A/N: 19/08/2018 New readers— welcome! Previous readers— also welcome, I hope we can all pretend the monster of an unplanned, un-plotted story that was posted two years ago didn't happen. (Kind of like our president sometimes pretends things he's done or said on various mediums don't exist.) I'm extremely excited this time around because I actually did the work to set everything up. I'll shut up now and let you have at it, plan on weekly updates (I'll try) with the exception of Chapter 2, which will be posted tomorrow. What can I say, I'm excited.
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Prologue
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Alice Fortescue was 100% certain that the world was out to get her. And yes, she was aware that sounded completely ridiculous and more than a bit whingy. It was just… she had a blinding headache, a heap of cursed, static-y hair, and couldn't her friends have picked less volatile relationships?
Alice massaged her head and actively ignored the tips of her hair brushing the ceiling. Culprit #1 marched into the small compartment, slammed the sliding door, and slumped dramatically onto a seat. Alice quickly tried to calculate whether it would be fatal to engage the volatile witch, but had barely opened her mouth when the storm brewing over Marlene McKinnon's head finally broke.
"I mean honestly, who does he think he is? For that matter, who does he think I am? We've been friends for… I don't even know how long! And—"
"Four years," Alice cut in helpfully.
"Four bleeding years and I've told him I don't know how many times that I don't want to hear about all the other birds he's snogging! I don't care, I just don't need to hear about them any more!"
Marlene sucked in a breath and took considerable effort to calm to an irritated drawl. "I mean," (Alice mouthed this part along with her best friend), "It's not as if we're dating," (and rolled her eyes), "but it's more the principle of the thing, you know? Like respect, I don't need to hear about what a man-whore he's being in his spare time every time we see each other!"
Alice nodded sympathetically while looking for a clean break in the monologue to insert some sort of logical defuser when—
"There you are! I've been looking all over for you, Alice. Oh, and hullo Marlene." Culprit #2 entered the fray with a quick grin that faded into concern.
"Alice, I just saw your mum on the platform looking… distraught? A bit watery, and your brother was trying to eat some poor girl's parchment— anyways, I brought Sean back to her and she just kind of nodded at me and rushed out… is everything all right?" Lily said this all in one breath, with a faint flush to her cheeks that said everything was not 'all right'. "And what's wrong with your hair?"
This caused Marlene to squint suspiciously upwards. Alice heaved another sigh.
"Dad didn't come with us today, he and mum got in a row before we left and he decided to be a right prick and refuse to come along. Mum didn't want to leave Seany home alone, even though he hates crowds, and… well that wasn't the first meltdown of the morning."
"And the hair was an impressive addition from Sean, yeah?" Marlene blurted gleefully.
Lily's eyebrows drew together sympathetically. "Sounds like you've had a rough morning, hun. I'll smuggle back some chocolate from the Prefect's meeting?"
Alice grinned as Marlene protested, "Aw come on Lils, you know everything's probably two years old at least."
Lily rolled her eyes to the ceiling (probably avoiding a snarky response because she knew Marlene was right) and backed out of the compartment. "Look I've just gotten here and I need to go change but then I want to hear all about your summer hols! Writing just isn't the same and I've missed you all terribly," she smiled her lopsided, crooked smile and started to slide the door shut.
That went more smoothly than usual. Alice mentally crossed her fingers. Almost safe almost safe almost—
"That's why she's still so bright and sunny— she hasn't had time to run into The Terror yet. Speaking of James, that's who Gideon can talk to about all his latest conquests. Isn't that what mates are for anyway?"
Strike, you're out.
Lily shoved the door back open with a menacing look on her face.
"Don't even bring up James Potter to me right now. The dolt completely ripped apart my life and then didn't even have the decency to give me some space to— to… he just inserted himself wherever he damn well pleased—" Lily took a breath and Marlene took this as an opportunity to turn the conversation back in her favour.
"See that's what I'm saying, they don't think, they don't listen, they just tromp all over your life like some blind hippogriff and pick and choose what they want to hear—"
"And then they rip it to shreds,"
"And eat it and digest it and sh—"
"MARLENE!"
"Sorry Alice. Anyway—"
"Lily didn't you have a meeting to get to?" Alice shot out desperately. Her two best friends could feed off each other like this for hours. Neither of them were even in similar situations, and Marlene quite liked James— but they weren't actually listening to each other. Just venting their own personal soap operas.
As Lily exclaimed and rushed out of the compartment and Marlene reached down to rummage through her trunk, Alice dropped her head into her hands.
There was some fiddling with the trunk latches and habitual shuffling before Marly finally settled on her back with her feet propped up against the wall. Restless limbs, restless… chuckling?
"God Alice, you have got to fix your hair. I cannot take you seriously right now."
A first- or second-year popped open the door a few moments later, trying to find an empty compartment, and quickly blanched at the two cackling witches. The door slamming shut only made them laugh harder.
The train finally woke with a belch of steam and began chugging towards the castle. Alice noted that now, facing her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she no longer thought of the September train ride as a trip to school.
She was going home.
Chapter 1- A Wet Beginning
"Don't wanna call you in the nighttime
Don't wanna give you all my pieces
Don't wanna hand you all my trouble
Don't wanna give you all my demons
You'll have to watch me struggle
From several rooms away
But tonight, I need you to stay"
-Twenty-One Pilots, The Run and Go
Marlene
The rain was pouring before they even got off the train. Marlene was relieved that compared to the shivering first-years, her trek to the self-drawn carriages was relatively short.
Wrangling her dripping, unreasonably long hair out of her eyes, she absentmindedly considered lopping it all off as she studied her best friend.
The rain had rendered it a tangled mess (her hair, not Alice. Though Alice was a bit of a mess.)
She wrapped a chunk around her finger. More Beagle-colored than Golden Retriever now. (Drumdrumdrum went Alice's fingers.)
More trouble than it was worth. She'd never actually cut it. She and Alice had discussed it often in the middle of sweaty summer days. They'd discussed a lot of things. They were not discussing anything now.
They'd had a good laugh back on the train, but Marlene had spent the rest of the train ride trying to pull an introspective Alice from whatever was drawing her attention, and they'd both drifted into silence.
Marlene had never been very good at silence. She'd once tried to give Gideon the silent treatment after he took her on a date and taken a detour on the way home to drop off a scarf his ex had left in his car. She lasted less than 24 hours (approximately until she got news that Will Peacock was injured and she was on the Gryffindor team. She ran screaming into his room, waving the letter). Gideon didn't even notice the lapse. Nope, not good at silence at all.
The carriages were charmed to keep out the elements, and the tiny space was cozy. Small puddles of water slicked the floor where the girls had wrung out their cloaks and hair after stepping inside.
The two witches had raced to the first carriage in line, as usual, fending off a couple second year Ravenclaws to take their coveted spot, and waited excitedly for Lily.
The carriages were magicked to start moving once they had four people on board, the students evenly divvied out, so that no one got left behind. But Emmaline, the vivacious fifth year who usually bumped their trio up to magic number four, had hopped onto the already full compartment three carriages down, presumably to make good use of the extra time with her new boyfriend. Marlene and Alice waited, growing increasingly worried as five, and then ten minutes passed— not a noticeable lag to the other students; but for Lily to be on time was both predictable and crucial to their cause.
When, forty minutes in, the carriage started moving with a jolt, the girls locked eyes and frowned. Marlene scowled even deeper as she looked out her window. "She must have squeezed in with the Marauders after the prefect meeting. Bet she and James are finally having a go at each other—"
"Marlene! We don't even know that's where she is. Maybe she just assumed we left and snagged one at random. We'll meet up with her when we get to the castle."
And that had been that. Alice curled up on one bench, and Marlene took advantage of the other. She stretched her legs and settled in to wait for Alice to snap out of the funk she was in.
That had been half an hour ago.
Drumdrumdrumdrum. Desperate times. Desperate measures.
Marlene shoved herself upright and tilted her body so she crashed down next to Alice, who shot up ramrod straight. She took this opportunity to swing her legs up and plop them into the startled girl's lap. Marlene leaned back, crossed her feet, and raised a thin brow at the brunette. (Alice was her inverse, she often thought. None of the freckles that smudged across Marlene's entire face like dirt— Alice's skin was an even peaches and cream, framed with dark, muddy hair.)
"All right, either spill or stop moping. I know your dad's a prick and your mum's basically a water fountain, but that's really nothing new. Also, we don't have Lily to fill the air with inane facts and anxieties and complaints about my best friend, so we can talk about your problems or Edgar Bones's hair, and I really don't have a preference either way."
"…I thought I was your best friend."
Marlene beamed. "Of course you are, I was just trying to throw James a bone. Haha. Get it?"
"Was that a thinly veiled nudge towards a certain fifth year's girly hair? Because this obsession is getting a bit creepy Mar."
"Edgar's hair is not girly, it's long and luscious and beautiful. Name one person who wouldn't want to run their fingers through that!"
"Well, me for one—"
"And it's not creepy, it's a one year difference! My parents are six years apart—"
"Your parents had an arranged marriage!"
"So did yours!" she pointed out triumphantly. A strange look passed over Alice's face and Marlene bit her tongue. Rats.
"So you're saying you want an arranged marriage with a fifteen year old Huffle—?"
"What conditioner do you use in your hair, Al? It's very… shiny," Marlene blurted out. Compliments are good distractions, right? Alice's eyes scrunched up in confusion and a bit of amusement.
"Rainwater," she replied wryly, "does wonders for the hair shaft. What's with the sudden change in topic?"
"I wasn't changing the topic, I was trying to be… tactful," Marlene pouted, "Since, you know, we're kind of avoiding the topic of your parents. And we were already discussing hair. I just expanded."
Alice snorted. "Marlene, you have the tact of a raging Hippogriff." She placed a comforting hand on her knee. "And I'm not avoiding the topic, there's just not really anything to say. You were right, I was moping. I've had quite enough of that though, tell me something good."
Marlene beamed and jerked forward to give her friend an awkward, tangled hug. Leaning back and rearranging her limbs into a somewhat more comfortable position ("Marlene my legs are falling asleep, is that really necessary?") she smiled conspiratorially and launched into her previously organized observations.
"Good. Now that you're back, what in Merlin's name is going on with Lily? First she leaves us with a scathing attack on poor Jim-Jam, and next thing you know she's riding up to the castle with the Marauders? What alternate universe have we fallen into? And she's breaking tradition, you know, that's bad luck and we'll probably have a terrible year now, we'll have to sneak out later or something,"
"Lily's not going to go for that."
"Well, we'll go without her. I guess we could probably take the Mirror's Passage, but heaven knows how difficult it is to get there and I know I'm not as slim as I was when we were eleven…" Marlene continued to fill the carriage with ongoing chatter as they drew nearer the castle and the welcoming feast waiting for them. She knew Alice was only half-listening, giving hums of agreement when necessary, but the little relaxed smile at the corners of her lips was worth it. As she talked, she silently cursed Lily for leaving her to this all alone.
The redhead knew how bad she was at this whole consoling business. The first few weeks were always difficult for Alice. And a somber Alice was almost as scary as a somber James. Though Marlene knew well how to deal with the latter, the former took a great deal more caution.
It still stung that Lily had left her on her own to go flirt with the boy she claimed to hate. Still, she felt vindicated with her slight success. Alice was smiling and laughing, and she'd done it on her own.
There was still the issue of their start-of-the-year tradition, but the ritual was flexible enough, as long as they made it before midnight tonight. It would be a hundred times more difficult to get outside the castle after curfew, though, and Lily wasn't one much for rule-breaking.
Marlene glanced out the window and for the first time could see the outline of a hulking castle through the foggy downpour. Everything would work out.
She was almost home.
Alice
Alice stumbled out of the carriage, limped a few feet away, and eyed Marlene enviously as the other girl dropped gracefully onto the path. Her previously numb legs were a mess of pins and needles, thanks to Marlene deciding that it was more comfortable to sit on top of Alice than across from her. Not for lack of protests.
("Mar. Legs. Asleep!" "Oh stop whinging." "Since when have you been the cuddly one?" "Iscoldshuddup." "You've got an entire bench to yourself! This will never happen again!" Silence. Marlene ignored her and pointedly flipped a page in her book, and Alice figured it wasn't worth the effort to fight it.)
She was secretly a bit flattered— Marlene was like a cat, solitary and not much for physical contact except around friends and those she trusted deeply. It was like winning over a dragon, or finding a unicorn. Those Quidditch muscles weren't made of feathers though…
"Ugh, Mar, I'm clumsy enough with full control of my appendages," she groaned.
