Disclaimer: you know the drill....
Author's Note: Thanks for the feedback! Let me just say, no relief for those worrying about what oliver is thinking, just yet. Next chapter I promise. The build up is on though. Also, at the end of the chapter is a pitch for a new story and feedback would be great!
Chapter Nine: Rickety Bridge
I was laying on my bed two days before the game against Sweden when Adrian came knocking at my door. Richard and Luke had left to go get smashed at some pub leaving me alone. No word from Oliver for a few days. I was mad a him no doubt, he was being insensitive, but I was also being a hypocrite. I knew he didn't understand but still that didn't console me.
"Hey," Adrian said dully and flopped down beside me.
"How was dinner with your parents?" I asked sitting up.
He looked at me with pleading eyes. "I can't do this Morgana. I just can't. They know I am hiding something and I just went through a complete meal of 'so is it this... or is it that...' oh my god I think I am going to die."
"You won't die, Adrian. You will get through this tournament."
"No I can't, Morgana," he said, covering his face with his hands.
"Yes you can."
"No I can't," he shouted, slamming his fists on the bed.
"You were in the closet for sixteen years what is three weeks?"
"You should understand," he said looking at me. "Doesn't it hurt to lie about Oliver Wood being in your life. It does! I know it does because lying about who I am hurts me so badly."
"Calm down, Adrian. It will be all right."
"Really Morgana? Because frankly, I see know way this is going to work out. Ever."
I was struck for a few moments. A snarky grin spread across my face. "Then let us revile in the ashes." Sure, it was a temporary fix. We both were well aware that bad shit one of these days we would be buried beneath the landslide of bad shit but until then, we could have a good time.
But to my surprise, Adrian didn't immediately accept the offer to go out drinking. "I am not in the mood, Morgana. More lying and playing it straight?"
Suddenly an idea hit me. I am such a genius. An evil genius. "You know, Adrian," I said silkily. "There is that ball next week."
"Don't remind me," he said burying his face in his hands. "There is nothing that says Adrian Pucey has to show up."
"What are you getting at?" he said peaking at me through his fingers.
"You also know how extremely helpful it would be to me to have another girl around to whisk away Draco."
"You can't be serious," he said dropping his hands. I shrugged and my smirk widened. "Morgana you are genius!" he screamed and wrapped his arms around me so tightly that I thought I might not be able to breathe.
"Tell me something I don't know."
"Let's go!" he said, suddenly in a much better mood. "Should we tell the guys about the plan?"
I thought for a moment. "Personally I think it would be hilarious seeing who would go for Adriana." Oh god this ball was going to be priceless.
Anyway so I got Adrian out of the inn and we barhopped for about three hours. As the two of us got a bit of liquor in us, the conversation began to flow easier. "I don't know what I would do without you guys," Adrian said during a white russian at our first destination. "For slytherins, we turned out surprisingly unjudgemental."
"I disagree," I said, sipping a martini. "Slytherins stick to their own. If it was Harry Potter that turned out gay then that would be a different story."
"He does have a cute arse."
"Bad image!" I swatted him in the arm. "Fucking boy wonder is not something I want to imagine you doing."
"Just a thought."
At our third destination he brought up the topic of Mr. Wood. "So how are things with you and Oliver?"
"Bloody wretched," I grumbled after my second Guinness. "He seems to blame me for all the shit going on with Malfoy and yet he doesn't even break up with Bell."
"Are you serious?"
"Fuck and he doesn't seem to realize that Ms. Bell still has the hots for my brother."
"You've got to be shitting me, after all these years? Her and Graham?"
"Still going strong apparently. You know they were writing to one another for about a year since he first moved in."
Adrian nearly spit out his drink.
Later we arrived at a bar and just after we ordered our first drinks, someone shouted my name. "Morgan! Morgana Montague!" I turned around and found a woman walking towards me. After a moment I recognize her.
"Xan! What are you doing here?" a bit of background information. Alexandra "Xan" Marlow was a third year when I left Hogwarts. She had been my little prodigy since her first year. I gave her advice on how to survive in slytherin house an she became one of the people in Draco Malfoy's posse. You didn't think that bleach head hung around solely with stupid people did you? Xan was a fast-talking, quick-witted slytherin girl whom I hadn't heard from or frankly, thought about that much since I left.
