Chapter 14 - Save Our Souls

Hello! I think this a bit quicker update-wise, I've already started the next chapter so watch out. I'ms ure this onemight be a bit confusing time wise, with the flash backs etc, but I've tried to make it as clear as possible.

- PIAM3

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the OCs and the plot!

Tell them I was happy
And my heart is broken
All my scars are open
Tell them what I hoped would be
Impossible, impossible
Impossible, impossible

- James Arthur, Impossible

"I'm really worried," James Potter said as he paced up and down their carriage on the Hogwarts Express.

No one needed to ask what he was worried about as it was the only thing they had discussed in the four days since Marlene had left for her aunt's house. There had been no word from her despite her promise to write about how her and her younger brother were settling into their new surroundings. Everyone had their own ideas about what was going on, although Sirius and James - being Purebloods who knew the consequences of their actions - had the closest guesses to the truth.

"Potter, sit down, you're making me nervous," Lily sighed, pushing her long, fiery hair out of her tired eyes.

Stopping suddenly by the door, James closed his eyes and tipped his head back in frustration, "It's not that I openly hate her aunt and uncle, just just-"

"They're Pureblood gits who think everyone else is scum," Sirius cut in sharply.

Remus and Peter rolled their eyes simultaneously and sighed at Sirius' angry response. He'd been wound up for days over something more than just Marlene being gone, but he flatly refused to explain it. Remus and Lily, in one of their now regular Library gossip session, had pretty much worked out that he was worrying over Marlene a lot and seemed to tense up whenever 'Avery' was said, but they knew no more than anyone else about what could be bothering him.

"Oh Merlin, I can't stand this!" James scowled.

"There's no point worrying, there's nothing we can do at the moment. But if you get a letter from her and it's bad, then we can worry," Lily said, trying to comfort him.

James sighed loudly and collapsed back into his seat, "Me and Sirius can sneak around a bit, the house isn't too far from ours."

Mary raised an eyebrow at Sirius, "Will Mummy and Daddy want you helping a blood traitor?" She wasn't normally this catty but the stress and worry had got to them all.

Lily glared at her, and Sirius' eyes had glazed over as he stared resolutely out of the window.

James gaped, "Mary! No! Sirius lives with me anyway, did you know? Sirius, didn't you tell them?"

"I didn't feel like sharing it," he said coldly, "Why do you care, MacDonald?"

"Because we're your friends, Sirius," Lily said quietly, her mind reeling. Sirius must've run away, his parents would never /let/ him go.

"What... What happened?" she continued bravely when he didn't reply.

"Lily, I don't think that you should really be-" James' interrupted swiftly.

"No, it's okay, Prongs," Sirius said with a roll of his eyes, "I can tell them now."

They all waited expectantly, even James who suspected Sirius hadn't told his everything about how he'd left home.

"So I went home straight away from the station," Sirius began warily, "No point in aggravating Mother dearest any more than necessary."

All their faces were sombre, eyes fixed on Sirius, holding their breath.

"The holidays passed slowly as usual, I'm not going into details. It was a few weeks in that the trouble started: I'd been to see James that day, and had come back late, maybe eleven, midnight, something like that."

James sighed, guilty that he'd kept Sirius so late and been inadvertently responsible.

"Mother wasn't happy that I'd been spending so much time with 'blood traitors' and tried to stop me seeing them," Sirius snorted, "It didn't work, but my mother got really angry so I escaped to my room. Something had snapped, and I was packing all my things up when my Father came in and told me I couldn't leave."

Lily and Mary exchanged a look, worried about where this was heading.

"I ignored him, obviously, and dragged my trunk down the stairs. He... He sent a few hexes after me, and a couple..."

Opening his eyes and looking at Sirius, James shook his head, "Mate, you don't have to tell them."

"A couple hit me badly," Sirius continued steadily, staring out of the window, "And they didn't stop. Everyone just lost it. I was bleeding, and in pain, but I managed to grab my trunk and apparate to James' house. I'd splinched myself but Mrs Potter looked at it for me and they took me in. Well that's the end of story time."

His expression had been getting steadily darker as he spoke, and once he had finished he kicked the seat opposite and stalked out to avoid looking weak in front of his friends.

Recently, he'd become very /open/ with his feelings, and he thought it was probably down to Marlene and the way she expressed herself. Not that he was complaining, but now she was gone and he couldn't stop all his thoughts and /emotions/ from tumbling out. He was letting too much out - it needed to stop. Sirius was a bad boy with the looks and ideals to match, some girl wasn't going to change him. Even though that girl already had.

He went down the corridor a little way, into an empty carriage, sprawling across the seat there, and sighed loudly. It was quiet for a while until light footsteps echoed outside and the sound of the door sliding open then shutting again invaded his ears.

"Leave me alone."

The person didn't respond.

