1950

Marlene threw her head back and cackled into the night air as she stumbled down the grassy hill. Dorcas grinned and jogged after her, grabbing her hands and spinning them in circles as they followed Mary and Lily towards the lake.

“Hurry up, slow coaches!” Lily yelled over her shoulder.

“Who are you calling slow?” Marlene teased. Lily let out a playful gasp, bringing her hand to her chest in mock offence.

Every year, after the sorting ceremony and dinner, Dorcas, Marlene, Mary and Lily all ran down to the Black Lake and splashed and sang and played until curfew. This year, they snuck pumpkin juice and chocolate in their robes and sung Blondie’s ‘Rip Her to Shreds’, rather horridly without the backing track. Thankfully, James, Peter, Remus and Sirius hadn’t picked up on their absence so far and they were left to bask in each other’s company.

“Dorcas! Dance with me!” Marlene beamed.

Dorcas stood, her chest shaking with laughter. The dark-haired girl started towards her as Marlene spun her around and rocked them to a non-existent tune. Lily and Mary whooped as Dorcas dipped Marlene towards the red picnic blanket, her strong hands grasping at her back. Dorcas grinned down at Marlene, her shiny teeth clamped together, and lips pulled back to reveal defined canines. Marlene’s heart leapt a little.

Lily and Mary leapt up and joined in, laughter and squeals filling the warm late-summer air. Eventually, Lily splayed out on the dewy grass and sighed happily. They all blissfully joined her, and the night was quiet.

“I missed you guys,” Marlene broke the silence.

~~~

Once they had finished their stolen snacks and sung until their lungs ached, the girls stumbled back to their dorm. The house-elves had already transported their suitcases and trunks into their room, so it took little digging to find their pyjamas and toiletries.

Marlene pressed her face into the soft blanket, the fresh smell of citrus and detergent seeping out of the soft sheets. God, she had missed this.

Over the summer, her shaggy blonde hair had grown long and wild, the product of James’s constant urge to play quidditch, even over the summer, dragging her into the air with him. The practice has no doubt prepared her for the upcoming games. Sirius had whined and complained about James’s efforts to get him to practice over the break, and Marlene’s relentless teasing over being the better chaser made him begrudgingly agree. Her skin became tanned and freckled after long days helping Effie with the gnome population in the Potter’s backyard, and spending hours lounging around the lake whilst two hyperactive boys splashed and bickered to the side.

Marlene had written to Dorcas, Mary and Lily almost daily. She had received postcards of white beaches and colourful hammocks and long rants about the nasty old woman who ran the bookstore that Lily worked at for the summer. Dorcas had sent her many ripped out pages of the joke book she stole from her sister, and Marlene now knew what a television, or ‘tele’ as Dorcas had insisted.

‘My mum is driving me and my sister down to Cornwall tomorrow for a swim and to see Pandora. I am being sent to the market to fetch strawberries. My family really likes strawberries. I can’t remember, was it you or Lily who had the strawberry plant in your garden? Pandora says that ‘les fraises’ aren’t very common in her town.
Anyway, please write about how Sirius is coping without Remus. I could do with a good laugh.

Dorcas.’

The top drawer in Marlene’s bedside table was overflowing with letters from her friends, tied together with a dark red ribbon she stole from her mother’s sewing collection. Marlene never threw away letters or cards, and she still had one dating back to ’68 from family members.

Mary let out a groan as she exited the bathroom, steam pouring out after her, and picking small leaves and twigs out of her puffy, curly hair. Lily flicked her in the forehead as she entered after her, and Marlene felt their familiar schedule fall back into play. She tiredly pushed herself into a sitting position and rubbed her eyes, winking as she saw Dorcas staring at her. A warm feeling rushed into her chest. She pulled off her red Gryffindor jumper and tug at her knotted hair. After gathering her towel and toiletries, she slid down the wall next to the bathroom door and let her eyes drift shut.

Before she knew it, Lily threw the door open, the smell of roses and vanilla filling the dorm. Marlene happily inhaled and jumped up to give Lily a grin and shut the door behind her.

~~~

Marlene sat down at the end of Dorcas’s bed, towelling her hair dry and yawning. It was already 10:30pm, and she had tired herself out earlier in the night. Dorcas looked up from her book and smiled softly.

“Whatcha reading?” Marlene mumbled from behind the towel. Dorcas huffed a laugh.

“Lord of the Rings. I told you on the train, remember?” Dorcas raised an eyebrow. Marlene smiled sheepishly.

“I may have been a little distracted, you know,” Marlene let a smirk creep onto her face. “You’re a really comfortable pillow, Dorcas. How could I even try to stay awake?”

Dorcas said nothing, but a dark flush crept up her neck. Marlene liked when Dorcas blushed, matching the colour of her famous maroon jumper and making her freckles stand out.

Marlene threw her towel over to her own bed and crawled up to sit beside Dorcas, leaning her head against her neck to read over her shoulder. The girl beside her tensed up, but quickly relaxed and allowed Marlene to sink further against her soft pillow. Marlene sighed happily.

