Playing Defense

Chapter 3: Cup Qualification

Mid October, 2016

Harry made his way down to the Staff Room after a particularly good lesson with the fourth years. They were grasping the material nicely, and their assignments were appropriately detailed with the usual exceptions. It was while thinking how to get to one particularly obstinate Gryffindor girl that he opened the door, made his way over to the tea trolley and, lost in thought, didn't realise that he wasn't alone.

"A-hem."

He turned to see Daphne sitting on the squashy sofa over by the window. "Sorry. Hello."

Daphne rolled her eyes. "Don't you just 'hello' me, Harry. Details?"

"What?" He added his small amount of milk and began stirring. "How did you know?"

She sighed. "Your daughter is in my house. Remember?"

"Right." With a sigh he went over, placed the teacup on the small side table and sat on the other end of the sofa. "It was a date. It was nice. She was nice. I think she thought I was nice. We might do it again, that would be nice. There, satisfied?"

"Absolutely not." She turned on the sofa, facing him, and tucked her legs underneath each other, one foot over the top of the other leg. Seeing his odd look she shook her head. "It's called yoga. Very relaxing. I would suggest you should try it some time but you'd invariably end up in the hospital wing and then we'd never hear the end of your whingeing. And for your information these are called yoga leggings. Much more comfortable under teaching robes and with how drafty the castle is they are very cozy, especially after a few warming charms. For now let's leave my wardrobe out of this and get to the good stuff, shall we? After the dunderheads in my last class I could use some entertainment."

"Dunderheads? Have you been talking to Snape's portrait?"

"Slytherin House rules require using the word. Enough. Spill. Name, age, details." She looked at her watch. "I have an hour."

"You expect me to tell you an hour's worth of stuff? You do know me, right?"

"Regrettably, though on occasion I do pretend otherwise. I'm waiting."

"Fine. Her name's Bernice Fowlke."

It had been two weeks earlier when he'd gone over to take Ted to lunch on a Saturday to celebrate Ted's new job. Apparently even if he didn't enjoy working at Games and Sports there were some benefits, namely contacts. One of the office workers at the Tutshill Tornados Quidditch team had taken a position in Australia, and Ted had somehow landed the post. He'd offered to take Ted to dinner that night but for some reason Ted had absolutely insisted that he come for lunch.

It was quite obvious when he arrived at Tutshill what Ted's motives were, because not too long after entering the office, and doing the normal round of introductions, Ted made a special effort to introduce him to Judith Fowlke. The Fowlke family had bought the Quidditch team a few years ago and it was a family operation through and through; two of the older sons were in the scouting department and player contracts areas, while Judith managed the public relations area. She was in her twenties, pretty, but there was something about her that Harry just felt was a bit off, something that rubbed him the wrong way. Yes, she was very cordial to him, taking his arm and offering to show him around the facilities, but after a while as they made their way through the offices he realised that even though she hadn't said a word he knew that she was working up to asking him all about the war. After years and years of dealing with it he almost had a sixth sense about it. As for her smile, there was something almost...predatory about it. Thankfully, though, he made an excuse of having another appointment after lunch with Ted and begged off the rest of the tour, asking to be shown back to where Ted worked.

Ted was at his desk, grinning madly, when another woman came in to give him a folder of parchment. She was dark-haired, and it didn't take much to see that she must have been part of the Fowlke family as well, as she resembled Judith. With an exception; where Judith was tall and thin the other woman was much shorter and not as thin as her sister. Thankfully Ted introduced him, and Bernice greeted him well enough, but focused on her instructions to Ted about a contract for something or other.

He'd started to say something to Ted when Bernice interrupted him and asked him for a word. Intrigued he joined her a few desks away and was surprised when she apologised for her sister. Judith had been instrumental in Ted's hiring, and Bernice had overheard a conversation with their father about somehow having Harry in their promotional materials. Before Harry could say anything Bernice promised him that she would keep him out of the PR efforts and that she would make sure that they wouldn't take it out on Ted when that happened.

