The last day of their little trip, it rained. Hard. They ventured out for breakfast, but then they decided to come back to their room. They carved their pumpkins by magic and when they'd finished, they sat back to admire them.

Caiti tilted her head, smiling. She had done the same face she always did — little round eyes, a triangular nose, and a wiggly smile. Marlowe had gone for a scarier face with angular eyes, but then he'd gone and stuck a gourd in the nose and it didn't look so scary anymore. On the contrary, it looked like it was about to sneeze.

Caiti giggled looking at it. "What's yours named?" she asked.

"Gordo," said Marlowe without hesitation. "What's yours?"

Caiti thought. "Jackie," she said.

"Weak," said Marlowe, but he was grinning.

They both laughed.

"Fine, then her name's Winifred."

"Winfred and Gordo," said Marlowe. "What a dynamic duo."

Caiti scooted Winifred a little closer to Gordo, smiling.

"You remember when we had that licorice weaving contest at the Halloween feast?" Marlowe asked.

"Oh my god, the feast," Caiti said, eyes widening. "What do you think are the odds we could sneak back into the castle and pose as students?"

Marlowe laughed. "Slim to none?"

"Rats."

Then she smiled a little.

"But yeah, I do remember that. We tried to make a sweater and it didn't work so we tried to call it a suit of armor but it just kept falling apart."

"Yeah, because you were laughing so hard," said Marlowe. "If you'd have just held it to together, we could have been one galleon richer."

"Don't blame me for your styling shortcomings," said Caiti. "I was just the model at that point."

She got up and laid back on the bed, knees bent. Marlowe lay on his side next to her.

"That was like... one of the best days of that whole year, you know why?"

Caiti turned to look at him, smiling already.

"Theo was so jealous," said Marlowe. "And I wanted him to be. I knew he didn't make you laugh like that and I rode that feeling for weeks. It was the first time since you'd been dating that I really felt like there was any hope for you."

Caiti laughed a little. She turned onto her side. "When did you know you were serious?" Caiti asked. "All those times you asked me to kiss you and everything. When did it stop being a joke?"

Marlowe thought about that. "I don't know. I think I was serious and didn't know it for a long time. It was probably when you started dating Theo that I realized it, though," he said. "Or I guess a little after. I do remember the first time you kissed him in front of me, I got angry. Like, I realized you were actually dating him. Not just saying you were. That was when I finally admitted to myself that I liked you. But I never said it to anyone until right before I asked you to the Yule Ball because I was trying to pretend I didn't. Even after you broke up with him, I didn't think you liked me like that."

"I don't think I realized I was allowed to," she said. "'Cause you were my best friend."

"And look at us now," said Marlowe. "Almost two years."

"And you're still my best friend," she added.

Marlowe couldn't stop smiling. He felt so damn lucky. There was this little part of him that couldn't wait to be a little older, to marry this girl and live with her and spend every single day like they had this weekend, together. Another part of him felt so content with where they were now. He wanted this to last.

"I'm sorry for crying last night," Caiti said. "I didn't mean to freak you out."

"Don't apologize for that. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Well, neither did you. And I just don't want you thinking you did." She inhaled. "It was just a lot of emotions that hit me at once. I felt really vulnerable and I got overwhelmed."

Marlowe opened his mouth, but Caiti beat him to it. She wasn't done.

"I don't regret it though. I'm being honest about that."

"Okay," he said. "I believe you."

They looked at each other a while. Caiti's face turned a little more serious.

"I tried something on Thursday," she said. "When you were at training."

"Tried what?" asked Marlowe, wondering why he suddenly felt a little queasy with nerves.

Then he realized it was because Caiti seemed nervous, too. She hesitated. He tried to take a deep breath without making it obvious.

"I used some of the venom," she said finally.

"Oh," said Marlowe, and, unexpectedly, heat rose up the back of his neck.

"I just thought... I needed to stop being afraid of wasting it or I really was going to waste it. So I made your potion and I added it in to see what happened and..." she paused again, then began to describe what she'd seen — the pearly white color spreading out around the drops, slightly translucent, the fog of steam hovering above the cauldron.

It was this image that Marlowe fixated on. Though he hadn't actually seen it himself, Marlowe felt like he finally understood the weird suppressed feeling he often got on full moon nights. It was like the potion condensed everything into one spot, pulled it out just far enough that he couldn't act on it, but didn't actually draw it out of him altogether.

He realized Caiti had stopped talking too late. She was looking at him with so much concern in her face.

"Sorry," he said. "I was just thinking... that's what it feels like, you know? Like what I am is still there, and I'm still capable of being all of that. It's just sort of... out of reach."

