𝐍𝐎 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒- Marlene McKinnon

𝐈𝐈.

𝐍𝐎 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑: 𝐈𝐈.

September 9th, 1977

Mathilda spends the first Friday after lessons sitting beside the Black Lake, working on an essay for History of Magic.

Every so often, she watches the giant squid's tentacles breach the surface of the Lake, as though the colossal animal is sunning itself.

At the sound of footsteps approaching, she greets, "Morning, Reggie. It's lovely out, isn't it?"

She hears a snort. "I'm not Regulus," a distinctly female voice says.

Her face flushes as she turns to see Marlene. "Oh," she says. "Sorry. Regulus is usually the only one who joins me out here. Aster's too frightened of the squid, but I say it wouldn't hurt a fly."

Marlene nods. She offers a half-hearted smile, her dark eyes held on the ground. "I, um... well, I wanted to apologize, for how I treated you on the train. Lily says it was unfair, and I suppose she's right."

"It's all right," Mathilda says. "I shouldn't have mentioned status."

"We're the ones who asked."

Mathilda shrugs. "Bygones be bygones?" she offers, extending an arm upward to shake.

Marlene snorts. "Maybe not all of them, but at least this one," she agrees.

Her handshake is firm like Rabastan's, though her skin is far softer than his.

She gives a nod toward the sheet of parchment resting in Mathilda's lap. "Blimey, you've already started? It's not even due until next Friday!"

Mathilda can't help but laugh. "There's a reason I'm Binns's favorite student," she says, tapping her quill against her head. "I'm always on top of my work."

Marlene's laughter rings in Mathilda's years. She decides she far prefers Marlene's smile to the scowl she had on the train.

"Fancy a cigarette?" the Gryffindor girl asks, lowering to join Mathilda in the grass, drawing a pack from the bag slung around her shoulder. "Lily hates if I smoke in the Common Room, even though I promise to leave the window open."