#you scream for and at catherine until her face appears on the screen and she says 'we both failed the coin toss. now simon and catherine ge

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Window

New Story! FFN and AO3

What if the Marauders were able to watch Harry's adventures? And what if Marlene and Sirius were the reason they could?

There was a writer who pulled all of their stories within the last year maybe two. I've searched everywhere to no avail. I don't remember the writer's screen name, but I remember their stories. What follows is my version of one of their stories that I miss terribly. If you know this writer and where their stories may be now, I'd love to know where to find them.

Window

Marlene hit the ground hard. She knew it was coming, she knew there was nothing she could do for it, but the result still jarred her. She pushed up from the white floor and looked around.

"Catherine! Mum! Dad!" Tears welled in her eyes as she looked desperately around for her family.

"Marlene!

Marlene spun around just in time to catch Catherine as she flung herself at her.

"Where are Mum and Dad?"

"I don't know!" Catherine cried as she clung to Marlene. "I don't know!"

"Shh, Cathy," Marlene stroked her sister's hair. What she wouldn't give for a place to sit!

And then there was a white bench just to her left. Marlene stared at it a moment before guiding Catherine to sit with her.

"What in Merlin's name is this place?"

"Marlene, are, are we dead?" Catherine looked around them, her face just as fearful as it had been when the Death Eaters barged in.

"I'm pretty sure we are." Marlene strained to see any signs of her parents. "I wish I knew where Mum and Dad were."

"Marlene! Catherine!"

"Dad!" Catherine called out, trying to move toward the sound, but Marlene held her close.

"We're coming girls!" Their mum called back. "Stay there! We're coming!"

Marlene squinted and finally caught sight of her parents coming towards them.

"Mum!" Catherine bolted from the bench and ran into their mum's outstretched arms, Marlene hot on her sister's heels.

"Merlin, I'm so glad we found you two!" Her dad's voice was thick with emotion and Marlene let the tears fall in relief that she wasn't alone here.

"What do we do, Daddy?" Catherine clung to him like she was four-years-old instead of going on fourteen.

"Well," he hedged, but before he could say more the sound of steam erupted from the other side of the bench Marlene had wanted and they turned to see a train with one passenger coach behind it.

Cautiously, they approached the train, and Marlene began groping for her wand but came up empty-handed, as did her parents.

"I think we're supposed to get on." Her mum walked towards the open door. "I feel like this is the next step."

Feeling suddenly bemused, Marlene reached out to touch the train when she thought she heard her name. It was distant, almost too far away to hear, but as she strained to hear it a window seemed to open and she knew instantly what she was hearing.

"Sirius!"

The window cleared and through the floor, she watched horrified as Sirius pulled her lifeless body from the flaming safe house that she'd been killed in.

"Sirius!"

All she could hear was him screaming her name over and over. She collapsed to her knees looking out at the horror unfolding before her.

"Sirius!"

Sirius' screams grew louder in her ears and Marlene pounded in the window trying desperately to break through to him until her dad grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.

Marlene clung to her dad, unable to breathe or whatever blasted thing she was doing now as her sobs shook her body. She didn't want Sirius to be the one left behind! He needed her! He had everyone against him! It was supposed to be her! She had been so certain it would be her that would be left to go on without him!

"Let's get on the train, Marly," her dad tried to soothe her. "There's nothing we can do now."

"No!" Marlene pulled back and looked back at the window as James took Sirius back to Godric's Hollow with him. "I have to know he's alright." She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and nodded to the train. "Go on ahead, I'll catch the next one."

"Marlene," her dad objected, but her mum cut him off.

"Let her make sure, Angus. You'd do the same for me."

"Else, what if another train doesn't come for her? I won't leave her here to lose her."

"Another train will come when I tell it to." Marlene turned away from the gut-wrenching sight of Sirius sobbing into Lily and James. "I wanted a bench and that bench appeared. Catherine asked what was next and the train appeared. I'll be able to get a train any time I want, and I'll be able to tell it to take me exactly where this one takes you."

Her dad looked critically at the train before its black coach turned red.

"Just testing," he gave Elspeth a sheepish smile when she laughed.

"Promise you'll be quick," Catherine hugged her as tight as she probably could. "As soon as Sirius is alright, come on ahead."

"I promise," Marlene hugged her back, and let the tears fall when her parents joined in on the embrace. "I promise I'll be with you just as soon as they've got everything settled and I know he's alright "

"He's a strong lad," her dad cupped her cheek. "You'll see, he'll make it through this."

Marlene nodded and waved as her family boarded the train. "I'll be right behind you!"

They waved out the window and Marlene watched until the train blurred and disappeared into a bright white light ahead of them.

Then she turned back to her window to the living world, but as Sirius' screams faded, the window went silent. It was eerie and heart-wrenching to sit in the dead quiet and watch Sirius slowly go mad with his grief; she almost wished she hadn't made the window in the first place. That she'd never heard him scream her name.

Sirius was broken, broken in a way she had never seen before. At this point, he was at the Potter's, but even baby Harry couldn't bring him out of the fog he seemed to be in. Marlene wished someone could be there with her, to fill the silence. But at the same time she didn't, because someone joining her would mean they'd fallen too.

She took to watching Sirius slowly become self-destructive in his grief, throwing himself into every battle in a fury, like he wanted to die or to kill or anything that might alieve the pain. She was so focused on watching Sirius, Marlene nearly screamed when someone said her name behind her.

"Marlene?"

She spun around and gawked at Dorcas Meadowes.

"No."

Doe shrugged. "They got my family right after you and yours. I had to try."

Marlene jumped to her feet and pulled her friend into a hug.

"Doe, I'm so sorry!"

"Me too, I just wish I'd told someone I was going after Voldemort alone. No one will know what happened or where my body is or anything."

"They love you, Dorcas, they'll find you!" Marlene held her tighter. And for a moment, that's all they did, hold each other and cry at how life had thrown them out long before they'd been ready to leave.

"So, what do we do?" Doe looked around and wiped at her eyes.

"If you want to go on to your family, we just summon a train and you tell it you want to go on ahead to where they went." Marlene glanced back down at the window. "Or you can sit with me and watch to see if Sirius makes it through this."

"Did your family already go on ahead?" Dorcas looked at the window as Remus lifted Sirius from the ground behind their flat.

"Yeah, but I needed to make sure he's alright before I move on. I can't leave him completely alone."

Doe took her hand and squeezed it. "Then I'll keep you company. Sirius is tough, he'll find a way to push forward."

Marlene hoped she was right as they sat down on her bench next to the window and watched.

"There's no sound?" Doe moved her head closer to the window.

Marlene shook her head. "I haven't heard anything since Sirius pulled my body from the safe house."

"Well," Dorcas grinned at her, "Maybe we can pass the time by guessing what all our friends are saying."

Marlene laughed, grateful that she had Dorcas with her now. It was better to be with someone than to be alone.

"Can you control it, the window and what it sees?" Dorcas asked after they'd watched a few days pass.

"I don't know," Marlene frowned. "It appeared because I could almost hear Sirius right before we were going to board the train and as I was trying to hear him, I willed it here I suppose."

"Why not try and move it around? See what Remus is doing." Doe didn't meet Marlene's eye as she gave her suggestion.

Reluctantly, Marlene willed the window to show them Remus, and the image flitted a moment before showing them Remus in a pack of werewolves.

"That's what Dumbledore has him doing?!" Dorcas screamed and jumped up from her seat. "That's his undercover mission?!"

Marlene stared horrified as Remus ran with the pack. Suddenly it made sense, all the full moons that Remus had been Merlin knew where, the weeks on end that he'd been gone, and most of all, his refusal to talk about what he was doing.

Marlene felt sick. Sirius and she had suspected Remus of disloyalty. And all along, it was Dumbledore pushing him to do something he hated. She had trusted Dumbledore! How could he do something like this!

"Move it, please!" Doe choked out, falling back onto the bench. Marlene instantly willed the window to her godson.

Seeing baby Harry usually helped calm her down when she'd been alive. And she was grateful to Doe for helping her find that she could come back to this a respite when she couldn't take watching Sirius deprive himself of sleep, food, and personal safety.

"I never told him," Dorcas muttered through her tears.

"That you knew he was a werewolf?" Marlene wrapped her arms around Doe's shaking shoulders.

"That too, I knew he wouldn't appreciate knowing I had figured that out, but Marly…" Doe looked down at the window as Harry slept soundly in his crib. "I loved him. I loved him and I never told him."

"Oh, Doe," Marlene held on to her friend, wondering after seeing the hell Sirius was going through if maybe Dorcas had done the right thing. At least Remus would be spared the agony Sirius was experiencing.

"I wish I'd told him, like you and Sirius, or James and Lily," Doe sniffed. "Then I'd have something to hold onto. Now it's just regret."

And as selfish and as hard as it was, Marlene was grateful she did have something other than regret to hold onto. She had memories that were dearer to her than anything else in this new life she was experiencing. In a small way, she still had Sirius.

It took a few more days to figure out they didn't need to watch entire days pass. They could skip ahead. Apparently, time worked differently when you were dead.

But as they skipped through, it became obvious that something was off inside the Order. They were constantly being ambushed, and safe houses were being found, and the members were meeting in smaller groups. When Marlene had died, they were worried that the Death Eaters were making some good guesses, but now it was obvious there was something bigger going on.

"I think they have a mole," Dorcas said.

"Should we try and figure out who it is?" Marlene fretted as Sirius cornered Kingsley after an Order meeting.

"That might drive us mad Marly. We can't warn them or alert them or anything. We can only watch."

"You're probably right," Marlene sighed, but she wasn't convinced. After all, Sirius had called out and she'd heard him, maybe it could work the other way?

So she watched and paid attention. She made excuses to check in on the Order members, see how they were all doing. She didn't think Dorcas really believed her innocent excuses, but that didn't really matter to Marlene. What mattered was trying to do something to save everyone else. She couldn't move on until she knew they were alright, until she knew Sirius was alright.

Time didn't mean much now, but Marlene was pretty sure it was Halloween as she stopped the window, checking in on Peter to be sure the Death Eaters hadn't found his hiding spot.

"A faraway part of me feels like we should have popcorn or something." Dorcas laughed. "But I haven't really wanted anything like that since I got here."

Marlene bumped Doe's shoulder with her own. "Look at us, a couple of old dead girls."

"At least we don't look old," Doe laughed.

Marlene laughed and turned to the window; Peter slowly moved out of the little hiding place he'd been in since he was made the Potter's secret keeper.

"Where is Pete going?"

Dorcas frowned, "What's he thinking? He's supposed to be staying put."

Marlene willed the window to follow Peter and felt dread build in her stomach.

"What if…?"

"No," Dorcas shook her head, "He wouldn't." But her voice betrayed her concern.

The two women watched horrified as Peter went right into Voldemort's den, and straight to the monster himself.

Marlene was two steps ahead of Peter.

"We've got to warn Sirius!"

Instantly the window shimmered to Sirius at Headquarters and Marlene screamed for all her might, but Sirius didn't hear her. He spoke with Arthur as if their best friends weren't in mortal danger and Marlene could have killed him. But he didn't know, he couldn't know. No one would suspect Peter of this!

"Marlene! Move it to James and Lily!" Dorcas shook her arm. "We might be able to get them to hear us!"

Marlene threw the window to the Potter's, and panic struck as she saw their wands weren't anywhere near them.

"Lily!" Marlene screamed. "Lily!"

Doe yelled with her, but their voices fell on deaf ears.

Then Voldemort was there. Peter had betrayed them.

Marlene swung the window back to Sirius.

"What are you doing?!" Doe yelled.

"They need help!" Marlene yelled back before concentrating with all her might as she looked down at Sirius.

"Get to James, Sirius! Get to James!"

For a brief moment, Sirius seemed lost in thought, and then to Marlene's relief, he shook Arthur's hand before moving towards the door.

"I think he's going!" Doe cheered, "I think you did it!"

Marlene gripped Dorcas' hand and shifted the window back to the Potter's as Lily went running up to Harry's room and James tried to hold the stairs - wandless.

"Come on, Sirius," she whispered, but it was already too late.

James fell.

"No!" Marlene shouted, but Dorcas had jumped to her feet.

"James!" She yelled. "James, it's Dorcas! Marlene is here too! James!"

"Doe?" James called back.

"James!" Marlene called out to him. "James, hurry!"

The sound of pounding strides grew louder until James appeared and veered to the girls.

But when he made it to them there were tears streaming down his face and he collapsed next to them, sobbing uncontrollably. Marlene knew she should be comforting him, but she watched, fixated and horrified as Lily pleaded for Harry's life.

"It's all my fault!" James sobbed.

"No! James! This isn't your fault!" Dorcas tried to soothe him.

"I trusted him! I called him my friend!"

"We all did, James. We were all fooled."

Marlene recoiled from the window as Voldemort raised his wand against Lily.

"What's wrong?" Dorcas looked over at Marlene as she fell backward.

Marlene couldn't think straight. She thought for sure she had managed to get to Sirius! She thought he was going to make it in time. She thought it would be alright!

"Lily!" Marlene managed to choke out, and James jumped from his collapsed stance on the floor.

"Lily!" He cried. "Lily!"

Dorcas stood too. "Lily! Lily, we're here! Lily!"

"James!"

"Lily!" James spun around in circles. "Lily!"

And then they saw her. Lily came running right into James' arms.

"I'm sorry!" She sobbed. "I'm sorry! I couldn't stop him! I'm sorry!"

"It's my fault," James held her close, "No, it's all my fault."

Marlene's mind was still spinning, but one thought finally pushed through the muddled cacophony.

Harry.

Marlene scrambled back to the window and cringed as Voldemort pointed his wand at Harry. But then, the strangest thing happened. It was as though the spell backfired, and the house nearly blew to pieces. Marlene panicked and focused all her will on seeing Harry through the window. And once the dust had cleared, crying in his crib, sat her godson.

"He's alive!"

"What?" Dorcas moved to the window.

"Harry?" Lily looked down at the window. "Is that my Harry?!"

"Marlene made a window to the living world when she got here." Dorcas nodded.

"What happened?" James looked down, running a hand along the image of Harry.

"Voldemort's curse backfired somehow, it blew up him and your house, but Harry's still there."

"This is all my fault," James sat on the floor next to the window, his hand stroking Harry's head like there wasn't so much distance between them. "Merlin, I've made such a mess of everything!"

"Marly," Lily reached out her fingers caressing the window where Harry's cheek was. "What's going on?"

"We're dead," Marlene sighed. "This is where you first come when you're dead. When you're ready to move on, there's a train that comes and takes you to what's next. I accidentally made a window back to the living, and I decided to stay and watch till I knew Sirius was alright."

"Sirius!" James gripped Lily's shoulder. "Lily! Everyone thinks Sirius is our secret keeper! They'll think this was him!"

Lily's eyes went wide. "No, no, they'd listen to him! They'll give him veritaserum and get the truth! They'll know it's Peter!"

James took a steadying breath but his eyes were still wild. "Right. You're right. They'll listen to Sirius. He'll make sure Harry ends up with him. Dumbledore will keep the Ministry from jumping to conclusions."

"Is that Hagrid?" Dorcas pointed back to the window as two enormous hands picked up Harry.

"I think so," Marlene watched the big man wrap a dusty blanket around her little godson. "That must mean the Order's been alerted."

Hagrid moved carefully through the house, and Marlene noticed that he'd moved the bodies of her friends from their crumpled positions to lay side by side on the floor in the broken sitting room.

And as Hagrid moved to the front garden, Marlene saw Sirius.

He stood outside the house looking absolutely dead inside. He reached for Harry as Hagrid carried the baby out.

"What's going on?" Lily's voice carried an undertone of panic. "Why isn't Sirius taking Harry? Why is he giving Hagrid his bike?"

"We'll have the window follow Hagrid first and then we'll see where Sirius went." Dorcas soothed her. "I'm sure it'll make sense."

Marlene nodded, but she honestly believed that they'd be joined by Sirius before she could get the window back to him. Because if she was in his shoes, she'd be looking to take Peter out by any means necessary, even if it killed her.

They followed Hagrid as he flew across England but when he landed Lily gasped.

"No!"

"What's wrong?" Marlene looked frantically through the window, trying to see what danger was there.

James' face was bleak. "Hagrid's brought Harry to Petunia."

"Is that bad?" Doe frowned as Dumbledore set Harry down in front of the door. "He's not even going to knock?"

"Petunia would tell him to take Harry as far away from her as possible if he did," Lily growled. "Marly, get the window to Sirius. I'm going to scream for him to get my son until all of Hell hears me."

Marlene chuckled but quickly directed the window to Sirius.

"What's he doing?" Dorcas peered closer as they watched Sirius move swiftly through a crowded street.

"He's tracking Peter," Marlene answered.

"He needs him alive," James shoved his hand in his hair. "Please, Pads, take him alive."

It all played out in a terrifying way. Sirius finally cornered Peter, but the rat blew up half the street, cut off his finger, and then transformed and ran off.

Sirius stood stunned at what had just happened. And then she heard the sound of him laughing. It was the kind of laugh that if Marlene slept anymore it would feed her nightmares. It was the laughter of someone who knew they were doomed, someone who had no hope left, and hearing it come out of the man she loved most was killing her all over again.

Marlene pulled away from the window and tried to block out the sound. Sirius' screams were less painful than this. The laughter that bordered on insanity was like a knife in her heart slowly being spun, and the pain brought stars to her eyes.

Marlene sat curled in on herself until Lily touched her arm.

"Marly, Marly, please, please, get the window to show us Harry."

It was excruciating, the broken sound in Lily's voice, Sirius' laughter ringing in her ears, and knowing that when she moved the window to Harry he'd be sitting alone on a front step. But Marlene pulled herself out of the pain long enough to direct the window to her godson. It ended the sound of Sirius' laughter, leaving her feeling both empty and relieved. Then she moved a small way off from her friends and collapsed into her grief.

It felt like eons that she sat there, and part of her was hoping, waiting for the sound of Sirius' voice to bring her out of this darkness. But as she waited, only the echoes of his insane laughter haunted her ears.

"Marly," Dorcas rested a hand on her shoulder. "Can you show us Sirius? We don't know what happened to him."

"Can none of you move the window?" Marlene looked up from her curled position, pulling her knees closer to her chest as she brushed her curls from her face.

"No, it's your window. It only does what you tell it to do. And we've tried to make our own, it won't work."

Marlene swallowed hard, trying to find any strength within herself. She was needed, and if anything could get her moving and push her to action, it was being needed. As she took Doe's outstretched hand, Marlene felt like her chest was going to collapse, but she moved to her window, shifting it to Sirius.

She immediately regretted the action; seeing Sirius in Azkaban was like nails in her lungs, and in a panic she flung the window back to Harry, collapsing next to Doe and Lily.

It took some coaxing, but slowly Marlene managed to uncrumple herself enough to engage with her friends, but she found little purpose to their existence for a good while.

Watching Harry endure neglect while Lily's indignation slowly went from screaming to just a constant stream of tears and James pulled further and further in on himself was like a slow-acting poison.

Any time she moved the window to check on Remus he was destitute and without friends or home, and it was killing Dorcas.

Marlene wondered if maybe she should summon the train and leave.

She moved the window forward quickly at that point. Trying desperately to find some happiness associated with the world they'd left behind. If they could see one good thing, maybe it would give them the strength to stay.

Then Harry went to Hogwarts. And suddenly it was a rollercoaster as they watched Harry go through his first year. Their excitement at him being sorted into Gryffindor. Their combined fury at Snape not only being a teacher but his treatment of Harry. Lily's indignant screams at the Snape slowly shifting to her muttering curses anytime he dared speak to her son. The confusion at a three-headed-dog in the castle. The celebration when he was put on the Quidditch team. The troll in the castle, and Harry's friendship solidifying with the Weasley boy and girl with bushy brown hair.

It was Christmas that brought the tears.

"I'm so glad he has it." James wiped at his eyes as they watched Harry experiment with the invisibility cloak. "I thought for sure it would be lost forever now."

"Dumbledore had it when we died," Lily reminded him. "I'm sure he knew you'd want Harry to have it." She wiped a tear from her cheek. "At least he got presents this year. He hasn't had Christmas presents since we died."

Marlene shook her head, none of this was what they'd died for. They'd wanted so much more than all this for those left behind.

Watching Harry be a kid and sneak around the castle eased her sadness a small amount, but it did little when they watched Harry and his two friends maneuver the obstacles and then Harry confront Voldemort himself.

"It didn't kill him," Dorcas whispered as Harry fell to the floor, Philosopher's stone clutched in his hand. "He's breathing; he's alive."

Lily reached out to run her fingers over the window. "Is it wrong that part of me wishes it might have? Just so I could hold him and keep him from all of this?"

Marlene shook her head. "That's what mums are supposed to want to do. They're supposed to protect their children."

