Marlowe had been waiting to get Evelyn alone for a week. Finally, he took his chance. Caiti had gone up to bed ten minutes earlier and Sean had just said goodnight to Evelyn while she packed up her things before heading upstairs to shower. She made it about six steps away before Marlowe caught up to her, looped his arm around her waist and turned her back around. He led her back to the table they'd been sitting around and then released her.

"I need to have a chat with you," he said seriously.

Evelyn turned her head a little to the right but left her eyes on Marlowe. She was frowning. Very slowly, she sunk back into the chair she had just vacated.

Marlowe sat himself opposite her and leaned forward with his hands clasped on the table.

"Well this feels confrontational," she said.

"Caiti's up to something," said Marlowe.

"What makes you say that?" asked Evelyn.

"And you're in on it."

Evelyn blinked and her face turned a little pink.

"You're a terrible liar, Ev so let's just skip past that part. What's she up to?"

"Nothing," said Evelyn.

    Marlowe raised his eyebrows.

    Evelyn put her face in her hands, took a deep breath, and said, "She found this book on discrimination in quidditch and she started doing all this research and she was reading these really complicated law books and stuff and then she asked me to help her write a bunch of letters to all the quidditch teams in the league asking them to take a stance against what the Ballycastle Bats did to you because it's unlawful and just cruel and I wasn't supposed to tell you, please don't be mad. She'll kill me if she knows you know."

    This all came out very fast, giving Marlowe next to no time to let it sink in.

    "Anything else?" he asked, after a minute's hard thought.

"She may have also asked them to come to the last match and see you play."

Marlowe's face hardened. "You're dismissed," he said. Evelyn lowered her hands and stood just as slowly as she had sat.

"Please, please, please don't get mad at her. I know she probably overstepped her boundaries or whatever, but she's not trying to make you feel like you're worthless or anything. She just feels responsible for what happened and she needs to feel like she's doing something to make it better."

Marlowe sunk low in his seat, folded his arms and gave her a moody glare. "How come you always have to know exactly what I'm thinking?"

Evelyn gave a sigh of relief. "Just good at reading people, I guess." She started to go, but then she turned once more and said, "Caiti really cares about you."

"I know," said Marlowe at once.

"I know you do," said Evelyn. She tucked her hair behind her ear. "Just don't forget it, okay?"

Marlowe said nothing, so she left for real this time, leaving Marlowe to feel guilty for the split second of anger that had flared up again. He should have been touched, appreciative, but if he was being honest, her genuine kindness, and her insistence in going out of her way to do things for him - it was embarrassing. He didn't want her to have to do these things. He should have been self sufficient. He should have been the one helping her.

But then, maybe he was forgetting what he'd already done for her, and that she might feel the same way.

It was always hard, thought Marlowe, to ask for help, but it was harder to accept help unsolicited from someone who knew you needed it.

---

The next morning at breakfast, Marlowe was especially polite to Caiti. So polite, in fact, that she figured out within minutes that something was up.

"Why," she asked the table at large, "is Marlowe acting like he's at Christmas dinner with his great grandmother and the Queen of England?"

Sean snorted and spat pumpkin juice everywhere which made Evelyn laugh, but Caiti remained unphased. She up straight with her arms folded and her brow creased. "I'm not kidding. Why are you saying please and thank you so much? Why have you started asking questions with 'may' instead of 'can?' What's up with you?"

Marlowe's eyes flickered towards Evelyn and betrayed him. Caiti's head snapped to Evelyn who immediately began to go red around her hairline.

"Wow, it's really hot in here," she said, picking up her glass of water.

"Oh, my god. Evelyn. You are the worst liar, why do you even bother?"

"I might have told him," she squeaked. Caiti's eyes widened. "Sorry," Evelyn said, just above a whisper. "I couldn't lie then either."

Caiti took one nervous glance at Marlowe, but she didn't look long enough to take note of his expression. She wasn't sure she actually wanted to know what he thought about what she'd done. In fact, she had kind of hoped she would never have to tell him at all. That the teams would just show up to recruit as usual and no mention of her letters of intercession would ever need to be made.

