AN: I'm home! If you follow my other stories you know I've been closer to on time now that I've got my internet back. =) Title from P!nk

Disclaimer: I do not own or in any way profit from Harry Potter or its related properties.

Better Life

After thoroughly pampering his witch and fumbling in the sheets as the night started to turn into morning, Oliver couldn't help but lie awake next to her and watch her sleep. All that he'd learned was running through his mind now. How could he give her something better than what she'd given herself? Wasn't she worthy of a life not dictated by an impulsive vow? Did Percy really need her at this point? His mind whirled with contradictory thoughts. The jealous part of his mind wanted to leave and avoid the trouble that she'd embroiled herself in. All over a mistake she'd made with someone else. The rest of him wanted to fight for what they'd found in one another. The love was real, that much he knew. He could feel it in every touch and hear it in every sigh as she slept next to him and reached for him in the dark.

Now the question really was what would he do now that he knew her secrets? He would have to figure out how far he was willing to go down this road with her before it became too much. There may come a point when he couldn't stand in Percy's shadow anymore, and when that day came he would need to have a plan. A plan that wouldn't force her to break her vow and kill herself and Percy in the process. He would have to have a plan to end it in such a way that it made their agreement invalid. That was assuming Percy couldn't accomplish his goals sooner rather than later.

He couldn't shake the feeling that she'd spent more than a few months sitting up and staring at her ceiling the way he was now, picturing a life so much different from the one she'd built around herself. The difference was, of course, she was alone and likely afraid when she'd done her thinking. He had the benefit of having her next to him to remind him that it wasn't so bad as he feared.

Their time together had ended all too quickly, as it always did. He had practice and didn't want to tempt his coach's wrath. He'd only just made it to starting Keeper the last season after what felt like an eternity in the reserves. He couldn't risk the position he'd so desperately wished and worked for. Even if it meant being separated from her.

"So, how'd it go?" Cameron asked as they prepped at their lockers.

"Better than expected. There are a lot of… complications… but I think I can make it work."

"Complications?" His friend raised an eyebrow at him as he strapped on his wrist guards.

"Nothing insurmountable, just not obstacles that can be easily or quickly removed. She's willing to work toward it and so am I." He shrugged, careful not to give too much away in case anyone else was listening.

"And she still has that… arrangement… with the other bloke?"

"Unfortunately, yeah. And it's not as easy as it sounds for her to get out of it. I've known him most of my life and he knows about us. He's got someone too. The whole thing is just for show. Should be over and done with soon enough, though." Oliver sighed as he grabbed his broom and headed toward the pitch.

"Just be careful, mate. I've seen what this one can do to your heart…" Cameron cautioned as he mounted his broom and zipped off toward the bright sky above them.

Oliver shook the thoughts from his head, not wanting to be distracted as they prepared for that week's match against Portree.

"Wood!" Coach Thompson bellowed after warm-ups, beckoning the man to him.

"Yes, coach?" Oliver hovered at the side of the coaches' box on his broom, waiting for instruction.

"You need practice at avoiding bludgers in the rings. Portree's beaters have a tendency to bat 'em toward the keeper when the score gets tight. You've had three injuries this season from loose bludgers as it is, let's see if we can't keep it there, yeah?" He waved him off to take his position. Oliver nodded and zipped back up to the hoops, waiting for Coach to assign beaters to send the dangerous balls his direction.

Coach wasn't wrong of course, Oliver knew he had a terrible habit of watching the Quaffle and forgetting there were balls intent on mayhem circling the stadium. He rolled the tension out of his shoulders and prepared for the onslaught he knew he'd be subjected to. Cameron would never miss an opportunity to lob the vicious buggers at his best friend when the opportunity presented itself. If he didn't know it was all in good fun, Oliver could have sworn he was as intent on killing him as Marcus Flint had been back at school.

He stalked the hoops, keeping one eye on the scrimmage match and the other on his surroundings, knowing that Cameron and Kevin Daniels would be working their way toward him as the game wore on. He didn't have to wait long, a rogue swing of the bat sent a bludger straight toward the rings. Without thinking, he made to catch it before realising it wasn't the Quaffle, diving out of the way at the last moment.

