CW- Death, trauma, torture, Voldemort
Also if you're into that sort of thing, the playlist above greatly helped write this chapter
July 8th, 1978
The day seemed to drag slowly as Evangeline worried over the McKinnons, hoping that their plan would run smoothly. A knot had formed in her stomach since the moment her feet touched the floor that morning, and that usually only signified one thing.
It was when Regulus arrived on her doorstep, looking as if he had been personally victimized by a banshee that things began to go wrong.
"Whatever in this world happened to you?" She drug him quickly into her bedroom, shutting the door and throwing up a silencing charm.
"H-h-he took Kreacher. Last night."
Evangeline's face fell, "Please tell me he didn't kill him."
"No, no. But close. Worse, in some ways."
Regulus's body shook, thinking of what had happened.
"It's my fault, Evangeline," Regulus stressed, pulling his head into his hands on the edge of the bed, "I should have never volunteered him."
"Regulus, will you bloody tell me what happened?"
"He needed to borrow a house elf, so Kreacher was sent to do whatever he asked. He took him to this...cave. Somewhere in Ireland. He watched Voldemort sacrifice his blood by rubbing it on the wall, causing the opening to reveal itself. They crossed a small pond inside, Kreacher said. Then he made him-"
Regulus suddenly gasped for air, the sickness churning inside of him almost becoming too much.
"Regulus, breathe," Evangeline softly demanded, intertwining their arms and laying her head against his shoulder, "What happened then?"
"He ordered Kreacher to drink some sort of...potion. He said it was the foulest things he had ever tasted, and it made him see things."
"What kind of things?"
"His worst memories, over and over but twisted to make it seem as if it were never-ending. They played on a loop, Kreacher said, until he was exhausted and wanted to die. After The Dark Lord had forced the potion down his throat, he dropped a locket into the basin and refilled it with the same potion. He left Kreacher there, dying."
"How did he manage to get back?"
"I told him to come straight back to Grimmauld when Voldemort was done with him. If it weren't for the direct orders, he would have died. Alone in that cave."
"But Kreacher is fine now?"
Regulus nodded, "He's on the mend, at least. I told him to stay out of sight from everyone except Mother so the Dark Lord believes him to be dead."
"This is brilliant, Regulus!"
Regulus looked baffled, "How in Merlin's name is this brilliant? He almost killed the elf that's been tending to me since I was a baby!"
"We know where the horcrux is, you ninny! Now all we have to do is plan accordingly, snatch the bugger up, and set it ablaze! One down, others to go."
Evangeline sprung from the bed, finding an empty notebook hidden away in the drawer of her desk, "Go back home and make sure Kreacher recovers. Once he has, get every single detail that he remembers, even if it doesn't seem important. We'll go over it together and plan a way to go retrieve it."
"Yeah. Yeah, okay," Regulus nodded, "Maybe this is a good thing. Now that Kreacher is alright, that is."
"Things may finally be looking up, Regulus. This is a step in the right direction."
Regulus stood then, shrinking the notebook and sticking it within his trouser pocket, "What are we to do about the family on Valley Road?"
Evangeline laid a hand on Regulus's shoulder then, "I have it taken care of. Be here tomorrow at dusk and we'll depart."
July 8th, 1978 19 Valley Road, Lewes
Albus Dumbledore had witnessed a lot of gruesome and terrible things within his long life. Ninety-Five years he had been alive, a good portion of that spent chasing or stopping dark wizards. Some of which included the love of his life.
He blamed himself for many of the aforementioned terrible acts, each one of them adding another grey hair to his already growing beard.
The sight of the McKinnon's house, however, caused a deeper sadness than he had experienced in a very long time.
The bodies were slowly pulled from the burnt wreckage one by one, the first being the body of Janet McKinnon, their eleven year old daughter. She was set to begin Hogwarts that September. Followed closely after was Marjorie McKinnon, Marlene and Janet's mother. She had been found outside of the bedroom door belonging to Janet. Simon and Marlene, both pulled out together, had been found in the main living room, seeming to have tried their best to shield Janet and Marjorie since they possessed no magic.
Their bodies were badly burned from the fire that had taken their house, seeming to be of the nonmagical variety since it was easily extinguished by the muggle fire department. Dumbledore watched from the shadows as a sheet was pulled over each of their faces, three of the four of them being almost unrecognizable.
He silently apparated to the Oleanders, four hours early and with not a single amount of good news.
July 8th, 1978 Oleander Residence
It was much too early for Dumbledore to be arriving with the McKinnons. Evangeline knew, with utmost certainty, that something had gone terribly wrong when she felt Dumbledore pass through the wards of the manor- four hours early and alone.
She forced herself to remain calm, walking slowly towards the front entrance from the library and controlling her breathing.
Maybe he stopped to check everything before they arrive, Evangeline thought, hopefully.
