※ Oliver Wood ※

Ginny wanted nothing more than to collapse onto the couch next to Oliver, but she needed to explore the room a little. She hoped to find a fridge with some drinks in it. Or a kettle. She’d absolutely kill for a cup of tea. “I’m pretty sure I could sleep for 2 days straight” she said, finally locating a kettle and some teabags. “But first…tea” Ginny grinned, walking into the bathroom to fill the kettle. A few minutes later, she had prepared 2 cups of tea, and after handing one to Oliver, she collapsed onto the couch next to him. “I’m just going to sleep here…” she murmured, her eyes sliding closed.

Oliver had already begun to doze off by the time Ginny returned to the couch, and he forced his eyes open to look at her. “Tea, right,” he said with a chuckle, wrapping dirty hands around the mug, bringing it to his lips to blow gently on it. “Tea first,” he told her, nudging her knee to keep her awake. “No falling asleep with hot tea in yer hand.” The warmth of the tea spread through him, beating back the chill from spending days in the snow.

Ginny’s stomach seemed to do a somersault when Oliver called her his girlfriend. They hadn’t talked about this. Wether or not they were officially dating. Sure, they had been spending a lot of time together, and she wanted him to be her boyfriend, but she hadn’t brought it up in case he wasn’t ready to make it official. “Girlfriend, eh?” Ginny said, a bright smile on her face. “Anyway, when’s your next day off?” She asked, taking a bite of her food. She wanted to forget about the food. Forget about Quidditch, even. All she wanted to do was drag Oliver to the couch and snog him senseless.

Oliver blinked as she repeated his word. “Well, I mean yeah?” he said, cheeks flushing pink for a moment. He hadn’t even really thought about it, it just felt right. “Unless ya don’t wanna be my girlfriend...” he said, rubbing the back of his neck as he focused on his food.

Ginny stepped into the elevator as the doors opened, leaning wih her back against the mirror wall. She already knew she looked terrible, didn’t need it confirmed. Nodding when Oliver said the nicer rooms would be on the top floors, she pressed the button for the highest floor and let her eyes slide closed for a moment. She was absolutely exhausted. When the elevator arrived at its destination, she stepped out, looking up and down the hallways. “Close to the elevator or further down the hall?” she asked, not quite sure what would be wise. The finally decided to just try a couple of rooms, and after finding a few dirty ones, and a few that Oliver deemed too small, they came upon a massive room overlooking the city. “Alright” Ginny said, her voice barely above a whisper from how tired she was. “This will have to do, yeah?” she smiled, dropping her bag on the floor and locking the door behind them. “Lets hope the showers work, because we definitely can’t get into that bed smelling like we do”.

Oliver leaned against the wall as the elevator began to move, feeling a bit of a lurch in his stomach at the unfamiliar movement. He was so glad it worked, that they’d be able to find a good room. He definitely wasn’t about to climb a ridiculous amount of stairs to get to the good ones. He didn’t have the strength right now.

As the door opened and they walked into the dimly lit hallway, Oliver blinked at the question. “Hell, I got no idea,” he admitted with a soft laugh, following her around as she tried a few doors. “Looks good ta me,” Ollie told her with a smile, stumbling slightly as he walked into the room. It was nice, clean, a little dusty, but other than that untouched.

“Merlin I hope so…” Ginny said when Oliver questioned whether or not the elevators would work, turning around to face the lobby. It looked really nice, and she could only imagine what the rooms looked like. “Lets see if we can find some keys, yeah?” Ginny suggested. “I don’t think I’ll be able to open another door without sleeping for three days first” she added, dropping her backpack in the middle of the lobby and heading to the front desk. She hadn’t ever stayed at a hotel before, but that definitely seemed like the place keys would be kept. 

“Can you see if they have a first-aid kit? We need to change your bandages but I don’t think we have any left…” Ginny said as she rifled through some drawers, finally pulling out a key labeled ‘master-key. “Got it! now lets go find the biggest room with the softest bed”. She didn’t even think about the fact that there were plenty of rooms, plenty of beds here. That there was no need to share a room, let alone a bed. 

Pausing as Ginny mentioned a key, Oliver turned and made his way back towards the front desk. “Not sure if a first aide kit would be here,” he mumbled, digging through the desk, eventually making his way into a back room to search for soemthing. He grinned when he found a small kit. It wasn’t much, but it should help. “Got it,” he told her, making his way back to her.

