Hi all! This was a story from last year I never got to posting on FFnet. Hope you all enjoy! I am starks-and-mellarks on tumblr, come play :)
The pitch was peaceful and the morning sun highlighted the fine layer of dew covering the goal posts. Peeta Mellark hovered in front of the middle one and studied it. The more familiar he was with the post, the more comfortable he felt. And the more comfortable he felt, the better he would play on Saturday's match. And he still had a lot to prove.
Most Quidditch players did not come out of Hogwarts with an offer from an English professional team. Most Quidditch players went to trials and if they were lucky they were picked up by a scout for a low ranked international team and spent their season freezing in Finland or baking in Egypt and practically playing for sickles. With only 13 professional teams in the English League, the odds were not exactly in their favor.
However, odds never mattered much to Peeta Mellark. As a Muggleborn, Peeta had only ever used a broom to sweep out his father's bakery. He had no idea what to expect during the first year's flying lesson. He didn't expect the few seconds he spent hovering over the ground to feel so liberating and natural. The minute his feet landed back on the dirt he longed to be in the air again and he begged his father for a racing broom that Christmas. He spent his summer holiday sneaking off to a field in the dead of night and practicing dives, turns and spins.
When his second year started, he beat out nine other Gryffindors for the only open spot on the team: Chaser. And on that rainy spring day in his final year when he led the team to Quidditch Cup victory , he met Haymitch Abernathy who shook the Captain's hand and offered him a spot on the Appleby Arrows. Haymitch had said Peeta "played with heart" and was just what he needed to motivate his "talented bunch of wankers."
The Arrows made it to the League Cup during his first season with them, but unfortunately lost the match when the opposing Seeker secured the Snitch. Peeta scored 110 points that game and he was determined the Arrows would end this season as victors.
"Oi! Mellark!" A witch stood on the ground with her wand pointed to her throat, magnifying her voice. "Quit becoming 'one with the post' or whatever weird shit you do and get down here!" Peeta rolled his eyes but descended towards her and when he dismounted from his broom he ran a hand through his windblown blond hair.
"I hardly think you of all people need to use a Sonorous charm, Johanna." He gave her a look and threw his broom over his shoulders. Together, they walked to the changing rooms.
"I could have used one last week to warn you about that bludger aimed for your elbow. Those fucking Falcons play as dirty as the floor of the potions dungeons." Johanna Mason was a Beater for the Appleby Arrows and for some reason had dubbed herself Peeta's rude, annoying older sister for the past year.
"You and Cato call it quits again?"
"Well it wasn't exactly a chore to aim bludgers at his head for four and a half hours." Peeta smiled as he held the door open for her. "For Merlin's sake, Mellark you keep holding the door open for me and I'll have to act like a lady and cut down on the swearing and arse-kicking."
"And where would the fun in that be?" A lazy voice called from a bench. Finnick Odair fiddled with the strap of his Keeper helmet and he looked up to give Peeta a grin.
"How's Annie today?" Peeta asked and Finnick sighed.
"You know I love that woman more than anything, but last night she got a craving at one in the morning, burnt the treacle tart and it took two hours to calm her down and tell her it was fine. She still won't let me hire her a house elf, swears she can do it on her own." He rubbed his eyes and Peeta noticed how exhausted he looked.
"I'll come by and bake her something this weekend." Peeta offered. Finnick looked at him like he was a godsend.
"You know Mellark, if I wasn't married already I might fight the editors of Witch Weekly for a date with you." He gave him an obnoxious wink but Peeta's reply was cut off by Haymitch's gruff voice.
"Alright, finish suiting up, this isn't a damn social hour." Haymitch glared at Peeta and Finnick, but Peeta was far too used to Haymitch's surly nature to let it bother him. "Also, St. Mungos is startin' a new rotation in their Healer trainee program. For the next six weeks we've got ourselves a Team Healer. You get hurt, you go to her. No accidentally cursing each other instead of fixing a bleeding bone."
"That was one time!" Marvel, a great seeker but a poor healer, called out.
