A Marauder's Guide to Falling Apart

Chapter Twenty Seven

Lily wasn't the same after the night her parent's died; she completely shut out everyone around her, including James. Marlene wanted to give her friend the space she wanted, but she felt guilty for keeping her distance at the same time.

She had tried on many occasions but James had turned her away at the door sadly, indicating that Lily wished to be left alone. Marlene knew that it wasn't only Lily's parents that were causing her distress; Petunia didn't take well to the tragedy. She blamed the accident on Lily's 'wickedness', and tried to ban her sister from attending the funeral. James didn't take lightly to that and had used magical means to take out his frustration with them. However, his actions had only caused further rift between himself and Lily, which caused her to pull away from everyone even more.

Since the attack in Harrow Sirius had put more focus back into the Order, and once again it had been a couple of weeks she Marlene had last seen him. She tried to understand his behaviour change this time around, and instead busied herself with her studies and her own task that Dumbledore had asked of her. But her frustration with Sirius was difficult to ignore; she felt pushed aside and unwanted once more, and it was taking its toll on her emotions.

She still hadn't spoken much with Tom since she had stormed out on him nearly two months ago. He had stopped by to visit her at the hospital on a few occasions and they had written to each other with curt correspondence. But Marlene still wasn't comfortable bringing up the Order with him again, despite her promise to Dumbledore to try harder.

For the first time in a long while the Order weighed more heavily on her mind. Sirius and James' mention of the death eater's steady growth, and the viciousness of their attacks nearly every week or so made it difficult not to push thoughts of them aside. She knew that it was important that she find some way to make her contribution, so she continued to dwell on exactly how she might get her Uncle Tom to budge.

She was lost in her thoughts about the Order and her lack of intimacy with Sirius during a late evening shift. Despite the fact that the hospital had been ridiculously busy in the past month, her unit remained fairly quiet. Most of the cases were sent to Spell Damage and Potion and Plant Poisoning. Trained healers from other departments such as her own were sent to help with the extra influx of patients.

Emmeline was leaning against the triage counter when Marlene approached, nose buried in her clipboard.

"And how's the rounds going tonight?" she asked cheerfully.

Marlene glanced up from behind the clipboard with a blank stare. "What?"

"I asked how things are going," Emmeline raised her brows and her lips formed into an obvious pout. "I barely see you anymore. I thought I would drop by before I head home for the evening."

"I'm sorry," Marlene sighed. She placed the board onto the desk and slumped into the chair behind it. "It's been busy around here and I'm afraid I've sort of been avoiding everything outside of this place."

"Well I know that your unit has hardly been busy," she smirked before her face fell and she looked serious. "Is this about Black?"

"Is it that obvious?" Marlene barked a bitter laugh. Her head fell into her hands and she let out a big frustrated sob. Then she pulled herself together. "I need to go check on room six."

"What time are you off?"

"An hour ago," Marlene averted her gaze, grabbed the chart and flipped it to a new page.

"Get someone else to do it," Emmeline said harshly. It was unusual for her to sound anything but optimistic. "That Mad girl or whatever her name is."