"Looking to see who makes it the finals," she said, a smirk stretching across her face. She was letting me know there was another reason she was here. "And you?"
"Playing and other business," I added a smirk of my own, indicating the same.
We chatted for a bit but Adrian and I didn't stay too long. It was a strange encounter and I had to say , I was quite proud of how she turned out, not that I know the details or anything.
About an hour later, we found ourselves walking around the streets near Oliver's flat, pure coincidence by the way. "So Adrian," I began. "What is up with Marcus?"
"Same as us," he said, cracking his neck. He was a bit woosey. "His parents see marriage in his near future. What is up with this marriage thing?" he thought out loud. "Honestly, it is like they don't care who you are married to so long as you are all married."
"It is about alliance. Their marriages were alliances and they had love on the side, you know that. They believe that is our destiny as well."
"When you put it that way, I wonder why it can't work."
I glared at him, "Because Adrian, it is a pain in the ass to carry on such a politically correct facade."
"Gotcha."
I was about to continue when I saw someone running in the distant fog, running towards us. "Yo Adrian, who is that?"
"Huh?" he turned. "I can barely walk straight and you think I can tell?"
Whoever it was got closer and closer, never slowing down. Suddenly they got close enough for me to make out their face. "Katie Bell?" I said aloud. By then it was too late, she was angry, about something and just tackled me. Yes, right then and there, tackled me to the ground and started to beat the shit out of me.
"Fuck!" Adrian screamed. I knew he was a bit too drunk to do anything so once again, saving my ass was up to me.
It wasn't as if I was in the best position to defend myself either. She was basically laying on top of me and punching/slapping. I brought my knee up with all my might and I heard her choke out in pain. "Bitch," she cried and hit me right across the face. I grabbed her wrist and with all my might twisted it. She screamed in pain and I finally got a good shot of my own, busting her lip.
She is quite vigilant, I can't deny that. She socked me very good and threw me under her again. She got a bunch of really good slaps, claws, ripped closes, yanked my hair and threw some good punches in before I finally got the upper hand. At this point Adrian knew he couldn't help so I think he was just cheering me on and doing what he could.
She fought against me and I gripped her blond hair, ripping it so hard that she had no choice to move with it. When I got on top, one hand was tangled in her hair and I used the other smash her face as hard as I could, I kind of missed, and got her jaw, snapping her head the side. Adrian jumped in just then and pushed something on her neck and she passed out. I looked up at him. "Impressive." I saw the pained expression on his face. "Look like hell, don't I?"
"How is it that you are still conscious?" he asked.
Huh, with that expression it makes me wonder. I slowly raised fingers to my face and scalp. Sticky, I looked at my fingers, they were covered in red. Thank god I am not squeamish. Pulling together all my might, I stood up, god this was painful. Like an accordion being stretched out. "Are we just going to leave her here?" Adrian asked.
"I wish, but come on, let's just take her back to Oliver's." I wasn't exactly thrilled at this conclusion but I wasn't about to sink to her level an leave her on the sidewalk. I bent down and slung one of her arms over my shoulder while Adrian got the other and the two of us slowly made our way to Oliver's flat.
During the walk, Adrian seemed to sober up quite a bit was not happy at all with all the shit I go through because of that bastard Oliver. We approached his flat and I banged on the door. I felt my strength leaving me. The door opened and Oliver stepped out. Shock and horror melted on his face. "Wh-what happened?"
"Your girlfriend bloody well attacked me," I said with a sneer. "Again."
"Morgana," he said softly, reached at towards me.
"Don't touch her," Adrian said, slapping his hand away. "Just take your fucking girlfriend."
"Come on, you need to clean yourself up, Morgana. You're bleeding everywhere."
"Like you care about her," Adrian snapped, getting very defensive of me. As though the alcohol didn't impair his judgement or consciousness at all. "You probably told her to go after Morgana."
"What are you talking about?"
"I've heard about you, you two timing bastard!" Adrian said. Fuck, I thought to myself. So much for that like confidentiality in our conversations and confessions. I never asked for it but still.
