"I'm gonna make an announcement," said Caiti. The common room was packed and the energy was high. Everyone was waiting on Sean's return, which, following a very brief time to get cleaned up, a lengthy and overly ceremonial Champions Dinner, and a slew of interviews and photo-ops, was proving hours in the making. As his sister, Caiti had only just escaped an hour ago. She and Marlowe had headed straight for the kitchens hoping that the third time really was the charm and that, maybe, finally, they could get this dang party right.

Caiti stood up on the sofa, but once she'd sunk into the cushions, she was still shorter than Marlowe. She threw her head back in frustration which made Marlowe laugh. "Shut up," she said, and she climbed up on the back of the couch which was probably a terrible idea, given her track record for staying upright in any sort of non-floor-like scenario.

Marlowe must have thought the same thing, because he stationed himself behind her, just in case.

"OKAY PEOPLE!" she yelled.

It was probably only because she and Sean shared parents that anyone bothered to listen to her. "HE SHOULD BE HERE IN TWENTY MINUTES SO GET READY!!! Also, we're having a pajama party," she said shrugging. "Because I'm his sister and I'm in charge. So... go change, and then get back down here pronto and you'll thank me later because we're gonna be up all night." She jumped down and Marlowe's hand shot out ready to catch her but she didn't need it.

"Oh ye of little faith," she said, raising her eyebrows.She made a second hop down from the cushions to the floor.

Marlowe rolled his eyes. "Pajama party, huh?"

"Yeah, just decided," she said. "Go change."

---

The party went on late into the night. There were images of Sean all over the wall, including one last return of the gigantic banner from the night he'd been elected champion, now amended to say "Triwizard Winner!" The spread of food had included chocolate eclairs, peppermint imps, and a large bowl of punch, but most of it had been picked over, so only a few snacky items remained.

Caiti had not spoken to Sean once the whole night. She and Marlowe had spent most of the party on the couch nearest the snacks watching Sean get shunted from person to person. Everyone wanted their turn to talk with him. Evelyn had been by his side for the first couple hours, but more recently she'd gotten pulled away by a group of girls who, by the looks of it, were pushing for every detail of hers and Sean's relationship. Caiti was amused to see that Evelyn seemed to be sort of enjoying all the attention.

Apparently sister and best friend meant nothing to anyone, because she and Marlowe had had considerably less attention. Caiti didn't really mind. She was content to sit with him and pretend like she wasn't eating her third plate of crisps because, technically, all of them had been Marlowe's.

She grabbed another crisp off the plate on his lap and said, "Third time's the charm, I guess."

"Hm?" he asked.

"We've been trying to plan this damn party for three tasks and it always went wrong."

"Yeah," said Marlowe. "Really wrong."

She grabbed another crisp. "Well... in the end we managed."

Caiti leaned into Marlowe and tipped her head onto his shoulder. Marlowe rubbed his hand up and down her arm a few times, coming to rest on her elbow.

"Remember the Amelia debacle?" she said, a little smirk growing on her lips.

"Which one?" said Marlowe.

Caiti laughed. "Good point. The one where she tried to win Sean over with that love potion lipgloss."

"Oh," Marlowe laughed. "Yeah, I haven't teased him about that in too long. Thanks for reminding me."

"Happy to help," she said. Caiti yawned deeply and didn't bother to cover her mouth.

"You tired?" he asked.

"Yep," she said.

"Me too," said Marlowe.

Caiti nestled into his shoulder a little further, tucking her feet up on the couch. Marlowe lifted his left arm to look at his watch. "Quarter to two," he said.

"Is it rude to be the first one to leave your brother's party?" Caiti asked. "I'm fading fast."

"I doubt anyone would even notice," said Marlowe. "I need to go to bed soon too. I'm starting to feel pretty crappy."

"Yeah," yawned Caiti again. She rested her hand on his knee. "I bet."

