08. First Crush
“Alright, pack it up. We play Hufflepuff on Saturday so get plenty of rest. We can’t start slacking off now. Wadcock, no more detentions or I’m giving your spot to the reserve.”
Seth rolled his eyes as he flew in lazy circles down to the ground watching as the rest of the team make their way to the locker room. It was just two detentions. And well worth it. They may have think that he didn’t pay attention, that he only cared about himself, but he knew his team. Knew who was first to leave the pitch and those most likely to linger. Its how he knew that if he waited long enough he could catch a certain chaser.
“Hey, Tremaine, Wendy! Wait up.” He called jogging to catch up with her. Seth had been meaning to talk to her for weeks now. But something usually got in the way.
Wendy turned to look at Seth, and quirked a brow at him. This was a first. “Yes?”
“Next week is a Hogsmeade weekend.” Might as well jump right in. No point in beating around the bush. When Wendy just raised her other brow, he continued on. “I was thinking that you could go with me, and I could treat you to lunch.”
“Are you serious right now?” she was trying to keep the laughter out of her voice.
“Of course I am.” he said slightly offended.
“Well isn’t that just cute. I don’t date teammates Wadcock. And even if I did, it wouldn’t be you.” Wendy patted his cheek. “You have some growing up to do before that were to ever happen.”
That didn’t go at all the way he planned. She wasn’t suppose to turn him down, yet she did and now he was watching her walk away saying something about the game on Saturday. Seth slung his broom over his shoulder and headed off to the showers. He may have lost this battle, but he wasn’t going down without a fight. He’d just have to ask her again tomorrow.
09. Hogwarts
“This is probably a bad idea.” Wendy said between kisses.
“Probably.” Seth agreed, but didn’t show any signs of changing his behavior. “Chances of getting caught are slim. There isn’t even any practices today. Tell me you never wanted to snog on the Quidditch pitch and I’ll stop.”
“Well, I suppose you do have a point.” she conceded, with a put-upon sigh and a slight grin.
“I usually do.” He said smugly ignoring the roll of her eyes and went right back to what he was doing. Right fantastic idea he had if he said so himself. Beautiful fall day, and he really couldn’t think of anywhere else either of them loved being more than the pitch. He didn’t even hear anyone approaching until words were being shouted at him.
“Oy! What do you think you're doing.” Seth couldn’t help but groan when he pulled away from Wendy and looked over to see Finn standing there, broom on his shoulder, looking at him like he had committed some sort of outrageous foul.
“It’s called snogging, Phineas, you should try it sometime.” He really couldn’t be blamed for being snippy, McLaggen was interrupting. “What are you even doing here? There are no practices today.”
“Just because there is no practice, doesn’t mean I can practice on my own, You sould try it some time, then I wouldn’t get hit with so many bludgers.” Finn retorted. “ And I’m not a firstie, Wadcock. I meant what are you doing snogging Wendy.”
“Because it’s what one does with one's girlfriend? Are you sure your not a firstie?”
“Be nice.” Wendy interjected hitting Seth on the arm lightly, while he just responded with a shurg and a look that said it clearly couldn’t be helped.
“You can’t date! It’ll be bad for the team when you break up. This is terrible for team Chemistry.”
“Actually I think its fantastic for team chemistry.” he countered with a smirk and a waggle of his brows, which earned him another smack in the arm.
“Now, what happens when you start being stupid, upset Wendy and the two of you break up? Then you won’t be speaking to one another, and that---”
“I’m sort of offended that you assume that our possible future break up is my fault, Wendy is quite capable of breaking my heart too.” Seth said cutting Finn off then turned to Wendy. “See this is why I thought it best not to inform the team.”
“You still surprise me every time you are right.” she said candidly.
“You wound me. This is why will break up and destroy Gryffindor’s chances of winning the cup.”
“Probably so, probably so. Let’s go get lunch?” she asked and Seth nodded, standing and giving her a hand to help her up.
“Hey, don’t ignore me. This is a serious issue! Does Hannah know you’re dating? The captain should know these things.”
“Well, when you are captain Finn, I’ll listen to your concerns.” Seth called, waving his hand over his shoulder in farewell.
