Chapter 28: Hurt
Christmas was soon upon them and all the students were scrambling around, finding lost shoes and homework that was due in at the start of November. James, Sirius, Peter and Remus had decided to spend the majority of the holidays at the castle, they would stay at Marlene's for the party and for Christmas dinner.
Lily however, was spending the whole holiday with Marlene.
"I'm hurt, that you would rather spend the Christmas holidays with Marlene instead of me." James whined the day they were due to leave. The boys had walked the girls down to the courtyard where the carriages were lined up to take the students to the station.
Lily just stared at him and whacked him playfully over the head. "I'm only in Hogsmeade, the Professors say you're all old enough and ugly enough to visit Hogsmeade when you want as long as you let them know and don't tell any of the younger students who may get the wrong idea."
Marlene just laughed at the look James was giving his girlfriend and gently pushed Lily in the direction of an almost empty carriage.
Lily smiled and climbed up next to an excited looking first year clutching a hamster.
As the carriage set off over the grounds Lily turned back to the four Marauders; "No recruitment drives!" She called, biting back the laugh that threatened to escape when she saw four identical looks of disbelief.
"Lily, it's lovely to see you again. Hows things?"
"Everything is great Mrs McKinnon, thank you." Lily replied as she accepted the hug from Marlene's mother.
Joanne turned to her daughter, "it's good to have you back Marli and I wish I could stay longer however I'm short staffed and I need to work the night shift. I'll be back tomorrow morning and in the afternoon we'll sort the house for your party."
Marlene smiled, "It's okay, you go to work, is Father in?"
Joanne shrugged, "Should be, he's been retired a month but still gets called up to nip in and take care of things." She rolled her eyes. "Your brothers upstairs and I'm only and Floo Call away if you need me."
Marlene sighed, "Mother I'm 18, Lily's 18 next month, we'll be fine." This didn't seem to have the desired effect. "Hogwarts is a fifteen minute walk away, all the Professors know we are here."
"I know, I know, I'm just worried. This war's been raging for seven years and there doesn't seem to be an end to it."
Marlene nodded sympathetically, "It's okay, we'll be careful, you be careful too, haven't you got some high security patient in at the moment?"
"Yes, the vice-minister himself..." she trailed off lost in thought before glancing at her watch, "I must go."
"Absolutely, we'll see you tomorrow." Marlene gave her mother another hug before watching her turn on the spot. Turning to Lily they made their way upstairs. "I'm sorry about Martyn being here."
"It's fine, you have your brother and I have my sister."
Marlene laughed, "Aren't we glad, they will never meet."
Lily laughed, blessing her sisters hatred of magical folk and Martyn's hatred of non-magical folk.
By noon the next day, Joanne still wasn't home. It was Christmas Eve and the girls had spent the morning decorating the house – a surprise for when Joanne came home. Michael came home round about 10 o'clock but only stayed long enough to change his robes and grab an apple.
Martyn emerged from him room once – to tell Elenea he would eat in his room, all other times he completely ignored the girls and the girls completely ignored him.
When three o'clock came and went and there was still no sign of either parents, Marlene left Lily getting ready for the party and decided to seek her brother, to ask if he knew what was going on.
To say he was evasive was an understatement.
"They're probably busy."
"Father's retired." Marlene pointed out.
"He was head of the Auror department in the middle of the war, they were obviously not going to let him leave without a fight, you know what he's like, he's so.... Gryffindor, if something happened whilst he was there he'd volunteer to help out."
"Opposed to what? That's not a Gryffindor trait that's common sense!" She took a few breaths to show she wasn't angry and she was still in control. "Look Martyn, I've friends coming over in three hours, friends that have both left and are still at Hogwarts, there will be about twelve of us, the majority of which will be Gryffindor... unfortunately Regulus declined my invitation saying he had to be somewhere." She added before he could ask how their relationship was going.
Martyn shrugged, "what do you want me to do about that? Act and play the loving brother?"
"No, get out of the house, out of the eleven only five know I have a brother."
"I feel loved." He commented dryly. "Who's all coming?"
"Why?"
