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“Dorcas! Dorcas!” Lily’s excited voice woke Dorcas one Friday morning in early December, and she felt her roommate’s hands shaking her awake.
“Lily?” Dorcas groaned, rolling over and opening one bleary eye to look at the other girl. “What’s going on?”
“Get up!” Lily said, a wide grin on her face. “Come look outside!”
Dorcas groaned, shivering as she slid her feet out of bed and shuffled over to where Lily was, bouncing excitedly by the window. Rubbing her eyes, Dorcas peered out. She had to blink a bit in the sudden light, as the sun seemed blinding this morning, reflecting across a lawn that was coated in a thin layer of snow.
“It’s the first snow of winter!” Lily exclaimed, beaming out at the lawn. Dorcas groaned.
“It’s a bad omen,” she said, shuffling back towards her bed and away from the window. “And I’m cold.”
“So you’ve been telling me for the past few months here,” Lily replied, a smile in her voice. “But come on, Dorcas; snow! It’s pretty!”
“Yes,” Dorcas said darkly, grabbing one of her blankets and wrapping it around her. “It hides it’s true nature with beauty.”
“Does it snow where you live back home?” Lily asked, grinning. “It barely ever does where I’m from in England, so it’s always special when it does.”
“It doesn’t really where I live either,” Dorcas said. “But the couple times it has, something in our town always goes wrong. The power goes out, or it breaks the roof of the school, or a tree falls on the road and someone gets in a car crash.”
“Sounds like that’s because your town’s infrastructure isn’t prepared for snow,” Lily pointed out, trying to conceal her grin. “Not that snow is a portent of evil.”
“Just you wait,” Dorcas said darkly, then clapped her hand to her head in horror. “Shit! We have a Chemistry exam this morning. I’m so going to fail.”
“Just because of the snow?” Lily asked, laughing. “You’re not going to fail. We’ve been studying all week.”
“I’m shit at Chemistry,” Dorcas said gloomily.
“You’re not shit at Chemistry,” Lily said, smiling. “I have yet to find anything you’re really shit at, actually, and it’s maddening. You’re just better at Biology.”
“Biology makes much more sense,” Dorcas said. “Chemistry is just annoying.”
“It’s too early in the morning for me to come up with adequate insults for your major in return,” Lily said, shaking her head in amusement. “Let’s leave the STEM dick measuring contest to the STEM bros, alright?”
“Fine,” Dorcas said, cracking a smile. “And you’re the one who woke me up this morning, so I don’t think you get to complain about the early hour.”
Lily laughed. “True enough,” she said. “We really should get ready for class.”
“Right,” Dorcas said, unwrapping herself from her blanket cocoon. “Let’s pick something up in the dining hall before class, though, alright? I’m sick of instant porridge.”
“You’ve got it,” Lily replied, grabbing her toothbrush and heading for the door, as Dorcas began to rummage around for clothes in her wardrobe.
Dorcas had always heard horror stories about first year dorms and roommates before coming to university, but she had been pleased to find that her experience had been nothing like the stories, at least so far. Despite the fact that she had never met Lily Evans, her roommate, before entering university, they had grown very close. Lily was neat, nice, and another STEM major, which was just an added benefit. The two girls got along very well.
Their room, too, was rather larger than Dorcas had thought it would be, with big windows which let the light in. This, Dorcas gathered, was due to the fact that they had been placed in Gryffindor Hall, one of the oldest buildings on campus, which had beautiful architecture and big rooms, some of which even had fireplaces in them. They had to pay for this luxury, however, with the fact that sometimes the water that came out of the faucet ran slightly brownish for a few seconds at first, and they had no kitchen in their building. Still, it could be worse.
After Dorcas got dressed warmly, Lily re-entered the room, making a face. “What is it?” Dorcas inquired, raising her eyebrows.
“James being annoying, as usual,” Lily replied, rolling her eyes.
“Oh, yeah?” Dorcas asked, trying to conceal her smile. “What’s he doing?”
“Nothing specific,” Lily said. “He’s just annoying. He doesn’t have to do anything.”
“Mmhm,” Dorcas said, grabbing her toothbrush and ducking out the door to go brush her own teeth. She passed James as he exited the toilets, and gave him a friendly wave.
“Morning, James,” she said, smiling at him.
“Morning, Dorcas,” he replied, looking a bit preoccupied, but he managed to hitch a grin on his face. “Did you see the snow?”
“Don’t mention it,” Dorcas warned, shaking her head and ducking past him into the bathroom, leaving him with a perplexed smile on his face. Despite Lily’s griping about James Potter, who lived a few doors down from them, Dorcas had grown fond of the bronze-skinned, bespectacled boy in her few months at uni. True, he had seemed like a stereotyped, rich jock to Dorcas at first, too. All that had changed that night, a week into the term, when he had heard her crying over the bathroom sink and came to find out if she was okay. As it turned out, sitting on the cold tile of the bathroom floor and wondering about what diseases you could catch there was more comforting with a companion, and James had commiserated with her about homesickness that night. The experience had made her feel a great deal less alone, and had changed her perspective on James Potter.
Dorcas was smart enough not to take Lily’s griping about James seriously, either. A little more than a month into classes, James and his roommate, Sirius, had held an impromptu party in their dorm room, and the night had ended with Lily in James’ bed. Still, if Lily wanted to pretend that she found James annoying instead of charming, that was her prerogative. Dorcas just hoped James wouldn’t fall too much in love with her roommate in the meantime.
