Chapter Twenty-Nine – And a Wild and Wintry New Year
It didn't feel as though Christmas was over when Al woke on Thursday morning and got ready for the day. He did have a lot of reasons to be filled with cheer, though; and he was in a great mood as he went downstairs to the kitchen and got started on making an easy, but hot breakfast for four so that they'd all be ready for a busy shopping or work day. That work was well-underway by the time Harry joined him, so he poured a cup of coffee; and sat down at the table to talk while Al worked.
"So, what do you have planned to top your big surprise on Boxing Day last year?" Harry joked after they'd exchanged the usual morning pleasantries.
"Nothing. I've learned my lesson; and don't plan on being the target for any future hit songs."
Harry laughed. "I'd comment on that; but then you might decide that there should have been some songs about me when I was at Hogwarts. In hindsight; a few wheezes and a lot of bad jokes seem easy by comparison."
"Now that you've mentioned it, that is tempting; but Gwendolyn and I will resist the urge to immortalize your teen dating disasters or other, less-funny adventures in song. You did forget the books and Merlin-only-knows how many newspaper articles that have been written about you. I'd say I've had it easy so far."
"Let's compare notes on that in another twenty years," Harry suggested. "You've had your fair share of adventures already too; though I'd be okay with it if you had fewer of them for a while now too."
"He's going shopping on Boxing Day with a bunch of Witches," Lily told him as she walked into the room and went to him for a hug and kiss. "There is no chance at all that Al won't be in the thick of it for the best adventures to be found anywhere today!" She smiled at Al while walking over to him for the second hug of the morning. "He's a trouble magnet too; so you might just be hoping for the impossible."
"Probably," Harry agreed; "but he's been trouble-free so far this holiday; so maybe there is reason for hope."
"He obviously hasn't told you about his Animorphmagus trouble from yesterday yet," she offered with a laugh. "One of Gwendolyn's cousins wanted to keep Al – as her new pet kneazle. Gwendolyn didn't think that was a good idea at all."
"I'll guess that it was one of her younger cousins; since Al didn't come home in an unbreakable jar last night," Harry teased. "We should wait for your mother to get here before starting in on the Christmas Day recap, though; so you should tell us all about what you want to do on your shopping trip while we wait – unless you'd rather hear all about the end-of-year meetings I'll be busy with all day."
Lily went with option one; had fun with that; and then they all enjoyed Al's breakfast offerings while trading Christmas adventure stories. Al had definitely been at the more-exciting party, but Harry, Ginny, and Lily had loved having a calmer day, and unlike James; they thought that they were lucky to get to have Molly, Arthur, and Muriel all to themselves every other Christmas Day – something that none of Ginny's brothers and their families ever got to do with her parents and aunt at Christmas. After eating, they worked together to get the clean-up done; they all headed to Diagon Alley together; and then Harry went on to Auror Headquarters after a very short visit with Hannah and Neville at the Leaky. Ginny, Al, and Lily ended up having cups of hot chocolate at the Leaky while waiting for the rest of their shopping gang to arrive; and then they headed out into Diagon Alley and split up into smaller groups as they spread out to check out the sales that were going on in every store and shop.
Doing that with Gwendolyn was really the only thing that Al needed to have a great day; though he did pick up a few things too – even if his purchases were small by comparison to the girls. They spent most of the morning in Diagon Alley; went to their favorite Muggle Mall in time for a bit more shopping before having lunch in the food court; Al and Gwendolyn had fun trading shopping stories with the other teens and tweens while enjoying the fast food; and then they waded back out into the mall for an afternoon of bargain hunting – and some clothes shopping for the teens that needed to replace clothes they'd out-grown since August. Al again picked up a few things; but was happiest when he was simply acting as Gwendolyn's porter and sidekick as she shopped with Lily, Ginny, and a half-dozen other teens and mothers. Getting paid for the help with hugs and kisses had a lot to do with why he had so much fun; but helping to make sure that Gwendolyn had a blast too was just as important.
After an all-day shopping adventure, and with a busy weekend ahead of them; having a quiet night at home on Thursday was something that they all wanted and needed. That's why Gwendolyn and Jonah went home for the night with Kirley while Al and Lily had an easy-meal dinner and uneventful evening of mirror network shows and chat time for four that was blissfully free of any teen drama at all. Going off to bed early was an option too, and while Al was first to head upstairs; that had mostly been to have an early bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn that added another hour or so of quiet fun to his day before they were both ready to crash and nap for the night.
"I cannot tell from your expression whether things went well for you today or not," Thomas told Scorpius once his picture was set up on the table and his young protégé had flopped into the armchair. Scorpius sighed and shrugged.
"That might depend on what you're comparing it to. Being here is a lot better than being at home, but according to James Potter; I'm apparently not having any fun at all compared to how brilliantly his Christmas holiday is going so far this year."
"Let me guess – it's about that Witch he's been messing around with," Thomas surmised; and Scorpius laughed.
"I'm not suggesting that I'd want to have anything to do with her," he protested.
"I'm not saying that, but you are of the age when being interested in that sort of thing can consume your thoughts; and it can be annoying to have another Wizard flaunt his intimate exploits – as I expect Mr. Potter has been doing by your reactions."
"He's as crude about such things as some of the guys in my House," Scorpius admitted; "but you don't want to talk about that, I'm sure – and we did talk about other things while playing Quidditch that you will find interesting."
"I'm sure of that; though be very cautious about everything he tells you; since it could be very difficult to discern truth from lies with a personality such as his."
"You haven't even met him," Scorpius pointed out; and Thomas nodded in agreement.
"True, but unless you plan on confiding in him about me – and I strongly recommend that you don't do that; then I'll have to base my opinions on your perceptions and the accuracy of what you tell me. James Potter may truly hate his own family, and that could be very useful to our cause; but he could also just be an entitled, rebellious, out-of-control teen going through a hate-the-world phase."
"He's probably both," Scorpius suggested with a laugh. "There are definitely things that he hates his parents for; and I'd say that he blames his brother for all of his problems. From the hints I got today; maybe I've more reason to hate his parents too."
"You don't have enough reason for that already?" Thomas joked; and Scorpius smiled.
"Yes, but James gave me some confirmation today about something we've heard stories about; but with some hints that there's more we don't know about it. We had no reason to doubt the news that Grimmauld Place is now the home for Teddy and Victoire; since that news was easy-enough to verify through contacts my family still has within the Ministry of Magic. What I didn't know was that Harry and Ginny Potter gave the place to them! My parents and grandparents had guessed that it was left to Teddy somehow – and hate the fact that he's defiling my grandmother's heritage; but that's apparently not true."
"I do not know why they would believe that," Thomas told him seriously. "We knew during the war that Sirius Black had left his estate to Harry Potter – not to anyone in his own family."
"I didn't know that," Scorpius admitted with a nod. "Dad told me that Teddy must have been left the Black family home by his Mum; since she was closest to their cousin. Regardless, this is one of the reasons that I think that James now hates his parents – because they gave Grimmauld Place to his cousin and her husband."
"I hadn't been there in a long time before my death; but I wouldn't have expected that house to be anything that our enemies would covet at all."
"I'd have agreed – except that James hinted that Grimmauld Place has been cleaned up. He was talking about it, and I mentioned that I'd heard the place was a horror; but all he told me was that it isn't anymore."
"So James believes that his own inheritance has been given away?" Thomas offered next; and Scorpius nodded again.
"That's my current guess," he agreed. "I find that amusing when my parents and grandparents believe that Sirius did exactly the same thing to them by giving away the Black family estate to disinherited members of my family – whether that was directly or through Harry Potter."
"As I said, we had learned that the place had been given to Harry Potter, but if they actually believed he'd then give it to your parents; then they've all grown a bit senile over the past two decades. This does suggest that James could be swayed to our side; and it is information that we can use – though I'm surprised that he's talking about such things with you already."
"He was trying to one-up me on the lousy home life stories," Scorpius explained. "I do at least still have a family mansion to live in while his was given away; and he's stuck living in a dump out in the middle of nowhere."
"I'd suggest that both of those options are preferable to the orphanage of my childhood; but that is always a matter of perspective."
"Does it really matter how nice the prison is?" Scorpius countered; and Thomas laughed.
"Yes, it does – and you know it. You may not have thought about it, but I was once one of these kids that you sneer at for having no choice but to be here at Hogwarts at Christmas. I too could have gone back to the orphanage at christmas; but chose not to as often as possible. We share some reasons for wanting to do that – like being able to continue using magic; but you cannot truly relate to true poverty; or what it takes to rise above it."
"I suppose, but now you're sounding a bit too much like James," Scorpius told him; his agreement somewhat dubious for Thomas' assertions. "He's going to play in the show and be even more famous than his parents; get rich; and then tell his whole family to sod off."
"Well, that isn't quite as noble as your goal to restore all true purebloods to their rightful place as rulers of the Wizarding World; but it is something we could work with – especially if you're still planning on doing that one Quidditch fan at a time!"
It was Scorpius' turn to laugh at that. "James might believe that having me on the same professional team with him would be the same as telling his parents to sod off; but you never know – that suggestion might actually have some merit."
"The scary part of that for me is that a part of you truly believes that's possible."
"Nothing else that's been tried since your war has worked," Scorpius pointed out. "I guess that maybe I do still believe it's possible to raise an army that way – not to mention that many of our enemies play the game; and accidents have been known to happen. I'm sure that James' family would be crushed if their kids suddenly had a rash of career-ending fatalities."
"That isn't a future that I can picture with any seriousness; but feel free to imagine such nonsense if it amuses you. Is there anything else you'd like to tell me about; or should we move on to your lesson?"
Scorpius thought about that before answering. "I suppose it isn't very important, but James also told me that he was missing out on the annual Boxing Day shopping trip with many of the Witches in his family. The only reason I could see for that being useful would be in the future if we wanted to go after many of them all at once – though we could do that at Harpies' Quidditch matches too."
"You'd need an army to go up against a stadium full of Witches and Wizards – unless they were all on your side," Thomas pointed out. "It wouldn't be any easier in Diagon Alley – and possibly more-difficult if the Goblins join in to fight against you."
"Your Death Eaters attacked at the World Cup in ninety-four," Scorpius reminded him; so you once thought it was a good idea."
"If that is what your grandparents believe; then they are mistaken," Thomas told him. "They did that on their own – before my return from the half-life the following spring. Their goals were also different; since they wanted to cause terror and fear instead of an outright attack on the spectators. Whatever they've told you, they were a handful against a hundred thousand or more; and only an idiot would start a true fight against those odds – even with a surprise attack!"
"I agree with you on that," Scorpius assured him, "but a surprise attack for something more specific – like the execution of the Potter family in front of all of those witnesses – might be a brilliant opening move on the way to our return to power."
Thomas smiled and shrugged. "I've had similar dreams of such victories, but since any such plans must wait until you have become the leader of the true purebloods of the Wizarding World, let's set aside such musings; and work on more practical lessons that will help you to get to the point someday where such suggestions can be considered more seriously."
Scorpius felt slightly rebuked by that comment somehow, but wanted to play with the magic more than he wanted to argue the point; so they got to work and spent the rest of the evening on that until he needed to be back in his House ahead of the extended holiday curfew that wasn't really enforced anyway. While that had been fun, once he was back in his dorm room; he again had too much time to think about James' boasting over how he was spending his nights this week; and wished that he could be having that kind of fun too. That wasn't going to be an option for him when his standards were so much higher than they were for James; and none of the available Witches staying for the holidays were worthy of him – regardless of what they looked like. Those thoughts had him wondering if he'd have been better off at home for the holiday, since he would have at least been able to spend time with Terri and have that kind of fun too; but he eventually decided that the downside of being home wasn't worth it – and he could always make up for the lack of play time with his girlfriend once she was back at Hogwarts again!
While that was certainly true; he also made a mental note to himself to coax Terri into staying too for the next holiday he spent at Hogwarts – whether that would be this coming Easter or again next Christmas.
Now that might be something that would get James to shut up about his own exploits – if half of his claims were even to be believed! It was also a cheery thought – and gave him something to muse over and plan for while he had so much extra time on his hands. The Quidditch with James and lessons with Thomas were the highlights of his holidays so far, but there were still far too many empty hours; no friends to hang out with; and nothing to do the rest of the time. That thought was somewhat amusing, since he wished to have fewer interruptions from his friends when they were all at Hogwarts too; but it was apparently possible for him to actually miss having them around.
He did have time now, though; so maybe he could come up with some plans to get a balance for the rest of the year between where he was now and the too-much stupid for his liking when the entire gang was here!
Friday was booked for their second study and Quidditch day of the holidays; and Al and Lily were hosting it; so he was up early to not only get ready for the day and cook breakfast; but to get everything ready for the study session in the dining room too. Lily helped out with some of the work too; but did more of that after breakfast while Al took care of the kitchen clean-up; Ginny did some other chores; and Harry went to work. Gwendolyn and Jonah were among the first to arrive; and Al was especially happy about that because Gwendolyn was also staying overnight so that she wouldn't need to be brought back on Saturday for the Weasley family Christmas. Their happy mood might have been infectious, because all of their friends were happy and smiling by the time they were all there; in the dining room; and getting set up to study – despite the fact that quite a few of them would rather be doing anything else that wasn't their holiday revision! Even Ray noticed that; and was smiling wryly as he mentioned it to everyone after sitting down and while he was still getting his books ready to start working on the first assignment that Rose had picked for them to start with.
"Did Lily use her cheering charm on all of us as we arrived?" he teased. "There might be a law against being this happy at the start of hours of revision. It's a good thing that your Dad's at work already; or he might need to take the lot of us in."
"I didn't," Lily assured him, "and you should know that already; since a joke like that would have all of us laughing like loons if I had. The rest of you might have other reasons for being happy; but I'm really glad that we'll have the whole day to spend together – and have the post-Christmas chat time with my girlfriends while we study."
"I'm more happy about getting to spend the next two days with Al; but the girl chat time today will be fun too," Gwendolyn interjected with a warm smile for Al. "That sounds like something we should get started on too, though; so who would like to start with their Christmas story?"
"Maybe I should start – by wondering why Ray apparently isn't happy because we're getting to spend the day together,' Tory suggested with a mock-frown for Ray.
"I didn't say anything of the sort," Ray protested; and Tory nodded while still frowning at him.
"No, but you did want to know why we were all so happy; so that suggests that you didn't know why."
"Okay, but now I do; so thanks for clearing that up for me!" he declared; sounding desperately hopeful that Tory would let him off the hook.
She did that, so Al tried not to think about what he sensed between them that suggested all was not well between two of their best friends. Tory was then encouraged to tell them about everything she'd been doing since their last study session on Monday. There were multiple chats going on for that; though it was mostly one chat for the third-year teens; a second for the firsties; and some cross-group chat time that was usually led by Lily or Gwendolyn. The studying went pretty well too; and Al once again especially enjoyed not having James around to get in the way of the fun – and he did find all of the work fun. He also liked the tutoring that he and Gwendolyn and Rose did with the younger tweens; though he didn't expect that Lily, Jonah, and Hugo would be asking to join their study group anytime soon.
Ginny stayed home until after lunch, and took care of feeding the gang of teens and tweens; but had Dominique and Lucy come over in time to take over and babysit for the Quidditch practice while she went to work for the afternoon to get ready for the match she was covering on Saturday. Al and Lily didn't have all of their study group there for the practice, since the Hufflepuff members of their group had their own practice to get to; but they did have extra players – including Roxanne when she came over with Fred after lunch; and the other bonus friends and relatives. Instead of leaving them out of the fun, Al and Gwendolyn had everyone do the workout together; and then they rotated all of the players in and out of the game during the scrimmage. That worked out better for Gryffindor than Ravenclaw; and though Lily and Jonah tied the Seeker duel with two catches each before they ran out of time and had to give up the pitch to the senior Gryffindor team; Gryffindor won the match by sixty points. They'd had a really good workout, and Al was ready to get indoors and warmed up again by the time they were done; but then Lily kept that from happening when Dominique came looking for her to join the senior team practice and duel Brandon for their scrimmage.
"I don't want to shock anyone, but I'm actually ready to stop playing Quidditch and go inside to warm up," Lily told Dominique. "If you'd really like a challenge for Brandon, though; you should get Al to play instead."
"You're trying to get me in trouble," Al accused; and Lily grinned at him.
"Yes, and it's going to work too now that Dominique is wondering why I'd suggest it."
"That's true," Dominique agreed. "Consider yourself drafted."
"Don't I get a say in this?" Brandon asked; and Lily turned her brilliant smile on him.
"No, but I have a feeling that you're going to like this duel a lot – and possibly hate it too."
"You're stuck," Gwendolyn told Al. "We'll watch from the windows and make sure you have bonus treats when you're done."
"Depending on how you mean that; I hope that was a royal 'we' for those treats," Lily teased. "Let's leave Al to it; and I'll get you and Rose to help me out with getting the snacks and hot drinks for the rest of us."
"Thanks so much," Al told her; and she laughed unapologetically.
"It's the least you can do for Dominique; since it is all your fault that James isn't here for these holiday practices."
"Some of us were grateful for that," Brandon said; and then smiled ruefully. "Pretend I didn't say that out loud."
