Take These Broken Wings and Learn to Fly

That summer, Bill invited me to go with him and his family to the Quidditch World Cup. We were to leave Friday morning and spend the weekend at the event, and I immediately accepted. I needed a vacation, and a vacation with Bill was even better.

On that fine Friday morning at the end of August, Bill and I apparated to the Burrow to meet up with everyone else. “Bill!” Arthur greeted outside as the two of us apparated into the garden. Bill smiled at his father and gave him a warm hug before Arthur turned to me. “Oh, Liana, haven’t you grown up?! Where’s Bill been hiding you these past two years, hmm?”

Bill rolled his eyes. “Nice to see you too, Arthur,” I giggled as I gave him a hug. I followed Bill inside, wincing at the amount of noise rattling the house.

“FRED AND GEORGE, I SWEAR TO MERLIN IF YOU’RE NOT DOWN HERE IN TWO MINUTES-“

“OI, MUM! WE’RE COMING!” both yelled back from somewhere upstairs. Molly sighed in frustration as she came into the kitchen, holding a pot in her hand.

“MUM! HAVE YOU SEEN MY PURPLE SWEATER?!” Ginny called from upstairs. Molly loudly dropped the pot in the sink, clearly annoyed, and turned right around. She was about to head up the stairs when she caught a glimpse of Bill and me walking through the door.

“Bill! Liana! Oh, wonderful! I won’t have to worry about Ginny now,” Molly cried as she engulfed both of us in a hug. Bill laughed a bit as I grinned back at the woman. Molly was about to open her mouth to say something when another voice cut her off.

“MUM! I CAN’T FIND MY BAG!” Ron shouted. In a split second, another girl’s voice shouted back, but it wasn’t Ginny’s.

“MAYBE IT’S UP YOUR ARSE, RONALD!”

A lot of bickering could be heard as the sound traveled down the stairs, and Molly just groaned as she started up the climb. “YOU ALL BETTER CAN IT BEFORE I GET UP THERE!” she shouted in rage. Bill rolled his eyes and walked toward the kitchen. I followed him, grabbing an apple off the table and sitting down at the table. The kitchen windows seemed to be letting a vast amount of light stream inside the house, so I squinted a bit. It was too early for me to focus on more than one thing, so I silently ate my apple as Bill rummaged the kitchen for more food.

“Bill, really? Not even here for five minutes and you’ve started to steal food,” one of the twins commented, walking into the room. The other twin followed in suit. I couldn’t tell the twins apart, mostly because the last time I saw them their hair was shorter and they still had their baby faces. Now, the two of them looked almost identical. I stared at them intensely, trying to figure out who was who.

“Excuse you, brothers, but I am still a part of this family,” Bill snorted as he ate leftovers from the fridge.

Fred and George grabbed muffins from the counter and turned to sit, but as they turned around, one of them got a devilish grin on his face when he saw me. “Well, I’ll be hexed! If it isn’t Miss Liana Naughton!” he spoke, running over to me and running his hand over the top of my head, easily messing up my hair.

“Hey! Watch it!” I defended, laughing as I fixed my hair.

“You and Bill don’t like your hair touched,” the other twin said as he joined us at the table.

“Oi, Freddie, you’re right!” the one sitting to my right exclaimed. He was George…so the one on my left was Fred.

“Time to head out everybody!” Arthur called, poking his head through the door. I got up, throwing out my apple core, and went outside to meet with Arthur.

“See, why couldn’t you be my own kin? Everyone else is always late,” Arthur joked, noting that I was the first one outside. I laughed a bit before seeing Fred and George come outside, along with Bill, and slowly but surely everyone else began to trickle out of the Weasley household.

“Liana! Where have you been? Last I saw you was Christmas two years ago!” Ginny squealed as she gave me a hug. I smiled back at her and sighed.

“Oh, working. You know…” I grumbled. She frowned and Bill stepped next to me.

“Bill, make Liana come over more often. I’ve missed you!” she said desperately. I laughed.