"Anyway," Haymitch silenced Marvel with a look. "Here she is. Say hello and then get your arses on a broom." He walked out and Peeta finally saw the girl who had been blocked from his point of view.
His breath caught and somewhere his mind registered his jaw had literally dropped and he should probably close it, but both his brain and time had completely frozen.
In front of him stood Katniss Everdeen.
—
He had gone through practice in a daze, only half paying attention to the scrimmage against the reserves team. His mind was occupied by Katniss and he found himself acting sixteen years old all over again: barely able to concentrate because of a girl.
Of course, she wasn't just a girl to Peeta Mellark and never had been. She was the girl, the one he had practically loved since he first laid eyes on her. They weren't friends—they were barely even acquaintances— and yet Peeta had a history of turning into a bit of a mess wherever Katniss Everdeen was concerned.
A part of him had really been convinced that he was over his schoolboy crush, that not seeing her for nearly a year and a half and barely thinking about her (which wasn't exactly true, as some of his most vivid dreams included Katniss Everdeen in a very different version of the Hogwarts school uniform) rid him of his unrequited love.
One look at her today and that clearly was not true. She wore lime green robes, traditional for the hospital healers, but her hair was still in her signature braid. She looked nervous and a tad uncomfortable standing in the changing room with the Quidditch team staring at her until Finnick reached in his back pocket and asked if she wanted a sugarquill and she seemed to relax. When her smokey gray eyes met Peeta's, she gave him a small smile and he felt light in the head.
—
He met up with Finnick, Annie and Johanna for their customary mid-week drink at the Leaky Cauldron, but his mind was still on Katniss and he was only brought out of his thoughts when Johanna impatiently waved her hand in front of him.
"So Peeta, what do you think of our new Healer trainee?" She asked and a wicked grin began to stretch over her face.
"Uh, you mean Katniss?" He tried (and failed) to make his voice sound nonchalant.
"She's a second year trainee, she must have been in your year at Hogwarts." Finnick took a swig of his firewhiskey and cocked his head to the side. "Wasn't she?"
"Er, uh, yeah she was." Peeta began to feel a blush rise up his neck and he prayed the dim light of the pub could conceal it. "We actually met on the train there," he wasn't sure why he was telling them, but the memory brought a faint smile to his lips. "I didn't know anyone and she was alone in her compartment, so we sat together." At first, the eleven year old Katniss was standoffish towards him, but Peeta kept up a steady stream of questions and conversation and she slowly started to open up. She laughed when he tasted his first chocolate frog and he offered her a cheese bun his father had packed for him (nine years later he still remembered how her eyes lit up when she bit into it).
"And?" Johanna looked at him expectantly but Peeta shrugged.
"I was sorted into Gryfinndor, she was in Slytherin. You know how it is." Finnick nodded understandably and clinked his glass against Peeta's.
"Seems awfully star-crossed Peet, and yet the fates have brought you together again. Now I didn't earn an 'O' in Divination-"
"Odair, you didn't earn an 'O' in anything." Johanna cut in and Annie let out a tinkling laugh. They began to bicker about OWL and NEWT results while Peeta glanced around the pub.
His eyes locked with Katniss' across the room and for the second time that day his stomach dropped and his heart rate speed up. She was leaning on the old wooden bar, half-listening to someone whose back was turned to Peeta. She gave him a quick nod of acknowledgement and Peeta could feel the blush spread across his cheeks.
Without thinking it through, he lifted his right hand and gave her an enthusiastic and thoroughly embarrassing wave. He stopped, realizing how mental he looked. Katniss bit her lip and she looked like she was trying to contain laughter.
Peeta seriously contemplated apparating right on the spot and never showing his face in public again.
His mortification intensified when the figure she was talking to turned around and he found himself under the stare of Gale Hawthorne.
Damnit.
Of course they were still friends, or whatever they were (the masochistic side of Peeta always paid attention to rumors of Gale Hawthorne's girlfriends in school, his stomach clenching at the thought of Katniss becoming one of them). He knew Gale and Katniss had been friends since before school and though he was two years older than they were, Gale and Katniss were in the same house and were often found together.
