Author's Notes:

This chapter is dedicated to AO3 user "Ramons", who picked up on where the title of this fic originates (from the song of the same name by "Trading Yesterday" - hear it here: youtube dot com / watch?v = ICMsciq10bo). - get rid of spaces and replace "dot" with "."

A BIG THANK YOU to the following reviewers of last chapter: Aphrodite-Venus-u.k, bleh, creativelymundane, esthe, ForASecondThereWe'dWon, Frekles, It'sHardToKnow, riversgirl75, sjrodgers23, zoesheppard


She scoffed, but in her chest, her heart was beating awfully hard. Marcus wasn't a flatterer by nature, she knew. He said what he meant, usually.

"You are," he insisted, glowering at her for daring to contradict him. "I've always thought you pretty, even back in school, but you were just a kid then." His lids lowered with definite interest now and he licked his lips. "When I saw you again, though, you were all grown up. It…knocked me sideways. I felt like I'd been kicked in the gut." His fingers massaged the back of her head, while his other arm slipped around her waist, pulling her into him. "Soon as I got you to my room, I contacted Nott Junior and told him I had you. He sent Snape to me eventually. We made a deal."

Wait, Snape was working with Nott?

Her former Potions professor was the inside contact who had been feeding Theo all that vital, secret information about the Death Eater's movements and plans for years?

"I don't understand," she admitted, poignantly aware of the hard ridge of Marcus' arousal suddenly pressing against her belly. Maybe he hadn't regretted or resented having slept with her in the past, as she's assumed, because there was clearly no denying that he was still attracted to her in the here and now. "Are you saying Snape's a traitor to your Dark Lord, too, that he's been working with the Order all this time?"

"He's the one who recruited Nott and me, and…others."

Recruited. So he really was a spy for the Order, then.

Something inside her chest loosened at that knowledge.

Hesitantly, she slid her hands down Marcus' body as she relaxed in his hold, no longer quite so mistrusting now that he was finally talking. The voice of reason told her to be cautious, of course, to demand more answers before putting her full faith into his hands once more, but that he seemed willing to give up some secrets at long last was a good start.

As her fingers trailed down his chest and ridged abdomen, very muscle tightened in response and he let out a rough, rumbling sigh of pleasure. She stopped quite suddenly, not expecting to hear such a thing from him ever again and shocked by how deeply the sensuous sound affected her. As she stared up into his intense, green gaze, her blood roared in her ears.

"Be careful," he warned as he pushed her hair tenderly back from her face and cupped her cheek. "Some things haven't changed, Katie."

"What things?" she dared.

His eyes dipped to her mouth again. "I think you know."

Katie found her hips suddenly had a mind of their own. They moved closer to his, pressed against him, even rubbed a little up and down to create a lovely friction right where she both wanted and needed it. Others might say she was playing with fire by using sex as a weapon, but for too many years she'd dreamed about being back in Marcus' arms, doing wicked things with him. Could she be blamed for taking the advantage, especially if it got her the answers she so desperately required at the same time?

"Do I really?"

She felt him grow impossibly harder and longer at her flippancy. Obviously, he liked her sassing back at him.

"Ah, hell, that's good," he growled and tilted his hips forward a bit so she could slide down his monster of an erection. "You know I don't like to be teased, Kate."

She couldn't help but poke the snake, though. It was in her nature to play reckless. Besides, what she was doing felt too good to put the brakes on right then, especially when she moved to her tiptoes to align their cores. "So Snape's…a good guy?" she asked, a bit breathless as she slowly rode him, stroking up and down over his taut length, feeling the ache blooming between her legs. "Why would you make an Unbreakable Vow with him, though?"

The grip he had on her hip and the one in her hair simultaneously tightened. "He promised he'd get you out in exchange for my service," he said, panting, clearly enjoying what she was doing to him despite what he'd said about being teased. "You Stupefy'd me before I could explain, though." He groaned and pulled her in tighter, assuring their bodies had full contact for the slip and glide game she'd initiated. "Keep it up and I'll fuck you right here, baby. I swear it!"

God, this felt so good!

