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Marlene could hear the exuberant sounds of the party raging in the common room from her dorm, everyone was still on a high from Gryffindor’s victory in the quidditch match against Slytherin. The party was fun, as all Gryffindor parties are, but she needed to escape for a couple minutes. Sometimes it all was a bit much. When she left, Sirius was still dancing on the tabletops and Lily, being her prefectly self, was yelling at him to get down. Marlene was drunk, but not drunk enough to handle Lily in prefect-mode.
Marlene hadn’t seen Mary since before the match, Mary had wished her good luck with a hug, letting her hand linger on her waist for longer than normal. They had been playing this game for a while now, the prolonged glances and lingering touches, but neither of them had said anything about it. Marlene wasn’t exactly sure what it was, she knew she liked it and that she wanted more, but she didn’t know how to get there, especially without talking. Maybe she just needed to go for it and kiss Mary. No, no, no , she thought, she couldn’t do that, that could ruin their friendship. The alcohol must really be getting to her head if she’s thinking this sounds like a viable idea.
Marlene got up from her bed to open the window for some fresh air, maybe that would help her sober up a bit and get these insane thoughts out of her head. As Marlene sat back down on her bed, the door opened. It was Mary.
“Hey love, I noticed you disappeared, are you alright?” Mary asked as she drunkenly stumbled closer to Marlene.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just needed some air, you know how it is,” Marlene replied as Mary sat down next to her.
“Alright, just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine. Where’s Benjy?”
“Benjy? Probably off with Hestia or someone, not sure.”
“Oh.”
Mary quickly moved on, “You played a killer match today, you’re a much better beater than Sirius,” she settled down next to Marlene, leaning in more than usual, “Don’t tell him I said that though,” she added in a whispered giggle.
Marlene laughed, “Oh please, everyone knows I’m the better beater,” she added a hair flip for dramatic effect. “I reckon I might be the best player on the team to be completely honest.”
“You know, I agree, if they don’t make you captain next year after Prewett is gone I’ll go to McGonagall myself and demand that you be made captain!”
“Yeah well, it’ll probably be Potter. We all know he wants it more than anything,” Marlene flopped onto her back so she was now laying on her bed, “Well maybe not more than he wants Lily,” she added with a smirk.
“True that!” Mary giggled as she laid down beside Marlene. “He’s properly mad about her, huh.”
“Yeah,” Marlene responded with a pause, ”Do you think he’ll ever actually ask her out? We all know he likes her, I’m surprised he hasn’t yet.”
“I think she’ll ask him out. Not for a while though, Lily thinks he’s awfully annoying, but he is so charming, I think it’ll happen. They’d be cute together.”
“That’s sappy of you,” Marlene said with a hint of surprise.
“Yeah well, don’t tell anyone this but I’m a sucker for love and happy endings, and everything all the cheesy love songs are about.”
Marlene faced Mary and with a sly smile said, “Like, Take A Chance on Me? ”
Mary let out a soft chuckle, “Yes, just like that,” they were both thinking of the same thing.
***
A few weeks earlier…
Marlene was drunk. Gryffindor had just won their match against Hufflepuff and Marlene would be damned if she wasn’t celebrating. It’s been a rough few weeks, Mary has been more distant than usual. Marlene was worried she had done something wrong - did she push too far? Because Mary has been talking to Benjy Fenwick lately. Stupid Benjy Fenwick and his stupid nice hair, and his stupid broad quidditch shoulders, and his smart Ravenclaw grades. Ugh. Marlene couldn’t stand him.
“If you change your mind
I'm the first in line
Honey, I'm still free
Take a chance on me”
“Marlene!” Mary pulled her off the couch as soon as she sat down, “We have to dance to this song! I know how much you love it,” Marlene could tell that Mary was just as drunk as her. “Come on!” Who was Marlene to deny Mary.
“Take a chance on me
That's all I ask of you, honey
Take a chance on me”
As soon as they started dancing everything else faded away. It was just Marlene and Mary. Marlene felt hyper aware of where she and Mary were touching, her hands around Mary’s waist, Mary’s arms around her neck, their legs kept brushing against each other. Marlene looked up and made eye contact with Mary. It felt like time had frozen. Marlene slowly started to move her face closer to Mary’s. It looked like Mary started to do the same but then she suddenly wasn’t there. Benjy pulled her away. Benjy.
