A/N: So we won't talk about just how late I am with this piece. We can thank NaNo for helping me get it written, but then we can also blame NaNo for why it didn't get posted until now. We can also thank grad school for taking over my life the last two and a half months. The third day of #HuntForHorcrux18 hosted by Draco's Den was Salazar Slytherin's Locket.

It was self-betaed, so I apologize profusely for any mistakes you may find.

Title: The Locket
Rating: K
Pairing: Marcus Flint & Oliver Wood
Summary: The odd interactions of rival houses has been the topic of discussion around Hogwarts lately. None of them seem phased by it. They are all more concerned with whispering objects popping up all over campus. To be continued in the next installment...

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Love always,

~starr

Marcus was walking down the corridor when he heard a familiar voice calling after him. Slowly, he turned around and noticed that Oliver Wood was attempting to wave him down, so he stopped walking and waited for the lad to catch up.

"You know, Flint, you're a mighty hard person to catch when you want to be," Oliver huffed, resting a hand on Marcus's shoulder when he finally caught up to him. He took a deep breath and smiled broadly after scrubbing a hand over his face. "Do you have a minute to talk about that game we've got coming up next week?"

Marcus looked at him for a moment and furrowed his brow. Slytherin and Gryffindor had just faced off in Quidditch last week, so they weren't due to play again for at least a month. "What are you on about, Wood?"

Oliver rolled his eyes and sighed heavily before narrowing his gaze at Marcus and squeezing his shoulder a little tighter. "You know that game we've got on Friday, the big one that we haven't practiced for in a couple weeks."

"Oh, right," Marcus replied, nodding his head slowly. Finally, he realized what Oliver was insinuating and to an extent felt a little silly for not realizing it sooner. "Yeah, when did you want to get together for that? Soon I would reckon?"

"The sooner, the better," Oliver replied, lowering his hand from Marcus's shoulder as a few of their fellow classmates rounded the corner. "Let's met at the pitch around seven-ish this evening?"

Marcus nodded his head. "Sounds like a plan to me. I'll catch you later, Wood."

"Catch you later," Oliver replied, spinning on his heels and making his way back up the corridor.

As he was walking, he noticed a pair of Ravenclaws lurking in the corner whispering to one another. He could have sworn he heard them mumble his name, but he couldn't be sure.

"McGonagall must be thrilled to see a Slytherin and a Gryffindor getting along so well."

The sentence caught Oliver off guard, and he slowed his pace and turned back to face the two of them. "What was that now?"

"Just odd, don't you think? The two houses hate each other, or at least they have for the last couple of years. I don't understand what would cause the lines of hatred to be so blurred all of a sudden," the girl replied, crossing her arms over her chest. Her friend followed suit, and both narrowed their gaze at Oliver.

He fought the urge to roll his eyes at their audacity and bit back the smart retort that had appeared at the front of his mind. "What's wrong with a little inter-house unity? The fighting doesn't really do anyone any good, so we might as well try to get along. Not like a Dark Lord is trying to pull us apart or anything. Maybe you two should consider some inter-house mingling."

"It's just weird. First Draco following the Weasley girl around and Blaise spotted running off with Granger," she replied with a shrug. "I don't like any of the other houses enough to want to spend time with any of them. So I'm good not mingling."

Oliver furrowed his brow at the connections the young girl had pointed out. The pairings of people did seem rather odd, but he was sure there was a good reason for it. Hermione and Ginny were both smart girls so they wouldn't be out looking for trouble. Something must have been going on.

"The choice is yours, but I don't see a point in wasting time with silly house rivalries," Oliver shrugged, pushing past the two of them. "Besides, I've got more important things to do."

He reached into his pocket and wrapped his hands around the cold piece of metal that he had placed there earlier. He was hoping that Marcus might recognize it because when he saw the snake on the front of it, he figured it was representative of the Slytherin house. Of course, he could ask Hermione, but it would appear that she was busy with a puzzle of her own.

As he walked past the clock in the main corridor, he noticed that it was almost time to head down to the pitch. Marcus would be arriving soon, and the pair had a lot to talk about. He only hoped that he could get an answer as to why this silly necklace was calling to him, even though he wasn't even a part of the house that it called home.

Rounding the corner of the side of the Quidditch pitch, he found Marcus leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. Oliver couldn't help smiling at just how handsome he looked standing there in the sunlight. Cursing himself quietly, he shook his head and pushed all thoughts aside. Now was not the time for ideas of that nature.

"Flint," he called, waving nervously as he approached. "Thanks for agreeing to meet with me."

"No problem," Marcus replied, carding a hand nervously through his hair. "But I'm still confused as to why you wanted me to meet you here. We don't have a game coming up."

"Well, I wanted to ask you about something, but I wasn't sure how to bring it up, and I wanted to make sure that we were alone," Oliver replied, kicking at the ground in front of him as he wrapped his hand around the necklace in his pocket.

"What do you want to ask me about?" Marcus asked, furrowing his brow. He couldn't deny the passing thoughts of what a future with Oliver could be, but he wasn't sure that he was ready to come out and admit any of it. Mainly because he had no idea if Oliver felt the same way, and if he didn't, there was no way he'd be able to face him or anyone else at Hogwarts ever again.

"This," Oliver said, slowly pulling his hand out of his pocket.

Marcus looked at his hand and noticed a small chain dangling down. In the palm of Oliver's hand was a golden locket with an "s" engraved in the middle. He had heard a rumor about a necklace making its way around Hogwarts, but the last he had heard it was in the hands of Hermione Granger. There was no telling when they would get it back if she were holding on to it. He was confident that she would be spending hours researching it in the library until if she was able to get her way.

"Where did you get that?" Marcus asked, reaching out to take the locket out Oliver's hand. He examined it for a few moments before returning it.

"It was in the storage room down here on the pitch. I was setting up for practice yesterday, and I heard whispering. It was the damnedest thing," Oliver said with a shrug.

"Interesting. I overheard Malfoy and Zabini talking about some whispering artifacts the other day," Marcus mused aloud, stroking his chin for a few moments. "Maybe we should ask them what they've heard."

"I wonder if that's what those girls were talking about earlier," Oliver mumbled. "They said that Draco was following Ginny around this week and Blaise had been spotted with Hermione a few times. I wonder if it was about the whispering."

"It can't hurt to ask," Marcus said. "Malfoy should be on his way here. I left word that we had an emergency practice to get ready for the match, but I guess I can cancel it since there wasn't really anything coming up."

"Sorry 'bout that, but I wasn't sure how to get you here so that I could ask about the locket," Oliver replied.

"Not to worry," Marcus replied. "But, we should really go find the others and see what all this is about. Who knows what the whispering could mean…"