Hi guys! I've been deep in the LOTR world recently, but this has been on my mind and I had to start getting it on paper (fanfiction). A few things before we start:
1) I've altered Charlie's appearance. I want him taller. If I'm allowed to create a brand new character, I can make Charlie Weasley a little taller.
2) I'm treating professional, national Quidditch teams like the NBA or NFL and their players similarly.
3) There's a lot of Muggle clothes. It's more interesting to describe so I'm going with the notion that the movie makers had from the 3rd movie on.
I hope you enjoy this! I'm really excited to post it and get it started!
"I didn't think it would be so bad here," Adair said, coming up beside her brother at the bar under the tent.
People were milling about the tent, some dancing, many staring at the Quidditch playing siblings.
"You should've known," Oliver replied, handing her a full tumbler of firewhiskey.
They turned around simultaneously to watch the wedding reception unfold before them.
Ron and Hermione were in the middle of the dance floor, laughing, lost in each other as Ron spun her around to the beat of the pop song the band was playing.
Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time in the tent outside the Burrow on that October night.
Oliver and Adair were doing their best. Many of the people at the wedding were friends of theirs from Hogwarts and were accustomed to and unfazed by their presence, but those who did not personally know Oliver and Adair Wood stared at them. A few brave people asked for a photo with them or their autographs, but most snapped clumsy pictures from a distance or just gaped.
Adair tipped her tumbler back and felt the sweet, familiar burn as it ran down her throat. When she set it back down on the bar it was half empty.
"You have no idea how much I want one of those," Ginny said as she approached, a hand on her very swollen stomach.
She and Adair had not had time to talk before the ceremony and so Adair gave her an awkward hug due to her friend's size.
"How has the beautiful bride been today?" Adair asked. She had been very close to Ginny at Hogwarts and they kept up an active correspondence. Hermione had been in Adair's year, but Adair's athleticism and Hermione's braininess did not mesh, though they still remained friendly.
Ginny waved at Oliver around his sister and then turned her attention back to Adair. "A bloody nightmare."
Oliver and Adair both laughed, being rather familiar with the bride's uptight nature.
"Luckily, it looks as though Ron managed to coax a few firewhiskies into her," Ginny sighed. "She just about ran the sister-in-laws ragged getting ready for this."
Adair looked over to the table where Fleur, Percy's wife Audrey, and Angelina, though not married to George, were all nursing their own drinks and looking exhausted.
"Well it turned out beautifully," Adair assured her. "And the party seems to be a success."
The three of them chatted for a while longer before Harry joined them. He greeted the Wood siblings and commiserated with Oliver about how close England had been to going to the World Cup. Even though the Cup had been over a month before, it was still a sore subject.
Oliver finished his rather full drink in one swallow to show his displeasure that his team had not made it all the way that year.
"Germany had a really good season, Adair," Harry said generously.
"Thanks. Hopefully we do a little better this coming season," she replied. She was always cognizant of how much she spoke about Quidditch. She didn't want to be in the same category as her brother, though she thought of the sport constantly.
The season opened in less than three weeks.
"How about we slip out and get some sleep, Gin?" Harry asked, hand on his wife's shoulder.
Ginny nodded. "I don't stay out too late anymore," she said with a light laugh. "How long are you home, Adair?"
"About a week and a half."
"Let's have lunch in the city before you go back to Berlin."
"I'd love to."
They set the details for two days after the wedding, giving everyone ample time for recovery, and then the Potters were heading into the Burrow.
"I can't believe I have a friend who's having a baby," Adair said, staring after them.
No one she knew in her day to day life playing Quidditch had children.
Oliver was too busy ordering another firewhiskey to hear his sister.
They continued to watch the party and speak with a few more friends.
"Charlie!" Oliver exclaimed as a tall redhead approached the bar that the Wood siblings had staked out.
Adair watched the two men embrace and was snickering to herself at the raw adoration for the second eldest Weasley she saw in her brother's eyes when they both turned to her.
Oliver frowned at her.
"Charlie, have you met my sister, Adair?" he asked, frown deepening to a scowl as she tried to rein in her laughter.
"I have not," he replied, smiling warmly at her and taking her hand in his to shake. "I hope you're not laughing at my ridiculous haircut." He rubbed the back of his neck and his cheeks colored slightly. Adair could see the hints of tattoos where his shirt sleeves were rolled up, dress robe long ago discarded. "Every time I come home, my mum comes after me with scissors and insists I shave. It's easier not to fight her."