But the look on the old wizard's face was enough to tell her that it wasn't the case.
"No," Evangeline shook her head, "No. That didn't happen. I was supposed to do it. He told me I had to be the one, and I didn't. So they are not dead, Albus Dumbledore. And you will not tell me as such."
"I'm so sorry, Evangeline."
And that time, she knew he meant it. They were often at ends, she and Dumbledore, but the tragedy of the McKinnons was a solidifying moment between the two. Albus sat numbly in the same chair as the night before, Evangeline in the same position on the couch.
If she focused hard enough, she could feel Marlene still sitting beside of her, squeezing her hand when she was scared.
She hadn't devoted enough time to Marlene, and gods how she dreaded that then. There would be no more time for making fun of Lily together, or the flirtatious banters that Dorcas chimed in on. There would be no more sitting in the Gryffindor stands, watching as Marls chased Sirius and James around in the air in a bit of tag. There would be no more joint moments of embarrassing Peter by fighting over his hand in marriage.
There would be no more.
Because there was no more Marlene.
Frozen, at eighteen. Gone forever in the blink of an eye.
It was cruel, was the first thought that flashed across Evangeline's mind. It was cruel to rip someone away from the people that cared so desperately for them.
"Did you tell anyone else?" she finally spoke, her voice cracking.
Dumbledore shook his head, "I wanted you to be the first. We can call an Order Meeting, but I think maybe your friends would take it better from you."
From you.
From you.
She would have to look at each of their faces and tell them that Marlene was dead.
But it was the right thing to do, she knew. Her friends needed her, and most of all she needed her friends.
July 8th, 1978 The Flat
She was numb, not feeling at all, when she disaparated to Sirius's flat. He, James, and Lily were already there, James and Sirius arguing loudly over the latest quidditch match.
"I told you, Prongs. The Chudley Canons are vile this season!"
"As if the Falmouth Falcons are any better, Pads! Honestly- Evie!"
She stood in the same spot she landed, looking between the three of them. Just looking. They were mostly pure, untainted by the loss that weighed her down enough to drown her. She was the one that was to sink each of them with the news she carried.
"Love, what's wrong?" Sirius was the first to notice, approaching her slowly.
She didn't bother with responding, but instead sat a new bottle of Odgen's on the rickety table in front of the orange couch.
"Evangeline?" Lily asked as Evie sat down next to her.
"There's an Order meeting happening. But we're not going. Someone round up Peter and Dorcas."
"Evie, love, you're scaring me," James knelt in front of her, lying his hand on her knee, "What's happened?"
"Don't make me repeat it, Jamie," she whispered, looking him in the eyes with tears beginning to form, "I don't think I can bare hearing it more than once."
The alarm on James's face was evident, but he simply nodded, rising to his feet, "I'll get Wormtail. Lily, will you go round and get Dorcas?"
Lily nodded, leaning into Evangeline, "I'll get her, okay? Sirius will stay here with you."
Sirius replaced Lily on the couch beside of Evie, but she barely noticed. Her fingernails dug into the skin of her knees, just below her shorts. She was trying, unsuccessfully, to stuff it all away.
Pack it away, stop feeling. If you don't feel it, it simply isn't real.
"Hold onto me, darling," Sirius nodded, removing her nails from her knees, "Stop hurting yourself."
Evangeline's arms found themselves around the shoulders of Sirius Black as she climbed into his lap, trying her hardest to disappear within his chest and make it all stop.
"It's bad. Isn't it?" he asked in a whisper, forcing the words out.
"I think it might kill me this time, Padfoot."
And she broke.
The tears came instantly, the sobs wracking her body so hard that she was sure she would pass out. It was anguish, everything that she had been holding inside. The fear, the panic, the desperation and sadness washed over her in waves big enough to drown her and never let her up for air.
Sirius held her tightly, one hand firmly gripping the back of her shirt as the other worked its way into her hair. He shushed her in the most soothing way possible, not knowing what else he could possibly do in that moment to console her.
That was how Pete and James found them, intwined on the couch.
None of them bothered to speak, and instead made themselves comfortable to wait on Lily and Dorcas. James took the seat next to Sirius, leaving no room for Evangeline between the two if she decided to remove herself from Padfoot's lap. But Jamie didn't mind. He just wanted to be near her.
It felt like ages before Lily and Dorcas arrived, both looking confused and concerned. Evie didn't bother to lift her head from Sirius as she heard the final two pop into the room.
"We're all here, Evie," James spoke softly, "Can you please tell us what is happening?"
She slowly lifted her head, her red and swollen eyes being painful to the shift in light. Squinting, she wiped at her face and took a deep breath.
"Voldemort gave me explicit instructions for Regulus and I to apparate to 19 Valley Road in Lewes and dispose of the family living there."