Nobody had been surprised at Brandon's sentiment, but the senior team players were surprised when Al could keep up with them during their workout. That was especially true when he not only pushed Dominique during the flying workout but even managed to pass her twice despite the fact that she was on a Lightningbolt. Sure, she was able to pass him again on the next straight section back across the pitch; but that hadn't happened to her at all since getting her new broom. That had impressed the older teens, but Al took that to a new level during the scrimmage; and that was despite the fact that he still needed to hold back while playing against Brandon. They played for a bit more than an hour; and Dominique called an end to the scrimmage when Al made his third catch – possibly because that put the reserve squad ahead by twenty points at the time and she wanted to let them have the rare practice victory.
"Lily was right," Brandon told Al after they'd all landed and had begun to take off their gear. "I both loved and hated that a lot. Why aren't you playing Seeker instead of Chaser?"
"Because I love playing Chaser," Al answered honestly; and then grinned. "It's a bonus that I don't have to worry about Lily hexing me – which she would do if I messed with her plan to be the Harpies' Seeker after she's done school."
"Victoire played Seeker when our team needed her," Dominique pointed out; "but then she didn't have Lily – or James – to worry about the way you do."
"No comment," Al said with a smile; and then returned his attention to Brandon. "There is actually a reason why I had a lot of luck against you today. I took advantage of the way you play against James. It works in your duels with him because he gets frustrated easily; but you had trouble adapting when I didn't do the same things he normally would."
"I thought that you played a lot like James – only better," Brandon admitted; and Al laughed.
"Does it help if I tell you that I did that on purpose? We have learned from the same players in our family and from other friends; but I played that way because it worked against the strategy you have for James – which I actually think is brilliant."
"That's a funny compliment to give me after trouncing me," Brandon said; and Al smiled and shrugged.
"You are a good Seeker, Brandon. There are some Seekers in the show that are defensive players like you are; and they do well-enough with the right team around them."
"Are you recruiting for the Cannons?" Brandon asked suspiciously; earning a round of laughs. "I seriously doubt that I could beat Santini for the job, since he is their best player; and I definitely wouldn't want to be his back-up for the next four years while waiting for you and Rose to graduate – even if that would lead to a league championship someday – impossible as that is to imagine."
"It isn't impossible," Lucy disagreed. "Right now, that has me imagining you beating Lily and the Harpies for that championship – and then you getting turned into a woodlouse with a bat-bogey affliction by Gwendolyn and Lily." She earned another round of laughs for that joke; and Brandon nodded his agreement.
"If that actually happened; I'd be okay with it – and I'd make my home in the league championship trophy when they were done with me."
Al's cousins and their friends went on to have fun with that for a while; they all went inside to warm up with drinks and snacks; and then most of the teens headed for home before Ginny got back from work and could set Dominique and Lucy free to get on with their weekend. After a double workout; Al went to take a shower and got cleaned up so he'd be ready for their dinner and movie night when it was time to head for London to meet up with Harry after he was done work at Auror Headquarters. Rose and Hugo were the last two kids to be picked up; so Ginny had six kids through until it was time to head for London; and she ended up taking all of them with her to Diagon Alley because Harry and Hermione were both stuck and working late thanks to the same budget meeting. Al would have been happy to have Rose and Hugo come along for their evening out, but Ron was working at the store until close; and Hermione had other plans for the night while he was busy anyway.
The kids-for-parent swap at the Mall had been fun, though; and so was the pizzeria dinner and the action movie they went to see that wasn't big on storyline or plot but had pretty good special effects and lots of fight and chase scenes to go along with blowing stuff up with spectacular pyrotechnics. By then, they were all ready to head home; Lily went along with Ginny for the side-trip to drop Jonah off at his house along the way; and then Harry, Al, and Gwendolyn had a bedtime snack ready for all of them by the time Ginny and Lily caught up with them. That had been a bit awkward for Al, since he sensed that Lily really had wanted to have Jonah stay and go to the Weasley family Christmas with them too; but she also didn't want to do that – partly because she didn't want to deal with the inevitable family jokes if she did start bringing dates to the family Christmases and other parties.
Harry and Ginny headed to bed after their snack break, but Al, Gwendolyn, and Lily stayed up to watch Lee's show; they had a nice little chat; and then Lily left Al and Gwendolyn in the sitting room so that they could say goodnight to each other without any spectators. They'd been tempted to stay on the sofa and spend the night there together, but decided not to do that the night before that kind of story would be sure to make the rounds with his family. A minor snogging session was an option, though; and they were both smiling and happy – as well as tired – when they went up to bed and then took turns using the bathroom before going off to get some sleep.
Even though Al didn't see Gwendolyn until she and Lily came downstairs with Ginny just as breakfast was being set out on the table; he was in a great mood when he woke up and got ready for the day. Harry beat him to the kitchen by a few minutes; so he joined in to help out with the cooking while three of their favorite girls played dress-up ahead of their family Christmas adventure. They were on the morning work crew at the Burrow, and their Christmas dinner wasn't going to start until after the stores closed for the day in Diagon Alley; so they cooked up a big breakfast ahead of the work – and expected that they'd only have a snack lunch before most of the party guests began arriving in the early afternoon. The father-son chat time was good too; though not about anything important. They discussed Quidditch – including the Cannons' match that was definitely the 'B' game of the day – and the one that Ginny was covering so that she could at least spend some of that time with Ron, Rose, and Hugo while working anyway.
The fun level went up several notches when the girls arrived – and that wasn't only thanks to the round of hugs and kisses before they all sat down to eat. Lily was especially fired up; led the way for keeping everyone entertained while they ate; and wanted to talk about everything from Quidditch to early guesses about what the best and funniest gifts would be this year. Harry and Al did the kitchen clean-up too; but only because the girls had the jobs of getting the gifts rounded up that they'd be taking along to the Burrow and making sure that the pets and Owls had everything they needed while they'd be gone for the day. They were ready to head out on-time; took the Floo Network to the Burrow; and were soon put to work on the long list of chores that Molly had for all of her volunteers.
James had gotten up late on Saturday morning, and although he was as annoyed as always with the need to start the day before he wanted to do that; he wasn't going to pass up on the chance to spend the day in Hogsmeade just because the Professors didn't want their students in town at times when they might really be able to have some fun – and do a bit of partying. Getting up late did have the advantage that he needed to hurry while having breakfast in the Great Hall, and while Malorie sat and talked with him while he ate; he was able to get away with short answers or less while trying to fill up before they'd be allowed to leave for town. She was a lot happier about sharing that imminent adventure with James than he was about going with her, but they still had a bit more than a week of holiday left to go; and James knew that he'd have to make a few little sacrifices if he wanted to keep having fun with her until he'd need to dump her once everyone was back at school a week from Sunday. He wolfed down the last of his third plate full of food when a few of the older teens got up and ready to head outside; he and Mallorie joined the small queue while the first and second-year losers watched on and wished they could go too; and then they were free and starting the long walk to town.
"What should we do today to help make up for you missing out on your family Christmas today?" Malorie asked; her breath coming out in white puffs as she spoke that then dissipated quickly in the strong, icy breeze. She laughed at the grin on his face that answered her question. "Save that thought for later," she suggested. "We've only got a few hours to pick up supplies; and neither of us would want to get kicked out of Honeydukes for the rest of the school year for doing something we shouldn't right there in the store."
It was James' turn to laugh; since that sort of joke seemed very out-of-place with such a plain-looking, shy girl. He did feel a surge of an ego boost too; since he was likely the reason for her more-overt behavior; and then there was also that 'later' part of her comment to look forward to as well.
"I'd have suggested the back room at the wheezes store,' he told her; "but my Uncles might be mad at me right now for blowing them off and staying here instead of working with them over the holidays at the Diagon Alley store."
"Will either of them be at this store today?" Malorie asked; and James shrugged.
"I have no idea. Maybe for the morning, but the Cannons are playing; so Uncle Ron will be at that game this afternoon. It's not as if the store manager here should need the help today with so few students coming to town anyway."
"If your uncles are working and going to a Quidditch match; will there even be many people at your family Christmas? Maybe you won't be missing anything."
"I'm missing out on all of the chores right now," James advised her. "Hours of slaving away in the gardens and usually doing the worst jobs. Mum has a big family, so even if they can't all be there until after work; there will still be a crowd at my grandparents' house – and I'll be glad of not being there to put up with most of them."
"It's strange that you're happy to get away from a big family; while I'd think that was brilliant – especially when you have so many amazing people in your family. Even your cousins here at Hogwarts are all among the best students and Quidditch players here."
James snorted out a derisive laugh. "Yeah, well that gets old fast when you're the only kid in the family that doesn't want to be a good little clone, and since my loser brother has the lot of them turned against me; I'd rather be anywhere other than there today."
"Well, in that case; I'd say we're on the right road for you," Malorie told him; and he didn't notice that she avoided comment on his assertions about his brother or family because she changed the subject. "What do you need to get while we're in town?"
Her question didn't get him talking about anything he really wanted to discuss; and didn't keep him from thinking about his family and the day at the Burrow that he was missing out on by staying at school. That idea had him snorting silently as he mused about what gifts Teddy and Victoire might be given this year to top the mansion last Christmas and the House Elves for their 'big' wedding gift. While he would have gotten out of the work at the Burrow one way or the other; he didn't miss the fights with his parents; and was glad that he wouldn't have to put up with most of his family either – especially now that even his Uncle George and Uncle Ron were proving to be as bad as the rest of them. In fact, he could distinctly picture the teen versions of his uncles pranking their older selves for being so pathetic!
Maybe he should have sent a 'family gift' that would have blown up the lot of them or at least made their day miserable, but that would have likely been a waste of time and money anyway; since the loser would just find a way to save the day.
"Are you still in there somewhere?" Malorie asked; and James smiled and shrugged.
"Yeah. Sorry. What'd I miss?"
"Nothing important," she assured him. "You started to look a bit stormy there, though; and we just can't have that when we're going to make sure that this will be your best-ever family Christmas without the family!"
James laughed. "I like the sound of that a lot,' he assured her. "Maybe I'll make that my new annual holiday tradition!"
Al had worked outside for about half of the morning; dealt with most of the garden and yard chores on his own; and then he'd gotten cleaned up before helping with the rest of the indoors chores until they stopped to have their snack lunch. After that, he and Gwendolyn and Lily were set free to have fun for the rest of the day while the parents took turns helping Molly with the ongoing cooking and baking that had the entire house smelling of Christmas. The Potters had not been the only work volunteers, but they were the core of the group; and some of the helpers had other jobs – like running errands; doing cooking or baking from home; or more fun jobs – like doing some last-minute gift wrapping. Once their work was done, Al and Gwendolyn moved into the sitting room so that they could watch the Quidditch matches on the mirror network. Lily was with them some of the time, but she also took on the job as primary greeter as their family began to arrive; so she was in the kitchen a lot too – at least until more of their cousins arrived and they could all hang out together while watching the Cannons' match.
While Ginny had gone to meet up with Ron, Rose, and Hugo at the stadium after lunch; Fred and Roxanne came over with Angelina; Aiden and Charlene were next to arrive with their parents, Pietr, and Shay-Lynn. Bill and Fleur brought their kids over next, including Victoire; but Teddy was working and wouldn't be done until near-dinnertime. Noel came with Louis too; so Dominique was conspicuously alone – though that didn't seem to bother her at all. Al sensed that was true just as he noticed a lot of what was going on around him while cuddling with Gwendolyn and watching the Quidditch match. What he didn't do was get very involved in the ongoing teen chat around him – unless he was asked a question first.
"How's your future team doing today?" Louis asked him as he and Noel sat down together on the sofa closest to Al. He was grinning as he said that; but Al also noticed that his cousin was actually beginning to believe that might actually happen instead of just having fun with the ongoing joke.
"About as badly as normal," Al answered. "Aren't you glad that Rose is a Keeper too?"
"I am," Louis agreed; "though I have no idea what team I might end up with instead; since we can't play for the Harpies – and Belinda's got the job with United locked up for the next decade or three."
"She is having a pretty good season," Gwendolyn agreed – "though not quite as good as Victoire's rookie year with the Harpies."
"Belinda won't care about that if United wins a championship too," Louis suggested. "She'd likely still be Rookie of the Year too if she can pull that off."
"Well, it's a bit early for speculating on the next league champion; but I can tell you for sure that it won't be the Cannons," Gwendolyn told them with a nod to the mirror. "If Rose was playing for them today instead of watching the match; they'd do better than they are right now."
"Wouldn't that be just as true with you and Al out there?" Noel suggested; and Gwendolyn laughed.
"Have you been recruited to help Rose out with her plan?"
Noel smiled and shook her head. "No, but I have seen you play together; and don't know why you wouldn't want to have that kind of fun when you do get to the show – whether that's with the Cannons or another team."
"Gwendolyn and I are going to play for the Harpies," Lily advised all of them as she walked up behind Al and Gwendolyn and put a protective hand on Gwendolyn. "We'll have just as much fun with Victoire and our future girlfriends; and they can always practice Quidditch together whenever Gwendolyn feels the need to have a Chaser duel with him."
"You might want to re-think that plan," Louis told her. "From what I heard at Christmas; Caylee's got her own plan to be the next Harpies' Seeker, but even if she can't talk Aunt Gabrielle into staying with the team until twenty-thirty; she's planning on beating you out for the job if you do that to her Mum."
"Aunt Ginny only wanted the job for five years," Charlene offered. She and Pietr were next to Louis and Noel on that sofa; so they'd been listening in; if not yet commenting to that point. "Maybe Lily and Caylee could do the same thing – with Lily training Caylee to replace her during that fifth year."
"I'm going to play in the show for a lot more than five years," Lily assured her; "so I hope that Caylee has a plan B to fall back on."
"That's basically exactly what Caylee said you should do," Louis advised her. "I hope that you work that out before you both graduate; since I'd hate to see that kind of fight between two of my cousins."
"Do you have any potential future fights like that with your cousins, Gwendolyn?" Charlene asked. "Al won't have that problem, since he can't play for the Harpies and won't have any competition from any of us for a job with the Cannons; but you must have lots of cousins wanting to play Quidditch too."
"The younger ones," Gwendolyn agreed. "The older ones outgrew their Quidditch dreams – or never had them; but I don't have many Chaser cousins so that won't be a problem for me."
"Unless they switch because of you," Lily offered. "I hope not, though; since we'll need future Beaters for our team."
"You don't need them as badly as the Cannons do right now," Louis said. "Note to that idiot – if you're going to defend against a bludger hit on one of your Chasers; don't run him over in the process."
"The Harpies are more likely to have a fight with the Prides over which team will get to hire my cousins," Gwendolyn suggested; "but the Cannons shouldn't wait that long anyway. I don't know why they haven't at least tried to hire two of the Beaters that have been replaced on other teams by now – and there have been quite a few over the past few years."
"Some of those Beaters have retired," Lily pointed out; "but maybe that's all part of Rose's plan. The last thing she'd want over the next few years is for the Cannons to actually start having a good team."
"Well, her plan is working out perfectly today," Louis joked. "They'll be down by more than one-sixty within the first hour if one of the Seekers don't get to it and put the Cannons out of their misery."
It actually took the Cannons closer to two hours to lose and do that in a big way; but that conversation moved on as the girls started to talk about other things – except for the game commentary that was mostly about how bad different plays were for the Cannons. Games were played in the sitting room, but it was cold-enough outside that even Lily wasn't all that interested in putting together a Quidditch scrimmage. The parents wandered in and out of the sitting room to have visits with the teens and tweens; but chat central for them was in the kitchen – especially after Aunt Muriel arrived and held court at the kitchen table. Ron brought Rose and Hugo to the Burrow right after the match, but Ginny needed longer to finish her work at the stadium before getting back too; and they still had a couple of hours after that to wait until George and Teddy could get there after they were each done work for the day. Hermione had gone into work for a while too; but had been at the Burrow both before and after doing that – and only went in to deal with a small problem that the Hit Squad was having with a weekend prisoner. Percy was delayed at the Ministry of Magic too, but in his case; it was simply a matter of make-work; since he didn't actually have any problems within his department. Audrey, Molly, and Lucy didn't wait for him before joining the party at the Burrow, but Lucy had to wait for Alex to join her there because he was working his part-time job over the Christmas holidays.
Since they were having a late dinner and wouldn't be opening gifts until later in the evening; the afternoon fun was a series of cameo moments for Al and Gwendolyn that seemed to blur together in a happy montage of fun. Without James there to cause any conflicts for Al; he could play mirror games without any problems beyond the usual teen competitiveness that was normal; and he generally had more fun than he could remember having at a family party in years. There was some guilt as a counter-point to those happy feelings, and Al sensed his mother's sadness at not having James there with them – particularly because he'd made it so clear that he didn't want to be with them for Christmas. Al could also sense and observe his grandmother's support for her daughter; and knew that she perfectly understood how she felt from her own past-problems with her kids. James wasn't exactly the thousand pound Hippogriff in the room that nobody wanted to talk about; but they generally didn't say anything about him – possibly because Al wasn't the only one feeling guilty about having more fun without their family's current most-mecurial and troublesome member there to cause any major teen drama scenes.
When dinner was nearly-ready, there was a flurry of activity as the food was set out on the table at the same time as the last members of their family arrived at the Burrow from London. That meet and greet was rushed a bit, but then that was also a quick, enthusiastic blast of fun that transitioned into a very lively Christmas dinner. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were together; ended up sitting next to Harry and Ginny; and that placed Al two seats away from Aunt Muriel. She anchored one end of the table with Ginny on one side and Bill on the other, and while proximity wasn't necessary for being able to hear her; it did mean that the teens and tweens closest to her did get a bit more attention – a fact that Al learned sooner instead of later.
