Professor Munslow arrived at nine AM on Friday to deliver Caiti's plants.
"My goodness," he said, setting the plants down on the open table space Caiti had left for them. "How did you come upon this so quickly?"
"Marlowe," Caiti said. "He built it."
"Did he really?"
Caiti just smiled. She still couldn't quite believe it herself.
"Well, it certainly beats renting out a stretch of a table in a shared greenhouse like I'd suggested," said Professor Munslow. "It's a beautiful space."
He helped her get the plants all set up, updated her on the few developments of the past week, gave her a few tips on the other plants she had collected, and assured her that should she ever have any trouble or any questions, she shouldn't hesitate to send him an owl.
Then he left and Caiti stood in the quiet greenhouse with her arms folded and stared at all the bright yellow blooms she had spent the last six months cultivating. She willed them to turn out to be worth all that time.
—-
Marlowe came by to see them when he got off work. "They just look like ordinary flowers," he said.
"I know," said Caiti. "I swear if I've wasted all this time and energy on them, I'm going to find a very high cliff and hurl them all over the side."
"I doubt it'll come to that," said Marlowe.
He peered at the one with the most blooms.
"That was the first one," Caiti said. "It took like a month to even sprout. I've gotten better at getting them started."
"Did you try anything with them today?" Marlowe asked.
Caiti pulled herself up to sit on the edge of the large table in the middle which she had left mostly open as a workspace. "No," she said. "I'm too scared."
Marlowe walked down the row of plants again.
"Scared of what?"
"They just traveled. They might be stressed. I don't want to screw it up by plucking off petals too early."
Marlowe cracked a smile. "You talk about them like they're people."
"They might as well be for how temperamental they are," Caiti said darkly.
Marlowe turned back to her, placed his hands on her knees and slid his palms up her thighs and to her hips. "Give it the weekend then. You can start Monday."
Caiti just looked at him for a while.
"How are you feeling?" she asked out of the blue. The full moon was just a few days away. "Can I make you anything to help?"
"I don't know. I felt alright today, I guess," Marlowe said. "Usually it's the two days before I start to feel really achy. I guess my joints felt a little creaky today."
"Come with me," Caiti said. She slid off the table, linked her fingers with his and then slipped past him and headed towards the office.
She let go of his hand beyond the door and started going through the various bottles and containers she had already collected on the shelves Marlowe had installed for her. She pulled out half a dozen items, set them on the table, and grabbed her silver cauldron.
"Do you just use whichever one you feel like?" Marlowe asked.
Caiti laughed. "No. They each work a little differently. This one isn't practical for a lot of potions, but it's good for the one I'm making."
"Which is?"
"An articulation infusion," said Caiti. She selected one of the fancy knives her parents had given her as a graduation gift and set to work preparing ingredients.
Marlowe eyed her, frowning. "Do you need a recipe for anything?" he asked.
Caiti smiled. "Sometimes. If I haven't made it before. Or if it's complicated."
"You've made this before?"
"Once," Caiti said. "My fifth year I think."
"And you still remember it?" asked Marlowe in utter disbelief.
"I think so," said Caiti. "It wasn't hard. I made it for Sean. For quidditch. Remember when he got that bludger to the elbow and it was bugging him for a while?"
"Remember when he broke his hand because someone shook it too hard?" Marlowe sniggered.
Caiti cracked a smile. "That actually did happen, you know. I went and saw him in the hospital wing. But anyway. I made him this potion and he never complained about it again. So maybe it'll help you, too."
Caiti paused. "I don't remember if I'm supposed to add the newt eyes or the spider legs first," she said. She stood up again and went rifling through a stack of potion books, pulling one out and flipping through it.
"Spider legs," she said and then put the book back where it came from. She tapped under her cauldron to set the flame and dropped the first ingredient in before the water even had a chance to heat up.
Marlowe watched her eye the cauldron and drop the newt eyes in at what seemed to be a very precise moment. She stirred a few times, watched the water become a thick, inky black that looked very unappetizing, and then she tossed in the next ingredient. A few more stirs and it turned pearly and iridescent.