He wasn't sure exactly why the idea popped into his head, but he found her somewhat refreshing. Easy on the eyes, which he mentally chastised himself for, because looks weren't everything, he'd learned that the hard way. She had a pleasant voice, and an air about her that he liked, and for some reason that just struck a nerve.

"So you asked her out? Right there? After everything she just told you?" Daphne laughed. "Harry, that's something, even for you. Gryffindor just blustering ahead without thinking as usual."

"What do you mean?" Harry took a sip of tea. "I can't win, everyone, including you, has been giving me stick for not asking a woman out on a date and now I've done it wrong? She said yes, you know. We went out last night, so it can't have been that bad."

After a deep sigh Daphne shook her head. "Bernice, poor woman, that's not a name I'd choose, but it's not her fault. Let's see." She started ticking things off on her fingers. "She works with her family. Ted's obviously talked you up to her...older? Younger?"

"Younger sister. Bernice is four years older." He saw her waiting. "She's 29 so Judith is 25."

"Well done, breaks the older woman streak. I'm not counting the Delacour girl for obvious reasons. Let's continue. Her younger sister is the one who I'm guessing always tends to get her way because she's the baby, and you've just said 'nope, I'll take the other one.' Not to mention that you've just upended whatever publicity they were planning. Oh, and now Ted's job is going to be on rather shaky terms."

Harry shook his head. "Bernice said she'd make sure..."

"Harry. Really?" Daphne sighed. "You may have a Slytherin daughter but you, my friend, are a Gryiffindor through and through. You just went on a date with your godson's boss. Normally I'd say that when it ends she'd be vindictive against Teddy, but since you have a track record of ending things amicably with Weasley you might just fly through that one ok."

"Merlin's fucking pants, Daphne. We just went out one date and you've got things ending. Do you want to know how the date went or should I just..."

"No, no, sorry." She reached over and patted him sarcastically on the shoulder. "There, there, it's ok. Tell me how it went."

"Fine." Harry took another sip of tea. "Well..."

"And for the love of Hecate please tell me Quidditch was not involved."

"Are you going to let me tell this or not?"

"Sorry. Do continue."

After a long sigh he shook his head. "And you think it's a wonder I'm single. Right. Well, since it's still hard for me to go out into the magical world without having some sort of photographer or people being nosy..." he paused and stared at her, which had absolutely no effect whatsoever "...we went Muggle. She'd never seen a movie before, so we went to the cinema. After that we had dinner and coffee."

She feigned shock. "I can't believe that!"

"Huh?" He gave her a confused look. "You know I grew up Muggle, going to the cinema is no big deal."

Waving him off she shook her head. "No, not that. Coffee. I've been teaching with you for years now and I've only seen you drink tea."

"Bloody hell." He ran a hand through his hair. "This might take all hour."

Unfortunately for Harry he wasn't able to continue right away because the door opened and the unmistakable form of Minerva McGonagall walked in. "I do hope I am not interrupting anything."

Daphne make a smarmy, welcoming face. "Of course not, pull up a chair, Harry's just telling me all about his date."

The corners of Minerva's mouth twitched upwards ever so slightly. "Athena will be pleased." She sat in a nearby chair. "Do continue."

Harry let his head fall back on the sofa. "Oh God."

Minerva looked over to Daphne. "It can't have been that bad. It wasn't that bad, was it? He is somewhat out of practise."

After a few moments Harry lifted his head up. "Ok, here's a quick summary that's only taken me forever to tell Daphne because she keeps interrupting. Ted's taken a job with Tutsill in their office and..."

A quick knock on the Staff Room door was almost immediately followed by the door opening. "Is Dad in here?"

"Athena?" Harry turned to the door. "You're not allowed in here, it's the Staff Room. No students."

As Athena stood in the open doorway Minerva waved her in. "I'll allow it. She's been coming in here for years, what's one more visit? Oh, and Athena, if it isn't too much trouble could I have a cup of tea, please? You remember how I take it, I hope."

