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Mary MacDonald loves a challenge. Unfortunately, there’s no one at Hogwarts who poses enough of a challenge for her anymore. She stretches out on the striped towel underneath her, feeling coarse sand slip onto it. She sighed and reached for the small red cooler on her left as her best friend's voices filtered through her thoughts enough that she could actually make out what they were saying.
Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon, Alice Fortescue, and Pandora Rosier were sitting around a fire, watching the sun set over Rocky Glass Beach. It was nearing the end of summer vacation, and the girls were milking the last few days for all they were worth. Mary was just outside of the circle, trying her best to stay awake, the edges of her vision going fuzzy from the alcohol and exhaustion of a full day in the sun. She sat up with a groan and leaned her head on the shoulder of the redhead next to her. Lily was arguably her favorite of the girls in the circle, although, she would never admit it. Mary had barely seen Lily this summer as the studious girl had been working at a summer camp for the entirety of August and some of July, but she was back for the last couple weeks and Mary was grateful. It was their last summer vacation of school because they were going into their 7th year and after that... well, Mary wasn’t going to worry about that right now.
“Hey gorgeous.” Mary whispered into Lily’s ear, watching her freckled cheeks flush pink. "Mary?" Lily questioned, gently pushing her off her shoulder. “What are you playing at now?” Mary grinned. “Nothing. You just look really pretty right now.” Lily scoffed, “I look terrible. I’m not wearing any makeup, and I’m sunburnt as hell.” Mary rolled her eyes. “Lils, you’re stunning. No makeup needed.” Lily blushed again, although she was right, and it was a little hard to tell under the sun crisped skin.
Lily brushed Mary off and turned back to the circle, right as Alice declared, “Ok girls. We should get back to the motel, it’s getting dark.” “Actually Alice, I need to talk to Mary for a sec, could you guys tidy up the bottles and food?” Lily questioned, gesturing to their mess of empty beer bottles and strawberry stems tossed all over the place.
Alice nodded, grinning at Lily with a mischievous glint that Mary didn’t fully understand. Marlene groaned loudly. “Yeah right. This is probably one of Mary’s plans to get out of cleaning up. I expected better from you Lily.” Lily laughed, and Mary beamed at her. Lily looked so pretty when she laughed, no matter how much she refused to see it.
“Marls, I swear. It’s not a plot, I just need to chat to Mary for a second. Is that ok with you?” Marlene sighed dramatically and nodded.
“Alright.” She huffed as she started collecting the empty bags of crisps that were strewn about.
Lily raised her eyebrow expectantly as Mary whined about having to get up. “But it’s so comfy down here Lilyyy. I don’t want to get up.” Lily laughed a little as she ended up helping Mary up. Mary felt her curiosity grow as Lily pulled her along the beach, and to a little bench just off the sand. The sun was still setting, and Lily was glowing, her red hair illuminated in the orange and pink light. Lily took a deep breath, her chest rising before she started speaking.
“Mary.” She began, turning her face towards the other girl. “Ever since we met, I’ve felt like you get me more than anyone else ever has. Over the past few months, I realized whenever you would laugh at some joke I made, or tell me how pretty or smart I am, or even just look at me, my heart just stopped. Before we met, things were kind of messy at home, and I noticed that after we met, every time I would come home and my sister would say something cruel, I didn’t care anymore. I didn’t care because I knew how you felt and that was all that mattered.” Lily paused, trying to gauge Mary’s reaction before she continued. “Meeting you has been the best thing to ever happen to me. Meeting you brought me to life.” Mary’s eyes had grown wide, her cheeks now being the ones to flush. “Lily, I-” But she was cut off.
Lily Evans was kissing her. Lily Evans was kissing her?!
‘Oh my god.’ Mary thought as she felt her best friend’s hand slide onto the thigh of the skintight jeans that she had on over her swimsuit.
Mary felt her heart race as she broke the kiss only for a moment before replacing herself on Lily’s lap. Lily gasped when she saw what Mary was doing. She laughed a little before kissing Mary again and pushing her off. “Mary.” Lily said. “Our friends are right over there; we can’t do this right now.” Mary sighed dramatically, before giving Lily one last peck and running off. “Mary!!” Lily laughed, chasing after her.
That night at the crappy motel they got rooms in was the best night of Mary’s life. She and Lily had laughed like little kids and built a fort out of all the extra sheets in the room.
That same day, 7 years later, they got married on the very beach where Lily confessed. It was incredibly cheesy, and Mary loved every second of it.