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Chapter 38
Utterly Irreversible
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MARINA CORNERED CHARLIE the next morning as he was coming out of the bathroom, hair wet and steam billowing from the door behind him.

"You asshole," Marina snarled, propping her arm on the wall to stop him from passing. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked, looking very unintimidated.

"Hey Tom, what's up with you and Marina?" she quoted angrily.

Charlie's eyebrows shot up. "You were awake?" he asked, gobsmacked.

"Yes," she hissed. "What the hell, man?"

"I saw how you were looking at him," Charlie shrugged as he leaned on the wall casually, "and he's always looking at you too, so I thought –"

"You are aware we're in the middle of a war?" Marina whispered furiously.

"Yeah, so?" Charlie said, frowning. "Merlin, if there's ever a time for a bit of happiness –"

"You showed him my calendar?" Marina breathed, eyes narrowing.

Charlie had the decency to look a bit ashamed. "Look, I thought he liked you, so –"

"I'll be lucky if he ever talks to me again," Marina groaned despondently as she too leaned heavily against the hallway. "Shit, Charlie," she pressed her hands against her face, mortified. "How could you think that he sees me that way?"

Charlie paused. "Do you see him that way?"

"Does it matter now?" Marina deadpanned.

"Yes," he said at once.

Marina pursed her lips, heels of her palms pressing hard against her eyes.

"You do!" Charlie said triumphantly.

"Shut it," Marina grit out, lowering her hands to glare at him. "It's not my fault! All of a sudden he's all –" she flailed her hands angrily "– collected and funny and confident and good to talk to and emotionally mature." She exhaled furiously. "And it doesn't help that he's so freaking gorgeous," she added bitterly.

Charlie snorted, and Marina glared at him again.

"What?" he grinned. "I mean, you're not wrong."

"Yeah well," she scowled, "he gave me my answer, didn't he?"

Charlie sobered. "Right," he said, frowning. "Sorry, mate."

"It's fine," she said flatly, staring at the ceiling. "You're just going to be on my shit list for about ten years."

"Have a heart, Marina," Charlie drawled. "If he liked you too, you would have both just danced around each other for the rest of time – you can hardly blame me for trying to take the initiative."

Annoyingly, he was right. "Whatever," she grimaced. "God, I have to talk to him, Charlie!"

"You'll be alright," he said sympathetically, pushing her shoulder lightly. "He doesn't know you heard, after all. Just act normal and it'll be fine."

Marina nodded slowly. That was true, at least. "Act normal," she repeated, sighing heavily. "Right. I can do that. I'll just act like how I do with you."

"There ya go," said Charlie, ruffling her hair. "And hey – I'm sorry," he said ruefully. "I honestly didn't expect it to go like that."

"It's fine," Marina rolled her eyes. "Just – don't say anything else to him, alright?"

"Alright," he said softly, smiling at her.

At that moment George rounded the corner with a towel over his shoulder and caught sight of them.

"If it isn't the love birds," he smirked, winking at them. "Romance of the century over here, right guys?"

Marina sighed loudly and left without responding, in desperate need of a coffee and five minutes of silence by herself – though unfortunately only one of those was at all feasible. Mr Weasley had received an owl letting him know that the Ministry had swapped his shift from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day at the last second, and the kitchen was in absolute turmoil as Mrs Weasley commanded her forces around at top speed. They had decided to have the big dinner on Christmas Eve instead, resulting in a very stressed out Mrs Weasley and an extremely noisy morning in the Burrow.

The only person who seemed remotely happy about the change of plans was Fleur, who chattered so extensively about having a traditional French-style Christmas Eve dinner that Marina thought Ginny looked like she might flip a table if she heard the phrase "ahh eet ees nice to 'ave a proper Christmas zis year!" one more time.

By midday, Marina hadn't had to string together more than a few full sentences to Tom which she was immensely glad about since her plan to 'act normally' was rather compromised by the fact that she had been struggling to look him in the eye for more than a second at a time. Marina knew she was being stupid, but she also knew that it would take some time for her heart to catch up with her head.

Luckily, she had something of an excellent plan to push herself back towards normalcy. Marina took a little breath and mentally steeled herself. Alright. Act normally. As if it were Charlie.

