Sometimes You Have to Make Your Own Luck

[Andrew Belo]

With a loud crack, Andrew Belo looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings and scowled. He'd been attempting to apparate to the alley just a quarter-mile off from the house he shared with Evette and his five step-children, but stepping out of the alley he was in, he realized that he had no clue where he had apparated. Looking around, the leaves blowing around on the ground, he finally spotted a familiar clocktower and apparated towards it. Andrew Belo couldn't believe that out of the 365 days in the year, today was turning out to be one of the worst. He'd long since planned for the day to be a special one, and it was turning out to be special, but not in the way that he'd hoped. The Brazilian wizard had had a terrible start to his day, waking up late and spilling coffee on his uniform, which caused him to be late to the game. Things had only gotten worse from there and Andrew had the sling on his left arm to prove it. As he walked, the wind threatening to blow the beanie hat off of his head, he hoped that Evette hadn't been listening to the game. She worried about him too much and he knew that the announcers always made injuries sound scarier than they really were. It was only a dislocated shoulder after all and the healer had already set him straight. The sling was just a precaution.

As the wizard finally reached the gates to the home he shared with Evette, he took a deep breath and let it out. He still had hope, although it was diminishing quickly, that the rest of his day would pass by nicely and that his plans for the evening wouldn't be a complete wash. Opening the door as quietly as he could, Andrew slipped inside, hoping to get to one of the guest rooms without one of the children, Evette or their house elf spotting him. If he could only take the sling off, he was certain he could convince Evette that he was fine and get on with his other plans for the day. Turning, he gripped the door tightly with his good arm, hoping that their well-oiled door would not betray him with a squeak. As the door moved inch by inch, it seemed to take forever and Andrew sent silent prayers to the powers that be that Evette was on the other side of the house and unaware of his arrival.

 

[Evette Belo]

For the thirty something year old model life had been nothing short of amazing. She had a good job, a nice house, never had to worry about money, an amazing boyfriend and five amazing children; which for someone with her figure it was hard to believe but that was a different story altogether. Life was good for her and as she put her youngest children to bed and watched them as they slept she couldn’t believe how quickly time just passed by her without her realising. Her babies weren’t even really babies anymore; they were almost two years old and starting to walk on their own and had even said their first proper words. She didn’t know if she was quite prepared to hit the ‘terrible twos’ just yet but she knew that she had her wonderful boyfriend, Andrew, to help her out with that and also her house elf was always on hand. As well as her four babies she also had her oldest LeAnn who was already in her second year of Hogwarts New Zealand. A school that Evette hadn’t wanted her child to go to as Beauxbatons was so much closer and she would have had an easy life as Evette had left her signature after attending the school herself and being a social lady she often dreamed of her first daughter to attend her Alma Mater, but alas, circumstances had arose and she knew it was best for her daughter to attend that school instead.

Turning off the lights and closing the door lightly to her child’s room Evette made her way downstairs wondering why Andrew wasn’t home yet, he was usually home before this time. Checking the house quickly she saw every room was empty so he didn’t arrive without her realising. Going down stairs she made her way into the kitchen and put on the radio trying to find out if the Quidditch game was over yet. She couldn’t hear any commentary so she figured it was over, no news on it either. “Stupid thing.” she mumbled to herself as she angrily switched it off. As she switched it off she heard the front door closing, smiling as she assumed it was Andrew now she made her way to the entrance. Seeing it was him before seeing all of him she started, “I was wonder-“ she cut herself short as she saw the sling on his arm. “Baby, what happened?” she asked as she rushed over to him to look closer to his injury.

 

[Andrew Belo]

Andrew had no idea what time it was. He rarely walked around with a watch because Evette made sure he got out of the house on time most of the time and since he'd been forced to stay after the game to be attended to by a healer before apparating away, he didn't know how much time had passed from the end of the game to now. He could only hope that Evette was giving the children a bath or tucking them in for the night. That was a difficult task and usually took a while. Andrew was not meant to have such luck though. He should have known. As the door clicked, he heard something that he loved on normal days but was unhappy to hear at the moment- Evette's voice. Groaning silently, Andrew turned around slowly, wishing he'd thought to take the sling off before he'd come in. The idea came to him too late. "I'm fi- " he began, but was cut off as Evette rushed over.

