Our Visions Of Colours

Mary Macdonald stared out of the open window, gently dragging her finger through the dust on the windowsill.
Cloudy grey skies stretching on as far as the naked eye could see. Pine trees standing tall, colorless grass filling the rest of the view.

She was eleven, standing closer than her parents would allow her if they knew. But it was worth it because she was hoping. Hoping to catch a glimpse of the sun, the bright blue sky hiding behind all of the grey fluff.
I guess what she was really searching for, gaze up into that endless nothingness, was warmth. She was cold. Always so cold.

But the clouds didn’t break up even for a second, no matter how long she stood there, not budging for a single second. The sun. Where was the sun? Why couldn’t it be around always? Why did it have to leave so often?

Why didn’t it stay with her forever?

-

“Mary!”, her mum yelled from way down stairs.
Mary didn’t answer. Her bare feet on the heavy wooden floor only moved a centimeter each. Her hands grabbed the windowsill hard enough for her knuckles to pale and pain to bloom up through her palms.

No. She wasn’t leaving yet. She refused.

“Mary! Where are you hiding now? It’s important!”
Mary closed her eyes. Bit down harshly on her bottom lip. No. The sun wasn’t there yet. The sun hadn’t showed itself to her. It hadn’t come back yet.

“Do you want me to scream it across the whole house then!?”

Mary opened her mouth to scream back, to scream that she didn’t care, the sun was still gone and she had to wait for it to come back. All that left her lips was a quiet, rough little sound, no more than a whisper. No words.
“Mary Macdonald, there’s a letter for you!”

This caught Mary’s attention, just a little. Mary never got letters, she didn’t have that many friends. She only really had like… one. And Marlene were not the kind to write letters, she was more the kind to throw rocks at the frame of Mary’s bedroom window.

Which was not where Mary was right now, she didn’t live in the attic, it was just her observation tower. And observing was getting more and more difficult by the second with her mother yelling from downstairs.

“Mary what in gods name is Hogwarts?!”

The sun. She just wanted to see it. It hadn’t come back for two days. She just needed to see it, she needed it to come back to her again. The warmth, the sun, the light. It was all the same to her. It was all just the same necessity.

Marlene would understand if Mary could be bothered to tell her, to explain. But this wasn’t easily talked about, it was something special, something sacred. Something just for Mary.

Her hands were getting cold, her feet almost numb. It was summer. She shouldn’t be cold, but she was. Always.
Mary had no idea what this ‘Hogwarts’ was and she wasn’t even sure she wanted to know, but she could hear her mothers voice getting closer and she couldn’t let this secret spot be discovered. The attic window was hers and hers alone.

So against the urge in every cell of her body to just stay by the window, watching the sky for the rest of her existence if necessary, she let go of her grip and turned around, walked across the dusty floorboards and disappeared through the open door.

Outside the clouds opened up briefly, just for a second, to reveal a jet black sky, sprinkled in stars around a big, white globe full of deep craters and surrounded by a faint glow.

The sun wouldn’t be up for a long, long time.

❍

Marlene McKinnon ran across the dewy grass, her bare feet covered in dirt and mud. Knees green and blue of bruises and grass stains.

Her red t-shirt and black shorts weren’t enough to protect her from the cold of the early dawn. It was still dark but not as dark as it had been just thirty minutes before.

A wide grin broke out on Marlene’s face as she came closer and closer to the dark square of a house towering up.

She was so close, so unbearably close.

And then she was tackled to the ground, face getting scraped up against the dirt, palms burning and body aching from the slam of the impact.

“OW!!”, she screamed and then broke out laughing wrestling with the boy until she managed to slide her arm around his neck and her legs around his waist. “Give up!”, she yelled, voice like a rough siren sounding through the quiet of the almost-morning.

“Never!”, he screamed back struggling in her grip and somehow managing to get an arm free enough to grab her hair and pull.

Marlene didn’t scream this time despite her entire body aching, pulsating with adrenaline. She grit her teeth and made her grip around his neck tighter until he finally slammed his palm into the ground thrice and she let go with a screech of triumph.

“I won! You big loser, you lost! Both of you!”

Marlene got up from the ground jumping up and down and not caring about the awful state of her. And to be quite clear, that state was truly awful.

“Peter! Why didn’t you help me?!”

“I’m sorry but i’m not getting into a fist fight with that one again! She fights like an animal!”, Peter yelled in his defense. It was a very lame defense, Marlene was no animal and not unbeatable in the slightest. She was just… passionate. Determined. Awesome, if she said so herself.

“So you just left me to fend for myself?! You traitor! Leave James Potter to die that sounds fair.” He rolled his eyes and pushed himself off the ground, crooked glasses, crooked grin.

“Oh boohoo James”, Marlene teased as she wiped the dirt off her hands leaving streaks of dirt and mud all over her t-shirt.

“So mean”, he muttered, still grinning.

“Careful James some might even say you like it”, Peter said as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Shut up.”

Marlene smiled. She knew James had a crush on her. She didn’t really care, didn’t think in those circles yet. She figured those feelings would come as she got older. And in the meantime she was perfectly contempt with wrestling boys to the ground, beating them up in friendly fights instead. But maybe she could develop feelings for James in a couple of years. Maybe they could be together, a perfect couple the way everyone seemed to want them to be.
But not know. Not for a long time.

“You’re such an idiot, James”, Marlene joked, shaking her head.
“Says you”, James argued, rolling his eyes.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You heard me.”
“If you two are done flirting with each other I’d like to get to James’ place before his mum realizes we’re gone!”, Peter interrupted pushing them apart where they’d gone close enough to furiously stare at each other.

“Fine.”
“Fine.”

They glared at each other a few moments more before starting to move, the subject changing within seconds. Peter chatted away happily and James stole glances at Marlene every other second, smiling every time.
She wasn’t bothered by it, quite the opposite she enjoyed the attention, but she did know that it might become a problem in the future should he decide to confess before she could manage to reciprocate.

A problem for future Marlene, she decided for the millionth time. That always worked to get her mind to move on to other things.

-

“You’re so clumsy, can you keep straight?!”, Marlene hissed and tried to keep her balance on top of Peter’s round shoulders.

“It’s not my fault i’m a queer!”, Peter hissed back and James started laughing from somewhere in the bushes.
“Shut up, James!”, both Peter and Marlene whispered desperately.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
Marlene ignored his stupid apologies and put all of her weight down on Peter’s shoulders and then jumped, wrapping her hands around the windowsill, legs dangling in the air.

