Golden Years

“You’d think Hogwarts life would feel mundane after all that. That we’d have gained some perspective and learned that we should live each day like our last and learn as much as we can. But no. Here I am, taking my last stand against tyranny and oppression. I would rather have died in that fire than get out of bed today.”

“Marlene no.”

“Marlene yes.” Marlene rolled over in bed, avoiding numerous attempts to get her up.

“You have to get up. We have class,” Mary said exasperatedly.

“No, fuck off.”

Despite the excitement of the holidays, life back at Hogwarts was as ordinary as ever. The girls had moved back into their dorm, and along with being back at Hogwarts came all the usual struggles. Such as finding the will to get out of bed.

“C’mon Marls,” Dorcas said sleepily from her bed. “If I get you a chocolate biscuit after class, will you get up?”

“You’re not up either.”

“Oh for god’s sake, both of you get up. Or at least come up with a decent reason for skipping class that I can give to the professors,” Lily called from inside the bathroom.

“We’re so traumatized from the fire that we’ve been having nightmares constantly and barely getting sleep and we’re taking the day to rest,” Dorcas answered.

Marlene sat up to stare at her. “That’s actually true. How’d you know I was having nightmares?”

“You whine in your sleep a lot,” Dorcas murmured, rolling onto her stomach and burying her face in her pillow to hide her sudden blush.

“You’ve been having nightmares?” Lily asked concernedly, exiting the bathroom to sit next to Marlene. She grabbed her wrist without even thinking about it.

“Yeah, but they’re not so bad. They just wake me up all the time,” Marlene replied absentmindedly, gazing at Dorcas. “How did you know I make noise in my sleep?”

“We’ve been in the same dorm for six years?”

“How did you know it’s happening because of the nightmares?”

“Well….”

“You haven’t been sleeping either,” Marlene accused. “Cas, why didn’t you tell us?”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone about your nightmares?” Dorcas countered.

“I’m fine!”

“Well, so am I!”

“Clearly not if you’re staying up all night!”

“You’re the one having nightmares, I just can’t sleep!”

“Well-“
“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Alice shouted, silencing everyone. They all looked over at her. “Both of you are very clearly not fine. You’re both staying here for the day and sleeping. We’ll get notes for you.”

Mary nodded. “Yeah, don’t worry. If you haven’t been sleeping since the fire, you can’t go to class and expect to do well.”

“Alright, fine. But if I reserve the right to get up and start going to classes at anytime,” Dorcas said.

“Nerd,” Marlene coughed.

“Oh shut up, jock.”

“Did you just call me a jock? A jock? No. Unacceptable,” Marlene responded.

“Acceptable and true,” Dorcas replied.

“Ok, we’re gonna leave. If we come back and you’ve bickered all day instead of sleeping I’ll kill the both of you,” Alice said from near the door.

“Yes mum,” the two girls chorused. Lily, Mary, and Alice exited, leaving them on their own.

“Sooo,” Dorcas began, unsure of what to say. Were people always this awkward when trying to have a conversation? Or was it just her?

“Ugh. I’m fully awake now. How are we supposed to go back to sleep?” Marlene grumbled. Dorcas smiled at the adorable pout on her face, all thoughts of awkwardness replaced with fondness for the other girl.

“Here, you wanna put on a record?” She asked, pointing towards the phonograph that sat on a desk near her bed.

“Sure. And can I come over there? The vent is right over my bed and I’m freezing my ass off.”

“Well, we can’t have that when it’s so nice to look at,” Dorcas replied without thinking. She immediately shut up, tips of her ears going red. Marlene snorted.

“Careful now, watch where your hands are or I’ll think you’re up to something funny,” she teased. Dorcas blushed as she grabbed a Queen record and put it on, hands shaking slightly as she adjusted the volume. By the time she turned back around, Marlene was sprawled over her bed.

“Scoot,” Dorcas said, shoving Marlene over slightly to make room. She laid back down, facing away from Marlene and towards the window. Marlene groggily snuggled up close and wrapped an arm around her waist from behind.

“Is this ok?” Marlene whispered. Dorcas could feel her breath on the back of her neck. It tickled slightly, but Dorcas didn’t hate the feeling.