He gulped, knowing that she was going to have a lot to say once she realized how he had been injured. It was true that quidditch was very dangerous, but injuries came with the territory. Thankful for small miracles, it seemed that Evette hadn't been listening to the game. It had been a particularly tough one, with the other team's beaters straddling the line between legal and illegal moves. He had found himself racing around, struggling to keep the Chasers safe. At least until he'd been helped off the field in a daze. "You weren't listening?" he asked, a grim look coming on his face. "Good" he added, his stormy blue eyes flaring angrily for a second before he forced himself calm again. "It was a rough game...but I'm fine" he finished. To prove his point, Andrew lifted his slinged arm up, hoping to show her that he was fine. It wasn't though and he winced and quickly dropped his arm. The healer had warned him not to move it much for the next day or two. He planned on heeding that warning. Shifting, he allowed his duffel bag to slide off of his good shoulder and into his hand. Now, he'd have to get himself away from his now-worried girlfriend. "Are the kids in bed already?" he asked in a tired voice, hoping to distract her.

 

[Evette Belo]

Looking at the clock Evette grew more and more worried that Andrew hadn’t gotten home yet. It wasn’t like him to stay much longer after the game was over, at most he would go with one or two drinks with his team mates and it he was planning on staying longer he would send an owl or a patronus message. Evette knew herself what it was like to be young and famous and expected to be in the spotlight all the time so she never minded if Andrew wanted to go out with his team mates after games and even if he didn’t send a message she didn’t mind, she wasn’t one of those jealous girlfriends or girlfriends that expected to know where their boyfriends were all the time. It was only due to having not known the outcome today’s game; she just grew worried. Although she knew that if anything had happened she would have been notified and as the saying went, no news was good news...right? Before she knew it she was starting to pace and had to stop herself in her tracks as she was worrying over nothing, what was wrong with her? Evette knew she wasn’t the youngest model on the runway nowadays and she had learned to deal with that and was coming up with ways to counteract it and was excited for what she had in the pipeline but she often worried that Andrew would start to think the same. He was still young and Evette might not be as attractive to him anymore and recently she had started to worry that he would want to break up with her. She loved him and for Evette that was a big thing as she had never felt close to anyone before, even the father of her children, to them, she was just a hot piece of ass and to actually admit feelings for someone was a big thing for her, she just worried that the reason she kept feelings to the bare minimum would happen; to have them thrown back in her face.

After what seemed like forever she breathed a sigh of relief when Andrew returned home and even though he was injured she knew it was all part of the game and there was nothing that couldn’t be healed by the game healers; they knew their job and did it well – she was just happy that he was home. She shook her head when he questioned if she listened. “I tried too but the radio is out of wack today, couldn’t pick up a decent frequency.” he told him, she needed to remind herself to pick up a new one the next day she went out shopping. She rolled her eyes when Andrew told her that it was a rough game, “The king of understatements.” she said jokingly, she didn’t know how he could stand getting hurt every game and not have it faze him in the slightest. She frowned her eyebrows as he tried to move his arm and when it clearly hurt him she shook her head. “Gimme that thing.” she said as she took his duffel bag, not wanting him to hurt himself even more. Making her way to the kitchen she heard his question and smiled softly. “Out like a light.” she said, it was unusual for them to out so soon but she wasn’t complaining. “So what do you want to do with a free night then?” she asked, looking forward to spending time with Andrew, just the two of them, the kids were getting harder to take care off and with the both them having jobs they didn’t have much time together recently?

 

[Andrew Belo]

"Oh, so it is broken" Andrew replied, "I tried to use it yesterday and I kept hearing something about flight times. I think it was one of those muggle airplanes." It had been rather entertaining, and Andrew had passed most of the morning listening to two men share stories as they flew. If he'd known muggles were that interesting, he would have spent more time interacting with them. He was glad that she hadn't been able to listen to the game. The idea that she and the kids might one day hear that he had been seriously injured during a game was the only thing that made him pause and think about the possibilities of a new career. Andrew loved quidditch more than anything else except for Evette and the children, so the idea of doing anything else frightened him. Quidditch was something he knew, something he'd grown up on, something he'd lived and breathed and slept for years until Evette had come into his life. That was why he was always as careful as he could be, to try and limit the severity of any injuries because he wanted to keep Evette, his family and himself happy and that meant keeping himself safe.

When she took his bag, Andrew's instinct was to try and get it back. The immediate shoulder pain caused him to stop though. As he followed Evette into the kitchen, he knew that he had to come up with a plan to get into the bag without her noticing. Andrew looked around the room, hoping that their house elf was not around because he knew if she was that she would want to help by putting his bag away for him, and he so didn't need that right now. He returned his girlfriend's smile upon hearing that the children were asleep. He knew that it was bit early for them, yet he was pleased that at least one thing was going right for him. With four children all the same age, they were becoming quite the handful. They required lots of attention. Most days Andrew loved it, but there were some days that he was thankful when they finally went to sleep. Tonight, he was glad that they had decided to go to sleep early, giving the two adults some much needed alone time. Maybe it was a sign that his luck was changing. At her question, he chuckled, moving closer to her and giving her a kiss first on the cheek and then on the lips. "I can think of a few things for us to do" he laughed as he bent down to kiss her again. Andrew tried to reach his good arm towards his duffel bag so he could open the zipper and get the small box inside. It was risky, he knew, but it was the best plan he could think of.

