TW// death

...

t i c k
t o c k
the final minute struck the clock
each second went, leaving with their hope
t i c k
t o c k
another beautiful soul gone
the fate was not changed by some brawn
t i c k
t o c k
death will always be the last to walk

...

2 March 1980

A butterfly flew from flower bush to flower bush, completely unaware of what was going on inside the manor near it. Blissfully free from the worries of a wizard, it flew without knowing of the burdens that came with war.

James wished he was a butterfly.

As a butterfly, he wouldn't feel a colossal weight on his shoulders every time he went to his childhood home. Instead, he would roam free among the flowers, and he had a feeling that lilies would be his favorite.

However, as his mind wandered with the butterfly outside, he sat at an Order meeting in Potter Manor. Moody and Dumbledore were running it together with other members interjecting every so often to ask questions or point out things that the two could've missed.

"This month we will be attempting a highly dangerous and difficult information raid at a warehouse near Malfoy Manor," Moody transitioned into the most important news of the meeting.

Snapped out of his trance, James refocused as Moody said the word dangerous. If they knew the mission was really that dangerous, then why were they doing it in the first place? Although, every previous mission had also been dangerous too.

"Getting any information from the warehouse would be helpful, this could change the tide of the war," Dumbledore said.

Mumbles passed through the crowd. No one spoke of it, but they all knew that the war was not going the way they wanted it to. With the constant deaths of muggles and anyone who opposed Voldemort, how could someone be so blind as to not see what was happening?

Marcus McKinnon elbowed Marlene as it looked like she had zoned out as well. Sometimes it was easier not to pay attention to the death counts.

"We've constructed three teams of people for the mission. There's a healing team, a strategy team, and a frontline team," Moody explained further.

"The healing team will be co-led by Poppy and Euphemia," Dumbledore said and Poppy stood up from the table.

"Andromeda, Craig, Molly, Dorcas, Regulus, and Lily will be on the healing team with us. I will inform you when we have training," Poppy sent out a grimace-like smile and sat back down in her seat.

"The strategy team will be led by Minerva," Moody said.

The professor stood from her chair as if she was about to lecture a class full of Hogwarts students.

"Eve, Fleamont, James, and Sirius will join me on this team. I will also inform you of when the first meeting will be," she said clearly before sitting back down.

The marauders all shared a look despite the serious situation. Minnie had called James and Sirius by their first names, which she had never done before.

"Finally, I will be leading the frontline group," Moody said gruffly. "Within this group, we will have partners, but those will be chosen at a different time. Darwin, Marcus, Michael, Myles, Marlene, Mary, Remus, and Peter will be joining me on the frontlines."

There was a short moment of silence as this sank into their brains. Even if they had gone on Order missions prior to this, they had never experienced this level of seriousness.

...

7 March 1980

Receiving a letter inviting her over for tea, Lily knew the exact reason why Andromeda Tonks invited her in the first place. There a was picture disclosed of the Tonks' home, a small cottage that looked lovely from the outside. Along with the picture was a password to get in the door, so that they knew Lily was not an imposter.

Lily quickly said her goodbyes and apparated —she really did need to ask the midwife if she should still be apparating, but she kept forgetting— over to the house, which she arrived in front of shortly afterwards.

Walking quickly up to the door, she clutched her wand, ready at a moment's notice. If she ever made it out of the war, then she would never be able to shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen around the corner. The fears would forever haunt her in her dreams because not even sleep would give her rest from the horrors she had witnessed.

"State your business," a voice said through the door after she knocked.

"I'm here for tea," Lily said clearly, no smile gracing her face. "Ossio Dispersimus."

The door opened without another word from the voice on the other side to reveal a well furnished house and a kind woman.

"We'll be sitting in the living- Nymphadora! How many times do I have to tell you? Please go upstairs!" Andromeda interrupted herself as her daughter tried to sneak around them.

"Don't call me Nymphadora!" She angrily stomped away up the stairs.

"Sorry about that, as I was saying earlier, we're meeting in the living area over that way," she smiled slightly and pointed down the hall.