With a giant grin Athena closed the door behind her, went to the tea trolley and fixed her Headmistress a cup of tea. It had been hard for her to think of her as a Headmistress when she was a first year; after all, she'd grown up with 'Auntie Minerva' helping watch her for years. Tea sorted, she handed the cup to Minerva and then plopped herself on the sofa, right between her father and her head of house. "So how was the date, Dad? Ted's owl said that you kinda threw his plans off, never thought you would be interested in his boss. Said it was probably the boobs." She turned to Daphne and mouthed 'big ones.'

Harry couldn't believe his daughter and watched as Minerva coughed slightly on her sip of tea. "Athena Jean Weasley-Potter, we'll have words later about that. For the record, NO, but let's move on. Like I told Daphne ages ago we went to the cinema, it wasn't one of the ones that show the most current movies because I didn't want it to be too crowded for her. She thought it was hilarious, because of how Muggles see ghosts." He saw every eye looking at him. "It's called Ghostbusters, and she thought the women in it were quite funny, but I'll explain it later, that's not the important part. She liked it, and then after it was over we went to a nice restaurant and had a nice time talking during our meal. We didn't want to stop the night there so we went out for coffee. There. That's it. Satisfied?"

"Hmmm..." Athena glanced at Daphne and then turned to her father. "So...did you kiss her goodnight?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm not telling you that."

Athena turned to Daphne. "So yes, then?"

Daphne nodded. "That's a yes."

Harry saw Minerva chuckling and rolled his eyes. "Dammit, this is why I never date. This. Right here. This." He stood up. "I'm going to go grade some papers."

Daphne took a look at her watch. "You didn't tell us, will there be a second date? I still have twenty minutes left."

"Nope. I'm done." Without another word Harry glared at his daughter and left the Staff Room.

All three witches looked at each other for a moment and then simultaneously burst into laughter.

-ooo-

Mid December

It was on a Sunday morning that Harry felt as if the walls of Hogwarts were closing in on him. He got out of bed, went to the loo almost mechanically and sat down at his little table without really looking at anything. Flip arrived with breakfast, tea and the Prophet, but nothing seemed to have any taste to it; he chewed, swallowed, and eventually all the food on the plates was gone but he hadn't really enjoyed any of it. Tea was consumed and afterwards he simply sat there at the table, unable to move.

Eventually he got up and went to his wardrobe, which seemed to drive the point home even further. All of the clothes were the ones that Ted and Athena had picked out for him, mostly Ted, and he didn't want to wear any of them. They were nice, fit well, and markedly newer than the rest of his clothing, but they just weren't...right. He dug through the dresser and found an old pair of jeans, put on a thick pair of woolen socks and found a faded Chudley Cannons t-shirt Ron had given him as a birthday present ages ago. Slipping it over his head he was happy because it was soft, even if the left armpit did have a hole. There was a spell to fix that, obviously, but he'd never learned. After pulling out one of Molly's Christmas jumpers he put that on, irritated that he managed to get his arm stuck somehow, but once that was done he wasn't sure exactly what to do next.

As he watched the snow come down outside his window he ignored the smouldering ashes of his fireplace and pulled over the boots from under the table. Ted had been right, they were really comfortable, and with what he was contemplating they would be necessary. He pulled out more Molly woolens, a hat and scarf, and once those were appropriately fitted he pulled out the heavy black coat from the back of the wardrobe. Knowing that he would get questions for the first time in ages he went over to his trunk and pulled out his invisibility cloak, draped it over and headed out the door.

He made it down the staircases rather easily, only a few early risers about on a Sunday morning as usual, and only had to avoid Peeves to make it out of the castle. Once outside the snow and wind began to pelt at him and he pulled the cloak off, stowing it inside his coat. It was also at that time he realised that he'd forgotten his gloves, so jamming his hands into his coat pockets he set off. It wasn't hard going, though, as despite the snow and wind there was one set of footsteps leading away from the castle so he simply made sure he stepped in the tracks.

Eventually he arrived at his destination, and not wanting to startle him he knocked on the greenhouse door. A few moments later Neville appeared at the doorway, a very surprised look on his face. "Harry? What on earth? Get in, it's horrible out there."