Neither one of them moved for a while except Marlowe fingers on her elbow. Caiti watched Sean talking to an audience of first and second years. The younger ones seemed the most interested in hearing his story repeated over and over again. Probably because the older students knew Sean enough to know that he wasn't anything remarkable. But only she could say that because she was his sister.

"D'you wanna stay in my room tonight?" Marlowe asked abruptly.

"What?" asked Caiti, startled.

"You don't have to," he said quickly. "Just- I don't know. Evelyn's up there with Sean all the time and... I don't know. Just if you wanted to. Just to sleep. Not like..."

"I don't know," she said quietly. Her heart had begun to beat very quickly and her cheeks had grown hot. She hoped he couldn't see her blushing.

"You don't have to," he said again.

"I kind of want to," she said looking anywhere but at him.

"Okay," said Marlowe. "Uhm- okay... d'you wanna..."

Caiti took a deep breath and said, "Yeah," on the exhale. They sat up and looked at each other.

"You don't feel like... pressured, do you?" asked Marlowe, running a hand through his hair. She had never seen him so flustered.

"No," she said. "Just nervous."

"Okay," he said. "Me too."

They looked at each other awkwardly and then Marlowe stood up, holding out a hand for Caiti, and they headed to the staircase that led to the boys dormitories. Caiti hadn't been up there all that often. Once or twice she had followed Theo up to his room when he needed to grab something before they headed out of Ravenclaw tower for the day, and then there were the times she had brought Marlowe his potion - one of which had been explosive. Overall it was not a place she had frequented the way Evelyn had. The stairs spiraled up the opposite way as the girls, and she found it disconcerting.

She followed Marlowe through the door to the seventh year boys dorm and over to the third bed from the right which was unmade. The bedside table was piled high with stuff and his trunk was open, its contents in utter disarray.

"Sorry," said Marlowe quickly. "I didn't plan- I haven't been-"

"It's okay," said Caiti. But she was looking at the bed next to his now, Sean's. Even if she hadn't already known it was his, there would have been no mistaking it. Sean's space was pristine, everything folded and stacked and arranged just so. The things that he had left out were purposeful and organized. "What about Sean?" she asked.

"What about him?"

"What if he knows?"

"He won't," said Marlowe after a beat.

"What if he does?"

"Well... he does it all the time. We're just sleeping."

"Still," said Caiti looking conflicted. "Won't it be weird if he's like... right there...?"

Marlowe frowned at her, lips partly open. "Caiti, you really don't have to do this. I just wanted more time with you is all. The year's-"

"Almost over, I know," finished Caiti. "I want to," she said. "I've just... never done this before."

"Yeah," he said. "Me neither."

Caiti folded her arms over her stomach and looked down to the left. Marlowe watched her for a minute; she felt his eyes on her face. Then he took a step towards her and reached out with both hands to tuck her hair behind her ears. She turned her face partway towards him, enough to make eye contact, and then she moved past him and crawled into the bed, patting the spot next to her. Marlowe tugged the hangings most of the way shut before climbing in next to her. Caiti laid back first, taking a deep breath. Marlowe flicked out the light and then laid down next to her, pulling the covers up with him.

Caiti's heart would not stop pounding.

"I'm so nervous," she whispered. She thought Marlowe must have nodded because she could hear the swishing sound on the pillow. "Maybe we should kiss or something."

Marlowe laughed out loud. "God, I frickin' love you, Caiti."

Caiti tried to hide her smile even though it was too dark to really make out each other's faces.

"Yeah, love you too, I guess," she teased, fumbling around for his hand under the blankets. She gave it a squeeze and let go again.

Marlowe rolled onto his side and she turned her head to look at him. Her eyes had adjusted enough to make out his outline, but not much more. He reached out a hand carefully, and smoothed her hair down before leaning over to kiss her on the forehead and then, a little awkwardly in the dark, on the mouth. Caiti was way too aware of the way his sheets smelled exactly like he did.

