Hellooooo! Sorry for such a long break, I had crazy writers block, and now (because life is so mean *sniff*) I've got loads of ideas so there should be another chapter up within the week, and another one in the next month!

Okay, a little warning for this chapter: there are definitely some scenes which may upset people, because there is some rape type stuff involved. I've added in some breaks in the text, and if you want to skip over it, make sure you don't read the bits in between the 'DO NOT READ HERE IF YOU WANT TO SKIP CONTENT' sections XD
Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognise, except the plots and OCs! Everything else belongs to JKR!

- PIAM3 xxx

Chapter 11 - On the Warpath

They carried her in late one night, all the adults present wearing pale, serious faces. Her small body was battered and bruised, and covered in cuts and blood, her hair desperately in need of a wash, matted as it was from weeks without being cleaned. Rushing over from her office, the nurse, who had nervously been waiting for her patient to arrive, began to work over the girl immediately as the other adults stepped back, relieved that they had been able to deliver her alive, rather then handing over a malnourished corpse. Although most witches and wizards didn't believe in a god, why would they when most of the 'miracles' described could be explained by a spell, most of them found themselves on the verge of praying to whatever god the girl believed in, hoping against all the odds that she would survive, that she wouldn't have her life ended so cruelly all because of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Shall we inform the students?" McGonagall asked, voice shaking with relief.
Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, Minerva, thank you, I'm sure they would want to know immediately. However, I think it best to wait until the morning. If you would be obliging, you can excuse her close friends from their first lesson."
McGonagall nodded and gave a grim smile, "I shall notify them in the morning, and the rest of the staff now."
"Thank you again, Minerva."
She turned around and hurried off, her face showing less worry lines than just before as she wiped a tear away from the corner of her eye.

The sixth year Gryffindors rose quickly the next morning, and most of them – with the exception of one – chattered excitedly. There was something in the air that day, something hopeful, and they all seemed a little more cheerful than they had been as they headed down the stairs for breakfast, even Marlene who was still fairly unresponsive when it came to her friends. James and Remus greeted the girls with a smile each, Peter gave a small easily missable nod, while Sirius kept his hands in his trouser pockets and sent Marlene a glance which she flatly ignored, which made Mary smile.

"To breakfast then?" Mary suggested, leaning on Remus as he wrapped his arm round her waist.
"To breakfast," James agreed, and turned around. "You coming Pad – oh... hello Professor.."
Professor McGonagall had just entered the Common Room and she started to talk as the portrait hole swung shut. The group fell silent immediately to listen to her.
"Good morning ladies, gentlemen," she said with a curt nod towards them, hands clasped in front of her, a small smile playing round the edge of her lips, "I have some extremely good news, which I am sure you will want to know."
Marlene looked up hopefully, but James, who had guessed what McGonagall was here about straight away, grinned, "Professor... Are you saying?-"
"Yes, Mr Potter, Miss Evans was admitted to the Hospital Wing last night and is currently in a stable situation. But don't interrupt - "
She was interrupted again by the cheers of James and Mary, while Remus' face split into a massive grin. Marlene did smile, ever so slightly, but it turned to a looud yell when Siirus picked her up and spun her around, beaming. She shrieked and tried to hit his hands away.
"BLACK GET OFF ME!" she yelled, squirming away, but the corners of her mouth involuntarily turned up at his happy grin.
Sirius did put her down, but he was smirking, pleased to get a reaction from er other than an insult.

McGonagall smiled at their response to the news, and cut across the noise once it had gone on long enough.
"You will be allowed 20 minutes out of your first lesson to go and see Miss Evans, but them I'm afraid to say you must return to class. You can visit again in your free time," she concluded.
"Thank you Professor," Remus said politely, "We appreciate that."
She smiled at him, "Please get some breakfast first, Madame Pomfrey will not be impressed if you neglect to eat."
She exited swiftly and they broke out into ecstatic conversation, no one really listening to anyone else, just needing to express their emotiond as loudly as possible. Marlene allowed herself a small smile as she walked out of the Common Room quietly.
"Marlene where are you going?" Mary called, seeing her friend try to slip off.
"Breakfast," she responded simply, turning left and shutting the portrait hole with a cold finality. She wasn't trying to be rude, but she was rather hungry, and she didn't want to talk to Lily while the others were chatting away about nothing important. She also didn't want to be there if they told Lily about her parents, not wanting to see Lily's sympathetic face and comforting words. She didn't need help, Lily did. The others, on the other hand, just saw it as a reluctance to even see Lily, and were a bit annoyed with Marlene.

