Introduction
Year six, 1975
Dorcas Meadowes was not a talkative type. That's probably why she'd clung to Pandora Rosier completely by accident. It is said that every introvert must find an extrovert in life who will take them in and take care of. This is probably how their friendship was formed. It's just that one day in freshman year, Gryffindor had a potions class with Ravenclaw. Dorcas was paired with a hyperactive partner who turned out to be Pandora. Although she couldn't stand her chatter for the first few classes, she quickly realized that their personalities complemented each other in a strange way. Like two drops of water.
Six years have passed since then, and their friendship has not changed much. Although, towards the end of their fourth year, they had a strange incident where they proved to each other that they were definitely just friends. At one of Ravenclaw's first major parties they participated, Pandora kissed Dorcas. Not that she didn't like it. She kissed back, in fact, they were snogging several times at different events from then on. It was just that both at some point saw that they did not see a romantic relationship with each other. They preferred to go back to their standard mocking and laughing at Evan's unfunny jokes. Still, Dorcas knew from that experience that she liked girls.
And it scared the hell out of her. Pandora said that for her it always depends on the person, on the energy. She believed in all kinds of soul mates, and Doracs was one of them. But it was Regulus Black who was strangely at her beck and call. They always went everywhere together, like a black cat with a white one. Dorcas didn't understand this strange relation, she didn't really like this surly boy. However, she had to admit that when she saw them, she herself began to believe in the connection of souls.
Anyway, Pandora loved to shove that spiritual crap everywhere, even when she was talking about relationships. Dorcas often joked that her friend simply wanted more choice, but she put it into beautiful words. Deep down, she knew it wasn't a choice of who you liked. Because if she could, she wished she could look at the boys the way Narcissa Black looks at Lucius Malfoy. Life would be much simpler. Meanwhile, she found herself admiring the hair of one of the Hufflepuff girls sitting across from her at lunch, when the same girl an hour later was spotted in front of the lake, holding hands with her boyfriend. She loved it and hated it at the same time.
Because of her queerness, she often felt lonely. It is true that Pandora also talked about her crushes on different girls, but it was not the same. After all, her friend had recently become interested in one of the Ravenclaw senior boys. His last name was Lovegood, as if made to be taken over by Pandora. The girl often mentioned to Dorcas that she did not like to be recognized by her own origin. Rosier's family was pureblood and belonged to the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Pandora was reminded of the importance of this throughout her all childhood. And unlike her twin brother Evan, she hated it. She always mentioned that as soon as she graduated from Hogwarts, she would live in a country house surrounded by greenery and be cut off from all high society.
Dorcas also came from a pureblood family, but in her case it was different. She wasn't from Britain. Her parents moved here when she was little because her father got a job at the Ministry as an ambassador for magical foreign affairs. It was a well-paid and well-respected job, although that meant he wasn't home much. Just like her mother. Janelle Meadows was the top doctor at St Mungo's. She spent almost all holidays, weekends and even a vacation in the hospital. Dorcas couldn't blame her, she was helping people after all. That's not to say her childhood wasn't doubly lonely because of it. She didn't have any siblings or any neighbors her own age, so when her letter from Hogwarts arrived, she couldn't be happier. After all, she had a chance to meet new people, maybe even make friends. It worked.
Her group of friends was not large though. Dorcas understood very quickly that finding someone nice among the Slytherins would not be easy. Most of them were perpetually upturned and could only talk about the wealth they would inherit from their parents. Despite this, Dorcas managed to establish quite good contact with her roommates.
Emma Vanity, whom Dorcas had always envied for playing better at Quidditch. This year, the girl was trying to become the captain of the team and she had great chances to do so. Very smart, very strong and very in love with herself. She rejected all the boys who flocked to her like fruit flies around a bitten apple. Maybe that's why Dorcas found a common language with her.
Her other roommate was the most aspiring girl the wizarding world had ever seen. Amelia Bones. From the moment she entered Hogwarts, her ambition led her straight to Slytherin. Maybe also because she adhered to one rule - over the dead to the goal. Dorcas adored her because they were eternally competitive in the higher grades in the exams. Of course, Amelia was always three steps ahead of her, which doesn't mean she wasn't willing to help and learn together. Apparently, her biggest dream was to get a position in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. No one doubted that she would fail to fulfill it.
As for the other members of her house, Dorcas did her best to avoid conflicts. Everyone seemed to be one big family here. Quite literally, because probably everyone here was related in some way. Sometimes it was hard to live in a place full of such envious people, but time at Hogwarts wasn't going to last forever. Dorcas didn't know exactly what she was going to do after graduation. But she knew she couldn't disappoint her parents, who had worked all their lives for their position. That's why this year she decided to try three times harder to earn perfect grades. Everything would have worked out if not for one golden-haired Gryffindor who blocked her path like an overly shining sun.