“Yeah,” She whispered back. “It’s alright.”

“Cas?” Marlene whispered.

“Mhm?”

“I’m sorry for arguing, earlier. I’m just so tired and hearing that you weren’t sleeping got me worried. I got annoyed when you wouldn’t admit that it was an issue. I’m really sorry.”

Dorcas huffed out a small laugh. “It’s not your fault, Marls. I got upset too, I argued as much as you did.”

“Yeah, but you were right. My nightmares are a bigger issue than I was letting on,” Marlene said quietly, bringing a hand up to Dorcas’s hair and playing with it absentmindedly.

“Yeah, well, me not sleeping was a bigger issue than I was letting on. We were both right to be worried, and we’re both sorry for arguing. And now, we’re both going to get some sleep,” Dorcas responded. She leaned back into Marlene slightly as the hand in her hair continued its soft, calming movements.

Marlene giggled. “Yeah. G’night, Cas.” She lowered her hand and wrapped her arm back around Dorcas.

“Goodnight, Marls.”

It was hard not to drift off like that, with Marlene’s arm around her and music playing softly in the background. So Dorcas closed her eyes and allowed herself, for the first time since Christmas, to sleep peacefully, wrapped in a cozy warmth.

——————————————————————————————

“Cas is skipping class?” James asked, astonished. “No way.”

“That’s what I thought too,” Lily replied as she finished eating her toast. “But she hasn’t been sleeping so Alice is forcing Marlene and her to take the day off.”

“Don’t you mean her and Marlene?” James teased. Lily threw a grape at him.

“Fuck off, Potter. Your grammar is usually worse than mine.”

“Yeah yeah. And hey, guess what this means?”

“What?” Lily asked.

“We can have a Team Dorlene meeting without getting caught,” James answered excitedly. It had been forever since they had a meeting, and there was a lot that needed to be discussed.

“Ooh, good idea,” Lily said. “You get the word out to your people, I’ll get word out to mine.”

“Lily,” James said carefully.

“Hmm?”

“You realize your people and my people are kind of the same people now?”

Lily looked around. Alice and Frank were sitting with Peter and Mary, laughing as Peter told a story. Remus was studying while Sirius’s head was in his lap, occasionally pausing his reading to feed him a strawberry. Marlene and Dorcas were up in the dorm, but Lily could see their usual spots between her and Remus were left open. She hadn’t quite noticed when their friend groups had blended together so tightly, but it felt as though it had been that way forever.

Lily wasn’t the best with change. She needed time to adjust, especially when it came to big changes. But somehow, the merging of the Marauders and her friend group was so natural it barely felt like a change at all. Lily couldn’t even remember when it had happened. She had been friends with Remus for forever, and Sirius for awhile, but when did James and Peter become part of the package? When did the rest of her friends begin hanging out with them as well? Looking back, Lily realized that maybe there was never much of a difference at all.

“Huh,” she remarked. “I guess you’re right.”

James smiled. “We’ll get the word out together?”

“Together,” Lily grinned.

——————————————————————————————

“Hey, Team Dorlene meeting in the library after class,” Lily said as she sat in her desk in DADA. Alice, who was sitting behind her, perked up.

“Really?” She asked excitedly. “Oh thank god, something interesting to do. Frank, we have a Team Dorlene meeting after class.”

Frank smiled at his girlfriend’s excitement. “We’ll be there.”

“Tell Peter and Mary as well.”

“We will,” Alice replied right as Professor Rein walked in.

After the detention debacle, Lily thinks McGonagall must have spoken with him, because he hadn’t expressed any anti-muggle opinions since. He also hadn’t done anything interesting since.

“Alright, class, today we’re discussing curses and counter curses……”

Lily zoned out as Rein droned on. She would just read the textbook later to find out what had happened.

As she sunk into daydreaming, her pleasant thoughts turned darker. She didn’t remember much of the fire, only passing out after seeing a figure and waking up on the Potters’ front lawn. James and the others had filled her in afterwards, but the blank spot troubled Lily. Who was the figure she saw? Why did he knock her out? And why attack the Potters when a party was going on? Wouldn’t it make more sense to attack when the house was mostly empty?