“Mary! Where have you been, let’s dance,” and suddenly Mary was gone.
***
Mary’s voice brought Marlene back to the present, “Did you know I actually read a lot of romance novels over holiday?”
“No, I didn’t,” Marlene responded with a faux gasp, “What would people say if they knew that Mary Macdonald reads romance novels in her free time.”
“Don’t you dare, McKinnon, I need to keep my street cred.”
With a smirk, Marlene said,“What street cred?”
“You slag!” Mary threw a pillow at Marlene, she only laughed in response. They kept throwing the pillow at each other, only causing them to laugh more.
Marlene pushed Mary a little harder than expected, and Mary, who usually was quick on her feet but also was usually sober, fell off the bed. But she didn’t fall alone, she took Marlene with her. They both fell onto the floor, giggling the whole way down, Mary fell on her back and Marlene on top of her.
“Are you alright?” Marlene managed to get out in between giggles.
“Yeah but I’ll definitely be feeling that in the morning,” Mary opened her eyes, Marlene hadn’t noticed they’d been closed the entire time. As soon as their eyes locked they realized the position they were in and it felt like time froze. “Marlene,” Mary whispered, barely audible, Marlene wasn’t sure she even heard it.
“Mary.”
“What are we doing?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know anything. Except that I really want to kiss you right now,” As soon as she said it, she felt Mary freeze under her. Marlene regretted it immeadietly, she messed up, she ruined everything, nothing would be the same anymore. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that,” Marlene rushed to get off of Mary and quickly rushed to the door. She was halfway out of the dorm when she felt something grab her arm.
“Marlene, don’t apologize,” that was all Mary said before Marlene felt herself being pulled back into the room. Mary sat back on her bed and with a soft smile, motioned for Marlene to do the same. “I don’t want you to apologize.”
“Yes, you said that already,” Marlene responded uncomfortably, looking at anything that wasn’t Mary so she could avoid eye contact.
“The reason why I don’t want you to apologize is because I sort of want to kiss you too.” This caused Marlene to whip her head up and stare at Mary with her mouth hung open.
“You what?” Mary was now the one looking away shyly, there was a slight pink tinge to her cheeks.
Mary looked at Marlene, looking more confident than she did a second ago. They both moved to each other at the same time, it felt like gravity was pulling them together, and that nothing could stop the path they were on. Marlene’s lips surged towards Mary’s, and when they touched it felt like electricity. Marlene put her hand on Mary’s cheek to keep her there and Mary quickly responded by putting her arm around Marlene’s waist. Marlene felt like her whole body was on fire. They were perfectly in sync, they knew how to respond to each other, as if they’d been doing this for years. When they broke apart it felt like all the time in the world had passed but also none at all.
“Wow,” Mary started, with a dopey grin on her face.
“I know,” Marlene knew she was wearing a similar expression.
“That was.”
“I know.”
They both stared at each other for a couple seconds longer before simultaneously bursting into giggles. This went on for minutes, kissing in between their laughter, before they heard the door open. It was Lily.
“There you guys are, I hadn’t seen you guys in awhile and got worried. I finally got Sirius off the table but Potter ended up taking his place. Remus said it was because he wanted me to ‘pay attention to him’ but ugh,” Lily said with an eye roll as she walked towards Marlene and Mary. “Anyways, what have you two been doing? The party is still going on.”
Marlene and Mary made brief eye contact and with a small smile Marlene responded, “Oh we just needed a breather, but we’ll be back down in a few.”
“Alright, I’ll get us all drinks, see you down there,” Lily swiftly exited the dorm.
As soon as the door closed Mary and Marlene burst into laughter. “Well I suppose we should get back down there.”
Mary looked at Marlene as if she were a precious thing; “Yeah, I suppose we should,” was all she said before getting up and heading to the door. “You coming?’
Marlene quickly followed behind Mary, “Yeah, just one last thing,” and then she quickly gave Mary another kiss. “Okay, I’m ready now,” and Marlene headed back to the common room, a wide smile on her face the entire time.
This night would be memorable for most of Gryffindor tower, but Marlene would never forget this night. It was the night she finally kissed Mary Macdonald.