Series Fic: Around the Corner (Mari/Goyle)(1)
Title: 1 - Around the Corner
Characters: Marietta Edgecombe, Greg Goyle
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 639
Prompt: 1 - Doubt at 100quills and 77 - Blush at 100_colours
Warnings: This could be canon. Might not be. Anyone's guess.
He saw her from across the street, keeping her face pointed to the ground. It was hard not to notice her thick, curly hair spiraling down her back. As he watched her walk away from his vantage point, he saw that no one else seemed to give her a second glance. It surprised him. Did they not see that a beautiful girl was walking by. He’d seen more attention shown to Pansy and she looked like a horse when she smiled.
“People are stupid,” Greg murmured, missing Crabbe once again. It had always been nice to have the bloke around to talk to, even though he hadn’t understood most of what Greg had said. Talking to himself just earned some odd looks from the people around him. As soon as he glared at them, they were quick to look away and forget he existed.
She came this way every day. Once he’d noticed her, he’d come back to make sure and over the span of three weeks she’d walked through Diagon Alley at the stroke of one in the afternoon. One pass thru. That was all. There was never a return trip, even though he’d stayed in place well past dark. Where did she go? How did she get back to where she had come from? Why did she still hide? There were so many questions running through his head, leaving very little room for other thoughts. Perhaps, if he was able to answer just one of the questions, he could leave off worrying about her.
Today he didn’t stay leaned up against the wall like a common vagrant. Instead he pushed off and began following at a good distance. Wouldn’t want to spook her now that a plan was forming.
Every thought he had evaporated as he turned a corner to find his prey stuck in a trap. At one time, he and Crabbe might havedone just the same thing with some pretty bird, mostly for the enjoyment of Draco or Blaise. They liked to watch fear on others. It brought them joy.
But Greg didn’t like the idea of this freckled dove being made into a toy. Her stance was strong but there was no way she could take on all three of the men bearing down on her. Their jeering was making her blush but he liked that she was keeping her head up, facing them down when it would have been wiser to turn and run. It was time for some intervention. He didn’t figure they would stay long once he showed them what kind of damage his fists could cause.
When they were gone, he turned to the girl still standing in a defensive posture. “You could have screamed for help. What if I hadn’t been behind you?”
“Goyle?” Her eyes narrowed. “Were you following me?”
“You know me?”
“If you’re surprised, you must not know who I am.”
“I know you, Marietta Edgecombe. I could never forget you.”
Hatred pulsed from her. “I know. The scars will never fade. No one can forget me. It’s my fate.”
“Scars?”
“Don’t toy with me, Goyle. You had your fun. Run along to your master.”
He lifted his chin, irritated to be explaining this yet again. Those that knew him as a lackey of Slytherin thought that was all there was to him. “I have no master now. I work for myself or not at all. And your scars are barely visible now compared to what they used to be. Would they be the reason you never look up?”
There was no doubt in his mind that it was the wrong thing to have said to her. The upper cut came at him with a speed he wouldn’t have thought possible from a girl… and a Ravenclaw, to boot. Next time he’d be ready for it.
Characters: Marietta Edgecombe, Greg Goyle
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 639
Prompt: 1 - Doubt at 100quills and 77 - Blush at 100_colours
Warnings: This could be canon. Might not be. Anyone's guess.
He saw her from across the street, keeping her face pointed to the ground. It was hard not to notice her thick, curly hair spiraling down her back. As he watched her walk away from his vantage point, he saw that no one else seemed to give her a second glance. It surprised him. Did they not see that a beautiful girl was walking by. He’d seen more attention shown to Pansy and she looked like a horse when she smiled.
“People are stupid,” Greg murmured, missing Crabbe once again. It had always been nice to have the bloke around to talk to, even though he hadn’t understood most of what Greg had said. Talking to himself just earned some odd looks from the people around him. As soon as he glared at them, they were quick to look away and forget he existed.
She came this way every day. Once he’d noticed her, he’d come back to make sure and over the span of three weeks she’d walked through Diagon Alley at the stroke of one in the afternoon. One pass thru. That was all. There was never a return trip, even though he’d stayed in place well past dark. Where did she go? How did she get back to where she had come from? Why did she still hide? There were so many questions running through his head, leaving very little room for other thoughts. Perhaps, if he was able to answer just one of the questions, he could leave off worrying about her.
Today he didn’t stay leaned up against the wall like a common vagrant. Instead he pushed off and began following at a good distance. Wouldn’t want to spook her now that a plan was forming.
Every thought he had evaporated as he turned a corner to find his prey stuck in a trap. At one time, he and Crabbe might havedone just the same thing with some pretty bird, mostly for the enjoyment of Draco or Blaise. They liked to watch fear on others. It brought them joy.
But Greg didn’t like the idea of this freckled dove being made into a toy. Her stance was strong but there was no way she could take on all three of the men bearing down on her. Their jeering was making her blush but he liked that she was keeping her head up, facing them down when it would have been wiser to turn and run. It was time for some intervention. He didn’t figure they would stay long once he showed them what kind of damage his fists could cause.
When they were gone, he turned to the girl still standing in a defensive posture. “You could have screamed for help. What if I hadn’t been behind you?”
“Goyle?” Her eyes narrowed. “Were you following me?”
“You know me?”
“If you’re surprised, you must not know who I am.”
“I know you, Marietta Edgecombe. I could never forget you.”
Hatred pulsed from her. “I know. The scars will never fade. No one can forget me. It’s my fate.”
“Scars?”
“Don’t toy with me, Goyle. You had your fun. Run along to your master.”
He lifted his chin, irritated to be explaining this yet again. Those that knew him as a lackey of Slytherin thought that was all there was to him. “I have no master now. I work for myself or not at all. And your scars are barely visible now compared to what they used to be. Would they be the reason you never look up?”
There was no doubt in his mind that it was the wrong thing to have said to her. The upper cut came at him with a speed he wouldn’t have thought possible from a girl… and a Ravenclaw, to boot. Next time he’d be ready for it.