 

[Evette Belo]

Evette nodded her head as Andrew confirmed that the radio hadn’t been working for him either. “You’d think with the amount of magic we have at our disposal they could make better radios...heck even muggles are more high tec.” he rambled, shaking her head. Magic was supposed to make everything easier but when it came to technology they were useless. Sure magic and technology did not go well together, something she learned the hard way when she tried to use some of the contraptions that her muggle fashion companies had gave her in various goodie bags and freebies. Although there had to be something they could do so she could at least get the damn Quidditch game on the radio. Shaking her head she decided to forget about it, the only thing that mattered now was that Andrew was okay and that was all she wanted to know. She hated when he had to go play a game because she sat at home wondered if he was going to be alright. Quidditch was such a dangerous sport and he was a beater so he was always in contact with the bludgers, sure he was meant to hit them and not the other way around but it didn’t always work that way; today was clearly one of the exceptions as he was bandaged up. Although no matter how much Evette begged him to be more careful she could never ask him to give up the sport; he loved it so much, it was his life pretty much. She was also scared to ask him to give it up because she knew he would do anything for her and she was afraid that he might almost give up his life passion for her because she asked but she was only being silly when she thought about that, as long as he promised to be more careful then she was happy enough with that because that was all she could ask from him.

As she entered the kitchen she set Andrew’s duffle bag on the counter with the intention of taking out his dirty kit so it could get washed and anything else that needed washed, her house elf was due to do a wash tonight regardless so it would work to do them all together but she was caught off guard by Andrew’s kiss, first on the cheek and then on the lips. She smiled almost cheekily as he voiced how he knew of a few things that they could do with their newfound spare time. Laughing softly she leaned into his kiss a bit more passionately before pulling away again, wrapping her hands slowly around his neck – trying not to hurt his bad arm. “And what do you have in mind?” she asked, thinking they were on the same wave length of things that they could do, but with his bad arm she wasn’t sure if they really were on the same wave length. Feeling Andrew sort of leaning back she took her arms away from his neck and stepped back for a moment to see why he wasn’t standing up straight, to see that he was reaching for his bag. “What are you trying to do?” She walked around to see what he was doing. Seeing that he was trying to open one of the zips in his bag she moved to help him. “Here, let me help, you need to rest your arm.” she said as she placed her hand on the zipper.

 

[Andrew Belo]

Andrew's emotions went from pleased at his ingenious plan to distract Evette with a kiss and his plans for their night to nervous when he realized that he hadn't truly succeeded in making her forget about his duffle bag. He pulled his hand away from it quickly, as though it had suddenly become burning hot, and he tried to keep his face impassive. It worked for all of two seconds, when Andrew realized that Evette had decided to reach for his bag to help him. Panic crossed his face and Andrew dropped any idea of remaining calm. He was in full-on panic mode. "No! You don-" The quidditch player instinctively reached out his arm to stop her. It was too bad that he'd chosen to lift the wrong arm. Andrew hissed at the pain and in that moment it hit him. An idea that he never would have come up with any other time or any other day. He realized that fighting this was a mistake. With the way the rest of his day had gone, Andrew knew that he needed to do something that the fates wouldn't expect from him. Maybe then it would actually work out.

Andrew's shoulders sagged as he ran his good hand through his cropped dark hair. His storm blue eyes stared at the duffle bag for a moment before training their gaze on Evette. "Before you open that..." he began, watching her hand on the zipper and hoping he'd be able to get his words out before she decided to open it, "I should warn you." Andrew leaned back against the kitchen counter, wishing that he was somewhere more romantic than the place where he and Evette cooked and ate with their children. She deserved for this to take place in a room covered in roses or on an island while they basked in the sun. "I've been hiding something from you. Something more than just my dirty uniforms..." he spoke, trying his best to not allow a grin or any other tell escape him. "If you open that, I don't know what you're going to think...but" He nodded his head towards the bag, indicating that he was ok with her opening it. "I think it's about time you know. LeAnn already does" he added solemnly. Andrew had never been so serious before in his life. His heart was beating so hard, he was sure she and even their sleeping children could hear it. This was it. There was no turning back. The next few moments would determine an important part of his life. His adam's apple bobbed as he waited to see if she would open the bag.