Dorcas shook her head, smiling slightly as she brushed her teeth, then headed back to her room to meet Lily. The two girls walked to the dining hall together, Lily beaming at the beauty of the snow while Dorcas shook her head darkly. The beans on toast Dorcas ate that morning was not top quality, it was true, but they did beat instant porridge any day, and it helped the churning of Dorcas’ stomach as she anticipated her exam.
The two girls finished their food quickly, and hurried out of the dining hall, heading towards the academic buildings. When they passed the library, Dorcas spotted a head of wavy brown hair, and smiled.
“Hey, Remus,” Dorcas called over the tall, bleary-eyed boy approaching them on their right. “Were you studying all night?”
Remus gave her a smile. “I fell asleep in the stacks, actually,” he said, his voice containing no embarrassment whatsoever. “While I love Oscar Wilde, he does sometimes put me to sleep, too.”
Dorcas laughed. “Maybe it’s a sign you need more rest,” she called back at him as he passed her, and he gave an amused shrug. She turned back around, shaking her head in amusement as she continued to head with Lily towards the Chemistry building.
“I have no idea how he’s still alive,” Dorcas said to Lily in amusement. “I never see him in the dorm or the dining hall. How does one exist without food or sleep?”
Lily shrugged, smiling. “Maybe he’s a vampire,” she suggested. “He does seem to stay awake until dawn. Lucky for him he has a single room, so he doesn’t have to worry about disturbing a roommate. Anyway, we see him in the dorm enough for Sirius to be constantly drooling over him.”
Dorcas smirked. On the first day of orientation, Dorcas had taken one look at Sirius Black, and decided then and there that he would be the person on their floor to have loud, obnoxious sex that disturbed all of the rest of them. However, from day one, it turned out that all Sirius could do was stare besottedly across at Remus. It was funny, Dorcas thought. Sirius, who was unquestionably and objectively one of the most beautiful people Dorcas had ever laid her eyes on, wore leather jackets, had long hair, a single pierced ear, tattoos, and a determined “I don’t care about anything” air. Still, he turned into a bumbling idiot around Remus, who, though he was good-looking as well, was lanky and awkward in his oversized sweaters, and spent most of his time in the library. Still, Dorcas couldn’t really talk, because of course, there was Marlene…
“Earth to Dorcas,” Lily said, waving a hand in front of her face. Dorcas was startled out of her thoughts, and realized that Lily was holding the door of the Chemistry building open for her. Dorcas took a deep breath, and entered.
“Time to face my inevitable doom,” she muttered under her breath, heading over towards the lecture hall. Lily snorted behind her, but didn’t reply.
....
As it turned out, Dorcas’ Chemistry exam went better than she had expected it to. Afterwards, she indulged Lily by allowing her to run across the lawn, arms spread wide as she admired the snow around her, and Dorcas looked on.
“I’m surprised it’s still sticking,” Dorcas commented, shivering slightly as she drew her coat closer around her. “It’s sunny.”
“Maybe it’ll melt later today,” Lily suggested. Then she grinned wider. “Or maybe more will fall.”
This turned out to be a prophecy, as by the afternoon, big white flakes became to fall from the sky with a vengeance, thickening the layer of snow over everything on the grounds. It was only in the evening, however, when the wind started to howl, and it became hard to even traverse the short distance from the dining hall back to her dormitory.
When Dorcas dashed into Gryffindor Hall, escaping the bitter cold, she sighed with relief, unwinding the scarf around her neck and revelling in the warmth of the building. She mounted the three flights of stairs to the top floor, where her room was located. On the second landing, the lights flickered slightly, and she stopped, glaring at the offending light fixture suspiciously.
“You better not fail me now,” she told it, threateningly, before moving to round the corner towards the last flight of stairs. “This is what I get for going to university in fucking Scotland.”
“Talking to yourself? Isn’t that the first sign of madness?” A teasing, Irish accented voice asked as Dorcas rounded the corner, and she found Marlene McKinnon looking down at her, a smile on her freckled face.
Dorcas jerked back slightly, startled. It took her a moment to process the words. “I wasn’t talking to myself,” she defended. “The light was flickering. If the power goes out now, we’re all done for.” She was blushing, she knew, and thanked the lord that her dark skin made it hard for Marlene to tell.
Marlene smiled. “This place is old, it’s been through many storms,” she pointed out. “I’m sure the power will withstand this one.” She sidestepped Dorcas, who had neglected to move aside in her flustered state, and moved past her down the staircase.
“Where are you going?” Dorcas called after her. Marlene turned back, still smiling.
“Getting dinner,” she said. She quirked one, blonde eyebrow. “Want to join?”
“I just had some,” Dorcas said, shrugging, feeling a little too sad about that fact. “Be careful out there. The wind is pretty strong.”
“Hopefully I won’t be blown away,” Marlene said, grinning at Dorcas then trotting down the stairs cheerfully. The sound of her footsteps faded, and Dorcas shook herself, making her way up the remaining stairs to her floor and moving towards her door.
Dorcas might have blamed the snow for the fact that she had just made a complete fool of herself in front of Marlene, if the same thing hadn’t been happening regularly ever since she had started uni.
The first time Dorcas had seen Marlene was in the laundry room, the day before their classes had really started, with another girl, the light brown haired, brown eyed Emmeline, her roommate. The two girls, she learned, lived at the end of the long corridor that made up their floor, and Dorcas passed their door most days on her way to the exit. When Dorcas had first encountered them, she registered the fact that while both girls were tall, that was where their similarities stopped, and from the get-go, Dorcas’ eyes were all for Marlene.
