Title: Those Eyes
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: OC-FJ Weasley; Marcus Flint, Teddy Lupin.
Prompt: #30 – Death
Word Count: 2,145
Rating: T
Summary: Oliver Wood had a child but died before he could tell the other father. Now, seventeen years later, his son is a seventh year Hogwarts student and is about to have a potions lesson that will change everything.
Author's Notes: WARN: Implied Slash, Implied MPreg; This is an alternate version of "Dreams of Never-Be"; An instalment of "The Alternate Universes of FJ Weasley (Wood-Flint)".
Disclaimer: I own nothing …
"I can't go against my father, Oliver. I'm… sorry," his voice faltered with the statement. Not surprising, he hardly ever said it. He avoided it at all costs, in fact. Oliver watched as the one person he'd ever thought to give his heart to turned and walked out of the door and out of his life after gazing into his eyes one last time. A tear fell from his eye and he curled into a ball on the floor, allowing the pain in his chest to fill the rest of his body. He brought his hands down to rest on his toned abdomen and cried. Maybe if he'd told his lover of the child… His vision swam and pushed all thoughts from his mind aside from heartache.
Pain tore through him pulling him from the memory that plagued his conscious mind. He welcomed the distraction. As the pain got worse he became more disoriented, his thoughts jumbling together. The resulting effect was one of confusion. He almost couldn't remember what he'd been thinking of clearly. The pain became unbearable and his vision dimmed, everything outlined in black. He could hear voices of unknown people calling to him from a great distance.
He felt as though he were floating. As he grasped onto the feeling the pain started to fade as well as everything around him. He smiled as he recalled the feeling of flying. He'd always loved to fly. It was the main reason he'd started playing quidditch. It let him do his favourite thing. Now, however, he flew in a world of black and the farther he went into darkness the farther he went from pain. After a while a sound reached his ears and there was light in front of him. The light grew and before long he found himself surrounded by the bluest sky he'd ever seen in his life, a quidditch pitch with the greenest grass he'd ever seen was below him. The warm air that passed him carried the scent of all his favourite sweets. He smiled as he tilted his broom down wards before circling the pitch, his laughter filling the air.
Forest Jerick Weasley pulled the strap of his book bag over his shoulder before compulsively feeling for the necklace hidden underneath his uniform shirt – it was the only piece of jewellery the seventh year Gryffindor had ever owned. It was a simple silver link chain roughly a quarter of an inch wide. Charlie, his godfather, had given it to him in forth year when FJ had become Quidditch Captain. Charlie had explained that the necklace had once belonged to FJ's father who'd received it from his grandparents when he made Quidditch Captain – succeeding Charlie himself. (1)
FJ glanced into a mirror in the common room, catching a glimpse of his honey-brown eyes and jet black hair before he exited Gryffindor tower. He headed off to the Great Hall for breakfast before his first class of the day: Double Potions with Professor Bennett. He ate and joked with his friends before heading to the Potions classroom with a few of his year mates.
"You flew a great game on Saturday, Weasley," the Welsh accent of Instructor Flint addressed him as he exited the Great Hall. FJ turned to see the Head of the Hogwarts Sports Program.
Instructor Flint was an ex-professional quidditch player whose jet black hair was beginning to frost at the temples. Anyone who'd seen pictures of the man in his school days would seldom make the connection to the man as he was now – upon graduating he'd made a point of correcting his misaligned teeth. The end result was staggering and even now girls – and even guys – blushed when they were around him as there was still strong evidence of the heartthrob he was back in his prime. He'd retired four years prior from his position as the leading chaser for the Ballycastle Bats after a bludger shattered all the bones in his throwing arm. After the injury the man had been forced to admit that, being in his mid-thirties, his body just didn't recover quite like it use to and he retired from the game in time to take up the vacated position at Hogwarts. According to rumour, the man had once been a Death Eater in the last war but switched sides and became a war hero.
"Thank you, sir," FJ grinned. He liked Instructor Flint. An ex-Slytherin Quidditch Captain himself, the man encouraged aspiring quidditch players from all houses when he felt they had potential. He even took the time to hold an all-level group training session to personally train the ones who were considering a professional career in the sport. "Hope there's no hard feelings about the Lions flattening your old house now."
Flint waved his hand dismissively and grinned back. "Bah, no harm done. From what I remember it's healthy for the Snakes to be taken down a peg or two now and again." FJ laughed. "Keep it up and you'll be a first string Keeper for the Quidditch World Cup in three years."
"Merlin willing."
"And remember, group training session has been rescheduled for Friday." FJ nodded and the two continued on their ways.
They reached the class and FJ sat at his desk with his friend and roommate Teddy Lupin. They talked quidditch strategy as they waited for class to start – FJ was Gryffindor's Keeper while Teddy was the leading Chaser. When the professor entered the room she waved her wand at the blackboard and the outline for today's lesson appeared.
"Today, class, you shall be working in pairs to brew what is called the Direct Lineage Potion," Professor Bennett explained. (2) "When you have completed your potion you will fill a small vial to hand in for grading. Then each of you will individually fill small vials and add a drop or two of blood to the potion. Once your blood has been mixed in I will provide you with specially prepared parchment to pour your potion onto. Instructions on how the parchment is prepared are outlined in your text. The parchment sheet will absorb your potion. If brewed correctly, your name and the names of your parents should appear as specified on the board. If the inks and lettering do not appear as indicated you will brew the potion again next class and write a short essay explaining where your potion went wrong. Begin."