"Thanks." Harry stepped inside and waited for Neville to close the door. As Neville turned to him he noticed that, despite the nasty weather, his old friend was wearing a t-shirt and a rather loud pair of Bermuda shorts. "Aren't you cold?"

Neville looked at Harry as if he'd grown another head and laughed. "I'll wait."

It didn't take long for Harry to realise what was going on, as it became rather obvious that the greenhouse temperature was much, much different than outside. "Bloody hell." He pulled off the hat and scarf, took off his coat and then, after hesitating, pulled the jumper over his head. "Remind me to come out here more often. First time I've really been warm in weeks."

"Herbology does have it's perks." Neville took a few steps over to one of the long tables that ran along the sides of the greenhouse, sat down his tools and plopped himself on a stool. He didn't say anything, but nodded towards the other side of the table.

Taking the hint Harry eased himself onto one of the stools, which initially was rather high, making his knees almost hit the top of the table, but after a moment it began shrinking, leveling out perfectly. "I'd forgotten about the stools."

"You don't come out to the greenhouses very often." Neville paused. "So what's the special occasion?"

Blowing out his cheeks Harry exhaled deeply. "I got dumped."

"Bernice dumped you?" Neville raised an eyebrow. From what he and Harry had talked about things seemed to be going well with the woman. "I'm sorry to hear that. How are you holding up?"

"To be honest I'm not really sure. I liked her, but she said, well...she said dating me was difficult." He felt his feet sweating like crazy in the boots and woolen socks. "Baggage."

"Ah, yes, well, Harry, there's baggage and then there's baggage. I'm afraid you have the second sort." He grimaced. "I'm sorry, that's not what you need to hear right now."

"But she's right and you are, too. First off there's the whole war thing, that's a big one. There's things I just...I'm not going to talk about. With...I mean, only..."

Neville nodded. "I understand. Things that only you and Hermione and Ron will comprehend. That's ok."

"And Athena, she knows most of it. Not all, but most. But you get it because there's stuff that you went through that I didn't. We made it through, doesn't mean we want to pop down to the pub and spill it all over pints all the time. We've talked over the years, Nev, and outside of Ron and Hermione you know more than most, so you know why I don't like to talk about it. She said it meant that I didn't trust her."

"Hmmm." Neville absentmindedly tapped some dirt off one of his tools. "How old is she again?"

"Twenty-nine."

"So if I do the maths that means that when everything was going on she was nine, not even at Hogwarts yet. She doesn't understand."

"No shit." Harry's laugh held no mirth. "Merlin, it's a good thing I was an Auror as long as I was before coming here or I could have potentially taught her. How awkward would that be?"

"Yes, that would be uncomfortable." The two men sat silently at the table for a moment until Neville couldn't help but ask. "I'm sorry, I know dredging it all back up again isn't pleasant, but if we learned anything from the past it's that sometimes we need to talk things out. The baggage was more than the war, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." Harry stood up and began walking along the edge of the table. "There's the whole thing with her family, they weren't too happy that I made it plain that I wouldn't be sitting in the 'free seats' they were providing Ted, seats that just happened to be prime locations for photographers. So there's that, she was getting pressure from them. Thankfully she helped Ted get the job with Wigtown. Daphne was right, dammit. And..."

"Stop!" Neville's wand arm came up abruptly. "Skin contact with those leaves will not be pleasant."

"Shit! Sorry!" Harry took several steps backwards before returning to the table. "Sorry, which greenhouse is this?"

"Three."

"Damn. Should have looked. How about I just sit?"

Neville sat his wand down on the table. "That would be best."

"Sorry." Harry leaned over the table as the stool adjusted. "So besides her family and Ted's job, if that wasn't enough, there's Ginny, the fact that I teach here and that I have an eighteen year old godson and a seventeen year old daughter. There's not that much age difference and, well, she said she wasn't sure she wanted to take all that on."

"Harry, if I may...how serious was this? Because these are questions that..."

