"Game Plan" by Redcandle17
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and elements from the Harry Potter series belong to J.K Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.
Marcus didn't try to seek out Katie in the week and a half following the end of their relationship. She was so certain that he was going to do something bad to her, he figured it was best to wait until after the Slytherin-Gryffindor game to talk to her. Surely after she realized nothing had happened, she'd be more reasonable. This, however, did not mean that he intended to go easy on her during the game. He wanted to win and so did the rest of the Slytherin team.
They played like they wanted to win. Marcus deliberately collided with Angelina Johnson in an attempt to throw her from her broom. The rules of Quidditch forbade replacing players once a game had begun. If one of the Gryffindor players was injured during the game, they'd have to continue playing without him or her. Taking Johnson out of the game would leave two Gryffindor chasers against all three Slytherin chasers, giving the Slytherins an easy victory - snitch or no snitch. Unfortunately, the foul against Johnson backfired. Not only did she not fall, but Madam Hooch caught him doing it, and one of the Weasleys smashed his beater's bat into the back of Marcus's head in retaliation. His head slammed forward into his broom handle, breaking his nose. Marcus swore; there was nothing else he could do - stopping the game for a mere broken nose was out of the question.
A few minutes later, Montague grabbed Katie's head and tried to pull her off her broom. Katie dropped the quaffle as she struggled to stay on her broom. Marcus caught it without thinking, watching her and holding his breath. He didn't breathe again until Katie stopped spinning in the air and regained her balance. He spared an angry glance in Montague's direction before flying towards Wood and the Gryffindor goalposts with the quaffle.
The Gryffindors were winning, despite the best efforts of the Slytherins. That idiot Bole hit Spinnet with his bat while Hooch was hovering right near him, giving the Gryffindors another penalty shot - which Spinnet easily got pass Bletchley, like always. Marcus heard Jordan's commentary and the hush of the crowd that indicated the seekers were racing to the snitch. He ignored it, desperate to score at least one more goal before the game ended. Wood dived to deflect the quaffle just as "Harry's got it!" rang out.
The entire Slytherin team accompanied Marcus to the hospital wing. They were too dejected to speak, except for Malfoy. "I nearly had it!" he said. "Just one more inch. Potter literally stole it from my grasp. It's because of that Firebolt of his."
Marcus knew the kid was correct, but that didn't make him feel any better or make Malfoy any less annoying. He waved his hand inarticulately, hoping Malfoy would shut his mouth. His head hurt like hell and Malfoy's ranting was making it worse.
Finally, Montague seemed to understand Marcus's gestures and clamped his hand over Malfoy's mouth. "Draco," he said, "Marcus got hit in the head; your noise is probably hurting him." Thankfully, Malfoy remained silent after Montague removed his hand.
Madam Pomfrey had finished healing Marcus's nose and was prodding at the bump on the back of his head when Katie entered the room. Except for one resentful glare at Montague, she ignored the other Slytherins as she walked pass them towards Marcus.
Madam Pomfrey turned to look at Katie, still painfully poking Marcus's head. "Miss Bell. If your injuries are less serious than Mr. Flint's concussion, then please have a seat and I'll be with you shortly." Ha. He was surprised she didn't go to Katie immediately. After all, she'd been on the pitch to tend to Spinnet's head as soon as the game ended, but she'd made him come all the way to the infirmary. The tiny bit of fairness deep inside him reminded him that Pomfrey hadn't had the necessary potions with her to heal his nose on the pitch.
Katie blushed and looked at the floor as Madam Pomfrey finished with Marcus, whose head had finally stopped hurting, and turned her attention to her. "I'm okay," Katie said. "I'm only here to see Marcus."
Madam Pomfrey's eyebrows raised, but she only said, "Mr. Flint, remain here and rest for a few minutes." She headed to her office, looking over her shoulder at them curiously.
"Out," Marcus ordered his teammates. They obediently filed out of the room, though Malfoy was overheard demanding to know why a Gryffindor was visiting him. "Katie," Marcus said cautiously when they were alone. He wasn't sure whether she was still angry with him.
"I was worried about you." She sat next to him on the cot. "That was a nasty blow to the head, though I can't apologize for Fred after what you did to Angelina first."
"That's how we play," Marcus said. "No apologies."
"I guess not," Katie said. "But I owe you one for not believing you. I'm sorry I didn't trust you, Marcus."
Well, this was good. This was very good. If it had been anyone else and any other circumstance, he'd have accepted the undue apology without a second thought. Marcus groaned. Everything would be fine if he simply accepted the apology; Katie would be his again. Instead he said, "You don't owe me an apology, Katie. I did have less than honorable intentions when this all started. I wasn't even sure what I was going to do until two weeks ago. I owe you an apology for trying to use you like that."
Katie looked unsettled. "Apology accepted. I guess that's that." She rose to leave.
He grabbed her arm and yanked her back down next to him. "I still love you."
"I love you, too," she said, "But this isn't going to work."