"Piss off."

Still no sound.

"Seriously, fuck off!"

"I'm sure you don't mean that," the voice finally said, a girlish giggle filling the compartment.

Sirius cautiously opened one eye and groaned when he saw the dark haired, pale girl sitting across from him, fluttering her eyelashes.

"Vance, I swear to Merlin..."

"Sirius, you can talk to me you know?" she cooed, clearly trying to innocent approach.

He snorted, "Go away, I don't want to talk to you, Vance."

She leaned forward and rested a hand on his knee which he promptly shook off again.

"Vance, I'm warning you."

"You can /trust/ me!" Emmeline smiled sickeningly at him and he almost gagged. Leaning in even more, undeterred, she cupped his cheek and gazed at him.

He was getting really creeped out by this approach and sat up properly, "Do you mind, I have a girl-"

"No you don't, because you're scared of commitment and won't ask her out. You wouldn't need to commit to me," she cut in, eyes wide, "You could do anything you liked, I wouldn't pressure - OW!"

Emmeline whipped around, black hair splaying out.

"Evans," she spat.

"Emmeline," Lily replied calmly.

"Did you just hex me?!"

"Maybe," Lily smiled, "Now leave."

Emmeline sent one last piercing stare at Sirius before turning sharply on her heel, tripping over on wobbly ankles (the work of Lily's incredible Jelly Legs Jinx) and staggering out, glaring at Lily.

Sirius breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank Merlin, Evans, I thought I was going to have to kill her..."

She laughed, "No problem, Sirius. What was she saying this time?"

"She actually made me realise something important," Sirius explained, sending her a quick smile.

"Something important?"Lily said quizzically, "What?"

"That it's time to face up to my fears."

(Four days ago, after the funeral)

"Home sweet home," Marlene muttered, rolling her eyes as they advanced on the intimidating house which seemed to be cloaked in shadows.

"Now Marlene," Aunt Mathilda said sternly, "Behave or you'll get the paddle."

"I'm not five!" she snapped.

Mathilda ignored her and practically dragged the unwilling siblings inside, locking and bolting the heavy mahogany doors behind them all as Uncle Algernon took their coats, passed them to the waiting house elf and escorted them into the gloomy sitting room.

Once they were all together, Josh was sent to his room immediately and instructed to stay there while the adults had a /little talk/ with Marlene. She gulped, knowing full well what that meant - they were going to hit her for what she had done at the funeral. Josh left reluctantly, the sound of footsteps creaking up the staircase as he followed another house elf to his room at the other end of the house.

As soon as the footsteps had faded, Mathilda and Algernon turned to Marlene with stern expressions and she licked her lips nervously.

"Now, Marlene," her aunt began coldly, "Your parents may have been far more lenient about how a young lady of your class should act, but we will most certainly be re-educating you."

"Starting with who you associate with," Algernon added, "Purebloods, definitely, half bloods, if you must, Mudbloods - not a chance."

"One, they're /Muggleborns/ not Mudbloods, and two, Lily and Mary are Muggleborns, Uncle, I'm not abandoning them."

He slapped her harshly, "You can and you will. While you're in my household you will obey my rules."

"They're my best friends," she protested, cheeks turning red from anger and the slap.

"I don't really care," he said, nose in the air, "As far as I'm concerned, they're filth."

(Two days since the funeral)

The clinking and chiming of the cutlery sounded through the spacious dining room as a typical over-prepared Pureblood party took place. There were a few families in attendance, including the McKinnons (compromised of Marlene and Josh), the Malfoys and, of course, the extended Avery family. There was the occasional burst of small talk before silence descended again, leaving Marlene uncomfortable and panicking as she caught the youngest Avery staring intently at her.

Eventually the meal was finished and she tried to escape to her room, but Aunt Mathilda grabbed her by her wrist so tightly it was sure to leave bruises and half dragged her back into the sitting room.

"Now, /behave/," she hissed into Marlene's ear as she plastered a smile on her face.

More small talk, and the hours dragged on as Marlene nearly fell asleep , only to be jolted into concentration by the mention of her name.

"Yes, we're just starting to think of that for Marlene," her aunt chirped with false excitement.

"Think of what?" Marlene interrupted, earning a glare from Mathilda.

"Marriage!" Lucille Malfoy said with a sickly smile, "We're considering some girls for our Lucius at the moment but-"

Marlene let out a loud peal of laughter and stared at them, "You are joking, right?"

"Marlene," Algernon said warningly from where he was talking to a few other of the men, "Behave."

"I'm not joking, Marlene, you're of age soon and you're not even betrothed. What /were/ your parents thinking?!"

Marlene stood up shaking, "You can't marry me off!"

Her aunt looked put out, but her face set, "Sit down /now/! Of course we can, we're your legal guardians."