Lily walked down the hall with quiet steps, almost as nervous as she had been to walk down the aisle with Sirius after she had found out he was stoned. Everything would turn out the way it's meant to be —she knew this— but what if she didn't like the way things were meant to be?

tick
tock

She soon found herself in a decently sized room with multiple other familiar faces. The first to jump out at her were Craig and Regulus.

"How're you two?" She asked after hugging both of them.

"Well," Craig looked at Regulus before continuing, "we're doing alright considering everything going on."

"Couldn't really hope for anything better," Regulus added.

Lily nodded in agreement. At the end of the day, she would always be thankful for how good things were going despite the war. To be completely honest with herself, Lily didn't really believe that she would make it this far because of her blood.

"You're pregnant!" Craig said enthusiastically, making her smile.

She put a hand on her belly and looked down at it. Trying not to think about the fact that there was actually a living thing inside of her, Lily looked back up at Craig and Regulus.

"When are you due?" Regulus asked.

"The end of July," Lily responded, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

"Funny, that's when Dorcas is due too," Craig pointed out, making them all turn to the woman speaking with Molly, who was also pregnant, but looked farther along.

Dorcas saw them looking over at her and waved hesitantly. Not wanting to be awkward, they all waved back and turned around again. Laughing slightly at the expense of themselves, they shrugged off the interaction as Andromeda walked into the room with Madam Pomfrey and Euphemia Potter.

"Who's ready to heal?"

...

12 March 1980

Not long after Lily had learned the basics of healing, James and Sirius had been called to Hogwarts by Minnie herself. They both left their respective homes with uncertainty of what the day would become.

They knew the way to her office quite well, and after running into each other on the way there, the trip was shorter than they had remembered before. After being let in, they saw Fleamont, and Eve sitting across from where Minnie had been before opening the door for them.

"Now that you're here, let's jump into things," Eve spoke, sounding more authoritative than Sirius had been used to hearing.

"The strategy team is the most important job for each Order mission, which is why it's extremely important we do our job well," Minnie locked eyes with Sirius and James while speaking.

James had almost wanted to make a 'why were we trusted with this job then?' joke, but with both his former head of house and his father in the room, he didn't think it would be much appreciated.

"Before the mission starts, we're to devise a plan to get the frontliners in and out of the warehouse as safe as possible," Fleamont spoke up this time.

"Alright, do we know how many Death Eaters will be there then?" James asked.

"Dumbledore thinks that most of them will be circling the grounds and not actually inside the place. However, we don't have a number," Minnie frowned.

"We'll just have to plan for more then," Eve said grimly as she pulled out a map. "This is the warehouse. We need to think of the best pathway for them to get inside."

Starting to think that the professors knew more about the Marauders Map than he had originally thought, Sirius focused onto the areas of entry on the map.

"I can see the gears turnin' in your head, Sirius, what do you reckon?" Eve asked, pushing a pen and the map over to him.

"Logically speaking, more Death Eaters will be covering the doors in, right?" Sirius asked for clarification he didn't necessarily need.

"Right," Fleamont confirmed.

"You just have to draw them away from the doors to get inside," he concluded.

"So, a diversion?" Minnie raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Yes exactly!" James said excitedly. "All you need is an explosion or something on the other side of the building."

"Interesting you say that..."

...

17 March 1980

Moody hadn't taken Dumbledore very seriously when the older man had said he was going to recruit a bunch of people straight out of Hogwarts, but, in the long run, it seemed that he had been proved wrong. Although young, the group of kids had shone that they had deserved the spot given to them.

"The most important part of this mission is not to get out as much information as possible, it's to make it out alive with as much information as possible," Moody paced in front of them. "To better our chances of this, I'm putting you all in pairs."

Remus had always been intimidated by Alastor Moody, and rightly so, this man had seen things that Remus would never be able to imagine. He had been through some pretty painful things himself, keeping in mind that he was a werewolf.

"Don't get separated from your partner. You get separated, you die." Moody spoke harshly, making sure to get his point across clearly.

