Captain Mark

Marlene shook her head, he didn’t understand. She didn’t deserve anything, she was a horrible person. “No, I don’t” she said quietly. She could barely recognize herself anymore.

Mark wanted to do whatever he possibly could to Edgar Bones for hurting his baby sister. No one got away with hurting a McKinnon, not even someone who had practically been family to them. He listened to her and the more she spoke the angrier he got, he was lucky that he was rational enough not to leave right then and there to go strangle Edgar in his own home.

Nick sighed when he entered his brother’s room. This had really affected him and Nick just felt awful. He didn’t want Mark to feel bad about himself, nobody should, but it was just so hard to get through to him sometimes. It was also decently difficult to not fight with his younger siblings. 

Mark turned the volume down a little and looked over his shoulder at his brother sitting on his bed. “It’s Puddlemere United against Montrose Magpies, Puddlemere is winning,” he said. Puddlemere had always been his favorite team so he tried to catch every game that he could and kept up with them. It was his dream deep down to play for them someday but sometimes that felt unrealistic.

Mark’s smile was enough to make Doe feel warm, she’d always had a crush on him, even after she got together with Remus, and even now that they were older. “I could very much use the company…” She said quietly, sitting across from him. 

Mark frowned and instantly his hand went across the table to reach for her’s. He gave it a gentle squeeze, reassuring her that someone was here and that she wasn’t alone. It was exactly what he needed right now too. Someone to share his misery and just to remind him things were going to work out in the end.

Mafalda didn’t drink. More specifically, Mafalda didn’t drink because she was a bad drunk. Not in the sense that most people were ‘bad’ drunks. She wasn’t an angry drunk–she was angry enough sober, thank you very much. Nor was she a miserable drunk–Mal wasn’t the type to get miserable, not ever. No, Mafalda Hopkirk was a sociable drunk. And sociable did not look good on her.

Mark set his jaw tight at the words and attitude as the woman next to him. She couldn’t help but just shake his head at her. Taking a sip from his drink, he let out a sigh. She was not the kind of person he needed to deal with right now, in fact a fan would be more pleasant to put with than her.

“Do you really think that? Do you really think she’s not going to tear off my head?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. He was sure that Marlene would be pissed, if he wasn’t so sure he would likely still be with her now. He pushed Mark lightly. “Oi, plenty of girls are willing to kiss me.”

“I don’t think she’ll stay upset with you for forever, you just need to go ahead and do it. It’ll sound better coming from you, you know that.” He reached into his pocket and played with the lighter he carried around with him. “Of course they are willing to kiss you, you’re a McKinnon. I am talking about putting up with you. I think Mary is one of the girls that would be able and willing to.”

He was grateful as Mark put a hand on his shoulder. He probably would’ve fallen without it. As they went to the kitchens, he gave Mark a look that normally would’ve been intimidating, but in his drunken state looked stupid. “Don’t give me that look.” As they passed a pillar, Charlie stopped, stabling himself as he looked at it. “I’ve never seen this ghost before. What’s your name, sir?” he asked.

Mark couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched his older brother try to speak to a pillar. He reached to grab at his brother’s elbow to lead him towards one of the chairs. “Charles, that would be a pillar, not a ghost. Now, sit your ass down and I’m going to fix you up some grilled cheese or something to sober you up a little. You are fucking smashed,” he said shaking his head. He went over to start making his brother food. “You need to do this more often, or at least let me get drunk too so I don’t have to babysit.”

👫 - Mark

“Pour me some,” he asked at Nick’s question. As his older brother said he’d have him come over to order food, Charlie rolled his eyes. “You can learn how to use a telephone yourself.” He moved to get up so he could go into the kitchen where the phone was. He couldn’t remember a time it had ever been used, but he imagined his mom had it just for an accessory. 

“Maybe the lack of magic makes it taste good” Ben sugested and took a swig of his beer. “I’ll take a ticket” he smiled, he enjoyed watching his brother play. “Is that even a real phone? I thought mum had it cause it looks cool?”

Marlene listened to her brothers interact about food as she finished preparating the spliff. She then took out her wand and lit it. She placed the joint between her lips and took a long drag. “Oh, thanks but I got mine already” she told Mark distractedly as she blew out the smoke slowly. Garret had given her a ticket, of course, but her siblings didn’t have to know that even though Mark and Ben already knew about them seeing each other. “I want some too, Nick” she told her brother, gesturing the bottle as she passed the spliff to Mark.

Nick passed the bottle around and took a sip from his cup, smiling as Marlene prepared the joint. It was funny, he always protected his siblings from drugs and alcohol when they were little, but now he was encouraging it. “I’m sure Matt would like the tickets. I’ll check his schedule and get back to you on that one. That kid is busy.” He laughed and grabbed a few crisps. 

