“May I come in?” a sweet voice called, and Marlene slowly turned and looked towards the door with a smile on her face, she would have recognized that voice anywhere.
The voice that had evoked so many different emotions throughout the years such as happiness, comfort but at the same fear, doubt, and shame…
The only voice she wanted to hear before falling asleep and the first one she wanted to hear waking up in the morning… the voice that she would never get tired of.
“Sure” Marlene simply answered and came closer to her, she had something in mind.
The second Dorcas stepped in she felt Marlene’s soft hands covering her eyes.
“Hey” Dorcas said in a whisper wondering what was all that about.
“I have a surprise for you” Marlene started to explain “Can you keep you closed ‘till I tell you?” she asked, and Dorcas nodded in agreement and then she felt Marlene hair brushing her cheek while she moved away.
She briefly looked at the mirror and then at her: “Okay, you can look” she said while couldn’t help but smiling. Dorcas slowly opened her eyes and a mesmerized “oh” came out of her mouth: “Oh Marls, you look so beautiful”.
Her eyes were fixed on her… she was wearing the new suit they talked about for days, it was clear blue, similar to the colour of the sky on the early morning, it showed off her deep blue eyes and had a pair of trousers that reached up to her waist of the same colour. They chose that because Dorcas’ dress was opaque white and a layer of veil of that same blue that covered it.
It was their last week at Hogwarts, they all wanted to do something special before they left so they've been spending the last few weeks trying to convince the professors to let them have a final party, more like an actual prom.
They eventually gave them the permission… mostly because it was way easier keeping their mind busy pretty dresses, songs, and preparations rather than thinking about everything that was going on out there and how their future could not be so bright as they hoped.
“So…do you fancy a dance?” Marlene asked then she made a goofy bow and offered her hand-“You know I am a terrible dancer… I need to practise”.
They made the vinyl music start with a spell and slowly started dancing.
“Marls?” Dorcas called and reached her eyes: “Wanna know something?” she nodded and came closer to her face and then talked with a very serious tone “I really have to admit this. I feel bad for the others ‘cause… I have the prettiest girlfriend” she whispered, and Marlene started laughing “Oh Cas… you scared for a second. But you know, I have to disagree with your very serious statement because you’re the prettiest, you’re standing right in front of me and the last time I checked you were my girlfriend”.
A slow smile spread across Dorcas’ face then she leaned over to give her a kiss on the lips: “you checked right.”
Just a moment later they heard the knock of the door and they stopped the music, it was probably Lily that came to tell them they were late.
“Hey… finally, I knocked at least four times, we are so late” Lily immediately said then looked at them: “Oh, I am sorry, did I interrupt something?”.
“Oh no, we uh… we were just dancing” Dorcas answered giving Marlene a sly look.
“Yeah well… we can dance there too, actually I think they already started” Lily explained, so they left the dorms to go to the Great Hall.
“Wait Lils… what happened to your blue top?” Marlene noticed at half-way that she was wearing a white shirt and a black blazer on it.
She turned to her: “An exchange…that was actually planned, I gave it to James, so we’re matched, his idea… and I love how it turned out. Oh, and you should see Remus and Sirius, they look gorgeous”
“That’s such a brilliant idea, we should have thought about it” Dorcas replied- “I think you’re really perfect like these” Lily added before they could say more.
“Oh… have you already seen Sirius? We spent hours adjusting that dress last week, I am really curious to see how it turned out.” Marlene remembered it.
When Sirius came last week to her with that request, Marlene thought he was kidding at first, but he was really going for it and she immediately loved that idea.
“Yes, they look absolutely great, you did great Marls. Of course, people always stare but you know him, he couldn’t care less. Oh also, I almost forgot about I am sure they are probably planning something for this night. They are the Marauders after all.”
They all smiled…
“Oh hell, I am gonna miss all of you so much. I can’t still believe this is our last week” Marlene sighed; they were all thinking the same, but no one was ready to face it.
When they entered the hall, they were completely amazed, it was so well decorated, the theme was spring and it looked like a real garden, there was even desk with garlands of flowers to wear for students and a quite big quantity of glitter with whom no one really knew what to do. Many had placed it on their hair or dresses just for fun.