"That's not it," Adair promised, taking in his shorn red hair and smooth face. "I'll tell you later," she said conspiratorially.
Charlie gave her a quick wink as he reached for her empty tumbler, setting it on the bar for a refill next to his.
Oliver was looking between his sister and Charlie with a gleam in his eye, but he showed no signs of leaving them alone.
"Charlie, Adair was one of the top ten scoring Chasers in the entire league this past season," He was grinning like a madman at them both. "And Charlie was the best Seeker I've ever seen-"
"Could've played for England if he wanted to," Adair cut her brother off, having heard the same observation countless times.
Oliver flushed.
"What are you doing?" she asked, again trying to suppress her laughter.
""I just thought you two might have something in common," he muttered.
"Well we're probably not going to go make the best Quidditch playing baby the world has ever seen tonight."
Oliver downed his firewhiskey, dreams crushed and clearly caught in his clumsy romantic manipulation attempt. "I gotta go. George is calling for me."
He was clearly not being called for, but he left Charlie and Adair standing alone at the edge of the bar.
"He drives me to drink," Adair said, doing a number on the glass Charlie had handed her.
"Yeah, that was rather painful," he agreed. He looked to where Oliver was standing with George, Angelina, Fleur, and Audrey. They were all staring back at the pair at the bar.
"And now we have an audience," Adair sighed Even though they were people she knew it still made her skin crawl. She turned her back to the group and leaned her forearms on the bar. When she glanced back up at Charlie he was looking down at her with clear blue eyes.
"That probably grows rather old," he mused.
Adair nodded and took another long pull from her tumbler of firewhiskey, not flinching at the burn. "I should have been more prepared even for a private event I guess." She took another long drink.
A camera flashed on her open side and she turned to see a red headed teenage boy.
"Hey!" Charlie shouted. "Knock it off! Get out of here!"
The kid hurried away.
At his full height, Charlie Weasley was quite striking. Adair was as tall as her brother who was quite sturdily built, where she was more lean, and so she wasn't used to men towering over her as Charlie did.
"You don't look much like a Seeker," Adair observed. She stood up and pushed her long, nearly blonde hair over her shoulder, studying him.
"I was pretty scrawny back at school," he admitted. "Wrestling with dragons changed that" he said with a chuckle.
Adair turned away from him once more not wanting to seem too interested in what exactly wrestling dragons had done to his body.
"That must be exciting," she said quietly. "Dangerous."
"I've been bitten and burned once or twice," he replied. "As I'm sure you've had your fair share of injuries."
"Uncle Charlie! Uncle Charlie!" Around knee height, there was a flash of platinum blonde hair, nearly silver. It crashed against Charlie's legs and he groaned theatrically before tossing his niece Victoire high into the air. She squealed in delight and settled happily on his hip. The little girl stared at Adair solemnly.
"You're very pretty," Victoire told her.
Adair laughed. "Thank you. So are you. But what else are you?"
Victoire looked at her, puzzled. With a mother like Fleur and looking like she already did, Victoire would hear the same compliments over and over again. The only physical trace of Weasley blood in the little girl came across in the freckles on her cheeks and nose.
"I bet you're brave and smart and kind."
Victoire nodded eagerly in Charlie's arms, who was staring at Adair intently.
"Those are important too," she said.
Smiling she set her empty glass back on the bar.
"How many of those have you had?" Charlie asked, half bemused and half concerned.
"A lady never tells," Adair said with a half smile.
"And when have you ever been a lady?" A familiar Irish brogue asked from behind her as hands slipped around her trim waist.
"Seamus!" Adair exclaimed, turning around and hugging him tightly.
Charlie and Victoire watched the scene curiously.
"I thought you might be hiding," Seamus said with a grin.
"I'd like nothing more," she admitted.
"Well dance with me before you do and then see how you feel."
Adair obliged easily. "It was nice to meet you, Charlie," she called over her shoulder as she was pulled to the center of the tent.
"Been nearly ten years since our first dance," Seamus said with a boyish grin.
During their fourth year, they had attended the Yule Ball together.
Adair laughed. "Seems like it was a lot longer ago than that."
They danced for a couple of songs and caught up with one another. Adair caught sight of Charlie spinning around on the dancefloor, Victoire still on his hip. She waved at the little girl who waved excitedly back.
Charlie put her down when they were through and she hurried to her parents, Fleur with little Louis on his hip, and the family made their way into the Burrow.
Charlie took a seat at a table with Oliver, George, and Angelina. The latter two were having some sort of spat which wasn't uncommon for them, though they were always quick to make up.