"I've heard that you've had another eventful few months at school, Albus," Muriel told him shortly after everyone had finished with filling their plates for the first time. "Heard about the trouble the two of you had some help getting into – and then got back out of again at Halloween; and then one of the great-grandmothers told me all about how you saved those kids from cursed Fanged Frisbees – including one of her own great-grandsons. Are you looking for another of those special service awards; or campaigning already to be Head Boy in your NEWT year?"
Al smiled ruefully and shrugged. "At this point; I'm just trying to get through each day as best I can and hope for the best," he said half-seriously. "I won't deny that I might like to be Head Boy, but since I am such a trouble-magnet; I doubt they'll give me the job."
Muriel laughed at that – along with everyone else that heard Al's answer. "They gave the job to your grandfather, and he was quite the troublemaker at your age; so who's to say what is possible for you?" she teased. "Now that I think of it; the two of you remind me quite a lot of your grandparents."
"Which ones?" Ginny asked her before Al could respond. "If you mean the pair that eloped after graduating from Hogwarts; I should likely be worried." This time, Muriel's laugh was likely heard by everyone in town; and got the attention of everyone at the table.
"Well, they likely have a bit of your Mum and Dad in them too; but I had been thinking of James and Lily – and of you and Harry for that matter."
"That's a really great compliment, Aunt Muriel," Gwendolyn told her. "Thank you!"
"You're welcome, dear," Muriel assured her. "Normally, I'd say that such a comparison at your age would be rubbish; but there's no denying that there is something special with the two of you that is beyond your years. Even a senile old windbag like me can see it!"
"You have become far too fond of that awful insult, Aunt Muriel," Ginny admonished; "and it simply isn't true."
"It is funny, though,' George advised her. He and Angelina were across the table from Ginny and closer toward the middle; and his comment earned more laughs – including from Muriel.
"Maybe we should start work on a senile old windbag wheeze," Ron suggested. He and Hermione were next to Rose and Hugo; and nearly-directly across from George and Angelina.
"Oh just get on with it and do it,' Muriel told both men. "Do you honestly believe I haven't heard the jokes about how every family should get to have an Aunt Muriel? You've been talking about it for twenty years or more; so it's a bit late for you to worry about offending me – and you're getting a bit old to still be afraid of Molly."
"We'll never be too old for that," George assured her with a grin for his mother. "Maybe we can talk about this later and come up with something that won't get Ron and me blasted by Mum."
That change in topic got Al out of the spotlight; and he was happy to go back to enjoying his dinner and a quieter chat with Gwendolyn and Rose. They talked with the parents around them too; but not quite as much with the other teens and tweens. A family gathering without wheezes was likely an impossible dream, but all of the dinnertime pranks were meant in fun; and Al survived the one that he ate or drank without any permanent damage – even if he would have preferred to be left out of that kind of fun. The entire meal and evening was still a lot better for him knowing that there wouldn't be any malicious attempts to embarrass him or a never-ending litany of insults directed his way; so Al's first family Christmas without James really was a best-ever-so-far kind of day.
Underage teens were also off the hook for the clean-up after dinner; so Al and Gwendolyn enjoyed hanging out in the sitting room with the rest of the kids – and the grandparents and Moms that were also exempted from the work. Gwendolyn played mirror games while Al was content to cuddle with her and watch the action while they talked with the other teens and adults closest to them. Even with magic, the clean-up in the kitchen took a while; but then it was time for the gift exchange. Lily and Roxanne were in charge of distribution, and since they were two of the most-excited kids in the house; it didn't take them very long at all to get that done so that they could all have fun with opening their gifts and enjoy all of the entertainment and play time that came along with the surprises of all kinds. There weren't any houses or other major gifts given out, but Al found himself in the spotlight again with one of his gifts – a box of the all-new, about-to-be-released Animorphmagus wheezes. It was immediately obvious that quite a few members of his family had been in the know about that gift; since there was a round of laughter at Gwendolyn's exclamation when she saw what he'd been given.
"Animorphmagus wheezes?" she asked and read aloud. "One dozen; assorted; random animal transfigurations." She laughed as she looked over toward George. "Isn't that gift a bit redundant for Al?"
"Yes," he agreed; "but we thought that he should get the first box. They go on sale in our stores tomorrow."
"I'm surprised you didn't get them out in time for Christmas – or on Boxing Day; since that's when most of us found out about that last year," Bill said; and George shrugged.
"We thought about both, but they're a fair bit of work to make; and we'll likely still sell out of our first batch before the kids head back to Hogwarts next weekend."
"Plus we can sell them at full-price," Ron added.
"Last I'd heard; you were working on one candy to do multiple changes," Harry said; directing that at Ron. "Couldn't you get that to work out?"
"No," Ron answered with a shake of his head. "That would have been brilliant; but we couldn't work out a way to keep the transfigurations from getting mixed up before one wore off and the next would start."
"That one is going into our wheezes gone bad pack, though," George added with a grin. "Go on, Al. I'm sure that everyone wants to see what happens when you try one – and Ron and I really want to know if they work differently on an actual Animorphmagus."
Al was in on the laughs for that, but then he tried to prove that he wasn't the dullest member of their family when he ate one of the chocolates; ended up with a lizard transfiguration; and then turned himself into a bunny – that still had the lizard head, skin, and feet. He hopped around while earning a roar of laughter; and then changed back again before going to sit down with Gwendolyn again. She hadn't wanted to hug and kiss him until the wheeze wore off, or even hold his temporarily-clawed hand; but the focus of the fun moved away from Al when Lily, Roxanne, and Hugo were next to try out the new wheezes. That bit of fun was just one moment in many; and they added up to an evening of very happy holiday memories for everyone. It was a work night for some of the adults and teens that would be at stores or the Ministry of Magic on Sunday, but it was till getting late by the time the fun began to wind down and the first group got ready to head out.
Charlie, Julianne, and their four teens were that first group, and for them; it was already past-midnight home time when they left using the international portkey that Harry made up for them out of a discarded gift box. Harry, Ginny, and the kids were the third group to go; and that was mostly because Molly put her foot down and insisted that they'd collectively done more than enough work for the day; and could leave what was left to the rest of the family. Al was good with that plan, since Gwendolyn had already been approved for a second sleepover by then so that she wasn't getting home too late; and some cuddle time in the sitting room after they got home and put their gifts and a leftovers care package away was an option. Harry and Ginny had Lily and Holly for cuddle buddies too for a while, and they caught part of Lee's show; but then Al and Gwendolyn were left alone in the sitting room while everyone else went up to bed.
While they'd both been seriously considering another sofa sleepover pretty much since the decision had been made to have Gwendolyn stay for another night; that decision wasn't made until Lily came back downstairs after getting ready; and she put a warm comforter over Al and Gwendolyn while grinning at them and wishing them a good night again. There were a pair of hugs too; and then Lily practically danced her way back upstairs and went off to bed while leaving a pair of very happy teens in her wake. Lily's admonishment for them to be good had nothing to do with why the snogging session that followed had been quiet and tender instead of too hot to handle with the parents in the house, but getting to fall asleep together had been brilliant; and the morning wake-up call was just as special. For that, Al was awake as early as usual, but he contentedly watched Gwendolyn sleep for a long while before she woke temporarily when he jostled her slightly while trying to get more comfortable. They shared a few kisses and caresses; he took that opportunity to go and get showered and ready for the day while she napped for a while longer; and then he got to work on making breakfast for five in the kitchen.
Harry joined him to help with that before Gwendolyn went upstairs to take her turn in the bathroom; Al and Gwendolyn got teased a bit about their sofa sleepover while having breakfast; and then there were some chores to do around the house before they needed to get packed up and head over to Gwendolyn's house for a play day with both families. The chores had all been of the standard weekend variety; and they were playing catch-up for that after being away for most of Saturday. At the McCormacks' house, the play time included an afternoon Quidditch scrimmage that was possible thanks to extra, drop-in visits from other family and friends. Those visits were informal, but had been by casual invitation; and it gave Gwenog and Kirley a chance to see quite a few friends that they didn't have time to hang out with over the rest of the holidays while Gwenog was busy with Quidditch and Kirley was busier with his music thanks to holiday parties and other work he was dooing with the Weird Sisters and the other groups they worked with – including the Weird Kids and the Graves Robbers.
Lily had wanted to have the Quidditch scrimmage, but it was also very cold out; so they ended up playing to another Seeker draw of one catch each for Lily and Jonah when they were all too cold by then to keep playing when they could be playing other games in a nice, warm house. The teens and kids spent most of the afternoon in the games room; though there were regular visits by parents checking up on their kids; and a rotation of kids as the guests arrived, stayed for short or long visits, and then left again. The Potters were the only family staying for most of the day; and the only guests at the McCormacks for both lunch and dinner. Other than the Quidditch, the rest of the fun for the day was fairly low-key. Al and Gwendolyn stayed out of the spotlight for most of the day, but while Kirley did get them to sing and play a couple of duets; that didn't happen until after dinner – and they only had a handful of guests still there for that bit of musical entertainment. That was also the wind-down family time; Harry and Ginny took Al and Lily home after that; and then Al ended his day with a bit of prep work in his room for what would likely be the last day of revision on Monday for his study group. he also went to bed early; and slept straight through until his normal wake-up time; and that had him fully re-charged and ready to keep the holiday fun going – starting with breakfast for four with his parents and sister.
"You seem to be as excited this morning as I expect Lily to be tomorrow," Harry told him as he walked into the kitchen. "I would have never been that enthusiastic about a study morning when I was your age."
Al laughed and shrugged. "I get to spend most of the day with Gwendolyn again; it'll just be three of us here tonight while Lily's at the McCormacks'; and New Year's Eve day is looking pretty good too – even if I can't get an invite to teen day with the Harpies."
"You don't talk about it at all; but how many invitations did you get with other teams? There's no way that at least some of them wouldn't invite one of the junior team Captains."
Al shrugged again and smiled. "I'd rather not say. It would just be one more thing that would annoy James if he found out – and it doesn't matter; since I'm not interested in doing them anyway."
"Is there a reason for that?" Harry asked next. "Most teens find those workouts and luncheons with the pro teams very helpful – and a lot of fun."
"Would you believe that I'm trying to subconsciously help Rose with her plan for the Cannons; and don't want the other teams to find out just how good one of her future players is going to be?" he joked with a grin; and Harry laughed.
"Yeah, I would; though that isn't keeping Rose from going to the teen days with the Harpies every year."
"She's trying to learn everything she can about how to run a successful team," Al reminded him. "I don't think that her dream is as impossible as everyone believes, but whatever happens; it's going to be fun watching her try to make that dream come true."
"And fun to help her," Harry added knowingly. "Getting back to those invitations, though; don't you think that people will notice that you're the only member of your entire team not going to one of the team teen days?"
"I'm not the only one," Al disagreed; and then smiled at Harry's reaction. "I'm including the reserve squad for that," he explained. "Scott, Romeo, and Hunter aren't going to any of the workout-luncheons."
"With it just being a coincidence that all three of them are Muggleborn," Harry pointed out. "I'd have never been allowed to do something like that by my aunt and uncle either; so I'll take a wild guess that they didn't even try to get permission from their parents." He nodded at Al's reaction to that comment. "So they did at least get one or more invitations each," he deduced. Instead of going on about that when you obviously don't want to talk about it, though; is there anything you'd like to do with your sibling free night with the parents?"
"Let's just stay home and do nothing," Al answered seriously. "You've got the teen day with the Aurors and more meetings tomorrow, and Mom's working in the morning and shopping with a gang of kids in the afternoon ahead of the New Year's Eve party here; so a do-nothing night sounds pretty good to me."
"Okay, but if we're doing that; then I should at least bring dinner home with me so we don't have the cooking and cleaning too," Harry offered. "Any preferences?"
That question was something they discussed for a few minutes while working together on breakfast; and then the conversation moved on as Lily and Ginny each joined them in the kitchen within a few minutes of each other. Lily wanted to talk about Quidditch – both for their afternoon team workout plan and her first Harpies' teen day adventure on Tuesday. Quidditch was a top chat topic during their morning studying too, and while he didn't say anything about it; Al was quietly amused that the Cannons didn't come up at all with Rose and their friends when he'd half-expected it after his pre-breakfast chat with his father. The studying was fun thanks to spending that time with Gwendolyn and the rest of their study group; and they were all happy about getting their holiday revision finished with most of a week left to go in the Christmas break. All of the teens and tweens stayed for a pizza lunch that Ginny brought home with her after a morning visit with the Wasps as they were getting ready for their big match against the Harpies on Saturday. Ginny brought Lucy home with her and Dominique came over for lunch too; and then they stayed to supervise the junior team practice while Ginny went out to work again for the afternoon.
Most of the non-Quidditch study group members and Hufflepuff team players headed out after lunch; while the rest of the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor players arrived for the practice – with some of them getting there in time to help out with polishing off the pizza leftovers. Denise Creevey was the only non-player to stay for the afternoon too, but while she did that to spend more time with Lily after the practice; she was also happy to stay indoors with Dominique and Lucy while they watched the show from the comfort of the warm house. Al and Gwendolyn led their teams outside once everyone was there; they kept the warm-up and workout comparatively short; and then had an extended scrimmage to a best-of-three catches that Lily might have won because Jonah backed off just so that they could get done and go indoors to warm up again after an hour and a half of extreme flying fun. Lily was ready to go in by then, but when she didn't have any luck trying to get Al drafted for the senior team Seeker duel with Brandon; she stayed outside and worked with him for a half-hour of Dominique's scrimmage before leaving him to chase the snitch on his own and going inside to thaw out.
All of the players stayed for the snacks, drinks, and some mirror gaming before heading home or waiting to be picked up by parents after work; and that included most of the senior team players once they were finished their workout. Al and Gwendolyn didn't get to have any alone time with a house full of teens and tweens, but they were kept entertained – even when Al was also busy with the work that went along with hosting the snacks and drinks breaks for everyone and keeping up with the clean-up that was ongoing with that many kids in the house. Ginny got home early; joined in for some of the gaming fun with the older teens; and had fun with the cameo chats with various parents as they stopped by to collect their kids. That included a longer chat with Gwenog when she came over to get Gwendolyn, Jonah, and Lily; though that was more to give Al and Gwendolyn time to say goodbye than for anything else – especially since Lily had been packed and ready to go since shortly-after their Quidditch practices had ended.
The McCormacks weren't the last group to leave; so Al was able to hang out with Rose and Hugo until Hermione came to get them – and she only got there ahead of Harry because he stopped for the take-out food on the way home from Auror Headquarters. Al was a bit surprised that his parents didn't just invite Rose, Hugo, and their parents to join them for dinner, but they must have been looking forward to a night with just one kid home as much as he was; and didn't extend the offer to Ron and Hermione. Once Harry was home with the food, it wasn't long until Al was on his own with his parents; they set the kitchen table for dinner for three; and sat down to enjoy their meal. Trading the usual daily updates from work and play kept them entertained for a while, but Al sensed when his father's thoughts turned toward more-serious things; and smiled ruefully as he tried to make that conversational transition easier for both of his parents.
"You want to talk with me about James," he said; jumping into a short lull in their ongoing chat.
"Yes," Harry agreed with a quiet laugh; "but maybe we should start by asking you about just how good you're geting at Divination to know that before I said anything."
"Or not," Ginny told them. "You'll both get side-tracked; and forget about what we do want to discuss – or end up spending the entire evening doing that instead of having some fun too."
"Okay,' Harry agreed; "but we can do a bit of both." He focused his attention on Al then and his expression turned serious. "You know more about what happened with those cursed Fanged Frisbees than you told anyone – including us; and I suspect that more has been going on at school than we've heard about too. Your mother and I think that it's past-time for you to tell us about everything; and we need to do more to help you – even if that could include making some tough decisions that none of us want to face and wish we could avoid."
"You have shown so many extraordinary abilities," Ginny added, "and that's both been good and bad for what's been going on between you and James, but when you're dealing with such dangerous situations; there is no way to know when something will happen that is beyond your abilities. Things have already happened that are far beyond anything we could have ever imagined possible – regardless of how mad James is at you."
"Let's begin with that last attack," Harry told Al next. "What else do you know for sure about it – or at least suspect happened?"
Al sighed. "You're not going to like it," he answered first. "I know that James and Ollie were behind the attack; though I didn't see them do it. You haven't said whether Uncle Bill has found out more about that curse, but I know that it wouldn't have killed me; so it was meant to cause a long, painful illness and what I suspect would have been an incomplete recovery. I have no idea what James and Ollie knew about that curse."
"Then you don't believe they created those Fanged Frisbees," Ginny deduced; and Al nodded; sensing her moderate relief at that news.
"I know they didn't," he agreed; "but didn't learn that from them. Scorpius Malfoy had something to do with it."
"What?" Harry exclaimed; and Al nodded while meeting his father's now-intense focus on him.
"I sensed it from him during the first class we had together once I was out of the hospital wing. "Other Slytherins in our class had more hate for me than normal too, but it was different for Scorpius; and he was furious. Somehow, he had something to do with getting those Frisbees to James. I have no idea where Scorpius could have gotten them from; but it is possible that he was that furious because he believed he got cheated."
"His father is a well-known Dark Arts collector," Ginny pointed out; and Al smiled.