The sounds of students opening their books, writing the instructions on the board, and getting up to gather the required supplies filled the room. Teddy stirred the potion in intricate patterns as FJ prepared and added the ingredients. When the last ingredient – ground black beetle eyes – was added to the potion it bubbled, Teddy stirred it some more and turned from a bright blue to a moss green. They high-fived each other for a potion well made and went about filling three small vials. FJ labelled one with both their names and brought it up to the front desk to exchange for two prepared parchment sheets.
He sat back down and handed Teddy a sheet. Teddy had already mixed his blood into one vial and immediately poured it onto the sheet.
"You know, my godfather once told me that when Uncle Ron was in this class he botched up his potion so bad that the writing was pretty near illegible," Teddy explained with a wide grin. FJ pressed his thumb to the opening of the last vial and muttered a spell that extracted a couple drops of blood without a cut. He placed the stopper on it and shook the vial until the potion turned a bright blood red. "He went into a panic when he thought his name was Romhilda Amber Weston." The two laughed as FJ pulled his parchment closer and re-opened the vial. He poured the potion onto the parchment and waited for it to absorb.
"Uncle Ron was always rotten at potions, eh?"
Teddy chuckled and agreed, studying his parchment. "Looks like we brewed a perfect potion." FJ looked at his partner's parchment:
Nymphadora Zenobia Tonks-Lupin – Remus Julius Lupin
Teddy Echo Lupin
"Wasn't Echo a woman?" FJ received a sharp punch to the arm for his cheek. "Ow, okay, okay, I get it," FJ grinned. "You really are just like your mother, aren't you Echo?" FJ laughed and jumped back to dodge the second punch. He turned back to his parchment and froze. The smile slowly slipped from his face as disbelief took over at the letters forming on his parchment.
"You okay FJ?" Teddy asked. FJ's breathing had become ragged and he gave a soft disheartened moan. He shut his eyes and crumpled the parchment in his fist. He took a few slow breaths in an effort to calm himself but the more he considered what he'd just read the harder it became. "FJ?"
A strangled sound escaped his throat as he tossed the crumpled parchment aside and shot up out of his seat. He didn't turn when Teddy or even Professor Bennett called him. He strode out the door, bumping into a Hufflepuff as he exited the room. Once in the corridor he broke out into a run. One thought ran through his head: It can't be true…
Marcus Flint was sitting behind his desk going over next semester's extra curriculum schedule. Being the Head of the Sports Department for Hogwarts meant he was in charge of overseeing the arrangement, scheduling, and supervision of every sport and club in the school (including the clubs that had nothing to do with sports at all). Since his appointment to the position he tried his best to ensure that the meetings of the various clubs and such didn't overlap too much. He remembered from his own years at Hogwarts that there were several students who had to choose between two clubs they were interested in.
Aside from the clubs, there were also the quidditch teams to manage. He had to keep track of the team rosters – insisting that every team have at least one reserve for every position – and organize team practices so there were no double bookings of the pitch – another thing he remembered happening on more that one occasion when he was in school. On top of that there was the training sessions he held for students aiming to go pro.
He was in the middle of listing issues he wanted to discuss with the four Heads of House when his door burst open.
"Did you know?"
"Er… Hello to you too, Weasley," Marcus replied, perplexed at the furiously demanded question. The young black-haired man in front of him looked ready to combust. He was breathing heavily but that didn't seem to be from running, which he'd obviously been doing. Judging by the glassy look in his eyes Marcus guessed the young man wasn't far from breaking down.
"Did you know?" This time the question was said with heavy emotion. FJ had to swallow the lump in his throat as he looked at Instr- … his fa- … he didn't know what to call the man anymore.
"Know what?" FJ studied the man for a few seconds before slumping down into the chair in front of the desk before cradling his head in his hands. His body shook as he fought to contain the tears that threatened to fall. He heard the older man stand up and round the desk before kneeling in front of him. "Want to let me in on it?" Marcus asked gently.
"He died giving birth to me. Did you know that?" FJ asked his voice cracking. He looked up. His honey-brown eyes, filled with unshed tears, shone in the light from the light orbs floating around the ceiling. Looking into them Marcus' mind flashed back to nearly eighteen years prior to another young man with watery honey-brown eyes and he quickly quashed the image. It wasn't the first time the sight of this young man's eyes resurfaced long buried memories.
"Who?" Marcus asked.
FJ noticed the flicker of recognition before confusion took over again. "My father… mother… whatever…" He let his head drop again. His breathing was shaky and he gave a tiny hiccup as he fought to reign in his emotions.
"Who was your father?" Marcus asked in a quiet, distant voice. FJ looked up again and a tear tracked down his cheek. Marcus' eyes had misted over and he wiped the tear from FJ's cheek. In a hushed, almost haunted voice as though he was talking to himself, he said: "I knew I recognized those eyes…"
Back in the potions class one Teddy Lupin was flattening a crumpled parchment on the table in front of him. On it was scrawled three names:
Oliver Carson Wood – Marcus Ashton Flint
Forest Jerick Weasley
- 30 -
THE END
Footnotes:
(1) I realized after this fic was complete that I originally didn't explain how it was Charlie Weasley received custody of FJ. When I went back over it there was no where I could just slip in the information comfortably. My brief explanation is that Charlie and Oliver were quidditch buddies in school and after Hogwarts became great friends. Oliver named Charlie godfather in his will and granted him custody. I might write another fic about how this happened, I'm not sure yet.
(2) Direct Lineage Potion – I used this potion in another fic titled "Lineage" but that fic occurs in a universe unrelated to this one.
A/N: Well that sure took on a life of its own. I hadn't planned on it running so long.
released: September 14, 2009
updated: July 27, 2010