Chapter 27 - Calm Before the Storm
Come away little light,
Come away to the darkness,
In the shade of the night we'll come looking for you
- Come Away to the Water, Maroon 5
The room was filled with the sounds of their panting and scattered clothes, tangled bedsheets around heavy limbs and heaving chests; it was quiet apart from their ragged breaths and she buried her face into the pillows as he slid his arms around her waist and pulled her closer.
Marlene sighed slightly, but whether it was from pleasure or regret, Sirius couldn't tell. Sitting up, she extracted her legs from the covers and paused on the edge of the bed, facing away from him. He watched her through half closed eyes.
"You don't need to go, Mar," he said quietly and although it wasn't loud, his words shattered the peace in the room, the outside world rushing back in on them.
"I'm not," she promised, grabbing his top and boxers, pulling the t-shirt on herself and passing the underwear to him.
Sirius put them on and tugged her back down to lie next to him. She let out another small sigh and Sirius frowned.
"Lene?"
"Yeah?" she mumbled.
"What's wrong?" Sirius said softly. .
"Nothing."
"Bullshit. You can tell me, you know?"
"I would, if anything was wrong," Marlene said stubbornly.
Sirius let out a huff but kept his arms around her, lips pressed to her neck.
Silently, Marlene closed her eyes and relaxed slightly. It wasn't his fault that she couldn't shake Emmeline's words and she hated lying here worrying; however, telling him would only anger him and make it worse.
'And now what are you? The girl he shags because it's easy.'
Curling up tighter, Marlene gulped and moved closer to him like his presence could stop the depressing thoughts.
"Hey," Sirius said gently, "Hey, what is it? Come on, Lene…"
"Nothing," she repeated but she knew the game was up.
Sirius rested his hand on her waist and rubbed little circles on her bare hip.
"Is this about Emmeline?" he guessed, whispering in her ear and making her shiver.
She remained quiet.
"Marlene," he sighed, knowing from her silence that he'd guessed correctly, "I've already told you that you don't need to worry about that."
"That doesn't make a difference, I am worrying," she muttered darkly.
He chuckled slightly and kissed her neck, making her squirm. "Don't. I'm not going near that girl if she paid me."
Marlene made a small noise and rolled over to face him.
"Seriously, I seem to have this thing for small blondes with freckles and blue eyes and lots of sass. I don't really go for bitchy brunettes with mean streaks."
She gave him a look.
"What! Take it as a compliment!"
"I'm not that small," Marlene pouted, the corners of her mouths curling up into a reluctant smile.
"You're 5'4, McKinnon."
She punched his arm lightly and he chuckled under his breath.
"You have to be nice to me or I can hex you, James said so."
"Go to sleep, Marlene," Sirius snorted.
She huffed but rolled back over and settled against him, closing her eyes. "Night, Sirius."
"Goodnight," he smiled, watching her chest rise and fall peacefully.
He knew he should be able to dissuade need concerned with more than a compliment and a promise, there should be something real there, something solid she could see and believe in. Merlin knew Marlene needed something secure in the middle of everything that was happening to her but he didn't know if he could give her that. Something about the idea of having a girlfriend, even if it was Marlene, made him want to run a mile screaming.
Sleeping soundly, Marlene rolled closer and made a small noise of contentment as the door opened and James poked his head around the door.
"Are you to decent?" James asked teasingly, slipping inside and padding over to Sirius' bed.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "She's asleep, shush."
"Sorry, Mr Protective-Boyfriend," his friend smirked.
Already conscious of that problem, Sirius scowled and interjected quickly, "I'm not her boyfriend."
"Sure, maybe you haven't said it to each other yet but you might as well be! I know you don't like the idea – and I know why – but you're doing everything a boyfriend does just without the title!"
"I am not! I like her, sure, but there's no way we're ever going to date," Sirius muttered.
James fell silent and raised an eyebrow. "Does Marlene know that?"
"She should, I'm Sirius Black."
"And she's Marlene McKinnon! You don't get to lead her on for months, intentionally or not. Tell her straight or I will, Padfoot," James warned.
