It was the first Order meeting that they had had in awhile, and Sirius had generously offered up their home for the members to congregate. Remus didn't show up right away, instead he was one of the last members to arrive. Marlene thought it might be strategic on his part; he'd have less opportunity to be ambushed, and nobody wanted to deal with another outburst from Sirius. It was obvious Sirius wasn't happy about his arrival, but thankfully for all parties present he said nothing when Remus walked in through the front door and took a seat on the opposite side of the room next to Peter.
Though Sirius had jokingly referred to the gathering as a housewarming party, it was quickly apparent by the grave atmosphere that followed Frank and Mad Eye Moody's late arrival that something bad had recently transpired.
"Well they got Benjy," Mad Eye said blunt and emotionless. "Blasted to bits by the looks of it. Only been able to find the pieces..."
Marlene truly hadn't been feeling well all day, but at the news of Benjy's unfortunate fate she felt her stomach turn. Thankfully she was already seated, because she was pretty certain she might not have remained upright if she wasn't.
"Thomas too," Frank added. Despite the heavy warning on his safety, he and Alice had chosen not to go into hiding, and Frank was still actively employed with the Ministry. "But we got Rosier and Wilkes."
"Captured?" One of the Prewitt brothers chimed in. She didn't care to pay attention to which one because she had her eyes clenched tightly together and was trying hard to focus on keeping her supper down.
Mad Eye replied gruffly, "Dead. Good riddance."
Dumbledore had been quiet all evening but finally it was his turn to actively engage in the conversation. "When did this happen?" Marlene opened her eyes to see her former headmaster looking contemplative, stroking his long beard as he listened to the ongoing discussion.
"A couple of hours ago," Mad Eye replied. Marlene felt another wave of nausea at the thought of blood and bits of body parts scattering the ground. Mad Eye's magical eye swivelled around the room to look at her, while his other good eye remained locked on Dumbledore. She quickly looked away from him, feeling as though he was suddenly able to read her mind.
"We got an anonymous tip and were ambushed during a Ministry raid," Frank added when Mad Eye did not elaborate. The conversation took off from there and thankfully Sirius kept his mouth shut with any conspiracy theories about Remus.
Later, after members began to depart and Marlene had successfully thwarted Emmeline's attempts to pry information out of her, did Remus approach her cautiously.
He looked terrible; dark circles under his eyes gave the impression that he too hadn't been sleeping well. Though that wasn't atypical for Remus, he looked remarkably more stressed and worn out than usual. Kindly he asked, "How are you doing?"
She smiled feebly at him and did her best to lie, knowing that it wouldn't do much good. "I'm doing okay"
"You know, you've never been very good at lying," he said pointedly, calling her out. The warmth of blood rushing to her cheeks would inevitably give away her guilt to his accusation. She felt the pull of her skin on her forehead as she frowned, feeling frustrated at her inability to fool him.
Instead of denying it she merely sighed and allowed the muscles of her face to relax. "No that is true," she said quietly.
"So how are you really doing?"
"I'm incredibly stressed out, depressed, and frustrated," she admitted. "And I'm damn near exhausted and just really looking forward to going to sleep tonight."
"I hear you on that," he laughed. "Nearly another full moon."
A sense of unease washed over her, as though someone was watching her. Instinctively she surveyed the room expecting to catch Sirius spying on them. But he wasn't even in the room. Nobody else seemed to be interested in their conversation from what she could tell.
"Looking for Sirius?"
"Is it that obvious?" Marlene turned her attention back to Remus. His expression was pained and suddenly she had one more thing to add to the list of things she was stressing about. "I'm so sorry Remus. I imagine this has been difficult for you. He'll come around eventually."
"Don't be sorry, Marlene. I understand that Sirius doesn't trust me right now, and that's not on you." Remus said and the sadness in his voice was unmistakable. "But I just want to know if they are safe. That's all I'd like to know. If you can't give that to me I'll understand and won't bring it up again."
Marlene bit down on her lip, torn with confliction. Carefully, without meaning to reveal anything, but still assure her friend at the same time, Marlene nodded once. "Yes."
