going home to visit what remains of my family. They're all living at the manor now."
"When you get home?" Lily asked.
Marlene nodded enthusiastically, and they all made plans to connect soon.
She eyed Remus warily; it was the first they had seen him in months, and quite frankly, she was surprised he had agreed to go out with them. She and Sirius had discussed the subject of the werewolf's loyalties at length, and they had both come to the uncomfortable conclusion that they didn't entirely trust him anymore. It wasn't a particularly traumatic realization for Marlene, as they had never been close, especially after the incident with Snape and the passage through the Willow in sixth year. Sirius, however, was shattered. And yet he'd forbidden her from having him round when she was home alone. She'd tried to tell him it was unlikely she'd have him round anyway.
"Oi, everybody!" Caradoc Dearborn shouted. His full cheeks were slightly pink from drinking, and his jovial expression earned several smiles from the occupants of the room. "Let's get that photograph we're always going on about, yeah?"
Everyone cheered, and slowly but surely formed into a handful of rows. It was certain that not everybody had a clear shot at the camera, but they couldn't bring themselves to care. Marlene tucked herself in with Dorcas on her left and Sirius to her right. Beside Sirius stood James, Lily, and Peter. The smiles on their faces shone brighter than any curses that had left their wands in that dreadful war, and in the split-second of the camera flash, that was all that mattered.
About ten minutes later found Marlene leaning comfortably into Sirius' side in a far corner of their room as they watched the Prewett twins transfiguring each other to sport multi-colored hair and abnormally large noses.
"Aren't you going to drink that?" Sirius asked her quietly, looking pointedly down at the untouched glass of champagne in Marlene's hand.
Marlene debated for a moment how to answer him.
"Better not," she said cryptically before emptying the drink into a nearby potted plant.
"Hey! I could have -" He paused, a suspicious shadow falling over his handsome face. "Wait, why did you -?"
She bit her lip and grinned nervously up at him. When he failed to connect the dots, she threw caution to the wind, and after glancing around to see if anyone was watching, took his hand and placed it lightly on her lower stomach.
Sirius' eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open.
"Are you - are we - you're -"
"I'm pregnant," Marlene whispered nervously.
"You're pregnant," he said as if he wasn't sure of the taste of the words on his tongue. "I'm going to be a father. We're having a baby!"
"Shhh!" She managed to scold before he pulled her in for a deep kiss that left her breathless.
When he finally released her lips, he leaned his forehead down to hers as their breath mingled, and he tangled a hand in her hair.
"I love you so much," he said seriously. "You make me so happy, Marlene."
Her heart soared. She had been so worried.
"We're doing this all wrong, you know."
"What do you mean?" He asked, drawing back in confusion.
"Well just look at James and Lily, and Alice and Frank," she gestured vaguely in their direction. "They're married. They all live in proper houses now that James bought the cottage in Godric's Hollow. We live in sin in a one bedroom apartment, and just got called mentally unstable by the most unstable person we know - excluding most of your family, of course."
Sirius stared at her long and hard, his expression unreadable, before grabbing her hand and dragging her through a set of french doors and out onto the balcony.
"What are you doing?"
He shut the glass doors, satisfied when he saw that no one on the other side of the glass was paying them any attention.
"I - shit," he ran a hand over his jaw. "This isn't how I should be doing this, but dammit - you know, I told you the very first day I wouldn't be like Prongs - and...oh Marls I -"
"Sirius," she grasped both of his hands in hers. "Calm down."
He took a deep breath and smiled at her crookedly.
"Marlene McKinnon, I love you so damn much."
"I love you too, Sirius," she replied, thoroughly amused.
"No, you don't understand. Some days I think I could survive without food, water, oxygen - if I just had you. If I lost you...I don't know what I would do. I'd -"
"Probably lose your mind. And be really sexually frustrated," she teased.
"Dammit woman, stop interrupting!" He pressed a finger to her lips. "What I'm trying to say is, I love you. I love you, and it took me too long to figure it out, and I'm sick of wasting time. We're not so cute together that it turns your stomach like Frank and Alice, our love probably wasn't written in the stars like James and Lily, but I don't need cute, and I don't need an epic romance for the ages. I just need you."
Marlene's palms began to sweat. She had a feeling she knew where this was going...
Sirius sank down onto one knee.
"Marlene Ceana McKinnon, will you marry me?"
Marlene's heart took off on gilded wings. Her soul was a bird. She didn't think she'd ever been happier in her life...but the timing. Hadn't she just told him minutes ago that she was pregnant? Was he only marrying her because of the baby? They had talked about settling down, but both agreed that they weren't ready. They wanted to focus on being young, not to mention fighting in the war.
