ELIXIR: A Harry Potter Fan Fiction

Twenty Eight. Complicated.

 By the following morning, Marlowe was anxious to see Caiti and apologize to her. He decided he had dreaded the moment long enough. It was time to fix it.

She was not at breakfast when he, Sean, and Evelyn arrived, but this was not unusual so he shoveled down his food much faster than was strictly necessary, and then sat drumming his fingers on his knees and the table with his eyes glued to the door.

It was Saturday morning, which Marlowe thought was a great sign. They would have all kinds of time to talk about it, and Evelyn had said that Caiti liked to talk about things. Everything was going to be fine. The sun was out. Easter was the following day.

And best of all, Evelyn's parents had just sent her a large package of muggle sweets, including Marlowe's favorite coconut and chocolate bar which Evelyn had already passed over to him.

She had just pulled out a couple of magazines from the bottom of the box and was reading over the cover stories with a frown on her face. "Oh good," she said, tapping one of the covers.

Sean peered over at the magazine to see what she was talking about.

"Taylor Swift has just had a break-up," she said. "That means she'll have a new album out soon."

This made Marlowe, who had a certain awareness of muggle pop-culture thanks to his mother, and who was also a little high on hope, burst out laughing. Evelyn grinned at him as she began loading things back into the box. Sean looked back and forth between the two of them; he had absolutely no idea what was going on.

"Did Evelyn O'Sullivan just make a joke?" asked Marlowe.

"Hey, I can be funny," she said, pouting.

"Well, let it out more often, then. Don't keep that stuff in," he said, still chuckling.

"Who's Taylor Swift?" asked Sean, who had continued to look politely puzzled through this whole exchange.

Evelyn opened her mouth in mock offense and punched him in the shoulder. "Sean!" she said. "She's a singer. I must have told you about her a hundred times."

"Well- how do you know then?" he asked Marlowe.

"I just spent a month with my muggle mother-" he began to say, but he stopped abruptly, because Caiti had just entered. He stood up and walked away from them. Caiti had done her hair in two french braids today, something he had always liked. When she saw him coming, her face hardened and she shoved past him when he tried to stop and talk to her.

"Wait!" he called. "Caiti, please. I don't want to fight with you. I just wanted to apologize."

She swiveled around and glared at him with narrowed eyes and tight lips. "Don't mock me," she said and she turned to go again.

"Caiti, please," he said again. "I'm sorry."

She let out a high, stilted laugh with a little jerk of her head, and said, "It's gonna take more than sorry."

It was only then that Marlowe had realized how much he had sounded like her only a few days ago, his words almost an exact copy. The hopeful bubble he'd been protecting himself in all morning popped.

He saw her sit down, not with Evelyn and Sean, but with Theo. His stomach twinged and he stalked out of the room, not sure if he felt more angry or anxious or just let down.

---

That afternoon, there was Quidditch practice. Marlowe had already been less than excited to go before the latest debacle with Caiti, and now he felt less motivated than ever. They'd missed two practices that week because of the full moon, a fact which had not helped Marlowe to cope with the fact that after the match against Hufflepuff, his quidditch career would be over for good. He no longer had any idea what he wanted to do after school, and even if he had had a backup plan, he was not holding out hopes that anyone would be keen on hiring him. Especially not after Mr. Fenwick's situation. The pity Marlowe had felt for him lately had developed into bitterness again.