Before she could continue, she saw Dorcas grab at Lily, similar to the way that Marlene had grabbed her the night before. A gut wrenching feeling took over her body, and it was almost too much to bare. Sirius's grip around her waist tightened, pulling her back to reality.
"It's Marlene's house. Dumbledore and I planned to move them out and into mine under the Fidelius today at six, then stage their deaths."
"Babes, why are you telling us this? If you planned on using the Fidelius, it should've been a secret," Sirius gently asked, even though he was almost certain that he knew the answer.
"Because Marlene and her family died this morning before Dumbledore could reach them."
She felt Sirius's body grow rigid beneath her, and she didn't dare look at his face. It was Dorcas, though, that pulled her back to reality.
"No."
Evangeline squeezed her eyes closed, her words getting stuck in her throat, "Dorcas-"
"No," Dorcas shook her head, "She isn't dead. She can't be."
"They all are," Evie whispered.
Lily was silently crying then, and James held his arm out for her to tuck herself beneath. Dorcas shot to her feet suddenly.
"She isn't dead. And I can't believe you of all people would pull this."
Dorcas pulled her wand, dissaparating from the flat alone.
"I'll go after her," Lily sniffed, "She's probably went to Marlene's and she-she doesn't need to see that."
Peter had sat quietly the entire time, sinking into the chair across from James, Sirius, and Evangeline. It wasn't until Lily and Dorcas were gone that he finally began to speak.
"Are you sure it was Voldemort?"
He spoke the words out loud, but the meaning behind them didn't register as Evie looked at Peter. He had lost weight since she had saw him last, much like Regulus had. He seemed nervous, and anxious, and stressed, the pressure of the real world outside of Hogwarts weighing upon him heavily.
"What?"
"I mean, why would he do that? He said you had two days. Why ask you to prove yourself when he wasn't even going to give you the chance?"
And, although it was worded quite weird, she knew Peter had a point. The Dark Lord had made it a point to reiterate the need for her to prove her loyalty.
But her loyalty didn't really matter anymore, did it?
Did anything?
She reached for the bottle first, cracking the top open and taking a long, deep drink. It had been a while since she had gotten thoroughly pissed, and if there were ever a time to need it, it was then.
It was decided unanimously and silently that they would all partake, and the Marauders, one by one, drank deeply from the bottle.
"I fucking loved Marlene," Evie announced randomly, after her third long drink, "I loved her so bloody much and it didn't even matter."
"Of course it mattered Evie!" James stressed, "She knew we loved her. She did. I know she did."
Her tears continued to follow the track down her face as she silently continued to cling to Sirius. She wasn't quite sure when he had gotten so good at that, but just touching him kept her from floating away.
July 8th, 1978 Remnants of the McKinnon Residence
Dorcas landed on the street in front of her girlfriend's house, her boots landing directly in a water puddle.
It hadn't rained today, she thought, but she realized why there was water about when she raised her head to look at the house.
Where a once modest house existed, now only a large pile of ash and debris remained. The only part of the house left standing, seeming to have beat the fire, was that of the brick fireplace. The ashes were still smoking, but the fire department had soaked the remnants so thoroughly that water puddled on the pavement.
Dorcas wrapped her arms around herself as she took in the scene, her eyes widening and beginning to water. She hardly recognized the nearby sound of apparition until Lily stood before her.
"You don't need to be here, Dorcas. It isn't safe."
She spoke softly, as if she were treating a wounded animal. Dorcas had always been the quiet one during school, never once raising her voice to anyone unless they had pushed her to the very brink.
But it seemed that Voldemort was the exception.
She cried out then, sounding like a dying thing in desperate need of help. She dropped to the pavement on hands and knees, the sound coming from her turned Lily's stomach.
"Why did he do this?! Why?!" Dorcas screamed, holding her arms over her stomach as to protect herself.
Lily bent down next to her, placing both arms on her shoulders, "I don't know why he does the things that he does, but I promise Dorcas. I promise that he won't get away with it."
"I'll kill him myself, Lily," she whispered, malice dripping into each word, "I won't rest until the bastard is dead."
July 8th, 1978 The Flat
She had passed the point of thoroughly pissed, and was ready to almost black out when James announced that Lily had taken Dorcas home.
"We have to protect them, Jamie," Evangeline begged, "He talked about you and her. About your colorful rejections that he received."
James smiled at that, "I do hope he enjoyed the cards that exploded with glitter and yelled out, "Piss Off, Voldy. I'm a joiner of the light."
"James!" Evie gasped, lifting her head from the floor where she was laying, "You didn't!"
"I most certainly did! I couldn't pass up an opportunity like that now, could I?"
"Your sense of humor will get you killed one day."
At the mention of death, the room suddenly filled with melancholy.
"They never asked me to join, you know. I guess being the blood traitor of the family will do that to you," Sirius swirled the remaining liquid within the bottle, lifting it to his lips once again.
