Thank you dear reviewers.

I am sorry about the spelling and grammatical errors. I did use spell check, but please stay with me on this. Thank you all for reading.

I own nothing and gain no money from this.

Enjoy.

OoOoOo

Katie could only accurately describe herself as some sort of tram wreck, that entire evening.

Her fingertips were stained black with ink smudges. She could have easily cleaned them off, but her clumsy hands kept tipping over the well as she attempted to finish her charms essay. It was a rather bungled ordeal. She would get half way through, then re-write the same sentence. Or knock over the ink, and let a string of vicious curses against pygmies loose.

The other girls in the dorm kept glancing at her with a wide variety of expressions. Some amused, some concerned, and one or two were just laced with plain curiosity. Katie tried to brush a lock of hair away from her face, when she felt the tell-tale sign of wet ink against the skin of her face. Damn. She'd gotten it all over now. She stared balefully at her hand, as if it had betrayed her.

Johnson looked at her, an unspoken question as to Katie's health in her eyes.

Katie managed to crack a weak grin. A humorless and self-deprecating laugh followed shortly. She was so... out of herself at the moment. Everything seemed to be twisting in the wind, in all the wrong directions! Marcus bloody Flint knew that Katie sort of... fancied him... a bit. Which was not so unimaginable when one considered his better qualities. Which he did have. And, what in the blazes was he doing possessing charming attributes?!

She narrowed her gaze at the tip of her quill with mute anger simmering on her features.

Slytherins were not supposed to be charming. The running joke, perhaps a bit worn and overused, was the fact that they had all the warmth and care of their house animal. They were snakes, wicked creatures by several cultural standings. And, in others, well they meant rebirth. However, Katie did not put much stock in all that jargon. Except for the parts that mattered for her marks.

She sighed heavily, and ran her hand through her hair. Only belatedly realizing that she dragged even more of the black ink through her tendrils. Mother of Merlin. Her mind was a mess! Making matters infinitely worse, it had only been mere hours since she discovered that Marcus knew.

Flint.

That Flint knew. Yes. That was what she meant to think. Quite right.

It felt like a nearly endless loop of her thoughts spinning around without traction. She fluttered between emotional highs and lows. It was fortunate that Marcus found out. But then, what if Flint told? Would she be ridiculed for the whole sordid business of some fancy knickers? No, part of her denied it vehemently. Marcus obviously cared. She had witnessed it with her own eyes. The young witch had watched him fawn over that scrap of brown paper as if it were a magical relic of old.

Certainly, that meant that he was not, in fact, messing with her emotions?

What was she thinking? She was the one that had messed with his. Originally. Now, she was not so certain. The rather idiotic game of intrigue... oh Merlin! Katie dropped her quill gracelessly onto the already ruined parchment, and allowed her head to fall upon her desk without a hint of grace. It gave a slightly impressive 'thud' against the wood, and she winced, but did nothing else.

"Are you quite alright?" Alicia asked in a honey-sweet tone, warmed with concern.

Katie did not even bother to groan or grunt as she slowly nodded, with her head against the desk.

"Truly?"

"Yes," Katie finally replied, slightly petulantly as she dramatically envisioned that her life was 'over'. "I am fine."

"If you are certain," Alicia replied, wavering on whether or not to believe her friend.

Katie understood it well. Had their places been reversed, she would have accosted Alicia at every opportunity to wring the matter from her friend. However, the roles were not reversed, and Alicia was not imaging what fresh slice of awkward purgatory was in store for her tomorrow. When Katie shared a lesson with the Slytherins. Not that Marcus would be there.

But, part of her both did and did not want to see him. Which was all rather strange and confusing. The Gryffindor chaser could not make sense of it, and she was living the blasted thing.

She did truly like Marcus. Her lips curved into a wistful smile, at the memory of his eyes locking with hers. The strange shiver of near delight that raced up her spine, with him being so close. The unknown and unfamiliar nearly startling sensation of his fingertips in her hair as he placed the flower there. The same one that was kept safe in a vase of water at the moment. A small one, right next to her bed. Near the windowsill where that Tawny owl kept passing by.

Katie picked her head up just a fraction, so that she could let it drop on the wood again.

The blasted beast was less than subtle about flying around her window.

"Bell?"

"Johnson?" She quipped back, trying to keep her tone even and not upset. Angelina could be ruthless when she wanted to be. If they found out that she rather liked Marcus... well...

Katie thought that the saying about who needs enemies with friends like these, was rather apt for the situation at hand.

"Are you sure you're well?"

"Completely." She enunciated with a dry sort of exasperation to her words.

The young witch could almost envision the shared glances between her friends or pure disbelief.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not at the moment, no." She mumbled into the parchment. Her eyes opened and she stared at nothing.

How was she supposed to face him? The way he had looked and that intense expression of tender affection levied at her. Katie was certain if he hadn't captured part of her heart before, he most certainly had it now. She flushed a fetching pink and nibbled at her lower lip. It was one thing to be allowed the anonymity of hiding behind presents and an owl that might even out intimidate Professor Snape. That tangent did give Katie the chance to grin once more.

