astronomy • marlene mckinnon

twenty six

t.w. mentions of abuse

Marlene McKinnon never truly realized how much she cared about a certain raven-haired sixth year until she was dragged into the library by Lily and Mary, and her eyes had landed on her, with her head resting on the table, her eyes closed, the girl fast asleep, with a pile of books surrounding her.

Of course, she had no interest in going to the library to study, sure there were exams coming up, but that didn't mean that she had to study for them ages ago, there was always time.

But still, she was given no choice as Lily and Mary practically threatened her to get her ass up from the bed and go to the library with them- real friends they were.

So there she was, walking behind the two others, with a chocolate bar she had managed to hide from Madame Pince in her hand when she had noticed her, on the same seat she always is in, in the corner most table in the library, her eyes closed yet still looking as pretty as a picture.

"She might get cold," Marlene stopped in her tracks and the two other Gryffindors turned around with furrowed eyebrows, thoroughly confused as they looked at the blonde.

"Oh," Mary whispered, a small smile forming on her face as she followed Marlene's line of vision. The brunette nudged the redhead right next to her and Lily suppressed a giggle as she looked at her blonde best friend whose gaze was still fixed on the girl on the table in the far corner of the library.

The two girls watched as the blonde moved forward and removed her leather jacket, revealing the scarlet sleeves of the sweatshirt she was wearing and draped it over the Slytherin in a blanket-like fashion.

The two girls in the other corner of the library shared a look as blonde Gryffindor took a seat in front of the sleeping girl and took out her book about defense theory, her ocean-like eyes instead focused on the other girl on the table whose chest was rising and falling as she took in soft breaths.

Her gaze stayed fixed there for a long time, stayed on the way her slim fingers were resting on the arithmancy book long forgotten, on the way the silver and green prefect badge was hanging loosely on the black shirt she was wearing, on the way the strand of black hair in front of her face which would blow every time she would let out a breath, and on the way her lips would form an unconscious smile.

And as she continued to watch her, she couldn't help but smile.

•

When Astraea Black woke up, the first thing she noticed was the familiar smell of vanilla perfume a certain blonde wears, and the second thing she noticed was the jacket around her shoulders.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she sat up and brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face.

The girl looked at the bench sitting on because she was pretty sure she had removed the emerald green jacket she had been wearing earlier and had kept it on the bench- and her eyes landed on that piece of cloth lying on the floor, clearly not noticed by the person who had decided to put a jacket around her.

The girl tilted her head and started to look around in slight confusion and surprise.

She smiled slightly as her grey eyes landed on the blonde sitting in front of her, her eyes scanning the pages of the book lying in front of her, her face cupped in her palms, and her elbows resting on the wooden table.

The library was quiet, and Astraea didn't need a watch to tell that it was really late and way past curfew. She wasn't surprised that Madam Pince hadn't sent them away, there was a reason she always sat at that table.