This was written for round three of The Word Limit Competition by Taragh McCarthy. The limit was 1500 (give or take 100) and the prompt was "go all the way." I'm just a little sad because to fit that, I had to take out a rather amusing little bit with Arthur, but oh well. :) I hope you enjoy it!
If it matters to you, I place the kids' ages as followed: Teddy-14, Victoire-12, Dominique-10, Louis-8, Molly-8, Fred-7, Roxanne-7, James-7, Lucy-6, Rose-6, Albus-6, Lily-4, and Hugo-4.
"It will be good for the kids," Harry insisted.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Harry, you're off your rocking. What makes you think they would even want to try something this strange?"
"He does have a point," Hermione said. "I enjoyed it when I was a child. Did you, Harry?"
He shook his head. "Thanks to Dudley, I hardly ever got to play."
"That's a shame."
"Can you explain how it works one more time?" Ron asked. He'd been sitting in silent contemplation since Harry first mentioned it.
"Honestly, Ron," Hermione huffed. "Rounders is probably the simplest game I've ever played."
Harry and Hermione received similar reactions from the other Weasleys.
"What's the point?" George asked. "You can't use a broom."
"It doesn't have much of a plot," Percy scoffed.
Bill sighed, "Do you really think my girls want to go romping around in the dirt?"
Finally, they decided to go above the parents. While the Weasleys, including Harry and Hermione, could pretend they had the power to make choices for their children, they all knew who really had the final word.
"I bet I can hit the ball farther than you, Al," James said with a grin.
"No, you can't," he snapped.
"Fred's probably going to hit me," Roxanne whined.
"Yeah right!" he said and scowled. "You will when I'm not looking."
"Well, I don't want to play," Victoire complained. "It sounds sweaty and dumb."
"I do," Dominique giggled. "I bet I'm better at it than you."
"You're only saying that 'cause it doesn't take magic, and you can't do any!"
"But I will next year!"
"Come on, Vickie," Teddy said, coming to Dominique's rescue. "It will be lots of fun."
"I suppose…" she said.
"I'm gonna run faster than you, Molly," Louis promised.
She rolled her eyes. "Nuh uh! You're slower than Lucy!"
"I'm not that slow!" her sister insisted.
Hugo, who was only four and the youngest of the bunch, smiled. "I wanna play."
Lily, only a few months older, pushed him. "You're too little to play."
"Then so are you," Rose cut in as her brother's lip began to quiver.
"Never mind," Lily said quickly, folding her hands in her lap.
"Then it's settled," Hermione said, hoping to cut off all disagreements before they truly blossomed. "When your parents come in, let's all convince them we should play next weekend.
Sure enough, when Audrey came in to relieve Hermione of what they called attempted child-watching, Lucy leapt into her arms and shouting, "Mommy, I want to play baseball!"
…
"I think one of us should be the pitcher," Hermione suggested to the other adults as the kids took off across the field that the parents had just magically marked with bases.
Percy nodded. "Excellent thinking. I still don't like the idea of these kids swinging bats and throwing balls, so we might as well narrow it down some."
"Who's going to do it?" Audrey asked.
Every male, Angelina, and Ginny answered as one, "I will."
"'Who eez it zat can srow zee ball straight?" Fleur asked, her accent as think as the first day she'd spent in England.
They all looked at each other; none of them had really thought of the job requirements yet. At Hermione's recommendation, they took turns standing on the pitcher's mound and tossing the ball to home plate.
"None of us can get it right," George chuckled after lobbing it much too far to the left. A childhood of broomsticks and toy wands hadn't prepared the Weasleys very well for the world of muggle sports.
"Let's just use magic already," Bill said as he rolled his eyes. Nodding in agreement, Hermione placed a charm on the ball that would adjust where it flew to the height of the child batting.
They immediately began bickering again since skill was no longer required to pitch. Finally, Bill started laughing.
"Care to share?" George asked as he crossed his arms.
"Since it doesn't matter who throws, why not put the two people with worst coordination on the mound?"
Ron chuckled. "In that case, I nominate my wife."
Hermione glared, but everyone else roared with laughter, except Fleur and Audrey, who shared her coordination.
"If Hermione is stuck doing it anyway," Audrey offered, "why not have Harry do it too? It was their idea, after all."