"No! No, no, no, you can't do this!" Marlene yelled, taking a step forward.

Plenty of heads were turning to stare at the outcry and Mathilda was bright red. Her uncle looked murderous, her aunt completely humiliated. A palm flew out of nowhere and struck her right across her cheek, which was already bruised from previous punishments, just covered by cleverly applied make-up. Wincing, she stepped backwards, head reeling.

"You can't make me do anything!"

"I can and I will if I have to," Algernon growled, grabbing her arm and twisting subtly so other people couldn't tell, enjoying the muffled whine of pain from his niece.

"Now go quietly to your room before you embarrass yourself and us even more. NOW."

She held her head high as she stormed out, ignoring all the stairs she was getting. Upstairs, which was almost silent at the other end of the house, she leaned against a wall and rubbed her wrists.

Suddenly, footsteps thudded up the stairs and she turned towards the sound and trembled as she realised who it was.

Avery.

"McKinnon, aren't you meant to be in your room!" he leered, stopping just in front of her.

"Yes," she said stubbornly, "But clearly I didn't go."

"Shame, really..."

"What do you mean?" Marlene asked warily, butterflies starting to flop in her stomach. But not nice butterflies, the colourful ones you get from kissing someone you love, or getting a compliment. She got the black, depressing kind of butterfly when you're scared and you can't do anything to help yourself.

"Well, in the bedroom people can't hear you yelling," Avery sneered, and Marlene wiggled to get free as he clamped her against the wall.

Not again, she was pleading, there was no Sirius to save her this time. Please, she was silently begging, please no. Flailing her legs, she kicked him hard in the shin and he grunted but didn't move.

"Get the /hell/ away from my big sister," Josh's voice rang out, cold and clear in the dim light of the empty corridor. Luckily it proved enough of a distraction, and enabled Marlene to kick him hard between the legs and he doubled over, groaning in pain.

"Thanks, Josh," Marlene sighed, relieved.

"No problem, sis," he smiled as he stunned Avery before the brute recovered, and the pair escaped into the cool quietness of the garden, leaving the unconscious boy on the floor to wake up later.

(Present, four days after the funeral)

Finally the wearisome journey home was over, and the gang had split off to return to their own parents and homes, Sirius once again at the Potters'. Almost as soon as they got in and put their luggage down, a house elf called Bernie hurried up to James carrying a large pile of parchment which the boys quickly identified as unopened letters.

"These came, sir, they is addressed to a Marlene McKinnon but arrived here," Bernie said, bowing as he extended his arms to give them to James.

James rolled his eyes, "There's no need to call me sir, James will do."

"Yes s-James!"

"They're addressed to Marlene?" Sirius asked with a frown.

"Yes, sir, all of thems," Bernie supplied, trying to be helpful.

Sirius and James exchanged a look: why had all their letters to Marlene come back untouched, what was wrong?

"Thank you, Bernie, we appreciate you looking after them," James smiled, but the smile looked forced.

"What do you think is happening?" James muttered, turning to Sirius.

"I don't know, but it doesn't bode well..."

(One day later)

Yet another Pureblood get together to endure had come around, this time at the Malfoy's home estate. Marlene was dreading it: her aunt was still insisting on an arranged marriage, and she was getting desperate. They had decided that if - when - it went ahead, it would be to the young Avery, as he was Algernon's nephew, and Marlene's aunt's nephew by marriage. Unluckily, he was the only male Pureblood Marlene had serious qualms about. Even Lucius Malfoy would be better than him, Marlene admitted grudgingly, feeling completely and utterly trapped.

She had been unwillingly stuffed into a hideous, flouncy dress with hair put up uncomfortably tight and instructed to be on her best behaviour (not that she ever listened). Unfortunately for the adults, Marlene didn't appreciate being told what to do. After the stifling conversations at dinner, all the guests had trickled into the glamorous ballroom and partnered off to dance until it was time to depart. Because she didn't want to get locked in her room again, Marlene didn't verbally protest when she was made to dance with Avery, although she kept as far away from him as possible while they were actually dancing.

His hands on her waist brought back the memories she had tried to bury deep down and she shivered, turning her head so she wouldn't have to see Avery smirking cruelly at her, just waiting for revenge on her and Josh for the last time he had seen them.

Looking around the ballroom for anyone she might be able to cling to for safety, her eyes met with some incredibly familiar-looking grey ones and she gasped out loud. Why was /he/ here?!

A few songs later, she slipped away with the excuse of needing the toilet and she pushed hurriedly through the crowd. It was a reckless thing to do, but Marlene didn't care. If he was here, he could save her. She would be saved.

Eventually, after many glares from posh-looking ladies as she pushed last them, Marlene reached the spot where she had seen those unflinching grey eyes. He /had/ to be here!

"Sirius?" she whimpered, looking around, her blonde curls that had worked loose from the fierce hairstyle splaying out at the movement.

