the archer

“Ah, that idiot,” Corban scoffed. “I rarely pay attention to you, or the quidditch team. No offence, love.” It wasn’t entirely a lie, he paid less attention to the other now than he did before. “Nah. I’m actually finding winding you up far more entertaining, if I’m honest.”

Although she was never usually one to bite her tongue, Marlene resisted the urge to defend her cousin; anything to avoid making Corban think he was having an effect on her. “Your housemates are serving far too good firewhiskey for you to get me wound up.” she said in a fairly convincing voice, taking a sip of her drink as proof. “Nice to know that you still care how I feel about you, though. That’s really adorable.” Perhaps she wasn’t as good at sarcastic indifference as he was, but in the end they had similar goals.

Juliet was wandering Hogsmeade, desperately needing a distraction of some kind. Feeling someone grab her arm, she turned to face the person, lips curving upwards as she saw it was Marlene. “Oh H-” She began, before the other mumbled something and pressed her lips against hers. With a shrug of her shoulders, Juliet kissed Marlene back, arm slithering around her waist so that no one would be able to tell it was her. As she pulled away slightly, Juliet looked at the other with a smirk. “That get rid of whoever you were running away from?”

Marlene was surprised that the other girl had kissed her back so willingly; it had been an impulsive decision on her part, one she wasn’t sure would get her anything but a slap in the face. A blush appeared on her cheeks as she stepped back from Juliet; she’d never kissed a girl before other than a quick peck during truth or dare, and it wasn’t unpleasant at all. “Thank you. I didn’t mean to attack you like that.” she said, her voice much more sheepish than usual. “Prank gone awry. Had to make a clean getaway.”

“Fuckfuckfuck” Marlene hissed under her breath as she ran quickly, dodging passersby in the crowded streets of Hogsmeade. This prank was supposed to have gone off without a hitch, but the shopkeeper at Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop had returned from his lunch break just early enough to see the rather vulgar vandalism Marlene had been committing against his place of business. And he wasn’t happy.

Marlene turned a corner around Madame Puddifoot’s, hoping to lose him but instead running into a dead end. Shit. She was sure to lose her role as a prefect if McGonagall got one more negative report on her. Spotting a classmate, she grabbed their arm.

“I’m so sorry about this.” she said quickly, before pulling them into a feverish kiss. Around all the other gooey-eyed couples waiting for their table at the romantic teashop, they blended right in, and Marlene’s pursuer walked past without noticing them.

This was the first holidays that Marlene wasn’t spending at home. In years past the McKinnons had done Christmas big---a towering tree, a raucous party, the works. But as her brothers started getting older, moving away from home, a few even starting families of their own, the celebration had gotten smaller and smaller. This year her parents had decided to visit her eldest brother, his wife, and their new baby in northern Russia, where he was on assignment. When she’d looked at her options, a cozy Christmas in Hogwarts with her closest friends seemed the best choice.

As much as she hated to admit it, the cheesy festivities in Hogsmeade were part of the appeal. And she couldn’t think of anyone better to spend it with than the friend she saw on the road approaching her now, head ducked down to avoid the cold wind.

“Frank!” she called, waving him over. “Be proud; I resisted the urge to eat all of these chestnuts before you got here." She popped one in her mouth before offering the bag to him. “So now we can share them.”

“Somebody.” Corban shot the girl a questioning look, draining the rest of his drink before setting the glass down. “Right of course. Doesn’t sound like complete bullshit at all.” He scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Why are you even here, last time I checked, you’re not a Ravenclaw.” He knew this party was open to everyone, but he just wanted to wind her up.

Marlene rolled her eyes. Whatever she had once felt for him (and really, it was hardly anything), he certainly did nothing for her now other than raise her blood pressure. “My cousin is on your Quidditch team. Which I’m sure you know.” she said sharply. “I was just hoping you’d be off with some slag by now instead of bothering me.”

“Yeah I know you are celebrating your holidays and all that good stuff but have you ever heard of Jamesmas? Now that is a holiday.”

@finestra-starters​

Marlene gagged, rolling her eyes at the other Gryffindor. “If you’re going to go with that joke---and I wouldn’t---I think Pottermas has more of a ring to it.”

“It’s not that bad,” she repeated in a mocking tone. “So you’re who I have to blame for this!” Sun stood up, laughing considering she wasn’t really mad at her. “I’m sure Mary did this, but I’m thinking of keeping the purple hair. Wanna help me figure out how to change my eyes back?”

“I agree. Purple hair is definitely badass.” Marlene got up from her bed and fiddled around in her trunk for a few minutes, before pulling out her worn Charms textbook. “What do you think I should search for? E for eyes?”

{ @finestra-rp· }

“Blame the Gryffindors.” Sun looked up from where she sat, noticing the other person looking at her newly changed purple hair. After a moment, she pulled her sunglasses off, slightly squinting against the bright glare of the sun against the stone. “I passed out at the party and someone thought it’d be funny to spell my hair to change colors. I tried to fix it, but now it’s just stuck on purple. The green eyes are just a little bit harder to fix.”

