A/N Hello, all and welcome to my newest story, which will begin on a highly depressing note but I assure you will get better over time.

Thanks to all Reviewers!

Dedication: to do i need a pen name, who share's my love of MarlenexSirius!

Disclaimer: I own nothing other than Marlene's family members who are the property of do i need a pen name and myself, they were originally created in our stories archived under our joint account SiRiUsLyPiNkAnDgReEn, which you should really read. ;)

Marlene McKinnon stumbled blankly down the London street, she was in a state of shock, and it didn't help that she was supporting the largely unconscious body of her youngest brother Max. She felt vaguely nauseous, and her chest ached with an agony she had never experienced thus far in her young life. She had arrived at her parent's home at eight o'clock in the evening, her arms filled with presents and a birthday cake for her brother. Upon arriving at her home she had expected to be greeted with hugs and yelling and perhaps some curses in Gaelic. She hadn't expected to arrive at home and find the Dark Mark lighting up the sky above her house. Her packages fell to the ground unnoticed, and she pulled out her wand, making her way into the house.

She was fairly certain that any death eaters were long gone from her home. She found the front entry empty, and proceeded further into the house. She had continued to the dining room where they held most family dinners, and she quickly found part of her family.

A sob tore from her throat as she spotted her eldest brother Malcolm, his body badly injured, he had clearly been tortured prior to his death. Several feet away she spotted his wife, Fianna, she had less markings and injuries, although Marlene could make out vague tear tracks down her face from where her mascara had run.

She had felt as though she'd been punched in the gut and fell to her knees next to her eldest brother's body. She forced herself to glance around the room and spotted her brother Merric's body lying unmoving on the other side of the table. Marlene forced herself to get up despite her desire to remain there on the floor until the death eater's found her and killed her as well.

She made her way out of the dining room towards the kitchen where she had an idea she would find her parents for better or worse. Marlene was right, her mother was slumped against the counter, her eyes half-open. The patio doors were open, and Marlene surmised that the death eaters had entered that way, taking out her mother before she so much as had time to scream. She found her father sprawled on the floor by the kitchen island, he too was dead.

Marlene made her way out the patio doors, something told her she would find Max and Marcas here. They both adored Quidditch, as most of her family did, and she figured they would probably be out here playing, as it was Max's birthday, and they usually played during parties. She found Marcas first. He lay in a crumpled heap near the goal posts. His broom was several feet away shattered to pieces. Of all her brother's this was the one closest to her in age and personality both. They had fought all the time, both quick to anger, despite this he had always understood her and she him, and here they were finally separate after all their childhood adventures.

She pulled herself away from Marcas and began to scan the area for Max. She found him at last. He was dangling upside down in the air, his leg caught in one of the hoops. Marlene felt herself shaking in rage, couldn't the death eater's at least grant her family the simple right to die with dignity? Apparently not. Then Max did something the other's had not, he moved, it was just a small twitch of his arm but Marlene caught it and had managed to Accio a broom from the shed they stored them in within a minute. The witch mounted the broom and was soon engaged in detaching her brother from the goal post. She succeeded and brought him slowly back to the ground. Just as they reached the ground Marlene heard a loud crack from the house that could only have come from someone apparating. Unwilling to risk the guest being a death eater coming back to finish the job Marlene seized her brother by the wrist and promptly disapparated.

Which is how Marlene came to find herself stumbling down the streets of London barely supporting her brother's weight, it occurred to her dimly that she should have cast a feather-light charm on him, but she could not summon the energy to do so. She finally stumbled upon her desired location, pressing heavily on the buzzer to the flat.

Moments later the door to the apartment building was opened. And Sirius Black stood there looking at her.

"Geez, Marlene go easy on the buzzer, will you?" Sirius began to complain before he abruptly stopped speaking as he took in her ashen complexion, and the mostly out-of-it Max propped against her. Without requiring her to say anything at all, he seized seized her brother from her and gestured for her to walk in ahead of him before following her up the stairs, Max tossed over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.

He deposited Max on the couch, and turned back to Marlene who was standing blankly in the center of the room clearly unsure what to do. "Mars?" Sirius inquired calling her by the name he had bestowed upon her back in first year. "Max needs a healer, what do you want to do?" He asked gently.

Marlene continued to stare at him, her face pale. "They're all dead." She whispered.

Quickly ascertaining that he as not going to get anymore information out of his girlfriend, Sirius strode over to the fireplace and grabbed some floo powder out of the jar he kept on the mantle. He threw it into the fire and the flames turned bright green. He then walked back over to Marlene and gently pushed her toward the fire. "We're going to Hogwarts, okay?"

She nodded mutely in response to his statement and stepped into the green flames calling out "Hogwarts," as she did so. Sirius then made his way to the couch and picked up Max again before throwing more floo powder in the fire and following after Marlene.

He found her waiting outside the fireplace in the Hogwarts staff room. The school was serving as a meeting place for the Order of the Phoenix as well as a hospital for members of the light who were injured. The two silently made their way to the Hospital Wing, quickly reaching their destination.

Madame Pomfrey who was running the underground hospital immediately rushed over to them and directed Sirius to deposit Max on the nearest available bed. "What happened?" She asked briskly as she began to run diagnostic spells on the youngest McKinnon sibling.

Sirius glanced uncertainly at Marlene. "I'm not really sure. She just showed up at my apartment with Max." He explained.

The nurse paused and surveyed the orange-haired girl for a moment. "Miss McKinnon, please sit down before you fall down." She requested taking in the unhealthy pallor of Marlene's face. Sirius swiftly seized his girlfriend by the arm and guided her into a nearby chair.

"Where's Dumbledore?" Sirius inquired.

"He should be in his office." The nurse replied.

"I'm going to go get him." The former Gryffindor continued, he squeezed Marlene's shoulder lightly as he made his way past her toward the door.

Sirius quickly returned with the Headmaster who had been in his office writing a letter of some sort.

Pomfrey had just finished up with Max when they returned.

"Your brother is going to be just fine." She reassured Marlene. "He had a broken leg, which I healed, as well as unmistakable signs of having undergone the Cruciatus Curse, and other spells of a similar nature. I've given him potions to deal with the effects, and he should be waking up within the next few hours."

Marlene sagged with relief from her seat next to Max's bed.

"Why don't you tell us what happened, Marlene?" Dumbledore requested. Sirius sat down next to his girlfriend and intertwined their fingers.

"It's Max's birthday today." She explained softly. "I was late to the party because I was baking the cake. I got there at eight to find the Dark Mark over our house."

"I'm so sorry, Mars." Sirius whispered squeezing her hand lightly in comfort, even as he felt his own eyes fill with tears, he had grown to love Marlene's family like his own over the years.

"They're all dead." She whispered. "Mum, Dad, Malcolm, Marcas, Merric, Fianna."

She heard a sharp intake of breath from one of her listeners and paused.

"What about Milo and Keira?" Dumbledore inquired after her second-oldest brother and his wife.

"He couldn't come." Marlene said with relief. "He had Quidditch practice, his coach wouldn't let him off, and Keira was ill so she she stayed home as well."

"I'm going to alert the rest of the Order." Dumbledore said with a sigh. "We'll take care of everything at your house." He continued, which basically meant that they would remove the bodies and clean up the mess left from the attack.

Marlene nodded stiffly in reply. Pomfrey retreated discreetly to her office leaving Sirius and Marlene alone. He swiftly pulled her out of her chair and onto his lap, at which point she promptly buried her face in his shirt and proceeded to cry for the first time since she had found almost her entire family dead in their own home.

A/N Review!