When Marlene was six she got a new neighbour, a boy the same age as her.
His name was James.
He’d moved with his parents all the way from Brazil, into the house on the other side of the street as her.
She still remembers the day she’d first seen him, a small, happy boy trying to carry a heavy box out of the car but eventually letting his dad take it instead. The whole family looked very kind, and when his mother came to greet Marlene's mum the girl was in awe.
Marlene was sure she was an angel in disguise.
She had black, beautiful hair which almost reached her legs. Brown glowing skin, and eyes that looked like honey. But her smile- her smile made Marlene's skin burn.
She introduced herself as Euphemia Potter. Her husband had gotten a job offer here in England, he made potions.
Mrs Potter and Marlene's mum had a long conversation, about something Marlene didn’t really care about. Her attention was on the boy, Mrs Potter's son, James.
He was doing something with his hands while he was talking, it looked like a secret language he had with his father.
When Marlene asked about it Mrs Potter answered that it was sign language, because her husband, Fleamont, was deaf. That meant he couldn’t hear.
Marlene remembers being impressed that there was a whole language people could speak with their hands.
It didn’t take long for James and Marlene to become friends after that. They played with each other almost every day. Marlene also learned a little of the sign language, but she rarely had to use it. Mr Potter apparently had something called a hearing aid, which he used when speaking to people who didn’t know how to speak with their hands.
A year after James had moved in, another boy moved into the neighbourhood. This time in the house to the left of Marlenes.
He was also the same age as her and James. His name was Peter Pettigrew and Marlene thought he was the cutest boy she’d ever seen.
He was very shy and his family wasn’t very social, Marlene later found out that they’d moved from Scotland because Peters's dad had died.
Marlene and James didn’t actually meet him for weeks after he’d moved in. It wasn’t until Marlene's seventh birthday it happened. She was having a party and she pestered her mum to invite Peter and to Marlene's surprise, he actually came.
Marlene was outgoing and happy, she loved playing and loved talking. Peter was the opposite. But that only made them even better friends.
The years passed quickly after that. Marlene, Peter and James were inseparable. They were best friends and they promised each other that no matter what happens, they will always have each other.
This isn’t some sad story about how the three friends grew up and away from each other. It has been a little more than ten years since Marlene first saw James and the three friends were still as close as ever.
Sure, they went to school and things changed. They met other people, and made more friends. Best friends. People they couldn’t imagine ever living without.
But Marlene, Peter and James- they were still each other's family.
Marlene's other friends never really understood how she could be such close friends with the two boys. Mary thought they were quite annoying and Lily never stopped complaining about James.
This frustrated Marlene because Lily and Mary were also friends with them. Maybe not as close as Marlene but still, why would they be friends with them if they found them annoying?
Marlene loved her friends more than anything else, she loved them all equally and though they had their faults, as everyone does, she also loved the parts of them that made them imperfect.
She trusted every single one of her friends the same and she would never think to rank them on how good a friend they were.
She might not have as much in common with Remus as she had with Sirius but that didn’t mean she cared about him any less or found him annoying. And though Peter’s sometimes too quiet and Lily too bossy, Marlene would never think those were bad things. That’s just how they are and she would never want them to change.
Some traits just clash.
When Marlene is too loud for Lily she might go scream with James, or when she’s too affectionate with Mary she’ll go hug Peter.
That’s just how her friendships work.
And she loves it.
But now- now she’s not quite sure where to go.
She needs advice, but she also needs comfort. She needs to scream and she needs quiet. She wants to punch something and hug someone.
She needs Mary to braid her hair and tell her she’s perfect just the way she is, and Lily to talk some sense into her head. She needs Peter to sit with her and hold her hand and James to make her go flying and tell her everything will be alright. She wants Sirius to tell her to do something reckless without thinking about it but she also wants Remus to tell her exactly what she should do.
She needs her friends but she’s lost.
You might be wondering what has happened to Marlene. Why is she upset and why can’t she go to her friends?
When Marlene was in her third year at Hogwarts she joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team along with James. She was a good beater the captain had said, for being thirteen. And with practice, she improved quickly and she and James got to keep their positions the next year.
The Gryffindor quidditch team had previously been made up of mostly seventh years, but when they graduated a lot of positions opened. This was not the case in Slytherin. In their third year, the Slytherin team only got two new players, their seeker Regulus Black who was a second year at the time.
And Dorcas MeadowEs, a third-year beater.
