Notes: Get ready for some Weasleys, obtrusive fans and a little jealousy!
Disclaimer: As my friend and I were discussing last night, it's sad that I don't own anything belonging to J.K. Rowling. And sadly, that includes a certain Oliver Wood.
Chapter Five: Engagements and Blondes
Skyler was shaking slightly when Oliver's hands played with the hem of her Quidditch sweater. Even under his careful, admiring gaze, she was still unable to quell her nerves.
"You don't have to do this if you don't want to," Oliver said, dropping his hands.
"No, I do," Skyler said. "I'm just nervous. That's all." Oliver studied her for a few more seconds before taking the hem of her sweater back in his hands. He fingered the hem and could feel her shiver any time his finger tips would lightly graze across her stomach. Her eyes locked onto his and she held his gaze as he slowly lifted the bottom of her sweater up toward her head. She slowly raised her arms and broke her gaze with him as he tugged the sweater over her head and dropped it to the floor. She didn't protest when he reached for the top of her Quidditch pants. He ran his fingers around the top of the pants as he watched her watch his hands. He slowly undid the top button and waited as Skyler raised her head to look him in the eye. He leaned forward slightly and gently kissed her. He pulled back and could feel her watching him as he unzipped the zipper on her pants. He helped shove them to the ground and watched her feet as she stepped out of them.
Skyler looked up at him and reached for the hem of his sweater. She grabbed hold of it and took the opportunity to slip her hands underneath it, sending shivers all throughout Oliver's body. The tips of her fingers and the slight graze of her nails were undoing him. It was all he could do to keep his body in check. He closed his eyes and swallowed as he felt Skyler's hands roam all over his torso underneath his sweater. When he opened his eyes she was watching him, her blue eyes dark with desire; and all for him. She pushed up the hem of his sweater and tugged it off as he raised his arms for her. It took her more of an effort because of their height difference, but she managed. When she dropped the sweater to the ground beside hers, they were smiling at one another. She stood on her toes and reached up to kiss him deeply. His arms wrapped around her and pulled her close. He reached up to her hair and pulled out the hair tie that was entangled in it. Her auburn hair floated down around them and she pulled back, shaking her head to get her hair to sit where it usually did. Oliver watched her with a smile.
He picked Skyler up and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her to his bed. He laid her gently on the bed and placed himself over her. He carried his weight on his hands before he lowered himself slowly until she was trapped underneath him. He felt her hands travel down his body and find the closure of his pants as he kissed her. First the button was undone, followed by a slow, careful opening of the zipper. Once he was able to push down and kick off his pants, Oliver looked into Skyler's eyes.
"Are you sure?" he asked again, his voice every bit serious. She smiled, nodded and pulled him back down to kiss her. Together they melded into one.
The next morning Oliver woke to find himself sore but very relaxed. He looked down and saw an auburn head resting on his chest, rising and falling with every breath he was taking. He saw that he had a hand tangled in her hair, and he didn't mind one bit. One of Skyler's hands was resting on his chest, beside her head. He felt her take deeper breaths and begin to shift around. He intertwined the fingers of his right hand with those of the hand resting on his chest and waited for her to wake up. Her eyelashes ticked his chest as her eyes opened. He felt, rather than saw, her blink a few times before she shifted her head to look sleepily up at him.
"Morning, love," he told her, before kissing her forehead.
"Morning," she said, nuzzling her face into his neck.
"You feeling alright?" he asked.
"Just a little sore," she said, smiling slightly. Oliver grinned and shifted so they were lying on their sides, facing each other, their heads level with one another.
"And what are we sore from?" he asked, grinning impishly.
"Well, there was that Quidditch game we played yesterday," she said, yawning and stretching. "There might have been some other reason. I know some muscles are sore that shouldn't be sore from playing Quidditch."
"Bad sore?" he asked.
"Oh, no. Quite a good sore if you ask me," she said, matching his grin. "And you?"
"Actually I think I'm just sore from the game," he told her. She gaped at him, picked up a pillow they had knocked to the floor the night before, and hit him with it. He protested, quoting abuse and other lame excuses.
"That's what you get for loving a Beater," she told him, smiling. Oliver smiled with her.
"Yeah, that's what I get," he said. "What do you get for loving a Keeper?" Skyler thought for a minute.
"His sheets," she said before pulling the red sheet off the bed and wrapping herself in it. She ran out of the bedroom with Oliver searching for a pair of pajama pants to put on before he followed her. He walked out of his bedroom and found her in the kitchen, still wrapped in the sheet, looking at the food he had in his refrigerator. Oliver came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Work up an appetite?" he asked. She shook her head.
