♥️ 𝒟𝑜𝓇𝓁𝑒𝓃𝑒 ♥️

【Marlene and Dorcas take one last trip away before life comes calling...】

(Muggle AU)

✦ ✦ ✦

The effects of the beech were never quite lost on Dorcas Meadowes despite living on the coast all her life.
No matter how many strolls she took along the sandy paths and climbed along rocks she would never fail to take in the beauty of her surroundings.

And she collected it- the beauty. Shells and little pieces of glass that had been smoothed and matted by the sand and sun. They sat on a white shelf in her bedroom of the beech-house she lived in with her father.

And she had taken them with her when she left. She packed the shells in a jar and the glass in another and left to travel where-ever the wind took her.

Some would call it a gap year, but Dorcas didn't have much intention of returning. Of course she had been accepted into Glasgow University but she didn't much care for city life nor the micro-biology that she was meant to study. Dorcas was raised by the beech and that was where she felt most at home, and that was where she wanted to stay.

...

Marlene McKinnon was a classic city girl. She was born in central London and lived all her life on the busy streets of hustle and bustle. She rarely got any time away from the loud world and such and so when the first opportunity arose to take on the quiet side of civilisation she was more than ready to snatch it.

When she left she left behind her mother- not that she minded overly and so she had come to realise she didn't have much to return for. Of course she had been accepted to London College University but that never held her interest for longer than a minute before she was filled with dread at the thought of more pushing and shoving and loud, busy life.

She set off without anything to tie her down, determined to visit every quiet corner of the earth in attempt to find her sanctuary.
She set off the the intention to ride every country road on a hired motorbike and swim on every beach.
She set off with the intention on living by her own rules.

✦ ✦ ✦

"Vodka lemonade?"

Dorcas Meadowes stood behind a quiet bar in the late afternoon on an island in the south coast of Spain. She had just been swimming in the ocean and her sundress stuck to her torso a little bit.

The bartender smiled and nodded, turning to fetch her drink for her. She watched him go for a moment before she sat up on one of the barstools and turned out to face the view.

The sky had an orange hue suggesting that evening would not be long; children chased each other on the beach while their parents sat on beech towels and talked animatedly to each other in all sorts of eccentric languages. Palm trees lay out in a line along the pine walk and there was a group of presumably Spanish teenagers taking it in turns to dive off the pier not far off to the bar's right.

Dorcas pulled the shells out from her bag to study them. They were almost purely white aside from the faint brown patterns that covered them like a tattoo. There was a small piece of faded soft blue glass in her bag too, she would add them to her collection when she went back to the tiny hotel she was staying in.

"Here you are." The bartender had returned and handed her a glass with two coloured straws poking out the top, "one euro forty please?"

She smiled and handed him the money before taking her drink off the bar and swivelling back round in her stool to watch the gradual fade of the evening.

Somewhere off to her left there was a soft mechanic rumble. She turned her head around to watch as a motorbike appeared somewhere in the distance, as it got closer Dorcas managed to study the person riding it.

First off it was a she, contrary to her assumption, secondly she looked positively beautiful. Despite wearing a helmet, Dorcas could see she had breathtaking golden hair that spread out around her as she drove like a cape. Even sitting she could tell that the girl was tall, her legs were long and slightly tanned but Dorcas could tell that was the sun and not her natural skin tone, she wore blue denim shorts and combat boots with black socks that bunched up at the bottom of her leg.
The girl wore a black top that slid off one shoulder, it was slightly baggy but Dorcas could tell she was athletic and slim underneath. In a word she was stunning.

And Dorcas would have thought no more about it if she hadn't parked the motorbike ten feet away from her and headed into the bar.

...

Marlene McKinnon laughed out loud as she sped along the empty roads of the island she found herself on in the south of Spain. She had borrowed a motorbike from one of her friends and the owners of the hotel she had been staying in over the past two weeks and she had the intention of carrying on driving well into the night if it weren't for the fact she was in desperate need of a drink.