Caiti was looking at him like she was regretting saying anything at all, so Marlowe reached out and brushed his fingers along her cheek. "Thanks for updating me," he said. "I'm glad you're using it. I really hope it helps."

"Me too," said Caiti, but that worried look hadn't gone out of her eyes, so Marlowe suggested they brave the rain.

Marlowe tried to conjure an umbrella, but he was a little rusty on conjuring spells and it came out doll-sized which made Caiti laugh and helped to break him out of his funk a little. Rather than try again, he put an engorgement charm on it which brought it up to an acceptable size for humans.

He shrugged. "It'll do, I think."

Outside, Marlowe held the umbrella between them with his left hand and put his other arm around Caiti. They stuck close together to stay out of the rain, looking out for a good lunch spot as best they could under the umbrella.

They stopped on a street corner waiting for the light to change — a concept which was new to Caiti, but familiar to Marlowe who'd grown up as much in the muggle world via his mum as the magical world with his dad — and Caiti's head turned back and forth watching the cars zip by.

"It wasn't a spur of the moment thing?" Marlowe asked.

She stopped watching the cars and looked at him instead.

"Using the venom?" she asked. Marlowe faltered. He had almost forgotten that was the last thing they'd really talked about. His mind had drifted back to the impossible fact that he had had sex with Caitlin O'Connell last night.

"Oh," he said. "No. I mean last night."

"No," Caiti said. She looked back at the street. "No, I've been thinking about it for a while. A couple months, maybe."

She said this without hesitation or embarrassment and the last bit of a knot in his stomach unclenched. "Okay," he said. "Good."

The light turned then and they hurried across the street, avoiding the puddles.

—-

The rest of the afternoon passed far too fast. After they'd finished lunch, the rain had started to let up, so they'd gone back to the beach which, given the weather, was pretty well deserted. They had walked a while, but eventually they just found a spot to sit and they had talked for hours and hours without pause about all sorts of things, both serious and inconsequential.

As night fell, they found somewhere to grab dinner and sat at a table by the window where they could watch all the muggles parading by in their Halloween costumes. "They got the pointy hats right, I suppose," Caiti had said as another witch passed by the table.

"How about the snaggleteeth and the warts?" grinned Marlowe.

Caiti smacked his arm indignantly.

"I'm only kidding," he'd said easily. Then he'd looked back out the window when he added, "You know I think you're beautiful.

By the time they finally headed back to the hotel it was late and Caiti was tired, but she didn't feel like sleeping. There were only a few hours left of their trip and she wasn't at all ready to go back home, back to normal. They kissed for a while, but nothing like the night before. It was different, sweeter.

Eventually, they just lay in the dark, Caiti's head on Marlowe's chest, his heart beating right beneath her ear.

"This was so perfect," she said quietly. "The best gift ever."

Marlowe's hand slid beneath her t-shirt to rub her back. "I'm glad," he said. Then after a pause. "I can't wait till it's like this all the time."

"I know," she whispered. She had sometimes entertained the thought of moving out of her parent's house, of moving in with Marlowe like Sean and Evelyn had, but she didn't have a job right now except one day a month, and while she was compensated well for brewing the Wolfsbane potion each full moon, it wasn't enough to live off of. She knew perfectly well that Marlowe could have afforded rent all on his own, but she didn't want to do it that way. She didn't want to rely on him. If they were going to live together, she wanted it to be a partnership.

And anyway, she knew Marlowe's mum wasn't keen on him moving out just yet, with everything that had happened. She was still so worried about him.

Marlowe pushed up the hem of her shirt for better access to her skin and after a minute of feeling his fingers catch again and again on the bunched up fabric, she sat up a bit and pulled it over her head, catching the quickest glimpse of Marlowe's smile before she settled back down, now skin to skin with him.

In some ways, she thought, as his fingers drew long pathways down her back, it was probably better this way, waiting a while to live together. What they had already was so good and it was nice to think how much there still was to look forward to.

—-

Caiti felt energized after their trip. She still didn't know what she was doing exactly, but she had found a new appreciation for her research. She found she didn't dread it so much. All that next week, she went into the greenhouse and just tried things, one train of thought leading to the next and the next and the next, until finally one night she had the closest thing to a breakthrough she'd had since she'd first read about the sun violet.

It was the middle of the night. She was lying in bed in Marlowe's room. It had been his grandfather's birthday the day before and Marlowe's mum had invited her to the birthday dinner. She had stayed over after, the first time they'd slept beside each other since Cornwall.

Caiti couldn't sleep though. She'd gotten thinking and now her brain was moving so fast she couldn't relax. Marlowe was fast asleep beside her, his head turned away on the pillow. She lay flat on her back next to him, eyes open, staring up at the ceiling.