“Miss Evans?” A voice pulled her out of her thoughts. She looked up and saw most of the class looking at her expectantly.

“I’m sorry, what was the question?” Lily asked. Rein sighed.

“I asked if you know the counter-curse for Fiendfyre.”

“Er, no sir,” Lily answered awkwardly.

“Perhaps you would if you paid attention in my class. Now, remember, homework is eight inches of parchment on the most commonly used curses and their counter-curses. You are all dismissed.”

Lily scoffed as the class was dismissed. She was all for knowing how to defend herself, but Rein didn’t get to demand things from her when he was the worst defense teacher they’d had yet.

“Alright, Lily?” Remus asked as he fell into step beside her. “Rein’s class is dull, you weren’t the only one zoning out.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Lily snorted. “I just wish we had a better teacher, you know?”

“Yeah, me too. This stuff is actually really interesting if it’s taught right.”

“Only you would think this stuff is interesting, you nerd,” Lily said affectionately.

“Like you don’t hang around the hospital wing to see how Madam Pomfrey heals people?”

“That’s different!”

“How, Lily?” Remus asked amusedly.

“Because I say so,” Lily replied childishly as they entered the library. She didn’t want to tell him that she wanted to learn how to use healing magic in case the war got worse and she needed to know.

“Alright Team Dorlene, it’s good to see you again. Lily, if you would review all pertinent developments since our last meeting?” James asked dramatically.

“Certainly, James. Now, our last meeting was before the blind date. As you may recall, we got some good flirting out of that attempt, but they didn’t manage themselves together and start dating. Since then, we have been subjected to more useless pining.”

“You should have seen Dorcas when Marlene was about to go back into the fire to find you,” Peter interjected. “They were staring at each other, and I thought Dorcas was gonna cry. It was really gay and very dramatic.”

“Alright, team.” James said gravely. “You heard Peter. If even a near-death event can’t make them take a risk, we’ve got to step up our game. Now, the next plan we came up with was Gryffindor Scores And So Does Dorcas. Alice, you were the one who came up with this plan, so how would you like to explain it again to refresh our memories?”

“Sure thing.” Alice stood. “Now, the original plan was to start a school paper and have Dorcas do the sports section, forcing her to spend time in the locker room with Marlene. Now, McGonagall has point-blank refused to allow a school paper, citing its ‘uselessness and little educational value’. Despite my disagreement, we all know Minnie is a goddess, and I dare not speak out against her.”

“Hear hear!” Sirius called out.

“However, what Her Magical Eminence will allow is more intensive announcing during Quidditch matches, allowing for interviews and one-on-one talks with the players. I motion that we nominate Dorcas as our co-commentator and send her do the interviews.” Alice sat back down as she finished.

“Good improvisation, and a good plan. All in favor of putting this into motion next?” Lily asked. Almost every hand shot up, except Sirius and Remus.

“Objections, gentlemen?” James asked.

“I still say we let the figure things out on their own. It’s better that we stay out of it and let them handle their feelings,” Remus answered.

“Yeah, no, I have a different objection. One that actually matters. Why can’t we use my beautiful dramatic plan?” Sirius asked.

“Well you see, Sirius, your plan involved a lot of heartbreak and injury, and we need to start easier than that. Not to mention it involves a lot of variables that we’re not in control of,” James answered smartly. Lily wondered how he was so good at turning things around for the positive, and why she hadn’t noticed that before. Granted, she hadn’t noticed how he kept his sleeves rolled up before, and now she couldn’t take her focus off of that detail.

‘The hell, Evans?’ She thought. ‘What are you doing? Potter is a boy. An admittedly attractive boy, but you really don’t have time for that right now.’

“Ok. So, we try Gryffindor Scores And So Does Dorcas next, and should that fail, we try a talent show, if I’m remembering right?” Lily asked.

“Yep,” Mary confirmed. “I’m pretty sure that was the order we voted on.”

“Alright gang. This one just might work,” Frank said excitedly.

