Entry for the "Flying Lesson" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

Task: You have your friends, your teammates, and you also have your opponents. Your opponents will be aiming to hurt you from the get go and we should have this shown by incoporating another member into the relationship that is causing problems. Min 500 words.

Extra Prompt: (action) a kiss

Entry for the "Word Prompt Express" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

Prompt: 842. startled

(1500 Words)

We Belong

Katie felt like since Marcus and she had started their relationship, there never was a time in which they were sailing in calm waters. As soon as the waves of one event had ebbed away, another one would rise and come crashing down over them. It was as if it was them against the world, everybody tried to make their life and their relationship a little bit more difficult, and Katie sometimes felt like breaking down. Luckily, Marcus was always by her side, proving her that this was not in vain, that he loved her, no matter how hard times were.

However, their toughest challenge was yet to come, and they would be startled about how close their strong love would have come to breaking apart, though the trigger moment had not been that massive at all. But well, as everything was rather hard for them, every tiny thing seemed to turn into a large problem, and their patience was low.

OoO

Katie was feeling uneasy, and had been for several days by now. The incident with Oliver was still present in her mind, and she had to admit that it obviously had shaken her up more than she had thought. Oliver had held his head down after the confrontation with Marcus and was acting relatively normal during the Quidditch practices, but still Katie found herself being unable to trust the peace.

Also, the past events had increased her need for closeness, and she could see that it caused Marcus to feel uncomfortable too.

At first, he had called it cute and sweet when she searched for him in between classes to cuddle for a short moment, but it had not taken long until he had started to feel like she was clinging to him. For some days, he hadn't said anything, as he knew that she was just shaken up and needed support, however, he couldn't stand it any more at some point.

Katie was definitely sensing that Marcus didn't feel comfortable with her behaviour right now. Really, anybody not seeing it really would have been a naïve person. And it wasn't that she couldn't understand why he was now trying to get some space by changing his routines so she wouldn't find him in the breaks.

Still she couldn't help herself, she just felt more sad and depressed by that, more insecure, and the fact that she was sometimes catching a glimpse of Marcus walking around with another girl – Charlene Winston, a Slytherin from Marcus year – didn't make anything better. Also that they really were spending a lot of time together, and that Marcus seemed to be rather comfortable and relaxed when Charlene was around. And that she kept laughing and smiling while touching him a little bit too often.

Katie felt like she was on a rollercoaster of emotions, and her train was heading downwards, while twisting so hard that she was feeling like she could be thrown out any minute.

Anxiety was closing its cold hands around her and whenever she would see Marcus with Charlene while he was trying to avoid her, she could feel panic rising inside of her. The fear of loosing Marcus to this other girl because Charlene wasn't causing so much trouble like Katie was always prominent, and she barely slept for days because her head would be spinning, filled with the pictures of Marcus and Charlene while her thoughts were circling around the same fear over and over.

Alicia and Angelina were trying to calm her down, but despite their tries, they were failing. Katie felt like a wreck, and it was as if every very rare kiss that Marcus was giving her in these days felt like a false promise. It was as if he was acting as if he still loved her only to prevent her from breaking into pieces, while he was already having Charlene, because she wasn't trouble.

She knew that she was being paranoid, but every time she saw the interactions between Charlene and Marcus she felt like she was right.

One day, it turned out that her paranoia had been justified – though it wasn't what she had thought.

Katie had decided that she had had enough of this, that she was sick of letting Marcus fool her and play with her, and so she was making her way through the crowd towards them, shoving poor First Years out of the way in order to keep up with Charlene and Marcus as they walked down the hallway, obviously looking for a place that was less crowded during break.

It didn't take them long to succeed, and they didn't notice that Katie had followed them to the small hallway and was now listening closely to their conversation, hidden behind a stature.

"You look tired, Marcus," Charlene stated with a soft tone in her voice, her neatly manicured fingers gently caressing Marcus shoulder – something already forced Katie to bite her bottom lip so she wouldn't scream at that... girl that she should stop touching her boyfriend.

"I didn't sleep last night," Marcus explained with a sigh as he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands, completely ignoring how Charlene tried to step closer. "There was just so much going on in my mind... I thought a lot about Katie and me, you know... About what you said... and if you maybe were right..."

Katie's heart started to race as he mentioned her, and it took her a lot to control her breathing so it wouldn't be too loud. Her feet were tingling from the urge to walk to them and ask what was going on here, but she held them still successfully.

"Oh, Marcus... I told you that you two only are a nice dream, nothing more. No matter how much you want it, it will never work out longer. Just look at your relationship – so far you've only had crisis after crisis! Your own friends have turned their backs on you because of her. And now she herself is making it worse too. I hope you finally saw that you don't have a future, even though you already went through so much together... But I will be there for you, Marcus... I'll help you to get over her," Charlene interrupted Marcus, a smile showing on her face that was a little bit too wide and a little bit too falsly sad. Katie felt panic rising inside of her and she couldn't hold herself back any longer, she stepped out of her hiding place with loud footfalls so they would definitely notice her presence.

Marcus looked surprised and also pretty shaken up, while Charlene looked nearly annoyed about Katie's sudden appearance. Neither Katie nor Marcus said anything as they looked at each other, both having tears in their eyes. They both felt like they were standing at the edge, and Charlene was waiting for Marcus to push Katie down when she hissed:"Tell her, Marcus. Tell her what you told me the last weeks, tell her what we talked about."

Marcus gulped, and at first, Katie thought that his voice had left him. However, after clearing his throat heavily, Marcus slowly started to talk:"I... Katie... lately we have had a lot of problems... and I often thought like it would be better for both of us to give up and Charlene... Charlene, she also thought that we..."

"I heard what Charlene thinks about us," Katie whispered lowly, while she was nearly bursting into tears. From the corner of her eye, she could see that Charlene gave Marcus an expecting stare. "But the only thing that is important is what you think about our relationship."

She felt shaky, as if she was about to break down as Marcus was taking a deep breath.

"I have to be honest, I really doubted us, Katie. I sometimes thought that it would be better to give up, that it would spare us a lot of trouble and that it would free us after some time, especially regarding the fact that it was so complicated lately. And well, I finally decided what I want."

Katie expected his face to darken, she was convinced that he would tell her that it was over, that he didn't wanted to be with her any more.

And so it was understandable that her eyes widened in surprise when Marcus closed the distance between them in two large steps, pulled her into his arms and kissed her in a way they had never kissed before. It was desperate, it was soft, so full of love that it made her feel dizzy and light-headed and robbed her breath.

"I want you, I want us, no matter what," Marcus whispered as they parted for a short moment, only to kiss her again. Charlene's outraged rants seemed so far away and unimportant – they didn't care that Charlene was throwing insults at them about how she had tried to save the reputation of the house of Slytherin, and that she couldn't believe how little Marcus cared about it.