Marlene Lupin is plotting her revenge (on_the_wall) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-04-09 22:30:00 |
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James took a swig from the freshly opened bottle of whiskey and flipped the cap into the brush as he sat on the log and waited. Maybe he shouldn't have suggested coming here. It was depressing looking at what remained of the house, but he figured if anyone would understand it was Marlene. He didn't really know how what had gotten into him to write all that in his journal earlier but he'd meant every word of it. He thought about leaving plenty. He looked at the rubble of the house he'd lived in almost his entire life and wondered what exactly it was they were sticking around for. It was to fight a war, but if they'd already lost, it seemed like maybe sticking around to get picked off one by one wasn't the most brilliant of plans. He tried to think about what Godric Gryffindor would do if he were alive now, but all James could come up with was that good ol' GG would probably go running to Voldemort with a sword, stick him through, and they'd be the winners... and that didn't seem feasible for some reason. He sighed and took another long drink. He heard the pop of apparation and lifted the bottle toward Marlene. "Welcome to the party," he said, giving her a lopsided smile. "Party on, James," Marlene greeted him, tapping the top of the popcorn bag to the side of his bottle before flopping down on the log next to him. She wasn't sure what else to say beyond that. It was hard to find words that worked or meant anything when staring at the charred up remains of somewhere you'd grown up. At least her house was still standing, despite all the destruction that had gone on inside. James had thought correctly, though. Marlene did get it, which is why even though her entire family had died there, it had been hard as hell to finally give up the house. She probably could've gotten it sold if she'd really tried months earlier than she had, but there was some part of her that had really wanted to hang on to it. There wasn't much left that they had still to hold on to, so she had to take what she could get. "It doesn't look right, not being there," she said quietly, popping a handful of popcorn into her mouth as if she was watching a really depressing freeze-frame shot in a silent movie. "We shouldn't be able to see the house across the road from way back here." James nodded and handed her the bottle, not minding drinking after her (though trying not to think of all the places her mouth could have been). "M'glad dad didn't live to see it happen," he said. "I'swhere he was born, did you know that?" James asked. "My grandmum had him in Sirius's room. And he never lived anywhere else. I can't believe it's gone." He grabbed some popcorn and ate it piece by piece. "I miss Harlan," he added, seemingly out of nowhere. "I was thinking of that time we broke that stupid pot... how worried we were that we'd get in trouble and how my brilliant suggestion was that we set the room on fire," he laughed, though the rims of his eyes were filled with tears. "He'd've made one helluva Order member," he added. "I keep thinking about that. If Edgar was around, or Harlan, or Agnes... how things might not seem so bad right now." "I'm glad your mum wasn't here to see it happen," Marlene replied before taking a long swig from the whisky bottle, not wanting to think about how much it would've destroyed James if he'd lost both his home and his mother all in the same night. "I didn't know that, no. My mum was actually there when my dad was born, though. She thought he looked like a potato. She was Irish, guess she'd know better than anybody." She shook her head to clear her mind for a moment, tipping the bottle slightly to let a short stream of whisky fall from the opening to the ground, mumbling "drink up, Godric's Hollow" under her breath. "I think that's what turned me into kind of a pyro, actually," she snorted quietly before taking another drink and shifting to sit on the ground so that she could lean back against the log instead. "He would've been amazing. It's actually like, a year next week since I got him crippled, you know that? I kept wondering for the longest time if maybe just that would've been different, if any of'um would've made it out. What would've been different. God, we've lost so many people..." she trailed off, cutting herself off from saying anything more by taking another long drink before passing the bottle back up to James. James took several swigs in a row, though the bottle was big so it was still two-thirds full. "You didn't--" James was going to object but what was the point. She did get him crippled. He couldn't argue. It was true. Just like he'd set Al up to die, and Sirius's big mouth had gotten his mum attacked. How long until it was one of them? James put an arm around Marlene and gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Harlan would've given them hell," he said. "I'm sure he probably did anyway," he added. "I always wished you guys would've been twins. He'd been a fucking fantastic Marauder. I think we could've managed five." Another drink. Another hand-full of popcorn. The trees were beginning to bud and some grass had already began to shoot up around the burnt patches on the ground. "Do you think the war's winnable anymore?" James asked, still looking across the road. "Oh god, that would've been terrifying," Marlene managed a chuckle, just barely able to picture how insane her mother would've gone if she hadn't had the year and a half between her and Harlan to try and recoup. She wasn't