AN: I usually don't update literally the day after I already posted a chapter. But my best friend has been dying for this chapter, seeing she knew exactly what will be in there. I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out. I'll admit I loved writing certain scenes in this.

Enjoy

~NicoDiAngeloLover7

Touched by Death – Chapter 10

The fight with Hermione lingered on Harry's mind for several days. The Gryffindor didn't really know what to think. It felt like nowadays the girl was always trying to find out what he was doing. Harry couldn't believe it had taken him this long to see it. Maybe hanging out with a Slytherin helped him get rid of some of his obliviousness. Or that Marcus tended to point out what was in front of him, with the occasional comment that Harry was acting like a Hufflepuff.

The Gryffindor was honestly waiting for Hermione to get so annoyed at him and slip to Ron about his supposedly friendship with a 'Slytherin.' So far there hasn't been any red alarms that Ron knew. Though, Harry had a feeling that another part of that nightmare would be reenacted. Despite all of that, Harry still felt like Hermione was still his friend. Ron apparently wouldn't speak to him at the moment. There were times where Harry felt like someone was glaring at him. Harry didn't think it was his fault, considering that only the Quidditch team knew he quit. The Gryffindor didn't think Fred or George would have told his brother either.

Harry tried to push his worrying thoughts to the side. The Gryffindor secretly hoped that Hermione may take his words seriously that he wanted his own privacy and that she would treat him more as a friend.

That's where Marcus found Harry later that day. That's when Marcus brought up the conversation that Harry had forgotten last time they spoke.

"You're not in lessons with Lupin… why? I thought you were taking this Patronus stuff serious," Marcus asked.

Harry had to blink as he looked up from his healing textbook, assigned by Madam Pomfrey. That's when Harry got excited, "Ohhh! I forgot to tell you. I mastered the Patronus charm. I got distracted when we spoke about Sirius Black."

Marcus rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised that you had forgotten?"

Harry stuck out his tongue in response. "Well… I was going to tell you what form it is. But I don't think I will now."

"Impudent brat…" Flint muttered.

Flint just got a smirk in response to his comment.

"You going to calm your arse down, so you can tell me?" the Slytherin asked.

Harry smiled, "maybe I should keep it a surprise…"

"Harry… I will believe it when I see it."

The Gryffindor just huffed in response.

"Marcus, what is your Patronus?" Harry's voice grew soft.

Had it been anyone else, Marcus would have snarled and told them to fuck off. Marcus didn't believe it was anyone's business. But Harry was different.

"I don't have one…" Marcus voice was indifferent.

Harry couldn't help to softly gasp. He had assumed Marcus already had a form, he knew that the Patronus was extremely hard to cast. Marcus had always seemed to have an abundant knowledge of magic. The Slytherin also had the feel of strong magic about him.

Harry could feel Marcus almost glaring at him as if daring the Gryffindor to judge him. It was when Marcus was getting up as if to leave that the Potter heir grabbed at Marcus' sleeve.

Marcus looked shocked, as if he didn't dare to think that Harry wouldn't want him to leave.

"I'm not judging you, Marcus. So, what if you can't cast a Patronus. Like you and Professor Lupin said, the charm is very hard and incredibly draining to cast," Harry practically whispered.

Flint sighed as he looked at the pleading look from Harry. "Are you asking that you want to teach me?"

"You seem to know me more than my friends. Even they didn't know I wanted to be a healer. You may not have known. But you knew I don't want to be an Auror. I know you want help with this. But your pride is preventing you from asking. I don't care if you're a Slytherin. Just like you don't care that I'm a reckless and rash Gryffindor. You don't always have to wear your Slytherin mask. I want to help," Harry spoke urgently.

