The beginning of something wonderful (Marlene)

[Kingsley Shacklebolt]

Kingsley stood by the lake staring out across it's serene surface, his mind anything but peaceful at the moment found the water slightly settling. It was not that long ago since the first task and him laying his feelings on the line to Marlene. She had said yes, but there was something more there, he knew Marlene was never a spontaneous person but he would of felt better if their had been a sign or even a hint that she returned his feelings. He had sent her an owl asking to meet him in the common room today, he had only to make his body move in that direction but that was harder than it sounds at this moment.

Finally mustering the willpower he would need, he turned and began the long trek from the lake to the Gryffindor common room. Entering the castle he began to make his way through the winding corridors and finally to the Gryffindor common room, passing the painting of the fat lady he entered and sat on his favorite chair right next to the fireplace, waiting for Marlene to arrive.

[Marlene McKinnon]

Marlene was not used to the feeling of butterflies fluttering in her stomach. After receiving the owl from Kingsley, she immediately tried to find Alice, hoping that maybe her friend could offer her some kind of advice, but she couldn't find her or Frank anywhere. She was going to have to figure this out on her own.

She had always been proud of her logical and analytical nature, but suddenly now it made her feel strangely out of touch with her own feelings. She always had to think things through, and she didn't know how to just... feel.

All this time, she had thought of Kingsley as one of her best friends. She liked him, and she cared about him, but she'd never thought of him in any other way. But then, she'd never thought of anyone in that way, either. The ironic thing was that, for all her attempts at romantic advice to Frank and Alice, she was actually extremely innocent and inexperienced. Love had never figured into her plans.

She got herself ready to meet him, spending an unusual amount of time on her hair and makeup, two things which she didn't usually spend much time on at all. But she wanted to look good.

As she prepared, she tried to turn her mind off, and just let herself feel. All she felt right now was incredibly nervous. And of course, her mind began to wonder what that meant. Why on earth did she have to be so logical?

Finally she decided she was ready, and she headed downstairs to meet him. Her knees were knocking together and her heart was pounding as she descended the stairs and saw him there. He was cute, she realized. How had she never noticed that before?

She opened her mouth to speak, but at first no sound came out. She cleared her throat and took a deep breath before simply saying, "Hi."

[Kingsley Shacklebolt]

Kingsley saw as Marlene began walking down from the female dormitory to the common room and nearly feinted. She was beautiful to say the least, he just hoped their conversation would go well also. He cared for Marlene and if she didn't return his feelings the least he could do was see if they couldn't manage to keep it so them along with their two other good mates could stay together and still be friends. As she said hi, he couldn't help but smile, they were both nervous at this moment and it seemed ironic that they should be. They've been friends since nearly day one at this place, yet throw feelings into the mix and that's when things get screwy.


"Hi, Marlene..." Pausing for a moment he stood in front of her awkardly, normally he would of given her a hug no problem but, this wasn't normal for them. "Thanks for meeting me here, I really think it's about time we talked...."

[Marlene McKinnon]

Marlene bit down on her lower lip. It was ridiculous for her to be nervous around him; she'd known him for so long. And yet, it was almost like she was literally seeing him for the first time. At the very least, she was seeing him in a new light.

He was a good guy. He was fun and adventurous and spontaneous--all the things she was not. But he was also warm and caring, a true friend that she knew she could always rely on. It somehow made sense that they would end up in this place--Frank and Alice were a couple already. The four musketeers, as they'd always thought of themselves, would only naturally begin to pair off.

"Of course I came," she said, smiling nervously. "Did you really think I wouldn't?" She sat down next to him, even though her stomach was tied in knots.

[Kingsley Shacklebolt]

Seeing Marlene's nervous smile, he felt a small bit of comfort in knowing he wasn't the only nervous one here. As she sat down next to him his stomach seemed to jump up and hide inside his chest. Looking over, his eyes seemed to almost stumble and land onto her beautiful sapphire colored eyes, along with the flowing golden locks of hair that framed her head, Marlene was the complete opposite of ugly that was for sure. "No..um I knew you would, of course Marly.." He paused allowing for a nervous chuckle to escape before continuing on.

"I'm just a bit nervous, never done this kind of thing before." Turning to face her even better, he held her hand gently in his as he continued to look deeply into her eyes. "I care about you very much, and more than anything I would like to take...us to something more than just friends." Sighing he prepared to spew out the part of the prepared speech he never did like. "The most important thing to me though, is that our friendship stays intact. I can live without you romantically in my life, but I cannot stand to face a new day without you in my life at all..."

[Marlene McKinnon]

Marlene blushed deeply and stared down at her hand in his. She felt hyper-aware of everything--his touch, the sound of his voice, and the nervous feeling in her stomach. It felt like her whole body was tingling. This wasn't like her...

"I... I've never really thought about love before," she confessed. "I over-think everything, you know that. But... I like the feeling of your hand holding mine. I'm willing to give this a chance. I care about you very much... you're my best friend, after all. But I don't want to make any promises, not yet. I'm the girl everyone goes to for relationship advice, but has no experience to base it on. And I'm only just now realizing how innocent I really am. Let's..." She paused to take a deep breath. "Let take it slow and see what happens. If it seems like it won't work, we can go back to being friends. Will that work?"

[Kingsley Shacklebolt]

Kingsley continued to smile as Marlene spoke, he knew all too well the things that she said were true. Marlene could analyze the simplest thing to death and have a lot more complicated of a solution than was needed. That's probably why there were so attracted to each other, Kingsley was simple, easy whereas Marlene was intricate, more complicated than your usual witch but as far as Kingsley was concerned it suited her and was definitely one of the things that attracted him to her. "I know what you mean Marly, we have been best friends pretty much since we started here, and i'm afraid of messing up our friendship by throwing in this unknown factor...but at the same time, I am afraid of not giving it this shot and seeing if just maybe something beautiful could come of it.."

Pausing for a moment he leaned in and lightly kissed her on the forehead. "I'm willing to take it slow, I just don't want to lose my best friend if it doesn't work.."

[Marlene McKinnon]

Marlene smiled. "Well, I know one thing... I don't want to end up acting like Frank and Alice, fighting over silly things and acting all irrational. Honestly, they were driving me crazy! Both of them kept coming to me for advice and not listening to a word of it." She shook her head in frustration. "But I knew they'd work it out eventually. They were meant to be together."

She blushed as he kissed her on the forehead. "So what do we do now? Do you want to... go on a date, or something?"