Um. My first public, published smut. If it's not your jam, you can skip it and pick up just fine at the next chapter.

Oo0Oo0

September 5, 1997

After several minutes of initial awkwardness, I could say that my second introduction to Oliver Wood on Wednesday was far better than the first one. No one said a word about the incident on the couch, or at least Oliver did not say anything in front of me, I imagined Percy was more fun to tease about things like that. He did call me Flipper-girl twice, which I did apologize profusely for causing him to laugh heartily and earning a few stray chuckles from Percy.

The rest of the evening was spent on a round of light drinking and a couple hands of cards while I earned the 'Real Girl' credential from Percy's friend. During which, Oliver tried to sell me on the virtues of Quidditch as a sport, to join Percy in his friendly support of Puddlemere United.

"Quidditch is the greatest sport in the world." Oliver said this with such conviction I would have believed him if I had not grown up on Quadpot. He took another swig of butterbeer before continuing. "And you're telling me that Quadpot is better?"

"Yes, we have seven rules. The ball explodes! And the greatest Quadpot player of all time was Frankie 'Four Fingers' Fortune, he's incredibly talented!"

"Better be if he only has four fingers."

Oliver's quick retort earned a cough like laugh from Percy, which he quickly stifled to the best of his ability.

"Well, Frankie didn't start very well, he lost most of his fingers during his first season."

Percy was apparently a bit of a happy drunk judging by his laughter at Frankie 'Four Fingers' misfortune.

I quite liked Oliver Wood, aside from his questionable taste in Quidditch being the pinnacle of magical sports, I had managed to talk Zara around into reading a book about the history of Quadpot at one point, but Oliver was very nice and that could erase many small annoyances over sporting preferences. He did tell Percy to bring me to a Puddlemere game when the world was right-side up again, stating that he would be perfectly fine providing tickets for the event provided we all had a drink afterwards so he could make sure I was properly converted to the best of magical sports.

Two days later, Friday arrived at last, Percy and I returned home late from work at six on the dot. Thicknesse kept us late in the office to do mindless, unimportant paperwork that neither of us learned anything interesting from. I could tell Percy was having thoughts on the matter of what was crossing our desks, he had mentioned there seemed to be a kind of system there that could be exploited quietly under the right pressure or the pulling of the correct thread. He had far more understanding of that than I did, I had a hard time with mindless bureaucracy.

A large crow was tapping at the kitchen window as we stepped into the flat. I assumed it was Erebus for a moment, but crows were smaller than ravens and this bird was very polite as he held out his leg for me to take the note. I recognized this bird, he was missing a toe and liked to hang out near Tavish's cottage.

The crow flew away and I opened the note as Percy cleaned the dishes from breakfast that morning.

The note was from Lucinda, it stated that there had been success in her endeavor of expanding the garden with three new types of plants. A code that was very clear to me and filled me with such sudden jubilation I gave a sudden shout and made Percy jump and knock a plate to the floor with a crash.

"Is it your brother again?"

"No, Tavish has been working in the garden. He's had a lot of luck this year."

"Good for him. What's he growing?" Percy fixed the plate with a quick wave of his wand before placing it on the drying rack.

"Chomping cabbages."

Percy looked at me with a raised eyebrow and a slow, crooked smile that left me weak at the knees. "Good for him."

I'm not being entirely honest and he knows it, though Tavish had spent the last year trying to breed a more vicious chomping cabbage for fun. He had not had much luck.

Neither of us were hungry and had elected to skip dinner, choosing instead to catch up on our reading in an unspoken agreement. Percy was finally able to read one of the books I had gotten him for his birthday and I wanted to study something.

The clock said it was half past seven and I found myself curled up in a chair doing everything but studying as I glanced over at Percy periodically over the top of my book because the words on the page were not staying in my mind in a way that made sense and I found myself rereading the same page repeatedly for the last fifteen minutes.

I really love this man.

Which posed an interesting problem today now that I could say with confidence that he knew enough about me to be… um… really I had put far too much thought into this very adult thing and now the nerves have fiercely intermingled with the aches of desire.

Oh, this was going to be fascinating.

How by the grace of Valentina, how do I get the man to bed?

Alright. Audrey. You have read a lot of… smutty materials over the last year, you are fully capable of seducing the love of your life.

Oh, well that was dramatic, I need to put that thought back in the box for a while longer.

Percy was reading on the sofa, a book about the history of political insurgency that would kill any mood either of us tried to create. I knew I should have gotten him that book about magical forensics!

Actually, that was not very mood setting either.

Neither was his preferred mystery genre.

Honestly, he would get along very well with Annette.