Marlene could barely suppress her giggle as her roommate took off her glasses. “You look...it’s not that bad.” she said unconvincingly, her eyes widening. “I swear, I left you alone for ten minutes. I don’t know what happened.” This was actually true---although it was a prank Marlene would pull, it wouldn’t be on Sun. “Do you want me to try?”

|| @finestra-starters· {OPEN}

A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips as he brought the bottle to them. While he wasn’t particularly fond of quidditch, he did like winning. He couldn’t complain about the after parties either. One hand ran through his curls as his eyes scanned the party, looking for someone that interested him. Spotting someone, he pushed himself off the wall he’d been leaning against, crossing the tower to reach them. “You look lost,” Corban commented, smirk growing as he took a sip from his drink, arching an eyebrow at the other.

Although it hadn’t been her team winning this time, Marlene never missed out on a chance to go to a party. The drinks were flowing generously, after all, and the view of the clear night from the astronomy tower was nothing to sneeze at. She’d spent most of the night helping her cousin celebrate his win---and playfully warning him that he wouldn’t be so lucky when it was the Lions he was up against.

At some point in the night she’d lost Blaise in the crowd, however, and was peering around looking for him when she was approached by someone she’d been hoping to avoid. “I’m not. I was looking for...” she paused “...somebody.”

“Yes, I knit. Don’t laugh. I thought I could make nice gifts for Mum or people in our house. But I don’t know if I can make a hat just yet. I just mastered scarves,” he explained. “I’m actually learning to do it the Muggle way. No spells. Spells would probably be easier, but what’s the fun in that?”

Frank looked down to the girl’s head on his shoulder. He was used to this kind of treatment with his friends and he was glad that people could be that comfortable with him. But a small voice in the back of his mind wondered what other people might think if they were looking at this situation from the outside. This wasn’t anything that he had to worry about before. He knew it was relatively innocent, but would Hestia also see it that way? He had no way of knowing. “So what else are you keeping busy with other than watching sunrises?”

Marlene sighed, moving her head from Frank’s shoulder as he talked about knitting and stretching her arms up, up, up. Perhaps she’d go on a run after this, or get in some Quidditch practice. She could feel her energy buzzing more and more as the sun rose.

“Me? Oh, not much. The usual escapades.” she said with a shrug. “I went on a date with a Hufflepuff boy yesterday. But I don’t think I’ll see him again. He was too sweet; I’d ruin him.” she said jokingly; Marlene had dated lots of blokes during her time at Hogwarts, but none of them she’d call sweet. “What about you?”

“Kins, you did not just get me out of bed, in the early morning hours for sun and nature?” She shook her head, following her friend out. Dani had never been a morning person, and this was not making it easier. “Oh man, we should have at least made sure there would be coffee.” She glanced at Marlene who seemed to be the definition of a morning person. “Well, classes, getting out my winter scarves and… That’s about it. Tell me more for you.” 

Marlene giggled. “Sorry. But I needed company.” she said with a shrug, not really bothered in the least bit. It wasn’t as if she’d be hurting the girl. “I have coffee right here. Which will be available after we get outside” she said, gesturing to the thermos before holding it away. “As for me, not too much to tell. Preston got hired to a ministry position, which I’m happy about. Now I can fuck up and his greatness will make up for it.” she joked.

Danielle groaned, loud enough to make her friend that she was not happy. Yet, she finally opened her eyes, regretting it the moment the light blinded her. “I swear, McKinnons, I am going to do something very bad to you when you least expect it. But…” She moved so she could move off her bed, directly into her robes. “I’m going to do this cause I love you.” Yawning, she took the girl by the hand, slowly leading her out of the room. “Remind me, why the hell is this so important?” 

Marlene gladly followed her friend out the room, easily matching her pace with a lively step. “It’s important because it’s spectacular. The sun! Nature! We really don’t get enough of it.” she explained, only half-joking. “What’s been going on in your world?”

“Definitely drunk then,” Mary chuckled back at her friend, stretching her arms. “Alright, alright, I’m getting up.” She murmured, waving her hand. “You might wanna turn around while I get dressed, unless you wanna see me naked.”

“Oh, I see you naked enough in my dreams, MacDonald.” she said, waggling her eyebrows and turning around. “You don’t need to put on anything nice. The sun will outshine us all. Literally.”

“marlene mckinnon i was up on prefect duty all night i’m going to have to postpone.” ted said, covering his face with his blanket. “i dealt with one too many missing cat cases last night and if i plan on functioning at all today i’m going to need more sleep.” 

“Come on, Ted. It’ll be fun.” she said in a sing-songy voice, creeping up to her fellow Gryffindor and whispering in his ear. “If you get up right this second I’ll take over your next two night shifts. This is a once in a lifetime offer.”