Joe found her curled up in an uncomfortable chair, the huge table in front of her spread with pieces of parchment, ancient books and various other unusual objects.

"Studying again?"

"Passes the time."

He sat by her and looked her in the eyes. "You love Marcus, don't you?"

"Yes." The reply came so easily, even Beth was shocked.

"Then you lied." His steady brown eyes bore into her shimmering blue ones. "You said you loved Tom, that you wanted him, remember?"

She didn't. But it sounded familiar. Beth nodded. "I know. I didn't want this to be true, I knew it would cause too much trouble. I was right." She looked up at him and Joe breathed in sharply. Beth knew how she looked. She hadn't slept properly in days and great dark rings circled her weepy red eyes. "Did Leecie tell you about Tom?"

"In the forest? Yes. You know, she made him beg for forgiveness?"

Beth winced. Tom would have been so humiliated by that. She reached over and rested her hand on her younger half-brothers'. "Thankyou. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here."

"Hey, I'm your brother; you can't get rid of me."

Marcus found Beth standing in front of the fire. She knew that her behaviour hadn't looked well, the way she'd screwed up her parchment and threw it into the flames then stood haughtily by, taking a strange pleasure in watching her hard work burn. He walked up behind her as she frowned into the flames.

"It's just paper, Beth. Let it go."

She turned to find him leaning against the doorway, with a casual grace only he could muster. "I can't concentrate. I feel like it's all my fault…" she sighed and turned back to the fire, giving a helpless bark of laughter. "It is…"

"Umm, I'm lost. What is it you're babbling about now?"

"Tom," she said with a sigh. "I hate myself for hurting him." She watched as he eased himself into a nearby chair, his eyes on hers.

"Well, you may be hurting him now but it's better in the long run."

Beth bit her lip and stared back into the fire. She could feel him watching her. "And what about us? Are… well, Jessi said the other day that every…" she shrugged and smiled. "I feel like a shrink saying this, every relationship has a question of whether it'll work out or not and whether the couples will still be friends if they break up. The thing is… are we willing to brave it all and take a chance?"

She couldn't look at him. Instead, Beth kept staring into fire. The flames licked the walls and Marcus sat silent so long behind her that she actually wondered whether he was still there or not. Then she heard a sigh.

"I guess that's a good point."

Her heart gave a thump. "So…?"

"So…" he copied, standing up and walking over to her, sliding his arms around her waist, a small smile on his lips. "So, maybe we should give it a shot. If you promise that if I screw it up you'll base it on me being an idiot."

"No promises."

"Too bad."

He spun her around in his arms and kissed her eyelids. She sighed happily.

"Marcus, maybe we should keep this quiet… just for a little while."

Marc nodded. Emily would cut sick, both of them knew that. Beth knew better than Marcus just how furious Tom would be. Then there was the opinion of every other being within the school grounds.

They kept it as quiet as possible over the next few days. Only Leecie, Joe and Jessi knew. To everyone else, Beth and Marcus were just extremely close friends. They would meet as various places alone, just to unwind and drop the pretence for a while. Beth was sitting on the edge of the Qudditch Pitch early one morning when Marcus sauntered over, broom over his shoulder. Beth greeted him with a kiss.

"Going to practise?"

"No, I was planning on doing some sweeping. This place is just despicable!"

"Yeah, certainly needs a going over with a good broom…"

He laughed and poked her with the handle. However, he didn't bank on Beth's instincts. She grabbed the broom handle, wrenched it from his grasp and pranced away, holding it out behind her. "Come and get it…" she teased.

"Mine!" he whined. "Give it to me!"

She laughed and backed away, shaking her head cheekily. He sat down in the middle of the pitch, pouting. Beth sighed and gave him back the broom. "You're no fun."

He whooped and grinned. It was Beth's turn to pout. He left the broom on the ground, picked her up and swung her around, making her laugh. He placed her gently back down on the ground and kissed her neck. "You are no fun!"

"Yes I am, and you know it."

"How would I know that?"

She shrugged. "Because you know me," she said quietly, peering up at him. You going to practise or what?"

"Nope. I'm going to stay here and keep you company."

"Ok, whatever you want."

He leered at Beth's back. "Whatever I want, hey?"

"Don't smirk," she said, without turning. He wiped his face clean.

"I wasn't!"

"Uhuh…"

A figure darted in the shadows and Beth looked up in surprise. Her heart sank. "Marc, I've got to go. I'll see you later, alright?"

Emily cornered her on the steps to the castle.

"So. You and Marcus."

Beth sighed. "Yes, we've been together for about three days."

"And you didn't tell me?"

She frowned. "Well, I didn't think we needed to. We kept it quiet for Tom's sake, and you and Marcus have been separate for about a month…"

"So? Geez, Beth, you know I love him!" She glared at Beth who stared in shock.

"I do?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"You broke up with him!"

"That doesn't mean anything!"

"Emily, you had the poor guy jumping through hoops! If you loved him you wouldn't keep playing with him like that!"

"What would you know?!"

"A hell of a lot more than you, it seems!" Beth shouted. Emily took three steps forward, shouting in Beth's face.

"You go from guy to guy, I see right through you! You're worthless, you're like Razzy!"

"That's not true!" Beth said desperately. Emily didn't know, it wasn't like that… was it?

"Yes it is, you little slut! You stole Marcus from me, I hate you for that! I can't wait until he dumps you, I'm going to laugh so hard. You make me sick, you traitorous bitch! So much for friendship!"

Emily spun around and marched into the castle, leaving a stunned, hurt Beth behind her.