17. Drunk
“One more round good sir!” Seth called to the bartender. He turned back around with a wide grin before turning back to the girl he had been dancing with, handing her a shot. Maria? Martha? Andrea? He really had no clue what-so-ever what her name was. Although he was pretty sure that she had followed him from the bar that him and the rest of United were at earlier.
“Shall we dance?” she asked after they downed their shots, trailing her fingers down his arm.
“Hmm. A fantastic suggestion.” Seth said with smirk letting her lead him out to the dance floor. And after a song he spoke up again. “You know, I’ve grown tired of dancing and loud bars.” he whispered, tucking a strain of her hair behind her ear.
“Well in that case. My flat is only a couple blocks from here.” she suggested.
“Perfect.”
~-~-~
Seth winced as the morning light reached his eyes. Too. Bright. Oh and his head was pounding. Last night must of been a good one because he was pretty sure he that still drunk. He opened his eyes, and quickly realized he wasn’t in his room. But there was a girl in bed beside him. Well that was certainly a plus. He got up out of bed and found his pants. He was just managing to button them up when whats her name started to stir. “Leaving already?”
“Ah, I’ve already over stayed my welcome.” he said with a smirk.
“Says who? Certainly not me. Just come back to bed.” she beckoned him matching his smirk. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
“As much as I appreciate the offer, I don’t do do-overs. But it was fun, Bethany.” he said honestly pulling on his shirt.
“My name is Hannah, you prick.” she said glaring and throwing a book at him, which he some how managed to dodged.
“Right, well then. Hannah, its been fun.” He picked up his hat off the floor and propped it on his head. “But this is adieu.” And he spun, hoping he wouldn’t splinch as he apperated away.
24. Surprise
“Where have you been?” Adrian asked as Seth finally entered his compartment and slumped down on the seat across from him. Seth usually showed up right away and here half the train ride had passed by and this is the first time he’d seen his friend.
“I got held up.” Seth said quickly, pulling out a magazine from his bag and tossing it over to Adrian in a form of deflection. “Did you see the article about United in that issue?”
He caught the magazine studying his friend. Something was off. That’s when the light caught on something pinned to Seth’s robes and Adrian’s jaw dropped just a little bit. “Who did you steal that from? You’re going to start the year with detention!”
“I didn’t steal it.” Seth mumbled sinking a bit down in his seat. He couldn’t believe it either. Not when he received the letter in the post, not when his brother stared at him in something a kin to horror, not in the meeting that ended just a few minutes before and most certainly not now. Seth Wadcock was not prefect material. In fact he was almost certain that most of the older prefects had a great dislike for him.
The meeting was so incredibly awkward. And equally boring. Tobias Gibbon, Mr. Headboy himself spent half the time glaring at him. It wasn’t Seth’s fault that he couldn’t sit still. If this was setting the pace for meetings for the rest of the year. The rest of his time at Hogwarts, then Seth was going to put his head through a wall.
Adrian just blinked at his friend. “You’re serious right now.”
“I wish I wasn’t.” Seth shrugged a shoulder. Adrian tried to bite back a chuckle and failed miserably. Seconds later he was fighting to control his laughter, and Seth just sat their frowning at his so-called friend.
“Are you quite done?” he asked petulantly.
“Almost.”
“I can give you detention.” he threatened, which just sent Adrian into another fit of laughter and Seth kicked him sharply in the shin.
“Ow. Sorry. Just--- Seth Wadcock, Prefect. Someone must of lost their mind.”
“This is why I didn’t tell you over the summer.” he said folding his arms across his chest.
“I think its adorable how embarrassed you are.” Adrian said still chuckling.
“I hate you.” Seth retorted, but then a small smile quirked on his lips. “Although, I suppose I could use it to my advantage. You stop mocking me, I’ll let you in on the fun.”
“You won’t hear another word out of my lips.” Adrian agreed matching Seth’s grin.
