Oliver Wood (olliewood_) wrote in vrrpg, @ 2016-11-30 00:58:00 |
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Entry tags: | !backstory, !complete, char: charlie weasley, char: oliver wood, location: hogwarts, time: 1990 |
RP: Backstory: Charlie has a secret
Who: Charlie and Oliver
When: October 23rd, 1990 (evening, following their conversation)
Where: Hogwarts
What: Charlie has been sneaking out and Oliver is going to find out why
Warnings: Language
He'd been sneaking out every Friday night for a few weeks now, heading into the dungeons of the Castle to shag the gloriously lithe Slytherin Chaser, Joseph Abernathy. Charlie was in his last year at Hogwarts, and for some reason he and Joseph couldn't keep their bloody hands off one another. Joseph was just a year younger, so they both had to be extremely discreet. Well, they would have to be discreet anyhow as both were highly popular in the school, both purebloods with parents with notions that gay relations shouldn't happen. Well, Charlie thought his parents would be more accepting but Joseph's would probably skin both of them alive.
Sated and mussy-haired, Charlie snuck back out of the Slytherin dormitories and headed towards Gryffindor. He rounded the corner and smacked into someone he hadn't been expecting. Not a teacher or another prefect - or even Head Boy or Girl. But Oliver. His best mate.
Shit.
"What are you doing still up?" Charlie hissed, panicked.
***
Charlie had snuck out again. It wasn't as though he had been terribly obvious about it, but getting up to 'use the loo' or whatever every Friday and disappearing for long stretches of time became obvious when sharing a dorm with their best mate. Twice Oliver had checked the window with the best view of the Quidditch pitch and not seen a lone figure flying in the darkness; nor had he been in the library the week before. This time, Oliver was ready. Charlie was being secretive, and honestly a bit too tired for Saturday practice. Something was very off and he was going to get to the bottom of it.
He'd waited until it was physically impossible to not want to spring out of bed once Charlie had set off again and dressed quietly. Down the spiral staircase and into the blissfully empty Common Room and through the portrait hole ("It's a bit past your bedtime young man!" The Fat Lady grumbled sleepily) and into the dark hallways of the corridor. Every noise made Oliver jumpy, expecting see Mrs. Norris or Filch looming in every gloomy crevice but he met nothing but moonlit with each turn.
Finally after what had to have been an hour Oliver was ready to give in; his socked feet ached with cold and knew if he stayed up any longer the lack of sleep would affect his performance at practice tomorrow.
Just one more look.
Oliver rounded a corner and smacked full force into Charlie Weasley. He stumbled and righted himself with the impressive skills only years of obsessive Quidditch practice could produce.
"What are you doing up?" Oliver shot back at him, brow furrowed with annoyance. "We have practice in the morning!"
***
Charlie's grip dug into Oliver's arm like a vice and he seethed, taking a few steps before wrenching his arm free. Being a Keeper meant having good control and proper strength in one's arms.
"And our captain shouldn't be sneaking around at night and dozing off during practice!" Oliver shot back as loud as he could whisper, planting his feet and standing rooted on the spot. He didn't care if the messy-haired Weasley was his best mate, he was being a prat. The dark blue eyes bore into Charlie, mentally daring him to try and move Oliver again.
***
Charlie was a strong wizard. Hell he had to be, both in mind and physique, to be the Captain of the Quidditch team and the team's seeker. Plus he wanted to study dragonology when he finished Hogwarts, something which he hadn't told his parents about yet.
That being said, that night he discovered just how much stronger Oliver Wood was over him as his grip was broken and his arm flung off as easy as a limp noodle. Charlie looked stunned for a moment, then his face went red with anger. He had opened his mouth, but was shut down by Oliver before he could speak.
They stood there, eye to eye and staring down each other for what seemed like minutes before Charlie relented. He exhaled strongly through his nostrils before breaking eye contact and backing down. At least he now knew - Oliver would be the one Charlie would recommend as Captain when he left Hogwarts.
"Okay," Charlie whispered hotly. "You have a point. But if we stand here any longer we're going to get caught and I don't know about you but I'd rather not have to spend Detention with Filch," he said.