Professor Flitwick’s orchestra was already playing surrounded by all kinds of flowers placed on the big roof. That was a view they would have never forgotten… for sure.
The others immediately reached them, Lily was right… they all looked so beautiful.
“Hey, you’re finally here” Mary called, and they stepped closer to them.
“You all look awesome” Remus said the moment they met- “Thanks Moons, you all are too” Lily added.
“Oh Marls… your suit turned out really good. You gotta thank me and recognise I am the best adviser” Sirius told her with a smirk- “Never… cause I am clearly better otherwise you wouldn’t look so good tonight” she ironically replied.
“I agree… look, Remus can’t take his eyes off you” Dorcas added while putting her arm around Marlene’s shoulder.
“Oh come on… no need to fight, it’s clearly obvious: me and Lily are the best” James declared jokingly. But before anyone else could add more Dumbledore’s voice filled the room with the opening speech.
After that the party continued quietly, everyone was happier than ever just wishing that night would never be over.
They all took turn to dance with each other all night, Peter and Remus even convinced Sirius and Marlene to ask McGonagall and Dumbledore for a dance.
Dorcas and Marlene spent whole ten minutes braiding flowers in James and Sirius’s hair while Peter was taking pictures every five minutes because he “didn’t want to ever forget those moments”.
One of the best moments was when Remus reluctantly let Lily put purple and blue glitter in his hair, he seemed to come out of some commercials, Sirius would have surely teased him about that for years.
They all seemed children at a birthday party, enjoying every single moment and forgetting about all the rest just for one night.
They were having the best time because they deserved it.
When the slow dance started the atmosphere became really magical.
Marlene immediately came closer to Dorcas and drew her close to her chest, so she wrapped her arms around Marlene’s neck. Dorcas’ soft curls fell over her eyes, and she began to withdraw the hand to brush away it hair, then Marlene’s hand clutched onto hers and carefully laid it on my shoulder. They were both terrible dancer and couldn’t keep up with the rhythm, but they really didn’t care, their eyes were fixed on each other and wouldn’t let go, that was the only thing that really mattered.
But after a while reality unexpectedly hit… Marlene started to look around: all those people, all those faces, all those lives, she started to wonder how many of them would have make it to bring they kids there someday or simply make it to the next years.
She had tried to forget all that for a night, but she couldn’t, it was too big and scary to be forgotten, too close to them and she knew there was no escape.
Marlene suddenly felt the need to take some air and went to the place that she and many had considered a safe and quiet spot for years, the astronomy tower.
She knew Dorcas had followed her so she whipped away the tears as fast as she could, but it wasn’t enough… of course Dorcas knew what the problem was.
“Hey… hey Marls look at me, please. What’s wrong?” she asked anyway.
“It’s the fucking war. I don’t want all this to end. I don’t wanna lose you or everyone else. I wish we could think about buying a house together or discuss which carer is best for us. The future in general does not exist anymore, w-we don’t even know if we’re gonna make it till next year. I am scared Cas.” Marlene said out lout with the voice broke by tears. “I know, love, and I am so scared too… but worrying now won’t change much, I perfectly know that it’s hard but all we have left is living every day at our best, we’re gonna fight for our lives, we won’t let anyone take it vainly” Dorcas paused and took her face in her hands: “Just remember I love you and I won’t leave you… never. We all won’t…” she tried to reassure her.
Marlene leaned her face in Dorcas’ shoulder, she always knew how to make her feel better, even just a little bit.
“I love you too” she whispered, and Dorcas delicately kissed her forehead, Marlene raised her head a bit and slowly kissed her back on the lips, then she and hugged her even harder.
They were safe for now.
They stayed there for a it very was peaceful and calm… ‘till a loud noise broke that atmosphere.
They both looked up and a genuine smile appeared on their faces: fireworks… the Marauders had obviously something to do with that, they couldn’t leave without leaving their mark.
Two giant and bright sentences filled the sky.
“CLASS 1978” – “THE MARAUDERS HAVE BEEN HERE”
And it in that precise moment the time froze, that was all they wanted to remember.