And the bird was shot down.
"Sirius, get up," she sighed wearily.
"What?"
"I said get up. Get off your damn knees."
Slowly, Sirius rose to his feet.
"Is that a no?" He asked, as if he hadn't even considered that possibility.
"Of course it's a no," she growled, running one hand through her long hair and absently resting the other on her still-flat stomach. "We both know why you're doing this."
"Bloody hell, Marlene. So you'll have my baby but you won't marry me?"
His expression was darkening rapidly.
"Not right now, I won't. I - I just...can't."
"You can't. Can't or won't?"
She bit her lip and looked away, tears threatening to fall.
"What are you so afraid of?" He laid a hand on her arm, but she shrugged him off.
"I'm not afraid," she said defiantly, jutting her chin out at him.
"I've known you all our lives. Don't you dare try to lie to me," he threatened, his voice even. "What are you afraid of?"
She didn't answer him.
"What are you afraid of?!" He shouted, gripping the tops of her arms roughly.
"I'M AFRAID OF YOU!"
He let go of her and stepped back until his back was pressed against the balcony.
"Me?"
The expression of pain on his face sent her over the edge.
"I-I'm afraid that you-" She sobbed violently, wrapping her arms around herself. "You'll re-regret this b-because, you're only asking because I'm...because I'm pregnant."
His expression softened instantly, and in two long strides, he gathered her up in his arms.
"Marlene," he said softly, tilting her chin up to look her in the eyes. "I've wanted to marry you since we were sixteen."
She blinked owlishly up at him.
"I was waiting because you wanted to wait. But when you told me about the baby, our baby," he placed a hand tenderly on her stomach. "I just couldn't wait anymore."
He removed his hand from her stomach to dig into a pocket in his robes. He withdrew a black velvet box.
"I asked Dorea to remove this from the Black Family vaults the day after we went to see the cottage by the sea in Lynmouth."
He placed the box in her hands. Inside was a ring with a trio of diamonds and an ornately carved bezel. She could feel the magic that radiated from the ancient piece of jewelry.
"So, you silly, stubborn witch, will you put on this fucking ring, and promise me that someday in the near future you'll do me the honor of marrying me, making me the happiest bloke in Britain, and ensuring this baby is born a Black?"
Marlene laughed loud and clear, her tears all but forgotten.
"Of course."
He slipped the ring onto her finger and kissed her, hard.
They broke apart when the room they had left behind erupted into cheers. Marlene buried her head in Sirius' chest and looked sheepishly at the Order. At some point, someone had opened the doors to watch the show, and they hadn't even noticed.
"Oi!" Sirius shouted. "Can't you lot bugger off so I can kiss my fiancé in peace?"
.
January 7, 1980
Marlene pulled on her new dragon hide boots - a Christmas present from her Aunt Moira - and checked her reflection in the mirror. She kept expecting to wake up one day and suddenly look pregnant - Alice and Lily were already starting to show a bit - but she had to keep reminding herself that she barely a few weeks gone. Of course she didn't look pregnant yet. At least that meant it would be a surprise when she told her family. Wizarding pregnancies could be detected so early, it would be months before she was sporting any bump. Deciding that her cream colored jumper, dark denim trousers, and new boots were nice enough for dinner at home, she donned her wool cloak and headed out into the living room.
"Ready to go?" Sirius asked from the couch.
He was dressed smartly - which for him meant that his muggle denims had no holes, his shirt had a collar, and his thick hair was pulled into a little ponytail at the nape of his neck. He was going to dinner at Andromeda's.
"Yep," she nodded.
Sirius snatched up his coat, but stopped her right before they left the flat.
"Here," he said, wrapping an old Gryffindor scarf around her neck. "Can't have you coming down with anything. Not with our little girl in there."
She looked down at where he had placed a hand on her stomach before fixing him with a skeptical smirk.
"I don't think it has a gender yet, Sirius."
"But it will, and when it does, it will be a girl."
"You're awfully confident, aren't you?"
"Don't tell me you've just come to that conclusion."
Marlene giggled and pressed a kiss to his jaw.
"So do you want to make a bet?" He asked hopefully, drawing her close with an arm around her waist.
"Of course."
"Ten galleons and a box of Honeydukes says its a girl."
"You're on. And when it's a little Sirius Junior, I'll be just a bit richer."
"And fatter."
He ducked out of the way as she swung her pocketbook at him.
