Operation Avenge Lily Evans
“Marly?”
“What you whore?
“Why Dorcas?”
“What?” Marlene looked at Sirius. “The hell are you on about?”
The pair of Gryffindors were flying together over the Quidditch pitch. As close as Marlene was to Lily, sometimes she needed to talk to someone who was just as much of a disaster as she was. She trusted Lily with everything, but Sirius was just as easy to turn to, and it was nice to have someone who would just roll with whatever mood she was in.
“How’d you fall for Dorcas?” Sirius asked again. “I never really figured it out.”
“Well how’d you fall for Remus?” Marlene shot back.
“Easy. He trusted me and I trust him. I know I’m safe when he’s around.”
“Oh.”
“You didn’t expect me to actually answer you seriously, did you?”
“Nope.”
“Well if you prefer a fun answer, I can tell you about the time we got stuck in the Hospital Wing and-“
“I don’t want to hear the rest of this!”
Sirius chuckled as Marlene hit his arm.
They flew in amiable silence for a minute until Marlene began to ramble.
“It was at the end of fifth year. I was stressed about the O.W.L.S and I couldn’t sleep, at all. I would go down into the common room and study until sunrise every night. And you know, Lily would tell me to get some sleep, and Alice told me to relax, but Dorcas…. Every night, without fail, she’d come and sit with me. She’d be quiet, reading her own stuff or just sitting, and sometimes if I got frustrated she’d start humming. A little tune here and there, but it was always soft, and it always felt…..like a veil had lifted, you know? The rain outside, the fire keeping me warm, and Dorcas humming. She didn’t expect me to talk, and she didn’t judge me for being stressed, and it was safe. Safer than I’d ever felt, really. I think I was always a little bit in love with her, but that was when I realized.”
“Wow,” Sirius replied after a moment. “I think that’s the most serious words you’ve ever said in a row.”
“Oh fuck off.”
“I will not, actually.”
“One can hope, though.”
“Hope is a scam,” Sirius replied loftily. “Haven’t you heard, dear Micks? Nihilism is the next big trend.”
“You think you’re so funny.”
“Of course I am.”
“Being gay and depressed isn’t a real personality, Sirius.” Marlene deadpanned.
“Ah fuck, I can’t believe you’ve done this.”
“Best believe it, you ridiculous bitch.”
“I’m the ridiculous bitch?” Sirius scoffed.
“Yeah yeah, fuck off. Race you to the broom shed?”
“You’re on, you insufferable- hey, no head starts, that’s cheating!”
——————————————————————————————
“Hey Princess, could you maybe help me out with potions? This essay is gonna be the death of me.”
“I thought we agreed you’d stop calling me that?”
“Ah shit. Oh well, too late to go back now, I suppose,” Dorcas replied cheerfully. “Really though, can you help me with this?”
“Yeah, alright, let me just- fuck!” Lily gasped, pressing a hand to her ribs.
“You alright?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”
“Liar,” Dorcas accused. “What happened? Did you hurt yourself?”
“No, just fell on the stairs and bruised my ribs,” Lily lied. “No big deal, they’re just a little sore.”
Dorcas narrowed her eyes. “You’re a shit liar, Princess. What actually happened?”
“How do you know I’m lying?”
“You have a really easily spotted tell.”
“I do? What is it?”
“You move your left eyebrow just a bit. Now what the fuck happened?”
“I’m telling you, nothing happened! I just fell on a trick stair and bruised my ribs!” Lily said, concentrating on keeping her left eyebrow still.
“Ha! Liar!”
“My left eyebrow didn’t fucking move, what do you mean?”
“Lily, you sweet summer child. Why would I tell you how I actually knew you were lying? That would be stupid,” Dorcas chuckled. “Why won’t you tell me what happened?”
Lily sighed. “Because you’ll tell other people and they’ll tell other people and it’ll snowball into this massive unnecessary drama.”
“What? When have I ever done that?”
“Charms Incident of fourth year.”
“Ok that’s not fair.”
“Sure it is,” Lily said, packing up her things. “And until you’d admit it, I won’t help you with potions.”
She giggled as she heard Dorcas shout after her. “That’s really not fair! Lily, wait! Lily, come on, please? Lily!”
——————————————————————————————
“Marleeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnneeeeeeee.”
“What the hell and fuck, Dorcas.”
