Sorry for the delay guys. I'm exceptionally busy at the moment with work, and between that and spending much needed time with my family, there isn't much time left to do anything other than sleep! I'm trying to get some more writing done, but I won't promise frequent updates, because I just don't have the time. But thank you for the Pm's checking if I'm OK - I am - just busy. Love to you all.

18.

Lee stared up at the Hog's Head in dismayed silence; this was the only establishment he hadn't checked yet. Katie hadn't been at the Three Broomsticks, nor had she been in any of the other shops. Why she would willingly go into such a filthy establishment was beyond him, and Lee sighed heavily as he worked up the courage to push the outer door open and enter the bar. His fears were unrecognised, however, when he finally did enter the bar; the few patrons who were in there didn't bother looking up from the various drinks they nursed closely to their bowed heads. The only person who did look up was an older man who was standing behind the scarred bar polishing glasses. He raked bored eyes over Lee as he made his way towards the bar, and when Lee swallowed under his silent gaze, the barman simply raised an eyebrow in question as he waited.

"Ummm…I'm looking for a friend of mine," Lee finally stammered out, and the barman set the glass down and leaned across the bar.

"Would your friend happen to be blonde?" he asked, and when Lee nodded, the barman straightened up and shrugged.

"Haven't seen her," he said coolly, causing Lee's mouth to drop in shock.

Soft snickers echoed amongst the patrons of the bar, and Lee straightened his spine as the barman's open amusement brought back his earlier rage.

"How about Marcus Flint?" he asked angrily. "Have you seen him?"

The barman grinned then, and picked up another glass.

"Perhaps…why do you ask?" he questioned as his smile faded, and Lee took a step away from the bar when he caught sight of the suspicion on the man's face.

"He… I think my friend is with him," Lee said finally. "And I need to find her."

The man stared at him through cool eyes for several minutes; he finally set down the glass he had been cleaning and nodded once.

"The name's Aberforth," he said finally as he held is hand out. Lee shook Aberforth's hand, and gingerly sat down on the bar stool when Aberforth nodded to it. "Mr Flint has been rumoured to stay here when he's in town. He likes the quietness of this establishment, and the fact that I have no concerns with his wealth or fame. You won't find Rita Skeeter sneaking in here trying to take pictures of him…or her," he said softly.

Lee swallowed as Aberforth looked him over again before he sighed.

"Marcus is staying in Room 4, and is due to take his leave at lunch time… if I were you, young man, I'd knock before I tried entering. The last Wizard Rita Skeeta sent to try and obtain an…. unwanted photograph of Marcus is still in St. Mungos having his intestines re-grown."

Lee felt his stomach do one graceful pitch and role, and he nodded in understanding when Aberforth continued to stare at him. Sure that he had made his point, Aberforth went back to cleaning the glasses, and in doing so, dismissed Lee entirely. It still took Lee all of his courage to rise to his feet, and he slowly made his way up the rickety staircase. The hall was dimly lit, and he could barely make out the numbers on the doors. When he found the door with the brass 4 on it, he took a deep breath before knocking all the while wondering if the skin on his knuckles would blister and burn due to the dark curses it seemed that Flint knew if Aberforth's warning was anything to go by. He waited silently for a few minutes, and just as he lifted his hand to knock again, he heard the sound of the door being unlocked and it was jerked opened a few inches. Looking up, Lee met Marcus' eyes and managed to hide the flinch he could feel wanting to round his shoulders when Marcus' eyes narrowed.

"What do you want?"

Lee heard and understood the obvious snarl in the other Wizard's voice; distain and arrogance coloured Marcus' usual drawl, and had shivers skating down Lee's spine even as he straightened it.

"Is Katie here with you, Flint?" he asked.