Angry at the implication that he was only messing with her, that it wasn't serious, Sirius glared and lay back down, pulling Marlene closer to him possessively. James glanced fondly at the blonde and sighed as she snuggled up to Sirius.
"I mean it, Sirius, don't hurt her. I love you both and we've argued enough this year already."
No reply.
"Is everything ready, Snape? You said it would take a week - it's been nearly a month now," Avery said pointedly, fixing his eyes on the sullen boy. "And you know the Dark Lord won't be happy to hear of the delay…"
At the implied threat, Snape moved his gaze from the view of the Black Lake through the windows to the seventh year sat opposite to him. "The time delay only occurred because someone bungled getting me the acromantula venom from the dealer," he replied coolly, not flinching as the boy's eyes flashed dangerously.
"Careful of what you're saying, Snape. Is it ready?"
"Of course," Severus said slowly, the sinister words penetrating the coldness in the room, "I have three vials, two for later use or back up."
"The rest?"
"Gone. There's no trace of it in the cauldron and the only ingredients I borrowed from Slughorn were ones used in legal potions. The idiot just thinks I'm practising."
Avery seemed pleased with the thoroughness of Snape's covering of their tracks.
"Good. He will be pleased. Who did we select again?"
The dark haired boy on the end of the worn, black leather sofa looked up from his book, handsome features impassive. "Nina Melville," he toned, sounding incredibly bored. "Third year, always sitting in the Library near me. She seems unimportant enough to not risk angering anyone important."
"I still say McKinnon. The Dark Lord might want a hand finishing off the family," Avery chuckled darkly.
"You only say her because you want to fuck her then break her," Regulus said, used to Avery's raving about her. "And we agreed no one too well known. The whole school would fly off the hook if we got rid of her."
"And you only say that because of your brother," he retorted angrily despite realising the younger boy was right. "Who's in charge here, Black?"
"You."
"Correct, so shut up. How are we getting the Mudblood the potion? It needs to be public."
Regulus stopped reading for a moment, marking his page and setting the dark, leather bound book down to listen.
"Mulciber owled me and suggested her goblet the Great Hall."
"How are we going to get it in there? I mean, we're hardly the Marauders when it comes to sneaking around," Snape said bitterly.
"I believe you're familiar with Levitating Charms, Snape, now you mention the Marauders," Avery said angrily.
Something flickered in Snape's eyes.
"Charm the vial invisible, fly it across to her before tipping it in and watch her scream as her bones break," Avery told them, a violent gleam in his eyes. "When it gets to her neck, she's dead."
Both Regulus and Snape's faces remained blank.
"You'd better have done it right," Regulus muttered, looking around at the deserted and eerily quiet Common Room. Other Slytherins tended to clear out when their groups at down together. The things you overheard weren't pleasant.
"Trust me, it's done right," Snape said calmly and Avery laughed.
"Three days, and then we do it," he decided, standing up. "Three days and then the Mudblood dies."
He turned his back to them, walking away with the confidence of someone who knows they can't be caught.
The remaining two Slytherins exchanged looks but said nothing as the door slid shut and the room was plunged into silence, only the unsettling, flickering light of the murky, emerald water moving in the stillness.
Clearly Merlin or someone else up in the sky had a sense of humour - why else would you bestow four mischievous teenagers with a legendary Invisibility Cloak and the combined abilities to create a magical map for avoiding teachers and vengeful Ravenclaws? There was really no other reason. Or at least they didn't think so. With these possessions in hand, the Marauders made it all the way to the Hufflepuff Common Room, down by the kitchens, completely undetected.
"Wormtail, careful!" James breathed as Peter tripped over a loose slab and nearly pulled all four boys over with him.
"Sorry! The Cloak is too small!" he squeaked, grabbing Sirius' arm for support.
Sirius just laughed, steadied his shorter friend and shook him off as they arrived.
"Now, is this spell a Moony spell or a spell we could all do?"
Remus shrugged. "It's not complicated, but even if it was I'm sure you could do it."
