Marlene Lupin is plotting her revenge (on_the_wall) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-05-13 23:15:00 |
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The bloke at the pub must've figured James was having a dinner party for at least six but no-- it was all for James and Marlene. Beef and ale pie, steak and kidney pie, shepherd's pie, fish and chips, bangers and mash, and pasties were all piled into a basket along with several bottles of whatever beer the man handed to him when he'd asked for some. Again, enough for six, but who was counting really? He didn't know what he planned really, just that Marlene needed a friend in a bad way and James felt a brotherly sort of pull that meant he wanted to make it better. Since Harlan had gone, it crossed his mind occasionally that really he was about the closest thing to a brother she'd have now anyway. He landed on her porch with a light pop and knocked on the door, eyeing the nearby plants suspiciously. "Just me, Marly," he called. "And ummmm... for safety sake, I'm James Potter, my mum is Cecile Potter, and when we were twelve I shoved a worm down your pants because Harlan dared me too. No one but me and you would know that!" "And I should leave you out there because of it," Marlene rolled her eyes at the memory. She'd been convinced for weeks that James had hidden worms in all of her stuff. "Aaand, am Marlene McKinnon and/or Lupin etcetera, you were in the wedding, and when we were in third year I stole your glasses and burned a hole through Jillie Burrows's shirt and she blamed it on you," she said as she pulled the door open, letting James inside and re-applying the wards once he was clear and in the house. She grabbed half the bags of food he was carrying out of James's arms so that he'd at least be able to see where he was going (and hopefully not trip over Sammie and Lady, who were hovering around the new guest's feet). "Did you go grocery shopping for me too? Looks like you're planning on feeding an army." "Just us," James said with a grin, reaching down with one hand to pet the puppies. "Should've brought Snitch," he added. He sat his bags down on the counter and stepped over to Marlene, pulling her into a tight hug without asking first. He hadn't really looked at her much since that morning he'd found them. He'd been a complete coward about it really, unable to see her without hearing her screaming in his mind. But now she needed him and the intensity of his hug definitely let on that this was more than about a moody husband. He felt as if he never wanted to let go but of course that would be fucking strange so reluctantly he did, though his gaze still held something different that his usual mirth. "Food is good for the soul so I hear," he added. "And our souls need about as much good as we can get. Didn't even figure we'd borrow with plates. Let's just grab forks, lay it all out on the table and eat till we're sick," he said, stepping away to rattle through her drawers until he found what he was looking for. "Sounds good," Marlene said, pulling the food out of the bags and laying it across the table while James fetched forks and things from the kitchen. "We've got soda and juice and vodka in the fridge, grab whatever you want," she called, carefully setting things out and pointing her wand at the radio, turning the wireless to the rock station to have playing in the background. "So how's our favourite self-loather doing today?" she asked James, trying to feign disinterest as if she was only trying to make conversation, despite it being obvious that she was actually being nagged with honest worry over everything. "Beer in one of these bags," he added, cracking open a bottle for himself and one for Marlene and sliding it across the table. "Moony is Moony," James said. "You know we'll look after him. And we've got a plan," he added, trying not to sound to suspicious. "He got the scare of his life Mars. Merlin's balls, I can't tell you how-- Just listening to it," he rambled, his voice dropping and then tipping back the beer to suck down half of it before speaking again. "It was his worst nightmare come true and it's gonna take him some time. He'll be back though," James said. "I promise he'll be back. I know." "Anyway, I crawled into his bed this morning and then told him he needed to sleep in between me and Lils tonight so I wouldn't have to get cold feet walking into his room tomorrow. If I keep that up he isn't gonna stay for long." "I know. I was there," Marlene noted quietly, paying extremely close attention to the food instead of looking at James. She didn't want to think about it any more. She was reminded of it every time she looked in the mirror and was pretty sure that Remus wasn't going to let her forget how he was dangerous any time soon. "He was going to try to kill himself, you know? Right before you got there. That and what they would've