A/N: Alright, well I couldn't rest until I got another chapter written...so I worked through my writer's block and here it is! Hope you enjoy...
Chapter 12-Practice Makes Perfect
"Teddy…Teddy. Don't do that; don't put that in your mouth!" Harry scolded, taking the stray object away from his godson. Teddy looked up at Harry, and giggled. There was something to be said about the laugh of a baby, it was sweet and pure, but these days Harry was beginning to find it maddening. Teddy was definitely more difficult than he looked, and sometimes Harry secretly thought to himself that Voldemort had been a piece of cake compared to Teddy.
This particular morning Harry and Teddy were heading off to have lunch with Ron and Hermione. They were almost out the door when Teddy had decided to pour his bottle all over himself and Harry, which meant more time Harry had to spend cleaning them up and redressing them. By this time, they were very late for lunch, but he knew his best friends would understand the delay.
Once they arrived at the restaurant he immediately spotted them. How could he not? They were wrapped up in one another presence, and completely oblivious to everything around them. It was almost overwhelming for Harry to watch them from a couple feet away, it seemed like forever ago when he had first met them and all they had done was argue. But now it seemed to him that they had finally gotten their act together, and after the year they all had had it was no wonder. There was nothing quite like death to put things in to prospective. He was happy for them, Ron and Hermione deserved all the happiness in the world.
"Hey…Sorry we're late." Harry said, setting Teddy down in a high chair and taking a seat next to him.
"Hi. You're late?" Hermione asked surprised, "Oh, I guess you are." She whispered to herself as she looked at her watch.
"Yeah…you guys looked a little busy when Teddy & I got here. What's that about?" Harry raised his eyebrows, he wondered if they really planned on telling him the truth.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Ron stated, faking a confused look.
"Sure you don't, when are you two planning to tell everyone?"
"Tell everyone what?" Hermione asked, biting her nails.
"What do you think I'm stupid? I can see that ring on your finger, even if you think you're hiding it."
Hermione and Ron looked at each other for a moment. They should've known they couldn't keep anything from Harry. Hermione pulled her hand out from under the table and gave it to Harry to examine.
"Wow. That's a beautiful ring..." Harry stated, as Hermione gazed lovingly at Ron. "I'm very happy for you two." He spoke softly, wondering if they could hear him in their little world.
"What? Oh, thank you." Hermione said, taking her hand back and placing it with Ron's on the table.
"Have you set a date or anything?" Harry asked.
"Well I just asked her last night, so we haven't set an actual date…" Ron informed him.
Hermione interjected, "I kinda want a summer wedding, just like yours and Ginny's" Harry nodded, as he thought back to that wonderful day. He must've been lost in his thoughts for awhile, because sometime later Hermione picked up the conversation again.
"Speaking of Ginny…How are the Harpies going for her?"
"It's going good, she really likes most of her teammates and she's getting back into the swing of practice…"
"Most of her teammates?" Ron asked
"Yeah…the surprising thing is that she kinda butts heads with Gwenog…" Harry explained.
"Gwenog? The Gwenog Jones? But she was Gin's hero growing up…" Ron doubtfully stated.
"It doesn't surprise me…when I met her I remember that she was a bit full of herself…" Scoffed Hermione.
"When you met her? Hermione, when did you ever meet the Harpies' Captain?" Ron asked surprised.
"6th year…one of Slughorn's parties… Is this ringing a bell, or were you too busy thrashing around with Lavender at the time to remember?"
Ron quickly remembered and started to turn the infamous Weasley red. "Yeah…I think I remember you saying something about that." Hermione smirked as Ron uncomfortably twisted in his seat.
"Anyway…Gwenog and Ginny are having a difference of opinion on some stuff but I think after awhile Gwenog will come to appreciate Gin's views and they'll come out a better team for it."
"Everything's going to turn out okay, Harry" Hermione reassured him.
Harry nodded, and then looked over at Teddy who was busy playing with his food, rather than eating it.
