AN:
After forever and a day I am finally back to writing and the muse is cooperating with this story. I have truly missed writing this pairing and secretly hope I don't run the muse into the ground too much this month so I can give Marcus some much needed attention.
Thank you so much for your patience, support, kind words, and love during my absence. It truly means the world to me.
So without further delay, here's Chapter Five:
Chapter Five
There were certain aspects of being an adult that continuously surprised Hermione. One of the first she had noticed upon starting her training in the Healers' Program - and was still pleasantly astonished by when she saw it - was the work ethic, dedication, and efficiency of others. They hadn't exactly been traits that had run rampant within Gryffindor, or at least not within her circle of friends while they had been in school. So after six years of being poked at for her diligently studious ways, the mirrored qualities always gave her a moment of shocked but appreciative pause. She liked to stay busy but she hated her time being wasted, which had often been the case with her friends. Time and time again when she had to bail them out with homework or test revision, it had been due to their poor time management and not from a lack of understanding the material, which often led to her feeling as though she was only enabling their bad habits.
So, after arriving at the Falcons' stadium and compound ten minutes early despite her argument with Ron and the subsequent reeling she had done afterwards, she was again pleasantly surprised - not to mention grateful - to find the contractors waiting for her outside of her office. Their meeting though short had been highly productive and exactly what she had needed to shake the rest of her early morning into the back of her mind so she could process it all when her emotions were less raw. The down side to such efficiency though was that they had wrapped up the latest details for their work in the training and recovery areas by a quarter to eight, leaving her with forty-five minutes until Marcus arrived for his session.
Always in want of something to do, she looked around at the embarrassing chaos that was her office and grabbed the first two boxes she saw. Lugging them over to her navy blue lacquered desk, she dropped one in the center and the other on the blush colored upholstered armchair that sat opposite her matching desk chair. Opening up one of the gold and mirrored filing cabinets she had selected with the decorator, she extracted a number of abstract patterned pink, blue, and gold folders, and began labeling them with the players' names. She had made the decision to lose nearly half of the square meters that had made up the original office - part of the reason the mess looked worse now than before - so that the rest could be put towards the spa space she wanted for the players. As a trade off she had given in to her want for professional femininity and as such, the room was now bursting with it. After all, as one of only two witches that were employed by the wizard-dominated Falmouth Falcons, she felt the area where she would be doing a predominant amount of her meetings and paperwork needed to be a haven from the overabundance of testosterone she would be swimming in each season.
The extra time she had budgeted for but ended up not needing slipped by as she became engrossed in deciphering the past healer's notes on Richmond's numerous injuries to his hands and fingers. How the second position chaser still managed to handle the quaffle with the deftness that he had during their last match astounded her. The bones and joints of his hands had routinely been abused and hastily healed with little to no treatment afterwards. Without it, the arthritis a player of his position would eventually develop was now settling in years before it should be. Digging around in her oversized purse, she pulled out a fresh jar of the balm she had used on his hands during the game. After penning a quick note for him with instructions to apply it twice daily until their scheduled meeting for his full physical, she attached it to the jar and placed it in her outbox so she remembered to send it out with an owl that afternoon.
The eucalyptus compound had been one of several dozen healing potions she and Theo had found amongst Professor Snape's belongings during the summer after the war. As his godson and therefore closest relative, everything he owned had transferred to Draco upon his death since he lacked a proper will. His Cokeworth home had been a treasure trove of theory notes, improved brewing recipes, rare books, and custom equipment. She had initially felt bad when Draco had turned the two of them loose on their deceased professor's belongings like the bunch of scavengers they were, but the man had been brilliant and the feelings of robbing a grave had rapidly slipped away as they dove deeper and deeper into things that made his modified sixth year textbook look like the work of a first year. Had he lived and patented his findings, Professor Snape would have been a very wealthy wizard, not to mention if he had decided to publish his modified recipes he would have been known the world over as the forefront expert in brewing. As it was though, Draco patented almost all of it posthumously and spread the earnings equally amongst a number of charities he felt his godfather would have approved of. However a select few - like the balm Hermione carried with her everywhere to treat the often sudden onset of spasms that came from her prolonged exposure to the Cruciatus Curse - he had kept off the profit list so she, Theo, and Madam Pomfrey could use them exclusively in their work as healers paying only for the cost of ingredients, though Draco often refused to accept even that from her and the Hogwarts matron.
