/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟕.𝟙𝟘.𝟣

"if we could light up the room with pain, we'd be such a glorious fire." ~ Ada Limon

~april 1977~

The morning after Marlene's birthday party fell on Gryffindor house in a haze of lingering cigarette smoke and hungover groans from all corners of the common room. The place was a mess. Bottles and streamers and confetti were strewn amongst students sleeping haphazardly across the floor. Sirius was using Artemis's stomach as a pillow, while she slept on her back with one hand woven in her hair.

The only person who seemed fully awake was Marlene. She was sitting upright on the window seat by the big bay window, staring out at the grounds with a mug of coffee cradled in her hands. It was gloomy out, and the sun was just beginning to crest above the tree line. Marlene's eyes travelled further than that, not taking in any of the view.

When she heard a ruffling behind her, she didn't turn until Emmeline spoke. "Marlene."

Marlene turned to her. "Em, sit down."

Her eyes were so serious, Emmeline sat without hesitation. She pulled her legs to her knees, holding herself as if her body might shatter at any second. "Marlene, I dunno what I said last night, but I remember enough to know it-"

"Em." Marlene quieted her with one word. "Em, I know. You told me you- You told me you love me."

Emmeline's entire face turned beat red. "God, I'm such an idiot."

"You're not," Marlene whispered. "You're really not."

"I was drunk."

"I know."

"I didn't know what I was saying."

"I know."

"Marlene-" Emmeline stared out the window and rested one cheek on her bare knee. She couldn't look at her. Her voice was no more than a whisper. "I meant it."

There was only a beat of hesitation. "I know." They were both silent for a long moment, and when James let out a jarring snore from the couch a few feet away, both girls nearly smiled. Marlene took a deep breath. She looked at Emmeline, with her hair hanging limp, trailing all the way down her back in pretty little waves. She looked at her freckles, her hooked nose, the way her eyes lightened in the rising sun. She stared at Emmeline like it was her first time ever seeing her. And then Marlene looked down at the coffee in her mug, dark and bitter. "Em... listen to me. I can't do to you what Dorcas did to me. I can't... I can't give you something without being able to... be here."

"Then don't."

Marlene struggled to take another breath. She was thinking of Emmeline, and the way she always wanted to compete to see who could fly higher during quidditch practice. The way she laughed so loud at jokes that weren't funny just to make whoever told it feel better. The way she would dance to Bowie in the middle of the common room without a care for who was watching.

"Em, I can't. I can't do that to you."

Emmeline's voice hardened. She kept staring out the window. "Then don't."

"Why don't we just see what happens? When you're done with your seventh year, why don't we see what happens?"

Emmeline finally looked at Marlene, and it took all the willpower in the world not to tuck the little strand escaping from her blonde braid behind one ear. "Are you saying..." her voice was hushed. "Are you saying you might feel the same way?"

Now it was Marlene's turn to stare out at the grounds. She couldn't help the lofty grin making its way onto her face. "I'm saying let's see what happens. Let's see how we both feel in a year, alright, Em?"

"Alright," said Emmeline. "Alright, I can live with that."

Marlene reached out one hand and clasped it over Emmeline's. "It's not a no, it's just the best we're getting for now."

~

Mary and Peter sat in the only clear spot in the aftermath of the party. It was afternoon, and nearly everyone else in the house was busy cleaning up the mess. Mary and Peter didn't have time for that. They were in the midst of the last game in their chess tournament. The finale. The tie-breaker. And it had been going on for hours.

A continuous stream of people crowded around them, some stopping in the middle of some chore or other to cheer on one of the players, some stopping in to check on the progress of the game every twenty minutes or so. Mary and Peter tuned them out. It was the last game. The last piece of distraction they had from the tension neither of them wanted to face. After this, they'd have to figure out what they were, and how they would still be friends.

"Check," said Mary.

"Nope." Peter moved a pawn Mary had been ignoring and covered his king.

Mary sighed and rested her chin on her hand, scrutinizing her next play. Erin, the first year who hadn't left the seventh years alone all year, was sitting cross-legged next to Mary. She leaned over to whisper something in her ear, and James tossed a crumpled streamer at her.

"No cheating, Erin."

"I didn't know you were watching!" she complained.

He raised his eyebrows at her and shoved a few more streamers into a garbage bag. "This is serious business, kid, no foul play."

"Was the party last night serious business too?" Erin protested. "Is that why I wasn't allowed to come?"

Remus appeared from behind a couch with an armful of empty firewhisky bottles. James held the garbage bag open so Remus could dump them in. "You weren't allowed to go because we were doing important grown-up things."

"Gross."

"Shut up, all of you," Mary muttered. "I'm about to win."

Peter sat forward. Mary reached out to move one of her pawns- it was a strategy she'd had planned out from the beginning.

James stood up on the coffee table. "Oi! Everyone! Mary's about to win!"

Mary looked up at James in partial disgust as a crowd of people hurried to watch the last moves of the game. Mary put her hand out again to move her piece.

And then, Rose the cat jumped onto the board to push her head under Mary's hand, purring contentedly.