A cough from the shadows. He stepped into the light, face apologetic, "I'm sorry, McKinnon, Sirius, ah... Sirius isn't here."

Regulus, not Sirius.

Marlene's expression dropped, the spark of hope that had been lit petering out before it got a chance to consume her. It died back down, leaving her even more desperate and depressed than before.

"Why not? Is he at James' today?"

"He hasn't been home for almost six months now," Regulus explained, looking almost /sad/, "Sirius left home over the summer holidays."

"Oh..."

"Yeah, it was a shock to me as well, and I was there," he said, almost managing a joke.

She sighed and bit her lip, "So no chance of him helping me?"

"Helping you, what do you mean?"

Marlene was wary, "I'm trapped, a prisoner. But why are you being nice? After the things you said to me at school, I shouldn't trust you."

He rolled his eyes, all too similar to Sirius', and laughed coolly, "Really McKinnon? I had to put up some sort of façade, some sort of mask. I had to pretend that I hated you, that I hated Sirius."

"Then why are you being civil to me now?!"

"We're at a Pureblood party, everything is meant to be perfect. Trust me, McKinnon, although I'm not about to follow Sirius' example and run off, I'm not a Death Eater either."

Marlene had to trust him if she wanted information and she folded her arms, "Fine, where is he then, why did he leave?"

"He's at the Potters', I assume, that's why they're not here. And he left because Father tried to use an Unforgivable on him," Regulus said calmly.

"What?!" Marlene spluttered, aghast.

"You heard me," he said sighing, "He just got his stuff and left."

The realisation hit Marlene that while she might think she knew Sirius well, compared to some people like Regulus or James, she knew nothing. She'd only encountered one side of him, and it would be a long time yet before she learned all about his past.

Three days into the Christmas holidays, on the 19th December, as the sky was fading to purple and the skyline melted into indistinguishable shadowed and blurs, Mr and Mrs Potter called a family meeting. Well, family and friends, really. Their whole household, which for Christmas included Remus, Peter, Mary and Lily as well as James and Sirius, gathered in the front room and settled into seats and armchairs silently, picking up on the tense, anxious atmosphere emanating off the two serious looking adults.

"Sorry to interrupt whatever it was you lot were doing," Mrs Potter said slowly, "But we're just a little concerned."

Mr Potter smiled wryly at his wife and continued, "We may be old, but we're not senile just yet. Marlene was supposed to arrive yesterday and she isn't here. If you - and I'm mainly looking at my son here - know anything..."

James and Sirius exchanged a quick look and Sirius replied careful: "We've tried to get in touch, but all the letters have been sent back unopened..."

"What?!" Lily demanded, "James you didn't mention that!"

He looked a bit sheepish, "Sorry Evans."

She snorted indignantly but turned back to James' parents, "What's wrong then? Do you know?"

"We don't, and there's not an awful lot we /can/ do, we haven't got any evidence of anything," Mr Potter explained grimly.

"So you're saying there's nothing we can do?" Sirius growled, "Well that's just fucking great, isn't it? Marlene is there, probably hurting and alone and you're saying there's nothing we can do?"

He glared at them all before storming out, the door shaking on its hinges as he slammed it shut behind him.

The slap before at the party was nothing compared to this, Marlene thought as she was struck hard on the head, and fell backwards against the wall.

"I hope this teaches you girl, you don't disobey us," Algernon snarled, stepping back from his terrified niece, "You will marry the Avery boy, you will like it, and you will stop telling stupid little stories about him hurting you. Do you hear me?"

Now he had seen enough, the slight figure watching from the crack in the door slipped away silently and returned to its room. Seizing a piece of paper in his trembling, sweating palms, he grabbed a quill from his desk and wrote a quick note in his shaking handwriting. Another note followed, and both went into separate envelopes as he called out of his window for an owl. It landed almost immediately and he tied the two thick, ivory-coloured envelopes to the birds wiry leg.

"Send both of these to Regulus Black, do you understand me! Give him the left one first."

The tawny owl pecked his hand in acknowledgment and he pushed the lattice window further open to allow the bird to take off. Spreading its wings majestically, it took off in an explosion of speed and hidden power, the evening wind lightly ruffling the bronze feathers.

He had no idea if the younger Black would help, but having overheard Regulus' conversation with Marlene at the ball, he was confident that he would. Josh McKinnon was no Gryffindor, and he had never wanted to be, but now he knew - sometimes, being brave, doing the right thing, was the only way you could help yourself. He watched the owl until it was just another dot on the distant horizon before he secured the window and crawled into bed, a glimmer of hope burning inside of him and refusing to be extinguished.

There, all done! Did you catch the Yogscast reference? Brownie Points to you if you did. Remember, read and reviewwwww? *flutters eyelashes at you all*