“You think?” Ginny asked, still smiling brightly. Olivers opinion meant a lot to her; after all, he was in professional Quidditch. He knew what it took to make it, and if he thought she’d be fantastic, that really meant a lot.  “And yeah, she will. I mean, I’ll probably leave out the bit about you being there…She’s not a big fan of yours after the other night…” she  added with a bit of a smile. “Anyway, are you sure you want to help out potential competition?” Ginny grinned

Oliver winced as she brought up the other night. He understood that Molly didn’t like him, he understood she was protecting her daughter and right now Oliver seemed like the enemy. But he was a good guy. He’d taken care of her when she was drunk, he hadn’t taken advantage of her. Didn’t that count for anything?

Ginny smiled brightly as Oliver talked about training. It made him so happy, and it was wonderful to see. It was how she felt about Quidditch, too.  A little while later, dinner was ready, and she put two plates down on the table, along with some more Butterbeers. “Alright, dinner is served” she said, dropping down in the seat opposite him. “So, uhm…I found out today I managed to score a try-out for the Harpies” Ginny said; she had obviously been waiting to tell him since he arrived, but didn’t want to seem uninterested in what he had to say. “It’s next wednesday, got any tips?” 

Oliver’s eyes went wide as she mentioned the Harpies game, thoughts of hunger quickly vanishing in his excitement. “Really!? That’s fuckin’ brilliant, Gin! You’ll be bloody fantastic, I know it,” he said, his grin nearly splitting his face.

Ginny was exhausted, but the idea of getting to spend the night, maybe the next couple of nights, in a hotel, gave her some new energy. She wasn’t going to let some stupid chain stop her. “Alright, step back, I’ll take care of it” she said, walking up to the door.  A few minutes later, the chain was off, and Ginny turned towards Oliver triumphantly. “Reservation for two?” she said with a grin, trying not to show how exhausted the wandless magic had made her. “We just need to figure out how to make this door seem like it was never opened, and we’re good to go.”

Oliver couldn’t hide the sleepy grin as Ginny managed to get the door open. “Yer fantastic,” he said with a chuckle, moving to the sled and rifling through the bag to find a length of rope. “Here, I can make this work.” It took a bit of doing, but feeding the rope through the door handles, he managed to get the chain wrapped back around them with him on the inside. Propping the door open just enough to clip the lock onto it. 

“Alright, you just sit there then” Ginny laughed, gesturing towards the kitchen table. Pulling her hair back into a ponytail, she filled a pot with water and put it on the stove. “How d’you like your steak?” she asked, looking at him over her shoulder as she put the potatoes on. 

“Tell me about training” Ginny said as she cooked, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “What’s it like, being back?” she asked, taking a sip of her Butterbeer. 

Oliver smirked and nodded. “Alright. Sittin’ I can do just fine,” he agreed with a laugh, moving to sit at the table, bottle in his hand. “Medium rare is fine, but I’m really not picky, darlin’. I’ll eat ‘bout anythin’ ya put in front o’ me,” he assured her, smiling as he watched her cook.

“Alright” Ginny agreed, relieved. She desperately wanted to keep going, to reach the city center, but she hadn’t wanted to push him too hard. But now that it was his choice, she could. “And we could do that, I’m sure” she continued with a smile. The idea of a drink was very tempting indeed, but it had been impossible up until now. Too dangerous. 

An hour or so later, and they had made it into the city center. Ginny’s main priority was finding a place to stay. Even though Oliver said he was fine, she could tell he wasnt. The trip had taken a lot out of him, and she needed to take a look at his wound.  Turning another corner, Ginny stopped in her tracks, staring at the tall building that had loomed up in front of them. “…Is that…a hotel?” she asked, trying to contain her excitement. It didn’t look raided. There must be a hundred beds in there. Food. Showers. 

“I’m not dreaming, right? There’s an actual hotel there?” 

Oliver was focusing only on putting one foot before the other, not thinking about how long they were walking, not thinking about how much each step hurt. He just knew he needed to keep moving.

His head snapped up at her words, blinking up at the large building in front of it. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s a hotel,” he said, more than a little surprised. He hobbled over to the door, frowning as he looked at the chain wrapped around the handles, barred gates over the windows. “Tha door’s chained,” he said with a frown, tugging weakly at the chain.

It had been an extremely tough couple of days, and when they could see Glasgow in the distance, Ginny could cry from relief. They still had quite a fair distance to go though, but she was determined to make it tonight. “Yeah…” she agreed, adjusting the straps of her backpack. “Yeah, we should be able to. Definitely” she added, a little more certain. The idea of getting to sleep in a real bed after the past couple of nights on the ground was incredible, and the thought alone seemed to give her some new energy. 