20. Paternal Love
Exhausted was an understatement for how Seth was feeling. Hunched over his desk, he rested his head in his hands. Things were finally starting to settle back down to normal, his heart clenched at the thought. Normal. Was it wrong of him to think things could go back to normal after a death rocked his family like it did? Life moved on, it was a fact, but that didn’t make it any easier. He was doing his best not to fixate on recent events, but it was difficult. Even before, with just him and Leanne in the house, it was easy to spot the glaring gaps of how there should be at least a third person. That just lead to realization of the fact the reason there wasn't laid solely on his shoulders. And all he could think about was how his brother would now know exactly how this felt, except he did nothing wrong. He didn’t deserve such a fate as being a single father.
“Daddy?” A tug on his robes to accompanied the tiny voice and he looked up to find his daughter looking up at him with a look he couldn’t quite decipher. She had pulled on one of the fancy dresses he had gotten for her a while back, not too surprising as she did love to play dress up. This girl was still his child and the fact that she had woken from her nap, changed, and Seth hadn’t heard a thing until now, well that was concerning.
“Hey Princess.” Seth said pulling his daughter into his lap pressing the back of his hand to her forehead. It had been a week and a half since her fever broke, but he hadn’t quite lost the habit of checking when he could. Leanne being that sick, so close after Heidi had passed had been the most terrifying thing he had ever experienced. He had sugar coated it for his brother, unable to bring himself to tell Henry his niece was sick, to cause him to return to such a state of worry. It was too soon. Seth had set a deadline for himself, if Leanne wasn’t better by then, he would tell his brother.
Her fever dropped two days after that date. And Seth didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty for ignoring his own deadline.
Leanne wrinkled her nose and pushed his hand away from her face. Seth’s lips quirked up slightly at the gesture. Definitely feeling better, as she was quite apt at expressing her annoyance at him for constantly checking. ‘Stop touching my face!’ was what she had demanded as put her down for her nap. Wriggling out of his his lap she ran to the door of his office, looked down the hall then back to him. When he didn’t immediately get up to follow, she ran back and grabbed his hand, tugging with more strength than Seth felt an almost five year old should have. “Come with me!” Oh, that was never good.
Seth pulled himself up out of his chair and let his daughter lead him from the room, trying his best to suppress his dread. Who knew how long she had been up, or what she had gotten up to while he was in his office wallowing. Not wallowing, working. He didn’t have the time or the energy to deal with a catastrophic mess. At the time he thought he was doing the right thing, sending his nanny on an extended vacation for the off season. He didn’t have long practices, and while W.Q.W. took up a bit of time, it wasn’t so much that he needed the constant presence of Mary Beth. Seth felt it would be best he took what the opportunities he had to spend as much time home with Leanne as he could.
But then the virus happened. And things with Michal, then Leanne. What was suppose to be a fun off season turned into Seth burying himself in what work he could find, just so he wouldn’t focus on how tragically sad he felt. All the time.
They past the linen closet first, door open sheets and towels within the toddler’s reach askew. Then the kitchen. A disaster. Drawers pulled out, a chair pulled over so Leanne, he assumed, could climb onto the counter and reach the cupboards and sink for who knew what. This would take him hours to clean. Finally Leanne let go of his hand and skipped ahead into the living room. “Ta da!” she exclaimed holding her hands up and looking very proud of herself.
Seth froze, taking in the sight before him. A sheet had been pulled over the coffee table as a makeshift table cloth, and it was set like it had been many times before for tea parties. Messily made sandwiches on the plates, water in the glasses. Flowers pulled from the garden sitting in the plastic vase he kept in her room. “I made us lunch!” Leanne declared sitting on a pillow and patting the one next hers.
He blinked a few times before ambling into the room and settling down next to his child. Just staring in awe at everything before him. He couldn’t even be mad for the extraordinary mess that was made in the other room, all the effort she had put into this. “I would have made us lunch, baby. You didn’t have to do this.” Had he been so out of it that Leanne felt it necessary to take on the chore herself?
“But--- but I wanted to,” She rebutted, deflating quite a bit. “I am always happy when you make lunch and I wanted to make you happy.”
Seth blinked again rolling his eyes up to the ceiling willing the tears to stop welling in his eyes. His mother constantly warned him that he didn’t give Leanne nearly enough credit. That small children knew more about what was going on around them than most people expected. After a few moments of silence passed, he felt a small hand rest on his cheek, just like he had done to her so many time in the past few weeks. She even repeated his words back to him. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m feeling fine, baby.” Seth said taking her hand into his and kissing her knuckles. “Thank you for making lunch. This is the best part of my day.”
