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“Hey, Lily, who braided your hair?” Marlene asked, breaking the comfortable silence in the Gryffindor common room. It was a warm spring evening, bordering on the month of May, and coats and cloaks alike were strewn across the room, having been discarded due to the increasing heat. “I know you can’t braid your hair.”
“Maybe I do,” Lily replied, raising her eyebrows, and Marlene snorted, leaning back in her chair in favor of ignoring the Charms textbook in front of her.
“I still remember the last time you tried,” she replied, snorting at the memory. It was never to be brought up explicitly, as it had ended up with Lily snipping off two inches of her hair instead of bothering to untangle the seemingly endless amount of knots found.
“I’ll have you know that it was a while ago—“
“Lily,” Marlene said, fixing her friend with a deadpan stare. “That was literally a couple months ago.”
Lily huffed and rolled up the sleeves of her cardigan, her cheeks turning a bright pink. “Your point being?”
“My point is,” Marlene said slowly, “how’d you manage to get a braid that nice?”
At this point, their conversation garnered the attention of the only other occupants of the common room, the rest of Gryffindor house either sleeping off exam stress, studying or relaxing outside (to help with exam stress), or working in other classrooms or the library (to alleviate exam stress). The reason for a lot of actions these days was exam stress, really. OWLS and NEWTs were coming up, and for the sixth years, it was generally the finals season that was looming upon them. Marlene didn’t like to think about those exams.
Coincidentally, these were the same people who also knew that James, Lily, and Regulus were all dating, so it didn’t surprise Marlene when Lily said, “Regulus did it,” with a bit of a smile. “Isn’t it pretty?”
“Yes, it is, rather,” Marlene said appreciatively, and Lily allowed herself a smug smile.
“Damn, Regulus did that?” James joined the conversation, studying Lily’s hair style from afar. “Where’d he learn to do that?”
“Maybe from Padfoot,” Remus suggested, fiddling with the end of his quill as he scanned through the pages of the textbook.
“I don’t know how to braid hair,” Sirius replied, scratching out a line in his parchment. “Besides, you’re the one who likes to do all the fancy hairstyles, Moony.”
“Maybe he learned from Moony!”
“We…don’t talk that much?” Remus looked up from his work, glancing quizzically at James. “You’re the one who talks to him the most.”
“Oh. You’re right.”
“So we’re now trying to figure out how Regulus knows how to do braids?” Peter clarified, and there was a pause before unanimous noises of assent. “Great, okay. Just wanted to make sure.”
“Do you reckon it was that house-elf?” Remus said thoughtfully. “Kreacher, was it?”
“That’s actually…a good question,” Sirius said, pulling a face. “I can’t imagine old Kreacher knowing how to do hairdos.”
“Well, didn’t he attend to several witches in your family?”
“All I know is that he definitely does not do my mother’s hair,” Sirius amended. “She does it herself.”
“Really?” James said mildly. “Walburga actually gets ready for events by herself?”
“As far as I know,” Sirius replied.
“Huh.”
“I know, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then maybe it’s a bi thing?”
James actually stopped to consider that possibility. “No, I don’t think so,” he allowed after a few moments of consideration. “I’m useless at that kind of thing.”
“Maybe you’re an exception, mate,” Sirius argued, and James frowned.
“Huh. Maybe I am.”
“Maybe you are.”
“I see.”
“Speaking of bi things, here comes one,” Remus spoke up just as Regulus walked into the common room, pausing a little at the scene in front of him.
It was common to see Regulus Black, a pureblooded Slytherin and the heir of the Black family, waltz into the Gryffindor common room as if it were his own. Both Lily and James had invited him in so much to the point that the Fat Lady became accustomed to letting in the Slytherin so long as he had the password (“Might as well treat him like one of my own since he’s practically a Gryffindor at this point!”).
“I’m sorry?” Regulus said, looking mildly confused.
“We’re talking about bi things,” Marlene clarified from her place on the floor with Lily. “And as a bi thing, I must agree with the fact that we’re very capable of styling hair.”
“Oh, is that what you’re discussing now?” Regulus said, staring at James and Sirius, who looked very much deep in thought.