"So what's that about?" Charlie asked Oliver, nodding at Seamus and Adair. They were holding hands as they made their way to sit down with Neville, Hannah, Luna, and Dean. "Are they together?"
Oliver looked up as his sister settled herself on Seamus' lap. He rested his chin on her bare shoulder, an arm wrapping loosely around her waist.
"Adair and Seamus?" Oliver sighed. "Not in the traditional sense. They cut their teeth on each other at school, never really dated, just fooled around."
Charlie continued to watch the pair. They seemed very comfortable with one another.
"So they're friends?"
"Friends who sleep together, I guess." Oliver shrugged. His sister was a grown woman and it wasn't his place to cast his judgement on her or her decisions. There were plenty of other people to do that.
"He's never capitalized on her being a famous Quidditch player so he's alright with me. I think she treats him like a comfort blanket when she comes home. Reminds her of a simpler time or something." He took a long drink. "That was some philosophical rubbish."
Charlie laughed, but he was still watching Adair.
She laughed at something Seamus had said, but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Hey Katie!" Oliver yelled at the woman who had been on the Quidditch team he had captained at Hogwarts. "Dance with me." He stood, stumbling a bit as she walked by.
"Charming," she muttered, but she took his hand nonetheless.
When Charlie looked back at Adair, she was being approached by a little boy, probably seven or eight, who was holding out a cocktail napkin and a quill timidly, his parents encouraging him from a few feet away.
Adair smiled and signed the napkin, having a brief conversation with the boy before he and his parents went on their way.
Adair said something to Seamus and stood, adjusting her slinky red dress before heading back to the bar.
As her glass was filled, Charlie came back and stood by her once more.
"I've quit counting in case you were going to ask how many I've had again."
Charlie laughed. "I was going to remind you that you never told me what you were laughing about when we introduced earlier."
Adair's eyes lit up a little bit at the mirth from earlier in the evening.
"Just my brother. He talked about you constantly when you played together at Hogwarts and even after clearly. I just find it so amusing that the adoration continues even when he himself plays for England," she laughed lightly.
"I've never met anyone as obsessed with the game as Oliver," Charlie said. They both looked at Oliver attempting to dance with Katie. "You don't seem quite so possessed."
"Not usually," Adair agreed, turning to look back up at Charlie.
He was staring back down at her, tracing the rim of his glass.
She did not look much like her brother. Her hair was fair, skin tanned from training outside. Adair was very thin, whereas Oliver was burlier. He could've moved his hand from his glass to trace her collarbone, jawline, the top of her shoulder, or the ridge of her spine that he could see when her hair was pulled in front of her shoulder as it was.
"Have you ever been in the orchard?" Charlie asked, trying to pull his gaze away from her.
Adair shook her head.
Charlie grabbed his dress robe and led her out of the tent. There were no longer any heating charms and the chill fall air washed over them.
Adair followed him through the yard and into the first few rows of apple trees. She hugged herself from the cold, the strappy red dress not providing much warmth.
"Here." Charlie stopped and draped his dress robe over her shoulders. It hung to the ground and dwarfed her, but she pulled it tightly around her anyway, unwittingly inhaling his scent.
Even in the cool air the heady scent of overripe apples was possibly more intoxicating than the firewhiskey, though that was certainly having its own effect on both of them.
"If you stand right there," Charlie said quietly. "You can see the full moon." He moved her so she was standing in front of him. One hand remained on her shoulder as the other pointed between the branches at the moon, surrounded by bright stars, that was casting down a gentle light.
They stood in silence for a long moment, Adair not moving away from Charlie even as his hand slipped from her shoulder to her waist.
"It's so quiet and beautiful out here," Adair said softly. She closed her green eyes, not used to such silence and stillness. Everything in her life seemed to go by in a blur.
Charlie thought he could smell her perfume over even the scent of the apples. His hands on her waist could feel her warmth through his dress robe.
He couldn't stop himself even though thoughts ran through his head telling him all the reasons he shouldn't do what he was about to do.
They were virtual strangers. She was Oliver's little sister and probably Ginny's best friend. She seemed to have some sort of previous arrangement with someone else.
Regardless, he turned her around so she was facing him. He leaned down slowly and Adair didn't protest or back away. A hand on her lower back pressed her firmly against him as his lips met hers.
Adair almost immediately deepened the kiss, twining her arms around his neck.
