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One of Marlene’s favourite things about her girlfriend was how ridiculously competitive she was about everything; sometimes it was a bit much, but seeing Dorcas’ passion for everything she cared about was very hot.
Marlene especially loved Dorcas’ competitiveness when it came to Quidditch. Their shared love for the sport was what had drawn them to each other to begin with, and their relationship had even started in the Quidditch changing rooms. Quidditch was the only thing (outside of their relationship itself) that Dorcas and Marlene both had a big interest in, and they looked forward to every game against each other.
Gryffindor and Slytherin were facing off that afternoon. Dorcas and Marlene were laying together, soaking in each other’s air; the game wasn’t for a few hours, and neither of them had practice beforehand, so they had the whole morning to spend together.
“Are you excited for Slytherin’s crushing victory later?” asked Dorcas with a smirk on her face.
“I think you mean crushing defeat , Cas. Gryffindor’s on a streak, no one can end it for fear of the wrath of the Quidditch gods,” teased Marlene. They had won their last 8 games, and James was desperate to make it to 10.
“Fancy a bet? Whoever loses has to do a favour of the victor’s choice. Nothing off limits.”
Marlene met Dorcas’ eyes and extended her hand for a handshake. “Deal. I’d better start thinking of what favours I want you to do when you lose.”
“Merlin, I love it when you’re cocky,” Dorcas whispered, inching closer to Marlene’s face.
Marlene hungrily pulled Dorcas’ lips to her own. They would miss breakfast, but that barely crossed her mind as they kissed. They had forever for breakfast, but they would never get this moment back. They would skip breakfast and bask in each other’s warmth, and show up dishevelled and flushed to the game, but it didn’t matter, because they had those extra moments together, and they would always have that.
~~~
“Meadowes, where have you been?” the Slytherin captain asked her, “You missed the team briefing.”
“Sorry Cap, overslept. What’d I miss?” Dorcas lied.
The captain rolled his eyes and responded, “We’re being aggressive, trying to keep the Quaffle away from their chasers. If they get it, you save those goals, alright Meadowes?”
“Nothing gets past me, you know that,” Dorcas said with a wink, walking over to the rest of the team to get ready to walk onto the pitch. This game was going to be fun. As keeper, Dorcas didn’t have to do much when her team had the Quaffle, and she got to watch and admire her amazing girlfriend.
The game got off to a slow start, with no goals scored in the first ten minutes. Eventually, Slytherin scored, leading 10-0, but then Gryffindor had the Quaffle and she had to focus. Dorcas was good, probably the best keeper in the school, but the Gryffindor chasers were on another level. There was James, who was so good he probably flew before he walked, Alice Prewett, who trained like her life depended on it, and of course, Marlene.
Dorcas’ eyes lingered on Marlene, watching as she sped through the air towards the Slytherin goals. The Quaffle was passed to Marlene, and though Dorcas recognised her feint to the left goal and instead dove to the right, she still missed, and the score was tied again.
Dorcas locked eyes with Marlene, and she had the audacity to wink at her.
Oh, it’s on. It’s so on.
Slytherin took possession of the Quaffle again, and they scored a few times before Gryffindor had another chance.
James scored a few goals against Dorcas, which made her frustrated, but she channelled that frustration into her play, and when Marlene came speeding over to the goalposts, Dorcas caught the Quaffle before it went through the hoops.
Dorcas quirked an eyebrow at Marlene. How’d you like that, huh?
Both teams continued to score, but Slytherin were scoring more. Gryffindor had an excellent team with the best chasers in school, but Slytherin were playing aggressively, and they thrived on aggression.
The crowd cheered - Slytherin had scored again, and it was now 170 - 90, and Slytherin were likely to win.
A blur of movement below her made Dorcas look down, and she saw the Gryffindor seeker hurtling towards the ground with the Slytherin seeker close behind, but Dorcas didn’t see the Snitch. The Gryffindor seeker looked up briefly and Dorcas knew what was happening.
“Wronski feint!” Dorcas yelled to her seeker, but not in time for him to find the Snitch and change course.
The Gryffindor seeker pulled her broom upwards with her arm outstretched and grabbed the Snitch.
“Gryffindor has the Snitch! Gryffindor wins 240 - 170!” said the commentator over the speaker system.
Well, shit , thought Dorcas.
She’d lost the bet, and she was nervous to see what Marlene had in store for her.
~~~
“We are the champions, my friends,” James sang.
“And we’ll keep on fighting,” continued Marlene, “till the end.”
The common room was packed, and everyone was celebrating the win against Slytherin, and the roar of the crowd singing along was louder than the song itself, even though the sound had been enhanced with magic. Everyone was thrilled and exhilarated, and Marlene felt like she was on top of the world.
Dorcas hadn't shown up to the party yet, but Marlene wasn't worried. She was probably filling Regulus in on the game since he hadn't been able to play.
Honestly, Marlene was almost grateful that Dorcas hadn't arrived yet. She had won the bet, but had no idea what her “favour” would be.