"Need to protect you don't I."
"Peter, Sirius, James, Lily, Remus, Frank, Alice, Mary, Becky, Hester and his brother Lester."
Martyn whistled, "More guys than girls, I definitely have a right to be worried."
"Please, just don't bother us, stay in your room if you have to."
"Okay, seen as you begged and asked so nicely."
Marlene just turned and walked out of his room.
The party, soiree, small gathering, booze-up or what ever else it had been refereed to was a great success. The guests all arrived a little after six, Frank and Alice Apparated in and the rest all flooed in via Professor McGonagal's fireplace. Martyn had done as he had promised and stayed out of the way and James restricted Peter's alcohol intake – often swapping his glass of beer with one of apple juice.
When Marlene had invited Becky and Mary, Becky asked if she could bring her boyfriend and his brother. Lester was Hester's twin brother and while Hester was in Hufflepuff, Lester was in Ravenclaw. The other reason for Lester's invitation was because Becky wanted to introduce him to Mary. Looking over at the two of them Marlene saw that Becky's plan had worked and that Lester and Mary were getting well acquainted.
It was nearing midnight and Peter (who despite the apple juice was slightly tipsy) was sitting beside the fireplace.
"Yo Wormtail what's up?" James asked as he sat down beside Peter and handed him a glass of water.
Peter pointed to the empty whisky glass, half eaten mince pie and carrot on the mantelpiece. "Waiting for Santa!" He exclaimed bouncing up and down in excitement, "It's five to midnight, he should be here soon."
"Judging by the empty glass and half eaten mince pie, he's already been."
Peter didn't get the sarcasm and looked around dismayed.
"Maybe you should go to bed, and then when you wake up Santa will have brought you presents." James looked up and saw Lily sink into the sofa beside him.
Peter nodded dejectedly before picking himself up and making his way outside to the guest house.
"Nice save." James whispered putting an arm around Lily and pulling her close.
Lily smiled, "Any more alcohol and we'll have a repeat of last time."
James laughed, "Merry Christmas." He said before pulling her into a kiss.
"Are you all right?" Lily asked Marlene once everyone had gone to bed, it was 3 o'clock and had just started snowing. "Looks like it'll be a proper white Christmas."
Marlene smiled, "What's the difference between a proper one and an un-proper one?"
"It's got to actually snow on Christmas morning, only then do the bookies pay out."
"Muggles bet whether or not it's going to snow on Christmas morning?"
"Strange isn't it?" She wrapped an arm around Marlene and pulled her into a hug, "your parents will be fine."
"How did you know...?"
"You've been alternating your stares between the front door and the fireplace for the past half an hour, Sirius gave up waiting for you and went with the boys into the guest house."
"I'm just worried Lils, It's been over a day, they haven't even sent a letter or called or anything."
"It'll be all right, come on, go to bed, and when you wake up it'll be Christmas."
"It's Christmas now."
Lily smiled lightly and pushed Marlene in the direction of the stairs, she didn't say it out loud, but she was worried for Mr and Mrs McKinnon as well.
It had stopped snowing by mid-morning and the garden was covered in snow. The boys had all gotten up early and were busy making sculptures out of the snow. There was a rat, a stag, a dog, a doe, an eagle and a wolf. Those who didn't know the significance of the chosen animals, just shrugged it off. Hester and Lester then started throwing snowballs at the Gryffindors. Frank joined the Bagcroft team and the girls just watched, staying clear when magic got involved and the tiny clumps of snow were being charmed.
Marlene arrived down to a late breakfast no happier then she was, when she went to bed. She had looked into her parents room, which was empty and the bed hadn't been slept in. She then went into Martyn's room and his only comment was: "Has the Daily Prophet arrived yet?"
" 'Has the Daily Prophet arrived yet?' He could at least act a little worried, our parents haven't been in contact in over 36 hours and he's worried whether or not the paper's arrived. It's Christmas day! He's lucky the paper even gets printed and delivered!" Marlene felt like hexing her brother, but she kept a firm grasp on her anger and plastered a smile on her face. It was Christmas all her friends were here and they were going to have a fabulous day, she'd write a letter to her mother and tell her to take it easy with the patients and that she looked forward to when they were all together again.
