Football Drabble: The World Cup - Last Sixteen
First, I’d like to say a big thank you for all the lovely comments and feedback I’ve had for the Football Drabbles. I’m sorry I haven’t managed to respond to all of them yet, but I really do appreciate them and they mean so much.
Which leads me onto the next instalment in the ongoing World Cup saga.
This is actually from Last Sunday’s match (25th June), when England played against Ecuador. Sorry it’s taken me so long to write this bit but it’s been a struggle because every time I started it, it ending up just full of angst and waaaahhh and really not what I was expecting. Some of you might have seen this last night because I did post it for about an hour before deleting it because I wasn’t happy with it. I’ve made some changes and I’m still not sure about the direction it’s going in but sigh, it’s only a possible future.
England is just about to play against Portugal, so I want to get this posted before that match finishes. Harry has his fingers and Draco’s fingers crossed.
Previous instalments can be found here:
Shhhh ... you'll wake up Draco (R-rated)
: The World Cup - Team Preparations (R-rated)
The World Cup - England v Paraguay (NC-17 rated)
The World Cup: England v Trinidad and Tobago - Post-match debate
The World Cup - Reminiscences (NC-17 rated)
At the moment lots of the links in these stories aren’t working ... sorry about this. I’m trying to sort them out.
The World Cup: Last Sixteen
Location: A house somewhere in the South of England. I can’t tell you where exactly because it is unplottable thanks to the anti-location spells on it.
The date: Sunday 25th June 2006
Late afternoon ... about 4pm
“So, let’s go over to the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion in Stuttgard where the two teams are making their way onto the pitch. The last man out is Ashley Cole who’s winning his 50th England cap today....”
Reaching for the remote control, Harry turned up the volume a little before tossing the remote down beside him onto the sofa. He gave a small heartfelt sigh as he stroked the cat curled up beside him. “Well, it looks like Draco isn’t going to make it back in time, Thomas, so it’s just you and me.”
The black cat looked up and blinked green eyes at him before getting to its feet and licking a rough tongue over Harry’s fingers. Then stretching, it jumped lightly onto Harry’s lap and settled there.
---
Wizarding London ... an elegant townhouse that has been in the Parkinson family for many years.
“Rauni said to tell you the football thing has started and she wants to know what spell you put on the wireless to pick up the Muggle broadcast.” Pansy ran her hand over Draco’s shoulders, massaging them lightly, and leaned towards him so that her cheek rested against his.
“Exaduio BBC Radio Five Live.” Draco grinned as he turned a little, just enough to brush his lips across the smooth skin of her face. “And there’s a particular wand movement to go with it.” He glanced down at his watch and gave a huff. “I hadn’t realised I’d been here this long. Harry was expecting me back.”
“I’m sure Harry can cope for a few more hours on his own.” She stroked at his hair. “Have you found anything useful?”
“No, not yet,” he sighed and closed the copy of Ancient Wizarding Laws and their Modern Interpretations, which he’d been scanning for the last hour or so. On the large table before him were several books all on a similar theme. “There is nothing ... nothing at all.”
Pansy gave a shrug. “Well, Rauni did warn you and she’s studying law.”
“Muggle law.”
“And Wizarding law.”
“There has to be something -- a loophole or a way to interpret a law that I can use.” He scowled darkly as he looked around the overflowing bookshelves that lined the small library. “I asked Harry to marry me and we can’t be the first gay couple who wanted their bond to be acknowledged as legal.”
She tugged at his arm, pulling him to his feet. “Come one. You can listen to your football and we can chat some more.”
Draco allowed himself to be pulled from the library into the airy sitting room. It had never occurred to him when he’d proposed to Harry that his plans would stumble almost straight away. Wizarding law had never been that precise when it came to marriage but he’d always assumed that there would be provision for people like himself and Harry, and Pansy and Rauni -- people of the same sex who wanted to bond. But there was none; nothing at all.
And it wasn’t that such unions were illegal or even frowned upon; homosexuality in the Wizarding world might not be accepted by all (his father for example), but it didn’t attach the same stigma as it did in the Muggle world. But as far as the law was concerned the unions just didn’t exist. The closest thing Draco had come to such bonds were a group of Wizarding warriors who had lived in ancient Greece and been part of the Sacred Band of Thebes over two thousand years ago. The Band was made up of 150 pairs of warrior lovers and according to one text he’d found the pledges the wizards in the Band had made to each other back then were still legal vows that he and Harry could make now, but they most definitely weren’t the sort of vows he’d planned to make for the next stage of their relationship.