"That was one of my first thoughts," he admitted; "but I just couldn't picture a pair of Fanged Frisbees on the wall or in glass cases in such a collection without laughing."
"I suppose that would be a bit ridiculous," Ginny admitted; though her smile was more grim than amused. "Do you think that James has a new Slytherin friend – or at least an ally?"
Al shrugged. "I've never sensed or seen anything to suggest that; but it is possible – especially after something else that happened back in September on the first Hogsmeade weekend."
"That sounds like the first of many stories we haven't heard about yet," Harry guessed.
"Not the first; but one of a handful," Al agreed. "Gwendolyn and I were walking back to the school from town early so that we could still catch most of the Harpies' match with Lily, Jonah, and their little gang of game-watchers. We were ambushed by James and Ollie from ahead; and from a group of ten Slytherins from behind. They weren't working together, and the Slytherins just took advantage of the situation to jump in, but they did manage to hurt Gwendolyn and me a bit; so it is possible that they've at least considered working together since then." He paused and thought for a moment before continuing. "If James is getting help from any Slytherins; I don't think that he knows it – or is pretending he doesn't if he suspects it. I've had no sense of him being mad at anyone other than me – and he would be mad if he thought that any Slytherins were messing with him."
"Maybe," Harry agreed. "Tell us about some of these other incidents."
Al took another moment to think about how to best respond to that request first. "The next one that might be related happened after the Gryffindor-Slytherin match. James tried to shake my hand while supposedly congratulating me in his usual, insulting way, but I sensed that something was wrong and wouldn't do it. He then tried to slap me on the shoulder instead; but I caught the slap with my wrist guard; and the barb that he had been trying to stick me with broke off in it – a poisoned barb."
"And that was right before the Harpers attacked you?" Harry asked. "I'm sure that someone told us that you'd been talking to James and Ollie right before Calvin Harper had tried to bash you in the back of the head. Do you think that there could be a connection – that they were working together?"
"Actually, I don't – or at least I don't think that James, Calvin, and Dave were working together. I don't get any sense of that at all as I'm replaying the memory of what happened. That could have just been another coincidence; though I suppose we can't discount the possibility that someone is playing games with all of us kids from behind the scenes somehow. The poison was a change for James – just as I'd never expect that he'd have the patience to make Polyjuice." He smiled at his father. "I'm sure there's a very good reason why Aunt Hermione made that batch of Polyjuice when you needed it at Hogwarts instead of you or Uncle Ron."
"There were very good reasons," Ginny agreed. "We've thought the same thing about that potion," she added; and then looked at Harry. "If others have become involved in this; you'll need to look into whether there are parents pulling the strings behind what's been going on at Hogwarts – and not just because they're targeting one of our sons."
"Or both of them," Al suggested; getting the immediate attention of both of his parents. "You're assuming that they'resimply trying to hurt me. It wouldn't be the first time that the bad guys tried to recruit someone from our family," he pointed out. "I have no idea whether anything else is going on beyond this being a problem between me, James, and maybe some Slytherin haters, but if that is happening; then it's possible that James is the target; and I'm just collateral damage – or a means to get what they really want by expploiting his hatred for me."
"Now that's a truly scary thought," Ginny said with a slight shudder.
"Let's not go borrowing more trouble than we already have," Harry suggested; "but I will put eyes and ears on this – not that we've heard even a whisper of any new plots against our family – or directed at Hogwarts."
"Either way, we still need to talk with Al about what he – and we – should do heading into the New Year once he's back at school," Ginny said next. "I dread the thought of having James expelled from Hogwarts; but also don't want to be responsible for anyone else being hurt by him – including Al, Lily, Gwendolyn, or any of their cousins and friends. This last time, the matter would have been out of our hands if Headmistress McGonagall had found even a shred of evidence to warrant seriously investigating and questioning James and Ollie – and I suspect that it was only because such a dark curse was used that she gave them any benefit of the doubt at all."
"I'd be happy to try anything you can suggest," Al told them; "but nothing I've done so far makes a difference with James. He also knows that I won't do anything now that would get him expelled; so he's taking advantage of that – even as he's claiming that I'm doing everything I can to get him kicked out."
"That's obviiously working for him with us too," Harry said with a nod. "The problem is that we all want you to be safe while you're at Hogwarts; and conflicted because we're also at a loss for how to make that happen for you. None of the options we've talked about are solutions without potential problems that would be just as bad as the current situation."
"I don't want to be home-schooled until James is done at Hogwarts," Al joked – "especially since Gwendolyn would never agree to stay home and do that with me."
"She'd still get a job offer with the Harpies whether she plays Quidditch at Hogwarts or not," Ginny offered; "and Rose would still hire you for her Cannons team too. That was one of my favorite options."
"We're not going to do that to you, though," Harry promised. "You won't get moved to Ravenclaw or transferred to Beauxbatons either."
"James won't be switching schools either," Ginny added – "though we had other worries about that with him."
"No doubt," Al agreed. "Do you have any ideas for things I can do?"
"We've had lots of ideas," Ginny assured him; "but no solutions that are likely to actually fix the problem."
"James is the only one who can do that," Al told her seriously. "All I'm hoping for right now is a way to keep everyone safe – me included."
"Would it help if I gave you my cloak?" Harry asked.
"You can't do that," Al answered without hesitation. "It protects you; and that's way more important than what little bit of good it might be able to do for me."
"How do you know that – what do you know about your father's invisibility cloak?" Ginny asked him.
"I know what it really is," Al assured her. "Some of the how for that is from putting the bits and pieces of stories together; but I can also sense it now - just as I can sense other magic going on around me."
"I guess there's no point in being surprised at that," Harry decided. "It could protect you instead of me, though; and that's more important to me."
"I know," Al agreed; "but even the idea of it feels wrong to me. I'm not meant to have your cloak now – and maybe not ever."
"Meant to be or not; it might still be what's best for you," Harry offered; but Al shook his head.
"No, it wouldn't be," he disagreed. "I won't take it even if you try to insist; so let's talk about anything else we can do that might help without putting you in danger instead of me. Like it or not, keeping the Head of the Aurors around is way more important than worrying about a future Chaser for the Chudley Cannons." That half-joke earned him a pair of laughs; though he also knew that neither parent was happy about how that part of their chat had gone.
"Well, our next option was to have your father take a leave of absence from the Aurors to teach at Hogwarts for a year or three," Ginny teased; and it was her turn to earn a pair of laughs. "We thought that Harry would be safer with the Aurors without his cloak than with it at Hogwarts with all of those teens; but maybe we're wrong about that."
"Probably not," Harry offered; "but then we weren't really interested in that option anyway – and Al obviously hates the idea too."
"I do," Al agreed; still smiling as he could easily picture James' reaction to having their father show up at the welcome back feast in the Great Hall on Sunday night. "We really will be happy to try anything you think might actually help, but short of knowing ahead of time what James is going to try next; I don't see what other choice we have except to just deal with him as best we can." He paused for a moment as he considered another possibility before continuing. "There is something we haven't talked about, though; and that's whether I'll have any problems in the near future anyway while James and Ollie are feuding. I'm not suggesting that James definitely wouldn't try something on his own against me, but no matter how mad he is at me; he does know that his chances of success go way down without Ollie's help with his ambushes."
"If they've been getting other help; that might not matter," Harry pointed out; and Al nodded.
"True, but if things between them stay as nasty as they were before we came home with Ollie; James is more likely to use that help against him instead of me." He laughed at both his own reaction to that thought and what he saw from his parents. "Okay, yes, I'd try to stop something bad from happening to Ollie, and James could think that would be a great two-for-one deal too good to pass up; but let's consider the possibility that James will just be too distracted at least for a while once we're all back at Hogwarts. His fight with Ollie isn't his only upcoming problem. He'll have one or two Witches mad at him depending on how he deals with Pamela and Bristol; he'll have missed about two months of Quidditch practice time and could have problems with the senior team if he isn't ready to go for the match in February; and I won't be surprised if he still has problems with his classes too. That one will keep piling up on him; and it's getting to be a bigger deal now that he's a half-year away from his OWL year."
"How is it possible for you to sound like an optimist while pointing out all of that bad?" Ginny asked; and Al smiled and shrugged.
"I'd answer that; but it would just confirm what James has been saying all along – or at least that all of that bad for him would be good for me."
"There does seem to be one thing you're leaving out of this theory," Harry told him. "Haven't you also suggested that James might be playing nice at Hogwarts over the holidays so that he can blame you for any trouble that starts up once you're back there next week? That would only work for him if there was trouble soon after your return to the school."
Al smiled ruefully at him. "You weren't supposed to remember that until at least sometime after we were back at school," he joked; and then shrugged. "James could go there too, but wouldn't necessarily need to try anything serious to make that point. He might not even need to do anything more than simply blame me for anything bad that happens to him – or for any pranks or ambushes that happen around the school – especially if there haven't been any while he's been there and I've been home."
"Okay, we'll run with that theory for now; since we don't really seem to have come up with anything to help you anyway," Harry decided. "Before we move on from James, though; we should talk about how we can deal with the Easter break too."
"I could camp in the back yard for the week," Al offered seriously.
"Would that be a week of camping with Gwendolyn?" Ginny guessed; and then laughed at Al's answering grin. "We'll see about letting you do some camping, but my guess is that James will sign up to stay at school again; and he'll have the added excuse that most of his Quidditch team will be staying to study. I know for sure that Dominique, Lucy, and Louis are staying; and I expect that Olivia and the McClaggen brothers will stay there over Easter too."
"If some of their study ethic would rub off on James; I'd say that would be a week well-spent," Harry joked and then laughed at himself. "Maybe we should keep that one to ourselves; since Hermione would find that comment ridiculous coming from me."
"No doubt," Ginny agreed. "You did catch on eventually, though; and we can hope that'll happen for James too." She smiled at Al. "Any thoughts on that?"
"Not really," he decided with a shake of his head. "A lot can hapen between now and Easter; and I have no idea what James will want to do. He wasn't worried about those team practices for this holiday – or any of them since their match in November."
"You don't think that he's lost his nerve for the game, do you?" Ginny asked; and Al shook his head again.
"I doubt it, but if he hasn't started working out again, or doesn't join the team practices again once we get back; he is going to have problems against Alex in February – if Dominique even lets him play."
"If he doesn't start practicing with the team; she won't have any choice for that," Ginny told him. "Getting back to Harry's question, though; let's talk about a home plan in case James actually does decide that he'd like to come home for Easter; and then move on to have some fun for the rest of the evening."
The first part of that didn't really take very long; and Al was hopeful that they could do some of those things whether James came home or not at Easter. Having fun was the name of the game after that – whether that was while cleaning up from dinner; dealing with a bit of work that Harry and Ginny each needed to get done; or the mirror gaming and mirror network show watching that kept them entertained while hanging out together in the sitting room for most of the evening. Al was ready to head up to bed by eleven o'clock; ended his night with a mirror chat with Gwendolyn and Lily that went later than it should have because the girls did have their morning with the Harpies ahead of them; and Al was the one to finally end the chat – jokingly so that he couldn't be blamed if Gwendolyn and Lily didn't have a good morning playing against their favorite Harpies.
New Year's Eve Day didn't start out with a morning of extreme fun for Al, but he did enjoy making and having breakfast with his parents; and he was happy to spend the morning helping out around the house to get ready for the teen and tween New Year's Eve party that Harry and Ginny were hosting again this year while the rest of the parents got to go out to other parties and have a kid-free night. Cleaning the main rooms of the house was part of those chores, but there was some baking to do that was more fun; and Al also rounded up the gear they'd need for the campers that would be taking over the sitting room for the night after everyone else went up to bed sometime after midnight. Daydreams of a New Year's Eve sofa sleepover with Gwendolyn were, at best, unlikely with a house full of guests; but that didn't keep Al from thinking about that a lot while he worked.
While Harry had gone to work after breakfast, Ginny had split her time between work and being at home with Al. Her first work outing was short and she did that while Al watched over a batch of baking cookies; and then she was one of the journalists booked for the luncheon part of the Harpies' teen day; so she got to go and have that bit of fun with Lily, Gwendolyn, Rose, and the other girls while Al did his own thing at home for lunch. Most of the chores around the house were done by the time Ginny left for the Harpies' practice pitch for the luncheon; so Al dealt with a last bit of baking still in progress; and had a soup and sandwich lunch while surfing the Wireless Web. There were already some stories popping up about the teen day events with the Quidditch teams, so that had him thinking about all of his favorite Quidditch-playing teens and their adventures with the different teams, but he was still glad that he wasn't at one of those events; and honestly didn't think that it would be all that fun for him – especially when he couldn't do that with Gwendolyn.
He'd needed to take the last pan of treats out of the oven once they were ready mid-way through his lunch; there was more work to take care of in the kitchen after he was done; and then he had just enough time left to get ready to go out for the afternoon before Ginny got home again. She had Lily, Gwendolyn, and Rose with her; but had also coordinated with other parents and teens to meet her at the house too. Al sensed when the Floo Network went into action; he hurried to the sitting room; and got there in time to welcome Gwendolyn as she arrived with Rose a few moments after Ginny stepped out of the fireplace with Lily. He was happy to see Rose too; but Gwendolyn kept Al distracted for a few brilliantly-fun moments with an enthusiastic hug and kiss; and that also kept him too busy to do more than simply notice the rest of the arrivals.
"Good morning?" he asked and teased after Gwendolyn stepped back from him and they were both smiling brightly because of the kiss and the laughter and jokes that their reunion had earned them.
"We had an amazing morning," Gwendolyn assured him enthusiastically. "Lily was brilliant, but Rose and I did pretty well in our scrimmage too – even if we didn't win the mini-match."
"From what I heard; you were all brilliant," Ginny told her – "and Gabrielle doesn't really have to worry about her job for another six and a half years; since Lily will not be dropping out of Hogwarts to go pro now just because she earned one catch against her aunt today."
"That was still amazing, though," Lily said happily; and then turned her smile on Al. "I got a bit lucky on that catch, but Aunt Gabrielle wasn't holding back; so it was still a legitimate catch. She caught two, and still won our duel, though; so I'm not quite ready to challenge her for the job anyway."
"Maybe not," Al agreed; "but that's one more catch against her than Santini has in all the years he's played for the Cannons; so maybe you just went to the wrong teen day." He'd meant that joke as much for Rose as Lily; and both Witches laughed – along with pretty much everyone else in the room.
"That might actually be funny," Lily admitted – "especially since he didn't have any luck playing against Mum either. Quit grinning like that, Rose. I am going to play for the Harpies – and so should you. Was your save percentage against Victoire, Candice, and Hailey better than it's been for half of the Keepers in the show so far this season?"
Rose shrugged. "I don't know about that; though I'm pretty sure that it was better than I usually manage against Al and Gwendolyn in their Chaser duels."
"I am going to play for the Harpies too," Gwendolyn interjected, "so if that's another hint about having me play for the Cannons instead; move along and don't go there."
"Why do you always blame me for any of that kind of talk about the Cannons?" Rose half-complained. "Al brought it up for Lily, and I didn't say anything about the Cannons with my comment about how well I played today compared to against you and Al; so that was all on you. Sometimes I wish that I had never made that original joke about it back in first year – even if I do still think it'd be awesome to be playing for the Cannons when they win their next league championship."
"You're just trying to psych us out now," Lily decided with a laugh. "I'm with Gwendolyn on this one – so cut it out!"
"Then it's fortunate for all of us that we have shopping to get to," Ginny told them. "Take bags upstairs or elsewhere as needed; get ready to head out again; and we'll be leaving in ten or less for London."
Those orders and announcement got all of the teens and tweens in the room moving; everyone was back in the sitting room on time – including the additional arrivals that included Kirley and Jonah; and Angelina with Fred, Hugo, and Roxanne. There were a few more greetings exchanged between siblings and cousins; and then they took the Floo Network to the Leaky in pairs or trios. Al and Gwendolyn were the last two teens to leave; so they didn't have to wait long before they all headed into Diagon Alley. The main reason for the trip was to pick up supplies and treats for their New Year's Eve party, but while they were in Diagon Alley anyway; they also began picking up back-to-school supplies as needed; the girls did some clothes shopping; and they generally had a lot of fun for a couple of hours before stopping for a snack break and then heading home again.
The food and party supplies needed to be dealt with once they were back at the house, and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose helped with that; but Lily and the younger kids were set free to play in the sitting room once their own purchases were put away – with most of those bags going to Al's or Lily's rooms. The cooking for dinner needed to be started soon after that blast of work was finished; and Ginny had Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose with her for that – though all three girls took time off to freshen up and get ready for the party. That didn't include getting dressed up, but they picked clothes that were comfortable as well as beautiful; and perfect for New Year's Eve snuggling with favorite boys for two out of three of the girls.
By then, the other teen and tween guests for the night were arriving; Ginny had some parental visitors to chat with; and Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were set free to welcome and hang out with their friends. Since Ray and Melissa had been invited; Tory had agreed to come for the night too; and Fred had ended up inviting Wendy and Wanda Wintringham to the party and sleepover because Wendy hadn't wanted to have her younger sister miss out on the fun. The 'cousins' also included Riley and Caylee Fawcett, so Gabrielle dropped them off after work – and took the opportunity to tease Lily again about making that catch against her – including the added news that her back-up Seeker hadn't managed to do that during the afternoon scrimmage either. All of the party guests were there by the time Harry got home; and it wasn't long after that before Harry and Ginny were on their own with the gang of teens and tweens while the parents that had stopped by all moved on to their own party plans – whether that meant going out to big parties or staying home and taking advantage of a kid-free night. Dinner was next on the agenda, so when everything was ready to go; they all gathered in the dining room at the table that had been magically expanded to accommodate the entire gang. Al and Gwendolyn ended up at the far end of the table from Harry and Ginny, but they did have Rose, Ray, and Tory next to them; while Lily and Jonah were next to her parents and some of their younger cousins and friends.