***
Oliver knew that look; Charlie was furious. His face had only matched the shade of his hair on a handful of times and now he was staring down a redheaded dragon. Internally, Oliver shook, knowing full well this could be the end of his Quidditch career (after all, direct insubordination not to mention physical action was more than enough to grant a dismissal) but also their friendship. The tense moment stretched into an eternity, and Oliver wouldn't be the first to back down. Charlie was being daft and he had to see it, no matter the cost. The world seemed to shrink to the two worn blocks of stone they stood on: a shadowed one for him, a moonlit one for the other; everything else beyond the periphery of his senses that were focused solely on Charlie was erased completely.
His mind offered two reactions, all similar in intensity and different in rationality. The first was the knee-jerk reflex to punch Charlie and make him see he was being a mindless, selfish git and costing them the House Cup. As soon as it registered a warning registered too, and Oliver settled with the second reaction instead: motionless resignation just to survive the moment. At long last, Charlie broke eye contact.
A bit disorientated, with an apologetic look, Oliver blinked at his captain. He didn't want Charlie to escape so easily, but if they were caught it would be disastrous.
"Fine." He huffed. "But you're not going to bed until you tell me whats going on."
***
Charlie still had half a mind to bark at Oliver to mind his own business, but he knew that would go over as well as a lead balloon. The truth was that Charlie had a secret that he kept back from almost everyone (save for his older brother, Bill, of course), and now he was pushed up against the metaphorical wall by none other than his best mate. He could lie, feel guilty but retain his friendship with Oliver; or he could tell the truth and risk that friendship be ruined for eternity.
He swallowed, the blood running out of his face and a panicked feeling began to rise in his chest. It was the same feeling as when they were down by 130 points to 10 against Slytherin last week, and Charlie had not seen a glimpse of the snitch for almost the entire game. Gryffindor had managed to win, as Charlie had caught the snitch just moments after it began to piss down rain on the pitch - but it was a near thing against the Slytherin's Seeker. Charlie remembered that panicked feeling, though - and he knew that catching a snitch in that moment was not going to make it go away.
"Fucking hell," he said through gritted teeth. Oliver wasn't going to drop it. There was only one thing he could do. "All right then. But it has to stay between you and me. Got it?" Charlie pushed a finger into the middle of Oliver's chest.
***
Even though Charlie wished the floor would open up and swallow him whole than tell Oliver the truth of his whereabouts, he nodded in agreement to Oliver's terms.
When they reached Gryffindor tower and entered the common room, Charlie made sure to check that there was no one else lurking around after lights out. The coast was clear and Charlie sighed out in relief. "How good are your silencing charms?" he asked Oliver, raising and eyebrow. "I'm not going to start talking until we make sure no one else can hear us."
He made sure the fire was out in the large common room's fireplace - as anyone could listen in on the floo network - and sat down on the large red couch in front of it. He was tired and the night's pleasure was long forgotten.
"I was in the Slytherin quarters," Charlie said softly.
***
The two walked along in silence as swiftly as they could without making a sound. Much like his earlier venture the path was free of ghosts, Peeves or snitching cats. The two entered into the still empty Common Room. Charlie hadn't ran or went back on his word and Oliver decided the least he could cast a silencing spell. To be fair Charms wasn't his exact strong suit though he gave it his best go. Immediately the world around the two became eerily silent; the empty room moments ago might as well have been full of life compared to the dead silence looming over them.
Oliver hadn't seen Charlie settle with such a weight on his shoulders like now; what could he have done that was so grave?
"You...what?!" Concern turned into boiling anger. Charlie, their captain, had been in the Slytherin Common Room after hours? Oliver's mind raced trying to find a logical rationale but kept looping back to Quidditch. "Charlie what the fuck?"
***
"Shhhh," Charlie said, trying to hush up Oliver and looking around uneasily. They had put up plenty of silencing charms, but Charlie didn't know how well they were cast - his own included. "Do you have to be so fucking loud, Wood?" Charlie looked at his friend with open annoyance. "No one has seen me go in or out of the Slytherin quarters and I've made pretty damn sure they haven't," he assured his friend in low tones.
There was a loose thread in a nearby cushion and Charlie, unable to be still, began to pick and tug at it. How the hell was he to begin this conversation?
***
"Oh don't be daft, the charms'll hold." Oliver snapped in annoyance and prowled back and forth in front of Charlie not unlike an anxious lion. How could he? How bloody could he? Charlie was consorting with the Slytherins, probably trading play secrets or making deals. Sure this season hadn't been the best but he did he really have to resort to using that lot's dirty tricks?
With a growl of wordless frustration, Oliver sank onto the floor, hands buried in his floppy brown hair. "Charlie, mate, it's late. Just... fucking tell me, alright? We're already going to be useless for practice tomorrow. If there even is one." He muttered the end darkly.
