Chapter 20: Love And The Stuff That Follows

Poppy's voice shook and she felt her whole body go numb. His last words echoed in her mind. She had no response, this was the last thing she had been expecting. She crossed her arms and tried to avoid looking at his eyes. She fould feel the tears coming and bit her lip, trying to stop it. She looked around at the trees, the snow on the ground, her own feet. Anything but him. Breathing in deeply, she finally allowed herself to look in his direction. Marcus stepped towards her.

"I do have a piece of advice for Weasel. Now that he has you, tell him to never let you go or it'll be the worst mistake of his life," he said firmly. Poppy looked straight into his eyes and a few tears streamed down her face. "Hell, it was definitely the worst decision I ever made. And I'm not known for making good decisions."

Poppy's voice was still shaking. "You love me? Then why did you end it?"

"You couldn't handle the guilt," he said. "I tried to make you happy."

"Well, I'm miserable!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "You've made me miserable!"

"I'm sorry," he said genuinely. "I hope Weasley makes you happy."

"I'm not with George," Poppy replied quietly while wiping away her tears with her mitten. "Oliver set us up. It was his idea."

"You're not?"

She shook her head. He stared right into her teary, red eyes. On his face Poppy could see a mixture of relief and worry. They stood in silence for a while. Poppy stopped crying.

"Now what?" Marcus finally asked. Poppy took a deep breath and considered her next words very carefully. She knew saying what she was about to say wasn't the best idea, but it was what she wanted. She would deal with the consequences later.

"Now, you kiss me," she said.

Marcus was taken aback. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Kiss me, Marcus Flint."

She didn't need to tell him a third time. In one swift motion he was right in front of her. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her in for a kiss. It was almost aggressive and made her feel weak at the knees. His unshaven chin scratched her milky skin. As Marcus pulled away, Poppy found herself not wanting to let go. She grabbed him by the collar on his coat and yanked him back for another kiss.

"That was nice," he said when she finally let him get some air.

She looked up at him with a smile. "It was."

"We'll do that again?" he asked with a wink. Poppy nodded. "And your brother?"

"He'll have to deal with it, just like everyone else," she replied firmly.

"You're suddenly full of confidence," he said.

"I'm just tired of secrets and lies."

Poppy thought since she had been full of disappointments for Oliver ever since she landed herself in Slytherin, one more couldn't hurt. They agreed to keep it a secret for a little while longer so Poppy could tell Oliver before anyone else found out. They walked back to Hogsmeade holding hands but parted ways before anyone saw them.

After supper that night, Poppy saw Oliver head down to the Quidditch pitch. He often went flying alone or strategised in the locker room. She followed him to deliver her news. Inside she was a mess, worried she would actually lose her brother, but on the outside she tried to seem calm and collected.

"Oliver," she said, standing in the doorway of the locker room, to get his attention. He was just grabbing a quill and some parchment.

"Hey, sis," he said with a smile, turning around.

Poppy cleared her throat. She could feel her hands starting to shake. "There's something I need to tell you."

Oliver's smile faded quickly. He sat down on the bench and leaned forward. His brows furrowed. "This is about him, isn't it?"

Poppy nodded and he sighed, shaking his head.

"He said he loves me," she said.

"Do you love him?" Oliver asked, looking straight into Poppy's eyes, looking for an answer that would please him. He didn't find it.

"I don't know. Maybe. I'm too young to know what love is."

He looked down at the floor, leaned on his legs with his elbows and didn't respond. Poppy moved further in from the doorway.

"I just need you to understand I'm not doing this to hurt you," she said quietly. "I'm doing it for myself."

"It would have passed. I know things were rough for you for a while but things pass, people move on, you get over them."

"I tried that, it didn't work."

"Maybe you didn't give it enough time."

He was furious, she could tell, even though he was still focused on the floor. "Look, if you just spent some time with him, maybe you'd..."

"What, like him? That'll never happen," Oliver spat out. "He's just going to turn out exactly like his father."

Poppy was taken aback. "What do you know about his father?"

Oliver finally looked at her. "He beat Flint, as a kid. He never told you? It's why he is the way he is."

Marcus had never told her. She had never told him many things about her past, either. But how did Oliver know this?

"So, people grow up to be their parents? Is that what you're saying?" Poppy ranted. It didn't matter how Oliver knew about Marcus's father or if it was even true. All that mattered was that Oliver was wrong. "Funny, you're nothing like dad. And I'm not crazy like mum. You know, I've done my best to make you happy but I can't do it anymore. You could at least try to get to know him. For me."

Oliver was silent and sighed again, looking away from her. Poppy turned on her heels and rushed out, she didn't like being sighed at by Oliver as it always meant he was disappointed in her. She was prepared to be a disappointment, but it still hurt.

Arriving in the Slytherin common room, Poppy found many of her team members laughing and chatting away by the fire. Pansy Parkinson was sitting on Malfoy's lap in one of the armchairs, stroking his hair, but he looked more interested in the game of Exploding Snap that Derrick and Bole were playing. Her hand kept obscuring his vision and he kept swatting it away. Marcus noticed Poppy by the doorway and got up from his chair, taking a few steps towards her, with a worried look.