The next year was an equal roller coaster. Harry had a house-elf trying to sabotage him. Vernon and Petunia put bars on his window. He was rescued by the Weasley kids in a flying car, and then took that flying car to school when the platform didn't open. All of that was emotionally trying enough to watch as Harry's godmother, but when they caught sight of a Basilisk in the castle and it was set loose on the children, Marlene wanted to move through the year just as quickly as they could.

"Marly, wait, try and see their names on their essays," Lily grabbed her arm. "I want to know Harry's friends' names."

It proved useful to know names, especially when Hermione was the next victim to be petrified.

"What are the adults doing?!" Marlene stormed as she sped up the window again. "Why are children fighting this war?! Why is no one doing anything to protect these kids?! What is going on?!"

"Marly! Slow down the window! Harry and Ron are going after the Basilisk!" James' gripped her shoulder.

"For Merlin's sake!" Marlene stopped speeding through time, but she couldn't bring herself to watch, not this time.

"Hey," Dorcas sat down next to her on one of the chairs they'd created away from the window, a little sitting room for the four of them. "Maybe after this all plays out you could check in on Sirius, see how he's doing."

Marlene scoffed. "See how mad the Dementors have driven him?"

"I'm sorry, I thought it might help."

Marlene sighed and took Doe's hand. "Why don't we check in on Remus first, then we can see how Sirius is, and then maybe we won't feel so bad for Harry."

Doe sighed but nodded, "That's a blunt way to go about it."

"I'm sorry," Marlene pulled her into a hug. "I'm angry at the world, not you."

Doe chuckled, "Me too."

Marlene sat with Dorcas, their arms wrapped around each other as they mourned for the living and tried to tune out James' and Lily's screams and cries as they watched Harry.

After what felt like forever, Harry managed to not die again. For not quite thirteen, Harry was already accustomed to people trying to kill him, and it made Marlene sick.

But she'd promised Doe to check in on Remus and so she pushed her disgust at the world away and moved the window ahead a bit and then to Remus.

"Is that Hogwarts?" Lily peered closer. "That looks like the Defense Professor's office."

"But that would mean," James grinned, "The old wolf's going to teach! He's replacing idiot Gilderoy!"

Marlene squeezed Doe's hand as a sad smile touched her lips.

"I bet he's happy." Doe squeezed back. "A steady job, and a place to live, I bet this is everything to him right now."

Marlene let the window follow Remus around for a while, feeling like finally there was some hope for at least some of the people they left behind.

"Marly," Lily took her hand, "Let's check in on Sirius."

Marlene felt her chest constrict. "Don't you want to see Harry?"

James put his hand on her shoulder, "We do, but you haven't moved the window to check in on Sirius since they sent him to Azkaban. You said you were staying here to make sure he was alright."

"And how could he be?!" She pulled away from the Potters. "He's in Azkaban! They deliberately drive you stark raving mad in there! You think we're going to see the man we left behind? No! We're going to see a lunatic! And I don't want that to be what I remember! It's hard enough that the last image I have of him is right after Peter ruined everything! When he'd lost everything! You don't hear anything through the window, but I've heard two things through it since I got here: him screaming my name after I died and his awful laughter when Peter ran off! That's what I get to remember him! That's the nightmare I see if I even think of closing my eyes! Those are the sounds I hear when we let it go silent! I'm dead but I'm the one who's haunted!"

"Marly," Dorcas carefully took her hand, "Marly, it's going to be alright. Why don't you move the window and I'll sit with you over here while James and Lily look in on Sirius."

Marlene didn't know how she would have made it through this without Dorcas to deescalate her. Deliberately, Marlene turned her back to the window and willed it to Sirius, then she sat down on the floor and hung her head in her hands.

"Marlene!" Lily cried.

Marlene ignored her and tried to block out her friend. She didn't want to see this. She didn't want to see what Azkaban had turned Sirius into.

"Marlene!" James grabbed her arm and started pulling her and Dorcas to the window. "Sirius is breaking out!"

"But no one can break out of Azkaban." Marlene shook her head.

"No human can," James grinned and pointed down to the window.

Marlene felt tears well in her eyes. There in the window, sneaking down to the water's edge, was Padfoot.

The image of Sirius as his dog Animagus rushed her with memories; the day he first told her and then showed her he could become a dog; the days he'd turn into a dog because they'd been fighting and she had the hardest time being angry at a big cuddly black dog; the times they'd go undercover so Padfoot could sniff out information; and the times where Sirius would be Padfoot when she got home just so he could get her to laugh after a hard day.

And now Padfoot was swimming to freedom.

"Only took the old dog twelve years to figure it out!" James laughed and kissed Lily. "He can't stay in Britain, but at least he'll be free. Make a new life for himself somewhere."

The moment of elation Marlene had felt was instantly dampened. A new life for Sirius, one that didn't include her.

She'd known, somewhere in the back of her mind, that Sirius could find love again, move on from her, but the realization that it could now be a reality for him made her chest feel like it was imploding - again.

"I wonder where he's going?" Doe mused as Padfoot made it to Scotland's bank.

Marlene watched as he ran and felt a warm glow in her chest as she realized what direction he was heading. Marlene sped up the window to make sure she was right, watching the big back dog run for a couple of days before coming to stop at the cemetery McKinnon's had been buried in for centuries. It didn't take him long to find her, and Marlene felt the tears run down her cheeks as he nuzzled the tombstone with her name carved into the rock. She ran her hand against the window, wishing for all the world she could touch him.

"I love you." She whispered.

Marlene let the window play out the night that Padfoot slept over her grave. That night was a healing balm against the torture that had wreaked havoc on her mind and soul. Her friends seemed to know she needed this, and while she heard them speaking quietly behind her in their sitting area, they didn't intrude on her as she took what little she could from this night of watching Sirius be as close to her as he could be.

When morning came, Sirius nuzzled her tombstone once more before turning South and heading off into the morning, sun barely peeking over the horizon.

Marlene smiled and turned back to her friends. "Shall we skip ahead a bit and see what trouble Harry's managed to find?"

Lily wrapped her in a hug. "Yes, please."

Trouble seemed to be a hopeful term because the group of four were faced with a scene that made them want to laugh and scream at the same time. Harry was inflating a large woman who looked a great deal like Vernon. While that was funny, watching Harry run away into the night was a right side more than concerning.

"What's he doing?" Dorcas cried. "Voldemort has already tried to kill him twice, and now he's running away on his own!"

Marlene scanned around Harry, trying to see danger before it hit her godson. Then she smiled.

"Doe, it's alright! Look, there's Padfoot!"

"That mangy dog," James laughed.

"He should be anywhere else," Lily frowned. "If they find him, they're sure to give him the Dementor's Kiss."

"He's where he wants to be," Marlene smiled down as Padfoot watched Harry, his teeth baring in the smile that she knew was the combination of man and dog.

The Knight Bus arrived moments later and Marlene took one more look at Padfoot before having the window follow Harry. She was glad she had because it was the last comforting thing she saw for a good bit. Harry had the Knight Bus take him to the Leaky, and Diagon Alley was plastered in wanted posters for Sirius. The Weasleys were especially watchful over Harry, which Marlene loved them for, but she hated that they thought they needed to be. They'd been friends, Arthur and Molly had spent time with her family, with her and Sirius, and now they were scared of him.

She was brooding about that as Harry boarded the train when Dorcas gasped.

"Why is he riding the train?"

Marlene looked closer and smiled. "I bet he wanted to see Harry."

"I mean, he is our kid," James smirked and Lily shoved him.

"How can you still have this size of an ego?" She grinned as Harry sat down and looked at Remus.

"I mean, I took on Voldemort without a wand." James grinned at her.

"Merlin, James!" Dorcas laughed.

"What, we've been dead for twelve years, can't we joke about it now?"

Marlene laughed, "Lily, go kiss him and make him be quiet."

But the laughter died on all their lips when Lily pointed to the window. "Are, are those, Dementors?"

"Why are there Dementors on the train?" James moved closer. "Damnit, Moony, wake up!"

And then the compartment door opened to where Harry and his friends were with Remus, and Marlene watched horrified as the Dementor closed in on Harry.

"Remus!" Lily screamed.

As soon as the Dementor came close to Harry, Remus was moving, his wand held high, and Marlene let out a huge breath as he pushed the Dementor out of the compartment and out of the train coach.

"This is unacceptable!" Lily stormed as Remus helped Harry up from the floor. "Why are they letting Dementors on the train?! Why are the Dementors outside of Azkaban?!"

"I bet it's Sirius," Marlene watched as the train started towards Hogwarts again. "I bet the Ministry is scared, and so they've let their fear drive their decisions, just like last time."

"I can't do this!" Lily stormed. "I can't just sit here and watch everything and everyone work against my son! I can't do this!" Lily stomped away from the window, her hands clenched in fists.

"Lils," James went after her, but Marlene couldn't help but feel the same as Lily.

"You were right," she looked over at Doe. "You said this would drive us mad, and it is."

"No," Doe shook her head, "I said figuring out who the mole was would drive us mad."

"Because we wouldn't be able to do anything about it," Marlene pressed her palm into her forehead. "And we can't do anything about any of this either. Why are we torturing ourselves, Doe?"

Dorcas looked down at the window, her eyes falling on the spot Remus had been sitting.

"Because we love them, and we don't really want to move on without them."

It was true. Marlene had told her family that she only wanted to make sure Sirius was alright, but she'd sat at this window for twelve years because she didn't want to get on that train without him, she didn't want to completely leave him behind, she didn't want to move on by herself.

It only got harder to watch, especially when Sirius got into the castle and tried to get into Gryffindor Tower. Marlene couldn't make sense of what he was doing!

"Maybe he did go mad," Marlene turned away from the window as Sirius slashed the fat lady's portrait. When she turned back he was Padfoot again and moving back to the Whomping Willow and the tunnel leading to the Shrieking Shack.

"Something's off," James shook his head. "I think we're missing something."

"This would be a lot easier if we could hear what was going on." Dorcas nodded.

Marlene moved the window away from the image of Sirius kicking the already broken furniture in the Shrieking Shack and back to Harry.

"Well, the only times I hear through the window are when Sirius is at his lowest, so I'm glad I can't hear anything right now."

Lily put a hand on Marlene's shoulder. "I'm sure he hasn't gone mad, Marly. He must have a plan. Sirius always had a plan. He always looked out for us. I'm sure that there's more to this than we can see now."

Marlene wrapped Lily in a hug, the woman who always saw the best in everyone, even when they were stark raving mad.

"Don't change, Lils."

It was a train wreck of a year, the only high points being that Harry got the Marauders map from the Weasley twins, the few moments Remus got to spend with Harry individually, and Sirius managing to send Harry a Firebolt. She smiled at the thought of Walburga Black turning in her grave over the Black fortune funding that.

But when Sirius fully attacked Ron, Marlene lost all hope that he hadn't gone insane.

"What in the name of Merlin and Morgana is he doing?!" She screeched as Sirius drug the boy by his leg, Harry and Hermione running after them.

"Padfoot!" James yelled at the window.

"I swear if he gets Harry killed I'm going to go back down there and strangle him!" Lily stormed as Harry and Hermione fought against the Whomping Willow to get down to the tunnel.

They managed it, thanks to Hermione's cat, and finally found their way to Sirius and Ron. Everything happened very quickly after that. Remus was suddenly there, talking very quickly as the three teens held their wands at him, and then Snape barged in, who Harry, Hermione, and Ron blasted.

"Nice one!" James cheered.

And then it all made sense as Ron handed over his pet rat.

"No!" Lily gasped, "It can't be!"

"It has to be," Marlene watched transfixed as Sirius and Remus revealed the rat to be Peter.

"That slimy traitor!" James growled.

"They'll kill him," Doe looked down with fire in her eyes. "Remus and Sirius won't let him live."

But to their great astonishment, they didn't kill him. They didn't kill Peter, and it looked very much like they weren't killing him at Harry's intervention.

"What is he thinking?" Dorcas shook her head.

"I think he's trying to save Sirius," Lily pursed her lips. "If they can get Peter to admit to what he's done, then Sirius walks free."

Marlene smiled down at Sirius, looking happier than he had since she died. He even looked like he had laughed.

"Then I say I've got a wonderful godson."

But that was the last of the happy moments. As the group emerged back at Hogwarts, the full moon rose and Remus transformed, Wormtail escaped, and Sirius tried to save the children by distracting Remus - with Padfoot's teeth.

Marlene finally had to turn away when the Dementors closed in on Sirius, Harry, and Hermione. She couldn't watch it, not that, not something that would potentially remove any chance of her ever seeing Sirius here, let alone her godson, and poor Hermione - children! They were children! It made her want to vomit and cry and scream until her voice gave out!

Dorcas followed Marlene away from the window and Lily hid her face in James' chest as he watched for all of them.

"He did it!" James cried. "He cast a corporeal Patronus! And it's Prongs!"

Marlene moved back to the window; Harry, Sirius, and Hermione collapsed on the ground. "It took everything out of him though."

"Wait," James looked down. "How did he get there? He was over here a ways when he cast the Patronus."

"Are you sure?" Dorcas looked down.

"I could have sworn…" James trailed off.

"At least he made it through," Lily sighed. "I was so scared we'd lost him for good."

James' confusion was soon explained as they watched Harry and Hermione go back in time and free both Hagrid's Hippogriff and Sirius.

"The only good Dumbledore's done since Voldemort attacked you three - aside from hiring Remus I suppose." Marlene smiled at the Potter's before turning back to watch Sirius fly away.

"Will you find Remus, Marly?" Doe's voice was quiet. "The sun's starting to rise, he should be coming to."

Marlene wrapped her arms around Doe's shoulders and moved the window to Remus. The window revealed him collapsed on the ground in the Forbidden Forest, the effects of his fight with Padfoot plainly evident. Dorcas turned into Marlene's shoulder and quietly cried.

Marlene sped up the window, trying to find something to ease Doe's pain, but nothing that followed brought any of them much comfort. Remus packed up his office and left, apparently, he was sacked, or knowing Remus, he resigned his post. Any time the window was on Harry when he slept, he'd wake up in a panic that had to be nightmares. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were caught up in a Death Eater attack at the World Cup, with them under the Dark Mark when it was cast.

"How could this get worse?" Lily shook her head. "Can we just get them to school?" She pleaded, and Marlene willingly moved the window ahead.

"What if I just moved it ahead till we know everything turns out alright?" She mused.

"I don't think that's a good idea." James shook his head. "I only found you because you called out to me. If you hadn't, I probably would have gotten on a train and moved ahead. If Voldemort gets to Harry, I want to see it so we can make sure we get him here."

Marlene sighed and slowed down the window. "You're probably right."

They watched Harry and his friends walk about their classes; it looked to be a few days into the start of term.

Then Dorcas gasped. "Is that Moody?" They peered down as the students took their seats.

"Merlin's beard!" James laughed. "How did Dumbledore convince him to teach?"

They watched their old mentor lecture, but Marlene frowned as the lesson moved to a demonstration.

"Did he really just use the Imperius Curse on a child?!"

"That's not Moody! Moody would never! He wouldn't!" James pushed his hands against the window as Moody's wand turned to Harry. "No!"

"James," Lily knelt next to him, "James, look! Harry's not giving in! He's not doing anything! He's throwing off the curse!"

Marlene breathed a sigh of relief that her godson was strong enough to throw that off. But they all agreed, someone was parading around in Moody's skin.

"I hate that we can't do anything," Marlene growled as the students moved on to their next classes. "Having to sit and watch it play out is torture. We know something is off but we can't do anything about it!"

"Sirius was able to reach you here," James looked down at Harry, "What if you two are linked somehow? Maybe you could reach him?"

"We tried that," Marlene shook her head. "It didn't work."

"We watched Peter turn you over to Voldemort," Doe explained, "And we screamed our heads off at the two of you to try and warn you. When that didn't work, Marlene tried to reach out to Sirius. We thought it had worked, but if it did, he got there too late."

"So it could have worked!" James latched on to the idea. "You just need to have more time!"

"It didn't work, James." Marlene moved away from the window.

"It didn't work quickly, but you don't need speed here," James followed her. "You just need to tell Sirius to get back to Scotland. If he's where Harry can call on him, then Harry will be safe!"

Marlene turned to argue, but Lily grabbed her hand and looked at her with unshed tears. "Please try, Marly. For Harry."

All her resolve crumbled because Lily had just pulled the one card that always made both her and Sirius fold: Harry.

"I'll try."

Marlene shifted the window to Sirius and his tropical hideout. He looked calm, not happy really, but not insane either. He was sitting under a tree eating a fruit she didn't know the name of but it looked sweet and he was dribbling juice all down the front of his torn and messy shirt. Buckbeak sat next to him tearing into his own fruit.

The image was too serene for her to yell at him, and honestly, she hated yelling at him. They'd moved so far past that when she'd died, they were moving towards the kind of couple that made it eighty years together. She was done yelling. So Marlene sat next to her window and whispered.

"Harry isn't safe, love. You've got to go back. Please, Sirius, get back to Harry, for James, for Lily, for me, get back to Harry."

The Potters and Dorcas looked down over her shoulder as Sirius continued to sit under his tree.

"I told you it wouldn't work." Marlene sighed.

"We don't know that yet." James shook his head. "Try it when he goes to sleep. Maybe you can work your way into his dreams."

Marlene moved the window ahead and tried again. James had her try every night, skipping past the days for her to sit and whisper through her window while Sirius slept.

"Why don't we check in on Harry?" Marlene pushed the aching in her heart down before James could press her to try again. It was torture, to talk to Sirius like he could hear her, like she could do anything to make a difference in his life now, let alone change things for their godson.

James went to protest, but Lily cut him off. "I think we should. I don't trust that he's safe with whoever is impersonating Moody."

Marlene shifted the window back to Harry, moving forward a few more days, but was very confused when the halls of Hogwarts were suddenly awash with students in uniforms that were definitely not Hogwarts uniforms.

"What in the world is going on?" Lily leant in closer.

"Those blue uniforms are Beauxbatons," Dorcas looked down. "My parents considered moving me there my last year when things got really bad."

Marlene squeezed Doe's hand. "I'm glad they didn't."

Dorcas smiled, "Me too."

"What about those other uniforms?" Lily frowned.

"I think that's Durmstrang." James supplied. "But I'm not positive."

"Why are they at Hogwarts?" Lily's frown deepened. "I don't like this."

Marlene moved the window around until they came to a goblet the size of a large cauldron mounted on a pedestal.

"What in Merlin's name is going on?"

"Marly, try and get closer to it, I think I see writing on it." James moved to put his face right up to the window.

"The Goblet of Fire," he said aloud after Marlene had forced the window as close as she could get it. "Why does that sound familiar?"

She frowned, it did sound familiar. Maybe from Binns' class?

"Wait," Lily scrunched her face in concentration, "I think I remember. There's a tournament, we learned about it in the last couple months of History of Magic before we finished Hogwarts."

Doe gasped, "They wouldn't!"

"What?" James' voice sounded sick.

"The Tri-Wizard Tournament, I think they've brought it back!"

"But didn't it kill students almost every time it was held," Marlene protested. "Surely they'd leave it dead and gone."

James shook his head. "Marly, please, please try again to get Sirius to Harry. Everything about this looks wrong."

It killed her, but Marlene knew James was right. Harry needed protection, and if Dumbledore was going to hire an imposter parading around as Moody and allow the Tri-Wizard Tournament back, then Sirius had to be there to make sure someone looked out for Harry.

Marlene willed the window back to Sirius, and to her surprise, she found him in a cave.

"Where in the hell is he now?"

"Pull back," James' had the ghost of a smile on his lips.

Marlene pulled the window back so that they could see where the cave was and James laughed.

"You did it Marly!" He cheered and threw his arms around her. "That cave is one of the ones we'd hide in when we were sneaking around! Sirius is within a mile of Hogwarts!"

But Marlene didn't know if she wanted to believe she was the reason for it, because if Sirius had returned to Scotland because of her, then James and Lily would believe that she could do it again. Marlene didn't know if she could do it all again, only to find out that it wasn't her and to watch it all fall apart - again..

"Let's go back to Harry," Marlene turned away from James. "Sirius is here, let's focus on Harry."

"Mar?" Dorcas put her hand on her shoulder. "You alright?"

Marlene tried to pour everything she wanted to say into a glance before turning back to the window and shifting it to Harry. He was sitting in the Great Hall, at what looked like the Halloween feast.

Doe took her hand. "At least Harry can't compete in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He's underage."

Marlene tried to calm herself, but she couldn't shake the dread that had built inside her since Peter had returned. Nothing looked alright from where they all sat and watched it play out in silence - silence she both cursed and basked in. She could feel the panic rising and closed her eyes, thinking about when she and Sirius would ride his motorcycle away from everything, ride until they felt free again, and lie on blankets over the forest floor and forget the world, forget the awfulness in the past, forget how broken they both felt, and just be; be happy, be content, be in love.

"I thought there could only be three participants." Lily's voice intruded on Marlene's borrowed moment from the past, trying to relive the peace she'd once had.