She peeked down the stairs into the lounge where Tom, Ginny, Tonks, and the twins were charming lights and decorations onto a broad-branched, handsome Christmas tree in the corner. By the sounds of it, Fred and George had jinxed the angel at the top of it to shout out a variety of colourful vulgarities and were being loudly berated by their mother as Ginny and Tonks snorted with laughter. It only took a second to catch Tom's eye. She grinned and waved him over conspiratorially. Tom arched a brow, but Marina only ducked back up the stairs and waited in the little alcove that led to Ginny's room with her hands behind her back.

Tom appeared a moment later.

"Yes?" he asked very dryly, looking amused.

"I have a confession," Marina smiled broadly, throwing herself into nonchalance with a little too much gusto. "I broke the rules."

"Oh?" Tom folded his arms and leaned against the wall in a very annoyingly attractive way.

Don't stare, don't stare, don't stare –

"Yeah," she said gaudily, pulling the little present from behind her. "Don't tell Mrs Weasley, I think she'd flay me alive."

Tom stared at the gift in her hands. She'd had to wrap it in newspaper and tie with cooking string, but it was very tidily done and Marina thought it had a sort of 2012 Pinterest chic about it – not that Tom would appreciate this.

"Goodness," he deadpanned, eyes meeting hers. "You certainly like to live dangerously, don't you?"

"Do you want it or not, smartass?" she smirked, holding it out to him a bit more.

Tom took it and then gave her a somewhat sarcastic look. "Are you going to make me wait for the actual day, or am I allowed to open it now?" he asked, smiling.

"You can do what you like," she rolled her eyes, leaning back against the wall opposite and trying to ignore her slightly racing pulse.

Tom's smile only grew more wry and he gently slid his fingers beneath the string, pulling it from the gift. The paper followed, and he frowned. In his hands was a long, unmarked box of black card. He glanced up at Marina curiously, but she just waved her hand for him to continue, unable to stop grinning.

Tom lifted the lid from the box and stared at what was inside. A gleaming feather of solid bronze lay on white gauzy paper, the tip curated into an elegant quill nib.

"Familiar with Stymphalian birds, are you?" Marina asked, watching his reaction closely.

He nodded, lifting the quill from the box and examining it closely. "It's heavy," he said quietly.

"You remember how you got mad at me for spending all the money you gave me on snacks in Athens?" Marina smirked.

Tom's eyes flashed to hers at once.

"Well you may kindly eat those words, please," she said smugly, "it was my cover story for where all my Galleons went."

A single breath of a laugh fell from him and he shook his head. "I should have known," he said dryly, "I don't think you're capable of purchasing food without forcefully giving at least half of it away."

"You weren't complaining when I gave you some of that gelato in Heraklion," she grinned. "Anyway, you better hide that because if Mrs Weasley realises I caved and bought a gift, you'll have to arrange an impromptu funeral for me which would be mighty grim on Christmas."

Tom replaced the lid of the box and gave a little wave of his hand – the paper and string disappeared without a trace, and he tucked the box under his arm before looking at her. "Thank you," he said quietly.

The alcove suddenly felt much smaller. "You're welcome," Marina grinned, decidedly moving away as quickly as she dared.

Tom caught her arm and her heart skipped a beat. "Wait," he said quickly, glancing down the staircase and then back at her. "I have something of a confession of my own…"

Marina watched with wide eyes as he drew his wand and waved it. A small box wrapped in golden paper appear in his hands which he promptly handed to her.

"Oh, cool!" Marina said at once, turning the box over and watching the gold gleam and shine.

"The gift is inside the paper, Marina," Tom deadpanned.

"How could it possibly compete?" she smirked – though she also set about unwrapping it, casting surreptitious looks down the staircase to check if Mrs Weasley would catch them.

The paper encased a simple cardboard box, the lid of which she unfolded at once. There was a very familiar shape inside.

"Did you get me a mug?" said Marina excitedly, glancing at him.

"You are extraordinarily easy to shop for," Tom said monotonously, leaning against the wall again with a small smirk.

Marina pulled it from the box and stared. The outside was decorated with an intricate mosaic of a very familiar shape – a Minoan style octopus looked back at her with large, white oval eyes blinking and long tentacled arms flowing as it swam across the surface of the mug rather beautifully.

