With her drawing another card, Ben was forced to work with the same card he had last round, which meant his only option was to play the card he'd just drawn. It was another sex-themed card (were they really mostly centered on that, or had his shuffling just put them all in an unfortunate pack near the top of the deck?)

What’s the most surprising thing that’s ever turned you on? the card read.

"Black lace underclothes," he said, without elaborating.

  

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MJ made this <3

That...definitely was not about her. She knew lingerie existed to an extent, but not that women wore lace there. That was...fascinating. Determined to end this game at some point, Melody decided to answer as well. "You watching me undress," was all she said.

Thankfully, his card allowed her to use a more mild one. Have you ever cheated on an exam?

"Yes. It was a herbology test in second year. The questions were so confusing a few of us were whispering trying to work out the answers." Another blush, this time for a far more innocent reason, bloomed on her face.

  

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beautiful set by mj

Ben let out a sigh of relief that this was a nice, normal question. "I haven't, actually," he commented, surprised that she had cheated on a test when he hadn't. It seemed out of character for her, and definitely something he would have done. Maybe if he'd been more invested in the results, or had a clearer opportunity, but neither had been the case when he was in school. "Maybe I should've, though. I got two 'D's on my OWLs. History and Astronomy."

He only had two cards in his hand, which meant his options were limited. The only card he had to play was his blue club from earlier, Who is the most embarrassing person you've slept with?

"I, uh —" Ben started, flushing already. It didn't help that he knew Melody wouldn't have an embarrassing answer of her own, given that she'd had sex all of twice. "One time I — No, fuck this," he decided, reaching to draw a card to save himself from having to answer.

  

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MJ made this <3

"We later confessed to the professor." She amended after hearing he hadn't cheated. Two D's on his OWLs was horrendous, Melody likely would have cried for weeks with such marks.

She drew a card in suit, though the temptation to push him on his answer was high. What could be so embarrassing he couldn't share with her? Had he slept with a man? "You're not...was it..." she tried to ask, but didn't know how. It didn't bother her per se, she was more confused on how it would occur. "Was it with another ...er...man?"

Stupid. She should've just played her second to last card - a yellow club. Though, that question was no better. She played it after a moment. Have you ever had a threesome? Would you ever? A threesome, she guessed, involved another party, which wasn't unappealing. "I might? I've never thought of it." She shrugged. "Though, if my jealousy with the whole Bella situation was an indicator it might not be a good idea."

  

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beautiful set by mj

"I drew a card," Ben pointed out in response to her question, though his cheeks colored even heavier at the implication. Why was it any of her business whom he'd slept with, anyway? It wasn't as though they were on even footing with these cards that were asking about sexual experience — he had a lot more of it to talk about than she did, and that wasn't exactly fair, or in the spirit of the game.

And another bloody sex card for her turn. "I haven't. I wouldn't, I don't think. Maybe if I was drunk, I guess," he said, turning his attention to his hand before she could question him any further on it. Luckily, he had a card to play that round, and neither of the two remaining in his hand had anything to do with intimacy.

Who is your closest confidante? was the question, and Ben didn't even have to think about the answer. "Art Pettigrew. We've been best friends since school. He knows everything... up until this January," he clarified.

  

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MJ made this <3

Of course, Art Pettigrew knew everything. That smug bastard probably laughed at her behavior in the shack, or maybe even made some unsavory comments. Melody was still insulted by his vile accusations two years later. Though, she quickly realized they were likely to have to become civil, especially if Art was Ben's best friend. "Either Benevolence Montague or Diana Fawley. I'm not sure where those relationships stand now, though." She said.

With only one card left (and one she would sooner rip apart than read) Melody drew another card. "Your turn."

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   Benevolence Crouch

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beautiful set by mj

The one card left in his hand was What's your boggart? Ben had been thinking over the answer while he waited for Melody to play, but unfortunately when she turned the turn back over to him, it didn't match either the color or shape. This might take a while, he realized — with a larger group it was more likely that someone would be able to play, even with one or two cards remaining per hand, so the risk of sitting on the same card for too long was fairly minimal.

Ben frowned and drew a card, hoping Melody would be able to move the game along.

  

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MJ made this <3

Do you regret telling someone you loved them? read the card she could play. That, like many of the other cards they've used thus far, felt like a can of worms. Wordlessly, Melody dropped it to the pile and drew a card in lieu of a response.

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   Reuben Crouch

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beautiful set by mj

Ben saw the card she played, and the swiftness with which she reached to draw a new card. Something in him sank. He thought he knew what she was thinking of, and what she apparently wanted to avoid talking about, though of course it was impossible to be really sure when she hadn't given him any verbal indication or even much in the way of nonverbal clues. But he remembered, vaguely, that this had come up the night of the fourteenth — or the morning of the fifteen, rather. After they'd eloped, but before he'd come to his senses. She'd told him she loved him, and his response had been you, too.

It was hard to say what he'd meant by it in the moment, muddled as his mind had been with the suggestions she'd been feeding him and the effects of the potion, but in light of how they'd been treating one another since the fifteenth, it was easy to see what she must have thought he meant by it. Looking across from her and taking in how she was sitting, the way she wasn't making eye contact, it suddenly struck him just how lonely and hopeless this entire situation must have been to her.

For a long moment, Ben struggled internally over whether or not he should say something. They had both made mistakes that had landed them in this position, and it wasn't ideal for either of them, but he didn't think either of them fully deserved what they were going through now as a consequence. He shouldn't just let her be miserable, if he could do something about it. But what could he do about it?

"Hey, uh," he said, putting his hand of cards down on the table for a moment. "Maybe we should talk about this."

