Mo Chridhe

No, I don't own anything from Harry Potter, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction if I did 😉 only the writing itself and of course, any character I might create as I go on!

Pairing: Marcus Flint/Harry Potter (I should not be doing this…I should NOT be doing this…)

Chapter 1

The four-poster beds are covered in red eiderdowns with red curtains, a wooden nightstand next to it and their school trunk at the foot of the bed. A wooden board is located on either side of the bed. A wooden chair and dresser are located on one side of the bed, near the nightstand. A wooden bookcase is located on the other side of the bed with books on top of it. The dorm had stone walls and wooden floors. The windows had red curtains. The dorm has a red and yellow carpet with the house crest in the centre of it.

The four-poster beds are covered in the house colours with the house crest on them. The four poster beds have two shelves at the back of the bed, an owl perch on one side, a small carpet next to the bed and a wooden nightstand at the end of the bed on one side. There is a wooden table in the centre of the dormitory with a stack of books with an hourglass on top of them, an open book with a Self-Writing Quill, parchments and a plant in a flower pot on it. The dorm has a centrally located stove in the centre of the dormitory next to the table and Harry had no idea what that was for.

Harry's section of the dorm had two massive windows on either side of his bed. He knew for sure he'd have had trouble sleeping if not for the four poster curtains that would surely keep the light out as he slept. Harry stared out at the darkness of the night; all of his dorm mates were already asleep.

He had an actual bed. Sure, it wasn't really his, it belonged to the school but an actual bed! The springs didn't dig into him, it wasn't old and creaky, he had actually been sorted. On the train he'd been terrified that the school would turn around and tell him it was all a big mistake. That they were going to send him back to the Dursley's. He was so wound up, he felt like he could run a hundred miles but he knew his body wasn't capable of that.

He'd made a friend, the thought made him want to cry, he'd never had one before. Well, for a few minutes when he was in primary school, he had, before Dudley beat them up. Then they'd avoid him like the plague, Ron had a really big family! And boy could he eat. Ron had eaten the majority of the sweets he'd bought. Not that he minded, he'd rather have a friend than the sweets. He did eat dinner with the same manner as Dudley though, that's to say like a pig. Luckily the rest of the Gryffindors didn't stuff their faces. Otherwise, Harry would have been well and truly put off his food. Maybe it was just because he was so excited to be there?

Gryffindor, he was in the same house as his parents had been in, he thought. Did his dad sleep in this bed when he was young? The hat was obviously wrong, he'd made friends with the boys in his dorm. Neville, Dean, Seamus and Ron. Even the Headmaster had been really welcoming, for the first time in his life he wasn't invisible, things were finally looking up for him.

For the first time in his life, he was with his people, where he was meant to be.

Already he never wanted to return to the Dursleys and it had only been a single day.

Shifting slightly, he winced as his foot jolted the water pitcher and the five glasses on the tray. He was twitchy, glancing around at the closed curtains, he put his trainers on before silently as possible making his way out of the room.

He couldn't help but be exhilarated at the freedom, despite how painful it was, he began to explore every nook and cranny inside of Gryffindor tower. From the shower rooms to the toilets, he was very pleased to see there was actual stalls for privacy…he did not want anyone to see him in any state of undress. They would ask a lot of questions he wouldn't know where to begin answering. Except of course, to lie through his teeth, but trying to explain why he had bruises on sixty percent of his body, yeah, not really doable.

How was he supposed to make his way around this castle without getting lost all the time? He couldn't help but wonder. The common room had quietened considerably, and there were a few students still there. None paid even the slightly bit of attention to him. Too busy kissing, which caused Harry to screw up his face in disgust, yuck, older people were just weird. He slid out of the common room green eyes alight with wonder and fascination. Making a decision that would affect his entire life.

Although, he made the mistake of stepping onto the staircase, which then promptly moved. Harry panicked, clinging onto the side, they hadn't done that earlier! He was half amazed though, but grateful when it finally came to a stop. Glancing down then up again, maybe he should return to the dorm…if he got lost, he'd surely get into a lot of trouble.

But the curiosity of investigating his surroundings was too strong, he kept his eyes on little nooks and crannies along the way. Perfect hiding places should he need to get away from anyone. Everyone would assume that Harry was being a 'reckless' Gryffindor being out of bounds the very first night of Hogwarts.

