Form a very young age Dorcas had been told that boys love girls and girls love boys and that was the way it had always been. The only way it could be. It had been drilled into her mind by her parents growing up. Men who fell for other men where disgusting. So why would girls be any different? If anything, they were worse.
Of course, Dorcas didn’t think Sirius and Remus were underserving of love and she would often find herself staring at their relationship with longing. They were so open about it, so unashamed, but then again, Sirius had never been fond of his family soit didn’t matter what they thought. And nothing could hurt Remus, he was like a research platform in the deep-sea; unreachable to most, violently beautiful, incredible strong and undestroyable.
Sometimes he and Marlene could be so similar, Marlene who had looked pain in the eyes and had pushed through. Whose parents had cast her out at such a young age, but made sure she was old enough to remember what they did to her. Marlene who found her true family in the hills of Scotland, who was so beautiful and loved so deeply. Beautiful, amazing Marlene.
To Dorcas Marlene was the earth she walked on, the biting cold wind when she stepped outside on a gorgeous winter day, she was untouched hills of fresh snow, waking up in the middle of the night to hear the storm outside and burying yourself deeper into soft warm pillows. Marlene was all her favourite things in the world rolled into one. Marlene with her long pale blond hair, so white it could almost glow in the dark. Like a beacon calling to her.
Dorcas has always had a bit of a thing for Marlene’s hair and would braid it at least once a week, just to be able to run her fingers through it. She hated doing her own hair, but Marlene would sigh and make these little content noises when Dorcas was running her hands through her long hair before pulling it softly into two braids.
Before every quidditch game she would crawl into Dorcas’ bed at a god awful hour to get her to braid her hair in time before Potter would want her on the pitch for warm-ups.
Dorcas valued her sleep above all else and would tell anyone else to go fuck themselves, but not Marlene. Seeing Marlene still drowsy with sleep in her pajamas sitting with her strong legs tucked underneath her waiting for Dorcas was sure to wake her up anyway. And later at the game she took great pride in seeing Marlene fly by with her braids flowing around her.
If the beating bat was an extension of her arm, her braids were an extension of her aura. They were long enough to flow in the wind even when she wasn’t moving and made her look fucking ethereal.
So when Gryffindor won the first match of the year against Ravenclaw and they were celebrating in the common room Dorcas was entranced. She couldn’t look away from those braids, they were calling to her and she needed be close to them, close to Marlene. Some hours later the 6th year Gryffindors were sitting on the couches surrounding the fireplace while Remus and Black were up in the boys dorm doing god knows what. It was just Potter, Pettigrew and their dormmates chatting and drinking.
Marlene was deep in conversation with Potter about the game and Pettigrew had been going on and on about some chess strategy to her for at least 20 minutes now. She hadn't kept count, Dorcas only had eyes for Marlene.
Marlene’s nose that would scrunch up a little any time she smiled or laughed at one of Potters stupid jokes. Marlene’s mouth that was so beautiful and her full lips that would curve up in the most beautiful way when she spoke. Dorcas had noticed over the years that Marlene’s mouth moved in a different way because of her Scottish accent. If Marlene’s mouth moved with such grace when she spoke imagine how it would move when she had her pressed against a wall and would snog her until Dorcas was no longer able to form a single coherent thought.
Pettigrew was still going on about chess, but Dorcas was looking at Marlene’s eyes, their brown was so rich and reminded her of the chocolate caramel ganache they served at the Halloween feast every year. They were staring right back at her too, Dorcas felt her eyes flick down to Marlene’s lips and saw them form words to her.
“Dorcas, Dorcas…” Marlene’s mouth kept forming words but Dorcas was so entranced she couldn’t find it within her to respond.
“Dorcas, darling are you still with us?” there was a slight pause in her mind before she registered the need to respond.
“Yes, sorry. I must have zoned out for a second there…” she chuckled and Marlene smiled softly at her.
“I was thinking about going up early. I’m beat from the game… come with and help me take these braids out? I’m pretty sure the wind must have knotted them together at the ends and my fingers are still frozen.”
Yes, absolutely yes! Any excuse to touch you(r hair).