“Oh trust me, I’m not letting this one go anywhere without me,” Bill joked as he threw an arm around my shoulder. I made a disapproving face at him, which he then mocked. I rolled my eyes as he shot me a forced smile.

“I hate you,” I said.

“Hate you more!” he replied, poking my side.

Arthur sighed, looking at the watch on his wrist. “Where’s Ron? We’re supposed to be meeting the Diggorys in ten minutes, but there’s no way we’ll make it now,” he grumbled. Bill smirked, nodding his head in the direction of the house where three figures appeared.

“I swear, I’m never speaking to you again, Ronald!” the girl shrieked as she stomped ahead of the two boys. Bill laughed and watched as the girl crossed her arms, standing next to Ginny.

“Bill! What are you doing here?” the red-head asked as he came up to the group. Bill and Ron exchanged a quick hug as Bill replied, “nice to see you to, you git.”

Ron smiled as he came up to me, also giving me a hug. “Hello, Liana! I was wondering when we’d see you again,” he laughed. “Bill always moaned and groaned about not seeing you whenever he was-“

“Oi, that’s enough,” Bill cut in. I giggled.

“Harry, Hermione, this is my older brother Bill and his friend Liana,” Ron spoke as he gestured to the two of us. The boy named Harry was about to open his mouth when Arthur cut him off.

“Okay, we don’t have time for introductions right now. Everybody ready? We can all converse and relax once we get to the Cup!” Arthur called as he started walking down the path.

“Converse?” Fred questioned.

“Relax?” George followed.

“Dad, it’s like you don’t know us at all!” Fred called after his father. I laughed as the twins began fighting about which team was going to win. Ginny and Hermione walked behind them, and Harry and Ron followed.

“So, you moaned and groaned about me?” I asked as Bill and I trailed behind the group. He chuckled.

“You wish,” he replied swiftly.

“No…sometimes I wish you’d moan my name, but I doubt that was happening,” I joked, sending him a wink. He rolled his eyes.

“Only in your dreams.” I giggled as Bill shot me a side glance, looking me up and down.

“Right, only my dreams…” I stated sarcastically as we walked in a comfortable silence to the portkey.

---

The day was quite eventful, seeing as though we were at the Quidditch World Cup. The Cup wasn’t actually until Saturday night, so we spent Friday at some of the festivities. There were tons of camps set up, so half the time was spent losing our way around the place, but eventually we got the hang of it.

“I want to go to the opening ceremonies!” Ginny pleaded as we sat around the tent that afternoon. We’d just walked all morning, got lunch at a local pub in town (which was crazy crowded with people from the tournament), and spent the early afternoon walking slowly back. Ron groaned.

“Gin, we just got back. Give us a little bit, will you?” he muttered. Ron was sprawled across one of the couches with Hermione on the next chair and Harry on the floor, leaning against the couch. I giggled at the sight.

“I’ll go with you,” I said to Ginny as I put my coat back on. Bill looked up from his newspaper and eyed me.

“I’m not letting you go with Ginny alone,” he stated as he got up from the table. I rolled my eyes.

“Bill, I’m a freaking curse breaker. I think I can handle Ginny,” I replied as I zipped up my jacket. This time, he rolled his eyes.

“I wasn’t talking about Ginny, moron. There are some creeps out there, so I need to protect both of you,” he said, raising his eyebrows before he walked into the next room to grab his jacket. I sighed as Ginny giggled.

“I think Bill likes you,” she murmured, causing Ron to laugh.

“Wait, you’re a curse breaker? That’s wicked cool!” Hermione stated with a grin on her face.

“What can I say? I’m just a wicked person,” I laughed. Bill rolled his eyes as he walked back into the room.

“Wickedly weird,” he commented. I shot him a death glare. “But also wickedly gorgeous?” he added with a small smile.

“Whatever, if I’m weird, then you must really be twisted,” I replied. He faked a hurt look and headed toward the tent opening.

“We’ll meet you guys back here, later then,” Bill called as he led us out of the tent. I sent a small wave to Ron, Harry, and Hermione before following the two Weasleys to the torch ceremony.

