A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! I can't believe today is the last day of Marcus May :( never fear, though, I will definitely keep posting this story! You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post story updates, sneak peeks and answer questions!

Please let me know what you thought of chapter seven and be on the lookout for chapter eight soon!


By the time Hermione had arrived at Hogwarts to begin her third year, she should have known that it was impossible for her to have a "normal" year like so many of her other classmates could. Because, they had only just walked into the castle and already, things were on edge.

First, before she'd even gotten to school, she and Ron had started fighting. Hermione had gotten a rather cute familiar, who Ron was very fond of defaming, claiming that he'd been trying to kill Ron's precious rat, Scabbers. That was a laugh to Hermione considering that he had never taken very good care of the old thing before Crookshanks came around. And really, Crooksie was a cat, and it was in his instincts to hunt rats and mice.

Harry hadn't been very pleased to be in the middle of their arguing and had taken Ron's side, predictably. It hurt to know that she was always on the periphery of their friendship, and she doubted it was something that was going to change. They would always chose each other over her. At least, she had Marcus herself, but Hermione was also painfully aware that her burly friend was a seventh year, and wouldn't be around the following year.

She didn't even want to imagine what that was going to be like. Would Marcus completely forget about her when he was gone from Hogwarts? She liked to think that it wasn't true, but at the same time, she knew that he was probably going to play Quidditch and end up traveling all over the world, and probably get a beautiful girlfriend and, just...there was no way that a teenage friend was going to be able to compete with such a cosmopolitan lifestyle.

But, her troubles had not ended with Ron. Sirius Black, who was known for murdering all sorts of muggles and who was responsible for Harry's parents deaths, had escaped from Azkaban prison. That meant that the Ministry had been desperately looking for him, and some of their measures were a bit extreme.

Hermione hadn't realized just how extreme they were until their carriage had been descended upon by dementors, who were some kind of guards at Azkaban. The effect that they had on her had been awful, making her feel all sorts of negative emotions - that no one liked her, no one would ever like her, and that she should just die, sad and alone. But, at least they hadn't affected her as much as they'd affected poor Harry. He'd passed out in a great heap.

Luckily, a professor had been riding up with them and had gotten rid of the dementors, and gave them a bit of chocolate, which in all honesty, did make her feel better. It didn't seem to brighten Harry's spirits too much though. He was far too embarrassed at being the only one on the whole train who had passed out. In the commotion on the train, the news that he was so weak had traveled up and down the Hogwarts Express, and by dinner time, everyone knew that he'd passed out.

"Just ignore them Harry." Hermione whispered when he noticed some of the Slytherins in their year gossiping about him, but to her disappointment, he just shrugged her arm off his shoulder.

It was likely to be a rough year.


As much as Hermione hated Quidditch, all of her friends enjoyed it, and her two best friends played it. That meant that even though she didn't understand all the hype about the sport, she would trudge out to the stands with Ron on match days and settle in and try to participate in the revelry on Gryffindor game days.

She sometimes wondered if Marcus was ever bothered that she didn't come to Slytherin games, but she knew she wouldn't find a welcome reception in the stands. Instead, she would ask him details about the game after.

When Slytherin played Gryffindor, though, she would happily go along, cheering for Harry to catch the snitch and for Marcus to score with the quaffle. Honestly, she didn't know how either of them did it. She could barely get comfortable flying on a broom despite Marcus's lessons. She couldn't imagine trying to chase a tiny little ball through the air, or fly one handed with a giant dodgeball under your arm! She kept her opinions to herself, though, seeing as she didn't want to offend one of them, or worse, have Marcus try to resume their flying lessons!

To be honest, Hermione preferred watching Marcus play. Harry was a very skilled flyer, but so much of his game time was spent just hovering around in the air, except for short bursts when he chased the snitch. Those moments were usually death defying, and most of the time, Hermione couldn't watch. Chasers had more steady game time, and ran complex plays. Not to mention that...well, he looked rather nice in his uniform.

Today, though, Gryffindor was playing Ravenclaw. Hermione could see the Slytherin Quidditch squad not far away - no surprise there - they always wanted to check out the competition, though Hermione did find it a bit curious that Malfoy was nowhere to be seen.

Before she could think on it too much, though, Hermione's attention was grabbed by a black shadowy figure out on the pitch. Harry must have noticed it too, because as soon as he caught sight of the dementor, he was falling off his broom, until he realized what happened, and grabbed a hold of it. His face was white with terror and Hermione felt her heart lurch for him.

Only then, the black shroud was thrown off of the creature's body and it was revealed to be Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, dressed up in a cruel malicious trick. The Slytherin quad was all laughing at the situation, including Marcus. Hermione was so aghast to see her friend laughing at Harry's misfortune that she stewed for the rest of the match. She felt a little bit of triumph to see that Harry had still caught the snitch in the end.

Shaking out of Ron's view, Hermione slipped through the streaming crowds until she found Marcus's large frame, and roughly elbowed her way into him. He certainly wasn't expecting that because as soon as noticed her the jubilant smile was fading from his face, replaced with a guilty look. "Hermione? What's the matter?" He asked, cautiously.