There’s a special power of eleven-year-olds. They defy the laws of physics. Marlene pulled herself up and in through the window. She collided with the bed under with a muffled grunt and then lay there for a few seconds just breathing and listening. It was still quiet inside the house.

Peter hissed her name from outside and she rolled her eyes and stuck her upper body out the window again.
“Pull me up, idiot!”
“Yes please pull him up!”, groaned James from under Peter somewhere.

Marlene grabbed Peter’s hands, gritted her teeth and pulled with all her might. She was strong for such a young age and even though Peter was quite heavy she managed to pull him mostly inside. The rest of him he got through the window himself.

James, being the tallest one with a few centimeters, didn’t need as much help to get up. He simply ran, jumped, pushed himself up with a foot on the wall and grabbed Marlene’s arms. When he fell in through the window they all just lay there in a pile breathing heavily.
“You’re so slow, both of you. If Sirius were here he and I would be inside within seconds”, James complained quietly.

“This again”, Peter muttered while Marlene rolled her eyes.

“You and your stupid girlfriend”, she grumbled, “go on, tell us how much better than us he is.”

“That’s not what I meant I just miss her”, James said, annoyed.

“You say that all the time, you’re going to see them in like a month!”

“So?! I am allowed to miss him!”

“I bet you barely even mention us when we’re away while we have to listen to you blabbering about him every goddamned second they’re not here”, Peter complained a little too loudly.

“Schhh are you crazy?!” Marlene whispered, eyes big and heart slamming in her chest.
It was too late.

The door opened only moments later and Euphemia’s head popped in. Her eyes narrowed immediately. Effie had this way of seeing everything within two seconds. So she knew of the grass stains, the mud streaks, the messy hair and flushed cheeks. She saw the small traces of blood on her sons brown skin and on the pale skins of his two friends.

“You three are absolutely hopeless. Have you ever heard of sleep? You should try it sometime. It might even lighten up those dark circles of yours.”

“Mum you said you liked dark circles!”, James protested.
“So I did”, she sighed, shaking her head slowly while opening up the door further. “I will have to scold you all later. Something came in the mail.” A big grin formed on her face and Fleamont showed up at the top of the stairs, a letter in hand and his eyebrows raised.

James’ face visibly lit up like he was shining from within. Like the sun that was slowly rising outside.
“Mum…”, he began but seemed so out of breath he couldn’t continue. He scrambled out of bed to run up to his father, arms flinging like cooked spaghetti.

“You two! Not a word of these nightly activities to your parents”, Effie said half-jokingly but also completely serious and then smiled.

Marlene grinned back and put Peter in a chokehold, rubbing her knuckles against his scalp until he slapped the bed thrice with his palm.

Neither of the two could wait to go home and get their own letters and as soon as it was late enough in the morning to avert any suspicion from their parents, they were crashing through their respective doors, all toothy grins and shiny faces.

❍

Sirius Black cleared her throat and fixed his bow tie with shaky hands. They had to look handsome for the letter’s arrival, apparently.

Tradition of the Black family. All cleaned up and polished. Nothing odd about any of them. Just ruthless cleanness and sharp, elegant edges.

Sirius did his best to shield Regulus from it and had managed to send her little brother away to Pandora’s for a couple of days.

It wouldn’t surprise Sirius if he was the only one in their family that didn’t get a letter, useless as he was. At least according to the daily reminders her parents gave him.
It was barely even morning yet. The sun had only just started to rise. Naturally Sirius’ mind went to James. He was no doubt awake right now, morning person as he was. Sirius would rather die than wake up early if it wasn’t completely necessary.

Regulus had started to wake up earlier since he realized this gave him more time alone in the best bathroom in the house. Or, well, the mansion Sirius supposed.

It didn’t really matter anyway. James’ house was better. Sirius would go there right now if she could. It would only take like twenty minutes. Maybe Marlene and Peter would be there too. Sirius and James were inseparable but Marlene and Peter were around there too. Almost as close. Sirius loved them.

But, he’d been excluded from tonight’s sleepover. Because his parents wouldn’t let him go. Not the night of the letter.

Sirius bet it would’ve been a happy occasion at the Potter’s. Here it just felt like a trial.
His parents were the judges. Her brother was a witness that she’d purposefully hidden away. The crime was… existing? He wasn’t sure.

But the time was up, the hour of doom had arrived. And Sirius went downstairs.

❍

Regulus Black slumped back into the bed, his head landing in Pandora’s lap with an impact that made her mutter an insult under her breath.

“I just don’t understand why I have to wait a whole year!”, he exclaimed with a sigh.

“We’ve had this conversation before, starboy. You’re too little. And isn’t that just great? Otherwise we might’ve never became friends.”

Regulus frowned.

“I guess so. Fine, but I’ll be over here more often than before. It’ll be weird without Sirius.”

“Speaking of… how is my other little starboy?”

“You have to stop calling us that”, Regulus complained without much of a try to convince.

“It suits you though.”

“Don’t let Sirius hear you or it’ll go to his head.”

“That’s the whole point”, she said, the melody of her voice a jingling of pretty little bells. She sounded like fairy dust looked. Light blonde hair in thick braids, dark skin in a pretty contrast against her patterned green dress.

“You don’t think…”

“Think what?”, Pandora asked, stroking her fingers through his hair.

“He’ll get in right? He’ll get the letter for sure?”
Her gaze softened and she smiled. The typical Pandora smile, all love and fluff.

“Of course she will.”

Regulus exhaled heavily, with a thick sigh.
“If they don’t home will be uncomfortable. I might have to escape to Barty’s for a while. Or maybe I should just stay home to protect her.”

Pandora pushed his head off her lap and stood up.
“That’s not your job”, she said. “Let’s go. Let’s not think of this until Sirius sends a letter or comes to get you herself. We’ll go find some fairies in the forest in the meantime. You’ll like them, I promise. I know you.”

Regulus rolled his eyes but let her drag him away outside the cottage.

-

The grass was wet in the early morning, his bare feet numb and cold within seconds. Pandora was unbothered. She ran through it towards the edge of the forest, braids swinging from side to side. Mesmerizing.

“Pandora where are we going?”, Regulus complained. He was trying to keep up but didn’t really run much, she was much faster.

“To the fairies!”