So much for that.

"Couldn't lie about what?" asked Sean, who was, as usual, the one left completely in the dark. Evelyn didn't answer his question. She looked down into her cup, gripping and regripping her fingers around it.

Out of the corner of her eye, Caiti saw Marlowe check his watch and then she felt his hand rest on her forearm. "Want to go talk for a minute?" he asked quietly.

She nodded because she didn't know what else to do. He stood up and held a hand out to help her up. She still felt weird about how polite he was acting, but she took it anyway.

They walked away leaving a bewildered Sean and a very embarassed Evelyn at the table.

In the entrance hall, Marlowe walked a few steps up the marble staircase and sat down. Caiti sat herself on the step next to him and clasped her fingers around her knees, eyes down.

"How come you didn't tell me?" he asked.

Caiti hesitated for too long. She was scared to speak. He appeared calm, but she couldn't stop thinking he might start shouting at her again.

"We weren't talking when I started," she said finally.

"And then after?" asked Marlowe.

She bit down hard and lifted her shoulders before she answered. "I was scared that you might be mad," she said. Her words came out oddly precise and a little choppy.

He put his arm around her and pulled her into his side. Caiti was surprised by this. She could not relax. "I was," he admitted. "At first." His fingers scratched lightly back and forth on her waist and it was all she could focus on. 

They had not touched much since they had been speaking again. Marlowe had always seemed too scared to push the many boundaries, dancing around her like she was a land mine. "I don't- I don't really like when you do big things for me," he said. Caiti swallowed hard. "But I'm not gonna pretend I don't appreciate it either. You do too much, Caiti. It makes me feel weird. I don't want you to help me. I don't want you to have to help me, but... I'm not really mad at you. And I'm-" His hand stopped moving, coming to rest firm and flat against her side. He turned his head to look at her. "I'm kind of interested to know what all you found."

Caiti took a deep, shaky breath. This new, brutally honest Marlowe was difficult to get used to, no matter how much she reasoned with herself that it was better than the alternative where he bottled it all up until it had to come out.

"I can show you sometime," she murmured.

"Cool," he said. "So you... you started doing all that when you kind of hated me?"

"I never hated you," said Caiti quietly. Finally, she tipped her head onto his shoulder and he resumed the movement of his fingertips. "I was just hurt."

"You're too good of a friend," said Marlowe.

"Says the one who jumped in front of a werewolf for me," said Caiti quietly.

Marlowe half-laughed.

When people began to file out of the great hall for class, he stood and offered his hand to her again.

"Uhm- see you at lunch," said Caiti.

"Yeah," said Marlowe. "Actually- hang on a sec. I've been wanting to ask you..." He looked down and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I want to take you out."

"Like a date," said Caiti.

"Yeah. Like a proper date."

"I don't really want to go to Hogsmeade," she said. This did not need explanation. She had enough bad memories there to want to stay away for a good while.

"Me neither," said Marlowe. "I was thinking somewhere else."

"I can't apparate," she said. "And I don't think we're allowed to go anywhere else anyway."

"Obviously," he said, "But... I was thinking we do it anyway. Side-along apparation. I want it to be a surprise anyway."

Caiti considered him a minute. "Saturday is a week from your game though. Don't you have practice?"

"I can move it to Sunday," he said.

That was when Caiti knew he was serious about this. He wouldn't move quidditch practice for just anything. 

"Alright," said Caiti.

"Yeah?" Marlowe grinned. "Okay. Yeah. Cool. Okay."

Caiti smiled a bit. "Okay... I should go. Uhm-" She waffled back and forth about leaving, and then she took one step up to put herself more on level with him and she hugged him tight, chin on his shoulder. "Bye," she said, and then she hurried up the stairs and away. She stayed just long enough to see the wide smile on Marlowe's face, like it was Christmas morning again. Her heart began pounding after the fact. This, she thought, was textbook "starting over."

