Arlene POV
I was literally on cloud nine. I had Chaser training, and then a DATE with Harry Potter, the man I thought I'd never get with, considering we had started out hating each other. I was literally dancing around my house. Even though it may not go anywhere, and his kids may not like me, and the tabloids might find out, I was still overjoyed; because it was pretty damn obvious that Harry Potter was the most eligible bachelor in the wizarding world. And, he was hot. Not just because he was a hero, but because he was actually good looking. To put him out of my mind, (at least for a little while) I trained hard at Chaser training, completely throwing myself into the game.
When I was home and showered, I stared at my closet. Harry had obviously liked how I looked yesterday, but I didn't dress like that everyday. Should I dress up again, or go like myself? My eyes wandered over my clothes. Well, I was meeting his kids today, so a dress was definitely out. In the end, I wore my great pair of skinny jeans that I thought made my butt look good, a pair of trainers and my Holly Harpies jersey. Then I put my hair up in a ponytail and kissed Samuel goodbye. I Apparated to outside Quidditch for Kids. Harry couldn't risk writing me because of the press, so we decided to meet somewhere he already would go. I walked around the office, and he was already there. Without speaking, he simply took my arm and Apparated. We appeared in front of one of the most beautiful houses I had ever seen. It was in the middle of the country, light blue in color, with white shutters. It was easily three stories tall, surrounded by towering orangey maple trees. "Wow," I breathed looking at it. "You have a beautiful home," I informed him as we strolled up the front walk.
"And I'm jealous of your Holly Harpies jersey. I'm just glad you aren't a Tornado fan." He said, and I immediately felt a spark of pride. I had agonized over my outfit just enough.
"I don't know a single Tornado fan, to tell you the truth." I said as he led me inside. The house was as beautiful inside as it was outside. He laughed, and then I heard some scampering. I turned, and a cute little girl was standing there, her hands covered with paint. She watched us for a moment.
"Dadee, who is this?" She asked, and Harry glanced at me. I was melting into a puddle of goo this girl was so cute.
"I'm Arlene," I said, squatting down to her level. She eyed me, then a grin went over her face.
"Your preettyyy. I'm Lily!" She chirped, and then ran back down the hallway and turned left.
"Well, now you've met two out of three yet sometimes four." Harry said, and I looked at him in surprise. I was positive he only had three kids.
"Three yet sometimes four?" I asked, and he chuckled. "Who is this mysterious fourth?" I pressed.
"I am," said a rather dry voice. I looked away from Harry. In Lily's place stood a kid that was about eleven, maybe twelve. He didn't look much like Harry, in fact, he didn't look much like anyone I knew related to Harry. He was sporting bleach blond hair that was shaved on the sides and stood straight up. The tips of the spikes went to blue, then black. Then his hair changed colors. I had heard of Metamorphous people, but I had never actually seen someone.
"Well, that's cool," I said lightly, and Harry started laughing. "I'm Arlene." I said kindly. The boy pursed his lips slightly and studied me.
"Teddy," He said with that same 'I don't care' attitude before nodding to Harry and disappearing. I looked to Harry, desperately confused, and he put a hand on my shoulder, steering me after Lily.
"Teddy is my godson. His parents were killed in the battle for Hogwarts. He lives inbetween his Grandmother's house and mine." He explained lightly. "And this is Albus," He said, introducing me to his final son. He was the spitting image of Harry himself, minus the glasses and scar. He had the same intensely beautiful green eyes.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Albus said formally, and I nearly burst out laughing, but shook his hand nonetheless. He looked at his dad. "Was that ok?" He whispered to him, and I politely looked away, joining Lily at the kitchen island.
"Paint with me!" she insisted as James greeted me hurriedly before going back to his Quidditch book.
"Sure," I said, and slipped out of the jersey to be in my tanktop. I could care less about the tanktop, but my jersey was golden. I wasn't going to get a speck of paint on it. I gave Harry a slight smirk as he looked at me in shock, his eyes gleaming when I stripped the shirt off. I could tell that he liked it. "Let's paint," I told Lily seriously, and gladly finger-painted with her, talking to Harry at the same time.
"So, what was with the fancy clothes the other day?" He asked, and I grinned at my painting, trying not to flush as I remembered the rest of that day with a sweet happiness that made me almost giddy.
"I was meeting my brother's girlfriend at a fancy restaurant." I explained, then drew a cow wearing sunglasses for Lily to color in as she demanded it.
"Well, you looked good in my opinion. Did the girlfriend pass?" He asked, and I looked up at him, trying not to smile devilishly and failing. Of course he liked the dress, that's all he could say inbetween kissing me.
"She passed with flying colors. But I nearly died when I had to tell her my job was coaching little league soccer. They're Muggles," I explained as his brows furrowed, mouth opening.
"Oh, so that's why you didn't say Quidditch," he said, his eyebrows calming down.
"Dadee, what's 'soccer'?" Lily asked, more paint on her face then on the page.
"It's a Muggle sport." He told her, leaning up against the counter, my jersey safely in his hands away from the paint. I didn't have the heart to tell him that it wasn't a fake jersey, but my first jersey for the team before my parents died. I didn't even get a chance to play, just train.
"Draw me a soccer ball!" She insisted, so I did. She colored it rainbow, but I thought it was an improvement from the usual soccer ball.
After Lily was done painting, I got a tour of the house from Harry, but we didn't actually get a chance to really talk to him (with the topics we wanted to talk about) because his kids were constantly around. I didn't mind, they were a lot better and cuter than the kids I normally coached, but Harry and I had little to no time together. In the end, I stayed for dinner, which was an exciting visit back to food I used to eat as a kid, like chicken nuggets and mac and cheese. So far, I had every child's stamp of approval except for Teddy. He still regarded me with an air of dislike, but hey, you can't please everyone. I helped Harry put his kids to bed, and then he walked me to the door. We paused in the doorway, unwilling to separate now that we actually had time together.
"Thank you," was the first thing he said, "for helping with the kids. You were amazing with them."
"I work with kids everyday, and kids a lot more troublesome than yours. And I had fun." I said honestly, and he smiled.
"Well, next time we should go on an actual date." He said.
"Agreed. We've got to get to know each other eventually." We fell into silence for a moment.
"Can I kiss you goodnight?" He asked almost hopefully, and I couldn't help but laugh, take him lightly by the collar, and kiss him. His arms snaked around my waist and I let mine fall over his shoulders, lightly messing with his hair. Like a true gentleman, he didn't keep sucking face with me, (even though I knew that's what we both wanted) and said goodnight. He watched me walk down the walk, and I could feel his eyes on me even when I Apparated back home.