Chapter Thirty-Seven – A Magical Summer – Part Two
"Welcome to the Aurors, Casey," Harry said as he shook hands with the younger wizard after Ron introduced them. They were in the training room, and since Harry had decided to stay out of the way while Ron got Casey started on his first day of training; this was the first chance they'd had to talk since he'd come into Auror Headquarters an hour earlier. He knew Casey through his sister – and because Casey had also been a regular for the now-annual Christmas break morning and luncheon with the Aurors that interested Hogwarts students were invited to attend. Many of the Quidditch teams had followed the Harpies' lead after the first one that Ginny had set up, and other departments in the Ministry of Magic did them too; so it had become quite the event for the teens and tweens – and fairly competitive for teams or departments that were competing for the top students.
"Thanks, Harry," Casey said sincerely; smiling too. "Is this going to be scary compared to the training you do with the students?"
"Just on the magic side of things," Harry advised him with a nod. "We mix up the physical workouts; but they aren't harder than what we showed you – just a bit longer." He looked around the room and nodded. "I'd say we'll be ready to go soon; so you and Ron better get through the warm-ups before we get to it."
Having a new Auror-trainee in the group didn't change Harry's plan for their workout; though he was leading today because Emma had wanted Casey to get off to a good start for his first day. While he was feeling much better after his weekend away with Ginny, that didn't mean that he wasn't still just as motivated to find the Witches and Wizards responsible for the ambush; so Harry was really happy to get back out on their stake-out after the training work-out. What was even better was that there was actually some progress – on the ambush case; not their murder and crime ring case.
"Mr. Bletchley is looking a bit under the weather," Harry told Ron and Casey as they watched the Wizard walk down the street toward the shop that was the main target of their stake-out. "Could that be why you haven't seen him around here in a while?"
"Could be," Ron agreed with a grin. "It's a bit warm for long sleeves and jackets – and is he wearing gloves?"
"Might just be bandages," Casey suggested. "It's hard to tell from here."
"That might mean he's got some nasty flashover burns if he's bandaged up," Ron said thoughtfully. "He's sporting quite the pronounced limp too; though I can't tell what from just from the way he's walking. Whatever's wrong with him, though, he sure doesn't look happy – or comfortable."
"Do you know anything more about him?" Casey asked. "It'll be a while before I get through the entire file you gave me this morning."
"Brock Bletchley," Harry said immediately. "Same as most of the Wizards and Witches that hang out around here, Brock is pureblood; but on the poor side of the family. He has a wife, Fiona; a son, Brand; and they have a flat in a rather seedy section of London. He's got a mean streak in him a mile wide, and we suspect that he was one of the Wizards involved in the murder of the former owner of that shop. Apparently it's considered good business with their lot to just kill the owner of something they want and then cheat the bereaved family to get it"
"Whenever just outright stealing it isn't possible," Ron added grimly. "All of those Ministry property documents just make stealing businesses or homes so inconvenient for them."
"And you think that he may have been involved in the ambush on you and Mrs. – er – your wife too?" Casey asked; and Harry smiled at him.
"You can call her Ginny," he assured Casey. "That's a possibility; though I'm basing that entirely on the looks of him right now, along with knowing that he is one of their henchmen for things like that; and then there's also the fact that he hasn't been around here since then. We know for sure that he didn't go to St. Mungo's for treatment; he doesn't have the money to get decent treatment on the side without help from his rich cousins; and that suggests that he's just getting back on his feet now after muddling along as best he could."
"Assuming that someone didn't just botch an attempt at healing him too," Ron pointed out with a nod. "Does this do anything for us – or our case?"
"I don't know," Harry admitted, "but there are three of us on the job now; and I'm thinking that it's worth spending some time keeping a closer eye on Mr. Bletchley there and see if we can find anything more useful than what we've gotten with any of the others. If he's as un-well as he looks; there's a chance that he'll make some mistakes."
"Let me guess – you're going to follow him around and we're going to stay stuck here on the stake-out," Ron guessed; and Harry grinned at him. "Bring back food and drinks for us – and don't do anything stupid."
Harry grinned at him. "You know we almost always do the really stupid things together; so no worries there mate."
"You've been in the mood to make an exception to that general rule lately," Ron countered. "Be careful out there. You're under strict orders not to get your head bashed in again anytime soon."
"I will be – and will try not to," Harry promised. "Its' shocking, but I really don't actually enjoy that sort of thing happening to me at all."