This seemed to agree with most of the adults, so they wrangled the kids together to choose teams.
"We're going to divide you up by age," Harry explained. "Can you guys stand in order of oldest to youngest?"
After a lot of squabbling, squawking, and jostling, they were finally arranged from Teddy to Hugo.
Harry swore under his breath. Thirteen kids didn't make for very even teams.
Luckily Hermione already had that part figured out. "Since there are an odd number of you, Lily and Hugo are going to be on the same team. The rest of you will go every other person for teams."
Fred quickly tried to switch with Roxanne so he could be on James' team, but it was too late. Teddy, Dominique, Molly, Fred, Lucy, and Albus were on Harry's team while Victoire, Louis, James, Roxanne, Rose, Lily, and Hugo were on Hermione's.
Because they didn't have catching gear, Ron volunteered to be catcher, although George heckled him about fairness since his wife and kids were all on the same team. Despite the teasing, the adults had decided he should have his wand discreetly placed in his gloveless hand in case someone got two strikes. "Game on!" he cried as Harry's team ran to the benches Percy and Bill had Accio'd from up by the Burrow's garden.
Meanwhile Hermione was doling out positions, leaving Louis, James, and Roxanne feeling important for getting the bases. "We'll switch next inning," she promised a pouting Rose, who brightened and took her place on short stop.
Teddy had been chosen to bat first, so he sauntered up to home plate oozing confidence. While he hadn't played baseball any more often than the others, it didn't look that hard to him. He placed both feet on either side of the plate, gripped the bat, and swung far too late to hit the ball when Harry threw it. His next two were the exact same. Ron had almost used magic to help him swing the last time, but Teddy was fourteen and old enough to take striking out. At least, that's what Ron thought. He returned to the bench grumbling to himself.
"You'll do better next time," Harry called, shooting Ron a look.
Next was Albus, who Ron helped on the last swing. With this well-timed assistance, Al popped it over behind his brother on second. James picked it up and lobbed it to Louis, but Al managed to beat his cousin to first.
Unfortunately Molly's aided third swing sent it straight to James again, who caught it in his glove. He was so stunned to have caught it, he forgot to pass it to Louis to retry Al.
Ron had to give Dominique support on her last swing as well, popping it over to Rose, who jumped up and found she was inches top short to catch it. Lily ran to the ball and picked it up with a giggle. "Come back!" Rose shouted, but Lily had already started tearing away from the diamond with the baseball in her hand.
It took most of the team and a couple adults to retrieve the ball from the mischievous toddler. By that point, Al and Dominique were both dancing for joy at having run all the way around, but not even their parents had been watching. As Hermione's team protested the unfairness of Lily "ruining the game," Harry and Hermione called for a time-out – although neither had ever played baseball with such a thing before – to confer. They decided that the points did not count and sent a grumbling Al back to second and a pouting Dominique to first. They only got madder when Roxanne got Al out on the next turn.
After switching places, Hermione sent Victoire to the plate.
"Why is she going first?" Louis whined. "She's just gonna get out."
"Yeah," James added. "It's an embarrassment we even have to play with girls. They aren't good at – Owe!" He rubbed his arm where Roxanne had just thumped him.
Victoire gritted her teeth. She'd show them!
Ron got his wand ready after she swung miles too early the first time. On the second pitch, however, the bat met the ball with a satisfying crack. The ball sailed far over the players' heads as Victoire took off running.
"Come on, Vic!" Hermione shouted. "Go home! Go all the way!"
Her parents and the other adults quickly caught on. They cheered loudly with Roxanne and Rose, while James and Louis sat with their jaws wide open. She rounded first and rushed to second. As she slowed to look around for the ball, she heard Aunt Hermione say, "Don't look, just go!"
She listened, putting on another burst of speed. Her heart swelled with pride when even Teddy, who stood on third base, cheered, "Go Vickie!"
Her foot touched home, but she collided into Uncle Ron with the speed she'd been running. "First point of the game," he said with a grin, "and a home run at that."
Victoire spent about twenty seconds panting to get her breath back, but then she turned to the bench and glared at the boys on her team. "That is how girls play baseball. You're next, James. Try not to embarrass me.