"It's also charmed," Tom said quietly, watching her. "So when you inevitably forget your drinks a hundred times in a row, they won't go cold."

Marina looked at him, heart thudding very hard in her chest. "You are honestly the best," she said, smiling.

Tom blinked, and Marina felt as if all the air in the room had suddenly vanished, when all of a sudden they heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Marina shot Tom an alarmed look and he flicked his wand, making the box and golden paper disappear.

"You bought that yourself," he said smoothly, nodding at the mug as he pushed off the wall, "and forgot about it until now."

"That does sound like me," Marina drawled as Charlie appeared in the stairway and shot them a deeply curious look where they were stood in the alcove together.

Marina's cheeks went hot and turned away from Tom at once. She sped down the stairs to the kitchen to prepare the mug's inaugural cup of tea, scooting around Jacob and Julian where they were helping Mrs Weasley's preparations.

That wasn't so bad, Marina thought bracingly as she prepared the tea. I can do that, right? Totally normal.

She stared at the mug and the mosaic octopus blinked back at her, before it twirled in a little circle making the seaweed behind it sway. A very warm feeling had settled in her chest, and Marina wondered how long she could kid herself.

Mrs Weasley had to the magically elongate the kitchen table so that it might stand a chance at housing fifteen people, and by the time they all sat down that evening, Marina wondered if it might give out under the weight of everything laden upon it.

Considering nearly everything in the dinner came from the Weasleys' own garden, the spread Mrs Weasley had managed to produce for their meal was truly spectacular. There was a huge, glistening ham dead centre, as well as a roast chicken and the sausage rolls Marina had laboured over the day before. Bowls of glazed carrots, minted peas, roasted chestnuts, and potatoes of every variety decorated the table, along with a plate of little Yorkshire puddings, and stacks of soft bread rolls. It was breath-taking, even more so after the scant few months they'd had – though Aunt Muriel still pointedly asked about why there weren't any brussels sprouts and earned a very sharp look from Mrs Weasley that thankfully went unnoticed.

Marina – to her mutual horror and delight – was sitting directly across from Tom and got a front row seat as Fred made him pull a bright silver Christmas cracker with him. It went off with a bang like a car backfiring, leaving Fred the victory who immediately seized the bright red beret that had burst from the cracker and forced it onto Tom's head at a jaunty angle that had made Ginny snort with laughter before he'd managed to take it off.

Marina, already wearing a broad cowboy hat from her cracker with Charlie, leaned forward to grab the everlasting bubble mixture that had fallen from Fred and Tom's cracker and began blowing bubbles at once. The huge, gleaming bubbles floated cheerfully across the table for the next two hours before the charm slowly faded and they popped with a surprisingly loud bang that made Mrs Weasley fling her sherry glass across the room in surprise.

After the last of the Christmas cake had been eaten, they all moved into the lounge and Marina watched with great amusement as Charlie and Tonks attempted to demonstrate a waltz to the reedy music wheedling from the radio (the former was rather drunk, and the latter just extremely flat-footed). Their stumbling efforts were only made all the more amusing by the fact that Tonks was sporting Marina's cowboy hat and Charlie had donning the red beret, which clashed horribly with his hair.

Everyone was so cheerful that it was nearly possible to forget the war for an evening, or that Remus was conspicuously absent from Tonks' side because he was still being hunted by the Ministry, or that Mrs Weasley's eyes watered every now and then when she caught Mr Weasley's eye.

It was very late at night when Mr and Mrs Weasley stood and said goodnight, Mr Weasley rather dejectedly citing his early rise for work the following morning, and Tonks' parents were not far behind them. Aunt Muriel demanded loudly that they keep the noise down as she decrepitly climbed the stairs, not noticing the rude but extremely accurate impression Ginny was doing of her behind her back as she and Tonks followed her. Fred and George threw a well-aimed Myriapod Missile at Tom as they ascended the stairs, but he deflected it with a rather nonchalant flick of his wand as if very used to this.

Bill and Fleur left shortly afterwards, and the second Marina heard their door close, she shrugged Charlie's arm off her shoulder and flung herself backwards onto the couch, loading her legs into his lap.