"Pettigrew and Darwin, get to know each other because you'll be partners. Macdonald and Marlene, Lupin and Myles, and the other two McKinnons."

Letting this new information sink in for a moment, Moody stood in front of them. He could practically feel the hesitation radiating from them, hesitation wasn't good for duels.

"The war is at a standstill," he started to speak again. "Singlehandedly, this mission could change the tide of things, could get the momentum back on our side."

...

22 March 1980

In an old Hogwarts classroom that remained unused until now, James and Sirius stood in front of other Order members, who all sat at the familiar tables. They were going to go over the plan with the frontline team now that it was all polished.

"Sorry for calling everyone here under such unlucky circumstances," James started.

It was almost as if he was leading a prefect meeting with Lily again, it felt almost exactly the same. Yet, he was speaking to rebels instead of prefects, and Sirius was definitely not Lily.

"So, I think it's better to just hop into things right off the bat," Sirius spoke not backing away from the challenge. "You'll all apparate to the warehouse grounds from Potter Manor."

"Then, Remus and Myles will go towards the back of the building with disillusionment charms cast over them to start the distraction. They're going to hit the guard Death Eaters with hexes of their choice, and send red sparks into the air," James picked up where Sirius left off.

"The red sparks will alert the other guards that somethings wrong, which will draw them over to where you two will be. As soon as you see an opportunity, blast a whole into the wall of the warehouse."

"This will be the signal for everyone else to go inside the warehouse. Remus and Myles' job is done, which means they'll apparate back to Potter Manor. Once inside —as this is more uncharted territory— the plan gets more abstract here."

"Get information and kick Death Eater arse while doing it."

tick tock

...

25 March 1980

March had flown by far too quickly for Marlene's liking. She had spent it perfecting every defensive spell known to her, and had ultimately grown a fair amount as a wizard. Yet, she couldn't shake the feeling that something horrible was going to happen.

She stood quietly next to Sirius as he spoke to James and Minnie about the plan again. Rocking back and forth on her heels, Marlene surveyed the room to find each one of her friends.

Mary was across the room talking to Craig and Regulus. She was probably bringing up random childhood stories trying to distract herself from where they'd be in just a few minutes.

Lily was talking to Molly and Dorcas. Marlene contemplated walking over and joining the conversation, but she knew Lily would make her more anxious, which is not something that Marlene needed.

Remus and Peter were speaking to each other nearby. She could go over to them, although she wasn't the closest to them either. So, she figured she could just drown out her thoughts with Sirius's whispers to James.

"You alright?" Sirius put a hand on her shoulder.

Marlene shrugged in response and turned to face him. His grey eyes, which she had learned to read so well over the years, showed nothing but pools of concern and fear.

She wished more than anything that she could say something to Sirius to make those feelings dissipate. However, Marlene couldn't think of anything at the top of her head, so she settled on just giving him a hug.

"Get with your partners," Moody barked.

"You're gonna be alright," Sirius said as they were startled out of the hug. She nodded as she went to find Mary.

Almost numbly, Marlene and Mary found each other while lining up with the other people on the frontline team. Looking each other in the eye as if making a promise, they silently communicated every anxious thought that was passing through their minds.

"Lupin and McKinnon will get a five minute start. Then, once the rest of you have your disillusionment charms cast, you can apparate over," Moody paced back and forth.

Remus and Myles wordlessly cast the charm mentioned prior, and apparated away with only a single pop. The tension in the room heightened with two members gone.

Meanwhile, Remus and Myles apparated directly into some bushes, causing much more sound to draw attention to the area in which they stood than they wanted. The Death Eaters were too stupid to even check where they stood for bystanders, so Remus and Myles crept around to the other side of the building.

"Did ya hear that, Rosier?" One of the Death Eaters asked. "That sounded like an apparition pop!"

Remus checked his watch and saw that five minutes had already passed by. They must've heard one of the other Order members apparate over.

"Before they catch them, we'll need to set off the distraction," Myles whispers to Remus.

Remus doesn't respond with words, but he prods him in the shoulder to keep him moving. The mission was supposed to be done as quickly as possible, that was the only way there would be no casualties.

