September 2nd, 1971.
Thursday, September 2nd.
“Marlene? Are you alright? Marlene?”
Marlene shot up to see Mary MacDonald at the foot of her bed. Her heart was racing.
“Uh- Yeah I'm fine-” Marlene scrambled to say.
“You were shouting.” Mary said quietly. “You sure you're okay?”
Ugh.
Marlene reassured Mary that she was in fact okay. Just a little anxious now.
“I- Um. I get these dreams? Sometimes. I don't know. They're not really dreams. I shout during them sometimes. I don't know why. Sorry for waking you.”
“It's okay, I don't think anyone else woke up,” Mary smiled reassuringly. “It is our first night here after all. It's crazy isn't it! Our first night at Hogwarts!”
“Mental.”
“Can I sit here for a bit? It's only about 30 minutes until we will have to get up anyway.”
Marlene was a bit hesitant at first but she didn't know why. Mary was really pretty, she thought. She had her hair in two little buns at the bottom of her head and her tan skin was illuminated in the light from a candle in her hand.
“Uh- Yeah go ahead. Make yourself at home.” Marlene giggled.
At this, Mary grabbed one of the blankets from Marlene's bed and wrapped it around herself before collapsing at the bottom of her bed.
“So. Where did you say you're from again?”
The girls continued to talk until the rest of their dorm woke for their first day of lessons. First on the list, flying lessons. Marlene was excited for this, as she had spent many summers of her childhood floating around her garden on a children's broom. Mary, Marlene learnt, had two magic parents, and therefore knew a lot about the wizarding world, including a lot about the ins and outs of Hogwarts.
-
“Woah.” Marlene gasped.
“Woah indeed!” Lily said from behind Marlene.
“There's so much food! And it's only breakfast!”
“Better get started then ladies. Come on!” Mary said while slightly pushing Lily and Marlene, who had stopped in their tracks at the entrance to the Great Hall. They eventually found their seats at the Gryffindor table and began to pile assorted breakfast foods onto their plates, all with decent helpings of orange juice.
“Hi Lily. Hi Marlene! Can I sit with you for breakfast?”
Swinging around, Marlene found Dorcas standing behind her.
“Of course you can Dee! Here, I'll move up a bit.” Lily responded.
“Thanks!” Dorcas sent her grin around the table at the three of them. “Dorcas Meadowes, by the way.” She said in Mary's direction.
“I'm Mary MacDonald! My dad mentioned there was going to be a Meadowes starting here. Nice to meet you so soon!”
“Oh- nice to meet you too. Are you pureblood too then?” Dorcas asked with a slight grimace.
“Eh, my dad was, but mum was the only witch in her family.”
“Oh. That's okay then. There's enough haughty purebloods in my own house, I don't need all my friends to be like that. They're all nice and all- but I hear enough at home.
The rest of the girls just nodded knowingly.
“Where's Sev?” Lily asked.
“No idea. We did agree to meet in the common room but he wasn't there when I was leaving.” Dorcas replied. “I think he's a bit annoyed he got stuck with me instead of you, to be completely honest Lils.”
“Don't be silly! He's friends with both of us.”
“Do you like being friends with him? He seemed kind of… obnoxious on the train yesterday. I don’t think he likes me very much either.” Marlene added.
“Severus likes everyone. He just needs time to warm up to people.” Lily defended.
“Right. I’m trusting you here, Lily.” Marlene said.
“Okay, okay, let’s stop talking about him,” Dorcas sighed. “Have any of you got Transfiguration now?”
The three girls shook their heads. “Nope. Flying."
-
They found they had flying lessons with the Ravenclaws as they made their first ever trek down to the Quidditch pitches. Marlene didn’t know it then, but these pitches would become a safe haven for her during her years at Hogwarts.
“Grab a broom each and form a circle!” Madam Hooch shouted at the first years.
Marlene found herself next to Remus, the Gryffindor boy she had spoken to the night before. He seemed nice.
“Hi again!” Marlene greeted him with a grin.
“Hello Marlene.” Remus had a thick Cardiff accent.
“Have you played Quidditch before, Remus?”
“I haven’t, no. I think I have rode a broom before though, when I was a toddler.”
“Really? I’ve had a couple brooms but none of them were able to go higher than where my feet could still touch the ground.”
Remus nodded, before Madam Hooch’s whistle sent sparks down everyone’s spine.
“Okay class,” she shouted. “We won’t be doing any proper flying in today’s class, but we will be learning how to mount and ride a broom, if we can all get to that stage today.”
“Once you feel ready, put your broom under your dominant hand and say ‘Up!’”
Marlene put her school-standard broom on the grass under her right hand.
“UP.” She instructed. To her surprise, it immediately flew into her hand. She looked up just in time to see another broom fly into the hand of a dark haired boy.
“Brilliant! McKinnon, Potter, stand over there until the rest get it.”
McKinnon shared a happy grin with Lily and Mary as she made her way to where Hooch had gestured.
“Well done! I’m James. You’re Gryffindor, right?” He peered through his glasses to check the colour of Marlene’s school crest. “Cool. What’s your name?”
“Marlene.”
“Nice name! I’m hoping to get onto the Quidditch team next year- they don’t let 1st years onto it- I’ve been practising forever.”
Marlene just smiled at him as James ranted.
“Oh- sorry! I tend to go on. Have you ever played Quidditch?”
“I haven’t actually, no. You seem really eager though, who’s your favourite team?”
“Oh Marlene, I am so glad you’ve asked!”
Marlene and James continued their conversation about Quidditch and flying until they were surrounded by the rest of their classmates. They were given a few odd looks by some of the others for laughing as loud as they did as they conversed, but neither of them minded. Marlene immediately liked the boy, he seemed exactly like the type of person you’d want around. Never stopped talking but was an equally good listener.
“Hey Marls!” Lily called as she ran up to Marlene.
“Yeah! They used to have-” James dwindled off from his conversation with Marlene as his eyes followed Lily. His mouth fell open and Marlene could only roll her eyes and giggle.
“Hello, Lily. Has everyone got their broom up yet then?”
“Everyone but Remus…”
Hearing one of his new friends was struggling, James immediately strode off to offer help. "Bye Marlene and friend!"
“He seems nice!” Lily said, nodding her head at James’ direction.