Despite her cold front towards the others, Marlene desperately wanted to see Lily as soon as possible, as long as it wasn't at a time when James and Sirius weren't there to guilt trip her, interrogate her (in the case of James) or try to seduce her (in the case of Sirius). She decided to go and eat breakfast before she went up to the Hospital Wing, forcing herself to eat something; she didn't want to faint when she was talking to Lily, that wouldn't reassure her that Marlene had been fine. It wasn't that she was deliberately starving herself, she just didn't see the point of eating, especially when it had always been her mother who nagged her to eat more. And sitting at the Gryffindor table was basically giving herself up as a target for questioning by her friends, which was something she was trying to avoid at all costs. Marlene sat alone, ignoring the curious looks she got from other people who had heard about her spat with Regulus Black, and quickly ate the slice of toast. Her stomach grumbled for more, but she ignored it, not wanting to get caught here by the boys and Mary, and left silently, head held high.

She waited for about half an hour in an abandoned classroom, hoping the others would have left the Hospital Wing after that time before she jumped down from the table she had been perching on and hurried out, trying to keep a low profile. As luck would have it, she snuck past a much more cheerful looking group of her friends after a few minutes, with the exception of Sirius, who still looked fairly miserable. Some part of her registered concern, but she pushed it away and walked on.

Once she had arrived at the Hospital Wing and explained to Madame Pomfrey why she was there, Marlene pulled a plain wooden chair over to Lily's bedside and smiled when she saw her friend for the first time in about a month. The smaller girl was only just awake, tired from James and Mary's never ending conversations, and raised her hand in greeting, her eyes welling up with tears.
"Hey Lily," Marlene whispered, taking her hand and squeezing it softly.
"Hi Marls," Lily replied, voice croaky from weeks of not talking.
Marlene sobbed outright when Lily brushed her flaming hair black, accidentally revealing a rather nasty looking slash over her eye. Marlene let out all the emotion she'd been keeping back for the weeks Lily was away, and nothing Lily could say was helping.
"Marlene don't cry!" Lily protested weakly, "I'm gonna be fine!"
She clutched Lily's hand more tightly and shook her head.
"No, no, no, all his fault."
"What do you mean, Marly? What is who's fault?!"
Marlene refused to answer, just kept on muttering to herself, "He did this, somehow, I don't know how, but I'll find out. I'll make him pay, Lily, I will."
"Marlene?" Lily said, starting to worry, "Marlene what are you doing?" The others had given her a quick one sided explanation of what Marlene had been doing while Lily was away, which made it sound like a nice holiday when in reality, it was the opposite. They had said about how her parents had been killed, how Emmeline had been so horrible to them, and how she had been sneaking around with Sirius. Lily had wanted to be annoyed at Sirius for that, but worked to conceal her smug grin instead; she'd known it, he liked Marlene, there was no denying it now. Unless of course, she sighed, he was just the dick Marlene always said he was, and was using her. Lily really hoped not.

Lily didn't mind coming back from being tortured for a month only to be confronted by her friend's problems, she genuinely didn't. As long as she was back, and being looked after, they could come and weep and scream at her, she didn't care. They could ask her to dance the Jove and she would try to comply; even James' ridiculous scruffy hair had been comforting when she first opened her eyes. Now she was safe again, she it wanted to dive back into school work and Hogwarts life and try to forget what had happened to her over the last month, although she knew there would be some scars that wouldn't fade.

So when Marlene suddenly got up and left, face ashen, Lily tried to follow her but stopped when her stomach clenched in defiance, forcing her to stay in the bed. The others had said something was up with Marlene, but to stop Lily worrying they hadn't said how bad it was getting: James neglected to say she wasn't eating, Mary 'forgot' to say she hadn't spoken to them properly in days, Remus felt it best not to say she was skipping classes. So not only was the red head concerned, she was annoyed at the Marauders. Just because she'd been tortured didn't mean she was weaker than them. She could handle a bit of bad news, for goodness sake. Lily vowed to solve this whole mess as soon as she was released from the Hospital Wing, but now now she was going to have a short nap... Okay, a decent nap... Or maybe she would just sleep...

