Empty Gold • d.meadowes

-32-

The universe worked in strange ways.

Dorcas had realised that she liked girls when she was twelve. She would find herself uninterested when her friends gushed over male celebrities; instead she would look at the sports magazines and admire the Quidditch players of the Holyhead Harpies, the all female Quidditch team. She didn't understand why this was so, she just knew that it made her different from other people, and that those people may not necessarily accept her for it.

She had confided in her mother about what she felt, and Jenna had taken the time to explain to her everything about sex and sexuality, letting her know that despite what the society might say, she was valid, that her feelings were valid. It was her mother's words that had made her feel safe, feel better about herself. She was the reason Dorcas was able to to come out to her friends after returning to Hogwarts after the summer holidays. Fortunately for her, both Maeve and Silver were extremely supportive of her, and soon they began to point out good-looking girls for her rather than boys.

It didn't take long before Dorcas understood what the world generally felt about people like her. She had never noticed it before, but after she realised that she was lesbian, she began to notice certain things around her – the subtle discrimination everywhere, the using gay as an insult, the obvious disgusted curl of the lips upon the mention of anything not conforming to the norms of society – and a few other things that somehow overcame her mother's words and instilled a fear inside her. Dorcas began to keep to herself as a result, scared to look at girls, hesitant about talking to boys in the fear that they may want her to be their girlfriend.

And then she began to fall for Juliet.

Dorcas wasn't the girl she was five, or six years ago. She was still afraid of being shunned by the people around her she called friends. But now she couldn't care less about what others thought of her. Of course, she wouldn't let the whole world know what she was, but she wouldn't keep it any longer from the people who mattered.

She needed to know who her real friends were.

But, as it has been established, the universe liked to work in the most curious of ways. It hadn't interrupted her in any way when she had come out to her mother or her friends, and Leigh had found out on his own. But as she said those words to Juliet, the universe decided to interrupt.

Perhaps it was a sign that Juliet didn't deserve to know. Or perhaps it was just a coincidence. Sign or not, Dorcas had no time to ponder over it as an explosion tore through the air and shook the ground beneath them. Juliet leapt to her feet, backing up against the tree, eyes wide.

Dorcas didn't react right away. Her chest was heavy with the confession that has dispersed into the air, drowned out by the din. But seconds later, she was on her feet too, wand poised and ready to use.

The first and second years on the grounds were screaming. The few older students ushered them towards the castle, shouting at them to get inside and summon the teachers. She looked around for the source of the sound, and found it. Hogsmeade.

"It's coming from Hogsmeade," Juliet whispered beside her, grabbing her hand as she took a few steps forward. "What are you doing?"

There must be a fire in the village for black smoke rose from its midst, clouding the clear air. From afar, she noticed people there running around, yelling. Before long, a spark of light shot towards the sky, crackling like thunder. It hit an invisible dome high up in the air, before the ray twisted and warped and shaped into a skull. A sinister skull with a serpent for its tongue.

The Dark Mark.

"Death eaters," whispered Dorcas. Like in a trance, she began to walk towards Hogsmeade, eyes fixed on the ominous mark in the sky. Juliet kept calling for her, but she barely heard her voice. It was only when Juliet came up and grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to turn around, that she returned to her senses, blinking up at her.