Regulus had never seen fairies. He didn’t know if they’d like him, not many creatures did. At least not many humans. And definitely not the muggles, although that might have more to do with the way of his parents.

Regulus ran along as best as he could and to be honest he didn’t have that much of a choice seeing as she held his hand and dragged him in through the trees, her laugh sounding through the forest like silver sparks.

-

Regulus was breathing hard when they arrived in a small glade, the sky a blue spot high above as the clouds broke open for a split second to let in some sun. The grass was wet, as well as the leaves of the trees.

“Okay here, sit here!”, Pandora exclaimed excitedly and sat down right in the grass, bare legs spread out like she was about to start stretching.

Regulus swallowed nervously and sat down, feeling the water seep up through the thin fabric of his pants. The grass would most likely stain.

It took a while. A pretty long while. Pandora was talking the whole time and chattering away making some sort of a weird twist to her voice.

Regulus gave up on trying to keep the catastrophic thoughts away. He let them rush in like a thick wave. Most of them made no sense and were crafted completely by his young mind, but to him, a ten year old child, they seemed perfectly possible.

“There!”, Pandora gasped and pointed while hitting him repeatedly in his abdomen. Regulus tumbled over and huffed out a heavy breath while coughing. He followed her finger. And there, just like she said, there was one.
Sitting on a leaf in a tree only steps away. Pandora had told him about the looks of the fairies before. The colors varied, as did the shapes.

This one was red and gold and very small. It shimmered in the sun, fluttering its wings and seemingly tried to make sure it looked good.

It was beautiful.
It reminded Regulus of James.

“And there!”, Pandora whispered and hit him again, on his arm this time.

Right next to the James-fairy. A grey and pale blue one. Just as shiny and bright. It was also beautiful.
It reminded Regulus of Sirius.

No other fairies showed up, it was just the two of them. Just James and Sirius. Regulus thought that, if those two could choose, that’s just how they’d want it.

❍

Barty Crouch Jr ran along the train tracks. He was chasing a little weasel. A weasel who had stolen his sandwich.

He named the weasel Evan. It was just like the real, human Evan. Just as annoying and determined to embarrass Barty.

“Come here, you bitch!”, Barty hissed but it didn’t listen. It was hard to keep up. Weasels were fast. And small. And hard to spot once you lost them.

But Barty was really hungry. And also incredibly stubborn. His jeans shorts were supposed to be full of bread crumbs right about now, not splattered with mud from his embarrassing fall before.

Barty’s hair fell in front of his eyes and he dragged his fingers through it to keep it away. It didn’t listen.

“Evan, don’t you dare!”
But Evan did dare. Evan always dared that stupid bastard. At least when it came to Barty.

The weasel ran into a couple of thick bushes and disappeared.
A wise person would’ve dropped everything there, maybe kicked a rock and then turned around to go home.
But this was Barty and he was not a wise person. He wasn’t dumb but he was way too stubborn for his own good. He also refused to lose to a weasel.

So without stopping for a single second he threw himself into the bushes after it. And got stuck. Because of course he did.

“Fucking hell”, he muttered and tried to pull himself free. It didn’t work.

Barty was stuck like paint to clothes. And there was no way in hell he would ever let anyone find him like this.
The hours went by. Barty struggled so much that he ripped open his clothes and his skin. His white shirt got blood stains on it and his face a rip from a thorn right through the left eyebrow. He was covered in sweat.
He was absolutely, completely and utterly furious.

-

“Hello?”, a voice called from like two meters away. Barty closed his eyes. Maybe he could play dead. They could hold a funeral for him. Weasel-Evan sure would regret stealing his sandwich then. Real Evan might even cry.

“Are you stuck?”

The voice was right above him this time. He’d just breathed way too visibly. It was too late to play dead. Damn it.

“I can help you get up. If you wouldn’t rather stay there all bloody and bruised.”

Barty reflexively opened his eyes at that. She was teasing him. What a bloody awful bitch. “I’m fine”, he snapped, glaring at her. She was grinning. Stupid girl.

“Sure you are”, she said. Her hair was in thick black braids and she was twirling one of them between her fingers.

“I was fighting a wolf”, Barty muttered and twisted among the branches to look at her more easily.

“A wolf?”, she said. Clearly unimpressed.
“And a bear.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I won. I came here to die of my fatal wounds. If you’d just leave me to that, thanks.”

She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. Her skin was so dark it was almost completely black.

“Don’t you want me to keep you company while you die? It would be tragic for a hero such as yourself to die alone.”

He glared at her some more. Tried to make his gaze burn a hole through her teasing eyes.
“No. That is not a way for a wizard to die. I have to die on my own so if you would just go away it would save us both a lot of trouble.”

She laughed.

She actually laughed at him.

Barty felt his face get hot and red with anger and humiliation.
“It sure would save me a lot of trouble”, she said, tilting her head.

Barty didn’t say anything more. He just closed his eyes again and waited for her to leave so he could live peacefully knowing he’d never have to see her again.

“I’m Dorcas.” He opened his eyes again. “Dorcas Meadowes. Who are you?”
She extended a hand. He threw a deadly look at it, pretending like he made it go away through pure disgust.
She didn’t budge.

“Evan”, Barty lied. “Evan Rosier.”
He grabbed her hand with a tight grip just to show who’s boss but didn’t have enough time to shake it properly before she’d pulled him out of the bushes with enough force to send them both to the ground.

“Ouch! What do you think you’re doing?!”, he yelled and quickly got to his feet. He pretended like he didn’t wince at the pain from the wounds the thorns had given him.

“Saving you from the evil bush of evilness”, Dorcas teased. “It’s my duty as a witch.”

She got up from the ground and dusted off her shorts.
“Oh please you don’t even have a wand! What are you, like, nine?”, he asked knowing fully well that she was taller than him and most certainly older.

“Eleven, actually. And my Hogwarts letter came today, so I’m actually an official witch now. I wouldn’t expect you to understand. What are you, like, seven?”

Barty’s ears would’ve been steaming with smoke if he could make them do that.
“Ten, actually. Born ‘61 baby.” He winked.

Dorcas remained unimpressed.

“You’re welcome, child”, she said and grinned at his frown.

“Do you even know who I am?!” Like he was important. The only one who cared about him was his mother. Maybe Evan too. Possibly Regulus. But that was it. And Evan didn’t even live anywhere near town. He was far away. Traitor.

“Evan Rosier, I’ve been told”, Dorcas said.
Right. Barty had lied. Evan were not very impressive at all. What had he been thinking?

