Closed; Run In With The Press At Roger's Quidditch Game

[lavender_x]

It was a beautiful and clear night for a Quidditch. The Montrose Magpies had beat the Appleby Arrows in an intense match and Lavender, by pure luck, had gotten a gorgeous shot of their seeker catching the snitch. In fact, all of her shots tonight had been spot on that night

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[rkdavies]

The locker room had been a disaster with all the yelling and self-congratulating. The Arrows were a hard team to beat and several players on the Magpies' roster were there through the Arrows - at least at one point. Players started streaming out pretty quickly, some barely bothering to change before getting out to the easiest spot to floor or apparate from - either home to their boring, grown-up lives or a bar for less boring, grown-up drinking

[rkdavies]

"I'm not cheating on you," Roger promised. He didn't think he needed to, but he would always promise that to her. Always. Until he couldn't speak another word.

"They're vultures, Lavender. That's all they do. They find things they can hit. And they have all that damn Witch Weekly gossip nonsense to play with, too. They all feed off each other. They're going to just press buttons. Any buttons. Until they find one that sticks."

[lavender_x]

"I know you're not and I know you won't. It's different this time," she said, believing in her words more than she ever had before.

It didn't matter what had happened in their past or the fact that they had once given up or doubted in each other. Somehow they had found their way back, smarter and more determined than ever. Lavender knew what it felt like to lose him and she knew that she could never feel that way again.

Lavender stepped forward, closing the gap between them as she wrapped her arms around his waste and burying her face into his chest.

"They don't matter. But I'm just so sick of sharing you - with other women, with the press. I just need to feel like you're mine, only mine right now."

[rkdavies]

Without hesitation, Roger wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her close. For a long moment, he rested his forehead on her hair, breathing in the scent of her shampoo - which was more comforting than it had any right to be.

He was glad she didn't doubt him. Had she, he wouldn't have blamed her. Besides, he had a lifetime to make it up to her and prove himself.

"Then that's what you get." He whispered. There was a celebration happening. The guys would give him a good-natured hard time about skipping out for his new wife, but they'd definitely understand when this news broke. Most of them could relate.

"We'll go home. I'm all yours."

[lavender_x]

There was nothing quite like being held by Roger, his strong arms round around her. He smelled like fresh soap and laundry detergent. Her body was finally calming down now.

"I didn't mean- well, no-" she started, pulling away just enough to get a good look at him. The last thing Lavender wanted to do was take him away from his team. They had just had their best game of the season.

"You should go out with the guys-"

[rkdavies]

"Uh uh. Nope." He shook his head, left hand coming up to frame her face, not wanting to draw extra attention to his swelling right hand.

"Tonight is all us. There's going to be more wins and more pub crawls." He met her eyes, not daring to look away and let her think this was a sacrifice

"I'd rather stay in with you. And," he winced a little. "Maybe get some ice on my hand."

[lavender_x]

Lavender didn't want him to miss out on anything but deep down she wanted him all to herself more than that. After all of the running around, the errands, and the excitement of the last week it would be nice to be alone with him.

"You win- mostly because of that hand," she said finally, tilting her face into his touch. He always knew exactly what to say, or how to touch her, to calm her down.

"I know it's selfish, me wanting you all to myself. But I need that sometimes. After family parties, and the press, and even weekends with Lily- I'm just going to need some time when it's just us."

[rkdavies]

"Not selfish," Roger assured her. Truth be told, he wanted nothing more than to have some alone time with her. They hadn't had down moment since this had happened. Maybe that's what planning would have fixed, but he found couldn't be bothered to wish they'd done anything differently.

"I want time with just you anyway. And you're a lot more fun to look at than a bunch of drunk, sweaty Quidditch players."

[lavender_x]

She wasn't going to fight him or insist that he go when all she really wanted was for him to apparate them home right in that moment. There needed to be more separation between them and the vultures. They needed quiet.

"Let's go then. And I'll take care of you, okay?" she said, running her hand down the curve of his jaw. Her thumb stroked his cheek gently.

[rkdavies]

Catching her hand, Roger turned to place a quick kiss on her palm. "I'm not going to argue that," he told her, trying for a little levity. It fell flat, tension still lingering, now with the added bonus of regret and knowing he wasn't going to stop hearing about snapping that way.

He didn't regret it, though.

Instead of letting it linger on, Roger pulled Lavender closer and didn't waste time disapparating, popping them straight home.

[lavender_x]

It had gotten much easier on her stomach with tag-along apparating over the years. Before she was old enough to apply for her own license the experience would leave her dizzy and queasy. Now, they landed in their living room like it was nothing. As long as she closed her eyes, Lavender wasn't even bothered.

Which was a good thing considering there were still boxes piled off to the side that she tripped over when she was feeling her best.

"How's your hand holding up?" she asked, pulling away from him so that she could pull out a frozen ice pack. They needed to get the swelling down.

[rkdavies]

How Roger managed to remember where the boxes were and not land them right on top of a stack was a miracle. They really need to... unpack or something. Whatever, Roger wasn't worried about it, even as he half-kicked a box to the side and out of the way.

Roger followed her to lean against the counter. He held his hand up and flexed his fingers a few times. "Could be worse. I forget punching people sucks. Every time."

[lavender_x]

"I've never seen you like that-" she sighed, moving a few things around in the freezer until she finally find a frozen bag of peas that would due just as well as an ice pack.

Lavender knew all about Roger's temper, seen him get very close to where he had been tonight. He was fiercely protective, always.

Coming around the counter, Lavender gently took his hand. It wasn't as bad as she had originally thought, at least he could move it, but it was swollen and bruised.

"You're lucky you didn't break any bones."

[rkdavies]

"I've done that before and it's worse." Roger held his wince back - mostly - when she took his hand and placed the bag on it. "What a scandal, though, if I'd had to make a hospital run afterward."

Since he was already big news right now - since they were - they were going to be scrutinizing basically every step he - or Lavender - took for the foreseeable future.

"I don't normally snap on them. It's better to walk by them." He'd learned that quickly ages ago. "The last time was when they stalked us taking Lily to get a check up."

[lavender_x]

"I read about that-" she sighed, holding the frozen bag of peas against his fingers gently.

It wasn't just his games that Lavender kept up with, of course not. As the years went on Roger was in the papers more and more. It was easy for her to keep up with what was going on in his life, even if more of them were exaggerated and dirty rumors.

"I'll walk by them next time. I won't even acknowledge that they're there-" As much as she wished that a night like tonight was a one time thing, Lavender knew better.

[rkdavies]

Roger gave her a tight smile, partially from pain and partially because he didn't want to say what he was about to.

"Until there's another scandal? Not that we're actually scandalous, but until then? It's probably going to keep happening." He hated that and hoped he'd scared some of them off, but he doubted he'd done more than add fuel to the whole thing.

"But we'll be out of town for a week anyway."