Pyrrhic Victoires 1/13
Title: Pyrrhic Victories
Author: Liliths_Requiem
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Adrian Pucey, Millicent Bulstrode, Marcus Flint
Pairings: Adrian Pucey/Millicent Bulstrode
Era: 1998, end of War
Word Count: 860
Story Summary: Millicent’s last moment with her brother
Prompt: Rarepair_Shorts Table 10 Prompt 1: “in the other sense of the word.”
She stumbles, he catches her. That’s been Millicent’s relationship with her older cousin since she was old enough to walk. Marcus was always there, ready to break her fall if necessary, yet somehow always letting her bruise her knees, just so she learns from the experience. Marcus means everything to her, much more than her immediate family does. He was there when she lost Slytheirn thirty points in one go and Lucien wouldn’t talk to her for a month. He was there after the Yule Ball, where she found out Blaise had only asked her out on a bet. He was there when she realized she has a thing for girls. For the longest time, Marcus has been her one, only, and forever. He’s the only thing she’s ever depended on.
So when he refuses to take the Dark Mark after graduating and her parents forbid her from talking to him, Millicent breaks their laws and sneaks out at night to meet him at pubs of questionable morality because it’s the only place she knows no one would look for her. And when he and Lucien get into a bloody duel outside of Ollivander’s one day it’s Marcus she tends to, not her big brother like everyone’s expecting. She stays loyally devoted to him, never straying from his side if she can help it. She hates the fact that she’s dependent on him; it makes her feel vulnerable.
The dependency tears her in half during the Final Battle. She only stays because Lucien’s out there fighting and she needs to find him and get him as far from Hogwarts as she can before Voldemort loses and everything goes to hell. She finds her older brother moments too late, after Potter’s killed the only thing Lucien’s ever believed in. He grabs his wand before Millicent can stop him and turns it on himself. Just as he’s about to say the two words that’ll end his life forever, Marcus is there. “What the bloody fuck do you think you’re doing, Lucien?” he asks, his snaggle tooth shaking with rage as he bites the words out. “You think you can kill yourself and make this all go away?” When Lucien nods his head and whimpers, Marcus spits at his cousin’s feet, “And what about Millicent, you callous son of a bitch?” He doesn’t have an answer to that, and no matter how much Millicent pretends, she can’t escape the fact that it’s because he doesn’t care.
Marcus grabs Lucien and drags him towards the Aurors. Azkaban is the best place for Lucien, she knows, and if her brother turns himself in then the Dementor’s Kiss is highly improbable. Millicent knows all of this, logically, but this doesn’t stop her from snapping to attention and pointing her wand at Marcus’ throat. “Let him go, you bastard!” She screams it, or tries to, but the voice comes out tainted and tired and thirsty and she knows she can’t be heard above the chaos that surrounds them. Marcus gets the point however, and after momentary shock due to her betrayal, he gathers his wits about him and stands his ground.
“You should lower your wand,” a voice says in her ear, clear as crystal, just as she’s about to send a crucio towards the only person she’s ever loved. “Now, Millicent. Before someone gets hurt.” She recognizes the voice the moment he says her name, and she drops the wand because she knows that it’s foolish to try and duel a Hitwizard. “Smart girl,” Adrian commends her, before motioning for Marcus to continue turning in his own flesh and blood.
Millicent turns to face her assailant with fury in her eyes. “That was my brother, Pucey!” she screams, and unlike Marcus he’s close enough to actually understand her. “You just damned my big brother to Hell. Are you proud of yourself?”
“Proud?” he spats, grabbing her wand from the floor and giving it back to her, “Proud? I just killed nineteen people, fatally wounded twenty three, and skinned about nine others. I just threw one of the only men I’ve ever respected to the dogs at the Ministry. I lost my wife and the mother of my child due to the bloody madman your brother swore allegiance to. So am I proud? Not at all.”
She looks at him with tears in her eyes and gives no resistance when he rolls up her tattered sleeve looking for a Mark she refused to take. “Is it over?” she asks. She isn’t sure if she’s talking about her connection to Marcus, or her relationship with her brother, or the War. Adrian looks at her for a moment, like he’s trying to decode which one she’s talking about too.
“I guess,” he says, noncommittal, “I mean, in some sense of the word.” He looks away from her then, because she’s about to cry and he doesn’t think he can handle that right now. “I don’t think it’s ever really over though.” He walks away before he can hear her choke on her sobs. Millicent’s the strongest witch he knows, Adrian’s not sure if he can watch her fall apart.
