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Marlene had waken up disgustingly early for Quidditch training, a habit their captain, James Potter, seemed to love to torture his team with. As she now walked through the doors of the Great Hall she came face to face with the source of her tiredness. Marlene went and sat next to “the Marauders” (the nickname James, Sirius, Remus and Peter had taken to calling themselves since third year, much to the amusement of all their friends).
“Looking tough, McKinnon”, her fellow beater jokingly mocked her.
“Don’t be mean, Pads”, said Remus. One of his arms was around Sirius, the arm’s respective hand holding up a book while he used the other hand to eat breakfast. Sirius and Remus had just gotten together and were always so disgustingly cute.
“Like you can talk, Black”, refuted Marlene, “It was only some weeks ago when you used to join me in criticizing Potter’s early training sessions. Not everyone has someone to cuddle with at breakfast to feel better”.
“Don’t speak so soon, Marlene dear.” responded Sirius watching as someone approached her. Despite being 8 in the morning on a Sunday, Dorcas remained as cheerful as she always was. Marlene couldn’t help but stare at her as she walked towards the group with a smile on her beautiful face. She quickly busied herself with her cup of coffee.
“Someone’s smitten”, murmured Sirius.
“Like you are one to talk.”, whispered back Marlene, turning slightly red and looking quickly in Dorcas’ direction in hope she hadn’t heard anything. She usually was much more self-assured, but something in Dorcas always turned her into a nervous wreck. And today was in no way an exception.
“How is everyone doing this morning?”, Dorcas asked the group, but her eyes were trained on Marlene. Marlene didn’t know what to do, how should she answer? What was a normal response? Agh, it’s like my brain’s turned into mush. The silence kept on awkwardly long as the rest of their friends watched the exchange between the two girls like one watches a tennis match, hoping for a positive outcome that would finally end all the pinning. Marlene knew she had to speak now before her chance disappeared and she quickly went to do it.
“I am we-hrrk hrrk! agck!” In her hurry, Marlene had forgotten she had just taken a sip of her coffee while Dorcas posed the question and proceeded to choked on her drink when she attempted to talk to her crush. It took a few moments for Marlene to catch her breathe.
“Well, at least there’s no bleeding like the time in Herbology where she got distracted looking at Dorcas and cut herself with the scissors.”, whispered Sirius quietly to Remus.
Meanwhile, Dorcas just waited patiently for Marlene to calm down. Just as she always did.