I glanced over at him again as I turned the page of my own book on basic cooking. I had carefully disguised the cover with a charm to look like a novel in a mystery series Percy had gotten me into. I think he knew I couldn't cook, but I did put some value on the illusion that I had lived on more than toast and cereal before moving in with him.

It also allowed me to get distracted by looking at his hands, watching his long fingers turn the pages before my eyes moved over to take in his profile. His slightly messy hair, long nose and the boyish freckles that ran rampant across his nose beneath his glasses.

I had a passing thought about what our children would look like. I was not too invested in the idea of having a son, but the odds were high with all of those brothers Percy had and I made peace with the idea. Tall, redheaded (that was a slim chance), at least one will probably need glasses, hopefully a bit more prone to outward expressions of joy and less… well, to be blunt, political opinions and ambitions. I would appreciate a more mellow, less high strung personality in my offspring, but between Percy and I, that was not likely to happen either, but I could live in hope.

Merlin forbid I produced a smaller version of my father and brother. Percy was not equipped to deal with his level of drama from other people.

I was not sure I wanted to reuse any boy names from my side of the family, none of them really flowed very well with the Weasley surname, too pretentious, too strange and maybe a bit too American for Percy's taste. I liked the idea of using Alexander as a middle name, depending on how annoyed I was with Alex whenever the event came to pass. I did not like the name Callum very much, Tavish did not flow very well (as much as I loved the man), naming the potential baby Jack after my father was a horrifying prospect, but Arthur was a good name, though that would involve a level of familial recovery that was not on the table for Percy right now and flowed terribly with Alexander as a middle name.

Hm, if I could find a suitable name that was a male variant of Lucinda in some manner, I think that would be fine. It was always good to be prepared.

Lucus was a bit too modern. Luke was a name I don't even like and Percy would hate it. If I wanted a male variant on Lucinda's name the closest I had found was Lucretius and that's… actually kind of terrible.

I had already picked Lucy out as a name for a daughter, it managed to honor both my mother and Lucinda. Really a stroke of genius. Both flattering and not repetitive. Yes, very perfect!

But this was easily years away and there were other hurdles to cross before any of that became an issue.

School told me I was smart and now I can't figure out this very basic thing. Okay Audrey, run some scenarios. Should I show him my ankles? No, he sees those on a regular basis. Maybe I should just take off my shirt? No, that's stupid, but I am wearing that really nice bra… no. That is a dumb idea, but it does have merit. I'll return to that.

It's a Friday night, if we were normal people living in normal times we would probably be out at the pub with friends, I was beginning to understand the advantages alcohol provided in these kinds of situations. The ability to lower one's nerves and just go through things you already wanted to do with lessened concerns and anxieties about looking like an idiot.

Should I just go make out with him? That is very forward, Audie, have some dignity! Well, you lost your dignity after Oliver interrupted your last seduction attempt. Merlin that was embarrassing! Maybe I should just talk? No. I can't just bluntly say … any of the things I've read in my weird little novels like 'Can we practice for when we want to have our weird babies?' or 'Perhaps I should begin my sexual education?' Ugh, we would really have weird babies but neither of those were a good pick up line in any universe. No wonder those books only had a one wand rating. Maybe I should have done more research…

Perhaps all of my romance novels were not the place to figure this stuff out? All of the heaving bosoms and senseless, overly aggressive seduction from men was not in tune with reality. I was not desperate to hold onto this idea and social construction of virginity, I was not not going to be a different person from the experience, maybe wiser about how naive I was and how my mind made some things harder than they needed to be, but that was not something life changing.

It was just something new.

I still can't just say something crass like-

"Aud?" I startled in my seat, not noticing that I had been staring at Percy for the past several minutes like a weirdo. He was looking at me with his book closed and resting on his chest, his hair had shifted back to its usual morning state that I had seen every morning for the past two months and made my stomach flutter. "Everything okay?"

"Come to bed with me."

Oh! I want to swallow the words that just escaped me in a voice that I barely recognized as my own for a moment.

Percy's lips parted slightly, his eyebrows raising a bit before glancing over at the clock on the mantle. "It's eight."

I should have just taken off my shirt.

"It is," I leaned forward slightly, putting my book on the table as I rested my elbows on the arm of the chair and looked into Percy's eyes in a desperation where I would not have to fully clarify on something wanted and could define only in technicalities.

Something clicked together in his mind. "Oh. Brilliant!"

I stood up and leaned down to kiss him, one of my hands caressing his cheek and sliding down his jaw as a hurricane of thoughts whirled through my mind before settling to a series of simple steps. "Could I have about fifteen minutes?"

He nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving mine as parts of my body that I never gave much thought too shivered and ached in delight while I drew away from him.

Percy's gaze followed me until I was out of sight in the short hallway, making my hair stand on end in a way that was pleasurable, prickling and powerful.

I closed the door to the bedroom behind me, sagging slightly against it to catch my breath.

It took me less than thirty seconds to dive under the bed for the Witches Guide to Health and Wellness book that Misty had given me all those months ago to find the contraceptive charm that had a corner dogeared by Misty for my convenience, as a gesture of care, affection and teasing. I hoped she and Zara were safe.

Longer term birth control was a weekly potion from the Healers but it really just meant less hassle than doing a spell every time before the event. I had been hearing about a shortage of Healers and backlogged appointments, so I would have to get on the list and expect a waiting period of a couple of weeks. Not the worst thing in the world, but a bit inconvenient. At least the charm could be used by both parties.

I waved my wand over myself while muttering the charm and put my wand on the bedside table. Okay. That was finished. What little anxieties is my brain going to explore next?

Pajamas! Should I put on that nightgown I'd set aside for such an occasion? The deep blue one with the nice neckline and lacy straps? It's kind of long… I don't want a short one though… It feels a bit… expectant and exposing… Put that thought away, sex is very exposing! Long it is then.

Removing my clothes and freeing my hair from the bun I kept it in was a near instantaneous process. I debated on if I should remove my underwear or not, deciding quickly that they could stay on and shaking out my hair to restore it to a free state of liveliness, a large portion of it cascading over my shoulders. Next I moved to sit on the edge of the bed closest to the door, my legs crossed at the ankles, hands folded primly in my lap in an effort to look less awkward, which I knew I had failed at miserably.

I took a deep breath.

This was fine.

There was a quiet tapping rhythm on the bedroom door that made me jump, my hand flying to my chest to try and keep my heart from creating a blood-soaked scene of flying through my chest. That would be a hell of a way to start the night.

My hand returned to my lap as quickly as it left. "Come in!"

Percy stepped into the room, closing the door behind him with an awkward grin.

"I thought you needed your glasses to see?"

I had seen him without his glasses before, but it was usually early in the morning and right before bed. It was unusual during other periods of the day.

"I'm not that blind," his eyes moved slowly over me as he stepped closer to where I was sitting on the bed. "I don't need glasses to see how beautiful you are."

If there was a point in my life where I gave up what Annette called the 'Flesh Prison' to become yet another puddle in London, this would have been the moment.

Percy knelt down at my feet and I put one of my feet on his knee with a smile. "You're very sweet, you know that?"

"That's a matter of perspective," He looked at me thoughtfully, his brows knitting in concern. "We don't have to do anything if you don't want to. If you want this to stop at any point, tell me immediately."

I took a deep breath, formulating a response that had been sitting dormant inside of me for a long time. "I want this. I want you. I think I have for a long time."

Percy's face had gone a shade of pink that I was sure my own face matched. "We have never really talked about this, have we?"

I shook my head as his cool hands were resting on the back of my calf.

"Is there anything you want to do or…?"

His laughter was light and warm against my knee. "I have a list."

A high giggle left me at the admission. Of course he had a list. Between the two of us we had a plan for almost everything.

"Is there anything you want?" Percy's voice was melodiously low, a slight uninhibited burr to his speech that I could recognize on occasions when he was home and comfortable. "We don't have to do anything you're not interested in."

I had curiosities, stray thoughts that I could not put out into the world yet, something as raw and untouched as my own fantasies could be set aside for another night when I had real clarity on what exploring physical desire was and could be.

"Nothing at present. I am open to suggestions." Another thought jumped to the front of the line as Percy nodded. "Contraceptive charm?"

"Done. That's the last thing we need right now."

I nodded slowly in agreement. "I think the long term options are on my side of the pitch."

"I'll see if there is anything on my side of the pitch."

Sports analogies were both strange and appropriate for the situation at hand. "I like children, but I really don't want seven."

"Neither does my Gringotts account."

The laugh that left me was hearty for someone whose boyfriend's hands were moving slowly up and down her thighs, the faint outline of his hands visible under the thin cloth of my nightgown. I was suddenly very glad about my split second decision to leave my panties on.

I tugged gently on the collar of Percy's shirt, getting him off the floor and closer to me as I unbuttoned his shirt, his hands leaving my skin to take over while I turned my attention to his cufflinks, leaning away from him for a moment to look around for a place to put them. Percy wordlessly held out his hand and I put the little gold buttons in his hand so he could put them on the dresser.

Everything has its place.