Marlene waved her hand in a vague gesture that Alice interpreted as, 'Sorry I crushed the life out of your legs, you can have some of my chocolate when we get back to the dorms'. Marlene was already focused elsewhere, practically dancing in place with impatience as she scanned the thick horde of students spilling towards the front gates. Alice sighed. Of course she was looking for Lily.
Alice hadn't tucked her emotions away quite fast enough, and she'd seen how uncomfortable the other witch had gotten without Lily there. Lily bridged the gap between the two like bread, holding their weird friendship sandwich together. Now who's coming up with ridiculous metaphors, hm Al?
She shook her head and limp-jogged (logged?) to catch up with an irate Marlene, inexplicably planted in the middle of the path with her arms crossed and a stormy look on her face.
"All right, Mar?"
Without turning, she grit out, "Told you. I told you so. If they start dating, I swear I'll eat my broomstick. No, no, I'll make her eat it! She hates him! And now she's ditching a five year tradition—"
"Four, actually—"
"Five year tradition to go what? Flirt? She knows how important this is!"
Alice opened her mouth to argue, but there in plain sight, Lily's unmistakable red hair bounced up the path. Walking, jostling, and… was she laughing? with the distinctive pack of Gryffindors headed by none other than James Potter.
Her mouth dropped even further open as Lily leaned over and whispered something in the sandy-haired boy, Remus Lupin's ear, waved to all four of the boys, and then skipped back to where her friends stood shell-shocked. Well, Alice was shell-shocked. Marlene looked like a ticking bomb.
"Marly! Ali!" Lily bounded up and enfolded the blonde in a bear hug that caused her to visibly tense up, and then released her to clasp Alice's shoulder.
"Sorry I never found you again back on the train, our meeting ran over and then Remus and I had some things to discuss, and I was worried you and Emmy would have already left me by the time we made it out!"
"We waited," Marlene said flatly. Lily's face blanched.
"Oh… well thanks, I guess, I'm really sorry—"
"Not that it matters anymore. What with it being too late and all. Did you at least set up a date with James? Get a few snogs in?"
Lily flickered through a few emotions before settling on reluctant apology. "Look, Marly, I know you're upset," Marlene tried to snark back but Lily raised her voice and continued, "but we've still got time and… and don't you think you're overreacting a bit? It's just a childish game—"
Lily bit her lip, obviously aware that she'd gone too far.
Too late. Marlene's face shut down as she responded coldly, "Sorry that we're too 'childish' for grown-up Lily Evans. Better go catch up with your adult friends, before our immaturity rubs off on you." She spun on her heel and started to march up to the castle. She only turned around once, and a split second too late Alice realized she had expected her to follow.
Alice turned to her guilty friend tiredly with one eyebrow raised. "Childish game? Seriously Lils?"
She wasn't very superstitious, wasn't nearly the obstinate creature of habit named Marlene, but their ritual was more than some juvenile entertainment.
Given it's origins and what they meant to Marlene, Lily should have known better.
The redhead groaned and ran a frustrated hand through her hair. "I'm sorry, I know, I know, that was terribly insensitive and I wanted to take it back the moment it came out of my mouth." She cut her eyes at Alice. "You know she wanted you to follow her."
Now Alice groaned. "I know. Look, Marlene can't hold a grudge to save her life, she'll be fine in an hour at most. She's probably off sulking with her Quidditch mates. Let her cool off, and in the meantime, you can tell me all about how your rendezvous with Potter and his goons went."
Lily rolled her eyes. "It's not what you think. Potter and I aren't even on speaking terms really. I mean yet. I mean… it's complicated. But I swear it's not what you think. Anyways, what about tonight? I completely screwed things up!"
Alice had a few seconds to ponder that and almost suggested they just wait until tomorrow when Lily's face lit up like a fire-cracker.
"No, no, wait. I've got an idea— I can fix everything. I've got a plan." Alice felt a sense of foreboding creep over her.
That was when the screaming started.
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Questions for next time:
- What is this ever-elusive ritual? (Unbreakable vow? Prophetic star gazing and palm reading? Blood sacrifice of a first year? We really don't know.)
- The Marauders make a messy entrance (It's not a question, but look at that alliteration)
- What about Lily The-Bread-Bridge Evans's side of things so far?
Questions for you: who's voice do you prefer so far, Alice or Marlene's? Drop a review :) The next chapter's almost done, and let me tell you they just keep getting longer and longer. Help?
Until next time,
- LT