"Holy shit!" James shouted, jumping down from the coffee table and crouching beside the ches board. "Holy shit!"

Complaints and murmurings echoed through the crowd. Erin laid on her back and covered her face with her hands. Sirius and Artemis joined James in gaping down at the ruined game.

Peter looked up at Mary. She met his eyes. A slow smile spread across her lips. Peter let out a small chuckle. "Well," he said, his eyes dancing, "-that was a bit anticlimactic."

"Rose, what did you do that for?" Mary crooned at the cat, now nestled in her arms.

Peter got to his feet and held out a hand to help Mary up. "Want to go for a walk?"

"Anything to get out of cleaning."

They crept past the surrounding students, already debating who the winner was going to be, and made their way out into the corridor. When they'd strayed far enough from the common room for the silence to settle comfortably between them, Peter took a deep breath. "Well, that was a fun distraction."

Mary smiled. "It was."

"What do we do now?"

To his surprise, she didn't look as worried for their friendship as he felt. She reached into her pocket and started unfolding a scrap from the Daily Prophet. "Look, I found this apartment the other day- and I really like it, Pete."

He took the paper and scanned the pictures. It looked exactly like something Mary would like. "It's great."

"But I can't afford it alone, and Artemis is moving in with Sirius after school, and I think Marlene and Lily are getting a place together- so... would you want to..."

He grinned down at her. "I do have money."

"Oh, I know."

He handed the paper back to her, settled his hands into his pockets, and let out a contented smile. "I'd love to move in together, Mary. You know that. You're my best friend."

Mary's face lit up and she wrapped an arm around his torso as they kept walking down the hallway. "Then it's a plan, Pettigrew."

"It's a plan."

~

The final playoff game of the quidditch season attracted every student at Hogwarts. It was Gryffindor against Hufflepuff, and whoever won would make it to the final. Artemis stood in the bleachers decked out in her red and gold, Sirius behind her, his arms resting comfortably on her shoulders.

He leaned down to murmur in her ear, "I've got to say, this is a bit more exciting than chess."

"And a little easier to get hyped up for," she said, laughing.

Beside them, Erin was holding a sign half her size that read, "I LOVE POTTER," in messy red letters. After his next play, James swooped over her head and made a heart sign out with his hands. Erin shrieked excitedly and jumped so much she almost toppled from the bleachers.

Sirius grabbed the back of her shirt at the last second to keep her steady. "Easy there, Brooks. Your man's taken anyways."

"I love Lily too!" Erin shouted over the noise.

Sirius shrugged. "Who doesn't?"

On the other side of Artemis, Lily threw her head back laughing and swatted at Sirius with her own Gryffindor sign. "Shut up, Padfoot, you're taken too."

Sirius grinned giddily and moved his arms from Artemis's shoulders to around her waist, pulling her close to him and making a show of kissing her on the cheek. "And I'm so happy I am."

"Shut up, Pads, I'm still mad at you," said Artemis, but she reached a hand up to sloppily pat the side of his face.

"All I did was-" Sirius started to protest.

"You stole my fucking hair dryer and blamed it on Peter!" Artemis interrupted.

Sirius let out a barking laugh and trailed one hand up Artemis's side lovingly.

Erin wrinkled her nose at the two of them. "You guys are so gross."

"And how did you even get up to our dormitory anyways?" asked Lily. "Boys can't even make it up the stairs."

Artemis felt Sirius flinch a little behind her and she took his hand in hers. She knew without even looking at him that his playful smile hadn't wavered a bit. He wouldn't let his secret drop. "Don't you even worry about it, Evans," he said nonchalantly. "I have my ways."

"I'll bet you do," Marlene muttered at Lily's side. Both girls smothered their giggles at Sirius's indignant look.

Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were tied, and the game had been going on for two hours. People were growing restless, and the teams were getting tired. Emmeline was gliding along the perimimeter of the pitch, scanning the air for the snitch. Marlene, hovering between the goal posts, watched her a bit distractedly. They were playing well, better than James had expected, at least. But if Emmeline didn't get the snitch soon, it would all be for nothing.

Then, the Hufflepuff seeker dived, and Emmeline didn't hesitate for a second before following him. Her long hair streamed out from behind her, and just as she was closing in on him, James scored a goal on Hufflepuff. The crowd went wild, and then the cheers turned deafening as one of Emmeline's hands pushed the Hufflepuff seeker out of the way and the other closed around the golden snitch.

Sirius threw his hands up in triumph and Artemis turned and wrapped Lily in a tight hug. Remus jumped down two rows to sweep Erin off the ground and swing her around, while Peter and Mary closed Marlene into a group hug.

"We won!" Remus cheered. "We won! We won!"

The students flooded the pitch, and as soon as James spotted Lily, he dropped his broom to the ground to wrap her up in his arms and kiss her, both of them stumbling backwards and laughing.

"We won," James rasped, breathless. "Lily, we're going to the final."

Lily kept one arm around James as the team and what seemed like the rest of Gryffindor swarmed them, everyone shouting at the top of their lungs like they'd won a war. And maybe it wasn't as monumental as it felt, but for that moment, they'd won. And none of them could be happier.