"Alright, I'll keep an eye on the map, Pete and Moony can do the charms and shit while Sirius keeps us quiet," James grinned, eyes sparkling, "The Marauders are back in action!"
"Will this hurt anyone?" Peter checked and Sirius chuckled.
"No, no, they'll just find themselves stuck out here with more glitter than they have ever wanted," Remus winked, getting out his wand. "First one's 'munus absterget', Peter, if you want to start while I check the others?"
Peter raised his chestnut wand and practised quickly as Sirius lazily worked on casting basic protection charms around the area so no Hufflepuffs could hear them and interrupt; eyes glued to the parchment, James grinned as he scanned the surrounding corridors and the Common Room in question. They hadn't pulled an organised prank in what felt like ages but the light hearted nature of it was something everyone needed, especially after the make up.
"Someone's coming, pause" James warned as the name plate reached the end of the corridor and turned.
"Name?"
"Nina, she's a third year, right?"
Remus laughed. "Sirius, undo the spells, Nina won't tell. In fact, she might even help. I tutored her last year!"
Sirius waved his wand and dropped the enchantments, making them visible to the brunette carrying her school bag.
She stopped and, on recognising them, sighed. "oh dear..."
James grinned mischievously.
"Nope, I don't want to know. Hey Remus," she said warmly, "How are you?"
"Good, thanks. I've got a favour to-"
"Oh no, I am not being a test subject, Lupin!" she laughed.
"No, of course not, just make sure no one leaves in the next ten minutes?" he asked politely.
Snorting, she shook her head and played with the end of her long ponytail. "Sure, as long as you can make me an exception to whatever evil scheme you have that involves our door."
"You mean, you don't love glitter?!" Sirius gasped and she giggled.
"Sure," James nodded, grinning, "Deal."
Peter laughed too and twirled his wand around like Sirius used to do, dropping it and then scrambling to pick it up again. She stuck her pale hand out and Remus shook it, winking.
"Have a nice evening," Sirius smirked as she hoisted her bag up her shoulder and tapped the barrel quickly.
"See you around, Remus!" she said cheerily before crawling through the tunnel to her Common Room, humming slightly.
"Lovely kid," Remus chuckled once she'd gone.
"Eh, for a Puff, sure," Sirius teased, "Let's get a move on, curfew's coming up!"
Peter and Remus returned to casting the spells, working in an extra one to make her repel the glitter as James and Sirius leaned against the wall, watching.
"So, Prongs," he grinned, "How are things?"
"Not bad, Paddy, not bad. Detention's a bitch though."
"Tell me about it."
"What about Marlene?" James pressed.
"James..."
"Come on, Sirius, you know I'm right," he sighed, "You can't do this to her."
"No," he smirked, "I only do one thing to her."
With a reluctant groan, James laughed and rolled his eyes. "Tosser."
"You love it."
"Look, you're both adults and stuff, I'm just expressing my intense dislike for the... situation," he sighed, still smiling because he could never stay mad for long.
"Finished!" Peter cried triumphantly as, when Remus entered the right password, the barrels tipped up to rain tonnes of previously hidden glitter down onto him as he stood there, looking bemused.
"I'm going to be finding glitter in my ears for years to come, why did I have to test it?" Remus whined.
They all laughed and James ruffled his friend's hair, sending the gold and black glitter flying. Vanishing the debris with a slow flick of his wand, Sirius nudged Peter and grinned.
"House colours, nice touch, Wormy," he grinned.
Peter beamed back proudly. "I thought so. Now, are we getting out of here?"
"Hell yeah. I need an early night if we have to face detention with Snape tomorrow," James groaned.
Sirius wrinkled his nose up. "Oh joy."
"It's only an hour, though, and with McGonagall around he can't do anything, can he?" Peter pointed out as they all huddled back under the Invisibility Cloak.
"Fair point," James relented as they began to walk.
half way along, Sirius, who was usually very coordinated, tripped over nothing - or seemingly nothing - and yelled loudly as he tumbled to the floor, dragging the other three down with him.