She stopped next to the open bar and climbed off the bike, she would come and pick it up in the morning. Sirius would be furious that she left it alone but she could handle him.

When she reached the front of the bar she took a stool next to perhaps one of the prettiest women she had seen in a while. She was staring at her phone in attempt to hide the fact she had been watching Marlene earlier but that only made her more endearing.
Her skin was a darkish brown and perfectly smooth, she had dark chocolate eyes and long eyelashes. She didn't look overly tall but her legs were long for her body. She wore a pale yellow sundress buttoned up with brown wooden looking buttons along the front and one of the straps fell off her shoulder.
The girl's hair was perhaps the most extraordinary thing about her. It was charcoal black and despite it being slightly damp it was still clear to see how tightly curled it was, her hair was long enough to tumble all the way down to her lower back, if she was to tilt her head she might be able to sit on it. In a word she was beautiful.

"Scotch and soda?"

The bartender raised an eyebrow, "fancy," he commented, if only a little acerbically.

"I live life dangerously."

...

When the woman took off her helmet Dorcas couldn't help but steal a few glances. She was wearing red lipstick and eyeliner that stretched out farther than Dorcas would ever dare, aside from that she didn't wear much makeup. Similar to herself- her waterproof mascara had slightly smudged in the ocean water.

As the woman got closer Dorcas grabbed her phone from her bag and pretended to type something, trying to insure the motorcyclist didn't know she had been staring.

"Scotch and soda?"

Her accent was London by the sounds, not cockney by any means but unmistakably London all the same.

"Fancy," she heard the bartender say sarcastically somewhere far off from her train of thought. She wondered if the two knew each other, they seemed quite familiar with one and other judging by their shared nod upon entry.

"I live life dangerously." Replied the woman before turning to face outwards, the same way as Dorcas. Occasionally swivelling back to talk to the bartender (whom she learned was called James and had an American wife named Lily, who apparently would kill him when he got home for reasons unbeknownst to Dorcas).

She tried her best to ignore the small glances the beautiful woman was shooting at her before looking away immediately. Dorcas began to wonder if something was in her teeth or if her bra might have been visible under her sundress; anything mildly embarrassing that might attract unwanted attention.

Eventually her drink ran out, she gathered herself and swivelled in her chair, "vodka lemonade, please?"

'James' nodded and went to pull a glass from underneath the bar. She noticed then just how messy his hair was; James seemed like he might he quite handsome if she had been at all interested- he was tall, his hair was curly and messy and his hazel eyes were bright behind a pair of glasses, his jaw was unbelievably strong too. It was the sort of thing that she had heard her friends talk about their boyfriends back at home.

"Here you are, miss. Is that all right?" He slid the glass over to her and threw a straw in like it was a dart (she would have been impressed if she wasn't so shocked at the motorcyclist handing the bartender the money for the drink).

'James' smirked at the woman before disappearing to serve (or chat up) a group of girls that giggled upon his entry.

"Um... thank you," Dorcas stumbled, turning to the beautiful woman shyly, surprising herself at her ability to string a sentence together well enough.

"No danger. I'm Marlene by the way," the blonde woman replied turning now to face Dorcas and smile endearingly.

"I'm Dorcas. You're from London?"

Marlene nodded, "Canary Wharf," she expanded (Dorcas thought she saw her roll her eyes).

"Wow it's quite a rich place there, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah- I don't come from there though. My dad left my mum a tonne of money in their divorce so we got a nice place. My mums a city girl."

Dorcas frowned, "and you aren't?"

"Oh no, no, I mean I love the city- it's where I was raised and I met this bastard there," she pointed at James with her thumb and winked at him, "but I love the beeches. Where you from then?"

"You wouldn't know it: North Berwick it's near Edinburgh."

Marlene raised an eyebrow, "you don't have the accent?"

Dorcas agreed non-verbally, but when Marlene gave her a questioning look she was forced to expand, "my mum was from Cardiff. She's dead now but what can you do?"

The blonde woman's face fell in sympathy, "oh shit I'm so sorry Dorcas, I shouldn't have asked!"