"Knock, knock," Marcus cheerily announced, making her yelp in surprise and reflexively level her wand at him, ready to attack. Either completely ignoring her reaction or oblivious to it, he stepped in making the small space feel claustrophobic with his large presence and continued, "Since you pushed our session back thirty minutes to meet with the contractors earlier in the morning, I wasn't sure if you had had time to eat. So, I come bearing an offering of various coffees and breakfast items from Espressini. You haven't lived until you've had their waffles and eggs benedict. It's a Falmouth staple, the townspeople will consider kicking you out if you don't become a convert, so high stakes."
Despite the sling he still wore and his ability to use magic to float the items beside him, he had a large bag hanging from each elbow and was juggling three cardboard drink carriers between his hands and chest as he entered her office. Jumping up from her desk to relieve him of the burden to both spare his injured side and her overpriced rug from a spill, she reprimanded, "Marcus, you shouldn't be carrying so much with your injury. You risk exacerbating it and setting us back before we even begin."
"Well I can't let my favorite healer go hungry, now can I?" He asked, smiling at her in the same manner he had from when they met in the locker room. "You can't always be taking care of everyone else doc. You gotta let someone take care of you and I've decided it's going to be me."
Her exasperation with him and his disregard for his injury melted away in the face of his flirtatious words and gaze. Curling her lips inward to fight back a responding smile and praying her cheeks weren't blushing though she felt the heat that told her otherwise, she directed him towards the armchair. Seeing that the boxes of medical records were still out, she quickly muttered a spell to seal them and send them to the floor while she brought his abundant bounty of food over to her desk. Unpacking the delicious smelling containers as he slowly lowered himself into the chair, she subtly pocketed her wand back along her hip, thankful for his lack of reaction to her war tuned reflexes.
Opening the first container, she was hit with the mouth watering smell of baked dough and berry jam. Looking at the tumbler that had held the smoothie Viktor had made for her that morning, she reluctantly began closing the lid.
"Thank you for this," she said, covetously eyeing the rest of the containers. "I already had a smoothie though so I really shouldn't-"
"You can't be serious. A smoothie?" He clarified in disbelief. "A smoothie is not breakfast. Sit, I'm fixing you a plate. You need to eat real food."
"It is too breakfast," she protested. "It has protein, fruits and vegetables, and a whole host of vitamin and nutrient supplements. It's completely acceptable and perfectly balanced for a morning meal. Not to mention it was delicious."
"We have seriously got to work on your idea of what is and isn't acceptable. Frankly your defense of the smoothie as a breakfast food makes me question your capabilities as a healer," he teased. "Next thing I know, you'll be telling me that the Prophet's headline this morning is accurate and not just a bait line to sell more copies."
"That I can't help you with. I didn't see the paper this morning, if that rag can be considered such. Considering the source though, you're probably right and it's a false lead to sell more. What are the gossip mongers reporting about anyways?"
Handing her a container that he had arranged with half a portion of eggs benedict, part of one of the waffles with berries and cream, and torn off portions of several pastries, he dismissively said, "Oh you know, the usual rubbish that comes from anonymous sources that are supposedly close to you, Potter, and Weasley. 'The Golden Trio Are No More,' and 'Remembrance Memorial Upstaged by Awkward Interactions Between the War Heroes and Former Friends.' Oh and yesterday evening's edition which has to be the most ludicrous of all, I mean you really should look into suing: 'Weasley Spotted Stumbling Out of a Night Club in Cambridge Hours Before the Memorial: What Does Hermione Granger Have to Say About the Voluptuous Blonde He Left With.'"
Snatching a plastic fork from one of the sacks, Hermione speared the waffle piece with it. Refusing to look at Marcus as she blinked back her tears and tried to keep her professional demeanor in place, she dragged it through the dollop of cream and shoved the large bite into her mouth. Though the fluffy texture and buttermilk tasted sinful and was undeniably something she would have enthusiastically devoured under other circumstances, the food felt like ash as she tried to swallow it down her emotion clogged throat. Blindly grabbing one of the cups of coffee, she took a large swing of it and choked the food the rest of the way down, hoping the awkward air was something only she felt.
She wasn't that lucky though because as she met his bright eyes Marcus swore under his breath and his easy natured spirit deflated upon seeing her obvious distress.
"Shite Hermione, I'm sorry. I didn't know you two were actually together," he apologized, pushing the food out of the way as he reached across her desk, stopping at the last second before she could feel his hand over hers. "I just assumed it was another tale the tabloids had spun up like you and Krum. Unless that's also true. Fuck I need to shut up before I dig myself any deeper."
Her laugh was watery as she took in his sheepish, near pained expression. Trying to soothe at least part of his fumble away, she said, "No, the rumors about Viktor and I are just that. He's actually seriously taken with one of my friends, Luna Lovegood. She was a year behind me at school and in Ravenclaw so I don't know if you remember her."