When they broke apart, Caiti curled up on her side too, and let Marlowe wrap his arm around her even though she knew she'd never sleep worrying about his arm falling asleep under her weight. She let her eyes fall shut.

"Caiti?" he said after a few minutes quiet.

"Mm?" she said sleepily. In spite of herself, she had nearly drifted off already.

"Thanks," said Marlowe.

"For what?" she asked.

"I don't know," he said. "A lot of things."

Caiti slid her top arm over him, hugging him as best she could while laying down. Her hand slid back to lay on his chest and they fell quiet again. Marlowe didn't say anything else, but the tips of his fingers drew circles on her back. She fell asleep in minutes.

---

No one else started to head upstairs until almost three in the morning. Everyone seemed to have the impression that Sean's win had been a group effort by all of Ravenclaw house and this party was as much to celebrate each of them as it was Sean. Even Professor Westwick had stopped by, late into the night, not to tell them all off for being up so late, but to to join in the festivities. It was only after he left around two thirty that anyone else seemed to have the idea to go up to bed.

Evelyn finally made her way back to Sean after over an hour as the circle of girls around her thinned. Sean still had a sizable crowd, but at least he was able to sit down for the first time all day.

He was in the middle of repeating the story of the task - which everyone wanted to hear in his own words - to the same group of people for what was probably the third time, when she came over. The second year boy nearest Sean scooted over at once so she could sit down. Sean put his arm around her low back as he spoke, glancing at her with a small smile.

The girls that had been talking to Evelyn began to squeal wildly and Evelyn turned pink, but looked rather pleased. She also looked exhausted. He was thankful she had waited up with him when her typical bedtime was closer to nine than three. She kept yawning, arm over her mouth.

"So you never saw what Eline was doing?" asked one of the third year girls whose name Sean couldn't remember.

He shook his head. "No, I couldn't watch her long enough to find out. It was a lot to keep track of."

"Tell us about you and Evelyn," said another girl, giggling, one of the ones who'd come over when Evelyn had returned.

A couple of the boys and even some of the younger girls groaned and some took this as their cue to go up to bed.

"What about us?" asked Sean, amused.

"She wants to know when we knew we were in love," yawned Evelyn. "They've been trying to get it out of me for an hour."

"Oh, I don't know," Sean said. He looked at Evelyn instead of the girl who'd asked. "We were friends first. It's different."

"That's what I said," Evelyn agreed, raising her eyebrows a little.

"There has to have been a moment," said a curly haired girl sitting next to the first. "Everyone has a moment."

"Not necessarily," said Sean. He glanced at his watch. After three AM. How was he going to politely excuse himself from the conversation? He wasn't going to last much longer. "Hey- I'm..." He glanced at Evelyn. "I'm really tired. You guys can stay up if you want, but... I think I'm gonna go up in a minute."

Everyone seemed to have been waiting for this cue to go to sleep, because no one protested his leaving at all. After all, it was an utterly ridiculous hour to be awake. Sean worked his way through another round of handshakes and congratulations. He heard one of the girls who'd been so interested in his love life say to Evelyn, "You're so lucky," and he felt his cheeks go hot. He was relieved that tomorrow night, all the underclassmen would be heading home for the summer while the seventh years, and the siblings of any graduates remained at the castle for one last week before graduation.

The goodbyes and goodnights and final congratulations took at least another quarter of an hour, but finally everyone had left and he and Evelyn were alone for the first time since they'd walked down to the task. It felt like a lifetime ago that he'd still been worried about competing and now he was finished forever. In all the excitement and the constant attention, he hadn't even realized he could feel relieved.

Evelyn folded her hands in her lap and looked down at them. She shook her head a little.

"What?" asked Sean. In his newfound elation at his luck, he had also found a new burst of energy.

"It's just crazy," she said. "It's so crazy. I'm so proud of you." She bit her lip and looked up at him. "You have no idea. I'm just-" She looked near tears, albeit happy ones.

"I'd never have done it without you, Ev," he said, wrapping his arm around her again. She leaned into him and reached up to hold the hand resting on her shoulder. "You kept me sane."