"Git," she muttered.
"Hey, you want to be nice to me, or you won't get the big surprise I've got planned for when you get back."
"Oh, what is it?"
"Well I can't very well tell you if I want it to be a surprise, can I?"
She just rolled her eyes and dragged him for the door.
Once outside the wards on their flat, she grabbed her fiancé firmly by his collar with both hands.
"You listen to me, Sirius Black. Don't you go and get yourself killed before I have a chance to marry you and you get to meet your child, alright?"
"The same to you, Marls."
She pulled him down to press a firm kiss to his lips before they apparated to their separate destinations.
Oddly enough, when they apparated into the dining room in the middle of the second course, her first thought was hardly one of terror: What was it with Death Eaters and interrupting dinner?
And then she was on her feet with her wand drawn at the ten unwelcome wizards in her dining room. They hadn't bothered to wear masks. They weren't planning on survivors.
Marlene glanced at her family. Her frail mother, her two aunts - one an accomplished duelist and one who jumped at her own shadow, her cousin Calum - brilliant at potions and wizards chess, but not so much at dueling, her teenaged brother, and herself - pregnant, but certainly the most formidable with a wand.
The Death Eaters had planned accordingly, she realized with sickening finality.
"Aren't you going to invite us to sit?"
And finally, finally, Marlene was able to put a name and a face to a voice. Travers.
She saw red.
"EXVICERO!" A dark orange curse sped from her wand, but Travers dodged at the last moment, and it struck the man behind him.
The Death Eater and those closest to him were instantly drenched in blood and other less pleasant things as the victim's intestines exploded through the skin of his stomach and his lower orifices.
She was vaguely aware of her family staring at her in horror, but she really couldn't have cared less.
"Trying to make me expel my entrails? Surely there are more refined ways of killing me," Travers drawled in a bored tone as he looked over at his dying comrade on the floor.
"I wasn't trying to kill you. I was trying to cause you pain."
"Oh let me guess, for Michael?" His eyes shown with mirth. "How about I let you in on a little secret?" He leaned forward and spoke in an intimate tone that clashed jarringly with their situation. "I killed your sister too."
Marlene didn't say a word. But she made sure the look in her eye expressed that she was thinking of exactly how she was going to kill him. It currently involved making him eat his own eyeballs. She hoped he knew legilimency.
"How did you get past our wards?" Her mother asked, her voice deadly calm.
Marlene had been wondering that herself. Their wards were full proof. There was no way to get in without an approved escort.
"I know he's American, but that doesn't excuse you being so careless with him."
A Death Eater in the back dragged an unconscious Tyler into the open. Marlene gasped. He had been in St. Mungo's in a coma all that time.
"You stole him from the hospital?" She said with disbelief.
"Brilliant, isn't it?" Travers smirked. "Oh, and don't bother trying to apparate, or run for that matter. We've set our own wards. Nobody leaves."
"Is he still alive?" Max asked. He'd idolized Tyler.
"For now."
"Are you going to kill us?" Max's voice quivered.
"Of course we are, little McKinnon."
Nobody moved.
Nobody except Travers who turned his head, ever so slowly, to look at the burly Death Eater who was supporting Tyler.
He winked.
The Death Eater snapped Tyler's neck.
"CONTEGUOUS!" A wide yellow shield erupted from her wand and protected her entire family from a barrage of curses. It was the strongest shield she had ever cast.
It felt like hours, but it only lasted minutes. They never made it out of the dining room. She was casting so quickly, so powerfully that her vision began to cloud and darken at the edges. She tried to keep an eye on everyone at once, but it was too much.
...Calum diving in front of his mother to protect her from a curse that ended up crushing his skull...
...Her mother howling like a banshee as she killed two Death Eaters with a powerful Reductor...
...Moira and Max duelling back to back against five wizards in black...
...A man covered in too much hair ripping into Andrea's throat with his teeth...
...Moira hit by a curse that sliced her open from nose to navel...
"MUM! GET DOWN!" Marlene screamed.
Deirdre dropped to the ground and Marlene shot purple flames with her wand, smirking in satisfaction when they collided with two Death Eaters. Sirius had taught her that curse.
With a running leap, she somersaulted across the table only to land on her feet and cover Max's back.
She watched with a distracted horror as a neat, perfectly aimed green bolt of light left the tip of Mulciber's wand and hit her mother in the back of the head.
"MUM!" Max screamed behind her.
"STAY FOCUSED!" Marlene ordered. There was no time for grief, she kept telling herself.
