A Marauder's Guide to Falling Forever

Chapter Eleven

She was headed back to her flat in London anyways, so Tom showed her the muggle Ministry exit. She was only half a block away from the Ministry when the sound of her name being called out caused her to stall. The voice sounded welcomingly familiar, and she placed the sound of Patrick's voice just as she turned to see his smiling face jogging to catch up with her.

"Why hello stranger!" His elated energy was a comforting change of pace from the tired, strained and stressful interaction she had been recently engaged in. Overall she was getting rather fed up with hitting dead ends in her conversations with Tom, and didn't know how much more she had to give.

"Hi, Patrick," she replied, and copied his smile as though it were contagious.

"Fancy running into you here," he continued, "I wasn't sure if I was ever going to see you again. You never returned any of my owls."

"Sorry about that." Her apologies were becoming more monotonous each time they were offered. "I've been out of the country, travelling."

She thought it sounded convincing enough, and Patrick seemed more than willing to accept her response as the truth for he didn't challenge her on it. She noted that he looked good, as though the stressful times around them did not exist. 

"So you're back in London then?" he asked, sounding hopeful.

"Yes," she replied. Something about the way he smiled made her feel warm inside. It was nice for someone to receive her without accompanied by a fit of rage or tears. She felt a genuine appreciation for his friendship, yet at the same time guilty somehow for feeling that way. Probably because of Sirius. But she tried not to dwell on him.

"What are you doing at the Ministry?" He glanced towards the red telephone box across the street from the direction she had come.

"Oh, I was visiting my god father at work," she said nonchalantly, as though it were no big deal. She didn't need to draw any attention to her agenda, especially when they had everything to do with the Order. Instead she directed the conversation away from herself and asked, "How about you?"

"I was coming to visit my sister," he replied, "but I can come back later. What are you up to now?"

"Um," she bit her lip. She hadn't really thought about it. "Likely going home, I suppose."

"There's a café down the street. I'd love to catch up if you have the time," he asked, and Marlene couldn't think of a reason to say no. Except for Sirius, her conscience nagged again. But she reminded herself that they were broken up, that hadn't changed. There was no reason to feel guilty about spending time with a friend.

"Sure," she smiled, and they began to walk down the street together. Marlene tried to match his large strides as they made their way down another busy street and it made conversation difficult amidst the noise of people talking and cars whizzing past.

The café he led her towards was quaint and lit brightly by the large glass windows that overlooked the London street outside. It wasn't overly busy and after ordering some tea, they secured a small table for two near the window.

It felt strange to see Patrick sitting across the table from her. The last time they had spoken was the night at the hospital when Euphemia Potter had died and everything in her life had crumbled to pieces. He looked somewhat different to her in a non-hospital setting, though she couldn't quite place why she felt that way.

He talked animatedly, and Marlene required very little effort to search for conversation topics as the afternoon dragged on. Eventually though, a more uncomfortable turn in conversation forced Marlene to think about what led to her departure in the first place.