A Gypsy Soul

"Wha-"

"Well I sure hope not."

Peter’s head snapped up. “Huh? Oh, yeah - they’re pretty cool. My friend likes them more though.”

Marcus laughed, his eyes fixed on the younger boy. "Is that so? Most wizards around here don't know what a bike is."

"Sorry, I won't call you a kid anymore. You're a teenager. You haven't had the experience or the time alive to know what it fully means to be in a war. This isn't meant to come out as patronizing but you all need to stop trying to fucking grow up so quickly. None of you should be fighting right, because you guys may be the last generation of halfway decent fucking kids to make it to your age. None of you are even close to fully trained-" Marcus ranted out, looking down at the smaller boy. "And the last thing I need is my baby sister getting caught up with some hound of a boy. So if you want to continue to stand here and tell me that you're such a man, be my guest. But I can't guarantee that you'll walk away with a full set of teeth."

Marcus eyes grew slightly wider, and his nose flared. "So that's where Marly got on her soldier kick." He laughed out, "You may be a soldier but I've seen twelve year olds fighting with the Death Eaters." He told Sirius, standing to his feet. "So don't you tell me that you and Marls aren't still kids because you are, and you're a kid that I could break over my knee so you better watch your tone, little boy."

Marcus let out a dangerously low chuckle, before shaking his head. "No you aren't." He told him, snapping his head to look at him. "The last thing I need some little boy screwing with my little sisters head or knockin' her up."

"Already headed there." He told her, releasing her hand. Looking down at the brunette, he let out a scoff. "What's got a thing like you drinking?"

Grinning she propped herself against her bar and let her head fall on her hands. “All is well for me too. Not to much has been going on, thankfully. Though it can get boring at times, but I rather have it boring than getting my bar attacked.” 

"You bars been attacked?" Marcus asked, disappointed. He had been gone for so long that he wasn't caught up to the latest news. "I would rather have boring than attacked as well. Safety may is boring I suppose."

"I’m a uh, friend of Marlene’s. I can leave, if you’d rather be on your own, I don’t mean to intrude."

Marcus mused for a moment, before his lips fell open. "No, no. I remember you now. I just remembered a little mess of brown hair braiding my sisters." He told her, nodding. "Nah, it's fine. You knew Matthew also."

"Mind if I join you?"

"Do I know you?" Marcus asked, as he slide over hesitantly to make room for the girl.

Hestia nodded with a small smile, “You too”, there was something easy about his company, she found herself almost relaxing. She immediately tugged her sleeve over her wrist at his comment, somewhat out of reflex, before relaxing slightly as she reminded herself that he wasn’t a threat. She nodded slowly, “It’s not like the Death Eaters would have me” she snorted. “In the end war isn’t about who is right, it’s about who is left” she smiled to herself.

Marcus grinned at her comment, and exhaled. "Yeah, me either." He told her, flicking his cigarette absentmindedly. "Maybe if we're lucky we'll make it out alive. Who knows." He breathed out, crossing his arms. "I was an Auror before the war, have been for nearly ten years now. I'm not exactly afraid of the though of death, but the thought of the war ending and them winning isn't very comforting."

Marcus nodded, his eyebrows furrowed. "And do most people prefer your twin to you?"

"He’s too bloody stubborn to protect his family. I didn’t care at the beginning, he could go out and get a job if he wanted to, but Merlin, after Matt? He hasn’t even spoken to any of us since the funeral as far as I know." Macon looked up at his brother and shook his head. "I couldn’t survive without you and Marley. I’d be alive, but I wouldn’t be living. I thought it was the same for everyone. I just- I wish we didn’t have to lose him at the same time as Matt."

"I think he just knows that the odds of us winning this war are stacked against us- I think he knows that we'll probably all die. He doesn't want to." He told him, pulling his shoulders up into a shrug. "I think Marlene could survive without us- I mean not that she doesn't love us but she has more than just us. It might cripple her but she'd get by." He told him truthfully, Marcus wouldn't be able to function knowing his siblings were gone. "Yeah, but were you surprised? The only thing that surprised me was that he even attended the funeral."

"What are you doing talking to my sister, and she briefly mentioned that our brother was murdered?" Marcus asked the boy, his face serious and blank. "He wasn't too much older than you, you know."

"Hestia Jones" she offered him a small smile, "I’d say it’s nice to meet you but I suppose it’s not the most pleasant of circumstances" she shrugged as she watched him light his cigarette. There were little things about him that reminded her of Matthew, now that she realised they were related they all seemed to become that much more obvious. "That’s war isn’t it" she sighed, "So bloody destructive"

Marcus took a long drag off of his cigarette before rolling his shoulders. "Nah, circumstances aside it's nice to meet you." He told her, scanning her over with his eyes. He couldn't help but notice she didn't have an identification bracelet. "You part of the resistance?" It had been months since Marcus had been back inside the castle, so he didn't exactly know half of the people living there. "If it doesn't kill you it'll kill everyone you've ever loved, and the second is much worse."

Marlene did her best not to wince as he shouted. She hated arguing with Marcus; he always won. Nothing she could say would ever convince him to listen to her. “I’m not placing his death on you,” she told him slowly, “You know I would never ever do that. But you did leave me. So did Mac. And fuck, so did Maurice. I had no family. For six months. Y’know, the six months after my brother died. The time when I needed you the most. Or, what about when I got back from my own mission? Where were you then? I don’t give a damn that you were alone. You elected to leave. You can’t attempt and replace dad one day, and run away the next. You can’t have both, Marc. What happened to family before everything, huh? Just fuck off. I have every bloody right to be mad at you.” she stomped her foot. Marlene knew full well she was acting like a child. But hey, if Marcus wanted to pretend she was still a little girl, this is what he would get. “Mhmm, and you couldn’t have written me from Dublin? Or Mac? You just left without a word. Your supposed to be my brother, you’re supposed to be there for me. But it’s obvious that winning this war is more important to you than your family.” she spat, eyes darting back up to him.

His eyes scanned her face, in awe with her ability to turn everything around onto herself. "Marlene- I'm treating you like a child because you're bloody acting like one. We are in a war. There were very few witches or wizards equipped and qualified for the mission I went on. They needed me. I know that you needed me too but would you have rather I stayed? Put dozens on dozens of people through what you had to go through?" He asked her, trying to get her to see clearly. "No, I couldn't have wrote. We couldn't risk being traced and you know that. You think that you're this professional solider but you aren't. You know what it feels like to be hurt but you don't understand war or you'd know that I had to be there, in Dublin. You'd understand that I couldn't have wrote." As she brought up their father, his face grew colder. "I'm not trying to replace dad. Nothing is more important to me than this war and that's why I'm trying so hard to help win it Marlene. So we can finally live in fucking peace. You want to raise a family one day? You want to fall in love? Do you want to raise your children in a world that will kill them if they have different blood than you?"