Author: Fleur ([email protected]) Summary: Marcus Flint and the nature of prejudice.
Marcus Flint knows what all the parents say. What all their children say, too. What all those first years say when he walks past them and growls at them in the hallways. He loves the expressions on their faces.
Don't talk to trolls, the parents tell their children. They'll bite you.
Marcus bites, but only if you ask nicely. Only if you're pressed underneath him in the third bed from the left in the fifth year Slytherin dormitory. And everybody in the house knows that that never happens to anyone. That it never has.
Don't talk to trolls, the parents sigh. They won't understand. They really are rather stupid.
Marcus isn't stupid, he knows that. The Gryffindor Quidditch team knows it too, and has it reinforced every time Slytherin beat them into the pitch. His plays are obsessively perfect, compulsively tweaked until there's no way they'll ever lose. So Marcus isn't stupid; his priorities just don't lie with the three sheets of parchment Professor McGonagall assigned them that were due yesterday and he hasn't quite gotten around to starting yet.
Don't talk to trolls, say the parents. They're different to us.
Marcus knows he's not as different as the Mudbloods. His blood is far purer than any Muggleborn's. His parents were both magical, as such. What did it matter if his father was part-troll, what did it matter how much he was a troll, if he was entirely magical? Better than coming from dirty blood. Muggle blood. He spits on the Mudbloods when he passes them in the hall, and laughs at them with Warrington and Montague when the little Mudbloods turn their backs.
Don't look trolls in the eyes, the parents fuss. Could make them angry.
Marcus doesn't get mad because of any blood that might run in his veins. Marcus gets mad because people annoy him. People like opposition players, people who he tells the Beaters to take out of the way. It's easier to cheat like that. If there's a problem, get rid of it, by any means necessary. Marcus gets mad because that's how you win.
Don't go near trolls, say the parents firmly. Just walk the other way.
Marcus knows why he likes being in Slytherin. For the first time, the day he was sorted into the house, he found acceptance. For the first time in his life, Marcus found that people weren't crossing to the other side of the room when he entered. Because they were all used to being ignored and avoided. Because they were all their mothers' daughters and their fathers' sons. Because everybody there was used to being looked down at by those others in the Towers. The dungeons were below the school for a reason that they all appreciated.
Don't fall in love with a troll, is the most firm rule the parents insist upon.
Marcus knows that nobody ever will.