Chapter Text
Four Months Later
“I need to ask for a raise,” Minerva McGonagall murmured as she held the door open for the eleven students who were trailing in dejectedly behind her.
Regulus Black, Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadowes, Barty Crouch, Evan Rosier, Pandora Rosier, Lily Evans, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Mary MacDonald, and Alice Fortesque all grumbled as they found seats in McGonagall’s room.
“Would any of you care to explain why you were all gallivanting in the halls of the castle in swimming attire at two in the morning?” McGonagall asked, looking like she was dreading the answer.
In truth, it was because they had thrown a slightly wild party for Marlene’s birthday, in a clearing in the forest that Pandora and Lily had found during one of their adventures. The clearing had a hot spring that they all had gone swimming in, and they’d been caught sneaking back to the Room of Requirement to continue the festivities.
It was only after they’d all reached McGonagall’s classroom that they all realized Sirius and James had disappeared. Marlene was ready to kill both of them.
“No explanation?” McGonagall pushed as they all stayed silent.
“Inter-house bonding?” Barty offered, making everyone else giggle.
McGonagall looked like she would burst. “At two a.m., Mister Crouch?”
“True fellowship can’t be controlled by something as arbitrary as time,” Mary said with a grin.
That was it, Marlene thought. McGonagall was going to scream. Or die of frustration.
The Professor opened her mouth, probably to yell, when suddenly, the door burst open.
Everyone turned to look, only to see a huge black dog and a tall stag galloping into the room, chasing after each other, the dog barking and the stag tripping over its own hooves.
Immediately chaos erupted, as Marlene shared a shocked glance with Remus and Peter.
There was screaming, running, shouting, and spells thrown as furniture was knocked over and people slammed into each other to get out of the way, but still, the stag and the dog scrambled around, avoiding humans and spells and desks and chairs.
“I–you–just go! Go to bed!” McGonagall all but screamed at Marlene and the rest of them, waving her arms as she whipped and turned, trying to fix her wand on the animals and failing miserably.
None of them had to be told twice. They ran, not to bed, but to the Room of Requirement, where everyone fell onto the floor, laughing hysterically.
Nobody was able to speak for several minutes until James and Sirius entered, red-faced and bruised, and Sirius commented through his own laughter, “Did you guys see a dog and a stag running around? Hogwarts really needs better security, huh?”
And as their laughter subsided and they all settled in to continue their celebration, Marlene thought that she was probably one of the luckiest people in the world, to have the people in her life that she had.
She also thought that really, McGonagall probably did deserve a raise.