Astoria was getting some looks. She ignored them. She took a file from her handbag and started sawing at one of her nails that was a bit rough.

Marcus wiped the blood from his knuckles as he made his way back towards the spot he preferred. He could see who entered and left Knockturn there. A handy spot to have when you had to keep an eye out for the idiots who tried to avoid paying him. Like Kyle Noble, the bloke who's blood was now staining the creases of his knuckles. Still alive and likely to remain that way as long as someone else didn't find him before he regained consciousness. You couldn't squeeze money out of a corpse, after all. And it wasn't like they could bill his estate.

Chance had watched the beating. He usually did. And, like usual, he disappeared to find a willing whore afterwards. It hadn't taken Marcus long to figure out that routine.

He was still trying to get the last bit off his right hand when he sensed someone watching him. He didn't react at first, just continued walking as he tried to look around without anyone realizing that he was on to them. When he saw her he knew it had been pointless. It wasn't an Auror come to pick him up, just a crazy bint who didn't know what was good for her.

What the fuck does she want?

"There you are," Astoria said politely, like he was late for tea or something.

She put her file back in her handbag. He'd been beating people up again. He did that often. It should bother her, but it did not.

"How have you been, Mr. Flint?"

"Do you have a death wish?" he asked before licking the stubborn spot of blood and rubbing it with his rag again. Bloody knuckles were too obvious, something only a sloppy thug forgot about.

Astoria moved before she or even he could stop her. She snatched the rag, spit on his knuckles, and started rubbing them herself. She was scowling and looking for traces of blood.

"No, I do not wish for death. I wish for life mostly, rich and varied in experiences."

He was too shocked to move at first. Too amazed that she was willingly touching him once again. Then her words registered and he jerked his hand back with a growl.

"I don't have time for bints who want to experience the wild side, Princess. You want to go slumming, that's your choice. But I'm not going to play lowly laborer to your lady of the manor."

"What manor," Astoria said. "I think you have the wrong idea about me. I have a job. I work. I live in a teeny flat that has one bedroom. I'm not slumming when I am with you. Don't say that."

He snorted. "You don't have to have the fancy house to be a lady," he told her. "And take a good look around you." He gestured deeper into Knockturn Alley, the very epitome of slum. "This is the slums, Princess. And if you keep dipping your toe in, pretty soon you're going to be covered with muck. If you make it out alive at all. And right now, it don't look so good."

"I appreciate the warning, but I am not going to die here. Besides, I'm standing next to you. Talking. Anyone who thinks to take me out right now must have a greater death wish than you seem to think I have." Astoria sighed. "And so what if I am a lady? What? You don't like ladies? Too mean to be around one who's not afraid of you?"

"Who said it was the others you have to worry about," he growled, stepping closer and deliberately crowding her. "Or that I would bother stopping them from doing something. Yes, I like ladies, Princess. They scream so prettily when they break. Will you scream, I wonder? Or will you be one of those ones that disappear into their minds? It's not as much fun if they don't scream."

He brought the things he had seen, the things he had done as a Death Eater into the forefront of his mind. He usually pushed them into dark corners, down where they could be ignored. But she was a Seer, she would pick up on what he was thinking, know that he wasn't one she wanted to mess with.

Astoria's brow furrowed. He was trying to scare her. He was thinking so loudly right now that it was giving her a bit of a headache.

"You're not going to touch me like that," Astoria said blandly. "That's not how we will be."

She leaned over and sniffed his shirt, memorizing the smell. He needed a shower, but it was not a wholly repellent smell.

Stupid, bloody bint! he thought before grasping her arms and shoving her against the brick wall. He let her feet dangle to remind her of how tiny she was compared to him.

"Your visions ever wrong, Princess?"

Astoria considered. She knew she was making him angry by thinking about it, but she'd never actually took stock there.

"Well," she began, ignoring the pain in her back and arms. "I think some things are set. That no matter what I do, what anyone does, they will be as they are. Then there are other things that I've seen with varied outcomes. Like... if this happens, this will happen, but if something else... entirely different ending. It's maddening sometimes." Astoria sighed. "My shoe just fell off."

Marcus sent a startled glance down at the ground, where indeed one patent leather shoe was lying on it's side. He was threatening to kill her, was physically harming her, and all she seemed to care about was the fact that her shoe fell off. She was bleeding crazy. That had to be it.

He set her down on her feet and stepped back, putting some space between them. He felt the urge to drink. Heavily.

A hesitant throat cleared behind him and he glanced over his shoulder to see one of their biggest spenders looking from him to Dolohov with way too much curiosity. Hank Byres was an idiot, but a useful one. Chance had a plan to fleece the man out of hundreds of galleons during the next quintaped match. Enough dosh so that he'd never be able to pay it back. The Mother wanted him, therefore Chance wanted him.

"Am I interrupting?"

Marcus shifted, bringing Byres attention from the bint to himself. "Business before pleasure, Hank. The piece of ass can wait while I take your money."

He tried to ignore the girl while he dealt with Byers, but part of him was aware of her every breath as she waited with what seemed like endless patience for him to finish.

"She's very pretty," Byers said, glancing back at Astoria. "Not the usual brand of whore you find down here. A special occasion?"

"Belated birthday present to myself," he replied with a smirk.

"You must have been a good boy to deserve a high class girl like that. Any chance --"

Marcus didn't give him time to finish.

"Do you know how I got to be the best there was, Byers," he asked in a deceptively casual voice before jerking the man closer by his collar. "I don't share. Now get out of here so that I can enjoy my birthday present."

He waited until Byers had scrambled off before turning back to his tormentor. "You're bad for business, Princess."