“Lily’s hiding something,” Dorcas replied as she sprawled across the couch Marlene was seated on in the common room. “And she won’t tell me what.”
“That does tend to be what happens when someone is hiding something,” Marlene responded.
“Don’t tease,” Dorcas mumbled, barely lifting her head from the cushions. “Just help me figure out what it is, please?”
Marlene looked at the girl practically laying across her lap. Looked at her legs, long and dark and draped over the end of the couch. Looked at her waist, delicately twisted to allow her to stay balanced, a strip of skin showing where her shirt had drifted upwards, and Marlene had to tear her eyes away as the thought of mapping that strip of skin with her lips became almost overwhelming. Looked at her arms, more than a little distracting in the sunlight, which was doing a truly excellent job of highlighting her curves and the softness of her skin. Looked at her neck, at the spot exactly where she’d love to leave a hickey for Dorcas to remember her by.
And finally, Marlene looked at Dorcas’ eyes.
And the world fell away.
“Yeah, ok,” Marlene breathed out, not really remembering what she was agreeing to but knowing it’s the answer she would give if Dorcas asked for something a bit different.
“Yay!” Dorcas sat up and clapped, entirely missing the adoring look Marlene had on her face. “Ok, so, Lily’s hiding an injury of some sort. Well, she’s not hiding the injury, but she’s hiding what caused it.”
“Lily’s hurt?” Marlene asked, concern snapping her out of her mental wandering. “What?”
“Yeah, she’s got bruised ribs. She says she tripped on a trick stair but she’s a shit liar. I don’t know why she’s hiding what actually happened, but it’s Lily, which leads me to believe she’s hiding something to avoid having us worry about her.”
“Which makes us all worry even more.”
“Right? Honestly, she’s lost her mind if she thinks we’ll just ignore it.”
“Did she ever really even have a mind?”
“Don’t be cruel,” Dorcas replied. At Marlene’s raised eyebrow, she shrugged. “She’s got at least three brain cells.”
“A high estimate.”
“Perhaps, but in some cases I find kindness more necessary than scientific accuracy.”
“How fortunate for the rest of us.”
“Yes, if you found my secret science journal you’d be appalled at some of the observations.”
“Secret science journal, huh? Getting in practice for the Department of Mysteries?”
“But of course, dear Marlene. Practice makes perfect. Which, incidentally, is how I’m certain Lily was lying. Her tell is so easy to spot once you know it.”
“Yeah it’s pretty obvious. So, Detective Meadowes, what are our theories as to what Lily’s hiding?”
“We have three at the moment. Number one, she got hurt doing something incredibly stupid and she doesn’t want us to find out what she was doing.” Dorcas stood and began to pace.
“A plausible theory.”
“Yeah, I thought so too. But I think she would have eventually caved if that was the case.”
“Alright. Theory two?”
“One of us hurt her on accident and she’s hiding it so we don’t feel guilty.”
“Shit, you think that could be it?” Marlene mentally ran through all of her recent interactions with Lily. Had she been the one to-
“I mean, it’s possible, but I don’t really believe it either,” Dorcas answered. “She would have gone to the Hospital Wing to get it healed as quickly as possible so we wouldn’t notice if that was the case.”
“Well then what the fuck is wrong?”
“Well, that leads us to theory three.” Dorcas stopped pacing. She chewed at her lip, wrapping her arms around herself. She looked so nervous that Marlene wanted to wrap her in a blanket and keep her safe from any of her worries.
“Theory three is?”
“Someone else is hurting Lily.”
——————————————————————————————
“Why wouldn’t she tell us?” Alice asked, laying across her bed. After talking about it, Marlene and Dorcas had decided to bring in a few more people to help them figure out what was wrong. Well, it was mostly Dorcas’ idea. Marlene only had one condition.
“She knew we’d flip our shit once we found out. Which is why the guys aren’t here. Sirius would lose his mind, Remus would go into scary mode, hell, even Peter might get a little too protective for us to stop them from doing something,” Marlene answered.
“What about James?” Mary asked.
“James’ reaction to something like this would be...unpredictable,” Dorcas responded. “He’d either handle it very well-“
“Or go completely batshit crazy,” Marlene finished. “And until we know which is best for the situation, we’re gonna avoid that.”
“Fair,” Mary said. “So how do we find out what’s happening?”