Hermione kind of wanted to roll her eyes, but she was seething too much to take him to task for trying to play dumb. "What's wrong? What's wrong Marcus? How could you do that to poor Harry? He could have been killed!" She pressed her hands into her hips and she knew that her voice was taking on that shrill tone that Ron often mocked her for, but she was just...so mad!

"Oh, Potter was perfectly safe, Granger!" Bole derided her. "The professors wouldn't have let St. Potter die."

Hermione set her jaw defiantly. She didn't come here to argue with Bole. She didn't really care what the rest of the Slytherin squad did, but she did care about what Marcus did. "Still it was a rotten trick to play on my friend, and it was wrong to laugh at him about it." She let her eyes wander back over to Marcus's face, and she could see how affected he was by her disappointment.

"Does Potter know that you are fighting his battles for him, Granger?" Adrian Pucey asked, his voice still and gentle, but hiding all kinds of meaning underneath. "He's probably embarrassed enough already, but I think he'd be even more embarrassed about the fact that a girl is doing all the talking for him."

Her nostrils flared, knowing that Harry probably would be embarrassed to learn that she'd sought out the Slytherin team. She waited a beat, and still, no response whatsoever from Marcus. Sighing she looked at him. His eyes were glued to his feet and he wouldn't look at her at all. "I'm really disappointed in you Marcus." She said with a frown before turning on her heel, needing to put as much distance between them as possible.

The Slytherins all started laughing after she left. "Looks like you are in the dog house, Flint." Pucey said with a little grin at the way that the tiny Gryffindor had talked to Marcus and gotten away with it. If anyone else had smarted off to him that way, Marcus would have been reacting - the older boy definitely had a violent streak.

Marcus shrugged his shoulders, not really sure what to say. He knew that Hermione was right, but he also didn't want to seem like a big pansy in front of his squad.


Hermione was sitting in the library, trying to work on her homework, and desperately trying not to think about how usually Marcus would join her. She was still annoyed at him for laughing at the mean joke Malfoy had played on Harry and the way that he'd just basically ignored her when she confronted him about it. No matter, how hard she tried, though, she just couldn't focus on the words in front of her.

Deciding that she should maybe just get an early night, Hermione started to pack up her books so that she could head back to Gryffindor tower. The noise of someone clearing their throat caught her attention, and had her snapping her head up.

There, a few paces away from the table, was Marcus, standing with a purring Crookshanks in his arms. Hermione scowled at the giant, purring cat that only looked too at home in Marcus's arms. "Crookshanks, you traitor." She whispered just loud enough for both of them to hear.

Marcus at least had the decency to look embarrassed. "Um, Hermione, can I talk to you for a minute?" He asked. From the tension in his shoulders, she could tell that he was trying really hard to maintain eye contact with her, when she was sure he wanted his eyes back on his feet again.

She looked him up and down, and thought about it for a minute. Sighing, knowing that she was going to give him a chance to explain, Hermione nodded, before slipping back into her usual spot. Marcus sat across from her, and Crookshanks settled nicely into his lap. "I wanted to apologize." He blurted out quickly. "You were right that it was a rotten trick of Malfoy to play on Potter, and it was dangerous, though I think Potter had himself handled."

It was nice to know that Marcus gave her an honest apology, unlike Ron who would grumble about things and never actually get around to saying 'I'm sorry'. Still, she wasn't just upset about the trick that was played on Harry. She crossed her hands over her chest and stared him down, trying to get him to keep talking.

That seemed to do the trick. "I want you to know that I had no idea about the prank, but it was wrong of me to laugh." Marcus said, rubbing the back of his neck - a nervous habit of his. "And, I've told off all the guys for doing it. Not only is it wrong, but it could have meant real punishments for the squad. I can't do anything about Malfoy's goons, but...let's just say Malfoy isn't going to like his next practice."

Hermione searched his blue eyes for a moment, and she found only sincerity shining back at her. He really was sorry, she could tell. "That's good. I just wish that you would have...well, told me this back out on the pitch. Are you embarrassed to be my friend? That you'll ignore me when you are in front of your squad."

Marcus's eyes leapt up from his hands to her face. "Pipsqueak, you know that's not true! I'm not embarrassed to be your friend, but like, it's never nice to get scolded in front of your mates. Especially when you are meant to be some big tough guy." It was true that having her be so disappointed in him had made him calm right up, not to mention that team seemed to think he was whipped by her, whatever that meant. "Salazar, Hermione, please don't be mad at me anymore. I can't stand not talking to you."

Her eyes widened at his statement, and all traces of her being upset with him were replaced with a cautious smile. "Of course I forgive you, Marcus. To be honest...I can't stand not talking to you too." She said with a grin, before wrapping him up in a tight hug that seemed to go on just a little too long. Hermione pulled away with a bright blush on her cheeks. Eager to change the subject, Hermione questioned him about Crookshanks. "How do you even get Crookshanks to like you so much, anyway? He seems to hate everyone."

Marcus grinned at her. "That, pipsqueak, is a secret between me and Crooksie." He scratched the huge cat under the chin, and in response, Crooks only purred louder.