"Yeah," she said with a sleepy laugh. "You're probably right."

Sean laughed and turned his face into her hair. "I kind of don't want to go to bed now," he said.

Evelyn lifted her head slightly to look at him. "Okay," she said.

"You're not too tired?"

"Tired," she said. "Not too tired."

"Mmkay," said Sean, pulling her into a hug. Evelyn slipped her hands between his back and the couch and squeezed him tight.

"I love you," she said. "A lot."

"Me too," he said. He looked over the top of her head out the window. The rain had finally stopped and the clouds had cleared leaving the night a perfect sheet of black on which to see the stars. "C'mere," said Sean. He stood, taking her hand and they headed towards the floor to ceiling windows that faced the mountainscape view from Ravenclaw tower. The couch nearest the windows was facing into the room so he slipped behind it instead. There were a few feet of space between the window and the back of the couch and he sat down on the floor between them. Evelyn sunk down next to him, knees up to her chest. The view, Sean thought, rivaled that of the astronomy tower.

They didn't talk for a long time. They didn't even touch really. Sean thought the quiet was perfect. It was exactly what he needed after the day he'd had. He was finally able to take a minute to process, not only the win, but the entire experience - 1000 galleons prize money included. It was overwhelming. He thought it might take a year to fully sink in. For now, he was having trouble just saying to himself, "I won." It felt boastful and exaggerated.

"Ev," said Sean finally.

"Sean," she said. She sounded tired.

He shook his head. "I don't really know what I was going to say," he said.

"That's okay," said Evelyn. She tipped her knees over into his lap and wrapped her arms around him sideways, pressing her lips into his shoulder. Sean ran his fingers through her hair and allowed himself - because it was so late and it had been such a long day and he could not control the things that slipped into his brain - one overly sappy thought that this girl was better than anything else he'd ever won.

---

Not a single Ravenclaw showed up to breakfast the next day after such a late night, but they all rolled into the Great Hall for lunch, pajama-clad and sporting varying degrees of bedhead. Evelyn preceded Sean into the Great Hall because, following the overwhelming amount of attention he'd been smothered by the day before, he was feeling nervous about walking into a room full of excited peers.

Sure enough, the cheers were thunderous. Evelyn put her hand on his back and gave him a small smile. "They're leaving tonight," she reminded him.

"Yeah," Sean nodded, but he looked very uncomfortable anyway.

"Come on," she said, and she led the way to where Caiti and Marlowe were already seated about a quarter of the way up the table.

"Mail just arrived," said Caiti, pushing a rolled up Daily Prophet at Evelyn. "They did a late delivery for us.

Evelyn tugged the bit of twine off and unrolled the paper. Her face went hot at once. She reached up quickly to tuck a bit of hair behind her ear and left her hand on her cheek.

"What?" asked Sean, seeing her face.

"We're, uhm- well..." she said. And she showed him the picture on the front page: her and Sean just after he'd received the cup. He held her in one hand, the cup dangling from the other, and they were locked together in a kiss.

Evelyn had never liked the moving image feature of the magical world less than she did in that moment.

"Oh god," said Sean.

"What?" asked Marlowe, the mischievous grin lighting up on his face. Caiti snatched the paper out of Evelyn's hand and the two of them put their heads together to look at it.

They turned to each other, mouths open and eyes bright. Their shock quickly turned to laughter.

"That," said Caiti, "is iconic."

"You better never break up with her, Sean," said Marlowe, grinning from ear to ear. Caiti handed back the paper and Evelyn folded it up quickly. She would read the article later, away from prying eyes.

Secretly she kind of liked the picture. It was the fact that it was published on the front page of the most widely subscribed publication in the wizarding world that concerned her.

"Well," said Sean. "That happened." They all managed to laugh about it, but Evelyn's face didn't cool down until long after they'd finished lunch.