"Chill Adrian," I said/groaned, handing off Katie to Oliver. "Can I clean myself up in your bathroom?" I asked Oliver.
"Y-y-yes," he stuttered.
"Thanks," I said. As I walked through his apartment I unintentionally left drops of blood on the carpet. I closed the bathroom door slightly and grabbed some toilet paper. As I cleaned the blood off my face, I listened intently to Adrian and Oliver in the living room.
"You should keep your girlfriend on a better leash," Adrian said coldly after Oliver placed Katie in their room.
"Look, man," Oliver said, turning to Adrian with a bit of a pained expression. "I really don't know you at all other than by reputation, okay? My girlfriend has just been –"
That set Adrian off, to my surprise. "You are such an ass. I know you by reputation and hear say enough to write a fucking biography. I have never liked the fact that the one thing standing in Morgana's way in so many ways is you. There are so many guys out there who she could be so happy with but instead she loves you. She goes through a lot of pain because of that and you claim you love her as well but yet, you still don't call her your girlfriend."
"Look," Oliver said, getting defensive. "She isn't exactly being honest here –"
"You know understand," Adrian said, stepping closer to the taller man, "she is from a slytherin legacy, like me, like Marcus Flint, like Derek Bole, like Terrence Higgs and like Graham Montague. She has to dance in circles naturally, then an ass like you comes along and jerks her around because you yourself are insecure." Oliver opened his mouth but Adrian cut him off again. "After seeing you for myself, I can safely say there is no way she will ever be happy with you. I won't allow her to be so fucking masochistic in still feeling for you. She belongs with someone who has been there for her. Someone that is not you."
"If I may ask, who do you have in mind?" Oliver said through clenched teeth.
"So you can hunt them down? Go ahead, any one of them would butcher you just for your name. Morgana deserves to be with people like Derek Bole. He has loved her for so long and taken care of her. Who do you think it is that has looked out for her this whole trip? People like Alexander Petersen. Who do you think helped make her one of the best beaters in the world? Who do you think looks out for her and lets the opposing team make mince meat out of himself so she may continue to play? She is too good for you and your games."
That struck a chord with me. Not the Oliver thing but how Adrian mentioned what Alex did. I thought back to all the games and I realized it was accurate. Every game that Alex had gotten hurt in (quite a few) I had been the primary target. Why hadn't realized it before? Moreover, why did it make me so mad to know that Alex was protecting me? I wiped the last bit of blood off my face and exited the bathroom.
"Come on, Adrian," I snarled. "We have a game tomorrow." We actually did, against Russia.
"Yeah, let's go," he said shooting Oliver one last glare. I didn't bother to look at either of them.
The next day was a nightmare. Not other way to describe it. I discovered upon waking that the headline in the newspapers was A Montague-Malfoy Engagement! Is one of the best beaters in the world settling down? I was in a bloody rage upon reading that and it was Derek who calmed me down and tried to help me focus on playing.
But as I warmed up, my mind swirled around what Adrian had said about Alex protecting me. It shouldn't have made me mad but it did. I was fucking furious and told Alex off for it. He didn't say a word in reply or denial simply said play the game.
The game itself was a nightmare. Russian chasers are fast and their beaters are good. It wasn't long before the team realized I was their primary target. The chasers' plays would swirl around me and I would nearly be knocked off my broom by my own team. About a half an hour in, I was chasing after a bludger and knocked off my broom by Egorov, their best beater.
Gasps went through the crowd as I tumbled down, if I remember correctly. I landed in the mud on my side. Lying there, the goo making a home for itself in my hair, I thought about who was in the crowd. My family (as much as they pissed me off), Graham, Sophia, Terrence, Derek, the Malfoys and thousands of fans. As much as that headline pissed me off was I going to let tomorrow's read Will Marriage Make Her Lose Her Touch? No, I wasn't weak, I wasn't going to let these Russian bastards wreck what I had worked so hard to achieve. If they wanted to play a rough game by god they would get a rough game.