"Oh no it's okay," (this was the part of conversations that Dorcas always hated- it rather put people off her) "it's done now, and I'm here to clear the sadness out- I'm fine now."

"If it helps I'm not sure my mum really cares I've left on a gap year. I mean she loves me and everything but I think she loves peace and quiet more; I take pride in being a pain in the arse and I don't think she could really deal with that."

This made Dorcas chuckle a little bit, tucking a charcoal curl of hair behind her ear nervously at her slip in character- she had always thought she had a rather ugly laugh.

The evening wore into night and Dorcas got to know Marlene better over vodka lemonade and scotch and sodas. She learnt that Marlene had been friends with James and his friends since they were in school together and that they rather had a taste for troublemaking. She learnt that James and his best friend had moved to the island to open up this bar and the hotel down the road (that Marlene had been staying at in the past fortnight); she learnt that James had married his wife last year after meeting merely two years ago and that his best friend was to be married in the winter (and it was he that owned the bike Marlene rode in on).

Eventually James began to chase his customers away, telling them he needed to shut the place, eventually and fairly reluctantly they scattered away; Marlene and Dorcas, however, stayed in their seats (the latter feeling slightly more uncomfortable than the former).

"I should get going too. It's late." She announced, pulling herself to her feet and flattening her sundress over her knees.

"Nonsense. James and the guys have tonnes of rooms at the hotel, don't you Prongs?"

The bartender nodded, "tonnes. And I'll bet they're much better than the crappy little B&Bs you've been staying at, gap year student?" His tone was confident and reassuring all at once.

"That would be correct- it's fairly safe to assume a lot of the hotels I can afford tend to be shitholes!"

Marlene laughed and stood up herself, grabbing her helmet off the bar and stalking towards her bike to chain it up.
"Shouldn't have drank." She was muttering.

"It'll be fine, Mar, Sirius'll come get his baby in the morning."

...

And so they took Dorcas back to the hotel on foot. Giggling and laughing all the while and sharing anecdotes to brighten up the dark that has descended quite suddenly in the past hour.

The walk didn't last long, Marlene knew it well but when they reached the establishment they were near exhaustion.

That stance was short lived by James, however, when his wife (that so far to Dorcas had been hypothetical) came bounding out cursing him furiously, calling him -as James had previously phrased it- 'all the bastards'. Dorcas began to look rather awkward and so Marlene summoned her inner confidence and took the girl's hand and dragged her inside.

"Evening, Sirius, m'dear!" She saluted a man with long dark hair and various tattoos running up his left arm. He appeared to be on his phone when Marlene and Dorcas entered.

"Brought another girl round, hmm?"

Dorcas blushed but her companion shook it off, well used to Sirius and his quips. "Get it round you, Sirius! Just because I'm a free spirit!"

This time he looked up, "whatever you say, my lov- wait, she doesn't look easy at all!" Sirius' jaw dropped at the sight of Dorcas (or rather her high amount of clothes).

"I'm not going to sleep with her, Padfoot, Christ! And what would you know about girls anyway?"

This seemed to stump Dorcas as she vividly remembered the conversation in which this 'Sirius' character had been engaged.
Marlene smiled, looking forward to the moment Remus was to walk in to investigate the commotion.

And as if on cue he strolled in to watch from the window as Lily yelled at her husband (for reasons still unbeknownst to both Marlene and Dorcas).

"Is this about the thing?" Remus asked Sirius, making air quotes around his last two words.

"I believe so."

Suddenly Marlene seemed to remember herself; "oh! Sorry, how rude! This is Remus, Dorcas. And Dorcas, this is Remus."

Remus, Dorcas concurred, was a tall, slim and friendly looking man. His hair was a shiny, dirty blonde and his eyes were a honey amber, it was surprising to her how he could have become such good friends with people like Marlene and Sirius but then again, one should never judge a book by its cover.

"If it's 'the thing'," (again with air quotes) "then it's not really worth watching, is it?" Remus spoke once again to Sirius whom had now taken a perch on the counter of the hotel foyer.

