A MODern Man 4
Harry awoke to the click and flash of a camera and instinctively banished the photographer and closed and locked the door with a flick of his hand before drifting back to sleep.
James and Lily untangled themselves and climbed to their feet with a groan.
"Ok, maybe I shouldn't have used the flash," James admitted, figuring that accidental magic from Harry had been responsible.
"Yes, but did you get a good picture?" Lily asked, drawing her wand and healing their bruises.
James checked the camera. "Looks good," he confirmed.
"Worth it then," Lily said cheerfully.
"Is Harry up yet?" Ginny asked, still wearing the emerald green dress and ruby jewelry from lunch.
"Not yet," Lily replied, pleased Ginny and Harry were no longer fighting and amused that she wanted to show off how she looked to him.
"Can I wake him?"
"I think he locked the door," James told her, having heard the click before he hit the wall.
Ginny touched the door and it unlocked itself.
"Locking charm with an exclusion principle," Lily said proudly.
"He's going to be a strong wizard," James said proudly as Ginny slipped in to wake him up.
"Think he'll be in Ravenclaw?" Lily asked.
"Gryffindor," James said. "That way he can have both balls and brains."
Lily hit him on the shoulder. "James!"
"I'm just saying that being smart enough for Ravenclaw doesn't mean you aren't brave enough for Gryffindor," James said.
Ginny led a sleepy looking Harry down the hall to her room.
"Let's go develop the photos and put them in the album while they're still getting along," Lily said, dragging James off in much the same manner Ginny had.
"You look very nice," Harry said while rubbing sleep from his eyes as Ginny twirled to show off her dress.
"Really?" she asked, leaning close.
Harry wrapped his arms around her and kissed her before remembering he'd told himself he wasn't going to be snogging this Ginny. "Really," he told her as his head came back up. Ginny smiled shyly at him in a way he knew all to well and he quickly searched his mind for non-couple activities they could do to distract her. "Wanna go flying?"
Ginny's eyes lit up. "Help me out of this thing!"
Harry snapped his fingers, removing and putting away the dress in her closet and momentarily cursed himself for his ingrained reflexes.
"That was so cool!" Ginny squealed. "Can you teach me!?" she begged.
"Ask the house elves," Harry replied. "You have to learn a lot of cleaning spells first... and it's a secret."
"Ok," she said brightly, making a mental note. "What should I wear?"
"Pants and padding," Harry replied. "In case we take a tumble."
"You might want to change out of that pink dress then," Ginny told him, reminding him that his youngest sisters had chosen what to wear for lunch.
"But don't I look good?" Harry asked, giving a twirl.
Ginny laughed so hard she snorted.
"Right, me and the remains of my masculine pride are going to change now." Harry went to retrieve his clothes, figuring Ginny might be done laughing by the time he got back.
Entering Dawn and Connie's room, he snapped his fingers, banishing the dress to the closet only to hear, "Tsk, tsk," from behind him. Turning around he saw a small elf shaking his head.
"You is using too much wrist," he said.
"I know," Harry admitted with a sigh, completely unconcerned with his nudity. "Ginny will probably be a better student than I am, but I am trying."
"Mistress Ginny is wanting to learn?" the elf asked curiously.
"We were just talking about it," Harry confirmed, finding his clothes in the corner of the room and getting dressed.
"Zippity would be teaching her?" the elf asked hopefully.
"Yes, but it is a secret," Harry told him. "And she probably wont have time to learn until I leave for Hogwarts."
The elf actually made an excited squeeing sound before vanishing with a pop.
"That went a lot easier than I thought it would," Harry said, recalling how hard it was to get an elf to teach him, but then again that was probably because he was friends with she-who-knits.
Harry returned to Ginny's room and helped her put on her pads, happy to see that their parents had spared no expense when it came to safety equipment.
"Now yours," Ginny ordered. "And no claiming it interferes with your flying."
"Ok," Harry agreed. "Let's check my room. They're in there somewhere."
It took nearly ten minutes to find his pads and he discovered several things in that time. His former self was a bit of a slob, loved pranks, and had an impressive Playwitch magazine collection.
Their back yard had probably been expanded more than a few times, considering the fact that James had installed a full size Quidditch stadium and a couple of obstacle courses. There were also a rather large number of notice-me-not charms on it and even a ward restricting the ability to perceive it to... no one?
Harry chuckled and grabbed Ginny's hand, pulling her through the ward. It felt a bit like the Fidelius, but less refined and only Harry's extensive work on that ward allowed him to pass through and alter it to include himself and his family.
"Where did this come from?!" Ginny asked, wide eyed.
"No idea," Harry replied, "but it looks like a fun place to fly."
*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*
"James," Lily said slowly.
"Yes, dear?"
"Do you remember having a full size Quidditch pitch in the back yard?" she asked in shock.
"Yeah, built it over four years with help from the guys and was the first place you tested the... Fidelius on," he said in wonder as he recalled it now.
"I believe we now know what my first test was on and it finally wore off!" Lily said with a grin, remembering the things the two of them had done on the pitch before she'd accidentally sealed it away.
The two rushed outside and found Harry and Ginny racing around the pitch while Flora played referee.
"I win!" Ginny called out, holding up a snitch.
"I wonder why," Harry said, while the three snitches he caught escaped his belt pouch and fluttered over to her and Flora.
"I think they are attracted to a certain hair color," Flora said as they fluttered around the two redheads.
"I don't know why that would be," James said blandly as Lily tried to look innocent.
"Your room is mine," Ginny told Harry.
Harry laughed. "I will start cleaning it immediately."
"I can't believe we forgot this," James said. "I proposed to you in the showers over there and we got married here."
"The Fidelius is an amazing charm," Lily said proudly.
"I'm calling the guys over. We are having a party!" James exclaimed.
"You two are trading rooms?" Flora asked.
"Nope," Ginny replied with an evil grin.
"Did you just feel a chill?" the tiny Voldemort that popped up on Harry's shoulder asked the tiny Snape on his other shoulder. "'Cause I just felt a chill."
Typing By: Ordieth