“You’re hopeless Marls, really, I don’t know why Potter even let you on the team?! How is he supposed to trust you to hold a bat in your hand when you can’t even work your fingers?” I smiled and got up from my seat on the couch while Potter barked a laugh and the others chuckled along.
Marlene still had her eyes locked on mine
“Carry me up? My legs are tired…”
What did I do to deserve this… I walked towards her and extended a hand to help her up from the couch “I think not you lazy, lazy girl” Marlene smiled widely and clasped our hands together. I managed to shout out a quick goodnight to the others before she dragged me up the staircase to our dorm.
“Come on Cassie I really am knackered, help me with these?” she was already moving towards my bed.
“No! You will not touch my bed in those dirty clothes… Here put these on” I threw her pajamas at her and she deftly plucked them from the air before they hit her in the face. Damn those quidditch reflexes. I walked over to my wardrobe and quickly changed into some clean comfy clothes while trying to calm my racing heartbeat. It was only hair really I don’t know why I was so stressed. It wasn’t like we hadn’t sat in my bed and done this a million times before over the last 6 years.
“Oi! Cassie this isn’t fucking London Fashion week get over here!” Marlene was shouting at me from my bed. “I would beg to differ; the world is a fashion show and I am a model.” I strutted over to the bed imitating the runway models and fell forward onto my bed chuckling along with Marlene’s laughter. “You silly, silly girl… Now! Help me with these monsters” The look of pure defeat on her face and the braids she was waving in my face were the only things that kept me from losing myself in staring at those pouted lips.
While I carefully detangled her hair and took the braids out we chatted softly about the game and the party and what the younger years had been wearing that looked ridiculous.
“Did you see the 3rd year with the heavy eye makeup?” I scoffed and nodded from behind her until in occurred to me that she wouldn’t be able to see this.
“Yeah, I did. Bloody ridiculous if you ask me. I hope we never looked like that. Ha! Do you remember when Mary first discovered eyeshadow in 2nd year?!” we chuckled fondly at the memory. I was running my hands through her now long loose hair and was met with a small knot. I tried to run my hands through again to get rid of it because there was no way I was leaving the little cocoon of happiness, that I had found with Marls sitting between my legs on the bed, just to retrieve the hairbrush from the bathroom.
As I tried push through my finger caught in the knot and I ended up pulling her hair a little harder than I intended. “Oh shit, Marls I’m so s-…” I had to cut myself of because Marlene accidentally let a soft moan slip from her mouth and was now slowly turning red from embarrassment. Merlin’s saggy tits… that was the most arousing sound I have ever heard in my life… Embarrassed Marlene made to get up
“Sorry Cass I think I’ll just go to bed, I must be really exhausted...” she was already moving towards the edge of the bed. It’s now, or never. Experimentally I reached up and softly tugged her hair again, causing her to freeze in her movements and look over her shoulder at me slightly shocked. “Stay?” I whispered. This could ruin everything… I knew, but I really didn’t give a shit. Very slowly she sank back down onto the bed.
“Cassie? What are you… what are you doing?” She said this so softly that I was almost afraid that I had made a huge mistake and that I had ruined our friendship forever.
My hand was still in her hair, and I ran it through a few more times, almost caressing her head. She straightened a little under my touch and let out a long sigh before reaching back and softly grabbing my second hand. With one hand in her hair and the other in her lap where she was playing nervously with my fingers, this forced us to sit very close together. Almost back to front and I could feel every breath she took, I could feel the way she sucked in a breath and breathed out a bit shakily when I put my head on her shoulder and softly tucked her hair behind her ear.
For a long time we just sat and stared at each other in silence. “Marls… I thi-…” I would never be able to finish this and I don’t think I will ever be able to speak again. All I could think about was how perfectly her soft lips aligned with mine as she pressed them together in a chaste kiss. “shut up Cass” she whispered as she pulled back, I could feel her lips move just an inch away from mine and felt her hot breath on my face. “okay” it was all I was able to say before I crashed our lips together again.
It was messy and impractical and my neck still hurts thinking about it because of the awkward angle but it was beautiful and perfect and I had never felt more complete. When she licked my lower lip asking for permission I opened my mouth eagerly and changed our position so I could climb into her lap. Both my hands reached up to softly cup her jaw and I felt her hands grasp at my waist.