I mounted my broom and took to the air. The crowd when crazy and with pure anger being burned for fuel, I called a play to Alex. We dove straight in between their weaving chasers, catching them off guard. Egorov obviously hadn't seen me get back on my broom and Marcus was able to steal the quaffle. He muttered something and I don't need to be a linguist to figure out it meant something along the lines of "bitch".
From then on the game was ours. Luke pulled a fake and was able to make a fool of their seeker, Kerimovich. When we won the game, the crowd went wild as we all retreated to the locker rooms.
"Beautiful Morgana!" Richard said, picking me up and swinging me around.
Marcus embraced me tightly, "Did you see the look on Egorov's face. Priceless!"
We all congratulated eachother and on the way out, I walked up beside Alex. "Are you alright?" he asked in his thick accent.
"Fine," I answered. "I wanted to thank you Alex, for all you do for me." That thank-you came so easily even I was surprised.
He looked down at me. "Anyvone who hurts you, vill ans'er to me." I gave him a smile in reply. Something I hadn't done in a while.
As we walked across the field towards the exit, the team and I encountered a nasal insult. "Vell, her' comz Montague and h'r team ov bodyguards." We looked to see Egorov leading his team of tall brute Russians.
"You're such a sore loser Egorov," I said looking him straight in the eyes. "After six years I thought you would have realized, we're better than you. No wonder your team is retiring you, you're losing your touch." I looked to the man next to him. "Kerimovich too." Behind them, I was surprised to see Oliver make his way down the stands towards us.
"You bitch," Egorov said, taking a threatening step towards me. "You think are so good."
"I'm one of the best for a reason," I retorted.
"You're so full of yourself," he sneered. "You'd be nothing without your team of lackeys following you everywhere."
"And what do you call those thugs standing behind you? Oh yes your team."
"You bitch. I hope Hungary kills you because then I could have the pleasure of pissing on your grave."
"Only after we are dead could you do that because you don't have enough balls to do anything to our faces."
Egorov's face twisted and suddenly he spat right in my face. In the world of quidditch that is a big insult. I mean this saliva was all over my face. "I hope I run into you one of these days Montague. I hope I run into you in a dark alley, late at night." Suddenly, he made a move to grab my breasts.
"Hey!" before I could defend myself, Alex had ripped Egorov's hand away and Marcus had punched him in the face. Adrian, Luke and Richard circled around me protectively.
Using his sleeve, Adrian wiped the spit off my face. "You bastard!" Derek said, coming up to the Russian out of seemingly nowhere with Graham. He punched Egorov in the stomach. "Don't you even think of getting near Morgana Montague again!"
"Don't you even touch my sister!" Graham screamed at him.
To my surprise, Draco Malfoy appeared on the scene. He grabbed Egorov's jaw and twisted it so hard that his whole body followed. "How dare you touch her," he gave the Russian and impressive right hook.
I ripped away from my three direct protectors and pushed my way toward Egorov. I kneed him in the crotch so hard he actually cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground. I kicked him across the face and I believe I broke his nose. "You better think before you act next time, Egorov." I hissed. "Or who knows what will happen."
I looked around to see if I could spot Oliver, if he was still in the stands or something but I couldn't see him. Fuck, I thought to myself. As painful as it was, I figured I had to start worrying about my own skin after that Headline in the Daily Prophet. I was driving myself insane trying to convince myself Oliver and my feelings for him were stable. Love is by its nature unstable and before I cross that rickety bridge, I had other problems to worry about. Though little did I know that Oliver was still in the stadium, threatening Egorov and his team.
Author's Note: Okay, confusing, right? But isn't that how relationships are? The next chapter, more shit goes down, it is the ball! Dum dum DUM!
Okay but I have an idea for my next story. Do you all remember Xan? The girl Morgana ran into? Well it is going to be about her life and times in slytherin house. She is apart of Draco's gang because I honestly don't think he ruled slytherin alone or with idiots like Crabbe and Goyle. A little info about her, she is a fast talking girl who knows a lot about everyone. She however, by pure accident gets involved with the boy wonder, Harry Potter. Sounds a bit like SBGK I know but I plan on making it different! A bit more saucy and much more detail than SBGK. Anyway, I don't know when I will get to start this, perhaps after TWDPF is done but just thought I would give my lovely reviewers a heads up!
