This was one of those stories that just hit me all at once, and came out pretty much exactly the way it was in my head. Which was an infinitely good thing, since I had about a day to get it in for the HP SeSa and I didn't want it to be late, since it was for Mir. But anyway, she wanted something dark ("the darker the better," I think she said), and when I think of darkness I think of war, so then there was this. I also kind of shamelessly ripped myself off in this, only it's not ripping off anything that anyone else has ever read, so that totally doesn't matter.

The lines are drawn in July, and they show on Marcus' face by the end of the summer. Slytherins weren't made for war, because war means loyalty to power and belief in a cause that isn't necessarily right, that isn't necessarily the best. War means to look out for more than oneself, and that isn't what Slytherins do.

That isn't what Marcus does.

See, I have this idea that if there was to be a full-blown war, it would be a very disjointed effort, because the only people who would side with Voldemort are the Slytherins, for the most part. And the problem is, their loyalty would lie only with themselves, not Voldemort, even if he was fighting against the same things they were. Because in the end, Voldemort would dominate alone, and that would leave no room for the rest of them to get what they want. He'd have the monopoly on power and when all is said and done, his supporters wouldn't be entirely sure why they supported him in the first place, because they'd have just replaced one dominion with another. And they don't want Voldemort in power; they want to be in power themselves, because that's the nature of a Slytherin.

It doesn't matter where they meet because it's not a first, and not a last-- not even a significant number. It might be in the lift and it might be on the street; it might even be in the bakery, at work, at home: premeditated. Marcus doesn't remember because it doesn't matter.

Percy asks, "Have you chosen?"

And Marcus says, "Of course I have." He doesn't need to ask a Weasley, not even Percy, what his choice was. Marcus remembers seventh year, the last one, when Percy whispered, "When the time comes, I hope you're on the right side," quiet and slithering: a threat. Marcus remembers, and calculates, because every little betrayal counts.

I've always sort of thought that even if Percy did abandon his family (as in OotP, which was still six months away when I wrote this), that wouldn't necessarily mean that he'd abandon the side of good. And here Marcus can see that goodness in him, and Marcus knows that good's going to prevail, and so he knows (or thinks he knows) which side Percy will take. But there's a failure to communicate here: Marcus doesn't ask, because he thinks he knows; but when Percy threatens him, he's not telling Marcus he should be on the good side. He's telling Marcus he should be on Percy's side, but it doesn't even occur to Marcus that the good side and Percy's side might not be one and the same.

It rains throughout August, with water so hot it steams off the streets. London is parched with rain, and Marcus lives in a mackintosh until he stops caring. Stops caring about the water and the damp and the heat, and the war and death and everything. With time comes apathy, and time marches ever on. The rain will stop and no one will notice, just as life does.

I don't remember if I was just making things up, or if in PoA the screwy weather is blamed on Voldemort. But I like the idea nonetheless that he could have that kind of effect, that he would have enough power to bend to his will something so strong as the weather. I also just think it's cool that it's raining, but it's so hot that the water can barely even touch the ground before it evaporates.

Also, oh my god, that line-- "The rain will stop and no one will notice, just as life does." I rewrote that about a million times, and it still doesn't sound right to me. It's just jarring, but the other variation I wanted sounded even worse to me: "The rain will stop and no one will notice, just as does life." I think the emphasis is in the wrong place, but I didn't know how to get it to say what I want, so I kind of gave up. I still don't know what I'd change, but it still just grates on me.

He lets rain slick off his jacket and scatter on the marble floors of the Ministry. It will all dry, eventually.

Percy finds him in the drought that follows, and his words dry up just like the sky. The war hasn't touched London and likely never will, but it has touched Marcus and it shows. The ink of his Mark seems to have crept into his blood, staining him ashen, and he no longer looks like the same person that Percy had threatened-- had promised to-- so few years ago.

"What do you want?" Marcus asks, and his voice is tired. Hardly two months and tired already.

"I gave it up," Percy says. He chokes on 'up', like he has only enough breath to shape the word, but not to push it out and away. "I said I would, didn't I?"

Marcus looks at him, heavily, wearily, like he's looking for proof he knows he won't find. "All right," he says, and Percy holds out his hand. Already he can see black trickling into his veins, and soon he will be just like Marcus. He won't be able to hide it.

"I wish you hadn't done that," Marcus says, after some time.

The Ministry closes on the equinox, because the world has gone mad and everyone has let it. Percy stops going in because they stop telling him to, because everyone seems to have forgotten that life does indeed go on, even as the world shrivels and dies.

This is all very heavy-handed, but to me, the equinox represents the end of the preliminaries, and the beginning of the real war-- but it's the sort of thing you don't really notice, because who really remembers when summer becomes autumn? But it still matters. Because there's no Ministry there to help keep Voldemort at bay, so that's the beginning of the end for everything. And it's saying, "you thought that was bad? The war hasn't even started yet." Which is a mirror of sorts of Marcus' reaction to Percy's Dark Mark, because Percy thinks his betrayal is deep now, but what about when it begins to take over, and it's impossible to hide? Marcus knows what's coming, but Percy just has no idea. He can't even imagine how bad it could get.

And the idea of the world going mad was from Timothy Findley's The Wars, which I'd just read and reread for the first time a few months previous, and can't you just see Mrs. Weasley being just like Mrs. Ross? Going crazy because her son has left, and the whole world is falling apart, but it's become so commonplace that no one even notices anymore. Because the war didn't touch the city, and neither did the rain, so how do they even know they're fighting?

Percy could pack up, and he could go home, but he has enough reminders of where his loyalties should lie. But he has the hair and the name and the job, and the poverty, and he doesn't need to look his enemy in the eye to know that he's a traitor.

Marcus says, "You're going to regret this," but Percy doesn't think so. Thinks, but conviction isn't going to save him.

"Conviction isn't going to save him" was probably one of the first lines I knew I wanted to include in this story. It's saying two things, to me: the obvious one being that Percy has accepted that even if he doesn't want to die, he's already given his life to his cause, and there's no going back. The second thing, though, is that althought Voldemort's supporters are convinced that what they're doing is right and that they deserve to win, their conviction isn't enough. It takes more than a belief in one's cause; it also takes determination to see it through, to attain the end result, and I don't think they want it badly enough. His Slytherin supporters don't want badly enough to annihilate all lesser life forms to give up their own freedom.

"I did it for you," he replies, and Marcus stares. And stares, and stares, and--

"That's the worst reason," Marcus says, "for you to die." And Percy thinks he can see death in Marcus, but maybe it's just the ink.

"Because you will," Marcus says. And Marcus is probably right.

Percy hasn't just betrayed his family, but he's also betrayed Marcus now, too. Because Marcus didn't want him to be on his side; he wanted Percy to be on the winning side, and Marcus has always known that won't be Voldemort's. He doesn't want Percy to die, but now he knows that Percy will, and Percy just has no idea.

And that's really what's at the crux of this story, for me. Percy just doesn't know what it takes to be on Voldemort's side, because he was raised a Weasley. He's not like Marcus, but he wants to be-- he just doesn't know how to deal with the responsibility that it would take to follow Marcus' lead, to follow Voldemort. He's given up so much for Marcus, but Marcus didn't even want him to, and Percy doesn't even realise the sacrifice he's made; and that's the tragedy of this story. All Marcus wanted was for Percy to survive, and now he can't even do that, and there's no going back.

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