Harry Potter - After the Epilogue

by PotterFanSteve

Continuing the storyline from 'After the War', this book focuses on the Hogwarts years and beyond for Albus and Lily Potter, Rose, and Hugo Weasley, and their family and friends. I hope you will enjoy this imagining of what happens in the Harry Potter universe - After the Epilogue!

35. Expedition - Fun

Chapter Thirty-Five – Expedition – Fun!

The last handful of days in July began on Monday morning with the usual early-morning wake-up call for Al; and he was in a good mood as he got ready for the day and then went downstairs to get started on making breakfast for five. James didn't try to mess that up for a change; and that was because Harry and Ginny had negotiated a compromise with him about their upcoming vacation plans. That news was part of the breakfast conversation; so that was when Al and Lily found out that James would be going with them for the first weekend of their vacation, but would then spend the two work weeks at the Burrow with Arthur and Molly when he wasn't working; and would be with Patricia and Bristol respectively on the second and third weekends. He and Patricia would also go to the opening day Harpies' match on the middle Saturday; but wouldn't go along for any part of the second week of their vacation. Bristol would also be with James for the first weekend at the seaside cottage they were renting for the first week, but while nothing was said about it; Al sensed that part of the deal included having James and Bristol play nice with everyone.

With that better-than-expected start to the week, Al was happy to get to work on making new toys once Gwendolyn, Rose, Jonah, and Hugo came over – and after James had left for work with Harry almost immediately after he'd finished eating. Gwendolyn and Rose had loved the vacation news too; since they'd both be along for that first week of vacation; and the good mood seemed to just keep getting better as the week rolled along. Toy making was the name of the game for the first three mornings of the work week; there were chores to do in the afternoons while Ginny worked the training camp circuit on Monday and Tuesday; and Al and Lily had Gwendolyn, Rose, Jonah, and Hugo all stay for a camping night on Monday – the only one they had for the week.

On Tuesday night, Al and Rose were busy with their senior team practice, and instead of staying at home on Wednesday afternoon; Ginny dropped all six kids off in London so that they could have a play afternoon with Kyle. That was the last chance Rose had to see him until after their week by the seashore, which was why she stayed at her grandparents for the night after Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, Jonah, and Hugo all left to go and meet up with Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione in Diagon Alley. They had dinner at one of the cafes; did some shopping to get ready for their trip; and then split up when it was time to head back to their respective homes for the night. Gwendolyn and Jonah went home then too, and once they were home; Al and Lily both spent the rest of their evening doing some chores and packing for their vacation.

Thursday was a chores day at the Potter home. Ginny still had to go out for work, but she split that up with two hours of work in the morning; and three in the afternoon; leaving Al and Lily to work on their own when she wasn't there. The lawn was trimmed; the gardens were de-gnomed and weeded; and all of the other regular weekly chores were all dealt with so that they could leave for two weeks and not have a major mess to deal with when they got back home again. Al and Lily were on their own for dinner because Harry and Ginny had a joint fortieth birthday dinner party to attend at the Leaky that was for Neville and Harry. James had opted to have dinner at Ollie's instead, but then Al went over there too in time for the senior team practice while Lily got to have Molly for her babysitter and junior team Quidditch supervisor until Harry and Ginny got home again after their extended dinner and Harry's birthday roasting.

Having that joint party on Thursday night had been done because Harry was taking his birthday off for the extra day of vacation; so he was technically on holidays from the moment he left Auror Headquarters on Thursday afternoon. That didn't mean he was able to take the night off after the party, though; and Harry, Ginny, Al, and Lily all worked around the house until fairly late to get everything ready so that they could leave for their seaside cottage first thing in the morning – or at least after breakfast and once James had been taken to work for the day. That's why it was nearing midnight when Al had his bedtime mirror chat with Gwendolyn, so they kept that bit of fun short and then went off to sleep; knowing that they'd soon be back together again – and get to spend all of the next two weeks together too!

"Good morning, Thomas," Scorpius said cheerfully. "How are you today?"

"Deceased," Thomas joked. "You sound odd. What has you in such a strange mood?"

"I just thought that you might enjoy having a visit this morning – a sort of celebration of Harry Potter's fortieth birthday. I'm sure there will be a huge party for him at the Ministry of Magic!"

"Haven't they made it a national holiday yet?" Thomas asked; and Scorpius laughed.

"No, so you still have that over him for your birthday."

"You do know that I didn't find jokes like that about my birthday funny when I was alive," Thomas reminded him. "They haven't really become more amusing now that I'm not."

"I'm hoping that you will eventually get a sense of humor," Scorpius countered. "Would you like to hear the latest from my last Quidditch practice?"

"Not if it includes anything about your new, secret girlfriend," Thomas answered; and Scorpius laughed.

"You advised me to follow my instincts and see where that led," he pointed out; "but I'll spare you the snogging details."

"Good. What news do you have that you do believe I'll find interesting?"

"The Aurors are not charging the underage Slytherins involved in that attack at the school feast; Brand Bletchley worked out a deal that somehow kept him out of Azkaban; Vince Vaisey has been charged, convicted, and sent to Azkaban for an extended holiday; and Victor Avery is the only other Wizard being charged with the most-serious crimes – and that won't go anywhere further until and unless he's tracked down and captured by the Aurors."

"I take it that he isn't planning on turning himself in," Thomas surmised; and Scorpius nodded.

"He isn't – or at least that's what Rupert is telling us. We don't know if there will be any consequences for the underage teens at Hogwarts; but I expect we will know that by next week when the Hogwarts letters come out."

"I'm surprised that the boys don't know the answers about that already," Thomas said; and Scorpius shrugged.

"For all I know, the guys could just be keeping me out of the loop about any bad news they've gotten; but I don't think that's happening. Rupert is an idiot, but even he isn't dumb-enough to go around insisting that he's going to be one of our fifth-year Prefects if he's in a lot of trouble with the school; and I think he's a bit delusional to think he'd be named a Prefect regardless."

"Slughorn is a coward," Thomas reminded him. "He'd give that honor to Rupert if the Avery family insisted on it."

"We'll see," Scorpius said with another shrug. "There are better choices – and some of them are from powerful families too – like the Selwyns. I'm not sure whether I should home for the best for Rupert and the other guys; or hope they all get suspended."

"You're thinking about that because of Quidditch," Thomas accused. "The last thing you should want is to see potential future allies being hurt by your enemies – and messing up their education can be very harmful!"

"You could just keep teaching me; and then I'll teach them," Scorpius suggested.

"Training your followers will be important; but you do not want to get bogged down with teaching them the basics. If that's what you want to spend your life doing; apply to teach at Hogwarts after you graduate – and let someone else lead the pureblood revolution."

"You don't exactly make that leader job sound like much fun most of the time; so maybe I should let someone else take the job," Scorpius only half-joked; and Thomas shook his head.

"I always knew that I was destined for greatness; and you should believe that there is no-one better than you for the job," he chided. "You'll certainly never restore your family name and honor if you're not willing to make the sacrifices to prove that you're worthy of the respect and loyalty of the other true purebloods. Will you be content to be your young lady's dirty little secret – no different than that Mudblood Witch you've joked about James Potter sneaking around with last Christmas?"

"It is nothing like that for Lysandra and me!" Scorpius told him angrily. "You're just being intentionally insulting. Keep it up; and I'll just leave you in the dark for the rest of the summer."

"Stop acting the child," Thomas shot back dismissively. "You're a bit old for having temper tantrums over being told something that hurts your feelings; and you'll have no chance at making your hopes for the future a reality if you're not even strong-enough to stand up to mere words."

Scorpius paused for a long moment; and then shook his head. "You began the name-calling," he reminded Thomas, "and it wasn't done to test my mettle; but to divert us from the point I was making." He shook his head again and stood up. "Stating that you do not make being leader sound attractive is a simple truth; but also does not mean that I'm being dissuaded from my goals – as you seem to assume of me so easily." He picked up the portrait and held it in front of him.

"Call this what you want, and have fun insulting me, but we're done here; because I've better things to do than play your silly word games."

Returning to the same cottage they'd rented two years ago hadn't felt like coming home; but it had felt pretty good to Al as they pulled into the driveway and Ginny brought the van to a stop. Harry was already there; his motorcycle parked; and he sat on the sea-facing deck while enjoying a cold drink. He stood up and smiled as he walked toward them; and he was half-way to them by the time they had the van doors open and Ginny, Lily, and Jonah were first out and on the ground.

"Been here long?" Ginny asked; and Harry shrugged.

"Fifteen minutes or so. It's probably for the best that I'm not a Muggle police officer; or I'd have needed to write myself a speeding ticket or ten."

"We're still early," Ginny reminded him. "Last we heard from Ron and Hermione – through Rose; they're still a half-hour out."

"Only because Aunt Hermione won't let Uncle Ron go as fast as we did," Lily teased; earning a round of laughs. "I'm surprised he doesn't just let her drive and apparate here instead."

"He likes the driving practice," Harry advised her. "I've hardly used my bike this summer so far; so I'm glad for the chance to use it more this week too."

"Well, it is your birthday," Ginny told him. "You're allowed to play all you want today." She turned her attention to the kids. "We aren't that lucky, though; so let's get this van unloaded and our things put away. If we get to it; we'll be done by the time Ron, Hermione, and the kids get here."

"And then we'll be able to go and help them unload too," Lily added with a feigned sigh. "I wish my birthday was in the middle of summer."

"You'd have settled for the end of summer," Harry reminded her – "even though that three years between you and James worked out fairly-well for you last year."

"That likely did work out for the best," Lily conceded; "but it still doesn't seem fair to base being ready to learn magic solely on when you were born." She grinned then. "If that was different; James might still be home; and I'd have started years sooner."

"That's funny; but don't go there," Gwendolyn told her. "If you take that idea to the next level, Al might have started at Hogwarts when he was five; and been done by now."

"I wouldn't have wanted that," Al assured her. "There's no way I'd have made the Gryffindor team on my Firefly when I was five – not to mention that Mum and Dad wouldn't let me play at all with bludgers back then."

"Ditto that for Lily if she'd started early," Ginny told them. "The age limit has been around for a long time, though, and while it might not be fair to every student; it's generally proved to work well most of the time."

"Then there's the point that it could be tough for any underage teens if they graduated from Hogwarts too early; and then couldn't use magic until they turned seventeen," Harry observed. He grabbed two boxes out of the back of the van and smiled when Ginny gave him the look. "I'm heading back that way; so I might as well carry these while I'm going there anyway."

That excuse didn't really work for Ginny, but she let him get away with it; and they all got to work on unloading the van and getting unpacked. They didn't quite get done before Ron, Hermione, Rose, and Hugo arrived at their cottage next door, but Lily and Jonah were set free to go and help out over there while Al and Gwendolyn stayed and helped Ginny with getting their food and other supplies put away in the kitchen and bathrooms. Once that was done, they made it next door in time for the last third or so of the work there; and then the six 'kids' were set free to go for a swim; so they went to do that while Ron and Hermione went to hang out with Harry and Ginny – and eventually start working on making lunch for all of them.

Having the early start to their vacation thanks to Harry's birthday worked for the kids and three out of four of the parents, but with the opening of the league Quidditch season now just a week and a day away, Ginny still needed to do some work – though she did that from the cottage on Friday afternoon instead of doing more visits to team training camps. There were chores to do around the cottages too; though that was mostly before and after meals; getting set up for a campfire; and being ready for guests that came over for dinner and the evening to help Harry with celebrating his fortieth birthday. That wasn't a major family and friends gathering, but it was the main reason for why they stayed around the cottages and by the seashore for the rest of the day instead of wandering farther afield in search of fun and adventure. They had lunch together as one big group; spent about half of the afternoon playing; and then Ron was happy to help Harry do no work while everyone else pitched in to get everything ready for dinner and their evening birthday entertainment plans.