"Just thirsty," she said.
"What do you say we get dressed and go down to the pub for breakfast?" he asked. She closed the fridge and turned around in his arms. She kissed his jaw before answering.
"Sounds good," she said before turning to go back into the bedroom. "Hey, guess what."
"What?"
"We won yesterday," she said with a smile.
"We certainly did," Oliver agreed.
When they got to the Leaky Cauldron, Oliver and Skyler were dressed and ready to eat. What they weren't ready for was seeing Alex and Chris sitting in the pub. Oliver and Skyler walked in hand in hand and stopped upon seeing their two teammates sitting at a table. Oliver looked warily between Skyler and the table. It could have been because Alex was her twin brother and overprotective, but that was just a minor detail. What they were really worried about was the reaction to their quick escape from the locker room after the match the previous day. They moved to turn around and leave the pub when Chris and Alex called them over to their table. Skyler and Oliver shared a look before heading over.
They sat in the two empty seats and the table and faced the Chaser and the Beater.
"So… how was your night?" Chris asked.
"Fine, why?" Skyler responded.
"Just wondering," he said. "You two disappeared quickly yesterday. Anything you'd like to share with the class?"
"No," Skyler said firmly. Chris looked to Oliver with his eyebrows raised and Oliver shook his head.
"Oh! Harry was telling me about something that Ginny said we should all go to," Chris said. "Something about a huge get together at the Weasleys' house. He told me that she told him to invite everyone."
"That sounds good," Oliver said. "When is it?"
"Tonight."
The Burrow was crammed with people when Oliver, Skyler, Alex and Chris arrived, decked out in casual Muggle wear. After talking to Harry, they were strictly instructed to only wear Muggle clothes, and that it would be casual. Oliver found this to be easy as that was pretty much all the team wore anyway. He had always found that a pair of Muggle jeans and a t-shirt to be much more comfortable than cumbersome wizard's robes.
Oliver, Skyler, Alex and Chris were greeted before they even made it to the house. Walking up the drive they saw some of the family running around the front yard. Many redheads and their significant others were hanging out in the drive of the Burrow.
"Oliver Wood!" the group heard someone yell before two identical redheads came running down the drive, picked up their former captain (who protested the entire time) and carried him back up the drive, dropping him on the ground once they'd reached the porch.
"Those are the Weasley twins," Chris explained. "Fred and George. They were Beaters for Gryffindor for a while. Some of the best, just behind you two, of course. They're running the best joke shop in the country now." Skyler and Alex smiled when they saw the other set of twins joking around and laughing with Oliver as they walked up the path to the door.
On their way up they ran into Harry and his girlfriend, Ginny Weasley. The story was that after the defeat of Voldemort, Harry had been spending a lot of time around the Weasley household when he wasn't spending time on the Quidditch pitch. A certain Miss Weasley would help him practice. The relationship that they had started in Hogwarts ignited again and they had been inseparable ever since.
Oliver watched as Skyler talked with Ginny like they had known each other their entire lives. They laughed, joked and talked Quidditch for a while before Ginny took the opportunity to introduce Skyler and the others to her family. Oliver was still talking with the Weasley twins when Ginny brought Skyler over to meet them.
"Fred, George!" she yelled, interrupting their tirade. "This is Skyler Reynolds."
Fred and George's faces lit up with recognition.
"The Skyler Reynolds?" Fred asked. "The Beater that's so crazy she took on a guy three times her size and won?"
"The Beater who would do anything at all costs to win a game?" George asked.
"The Beater that our former captain won't stop talking about?" Fred asked, him and George looking at Oliver. Skyler chuckled a little at the pink tinge on his face.
"That would be me," Skyler responded, shaking the twins' hands. After shaking her hand, they knelt on the ground before her and bowed at her feet.
"We're not worthy," they kept saying. Skyler smiled, embarrassed.
"Guys!" Ginny yelled. "Get up." The twins stood up and brushed off their knees.
"Want to head inside?" Oliver asked Skyler. She nodded and they entered the Burrow, following Ginny, who insisted that everyone know each other.
Ginny found her mother in the kitchen, preparing the large dinner with the help of Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin, Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson.
"And these are the prats' girlfriends," Ginny said, gesturing to Katie and Angelina. The two girls hugged their former captain before turning their attention to Skyler.
"Fred and George accosted you, didn't they?" Angelina asked, looking in the direction of the yard.
"Sorry about that," Katie said. "We've been trying to get them to stop, but they just won't listen."
"It's alright," Skyler said. "I'll get used to it."
"Oliver, darling," Angelina started. "Why don't you join the boys outside? We need some girl talk. Skyler needs to be prepared for this dinner. And we have stories about you that she probably doesn't know about."