Marlene was the sort of person that made everything come alive when she entered a room, with her brilliant smile, confident air, and vivacious wit. She had dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes, which sparkled with the kind of trouble Dorcas would have avoided in secondary school. Of course, she should avoid it now, too, but perhaps she wasn’t wise enough anymore. After all, Marlene wore jean jackets and old band tees, and she smiled at Dorcas in a way that lit her up inside, so who could really blame her for being entranced? Who could really blame her for lingering next to the Political Science building, where Marlene studied, after her Biology classes ended so that they could walk back to the dorm together? Who could blame Dorcas for stumbling over her words in front of Marlene, when she had never met anyone quite like her before?
Dorcas sighed, testing the doorknob to her room, and found it unlocked. When she entered, she found Lily inside, sitting at her desk and pouring over her large Chemistry textbook. She looked up at Dorcas and smiled. “Crazy out there, isn’t it? We’ll be snowed in this weekend, I’d wager. Cozy, though.”
“Yeah, it’s truly insane,” Dorcas said, shuddering. “I felt like I was going to be carried away by the wind on the way back from dinner.”
“God, I can imagine,” Lily said. “I think I just missed it when I came back, the wind really picked up in the last half hour.”
“How’s the Chem homework?” Dorcas asked, sitting down on her bed, taking off her shoes, and curling her legs under her.
“It’s alright,” Lily said. “A bit tedious, I’ll admit, but fine. I can definitely help you out with it later if you want.”
“That’d be good, maybe,” Dorcas said. “I’ll see how it is by myself first, though. But why exactly,” she said, laying on her side and smiling at Lily. “are you doing homework at all on a Friday night?”
Lily gave her a glance, rolling her eyes. “As if I have anything better to do?”
“Well, yes,” Dorcas said. “I told you that I’m forcing you to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer with me, as it’s a travesty that you’ve never seen it before! What better time than now?”
“But Dorcas—” Lily moaned, turning around in her chair. “I want to finish this before the weekend. Then I can—”
“Do the extra credit, yes, I’m aware,” Dorcas said, rolling her eyes. “You don’t need the extra credit, Lily. You’re ruining the curve for all the poor people that have to take it for a requirement already, and you’re the only one in that big lecture hall that Professor Slughorn knows by name, anyway. If you don’t come and watch Buffy with me, I will request to be switched to a nicer roommate.”
“Oh, fine,” Lily said, relenting with a sigh and closing her Chemistry book dramatically, but Dorcas saw her smile. “Hot cocoa?”
“I’ll make some,” Dorcas said, smiling and moving over to the electric kettle. “Popcorn?”
“I’ll do it,” Lily said, cheerfully, grabbing one of the microwave packs and trotting over to the door to use the microwave in the common area down the hall. Over the noise of the kettle, Dorcas heard the sound of the microwave starting up, then the low sound of two voices greeting one another. She smirked to herself. Of course Lily had wanted an excuse to pass by James’ door, which was always open, and of course, upon seeing her pass, James had gone to talk to her. Those two sure were a puzzle.
When Lily got back, a few minutes later than she would have done if she had just been going to make popcorn, Dorcas gave her a sly smile. “Run into someone?”
“What?” Lily asked, trying to look innocent. “Oh, yeah. James being irksome again. He invited us over to their dorm. Apparently, they’ve decided that the best way to endure a storm is to drink.”
Dorcas grinned. “They do it every weekend anyway.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “Yes, well, I told him I’m doing something a little more grown up tonight.”
“What—eating microwave popcorn and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer?” Dorcas asked, laughing. Lily giggled, too.
“Obviously!”
Lily got a bowl for the popcorn, and Dorcas pulled up the first episode on her laptop, propping her pillows up on her bed so that they could watch it together. Lily settled in next to her and Dorcas handed her her mug of hot cocoa, then took a handful of popcorn. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” Lily said, and Dorcas pressed play. They made it a few minutes in, Lily watching absorbedly and Dorcas alternating between looking at the screen and sneaking glances at Lily to see her reaction.
“Wow,” Lily said, smiling. “This is so 90s.”
“I know,” Dorcas said, laughing. “The first season is pretty cheesy, but I love it.”
“Oh, I think it’s great,” Lily laughed. “Really brings me back.”
“We’re barely even 90s kids!” Dorcas exclaimed, but Lily just smiled and shushed her with a waved hand. A few seconds later, however, in the middle of Cordelia monologuing, the video began to buffer.
“Come on!” Dorcas said in frustration, moving to check the WiFi connection. Just then, the lights flickered and died, sending their room into darkness, all but the bright computer screen, which continued to load.
“Oh, you’ve got to be joking!” Lily exclaimed, turning on her phone flashlight and shining it around the room. From the door, they heard muffled exclamations. Clearly, their other floormates were going outside to check whether everyone else’s power was out, too. Lily glanced to Dorcas, and they both pushed themselves up, moving towards the door and out into the hall.
“What’s going on?” Dorcas asked as she stepped out of her room, looking around, hoping to see Frank, the second year student warden that lived on their hall.
“Power outage,” said a familiar voice near her ear, and Dorcas nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned to see Marlene next to her. She seemed to have come from the dining hall, as she was still wearing her coat and gloves. Her hair almost glowed in this darkness, and she was looking down at her phone. “People are tweeting about it from all over campus, so it must be a big one.” She looked up at Dorcas, and gave her a smile. “You called it.”
Dorcas groaned. “They’d better fix it soon. We need the heat, at the very least!”
“Well, we’re stuck here until it does come back,” Lily broke in. “If nowhere on campus has power, it’s no use going anywhere. We wouldn’t be able to go far in this snow, anyway.”
