Chapter 35: Decision
Marlene had escaped, early hours of Saturday morning and she was sitting in her living room, staring at the dying embers of the fireplace, eating home-made pancakes and drinking coffee.
Martyn wasn't home, which she was secretly pleased about, what worried her, however, was the fact that she hadn't seen or heard from Elenea since her parents had died. She had tried calling her both through the bond, that connects the elf to the house and just normally. The only reason she wanted to talk to Elenea was advice, according to her mother and their birth books, Elenea had been present at both hers and Martyn's birth. To follow with tradition, she wanted Elenea to be there for her child as well.
Although she was still undecided, she was leaning towards keeping the child. They could easily find a house or a small flat, back on the Islands, she would postpone become an Auror for a few years, at least until the child was older, or even waiting until it started Hogwarts. She could still help in the war, she knew Molly and Arthur Weasley helped, not directly but with information, despite having three young boys and expecting twins in April. She didn't fancy giving her child up for adoption, she wanted the child to be proud of who it is, a McKinnon and a Black. She had even thought of names. Isla Joanne for a girl, or Niall Michael for a boy. She knew Sirius had an Aunt Isla who was disowned for marrying a Muggle and thought the name suited what Sirius stood for, Niall meant 'Champion' and was a Gaelic name Marlene had always liked. However this all depended on what Sirius wanted to do. She was running out of time, if she was to put the child up for adoption then she would have to let the Ministry know soon.
She stood up just as the living room door opened and she turned, stunned to find Alecto Carrow sneering at her.
"Martyn's not here." Marlene said coldly, before pushing past her to get to the kitchen.
"I'll wait." Carrow called and when Marlene returned to collect her cloak she found her sitting on the sofa, her feet on the coffee table, drinking a glass of brandy from the liquor cabinet.
Scowling, she pulled at her cloak only to find Carrow was sitting on it. Putting one hand on her hip, the other pulled her wand out of pocket and with a flick of her wand and a small incantation, Carrow was on the floor, her brandy on her head and Marlene's cloak was under her arm.
Smirking, Marlene quickly left the house before Carrow could work out what happened. The match started in fifteen minutes and it would take her that long just to walk to the front gates, knowing she was being lazy and that all the pregnancy books discouraged Apparition. She turned on the spot and thought of the front gates.
Stumbling slightly, she did a quick check and counted all her fingers and toes, before squeezing through the tunnel under the fence that served as a secret passage way. Jogging up through the grounds she joined the throngs of Hogwarts students heading for the stadium and slipped off to the changing rooms.
Glad she had dropped her robes off before hand, she plastered a smile on her face and pushed open the door.
" - Eoin and David, score as many goals as you can, get the points up, at least fifty ahead before the snitch is caught, Sirius … Marlene!" James stopped his pre-match strategy talk when Marlene walked in and grabbed her robes from her hook.
"Sorry, I'm late." She said, dumping her cloak and wand on the bench, she slipped behind the divide to change, "Slept in."
"Well that's a lie." Came Lily's voice from the other side. Peaking round the divide, she saw Lily, sitting in between Sirius and Eoin, fully clad in scarlet Quidditch robes and a look on her face that told Marlene she was both petrified and angry.
"Oh hey Lils, the scarlet really... er... brings out the red in your hair..." Marlene smiled weakly before ducking behind the divide to finish changing.
"I'll be with Remus and Pete," said Lily. Marlene heard her stand up and give James a small kiss. "We'll talk later Marl." She added, rather loudly and walked out of the changing rooms without bothering to change.
Grimacing slightly Marlene walked out from behind the divide, dumped her clothes near her cloak and sat in the seat Lily had just vacated. James gave her a piercing gaze before addressing his team again.
"Scratch that, original plan is back on, I want us to be at least 70 ahead before Marlene catches the snitch."
They all stood and grabbed their brooms and waited to be announced. Sirius leaned over and whispered in Marlene's ear.
"Have you got dinner plans?"
She shook her head.
"Astronomy tower, 5 o'clock, you, me and the setting sun."
Smiling softly at the flutter of hope in her stomach, she nodded and followed James as he walked out onto the pitch.
"Damn it, James!" Marlene cursed into the air, as for the tenth time that match she had to completely ignore the snitch and speed off in the opposite direction. She had just plain ignored it for a few times and was glad when the Hufflepuff seeker hadn't seen it, but the last few times he had been looking more intently and Marlene had to put her speed and diversion techniques to good use.
