Chapter forty-five
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❝ She looked at herself in the mirror,
her clothes stained with random
stranger's blood and tears, ❞
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"It's your first mission Blondie, how you feelin'?" Sirius questioned, his voice still hoarse with sleep as he placed a mug of coffee in the woman's hands.
She shrugged with nerves, her brain still foggy from just waking up.
"You'll do just fine, if Peter can live through them so can you" he winked at her, in his hands laid a new copy of the Daily Prophet.
"You're new haircut looks good"
"Thank you, Remus cut it for me"
Mari closed her eyes as she placed her cup down on the coffee table, her stomach rolled with anxiety. Her hands found the back of her neck, hunched over to steady her breathing.
Anxiety seemed to be something that had been on an incline since the beginning of the war.
Mari let out a sigh as she returned to her comfortable position, mug back in her hand.
"So who is all going on this mission?"
"Me, Alice, Marlene, James, and I believe Caradoc," she said with a nod, looking up from her lap to give him an awkward smile.
"What's Remus doing on his day off?" He asked, watching as her knee bounced up and down.
"He is supposed to go visit his mum in London, but he may just stay home and sleep, the moon is tomorrow" she smiled as she remembered leaving him in their bed that morning.
His nose scrunched as she left their bed, an owl knocking at the window with a letter from Albus asking for her to visit the headquarters.
The small frown on his face as she placed a kiss on his nose and whispered to him a quiet morning before scribbling a quick note and leaving it on his bedside table.
Sirius smiled as he watched her get lost in thought, her legs ceased their bouncing and she stared off at nothing.
"You want me to go check up on him later, I know he's probably exhausted and won't feed himself," Sirius asked quietly as she looked back at him.
"He could use the company" she smiled with a nod, her thumb drumming on her mug.
"What's Benjy up to?" Marigold asked with a smirk on her face.
"I haven't spoken to him since last night, he was going out for a few drinks" he shrugged, "I'm gonna stop over at his flat before your house" blush took over the majority of his face as he rambled on about Benjy.
And they say Mari is bitch whipped
"Morning you two" James apparated onto the couch next to Mari, a grin on his face as he did a small stretch before getting comfortable.
"Someone is looking rather happy this morning," Mari said poking his rosy cheeks and making him swat at her hand.
"I proposed to lily last night," he said causing Sirius to choke on his coffee.
"Merlin, that's amazing," Mari said pulling him into a side hug.
"Congratulations!" Sirius jumped up on his feet and pulled the curly-headed boy into a bear hug, the two of them swaying back and forth.
"They grow up so fast, don't they Goldie Locks?" Sirius said in a motherly tone as he started fake crying.
"Yes they do" she watched as the tears started rolling down his cheeks, "you're an absolute handful, do y'know that Sirius?"
"I do know that darling, now drink your coffee and go back to your aimless staring" he joked making her roll her eyes.
"When do you reckon Remus will pop the question?" Sirius asked making her glare at him and his stupid tone.
"I'm surprised he hasn't done it already, I mean he's absolutely in love with you," James said watching her bite the inside of her cheeks to hide her growing smile.
"I doubt he'd-"
"Morning you three" McGonagall walked into the room, abruptly ending the previous conversation.
"This morning just keeps getting better and better" Sirius jumped up again to pull the older woman into an embrace.
"Someone's lively this morning"
"When is he ever quiet Minnie?" James stood up to pull the older woman into a hug.
"Marigold!" the older woman excitedly pulled the blonde into a hug, "how's Remus?"
"I miss being Minnie's favourite" Sirius whispered to James who nodded as they watched the two women catch up.
Soon the group who were going on the mission were all present in the room, everyone but Dumbledore sat around and chatted about their lives and past missions.
Finally, the older man stepped into the room, a bright smile etched on his face as he cleared his throat, "sorry I was late, the ministry is up in heaps after last night's Death eater attack on Hogsmeade"
He slowly paced around the room, explaining how the group would apprate to the scene of the attack, get any sort of information and help the ministry with tracking the culprits down.
Marigold was to show up at the scene and offer on-sight medical help to the healers that were in need of more hands with the heaps of people injured.
"Any objections? No? Okay, everyone get prepared to leave"
-
Mari landed in the warm streets of Hogsmeade, her eyes looked around the empty street. An Erie feeling filled her chest at the lack of traffic in the town. Madame Pudifoots was cafe burnt to the ground, smoke-filled her lungs as Aurors helped put out small fires around the street, Three Broomsticks was missing a chunk of wall.
The others set off to do their jobs as Mari wandered over to the Healer's setup.
Hestia Jones was mixing ointments as she quickly said her hello to Mari before sending her in the direction of a man around her age who had a large gash on the side of his face.
"Hello, I'm Marigold I'm gonna fix you right up, it'll only take a few moments" she didn't even look up from the salve she was spreading on the bandages in her hand as she introduced herself.
"Mari?"
Marigold look up at the man to disinfect his cut, her eyes met the shy smile of Benjy, and the gash on his face ran right from his temple to his chin.
Benjy winced as she grabbed his chin gently to get a better look at how deep the cut ran on his cheek. Small scrapes covered the other side of his face, his dress shirt stained with the blood from his wounds.
