Nifflers and OWLs and Meadowes, Oh My!
Marlene McKinnon just wants to study for her OWLs, but between her annoying mates, a niffler run amok and cramped quarters with her crush, life seems destined to veer off course.
~oOo~oOo~oOo~
THUD
The sound emitted from behind the door was followed by a loud shriek, a slew of curse words and giggling. Marlene McKinnon lifted her head warily from her Arithmancy textbook as her two best friends flung open their dormitory door.
"I told you to watch where you were going!" Lily smirked. She sat down at her desk and flung her satchel on the desk, using it as a pillow.
Dorcas dropped her bag on the floor beside Marlene and flopped onto her bed with an annoyed huff. "It's not my fault that I was distracted."
"Oh, come on." Lily rolled her eyes. "It's not like anyone pushed you."
"Right, those marbles just happened to be there at the exact right-"
"Don't look at me," Lily said defensively. "It was all Mary's doing!"
Dorcas snorted derisively. "That girl wouldn't hurt a fly."
"I refuse to admit guilty without a fair and equal-"
"Could you lot be any more loud?" Marlene snapped. Her friends regarded her with faint surprise, as if just realizing she was there.
Dorcas turned her head slightly on her pillow to squint at Marlene. "Merlin, you're not studying again, are you?"
"Why yes I am," Marlene said tersely. "How very astute of you Dorcas."
"But OWLs are still ages away."
Marlene looked at her textbook like she'd much rather throw it across the room.
"It's not like it matters anyways," she muttered frantically. "No matter how hard I study, I barely understand a thing Professor Shafiq teaches us." She turned a page of her textbook with a bit too much force, ripping the corner. "Now, she wants us to use the Chaldean and Pythagorean methods. At this rate, I'll need some sort of divine intervention if I want to scrape an Acceptable in my OWLs. Never mind pursuing a NEWT."
Dorcas smirked to herself. At least Lily had the decency to look sympathetic. "Marlene, the OWLs are months away. I'm sure you still have time to-"
Marlene let out a loud sigh and slammed her textbook shut. "It's not like you two would understand, what with a soft subject like Care of Magical Creatures…"
Marlene smirked at Dorcas, who had raised her head slightly from her pillow to glower at her. Lily snorted into her arm.
"Oh ha ha…" Dorcas said with an eye roll.
THUD
The girls froze at the sound coming from under Dorcas' bed. This time, there was no giggling or swearing. Dorcas sat up straight in her bed and locked eyes with Marlene. She gulped. Marlene leaned down to get a better look under the bed when suddenly, Dorcas shrieked and jumped up from her bed.
A tiny furry creature was hanging on to Dorcas' hand as she flailed it about, trying to pry it off.
Lily gasped. "Oh Merlin… is that a-?"
"Of bloody course it is!" Dorcas shouted, flinging the creature off her hand and into a heap of dirty laundry.
Marlene stared wildly at her two friends for an explanation, but their attention was solely focused on the laundry heap that had started shifting around eerily.
Before Marlene could so much as shout, Dorcas grabbed her arm and shoved her into the nearest closet. She tripped on numerous pairs of shoes before landing roughly on a set of dark blue dress robes. The door clicked shut and Dorcas sidled up to Marlene.
"Lumos."
The tip of wand illuminated the messy contents of the closet.
"Oi, those are brand new robes," Dorcas whispered.
Marlene shifted forward slightly, off the robes and closer to Dorcas, their shoulders bumping together awkwardly. Marlene was suddenly very aware of how small the Hogwarts closets were.
"I hope Lily had the sense to get some help," Dorcas muttered quietly. "She was closest to the door."
"Why are you whispering?"
"Precautionary measure," Dorcas said seriously. "I'm not sure if nifflers can open doors."
"That's what that was…"
"Of course. What else would want to steal my ring so badly?" Dorcas lifted her scratched hand and looked at it sadly. "I just hope I can get it back."
Marlene heard a few shouts from the corridor and hoped that Lily was rounding up some sort of battalion to drive off the niffler. She was now squished up against the wall of the closet trying not to brush shoulders with Dorcas.
Marlene frowned. "How do you think the niffler even got in here?"
Dorcas shifted uncomfortably beside Marlene, and Marlene didn't think it was for the same reasons she had.
"Promise not to tell anyone?" Dorcas asked, turning towards Marlene.