She ignored his warning, knowing it was a dangerous risk. After all, gambling was in her Gryffindor blood. Plus, she'd fantasized too often of being this close to him again to let go now... "Why would you bargain for my freedom at all?" she asked, shuddering as the angle they rubbed against each other was just right for her maximum pleasure. "Back then, we weren't on the same side. We were, technically, enemies. You should have turned me in to your Dark Lord."

His jaw tensed and his eyes squeezed shut as she pressed even harder into him. "Because by then all I could think about was bending you over every piece of furniture in my room and making you mine forever." He swore under his breath as she wiggled upon him. "Last chance. Stop or I'm going to have you."

"What else did you promise him?" she asked, still astounded by the fact that he'd take a death vow for her. "To plant false information, to help others escape capture, to sabotage Death Eater attacks?"

He nodded and cupped her bum to hold her still, clearly on the edge. "All of it," he gasped, his chest heaving with the effort of his restraint.

Tipping closer to that point of no return, her body humming with anticipation for what should come next, Katie dared one last question:

"Do you often take Unforgivable Vows for women you just want to fuck?"

His eyes opened and his glittering, sharp gaze returned to hers. The hot lash of his lust reflected in those brilliant green depths, nearly burning her with its intensity.

"Only you."

As she looked closer, past the desire calling out to her from his expression, it was suddenly there in the angles of his face too, in the turn of his mouth and in the light in his eyes…the real reason for his change in allegiance. Her heart skipped a beat, making her breath catch.

Marcus loved her.

For a moment, she hovered on the precipice between joyous belief and sharp doubt. Was this some kind of cruel Slytherin joke, or worse all one big, well-concocted lie to win her over, to get her to betray the Order? Please don't let it be, she thought, her blood pounding in her ears, her cheeks flaming hot. She hadn't realised until just then how desperately she'd wanted him to feel the same way about her that she had for him, even after all this time apart.

"Get it, Bell? You're not my slave. I'm yours," he admitted, lowering his mouth until his lips brushed against hers. "You captured me years ago."

He kissed her then, and the world spun in dizzying, warm circles that had Katie closing her eyes and holding onto him to keep from falling to her knees.

Since the day he'd refused to follow her out of Hogwarts to freedom, she'd cursed him for throwing away what they could have had, and yet now here he was, telling her with his lips that he'd never really let her go.

"Marcus," she whispered, agonized by this confession, unsure whether to trust it or not.

What if her judgment had been too compromised by her own desires for him, so that she couldn't see past the rose-coloured glasses and her raging libido to the truth? Was she being a fool again for this man? Please let this be real, she begged whoever might be listening up above.

"Tell me you're not tricking me," she pleaded aloud, holding onto him for dear life. "So help me, Marcus, if you're lying…"

"For you," he whispered again and again in between hungry, desperate kisses that seduced her thoroughly. "On my soul, Katie, all I do is for you. For you only."

It was enough. She took his promise, believed it, and surrendered to it once more. If there were to be any consequences from this decision, she'd resolved to deal with them later, as they came. Right now, though, she wanted him and the dream he was offering.

"I need you," she told him. "Marcus, please!"

Her lover picked her up, leaned her against the nearest wall, and tore at their clothing to get to the naked skin underneath. When she was bared to him once more, she wrapped her legs around his waist and gave herself over to his thorough seduction.

"Don't stop," she begged as his hands caressed her everywhere, igniting hot shards of pleasure throughout her trembling, hungry body. "Don't ever stop!"

He did as she wished. His mouth loved hers with ferocity, even as his body did the same. When he sheathed himself deep and moved within her, it was all wildness, just like their first time. And when he held her after it was done, hot breath panting against her throat, their matched heartbeats were a promise for the future.


TO BE CONTINUED...


Author's Notes:

Two chapters left, friends! More answers as to what Marcus is REALLY up to are coming up! Hope you're enjoying it so far! Please review and let me know. :)

XOXO,

- RZZMG

.

Preview of next chapter:

"What are you going to do?" she whispered, afraid suddenly of the world that awaited them outside. What if it tore them from each other once again? Now that she'd been given this second chance, she also became aware of the vulnerable position it put her in: losing Marcus a second time could cripple her, and she wasn't sure that she would recover from such a thing.

He helped her to redress without answering, then righted his own clothing.

"Marc?"

Leaning down, he softly kissed her. "Trust me. I got this."