“Don’t ask me how that happened,” Remus muttered, raising his book higher. “I’m just trying to study.”
Regulus simply shrugged, taking a seat by the fireplace and pulling out his own book. He claimed that it was colder down in the dungeons and that yes, he too enjoyed a bit of warmth as well and no Sirius, don’t even give me that look . No one particularly seemed to mind, though.
“Marls, don’t call yourself a thing, you’re worth more than that,” Lily said, placing a hand on Marlene’s shoulder, and Marlene practically beamed.
“Aw, thanks babe.”
“Yeah, you’re a woman, big whoop,” James snorted, and Marlene rolled her eyes, crumpling up a piece of paper and tossing it at James’s head.
“Aren’t you funny ,” she sneered, sarcasm dripping off every word. “Lily, he’s bullying me.”
“James, don’t bully my girlfriend,” Lily gasped, wrapping an arm around Marlene, who snorted in a very undignified manner.
“Wow, you already moved on from us?” James faked being wounded, pressing a hand to his heart.
“Other side, Potter,” Regulus spoke up, watching the scene with amusement. “Commit to the part.”
“Right, okay,” James said, correcting his position. “Lily, how could you break my heart? And Regulus’s? Look how heartbroken he is!”
Several pairs of eyes swiveled to the said boy, who gave a deadpan look.
“What.”
“Regulus, at least pretend to be heartbroken!” James stage-whispered, and Regulus heaved a deep sigh, shutting his book with a little snap.
“I am completely heartbroken,” he said in a monotone voice. “I may seem like I’m completely okay but I am dying inside, and nothing can ever heal the wounds inflicted by you. Absolutely wrecked inside. How could you, Lily?”
“I’ve got an actor for a brother, oh wow,” Sirius deadpanned, and Remus snorted.
“Good enough to go on Broadway.”
“Well, maybe Marlene is just better than you two,” Lily replied, nose in the air, and Marlene laughed.
“Hell yeah I am,” she cheered, throwing an arm around Lily. “I’ll treat you right, babe. Unlike these two idiots.”
“That’s pretty gay,” Peter said, not even looking up from his essay, and Marlene smirked.
“The best way to go.”
“Hell yeah!” Sirius cheered.
“And she’ll take me on better dates than you two ever could,” Lily added. “Marlene, will you buy me Honeydukes chocolate?”
“That’s it?” Marlene said. “Babe, I’ll buy you the entire stock!”
“Aw, babe!”
“Damn, Marlene’s got moves,” Sirius whistled. “Careful you two, she might take away your girlfriend.”
“I’m objecting to that,” James pouted. “Regulus, back me up.”
“What?”
“C’mon, we gotta court Lily all over again! Marlene’s gonna steal her!”
“Oh no. That’s not good.”
“No shit, Regulus!”
Regulus raised an eyebrow, sighed, and then faced Lily. “Okay, but Marlene can only buy you the stock. I can buy the entire shop. Sirius can attest to that.”
“He can,” Sirius added, and Lily’s eyebrows shot up. “Perks of being the heir.”
“Try to one up that,” James said, crossing his arms and smirking smugly at Marlene.
“I’m more romantic,” Marlene argued. “I’ll take Lily on romantic dates. Because I, for one, understand that romance isn’t just money.”
“No one here said that money is the only aspect of it,” Regulus countered. “I merely said that I can probably get her something bigger should she desire it.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she brushed off. “But I’ll take her on a beautiful picnic and it will be absolutely gorgeous.”
“Lily, come on, as if we don’t do that already!” James whined, and Lily shrugged, smirking.
“You’re enjoying this way too much,” Remus said matter-of-factly to Lily, who shrugged again. He simply shook his head and raised his book higher.
“Oh, come on! What if we take you on a date to a muggle place?” James offered, and Lily pretended to consider it.
“I’ll have to end up choosing, won’t I?” She sighed. She did have a point, though; neither James nor Regulus had any clue about the various muggle places, locations, and shops, the latter more so than the former.
