GIRLS KISS IN THE DARK • Marauders Era

1

"Come on, Marlene! Be serious!" Mary groaned.

"Umm, okay?" Marlene looked slightly confused. "Woof woof, I'm a big gay baby that's very much in love with Remus."

Lily rolled her eyes, "Not that serious, Marlene. Look, we don't care if your gay. That's okay, that's more than okay. You can tell us."

Marlene glanced between Mary and Lily before answering. "I. . . Am gay."

"So am I." Lily said.

"Same here." Mary smiled.

There was a moment of silence before Mary grinned, "Wanna throw a party?"

The other two girls whooped and they all began to plan who could come, where and when it would be and who was bringing drinks. They'd decided that they would be able to invite whoever they wanted and those people could also invite a few others. It would be in the Room of Requirement, that weekend and Amelia Bones would bring the drinks because somehow she always brings and makes the best drinks.

And that was how the first day of fifth year ended.

Or at least, how it ended for Mary and Lily.

Marlene had waited until she could hear the other girls breathing even out and their light snores fill the oddly quiet room. She took a deep breath and gently pulled her curtains back. She made her way over to the bathroom, not stepping on cracks or the creaky floorboards. She shut the door gently and locked it behind her.

She couldn't cast a lumos or the girls might wake up from the light. She leant back against the door, sliding down it slowly until she was sat on the floor. She looked at the moon, shining bright and full from the window. She sat in the dark and cried.

She stood on shaking knees and gripped the sink for support. Stray hairs from all those times that Marlene couldn't clean up her cut hair properly decorated the sink. Lily's rose hand soap sat on the sink. There was a stool next to the sink. There was a cupboard above the drawer.

Despite Lily's efforts to tidy it, the cupboard was overflowing with junk. Deodorant, perfume, pads, tampons, a hair brush, a potion from two years ago, hair dye, hidden cigarettes, a bottle of firewhiskey, scissors, a packet of crisps, a chocolate bar, ribbons, hair ties. That is what Marlene saw when she opened the cupboard. Lily had cast an extension charm so there was more stuff behind them.

Marlene reached for the scissors, her hands shaking slightly. Marlene stared at herself in the mirror. She took a deep breath before taking off the glamour. Her breaths shuddered as it fell. The bruise on her cheek had turned a strange green yellow colour, the black eye had faded and the cut on her lip was mostly healed. Marlene lifted her hand to her face and let her fingers graze the bruise. She winced and pulled her fingers back.

She dug through the cupboard again. There was a healing cream somewhere in there. Her hand rummaged around in the junk before it grasped onto a cold bottle. There it was. She pulled her hand back, unscrewed the lid and . . . It was empty. She had used up the last of it last year and had forgotten to restock. Marlene groaned quietly and shoved the bottle back in. The scissors were in her hands again.

They travelled up to her hair, grasped the first strand and - snip! She cut away her hair, letting chunks fall to the floor below her. Snip! Snip! Snip! Choppy bangs and a strange version of a mullet. She cleaned away the fallen hair. Pale hands grasped the frozen sink. Cold eyes stared at a corpse through the mirror.

Marlene pulled back.

Bony fingers hovered over the door knob before she clenched them into a fist. Cigarettes. There were cigarettes in the cupboard. And, oh, how she needed them. Stumbling slightly, she twisted and found the cigarettes. With a deep breath, she snapped her fingers and it was lit.

And there she was. Marlene McKinnon, who helped her friends and danced and partied and stood up to people was now reduced to a broken girl smoking and staring at the moon. Every full moon, screams echoed from the forest and for some reason, Marlene felt the urge to scream with them.

She never did.

One day, maybe, but not anytime soon. She stayed in the bathroom, listening to the screams and watching the moon, until the cigarette had reduced to ash and the flickering flame was licking at her fingers. Marlene climbed back into her bed and didn't fall asleep until five in the morning.

What a wonderful way to begin the year.