"There aren't supposed to be more than three," Dorcas' voice had an undertone of panic in it and grudgingly Marlene opened her eyes to see Dumbledore reading from a scrap of paper, and the entire hall looking at one person.

Harry.

Slowly, looking positively terrified, Harry stood and moved towards the front of the hall and back into a room where three other students waited also. Everything that followed was a train wreck, and Sirius being there didn't seem to be helping anything other than to make James feel better.

Marlene tried to keep the window on Harry as much as possible, but her friends were insistent on checking in on Sirius. Dorcas stopped suggesting the idea when every time she suggested it, Marlene always took them to Remus first. Both Sirius and Remus were living in awful places, looking worse and worse every time they saw them, and it was obvious how unhappy they were.

It was too hard, too depressing, and if it wouldn't have killed James and Lily, she would have left the window and got on the train and not cared what came next. Not even seeing Harry struggle with girls could make her smile. She wanted out. But in death as in life, Marlene knew her friends depended on her, needed her, and so she gritted her teeth and stuck it out.

But it only got worse.

James tried to jump through the window when Harry gave the imposter Moody the Marauders' Map. And then he wouldn't talk to her for days when Marlene refused to follow the imposter around to try and figure out who they really were. But she couldn't do it again, try and have an impact on the living. She'd tried that and it didn't work. She wasn't about to spend this time in purgatory in more agony than she needed to.

Watching how awful the living had it was killing her, watching how awful things were for Sirius and Remus was killing her, and knowing that her godson might not make it through the year was killing her, and the irony was she was already dead.

Somehow Harry lived through to the final task. The window followed him through the maze, and Marlene felt a glimmer of pride when Harry didn't leave the other Hogwarts boy behind and the two took up the trophy together.

And then it became a nightmare.

Before they knew what was happening, the other boy was dead.

"Should we call for him?" Dorcas asked in a quiet voice.

"We don't even know his name. We couldn't call for him if we wanted to." Marlene hugged her arms around her middle as she waited for Harry to fall next.

"Poor chap," James pulled Lily into him.

"Er, hello?" A voice spoke from behind them.

Marlene spun and felt her jaw drop. There stood the boy.

"Sorry, but, what's going on?"

Dorcas, wonderful Dorcas, stood and took on the responsibility of guiding this boy.

"Well, you're dead, and if we get you a train you'll be able to move on to what lies ahead."

"What's that?" he pointed to her window.

"It's a window that lets us see what's happening in the world," Dorcas explained.

"Would...would you mind if I watched my friend? He's in a pretty big spot of trouble, and I'd like to make sure he makes it out; if he doesn't I'll go on ahead with him."

"Of course you can watch with us, we're all rather invested in Harry as well."

"You know Harry?" The boy asked as Dorcas led him to the window.

"We're his family." James put a hand on the boy's shoulder as they watched Peter secure Harry to the headstone in the graveyard.

The boy looked at James with wide eyes.

"What's your name?" Dorcas pulled the boy's attention back to her.

"I'm Cedric Diggory."

"Nice to meet you, Cedric," Marlene gave him a sad smile.

He nodded, too in shock to respond to his new surroundings, which was fine, because they were all too engrossed in watching the horrific scene play out before them to engage Cedric in conversation.

And it was horrific. Lily screamed when Peter cut Harry's hand, while James pounded on the window. Marlene shot the window to Sirius to scream at him but he did nothing, so she flung the window back to Harry. Then she turned away, she couldn't watch, she couldn't do this. She wanted to run away to her parents and her sister and forget that the living ever existed. Dorcas grabbed her hand and squeezed it until it hurt as Marlene waited for Harry to join them; there was no way he'd make it out of this one.

Suddenly, Cedric was pulled through the window and they stared as he came out the other end of Voldemort's wand.

"What's happening?" Marlene scrambled to the window to see if she could breakthrough, but it was still as solid as stone to her.

"I don't know," James pounded on the window and tried to push through. "But if he can get through I've got to!"

"James!" Lily screamed as she was pulled through the window.

"Lily!" James grabbed her and amazingly they both went right through the window.

"What the hell!" Marlene looked at Doe and then back at the window.

"I think it's because they were all killed by Voldemort." Dorcas took Marlene's hand in a death grip, "Don't let go of me, I'm not going back."

Marlene squeezed her hand tightly, feeling the fear in Doe's eyes. "I've got you."

They didn't need to worry, James was the last figure to leave Voldemort's wand. Dorcas and Marlene watched as James and Lily cut the bond of Harry's and Voldemort's wands before rushing Voldemort and allowing Harry a chance to get Cedric's body and the cup and make it back to Hogwarts.

Then the three were pulled back through the window. Marlene pulled Lily to her and held her. "I thought we might've lost you both again."

James pulled them and Dorcas into a group hug and Marlene realized how much she needed them. They were a family, they'd been a family in life and in death, and when James and Lily slipped through the window Marlene thought they'd lost each other forever.

A voice cleared behind them and the four friends remembered Cedric.

"So, er, you said I could move on?" He was keeping his back to the window.

Doe was who disentangled herself first. "All you need to do is summon the train."

He opened his mouth to question her, but then stopped when the whistle of steam sounded and he turned to find his train.

"Do I just get on?" He put his hand on the handle of the coach door.

"Yep, this will take you forward."

He paused and turned back to them. "Will you four be alright? Do you want to come too?"

Marlene chuckled at this darling child. "We'll be fine now."

"Go on lad," James put his hand on his shoulder. "You don't have anything to keep you from the next adventure."

Cedric smiled and climbed aboard his coach. He waved once before turning around and disappearing into the distance.

The events from the graveyard had changed Marlene's outlook in that she wasn't taking her friends for granted; she was focusing on the good around her and not just how awful it was for the living. James and Lily were different too. They seemed emboldened, empowered. She could tell they believed now that they could help Harry, that they could really protect him.

Marlene's optimism began to dissolve though when she'd moved the window to check on Sirius and found him at Grimmauld Place. James tried to reassure her that Sirius would be alright, especially with his parents long gone. She had to admit it, Sirius did seem to be better than she'd expected, even though seeing him there filled her with dread.

But when the Dementors came to attack Harry and his cousin in Little Whinging they all felt the foreboding she'd originally felt.

"I don't understand why they keep him there," Dorcas fumed as they watched a woman usher Harry and Dudley back inside the Dursley home and scold a man who Apparated there about the same time. "Surely he'd be safer just about anywhere else."

"He'd be safer with Sirius," James swore. "Marly, try and get to Sirius. I don't know what that woman is going to do, but I want Sirius to be there."

Marlene felt the angry tears pressing on the back of her eyes. "James, it doesn't work."

"Marly, please," Lily was still on the floor, palms pressed against the window as if she pushed hard enough she might fall back through to her son, currently fighting with his aunt and uncle.

Marlene couldn't watch, it made her throat close and her chest ache. Just to keep Lily from reaching for Harry any longer, Marlene nodded and moved the window to Sirius.

He was in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, storming about it as Remus spoke. She'd never reach him in that state, but then she reminded herself that she wasn't going to reach him anyway. She'd never really done it before, she'd never managed to get to him, or at least not fast enough to make a difference for Harry.

"Hurry, Marly," James coaxed.

She sighed and moved to the window, squeezing Lily's hand as she joined her on the floor.

"Sirius," she whispered, "Harry's in trouble, again." She smiled sadly at her words. They used to joke about being there to bail Harry out of the trouble boys normally get up to, breaking windows with Quaffels or Bludgers and sneaking frogs into the house. They had talked about all the fun they'd get up to with him. The kind of trouble that was a little endearing too. Her smile fell though as Sirius slammed his hand down on the kitchen table.

"He already knows, James."

"Then why in Merlin's name is he still there!?"

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's because if he leaves that cursed house he's going to end up with a Dementor's Kiss." Marlene stood and pulled the window back to Harry.

"But he could go as Padfoot," James argued.

"Not if Peter told Voldemort and the Death Eaters about Padfoot." Dorcas pointed out.

Marlene watched as James looked like all the air had been sucked out of him.

"I'm sorry, James," Marlene started towards him but he shook his head and moved away.

Lily gave Marlene a sad smile and went after her husband.

"Nothing is better here," Marlene turned away from the window to look at Dorcas.

"To be fair," Dorcas motioned Marlene to sit with her in the sitting area they'd willed into existence, "we haven't technically moved on. We're not meant to stay here. We're meant to be on the train and heading away from here, away from the living."

"Am I a coward?" Marlene heard the question fall from her lips unbidden.

It was a question Sirius had once asked her, when he had wanted to run, to leave everything behind and never look back.

"You're here," Dorcas smiled, "I think that speaks a lot to your bravery."

"Being killed in a war doesn't necessarily signify that I'm brave, Doe." She leant over her knees and pushed her palms into her forehead.

"No I mean you're here now. You wanted to leave after Sirius went to Azkaban."

"How do you know that?" Marlene's head shot up.

Doe gave her a sad smile. "The train appeared after we watched Sirius go after Peter. We all thought once you could get up, you'd leave us. That was why Lily got you to move the window back to Harry. We couldn't control it and we agreed it should be on Harry when you left."

Marlene slouched forward over her knees again. "I didn't notice the train," she sighed heavily, "but I did think about leaving. I thought watching how awful his life would be was going to drive me insane."

"But you stayed," Dorcas put a hand on Marlene's shoulder. "And that's why you're not a coward. No one would blame you for going on to your family. No one would blame you for not standing by and watching Sirius suffer, watching Harry fight every single second to stay alive. But you're here, you're supporting James and Lily, you're making it possible for me to see Remus now and again. You've made it so we all have a bit more out of this waiting. You've pushed past your own problems to be there for us, and that's certainly not cowardice."

Marlene was quiet a long time before she finally looked up at Dorcas.

"When should we move on? When is it enough?"

Dorcas looked over at the window, Harry sitting alone in his room as the sun set out his window.

"I guess, when things have either resolved, or they're all here with us anyway."

Marlene nodded, turning to watch her godson as he kicked at his trunk, and part of her wished that it could be the latter, the easier, the faster option. She wanted them all out of this misery. She didn't want them living this way. She didn't want them suffering for things out of their control. She wanted them there with her, moving on to wherever that blasted train went.

But her melancholy was jolted out of her when she saw figures out of Harry's window. She swore as she jumped up and moved the window to the approaching party, Doe right behind her.

"It's alright," Dorcas gave a relieved laugh, "that's Remus!" She pointed to one of the figures not fully in view.

Sure enough, as the figure stepped out of the shadow, Remus' face came into view. Marlene squeezed Dorcas' hand and tried to throw as much comfort into her gaze as she could.

"Moony's there?" James asked as he and Lily approached.

"They've got brooms," Dorcas nodded, "I think they're taking Harry somewhere."

James and Lily came to stand by them in front of the window.

The four watched as Harry and the members of the old Order flew through the night to Grimmauld Place.

"I'm sorry, James," Marlene said quietly as they watched Harry speak with Sirius. "I know you just want to help Harry. I'm sorry I was sarcastic."

James sighed and shoved his hand in his hair. "It's alright, Marlene. I'm sorry I'm pressuring you to reach Sirius. Lily pointed out that it would kill her if she had to just sit and watch me try to function down there, not being able to do anything." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave them a quick squeeze. "It's hard enough watching Harry, but I've at least got Lily to ground me, to help me forget sometimes that it all fell apart, that it's my fault it did."

"It's not your fault. You had every right to trust Peter."

James huffed. "Sirius thought it was Remus. That's why he convinced me to use Peter."

Marlene nodded, "I suspected Remus too, but Sirius and I thought that Peter was just going to try and fade into the background so he wouldn't be on the front lines anymore. Honestly, I thought he'd simply run for it. I never expected him to betray us all."

James chuckled. "Remus thought it was you and Sirius until they got you and your family. He wasn't sure after that, but he couldn't figure out anyone else but Sirius."

"Voldemort won out in the end," she sighed, "He managed to turn us all against each other."

"He didn't though," James shook his head. "Harry's still there. Voldemort didn't win. He isn't winning. Everything he tries, Harry comes through."

"Harry doesn't deserve this," Marlene watched as Arthur led Harry through the Ministry Atrium.

"No, he doesn't. I'm proud of him though. For having everything stripped away, he's handling it all better than I would have, posh brat that I am."

Marlene laughed. "I suppose we can be grateful for that."

Harry's Ministry hearing looked like a joke, but as they didn't snap his wand, it looked as though Dumbledore had managed to make the ministry see some level of sense. And Harry returned safely back to Grimmauld Place.

Harry looking at the picture of the Order brought tears to all their eyes. It looked like maybe it would work out alright this year for Harry, that maybe Harry would be able to be safe within the walls of Hogwarts until the new Order could manage to take out Voldemort. But those hopes were quickly dashed.

Once Harry was back at Hogwarts there was a pink toad in the Defence Against the Dark Arts position and whatever she was saying was causing Harry to get into what looked a great deal like a shouting match with her. His detention with the toad made Marlene move the window, worried Lily might hurt herself with how hard she was banging on the window and screaming at the woman.

"Lils," James pulled her to him, "You've got to calm down."

"Calm! She's torturing him! She's cutting words into his skin! My baby's skin! And you expect me to calm down!"

"Lily, we can't stop her." Dorcas put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Those words seemed to do it, because instead of fighting to get back to the window, Lily broke down and sobbed into James' chest as tears fell down his own cheeks.

While Dorcas might have been right about herself, Lily, and James, it was possible, Marlene thought, that Dorcas was wrong about her.

She'd moved the window to Sirius, and she came to sit next to Sirius as he sat and spoke with Remus at Grimmauld Place.

"Marly," James called out to her, "don't."

She shook her head. "No one touches my godson and gets away with it, James."

She sat and whispered over and over again to Sirius that Harry wasn't safe at Hogwarts. That he needed to go and get him and hang the toad by her toes for a good week at least. She kept telling him again and again and again to act, to run, to get Harry out.

"Marlene," Dorcas whispered. "Maybe you should take a break. We should check on Harry."

Marlene wanted to hurl something at Sirius. Why couldn't he hear her! Why had he been able to reach her that first day here but she couldn't reach him at all?

"Doe's right Marly," James touched her shoulder. "If Sirius has heard you, he'll do something. Let's make sure Harry's managed to stay out of her office."

Reluctantly, Marlene pulled the window back to Harry and then went for Lily, who was sitting on the plush sofa the Potters had willed into existence a ways off from the window and the sitting area, a little space for their own privacy.

"I'm sorry," Marlene whispered when she sat down next to Lily, "I tried."

"Thank you, for trying. I know it's hard for you to do that, to talk to him like he can hear you."

Marlene looked bitterly at her window. "I love Harry too, Lils. I'll keep trying to reach Sirius and get him to Harry even if it kills me."

Lily giggled, "You're already dead, though."

Marlene laughed, the irony of her comment making her silly as she laughed with Lily; it felt so good to laugh.

"We should laugh more," Marlene pulled Lily into a hug. "I think this is the first time I've laughed in ages."

"I guess we haven't had much to laugh about." Lily gave her a sad smile.

"Your husband is a Marauder," Marlene grinned, "Maybe we should make him perform for us, tell old stories."

"That honestly sounds wonderful."

"Says the woman who got after him for all his practical jokes."

Lily rolled her eyes, "I wish I'd seen then how unimportant so much of it was."

"It was good that you didn't then, those four needed someone to tell them to shape up a bit."

"I suppose so," Lily looked over at the window. "Should we go check on my baby?"

"Yeah," Marlene gave her hand a squeeze, "maybe it's a little bit better now."

It started off better, Harry had figured out how to use the Room of Requirement, and he'd pulled a small group of students together to teach them defensive spells. He was rather good at it, and it gave Marlene hope. Maybe he was better prepared than they'd originally thought. Maybe he could manage to finish off Voldemort, though he shouldn't have that burden to begin with. And that hope brought all of them a great deal of comfort.

But then it got worse. So much worse.

Harry was yelling at Dumbledore in the middle of the night, the Weasley kids were called in and they all were through the floo to Grimmauld Place. It took some skipping, but they finally found out that something had attacked Arthur, though how Harry knew was beyond the four of them.

And then they saw Frank and Alice.

"What…?" Dorcas stared at the window, speechless.

"But, but he picked us," Lily stuttered. "Why would they have gone after them too?"

James collapsed down to the window. "I can't believe they didn't just kill them. They left them like this."

Marlene just cried. The Frank and Alice she knew weren't the people sitting in that hospital.

While they were still reeling from knowing the fate of the Longbottom's, their focus was forced to switch, because suddenly Harry was meeting regularly with Snape. Those ended abruptly with Snape throwing everything in his office at Harry. But since they couldn't hear what was being said, they had no idea what was happening, the four friends determined it was probably for the best. The less time Harry spent with Snape the better.

"I feel bad for the Weasley twins," Dorcas sat with Marlene as they watched Harry speak with the twins and their sister. "I remember how hard that last year of school was, and everything we wanted but weren't ready for."

Marlene chuckled, their last year at Hogwarts felt like a lifetime ago.

"They remind me a bit of the Marauders."

"They'll do well then," Dorcas smiled as the twins grinned at Harry, their own brand of mischief written across their faces.

That conversation between Harry and the twins ended up resulting in some Marauder-style chaos, the swamp in the corridor being the tamest thing they witnessed. And it ended with the twins leaving Hogwarts in a magnificent display, and Peeves saluting them as they flew off.

But things quickly went downhill.

"Where in Merlin is he going?" James gripped his hair.

"Hold on," Marlene flung the window to Sirius and began shouting at him. She had no idea where Harry was going but someone had to stop him.

"Try Remus," Dorcas gripped her shoulder when it looked as though Sirius wasn't going to respond.

Marlene shot the window to Remus. But even with her and Dorcas yelling at him, no sound made it through the window.

"Move it to Harry," Lily gripped James' hand in a death grip, "Maybe he was going to Sirius."

Marlene moved the window to Harry, willing the window to move ahead to him reaching his destination. Her heart fell as Harry and his little army descended into the Ministry of Magic.

"Why is he there!?"

Marlene swore and tried to speed the window forward without skipping anything. James gripped her arm when Harry stepped into the hall that held prophecies.

"Marly, stop, that's why he's here."

"They would have told him though, wouldn't they? He wouldn't need to come all this way to hear it." Marlene frowned. "Sirius would have told him. He wouldn't keep something like that from him, maybe not the part where only one can live, but he would have told him there was a prophecy about him, that started this whole thing off."

"Would Dumbledore let him?" Dorcas frowned as they watched the children move carefully through the hall.

Marlene swore.

"What if he's being tricked?" Lily was scanning around the window trying to see into the darkness surrounding Harry and his friends. "What if Voldemort is luring him in here."

"Then we're stuck," James pulled on his hair. "We couldn't reach Sirius or Remus, and those kids don't stand a chance by themselves."

Lily's premonition was right, and before the kids knew what was happening Death Eaters were coming out of the aisles. But James wasn't entirely correct. The kids did better than any of them thought possible for a little group of teenagers against a group of experienced Death Eaters.

But as they started to fall, just as the four friends knew they would eventually, the Order arrived.

"Thank Merlin," Lily folded her head into James' shoulder.

"Get him out of there Pads," James pulled Lily into him.

But Marlene knew he wouldn't. She could see it in his eyes. Sirius might have been fooling the Order, but she saw the haunted look in his eyes, the recklessness in his attacks, the way he threw himself in front of spells aimed at other members. It was as though she was back to watching him in the missions after she died. Sirius wasn't fighting like a man who wanted to outlive the fight.

And then it happened. Bellatrix fired the final blow and Sirius fell backward through an archway to nowhere.

An archway to here.

"Sirius!" Marlene jumped up and spun, desperately looking for any sign of him. "Sirius!"

Then she saw a figure move on the ground in the distance.

"Sirius!" She took off at a dead run, desperate to make it to him, afraid he might not actually be there.

"Sirius!" Finally, she made it to him as he pushed up from the floor, but she crashed into him and knocked him down again.

"Marlene?"

"Merlin, Sirius, I could kill you!" She gripped his shirt in her hands.

"Marlene?" He ran a hand under her chin to guide her face to look into his. "Merlin, Marlene, I never thought I'd see you again."

Then he crushed her into him, searing her with his kiss, and Marlene let the tears run. She cried for the happiness of having him with her again. She cried for the guilt she felt at being happy he was with her and not with their godson. She cried for relief that he wasn't a prisoner any more, that he was finally free.

"I swear Sirius if you leave me I will rip out all your glorious hair and burn it."

"Why in Merlin's name would I leave you." He gripped her tighter. "Losing you almost killed me Marls."

"I know," she wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "I watched."

"Watched?"

Then Marlene remembered Harry.

"Shite, I'll explain later we've got to make sure Remus got Harry out."

The color drained from Sirius' face and he swore.

Marlene pulled him to her window and their waiting friends.

"Is Harry out?" She asked as Sirius pulled her back into him.

Dorcas nodded, "Barely. Voldemort nearly killed him."

"Prongs," Sirius looked at his oldest friend. "Prongs, I'm so sorry..."