A smirk spread over Dorcas’ face.

She didn’t believe him.

Fine.

“Barty, actually”, he admitted. “Barty Crouch.”
Dorcas seemed to recognize the name because her eyes widened.

“Junior. You’re his son, aren’t you? Barty Crouch Jr.”
Barty rolled his eyes.

“Yes, but I’m way more interesting and accomplished than my father.”

“I can see that. Your bush-fighting duties and everything. What are you doing by the train tracks?”

Barty didn’t want to answer that. He’d come to lay down next to them and wait for a rusty old train to roll by. He wanted to feel the ground shake under him, to be so close to a metal monster of a machine. Maybe then, he’d feel more alive.

“None of your business.”

Dorcas snorted but shrugged. She didn’t push.
“I went for a walk”, she said.

“Okay.” Barty didn’t care. He wanted her to leave so he could sit alone in his shame and plan his revenge on the weasel.

“Are you here often?”
“No”, he lied.
“I am. What do you say we meet up here? Tomorrow? I’ll teach you everything I know about fighting. Maybe you’ll actually defeat the next bush that attacks you.”

Barty kicked a rock so hard it flew into a tree and bounced back over the train tracks. He shoved his hands into his pockets and glared up at her through thick lashes and brown, fluffy hair.

“Fine. Meet me here at noon then, Dorcas Meadowes.”
She beamed down at him. Seeming genuinely happy.
“Deal.”

She turned around and left without another word and didn’t look back once.

Barty wiped the blood off his hands and tried to figure out a plausible explanation for what had happened to him and his clothes.

It didn’t seem like a good idea to bring up Weasel-Evan.

❍

Evan Rosier threw a rock at the window and ran as fast as he could. He heard the shattering of glass behind him and fastened his pace until he was physically unable to go any faster.

This was probably the stupidest idea he’d ever had. Why couldn’t he just have left it alone? Why did he have to be such an idiot?

Evan turned left around a corner and sped through the street, his shoes slamming into the ground with every step.

His ears hurt. He could hear his own pulse.
He turned another corner and-

“OW! Look where the fuck you’re going you absolute dickhead!”

Evans body had ended up on the ground. Another body lay tangled up with his, legs twisted into legs, elbows in faces and hands in hair and against ribs.

“Get off me!”, Evan yelled and pushed the body to get away so he could keep running.

“You’re the one laying on top of me!”, screamed the voice and Evan realized that it was in fact he who was on top.
He scrambled off and pushed himself to his knees, a hole had been ripped open in the fabric of his jeans.

“What’s wrong with you?!” It was a girl, a chubby ginger with freckles.

“I have to keep running I’m sorry”, Evan said and started to get to his feet.

“Like hell you will! Help me up you twat!”

Evan bit his lip, his entire body shaking with adrenaline. He had just shattered the window to Frank’s classroom. He had just caused a disruption big enough to help them all cheat on their stupid test. And for what? Five bucks? An extra pudding for school lunch every day until Frank had to go back to his wizardry school?
It was so not worth it.

But he had done it anyway and now his great escape had been messed up by this redhead girl who had extended her arm towards him.

He hauled her up and turned to run but she grabbed his shoulder and forced him to a stop. Bloody hell did she have a grip that girl.

“Lily, come on. He’s already bruised up from that fall.”
A tall boy with scars in his face stood a couple of meters back. He looked god awful. Like actually terrible. And he was wearing almost nothing, only a couple of shirts tied around his waist and a t-shirt with giant holes in it. He was a skinny boy, brown skin, light brown hair and dirt in his face.

He was probably dead inside from the looks of him.

Maybe getting in trouble at summer-school wasn’t so bad after all. It couldn’t be worse than whatever night that kid had had.

The girl, Lily, threw a glance over her shoulder and sighed. She let go of Evan and pushed him a little as she did. She and the boy were walking back from the woods, it seemed. What they’d been doing there Evan didn’t want to know, probably some satanic ritual or something. Maybe Lily had tried to sacrifice this poor unnamed boy.

“Well go on then! Run off! But I’m only letting you off easily for him”, she warned and pointed at the tall boy.

Evan couldn’t help but notice that they were a pretty duo. Ginger girls had a certain something about them. And that boy… Evans heart beat faster at the sight of him. That was one awful-looking beautiful boy.

“Thank you”, Evan breathed and then turned to keep running. Frank better pay up good for this.

“I’m sorry Remus, you know I’m working on it…”, the girl started but Evan didn’t hear the rest.

He was already out of earshot, pulse blasting through his veins.

❍

Lily Evans led Remus through the door of his house. It was a rough one, built out of wood but steady like rock.
She had found him in the woods. Don’t ask what she was doing there, that’s irrelevant. It had nothing to do with playing witch amongst the trees, no way.

Anyway what’s important is that she found Remus there in a pile of skin and bones on the ground. He was breathing heavily, sweat covering his body. It was early afternoon and he was naked except for the ripped shirt hanging loosely off his torso.

He was lucky she’d chosen a double flannel day, one hanging off her shoulders and the other tied around her waist.

She’d carefully woken him up, seen the scars on his face stretch and his eyes open with the warm, brown gaze.
He refused to tell her what the fuck had happened and why he was laying naked in the woods looking like a ghost.

Lily didn’t really push that much anyway, she let him have his secrets. She wasn’t sure she’d want to know. He was her best friend but she wasn’t entitled to everything about him.

Anyway, she’d tied her flannels around him and got him up off the mossy ground and then dragged him along through town.

It had gone well, except for the run in with that idiot of a boy. He’d been off like he was running from a horde of bulls.

She didn’t know the idiot’s name but he had brown skin, hair shaped into some sort of short locs on his head, barely long enough to hang over his eyes, and dyed green. And his eyes had been almost black.

Lily’s head was still pounding. Her elbows were definitely going to be purple tomorrow and her arms ached.

“My back hurts”, Remus complained. He’d been mostly quiet the whole way, barely keeping up.

“I’m sorry. I know. I’ll massage it for you when we get you into bed, how about that?”

He didn’t answer, just walked into the empty hall of his house when the door slammed shut behind them.
Lily followed behind and helped him lay down, pulling up the covers to his ears. She dutifully massaged his back and he moaned in a mix of pain and relief.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” She said while pressing her thumbs into where his neck met his shoulders.

“I know.”

