Justifiably Spotlit

A HariPo oneshot

by mew-tsubaki

Note: The Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not to me. This pairing is a Mew and Mor's Weird Pairing, which you may find in the M&MWP forum (see my profile for details). Check out and join the forum FUN! Read, review, and enjoy! Originally written for lowi, for her birthday.

- ^-^3

All right, here it was:

It was the last minutes of the Chudley Cannons' end-season game. They were playing the Tutshill Tornados, and they kept staying in a tie. The Cannons would score ten points, so would the Tornados. Cannons got a foul? Tornados stayed in check with their own. It was beginning to feel infuriating, and it didn't help that all the Cannons continued to send angry glares their Seeker's way.

Louis Jordan Weasley was that Seeker, and he was no happier with the game than his teammates were. But it wasn't really his fault. He'd spent a large chunk of the game searching for the bloody Snitch. Neither Seeker had seen it, and, judging by the emcee's comments, no one else had, either.

He tried closing his eyes, tuning his hearing to the sound of flitting wings. No such luck—with the moaning and groaning of the entire audience, Louis felt relieved he could hear his damned thoughts! He opened his eyes and anxiously scanned the field. Sometimes, he wondered if Uncle Harry's glasses would help in a time like this…

He was distracted by someone in the bleachers, however. His eyes fell on gray eyes and blond hair and an inscrutable expression—and his heart raced. Go figure that Louis was trying to do something, and he would just stand there and watch… Well, Louis supposed, it was probably for the best, since he had kind of led Louis to catching the Snitch before. But no one else had to know that.

Louis shook himself to clear his mind of random, vague musings as he looked for the Snitch yet again. But, as he thought about looking for the Snitch, he thought of other things, like expensive black cloaks, luxurious silk sheets, searching for another kind of golden ball (or two), laughter and a pale, pale smile…

Oh, Merlin. Oh, no. Oh, Godric!

It suddenly became veeery uncomfortable for Louis to ride his broom. Ahem.

No one seemed to notice, which was a very good thing. Louis tried pushing his "discomfort" out of his mind, internally screaming, "SNITCH! SNITCH!" But that was of little help. His eyes found gray eyes once again, and the expression that greeted him this time was curious, concerned. Another second of gazing passed, and the expression turned knowing. Pale, pale cheeks flushed a healthy pink.

Shit. If Louis couldn't bring his mind back into the game, he was toast. More so than his father had been when his father had eaten the last slice of cheesecake before Louis' mother had gotten to it. Oh, yeah. That had been quite scary.

Louis drifted towards the ground, hoping that the shift in pressure would alleviate the, er, rush of blood. It helped a bit, but the wizard took a couple of deep breaths to help, as well. One…two…three…

Hell—the Snitch flitted out of the corner of his eye.

He sped off, paying no mind to the emcee or Tutshill as he—for a moment—forgot everything save Quidditch. It occasionally happened, and good thing, too, since Quidditch was his job. If he didn't do it well, the Cannons would get rid of him right on the spot. … Well, probably not right on the spot, since they didn't have a replacement lined up. But that could change at any moment.

The Snitch flew fast and frenziedly, a sort of scared, winged mouse running from Louis the cat. In the end, no matter how Louis saw the Snitch, the Snitch was caught, trapped in his tight grasp as though he'd keep it there forever. The crowd either roared or cheered—Louis was having a hard time discerning the current emotion—and he glided to the middle of the field where his teammates greeted him. Any trace of anxiety they might have had was completely gone, replaced by utter relief. His friend and one of the team's Beaters, Curtis Jordan, just shook his head and ruffled Louis' hair. "That was a close call," Curtis said.

Louis stuck his tongue out at him. "I thought I told you to stop mussing my hair," the Weasley hissed as he brushed some fringe out of his face.

Their teammates laughed. "He wins us the last game and he complains about his hair," Devon Conrads, their Captain, teased.

"Here you go," Louis said, dropping the Golden Snitch into Conrads' hand. "I'm going to hit the showers and then be on my way—"

"Ah, Louis?" Curtis asked as the team split up. "Why don't you come over tonight?"

"Can't. I've got plans." His mind's eye kept replaying the scene of pale, pale cheeks flushing that beautiful tint…

"But Troy and James will be over, and you haven't seen James in ages."

Louis bit the inside of his cheek. He hadn't seen his cousin in a while… The thing was, Troy and Curtis were James' best mates. Louis had somewhat elbowed his way into their group when he and Curtis landed spots on the Chudley Cannons. Yes, they were all friends, but Louis really had had alternative plans for the night… "I suppose a brief visit will do," he finally caved, and Curtis grinned.

"Good. James is cooking, we'll grab the firewhiskey, and I'm sure Troy has some tale to tell us after another day of Auror training."

Louis found himself smiling a bit, too, even when he found that pair of gray eyes and gave him a meaningful look that hopefully was interpreted as "I'll see you later tonight, luv." One could only hope.

- ^-^3

The showers were a bit awkward, and heading home with his friend was more uncomfortable than playing Quidditch had been earlier. Louis had tried "relieving" himself in private, but…well…the bloody bugger wouldn't go down!

If Curtis had noticed, he hadn't said anything so far. Louis and Curtis did stop and grab firewhiskey on the way home, and then they were home, so perhaps his friend merely had not found the right time to bring things up.

Honestly, Louis was sick of things coming up. He wanted them down!

He and Curtis were the first ones there, but James showed up soon after that. "Got us a roast!" he told them. "Think Troy will leave anything for us to pick?" he joked.

