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*BANG*
Remus rushed in from Mary’s kitchen to her bedroom. There was a bullet hole in the wall. Mary stood there staring at the only person she had left, with a shotgun in her right hand and something curled in her left.
Mary dropped the loaded gun, slumped down, hung her head, and sobbed. Remus couldn’t do anything but stare back.
Through violent sobs of a mourning Mary Macdonald, Remus tried to get to her.
“Mary! Mary!” He shouted, but it was no use.
Mary’s shaking body rocked back and forth on the floor. Her head rested on the hard wood floor at the foot of her bed. Their bed. Marlene and Mary. Marlene had pasted away only a few weeks earlier. Then went Dorcas. Then James and Lily, which hit her the hardest. Then Peter. Sirius was in prison, that bloody traitor. How could he do this? How would he feel if he saw Mary like this?
Mary sat up after a few minutes and communicated to Remus with her eyes, ‘Help me.’
Remus sat down beside her, and solemnly reached for her hands. He stared at her dark skin, once warm and full of light, melt into a mournful gray shadow. Her deep brown eyes were red, soaked with tears. Remus could not lose her, he would do anything she wanted him to do.
Mary leaned into the only person she had left.
“Remus”, she looked up and whispered to him.
She placed her balled up left and in Remus’ palm and uncurled her fingers. They revealed a long plastic strip. Two lines were revealed on the thick end of the white stick.
Mary is pregnant.
Remus was at a loss for words. Mary was pregnant with Marlene’s baby. He did the only thing he could and held Mary as she cried.
After an hour or so Mary sat up and headed for the door. She laced up her beat up sneakers, Remus trailed behind. Mary held to door handle for a second
“Marlen-“ she started to shout, out of pure habit. She choked it down, and turned out the door. Mary stepped out in the dusk and walked to her Chevy truck. Remus followed without question. The pair was silent during the ride, Mary turned up the music so thoughts couldn’t intrude. They drove quietly, through poor neighborhoods, to silent cities and still farmland. Mary’s dream was to get to America, to escape. There was an international airport only a few hours away. Tickets were about $90 to Memphis, which was all of the money she had on her person. Mary’s tank was less than half full when she left, and now ran out on the outskirts of a middle of nowhere farm town. She could go anywhere she wants, and she ended up here. She could go home, but Remus knows she’s not going to. Mary was always a rebel without a clue.
Mary pulled over into a grassy field just as her engine gave out. Mary sat there staring at the clear midnight sky. For the first time in a couple hours, Mary spoke up.
“Do you think songs could come true?” They were listening to an old Elvis song, ‘For the Good Times’. All Mary wanted was life to get a little easier, and Remus would do anything to make that happen.
“God, I hope so,” Remus whispers back. She needs this.
“Remus, I want to do it.”
“Mary- Mary you can’t,”
“I’ll still be around-“
“But it’s not the same, you’ll- you won’t remember me. Her-“
Remus shouldn’t have said that.
Mary sighed and Remus grabbed her hand. He would do anything for her, even this.
“Just, give me some time,”
They spent the rest of there serotonin laying in her truck bed. They stared at the half moon painted in the sky, glistening. Remus could see the stars, they felt so far away now. Remus chewed on his checks, out of stress and sorrow.
Everyone he knew and loved was gone. Four dead. One a dirty traitor. And the last person he had left to care for wanted to forget him.
Remus looked over at Mary. She was stress eating a sleeve of saltines that Remus found on the passenger side floorboard. Somehow, this is how Remus knew. This wasn’t the Mary he knew at Hogwarts. Not the smart, confident girl he admired and resented. The Mary he knew was long dead, burnt up along with her lover. Mary needed to obliviate herself. It was the only way Remus would still have her alive.
Remus turned to his side, and looked at Mary, for what might be his last.
“I want Hermione to have a good life,” Mary whispered.
“Hm?”
“The baby, Marlene always wanted to name a kid Hermione. After her Grandmother.”
“Didn’t know you all talked about those types of things,” Remus quickly changed the subject, “I’m sure you’ll give her a good life. Hermione.”
Mary sniffed and choked down a sob.
“Remus- Remus I need to do this.”
He sat up in the truck bed and held her.
“Shhh, I know.”
Remus hopped up from the truck bed and grabbed his wand from the front seat. He took a deep breath.
I would do anything for you.
He walked out to the truck bed, and sat Mary on the edge. She hung her head, touching her stomach. Remus lifted his wand and hesitated.
“Do you want me to?” Remus knew the answer.
“Do you want to?”
Silence.
Remus took in another breath, “Whatever you want me to do, I will do.”
Remus lifted his wand again and got ready to preform the charm. He held his arm out straight, wand stiff in his hand.
Whatever she wants.
“Obliviate.”