Chapter 8

Marcus spend all of January avoiding Wood. He did not let Adrian throw him a party for his 19th birthday for worrying that Wood would show up. He surrounded himself with fellow Slytherins in every lesson he had with the Gryffindor captain. He did everything to stop Wood seeking him out. But when he saw Wood giving Bell a birthday present at breakfast in the great hall he realised two things: Firstly, Bell's birthday was also in January. And secondly, Bell had not told Wood about their kiss.

Marcus thought about that kiss a lot during the Christmas holiday. Well, actually it had been a bit more than just a kiss. They had been making out for a good ten minutes until Bell had stopped, obviously having come back to her senses. The girl had gone completely silent and fled the kitchens. Marcus had not told anyone about the kiss but he had little hope that Bell wouldn't tell Wood. But it was now almost February and he was still alive and breathing. So Marcus walked into his next shared lesson with Wood with much more ease.

Wood was sitting at the back of Charms class and Marcus decided to sit down next to him. Time to find out what was going on. Wood looked up at him.

"Alright, Flint? I've hardly seen you since before Christmas. Were you avoiding me?"

Marcus swallowed. Maybe this had been a mistake.

"Just been busy. How's everything with you?" Marcus almost added "and Bell".

"It's good. Really good. Katie really liked my birthday present for her. I was a bit worried about coming back after Christmas. We met up once during the holidays but she was acting really weirdly." Wood scrunched up his face. Obviously Marcus did not have to mention Bell for Wood to bring her up anyway.

"Yeah?" Marcus said as neutral as possible.

"Yeah. She looked like something was on her mind but she never said what. Maybe family stuff, I don't know. But it's all good now." Wood smiled.

Marcus sighed a sigh of relief. So Bell had kept quiet. Which meant that he could forget all about their kiss. He did not like that it was still playing on his mind that much. Sure, he had been worried about Wood finding out and the repercussions of that. But he had also been thinking about kissing her again.

"Are you going to watch us play next weekend?" Wood asked. It took Marcus a moment to figure out what he was talking about.

"Probably. We are playing Hufflepuff after you so I want to see whether they've come up with any new strategies."

Wood nodded. "Fair enough. They usually play very defensively but I've seen them practising. They've been training with a new beater, Timothy Green, and he's built like a brick. Could be on your team."

"Right. I've seen him in the gym before. Well, he won't be an issue for us, but you might want to protect your chasers." Marcus watched Wood's face carefully.

"Yeah, I have briefed the twins. He won't get anywhere near her." Wood met Marcus' eyes. "Them. He won't get anywhere near them."

Marcus was sitting amongst a small splattering of Slytherin students to watch the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff game. They'd been playing for a good hour and both teams were on the defensive but Gryffindor was ahead. Wood's words had proven true. The twins were on Green like flies on shit. Adrian was lounging lazily next to him, nobody else from his team had bothered to come.

"I don't know why we are watching this, Marcus. Clearly Diggory has planned on using Green's size to take out the Gryffindor chasers. He won't be able to do that with us. Although, I would not mind Green taking me out…" Adrian said pensively.

Marcus rolled his eyes. Neither had brought up their conversation before Christmas and everything had gone back to normal. Marcus was trying to not be in a mood and it was getting easier every passing day. But he still had to stop himself from only watching a certain dark-blonde Gryffindor chaser.

"You should let him. I wonder what they have planned for us." Marcus had no idea what Green's sexual orientation was, but Adrian could be very convincing.

"Maybe they'll figure out they'll only have to put Bell in the audience and you'll be distracted." Adrian said under his breath as to not be heard by their peers. Marcus flinched. He decided to bite the bullet.

"We kissed." Marcus said without looking at his best friend.

"Good god, Marcus. You're such an idiot." Adrian answered in the same hushed tone.

"It happened in the kitchens just before the holidays, after our talk in the common room. I was there having a snack when she came in. She leaned in to give me a hug goodbye and I thought she was going to kiss me. So I did." Adrian did not say anything to that so Marcus continued. "She slapped me. But then she kissed me."

"You are in deep shit. Does Wood know?"

"No. I was avoiding him but I spoke to him in Charms the other day. He doesn't have a clue." Marcus scowled at some students who were looking his way. They quickly looked away again.

"Have you spoken to her since?" Adrian sat up and moved closer to Marcus so their conversation could stay fairly private.

"No. And I doubt she'll want to talk to me. Plus, there isn't really anything to talk about. It was a mistake."

Adrian studied his best friend. "Was it a mistake for you?"

"I thought about what you said. About me only wanting what someone else has." Marcus thought about his next words carefully. "Well, now I've had what he has. And I still want her. I can't stop thinking about her." Marcus looked at the game playing out in front of him. He quickly found Bell, flying in formation with Spinnet and Johnson. One of the twins was flying behind her like a shadow.

"Shit." His best friend said sympathetically.

Suddenly there was a commotion on the pitch and Marcus heard the shrill tone of Hooch's whistle. He stood up to see better and could make out Wood away from the goal posts holding his head. Marcus thought he could see blood. Bell was flying next to him and so was Green. Hooch was talking animatedly at Wood and finally he flew down to the reserve bench and Hogan, the Gryffindor team's reserve keeper, flew up to take Wood's place. Marcus thought that that was the first time he had seen Wood not finish a game. Pomfrey was looking at Wood by the benches and eventually the two left the pitch.

"Keep an eye on the game." Marcus said to Adrian, before following them towards the castle.