---

"This is not the end-of-term feast," said Caiti, pouting. She leaned over into Marlowe's side and he slipped his arm around her waist, laughing.

"Sorry, girl. You're the only thing I'd want to come back for. I'm over homework," he said.

"Me too," she said, looking glum.

Evelyn smiled at her across the table but she was looking a little watery-eyed too. She'd always been nostalgic. Caiti was pretty sure she'd cried at the end-of-term feast every single year without the thought of graduating to add on top of it. Still, Caiti felt she had the worse deal. She was being abandoned by all of her closest friends for her seventh year. She expected to spend all of her free time in the potions room.

"We'll come visit on Hogsmeade weekends," said Marlowe.

"No you won't," Caiti argued. "You say that, but you'll be busy every time. Watch. You'll have a game or something."

Marlowe couldn't argue with that.

"Maybe I could kiss you," he said, trying to pull back his old joke.

"No thanks," said Caiti. "I'm not in the mood. I'm too sad."

She glanced over at the doorway where Sean had gotten stuck by a crowd of Hufflepuff third years who wanted his autograph. He looked very uncomfortable and it cheered her up a little.

"You might need to go rescue him, Ev," she said. Evelyn followed her gaze to the door and gave her hair a quick shake.

"No. I'm getting too much attention already," she said.

"Yeah, what's up with that? I think I've had one person say something to me. Sisters don't count for anything apparently."

"Or best friends," said Marlowe. "But I'm not complaining. I've had my fill of attention for the year."

Caiti glanced at him with a weak smile. She saw Sean heading their way now, still being tailed by the girls who he responded to only with bemused and slightly terrified smiles.

"Yeah, thanks. Thank you," he was saying when he got within her earshot. The girls shot chatter at him shrieking, and giggling, with bubble gum smiles on their faces. "Uhm- no, really, thanks. I'm just- thanks. I'm gonna sit... okay. Yeah. Very cool. Uhm, okay... well... see you." And he zipped away and slid into the bench next to Evelyn at top speed.

"I'm going to go insane," he said, his eyes keeping a shifty watch over his shoulder to be sure the girls were actually heading to their own table. "After this is over, I'm going up to bed until they're all gone."

"Me too," said Evelyn. "I'm so tired."

"How late were you two up?" asked Marlowe.

"I don't know," said Sean. "After four probably. You two disappeared early."

"I wouldn't call it early," said Caiti, her face a little hot. She hoped he didn't know. "But we were tired and we weren't able to talk to you anyway." Sean gave her a funny look and glanced at Marlowe suspiciously. She cursed herself for not using 'I,' even though, technically, she had admitted to nothing.

Professor Osset stood up, the hush that spread across the student body saving her from further interrogation.

"Good evening, students. It is with both great joy and great sadness that we come together tonight, one last time, to eat, converse, and celebrate another successful and might I add, eventful year of magical education. Tonight, we say goodbye to one of the finest classes of seventh years Hogwarts has ever seen. And of course, among them, we say goodbye-"

"Oh no," whispered Sean, sinking down in his seat as far as was plausible.

"To none other than our very own Triwizard Champion, and the winner of this year's Triwizard Tournament, Mr. Sean O'Connell." Applause broke out before Professor Osset could finish, but he continued anyone, raising his voice over the noise. "I'm sure you'll all join me in another round of applause for this very, very deserving young man."

Marlowe applauded loudly, grinning at Sean across the table just to annoy him. "Yeah Sean!" he yelled. "He's right here!"

Caiti laughed, feeling a little of her apprehension drain away for the moment with the return of their usual banter.

When the clapping had finally died down, Professor Osset cleared his throat and continued. "Now, certainly Mr. O'Connell has been rewarded already for his outstanding performance, but I am under the impression that his win for our school is deserving of a few house points. Let's call it.... Seventy five."

The noise at the Ravenclaw table alone rivaled that of the entire hall a few moments early. Ravenclaw had been neck and neck with Hufflepuff, but surely this last minute surplus of points had tipped them over the edge. Caiti saw a few people trying to add up the numbers and make sure.

