Empty Gold • d.meadowes

-33-

Dorcas has been standing in front of the mirror for around half an hour, brushing the thick curls of her hair. They nearly came down to her elbows, she observed, and decided that she would trim them down a bit tonight. But for now, she clipped her hair with a few clips to avoid strands on her face and let it fall freely behind her.

She was dressed prettily. With so much preparation to do for exams, she hardly left the Gryffindor tower, except to go to the Great Hall for meals, and thus would always wear a t-shirt and shorts, sometimes forgetting to change them. But today she had dug out one of her finer attires from the depths of her trunk – a pretty orange top and a new pair of jeans she had only worn twice.

She stared at herself in the mirror for a while. Her lips were cracked, she saw, owing to dehydration as she had been cooped up in the dormitory for so long. Humming to herself, Dorcas applied a little lipstick and lined her eyes with black eyeliner. She was debating on whether to put on mascara when Maeve came up behind her, looking at her through the mirror. She was seeping on butterbeer – the four notorious fifth year boys were famous for smuggling in butterbeer and various other items from Hogsmeade, and Maeve had paid them to bring some for them.

"You look pretty," she said with a smile. There was a moustache of butterbeer above her lips. "Good to know you have enough time for self indulgence when we have so much work to do."

Dorcas bit her lips and turned around, deciding to omit the mascara. She hasn't told Maeve, nor Silver about the 'date' with Cillian, neither has she told them that she had almost come out to Juliet two days earlier. She felt bad about it – the three girls have always shared everything with each other. But lately Dorcas found herself keeping things from them.

"I'm going to Hogsmeade actually," she answered. Maeve looked her up and down, as though suddenly noticing the clothes she was in. Behind her, Silver looked up from where she was leaned over her books. She had finally told Maeve about the job she had received in Dublin, and they were on much better terms now.

"You're going to Hogsmeade?" Silver repeated with a frown. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Uhm –" Dorcas was thinking about how to say it without sounding bad, but Maeve beat her to it.

"Do you have a date?" she exclaimed, grabbing her arms excitedly. Then she dropped her voice. "Is it Juliet?"

Silver finally abandoned her studies and came up to her, both looking at her curiously. Dorcas sighed. "No, it's not Juliet. It's –" she trailed off, unable to get the word out of her mouth. She knew none of her friends would take it well, and they would tell her to cancel the date and tell Cillian the truth. Maeve clung onto her.

"Well, who is it?"

"It's Cillian."

The butterbeer mug dropped from Maeve's hand. Thankfully, she had drunk most of it so there wasn't much liquid to splash around. She took a few steps back, but her eyes were fixed on Dorcas. "Excuse me?"

Silver didn't seem as alarmed as she was. "So you like boys too?" she asked after she repaired the mug with a simple Reparo charm.

"No, she doesn't," said Maeve. "She's just scared to say no to Cillian."

"Come on, Maeve," Dorcas pleaded, not wanting to have this argument right now. Not before their date at Hogsmeade. She needed to have a clear head so she could let him down gently. "What was I supposed to do? I was exhausted from Potions, I was hungry, and he was being so nice to me. I didn't have the heart to say no. Besides, this isn't really a date. He just said he needed to buy stationery and asked if I wanted to go with them."

"Oh, Dorcas." Maeve sighed, hugging her. "If he asks you to marry him, are you going to say yes just because he's nice?"

"That's different," said Dorcas defensively.