Lily wanted to say something more but she left it alone. He wouldn’t tell her unless he wanted to and right now he didn’t. She respected that.
She didn’t tell him everything either.

Lily kept massaging him until she realized he’d fallen asleep. Then she bit her lip in deep thought for a second before dipping down to give him a kiss to his temple. Poor Remus. What had he gotten himself into now?

Lily went out to the kitchen and poured two glasses of water, one for him when he woke up and one for her right now.

She grabbed the pile of paper laying on the kitchen table as well and then threw herself down into the rocking chair beside Remus’ bed. The glasses she placed on the bedside table and when she went through the pile of papers, mail as it turned out to be, there it was.

The Letter with a capital L.
Completely untouched, like no one had been waiting for it at all.

Remus and Lily were both going to Hogwarts. Lily knew that Remus had been worried he might not get in for some stupid reason and she couldn’t wait for him to wake up so she could tell him.

They were going to spend seven long years together. Wizard and witch. Witch and wizard.

Magical beings, him and her.

❍

The train was louder than anything Lily had ever heard before, it cut into her ears like an unfairly sharpened butter knife and she held Remus’ hand like it was the only thing keeping her between this life and the next one.

He was walking with determination, jaw set and gaze upon the doors to the train.

There was a lot of people there. A lot of people.
“Lily!”, Remus shouted as he pulled her towards the nearest opening.

She didn’t hear him over all the noise but dutifully followed after him. This was strange to her, a new confusing situation. Remus dragging her through a crowd of people. It was usually the opposite.

Lily was wearing a dress. A green one with black stockings and white shoes. She had pink flowers in her hair, put there by Remus himself, braided in and most likely a fight with the devil to get out of there if she tried.
And she was carrying a backpack, a red one. Color coordination? We don’t know her.

Remus was as basic as usual, brown trousers and an old grandpa sweater.
Luckily only a few people noticed them long enough to stare at Remus’ scars.

Once inside they walked through the corridor in the middle, fighting their way through to find somewhere to sit.

It was Lily who managed to catch a booth. She didn’t know what it was called, those little rooms in the trains (give her a break, she was eleven) but they looked like the booths at the restaurants her parents forced her to sometimes.

“Here”, she said smiling, out of breath after pushing her way through so many people. Remus slumped down on the bench to the right, closest to the window, and Lily threw herself down over the opposite one.

Who knew getting on a train would be so stressful?

“Remus”, she sighed as he pulled out a book. He raised an eyebrow at her and she rolled her eyes. “Here I am trying to make conversation after our near-death experience. And you pull out a book.”

He shrugged and grinned, the scars stretching out over his face.

“I’m listening too”, he claimed.

“You’re lucky I love you”, she muttered and then got up out of her seat with backpack and everything. “There has to be some kind of bathroom here, right?”, she asked but Remus didn’t know.
Or he pretended not to know just so she wouldn’t force him to show her to one.

Instead Lily took a deep breath and ventured out into the busy corridor again. At least the amount of people were thinning out now that the train was almost about to depart. Hogwarts students were apparently punctual. That didn’t seem like too bright of a start for Lily who were always late to everything.
Remus were the only reason she’d gotten here on time at all.

“Excuse me, could you show me to the loo?” The dark skinned girl pointed in an uncertain direction and Lily sighed and ventured off that way.

It didn’t take her too long to find one and the moment she shut and locked the door her heart started to slow down again. She was anxious. Always, but especially now. She wished Remus were there to hug her but at the same time she couldn’t stand company right this second and she really did need to wee.

“Stupid train”, she muttered while it swung from side to side like she was sitting in the car with her dad, that crazy driver of a father.

Lily did what she had to do and then stared at herself in the mirror for a while. She could barely see herself short as she was. To be fair she’d grow a lot taller with the years but at her young age…
struggle.

Her face was red, of course. Her green eyes didn’t really feel like hers. She was floating just beside herself, not really there but not really gone either. She was somewhere in between.

Lily Evans.

What the bloody fuck would she do with herself now?

❍

“You’re such an idiot!”, Marlene screamed as they ran desperately to catch the train.

James didn’t even bother to answer. She was yelling at him of all people even though she was the one who overslept, again!

Peter ran in front of them, right through a brick wall. He disappeared without a sound and James barreled in right after.

The train was loud. The people were louder. Peter grabbed James’ arm and pulled him into the nearest opening of the train. Marlene came stumbling in right after like a blonde little comet. Her face was flushed, splattered with brown freckles over cheeks and nose and her eyes narrowed at him as he took her hand and pulled her with him.

His heart was beating hard in his chest, like it did every time Marlene came into contact with him. He felt nervous and couldn’t help but grin wide enough for his face to hurt.

She was something, that girl. Something special. They were destined and he was sure of it.

“Mary! I see Mary!”, Marlene screeched and ripped her hand away from James’ grip. His heart slowed down out of pure disappointment as she started pushing her way down the corridor only glancing over her shoulder once to yell “Later losers!”.

Peter rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“She’s crazy. Completely nuts”, he decided and James dreamily agreed. He’d barely even heard what Peter said.

“I want to meet Mary. Why can’t she introduce me to Mary”, Sirius complained. She had his arms crossed over their chest and tapped her foot impatiently against the floor.

“Sirius!”, James beamed and flung his arms around his best friend.
Sirius’ reply was muffled enough by James’ red t-shirt to go unheard.

“I missed you so much!”

“I missed you too”, Sirius said, and patted James’ back.
“Nice to see you, Pete, have you cut your hair?”

Peter glared at Sirius and shook his head.
“No, as I’ve answered the last two-hundred times you asked, I have not cut my hair.”

Sirius thought it was hilarious for some reason to ask Peter about that every single time they saw each other. It probably had something to do with the fact that Sirius was growing his out.

“Let’s find somewhere to sit, shall we?”, James interrupted and then Sirius had his hand in a chokehold dragging him along through the corridors.

He might be on their way to find one of her cousins, but that didn’t seem too likely. They had a… complicated relationship, the Black cousins.

-

“This fella looks fairly lonely, I’m sure he’ll enjoy our company, come on!”, Sirius grinned and threw open the door.

Peter closed it once they all had stumbled inside.

A tall boy with a brown sweater and his eyes locked in a book sat in the far right corner. He didn’t even seem to notice them.

Sirius threw himself down in the seat next to the boy.
James and Peter sat down opposite them and looked out the window to see the landscapes pass by. It was beautiful, truly fascinating.

