𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐚 || 𝘳.𝘢.𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

143. marlene and dorcas

"You look gorgeous." The blonde squeals and Maria rolls her eyes. Alyssa is wearing a pale blue play suit with white wedges and she's even wearing a straw hat with a blue ribbon tied around it. Summer has always seemed to be when Alyssa shines the most, they often speak of the fact that if Alyssa had not been sorted into the house of Slytherin she would've been a Ravenclaw, but Maria can see some Hufflepuff there too.

"I missed you." Maria says to her before looking to Stan who grins and holds his arms open. "Fuck you." She chuckles before hurrying into his friendly arms.

"Maria! I happen to have a girlfriend." Stanley gasps and Maria shoves him off, laughing. She's missed his stupid jokes. "What's for tea then? I'm bloody starving!"

    "Stanley, it's only three o'clock. You've literally just had lunch?"

    "And?" Stanley rolls his eyes.

   The others begin to arrive and it's now almost six o'clock, all of them sat in the garden laughing and eating some snacks. They're waiting on Dorcas, Marlene and Mary, Peter had told them that he couldn't make it to the barbecue because his mother wanted him at home for a family dinner which they could believe, Peter's mother is an annoying woman yet she has a good heart. Sirius is complaining whilst Stan agrees with his complaints.

    "Where the bloody hell are they?" Sirius groans, placing a hand on his stomach. "I just want my bloody burger."

    "Calm down, Padfoot, Mary's here now." James nods to where Mary McDonald is approaching them with a smile on her face and Maria quickly runs over, pulling her into a tight hug.

    "Oi, Mary, where the fuck are Marlene and Dorcas?" Stanley calls and the cocoa skinned woman furrows her eyebrows as her and Maria pull away. "We're all dying of starvation here!"

    "I thought they were already here." Mary frowns making Sirius look around sarcastically and she flips him off. "Marlene told me that she was meeting Dorcas here at five because she wanted to go and visit her parents."

    "Maybe she got stuck with them, you know how bloody pestering Marlene's parents can be." Remus suggests and Frank nods, placing a hand on a nervous Alice's knee as she looks between her friends. "I'm sure they're fine."

    "Yeah. Maybe let's start cooking and when they show we can do them something, yeah?" Regulus says, placing a hand on the small of Maria's back and she nods with a tight lipped smile, not being able to push away the awful feeling that is settling in her stomach.

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Tears. A pounding at her skull. Muffled voices. Screaming. Sobbing.

Maria's heart is beating faster than it should be and her mind is racing, not being able to focus due to the heart wrenching sounds around her.

In that moment, Maria knows that Dorcas' screams will haunt her mind forever. The dark skinned girl had fallen to the ground beside the dead body of her girlfriend Marlene McKinnon, who's blonde hair is disheveled and her blue eyes are cold yet glossed over. Her face is stained with tears and blood smears her cheek.

Lily drops to the ground beside Dorcas, pulling her into her side and Dorcas collapses into the redhead's arms, sobbing into her elbow. Sirius is pulled away from the scene by Remus, not being able to look at the sight of the once bubbly and beautiful soul's body.

Marlene and her family had been killed by the death eaters, they can't be sure which ones, but all Dumbledore can say is that it was not Voldemort himself.

Maria closes her eyes, not being able to watch as Dorcas grips onto Marlene's jacket, begging the wizards not to take her body yet. She turns into Regulus' chest and he places a comforting hand on the back of her head, pressing a kiss to her hair.

Maria lets out a small sob in Regulus' embrace, finally realising that Marlene is gone. She's not coming back. Maria can't stop herself from wondering whether this is her fault, whether this has something to do with her not accepting the offer. It only makes her feel worse, pulling away from Regulus and quickly walking out of the suffocating house.

    After about an hour, the group are sat in the living room of Maria and Regulus' cottage. They're silent, thinking and mourning the death of their beloved friend. Marlene was beautiful. She's was bright and funny and she never failed to be a good person. She wanted to join the order, she wanted to fight for what she thought was right and she did it fiercely. She was brave and strong and did not deserve to die. Not like that. Not to the hands of the people she spent so much time trying to stop.

    The door opens and Peter Pettigrew walks in with red ringed eyes and Maria stands up. Peter's lip trembles and Maria nods, pulling him down into a tight hug as he lets out a broken sob. His hands grip her gently as he cries into her shoulder, listening to her soothing words and feeling her hand rubbing up and down his back.

    None of them could have ever figured that these are the tears of a guilty man.

    "Dorcas is gone." Alice announces quickly as she rushes into the living room.

   "What?"

    "She went into the bathroom and now she's gone." Alice panics and Maria blinks, rushing out of the front door and around the house, seeing the open window of the downstairs bathroom.

    Dorcas Meadows died at the hands of the Dark Lord himself. She died trying to avenge her love's death, trying to find answers. She had asked him why her, and he'd smiled and told her everything. Of course, at some point she had realised that she wasn't leaving with her life, there was no way he would let her leave with that knowledge.

   Voldemort had left her body outside of Marlene's family home.

    "Dorcas was kind, she loved Marlene more than anything." Alice says as a tear spills from her eye, her fingers twining the fabric of her black dress as she stands before the people that had gathered for the two girl's funeral. "Marlene was the voice, she was outspoken where Dorcas was introverted and left Marlene to do the talking. Even though sometimes it wasn't the best idea." She lets out a  sad chuckle, wiping the tears streaming down her flushed cheeks. "I'm glad that you're together now, even if that means I won't see you for a while."

    Maria squeezes Regulus' hand softly as she wipes a tear from her cheek and he rubs her knee soothingly.

    They all slowly walk past the graves, dropping roses onto the caskets gently and Maria sniffles, leaning into Regulus' side as she watches Lily drop her rose into Marlene's before pressing a kiss to her fingers and then pressing the digits to the gravestone.

    "I want this to stop." Maria whispers hoarsely, blinking her heavy eyes. "I just want it all to stop."

   "I know." Regulus mutters, pulling her into a hug and resting his chin on her head.

   "I want him dead, Regulus." Maria says through her tears. "I just want him to die."

    "I know, I know."

    The group of friends all cried this day, shed tears over their good friends' graves and later told stories of them when they were alive and happy. They told stories of Hogwarts and how Marlene would always catch the quaffel with her left arm. They told stories of how Dorcas would always be responsible, how she would scold Marlene for drinking too much or swearing in front of children. Silly little things that used to matter so much.

   Maria's mind kept flitting from her fallen friends to the man responsible for their deaths. How much she loathes him and wants to send him straight to hell where he can no longer cause the suffering he does. Her despair is converted to anger twisted the death eaters and Tom Riddle, how she wants to kill him.

   Maria has never wanted to kill someone. Not really. But right now, nothing would give her greater satisfaction than seeing Tom Riddle dead.

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