“Marls, you look lonely,” said James as he walked up to her. He'd finished his little karaoke performance of We Are The Champions, and now it seemed like Lily and Mary were trying to convince Remus to put some ABBA on. (Marlene didn’t think they would succeed - Remus had a serious disease known as ‘ABBA hater’. It was very rare and unfortunately incurable.)
“James, on a scale of 1-10, how drunk are you?” asked Marlene.
“Eleven,” he replied, grinning, “but the real question is, how drunk are you?”
“A regrettably low four. I’d rather not be wasted before Dorcas arrives.”
“Where is Dorcas? She isn’t usually this late to parties.”
“Not sure, I figured she’s probably with Regulus since he couldn’t play. He hurt his leg, I think, so he’s in the Hospital Wing,” Marlene explained.
James frowned. “The Hospital Wing doesn’t allow visitors this late, though, everyone has to be gone by nine.”
“Huh.” Marlene thought for a second, “Well, maybe she’s with her other friends at the Slytherin party?”
“I can check if you want,” James offered, “I have the map.”
“No, that’s alright, but thanks James. She’s probably just running later than she expected.”
“Okay, if you’re sure. I’m going to go distract Remus so we can play some ABBA, see you around.”
“See you, James, good work at the game earlier too.” Marlene saluted him as he walked away.
While she was waiting for Dorcas to arrive (and getting increasingly worried about her lack of punctuality), Marlene decided to enjoy the night with her friends. Through a team effort, they managed to put on an ABBA vinyl, and by a miracle, Remus didn’t take it off the record player.
Everyone was drinking and singing and dancing, and even the non-Quidditch fans (cough cough, Remus and Lily) had enjoyed the game earlier that day.
The whole group were dancing along to Super Trouper (Peter’s favourite ABBA song, but Marlene didn’t agree. It was nowhere near the level of Voulez-Vous or Gimme Gimme Gimme.)
Super trouper beams are gonna blind me
But I won't feel blue
Like I always do
'Cause somewhere in the crowd there's you
There was motion by the portrait entrance, and Marlene’s heart lifted. Dorcas had finally arrived at the party.
“Dorcas! Hi, hello, howdy. Do you want a drink?” Marlene asked as she wrapped her arms around Dorcas.
“Desperately. Been a shit evening. Better now I’m with you, though.” Dorcas answered. Marlene wanted to kiss her, but there were too many people around at the moment. They’d have to find somewhere more private later on.
“What’s wrong? Why was your evening so bad?” she asked, concerned.
Dorcas sighed and rolled her eyes a bit. “Just some dickheads in my house who can’t tell a Quaffle from a Snitch trying to tell me how to play the game I’ve been playing since I was a toddler. They were getting on my nerves so I was with Pandora up in Ravenclaw to escape them and I lost track of time.”
“What were they saying?”
“It doesn’t matter, just some stupid shit.”
“No, really, what did they say? It matters to me, I need to know exactly why I’m murdering these arseholes,” Marlene insisted. If someone was messing with her girlfriend, she was going to make damn sure they regretted it, consequences be damned.
“Marls, really, it’s fine. Just some racist Death Eater wannabes being misogynistic motherfuckers. I deal with this shit all the time anyway, it’s just worse after the games, and I was too tired to deal with them today. I don’t want to think about them anymore, though, I just want to think about you,” Dorcas replied, a smile slowly appearing on her face as she gazed into Marlene’s eyes.
Dorcas’ eyes were a gorgeous burnt umber, and whenever Marlene looked into them, she had to fight the urge not to tackle Dorcas to the ground and kiss the shit out of her, especially when she had that soulful look on her face.
“Fuck, you're so hot. Do you want to go to my dorm?” whispered Marlene.
“Not yet,” Dorcas replied, “I want to have some fun with everyone and get shitfaced drunk first. Then we can do whatever you want, babe.”
“I’ll get you that drink then, and we can get started on that,” Marlene said, turning to walk away and go to the table. Before she started walking, she paused, and turned back, then said “Don't listen to the idiots who say you suck. You're a badass and a queen, and the best damn Quidditch player I’ve ever seen, and every day I wake up and I don't understand how someone as incredible as you ended up with me. I love you, Cas. And that was great work today at the game.”
“I changed my mind, we’re going upstairs right now,” Dorcas breathed out, “I won't be able to keep my hands off you any longer if you keep saying sweet stuff like that.”
Marlene grinned and grabbed Dorcas’ hand, pulling her towards the stairs. As they left the common room, another song started playing on the record, and Dorcas stopped and smiled.
“Don't go wasting your emotion, lay all your love on me,” Dorcas sang to Marlene.
Marlene had butterflies in her stomach, and she finally knew the answer she'd been trying to work out all day.
“I’m cashing in my favour,” she murmured in Dorcas’ ear.
Dorcas beamed. “Anything, love. Whatever you want.”
Marlene met her eyes and said with certainty, “Kiss me.”
And she did.