They were sixty ahead, but Hufflepuff were in position of the Quaffle, and it seemed like Bernard Dagworth – the Gryffindor Keeper, was having an off day because Hufflepuff had just scored their third goal.
She easily spotted Lily in the crowd, her eyes closed shut and her nails digging into Remus' palm as James showed off, and quickly pulled out of a dive to avoid a Bludger. She also spotted Regulus, why she picked out Regulus she had no idea, but there he was, standing and watching silently while his team-mates all jeered and tried to distract the Gryffindor team.
She circled overhead and watched as Eoin and James scored two more goals in quick succession, they were finally seventy ahead, all she needed now was the Snitch.
Eighty ahead, then seventy, sixty, seventy … the scores were going up and down like a yo-yo, from a spectators point of view this was a brilliant match, the chasers and keepers giving it their all, it was again, however, dragging on. If James hadn't of wanted them to get such a good lead, she could've won this game one minute and fifty-three seconds in.
Knowing that this could probably be her last ever Hogwarts Quidditch game, Marlene was happy it was taking so long, she was also anxious, she wanted it to be five o'clock. She felt like a giddy thirteen year-old on her first date. She flashed Sirius a smile as he streaked after a Bludger and was about to dive down a couple of feet and scan the area around the goal posts when she heard a fluttering of wings.
Looking up she gave a great sigh of relief and couldn't believe her luck it was fluttering above her head, all she had to do was reach up and …
She was so preoccupied with getting the Snitch before Hufflepuff scored and closed the gap, that she didn't see the Bludger a Hufflepuff Beater had sent her way. He had seen the Snitch and knew that their seeker was too far away to reach it. The only course of action was to do what he did best.
She was a bit winded, nothing seemed to be broken, she had the snitch in her hand struggling relentlessly. Both Sirius and James were looking at her concernedly but that was due to fact the Bludger had hit her stomach. With one hand on her stomach, checking for bruises, the other hand showed the crowed and the commentator that the match was over, Gryffindor had won, and due to their huge point advantage were now first in the league. They had one match to play – in April, and when they won that, Gryffindor will have won for the seventh year in a row and Marlene, Sirius and James could hang up their brooms and robes for good.
"Are you sure you're OK? You just had a Bludger to your stomach and in your current condition I think you should -"
"Shut up? Gee James that's the best idea you've had all day, now run along and follow your own advice." Marlene flashed her smile in his direction before turning back to her Herbology text book.
James shook his head in defeat and started walking towards the library doors, he passed Lily on the way and tapped her on the shoulder. "Tag. Your turn."
Rolling her eyes, Lily walked over to where Marlene had taken up a whole table just for her homework. "Good for you, starting early, I started at the start of the year, but this is early even for you."
"I'm writing an application essay for the Auror department, I figured if I write it now while all the information is fresh in my mind and I have access to unlimited resources, then eleven/twelve years down the line when I finally decide it's what I want to do, then all I have to do is re-read it, update it, send it to you for proofing and checking and then post it to the Ministry."
Lily smiled and sat down, shifting a couple of rolls of parchment to do so. "But you've already done an Intern-ship."
"Not a prerequisite, but boosts the application along, call it the Ministry's version of the Duke of Glasgow."
"Duke of Edinburgh." Lily corrected with a roll of her eyes.
"That too, also need to get Es and Os in my exams, Os are better and pass a three/four year intensive training course which includes more tests and being ridiculed for being small."
"Isn't 30 a little old for a career change?"
"Probably, I'm just keeping my options open..." Marlene screwed up her face and rubbed her stomach. "You're never too old to make life changing decisions."
"Did the baby kick?" Lily joked when Marlene continued to rub her stomach.
"I'm just bruised from the Bludger, nothing life threatening." She smiled and closed her Herbology book, "I'm getting a scan tomorrow, wanna come and see your future god-child?"
Lily looked shocked, "You want me to be the god-mother?"
"Course I do, and I want – and Sirius will probably agree, James to be god-father. I'm sorry, but because of that, you and James are going to have to be steady at least for another year or so."
"Me and James are doing fine, despite the fact that I've known him for less than seven years and at least five and a half of those years I absolutely loathed and couldn't stand to be in the same room as him, we're doing great."
"Great, when's it due?" Marlene joked wincing as she stood up. Lily smiled.
"Must be a pretty big bruise. Do you want me to take a look at it?" Lily asked standing up as well and helping Marlene as she put her books back on the shelf.
