Chapter Text
July 21st, 1975
You bewitched me
From the first time that you kissed me
Waited all night
Then we ran down the street in the late London light
The world froze around us
You kissed me goodnight
On the porch steps outside Christopher sits down next to her. He has a glass bottle in his hand that he taps against her empty Fanta.
“Where’d Auggie go?” he asks.
“Away from me” Marlene answers. After the game, when everybody dispersed, August was nowhere to be found. Neither was Mary for that matter, but she’s always loved to party.
August however probably knew she was a x1000 freakazoid and never wanted to talk to her ever again. And!!! She still had nine more days in Dorset! Where was she going to sleep?
“You’re being ridiculous”
“I'm not”
She was.
“Yeah, whatever” he slipped her Fanta from her hand and gave her another cold drink. “Try this”
It was a corona. “Absolutely not”
“Pssh”
“Where'd you even get this?”
“Uhh the cooler, the refrigerator, the table right over there”
“Okay I get your point”
“C’mon Cherry”
“This is peer pressure”
“Fine then don’t” and he snatches the bottle from her grasp.
“Hey” and as she snatches it back from him and looks around.
“Don’t worry about it, my uncles wont mind”
“Your mum would kill us”
“Nah she wouldn't”
It's not her first time tasting beer, when her James and Peter were younger they had mistaken it for apple juice on Christmas morning. Eight years later and it still doesn't taste any better. Only difference is this time she finishes half the bottle before handing it back to Christopher, who finishes the rest.
“Shit’s gross”
“Yeah but it makes you feel like an adult doesn't it”
Yeah. But she didn't say that ‘cause that would be lame. And almost-15-year-old Marlene was working on not being lame.
“Anyways,” Christopher says, standing up, “As much as I would love sitting here with you all night moping, it is my birthday and it's almost time to cut the cake” She grabs his outstretched hand and they begin to find their way through the darkness back to the carport.
They are halfway there when a hand touches her shoulder and pushes her back. She can't see their faces but she knows those hands.”I need to talk to you.” She knows that voice.
“August?”
“Auggie?”
“I need to talk to you, alone.” August pulls her hand and before she knows it she follows her into the house and into a small room she hasn't been in before.
There's an apology on her tongue that she never even has the chance to utter. Before the door is even shut, August is kissing her again. Her soft lips press against Marlenes and she melts into them. It's dizzying and burning burning burning and oh so soft. Marlene never wants it to stop.
But it does and she is standing terribly flushed across from the girl she loves. The girl she loves is staring at her lips.
“I like you” she says, her chin slightly wavering. “I didn't think it was possible. I almost didn't want to” her fingers ghost against Marlene's bottom lip. August looks up at her and she feels her knees weaken.
“Me too” is all she can say. It is true for all its worth. Though her brain has circuited far too much to say anything helpful.
Tentatively, Marlene brings her hand to lay on August's shoulder and leans forward. The girl she loves meets her in the middle and pays special attention to her bottom lip.
甘い時 はずむ心
(My heart leaps when you’re sweet to me)
一夜のきらめきに 揺れる
(It sways in the glimmer of a single night)
キャンドルがうるむ 瞳の中で
(The candles dim in your eyes)
無邪気に 踊ってみせる
(I innocently dance for you)
++++
To her credit, Mary only asks her once whether she ever had a crush on her. She only looks a little put out about it when Marlene tells her “no”.
“Not even a little?” she asks.
“No” Marlene answers flatly.
Mary deflates a little before springing back up. “Well if you two want the day together then I can take the boys to the park or something”
Marlene looks to August, a sparkle in her eyes, and then back to Mary. “Deal”
++++
July 23rd, 1974
You bewitch me
Every damn second you're with me
I try to think straight but I'm falling so badly
I'm coming apart
Most people don't imagine themselves living past 21. Marlene Mckinnon never imagines herself living past 10. And now here she was. almost-15 and in love with a beautiful girl who likes her back. Needless to say, Marlene Mckinnon had no idea what to do.
“We have the whole day to spend together,” August says. “What do you want to do?”
Whatever you want to do, she thought.
“I don't know,” she says instead. “What is there to do?”
Because that's the thing. This summer she's done everything. All the muggle things her mother and father tried to keep from her. All the girly things James and Peter wouldn't even attempt with her. It's exciting and new and she never wants it to end.
“We could just go walking”
But she has gone walking before. This was supposed to be the summer of new.
“Okay”
Marlene does not like oranges. She can never peel them right. When she tries, their juice always squirts all over her. The white stringy bits are bland and terrible. If anything, she likes orange juice better than actual oranges. But for their walk August snatches one off the counter to bring with them. She peels the entire thing in one peel and Marlene celebrates with her before she chucks the peel into the ditch. When she hands her a slice, Marlene happily eats it. The citrus has never tasted so sweet.
