Chapter 2
The sky is still dark as the last Death Eater disapparates, though it does little to hide the atrocities around her. As the sounds of battle fades from the street, faces slowly begin showing themselves in windows and doorways. Muggle couples and small toddlers and teenagers only a few years younger than her, all whose memories will be gone in the next hour. Dorcas’s heart pangs in sympathy, but that falls away as her eyes land on the bodies of muggles littering the streets—all people she couldn’t save. Some died before the Order had arrived, others just caught in the crossfire between the light and the dark.
Some muggles show signs of prolonged torture, and Dorcas turns away as her stomach lurches. She scans the faces of the Order members who had gone on the mission with her, looking for any gaps in their ranks. Not many had gone, the notice they had for the raid was too short.
They had heard from one of their lookouts that Death Eaters had appeared in a small muggle town and Dorcas, along with the Prewett twins Gideon and Fabian, and three other Order members had immediately left to stop the attack.
One of Dumbledore’s soldiers—Vance, if she remembers correctly—is leaning heavily against Gideon, her leg having sustained some damage, though thankfully that seems to be the most harm done to anyone in the Order.
Dorcas lets herself take one breath before she draws back her mask. All she wants at the moment is to see Marlene again, but she has to finish the job. The Order spends the next 30 minutes removing bodies from the street, keeping an eye out for more Death Eaters, and obliviating muggles.
Dorcas is eternally grateful her job isn’t to be the obliviator. She doesn’t have it in her to look into a child’s eyes as she wipes their memory. She knows it’s necessary of course, but she hates the idea of her or any of her friends losing their memory of a life-changing event and wouldn’t be able to stand doing it to another human being.
By the time everything is dealt with, rays of sunlight are just starting to show over the tops of the houses. Vance has already been apparated away to get medical attention and most of the fighters have left.
Before she leaves, Dorcas goes to debrief with the Prewetts. She doesn’t mind them too much, and she knows Remus is pretty fond of them, but she has to admit she doesn’t care much for anyone in the Order.
She doesn’t want any of them to die of course but they all seem far too stuck in Dumbledore’s pocket. The exception is her friends, but even many of them worship the ground he walks on.
When her job is finally over, Dorcas closes her eyes, envisioning the cozy flat she shares with her girlfriend, and spins on the spot.
When the disorienting process is over, she enters the flat calling out “niffler” as she walks in. It’s a safety precaution everyone has these days. A random word or phrase only the people living in the house and close friends or family would know so as to prevent the very real threat of polyjuice potion.
The word Marlene and Dorcas had agreed upon was random but also held meaning, reminding them of the care of magical creatures class they had been paired up in during fifth year. It was the first time they had spoken more than a passing word to each other, though Dorcas had been pining for a year or two at that point.
Only seconds after she closes the door, Marlene comes running into the room, slipping a little in her socks on the hardwood floors. They stare at each other for only a second before Marlene throws herself into Dorcas’ arms. Dorcas knew that no matter how many times they were sent on missions, being the one left at home would always be a terrifying, anxiety-inducing event. She didn’t doubt that Marlene had not slept since Dorcas was called away at two in the morning.
Her arms automatically come up to wrap around her girlfriend, but it takes a minute before she feels the tension leave her. She concentrates on exiting the battlefield mindset she entered when called away to stop a raid, also slipping off the mask she wore around other members of the Order to protect her identity.
Only a minute later she feels the tears start to come, and Marlene gently leads her to their bedroom. When they are sitting on the bed, Dorcas buries herself in Marlene’s arms, her body shaking.
After she’s all cried out, Marlene pulls back and stands up, leaving the room. She comes back a moment later, two cups of tea in her hand.
Dorcas knows most of her friends have different habits and coping mechanisms for after dealing with a raid. Whenever Dorcas came back from a raid, she and Marlene would both stay silent until after they had finished the tea, giving Dorcas the time she needed to organize her thoughts before she told Marlene everything.
When the last drops of tea are gone from their cups, Marlene looks expectantly at Dorcas. Dorcas took a deep breath and began to talk.
“No Order deaths,” is the first thing out of her mouth. Dorcas sees Marlene release the slightest bit of tension from her shoulders. “Vance was the only one injured and not badly.”
Marlene nods and takes Dorcas’s hands in her own, massaging them.
“We fought in the streets. You could see children watching through the windows. They had been publicly torturing people before we arrived. No reason or pattern, just anyone who was outside. I guess we just have to be grateful they didn’t burn or blast apart any houses today,” Dorcas says bitterly. Marlene shudders slightly at the mention of the last raid Dorcas had been sent on.
Dorcas goes quiet then. It hadn’t been that bad, as far as raids went. For a little under a year, Voldemort’s Death Eaters had been going on raids, invading muggle towns to burn, steal, kill, and torture. Most of the missions Order members went on were with the intention of stopping these raids, though Death Eaters often left as they arrived. The fighting that had occurred that morning was a fairly rare occasion though certainly not unwelcome. Dorcas had been itching for a fight and she felt a lot of that restless energy drain away.