Dorcas MeadowEs was a talented beater, she was smart and pretty and she had confidence others could only dream about.
But the first time Marlene spoke to the Slytherin girl, she realised that she was- to put it simply, mean.
MeadowEs wasn’t kind, she was mean and- and just mean.
Marlene didn’t like her.
But Meadowes didn’t like Marlene either.
Some people even called them enemies.
And Marlene was fine with that. She liked the competition, in quidditch and in classes. She enjoyed the snarky comments and the sour glances at each other. They were just drawn to each other, they were made to hate each other.
But something had changed this year, it was April and throughout the whole year Meadows had been acting differently. But Marlene couldn’t quite explain how.
That was until about a week ago, when Marlene had entered the quidditch changing rooms expecting it to be empty, but then meeting a half-naked Dorcas Meadowes.
She can’t quite remember what was said between them because after only a few minutes Dorcas kissed her and Marlene panicked and ran away.
“Hello?”
Her words echoed in the room. Making the other person aware that another person had entered.
The steam from the showers was fogging up the mirrors and Marlene couldn’t help but wonder just how hot this person had set the temperature.
Not bothering to wait for an answer she put down her bag on the bench next to the other person and began peeling off the first layer of clothes.
She could hear the water being turned off and the footsteps splashing in the water covering the floor.
“Hi.”
It was a quiet greeting, almost a whisper. The voice was husky and Marlene felt a tingling sensation in her stomach.
“Good match today.”
“You too.”
Her words were more of a question, because since when had they ever complimented each other?
The two girls were staring at each other and Marlene couldn’t stop the warmth spreading all over her body. What was happening?
Her question was soon answered because the tall Slytherin girl took two steps forward and crashed their lips together.
Marlene was sure she froze. Weren’t they supposed to be enemies? Enemies didn’t kiss each other. Or did they? Was this just a stupid trick to make Marlene look like a fool?
The last question snapped her out of her thoughts and without thinking she grabbed her bag and ran out of the room.
Ever since then her mind had been spinning with questions and confusion. She didn’t want to go to her friends but she also couldn’t figure it out on her own. She felt like the only person who actually would have the answers was the person she least wanted to see.
But sometimes you have to do things without thinking about it, which was why Marlene was currently on her way to the library. Where she knew Dorcas was because the Slytherin friend group studied there every Thursday before dinner.
“Could I speak with you for a second?”
None of the green tie wearers had apparently heard her approach and all heads turned to look at her.
“Sure.”
The two girls walked deeper into the library and between two shelves, far enough that no one would hear them but not deep enough to risk getting murdered.
“Why did you kiss me?”
The Slytherin didn’t seem shocked by the question and answered with ease, “Because I wanted to.”
“What?”
The Slytherin crossed her arms, “I wanted to kiss you, and I got the impression that you wanted to kiss me. That’s why I did it.”
“Why did you want to kiss me?”
“So many questions,” Dorcas sighed and sat down on a chair, “I wanted to kiss you, and I still want to kiss you because I like you .”
“What do you mean you like me?”
“Really?” the girl scoffed, “I like you, I fancy you, I want to kiss you and hold your hand and I think about you all the time. You're always on my mind, and when you got with that Catchlove girl I- I realised why…”
Marlene was stunned, “Greta and I broke up.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I wasn’t really feeling it… with her.”
“I didn’t even know you- you liked girls,” Dorcas was avoiding Marlene's eyes.
“It’s not a secret, I just don’t parade it around,” she explained, “I mean, people know because I don’t hide it. But- I’ve never come out per se.”
“I have.”
“Was it scary?” it was a mere whisper.
“ Yes ,” the Slytherin answered, “I told my mum, last summer. She took it well, so it was fine but- it was terrifying.”
“I can’t even imagine,” Marlene sighed and decided that it was safe to sit down, “I never had to tell my parents. They just always knew, ever since I was a kid.”
“And they’re just… fine with it?”
“They get a little awkward whenever I mention girls , but they know that they have nothing to worry about. We had one serious conversation about it, that was hell. But they said that they just want me to be happy, and since my brother’s already given them grandchildren that I won’t have to worry about that.”
“Pfft,” Dorcas scoffed, “I’ve never wanted kids. My mum knows that and has never expected grandchildren from me.”
“What about you dad?”
“It’s just me and my mum.”
“Oh… I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s always just been me and mum. He was never in my life, and mum says he was an arse. Says I’m the only good thing she got from that relationship.”
