Chapter 10
After another drink Ron left the table to go ask a girl to dance.
"What ever happened with you two?" Oliver asked.
Hermione shrugged. "We just decided that after everything we had been through together no relationship we had would be based on anything but the empathy we had for each other for having to go through what we did."
The night went on with a few more drinks and more dancing. Liam had offered to dance with Hermione and she accepted.
"Ol, why don't you go out there and cut in?" George asked noticing how the Scot kept glaring at his old teammate. "It's obvious you want to be out there with her right now."
Nodding, Oliver ordered another rum and coke and walked out towards the pair. "Mind if I take her for awhile?" Hermione smiled as Oliver replaced the other man behind her and started dancing more fervently.
"He wants to 'see my flat' tonight." Hermione said, noticing how tense Oliver's body got. "I told him that if I go back there tonight I would be alone."
Oliver looked down at the girl. "Why?"
"Because I'm not interested in him that way, I'm not dumb Oliver I know he only wants to shag me." The man laughed knowing how great Hermione had always been when pinpointing personalities.
The pair danced for awhile longer, Hermione had turned around and had her hand on Oliver's shoulder for support. Her face was close to his chin and she could have sworn his lips had grazed her skin a few times. Lowering his face a bit to the side of her head Oliver's warm breath engulfed he ear.
"Stay with me again tonight." He said the hand on Hermione's hip pulling her closer to his body. "We don't even have to do anything, just stay with me." She didn't say anything. She didn't have to. But when the song ended Hermione grabbed Oliver's hand lightly and walked back to the table with him in tow. Liam glared at the both of them thinking they had either lied or conspired against him.
"Another round!" The twins roared over the music presenting shots and more drinks for their friends. "Liam, did Oliver tell you that we're going to your game next month?"
"Hermione's never been to a Puddlemere game so the four of us are taking a day off work to go see the match." The other twin explained. "We think she's pretty excited."
"Well she better be, we're the best team in the league!" Liam and Oliver raised their glasses in a fraternal way and both men beamed, however the fact that Oliver's left hand was still resting on Hermione's lower back did not go past anyone else at the table.
Ginny and Harry were looking back and forth between one another and their flirtatious friends. "Fred and George are right," Ginny said. "They both really do like each other." Harry kissed his girlfriend's neck.
"It'll be nice having another couple around though so everyone doesn't get sick of this," He kissed up her neck to behind the earlobe causing Ginny to gasp a bit.
Fred walked around the table and grabbed his employee's hand. "We're dancing or you're fired!" He yelled over the music winking.
George took the time to sit next to Oliver who had watched the pair leave the table as well as Harry and Ginny and watched Fred dancing like a fool to make the girl laugh.
"She looks great tonight." He took a sip of his drink.
"Not very partial to the color, but it looks good on her." Oliver joked. "She looks much better in red and gold. Like my quidditch jersey, she looks great in that."
The red-head almost spit out the drink in his mouth. Oliver hadn't even realized what he said until George started speaking again. "Did you just say she looks good in your quidditch jersey, as in you've already seen her in it?"
Oh, shit. Oliver thought. They're going to kill me. "She came over to my flat after the club last night and I accidentally dropped a piece of pizza on her lap so I gave her something to change into. It's at her flat if you want to go check, so are the clothes with sauce on them."
"Oliver Ryan Wood, if you do anything to hurt Hermione or even to lead her in the wrong direction I will tie you up in our basement and torture you." George had always been particularly close to Hermione since he and Fred were closest in age to her; all the Weasley boys saw her as another sister and would react the same way. "You'll be lucky if I don't tell Bill about it too." Bill was like her father sometimes, Fred had explained that one well enough when a letter from Bill arrived at the shop for Hermione the other day.
"I'm not going to hurt her, I promise. But if I do I give you permission to tell Bill and I'll take the worst you all can give me." The morals Oliver had grown up with were very simple: never disrespect a woman no matter what. Don't hit, talk down to, or use them for any reason. And if you did any of those things, you were at the mercy of the men in her family.
Fred and George knew that and believed that Oliver lived by those with every relationship, even friendships.
"How long have you bloke's known each other?" Liam cut the tension.
"Since 1990," Oliver responded. "That's when they started playing quidditch at Hogwarts. Of course, the contact hasn't always been constant it's been a tad less than frequent. Whatever word you'd like to use for that."
Hermione and Fred returned in fits of laughter. "That was the most ridiculous dancing I've ever seen." She spit out in between breaths. "I'm not even sure I want to know where you learned them."