done to me the next morning, that was even scarier. ...Not as scary as waking up next to your morning breath probably is, but you know. Lily's braver than the whole lot of us." James nodded. "I know," he said quietly. "And to tell you the truth, to keep from killing Lils I'd probably off myself as well," he added. "And to tell you more truth I'm relieved he's been staying with us because for a day or two I was really worried he was going to off himself still," he said. "M'not saying that to upset you, but that's just-- something I was thinking, I guess. But I don't think so now. He seems a little better." He took another bite of food. "Not exactly great dinner conversation though, I'm sorry," he said. "You know if there's anything I can do I'll do it. For either of you. Even start casting fresh breath spells on myself every time I see you." "S'alright. We've got comfort food," Marlene noted, gesturing with a piece of fish that was stuck to her fork before eating it. That was part of her problem: she hadn't had anyone to talk to about it. Remus likely would've had a complete meltdown if Marlene had brought it up, rushing out of the room mumbling that he didn't want to talk about it and that he was a monster and so on and so forth. "And it's just in the morning's that it's real bad," she said with a slight laugh before returning her attention to the mountain of food that was stacked in front of her. "I'm not exactly great dinner company right now, I'm sorry about that." "At least my hair is dead sexy in the morning," James pointed out. "Though you're not so bad yourself with the bedhead look. Very just shagged and all that, I used to say back in school," he said with a small smile. He started in on one of the pasties and swallowed a big bite before speaking again. "So how are you doing?" he asked. "You really shouldn't be alone you know," he added. "We've got plenty of room for you even if you and Remus aren't getting on, or Lils could come and stay or I could," he offered. "I've been having nightmares and I'd guess yours would be even worse." He opened another beer with the side of the table and scooted it to her. "Drink. Drinking makes everything hurt less." "We're going to have to have an intervention with you, Potter," Marlene snickered, although she took the beer from him and began to gulp it down nonetheless. At least he wasn't writing terrible poetry anymore in the journals were the death eaters could see, although at this point Marlene would probably find it funny again. She missed the old days of peacock snatching and devil's snare toilet-papering houses and haunting Reggie. But now Reggie was gone and there were wards up protecting the peacocks and Marlene was scared even to go to the store to stock up on regular toilet paper. "I know. And I appreciate it, but we just bought this place and I'll be damned if I'm not going to live in it." It had knocked out nearly all of Marlene's savings, not to mention the money she'd gotten from selling her family's house. They had more from Professor Dumbledore's will now, but they'd been living off of James and Lily's charity for almost a year. "And you two deserve a chance to have some alone time too." "And I look like crap in the mornings. Sirius said so just yesterday. You to've gotta get your stories straight." "As long as you serve alcohol at it, I'll be there," he teased. Honestly, James knew that just like his father he drank a little too much when times got hard, but well? This was a war. He could drink all he wanted and it still wasn't going to be what killed him in the end. If it quieted the doubts it was worth it. James nodded as she spoke, understanding what she meant. "Well then, me or Lils could stay here with you. Or Sirius," he added, "though Moony might appreciate that one less. Just because he's being moody doesn't mean he's lost all his sense," he said. Upon hearing that Sirius had said Marly looked like crap in the mornings he shook his head. "When has Sirius ever seen you in the morning, Marlene? Wanker can't get his arse out of bed till after two. He makes shit up and fills in the blanks for everything he misses. You're just as good looking now as you were in school. Finally got some curves and all that. Remus is a lucky man. And he'll remember that before long. You wear that shirt of yours next time you see him and he'll be putty in your hands." He did have a bit of a point -- the only time that Marlene had ever actually seen Sirius in the morning is when he was still awake from the night before as Marlene had gotten up. He usually was incredibly intoxicated at those points as well, and wasn't sure if it counted. "I don't think I can wear the shirt anymore," she admitted with a frown. It was her fucking favourite shirt and they'd made it so that she couldn't wear it anymore. She finished the rest of the beer in about five seconds. "I think I need something