“Whatcha reading?”, Sirius asked the boy with the book.
He didn’t answer.

James stared at him, intense gaze until the boy felt bothered enough to look up. His skin was brown and his eyes were dark, but not dark dark, more like a golden dark.

“Mate what happened to your face?”, Peter blurted before he could stop himself.

Sirius kicked him in the shin, just as discreetly as if an elephant had crashed down from the sky.

“Have you seen a redhead girl? Green dress, red backpack?”, the boy asked instead and completely ignored the question - which, fair enough, it was a dumb one.

“Nope, no redhead girls. Only a loco blonde one”, Peter said and rubbed his shin.
“Huh”, was all the boy said before looking down into his book again.

“I’m James”, James said and reached out his hand. “James Potter”
The boy looked at it like it was covered in weird goo, but he took it in a firm grip and shook it once before letting go.

“Remus. Lupin.”

“Like the wolf!”, Sirius exclaimed excitedly. “From the Roman story!”

Remus looked like he’d been slapped in the face. He stood up abruptly and left without a word, door shutting behind him with a loud slam.

An awkward silence sunk down over the remaining three boys.

“…I blame Peter”, Sirius stated after several long minutes.
“What?! You were the one who made him leave!”, Peter shouted defensively.
“You commented on the poor lad’s scars! You never comment on scars, Pete, that’s general knowledge!”
“Oh come off it, you’re such a hypocrite…”

“Both of you shut up!”, James sighed loudly. “It was no one’s fault. And besides, he’ll be back. He left his suitcase.”

The suitcase in question was a fancy ass polished briefcase with the initials R.J.L stamped with gold on the handle.

“Do you reckon he’s a rich one?”, Peter asked as Sirius started to investigate the briefcase. It had a code consisting of numbers as a lock.

“Put that down you’ll ruin it!”, James scolded and grabbed the suitcase form Sirius.

“Ruin it? Me?! If anyone would manage to ruin it it’s Pete!”
“Shut up”, Peter grumbled not even trying to argue anymore. He was tired, the poor boy. Practically asleep already.

James put the suitcase back where it was and then they waited for Remus to come back.

“He was quite pretty, wasn’t he?”, James said and Sirius nodded.
“Beautiful. And tall. Do you think he’ll grow any further?”
“He’s eleven, I’d assume so.”
“How do you know he’s eleven? He might as well be twelve. Or even thirteen.”

James sighed and shook his head.
“Now you’re just arguing for the sake of arguing”, he complained.

“Sorry, I’ve spent too much time with the bitch and the lapdog.”

And these were Sirius’ very tasteful nicknames for his parents. Used only in company of his closest companions, his most trusted of loyal friends.
In other words, James, Peter and Marlene. And Regulus, but they didn’t see that much of him.
They really only knew what the boy looked like and that Sirius was very protective of him.

“Speaking of… how are you feeling? You’ll get away from them for months!”
James beamed of happiness for his friend. Sirius beamed back.

“I feel great. Those old nickles will be realizing how much they need me now that i’m gone.”

James’ smile faltered but he didn’t say anything. He was happy that Sirius was happy, but he doubted that ‘those old nickles’ would think the way that Sirius apparently thought they would. Or hoped, more like.

“You’re like a tin-can”, Peter mumbled.
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

But there was no answer and Sirius rolled his eyes and flung herself down onto his back.
“I’m taking a nap”, she declared.

James turned his gaze towards the window again and watched the miles run by. He already missed his mum and his dad.

He couldn’t wait for them to write to him.

❍

Mary Macdonald lay with her head in Marlene’s lap, fingers intertwined and Marlene’s voice drowning out all else. It was just like it was supposed to be. The sun was up outside. Marlene was right beside her. They were on their way to Somewhere Else.

“He’s such an idiot, but you’ll probably get along with him I figure, especially since we’ll all be in the same place now. And Peter is… Peter, which sounds bad but somehow honestly isn’t cause he’s cool in his own way…”
Mary smiled and looked up at Marlene who was staring at the wall and gesturing violently while talking.

“They sound lovely.” Mary was nervous, to be honest, because Marlene was her closest friend and her only one really so what if Mary and James and Peter and Sirius didn’t like each other and Marlene left Mary for the boys?
What was Mary supposed to do then? Find other friends? How would she even attempt to go about that?

“They’re little shits, all of them. But I win in every single fight so they’re tolerable mainly because of that reason…”
“What about me? What if we fight and I win?”, Mary interrupted.

Marlene raised an eyebrow and finally met Mary’s gaze.
“Well that’s just impossible. And besides I would never fight you, you’re too special. I can’t hurt someone so lovely.”

Mary grinned and stroke her thumb over the back of Marlene’s hand.
“What if I want to fight?”, she asked.

Marlene frowned.
“Why would you want that? I’ll protect you Mary you don’t have to worry about that.”

Mary rolled her eyes and squeezed Marlene’s hand twice.
A gesture which meant “no”.

“What do you mean no? YES I will, and I’ll be bloody good at it too. I’ll protect you from every stupid boy, every werewolf and vampire and demon that would ever try to hurt you!”

Mary laughed and kicked her feet. She had no doubt about that Marlene would do anything in her power to, but not everything could be physically fought.

“I read a novel over the summer about a vampire that was pretty hot”, she teased and pulled on a strand of Marlene’s hair.

“A hot vampire?”, Marlene said skeptically. “What was his name now then?”

Mary bit her lip, a strange nervousness spreading in her chest.
“She was lovely and her name was Lovinda”, she said and grinned to hide her anxiety.

Marlene snorted.
“You sound like a queer, like Peter!”

Mary wrinkled her eyebrows.
“Well maybe I am one!”, she challenged and stared furiously into Marlene’s eyes.

Marlene laughed.
“Well in that case I’ll just have to suck out your blood like one of those hot vampires you read about!”, she announced and gently sunk her teeth into Mary’s wrist.
Mary screeched with laughter and felt her stomach explode in a million butterflies. She seemed to be ticklish there by her wrist.

“Marlene!”, she screamed and flailed in Marlene’s lap until they were both breathless and full of toothy grins and flushed cheeks.

“Am I as hot as that vampire now?”, Marlene asked jokingly when she managed to catch her breath again and Mary laughed soundlessly.

“Even hotter”, she admitted.

Marlene grinned wider.

❍

Dorcas Meadowes grabbed the redhead girl by the wrist and pulled her inside before she could be mangled by the horde of boys play-fighting in the corridor.

