The Luckiest Man on Earth

The Luckiest Man on Earth



Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and no trademark infringement is intended or implied - not to say I w I would not like to but please do not sue.



Chapter 22: Searching:



The Slytherin Common Room:



Alec looked up into the quiet Slytherin common room pensively. He had been waiting here for her for ages. He looked down with unseeing eyes at his textbook. He had looked everywhere last night for Mariah during the bacchanal. He hadn’t found her. He had been quite angry and upset when he realized that he also could not see Roger Davies. Alec was certain that she and the Ravenclaw captain had slipped off together.



In a fit of anger fueled by his sudden realization that Daria was quite beautiful, he had gone looking for Mariah’s best friend with every intention of taking her to bed. Adrian Pucey had pipped him to that post. Alec had seen them leave together.



Irritated beyond belief at this point, Alec had turned his attention towards two Ravenclaw girls he had Ancient Runes with for the last few years. They were typical Ravenclaws, earnest and quite straight-laced. He lured them back to his room and seduced them. The potion helped immeasurably. He had taken them one after the other, over and over again, until he was sated. When he had woken up, both girls had gone. They had left a note saying that they hoped that they could count on his discretion.



Alec’s face darkened. But he had to speak with Mariah. This unreasonable anger towards her disturbed him. He was courting trouble getting jealous when he had no right. Mariah was not his girlfriend. But he was still quite angry that she left with Davies. He looked at the door to the common room and willed it to open.



The Slytherin Quidditch Captain’s Room:



“Katie,” said Marcus as he shook her shoulder. Katie murmured but still slept on curled under the covers of Marcus’s bed.



Marcus sighed and dressed. He thought that she would have woken up while he was in the shower. His stomach rumbled. He sat down on the sofa and watched her sleep with a touch of impatience. He wondered whether or not he could leave her here and go eat. Her temper was so uncin tin these days. He opted to wait.



“Morning, Marcus,” yawned Adrian as he crawled out of bed.



“Put some clothes on, Ade,” said Marcus with a frown. “Katie is here.”



“Really?” said Adrian with yawn. He searched sleepily for his robe but he couldn’t find it. “Wait, I gave my robe to D…. ahhh…. someone,” said Adrian shif. He. He looked towards Terry’s bed with a touch of guilt.



“Can I guess this someone’s name?” asked Marcus innocently.



“No,” said Adrian as he wrapped his sheet around his nude body.



“Please?” asked Marcus with a raised eyebrow.



“Wanker,” said Adrian feelingly. His voice dipped. “You know, don’t you?”



“You are too noisy sometimeate,ate,” said Marcus with a smirk.



“What?” said Adrian with a mocking smile. “Why tiger, that’s like calling the cauldron black.”



“Git,” said Marcus with a grin.



“Bell spent the night?” said Adrian with surprise. “How did you manage that? She usually slips off at dawn pretending that she doesn’t sleep in this room more often than I do.”



“I know,” said Marcus with a laugh. “Although we don’t do as much sleeping as you may think.”



“Where did Terrence spend his night, that tart,” said Adrian as he shifted off to the shower.



“No clue,” said Marcus. “I heard him come in early this morning though. I’ll lay my bet on a certain Gryffindor lass.”



“I’ll take that bet,” said Adrian with a smirk. “I saw that certain Gryffindor lass with another member of the Slytherin Quidditch team last night. I swear that girl is making her way slowly but surely through the entire roster.”



“Merlin,” said Marcus with a curious glint in his dark eyes. “Who? Tarquin?”



“Derrick,” said Adrian.



“He won’t be pleased,” said Marcus with a nod towards Terry’s bed.



“No,” said Adrian with a nod. “He won’t.”



After Adrian’s shower, he got dressed. He found Marcus still sitting on the sofa staring at Katie’s prone sleeping body.



“Coming to eat,” asked Adrian with a stretch.



“I wish,” said Marcus gloomily. “Bring me something, won’t you?”



“Just leave her here and come have lunch,” said Adrian.



“Ha!” said Marcus with a snort. “She’d kill me.”



“You know,” said Adrian teasingly as he left the room. “I never thought I would ever say these words to you, mate. But you are whipped. Yes, the great Marcus Flint is pussy-whipped. I thought I would never see the day.” He went running out the door.



“Bugger off Ade,” yelled Marcus. “And remember my sandwich.”



“Why are you shouting, Marcus?” asked Katie sleepily. She shifted up to rub at her eyes.



“Adrian was being Adrian as usual love,” said Marcus with a hopeful look at Katie.



“Hmmm,” said Katie as she turned over and her eyes drifted closed again. Marcus frowned and cleared his throat, loudly.