“So when do you have to go to this ‘Hogwash’ school?” she asks once they are far down the road.
“Hogwarts” Marlene corrects, “And we leave in September” But she knows August already knows this, she was Mary’s sister after all. “But I leave here on the 31st”
“Don't remind me” August whines, knocking her shoulder against Marlenes and slipping her hand in hers. It was slightly sticky.
“I’ll write to you every week,” Marlene promises.
“What's so good about this school anyways?” August was so pretty, Marlene realised again. Her brown skin glowing in the sun, her cute lips brought in a small pout. She walked with a sort of grace Marlene had never known
She thought about Peeves. And she thought about James and Peter and Lily. Of McGonagall and the Astronomy Tower and Hagrid. She thought of Sirius and Remus and the quidditch pitch. Oh long it had been since she'd played quidditch. She missed the smell of the quaffle, the feeling of its weight in her hands. The wind, the sun glaring in her eyes, and the chase. She missed the chase most of all.
“Hogwarts is pure magic.” She settles on telling her.
Only for August to burst out in that beautiful laughter of hers. “Mary told me you were a nerd”
Right. August didn't know about magic.
She mock-gasped. “She's lying, I’ve never seen a book in my life” she said, causing that beautiful laughter once again. Marlene wants to never stop hearing it.
独り言 吐息ひとつ
(You let out one long sigh to yourself)
それだけで 崩れてしまう
(That’s all it takes to make me crumble)
危な気な 恋と知らず
(I fumbled around for your warmth,)
ぬくもりを手さぐりしてた
(Not knowing this would be a dangerous love affair)
+++
July 26th, 1974
They’re at Spacey’s again. The music is blasting and the space is filled with over-energetic teenagers. If she counted, it would be Marlene’s twenty-second time there all summer. Her skills have most certainly improved, but compared to the other girls, her stamina has most certainly not. So much for being the resident dorm jock.
Anyways, here she sits, slurping on an overpriced slurppee and trying to convince her legs that yes, we can get back up and go in a circle again. She thinks she can win them over by the time she gets to the bottom of her white cherry.
Right now August is skating backwards again. Timelessly beautiful as her hair billows like a cloud behind (in front of?) her. There's a smile on her face and her moves are as agile as a fawn. Marlene loves that she can look at her and not feel guilty.
But then Christopher is coming at her fast and he crashes into the seat next to her. “Who ya gawking at?” he jeers. He’s wearing an orange t-shirt that says SUGAR in bold pink letters. It looks horrible.
She blushes furiously and punches him with one hand. “None of your fucking business, you twat” she says.
He pulls his hands up in mock surrender. “I'm just being an observant person,” he responds. “Just like I’ve observedthat since your little private chat with Auggie, I haven't seen neither hair nor toe of you”
“Did you now?”
“I won’t pry”
“And I wouldn’t answer” August was something for her and her alone after all.
“But if I were to say… ask for some financial compensation for my woes..”
“Your ‘woes’?”
“Oh I hope August doesn't hate me! , Oh she’s just so lovely , I wonder what August is doing right now? , Say, do you have any more funny stories about-” Marlene cut him off by violently punching his arm, much to his laughing pleasure.
“Never mention that again” she seethed.
He only laughed in her face. “Whatever. I’m happy for you, Pop”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Well don't look too sad I'm sure you’ll find somebody in Bowtown.” That's the town they lived in.
He was quiet for a moment, only the ridiculous bass thumping in her ears. “Nah probably not” he let go with a sigh.
“Christo-”
“You can’t tell Auggie, okay?” he asks suddenly. His voice deathly cold and if she had ever heard him this way before, a little scared.
“I won’t,” she answers instantly.
“I love her to death but-”
“I get it,” Marlene stops him. She didn’t want to tell Mary at first either. Maybe later Christopher could be honest too.
“Okay.” And then just as quickly as his frown appeared, it was replaced with a grin. “You’ll write to me right? At Hogwash?”
“Of course,” Marlene said earnestly. And then, slapping him, “It's Hogwarts!”
“Is my nerdy little friend boring you about her school again?” August says, sneaking up on them. She sat on the opposite side of Marlene, erupting tiny goosebumps on her skin.
“Yes and you're free to have her back” Christopher says. As if he ever had her.
August grubs at that and she starts to tug on Marlene’s hand to stand her up. “Just let me finish my drink first-”
But then she finds her straw is scraping the bottom of the styrofoam cup and August is still tugging on her hand. So she drops her cup back at the seat by Christopher and lets herself be pulled back out to the rink.