Marcus kissed her. He pushed her down onto the cot and covered her body with his. She shoved at his shoulders for a few seconds before grabbing a handful of his hair and pulling him closer. "I've missed you so much," he whispered as he tried to tear open her red Quidditch robes.
"Missed you, too," she said, trying to remove his green robes.
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!" Madam Pomfrey screeched.
Marcus scrambled off of Katie and ended up on the floor, flat on his ass. He quickly got to his feet. Katie slid off the cot, her face bright red. Neither of them knew what to say to the irate nurse.
"Get out," Pomfrey said, "Out. Don't ever do that in here again or I'll send you both to the headmaster's office."
"Well, that was embarrassing," Katie said, as she and Marcus hurried away from the infirmary.
"I think I'd prefer to have been caught by Dumbledore. At least he has a sense of humor," Marcus said.
"Oh, Marcus! Fantasizing about Dumbledore watching you? I'm shocked!" Katie laughed.
Marcus laughed too. He put his arm around Katie's shoulder and held her close to him as they walked.
"What are we doing?" she asked quietly.
"We're looking for someplace private," Marcus said. "Unless you'd prefer to do it on the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. I imagine the rest of the school would appreciate the performance."
Katie didn't laugh. "No. What are we doing? You have less than two months left here and I have two more years of school. This isn't going to work."
Marcus stopped walking and grabbed both of Katie's shoulders. "You're not breaking up with me," he said. "We haven't even been back together for half an hour."
She tried to pull away, but he didn't let her.
"Marcus, we've got to face the facts," she said.
"We can meet every Hogsmeade weekend," he said.
"Once a month?" She laughed humorlessly. "Seeing me, touching me once a month will be enough for you? I don't believe that. I know that it won't be enough for me. It may last a few more months like that, but eventually both of us will lose interest."
"When did you get so cynical?" he asked softly.
She sighed. "I'm being realistic. When did you become a romantic?" She tried to smile, "What happened to my big, bad Slytherin?"
"Your Slytherin is completely in love with his Gryffindor."
"I'm going to miss my snuggly troll." She hugged him.
Marcus ignored the gaggle of first year Hufflepuffs who were staring at them. "It doesn't have to end so soon, Katie. It can last the rest of the school year."
"Really? Knowing that it'll end in a month?"
"That makes it all the more special," he said, glaring at the Hufflepuffs until they scurried away.
"Okay then. The Gryffindor locker room should be empty now..."
The next six weeks sped by quickly. Marcus and Katie spent most of that time together in the library, studying for the O.W.L.s and the N.E.W.T.s. They also spent all the time they could in the Slytherin locker room, just the two of them. Usually they were eager for school to end for the summer, but this year both of them desperately wished the days were longer.
After their exams were finished, they spent most of their time curled up together near the lake. Neither of them cared that the rest of the school knew about their relationship now. Though not many people seemed to notice - people were too excited about the upcoming Quidditch World Cup to pay attention to who was snogging whom.
Their friends knew, of course. Perhaps because Marcus was leaving Hogwarts so soon, Katie's friends weren't quite as upset as they might have been otherwise. Marcus's friends teased him about his Gryffindor and made vulgar jokes until he hexed Warrington and Bletchley, who had to spend a full day in the hospital wing. He tripped Pucey one evening as they walked down the stairs to the Slytherin dungeons - not at the top of the staircase, but Pucey fell a good enough distance to teach him not to pester Marcus
. He also felt compelled to snarl at the first and second year students in the hallways to counterbalance any perceived softening of his reputation. He once picked one of them up and held the boy in the air for a few seconds, but Katie caught him doing it and made him promise to stop.
"Who would have thought?" Katie said, as they sat on the Hogwarts Express. They were alone in the carriage; their friends were thoughtfully giving them privacy, and other students who wandered in were quickly scared off by Marcus.
"Who would have thought what?" Marcus asked, absently playing with a strand of Katie's blonde hair.
"Who would have thought that we'd fall in love with each other?"
"I try not to use the same line twice, but this one is the truth: I've never felt this way about anyone before," Marcus said.
Katie laughed softly. "I've never felt this way either."
"Not even about Wood?"
"I thought I was in love with Oliver," she replied. "But I know I'm in love with you. It's different when the person loves you back - that's what separates love from a crush."
"I don't mean to interrupt your philosophlizing," Marcus said, "But we're wasting valuable time." He slid his hand under her shirt.
Katie pushed his hand away and snuggled against his side. "Not here, silly troll," she said. "Anyone could walk by and see us."
Marcus shook his head in amusement. "You do know that you're the only person in the world who can call me that without getting hexed and beaten, right?"
"I should hope so," she said, "Because I know you love me." Her smile grew sadder. "Good bye, Marcus. I'll always love you."
"We'll find each other after you graduate," he said.
They didn't say anything else until the train reached Platform 9 and 3/4. Even then, everything had already been said, so they only said good bye and wished each other luck in life.
End