The next morning, Lily was released from the Hospital swing with a stern warning from Madame Pomfrey not to over exert herself, and to definitely not work too hard on homework. The professors were told to give her a little catch up work at a time, some to give more then others, but not too much. They knew that Lily would work far too hard and make herself ill if they weren't careful. Even as Lily was getting better, Marlene was getting worse. Even her brother had noticed it from his spot in Ravenclaw, and had approached the Marauders about it, not that anything they could tell him was any comfort to him.

While they were helping Lily from the other side of the castle, Marlene was getting ready for the day. There was a plan formulating in her mind, a plan that to her at least made perfect sense, when in reality it would only push her friends further away. Pulling on her Hogwarts uniform like she did every day, Marlene thought over what she was going to do. For a start, it involved generally pissing Sirius Black off as much as possible, as well as trying to push all the rest of her friends away. She figured that as long as she kept the list of people she loved to a minimum, she could avoid more heartbreak plaguing her when they all inevitably died in this war. Damage control, in a way: cut off the bad parts now before she grew too attached to them, and couldn't live without them. Although Marlene didn't know she'd already fallen completely in love with her friends, and that life without them wasn't worth living anyway.

By the time the others had reached the Gryffindor Common Room with Lily, Marlene was gone. They all collapsed onto sofas around the fire place, and sighed as one. It was going to be a long day.
"Where's Marlene?" Lily asked.
"Probably sulking somewhere," Remus said with a deep sigh.
Sirius scowled, "She's not /sulking/!"
James rolled his eyes, "I don't know what else you can call it, Pads..."
Sirius shut up then, and just glared at the dead fire.
Lily, ever the match maker, gave Remus a look. She hadn't forgotten their plan to get Sirius and Marlene together by Christmas, but it was looking increasingly unlikely.
"I don't know what to do," Mary said quietly, looking around their group of friends, looking each of them in the eye, "We've all been treading on eggshells around her, letting her get away with it. We need to do something!" She thumped Remus' arm for emphasis, and he winced.
Lily raised an eyebrow carefully, "Like an intervention?"
Mary grinned, "Exactly like an intervention."
The idea seemed to appeal to them, although James didn't really care what they called it, as long as it worked.
"When, though?" Peter piped up.
Lily looked up, surprised. People generally forgot Peter was in the room as he didn't say much.
"I want to see what's going on for myself," she said, "But in a week I should have enough evidence."
"Evidence? What is this, Evans, a Muggle crime show?" Sirius snapped, "The sooner the better."
"No, Sirius," Lily replied softly, "But I want to see it for myself."
James gave Sirius a stern look, telling him to calm down, and Sirius - for once - backed down and slumped against the sofa, an unreadable expression on his face.
"Come on," Mary sighed, standing up, "We need to get to class."

They all rose, minds whirring with ideas and plans and - as one - heads for their first lesson, Transfiguration, while Peter left them to to to Herbology outside the castle. They caught up with Marlene on the way when Lily had spotted her best friend's blonde ponytail in the surge of students hurrying to lessons. They reached her quickly, using Lily and Remus' power as Prefects to part the crowds. Seeing Marlene's expression as they Forres closer, Remus groaned and turned his head to tell the others.
"She's in a 'leave me alone' mood," he sighed.
Sirius raised an eyebrow, "When isn't she?"
Marlene just caught his words over the hubbub of people and scowled furiously. She hated how easily he could get under her skin and was determined to take control of her feelings concerning the eldest Black. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she gave him an icy look and resumed her steady lace towards the classroom. Surprised, her friends followed her; she hadn't been to class much recently, for all the tried to convince her to go. James caught Lily's eye as they started moving and she smiled back warmly, making James grin too, pleased she was starting to warm up to him.