Marcus' eyes softened as he looked at Harry. Never had he encountered someone who cared so much. Normally nobody looked at him twice unless it was to throw an insult or snarl. Marcus knew that he wasn't well liked, even within the house of Slytherin. To have someone willingly wanting to talk to him was shocking in itself. To have a Gryffindor, nonetheless, the Boy Who Lived, felt like one shock of his life. Marcus thought he got the feel of talking to Harry constantly and worrying about the Gryffindor went along with that. Then Flint was thrown for another loop when Harry volunteered to help him. Never before had some actually volunteered to help him with something unless it was to mock him. Marcus knew that Harry would never mock him, he was too kind for that. Flint had thought maybe he was mistaken when Harry had gasped. He felt like he should not have been surprised when Harry had stopped him, yet he was. There were certain magics that Marcus wasn't good at, producing a Patronus Charm was part of that. Flint didn't feel like he had a happy memory to even cast the mist of a Patronus. And yet here was Harry volunteering to make sure he could cast a Patronus.

"You better be a good teacher," Marcus' voice was almost gentle.

The grin that Marcus got from Harry was worth it.

The question of Professor Lupin actually allowing Harry to use the boggart was beginning to become a problem.

The DADD professor seemed concerned since Harry had just learned the Patronus Charm. He man was unsure if he should allow Harry to teach a fellow student. It seemed that the professor believed it needed to be a professor or an older student to teach such an advance charm. In the end Professor Lupin agreed that he could use the Boggart, considering the Gryffindor could produce a corporal Patronus.

Harry had been persistent that he wanted to teach Marcus, not that the Gryffindor mentioned the prefect's name to the Professor. But Harry knew that Marcus would never attempt to perform a spell that he had trouble with around a professor he didn't know or trust. The Gryffindor doubted that Marcus would perform a spell like that with a professor he did trust. Harry was confident that Marcus trusted him a lot or his offer for help would have been shot down immediately. The Gryffindor knew that Marcus wouldn't have been nice in his response either, yet the Slytherin was.

Harry was honestly glad he had that out of the way, since he had been wanting to try to find some more information about this Sirius Black. He wouldn't try to be hopeful about any results, but he had to try. Harry knew that Marcus gave him a lot of information already, but that didn't mean he knew everything about the man.

The Gryffindor assumed the best place to look was in the library. They had to have endless amounts of knowledge of different types of families.

This is what brought Harry to find a book about the Black family tree. Harry didn't bother to even read through it, no doubt it would have a lot about pure blood supremacy. The Gryffindor still flipped through it until he found what he was looking for.

It was an image of the Black Family tree, though Harry found it looked more like a tapestry if it wasn't in a book.

Harry looked through the names to see if he could find the name Sirius. Though he really couldn't find anything. It didn't help that it looked like some names were marked off. The Gryffindor didn't know that much about his Godfather to know who the man's mother or father was. Harry didn't even know if his godfather had any siblings or not. Harry wound up finding one person with the name of Sirius, but it didn't make sense for the year. The man would be dead already if the year was correct. Harry put it in his mind that the name of Sirius must have originated from like a grandfather or something, especially when he realized he found two with the name, Sirius. Considering there were two Sirius' on the family tree. That meant that Harry's godfather had to be Sirius III, but where on the family tree was, he? There were several marks, maybe that meant they were disowned or something. But there were two possibilities. His godfather was either the son of Orion and Walburga or he was the son of Cygnus and Druella Black nee Rosier. There was no way that Harry was going to send an owl to the Malfoys to ask. Harry didn't care that Narcissa was one of the daughters of Cygnus and Druella. Harry hated the Malfoys with a fiery passion and the meeting with Lucius last year didn't calm his hatred. Harry had never met Narcissa, he doubted the woman would have an approving opinion either. Especially if Narcissa was just like her husband and son.

Besides the fact that Harry still didn't know who Sirius was related to. The Gryffindor was equally shocked to know that he was technically related to his godfather. It wasn't hard to miss the last name Potter and just below it was the names of his mum and dad. His name wasn't listed, just that it said, "one son." Harry kept staring, stunned that he at least found the name of his grandmother and grandfather. He was a little saddened to know he could never get to know them. Dorea and Charlus Potter had died before he was born. Even if Harry didn't notice the name Potter in the family tree. Harry would have noticed that James and Lily Evans were on the Black Family tree. If the Gryffindor hadn't been so shocked about this revelation, he would have been angry. For years, Harry had been told that his muggle relatives were his only relatives. And yet here was this family tree that showed he had several distant relatives. Some may be not be very close in relation, but some of them were still family. They weren't even muggle families, they were families that were witches and wizards.

