13

The last few days of school were sweltering. Classes were finished, and the final two days of school stretched out before the students. The Gryffindor Quidditch team took full advantage of the warmer weather as they walked together with mischief on their minds. They had spent the day lounging around the Quidditch pitch, and Katie was rather pleased to see the beginnings of a golden tan appear on her skin. But the heat had been unrelenting, which was why the small band of merry students found themselves sitting on the rocks at the edge of the great lake. Fred and George were planning pranks, Alicia was dozing, and Angelina was talking about Captaincy with Oliver. With her head resting on Lee's out stretched legs, Katie smiled, and for the first time in a long while, meant it.

Not far from them, the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Quidditch teams were also sitting down. And when mock insults began to float between the three teams, it resulted in brooms being found and mounted and a game of keep-away Quidditch taking place over the cool water of the lake. No snitch - no goals. Just trying to toss several Quaffels at once, while aiming said Quaffel at other players to try and unseat them. Roger Davies hit the water first, yet his laughter was good natured as he began swimming to the edge of the lake where more students and even some of the professors had gathered to watch. And when a Quaffel came flying towards her, Katie shrieked and closed her eyes. It never hit her, however, and Katie opened her eyes slowly.

Marcus hovered in front of her, the Quaffel held in his hand and a smirk playing across his lips as he winked at her, before launching the Quaffel at the unsuspecting Hufflepuff Seeker. It was a direct hit, and Katie started laughing when Cedric Diggory screamed as he fell. He came up for air, with a strand of seaweed sitting on the top of his head and his laughter echoing when he caught sight of Marcus smirking at him. Flying slowly through the fading light, Katie watched as Draco Malfoy chased after Harry Potter, the two of them flying side by side. Flying and taunting each other until a Quaffel from Fred hit Harry, while a Quaffel from Adrian Pucey hit Draco at the exact same time. It knocked the two Seekers into one another, and they fell into the lake in a tangle of arms and legs. That resulted in tears of laughter from all players, and with no house colors, it was free for all.

The game had been going for nearly an hour when Katie ducked a Quaffel, only to be slammed into by Marcus from the other side. He grunted as he slipped from his broom, his arms locking around Katie and pulling her from her broom as he fell. They landed in the water with a large splash, and the hoots of laughter disappeared as the water closed over their heads. Katie twisted in the water to find the surface, and felt Marcus snake his arm around her waist. Hooking her arm loosely around his neck, they both kicked upwards. When they rose from beneath the water, they heard a shout and a splash as Fred was finally unseated near the shore line, and Katie gurgled with laughter as she slipped back under the water. She heard Marcus snort when he hauled her back up, and she slipped her arm around his neck and rested her head against his shoulder as she laughed helplessly. His answering chuckle brushed her ear, and Katie lifted her head and sent him a dazzling smile.

"I never thought I'd see you unseated, Marcus," she said with a chuckle, and Marcus smirked.

"It only took all three Quaffels," he said dryly, and Katie snickered as she pushed her wet hair out of her eyes.

"Good to hear you laugh again, Bell," Marcus murmured as Katie shifted so that she was floating on her back.

Katie looked back at him in surprise as Marcus shifted to float beside her. His face was carefully blank, and Katie shrugged slightly as her hand bumped against his under the water.

"I can't grieve forever, Marcus," she said quietly. "Mum would haunt me if I tried. I can just see it... her head popping up through my dessert, and scaring the utter shite out of me."

Marcus snickered, and Katie glanced at him briefly before looking away as she worried her lower lip between her teeth.

The night she had gotten beyond tipsy with him was a blur of alcohol, warm skin, and holes the size of snitches in her memory. Feelings that took on a decidedly erotic turn and the sinful purr of his voice would come to her during class or while she ate, leaving her blushing and puzzled as to why. Half spoken sentences would slither through her mind like fog, leaving her wondering what had been said either side of them. The one thing that did stand out was the sobering charm Marcus had cast on her, just before he had left her at door that led to the warn tapestry Harry had shown her what felt like a life time ago. That, and the fact that Marcus had once again, looked after her.

"I never thanked you, Marcus," she said finally, and then bit her lip when Marcus remained silent.

"For what?" he asked as the silence between them became unbearable, and Katie turned bewildered eyes towards him.

"Are you joking?" she cried softly. "For all of it! For helping me the night my mum died. For providing an escape. For letting me grieve in my own way. For getting me drunk!"

Marcus looked away, his voice a low rumble when he spoke.

"What do you remember about that night we got drunk together?" he asked, and Katie smiled slightly.

"Bits and pieces."

"Such as?" he asked, and Katie chewed on her lower lip for a moment before shrugging.

"I remember what you said about your father. I never thought I'd hear a Slytherin speak about You Know Who in such an unflattering way," she said, glancing at him from under her lashes.

"What else?" he asked quietly, and Katie blushed as she looked away from him. But when his hand brushed against hers, Katie sighed softly.

"What you said about the witch you like," she whispered at last.

Marcus narrowed his eyes as he tilted his head; he rolled over in the water with no warning, and gripped her hand tightly as he began to swim back towards shore. When he stopped a moment later, Katie felt the shifting floor of the lake beneath her feet when she stood up in the chest deep water. Marcus let go of her hand and tilting his head back, muttered softly under his breath as he studied the twilight sky; when he looked back down at Katie through stormy eyes, she almost took a step in retreat. His face was set, his eyes shadowed over with resignation as he stared at her.

"Do you remember anything else?" Marcus asked finally, and Katie looked up at him silently.

"Do you remember telling me that I should grow a pair of balls, and just take what I want?" he asked in a low voice, and Katie lowered her eyes as she shook her head slightly.

"Is taking what I want worth the risk though, Bell?" he asked, and Katie looked up at him when Marcus reached out and grasped the point of her chin in his fingers.

"Risk? What risk would you be taking, Marcus?" she whispered, and Marcus snickered darkly.

"Is taking what I want, worth risking a jail sentence for?" he clarified, and Katie swallowed when his fingers tightened against her chin.

Katie's breath hitched at the look on his face as he towered over her, and when Marcus flicked his tongue over the corner of his lips, Katie shook her head slightly in confusion.

"What?..." Katie's breath escaped in a quick explosion of breath, and Marcus swore softly.

"The witch I want? I'd be risking a stink in Azkaban if I took what I wanted from her, Katie."

"Why... Why would you be jailed, Marcus?" Katie asked, and Marcus snickered angrily as he let her chin go and stared down at her.

"Come on now, Bell, surely you've figure it out," he muttered, and when Katie shook her head again, Marcus dragged his hands down over his face. "She's underage, Bell" he said finally. "I'm nineteen, remember? If I took what I wanted from her, it would be classed as statutory rape. It doesn't matter that she is one of the most fascinating witches I have ever laid eyes on. If I took her? It would be considered a crime, and I'd be jailed accordingly."

"She's… beguiling. She has no idea how alluring her innocence is. No idea of the power she has over me. She has no idea how hard it is seeing her every day, and not just taking what I want."

Katie licked her lips slowly as the memory rose slowly in her mind, and when Marcus tracked the motion of her tongue with his eyes and swore softly, the answer hits Katie between the eyes like a bludger. Her lips parted slightly, and Marcus snickered bitterly at the look on her face.

"Finally figured it out, did you?" he spat, and Katie nodded slowly as Marcus shoved his hands through his hair in frustration. The silence between them thickened as Katie's mind raced over past conversations, and began to connect the dots. Hope was a warm bloom of joy inside, a bloom that faltered when Marcus swore angrily.

"I hate this," he hissed, and Katie's face twisted with confusion.

"Hate what?" she asked, and Marcus laughed at her in disbelief.

"This," he said, gesturing between them. "This thing between us, Katie. You're feeling it as much as I am."

Katie took a deep breath as her heart skipped a beat and then nodded as Marcus stared at her.

"Yes," she whispered. "I feel it. But... I don't understand... why do you hate it?" she asked, and Marcus groaned.

"Because you're fifteen, Katie! Do you honestly think that I want to feel like this? Do you think that it's about choice? I feel like a fucking pedophile every time I look at you!" he snarled, and Katie shook her head as his angry words washed over her.

"I'm not a child!" she cried. "So stop treating me like one! I know how I feel about you, Marcus, and you've just admitted that you feel the same way! Why is that so wrong? And if you mention my age again, I swear I'll hex you into the next century!" she warned.

"What?" Marcus exclaimed, gesturing wildly with his hands. "What is it that you want me to do here, Katie? It isn't like we can date, is it? It isn't like I can take you to Hogsmead, or down to Diagon Alley! It isn't like I can walk the halls and hold your hand! Merlin, we'd be eaten alive by our house mates... our parents... no one would understand, and we'd end up hating each other for it."

He shook his head and when he went to exit the lake, Katie reached out and took a hold of his hand. Her touch rooted him to the spot, and after a minute of silence, he blew out a shuddering breath and then looked down at her. In that one moment, with those stormy eyes locked on her face, Katie wished that she knew Legilimens, and that she could delve into his mind and see what he was thinking. But then he turned to face her, and Katie felt her mouth turn dry at the look on his face.

"Take what I want?" Marcus murmured again, and Katie swallowed at the dark look in his eyes. "It's not like I can get expelled, right?" he muttered, and Katie shook her head slowly in answer to his wildly asked question when she felt his hands scrape across her hips under the water. His fingers dug into her flesh momentarily, before he swore softly. His hand flexed against her hip, before it slipped across her lower back, and he slid his arm around her waist. And when the muscle in his arm bunched and shifted against her, Katie took a deep breath and stepped towards him.

"Should I just take it, Katie? Just this once?" he whispered, and she shuddered as his words brushed over her mouth.

In answer, she lifted her chin, and Marcus swore softly as he lowered his head. Pressing his forehead to hers, Katie felt her pulse scramble as she breathed him in and the quick pant of his breath brushed over her lips. But when he made no further move to kiss her, when he only continued to breathe her in, Katie swallowed hard and reaching out, she skimmed her hands lightly up his arms to his shoulders. It was then that Marcus tilted his head and as he shifted, Katie closed her eyes and lifted her chin a little more.

"Oy, Katie, where are you?!"

Lee's voice cut through the night, and Katie opened her eyes when Marcus slowly lifted his head. They stared at each for a long moment, before Marcus let her go and pointed towards the shore line where Lee's voice had echoed from.

"Go. Before I change my mind, and we hurt the people we care about, or worse, we hurt each other."

Katie blinked and Marcus growled softly.

"Remember what I said about wanting to bite the nape of her neck as I fucked her, Bell?" he asked brutally, and Katie nodded. "Then go while I'm still trying to be a gentleman, otherwise you're going to find yourself on your hands and knees."

Katie blushed scarlet, and Marcus chuckled darkly.

"You're too young, Katie… way too fucking young," he whispered as he began to back away from her.

"Marcus… I'm not a child," she whispered as she took a step towards him, and when he stopped again, Katie froze at the sight of the look on his face.

"You're under-age, Bell. I'm leaving school tomorrow night, to fly with the Falcons. I'm leaving you pure and untainted. Untouched. You won't be under-age forever. Remember that."

He turned his back on her and took a few more steps away, his face suddenly turning to afford her a view of his profile in the murky light.

"Owl me, Bell. Let me know how life treats you," he muttered, and Katie licked her lips.

"Will you write me back?" she whispered, and Marcus laughed harshly.

"On my word as a gentleman," he promised, and Katie flinched at the self-loathing she heard in his voice in regard to being a gentleman. But he was gone, swallowed by the darkness, and Katie turned and fled the water, with his promise ringing in her ears.

xXxXxXxXx

The final day of school was always a rush – breakfast was eaten quickly, while trunks were packed with belongings. Stray socks were sought out from under beds, and library books that you swore black and blue that you'd returned were unearthed from behind a chest of draws. Plans to meet up with friends were made, and promises to write were sworn by. And with nothing left to do but wait until the time to catch the Hogwarts express back to London came, Katie took a final solitary walk around the castle she called home, and towards the library to return said book. She was dreading the return trip to her childhood home – with her mother gone, things would be different. Sighing softly, Katie wondered briefly if her father would remember to meet her, before she slammed her mind shut on those thoughts and blanked it out.

But in blanking her mind it turned, as it had so often over the last few months, to Marcus. Her feelings for him were often overwhelming, such as his presence was when they walked together. He had always fascinated her, right from the first time she had seen him fly. From his height and strength, down to the fact that he was light on his feet when he walked. But their friendship had allowed her to learn more than just what he looked like when he walked. Broad across the palm, with long, tapered fingers, his hands were rough with callouses. His right hand had a jagged scar near his thumb, from where he had been bitten by a Doxy while in fourth year. And while a dose of anti-venom had taken care of the creature's poison, the bite had scarred, marring his hand and leaving him with a permanent reminder that just because a Doxy was small, didn't mean that it couldn't be vicious.