The girl’s eyes were wide and her face both pale and red at the same time.

“Jesus christ those idiots!”, she exclaimed and slumped down in the seat beside Alice Fortescue, a kid whom Dorcas had met only an hour ago.

“They’ll grow out of it”, Emmeline sighed and finished her blonde braid.
Dorcas hadn’t known Emmeline either until half an hour ago.

“Not fast enough”, the freckled girl complained and crossed her legs. “Thank you, I’m Lily. Lily Evans.”

A grin played in the corners of Dorcas’ mouth.
“Dorcas Meadowes.”

Lily nodded and pulled one of the pink flowers out of her hair. She left the rest of them in.

“Alice Fortescue and Emmeline Vance”, Emmeline said and gestured first to Alice and then to herself.
“Nice to meet you”, Lily nodded politely. She was a ruffled one, strands of hair floating loosely around her head and rips in her stockings from activity.

“You alone?”, Dorcas asked and fell back against the wall of the train. Braided hair in a ponytail, rings on her fingers.

“Nah. I have my best friend with me, I just went to the bathroom. But I can’t find where we sat.”

Alice propped up their feet against the window.
“What’s their name? Maybe we know them.”

Lily shook her head.
“Not likely. He and I are inseparable. No one will ever be more important to either of us than each other. And as far as I’m aware I’m his only friend.”

She said it with such certainty that Dorcas felt bad for the poor boy. Not that she herself had lots of friends but this little ginger mess being his only friend?

“Fine, then. But you should probably wait here until we’ve been on the go for a while. The older kids are all finding their friends again and the younger ones are…wild.”

Lily looked suspicious. She crossed her arms over her chest and wiggled her foot.
“You sound like you know stuff”, she said cautiously.
“Alice is a year older.”
Lily turned towards Alice and frowned.
“You’re twelve? That’s embarrassing for you.”

Emmeline burst out laughing, burying her fists in the skirt of her pale blue dress. Her laugh was… loud, raw. She even snorted loudly. It wasn’t pretty in the slightest.
Dorcas loved it.

“You’ll be twelve in less than a year!”, Alice retorted clearly offended.

Lily only shrugged.

❍

Remus Lupin pressed himself up against the wall of the corridor and gritted his teeth.
He kept his head low when he continued, didn’t want anyone to notice his scars.
His hands were shaking, his heart beating fast.
He missed Lily.

But maybe being away for a little while like this wouldn’t be too bad. She had been so close to finding out about him when she’d found him in the woods.
He loved her so much for not pushing. She’d just helped him without question. Stayed with him. Massaged his aching body.

“Lily!”, Remus shouted through the train. “Lily Evans!”
He bumped into a tall asian boy with black hair and mumbled an apology as he continued on.

“All good”, the boy said back and disappeared away through the corridor.

-

Remus gave up. He’d been looking through the entire train and couldn’t find her and he’d also realized that he’d forgotten his briefcase with those messy boys.
He had to go back and get it.
Ugh.
And he’d lost his book somewhere along the way. This was ridiculous.

“Lily!”, he shouted one last time. She wasn’t anywhere to be seen and Remus were starting to get really worried. Scared, almost.

He stumbled his way back to where he came from, finding it only because of the loud voices inside that he remembered from before.

The brown boy with glasses, the chubby one with dark hair and inappropriate questions (which, honestly, Remus didn’t care) and… the black-haired one. The wolf-snooping one.

Remus closed his eyes and took three deep breaths before barging in.
Silence broke out immediately.

All eyes on Remus.

“Hi! You’re back!”, the long haired one blurted out.
Remus mumbled something about his suitcase and went to get it and leave as quickly as possible. That plan came to a stop fast. The brown boy, James, propped up his feet once Remus was far enough inside - blocking the way out.

“Sit down for a while, would you?”, the long haired one said.

Remus rolled his eyes and grumbled but sat down.
“We’re sorry if we offended you before. I’m Sirius”, he extended a hand and Remus stared at it until he lowered it again. “He/she/they. And that’s Peter.”
Peter waved. James kept his feet up on the bench between Remus and Sirius and grinned. It was kind of… shocking. That grin. It was beautiful and Remus felt a little breathless. That boy, James, he was… bright. Like the sun. Warm and shining.
Remus couldn’t stop a small smirk from entering his face at the sight of it.

“We were discussing how we’d leave a mark. On the school. The train. The people. They should remember us”, James said.

Remus felt something tingle deep in his stomach. He kept quiet for a long time and no one tried to talk again. They were clearly waiting for him.

“Well… the people might take a while. We haven’t even reached the castle yet… but the train? Why waste any time?”, he said finally and the three other boys broke out into wide, mischievous grins.

This time, Remus let himself do the same.

❍

Lily took great comfort in Alice’s hand on her back as they walked through the train.
“You have no idea how it looked? No?”

Lily shook her head. A flower fell from her hair.
“I don’t remember, I was only there for like three seconds.”

Alice sighed behind her and gently pushed her along. Lily felt… cool? Safer? With someone older it wasn’t as scary to move through the train anymore and although Lily was still anxious she felt braver.

Alice stopped and knocked on a door. It opened up to a platinum blonde girl with a black peekaboo and a girl with black, curly hair as well as a brunette.

“Sorry, we’re looking for a little boy”, they began to explain.
“No boys here”, the curly-haired one purred.
“He’s taller than me, eleven years old, his face is scarred and he’s wearing an old grandpa sweater”, Lily hurried to describe.

The blonde one shrugged and slowly shook her head.
“Sorry”, she said but there was barely any emotion there.
Alice closed the door again and moved forward to the next one.

“We can’t go around asking like this”, Lily complained. “It will take the whole train ride.”
“The train ride’s over soon anyway”, Alice muttered.
“I need to find him, please, can’t you just… I don’t know, poof him here with your wand?”

Alice raised an eyebrow and rolled their eyes.
Apparently not, then.

“Remus!”, Lily shouted. “Remus Lupin! Remus John Lupin! It’s Lily!”
“He won’t hear you”, Alice mumbled and kept moving forward, hand sliding from Lily’s back to her shoulder.
It made Lily’s skin tingle.

“Remus!”, Lily kept shouting anyway.
And then… there.

She could hear him. He was talking and it was… he was loud.

“Remus! That’s him!”, Lily shouted and rushed through the corridor to slam open the door.

And there he was.
Remus.