---

Waiting for Caiti to come downstairs that morning was more agonizing than before the Yule Ball. He could not wait to see her, but he also wanted to put the moment off as long as possible. He couldn't remember ever feeling so nervous around her. But calling this an official date had put pressure on that he'd never felt before. It was like he'd realized that she wasn't just Caiti, his best friend, she wasn't "just" anything. This was Caiti. And she didn't trust him yet. And he could think of nothing worse than messing up with her so badly that he never got her back.

He was so preoccupied that when she finally did come downstairs, he missed it. She was standing in front of him by the time he noticed her. "Hey," she said. He stood up too quickly, realizing after the fact that it had put him very, very close to her.

"Hey," he said. He leaned forward and gave her an awkward half sideways hug.

Caiti laughed. "Don't be weird. It's just me," she said smirking at him. His stomach did a series of impressive acrobatics.

"Your hair's down," he said. "All of it." She shrugged and kind of smiled.

"Come on, let's go eat," she said.

After breakfast, Caiti and Marlowe joined Sean and Evelyn and the rest of the crowd heading to Hogsmeade for the day. Marlowe had suggested they find a good secluded place to apparate there, since there was obviously no chance of doing so from Hogwarts. This was the only part of the day Caiti was nervous about for two reasons: first because even side-along apparation terrified her, if she was being honest, and second because it had been bad enough walking by the place they'd seen the werewolf alone, and today, Marlowe would be there right next to her.

She was glad that Evelyn had Sean totally occupied reviewing their plan for the day because she'd always felt a little uncomfortable holding Marlowe's hand in front of her brother, and right now, she needed to. She glanced up at him and held out her hand until he caught on and pulled his own out of his pocket. They clasped their fingers together, shifting closer as they walked so their arms overlapped.

Marlowe's hand was antsy, his fingers constantly shifting their grip or just pulsing slightly, increasing and decreasing their pressure on the back of her hand.

"This is our last Hogsmeade weekend," Evelyn was saying. She walked with a militant sort of force and speed. "We've got to hit all the stops," she continued. "We've got to make a game plan."

Sean laughed. "You know we can still go to Hogsmeade after we graduate right?"

"Of course," she said. "But it won't be the same when it's not our one escape into civilization bookended by months of solitude in an old drafty castle with too much homework."

Marlowe didn't even crack a smile at that. It was a relief to Caiti that he was as nervous as she was.

"So I say," Evelyn went on, "it's Honeydukes first and then, Zonko's. We'll hit the Three Broomsticks at lunch of course, and-"

But she stopped, because Caiti and Marlowe had just disappeared from her periphery. Caiti was standing very still, staring at the ground, and Marlowe, next to her, had clenched his jaw very tightly.

"Go ahead," said Caiti. "We'll meet up with you."

Sean began to protest, but Evelyn, tactful as ever," said, "Come on, Sean. No distractions. Get with the program." And she grabbed his hand and carted him off with only a short glance back at Caiti. They made brief eye contact, but Caiti just nodded at her to go on.

Once they were far enough away, Caiti let go of Marlowe's hand, walked off the path and into the grass, and laid down on her back with her knees up. The sun was very bright so she rested her forearm over her eyes. Marlowe sat next to her, but it was a minute before he laid back too. When he did, he was stiff. Caiti peeked at him from under her arm.

"I've been thinking about what you said," she began. "About how we have to stop pretending everything is normal."

Marlowe said nothing.

"You were right," she said. "This is normal now. This is our life and... that's not a bad thing."

"It's kind of a bad thing," he said.

"No," said Caiti. "It not the first choice, but it doesn't have to be bad. It just is what it is." She rolled onto her side, propped up on her elbow, head in her hand, and added, "I'm not ashamed of you, Marlowe. I'm not embarrassed to say you're a werewolf. I thought you didn't want to acknowledge it. But I get it now. That makes it harder, because-"

"Because I can't forget it," he said. He opened his eyes and squinted at her.

She nodded. Marlowe shut his eyes again and she laid back down next to him. After a minute he snaked one arm up between them and circled it around her shoulders. She lifted her head and laid it back down on his arm.