“Nice job everyone, this was a good, productive meeting. We’ll enact our plan as soon as we see the opportunity. On three, Team Dorlene,” James said, sticking his hand out. The rest of the group placed their hands atop his.

“One, two, three… Team Dorlene!” They all exclaimed at once.

Madam Pince appeared out of nowhere to shush them.

“We won’t apologize for living life to the fullest, Madam,” Sirius said. She glared at him and walked away.

——————————————————————————————

“Hey, shouldn’t you guys go wake up Marlene and Dorcas before dinner?” James asked as they all exited the library.

“Oh, yeah,” Lily responded. “Kinda forgot about that.”

“You forgot that they were in your dorm sleeping but you remembered that you couldn’t go into your dorm?” James teased.

“Shut up, Potter,” Lily laughed. “I forgot that I needed to go wake them up for dinner.”

“Wow. You were planning to let them starve? Cruel, Evans. Very cruel,” James said. Lily giggled as he grinned.

“Oh no, you’ve discovered my evil plan,” She replied. “Whatever will I do now?”

As Lily entered the common room, she looked around to see if Marlene and Dorcas were already awake. When she saw that they weren’t around, she turned back to the group.

“Ok, guys, I’m gonna go wake them up. I’ll be right back,” She said.

Lily marched up the stairs and entered the dorm room. She looked towards Marlene’s bed and was surprised to find it empty. She looked around at almost squealed at what she saw.

Marlene was wrapped around Dorcas, cuddling her tightly, an arm wrapped around her waist and a leg thrown over Dorcas’s. The blankets were tangled around their feet as the two slept peacefully, taking comfort in each other’s warmth rather than the blanket. Lily gasped upon seeing Dorcas clutching Marlene’s arm, pulling her even closer.

Lily exited the room as quietly as possible, running down the stairs. “Guys!” She exclaimed, drawing everyone’s attention. “You’ve gotta see this.”

“We can’t go up there,” Peter replied as the girls rushed forwards.

“I’ll take a picture,” Mary promised.

Lily led the girls up the stairs and into the dorm as quietly as possible. They had similar reactions to hers, Alice would have woken them with her cooing if Lily hadn’t put a hand over her mouth. Mary, true to her word, snuck up on them to get a good angle, and then snapped a picture to show the guys.

“Yeah,” James remarked when he saw the picture. “This is absolutely the actions of two platonic gal pals. No feelings there at all.”

“You know the worst part?” Lily asked.

“What’s that?”

“We have to deal with them freaking out over it.”

——————————————————————————————

Lily, for all her complaining, was having a good time back at Hogwarts. And the excitement towards the end of the break made her forget about one thing as the week dragged on.

Snape.

“Lily, can I talk to you?”

“No, Snape,” Lily said, exiting the potions classroom. Snape trailed after her. “I told you over the break. I don’t want to see you again.”

“Lily, please. This is the only chance I have to warn you.”

“Warn me about what?” Lily asked, rounding on Snape. He smirked. Lily groaned. “Follow me, you inconsiderate dick.”

She led Snape into a small corridor, that was luckily empty. She turned to him again. “Either talk or walk away.”

“Bad things are about to happen at Hogwarts,” Snape said ominously.

“Yeah, no shit. I got that. What’s going to happen?” Lily asked angrily.

“I can’t tell you that.”

“And why the bloody hell not?”

“You know why.”

“Oh, right, who could forget your unwavering loyalty to a bunch of nazis,” Lily responded. “I’ll go to Dumbledore about this. You know I will.”

“You can’t. They’ve already killed once, Lily, don’t give them an excuse to do it again,” Snape said desperately.

“So you admit your Death Eater pals were responsible for that girl’s death?” Lily asked incredulously.

“Not them. Look, you’re in the middle of a lot of things you don’t understand, and no matter how much you hate me, I’ll love you. Always. So this is your warning: when you see the sign of the snake, just stay out of it.”

With that, Snape turned on his heel and marched down the hallway.

“Oi! What the bloody hell does that mean?” Lily called after him. He didn’t turn around, leaving Lily to wonder what his cryptic remarks meant.

She would soon wish she didn’t know.