***
What? Its you that's being daft!" Charlie said, giving Oliver a perplexed look. "What do you mean 'if there even is one'. Of course there's a practice tomorrow, ya sod." He felt like reaching out and smacking Oliver upside the head, if it probably didn't mean that they would end up in a fist fight and waking everyone up, including McGonagall. Then there would be hell to pay.
Charlie shrugged and crossed his legs in a standard yogi position on the sofa. "Look, it's just a bit of a shag is all." Hopefully Oliver would understand that at least.
***
The revelation it was a simple shag washed over Oliver bringing blissful release from the tempest of worry and anger brewing inside of him. The simple explanation and his tendency to jump to the worst possible conclusion made him laugh.
"Oh, Charlie, mate you had me so worried! I thought...fucking hell I thought you were selling our secrets or trading plays with the Slytherin team!" He giggled, sitting up to rest on his knees. Sure, there were some cute Slytherin girls, none that had really caught Oliver's attention but he was entirely too focused on Quidditch to really date around (not to mention he had yet to lose his virginity). "So who is it, then? You didn't tell me you fancied anyone." He accused Charlie slightly, though maintaining his grin. "Alisha LaChapelle? Oo, I bet it's Moira Herman... she'll be really pretty once she grows into her nose a bit." He chuckled again. "Well, at least I know you won't be trading secrets in bed with the Slytherins, they're so anti-girl on their team."
***
He couldn't believe his ears! Charlie felt his face and ears growing red, but not from embarrassment. Instead, his anger began to boil. Trading secrets! What the fuck?!
Grabbing a cushion from the sofa, Charlie brought it down - hard - on Oliver's head. "Wood, you pillock!" he said hotly, wishing he could do more than just beat Oliver with a sofa cushion. "You think so little of me that I'd compromise the team like that? I should bench you for the rest of the year." Charlie wouldn't - that would be madness, but the idea was tempting enough in his indignation.
He ran both hands through his hair. Charlie could let Oliver keep thinking that it was one of the Slytherin girls that he was getting his kit off with, but the idea that Oliver thought he was being that deceitful inflamed Charlie too much.
"I'm not shagging either of them," he explained, then stood up and began to pace while he mulled over how to put it to Oliver that he was shagging Abernathy, who WAS on the Slytherin team.
***
Even with natural born Keeper skills the soft pillow slipped through Oliver's outstretched arms and crashed down hard on his head. Little lights popped before his eyes.
"Fuck Charlie, what was I supposed to think?! You're sneaking about and..." He added wth a reproachful glare at the mention of benching. "Our next match against Slytherin and I know you want that win as bad as I do." Sure, Oliver should have apologized and knew he deserved the wallop, but that could come later.
His dark blue eyes watched Charlie stalking the same path he'd walked moments before. "Fine. It's not my business but just don't let it interfere with the match. And it has<\i>." It felt odd speaking in an authoritative manner to his captain, but Charlie needed to get his head in the game if they were going to win.
***
"It's not that, it's just..." Charlie began, trailing off and biting his lip. He continued to pace, running a hand through his hair and feeling the blood pounding in his ears. "The thing is, Oliver. It issomeone on the Slytherin team," he explained, his face flushed to the tips of his ears.
"I'm shagging Abernathy," Charlie said, slowly and he waited for Oliver's - no doubt - explosive reaction. "I couldn't help it, mate. Don't kill me?"
***
"It...it is?" Oliver's mind stalled, feeling as though he'd been beaten with the cushion again. Except there was no cushion, just a very embarrassed looking Charlie. "I...I mean...you're not going easy on him or anything, right?" So his captain shagged men; big deal. All that mattered was the game. "Because a relationship can mess with your head. Just don't go giving him a pass or anything, yeah?"
***
Charlie looked at his friend as if he had grown a second head. It was as if Oliver hadn't heard him correctly. "Oliver - you heard me right, yeah? I'm shagging Abernathy...a bloke. A guy. Not a girl," he stated, a confused expression on his face.
"Don't you have anything to say about that?"
***
Why was Charlie being so thick? Glowering at the Weasley, Oliver crossed his arms "Yeah I heard you fine. I also heard a member of the Slytherin Quidditch team. Mate, you can't go easy on him in the match." He had to make Charlie see how very important it was. If he let his feelings or lust or whatever get in the way they could lose the House Cup. Worrying his lower lip, he paced back and forth once more.