"Promise," Marlene whispered, trying to pretend there was more than just a few inches between their faces.
Dorcas stared at her feet and pursed her lips. She sighed. "Alright, the niffler's mine. He's my Care of Magical Creatures project. He must've slipped into my bag after class or something. I had a few Knuts in there from the last Hogsmeade weekend, he must've… What are you laughing at?!"
Dorcas forgot all about her whispering and Marlene couldn't contain herself. She doubled over -or as much as she could in the closet - and clutched her sides.
Trust Dorcas to accidentally smuggle a niffler into the castle. She was just about the clumsiest person Marlene had ever met and seemed to attract trouble wherever she went. And yet there Marlene was, hiding in a closet trying to avoid brushing shoulders with her.
Marlene wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "You have to admit… this is bloody ridiculous."
Dorcas looked torn between a sheepish and bemused smile. She settled for crossing her arms begrudgingly.
"I just hope Lily gets her act together soon."
"Could be worse," Marlene smiled. "You could be locked in here with Mary's cat."
Dorcas smirked at the thought of the grey furrball Mary tried to pass off for a cat. Suddenly, her face lit up and she turned towards Marlene.
"I've got a brilliant idea!"
Dorcas reached for the doorknob, but Marlene grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?!"
Dorcas just rolled her eyes. "Trust me."
Marlene loosened her grip reluctantly, remembering the crazy furry creature that had eagerly mauled off Dorcas' ring. She'd just have to be quicker this time. Dorcas reached for the door knob again and quickly slipped out of the closet, a sliver of light illuminating the closet. Marlene could hear the niffler burying into a chest nearby and dearly hoped it hadn't gotten to her Collector's Edition Galleons. Finally, Dorcas slipped back into the closet, her brown book bag in hand.
"What-?"
Dorcas' eyes shined up mischievously. "Last year, I read Scamander's book on the handling of magical creatures. There was this one passage on nifflers. I'm not sure if I can do it now, but I'll try."
Dorcas cleared her throat and lifted her wand. "Capacious extremis." She tapped the bag and it glowed a pale blue in her hand before returning to its original dull brown.
Marlene's eyes widened. "You can do an Extension Charm?"
"There's a lot of things you don't know about me," Dorcas smirked.
Marlene snorted and shoved her friend. "Bugger off."
Dorcas' smirk hardened slightly and she looked determinedly at Marlene. "Shall we do this?"
Marlene nodded hesitantly. Before she could muster up any Gryffindor courage, Dorcas handed her the bag and pushed the door open. Their room was a mess - clothes, quills and parchment paper littered the floor - but Dorcas was unfazed. She brandished her wand in the air and yelled "Accio Niffler!"
Marlene watched, terrified, as the lid of Lily's chest flung open and a small brown niffler flew out, his hands full of paper clips and staples. The niffler looked surprised to see them, and in any other situation Marlene would've burst out laughing at the petrified look the niffler was sporting.
Instead, Marlene lifted the open bag beside her head and watched as the niffler zoomed towards Dorcas. She rushed towards Dorcas, tripped on the floor and scooped the niffler up in mid-air. Dorcas caught her just as Marlene was about to hit the floor, a warm hand sliding onto her back.
"That was close," Dorcas said. She smiled down at Marlene, who was blushing profusely and trying to ignore the rapid fluttering in her stomach. The brown bag gave a violent shake.
"Yeah," Marlene said. She placed her free hand on her friend's shoulder and forced herself to look up at Dorcas.
She regretted it instantly. As her eyes met Dorcas', Marlene melted. Her mind slipped away with any sense of resolve she still had left. She could've leaned in right there and let whatever happen, happen.
"Oh Merlin, did you catch it?"
Marlene felt the cold rush of reality sluice through the room as Lily slammed the door shut. She let go of Dorcas and smiled at Lily forcefully.
"Yeah, he's in here," she said as the brown bag gave another violent shake.
Lily gave a thankful smile. "Blimey, I thought you two were goners."
"Would've been without the soft subject of Care of Magical Creatures." Dorcas nudged Marlene in the shoulder and smirked.
Marlene smiled back, letting the rush of emotions that'd seized her drift away.
"Come on, we should give little Eddy back to Professor Kettleburn before he's missed."
Marlene snorted as they filed out of the dorm. "You named the niffler?"
Dorcas grinned. "Of course I did."