Wood was sitting on a bed holding a pack of ice against his head. He looked devastated.

"What happened?" Marcus said and sat down on the bed opposite Wood's. The Gryffindor captain looked up at him.

"I saw Green hitting a bludger straight at Katie so I went to help her. Well. It hit me instead." Wood laughed softly. "That's the first time I haven't finished a game. And I haven't finished the game because of a girl."

"So what. You wanted to protect her. Nothing wrong with that." Marcus thought that he would have done the same. For her, anyway. He also thought that Adrian was right. He was indeed in deep shit.

"I know. But it wasn't my job to protect her. Fred or George would have done that. I reacted instinctively and it cost me. At least there weren't any scouts." Wood moved the pack of ice and moaned softly. Marcus suspected that he had a concussion. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything to you at the beginning of the year. About wanting to date. Maybe I should have just continued focussing on Quidditch."

Marcus was tempted to agree with Wood. "Nonsense. You'll still win today. Gryffindor was in the lead by too much already and Hogan is not too bad of a keeper. And you'll be facing us in the final in June. So you got that as well as some action with Bell." The words left a bitter taste in Marcus' mouth.

"I know. But it still irks me. And there's not been any action with Katie. We are just making out. I think we've been close a couple of times but I don't want to push her. It's fine that she's not ready."

Marcus suddenly got the feeling that Wood was frustrated by more things than just today's game. He was also relieved that things had not gone any further between Wood and Bell. Although he had no right to be.

"So you thought saving her today would tilt the scale in your favour?" Marcus knew he had hit the nail on the head when Wood blushed.

"I don't know, Flint. Maybe. It's just all so confusing. Like, how do you know? I don't want to force her into doing something she is not ready for." Wood removed the ice pack from his head and played with it instead. Marcus could tell that he was nervous. "How do you know?" He asked eventually.

"I'm not sure how to explain it. Like, you just do little things and when they don't stop you, you keep going." Marcus said, struggling to find the right words.

"Little things like what?" Wood asked. Marcus turned around to see whether Pomfrey was anywhere near them.

"Like put your hand under their shirt. Go under their bra. Put your hand down their trousers." Marcus left it up to Wood to work out what said hand would be doing under a girl's clothes. Wood didn't say anything but was really taking apart the ice pack now.

Marcus gave him a moment to think it through. He let his eyes wander around the hospital wing. He thought that he must have been in every single one of these beds since starting school. Quidditch was a contact sport after all. As Wood was not really starting up the conversation again, Marcus thought maybe this was his cue to leave now. But just as he was about to get up he saw Bell enter the hospital wing. He considered leaving anyway for an instant but did not want to look like he was trying to run away from her. Which he most definitely was not. Bell also hesitated a moment when she saw him but walked up to the beds they were sitting on anyway.

"Hey. Are you alright, Oliver?" Bell said gently, ignoring Marcus completely. Wood looked up at Bell and Marcus thought that there was no way that Wood really had meant what he said about regretting dating her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just feeling stupid." Wood smiled at the girl and Marcus wished he had left when he had the chance to. So now he just sat very quietly and wished himself invisible.

"You're not stupid. What you did was stupid. But it was also cute. And we won." Bell kissed his cheek and Wood's smile deepened. Marcus thought he was going to throw up.

"Okay. I don't think I need to hear any of this." Marcus pushed himself off of the bed and hurriedly made his way out of the hospital wing. There was only so much of that he could take.

He turned into the Transfiguration corridor when he heard someone call his name behind him. Marcus was surprised to see Bell walking up towards him. She was out of breath when she had reached him.

"Bloody hell, why do you walk so fast?" She said between deep breaths.

"Well, my legs are almost twice as long as yours. Your stamina is pitiful."

Bell just shrugged. "We need to talk."

Marcus looked down the corridor. There were quite a few students around.

"Fine. But not here." He pulled her towards some stairs and down another corridor. They passed some doors until he eventually opened one next to a painting of a meadow. The two students entered the artefact room. Bell looked around with curious eyes. Marcus thought that she had probably never been in here. Not many students knew about it, Marcus only knew because of Adrian and his constant need to overshare.

"So what do you want to talk about?" He said and crossed his arms. It was pretty obvious what Bell would want to talk about but he was not going to make it easy for her. Marcus would have been happy to just ignore it. There were only 4 months of school left for him.

"You know what." Bell looked extremely uncomfortable. "I just wanted to say that it was a mistake. I don't know what came over me. And I don't think anyone needs to know. Especially Oliver. I know you are friends with him now, but I don't think you should say something."

Marcus raised an eyebrow. So that was why she had been chasing him down. She'd seen him and Wood talking and panicked.

"Why would I say anything to Wood? It was just a kiss. No big deal." For a split second Marcus thought that Bell looked hurt by his words. But wasn't that what she wanted to hear?

"Yeah. No big deal." Bell said but made no move to leave. When Marcus moved closer, she did not back away. And so he kissed her. Bell hesitated for a moment and Marcus thought she might slap him again but then she leaned into him and kissed him back. Marcus really liked the feeling of having her body so close to his. He deepened the kiss and let his hand venture down her shirt. Bell did not stop him and when he went under her bra she moaned against his lips. Encouraged Marcus stopped the kiss for a moment to take off her shirt. His quickly followed. And within minutes Bell was laying under him wearing nothing.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked, his voice raspy.

Bell nodded and kissed him deeply. Marcus kissed her back and thought that Adrian had no idea how deep the shit he was going to be in really was.