He came back to me quickly and my heavy limbs defied my own expectations to reach upwards and undo his belt with my long, pale fingers as he finished removing his shirt and pulled his undershirt over his head with quickening breaths. I glanced up as I undid the belt, taking in the site of all of the freckles that I always loved seeing as a kind of private galaxy. I moved my hands upwards to trace his skin just above his trousers, admiring the sinewy lines of him.

Why had I been so nervous? This felt easy and natural in a way. Confusing, but so interesting it was overcoming my nerves as if I were taking stock of people and their behaviors and finally putting some understanding on things I only had vague half formed ideas about before now. How easy it was to give oneself over to something that on paper sounded so awkward and uncomfortable by the look in another person's eyes? The sound of their rushing breathing and the growing warmth of them under one's hands?

Percy threw his shirts into the corner of the room which were decidedly not where the dirty clothes went! His hands moved to my shoulders to play with the lacy straps of my nightgown and I caught a glimmer of playfulness in his darkening eyes.

"This is new."

I hooked my fingers in his belt loops and ran a thumb over the button of his pants. "I didn't think you paid much attention to my pajamas."

"Why wouldn't I?" The straps were both hanging down my shoulders as the rest held itself in place before he moved the straps back to the proper place, taking a moment to brush my hair back over my shoulders. "There's a lot to admire." His eyes moved over me and I knew intuitively he was talking more about me then than my pajamas.

My face managed to go a deeper shade of pink judging by the heat on my cheeks.

He leaned down to whisper in my ear, his breath warm and his voice as enticing to me in that moment as the Pied Piper playing his pipes to lead the children astray.

I nodded slightly in agreement to this whispered proposal, the idea both risque and intriguing. Laying back on the bed allowed me to close my eyes for a moment and take in everything that was happening. The way his hands moved slowly up my outer thighs, the way my nightgown shifted against my skin as it was bunched around my waist, the heaviness of his hands rested at my hips in the waistband of my panties, the tips of his fingers poking beneath. My head nodded in assent to his request until he said he wanted to hear my voice. I gave a breathless, excited affirmation, my hands moving down to start helping him pull (or push in my case) the offending garment down my legs where it came to rest around one of my ankles.

The only thing that I was coherent of in the moments that followed was his warm breath on my inner thigh, one of my legs coming to rest on his shoulder. There was the pressing of his lips along my legs and the momentary scraping of his teeth on my hip bone before he finally found the apex of my thighs and did everything he promised only a few minutes ago, all the warmth of his mouth and the feeling of his finger finding something inside of me and the sting of a second.

There was something in this. I understood why people could lose themselves and their rationale of everything that was right or proper in their relationships for this. How someone's view of attractiveness and desire could lead to a person letting down all of their defenses and engaging in something that felt clandestine and exciting.

Everything felt warm, my breath trembled and I felt myself deafened to the sounds of my heartbeat and the breathless whispers that escaped my mouth behind the hand that covered it. The effort to keep those noises to myself quickly became an obvious failure judging by the rising pitch of my voice over a period of minutes or hours, my concept of time was gone, or maybe it did not matter anymore as I began to tremble and shiver under the rhythm of his mouth and hands and Percy's name escaped my lips with a cry.

I felt pleasurably lethargic in the aftermath where everything became too much as I came down from this new peak, my breath was short and my limbs were heavy as the tingling of my skin slowly faded away. Percy was leaning slightly away from me, I gasped quietly as he removed his fingers from my body, the slight momentary sting and emptiness feeling shocking in the aftermath of everything.

I forced myself to sit up, the way my nightgown rested against my sensitive skin was too much and I just wanted it off. Percy stood up and helped me remove my nightgown, tossing it somewhere in the room before taking my face in his hands to kiss me in a way that managed to be momentarily soft before demanding just a little more with each moment. We came apart breathlessly, peering into each other's eyes with an intense promise of what was going to happen next.

"Maybe we should…" I glanced over to the head of the bed where the pillows were resting as the last piece of undisturbed space in the immediate vicinity.

"Good idea!"

It was going to be so much more comfortable to lay on the bed properly, my head actually on the pillow and resting lengthwise so my limbs no longer dangled off the edge of the bed. I don't think I have it in me to stand up, it's more likely I'll just fall over from my knees giving out under me and I could save that for another night, but crawling up the bed was far too much to really consider at the moment.

I did not have to worry about that for too long. Percy extended a hand to help me onto my shaky legs, allowing his eyes to drift over me like they had out in the living room before all of this really started as his hands rested on my waist, his thumbs tracing my hips. The easiest thing to do would be to turn around, take two steps forward and get into bed. Very easy. But that was Percy's side of the bed and my pillows were several more steps away on the other side of the bed.

