Oliver Wood disliked very few things. One thing he disliked very much, however, was mistletoe. And by extension it could be said that he semi-disliked Christmas time because of the large amount of mistletoe that came with it. Every year was the same, several girls trying to trap him for a kiss. Who started that stupid tradition anyway? At the first sign of mistletoe Oliver would turn around and walk the other way as fast as he could. He was frequently late to classes in the couple of weeks leading up to Christmas break due to the detours he took to avoid the bothersome plant. Of course, even he couldn't avoid all the mistletoe in Hogwarts. He had thought the charms corridor was mistletoe-free when he first entered on his way to charms after lunch (and he thought he would be on time for once). But the fates were not with him that day, it seemed, as Katie Bell stopped him and pointed out the mistletoe growing right above where they were standing. Crap.

Marcus Flint had been having a rather quiet lunch due to the fact that his two best friends, Terrence Higgs and Adrian Pucey were currently not talking to each other. Marcus wouldn't have minded this so much, but then they got the idea to use him as a go-between. Needless to say, Marcus was getting rather fed up with this.

"Marcus would you tell Higgs to pass the salt?" said Adrian.

"Terrence, Adrian says that he wants to make mad passionate love to you instead of going to Transfiguration," Marcus told Terrence instead.

"Tell Pucey to go fuck himself," said Terrence, unfazed, as Adrian choked on some bread.

"Adrian, Terrence thinks that's a grand idea, and says he looks forward to making you moan his name." It was Terrence's turn to choke, and Adrian had turned a deep shade of red.

"Adrian, stop blushing, that shade of Gryffindor red is not becoming on you. And next time you two aren't speaking to each other, I would suggest using an owl instead of me," Marcus said coolly, leaving his two sputtering friends behind. Marcus began the long walk up to Transfiguration, passing the Charms corridor on his way. He noticed a sizeable crowd had gathered there. Naturally curious, he decided to take a detour, as he would be 15 minutes early to Transfiguration if he kept going, and goodness forbid he should seem so considerate, or interested in learning. It turned out that Oliver Wood had managed to get himself trapped under the mistletoe by a girl. Marcus almost laughed at his boyfriend's predicament. Almost. Instead, he pushed his way through the crowd, using his size and bullying skills to his advantage. As he got to the front he saw Oliver give Katie Bell a very chaste kiss on the lips.

"Oh come on now Oliver," she pouted. Hey, he was the only one who could pout at Oliver and get away with it. "Surely you can do better than that."

Marcus decided it was time to rescue Oliver. "He could, just not for you."

Katie had a slight sneer on her face as she turned to look at him.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" she asked coldly. Marcus stepped inside of the ring of onlookers and replied, "It means, obviously that Oliver Wood is indeed not interested in you, no matter how pretty you think you are. And besides, that's not how you kiss Oliver Wood. This is how you kiss Oliver Wood."

And with that, Marcus grabbed Oliver's tie and pulled him in for a kiss. Oliver responded enthusiastically, and Marcus put his arm around Oliver, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. They broke apart at the sound of a slightly disgusted noise.

"Ugh! Oliver, how could you?" said Katie indignantly.

Oliver just smirked a rather un-Gryffindor-like smirk and replied, "Quite easily. I can demonstrate again if you'd like." Katie made another disgusted sound and stalked away. The others dispersed, most of them looking quite shocked that Oliver Wood and Marcus Flint were not, in fact, enemies.

"Well, for what it's worth I would like another demonstration," said Marcus with a smirk.

"My pleasure," said Oliver pulling Marcus down for another kiss. Maybe mistletoe wasn't all that bad, Oliver thought, as he was thoroughly kissed by Marcus Flint.

When Marcus got to class, he had a rather silly smile in his face. His smile grew as he took in the disheveled appearance of his two best friends. It appeared he was not the only one to take a detour. And it appeared his friends had kissed and made up. Literally. As he sat down next to Adrian, he muttered in his ear, "So it looks like you two did like my suggestions after all."

"Oh shut up Flint," replied Adrian, as Terrence smacked him over the head with his Transfiguration book.