“I’m not sure,” Dorcas said. “I was hoping you guys might be able to help with that?”
“I don’t know. If she wouldn’t tell you, who would she tell?” Alice asked skeptically.
“I’m not sure, but eventually she’ll cave and tell someone. Or we just tail her and find out who’s doing it,” Marlene replied.
“Perhaps spying on our friend might be overkill?” Mary suggested.
“Better ideas?” Dorcas asked.
No one responded.
“Then that’s our only plan. Who’ll do it though?”
“Me,” Marlene answered immediately. “I’ve got the most experience fighting. If I see who’s doing it, I’ll have the best chance of driving them off.”
“You could get hurt,” Dorcas argued.
“Not as much as anyone else.”
“Just as much as anyone else. What if it’s a group of people, like Mulciber and his friends? What if you’re in a two against five situation?”
“Then I take out four and Lily gets the last.”
“If Lily’s in no condition to fight?”
“I won’t let it get that bad,” Marlene vowed. “Look, I’m not exactly a fan of recklessly throwing myself into danger-“
“Liar,” Alice muttered.
“But someone’s got to keep Lily safe. She’s the fucking heart of this group, of all of Gryffindor, if we’re being honest. She’d do it for any one of us.”
“I don’t like it,” Dorcas said. “You’re always the first to put yourself on the line.”
“Well then, it’s nothing new,” Marlene replied. “I’ll be fine, Cas. I’ll take care of Lily and I’ll be fine.”
“Yeah. Yeah, ok. Then it’s decided.” Dorcas said. “Marlene will start following Lily, tomorrow maybe?”
“Yeah, that should work.”
“Ok. Then I’m off to struggle through a potions essay. We’ll find a way to meet up when Marlene finds something,” Dorcas said, exiting the room abruptly.
“Is she alright?” Mary asked.
“She’s stressed and scared,” Marlene answered, still looking at the spot Dorcas had occupied. “We haven’t been in this much danger before. Things are escalating, inside and outside of the castle. She’s…. She’s trying to cope but she’s more scared than she’s letting on.”
Marlene finally turned back to the other two. They were staring at her.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Alice replied quickly. “Just…. Wondering how on earth I managed to miss something for so long.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Nothing. C’mon Mary, we should get back to Lily, she’ll get suspicious if we’re all together without her.”
Marlene watched them exit together, her mind racing as she tried to figure out what Alice could possibly have meant.
——————————————————————————————
Following Lily was as boring as paying attention in Ancient Runes, and Marlene was not enjoying herself in the slightest.
“God, why is this absolute bitch taking such long ways to class?” She muttered to herself, watching as Lily once again ducked into a hallway that was nowhere near where she needed to be. She sighed, and continued to follow, attempting to be stealthy.
Her attempts were pointless.
“Gotcha!” Marlene turned around to see Lily with her wand pointed towards her.
“Damn it, how’d you notice I was here?”
“You’re not good at being sneaky,” Lily smirked, lowering her wand. “I noticed you about four turns back.”
“How? I was so quiet!”
“Actually, you definitely weren’t.”
“Bullshit-“
“Ah, Evans, so nice of you to make this easier on us,” A new voice cut in. Both girls whipped around to see Mulciber grinning at them.
“Get lost, Mulciber,” Lily said. “It’s almost time for class, you’ll get a detention if you’re late.”
“Aw, who could possibly endure class when the idea of staying here is so…” Marlene very nearly shook with disgust as Mulciber’s eyes ran up and down their bodies. “..entertaining?”
“You heard her, you creep. Get lost,” Marlene replied. She let her wand slip out of her sleeve and into her hand, hoping the threatening action might convince Mulciber to just go.
“And leave two beautiful ladies alone? No, that would be very bad. Don’t you know that girls who walk alone are easier to target? I bet Evans knows all about that,” Mulciber drawled, eyes flashing dangerously.
Marlene’s blood ran cold. “Lily, what is he talking about?”
“It’s nothing,” Lily replied forcefully. “Just him trying to stroke his own ego since no one is willing to stroke it for him, much like something else he has-“
“My my, so foul-mouthed. Oh well, who could expect much better of a mudblood-“
“Shut the fuck up,” Marlene seethed. “Don’t you dare call her that.”
“What are you gonna do about it? Oh that’s right, absolutely nothing, same as always.” Mulciber laughed. “Funny, isn’t it? Gryffindors are supposed to be so brave and daring, but really you’re all cowards. Too afraid of the consequences to say what needs to be said.”
