ELIXIR: A Harry Potter Fan Fiction

Thirty One. Telling Secrets.

Marlowe had been waiting to get Evelyn alone for a week. Finally, he took his chance. Caiti had gone up to bed ten minutes earlier and Sean had just said goodnight to Evelyn while she packed up her things before heading upstairs to shower. She made it about six steps away before Marlowe caught up to her, looped his arm around her waist and turned her back around. He led her back to the table they'd been sitting around and then released her.

"I need to have a chat with you," he said seriously.

Evelyn turned her head a little to the right but left her eyes on Marlowe. She was frowning. Very slowly, she sunk back into the chair she had just vacated.

Marlowe sat himself opposite her and leaned forward with his hands clasped on the table.

"Well this feels confrontational," she said.

"Caiti's up to something," said Marlowe.

"What makes you say that?" asked Evelyn.

"And you're in on it."

Evelyn blinked and her face turned a little pink.

"You're a terrible liar, Ev so let's just skip past that part. What's she up to?"

"Nothing," said Evelyn.

    Marlowe raised his eyebrows.

    Evelyn put her face in her hands, took a deep breath, and said, "She found this book on discrimination in quidditch and she started doing all this research and she was reading these really complicated law books and stuff and then she asked me to help her write a bunch of letters to all the quidditch teams in the league asking them to take a stance against what the Ballycastle Bats did to you because it's unlawful and just cruel and I wasn't supposed to tell you, please don't be mad. She'll kill me if she knows you know."

    This all came out very fast, giving Marlowe next to no time to let it sink in.

    "Anything else?" he asked, after a minute's hard thought.

"She may have also asked them to come to the last match and see you play."

Marlowe's face hardened. "You're dismissed," he said. Evelyn lowered her hands and stood just as slowly as she had sat.

"Please, please, please don't get mad at her. I know she probably overstepped her boundaries or whatever, but she's not trying to make you feel like you're worthless or anything. She just feels responsible for what happened and she needs to feel like she's doing something to make it better."

Marlowe sunk low in his seat, folded his arms and gave her a moody glare. "How come you always have to know exactly what I'm thinking?"

Evelyn gave a sigh of relief. "Just good at reading people, I guess." She started to go, but then she turned once more and said, "Caiti really cares about you."

"I know," said Marlowe at once.

"I know you do," said Evelyn. She tucked her hair behind her ear. "Just don't forget it, okay?"

Marlowe said nothing, so she left for real this time, leaving Marlowe to feel guilty for the split second of anger that had flared up again. He should have been touched, appreciative, but if he was being honest, her genuine kindness, and her insistence in going out of her way to do things for him - it was embarrassing. He didn't want her to have to do these things. He should have been self sufficient. He should have been the one helping her.

But then, maybe he was forgetting what he'd already done for her, and that she might feel the same way.

It was always hard, thought Marlowe, to ask for help, but it was harder to accept help unsolicited from someone who knew you needed it.