“I hope Remus is alright,” Dorcas said, suddenly thinking of the solitary boy who spent so much time between the stacks of the library. “I hope he didn’t get stranded at the library.”
“I’m here,” another voice answered, coming from down the hall. Dorcas squinted, then made out Remus’ tall form, moving towards her through the darkness. “They shut the library a few hours ago because of the snow, told people to go back to their dorms.”
“Okay, everyone!” Frank’s commanding voice came from up the hall, and all of them moved towards the sound. Dorcas felt herself already starting to shiver, but she wasn’t sure if that was really due to lack of heating, or if she was just being overdramatic. “As you all obviously know by now, the power is out, but the power company people are on it! With any luck, it’ll be fixed in a few hours. Until then, we’re all staying put. No one’s getting lost in a snowstorm on my watch, alright? If any of you haven’t had dinner, I have some snacks, and we have candles for light. I suggest we all try to make the best of this situation.”
Dorcas groaned. “I just wanted to watch Buffy and relax,” she said softly to Lily, who gave her a half amused, half commiserating look.
“You were watching Buffy?” Marlene asked, from beside her. Dorcas started again, as she didn’t realize that Marlene was listening.
“Yeah,” she said, blushing, very glad that it was dark. “Lily’s never seen it before, so I had to educate her. We were just a few minutes into the pilot when the power went out.”
“Oh no!” Marlene said sympathetically. “The pilot is so good. What’s your favorite season?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Dorcas said. “Maybe season three?”
“Faith, hmm?” Marlene asked, quirking an eyebrow knowingly. Dorcas gaped at her, heat rising suddenly in her cheeks.
“How did you know?” Dorcas wasn’t quite sure if she meant about her long-held crush on Faith, or that she was interested in girls in general.
“I didn’t,” Marlene said, giving her a half-smile. “But your reaction confirmed it.”
Dorcas huffed out a laugh. “Okay, I admit it, I did have a crush on Faith growing up,” she said. “What’s your favorite season, then?”
“Either four or five,” Marlene said, looking contemplative.
“Glory?” Dorcas asked, trying to imitate Marlene’s knowing tone, hope coursing through her. Marlene smiled at Dorcas, her expression peculiar, like she knew something Dorcas didn’t. She shook her head.
“No, not really my type,” she said. “A great villain, though. I like those seasons more for Tara’s sake.”
“Tara’s great,” Dorcas replied, her heart leaping, trying not to smile too widely. So Marlene was queer, after all. Of course, the jean jackets had sort of given it away, but Dorcas didn’t always trust her gaydar.
“We should watch it together, sometime,” Marlene said.
“That’d be nice,” Dorcas said, looking away and trying to conceal her blush.
Lily had gone off to talk to Emmeline, who had her friend Hestia over. No doubt Hestia would be staying the night now, as her dorm was across campus. She stayed in Emmeline and Marlene’s dorm room often, anyway, since her roommate, Layla, often had her boyfriend over for the night, requiring Hestia to make herself scarce. James and Sirius, Dorcas was slightly surprised to see, were talking with Remus. When James saw Dorcas looking their way, he beckoned her enthusiastically.
“We were just talking about all getting together in one of our rooms,” he said, as Marlene and Dorcas walked over to them. “We can all huddle for warmth, or whatever. There’s nothing to do on our own, so why not get to know each other better?”
Dorcas hesitated, looking over at Lily. She wasn’t sure if the redhead would like the idea. Then, she saw Marlene looking at her, her face expectant, and she was decided. “That sounds nice,” she told James. “Where?”
“We could use our room,” Sirius broke in. “It’ll fit all of us, no problem.”
“You two still haven’t got the beer smell out of your carpet, though,” Marlene broke in, fixing Sirius with an amused look. Sirius flushed and glared at Marlene. Clearly, he didn’t want to be embarrassed in front of Remus, but the taller boy looked unbothered. “Let’s have it in mine and Emmeline’s,” Marlene continued. “I think it’s the biggest.”
So, ten minutes later, after gathering up some blankets and candles and what was left of their popcorn, Lily and Dorcas headed over to Marlene and Emmeline’s room, at the end of the hall. Marlene had been right: it was a very spacious room, bigger than James’ and Sirius’. They had pulled some of their own cushions onto the floor, alongside the cot which Hestia no doubt slept on when she stayed over, and most of their floormates were already there. Even Frank and his girlfriend, Alice, Dorcas noted, had deigned to come. It was probably due to Alice’s influence, Dorcas guessed, as Frank looked rather awkward hanging out with his charges. Alice, on the other hand, looked quite at her ease, chatting happily to Hestia and Emmeline, a beer in her hand.
“Hey,” Marlene said, looking around towards the door and smiling as she saw Dorcas and Lily. She was seated on one of the beds, her legs dangling down next to Sirius. “Come in, sit down. Hey, wanker, budge up, make a space, alright?” She nudged Sirius with her foot, as he was stretched out across several pillows, and he grumbled, but sat up, making room for Lily and Dorcas to sit. Dorcas was very aware of Marlene’s presence behind her as she sat, one leg dangling close to her head.
Once both girls were seated, James gave them both a toothy smile, from where he was sitting, leaning against the opposite bed. Dorcas returned it warmly, while Lily rolled her eyes.
“Do either of you want beer?” James asked, gesturing to the pack he had clearly brought with him.
“Sure,” both girls said, at the same time, and James smiled, handing them each a bottle. When Lily opened hers and took a swig, she grimaced slightly.
“Disgusting,” she commented, then took another long drink. Dorcas grinned, and took a sip herself. She, too, hated the taste of beer, and had always given the opinion that it was poorly disguised sewage water, but she was cold, and she might as well make something of her night.