One thing that was very different about the cottages was that Quidditch matches weren't an option because they had nowhere to do that. As Harry's guests began to arrive, Al and Gwendolyn were put in charge of 'the kids' and kept their cousins and friends entertained at the beach or in the water while the adults mostly gathered around the cottage and only wandered down to the beach for visits – or to cool off with short swim breaks. Bill and Fleur were first to get there with Louis and Noel. That definitely felt different for all of the cousins now that Dominique had joined the ranks for the working adults, and while she did stop in for a cameo visit – as did quite a few others; she was busy with other plans for dinner and the rest of the night too. Fred and Roxanne were brought over by Molly and Arthur while George was busy at the store in Diagon Alley, but Molly and Lucy were two more cameo visitors – in Molly's case because she got held up at the Ministry of Magic with her new job there. Al didn't think about that change very often either; though he had at least heard a few things about Molly's new job from his parents and sister as part of their Thursday evening Quidditch and dinner party story time.

They 'only' had twenty-three for dinner – including James and Bristol, but since the meal was grilled with a lot of cold side dishes; that wasn't too much work for Ginny and Hermoine to keep up with – especially when they had lots of volunteer help. Extra tables and chairs were conjured, and the adults happily roasted Harry while enjoying their meal while the kids mostly entertained themselves and left the parents and grandparents to that. James and Bristol weren't complete angels during dinner, but kept the insults and razzing about Al and Gwendolyn mild-enough to avoid any undue attention. They spent most of their time hanging out with Louis and Noel, but then they also ate quickly; and then headed off to the beach on their own – though James did manage to take a few dessert choices along so that he didn't miss out on those treats.

While Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah hadn't been able to spend time with Harry and Ginny during dinner; they did gather around with everyone when it was time for the birthday song and for Harry to open a handful of gifts between dinner and dessert. That blast of fun had been entertaining; they'd gone on after having dessert to help with the clean-up; and then Al and Gwendolyn ended up doing a bit more work to help Ginny out after overhearing that they were going to need to set up the tent because James had advised her that he and Bristol had no intention of bunking up with anyone else for the weekend. Since they were okay with that plan, that extra bit of work was worth the effort – even when it also meant a walk-by razzing from James and Bristol that included a back-handed insult to go along with the insincere thanks for being such good little slaves.

The rest of the evening until dusk was spent on the beach or in the water for all of the kids and teens, and the adults had some play time there too; but party central was still around the cottage; and that's where everyone gathered when it was time to wind down with the campfire. There were more than thirty Witches and Wizards in the group that settled in around the fire in chairs or on blankets. Kirley and Gwenog were among them; so Al and Gwendolyn were not surprised when they were drafted early to help out with the music entertainment – starting with a couple of ballads that the couples could dance to – or at least enjoy while cuddling with their partners. They had help along the way, but still ended up playing and singing for an hour – including a lengthy version of the Animorphmagus song where Al had to change into a dozen different animals; and Harry was goaded into taking a turn for the one and only animal he could do too.

It was Friday night, and most of the guests had the weekend off from work; so staying up late was an option. The campfire fun included scary stories and toasting treats; but there was also quiet chat time and other fun – like a moonlight swim for one group of teens and parents; and walks on the beach that were usually done by couples looking to have a bit of romantic alone time. Their guests began leaving by around midnight, but Harry and Ginny weren't alone with their four kids – six, including James and Bristol in the tent – until one-thirty. The campfire clean-up had been finished by then too, but instead of just going to bed; they gathered in the cottage sitting room for a bedtime chat.

"I think that I'm glad we won't be able to have a party for my birthday," Ginny said tiredly. "This was small compared to last night; but I'm exhausted."

"We have been busy," Lily agreed; "and our day started very early. I'm glad that we had everyone here, though; since we haven't been able to do that as much this summer – and likely won't get many more chances between now and when we head back to school."

"That's true," Ginny conceded. "I really noticed the changes tonight now that you have four cousins that have gone and grown up on us – including Teddy. Aiden and Lucy will be next; with Louis just a year behind them."

"Stop there," Harry suggested. "James and Charlene will take that list past the half-way point for all of the cousins; and we're not ready to go there yet."

Ginny laughed. "I'll give you that one tonight – but only because James has mostly played nice as promised for a change; so I'm not in as big of a hurry for him to grow up on us as I have been far too many times over the past year or two."

"Let's not go there either," Gwendolyn suggested. "We definitely don't want to jinx that when we still have the rest of the weekend to get through."

"Okay, then let's talk about what we need to do to get ready for our hike tomorrow – and making breakfast for twelve. Ron, Hermione, and the kids are going to do that with us instead of their own thing."

"I'll cook," Al offered. "You and Dad should get to sleep in a bit after everything you've done today."

"And we'll let you do that," Gwendolyn teased. "Lily, Jonah, and I will help with getting backpacks ready to go. Will we need to put together a picnic lunch; or are we going to plan the hike around having lunch in one of the villages?"

"Option two," Ginny answered. "Hermione has that all worked out for us; and there will be some sightseeing along the way too."

"Are we doing any caving?" Lily asked. "We'll want jackets and flashlights if we're doing that."

"Not this time." Ginny fielded that question too. "There will be a few places where some horseback riding will be an option; but only if Al can do that without Muggle issues."

"Maybe you should change all of the guys into horses," Lily suggested; and Ginny laughed.

"That would be a really bad idea. Animagus have full control of their animal forms. That's not true for Wizards or Witches that have been transfigured by someone else."

"Would that still be true if you left them in animal form and trained them?" Lily asked seriously.

"I don't know," Ginny admitted, "but Harry and Ron have jobs to go back to, and Gwenog might have a problem if we turned Jonah into a horse and left him like that for weeks or months while trying to train him."

Lily sighed. "Okay, but it just doesn't seem fair that Gwendolyn's allowed to have a horse and I can't have one too."

That lament needed to be commented on first before their chat moved on, but then they didn't stay up much longer before being ready to head for bed for the night. With James and Bristol in the tent, Gwendolyn got to have the extra room; and Jonah bunked with Al while Lily had her own room too. Al was the last to have a turn in one of the bathrooms while getting ready for bed; and he was the last still awake because his extended senses wouldn't just shut down thanks to too many nearby distractions. That didn't keep him from being first to wake in the morning; he was first to get showered and ready for the day too; and had breakfast half-cooked before Harry joined him in the kitchen and ended up helping out with the work while they waited for everyone else to join them. Having a late night meant that some of them did not get enough sleep; and it was the usual suspects that were a bit on the grumpy side as they gathered and then sat down to eat. James, Bristol, and Ron were at the top of the list for that side of the emotional spectrum; which was certainly why they were also the three diners that were most-annoyed by the most-cheerful members of their little group – Lily, Al, and Gwendolyn.

"How in Merlin's name can you be so bloody cheerful?" Ron finally asked Lily after she'd finished a happy little blurb about some of the things she hoped they'd get to do during their hiking adventure day. She laughed and grinned at him.

"Cheer up, Uncle Ron! It's going to be a beautiful day; we're going to get to go on an adventure; and the best part is that we're getting to do that together – with all of us!"

"Going back to bed until noon would be more fun," he suggested. "I'll need an imperturbable shield so I don't have to listen to all of these noisy bloody animals; but then I'll be good to go for sleeping until lunchtime."

"You wouldn't really want to waste half the day doing that," Lily countered; and Ron laughed a bit morosely.

"Yeah – I really would," he disagreed. "The only reason I haven't told the lot of you to sod off is because the food's good."

"Have you ever met any food that you didn't like?" Ginny asked him; and Ron nodded.

"Sure – you used to be a horrid cook," he declared.

"Maybe when I was four or five," Ginny agreed candidly. "You weren't so hot at it back then either."

"As if I'm much better now," Ron ofered. "That's why I don't cook – to save everyone from the potential for permanent damage to their tastebuds."

"Sure, that's it," Hermione said; pretending to agree with him. "It's amazing how you manage to help George with making all of those wheezes without blowing yourself up; yet simple recipes are beyond you."

"I know," Ron agreed with a nod and smile. "Fortunately for Rose, Hugo, and me; you can cook or we'd be in serious trouble."

"Keep going on like that and you will be in at least some trouble," Ginny suggested. "While it would be fun to watch you dig that hole deeper; let's not go there. Lily's usually this happy, so that shouldn't really bother you; and I'm glad that she can make up for those of you who aren't morning people."

"Hermione would be bored if she didn't have Harry and me around to make her go mental now and then," he declared. "It works for us."

Al actually thought that was at least half-true. Ginny and Hermione likely agreed; since the conversation moved on without much comment on Ron's statement. James and Bristol weren't happy campers as they woke up while having breakfast, but they also mostly played nice except for some whispered insults that Al could still hear; but expected that nobody else did – except for possibly his father. Ron and Hermione went back to their cottage after eating to finish getting their things ready for the hike; James and Bristol took off to do their own thing for a while; and then they all gathered together when it was time to head out to the place where they were going to start their hike – a trailhead at the edge of a nearby village a few miles inland from the coast. Al and Gwendolyn went there with Ron, Hermione, Rose, and Hugo, and while that left Lily and Jonah with James and Bristol in the van with Harry and Ginny; they later assured Al that they didn't have any problems while on that short little drive.

James and Bristol were given a smart phone and permission to go off on their own for the first couple of hours of the hike, but while Al took Gwendolyn for a horseback ride after James and Bristol had left; they mostly stayed with everyone else for about three-quarters of that leg of their adventure. The exercise part of the fun was only moderately-challenging, but Ron and Hermione were ready for the break when they met up with James and Bristol for the first sightseeing stop – an old ruin with a great story that Hermione told them and an even better view of the sea and surrounding area. From there, they had a walk down into the nearest village; where they stopped for lunch and a bit of shopping. When they were ready to head out of town again, they had a short hike to a very nice beach – and the walk was just long-enough to work off a bit of their lunch before going to play in the water and on the beach. James and Bristol again mostly did their own thing, and wandered off to a spot that was partially out-of-sight of everyone else; and they opted to stay longer when Hermione advised them that it was time to head out for the rest of their hike.

That was the one and only test that James put Harry and Ginny to for the day, but it didn't end up being a major problem because Harry simply apparated to where they were on the trail and unceremoniously popped them over to the cottage while Ginny drove the van back with the rest of 'their' kids. Saturday evening ended up being an early night for most of them because they were worn out after a busy hiking day and the late night on Friday. They had another barbeque dinner; hung around the cottages or by the sea until near-dark; and then James and Bristol were the only people interested in a campfire or staying up late while everyone else just wanted to wind down and go to bed. Harry helped them with getting set up for that campfire after Ron and Hermione took their kids back to their cottage; and then he went inside for the night – and off to bed when Ginny was ready to do that after a short bedtime chat with the kids. Al and Gwendolyn stayed awake for a while longer while enjoying some cuddle time on a sofa, and Lily and Jonah stayed with them for a little while too; but they were all still in bed and sleeping long before James and Bristol went off to bed in the tent sometime in the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday was scheduled to be a quiet day around the cottages, and it started out that way because James and Bristol slept through breakfast; so Al was in a great mood as he and gwendolyn were set free for the morning after helping with the breakfast clean-up. Lily and Jonah had already gone over to meet up with Rose and Hugo; they went to join them; and then they decided to go for a bike ride – partly so that they didn't do anything to wake the sleeping brother bear or his girlfriend. They rode all the way to the nearest village; picked up ice cream treats; and then wandered around the place and by the small marina there before biking home again. Gwendolyn and Jonah had a nice surprise when they got back and found out that Kirley and Gwenog had come over; and an even better one when they learned that the main reason for the early visit was to let them know that their cousin, Tony, and his wife, Jenny, were now the proud parents of a bouncing baby boy.

Johnny Jones had just been born about two hours before they got the news, but while Kirley and Gwenog had been at St. Mungo's and gotten a first look at the newest addition to the Jones' clan; they'd decided to come and hang out with the kids for a while because mother and baby were both exhausted from a long labor; and didn't need the extra company around while they took some time to recover. Having all of their parents with them made the rest of their quiet play day by the sea all the better – and that really was all of the parents because Kirley invited Bristol's parents to join them for the afternoon; so James and Bristol were on their best behavior while her parents and brothers were there for some afternoon sun and fun. The Wagtails couldn't come over until after lunch, and had dinner plans with some of the other band families; but they did enjoy hanging out with the McCormacks, Potters, and Weasleys for a few hours – and that time reminded Al and Gwendolyn about why they had been good friends with Bristol before she'd hooked up with James and changed so much.

Kirley and Gwenog stayed for dinner, and then they took Al, Gwendolyn, Jonah, and Lily with them for a visit to St. Mungo's so that the kids could meet baby Johnny and have a visit with his happy, excited parents. Tony and Jenny both had large families and lots of friends, so that visit wasn't very long, but then they had a bit of family time in the waiting room too before they headed back to the cottage and Kirley and Gwenog headed home from there ahead of her training day curfew. While they'd missed the evening fun and games, the play day was winding down by the time Kirley and Gwenog went home; and they were all making an early night of it again because they had a busy day planned for Monday – another boating and diving adventure. James would be back at work instead; and that was why he didn't try to stay up late either. Al and Gwendolyn spent a half hour or so talking with Rose before she went over to her cottage, and Lily and Jonah went for a walk on the beach before bedtime; but then it was time to turn in for the night.

Life took a slight turn for the strange on Monday morning. Al and Harry cooked breakfast for eight while Ron, Hermione, and the kids did their own thing; that meal was drama-free; and then Harry took James to work while Al and Gwendolyn helped Ginny with the clean-up and Lily and Jonah helped with getting everything ready for their diving expedition. The strange part of the morning came when Bristol took Gwendolyn and Rose aside and asked them to let her join them for the diving day so that she didn't have to go home and do nothing all day while her family was busy with band work. While they all knew that had been a self-serving request, neither Gwendolyn nor Rose were going to reject a chance to repair their friendship with Bristol and maybe help her find her way back from some bad decisions; so they'd agreed – and helped to get the parental approval for the addition to their gang of kids.

Al had felt awkward during that entire scene and for the next hour or so as they finished getting ready and headed out to the marina where the boat they were renting for the day was moored; but then Bristol almost seemed to be her old self for the rest of the day – and she was as excited as everyone else when they began exploring the underwater reefs and a shipwreck that Hermione had picked out for them again this year. They spent two hours underwater in the morning; had lunch on the boat; and then spent another two hours diving in a second location during the afternoon before it was time to head back to shore again by late afternoon. Bristol went home not long after they got back to the cottages, and while the parents started working on making dinner; the six kids were set free to go and play at the beach. They all went for a swim first, but then Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose were ready to sit and enjoy the late-afternoon hot weather while having drinks and getting a chance for some teen chat time.

"I want to talk about tomorrow too," Rose told Al and Gwendolyn, "but let's start with what happened with Bristol today; since I'm sure we're all thinking about that a lot too."

"You and Gwendolyn might be thinking about Bristol and whatever you're referring to about tomorrow; but I've pretty much only been thinking about how much fun it is to spend so much time in one day around Gwendolyn while she's in a swimsuit."

"You know it's Hogwarts letters day," Rose told him after she and Gwendolyn both laughed at his comment; "and you've been thinking about Bristol too."

"I know she was just using us to get out of working at home with her parents," Gwendolyn said, "but we did end up having a nice day with her; so maybe it'll make a difference for how she acts around us – at least for the rest of the summer."

"That would be nice, and I'm glad that we had a good day with Bristol," Rose said with a nod; "but I'm actually wondering a lot about Bristol and James right now. Did you guys notice that she basically didn't mention him at all today once he was gone off to work? I didn't even hear a single – "I wish James could be here to see this" kind of comment from her."

"She liked getting to decide what she wanted to do today for herself," Al said quietly; earning the full attention of both Witches. He smiled ruefully and shrugged. "Does it surprise either of you that James calls the shots when they're hanging out together? When you think about it, she doesn't likely get to do that at home much either when the bands come first; and she's always in the shadows of her brothers and the other Weird Sisters' cousins."

"You're saying that's why she's been so awful to us," Gwendolyn suggested. "Bristol feels inferior to others in her family; and that's just worse when she compares herself to Rose and me. I'm not saying that James is entirely to blame, since Bristol is making her own choices freely; but he is taking advantage of her – and she's in the shadows with him too."

"In more ways than one," Al agreed. "I guess my point is that she wants more for herself; but doesn't know how to find her own way. It won't be by following around after us, but I hope she does get where she wants to go some other way; since that won't happen for her with James either."

"No doubt there," Rose agreed with a nod. "Let's shelve that for now – though I am going to think about ways to help Bristol with that; since I really did like seeing her like this today for the first time in ages."

"Okay, so why are you thinking about Hogwarts letters today too?" Gwendolyn asked. "None of us need to worry about whether we've done well or not – unless you've been keeping major secrets from Al and me."

"I'm not worried about our grades," Rose assured them. "I am wondering about Quidditch; who our new Heads and Prefects will be; and whether we'll find out anything about what's going on with Rupert Avery and his mates – or at least the ones that will be back at Hogwarts again if they haven't been suspended or expelled."

"Well, we know the Aurors didn't end up charging any of the underage boys," Gwendolyn pointed out. "Maybe they'll all be allowed back at Hogwarts too; though I'd expect that they'd at least get some sort of suspension – just as James and Ollie did after their attack on Stephanie, Al, and me."

"That might be helpful for us this year; but likely worse after they come back," Rose offered. "They'll hate us even more – just as James and Ollie did when they were suspended."

"They're not going to have any love for us whatever happens," Al reminded her – "especially if Victor gets caught by the Aurors and sent to Azkaban. You know they'll blame me for everything."

"That's what I'm afraid of happening," Rose told them. "It would be so nice to actually go to school in September and not have to worry about when the next ambush or attack is going to come – or who might get hurt along the way. I think you'll make our senior team, Al; and you can be sure that the Slytherins will be out to get you in our match against them."

"If Rupert and his buddies get suspended; they might not be able to do anything," Gwendolyn told her. "Let's not go borrowing trouble. We have our maps and can deal with any Slytherins if they give us any problems. Let's hope that we don't have any trouble; but be ready for it if needed – as always." She smiled and shrugged as Rose looked dubious. "Let's talk about the other things you're wondering about for tomorrow. Do you think that it'll be James or Ollie for one of the new Gryffindor Prefects? I'll pick Lacey for the other one; so that could end up being really weird for them if she and Ollie both end up being Prefects."

"As if it wouldn't be just as bad with James – and horrid for us," Rose said with a laugh. "Fortunately for us; it's very unlikely that either James or Ollie will get the job. I'll hope that none of our favorite Slytherin haters end up as Prefects either. Could you imagine what Rupert might try to do with that kind of power?"

"Yes, but it wouldn't end well for him," Al assured her. "He's no more likely to get to be Prefect than James or Ollie, though; and we haven't had any problems with any other Slytherin Prefects so far – even the ones that hate us."

"None of them want to risk losing the Prefect privileges," Gwendolyn suggested. "I don't blame them – and hope that we'll get to be Prefects so that we can use the Prefect bathrooms and get those other fringe benefits."

"Will all of the work be worth it?" Rose asked. "I used to think that I'd like to be Head Girl some day, but after seeing Victoire and Molly go through it; I'm not so sure anymore – especially when we'll want to be at our best for Quidditch that year."

"I want to be at my best for that every year," Gwendolyn advised her. "That shouldn't matter for you and Al; since you'll be playing for the Cannons; but I'll need to be good-enough if I want Mum to hire me for the Harpies – and she won't do that if I'm not one of the best Chasers available by then." She laughed at Rose's sudden smile. "Don't even think about going there," she warned.

"Too late," Rose admitted, "but you already went there too; so I don't have to say anything."

"Who do you think will be the Heads this year?" Al asked; trying to divert the conversation away from the Cannons and Quidditch. "It's an off-year for the Weasley clan; so it won't be Lucy."

"She'd hate the job," Rose told him. "I'd be okay with any of the Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, or Ravenclaw Prefects for our Heads this year; but doubt that Brandon or Savannah will get the job. Gryffindor has had a few too many turns lately; so they'll likely be passed over this year."

"Too bad – Brandon would be great," Gwendolyn suggested. "I don't know Savannah well-enough to have an opinion on her."

"She's really nice," Rose assured her; and then grinned at Al. "You've always thought so, right?"

"Yes, and she's really pretty too; but that's not going to work if you're trying to get me into trouble with Gwendolyn."

"You managed to get through the day without getting into trouble despite that swimsuit Bristol was wearing," Gwendolyn told him; "so you are safe from a little-boy crush on one of your fellow Auror kids."

"I've never had a crush on Savannah," Al assured her. "There are older Witches that I like a lot, but just in case you didn't know it; my little-boy crush was on you."

"Should I leave now; or will you just save that thought for now and snog him later?" Rose asked Gwendolyn.

"I'll save it for later," she answered and promised; though she did hug and kiss Al too.

Gwendolyn may have saved that thought for later, but actually getting some alone time with Al didn't end up working out for them for the rest of the day. They stayed on the beach until the call for dinner arrived; enjoyed a quiet meal with the parents; and then they were on clean-up duty while Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione went for an after-dinner walk on the beach. Rain rolled in not long after that work and walk was finished; so they ended up spending the rest of the evening indoors, and while Al and Gwendolyn ended up spending the rest of the night together; it was because they fell asleep on the sofa they'd been sharing while watching a mirror network show; and Harry and Ginny had left them there instead of waking them up when everyone else headed to bed.

Al loved the bonus cuddle time when he woke up in the morning, but he only stayed with Gwendolyn until it was time to get ready for the day and started on the breakfast cooking for the gang they were having for that meal – including Kirley, Gwenog, Ron, Hermione, Rose, and Hugo. He was first to hit the showers; and had the work well-underway by the time Harry joined him and started helping out. They had Jonah and all three Witches with them by the time Kirley and Gwenog arrived; and the food was ready to go just as Ron, hermione, and their kids made it over from their cottage. Their location didn't likely make a difference for the Owl Post deliveries, but they were mid-way through their meal by the time the three owls arrived with six Hogwarts letters. Harry took care of the owls and then handed out the letters to the kids.

"I guess we'll have to check in with James to find out how he did sometime later today," he told Ginny.

"Mum will let me know," she answered with a shrug. "He'll be glad that he doesn't have to open it in front of us this year."

"I don't want to open mine and have it compared to Al's," Lily told her with a grin for Al. "Let me guess – eleven O's for you, right?"

"Yes," Al confirmed, "and I'll guess that you did pretty well too; and have nothing to worry about from Mum and Dad being disappointed."

"I'm disappointed,' Lily told him seriously. "Didn't you recommend me to be the junior team Captain? There's no Captain's badge in here with my letter."

"I didn't submit a pick," Al advised her; "though Mr. Peakes did ask me about it. Most of our returning junior players could do the job; and it didn't seem fair for me to pick one of you over the others."

Lily sighed dramatically. "That whole being fair thing is getting very tiresome – especially when it doesn't help me at all; and I think you should get over it."

"I think so too," Gwendolyn told her. "Playing fair like that got your junior team three wins last season, and you beat our team, but Al's so nice about it; we couldn't really get mad at him."

"Then it's a good thing that he'll be playing for the Cannons,' Lily offered; grinning again. "You might be happy to lose matches to his team in the show – if he was playing on a good team; but your Mum and I wouldn't like that at all."

"No, we wouldn't," Gwenog agreed; "though that's a brave thing to say right here in front of half the Cannons fans."

"If we had Rose and Al playing for the Cannons this season we might be able to give the Harpies a run for it," Ron declared. "I doubt the Cannons will be able to afford them compared to what the other teams will offer when they graduate; but it is fun to dream about having our kids play for my team."

"You guys can talk Quidditch later," Hermione told him. "How'd you do, Rose; Hugo?"

"Ten O's for me," Rose reported; handing her letter over to her mother.

"Six O's; 1 E for me," Hugo answered next; and passed his letter to his father; since he was the nearer parent.

"You beat me too?" Lily demanded; and then sighed. "If I find out that James has been faking it and has great marks too; I may just decide to hext the lot of you the minute we're on the Hogwarts Express in four weeks."

"Am I safe from that with four O's and three E's?" Jonah asked hopefully; and Lily laughed and leaned over to hug him.

"Yes, you are," she confirmed. "I had five O's and two E's; so thanks for letting me be fifth out of six – or seven; if we include James."

"You're welcome," Jonah deadpanned. "Did you have straight O's too, Gwendolyn?"

She shook her head. "Eight O's; two E's for me," she answered. "I'm happy with that." She smiled at her father when he laughed.

"I would've been happy with two O's and eight E's," he explained – "not that I could have done that; since I didn't take three optionals."

"You probably wouldn't have been," Gwenog disagreed with a laugh. "That would've messed up your reputation if anyone found out you were that smart."

"Then I guess it's for the best that I wasn't," Kirley joked.

"Sure, because nobody knows how brilliant you are," Ginny scoffed. "We've got three Wizards here at the table that are perfect examples to prove that grades in school aren't everything – not that I'm suggesting that any of our kids should slack off because of that."

"Thanks for getting my hopes up and then dashing them so quickly," Lily said with another dramatic sigh. "Let's stop there, though, or the next thing I know; you'll be telling me that the Harpies are going to start requiring their new players to have ten NEWTs with straight O's to get hired by their team."

"We do look at Hogwarts records," Gwenog advised her; "but the Quidditch record is way more important than the number of OWLs or NEWTs. You might want to keep in mind that some of our best-ever players also did pretty well at Hogwarts – with your Mum and Victoire being two of those best-ever Harpies."

Lily laughed. "Are you excluding yourself from that list to protect your reputation; or can I hope to be on that other, not-so-brilliant academic list with you for the best-ever Harpies that weren't also top students?"

Gwenog chose not to answer that question with any details to prove her own academic status either way, but then their conversation moved on to talking about the other information included in their Hogwarts letters – like the books and supplies they'd need for the coming school year. Ginny was going to have a work day because she did still need to get ready for opening day on Saturday and keep up with her Quidditch News and Daily Prophet reporting responsibilities; so Ron, Hermione, and Harry decided that they'd take the kids to Diagon Alley for the morning to get those books and supplies – mostly because Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose wanted to get their new textbooks sooner instead of later so they could read ahead – and maybe even get to practice a bit of the new magic if they could do a bit of that with a little parental supervision. Once that decision was made, the kids were motivated to help with the clean-up and getting ready to go to London; Kirley, Gwenog, and Ginny helped with getting the kids to London; and then they moved on from there – heading off to work in three separate directions.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione got to wander around Diagon Alley with the kids while they picked up books and the rest of the usual supplies, but they let the kids do most of the shopping; and mostly helped out with carrying the bags – which was easy-enough thanks to the undetectable expansion bags that they brought along with them for the trip. They didn't bother to get the kids fitted for their school robes yet, but there was some particularly-brilliant bits of entertainment for Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose – getting to see the all-new Animorphmagus action figures and dolls on the shelves in several stores for the first time! They'd known that the toys would be out in time for the back-to-school shopping season – or at least the first sets of them; but it was very different to see their own creations on display in stores. What was even better was seeing the response of the other Witches and Wizards around them to seeing the toys for the first time too. The one demonstration they watched at one store had been brilliant; and seeing a few happy kids leave with their new toys was great too. They weren't surprised when Harry and Ron picked up one of each action figure and one of the dolls for Gwendolyn, Lily, and Rose, but while Lily happily took hers out of the box and carried it around with her in kneazle mode; the other toys went into the undetectable expansion bags along with the rest of their purchases.

They didn't run into many relatives or friends while they were in Diagon Alley, but Harry, Hermione, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Rose did have quite a few mirror chats along the way as they shopped – all of those calls related to the Hogwarts letters. Harry's top call was from Ginny after she was given the news about James' Hogwarts letter. He told Al and Lily about that; but didn't make a big deal about it – and made sure that he didn't advertise the news to anyone else around them. James only managed to earn one O, two E's, and five 'Acceptable' grades for his eight classes. Molly also told Ginny that James was planning on dropping his last remaining optional and only wanted to take the seven mandatory classes in his OWL year. Harry wasn't happy about any of that; but none of them had been surprised. Al was really just glad that James would be moving on to fifth year; though his worry over that had more to do with the jokes from a year ago than any real need for concern.

The news from around the family proved that the rest of their cousins were all very bright; though Al and Rose were still the top two remaining students in their family. Molly had done brilliantly too, but she was done now; and Louis was one of the top students in his year; earning all ten of his OWLs with six O's and four E's. Fred was happiest about getting the junior team Captain badge; Roxanne was thrilled to finally get her first Hogwarts letter; and Lucy was happy that Olivia got the senior team Captain job for Gryffindor so she could focus on playing her best without all of the responsibilities of leadership. Lily and Jonah hadn't teased Gwendolyn about it when Jonah hadn't been named junior team Captain for Ravenclaw, but they did do that after finding out that Ryan had gotten the job instead. Unlike Al, Gwendolyn didn't have a problem with admitting that she'd recommended Ryan over Jonah and Stephanie; and she believed that their cousin was best for the job – at least for this coming season.

All six kids were interested in who the Captains would be for all of the teams; though they didn't expect to hear about who would get those jobs for Slytherin until September First. They'd learned about Olivia and Fred first – no surprise there; and Gwendolyn had found out about Ryan and Pauline next. It wasn't really news that Alex Jordan would once again be the Hufflepuff senior team Captain; but Ricky Peakes was a minor surprise for their junior team – and possibly a biased choice made by his proud father over the other, returning junior team players. Rose and Hermione led the way for finding out who the new Heads and six of the new Prefects would be; though that was mostly through cousins, friends, or co-workers.

The news that Alex Jordan would be Head Boy as well as his House's senior team Captain came along with the Quidditch Captain news, but Hermione was first to learn that Miya Davies was Head Girl. Lacey Finnegan and Chris Cauldwell got the fifth-year Prefect spots for Gryffindor; it was Lisa Cornfoot and Brandon Graves for Ravenclaw; and Hufflepuff's newest Prefects were Vanessa Smith and Jonah Finch-Fletchley. Lily, Jonah, and Hugo weren't all that interested in the Heads and Prefects news, but Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose did have more interest in that news this year; since they were all hoping to get one of those Prefect jobs next summer. While all of the gossip helped to provide bonus entertainment for them, they were all also glad to have the shopping wrapped up by lunchtime. They stayed in Diagon Alley for that meal so they wouldn't need to cook and clean back at the cottages; they split up between two different cafes while doing that; and then headed back to the cottages for an afternoon of sun and fun.

James had been in a rotten mood when Arthur had dropped him off at the Catapults' training pitch. He'd been glad to get his Hogwarts letter without his parents, the loser, or Lily around; but hadn't liked talking about it with his grandparents – even though they didn't say anything to him that could even be considered remotely insulting or an expression of disappointment or admonishment. Sure, they'd gone through bad reports with George and Fred, and Ron hadn't been nearly as brilliant as the rest of his older brothers; but James still knew he was being compared to his brother, sister, and cousins – and he hated it!

The usual chores around the locker room, office, and pitch that were his responsibility tried his patience more than usual; and he had to force himself to play nice with everyone – particularly with some of the players that really annoyed him most. A few of the guys seemed to get their jollies out of bossing Harry Potter's son around; though that had been changing since the first few days of training camp. That was thanks to the one thing that he had that most of those idiots didn't – talent. That thought had him smiling; since it brought back the memory of the afternoon when the Catapults' reserve Seeker had challenged him to give his job a go if he thought it was so easy – a dare that had been thrown down after James had laughed derisively at a complaint the fool had made. He'd been happy to accept the challenge; and then had shut the idiot up when he then proceeded to battle the Catapults' Seeker to a draw for the last hour of their afternoon scrimmage.

After that showing; their team manager had invited him to train against their Seeker for at least a little while every day. He'd lost some duels over the weeks since then; but he'd won several duels too – something that their back-up Seeker never did. Thinking about all of that as he worked helped a bit, but the Catapults' manager must have still known something was bothering him; because he ordered James to join in on the flying workout; and then had him play Seeker for the reserve squad during the morning scrimmage. that worked for everyone except their team Seeker because that was exactly what James needed to vent his frustration and anger; and he not only won that Seeker duel; he earned two snitch catches because the first one had come too quickly.

"To hell with everyone else," James decided and told himself as he headed for lunch with 'his' team. "I'll show all of them soon-enough that I'm better than all of them – and don't need perfect Hogwarts reports to prove it!"

Scorpius sat at a table in the Lestrange Estate library not long after lunchtime on Tuesday. His books were open; Lysandra was sitting in a chair along the side of the table to his left; and they were both getting ready to work on their holiday revision after having lunch with her parents and brother. He'd come over for the morning Quidditch workout; and that had been a few hours of semi-insanity – thanks to the news that had come along with the Hogwarts letters.

"We'll be left alone," Lysandra told him quietly. "I know you must want to talk about what happened this morning as much as I do." She wasn't smiling, but Scorpius knew that she meant that he could talk freely with her instead of following the herd as he'd done all morning when he needed to say anything at all.

"Okay, but I'd like to hear what you think about everything first," he told her. There was more than one reason for wanting to do that, but Scorpius had learned over the summer that Lysandra liked having her opinion valued by someone – something that 'the men' in her family didn't do – especially Raban.

"I think that my brother is an idiot – and lucky that he was still underage by a month or so during that attack; or he might be on the run from the Aurors with Victor instead of merely expelled from Hogwarts. Don is obviously smarter than the others to avoid getting suspended for a year like most of the others did; and Blaise is just a poser; though he was at least smart-enough to followe Don's lead to stay out of the worst of the trouble."

"Your parents – and the others – aren't going to have any luck appealing those suspensions or your brother's expelling either with McGonagall or at the Ministry of Magic,' Scorpius suggested. "They're being treated a bit more-harshly than James and Ollie were when they were suspended for the last couple of months of our second year; but then there were a lot more injured students this time."

"And it happened after we've been given several warnings,' Lysandra added with a nod. "I don't really know why they all seem so surprised. If any of those students had died; they'd have all been expelled – and likely had their wands broken."

"Probably," Scorpius agreed. "This is going to make it an impossible year for our Quidditch team; and that's particularly-rotten for Licentia now that she's been named Captain."

"It is rotten," Lysandra agreed. "We finally get a Witch as Captain; and she might be the last one thanks to my brother and his mates. What really bugs me, though, is that she wouldn't even have been given the chance if Raban hadn't been expelled; since he would have been named Captain instead – even though she's ten times the player he is – and probably the best on the team."

Scorpius smiled at that. "I'd like to think I'd have a shot at that honor; but will concede she's likely the best of the returning senior team players." He joined in with Lysandra when she laughed quietly.

"Okay, you might be just a bit better," she conceded; "though I'm not sure that would be true if Licentia had a Lightningbolt too. She is going to have problems finding enough decent players for your team – especially at Seeker and Keeper. Maybe you should play Seeker instead of Chaser. You're fast-enough."

"I'm not good-enough at catching the snitch, though," he admitted candidly. "G-Air has never done well against the other Seekers; but he could at least catch it and give us a chance. If there's someone in our House that's better; I haven't seen him – or her – prove that at tryouts."

"You might be surprised," Lysandra suggested. "Some of our fellow Slytherin don't even go to tryouts because they're afraid of us – of my family, the Averys, and others. My parents are surprised that you're not afraid of Raban or the others."

"That's changed since we started at Hogwarts; though I wasn't ever truly afraid – more like annoyed that I get lumped in with the rest of my family instead of being seen for who I am."

"I'm as much to blame for doing that as anyone," she told him; and then smiled at him. "That has all changed this summer – even if I don't dare admit that to anyone except you – for now."

"It's enough to have you think better of me – for now," Scorpius said; enjoying another little laugh with Lysandra over those last two words. "Now if only we could get some of our Professors to do the same instead of messing with us just because we're Slytherins."

"We'd both be straight-O students if not for them," Lysandra agreed, "but maybe we'll do better this year if we work together."

"I think you're right about that," Scorpius agreed; though he said that in a way that had Lysandras smiling at him in appreciation for the multiple reasons he implied without saying anything more. "What would you like to work on first today?"

He'd meant that more than one way too, but they went on to actually work on their summer revision assignments for a couple of hours; they went for a swim after that; and then went for a walk around the estate grounds that included a bit of privacy and the chance for a minor snogging session before they needed to be back at the mansion and Scorpius needed to head for home. The need for secrecy annoyed Scorpius, but that was mild compared to the excitement that went along with starting a romantic relationship with Lysandra – and that was even more extreme thanks to the real and perceived dangers that went along with those choices for both of them.

Scorpius continued to think about Lysandra a lot during dinner and the rest of the evening, but the dinner conversation with his parents and grandparents was all about his news from the Quidditch practice. They hadn't exactly been happy with the news, but did seem to take some comfort from the troubles the other pureblood families were having with their kids while the path they'd taken had kept them all safe and well. He thought that was ridiculous; though he also had his own mixed feelings about having half of the team from last season either suspended or expelled. he wasn't able to talk with Thomas about it until late in the evening, but hadn't been surprised when his mentor believed that this was yet another great opportunity for him.

That might be true, but Scorpius had no idea how to take advantage of that opportunity. He and Licentia had been playing well together in their practices, but without much of a team around them now; that wasn't going to be enough to help them beat any of the other teams this year. Not having the normal 'leaders' in their House could make things better for Scorpius and a lot of the other teens and tweens; but he didn't expect the other pureblood teens to let him fill that power vacuum. He didn't even know for sure whether he and Lysandra would figure out a way for him to hang out with her study group – or to combine both of their groups. They'd need to be even more careful about getting together for any alone time, but at least with that; he had a reputation for going off and doing his own thing a lot anyway; so he wouldn't be missed if some of those absences were while he was with her.

He didn't talk with Thomas very much about his growing romantic relationship with Lysandra, but Thomas did approve of what he did know about – and continued to be sure that she could aid him in his return to respect among the other pureblood families. He also thought that it was fitting that two more members of the Black and Lestrange families were getting together – just as his great-aunt and her cousin had done decades before they'd been born. While he agreed with that, Scorpius also didn't think that he or Lysandra were really all that much like their linked anscestors – beyond their mutual desire to restore all true Witches and Wizards to their rightful place as rulers of their world and the dominion that was meant to be theirs over all other magical and mundane creatures.

When he was eventually ready to get some sleep, Scorpius left those weightier thoughts behind and happily dreamed of more interesting things – at least for teenaged Wizards – such as Lysandra Lestrange in a swimsuit!

Ginny finished up with her visits to training camps by mid-afternoon; she returned to the cottages to join in on the sand and surf play time; and then the parents decided to go out to dinner at a small Inn in the nearest town instead of cooking – supposedly as a gift for the kids for doing well on their Hogwarts letters. They were still okay with that plan even if they didn't really believe the excuse for having another meal that didn't need to be cooked or cleaned up after; and then they had a fun, quiet evening back at the cottages before turning in early so that they could rest up for their last big adventure day of the week. Sightseeing was the name of the game on Wednesday, and while they did a fair bit of walking while seeing the local natural and man-made wonders; they also drove from site to site; and covered a loop that required a total of nearly two-hours of drive time by the time they got back to the cottages by late-evening.

Thursday was another work day for Ginny and a stay-by-the-cottages day for everyone else, but they also had visitors drop by throughout the day; and had a large family and friends dinner to wrap up their week by the sea – and one last campfire that was the highlight of the evening entertainment for more than thirty Witches and Wizards of all ages. Al and Lily hadn't seen Aunt Muriel much so far over the summer; so her addition to the group from late afternoon until she wanted to be taken home at around eleven o'clock had been fun – and loud. She'd had a lot to say about their Hogwarts letters and all of the other school-related news she'd heard about from her friends over the past two days; but she was also quite-obviously proud of most of 'her' Hogwarts students – and she enjoyed getting to brag about them with the other old ladies. She pointedly did not talk about James, but a couple of her comments made it clear that he was the one exception that kept her from being proud of all of the cousins; and he was also the only cousin that wasn't specifically mentioned for praise of some kind.

Al and Gwendolyn had helped out with the work before and after dinner; kept their cousins and friends entertained between dinner and the campfire; and then they were the main musical entertainment during that last few hours of fire-lit fun. Their ballads brought Aunt Muriel to tears; the goofy songs were popular; and they even managed to play a few dance songs that got people up and moving even though their acoustic guitars versions of those songs weren't as loud or exciting as the originals were with the Weird Kids or Graves Robbers. It had been one of their last ballads that had seemed to be responsible for Aunt Muriel's desire to go home; and that's why she wasn't challenged on her claim that the smoke was bothering her eyes and she needed to get home and rest them.

Aunt Muriel's departure hadn't been the first, since some of the guests had needed to leave ahead of training day curfews, but the remaining guests began heading out then too over the next half-hour or so. Al and Gwendolyn then helped with the clean-up, but they didn't put the fire out yet; and returned to sit by it with Lily, Jonah, Rose, and Hugo after all of their guests had gone home and the four parents had opted to go to bed instead of staying up with the kids for a while longer.

"Do you hear that?" Rose asked as she toasted a marshmallow and looked out toward the sea that they could actually see pretty well thanks to an only partly-cloudy, moonlit night sky.

"Hear what – the sound of comparative silence?" Lily asked; and Rose laughed.

"I was thinking about the possible echo of Aunt Muriel's voice getting back here from the Americas," she joked; but the quiet is nice too."

"She was in fine form today," Lily said with a nod. "Al and Gwendolyn turned her into a puddle tonight, though; so I'm not going to make any jokes about Aunt Muriel tonight. Maybe when you've been around as long as she has been, you need to be like that if you have such a big heart."

"From what Grandma has told us, I'd say she's been outspoken her whole life," Al offered quietly; smiling at Lily while enjoying the cuddle time with Gwendolyn. "She does have a big heart, though; and does love all of us a lot."

"Speaking of love – are you going to get your Mum and Dad to take you to London tomorrow, Rose?" Gwendolyn asked with a grin. "If Kyle's missed you as much as you've missed him; you might need the whole weekend to catch up on the snogging."

"Too much information," Hugo told her before Rose could answer; earning a round of laughs.

"We have so got to do a bit of matchmaking with you," Lily told him half-seriously. "If we do that soon-enough; we could all go out on a four-couple date or two before we head back to school."

"We'll be away next week," Al reminded her. "That only leaves a bit more than two weeks after that before we'll be back at Hogwarts."

"Don't remind me," Rose told him. "I've missed Kyle a lot and it's only been a week. Three and a half months seems impossible to even think about right now."

"The one, humongous downside of dating a Muggle," Gwendolyn told her sympathetically. "We mostly only hear about those stories from our Muggleborn friends and school mates; but it's always hard – especially when we can't tell them about being Witches or Wizards."

"That does stink," Rose agreed. "Unfortunately for us, though, our secrecy laws are even more important and necessary now than they were when first passed. Individual Muggles can be really nice, but they'd definitely try to destroy us if they all knew about our world and decided to gang up on us. Even Uncle Harry and Al might have a bit of trouble fighting against billions of Muggles armed with some of those awful weapons they've created."

"Let's hope that we never have that kind of war," Al said fervently. "It wouldn't end well for any of us."

"I'm not sure how you ended up there from where Gwendolyn started with that; but let's change the subject again," Lily suggested. "What do you think about some of the Quidditch news we heard tonight? Dominique seems pretty happy; and is sure United is ready for their first match. I wonder why she doesn't seem more nervous – especially when she and Calvin and Tina have a lot of pressure on them taking over three spots on the team that's the defending champions."

"This will be a tough first match," Al suggested. "The Wasps are going to want to win on Saturday too, but I'll pick United for that match-up; since I think that Dominique, Calvin, and Tina will go out and prove they deserve their spots on the team. There's a very good chance that Calvin and Tina will be the best Beater duo in the league this season – especially if too many of the scouts have forgotten how good they were at Hogwarts two years ago."

"What about the Harpies?" Gwendolyn asked him. "What's your prediction for their match on Saturday?"

Al smiled and hugged her a bit more tightly for a moment. "I pick the Harpies – as always," he answered. "They should keep winning over the Tornados – at least until Rachel and Lacey get some better team mates – if they ever do get that help from the team owners and managers."

"You sound as though you doubt they'll get that," Gwendolyn said; and Al shrugged.

"I don't know whether they will or not. The Tornados are in a tough place for that. They've got one of the top-five teams, and likely do pretty well on the money side of the business; so it might cost them quite a bit of profit to get from where they are now to a league championship. If they want those titles bad-enough, they won't care about the cost, but if they are more interested in the profits; then they're likely happy to keep things as they are."

"I am so glad that our team cares so much about both," Lily told them happily. "Being rich will be nice; but I want the trophies too!"

"Does that mean you'll think about coming to play for my team if Al and I can win a couple of championships between when we graduate and you do?" Rose asked; earning a round of laughs for at least two different reasons.

"I'm tempted to make a bet with you on that, but can't think of anything you can offer me when I'd win it,' Lily told her. "I can't help but ask how you're going to make that happen even if you and Al do get jobs with the Cannons when you'll be up against teams like the Harpies with Gwendolyn and Victoire – or United if they have their dream team put together by then too – and I think they will get Olivia, Lucy, and maybe Alex Jordan too."

"I'm still working on that plan," Rose admitted. "I've more to worry about in the near-future with the senior team tryouts in September. I'd feel bad for Louis, since I know he only has two years left to try and impress the league scouts, but I'd still really like to win the Keeper job over him this season – especially since if he wins it this year; he'll likely be Captain next year and I'll be out of luck for another two years."

"I'd say that's a much more realistic goal than two league titles for the Cannons during your first two seasons in the league," Lily offered. "You and Louis are both so good; we'd do well with either of you in goals."

"Louis is worried about you," Al told Rose; "but that's also making him work harder to get ready for tryouts. I think that's going to be an epic battle between you." he grinned at Lily. "You might have too much competition for your Seeker duel too if Riley gets sorted to Gryffindor. He was talking tough while he was here earlier tonight."

Lily shook her head as she laughed. "He can talk all he wants; but nobody is going to be me at tryouts this year – and hopefully not ever. I know I can't win every Seeker duel; but I'd better not lose the ones just to get on the teams or I'll never make it in the show."

"Gee, thanks a lot," Rose deadpanned; and Lily laughed again.

"Okay, that was insensitive; but you know what I mean – and it is different for Seekers than Keepers. It's an all-or-nothing game for us; while your battles are repeated dozens or hundreds of times in every match. Look at Louis last year. He didn't win a match; but was the best senior team Keeper. There aren't many Seekers that can have a losing record and make that claim."

"I resemble that comment," Jonah reminded her; and Lily hugged him.

"You do – and everyone knows that you should've been runner-up last season instead of Madison. Ravenclaw did have two wins, though; so it isn't exactly the same. Getting back to the competition thing, though; is Stephanie going to try out for Seeker again this year; or has she decided that she likes being a Chaser more now?"

"She's been practicing with our team at Chaser," Jonah said; though Lily knew that anyway. "I think we should do the same thing we did last year – try out for both and see who wins."

"I hope it's you," Lily told him; and then laughed. "Scratch that – I hope it's Stephanie; 'cause I think I've got a better chance of beating her in our match against your team."

Jonah laughed too. "I'd tell her you said that; except it might motivate her to beat me at tryouts – and she's tough-enough to play against without that kind of help."

"It's pretty good for our Houses that we even have that problem," Gwendolyn offered. "Slytherin seems a bit light on talent for both teams every season, and while Hufflepuff's senior team will be loaded with talent this year; I'm not sure they'll be able to say the same about their junior team – unless they luck out with some really good firsties."

"Let's not hope for that," Lily said; feigning a shudder. "It wouldn't be fun at all if all four Houses had equally-talented teams every year!" She smiled at what she saw on Al's face in reaction to her assertion. "Yeah, we know that you think last season worked out brilliantly," she told him with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Some of us want to win it all, though; and you should get on board with that program while you can."

"You mean before he goes to work for the Cannons?" Gwendolyn asked innocently; and joined in for the round of laughs.

"I didn't say that," Lily eventually managed to protest.

"You implied it," Rose countered. "How much do I have you down for with that bet for the Cannons to win a league championship before I die?"

"Ten galleons," Lily advised her. "The standard bet in our family. I was worried about you being able to make good on those bets until earlier this week, but you guys seem to have a hit with the Animorphmagus toys; so you'll likely be good for it – unless you blow it all on trying to buy the Cannons. The smarter plan would be to cut your losses and take a job with the Harpies – or one of the other top teams; if you absolutely must play on the same team with Al."

"It is weird that Rose wants to do that but Gwendolyn doesn't," Hugo offered.

"Only for Gwendolyn – not me," Rose told him. "I don't get why Gwendolyn and Lily wouldn't want to play on the same team with Al – especially when they know just how good he is at Quidditch."

"You are now enterting the future Harpies' danger zone," Lily warned with a grin. "Do you really want to risk spending your first month back at Hogwarts as a woodlouse with a bat-bogey hex affliction?"

That threat sent their conversation away from Quidditch after a few more jokes; they talked about Hogwarts for a while; and then eventually put the fire out; split up; and headed for their beds. Al and Gwendolyn had a stop along the way for some bonus cuddle time and a bit of snogging on one of the sofas; but they didn't try for another sofa sleepover – partly because the cottage sofas weren't really all that comfortable for an all-night nap. They did enjoy that last bit of play time, though; and were happy campers when they did eventually get to their beds and off to sleep.

Their decision to wrap up their week by the sea on Friday instead of Saturday had been made because they hadn't wanted to drive home on Saturday morning and then be rushed getting to the Harpies' Quidditch match. That choice did mean that they needed to be cleaned up and out of the cottages by mid-morning so that the next renters could take over by late morning or sometime later in the day. That's why they had an easy-breakfast; they rushed around to pack, clean, and load the van; and then they were on the road for home by nine o'clock. This time, Ron went with Harry on the bike – in the sidecar; while Hermione and Ginny drove the kids home. Harry sped off on the bike when they were ready to go, but Ginny and Hermione stayed close together in a two-vehicle convoy until Hermione took the cut-off that led toward home for them while Ginny continued on toward 'their' exit for Godric's Hollow. They got home before Harry did, since he'd needed to take Ron home first – or at least did that so he could get the extra time on his bike; and the four kids helped Ginny to get the van unloaded and the chores started before Harry caught up with them.

Having the rest of the day at home ended up being all about getting the chores done and re-packing for their second week of holidays; but they had fun while doing that – and when they took breaks to cool off in the portable pool or to have their meals – a late lunch and an even later dinner. Al and Gwendolyn set up the tent in the back yard, and while they planned on using it too; they also did that so they could make sure it was clean and ready for their trip – especially after James and Bristol had been using it on the first weekend of their holiday. The lawn was trimmed; the gardens were tended and de-gnomed; and all of the dirty laundry from the previous week was cleaned and either re-packed or put away by the time they stopped to have dinner for eight. Kirley and Gwenog joined them for that meal; though they couldn't stay for much more than a visit because of Gwenog's game day curfew and because she had more work to get done ahead of that first match of the season.

Kirley was going to be spending most of Saturday with Gwendolyn and Jonah, but that dinner was Gwenog's last chance to visit with them before they'd be leaving again for the second week of the Potter's summer vacation with Al and Lily; so they'd packed as much fun into that couple of hours as they could. That was easier for all of them because James wasn't there. He was spending the weekend at Patricia's; though they were going to the Harpies' match on Saturday – and would meet up with them at the Leaky for lunch too. James would have skipped the match if the Catapults had been playing on opening day, but they hadn't been one of the playoff teams; so they weren't playing until the following weekend. Not having daily fights with james was making the summer a lot more fun for Al now, but he was still happier when James wasn't around because even when he was playing nice; what Al sensed around James was still very dark and unpleasant. It was much better to be surrounded by joy and love; and that's exactly what he got to experience on Friday afternoon and evening.

After Kirley and Gwenog went home, Harry and Ginny stayed outside with the kids for another hour or so of play time that included a swim and a game of Fanged Frisbee, but then they headed for bed; and the four kids went into the tent to hang out there for a while before they were ready to get some sleep too. They watched Lee's nightly show that was also a Quidditch opening day preview special that was all about roasting the teams and favorite players without offering any predictions. Al and Gwendolyn got to have some alone time after that; they had a last bit of snogging-related fun; and then they opted to split up and go to their own rooms for the night instead of staying on the sofa together.

Rainy weather greeted Al when he woke in the morning, and while that only affected him for the walk between the tent and house through until after breakfast; it did make their morning chores a bit of a challenge – particularly when it came to packing up the tent again for their trip. For that, Harry needed to shield the area around it; dry the tent; and then pack it up. Al and Gwendolyn helped him with that with charm bracelet and seashells, but it still took longer; and then they needed to finish rounding up the rest of their gear before heading to Diagon Alley to do a bit of shopping ahead of their game day lunch at the Leaky. That bit of fun was all about picking up enough treats to last a week – at least for the kids; since they were going to be camping and far from civilization while on their expedition with the Scamanders at their research expedition base camp in the Canary Islands. Harry and Ginny needed to get some actual supplies for the trip too, but they took care of that; and let the kids do the fun shopping while they were busy.

Sweets and treats were high on the list for them, but Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah also picked up some books; a couple of games; and a pair of toys to give as gifts to Lorcan and Lysander – a pair of Animorphmagus action figures. They did not buy any wheezes for the trip, but while Al and gwendolyn weren't into pranks and practical jokes anyway; they couldn't even get any whizz-bangs because they wouldn't be able to use them around the magical and mundane wildlife they'd be spending the week getting up close and personal with while exploring the islands with Luna, Rolf, and the kids. They were able to get to the Leaky early; Harry, Ginny, and Kirley took care of welcoming the other members of their game day lunch and Quidditch party; and Al and Gwendolyn spent that time hanging out with Rose and some of their other cousins. Rose had ended up spending the night in London on Friday; she happily talked with Gwendolyn and the other girls about her date with Kyle; and she'd spent most of the morning with him too before coming to the Leaky with her mother and brother.

As usual, Al, Gwendolyn, and Rose ended up sitting at the same table with their parents, brothers, and sister – excluding James and Patricia; but they got to have one surprise blast of fun with James that was especially-funny because the joke was actually on James while he tried to mess with Al using the Animorphmagus action figures he'd apparently bought sometime over the past week. Al knew that James would be furious with him whenever he did eventually find out who was behind creating those toys, but he was oblivious to those facts while razzing Al about being nothing more than an oversized toy that couldn't even do or say as much as the toys. That comment just gave Al the idea for a parrot version of the toy that would be able to learn new words and phrases from the Witches and Wizards around them, though; so he had fun as James paraded his toys around and made fun of Al.

They didn't have a lot of time for lunch, but Hannah was used to getting her game day lunch crowd fed and on their way to the various stadiums; and her staff always took extra-special care of Harry, Ginny, and their groups – possibly because they always tipped well. Since United was defending Champions; their match was at Exmoor; and that was also where the main event was held for the opening day ceremonies. While they would have still preferred having their team as champions again, that was a bonus for Al, Gwendolyn, and most of the fans that filled Bodmin Stadium; since it meant that they wouldn't have to listen to a half-hour or more of tedious speeches from league and Ministry of Magic officials before getting around to watching the match. They arrived early-enough to run the gauntlet of concessions booths; picked up the usual drinks, treats, and souvenirs; and then they went to find their seats and get ready to enjoy the show.

"Four years to go for you," Lily told Gwendolyn a while after they were in their seats and waiting for the smaller opening ceremony they'd have ahead of the second-best first match of the new season. "Then we'll be watching you play your first match with the Harpies. I wish I only had four years to go instead of six."

"You wish that you could be starting today," Al teased; and Lily grinned at him.

"True, but I do get why they want the players to at least be seventeen."

"Don't think about that too much," Ginny leaned forward and told her. "You are not going to quit school when you turn seventeen at the start of your sixth year."

"That's never even crossed my mind," Lily said innocently; and joined in for the round of laughter.

"Sure you haven't," Ginny responded skeptically. "Gwenog might even offer you the job if Gabrielle's ready to retire by then; but your father and I want all of you to earn your NEWTs before going on to those brilliant Quidditch careers."

"Yeah – you finally believe that Al's going to have a brilliant Quidditch career with me and the Cannons," Rose told her enthusiastically. "We're making progress, Al. Before you know it; she'll be signing up to be our star Seeker!"

"Mum didn't say anything about Al playing for the Cannons," lily pointed out. "She's just sure that he'll have a brilliant career – with one of the other teams."

"It's amazing how everyone else changes that story depending on how they want to tease us about the Cannons," Rose countered. "Instead of going there, though; that actually has me thinking about Dominique. We're not really being fair to her coming to this match and missing her first match with United. We were all here for Victoire's first match with the Harpies."

"I'm not going to miss her match," Al advised her; holding up his portable mirror. "She does have Uncle Bill, Aunt Fluer, Louis, and both sets of grandparents at that game, though; and we will get to watch her first match against the Harpies before we head back to school. That's going to be an awesome match-up."

"You'll be ready for the break going back to Hogwarts," Lily suggested – "especially after you're done watching the Cannons lose their first two matches of the season – again."

"I should really try to come up with something you'd want a lot so you'll make that bet with me," Rose told her seriously.

"What bet?" Ginny interjected; turning her attention back to the kids after overhearing Rose.

"Lily joked about making a bet with me about coming to play for the Cannons if Al and I win the league championships in both of our first two seasons with the team; but she doesn't think I have anything to offer that would make the bet worthwhile when she wins it."

"I can't think of anything either – not that I'm interested in helping you to steal our Harpies' next superstar Seeker from our team."

"Our team will be the Cannons in four years," Rose reminded her with a grin. "You're going to love getting back in the show again – and doing that with Al and me."

Ginny laughed. "Try that line on me sometime when I haven't just been reminded about how brutal the training is for the players – especially during training camp. That was tough-enough when I was in my teens and twenties; and I don't want to think about what it would be like now."

"I have a plan for that too; but wouldn't want to give away my future team secrets."

"You should consider going into politics," Ginny suggested. "That sounded too much like the sorts of games they play at the Ministry of Magic."

That comment sent their chat off in a new direction, but it wasn't much longer before the opening ceremony began. Their version of that was only minutes-long; and then it was time for their full-immersion into league-level Quidditch. The Harpies were ready to play, but so were the Tornados' players; and the battle was on right from the opening toss of the quaffle. Victoire was paired up against Rachel most of the time; and their rivalry was as heated as always. Rachel and Lacey were having a good match too; though they still weren't quite as good with their third Chaser as Victoire was with Candice and Hailey. Rachel seemed happy to just trade goals with Victoire, though; and didn't seem to mind when Victoire traded earning more goals for getting assists as she helped to set up her Chaser partners instead.

Using that strategy allowed the Harpies to out-score the Tornados by nearly two-to-one, but while that sounded great; there also wasn't a lot of scoring as both Keepers put on a great opening day show too. That all added up to an exciting match, though; and the spectators watching the show enjoyed every minute of the action – even when they started to get wet again as more rain rolled through the area an hour or so into the game. The weather did make some difference too, but not when it mattered most – at the end of the match. The third hour was winding down when Gabrielle won her Seeker duel with a spectacular play that proved why she was still considered one of the best Seekers in the league. The Harpies only had a ninety-to-fifty lead at the time; so her catch earned the victory too. All of the Tornados fans were disappointed, but some of the Harpies' fans were a little sad to have the great match end so soon.

Al and Gwendolyn weren't disappointed; since the early end also meant that they were going to be leaving for the Canary islands early too. They still waited for the first mad dash for the exits before getting up and moving, and Ginny went to do the post-game interviews for her game report article; but she didn't stay to do that for long; and met up with them outside of the stadium so that they could take the same international Portkey when they were all ready to go. Kirley stayed with them until they left so that he could say goodbye to Gwendolyn and Jonah; and then he moved on to the start of his kid-free week with Gwenog while Harry and Ginny took the kids and headed off on the second-half of their summer vacation adventure.