"I vote for it to stay like that," Marlowe said. He wasn't too thrilled with the ingredients.
"This one doesn't taste bad," she said. "Or at least Sean didn't make a face or anything."
"Well that's a good sign." Sean had always been the pickiest eater of the four of them.
He watched as Caiti continued to work. She was always startlingly beautiful, but there was something about watching her make a potion that Marlowe found electrifying. She did not have the same focus today that she had when she made the wolfsbane potion. Marlowe had watched her make it twice and both times had been afraid to even breathe. But there was still something about the deliberate way she did everything, so careful and precise and thoughtful.
"Now," Caiti said, squeezing the juice out of an elderberry before she dropped it in. She gave the potion two or three stirs and tipped her head to the side to observe it. "We just wait until it turns pale green."
She got up from the table and came to sit by Marlowe.
"You should teach a class," he told her.
"I don't think I could," she said. "Half of it's intuition. I just sort of... I mean I follow the recipes and everything, but mostly I feel it out. You can just tell if something's off."
"You can, maybe," said Marlowe.
"You just have to pay attention," Caiti said. "But the techniques and everything... I mean it's nothing you wouldn't learn in a regular Hogwarts class. I don't do anything special or different. I just... I don't know. I watch it. I listen to it. And then I adjust."
"Do a live show then," Marlowe said. "Sell tickets. I'd pay to watch you brew anything. You could make a cure for boils and I'd be on the edge of my seat."
"Eleven year olds make that in their first two weeks at school," said Caiti.
"Exactly."
"Tell me about work," Caiti said, settling into his side. Marlowe wrapped his arm around her waist as he began to talk. He never felt like there was much to tell about his day, but Caiti asked a lot of questions and seemed to think his one little anecdote was funny, and it was nice just getting to talk to her about everyday things.
After a few minutes, she got back up and gave the potion another stir. It was sort of blueish right now, but went a shade greener as she stirred.
"About five minutes, I think," she said, mostly to herself. She sat back down. "I probably need to go home after this is ready. I told my mum I'd be home for dinner."
"Untell her," said Marlowe.
Caiti smiled. Marlowe kissed her.
—-
Caiti's potion had really made a difference. Marlowe had had a great flying day on Saturday and though he'd done little but a warmup on Sunday on account of the match that afternoon, his coach had given him a nod of approval Marlowe didn't usually see this close to the full moon. He felt like his regular self, just a bit shaky when he wasn't moving too much.
Monday was a different story. Marlowe made it through practice a bit easier than usual thanks to the articulation infusion, but only a bit. By the time he arrived home, he felt pretty awful. His head was all buzzy and everything was pulsing.
Caiti came over to deliver his potion at about seven and she looked a little frazzled. "I've just been to deliver this to the Ministry pick-up location" she said. "There were so many people lined up waiting for it. I had no idea."
"Oh that's right," said Marlowe. "This is the first month you're in that program isn't it?" The reason she had started learning the wolfsbane potion in the first place was because there was a new-ish government funded program out there that ensured all werewolves had access to the wolfsbane potion. Caiti was being paid to make it each month. It was supposed to be free eventually, once support ramped up or employers started covering it, but there was a modest fee for now, nowhere near what the potion would cost out of pocket. The ingredients weren't cheap.
She nodded.
"I'm happy to do it, but the delivery... it's a bit nerve wracking. All these people I don't know. Like, what if I kill them?"
"You've never worried about accidentally killing me," Marlowe said, feigning offense.
"Oh god, you have literally no idea how many times I practiced that potion before I ever gave it to you," Caiti said. "I was terrified. It was all I did that month you were in the hospital."
Marlowe didn't think about the time he'd been at St. Mungo's often. Neither he or Caiti ever brought it up. Feeling uncomfortable about it was stupid, given what Caiti was here to give him, but he still felt embarrassed and exposed the way he did any time he had to admit what he was. That was something he needed to work on.
