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If you asked anybody that knew Marlene McKinnon they'd tell you that she hated Dorcas Meadows. She loathed her, and she'd give you a million reasons why. But if you asked Dorcas Meadows herself, however, she'd tell you a different story.
She'd tell you about how when she first met Marlene she was looking for a friendship. That she saw the girl and thought she was really cool. That when she finally worked up enough confidence to talk to the girl, Marlene scoffed in her face and turned away as if Dorcas was nothing. As if she was too high and mighty to talk to the friendly new girl talking to her. And that was when she began to despise Marlene McKinnon.
Their little rivalry had resulted in chases to the higher marks, each one destined to get a better score than the other one. Everyday, in every class, the two girls would be comparing goals and arguing over anything and everything. It was either "You cheated!" or "Mrs McGonagall clearly marked this wrong because there's no way I failed." Various times their friends would have to pull them out of the room due to them causing a scene.
Despite their disliking towards each other, they couldn't escape the fact that their friends would intercept. Dorcas' friend Regulus was dating Marlene's friend James, and their groups basically combined as soon as that happened.
So it wasn't a surprise that when Barty invited her to his party, Marlene was there. Now Dorcas had spent too much time on her hair and makeup today to just bail, so when Marlene walked up to her, she held her breath. Even though she didnt like her, she couldn't avoid the fact that Marlene was fucking gorgeous. From her seasick green eyes to the leather jacket she always wore, the girl was beautiful.
"Dorcas! My pal, my buddy, can you come here for a sec?" Dorcas could tell from the slight slur in her voice that the girl was already buzzed. If that wasn't enough of a hint, the arm she wrapped around her certainly was. Dorcas raised a brow. "Uh.. sure?" Marlene grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the other end of the room. Dorcas really hoped her hands weren't sweaty.
Marlene stopped just before a window and turned to Dorcas with a finger to her lips in a shushing motion. Dorcas nodded and Marlene lifted one side of the blind with her free hand. She let out a soft, "Look."
The window showed Bartys four seasons porch, which was typically locked up. She takes that back, it's still locked up. There's nothing in it but a swinging bench that Barty reserved for him and Evans "boy time". She looks over at Marlene with a questioning gaze.
Marlene looks back. "Do you not see it?" Her voice was gentle, and Dorcas felt like she could listen to her talk forever. She shakes her head, not trusting herself to speak right now. Marlene makes a sound in-between a sigh and giggle and taps her finger on the glass. "Right there, on the side of the couch thing."
Dorcas follows Marlene's finger, squinting a bit. It takes a second for her to register it, but there's a small cat curled up against the pole holding the couch up, and Dorcas lets out a small, "Oh my."
Marlene turns towards the other girl and grins. "Its so cute, isn't it!" She sounds like a little kid, and Dorcas lets out a quiet laugh. Marlene smiles even wider. Its then that Dorcas remembers she has the key to the room - Barty gave her a spare the night he and Evan locked themselves in there. She managed to pick the lock with a butter knife just fine, but he didn't want to risk her breaking the mechanism.
Dorcas watches as the girl turns back towards the cat and thinks for a minute. The girl hasn't made any rude remarks thus far, maybe she deserves to see the cat. She nods to herself before leaning to speak into Marlene's ear. "I have a key. Do you want to meet her?" The blonde turns to her with the widest eyes she's ever seen and she grins.
That is how, somehow, the biggest rivals of all of Hogwarts are seen sneaking into the locked porch at Bartys party together, giggling.
Dorcas shuts the door lightly behind her, still trying not to scare the cat away. She pulls the key out and puts it back onto her necklace, turning towards Marlene while she clasps it. The girl is already making slow movements towards the still sleeping cat.
Now that she's closer, Dorcas can see that the cat is brown, unlike her original assumption of it being black. She follows behind Marlene and watches as the girl crouches down, gently tapping the cats head before retracting her hand.
It blinks open its eyes. Dorcas watches on edge for a minute, worried the cat might try to scratch the blondes arm. Her worries settle, however, when the cat sits up and yawns. Marlene looks back at Dorcas who's fighting a grin. She smiles back.
The cat stretches before walking over to Marlene and rubbing against her leg. Dorcas swears she can see the girl literally melt into a puddle as it happens.
Marlene pets the cat for a minute before tentatively trying to pick it up. The cat obliges and she brings it over to the swing. Dorcas is standing with her arms crossed with a fond look on her face. She watches as Marlene sits down, placing the cat right next to her. The cat seems to have other plans, however, because as soon as it's placed down it walks right into Marlene's lap.
Marlene looks over at Dorcas and pats the spot next to her. "C'mon. I don't bite." She pauses for a second and looks down at the cat who's currently pawing at her necklace. "He might though."