***
Feeling all of a sudden lightheaded, Charlie sat down and couldn't help but start laughing. He laughed until tears came to his eyes, and then seeing Oliver looking at him - with that LOOK - made Charlie laugh even harder until he was holding his sides because it hurt too much.
"You have no idea how relieved I am!" he gasped, knuckling tears of laughter from his eyes. "I thought for sure you were going to freak out or something. Like punch me in the stomach or worse," Charlie admitted. He sighed, catching his breath.
"And to answer your question - no. It's just shagging. I have no feelings towards the bloke. He's got a nice arse and the way I pounded it tonight, I'll be surprised if he'll be able to sit on his broom properly tomorrow." It was lewd, but Charlie had to make his point. "There is no fucking way I would take it easy on anyone out on the pitch tomorrow, and that includes you Wood. I meant it when I said to watch your left side. You left it too fucking open the last game." Charlie frowned.
***
Oliver paused in his tracks and stared at Charlie, beside himself with laughter. "Why...why are you laughing?" He tried to keep a straight face but a grin flickered and despite his efforts spread from cheek to cheek. "I'm being serious!" The words did not convey a serious meaning as they teetered on mirth.
He plopped down with sore cheeks from grinning too hard and looked at his captain. "Why would I get upset? I don't care. I mean Abernathy is nice looking I suppose but you like what you like, yeah?" Oliver hadn't even so much as kissed a girl, let alone shagged someone; to judge another seemed very out of bounds. He nodded, hoping Charlie wasn't exaggerating. "Good then, if shagging him causes a disadvantage for them I'm all for it. And you keep shouting at me to go right when I am clearly in the damn middle of the pitch!" How many times were they going to argue on this? Charlie insisted he drifted off to the right when Oliver knew he was staying firmly in the middle. "Shouldn't you watch for the Snitch than stare at my posts all game?"
***
"I know you are, mate. That's what's so bloody funny. I think? I don't know. I'm just really fucking relieved."
Charlie made room for his Keeper, sitting with one leg in front of him and the other hanging off the couch as he turned to look at Oliver. "Why would you get upset? Do you need me to list off the reasons? I mean, it's not something you just announce to the world, yeah? Not every one is accepting of boys shagging boys. You're rather open minded, Oliver," Charlie said, admiring the younger wizard. "I'm just sorry I kept it from you for so long. I was so worried about you finding out."
He rolled his eyes. Not this again. "Yeah, and if you'd stay in the bloody middle I wouldn't be shouting at you to go right!" Charlie insisted, and then glared at Oliver. "Oi! Are you even suggesting that I'm not always keeping my eye on the snitch? Fucking hell!" Charlie had the right mind to punch the Keeper in the arm.
***
Oliver could have glowed with pride with the tone in Charlie's voice and told him the British Indecency laws had been absolute bollocks with no proof it did any good beyond terrorizing homosexual men but he simply shrugged his shoulders. "You've always been a great captain and my best mate -- Fancying men doesn't change that in my opinion. It's fine, really. You were worried; I get it. Your secret is safe with me."
The blue eyes rolled in match with his captain. "Yeah, I'm suggesting you are since you know what I am doing all damn practice and match. Merlin, you're a bleedin' nag." Of course, Oliver neglected to mention how many times he'd been called a mule for his stubborn streak. The two could argue on this for hours but Oliver stifled a yawn. "Look, let's go to bed. The sun is already starting to come up and we're going to be useless tomorrow." Getting to his feet, Oliver held out a hand to Charlie. "You coming?"
***
"Oh, I'M a bleedin' nag?" Charlie asked, rolling his eyes. Clearly Oliver hadn't been around Molly Weasley and her children enough. Oliver's never heard Molly get on Charlie's case about his bedroom at home. Charlie chuckled and shook his head, letting the matter drop.
Grabbing Oliver's hand, Charlie pulled himself up off the sofa, which was beginning to become quite comfortable and inviting to sleep on. He looked out the window and there was a pink line on the horizon.
"Bloody hell, I don't know how I'm going to get through the day," he muttered, and he followed Oliver back to where their beds were. He was needing to sleep, but part of Charlie was far too buoyant to sleep. But that could all wait - there were more important matters at hand and beating Slytherin at Quidditch the next day was high on both Charlie and Oliver's list.
"G'night, mate," Charlie said, shedding his clothes and crawling under the covers. His head barely hit the pillow before Charlie was fast asleep