Behind Dorcas, the door opened once again. “Remus,” Marlene greeted, and Sirius’ head, next to Dorcas, shot up. Dorcas smiled, and took another sip. She and Sirius, for all their differences, felt strangely alike that night. The tall boy rounded the bed, and surveyed them on the floor, a slight grin on his face. He was wearing a overlarge sweater with sweatpants underneath, and looked very cozy, just like the rest.
“I see we’re already having fun,” Remus commented, sitting beside James and across from Sirius. Dorcas didn’t need to look next to her to tell that Sirius was blushing.
“Want one?” James said, smiling rather mischievously as he offered Remus a beer, looking from Sirius to Remus in a way that Dorcas suspected James thought was covert, but was completely obvious.
“Nah,” Remus said, shaking his head and smiling. “I don’t like mixing my substances.”
“Are you stoned?” Marlene asked, suspiciously, a grin spreading across her face as she peered at Remus. Dorcas too, realized that while Remus’ eyes were not quite bloodshot, his pupils were slightly more dilated than usual. Remus shrugged, smiling.
“You went outside to smoke?” Lily questioned, raising her eyebrows in amusement. “It’s freezing.”
“Nope,” Remus said, grinning. “I smoked out of my window.”
“You all realize I’m still here, right?” Frank asked, feebly, shaking his head. Remus grinned at him.
“Sorry, Frank,” he said, but he didn’t look very apologetic at all. Frank just shook his head again, waving a hand to dismiss Remus’ apology.
“I’ve decided that tonight is off the record,” he said, sighing tiredly. James smiled, and handed him a beer, too.
“Cheers, mate,” he said, clinking his bottle with Frank’s. Alice giggled at the aggrieved look on her boyfriend’s face, and gave his arm an affectionate pat. Lily, from next to Dorcas, let out a slight snort, and Dorcas had to contain a snort of her own. When would Lily become tired of her pretense that she didn’t like James?
“So, Remus,” James said, turning to him and smiling. “We’ve been living together for months now and I feel like I’ve hardly gotten the chance to get to know you. What’s that about?”
Dorcas tried not to laugh at the way Sirius was glaring daggers at James, but Remus didn’t seem perturbed by the question. He merely smiled. “I suppose I’m not usually much a party person, so I haven’t been to your, uh, gatherings much,” he replied. “What do you want to know?”
“Major? Hometown? Hobbies?” James asked, smiling widely. Then, he wiggled his eyebrows at Remus. “Sexual orientation?”
“James!” Marlene exclaimed, leaning over to hit James lightly on the shoulder, rolling her eyes. “Don’t be rude!”
“What?” James asked, staring at her. “It’s just a question. He doesn’t have to answer if he doesn’t want to.”
But Remus was laughing, quite hard, in fact, his face turning slightly red as he did so. When he stopped, he shook his head, wiping tears from his eyes. “Nah, it’s all good,” he said. “I’m an English major, from a small town you wouldn’t have heard of near Cardiff. Hobbies include smoking, reading, and sleeping. And I’m gay.” He directed his last words to Sirius, who flushed bright red in response. Marlene covered her laugh with a cough, while Lily raised her eyebrows at his boldness, and Dorcas took another sip of beer to cover her own smile. James simply beamed.
“Excellent,” he said. “I knew I heard a Welsh accent.”
“What about you, then?” Remus asked, turning back to James and raising his eyebrows.
“I’m from the English countryside, near Bristol,” James replied. “Psychology major, and I enjoy playing football, listening to music, and hanging with my mates. Straight, as far as I’ve ever been made aware.” He winked at Remus then, causing a collective groan from everyone in the vicinity.
“What kind of music do you like?” Remus asked, curiously, unperturbed by James’ joking flirtation.
“All sorts,” James replied, grinning. “I listen to a lot of old rock.”
“Oi, don’t pretend you have good music taste on your own,” Sirius said, rolling his eyes. “All the good stuff you listen to are bands I’ve turned you on to.”
“You’re too picky,” James retorted. “Anyway, half of the time I’m listening to your music because you’re blasting it, since that record player of yours doesn’t work with headphones.”
“So that’s your Bowie record I’ve been hearing across the hall?” Remus asked Sirius, smiling crookedly at him. Sirius pinked slightly.
“Yeah, sorry,” he said, sheepishly. “Is it too loud?”
“No, not at all,” Remus said. “I love the album. You’ve got good taste.”
“Yeah, just wait until you’ve heard it twenty million times,” James said, shooting Sirius a glare. “I swear, I love Ziggy Stardust too, but after years and years—”
“Years?” Dorcas broke in, confused. “How long have you two known each other?”
“Since we were eleven,” James said. “We went to boarding school together, actually. Before this, we had shared a dorm for years, so it’s not really much of an adjustment.”
“Seriously?” Marlene asked, shifting slightly from where she was sitting above Dorcas. Her leg brushed Dorcas’ shoulder, and she didn’t move away. Dorcas breathed out, and took another sip of beer, trying not to blush. “I thought you had been paired randomly.”
“Nope,” James replied, brightly, grinning across at Sirius. “We’ve been together a long time, haven’t we?”
“How posh was that boarding school of yours, then?” Lily asked, raising her eyebrows teasingly at James. James flushed slightly, and Dorcas smirked. Funny, how only a few sips of beer could bring them to the flirting stage of the evening. Of course, Dorcas knew that Lily had never really been intoxicated when she had slept with James, as Lily had a surprisingly high tolerance for alcohol, and never drank much in a single night. Anyway, Dorcas would never have let her roommate make a decision like that under the influence, not under her watch. It was just the suggestion that she was mildly intoxicated that allowed Lily to disinhibit herself with James, letting herself pull down that façade of annoyance. Placebo effect was a wondrous thing, Dorcas thought, smiling to herself.