Marlene strode ahead, the others muttering a few paces behind her like a concerned entourage, until a small familiar poking blonde boy grabbed Marlene's wrist and pulled her to the edge of the corridor before Marlene even had time to protest.
"Marlene!" he called, staring at his older sister.
"What, Josh?" she snapped, blue eyes burning into his.
He look up at her carefully, his eyes - the exact same shade as hers - wide, "Is it true, Marls?"
"Is what true? I haven't got time for Ravenclaw mind games."
"About Mum and Dad, and Mason?" he replied, lip trembling with emotion. Of course, Marlene realised, he wouldn't have got a letter, he wasn't the oldest child alive.
Marlene's mouth pulled back into a sneer, "Oh yes, it's true, happy now you know our parents are brother were slaughtered?"
"No, Josh said, eyes swelling up involuntarily.
"Yes," she said firmly, "We're orphans, Mason is dead too, we don't have a house and have no access to our money. We're completely alone. Now piss off."
"Marlene I-" Josh started, tears falling in a steady stream, but she had already pushed past him and was fighting against the flow of people to get away from every one before she started crying too.

Everyone in their vicinity gaped at her definitive statement, but no one tried to follow her as she turned off the main corridor and down a flight of stairs.
"Shit, she's gone to the dungeons again," James cursed.
""/Again/?!" Lily yelled, "Someone go after her!"
They looked around to see Sirius already making his way through the swarms of students still flowing past the drama, completely oblivious. Mary sighed, but Lily grinned, forgetting the seriousness of the situation for a second as she patted Josh's shoulder and pushed him towards the crowd, "ago on, get to class, Sirius will look after her just fine."
James looked skeptical, "What if he does-"
"James-Potter-if-you-wish-to-keep-your-hair-how-it -is-I-suggest-you-stop-right-now," Lily said quickly, covering his mouth with her hand and glaring at him.
They all - with the exception of Marlene and Sirius of course - walked to Transfiguration where they left Josh on walk on to his lesson, brotherly concern and hurt fighting for control.

Marlene and Sirius, on the other hand, knew exactly what they were feeling: Marlene was grieving all over again, pain at her parents' death swamping her, and Sirius was just feeling worried. Most of the time, when the Marauders were discussing Marlene's situation, Sirius kept out of it, but now he wanted to he involved. He wanted to be the one to help her, and his protectiveness was becoming alarmingly apparent to everyone else as well as to himself.

Although Marlene knew there was definitely some spark between Sirius and herself, she wasn't willing to explore the possibility of anything more than a bit of chemistry. So she was only thinking of herself as she stormed down to the dungeons as predicted by James. Despite having already duelled with a regulus and successfully sent him to the Hospital Wing, she found herself wanting to see him again, even though he was a Slytherin, a Death Eater, and indirectly responsible for her parents and brother's death. It was like looking at a younger version of Sirius, without all the confusing look and calculated moves Sirius pulled around Marlene. She was sure that of her friends would be following, so she leaned against a cool, stone pillar, wand outstretched, to wait for whichever person arrived first. No one arrived, but she wasn't alone.

The corridors of the dungeons were dark even on a bright summers day when a little more light filtered down the stairwells, but it was November her now, and the light, especially in Scotland, was retreating below the horizon earlier and earlier. Dark, damp and echoing, the dungeons were an easy place to hide in, and a near labyrinth once you went last the first few doors. Marlene thought she heard breathing but dismissed the idea as ridiculous. Dropping her wand accidentally, she leaned down to pick it up again, but realised that it was gone. Sure, she'd seen it there a second ago, but clearly it wasn't there anymore. She sighed impatiently as she scanned the floor for the wand, and jumped when a calm voice cut in from the shadows.

((NASTY SECTION MIGHT WANT TO SKIP))

