@antlcrs .
she’s been standing outside the door to his room for half an hour now . head resting in her palms , marlene is slowly bracing herself for what’s about to happen . and ALL she could think about was when they had told her that her mother had died . she can remember exactly the expression on dumbledore’s face , and the phrasing of his words . the reaction on her sibling’s faces . the exact position of everything in the office , the time of day and weather outside . it was like a moment standstill in time , and the person responsible for tearing down her first year at hogwarts would always be dumbledore in her head . james had already lost his mother , her aunt , and now he had to lose his father too . an orphan .
EVENTUALLY , though , she forced herself to push open the door . oh , he was alive . so alive . and awake . now , marlene was never particularly good at masking any sort of emotion from her family . so the small smile & sigh of relief she offers was as much as she could muster , but not enough to cover the GRIM expression on her soft features . “ james . ” marlene can remember the walk from potions to dumbledore’s office with professor mcgonagall the day her mum died perfectly . she KNEW it , she knew something was wrong , someone had died . she was only twelve and she knew . the S I L E N C E before they tell you the news somehow was worse than when they told it to you . and she knew that with james she had no poker face . the air was already being sucked out of the room , out of her lungs . so she had to move quick . marlene walks over and takes a seat in the chair beside his bed , she leans forward towards him and offers another smile . “ i love you , you know . ”
