#evince

Then Gideon grabbed her arm as he turned and they landed in a cluster of trees.

But what should have been simply gathering information turned south quickly when they were spotted by someone who was on their way to attend the meeting.

Suddenly the four of them were surrounded by Death Eaters and Voldemort sympathizers and Marlene found out exactly why everyone in the Order preferred to go out on missions with the Prewett twins. It felt like every time she turned around Gideon was blocking a spell from hitting her. She thought she'd been prepared for this. She thought Moody's training had been plenty, but in the whirl of a five to one battle Marlene felt like a first-year student who'd just picked up her wand from Olivander's.

Gideon yelled something and Fabian yelled back and the next thing she knew Gideon's hand was on her arm and dragging her through the trees.

She looked violently around for Sirius but couldn't see him or Fabian. Marlene almost called out for Sirius but a spell whizzed past her ear, and then Gideon turned and she landed in a clearing outside a small shack.

"Get inside!" Gideon barked at her as he pushed her toward the door.

"What about…" Marlene started to object but Gideon shoved her towards the door.

"That's an order, McKinnon!"

Marlene stormed in through the door and turned around to yell at Gideon when Sirius and Fabian landed in front of the shack.

"Inside, Black," Fabian pointed to the open door and Marlene beside it.

"Stay put, if we aren't back in five minutes Apparate back to HQ," Gideon called out before turning and Apparating away with Fabian.

"We should shut the door," Sirius tugged her hand. "We can watch from the windows for them."

Marlene let Sirius pull her further inside as she tried to breathe through her adrenaline.

"You alright?" She gripped her wand as she looked out one of the windows.

"Singed a bit, you?" Sirius raised his wand to rest on the sill of another window.

"Me too," Marlene could smell the burnt hairs near her ear.

"It's a bit of a rush," Sirius' voice was eerily calm.

"Yeah, until I watched you almost get blasted." Marlene's laugh was hollow.

"The first one that went by your head made me trip over my own feet. Luckily, Fabian was there."

"We'll get better," Marlene swallowed her adrenaline and tried to stamp down the panic at how disconnected Sirius seemed.

Sirius didn't respond, but a moment later the Prewitt twins were back.

Marlene was surprised when Sirius said he'd come with her to let her parents know she got through her first mission alright. After a few moments with her parents, he started to seem more engaged, and Marlene found her own anxiety easing. She even felt a bit excited when he suggested that they should go tell the Potters they'd made it through alright too. Maybe she'd misread him when they were in the shack. Or maybe he just needed to be around people who cared about him.

But when they arrived at the Potters, Sirius dismissed his family with an assurance that they were fine, and they would talk more about it later. He pulled Marlene up the stairs and to his bedroom.

"Sirius…" Marlene shut the door behind them but didn't get anything else out as Sirius pulled her into him and he crushed her into his chest.

"Sirius," she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Merlin, Marls, I watched you almost die probably twenty times today."

"I know," Marlene pushed her own tears down and tangled her fingers in his hair, "I know."

She didn't know how long they held each other but when she felt her heartbeat finally returning to normal Marlene started to inch them toward his bed.

"I need to tell you something," Sirius moved his head to kiss along her neck.

Marlene hummed as his lips moved along her skin and his arms held her tight against his chest.

"I'm in love with you."

A warmth spread through her chest that made everything that had happened that day feel inconsequential, and she smiled wide as she pulled Sirius' lips to hers.

"I'm in love with you too." Marlene murmured against him.

Sirius grinned against her, "Good because I was about to go out of my mind when I realized that you could die not knowing I loved you and then I was obsessing that you could live and not love me back."

Marlene laughed as the back of her legs hit the edge of his bed. "I'm pretty sure I've loved you for a while now."

"Me too," Sirius smiled down at her.

"Well we all know you love yourself, but how long have you loved me?" Marlene smirked up at him.

Sirius laughed, "You are going to pay for that one McKinnon."