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“Whatever happens, just keep me away from Dorcas.” Marlene adjusted her eyeliner in the mirror, then turned to Lily and Mary. “This crush on her doesn’t have to mean anything, she hates my guts, and even though I love hers doesn’t mean i have to do anything about it! It’ll be fine, I just have to stay away from her.”
Lily smoothed down her dress and reapplied her lipstick. “Don’t worry Marls, just stick with us.”
“I can even do some suggestive dancing with you if you like,” Mary winked at Marlene “make her jealous?”
“Only if I’m desperate and ten drinks in.” Marlene snorted.
“Here,” Mary snatched the eyeliner out of her hand and scribbled something on Marlene’s arm. “For good luck.”
Marlene looked back at the heart on her arm once they arrived downstairs. Dorcas was standing in the corner talking to a Slytherin. She was going to need this good luck.
It was supposed to be a Halloween party, as indicated by the cobwebs and pumpkins that had been dotted around the room by Mary and her Party Posse, but people seemed to have been a little confused on the costume front. Lily was wearing a mushroom hat to match with Pandora, Mary had put on some cat ears and drawn on some whiskers, James had painted himself and his clothes orange and had a sprout sticking out his head, Dorcas was wearing a black dress, cobwebby crisscrosses in the long flowy sleeves. Marlene had found some skeleton leggings and a skull t-shirt in her wardrobe yesterday and decided they would do.
Lily had already run off to talk to her girlfriend, but Marlene, Mary, Peter and James went down to the kitchens to get all the snacks Mary had forgotten earlier (extra crisps, marshmallows, extra crackers for Peter’s charcuterie board) and the party was in full swing by the time they got back. Sirius was in charge of music until he got too drunk and he roped James into a dance battle the second he walked through the portrait hole.
“Moony wouldn’t do it,” he whined.
“I’m sorry if I don’t want one of my few marks on this world to be video proof of me gyrating to Queen.” Remus’s arms were crossed, mouth quirked up in a smile.
“Who said anything about video proof?” Sirius smirked.
“Please, Mary’s here,”
Sure enough, Mary rushed upstairs to get the muggle video camera she’d brought back to Hogwarts at the beginning of the year and filmed the best dance battle Gryffindor had ever seen, Sirius’s swinging hips beating James’s questionable breakdancing in the end.
“Alright!” Mary yelled, shutting off the video camera. “Gather round in a circle, we’re playing a game.”
“Seven minutes in heaven,” Lily announced, sitting down next to Pandora.
“Seven minutes in hell, actually, to make it spooky.” Mary pointed to a broom cupboard in the corner. Someone had scribbled “hell” on a scrap of parchment and spellotaped it to the door. “We’re also playing truth or dare while everybody’s snogging in hell.”
“Let’s do this,” maybe Marlene could hook up with someone else to get her mind off Dorcas, that Ravenclaw girl was cute. “Oi Potter, chuck me a butterbeer!”
James launched a bottle across the room, people ducking out of the way.
The first couple to go in were Benjy Fenwick and Peter Pettigrew, who came out blushing and insisting nothing happened. Emma Vanity was dared to do a handstand and succeeded until she fell on Amelia Bones. Sirius was forced to admit that he’d written Star Wars fanfiction, and James confessed that he was called Prongs because he had once called toes ‘foot prongs’.
Everything was going smoothly until the bottle landed on Dorcas.
Lily flicked her wand and the bottle spun round and round before landing on Marlene.
Fuck.
Fuck?
Fuck.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.
She attempted to roll her eyes and look as annoyed as Dorcas did.
Fuck.
Mary made an apologetic face at her, Lily was avoiding her eyes.
Fuck.
“Let’s do this,” Dorcas got to their feet.
“After you,” Marlene opened the cupboard door and held it open for Dorcas, who sighed again and walked in.
The door closed behind them with a click.
It was small, enclosed. A couple boxes of muggle disinfectant, an old broom, and a disturbing amount of discarded condoms and dust.
Marlene sat down on one of the boxes, Dorcas leaned against the door. She could barely make out Dorcas’s eyes watching her in the dim light.
“What are you even supposed to be?” Dorcas’s voice broke the silence.
“A goth skeleton.” Marlene quipped back, even though it was a fair question. “And you’re one to talk, you look like a hot version of a muggle witch.” she had to stop herself from clapping her hands over her mouth in surprise, what was that?
Dorcas’s lips twisted into a smile. “You think I’m hot?”
“What? No, I just meant-” Marlene floundered. “Relatively, you know, muggles think witches are all warty and shit and you’ve got really smooth skin-”
“I’ve got smooth skin now too?” Dorcas was looking at her like this was the best thing that could happen.
“I’m going to stop talking so that you don’t have too much material to blackmail me with,” Marlene hid her face in her hands.
Dorcas sat down on the box next to her. “No, carry on. I want to know what you really think of me. Whether you really hate me.”
Dorcas was so close when they whispered the last part, Marlene could feel their breath on her neck.
“I could never hate you, Dorcas.” Marlene couldn’t bring herself to turn to face Dorcas, to see their lips so close. “I think I . . .” Maybe it was the vodka Remus had been passing around, maybe she just had no fucks left to give, but the confession tumbled from her lips. “I need you.”
And just like that, Dorcas’s lips were on Marlene’s and Marlene couldn’t believe she’d ever survived without this, without Dorcas’s hands in her hair, without their mouth pinning her down.
“Marlene,” Dorcas gasped, Marlene peppering kisses down their neck, on their collarbone, on the freckles on their jaw that she’d always wanted to kiss.
“Mm?” Marlene was preoccupied by the feeling of Dorcas’s hands on her back, their mouth on hers.
“Should we talk about this?”
Marlene pulled back, looking into Dorcas’s eyes. Their face was serious.
“Should we?” Marlene smiled.
“I don’t . . .” Dorcas’s hand trailed down Marlene’s side to clasp her hand in their own. “I don’t want to be someone you shag once, I don’t want to go back to how we were before.” Their eyes were searching Marlene’s face, looking for some truth.
Marlene had never been good at this kind of thing.
“Me neither. I just . . . like you way more than I expected to and I don’t exactly know how to deal with that.”
“I like you too. I like you so much it makes me hate you sometimes.” Dorcas gripped Marlene’s hand tighter.
Marlene couldn’t stop the smile that broke out on her face, hearing the words Dorcas had said a hundred different ways in a hundred different dreams out of the reverie of her imagination.
“Can I kiss you now?”
Dorcas nodded, already leaning forward to meet her.
When their lips met it was different than before. It was gentle, timid but sure.
Marlene slipped her tongue into Dorcas’s mouth and Dorcas groaned. Marlene smiled against their lips.
She wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, moving closer and closer, spilling into each other, but they heard a pounding at the door and broke apart. She already missed the feeling of Dorcas against her.
“Come on out you two, you might hear the end of Sirius’s fanfiction!” Lily called, voice muffled from the door.
“Coming!” Marlene yelled back, trying to smooth down her hair.
“You’ve got your lipstick on me,” Dorcas grumbled.
“I can try and fix it.” Marlene pointed her wand at Dorcas but they held up their hands.
“No way, I saw what you did to James in Charms the other day,”
“It was an accident!” Marlene insisted.
Dorcas laughed, wiping the lipstick from around their mouth. Marlene’s heart still felt like it was on a trampoline. She was giddy, couldn’t help taking Dorcas in her arms and kissing them again.
“If I didn’t know better I’d say you liked me, Mckinnon.”