VIOLET (A Harry Potter Universe Fanfiction)

24.

"Did he tell you he wants to test it?" Caiti asked when she was sure Marlowe was out of earshot.

"He did."

Caiti looked out the window, hands around the warm mug. She sucked in her bottom lip. "I don't know if I want him to," she admitted.

Mrs. Finnegan sat beside her, but didn't say anything.

"What if it goes wrong?" she asked.

"Well," said Mrs. Finnegan. "When us muggles test a new medication, there are always doctors around to respond if someone has a bad reaction. I imagine it'd be the same sort of thing for your lot, wouldn't it?"

Caiti nodded. "I know there'd be precautions. I just don't want to hurt him. I mean I don't want to hurt a stranger either, but at least they'd be getting paid and everything. I mean, I'll pay Marlowe, too, obviously, but still. He knows me. It's different."

"Marlowe won't take your money, Caiti," said Mrs. Finnegan gently. "He'll want you to put that back into your work, however you can. He wants you to be successful. And not just because it'd benefit him. For you."

"I just don't want to hurt him," she said again.

"I know," Mrs. Finnegan said. "He knows that, too. But I think he also knows this could be worth the risk. This could help a lot of people."

Caiti nodded. "I really hope it does," she said softly.

—-

Marlowe read the scroll end to end multiple times before he said anything.

"What does this mean?" he asked, pointing to a word about halfway down.

Caiti did her best to explain and then Marlowe followed that up with a handful of other questions.

Finally, he rolled it back up and said, "Caiti, you are very smart."

Caiti blinked at him, not sure what to say.

"I'd like to take some time to think about everything," said Marlowe in what Caiti thought was an unusually formal way. "Before I say anything else."

She thought this might be his way of saying she should go, that he needed some time alone, and she started to take a step back, but then he said. "You wanna get dinner or something?"

"Oh," she said, surprised. "Sure. Okay."

They bundled up and walked to the village mostly in silence. Marlowe seemed to be thinking hard the whole walk, but when they'd taken their seats at the local pub, he acted like his usual self, talking and joking about nothing in particular. It took Caiti a while to stop feeling odd, but she warmed up eventually and by the time they left almost two hours later, her research and everything about it were back of mind.

It was fully dark out now and the temperature had dropped significantly.

"Want to find somewhere we can disapparate?" she asked, shivering.

"Yeah," said Marlowe, but then almost right away, he said, "Actually, can we walk? I know it's really cold."

Caiti looked at him. "Oh," she said. "Yeah. I'll be fine."

"Thanks," he said. He wrapped his arm around her, which did help a bit, given his warmer than average body temperature. Still, Caiti balled her hands up inside her sleeves and shoved them into her pockets, sticking close to his side.

He didn't say anything for the first minute or so, but when a gust of icy wind made Caiti shiver all over, he said, "Sorry. I know it's freezing. I justI just wanted to try to explain how I'm... I don't know. How I'm feeling I guess. About everything. It's easier for me to talk if I'm moving."