"Don't," James pulled him into a tight embrace. "I'm sorry too. None of this went how we hoped it would."

"Red," Sirius smiled at Lily as James released him.

"Oh, Sirius," Lily pulled him into her. "Thank you, thank you for helping my baby."

Sirius snorted, "Right lot of help I was."

"Sirius," Dorcas chided, "You were family to him."

"Doe!" Sirius pulled Dorcas into his hug with Lily. "Is everyone here? Fab and Gid? Benjy?"

"No," Marlene pulled Sirius back to her. "This is the in-between, the place where you get on a train and it takes you to what is really next. The rest have moved on."

Sirius frowned, "Then why are you all here?"

Dorcas beat Marlene to the answer.

"Your screams reached Marlene that night she was killed. Opened a window to the living world." She gestured to the window on the floor, currently showing the Order getting everyone out.

Marlene cut in then, explaining what had happened, what she'd told her family, Doe and the Potters showing up, trying to reach him, watching all the chaos play out in silence before them.

"I can't believe I never heard you," Sirius pulled her closer. "I mean, I hallucinated that you were there or that you were talking to me, but I never heard you trying to tell me to get to Harry."

"Well, now we know not to try it again," James pushed his hand into his hair. "I'm sorry, Marlene."

Marlene shook her head, "I wanted it to work too, James. We all wanted some way to feel like we were making a difference, helping somehow."

"I'm just glad the window is still here." Lily smiled sadly down at Harry. "When I saw Sirius fall, I thought the magic might break away and the window would fade. I'm grateful we can still watch over Harry."

"At least Rems is there," Sirius shook his head as Remus helped Dumbledore move Harry, "I hope he listens to me. He's been avoiding poor Tonks like the black death."

"Tonks?" Doe frowned. "Ted and Andy?"

"Dora," Sirius nodded to the Metamorphogas woman helping Hermione. "Their daughter. She's gone and fallen for the wolf. And Remus completely denies his feelings for her. I told him to pull his head out of his arse."

Marlene watched Doe's face fall. No one else seemed to notice as they laughed.

"It's about time!" James threw his arm over Sirius' shoulders and Marlene used it as an excuse to move to Dorcas.

"It's fine, Marly. I'm fine." Dorcas whispered.

"Ok, well, when you're not fine I'm here alright?"

Dorcas nodded and moved to the window, her eyes fixed on Dora Tonks.

"Hey," Sirius walked up behind her, snaking his arms around her waist. "You know it's terribly unfair you still look like we're twenty and I look like I've been drug through the Black Lake."

"I bet you don't have to," she turned around to link her arms behind his neck; his face really was haggard and his hair was starting to gray. "I mean my dad wanted a red carriage and changed it, we wanted all these seats. I bet you could decide to look like you're twenty again and you would."

"I might give that a try later," he pulled her closer, "Right now I want to be with you."

They picked a spot a way off, like Lily and James had done a bit after they'd first arrived. Marlene laughed when Sirius willed a small sofa, similar to the one they had in their flat, into this new spot.

Their spot.

And they let the world spin while they got lost in the conversations they had always meant to have, lost in the physical presence of each other, lost in them.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered after a moment that they'd been silent. "I'm sorry I didn't make it in time."

Marlene pulled him closer, "It wasn't your fault, none of this was your fault."

Sirius buried his face in her neck. "I've spent years telling myself otherwise. If you'd come with me to James' instead of going to your parents' safe house; if I had just been James' damned secret keeper; I made so many choices that ruined everything Marls."

"Sirius, even if we'd gone to James' and Lily's together my family still would have been killed. And honestly, your plan to be a decoy secret keeper was a good one, because when they did finally kill you, James and Lily and Harry would have been safe."

"You caught on to that, eh?"

Marlene chuckled and ran her nails across his scalp, "I caught on to you wanting to find a way out."

Sirius chuckled against her, a throaty sound that rumbled through her like thunder. Then he raised his head and Marlene felt her breath catch. Sirius was young once again.

"You always did know me best." He smirked.

Marlene pushed forward and kissed him, flooded by the memories of all the hope and happiness they had back then, back before it fell apart.

She didn't know how long they sat there, lost to everything else, when Lily finally called out to them.

"Can you pull yourself away from each other long enough to fill us in on what's going on down there? We've been guessing quite a bit lately."

Sirius chuckled and kissed Marlene once more before standing. "I suppose I've got eternity. Let's go, Marls, before Lily drags us by our ears."

His hand wrapped around hers and Marlene felt like she was breathing again; like she could finally move forward, move on to whatever was next. She'd wait until James and Lily and Dorcas were ready, but when they were, nothing would hold her back now.

"I was waiting to tell you how shameful it was that you got old," James laughed, "looks like you've remedied that now though."

Sirius shoved his arm, "Honestly, it should have been the two of you who got old, not me."

Marlene pulled Dorcas to her as Sirius laughed with the Potters.

"Still fine?"

"Maybe," Doe sighed. "It doesn't matter either way, Marly. Besides, it's been a really long time; I never told him. And he deserves to be happy."

"What about you?"

"I guess I'll see what my options are when we take the train." Doe looked out towards where Cedric's train had disappeared, then she moved closer to the rest of their group.

Before Marlene could try to pull Doe away again, Sirius began giving them an overview of what had happened since they'd all started watching the silent film of the world below them, along with naming the new people, like all the Weasley kids. Currently, the window was showing them Harry navigating his sixth year. Marlene and Sirius had missed a fair amount of it thus far, but from what Lily said, they hadn't missed too much, aside from the very concerning development of Harry knowing one of Snape's old signature spells and using it on the Malfoy boy, who was probably up to something concerning.

"So, Dumbledore didn't know how Voldemort managed to come back?" James asked as they watched Harry walk back to the common room after his detention with Snape.

Sirius shook his head, "Not that he'd share with the Order."

"Harry's been meeting with Dumbledore a lot this year," Lily said. "Maybe he's figured something out since you got here."

"I hope so," Sirius slipped his hand around Marlene's waist. "I'll be honest, the way Dumbledore's going about it this time around is frustrating."

Marlene went to ask him to elaborate but stopped as she watched Harry enter Gryffindor's common room. Apparently, Gryffindor's Quidditch team had won a match, at least the celebration suggested as such.

But that wasn't what had interrupted her train of thought.

No, the window showing Harry kissing Ginny Weasley was what had rendered her speechless.

"About bloody time," Sirius chuckled.

"Was this expected then?" James laughed.

"He's as oblivious as Remus was at that age." Sirius grinned at James, "But Ginny's about as determined as a Niffler in a jewelry shop. She'll be good for him."

Marlene smirked over at Lily, "Apparently, Potters are magnets for red hair."

Lily laughed and wrapped her arms around James' waist.

"Maybe we should give them some privacy? Go check in on someone else?"

"Probably for the best," Marlene chuckled and looked at Dorcas.

Dorcas gave her a sad smile and nodded. "How about Remus?"

Remus wasn't doing nearly as well as Harry was - looking worse than he did after any transformation as he spoke with Arthur and Molly - and Marlene prompted Sirius to give them someone else to move the window to.

"The Weasley twins were always good for a laugh," Sirius sighed and pulled Marlene closer. "Merlin, how have you four done this for sixteen years?"

"Poorly," Dorcas supplied as Marlene moved the window.

Fred and George were in their newly established shop, and the items they saw in the shop pushed the five friends into reminiscing about all the things that they did in school, and could have used from the twins' shop in their school days. It lightened everyone's mood and Marlene was glad to see Dorcas smiling again.

"Shall we see if we can catch Harry unawares?" She teased the Potters.

"There's not nearly as much fun in it when he doesn't know." James chuckled, "But we probably should make sure he's alright."

Marlene moved the window to Harry walking down one of Hogwarts' many corridors. Suddenly he ran into the divination professor and whatever she told him made Harry fume.

"Whatever it is, he's going to Dumbledore for it." Lily bit her lip. "What could she have told him?"

They weren't able to figure anything out, but Harry moved quickly from the office back to Gryffindor Tower. What was most concerning was him pressing a partial vial of Felix's Felics on Ginny, Ron, and Hermione before taking his invisibility cloak with him back to Dumbledore.

"I don't like this," Marlene turned into Sirius' chest. "This isn't going to end well."

"We don't know that," Sirius wrapped her protectively in his arms.

Dorcas agreed with Marlene though. "I can't watch again. I'm going to sit this out."

It didn't take long for Lily to turn into James' embrace as Harry and Dumbledore entered a cave.

Sirius pulled Marlene tight against him, and she tried not to imagine why he'd tense periodically. She was with Dorcas, she couldn't watch her godson fight for his life anymore. The baby she'd promised Lily and James she would love and protect was completely out of her reach, and the guilt was suffocating.

She knew it was bad when both Sirius and James started swearing and yelling at the window. She refused to look. She was waiting for them both to start yelling for Harry and then they'd all get on the train together and leave her damned window behind them forever.

But she felt Sirius' arms relax around her instead, though his heartbeat was frantic.

"They made it out?" She didn't dare look over at her window.

"They're in Hogsmeade now," Sirius kissed the top of her head.

Marlene looked up and saw Lily looking up from James' chest.

"Is it safe to come over now?" Dorcas called out.

"Looks like it Doe," James smiled over at her.

"Or not," Lily's voice trembled as she pointed to the window.

The Dark Mark was above the Astronomy Tower.

"Oh for the love of Merlin!" Marlene groaned.

"How did they get in?" Dorcas came to stand by her as they watched Harry and Dumbledore fly from Hogsmead to the tower.

"Harry's been fighting quite a bit with the Malfoy boy." James pulled Lily closer to him. "Maybe Voldemort had him let them in?"

"A child?" Marlene felt outrage building in her chest. "You think that Voldemort's recruited a child?!"

"Lucius was in charge at the attack in the Department of Mysteries," Sirius rubbed his hand along her arm. "Voldemort probably considers this punishment for his failure."

Marlene felt sick.

Things happened very quickly after that. Before Marlene had fully processed that Draco Malfoy was in fact a Death Eater, Snape killed Dumbledore. But none of them were able to process that as Harry went bolting after Snape, who after toying with him, was attacked by Buckbeak and driven off with the rest of the cowards.

"We didn't try to reach Dumbledore," Dorcas whispered as Ginny led Harry to the hospital wing.

Marlene shook her head, "Honestly, I'm glad we didn't. I might have tried to kill him again."

Sirius chuckled and kissed her temple. "I've missed you."

"I'm with Marlene," Lily sighed, "I don't like how he's handled anything since we died."

They didn't know what was said in the hospital wing, but at the end of it, Remus walked out with Tonks. Marlene glanced over at Dorcas who wore a sad smile. She determined to have the window keep following Harry, they'd find out more about Remus and Tonks eventually.

If going into the cave felt like a bad omen, Marlene felt everything she saw from that point forward was foreboding.

When the Order tried to sneak Harry out by making seven Harry's leave at once, she again felt like something awful was going to happen.

Marlene turned towards Sirius when Voldemort appeared, unable to watch. Lily's cries were torture enough without seeing it as well. Then Sirius tensed and Marlene was sure that she would hear them all calling for Harry, but instead, Sirius groaned.

"When I gave him my bike I didn't necessarily think he'd destroy it."

Marlene glanced up in time to catch James and Lily glaring at Sirius.

The window showed Sirius' bike in chunks, half-buried in lawn and dirt. Ted and Andromeda were carefully lifting Harry from the wreckage, his chest rising and falling.

"How does he keep surviving this?" She pushed her forehead back into Sirius' chest.

"I'm glad he was going to Andy," Sirius ran a tired hand over his face. "She was always good with healing charms."

It wasn't long before Harry was awake and he and Hagrid took their Portkey to the Burrow.

"Which twin is that?" Lily wiped at her eyes as the group gathered around one of the boys, his ear completely gone.

"George," Dorcas answered.

Marlene looked at Doe but Sirius spoke before she could say anything.

"I think you're right, they're more identical than Fab and Gid were, but I think that's George."

"It's George," Dorcas murmured quietly.

Marlene watched, trying very hard to determine which of the twins Dorcas was looking at to no avail. She'd need to try and pull her away at some point and ask when her friend had taken enough of an interest to be able to tell the Weasley twins apart, and why.

"Where's Moody?" James scanned the window. "He was there when they left."

It didn't take long to realize that Alastor Moody had fallen, especially as the group at the burrow raised glasses of firewhiskey together.

"They're falling like flies." Marlene closed her eyes. "Just like last time."

"At least that got sorted," Sirius gestured to Remus and Tonks, arms wrapped around each other.

"Yeah," Dorcas smiled and Marlene was surprised to see less of the sadness in her friend's face. "He needed someone."

Apparently, Dorcas was a better woman than herself, but Marlene had always suspected that. She would have probably gotten on the train and left if Sirius had found someone new. But Dorcas looked genuinely happy for Remus.

Marlene jumped the window forward a bit and stopped it when there was a wedding going on. Harry was disguised as a Weasley, and speaking with Elphias Dodge and Muriel Prewett. It wasn't long after the window had stopped on the wedding that Kingsley's lynx Patronus came running into the party. Suddenly there was chaos and Harry, Ron, and Hermione Apparated away, only to be attacked by Death Eaters again, and Apparate away to Grimmauld Place.

"Why there?" Sirius looked up at the white above them.

"It might be the only safe place they have." Lily fretted.

And it appeared it was. They spent quite a bit of time there and seemed very interested in Regulus' room.

"What in Merlin's name are they doing in there?" Sirius frowned.

"Marly, try getting closer to the paper that Harry's got." Lily knelt down to the window.

She squinted and then spoke aloud. "To the Dark Lord - I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more. - R.A.B."

Marlene gripped Sirius around the middle as he stared at Lily.

"Maybe he was meant to be in the lion's constellation after all," she looked up at Sirius, waiting for him to react.

"I need a minute," he stepped out of her embrace and moved to their sofa.

Marlene readjusted the window and nodded to her friends before going after Sirius.

She sat down next to him on the couch and placed her hand on his thigh.

"I thought he was a coward. I called him a coward, to his face, more time than I can count."

"Because what you saw was cowardly. He refused to stand up to your parents, he chose friends who supported Voldemort. He joined Voldemort, Sirius. He fired spells at you in more battle than I care to remember both before we were officially on opposite sides of the line and after. You had every right to think him cowardly."

"But he wasn't in the end."

"People can change love," Marlene scooted closer to him, "But changing doesn't negate their past behavior. If Regulus changed, then wonderful, but you had every right to fire shots back at him when he fired at you. If he chose to be better at the end, then great, but when you knew him he was a coward."

Sirius hung his head in his hands and leant over, resting his elbows on his knees. "I'm going to need time to absorb all this."

Marlene moved her fingernails to his back, running them against his t-shirt.

"That's alright, we've got eternity."

She moved her fingers in the old patterns that she'd used when they'd been alive. She wrote in script on his back. At that moment, she went for one of her favorites, Mine.

They sat there for a very long time, Marlene's nails drawing on Sirius' back for the majority of it before Sirius chose to speak.

"I never knew what you were writing."

Marlene smirked, "It was all the things I wanted you to do to me."

Sirius chuckled but didn't look up at her.

"You never struck me as a woman to give hints."

"I usually told you outright later," She felt her smile go wicked on her face.

"Hmm, so you were building up to it?"

"In a manner of speaking," She smirked and wrote with a flourish along his shoulder blades.

"What was that one?"

"Are you feeling less put out about Reg?"

He turned to look at her, dropping his hands from his face. "A little, I think you're right, if he changed, then good for him. But I'm here now, with you, and that's what really matters."

"Good," she ran her fingers up and down his back.

"The word, McKinnon."

She wrote it again on his back.

Sirius pushed up and boxed her against the sofa with his body.

Marlene pulled in her breath through her teeth as she smirked up at him.

"Was there something?"

Sirius brought his lips just close enough to tease her.

"I've missed this."

"Me too," Marlene pressed forward but Sirius pulled back.

"The word, McKinnon."

Slowly, she moved her lips closer to his and whispered, "Mine."

She barely caught sight of his smirk before his lips finally landed on hers.

"Forever," He murmured against her as his hands shifted her shirt out of the way to run his hands against her skin.

No one came to collect them this time, and that suited the couple; it wouldn't have been the first time they'd been caught in varying levels of undress, but as magic seemed to work without wands here, Marlene simply willed that her friends wouldn't notice them.

"We should get back," Sirius kissed her. "I can't imagine what Harry's going through has been pleasant to watch."

"You're right," Marlene sighed and pushed herself up. "It's been hard, watching for seventeen years."

"I'm glad you did. I'm glad it was you who I saw first."

"I was so scared it wouldn't work, that you'd not show up here, that you'd not want me with you anymore."

"You were always so dramatic," he kissed her. "I'm here, and I'm not ever letting go of you again. Come on, let's go see how things have gone for Harry."

Dorcas sat alone in her seat in their sitting area, James and Lily over in their own space away from the window.

"What happened?" Sirius looked down at Harry, Ron, and Hermione in a tent together.

"Nothing easily watched," Dorcas sighed. "They found a Horcrux with that toad woman from their fifth year and stole it from under her at the Ministry. Accidentally let Death Eaters into Grimmauld Place. Hermione happened to have a tent with her and they've been camping for a while. Harry ended up in Godric's Hollow, went to their graves," she nodded to where James and Lily sat together. "Then Voldemort's snake tricked Harry, nearly killed him - again. Hermione saved him. Harry and Ron were led to a pond by someone who has Lily's Patronus, where they found the Sword of Gryffindor, and then they destroyed the locket." She glanced over at the window. "Now they're sitting again. But we need a break. I can't believe we've made it this far. We should have left a long time ago."

Marlene sat next to Doe, "I'm sorry, you can go forward. I didn't mean to torture any of us."

Dorcas reached out and took Marlene's hand. "I won't move on without the rest of you. We've been together here nearly eighteen years. But I think we need a break, Lily, James and me. This is too much."

"You got it," Marlene gave her hand a squeeze before moving to the window and Sirius.

"Why don't you check on James and Lily?" She looked critically down at her godson looking at the Marauders Map. "I'm going to experiment with this."

"You sure you'll be alright? You couldn't watch the cave, and honestly, I'm glad you didn't." Sirius pulled her back into him. "It's bound to get worse now."

Marlene smiled up at him. "I've got you again, a lot of my fight is back."

Sirius chuckled, "Alright, but don't kill yourself for this. Dorcas has a point, I think we're getting to the point where we need to move on. We can't do anything for him, and watching is driving us all mad. The dead are meant to be separated from the living."

"I think you're right. Go check on the Potters, I'm going to try and get the window to do what I say."

Sirius kissed her, "I have full faith in you, you're incredibly persuasive when you want to be." He murmured against her.

Marlene watched Sirius move to his brother and then sat next to the window.

"Alright, you, I made you and so you're going to do what I want."

Dorcas' chuckle behind her bolstered Marlene's confidence. She concentrated and the window started moving quickly, emphasizing what was happening to Harry, but almost skimming through everything else. Marlene watched as Harry and his friends went through horrors, but since Harry was making it out of each situation alive, she didn't actually see what was happening. It was leaving a lot of questions, but it was saving her sanity, and Marlene decided that was a worthwhile trade.

"Wotcher, McKinnon," Sirius walked up, James and Lily behind him.

"I think I've managed to figure out how to make this work for us so that we don't need to watch every awful thing."

"What if you miss something happening to Harry?" Dorcas came up behind her.

"I told the window not to. It slows down for me if Harry is in mortal danger, but only enough to see if he gets out alright. I can't tell you anything that's happened to him, but I know he's still alive."

"Where are they now?" Lily watched the window speed through the living world.

"That looks like the Hogs Head," Sirius answered.

The window raced further ahead and then the trio was in Hogwarts and Sirius gripped her arm. "Slow down, I just saw Remus and Tonks."

Reluctantly, Marlene brought the window back to its regular speed to find the entire Order was in the castle.

"You said you could have the window slow down when Harry was in mortal danger." James watched the castle prepare for what Marlene could only assume would be an all-out battle. "Can you have it do that for others too? I'd like to know if anything happens to Remus."

"And Tonks," Sirius added.

"And the Weasley's," Doe pointed to where four of the Weasley boys were gathered together.

"And Hermione," Lily finished.

Marlene concentrated with all her might as she looked at the window.

"Anyone else?" Her head was starting to hurt as she willed the window to follow this new set of instructions.

"That should be enough, love." Sirius' hand moved to massage her neck. "Don't hurt yourself trying to make it happen."

"I think it's done," she leant into him and closed her eyes for a moment. "Shall I speed it up so we don't need to watch whatever awfulness is coming?"

"Please," Lily nodded and Marlene sighed in relief as she sped them forward.

The window slowed and then came to an abrupt stop as a wall exploded and the five watched helplessly as one of the Weasley twins last lifeless on the floor.

"Fred!" Dorcas whispered.

Marlene jumped up. How Doe knew it was Fred didn't matter as much as taking care of Molly's boy the way Molly had been looking after Harry for them.