Author: Liliths_Requiem
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Adrian Pucey, Millicent Bulstrode, Marcus Flint
Pairings: Adrian Pucey/Millicent Bulstrode
Era: 1998, end of War
Word Count: 860
Story Summary: Millicent’s last moment with her brother
Prompt: Rarepair_Shorts Table 10 Prompt 1: “in the other sense of the word.”
She stumbles, he catches her. That’s been Millicent’s relationship with her older cousin since she was old enough to walk. Marcus was always there, ready to break her fall if necessary, yet somehow always letting her bruise her knees, just so she learns from the experience. Marcus means everything to her, much more than her immediate family does. He was there when she lost Slytheirn thirty points in one go and Lucien wouldn’t talk to her for a month. He was there after the Yule Ball, where she found out Blaise had only asked her out on a bet. He was there when she realized she has a thing for girls. For the longest time, Marcus has been her one, only, and forever. He’s the only thing she’s ever depended on.
So when he refuses to take the Dark Mark after graduating and her parents forbid her from talking to him, Millicent breaks their laws and sneaks out at night to meet him at pubs of questionable morality because it’s the only place she knows no one would look for her. And when he and Lucien get into a bloody duel outside of Ollivander’s one day it’s Marcus she tends to, not her big brother like everyone’s expecting. She stays loyally devoted to him, never straying from his side if she can help it. She hates the fact that she’s dependent on him; it makes her feel vulnerable.
The dependency tears her in half during the Final Battle. She only stays because Lucien’s out there fighting and she needs to find him and get him as far from Hogwarts as she can before Voldemort loses and everything goes to hell. She finds her older brother moments too late, after Potter’s killed the only thing Lucien’s ever believed in. He grabs his wand before Millicent can stop him and turns it on himself. Just as he’s about to say the two words that’ll end his life forever, Marcus is there. “What the bloody fuck do you think you’re doing, Lucien?” he asks, his snaggle tooth shaking with rage as he bites the words out. “You think you can kill yourself and make this all go away?” When Lucien nods his head and whimpers, Marcus spits at his cousin’s feet, “And what about Millicent, you callous son of a bitch?” He doesn’t have an answer to that, and no matter how much Millicent pretends, she can’t escape the fact that it’s because he doesn’t care.
Marcus grabs Lucien and drags him towards the Aurors. Azkaban is the best place for Lucien, she knows, and if her brother turns himself in then the Dementor’s Kiss is highly improbable. Millicent knows all of this, logically, but this doesn’t stop her from snapping to attention and pointing her wand at Marcus’ throat. “Let him go, you bastard!” She screams it, or tries to, but the voice comes out tainted and tired and thirsty and she knows she can’t be heard above the chaos that surrounds them. Marcus gets the point however, and after momentary shock due to her betrayal, he gathers his wits about him and stands his ground.
“You should lower your wand,” a voice says in her ear, clear as crystal, just as she’s about to send a crucio towards the only person she’s ever loved. “Now, Millicent. Before someone gets hurt.” She recognizes the voice the moment he says her name, and she drops the wand because she knows that it’s foolish to try and duel a Hitwizard. “Smart girl,” Adrian commends her, before motioning for Marcus to continue turning in his own flesh and blood.
Millicent turns to face her assailant with fury in her eyes. “That was my brother, Pucey!” she screams, and unlike Marcus he’s close enough to actually understand her. “You just damned my big brother to Hell. Are you proud of yourself?”
“Proud?” he spats, grabbing her wand from the floor and giving it back to her, “Proud? I just killed nineteen people, fatally wounded twenty three, and skinned about nine others. I just threw one of the only men I’ve ever respected to the dogs at the Ministry. I lost my wife and the mother of my child due to the bloody madman your brother swore allegiance to. So am I proud? Not at all.”
She looks at him with tears in her eyes and gives no resistance when he rolls up her tattered sleeve looking for a Mark she refused to take. “Is it over?” she asks. She isn’t sure if she’s talking about her connection to Marcus, or her relationship with her brother, or the War. Adrian looks at her for a moment, like he’s trying to decode which one she’s talking about too.
“I guess,” he says, noncommittal, “I mean, in some sense of the word.” He looks away from her then, because she’s about to cry and he doesn’t think he can handle that right now. “I don’t think it’s ever really over though.” He walks away before he can hear her choke on her sobs. Millicent’s the strongest witch he knows, Adrian’s not sure if he can watch her fall apart.