Chapter Twenty-Eight: Nobody
Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. Rowling. The underlined portions are taken directly from the novel; I do not own those parts. They belong to J.K. Rowling.
Author's Note: This fanfiction is going to be different from my other stories. This picks up where "The Heart of Everything" left off. The time in the books also changes. So, pay attention the time, so you don't get confused. Some of the chapters are other Marcus Flint/Katie Bell stories, just with more changes and deleted scenes added.
Time: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Genre: Romance, Drama, and Friendship
Rating: PG-13
Marcus exited the Fairyland dungeon. They had been working on Fairyland for close to two weeks and almost had it completed.
Marcus spent his time between the Randolph Castle and the pitch. He only went home to shower and catch a few hours of sleep. He was still trying to go to university, but was only taking enough classes to be considered full time. He really did not know how he was still on a proper student schedule. However, he had been forced to change his major to Mediwizard. He had a lot of the basic classes in already. Plus, he figured that he would get more use out of Mediwizard than Magizoologist.
Sadly, he was going to none of those places now. He was going to Knockturn Alley to see if Natalia knew anything new and hopefully he would not see Avril. Avril was one of the reasons he had been avoiding Natalia's shop.
He went off the estate grounds and Apparated to Diagon Alley. There were more empty shops than the last time. If this kept up, soon there would be nothing left to the alley. He put his hood up and kept his head down as he went toward Knockturn Alley. He really did not want to be recognized today.
Sometimes being a Quidditch player just sucked. People tended to recognize you.
The Dark War really did not seen to have much effect on Knockturn Alley. If anything the alley was busier. Marcus tried not to look at anyone or draw attention to himself.
He made it to Natalia's shop without any serious incident.
Natalia looked at Marcus over the shoulder of the customer she was helping and motioned for him to wait. While he waited, he pretended to be interested by the items in the case near the checkout. The items were so dusty that he could not really make out what was in them; to be honest he wasn't sure that he wanted to know what was in the case.
A few minutes later, the customer left and Natalia turned her attention to Marcus. "I thought you had left me," she said coming out from behind the counter.
Marcus lowered his hood. "Just been busy."
Natalia nodded. She did not ask with what. She ran her hand along the glass case. "So have I."
Marcus nodded and didn't ask. Their relationship was one of don't ask and don't tell.
She circled around him. "So what brings you to my doorstep?"
Marcus followed her with his eyes. "Has anything new happened?"
Natalia stopped moving. "I've heard rumours."
Marcus raised his eyebrow. "About what?"
Natalia shrugged. "That depends on what you are looking for."
Marcus really hated it whenever she placed mind games with him. He just wanted a simple answer and that was it. "Why don't you tell me what I'm looking for?"
Natalia smiled. "I can't read your mind, sweetheart." She went over to him and walked his fingers up his chest.
Marcus moved away from her. He really hated it whenever she tried to seduce him. It never worked on him.
"Don't you like that, sweetheart?" she asked. She had a wide smirk on her face.
He also hated it whenever she called him sweetheart. He was not her sweetheart and nver would be. "Will you just tell me what you know?"
Natalia laughed at him. "You are in such a fine mood today, aren't you?"
Marcus did not response. He really did not want to be here. He just wanted to go home and go to bed. He pinched his temples. "Look, I don't have time for this. You either tell me or I will be on my way."
Natalia sighed. "Don't be hasty."
Marcus did not say anything.
"Fine." She crossed her arms over her chest. "The Death Eaters are keeping their secrets even closer to themselves. They are plotting something big, but I have not heard what. It has something to do with a Vanishing Cabinet."
Marcus nodded. "Go on."
"I know that a Vanishing Cabinet is in Borgin and Burkes, but I don't know where the other one is." Natalia paused. "I'm not sure what they are planning on doing with it, but I do know who is involved."
Marcus nodded. "Keep going," he pushed.
"You're awful demanding," Natalia hissed.
"Natalia, are you going to tell me or not?"
Natalia sighed. "Draco Malfoy."