For a long minute Lee wondered if Marcus would simply slam the door in his face, but then he smirked and pulled the door open a little more affording Lee his first look into the room. It was surprisingly clean – it was almost as if a thorough Scourgify spell had been cast, leaving none of the dirt behind that was so prominent in the bar downstairs. It took Lee a few more seconds but then he walked into the room, and when he caught sight of Katie, his shoulders slumped in resignation and he simply nodded as Marcus shut the door behind him and crossed his arms. Katie was sitting in the chair beside the fire, with her knees pressed together, her spine ramrod straight and her fingers twisting restlessly in her lap – the very picture of innocence. But looking at her, knowing her as well as he did, Lee knew there was no mistaking the fact that she had recently been thoroughly kissed. Her hair was tucked neatly behind her ears, yet it lacked the normal smoothness it usually possessed, and it appeared to have a wave to it where it had no doubt been wrapped around Marcus' fingers. Her lips were redder than usual, and as Lee tracked his eyes over her quickly, he caught sight of the faint reddening of the skin on her throat and just under her left ear, the light imprint of teeth.

Before Lee could even begin to speak, Marcus walked past him and over to where Katie was sitting, giving Lee another shock that unsettled him almost as much as catching them kissing had given him. Rather than sit in the spare chair, or pull Katie out of the one she was sitting in, Marcus sank to the floor at her feet with an easy grace that years of Quidditch and flying afforded him. Lee knew his jaw had dropped as Marcus simply settled with his back resting against the chair and his head against Katie's knees while he stared up at Lee with eyes that glittered in the firelight like obsidian. The silence in the room grew brittle, and when Katie unconsciously reached out so that her fingers were brushing the back of Marcus' neck, Lee felt his anger collapse inwards and he sighed before taking the spare seat in front of the fire. All but collapsing into it, he was unable to stop himself from looking between them. They were as different as night was from day. Darkness and light. Slytherin and Gryffindor. And as Marcus shifted, he glanced over his shoulder at Katie who automatically looked down at him and the answer slapped Lee in the head like a bludger.

"Katie…this…this thing between you….it's been going on since your Mama died…hasn't it?" he managed, drawing their eyes back to him.

While Katie bit her lip and looked back down at her hands, it was Marcus who eventually spoke. He tilted his head, his eyes narrowing slightly as he continued to stare at Lee.

"If that knowledge brings you comfort, Jordan, then you go ahead and believe that. Who are we to stop you?"

Lee wheezed out a painful breath as his jaw dropped again, and he stuttered out his confusion.

"What…what do you mean, bring me comfort? None of this is bloody comfortable, Flint! The day of Amelia's funeral… you'd been there between the time we finished the funeral and Katie going back to her Mama's grave… you'd been there and left a Poppy on Amelia's grave…" Lee swallowed hard as his brain began to connect things slowly. "Earlier then… you… Katie was found in Green House Four… she'd been found wrapped in a Slytherin cloak… your cloak."

Katie looked up then and swallowed as she met Lee's disbelieving eyes. And when she shook her head, Lee closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Earlier?" he managed when he finally looked at Katie again, and she bit her lip but then nodded as Lee slumped down his chair. "How in Merlin's name did this happen?" he asked finally. "How in Hades did we miss it? How'd he get past us to get to you, Katie, because let's face it, we're pretty damn protective of you."

"We… Marcus and I…" Katie broke off and blew out a deep breath. "Marcus listened to me," she murmured finally. "He listened, and he didn't judge. He helped me forget how much it hurt, and forced me to keep walking. To face up to that hurt, to realise why I was so scared."

"After your Mama died?" Lee asked, and Katie shook her head as Marcus looked back up at her.

"No," she said finally after glancing down at Marcus. "After I fell and was hurt so badly."

"Katie… that was two years ago," Lee breathed, and Katie laughed softly.

"Yes, I know. You wanted to know when, Lee," she continued, looking at him imploringly. "That's when. That's how. That's why. And as for Marcus got past you as you put it, he failed his seventh year because of his time in the medi-wing and he returned to Hogwarts. Then Mama died, and he found me. And once more, he listened. He didn't judge. He didn't expect me to talk about how I was feeling. However, when I did eventually want to talk about it, he was the only one I felt I could go to who would understand why I was angry rather than sad. Why I wanted nothing more than to curse the world, and cry at the unfairness of it all. Marcus listened to me, Lee, and his silence bought me far more comfort than any heartfelt speech could have."

Katie shrugged again, and looked down at her hands.