"Look Hahree…." Teddy exclaimed, holding his food-covered hands out to Harry.
"Yes, Teddy. You've made a mess…" Harry said, grabbing his napkin to begin clean up. "What are you guys doing this afternoon?" Harry directed at Hermione and Ron.
"I think we're going to be spending the afternoon at The Burrow…but we don't have anything set in concrete." Ron answered.
"Why?" Hermione asked suspiously.
"Well, I was wondering if you would look after Teddy for awhile while I go see Ginny."
Hermione looked at baby Teddy, he didn't look so bad. "Yeah, of course we can watch after him, but I thought Ginny was practicing…"
"She is." Harry said assured.
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"Good work, Ladies…Tomorrow's game against Chudley Cannons is at 7, I want all of you here by 6 for the warm-up. Any questions? Good. See you then…" Harpies' captain, Gwenog spoke as she walked off the practice field. "Oh, and Weasley…Potter…whatever, work on your Hawkshead and Parkin's Pincer…because I am really tired of you screwing those up!"
Ginny watched lividly from the air, as Gwenog marched off the field. Then she took off on her broom, ignoring her teammate's grumblings.
"I know it's hard…" One of her fellow Chasers yelled, Ginny thought her name was Grace."…but she's just like that. I would be more worried if she didn't yell at you. You're doing good kid…"
"Thanks." Ginny said, slowing down her broom's pace. Then she spotted Harry, he was walking onto the field. "Harry!" She yelled, starting her decent, but didn't make a very graceful landing, falling from about 10 feet above the ground.
"Ginny!" Harry screamed, as he and her teammates rushed over toward her. He reached her just in time to see a smile break across her lips, and the laughter to start.
"Are you okay?" Grace asked, doubtfully from behind her.
"I'm fine…" she laughed, her body rigid against the field. She sat up and hugged Harry around the neck, by then most of her teammates started to walk away.
"You always knew how to make an entrance…"
"Shut up, Harry…" Ginny laughed, taking his hands to help her stand.
"Well I would ask you how practice went, but I just heard an earful from Gwenog…" They started walking around the field.
"Ugg…it doesn't seem to matter what I do, Gwenog always finds something wrong…If I didn't love Quidditch so much, I'd quit…."
"But you do love Quidditch honey, and you've got to be one of the best players I've ever played with."
"Gwenog doesn't think so."
"Then let's prove her wrong…" Harry smiled as he called his broom, Ginny looked at him confused.
Hours later, the two of them soared through the darkening sky…enjoying the wondrous feeling of flying, after they had worked hard on Ginny's skills. It had been so long since they had been up in the air together, it was unbelievable how natural it felt for the two of them. Playing Quidditch and flying had been the one good thing in both of their lives that they had bonded over, everything else they had been through had been dark and sinister, something neither them wanted to ever share again.
As the sky started turning into night, Ginny and Harry rolled off their brooms and fell into each other's arms on the plush green grass.
"Aaaahhh….I'm so tired." Ginny whispered to Harry.
"Then close your eyes, and I'll watch over you…" he said softly, brushing his fingers through her beautiful red hair.
"This was nice…I missed flying with you." She dreamily sighed.
"I'm sorry we hadn't done this sooner… things have just been so difficult since the reconstruction. It's hard to think back to those precious times before everything happened." His tone changed into one of guilt.
"Harry, I understand but you are not to blame for Voldemort. You saved us all from him, and I'm gonna miss Fred for the rest of my life but that doesn't change how I feel about that."
"I love you. And nothing could ever change that." She murmured into his chest, feeling his sweet breath on her face.
"I love you." Harry whispered back softly. Ginny looked like an angel in his arms, she was way much more than he deserved. She opened her eyes to see him gazing at her lovingly, and so she reached up to place a gentle kiss on his lips. And he kissed her back with more passion than either of them had experienced, and from there on no one but the two of them and the twinkling stars above saw what happened. And on that night, under those millions of stars, they fell in love all over again…
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