"You wanna tell me what we're doing yet?" Caiti asked.

Marlowe gave her shoulder a little squeeze. "I was thinking of going to see a film," he said slowly. Caiti turned her head, eyes bright and wide.

"A muggle film?"

He nodded once, not yet opening his eyes, but he was smiling a little.

Caiti rolled over again and gave him an awkward laying down hug. She pressed her forehead into his shoulder. "How did you remember that? It was ages ago."

"I remember most things you say," he said.

Caiti was too excited for the full meaning of that statement to sink in. "Come on, what are we waiting for? Let's go," she said, pulling back from him and hurrying to stand up. The second Marlowe was up, she grabbed his arm tightly and looked at him expectantly.

"Apparate from right here?" he asked, surprised.

"Why not?" she said. "There's no one around. Come on."

"Fair enough," he laughed. "Okay, on three. One- two-" And 'three' was drowned out by the loud crack that marked their disapparation.

Caiti was absolutely buzzing with excitement by the time they reached theatre seven where their movie would play - a romantic drama called The Way You Look at Life. Caiti had requested they see the movie which was the most quintessentially date material. She'd almost lost it twice: first when he started counting out the muggle money he'd asked his mom to change for him, and then again when she'd spotted the fountain drink machine. He'd had a difficult time preventing her from pressing all the buttons just to see it come out.

Caiti veered towards the front row, but, juggling the large bucket of popcorn pressed between the crook of his arm and his body, and the two fizzy drinks in his hands, he nudged her the other direction, leaning closer to whisper, "You don't want to sit in the front. Have to crane your neck the whole time. It's best in the back."

Her eyes lit up at this new tidbit and she immediately changed course. They filed down the very top row and sat themselves right in the center of the big screen. Marlowe settled their cups into the cup holders and looked to Caiti who was sitting on the very edge of her seat, looking down at the other people collected around the theatre. "Why are they all looking at those little lights?" she whispered.

Marlowe had to work hard to control himself. "Those are cell phones," he said, barely holding in his laughter. He did not want to upset the popcorn. "It's how-"

But he didn't have to finish.

"Oh!" she said excitedly, peering down with more excitement now. "Oh, we learned about those. Wow."

Marlowe laughed. "I bet my mom would let you look at hers sometime if you wanted."

Caiti turned to him with a look of absolute delight on her face, but it quickly settled to a softer smile. "Thanks, Marlowe. For doing this."

He shrugged and smiled at her. He did not know what else to say.

When the movie began, Marlowe did not hesitate to rest his arm around Caiti's shoulders. He felt easy and comfortable around her for the first time since the day of the second task. It was good not to worry what she was thinking or whether it was really him she wanted to be there with.

He did not pay much attention to the movie at all, actually, too busy watching Caiti's reactions out the corner of her eye and answering her many whispered questions about muggle objects and references she had never heard of. He wished he were a better source of information. He knew of the muggle world by association only. He'd never really immersed himself in it.

Near the end of the film, Caiti finally went totally silent, and Marlowe's thoughts strayed to the one place he hadn't let them go in weeks. He wanted to kiss her so badly. He thought, perhaps, she would let him now. Perhaps it had been long enough since they had argued. But he was so scared that she wouldn't let him. 

She had not said yet that she trusted him again. And she had kissed him first plenty of times before; if she'd wanted him to, wouldn't she have just done it? He spent the last ten minutes trying to convince himself that it would be okay to try, or maybe to ask, as had been his habit for five and a half years. And then the credits were rolling before he'd realized it. The other theatre-goers were standing, stretching, crumpling up empty popcorn bags, and giving each other their snap-reviews of the movie before the more in depth-discussion on the way home.

He and Caiti did not move just yet. His arm was still around her shoulders. This was surely an okay time to kiss her. Instead, he said, "When I was at St. Mungo's....my mum and I came here a couple times a week."

"To this theatre?" Caiti asked. They spoke aloud now. The room had emptied.

