Chapter 6

Marcus looked up at Bell who was still glaring at him. He did not particularly enjoy having to look up to her so he sat up as best as he could. Bell crossed her arms but still made no move to talk. Marcus would not give her the satisfaction to talk first.

"What do you want, Bell?" He grumbled.

Bell shifted her position slightly. Marcus could tell that she felt highly uncomfortable. He hadn't really ever seen her up close apart from the Owlery incident so he had not noticed a slight covering of freckles on her nose and cheeks. As she had her arms crossed under her chest Marcus did not feel he should be risking a glance at her hands to see whether the plaster he had given her was still there. He doubted that it would be anyway. It had been a couple of weeks now and it had only been a scratch. Not worth looking like he was checking her out.

"Why is Oliver talking to you?" Bell said eventually.

"Shared interests." Marcus did not feel like he was lying at all. After all, Wood was interested in Bell and Marcus was interested in Wood's interest in Bell.

"I know that you've been talking about strategies with him. But he's been acting very out of character lately. I just bumped into him outside the hospital wing and he, well, he kind of shrieked at me before basically running away. He's obviously been talking to you again." Bell said all of this so quickly that Marcus really had to listen to understand what she was going on about. "Are you threatening him with something? Blackmailing him? We won't stand for it, you know." He wasn't really surprised by this, Adrian and he had figured that Wood's friends would notice and suspect some sort of evil Slytherin plot.

"Nobody is blackmailing anyone. We are just talking about Quidditch. Why is everyone so obsessed with this Slytherin-Gryffindor rivalry? It's getting boring." Marcus did his best to sound just that, bored. At least Bell had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed. Marcus thought it had probably taken her quite a bit of courage to confront him like that. But then again, maybe he'd been underestimating the girl. He'd never been the best judge of character.

"Nobody is obsessed with anything. We are just worried about a friend." Bell said eventually, not meeting his eyes. She was staring at some point just behind him.

"Who's this we? Don't you mean you? And he's just acting weird because he's stressed about final year and Quidditch." Marcus was anxious to get Bell to leave again. It would not do for rumours to start about the Gryffindor chaser visiting him in the hospital wing. But then again, this was just too good of an opportunity to talk about Wood to pass up.

"We as in his team. He's not the only one who wants to win." Bell said defensively. She kept touching her hair, grabbing and wrapping it around her fingers. Marcus found this highly distracting.

"So, collectively you are worried, but you personally don't care about his wellbeing?" Marcus thought Adrian would haven been proud of his investigative skills.

"I do care about his wellbeing. Collectively and personally. He is one of my best friends after all." Ouch. Poor Wood.

"Just a friend? You two seemed pretty cozy during the game today." Marcus said as nonchalantly as possible.

"Is that why you played so crappy today? Because you were watching the audience?" The bloody cheek of the girl.

"We played like shit because it was a hundred degrees. That's why everyone is in the hospital wing in case you hadn't noticed. You must have been extra hot with your face in Wood's crotch." As soon as he finished the sentence Marcus knew he had said the wrong thing. Bell's face went bright red and she looked furious. Before Marcus could try to rescue the conversation Bell gave him one last angry look and left.

Marcus was eventually allowed to leave the hospital wing with everyone else. Madam Pomfrey had made them all promise to stay inside, rest and keep themselves hydrated. So naturally Marcus went to one of the green houses to find a willing Hufflepuff girl to make out with. He was still annoyed at himself for not handling the conversation with Bell better. The last thing he wanted was to run into Adrian and having to explain what he did. He also did not want to spend any more time thinking about the Gryffindor chaser today. And nothing would keep her off his mind like a good snogging session.

He went into green house number 3 where the tropical plants were kept. Upon entering the heat took his breath away for a brief moment. Marcus sent a silent apology to Madam Pomfrey and made his way to the back section. As expected, Hanna, one of his usual make out partners, was trimming a - Marcus did not recognise the plant - but was trimming something. The seventh year student was wearing a short skirt and her t-shirt was clinging to her. Marcus already felt better.