"You think about sex a lot, did you know? And I can't believe you let that man think I was a prostitute. Really, Marcus," Astoria rolled her eyes. "No one's even ever touched me like that, as you well know, and when that does happen, because it inevitably will, it won't be with you. Not to say you are unattractive, you're quite virile and manly, but I'm probably going to cry and I'd rather not allow you to see me like that."

She was being diplomatic, but that did not make her unladylike discussion here any less cringe-worthy. Something about him made her speak of things that were not proper. Something about him in particular made her unladylike.

"Princess, if I were the one to pop your cherry, then you'd definitely cry," he snapped. "Now will you go the fuck away?"

"Marcus, please don't swear like that. It's terribly crude."

He blinked at her, gobsmacked.

"Listen here, Princess," he said, backing her against the wall again despite the fact that he just knew it wouldn't do any good. The stupid bint refused to be intimidated. "I'll bloody well speak however the fuck I please. I'm not going to have some Diagon bint with a stick up her ass and a desire to roll in the mud tell me how the fuck I should talk. Especially one who's too fucking stupid to realize that she's one fucking word away from being either murdered or raped. Now. Go. The. Fuck. Away!"

"Oh good grief," Astoria snapped leaning closer to him. "There's nothing at all up my backside. I am pure in every sense of the word sexually. Stop speaking of yourself so meanly. You are not mud. Also? You are not going to murder or rape me. I would not be standing here with you if I thought that. I'm not ready to leave yet. We are not finished speaking today."

She stubbornly folded her arms across her chest. One of these days he was going to teach her a lesson. She'd seen it. That was going to be an interesting day for the both of them. Could be today, could be down the road. She wished visions came with time stamps.

Marcus growled low in his throat and grabbed a handful of her hair. "You think I won't hurt you, Princess? You're lying to yourself. I'm not some stray dog that needs a few pets to turn me into a lap dog." Pissed that she was challenging him, right here in the open, in his territory, he used his grip on her hair to jerk her head back. "I don't care what you've Seen, bint. I don't care what you think you know."

"I never said you would not hurt me," Astoria whispered. "But do think you are the first to do so? My father was quite unhappy when I told him I would not marry a Dolohov at first, and what do you suspect a man like Antonin did to me when I had to tell him his only son was dead? Lap dog? Who wants a lap dog? If that's what I were after, I'd find some young thing just out of Hogwarts. You haven't any idea what I'm after here, and I think you do care what I know. You were thinking of killing me over what I now know."

She pulled her head a certain way, making him pull her hair more. Astoria had always had quite the tough scalp since she and Daphne used to brush each other's hair as children. Daphne had one of the least delicate touches ever. Currently Astoria was glad for it.

Fucking bitch he thought and brought his lips crashing down onto hers. She wants to be hurt, I'll hurt her. He wrapped his hand tighter around her hair and pulled her up on her toes so that he didn't have to bend his neck so far. She tasted sweet. Not like the whores he was used to and not like Clearwater. They'd tasted of fear.

He used his grip on her hair to back her into the shadows of the building, where he held her with one hand on her hair and the other on her stomach as he continued to assault her mouth.

Astoria was a bit confused. She did not think this was supposed to happen as of yet. It was... nice though. He was rough, but that was to be expected. If there was not a bit of aggression to him then he would not be Marcus. She relaxed a bit and tried not to worry. He might hurt her, but he would not damage her beyond repair. She didn't know what she was supposed to be doing, so she very tentatively set a hand on his biceps.

He didn't gentle as she touched him. As he'd told her, he wasn't a dog to be tamed. His hand left her stomach in order to grasp her breast, no doubt leaving bruises on it. He didn't care.

The need to breathe forced his mouth from hers and he gasped for air as he ground his erection against her. The stupid bint wasn't fighting at all, was standing passively, submitting.

You're an idiot, he thought as he returned his mouth to hers and untangled his hand from her hair in order to apply it to her other breast. He wasn't sure if he meant her or himself.

His hands were on her chest. She didn't mind so much. No one had ever touched her chest before. Except in accidental brushing. This was far from an accident. He was also aroused. Already. This should not have pleased Astoria, but it did. It was too soon though. She was dead serious about not wanting him to see the way she would cry when her virginity was taken. She didn't really want to tell him to stop. She was curious about this. Perhaps she should have paid more attention to what Dean's girlfriend had been doing in all those forbidden images she'd accidentally taken from him.

There was also the fact that were they to do this, she kind of wanted it to be in a bed, not an alley. Not that it could never happen in an alley. She just was not ready for such a step yet. This was a very difficult situation to be in.

The first crack of thunder went unnoticed by Marcus, as did the light drizzle that started up. Within moments it was pouring and he'd made the mistake of settling under the eave of that particular building. The sudden storm splashed down the collar of his shirt, soaking him instantly. With a strangled yelp he pushed away from Astoria in order to get further under the eave. And the stupid bint laughed at him.

Hadn't she just been thinking he needed a shower?

This event was fortuitous though because she was not ready for where he had been going. Not yet. She needed a hasty exit before he started noticing how see-through her blouse was becoming. Marcus did not do well with temptation, she was finding. She was also finding that he made her feel all tingly with his kind of kissing.

"I'm so sorry. I do believe I just took advantage," Astoria said sincerely. "Don't be angry with me for what I am about to to. You can find me later if you want. Punish me for it even. You would be welcome in my flat. This is not near finished. Don't think for one moment that it is. Just... not today."

She darted forward, though the water and pecked him on the lips - right before she disapparated.

Marcus blinked, clearing the rain from his eyes. Sonuvabitch! he thought as he realized what exactly she had just done. And what she had offered. She was insane. That was the only explanation he could come up with.


{SUMMARY} Astoria seeks out Marcus again and things get a little out of hand. Heavy PG-13 for over the clothes