Unlikely Allies

Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Jegulus

Marlene McKinnon let out an ear-shattering shriek! At the same time as the siren of alarm left her lips, her right arm spasmed, sweeping the crystal orb that rested on the table in front of her to the floor where it promptly shattered into a million shards. Each shard sparkled, catching the light and twinkling like an amused glint in the eye of someone who had just seen something that made them smile. Marlene wasn't smiling, though. She was still screaming.

"What the hell, Marlene," Sirius Black complained, clapping hands to his injured ears. "Stop that! What'd you see?"

"Twenty points from Gryffindor for swearing, Mr. Black."

Severus Snape smirked happily at Professor Trelawney's pronouncement, but for once, Sirius didn't notice. He was too busy clutching his ears and glaring at Marlene McKinnon.

For her part, Marlene McKinnon was staring in horror at James Potter and still screaming her head off!

"Miss McKinnon...you must calm yourself and tell us what you have seen." Professor Trelawney breathed the words out in a dulcet sigh as she glided over to rest her hands soothingly on Marleen's shoulders.

"Ooh," Marlene moaned. "It's bad...Really bad...James!"

"What?" James leaned forward in his chair toward Marleen, horror beginning to creep over his own face. "What is it? Do I die or something?"

Marlene nodded vigorously. "Oh yes, but it gets even worse than that!"

Jame's eyes nearly bugged.

"Ur..." Remus Lupin murmured. "What's worse than dying?"

"What's worse than dying," Sybill Trelawney echoed the question, tone practically quavering with drama.

"What's worse than that is what the Muggles will write about you after you die," Marlene told James.

"But do I have to die," James wanted to know, mind still very focused on that bit.

"Everything can be changed, my boy," Professor Trelawney quavered, continuing to lay on the drama. "That's the point of the divining gift. To change the future with knowledge."

"How does James die, Marlene," Lily Evans spoke up.

Her face was tight with concern and white with shock as she reached to squeeze James's hand.

The two weren't overly into public displays of affection even though they were finally dating, but apparently prophecies of death could change that.

No one noticed the satisfied glint in Severus Snape's eyes at talk of the impending death of one of his enemies. Everyone was too busy staring at James or Marlene.

"So what is worse than death," Peter Pettigrew asked.

"Yeah," Sirius chimed in. He'd taken his hands down from his ears when Marlene finally stopped screaming.

"It's so horrifying, I can't even say it," Marlene said, her eyes squeezing shut as her entire body shuddered.

"It involves your dreadful little brother, Sirius," she added, muttering the words reluctantly.

"I can believe that," Sirius growled.

"I bloody hate him," he announced as if everyone in the room wasn't already aware.

"He'd say anything foul about me or my friends, even after they're dead, because that's just how he is," he ranted venomously. "If it's not Slytherin, or Dark Arts or Voldemort, it isn't respectable. So what does Regulus do after James dies?"