stronger than this." "Fuck that," James said. "You can still wear the shirt, Mars. When he's over this self-pitying bullshit he's gonna look at you like he's always looked at you. Like you're the best fucking thing that ever happened to him." His beer was half gone and he grabbed the bottle of vodka and poured a little more than shot into it, scooting it over to her. "The James Potter Special," he said. "Half beer, half vodka, sure to have you wishing you'd have had better sense in about a half an hour," he said. "And when should we schedule your intervention?" he added. "You wanna double with me?" "I'm twenty-five percent Irish. I don't need your stinkin' interventions," Marlene chuckled, grabbing the beer-vodka away from him and gulped down a mouthful. It took everything in her to not send it spraying back out of her mouth and across the kitchen. "DEAR MERLIN, THAT IS VILE," she spat, her eyes watering at how awful it tasted. She wiped at her eyes with the back of her sleeve, which were watering and burning all at once. "Wow, okay, awake now. Here, you can have the rest," she shoved it back across the table at James. After a moment she grabbed it back and downed another gulp. "I'm gonna regret this in half an hour." "Regret is my middle name," James said, laughing and grabbing the bottle back from her to chug down the rest, tipping the bottle up dramatically. "James Oorion Matthew Regret Potter-- has a nice ring to it, yeah?" he asked. He was definitely feeling a little tipsy now. "So we've eaten, and we've drank," James said. "Time for dancing with the plants. S'all there is left to do when you're cheering up a Marly," he said. He stood up and did a poufy twirl and then a curtsy. "Show me the way m'lady," he teased, offering Marlene his hand. Okay... maybe the James Potter Special had been a little much. He was definitely feeling it and everything seemed sort of hysterical now. Like this situation. Marlene owned a house. Her husband was Remus and he was living at James's house. James was here at Remus's house. In his head he could see little arrows explaining all of that and he began to laugh again. "I want to see something that can eat me." "If you puke on my plants you are never invited over again," Marlene snorted a laugh, pushing her chair back until it hit the wall and stumbling to her feet. Was drinking bad when one was still on a large amount of painkiller potion? "Is drinking bad when you're still on a lot of painkiller potion, James?" she asked aloud this time, her speech beginning to slur slightly, finishing her drink and slamming the can down hard on the table. "Alright. Less'go." Scooping up her wand with one hand and taking James's hand with the other, she pulled him through the house and towards the back door, taking care not to let her significantly more drunk friend walk into any walls on the way. Slamming the back door open, she stepped out first into the back yard -- it occurred to her that Remus hadn't been joking; they'd barely lived here a month and it did already look like a jungle -- and let James follow her. "I'd say 'ladies first,' but you just want to see something that could eat you, not have it actually do it, yeah?" When Marlene asked about pain potions James laughed. "You're asking the wrong person," he said. "I used to mix them on purpose for the helluvit. Never killed me yet!" he added proudly. James followed behind Marlene, stumbling every few steps and glad she was leading him since he'd have been knocking his head into walls the whole way. He seemed pretty brave about the plant thing until they walked outside. "Holy shit," James muttered. "You've grown a fucking rain forest." He leaned in closer to Marlene because he figured she'd know best what was poisonous out here. Suddenly he wasn't as keen on carnivorous plants. "You were just joking, right?" he asked, tripping over a root and flapping his arms to catch himself. "Did that thing just trip me on purpose?" he asked, picking his feet up very carefully and glaring at the ground as if daring the plant to try it again? He needed more alcohol for this. "I dunno, did it?" Marlene teased, noting the plant in question. That one was harmless, if a little bit feisty. "You, back on that side of the path," she scolded it, zapping the root with her wand until it drew itself back under the shroud of its leaves from off of the cobblestone pathway that lead through the back yard. "And it's not a rainforest. We don't live in the right sort of climate for those types of plants. ...Well, mostly. I've got a weather charm up on the ones in the back corner," she pointed, popping up on her toes over a rather large, blue thing towards the edge of the yard, "but they're harmless. Mostly for potion ingrediants. "Besides," she said offhandedly, throwing James a sideways glance over her shoulder. "That's not the one you wand to worry about," she said, turning around to