"God, this is so weird," she snickered.

"Only another few days," Charlie said, dramatically forlorn. "Merlin, I don't think I can keep up being this nice to you for much longer."

"I know, it's unnatural," Marina rolled her eyes. "We couldn't have come up with a different alibi? Clingy roommate perhaps? Childhood best friend?"

"Alibi?" Tom frowned, looking up from the couch opposite them where he'd been trying out his new quill.

"Yeah, me and Charlie," Marina said distractedly, waving her hand between the two of them.

Tom looked at her blankly. Suddenly, Charlie slapped her shin very hard.

"Ow! What the hell Charlie?" she said loudly, drawing her leg up to her chest and rubbing the place he'd hit as she shot him a scandalised look.

"Did you forget to tell Tom that we were fake dating?" Charlie rolled his eyes.

"No! I – oh," Marina looked around at Tom who was still staring at them. "Maybe," she admitted sheepishly.

"Honestly Marina, those degrees of yours aren't worth the paper they're written on," Charlie said exasperatedly, shaking his head. "Dense as a troll, you are."

"Hey! It's partly his fault for thinking I'd actually date you, grossarooni!" Marina protested indignantly.

"Why exactly are you putting on this act?" Tom asked evenly. A large ink spot was appearing on his parchment where the quill was still rested.

"To explain why a random ass Muggle who knows everything about the wizarding world is around for Christmas," Marina said tiredly, flinging her arms back on the couch.

Tom's level gaze did not shift. "I see," he said coolly.

"Don't look at me like that, Riddle," Marina laughed. Act normal. Like he's Charlie. "You could have had the absolute honour of being my fake boyfriend but you were too busy swanning around Malfoy Manor."

Tom's expression turned incredulous. "Swanning around Malfoy Manor?" he repeated scathingly.

"Well," Charlie said bracingly, pushing Marina's legs off of his lap and standing. "I think I'll go to bed. Merry Christmas, you two."

"Bye Charlie," Marina called, nerves twisting her stomach at Tom's rather intense stare.

"What?" she shrugged defensively.

Something worked in his jaw and his lips were pressed together hard. "Nothing," he said flatly, looking back down at his parchment.

Marina raised an eyebrow. He looked very agitated. "Alrighty," she said slowly, standing up. "I'm getting a drink, you want one?"

"No, thank you," he said crisply, not looking at her.

She rolled her eyes. By the time she'd returned, Tom had put away the quill and parchment and was staring at the fireplace, his elbows on his knees again, the lines of his body tense. Marina frowned. Something was wrong.

"Hey," she said, stepping forward and sitting next to him.

Tom looked around at her as if alarmed.

"What's going on?" Marina asked curiously.

Tom's eyes flicked to the cup in her hands, lingering on the mosaic octopus who was swimming in circles rather excitedly. He turned back to the fire without saying anything.

"Tom," she said gently, nudging him with her shoulder.

"I would rather not talk about it," he said mechanically.

Marina's frown returned. "Alright," she said slowly, leaning back on the couch. "If that's what you want."

She looked at the octopus herself, watched as it blinked its cute eyes at her and twisted a long arm as if trying to hold onto her finger pressed against the ceramic. "I think Ginny has a bit of a crush on you," she said suddenly.

Tom snorted. "What?"

"Haven't you noticed?" Marina smirked. "She blushed rather a lot when you passed her the gravy at dinner."

He gave her a dry look, and shook his head despondently. Marina's eyes widened, suddenly noticing something about him.

"Oh my god, are you wearing a Weasley jumper?" she asked incredulously, staring at the black woollen jumper and its pale yellow T on the front.

"Yes," he smirked, leaning back. "They're rather comfortable, you know." He casually strung his arm over the back of the couch, and Marina pointedly ignored the way it was now almost around her shoulders.

"That's brilliant," she snickered. "Can you imagine telling yourself six years ago that you'd one day willingly wear that thing? Honestly…"

"That would certainly not be the first thing I'd say if I had the chance to talk to myself from six years ago," Tom said delicately, eyes falling on the coffee table.

"If I had the chance talk to myself from six years ago, I just wouldn't," Marina snorted. "I was a nightmare."

Tom looked at her, amused. "Oh?"