As they heard more indistinguishable shouts from the other side of the building, Remus counted down to three. On three, both of them sent powerful jets of light into the side of the warehouse, and then wordlessly sent red sparks into the air.

Without waiting another second, Myles and Remus apparated back into the safety of Potter Manor.

Marlene thought the bad gut feeling was going to go away as she immersed herself farther into the mission. Yet, the worry felt like a deep-rooted intuition, but her brain had absolutely no room for that right now. The space up in her head needed to be used purely for concentration on the task before her.

Her arms brushed up against Mary's periodically as they crept closer to the warehouse. Feeling a hot jet of light fly past her face, Marlene fell to the cold ground, which was still thawing out from the brutal winter.

"Oi! Why can't we find the damn bastards?" A masked figure yelled, walking towards Marlene and Mary on the ground.

The person was more muscular in size, probably being taller than all of Marlene's brothers—which clearly said something. Praying to every entity above that she believed in, she hoped against all odds that the person would stop walking before they tripped and fell over Marlene and Mary. Breath hitching, the black cloak tickled her arm, and she nearly sighed from relief if she hadn't been conscious of how loudly she was breathing.

"Seems they're better at charms then we suspected," another cloaked figure appeared.

It seemed the distraction that Remus and Myles had executed perfectly could only distract the Death Eaters for so long. Now, the Order members were outnumbered heavily by them, and Marlene could feel Mary shaking on the other side of her.

Putting the brain that had gotten her through Hogwarts to use, Marlene started to think like the marauder Lily had always accused her of being. If the first distraction had worked, then surely a second couldn't hurt either? However, before she could even begin to think more into depth about creating another diversion, someone on the Order's side of things did something terrible.

They sneezed.

Marlene could very faintly remember Mary pulling her off the ground with a sharp tug of her shirt collar, ripping it only slightly. She could remember not caring anymore if the Death Eaters heard her gasp after they sent multiple jets of green light in the way of the sneeze. Then, all she could remember after was apparating away without a choice given to her.

Too sudden for her liking, she was in the hands of healers, she could hear her mother shouting in the background, Sirius swearing from her other side, but she could only focus on one thing.

That was Marcus's sneeze.

She heard multiple apparition pops at once, and desperately tried to pry herself out of the healer's hands and off the hospital bed to see who had returned. Yet, it was no use because of how many were around her. Looking down for one moment, it appeared they were all concentrated on the fact her torso had been splinched.

That didn't matter if her brother was dead.

Like a lightning bolt in the sky, her brother Michael returns—a proper mess—with tears streaming down his cheeks. He looked the product of a tragedy, but what appeared to be the most alarming was what was at his feet, or rather not what, but who.

Marcus McKinnon.

It was like the news of Marcus McKinnon's death was a bullet and the McKinnon's were a wall of glass. Their eyes shone enough pain to keel over, but each of them stood very, very still. They each experienced a thousand heartbreaks at once, realising on their own that this could be the thing that truly shatters their souls.

Nothing would ever bring back his sly comments, overprotective nature, carefree grin, or courage that Eve swore he was born with. Marcus McKinnon was gone, and everyone else would just have to live on.

t i c k
t o c k
the final minute struck the clock
each second went, leaving with their hope
t i c k
t o c k
another beautiful soul gone
the fate was not changed by some brawn
t i c k
t o c k
death will always be the last to walk

...

Author's Note:

I wrote some of this when I was hardly lucid, so please excuse the errors.

I feel like this was dramatic, but I really liked Marcus, so I felt that he deserved a bit more than other characters would've gotten. Tbh he was my favorite McKinnon brother.

The next chapter will definitely make up for how sad this chapter was. I love what I have planned so far and I have a feeling you all will love it too. 😉

Just to clarify, the poem in this chapter has nothing to do with the poems from The Sun Doesn't Always Shine! It's just something random I wrote while I was trying to come up with a name for the chapter.

Lmao anyways thanks for reading
-teddy😵

^^the emoji is Marcus... okay I know that was uncalled for, but making jokes is how I cope with things