But... it was Flint.

Flint who had defended her honor. Who had smiled so honestly in open delight when he received her simple gifts. The same boy, that had nearly caused Katie's heart to break at the sight of him with another girl. Katie swallowed and tried to push that burning reminder out of her thoughts. Marcus Flint, who caused her heart to triple its beat, and her cheeks to flush whenever he-

"Katie?"

Finally she lifted her head, and turned it to glare at her friend. Slightly irritated by the interruption. Could a woman not wallow in peace?

"What?"

Alicia pointed toward the window, a soft sort of smile on her face.

"Your bird's here."

Katie's gaze snapped over toward the window, and indeed the tawny avian extortionist was there. He pecked at the window with a smug sort of expression in his eyes. At least, that is how Katie would have described it. Her brows furrowed in confusion as she stared at the owl, as if it would burst into flame at any given moment. He hooted at her, a touch high-pitched. What was he so excited about?

She scarcely had time to wonder, as she noticed that his one foot was clutching something tightly. She rose from her desk and drew closer to the window. Tawny held up his claw with a victorious warble. It was then that she glimpsed that there was a small brown paper package tied up with simple string. Much like what Katie had sent to Marcus Flint.

His gray eyes, smoldering and yet tender flashed through her thoughts. With a dazed expression, the young woman opened the window, to let the bird in. The Tawny owl seemed to strut over the threshold of the window with pride.

OoOoOo

For Marcus, it was a night of near bliss.

His lovely lady had a face now, when he wished to think of her. She had a name for him to call her by. How fortunate a soul he was, to have found her. Ms. Bell, a creature so sweet and truly kind that Marcus had a hard time expressing how deep his affections for her went. However, there was no denying her reaction when they were alone. Her sweet eyes had said so much. Revealed more than he had dared to dream of, in that short time between them.

His gray gaze seemed alight with a secretive happiness, at the recollection of her face, that had more than a few of his housemates taking notice. Those that knew him well, at least.

It differed from the normal exuberance he had recently come to have. Not that he showed it, much at all. However, in as much as a Slytherin could, he did express it. There was a confident air surrounding him now, that caused even Draco Malfoy to pause for a moment. A nod was exchanged between the pair. A sort of 'kudos'. For whatever could cause Flint to look like that... well... good on him.

Marcus would waste not another moment, in his preparations for the safety of Katie Bell and her family. He had a great deal of ground to make up for. Though her family was unaware of what would one day be their union. Which, should their courtship prove to be agreeable -and he believed that it would-, would one day become his family as well. For all the staunch ideals of Pureblood society, they did endeavor to put family first. Something Marcus was more than happy to oblige, even should he be forced to forsake his very life.

He keenly hoped, something that was both brash and daring, that Ms. Bell would grant him the pleasure of being her husband when the time came. She had chosen him. Ms. Bell had seen him even when other options were widely available. Marcus knew he would have to exert even more effort to raise his marks in his courses if he were to hide his connection to his love. It would not do to have the Dark Lord figure out who it was that cared for Marcus.

Whom he loved.

He had learned well from his father, in that respect, that allowing someone with power to know your weakness was akin to handing them the secret yourself. Unforgiveable. A touch of the Flint arrogance would be a blessing now, instead of a curse. Though, to hear a Flint tell the tale, it was only their due. Now, however, there was much more to think about than before.

Marcus had taken the liberty to send Ms. Bell the first gift, a promise that he hoped to lavish her in his sincerest regards one day. That he would strive to have her agree to be the Future Mrs. Flint. The standard gifts, he was still out of his element on giving. But, perhaps, this one would give her a better inclination on how he viewed their romance. Something on par with what she had gifted him. A new outlook on his previously accepted world. It was true that he was not the most sought after chap, nor the most magically gifted. However, he did possess the abilities of his house. That in and of itself could come to benefit his love one day.

"Anything I should know about?" Draco asked in a lazy drawl that covered his amusement with boredom.

Marcus shifted his gray eyes toward his housemate as he readied for bed. The small prompting might have been considered innocent. In any other house. However, there was an exchange for being amongst the higher society.

A friend was a foe in waiting, most often.

"Nothing at all. Why do you ask?" He returned with a neutral tone to his careful words.

Silver and gray met. A thousand things were communicated as each searched the other for intent, and exploitable weakness. There was camaraderie there as well, but the distasteful obligation to the Dark Lord loomed over them both.

"No, reason," Draco commented after a moment. "Turning in early?"

Marcus tilted his head, his shifty eyes blinked as he nodded slowly. Smiling, at the unspoken agreement that was so freely given. His overcrowded teeth still did him no favors, but both males relaxed momentarily.

"Seems as good a thing to do as any." Marcus replied.

"So it does."

Draco resumed his reading, and no other words were spoken between the pair. Marcus was content.

When he fell asleep that night, the image of Katie Bell's face as she flushed was the last thing he recalled.