Beat the devil's tattoo

Chapter VI. "Under the bridge"

"Under the bridge"

Marla had been assigned on a mission the night after she and Sirius had managed to escape to Diagon Alley. It was a simple surveillance mission and despite her tiredness after using so much magic, she assured Sirius she was good to go. She had overestimated her capacities and as she held her bleeding shoulder while making her way back to 12 Grimmauld Place in the early hours of the morning, she cursed herself for being so careless.

She thought she had been discreet while watching the bar where the death eaters were recruiting but Mulciber had made her and before she knew it, she was fighting one against four. She had barely managed to escape before they called reinforcement.

She entered the house quietly, making sure not to wake up the portait of Mrs Black and made her way to the kitchen were the dim light indicated her that Sirius was waiting for her.

That morning, Charlie woke up early. He was still used to his Romanian lifestyle that consisted of feeding the dragons before dawn. He descended the stairs of 12 Grimmauld Place towards the kitchen but stopped in the doorway when he heard voices coming from inside.

The day was barely peaking and he wondered who could be up already. Getting closer, he managed to see Sirius and Marla.

However, and to his misplaced relief, Sirius only seemed to be healing the girl. Marla was seated on the kitchen table, her legs dangling in the air. Her shirt had been discarded and her lacy brassiere was the only article covering the upper part of her body. What stroke Charlie more was the long gash travelling from her shoulder to her elbow.

Sirius was speaking in a soothing voice to Marla, who was taking pained breaths.

"Alright, I'm gonna remove the stabilising spell, it's gonna hurt but I need to close the wound."

Before Sirius could do anything Charlie sprang into action, removing the stabilising spell meant that the wound would bleed again. He grabbed all the rags he could find and without a word, came to stand by Sirius, ready to contain the blood flow. The older man only gave him a nod and he was not sure Marla had even saw him, her face was scrunched in pain.

"Alright, on three. One, two...."

On two, Sirius removed the spell and Marla whimpered in pain. As predicted, the blood oozed from the gash faster than Charlie could wipe. Sirius immediately started to whisper healing spells and after a long minute the wound started to close itself.

When Sirius stopped, the cut was still red and not entirely closed.

"Why isn't it scarring over?" Asked Charlie.

"It won't." Said Sirius, "it's dark magic."

"What? What kind of dark spell make a cut like that."

"A knife, not a spell," came the tired voice of Marla. "Mulciber's knife, it's enchanted. It'll scar in a few days."

While she was talking, Sirius was already wrapping her arm and shoulder into a white thick gauze with an easiness that told Charlie, it was not the first time he did it. The redhead stomach's twisted at the thoughts that Marla had been injured this way in the past and he was not here to help her.

His gaze landed on her back and once again, his stomach did painful churns.

The last time he had seen Marla's back, there was three scars, all inflicted by a whip, courtesy of her parents for disobeying them. Now, there was at least ten marks like the previous three littering her back. All scared and probably old of a few years, probably just a bit more than three actually.