Beat the devil's tattoo

Chapter XV. "Another brick in the wall"

 Another brick in the wall

Marla closed the copy of the Quibbler, laughing as she imagined the face of Dolores Umbrage upon seeing it.

It had been more than a month since the kids had left back to Hogwarts and life at 12 Grimmauld Place was calm, suspiciously calm for Marla according to the fact that the no-nose freak was back in business.

However she could not deny that waking up every morning without having to think about a mission the same day was absolutely relaxing. She had forgot what it was like to live a normal life.

Sirius was an absolute sweetheart and even if he demanded a lot of affection, Marla wasn't one to deny him. They had spent a lot of time together, even inviting Remus and Tonks for a double date which had proved itself not to be such a great idea, the werewolf being more stubborn than ever.

Today however, Marla was on her guard. Not because of Voldemort or even Dolores Umbridge but because she was expecting to be pranked. What had started as light teasing had evolved in a ruthless war and after having turned Sirius bald this morning, thanks to a spell of her creation, she knew it wouldn't be long before he reciprocated the attack.

It was hilarious actually, the spell Marla had created in her fifth year to annoy Bill had the capacity to remove, temporarily, all the hair from one's head. The face of utter fright of Sirius this morning would be anchored in her memories until the day she died. Her stomach was hurting from laughing this much while he screamed bloody murder, running after her through the house.

Said prank happened during the evening when Marla realised all her clothes had disappeared when she went out of the shower. Curtsy of Sirius who only said that she would have to stay naked until her clothes came back before making his way to the kitchen as if nothing had happened.

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The next morning the Daily Prophet headline nearly had Marla dropping her coffee.

BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN THE MINISTRY BELIEVES BLACK IS THE RALLYING POINT OF FORMER DEATH EATERS.

Below the title, ten photographs took most of the paper. Each portrait went with a name and the crime for which they had been sent to Azkaban. She felt her heart stop as she saw the faces of her parents, screaming toward her like the crazy people they are.

Philip Blackbird, condemned for the murder of Thomas Blackbird.

Vivian Blackbird, condemned for complicity in the murder of Thomas Blackbird.

She was about to fell when two arms caught her.

"What's that?" Sirius asked? She could only give him the paper before pacing up and down the kitchen trying to calm herself.

"Oh, so now I'm rallying point? Let's see, what are they saying? Oh yes, Black the first person to ever escape Azkaban, well that's true. Consider him as their leader, ahah that's actually very funny."

Marla looked at him as if he had gown two head.

"Are you alright?" She asked him. "I'm sorry you have to go through that."

"Are you alright? Your parents are on that list."

"Yes, well I guess it was predictable."

"They won't ever get close to you, I promise."

"And we will clear your name, I promise."

"Both our names."