1950

Dorcas froze. The dorm was quiet and dark, and she could hear slow breathing from the surrounding beds. She could also hear slow breathing right in front of her. On her chest. Along with a mop of blonde hair and freckled cheeks. Marlene McKinnon was sleeping, asleep, on her chest. In her bed. In the middle of the night; 2:56am when Dorcas leaned over and checked the dimly illuminated alarm clock next to her bed. Fuck.

Her sleep-addled brain struggled to process this information. She tried to move her hands, but found them tightly wrapped around Marlene’s back, pulling her further into her chest. Their legs tangled together under the fluffy sheets, and Marlene’s hands were twisted in her braids.

Marlene’s fringe fluttered with every breath that Dorcas let out, and her eyelids gently twitched. Marlene reminded her of the golden retriever that the neighbours had owned growing up. Blonde, excitable, and endlessly happy. Dorcas drifted back to sleep with images of dark brown eyes and bright grins.

~~~

Dorcas slowly blinked as she let out a long yawn. Someone, probably Lily, had already drawn the curtains open, letting warm light into the empty dorm. Shit.

Dorcas jumped out of bed and checked the time. 7:37am. She let out a sigh of relief and sat back down on the edge of her bed. Lily and Mary’s beds were already made, their trunks sealed and shoes gone from the feet of their beds. Marlene’s bed looked virtually untouched.

Right. Because Marlene had slept with her last night. This wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, and there had been multiple times where all four of them had pulled their blankets and pillows down to the floor and slept pressed against each other in a giant pile. Mary often fell asleep with her, crazy hair taking up most of the pillow and forcing Dorcas to pull another pillow off of Mary’s bed. But, of all the times Marlene had slept with her, they had never slept… on top of each other.

The bathroom door bursting open snapped Dorcas out of her thoughts. Marlene stepped out, her blonde hair bounced around her ears and her tie askew, per usual. She looked up and met Dorcas’s eyes, a wide grin making her eyes crinkle around the edges. Dorcas’s heart fluttered uncomfortably.

Marlene gathered her stuff and yelled out something about breakfast while she walked down the stairs to the common room. Dorcas groaned and shut the bathroom down behind her. She stepped into the shower and turned the water to the coldest it could go.

Marlene clearly didn’t think there was anything unusual about waking up on Dorcas’s chest. Marlene probably thought that it was just to save warmth, although autumn had barely started and there was still a sweet warmth to the breeze around Hogwarts. Her blankets had been pushed off of the bed when she woke up, and her chest still felt warm and tingly. She had half shrugged off her jumper in her sleep, the body heat of two people who ran hot sleeping together making her uncomfortably warm.

When Marlene had come out of the bathroom, she didn’t look at Dorcas differently. Hell, she had the audacity to grin. Dorcas groaned again and scrubbed her hands over her face.

She dried herself and got dressed, staring at the mirror and noticing that the bags under her eyes were fading. Well, she got a full eight hours last night, thanks to the living heater that tucked itself in with her.

~~~

Dorcas sat down between Mary and Sirius, a large plate of scrambled eggs and buttered toast magically appearing in front of her. She set her books down under the bench and lifted her gaze, only to meet Marlene’s across the table.

“Hey, Dorcas,” Marlene smiled. “How was your shower?”

Dorcas choked on her juice and watched as Marlene’s smile grew larger.

“It was great, Marlene. Could you pass me a napkin?” Marlene reached across the table, hitting James in the chest as he tried to interrogate Lily about what she was doing on the next hogshead weekend.

“Not going with Snivellus, I hope?” Lily turned towards him and frowned.

“No, I’m not really friends with him anymore,” she grumbled. Over the summer, Lily had a nasty fight with the greasy boy, and Dorcas’s blood boiled as she recalled the names he had shot at her in one of her letters.

“Good riddance,” Marlene snorted.

“Was wondering when you’d drop him,” Dorcas agreed.

“I’ve been telling you for years, Lily,” Mary whined. “He’s a worthless, stuck up, pushy git who creeped on you fo-“ Lily cut her off with a sigh.

“I know, Mary, I know,” she soothed. James looked at her blankly.

“And what exactly did he do?” James asked. Sirius, Peter, and Remus all looked over with him. Lily explained the incident, mainly to Remus, and Dorcas felt Sirius tense up beside her.

Over the years, it had become very clear that Sirius was nothing like his family. He was always the first to curse a student who was getting too mouthy about blood rights and glared at his little brother as he walked through the corridors with a group of Slytherins who were known for picking on younger half-blood students.

James immediately stood up and called for his mates to follow him, and the boys trailed out of the great hall.

“Wonder what they’re planning,” Marlene wondered out loud. Lily looked after James with a small look of admiration and wonder. Mary huffed.

“Probably some stupid show-off prank. You know how Potter is.” Lily looked over at Mary and grinned. Dorcas didn’t know what it was, but Mary never took a small liking to James, like the rest of their group. She turned up her nose and huffed whenever he attempted to woo Lily, and groaned when he approached them in the common room.

Dorcas felt something nudge her shin under the table. She ignored it and listened as Lily began to talk about her plans to buy new quills at Hogsmead. A harder nudge, more of a kick, struck her knee. Dorcas turned her gaze towards Marlene, who was innocently smiling at her, a twinkle of mischief in her eyes.

“Bugger off,” Dorcas huffed. Marlene just smirked.

“What? I’m not doing anything!” Marlene pretended to act shocked. Dorcas groaned and let her head fall to the wooden table, only narrowly missing her plate covered in sauce and eggs. She heard the sound of plates clattering and being moved to the side, and looked up to see Marlene resting her head in front of her, a small smile playing at her lips.

“Hi,” she said softly. Dorcas felt a flush creep up her neck and turned her head to face Lily. “Don’t ignore me,” Marlene pouted.

“What, Marls,” Dorcas groaned, but felt her lips turn upwards, anyway.

“What do you have first?” Marlene asked.

Dorcas chuckled, “Good one, Marlene, we have the same classes for everything.” Marlene threw her hands up beside her.

“I don’t know! I’m not good with small talk.”

“Why are you trying to make small talk?” Mary asked, raising an eyebrow at their across-the-table staring contest.

“Dorcas is ignoring me,” Marlene whined. Dorcas shot a fed up look at Mary.

“Doesn’t look like it,” Mary grinned slyly. “Dorcas is quite literally making heart-eyes at you right now.”

“Oi!” Dorcas felt the hot flush reach her ears, and she covered her face in her hands.

“Oh, really?” Dorcas felt hands tugging on her wrists, and she wriggled back as Marlene leaned over the table to reach her. Dorcas sharply kicked Marlene’s legs, and the blonde-haired girl quickly yelped and retreated. Yeah, definitely a golden retriever.

“If you two are done flirting,” Lily began. Dorcas just groaned and gathered her books, standing to follow Lily. She looked over her shoulder to see Mary laughing at Marlene’s red face.