Unlikely Allies,Chapter 31,
The next day at breakfast things got weird right away. This had nothing to do with the fact that the meal was being had at nearly three in the afternoon because they'd all slept in due to being up all night Drunken Dueling. It was weird because of the cautious way in which Rodolphus regarded Marlene across the table as they ate. She glanced down at herself more than once just to make certain she was completely dressed. Fortunately no hole was torn in the front of her robe to expose her chest or anything. Eventually she turned to Rabastan. "Is there something on my face," she whispered, leaning close to his ear as she did.
Grinning he took her chin into his hand and carefully scrutinized her face. She found herself shivering pleasantly at the touch of his fingers, and her eyes briefly fluttered closed. "It looks perfectly clean to me," he said, then leaned to lightly brush his lips across hers.
"Great," she said, smiling at him in a way that she knew just had to look soft and simpering, because it was how she was bloody feeling inside! Probably not a good thing, but what could she do? Not much at present so she went with it as she seemed to enjoy doing when in the company of these particular humans. Turning to Rod she demanded, "What is it?"
"What? Nothing. What are you talking about?" Rod was clearly uneasy. What the hell?!
"What," Marlene demanded again, this time turning to Bellatrix for answers. The other woman shrugged, flicking her wand at the coffee pot to refill her cup. "Sorry I was nursing my hangover and not caring. What are we talking about?"
"I don't know," Marlene huffed. "Rodolphus is staring at me as if I may be some three headed creature or something. One that may begin breathing fire at all of you, perhaps."
"I didn't say all that, but you may be a bit terrifying." As Rodolphus spoke, a tiny smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
Marlene gaped in shock. Her terrifying? "You're joking."
"Not at all," Rodolphus said firmly.
"But why?"
"You were ready to Drunken Duel again last night after what happened? That is psychotic!"
Marlene choked on her orange-pumpkin juice. "*You* are calling *me* psychotic? You with that scary blank stare that I bet you literally practice in the mirror are calling me psychotic?"
"Yep," Rodolphus said shamelessly. "You were tough and didn't cry. You did not lose face, pardon the pun, so you were good. We didn't think any less of you. You could've been done for the evening with no shame, but, no! You had to push it further."
"And you wouldn't have," she demanded.
"Sure I would've, but I'm psychotic, remember?"
Marlene laughed, shaking her head. "So I felt I had to keep up with you lot, and I knew I could. Why does that make me psychotic?"
"Because you don't generally hold the same values that we do. You may tolerate them and even try to understand, which makes us accept you, but you don't hold them for yourself. Therefore, it isn't normal," Rodolphus explained simply. "You are scary."
Marlene shrugged. "Well if you're scared of me, I will take that as a compliment."
"It definitely makes you one of us in your way," Bellatrix said, giving her an approving smile.
"That is true," Rodolphus added. "And properly worthy of Rabastan."
Those words caused Marlene's stomach to flutter as well as to knot and drop all at once. While the compliment made her happy the implication was concerning. Rabastan would be away playing dead for a long time, until James and Lily's kid managed to kill Voldemort, so how could they truly have a future? She really liked these people and liked who she was with them, but perhaps she allowed herself to be this because she knew it couldn't last. Was that true? Perhaps it was why she'd let herself start anything with Rabastan. That and the high stress situation in which they found themselves. When one's literal life was on the line, the concept of stress took on an entirely different meaning and went to a new level that most people couldn't even imagine.
Perhaps that was why she felt so uncomfortable about the possibility of her school friends judging her. Then again what if there was more to it than that? With her school friends, she was one aspect of herself, but with the Lestranges, she found many more sides to Marlene McKinnon and they appreciated all of them. She could tell them anything and be accepted, and that was really special. Of course they were older and more interesting than anyone else she hung with if she was being frankly honest. She sighed, silently deciding that she was done thinking about complex inner crazy madness for the moment. She was just going to focus on breakfast, then see what else the day held. Just as her mind was settling back into the rhythm of normality, a realization struck Marlene and she let out a little shriek. "We were supposed to meet Dumbledore and somehow completely forgot! How could we forget?" How could *she* forget, when she'd started all this in the first place because of her disturbing visions?
