VIOLET (A Harry Potter Universe Fanfiction)

4.

Later that night, he went to Caiti's house. He knocked on the front door and was relieved when Caiti, and not one of her parents answered.

"Hi," she said, surprised.

"Did you eat yet?" he asked, even though he knew she must've. It was well past dinner time.

"No," Caiti said.

Marlowe, who had been all ready to switch gears for plan two, stopped short. "Oh. Really?"

"My parents are out tonight. I was going to make something and I just... haven't."

"Well, are you hungry?"

She nodded.

"Let's go get something to eat then. I'm starving."

Caiti smiled a little. "Let me just change. I'm not really dressed for public viewing."

So Marlowe stepped inside and waited while she ran down the hall to her bedroom to put something else on. He didn't follow her, but he did notice she left the door open. When she returned, she wore a pair of light wash jeans and a blue t-shirt, a cardigan over her arm.

"Hi," Marlowe said. "By the way."

Caiti laughed. He kissed her.

Marlowe took her hand and disapparated. At first, he'd thought about going to Diagon Alley, but thought he'd probably run into too many people they knew there and he wasn't in the mood for all the small talk. It was Caiti he wanted to talk to.

He took her back to his house instead, but only because he couldn't apparate where they were going. "This isn't it," he said, and he started walking up the lane away from his house, hand still in hers. It was about ten minutes to the village and there was a little pub there he liked. It usually always had a table open and the barmen were friendly but didn't bother you too much so it was a good place for a private conversation.

He realized as they walked, that it was the first time they had gone on anything resembling a proper date since she'd been home, and suddenly Marlowe didn't know why he hadn't asked her to do something like this sooner. He supposed he'd gotten so used to only seeing her one hour a month that it hadn't really occurred to him this was something he could do now.

It was a nice evening out, too. A slight breeze but still warm, dusk just settling over the sky. The crickets were starting to come out.

"How'd everything go today?" Marlowe asked after they'd been walking in silence for a minute. Caiti seemed quieter than usual.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Research is a slow process. I don't think you can really recognize anything is progress until you're well past it."

"Yeah," Marlowe said. "That makes sense."

"I tried to do something with the petals today, but... I don't know. It's just a lot of guesswork right now. Nothing really feels substantial yet."

"But that's okay," said Marlowe. "You're just getting started. You've only been home like two weeks."

"Yeah," Caiti agreed, but then she went quiet again.

After a minute, she said, "I want to talk about something else. I can't think about it anymore right now."

"Sure," said Marlowe.

"How was work?" she asked.

"Decent," he said. "Uneventful."

"D'you think you'll get to play again soon?" Caiti asked.

"No idea," said Marlowe. "No one's had to be subbed in for most of the season. The starters have been in good shape. They're not going to swap them out unless they have to."

"Well," Caiti said, "I think that's kind of silly of them not to. You won them the game the time you got to play."

This made Marlowe smile a little too much.

"I mean," he said, trying hard to hide the smile from his voice, "I didn't really win it. I don't score any goals."

"But they wouldn't have gotten the snitch without you," said Caiti. "You of all people should know the seeker isn't the only important position. Just the ones that get all the glory."

"Damn right," said Marlowe with a grin. "I knew I taught you well."

"I think beaters deserve more credit, really," said Caiti. "You're the only position that has only one hand on the broom the entire game."

"Stop flattering me. You'll make me blush."

"I've just been thinking about it a lot lately, how that's your job and everything. And even if you aren't playing much yet, you will eventually. And that's just really cool, you know? You always said you were going to do this, and you did it. That's just really, really cool."

This stopped Marlowe short. He hadn't thought much about it in a while. The novelty of being on a professional quidditch team in his limited capacity had sort of worn off in the past year. The monotony of it being a job had set in. He'd gotten complacent. But it was really cool. This was what he'd always wanted to do, and in spite of everything that had happened, he was, sort of, doing it.

They were right on the edge of town now and there were a few people milling about, but Marlowe stopped walking and hugged her right there on the path.

"Thanks," he said. "I think I needed to hear that."