 

[Evette Belo]

Evette rolled her eyes at Andrew, she didn’t know why men was so quick to offer help – well gentlemen anyway, but so reluctant to receive help in return. Clearly Andrew didn’t want Evette to help him with his duffle bag, he was clearly in pain as he hissed in pain once again. “Baby, stop being so silly. Now rest please, I don’t like it when you get hurt.” she told him with a soft yet strong tone of voice. Andrew had yet to see Evette get mad but she very rarely let that side of her show. The veela blood that ran through her veins may not be as strong as the family members that she had inherited it from but regardless she still had veela blood in her and as such, it was better for her to maintain her emotions as best as possible, for everyone’s sake. Evette watched Andrew carefully for a moment to see if he was going to react anymore, maybe put up more of a fight of if he was going to back down. Knowing Andrew it was going to be a tossup of either option but she was glad to see that he knew what she was right, with his shoulders sagging, she knew she had won. It wasn’t really a big battle to win but she really wanted to look after Andrew, he had made her the happiest she had been in a while and she loved him dearly, so it was only right that she helped him when he needed help, even if he didn’t see that he needed help.

Evette turned her attention back to the bag to start clearing it out and get his uniform cleaned before he had to go for his next match, which thankfully wasn’t for a while, one – so they had time to spend together and two – so he could give time for his arm to heal. Her hand stopped on the zipper that he had been trying to open as his words stopped her in her tracks. She looked at him with frowned eyebrows, what was he talking about? She listened to him talk, talk about something he had been hiding from her. She started to worry about what it could be, it wasn’t anything bad – she hoped not. Would it be some woman’s clothing, maybe he had been cheating on her? Oh Merlin, she hoped not. She, for once, was happy and she thought Andrew loved her too, he wouldn’t cheat on her – or so she was trying to tell herself. When he told her that LeAnn knew she grew more curious, if it was anything bad LeAnn would have told her so it eased her fears slightly but she was still extremely curious as to what he was hiding from her. When he finished talked she slowly turned her head to the duffle bag and slowly opened the zipper. Reaching her hand into the small side pocket, she could only feel one thing, pulling his out her eyes opened wide with surprise. “Andrew...what..is this?” she asked, not wanting to jump to conclusions, as she handed him the small box.

 

[Andrew Belo]

When Andrew saw the expression on Evette's face, he wondered what she thought he was speaking about. Considering his words, he realized that it all could be completely misconstrued. And, what a disaster it would be if it was! Andrew was glad that she allowed him to finish without interrupting because it allowed him the chance to mention that LeAnn knew. Surely, Evette knew that he would never, ever share a sordid secret like having an affair with such a young child. Nor would he have one. He loved LeAnn as much as if she'd been his own daughter, and he loved her mother more than he'd loved anyone else. Ever. The thought of betraying them by going out and sleeping with some random woman for mere moments of pleasure was not one that Andrew wanted to entertain. He was just beginning to feel as if his life was truly coming together, and the idea of throwing it all away was a fool's idea. The quidditch player was glad when Evette reached for the zipper and slowly opened it. His heartbeat quickened because he knew that any moment she would feel it. He could tell the moment that her hands came into contact with the box because her facial expression changed. As she questioned him and held out the box, Andrew silently reached his good hand out for what she was giving him. His adam's apple bobbed as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Opening them again, he smiled at her, hoping to reassure her.

The Brazilian man knew what was inside the tiny box very well, having looked at it nearly every day for the past three months. Each time he'd looked upon it, Andrew had imagined a moment more spectacular than the last. None of the moments that he'd imagined had taken place in his kitchen with his arm in a sling. Andrew opened the box and looked at what was inside. It was the sight of the item that strengthened his resolve and although he was nervous as hell, he knew it was now or never. With a throat that felt as if he'd swallowed a quaffle, Andrew looked squarely at Evette, his blue eyes more serious than they'd ever been. "This my dear is what I hope will be my future...our future" he began, clearing his throat, "I've become a different person since we started dating, and I feel like it's time to take this to the next level." Andrew wished he didn't have a sling on. It was going to make it a bit more difficult to maneuver. "I don't think LeAnn'll be happy that I'm doing this here, but we work with what we have, right?" He took a step closer to Evette and knelt down on one knee slowly, trying not to topple over as he turned the box so the pink diamond ring was facing her. "Evette Adams, I love you and the children so, so much. I want the chance to make us into a family. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" Andrew looked up at her, hoping she would say yes. If she didn't, Andrew knew he would be devastated. Evette and her children meant more to him than he cared to admit, so if she didn't feel the same way, he didn't know what he would do.