"Shit Benjy" she mumbled taking the disinfecting ointment and rubbing it on his cut, washcloth in her hand to remove any excess dirt or glass that was still stuck in the gash.
He gave a small smile as he chewed the inside of his lips, holding back his tiny groans of pain as she finished cleaning his face off.
"Have you spoken to Sirius this morning?" a look of worry in his eyes, and a loud hiss left his mouth as she took some alcohol to burn any access bacteria.
"He's at order headquarters, he was about to stop over at your house" she smiled as she stuck the salve-covered bandages onto his face "are you okay?"
"I'm a little shaken up but I'm fine, I was half-drunk and trying to get people to exit the pub before the glass window shattered and got me" he smiled weakly as she took her wand out to charm the salve to mould and stick snuggly to his face.
"You should go find him-"
"I feel like I should be here helping"
Mari smiled a shook her head, "the others have it under control, go home and get some rest" she said as she placed extra scar cream in the palm of his hand, "apply this every morning and night to minimize scaring, there will be a faint one in the end but this will make it less pigmented"
He gave her an awkward sitting-down hug as she wished him goodbye before he apparated out of the healing centre.
A loud shriek erupted from a woman who was her next to be treated.
Mari took a deep breath as she turned around to help the woman who let out a deafening screech.
This was going to be a long day.
-
Mari apparated home, landing on the front porch, her stomach in knots from the travel and her head pounding from the work day.
She opened the front door, a warm smell lit up her senses as she toed off her shoes and travelled to the kitchen. Remus stood in his mother's apron, hunched over a pot of boiling soup as he hummed a song to himself.
Mari smiled lightly at the sight, she took quiet steps in his direction before wrapping her arms around him and burying her fave into the soft cotton of his sweater.
"Hello love," he said before turning around to look at the state of pure exhaustion on her face as she hugged him deeper.
"I don't know how you do those missions every other day" she mumbled into his chest as he laughed at her whines, "I can feel my bones rubbing against each other."
Remus placed a short kiss on her forehead before sending her off for a shower.
She looked at herself in the mirror, her clothes stained with random stranger's blood and tears, her face dirty from the ash that floated in the air.
Marigold looked like a wreck.
She stood under the warm water and just cried, the stress from the day unravelling as she felt the warm water run down her goosebump-covered body.
After her shower the two of them ate their soup in silence, Remus watched as she struggled to stay awake. Her eyes were half-lidded as she slumped back in the kitchen chair, her damp hair falling in her eyes as she kept her head down.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" Remus asked softly as her eyes wandered from the bowl in front of her to his face.
Her smile was tight-lipped as she nodded slowly, her breakdown that she was holding back came rushing in as she looked up at Remus who sat quietly.
She let out a sigh, "it was just a lot of screaming and panic, it was a lot to take in," Remus slid his hand from its place on the table to take hers.
"I think it was kinda a reality check for me, I keep thinking that we are all safe and protected from the bad" she choked back her tears as her foot tapped on the wooden flooring.
"Sorry"
"Nothing to be sorry for love, it's scary" Remus shrugged, squeezing her hand as she let out a short cry.
"It's just Benjy was at the pub when it exploded, he was having drinks and in a matter of minutes everything escalated"
She picked up her soup bowl and then Remus' trying to busy herself, "it just made me realize that we could die, you could die and I couldn't do anything to prevent that"
Remus hit up from his chair and walked over to the sink with her, taking the bowls from her hands and putting them on the counter.
"You aren't god, you can't push that blame on yourself," he said taking her face into his hands to make her look at him.
"Bad happens, but for now we are both safe in the comfort of our home" he pulled her into his chest as she cried. Her hands gripping onto the fabric of his jumper, she let out a weep as he just held her in his arms.
Swaying back and forth as he placed short pecks on the crown of her head.
"Why don't you head off to bed and wait for me as I clean up" he suggested, placing one last kiss on her cheek before turning her in the direction of their room.
"I can-"
"Go up to bed, it'll only take me a moment and then I crawl in after you" he nudged her out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
She found her way to their bedroom, quickly changing from the pyjamas she originally had on and into the comfort of one of Remus' oversized nightshirts.
Remus soon walked into the room and filled the girl into bed, she repositioned herself to face him as he wrapped his arms around her torso and brought her closer to him.
"Don't die on me" she whispered as her hand found the side of his face.
"I won't"
Her eyes wandered his face as they lay just silently staring at each other, her hand found the scar that crossed his upper and lower lips. Her thumb gently ran over it as she watched his smile grow with fondness.
"That's my favourite scar of yours y'know?"
"You have a favourite?"
"Of course I do, it's just so perfectly placed" she stared at it then back up at his eyes as his face broke out in a pretty shade of pink.
"This one is a close second" she dragged her hand down from his face to his collar bone, a long white scar sat just atop the bone.
"I'm so in love with you," he said, barely able to contain the smile that graced his face as he sat up to plant a soft kiss on his lips.
Her hand finding his curls as she brought his face closer to hers, she feigned off this feeling of pure ecstasy.
Their lips collided with love, finding comfort in the other as the world around them burned to the ground. Finding refuge in the presence of each other, masking the pain and suffering just outside the four walls of their cottage.
Their safe haven.