“Okay, that’s enough of that!” Marlene said slamming her book down on the desk.
“Marls, we need to get at least a 75% on this test so McGonagall will let us continue to throw Friday parties with the other houses. You still need to win over your favourite Slytherin, and you can’t do that if we can’t throw parties.” Mary replied.
“Fine… Just a quick little break then? We can pass by your favourite nerd!” Marlene teased. Mary sighed, “Five minutes…”
“Yes! And we will pass by your favourite nerd that was not up for debate!”
Mary and Marlene walked over to the library, in hopes of seeing Lily. She was always there, with her best friend, Remus.
Mary loved Lily; she thought Lily was the most beautiful, smartest and most talented witch in the world. She told Marlene so one time they got a little too drunk to keep secrets, that was also the day Marlene had told them they liked Dorcas. There was one little problem they both had, both of their crushes were their rivals in some way.
Mary had playfully annoyed Lily ever since the first year, it was never outright bullying, just playful torment since Lily was… well, Lily. She was perfect, smart, and beautiful;
Mary had always known they liked girls as well as boys, but when she was younger, she had a harder time accepting that fact. She knew she was lucky her parents were accepting, Marlene’s not so much.
They knew Marlene had never outright come out to her parents, but she didn’t need to, to know they were not very accepting people. They remembered a while ago, the school wanted to have a pride picnic, to celebrate the LGBTQ+ students, Marlene’s parents threatened to have her pulled from Hogwarts if they were there.
Once they reached the library, Mary looked to Lily’s usual corner. They were there, just as always. She looked so pretty with her long orange hair flowing around her neck and head. Oh, how Mary wanted to break down and tell exactly how they felt. Oh, how she wanted to run up to Lily and kiss her!
“Staring much MacDonald?” Lily’s voice was so beautiful. Mary could listen to it for years on loop, and never ever get bored of it.
“Ey! MacDonald! I thought you never shut up! Hell must’ve frozen over today!” Even when insulting them, Lily’s voice was like that of an angel.
“Must’ve really frozen over if you are talking without your hand raised! Little teacher’s pet!” “Oh, go to Hell.”
“But it’ll be cold there without you, to keep me warm! You wouldn’t want me to catch a cold, would you?” Lily rolled her eyes.
“That was adorable!” Marlene said as they left the library.
“Now let’s go see your little Slytherin, shall we?”
“She isn’t mine yet! And! Also, she is not my favourite Slytherin! Pandora Rosier is! They are so pretty and kind! They give me crystals and rocks when I’m feeling sick. Why don’t you give me crystals when I’m sick? Do you secretly want me to die from an illness?”
Marlene ranted a while longer before Mary said, “Shut up or we go back to studying and you have to wait till first class tomorrow to see Dorcas.” Marlene was pretty quiet after that.
“Dorcas! If it isn’t my favourite person to beat in quidditch!” Marlene started.
“How would you know anything about beating people in quidditch?” Dorcas replied.
Mary opted to stay quiet during their little flirt-fighting. They wished Lily would answer her flirt-fighting this way. Dorcas and Marlene are so clearly falling for each other, even if Marlene refuses to admit Dorcas might even think about liking them, it’s so fucking clear. Why couldn’t she and Lily have that? This clear? Just a hint Lily might like them back. Anything.
“Just ask her out already!” Mary said, tired of Marlene’s willful ignorance.
“I can’t just go up to her! I need a plan!”
“Then fucking make one! Bitch you know she is super in love with you!” Mary was so close to giving up on this.
“Alright fine! You know what? I trust you; you will help me plan a nice date and a good way to ask her out!”
“Finally!”
“But…”
“Oh, here we go!”
“You’ll ask Evans out too!”
“Marlene!” Mary said as they punched Marlene’s shoulder.
“Deal or no deal?” Marlene asked.
“It’s different between us!”
“Deal or no?” Marlene repeated.
“You and Dorcas clearly like each other! Lily doesn’t like me!”
“For the last time, deal or no deal?”
“Fine, deal.” Mary sighed.
“Yes!” Marlene exclaimed.
“But, When I miss my one chance with Evans, I’m blaming you!” Mary said.
Marlene was giggling at this point, and her laugh was contagious, so soon enough, Mary was laughing too.
That night, in their shared dorm, they planned. It would all start with winning their respective crushes over. Be at least a little nice to them for a week, plan a date they’d like, properly ask them out, and hopefully, by the end of the month, they’ll both have beautiful and loving girlfriends.
~~~~ THE NEXT DAY ~~~~ (Evening)
“Okay so, party tomorrow, yes?” Marlene double-checked.
“Yes. Yes! For sure!” Mary confirmed.
“And we are inviting the other houses, right?”
“Oh yeah for sure”
“Okay, what’s going on?” Marlene asked, noticing her friend’s lack of attention.
“Hhm?” Mary hummed back.
“You are barely even paying attention to what I’m saying! Heaven’s sake! I’m trying to get you to help me plan a party here! You fucking love parties! So, what’s on your mind?”
“I- It’s nothing, just a low-energy day I guess.”
“Oh fuck! It’s Evans!”
“What? No!”
“I knew you fancied her, but I never took you as the obsessed type!” Marlene continued, “You are in love!”
“Marls…” Mary started.
“No! You know what? Fuck the plan! You are in bloody love!” Marlene said,
“Why fuck the plan then?” Mary asked
“So you admit you are in love! In bloody love!”
“Not the point right now,” Mary said trying to get a straight answer from Marlene.
“Okay! Okay! Well, fuck the plan because we are getting you and little miss nerd together tomorrow night!” Marlene explained.
“Lily hates me. There’s no shot I can get her to like me by tomorrow night… Also, there’s the fact that tomorrow night is Friday party night, and she never shows up to those things!” Mary was honestly losing more hope with each word spoken.
“Just let me handle the logistics and,”
Mary cut her off “I wouldn’t trust you with anything to do with logic, Marls.”
“Fuck off! Just… Focus on looking good and I’ll make sure Lily is there to see you.” Marlene continued her explanation.
“Marls, looking good won’t be enough! She doesn’t love me. Not like I love her.” Mary said, looking down nearly in tears.
“Oh, honey, I promise she does! it doesn’t seem like it to you because you are a little blind when it comes to people liking you! we all are a little.” Marlene said “We are conditioned to think that thinking our crushes liking us back is crazy and self-centered but it’s not! okay? She loves you as much as you her okay? It’s not narcissistic to think that! it’s just the truth.”
Mary hugged Marlene for a few minutes. they sat in silence like that for a bit before Mary looked up at their friend and said “You are so smart, thank you. I trust you, I… I love you.”
Marlene looked a little shocked at first then hugged Mary tighter and said “I love you too.”
“We are going to get you and Lily together tomorrow,” Marlene assured them.
“and then we are getting you and Dorcas together right after. I promise.”
Marlene smiled. “I don’t doubt that for a second.”
“Good night Marls.”
“Good night Mary!”
~~~~ THE NEXT DAY ~~~~ (Morning)
“Test day, are we prepared?” Mary asked
“Do not worry, we will not only pass but also get 75% at least! We can do this! We are amazing and awesome and perfect!” Marlene replied.
“Fake it till you make it?”
“Worst-case scenario, we sit next to the Ravenclaw girl with the pink hair, she’s really bloody smart.”
“Marls…” Mary said.
“Alright, fine we’ll do it honestly.”
‘This shit is hard’ Mary thought. ‘Okay focus, think positive and try your best! Everything is gonna go well!’ her thoughts continued.
~~~~ THAT AFTERNOON ~~~~ (After classes)
“Evans!” Marlene yelled from across the common room.
“What do you want?” Lily said, barely looking up from her book,
“Party, today, common room, 7 pm, you’re going,” Marlene said sounding out of breath.
“Stop, take ten steps back in you’re train of thought, now tell me again, what. Do. You. Need?” Lily said
“Sorry, I’ve been running around. Planning a party is fucking difficult.”
“Okay?”
“Oh! Right, the party starts at 7, you’re going.”
“And what makes you think that?” Lily said, indignantly.
“Because you fancy Mary and you two would be ADORABLE together.” They said,
“Why do you think that?”
“Because you pass by us when we are sitting down somewhere, you have made zero effort to stop us from finding you in the library and when you two ‘fight’ it’s so clearly flirting it’s almost painful.”
Mary didn’t know if they wanted to watch anymore, did she want to know if Lily really fancied her? If Lily did then yes, she wanted to know the girl she fancied, fancied her as well, but if they didn’t… well, they’d find out later anyway.
~~~~~ THAT EVENING ~~~~~ (Party time) [Almost]
“This is it Marls! This is the dress!” Mary said,
“Okay! Okay! Looking fancy! But, hear me out,” Marlene started,
“No. Do you hate it? Is it horrible? Should I just not go?”
“No, no, no, no, no! It’s not that! I just think it goes better with my heels rather than those!” Marlene continued, “Here! Try ‘em on!”
“Sorry Marls,” Mary put the heels on, “I’m just… scared I guess.”
“It’s okay! Don’t give up now! Lily will be there, you two will dance and talk and get together and it’ll be great!”
“Alright! Let’s go!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Barely thirty minutes in and Marlene was already drunk looking for Dorcas. ‘Guess I can’t blame her, I’m also looking for Lily’
Then, she saw her.
‘Lily’
She was just… Beautiful.
Every day she looked wonderful but today, with her matte green dress, and her makeup done so magnificently, she looked like a dream.
Lily was by herself. Not because she didn’t have friends, everyone loved her, how could they not? She just was this evening, alone.
Was it chance? Luck? Fate?
Mary didn’t know, all they knew was that the woman of her dreams, looking even more magical today, was standing about a metre away, by herself.
And now, cue the self-doubt…
Self-doubt?
With her thoughts taken over by Lily, there was no space for self-doubt.
So Mary took two steps forward and…
“You look lovely.” Her voice, oh her voice was so, so beautiful. It was Like a choir of angels who practiced their whole infinite existence just for this very moment.
“I… Thank you! Sorry my brain stopped, you look so beautiful” Was that the right thing to say? Oh, there’s the self-doubt, ‘Shut it!’ It’s fine.
“Thank you as well!” Lily said.
Crickets
Well not really.
There was a lot of party noise. Music and people talking, but it was quiet. Neither one knew what to say.
“I like you!” Lily blurts out.
“What?”
“Sorry, I meant to say this in a better way but oh well, you’re cool and I like you and I hope you like me too?” Lily closed her eyes and talked fast.
Mary grabbed her hands, “Hey, I do like you too,” she dug into her confidence, “I have liked you for a while and I also think you are really cool.”
“Really?”
“Yes, yes! Of course really!”
Lily laughed, a drunk but genuine laugh. “I am so relieved right now! I thought Marlene was messing with me!”
“You truly thought Marlene would mess with your feelings like that?” Mary said, also laughing a little.
“Well, I held hope it was true! But, yes a little.” Lily was still laughing,
And so they both laughed about the unnecessary stress they both went through during the moments preceding this event. They continued to talk and drink and dance till they were too tired, at which point they simply went to bed and decided they would have a longer and important conversation in the morning. But for now, they were happy to go to sleep.