“You are welcome!” Leanne chirped politely as the grin returned to Leanne’s face and he couldn’t help but smile back. It was the first genuine smile to grace his lips in almost a month. It was moments like this that made happiness seem like such a simple thing to achieve. He leaned over and kissed her on the top of her head, before taking a bite of the sandwich, that thankfully wasn’t terrible. The two of them, he decided, made quite the little duo and if he had more days like these to look forward two, he’d turn out to be quite a happy man. Out of everything that had been plaguing his thoughts recently, this was the one he was going to do his best to focus on.
25. Bitter
“Wendy Midgen.”
“Yep.”
“Sounds weird.” Michal added his glances flickering between the bride, groom, and Seth. “How’d she end up with a librarian anyways?”
“Dunno.” Seth responded flatly sipping his scotch, watching Wendy from across the room. Not that he thought such things, but if he were, he would have always thought that she would make a beautiful bride. Wendy certainly didn't disappoint, she looked amazing. She also looked incredibly happy next to--- Chandler. Chandler, it wasn’t that hard to remember.
“Hey.” Michal snapped his fingers in front of his face pulling his attention back to him. “I made three hilarious remarks you haven’t laughed at a single one. I close to accusing you of not listening to me.” Seth muttered an apology before his gaze drifted back to the head table with the wedding party. Michal stared at him for a good minute before following his line of sight. His best friend had been acting strange all day. His eyes widened as it finally clicked, and Michal kicked Seth sharply in the shin.
“Ow! Bloody hell, Michal! What is your problem?” Seth demanded rubbing his now tender shin.
“You!” Michal gasped, a hint of glee slipping into his tone. “It’s been years! I can’t believe it. Merlin’s pants, this is priceless.”
Seth pursed his lips refusing to comment on the matter. He didn’t even know what Michal was talking about. And even if he did have a small inkling of an idea, Seth wasn’t about to volunteer any proof.
“You are bitter Wendy is Mrs. Librarian Midgen and not--”
He paled as Michal started his sentence, frantic that he would be overheard. “Shut it, Michal” Seth hissed, but his friend must have not heard him, or ignored him because he continued.
“---Mrs. Quidditch Player Wadcock! Beat out by a boring librarian I didn’t even know we went to school with. I would be-- OW”
“Hurts to get kicked in the shins, doesn’t it?” He bit out leveling a harsh glare at his so called best friend. He hadn’t realized he was being that transparent. It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy for Wendy, because he sincerely was. It was just, well times like these always brought about the what if’s and if only’s that he hadn’t thought about in years.
They sat in silence for a while before Michal was bold enough to risk speaking again, given the threat of immediate injury. “So. Fancy wedding.”
“What Michal? What do you want to know? I can just tell you are dying to ask.” Seth let out a bit exasperated.
“Well, first off I would just like to express my astonishment you have been harboring hidden feelings for girl you dumped in sixth year.”
“I didn’t dump her.”
“Okay a girl that dumped you”
“No. It was a thing. Mutual. I don’t know. Can’t even remember why it ended. It was just over.” Seth muttered playing with a napkin.
“I’m sure it had nothing to do with the no sex thing.” Michal said sardonically earning himself another swift kick.
“Why am I even your friend.”
“Why did you let Wendy marry a librarian if you still liked her?”
Seth dropped his head to the table and let out a groan. “I am never telling you anything ever again.”
“Uh huh.” Michal patted Seth’s head in mock sympathy. “Can we go back to talking about the groom now?”
“A librarian.” Seth groaned. “I don’t get it.”
“Well I suppose someone has to be the smart one. The two of you would have had really dumb children. At least they would have their looks going for them.”
“Rude. I’m never taking you anywhere again.”
“You keep saying such things, but you lack follow through. This is probably why Mrs. Midgen likes her husband, perhaps he doesn’t have trouble with that.” Michal waggled his brows a bit and Seth just frowned before standing up. “Hey, where are you going?”
“To tell Wendy and Chandler,” see he could use his name, “congratulations on their wedding. And to get some cake. You are not invited.”