Breathing through her nose, Marlene pushed open the kitchen door and waved through the window to Sirius who was being used as a decoy in what looked to be a snowball war rather than a fight.
Sirius smiled as he saw Marlene wave at him through the kitchen window, completely forgetting that he was in the middle of a battle field, he just watched her whilst Hester, Lester and Frank pelted him with snowballs.
He saw the Daily Prophet owl fly over head and as he deftly ducked a snowball aimed for his head he watched as Marlene opened the window, took the paper and paid the owl.
Ignoring the shouts from both teams, he watched his girlfriend through the window. They had been together for over a year, it had been over a year and he still felt the same way he did back when he first starting noticing her in third year. When people had told him love hurts he didn't think anything of it. Nothing particularly trying had arisen from their relationship, they had had a couple of fights but nothing major. Through the window he watch as she picked the newspaper off the table and take a bite out of a piece of toast.
He frowned as he watched her read the paper, her expression changed from a smile to one of horror in an instant. He saw Martyn enter and although Sirius couldn't hear what was happening, he knew something had gone wrong. Everyone else had noticed the scene in the kitchen as well as they all stood and stared.
Marlene's hands trembled as she read the headlines:
CHRISTMAS CARNAGE CATASTROPHE
St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries was yesterday the victim of a surprise attack. The He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named followers were believed to have one target, Damien Hedgegrove Vice-Minister of Magic. Among those named dead were ex- Head of the Auror Department Michael McKinnon and his wife esteemed Healer Joanne McKinnon. Full Story on page 3.
She heard Martyn come into the kitchen and gently pry the paper out off her trembling hands. He tried to wrap his arms around her pull her into a brotherly hug, but she pushed him away. The one thought that was strong enough for her numb mind to grasp was the fact that out of the things Martyn could have said to her that morning, he only asked if the paper had arrived.
Realisation hit her like a hex to the stomach. "You knew?" She said her voice trembling, "You knew?"
Martyn took a tentative back, "Marl.. I..."
"You knew and you didn't do a damned thing to stop it!" She wanted to say so much more, lash out at him, grab her wand and hex him, but she couldn't, all she did was sink to the floor and scream.
She was dimly aware of the back door opening and eleven pairs of feet traipsing snow into the kitchen, dimly aware that Martyn had shielded against an onslaught of mild hexes before pointing dimly to the discarded newspaper.
They all knew now, she heard Mary and Rebecca gasp and run back outside, Hester and Lester must have followed because there was only her group. She heard Lily sobbing as she read the paper and James pulling her into a hug.
Someone was trying to hug her, their strong arms pulling her protectively against his chest. Sobbing she looked up. It wasn't who she wanted. It was Martyn, his face twisted in horror, fear and hurt. She tried to push away from him. Struggling against the strong hold he had on her.
"No... Go away, leave me... It's your fault." She swivelled in his arms and pounded her brothers chest angrily.
Martyn just accepted the punishment. "Shsssh, it' okay... everything going to be all right."
That wasn't the right thing to say, Marlene let out another scream of anger and started mumbling hexes under her breath, without a wand they couldn't do much damage, but he was still weary enough to put up a shield.
Finally managing to extract herself from her brother, she pushed him away. "GET OUT!!!!" She screamed finally before crumpling in a heap on the floor. She was sobbing fiercely, her tears soaking her jumped, her hair matted, her face blotchy and red.
Martyn took in his sister, he was filled with guilt over what happened. It hurt so much for him to see her like this. Yet he knew she hurt even more. Giving his sister's friends a small nod, he Disapparated.
A/N: In my original draft of this story I had written a warning at the top of this chapter, but after finishing I decided I didn't need it. Sorry this chapter took so long getting up, before I knew it, it was Friday evening and all I had written was the title. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favourited and alerted this story. As usual nothing is mine I just borrow them and put them through the washing machine until they've shrunk small enough to fit in my pocket :D
P.S. Who loves my alliteration as much as I do :D