"Come again?" Marcus really did not understand how Malfoy was involved. Over the summer, Harry had told the Order that he believed that Malfoy was a Death Eater, but no one paid any attention to this. Was it possible that Potter was right?
"Draco Malfoy has been asking around about fixing the Vanishing Cabinet at Borgin and Burkes."
"Is that one broken or something?" Marcus was not grasping this completely. Malfoy being made a Death Eater at sixteen did not make any sense.
Natalia shook her head. "That's just it."
"So, the other one is broken," Marcus stated.
Natalia nodded. "But there is still a lot of empty holes. Too many empty ones if you ask me. First off, we don't know why Malfoy is fixing a Vanishing Cabinet and we don't know where it is. Plus, we don't even know what they are going to do with it once both have been fixed."
Marcus nodded. "In other words, we need to keep an eye out."
"As always," Natalia said.
"That is very true," Marcus mused.
He knew that he should be taking this news back to the Order right away, but he could not make himself do so. He supposed that was what they got for forcing him to join against his own will. Also, he was sick of getting snapped at for every little thing. If what he got wasn't enough information, he got his head bit off.
There was also the matter of sending someone inside the circle of the Death Eaters. The only reason that he was thinking of doing it was because his parents did not want him to. However, he was not going to jump up and agree to it right away. The risks were stopping him. He could be killed because of this. Quite frankly, he wanted to live many more years.
Then, there was also stupid Fairyland. It bothered him that not one person from the Order had even offered to help him. They did not even ask if he even wanted to build it. If they found out that he had employed some of his friends to help him, they would probably bit his head off and kick him out. (Was that really such a bad thing?) The Order probably would not kick him out, because then they would have to build the damn thing by themselves.
"Marcus, are you okay?" Natalia asked him. She had her hand on his bicep.
Marcus when she had touched him. He must have been really out of it. "Um, yeah."
"You kind of spaced out on me."
Marcus pulled away from her. He really needed to keep it together. He was going to space out at the wrong time one of these days.
Natalia narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure that you're okay?"
"Why can't you believe me for thirty seconds?" He snapped.
Natalia crossed her arms over her chest and smirked. "Temper, temper."
Marcus really hated it whenever she smirked at him. She probably even did it because it bothered him.
"That temper of yours is going to get you in trouble one day," Natalia continued.
Marcus really did not have to stay here and listen to her taunt him anymore. He threw his hood up over his head. "If you don't have anything else to say, then I will be on my way."
"Oh, I have plenty to say to you."
"Anything of importance?"
"That depends on how you define importance."
Marcus rolled his eyes and started toward to the door. "I will take that as a no."
"Always a pleasure talking to you! Come back soon!" Natalia called in a sarcastic voice as he let the shop door slam behind him.
Marcus supposed that it could had been worse. Avril could had been then and that would had given him a double headache. Because there were more people around than before, he walked with his head down and did not look up for his feet.
Once his feet set foot in Diagon Alley, he Apparated back to Randolph Castle. He wanted to get Fairyland finished as quickly as possible and move on with his life.
Damon was the only person left in the dungeon. The rest of them probably went home to attend to their own lives. Marcus was surprised to see that Damon was still here.
Marcus kind of wished that Damon had not stuck around. He really did not want any of them to sacrifice themselves and their social lives. He could not bring himself to ask anybody to do it. He knew that they would, but nobody needed to do that.
"I attached a couple of things to help fire it," Damon said as Marcus approached him.
Marcus nodded and studied Fairyland. He hoped that they could finish this thing up in a couple of days. "Do you think it will shoot?"
Damon put his hands on his hips and stared at Fairyland. "I think it will, but I'm not promising anything."
Marcus ran his hands over the barrel of Fairyland. He hoped that it would fire; it would be kind of pointless if it didn't. "If someone stayed here a few more hours, we probably could get it finished."
Damon nodded. "If I stayed here with you, we could get it done in even half the time."
Marcus nodded again and clapped his hands. "Well, let's get to work."
