Marlene
Marlenes heart beat in her throat as tears welled in her eyes. Panic. Utter panic was coursing through her.
She’d been asleep in bed when she felt cloth against her mouth, cool hands dragging her away. No matter how hard she kicked and punched he held firmly. Tying her joints.
She could see but not speak. The death eaters had forced themselves into her home. Had tied up her family and lined them like dolls against their living-room wall.
Her three brothers sat beside her. Danny’s cheeks were blotchy from his tears. Maxwell had his jaw set, a forced hardness in every angle of his face. Dougal was shaking in terror but trying to repress it.
She didn’t want to give these assholes the satisfaction of watching her crumple but it was so so hard. They had her entire family. Her father bound and gagged as well, trying to reach for his wife and children. Her mother huffing with outrage and trying to scream curses at the death eaters.
These cowards didn’t even have the balls to look her in the eyes as they killed her. They wore their precious little masks as they had the gall to break into her home.
She tried to fight the tears. To focus on the rage. But it was hard, so so hard. She wanted to see her friends. There was so much she still wanted.
She wanted to feel Dorcas lips against hers again. Tease Lily. Drink until dawn with Mary. Gossip with Sirius. Play quidditch with James. Drink afternoon tea with Remus.
She didn’t want to die. She didn’t want her family to die either. Not Danny, who was busy as a quidditch player, trying to make his dreams come true. Not Maxwell who was about to graduate auror training. Not Dougal who’d just gotten a promotion in the muggle liaisons office. Not the brothers she’d grown up with. The ones she’d played quidditch with. How they didn’t want her with so she’d practiced on her own before they chose to let her join.
The brothers she’d rumbled with. Fighting over a bag of chips. The brothers that would always poke fun at her.
Yet Dorcas flooded her mind. Her nose scrunched up, a slytherin hat atop her braided hair, a smile playing on her lips as she kissed her on a snowy day in their sixth year. The way she bit her lip, a cheeky grin hiding in the corners of her mouth when she read something spicy. That determined gleam in her eyes as she zoomed the air to reach a bludger before her.
Her gentle hands caressing her face. Her fierce kisses. All of her. How she loved waking up to her small tender smile as she dragged her fingers through her hair. Now she would never see her again.
She’d never see her friends either. It hurt like hell. Like a physical ache in her chest. A roaring thunderous hole threatening to swallow her whole. Rage and sorrow.
Who did these assholes think they are? Creeping into her home and slaughtering her family? She tried to push aside the fear and just focus on that ember of fiery hatred.
The cowards. Not even daring to face them but wearing masks. Attacking nine on six in the middle of the night.
“Kill the father first” ordered a gruff voice and gestured to a scrawny death eater who pulled out his wand and pointed it at her father.
Her heart stopped. No no no she thought. Her eyes were wide open as a flash of green light whooshed for her father. There was a thick lump in her throat. Dougal cried out in anguish. She couldn’t make a sound. All the words had caught. The scream lodged in her chest. Despite his alcohol issues and her sometimes complicated feelings for him she still loved him.
“The mother” the gruff voiced death eater gestured to a huge male one. Even in the dark and with a mask she recognised him. Mulciber. She’d been on his bad side too many times not to. But what really made her boil was what he did to Mary. A “prank”.
She’d never forgiven him and she’d always dreamed of murdering him herself. Now he would kill her mother. The brute bastard. What he lacked in brains he made up for in cruel strength. But he wasn’t a friendly giant.
He fucking used the imperious curse on her. Then sexually assaulted and humiliated Mary before shoving her in a broom cupboard. It was fucking cruel. And she loathed him. With every fiber of her being did she hate him.
“Avada Kedavra” he pointed his wand and there was a thud as her mother slumped to the floor. Her idol. Gone. She couldn’t process it. It was she who had taught her, her one value. That no man would ever control her. She’d always been a queen.
The leading death eater gestured for another death eater to take out Maxwell.
“Avada kedavra” His head fell with a thump to the ground. The brother that had always ruffled her hair and smiled a cheeky grin before boarding the train. Who’d write to her when she couldn’t come to Hogwarts yet. Dark red blood pooled. His lifeless blue eyes staring at nothing. The blood soaked their pyjama bottoms.
“Avada Kedavra” Danny slumped against the wall. The brother that had trained for hours on end with her when she wanted to try out for beater. Who’d wheezed laughing when the bludger missed the mark by like 100 feet, hitting a land-post instead. Only a mop of blond hair visible from her now dead brother.
“Avada Kedavra” Dougal fell against her. The brother who’d protected her when father was drunk and scary. Who’d brought her to his room and placed his hands over her ears. Who had soothed her when she’d cried. The softest of her brothers. Who loved books and cozy autumn days. His skin was cold as ice. Forgotten tears dampening her nightgown. Light honey brown wavy hair tickling her cheek.
Her heart felt heavy in her chest. Beating hard to make up for the time it would lose. The room felt like it was pressing in on her. Stealing her breath. This was it. Now she would join her family in death. She’d become just another name on Voldemort’s kill list.
Every instinct screamed for her to run. To flee the stench of blood and death. To break apart in a sobbing mess. Just fall into the depth of despair that was her chest. An iron fist clenched around her heart.
A death eater stepped out pointing a wand in her face. A stray tear escaped down her cheek before she could stop it. She forced herself not to cry despite the burning in her eyes. The lump in her throat.
“Fuck you” she croaked around the cloth in her mouth. He got the jist though.
The last thing she ever saw was the flash of green light. Then she saw no more.