It didn't exactly help that Gale had played Keeper for the Slytherin team and there was a particularly memorable game during Peeta's fifth year when he had scored on him no less than twelve times.
Thankfully, Peeta's brain had regained some sort of balance and he did not give an obnoxious wave to Gale. He simply gave him a nod and downed the rest of his firewhiskey. When he turned back to the conversation (which had progressed to their upcoming team photoshoot forWitch Weekly), he caught Annie watching him.
"Am I that obvious?" Peeta kept his voice low so Finnick and Johanna would not hear him. Annie reached her hand across the table and rested it on top of his. Annie was also Muggleborn and in the past year the two had become close, going to see Muggle bands they both liked or visiting some of their old friends together. After a disastrous night at a Muggle pub where Finnick confused everyone with his drunken recap of the 1994 World Quidditch Match ("Ireland won, but Krum caught the snitch! I mean it's a legendary game!"), got very agitated at the lack of firewhiskey (he did however enjoy tequila shots) and then nearly hexed a guy who bumped into Annie, he was no longer allowed out in Muggle London with them.
"She'll realize how lovely you are in no time." Her voice was always calming to Peeta and he gave her a smile of gratitude.
"I think I'm going to head out," Peeta threw a galleon on the table and pushed his chair back. "I've got an interview with Heavensbee bright and early and you know he'll broadcast it to the world if I'm hungover or sleep deprived." His friends said goodbye and he tugged his jacket on so he could exit the pub.
Much as he wanted to, he didn't chance another glance at Katniss, though if he did he would have seen she and Gale had been joined by a blonde who was clearly Gale's girlfriend.
—
Two weeks had passed, the Arrows' record was 2-1 and though the air was turning colder and the forecast said snow, Peeta Mellark was headlining papers as "The Boy On Fire". He had baked Annie several batches of sweets, given a few interviews and made an appearance to sign the updated "Quidditch Through the Ages" at Flourish and Blotts. Life was as busy and entertaining as normal, though he still clammed up at the sight of Katniss on the Quidditch pitch and had nearly dropped the Quaffle more than once.
Peeta finished up his shower after a particularly long practice and meeting with Haymitch. He had grown up in a house with five family members and one shower, so he enjoyed the luxury of being able to stand under the steam and take his time.
He turned the water off and reached for his towel, yet was met with an empty rack. Puzzled, he looked over and then down and realized his towel sat in a puddle of water on the ground.
"Damn," Peeta picked up the sopping wet towel and sighed. He couldn't hear anyone else in the changing rooms (and anyway when you practiced every day with the same seven people, there really wasn't much you hadn't seen before), so he walked out of the showers and towards his cubby, wet towel in hand.
A small and surprised gasp made him freeze on the spot. He looked over his right shoulder just in time to see Katniss scramble to cover her eyes with her hands.
"Oh my god!" His voice was an octave higher than normal and he sprinted to his cubby.
"I'm sorry!" Katniss said hurriedly. "I was looking for my notebook, I didn't think anyone else was in here!"
"My towel, it uh, got wet." Peeta tried to explain while frantically pulling his trousers on. "I don't just…walk around like…" he trailed off, realizing he was doing nothing to make the situation less awkward.
"It's okay! I didn't, uh, see…I mean, I'm just going to …" she trailed off and spun around, taking her hands from her eyes and walking quickly out of the room.
Peeta took a deep breath in and rested his head on the wall.
"Smooth move, Mellark." He grumbled to himself.
—
Peeta tossed the Quaffle towards the left hoop, but Finnick knocked it away with his right hand. Peeta shifted on his broom, steering it towards the ground and he grabbed the Quaffle, tucked it under his right shoulder and sped back to the hoops.
"I'm telling you, she'll be there. I even said you were going!" Finnick called as Peeta hurled another shot at the center goal. Finnick barely saved this one and Peeta rebounded the Quaffle with ease.
"What did she say when you told her I was going?"
"Well it's not like she's an abundance of smiles and sunshine to begin with, but she didn't say 'ew, no, that weird wanker who walks around stark naked? Count me out.'" Peeta grimaced and aimed for the left hoop again, but Finnick was expecting it and blocked it.