"Sirius" James hissed, "Quiet"
"I'm dying! Remus - Remus, you little -"
"Can't prove anything!" he said innocently as Peter sniggered.
"Peter, if it turns out it was you I am going to write to your mother and-"
"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Filch roared triumphantly as the Marauders swore violently and scrambled to their feet.
"If we get another set of deten-"
"Sirius, shut up and run!" Remus laughed breathlessly as they pounded down the hallways towards Gryffindor Tower and safety.
All Filch saw when he finally reached their original spot was a sprinkle of cheery yellow glitter and the sound of raucous laughter echoing long after they had gone.
"Take a seat quietly and wait for Mr Snape to arrive, boys," Professor McGonagall said as she sat down at her desk and regarded them carefully.
The Marauders traipsed in and sat down in the corner of the classroom slowly, huffing. After a few minutes of quiet, the only noise being the Professor's quill scratching on the parchment in front of her, the door to the Transfiguration classroom creaked open and Snape walked in.
"Just in time," she said dryly. "Now, this hour will be spent helping to clean one of the old offices ready for the new teacher's arrival next year - without magic."
All five boys groaned as she summoned their wands from them and locked them in the top drawer of her desk.
"Follow me, please."
Scraping their chairs back, they trudged out and down to the dusty room around the corner. The walls were draped in cobwebs and a thick layer of dust covered every surface. Sirius and James, who had previously thought they had seen the worst Hogwarts had to offer, looked horrified.
"Are you kidding?!" James exclaimed and even Snape showed signs of disgust and he was very used to sub-standard living conditions.
"Yes, Potter, this was all an elaborate scheme and now you can leave," McGonagall said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "You will be working in this room for the duration of your detentions and you will work together.
Snape scoffed but was silenced by a sharp look from the old professor, her eyes blazing.
"You will find all the cleaning equipment behind the desk. You may begin."
"The only think that will be hard to clean in here is Snivellus' hair," Sirius whispered in Peter's ear and the shorter boy sniggered.
I heard that, Black," Snape hissed.
"Boys..." McGonagall warned.
James rolled his eyes and dished out the sponges, buckets of soapy water and dusters. Peter, who had a dust allergy, took the soapy water for the floor on the condition that Sirius would sweep the dust away first. Grumbling to himself, Snape took a feather duster and began removing the copious amounts of cobwebs. They worked in silence for about 15 minutes before McGonagall next spoke.
"Can I trust you to behave for ten minutes? I have other business to attend to," she said, giving the five boys stern looks as they looked up at her from their jobs.
They nodded, exchanging little looks of surprise that she'd actually consider it.
she moved swiftly from the room after one last warning glare, the door clicking shut and locking behind her. It was silent apart from the ticking of the ancient, dark oak clock on the far wall.
"So... You're taking your time to come up with the insults?" Snape mocked, turning away to continue his task.
James gave Sirius a look but the dark haired boy merely rolled his eyes and continued sweeping too.
"What, given up?" Snape jeered, leaning against the wall.
"No, we just don't want to sink to your level," James said politely.
Snape laughed. "Oh, Potter, how little you know," he crowed.
Perking his ears up, Remus turned around and raised an eyebrow - his instincts was telling him something wasn't quite right. "What don't we know?"
Snape just laughed. "Why would I tell you?"
"Because you wouldn't have brought it up if you didn't want us to ask," Sirius said bluntly, rolling his eyes.
All four Marauders were now facing Severus and he smirked cruelly.
"Well not this time. I'm just saying... keep an eye on your Mudblood friends," he said, fully expecting to elicit a violent response from Sirius. When none of them so much as flinched, his sneer dropped slightly. "I'm just saying, Potter, watch out."
James scoffed at his intentionally cryptic comments and just started cleaning again. The other marauders followed his lead, dispersing back to do their various tasks, leaving Snape confused and itching for a fight. When Professor McGonagall returned a few minutes later, she was amazed to discover them all working industriously with no slipped blood or the crackle of tension in the air,
"Well I must admit I was expecting a dead body or full scale war," Minerva said, sitting down at the now spotlessly polished mahogany desk.