Relief flooded Remus's face and he smiled. "Thanks Marlene - "
A loud crash to Marlene's left cut him off from whatever it was he was about to say, and both he and Marlene jumped with surprise as Peter fell forward into the space beside them, knocking over a potted plant in the process.
"Sorry!" he squealed apologetically from where he was face down on the carpet. "I tripped on something over there."
"Are you okay, Peter?" Marlene asked hurriedly while bending down, offering her hand to help him up and see if he was alright. Peter scrambled on the floor, righting himself without accepting Marlene's assistance.
His eyes were wide and he looked highly embarrassed as he avoided eye contact with either of his friends in front of him. "I'm fine, thanks," he muttered. "I should probably watch more carefully where I'm going."
"Is Wormtail embarrassing himself again?" Sirius's voice joined the conversation, and Marlene felt his arm snake around her waist as he stepped into the circle. Immediately she felt his body tense beside her as his gaze moved from Peter and onto a quickly paling Remus.
She jabbed him in the elbow in an attempt to dissuade him from causing Remus any further discomfort. She knew it wouldn't likely do any good; when Sirius's mind was made up it was damn near impossible to dissuade him. It was also apparent that he either missed or ignored the scowl on Peter's face. She couldn't blame Peter; Sirius's comment to his friend was less than friendly.
"Sirius," she said with a warning tone, "be nice to your friends."
"Moony," Sirius said curtly, completely ignoring Marlene.
"Hello Padfoot," Remus replied. But his words came out shaky, and it was obvious he was uncomfortable being stared at with such intense scrutiny. Sirius didn't even bother to hide his ill feelings towards Remus, and Marlene felt her annoyance begin to bubble into anger.
"Right so Remus and I were having a private conversation," she said, emphasizing the word private and hoping to drive home the hint that he should leave.
Of course it did no good because Sirius only replied, "Were you now?"
Her fuse was short and she decided to vocalize her inner feelings. With a fierce authority she snapped, "Go away Sirius."
She felt his grip around her waist loosen and he looked down at her with astonishment. She imagined that it was hard for him to see her still chumming with Remus, the person he suspected responsible for breaching the trust of the Order, but it was tiresome for Marlene to even pretend to appease his antics. She didn't care if he knew how stupid she thought he was being.
"It's alright, I was getting ready to leave anyways," Remus said hastily before Sirius had the chance to respond. "Good to see you Marlene." He offered her a simple, sad smile. Then he turned his attention back to Sirius and Peter, who was still standing awkwardly a few feet away and watching apprehensively as though a fight may break out at any moment. "Sirius. Peter. It was nice to see you both again."
Marlene scowled. Even after all Sirius had put him through, Remus was still polite and respectful. Why couldn't Sirius do the same?
"Hold up, I'll leave with you," Peter called out to Remus's quickly retreating figure. He barely offered a glance to Sirius and Marlene before issuing his hurried goodbye. "See you two later."
And only after Peter had exited through the front door and the sound of it closing met her ears did Marlene round on Sirius. Her mouth hung open with intent to give him a piece of her mind but she was quickly accosted by Emmeline.
"You know, I've been trying to chat with you all night Marly," Emmeline flounced up beside Sirius, and Marlene didn't fail to notice how he took the opportunity for the interruption to try and sneak away.
"Oh no you don't," she snapped at him, reaching out to grab hold of his arm and holding him firmly in front of her. "Emmeline, I'm busy at the moment. Stop asking me questions about the Potters. I have no idea where they are. And if you don't mind I need to yell at my boyfriend."
"And you said you weren't any good at lying," he said slyly under his breath after Emmeline had begrudgingly given up and walked away.
For a fraction of a second the guilt crept up on her that she hadn't been a good liar when Remus had asked her. She contemplated sharing this with Sirius but then she thought about his reaction to Remus earlier, and how he would react to such an admission. It only took another second to decide that this was information that Sirius didn't need to know.
Besides, it was her turn to yell at Sirius.
***
A/N: Two more days....Ahhhhhh!