Oliver looked warily at Angelina and tightened his grip on Skyler's hand, opening his mouth to protest. However Ginny was quicker.
"Go outside now," she told him, taking his hand away from Skyler's and leading him toward the door. He went out with a wave and Skyler waved back before turning to the girls, laughing.
"We just really wanted to get to know you better," Angelina told Skyler as Skyler stepped up to help with the food. "There's only so much you can know about a person through a letter."
"Well then," Skyler began. "What do you want to know?"
"How's he in bed?" Angelina asked bluntly. Skyler turned red, bowed her head and started laughing.
"I think I'll be okay for quite a while," Skyler told them. "If you know what I mean."
"Oh, we know what you mean," Ginny said, making sure her mother and Tonks were still out of the kitchen, tending to the table in the backyard. The girls shared a laugh and looked out the window facing the front yard when they heard a crash. They could see their significant others playing some sort of game where they ended up in a pile on the ground.
"And yet," Katie said. The other girls smiled at her, catching her meaning. Skyler turned to Angelina.
"So Angelina, about those stories," she said, causing Angelina to smile.
When the large party sat down to dinner at the long wooden table in the Weasleys' backyard, Skyler grinned mischievously at Oliver as she sat down next to him. Oliver looked at her and paled.
"What did Angelina and Katie tell you?" he asked, a little terrified at the prospect of the answer.
"Oh, nothing," Skyler said, scooping food onto her plate. Oliver wasn't deterred.
"Don't lie to me," he said, taking the potato salad she handed to him.
"I'm not lying," she said. "I'm just not telling you what they told me."
"Is it bad?" Oliver asked. Angelina and Katie were sitting across from them, listening.
"No, it wasn't all bad," Skyler told him. "I'm just glad that you've grown and matured. And relaxed."
"They told you about Quidditch, didn't they?" he asked, eyeing his former Chasers.
"Maybe."
Night soon fell and the party was still going strong. The unusually warm night made the Weasleys bring out blankets for everyone to sit and lay on as they ate homemade ice cream and watched the stars appear. The girls were sitting together as the boys sat on another blanket, on the other side of the group.
"Oi! Angelina!" Fred called over.
"Yeah?"
"Want to get married?" he asked. The entire group went silent and watched Angelina, anticipating her reaction. She gave him an appraising look before answering.
"All right then." Cheers filled the night air as Fred and Angelina stood up and walked to each other, kissing each other and hugging when they met. The girls that had been sitting with Angelina smiled at each other.
"That's so cute," Ginny was saying.
"Stupid Fred," a male voice said. "He had to go and show us all up." The girls turned and recognized the voice to be that of Harry's. He had come over to sit with Ginny, bringing along George, Oliver, Chris and Alex.
"Now he's just planting ideas into your heads," Chris said. The girls rolled their eyes.
"Just because one couple gets engaged doesn't mean that everyone has to get engaged," Skyler said. Oliver sat down behind Skyler and pulled her back so she leaned against his chest. He kissed her cheek as the rest of the guys sat down.
"When's the wedding?" Chris asked.
"Why? Are you planning on attending?" Oliver asked, knowing Chris' hesitation in going to weddings or any other celebration of love.
"I might go," he said. "I make exceptions for friends. I'm just deciding who to tell about the wedding. Eventually I'll need a date."
"You know what might help out with that?" Skyler asked. "Settling down." Chris looked shocked at the idea.
"And deny all the ladies a chance with perfection?" he asked. Skyler burst out laughing. Everyone else looked shocked. "You know, Sky, I'm surprised that you managed to keep your hands off of me."
"Oh, believe me," Skyler said, "it was very easy." Everyone laughed at the look of shock on Chris' face. Albeit Chris was very handsome, no one could deny that, it was just the simple fact that Skyler could very easily keep her hands off him.
"Why is it so easy?" Chris asked, genuinely shocked.
"It's not that I don't find you attractive," Skyler said. "I do. It's just dealing with you on a regular basis tires me out. I couldn't handle you all the time."
"So you're only with Wood because he 'doesn't tire you out'?" Chris asked, looking at Oliver suggestively.
"No," Skyler said. "He doesn't tire me out on a regular basis. On an irregular basis, however, is a different story."
"Alright," Alex said. "That, I didn't need to hear."
"Sorry Alex. But if Chris needs a reason for my argument," Skyler pointed out, "then I'm going to have to give him one." The group laughed and Oliver buried his head into Skyler's shoulder, rapidly turning an interesting shade of pink.