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   Melody Crouch

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MJ made this <3

Melody belatedly realized not answering the question was a glaring answer in itself. While she didn't know the ins and outs of the rules of the game, she doubted it would force her to confess to something she hadn't wanted to admit. Telling Ben she loved him that night was a mistake that broke her heart even further than her horrible actions had. It seemed so easy then to hope he might not have been under the influence of the potion. That this wasn't all a nightmare. The reality was much worst.

"What's left to talk about?" Melody turned her head to stare at the wall furthest from him. In a few weeks they would magically become the world's best actors and be head over heels in love, and she would have to suffer through it knowing it would never be true. And, as though this nightmare wasn't horrific enough, if they for some reason were caught she had a high likelihood of heading to prison.

Really, what else did they need to discuss about this?

  

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beautiful set by mj

Maybe Melody had a point. Nothing was resolved, that much was clear, but maybe at this stage there wasn't anything else to say. Maybe anything he did try to put into words would do more harm than good. He definitely didn't want to try and promise something he couldn't deliver, or say something about his own feelings that wasn't true. She'd recognize the lie, anyway, he was sure.

Still, he felt that he had to say something. Now that his attention had been called to this, he didn't want to just pretend he hadn't noticed it. He could remember how giddy she had been right after they'd signed the marriage certificate, and contrasting that with her current state made his heart twist painfully.

"Listen, Melody," he said softly, looking at her although she refused to meet his gaze. "I wish I could tell you that someday I'm going to be good to you, and be the kind of husband you wanted me to be. Maybe someday. I don't know," he admitted, running one hand through his hair. "I never thought I'd be in this situation, and honestly, I don't know if I'm cut out for it. I don't know if I can be the person you wanted me to be. So I can't promise to get there. I can just promise to try. And I don't know if this whole relationship is ever going to be what you wanted it to be... but it will be better than it is now. I can promise that. I just... need some time," he finished, feeling drained now that he'd gotten that all out.

  

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MJ made this <3

Something broke inside Melody as he rambled (the last piece of her heart, perhaps?). None of this -not even forcing him to marry her- was what she wanted. This was all a direct result of poor decision making and alcohol. But, what was worse was Ben still seemed to believe she planned to wreck both their lives that evening. He hadn't said as much (Melody doubted his chivalry would ever allow him to do so) but it was obviously still a lingering doubt. For him to think that of her hurt more than him not loving her ever would.

"I didn't ... " she sighed heavily and placed her remaining cards face down on the table. To share her reasoning for that evening would only sooth herself, and that wasn't fair to him. "I'm sorry I didn't trust you." Melody said instead, turning back to look at him with tears in her eyes. "I should have, and I'm sorry."

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   Madeleine Backus

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beautiful set by mj

Put in the context of everything that had happened to them — not just in the past few weeks, but over the entire course of the time they'd known each other — her apology would probably seem insignificant. It was far from the only mistake that they'd made, or even the only mistake that she'd made, and given what had happened afterwards there were probably a few that had a far greater impact on their current situation. Her decision, for instance, to go back to her parent's house before they'd had a chance to figure out what the next steps should even be.

Still, it meant a lot to him. After everything that had happened the night of the fourteenth, that had been the one that hurt the most in the moment, and it was the one that stung most to this day. He didn't blame her, really, for suggesting that they elope. She was panicking, and there were a lot of unknown variables about their situation that night, and things only seemed, from her perspective, to be spiraling farther out of control. If he was really trying to empathize with her and the mindset that she'd been in that night, it made sense. He couldn't hate her for that. He wasn't hurt that she'd tried to solve the problem she'd been presented with — only that her first move had been to remove him from the decision-making process entirely. She hadn't trusted him to help, or treated him as an equal partner whose life would be equally affected by whatever decision was made. He may not have had a very good track record, specifically when it came to her, but he thought he'd earned at least that, and the fact that it hadn't been granted to him didn't bode particularly well, he thought, for a marriage.

So her apology, in his mind, was more than just the words she said — it was a glimmer of hope for the future. A chance that maybe — maybe — they'd be able to see one another as partners someday after all.

And in the meantime, he thought as he watched her eyes filling with tears, this was going to really suck for both of them. "Hey," he said softly, scooting his chair around the side of the table towards hers. "Come here." He held out an arm, then when she didn't immediately take the hint reached out to wrap her in a tight hug. "We'll be alright," he mumbled into her hair. "It'll just take some time, that's all."

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   Madeleine Backus, Melody Crouch

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MJ made this <3

While Ben hadn't forgiven her, his comforting gesture had to be a step in that direction. Melody knew there was little chance he would ever fully forgive her for tearing away his freedoms (just as she would never have truly moved past her father's riddance of her). Still, to be wrapped in his arms however temporarily was a lifeline she would cling to indefinitely. It was a shining beacon of light on an otherwise perilous sea.

She remained stiff against him for all of ten seconds before the already leaking dam fully burst. Tears formed rivers as they poured from her eyes. There was still much to settle and the likelihood that anything was changed was virtually nonexistent, but at least for this moment they weren't at such odds with one another. For a moment, Melody's mind wasn't racing with the possibility of a pregnancy and how to share such news with him. For a moment, she hadn't betrayed him in one of the worst ways possible. For a moment...for a moment, she felt loved.

Then, as quickly as it began the moment ended. Reality came rushing back like a cruel wave of truth. "Thank you." Melody mumbled uncomfortably as she wiped at her face. Returning to the card game now was distinctly unappealing. "Do you mind if we call it for tonight?" She asked, though before he could give a response Melody was rising from the table to excuse herself.

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   Benevolence Crouch, Reuben Crouch

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beautiful set by mj