He nodded. "I thought about you every time. I mean, I was thinking about you regardless. But...especially here. I never forgot you said you wanted- you know... when you first brought it up. I thought maybe..." He stopped and laughed. "I kinda thought you were trying to get me to ask you out."

"I was," she said.

"Oh," said Marlowe. "Crap. I wasted a lot of time."

Caiti laughed and shook her head. "No. You gave me five years of opportunities. I just didn't take them."

"True, I guess," said Marlowe. The custodian had just come in so he stood, held out his hand for Caiti, and they headed out, tossing their garbage in the bin on the way.

Caiti slipped her hand into his when they were back on the sidewalk. They made their way in silence to an alleyway where they would hopefully not be seen disapparating back to Hogsmeade. Marlowe squeezed her hand a little tighter and glanced at her. He'd just gotten an idea. "Hey... do you wanna try apparating?"

"I don't have a license," she said at once.

"I know," he said. "But you've done it before."

"Like twice," she scoffed.

"Come on, Caiti. Just try. I know you can do it. You're just freaking yourself out."

"I can't," she said. Her forehead creased and her eyes grew wide and worried. "It just doesn't work."

Marlowe faced her, reached up to tuck her hair behind her ears and then slid his hands down to rest on her upper arms. "What if," he said, "you hang on to me like it's side along, but we both try to apparate at the same time. So it's like you're doing it alone, but if it doesn't work, then... I've got you."

"I don't know..." she said. "What if I make us splinch or something?"

"You won't. Don't shut yourself off to ever apparating again, Caiti. Failing the test the first time isn't the end of the world. Lots of people do."

"Yeah? Like who," she said, folding her arms and looking down at her feet.

"Sean did."

Her eyes snapped back up to his.

"He never told me that."

"Didn't really tell anyone, did he? Sean's supposed to be good at everything. Point is, you're giving yourself this mental block and you don't need to. If you've done it once, you can do it again."

Caiti smirked. "I don't know," she said.

"Come on, just try," said Marlowe. "You're seventeen years old and you can brew the freaking wolfsbane potion," he said. "You can apparate too."

Caiti shut her eyes and let her head fall back. "Okay fine," she said. Marlowe grinned at her. She grabbed hold of his hand.

"Don't you dare let go of me because if it doesn't work and you apparate without me, I swear-"

"I won't. We'll go back to the same spot we left from, okay? On three," he said. "Together. I'm not gonna let you go. One- two-"

On three, Caiti squeezed her eyes shut tight and willed herself with everything she had to find herself back where she came from. There was a tight sensation around her head and torso, like she was being squeezed through something much too small for her body. Her limbs tingled. But it lasted only a few seconds and then she felt her feet hit solid ground.

"You did it," said Marlowe, wringing out his hand. She had been squeezing it very, very tightly.

"How do you know I even did anything?" she asked.

"Because I didn't," said Marlowe.

Caiti's jaw dropped and she smacked him on the shoulder. "You tricked me!"

He took a step back from her, laughing. "Yeah, but you did it."

"I- I- you-" she spluttered.

"I told you you could," he said making his way back over to her with caution. He had always loved when she was mildly angry with him. Her face was priceless.

"You suck," she said. He pulled her into a hug, trying to hold in his laughter.

"You didn't splinch us or anything," said Marlowe.

"I hate you."

"Wouldn't've done it if I didn't really think you were capable," he said. "Apparation can be dangerous."

"Yeah, I know, you jerk!"

"Can I kiss you?" Marlowe asked, surprising even himself.

Caiti went very still. Her annoyance turned to a coy smile in a split second. "You don't have to ask," she said quietly.

"I thought you didn't-" he began, but he shut himself up quickly, slid his hand around the back of her neck to cup her head, thumb on her cheek, and he kissed her. Finally.

---

When Sean returned from brushing his teeth in the bathroom, he found Evelyn lying on her back on his bed, apparently oblivious to the fact that the other seventh year boys were all trying to get ready for bed. They were all looking shiftily at her, trying to decide whether to bring their pajamas into the bathroom or just pull back the curtains on their beds.She had invited herself in again.