The girls didn’t say much to each other after that. They stayed sitting in silence with soft smiles on their face. Not wanting to break the peace but also feeling like she had to say something Marlene opened her mouth.
“I feel like I know nothing about you, but at the same time I know so much. ”
“Yeah, I feel the same.”
“I know your favourite colour but not your birthday,” Marlene laughed, “Isn’t that a little strange.”
“You know my favourite colour?”
“Mhmm, it’s light blue.”
Marlene didn’t know how she could've ever thought she hated the girl sitting in front of her.
“How do you know that?”
She shrugged, “I’m not actually sure.”
“I don’t know your favourite colour.”
“Guess.”
“Please don’t be red,” Dorcas said exasperated.
“Why can’t it be red?”
“That’s so basic, basically every Gryffindor has red as a favourite colour.”
“Okay,” Marlene pouted, “Besides red then.”
Dorcas sighed, “I don’t know. I don't want to admit this but red just feels so you.”
The Gryffindor beamed, “Really?”
“Yeah,”
“I do also like yellow.”
The Slytherin raised her eyebrows, “The other colour for Gryffindor?”
“No!”
“Yes, it is!”
“But that’s not why!” Marlene laughed, and so did Dorcas, “I like yellow, because it reminds me of summer. The sun shining in the sky and all the pretty flowers. Lemonade and yellow butterflies. Also, the first time I met Mrs Potter she was wearing a gorgeous, flowy, yellow dress.”
Dorcas snorted, “Yellow’s your favourite colour because your best friend's mum was wearing a yellow dress the first time you saw her?”
“Have you seen Euphemia? She’s a goddess."
“I don’t doubt it.”
“Good.”
A silence settled again but this time it was Dorcas who broke it, “Did- did you like that I kissed you?”
Marlene looked up, straight into the other girl's eyes, “Yes. I… I’m sorry I ran away from you. I froze and- and then for the past week I’ve sort of been freaking out.”
“I’m sorry. I thought- because you looked at me in some way, and I… I- had to. Then you kissed me back but then you ran away and I didn’t know what to do.”
“I kissed you back?” Marlene asked, shocked.
“You- you didn’t realise?”
“No…”
“Oh,” Dorcas looked down to the floor, “So, you didn’t mean to.”
“I thought I froze, that I was just standing still.”
The Slytherin snorted, “Yeah, well. I’m sorry I kissed you. It won’t happen again.”
“Wha- why?”
“You didn’t want to.”
“I never said that. Sure, I thought I froze but now I’ve had time to think and- I only panicked because… I liked it so much. I thought you hated me and tried to make me look stupid or something.”
“I wouldn’t do that. And, I never hated you.”
“Yeah, I know that now. But I didn’t then.”
“So… you want me to kiss you again?”
Marlene's cheeks warmed, “Ye- yeah.”
Dorcas smiled, “Now?”
“I… mayb-”
“Dorcas?” Pandora Rosier had rounded the bookshelf and interrupted Marlene's reply.
A frustrated sigh escaped Dorcas, “What?”
The Ravenclaw looked confused, “You’ve been gone for quite long, we were just wondering where you disappeared to. I’ll- just leave you two alone again…”
When Pandora had left Dorcas rubbed her hands on her face, “She sort of ruined the moment didn’t she.”
Marlene snorted, “Yeah, a little.”
“I think- I might need to go back to my friends.”
“Oh,”
“But, maybe we could- go on a date? This weekend?”
“Really?” Marlene felt a flutter in her chest.
“ Yeah .”
“I’d like that.”
Marlene was sixteen years old. She had friends she loved and people she considered family for nine years. But Marlene Mckinnon didn’t have an enemy as many people thought. She’d never really hated Dorcas Meadowes, she just really liked her. Now she knows that.
The girl was stumbling through the portrait hole. Rushing to get to her friends as quickly as she could.
“Oh, good. You’re all here,” she struggled to get out, exhausted from her run there.
“What’s up?” the boy with glasses asked, looking worried.
All her friends were sat in front of the fire, all busy with their own things. But none of them hesitated to pause their activities to give their friend all their attention.
“Dorcas Meadowes just asked me on a date.”
A second passed and then-
“What?!”
“Why?!”
“Ohh, she’s pretty!”
“What did you answer?”
“Wait, just now?”
“Where?”
“How?”
“ Tell us everything! ”