Entry for the Last Ship Sailing Competition II – Round 4

Prompts:

(AU) book club

(Word) flirt

(Word) half

(Idiom) the elephant in the room

I hope you all enjoy it, I'm looking forward to your opinions :)

True Intentions

"So... welcome to the first meeting of the Hogwarts book club. I'm happy that you found the idea interesting and I think we're a small but nice group," Katie said with a smile on her lips as she let her gaze wander over the students that were sitting in the circle of chairs with her. There was another Gryffindor student, three Ravenclaws and two Hufflepuffs, all from different years but every single one of them looked genuinely interested in finding a book to read and discuss. "I tried to get us a place in the library, but Madam Pince looked like she wanted to choke me when I mentioned that we would have cake. Thus we're meeting in this classroom."

Everyone returned her smile, appearing relaxed, and it encouraged her to continue. "As I wrote, I have a small list of books prepared that we can choose from, classics of Muggle and magical literature, and if we chose a Muggle book I would write my mother to send them, the magical ones are availa-"

The door was ripped open and someone stormed into the room, banging the door shut behind him, effectively cutting her off mid-sentence; a moment later, before she could turn her head, she heard a familiar voice say breathily: "Sorry I'm late, didn't find the classroom right away."

Katie's eyes widened in disbelief and she was convinced that this was an extremely bad joke when everybody including her turned around and saw Marcus Flint drag a chair over to their circle, giving her a crooked smirk. She knew that she was probably going to sound rude, but she really didn't feel up to letting him mess with her idea to get different kinds of people together over reading and discussing literature. "Are you sure you're in the right room, Flint? This is the book club."

He sat down, his smirk not faltering at all as he nodded, holding her gaze with an almost creepy amount of what could be called politeness – if that even existed for him. "I know, Bell, thanks for your concern. Continue."

Katie shot him an irritated glance before turning towards the rest of the group, gulping about the concerned expressions of some of the others. Obviously she wasn't the only one who doubted that Marcus Flint was seriously interested in partaking in a book club, but nobody looked comfortable enough to address the elephant in the room with more urgency.

Some people probably even doubted that he was capable of reading at all.

"Well... as I was saying, the magical literature on my list is available in the Hogwarts library," she continued after clearing her throat, trying to act as normal as possible even though her mind was racing a little. Bending down, she pulled a piece of parchment and a quill from her bag, handing it to the person to her left.

"There's a short description of every book and I'd like you to make a cross behind the ones you find interesting. We'll read the ones with the most votes first."

While she waited for everyone to read the list – the Ravenclaw to her left decided to read it out loud for everyone to quicken things up – she noticed that Marcus wasn't exactly focused on what was being said. His gaze was resting on her, and when their eyes met for a second he smirked at her, winking.

For half a second she actually thought that he was trying to flirt, as he was rarely seen smiling, but she quickly shook that idea off – this was Marcus Flint, the guy who pushed first years out of his way even though there was enough space in the hallway.

He was probably trying to mess with her and her idea just for the sake of his own amusement.

So while she couldn't just tell him to leave, she decided that she would keep a close eye on him and his actions.

To her joy, everyone had voted for a book that she'd wanted to read for quite some time now – Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Marcus didn't bat an eyelash when she read out the title, proving her expectations of his reaction on the Muggle book wrong for now, but still she was quite curious if he would seriously come to their next meeting.

OoO

If she was honest with herself, Katie hadn't expected to see Marcus three weeks later, even being one of the first ones to arrive to their meeting, a copy of Pride and Prejudice and a piece of parchment with notes lying on his lap after he'd seated himself.

When they started their discussion about the first chapters, he didn't contribute anything, but whenever Katie's gaze wandered over to him he seemed to be listening to the conversations with interest, something that did surprise her greatly. He didn't show a sign of having an ulterior motive about being present in the club, which Katie found weird – it was no secret that Marcus wasn't a good student at all, him currently repeating his last year at Hogwarts being an obvious proof for that.

Thus she was convinced that reading wasn't high on his list of favourite activities, and that made his presence even more puzzling. She was barely able to concentrate on the discussion in the following hour, her mind spinning around why the hell he was here.

It was too tempting when he lingered after the end of the meeting, putting the chairs and tables back in place with a slightly clumsy wave of his wand, and without allowing herself to second-guess her idea, she walked over to him.

"Why are you here, Flint?"

Maybe this wasn't the most polite or careful formulation, but then he'd never been paying much attention to that either in the past, so she doubted that it would matter to him. A flash of surprise seemed to glint in his eyes for the fraction of a second, then his expression became more guarded, though not hostile.

"You're aware I can read, Bell, right?"

"That's not an answer to my question, Flint. I swear, if you dare to wreak havoc here just so you can have some fun..."

He raised his hands defensively and hurried to interrupt her. "Whoa, whoa, stop. Just because I'm a Slytherin you assume that I have bad intentions?"
"No, I think so because since I came to Hogwarts I've never seen you this quiet or genuinely interested in something that's not Quidditch and includes students from other houses. What kind of game are you playing?" Katie asked with a trace of anger in her voice, though she luckily managed to keep it at a minimum.

She'd thought he would get rude and defensive, snap at her like she'd seen him do a hundred times before, but weirdly, his expression stayed calm as he looked down at her, cocking his head. "You sure you want to hear the truth, Bell?"

Katie slowly raised an eyebrow, slightly confused by the insecurity she thought she'd heard swinging in his voice, and shot him a glare. "Spit it out, Flint."

"I'm here because I found out I like reading. All my friends have graduated last year, so I got a lot of time to do things they always thought to be uncool. Like actually studying, or reading a book," he replied in a strained tone, obviously finding it a bit weird to open up to her, but he didn't stop talking. "Also... also I joined the book club because I saw that you're the one leading it."

The tiniest hint of pink came onto his cheeks and Katie looked at him with confusion – since when was Marcus Flint sheepish?

"I wanted to be around you, get to know you, find out what your interests are," he added, the words tumbling out of his mouth quickly and she blinked a few times, barely able to believe that he'd truly said this. "Yeah, so... you can go out there and make me look like a fool now."

Had she taken the wrong stairs and accidentally entered a parallel universe?

As unlikely as that was, Katie couldn't think of a different explanation for this.

Ever since she started playing Quidditch and thus met Marcus quite often on the pitch, she'd thought that he hated everyone who wasn't Slytherin, and he'd often insulted all of them... and still he was standing here in front of her, telling her that he was interested in her. His tone had been genuine, and as she gazed at his face she couldn't find a hint that he was being dishonest.

Her friends would probably stare at her in disbelief, but she had to admit to herself that deep down, she felt flattered and curious – how serious was he with his interest?

Maybe it wouldn't hurt to find out...

A small smile played around the corners of her lips as she walked to the door, turned around in the frame and said softly: "Well, see you next week then... Marcus."