"Hey," he said "What are you doing here?"

"Your mattress," she said. "Is just more comfortable than mine."

Sean rolled his eyes and laughed He pulled a navy pullover sweater, neatly folded, out from his trunk, followed by a pair of khaki slacks and a grey t-shirt, all of which he laid on top of the closed lid. Evelyn sat up, rolled onto her knees, and propped herself on one hand to watch his routine. "You don't mind do you?"

Sean shook his head. "Course not," he said. He reached out to pull up the sleeve of Evelyn's t-shirt - one of her own for once - which was very loose and had slipped over her shoulder. Evelyn took the opportunity of his sudden proximity to peck him on the lips.

At the same time, the dormitory door opened and Marlowe entered. He mimed throwing up. "Oh my god," he choked. "Get out of here. You two are disgusting."

Sean looked rather pink, but simply mumbled, "You're back late."

"What'd you and Caiti end up doing?" she asked. "We didn't see you."

"Oh, not much," said Marlowe evasively. His joking manner had dissipated at once. He skirted past Sean and to his own bed, pulling pajamas out of his own sloppily organized truck, nowhere near the immaculate display that Sean prided himself on. "Didn't end up going to Hogsmeade," he said.

"You just came back here?" Sean asked.

Marlowe hesitated before he said, "Yeah. Just... Hogsmeade is kind of... I mean you know..."

"So... what'd you do here, then?" Sean asked. Marlowe just shrugged. Sean narrowed his eyes. "Marlowe," he said, starting to feel nervous. "I know we're friends and all, but Caiti is my sister and I swear if you- if you two-"

"Oh my god," said Marlowe again. "Don't finish that. No."

"I'm just saying," said Sean, but he looked relieved.

"If you really want to know that bad," said Marlowe, taking a step towards the bathroom. "She told me a long time ago she wanted to go to a muggle movie. So I took her."

"Awww!" said Evelyn, clapping her hand over her heart. "That's against a thousand school rules and I should report you, but don't worry. I wouldn't. What'd you see?"

But Marlowe ignored her, eyes on Sean who finally said, "Oh."

"Yeah," said Marlowe, "So just... calm down okay?" He started to leave the room again but seemed to have second thoughts and turned again. "And for the record," he said. "You're the one who's girlfriend stays in here overnight. Not me."

"Yeah well... Caiti's my sister," said Sean stiffly.

"No duh," said Marlowe and he headed for the bathroom.

Sean stared at the door like it had done him a personal wrong. The other boys were watching the scene with curiosity.

Evelyn tugged on his hand and he turned back to the bed and sat next to her. She lowered her voice and said, "I know you worry about her, but don't take it out on him, okay? He's got enough to deal with and anyway... he's really good to her."

"Not all the time."

"He messed up," she said. "Once. It happens. They're moving past it. I'd like to think that if we ever fought like that, we could too."

"I don't ever want to fight with you like that," said Sean.

Evelyn slipped her hand into his. "I'm not saying I do either, but we probably will. Everyone fights at some point. The point is it doesn't make you a bad person to have a disagreement or to say something you probably shouldn't have."

"Yeah," said Sean, because he could not think what else to say.

They drew the curtains around his bed and then Sean whispered into the new darkness, "Is it bad that we do this?"

"No," said Evelyn curling up on her side next to him. They rarely cuddled as they fell asleep anymore, though they often did when they woke up in the mornings. It was a mark of how secure he felt around her that this didn't bother him. He had finally reached the point where he slept better when she was there than when she wasn't, cover-wars and all. "All we do is sleep."

"Yeah," said Sean. He reached across her and ran his fingers over her back a few times. "I guess that's true."

"Don't worry about it," said Evelyn. 'It,' thought Sean, could have been several things in this instance. For example, he had realized again today just how close the third and final task was and he still had absolutely no idea what was coming.

"Night," he said, after too long. She was, as usual, out already. She had a gift of falling asleep instantly that Sean coveted. "Love you," he added. He smoothed his hand over her hair once and shut his own eyes.