"Maybe later, I have a date." Marlene grinned and Lily couldn't help grinning as well.
"That grin makes you look goofy, anyone would think you guys are thirteen. Has he decided?"
Marlene shrugged and shouldered her bag. "Don't know, according to Remus he wanted to talk to me last night at practise but I left in a hurry and he didn't have time, and I slept in this morning..."
Lily suddenly remembered why she was in the library. "You didn't sleep in this morning." She said in her Head Girl voice, her brow furrowed and she gave Marlene a piercing glare.
Marlene quickly looked around to see if anyone would overhear. "I nipped home, is that so wrong? Wait don't answer that. I needed some time to think, all my best decisions are made in front of my fire, with a coffee and Elenea's pancakes … only I had to make them myself and I kind of made them a little thin and they looked more like crepes then pancakes ..."
Lily sighed and turned a deaf ear - a technique she had perfected last year when Marlene started hanging around with James and Sirius, Lily had been forced to seek advice from Remus and he had complied. "When's your date?"
"In five minutes … can you take my bag?"
"Sure … as long as, as soon as your date is finished you come and get me and we check out that bruise on your stomach. Did you bleed at all?"
"Nope, that's why I'm not worried." Lily nodded and shouldered Marlene's bag. "Thanks, I'll see you later, enjoy your plain old dinner, in the great hall... I wonder if he's got rose petals and candles.... nah this is Sirius we are talking about."
Lily laughed as Marlene walked out of the library, he hand subconsciously rubbing her stomach, all the while fantasising about her date with Sirius.
Sirius had indeed gone all out. At the top of the astronomy tower, Sirius had laid out a picnic blanket and scattered Alyssum petals over the top, he had lit fifteen candles (one for each month they had been dating) and had gotten the house-elves to send a three course meal up to them. All that was missing, was the guest of honour herself.
She arrived only five minutes late, clutching her stomach and breathing heavily as she climbed the last step and emerged at the top of the tower.
Sirius – albeit worried, knew better than to ask if she was all right and to postpone their date so she could get checked out. She was stubborn enough to say no and he was on thin enough ground as it was.
"Have a seat," he said and held out his arm so she could lower herself down on the blanket. "I didn't think wine was a good idea, so I've got some Butterbeer instead."
Marlene smiled and placed a hand on her flat stomach, the walk up the steps had agitated her bruising but she was happy Sirius hadn't asked her if she was all right, he knew her too well.
Opening a bottle he handed it to her before sitting down. Taking a deep breath he closed his empty hand around the hand that was on Marlene's stomach. "I love you." He whispered. "And I want to be with you, I want to protect you and I never want to let you go, that includes my unborn child."
Smiling and without bothering to hold back her tears, Marlene sprang at Sirius and pulled him into a tight hug, winching when her stomach came in contact with his Butterbeer bottle. "Thank you," she whispered and kissed his neck, "You have no idea what this means to me."
Sirius smiled and lifted her head so he could kiss her lips. "I am so sorry, it has taken me this long to decide, I've been so conflicted with things. Worried that I wouldn't be able to protect you, scared because of the war. Thank you for giving me the time to think it through."
Marlene nodded and pulled away, wiping her eyes on a napkin, she took a swig of her Butterbeer and placed her hand back on her stomach. It wasn't hurting too much, just a dull ache, but she couldn't shake the feeling something was the matter. She'd been hit by Bludgers in the stomach before, cracked a few ribs, broken an arm or two. But this injury felt different somehow, as soon as it had happened she had rubbed an Arnica poultice on it and checked for any broken bones. Surprisingly there were none and physically she didn't feel any different. She assumed it was all in her head, and that the Arnica was just taking it's time, but after walking up the stairs and feeling winded like she had broken a rib, she was starting to regret her decision not to seek medical help.
Sirius couldn't stand it any more, Marlene was in pain and he needed to know what was wrong. "Are you okay?" He asked, putting his hand over Marlene's stomach once more.
Surprisingly Marlene shook her head. "I don't think so, I think that Bludger did more than bruise me and as much as I'd love to stay up here, with you and talk and watch the sun set, I think I'd better go see Madam Pomfrey."
Sirius nodded, glad that he didn't have to force her but worried at what might happen.
A/N: That is really evil of me, and I do beg your forgiveness and I will update as soon as I can even if it means handwriting the next chapter and posting it to my sister who then types it up and posts it....