A few hours later, they ran into the first couple of houses on the edge of the city. “What do you want to do?” Ginny asked Oliver. “Find something here, or head into the city centre?” she figured he should be the one making the decision, as he was injured. 

Oliver smiled as the city began to rise around them, pushing harder to get into the city more. “Ah, maybe closer ta tha centre?” he suggested, his breathing heavy as he looked at the houses around them. “Might be nice ta get near stores an’ such, so we’re not havin’ ta raid houses.” They needed clothes that actually fit, and that’d be easier to find in a mall or something similar.

“Not sure if it’s actually considered stealing since I do live here and I am of age, but fair enough” Ginny said with a chuckle. She couldn’t imagine her mum would be too thrilled about her emptying the bottle of Firewhiskey. 

“Alright, you’re on potato duty then” Ginny said easily when Oliver told her he’d burn the steaks. I already peeled them, you just need to keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t boil over while I tend to the steaks and gravy” she told him, pulling two butterbeers from the fridge and opening them, handing one to Oliver. “Honestly, even Ron could do it” she grinned, waving her wand to make the pots and pans fly out of their cupboards and onto the stove. Surely he could watch a pot of boiling water? 

“Yer Mum would probably notice all tha whiskey bein’ gone,” Oliver told her, wishing he’d thought to bring some with him. Though he also wasn’t sure getting drunk was a good idea after what had happened last time...

“Alright, lets get dinner started then, yeah?” Ginny suggested, standing up on her tiptoes to kiss him again. “D’you want anything to drink?” she asked as she headed into the kitchen. “I’m sure we’ve got some Firewhiskey stashed away somewhere, but I also got some Butterbeers and wine” she offered, starting to pull out the ingredients for dinner.  “So…exactly how terrible of a cook are you?” Ginny asked with a grin. “Can you cook a steak?” 

Oliver followed Ginny into the kitchen, running his eyes over the cozy decor of the Burrow. “Dinner sounds fantastic,” he agreed with a smirk, leaning against a counter as he watched her move around the kitchen. “I’m not sure if stealin’ yer parents liquor is tha best idea. I’d rather stick ta somethin’ yer not gonna get in trouble for,” he told her. The last thing he needed was getting her grounded for even longer because he drank too much of Molly’s whiskey.

The boy really thought highly of himself, that was for sure and she didn’t really know how to feel about that. She knew he was a good keeper but if his plan was just gone one day what would that leave for him and Ginny? She stopped herself from saying something but she instead nodded and took a sip from her tea cup. She couldn’t say anything really. 

“I have heard from your brothers…” Molly nodded and took a small breathe while glancing towards the clock on the wall. “I suppose I should wish you two good luck in life.”

@spankinggoodkeeper

Oliver blinked as she mentioned ‘life’, as in... he and Ginny spending life together. It was a bit early for that, he didn’t realize they were talking about planning a whole future together. “A-ah, well. Thank ya, ma’am,” he told her with a nod, swallowing hard. He wasn’t sure how to tell her that it was early still, that they’d only been together a few months and he wasn’t ready to propose.

“Yer daughter... um, I mean Ginny is... she’s a wonderful woman an’ I owe her my life, really an’...” he was so thrown off by Molly’s comment about their life together, he didn’t really know where to start.

Protective Starters || Status: Accepting !! || @spankinggoodkeeper

“Oliver, I have to admit that I am good with spells. It does not matter what height we are, nor does it matter that you’re taller than me.” Hermione said calmly but she knew he was teasing. 

“I won’t be needing much eh?” Ginny asked, waggling her eyebrows and laughing before stepping into her bedroom to take the bag out of her wardrobe. Quickly going through it, she added a hairbrush and the lingerie Oliver had decided against packing. She stepped out of the room a minute or so later, bouncing on the balls of her feet, excited to get going. 

“Alright, I’m ready. What time is the portkey?” 

Ginny sighed softly as Oliver pulled her close, draping her leg over his. She chuckled when he told her he was sure she looked great in the shirt. If only he could see the shirt she was wearing.  “Sure do” Ginny said with a yawn. “My hair looks great too, in case you were wondering. And I haven’t got any bags underneath my eyes. I’m positively glowing, actually” she grinned. “Oh, and I’ve lost a few pounds. And my boobs have gotten bigger” Ginny continued, her grin widening.