“Very,” Sirius replied for him, smirking at his best friend knowingly, as he seemed lost for words in the face of Lily’s smile. “Both of our families had gone for generations. But it was good. I got to meet James, here. Got away from home, that was always good.” Dorcas was surprised by the dark tone of his voice, and looked over at him. He was looking down at his hands, all traces of mirth gone from his face. James frowned over at him.
It was Remus who finally asked the question they were all wondering about. “Are your parents shit, then?” His voice was surprisingly gentle, given the crude way he had phrased his inquiry.
Sirius let out a bark of laughter, and looked up at Remus, his gaze almost appraising. His eyes, which Dorcas had just realized were a startling shade of grey, were twinkling again, as he lifted the beer bottle to his lips to take another sip, before responding. “Yeah, they were pretty shit,” he said. “But, like I said, I met James, and his family took me in when I was sixteen. After I came out and all.”
“Yikes,” Marlene pronounced, above Dorcas, and Dorcas had to laugh at that, especially because Sirius and Remus were both laughing, too. She felt a strange sense of solace with these three people, none of them who she had talked at length with before, but who all knew what it was like to grow up queer. Because it wasn’t funny, of course, but they could all laugh about it anyway, even when Lily looked slightly uncomfortable, and James confused. They stopped after a minute, but Dorcas chanced a glance up at Marlene, and found that Marlene was looking down at her. Dorcas smiled, her cheeks flushing, and looked away.
Conversation flowed after that, the ice sufficiently broken by their laughter, and their nerves all loosened by the presence of the alcohol. Their little group broke into smaller conversations, Remus moving to sit next to Sirius to ask him about music, while Lily went to sit by James, their shoulders brushing. Dorcas moved to talk with Emmeline and Hestia for a while, getting to know the two girls for the first time.
She learned that Emmeline, like Marlene, was studying Political Science, and that was how the two girls had met on the new students Facebook group, and decided to become roommates. Hestia, on the other hand, had become instant friends with Emmeline during orientation, despite the fact that Emmeline’s quiet, steady demeanor contrasted Hestia’s bubbly, outgoing manner. While both girls were very nice, Dorcas’ eyes continuously strayed over to where Marlene was sitting, laughing as she talked with Alice and Frank across the beds. Finally, she looked back towards Hestia to see her raising her eyebrows in amusement at her.
“Sorry,” Dorcas said, shaking her head. “What did you say?”
“I didn’t say anything,” Hestia said, smiling and sharing an amused glance with Emmeline. “I’m just wondering how much longer you’re going to stay over here talking to us when you clearly want to go and chat up Marlene.”
“I-I don’t—” Dorcas stammered, blushing. Emmeline smiled.
“Oh, please,” she broke in. “Just go talk to her. These candles won’t burn forever, you know.”
And that was how Dorcas found herself sitting across from Marlene, their knees almost brushing as they talked. Dorcas was surprised by how easy it was, again. Their earlier conversation about Buffy brought them into talking about other shows and movies they liked, and soon they were debating the merits of different vampire mythology in popular media.
“I don’t understand why Stephanie Meyer completely abandoned all vampire lore in making Twilight!” Marlene exclaimed, brandishing her beer around to emphasize her point. “I mean, sparkling in the sun? And they have to be torn apart and burned to kill them? Whatever happened to a good old fashioned stake through the heart, eh?”
“Exactly!” Dorcas exclaimed, grinning. “I mean, yeah, Buffy doesn’t do all the traditional vampire lore, either, like having them be ugly? Definitely not the idea of a perfect predator that lures their victim in. But still, they get most of the bits! What about Twilight having the whole vampire venom thing, too?”
“I know! I know!” Marlene exclaimed, loudly, a wide smile on her face. “It makes no sense. Everyone knows that you have to drink their blood and then die to turn! That’s like, every lore ever! I mean, you have to respect the whole metaphor of bloodborne infection, don’t you! Vampirism was supposed to be a metaphor for anxieties about the Black Plague and stuff.”
“Yes!” Dorcas said. “If you ignore the lore, you ignore all the stuff that makes the idea of vampires meaningful! I mean, it’s all about human anxieties about death, too. And in deeply religious times, it was about the whole thing about selling your soul for immortality, riches, or things like that.”
“Which is why it makes no sense that the vampires in Twilight would be so miserable,” Marlene added, enthusiastically. “Of course vampires would eat food and enjoy lives among humans, too! Vampirism is supposed to be tempting , not awful. Unless you’re Bella Swan, I guess, and you find that kind of thing tempting.”
Dorcas laughed. “I wouldn’t become a vampire, though, in any lore,” she said. “Even if you get to keep your soul, eternal life? Sounds awful.”
“Maybe,” Marlene said, looking thoughtful. “But if you were about to die, and you had the choice...I don’t know. I think I might be scared. Even though I was raised to believe in heaven, death still seems impossibly scary to me.”
Dorcas thought for a moment, then nodded. “It is scary,” she said, softly. “But is it really life without the possibility of death?”
Marlene smiled at her. The tone of their conversation had turned from boisterous to deep so quickly, Dorcas wasn’t even sure she knew how it happened. Still, she liked the way Marlene was looking at her now. Marlene’s cheeks were flushed, which made her freckles stand out even more, and her eyes were bright.
“That’s deep,” she said. “You sure you shouldn’t be a philosophy major?”
Dorcas shuddered, shaking her head. “Ugh, I hate philosophy.”
Marlene’s smile widened. “Why?”
Dorcas shrugged. “A bunch of old white guys talking in circles and claiming they’re finding the meaning of life when really they’re just annoying everyone around them? No thanks. I’ll stay in the cave if reading Plato is what it takes for me to get out of it.”
Marlene giggled. “Well, you clearly have read Plato if you know what the cave is.”
“Yeah, and I don’t care to again,” Dorcas said, pointedly. “I think searching for the meaning of life is pointless. I study biology, and trust me, every being in the world is biologically motivated to survive and sometimes reproduce. It’s a cycle, and we’re all just tiny, tiny pieces. We’re not important, so it doesn’t matter what the meaning of life is. I think, because we’re so insignificant in the grand picture of things, it means that nothing bigger than us is going to give our lives a meaning, we just have to do it ourselves.”
Marlene was staring at Dorcas again, and there was a sort of amused twinkle in her blue eyes that made Dorcas blush. Dorcas knew she went on rants when she was intoxicated. She glanced down at her bottle, wishing she knew when to shut up.
“So what do you do to give your life meaning?” Dorcas’ head snapped up to look back at Marlene, whose eyes were still twinkling at her, one of her knees now brushing Dorcas’. Dorcas couldn’t find words just then. There was a look in Marlene’s eyes, a look which Dorcas felt might have put a spell on her somehow, robbed her of speech. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she was sure it hadn’t been there a moment before. Automatically, if unwillingly, Dorcas’ eyes flicked down to Marlene’s pink lips. Even they had freckles on them, she noticed.
When she met Marlene’s blue eyes again, she knew that Marlene had seen where her gaze had drifted. Slowly, the other girl begun to move closer, her own eyes flicking down to Dorcas’ lips, then back up again. Dorcas swallowed, and began to lean in, too.
Just then, they heard the sound of the door open, and Dorcas started, letting out a surprised breath that she hadn’t realized she was holding, and looking over to the door. It had been Remus who had opened it, and Sirius was just behind him, heading out.
“Where are you going?” Marlene asked, sounding a little dazed.
“I’m going to show Sirius my music collection,” Remus said, unabashedly. “Thanks for having me, Marlene, Emmeline!” He waved a hand to say goodbye, and started out the door.
“Wait, where is everyone else?” Dorcas called after him and Sirius, looking around at the deserted room. Sirius looked back, and shrugged.
“They left when you were talking. Emmeline and Hestia just went to the loo, I think, and I don’t know where the rest are.” Then, he saluted them and hurried out, shutting the door behind him before they could ask any more questions. Marlene started to laugh.
“Remus and Sirius?” She asked, turning to Dorcas with a smile. Dorcas giggled, too.
“And James and Lily, I’d wager,” she said. “They’ve been having sex since the start of term, almost, every now and again.”
“No, really!?” Marlene demanded, grinning. “I thought she didn’t like him!”
“She absolutely does,” Dorcas said, rolling her eyes. “She just pretends she finds him annoying. It’s only a matter of time until she admits she fancies him, and they get together properly.”
“Good,” Marlene said, snickering. “James can only take so much pining.”
There was a rather awkward silence, then Dorcas got up.
“I suppose I should go to bed, then,” she said. “It’s late.”
“Oh, I suppose,” Marlene said, and Dorcas hoped she wasn’t imagining the disappointment in her voice. Dorcas gave her an awkward smile.
“Well, thanks for inviting me over,” she said. “And for talking vampire lore with me. It was fun.”
“Yeah,” Marlene said, smiling back. “We should do it again sometime.” Her cheeks flushed slightly as she said it, looking embarrassed, and Dorcas nodded. After a moment of hovering, she gave Marlene a little, awkward wave, and headed for the door. She had not made it two yards down the hallway, however, when she heard a voice call after her: “Wait!”
She turned, and Marlene’s door opened again, allowing a sliver of light onto the dark hallway. Marlene emerged from her door, and moved towards Dorcas, a candle in her hands, which illuminated her face softly. Marlene approached slowly, and stopped about a foot away, her teeth worrying her lip slightly.
“I brought you this,” she said, handing the candle to Dorcas. “I thought it might be dark on your way back.”
“On my thirty second walk back to my room?” Dorcas asked, smiling slightly as she took the candle from Marlene, her hands brushing the other girl’s as she did so, making her shiver.
“Yes, well,” Marlene said. “You could trip over something in the dark. Or Sirius could jump out and try to spook you. He’s been known to do that.” Dorcas wished that Marlene hadn’t handed the candle over, as it was harder to see her face in the dark now, and she wasn’t sure if it was just wishful thinking, or if Marlene was blushing.
“I’m sure Sirius is busy,” Dorcas joked, but Marlene did not laugh. She was looking down at Dorcas with a strange expression on her face, a combination of nerves and something else. Dorcas was silent for several moments, waiting and hoping for Marlene to say something else. Finally, she did.
“Could I—could I kiss you, Dorcas?” Marlene’s voice was tentative, soft, and terribly unsure. Usually, Marlene seemed all confidence, but now, the cracks showed, and Dorcas could see vulnerability peeking through. Dorcas wondered in awe if this was because of her.
Dorcas took a deep breath. “Yes,” she replied, her voice almost a whisper, then Dorcas blew out the candle in her hands. She let it drop to the floor between them, not caring enough to set it down, at the moment.
