Chapter 2
September 3rd 1976
Dorcas and Pandora made a deal in 4th year to keep their class schedule similar to each others as much as possible. Dorcas wasn't very fond of the idea at first, she still liked to be alone most of the time and focus on her school work.
There are some classes that wouldn't be possible as some classes were just 2 houses at a time so Slytherin and Ravenclaw weren't always together in the same classes.
The elective subjects are with all the houses together in one class. Dorcas chose Divination, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy in her third year. Pandora had Divination, Muggles Studies and Care of Magical Creatures. They obviously couldn't do all of these subjects so they compromised.
Dorcas gave up Arithmancy and took Care of Magical Creatures instead. Pandora dropped muggle studies to take Ancient Runes. They already had divination in common so they figured they'd just keep that.
Dorcas wasn't particularly happy about having to give up Arithmancy. At the time Dorcas saw this as one of the downsides of friendship. She didn't want to take classes for someone else and she didn't want it in return either but she found it very hard to say no to Pandora who couldn't wait to spend more time with her best friend.
Now she would miss Pandora in every class that she wasn't in. Turns out having a friend around in class isn't all bad.
After lunch the two girls head down towards the edge of the forbidden forest for their first Care of Magical Creatures lesson of the year. Dorcas wasn't the biggest animal lover growing up and she still isn't but over the 2 years that she has taken the class, she's grown interested in the subject.
Having Care of Magical Creatures outside can be a pain in the ass since it isn't all just hanging out with creatures. They get hour-long lectures sometimes and having to stand all the time gets exhausting. Professor Kettleburn lets them sit on the ground or sit on rocks as long as they pay attention. Pandora and Dorcas sit down by the tree they usually sit at.
"I hope Kettleburn doesn't go too crazy like last year." Dorcas says as she takes out her copy of Fantastic Beasts.
"I don't know what you're talking about, I want dragons." Pandora says with the most innocent smile on her face. She's been begging for dragons since 3rd year.
"Easy for you to say, you'd be cuddling them after 10 minutes." Dorcas sighs. Pandora is a natural with animals. She gains their trust in an instance. Whether it's a Hippogriff or a Graphorn, she'll be the first to be feeding and petting it as if it was just an ordinary house cat. "I'd be burned alive."
"I can't help it that everyone loves me." Pandora says earning an eye roll from Dorcas. It's true though, she's the only person Dorcas gave up her no friend rule for, which says a lot. No one else will get past that rule.
Dorcas' eyes fall on the 3 girls laughing on the other side of the field. Marlene, Mary and Lily have been taking this class since third year like Pandora. When Dorcas joined in fourth year she wasn't too happy to have another class with Mckinnon. Another 3 hours a week she has to avoid looking at the blonde and ignore the feeling she gets in her stomach when she does.
Dorcas notices more things about Marlene that changed over the summer. Not only does she have pink at the tips of her messy hair, she also got an eyebrow piercing and Dorcas would be lying if she said she didn't find it extremely attractive. She wonders what else she could find out about the girl.
This time her staring wasn't interrupted by Pandora but by Professor Kettleburn addressing the class. "Good afternoon class." Professor Kettleburn starts who has come back from summer break with even more scars than he already had. Dorcas is pretty sure his entire body is covered in scars and the new ones are on top of the scars he already had. How this man is still standing is truly a mystery to Dorcas.
"We're going to start this year with an assignment that will go on for the entire first semester." He says and there are a couple sighs and groans from students. Only 1 assignment means only 1 thing to get marks on so if it goes badly, you're most likely screwed. "I know it's not ideal but it is part of the curriculum and it is important to have a long time with this."
"So what will we do?" Marlene asks who didn't seem to mind that much with this information.
"Glad you asked McKinnon. Each of you will be paired with someone else and both of you will take care of and raise a beast. This beast will be in your care and should anything happen to it, it will be your responsibility." He explains building pressure in his students. Dorcas is not worried, how hard is it keeping a creature alive? "Now I'll put you all in pairs and I don't want any objections."
Pandora and Dorcas look at each other in disappointment as they were obviously hoping to do this together. With Kettleburn choosing the partners that will most likely not happen.
As Dorcas waits for her name to be called she looks over at Marlene once more hoping she wouldn't get paired with her. She'll probably go insane if she needs to spend the entire semester with the girl. When her name is called out after Marlene's, her stomach drops.
"No please, Professor, anyone but her." Marlene objects as she looks over at Dorcas with the same look she gave her the previous day at breakfast.
"I said no objections, now go sit with your partner." Kettleburn says and continues calling names. Marlene doesn't move and stays right besides Lily who ends up being partnered with Pandora which she doesn't seem to mind at all as she gets up and walks eagerly towards the three Gryffindor girls. Dorcas finds this slightly weird as she hasn't seen Pandora and Lily talk with each other before.
After Lily says something to Marlene, the girl sighs and finally picks up her bag to walk over to where Dorcas is sitting.
As Marlene flops down next to Dorcas she is engulfed with Marlene's scent. She smells like fresh apples and rain. It makes her brain go fuzzy, yeah she'll definitely be insane by the end of this if not sooner.
Anyone would be happy to be partnered up with the person they fancy, but not Dorcas. She hates the other girl like she hates Dorcas too. Marlene doesn't waste time by reminding Dorcas of that. "Can't believe I'm stuck with you." She says like she is utterly disgusted by Dorcas.
"Trust me McKinnon, the feeling is mutual." Dorcas replies.
"You probably planned this to screw with me."
"Yeah my whole life is dedicated to ruining your life." She says sarcastically and rolls her eyes.
