Work Text:
November 1976
The speed with which Gryffindor Chasers were moving was like nothing that Sirius had seen before, spurred on by their win last year they were playing better than ever. Ana, Marlene, and James seemed to be passing the Quaffle so seamlessly that the Slytherin players had barely touched it all match; so far only scoring ten points to Gryffindor’s one hundred and twenty. Suddenly, Marlene’s broom gave a violent jerk upwards and she dropped the Quaffle. Sirius watched as James flew up beside her for a moment before speeding off. Clodagh Farrell and Luis Scott both dived after the Snitch, but Sirius wasn’t watching them, Marlene’s broom seemed out of her control, but no one else had realised. Both teams and spectators had turned to watch the two Seekers. Very reluctantly Sirius tore his eyes away from Marlene and scanned the crowd; Snivellus was also looking up at Marlene, half hidden by the crowd around him who had risen to their feet in a wave. Sirius reached down two rows and snatched a pair of binoculars from a third year.
“Shut up.” He snapped when the boy tried to protest. Sirius looked though them at Snape. He had his wand out and Sirius was sure that he was speaking. He barely registered the cheers as Clodagh secured Gryffindor’s win; Marlene was tumbling towards the ground, James speeding after her but there was no way he close enough to catch up. Sirius pushed his fellow Gryffindors out of his way as he charged down to the pitch. Marlene hit the ground and the stadium fell silent as abruptly as if some unseen force had switched off the sound. Her limbs we splayed out at odd angles. Sirius’s world began to spin as he vaulted over the barrier, he didn’t know how she could have possibly survived that sort of fall. James landed beside her, followed by the rest of the team, as people began to descend from the stands to get a closer look.
“Don’t touch her!” McGonagall screamed shrilly as James reached out his hand. She magicked her onto at stretcher and went up to the castle, the Gryffindor team following quickly behind them.
“I hope she’s alright.” Snape said, in a tone clearly indicating that he was hoping for precisely the opposite.
“You did this!” Sirius spat, spinning on the spot.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Snape said, his voice dripping with fake innocence. Sirius dived at him, roaring a mix of curses and expletives, but without a wand in his hand the spells had no effect. Not that it mattered, he didn’t need a wand to choke the life out of him. Remus and Peter grabbed his arms, holding him back; Snape gave a nasty little smirk and walked away. It took them a long time to half push and half drag Sirius back up to the castle as he fought to chase after Snape. It wasn’t until he reached the Entrance Hall that he realised that he was wasting time. He wrenched himself free and sprinted to the hospital wing, forcing his way through the Gryffindor team lining Marlene’s bed. Her eyes were closed, she might have been asleep if not for the trickle of blood staining her blonde hair.
“—out! All of you! It’s a miracle that she’s even alive!” Madam Pomfrey said, shooing away the rest of the team. Sirius didn’t move, neither did James. Nicole was sobbing uncontrollably into the front of his Quidditch robes and his grip on her was so firm that his knuckles were taught and white.
“Potter, take young Miss McKinnon up to my office and give her a very strong cup of tea.” McGonagall said, her voice fainter than Sirius had ever heard it. James nodded, though he seemed unwilling to look away from Marlene.
“Come on, Nik Nak.” He said softly. “Nicole, sweetheart. Let’s leave Madam Pomfrey to fix her up.” It took him a while to get Nicole to leave the hospital wing.
“It was Snape.” Sirius said abruptly, tearing his gaze away from Marlene to look at McGonagall.
“That’s a very serious accusation.” McGonagall said, her voice back to its usual briskness. Sirius wiped the hot tears off of his cheeks with his sleeve and grit his teeth defiantly.
“I saw him. He did something to her broom.” He hissed, reluctantly letting her guide him out into the corridor. He had no proof, but he wasn’t going to let Snape get away with it, he’d deal with the bastard himself if she wouldn’t believe him.
Sirius had never known the Gryffindor common room so subdued, especially not after a Quidditch match, and especially not a match that they had won. He’d thrown himself into his arm chair by the fire, occasionally getting back up to pace. Neither seemed to bring him any relief. He should be down there with her. What if Madam Pomfrey couldn’t fix her? She had been a constant, shining feature of his life since the day they’d met. Stop it. He told himself.
James and Nicole climbed through the portrait hole, Nicole still tearful and James looking more rattled than Sirius had ever seen him…which was saying something as his friend had once watched a man die.
“It was Snivellus.” Sirius said immediately, jumping back to his feet.
“What?” Nicole asked in a very small voice, looking between them.
“Sirius, leave it, alright?” James muttered.