Truth was, Harry was being the ultimate Slytherin, becoming familiar with his territory and making notes of all escape routes, and possible areas of protection. He was still in survival mode, truth was ever since that Halloween night, Harry had been on the defensive (survival) mode and he'd never, not even for a moment, came out of it.

Peering down to the depths of Hogwarts, he mentally calculated how far up he was. Fifth floor? He wasn't a hundred percent sure, but either way, he needed to remember how to return to the dorm. Luckily, though, he had a good memory. He had a knack for remembering things. Ron though…didn't seem the most academically inclined…especially if his 'spell' was anything to go on.

Ron who grew up in a magical house-hold, a girl who hadn't – she'd told someone her parents were Muggles and dentists – while in the line for the sorting and she'd fixed his glasses without a problem. Maybe they'd all be friends, at least he hoped so.

Harry's head snapped to the left when he saw someone clad in green mutter a word – did he say Thyme? – and disappear through a door. Worry surged through him, he definitely didn't want to get caught, he glanced in the direction he'd just come from, then back to the room someone had just snuck into.

Then Harry made a choice that would affect his entire life yet again, twice in a single night.

He chose to catch the door before it closed entirely, and peer in to see what it was. Right away he realized it wasn't another common room.

In one side of the room there were stalls with toilets inside. Opposite the toilets, there was a large, swimming pool-like tub sunken into the ground with bath taps surrounding it. There were around a hundred golden bath taps surrounding the entire tub, with a different jewel set in each tap. There were bath supplies on one side of the pool, such as soap, bath oil, bath powder, bath salts, shampoo, hair spray, and conditioner. Looking at the tub, one would imagine it would take quite some time to fill, but it was actually filling remarkably fast, considering its size. There was a portrait of a Mermaid on the wall that was actually moving.

Harry grinned, he loved magic, the door closed behind him with a quiet click. The grin quickly faded when he saw spots of blood on the white marble floor. Concern squirmed like a living thing inside of him, as he automatically began moving. There could only be one reason someone would be here instead of at the nurse – Hogwarts was bound to have one there were hundreds of students here after all – was if they couldn't like him or had done something wrong and didn't want to risk it.

He turned around a pillar and froze, an older Hogwarts – Slytherin his mind supplied seeing the green garments – student had dozens upon dozens of bleeding lash marks on their back. The wizard was smearing something onto his back, that he'd pulled from his backpack – that had M. Flint on the tag – some sort of salve which had the marks slowly healing in front of his eyes which made his eyes widen and gasp at the sight.

The wizard in question grasped his wand and turned so quickly, Harry gulped in shock, eyes going wide then narrowing in on the wand pointed directly at his face. "POTTER!" his tear-stained face screwed up in pain and disgust. His grip on his wand becoming tighter. He'd come here because he didn't think any of the other prefects would feel the need to use the damn prefect's bathroom so quickly. That and they probably didn't know where the bathroom was yet, but he'd been given the tour by Professor Snape, his head of house at the end of term.

Indecision warring with grim determination, Marcus knew what he had to do…but he didn't want to do it. He was after all, only fifteen-years-old what if he screwed up the memory charm? He couldn't let Potter leave here with this memory. He'd never be able to live with it if word got out.

A/N – okay, so I've got three ways the plot can go, and I've written down every single muse and way the story can go for each one and the pros and cons are rather even and I'm so excited by each one so that's no help :P I can't write all three….well, I could but I'm not going to obviously I already went through a phrase of writing similar stories because I couldn't make up my mind and I regretted it lol so…here are the three ways it could go (which actually delved into the dozens of different plots BTW)

Dark but ultimately killing Voldemort Harry? Or neutral and not giving a shit about magical wars except if it will affect him? Disregarding the so called 'Prophecy' and anything Dumbledore wants from him? Or will he agree with Voldemort's goals and join him?

Will we see Remus acting as a father figure in this one? What about Sirius? Will Harry make a family for himself in the Flint family and entirely disregard any ties to his old one?

Will we make Marcus the protective one? Or will it be Harry that's the very protective one? Hmm maybe switching it up for when each other is in danger? Will they be soul bound? Or marry out of protection and love?

And I swore I would never do a Harry at Hogwarts story from the start again oh my gosh! Its why I was reluctant to write The Contract for a while LOL Hmm I think I'll make sure the 'school' scenes aren't the most important…and regarding Marcus' injuries…you'll see 😉 Don't expect many updates (if any) until I've finished a few of my stories! Ugh I so shouldn't be posting new stories at all! R&R