"Normally I'd blame it on the partying lifestyle that we find so necessary, but in this case, I handled it in advance for us," Bellatrix drawled. "I had Kreacher tell Regi's parents that we have decided to solve this by faking our own deaths and moving to France, and they met Dumbledore as planned to let him know. The fewer of us seen in contact with him the better so that we don't draw unwanted attention."
"Oh," Marlene said, sinking back into her chair as she gave a sigh of relief. "That's good then. I still feel rubbish for completely forgetting, though. You lot are definitely becoming a bad influence on me."
Rabastan grinned. "Good."
"What did he say, then," Marlene asked Bellatrix.
"Who? Dumbledore?" Marlene nodded and Bellatrix shrugged. "Nothing I guess. No one has gotten back to me bitching that there is an issue, so I suppose it's just up to us to plan our fake accident and get the move to France done."
"So what's the plan," Rabastan asked.
"I've been thinking and haven't come up with anything satisfactory," Bellatrix grumbled after exchanging a look with Rodolphus. "We don't know enough about stupid Muggle contraptions that could serve to provide an accident that would kill us."
"Oh there are plenty," Marlene said. "I know this even from my limited knowledge of Muggle things. I say limited because if you think I pay attention in Muggle studies, that's a hard no for the most part. The problem, though, is which contraption would it be believable for you lot to actually be in even if it's about attacking Muggles which I assume is the plan." Bellatrix nodded. "A car or airplane could kill seven people easily, but why would you lot be in a car or airplane? That won't seem like you, so it won't work." Bella nodded again, sighing.
"Therein lies the problem," she lamented. "I suppose we could go out tonight and drink about it some more in hopes it causes us to let go enough to get more creative on this thing. It's one reason we took the Merlin's Cap Mushrooms in truth. Sure we enjoy them for fun, but sometimes they can encourage mental processing and thus provide ideas and inspiration. Not so much last night, though, because we still have nothing."
A sudden idea struck Marlene that had her straightening eagerly in her seat. "Lets get a Muggle newspaper while we're out. It's always full of bad things from what I hear, so perhaps one of the bad things that happened in the news can be useful for inspiration," she suggested.
"That's brilliant," Rabastan said. "A perfect Ravenclaw you are!"
"I thought she was a Gryffindor," Bellatrix said, lip curling. "It was her only down side, actually."
"I was nearly a Ravenclaw," Marlene said. She explained why she'd opted out of that house with the okay of the Sorting Hat and Bellatrix shook her head.
"Well most of us do stupid things at that age. That was yours."
"What did you do," Marlene asked, interested.
"I said most people," Bellatrix smirked. "The three of us were near perfect, of course."
"Probably because we never gave a damn what anyone thought," Rodolphus said. "I believe most bad choices boil down to that at such an age."
"There he goes being all wise again," Marlene said. "When there comes time for a leader to step up, best make sure he does it," she told Bellatrix who nodded.
"If Potter's brat is supposed to off The Dark Lord, exactly what the hell is it that you think I'm supposed to lead," Rodolphus snapped, giving Marlene a glare.
"I have no idea. Perhaps something will go down in France with other wizards for all we know. Perhaps it'll happen decades after *he* is dead. I am just saying that you should recognize and value the qualities that you have which make you a leader... in case they're ever needed... because the rest of us don't have those qualities so you should appreciate them."
Rodolphus stared for several seconds, then shrugged and looked away. "Sure, whatever." Times like this, sitting mentally on the edge of knowing things that she did not truly know because of her seer gift, always felt surreal. In that moment, as the uncomfortable silence stretched out, it felt as if the four of them were going to still be together, sitting just like this, when whatever it was finally went down. What that meant for Marlene's own future was something she had to think seriously about and soon because there were choices to make.