"I don't know, really. I mean, we'd been dating about two months, maybe more, I can't recall how long exactly, but that's it. She said that she liked me, that we got on well, but that if there wasn't a possible future then it would be hard to...dammit, Neville, I just wanted a date to Ginny's wedding. I hadn't even thought about this crap until Athena's plan, and then what Gabrielle told me. It was just a date, just for Ginny's wedding. That's what I told myself at first, and I wasn't sure if there was going to be anything more than that, but..."

"But it sucks being told that there isn't." Neville looked at him intently. "According to one of my first year Gryffindors it must 'suck Thestral balls' or something like that."

That made Harry laugh as he knew exactly which student he was talking about. "Cordelia?"

"Cordelia."

"Well she's right. Even though, if I'm honest, I hadn't even thought of that. Really, I was just enjoying being out with her, doing things, even if we never really talked about anything important. And sometimes I just shrugged stuff off, when I'd make a reference and she wouldn't get it, or she wouldn't get a joke or think that I was taking the mickey when I wasn't."

Once again Neville chuckled, but it wasn't at Harry's expense. "I'm sorry, Harry, but this sounds like me and Susan all over again. We dated for a year, and it was always like that. Let me ask you, did you ever feel comfortable? At ease? Or was it like you were always trying to show her the best version of Harry Potter instead of you?"

"Isn't everybody on their best behaviour when they're dating?"

"Well, yes, but eventually that goes away. That's what happened with Hannah and we've been married ten years now. I'm not saying to start looking at marriage criteria right from the off, but...is that something you're thinking about? Sorry, I..."

"Neville, I've known you since we were eleven. I don't think there's too much you can't ask me. And I don't know. Maybe? If anything this whole fiasco has made me think about things, and it's going to be worse when Athena's gone. Just think, me and Kreacher, alone at Grimmauld until the end of time."

"No, Athena would never let that happen. We would never let that happen. If anything I think this has been good for you, you're figuring out what you want, possibly for the first time in ages. And since we're both sweating our bollocks off out here while it's snowing outside I'll just keep going until you tell me to stop. What do you want, Harry?"

At that question Harry's brain came to a crashing halt. What did he want? Once again, without remembering Neville's warnings, he got up and began to pace. As he walked about Neville quietly took his wand and extended the table at the far end, blocking off access to the more troublesome plants.

"I don't know, Neville. I really don't. I mean, I want someone who knows about all the stuff from the war, and knows enough that there are things that I really don't want to talk about and just leaves it at that. That's one thing. And then...Merlin. Someone who will listen, someone who's fun to be around, someone who doesn't care if I like wearing things I've had for years, someone who understands why I like going to Muggle things, someone who understands that my schedule is going to be different because I teach here. I can't just pop out on a weeknight for something, you know. Bernice wanted me to go to a thing with her but it was on a Wednesday. I have rounds on Wednesday; sure, I could trade it with someone, but it's just a pain in the arse." He stopped pacing and turned back to Neville's attentive figure. "And the most important thing is someone who will be good to Athena, because she's the most important thing in my life. She's got to understand that, whoever she is." He threw his hands up in the air. "Not asking for much, huh?"

"Well, it's you, Harry. That's what makes you, you. What you want, what you need. We're all different. We all need different things, and just because that's what you need doesn't make it wrong or right, it just makes it you."

After staring at him for a moment Harry shook his head. "Damn, Neville, how'd you get so smart?"

At that Neville gave a big, honest laugh. "Failure! Lots and lots of it!" After wiping his hand over his forehead he waggled his eyebrows. "Plus I listened to Ron when he and Hermione were figuring things out. You were busy with the Aurors. Trust me, I've heard this a few times before."

"This." Harry pointed at him. "This is why you're a great head of house. You deal with this kind of stuff a lot, don't you?"

"On occasion. Oh." Neville's face formed in what, in most cultures, was the universal expression for 'this isn't going to be good.'

"What?" Harry sat down again. "Nev?"

After a deep breath Neville blinked several times. "Yes. Well. I won't betray the Gryffindor who came to me, but it was about Athena. The boy is rather enamoured with your daughter, but when he made his intentions known she informed him that she was flattered but was seeing someone else."