He shook his head and unlocked his phone once more.

"Ah well. I'm off to bed anyhow, nighty-night all!" He gave a wave to the two girls before kissing Sirius on the lips and retreating back where he came. Dorcas' jaw dropped.

"What? You weren't expecting my fiancé to be so..."

"So- a man?"

Slowly, she nodded, "I hope that doesn't offend you?"

"Oh, no! No, not at all!" He waved her off and she breathed out a sigh.
"I apologise for earlier as well I suppose. Marly, here, has been bringing boys and girls alike home recently- who doesn't love a holiday romance? I just assumed you swung that way but if I offended you then I'm offering you a free slap,"

Dorcas laughed aloud, "oh no I definitely do but I just didn't think that's what we were doing here!" She tuned to Marlene with a blush to find her smirking.
"What?"

"Nothing. Also- Sirius we talked about this! Marly is a dead name!"

"Whatever, Marly."

She snarled dangerously. Dorcas chose her moment to intervene before things got ugly:
"Okay guys, we'll wrap it up there shall we?" She took Marlene by the shoulders and guided her out the foyer, "maybe you can show me to a room?"

✦ ✦ ✦

Marlene awoke the next morning with a happy buzz that she hasn't felt in quite a long time. A buzz not unlike one she had got from pranking the student body at her school.
But although the buzz was similar it was by no means the same thing. This buzz was more controlled to her heart, and it seemed to consume her with more content than adrenaline.

And it was all for the pretty girl she'd met the night before.

It took her a small while to get up and out of the comfort of her bed (mostly due to the lethal heat getting in the cracks of the windows and door) but got up she did.

When Marlene reached the guest dining room she spotted Dorcas sitting by herself but another place was laid opposite her and had clearly been occupied until very recently. She decided to take advantage of the mystery person's absence and take their seat.

"Morning."

"It's almost twelve."

Marlene laughed, "day then."

"I'll accept that." The two women shared a smile that could have melted either one on the spot.

"You went to get your stuff." Marlene commented, gesturing to the fact she had changed her clothes.

"I did. I'm going to Greece in a week and I thought I'd stay here for a little. I don't have much money but I'll just live cheaply for a while, unless there are any jobs going?" Dorcas cut a slice of watermelon in half with the side of her fork.

"You can stay with me. That's free." She wasn't quite sure what had possessed her in that moment but it was impossible to take back now. She had always prided herself on being confident but this was exceeding her usual limits.

"Oh! I... yeah! Yeah, awesome!"

And yet somehow it paid off. The blonde grinned and did her upmost best to be nonchalant in her reply, "cool. It'll be cheaper for you and stuff... yeah." (It did not work).

"Scootch! I'm talking to my new best friend!" Marlene turned round in the chair to see Sirius behind her attempting to pry her from the chair.

"You chose to have breakfast with this loose canon?!" She cried, utterly lost from laughter.

"It's twelve!"

"Okay lunch then!"

Sirius laughed, giving up on his mission to assault Marlene and pulled another chair over to straddle it.
"I'll have you know I'm very pleasant company!"

"That eats like a horse in the bloody Grand National!" Marlene rolled her eyes, "which is quite fitting, might I add, seen as you currently smell like horse-shit!"

"That wouldn't have been a problem if I didn't have to take the long route back from the bar when I went to pick up my motorbike that you left there! You know that farm always stinks!" Sirius did a good impression of sounding angry but he wasn't really. Quite the opposite, Marlene gathered, he was more amused.

"Oh shut up and deal with it! I'll rent a bike next time!"

"Yes you will."

Marlene turned her gaze to watch Dorcas, she was laughing almost hysterically and watching she with a look in her eyes that Marlene liked very much.
They simply stared at each other for a moment before Sirius coughed and they each promptly looked away.

...

Dorcas woke early the morning after her night at James' bar. When she'd awoken she groaned at the realisation she didn't have clean clothes to change into.