sure how to answer James's question, though. She opened her mouth, only to close it again after a few moments of silence. Did she think it was winnable? And if it wasn't, what the fuck were they still doing bothering to try? Another hand-full of popcorn, a few more sips of whiskey. The silence continued. It was still too cold for the birds to be back for the spring. "I have no idea," she finally replied, staring up at the sky for a bit before glancing up at James. "I want to believe it is. And well. I think that it is, but not the way we're doing it. We're not going to get anywhere fighting a war with sunshine and puppies. If we try hugging a death eater they'll AK our arse. I just don't know what else to do that's not going to leave us just as soulless and broken as all of them." James nodded. He took the whiskey from her again but only sipped this time. The space around his brain was starting to feel foggy and it was comfortable. "At this point I'd take soulless if it meant that Snapdragon and Marlemus could grow up and never have to live through this shit," he said, his words beginning to slur ever so slightly. "I can't believe she's never gonna live in this house," he said, shaking his head. "I could picture it so clearly. And now the future is all dark... I can't picture anything really. You know, we've barely started on a nursery and I think it's because sometimes Lily doesn't think we're going to need one," he said, pushing more popcorn in his mouth. "No, don't take that. Kids with soulless parents just wind up even more fucked up. Look at the Lestranges," she shuddered slightly, not wanting to think about them while in the process of getting drunk off her arse. She also stopped herself from adding 'it's probably all that inbreeding' at the last second, remembering that James was right up there in purebloodedness with them. She forgot sometimes. Probably because he didn't talk like he had a golden rod of purism shoved up his arse. "You guys should get started on it. Snapdragon's coming out in just a few more months." Marlene avoided bringing up anything about "Marlemus" considering she knew it wasn't going to happen, not with the way Remus nearly herniated every time he was within 30 yards of a baby supplies shop. The full moon was that night anyway, and Remus was taking that stupid experimental potion of Damocles's and Marlene didn't even know if he'd still be alive in the morning. It would make having hypothetical children pretty hard if she lost him. Again. "You guys will need one, more than anyone." James shrugged. "S'just the feeling I get. I'll get over it," he said, not wanting to upset Marlene any more than he probably had already. He moved his arm off her shoulder and reached in to get more popcorn. He scooted back away from her a few feet and then instead of eating the popcorn he lobbed a piece toward her shirt, hitting just above her collarbone. "Missed," he said, popping a piece into his own mouth. "M'sorry I'm being such a depressing prat," he said after a beat. "Everything's getting all backed up and I guess there are days when I wake up in a shit mood. Tomorrow I'll be back to thinking we can win this thing," he sighed. He acted as if he was going to try and toss another piece of popcorn down her shirt and then threw the whole fist full at her instead, ducking down behind the log and falling hard on his rear in the process. He began to laugh, and then as a part of the log crumbled and fell on his head he began to laugh even harder. "You're not. I just figure, like... Remus was dead, and he came back, you know? I don't want to rule anything out anymore," she began, turning to look at James only to get a face full of popcorn tossed at her. "You PRAT!" she laughed, tossing the entire bag at him just as James tumbled back behind the log. "Oh my gosh, are you okay?!" she asked when he fell on his head, torn between laughter and concern. Lily would have her head if James got himself hurt. Once she was sure he didn't have a concussion, Marlene whisked the bottle of alcohol off the log and put her thumb over the opening to shake it up, then let it spray at him (and getting herself covered in booze in the process). James was laughing so hard he could barely breathe and then he was getting hit in the face with whiskey and trying to cover his face with his knees. He grabbed for his wand. "Rictusempra!" he cast. It'd been ages since he'd used a tickling spell and it was pretty fucking immature and likely not safe to be acting like complete idiots out here in the open, even behind wards, but fuck all if he didn't need it. "Aguamenti!" he added, shooting a stream of water at Marlene as his butt sank further into the ground where the whiskey had turned the sandy earth to mud. "M'fine, thanks for asking," he teased as he watched both spells his hit friend. Marlene knew exactly what spell was coming out of James's wand as soon as the first syllable passed his lips, and she dove out of the way, eyes wide, to attempt to avoid it. She was too slow, though, and earned herself a face-full of mud in addition to the compulsive laughing fits that the spell brought on, shrieking and screaming "JAMES YOU FUCKER!" before dissolving into laughter again, the spell feeling like it affected her a million times more than it did people who weren't that ungodly ticklish. She fumbled to pull her wand out of her pocket as she got hit with the blast of water spraying from James's, finding aiming nearly impossible as her arms shook from laughing. God, she was going to pee herself from laughing, this wasn't FAIR. "Tara-tarantalle-graahahhahahaa!" she yelled, hoping that the