Harry and Ginny stopped back at the table as well. "We're going to leave, it's getting late." Everyone looked at their watches. "Let us know what we owe you for drinks." With a chorus of good-byes the couple left.
"I wonder where Ronnikins ran off to." Fred mused surveying the club. "Wait I see him! In the corner snogging the hell out of the blonde he bought a drink for." The group laughed at the show Ron was putting on in the corner. "It is getting late though," Fred and George stood and finished their drinks. "We're going to close the tab and head out, remember we have work bright and early tomorrow kiddies."
The final three nursed the rest of their drinks and decided to leave shortly after, making their way to the alley and apparating back to the Leaky Cauldron. Oliver had snaked his arm around Hermione's waist to keep both of them stable, but leaned down to whisper to her. "We'll drop you off at your flat if you want to apparate over in a bit." The warm breath on her neck made Hermione blush again, giving Oliver a solid yes.
Walking through the residential district the men dropped Hermione off at her building, bidding her good night and in Liam's case a nice to meet you. Continuing towards Oliver's flat Liam hiccupped. "Thanks for letting me stay tonight, I know the surprise probably ruined plans but it's just not the same without you."
Oliver chuckled as he opened the door to his building. "I had dinner plans but it's no big deal." He stumbled up the flights of stairs and opened the door. "You want anything to eat or drink?"
"Nah, I'm just gonna pass out." Liam slipped off his shoes and curled up with the pillow and blanket that had been laid out before they left.
Going to the kitchen Oliver grabbed three glasses and filled them up with water. Taking one out and leaving it by Liam, he took the other two back to his room and set them on the nightstand. Oliver then grabbed a pair of mesh shorts and began changing into them, after taking off the button down he head a distinct pop, the sound would go unnoticed to a muggle but after apparating all the time a wizard knew the sound very well.
Not even turning around Oliver smiled. "I didn't think you would be here that quickly." He said unbuttoning his jeans and dropping them to the floor, replacing them with his shorts.
"But you were nice enough to bring me water." When Oliver turned around he smiled. "It was only fitting to wear it to bed again tonight."
With one leg outstretched and the other bent at the knee, Oliver had never seen any girl wear a jersey like Hermione Granger. Running a hand up the extended leg he noticed how smooth her skin was and continued the journey up her body on top of the jersey until he reached her neck.
"I figured you would appreciate some water so you didn't dry out in your sleep." He was talking in a low voice, as if to not wake up his passed out friend. For Oliver Wood this tone was what drove women crazy, and he was hoping that it would work now just to see how she would react.
"I appreciate more than just water." Hermione responded setting the glass back on the table and placing her hand on top of his.
"Like what?" Oliver asked taking another step closer to the head of the bed.
"A good book, a warm bed, and a man who knows how to really kiss a girl."
Smiling Oliver bowed down to her level with his lips brush the skin of her neck. "That sounds like it came straight from a book."
"Maybe it did," Hermione answered her hand still holding his. "Maybe I just thought it fit me perfectly."
"And why would you think that?" Oliver's lips and hot breath were making Hermione start to lose her breath but she didn't want the feeling to end.
"Because I really do appreciate those things."
Oliver removed his lips from the girl's neck and climbed onto the bed positioning himself between Hermione's legs. "I guess you'll have to let me know how much you appreciate tonight then." He growled into the other side of her neck leaving kisses behind her earlobe and down her collarbone.
Hermione's hands were roaming the statuesque arm and back of the ex-quidditch player and she could feel every muscle his body had. The grip got stronger when Oliver hit a particularly sensitive place, it only made him smile more. His hands were busy propping his body up and feeling Hermione's smooth leg one more time, the soft lips of his still not reaching hers but leaving kisses everywhere else they could.
"You know our bosses are anticipating this, right?" He asked still focused on the neck area.
"I figured they were," Hermione breathed the words, not being able to actually speak. "They aren't very subtle when it comes to things like this." Moving her head around Hermione finally captured Oliver's lips and the pair's passion ignited into a fury of kisses and with hands wandering around the others body neither of them missing a chance to grab and squeeze when the kiss was particularly heated.
It was Oliver that finally pulled away a long time later. "I think that since we're both kind of drunk we shouldn't do much more right now."
"I agree," Hermione was trying to catch her breath, her hair covering the entire pillow. "We should probably go to bed too. We have work in the morning." She giggled a bit as Oliver kissed her good-night and curled up behind her holding her body close.
A/N: Well that certainly took them long enough. Glad they finally got that out of the way….now what?