A/N: Chaser 3 of the Chudley Cannons
Prompt: Broken Porcelain - Write about someone being cursed.
Optional prompts: [colour] green, [word] short, [action] hiding.
Word Count before A/N: 1453
Thanks to my amazing teammates Hannah, Ashleigh, and Autumn for betaing, and the whole team for being really supportive!
Marlene and the Emerald Butterflies Plate
"I should've studied more," Marlene McKinnon grumbled to Dorcas Meadowes. "I couldn't even answer questions five and eight."
"Babe, we went over that last night, remember? We did the whole personality section."
Marlene sighed. Nothing had gone right that day. She had woken up too late to wash and style her hair, they had been out of peanut butter, and she was pretty sure she just failed her psychology test. "The person next to me probably passed," she muttered angrily, "and she never pays attention. It's just like her. I swear she has a deal with the professor or something. Probably paid him with all the money she inherited. Well, I assume she inherited it. After all, how else can she afford those Chanel bags and the cost of being a student?"
"It'll be okay, love. What about extra credit? Did you do it? Will it make up for it?"
Marlene shook her head. "It was worth two points."
Dorcas enveloped her in a huge hug, the kind that were usually warm and comforting to Marlene, but not today.
"It's like someone has it in for me today," Marlene added glumly.
"Maybe we needed some clear quartz last night, or today, when we were studying."
Marlene shook her head. "No. It's stronger than that. Like I've been cursed."
"Babe, don't diss the crystals when you spent so much money on them."
But Marlene wasn't listening to Dorcas, she was too busy combing through her memories. "Aha!" she cried, shocking her girlfriend. "April twenty-ninth, Remus. That oaf has something to do with it, I'm sure."
One Week Earlier…
"Guys, that was delicious," Remus said as he flopped down on the girls' sofa. "My jeans are going to burst if I have one more crumb of your fabulous cooking."
Marlene loomed over him, giving him a look. A what-do-you-think-you're-doing look that one might expect to be given by an annoyed mother. "What. Are. You. Doing." It was confirmed, Marlene was an annoyed mother.
Remus looked up at Marlene. "Huh?"
"'Huh?'" Marlene mimicked. "Do not 'huh' me. Get up."
"B- But," Remus started to protest.
"We made lunch. And you? All you've done is eat and laze around," Dorcas added.
Marlene pointed at Remus, and then at the kitchen. "You're on dish duty."
...
Remus stared at the mountain of dirty plates, bowls, and serving dishes. How hard was it to make a simple roast dinner? How many different components were there really? Were the towering stacks of washing up completely necessary? Probably not, but he still had to clean every single dish there. With clenched teeth, he began working his way through the seemingly endless piles.
It all seemed to be going so well until he reached the fancy china. He nearly broke half the plates, which were slippery with bubbles and foam. Luckily, he didn't, because Marlene would've screamed at him for evermore. Remus really thought he had gotten away with almost smashing their china until he moved onto the last plate. At this point, he had started to relax. After all, it was the last plate! What could go wrong? But as the plate slipped out of his fingers, he knew he should have been more careful.
Oh, God, he thought as he watched the emerald dish fall to the floor. It's all over now.
"Rem, what was that?" questioned Dorcas from the other room. "Is everything okay?"
"Just peachy!" Remus replied, silently panicking. What was he to do with the remains of the once-beautiful green plate?
"Hm, I'm coming in, Rem, it sounds like you need help." Upon hearing this, Remus willed himself to think of something to do, anything to do, about the smashed crockery.
An idea sprung to mind. Hide it, quick! As he heard Dorcas telling Marlene to pause the show that they were watching, he knew he didn't have much time until they would be in the kitchen. Remus managed to wrap the pieces in a clean tea towel and shoved it into a nearby cupboard, praying they wouldn't poke around in there or would be too short to reach, before they appeared in the doorway.
Marlene and Dorcas walked in, worry displayed on their faces. "All good, yeah?" Marlene asked.
"It's… fine."
Marlene narrowed her eyebrows. "What did you do?"
"N- Nothing! Everything is just peachy." But he couldn't stop his gaze shifting towards the cupboard door he'd just closed.
"Don't believe you. Dorcas," she turned to her girlfriend. "Check the cupboards, babe, I don't believe him one bit."