It soon came time to when Harry would use the same classroom to help Marcus. The same classroom that Harry had used to learn the Patronus Charm. The Gryffindor didn't know why, but he never mentioned about finding the Black Family Tree. Or maybe Marcus knew that Harry would be curious and try to find out the truth, if the Slytherin's smirk was anything to go by. Though, Harry couldn't say that. Marcus tended to smirk at a lot of things. Sometimes Marcus would smirk when he was amused, usually at someone's pain or misfortune. Though, Harry had started to be accustomed to Marcus actually smiling. He doubted he would get a sincere grin from the Prefect. But the Gryffindor did see a few small smiles, they were typically directed at him. Otherwise all Harry would see was snarls or scowls when directed at someone else.

Harry waited patiently until Marcus walked into the classroom before the door slammed shut. Harry not expecting the door to slam, jumped slightly.

"You ready for this?" Harry looked up at Marcus.

Flint rolled his eyes but didn't say anything.

"How much do you know about the Patronus Charm?" Harry asked.

"Are you fucking serious?" Marcus growled.

"Humor me," The Gryffindor stated.

"It's used to drive away dementors and needs a happy memory. Happy?" the Slytherin snapped.

"Ecstatic," Harry said dryly.

"Now what?" Marcus bit out.

Harry rolled his eyes at Flint's impatience.

"You're already aware of what my boggart is. There is one in this chest. It's the same one I practiced with. We're going to practice with this boggart until you master the charm," Harry commented as he fingered with the lock.

"Ready?" Harry asked as he looked behind him.

Marcus was grasping his wand tightly, "as I'll ever be."

It was when Marcus nodded did Harry unlatch the locks for the first time that night.

Despite Marcus annoyance that he couldn't produce mist yet, the Slytherin was impressed with Harry's corporal form.

"An eagle. How majestic… one would think you would gotten a lion," Flint dryly remarked.

Harry pouted, "I'm not that much of a Gryffindor…."

"Debatable," Marcus said with a small grin.

That wouldn't be the only days that Harry would meet up with Marcus to help him with his Patronus. The lessons would go on for weeks and into months. It was an understatement to say Marcus was pissed that he wasn't getting much progress. Harry saw it differently, the Slytherin had finally gotten the mist for his Patronus. Harry could see that Marcus was progressing on the charm. Flint was being impatient with it all, he wanted to be able to cast a corporal Patronus.

Harry eventually called one day to be quits. Depending on Marcus, they may continue to another hour or meet up later.

"You're not using a strong enough memory," Harry said bluntly one day.

Flint hissed under his breath, "it doesn't matter what memory I use."

"Yes, it does. The memory has to be powerful. It can't just be any happy memory. You need to feel the memory. The memory should have some raw emotion in it, that what helps fuel the Patronus. You said that casting a Patronus can be draining. That is one of the reasons why it's draining," Harry lectured.

"Fine," Marcus snarled.

Harry looked at Marcus unimpressed. "Do you have another memory that's more powerful?"

Flint didn't answer Harry for several minutes. The Slytherin sighed, "probably not…"

Harry gazed at Marcus in sympathy. The Gryffindor knew what Marcus meant of thinking he didn't have a powerful enough memory. That brought on Harry's internal debate if he should try something. He assumed the worst thing that could happen, that Marcus could curse or kill him. The Potter heir finally decided that it was worth it.

"Marcus…" Harry's voice was nervous.

Flint didn't hesitate to look at Harry.

"I have an idea that may help. But I need to try something…" Harry admitted.

Marcus looked confused before slowly nodding. "It better work," Flint eventually muttered.

Harry almost lost his nerve before trying to steel himself. The raven-haired boy was already nervous enough, so the urge to fidget was almost overwhelming.