She caught a flash of white teeth as Marlene smiled, and then she was leaning down to kiss her. Dorcas’ eyes fluttered shut as Marlene’s lips brushed lightly against hers. Her mouth was soft at first, but when Dorcas lifted herself up on her tiptoes and put her arms around Marlene’s neck, Marlene smiled slightly into the kiss, and pressed closer to Dorcas, too, her lips parting.
It took Dorcas a moment to adjust. She had not kissed anyone in a while, and as Marlene’s lips moved against hers, Dorcas hoped desperately that she was doing alright. Still, it was hard to think about anything when Marlene was kissing her, her hands on either side of her waist and the length of her body pressed against Dorcas’. In that moment, Dorcas felt like she knew why someone might sell their soul, as she would consider it if it just meant that she could keep kissing Marlene, keep tasting her. She felt out of breath, overwhelmed, but in the best possible way. Still, it was Dorcas who eventually pulled away, untwining her arms from around Marlene’s neck and falling back onto the soles of her feet.
Marlene smiled down at her, and Dorcas smiled back, blushing. “So…” Dorcas said, still trying to find words while her brain felt fully scrambled from kissing Marlene.
“So…” Marlene repeated. She tilted her head slightly and gave Dorcas a soft, inviting smile. “You could come back in. Conserve warmth, you know?”
Dorcas was sorely tempted by the offer, and by Marlene’s lips, and she probably gave it away by how long the silence was before she answered, staring at her longingly. Still, Dorcas wasn’t sure she was ready for where that inviting smile would take her, just yet. “I shouldn’t,” she said finally, smiling. “I sleep better in my own bed, you know.”
“Okay,” Marlene said, a trace of disappointment in her voice, but she smiled at Dorcas brightly all the same. “See you tomorrow, then?”
“Yeah,” Dorcas replied. “Tomorrow.”
Marlene grinned, then picked up the candle from the floor, pulling out a lighter from her pocket and lighting it once again. She handed it back to Dorcas, then began to walk backwards down the corridor towards her room, one arm behind her back, biting her lip. She gave Dorcas a little wave, then, with apparent effort, turned and walked back to her room. Dorcas let out a deep sigh, then shook her head and turned, moving back to her own dorm room. As she closed the door behind her, she recognized, even in the dim light of the candle, that Lily’s bed was empty. She let out a laugh. She supposed James and Lily were in his bed, then, “conserving warmth,” as Marlene had put it.
Shaking her head, Dorcas set about changing into the warmest of her pajamas, shivering slightly in the cool air. Perhaps she should have taken Marlene up on her offer, after all. As she climbed into bed, she touched her lips again, and smiled to herself. She blew out the candle on her bedside, then rolled onto her other side, closing her eyes.
Dorcas fell asleep thinking about the storm and all that had happened that evening. Perhaps the winds were blowing up something more than just snow, perhaps their gusts had uncovered some sort of magic which, in turn, had come to infect the residents on their floor. Perhaps the magic that the snow had blown up this year had finally decided to come in Dorcas’ favor.
....
The next morning, the sun shone brightly outside upon campus, which was coated in a thick layer of snow. Dorcas supposed they might have the shovel the walkways before anyone would be able to safely get around. Still, when she flicked the light switch experimentally, the overhead light turned on, and Dorcas smiled. The power was officially back.
When Dorcas opened her door on her way to brush her teeth in the bathroom, she was greeted by the sight of a fully dressed Marlene, about to knock. The two girls stared at each other for a second, then the surprised look on Marlene’s face turned to a smile.
“Hi,” she said, grin stretching wide across her face as she looked down to take in Dorcas’ pajamas.
“Hi,” Dorcas replied, a little breathily. “Umm...good morning.”
“Sleep well?” Marlene asked.
“Very well,” Dorcas said, blushing as she remembered, once again, Marlene’s offer the previous night. “Uh, are you going down to breakfast?”
“I’m going to try, at least,” Marlene said, laughing. “I was just coming to see if you wanted to join me, actually. We can try to traverse the snow together.”
Dorcas smiled, then gestured at her outfit. “I’m not really dressed, yet.”
“I can wait,” Marlene said, quickly. Her cheeks flushed. “That is, if you’d like to come.”
“Yeah,” Dorcas said, smiling up at her. “I would.”
Ten minutes later, Dorcas was fully dressed, bundled up, and accompanying Marlene down the stairs. When they opened the door onto the courtyard, they were met with a blast of cold air, and both winced slightly as they braced themselves, and stepped outside. Their journey to the dining hall was much less hazardous than Dorcas had previously anticipated, except for the second when she slipped on a particularly icy patch as they were climbing the stairs to the entrance, and Marlene grabbed her hand to make sure she didn’t fall. Dorcas wasn’t complaining about that part, though, because when she was no longer at risk of cracking her skull open on the ice, she had smiled at Marlene, who had smiled back, and had not released her hand until it was time for them to serve themselves breakfast.
Now, in the dining hall, surrounded by hungry and cold students, they sat across from each other, eating and exchanging smiles once and a while. Finally, Marlene broke the silence. “I suppose since the power is back you and Lily can finally start Buffy again, then?”
“Oh, yeah,” Dorcas said, who had almost forgotten about it, in all the events of the previous night.
“Maybe I could join you two?” Marlene asked, tentatively. “I haven’t seen it in a bit, you know, and it might be fun.”
She looked so unsure, so tentative, and Dorcas thought it was endearing. Marlene was this beautiful, vibrant girl, a force of nature, really, and she was as nervous around Dorcas as Dorcas was around her.
“Yeah,” she replied, smiling. “That would be really fun.” Marlene smiled, then returned to her eggs, but not before Dorcas caught her blush. Perhaps, Dorcas mused, she would have to change her position on snow.