"He calls me ma bijou. Sometimes ma cherie. Dumbledore assures me that the Dark Lord isn't in love with me, but I almost wish he was. The latter is much more terrifying," Evangeline whispered as a tear rolled down the side of her face, "The way that he...touches me sometimes. It makes me feel dirty. Unclean."
She, too, drank from the bottle before passing it to Peter.
"He tried to recruit me, too."
James, Sirius, and Evangeline fell silent, looking to Peter to better explain.
He fiddled with the glass bottle in his hand, rolling it around between his two palms, "He sent me the letters, same as yours, James, I suspect. But when I didn't answer he and ole' Lucius showed up at my house. Roughed Mum up a bit until he was convinced that the Pettigrews were remaining neutral."
He drank then, deeply.
"You didn't tell us that, Wormy. Why not?" Sirius asked, a sheepish look on his face.
Sirius had only doubted Peter momentarily before dismissing it as a nonsensical and impossible thought. James never suspected a thing wrong to begin with. But Evangeline...
Evangeline tilted her head up to look at him, "And he just left? With you remaining neutral?"
"Y-yeah. After throwing Mum down the stairs, that is."
"And he just...let you not pick a side?"
"I said yes, Evangeline. Merlin!"
Sensing the change in the mood, Sirius jumped to his feet, stumbling slightly, "Enough of this! Marlene would not have wanted us to be a bunch of drunken, sad, sods. She would want us to be living! Enjoying the time we have with one another!"
He thumbed his way through the collection of records that had been left behind by Alphard, pulling a specific one off the shelf and putting it on the player. The speaker crackled from sitting unused for such a long time before the music began to play.
It was Abbey Road that Sirius had chosen to play; Marlene's favorite. Here Comes the Sun began to joyfully play throughout the speaker and Evangeline felt her tears return.
Somehow regaining his composure, Sirius abruptly stopped in front of Evangeline, bowing low and holding out his hand.
"Dance with me, Eves."
She sniffled, licking the tear that had fallen onto her lip, and smiled, "If you step on my toes, Padfoot, we're going to have words."
He pulled her from the floor in a flash, her body crashing into his at the sudden jerk. She let out a giggle, holding onto his shoulders to right herself.
"Evangeline, darling, love, hottest bird to exist, I am classically trained in ballroom dancing. If I step on your toes, you have permission to hex me."
He spun her around the room, never letting his hand leave hers as she began to smile and laugh.
"Marlene used to sing this all the time on the front lawn of Hogwarts. Do you remember?" she asked, thinking back on their moments together.
"Taught me every word in the matter of three days, she did," Sirius laughed, pulling her back into his chest.
The final words of Here Comes the Sun began to play as she smiled up at him, feeling just the slightest bit lighter.
"Thanks, Pads."
"Oh, Evangeline," he dramatically sighed, "You know what it does to me when you use that name."
Evangeline opened her mouth to respond, but movement from the other side of the room caught her eye. Turning to look, her eyebrows raised on her forehead at the sight of James and Peter slow dancing together, hugged up tightly with James still holding a now empty bottle of Ogden's.
Here Comes the Sun faded out as the next track, Because, began to play.
Marlene would have liked this, Evangeline thought, looking back up at Sirius.
"I know she would have wanted this to be the way we remembered her," Sirius murmured softly, "Remembering her bright with life and zest and love. It's the best way to be remembered."
Evie layed her head against his chest, humming in agreeance.
"Listen, Evangeline. I've had my will drawn up, and-"
Her head snapped up, eyes meeting his, "No."
"Yes, Evangeline. Please just listen."
She nodded, trying to ignore the large lump forming once again in the back of her throat. They weren't even twenty yet, for Merlin's sake! There shouldn't need to be a discussion of wills, and funerals, and death.
But that was war, so Evangeline listened.
"I've left everything to Remus. I know he won't want it, but I can't stand the thought of my family having anything of mine and Remus doing without. So if anything happens to me-"
"Nothing will happen to you, Padfoot, because I won't allow it," she cut him off once more, an emotion that Sirius couldn't decipher burning behind her eyes.
He could have kissed her in that moment, he thought. All wound tightly from the emotions in the air and the fire burning behind those forest green eyes. But the thought of Moony being on some top-secret, dangerous mission caused him to refrain, knowing that the guilt would eat her alive.
Evangeline let out a breath, almost in a laugh, and said, "Besides. I have also made out a will, and everything I own goes to you, Remus, and James and Lily's future children."
"You expect them to have children?" Sirius laughed, "We're at war."
"War can't last forever, love."
A/N- I'm sorry.
This one hurt me, I won't even lie lol.
BUT IT HAD TO BE DONE
Leave me your thoughts, I hope I did dear Marlene McKinnon justice
xx
Arin