A Marauder's Guide to Falling Apart

Chapter Four

"Can I ask you a question?" Marlene had wandered into the living room to see her Uncle Tom absorbed in the Daily Prophet. The recent headline outlined the Ministry's latest efforts in the fight against the dark lord with a secondary piece dedicated to a smaller, recent attack just outside of London.

"What's that?" he didn't look up from the paper.

Marlene started to second guess herself. She knew what contribution she was going to try to provide to the Order of the Phoenix but the thought and the action were completely separate things. She wouldn't be under Tom's roof much longer, having accepted Emmeline's offer of residency so she didn't have much to lose.

"I want to know why you are so hesitant to help Dumbledore."

She had managed to grab his attention. His eyes flicked from the paper and over to meet her gaze. They were hard and stern and she noticed the subtle way that his eyebrows seemed to knot together in contemplation. She wondered whether or not the question had been a mistake. After a moment he let out a long drawn out sigh.

"Not again," he said softly. "I expected this from Potter and Black. They seem like the thick headed type. But I really thought you were better than this."

"Before you go and start making assumptions about my intelligence level," she huffed. "I'm going to remind you that I'm merely asking a question."

"I think it's a bit too complicated to explain –"

"I'm eighteen," she said firmly. "I am more than capable of understanding complicated. Why don't you just try me."

He looked at her with consideration. It was clear by the change of facial expressions that he was trying to figure out how to respond. Finally he folded the paper in his lap and laid it down on the table beside him. "Come sit down."

Marlene moved across the room to sit in the couch across from him. He looked past her out the window and a small smile tugged on his lips.

"You're just like your father you know," he said quietly. "In his younger years anyways. I suppose that's maybe why I'm a bit protective over you when it comes to Sirius. He reminds me an awful lot of your father too."

His statement caught her off guard. Dave McKinnon had always been quiet, gruff man with very little opinion on anything other than the state of his coffee and the daily news. She had a hard time picturing him anything like Sirius's carefree and adventurous way.

"There was a time when I too would have jumped at the opportunity to get involved in all of this. I was just a small boy when Grindelwald had his uprising and I remember as a teenager that I had wished I had been old enough to make a difference."

"So what's different now then?" she interrupted him.

"I grew up Marlene," he said wearily.

"Not really going to benefit you if there's no life to live in now is it?" she said hotly.

"You asked me a question," he said plainly. "Do you want an answer or not?"

Marlene bit her lip from saying anything more. She was trying to prove that she was mature enough for this conversation and she was already proving herself wrong. He contemplated her for another minute, making sure that she had no further outbursts before he continued.

"I had always wanted to be an Auror when I was at Hogwarts. Although I did alright in school, I didn't quite possess the N.E.W.T. scores that were required to get into the department. My Uncle had some pull and managed to get me a position in the Department of Mysteries. I daresay that it wasn't my first choice of occupation but I've grown to love it over the years. You might not agree with me but I'm already doing my part in this war. I'm protecting some of the greatest secrets from falling into the wrong hands."