She smiled. She wanted to make their relationship official to everyone, no matter how badly it had gone with Oliver, so she dashed across the room and almost leapt at Marcus, crossing her arms around his neck and planting a kiss right onto his lips. Though surprised, he managed to wrap his arms around her waist, holding her in mid-air and returned the kiss.

Around them, some students cheered loudly and Poppy heard the cards from Derrick and Bole's game exploding one by one, faster and faster, indicating that they had stopped playing. Poppy and Marcus broke off from the kiss, and Marcus looked around to see students staring at them, some with smiles on their faces and others with almost disgust.

"Don't you people have anything better to do?" he growled. Poppy laughed, and took his hand. He turned to her, smiling.

"So, he's not made of ice after all," Montague hollered from the couch. "Or did you just manage to melt your way into his heart?"

Poppy laughed while Marcus glared in Montague's direction. "Shut up, Graham."

"But it's just so sweet," Graham said cheerfully while fluttering his eyelashes. Marcus's eyes narrowed and Poppy felt his body tense up.

"Shut up or you're off the team," he spat out.

"Looks like he's not done melting," Malfoy said quietly to Graham. Marcus heard and shot them a deadly glare. They both jumped up from their seats quickly and scrambled away from the common room. In the process, Malfoy dropped Pansy Parkinson on the floor.

"Draco! Wait for me!" she whined as she got up and ran after him.

"Annoying gits, the both of them," Marcus said while leading Poppy to the couch. They sat down and he put his arm around her.

Poppy snuggled in even closer. "They're not that bad."

"How did it go with Wood?" he asked.

"Not very well. But it'll be fine," she replied as he stroked her hair gently. Her day had been exhausting so she closed her eyes, placed her head on his chest and felt herself falling asleep. He woke her up an hour later to send her to bed. After a goodnight kiss, she happily skipped to her own dormitory.

"I guess you're not too good for us Slytherins, after all," Mary said mockingly as Poppy entered. She didn't reply, as conversations with any of the girls were usually pointless.

"You're on the team now and you snagged yourself one of the most eligible men in Slytherin," Victoria piped up. She was brushing her long hair on her bed.

Poppy shot them a quizzical look. They had always called Marcus ugly but suddenly he was husband material?

"You see, we all know he's going to be a professional Quidditch player," Becky said, laying on her stomach next to Victoria.

Ah, that explains it, Poppy thought as she slipped into her pyjamas. Money. It could make almost any Slytherin girl weak at the knees. She climbed into bed. "Just get to the point. If you have one."

"You can sit with us at breakfast tomorrow," Victoria offered. Mary and Becky nodded eagerly.

Poppy rolled her eyes at the unexpected suggestion. "I think I'll pass."

"But you're one of us now," Victoria tried to argue, her voice turning shrill and her eyes narrowing. Her two friends looked at each other, completely gobsmacked.

"Uh, whatever. I'm going to sleep now," Poppy said and pulled her emerald green curtains to cover her bed. Though the girls continued their babbling, she blocked them out and drifted back to sleep quickly.

At breakfast the next day, Poppy filled Grace in on what had happened the day before. Grace, who had come over to sit at Poppy's table, was thrilled to hear all the good news.

"That's amazing!" Grace repeated many times. "But not the Oliver thing, obviously. He'll come around, I know it."

"Where did you disappear to yesterday?" Poppy asked. She had looked for Grace at Hogsmeade after her talk with Marcus but was unable to find her. "I didn't even see you at supper."

"I was late to supper, well, we were," Grace replied. "I tried rekindling the fire with Cedric, so to speak."

"And?"

"And, if he was half-naked all the time, we'd have a great relationship," Grace said. Poppy looked at her friend confused, so she explained. "Meaning he's very dull with clothes on."

"Right."

Two months was quite an achievement for Grace, and if Cedric was as dull as she said, Poppy was surprised it had lasted this long. She could only hope poor Cedric wasn't expecting them to be together forever. Marcus was late for breakfast and when he finally arrived, he kissed Poppy on her forehead before sitting down next to her. Poppy could almost feel people from other tables staring at them, knowing the story of their kiss last night had probably spread already. From the corner of her eye, she saw Oliver looking straight at them and gripping his fork tightly. But she didn't care about him or the others. There would be plenty of time to worry about them later.

Marcus started loading his plate up with toast and waffles. "Good morning, everyone."

"Morning," Grace replied. "Could you pass me the orange juice?

Poppy smiled. At least her best friend, who had never been too fond of Marcus Flint, could act civil around him and be happy for their relationship. Oliver could have used a sprinkling of the famous Hufflepuff loyalty, she thought.

"How's it going with Diggory?" Marcus asked Grace and bit into his toast.

"It's not, anymore," Grace said with a frown. "I should probably go tell him that, actually."

Grace grabbed one of Marcus's waffles and ran after Cedric, who was just leaving The Great Hall. Poppy noticed Montague eyeing her friend from across the table.

"Graham, don't," she said sternly.