"Yeah, every year I slowly get more and more tolerable," she grinned.

"One can only hope," he said monotonously.

She elbowed him in the ribs, but he only gave his breath of a laugh. She sipped at her drink, but after a second Marina realised that Tom hadn't looked away.

"What?" she asked, not liking how hollow her voice had gone.

Tom only looked at her. Marina's cheeks went warm, and she looked back at her cup quickly. "We should go to sleep soon," she frowned, leaning forward and putting it on the coffee table. "It's getting pretty late."

"Marina," he said quietly.

She met his eyes at once. Marina could suddenly feel her pulse on her skin. The quiet, warm room seemed to fade away, the gently glowing Christmas tree in the corner, the crackling fireplace, the storm outside disappearing because Tom was staring at her with an inscrutable expression on his face and his dark blue eyes unmoving from her. He was close, dangerously close, his arm on the couch behind her making him seem all the closer and as the moment went on, little alarm bells started going off in Marina's head saying that they were straying further and further from normal friend behaviour.

"Yeah?" she said breathily.

He seemed to hesitate. "Would you really have asked me?" he said, tilting his head.

"Asked you what?" Marina said whisperingly.

"To pretend to be your partner," said Tom, eyes flicking between hers. "If I had not been at Malfoy Manor."

"No," Marina said thickly as her heart gave a very painful thud and her stomach twisted.

Tom quirked a brow.

"That would be weird," she stammered.

"Why?" he asked evenly.

"I don't know," Marina said blandly. "It would just be – I don't –"

"You asked Charlie," Tom said smoothly.

"Charlie's like my brother," she said quickly.

There was a brief silence.

"And I am not," Tom said quietly, turning to her a little more, barely another inch but enough to make her pulse race even faster.

"No," she whispered, wishing she could look away from him. She didn't know what was happening, why he was asking her about it, what was going on with the way he was looking at her, if he'd noticed that her hands were trembling in her lap –

Tom frowned slightly, and she stared frozen in place as he slowly leaned towards her, dipping his head to the side slightly, his eyes never leaving hers, and she realised all at once what was happening and –

Marina pulled back a centimetre. She didn't mean to, but her confusion and her surprise seemed to jerk her away from him like a reflex. Tom stilled at once. A horrible second passed, and then something flat fell over his eyes.

"My apologies," Tom said evenly, voice utterly composed and expression completely blank. "I misinterpreted the situation."

He pulled away and Marina's brain suddenly started working again. He thought me and Charlie were together. So last night, he would have thought…

"Tom," she said quickly, but he ignored her, standing without looking at her.

"Tom, wait –"

She seized his arm as he passed her, and used it to pull herself up and him back at the same time. He looked back around at her at once, expression no longer blank. Marina stared up at him, able to see every detail of his tension – the way he was holding his jaw, his lips pressed together, the heat in his eyes, the sound of his breath slightly harder than normal. She forced herself to speak before she could second guess it.

"You didn't," she breathed.

Tom's expression shifted, a slight crease forming between his brows as his eyes roamed her face, almost wary. Marina could see the hesitation in him, the uncertainty. Her heart raced, but she pushed down the nerves storming in her stomach and closed the last step between them, feeling a strange thrill as she came so close to him

He watched her, not reacting but not moving away either, looking down at her as she drew closer, and Marina wondered if maybe she'd already fucked things up when Tom's hands slowly came up behind her and pressed lightly against the small of her back. Her eyes nearly closed, the feeling of his hands on her suddenly occupying ever conscious thought in her head, her heart thudding hard and her skin burning as he gently pulled her closer to him. Without thinking, she was lifting her hand towards his face.

The second before she touched him, Marina got the distinct feeling that she was about to do something utterly irreversible.

She grazed her fingers against his cheek, watching the spot intently. His skin was warm and soft, with the faintest texture despite being cleanly shaven. She was instantly captivated by it, almost forgetting what she was doing as she brushed the backs of her fingers up across the elegant curve of his cheekbone, then down the hollow of his cheek, and then – almost as if she'd been thinking about doing it for weeks – she traced her fingers back across his jaw, his neck, and into his hair. She curved them at once, tangling them in the thick, soft waves at the back of his head before remembering what the fuck she was doing and looking back into Tom's eyes.