"That's when we became friends," she said quietly, and brushed impatiently at her hair when it slid down across her cheek. "Nothing happened," she continued briskly. "Not until the last day of school when we kissed in the library. I'd had feelings for him all that time, Lee. And when we kissed, I knew he felt the same way. It wasn't some elaborate prank. It wasn't a plan to ruin our Quidditch season. No… Marcus fought this the entire time he was at school. And then he attended the Yule Ball. You know the rest."

"The rest!" Lee exploded. "I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that you think he's your friend, Katie! I'm your friend! I know you better than anyone! This…this thing between you is… is gratitude from when he caught you, surely you know that!"

Katie flinched, and Marcus hushed her softly with nothing more than a brush of his knuckles against her knee as he frowned at Lee.

"You think you know her do you?" he asked, and Lee snorted.

"I know her better than you do, Flint!" he cried, and then flinched when he heard how childish that statement was, even to his own ears.

Marcus rolled his eyes and rose gracefully to his feet. Crossing the room, he opened a bottle of Ogden's Cognac and poured a small pool of the amber liquid into a glass; he tilted it at Lee with a snort before downing the content of the glass with a single swallow, while Lee continued to watch him warily.

"You know Katie as the girl you grew up with," he said finally as he poured another measure into his glass. Setting the stopper back into the bottle, he picked his glass up and slowly swirled the cognac, setting the amber liquid aflame with red lights as it swirled the glass. "The girl you attended school with. The girl you watched sorted into Gryffindor. Your mate," he said dryly. "I've never seen Katie the way you do. I never will. I never saw her as A-sexual, Jordan, the way you and the rest of your Gryffindor comrades do."

"Then how do you see her?" Lee spat, and Marcus chuckled softly.

"At first, I only ever saw her as a Chaser from the opposition. Hell fire on a broom. All pointy elbows and snark and runs," he said with a quick grin at Katie, who smiled when she recalled Marcus telling her the same thing one night by the lake. But then the humour fled his face and his voice darkened slightly. "But then we fell. And I began to see Katie in a whole new light. How could I not? We spent so many weeks together in the infirmary, Jordan, that I knew she was a young woman before I even left," he said softly. "I saw the stubborn strength it took for her to stand on her own two feet after shattering her knee. I saw how she fought the need to vomit up her lunch as she endured physiotherapy every day to regain the movement in her shoulder and knee. I saw her determination to hide how scared she was from Oliver bloody Wood, when the stupid prat would come and sit by her side and tell her that all she needed was to get back up in the air. I could see her fear, Jordan. It was stamped across her face as clear as day. But you never saw it. None of you did. Katie fell, and you all stopped seeing her. Maybe she was better at hiding it from you lot, but from me? I saw what staring into death's eyes did to Katie. It changed her. It moulded her. And while you weren't looking, Katie grew up into the young woman I see today."

Marcus jerked a shoulder and then drained his glass as Lee stared at him. Setting the empty glass back down beside the bottle, Marcus leaned against the table and crossed his arms.

"And how do you see her now?" Lee asked finally, and Marcus smiled. It was a dangerous smile, and Lee shifted uncomfortably on his seat as Marcus let his gaze slide to Katie where it lingered.

"She's the young woman who will one day become my lover," he said finally and when Lee blanched, Marcus smirked slightly. "Did that just scorch your sensibilities, Jordan?" he asked. "Knowing that someone, an ex Slytherin to be precise, finds Katie sexually attractive? Hmm? You might have the knowledge to be able say that you know her past, Jordan, but do not make the mistake of saying that I don't know her. I know Katie better than you ever will."

A heavy silence settled over the room as the two wizards stared at each other

"So you have a choice here," Marcus said finally. "Either you accept that her future belongs with me, that this is what Katie wants. That she isn't under some stupid lust spell, which is the argument I can see brewing behind your eyes. Or…"

"Or what?" Lee interrupted as he rose to his feet in anger.

"Or I can Obliviate you as you leave the room, so that you don't pose a risk to Katie and her safety while she is still at school," Marcus said calmly.

He simply raised an eyebrow when Lee's jaw dropped in shock, and he tilted his head with a soft sigh as Lee slowly sank back down into the chair as he stared up at Marcus in muted silence.