"Shouldn't this be the rowdy end of the table?" Tory teased after they'd all filled their plates for the first time; and they could all tell that the party was livelier around Lily and Ginny.
"We are sitting close to Al," Ray reminded her. "Maybe we should be glad for the quiet while it lasts."
"I think we'll be safe tonight," Gwendolyn predicted. "A trouble magnet isn't a danger to anyone around it if there aren't any of the usual troublemakers around to bother him."
"We didn't have any trouble at the Burrow last year," Rose reminded them. "Al doesn't likely want to talk about the why for that, but I am thinking about Hogwarts now; and wondering what they do on New Year's Eve. I don't think that I've ever asked any of the kids that stay about what kind of party they have. Would they have a little dance in the Great Hall; or maybe just do even smaller parties in each of the common rooms?"
"Maybe they go into town and party at the Three Broomsticks," Tory offered with a grin.
"Or the tea shop," Gwendolyn added; and her smile was directed meaningfully at Al. "I'm sure that's a fun place for holiday parties."
"For some of us; it's a scary place all of the time," he declared; earning laughs from the girls and a nod from Ray.
"The students don't go to town for New Year's Eve," Wendy advised them; smiling a bit self-consciously as she joined the chat. She and Fred were on Gwendolyn's side of the table; and they had Wanda sitting between Gwendolyn and Wendy – mostly because the two girls still knew Gwendolyn better than most of the other teens and tweens in the room.
"You've heard about what they do from some of your friends?" Gwendolyn guessed; and Wendy nodded.
"They have a little party in the Great Hall that starts an hour or two after dinner. They use a large mirror network mirror for shows and music; have treats and games; and have a bit of dancing too; though nothing as big as the Christmas dance. They get a late curfew too; though that apparently doesn't matter much over the holidays anyway – especially if Filch and Jigger have been getting a bit too merry all day."
"That sounds nice for them," Rose said with a nod and smile. "I don't think we talked about it last year; but what do you normally do with your family on New Year's Eve? It must be a busy night – especially now that you have three bands in the Weird Sisters' family."
"It's usually boring for us," Wanda answered before Wendy could. "We always got left at home with babysitters while Mum went along for the party and Dad was busy with the band. Wasn't it always like that for you too, Gwendolyn?"
"Some years," she agreed. "a mid-week New Year's Eve like this year wasn't a problem for Mum, but if it was too close to a Harpies' match; she'd stay home with us." She smiled at Al next. "We've had a few New Year's Eves with Al and his family now too; and those have been my favorites so far."
"I wonder why – not," Wendy deadpanned. "This will be fun tonight; but I'm hoping that Mum and Dad will let us go to one of the teen parties starting next year. It's not as if we wouldn't have parental supervision – at least for a few more years until the Graves Robbers' teens are grown up and don't need parents around to help with their gigs."
"Maybe you'll have your own band by next year," Gwendolyn suggested. "You must get bugged about that as much as Jonah and I do."
"Probably," Wendy agreed, "and we might start a band eventually; but not yet. We still sound like little kids compared to the Graves Robbers or Weird Kids; and Wanda and I don't want to end up with a career singing kiddie songs to toddlers."
"That's a big business in the Muggle world," Al advised her. "Lots of tweens and teens get famous singing songs for Disney shows or movies."
"I've heard that," Wendy agreed; "but we don't have anything like that in the Wizarding World; so we'll have to do something else that doesn't include being adored by a bunch of two and three-year old kids."
"Then don't be an Animorphmagus," Gwendolyn joked.
That comment required explaining; Al got teased about his adventures with Gwendolyn's family; and then their conversation moved on as they enjoyed their meal and had fun together. With so many teens and kids in the room, it wasn't possible to talk with everyone at the table, but there were moments when one or two of them were in the conversational spotlight for various reasons when they'd have the attention of nearly everyone. That didn't happen for Al, since his day hadn't included a major Quidditch adventure or really anything else particularly exciting that was worth talking about, but he was happy to listen to all of the stories that were often coaxed out of the kids by Ginny or Harry. Quidditch wasn't the only topic, but it did get top billing; and there were more stories to tell this year thanks to the extra junior players getting to have a play morning with one of the pro teams.
There had been a lot of food – and bonus choices thanks to parent donations; so they spent nearly an hour in the dining room by the time they finished having dessert – or multiple desserts for most of them. Harry and Ginny didn't ask for ehelp with the clean-up, but they got it anyway from the teens that could use charmed objects while everyone else headed for the sitting room. The post-dinner work included setting up the dining room for mirror and video gaming so that the sitting room could be used for watching shows and the New Year's Eve specials; while the kitchen table was set up for 'regular' games. Harry moved furniture around in the dining room and conjured some sofas to make the gaming there more comfortable, and when they had everything done; it was time to play.
"Welcome back to the party," Tory told Al and Gwendolyn as they sat down next to her and Ray on one of the conjured sofas in the dining room. "We were beginning to think that you'd be working straight through until midnight."
"We're done with the work for a couple of hours," Al answered with a smile and shrug. "Gwendolyn could take the rest of the night off, but I'll help Mum and Dad with the snack buffet they'll put out for us at eleven or so; and then with the clean-up whenever we need to do that after midnight."
"Then you should take a turn at the gaming while you can," Ray offered.
"Maybe in a few," Al agreed with another shrug. "Right now, I'm good with just watching the action and taking a little break."
"We're not supposed to need to take breaks at our age," Tory advised him. "Considering some of the stories we've heard about from a few of the other league teams today; you'll really need to work on that if you're serious about playing in the show some day."
"None of those stories came from the Harpies," Al pointed out. "I'm planning on being just as serious about my Quidditch career."
"Maybe you should go into acting," Gwendolyn told him. "You managed to say that with a straight face even when you think that career could be with the Cannons."
"That's why we'll need to be serious players if Rose is to have any chance of getting that league championship – with the 'we' being the players on that future team," Al explained and added when Gwendolyn gave him 'the look' for his apparent inclusiveness.
"He'll be able to go into politics too if that impossible dream with the Cannons doesn't work out," Ray joked.
"I was just thinking that we should move on, since we've been talking Quidditch a lot so far, but if we're going to switch to politics; I'll vote for sticking with sports," Tory declared; earning a round of laughs.
Her comment also had them taking their chat off in a new direction; and that blast of fun became another scene in their New Year's Eve adventure story for Al and Gwendolyn. They also joined in for a card game in the kitchen; there was an hour of 'live' music fun that they led with help from Lily, Jonah, Wendy, and Wanda. The Wintringham sisters really weren't ready to start their own group yet, but they had inherited the musical talent from their father; and Gwendolyn was sure that they would go into the music business sooner or later. For the last hour leading up to the New Year, they watched the mirror network broadcast of the young adult and teen party that the Weird Kids and Graves Robbers were headlining, and while there were no midnight pranks to get in the way of the Happy New Year kiss for Al and Gwendolyn; Harry and Ginny did have a little surprise for their gang of kids and teens – a whizz-bang fireworks show that they were able to enjoy from the comfort of the sitting room thanks to the magical ceiling effect that Harry set up for them so they could watch the show going on in the sky above the house and yard.
"And here I thought that we were just getting better at these New Year kisses every time," Gwendolyn joked after their kiss as she looked up and watched the fireworks.
"We must've done alright to just be noticing the fireworks now," Al teased in return. "I love you, Gwendolyn. Happy New Year."
"I love you right back; and Happy New Year to you too."
They shared another soft, lingering kiss; and then needed to move on to share the Happy New Year's hugs and kisses with everyone else. Parts of that little blast of fun had been very entertaining – especially when it came to the banter about some of the surprise midnight kisses moments. Jonah had been happy to share that moment with Lily, but that hadn't been a surprise – just cute and adorable. Some of the boys did get unexpected kisses, though, and Hugo had been a bit freaked out to end up with three kisses from three of the Witches in the room – and that did not include the kisses from his aunt, sister, Lily, and Roxanne. That might have had something to do with why he headed for the dining room and more mirror gaming fairly quickly – and why two of those girls followed him there. Al and Gwendolyn didn't move on to the gaming too; and instead stayed and did a bit of dancing as they continued to watch the party on the mirror network while the Weird Kids were still on the stage.
"We should try going to that party once we're old-enough," Gwendolyn told Al as they swayed to a ballad when the Weird kids slowed things down for a few songs.
"We should," Al agreed with a nod and smile, "but those big parties are never going to be something I'll like as much as what we've been doing here tonight."
"You were a hit at the school Christmas dance," she reminded him; "though I suppose you wouldn't want to be the Animorphmagus party joke every time."
Al laughed. "As if that won't happen from now on anyway. Do you really think that your Weird Sisters' cousins would drop that song from their set if they knew I was in the room?"
"Probably not anytime soon," Gwendolyn conceded; and then laughed. "Now that you have me thinking about that; big parties really could end up being a problem thanks to that song – and I mean that for both of us. Working on your reputation is one thing, but having you turn into that kind of party animal isn't what I had in mind at all; and being your date wouldn't be much fun if you get stuck playing those party tricks every time."
"Then I should definitely not do that," Al decided; and then smiled as he looked over to where his parents were dancing near the fireplace. "I'll make exceptions to that for the kids in our family, since we have some really awesome memories of Dad playing with us in his puppy form; but that should be as much fun for me as it was for him when we were little."
"Okay," Gwendolyn agreed; "though that's giving me a mental picture of you in the kids' party entertainment business; and we don't want to go there."
"Not when that also leads to thinking about the person that would have the most fun with a joke like that," Al said fervently. "Have you made your New Year's resolution yet? I'm thinking about trying Rose's resolution from last year and not talking about the future Cannons team this year – assuming that's actually what she promised to do last New Year's Eve."
James was thinking about New Year's resolutions in the wee hours of New Year's Day too, and while he wasn't dancing; he was sure that he'd had a much-better New Year's Eve than his loser brother – a fact that could be proven simply because he was currently cuddling on a sofa with an only-partially-clothed Witch. Said girl was currently having a little nap, and he took that as a compliment; since he'd obviously tired her out with their holiday celebration for two. It was the 'what' they'd been doing that he was currently musing about for that annual resolution; and just the idea alone was enough to have him, um, hoping that Malorie would wake again soon and want to play some more.
"I am going to have as many nights like this one as possible with as many Witches as I can get this year!" he declared silently – and promised himself. His laugh at that happy thought had only been a quiet chuckle, but the soft rumble did evoke a momentary reaction from Malorie that was a bit of a disappointment for him when she only shifted against him in interesting ways before settling back into her nap.
He was thinking about taking action that would wake her again when the sofa disappeared from underneath him without any warning; he fell to the floor of the classroom with a hard thump; and the air was knocked out of him as Malorie landed on him and was jarred awake. Her eyes opened wide with astonishment as she looked down at him; and then she laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck for a fierce hug. James' initial, angry reaction evaporated as her laughter, hug, and the effects both had on him as those generous curves of hers were pressed against him instantly turned the heat on again between them; so he was smiling by the time she leaned back and looked down at him.
"I am so sorry," she told him; her Irish accent thick with both sincerity and desire. "Let's, um, come up with a way for me to make that up to you."
She laughed again; they both enjoyed the effect that had on each of them; and James happily joined in as they got back to celebrating his best-ever-so-far New Year's Eve – while also beginning to fulfill his New Year's resolution.
Twenty-twenty was getting off to a great start – in more ways than one!
Scorpius was in bed shortly-after the late curfew that had been set for an hour-past midnight despite the fact that it wouldn't have mattered if he'd stayed out of his House and dorm room all night. Filch and Jigger were likely already sleeping off their over-celebration of the New Year, and even if one or both of them were still awake; they'd be too far-gone to notice any students out and about even if they were standing in front of them.
He ought to be able to sleep, since he'd had a busy day of Quidditch in the morning and two long rounds of magical training with Thomas in the afternoon and late evening; but his mind roamed along restlessly while sleep was proving elusive. The reason for that was simple, if he wanted to be honest with himself about it. His restlessness was entirely due to the fact that he knew – in too much detail – what James Potter was likely still doing right now with that mudblood wench of his while he was alone and wishing that he was similarly occupied – though with a true Witch instead of the trash that James was willing to not only mess around with; but also brag about it with him during their Quidditch workouts. Then again, James had bragged about other conquests – including with Muggle girls, and while he was skeptical about many of those stories and claims; Thomas had encouraged him to just go along with whatever James wanted to talk about so that they could learn more about him – and his family and their friends. Thomas had found James' conquest stories as disgusting as Scorpius had, but then he'd also had a different take on it than his own first reactions had been. Thomas counseled him to consider the possibility that James' attitude toward Muggles and Mudbloods was only slightly different than their own because of what he was willing to use them for – especially since he certainly hadn't expressed any sentiment to go along with his stories. Scorpius still couldn't imagine sullying himself with Muggle girls or Mudblood trash, but he had understood Thomas' point; and took that into consideration for James – though even the mental picture of him together with that Mudblood Witch just made him feel ill.
Instead of going there again – and wishing that he wasn't alone; Scorpius turned his thoughts toward the coming days and the wind down to Sunday evening when the rest of the Hogwarts students would get back to the castle. While the first week and a half of their Christmas holidays had worked out great for him when it came to the lessons with Thomas, and better than expected for his Quidditch play time and making a start toward a relationship with James Potter that would hopefully lead to being able to use him as an ally or tool against his own family; but that had still left a lot of time with nothing to do. The thought of four – nearly-five – more days of that actually had him half-wishing that they didn't have that much time left – though he didn't wish that enough to wish he'd gone home instead. Spending time with Terri over the holidays would have been fun for those hours that he didn't have anything to do here; but he wouldn't trade that for missing out on the magical training time with Thomas.
That thought had him realizing that Terri hadn't even tried to have a mirror chat with him in days. Sure, he'd missed a half-dozen or so attempts around Christmas while he'd been busy with Quidditch or his Dark Arts lessons with Thomas; but that did have him wondering why she hadn't called to wish him a happy New Year. He wasn't worried about that lack of contact, since talking with Terri was his least-favorite part of dating her anyway, but it did have him wondering if he'd be stuck trying to make up with her when she got back to Hogwarts for something she was mad at him about that he was currently oblivious about – and that he likely wouldn't think was a problem in the first place. As he pondered that idea, he decided that he was better off without her around for the holidays anyway – especially since she'd have just gotten in the way of the lessons and Quidditch that were far more important to him than anything else. It was just too bad that he couldn't have the benefits that he did like most about having agirlfriend without all of the problems.
Maybe he should make that one of his goals for the New Year – to find a way to get the first without having to bother with the second!
When it came to Witches, it was more-likely that he'd be able to become leader of the Wizarding World than finding a way to make that happen, but he could always hope; and maybe he'd get lucky – in more than one way!
Al's question and comment about resolutions had led to a chat about what they should hope for in the New Year; and that had been part of the fun wind down to the end of the party. Getting the sitting room transitioned to an indoor campsite took a while; and the teens helped with the clean-up too before they either headed up to bedrooms or settled into sleeping bags in the sitting room and went off to sleep. When he was first-up in the morning; Al grabbed a quick shower; got ready for the day; and then went downstairs to get started on making breakfast for the entire gang – a major undertaking with so many teens and kids in the house to feed. Harry joined him about twenty minutes into the cooking process; and they had junior supervisors and taste testers available shortly after that – starting with Lily and Roxanne.
There were cameo moments along the way that were a lot of fun – like Gwendolyn's Happy New Year and good morning hugs and kisses with Al; but he also kept working with his father while everyone else sat down to eat in the dining room because they'd needed to keep the food coming while the first batches of food were devoured by their guests. Ginny, Gwendolyn, and Rose took turns helping out too, but that was mostly through delivering the platters and bowls of food to the dining room and bringing the empties back again as needed. Al did take a turn to eat too, but Gwendolyn had finished eating by then; so they didn't sit together – and she spent most of that time with Ginny and Rose in the kitchen while he talked with Ray, Tory, and some of the other teens. Al helped with the clean-up too; had some time to play with Gwendolyn, Lily, and their family and friends for a while until their guests began heading for home or were picked up by parents; and then he needed to get ready to go home with Gwendolyn and Jonah so that they could help out with the Jones' family gathering that Gwenog and Kirley were hosting for the afternoon while Gwenog had the day off and could do that with her family. After another two hours of work at her house; Al and Gwendolyn were both past-ready for some play time when it was time to start welcoming her family ahead of the early-afternoon meal that was going to be the major food event of the day for them.
"Do you think anyone would miss us if we go for a nap?" Al asked Gwendolyn quietly as they walked toward the sitting room to join in to welcome the first of her cousins that were arriving through the Floo Network.
"Yes, though if we were going to have some alone time in my room; we wouldn't be napping," she suggested with a grin. "We definitely haven't had enough me and you alone time over the past few days."
"We tell ourselves that a lot," Al pointed out, "but we don't want to miss out on all of the fun going on with our families and friends either; so that isn't likely going to change much anytime soon."
"We should've made that our New Year's resolution," Gwendolyn teased. "It's time to play with the kids, though; so let's save that thought for later – after my family heads home again and we might actually have a chance for some of that you and me time before you go home too."
While Al liked that suggestion a lot, he didn't have time to spend the afternoon daydreaming about it because the Jones' clan kept them very busy. There was some more work to do here and there before and after their dinner, but Gwendolyn and Jonah were also in charge of keeping their cousins entertained; and Al went along for the ride – and helped with the play time while the adults had a quieter afternoon in the sitting room. There was a short bit of outdoor fun as part of the kid entertainment, but it was too cold to really have fun playing Quidditch; so it wasn't long before they were back indoors and ready to get warm again with hot drinks, warm snacks, and have their Quidditch fun through a mirror gaming competition.
There was interaction between the adults and kids during the late afternoon and early evening, but that was mostly visits to the game room or sitting room until after they had a buffet snack at around six o'clock that included some leftovers and sandwiches for anyone that needed more than the snacks or leftover desserts. Kirley had them wrap up the family fun with a bit of music time in the sitting room, and al and Gwendolyn were drafted for two songs to help with that entertainment, but then it was time for their guests to head for their homes so that Gwenog could do a bit of prep work for the Harpies ahead of her training night curfew. Al and Gwendolyn were again busy with the kids while they were rounded up by their parents, and then they helped Kirley and Jonah with the final clean-up of the day while Gwenog got to her work; but then they got to have some alone time in the sitting room while Kirley and Jonah gave them some space and went to play mirror games in the game room.
"The good news is that we have some alone time; but we're too tired to do anything with it except nap," Al joked; and smiled when Gwendolyn could only nod her agreement instead of protesting his claim.
"We really should just get a bunch of kids to come over for our Quiddditch practices and chase them around for the conditioning workouts," she suggested tiredly. "It's no wonder that parents in general are so tired by the end of every day."
"Ours included," Al agreed with a soft laugh.
"You're thinking that isn't actually true for your parents this week," she guessed; and Al laughed again while hugging her more tightly for a moment.
"Yes, but that isn't something I should feel good about thinking."
"Your Mum and Dad are feeling guilty about that too, but we should all hope that this break helps make things better for everyone."
"Speaking of breaks, and instead of going there; what are you going to do tomorrow while Lily and I are at the Burrow with Grandma and Grandpa?"
"The way I'm feeling right now; nothing at all would be a good plan. We don't have anything planned that I know about; so maybe Dad is just going to hang out with us here. This holiday has been really good for getting to spend time with him; and I know that Jonah is especially happy that Dad hasn't been too busy with work."
"Lily can't say that about Mum and Dad, but has gotten to spend more time with them thanks to James staying at school; and I think she's feeling the same way Jonah is after their first big separation from our parents."
"Especially since they both got to have them to themselves for our first two school years," Gwendolyn added; and then sighed. "I really am tired. Why don't you kiss me a time or three; and then we can just cuddle and have a little rest until you need to go home."
Doing as ordered didn't lead to even a minor snogging session because Gwendolyn closed her eyes for the first kiss; snuggled into Al after the second; and was soon having a nap while Al held her close and enjoyed the cuddle time. He didn't sleep too, but did have his eyes closed as his mind wandered aimlessly for the half-hour or so they had before Kirley returned to the sitting room. Al talked with him for another ten minutes, but then they woke Gwendolyn; Al got ready to go home; and then Kirley had a mirror chat with Ginny, Harry, and Lily while Al took the Floo Network home after a last goodnight hug and kiss with Gwendolyn. Once he was home, it was story time with his parents and sister; they talked for a half-hour; and then he was ready for bed. Harry, Ginny, and Lily all decided to turn in then too, but Al was first to be changed and in bed; and he was the first to be sleeping and out for the rest of the night.
He was also first up in the morning; cooked breakfast for four; and helped to get the day off to a great start for everyone in the house. When he and Lily were dropped off at the Burrow, they found out that Arthur had taken the day off from the Ministry to spend the day with them, and while there were some chores to do first; they went on to have a really good play day together. The cold weather didn't keep them from having some airplane and helicopter fun; they cooked and baked a special lunch; and spent most of the afternoon playing games in the sitting room while the fire kept them warm and they simply enjoyed being together. Al woudd have been okay with having their cousins around too, but it was also nice to get a rare day where they didn't have to share their grandparents with the rest of the kids in the family. Harry picked them up after work; they had a quiet dinner and evening at home because Harry and Ginny both had some homework to do ahead of their last work day of the week; and Al and Lily stayed up a bit later than usual when they got into a mirror game battle that they were having fun with and didn't want to stop until Al was finally tired out enough to concede defeat by attrition and go to bed.
"Morning," James said gruffly as he dropped his Quidditch gear bag on the bench next to where Scorpius had put his own bag and then sat down and leaned over to open it.
"You're not a morning person, are you?" Scorpius stated more than asked; and James grunted.
"I'd be fine with them – if they'd start at noon."
"That wouldn't work out very well for most of us if we had classes all afternoon and evening; and then had to stay up all night working on our assignments," Scorpius pointed out; and James grunted again.
"We'd have lots of time if the Professors stopped forcing us to do all of the useless work and just teach us the magic. All of those reports and half the tests are just a waste of time." He waved a hand in a way that was meant to indicate the entire stadium around them. "If we studied magic the way we practice Quidditch, we'd need less than half the time for the lessons – and it's always fun to practice the magic."
"Quidditch players study too," Scorpius pointed out; but James shook his head.
"The dumb ones do," he disagreed. "I learn from watching games and practicing – not from studying or reading a bunch of nonsense written by supposed experts or reporters."
"Isn't your Mum one of those expert reporters?" Scorpius dead-panned; and James laughed.
"Yeah, and she proves my point on that every day. Maybe there are Witches and Wizards out there that read her reports and actually need the help to understand the obvious, but I don't; and I figured that out years ago. The same is true for magic. Who cares about the history or anything else beyond learning how to do stuff? I sure don't need to know who invented a spell or how it has changed over the centuries to be able to use it."
"That's true," Scorpius agreed, "but that isn't going to change anytime soon; so we're stuck with things the way they are. At least you're half-way done now. I've still got four and a half more years to go."
James shrugged. "Nobody can force you to stay once you're seventeen."
"Maybe you could do that, but I'd likely be disinherited if I don't stay for my NEWT year."
"Does that even matter in your family?" James retorted. "Your cousin got disinherited; yet he somehow ended up with the Black family home – or he wouldn't have been able to leave it to my father so that he could give it away to his precious Godson and my cousin. You're the last in your family; so you'll get the family fortune eventually."
"Maybe, but I'd rather not wait a century or more for that to happen," Scorpius said; "and it isn't as though my cousin's life was anything to wish for after he was disinherited by his parents."
"You think that your life is horrid anyway; so maybe you'd be better off without your family. I know I have been better off being here over the holidays – and it'll be even better when I can get out of this place and go play in the show."
"As long as you do that as a Seeker," Scorpius told him as he stood up and grabbed his broom – ready to get started on the flying warm-up. "I'd have a better shot at making it in the show as a Chaser than you would."
James snorted out a laugh. "Go for it. I'm okay with being the best Seeker ever; so it doesn't matter how good I am at any of the back-up positions on the team."
Scorpius decided not to irritate James by pointing out his mediocre Quidditch record so far, but only because he didn't have anything to brag about either with the Slytherin team. Instead of going there, he took off and got busy with a flying workout that James soon joined him for – and then led once he'd passed Scorpius. His faster broom allowed him to keep up most of the time, but James was still better at the flying tricks that allowed him to keep the lead the rest of the time until they were ready to move on to the Seeker and chaser duels. As always, James won the Seeker duel; Scorpius won the Chaser battle; and they were both happy campers by the time they were ready to land and head back to the castle. they split up for a while after that, but met up again in an out-of-the-way classroom for some magic play time – something that Scorpius had suggested; and that James had been interested in doing too.
The one-year difference between them was easily off-set by Scorpius' extra training with Thomas, but while Scorpius needed to be careful about what he showed James; they both found out that their magical talents were very-closely matched. That was much more obvious when they tried a bit of play dueling, but they could also see it in the magic practice where their spells were cast with similar results – whether that was with a shield charm or a transfiguration. Their duel lasted for nearly a half hour, but while they did test each other; they didn't do that seriously-enough to risk turning the play time into a serious fight.
When they split up for lunch, they didn't make any plans for the rest of the day, but Scorpius was already planning on studying with Thomas anyway; and knew that James would be busy with his Mudblood holiday fling after dinner. They were going to get together for another Quidditch workout on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for a morning or afternoon workout, though; and adding in more magical fun each day was an option too. That was working out for both of them, if for different reasons, and while Scorpius expected that they wouldn't continue to do anything together once the rest of the students returned on Sunday evening; Thomas was very happy with how things had been going with James – and he was sure that Scorpius was doing a great job of developing a connection with James that could help their ultimate plans and goals.
For his part; James' interests weren't forward-looking at all. The Quidditch and magic time with Scorpius was fun – even though that had been a surprise for him to discover that he could get along with any Slytherin. He knew that life would go back to normal for both of them by Sunday night – just as he knew that he'd be done with Malorie O'Malley once the best-looking Witches were back at Hogwarts. Sure, James had plans for his own brilliant future, but he didn't need anyone to help him make that happen, and while he didn't even think about it at all; Scorpius and Malorie were just two more bit players that helped to keep him entertained while he waited for his destiny to arrive!
Friday morning was a near-repeat for Al through until he and Lily were dropped off at Gwendolyn's house instead of the Burrow. The reunion hugs and kisses with Gwendolyn was just the most-obvious change; but they were also having a play day with their Quidditch friends and relatives; so they were soon busy with welcoming everyone else to the house while Kirley visited with parents or kept in contact with them while their teens and tweens were in-transit through the Floo Network. Their Quidditch workout was first on the agenda, so once they had everyone there from both teams; they headed outside and got ready to play.
"This is our last practice before we head back to school. Maybe we should have a Witches against Wizards scrimmage instead of Ravenclaw against Gryffindor," Rose suggested. She was sitting next to Lily; and smiled too at Lily's instant enthusiasm for the idea.
"We have until March before our next school matches; so I'm okay with that," Gwendolyn agreed.
"And if the boys win; we can decide that it was a bad idea and blame it on you," Stephanie warned Rose with a laugh. "I guess we'll need to rotate the extra Witches in and out of the line-up too."
"We'll do that for the guys too," Al promised. "We can have all of the younger players we have here take turns too."
"That'll be more fun than just doing the workouts and then watching the scrimmage," Hugo said gratefully. He wasn't one of the 'younger' players anymore, but he was on the Gryffindor reserve squad; so his sister's suggestion was as much for him as anyone else.
"Okay, now that we've decided that; I need to hear some of the New Year's Eve and Day stories before we get to the warm-ups," Lily said enthusiastically.
"Weren't most of us at your house?" Hugo asked; and Lily laughed.
"Yes, but most isn't all of us; and there must be New Year's Day stories that need to be talked about from after everyone went home or elsewhere on Wednesday."
"Plus all of the gossip we've heard about from other friends since then," Stephanie added with a nod. "We don't want to be totally out of the loop for the gossip before we get on the Hogwarts Express on Sunday morning."
"So you'll want to know that Ollie went to that big teen party on New Year's Eve with Lacey?" Ray asked; and then laughed at himself. "Feel free to run with that; and pretend that I wasn't the gossip source."
"I'd have told them about it if you hadn't," Kathryn promised after joining in for the round of laughs. "He's just trying to mess with James, but other than getting to go to the Quidditch match and the best teen party of the holidays; I don't know why Lacey wants to be anywhere near my brother."
"I don't know; but am wondering why this wasn't news we knew about on New Year's Eve," Lily told her; and Kathryn shrugged.
"I didn't know because Ollie didn't say anything about it to any of us at home. My sisters found out at the party; and I found out after I got home on New Year's Day. Mum loves Lacey, so she thinks this is great for Ollie." She smiled ruefully then. "She isn't too upset about James and Ollie being on the outs either; but I'm sure you don't want to talk about that."
"I might," Lily disagreed, "but the dance gossip sounds like more fun; so why don't you pass on anything else you've heard about it from your sisters."
Kathryn was happy to do that; the girls had fun with the gossip until they were all ready to start the warm-ups; and then they got to work. They exercised and worked out as usual for an hour; and then started the battle of the sexes scrimmage. Al and Ray were technically at a disadvantage at Chaser while playing with a third that wasn't on a school team while Gwendolyn usually had two team players with her, but Al played a bit harder and made up for that by outplaying Gwendolyn by just-enough to keep the match close. Lily and Jonah traded snitch catches for an hour and a half; and then Lily earned the twenty-point victory for the Witches with the fifth and final catch of the match. By then, while they'd all had a blast; they were ready to get inside and warmed up again. Getting out of their gear and packed up didn't take long, and by the time they were in the kitchen; Kirley had hot drinks and snacks ready for them to enjoy and devour.
"This is a bit scary to watch; though I do vaguely remember needing to eat like that when I was your age," Kirley said after watching the show for a few minutes.
"And Grandma was likely as scared back then as you are now when you had all of your band buddies over for practices," Gwendolyn suggested.
"She was usually very happy to see us head back to Hogwarts at the end of holidays," Kirley offered. "The drop in cost for the grocery bills was one of her favorite things to joke about; though the comparative quiet was a close second."
"Did you practice a lot at Hogwarts too?" Kathryn asked him; and Kirley nodded.
"Yeah, but we could use magic there to keep the noise down for everyone else – or when we didn't want anyone to hear new music we were working on."
"Couldn't Grandma and Grandpa have done that at home if you were really bothering them?" Jonah asked next; and Kirely laughed.
"Yes, and they did do that sometimes; but why let facts get in the way of a good joke?"
"It's funny to think that your Mum didn't like all of the loud music from your band while most of our Mums love the Weird Sisters – and still listen to your music a lot at home," Lily said with a laugh.
"Our Mum included," Gwendolyn added. "Did you watch much of our scrimmage, Dad? What did you think of it?"
"I watched bits of it here and there; and I think that your Mum will be happy to find out that the Witches won the day – even if Lily did beat her son to get that win for you."
"That last catch was half-luck," Lily declared. "We were both so frozen by then; it's a wonder either of us could pry a hand off of our brooms to make any catches."
"So that mid-air hug and kiss was strictly meant to help you warm up?" Kirley teased; laughing when Lily grinned ut him without a trace of embarrassment while Jonah blushed.
"Sure, let's go with that theory," she agreed. "I did feel a bit warmer after that hug."
"You did just win a Seeker duel," Melissa reminded her. "Maybe the warmth had nothing to do with the hug."
"Why don't you hug Jonah too and test that theory out?" Kathryn suggested; and Melissa laughed.
"That would be fun, but I'd really regret it while spending the entire trip back to Hogwarts with a bat-bogey affliction; so I'll pass, thanks anyway."
"You'd better hope that Lily eventually decides to date you," Hugo warned Jonah with a grin. "If all of the other girls around our age are afraid of her bat-bogey hexes; then there is zero chance of you dating anyone else."
"Aren't you afraid of my bat-bogey hex?" Lily asked meaningfully; and Hugo shook his head.
"No, but only because Mum knows I'm my father's son; figured I'd mess up now and then; and taught me the counter-hexes."
"That's funny; so I'll let you off the hook," Lily decided. "What are we going to do for the rest of the morning?"
Her question was mostly directed at Gwendolyn, but diverted everyone as they talked about that – and then went on to the games room to hang out and play mirror games. They ended up doing that for two hours before stopping for lunch; followed up that meal with some more outdoor play time that included a snowball fight that had to be without using their wands; and then they wrapped up their play day and afternoon with more mirror gaming and chat time until it was time for all of Gwendolyn's and Jonah's guests to head home as parents finished work for the day and stopped by to pick them up. Al and Lily weren't the last to leave, but Ginny came over with Gwenog after the Harpies' work day was finished; and had a chat with Gwenog and Kirley while Al and Gwendolyn took a few private minutes in her room to say goodbye in a snogging sort of way.
Both sets of their parents had wanted to spend Friday evening with just their own kids in case the Harpies' match on Saturday went long and they couldn't do that after the game. After two long work days, Ginny hadn't wanted to cook, so Harry picked up take-out food on his way home from Auror Headquarters; and they enjoyed the Chinese food while trading Quidditch, play, and work stories. Ginny had a bit of work to do after dinner, but she did that while Harry, Al, and Lily cleaned up; and then they spent the evening together in the sitting room watching mirror network shows and enjoying a drama-free night together. They didn't talk about James at all, but did discuss the back-to-school shopping they were going to do on Saturday morning; had some fun discussing their return to school and kid-free life respectively; and generally just had a really good handful of hours. They had a busy Saturday ahead of them, so they didn't stay up too late; and Al didn't even lead the way up to bed because he and Harry took care of the clean-up while the girls went upstairs and took first turns in the bathrooms.
"You're here already!" Malorie exclaimed quietly as James sat down next to her at the table – and breakfast had only been served ten minutes earlier. "I expected to need to stop and feed you at the Three Broomsticks once we were in Hogsmeade."
James laughed. "For some reason, I was very hungry when I woke up this morning," he explained with a meaningful glance that had her blushing in response. "Then there's the bonus that I don't have to pay for breakfast if I eat here. Do you have many supplies to get today?"