“What is it Marcus,” asked Katie sleepily.



“I’m hungry,” said Marcus plaintively.



“I am so tired,” said Katie with a yawn. “What time is it?”



“Nearly noon,” said Marcus as he shifted on to the bed beside Katie. He stroked her hair with an uncharacteristic soft smile on his rugged features.



“Go have lunch then,” Kat Katie as she snuggled further into the covers. “Bring me back something.”



“Your stomach is better in the mornings now, I see,” said Marcus with surprise.



“Yes,” said Katie with a yawn. “I am just a bit tired in the mornings now.”



“Katie love,” asked Marcus as he twined a piece of her hair in his fingers.



“Hmmmm.”



“How pregnant are you?”



“I would say nearly nine weeks,” said Katie as she opened her eyes and looked into Marcus’s curious ones. “It’s the middle of May now and we conceived three weeks before the last Quidditch game at the beginning of April.”



“Time is going fast,” said Marcus with a slight frown. “Although Alec has been on me to begin revising for my NEWTS.”



“Yes,” said Katie with a grin. “They’ll be on you before you know it Marcus.”



Marcus stroked Katie’s hard stomach thoughtfully. A comfortable silence fell as both Katie and Marcus drank in the realization that that in seven short months, the baby would be making his or her appearance.



“I can’t wait, you know,” said Katie quietly. “To hold the baby.”



“I know,” said Marcus as he laid his head on her chest. Katie stroked his hair soothingly. “Neither can I.”



“Now,” said Katie as she closed her eyes. “Go have lunch and let your tired pregnant witch sleep.”



“Yes Ma’am,” said Marcus as he leaned up and kissed her forehead.



The Great Hall: The Slytherin Table:



Marcus walked into the Great Hall and gave a little grin when not a single person looked at him. Tarquin Bole was a frigging genius. He sat down beside Adrian and looked around the seething unsettled hall with curiosity.



“My,” said Adrian sarcastically. “Your witch gave you parole?”



“Now, now Ade,” said Marcus with a raised eyebroYourYour witch will lock you up and throw away the wand if she knew where you spent the night.”



“Git,” said Adrian with a scowl. “You do not fight fair.”



“Yes,” piped up Tarquin as he sat down beside Marcus. “That is one of the reasons why I like you Marcus.”



“I see your plan worked to perfection,” said Adrian. He looked about the hall with bright interested eyes. “You can just see the jealousy and rivalries being fanned into being as we speak. Tarquin, you have opened up a mess of trouble.”



“I know,” said Tarquin mischievously.

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“You are such a Slytherin,” said Derrick with a grin at Tarquin.



“Cheers, mate,” said Tarquin as he hefted his goblet of juice at Derrick.



Marcus noticed a Ravenclaw girl come stomping up behind Tarquin. He tried to get Bole’s attention but it was too late.



“Tarquin Bole,” screeched the Ravenclaw girl.



“Yes Moira,” asked Tarquin innocently.



“You slag,” screamed the girl. Then she slapped Tarquin across the face. “How dare you shag my best friend last night. All the time you were professing your love for me and then you go sleep with her. I hate you.” Then the Ravenclaw stomped away.



“That witch last night was her best friend?” said Bole with surprise. Tarquin rubbed his cheek ruefully. “Which one?”



Adrian smothered a snicker. Marcus was unfortunately unable to smother his.



“Hoisted with my own petard,” said Tarquin with a reluctant smile. “She could have at least narrowed down which one of her friends it was. Was it the brunette or the red head?”



“Why don’t you ask her?” asked Derrick.



“I think not. Davies should think of using her as a beater,” said Tarquin with a dramatic shudder.



“You naughty boys,” said Daria with a reluctant smile. “Do you realize that Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff House are in a right state right now? At least five couples have broken up over breakfast already. That’s why no one even turned a hair when Moira slapped you, Tarquin. And look at the Gryffindors.”



The Slytherins turned to look towards the Gryffindor table with avid eyes.



The Gryffindor Table:



Angelina looked down the older side of the table in trepidation. You could just feel the tension winding up and down the table. She shuddered then turned to find Fred’s bright blue eyes fixed on her. He gave her a slow smile. Angie blushed and ducked her head.



“Hello,” said Alicia as she sat down at the table. She began to put food on her plate in a hurried way.



“In a rush,” asked George rather coldly.



Angie looked at George in surprise. She gave Ally an inquiring glance but she could not catch her eyes.



“I have homework,” said Alicia tensely.



“Yes,” said George sarcastically. “Is that what we are calling it lately?”



“George,” said Angie with a frown. “It’s Ally’s birthday. Do not be so Slythernish today.”