So, in her old, sweaty sundress she made her way into the foyer to find Sirius -the man that the motorbike had belonged to- in the porch. She raced out to meet him.

"Sirius!"

He turned to watch her scurry out and he grinned.
"Dorcas isn't it? The friend of Marlene's?"

"The very same. Listen, have you picked up your motorbike yet?"

Sirius shot her a look before nodding towards the aforementioned bike leaving against the wall.

"Could you take me to my old hotel? I'm thinking of staying here for a while and I would like to get my things," once she'd said it the words tasted a little awkward in her mouth; afraid he might reject her offer of friendship she began to ramble, "I mean I would ask Marlene but she's asleep and I didn't know if you would let her take the bike, and it's just such a long walk there and back to the hotel I'm not sure I could stand it in the heat I-"

"No worries. Come on there's a helmet under the seat." He jerked his head to the bike and began to stroll over.
Almost caught off balance Dorcas smiled.

"Okay, cool."

They got back just shy of an hour later.
"Fancy a bit of lunch? We skipped breakfast and I get grumpy when I've not eaten. Just ask Remus!"

Dorcas laughed as she allowed herself to be helped off the back of the motorcycle, "I'll believe you. Let's eat."

They sat in the guests cafe next to the window, overlooking the water not far behind. They talked about Dorcas' life in Berwick and Sirius' previous life in London. Their friendship was quite easy going and much easier than Dorcas would have imagined.

"I'm just going to get a refill for this," he held up his empty cup, "I won't be a minute." She nodded and watched him for a second as he left.

That was when she noticed someone else stride in. It was Marlene. She looked perhaps even prettier in her comfortable clothes than she did the previous night but it was hard to tell because as far and Dorcas understood it: Marlene was always pretty.

"Morning." She said with a small smile.

"It's almost twelve."

"Day then!"

✦ ✦ ✦

In the days that followed Dorcas very rarely left Marlene's side. They spent their evenings in James' bar (although sometimes it was Lily that severed them) and they spent their nights talking until the sun rose from the horizon so they could spend their mornings and afternoons travelling the island on a motorbike that Marlene had rented (per Sirius' request).

It was hard to know really when one girl began the the other ended they had become so close.
Their friends noticed it quite early on and attempted to tease it out of them with subtle winks and snide remarks but neither party ever got the message.

"How long do you have left here?" Marlene asked abruptly as they strolled along the pine-walk of a very pretty town one over from the hotel.

"Two days." Dorcas said quietly, as if her volume might change the eventuality.

"Two days?... okay."

It wasn't the answer Dorcas was expecting and yet she wasn't quite sure what she was anticipating.

"I mean... I can come with you right?"

That was much better.

"What? You want to?..."

Marlene shrugged, "of course, that'll be fun! I should probably move on anyway. I've been meaning to visit Greece!"

Her words seemed to have been lost somewhere in her chest because in attempt to reply all she could gather was a wheezy and breathy, "okay."

The two final days on the island were perhaps the best they had. They travelled, and laughed and forgot about every single responsibility left for them at home.

They were at the beech on their final evening before retreating back to see James and Lily by the bar.

"What are you thinking about?" Marlene asked gently as they strolled along casually, kicking bits of seaweed as they went.

"Nothing."

"Come on. Don't take me for a fool!"

Dorcas sighed, "it's just... only a few days ago we were just strangers and now we've spent all this time together and now we're here, and we're about to go to Greece and it's..." she trailed off suddenly before stopping in her tracks and looking Marlene in her gorgeous blue eyes, the same colour as the ocean they were standing to close to, "I'm just so happy to have met you."

Marlene's breath caught in her throat, overcome by how touching words could be.
"Me too. Very very happy."

They were getting closer by the second and Dorcas only realised in that moment that she had taken hold of Marlene's hand but now she didn't feel much like letting go.

"Good."

"Very good."

Their noses touched first and they stayed like that for a few moments. Eyes closed and listening to the sound of the gentle lapping of the waves, almost like they were serenading them.

