Partners in Crime || PJOxHP || Marauders' Era

SOCKS.

The memorial service was rather grand, even though Mr. McKinnon was tied up by his inability to use his hands during the entire service. Marlene was constantly accompanied by one of her friends, just in case anything bad happened. Even Lily was there. 

"You must come home," Euphemia had told Marlene. The truth was that Sterling McKinnon really wanted to use a break from his little unlucky life. He was going away to the States for a few days so that he could arrange for some protection for his daughter, and the Potters had convinced him that they would take in Marlene and him as part of the household for the month.

Of course, the Potter siblings knew this, but they remained silent. They invited all of their friends casually, so that Marlene wouldn't know that the invitation was specifically for her. Even James had invited his friends. Jessica knew that Marlene would need space, but she would also need friends to look onto the bright side of life- there were still so many things to look forward to... Marlene had a whole life left ahead of her. 

"Even Lily's coming!" Jessica said. "Come on, Marlene. It'll be fun."

But Marlene had withered like a dying flower in the past few days since the death of her mother. Jessica could understand what Marlene was going through. Just the shock of losing the most important person in your life... it can be... frightening- terrifying, indeed. 

***

The Potters' main household, located in London, was rather smaller than the Potter Manor located on the outskirts of Scotland, but no less grand. There were plenty of bedrooms and bathrooms, and a dining table for ten. With her mother's grand cooking, Jessica knew that they wouldn't even have to worry about a thing. The only thing she was worried about was the fact that she wouldn't be able to go to Camp for the rest of the Holidays- she'd have to act normal- or at least, normal according to Wizarding standards. 

When the McKinnons and Alice and Lily came home for the holidays on August 8, Jessica was so excited she woke up at 5.... and it was not because of a terrible dream. Her dreams had been predictable the past few days. It was always Zeus- staring right into her eyes and he always uttered the same words- Storm's coming.

She had just collected the Daily Prophet from her owl when the doorbell rang.

"Jessica!" Euphemia called. "Get the door!"

"Tell James to get it," she muttered, but stood up nevertheless. She'd dressed up in a dolly baby blue dress and had her mother had braided her hair. It was definitely not what she preferred wearing on a hot summer day, but Jessica didn't mind. She saluted her now lifelike statue of Hippie Zeus in her room and ran downstairs to open the door.

"Hello!" Mr. Evans said cheerfully. 

"Hello!" Jessica replied, beaming. "I hope you found your way with ease."

"Not really," Mrs. Evans said. "The taxi driver was confused when we got down."

"I'm sorry," Jessica smiled. "But it's sort of a magical community- it's a little hard for Muggles to get here. Please, come in."

"Point noted," Mrs. Evans said.   

Lily grinned as she entered the house. "Thanks for inviting me," she said.

"Make yourself at home," Jessica smiled. "We're going to be here a long time." 

The house began to fill up with guests as Marlene, Alice, Peter and Remus Flooed to the house. James was so excited that he ran up to Remus and almost kissed him. "I missed you!"

Remus hugged James, grinning. "No, you missed the pranks."

"Now, you'll do well to remember that there will be no pranking in this house," Alice said.