"So you're sure this isn't going to kill me?" Marlowe joked, because that was easier than acknowledging, again, how much Caiti cared about him. Caiti just smirked and held out the potion to him.
He had his water ready.
Caiti sat beside him while Marlowe steeled himself for the initial taste, downed it as fast as he could, and then followed it up with the water. "Aguamenti," he muttered, refilling the cup. He drank the entire second glass as well.
"Caiti, if your improvement tastes better than that, you will make millions," Marlowe said, wrinkling his nose at the empty goblet.
Caiti put her arm up on the back of the couch and drew her fingers through his hair. "How are you feeling today?" she asked.
"Not good."
"I'll make you something for tomorrow morning."
"Oh, you don't have to do that. You've been running around all day. Just go get some rest."
"It's fine," Caiti said. Her fingernails grazed the back of his neck and he shivered. "I will."
Marlowe shut his eyes. Her touch was so nice. If he focused on just that, he could almost pretend everything else didn't hurt, could almost pretend he didn't know what was coming.
"When do you have to be at work tomorrow?"
"Ten thirty," said Marlowe. Inside his own head, his voice sounded fuzzy like she'd asked him while he was half asleep.
"Okay. I'll be over before that."
—-
Caiti had been true to her word. She was already waiting in his living room, talking to his mum, by the time Marlowe stumbled in bright and early the next morning. It was just after five AM. His mum handed him a glass of water, as always, and Caiti said, "This should help with the nausea," and nodded to the sealed container she held between both hands.
"Thanks," mumbled Marlowe. He took a few sips of his water. "I need to go lay down."
"If he needs anything, just let me know," his mum said to Caiti, a hand on her shoulder.
They walked to his bedroom. Marlowe drank the potion there and then he laid down and laid a hand over his forehead. He took several slow, deep breaths. That short walk into the house always got the better of him so soon after coming back into his body.
Marlowe sat up a little and pulled his t-shirt off. He didn't notice his higher body temperature most of the time, but he was always sweltering the day after.
"Come're," Caiti said softly. She opened her arm for him, scooting closer so he could lay his head on her chest. He draped one arm over her waist and Caiti smoothed her hand over his back. Her fingers were cold. They felt like an ice pack.
Neither one of them said anything at all and Marlowe focused only on the feeling of her hands on his skin and her heartbeat under his ear.
He fell asleep after a while, only waking up several hours later when his mum crept quietly into the room and put a hand on his head. "Sweetheart," she whispered. "You'd better get up soon. It's ten."
Marlowe was so comfortable, so relaxed, it took him a minute to convince himself to move. When he finally rolled onto his back, running a hand through his hair, he looked at his mum to find her looking not at him, but at Caiti with this look on her face like she could cry. She didn't say anything though, just kissed Marlowe on the forehead, like she had when he was little, and left the room.
The two of them lay there on their backs in silence for another couple of minutes.
"That potion helps," Marlowe said. "I feel a little better."
"Good," Caiti said quietly. She turned her head to look at him.
When they made eye contact, Marlowe was filled with a very sudden and very unexpected flood of guilt. He had told himself the previous week that he was going to try the venom idea for her and he had forgotten. He hadn't told Caiti that, of course. He had been trying very hard not to think about it after the way he had performed the day he didn't block it out of his thoughts. But he still felt guilty.
Caiti did so much for him. Not only had she brewed him three separate potions to help him feel better the last few days, the way she had held him just now was so filled with love and care it made his heart race just to think about it.
Next month, he told himself. Next month he would do it.
For now, he rolled over and kissed Caiti. "Thank you for coming over," he said. "You make everything a little easier."
Caiti smiled a little.
She sat on the edge of his bed while he got ready for work, moving a little gingerly, as always the day after the full moon.
They talked a little, but mostly they were quiet and it was comfortable. Just before he had to go, Marlowe sat beside her and pulled her into a hug. "Love you," he said.
"Love you too," said Caiti. She kissed him once before she let go.
For someone who had just gone through another fairly traumatic night, he felt pretty damn lucky.