The Last

By: OurLoveIsForever

"Karen! Will you get the knives? It will be bloody difficult to cut this steak without knives." My brother called from the dining room. I rolled my eyes at my sister before leaning down. My hand slipped into the mountain of coffee curls that sat atop Grant's head. "Take these to your father, dear heart." The twelve year old nodded before moving out of the room. "He's growing up far too fast." I muttered, feeling incredibly old.

"It's about time for you to have children, isn't it?" My mother chided. Her back was to me as she placed the freshly cut apples into the glass dish before magicking them out of the room. "How about Fabian Prewett?"

"What about him?" I acted as if I had no earthly clue what she was talking about. Looking about to Karen's slightly accusatory expression, I shrugged. "Romance and war mix about as well as oil and water."

Karen shook her head. "Well, there's that or you just won't admit that Moody caught the two of you snogging in the broom closet at Christmas." Before I could respond, she hurried out of the room. I let a smile slip onto my face as I averted my attention to the orange horizon through the window. For July, it was awfully cold. I wondered if perhaps we would get some rain later in the evening as the clouds were thickening. I knew for sure that Pa would pitch a fit if it rained on his birthday again.

A birthday celebratory dinner, a simple family gathering, the only time that all of the clan had congregated the entire year. We were a family of many. My brother, Gerald, had brought his wife and son in from Germany for the occasion. My Uncles, Edwin and Jeremy, had arrived earlier in the evening. Karen had brought her fiancée to stay for a few days. Add Pa and Mum. There were eleven in all that I had to prepare drinks for, I thought as I set out the cups.

As I reached up for the farthest cup, my muscles froze. At that same moment, my blood ran cold. Somewhere I could hear shouting, screaming, calls for help.

"Protego!" Gerald bellowed from the direction of the dining room. "Grant move behind me! Marlene! Marlene!" Desperation.

I couldn't respond. No matter how desperately I tried, my mouth would not move. I felt growing fear welling in my belly. No! No, it couldn't be! Please, no!

"My, my. Look at what I have here, mates! Marlene McKinnon herself." A voice said behind me. I felt a breath on my neck before a hand rested around my neck. I felt sick. "Travers, she's in here!"

"Just a moment, her sister is proving a bit of a trial!" came the reply. I felt the freezing charm wearing as the unidentified Death Eater moved away. I eased down to the sound of the thump in another part of the house. That sound echoed through every wooden frame, every bone of my body. "Malfoy, get the brat!"

I heard Grant yell for his mother. I fought with every ounce of my being to be free. Slowly, I reached for my wand, straining the muscle of my arm. Finally, I rested my fingers on the smooth wood. I felt comforted by its presence. "Reducto!" I shouted as I spun, hitting the Death Eater's back.

Blood splashed onto the floor, cabinets, cake, anything within range, including myself. I darted forward, dashing into a nook of a broom closet. My wand looped around, sending exploding curse at another Death Eater, his hand shot open yielding similar results within the living room. I could hear scuffling then something I had expected since I realized we were under attack.

"Avada Kadavra!" My heart stopped as a slumping sound filled the house. There were desperate cries, calls for help, weeping. I squeezed my eyes shut momentarily; not wanting to imagine which of my family had fallen. "Marlene?" The same voice said. I recognized it. Travers. "Where are you?" It was a rough, calloused tone. I shivered.

Like hell I would respond. I eased my way out of the hiding place, stepping over the pool of blood on the floor. The boots of my heels were hopefully masked by the crying of my sister.

I was a member of the Order. Truth be told, my whole family supported me in my associations. It was through that I learned to become a duelist, a marksman of sorts, and a fair spy. It was also how I knew when the game was up. Upon arriving in the parlor, I realized that we were dead. This realization dawned when a wand was pointed directly at my chest.

"Mum!" I screamed desperately, throwing myself forward. My knees slammed into the hardwood floors. To my right, my brother was shouting and jerking as a crucio curse hit him. If only I could get my hands on a wand, any wand! Tears leapt up in my eyes as I watched the matriarch of my family fall to the ground, unmoving. It was when her lithe from hit the floor, her head smacking with a deadly crunch that I realized my time was coming fast. All too fast.

There were seven of them, seven black clad heathens that surrounded my family. Each moved with clonking steps that echoed the thundering of my heart in my ears. They circled, cat-calling and pushing the executors on.

"Blood-traitors!"

"Blood-traitors!"

"Barbarians!"

"Kill them! Kill them!"