“You’re delusional.”
“And you’re gonna be left with nothing when the snake comes for you.”
“Get the hell away from us, Mulciber,” Lily growled, grabbing Marlene’s arm. “C’mon, let’s go.”
“Oh no, you’re not leaving now. Stupefy!”
Lily fell to the ground. Marlene whipped around, wand pointed at Mulciber. “Expelliarmus!”
His wand flew out of his hand, clattering to the ground as Marlene rushed to check on Lily. He snarled.
“Fine. We’ll do this the mudblood way.”
Marlene looked up just in time to see him charge.
——————————————————————————————
“What the hell did he mean, girls walking alone are easier to target?” Alice cried. “What the fuck did he do? I’ll kill him, I swear to god I’ll cut him from chin to groin and take all of his organs out and shove them down his fucking throat-“
“Ok, Alice, we all want him dead but now’s not really the time,” Frank said, wrapping his arms around Alice and lifting her off the ground slightly to prevent her from running off to murder Mulciber.
“I don’t know what he meant. He monologued for a bit, stunned Lily, I disarmed him, and then he charged at me. I sort of like, flipped him over me, I guess? The point is, he landed on Lily and now her arm is broken,” Marlene said. “Which is my fault I suppose. Shit, I broke Lily’s arm.”
The Gryffindors were gathered in the Hospital Wing. Marlene had grabbed Lily and brought her there as soon as she was sure Mulciber was out cold.
“Hey, Marls, you did the right thing. You didn’t exactly have a way of aiming where he’d land, Lily’s arm isn’t your fault,” Dorcas replied.
“Isn’t it though? I mean, if I had just let him get me-“
“Then you’d be in a hospital bed too and I’d kill someone over it, so really this was the best outcome,” Dorcas finished evenly.
“Cas, this is on me. I broke Lily’s arm.”
“You did nothing wrong. Admittedly flipping him was an interesting move, but it worked. And the broken arm will be fine in five minutes. The real issue is that Mulciber has been attacking Lily.”
“What are we gonna do?” Mary asked.
“Fucking kill Mulciber,” Remus said almost mildly. “It’s pretty simple.”
“Yeah I’m down for that,” Dorcas responded.
“I’m with them,” Peter said. “It’s easy, it’s quick, it’s a one and done solution… it’s really just our best option, you know?”
“Yeah, good idea babe,” Sirius said brightly. “Can I do the honors?”
“No,” Alice said. “That sick bastard is mine. I get to be the one to make him regret this.”
“Fine. Can I roughen him up first?”
“Of course.”
“Guys,” Marlene interjected. “I adore that idea, but I don’t want to go to Azkaban yet.”
“Yet,” Sirius emphasized. “But fine, I get it. We just can’t let this slide though.”
“Of course not, we’ll get them back for this. But-“
“It doesn’t matter.”
Everyone turned to see James, sitting at Lily’s bedside. He had been there, silent, the whole time, and hearing him speak was surprising.
“What do you mean?” Sirius asked.
“Screw Mulciber. We can’t get him back, he’ll hit us twice as hard no matter what we do. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that Lily’s ok. That’s all that matters,” James said. “Just Lily.”
“James is right but also wrong,” Dorcas spoke up. “Obviously Lily needs to be ok, but this can’t go unpunished. He’s hurt her before, he’ll do it again if we don’t stop him.”
“So what do we do?” Frank asked.
“What do we do about what?” Lily groggily sat up. “Wuz goin’ on?”
“Lily!” Marlene cried, rushing over. “You’re awake!”
“Unfortunately. What are we talking about?”
“Don’t worry about that. How are you feeling? You alright? No soreness or pain in your arm?” James asked.
“I’m good. Arm twinges a bit but fine besides that. Marly, you ok?” Lily asked, swiveling to look at Marlene.
“Yeah, I’m fine Lils. Sorry I flipped him onto your arm.”
“Nah, it was a pretty cool thing to be honest with you. Martial arts expert Marlene McKinnon, saving girls from asshole Slytherins.”
Marlene laughed. “Yeah right. Completely fucking panicking and throwing a guy doesn’t really count as martial arts.”
“Eh, you did good Micks,” Sirius said. “Now just use that energy to help us maim Mulciber.”