"Fred Weasley!" She yelled.

"Fred!" Sirius moved next to her. "Fred it's Sirius!"

"Sirius?"

"Come this way, Fred!"

And then they saw him, stumbling his way to where they stood.

"Sirius? What happened? What's going on?"

"We're dead, mate," Sirius put his hand on Fred's shoulder.

"But, no, but, George, he, I…"

"Fred," Marlene tried to soothe him, "Fred it's going to be alright. Come sit down and we can explain."

Fred looked wildly around him and Sirius took a firm grasp of his arm. "Let's calm you down, then we can talk about what's next."

"Let me," Dorcas gently took Fred's other arm.

Sirius still held firm as they walked Fred over to the sitting area a little bit away from the window. Dorcas willed Fred a chair next to hers and sat him down in it.

"I'll explain it to him," she promised, "You two go make sure James and Lily aren't alone if the worst happens."

Sirius looked torn for a moment but Marlene knew where they needed to be.

"Fred, this is Dorcas Meadows, a friend of Sirius and Remus. Sirius will be just there if you need him." She motioned to where James and Lily still watched.

Fred still looked in shock, but Marlene knew Dorcas could handle it, and she led Sirius back to the window.

Just in time to see it slowing again.

"No," She whispered as it stopped over Remus, and he fell.

"Remus!" James yelled, and the four of them spun for signs of him.

"Remus!" Sirius called out, "Moony!"

"James? Sirius?" Remus' voice echoed.

"We're here too, Remus!" Lily called.

And finally, they saw him.

James bolted, running straight for Remus, Sirius right behind him.

Marlene gripped Lily's hand as the three friends collided and clung to each other.

"That has been a long time coming," Lily wiped away a tear.

"Yes, it has." Marlene smiled at how relieved they all looked to finally be reunited.

After a few moments, the boys made it back to them and Marlene gladly joined in the hug Remus pulled her and Lily into.

"Merlin, you have no idea how good it feels to see the two of you again."

Marlene went to respond in kind when she noticed the window slowing again.

"Shite." She breathed as she turned away from Remus in time to watch Bellatrix strike down Tonks.

"Rems call Dora!" Sirius was looking at the window.

"What?" Remus looked lost.

Sirius shoved him aside. "Tonks! Tonks! It's Sirius! Remus is here! Tonks!"

Remus finally noticed the window on the floor showing this wife's lifeless body.

"Dora!"

"Remus!" Tonks came running at him and jumped into his arms.

Marlene glanced over at Dorcas, but she was still focused on Fred Weasley, one hand rubbing up and down his back while the other still held his arm. She was speaking quietly, and while Fred still looked shocked, he didn't look like a flight risk anymore.

"What's going on?" Tonks looked around.

"We've died, dearest cousin." Sirius teased.

Tonk's eyes went wide and she gripped Remus' arm.

"Teddy! Remus, what is he going to do without us?"

Remus pulled her into him, "Don't worry, Dora, your mum is with him, and they're safe. Our son will be safe."

"Son?" James took his arm and looked like he could burst. "Son?"

Remus managed to look bashful but nodded, "Our son."

"We can make sure he's alright," Marlene looked down at the speeding images of the battle raging on at the castle and its grounds before making eye contact with Lily. "I think it'll pull us back if anything happens."

"I trust you, Marly," Lily squeezed her hand. "Your window hasn't failed us yet."

"Yeah, just driven us mad," Marlene chuckled grimly as she willed the window to show them Teddy.

Remus and Tonks' son slept soundly in his crib, Andromeda reading in a chair next to his crib.

"I can't hear anything," Tonks frowned.

"We can't hear anything; we can only see what's happening." Marlene smiled at the little baby. He looked a great deal like Remus, but his facial structure showed Tonks' influence rather prominently.

"I used to do this with Harry, Lily," Marlene turned to her. "When things were bad down there, before Voldemort got to you, I would move the window and watch Harry being little and adorable. Helped me stay sane."

Lily hugged her and went to respond, but then she was pulled out of Marlene's arms and through the window, along with James, Remus, and…

"Sirius!" Marlene jumped for him but even as he reached for her, he slipped through to the living world.

Marlene panicked and flung the window from Teddy to Harry, and to her relief she found everyone gathered around him.

That boy was going to kill her.

"Did you find them?" Dorcas was at her side, gripping her hand as Fred stood behind her.

"Yes," Marlene hugged Dorcas tight and tried to let the panic ease out of her. "But Harry has got to quit doing that!"

"They'll come back, right?" Tonks' voice was small and Marlene pulled her into the hug that she was giving Dorcas.

"They did last time." Doe nodded.

And as if Doe's response was the foreshadowing, the four friends were sliding back through the window to them.

"He'll be here soon," Sirius pulled Marlene into him. "He's going to let Voldemort have him."

"No!" Fred pushed against the window. "That's what we're all fighting to keep from happening!"

"It's alright, Fred," James held Lily against him. "Harry knows what he's doing."

"Why?" Marlene spoke quietly to Sirius.

"I've no idea, but he's made up his mind. He's going to be here with us and then we're going to get on that train Marls and leave your damned window behind us forever."

Marlene leant into Sirius and sighed as she watched Harry walk through the forest to Voldemort. She'd hidden for so much of the horrors that Harry had lived through, Marlene was determined to watch for him this time, just as she had at the beginning.

Voldemort's wand leveled at Harry, and she watched as Harry closed his eyes and the curse hit him square in the chest.

He fell hard against the ground.

"Harry!" Lily called out, not the panicked yelling that they'd all had for everyone else that was in their company. No, Lily called for her son like he'd been out playing in the garden and it was time to come in for lunch.

"Son!" James called in a similar fashion. "Harry, we're here. Let's go, son."

They waited, and nothing happened.

"Harry!" Sirius' voice held more urgency. "Mate, come this way!"

"Harry!" Remus' tone carried his worry as he pulled Tonks into him.

Marlene let go of Sirius and moved to the window, getting as close as she could as Narcissa Malfoy checked to ensure that Harry was dead.

She saw his lips move.

"He's not dead!" She gasped.

"But, but, but we just watched Voldemort kill him!" Fred objected.

"He's not dead!" She turned to look at Lily and James. "He's not dead!" She was laughing now, tears welling in her eyes. "Merlin, you two have made an invincible kid! He's not dead!"

"But that would mean," Dorcas looked as Hagrid picked up Harry's body, "Could Harry have been a Horcrux?"

"I have no idea," Marlene laughed as she threw herself into Sirius' arms. "But he's not dead!"

"Yes, love," Sirius laughed as he wiped at the tears that had escaped, "You've established that."

Marlene laughed and turned to the window as it picked up speed again, racing so quickly that none of them had to be exposed to the horrors unfolding.

"Slow it down, love," Sirius pulled her flush against him, and reluctantly, Marlene braced herself and slowed the window enough that they could see more of what was happening.

It was carnage, and Marlene had lost sight of Harry. She fought the panic and willed the window to show him to her, and it jumped forward to Harry throwing off the invisibility cloak in the Great Hall and facing off with Voldemort once more.

"This is it, isn't it?" Fred looked down at the window.

Dorcas took his arm and nodded, "I think so."

Her godson fired at the same time as Voldemort and to their great astonishment, Voldemort's wand shot out of his hands and into Harry's, sending its curse back at its caster.

And Voldemort fell.

"Well, I'll be damned," James smiled, "My boy did it."

The Death Eaters started dispersing just as soon as the reality sunk in that their leader had fallen. And Marlene sighed as the living began embracing each other.

"I think it's time," she smiled up at Sirius.

He leant down and kissed her, slow and sweet, like they had eternity. "Me too."

"What do you say, James? Lily?" Sirius turned to them. "Shall we see what next great adventure awaits us?"

James looked down at Lily, "Are you ready?"

Lily nodded, "He's going to be fine now. Let's go see where that train goes."

"Rems?" James asked.

"I don't know what train you're talking about, but Dora and I are ready to move on. Teddy will be fine now. Harry and Andromeda will see to it."

Tonks gave a sad smile, "I think I'd go mad watching Teddy grow and not being able to be there."

"Doe?" Marlene smiled.

"I'm coming," she nodded.

"Where are we going?" Fred's eyes had gone wide and he held a little tighter to Dorcas' arm.

"Who knows?" Sirius laughed.

"Really, Padfoot, give the poor kid a break." Remus chuckled.

"Oh, do you know where we're going Moony?"

Fred's mouth dropped. "Wait… Padfoot? Moony?" He looked at James, "Prongs? Or Wormtail?"

"Prongs," James ruffled his hair.

Marlene chuckled, "You have the esteemed honor of being in the presence of the Marauders, Fred."

"Holy shite," his mouth dropped even further open.

"You look like a fish," Doe laughed. "Come on, I'm sure there will be time for stories on the train."

Marlene closed her eyes, willing the train to appear, and smiled when she heard the sound of steam erupt behind her.

"Shall we?"

They climbed up into their carriage all one large compartment, and the couples all took their seats.

"You forgot to close the window," Lily frowned.

Marlene turned and looked at her window, her view into the living world. It had seemed so important then, but sitting with Sirius' arms wrapped around her, and knowing that Harry was finally safe and free to live his life, it wasn't what she needed anymore.

She willed the window to close and watched it disappear back into the floor.

The train lurched forward and gained speed, the blinding white light approaching them faster and faster.

"Marls," Sirius whispered against her ear. Marlene smiled and turned her face up, capturing his lips with hers as the train pushed forward into the light and disappeared.

#blackinnonweek2021 #blackinnon #sirius black x marlene mckinnon #sirius x marlene #jily #remadora #sirius black #marlene mckinnon #james potter #lily evans #dorcas meadowes #remus lupin #fred weasley #angst #angst with happy ending #marauders #marauders era #harry potter fanfiction #romance

[katefiction]

The fandom fiction: a joint fiction by the royal fandom

2013

This was a round robin story where each person continued a part of the story. Sadly I can not locate the end of the story therefore it ends on the cliffhanger! However people still wanted me to post this.

katefiction

Eight pm on a chilly night, and Kate sat on the couch under a warm mohair blanket, her legs resting on William’s lap.

William stared intently at the tv screen, his thumbs working rapidly on the games controller he was holding. To his left on the single seater couch, Harry did the same.

‘Come on…

(I can not find the rest of this part. The other parts are complete)

iminlovewiththecambridges

There was short silence for a second between the three royals.  All that could be heard was the light patter of Lupo’s footsteps scampering around.

‘Hang on, I don’t quite understand’ said Kate breaking the silence, ‘You’ve really got me confused.’

On the screen of the glowing iPad was a newspaper article.  The contents had clearly baffled both William and Kate.

The headline read: PRINCE HARRY HAIR TRAUMA. GINGER HAIR DYE USED BY PRICE HARRY CAUSES BAULDNESS.

‘Wait, it’s a joke… more made up rubbish’ replied William returning back to his plate cleaning duties.

‘Nooo! But it’s the truth! Wills WHAT AM I GOING TO DO? I can’t have a head like yours; I need to keep up my appearance for the ladies!’ screamed Harry, who very dramatically fell to the floor. ‘WHAT IS LIFEEE!?’

Chuckling, Kate gave Harry a small kick and started to whip him with the wet wash cloth.

‘Get up! The floors dirty drama Queen.’

‘Sorreeyy, why would the floor be dirty anyway if you’ve cleaned it?’

‘Don’t be so rude!’ Kate said sternly.

William looked at Kate a bit puzzled.

‘Kate it’s just banter.’ William said soothingly trying to calm his wife down.

Harry got up and cautiously made his way back to the living room and started to watch the TV out of the way.

‘Oi! Harry, don’t get too engrossed in Keeping up with the Kardashians. Top Gears on, it’s supposed to be a real good one tonight.’ William shouted into the next room.

‘But I thought we were supposed to go through the catalogue tonight. Y’know, the one with the baby furniture.’ Kate replied softly.

‘Sweetness, how are we supposed to go through baby furniture when we don’t even know the sex of the baby yet? Plus, like I said it’s supposed to be a really good episode tonight.’

Kate gave William a dirty look. ‘Oh don’t worry then, babies don’t need furniture anyway.’ Said Kate rather sarcastically, and with that she turned and swiftly made her way out of the kitchen.

‘C’mon, Kate. Kate! Catherine!’ shouted William as he ran after her down the corridor.

Late at night the corridor of Kate and Williams’s apartment was unsettlingly peaceful.  A sort of calm before the storm.

The paintings lining the corridor glared down at William as his Italian handmade shoes trod their way along the royal blue carpet.

‘Kate wait, sorry. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings and I know I shouldn’t mess your hormones about.’ Stated William apologetically.

Kate stopped in her tracks nearing the top of the staircase.

‘Hormones! How dare you put this down to hormones! I cook and clean for you and all you do all day is play video games with your overly dramatic brother. I gave up so much for you, and you never show any appreciation.’ Kate bellowed.

‘Whoa, Kate watch your step’

‘Don’t tell me what to do. You’re not the boss-‘

Before Kate could finish her hormonal rant to a startled Prince William, she lost her footing and fell down the staircase.

williamandkatelove

In a second William runs towards Kate and saves her. Harry came out of the living room rushing towards them “what happened he asked” he asked, but they both didn’t say a word.

For almost half an hour they both stood in there place without moving, lost in each others eyes. Harry could her their hearts beating so fast and load so he asked again, still with no answer.

Kate tried to apologies many times through the night, but William was very angry to hear her.” Sometimes you just let your anger controls you and for what nothing” he yelled at her then he left her standing at the staircase by her own with her eyes felled with tears.

The next morning Kate was so sick, she didn’t think about what happened until she met William at the breakfast table “are you okay” William asked “you are very pale today, should I call the doctor?”

“help me William am very dizzy” whose were her last word before she fainted

William swiftly placed his hand under her head “Kate Kate can you hear me love”.

Making the matter worse he found out she was bleeding. William felt as if his heart stopped …..

writingroyal

"Harry!" William cried out, holding his wife close.

Harry, who had crashed on the couch, popped up. "What? Jesus, I'm always getting yelled at in this bloody house."

"Kate's bleeding!...Fainted!" William yelled again.

He pressed his fingers to her neck. Still breathing, good.

Harry scrambled into the kitchen, eyes wandering frantically from William to Kate.

"Should I ring for an ambulance?" he asked.

William nodded. "Yes, get me a pillow from the couch while you're at it."

Harry hurried back into the living room, pulled his phone from his discarded jeans, and grabbed a pillow of the couch. He handed the pillow to William while he dialed the number for an ambulance.

William placed the small throw pillow under his wife's head and tried to get her to come to. Behind him he could hear his brother yelling Kensington's address to the operator.

"Yes, I am serious...Kensington Palace!" Harry shouted, shooting William a incredulous look as he tugged at his unruly hair.

Kate was still breathing, regularly. She looked like she was asleep except for the small stain of blood that had pooled in between her pant legs.

The baby!

"Tell them to hurry, Harry," William told him, becoming frantic.

He stroked Kate's cheek. "Hun, sweetheart...can you hear me?"

Kate's mouth twitched at the corner and then a quiet groan passed between her lips.

"Open your eyes," William demanded, half hysterical.

Kate eyes fluttered much longer than William would have liked but they opened nonetheless. "What am I doing on the ground?"

Harry had just hung up from the phone. "Fainted."

"Oh," Kate said.

William looked up at Harry. "Are they coming?"

Harry nodded.

Luckily, the ambulance arrived in a matter of minutes. Although, William and Harry thought it had taken much longer. Kate was placed on a stretcher and taken away in the ambulance, William riding alongside of her, to St. Barts.

Harry knocked on the hospital room door.

"Come in," William's voice came from behind the heavy wood door.

Harry let himself in and the whirring and beeping of the machines hit his ears, along with the sound of the low-quality television that hung on the wall.

Kate was dressed in a hospital gown with flimsy blankets piled around her legs. William sat beside her.

"How are you feeling?" Harry asked.

Kate shrugged. "Just a bit nauseous, is all. They said I am a bit dehydrated which could have caused the fainting."

"They're still running tests," William interjected, squeezing his hands together that they were turning red. "To see if the baby is..."

"Hello there," the doctor said as he stepped into the room. He was dressed in a white lab coat and held a clipboard under his arm.

"How are we doing?" he asked, cheerfully.

"Just want to know the results," William said, trying to get news as soon as he possibly could.

"Well, the tests all came back fine. The babies--"

"What?" Harry said.

"Surely, you mean baby. As in the singular fetus growing inside that woman right there," William said, his voice high and his finger pointed at Kate.

passionatelyroyal

William awoke in a cold sweat. He glanced over at his wife, cuddled in to his side, hand rested on her stomach sleeping. He sighed. It had all been a dream. He rolled over and glanced at the clock. 7:45AM. he could wake her.

"Baby, I need you to wake up." William pleaded with his wife, gently shaking her awake.

"Whats the matter? She mumbled, rolling over to face her husband.

"I think you're having twins. I had this dream and a doctor said that you were having babies and I couldn't believe him but he said you were. " William whispered, grabbing Kate's hand.

"I think you're crazy. But lucky for you, I have an appointment today so we can get to the bottom of this." She responded.

Later that day, the couple sat in a London doctors office, hands intertwined as they waited for the scan to start. The doctor entered the room and began the scan.

"Well it looks like we were wrong. There are more than one." The doctor said, continuing the scan.

William looked at Kate with disbelief. It had only been a dream.

"How many more?"

phff

When the news finally hit, the world went undeniably crazy.  News articles, television segments, blogs, magazine spreads.  The news that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were expecting twins had caused quite the stir among the royal watchers.

A Royal Pair.

There were those who were thrilled; going gaga over the idea of two bundles of joy.  There were those who were annoyed; not at all excited about two more royals to deal with.  And there were those who were simply enthralled with the logistics of it all; speculating about the idea that the first one born would someday be King and the thought that, in a surgical situation, the DOCTOR might be the one making such an enormous decision about the future Sovereign.

But, as the world began to take up the idea of royal twins, The Family was just beginning to digest the news.  For the most part, everyone was happy—thrilled for the young couple.  The Windsors and The Middletons alike.  All were excited.

Except for one person.  One person who, when faced with the news, did all that they could to keep from bursting apart.

thecambridges

Jessica Hay.

Her name was universally known. William and Kate were never allowed to forget her and royalists the world over were never spared a single article without the mention of her name. What nobody knew however, was why she lent her name to so many inaccurate stories.

Would she share why if people asked? Possibly. But nobody ever cared that much. They just used her name as a source and handed her the money in return.

But it wasn’t about the money, not at all. It was jealousy. Jealousy at the fact that Kate had been the one to marry William. Jealousy that it was Kate’s face on the front of the newspapers. And now, jealousy that she was going to have two beautiful babies.

Truth was, she had dreamed of marrying William just as much as Kate had, if not more. She had wanted her name on the front of every woman’s magazine in hundreds of different countries. And above all, she wanted a baby.

But life had chosen Kate over her and now she wanted revenge.

Up until the announcement of twins, adding her name to fake stories was enough. It hurt Kate and it got her name in the magazines.

But this was the final straw.

It was time to step things up a notch.

mischievousmiddletons

It would take her a few days to come up with something huge, something that would plunge the Cambridges into a scandal so deep they’d never escape it.

As Jessica plotted, William and Kate arrived home, eager to alter their baby preparations to include two children, not just one. Everything would have to be doubled, such as toys, furniture, blankets, diapers, cribs, clothes and everything else they had put in place for the arrival of their baby.

A few days later, the two lovebirds stared into the newly refurbished nursery at their royal home, with the news of two royal babies still sinking in.

Kate leaned into Will and sighed heavily, “Twins…”

“Don’t worry babykins, we’ll handle it” Will wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

He was always mindful of his wife’s baby bump, but now that there were two Baby Cambridges growing in there, he was even more careful with her.

“I know we’ll handle it” She gently pecked his neck, “It’s my womb I’m worried about…”

Will tightened his arms around his wife’s shoulders, hoping to reassure her with his hold, but a series of doors flying open and rushed footsteps quickly ruined the moment they were having. Their private secretary, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton approached with an exasperated expression on his face and a tabloid newspaper in his hands.

“William, Kate…” he took a moment to gather himself, then held the paper out.

“Jessica Hay is at it again”

hiddlesandcambridge / williamcatherinelove

Before Jamie could get another word in Kate turned to William and told him, "I'm not even going to listen to what she is up to. I don't care any more. I'm going for a lie down. I have a feeling that our little grapes are going to be keen on football when they're older."

"Okay babykins. You get some rest and I'll end this once and for all. I love you." They shared a kiss and Kate left.

William turned to Jamie, "Right then Jamie, what has she been saying now?" They turned out of the nursery and towards William's office.

"Well, Sir. She has claimed that the twins are not your's, but Harry's." William's eyes went from blue to black, but Jamie wasn't finished, "She also claims she has proof from Kate herself."

William's face just blew up into sheer anger. Jamie himself had never seen him like that. "SHE HAS DONE WHAT?"