He was sitting on the bench, the same one she’d left him on, but he wasn’t alone.
There were three other boys in there with him.

“Lily!”, he beamed when he saw her and the next second he’d thrown himself up from the bench and wrapped his arms around her.

Lily breathed in his comforting scent, felt his fluffy sweater and his warmth.

“I found you”, she said, calming down a little just by his presence.

“And I found you”, he said.

❍

Sirius swallowed thickly. His hands were shaking, tears building up behind her eyelids.
The worn out hat was shouting out houses, students cheering from the tables.

This was one of Sirius’ worst nightmares. What were they supposed to do? Sweat seeped through the fabric of her shirt, their throat aching.

It went in alphabetical order, based off of first names. Sirius Black. His family like a permanent stamp on her back.

“Amelia Bones!”
A young little asian kiddo with pink hair and pretty eyes stepped forward and sat down in the chair. The Sorting Hat was lowered down onto her head.
It muffled around, grumbling quietly and then shouted across the hall; “Hufflepuff!”

The kid smiled and went off to sit down at the table below the big cloths of Hufflepuff logos. The children cheered.
Sirius felt sick.

“Amos Diggory!”
Sirius was dizzy. Head spinning, vision blurring and then focusing and then blurring again.

“Hufflepuff!”
No Sirius’ head wasn’t spinning. Well, it was, but not only that. It was pounding.

“Dorcas Meadowes!”
Time ticked by too fast. Palms drenching in more and more sweat.

A girl named Silinda stood in front of Sirius and noticed his nerves. She smiled at him and patted his shoulder. They tried to smile back but it didn’t really work.
“You’ll be okay”, she mumbled. “Just stand straight and be brave.”
Sirius nodded.

“Slytherin!”, the hat yelled and Sirius flinched.

Be brave.
Bebravebebravebebravebebravebebrave…

“Emmeline Vance!”
What if Sirius just fainted? Just right here?
“Ravenclaw!”
Sirius could be a Ravenclaw, couldn’t she? They were smart enough, right?

Time needed to slow down right now. Sirius blinked and Emmeline was on her way to that blue table. Sirius blinked and that voice yelled; “James Potter!”
Sirius blinked and James was already down at the Gryffindor table, hordes of people cheering.

The letter K passed.
The letter L; “Lucinda Talkalot!”, Sirius was shaking like a leaf in a storm, “Slytherin!”

If life just stopped right now, would anyone notice? If Sirius disappeared, would they care? Would she become a noticeable absence? Or would his light slowly fade until it was like they never existed?

Marlene ended up in Gryffindor - to no one’s surprise. As did that Mary Macdonald that Sirius was determined to meet.

Peter Pettigrew. Sirius would’ve bet her left foot on Peter ending up in Slytherin or Ravenclaw, but no. Gryffindor. Like everybody else. Like the newest member of their friend group Remus Lupin did and like his little redhead friend Lily also did.

Hell was no match for Sirius if they managed to get through this.

“Sirius Black!”

His name rung out into the hall like a bad omen, pain blooming up from her abdomen. She was going to throw up. Right there. In the middle of the hall. Because all of their friends were in Gryffindor. And Sirius was destined for Slytherin.

Marlene and James doing so was no surprise, but Sirius had hoped, deep down, that maybe Peter would end up in the same place as himself.

They glanced around the room, eyes passing over her friends and then catching the gaze of Bellatrix at the Slytherin table. His cousin. And beside her, Narcissa and Andromeda.

Bellatrix grinned at him, waiting for the name of her house to be called. She, like everybody else, knew.
The hat was disgusting and Sirius immediately wanted to take a shower when it touched her hair. Maybe they could aim the vomit at the hat, just as revenge.
This close, Sirius could hear it talk.

“Hmm, a tough one aren’t you? A member of the Black family. A long line of Slytherins, don’t you think?”
Sirius closed her eyes and squeezed her lips together. Please. Pleasepleasepleaseplease.
The hat laughed at him.

“You’re not like them though, are you? There’s something different in you. Something brighter.”
Sirius suddenly felt a little bit less sick. What did the thing mean? Sirius was brighter.

And then she remembered what that girl had said, Silinda. Be brave.

Sirius was different from his cousins and his parents and his family. She was brighter. They were all cold and callous, ruthless thinkers and with a calculated sense of risk taking. Sirius was bright, wild, loving. Sirius was brave.

And when the hat shouted out its decision, Sirius received it with a charming grin, full of mischief.

“Gryffindor!”

❍

Remus Lupin sighed. Of course he ended up in the same dorm as those three little idiots. They happened to be charming little idiots, but still.

He wanted to be in the same one as Lily, but there was all of that gender separation in the way.

James claimed the bed in the far right corner, right by the window. The sun would go up right there, shining in on his face.
Remus threw his briefcase onto the bed on the other side of the window, stealing it before the others could. The far left corner, where he could be propped up with a book in peace.
Sirius grabbed the one by James’, her headboard in direct contact with the foot end of James’.
And Peter’s bed became the one opposite Sirius’, in direct contact with Remus’.

“Fine, just put me closest to the door so I’m easier to kill”, Peter complained and threw himself down on his bed.
“You’re so sensitive”, Sirius grumbled. She was still beaming from the sorting ceremony. Their smile was pretty, a lot of teeth and dimples.

Remus pulled the crimson curtain closed around his bed without a word and curled up on his side. He was hungry but too tired to do anything about it.
He hoped Lily liked her new roommates. Maybe she’d end up with that person that escorted her back to him in the train.

Remus heard the other boys argue and laugh, some muffled groans of wrestling.

He fell asleep within minutes.

❍

Marlene hugged Mary tightly enough to hear spines crack and didn’t want to let go even for a second. They’d ended up in the same house, in the same dorm.
Mary was crying. Marlene was beaming. Their other roommate was snoring.

“We’re still together!”, Mary cried and pressed Marlene even tighter.

“Always”, Marlene choked out, barely able to breathe anymore. Mary was wearing a blue sundress with tiny purple flowers on it. Marlene was wearing a black skirt and a band-tee.

The redhead girl, Lily, turned around in her sleep mumbling the name of some random boy.

Marlene rolled her eyes. Boys were overrated.
She’d much rather spend her days with Mary.
All of the days.

“You and me and maybe that other one too, we’ll see”, Marlene joked.

“Yeah”, Mary agreed half-heartedly.
“We’ll see.”

-