Dorcas lets out a small sigh but then smiles softly at Marlene. “Can we just sleep now?” Dorcas asks softly.
“Of course, Cas,” Marlene says.
The two climb into their shared bed, Marlene’s arms instantly going around Dorcas’s waist, pulling them closer together.
“I love you,” is the last thing Marlene whispers before Dorcas falls into a deep sleep, blessedly free of nightmares.
– - – - –
Later that day finds Dorcas at Potter Manor trying to have a relaxing day with her friends. She’s in the kitchen making tea when she hears her friends get an owl in the sitting room. Moments later the room goes oddly silent. Dorcas abandons the tea and returns to the sitting room, preparing for the worst.
She enters the room just in time to see Sirius transform into his familiar dog form and run past her, bounding up the spiral staircase in the foyer. Remus just looks sad and quickly follows his lover out the room. Dorcas quickly scans the rest of the room but thankfully none of her friends look like they were too impacted by whatever news was received.
“Who sent the letter? What did it say?” Dorcas asks sharply. Seconds later, she answers her own question as her gaze falls on the owl still sitting on the windowsill. She knows this owl almost as well as her own. After six years of interactions, Dorcas thought that Evan Rosier’s haughty owl was finally warming up to her.
Dorcas turns on her heel, preparing to storm Sirius’s room and pry the letter from his hands if she has to.
A light touch on her shoulder stops her. She briefly considers shaking it off, sprinting up the stairs to interrogate Black, but she holds herself back.
Her mind is filled with Regulus and the last time she saw him, standing at the very back of her graduation ceremony. He was staring stoically ahead as McGonagall shook hands with a grinning Sirius.
Gentle hands turn her around and Marlene gives her a quick hug, grounding her. Dorcas pulls back quickly, not one to fall apart so easily over something so small. Despite the nap she had, she was still a little tense and sleep deprived.
Mary is looking at her with something akin to pity and of all her friends, Dorcas expects to see a similar look on James’ face. Instead it seems like he didn’t even notice his surroundings, his countenance worried and conflicted. He almost looks like he wants to sprint after Sirius as much as she does. It makes her pause but it’s quickly pushed out of her mind.
Marlene is speaking softly to her, “give them 15 minutes. If neither of them have come down by then, we can go up.”
Dorcas gives a sharp nod, before spinning on her heel to return to the tea she left in the kitchen. A few minutes later, she has calmed down enough to see that giving Sirius some space is the right idea, and she returns to the sitting room where her friends are talking quietly. Lily gives her a kind smile as she enters, blessedly free of pity, and Dorcas gives a small smile in return.
15 minutes seem to pass in slow motion and also way too fast and before she knows it, Marlene is holding her hand as they walk up the staircase.
“Try and be understanding,” Marlene says to her. Dorcas scowls as she remembers all the days Regulus had curled up in her bed and tried not to cry as he thought about his brother. Those last days before some break where he would be expected to return to that horrible house, and Dorcas would watch as he became more and more withdrawn.
But she also remembers seeing Sirius in the halls after he would return from a break. His eyes were haunted and his hands would tremble slightly like a victim of the cruciatus curse. As much as she wishes he had tried harder to take Regulus with him when he went to the Potters’, she understands that he had to get out.
It’s this thought alone that stops her from pounding on Sirius’s door. Instead, she knocks smartly on the door, slightly harder than she meant to. When there is no response she knocks again, lighter this time, before her hand drops from the door, falling limply at her side.
A moment later the door opens to show Sirius tucked against Remus, his eyes rimmed red. In his shaking hands is a piece of parchment.
“Can I please read it?” Dorcas hates how weak her voice sounds.
Sirius looks poised to spit out a vehement refusal but Remus places a hand on his shoulder. They look at each other and seem to debate with their eyes before Sirius sighs and looks down. Without looking up, he holds out the parchment.
Dorcas tries not to rip it out of his hands but she grabs it eagerly nonetheless.
It’s short and succinct and very much Evan. Despite what most would think, Evan was always the dramatic one, not Barty. Evan was always just more Slytherin about it. Only nine words yet it sends her mind spiraling. She feels Marlene reading over her shoulder and shifts to allow her a better view. When they’ve both read it, Dorcas looks up and holds the parchment out to Sirius. He grabs it but she doesn’t let go.
Dorcas makes eye contact with Sirius, imbuing as much determination and confidence as possible into her gaze.
“We will save your brother.” Dorcas is proud of the steadiness in her voice. “Whatever happened, Evan and Barty won’t let anything harm Regulus. Besides, Regulus is a big boy. He can handle himself.” Sirius’s lips quirk up and Dorcas smiles internally. “Come on. We have a Black to rescue.”
The hair flip Dorcas does, along with the sway in her hips as she walks away, has Marlene’s jaw on the floor.