One. Platform 9 3/4.

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That night felt like September. Caiti could have sworn it was summer just that evening, but suddenly autumn was here, and in a matter of hours, she would board the train to return to Hogwarts for her seventh year. She was dreading it.

She and Marlowe sat on his front porch, backs to the wall of the house, looking out. It was dark beyond the porch. The low-hanging tree branches that shaded the front walk looked like large creeping shadows where the light from the house reached them. The willow on the left side of the path fluttered in the chilly air, its leaves rustling. The shadows might have scared her if she hadn't known this place in the daytime and if Marlowe had not been seated shoulder to shoulder with her, his hand clasped in hers.

Caiti wasn't actually supposed to be here. She had snuck over after her parents had fallen asleep and crawled into Marlowe's bed. He'd been expecting her.

At three AM, they'd gotten out of bed and come to sit out here, a flannel blanket draped over their knees. They just talked and it was nice. Or at least it would have been nice if Caiti had been able to resist connecting everything back to her imminent departure.

"I'll see you in a couple weeks though," said Marlowe after the dozenth time she couldn't help bringing up her leaving. He tipped his head back against the house. "And we can write."

Caiti looked over at him. His eyes were fixed on the black sky. They could not see the moon where they sat and she thought this was for the best. Only a few nights ago, there had been a full moon, and he was only just starting to look his normal color again.

"Wish it was under happier circumstances," said Caiti quietly. She would see him once a month that year, but only because she made the Wolfsbane Potion for him and they had made arrangements with the school so that she could continue to deliver it.

Marlowe sighed through his nose and his hand fidgeted in hers. "Well," was all he said. He didn't like talking about it. Caiti knew this. Just over half a year in and he still hadn't really come to terms with what he was.

Caiti looked away and down at her knees. "How bad is it, Marlowe?" She had asked this question before and never gotten an answer. Marlowe usually went quiet when anyone tried to ask him about what happened at the full moon. But tonight he just turned his head and looked at her. For the longest time he looked at her. So long that Caiti felt uncomfortable and had to pretend like she couldn't feel his eyes.

"I don't want you to get freaked out," said Marlowe. "I'm managing."

Normally, Caiti would not have pushed after this first refusal, but she couldn't help her curiosity tonight. It had seemed like he was considering talking about it.

She squeezed his hand a little tighter and said, her voice still so, so soft. "I just want to understand."

Marlowe hadn't stopped looking at her so she met his eyes and forced herself not to break eye contact. She needed to know.

Marlowe looked away first and Caiti actually let out a tiny sigh of relief. His gaze had been heavy.

"It's hard to talk about," he said finally, and she thought, with a stab of selfish disappointment, that that would be it. But then Marlowe opened his mouth again and said. "I don't really know how to describe everything. It's like..." He paused, inhaled, and thought. "I start shaking first. All over. And then it feels like my bones are getting stretched out, like they're getting tugged on from both sides and they have to kind of splinter to form their new shape.

"And the joints too. Most of my joints have to... to go the other way. My knees and elbows. Which is why I'm always so sore afterward." He paused there and Caiti slid her hand out of his and laid her head down in his lap, mostly because she didn't want him to see her face, but also because it made her dizzy to think about his joints being snapped the wrong way once a month. She squeezed her eyes shut and placed her hand on his thigh, rubbing her thumb back and forth a few times. She felt Marlowe's hand in her hair, impossibly gentle given what he was describing.

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