The Black Lake
Year six was tough. Every day, in every class, they would recieve an entire night's worth of homework. If it weren't for free periods they'd never get it all done in time. Even now, Marlene had lost many points from Gryffindor for not being done yet. Could anyone blame her, though? She had better stuff to do in her spare time.
At the moment, Marlene was sitting in the library with Lily, Remus and Mary. Marlene and Mary had been forced to participate in the study session by Lily, who thought they should have all their homework done for once. Alice was off with her boyfriend, Frank Longbottom.
Marlene couldn't focus, though. There were sounds all around her, distracting her from her potions essay about Amortentia. There were people whispering all over the place, quills scratching against parchments and pages being flipped in books. Sighing deeply, Marlene started packing her stuff away and standing up.
"Where are you going?" Lily asked, looking up from her own essay, which was almost halfway done already.
"Finding another place to study," Marlene answered. "I can't focus in here." With that Marlene swung her bag over her shoulder and walked out of there. She was tired, and needed a day off from studying. Unluckily, the teachers didn't agree with her. She had so many unfinished assignment that the next would get her into detention.
The blue eyed girl went outside onto the school grounds and kept walking until she arrived at the Black Lake. There she saw a girl with dark hair sitting at the lake, reading a book. She didn't know why, but she decided to walk up to her.
"Hello, Meadowes." Marlene said, standing just beside her. Dorcas looked up from her book and made eye contact with Marlene.
"Hello, McKinnon," she answered. "Anything I could help you with?"
Marlene shrugged. "Mind if I sit?" She asked, looking at Dorcas expectantly. It wouldn't surprise her if Dorcas said no. They were supposed to be rivals, after all.
"Not at all," Dorcas replied, putting her bookmark in and closing her book as Marlene sat down next to her in the grass. "You come here often?" She then asked, trying to find a good conversation starter. Marlene shook her head.
"Not alone, no," she said, looking out over the lake. It was a mesmerising view. The darkness of the lake, the green grass and the mountains around them.
"What brings you here then?"
"Too much was going on in the library and I couldn't focus." Dorcas looked at Marlene, extremely shocked.
"I didn't think you'd be one to study, in the library for that matter." Dorcas said, grinning.
"Lily forced me," Marlene stated, still looking out over the lake. Dorcas giggled slightly at the response. Marlene looked over at her at the sound of her laugh, smiling. "So, do you? Come here often?" She asked.
"Yeah," Dorcas started, looking out over the lake as well, "the depth of the lake sort of calms be down for some reason, which makes this a brilliant place to read, or just think. Plus, Evan's being a homophobic prick."
Marlene watched her a bit, enjoying the way the light reflected off her dark skin. Why was she enjoying it, though? Yes, Dorcas was really pretty. She had just about no acne, and she really fitted with her long hair in braids like that. She snapped out of her thoughts as she remembered her essay. Fuck, she'd never get it done in time.
Sighing deeply, she opened her book bag and got everything she needed for her essay out, a quill, ink, parchment, her notes and Advanced Potions Making, her Potions book.
"What are you working on?" Dorcas asked, qenuinely curious.
"Potions, ol' Sluggy's got us working with Amortentia, as if that'll matter in our future with the war," Marlene answered, not looking up from her stuff. The air immediately felt a bit colder when she mentioned the war, currently taking place outside of the Hogwarts grounds.
"What about after the war?" Dorcas asked, looking at the older girl to her left. "Doesn't it matter then?"
"That I'll take care of when the time comes." Marlene stated, as if it wasn't a big deal. "What's the point in suffering with studies when I might be murdered before N.E.W.T.s." She then added.
Dorcas thought it sounded horrible. Was that really how it felt to not be Pureblood? A constent fear of being murdered because of how you were born, lingering everywhere you went. The mere thought brought chills up Dorcas's spine. Marlene groaned and threw her head back in frustration, thereby waking Dorcas up from her train of thought.
"Do you need help with that?" Dorcas asked, raising an eyebrow at the blonde, who scoffed.
"What do you know about Amortentia? It's sixth year material." She said, looking over at the dark haired girl.
"A lot, actually," Dorcas answered. "I had some spare time last year and read a book about it."
"And you chose that?" Marlene asked, shocked that anyone could ever read about something as 'romantic' as Amortentia. Not that it had any romantic effect, only a highly obsessive one.
"It was just one of the chapters!" Dorcas defended. "Besides, it's not like it isn't a facinating potion. Smelling what you love the most, that's why it's so famous." She leaned closer to Marlene, checking what the other girl had written so far.
"Well then, what do you smell?" Marlene asked, taking the girl by surprise. She stopped in her tracks, looking up at the blonde. Merlin, their faces were close.
"I haven't had the chance of smelling it yet." Marlene hummed at the response. "You must've smelled it, though, considering you're currently working on it." Marlene rolled her eyes slightly, grinning.
"Don't think you're gonna get anything juicy out of me, I'm not interested in anyone." Marlene said smugly, writing a sentence down on the piece of parchment. "And I smelled roses, cherry lipstick and a freshly polished broom."
Dorcas nodded, taking in the information. She wasn't interested in anyone...
Marlene looking up at Dorcas again, meeting her dark brown eyes. "Doesn't mean I can't get interested in anyone, though." She then said, taking both herself and Dorcas by surprise.
Why had she said that? It makes it sound like she was interested, just that she hadn't realised it yet... Merlin's beard! She was interested, that's what she'd been feeling all along! But then why didn't the smell of her Amortentia have anything to do with the girl?
Late that night Marlene lay awake in bed, staring up into the crimson curtains hanging from her four poster bed. How was it that she hadn't realised she was interested in Dorcas Meadowes before? She'd known she liked girls, that wasn't any news. She'd known ever since she was five and saw Euphemia Potter walking down to the anual Christmas party in that red dress. The fact made James mental, and he refused to talk to her for an entire week afterwards. But this was different. Dorcas and she were supposed to hate each other, not love!
What would she do?
How would she react to seeing the girl in the future?
What will her friends say?