Remus flushed red. They were definitely going to find out what he'd done. "F- Fine!" He had given in. "I… I broke a plate."
"You did WHAT?" Marlene screeched. "This better be a joke."
Dorcas turned slowly to face Marlene from the cupboard she was searching, a yellow tea towel in her hands. Damn, Remus thought. I forgot about Dorcas' heels.
"I found it," she said sadly. "You're not going to like this, Marl."
"WHAT?" Marlene practically screamed. "Not the emerald butterflies!"
Dorcas nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry, babe, I know what it meant to you."
"Are you stupid? That was my favourite plate! They don't make them like that anymore."
"Babe, he just broke a plate."
Marlene's eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open in newfound anger. "Oh. My. God. Thanks for cursing us, you clumsy oaf."
But that was just the beginning of Marlene's bad luck.
"This is unacceptable," Marlene sighed. "He has to be punished."
Dorcas eyed her phone. "Maybe we could… Call him?"
"Oh!" Marlene gasped. "This is why I love you!"
Marlene McKinnon and Remus Lupin
McKitten: answer your phone
McWolf: why?
McKitten: we're calling you, pick up, stop hiding
"Hello?" the tinny voice spoke through Marlene's phone.
"Hi!" Dorcas greeted him. "You're on speaker phone. So great to talk to you again!"
"Why are you calling me?" Remus asked, suspicion raising in his voice.
Marlene answered before Dorcas had the chance to speak. "Oh, you know, it's nothing. Everything is just peachy, as you would say."
"Um, okay?"
"Broken any more plates lately?"
"Why? What is it? What do you want?" Finally, Remus had sensed the sarcasm in Marlene's voice.
Dorcas interjected, "It's to do with the plate."
"That was a week ago. I'm sorry! I can try to get a new one!"
"Nothing can replace Emmy!" Marlene snapped. "Besides, you've ruined my day with your idiocy. I hate you! I failed my test because of you!" And with that, she hung up on him in a rage.
"It'll be okay," Dorcas reassured an angry Marlene. "Let's make some chai cookies! Your favourite."
"Oh, please, you know I only like them because they're Taylor Swift's famous recipe."
Dorcas narrowed her eyes. "Marlene McKinnon, I've been nothing but kind and caring, but this is too far. Man up, girlfriend, because I'm done with you acting like you're five years old."
"Sorry," Marlene muttered, looking at her feet. "Maybe I got a little carried away."
Dorcas sighed and hugged Marlene tightly. As annoying as she was, Dorcas knew she would always love her drama queen girlfriend. "You're such a Leo, you know?"
"Can't believe I'm dating an Aries, of all things."
"Mm."
"Uh, so about the cookies…"
"My God, Marlene, you're so suggestible," Dorcas laughed.
"Hey, babe, did you move my hematite?" Marlene shouted from their bedroom.
"No… why?" Dorcas responded, moving from the office to their room.
"I was charging it with the slab."
"Umm, actually, I took the selenite slab to charge up my rose quartz."
Marlene gasped. "That's why I've been having a terrible day! It wasn't working properly! The powers were useless, and I didn't cleanse it, so all the negativity was trapped inside when I wore it."
"Actually, I don't think we've charged the wands or slabs. They may not have worked as well as usual," Dorcas added, nervously fiddling with her emerald ring. "We'll have to recharge and cleanse everything!"
"Dorky, get the sage!"
"We're so sorry, Rem. We were both out of line. I'm ever so sorry for being so short on the phone earlier. It's all because my hematite wasn't charged or cleansed properly, but that's no excuse for how I acted," Marlene said earnestly. "Please accept our apology."
"What's a he… Mitten?"
"Hematite. It's a crystal."
"Ohhh, right, you're into that weird stuff."
"Weird?!" Dorcas screeched.
"Dorky, you're meant to be saging the crystals."
"As I said," Remus sighed, "weird."
"So, just to reiterate, you didn't curse us, it was the selenite not charging our babies properly." Marlene wrestled with Dorcas, who was waving the sage in the air and screaming. "JUST SO YOU KNOW!" she yelled over the background noise. "I DON'T REALLY HATE YOU ANYMORE!"