“There will be no maiming,” Lily declared.
“But-“
“No, Alice.”
“Consider this-“
“Remus, stop.”
“What if we-“
“Not you too, Peter.”
“Guys?” James interuppted.
“Yeah?”
“Where did Dorcas go?”
The group looked around.
“Well shit,” Marlene said dumbly. “Mulciber may already be a corpse.”
——————————————————————————————
“Cas, wait!”
“Nope. Time to kill Mulciber.”
“Have you even properly established an alibi?” Marlene shouted down the hall.
Dorcas halted. “Well, you and I are wandering around the school. No one actually knows where we are, so as long as you vouch for me, they can’t prove I was the murderer.”
“Ok admittedly that’s good. I played right into your hands there,” Marlene responded.
“No shit,” Dorcas scoffed, beginning to walk away.
“No wait, you stay here-“ Marlene caught Dorcas by the wrist just as she turned into a new hallway.
“Let go,” Dorcas said simply.
“Yeah, see, thing is, I can’t really do that, because I can’t let you go kill someone-“
“Marlene.” Dorcas stepped forward. Marlene swallowed and took a step back. “Let. Me. Go.”
“Erm, can’t do that Cas, really sorry but-“
“Marlene.” Dorcas had Marlene backed into a wall now, a hand on her waist to prevent her from moving. The stones were cool and rough on Marlene’s back, unlike Dorcas’ body, warm and soft, but unyielding against her as she kept her hold on Dorcas’ wrist while simultaneously being held in place.
“Dorcas,” Marlene returned, mouth dry. “I really can’t let you do this.”
“So we let him get away with hurting Lily?” Dorcas said lowly.
“Er, well, no, but…” Marlene could barely think. Her mind was screaming with how close Dorcas was, how easy it would be to lean down and capture her lips in a kiss, how Dorcas was keeping her pinned to the wall so easily.
“What do we do then?” Dorcas questioned.
“We, uh, we… prank him!” Marlene blurted out.
“We prank him?” Dorcas asked skeptically. “How exactly would that discourage him?”
“Easy. We screw over all of Slytherin. We leave a clear message, hurt Lily again and we’ll do much worse. Every Slytherin knows they got screwed because of him, so if he tries shit again, they stop him for us so they don’t have to deal with the consequences.”
“So collective punishment? You now that’s a war crime under the 1949 Geneva Convention, right?”
“God you’re such a fucking nerd,” Marlene breathed. “How do you just know that?”
Dorcas giggled. “Some of us study.”
“Sounds horrific, how do you survive it?”
“Well, having someone to take my mind off it occasionally helps,” Dorcas replied.
This time, Marlene was sure she wasn’t imagining Dorcas leaning into her.
She let her eyes flutter closed and leaned in too.
——————————————————————————————
“Ha! Caught you- oh shit, sorry!” James spun around and faced the wall. He had expected to find Dorcas and Marlene arguing, not kissing.
“James!” Dorcas jumped back. “What are you-“
“Sorry, so sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt-“
“You didn’t interrupt anything,” Marlene said quietly. “Dorcas was just… talking about the 1949 Geneva Convention.”
“What?” James asked. “You two…. You weren’t, erm, you weren’t-“
“We were just talking,” Dorcas said, keeping her eyes trained on the ground. “Marlene came up with a plan to stop Mulciber.”
“Yeah? That’s uh, that’s great. Really great. Why don’t you go tell everyone else?” James suggested.
“Yeah, I’ll… do that.” Marlene exited quickly, not looking at Dorcas once.
“Dorcas!” James whisper-shouted.
“What?” Dorcas replied.
“What was that? You had her up against a wall! Were you just not gonna kiss her?”
“I…” Dorcas looked at him. “Was about to. Oh god, I was about to kiss Marlene.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because…I’m with Jack! And it wouldn’t mean anything to her. She’d think I’d lost my mind or something,” Dorcas argued.
“Ok, you and Jack are just talking. Has he asked you to go steady?”
“Well, no, but-“
“Then you wouldn’t be doing anything wrong, kissing someone else,” James said. “Look, if he hasn’t asked you to be exclusive, then you don’t need to feel bad for talking with someone else, ok?”
“Yeah, fine, but even if that wasn’t an issue, I shouldn’t have even gotten close to kissing Marlene!”
“Why not?”