 

[Evette Belo]

Evette knew she was crazy to think that Andrew would ever cheat on her, they loved each other and they had come through too much already for either of them to mess it up by going back to their old ways. Then again Evette only had past experiences to draw from and it all made her believe that all good things had to come to an end and it wasn’t like the ‘happily ever after’ end that child grew up hearing about. The only thing that stopped her from completely freaking out was that because LeAnn knew what Andrew was hiding from her and LeAnn would never let anything like that go without her mother knowing. The moment it too for Evette to finally open the zipper and pull out the small box hidden deep inside the pocket felt like a lifetime to her. As she looked at the small box in her hand she started to feel weak, like she needed someone to hold her up. She was not a stupid woman, she knew what was in this box but the shear fact that it was for her was almost too much for her to comprehend. She wasn’t meant to get the happily ever after, especially not was someone as amazing as Andrew. He was everything she could want and more. He loved her children, loved her for what she was and not just for her veela looks. When you grow up with someone like Evette’s mother it’s hard to see yourself as just someone who is pretty and to use that to her advantage.

Evette shook herself out of her own thoughts as she watched Andrew take the tiny box from her own hand. She watched his open it and her free hand, the one that wasn’t gripping tightly on to the kitchen counter to hold her up, flew up to her mouth as a gasp left her lips. Unable to take her eyes off Andrew she listened closely to him. My future...our future the words were like music to her ears. She couldn’t believe this was happening, to her of all people. She felt her stomach knot like crazy as he continued talking, as he knots continued she felt her eyes well up. She laughed softly as he mentioned her oldest daughter. Evette could only imagine how much LeAnn had lectured Andrew about how to do this, what to say, how to do and where to do it by his words. Her eldest was such a matchmaker and even now Evette knew that what was happening was all thanks to LeAnn, if it wasn’t for her inviting Andrew over that fateful Christmas Day then the Part-Veela was sure that the two wouldn’t have let their pride get the better of them and that they would never have seen each other again. Her heart started to race as Andrew took a step closer to her and before her eyes, there he dropped down on one knee, she felt her body screaming from the inside, wanting her to scream with it. This was really happening. She smiled softly as the tears started to rolls down her cheeks as Andrew proposed to her, it was all so surreal. Grinnging widely as she heard those magical words, the words every girl wants to hear at some point in their life. “YES!” she squealed, not as loudly as she would of liked as she had to keep in mind that the kids were asleep upstairs. Wrapping her arms around Andrew she squeezed him tightly. Pulling away for a brief moment she looked him in the eyes. “Are you sure this is what you want? You don’t have too. I mean...” she stopped herself from rambling for a moment, “I just want to make sure this what you really want.” she said softly, taking a deep sigh.

 

[Andrew Belo]

Andrew watched in amusement as Evette cried and still managed a laugh through her tears. How women went through emotions was still a wonder to him, even after twenty nine years of being in this world. Evette seemed to be taking it all fairly well and he hoped that she would give him the answer that he was hoping for. The rest of Andrew's life was riding on the next several moments and Evette held all of the cards in her hand. Although the quidditch player didn't have to wait too long to get a reply, it still felt like an eternity. As he heard the magical words cross her lips, that one syllable word that was now his favorite word in the world, the expression on the man's face was one of pure bliss. Andrew rose off his knee, swept into the hug that the woman- who he could now officially consider his fiance- was giving him. He returned her hug as tightly as he could manage with one arm, the ring box still gripped tightly in his hand. He listened, moving back slightly, a confused expression crossing his face at her question. "What? Oh...Evette" he shook his head at her. Even after all that they had been through, she still had doubts about his feelings for her. Andrew knew where some of it came from. He'd walked away from her at one point, but that had been long ago and Andrew was a totally different man now. He'd grown in ways that would not have been imaginable if Evette and LeAnn and the quadruplets had not been a part of his life. "I wouldn't have given you this" he stated firmly as he took the ring out of the box and slipped the ring onto her finger, "if I wasn't sure."

Andrew gazed into Evette's eyes before smirking. "Besides, LeAnn would hex me to smithereens if I was getting her hopes up for nothing. Wait until you hear her plans for our wedding" he said as he pulled his fiance closer with his good arm. He loved that word crossing through his thoughts and couldn't wait to introduce her to someone as his fiance. The word sounded so natural in his mind. "Good luck reining her in" he laughed as he lifted Evette's hand to his mouth and gave it a kiss. The ring looked beautiful on her, like it had been made just for her hand. Andrew was content to simply stand with her where they were, caught in the moment of the event that had just taken place between them, and etching every moment, every second, into his memory. They never got many moments like this, where it was just the two of them in relative silence.