"Sir, you have to calm down. This is not going to help Kate or the twins if she sees you like this." Jamie has always had a calming influence on William like that.

"You know what Jamie, you're right. I need to talk to her. Can you find me Jessica Hay's address and phone number. No one is going to do this to my family and get away with it."

royalserenade-alwayskate / catherinemfan

Kate woke with a start. She reached out to the side of bed, hoping that William would be there to provide her with the warm, fuzzy feeling that could only be obtained from him alone.

He wasn’t there. There was this tugging feeling in her that made her feel extremely uncomfortable, and it wasn’t the twins.

There was pacing footsteps downstairs and whispers of the staffs. Kate remembered what happened before she took a nap, so she went down to asked about William and what he had done about Jessica Hay and her allegations.

They fall into an immediate silence when Kate approached them.

“Where is William?” Kate asked Jamie.

“Kate,” Jamie begin and then stopped to clear his throat. “William.. He..”

Jamie almost never stammered as long as Kate had known him. He had always go straight to the point. And the others, they were staring at her, bleary-eyed.

Kate wanted to burst out with questions. About Jessica Hay, about what she had said, about William and what he had done. But as she put two and two together from her instinct, Jamie’s stammering and the staffs’ looks, she was nearly sure that something had happened when William attempt to put a stop to Jessica Hay’s ridiculous behavior. And that something, according to her instinct, wasn’t good.

phfanfic-againstheodds

“Jamie,” Kate said, forcing her voice to keep steady, even though that isn’t at all how she felt. “Don’t dance around the subject. Where is my husband?”

Jamie cleared his throat. “I’m sorry Kate, Will is being held at the police station.”

Kate blinked. “I’m sorry. What? Why?”

Jamie straightened his shoulders. “Jessica Hay called the police. She is filing assault charges against William.”

Kate’s hands instinctively went to her belly; a protective, motherly motion even though this had nothing to do with the twin’s safety. But, this was their father who was in trouble, and it was the only kind of protection she could offer anyone at that moment.

“Assault?” Kate whispered. “As in, she’s saying he hit her?”

Jamie nodded. “Yes.”

“Oh my God.”

“Kate…”

“Jamie, my husband didn’t hit anybody. He’s never hit anybody,” Kate cried.

“I know. Believe me, I know. But she called and they had to take him in. This isn’t like the old days where the Royal Family can’t be touched. They can’t keep this under wraps. They have to treat it seriously. Especially since…”

“Especially since she will go to the media,” Kate finished for him. Her heart was pounding in her chest.

Jamie sighed. “She already has.”

Tears sprang to Kate’s eyes and she fought them as hard as she could. She fought to press the lump in her throat down, to keep herself under control.

“Kate, we are doing everything we can. Will is cooperating. The Protection Officers that were there will clear his name. But she’s lit up the press.”

The tears slipped from Kate’s eyes. “She’s telling the entire world that William beats women.”

“No one will believe it,” Jamie tried to assure her.

“Some will,” Kate whispered. “And it will never be forgotten.”

“Kate, we’ve done all we can do for right now, but if there is anything I can do for you…”

Kate immediately cut in. “Take me to my husband, Jamie. Take me to William.”

(The End. Please do get in touch if you remember the ending.)

#royal fanfiction #jointfandomfiction

[dreamcatcherfication]

Ghosts Are Just as Real as You and Me - Part 3

Here is part three of my Henry fic that I simultaneously love and hate. I’d like to PSA that I wrote this whole chapter while listening only to Britney Spears. You should probably know that while reading this installment. This chapter’s pretty short and is mostly dialogue and filler, but I promise future chapters will have more action in them. (Sorry for any spelling/grammatical errors) Also: PARRLYN CONTENT! FINALLY!

Writing Masterpost

Again, y’all can send in asks and requests, I’m happy to write almost anything, and I love hearing from you all! Here are some prompts:

Prompts | More Prompts | The Trifecta of Prompts

Trigger Warnings: Mentions of Henry VIII

Part 1 | Part 2

“So why is he going after Kit?” Jane asked protectively once Anna joined the group. She had helped Kit get into a bath earlier to help herself relax, and now she was with the other four queens as they discussed Kit’s claims.

“Isn’t it obvious? Henry can’t beat us by brute force like he’s used to, so he’s going for the next best thing,” Cathy explained. At the confused looks of the other queens, she clarified, “Okay, imagine you’re trying to break a board in half.” The other queens nodded. “Are you going to try and break it where the wood is the thickest or where the wood has already started to bend?”

“Where it’s starting to bend, obviously,” Anne answered.

It was Aragon who processed Cathy’s words first. “He knows Kit’s the most vulnerable, so he’s targeting her first. Going after the weakest link.”

Anne stood up in frustration and accused, “Are you calling my cousin weak?”

“No Anne,” Aragon said, “but Henry is. And he’s going to poke at all her wounds until she inevitably breaks.”

Jane cut in, voicing her own concerns. “But Anna said Henry’s also planning to come after all of us. When do you think he’ll make a move?”

“Henry’s all talk,” Anne spit. “I wouldn’t believe any of his threats. We probably won’t hear from him until he thinks he has the upper hand.”

It was Cathy who shook her head. “I don’t know Anne, Henry might have been planning this for longer than we think. He could be ten steps ahead without us having any idea about it.”

“That’s not a comforting thought,” Aragon chimed in.

Anna had her head down, unable to contribute to the conversation. She knew that out of all of them, she mattered the least to Henry. In fact, they actually had a pretty good relationship after the annulment (even if it was all for appearances sake). She could only feel helpless thinking about everything Henry could do to hurt her Kit. “Hey Anna, you okay?” Cathy asked.

“What?” Anna asked, tuning back in. “Yeah, yeah. I’m just worried for Kit. She’s gotten so much stronger since we all came back, and I don’t want Henry ruining that.” Anna growled, “If he hurts her, I’m going to kill him.”

“Not without me,” Anne slammed her fist down against the kitchen table. The rest of the queens chimed in their support.

A voice came from the other side of the room. “What about you guys?” Kit asked, her hair damp and tied up in a loose ponytail. “Henry’s going to come after all of you. You should worry about yourselves, not me.” Her voice was small, the trembling reminiscent of when she was first reincarnated among the others. It frustrated the queens to see how easily Henry had forced her back into the fearful mindset she had lived so long in. 

Jane stood up from the table and moved over to stand with Kit. “Kitty, of course we’re going to worry about you, we want you to be safe.” Kit gave Jane a weak smile and walked to the table. She sat next to Anna, subtly reaching her hand out for the German to hold. Without hesitation, Anna grabbed the hand and squeezed it tightly.

“Kit, I hate to ask this but… are you sure you saw Henry?” Aragon asked.

“Aragon!” Anne shouted, protective of her cousin.

The queen recoiled. “I’m sorry Anne, I have to be sure. Kit,” she turned to the small queen, “Look me in the eyes and tell me that you saw Henry.”

There was a moment of limbo where everyone held their breaths, watching as Kit struggled to raise her eyes. When she did, her eyes bore directly into Aragon’s. “I woke up and he was standing in front of my bed. It was him, Catherine. Henry was in my room. I wasn’t seeing things, I promise you. Henry was here.”

Aragon nodded, satisfied. “I believe you Kit.” The girl sighed in relief, dropping her eyes. “But that does pose the question. How is Henry back?”

Cathy immediately had an answer. “It shouldn’t be hard to believe. He must be back the same way we are. For some reason, we’re in the present, maybe to have a second chance or work through our trauma. Maybe the only way that’s possible is to face Henry.”

“I don’t like how right you sound,” Anne mumbled. “Well he’s still a dick now, that’s for sure.”

“We can’t let him win,” Anna stated coldly. Kit looked up at the German queen and furrowed her eyebrows. “I won’t let him hurt you Kit. Not again. Not if I have anything to say about it.”

Kit looked around the table at all the other queens, each voicing their support for her. “But this is my problem, you shouldn’t be forced to deal with anything I’ve caused.”

“We aren’t forced to deal with anything,” Cathy replied. “Kit, you’re a queen, and this life has taught us that us queens stick together. If Henry threatens you, he threatens all of us.” She gave Kit a reassuring smile from across the table.

Anne nodded her head in agreement. “Like hell we’ll let you deal with this alone. That bastard’s gonna have to take down five queens before he can get to you.” Her resolve was fiery and passionate and very much screamed Anne Boleyn.

“We’re all in this together,” Aragon offered.

“We have your back, Kit,” Jane added.

At the overwhelming support, Kit felt her heart start to warm. She had thought she was alone, that’s what Dereham and Mannox and Culpeper had kept whispering in her ears. But their voices were drowned out by those of the queens right in front of her, alive and willing to fight. “Mein Schatz, we’re all going to face this head on, together. We’re all here, by your side.”

Kit let a laugh escape her mouth. “Against all of us, does Henry stand a chance?”

“Not even a little bit,” Anne answered.

Later that night, Anne and Cathy were the only ones still awake. The two of them were down in the living room, sitting in comfortable silence on the couch and lounge chair respectively. Cathy was reading a book and Anne was mindlessly scrolling on her phone. “Hey Cathy, do you think we came on a little too strong?” Anne asked, staring across the room at the other queen.

Cathy looked up from her book and fiddled with her reading glasses. “Huh?”

“Just, we were all very forward with confronting Henry. Is that the right way to help Kitty?”

Exhaling, Cathy put down her book and took her reading glasses off, knowing this was going to be a long conversation. “I don’t think there’s any right way to deal with this. It’s not like you can wikihow how to deal with your reincarnated dead husband who’s come to exact his revenge on you.”

“Yo, what if that’s actually an article,” Anne gasped, frantically typing on her phone.

Rolling her eyes, Cathy hid a smirk. “That’s not the point Anne. Don’t spend your time worrying about how to handle this. Just make sure Kitty knows you’re in her corner, that’s the most important thing. She knows how much you love her.” The writer stood up from her chair and migrated over to Anne on the couch. She curled up against the cushions and smiled at Anne.

When Anne continued to stare at her phone screen, searching through wikihow, Cathy shook her head at the girl’s determination. Cathy grabbed the phone and turned it off, putting it face down on the coffee table. “Hey,” Anne frowned. It only took a moment before a tiny smile grew back on her face. “Okay, okay, you’re right. I just can’t help but worry that I’m not enough for her. She deserves people like Jane and Anna there for her, not the fuck up Anne Boleyn. I’m scared she’s gonna think I’m not there for her.”

Cathy reached her hand out and held Anne’s hand. “Anne Boleyn, you are not a fuck up. You’re a smart, talented, amazing woman, and Kit knows that. You’re her cousin, she would never think badly of you.”

Smirking, Anne leaned across the couch and pecked Cathy on the cheek. “Thanks Cathy, you’re the best.”

Blushing a bright red, Cathy waved Anne off. “I just believe in you Anne. So does Kit.”

Her confident persona restored, Anne bounced up off the couch. “You always know what to say Smarty Cathy.”

“I don’t think that rhymes as much as you think it does,” Cathy giggled in confusion.

“Damn,” Anne grumbled good naturedly, “Guess I’ll just have to workshop my pickup lines. See you in the morning Cathy!” she called before bounding off to her room in the attic.

Watching her go, the writer gave a small wave. “See you later Anne.”

Upstairs, Anne was silently congratulating her boldness. For so long she had been flirting with Cathy, and getting a reaction was her favorite reward. The giant grin plastered on her face could not be wiped off by anything. Even when she spotted the pristine white letter on her bed, Anne didn’t think much of it. She picked up the letter and opened it up, expecting a bill for one of her latest random purchases (had she paid for the furby yet?).

Instead, the letter was something far different. Anne Boleyn, it started.

I’m going to need your help if my plan’s going to work, and you’re the perfect woman for the job. Now here’s a list of things I’m going to need you to do. Oh, and if you don’t comply, I have plenty of eyes on your precious cousin. One step out of line and I’ll kill her.

Your love,

Henry

#six the musical fanfiction #six the musical fanfic #six the musical fic #six fanfiction #six fanfic #ghosts are just as real as you and me #part three #parrlyn #katherine howard #anne boleyn #anna of cleves #catherine parr #catherine of aragon #jane seymour #h*nry viii #why is the voice of britney spears still echoing in my ears #this chapter is pretty short #but the others will be longer #i promise #kind of #also cathy has reading glasses and i will stand by that #anne thinks they're adorable #(they are)

[janeyseymour]

Escape- pt 8

pt 1. pt 2. pt 3. pt 4. pt 5. pt 6. pt 7. 

Jane Seymour has stayed with Henry long enough. Cue Catherine of Aragon and the rest of the girls to save her.

Jane finds herself in a situation that is going to affect the whole household.

A month later, Henry was still nowhere to be found. Everywhere he went, he was unrecognized. The case still hadn’t made it out of the state, so anywhere he traveled out of state was safe for him. At this point, Henry had lived out of several motels and hadn’t been caught or suspected in any way. One day though, he was watching the news and saw his face appear on the television.

“Mr. Henry Tudor is now on the loose after chasing his ex-fiancee from her hometown. Miss Jane Seymour is at an unannounced residence for protection. If you have any information on this-” Henry’s fist collided with the screen and shattered it. “Fucking bitch!” He shrieked in anger and pain.

“Thomas, determined to find Jane and save her, had begun searching for her on his own. After she so abruptly hung up on him, he had to make sure she was okay. It hadn’t crossed his mind that it seemed suspicious that he was asking her where she was, considering he was best friends with the man she was running from.

“Yeah, Henry really fucked this up big time. She’s finally going to be mine,” he laughed to himself spitefully.

Meanwhile, Jane and Catherine fell into a routine with the other women. Everyday, Jane would wake up at seven and make breakfast despite the other’s protests.

“Jane, you really don’t have to wake up to make us all breakfast before work.”

“I’m always up this early anyway,” she would insist. “And I like cooking. It’s really no trouble.” The other women knew it was Jane’s way of contributing since she couldn’t exactly get a job considering she was in hiding.

On this day, Jane was awake at seven, as per usual, but a sudden wave of nausea hit her. She swallowed it and made her way down to the kitchen. The pungent smell of the eggs she was cooking was becoming too much for her. Gagging, she ran to the bathroom, pounding on Cathy’s door in the process.

“Eggs on burner,” she choked out before running into the bathroom and barely making it to the toilet before emptying the contents in her stomach.

“Catherine?” Cathy knocked on the bedroom door that the two women shared.

“Hmm?” She sighed sleepily.

“Jane’s puking in the bathroom. Do you want to handle that or the eggs she was cooking?” Catherine bolted out of bed and ran to the bathroom faster than her cousin had ever seen her move.

“Jane?” She pushed the door open. “Are you okay?” She sat down next to the blonde and rubbed her back soothingly.

“Mhmm,” Jane moaned. “Just a little sick is all. Why don’t you start getting ready for work? I’ll be out by the time you need in.”

“That’s definitely not what I was worried about,” Catherine snorted. “Seriously, if you need someone to look after you, I can call out.”

“Whoever is in the bathroom, I need to get in there! Hurry up!” Anne’s shrill voice could be heard on the other side of the door.

“Not now Anne,” Catherine huffed.

“We’ll be out in a few minutes,” Jane called weakly.

“You two are in there together? Is it sexy ti-”

“Now is not the time Anne.”

“Are you two okay?” Kat’s voice was small and timid, but the amount of care that was conveyed was what mattered.

“She’s just a little sick is all.”

“I can go and get some crackers and ginger ale if you want them Jane?”

“That would be really nice Kat. Thank you honey.”

“Are you going to be okay if I go to work today?”

“I’m sure I’ll be just fine Lina. Go get ready for work.”

Catherine sighed, “If you’re sure.” As she passed Kat in the hallway, the two briefly conversed.

“Are you-”

“I’m off of work every Friday Cath. I’ll make sure she’s okay.”

“Thank you Kat. I appreciate it.”

“Anything for Jane.” The pink haired woman knocked on the bathroom door and poured a cup of mouthwash.

“Here. You might want this.” She handed the cup to the blonde who took it gratefully.

“If you have things you need to do Kat, I’ll be alright by myself. Henry never really took care of me when I was sick.”

“I have off work every Friday. I can make sure you’re taken care of. Well, if you want.”

“I don’t think I’d mind the company.” The two settled on the couch, and Jane quickly drifted back to sleep.

Hours later, Jane was still asleep.

“Hey I’m on my lunch break. Thought I’d stop by and see how Seymour’s doing.” Anna plopped herself on the couch next to the pink and blonde haired women.

“Dude, other than when her head’s in the toilet, she’s been dead asleep.”

Anna felt Jane’s forehead. “She’s not running a fever or anything. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s pregnant. No fever, she’s been exhausted for a while now, add throwing up to the mix.” Kat looked at her in confusion. “Morning sickness?” Anna tried.

“Oh. Maybe.” Kat mulled over the possibility. Jane shot up quickly and bolted to the bathroom. Katherine followed behind quickly and held the blonde hair up to avoid getting vomit in her hair.

Sunday came around when something occurred to Jane. She was a week late.

“Catalina? I’m going to the store. Do you need anything?”

“I’ll just go with you,” the older woman yelled as she grabbed their coats. Helping Jane into her jacket, she questioned what her friend needed. Jane avoided the question and opened the door.

“Shit!” Jane cried. “What the hell?”

“Jane?” Catherine called from outside the bathroom stall at the grocery store. “Are you okay?”

“Just shut up!” the blonde screamed. “Just go! I’ll find my way home!” She stared at the three sticks in her hand, a plus sign on all of them. She pushed open the stall door and went straight past her friend. “I’m pregnant,” she huffed, already out of the bathroom. Catherine was shocked. She didn’t make a move.

“Get it together woman,” she sighed, shaking her head and chasing after Jane, who chose to ignore her. The two had reached their newly shared car when she finally spoke.

“Jane, what are you talking about? You’re pregnant?”

“Yes,” she shot daggers at her friend with her eyes. “Now let me in the car before I decide to walk home by myself.” Catherine quickly unlocked the car door.

The newly pregnant woman called the local doctor’s office and was able to make an appointment tomorrow for a blood test. She called her mother.

“Mom, I took three tests. I’m pregnant... Well I’m pretty sure three tests aren’t all going to come up as false positives! I know Mom, I’m keeping it... Yes, I was able to be squeezed in for an appointment tomorrow.... Okay, I love you too, bye.” She looked down at her hands when she hung up.

“So I’m pregnant.”

“It seems that way,” Catherine muttered, not quite sure what to say.

“Because as usual, I fucked up and-”

“No,” the hispanic tried to assure her. “You didn’t, but we do have to figure out what you’re going to do now.”

“Well I’m really not sure.”

“You said you’re keeping it right?” Jane nodded.

“Well we have that figured out, so it’s a step in the right direction.”

“I guess you’re right. But this makes everything so much harder now. I’ll have to tell Beale eventually too.”

“Just when things were starting to get easier,” Catherine mumbled to herself as she drove out of the parking lot.

“John!” Margaret yelled. “Janey called.”

“Oh yeah?” He made his way to his wife.

“She’s pregnant.” Betty’s eyes filled with tears of sorrow. She had always thought the day her daughter would come home announcing she was pregnant it would be a joyous occasion. That wasn’t the case. Her daughter was impregnated by a monster.

“Shit. It’s Henry’s?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, it can’t be Cath’s if that’s what you’re getting at.” Margaret cracked a smile.

“Hey, you-”

“John!” Margaret stopped him. “Speaking of those two: they never got together. I think after ten years, I won the bet. Pay up.” She simply placed her hand out.

“You always know how to lighten the mood, but just you wait,” he chuckled. “Just you wait.” John took his wife’s hand and kissed it.

The two friends were sitting in their bedroom when Jane broke down.

“Beale said we need to lay low and stay put. How the fuck am I supposed to do this? I’m putting so many people in danger by staying here. Am I doing the right thing? Should I just go back?”

“No way in hell am I letting you go back to that,” Catherine stated firmly.

“Jane, don’t lose your head. You’re staying with us. We’re all here for you.” Anne spoke up from the doorway where the other girls had been standing for quite some time now.

“Are you ready to be here for a baby too?”

“What?”

“I’m pregnant,” Jane said flatly.

“We’re going to love you through it. Dinner’s ready by the way.” Anna spoke up.

“How is this baby supposed to grow up without a father?” Jane began to panic. She hadn’t even thought of that until right then.

“Your baby doesn’t need Henry. It has you,” Cathy tried. “And us,” Kat spoke up.

“All your baby needs is us six. That’s more than enough love than Henry could ever give,” Cathy affirmed before turning on her heel and making her way back to the kitchen quickly. She returned with miraculously balancing six plates of dinner for the group.

All of the girls stayed with Jane and Catherine that night, knowing Jane was going to need all the support she could get that night. Jane fell asleep sandwiched in between Kat, who was becoming more and more like her surrogate daughter despite the fact that she was only a few years older than the pink haired woman, and Catherine, the woman she knew she should’ve ended up with.

