#ch33

Suddenly, Marlene became very anxious. She had been planning on just listing a few places she wanted to visit before she died, but the others seemed to have much clearer ideas about what they wanted from their post-academic life. And, of course, she'd known that to some degree before, what her friends wanted to do, but she was now struck with how immediate it all seemed. Donna spoke of being finished at Hogwarts as if were weeks away, and in point of fact, it was very little more than that. It was like when she'd been on the train at the beginning of the year—in Prudence Daly's compartment, and all the girls had been so clear about what they wanted to do, career-wise, and Marlene's answer had been a vaguer than vague: "I don't know." She didn't know. And maybe that was alright, but the fact was, she would be out of there soon, and she would have to figure something out. She would have to make some kind of decision—and she had already made some, actually. She'd picked her classes—she had narrowed her options to those that accepted the N.E.W.T.s she was taking. Anxiety bubbled up on her stomach, and she hoped beyond hope that she wouldn't have to speak now. Maybe their group would run over the time—not that it really mattered; Clancy Goshawk was the only one there who wasn't already familiar with everyone's future plans, and Marlene had no reason to fear her opinion, but still... it was discomforting sitting there, having nothing clever to say...