"MacGillig? Again?" Harry sighed. It had been hard watching his daughter go through the pains of dating, especially hard as one of her professors, but the breakup with Ravenclaw Conor MacGillig her fifth year hadn't been easy. "I thought that was over." He looked over to Neville who, at that moment, looked as if he wished he had never said a word. "Ok, come on, after all that's gone on today you can't just leave it like that. It can't be that bad. It's not that bad, is it? Just tell me and I won't say a word, she won't know and I won't do anything unless she tells me."

"She's dating Ted."

"Ted? Ted who?"

"Harry, it's Teddy Lupin."

Harry's mouth opened to say a word but nothing came out. After a second failed attempt on the third attempt he actually managed to form a word. "Oh."

"Precisely."

-ooo-

20 December

It was obvious that the students were restless for Christmas break because Harry had to actually take away points for the first time in ages. Two of his second year students, both Gryffindors, could not stop talking during class. He warned them once, gave them what older students called the 'scary face of doom' and after a bit had just resumed their conversation, causing him to slightly lose his temper. The rest of class was a shambles after that.

Still in a bad mood Harry was glad that he had a break before the seventh year class, which always seemed to put him in a better mood, especially as they had pestered him about the patronus spell after learning it would earn them extra credit on their NEWTS. At least he had that to look forward to. It was while thinking about how to introduce that spell that he entered the Staff Room, happy that it was, for once, empty. At least that's what he thought until he heard her clear her throat.

Without turning from the tea trolley he said "Hello, Daphne."

"And how did you know it was me?"

He turned from the trolley and saw her in the far corner, by the fireplace. "I know that sound."

"At least I'm not forgettable." She saw his face. "Bad lesson?"

"Yeah." He sat down in the other chair next to the fireplace, glad of its warmth. "Took away points today."

"What? You?" She mock-clutched her chest. "No! You're the good professor!"

"Whatever." He took a sip of tea. "Now I know why Arithmancy starts at third year, hopefully by then they've got it out of their systems."

"You'd be surprised. But I don't take away many points."

He laughed. "That's because you scare them."

"As intended." She took a sip of her tea, debated a bit, and then turned towards him. "Normally I wouldn't say anything, but Athena came to me the other day. Harry, she still hasn't told you, has she?"

"Nope." He shook his head. "And I've had a letter from Ted, he didn't say a word."

"Think about it, Harry. They don't know what to say. Put yourself in their place, how would you feel?"

"It doesn't seem right, like they're brother and sister." He saw her arch an eyebrow. "Ok, you're right, I know, they're not, and Ted didn't live with me, he'd just stay over when he wasn't at Andromeda's place every now and then, but I have no idea what I'm going to do about Christmas." He saw her quizzical look and rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it. Andromeda is going to Greece with Narcissa of all people."

"They are sisters. Blood is thicker than being married to a git like Lucius Malfoy. Thank Merlin that woman came to her senses and divorced him after everything that happened. That was one of your last cases, wasn't it? Before you left the Aurors?"

"Yeah. It was. Can't tell you how good it felt to arrest Lucius and Draco. You would have thought the two of them would have been smarter than to try and trade in illegal creatures, dark objects, illegal potions, anything to get Galleons. Then again, Draco never was that smart."

"Thank Hecate that Astoria broke with him before that. Of course, that did mean she married Finnegan of all people. At least I'm escaping that joyous gathering this holiday." She saw him look at her inquisitively. "The Finnegans, as well as my parents, are all going to America to visit his family over there. Someplace called Boston. Mum believes it is a 'great opportunity to get to know the family.' I'd rather kiss the giant squid."

Harry shrugged. "He probably wouldn't mind." After seeing Daphne's eye roll something popped into his head. "So what are you doing for Christmas?"

"Taking a long bath, eating takeaway and opening a bottle of wine." Her eyes narrowed. After so long she knew exactly what he was thinking. "Do you think that's for the best?"