He adored Sshepherds' pie, yet he refused to eat kippers for breakfast – he didn't like the way the bones would inevitably get caught in his teeth. He didn't mind a glass of Elderflower wine when the occasion called for it, and he preferred Ogden's Cognac to Ogden's Old Fire-whisky, but would drink the whisky when offered a glass. And as for his teeth, Marcus had admitted that his teeth were the result of his mother's temper, a stray curse and a perfume bottle she had thrown at him when he'd been fourteen; he didn't get them fixed because every time she looked at him, she was reminded of the fact that she had a temper and that temper and alcohol never mixed. "Besides," he'd said with a shrug, "my appearance scares the shite out of the other players...why would I give up that advantage?"

Katie had concluded that Marcus was an enigma. He was silent in his opinions, but that didn't mean he didn't have them. He just preferred to keep them close to his chest. He was loyal to his house, and he was loyal to those lucky enough to be called 'friend.' He preferred solitude to a crowd, and he preferred knowledge to brute force, but that didn't mean he was scared of using it either if it meant winning. And as their friendship blossomed, Katie had moved past the crush stage, into something far more dangerous. Gone were the thrilling feelings if she caught him watching her. Now she was left feeling helpless. Today would be the last day she would spend here at Hogwarts, while Marcus walked the same halls. As of today, she would be back at home, and Marcus would be moving on with his life. The thought of it broke a little piece of her heart.

Trailing her fingers across the spines of the books in front of her, Katie sighed. She was so lost in her musings, that she never saw Marcus pause at the end of the stack she was standing in. However, her body recognised the feelings he bought out in her, and the tingle in the pit of her stomach had Katie lifting her head; her lips parted on a silent sound as she locked eyes with him, and when Marcus narrowed his eyes, Katie licked her lips and held her breath. For a long moment, she thought that Marcus was going to turn around and head back the way he had come. Then his shoulders dropped, and he glanced over his shoulder. It was only when he looked back at her that he held his hand out; Katie closed the distance between them without thought and took his outstretched hand. He was silent when he tugged her further into the library. She followed him deeper into the dusty stacks, his fingers warm around hers, and her heart in her throat. He maintained his silence for a long moment, but then he whispered her name as he turned to face her.

"Katie... I've tried staying... it won't hurt anyone...just this once, yeah?"

Katie stepped into him in answer, and lifted her chin when he slipped his arm around her much as he had the previous evening while in the lake. Marcus whispered her name again. A question. A benediction. And Katie's eyes fluttered shut in answer. She heard his soft groan of hunger, and then he lowered his head and lightly pressed his lips against hers. For his size and brutality on the pitch, he was surprisingly gentle as he kissed her. He nibbled gently on her lower lip, coaxing her into kissing him back. And when she did, hhe caught her bottom lip between his and lightly dragged the tip of his tongue across it.

Katie inhaled sharply, and his breath mingled with hers as she rose up on tiptoe and grasped his shoulders. He flicked the tip of his tongue lightly across hers, and Katie wound her arms around his neck as another inhalation sealed their mouths together; Marcus growled softly as the kiss went from soft and gentle. His lips lightly bruised hers as he deepened the kiss, the taste of resignation and desperation showing in the frustrated growl that escaped Marcus' lips when he abruptly lifted his head and looked around. Hauling her closer to him, Marcus pulled her further into the shadows as his hand rose to cradle that back of her head. Nipping her lip, he sucked it gently, before delving back into the warm cavern of her mouth to taste her again, as her hands wove themselves through the short hair at the back of his skull. Katie felt the wood of the book shelves dig into her lower back when she collided with them, and she arched away from them and into Marcus with a soft sound of protest.

"We shouldn't be doing this," he muttered as he abruptly wrenched his mouth from hers. Katie stared up at him silently, and with a soft groan, Marcus skimmed his mouth across her cheekbone to her jaw. "I could end up in Azkaban for this," he continued, and bit down lightly on the curve of her neck.

He heard the soft cry she bit back and lifting his head, caught her mouth with his and briefly kissed her again. Holding her firmly against him, Marcus ran his tongue over his lower lip as they stared at each other. And when her eyes cleared slightly, Marcus let Katie slip out of his arms.

"I'll see you around, Katie," he whispered and after brushing the back of his knuckles across her cheek, he was gone.