The next few days went by in a stream of excitement, embarrassment and annoyance. Everywhere a member of Puddlemere United went there was bound to be someone that recognized them. Essentially this led to screaming, the asking of autographs and a lot of picture taking. Some handled this in stride, those being Juliet and Lucinda. Others hammed it up, Chris and Alex. Some just got plain annoyed, Skyler, Oliver and Harry. Now, it wasn't the fact that fans were asking for autographs or for pictures that annoyed the latter three. No, it was the constant questioning of who they were dating, why they wouldn't tell anyone, and why that person was better than everyone else. On several occasions the Quidditch stars were left tongue-tied and flustered at the insistent questions.
Normally Skyler wasn't a jealous person, but when she was having lunch with Oliver, Harry, Alex, and Chris, she felt a side of her come out that she had never experienced before. They were in the middle of eating their food when a few rather busty blondes came up to the table, intent on talking to the famous Quidditch captain.
"You're Oliver Wood, aren't you?" one of them asked, twirling her hair around her finger. Oliver stopped eating and looked at the others at the table with a "here we go again" look.
"Yeah, I am," he said. "Can I help you?" The blonde leaned down so her elbows were resting on the table, and got right into Oliver's face. Alex could feel his sister tense up beside him. He put a firm hand on her shoulder to stop her from springing up and shoving her fork into the blonde's neck. Not that Alex would mind that. The blonde was pretty annoying. He just wanted to eat his food without blood on it. And they couldn't afford for Skyler to go to Azkaban just yet.
"We were wondering," the blonde continued. "If you weren't doing anything after lunch if you wanted to join us for the rest of the day."
"I can't," he said. "We have practice."
"Are you sure?" the blonde asked, moving closer to Oliver. The rest of the table was watching Skyler. She wasn't taking her eyes off of the blonde. "You don't want to just skive off practice? I'm sure you don't need it anymore."
"I'm sure," Oliver said. "I don't think my girlfriend would appreciate me spending a day with three girls."
"She doesn't have to know."
"She'd know," Oliver said, glancing at Skyler. "Somehow I think she already knows that you're talking to me."
"There's no way she can be better than any of us," the blonde said. Oliver raised his eyebrows at her.
"Actually," he said. "I don't know if I could find anyone better than her. She's quite the catch and I'm very happy." The blonde stood up, suddenly very frosty.
"Fine," she said, "we'll leave you all alone. Have a good practice."
"Oh, we will," Skyler said toward the blondes. They turned and saw Skyler smiling sweetly at them. They scoffed and exited the pub, but not before tripping slightly on their way out. Skyler turned back to the table, putting her wand back into her pocket. She sighed and slumped in her seat, picking at her food with her fork.
"You know, Sky," her brother said, "I'm proud of you. You didn't manage to lose your cool and kill her." Skyler grinned a little, more to herself than anyone else as she looked down at her food. Then she raised her gaze to meet her brother's.
"Oh, I was killing her," she said. "Maybe not in reality, but in my head it was a beautiful scene."
"How'd it go?" Oliver asked from across the table. Skyler looked up at him, noticing how shiny his eyes were.
"Fork in the neck and then kicking her out the door, sitting back down at the table and calmly finishing lunch," she told him. He smiled and nodded.
"Nice."
"I'm kind of disappointed that it didn't happen," Chris said, wistfully. "That would have been some good entertainment. And the best part is that I can really see that happening. Sky would easily kick her arse." The group laughed.
"Do we really have practice, or were you lying?" Harry asked, everyone going back to their food.
"I was lying," Oliver said. "That was the first thing that came into my head; besides telling them that Skyler would actually kill them and me if anything like that happened."
"Damn straight," Oliver heard his girlfriend say. He smiled at her from across the table and received one in return.
Later that afternoon, Oliver opened the door to his flat, letting Skyler in before walking in. As soon as he closed the door his back was pushed up against it and his mouth was occupied. When Skyler pulled away she smiled at him.
"What was that for?" Oliver asked smiling. "Not that I'm complaining, by any means."
"For earlier," she told him. "Something about you telling some rather annoying girls that your girlfriend was far better than them."
"Well I wasn't lying," he said. Skyler smiled before kissing him again. She pulled back and took his hand, leading him toward his bedroom.
"You, Mister, are about to get very lucky."
And…
Another chapter is done! Whoo! Thanks for reading and all that. Hope you enjoyed. There was a substantial lack of Quidditch in this chapter but the next one will more than make up for it.
As always, thanks for reviewing. I can't put into words how awesome you guys are. Okay, maybe I just did, but still. Thanks again!
Oh! And I'm sorry if I offended anyone who's blonde. It wasn't meant to be an insult.