She heard Lily and Mary crawl into their own beds, turn the lights out, and draw their curtains closed. They exchanged giggles and goodnights, but Marlene made no move to go to her own bed, and Dorcas didn’t ask her to leave. Dorcas hadn’t turned the page in a while, and Marlene fiddled with one of the loose strings on her friend’s jumper. Inhaling the smell of salt and strawberries, Marlene allowed her mind to wonder.

Over the summer, she had really, and she meant really, missed Dorcas. Sure, she missed her other friends, but not like this. Over the past four years, they had formed a bond they didn’t have with Lily and Mary or Pandora. While Mary was her best friend, and Lily was like her sister, Dorcas was special. Marlene couldn’t put a finger on it, but there was something about the witty girl that made her lips tingle and stomach flutter.

In first year, Dorcas had practically avoided the other girls in her dorm like the plague, only entering the dorm at curfew and pulling her curtain shut, blocking the other girls from even trying to talk to her. Marlene had talked to her after the sorting, introducing herself and making some jokes about how Gryffindor could beat Slytherin on the quidditch pitch any day, and Dorcas had only nodded and smiled awkwardly, before practically running off to join a girl with uneven blonde braids and bright blue eyes, Pandora Lestrange, who had been sorted into Ravenclaw. Marlene stopped walking and frowned, confused as to why this odd girl had just nodded and not even replied. Not long after that, she entered the dorm to find a short girl with long, red hair and striking green eyes, almost growling at a taller girl with a shocking black afro and a sharp jaw. Lily and Mary quickly settled their differences, which ended up being a scuffle about who wanted the bed beside the window, and the three instantly became the best of friends.

In second year, Mary caught Dorcas on the train and dragged her into a long conversation about bed arrangements, with ended with Dorcas squished between Mary and Marlene, who was sporting a gappy grin and a grazed cheek, (“It’s from me totally bashing Potter at quidditch, in his own backyard!” Marlene boasted. Lily let out a giggle). The train ride was full of crispy pumpkin pasties and endless questions, the girls desperate to find out more about the mysterious girl who had somehow avoided there, now infamous, according to Professor McGonagall, trio of Gryffindor, although they didn’t even compare to the Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew, who called themselves the ‘Marauders’ and had already started their long career of pranks at Hogwarts. Over the next two years, Dorcas Meadowes had slowly but surely become one of the best friends Marlene had ever had. Remus Lupin, a tall, lean boy with curly hair and too many scars to count, had struck up a friendship with Lily. In third year, the freckly girl had admitted to asking Remus to Hogsmead, but had been gently let down, and Lily assured them she had moved on from the mysterious boy. Remus had quickly become a large part of their group, helping them with their studies and lending them his seemingly endless supply of sweaters. Dorcas and Remus were alike, and spent hours tucked away in the library together, whispering and revising for faraway exams. As much as Marlene liked Remus, she couldn’t help but feel jealous that he was stealing Dorcas from her.

Dorcas broke her out of her trance as she leaned over to place her book on her already-crowded bedside table, which was covered in necklaces, shells and mugs. Marlene groaned and gripped onto Dorcas tighter, shifting under the blankets and letting the tiredness sink in.

“Uh, Marlene,” Dorcas started. Marlene buried her face into her shoulder. “This isn’t your bed, silly.”

“‘M tired, and you’re warm, and it’s too far,” Marlene all but whined. Dorcas huffed. Marlene clung tighter. Dorcas sighed in defeat and shifted them so that they were laying under the covers, face to face on Dorcas’s green pillow.

“G’night, Marlene,” she smiled.

“G’night, Dork,” Marlene grinned sleepily. Dorcas let out a low chuckle and pinched her side. Marlene yelped and knocked the other’s hip with her closed knuckles, curling her hand around Dorcas’s waist. She heard a small, sharp inhale, and then sleep washed over her.

~~~

Marlene woke to soft, orange light peaking through the crack in the bold maroon curtains of their dorm, a leafy branch tapping and trying to peek through the slightly open window. Gentle chitters of small birds drifted in with the sweet early-autumn breeze, slightly ruffling her mussed blonde mess that was covering her eyes. With a huff, she stuck out her bottom lip and blew air up towards her fringe, and her breath caught when she realised where she was. Dorcas lay below her, breath rising and falling at a steady pace, eyes closed and freckles illuminated in the patch of morning sun resting upon her face. Her long eyelashes brush her soft cheeks, and Marlene has the inexplicable urge to brush them with her fingertips. She can feel the length of her body pressed against Dorcas’s, their legs tangled together and Marlene’s head resting on her sternum. Dorcas had one arm resting on her upper back, and the other resting on the back of her thigh. Letting out a gentle breath, Marlene slowly unwrapped her arms from where they were resting over Dorcas’s collarbones, and let her legs fall to the floor below her.

Marlene all but sprinted to the bathroom and carefully shut the door behind herself, before whirling towards the mirror and seeing her bright red face. Rubbing her hands down her face, Marlene’s heart felt like it was trying to fly right out of her chest, and she laughed a little in retrospect. Dorcas Meadowes was very, very pretty when she was sleeping.