A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! This story has only two chapters left, and an epilogue (for a total of 27), so all of this drama and misunderstanding is about to come to a head. You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates, and answer questions.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter twenty-five and be on the lookout for chapter twenty-six soon!
Once they arrived at the door to Hermione's flat, it seemed as if neither Marcus nor Hermione wanted the evening to be over. He wasn't sure how long they'd stayed standing in front of the door, Hermione playing with her keys, and Marcus leaning his hand against the frame, leaning into Hermione unconsciously.
If he didn't know any better he would think that Hermione was flirting with him, and his mind was easily taken back to all those times that he had with her in the in their secret room at Hogwarts. He remembered how wonderful her lips felt against his, or the way that she would sigh and moan when he would kiss his way down her neck. He remembered the way she would press into him when he would lightly cup her breast. He wouldn't even let his brain wander to the memory of how hot and wet she felt around his fingers for fear that his cock would become a little too insistent in its desire to be near her.
He wasn't sure if he was just a bit tipsy from the firewhiskey that he'd drank at dinner, or if it was just the haze of the memories, but before he could think on it too hard, he had made the decision to kiss her. One hand pushed her hair out of her face, his thumb cupping her jaw, tilting her head just so, he leaned into her, relishing her parted lips and eyelids closing.
The first touch of their lips together was electric, and Marcus was overcome with the feeling that this was right. She fit against him, like a puzzle piece, and it was nearly a sin for him to not try and deepen the kiss. Greedy, he pressed into her, his tongue running along her's, sending darts of pleasure behind his eyelids. Salazar, why had he ever pissed this away? He could have stayed there forever, taking his time to worship Hermione, but eventually, he had to pull away for air.
He pressed his forehead against her's, their breaths mingling together, and he hoped…
Before he could even comprehend that he'd just snogged Hermione Granger once again, she was pulling away, bright blush on her cheeks. She refused to look him in the eye. "Marcus, I'm sorry, but...I can't." She said, her voice taking on a whine, as though it hurt her to do this. "I just...it's not a good idea." She continued.
It was as if his heart was in a vice, squeezing painfully, and the reality of the situation came running back to him. Of course she couldn't kiss him, she was bloody engaged to another man! Really, he was surprised that she'd kissed him back at all, but he supposed that she would chalk it up to surprise. Salazar, if only he'd thought about it properly, he wouldn't have made such a huge fool of himself and practically thrown himself at her. Now, he was certain that he'd ruined any chance of friendship with her, just because he'd let himself get sucked into her once again.
Feeling stupid, and more than a bit embarrassed, Marcus pulled away, nodding, not trusting his voice to speak, because he was likely to do something stupid like cry in front of her. He could feel the prickles of tears at the corner of his eyes, and decided to leave, not wanting to prolong the inevitable any longer than necessary. He apparated away.
When Marcus had called in to miss Quidditch practice for being "sick" after having dinner with Hermione Granger, he'd been curious if perhaps they'd finally had a shag, and were now playing hooky so as not to leave the presence of their lover's arms. He'd decided to pay Daphne a visit, good fiance that he was, but was surprised to find Hermione was in the office, not looking well-shagged at all. In fact, she looked as if she were losing sleep. When he asked her how her date was with Marcus, she'd given him a pained look and begged him not to tease.
That had made him suspicious, and he began to seriously question his friend's absence from the Quidditch pitch.
After he called in a second day, he started to get seriously concerned. Adrian tried Floo calling Marcus, but was unable to get an answer from the empty living room. Still, the connection was open, so Adrian decided that it was time to walk through. Yes, it was a bit forward of him, but at this point her was worried about the safety of his friend, and decided it was better to ask forgiveness later, just in case Marcus needed him.
A quick perusal of the flat showed that he wasn't in any of the main living areas, leaving only Marcus's bedroom as an option. Throwing the door open, he found Marcus lying in his bed, all the curtains drawn, despite it being a very lovely day. "Oi, Flint, what's this I hear about you being sick? You've never been sick from Quidditch in your life." Adrian tried to joke, hoping that his friend wouldn't mind being intruded on. "Come on, it's Puddlemere on Sunday."
"Oh piss off Adrian, and leave me alone." Marcus grumbled from his pit in the bed, not inclined to give his guest a proper welcome. "I am sick."
Adrian didn't take any offense to the less than friendly admonishment from his large friend, instead using his wand to open the curtains, letting some natural light into the room. "Hmm, you don't look very sick to me?" Adrian leered at him, all cuddled up in bed. Marcus had his arms around a pillow, resting his head on it as though it were a partner, curled up on his side.
Marcus glared at him from his spot, his eyes red rimmed, leading Adrian to rethinks. "Alright, so I'm not sick." Marcus agreed, before sighing, his shoulders deflating, as if the fight was leaving him. "Just depressed."
That was certainly a surprise to hear. There was almost never any admission of anything that might make you appear weak in Slytherin house, so for Marcus to just blurt it out that way lead Adrian to believe that his friend was seriously hurting. "Depressed? What do you have to be depressed about. You've got a great job, great friends, you just reconnected with Hermione and it's going smashingly."
"That's the one." Marcus said. "Hermione. I bloody well fucked up with her. I just couldn't help myself and I kissed her and she told me that we couldn't, which, well, we obviously can't because she's going to get married to that tosser Weasley, and now, well, she's not even going to want me to be friends with her, because she thinks I just think of her for sex, just like last time."