She nearly forgot to breath. Tom was looking at her with such an intense expression that her heart stuttered, his eyes burning on hers, heavy and dark. Marina didn't think, she just lifted her other hand to rest lightly on his other cheek as she leaned up to him and pulled him down to her at the same time, feeling his hands pressing harder on her back and pulling her even closer, feeling the warmth of his body against her, his hair between her fingers and his soft skin beneath her palm.

At the last second they both seem to hesitate, their lips less than an inch apart. He was looking down at her, watching, his eyes lidded and heavy, and Marina thoughts were spiralling, wondering what they were doing, how the hell they ended up here, what the fuck would happen next -

But it didn't matter. None of it mattered, because Tom's eyes flickered and he swallowed hard, letting out a slow breath through his nose that she felt brush warm across her lips as his hands slid slowly up her back and he drew her up closer to him, his head tilting as he leaned in little more. Her heart was beating so hard it sort of hurt, and then she was tightening her fingers in his hair and pulling him down to her too and –

A flash of bright blue light lit the room and something glowing white streaked past them. They both looked around at once, staring at the Patronus that had appeared before them.

"He has been sighted," a deep, slow voice boomed from the lynx, so loud that Marina's ears ached and she heard commotion upstairs at once as people awoke. "Prepare yourselves," it said, and then the lynx vanished.

Doors upstairs were crashing open and voices shouting as Tom looked back down at Marina, eyes wide and mouth tight.

"Tom," she whispered, "what does that mean?"

"The Dark Lord is back in England," he said quietly, eyes flicking between hers.

Marina stared at him, horrified.

"I have to go," he said abruptly, stepping away and quickly pulling his Weasley jumper up past his shoulders and over his head, handing it to her. He turned and picked up his wand from the table as footsteps thundered down the stairs.

Mr and Mrs Weasley appeared in a panic, quickly followed by Bill and Fleur in their pyjamas and looking alarmed, and Fred and George who Apparated with a CRACK into the corner of the lounge.

"What's going on?" Mr Weasley said loudly, approaching Tom with alarm all over his face.

"He's back," Tom said flatly. "I must leave at once."

Mr Weasley's face went tight, and he looked around at where Ginny, Charlie, and Tonks had also appeared on the stairs, blinking the sleep from their eyes and looking very scared.

"I will explain it," Mr Weasley said lowly, looking back at Tom. "Go – be safe."

He grasped Tom's shoulder and nodded at him rather grimly.

Tom nodded back and Mrs Weasley came over at once, pulling him into a tight hug with a fearful expression on her face.

"What's happening, dad?" Ginny asked loudly, "where's Tom going?"

Marina heard Mr Weasley turning to them, explaining something about Tom working for the Order, that he needed to leave because You-Know-Who had finally returned from wherever he had disappeared to over the last few weeks – but she wasn't paying attention. Tom had caught her eye, and she wondered what sort of expression must be on her face considering his eyes flickered slightly and his brows drew together slightly as he looked back at her.

"When will you be back?" Charlie asked, coming down the stairs two at a time.

"I cannot know," Tom said, agitated as he turned to him, "but there is no time, I must go now –"

Marina stared at him, something cold and limitless carving out a hole in her chest. He caught her eye again.

"I will return as soon as I can," he murmured, barely more than a whisper but Marina felt on her skin like a shiver.

For one hanging moment they just looked at each other across the room, and then there was a snap, and Tom was gone.

Marina could hear the others talking and shouting, she could feel Charlie's hand on her arm, heard his voice asking if she was alright in the sort of tone that made her think that he knew what might have changed between her and Tom since he had said goodnight – but she could not respond. She could only look down at the jumper that Tom had hastily pulled off and given her, still warm, feeling the ghosts of his hands on her back, wondering how long it would be before she felt them again.

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A/N: You know I had to do it to em...
Response to the last chapter was insane you guys are my literal heroes. Keep it coming, it gives me life force lmao
And Charlie Marina shippers I am SORRY I've failed u... I've always head cannoned him aro/ace too, so it literally didn't occur to me that ppl would want them to get together omg.
Anyway, love u the most have a good day wherever in the world you are 💖
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