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Marlene was sitting on the Gryffindor Common Room sofa, her Potions essay in her lap.
Though, you couldn’t really call it an essay. It was barely two sentences. Due Monday.
She’d put it off for the entire week, too busy with Quidditch practices and more urgent assignments. Which led her here - to the Common Room sofa on a Saturday afternoon with barely anyone around her.
She was frowning deeply at her textbook when suddenly, someone’s arms made their way around her neck from behind. At first, Marlene flinched but then she caught the familiar sweet scent.
“Come on,” Dorcas’ voice mumbled from behind her.
Marlene twisted to try and look at her.
“I can’t,” she said. “I gotta finish this.”
Dorcas pressed her lips to Marlene’s cheek. “Come on. It’s so nice outside.”
Marlene turned her head to the window, slightly confused because it hadn’t been nice for the past week when she woke up at dawn every morning for Quidditch practice.
And it wasn’t exactly nice today either. But the sky was clear and the sun was shining softly. Still, it was probably cold.
But it was the first nice-ish day in months. Spring had only started but for the first few weeks of it, Hogwarts students saw nothing but rain.
Marlene groaned softly. “Cas, you know I’d love to but I really have to finish this.”
Dorcas’ lips picked at Marlene’s ear. “You’ll finish later,” she whispered. “You need to clear your head now, get some oxygen in there.”
Marlene suppressed a smile. “You’re not taking no for an answer, are you?”
Dorcas pressed one last kiss to Marlene’s cheek and leaned back. “No.”
Marlene rolled her eyes as Dorcas pulled her textbook and essay out of her hands.
“ Alright ,” Marlene said finally, hauling herself to her feet. “Though I suppose there’s not much of a choice.”
Dorcas grinned and thrust forward Marlene’s jacket - that was when Marlene noticed that Dorcas was already dressed and had a bag on her shoulder.
She really wouldn’t have taken no for an answer, would she?
Marlene shook her head as she grabbed the jacket, a soft laugh escaping her throat. “Sometimes I can’t believe you’re like that, you know, Meadowes?”
Dorcas just smiled and took Marlene’s hand to pull her out of the Common Room.
It wasn’t as cold as Marlene had expected it to be though the early-spring air had a chilly breeze to it but not one chilly enough for Dorcas to back out of going out onto the school grounds.
The grounds, which were slowly turning from the winter grey to blooming green. The grass was slightly damp beneath their shoes as they walked hand in hand but there wasn’t a rain-foretelling cloud in the sky so Marlene couldn’t complain.
They walked down the grassy fields, Marlene going on about the ruthless Quidditch practices she’d had to endure the past two weeks. Dorcas laughed, throwing in an anecdote or two about how maybe if James cared about schoolwork as much as he cared about Quidditch he’d have better marks.
At some point, Dorcas pulled Marlene toward a tree and that was where she decided to stop, letting go of Marlene’s hand and reaching into her bag. Not really to Marlene’s surprise, for she knew Dorcas well enough, she took out a blanket and spread it out on the ground.
“It’s gonna be wet,” Marlene noticed, still on her feet as Dorcas settled herself down on the blanket.
Dorcas shrugged. “I’ll clean it.” She patted the spot next to her. “Come on.”
A smile pulling on her lips, Marlene crouched down and eventually lay on her back next to Dorcas. She settled her hands on her belly and glanced at Dorcas.
“This what you want?” she asked.
“Mhm,” Dorcas murmured, nodding and clearly trying to suppress a smile. “Just…”
She reached for one of Marlene’s hands and intertwined their fingers.
Marlene rolled her eyes fondly, their joined hands resting between them. “Merlin, you're a sap.”
Dorcas nodded — “I know.” — and leaned in to press her lips to Marlene’s cheek.
The sky was softly and impeccably blue, like someone had spilt a bucket of blue paint all over it. The air smelled warm, like spring and Marlene couldn’t contain her smile.
There were only about four clouds in the sky, all of them purely white, not threatening with any rain.
Dorcas squeezed Marlene’s hand and pointed at one of them.
“It looks like a duck,” she said.
Marlene let out a laugh, her gaze following Dorcas’ finger. “Really? I thought it was more like a dragon.”
“A dragon ?” Dorcas repeated, her voice theatrically appalled. “It’s very clearly a duck, Marls, you’ve got terrible cloud recognizing skills.”
“Mhm,” Marlene murmured, an amused smile pulling on her lips. “That’s too bad.”
“Let’s test you,” Dorcas said and pointed at a different cloud. “What’s this?”
Marlene squinted and considered for a moment.
“A… long sandwich?” she said finally.
Dorcas snorted with laughter but composed herself really quickly and cleared her throat.
“Terrible!” she said. “It’s a train , darling. You’re no good at this.”
Marlene’s heart fluttered at the word ‘darling’.
Dorcas pointed at the next cloud but Marlene wasn’t looking at the sky anymore, having turned her head to look at Dorcas.
Dorcas, with her glowing dark brown skin, and her mesmerising grin, and sparkling eyes.
Dorcas .
She turned her head to Marlene, realising that she wasn’t listening. Her brows pulled into a frown.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
Marlene smiled.
“Looking at the most beautiful girl in the world,” she said, not a quiver in her voice.
A warm flush spread over Dorcas’ cheeks as she turned away, back to the sky, and covered her face with her free hand in an attempt to hide her flustration.
Marlene laughed and leaned in, pressing kisses to Dorcas’ flushed face.