Mark took a drag of the joint, closing his eyes as he took it in. He had quit smoking cigarettes when he became captain of Gryffindor, but he still enjoyed smoking pot on occasions. After he finished, he held it out to Nick and rolled his eyes at him. “You with a dog of your own would be hilarious. You know how much shit a dog can get into? I think you would be better off not getting one, Nick.”

At his words, Charlie was completely shocked. It wasn’t surprising that Mark had been sleeping with her - if he said he was sleeping with the Queen of England, he’d believe him - but they were pregnant. He didn’t know what to think or feel. His automatic reaction was to lecture Mark, but he was upset and Charlie just couldn’t find it in him. But then, he was upset. All Charlie wanted was a kid of his own, and here was his brother about to have one over a one (well, more than one) night stand. But most of all, he was worried. It was a horrible time to be having a kid, especially when it was an unplanned one. After a moment, he said, “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. You have your family and your friends - we’ll all help you get through this together. And I have complete faith that you will be a wonderful father.”

Mark remembered his mother telling him in confidence how Charlie had discovered his inability to have children. It must be crushing to want children and not have them, yet here he was complaining about becoming a father. It was a terrible thing to do to his brother. He stared down at his glass and sighed. “I suppose you’re right,” he said. “Though I do not think I’ll be any sort of good father... I mean fucking look at me. I can’t even handle the responsibility of a dog or a cat. A child? A fucking child.”

Edward stared at the whole scene in silence, just sipping his wine and eating. He had never been a man of too much words to be honest. Besides, for what he understood, he would have to side with his niece and he knew better than that. Marlene looked at Mark and shrugged. “He started it” she said simply.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Of course Marlene had to ruin him telling his parents, just like he ruined everything. Break had just begun and he hadn’t had time alone with them to tell them yet, and he hadn’t seen it as something suitable to tell over owl. As Marlene began speaking he said her name in warning, but she continued over him. So much for telling them yourself. His jaw clenched, and he considered taking his wand out just to hex her. He’d never misbehaved in such a way around his parents, however, so he withheld himself even though his hand was in his pocket on his wand. 

Mark looked at Charlie and inched his chair back a little, not liking that he was literally in the middle of the fight between Marlene and Charlie. They were screaming at each other and he did not want to be dragged into it. “You both are in the bloody wrong. You’re acting more like children then anything about all this,” he said. “And that is coming from me!” he scoffed. What he wouldn’t give a drink or a smoke right now, but he could never do that in front of his parents.

“I would of asked to be tested for drugs or something. There is no way I could of predicted this” Amelia chuckled and let Mark led her to the living room. She sat down on the couch at smiled at him. She knew she was lucky to have such an amazing man as her partner. 

Mark wrapped his arm around Amelia as he sat on the couch with her. He played with her hair, leaning in to press a gentle kiss to her forehead. “And here we are now, with an adorable little baby boy,” he said, shaking his head a little. He was scared out of his wits when she first told him he was pregnant, but now he was actually happy.

Nick felt awful for what he did to Mark, it wasn’t fair to him. He was just angry for having to see his brother like that, with some slutty girl attached to his hip. All Nick wanted was for his siblings to be young again and idolize him, everyone idolized him back then. Now he had to deal with a stressful job and a child, bore by a woman that was much too young to be a mother. He wanted things to go back to the way they were. 

Mark had been quiet the last few days, kept mostly to himself. Nick’s words had stung him more than he ever thought they would. His own brother saw him as a slut. Maybe he was right. Nick was always the smart and mature one, when he was a kid he would have believed anything his brother said.

“But she won’t understand,” he said, moving to take another long swig from the drink. If there was anything he was sure of, it was that. Marlene wouldn’t even try to understand, most likely. “I suppose that’s true,” he said. After a moment, he asked, “Do you think Mary and I would work together?”

Mark shrugged and he took the bottle from him and he took another sip. “Maybe she’ll surprise you,” he said, knowing Charlie could be harsh on Marlene sometimes.  He looked back at his brother and nodded his head with a smirk. “If she’s willing to kiss you, yeah I’d say she’d be willing to put up with you,” he teased, but his meaning was genuine.

“Your job isn’t to beat the shit out of people, it’s to use a Bludger to beat the shit out of people. It’d be a much more intense game if Beaters were going around and swinging their bats at anyone nearby,” he said with a chuckle. He rolled his eyes. “I’m not miserable. I’m absolutely fine.”

Mark chuckled a little. “I’ll start a petition for it, then it will really be a bloody sport,” he said with a smile. “But you know I could hold my own in a fight against you if the time came to it,” he challenged. He rolled his eyes at Charlie, running his fingers through his hair. “Bullshit. And I’m a fucking virgin.”