Dorcas laughs at that and makes her way toward them, sitting on the farthest end from Marlene. Its..strange to say the least. The girl who's been nothing but mean to her since they met talking to her like she's actually a person. Marlene hadn't commented on it yet though, so she opted to stay quiet.
"Where do you think he came from?" Marlene asked her while checking him over for ticks. Dorcas did a quick sweep of the room. She'd only been in here once before, and it was a little exciting to see a new part of the house she practically lived in.
"I don't know. Maybe Barty left a window open one day and didn't notice?" Marlene seemed to accept that answer, nodding before ruffling the cat's fur.
"Why do you hate me so much?" Marlene asked after a bit of silence. Dorcas scrunched up her face. I guess they had to talk about it eventually. She crossed her arms again "Me? You're the one who started the whole thing."
Marlene seemed a little taken aback by that. She fiddled with the hem of her tshirt. "What do you mean? What did I do?" She looked towards Dorcas again, giving her her full attention. Dorcas paused for a minute, sucking in a breath.
"You seriously don't remember? I walked up to you, tried to spark up a conversation and you scoffed in my face and walked away." She scooted back more, curling into herself a bit. Usually when she thought back on it all she could feel was the hatred towards Marlene for it, but now all she could think about was the insecurity she felt afterwards.
There was a bit of silence, and the cat hopped off the couch, apparently getting bored of the lack of attention she was receiving right now. "I did?" Marlenes voice was just barely a whisper, and Dorcas almost felt bad for her. Almost.
"Yes! That's what started it all. You clearly thought I was gross or something." The anger had dissipated for a while, but the more they talked about it the more Dorcas thought about all the arguments they'd had over test scores and useless bullshit.
Marlene shook her head. "I don't think I..are you sure I scoffed at you? Like did I scoff and walk away or did I let out air and then skedaddle?" Dorcas almost scoffered herself just hearing that question.
The way she left the scene didn't seem like it mattered, but she replayed it in her mind anyway.
"I don't know. A mix of both I guess. And you did go away quite fast." She glanced over at Marlene who was now nodding.
"I think you got the wrong idea, Dorcas." She shivered at the sound of her name. Marlene said her name like it belonged in her mouth. Like it was natural. She tried to shake it off.
Dorcas let herself look at the other girl, only to find she was already looking at her. "Did I? Why do you hate me so much then? I mean, the feud isn't exactly one sided." Marlene broke the eye and contact grasped her necklace, twiddling the small chain between her fingers.
"Do you remember that one time before quidditch practice? We were both distracted and ran into each other. Somehow you fell, and I tried to help you up." Dorcas nodded, she had almost forgotten about this story. Marlene continued.
"Well as soon as I put my hand out and asked if you were alright, you smacked my arm and called me filthy for even attempting to touch you." Marlene shook her head, meeting Dorcas' eyes once more. "I..I kinda thought it was because of the rumours of me being gay that were going around.'
Dorcas' eyes widened. "No, no definitely not! I'm sorry it came off that way." Marlene waves a hand, dismissing her. "It's fine. I knew it wasn't as soon as James and Regulus got together. I was just confused after that. I mean, why did this girl Ive never met call me filthy?"
Dorcas supplied the answer. "I thought you thought I was gross. Why did you run away after that, anyway?" Marlene went to answer, but shut her mouth before she let any words out. Instead she leaned forward, taking one of her rings off. Dorcas leaned forwards too.
"We would've met around January last year, right?" Dorcas nodded, watching as Marlene twirled the ring around. "It goes without saying that I'm always late. Doesn't matter what to, a funeral, a wedding, a birthday, I'm always late."
Dorcas lets out a tiny laugh at that, and Marlene's smile widened ever so slightly. "So, at that time I was helping the year 9s practice for their concert, and since I'm always running late, it was common for me to just run out of conversations and situations as soon as I realised I had to be there."
"Everyone knew about it, so nobody questioned it. But since you were new…" Dorcas finished the sentence. "I thought you just hated me." Marlene nods. "Bingo." Dorcas falls back into the couch. "So this all started because we literally just can't communicate?" Marlene chuckled and let her head fall forward. "Guess so."
Dorcas shook her head. She was amazed that it took them an entire year to figure this out. God they were dumb.
"What's the ring about, though?" Dorcas asks after a moment of thinking. "Oh, one of the year 9s gave it to me. I was wondering if you wanted it. It's a little big for my fingers." Dorcas looked down at her hands. She had nothing but chipped polish on them. She could use a little something. "Sure, yeah. I'll take it."
Marlene tossed it to her, and she tried it on. Somehow, it was a perfect fit for her middle finger. She smiled that that, and looked over at Marlene. "Am I rockstar enough now?" She leaned back, giving her a once over. "Nah, you need more eyeliner for that."