He sat down on the chaise longue by the window and stared out at the rose-filled garden as he half-listened to the radio. The score between England and Ecuador was still nil-nil, Frank Lampard had just been fouled and there were five more minutes of the first half to go. He wondered briefly what Harry was doing and whether he was enjoying watching the match on his own. Finnigan had asked Harry to join him and some friends for the afternoon, but Harry had refused, saying he had a migraine starting. Draco knew that was a lie because Harry had insisted Draco still visit Pansy, but he couldn’t help wonder why Harry had turned down the offer from one of his football fanatic friends.
His thoughts of Harry made his mind drift back to the marriage problem. One option was to use a Muggle law that would let them make what the Muggles called a Civil Partnership, which seemed to be a legal marriage. But he didn’t want that; Muggle laws were for Muggles, not wizards and what was the point if the Wizarding community didn’t accept it as legal bond?
He looked up as Pansy came into the room carrying a tray of tea things while blonde-haired Rauni had plates of little sandwiches and cakes. He smiled and wondered how they felt about not being able to marry and decided that he had to find an answer, not only for himself but for the two girls as well.
---
Harry gave a sigh as the referee (Frank De Bleeckere) blew the whistle for half-time and carefully tried to extract himself from beneath the two cats that had decided his lap was the perfect place to snooze on a warm Sunday afternoon. Kovack had arrived just after John Terry had been given a yellow card in the nineteenth minute for kicking Carlos Tenorio and both cats had refused to move since that point.
It hadn’t been the best forty-five minutes, Harry decided and he wished Draco was here to share it with him (and no doubt take Harry’s mind off the thought England might just lose).
He padded through to the kitchen and tried to decide whether a beer or a cup of tea was in order.
---
“Draco, there’s something we’d like to ask you.”
He looked expectantly at Pansy and knew that whatever she wanted to say was something she’d been working up to for some time. They had known each other most of their lives and could read each other like books. There was a flush to her face and Rauni, who had been sitting as close as possible to her, reached for Pansy’s hand.
“This looks serious.”
“It is.” Rauni looked at him with intense blue eyes.
“Okay.” He put down his cup and waited for one of the girls to speak. It was Pansy, her hands squeezed together in a tight fist and held between her knees.
“We’ve ... been thinking about children.” Pansy’s eyes darted between her childhood friend and her lover and back to Draco.
“Oh?”
“And, well, we were wondering if you’d....” She took a deep breath and suddenly grabbed for Rauni. The two girls wound their arms around each other and both fixed their gaze at Draco. “We’d like you and Harry to be the fathers of our babies.”
The silence between the three grew, creating a void which none of them seemed willing to break. Outside the sound birdsong came into focus, while in the background the radio droned as the reporter continued with his commentary. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Draco heard that David Beckham had scored from a free-kick in the sixtieth minute and he wondered if Harry was celebrating.
It was that thought which seemed to free Draco’s vocal chords and he finally spoke, his voice unusually quiet, a cross between disbelief and awe. “You want Harry and I to father your children?”
“Yes,” Rauni’s arm around Pansy’s shoulder tightened.
“And you’ve both discussed this?”
“Yes ... we’ve been looking into this for a very long time and who we might ask to be the fathers.”
“Both of us? Me and Harry?”
“If you both wanted to. We’d understand if one of you didn’t ... if you both decided not to. But as the saying goes, if you don’t ask you don’t get.”
Draco stared back out at the roses.
A child?
He could be a father.
---
The house was quiet and in darkness when Draco eventually returned home. He unlocked the door with a whispered charm and stepped into the hall, which was lit by the flickering light from the television in the lounge. The sound had been turned down to a low chatter of talking and he couldn’t tell what was actually being said. Locking the door behind him, he strode across the hall and paused by the lounge door and his face softened as he finally spied his lover.
Harry was sprawled on the sofa, sound asleep and appeared to be sucking his thumb.
Not wanting to disturb the man, Draco slipped off his shoes and padded silently across the room to sit on the edge of the sofa. As the cushion dipped a little, Harry stirred, but didn’t waken and Draco contented himself with just watching the sleeping man.