The Gryffindor looked straight up into Marcus' eyes as he got closer to the Slytherin. Marcus' eyes were soft, although his features look rough and irritated. Marcus' robe was flung to the side earlier, though the older boy kept on his Slytherin cardigan. The tie was kept on, though slightly loosened to provide more breathing room.

Harry knew that Marcus was more pissed off about the Patronus than anything. Maybe he was the only that could read Marcus, Harry hoped.

Harry breathed evenly before stepping closer to Marcus, there were only a few inches separating them. The closeness felt intense as he felt Marcus' gaze on him. Almost shyly did Harry lean up and connect their lips together.

Harry had always felt shorter than the rest of his classmates. Today was no difference when Harry had to lean up to kiss Marcus for the first time. Marcus was already significantly taller than the Gryffindor and it was extremely noticeable today.

Marcus' lips felt rougher and bit dry. Though Harry didn't have anything to compare it to, considering he was giving away his first kiss. The Gryffindor noticed that Flint stiffened up immediately and that made Harry start to retreat away from the Slytherin. Flint's response made Harry want to regret his decision immediately.

Marcus caught on what Harry was about to do and grasped Harry's waist. The action then made Harry audibly gasp. Flint didn't waste another second and claimed Harry's lips. Marcus' grip tightened around Harry's waist, not wanting to let the younger go.

Harry moaned in Marcus mouth, the older boy was like a starved man. With one arm around Harry's waist, his other hand reached up to grasp Harry's hair.

If Harry had any expectations of his first kiss, this definitely wasn't it. His expectations were blown away the instant Marcus grabbed him. Harry then grasped at Marcus robes in a death grip as he was kissed.

It was after Marcus had grasped Harry's hair, that the Gryffindor lost all coherent thought. To say that Marcus was rough was an understatement. Marcus' lips were very demanding. Harry didn't doubt that his lips would be puffed and bruised afterwards. That was when Harry almost jumped, for a split second there had been something wet at his lips. It didn't take a genius that it was Flint's tongue.

Harry didn't know how to respond before he felt himself smashed to the nearest wall. Thankfully Flint prevented Harry's head from smashing hard in the wall. That didn't stop Marcus from taking advantage of Harry's slightly parted lips when he drew another moan from the younger boy. Marcus searched the cavern of Harry's mouth and silently moaned. Harry tasted divine to the Slytherin. That's when the Slytherin went to search out for Harry's tongue. Marcus didn't need to listen to know he pulled another moan from the Gryffindor in front on him.

When Marcus finally pulled away, though not very far. Harry was breathing hard, like he couldn't catch his breath. "Oh Merlin…" Harry breathed.

Marcus only smirked in satisfaction before leaning his forehead down on Harry's.

"Guessing that means you like me back…" Harry joked.

"You're mine…" Marcus growled possessively.

"Good to know…" Harry breathed deeply. "But that means you're mine too."

"Only you…" Flint whispered in Harry's ear.

Harry only response was to lean against Flint's big frame.

When Harry felt he could breath evenly again, he looked up at Marcus. "Try the charm."

Marcus looked doubtful at Harry's persistence. Though the Slytherin more disheartened that he would have to let go of the Gryffindor.

"Fine…" Flint muttered.

Harry had walked back over to the trunk that held the boggart. His legs felt slightly shaky, but Harry was confident that he wasn't going to fall over.

"Do it…" Marcus muttered.

The Potter heir nodded as he opened the locks.

There were identical grins as Marcus and Harry looked at each other.

"You did it!" Harry ecstatically shouted.

"It did…" Marcus was in disbelief.

Harry didn't hesitate to hug Marcus tightly, who snaked an arm around him in response. The action wasn't rough, though Marcus placed a comforting kiss on Harry's scar.

The Gryffindor wanted to melt, who knew that a Slytherin could be so comforting. A sight that only Harry would see and experience. It felt so surreal, all Harry's life did he want to actually experience someone who cared. Did Harry finally have that? Only time would tell…