Sirius smirked privately.
"You have another half an hour, however, please continue."
By the time the hour hand hit nine, the old clock whirring and chiming, the detentionees straightened up, backs cracking. The room was starting to look less like a medieval torture chamber (which was Peter's theory as to what it had previously been used for) and more like a useable office.
The transfiguration teacher was admittedly impressed with their behaviour and work. "Well, boys, you've actually done a good job," she said, standing up and tucking the marking she'd been doing under her arm, "Same time, same place when you come next week."
She handed out their wands and unlocked the old oak door, holding it open for them.
"Now stay out of trouble," she added, with a smile specifically for the Marauders.
They grinned and watched Snape hurry away, presumably back to the dungeons and the Slytherin Common Room.
"Bye, Professor," Rmus smiled and waved as they made their way out, them turning left and she turning right.
"Goodbye, Remus," she said, with a hint of fondness in her voice and watched as they teased him and headed back towards Gryffindor Tower.
"Teachers Pet," Peter sniggered as ducked away from Remus' light hearted shove.
Dusty books and the 'NO LOUD NOISES!' rule aside, Marlene decided she rather liked hanging out in the Library. Her and Lily had agreed to meet Remus and study, taking it in turns to help the others with their strongest subjects in exchange for help in their weakest: Lily was in charge of Potions, Remus on Charms and Marlene was on DADA duty.
They'd been going for about an hour when Remus paused in his explanation of the Aguamenti Charm to frown at Lily who wasn't paying attention and was staring at someone across the room.
"Lily?" he asked, looking slightly amused.
"Lils?" Marlene frowned, looking around until she spotted who had caught her attention. "Oh, Lily, he's not worth your-"
"Shh, I'm trying to listen in," Lily said, putting a hand over her friend's mouth.
Severus Snape was sitting at a table behind a group of younger Hufflepuffs, talking in a low voice but who he was with was impossible to tell as they were hidden behind a tall bookshelf.
With a sigh, she shook her head and picked her green quill back up. "No, I can't hear a thing," she sighed, frustrated.
"Why did you want to hear what he was saying anyway?" Remus asked curiously.
"Because they've been all too quiet, and I know Snape, he'll want revenge on you all for last full moon," she said, dropping her volume and pushing her thick hair off her face agitatedly, only to have it immediately fall back down again.
"Lily, it's okay, we kind of know what he's doing and it's under control," Remus smiled.
She sent him a concerned look but Marlene poked her.
"Come on, this is the Marauders! What could Snape and his bunch of losers possibly do?"
"At least someone has some faith in us," Remus joked.
Lily rolled her eyes and smiled slightly. "Sure, you've got a point. Sorry l dragged you off topic, shall we continue?"
They both agreed to drop the subject and move on to Potions
"So, the feeling behind the potion is far more important than how you make it, so to speak. In a similar way to a lot of wand work you do, you have to want it to work," Lily explained, "This is your problem, Marls, and yours to a certain extent, Remus."
Marlene tilted her head to one side and frowned slightly, eyebrows creasing. "So you're saying don't follow the instructions?"
"No! Merlin, no!" Lily laughed, "Let me think of an example... You know the Patronus charm?"
They both nodded.
"You've got to invest yourself in it, put your happy memories into it, through your wad. The same is true of potions! If you want your potion to work you need to want it to. For instance, if you got... Snape and... James Potter to make the same poison to kill someone. James' would be useless because there's no malicious intent there - it just wouldn't do anything whereas Snape's would no doubt be a horrible poison. do you see?"
Looking very serious and innocent, Remus leaned forwards and rested his chin in his hand, elbow on the desk. "Do you think about James a lot then?"
She gave him a look but even a passer-by could have seen the rosy tiny that was now spreading across her cheeks. Marlene snorted with laughter and winked at Remus who looked smug.
"That - that is not what I meant!" Lily gaped, staring at them both indignantly.
"Sure? That's what it sounded like..." Marlene teased, grinning.