Charlie took his cues from her as their tongues met and one of his hands slipped inside the dress robe. Her body was hard, all muscle and bone. His hand bumped along her ribs before grazing the firm swell of her breast. His other hand moved into her long hair.
Adair moaned against his lips as her own hands began to unbutton his white shirt.
Charlie's hand moved back down her body, bunching her red dress as it went until he could feel the smooth expanse of her bare thigh. He pushed them backward until Adair's back hit a tree, causing a few overripe apples to fall down around them, one thumping Charlie on the head.
He pulled away at the contact. Both were breathless and staring at each other.
"We shouldn't do this," Charlie said.
Adair said nothing, pulling his dress robe back around herself.
"We need to go back," he said, already walking out of the orchard.
Adair remained silent as they trekked back through the yard, her heels sinking into the earth. She was trying to think of a time when she had been turned down by the opposite sex and realized she had never been rejected in such a manner.
When they entered the tent, Adair dropped his dress robe over the back of a chair. The party had died down considerably and there were only a couple of tables of stragglers left, one consisting of George, Angelina, Seamus, and Oliver with his head in Katie's lap, babbling nonsense to her as she ran her fingers through his brown hair.
"Could've won the bloody Cup this year."
"I know. I know," Katie replied patiently.
Charlie exchanged brief goodnights and disappeared while Adair attempted to get her brother on his feet.
Seamus was either oblivious or unfazed that Adair had just come out of the orchard with Charlie.
"Are you coming to my place?" he asked, very close to her, just as Oliver stood and she got her shoulder under his arm.
"I should get Oliver home, but I'm not due back in Berlin for another week."
Seamus nodded and bid her goodnight as she and Oliver made their clumsy way to where they could apparate to his flat in London.
"Your brother promised me a real date before the season starts," Katie called.
"I'll be sure to remind him," Adair shouted back.
With a POP! they were gone.
ooooOoooo
"Did you sleep with Charlie?" Ginny asked as soon as Adair sat down across from her two days later.
Adair was breathing hard from dodging photographers on the streets of Diagon Alley. She had instructed Ginny to get a table as far back as she could so pictures could't be taken through the window. Her friend was unfazed by the media attention.
"Excuse me?"
"Did you have carnal relations with my second oldest brother?" Ginny asked slowly, grinning.
"What are you talking about? No."
"George said the two of you came out of the orchard looking quite dishevelled."
Adair held her glass out for the floating bottle of champagne that came by.
"It's a little early, don't you think?" Ginny arched a brow.
"It's never too early to drink when the first thing I'm dealing with today is an interrogation."
"Don't be so dramatic," Ginny laughed. "I don't care."
They ordered their lunch.
"It just seems suspicious. Charlie won't say anything either."
"No one is saying anything because nothing happened," Adair sighed. Not wanting to get into her first ever rejection.
"I find that hard to believe," Ginny said.
"Why is that?"
"Adair, Ginny said as though she were talking to a child. "I read the tabloids."
"Don't believe everything you read, Ginny." There was a note of disappointment in her voice.
The Seeker Weekly was a magazine focusing on Quidditch news around the world, but it unfortunately featured a gossip and picture column as well. Adair had been featured in that column over and over again with male teammates and opponents alike since the beginning of her professional career two years earlier.
There were such columns in the Daily Prophet, which she always found herself in when she was home. She was a daily regular in the German paper as well.
"I truly don't care who you sleep with, but I do like the idea of you and Charlie. We could be family!"
"You have literally turned drunkenly snogging in the orchard into another Weasley wedding," Adair laughed.
"So something did happen!" Ginny exclaimed in triumph.
Adair put her face in her hands.
"Are you going to see him before you go back to Berlin? He's staying until the baby's born. How far away is Germany from Romania?"
"Slow down, Ginevra. These things happen all the time. It's not that serious. It's not serious at all actually. It's nothing."
Ginny sighed, disappointed.
Luckily, Adair managed to shift the focus of the conversation to the impending arrival of Harry and Ginny's firstborn.
"I'll be here to meet the newest addition as soon as I have a few days off," Adair promised.
"Hopefully that's before they're old enough to go to Hogwarts."
"I'll make the time. We'll play England in England this year. I'll demand to be allowed to stay an extra day or two."
Ginny laughed. I think they pay you too much for you to make too many demands."
"That's true. But I'll make it happen." Adair paid both of their bills and stood. "An early congratulations." She hugged Ginny tightly. "I have to meet Oliver for who knows what," she said as they left the cafe and the flashing of camera bulbs took over once more. "I'll write when I'm back in Berlin. Harry had better floo me as soon as that baby's born."