---

I just don’t understand men at sporting events. They use it as an excuse to get completely shit-faced and then go around acting like idiots for the rest of us. Thankfully, Bill was on better behavior than most other men surrounding us. “Ginny, stay close,” Bill warned as a group of drunken teens came our way. I rolled my eyes as they eyed Ginny and passed by laughing.

Ginny’s face was red, but she kept her eyes forward while we watched a man on the stage finally light the torch as the band played a lively tune to kick off the weekend. The sun had just set and we were standing there for at least a half hour. It would take us a while to walk back, and we couldn’t move yet because of the large crowd.

“Sorry I made you guys come out here,” Ginny mumbled as we waited for a clearing. I laughed.

“It’s alright, Gin. Might as well experience it all, right?” I urged with a smile. Bill was watching me with a slight smile on his face, but when I caught his eye he looked away. I sighed and looked around, until a man about my age came stumbling over.

“Well, hello there pretty lady,” he slurred. I rolled my eyes.

“Fuck off,” I replied. The man smirked.

“What’s a lovely bird like you doing out here?” he asked, stuttering a few times. Bill stepped next to me, pushing Ginny behind him as he did so.

“Go away,” Bill said sternly, his face red with anger. I put my hand on his shoulder to try to get him to calm down, but he barely glanced at me.

“Ooh, are you her boyfriend?” the guy asked, eyeing Bill up and down. “What a joke,” the man said, rolling his eyes. Bill was about to reply, but before he could, I did.

“What a joke? I believe you’re the joke. Getting drunk at what should be an enjoyable event, but instead you’re hitting on girls who wouldn’t even go for you if you were sober. If you want a joke, go take a look in the mirror. You can laugh your ass all the way to your bed where you’ll be crying about how ugly you are compared to this ginger god standing next to me,” I stated harshly back at the man, who stood there looking dumbfounded as I grabbed Bill’s arm and pulled him away. I pulled Ginny under my arm and walked us briskly down a different row of tents.

“That was brilliant!” Ginny exclaimed as we walked away. I breathed out the laugh I’d been holding in and shook my head.

“Gin, don’t repeat the bad words I said in that conversation,” I said, causing her to roll her eyes. We both laughed again and I noticed Bill was still silent, walking beside me with a hard face. I sighed and looked up at him.

“You alright there?” I asked quietly. He looked down at me and I saw his eyes were still angry.

“You almost get attacked by a drunken fool and you’re asking if I’m alright?” he coaxed. “Unbelievable.”

“Bill, chill out. I can handle myself. It’s not like guys haven’t hit on me before,” I said calmly. He groaned.

“I wish they wouldn’t. It’d make my life much easier knowing you weren’t in danger,” he sighed.

I laughed hitting his arm. He scowled at my behavior and shook his head. “Bill, really, honestly, I wasn’t in danger. He was a drunken guy that would have easily passed out if I’d pushed him over. But if it makes you feel any better, I am very happy that you were there to protect me with your big, bad muscles,” I joked. He sighed, his face softening at my response.

“Sorry, I just don’t want you to get hurt,” he muttered. I sighed.

“It’s alright. I’m glad that you care that much about me,” I said with a small shrug. He smiled down at me and grabbed my hand. Bill had never held my hand before, and the fact that he was doing it willingly in public was making my heart beat straight out of my chest. I grinned back at him.

“So, ginger god?” he inquired with a grin. I shook my head and looked forward as we walked through the now-calm camp grounds.

“Don’t let it go to your head.”

“Oh, you know I will,” he replied. I sighed. We walked in silence for a minute, watching the happy families outside their tents building fires or playing games.

“He called me bird,” I said quietly. Bill looked down at me, confused. “I only like it when you call me bird,” I said, laughing a bit. Bill’s cheeks went red and he gripped my hand tighter.

“Well then, from now on I’ll be the only one to call you bird, alright love?”

I smiled and nodded, walking alongside Ginny and Bill until we got back to the tent.