"It's been nearly a fortnight!" Peeta called as he maneuvered his broom to steer towards the falling red ball. "Won't you let it go?"
"I may be blocking all of your shots, Peet." Finnick said as Peeta raced towards him. "But I actually am trying to help you score."
"Aw, fuck off." Peeta laughed and aimed for the right hoop, but flipped last second and the Quaffle sailed with ease through the center hoop. Finnick set off towards it.
"See!"
—
By now, Peeta should have learned his lesson about drinking shots Johanna bought him, but he was far too wound up that night and needed to relax. They had decided to go out in Appleby (or as Finnick said, they decided to 'pay tribute to the town they served'). There was a small Wizarding community in town and they all congregated at a pub called Phoenix Feather. Peeta loved the small village and the charming old pub and his flat was conveniently only a few blocks away.
Katniss was there and he had said hello to her earlier in the night, noticing how pretty she looked in a dark green jumper, and he had bought her a butterbeer. A man pulled him away, asking for an autograph for his son and when he turned back to her, Katniss had disappeared. When he found her again talking with Gale Hawthorne (what the hell was he doing here), Peeta didn't hesitate to take the shot Johanna slid in front of him.
Four shots (and a lot of stalkerish-glances towards Katniss) later, Peeta was in a lively debate with an older wizard who wanted to see more reverse passes during the game.
"If we had better odds for throwing the Quaffle over our shoulders and catching it, we'd do it more often!" Peeta said with a laugh.
"Aye, I know it's a Bagman Bet but it's always so exciting when it happens in a match. Bet if they'd throw it to you, you'd catch it every time, boy." The man gave him a toothless grin and Peeta chuckled. He felt someone tap his arm ever so slightly as he clumsily turned around.
"Hiya Katniss!" He exclaimed and a bit of foam flew off the top of his butterbeer. She raised one eyebrow at him.
"Just wanted to say I'm heading home. Tell Finnick thanks for the invite," she gestured to the far end of the pub where Finnick was posing for pictures with witches old enough to be his mother.
"Wait, what! No, you can't leave!" Peeta shook his head back and forth and Katniss bit her lip again. "I mean, you can leave. But I…I can walk you! The apparition point is a hike."
"It's only two blocks, if I recall." She was right but Peeta was drunk and desperate to talk to her so he rambled on.
"Nah, but the crime! The crime has just spiked…it's awful." he tried to sound serious but he had the feeling Katniss wasn't buying his fib. "I absolutely must walk you."
"Alright, I'll allow it." She gave in and headed towards the door and Peeta barely fought the urge to fist pump into the air. As they walked towards the exit, Peeta noticed Gale had his arm around a familiar looking blonde and he furrowed his eyebrows towards the back of Katniss' head. He shook his own head once, trying to clear the thought from his mind. I won't bring up Gale Hawthorne, I won't bring up Gale Hawthorne…
"So I saw Gale Hawthorne back there." The words fell from Peeta's mouth as the two stepped out into the cold night.
"I mentioned tonight and he wanted to stop by. Madge is always looking for new places to go." Sticking her hands in her pocket, Katniss concentrated on maneuvering the icy sidewalk.
"Madge…like Madge Undersee?" Peeta recalled a Ravenclaw in their year and put it together that she was the one Gale had his arm around.
"The very same. She and Gale have been dating nearly four years now."
"Oh! Well that's brilliant!" Peeta was attempting to mask his sheer delight at the information. "I mean…I know you two were close…so if you wanted to be with Gale then that's not brilliant at all…it's…troublesome." Peeta forced his grin into a neutral expression on the off chance Katniss was about to spill her emotional guts out to him. She glanced at him with a curious expression.
"I don't want to be with Gale." This time there was nothing Peeta could do to stop the smile from stretching across his face and he nodded.
"Brilliant then." She opened her mouth to say something more, but Peeta's foot hit a nasty patch of ice and in second he had pulled a comical fall and landed right on his bottom. Surprised and a little sheepish, he ran a hand through his hair and looked up at Katniss. "Careful, the ground is icy tonight."