"You…you'd do that to me…?" Lee croaked, and when the corner of Marcus' mouth curved slightly, Lee wheezed out a painfully deep breath.

"Marcus… shut up."

Marcus grinned when Katie's soft voice split the silence, and Lee turned wounded eyes towards her as Marcus chuckled softly. A slow smirk of satisfaction crossed his face as she lifted her chin, and he winked at her.

"There's my hell cat… you going to sharpen your claws now?" he asked with a purr of satisfaction.

Lee looked between them in confusion, but Katie recalled the conversation she had once had with Marcus regarding her bravery and her spirit in the library, and she shot him a withering look that had him dropping his eyes to hide to obvious mirth that he felt. Glancing back at Lee, Katie shook her head when he continued to look at her with a wounded look on his face.

"You too," she said when it looked like he was about to speak, and she crossed her arms as the beginnings of real anger turned her eyes a darker shade of blue.

"I'll say this once and once only," she began, and when she had both wizards' attention, she spoke again. "I'm not a child. So stop treating me like I need saving," she said to Lee. Her eyes slid to Marcus, who raised an eyebrow as his amusement clearly danced in his eyes. "I have a father. I don't need you to speak up for me," she said softly to him, and he tilted his head with a grin and gestured for her to continue. Looking at Lee again, Katie took a deep breath and began to speak.

"We have known each other for a long time, Lee. For most of our lives. So when I tell you that I came into this with my eyes wide open, you'd better believe me. I'm not under some sort of spell. I don't have a lingering concussion from when I fell two years ago. For me, this started out as a question of why. Why did he save me? Why did he treat me like his decision to catch me was my fault? Why did he keep watching me….why did I feel like a puzzle that he needed to solve?"

Katie shook her head and looked towards the fire as Lee continued to stare at her.

"I know you remember having that conversation with me," she said a minute later. "But what I never voiced was why couldn't I stop watching him? Why did I want to sit down in a stack in the library, and close my eyes while listening to him speak? Why did the tone of his voice make me feel warm? Why did seeing him in the halls bring not fear, but a different type of feeling? I couldn't wait to see him gone from Hogwarts, because when he left surely I'd go back to normal, because there was no way that how I was feeling was normal for a Gryffindor. But then the Ministry refused to take into account Marcus' fall and his subsequent failure to take two of his NEWTS. They made him re-take the two classes he'd failed. They made him return to Hogwarts. And the life I knew ended."

Looking up at Marcus, Katie smiled slightly and shrugged.

"If Marcus hadn't returned, I would have gotten over a school girl's crush. But he did return, Lee. And I found him as fascinating as ever. As confusing as ever. It got to the point that the only time I didn't see him watching me was when we were in our respective classes. But out of them? I'd look up and see him dissecting me with his eyes. And if what happened next hadn't occurred, we might not be here today. But it did."

Lee tilted his head slightly, and then nodded slowly.

"Your Mama died," he said softly and Katie nodded as a look she couldn't decipher washed over Lee's face.

"That's right. Mama was hurt, and I couldn't handle the not knowing why. I went outside to ask the Gods. It was raining that night, and bitterly cold, do you remember, Marcus?"

Marcus hummed softly under his breath in answer, and Katie looked back towards the fire silently as she thought back over that night.

"He found me on the pitch," she said finally. "And for a single moment, I found my anger and we traded off as we were supposed to. But for whatever reason, Lee, Marcus has always been able to see straight through me, and he knew something was wrong. He didn't push, when I wasn't able to voice it. Because I knew if I said it out loud, it made it real. But he took me out of the rain, and he sat with me in silence. And when I cried…." Katie broke off and shook her head as she looked towards Marcus again who sighed and shook his head.

"What's the point in this, Katie? You know as well as I do that he's not going to walk out of here and keep his mouth shut about us."

Katie pressed her lips together as Marcus crossed his arms and blew out a harsh breath. But when she turned her eyes towards Lee, she felt her heart break a little when she saw the look on his face.