"I'm not tha' much a pig," the Finnigan son griped upon his arrival. Troy shrugged out of his cloak and tossed it on the pile with the others' before taking a firewhiskey from Louis and downing a rather large gulp. "But I am famished. Good Merlin, th' people we Aurors need ter deal wit'…!"

"Let alone having my lovely father as your boss," James stated with a roll of his eyes. It was a known fact that James and Harry had never much gotten along, a sort of itch further irritated when James announced that he was in love with Justin Finch–Fletchley, a former classmate of his father's. Though curious about their story, Louis didn't think James and Justin were all that bad, especially together.

"I need a funny story, something ter cheer me up," Troy whined. He plopped down on the floor and leaned back against the couch where Louis and Curtis, Troy's better half, sat.

"It's not that funny, but we won our game," Louis offered.

Troy beamed at them. "Tha's fantastic, chaps. Shame I didn't place tha' wager wit' James…"

"You bet against us?!" the blond yelled at his cousin.

James winced. "I, er, was looking at the stats recently and thought Tutshill…never mind, I'll shut up now."

Curtis cleared his throat. "Our win was pretty great, but how we got it—now that's a funny story."

The others gave him a look. "What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?" Louis growled.

Curtis smirked, and Louis' stomach plummeted. "See, Louis was fairly focused today. So focused that he—"

"Curt, don't you dare—"

"—had a sizeable stiffy guiding him."

Troy and James burst out laughing, and Louis' cheeks burned bright red. "Fuck you, you tossers…"

Curt was laughing himself. "How in the name of Merlin's beard did you manage to fly with that thing? I couldn't have been the only one to notice!"

Louis winced. "Holy Helga… Did Conrads or the others say anything…?" How stupid he'd been to think that he could hide that…!

"Dunno," the Jordan son replied with a shrug. "But I was guarding your area, and it was noticeable at least to me."

"Why, though?" James asked. "Why'd you get wood while—well, riding wood?" Again, he and Troy were doubled-over with laughter.

"I think he's been seeing someone," Curt managed to spit out before Louis could grab the cushion off the couch and smother him.

"What?" Troy said in disbelief. "Louis Weasley, th' git wit' a big enough ego fer th' whole world? That Louis, in a monogamous relationship?"

"Curt didn't say it was monogamous," James nonchalantly pointed out.

Louis' cheeks turned burgundy. "Excuse you! I don't get where you people get the idea that I'd play around, but—" He stopped. Aw, crap. He'd been a moment away from telling them everything about the past year. …and what an amazing year it had been.

Curt and James raised their eyebrows at him. "Go on," Curt prompted.

"I hate you all."

They grinned at him. "Say, Curt, seen anyone hanging around lately?" James prompted.

"Now that you mention it, James, I think I have. I'd been wondering if he was just a friend or mentor or something… I mean, I was thinking that there was no way in Azkaban that it'd happen, but…"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Louis barked. "It's none of your business!" He stood up, accidentally pushing Troy over in the process, and scrambled to grab his cloak. Dammit, of all the times for his cloak to be the one on the bottom of the pile…!

"James, do you know anyone with blond hair and gray eyes and the last traces of a sneer on his face…?"

James and Troy gaped at Curt. "You're joking," James said, eyes wide.

Troy blinked and glanced at Louis. "Nah, I think 'e's not—Lou, you've still got, er, a party in yer pants, mate…"

"Oh, fuck it. I'm in love with Draco Malfoy, so sue me!" Louis squeezed his eyes shut tight. Of course they weren't going to "sue" him. But the looks on their faces were priceless, and it gave Louis enough energy to say bye, inform them to eat without him, flip them off, and duck out the front door.

- ^-^3

Elsewhere in England, Louis arrived at the door to a place which he loved very much.

He knocked politely and waited. If there was one thing he'd had to learn with Draco, it had most certainly been patience. Thankfully, patience was always rewarded. Draco answered the door and smiled upon seeing his young lover. "I figured that look meant you'd be delayed."

"You have no idea," Louis said, pushing the door shut behind him and going right for that godly mouth. He kissed Draco, soft and then hard, his arms wrapping around the older man. He only paused for breath when he was sure all the oxygen had been expunged from his lungs.

Draco blinked and cleared his throat. "Ah, all right… Should I even ask?"

Louis grinned, a chuckle bubbling in the back of his throat. "No, but I'll have you know that our 'extracurricular activities' really shouldn't happen the day before a game, luv. Actually, I should probably ban you from the pitch altogether…"

"I thought you looked funny riding your broom."

"You have no idea."

A moment passed in silence, and Draco held Louis to him. "…this means we're skipping supper, aren't we?"

Louis winked. "I still need help coming down from my…high, so, yes, please."

- ^-^3

XDDD So damn funny… I adore writing Louis, I really do. He can be such a git, but for once the others were gits to him! XD I like him being included with Curt, Troy, and James, though… :3 And even though Draco's appearance felt more like a cameo, it was still nummy! But lordy… The whole arousal-during-the-game… XDDD *dies of laughter* And, if you've read "Tomorrow Still Comes," this was not the final game of that season, but the following one. So. These two have some mileage under their belts by now. XD

Thanks for reading, and please review!

-mew-tsubaki ;}

2017 note: I remember laughing the whole time I wrote this back in 2011. It's just. So ludicrous. XD I don't hate writing Quidditch scenes, tho it can be a challenge to make them exciting sometimes…altho I don't usually write them to be exciting in this manner, *LOL*. 'S okay, tho. Draco's good at consoling his prat of a boyfriend. ;P