scars || sirius black

59 - 'til death do us part

In the days and weeks that followed Fabian and Gideon's death, the world seemed to have turned on its axis. Nothing felt the same anymore.

Marlene was a mess, grieving her first love and just trying to make it more than an hour before bursting into tears while Molly was emotional but stoic, throwing herself into caring for her new babies.

Emmy tried to help out as much as she could, making dinner and endless cups of tea. Sirius would take the kids outside to play quidditch, little Percy resolutely refusing to go near a broomstick, much to his exasperation. It always made Emmy giggle as she watched the boy argue with a bewildered Sirius, listing all the possible injuries and statistics in a matter-of-fact voice belonging to that of an elderly gentleman rather than a five-year-old.

She kept in touch with Lily who was caring for Marlene in the flat and popped in regularly to check up on them. For the most part, Marlene spent much of the day sitting on the sofa, staring into space. It took a week to get her out of the flat and longer to look them in the eye. She still hadn't spoken to anyone about what she'd seen but from Mad-Eye's harrowing account and the state she'd arrived back in, blood dripping from her fingertips, they knew it had been brutal.

Three weeks to the day since they'd lost the twins, Emmy arrived around lunchtime to see them. Marlene seemed in a brighter mood and she'd even put on a pair of dungarees and a cosy jumper that afternoon, a good change from her pyjamas. She was chopping some vegetables for the soup and talking quietly to Lily as she walked in.

She smiled softly and hugged her tightly.

"How are you doing, Mars?" Emmy asked gently.

"I'm alright, doing better today. Think I might go to see Molly tomorrow, you know? Do you think she'd be okay with that?"

Emmy smiled confidently, "She would love that."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely."

They settled into their easy motions of moving around the kitchen, talking about the small details of their day and baking some cheese scones to go with the soup. Soon enough Alice and Dorcas arrived too and the atmosphere turned into a familiar feeling of contentment.

Lily returned from folding off the laundry and began setting the table for lunch. As they sat down, Emmy paused at the crisp white envelopes sitting on their plates. Lily was sitting across from them with a nervous grin on her face.

"What's this?" Emmy asked with a curious smile.

"So I have something to ask you both seeing as... well..."

Marlene opened her envelope and shrieked out in happiness, throwing her arms around Lily.

Emmy opened hers quickly and gasped, hand raised to her mouth.

"You're getting married!" she cried.

Lily opened her arms and Emmy all but fell into them.

"Will you be my bridesmaids?" she asked, giggling.

"Of course!"

"Oh Merlin, when did this happen?"

"James asked me this morning, we've decided there's no moment like the present, especially after Fabian and Gideon..."

She squeezed Marlene's hand tightly.

"Well we just didn't want to wait any longer. We're trying to organise it for the weekend, maybe Saturday?" she said.

"Saturday!" Marlene yelped. "That's three days away!"

"Well, it will just be small. Probably just our close friends and family."