"What? Maybe she needs a comforting shoulder," he said, raising both his eyebrows.

"Everybody knows you'll offer her more than just a shoulder," Marcus said. Montague shrugged and shook his head, trying to look innocent but his attempt was met with laughter from all around the table.

The following week was very interesting. Their relationship was getting almost as much attention as Sirius Black and the dementors. New rumors had began circulating, including one where Marcus had been the test subject for the worlds first personality swapping charm. Poppy didn't really see much of a change. He had almost always been sweet to her and even now, he was still the same grumpy Marcus to everyone else. Maybe he had mellowed slightly. Their Quidditch practices used to start at five in the morning and now he'd moved them to five thirty.

Oliver was also surprisingly mellow about the whole thing. He would see Poppy and Marcus walking hand in hand and just turn and walk away instead of lunging forward to try to kill Marcus. It was definitely progress, Poppy thought.

Most students seemed to be adjusting to the two of them as a couple rather well. Some Gryffindors had asked Professor Snape to remove Marcus from his post as captain on the grounds of inappropriate behaviour, but they had been highly unsuccesful. A rumor had been started that Marcus had actually repeated more than a year and that he was, in fact, twenty-five years old. One rumor said that Poppy had started school earlier than most and that she was just thirteen. Everyday she also got to hear of a new spot where they'd been spotted snogging. According to the student body of Hogwarts, Poppy and Marcus had already locked lips in the fourth floor broom cupboard, outside the Hufflepuff common room, in the locker rooms at the Quidditch pitch and also in the corner of Snape's classroom. In reality, they were moving at a much slower pace.

That Friday morning, Poppy had a double Potions lesson with Gryffindors. Being the spiteful person that he always seemed to be, Professor Snape had assigned everybody a partner from the other house. Poppy got Katie Bell, Gryffindor chaser. Oliver had spoken about her before but had described her as graceful and meticulous. Poppy was getting a slightly different impression. First Katie dropped all of their ingredients on the floor and then, when they were halfway done with their Pepperup Potion, she tipped over their cauldron.

"Oh, Merlin's beard," Poppy sighed when all their hard work went tumbling down. Katie rushed to clean it up. Professor Snape came over, hands behind his back.

"Is there a problem here?" he drawled.

"Sort of," Poppy replied. Katie got up from the floor and lifted their cauldron back on the table. Her hands were covered in a green, gooey mess.

"I'm sorry, Professor Snape, it was my fault," she said quietly.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor for disrupting my classroom," Snape said dryly and turned to walk away. Katie looked crushed and slightly pathetic. The green goo had somehow worked its way to her brown hair.

"Professor, I don't think that's fair," Poppy blurted out, surprising Katie and even herself. Snape turned back, raising an eyebrow.

"You don't, miss Wood?" he asked.

"It was my fault, too. I wasn't paying enough attention," Poppy lied. Snape's face twitched. Poppy knew he hated having to take points from his own house.

"Fine. I'll retract my last statement," he stated calmly. "Now, start over. And don't mess up this time."

"Thank you for that," Katie said when Snape was out of hearing distance.

"It's no problem," Poppy replied and took out her wand. With one simple spell she erased the goo from Katie's hands and hair, the floor and their cauldron.

Katie started measuring the first batch of ingredients again. "I didn't expect you to be this nice. I mean, Oliver speaks very kindly of you but I didn't think you would be nice to me."

"Why not? Because I'm a Slytherin?" Poppy asked, already knowing the answer. She grabbed her book and flipped to the right page since it'd gotten lost in all the commotion. Katie shrugged.

"Well, pretty much. We are on opposing teams," she said.

"I'm not one for fierce rivalry," Poppy explained and went to grab more honeywater from a cabinet.

"Aren't you dating Marcus Flint?" Katie asked as Poppy returned and started pouring the honeywater into a beaker.

"I am. But we're different in many ways," Poppy said with a shrug. Saying out loud that she was actually dating Marcus Flint made her smile.

Katie lit a fire under their cauldron. "So it would seem."

Poppy poured in the first round of ingredients. Their concoction turned a pale blue colour.

"I understand that you have to hate him because Oliver does. But Oliver doesn't know him, not really," she said. Explaining herself to this girl seemed silly, yet she was doing it. Oliver wasn't talking to her but maybe she could change just one Gryffindors opinion.

"I guess if you like him, he can't be all bad," Katie said while stirring their potion.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Poppy said with a smile. Their conversation was interrupted by a loud bang from another table. Victoria and her partner, a black-haired Gryffindor boy, had blown up their potion.

"At least I didn't do that," Katie said, making Poppy laugh.

After class, Poppy headed for lunch. Both Grace and Marcus had class while she had her lunch break so she sat and ate alone. As she piled a second round of mashed potatoes onto her plate, she noticed Oliver waving her over. It had been a nice Friday so far and she hoped Oliver wouldn't cause a scene, ruining it.

"Hey, sis," Oliver said, getting up as Poppy approached him. A half-smile crept up onto his face.

"Hey," Poppy replied calmly.

"I have reconsidered your suggestion," he said. "I would like to spend time with your boyfriend."