28th of June, 1974
Marlene. Is so. Fucked.
“–nd if that’s your best strategy for finding the snitch then it’s no wonder Gryffindor keep losing every game!!” Dorcas Meadowes is passionately arguing to her from across one of the tables in the library and if anyone else was to accuse her teams' strategies, Marlene would probably have broken this table over their face. But when Dorcas says it, it’s just... so... hot.
The Slytherins and Gryffindors are each other’s biggest competition which makes for some interesting quidditch conversation with Dorcas. It also doesn’t help that Marlene accidentally bruised Dorcas that one time when the Slytherin beater wasn’t quick enough to intercept the bludger. As if it's Marlene's fault Lestrange is an idiot. Yeah... they have heated conversations about quidditch for sure.
“I just think that if you tried–“ Marlene laughs before she’s interrupted.
“No, you’re cute Mickey, but I will not be taking advice from someone who claims to have been ‘distracted’ so much in quidditch, you periodically fall from the sky because of the bludgers hurled at you as though the bat you’re made to carry isn’t for hitting them away!”
Marlene hums. “Nope, I get distracted alright.”
“Right.” Dorcas deadpans, raising an eyebrow coolly in stark comparison to the hot fluster she was before. “The great Marlene McKinnon who everyone has seen pull off some pretty sketchy shit to win, keeps getting injured from distractions.”
“Yep.”
“What’s the distraction then?”
“What’s it to you?”
“Is it the boys riding the brooms?” Dorcas muses, eyebrow still cocked. “Or maybe the sun glinting off stupid Potter’s glasses blinds you momentarily.”
“Hey, don’t talk about our friend like that!” Marlene defends in amusement, shoving Dorcas’ arm a little as she’s come closer now in the heated debate.
Dorcas offers a one-shouldered shrug before pulling a face. “It is the boys, isn’t it? Argh, Marls you’re so boy-crazed, it’s insane! I don’t– “
“Dorcas,” Marlene tries to interject quietly but the other girl is on a roll now.
“–understand why when they literally smell so bad, and they almost always look terrible and like yeah sure–“
“Dorcas.”
“–they can sometimes be cute when they give you like forehead kisses and stuff ‘cause they’re tall enough but–“
“DORCAS!” Marlene shouts, startling the rest of the words out of her friend’s mouth before she can voice them. Doe-eyed, Dorcas looks at her.
“Yeah Marls?” She asks, a careful fog in her eyes that Marlene doesn’t quite know how to interpret.
“Dorcas. I am not boy-crazed.”
Dorcas snorts, though the sound seems half-hearted. “Right…”
And then, with a disbelieving sound and an eyeroll to pair, Marlene thinks: fuck it.
“Dorcas it’s pretty hard to be boy-crazed when you’re a stone-cold lesbian.”
The relentless tapping of Dorcas’ fingers against the wood table falters to a stop as her mouth drops open at Marlene’s words. Marlene tries to find it in herself to smirk, reaches for the usual satisfaction that comes when she steals Dorcas’ carefully measured words and makes her speechless.
She cannot, heart beating far too loudly to be able to feel anything but the unsteady pulse matching the shaking breaths tripping through her lungs.
“You’re… I’m sorry, you’re- um…” Dorcas stumbles and Marlene takes a steading breath,
“A lesbian? Yes. Not as magical as a dragon but you win some, you lose some right?”
“Marlene.”
“Dorcas.”
“How did… How did you know? How did you know that, uh…”
“That I wanna fuck girls exclusively?” Marlene deadpans with a raised brow.
Dorcas coughs into her hand. “Uh- yeah sure.”
“Dunno,” Marlene replies, flipping casually through her textbook pages with unseeing eyes, just to give her hands something to do besides fidgeting under the table, “just do.”
“Oh ok.”
“Ok?” Marlene repeats cautiously.
Dorcas smiles though it’s a little thinner than usual. “Yeah, I- I get that, I guess.”
Marlene curses the tentative flower of hope that blooms in her heart at the words. That’s not what she meant you ninny. She’s just trying to be understanding.
But she still can’t help wishing things were different anyway.
“Have you told anyone?” Dorcas asks before her eyes widen slightly and she opens her mouth to rush out- “Oh no, wait, you don’t have to tell me- that’s your own private business!! Uh, I just, well- Salazar's cape on a pole, I’m fumbling this. I only mean that if you’d rather not say-.” She narrows her eyes when she sees Marlene’s frame shaking with silent laughter. “What?!”
“Merlin Dorcas, you’re allowed to ask me questions, you’re my best friend!” Marlene pauses, heart tearing as she asks a question that slices her tongue. “Well, I mean, if you still choose to be-.“
Marlene is silenced by a swift punch and sweltering glare.
“Of course we’re best friends, Mickey.”
Marlene snorts. “Well, if you insist,” She baits lightly.
She feels lighter than she has in years as she hides a smile behind her textbook.