VIOLET (A Harry Potter Universe Fanfiction)

9.

Jack smiled a little bit.

He started asking a bunch of questions about quidditch then, and every once in a while he would ask a question about being a werewolf which was a little jarring, but Marlowe found it easier and easier to answer them as time went on. There was something about talking to someone who was dealing with, or would soon be dealing with, the same things he did that made it easier to say some of the things he usually kept to himself.

His mum was talking with Jack's parents, which was nice because Marlowe found it easier to talk to him when he wasn't being observed. It was even sort of fun. Jack was funny. He thought everything Marlowe said was super cool. And when Marlowe got out the quidditch gear he'd brought for him — a Chudley Cannons blanket, as Caiti had suggested, a sweatshirt with Finnegan on the back and a big number 8, and a couple of t-shirts — Jack looked at him like he was Santa Claus and it was Christmas morning.

"Will you come back?" Jack asked when one of the healers came in and Marlowe and his mum figured they'd better get out of their way.

"Yeah," said Marlowe. "I will."

Jack's mum followed him out into the hall and said, "D'you mind if I give you a hug?"

"No," said Marlowe in surprise. "No, that's fine."

She wrapped her arms around him and started to cry.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm just so grateful. You have no idea. We don't know what we're doing, we don't know what to say or how to explain... and you were just so wonderful with him. Bringing all those things and all. You didn't have to do this. He'd have been excited just to get a signed picture back."

"I couldn't have done that," said Marlowe. "That isn't enough. He's a sweet kid. I'm happy to help a little if I can."

"You've helped tremendously," she said, wiping away her tears. "And you too," she said to his mum. "It's done me such good to speak to another parent."

"We can chat anytime you like," she smiled.

As the two of them walked back out of the ward and towards the lobby where the fireplaces were, his mum put her arm around his waist and gave him a little squeeze. "I'm so proud of you, sweetheart. Not just for today. For everything. You've really taken a bad situation and made the best of it."

"Thanks," said Marlowe, a little embarrassed.

"Honestly, I'm proud of myself, too," she said. "I raised a pretty outstanding kid." And with that, she gave herself a little pat on the back, smiled at him, and then went to grab a fistful of floo powder to head back home.

—-

Around eight o'clock that evening, Marlowe went looking for Caiti to tell her how everything had gone. He'd gone to her house first and had an awkward exchange with her dad who informed she had gone back to the greenhouse to work on something else after dinner, so he'd gone there next.

He'd brought a plastic bag with a surprise for her that he was very excited about, but as soon as he found her standing at the big table in the middle of the greenhouse, he dropped it on the floor to get back to later. There was a weird energy about her. She had all kinds of stuff spread out around her. Various herbology tools, six or seven pots (some empty), an open notebook, three different books open to various pages, two different ink pots and a quill in each.

"Hey," he said.

Caiti looked up. He'd expected the busy look, the one where it took her a minute to register that he was there, to pull her head out of whatever she'd been doing. But Caiti didn't look busy, she looked lost.