Marlene looked up through a curtain of half-brushed blonde waves, squinting at the human embodiment of a hurricane that ran into the bench on the other side of her. "'Ya alright there Vi?"
The brunette stayed standing, looking down at her friend while rubbing the area on her leg that rammed into the wooden bench. "Can we switch seats?"
The crease between the blonde's brows deepened at the abrupt statement, "Wow." she spoke around a mouthful of cereal, "No 'Good morning Marlene, how are you today?'" the blonde mocked in faux cheeriness.
Violet's eyes remained steadfast, and spoke without hesitation, "Good Morning Marlene, how are you today? Good? Lovely. Can we switch seats now?"
Blue eyes squinted up at her, "Actually, I'll have you know I haven't had a good day."
"Shame."
"Or night." Marlene set down her spoon and laced her fingers together before her, leaning forward on the table. "In fact, if you had found your way back to the room you'd know exactly what I'm referring to." the blonde sent a fierce glare up to her best friend, "Where were you?"
Violet looked down, shuffling her feet slightly, "I'll tell ya' if we can switch-"
Marlene slapped the table in frustration, "Why do you want to switch so bloody bad?"
"She wants a better view of her boyfriend." Lily teased as she arrived at the table alongside Mary.
Marlene whipped around when Lily crossed behind her to arrive in her usual seat, "Oh no." she raised a finger accusingly at the redhead, "I don't want you here right now. I'm still mad at you."
Seeing the confused expression on Violet's face, Mary spoke up, "James came to the dorm last night to see Lily."
"The bloody heathens kept me from sleeping!" Marlene exclaimed, "Like rabbits, I tell you! I'm traumatized!"
All excitement on Violet's face vanished and was promptly replaced with deep horror. Her gaze snapped to the blonde, "And you wanted me to experience that?"
Marlene shrugged, "Mary and I had to, it's only fair."
"Actually" Mary interrupted as she reached across the table for one of the fresh buttered croissants, "I just placed a charm over my bed, so I was fine."
"I had to, it's only fair." The blonde amended.
Violet gagged, "You wanted me to be there to witness my brother shagging one of my best friends?"
Marlene nodded.
"I'm gonna be sick."
Lily rolled her eyes, "Oh come off it, you both."
Marlene slowly turned her head till she was glaring at the redhead's profile, "Four Hours." she seethed, "I lost a collective of four hours of sleep because of you."
"You're overreacting."
"I am not!" Marlene screeched, "You made me stay up and help you study for your stupid exam-"
"-I'll ask someone else next time"
"Then" her glare sharpened into something almost lethal, "someone enters the dorm at midnight. At first, I thought it was Violet coming back from whatever the hell had her out so late, but no. That theory was quickly proven false by the moaning coming from your side of the room. For the next. Four. Hours."
Lily simply shrugged, doing her best to play off the pink hue that she could feel beginning to creep up her neck and across her cheeks, she picked up a large goblet in an attempt to subtly hide her face.
Violet was broken from her far-away trauma-induced stare by the sound of someone dropping a plate in the distance. She shook her head, hoping to rid herself of the horrifying image that plagued her mind's eye.
"Oh, Merlin." a hand flew its way up to cover her mouth, "That's vile." The younger girl mimed vomiting on the floor for a few minutes when she suddenly straightened, "Wait," she gasped in horror, "Lily, what if I was there!" she shrieked, gagging for real this time, "You would've made me listen to you and my brother?"
Lily rolled her eyes with a simple shrug, "No, I knew you wouldn't be in."
"But what if I was? What if I came back!"
A small smirk graced her lips and a knowing spark appeared in her emerald gaze, "I saw you on my patrol last night before going up to study with Marls." her smile widened, "I didn't think you'd be coming back up."
Violet quickly looked down as heat began to flush through her cheeks, choosing now to plop down on the bench, giving up all hopes of switching to the other side.
She didn't want a clear view of the Slytherin table if her face was as red as she thought it was.
Marlene's previous glare vanished, looking between the redhead and brunette with interest, "Wait, what am I missing?"
Lily tilted her head in an attempt to gain Violet's attention. When brown eyes met her own, she sent her a questioning look. Violet nodded once before dropping her head to watch her hands as she picked at her skirt, giving Lily permission to relay what she saw to the other two girls.
A softer smile took over the redhead's face, "I was doing my rounds last night when I passed the library. Usually, I don't go inside but I saw a faint light coming from the back corner and I wanted to make sure it wasn't just an unattended candle someone left behind. However, when I followed the light I found Violet and Re-"
Violet's eyes widened slightly, just now recalling the conversation she had with Regulus the night prior. They could try it, being together, but no one could know. She wanted to ask him why, to assure him that nothing could happen, but he seemed steadfast and insistent on the condition.
She caught Lily's gaze, giving her a hopefully unnoticeable, panicked head shake that the other two would ignore.
Lily was nothing if not perceptive and quick on her feet, and continued without a hitch, "-dmond all cuddled up on one of the couches."
Mary smiled warmly at her friend, "Oh! So that's why you were out."
"You're going out with Redmond?" Marlene practically yelled, "When did that happen?"
Violet's eyes widened and she quickly turned behind her, gulping at the unreadable expression on her real boyfriend's face. "U-um. yeah!" she spoke, "It's a new thing." she laughed nervously.
Marlene raised an eyebrow at the girl, "When have you ever shown interest in Redmond Castle?"
"I-I had a thing for him back in second year." That wasn't exactly a lie, she had fallen head over heels for the Slytherin beater back then, but the crush didn't last more than a couple of months.
"That's right!" Mary chimed in, unknowingly helping validate Violet's fake story, "I remember you telling us about that."
Marlene hummed as she returned to her half-eaten bowl of cereal, a slightly raised eyebrow told her the blonde wasn't convinced like Mary seemed to be.
Violet was about to reach out and begin filling her plate with food when a slight weight appeared in her pocket. In the corner of her eye, she could see a green-lined robe quickly making its way to the door.
When she reached into her robes, she found a small triangle of parchment that seemed to be swiftly torn from a random book in a rush. Familiar cursive writing splayed across the note:
I need to talk to you
It was straight to the point and was likely the most informal thing she'd ever received from him. There was no punctuation, no name, no close-out, no structure. It was quick and hastily scrawled.
A pit formed in her stomach as she rose from the table to follow him out into the hall. This was going to be interesting.
———
yeah vi, you're right. this is going to be interesting. why? because i have just as much of an idea of whats going to happen as you.
i started writing some stuff for part three and realized that i needed to add some more content and context to bridge off of for later. plus, i think we just need more fluff and fun chaos before all of that begins to happen...
anyway, i made this decision on a whim, so hopefully it turns out alright 😬
also! sorry it took so long, college is kicking my ass and i lost all inspiration for this story out of pure stress, so hopefully that all gets better with time