TW AND CW: Death, depression, nervous/mental breakdowns

A/n: just general feeling of sadness in this chapter... just letting y'all know.

Marlene and Sirius joked and laughed all the way back to the common room. As the portrait hole swung open, it revealed a certain Lily Evans snogging a certain James Potter on the couch.

"Are you seeing this?" Marlene whispered in Sirius' ear.

"You see it too?" Sirius wolf-whistled. "And it took 7 years."

They spotted Remus, Alice, and Peter also looking slightly nauseous.

Marlene and Sirius tip-toed up to them.

Remus had a grim expression. "That's been going on for..." he checked his watch. "15 minutes."

Sirius choked on his on saliva. "What?!"

Alice nodded, rubbing her temple. "It was cute at first, now it's just annoying."

Peter looked like he was about to throw up. "I'm going to the bathroom- Lily and James doing their stuff isn't agreeing with my stomach." He ran out of the common room at a record-breaking speed.

Marlene stifled a giggle. "Well, I think it's nice. It took 7 years, but they're adorable."

"That's what we said at first too," said Remus. "I'm gonna go read something to get my mind off of this. Al, you wanna come?"

"Please," she mumbled, following Remus upstairs quickly.

Marlene and Sirius grinned at each other evilly. 

"Let's break up the couple for some oxygen, shall we?" said Marlene.

"We shall."

Marlene walked closer to the couple and cleared her throat loudly.

Lily and James broke apart and stared at Marlene and Sirius.

"Oh-er-" said Lily, blushing.

"See you in the morning, Lily," said James swiftly, running up to his dorm.

"Bye James," said Lily, also rushing up to the girls dormitories.

Sirius laughed. "I'll be having a little talk with James about snogging in front of some curious 1st years."

Marlene shuddered. "Bless their poor eyes."

She flopped onto the couch and patted the spot next to her. "Come on, sit down."

Sirius plopped down next to her, but sat up immediately.

"What's wrong?" asked Marlene.

"I just sat on a Daily Prophet," said Sirius with a short, barking, laugh. He pulled it out from under himself and read the headline. "There were more muggleborn attacks." He shook his head grimly. 

"As a Gryffindor, I probably shouldn't be running around the castle screaming for my life," said Marlene. "But I'm pretty scared. So many people have died. What if it's someone we know...?"

Sirius placed a consoling hand on her shoulder. "Hogwarts is the safest place on earth. Dumbledore's here to help protect us. We'll be fi-"

"Miss McKinnon?" said Professor McGonagall's voice from in front of the portrait hole.

Marlene looked up. "What's up, Professor?"

"I'm afraid you need to come with me... Something has come up," said McGonagall swiftly.

"Alright," said Marlene, not wanting to question her. "Sirius, you should head up to bed."

"I'll wait, it's ok," said Sirius with a slightly unsure grin.

Marlene just nodded and left with McGonagall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had now been 30 minutes. What was going on?

As if to answer Sirius' question, Marlene finally entered the portrait hole again.

"Thank goodness!" said Sirius, jumping off the couch. "I was worried sick- what's wrong?"

Marlene had a tear-stained face and her hair was completely disheveled. 

Sirius gestured for her to sit down next to him.

Marlene sat down. 

"Hey... what's going on?" he asked quietly, holding Marlene tightly. "You know you can tell me."

Marlene didn't say a single word. Instead, she just started sobbing into Sirius' chest.

He didn't say anything either, just held onto her and stroked her hair gently. 

Her sobs were heart-wrenching and painful to hear.

After a long time of tears, Sirius finally spoke up. "You don't have to tell me what's up, but just tell me- is there anything I can do about it?"

Marlene shuddered violently. "N-no, it's alright, you deserve to know."

Sirius rubbed her back gently. "Go on."

"Dumbledore just told me that he- he got an owl from St. Mungos saying that- that-" Marlene broke down again. 

"Shh, shh," whispered Sirius in consolation. "It's alright, you're alright."

"It's not alright!" she whispered. "The letter said that- my mum and dad are gone. Dead."

Sirius paused. Not the kind souls who had done so much for him and Marlene, treated him like another son.

"He said that they were murdered," Marlene continued shakily. "By the person who's behind all these attacks."

Sirius was still speechless. He held Marlene close and stroked her blonde curls. 

"I'm sorry," Marlene whispered finally.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, love," Sirius said gently. "It's not your fault."

"But it's like I was saying before!" Marlene exclaimed. "What if that happens to any of us?"

Sirius looked Marlene in the eye. "We can make sure it doesn't, I know we can."

"What if it..." Marlene gulped. "What if it happens to you?"

Sirius smiled into the hug. "It won't. I promise."

Marlene's shaky breaths slowed down. "Mum- mum was the one who's dead. Dad's in St. Mungo's, recovering... but he's unresponsive. I don't think he'll make it."

Marlene broke down into a shower of tears and sobs again and again.

Sirius simply hugged her and whispered reassuring thoughts in her ear, trying not to break into tears himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marlene had been downright depressed for the whole week, and no one but Sirius and the staff knew why.

Lily and Alice had tried to talk to her, but Marlene had just made up an excuse and walked away.

James, Remus, and Peter had tried giving her some snacks to eat to make her feel better. Marlene politely rejected them.

As a person who normally woke up late, Marlene had started to get up so early that you could see purple bags under her eyes.

Not to mention that she had been having such horrible nightmares that she could hardly sleep at all.

Marlene was failing her classes miserably, and she had a complete breakdown when Professor McGonagall had asked the class who was staying at Hogwarts for the winter break and who was going home.

No one and nothing could help her. 

Sirius seemed to be able to console her a little, but Marlene had shut everyone else out completely.

It felt slightly hopeless.

A/n: Ok, I'm not gonna lie that I may or may not have cried a little while writing that...

Thanks for the reads, anyways!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Love, Jui Weasley