"Looking for this, McKinnon?" it asked, a hand holding her wand emerging from behind a pillar.
She gulped, fear bubbling in the pit of her stomach as Avery stepped out, and pocketed her wand.
"Too bad, finders keepers," he sneered, advancing on her, "So what's a little Gryffindor bitch doing all alone in Slytherin territory? I knew you were reckless, but /suicidal/?"
Marlene stepped backed, and inhaled quickly as Avery mimicked her movement but taking a larger step so they were even closer.
"Maybe I am suicidal," she replied.
The drop of water from the Black Lake overhead added to her terror, a sense of claustrophobia surrounding her, the cold of the slimy, stone wall against her back got even colder, and Marlene started to shiver.
"Aww, you scared McKinnon?" he said cruelly, "No need to be, I won't hurt you if you don't resist."
Of course, no matter how scared she was, Marlene was a Gryffindor and she wasn't going to let him walk all over her.
"Then you'll have to hurt me," she said stubbornly, setting her jaw.
Avery grinned evilly, and slammed her shoulders against the wall, making Marlene since and bite her lip to stop herself from crying. Her lip started to bleed as she bit down, Avery trailing a finger down her sound and resting it on her hip.
"You were a fool to come here, McKinnon, and I'll make sure you know it."
She shook her head, squirming to get away futilely. Avery laughed under his breath.
"No, just relax. It won't hurt as much."
He tugged her chin up to meet his gaze as he kissed her roughly, giving her no chance to get away. Marlene screamed inside her throat and hit his arms desperately, her fear cresting as he pinned her arms against the wall and pressed his body against hers. She was screaming inside, but the words gagged in her throat and turned into a pitiful whimper and his fingers clutched her waist painfully tight. There was no way out, and Marlene knew she was trapped. But then, as if someone had heard her desperate pleas inside, footsteps sounded quickly along the paved floor, but Avery payed no attention, a massive, /massive/ mistake, when he assumed it was another Slytherin who wouldn't question what he was doing.

((END OF NASTY SECTION!))

A fist flew out if no where, knocking him away from Marlene and onto the wall opposite as Avery clutched the side of his head, dazed from the force of the punch. Marlene was pulled off the wall and behind a body that she clung to, shivering violently. She didn't need to see who it was, she already knew. Who else would follow her here?"

"Get the /fuck/ away from her, or I will fucking kill you," Sirius spat, shaking with barely contained anger.
Avery staggered backwards and spat on the floor at Sirius' feet, before trying to run off with all the dignity he could muster, grateful that Sirius hadn't hit him again.
"S-Sirius," Marlene stuttered, "M-my wand, he has my w-wand..."
He acciod it back before Avery went out of reach, but didn't hand it back to her straight away. Instead, he stepped back and scanned her carefully.
"Are you okay?" he said, eyes blazing with fury.
She cringed, "Clearly not, /Black/."
"Okay, stupid question. Why the /hell/ did you decide to pay a visit to the Slytherins?" ah said, wrapping his arms around her quickly.
Marlene panicked at the touch and pulled away, flattening herself against the wall to escape him, "Fuck off, I didn't need your help to stop fucking lecturing me!"
"Oh, you didn't need my help? Do you really think he would have stopped?" Sirius said, trying not to punch the wall or go after her, and scare her even more, "He would've raped you, and you know it!"
Marlene jutted her chin out, "Yes I am fully aware of that, thank you, Black."

She wasn't sure why she was being so harsh: Marlene was incredibly grateful for what he had done, but couldn't bring herself to tell him. She really wanted to going to him forever and smell his amazing scent of leather and Firewhisky, and never let to. She really wanted to cry and scream and kick thing, and then curl up on her bed and hide away from all Slytherins forever and ever. Unfortunately that wasn't an option anymore, so she brought out her defensive strategy to push him away, knowing all she wanted to do use let him in.

Sirius on the other hand, just wanted to kiss her, but realised that might not go down to well with Marlene. Anyway, it didn't matter, because as he leaned down to kiss her, she stopped him by putting a finger against his lips.
"Promise that you won't mention this to anyone?" Marlene said firmly, in a tone that said it wasn't a question at all.
"McKinnon, I... Is that a good idea?" Sirius protested, but Marlene stopped him again. All he wanted was for the bastard to be expelled, or even sent to Azkaban, and Marlene wanted him to stay quiet?
"Promise, Sirius."
He rolled his eyes, "Fine. I solemnly swear that I will not tell anyone that that slimy bastard tried to rape you," he said, pulling his lips back in disgust by the end.
"Good boy, you can kiss me now, if you want," Marlene said with a small, secret smile.
Sirius hesitated for half a second only, before pressing his lips against hers, taking mental note when she flinched, before completely forgetting about the said mental note when she started kissing him back. Marlene responded eagerly for a few seconds, allowing the tingly feeling she had come to asscociate with Sirius to spread through her body before she pulled away and stepped back.
"Thanks, Black," she smiled and slipped away, leaving Sirius clone in the dark passageway.
"Anytime, McKinnon," he muttered to himself once she had vanished from sight.

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