It started as a little snort, then a succession of quick and quiet little breaths, but soon Katniss was cackling at the sight and Peeta was convinced her laughter was the most lovely sound in the world.
"I'm sorry," she managed to get out between laughs. "But you're face…you're not hurt, are you?" She asked and Peeta shook his head and got to his feet. "I thought you were supposed to be a coordinated athlete," she lightly teased as they resumed their walk, albeit at a much slower pace.
"On a broom, yes. It's this pesky walking thing that I can't get the hang of." He flashed her a grin and the smile stayed on her face. "Are you enjoying your Quidditch rotation?"
"More than I thought I would have."
"What kind of healing do you want to do?" Peeta narrowly dodged another patch of ice.
"Potions." She confirmed what Peeta had already suspected. Potions was the one class Katniss participated in and she always had outstanding marks. "I think we still have diseases left to heal."
"I think you're right." Peeta wanted to give her a smile, but the sidewalk was both icy and uneven and there were only so many times a night when he could embarrass himself in front of her. "You can't mix Finn and I up a batch of liquid luck though, can you? Make sure we win the League Cup this year?"
"No I cannot and I doubt you will need it."
"So you're bettin' on me, Katniss?" She chuckled and Peeta felt a surge of pride that it was something he said (not falling on his ass) to make her laugh again.
"I don't bet, but you're a wonderful player. You always have been." They walked in silence for a minute more as the compliment warmed Peeta from the inside out. Was there a chance than maybe she had paid attention to him a fraction of the amount he paid to her?
They reached the apparition point and Peeta turned to Katniss, not quite wanting their walk to be over yet.
"The League Cup is after your rotation ends." He said simply and she nodded. "So does this mean you would still come out and support The Arrows?" He raised both of his eyebrows at her and wiggled his head. She narrowed her eyes but the corners of her lips turned upwards.
"Get to the finals and you'll see for yourself." And with that declaration she spun on her heel and disappeared into the night.
His head in the clouds, Peeta slipped on the ice twice more as he walked back to his flat, but he barely registered either fall. He could only see grey eyes, only hear Katniss' laughter and the bruises on his legs seemed a small price to pay for the best walk of his life.
—
Few things can be successfully accomplished in the middle of a blizzard. Quidditch practice is not one of them.
Peeta's goggles kept freezing and fogging and even with a Sonorous charm, Haymitch was yelling himself hoarse from the sidelines. Not to mention his two closest teammates were at each other's throats.
"BRUTUS AND GLOSS WON'T CARE ABOUT AIMING A BLUDGER AT YOUR PRETTY LITTLE HEAD NEXT WEEK, SO DON'T GO YELLING AT ME!" Johanna shrieked at Finnick who had given her a rude hand gesture after narrowly dodging a bludger.
"IT'S A FUCKIN SNOW GLOBE OUT HERE MASON, GIVE ME A BREAK!" He bellowed. They had a match against their league rivals, the Wimbourne Wasps, next week and everyone was on edge. Playing peacekeeper between the two was nothing new to Peeta, so he sped off to get in the middle of them.
The crack of a bat against a bludger sounded and then the whole world went dark.
—
The first thing Peeta registered was he was significantly warmer than he had remembered being all day. His right hand was particularly warm, like it was enclosed in someone else's, and his eyes fluttered open. To his surprise, Katniss was sitting on a chair pulled close to his bed and she was the one holding his hand.
"Katniss?" His voice was hoarse and her gaze snapped up from staring off into the distance. Blushing, she quickly took her hand from his and nervously tugged on the end of her braid.
"You were hit on the head pretty hard and nearly hit the ground before Haymitch's spell stopped you." Her voice was soft but worried and her eyes roamed his face. "How are you feeling?"
"Bit of a headache and a little confused." Katniss nodded. She got up from her chair and quickly walked across the room to her shelf of tonics. Peeta realized he was in the Healer area of the locker room. It was quiet and he had the distinct feeling practice had ended a while ago. "How long was I out for?" She walked back over with a small cup.