#six the musical #six musical #six fanfiction #six the musical fanfiction #six the musical fanfic #six fanfic #six musical fanfic #aramour

[lailaliquorice]

even stars are small from a distance

second fic in one day babeyyyy, and to balance out this morning’s fluff now we have angst. this is for a prompt from a lovely anon which was parrlyn h/c with one comforting the other after a nightmare with kisses. hope this was ok!

I haven’t written parrlyn in ages so this is for all the very patient parrlyn friends on the sixcord who have been eagerly waiting!! it’s essentially a rewrite of ‘one more chance’ but with a lot more gay(tm) bc established relationship this time. I know everyone and their cat has written anne having nightmares but hey we love a cliche and that’s all I have to say with this one bc it’s approaching 2am and I need sleep but hope everyone enjoys it c:

Considering how their show was essentially them retelling their stories to four hundred people every night, Cathy still managed to be incredibly private about her former life. It was something that puzzled Anne but didn’t bother her at all; she knew that they all coped with their secrets in different ways and if Cathy’s method was to keep herself hidden then she wouldn’t question it. She would try and make sure her girlfriend didn’t bottle too many things away if she seemed overly stressed any time, but for the most part she just enjoyed and appreciated the privilege of being told any titbit of Cathy’s history.

But what that did mean was that when absent-mindedly scrolling through an article written about the historical aspect of the show, Anne received the unwelcome shock of her life.

It was an unspoken pact that they wouldn’t search up facts on each other’s past lives without permission, since being told to google each other’s names to get filled in during their first rehearsals felt like the equivalent of being told to nose through each other’s diaries. They all knew enough about the queens they hadn’t lived alongside through the show itself anyway. As a result the article was one of the first that Anne had ever read about their Tudor lives and for the most part there were no surprises; the only notable piece of information she tucked away being how Aragon had wanted to send Henry the body of the Scottish King she’d had killed in battle while he was away, something which spoke so true of Catherine’s power as Queen that she couldn’t believe it wasn’t mentioned in the script.

That was until she reached Cathy’s section of the article though. She’d largely skimmed through Kat’s, knowing she couldn’t read about her baby cousin’s suffering without her stomach churning, and was half-tempted to skim through the account of what the final solo didn’t include about Cathy’s life with the King for the sake of her privacy. But before she could click out of the article, a single word in the middle of a paragraph caught her attention.

‘Beheading’.

Anne’s heart rate quickened as she scrolled back upwards. There was no need to mention that in Cathy’s life story unless it was a reference to Kat’s life or her own, which she soon realised it wasn’t. Horror deepened in her stomach as she read of the arrest warrant that was sent out, how Cathy had discovered the plot to have her replaced and been forced to beg the King for her life. How she’d been forced to fight off an armed guard who hadn’t been told of the King’s forgiveness. How the stress of the discovery had made her ill.

How she’d come within a hair’s breadth of losing her life in the same way that Anne had.

Her fingers hovered over her scar as her thoughts raced wildly. She knew that Cathy had known of her in her old life, knew that the entirety of Europe had treated Anne’s death as a warning for what could happen if he was disappointed by his wife. A sudden stabbing pain in her neck forced her to grit her teeth hard, tears pricking at her eyes as she thought of just how afraid she must have been.

She longed to pull her girlfriend into a hug and promise her that she’d never let anyone hurt her again. But that want was quashed by the realisation that she could never let Cathy know that she knew.

So she shut her laptop and said nothing, just kissed Cathy when she returned from her day out with Aragon and listened intently to what the two of them had got up to. She did the show without a hitch, aside from the crescent-shaped indents she pressed into her palm from squeezing her hand closed during Cathy’s solo. And she greeted fans afterwards with no indication that anything was wrong, her voice only failing her for a moment as she watched Cathy sign beneath ‘survived’ with the awful knowledge of how she almost hadn’t.

The only time she came close to cracking was when they were both sat in Cathy’s bedroom after the show. A yawn from Anne prompted a gentle reminder from Cathy that she needed to go to bed soon, and the thought of leaving Cathy alone in the darkness made Anne suddenly burst out “Can I stay here tonight?”

Cathy blinked with surprise for a moment before she nodded. “Of course you can love, you never need to ask. Are you ok though? You’ve seemed a little quiet since I got home,” she said, a concerned look in her eyes as she met Anne’s gaze.

For a moment she was tempted to tell her everything she’d found out, but then she pictured the look on Cathy’s face upon having her privacy violated and she shook her head. “Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine,” she said with what she hoped was a convincing smile.

But her confidence didn’t last for long, as her overactive mind betrayed her the minute she fell asleep in Cathy’s bed and started to dream.

The first thing Anne noticed was that she was in the courtyard by the Tower of London. Immediately she tensed; this courtyard had been the setting for many of her nightmares so it was easy enough to guess exactly what was about to happen. But then she realised that she was part of the crowd rather than standing atop the scaffold, which had never happened before. She could see the executioner’s block waiting though, her scar tingling at the sight of it, so even if it wasn’t her up there she still knew exactly what would happen.

But her grim resolve to see it through shattered when she looked to the scaffold and saw who was standing there. It was Cathy.

Anne started to struggle against the crowd as she watched her approach the block, her thin white chemise a poor excuse for armour against the jeers of the onlookers. Despite how much she tried to push forwards she found herself swept further and further back, helpless to reach out for Cathy as she walked like a zombie towards the block and knelt down. There was no emotion in the face she knew so well – it would have been easier to bear if this Cathy was the one in the portraits not the one in Anne’s lock screen but of course she wasn’t granted that mercy – until she looked up from the ground and met Anne’s gaze.

Her eyes were full of the one emotion that Anne had never seen on her girlfriend’s face. Hopelessness. And it felt like an arrow to her heart.

She started to scream as Cathy moved sluggishly to place her head on the block, ignoring the accidental blows she was dealt by the crowd’s enthusiasm. It was nothing like Anne’s own execution had been; these people were out for blood. These people wanted to see her brave, beautiful Cathy dead and the very thought made her feel sick.

By the time the executioner appeared out of the shadows Anne’s throat was raw, but still the sight of the figure from her nightmares renewed the panic pounding at her chest and she shouted even louder. She hardly even knew what she was screaming; a plea for mercy, an urgent love confession, even a desperate wish to take her place. But her prayers were ignored as the sword was raised, glinting under the cruel sunlight exactly how she remembered.

The executioner swung. The crowd roared. Screams of horror and triumph blurred into a high pitched wail as the world went white and she felt her legs folding beneath her. And then-

Anne was still screaming as she jolted awake, her cheeks ravaged by tears and her chest heaving for breath. Immediately she was attempting to stifle her cries, one hand clamped over her mouth to muffle the sound of her sobs and the other hand over her racing heart as she tried to regulate her breathing though. The usual techniques did nothing though as her brain kept replaying the image of Cathy losing her head, and she retched dryly as her stomach gave a sickening turn. Her consciousness started to blur around the edges again as her lungs ached for oxygen.

“Stay with me sweetheart, breathe for me please.”

The voice through the dark made her jump in shock, realising for the first time that she wasn’t in her own room. A fumbling sound was followed by the bedside light being turned on, to reveal Cathy looking at her with sleep-mussed hair and a stricken expression.

Her hands still trembled and the sick feeling in her stomach refused to leave but everything else stilled as she stared blankly at Cathy for several seconds while her brain struggled to catch up. But then she frantically pushed herself to her knees, not giving Cathy a chance to react as she lunged forwards and kissed her.

It was messy and desperate, but it was enough to prove to Anne that she was there.

Cathy reacted quickly enough to support Anne before she slipped, one hand on her waist and the other cupping Anne’s cheek as she kissed her back. Only a couple of seconds passed before Anne was sobbing into Cathy’s chest instead, whispering “You’re alive,” over and over again as she clung to Cathy like a lifeline.

“I’m alive,” Cathy replied in a voice so full of conviction that Anne could just about believe the warm arms around her weren’t a figment of her imagination. Her shaking limbs felt as though the strength had been sapped from them so she couldn’t do anything but sink into Cathy’s embrace, letting out a shuddering breath as she buried her face in Cathy’s shoulder and waited for her nausea to subside.

Several minutes passed before Cathy gently pushed Anne back to look at her in the eye. “Please tell me what’s wrong my love, I’m worried about you,” she said softly, tilting Anne’s chin up with her finger to look up at her.

Anne hesitated a moment longer, still afraid of Cathy’s reaction as she’d been that afternoon, but the lingering terror from her nightmare had beaten down her walls enough that she couldn’t stop the truth from spilling out. “You nearly got beheaded,” she choked out.

As Cathy’s expression fell Anne couldn’t bear to keep looking to see the rest of her reaction, wrenching her chin out of Cathy’s fingers to cover her mouth with her palm. “I found an article earlier and it said he nearly killed you too,” she sobbed, her words muffled by her hand and her distress. “And I dreamed about my execution but it was you instead and I couldn’t save you. And I’m so sorry I found out and for invading your privacy by finding out I promise I wasn’t trying to and I trust you to tell me shit but I’m just so so angry for you and-“

“Oh sweetheart, it’s ok,” Cathy said softly, her hand on Anne’s shoulder interrupting her hysterical tirade. “I wasn’t keeping it a secret because I didn’t want you to know, it was just because I didn’t want you to be upset. I promise I would have told you. One day you’ll know all my secrets love, I’m sorry I’m not better at sharing things with you.”

Her apology sounded so sorrowful that Anne looked up at her and shook her head. “Love you,” she whispered because those were the only words she could come up with at that point, too exhausted to think of anything more coherent to follow up Cathy’s comment. As a final bit of proof that Cathy really was ok she reached out to place a hand at the back of her neck, thumb smoothing over the smooth skin where Anne’s scar lay, leaning forwards to touch her forehead against Cathy’s.

Cathy smiled at her through the gloom, nuzzling Anne’s nose with hers before pulling her into a firm embrace. “I love you too, so so much,” she murmured next to Anne’s ear, pressing a kiss to Anne’s hair before resting her head atop hers.

Anne began to wonder if she was going to fall asleep resting against Cathy before her girlfriend shifted underneath her, and Anne let out a quiet groan as she sat back up. Cathy giggled lightly as she tilted Anne’s chin up again, looking at her lovingly for a moment before leaning forward to kiss away the tear tracks on Anne’s cheeks. “Do you think you’re ready to sleep again?” she asked.

“Mhm. Yeah,” she hummed tiredly.

“Alright, come on then,” Cathy said, straightening out the covers from where Anne had kicked them back and settling back down on her pillow. Once there she pulled Anne down to lay in the crook of her side, and Anne hummed contentedly as she settled with her ear resting over Cathy’s heartbeat. The low sound was enough to reassure her that her dream wouldn’t come again and Cathy was alive and right next to her, and no executioner’s sword was ever going to hurt them again.

Cathy’s fingers running through Anne’s hair made the last remnants of tension seep out of her limbs, and she sighed lightly as she hugged Cathy close with an arm over her stomach. “Go to sleep love. I’m right here,” Cathy whispered.

Anne hummed something that might have been a thanks if she wasn’t delirious with exhaustion. Seconds later she was asleep, safe in Cathy’s embrace and the promise that she was never going away.

#six the musical #six the musical fanfiction #six the musical fanfic #parrlyn #anne boleyn #catherine parr #laila's writing

[basileusgerudo]

William’s Backstory

I had the weirdest god damn dream and I’m pretty sure it was just my William taking over my brain and laying out his life story.  I’m just copy pasting it directly in here, so it will be written as a dream, but, this is officially William’s backstory.

Big oof.

So like, it happened in the house but the layout was a bit different because my computer was in the corner of my room, and there’s usually a window and my a/c unit there, but all that was gone.  So it was truly just in the corner.  And mom was with me for some reason and wanting me to google something, or whatever, but the desktop was acting really weird so I held the power button down to restart it but it was taking a really long time??  And when it finally restarted it instantly came back on and a Fuck Ton of red nonsensical text appeared and just scrolled on and on and *on* until it stopped, went black, and then formed a face made of text.

He called himself ‘William Afton’ and the face looked like him, not like any one specific version, but like, I was looking at him dead in the cyber-eye and I knew it was him?  Anyway, he said via text that if we wanted to make out of this encounter alive, I’d have to play his game(s) and of course I didn’t believe him, it felt so vividly real that I figured something was fucking up so I said, out loud, “You’re lying, you can’t be real, this isn’t real, I remember laying down for a nap so this must be just a dream.” And he replied,

>Not real? >Just a dream?

>Well, how about I give your leg a poke then.

>Does this feel real to you, Catherine?

And I felt a pressure on my leg and, of course, freaked the fuck out and just told him to go away, there’s no way this was actually happened, etc., and the entire time I was freaking out the screen was being filled with nothing but laughter like:

>hahahaha(etc. etc.)

But then he threatened mom and said if I wouldn’t play along he’ll just have to “toy with her instead” and I flipped my damn shit cause me and mom are really close and I wouldn’t forgive myself if she got hurt because of me and I just remember sobbing and begging him not to hurt her to let her leave the room and I’ll do as you say, whole nine yards.  He agreed and she left and went and sat in the living room, I guess, but I still didn’t want to play his games because they were like, 8-bit pixel fnaf style mini games of killing kids, so I just started talking to him to stall for time.

And somehow we got into a conversation into his home life and told me about his father, whose name was also William Afton, and how his father was an abusive alcoholic and would beat him and his siblings, he had a younger sister and a younger brother, he was the oldest of the three.  I never got ages but anyway, his dad ended up killing his younger sister b/c he beat the shit out of her so bad and then when the cops showed up (i think the neighbors called?), his dad had William lie or

>He’d do the same thing to me that he did to her.

>And I was terrified, so, of course, I lied.

I started feeling really bad for him so we just kept talking, only it wasn’t because I wanted to stall, it was mainly b/c he seemed really lonely and I figured he hadn’t had a real conversation with someone in a long time.  The next thing he tells me about is the first time he ever killed someone.

>School was the only safe place we all had.

>I always like learning, I made sure to get good grades.

>I suppose because I thought that would make him proud of me, but he never cared.

>I could’ve stayed home a whole week and he wouldn’t have cared.

>Would have just given him more time to beat me.

>So, when I found out my brother was being bullied, I snapped.

>I made him tell me who, what grade, what class he shared with them.

>They were a class above me but I was taller than him, I was taller than nearly everyone in the school, so I had a clear advantage.

>They put up a fight.

>I didn’t know how to punch, but I copied what my father did, how he held his fist, and landed in a few decent hits.

>I suppose he could see he was losing so he ran but I chased after him and I tackled him.

>There was a cinder block nearby so I used it to bash his head in.

>I’ve never felt more powerful in my life.

And I told him I understood why he did it and he accused me of lying but then I went on a whole rant about how I was bullied back in school and my brother would always look out for me (not to the extent of Literal Fucking Murder™) but that I really did understand where he was coming from.  I think he said thank you, or seemed appreciative to some degree, and then I kinda shifted the subject b/c I said,

“Wait, where’s your mom in all this?”

Because he hadn’t mentioned her once.  So then he tells about how he started Afton Robotics and how his mother came into his life and then promptly out of it.

>My mother was just as much a monster and just as guilty as my father.

>She left us soon after my sister was born because she couldn’t take the abuse anymore.

>I begged her to take at least the baby and my brother with her, I would stay behind, as long as they were safe.

>I’ll remember what she said to my dying day.

>”I never wanted any of you, your father just wanted more punching bags.”

>So she left and I’ve hated her ever since.

“William, I’m so sorry.”

>It’s alright, you have no need to apologize.

>You did nothing wrong.

“I know, but I’m still sorry.  You didn’t deserve any of this.  Your siblings didn’t either.”

>...Thank you.

“I only feel a bit terrible for asking but did you ever kill your Dad?  Take over the household, all that jazz?”

>Oh, yes, of course.

>He was drunk one night, too drunk to put up a fight, so I hauled him to his feet but it didn’t quite finish him off.

>So I snapped his neck.

>I told the cops the same exact thing I told them years ago.

>”He fell down the stairs Officer, he’s always been a bit of a drunk and I guess he just lost his balance.”

>They believed me, of course.

>I was free to take over the house, the money, and I went to college and worked on a Robotics degree, started my own business and my own company, Afton Robotics.

>I ran it out of my garage, mind you, but it was successful.

“That’s great!  I mean- minus the murder, but he really fucking deserved it.”

>He did.

>Thank you, for understanding.

>I suppose I should apologize for threatening you.

“It’s okay, you didn’t actually hurt me or Mom, so don’t worry about it.  Tell me more about Afton Robotics.”

>Very well.

>Did I ever mention I had a penchant for the joy of creation?

“No?”

>Well, I did.

>I do, still.

>Ever since I killed that bully, felt such a high, I wanted to keep it.

>I read up on creation and God and decided that if he could make life, so could I.

>So I shifted my focus to technology, robotics, how to build them from scratch, which leads back into the founding of Afton Robotics.

>I was *finally* good at something so I wanted to make some money from it.

>I made kittens, puppies, and small birds for people, sold them as ‘Never-Dying Pets.’

>”Get your child a friend that’ll last them a life-time!”

>It was a hit.

>It was a stable income and it helped when my father’s money, which wasn’t much, eventually ran out.

>I kept the house stable, funded my way through college, and kept it up for a few years.

>But then business dwindled.  My creations weren’t life-like enough anymore.

>Too cold, too clinical.  That’s when I remembered something from my short stint in studying religion.

>Souls.

>My creations didn’t have souls, didn’t have *true* life.

>I decided to give it to them.

>I didn’t want to harm any animals, though so people did just fine.

>I adjusted my robots accordingly - making small dolls was far easier than animals, actually.

>And children are such fragile creatures; so easy to win their favor with promises of candy, of fun, of a friend.

>That’s when I discovered Remnant.

“What is that?”

>Without going into the finer details, it is a substance that is in everyone.  It is in you.  It is in me.

>Children have more of it, everyone does when they’re young, but when they age, it spreads and disperses.

>Much like a soul, it never truly goes away.

>But, given its abundance, it was always far easier to collect it from children.

“But you watched your sister die, didn’t you feel bad?”

>Not at all.

>You see, when my sister died in my arms, she looked so peaceful.  Happy.

>Death, in itself, must be happy.

>I always singled out children who looked sad, were lost, crying.  Unhappy.

>That was the best lure I used: what better thing to offer a sad, lonely child but a chance to be happy forever?

“I… don’t agree with that but, okay. How does your mom factor into all this?”

>It’s alright, I don’t expect you to.

>She factors in because she figured out I had money and she wanted it.

>She called me, of all things, didn’t even bother to track me down, come back to the house.

>Told me she’d heard of my success and so sorry about your father’s accident.

>It didn’t even phase her when I told her about my sister’s death. >That’s when I decided I would kill her too.

>So I told her to come to the house, we could talk about money, and she fell for it.

>She came a few days later.

>She didn’t even apologize for abandoning us.

>She only begged for mercy as I stabbed her until the screaming stopped.

He also never mentions his brother again so I really really don’t know what happened there, other than I guess he left home.  I don’t think he wanted to hurt his only sibling and I guess I didn’t ask or don’t remember, but the next thing I remember is him telling me about Fredbear’s Family Diner.

>I came up with the idea for the Diner when I was nearly caught killing another child.

>I had to come up with something inconspicuous, something that would let me hide the bodies until I could be rid of them properly.

>So I went back to college, got an undergrad in Business, and started to draft blueprints for a bigger animatronic.

>A golden bear.

>Gold is such a soft color, pleasing on the eyes, and I often saw children with stuffed bears, I thought, “what better animal to make full scale than a bear?”

>It took me a year to develop the springlock suit - I’ll get into that in a bit - and then another year to develop the second animal, a golden rabbit.

>I’ve always loved rabbits, such soft, innocent creatures.  Until they aren’t.

“What do you mean?”

>Rabbits are adorable.

>But they are unnerving to some.

>Empty, soulless eyes.  Sharp teeth.  *Quick.*

>A predator hiding behind soft fur.

“Kinda like you.”

>Yes!

>Yes.

>That’s why I made the rabbit suit for me.

>I would become a symbol of innocence, something children would love.

>I would take them away, take the lonely and the sad, and I would make them happy forever.

>I would let them live their happiest day forever.

>I would give them a family.  *My* family.

“William-”

>So I started Fredbear’s Family Diner.

>There were games, pizza, prizes, and of course, two brand new forever friends.

>Fredbear and Spring Bonnie.

>It was an immediate success.

>And the suits, oh, the wonderful springlock suits.

>They were even better, my magnum opus.

>A creation of duality, like rabbits.

>Something that could be worn by an animatronic skeleton or worn by myself.

>I was always in the rabbit suit, I was careful to never let anyone see my face.

>I hired someone as a faux manager, someone easy I could manipulate, and if they ever showed signs of betrayal, I ‘fired’ them and hired another.

>And it was much easier to lure a lost child away, into the back, with promises of meeting Fredbear.