“Because she doesn’t like me like that! She’s not into me, James, like at all. She just wants to be friends,” Dorcas answered frustratedly, trying to keep her voice down.
“How can you be sure if you never ask her?” James responded.
“I’m sure. Look, can we just drop this? Please?” Dorcas asked desperately.
“Fine. But Cas…” James trailed off. Dorcas looked at him questioningly. He laughed and pulled her into a hug.
“Don’t push away good things when they come to you,” he muttered into her hair.
“Yeah, I guess I can decode that,” Dorcas smiled. “Now come on. Marly really did come up with a decent plan.”
——————————————————————————————
“Ok, so we know we have to prank the Slytherins and tell them it’s because of Mulciber. But what should the prank be?” Remus asked. The group, with the exception of Lily, was spread out across the common room, each one attempting to form a plan.
“It’s gotta be big, and it’s got to interfere with all of them,” Mary said.
“What would screw all of them over?” Frank wondered.
“Could steal their robes, leave them in the Great Hall,” Peter mused.
“Do you really want to be subjected to seeing unclothed Slytherins in the morning?” Alice asked.
“Good point. It can’t be negative for the other houses,” James said.
“Ok. Erm, what if we set a bunch of spiders loose in their common room?” Marlene suggested.
Sirius looked at her askance. “Jesus Christ, calm down Micks. We’re not sending them straight to hell.”
“Wait! That’s it!” Remus cried.
“The spider thing? Babe, we are not going anywhere near spiders-“
“No. The straight to hell thing,” Remus clarified.
“Does anyone else know what he means? Because I don’t and someone needs to explain it to me,” Frank said confusedly.
“Fill their common room with glitter. I’m talking an avalanche here. Glitter never goes away, and they’ll be finding little specks months from now. It’s annoying, it screws over every Slytherin but it doesn’t affect anyone else, and they’ll lose their bloody minds when they find out it’s all because of Mulciber.”
“That’s… actually pretty good,” Alice said. “Less violent than I’d hoped, but it checks all the boxes.”
“I’m afraid violence can’t really be our top priority. Also, how did you get glitter from straight to hell?” Frank asked.
“I was gonna make a gay joke and then I started thinking about Sirius’ rainbow glitter cape and it spiraled from there,” Remus answered.
“Sirius has a what-“
“Anyway!” Sirius clapped his hands together. “When should we pull this off?”
“Not at night. Filch has increased patrols ever since the snake skull incident. We’d never get away with it,” Dorcas said.
“Yeah, but when could we go during the day? There’d never be time,” Peter replied.
“During dinner,” Mary said. “The Slytherins will be eating. Or at least most of them will, and the few that aren’t won’t just be hanging around the common room. It’s the best time for it.”
“But it gives us a pretty small time window to pull this off. We’ve got be efficient about this,” Alice said. “Who’s best at charms here?”
Peter, Remus, and Dorcas raised their hands.
“Ok. You three will be the ones in the common room creating the glitter. Best at defensive magic?”
James, Sirius, Marlene and Frank put their hands in the air.
“Excellent. You four will be lookouts and smugglers, of sorts. Your job is to make sure that the Glitter Gang makes it in and out without being caught. James, you stick with Peter, Sirius, you’ve got Remus, and Marlene, you keep Dorcas out of trouble. Frank will be the go-between, ready to take any position if necessary.” Alice explained.
“What should you and I do?” Mary asked.
“You’ve got to keep Lily away from all of it. Maybe get her in the library or in here, but you can’t let her know where we are or what we’re doing. She wouldn’t approve in the slightest,” Alice said. “I’ll be in charge of communications and running the operation from these zone, which will be the Astronomy tower. James, you’ve got those notes we came up with?”
“Of course,” James said. “You think they’ll work for this?”
“What’s better than a field test, right?”
“Good point.”
James stood and reached into his robe pocket. He pulled out a wad of paper scraps and placed it on the table.
“What is this?” Marlene asked.
“These are paper scraps. However, it’s what they do that matters.” Alice grabbed a piece and wrote her name across it.
“It’s paper? What is it supposed to- oh.”
The group watched in amazement as Alice’s name appeared across every sheet of paper.
“They record and show any messages written on a single sheet on all of the pieces. And you can wipe it away, look.”
Alice waved her wand over the paper once and the ink disappeared, fading from the other sheets as well.