"Wood! Did you just try to catch that bleedin' bludger?!" He heard Coach scream from the stands with the aid of a sonorous charm. He grimaced in reply, knowing the man couldn't see his face well enough to know. He took a lap around the hoops, shaking the stupidity from his mind. He was definitely more out of it than he realised.

Hermione muddled through her day, trying to come up with a reason for her and Percy to attend that weekend's match. She hadn't seen a single game yet this season and she knew they had access to tickets through the Ministry. Since Percy was a fan of the game she didn't think it would be overly difficult to get him excited about going, but she'd still need to find a way to convince him to use the Ministry box. If she was honest, the only reason why she wanted those seats, in particular, was their proximity to the hoops. It would be the best place for her to watch Oliver without it being conspicuous to anyone attending with them.

"Percy?" she called when the sound of apparition met her ears.

"In the study…" he called back, not bothering to ask where she was. She rolled her eyes and gathered her things from the kitchen table, intent on broaching the subject before he could get her off track.

"Percy…" she knocked, giving him a moment before stepping into the room.

"Come in," he smiled at her, loosening his tie and undoing his cufflinks. It had evidently been a good day.

"I had something to ask you…" she wandlessly levitated his jacket onto the hook behind the door as she crossed to sit across from him at his desk.

"I forget how good you are at that sometimes." He sighed, tone slightly jealous.

"What?" She was startled by the comment.

"Wandless and wordless magic." He nodded toward the jacket, making her blush slightly. She did it so often she forgot most people couldn't.

"Oh. Well, I actually wanted to ask you about a different skill of sorts."

"Yes?" He asked, nicking her tea she'd set on the desk and taking a sip. One of the few intimacies they shared was his tendency to steal her food and drink without concern of whether she'd already been consuming it.

"Keeping." She answered, with a tilt of her head.

"As in Quidditch?" He laughed a little, clearly relaxed this evening.

"Yes, I'd like to see Oliver's match this weekend…" she trailed off.

"I think we can arrange that. No one is using the Ministry box this weekend with Kingsley traveling. It might be a nice break."

"Really? You don't care if we don't have anyone there to entertain? No meetings to schedule into it?" She blurted, not meaning to be callous.

"I suppose I deserved that… no, nothing work related. It would be nice to take a real break. I would like to bring my… boyfriend… if that's alright with you. Maybe you could invite a few friends and round it out? Make it a bit less noticeable?" He sighed with a slight grimace at her initial reprimand.

"I could do that. I'm sure Harry and Ginny would love to go. She hasn't been to a game since Albus was born…" Hermione mulled over the possibility of seeing her friends for the first time in months.

"We could invite the whole family, really. We've got the room in the box. And since no one else has requested it for the weekend we can reserve the whole of it." He suggested.

"How did you already know the box was free?" Hermione asked with a curious tilt of her head.

"Well, I thought if you and Oliver were going to continue seeing one another you may want to attend a home game from time to time. My secretary is keeping track of the ticket requests for me." He admitted.

"Not so you can take your boyfriend?" She teased, watching the way his cheeks pinked.

"Maybe that too." He mumbled, taking another sip of her tea.

"Will you join me for dinner tonight? Or are you going out again? We haven't spoken in some time…"

"I'm home tonight. No Oliver this evening? I thought he might start staying here under the radar now that everything is in the open between us." He pressed, watching her reaction closely.

"No, we haven't spoken about doing anything like that. Though I think he'd like to be together more nights than not. It just feels strange to think of him living here. This place is ours, after all. Even if it is just platonic." She shot him a small smile, nicking her tea back.

"Did you want to eat in or go out tonight? I'm guessing you haven't cooked?" Percy smiled back at her as she rose to leave.

"Out might be nice, something casual. I couldn't bear to go through the motions of putting on a show tonight."

"Being seen out casually so soon after your announcement might be in best interests anyway. What do you say we pop over to The Leaky Cauldron? We might even run into the twins. I hear they eat there most nights."

"That actually sounds sort of nice."

"It's a deal then." Percy laughed, scratching a note to send to his brothers on the off chance they were available to join them.

Hermione shook her head in amusement as she headed back to the kitchen, deciding she'd bring her fake fiance his own cup of tea. It was always deals between them, never dates. And she was totally fine with that.