A Marauder's Guide to Falling Forever

Chapter Thirty Six

But before the life-ending curse had left his lips, Snape was thrown off of James, driven fiercely by the bolt of red light that came from somewhere on the left.

She sensed him first, rather than saw or heard him. But she was certain it was him. And when he spoke, she melted with relief. "I don't think so Snivellus," Sirius barked. Though there had always been humor with the beloved nickname, there was no humor in his tone nor on his face as he raced into Marlene's view.

Snape was quick. He flicked his wand and Sirius's face whipped to one side; a large bloody gash immediately painted scarlet across his face. Sirius raised his wand again but was struck from behind and wheeled his attention elsewhere to avoid the second hex directed his way from some other Death Eater.

Marlene was still dazed, but she managed to scramble to her feet, ducking at another curse fired towards her. She started running for them. James would be no match against Snape without his wand, and Sirius was unable to defend him.

James was still lying on the floor, defenseless. He had managed to roll over and crawled forward towards where Snape was standing and he kicked his leg outwards to trip him. Snape crumpled immediately, falling on top of James who let out another piercing cry from the pain of the added weight on his body.

She watched as the two of them wrestled with each other, throwing punches and fighting to grasp hold of Snape's wand that had fallen with him.

Marlene was quick, but not quick enough. Snape grabbed hold of the wand, delivered an agonizing blow into James' chest with his elbow and climbed to his feet, wand pointing towards him once again. She was seconds away when his eyes snapped up towards her as she raised her wand to fire.

"Don't or I'll kill him now," Snape said dangerously. Marlene hadn't been fast enough to deflect him away from James' cowering and battered body. His wand was still trained at his chest, and she knew that his spell would succeed quicker than hers could even reach him.

"Severus, don't," Marlene pleaded. She had no other option but to grovel for her friends life.

"Drop your wand," he snapped. His own wand jabbed towards James threateningly. "Drop it or he dies."

"Don't do it," James insisted, spitting out blood. "He'll kill us both anyways."

"Think about Lily," she said softly, ignoring James and speaking to Snape. She started to lower her wand, hoping that his former friend might still have some pull over him. "This will only hurt Lily, Severus. You still care for her, don't you? Think about Lily." Surprisingly it appeared to work. The emotions seemed to compete for dominance, and she watched as his wand hand shake and then slowly began to lower.

But the surrender was short lived. Her peripheral vision caught sight of movement to the side of Snape and he must have sensed it too. His reflexes were fast and he fired off another curse in the direction of the moving body.

It missed Sirius by inches.

Now distracted by Sirius once again, his focus had freed from James and Marlene took advantage of it.

She raised her wand again and shot out a spectacular stun spell directly into Snape. She watched the flicker of surprise adorn his pale and sinister features for a fleeting moment, and then he fell to the floor.

She didn't linger on Snape long. Instead she rushed forward and fell to her knees beside James. There was blood running down his head from where he had hit the floor and his hands were wrapped around his midsection; grimacing.

"Are you okay?" she asked hurriedly.

"Maybe a few broken bones." He winced as he tried to sit.

"You need to leave," Marlene instructed him. "Get out of here now."

"I can't – "

"You don't have a wand. You can't help us here. Go!" Marlene stated firmly. "Go home to Lily before you can't go home at all."

She helped James to standing and they both ducked as a blasting curse whizzed over their heads and exploded into the wall beside them. James gaze was unreadable as he squeezed her hand. Then he disapparated, and an ear piercing scream echoed through the mezzanine from somewhere down below.

She realized quickly that Snape was already gone, she didn't know where he had gone or what had happened to him. But when she glanced around she could still see Sirius. He wasn't too far away and he was talking with his brother Regulus.

"You don't have to do this, Regulus." She heard Sirius talking calmly, his wand still armed in defense. "Just walk away. You can just walk away. Come home with us."

"Shut up Sirius!" Regulus yelled, his arm raised higher and he shot off another curse in Sirius's direction. But it hit the wall far behind Sirius, far enough away that he must have intended to miss. As much as she wanted to hear out their conversation, she quickly realized that she didn't have time to see the outcome. She continued onward with her previous task of searching the floors to make sure the occupants were safe.

She found a pair of children hiding under a bed in an abandoned wing. Their father had told them not to move and had disappeared into the chaos that at once flooded the hallways. Once it quieted they remained.

"You were right to stay here," she encouraged them. She guessed that they were around four and six years old. "I'm going to place a protective charm around you, okay?" The older child nodded but she wasn't certain if he truly understood her or not.

She found a couple other patients hidden away in a bathroom, and a couple of healers defending a group of survivors behind the Healers desk. The sounds were beginning to dissipate from the outer hallways and Marlene rushed back after she had concluded that no more death eaters were lurking on the second floor.

It was when she exited the unit that the sharp sting of a blasting curse struck her arm and the instant pain that accompanied caused a strangled scream to creep up her throat.

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A/N: Still one more chapter to go for the day! Remember to vote and review if you enjoyed the chapter! :)