“Well isn’t that useful,” Sirius remarked.
“Yep. Everyone grab a paper. We all clear on our roles?”
A chorus of assent rang out.
“Great. Operation Avenge Lily Evans is a go at 7 o’clock tomorrow night. Rest up, team, you’re gonna need all the energy you can get.”
——————————————————————————————
“This is gonna go badly,” Dorcas muttered.
“Shh. They should be leaving in about 3, 2, 1- there they go,” Marlene said, ducking her head around the corner. “They’ll be gone in a few seconds. Remember, if there are any in the common room-“
“Call for backup,” Dorcas said. “Yeah, I remember. You know I can fight for myself, right?”
“I know, but I’m more used to it than you are. We’ve each got a role that plays to our strengths.”
“Fair enough. Am I clear?”
“Yeah. Go,” Marlene said.
Dorcas ran towards the dungeon’s entrance. At her side she saw Remus and Peter hurrying towards her.
“Ready?” Remus asked once they reached the door.
“Yep. Sirius try the whole, ‘call me, I’ll protect you’ thing?”
“Of course. Marlene did that too?”
“Yes. Kind of annoying huh?”
“Guys, you can trash-talk your significant others later, right now we need to be doing things,” Peter piped up. Dorcas and Remus hadn’t even noticed him opening the door. “Can we get on with it?”
“Yeah,” Remus said, stepping inside. “Let’s go.”
Dorcas walked into the common room. “Ok, this place is miserable. How do they live like this?”
“It’s a Disillusionment charm,” Remus replied. “If it’s your first time coming in the room, it looks awful, but the charm is broken if you enter more than once.”
“How do you know that?” Peter asked.
“Lily told me,” Remus answered. “Now, you have the vial of glitter I gave you?”
Peter dutifully removed it from his pocket. “You sure this is enough?”
“Its perfect. Dorcas, would you like to do the honors of scattering it?”
“But of course, good sir,” Dorcas replied, taking the vial and sprinkling glitter everywhere.
“Ok, everyone ready?” Peter asked.
“Yep. Let’s do this,” Remus answered.
——————————————————————————————
Marlene looked down at her paper scrap as she waited, watching the words inscribe themselves.
----
Is the charms crew in position?
Yeah, we’re in the dungeon now. We should be out in a few minutes.
Stay alert, some Slytherins are wandering around my end and they might be heading in.
What do we do if they get to us?
Stop them somehow.
Thanks Alice, that’s really helpful.
Oh fuck off.
Shit, guys, hold on, there’s some Slytherins nearby. I’ll let you know when they’re gone.
----
Marlene pocketed her paper scrap, listening intently to the Slytherins just around the corner.
“Did you hear about Flitwick’s next assignment?”
“Nah, I barely pay attention in charms. Tell me at dinner.”
“Alright. Hold on, I’m really cold, I’m gonna grab my jacket real quick.”
“Ugh, fine, hurry up.”
“Shit,” Marlene cursed. “Fuck.”
----
Slytherins headed your way, charms crew.
Shit. Hold them up for just a minute.
How?
I don’t know, just stall!
----
Marlene swore under her breath and then stepped out from her hiding spot.
“Hey! Where the hell did you come from?” One of the Slytherins asked her.
“Oh, well, I’m looking for Professor Slughorn and I got lost,” Marlene lied, hoping that would convince them.
“Yeah right. Avery, that’s Marlene McKinnon,” the other student spoke up. “She’s with the Marauders, filthy mudbloods and blood traitors.”
“Woah, hey, I’m not looking for trouble, just Slughorn. You seen him around?”
“Get out of here,” Avery said. “Or we’ll have to escort you out.”
“And believe me, that would be unpleasant for all of us,” The other student spoke up.
“Well, it wouldn’t have to be,” Avery said. “Rosier, weren’t you just telling me how long it’s been since you had someone to just… relax with?”
“You know, you’re right, Avery,” Rosier replied. “It’s been awhile. And I mean, she may be a filthy blood traitor, but damn, she’s fine.”
“I’ll shove my wand so far up your ass someone will have to pull it out of your throat,” Marlene threatened.
“And feisty too. I do love it when they put up a fight,” Avery intoned. “Would you be willing to share, Rosier, or do you need her all to yourself?”