"So now I'm sure you're all anxious to hear the standings..." continued Professor Osset after another long pause. "In fourth place, congratulations to Gryffindor with three hundred and eighty two points." There was a small smattering of applause, but overall the Gryffindors looked dejected. They had not come in last in a very long time.

"In third place, Slytherin, with four hundred and thirty six points." The noise was slightly more vivacious at this report, but the Slytherins too, were poor losers. They could console themselves at least that they had beaten their rival Gryffindor, and Caiti heard many of them saying so behind her.

"In second place... Hufflepuff, with four hundred seventy seven points." The Ravenclaw table were beginning to get worked up already in anticipation. They had won the house cup for the first time in any of the years Caiti had been at Hogwarts. "And finally," said Professor Osset, raising his voice over the presumptuous chatter. "In first place, Ravenclaw house with five hundred and seventeen points."

The Ravenclaws all jumped to their feet as if it had been rehearsed. Caiti saw Professors Westwick and Mason and the school nurse all standing and high fiving each other as well. Marlowe jumped up on the bench and started a chant of Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw.

Caiti's hands were burning by the time everyone quieted down. She sank back into her seat, shaking them out but still grinning. Marlowe leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

"Yes, yes, well done Ravenclaw. Really excellent work to all our students this year. It's been marvelous. And though we're sad to be losing some of our number, I feel confident that our seventh years will represent Hogwarts splendidly out there in the wider wizarding world. Now, I won't carry on any longer. Congratulations, once again, to all. Let's eat!"

The plates filled with food at once and everyone began to help themselves to roast chicken and potatoes au gratin, asparagus, wild rice, dinner rolls, and fruit salad.

Caiti loaded up her plate, already planning to steal all her dessert from whatever Marlowe put on his plate when the course changed.

"What are we gonna do this week?" Caiti asked. "No classes or anything."

"Go outside," said Evelyn. "I heard it's supposed to be really pretty out."

"I'm not gonna do much," said Marlowe. "Not till after." Caiti glanced at him, knowing what 'after' he was talking about. She needed to make his potion on Wednesday. Sure enough, his skin had a sickly pallor to it and the bags under his eyes were too impressive even for the late night they'd all had. Still, he was hiding it well. This was the least irritable she had seen him this close to the full moon. She was glad he wasn't letting unfortunate timing ruin his last week at Hogwarts.

"There's a Hogsmeade trip, too," said Sean. "Although I don't know if Caiti can go. It might be a seventh year thing."

"When is it?" she asked.

"Wednesday I think."

"I have my apparation test," she said. "Again."

Marlowe looked surprised by this. She hadn't actually volunteered the information to anyone but him, who already knew, because she didn't much like thinking about her disastrous first attempt.

"Are you nervous?" he asked, through a mouthful of potato.

Caiti wrinkled her nose at his poor manners.

"Sorry," he said, but his mouth was still full so she didn't think he really was sorry at all.

"No, not really," she said in answer to his question. She turned back to her own plate. "Not this time."

Evelyn looked between the two of them in confusion.

"He tricked me into apparating once and now I get it," said Caiti.

"I didn't even know you needed to retake it," said Sean.

"Yeah," said Caiti. "That was on purpose."

They chatted easily for the rest of the meal, finding themselves interrupted more and more often as time went on by more of Sean's adoring fans who wanted a picture or an autograph or just a quick word. Caiti felt as exhausted by it as he did by the time they left the great hall. She was looking forward to having the castle in quiet for a few days before she went home for the summer.

They walked back up to Ravenclaw tower together, obnoxiously taking up the entire corridor by walking side by side with their arms around each other, Caiti and Evelyn sandwiched between the two boys.

"Crazy it's over," said Marlowe as they neared the common room. Caiti promised herself then and there that she was not going to waste any more tears over him. She'd done enough of that this year.

But one little squeeze from him and her resolve was already challenged.