"Now that everyone has their partner, I'll assign a creature to each pair. Today you'll start by writing an essay about your assigned creature. It's important to have a good understanding about them before you can take care of them. You'll also have to create a safe environment for them, each creature has a unique living habitat." Kettleburn explains.
"It won't be living with you." Marlene states. "The slytherin common room is hardly a safe space for an innocent little creature." McKinnon says who isn't bothering to take notes of what Kettleburn is saying.
"And how would you know that, McKinnon." Dorcas replies.
"Common sense." She says while shrugging her shoulders.
"Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadowes, you'll be taking care of a Fire-Dwelling-Salamander." Kettleburn announces.
"Oh now I'm sure. With how cold Slytherins are, it'll be dead by morning." Marlene says and laughs. Dorcas wishes she didn't find that laugh incredibly cute as the girl basically insulted her. She is a cold person, it helps with being left alone instead of being surrounded by obnoxious and loud people all the time.
"You and your idiot friends will have it involved in a prank the moment you get a chance to." She says and Marlene looks at her as if Dorcas said the cruellest thing possible.
"I wouldn't." She argues. It's so easy to get in Marlene's head and make her all defensive. Dorcas likes that she has that power over McKinnon.
"You'll find all the information you need about your assigned creature in your textbook. You can use the rest of the time to write the essay, it doesn't have to be big. It just has to show me you understand what to do once you've been given your creature."
"Aren't you gonna get your textbook?" Dorcas asks as she notices Marlene just playing with her hair.
"Oh no, I forgot it in my dorm." McKinnon says casually. Dorcas isn't surprised in the slightest. She has overheard McKinnon ask for things from her classmates in every class they have together. It wouldn't surprise Dorcas if she lost the damn thing. There's no way she'll let that Salamander live with her.
"Of course you did." Dorcas sighs. "We'll just share mine."
"I won't need it." She shrugs her shoulders as she leans back on the tree and puts on her sunglasses.
"Are you going to take any of this seriously?" Dorcas asks losing her patience. She is not going to mess up her perfectly good marks so McKinnon can be a lazy and a stubborn brat.
"Of course I take this seriously, just don't feel like writing." Dorcas wants to strangle her. How can someone be so infuriating. Why couldn't she have been partnered up with anyone else.
"You're impossible." Dorcas says and decides to just start on the essay by herself and leave Marlene alone. She'll get this done faster and better without her anyway.
When Dorcas starts writing she is immediately interupted by Marlene, "What are you doing?"
"Writing the essay, what do you think?" She says annoyed.
"You can't do it without me." Marlene protests. Dorcas has had it with her shit.
"5 minutes ago you said you didn't want to do it, now I can't do it without you? Make up your mind, McKinnon. Either help or leave me alone."
"I didn't say that." Marlene says, Dorcas stares at the girl like she wants to kill her, cause she does. "I said I didn't feel like writing."
"What's the bloody difference?" Dorcas' anger rises up. Is it even possible for her to become even more frustrating?
"There's a lot of difference actually." Marlene says. She's about to say something next but is interupted by Kettleburn announcing that class is over and they need to hand in their work which thanks to McKinnon, they haven't done at all.
"You're completely useless." Dorcas says to Marlene as she gets up and rushes to Professor Kettleburn to ask for an extention. She feels like she'll have to do this a lot while working with Marlene.
Dorcas was able to get an extention on the essay so they have to hand it in during their next class on tuesday. She and Marlene will have to work on it together in the library this weekend. Dorcas was happy to suggest she would just do the essay by herself so they won't have to spend more time together than they already have to but Marlene wouldn't let her. Her pride is too big for that.
"I can't stand her, she'll ruin my marks just to annoy me." Dorcas says to Pandora that night in the Astronomy Tower. Her marks in Care of Magical Creatures aren't perfect but they are acceptable and Dorcas will not allow Mckinnon to make it go any lower than that.
"I'm sure she wouldn't do that." Pandora answers but doesn't seem too bothered.
"Oh no? Remember last year when she caused my potions assignment to blow up and I had to beg Professor Slughorn to be allowed to redo it?" Dorcas says. "She is ruining my life just because she thinks I want to ruin hers."
"How could she possibly think that?" Pandora says sarcastically.
"If it were up to me I'd never interact with McKinnon at all." Dorcas says though even she doesn't believe her own lie.
"Cas, you stare at her whenever she is in the same room with you." Pandora says. Dorcas fails to find a good argument for that because Pandora is right.
"Not by choice." She replies which, to Dorcas, isn't a lie. She doesn't choose to look at the girl. She'd rather pretend the girl didn't exist. "Did Regulus tell you why he was a day later than everyone else?" Dorcas asks to change the subject.
"No, he's avoiding me I think." Pandora says getting upset. "It must be about his family but I don't know what."
Dorcas and Regulus aren't exactly friends, they talk to each other but only when they have a purpose for it like quidditch or prefect duties or when she's hanging out with Pandora and he also happens to be there. Though Dorcas has heard of what Walburga and Orion Black are capable of doing to their children. Word travels fast around school so whatever is going on with Regulus that he doesn't even want to tell Pandora about, it must be very bad.
Dorcas stays quiet as she isn't sure what to say to Pandora to make her feel better, she feels a bit bad for bringing it up now just to change the previous subject.
"I'm worried about him." Pandora says as she looks at Dorcas with intense fear.
"Does Evan and Barty know?"
"I know Evan knows so Barty probably does too. I asked Evan but he refused to say anything, said that Regulus would have to tell me himself." She says while mocking her brother.
"I'm sorry Dora." Dorcas attempts to comfort her best friend but she's never mastered that skill. She knows how to do one thing though, intimidate. She'll have to talk with Regulus herself and get the boy to tell Pandora what's going on.