His mind was still whirling from the conversation with Pansy and Rauni, and he was actually happy to find Harry asleep. His partner would know that something was wrong and Draco really didn’t feel he could explain the proposition that had been put to him to Harry right now. He’d assumed that Pansy would want him to father her child, but she actually wanted it to be Harry. When he’d asked her why, she had shrugged and said simply, “I’m not pure-blood.”
Careful so not to wake Harry, Draco carded his fingers through Harry’s hair, pushing it back from the familiar face. The truth was that the four of them had become close friends over the last year or so and Draco liked to think that Harry felt the same about Pansy and Rauni as he did about Hermione. But did Harry care enough for Pansy to want to be a father to her child?
But that wasn’t the thing that was currently clawing away at Draco’s insides. Did it really matter to him that he might have a child who wasn’t pure-blood? The Malfoy Inheritance Rules were quite specific on the matter, one had to be able to chart their bloodlines back unsullied to claim the Inheritance. Pansy’s child would break that claim, but did that matter to him? Was he really so caught up in his family name and family duty even after had had happened to him over the last eight years?
Harry stirred, rousing Draco from his thoughts and he watched as Harry scrubbed at his eyes with his fist before giving him a spine-tingling sleepy smile.
“ ‘lo, Draco.” Harry yawned and shifted a little before closing his eyes again.
“Hallo, Harry.” He moved so that he could take Harry in his arms and let the other man rest back against him. “Enjoy the game?”
“Mmmm,” Harry nuzzled into his neck a bit like a sleepy kitten and all but purred against his skin. “We won ... Beckham from a free kick in the sixtieth minute. We’ll be playing Portugal or Holland next Saturday.”
“It’s Portugal.” Draco trailed little kisses along Harry’s cheekbone.
“Really?” A little thoughtful frown creased Harry’s forehead. “Right.” Harry snuggled closer, all but climbing onto Draco’s lap. “Did you have a nice time with Pansy?”
“Mmmm, they were sorry you didn’t come over.”
“Well, next time.”
“Yes,” Draco petted and stroked as Harry dozed. ‘Next time’ the two girls would expect a response.
Somewhere in the distance the heat of the day was lost in a rumble of thunder.
---
In Finnish mythology, Rauni is one of the most powerful deities and the wife of the thunder-god Ukko and is Forest Mother and Thunder Goddess. She rules over childbirth, ease from pain.
Which leads me onto the next instalment in the ongoing World Cup saga.
This is actually from Last Sunday’s match (25th June), when England played against Ecuador. Sorry it’s taken me so long to write this bit but it’s been a struggle because every time I started it, it ending up just full of angst and waaaahhh and really not what I was expecting. Some of you might have seen this last night because I did post it for about an hour before deleting it because I wasn’t happy with it. I’ve made some changes and I’m still not sure about the direction it’s going in but sigh, it’s only a possible future.
England is just about to play against Portugal, so I want to get this posted before that match finishes. Harry has his fingers and Draco’s fingers crossed.
Previous instalments can be found here:
Shhhh ... you'll wake up Draco (R-rated)
: The World Cup - Team Preparations (R-rated)
The World Cup - England v Paraguay (NC-17 rated)
The World Cup: England v Trinidad and Tobago - Post-match debate
The World Cup - Reminiscences (NC-17 rated)
At the moment lots of the links in these stories aren’t working ... sorry about this. I’m trying to sort them out.
The World Cup: Last Sixteen
Location: A house somewhere in the South of England. I can’t tell you where exactly because it is unplottable thanks to the anti-location spells on it.
The date: Sunday 25th June 2006
Late afternoon ... about 4pm
“So, let’s go over to the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion in Stuttgard where the two teams are making their way onto the pitch. The last man out is Ashley Cole who’s winning his 50th England cap today....”
Reaching for the remote control, Harry turned up the volume a little before tossing the remote down beside him onto the sofa. He gave a small heartfelt sigh as he stroked the cat curled up beside him. “Well, it looks like Draco isn’t going to make it back in time, Thomas, so it’s just you and me.”
The black cat looked up and blinked green eyes at him before getting to its feet and licking a rough tongue over Harry’s fingers. Then stretching, it jumped lightly onto Harry’s lap and settled there.
---
Wizarding London ... an elegant townhouse that has been in the Parkinson family for many years.