They were going to die, but she'd be damned if she didn't go down fighting.
There was a brief moment of stillness, a collective inhalation of breath, as the remaining living realized that it was just Marlene and Max, the babies of the family back to back and terrified, against four Death Eaters.
And then the stillness broke and they were back to hurtling curses.
"CRUCIO!"
The curse fell from her lips without thought, and one of her opponents dropped to the ground screaming, but she didn't have time to hold the curse.
"PROTEGO!" Max shouted, but she heard the unmistakable sound of a shield shattering followed by a cry of pain.
"Ok, Maxxie?" She called over her shoulder.
"Slicing hex!" He called back. He was fine. He was strong, her little brother.
"RIMOR CUTIS!"
Her target's flesh split like the skin of an overripe peach and his scream made her see stars.
"VENTRIS DISPLODIS!"
"PROTEGO!" She screamed with everything she had.
When the light of her shield faded, she was met with the smirking face of Travers. That curse had been meant to make her womb explode. He knew.
"AVA-" The curse was on her lips when a pale blue bolt of light slammed into the side of her head, and her vision went blindingly white for a split second.
When it cleared, she only had time to register Travers' cold, blue eyes before the killing curse flew off his tongue and the jet of green sped in her direction.
She was so tired. She was going to die anyway. Better a killing curse than something nastier.
But then, it that impossibly small space of time between the words that called for her death and the event itself, she remembered the life inside her. Not her life, but her child's life. Her's and Sirius'.
And she dropped to the floor.
Only to hear a soft, breathy "oh!" of surprise as the curse that was meant for her collided with her little brother.
"MAX! NO! MAX!"
She forgot all about Travers and his remaining two lackeys.
"Max! Max, wake up!" She shook her brother violently, but his brilliant green eyes - he was the only one in the family that had received them - stared unseeingly. "Max, please, please Maxxie I'm sorry. I'm sorry so sorry. Please wake up!"
But he didn't wake up.
"He's dead."
She looked up into Travers' face and all she felt was death. His death. She'd see him dead if it was the last thing she did. She didn't care if she died that night. She'd fucking find a way to come back and make him beg for mercy before she killed him.
She rose to her feet.
"You're an impressive witch, Miss McKinnon. We could use you. He could use you."
She didn't reply. She didn't have to; her murderous glare said it all. Never.
And again she felt the urge to fire off a dozen more curses, go down in a blaze of glory because what else could she do?
But this wasn't just about her.
She had to survive. She had to get out of that house.
And then it hit her.
"Ignis bellua," she whispered with a deadly calm, as flames erupted from the tip of her wand.
With a smirk at Travers, she threw her wand at one of the windows. With a deafening BOOM, the wards broke, shattering the windows. Marlene leapt straight into cloud of pulverized glass and out a window, hit the ground with a roll, and was up and running as her childhood home burst into flames behind her.
In the biting cold of the January dawn, Marlene ran until it felt as if she was losing a bit of her lungs with each exhale. She ran until her vision began to spot.
But it was spotting white, not black as if she were about to faint.
She stopped running and doubled over, trying to catch her breath. Why was she running anyway?
She started suddenly as she realized she didn't know.
Where was she?
She whipped her head around, taking in her surroundings. It was a road. What road was it? Why was she on a road? Where was she going to? Better yet, where was she coming from?
She sank to her knees, a searing pain seeming to cleave her brain in two. Her vision filled with white. She screamed, but no one was around to hear.
And on the side of a road, brought to her knees, she forgot her own name.
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A/N: So yeah. That was sort of brutal.
Please please review! I need to know what you guys think, and I was kind of disappointed with last chapter's response. Although I was kind of disappointed with last chapter in general, so I guess I deserved it.
*If you're confused about two things you might be confused about:
1) The pale blue spell that hit her in the side of the head is the one that ultimately causes her memory loss.
2) She conjured fiendfyre to break the wards on the house. In my mind, this works.
Also the Jily stuff on Halloween...I couldn't resist. I know its cheesy.
For your assistance, here are the curses/spells used in the chapter that I made up with my shitty latin translator and tired creative muse:
Oculus Sanguin - Makes the victim's eyes bleed. Dark red in color.
Exvicero - Entrail Expelling curse. Dark orange in color.
Rimor Cutis - Causes the skin to split. Light Pink.
Ventris Displodis - Causes the uterus to explode. Dark pink.
Conteguous - Super strong shield. Yellow.
Conteguous - Wide shield. Yellow.
Ignis Bellua - Fiendfyre