It wasn't quite clear who had moved first but all of a sudden they were kissing. Slowly and sweetly, letting the beach around them melt away...

✦ ✦ ✦

"How long has it been?"

"Almost two hours."

Marlene sighed, "we should probably go back to the hotel."

Dorcas nodded and held out her hand, they walked back into the hotel and Marlene followed Dorcas into her room to watch her pack.

Upon entering she noticed something; something that seemed to jump out at her fantastically and made her heart flutter to the ceiling.

"Are those shells?"

Dorcas turned to see her gaze on the shelf in which her jar of hundreds of seashells lay glittering with the beach matted glass.
"Yeah. I collect them."

This was perhaps the first time that Dorcas had ever seen Marlene stammer since meeting her.
"I- I have them too. I've been collecting them ever since I was little."

It was a peculiar thing to find someone so magically similar to the other despite their lifestyles and backgrounds and yet here they stood. From completely contrasting worlds and yet they shared the same unusual quirk. It was fantastic how strange the world can be sometimes. Truly spectacular.

...

Greece was a paradise like no other. The waters sparkled and the sun winked at them. The breeze caressed them and the thunderstorms soaked them through. To the two of them it was the end of the earth and neither ever wanted to leave.

"So why don't we stay?"

They sat on top of a pile of large rocks, watching the water slam into them angrily, as if it were trying to topple them like a set of bowling pins.

"We can't, Marlene, we have lives waiting for us when we go back home!" Dorcas protested with a cry although her voice didn't have the same enthusiasm that it normally did. It almost sounded like she was only reasoning herself despite her use of 'Marlene' to split the sentence. In truth she had thought plenty over the past month of just staying here on the island forever. Running away from her responsibilities and making her own somewhere far away. It wasn't as though either of them would be missing much apart from a University degree they didn't overly want anyway. But she knew it was impossible. At least she thought she did until the very same words she had been mulling over spilled from Marlene's lips, sealing them in a mystical reality.

"What home? I don't think anywhere would feel like home without you anymore."

Her heart stopped dead. She awaited some sort of cardiac arrest but none came. Her mouth was gaping open. Her eyes were wide with surprise. Her cheeks were burning with happiness and a warm feeling she couldn't even begin to describe.

So she didn't bother trying. Instead she kissed Marlene, holding onto her cheeks gently and stroking her wonderful blonde hair that wiped around her face in the wind.
"Okay. We'll stay."

...

Months followed. October on the edge of the world was perhaps even better than the summer. The breeze was cold and it nipped at your skin but the sun kept the temperature even. The small amount of tourists had all faded away and returned home and back to their normal lives but Dorcas and Marlene kept dreaming.

They walked along the beach one night in relative silence. Only stopping to help each other climb a rock of to wait for the other to catch up. It was then that something occurred to Dorcas.

"I've never taken a shell from this place."

Marlene stopped and turned, holding out her hand to Dorcas.
"Then let's find one."
She took it and they began to pace the beach slowly, eyes transfixed on the sand as it melted underfoot.

After a moment of silence Marlene bent down, "this one," she grinned, picking up a marvellously patterned shell just smaller than her palm.

"It's beautiful."

"It reminds me of you."

...

As night came they lay together on the beach, their limbs tangled and hands intertwined. Dorcas' sundress was caked in sand and Marlene's hair was wet with seawater but it was difficult to care. They were in the worlds most spectacular dream. Neither wanted to ever wake up. And they wouldn't. They would spend the rest of their life here, more at home with each other and the beach than they ever had been in their lives.

London wasn't Marlene's home.
Berwick wasn't Dorcas'.

Their home was each other and they didn't intend on leaving ever.

"Marlene?"

She hummed, stroking Dorcas' charcoal curls tenderly.

"Marlene the tide is coming in."
She should really have sounded more worried but with each other by their side they were invincible. Untouchable. Safe.

"Let it." Marlene grinned, closing her eyes, "bring it on."

✦ ✦ ✦

This is inspired by a walk I took along the beech by my grans house and dedicated to my little shell/glass collection lmao (: