Marlene
"Shit." Marlene cursed, pacing silently around the room.
"Yeah," Agreed a voice who's owner was lounged on the rooms bed.
He ran a hand through his straw coloured hair, his eyes dimmed as he looked to the window, green and red lights were flashing like fireworks, but the sound outside was not as...festive...
"Shit." Peter finished, he shot a comforting smile at Marlene as he tore his gaze away from the outside world and placed all his attention on her.
"Merlin Pete, We should be out there..." The woman mumbled, looking longingly out the dirty window.
"Fuck," Marlene whispered, her blonde curls bouncing as she finally stopped walking and perched herself on the edge of the bed.
Peter sat up next to the woman, flashing her a charming grin, it was supposed to make her feel better, because Peter would never hurt her deliberately.
But the grin only reminded her of the better times, before the war, before Cas became angry and frustrated all the time, before Lily became so paranoid about the war and the so called "dark lord", before Mary was constantly on edge, all jittery and jumpy, before Remus was constantly in pain, and always made to go on missions, which then has a lead on effect as to why Sirius is constantly in bed or getting smashed off his face, and she desperately missed the way James used to smile like everything would be alright, like they could all survive this together, that smile had dwindled down to nothing now, a permanent frown had been etched onto his face since early 1980, nobody ever thought that would be James' fate, never...
So excuse her for the grin making her upset, because Peter was now like their glue, keeping them all together, and that smile...Merlin
Peter took her hand in his, squeezing it tightly as the woman shook with silent sobs, her hand covering her mouth.
As Marlene closed her eyes she imagined the warm hand clutched in hers was Dorcas' and not Peters, because yes, she loves Peter, but he was her brother, not the love of her life, whom she was planning to propose to.
Images of the emerald ring Dorcas had been eyeing in Hogsmeade flashed through her mind. Right, that's sorted, when we get out of here I'm buying that ring and proposing.
The thought calmed her down as she squeezed Peters hand back, giving him her own tainted smile.
"Merlin, what the fuck are we going to do." Marlene whispered as the man let go of her hand, deciding to carefully lay down on the white hotel sheets.
"Dunno." He sounded defeated, and that just made Marlene feel all the more worse.
The woman flopped back onto the bed, so that her and Peter could look at each other neutrally.
"Do you remember when we met?" The boy asked out of the blue, but Marlene only shook her head as she chuckled a bit, classic Pete...
"Course I do." Marlene whispered into the dark of the room, she could still hear the shouts and screams of muggles and wizards alike, but at this point it was more like white noise.
"We met at the park near the library, you said you like my Beatles shirt and I said I liked your bag." Peter chuckled lightly at the memory.
"Yeah, I said Ringo was my favourite, but you disagreed, insisting that Paul would be the star of The Beatles.
Marlene hummed in remembrance of that fateful day in the middle of October.
"And then James came over and joined in the conversation, even though he had no clue what we were talking about." She felt Pete still next to her, Marlene was sure they were both thinking the same, James and his optimistic personality would be the death of him. Or maybe it already has...
Peter sat up abruptly, he was much like a cat, Marlene had always thought, he always picked up on the little things...
But this wasn't little, Marlene concluded as she slowly sat up, following Peter to the door as they mutually realised that the sounds had stopped, no screaming, no pleading, no desperate or helpless wails, just silence.
"I fucking hate him," Marlene spat out, no longer caring for whether or not she was being quiet.
"Who?" Peter muttered as he raised his wand to the door.
"Dumbledore..." Marlene mumbled with so much venom in her voice she wouldn't be surprised if she was suddenly turned into a Slytherin.
"Oh..." Peter whispered, out of the corner of her eye Marlene could have sworn she saw the man smile slightly before snuffing it out, though it was most likely her mind playing tricks on her...Right?...
"I mean, he sent us on a mission to then be told we can't participate in the fight, otherwise we'd be kicked from being in the order." Marlene complained, her blood starting to boil beneath her skin.
"Just think about how many lives could have been spared if two extra hands were helping, Pete." The womans voice grew smaller at the thought of those lives lost because they were locked in some random room.
"Don't worry Marls," Peter started, though it sounded like he had to grit his teeth at the thought too.