The base camp island that Rolf and Luna were working from was protected from Muggles and uninhabited except for explorers and researchers – which was why the base camp was semi-permanent – or at least there were always at least a few Witches and Wizards staying there while doing their explorations and research. Since they were early, their hosts were still out in the field, but other members of their team were happy to direct Harry and Ginny to a spot that Rolf had reserved for them near his own tent; and they had lots of time to get their tent set up and everything unpacked from their undetectable expansion bags. The camp wasn't located next to a beach, but it was near a small waterfall and freshwater pond at the base of the falls; where going for a swim to cool off – or to get cleaned up – was an option, so when the work was done; going for a swim was next on their collective to-do list. They all played for a half-hour or so; got dried off and dressed again; and were relaxing in chairs outside of their tent when Rolf, Luna, and the boys returned – along with another family of three – colleagues and friends that were regulars on their many expeditions.

"You're early!" Luna said enthusiastically. "Have you been waiting long?"

"The Harpies' match was shorter than we expected," Ginny answered before Luna was near-enough for a hug. "We've kept busy – and the extra time allowed us to get the tent set up and our things put away; so it worked out for us. You've obviously had another brilliant day of exploring. You look wonderful!"

Luna smiled and shook her head. "I'm a mess; but we have had a brilliant day. We can tell you all about it later, though; since that story will take some time." She smiled when Lily stepped up for a hug next. "You've grown a foot since we saw you last. I'm sure you always get told that you look just like your mother did at your age; but I can see the differences."

"I'm glad that someone can," Lily offered with a laugh. "This island is amazing. Thanks for inviting us to come an play here with you."

"It is; you're welcome; and haven't seen anything yet," Luna assured her. "The isolation of these islands has led to some wondrous adaptations of the magical creatures here – as is often the case in comparatively-remote places. We could spend years here and likely never finish studying all of the wonders."

"Maybe, but I'll be good with a week of exploring," Lily told her seriously. "I probably can't go much longer than that without Quidditch – and we didn't play at all last week while we were at the cottages."

"The boys would love to play Quidditch with you," Rolf assured her – "though we need to be careful not to disturb the animals. Lorcan and Lysander usually fly around on one of the beaches not far from here."

"That sounds like fun," Lily agreed with a nod and smile for the two boys.

Lorcan and Lysander were now eight years old, and while they looked a lot like their father; they'd also both inherited Luna's blonde hair and silver-grey eyes. Thanks to spending most of their childhood so far traveling the world with their parents and living the rough life of adventurers and naturalists; the boys were athletic, confident, and easy-going. They were also usually quiet – a quality that had likely become second-nature to them as they'd needed to be quiet for long periods of time while studying the magical creatures around them with their parents. While Al and Lily didn't see the twins more than a couple of times a year, they did always get along; and didn't need to do that just because their mothers were best friends.

The round of hugs and kisses took a while, and then Rolf and Luna wanted to take time to clean up a bit; so the kids were set free to do their own thing until dinner would be ready. Lorcan and Lysander went for a swim to get cleaned up a bit too, but then they took Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah on a short walking tour of the area around the camp – along with a trip out to the nearest beach along a trail that was worn-enough to suggest that the beach was a regular destination for everyone living at the base camp. The two boys were happy when they got back to camp and found out that they were having a special dinner instead of the usual camp fare, but while that was a big deal for them; it was just a standard camping meal for their four teen and tween guests – especially since it was a meal that Harry and Ginny were supplying for everyone. They had lots of help for the work, so Al and Gwendolyn weren't recruited for the prep work; and they got to hang out with the other kids and teens in the camp while they all waited to eat.

None of the teens were from Hogwarts, but then there were only a handful of kids anyway; and the explorers and researchers were from a dozen or more different countries. While Al was the most-reserved compared to Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah; they were all able to get along with all of the other kids – and were celebrities by association because of their parents. When it was time for dinner, they found out that communal meals were normal for the cooking and clean-up; but that they didn't usually gather together while actually having their food. Harry and Ginny weren't celebrities to everyone in the camp, since long-time associates of Luna's and Rolf's knew them well-enough now, but there were always new members on the expeditions; so they still earned a lot of attention from those Witches and Wizards.

"This is nearly as weird as when Grandpa Newt visits," Lorcan told them after looking around and watching the reactions of those Wizards and Witches that were most-awed by having dinner with the Potters. "Doesn't all of that drive you bonkers after a while?"

"Not really – and this is pretty mild compared to what it can be like," Lily answered; since he'd been looking at her while asking the question. "Haven't you gotten used to that happening around your grandfather?"

"No, but then it is a lot worse when he comes around and all of the younger researchers all start acting goofy," Lorcan said with a shake of his head. "It's probably like that for your Dad when he's around a bunch of young Aurors – or with your Mum with young Quidditch players."

"I've never had that problem around Aunt Ginny," Gwendolyn teased; "and I'm one of those young Quidditch players."

"You know what I mean," he countered after joining in for the round of laughs. "We don't get to go to nearly as many matches as you guys do; but we've seen the way people act around your Mums – even though they haven't even played for the Harpies in forever."

"Mum did play for the Harpies the year you guys were born," Lily reminded him; and then grinned. "You were even at some of her games – though I guess you were a bit young back then to remember."

"Does it count as attending a Quidditch match if you do that prenatally?" Al asked. "Mum's still pretty young, though, so maybe she'll come out of retirement again; and you'll still get a chance to see her play."

"Mum is not going to go an play for the Cannons with you and Rose," Lily told him.

"Mum told us about that," Lysander advised them; "and she thinks it's a brilliant idea."

"Rose will be happy to hear that," Al said with a grin that was mostly for what he sensed from Gwendolyn and Lily. He could also picture that story in the Quibbler; and was sure it would be given as much credence as all of the other conspiracy theories that Luna's father had written about for decades now.

Al let his mind wander as the conversation rolled along, and while some of his thoughts were amusing; he also spent some time thinking about what he was sensing around him. There were some definite differences from normal with a group of scientists and adventurers compared to being around more-diverse groups of Witches and Wizards. Most of those differences were good; and had a lot to do with the need to depend on each other every day – whether that was for the little things like taking care of their camps; or life-and-death situations while working in isolated locales. Some minds – like Luna's – were unique and fascinating, and though he'd known her all of his life; Al's growing abilities helped him to appreciate just how special his mother's friend truly was compared to other, 'normal' Witches and Wizards.

"Are you having fun?" Gwendolyn whispered; and Al returned her smile; sensing what she meant by the comment without her needing to elaborate.

"This is an interesting group to hang out around – especially since so many of them are so unique and brilliant."

"I could see you fitting right in with them," Gwendolyn told him seriously; and then grinned at him again. "It'd be a bonus that you could help out when needed as a pack mule or other handy animal."

"You're just trying to set me up to help out if you get tired on our hikes this week," he accused; and Gwendolyn laughed.

"I'll appreciate the help; but don't need to set you up for that; since you'll do that anyway just because it'll be fun to go for a ride or run while we're somewhere that we don't have to worry about Muggles."

"That's true," Al agreed with a nod and smile, "but let's find out about whether I'll need to worry about being eaten by any of the magical creatures around here first before going for any rides."

That comment had Gwendolyn asking Lorcan, Lysander, and the other kids and teens about some of the magical creatures they had to deal with on the islands – and in the waters around them. Talking about that kept them busy through until they were finished their meal and dessert; and then they joined in for the parts of the post-dinner clean-up that everyone did together before they were set free to play again. This was a working camp, though; and many of the adults were busy for most of the evening – whether that was making preparations for their planned outings on Sunday or sitting at tables and working on books, reports, journals, or writing articles that were being submitted to newspapers or magical journals. Normally, pretty much everyone turned in for the night very early – by shortly after dark; but Harry, Ginny, and the kids were responsible for another change to the norm – a campfire that included the musical entertainment from all four kids that really was a special event for everyone else in the camp.

While the campfire needed to be kept small, they didn't need it for warmth; and it was large-enough for the kids to sit around it and toast treats while the teens and adults sat farther back in two rows of chairs that surrounded the fire and kids. There were some campfire stories too, but the entertainment highlight really was the music that Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah provided – along with the dancing that Lily coordinated and the bit of Animorphmagus fun that went along with the song that Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah sang and played while Al did a dozen Transfigurations that the kids chose as they made up the verses as they went along. Staying up late was comparative to the norm for the camp, and the majority of the Witches and Wizards there were going to be up before dawn and heading out on their adventures for the day; so the campfire wrapped up by eleven o'clock; and they all headed for their beds – all except for a pair of researchers that were going to be studying nocturnal magical creatures until sometime near-dawn. Harry, Ginny, and the kids had been told that the night-time research could be quite dangerous, but that those magical creatures on these islands were just as amazing as the creatures they could only study during the day.

True camp life became much more-real for Harry, Ginny, and the kids by morning – starting with a breakfast that was designed to give them what they needed for the hike ahead without causing issues that might mess up their trek later in the day. Luna had been her usual, blunt self when explaining that to the four kids, but to put it a bit less-graphically; the food that they ate was designed to give them lots of energy without requiring the need to get rid of any waste in washrooms that weren't available out in the wilderness. Sure, adult Witches and Wizards could apparate back to one of the camps, but doing that always messed up their research with the magical creatures. The noise alone could scare off the creatures; the use of magic could do the same; and then there was the separate issue of what could happen if you did scare many of those creatures. That could end badly – particularly with the most-dangerous magical creatures.

The hiking part of the adventure wasn't just about not using magic, though, and as Rolf and Luna led the way out on the trail for the day; Harry, Ginny, and the kids were immediately immersed in the world that so-fascinated their friends even after decades of exploring the world. While Rolf and Luna usually studied just one or two magical creatures at a time, and they were happy to do that for days or weeks at a time; they took the Potters, Gwendolyn, and Jonah on something of a tour of the island for their first outing of the week. They taught their guests about most of the research currently going on with everyone on the expedition with them; they spent extra time talking about their own work; and they added in bits of fun here and there along the way – a morning swim break in a pond where they could cool off before hiking uphill until reaching a plateau where they could have lunch while enjoying a spectacular view of the island.

There hadn't been a swimming hole there, but they'd all been ready to relax and catch their breath by then, and that included all four Scamanders; since Harry, Ginny, and the kids had been able to keep up with a strong hiking pace all morning. The afternoon began with more uphill hiking until they reached the highest point of their trek for the day and began winding their way back down toward base camp. To that point, they hadn't crossed paths with any of the others, but they either saw or met up with nearly half of the other Witches and Wizards on the island – usually seeing them where they were watching or working with different magical creatures; or while they were on the trail too and in-between stops on their own treks. Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, Jonah, Lorcan, and Lysander would talk with the kids and teens they met up with for a minute or two, but those were just cameo moments of human interaction; and then they were back to the full-immersion into all of the wonders of nature.

When they got back to base camp, the six kids went for a swim to cool off and clean up; dinner was the more-normal fare of the camp with just a dessert treat for their smaller dinner group; and then the kids went to the beach with brooms, a quaffle, and a snitch in hand so that they could play a bit of Quidditch. They didn't have two full teams, but they did have two other kids wanting to play with them; so while Lily and Jonah had a Seeker duel; Al and Gwendolyn had a three-on-three Chaser duel with no Keepers in the goals that Harry conjured for them to use for their game. They had some spectators stop by to watch the show for a while, but it was more about having some fun at a favorite game; and not at all serious – especially when they had four younger kids to keep safe while they raced around above the beach and over the water. They did not have a campfire after that, but instead headed into their tents or even straight off to bed by full-dark. Harry, Ginny, and the kids were as eager as anyone else in camp to get a good night of rest after their first full-day hike of the week, so even though Al and Gwendolyn did have a bit of cuddle time together on a sofa after everyone else turned in for the night; they still went to their own beds early-enough to get fully recharged and ready to go on another adventure on Monday.