"Alright, Hanna?" Marcus said, walking up behind her. Hanna smiled at him and put the garden scissors down.

"Hey, Marcus. Do you need a little pick me up after that shitty game today?" She said gently, turning around to face him. She was almost as tall as him. Marcus nodded and the dark blonde girl smiled. Without saying anything else she started kissing him and Marcus eagerly kissed her back. He really appreciated how easy and straight forward his relationships with those Hufflepuff girls was. Marcus was certain that they all knew of each other but never had they confronted him about it. He didn't care what some people said, girls liked fooling around just as much as boys did. And he was more than happy to oblige.

Marcus wished that all girls were like Hanna. She always said what was on her mind, never pushing some hidden agenda or trying to make him guess what she really meant. She wasn't scared to talk about her feelings and had told him before that whilst she liked making out with him, she did not really consider him boyfriend material. Not that he wanted to be anyone's boyfriend. But why couldn't Bell work like that? Why could she not admit that she liked Wood? Or that she didn't. And why had she come to talk to him? What was that all about?

"Is everything okay?" Hanna had stopped kissing him and was looking at him questioningly.

"Yeah. Sorry." Marcus tried kissing her again but the Hufflepuff student pulled away.

"Look, I'm happy to make out with you. But not if you are not into it. Clearly there is something on your mind." She crossed her arms in front of her. Marcus sighed.

"How do you know a girl likes you?" He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. He was drenched already.

"Uh, who's the lucky girl?" Hanna said with a smile on her lips.

"No. No lucky girl. I am erm helping out a friend. So I need to know to be able to let him know." Marcus stumbled over his words. There was no way Hanna would believe him. Even if it was the truth. And Marcus really wanted to know. He had never cared about whether or not a girl - or anyone for that matter - liked him so he really had no idea.

"Sure. Well, tell your 'friend' that if a girl likes him then she will be nervous around him. She'll play with her hair and instead of looking him in the eyes she'll stare at some point just behind him. She will almost be uncomfortable around him but will still be trying to find things to talk to him about. Of course, every girl is different. But that's how I have felt when I have liked a guy." Hanna was still smiling and stared him straight in the eyes. Ouch. So she definitely did not like him then. "And he'll be on her mind all the time. So, Marcus. Who is on your mind all the time? Who's this girl who is robbing me of a quality make out session?"

Marcus didn't think that she'd want to hear that actually Wood was on his bloody mind all the damn time so he put the whole thing out of his head and kissed her with renewed vigour. Marcus thought she might pull away again but after some reluctance she kissed him back. Despite the heat she entwined her body with Marcus' and just as Marcus thought that maybe this was going to develop into something more than just a make out session he heard someone loudly clearing his throat behind him. Hanna practically jumped out of his arms and smoothed her clothes.

"Sorry to disrupt your, erm, this."

Marcus took a deep breath and turned around. Oliver effing Wood. The Gryffindor Quidditch captain was red faced and Marcus doubted it was solely due to the heat.

"This is a bit of an inconvenient time, Wood." He said eventually. Hanna just looked back and forth between the two of them, obviously confused.

"I know. I just wanted to tell you that I have asked her." Wood said, his tone cheery but also disbelieving.

"And?" Marcus already knew what the answer would be.

"She said yes." Wood grinned.

"Good. That's good." Marcus said as enthusiastically as he was able to. He could feel Hanna staring at him.

"Yeah. Well. I just wanted to let you know. Pucey told me you'd probably be here, so I thought I'd let you know. And now I have. So that's that. Hello Hana, sorry for ignoring you." Wood cleared his throat again. He gave a brief nod to Marcus before turning around and leaving again.

Hanna was still staring at him. It made Marcus feel very uncomfortable. "What?" He said eventually.

"Nothing. I just have this feeling all of a sudden that the Quidditch cup is not the only thing anymore that you and Wood both want."

Marcus said nothing. Maybe he did not like Hanna's honesty that much after all.