"How can you ask me to keep quiet about this," Lee asked with barely suppressed fury, "when it is more than obvious, Flint, that you took advantage of Katie when she was in a vulnerable state? You deserve to be thrown into Azkaban, and locked away for the rest of your life!" he shouted as he rose to his feet. "And I promise you, that I'll do everything I can to make that happen!"

In the silence that followed, you could have heard a pin drop. It was broken when Marcus sighed and he shook his head as he looked at Katie.

"Now you know why I said we shouldn't do this," he said softly. "I'm better off Obliviating him, Katie, because in all his righteous Gryffindorness, all he can think about is proving you and I wrong, and proving how right he is. You couldn't possibly have real feelings, because in his eyes, you are still a child," Marcus said quietly as he looked towards Katie. "And in his kamikaze way, he isn't thinking about what will happen when he returns to school and tells everyone that the vile Slytherin took advantage of you. He's correct in his thinking that I'll be dragged from your life and sentenced to a stretch in Azkaban. In his eyes, that will happen, and then this spell I must have you under will end and you'll return to being pretty, untouchable Katie Bell. But what he isn't thinking about in all of his righteousness is the fact that you'll be dragged before the Wizengamot, and subjected to a full medical by them because they won't take your word that we haven't been intimate. Then everyone will know. All of Gryffindor and all of Slytherin will know that we crossed those invisible House lines. But that's ok. I'll be in Azkaban where I belong… and you'll be safe in school with your fellow Gryffindor's. On your own. Without the protection of having my name attached to yours to keep you safe from those in my House."

Lee blanched, and when his face lost all colour as he sank back into his seat, Marcus smirked slightly as he turned hard eyes towards the other boy.

"So do your worst, Jordan," he said coldly. "But keep in mind that when the Wizengamot realise that Katie is still as pure as the day she was born, I will be released from Azkaban and there will be no where on earth that you can hide from me."

Lee gaped at him in shock for a minute and then shook his head in disbelief.

"But…but…"

"I believe in killing the messenger, Jordan," Marcus said coolly, "and that is what you would be. The messenger. The one who carries the tale to those who you believe need to know."

"Why?" Lee managed, and Marcus smirked.

"You want to know why I believe in killing the messenger? It sends a message. The message that I won't sit back and let anyone come between Katie and I. Now get out, before I decide that Obliviating you is exactly what we need to do."

Lee rose to his feet and when he glanced at Katie, he faulted. The look on her face was one of pure misery, and he swallowed hard as she lifted her eyes and met his gaze; her eyes were as open and readable as he'd ever known them to be, but as he watched her, as he went to hold his hand out to her, those eyes he knew so well slowly shuttered over. Her pain hidden, she locked her arms around herself and looked away from him. Lee's shoulders slumped when Katie tilted her chin and her hair slid down across her cheek, hiding her face from view. Glancing slowly towards Marcus, he faulted when he saw the wand that was gripped casually in Marcus' hand, belying the anger that was so clearly written across his face. Having been threatened at wand point by him already, Lee looked helplessly towards Katie and then left the room without another word. Trudging slowly through the snow on his way back to the castle, Lee began to wonder if somehow he was wrong….but how could he be?

Marcus Flint was a Slytherin…a very slytheriny Slytherin. Lee knew enough about him to know that he wasn't above using sly fear tactics on the pitch during Quidditch… The thought stopped him in his tracks, and caused his eyes to close as he wheezed in a painful breath. From the darkest corner of his mind, a memory rose up unwillingly. Of a rain soaked game of Quidditch, that had been interrupted when the Dementor's had begun to swoop over the pitch. He had watched in growing horror as the players from both Gryffindor and Slytherin had all suddenly angled their brooms into breakneck dives as Harry Potter fell through the gloomy clouds. And as the memory played out in his mind much like a pensive memory would have, Lee remembered seeing the slim form of a Gryffindor player being tackled to the ground by the much larger form of Slytherin's captain. Of that slim body being covered…protected… before being dragged up from the ground and into a dead run towards the protection the Professors offered as the Dementor's followed them. Lee was left standing in the falling snow, with his breath escaping him in ragged gasps. There was no way Lee was wrong about Marcus Flint….was there?