For a while she just tried to formulate a plan for what she would do in the morning, but as the clock ticked towards two AM, she started to get antsy.

"Marlowe," she whispered, rolling onto her side. She put a hand on his shoulder.

He didn't wake at first, but the second time she said his name, squeezed his eyes shut tighter and then opened them slowly, squinting at her in the dark.

"I'm sorry for waking you up," she whispered. In her excitement, her voice came out a little more urgent than she'd anticipated. "I'm going to— I think I've just understood something," she said. "I'm going to go to the greenhouse. I just didn't want you to wake up and not know I'd left."

"What time is it?" asked Marlowe.

"Two. Almost."

"Caiti."

"I can't sleep anyway," she said. "I can't stop thinking about it. Just go back to bed. You can come by tomorrow after you visit Jack." He was going to meet up with Jack and his family the following afternoon for the first time since Jack had come to a match. They had been busy that fall, what with Jack going back to school.

Marlowe's eyes were already falling shut again. "You're unbelievable," he said softly.

Caiti just smiled. "I'll talk to you tomorrow," she said. "Later today really." And she kissed him on the forehead, before she sat up. Marlowe reached for her without opening his eyes, pulled her back down, and she kissed him again, this time for real.

Then he let her go. She thought he might have fallen asleep again before she'd even gone.

The greenhouse was so quiet when she got there. She flipped on the lights in a hurry, found a hair elastic and pulled her hair up and off her face, then stood in the middle of the office with her heart pounding while she collected her thoughts.

It wasn't that Caiti even fully understood the idea she'd had, it was just that she was excited about it and she knew from pushing herself to work through the emotional and intellectual struggle she'd been experiencing now for months that this was a feeling she needed to take advantage of.

Before she could waste any time doubting herself, Caiti started pulling ingredients off the shelves. She opened her notebook to a fresh page, jotted down a few notes, things she knew she wanted to try, and then she got to work.

—-

Marlowe stopped by the greenhouse at five o'clock the next day, not even sure Caiti would still be there. Probably she'd gone home by now, having gotten up in the middle of the night.

He apparated outside the door, just in case, not wanting to startle her, knocked, and when there was no answer, unlocked the door and poked his head inside. The greenhouse itself was empty though there was quite a variety of things happening on the large table in the center of the room. He wove his way around it, glancing at the mess she'd left behind with some curiosity, and then peered into the office. At first glance, he didn't see her, but turning his head to the right, he found her just inside the door, fast asleep on the couch with a book open next to her.

She looked so sweet, all curled up, still in last night's pajamas with her messy ponytail curving around her neck.

Marlowe smiled to himself. He crept into the room, picking up the book and moving it, still open to her page, to the round table — just as messy as the one in the greenhouse — and then he reached for the blanket folded on the back of the couch and made to lay it over her, but she stirred.

"Don't wake up," Marlowe said quickly. "You were up so early."

But Caiti was already pushing herself up.

"Hi," she said. She tugged her ponytail holder out and started combing her hair back again with her fingers before twisting the elastic back around it.

"Hi," laughed Marlowe, a little bemused.

"How was Jack?" she asked after a minute. She looked at the table, at all the things she'd left out.

"Fine," said Marlowe. "We just talked about how he was feeling being back in school and everything, how that first full moon went benign around people who don't know." Jack went to a muggle school, as did many wizarding kids whose parents worked and couldn't educate them at home until Hogwarts age. Quite frankly, Marlowe was surprised his parents hadn't made other arrangements, but they'd confessed they didn't want Jack to feel like what had happened had changed everything in his life, so he'd gone back to the same school as planned, though he didn't think it sounded like it was going quite as smoothly as they'd hoped.

Jack was finding it more difficult to keep up with his friends and didn't like the comments people were already making about his missing a few days of school each month.

But that wasn't what he wanted to talk to Caiti about now. He was too curious what it was she thought she'd understood, what the explanation was for the current state of the table.

"You've been busy," he said, glancing at it now.

Caiti yawned and nodded. "I just had an idea," she said.

Marlowe waited for her to expand on this statement, but her brain still seemed to be chugging along slowly, trying to wake up.

"Go back to sleep," he said. "You need a nap."

"It's fine," she said, glancing at the clock. "I fell asleep an hour ago."

Marlowe went over to the kitchen, started making her a cup of tea. Behind him, he saw Caiti pull her knees up to her chest and when he turned back to her, she was smiling.

"I think I'm going to see if Alora can meet with me next week," she said. "I think I've... I don't know. It might be nothing. I just think some things are starting to click into place. I might know what to do."

Marlowe brought the teacup over to her, wondering whether he could ask what she meant by this, but Caiti just took one sip of her tea, set it down on the end table, and went back to the table, right back to work.