face James just as a long, spotty vine shot out from behind James, wrapping itself around his middle tightly. "James, meet Gus." James wasn't happy about the little devil root that thought it'd be funny to trip him but that was nothing compared to Gus. James had thought he wasn't drunk enough for this and now he was thinking he was way too drunk. He jumped about a mile in the air when something grabbed him and he struggled backwards only to be tripped up by that same damn tricky root. They were working in tandem, fucking plants. "Marly, not funny," he said, shuddering as he attempted to pull away. "Seriously. Plants are creepy! Make it stop." He sounded about six years old and though he was genuinely a little frightened the drink was still making the whole situation for real. "If it starts to hump me you're explaining to Lily why I'm pregnant with plant babies," he insisted. still wiggly to free himself. He somehow thought that Marlene might be offended if he shot a blasting curse at it so he was attempting to not freak out entirely. Marlene, however, found it hysterical. She nearly doubled over in a fit of laughter, actually snorting once amist her giggles. James looked like his eyes were about to bug out of his head and knock his glasses clear off his face. "He just wants to be friends, Jamie!" she laughed, waiting a few more moments before calling Gus off with a wave of her wand, the plant retreating back into a still position. "Don't worry honey, I'm not gonna let any more of the mean old plants hurt you." She paused. "So pushing you into the patch of Devil's Snare would probably be a bad idea, yeah?" "Not if you want your plants alive by the time I get out of here," he said in a hushed voice. He didn't want them hearing. "Marly... I think I've had enough of the yard," he added, casting his eyes around. James would much rather face Death Eaters than take on a patch of Devil's Snare. He remembered vaguely that sunlight would drive it away but he didn't trust his drunk arse to point the wand in the right direction. He'd likely end up blinding himself and then the plants would eat him alive. Not a pretty thought. He pushed past her, picking up his feet dramatically, one at a time, to be sure that know sneaky vines got to him. He didn't pause until he was on the porch. "I worry about you sometimes, you know that?" "Don't worry, I don't really have any Devil's Snare back here; the environment's not right," she called out to James as he made a break for the porch, even though she doubted that James cared about Herbology lessons when he'd just gotten vine-groped. Marlene took her sweet time joining him back up there, enjoying being back outside with everything that was fresh and green and alive. It was something that always stayed consistent -- wars could come and go and people would live and die but as long as it continued to rain on occasion, nature kept itself going. "Don't you worry about lil' ol' me," she smiled as she opened the door, waving James to head inside first (away from the "devil plants") so that she could set the wards behind her. "You turn into a moose once a month and hang out with a werewolf. I grow plants that can eat a man whole. We're both perfectly sane." James laughed at her estimation of the both of them. Sane. Right. Sane and Sober. That oughtta be the Order's new slogan. He was getting sleepy, which always happened when he was drunk and full and he half floundered his way back to her couch. "Think m'gonna stay here tonight, Mars," he said, patting down a pillow and shifting it slightly so he could lay on it comfortably. "You need the company. Can't leave you all alone with these plants. There gonna gang up on you. The little one was making plans," he mumbled teasingly. "Now where's your telly? S'nt time for the pretty wobbly colour lines?" "...I have no idea what you just said, you lush," Marlene snorted, plopping down on the couch next to him (after a quick trip to the kitchen table to bring another order of fish and chips with her). "You'd splinch yourself if you tried to leave anyway. They'd be picking up Potter pieces from here to Glasgow, methinks." "And alas, we don't have one," Marlene shrugged. "We are WIZARDS, James." Of course, the real reason was 'we are POOR, James," but that wasn't something she felt the need to bring up. And technically they were going to be quite all right for a while, given Professor Dumbledore's gifts to them in his will, although it still felt strange to Marlene to have that much money to throw around. "However, we do have a lava lamp." With a wave of her wand, the lamp on the table across the room switched on and began to bubble up. "Ooooooooooh," he responded appropriately. "Pret-ty." And that was the last logical thought he managed to have as he watched the lavalamp bubble up-- then bubble down-- until he drifted off to the first decent dreams he'd had in a week. |