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Dorcas wasn’t paying attention to what Professor Slughorn was saying. She was more focused on the other person in the room. Of course she would be stuck in detention with Marlene McKinnon of all people. She always did her best to avoid her because some connection in her brain short circuited when she was within a few meters of the Gryffindor. And Marlene always did the opposite, seeming to go out of her way to learn about people, Dorcas included.
“Miss Meadowes?” Slughorn cleared his throat with his hand out. She saw Marlene’s wand in his hand and a bucket of soapy water and a sponge on the floor. She handed over her wand and picked up the bucket just as Marlene had.
“Slytherin, you coming?” Marlene asked, holding open the door.
Dorcas simply nodded, not trusting her voice, and the two walked to the potions lab where they were apparently scrubbing out cauldrons. Marlene opened the door for her and closed it behind them. But a moment later, a piece of metal fell and the sound reverberated off the floor. Dorcas instantly turned around, to find part of the door handle on the ground. She pushed against the door but it didn’t budge. Marlene picked up the piece, trying to fit it back into the handle but with no luck,
“This stupid old castle,” Marlene muttered. “I think we’re locked in until someone finds us.”
This had to be some kind of cruel joke.
After pausing for too long Dorcas finally said something. “Someone will come in. At the very least Slughorn will come to check if we don’t come back.”
Marlene sighed. “I didn’t want to scrub cauldrons before. Now that we’re locked in here, I want to do it even less.” She took a seat.
Dorcas made a point to start with the cauldron furthest from her which seemed to dissatisfy the Gryffindor who got up, taking a seat on the table the cauldron was on.
“Why do you have detention?” She asked, curiously.
“Hexed someone.” Dorcas had hexed a boy who wouldn’t leave Pandora alone. Her only regret was that Slughorn had seen her do it.
Marlene eyed her, impressed. “I just skipped a couple classes.”
Dorcas scrubbed the cauldron, the remnants of some potion stuck to the bottom. Marlene sat on the desk, kicking her feet out slightly. She tried to start conversations about all sorts of things - quidditch, friends, classes, anything - but only ever got back one or two word responses. Dorcas was internally begging to be left alone, to get through this detention without making a fool of herself.
When Dorcas would move to the next table of cauldrons, so would Marlene, perching on the next table. “Do you have a problem with me?” Marlene finally asked, sick of lack of responses.
“What?” Her head snapped up. “Why would I have a problem with you?”
“You just seem very fixed on not talking to me.”
“It’s not because I have some kind of problem with you.”
Marlene looked at her curiously. “Then what is it?”
“I’m just ready to get out of detention.” It wasn’t a lie. Dorcas couldn’t wait to leave. To feel like she could breathe again. To not be overthinking every word that came out of her mouth.
“Well, we’re stuck here regardless.”
Dorcas sighed, closing her eyes which seemed to upset Marlene. She pushed off the table and wordlessly got to work scrubbing cauldrons on the other side of the room.
They worked in a tense silence which was so much worse than if Dorcas had just messed up an answer to some question.
With each cauldron cleaned, the distance between them shrunk until eventually there was only one table separating them. They both cleaned the particular cauldron before that much more thoroughly than the others until Marlene dared to close the gap. They stood close, cleaning the last of the cauldrons, elbows occasionally brushing which would cause Dorcas to pull away.
With all the work done, Dorcas washed her hands and resigned to a chair. Marlene did the same, taking a silent seat on the opposite side of the room.
A few minutes later they heard shuffling on the other side of the door and Marlene was quick to leap up, calling for help. Feet stopped in front of the door but rather than open it, a note was slipped underneath.
Talk to each other. Then I’ll fix the door.
Dorcas got up to read it too, standing over Marlene’s shoulder.
“This is… spooky,” Marlene said but was ignored as Dorcas began pounding on the door.
“Really? Panda, are you kidding me?! Come open the door!”
Marlene was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
“That’s Pandora’s handwriting,” she said as if that explained everything.
“So she locked us in here?”
Dorcas clicked her tongue and nodded.
“Why?”
She looked away and mumbled something that Marlene couldn’t make out.
“What?”
She sighed. “Because I think you’re pretty and my friends are awful.” She turned around. “Now open the door, Panda!”
Marlene’s face broke into a very interested smile. “You think I’m pretty?”
She kept looking at the door and when she realized it wasn’t getting fixed, she slid down it, knees at her chest, and buried her face in her hands. Maybe if she was lucky the castle floor would open up and swallow her whole. She heard footsteps coming closer and gentle hands wrapped around her wrists, pulling them from her face. Marlene was crouched in front of her, all smiles and big green eyes and shaggy blond hair.
“I think you’re very pretty,” Marlene said with a soft voice.
Dorcas looked back at her with wide eyes. “You do?”
Marlene’s smile softened and she nodded. “Insufferably so. I’ve been trying to talk to you for months.” Marlene leaned closer to her face, hands on Dorcas’ knees to steady herself. “Can I kiss you?”
Dorcas stared dumbly. “Please,” she whispered.
Marlene closed the gap between them, soft lips connecting. Dorcas cupped her face, thumb brushing softly over her cheek.
The Gryffindor pulled back slightly. “I have thought about that so many times.”
Dorcas couldn’t help but laugh slightly from the quick changes between annoyed and nervous and embarrassed to the lovely fuzziness that was taking over. “Me too,” she admitted.
Marlene leaned back in, kissing her again until the door opened and Dorcas fell back with Marlene on top of her.
They stared up at Professor Slughorn. “Are you okay?”
Dorcas had to close her eyes. She couldn’t think with Marlene’s face above hers. “The handle broke. We’ve been locked in, and we were sitting against the door,” she explained quickly.
Slughorn fixed the door, apologizing for the rotten luck and handing them back their wands before leaving.
They brushed themselves off and Dorcas caught not just Pandora but all of her friends, standing at the opposite wall. Pandora looked very pleased with herself and Evan, Barty, and Regulus all at least looked amused which received them all middle fingers from Dorcas before she closed the door again and continued kissing Marlene.