Great.

Taking a step away from Percy was difficult, but I did quickly rediscover my footing as I stepped around him and fully out of his grasp as he made a playfully irritated sigh while I laughed, turning on my next step, my hair moving brushing and swishing against the center of my back as I arrived at the other side of the bed.

Percy reached over to grab my pillow and look me in the eyes with a smirk as he fluffed it and placed it firmly in the center of the bed, gesturing to it to lay down his point. Smug creature.

I pulled the comforter back and climbed into bed, my head resting on the pillow I had claimed for my own after moving in. There was the sound of cloth hitting the floor and the sinking of the mattress as Percy climbed into bed and my remaining concerns washed away under the warmth of his body and the way his hands and mouth moved across me, exploring new places they had never been before, from my shoulders to my breasts, which made me giggle under the prolonged attention of his mouth and gasp under the sudden rush to cold air as he switched his attentions to the other. When my giggles turned too pleas for more, my legs bending to cradle him between them and try to pull him closer, a fog of incoherence settling over my person from lust and sheer desire.

Another quick assurance that this was okay as one of his hands began to guide him inside of me. There was a bit of pain, a pinch that made me gasp and Percy freeze. It was nothing as bad as I had imagined after being warned by the whispers of other school girls during my Ilvermorney years who had boyfriends. A mere moment a flash of stinging discomfort which shifted to a discomfort of fullness that was interesting and almost too much, before I nodded my head to continue. The moments that followed were all slow, steady, shallow movements of our hips and low utterances of affection mixed with our gasping cries of more and faster. The sounds of skin slapping together. The smell of sweat and other things that I did not have the coherence to give much attention to with everything else taking on a more immediate attention in a part of my mind that was preoccupied with the look on Percy's face and the feeling of my teeth biting my lower lip. The sweat on his brow, the high color of his cheeks and the adoration in his eyes when they were not closed.

My name flew from Percy's mouth in a tone I had never heard from him before as he buried his face in my neck and the whole business suddenly came to an end. He was breathing heavily, huffing quietly into my neck as the weight of him pushed me into the mattress.

There was silence for a few moments, only the sound of our breathing and my own heartbeat in my ears as I trailed my fingers slowly up and down his back. Percy shifted slightly, putting most of his weight back on his arms, kissing me soundly on the mouth before I felt him leave my body, causing me to wince slightly at the sting of it and the sudden emptiness left behind.

Percy flopped onto his back next to me and covered his face for a moment, collecting himself while I tried to motivate myself to reach for the comforter at the bottom of the bed to cover myself up and try to remember what I was supposed to do next.

Was that my nightgown dangling off the top corner of the wardrobe?

I guess everything has its place with Percy aside from clothing he throws off in fits of passion.

The sudden presence of Percy's arm coming over my waist and pulling me against him snapped me from my thoughts, my legs quickly tangled with his as he turned to look into my eyes with an expression of such concern and adoration that I knew I was not going to have any more coherent thoughts tonight.

"Alright, love?"

I gave a contented little sigh that seemed to answer his question. The sudden awareness of the cool air across my backside contrasted the warmth in front of me in a way that sent a wave of gooseflesh crawling up my back.

"I enjoyed that."

"Oh," there was a smug sleepy look on his face that I was trying to permanently imprint within my memories. "Anything in particular?"

I settled for giggling, not ready to answer that question as I detangled myself from Percy, the chill of the air coming over me like a blanket while Percy tried to coax me back with pretty words and playful complaints about being cold to which I reminded him he had a blanket with a coy, flirtatious lilt to my voice that I was not sure I had ever heard before as I retrieved my nightgown to step out to the hallway, remembering advice about using the bathroom post coital.

When I returned Percy had already changed the sheets, had put on his sleep pants and was holding a bottle of wine he almost hit me in the head with by summoning it from the kitchen as I left the bathroom. Percy gave me an apologetic smile before pouring the wine into a pair of wine glasses and holding one out to me.

We spent the rest of the weekend in the flat, enjoying lazy mornings in bed (Percy convincing Oliver he had an unfortunate stomach ache and would have to reschedule their weekly run), our afternoons studying magic and our evenings educating ourselves on the pleasures of the other under gentle hands and quiet whispers in the low light of the room.

Author's Note: Got my grades back, one Merit, one Distinction and one Pass and a Resit (I'm not even mad- over 100 people failed this thing too and I'm going to menace the teacher this week). I am content. I'm also (finally!) getting my dissertation assignment Tuesday.

*Hits publish and hides*