>With a chance to play with me.

>A friend.

>I would stuff their bodies into Fredbear after I’d collected their remnant and their soul.

“Could you collect remnant from the managers you ‘fired?’”

>Caught on to that, did you?

>Clever.

>Yes, I could.

>Like I said before, remnant never truly goes away, it simply thins out.

>A few factors make it collect within the body, but I found fear to be the most enjoyable.

“Why not give adults a happy ending?”

>Because adults are cruel.

>They’ve lost their childhood innocence.

“More like they can see past your act.”

>Haha.

>Yes, I suppose that too.

>I cannot offer an adult candy and pizza and get the same excitement from a child given the same offer.

I kinda lost the plot after that because someone broke into the house and tried to steal the living room T.V. so I chased them off and then me and mom had to run for some reason and the backyard was hella foggy and there was construction equipment everywhere.   ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#{ Mr. A | Purple Guy } #{ william afton's backstory a la Dream Style }

[illictaffrs]

There is Love in the World - The Happy Ending (John Luther/Alice Morgan)

And here it is! The first of three endings, and you’ll be glad to know that this one ends happily (unlike the finale).

I’ve also uploaded this fic onto AO3, so here’s the link if you’d rather read it on there:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17326028

Hope you enjoy it!

It’s dark by the time she makes it to George’s back garden; the preparations took longer than she had anticipated. She’s missed this, the careful planning of a murder, she’s missed how grounded it makes her feel. There’s more control, more power. It’s the opposite of how she feels around John. With him, it’s more unpredictable, similar to the scientific phenomenon that is a black hole, but less...evil. They suck each other in, collide each time with more intensity than the last. She’s certain that, if they wanted to, they could destroy anyone or anything that stood in their way. The same way a black hole would: by dragging them in and crushing them, making them nothing.

Which is exactly what she intends to do with George Cornelius.

Maybe the two feelings aren’t so different after all.

Regardless, there she stands in his garden, surrounded by perfectly trimmed bushes, carefully watered plants, and...is that a shed filled with shotguns?

Oh, this is almost too easy.

Barely a minute passes before Alice has ditched her own weapon in favour of one of George’s many shotguns.

Yes, she thinks, letting a sinister grin form upon her lips, this will do nicely.

He spots her before she’s even fired the first bullet. No problem there, she’d rather he knew who was going to be responsible for his demise, she likes to have her brilliance recognised.

A look of pure horror passes over George’s face, but no sooner has it appeared when dozens of armed policemen storm into his house, shouting and screaming and shooting. The horror has been replaced with a glint of amusement, and Alice wishes more than anything that she could stay and cut it off his face, literally.

But unless she wants to die here, that simply isn’t an option anymore. She makes a dive to the right, only just avoiding what could have quite easily been a fatal shot. Her legs just manage to make it to the back gate when a sharp jolt of pain sends her stomach into a state of bloody mess. Fabulous, back for three days and shot twice. She’s must be breaking all kinds of records.

“Do not move!”

George holds his hands in the air, a sign of surrender, but not defeat, not just yet. Schenk looms above him, a teasing smile on his lips. But George doesn’t even notice, he has one last trick up his sleeve.

He’s pinned down and handcuffed, but he bides his time until it’s only him and Schenk left in the room, then he strikes.

“Martin, I think it’s time you and I discussed getting me some legal protection.” It’s a subtle move, but the first of many.

Schenk misses it entirely, too focussed on the death of one of his own, one of his friends.

“I can’t put it together, George. I’ve tried, but I can’t work out what happened.” There’s no fight left in his voice, only a tired noise of defeat.

“I need a show of good will,” he continues, gathering what remains of his strength, “an upfront payment. Right now.”

There’s no command, no discussion, just one of Schenk’s men entering the room and uncuffing George.

He plays it safe, and, remaining silent, hands Schenk his phone, the image of John hovering over a body glaring on the screen.

The shock and disbelief on the other man’s face gives George the sign he needs to open his mouth and condemn John Luther.

“I told you, Martin, your lad’s a wrong’un.”

Schenk momentarily clears the mist in his head, it’s clouding around him, surrounding him and he knows if he’s not careful, it’ll eat him up inside. But he manages to ignore it long enough to issue a warning to Halliday.

“Hey, boss.”

“DS Halliday, are you with...DCI Luther?” The exhaustion in his voice shakes her for a second, but she regains her composure and answers him steadily.

“Yeah, I am.” There’s a hint of defiance in her voice, as though she’s trying to lift the uncertainty from Schenk and continue the conversation normally, without the mist threatening to consume her too.

���I need you to listen to me very carefully.” Her attempt fails, and his voice sounds even more full of grief than previously, she tries not to wonder why.

“Without alerting DCI Luther to this order, I need you to bring him back to the station as soon as possible.”

“Ok, yeah.” It’s hard for her not to ask questions, and even harder to try and remain calm in front of John, when it’s just been hinted at that he is a danger to her.

“If you alert him to this, there is every chance that he will run.” Schenk’s voice takes on a more confident tone, with an edge of anger building up and threatening to seep over.

“Do you understand me?”

Halliday takes a breath, just about staying calm and responding in her usual chirpy voice.

“Yep, got it.”

“Good. Now get him back to the station. Tell him...I have some interesting news, and I want to give him it face...to face.”

The call ends, and Halliday lets her own mask slip for just a second, allowing confusion and anxiety to write across her face.

John picks up on it immediately, and Halliday curses herself for letting him read her so easily.

“Schenk has asked you to bring me in, hasn’t he?” There’s a long sigh before he speaks, and Halliday wonders if it’s one of irritance or anger. She hesitates, then decides there’s no point in lying if he already knows.

“Erh, yeah. Yeah...he says that he’s got some news, something he wants to tell you?” She intends for it to be a statement, but by the time she’s finished, it resembles more of a question.

“Fair dues.”

The rest of the journey is made in silence. That is until they pull up outside the teacher’s house and John takes the opportunity to clarify where they stand.

“I’m not going anywhere until this...is dealt with.” It’s a risky move, he knows that. It could result in Schenk coming after him himself, but it’s one he has to make, otherwise, they’ll never catch Lake.

He doesn’t catch Halliday texting Schenk.

When it’s all over, and Lake is slumping miserably in the back of a police car, John approaches Halliday.

“Catherine, I owe you an explanation.” He pauses, giving her a chance to put in an input, but realises she just wants him to carry on.

“Schenk...Schenk is more than likely under the impression that I’m responsible for two recent murders.” Once again he gives her time to react, but glancing up at her face sees only a prompt to elaborate. God, he thinks, this woman is too nice.

“I can’t tell you much else, and I’m sorry for that, but I just need you to know that I didn’t do it. This is nothing more than a huge misunderstanding that, unless you let me leave right now, could get blown way out of proportion.” He exhales, lets out the breath that he didn’t realise he was holding. For once, he struggles to read the expression plastered onto his partner’s face. Whether that’s a mercy or a curse he isn’t sure of.

It’s only when she answers him that he realises he’s got this woman all wrong.

“Am I going to be able to stop you from leaving?”

The question throws him off guard; of all the things he’s been expecting (a panicked frenzy; an emotional speech; or even just handcuffs and a silent condemnation), this blunt, straight-to-the-point assessment was not one of them.

“I-erm...no, not really.”

“Then that’s that. If it’s not going to be possible to prevent you from running, then there’s nothing I can do.”

Pure admiration shines on his face.

“Go on boss, what are you waiting for?”

And so he runs.

He’s only made it as far as the second corner when he sees her. Red hair dishevelled and untidy, face scrunched up, mouth turned downwards and icy blue eyes glassy and bloodshot. She’s making her way towards him, clutching her stomach and half bending over. It terrifies him, and for a moment he comes to a sudden stand-still.

“Don’t just stand there!”

The tinge of alarm embedded in her words would have been enough to wake him up from his momentary slumber, but it’s the way her voice cracks as she speaks that really does it for him.

He’s at the top of the street and next to her before he so much as take another breath. It’s lucky too, because the second he reaches her, her legs give way and her body collapses into his arms.

“This feels awfully familiar,” manages Alice, adding a forced laugh at the end in hopes of lessening the ever-growing seriousness of the situation.

Her efforts are pushed aside as John aims a glare at her so intense and full of emotion that it forces her to turn the other way.

“Alice, what have you done? What happened?” A certain panic enters his tone, mirroring Alice’s from only seconds ago.

Shrill laughter fills the air around them, bitterness and anger and pain all rolled into one as Alice admits her failure, “Turns out I couldn’t do it either, how ironic!”

An element of unstableness is present in her revelation, and John is reminded of their exchange on the phone so long ago, the one he tried to cover up by telling his colleagues it had been his ex-wife, and not a certain malignant narcissist.

Right now, however, he’s more confused than anything else.

His bewilderment is expertly picked up on by Alice; nothing else could be expected really.

“Kill George,” she clarifies, sucking in a breath and steadying herself against John, “Your big boss interrupted us with his gaggle of armed policemen. You really ought to explain to him that I was only trying to do him a favour.”

She’s pouting now, toying with him by trying to appear more innocent than she’s ever been in her whole life.

“Rather rude of them to open fire, don’t you agree?”

Her mask is back on, draped across her face in an attempt to convey humour, rather than the sense of dread that dangles above her.

John, ever the gentleman, wraps his arm around Alice, careful not to aggravate her wound but still adding the extra support she won’t admit she needs.

“We need to move, get you somewhere safe. If Schenk knows you’re alive then we’re in more trouble than I thought. I’m not exactly in his good books right now.”

This time Alice doesn’t need to fake a laugh, if John didn’t know any better he’d say she was truly delighted by his implication.

“Now, John, have you been naughty?” She revels in the normality of the turn their conversation has taken. The playfulness brings her joy; she’d forgotten how immensely fun it was to mess with the man who’s embrace she was tightly wrapped in.

It only adds to her delight when John flashes her a sarcastic smile, before remembering what was happening and turning serious once more.

“George has a, um, a photo of me...standing above his hitman’s body and holding a gun,” he’s staring at the ground now, determined not to meet Alice’s enquiring gaze, “From what it sounded like on the phone, he’s shown Schenk. And in Schenk’s mind that places me as the top suspect for both his and Benny’s murders.” He awaits Alice’s reaction.

“John, look at me.”

He pulls his eyes up to meet hers, expecting to find them full of fire and anger, but after searching them sees only understanding and pity. Sometimes he forgets how much Alice has changed since he first met her at the station.

“I told you before...those people, the ones you mistakenly call ‘friends’, are nothing more than vampires. You,” she amends her misuse of pronouns, “we, need to leave before this escalates any further and you get blamed, once again might I add, for a crime that you did not commit.” She finishes, not with a look of satisfaction (which would have definitely appeared if they had had this same conversation three years prior), but with an encouraging smile that spreads across her entire face and lights up her features.

He wants to let her know that she’s right, something he would’ve been too proud to admit in the past, but he’s sensible enough to recognise that the most important thing is to get Alice to safety.

“We can talk about this later,” he promises, “but right now we need to focus on getting as far away from here as possible in a short space of time. Got any ideas?”

Ten minutes, one stolen car, and multiple stitches later, the two of them are back at Alice’s parents’ house, wounds tended to and all.

It’s nowhere near as bad as either of them had feared, and once it’s all dealt with they bask in the fleeting relief that washes over them both. It’s all too easy to disregard the events outside of the house and pretend they’re in a world of their own.

But soon reality kicks in, or at least it does for John.

Alice is awoken by a kiss on the top of her head, tickling her hair and stirring butterflies that do not exist in the pit of her stomach. Her eyes flutter open, and the fantasy is ruined by what she sees in front of her.

“Where are you going?” It comes out harsher than she meant it to, and she knows she could amend it, apologise even, but she decides it’s a fitting reaction to John nearly walking out of the front door, so ready to abandon her again.

“I..well,” he tries again, this time more sure of his answer, “I figured since you’re all patched up and ready to go you’d want me out of your hair,” he’s not doing a good job at disguising his uncertainty, so he gives it one more shot and encompasses Alice’s signature dash of humour, “You know, so that you can disappear again, fake your own death, I don’t know.”

Alice watches him, an identical pained expression on her face. There’s no use for her mask now, he’d only see right through it.

“What on earth makes you think that?” There’s genuine hurt in her eyes, and John isn’t sure what she wants him to say, so he says nothing.

“You and me, John, we’re in this together now, for better or for worse,” she huffs a laugh at her reference; maybe her pride isn’t gone after all, “We’re equals and opposites, the same but oh-so-very different. Yin and yang; Bonnie and Clyde; Bert and Ernie, remember?”

He does remember, couldn’t forget even if he tried. Part of him wishes they could be back in his old apartment, Alice pressed up against him, like a devil whispering in his ear, a devil with no concept of personal space. If he could go back, he’d accept her offer of travelling, her promises of adventure and mystery and seduction. But he can’t, and they aren’t in his old apartment, they’re in a house haunted by the murders that took place there. He wonders if this time he can make the right choice.

“I had an interesting conversation with Mark after you left. He helped me realise something, two things actually, if we’re being specific.”

“And what were they?”

She pauses, he supposes she’s preparing a response intended to pique his interest.

“The first was that he’s not quite as unobservant and incessantly boring as I initially believed him to be.” John just about succeeds in morphing his laugh into a cough, but Alice smiles nonetheless.

“The second...well the second is something I’ve had quite a bit of trouble accepting.”

The vulnerability solely reserved for him is once again present on her face, and John has to scold himself for the look of awe that has snuck onto his face.

“And what was that?”

She wastes no time in answering him.

“That I’m not a psychopath. That I’m not incapable of sentiment and empathy and all that nonsense.” She’s deflecting her emotional exposure and turning to humour again, despite knowing there’s no point.

Her confession causes John to suck in a breath. She won’t look at him now, and he knows it’s because she’s afraid, terrified even, of what she might find.

“Alice?”

She can’t bear to face him, to risk seeing what could only be amusement and taunting painted across his face.

“Yes?”

“He was right.”

It’s all she needs to hear. There’s no need for declarations and meaningful conversations because that’s not how they work. They both know that. Their relationship is built on trust and mutual understanding, not pointless three-word phrases.

John has long since moved away from the front door and is now positioned next to Alice on the sofa. She allows her head to rest on his shoulder and a content sigh rolls out of her mouth.

He looks down at her, at this woman that will forever remain a mystery to him, but who he discovers something new about every single day.

“So,” he wonders aloud, “what now?”

#luther #bbc luther #alice morgan #john luther #john x alice #idris elba #ruth wilson #fanfic #fanfiction #writing

[thirstygirlclub]

Duchess

Catherine Duke-Dillinger is a daddy's girl that has always had everything done for her but when they move to Charming her entire life changes. At the age of 23 she has to finally learn to grow up when her fathers new business venture goes up in smoke. But maybe she will realise you don't need to live in Hollywood to have fun, with the help of a biker or two, of course.

Prologue

“We should get rooms at the next motel!” Jax shouted to his men over the rain and roar of motorcycles.

The men grumbled in response, ducking their heads closer to their chests as they made their way through the rain. The flickering green light of a vacancy sign was like a beacon of hope in the storm and they made a bee line for it. As the thunder roared overhead they pulled into the parking lot. Bobby whistled in appreciation for the three shiny cars parked on the far side of the motel. There was a shiny black Range Rover that had obviously never been off road in its entire life; a small silver convertible Porsche and a bright red Lamborghini. The paint jobs were so clean that their headlights shone back at them as they parked.

“I wonder who these belong too,” Bobby said, not bothered about the rain anymore.

“Probably that girl in there,” Chibs chuckled.

Happy looked into the reception area where a small blonde woman was stood, tapping her foot impatiently as she spoke to the disinterested motel employee behind the desk. The closer they got to the door, the more they could hear her voice. She was complaining about the cleanliness of her room and bedsheets.

“-sleepwear is Chanel!” she ranted, “do you even know what that means?”

The man behind the desk looked up as the four men walked through the door. He had an expression on his face that suggested he had been subjected to this for a long time and was pleading with them for help but Jax just shrugged and folded his arms.

“It means,” the woman continued, “that I am not paying for my room until I get some sheets that aren’t ridden with bed bugs and… heaven knows what else!”

She threw her arms up dramatically and then folded them again, still tapping her foot against the cheap linoleum floor. She hadn’t even turned when the guys walked in and Jax shot Happy an amused look as they took in her bedraggled appearance. She had some fluffy pink sandals on her feet but the fur had been drenched where she had obviously been treading in puddles and walking in the rain. Upon closer inspection, her shiny blonde hair was hanging limply around her shoulders and her silk robe was darker around the shoulders where the rain had hit it.

“Look,” the man behind the desk sighed, “I can give you sheets but the housekeeper won’t be in until 1:30 tomorrow afternoon.”

“You’re expecting me to change my own sheets? What kind of place is this?”

“You are paying $5 for the night. What do you expect?”

The woman scoffed as the long suffering man put some “clean” sheets on the grimy desk and slid her key back over to her. She took them with another scoff and spun around to leave but jumped back into the desk when she saw the four men then shuddered when she realised where her silk robe had brushed against. Happy watched with amusement as she looked up at them with a disgruntled look on her face but the wide, grey eyes betrayed her fear of the tall, leather clad men.

“Let me get the door for you Lass,” Chibs said with humour in his voice, “I can tell you’ve had a trying day.”

She looked up at him thankfully with those wide, doe eyes and nodded as tears welled up in them, making her eyes look even bigger and so innocent that it was hard to believe she had just been chewing out the receptionist. She was just about through the door to go back into the rain when Bobby caught her forearm, pulling her to his chest.

“You want me to make you feel better?” he leered at her and she visibly wretched, dropping her sheets and blankets.

“I,” she said spitefully, the crocodile tears all dried up, “would literally rather die.”

The guys laughed and Happy let himself smile slightly at her rebuff of his brother.

She wrenched her arm out of his grip, realised that she had dropped the sheets and stamped her foot with a quiet shriek of anger. As she stormed out of the reception she screamed “Daddy!” causing them all to laugh again. Bobby ducked his head back out into the rain and shouted after her.

“I’ll be your Daddy, darlin’!”

They heard her shriek again.

 Later that night, Happy had been kept awake by his roommates snoring and couldn’t stop the itching that came from being in a bed that probably hadn’t been changed since the motel was built. He understood what the girl meant by bedbugs and whatever else was on the sheets. Bobby hadn’t seemed to care and had settled into sleep quickly.

The rain had stopped outside so he decided he would get away from Bobby’s snoring and take a walk in the fresh air, hoping that perhaps the cold would make him feel tired. As soon as the air hit him he knew he wouldn’t be getting any sleep that night, regardless of how much he walked around. The sound of a dog barking caught his attention so he decided to follow the noise only to see the girl now fully clothed in tight blue jeans, beige high heels and a white top that sort of floated in the night air. She was also holding a small hairy creature that is the opposite of what Happy would call a dog. This thing was more like a hairy rat or, equally, a fancy dress wig with legs. She was stamping her foot in anger and whining as she bashed weakly on the window of the vending machine where a bag of chips was hung suspended from its hook. It just wasn’t her day, Happy thought with a small smile as she huffed and hitched the hairy thing up higher. She had obviously decided that it wasn’t worth the trouble and turned to leave.

Mildly annoyed at the waste of a dollar, Happy stalked over and kicked the vending machine harshly; making the lights inside flicker. It took two times until the chips fell down into the bottom of the machine where he dipped his hand into the too small door to get them out for her. when he looked up to call her back, he saw that she was already looking at him with those wide eyes and clutching the thing to her chest tightly.

“Here,” he said gruffly and held the bag out to her.

The girl was stood frozen in the middle of the path before blinking and jumping into action. She walked slowly over to him, with her hand outstretched and watching him just as closely as he was watching her. The bag was snatched out of his hand quickly, the sudden movement causing the dog thing to start yapping again.

“Shh, Romeo,” she hushed the dog then nodded to him once, “thank you, sir.”

Nobody had ever called him sir before, not seriously anyway and he kind of liked it. He gave her a small smile and nodded back to her. Her voice had lost all notion of the brattiness she was showing before but had now turned innocent and kind of scared.

“Catherine?!” a male voice shouted from across the parking lot, “are you still there?”

“Yes Daddy!” the girl shouted and turned to walk away towards the open door.

Before she went into the room, the girl cast one more curious and mildly frightened look back at the biker. Happy was watching her with just as much curiosity until the door was closed behind her. When Happy turned back to the machine, he realised that the lights had gone out and the display screen was flashing nonsensical words. Without even thinking, he punched the glass until it shattered and grabbed some chocolate bars and bags of chips for the guys.

Even with his stomach full of potato and chocolate he couldn’t sleep but kept thinking back to those big grey eyes and sweet voice calling him sir and he smiled. It was a shame he would never see her again.

#duchess #happy lowman #happy lowman x oc #happy lowman fanfiction #sons of anarchy #sons of anarchy fanfiction #bobby munson #chibs telford #jax teller #clay morrow #juice ortiz