“But I bet Alicia would just love it if I were ‘Slytherinish’,” said George a touch menacingly.



Alicia looked at George with a mixture of guilt and sorrow. Her heart sank. She just knew that he must have seen her with Angus Derrick last night.



“Please George,” said Angie with a touch of steel in her voice. “Not here.”



The rest of the table was looking part scandalized and part apprehensive.



“Why should I,” asked George. His red hair almost crackled with magic, he was so angry. “Practically the entire Slytherin Quidditch team had their tongues down her throat last night. And later, I saw her with him. Nice bloke to walk you back to the Tower this morning Alicia. Did you have fun?”





“I…I…don’t know what,” stuttered Ally. Ally did not realize that George had seen Angus walk her back. She was completely mortified. George was humiliating her in front of their mutual friends and housemates. But Alicia had no clue on how to stop him.



“Belt it in,” said Oliver to George sternly. “It was a bacchanal. If you couldn’t handle a real bacchanal George, you should not have went to one.”



George flushed but held his tongue. Oliver was one of the only people in Gryffindor House that could get a Weasley twin to shut up.



The rest of the House went back to their lunch and Ally gave Oliver a tearful grateful look. He leaned over and whispered to her, “I know how you felt this morning love. You weren’t the only Gryffindor to wake up the Slytherin dungeons.” He squeezed her hand.



Alicia was toying with her meal when she heard gasps come from her housemates. She raised her head curiously then stiffened in utter shock.



“So Spinnet,” drawled Derrick with a cool aristocratic glare at the Weasley twins. He was standing beside the stunned Gryffindor chaser. She blinked and just stared at him. “Want to go for a walk or something?”



“What?” gasped Alicia.



“A walk,” said Derrick with an amused look into her shocked face. “It’s what people do after lunch on the week-end.”



“I….I,” stuttered Alicia. Derrick pulled her unresisting body to her feet. She blindly followed him as the whispers in the Hall increased.



Later, Derrick patted her back as she cried in a deserted corridor near Gryffindor Tower.



“This has to be the worst birthday I have ever had,” wailed Alicia.



“It started out quite enjoyable,” pointed out Derrick with an exaggerated leer.



Ally’s sobs sputtered as she gave a reluctant laugh. She wiped her eyes and asked curiously, “Why did you come to my rescue?”



“I just hate it when the Gryffindorks get all high and mighty and oh-so-moral,” said Derrick with a shrug. “Especially when they turn on their own housemates. Besides, Terry wasn’t at lunch and he’s my mate. I thought he would appreciate it if I bailed you out of trouble.”



“You may have bailed me out of the cauldron and into the fire,” said Ally with tearful laugh.



“Gossip,” dismissed Angus with a wave. “Brazen it out and it will fade. Happy Birthday by the way.”



“Thank-you,” said Ally with a sigh. She turned to give Derrick a kiss on the cheek but he moved his head and her mouth connected with his mouth. Alicia closed her eyes as her lips softened under his. His mouth slanted over hers a moment later and the kiss turned passionate and demanding.



“I don’t think we should do that,” murmured Derrick against her lips.



“No,” whispered Ally then her mouth opened under his own. His tongue surged into her mouth and she returned his fierce kiss.



“We have to stop now,” said Derrick with a low groan.



“I know,” said Ally as she shifted away from Derrick and his warm comfortable chest.



“You do know that if you ever decide to chuck Terry,” said Derrick with a warm gaze. His voice drifted off and he smiled at her.



“I know,” said Alicia as she bit her lip and watched him as he walked away from her. He looked back and she gave a slow bright smile.



The Slytherin Dungeons:



Mariah huddled under her covers and gazed out into her dorm room with a haunted look in her eyes. She had left the bacchanal early and gone to bed trying to hide from reality. She searched around her bedcovers and came up with the parchment.



Mariah looked at the seemingly innocent piece of paper in the bright sunlight with a look of dread. It was another letter from Billy. It had been full of hatred and vitriol. Billy had found out about Marcus and Katie’s upcoming wedding. She had put two and two together and had discovered that Katie was pregnant. Mariah wondered how she had found out. Perhaps Davies had told her. He had received a similar letter from Billy. He had advised Mariah that they should just go along with Billy and make her think that they were helping. After all, Davies said that Flint was going to marry Katie come hell or high water. The baby sealed that deal so to speak.



Mariah feared that Billy was not right in the head. She had sounded unhinged in the letter. Billy realized that breaking up Marcus and Katie was going to be very hard but she said that she had a plan. Mariah had to meet her next Hogsmeade Saturday. She shuddered as she burrowed deeper into the covers. Mariah wanted nothing more than to go to sleep and hope to wake up after this living nightmare was over.