"Same, Marlene, it sounded an awful lot like-"
"I only used him because he'd never make a poison to kill people and my mind was already on Snape and you boys," she interrupted hastily, "Don't turn this into something it isn't!"
They were both too busy sniggering to listen to her explanation.
"Alright then, seeing as you clearly don't care about potions, Marlene's the one with a love life to gossip about!" she sighed, not really mad at them.
Marlene swallowed another snort and looked up at her in amusement. "Love life? Lily, I don't have a love life, I have a sex life."
Remus smirked. "We know."
Lily, on the other hand, looked far from amused. "You mean, you don't do anything apart from sleep with each other?"
Shrugging, Marlene got out her Potions book for something to do, their lack of romance still a sore spot after Emmeline's remarks earlier that week.
"Why would we do anything else?" Marlene retorted lightly.
"Because you both really like each other!"
Marlene put on a small smirk and leaned in confidentially. "No, we really like the sex."
Remus pulled a face and Lily groaned, rolling her eyes.
"That's gross," he chuckled.
"No, it's great!" Marlene smiled, "Shall we do some more Potions now?"
Sensing that the conversation was over, Lily sighed to herself and nodded. "Sure, then it's your turn, right?"
Marlene smiled and nodded back as Lily glanced down at her plan and began another explanation, this time on how precise you needed to be when preparing ingredients.
After a while, Marlene became hyper aware of the feeling that someone was staring at her.
"Remus?" she asked lightly, keeping her expression neutral.
Lily looked slightly offended that she'd been interrupted again but her friend didn't care - she was starting to feel very creeped out.
"Sorry, Lily, I'm just worried... Is someone looking at me? Don't be obvious, please..." she mumbled, "I can just feel it on my neck."
They both slowly looked around, Lily continuing talking about potions as a cover until Remus nodded slowly.
"Who?" Marlene asked, eyes fixed on her book.
Remus looked across at Lily. "Avery."
Worried, Marlene chewed on her bottom lip. "And why do you think he's looking?"
"He looks... smug..." Remus said reluctantly.
"Snape keeps looking over too," Lily added quietly, shutting her book. "Maybe we should leave."
Marlene turned in her seat, not meeting his eyes just 'casually' scanning the Library. "There's a few more that I recognise too," she told them nervously. "I don't like it. I don't like him."
They all knew who she meant.
"Can we finish this up in the Common Room please?" she asked, voice getting a higher as she began to freak out.
Everywhere she looked she seemed to see him, smirking knowingly at her, sending her looks that made her want to run.
"Sure!" Lily smiled reassuringly at her and began packing her things away calmly.
Marlene wasn't so put together and her hands were starting to shake. In her panic she dropped a book and swore she heard a low chuckle, mocking her.
Once all three Gryffindors were ready, they ambled towards the door slowly to avoid attracting any more unwanted attention. Suddenly, thin fingers wrapped around Marlene's wrist and she looked down, jumping slightly in fear. She relaxed when she saw it was only Regulus but his expression didn't do much for the dread bubbling inside her for it was blank and emotionless.
"Reg-?"
He cut her off sharply by squeezing her wrist and opening up her fingers, pressing a folded piece of parchment into her sweaty palm before dropping her hand and looking down at his work like nothing had happened. he checked he was still had a line of sight to the small, brown haired girl across the room but did nothing more.
Spooked, Remus and Lily pulled her away in case they were still being watched and Marlene followed quickly.
Only once they were well away from the Library did they stop. Marlene unclenched her fist and unfolded the crushed paper. The other two leaned over to red it too because what else could it be apart from a note?"
"They have a plan," she read in a trembling voice. "Be careful."
So thank you to everyone who's stuck around for the two months that it took me to get this chapter out. Many apologies! Still, I think this chapter is a really good one, personally, and I'm also looking to re-write some of the older chapters now my characterisation and general writing ability has improved but that might take a while haha.
Disclaimer before I forget: I only created the crazy plot and various OCs, not the characters or the setting - they're property of the lovely JK Rowling!
Reviews are life ;)
- PIAM