“Well, I know all the places!” Marlene cheered, and Regulus frowned at that.
“That’s a bit of an unfair comparison, though,” he said. “James and I didn’t exactly grow up around muggle places.”
“Imagine Mother letting us go to that coffee shop down the street,” Sirius sighed, and Regulus scoffed.
“I can’t even imagine that. She would never let us do that.”
“I want to go, though.”
“Why don’t you?” Regulus raised an eyebrow. “You already flout pretty much all of her rules.”
“You’re right,” Sirius said, staring at his parchment as though he had never seen it before. “ You’re right .”
“Of course I am.”
“I’m stupid.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“He needs some ice for that,” Peter monotoned, much to the amusement of the other occupants in the room. Sirius pouted among the raucous laughter, arms crossed sullenly.
“Moony, tell them to stop!” He whined petulantly.
“I’m not getting into this,” Remus said calmly, flipping a page of his textbook and jotting down a few more notes onto his parchment.
“You’re not being a good boyfriend right now.”
“Oh no, the horror.”
“Moonyyyy.”
“Sirius, stop laying over my parchment,” Remus chided, pushing the said boy off of his parchment. Sirius had slumped over the table, trying to get Remus’s attention, but clearly it didn’t work. At all.
“Rejection hurts, doesn’t it,” Marlene said to Sirius in a sickly sweet manner. “I wouldn’t know, I’ve never been rejected.”
The room broke into more uncontrolled laughter, and even Regulus couldn’t hide his gleeful smile at Sirius’s offended expression.
“Okay, don’t even go there,” he warned, and she only gave a smug smile in return. “ Marlene .”
“Ooh, Sirius is getting mad,” Lily said in a sing-song voice. “You better stop before he blows up, Marls.”
“Pity,” Marlene sighed. “What a shame. At least Regulus has more chill than you.”
“ What —“ Sirius spluttered, and Regulus merely smiled at that, looking up from his book.
“We all know that you’re the hothead here, Sirius,” Regulus said. “Hell, you’re the Gryffindor between us, so you can’t really deny it.”
“ Hey— “
“No, don’t deny it, Sirius, it’s very much true.”
“I think we should end the Sirius bashing here,” James interrupted, and Sirius looked so relieved, Marlene almost laughed out loud.
Lily laughed, though, much to Sirius’s displeasure.
“ Thank you,” Sirius enthused. “Clearly only Prongs is my best friend now. Even my boyfriend didn’t help me.”
“Really?” Remus said blandly. “How very horrible.”
“Why do I put up with you?”
“I could say the same thing.”
“Couple goals,” Peter noted. “The definition of the perfect couple right here.”
“I disagree,” James replied, putting down his quill and stretching. “Lily, Reg, and I are better.”
“Does that count as a couple, though?” Peter asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, couple usually means that there are two people, right?” He explained. “But the three of you are dating. What would you call that, then?”
There was a moment of silence as everyone in the room comprehended that question.
“Holy shit,” James whispered. “That’s a good point.”
“Triple?” Sirius proposed, and Regulus snorted. “Oh, don’t give me that!”
“I’m sorry, that was just really lame.”
“Just like you.”
“Don’t cut yourself on that edge.”
“No, seriously, that was pretty bad,” Lily said, and Sirius heaved a great sigh. “Like, please never use that term. It’s terrible.”
“Jeez, way to rub it in, Evans.”
“Don’t be so sensitive, Black.”
“How about just partners,” Marlene sighed. “Like, just say, ‘Oh yeah, them? They’re all partners’.”
“But what does the term ‘partners’ suggest? Partners in crime or partners as in dating?” Peter said. “There can be many implications for the term partner, really.”
“I think the context should be enough,” she replied. “I mean, only if you had the brain cells for that.”
“I somehow feel attacked by that.”
“Oh, I was talking to Sirius.”
“Hey, hey, I said enough Sirius-bashing!” James stepped in before Sirius could react to that jab. “Let’s leave him alone.”
Sighs echoed across the room, everyone turning back to their work. Marlene sighed especially loudly, glancing at her book distastefully.
“You’re no fun,” she grumbled.