When you saw Marcus Flint, smug, arrogant, and ugly, on Saturday evening going to the Great Hall for dinner, you felt anger and hatred boil and fester inside you. He was talking with his fellow Slytherins, which were more like his cronies, laughing and agreeing with everything he says. This also angered you. You couldn't stand his existence, and because of what he did today at the Quidditch match, you found your ill-tempered self running towards him. He was amusing his 'friends' when you boldly approached him, and slapped him hard against the face, with all the strength your aggression could muster.
"How dare you sabotage today's Quidditch match!" you shouted. His little friends gasped and had their mouths open in awe, looking at Flint, and then back at you. Marcus was obviously caught off-guard, with his head still turned from the painful slap you gave him. It all began to slowly register into his head when he turned back to face you. Before he could say anything, you began to rant again.
"What are you playing at? You filthy, loathsome, troll! You are a lousy excuse for a human being! You think this is some sort of joke? Dressing up as a dementor to scare Harry Potter off his broom? You make me sick, you-" before you could finish your words, Marcus had taken your wrist, and dragged you away from the gathering crowd, to a deserted corridor. You tried to struggle free the entire time, dragging your feet, and pulling away from him, but it was no use. Marcus Flint was tall and fairly muscular; you had no chance to escape his strong grip.
"Let go of me! I said let go you disgusting moron!" you grunted, but Marcus just ignored you and resumed dragging you to the empty corridor. He made sure you two were alone and finally let go. Once you were free, you attempted to slap him again across the face. Your hand was about to let loose on his other cheek when... he caught it. He firmly grabbed your wrist that was in the air, and he stared at you with those peculiar gray eyes. You weren't intimidated at all, and tried to slap him with your other hand this time, but once again he caught it. You felt your arms shaking, trying to resist his hold, but that's when Marcus slammed you against the wall, still holding your arms in the air.
"Stop." he said quietly, as you still tried to break free from his hands. You were in pain but didn't care. You were pinned to the wall by Marcus Flint; it was no use struggling anymore. You were slowly panting from wearing yourself out, and Marcus leaned down to get closer to your face.
Marcus turned his head, showing the cheek you slapped. "I deserve this" he said. It turned pink, and a bruise was developing. "I think one's enough, thank you." he said sarcastically, with an ugly smile, trying to be humorous. You exchanged looks and felt your anger rising again. "YOU DESERVE MORE THAN THAT YOU-" Marcus made his long arm hold down both of yours, while a hand covered your mouth, muffling your screams and shouts. When you were done trying to shout through his mouth, he began to talk.
"Shh..." he said in an almost soothing way. "Calm down. I'm not letting you go until you get your nerves right." Your eyes changed from hate to annoyance. You rolled your eyes and tried to bite his hand, which you succeeded. Marcus made a yelping noise and pulled away from you, trying to rub the pain away in his bloody hand that had distinct bite marks. You felt like the wind was knocked out of you from the pressure Marcus gave you against the wall, and slid down to the floor, panting again.
"I...hate...you..." you said between gasps for air. Marcus was done having a fit of pain and looked at you. He didn't say a word, just stared into your eyes, and you stared back. He slowly lifted his hand to his mouth and licked blood off. You shuddered and broke the eye contacts turning away from him. You felt your strength coming back and balanced yourself against the wall, wanting to get away from him as far as possible. You hurt him, which seemed to calm you down a bit, and tried to leave him.
"No, you're not going anywhere. I need to talk to you." He seemed to have grabbed your shoulder and spun you around so you could face him. He grabbed both your arms, but this time you didn't struggle free. Now that the violence had passed, maybe you could talk as two civilized people. His grip wasn't hard and painful this time. It was hard to consider it gentle, but you had to admit it felt better than before.
"What?" you said with a high tone of attitude and disrespect." How can you possible justify what you did?" You crossed your arms, Marcus still holding them.
"I don't want to explain myself..." Marcus said slowly. You scoffed at his stupidity, but let him go on. "I want to... er- to apologize." You gave him a quizzical look. You could tell he was racking his brain, trying to find the right words to say, and couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. He's repeating his last year here at Hogwarts. Maybe it was all the bludgers to the head he took, maybe that made him slow. You smirked to yourself, and Marcus found what to say but still had a bit of a hard time.
