#marliusblackinnon

She wants to ask Sirius about the journals. Harry protests at first.

"Ginny, we don't know if it was anyone he knows--"

"Then why not ask?"

"I don't want to make things difficult for him!"

"What harm can it do, Harry? And you have to be curious--"

"Let it go, Gin--"

"Ron, this isn't your business!"

"It's not yours!"

Finally, tiring of the argument, Ginny turns on her heel and starts her way down the stairs. It takes them all a second to catch up, to realize she's heading for the dinner table, where Sirius is likely to be.

"Ginny, wait--"

But she's already made it through the door. Sirius and Remus look up from whatever conversation they'd been having when Ginny drops the journals (two in total) on the table.

Remus' brow furrows, but Sirius recognizes them immediately.

Ginny, a bit of her bravado draining now that she sees the expression on Sirius' face--and she can't describe it, because it goes beyond sorrow and touches something else entirely--says quietly: "Who is Marlene McKinnon, Sirius?"

Remus sits up straighter and looks at Sirius, worry clouding his eyes. "These are hers?" he asks, gesturing to the journals. "This is where they've been, all this time?"

Sirius clenches his fist. "Mary was holding onto them while I was in Azkaban," he answers.

"She was a friend of yours from Hogwarts, then?" Hermione asks, taking a seat opposite them. The rest of them follow suit.

Remus nods. "Yes," he answers. "A very good friend. I didn't think these had survived..." He takes a journal gingerly, thumbing through it. "These are all of them?"

"No," Sirius answers. "Mary wouldn't part with all of them. Just the last two, from after James and Lily went into hiding--Mary said she'd read them and couldn't even bear to look at them. Marlene wrote every day, back then, and didn't spare any details."

"I remember," Remus says. "It was her way of coping."

Harry blurts out: "I remember her name now," he says. "Moody showed me a picture of the Order, and she was there."

Sirius nods. "Yes, she was part of the Order."

"Her entire family," Harry says, "Moody said they were all killed."

"One by one," Sirius replies. "Until she was the last one left." He looks up at the four of them, meets each of their eyes in turn. "That was the cost, back then. It could very well still be the cost now."

He stands, taking the two journals in hand. "I'll be back down for dinner."

As he crosses the threshold, Ginny blurts: "I'm sorry, Sirius, I shouldn't have..." Well, she's not sure how to finish that, but she is sorry. Clearly this is difficult for him.