“Someone did this to her?” Nicole brushed away an escaped tear.
“No.” James hissed.
“Yes—”
“Sirius, shut up!” James shouted. He looked furious; Nicole drew her wand and tried to turn back to leave the common room but James grabbed hold of her. “It was a freak accident, Nicole. Go to bed, McGonagall said you can go and see her in the morning…Lily can you take care of her?” James asked, nudging Nicole in Lily’s direction. Lily looked exceptionally pale as she took Nicole’s hand and lead her up the girls stairs. James ran his hand through his hair, Sirius was sure that on any other day Nicole would be protesting that she wasn’t a baby, that she didn’t need looking after. “What the hell is the matter with you?” James demanded, rounding on Sirius.
“I know what I saw. Don’t you care about Marlene?” Sirius snapped. For a moment he thought James was going to hit him, or curse him. But he said nothing, he just turned away and went up to bed. Sirius threw himself back down in the chair. At least his anger was providing a temporary distraction from his sickening worry.
*
Sirius paced back and forth outside the hospital wing. Marlene was awake, her family were in there now. Nicole and Jeremy he understood, they were her siblings, but he was so bitter that the McKinnons had told Madam Pomfrey to let James join them, he wasn’t really her brother. Why should be allowed over Sirius? Sirius was her boyfriend, James was just…
Guilt twinged at his insides. He didn’t mean that. He knew James was her family; her Jamie. He just wanted to see her now that she was awake, to see for himself that she was really okay. He stood aside, watching as the McKinnons and James left the hospital wing. James turned his head and smiled. Sirius breathed a sigh of relief, if James was smiling right now then Marlene was going to be fine. He slipped into the hospital wing, ducked down below Madam Pomfrey’s office window and crossed to Marlene’s bed.
“Hi.” He said softly. She was sitting up, that was promising. But she still had a bandage on her head. Her face lit up when she saw him and he felt his heart flutter.
“Hi.” She whispered back. Sirius pulled the curtain across slightly so he wouldn’t be noticed. He hardly knew what to say. She could have died.
“How are you feeling?” He asked, taking her hand. Marlene laughed and then winced slightly.
“I’ve had better days.” She was grinning and his eyes filled with tears. How could she be grinning? This was serious.
“Oh, don’t cry.” She mumbled, slipping her hand out of his to cup his face. “I’m fine. Madam Pomfrey patched me up. She’s just keeping me in for a week because it’s a Quidditch injury. You know what she’s like.”
“I’ve been so worried, I thought you’d—” He broke off, the word didn’t seem to want to leave his mouth.
“I don’t really remember anything. I remember scoring a goal, and then waking up here. They’ve told me I fell off, that something was up with my broom. Which it had to be, because I’m a superb flyer.”
“A modest one too.” Sirius muttered, a small smile pricking his lips in spite of himself. He sighed and took her hand again, kissing it. He wanted more than anything to tell her how much he loved her, but she wouldn’t believe him, not right now. She would say he was only saying it because of where she was and he didn’t want that. “It was Snivellus.” He said suddenly.
“What?” Marlene frowned.
“Snivellus jinxed your broom, I saw him, but no one believes me.” He muttered. Marlene slid down against the pillows and stared up at the ceiling. She seemed to be chewing on her words.
“I don’t think he likes me very much.” She eventually said, her tone rather conversational.
“Stop trying to make me laugh.” Sirius said, he wasn’t in the mood to laugh. And he certainly wasn’t in the mood for Marlene to be so blasé about this, to try and brush it off like it didn’t matter. Snivellus had almost killed her. He didn’t care that he had no proof, he knew what he saw.
“I’ll never stop trying to make you laugh.” She said, squeezing his hand. “He blames me for Lily cutting him out.” She added.
“Yeah, because it couldn’t possibly have anything to do with him calling her that awful word.” Sirius hissed. If that had been why Snivellus had tried to kill her… “He’s not going to get away with this, I’m not going to let him.”
“Sirius, don’t go doing something that…I’m not worth—”
“Don’t you dare. You know, for someone so smart and arrogant, you really don’t have a high opinion of yourself. If you could see yourself how I see you…”
“Sirius.” She sighed, brushing her thumb over his bottom lip. He bit down gently on it and she laughed. It was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. “Just don’t do anything stupid.”
“I’ve never done anything stupid in my life.” Sirius grinned. Marlene snorted, turning onto her side with another wince. He loved her so fucking much, he’d never felt this way about anyone. He could spend his entire life looking and never find anyone that held a candle to Marlene McKinnon.