@viciouslestrange
Since Fabian’s sabbatical began the day after the Puddlemere disaster, Marlene had been left on her own at work, largely unsupervised aside from the few Unspeakables willing to step into the mentor role for a passing day or two. It was fine, though, because it left Marlene the entire day to fill with passing daydreams, brow furrowed as she worked on the crystal ball assignment Fabian had left for her, but her mind was elsewhere.
A figure swirled in the glass, much to her astonishment, and Marlene let out a yelp before realizing it was simply a reflection of an owl that had perched on Fabian’s office window. A soft smile touched to her features, rising and approaching slowly, accepting the various mail attached before beginning to flip through it distractedly.
It was a nasty habit she needed to break. It was only because she was alone, and utterly bored, that she had started opening Fabian’s mail - she knew it wasn’t okay, a potentially fatal rip to their delicate relationship if he ever found out, but that was sort of the point. Fabian wasn’t here, and what if one of these letters were urgent? Could he fault her for being curious, when he’s been encouraging it out of her since she had arrived weeks before? Wasn’t his mail simply another mystery to be solved, except without a department dedicated to it? It was this line of reasoning that has her carefully working open each of the envelopes and scrolls, meticulous in her wrongdoing so that she could repair the seals and leave Fabian none the wiser. Better than staring at a broken crystal ball...
It’s rare for them to receive Order assignments this way, so Marlene found herself colored with surprise when she extracted a familiar manila document. She’d seen Fabian collect one only once before, and he had been understandably wary to share it with her. Now though, there was no one to stop her. Marlene could see her fingertips shaking as she carefully extracted the intel, taking a precursory glance around the room, a nervous tic for a troublemaker about to do something bad.
She can’t believe the words once she’s reading them, hungrily consuming mission details that weren’t meant for her. If she had any sense or authority in the Order, Marlene would check for the correct security protocols, wave her wand over the page to expose any secret information, confirm this letter was real and significant and not a hoax. The problem is that Marlene has neither authority nor sense, and she doesn’t even check the code name the letter was signed with, having promptly thrown the page onto Fabian’s desk as she left his office with newfound purpose.
Bellatrix Lestrange..... The devil woman herself, the person who had nearly taken James from her, the face of everything Marlene despised about pureblood society; the name alone sent her blood boiling.... Critically injured, remote location..... At a reasonable disadvantage, it seemed - Marlene knew she was strong, had heard the bone-chilling story of James’ experience at her hand, but under the right circumstances? Maybe she had a chance to turn the tide of this war... Do not call for backup. Support will meet you there.... If it all went according to the half formed plan in Marlene’s head, they’d arrive just in time to take away Bellatrix’s recently deceased corpse. A mental image that sent Marlene practically running through the halls of the Ministry, this level of excitement nearly intoxicating at the opportunity presenting itself, so much so that it’s dizzying thrill kept her from thinking critically about what she was inviting to unfold.
A few steps through the Floo Network and one perfectly placed Apparation later, Marlene found herself standing in a darkly shrouded alcove of trees. It wasn’t what she expected, to say the least - it was still late afternoon, and yet, the trees reached so high in this forest that the sun seemed to disappear all together. It’s cold too, eerily so, the kind of chill that seeped into her bones and instantly sapped the blind courage from her veins. A soldier who had rushed head first into a battle only to find a dead end. It was..... foreboding. It was disheartening.
Somewhere behind her, a twig snapped. A second too late, and Marlene realized, this was no Order mission - this was a trap.