"Not really. I did most of that shopping last time. You?"
"I need quite a bit, but it won't be busy there; so that won't take long. It's bitter out there today too, so we can have lunch there if you want; but then I'd like to just come back here and find something else to do for the rest of the day."
"Like watch Quidditch?" she guessed; and James shrugged.
"Maybe. I still have some revision to get done too; but I might just leave that for tomorrow."
"I've got mine done and could help you with yours if you'd like," she offered; and James shrugged again.
"We'll see. I wouldn't want to do too well on those assignments. The Professors are mostly all really old; and I'd hate to accidentally shock them to death."
Malorie laughed and gave him a shoulder bump. "I'm sure they really appreciate how considerate you are about their well-being. Are you going to try and have a Quidditch practice sometime today too? You must be looking forward to practicing with your team again starting next week now that you're well-enough to train full-out again."
"Winter practices aren't fun, but we have a game to get ready for in February; so I need to do the extra work to make up for all of the lost time I had after the last match. I'll need to practice with my team too; but wouldn't say that I'm looking forward to it. My cousins are all on the Animorphpotty bandwagon; and the only reason I'm on their team at all is because I'm the best player in Gryffindor."
"Well, I'm not really all that interested in Quidditch compared to you and the rest of the fanatics, but if that's true; then I hope you have a lot of terrible practices between now and when you play Hufflepuff in February."
"Gee, thanks," James deadpanned with a grin for her attempt at a House pride joke. "At least you didn't hope that I'd get hit in the head with another bludger during practices."
"I wouldn't wish that on anyone," Malorie declared seriously with a shudder. "Flying brooms is fun, but I'd never want to play Quidditch; and I definitely do not want to find out what it's like to get hit by one of those bludgers!"
"You don't feel a thing when you get hit in the head – until you wake up in the hospital wing," James joked. "Since you didn't know about Quidditch until you started at Hogwarts, though; why don't you tell me about the sports you liked when you were a kid. My Muggle cousins – or at least the guys – are into boxing; but don't play any other Muggle sports on teams. Margie isn't into sports at all – unless you consider flirting with boys a sport."
"It might be a team sport if she does that with her best girlfriends," Malorie suggested. "I like lots of different sports, but don't play many of them very well; and never played on school teams when I was younger. I am pretty good on a bike and love to swim; though I'm not exactly, um, built for speed in a pool." She'd blushed as she said that last part; mostly because James had turned and grinned at her in response.
"Maybe not; but I'll wager that you are built for swimsuits," he offered; his grin now wolfish. "Too bad it's January and I can't find that out for myself."
"Too bad we don't have one of those portable pools I've heard about; or we could have gone for some swims over the holidays," she lamented half-seriously. "I've seen them in your uncle's store; but haven't ever been in one." She shrugged and smiled ruefully. "That must seem weird to you; since I'm sure everyone in your family has at least one of them; but none of my best friends here at Hogwarts have them; so we can only wish that we could do things like that."
"They were Lily's idea," James advised her; "so we got one of the prototypes when my Uncle George was experimenting with them. They're based on the portable swamps. I get to use ours when it's set up at home, but Lily got to have it at home with her before starting here; and gets to have it here too; so I'm out of luck."
"That doesn't seem fair," Malorie commiserated, "but I have heard that you have a portable swamp, and if the pools are based on them; couldn't you just empty your swamp and fill it with water instead whenever you want to go swimming – or is the swamp too small for that?"
James laughed. "That's a rather brilliant suggestion," he complimented her. "Maybe we should try that out after dinner and see if we can do that."
"You're just saying that because you want to see me in my swimsuit," she teased while blushing again.
"That will be a bonus, but could be optional if you prefer skinny-dipping instead!"
That comment had her blushing more brightly; James teased her about that a bit more while he finished eating; and then they bundled up and headed out to Hogsmeade along with the rest of the students that wanted – and could – do that. They spent the rest of the morning picking up supplies and having some 'fun' shopping; lunch at the Three Broomsticks allowed them to get warmed up again ahead of the long walk back to the school; and then they split up for the afternoon while James ended up having a Quidditch workout with Scorpius at the stadium; he watched some Quidditch in his dorm room after that while not really doing any of his holiday revision; and then he met up with Malorie again for their last 'holiday' dinner before the rest of the Hogwarts students would be back again for dinner on Sunday night.
The portable swamp conversion to a pool had required a bit of experimenting; Malorie taught James a couple of spells to help him with making the swamp larger that he thought would be very useful for future pranks too; and then they went for a swim that started out with appropriate attire and ended up being clothing-optional as they eventually didn't need warming spells to make their water play hot! James was especially-enthusiastic about the most-intimate parts of their evening because he knew it would be their last night together unless he could convince her to hook up again next Christmas – and there weren't any better options for him during that holiday. There was no sense of regret or any other emotion with that thought; and James didn't consider Malorie's feelings at all. they'd both had fun; he was ready to get back to his 'normal' life again; and there were a lot of other, much more beautiful Witches out there just waiting for him to show them why he was 'the' best Wizard at their school!
"You don't seem particularly happy tonight," Thomas told Scorpius as his portrait was being set down on the table. "I expected you to be in a good mood after a visit to Hogsmeade and an afternoon of Quidditch – not to mention that your friends will be back at school again by tomorrow night."
Scorpius laughed as he sat down in the armchair. "That last part is good and bad; since I won't have as much time to work with you. I'm not happy, but there isn't anything wrong either. There's probably a limit that I've crossed for how much of James Potter I can put up with; so it's a good thing that we won't be hanging out together after tomorrow."
"You won't be done with him,' Thomas reminded him. "we're just getting started. Instead of lamenting the things you hate about him again, though; let's talk about what we can anonymously do to help him out over the next month or two."
"If he and Ollie are still on the outs for very much longer; there might not be anything to do," Scorpius suggested.
"That's something to consider too. Do we want to help push those two apart – or maybe help to bring them back together? You don't want James to have anyone but you for a best friend eventually; but it's a bit early for that to be possible; and it would be better for you if James' current best mate has at least a few more chances to betray their friendship and push James toward you sometime in the future."
"You don't think that Ollie could be useful to us too?" Scorpius asked seriously; and Thomas laughed.
"Sure he will be – as one of the catalysts that will help to fuel James' hatred and rage. The more he hates his current life; the easier it will be to convince him that your vision of the future is exactly the kind of Wizarding World he wants too."
"So we should come up with something to get them back to being best mates first and then help them to continue their primary mission to mess with Albus?" Scorpius said; and Thomas nodded his agreement.
"Yes, but you might want to cause some trouble around the younger Potter boy to nudge them along if James doesn't do anything first. He shouldn't waste the no-troubles holiday when this is the perfect time to try and show everyone that his brother is the 'real' problem."
"You want me to act directly if James doesn't do anything?" Scorpius asked in surprise. "That would be a big change from your counsel so far."
"That isn't what I meant; and you could find others to manipulate as easily as James and Ollie. We'll come up with some ideas for all of that; and then I'm sure you want to work on your lessons while you still have the extra time to do that."
Scorpius was more interested in playing with his magic than the plotting and scheming, but thought that they came up with some great ideas for that too; and then he was very happy with his progress on two of the most-difficult lessons he'd been working on over the holidays. When he went back to his dorm room for the night, he was in such a good mood that his perspective was different as he thought about the things that had been bugging him over the past few days. James' bragging and taunts seemed less-galling now than they had during their practices and magic play time. Terri's lack of even attempts at having mirror chats with him was a welcome reprieve when talking to her was one of the things he liked least about having a girlfriend. The pressure he was feeling to get his holiday revision done after ignoring it for most of the holiday break was still there, but didn't seem to be as daunting as it had been when he'd finally taken a look at what he needed to get done by the time he had each of the first classes of the New Year next week. While the downside that went along with James and his incredible ego was annoying, he had enjoyed the more-challenging Quidditch and magic competition between them; and knew that he wouldn't get that with his team mates or study group friends.
He tried not to think about what James was doing with his mudblood wench at all; though that was easier said than done after another round of too-graphic bragging about what James was planning on doing for his last night with the girl before dumping her. His good mood did make it easy to look forward to having all of the Witches back at Hogwarts that he did appreciate having around him the most – even if that was just for the better view, and while he had mixed feelings about Terri's return; two weeks with no snogging at all was reason-enough to have her back again.
There was still one day left to go before then, though, and hwile he didn't have to waste most of the day on the Hogwarts Express, he did have all of that revision to work on; so he put all of those thoughts aside and went to sleep so he could be ready for those last, busy hours of his christmas holiday at Hogwarts.
Al was in a bit of a reflective mood when he woke up on Saturday morning. That didn't feel unusual for their last full day of holidays before heading back to Hogwarts on Sunday; but he did feel just a little guilty about feeling so happy about their two weeks at home because he knew that had a lot to do with not having to deal with James' teen drama and constantly-palpable hatred of him. He was starting to look ahead to their first weeks back at school too, but while he had some worries about James for that; he was mostly thinking about his study and Quidditch schedule as he cooked breakfast for four while his parents and sister started coming to life and got ready for their shopping and Quidditch day. On the Quidditch side of that, he mused about ways to keep his team motivated while practicing in the cold and snow; he mentally added a few things to his shopping list; and had fun with mental pictures of mid-air snowball fights and other snow-related magical games that might be possible to keep their workouts fun.
"That seems to be an odd sort of smile," Lily told him as she walked into the kitchen and continued over to him for a good morning hug. "What's on your mind?"
"Right this second I was thinking that you've gotten an inch taller over the past two weeks,' he answered half-seriously. "Either that, or you're doing something to convince Mum to shop for extra new clothes for you today."
"I'm not doing anything like that, and have already gotten a lot of new clothes over the holidays; so we won't be doing much clothes shopping today. Now answer the real question instead of trying to divert me with one of my favorite chat topics."
"It usually works," Al teased, "but in this case; I was just thinking about things we could do to make our winter Quidditch practices more fun while we're out there freezing our broomtails off with our team."
"Could you make a classroom big-enough for us to practice indoors?" Lily asked hopefully; and Al laughed.
"I might be able to do that, but it wouldn't work very well; since there would still be walls and a ceiling to run into – and that wouldn't end well at any higher speeds. That's why I'm still working on my idea to shield a stadium and make it bigger. It would be even worse to hit a shield charm – especially if you did that at the top of it and had a long way to fall."
"We can still hit the ground or the seats or walls of the stadium now," Lily pointed out. That might just be something we'd need to get used to if we had close-in stadiums. There'd be lots of advantages – like no weather problems."
"True, but I don't plan on a career in stadium shielding and expansion, and even if I could do it; the magical power needed to pull it off even for a little while would be immense. For this winter, I was thinking more along the lines of mid-air snowball fights on our brooms."
"That would be fun," Lily agreed; "though I'm surprised that you're not thinking about our impending return to being under the same roof with James again starting tomorrow night."
Al shrugged and smiled; though not with any amusement. "I'll try not to go there at all."
"Good luck with that. You know that Mum and Dad will want to talk with us tonight or tomorrow morning as usual; and they're worried about our problems with James – though that's more for you than me right now. Don't you expect more trouble?"
"Honestly, I don't know what to expect," he answered seriously. "James could be too busy having his feud with Ollie. That doesn't mean he wouldn't come after me too, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see – and be ready for anything."
"How often have you said that and still ended up in the hospital wing?"
"That's true," Al conceded, "and it's posible that I've said something like that nearly every time ahead of my visits to Madam Pomfrey, but I don't have any better ideas about what else i could do instead; and I won't change some things – even if that does give James some advantages and keeps him from getting into trouble or expelled."
"So much for my suggestion that you just switch sides and join his prank patrol," Lily joked. "He does have an opening right now."
Al laughed. "That might work out – right up until he blasts me from behind while on my first prank patrol with him. If you think it's such a good idea, though; why didn't you ask him to join up before Christmas?"
"Because I thought it was good for a laugh – not a good idea for either of us."
"Well, it worked for that. Since we started out talking about making winter workouts more fun, though; do you have any suggestions for that?"
"I still like the idea of indoor Quidditch, but if that really isn't an option; how about a swimming workout instead – maybe once or twice a month? I guess we can't just do that every week, but as long as we actually worked hard instead of just floating around and playing; the exercise would help our conditioning for matches."
"Would you want to use the bludgers and try to catch the snitch too?" Al teased; and Lily laughed.
"No bludgers for sure without our Quidditch gear, but I suppose I could come up with a game for catching the snitch – and the Chasers and Keepers could work out a way to have goals at each end of the pool that could be something like the Muggle water volleyball game."
"I can think of ways to do that – and I could probably come up with an underwater snitch that you could need to dive to chase and catch."
"That sounds great," Lily agreed enthusiastically. "Once we make up that game, though, I want to make sure we get a piece of the action when Uncle George and Uncle Ron turn it into a new product to go along with their portable pools. I got ripped off with the pool idea – though I didn't figure that out until we started getting paid a bit of money for the Bat-Bogey Brother Boogie song."
"The free pools are worth a lot of song sales," Al reminded her; and Lily shrugged.
"True, but Mum and Dad would've bought us a pool; and I'd reather have the money."
"Try not to scare us," Ginny said as she wrapped her arms around Lily for a hug. Al and Lily had both heard their parents on the stairs; so Lily's comment had been timed pretty well for their arrival. "That sounded just a bit too much like James and his love of money."
"Maybe," Lily conceded, "but I'm not as clueless as he is about it; so my perspective is very different – even if I do like money a lot too."
"What were you talking about that gave you that chance for teasing us?" Harry asked as he took a turn to hug Lily and Ginny moved on to hug Al next.
"We were working out things to do to make winter Quidditch training more fun for the team," Lily answered. "I suggested a swimming workout for a couple practices a month; and we were both coming up with a pool version of Quidditch to play – without the bludgers."
"You could still have bludgers," Harry offered. "Just make them big, wet sponges or something that would soak you instead of bashing you."
"That wouldn't work out very well for the Beaters if the bludgers soaked them every time they hit one," Ginny pointed out.
"That would be a challenge for them," Harry conceded with a shrug; "but we are talking about a pool game; so getting wet is part of the fun."
Starting their morning chat with more suggestions for a pool version of Quidditch kept them entertained for a while; they enjoyed the meal that Al finished cooking for them; and also talked about shopping and the Harpies' Quidditch match while they ate; and then they cleaned up and headed for Diagon Alley to do the back-to-school supply shopping. They met up with Kirley, Hermione, their kids, and a handful of other friends and cousins at the Leaky; and then they moved out into Diagon Alley. Staying together wasn't really an option with so many teens and tweens, so while Al spent as much time with Rose and Gwendolyn as possible; he also did a lot of the more boring supply shopping with Harry and Kirley when their favorite girls were busy doing the more-interesting shopping. Potions supplies took a while to get for most of the students they did that work for, but quills, inks, and parchment were easy to get in bulk; since they could just get boxes or cases of each that could be split up later. Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose took care of their sweets stop together; they only picked up a few things each at the wheezes store; and they visited some of the other stores together too – like the book store and pet stores.
Harry sent their purchases home on a regular basis, so by the time they needed to be back at the Leaky for lunch; the only bags they had with them were for the supplies they needed to split up and pass around to their cousins and friends. Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and Hermione took care of that while everyone was gathering around the tables they had for their Quidditch game day group; and then they had lunch with their six kids while most of the others were at teen and parent tables while they enjoyed their meal. As usual, they didn't have a lot of time for lunch; they headed for Ilkley stadium after they finished eating; and had time to wander the concession booths before going to their seats. They waited as long as possible to do that, since it was cold, windy, and snowing; so they only had to wait minutes for the start of the match by the time they were in their seats and huddled in pairs or trios under blankets to stay as warm as possible.
"I am so glad that we're not playing today," Gwendolyn told Al as they watched the first play develop with the Wasps' Chasers taking possession of the quaffle first.
"Would you still feel that way if your Mum asked you to play for her team?" Al asked; and Gwendolyn laughed.
"No, but it sounded good. Thanks for picking that joke instead of teasing me about not being able to play for the Harpies."
"You're welcome. Nice save, but the wind was going to take it wide anyway."
"Maybe, but the wind wouldn't have deflected it straight to Candice like that," Gwendolyn offered. "The snow is going to be as much trouble as the wind if it keeps up all afternoon."
"If it keeps up like this all afternoon; we'll be able to build igloos around our seats," Al joked.
That wasn't a realistic risk, but it did continue to snow off and on throughout the game; and the weather was definitely a factor for all of the players and the spectators in the stadium. Victoire, Candice, and Hailey had the advantage for that at Chaser because they seemed to be better-prepared for the snow and wind than Jeremy and his fellow Wasps' Chasers were; and they did a great job getting in close to the Wasps' goals for their scoring opportunities. That took the wind out of the equation for their shots on goal; and Victoire did particularly-well as she alternated between taking the shots and setting up Candice and Hailey for other scoring attempts. She had the best goals-to-attempts for all of the Chasers; but actually passed off to her friends by a nearly two-to-one margin – which helped her scoring attempts thanks to regular pass-fakes.