Shaking his head, he placed the other half of the waffle in her container and scooped the remaining cream on top, snagging the cinnamon sticky bun back as payment.
Running her fork through the lightly sweetened cream and licking it off the tines, she continued, "Anyways, until he signed with the Falcons - which the whole reason he was even looking to move to this league after his contract was up was to be with her - they had rarely ever even been on the same continent at the same time. Let alone have an opportunity to be photographed together. He was playing in Bulgaria as you know and she's been traveling the world with Rolf Scamander working on the newest edition of his grandfather's book. Now that it's headed to editing, she's back home; and with him here, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before their relationship is plastered all over the media. Though they could be married with four kids and Ron would probably still be jealous of him. He's insecure like that. We even had a nasty fight just this morning actually because of it. He's none too happy about the amount of time I will be spending with you and not him during the off season."
Not sure what it was that had the words falling from her mouth with no resistance, she internally screamed at herself to shut up. She wasn't even in a good place to silently think about the issues in her relationship, let alone discuss them with Marcus Flint of all people. Yet to her horror, she kept going.
"He's always been like that too. Overly jealous and prone to thinking he has some sort of claim or ownership over me because we've known each other for so long.
"You know during our sixth year when it had been suggested to him that I most probably used to snog Viktor, he made a huge show of snogging Lavender Brown - the 'voluptuous blonde' he was no doubt seen with in Cambridge - in the middle of the common room after a quidditch match. I had just asked him to be my date to Slughorn's Christmas party two days prior too. I can only imagine what he would do if he ever found out that I lost my virginity to Viktor the summer following our fourth year."
Hermione's eyes went wide as she slapped her hands over her mouth to prevent any more words from tumbling out while Marcus choked on the poached egg he had just put in his mouth.
Beating his chest as he coughed, he pulled out a bottle of water and took several sips before confirming, "Did you just say you lost your virginity to Krum six years ago and that your boyfriend doesn't know?"
Prying her hands away, she smoothed her palms over her legging clad thighs and stood up from her desk. Grabbing the folder she had prepared for him, she used her most professional sounding voice as she said, "Well, I hope you didn't eat too much because we really should get started. If we dawdle any longer we'll be here well into the night and I promised Viktor a harbor view dinner at Pennycomequick. Not to mention, I'm sure an attractive wizard such as yourself must have a full social calendar now that you're in the off season. Surely you'll want to get away from me as soon as you can so you can spend time with your own girlfriend - boyfriend for all I know - or wine and dine the latest Broom Bunny looking to take you for a ride or whatever it is you lot call them."
Oh Godric and Jesus, may one of you strike me mute right now, she silently prayed
Coming around her desk with the folder pressed to her chest like it would protect her from the flirtatious and comforting magnetism that was Marcus, she let out an embarrassed squeak that was unworthy of her status as a war heroine. Faster than he had lowered himself into the chair, he had stood up and was towering over her. Bumping into the desk as she tried to put space between them, she tilted her head back to find his eyes intently fixed on her.
"For the record," his deep voice rumbled. "There's no wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, or husband. And I wouldn't touch a Broom Chaser with a three meter pole.
"I like to date with the intention that we will be progressing towards a committed, monogamous, long standing relationship. I also prefer it if my witch has a greater ambition than being little more than a quidditch trophy, because all of this," he said, gesturing around him, "Can be over in an instant. And unlike some, I can recognize when I'm looking at a witch that is worth more than her weight in gold. And you, Healer Hermione Granger, are just that sort of rarely found witch and should never allow anyone to treat you as anything less than that. Regardless of who they are to you or what experiences you've been through together."
Just as swiftly, Marcus stepped back and Hermione felt as if she was receiving a rush of untainted air. However, it did nothing to dispel the large space in her mind that his words had claimed as residence. With the way he made her giddy and blush under his attention, the simple act of bringing her food so he was sure she had been afforded the chance to eat, the ease with which she found herself opening up to him, his undeniable attractiveness, and the near promise of how he would treat her if they were dating, she knew she was in trouble with him. She felt neglected and used by Ron and here Marcus was, offering up everything her relationship had always been lacking.
Could Viktor be right? Had she outgrown her relationship with Ron and that was why Marcus appealed to her so much? Or was she simply transferring her unmet needs onto him during a difficult season? Once again though she pushed the deep thoughts away from her mind, unready to face the potential upheaval their answers could bring to her life.
AN:
Espressini Cafe is real coffee shop in Falmouth that according to all accounts I have seen, is THE place to have breakfast at.