intent behind the spell would be enough to get the damn thing to cast, even if she hadn't gotten the word out properly. James hadn't actually been expecting her to be able to cast anything while cackling and so he hadn't bothered dodging the spell while he'd been trying to push himself up off the ground. It caught him square in the middle and his feet began to tippy tap in the mud all on their own. It was slippery and he fell at the waist, but his legs stayed on the ground dancing around making him look like a demented spider as his arms tried futilely to keep him from collapsing entirely. He barely had a hold of his wand and he was laughing so hard that he couldn't get out a Finite Incantatum if he tried. "Truce! Truce," he begged between gasps for air and peals of laughter every time he caught sight of Marlene. She looked like a bog monster, covered in mud and quaking with giggles. "I ca- I can't- ahahhahaa you have to- TRUCE OKAY," she continued cracking up as the rictusempra spell worked its magic, leaving Marlene reduced to a helpless ball of laughter and mud as she did her best to kick some of that up at James, almost losing her own wand in the process. She wanted to help him along in stopping the tapdancing spell, but between her giggles and being exhausted she couldn't for the life of her remember the reversal incantation, and instead waveringly pointed her wand at James, casting the best counter-spell she could come up with in this situation - the leg-locker curse. James's legs locked but his hips and waist continued to gyrate around in dancing circles. It knocked him to the ground and it looked very much like he was humping the dirt as he tried his damndest to stop laughing long enough to cast something, anything. "Finite-- Fin--eeeeeetay--Encantatummmm," he cast at Marly, hoping like hell that it might do something but his swish and flick were all off and sparks flew out of his wand, hitting the nearest stump and setting it ablaze momentarily before it flickered out. "Fuck fuck!" James swore, laughing even harder now. His side hurt so bad it started to cramp from all the laughing. He could've just set Marlene on fire and somehow he didn't think explaining her death to the Order would go over well. He flipped over to his side to steady his wand and one last time. "Finite Incantatum!" Finally, finally the insistent intense tickling stopped, and Marlene collapsed on the ground, absolutely exhausted. A few more laughs -- mostly ones of relief -- escaped as she tried to catch her breath, her stomach aching and tears rolling down her face from all the laughing she'd been doing that she couldn't wipe away without leaving a trail of mud tracked across her cheeks. She finally rolled over on the ground to face James, who was still gyrating like a crazy carnival ride against the grass. "Fin- finite Incantatum," she cast at him to stop the spells, then let her arm collapse against the ground. Maybe she could just sleep there tonight. James collapsed flat on his face. He had never been so muddy in his life, he was pretty sure. The worst of it was the crotch of his pants which made him look like he'd been fucking a swamp. He laid there for a minute, laughing off and on and trying to catch his breath. Finally he pushed himself up and tried to wipe his glasses on his sleeve only to get them muddier. He cast another water spell, this one only at the lenses, and muddy water streamed onto his lap. He shoved his glasses back on his dirty face and leaned against a rock. "I needed that," he said breathlessly, letting his head lay back against the stone. It was true-- he had. It was unusual for anyone but Sirius to ever really see James so completely dejected like he'd been before but this whole ordeal had cheered him a whole fucking lot. This is what they had left to fight for. "Thanks Mars," he said, a bit more seriously, though his eyes were still closed as he let the chilly spring sun warm his face slightly. "Heh, no problem," Marlene replied wearily, sighing with exhaustion and rolling over to lay on her back. She was filthy, good lord. "That spell... is off limits.... from now on," she stated with the utmost of finality. Fucking Rictusempra. Should be the fourth unforgivable, that. "I think we'll be okay," she noted, casting an Obscuro spell at James, conjuring a large blindfold over James's face. "You can clean yourself up with that. I don't know any other towel-y spells," she laughed again. "Don't you know me at all Marly?" he asked. "You can't tell me something's off limits. That's like begging me to use it!" James reached up and tugged the blindfold down to begin wiping himself off with it. "I don't even want to know how you know this," he said, making a face. It was bad enough he knew where her mouth had been but he felt like the more he learned about her talents the more he was glad that she and Remus had moved out of their place. "We really oughta get back soon I guess," James said, casting a few cleaning spells on himself that he'd learned for Quidditch. It wasn't much but it got the thickest of the mud off. "Wouldn't want your husband to show up and find us wet, dirty, and blindfolded," he teased. "Oh shut up, twat," Marlene laughed despite herself, reaching behind her to grab a handful of mud to throw right back into James's face. He really should have been more appreciative. "Not everything is kinky." She pushed herself up off the ground, grabbing onto a tree branch for assistance in standing up in the slick mud. "Yeah, it's getting late. It's the full tonight and I want to see him beforehand, but definitely not looking like I just crawled out of a swamp. |