"You shouldn't be alone for Christmas. Plus you'd be helping me out. Athena loves you, plus..."

"I scare the shit out of Lupin." She chuckled. "That would put him on his best behaviour."

"Well, that and Kreacher. My house elf." Harry took another sip of tea. "They hate each other, Kreacher and Ted. Something happened and neither one will tell me what happened, which I think is weird because Kreacher still calls me Master and all that. Hermione says if I hadn't freed him and hired him back on then he probably would have been forced to tell me."

Daphne examined her nails. "Well, Hermione obviously couldn't foresee that change. She's the Auror, tell her to investigate."

"Right. Anyway, Christmas?" He saw her hesitate. "I'm not a bad cook, and there's always biscuits. We make them and decorate them, so the food's good."

"What about Weasley and Wood?"

Harry shook his head. "They're at his parents' place this year, and Athena and I agreed it would be good to give them some time, this year especially. We're going to the Puddlemere Boxing Day match, though, and Athena's going to their place afterwards."

"Oh, Quidditch. You know me so well, that's the bait to set the hook." She smirked at him. "Well, the things one must endure. Thank you, Harry. I would love to come to Christmas.

-ooo-

It had been a good match for both Mr. Wood and the future Mrs. Wood, as Puddlemere had soundly trounced Wigtown. As the weather was rather nasty it had been a relief to everyone involved that the match was rather short, lasting only a little under an hour before the Puddlemere Seeker grasped the Snitch. Once the press conference was done, and the pictures taken, Ginny and Oliver made their way out of the press area and back into what was known as the Hurry Up room. As this was the room where family and friends waited for the players to finish their official duties, the phrase had been uttered more than once. Oliver opened the door, and after Ginny entered he followed, almost running into the back of his fiancee.

"Ginny, what's wrong?"

"Shh, Oliver." She took his arm and pulled him down so she could whisper. "Don't say anything but look over there in the far corner."

Oliver lifted his head and there, where Ginny indicated, was Athena and Ted. They were sitting close together, holding hands, and her head was on his shoulder. "I told you, love."

"Yes, you were right." She straightened her shoulders. "Ok, let's see what happens." As they began walking towards them Ginny saw Athena recognise them, and the unmistakable Weasley blush began on her daughter.

Ted stood up suddenly but didn't make it all the way up as Athena, still seated, continued to hold his hand. After a quick tug Athena got up, but did not let go of him.

"Mum, Oliver, you were great." Athena's voice was a little higher pitched than usual.

"Looks like you two are doing great as well." Oliver smirked. "So, news, then?"

Athena took a deep breath. "Mum, Ollie, Teddy and I are dating it's been really since September but not really since I'm at school and Dad knows now I think Daphne figured it out first."

"Breathe, sweetie." Ginny smiled. "You need to breathe every now and then. At least I know your boyfriend." She turned to Ted. "And I know I don't need to say..."

Ted shook his head rapidly. "Oh no, Harry and Professor Greengrass made sure of that, right when I got to Grimmauld Place. Very sure."

Oliver cocked an eyebrow. "Daphne Greengrass was at your Christmas, then, is that right? Well, well, well."

Ginny glanced back up to Oliver. "Later." Turning back she nodded emphatically. "Ok, come on you two, I'm hungry. Come on, get your things and let's go." As Athena and Ted went back to get their coats she turned to Oliver. "So Harry added her to his ward list, interesting. Very interesting. If this is what I think it is Neville might get a nice little after-Christmas bonus."

"Bonus? What are you on about?" Oliver took her hand. "Are you telling me..."

"There's a pool on who Harry's taking to the wedding. McGonagall started it, if you can believe that." She focused on her daughter walking towards her, and it still somewhat startled her, seeing Athena and Ted holding hands. "Chinese?"

A/N: One more chapter to go. For those of you going 'oh good grief you always have a wedding' yeah, not exactly. You'll see.

Poor Harry, getting ganged up on like that. At least he's got Neville. Everyone needs a friend like Neville. Ok, last chapter coming up soon. I promise. Really.

As always, thanks for reading and review if you wish.