Wrapped me in your arms
Leaned in and whispered
"Keep me in your heart"
I'm so bewildered
What's this new desire called?
I didn't know that much at all 'bout love before
But now, I think I'm learning
++
July 31st, 1974
On Marlene’s last day in Dorset, August, Mary, Christopher and her have her a mini birthday party of sorts. Between the four of them only Christopher has made any money this summer but they manage to scrounge enough to make a nice picnic. Mary and August manage to seek a quilt from the house for them to sit on, while Christopher and Marlene stop by Spaceys to get her food. Lacy is working again today and they charm her enough to get whatever discount she makes up.
All in all it's a really nice lunch and Marlene is grateful for them. Christopher brings his boombox and they take turns flipping through the different radio stations. Mary gives her an extravagant handmade card like she always does. And August holds her hand and traces little circles in the divot of her thumb. The bees keep to themselves for the most part and they take turns seeing who can flick ants away the farthest.
“What is your birthday wish?” August asks, after they cut the cake Christopher's mom made.
“Mmmm…” she ponders, spooning a strawberry in her mouth to stall for time. Her gaze drifts down to August's mouth, whipped cream smeared to her bottom lip. “It's a secret,” she says, quickly returning her looking at those deep brown eyes. “If I say it won't come true.”
She gets lost in them for a moment before a terrible impersonation of a choking cat sounds at her back. She turns around to see Mary and Christopher hunched over each other, sticking their tongues out and poking in their mouths. Cracking a smile, Marlene throws to closest paper towel rolls at them. “Oh shut up” she says giggling.
“Disgusting,” Mary says sarcastically with Christophers approval. “I hate couples”
“Me too,”
“You're full of shit” Marlene fires back at them. Only for them both to stick their toughest out at her.
A hidden projectile flies across her shoulder and nails Mary in the head. August is snickering behind her back. And then the game is on.
Single look between all of them and the next moment random objects are flying across the blanket. Most that Mary throws do not find her mark but she still somehow manages to find the largest prince cones and styrofoam items. Christopher and August are only slightly better though where August’s throws are short, Christopher’s tosses reach all the way across the field.
Marlene ends up winning whatever their game is; only a small part of her thinks it’s because they let her win.
After the game, they stick around talking about things that don’t matter and listening to music. Only when the day is over and it’s time for Marlene to catch her train do they finally start to clean up.
At the train station, Christopher hands her small rectangular box tied with brown ribbon. “Call it a birthday gift,” he says. His smirk reminds her of James’ when he’s pulled a trick on her. Before she can question it however, August is pulling her into a hidden alcove in the station.
She kisses her softly before Marlene even has to question what they are doing. Her lips never fail to make Marlene breathless. Even now, as they are slightly chapped but still warm and full. “I’m going to miss you” is the first thing she says when they break apart.
August looks down on her, her gaze intense and bewitching. “You’ll write me?” she asks innocently.
“Of course” Marlene answers, as if there was anything else she could say.
She kisses August once more before she has to jump on the train. She tastes like something beautiful or something.
この店で 最後の夜を
(Out of nowhere, we both decided)
どちらからともなく そう決めて
(That this would be our last night)
想い出を なぞるように踊る
(We dance as if tracing the memories)
初めて会った 夜のように
(As if it were the night we met for the very first time)
+++
The ride home is quiet. Solemn, almost. Mary won't be coming until tomorrow for her birthday party. She won't see August or Christopher again until Christmas. James and Peter are waiting for her. Fifth year is on the rise. Soon she'll have to start gathering books and supplies, her dress robes certainly don't fit anymore.
Everything is ending and beginning so quickly.
Her mother is waiting in the car for her at the train stop. "こんばんは," she says, climbing into the vehicle.
"こんばんは," her mother says back. “旅行はどうだった？”
I kissed a girl for the first time. I fell in love for the first time. I learned how to skate from a muggle. You might hate me now. She wants to tell her. She wants to tell her everything. From how she found her rhythm on the rink to how August she felt when August held her hand. She wants to tell her. “素敵だった” she settles for.
It’s better this way. She just got back. No reason to start problems already.
“それはいいね.” Only once she has clipped her seatbelt does her mother pull out. They make it in the driveway just after midnight.
Suddenly July is over. July is over. And she will never feel that way again.
Dancin' all night 言葉にすれば
(If I put it into words)
Dancin' all night 嘘に染まる
(It’d get stained with lies)
Dancin' all night このままずっと
(Close your eyes)
Dancin' all night 瞳を閉じて
(And let’s stay like this forever)