Here Comes The Sun

Chapter 9: A Surprising Turn of Events

September 28th, 1975

"Why did I ever agree to this?" Dorcas groaned.

She was standing around the room, rubbing her hands together anxiously as Marlene was tying a string around what appeared to be a present wrapped in brown wrapping paper. Marlene stood up and handed her the gift.

"Because you humiliated me in front of the whole charms class," Marlene replied. Dorcas couldn't figure out if Marlene hadn't picked up that her question was rhetorical or if she was just reminding her to make her feel worse.

"C'mon, McKinnon, I already apologised, like, a billion times. Do I need to remind you that you got me first?"

"That was completely different," Marlene defended herself.

"At least my prank had a reason," Dorcas commented under her breath.

"Do you want to go back to the original plan?" Marlene asked angrily.

"No," Dorcas mumbled, a bit frightened. "I still can't believe you wanted me to do that."

"It would've been fun." Marlene shrugged.

Dorcas and Marlene walked side by side down the corridor, Dorcas carrying the present, and Marlene with an evil grin plastered on her face. They walked all over the castle to get to Professor Slughorn's office. Dorcas knocked on the door and Marlene darted behind a pillar, close enough to hear what was going on but far enough away to not be seen.

"Miss Meadowes, what are you doing here?"

"I, er..." Dorcas paused to glance at Marlene, who was gesturing her hands, telling her to go on. "I was hoping to give you this gift. Just as a token of my appreciation for you and your teachings."

"How very kind of you, Miss Meadowes."

Professor Slughorn carefully unwrapped the package as Dorcas took a few steps back to avoid what was coming. Suddenly, the gift exploded into a cloud of red glitter. Marlene struggled to hold in her laughter, but luck was on her side today, as Slughorn was too consumed with the amount of glitter that covered him to notice the noise coming from behind the pillar near his office or the fact that Dorcas decided to take off the moment the present exploded. As she passed where Marlene was hidden, she grabbed a hold of her hand and dragged her along. They ran for a few minutes before they were far enough out of sight. They stared at each other for a moment before breaking out into laughter.

"Am I forgiven now?" Dorcas asked through laughs.

"Definitely," Marlene chuckled.

They'd been so caught up in how much fun they were having that neither of them realised that Dorcas was still holding Marlene's hand.

Marlene cleared her throat as she looked down at the two hands and Dorcas immediately let go. "Sorry, just caught up in the moment, I guess."

An awkward silence passed over the two. "This doesn't mean we're friends, Meadowes."

"I know that," Dorcas replied. She'd sort of hoped this could fix whatever Marlene had against her but she knew Marlene was just being stubborn, as always.

***

October 1st, 1975

"The strangest thing is happening,"

Remus recounted, walking into the boys' dorm.

"Oh yeah?" Sirius asked, sitting up on his bed.

"Yeah." Remus sat down on his bed then continued, "Lily's been avoiding me the past couple days with no explanation."