My eyes turned to where Grant laid with his eyes wide and blank, the youngest and the first to fall. We were being called barbarians? Gerald was still twitching beside his wife, a bit of foam slipped from his open mouth. His hand was reaching for Lisa's, her fingers made no move to tighten around his. She was long gone.

To my left, Karen was crying silently, her face cut and bruised. The head of my father was in her lap, his eyes also held the blankness of death. Just beside him, Edwin and Jeremy were strewn atop each other. They were second and third after refusing to kneel before the Death Eaters. Karen's fiancé was nowhere to be seen though I knew he was dead as well.

I narrowed my eyes before looking up at the executor. The blood in my mouth made it difficult to speak, but I pressed through it. "Kill me next, you lowlife!"

Travers grinned, shaking his head. "No, no. You see, it is your fault this happened. If you had not killed my brother, I would not be here."

I did not deign to respond.

His wand pointed to my brother who was panting and weeping, his hands made no move to wipe the tears from his eyes. Those green eyes, eyes that I had seen nearly every day of my life, turned to me. I felt grief welling in me. He was defeated."Learning your lesson tonight, eh, Marlene? Avada Kadavra!"

My eyes eased closed as the green light hit him. I would be joining him soon. I would be joining all of them soon.

Karen yelped a bit at the suddenness. I felt her pain the worst. She was completely innocent, having never seen torture or death first hand. I moved slightly in front of her before one of the larger Death Eaters strode forward, grabbing me by the hair. I did not scream. I had lost all sense of pain. That's not to say that I didn't fight back. With what ingenuity I could find the strength to muster, I threw my head back into his nose. He cursed loudly, throwing me forward to painfully land on my knees once more.

"The mighty McKinnons weren't that hard to exterminate. They were stupid to gather in one place." Malfoy sneered, folding his arms over his chest. "I was so looking forward to more excitement."

"I would rather just finish up." One of the Carrow twins said, shaking her head. "I've got better things to do."

Travers shushed them with a great laugh. "The McKinnons were once a great clan."

"Still are." I replied, spitting out some blood toward his boots.

He sneered down at me before aiming his wand at my sister. Her chest froze. I felt panic wash over me when her eyes became so frightened. Her mouth opened, but nothing came out. Her hands came from my father's head to scratch at her throat. Tears slid down her face as she frantically tried to breathe. I dove forward to help her, only to be grasped around the waist. "Karen!" I screamed as she began to choke. "Kare-" There were snickers from around the room.

I watched as the light began to leave her eyes. She had looked up to me with those eyes. She had thought I was the strongest of them all. I struggled against my captor, jabbing him rightly in the stomach before grabbing his wand. I slashed the wand around, throwing the Death Eaters into the walls. I threw another spell before I felt a horrible sensation in my back. Bright lights flashed in my eyes as I sunk to my knees once again, the wand fell from my hand. I looked to Karen, her eyes had become dull.

I was the last.

The final McKinnon in existence and I could do nothing to stop my death. I could do nothing to save my fallen family. What I did with my last spell was something that I never knew if it had worked. I sent a patronus to Fabian. He would know. He would come. They would all come.

As I fought to remain alive and alert, the searing pain in my back making breathing more and more difficult, Travers came to stand just in front of me. He leaned down, his hand pulled roughly at my head. He whispered roughly into my ear as he drew his wand over my throat. "Diffindo." My life began to vision began to fade with the intense pain slicing through the arteries of my neck. "Stupid wench."

"Daddy, Da! Let me fly!" My father's smiling face as he swung me into the air.

I pulled at the toy broom from one side, my sister cried on the other. "Karen, give me my broom!"

"Welcome to Hogwarts…" The floating candles, the freedom, the fear…

Gideon's ecstatic face. "I'm gonna be a father!"

"Join us in the fight." Albus Dumbledore's wise eyes and kind smile.

Karen's tears of joy. "I'm getting married."

"I love you, Marlene." Fabian's grin as he held me to the wall of a broom closet before his lips crashed to mine.

Snickers filled the air as I slumped to the floor. I could see the red on the wood in front of my eyes. Blood. My blood. Strength was fading, fading... Somewhere in a tunnel, I heard a loud crack and shouts. Tears slipped down and mixed with that blood. A face swam into vision. Red hair, tears, before everything went black.

The end of the Great McKinnon bloodline.

The last.

A/N: So, what are the thoughts? It was a bit more violent, but I toned it down a bit. Sorry for the change!