“Oh, I’ll go beyond just sharing her with you, I think all blood traitor whores should be public property, don’t you-“
Rosier crumpled to the ground, revealing Dorcas behind him with her wand aimed at his back.
“Don’t you fucking dare talk about her like that,” Dorcas seethed.
“Where did you come from?” Avery said, tripping over his robes as he pulled out his wand. “Nott! Rookwood! Get over here!”
“Time to run?” Marlene suggested.
“Seems like the best option,” Dorcas agreed, grabbing Marlene’s hand and taking off.
——————————————————————————————
“Holy shit, come on, this way!”
Dorcas tugged Marlene along, rushing down the halls. They laughed as they ran, looking over their shoulders and nearly tipping over their own feet.
“Are they following us?” Marlene gasped.
“I don’t know!” Dorcas replied. She winced as she heard rapid footsteps behind them. “Ok yeah they definitely are.”
“Shit, this hall is a dead end, where do we- wait. In here!”
“What do you-fuck!”
Dorcas nearly crashed to the ground as Marlene pulled her into a broom closet and swiftly pulled the door shut behind her. The only thing that kept her from falling was Marlene’s arm, catching her around the waist and holding her close. The two barely breathed as the footsteps from outside got louder.
“This hall is a dead end, they’re not here.” A voice called out.
“Did you see their faces?”
“Nah. Who cares though, the house elves will have the dorms cleaned out in an hour or so.”
“Yeah but c’mon. We’re really gonna let them get away with it?”
“You see them? No? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Shut up man, let’s just go.”
The voices faded, the rapid footsteps getting farther and farther away until they could no longer be heard. Dorcas finally allowed herself to exhale shakily.
“That was close,” Marlene said quietly.
“Yeah. Jesus, that was almost really bad.”
“Could’ve been worse though.”
“How?” Dorcas asked.
“I could have gotten stuck in here with Sirius.” Marlene replied seriously.
The adrenaline and ridiculousness of the situation all seemed to catch up at once and Dorcas, despite it not being that funny of a joke, lost it. She cracked up, stumbling backwards into the opposite wall as she laughed.
Marlene looked at her, clearly amused. “Damn Cas, if all I have to do to get you to laugh at shitty jokes is make you run for awhile, you’re gonna start doing laps with me during Quidditch practice.”
“Ha ha dumbass. I just, got excited you know? That was insane.”
“Yeah, it was,” Marlene said. Her voice drifted off slightly, and Dorcas looked at her questioningly.
“What?”
“You’ve, uh, you’ve got a bit of glitter on your face, just right there.” Marlene gestured towards her mouth. Dorcas flushed and wiped her mouth.
“Did I get it?”
“Um, no, it’s right here-“ Marlene pointed towards her bottom lip. Dorcas tried yet again to remove the glitter.
“Good?”
“No, it’s still there, here, let me-“
Dorcas held her breath as Marlene stepped closer and carefully drew her thumb across Dorcas’ lower lip.
“Got it,” Marlene whispered triumphantly, holding up the speck for Dorcas to see.
And suddenly her back was against the wall and Dorcas’ mouth was on hers and her knees were made of jelly. The only things holding her up were the hand on her waist and the hand so delicately tangled in her hair. Dorcas' lips were moving against hers and she was in heaven, she could taste the chocolate biscuit Dorcas had eaten and smell her jasmine scented shampoo and Marlene was losing her mind, losing it in Dorcas Dorcas Dorcas-
And then it was over.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that, I’m so sorry-“
“Dorcas. Cas, hey, look at me,” Marlene said. When Dorcas kept her eyes on the ground instead, she slipped her fingers under her chin and lifted her head gently, smiling when Dorcas met her eyes.
“I’m sorry-“
“Don’t be,” Marlene replied. “If I had an issue with it, I would have stopped you. I clearly didn’t.”
“Yeah, but-“
“But what? I’m not sure you’re hearing me right, Cas. What I’m saying is…” Marlene pressed closer. “I enjoyed it.”
“You, uh, you did?”
“Mhm. I think I might enjoy a repeat performance, too.”
“You know, I don’t think anyone is expecting us back for awhile,” Dorcas said coyly.
“Hmm, and it’s not like they’d need to know how long we were in here,” Marlene grinned.
“That’s true isn’t it?”
“Yep.”
“How convenient.”
“Dorcas?”
“Yeah?”
“Get over here and kiss me.”
——————————————————————————————