"I'm sorry for... for ruining the game. I know it was a bad thing to do, but it was all Malfoy's idea, honest! I have my consequences, and I'm sorry if I... if I hurted you personally. I know you love Quidditch, and I also notice you eyeing Wood on the field..." Marcus went on, but his last words triggered your anger again.
"Don't even bother. You're a foul, worthless git. Slow and stupid. You're a lousy cheat when it comes to Quidditch, and that'll never change. You play dirty, you're extremely rough, you're..." you stopped when you realized Marcus let go of you. He took a few steps away from you and had his back to you. He sniffed and cleared his throat. When he spoke, his voice was slightly trembling.
"Words." he said before breathing in a lot of air. "I may not be very good at them, but obviously you are." You let your hands fall to your side, but they were held together. "Your words... they... they hurt." Marcus gave you a profile view of his now gloomy face, head down, and back still turned. "You wanted them to hurt, didn't you?" his voice raised. "You may not believe it, but this 'disgusting troll' has feelings too!" he turned his whole body around facing you.
"Is this some sort of trick?" you thought, watching him sniffle. You didn't want to seem too convinced, but spoke words of truth to him this time.
"You hurt me, Marcus..." he looked surprised. Barely anyone addresses him as Marcus. "...but now I hurted you. I guess that makes us even?" Marcus sighed and walked towards you. You staggered in your stance, not sure what he might do, but before you could move, Marcus had you in an embracing hug.
"I would never want to hurt you" Marcus admitted. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please, out of all the people I love (which isn't a lot), I don't want you to hate me." Marcus held you tighter, and this time, you were caught off-guard. You awkwardly stood there, being hugged by someone you just slapped and swore at not too long ago. And did he say "...people I love?" You lightly pushed him off of you and spoke in a quiet voice.
"Marcus..." you felt blood rush to your face, but not because of fury." You...?" you were awed at the words that came of out his mouth. You soon found his mouth on yours, in a kiss. You instantly gasped and tried to pull away, unsure if you wanted it or not, but Marcus wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you closer to him. You could feel your lips against each others, but soon you felt his breath, as he pulled away from you. It was a short, yet meaningful kiss, but you looked at Marcus with confused eyes. He gave you a genuine smile and began to talk.
"I... I really like you." he began. "I've liked you for... quite a while." he recalled. "I just couldn't find the right time, the right words to say... You were right about what you said earlier. I'm worthless, foul, lousy, stupid... But I... I love you." You looked at him in disbelief. Your head was swimming from the words Marcus just spoke of. Your eyes were wide, and you felt like the real fool. The man you seemed to hate so much just admitted he loves you? You didn't know how to feel. The only word you could think of is "Why..."
You looked into his eyes and said, "I never liked you..." Marcus' face turned white you felt him turn very stiff. You went on your toes to kiss his bruised cheek and said, "But I could get used to it" He changed his expression to hurt from happy, and lifted you from the ground and swung you around. After making you dizzy, he put you back down, while kissing your forehead. "Your words..." he began. But you stopped him and sighed, "You're quite the man..." you said, burying your face into his neck. You could feel him smiling as he was finishing his sentence, "Your words are true. I can get pretty rough..." You looked up at him and asked with a smile, "And what're you implying...?"
You felt Marcus' hands slide down to your waist, pulling you closer to him even more than before. He pinned you against the wall again, with his arm against yours above your head. "Not this again..." you moaned softly as he began to kiss down your jaw line, to your neck. You tried to hold back another moan, so no one could hear your two in the corridor. His hand reached down to your thigh, and he lifted your leg, so it could wrap around his waist. You gasped, giving him the opportunity to sneak his tongue into your mouth.
You two returned to the Great Hall with disheveled hair and clothes that seemed to be put back on messily. Everyone assumed you had fought (which you did, but for dominance... he won.) each other, but you both shrugged it off and ignored everyone's rumors and questions. You glanced over to the Slytherin's table and saw Marcus smile at you before anyone could notice. He left you speechless.