“Rauni said to tell you the football thing has started and she wants to know what spell you put on the wireless to pick up the Muggle broadcast.” Pansy ran her hand over Draco’s shoulders, massaging them lightly, and leaned towards him so that her cheek rested against his.
“Exaduio BBC Radio Five Live.” Draco grinned as he turned a little, just enough to brush his lips across the smooth skin of her face. “And there’s a particular wand movement to go with it.” He glanced down at his watch and gave a huff. “I hadn’t realised I’d been here this long. Harry was expecting me back.”
“I’m sure Harry can cope for a few more hours on his own.” She stroked at his hair. “Have you found anything useful?”
“No, not yet,” he sighed and closed the copy of Ancient Wizarding Laws and their Modern Interpretations, which he’d been scanning for the last hour or so. On the large table before him were several books all on a similar theme. “There is nothing ... nothing at all.”
Pansy gave a shrug. “Well, Rauni did warn you and she’s studying law.”
“Muggle law.”
“And Wizarding law.”
“There has to be something -- a loophole or a way to interpret a law that I can use.” He scowled darkly as he looked around the overflowing bookshelves that lined the small library. “I asked Harry to marry me and we can’t be the first gay couple who wanted their bond to be acknowledged as legal.”
She tugged at his arm, pulling him to his feet. “Come one. You can listen to your football and we can chat some more.”
Draco allowed himself to be pulled from the library into the airy sitting room. It had never occurred to him when he’d proposed to Harry that his plans would stumble almost straight away. Wizarding law had never been that precise when it came to marriage but he’d always assumed that there would be provision for people like himself and Harry, and Pansy and Rauni -- people of the same sex who wanted to bond. But there was none; nothing at all.
And it wasn’t that such unions were illegal or even frowned upon; homosexuality in the Wizarding world might not be accepted by all (his father for example), but it didn’t attach the same stigma as it did in the Muggle world. But as far as the law was concerned the unions just didn’t exist. The closest thing Draco had come to such bonds were a group of Wizarding warriors who had lived in ancient Greece and been part of the Sacred Band of Thebes over two thousand years ago. The Band was made up of 150 pairs of warrior lovers and according to one text he’d found the pledges the wizards in the Band had made to each other back then were still legal vows that he and Harry could make now, but they most definitely weren’t the sort of vows he’d planned to make for the next stage of their relationship.
He sat down on the chaise longue by the window and stared out at the rose-filled garden as he half-listened to the radio. The score between England and Ecuador was still nil-nil, Frank Lampard had just been fouled and there were five more minutes of the first half to go. He wondered briefly what Harry was doing and whether he was enjoying watching the match on his own. Finnigan had asked Harry to join him and some friends for the afternoon, but Harry had refused, saying he had a migraine starting. Draco knew that was a lie because Harry had insisted Draco still visit Pansy, but he couldn’t help wonder why Harry had turned down the offer from one of his football fanatic friends.
His thoughts of Harry made his mind drift back to the marriage problem. One option was to use a Muggle law that would let them make what the Muggles called a Civil Partnership, which seemed to be a legal marriage. But he didn’t want that; Muggle laws were for Muggles, not wizards and what was the point if the Wizarding community didn’t accept it as legal bond?
He looked up as Pansy came into the room carrying a tray of tea things while blonde-haired Rauni had plates of little sandwiches and cakes. He smiled and wondered how they felt about not being able to marry and decided that he had to find an answer, not only for himself but for the two girls as well.
---
Harry gave a sigh as the referee (Frank De Bleeckere) blew the whistle for half-time and carefully tried to extract himself from beneath the two cats that had decided his lap was the perfect place to snooze on a warm Sunday afternoon. Kovack had arrived just after John Terry had been given a yellow card in the nineteenth minute for kicking Carlos Tenorio and both cats had refused to move since that point.
It hadn’t been the best forty-five minutes, Harry decided and he wished Draco was here to share it with him (and no doubt take Harry’s mind off the thought England might just lose).
He padded through to the kitchen and tried to decide whether a beer or a cup of tea was in order.
---
“Draco, there’s something we’d like to ask you.”
He looked expectantly at Pansy and knew that whatever she wanted to say was something she’d been working up to for some time. They had known each other most of their lives and could read each other like books. There was a flush to her face and Rauni, who had been sitting as close as possible to her, reached for Pansy’s hand.
“This looks serious.”
“It is.” Rauni looked at him with intense blue eyes.