It was desperate and hot and soon I had pushed her down into my pillows and I was trying to inhale her soul through her mouth. I was kissing her like a starving man and I had never felt anything like this. She made a noise of protest as I detached my lips from hers but they soon turned into soft noises of pleasure as I started trailing my lips down her jaw and placed wet open kisses along her neck. Stopping only to nibble and suck at the corner of her jaw and at the bottom of her neck along her collarbone. I felt her hands squeeze my thighs and she leaned down to capture my lips again in a passionate kiss. Even though it had been her who initiated the first kiss I had been the most dominate so far and Marlene had never been a person to easily submit to someone.
I was only half surprised when she flipped us over and hovered above me on the bed. Her hair fell down over her shoulders and it sheltered my view of the world like a halo around her head. A tunnel leading towards the most beautiful being in the universe, showing me nothing her. And she was beautiful, red kiss-swollen lips and a slight flush on her cheeks she gazed down at me with those intense deep brown eyes. Not until I reached up and tangled my hands into her hair did her mouth fall open in a silent moan before she leaned down and kissed me again.
Marlene kissed like she did many things in life, intentional but chaotic. It was like she was everywhere at the same time, her hands were roaming my body while she kissed me hard and I felt like a long lost treasure that had been reunited with its rightful owner. I pulled even closer to me with my hands still lost in her now once more messy hair and she moaned loudly into my mouth. I felt a heat pool down into my stomach and arched up into her body. I felt marlene slide one of her legs up in between and as a relaxed back into the bed I grazed against her leg. The friction that the fabrics rubbing together created made my head fall back as I shakily exhaled into Marlene’s mouth. I felt her smile into our kiss “you’re so beautiful like this Cass” unable to respond I just kissed her harder and moved one of my hands under her t-shirt to the soft skin of her toned stomach “this okay?” I breathed into her neck from where I was sucking a bruise into her skin. “yeah…”
Softly I reached up to cup her breast and started massaging the flesh as she captured my skin again, she released a swallowed noise somewhere in between a moan and a low groan as my thumb grazed over her nipple. Taking this as encouragement I experimentally flicked it between my thumb and forefinger and felt her back arch down into my body. Cupping her breast again I began playing with her nipple while messaging her boob and cupping her head with my other hand. Marlene still had her leg lodged up in between mine and I could feel myself pulse against her thigh.
I felt one of her hands slide down my stomach until she was stroking my lower belly “Cass, are you sure?” I felt myself nodding and she chuckled before reaching down moving her hand down into my joggers. I moaned in anticipation and heard footsteps thumbing up the stairs. Hold up, footsteps?!
“Marls!” we locked eyes panicked and with a wave of her wand the curtains around both our beds were shut closed, and she smacked a hand over my mouth.
We held our breath as we hear the door open, “They must already be asleep Lils, best be quiet” we hear Alice whisper loudly to presumably Lily.
“Yeah, no shit…” and Mary apparently. Still holding our breath we listened as the girls got ready for bed speaking in hushed tones amongst each other for about 10 min before it went quiet.
“Mufliato,” I whispered softly, and I felt Marlene sag into the bed beside me with a long-suffering sigh. “Bloody fucking hell Cass…” we looked at each other and promptly burst out in silent slightly hysterical laughter before we caught our breath and just looked at each other anxiously waiting for the other to open their mouths.
“Marls, about this… I… I don’t…” I trailed off slowly and looked at her desperately trying to find the right words. “I don’t want to ruin our friendship, it means a lot to me and… I don’t want to lose you” I held my breath as I waited for her to respond.
“Dorcas, If I was the last person on earth and you were and exploding star headed towards me I would await you with open arms.” She said this as though it was nothing. As though we were discussing homework assignments. “You don’t mean that” I looked at her earnestly, she sighed and leaned in until our lips were less than an inch apart. “don’t tell me what to do” she kissed me softly once more and I felt myself melt into the kiss. “Okay”
The next morning I woke up to a storm crashing against our windows and buried my face deeper into Marlene’s hair and laid in the silent room in pure contentness. Any moment now the others would wake up and find us tangled up under the sheets together and then we would face them together. We would face a lot of things together from this point on.