Adrian winced at the mention of Hermione's imaginary nuptials, but he also got the impression that there was much more to this story than he knew. "Start at the beginning Marcus. You said again...does this have something to do with Hogwarts?" He sat down on the corner of the bed so that he could look at Marcus properly. "You never told me what happened there. Just one minute I thought you were dating Granger and the next minute you were bringing Bell to the Ball."
Marcus narrowed his eyes at him. "You never asked." He groused.
"Figured you'd open up to me when you were ready." Adrian responded with a shrug of his shoulders. Marcus really did have a difficult time opening up to people, though, and he obviously needed to get some things off his chest. "I think now is as good a time as ever, though, so start talking." He figured it would be easier for Marcus to comply if it was seen as an order rather than a spontaneous admission.
The chaser rolled over onto his back, running his hand down his face. "By the summer before her fourth year, I really started to notice Hermione, you know? She was so pretty, and really by accident I found myself fancying her. I thought she might too, but then I noticed her in the library with Krum. She was laughing with him, and I figured she must like him." His voice was getting a bit stronger the longer he spoke about his time with Hermione. "Imagine my surprise when she asked me to give her her first kiss. I was over the moon, until I remembered Krum, and I figured that she was just using me as practice."
"But she never said she was using you as practice?" Adrian questioned, wondering how his friend could be so colossally stupid.
"No, she never said it out loud. Anyway, we went a little further and a little further, and next thing I heard was that she had a date to the Yule Ball, and I figured, I knew it was the end of our little...experiment, and I asked Bell out. To save face mostly." Marcus continued, even though it was painful to remember that part of his life.
"How far did you get with her?" Adrian asked, waggling his eyebrows. Just because he was being a supportive friend didn't mean he didn't want gossip. "All the way?"
"No, of course not!" Marcus said, his cheeks definitely going a bit pink, discussing the particulars with his friend. It didn't feel right to give any details more than the bare minimum. I mean...we went pretty far. Below the belt." He cleared his throat. "I thought it was just practice the whole time, but according to Hermione she thought that we were dating the whole time. Salazar, I accused her of using me, but that must be exactly how she felt when I told her that I was going to the Yule Ball with Bell, after we'd..." He trailed off, remembering that he wanted to give Hermione a little respect by not oversharing. "Anyway, you know the rest after that. Shouting matches in the hallways. Me moving the Belgium to try and forget her."
"Wow, mate, you seriously fucked that up." Adrian said, shaking his head at his friend, astonished by all of the assumptions he'd made about Hermione. How he'd ever thought that a Gryffindor would so callously use someone, especially someone like Granger was beyond him. It was clear that Marcus was still in a right state about it. He was almost too emotionally invested, making Adrian a bit suspicious. "But you really never fucked her?"
Marcus growled. "Course not." He wouldn't lie about something like that. Then he frowned, his eyes trained on his pillow, his voice softening, "but I would have done anything for her." He revealed, knowing that it was a weakness for him to be revealing something like this to Adrian, knowing that the other Slytherin could use it against him if he wanted.
"Sounds like you love her." Adrian grinned at Marcus, thinking that it was actually rather sweet how worked up he was over puny little Hermione Granger. The fact that the woman could reduce him to this simpering mess was quite astonishing. Previously, he didn't really think that anything could hurt Marcus.
"Yeah, I'm just realizing now that I do." Marcus admitted, staring up at the ceiling, before pressing his eyelids shut tight, obviously regretting the way that everything played out, thinking that his chance to be with the girl of his dreams was slipping away.
"Listen mate, you need to tell her how you feel." Adrian started, wanting to give his friend some sage advice. After all, he'd bagged Daphne Greengrass, so it wasn't as if he did poorly with the ladies. And, he felt a little bit bad about suggesting that Granger was getting married...well, not suggesting it, just not correcting him. But, it was all Marcus's assumptions that had got him in this state, so he was going to have to confront them head on if this is what he wanted. "All this time, you've been making assumptions about how she feels, without ever really finding out what she wants."
"But she's getting married." Marcus whined, sitting up in his bed, hating his friend in that moment. Couldn't he just leave and let him wallow in peace the fact that girl of his dreams, really, the only woman he'd ever loved in his whole life, was slipping through his fingers once again?
"So what?" Adrian questioned, knowing that he needed to rally the troops, so to speak. Using his wand, he lifted the comforter off of Marcus, letting the cool air of the flat shock him into action. "You will never truly know how she really feels unless you try. Be a man for once and put yourself out on the line. Go after her if you love her because…" Adrian trailed off, trying to pick the right words, seeing a change come over his friend, "you might never get another chance."
That was what seemed to make up his mind, and before Adrian knew it, Marcus was hopping up, determination in his eyes. "Okay, I am going to do it!" Perhaps it was the memory of the five lonely years that he'd spent trying to forget Hermione existed, or the memory of her lips, but he had never been more sure of something in his life.
"Hold up, there, Romeo." Adrian stopped him with a smirk, before turning him towards the bathroom. "You need a shower and some food first. Merlin, have you not bathed for three whole days and you want to go profess your love to Hermione? No, you into the shower now. I will find you something to eat." Adrian shooed him into the bathroom with a smirk, not able to throw one last quip his way. "And don't forget to brush your teeth! Granger's not going to want to snog you if you have morning breath."
With Marcus in the shower, Adrian went to the kitchen, laughing to himself. Merlin, he was just glad that he wasn't needing to sober up. Marcus wasn't hung over, because he took his training so seriously, even when taking a sick day. Only Marcus would wallow in heartbreak without the use of alcohol.