“Okay.” He put down his cup and waited for one of the girls to speak. It was Pansy, her hands squeezed together in a tight fist and held between her knees.
“We’ve ... been thinking about children.” Pansy’s eyes darted between her childhood friend and her lover and back to Draco.
“Oh?”
“And, well, we were wondering if you’d....” She took a deep breath and suddenly grabbed for Rauni. The two girls wound their arms around each other and both fixed their gaze at Draco. “We’d like you and Harry to be the fathers of our babies.”
The silence between the three grew, creating a void which none of them seemed willing to break. Outside the sound birdsong came into focus, while in the background the radio droned as the reporter continued with his commentary. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Draco heard that David Beckham had scored from a free-kick in the sixtieth minute and he wondered if Harry was celebrating.
It was that thought which seemed to free Draco’s vocal chords and he finally spoke, his voice unusually quiet, a cross between disbelief and awe. “You want Harry and I to father your children?”
“Yes,” Rauni’s arm around Pansy’s shoulder tightened.
“And you’ve both discussed this?”
“Yes ... we’ve been looking into this for a very long time and who we might ask to be the fathers.”
“Both of us? Me and Harry?”
“If you both wanted to. We’d understand if one of you didn’t ... if you both decided not to. But as the saying goes, if you don’t ask you don’t get.”
Draco stared back out at the roses.
A child?
He could be a father.
---
The house was quiet and in darkness when Draco eventually returned home. He unlocked the door with a whispered charm and stepped into the hall, which was lit by the flickering light from the television in the lounge. The sound had been turned down to a low chatter of talking and he couldn’t tell what was actually being said. Locking the door behind him, he strode across the hall and paused by the lounge door and his face softened as he finally spied his lover.
Harry was sprawled on the sofa, sound asleep and appeared to be sucking his thumb.
Not wanting to disturb the man, Draco slipped off his shoes and padded silently across the room to sit on the edge of the sofa. As the cushion dipped a little, Harry stirred, but didn’t waken and Draco contented himself with just watching the sleeping man.
His mind was still whirling from the conversation with Pansy and Rauni, and he was actually happy to find Harry asleep. His partner would know that something was wrong and Draco really didn’t feel he could explain the proposition that had been put to him to Harry right now. He’d assumed that Pansy would want him to father her child, but she actually wanted it to be Harry. When he’d asked her why, she had shrugged and said simply, “I’m not pure-blood.”
Careful so not to wake Harry, Draco carded his fingers through Harry’s hair, pushing it back from the familiar face. The truth was that the four of them had become close friends over the last year or so and Draco liked to think that Harry felt the same about Pansy and Rauni as he did about Hermione. But did Harry care enough for Pansy to want to be a father to her child?
But that wasn’t the thing that was currently clawing away at Draco’s insides. Did it really matter to him that he might have a child who wasn’t pure-blood? The Malfoy Inheritance Rules were quite specific on the matter, one had to be able to chart their bloodlines back unsullied to claim the Inheritance. Pansy’s child would break that claim, but did that matter to him? Was he really so caught up in his family name and family duty even after had had happened to him over the last eight years?
Harry stirred, rousing Draco from his thoughts and he watched as Harry scrubbed at his eyes with his fist before giving him a spine-tingling sleepy smile.
“ ‘lo, Draco.” Harry yawned and shifted a little before closing his eyes again.
“Hallo, Harry.” He moved so that he could take Harry in his arms and let the other man rest back against him. “Enjoy the game?”
“Mmmm,” Harry nuzzled into his neck a bit like a sleepy kitten and all but purred against his skin. “We won ... Beckham from a free kick in the sixtieth minute. We’ll be playing Portugal or Holland next Saturday.”
“It’s Portugal.” Draco trailed little kisses along Harry’s cheekbone.
“Really?” A little thoughtful frown creased Harry’s forehead. “Right.” Harry snuggled closer, all but climbing onto Draco’s lap. “Did you have a nice time with Pansy?”
“Mmmm, they were sorry you didn’t come over.”
“Well, next time.”
“Yes,” Draco petted and stroked as Harry dozed. ‘Next time’ the two girls would expect a response.
Somewhere in the distance the heat of the day was lost in a rumble of thunder.
---
In Finnish mythology, Rauni is one of the most powerful deities and the wife of the thunder-god Ukko and is Forest Mother and Thunder Goddess. She rules over childbirth, ease from pain.