Adair waved and hurried down the street. She tried to remember Oliver's directions and ended up in a grimy, seemingly vacant back alley. She slipped into the numbered door that Oliver had specified and had walked into a sleek office space.
Oliver was waiting for her in the lobby.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"England has an offer for you," he said simply. "I got word last night, but you were asleep already and I was busy this morning."
"An offer?" Adair repeated.
"They want you to play here," he said, grinning.
Adair was silent for a minute.
"Well let's hear it then," she finally said.
An hour later the Wood siblings were back in the lobby, this time as teammates. England had offered her too much money to turn down. They spoke excitedly about having the Wood siblings and what they would do for ticket and merchandise sales.
It had been a whirlwind. England would contact Germany to tell them they had taken a player and someone would be sent to her flat to pack and deliver her things. Adair didn't have to lift a finger that's how bad they wanted her.
"You can stay with me until you find a place," Oliver offered.
Adair nodded. "That was unreal," she muttered.
"Well I'm excited!" Oliver said.
They left out of separate exits so they wouldn't tip off the reporters and photographers that something important had just transpired.
ooooOoooo
Ginny had pestered Charlie relentlessly after her lunch with Adair.
They were at the Burrow a week later and Ginny was pacing in front of the kitchen table where Charlie was sitting, her belly leading the way.
"I think you should take her out before she goes back to Berlin."
Charlie sighed. "What would the point of that be, Ginny?" he asked. "Then I go back to Romania and she goes to Germany. I cannot fathom why you're so obsessed with this. When people don't meet the love of their life when they're ten years old, they can snog whomever they like and it doesn't have to mean anything."
Ginny scowled at him. "I snogged other people," she said defensively.
"Surely you have more important things to worry about," he said. "You're about to become a mother. You could have a child any day now and you're at Mum and Dad's worrying about me going a date with your best friend. You need to get your priorities straight."
"This is a huge priority of mine. Neither of you have ever seen someone seriously," Ginny returned.
"And you think that her living in Germany and travelling all the time with her team and me having a very restrictive schedule in Romania will turn out to be serious?"
"Who knows? I've heard crazier things."
"Will you shut the bloody hell up if I take her out while she's still here?"
"I will," Ginny promised.
"Fine," Charlie grumbled.
ooooOoooo
Adair had gone on a morning run throughout the Muggle neighborhood that Oliver's apartment was in. Living in Muggle neighborhoods protected many players from the prying eyes of reporters and photographers as they couldn't do their jobs in front of Muggles and have to explain who they were photographing and why.
When she came back up the stairs to the top level, Charlie Weasley was knocking on Oliver's door.
"He's not home," she said, startling him.
When he turned around to face her, he struggled to keep his eyes on her face. Despite the cooler temperature she was wearing black workout leggings and a black sports bra accompanied with a Muggle baseball cap she wore just in case a discreet reporter was out roaming near Oliver's apartment. Her long blonde hair was in a ponytail, threaded through the hole in the hat.
Sweat ran down her face, her neck, and her chest where it disappeared into her sports bra.
"I...uh...I wasn't looking for him." He tried with all his might to meet her gaze instead of following the rivulets of sweat with his eyes. "I was looking for you."
"Well you found me," she said, moving around him and opening the door by grasping the doorknob and letting the door recognize her before it opened.
There were moving boxes everywhere.
"Is Oliver moving?" Charlie asked.
"Can you keep a secret?" Adair returned, going into the kitchen to get a glass of water.
"It is one of my strong suits."
"I am. England signed me to their team. I haven't told anyone. It hasn't been announced. Your sister doesn't even know." She drank nearly the whole glass in one go. "She isn't great at keeping secrets." She studied him for a moment. His hair was still short and his face clean shaven. "Cleary or you wouldn't be here."
"She wants me to take you out before I go back to Romania."
"I figured as much." She leaned her hip against the marble kitchen counter and folded her arms over her chest."Well I'll tell her that we went and that it went horrible if you do the same," she offered.
Charlie shook his head. "I want to take you out."
Adair arched an eyebrow under her ball cap and then shrugged. "I don't start practice for another week so I can squeeze it in."
Hope you loved it! Let me know if you had thoughts, constructive criticism, ideas, praise, or questions. I'm open to it all. Right now I'm still writing another story and so that will be a priority as well, but I'll do my best to post on both of them as frequently as possible.
Happy reading,
Avonmora