"Drink this, it will help with the headache." She handed him the cup and he swallowed it quickly. It tasted like peppermint and began to work instantly. "You've been asleep a few hours. The others wanted to stay, but I told them I could watch you." She looked sheepish. "After that they gave some, uh, looks and then headed home." Peeta knew exactly what kind of looks Finnick, Johanna, and probably even Haymitch had given her. "Finnick Odair said to go to his place tonight." Peeta nodded, Annie always tended to freak out when either of them got hurt and she made it her mission to hover over them until they felt better.
"I haven't been knocked out this bad since my sixth year." Katniss sat back on the chair and Peeta noticed how close it was to the bed. He was grateful she did not try to move it further, her closeness was more comforting than the medicine.
"I remember that." Katniss said quietly. "Your arm was in a sling for a while, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, it was." Peeta gave her a half smile, but Katniss' attention went to his forehead.
"You're bandage is slipping," she leaned over to him and reached out, her long soft fingers smoothing the bandage to his forehead.
Peeta was surrounded by a clean lavender scent and the smell intoxicated him. Without thinking, he leaned into her touch and locked his eyes on hers. She didn't stop smoothing the bandage, though surely it was fixed by now, but her strokes against his head became softer, slower and she leaned closer to him too.
"Katniss," he said quietly, his voice even more hoarse than before.
"I remember about the flowers." She said it so quickly that the surprise in her eyes mirrored his, but she continued. "In second year, when my dad died…"
She didn't need to remind him, Peeta clearly recalled the day he found out Mr. Everdeen had been killed while trying to stop a duel between two wizards. Though he hadn't spoken to her since their first ride on the train, Peeta always noticed Katniss and he felt at such a loss for what to do. He remembered in their first year when they had learned about different flowers, Katniss had been particularly interested in Queen Anne's Lace, or as they called it in the Wizarding world, Daucus carota. The small white flowers all came together to form something both beautiful and understated (two traits Peeta would later also associate with Katniss). A week after she returned to school, she still looked so broken and empty so Peeta snuck off to the greenhouses during his lunch hour and took a bouquet worth of flowers.
"I know you didn't mean for me to know they were from you," Katniss continued. "But I saw you putting them on the seat I always sat in during Transfiguration. The classroom was empty, but there you were…twelve years old and laying flowers on my chair." She still hadn't moved her hand from his forehead and Peeta wondered if she could feel the heat radiating off of his blushing skin. "And the flowers never died." He was definitely blushing now, remembering how he spent countless nights pouring over his charms booking looking for a spell to keep the flowers alive. A part of him wondered how long she had kept them since she knew they didn't die. If maybe she still had them.
"And I never said thank you. I never could…I'm not good with words." She shook her head slightly but returned her gaze to his before he could argue. "But those flowers meant so much to me. Why did you do it?"
"I don't like seeing you hurt." Peeta's answer was honest and simple, but his words carried a deeper meaning. Katniss glanced at his bandaged forehead then back down at him and softly smiled.
"That makes two of us." Those words set his heart over the edge and Peeta sat up, cupped her face in his hands and brought his lips to hers.
—
The air was warm and the sun was shining bright. It was an old joke that the League Cup was played on the hottest day of June and this year was no exception. Peeta grinned as he mounted his broom and when he heard Ceaser Flickerman announce his team name, he shot off the ground and into the air. The pitch was deafening and he could see seas of Arrows shirts and signs as he zoomed around. He was nearly finished the lap when he paused at one particular stand and he flew over to the front row of supporters.
"Got any advice for me, sweetheart?" He called to his girlfriend, who was in the center of the row and wearing a pale blue jersey with a silver arrow on the front.
"Stay alive!" She shouted and he let out a laugh. He got ready to rejoin his team's formation when she told him to wait and look back. Turning around so he could see the back of her jersey, Peeta realized why she had kept it hidden from him until now.
Across her shoulder blades in sparkling silver letters read "MELLARK". She turned again and winked at him.
As he hovered in front of the official, ready for the Quaffle toss, he had one last thought before his attention completely focused on the game:
The last name Mellark suited Katniss quite well.