Monday was Ron and Hermione's eighteenth anniversary, and they were celebrating it back at home, but Harry, Ginny, and the kids settled for a mirror chat with them at breakfast; and then spent the rest of the day hiking on a second island that they apparated to after breakfast; and thoroughly-explored through until returning to the base camp late and wrapping up their day with a bedtime dinner – or it was that for the kids and tweens that were ready to head into nap mode by then. Al and Gwendolyn hadn't been nodding off while having that meal, and they helped out with the clean-up, but then they did fall asleep while having a cuddle and chat with the parents; and were left there to have a sofa sleepover – once Luna and Ginny both took some pictures before they split up and headed off to bed with their respective husbands.

Tuesday was Ginny's thirty-ninth birthday, so their morning started out with birthday best wishes and some gifts; but no special breakfast. Luna and Rolf did have special birthday plans for their day, though; and their nature adventure was aquatic. They took small, magically-powered boats out onto the ocean; went to a location between two of the nearby islands that Luna and Rolf explained was particularly unique; and went deep-sea diving in search of a rare magical sea monster. They found it; managed to observe it for a while without being eaten; and then needed to spend quite a bit of time returning to the surface to make sure they didn't get the bends by ascending too quickly. They still had sights to see along the way, so that wasn't ever boring; but they were also all glad to be back in the boats in time for a late lunch. They had that meal on the beach of one of those two islands; and then it was time for a lazy play afternoon at that beach – and in the waters of a partially-sheltered cove that was shallow-enough for the water to be warm and perfect for just floating around and playing in.

When they went back to base camp, the kids found out that Harry had set up another special dinner – one that he needed to leave the island to pick up and deliver. He brought enough for everyone in the camp, but they only had Rolf, Luna, and the boys in the tent with them for Ginny's birthday dinner. That was the final bit of birthday fun for the kids, but Harry, Ginny, Rolf, and Luna went out to play after dinner too; leaving Al and Gwendolyn in charge of the younger kids; and heading out to one of the inhabited islands to visit the only Wizarding Inn on the Canary Islands – a place where they could have a few drinks and do a bit of dancing while hanging out with the local Witches and Wizards. While they were gone, the six kids went for a swim; played Fanged Frisbee for a while; and then spent the rest of the evening in the Potter's tent playing mirror games and watching the mirror network until Lorcan and Lysander were ready to get some sleep. They were put into Al's room to do that; and then Al and Gwendolyn cuddled on one sofa while Lily and Jonah took the other; and they settled in to watch another show on the mirror network and enjoy a bit of quiet chat time while they waited for the parents to get 'home' again.

"I know that it's only been one year that I've had my birthday while at Hogwarts, but having a play day for Mum's birthday reminds me of how lucky summer birthday kids are to never get stuck in classes all day on their birthdays," Lily said after they'd been talking about their favorite parts of the day for a while.

"Your birthday was on a Saturday last September," Al reminded her. "You did get to play all day. It will be on a Monday this year, though; so you will have classes all day this time around."

"I don't mind having my birthday while at Hogwarts," Gwendolyn told them. "We do get to use magic on our birthdays now; and the kids with summer birthdays can't do that."

"I wasn't thinking about that," Lily admitted. "Maybe we should change the subject, though; since I also wasn't thinking about us being back at Hogwarts again three weeks from today."

"Aren't you looking forward to that?" Jonah asked her; and Lily shrugged.

"Yes and no. I want to get back to using and learning about magic, and playing Quidditch with our new junior team; but the summer is going to be over too soon."

"We should probably be happy about feeling that way," Al suggested. "This summer has gone better than we'd hoped it would, and if it hadn't; we'd have wanted to go back to school weeks ago."

He didn't specify that the comparative lack of trouble with James was the main reason for their better summer; but he didn't need to do that anyway. None of them wanted to talk about James, so they moved on from there to other topics; and mostly just enjoyed hanging out together and winding down from another long day of fun. Harry, Ginny, Rolf, and Luna didn't stay out late because they had another day of hiking and exploring booked for Wednesday, so when they got back; Harry and Rolf moved the twins over to the Scamander's tent; and then he and Ginny had a short bedtime chat with the four kids before they all went to bed for the rest of the night.

Their adventures during the last two 'work days' of the week were all about experiencing the actual, daily research that Luna and Rolf were doing, and while that work included a lot of sitting around and quietly observing the magical creatures they were studying; there was much more to it than just watching the creatures in their natural habitat. All six kids were recruited to help out with gathering things like lost feathers or finding other things – like broken-off nails or lost teeth. Rolf and Luna also temporarily captured a handful of different creatures to check them out; take samples; and sometimes treat them for injuries before setting them free again. Al, Gwendolyn, Lily, and Jonah were taught a lot about the creatures, everything that Witches and Wizards could use the magical properties found in the creatures for in potions or other magics, and all about how all magical creatures needed to be cared for to prevent the problems of the past when certain creatures would be hunted to extinction.

Al found all of that more fascinating than his parents, Lily, Gwendolyn, or Jonah; and he got teased a bit for being Rolf and Luna's top student for the week. He knew by week's-end that Gwendolyn had been right, and he could be happy doing the kind of work that Rolf and Luna did, but while that was true; it didn't change the fact that he still wanted to play in the show after they graduated – and that he would be even happier getting to do that with Rose and the rest of their future Cannons' team mates. Going on future expedition holidays might be brilliant, though; and he hoped that he and Gwendolyn might get to do that now and then. After their play day on Wednesday, they didn't have any extra entertainment plans on Thursday or Friday evenings. They had another blast of Quidditch fun above the beach on Thursday evening after dinner, but they were back at camp before dark; and went to bed early.

On Friday evening, they stayed up late; split up into two groups; and went out with the explorers studying the nocturnal magical creatures on the island. They didn't stay up all night after already having a long, busy day of exploring, but they did get to learn a bit about the natural nightlife on the island until nearly-two; and then they headed back to base camp and their beds when they were ready to crash and nap for the rest of the night.

Saturday was their last full day on the island, and while Rolf and Luna didn't take the entire day off to play with them; they all went for a morning hike while they worked; and then they spent the afternoon playing at an isolated beach that they had all to themselves. They swam; had a picnic lunch; played in the sand and water; and just had a quiet, lazy handful of hours of family time until they needed to get back to the camp in time for dinner. They didn't have a special meal for that, and hadn't made any plans for the evening either, but ended up having a campfire with everyone after Rolf and Luna received a handful of requests for an encore campfire with the special musical entertainment before their guests headed home in the morning.

Al and Gwendolyn were happy to do that for Rolf and Luna; Lily and Jonah helped out too; and the campfire fun was a near-repeat of the first one they'd had – including the dancing and Animorphmagus play time. There were treats to toast and more scary stories to tell too; and those few hours ended up being a perfect way to wrap up their week-long immersion into the unique life of Wizarding World naturalists and explorers. The campfire still wrapped up comparatively early, since most of the Witches and Wizards would be back to their work in the morning; so Harry, Ginny, and their four kids were back in their tent by eleven-thirty – after spending a bit of extra time saying goodnight to the Scamanders. They had a little bedtime chat in the main room; and then Al and Gwendolyn were left on their own to cuddle on one of the sofas – and likely end up staying there for another sofa sleepover.

"Maybe we should get your Mum and Dad to leave us here for another week," Gwendolyn suggested once they were alone and comfortably stretched out on the sofa. "Another week on this island would be very nice – especially if we could just play at the beach every day like we did this afternoon."

"It would be," Al agreed; "but you don't really want to do that. We've missed out on two weeks of practices with our Quidditch teams; and only have four practices left to go before we head back to Hogwarts."

"True, but we do have an extra week before tryouts this year," Gwendolyn pointed out; "and we could have more Chaser duels here that would likely help me out to get ready for tryouts even more than the team practices. I do like the confidence you've got that we will make it onto our senior teams this year. You don't usually just come out and say it like that."

"I didn't exactly do that this time, though it's just you and me here; and I can admit that I think we will both do well at our senior team tryouts."

"Good for us," Gwendolyn said enthusiastically; and then smiled at Al. "Since you've brought up the fact that we are alone, and that's a first for today; let's take advantage of that opportunity and find something better to do than talk about Quidditch – or anything else."

She kissed him rather seriously then; Al lost all interest in doing anything else; and they went on to end their day with a rather brilliant, if quiet, snogging session until they eventually snuggled close and happily headed off to dreamland for the rest of the night.

James lay awake and stared up at the ceiling as his mind wandered along erratically and seemed to jump randomly from thought to thought with no sense of order or purpose. Bristol lay next to him, but had her back to him; and she'd gone off to sleep after only one too-short round of clothing-optional play time with him. He knew she was annoyed with him, and had even tried to take it out on him while having that bit of play time, but he'd just thought that was hot; and that had only managed to annoyed her even more while he'd just wondered whether he should try to annoy her more often – or at least do that when he was in the mood for that kind of play time with her.

Another random jump, and his thoughts rolled back to the Quidditch parts of his day. The Catapults had their first match of the season; so he'd worked most of the day with the team. He'd been in a great mood when he'd arrived at the team practice pitch; since he'd had a brilliant Friday night with Bristol at her house. They'd been alone while her family was out with the band at a concert; and they'd pretty much played all night. He'd been happy about leaving her sleeping in late while he went to work; since it obviously meant that he'd tired her out while he'd been up and ready to go again with time to have a decent breakfast before heading to work. He'd needed to fend for himself for that, but Bristol's parents were a bit oblivious to their daughter – and to him; so he'd taken the Floo Network to Diagon Alley; had breakfast at a cafe there; and then gone on to the Catapults' practice pitch.

His work on a game day proved not to be very glamorous, but he did have his own charmed devices now; so he didn't need to do much manual labor while dealing with equipment bags and the rest of the gear and supplies that the team needed to travel with to the stadiums. He was invited to join in for the morning warm-ups; handled the 'technology' for the team meeting that included watching a bit of game footage for their opponent on one of the mirrors in the conference room; and then he helped out with the team luncheon before they all headed for Ellis stadium an hour before game time. While the players headed for the locker room, James only went along to help with the bags; and then he was on the go again – this time to helpwith the set-up on the sidelines of the pitch and then to make sure everything was ready for the Catapults owners when they arrived.

That was something that was very different for James because the Harpies' owners weren't anything like the hands-on owners were with the Catapults – and he liked it a lot; since they went out of their way to show off their power and wealth. He'd be doing that too someday sooner instead of later. For now, it was enough to be part of that – and get the attention that came along with associating with the movers and shakers of the Quidditch league. Getting noticed included the attention of quite a few beautiful Witches – including some young and not-so-young overage women; and that, apparently, was why Bristol was annoyed with him tonight. Okay, she was annoyed because he was happy to flirt with all of those Witches, but he thought that was ridiculous; since she knew that they had an open relationship and shouldn't expect him to just ignore the attention and even several offers from other beautiful women.

He smiled as he thought about that; since he'd done more than just flirted with those Witches. He'd had quite a bit of fun with two of them – once while running an errand to the team locker room during the match; and one fairly-hot interlude with the bored, young wife of a team sponsor during the victory party after the match. Bristol had been at that party with him, and there'd been a fair bit of perceived danger for him by hooking up with her even in such a large estate home; but they'd gotten away with it – and he had a whole new appreciation for older Witches!

The actual match against the Magpies hadn't been anything special – though having the team earn the win while he was helping them out had been good; and he was sure that their Seeker won his duel thanks to the workouts he'd been doing with the guy. In fact, he was sure the winning catch had come thanks to a move the guy had copied from watching him. That pretty much made the win all thanks to him; since the Catapults' Chasers and Keeper hadn't been playing particularly well. Sure, they'd scored seventeen goals, but had given up twenty-one – and did that in two and a half hours.

If he was going to come and work for the Catapults, the first thing the owners and managers would need to do after hiring him would be to replace the rest of the losers they had on the team. Fortunately for them; he had lots of friends with the talent to help him out with turning the Catapults into the greatest Quidditch team in history!

Following that train of thought kept him entertained until he was ready to drift off to sleep; leading him into a dream world where Quidditch glory, fame, and fortune were all his – along with unlimited, willing, beautiful Witches helping to keep him entertained in between Quidditch victories!