Fortunately for me, Marlene only didn't come for one more day, and while it wasn't fun, time went by.

Then there was the weekend and I found myself reunited with Marlene the next Monday.

And Merlin was I glad to have her around, even if it hurt to admit.

We partnered up again, helped each other out, cracked jokes and returned to our usual routine.

Not once did she mention the incident that almost killed her. And whenever I was about to try and apologise, she stopped me and dismissed the topic, shaking her head and saying something along the lines of 'it's nothing' or 'could've happened to anyone'.

So, the topic was forgotten soon and life returned to normal again... Or as normal as it could be when one fought in a war, because we still got into some fights with Death Eaters.

Lily and James got married on the third of December, and it truly was a beautiful day. Just the vows were a little painful to hear, and I found myself pretty down as I stood next to the dance floor, a glass of punch in my hand, and my eyes fixed on the very happy couples in front of me.

But that was forgotten soon when Remus and Peter appeared next to me. We all decided that, since we didn't have any significant other, we'd just dance as a three.

Since Lily and James had to be careful to not draw attention, it was a little ceremony, so Remus, Peter and I didn't feel embarrassed at all although we were horrible dancers. Our motto: It's only embarrassing when you think it might be.

We struggled at keeping our laughter at bay when we started to shimmy on the dance floor, did stupid jazz hands or jumped up and down without knowing what we were doing. The three 'Bestest Single Pringles', as a very drunk Remus called us later that night, had a great time, and I think the wedding photographer had a very great time watching us, too.

The later it got, the more people joined in on the terrible dance moves, and at around one o'clock, Remus was leading all guests through the venue, each one holding the shoulders of the person in front of them.

It had certainly been a night to remember.

I spent Christmas and New Year's eve with my family, including Henry and Francisca, and then nothing very special happened.

I told the order about some charms I'd invented, and my tracking spell found use very soon, replacing our spying sessions. Now, when we found a Death Eater, we'd just quietly hit them with the spell and go away again. The charm would wear off after a few hours, but it was a very good precaution and reduced the amount of times we got caught and involved in fights.

Marlene and I also really made progress in our Auror training sessions. We'd take a few tests later this year, and then Moody would decide whether or not to keep us in the program, but we were pretty optimistic.

Something that kept bothering me during training was the way Lina looked at me or murmured unnecessary remarks, knowing that I'd hear them. Marlene did too, though, and the fact that she cared so much for me that she almost always muttered insulting things about Lina really warmed my heart.

Lina's behaviour saddened me, but I learned to ignore it.

Marlene moved in with Sirius, much to my heartache. Whenever I visited Sirius now, she was there, too.

It didn't bother me that she was there in that sense, but it bothered me that I constantly got reminded of the very harsh reality.

I continuously almost cursed my father and I kept stargazing in the evenings.

I sometimes found time to spend with Anna, Valerie and Aleya, but it got less and less as the time went by. But even though we rarely saw each other, we kept exchanging letters.

Some time after the wedding, Peter managed to cast a corporeal Patronus. Now I was the only one left who still couldn't do it, although I basically practiced everyday. This block couldn't be broken, but at least I finally got to know all of the marauders' Patroni- and with that their animagi forms. Dog, stag and rat.

And yeah, that basically was my life around that time.

It was Sunday and pretty late already when we had yet another order meeting.

We were sitting there, waiting for Lily and James to return from their mission (because my tracking spell couldn't eavesdrop).

We had a massive map open, watching the little white dots from my tracking charm on it move around, but none were suspicious.

"What's taking them so long," Moody grumbled after another look at his watch. "They should've been back twenty minutes ago."

Sirius almost got whiplash from turning his head so fast. His eyes were wide open. "You're only saying that now!? What if something happened?"

"We have to go look for them!" Remus backed Sirius up. "Maybe they're in trouble!"

Moody rolled his non-magical eye. "Don't you think we would've done that if we could? We don't know where they went over time."

Sirius began to repeatedly tap his finger on the table, one of his nervous habits, until Marlene took his hand. "They're gonna be fine. They just got carried away and forgot the time, I'm sure of it." She didn't sound so sure, though.

Sirius didn't reply. I could see in his face that no words could soothe his nerves.

The silence turned tense, but luckily, it wasn't quiet for long.

The familiar sound of someone apparating made us jump up. Remus was the first one to reach the door.

Because the room was pretty crowded, I couldn't make it into the hallway, but I could still hear Remus announce. "It's them!"

"What's taken you so long!" Sirius spoke over the noise when everybody hustled back into the main room of the headquarters.

Then I saw them. Both Lily and James were extremely flushed in the face, sweating and breathing really fast.

"Sorry," Lily wheezed.

"We ran into Voldemort," James added apologetically.

A jolt went through the crowd.

My heart almost stopped.

"You did what!?" Sirius took the words right out of my mouth.

We'd often fought against the Death Eaters, but as far as I knew, none of us had ever met Lord Voldemort himself.

He was usually inside the houses where the Death Eaters held their meetings, and directed everyone's moves from afar. Not this time, apparently.

Maybe he'd noticed that the resistance against him grew stronger and stronger, so he decided to join in on the fights.

Lily shrugged. "It all happened really fast. One second, James and I were following them around, eavesdropping, and then one of the Death Eaters spun around and began to throw curses at us. It didn't even take a full minute until Voldemort arrived, but how could he've known that we were there when the Death Eaters had only noticed us a minute earlier? They hadn't had the time to message him!"

Peter and I exchanged a knowing look. "Did he touch his arm?" Peter asked.

He received weird looks.

"Just answer the question," I said. "We've noticed something on our latest sessions."

I smiled at Peter, who was looking at me with a clear 'thank you' in his eyes.

"Eerm," Lily and James exchanged confused looks.

"Wait," Lily furrowed her eyebrows. "Now that I think about it, one of them actually did! But I think that was because one of our curses brushed past their arm."

"Was it the left one?" I asked. This suspicion that Peter and I had had was close to being confirmed, and I didn't know how to feel about that.

"Yes," James said. "But where are you going with this?"

I exchanged another look with Peter, trying to ignore all the curious eyes on me.

"On our last patrol, we've noticed how three Death Eaters all had matching tattoos on their left forearms. At first, we didn't think much into it, but then we saw that it moved and had to be a magical one. I think it might be the Dark Mark that's been showing up in the sky above the houses where they've murdered people in. When all Death Eaters have the same magical tattoo, there has to be a reason for it. I mean, more than just showing their allegiance, because they could've used something less conspicuous and non-magical for that."

"Do you mean it links them with one another, and lets them stay in contact?" Marlene asked.

"We can't know for sure yet, but I think we should look into that. I definitely think that the tattoo has let them call Voldemort," I replied.

It fell quiet.

"This sounds absurd," Edgar Bones spoke up. "Maybe we're just overthinking it."

"But how else can we explain how Voldemort showed up in no time when a Death Eater touched their matching tattoo? I agree with Freya, there has to be a link," Marlene said with a really confident and sure voice.

"I think we should look into that."

The reactions of the people in the room were different. Some whispered disbelievingly, others furrowed their eyebrows in doubt and and others looked deep in thoughts.

To all of our surprise, Moody was one of the quiet ones. He simply stared at the map in front of him, before nodding slowly.

"We can't know what it is, but there's more behind that tattoo. We'll look into that. If we find a way to block their ways of communication, that will give us a great advantage."

Then Moody looked up and turned to me. I'd never seen this expression on him before and wondered what was wrong with him, but then I realised that he had a tiny smile on his scarred face. He nodded at me. "Good work."