"I'm sure there will be plenty other battles you can help with."
Before Marlene could get any words out to argue with the man, because no, that was the entire point, there shouldn't be a war in the first place, Peter said, or more so raised his voice.
"Let us out now," Marlenes eyes widened and she slapped a hand over Peters mouth.
"What the ever loving fuck do you think you're doing?" Marlene hissed, forcing Peter to move back a step along with her.
Peter looked as if he was about to start explaining himself, when the door burst open, masked figures in black cloaks were hauling in...Dead bodies?...
"Shit..." Whispered Peter as he must have recognised who they were, because he froze in place, but not out of fear, no, because when Marlene looked down she was greeted with the horrifying sight of her, family...
Marlene trembled as she stared at the still forms of them all, of Mattias, Mav, Matthew, Felicity, Neil, Tallulah.
Good riddance her parents were already dead...
Her eyes widened with unshed tears, she felt her throat close up from the sheer shock of the sight in front of her.
The blonde girl stumbled back into the bed, her flared jeans brushing against the white bed sheets.
She blinked, the tears falling down her face at rapid pace.
Shit.
Marlene could hear muffled laughs and sneers, but none of it registered, the only thing she could focus on was the fact her family, her family, were dead, and that, was the end for Marlene, no more glue to hold them, her, her, together, no more forced laughter and ungenuine smiles and as she looked up before stumbling forward and onto her knees, she realised just how screwed she really was...
It all came rushing back to her as her blue eyes darted from pale, dead face to pale, dead face.
And then her leg was nudged, and she looked up , and it was...
Pete
Pete?
"Pete?"
The shaggy haired blondes wand was pointed directly at her head, a malicious grin plastered on his freckled face.
"Pete..." The man mocked in a high pitched voice, rolling his eyes and cocking his head, he looked so eerily like Dorcas' old friend Barty Crouch that Marlene just had to flinch away.
Marlenes mouth shot open, but no words came out, he was in a black cloak and was certainly not on his knees next to her.
"W-wha-"
"Oh come on Marlene." Peter said, crouching down to her, hand coming to move the hair from her eyes, Marlene shied away, still in a state of shock.
"You really didn't realise?"
Marlene shook her head, watching as the glint in Pete- the traitors eyes grew into something Marlene had seen plenty of times, though she never thought she would ever be scared of it...
Marlene watched as her childhood best mate, her brother laughed with the enemies, but then she realised, Peter's an enemy too... And that, made something in her boil.
"You cunt, you fucking cunt." But Peter didn't even flinch, he didn't even have the audacity to look slightly ashamed, his smile only grew into an expression she could only describe as one word, monster.
"Oh, boo-hoo," Peter whined.
"Are you scared? The great Marlene McKinnon lost her nerve?"
Marlene never realised he could be so cruel, and all of a sudden flashes of the boy he used to be, the boy she used to know came to the fore-front of her mind.
The first time they met, every scraped knee, every lost tooth, every hand shake, every botched performance of Eleanor Rigby, and as they got older, Rhiannon, every squabble, every crying session, every sleepover.
And when Marlene opened her eyes she no longer saw the short, blonde haired boy with a random band shirt and gap-toothed smile, she saw a racist man ready to kill someone he loves, she saw a monster.
The surrounding death eaters were getting restless, nudging Peter to do it, to... " Kill the filthy half-blood." Marlene scoffed inwardly, the only reason they called her filthy was because the McKinnon's were a pureblood line before her dad shacked up with a muggle, but you don't see them spiting on and cursing the likes of Severus Snapes name and family line...
But the thing is, the underlying truth was that Marlene saw it, in his features, Peter was amused, she's going to die... But not before she could give him one more defiant look...
"Shit." was the last thing that came tumbling from her mouth, but it was drastically different to her last thought, which was a lot more soft, more meaningful, she supposed, but she had to go out with at least one curse word in her dying breath, because she's Marlene fucking McKinnon, or she was anyway...
But her last thought, she hoped, would have wiped that smug smile off his damned face.
"Was it something I did?"
That was the final thing to be echoed into the empty, dark abys that was...Marlene.
Was it something I did?