Marcus didn't know what had happened. One minute he was kissing his beautiful soon to be wife, and the next Harry was standing with Montague, a look of pure pain on his lovely face and the body he held was one of a small female woman who could have been Harry's twin if not for the fact that she was obviously a girl and not his Harry. He watched as Harry took off back to the castle and would have given chase if not for his best friend who roughly grabbed his arm, rage in every muscle of his face.
He was dragged back to their dorms where Montague went into a rage about what the hell he had done. He couldn't explain his actions, when his friend finally sat down Markus ran a hand through his windswept hair.
"I know who I was kissing. She was Harry one moment and the next she wasn't! I would never endanger my betrothal to him by kissing some stupid little chit!" He exclaimed angrily.
"Did you see the pain on his face Marcus? Can you imagine the rumors that are going to circulate now? Fuck! You had better make this right Flint!" He snarled before storming out.
By that night all of Hogwarts knew that he had been caught kissing some chit by his little bride. The Gryffindor's wouldn't let him anywhere near Harry, and they didn't tell him where the other boy was, because he as sure as hell wasn't at dinner.
The next day an owl arrived saying Harry couldn't make it to dinner. It wasn't signed but it didn't have to be, everyone knew who the white snow owl belonged to. Monday was the same letter. The Slytherin's began whispering, the puffs and claws both took to glaring at him. Montague wouldn't talk to him. Greengrass and Zabini had given Harry his lessons, but it wasn't in the common room, and they refused to say how he was.
He had screwed up, surprisingly it was the muggle-born who had taken pity on him. "If Harry or Ron knew I talked to you there will be hell to pay. And I don't mean just for you. Do you want to marry him, Flint? Tell me right now if you were serious about the contract or I swear I will hunt you down and kick your ass." She stated icily and Marcus opened his mouth to tell her that he had been when a dark voice interrupted them.
"Flint, you're late for your detention." Snape stated, darkly with a glare and Marcus was about to tell him to fuck detention when he caught the glare Granger sent at the man. Without a word he made his way to the Potions classroom.
"Idiot boy!" Snape snarled as he stalked into the room, the door slamming shut behind him. "You fell straight into their trap." He sneered as he folded his arms and faced Marcus.
"What are you talking about sir?" Marcus demanded, his own anger rising as he looked at his head of house.
"Think! Who are you allowed to talk about your betrothal to? Does Grangers name come up on that list? He snarled and Marcus blinked.
"That's enough Severus." The headmaster stated as he came out of the fireplace with a smile on his lips.
Snape backed off; his face still contorted with anger. "You are just upset that Harry is more Slytherin than you would like to admit." He stated with a chuckle and Marcus looked between the two in confusion.
"I didn't think that foolish Gryffindor could actually pull it off Albus." Snape stated after a moment.
"No, I would think not. You see Mr. Flint you laid a trap and Harry side stepped it masterfully. The prophet was a wonderful idea, very underhanded. Perhaps you would like to talk about this in my office, hum. Miss. Granger, Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley are all waiting." The old man stated as he stepped through the fireplace back into his office, soon followed by both Snape and Marcus. Harry sat with his arms crossed and glaring at the floor.
"Harry," Marcus called but Harry turned his head away from him.
"Ignore him, he's sulking." Ron stated with an amused laugh.
"Sulking?"
"Yes, Professor Snape ruined a perfectly good plan. It took us a week to get all the players set up just right and it was executed perfectly, and we nearly won but then the professor stepped in and now Harry is sulking." Hermione stated with an amused laugh getting a glare from Harry.
"Perhaps Miss. Granger you would like to enlighten Mr. Flint of the chaos you three have caused this past week.
"A brilliant plan should be admired, especially one that was well executed. You see after you decided to play underhanded and have the Slytherin's go to the prophet Harry here came up with an even better plan." Hermione stated with a wicked grin.
"You see we let you move first, your article captured a handful of pawns in one fell swipe, but failed to capture our queen piece, but now it's our move, and we intend to take your bishops, castles, and Knights. We already knew the betrothal would get out, and you made a dangerous mistake. You underestimated us, so we put our plan into motion." Hermione stated before Ron took over with a grin.
"It truly was Harry's idea he's brilliant somedays. We planned to turn the rumor mill in our favor. Lavender and Parvati were rather helpful with that. We placed several rumors in motion and poor Harry was heartbroken, when word got out that you were tired of waiting for Yule and took comfort from some unnamed and faceless woman in Hogsmeade only for poor Harry to catch you, and so shortly after that lovely article had shouted the joyous news of the impending wedding. Of course, Harry had begged you to wait until your marriage was a bit closer. It was such a tragedy."
"Then of course it fell to me to get you to mention the betrothal, and I damn well nearly had you, but somebody had to interrupt. Such a waste;" Hermione deadpanned and Harry grinned from his seat.
"Did he really nearly break the agreement, Mia?" Harry demanded sounding excited. She nodded her head and grinned.
Marcus scowled as everything became clear in his mind. Harry and his friends had played him, and he had fallen straight into their trap like a fool. "Don't scowl at me Flint. If you are going to use everything at your disposal, then I am going to use everything at mine and I'm really not very nice when playing mind games. If you had not gotten the Slytherin's to go to the prophet I would not have gotten the Gryffindor's to set the rumor mill in motion." Harry stated with his own smirk.
"That was a very Slytherin tactic my sweet." Marcus stated with narrowed eyes.
"Yes, I should never have let you talk me into placing you in Gryffindor; no doubt Salazar is rolling over in his grave and cursing me for keeping you from his house." The hat stated loudly from its corner. Harry simply shrugged.