In the first hour, the Harpies held that same two-to-one advantage for scoring; earning six goals to just three for the Wasps. That trend continued through the second and third hours; though the scoring was higher for both teams in the second hour; and then slowed down dramatically after that as all of the players began to feel the cold and discomfort. That was especially true for Gabrielle and Aaron as they battled hard to catch the snitch. They were a third of the way into the fourth hour when their duel came to an abrupt end – and Aaron earned the come-from-behind victory for the Wasps. Luck had a lot to do with his victory, and Gabrielle wasn't in any position to stop him or make the catch instead because Aaron just happened to cross paths with the snitch; see it in time; and make the grab before it was past him and out of sight in the snow again. Most of the spectators didn't even know the match had ended until the whistle blew – and Aaron had to show the snitch to the referee before that happened.
"Mum is so not going to be happy about this," Gwendolyn told Al quietly as they stayed huddled under their blanket while the first rush for the exits began. "This is three losses in a row for first matches of the New Year."
"Maybe not; but their record after those losses is pretty good; so maybe she should hope for this first loss every New Year."
Gwendolyn laughed. "I wasn't thinking about that; but you do have a good point – even if this is still a lousy way to start the New Year for our team."
"We think that every Harpies' loss is lousy," Lily interjected. She was sitting behind Al and Gwendolyn with her parents on one side and Jonah and Kirley on the other. "Aunt Gabrielle and Aaron are battling to a draw every year right now, so he's got the best record against her, but he's likely the next-best Seeker in the league anyway; so that isn't a surprise."
"I'd say that the only surprise today is how close we came to getting the one-sixty lead," Ginny offered. "Jeremy and his buddies didn't have a very good day."
"I'm not sure if that's good or bad for us," Gwendolyn said thoughtfully. "Aaron must have been feeling more pressure to catch the snitch the closer we got to that lead. That may have helped him with getting the win."
"Aaron doesn't usually make mistakes with risky plays; but getting close to that lead is usually better for the Seeker on the team with that lead," Lily advised Gwendolyn. "Then there are the Seekers that are okay with getting the catch for the loss when the pressure is off for the other Seeker."
"That's all true, but don't forget that luck played a big part in that catch – and our loss – today," Ginny reminded them. "It happens; we'll survive; and I don't think that Gwenog will be too worried about this loss. She really only hates it when we beat ourselves."
"Don't we all," Gwendolyn agreed; and then smiled at Al. "some of us really hate it when we get out-played too, but I won't mention any of the names on my personal list for that; since you might be related to one or more of them."
"Is there more than one name on that list?" Lily asked; and Gwendolyn laughed and nodded toward the pitch. "Yes, since I got outplayed by three Witches on that pitch fairly recently; but let's not go there. I still have a few years left to go before I'll need to be better than at least one of them when I'm ready to play in the show."
"We should start packing up and getting out of here anyway," Harry suggested. "I can't be the only person here wanting to get home and warmed up again."
He wasn't, but they still had time to round up their gear and pack up their blankets before the crowds on the stairs began to thin and they could join the exodus. While that put them among the last spectators to leave the stadium, they spent a lot less time standing out in the cold while only moving a step at a time; so they preferred doing that – and then kept the goodbye hugs and kisses short as they split up to head for their various homes. Kirley, Gwendolyn, and Jonah went home with Harry, Ginny, and the kids; they were staying for dinner and the evening; and Gwenog would join them as soon as she was done work for the day. Ginny had been working while watching the game, but hadn't drawn one of the post-game interview assignments, so when they got home; she went to the office to write up her game report for the Quidditch News and Daily Prophet while Harry and Kirley took care of the hot drinks and snacks and the four kids went to hang out in the sitting room and play mirror games.
The game had taken most of the afternoon, but they still had an hour an a half or so to hang out until dinnertime – including some wind-down time for Gwenog once she joined them. With the countdown now moving in hours to their return to Hogwarts, talking about school and Quidditch as they played games was inevitable. Hogwarts was on the minds of the parents too; so none of their kids were surprised when they wanted to have a group chat with them starting not long after they sat down to eat the meal that Harry, Kirley, and Ginny had cooked up for them while waiting for Gwenog. The two sets of adults were at opposit ends of the table; Lily and Jonah were on one side across from Al and Gwendolyn; and they were all lined up with their parents – and with the Mums and daughters and sons and Dads paired up too.
"We've pretty much put this off to the last minute; but it's time for the back-to-school chat," Ginny told all four kids after they'd all exchanged a bit of light conversation as they filled plates and settled in to enjoy their meal.
"Should we be worried about you while we're away?" Lily teased with a grin and sparkling eyes. "Since the first-half of our year was so quiet; you can't be expecting any problems for us at Hogwarts."
"At least two of us are worried about you," Ginny answered seriously. "There have already been some rather serious problems; and we do remember that things just kept escalating over both of the past two school years." She sighed. "There's no avoiding it – James and Ollie escalated their fight with Al; and we want to talk about anything we can collectively do to make it safer for all of you – and your friends – between now and June."
"As long as that doesn't include moving some or all of us to another school; we're open to any suggestions," Gwendolyn assured her – "or home-schooling;" she added in quick response to Ginny's sudden grin. she laughed when her father smiled enthusiastically next. "Ditto that for quitting school and starting a music career," she advised him.
"I wonder if she'd be against having you hire her for the Harpies' reserve squad for the next four and a half seasons," Kirley mused to Gwenog; earning a round of laughs.
"That one would be a tough choice, but since she wouldn't hire Al; I'll still pick Hogwarts over that option," Gwendolyn decided.
"We haven't seriously talked about any of those things," Ginny advised the kids. "Just having you try to be ready for anything and dealing with the ambushes and pranks just isn't good-enough for us either; so we want you to be more proactive about dealing with James – whether that's getting help from us or your Professors, Heads, and Prefects; or working out other ways to avoid James and Ollie."
"Ditto that for your favorite Slytherin haters," Harry added with a nod of agreement. He smiled at Al. "I know you're likely sick of talking about this over and over again with us, but before you tell us that you don't want to rat out anyone – especially James; I want to remind you that we're just as worried about having anyone seriously-hurt because we sat back and did nothing to stop James, Ollie, or any of your Slytherin haters. None of us want to see James expelled, but he might back off if that risk gets too high for his liking. We have considered hiring Lily and her counter-prank gang to protect you, Al, but I'd like you to try using those Divination skills you're learning this year to try and help yourself too."
"Even if that could help a bit; that isn't going to work most of the time," Al advised everyone; since Harry's comment had earned the extra attention. "Lily might love the boost to her rep if she was my prank protector, but that job is fairly dangerous; so you might not be able to afford her."
"You're not supposed to make their points for them," Gwendolyn told him with a laugh that was echoed in response to his comments. "I agree with your Mum and Dad – even if I don't have any good ideas for what we can do about James – and Ollie; assuming that they do make up from their little fight eventually." She turned her attention to Harry next. "You know that Al's worried about hurting James and Ollie – even if we don't have that problem with the Slytherin bullies. Do you have any top secret Auror tricks or spells you can teach us that would protect us and keep them from getting hurt?"
"There might be; but you'd need to sign up for the Aurors to get that training," Harry joked.
"Not you too," Gwendolyn lamented with a roll of her eyes. "What are the ideas you have come up with for us? Let me guess – Dad wants us to start a band so we're busy with that all of the time; Mum wants us to practice Quidditch seven days a week for six hours a day; and Aunt Ginny came up with a dozen new bat-bogey hex variations for us to use on James and Ollie."
"My idea was to have Al go around the school as different kneazle cats, but Harry reminded me that James has the Marauders map; and it isn't fooled by Animorphmagus forms. Your Dad didn't like my idea to have you and Al pack picnic meals and hide on Valentine's Day to avoid a three-peat of your problems with James for that particular holiday; but I still think it's a good idea."
"I think it's brilliant," Gwendolyn agreed enthusiastically.
"Valentine's Day is on a Friday," Lily reminded her. "Maybe we'll have another school dance."
"That's a good idea too," Kirley told her. "The four of you should start a band and offer to play at that dance."
"You are not helping, Dad," Gwendolyn told him. "On one hand, you all want us to stay safe; and then you want us to put big targets on for James and Ollie to have easier aim – and do that while we were in a room full of witnesses or potential collateral damage."
"I'd better not suggest that it would just make your shows more exciting," Kirley decided while using the joke anyway. I did think you'd like that suggestion better than the one where your Mum and I tell you and Jonah to stop hanging out with these Potter kids. That would be our best bet for keeping you safe – even if it wouldn't help Al and Lily at all."
"I don't like either idea at all," Gwendolyn assured him. "Lily and I are willing to get more help from our Professors and Prefects too – even if Al doesn't like that idea. None of you can really help us out while we're at Hogwarts, but we can try to do more to avoid James and Ollie – and give them fewer chances to attack us when we're on our own."
"All of that is good, but you've also had problems with them drawing Al out by putting other students at risk," Ginny reminded her. She smiled at Al. "You're Harry's son, so I don't expect you'll just stay out of the way and do nothing; but you really should work on ways to help out without ending up in the hospital wing."
"I do not volunteer to be one of the innocent bystanders for those DADA practices," Lily declared.
"Would you rather pretend to be James or Ollie instead?" Gwendolyn offered; and Lily shrugged.
"Not really – but it'd be better than the other job – or helping Al – especially when that seems to mean helping him to get to the hospital wing after he passes out."
"That job does suck," Gwendolyn conceded with a wry smile for Al while everyone else laughed at their banter. "We should have made your New Year's resolution for a year without visits to the hospital wing."
"That would have solved all of my problems," Al agreed. "Why didn't we think about that?"
"Because we were having too much fun making up Cannons-related jokes for Rose instead," Lily answered. "What else do you want us to do – including for dealing with Slytherins?"
Lily's question kept their back-to-school danger chat moving along, but despite parental best wishes; Al knew that they really didn't work anything out that would help him with James – or with the Slytherins. They were all blinded by hatred for him, and while that played out in different ways with each of them; the only true resolution to his problems wasn't something he could fix. He would keep working on developing his extra senses and Divination skills, and maybe that would help a bit; but he also sensed that he'd be continuing to simply react to whatever james threw at him – at least in the near term. He'd do the best he could with that, and really try not to get hurt, but one thing that James was obviously really good at was coming up with creative ways to try and blast him; so he didn't really feel very confident about his chances for staying out of the hospital wing.
They did eventually move on to talk about other things until they were finished dessert; Al and Gwendolyn were in charge of the clean-up while the parents retired to the sitting room with after-dinner drinks; and Lily and Jonah helped out with the work while keeping them entertained with more back-to-school chat time and jokes. Once the work was done, they spent another hour or so with the parents; and then Kirley and Gwenog were ready to head home with their kids so that they could have a bit more time alone with them before they headed back to school in the morning. Harry and Ginny wanted to do that with Al and Lily too, so they stayed in the sitting room and visited for a while after the McCormacks went home; and then had another round of chats in Al's and Lily's rooms when they needed to go up to bed – and finish up the last bit of packing that was mostly for their supply purchases from the morning and a few clothes that they'd been using over the holidays. Harry and Ginny split up to do that; Al talked with his father first; and then wrapped up his day having the visit with his mother.
"Well, you at least don't look as excited as your sister is about getting out of here and going back to school," Ginny teased as she walked into Al's room and crossed over to sit on the bed next to him. He wasn't under the covers, but he was ready for bed by then; and put his mirror down to give her his full attention. "Did you like the article?" That question had been asked when Ginny saw that he'd been reading her latest Quidditch News submission; and he smiled in response.
"It sounds a lot like our post-game conversation yesterday with a few added bits of analysis; so yes, I like it. I could say the same thing about you not looking as excited as Dad is about getting us out of here for another few months until Easter."
"Will you be home for Easter?" Ginny asked; "or are you going to try to do something noble like stay at Hogwarts so that James can come home instead of you?"
"That would seem fair, and I did think about it; but won't be making that offer to James because I think he'll want to stay at Hogwarts with the rest of the senior team. If I'm wrong about that, then we can work out a plan 'B' closer to Easter."
Ginny nodded. "Okay, and you could be right about that – though going another nearly six months without seeing James is going to be tough for me – even when he's causing so many problems for us." She laughed at the expression on Al's face. "Cut that out. I do not want to be seeing James while visiting you in the hospital wing."
"Okay, then I won't suggest that you'll see him after the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match in February either," Al joked. "You could always come to that game and do a scouting report or something."
Ginny smiled and shook her head. "No, I can't; since James has made it clear that he does not want us to be like some of the other parents that come to the school matches – not to mention that he'd be furious if that game doesn't go well for him and I report on it for the Prophet and Quidditch News."
"That wouldn't be good," Al agreed. "I hope that James will have good games against Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, but I'm afraid that he's going to keep underestimating Alex and Pauline. They also have better teams around them than Slytherin has this year; so those games should both be very close."
"That is actually good for the school league – even if it makes winning the Quidditch Cup tougher for every House," Ginny pointed out. "The Harpies have had a great run of it over the past twenty or thirty years, but we could use a bit more of that competition in our pro league too."
"You know that's going to happen," Al said with a nod of agreement; and then laughed. "When Rose leads her future Cannons team out of the league basement; all of the other teams will want to pick up their game too so that they don't end up being the worst team. Even the Falcons don't want to have that distinction – regardless of how proud they are to be the worst in the league for cheating and beating up on their opponents."
"I doubt that any of the top teams need to worry about going from first-to-worst while Rose is trying to earn that unlikely championship for her team; but you'd be right about that for the teams in the bottom half – especially if they can't count on those wins over the Cannons anymore."
"You don't seem too worried about it yet, Mum; but I'd get that bet you have with Rose covered sooner instead of later."
"I get why you say that, Al, but even if Rose can do for the Cannons what Hermione is trying to do for the Ministry of Magic; keep in mind that she still hasn't freed the House Elves – and that might be an easier job than getting a championship for the Cannons – and she's been at it for more than twenty years now."
"Aunt Hermione has to deal with House Elves that don't want to be freed," Al pointed out. "Rose doesn't plan on trying to win her championship with the current team or owners."
"I'll give you that point," Ginny conceded. "Rose will still need to work out how to get those owners to sell; and she sure wouldn't make enough money playing for them to buy them out anytime soon – even if you both save your allowances between now and when you graduate."
"She'll figure something out," Al predicted. "For the rest of this year, though, we'll just worry about having a good season with our junior team – and hopefully having fun while we do that."
"I'd remind you to worry about your studies too; but don't need to do that. We are a bit surprised that you're not more tired out from the extra classes."
"The work is tougher, but I'm getting used to it; and can keep up with everything as long as I keep to my schedule as much as possible. It helps that I like most of my subjects and seem to be good at all of them – even the subjects that aren't my favorites."
"You must've gotten that from the same place Percy did," Ginny suggested. "He still likes to study and read more than he likes doing anything that the rest of us think of as fun."
"He likes all of the parties that go along with playing politics at the Ministry," Al countered; and Ginny laughed.
"Yes, but he loves them for the politics – not the music, dancing, or fun." She shook her head and smiled. "He's happy and it works for him; so I'm happy for Percy – even if I wouldn't want to have his job or life."
"You'd say the same thing about being a Dragonologist or Curse Breaker too," Al suggested; and Ginny nodded again.
"True, but Bill and Charlie are at least both as adventurous as I am; and I could be happy living in homes like theirs on the seashore or in the mountains. I wouldn't want to live in the middle of London."
"Me either," Al agreed. "Living in London wouldn't work out very well for being an Animorphmagus either. I'd likely get picked up by the Muggle animal control regardless of what form I tried using there – and Gwendolyn might even get into trouble for riding horses in the streets."
Ginny laughed and leaned over to hug him. "Thanks for that mental picture. I'll let you get back to your Wizarding Web surfing until you're ready to crash for the night. I love you, Al; and I'm going to miss you a lot."
"I love you and will miss you too," Al assured her. "Try not to worry, Mum. I really am going to try harder to stay out of the hospital wing for the rest of the year."
"That might be too much to hope for, considering how much you are like your father; but I will keep hoping for the best anyway."
"You had your moments at Hogwarts too, but I won't scare you by suggesting that I inherited a lot from both you and Dad," Al joked; earning another laugh.
"That isn't really scary for me when we are fairly happy with how you've turned out so far. Have a good night. I'll see you in the morning."
They shared another hug and a kiss; Ginny left the room; and Al settled into his bed and went back to playing on his mirror. He eventually had a short bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn after she went to bed; took a washroom break after that; and then turned out the lights and let his mind wander as he waited for sleep to come. It was inevitable that he'd eventually spend some time thinking about James and the potential for problems with him once he was back at Hogwarts. While he had a good feeling about his classes, studies, and Quidditch; he didn't get any sense of what to expect from James, Ollie, or the Slytherin haters. James hadn't even talked with anyone from their family over the past two weeks, so he had no idea of whether James had been enjoying his family-free holiday or not. That could have a big impact on whether he'd be in a foul mood or not; though Al also still expected some trouble regardless of how happy James was – if for no other reason than because he hadn't had Al around to ambush or prank in two weeks.
That uncertainty was something to worry about, but there was a lot to look forward to with the return to Hogwarts. Getting to use magic all of the time again was a big part of that – along with spending time with Gwendolyn and the rest of their friends every day and everything else that was so great about Hogwarts. Add in Hogsmeade weekends, Quidditch matches, Valentine's Day, and all of the rest of the upcoming fun and adventure; and Al decided that it really wouldn't matter to him at all what James or anyone else threw at him that wasn't so great – he was going to do everything he could to have a great second-half of his third school year!