He'd needed to wait for a while until Bletchley was finished his visit to the shop, but he didn't stay with Ron and Casey. Instead, he left their stake-out hiding spot; went for a walk until he was somewhere that he could put his invisibility cloak on; and then moved in close to the shop so that he'd be nearby when Bletchley left the building and moved on. He and Ron had taken turns following all of the Witches and Wizards they'd seen either visiting or working at the shop, and while they'd done that with varying degrees of success; the daily tracking usually ended with the first apparition out of Falmouth – unless they got lucky and either overheard the destination or guessed at it through other work on their case. What they hadn't yet been able to get was any solid evidence to use against the group. No physical evidence; no overheard incriminating conversations; and they hadn't even directly witnessed any criminal activity.
That didn't change for Harry while following Bletchley on Monday. The Wizard made two other stops while in Falmouth; but then just went home to his flat in London after that. Harry knew that because he'd made a guess and gone there when Bletchley had apparated away after his last stop. By then, the man had been limping badly; was cursing under his breath; and looked pale and sick. He'd looked worse after the apparition, and Harry knew that too because he'd gone straight to a spot near Bletchley's home while the other Wizard had instead apparated elsewhere first and then walked the rest of the way home.
He took a break then; picked up food for Ron and Casey as promised; and then had a little chat with them before deciding to spend the rest of the day keeping an eye on Brock instead of resuming the stake-out with Ron and Casey. Nothing came of that for the rest of the day, and by the time he finished writing up his report for Emma after deciding to call it a day; he ended up being late getting home for dinner with Ginny. He had let her know that, so he wasn't in trouble for doing that; but she was more than a bit nervous about his sudden interest in Brock Bletchley and the potential new lead he might provide the Aurors.
"You're getting one of those feelings," she suggested once they were sitting down and beginning to eat the dinner she'd put on hold for them. "This isn't just because you suspect he was involved in the ambush on us."
"That's a bonus," Harry answered; tacitly admitting that he was, indeed, getting the feeling that their next break would come through Bletchley. "He's hurting a lot, Ginny, and for whatever reason; he's back to work – or whatever it is he does for the family leaders – despite his obvious injuries. That kind of thing can lead to making mistakes and getting careless. It's definitely worth following him around for a while and see what happens."
"Are you going to have Ron backing you up?" Ginny asked; and then shook her head and smiled. "No – you're going to have them stay on the stake-out instead."
"For now," Harry agreed with a shrug. "If I do find anything interesting, we may need to start watching Bletchley around the clock; but there's no point in doing that yet." He smiled at Ginny. "This guy might be back at work, but he's in no shape to be the enforcer he likely normally is for his masters right now; so I'm not all that worried about stumbling into any bad scenes – at least until he's feeling better again."
"Which hopefully won't be anytime soon if he was one of our attackers," Ginny suggested with a slight grimace. "I'd be okay with it if the entire lot of them is feeling a bit unwell right now."
"So would I," Harry assured her. "That might give all of them something else to think about other than making new plots against us – or anyone else."
Ginny shook her head. "That'd be nice, but you can bet that the leaders are all okay; hating us more than ever; and happily plotting away as always." She shook her head again and smiled. "Let's not go there. You'll be careful – or else; and we can find something better to do than talking about this and getting all morose about it."
Harry took her cue and they moved on – both with their dinner conversation and while keeping themselves entertained for the rest of the evening. He got approval from Emma for his request to follow Bletchley and keep Ron and Casey on the stake-out on Tuesday morning; and he skipped morning training to get over to Bletchley's flat early in case the Wizard got an early start to his 'work' day. That didn't happen, but he did watch Brock's wife, Fiona, take their two-year old son on an outing somewhere, and though he didn't try following them; they were back at their flat before Brock made his first appearance of the day. Following him from that point on turned out to be fairly easy because his quarry didn't apparate anywhere all day. He walked; took the Knight Bus once; and used the Floo network four times – all of those trips to and from public places that made it easy for Harry to be nearby and overhear his destinations. Even without doing any apparating, Brock still looked terrible by the time he went home for the day, and while Harry was glad that he'd been able to keep up with the other Wizard; he also hadn't learned anything useful on Tuesday either – mostly because he hadn't been able to get into any of the shops or homes that Brock had visited due to each place being magically protected from unwanted visitors.
He had better luck on Wednesday – though it wasn't necessarily a lucky break. That remained to be seen because it was what he didn't see that was the big news of the day for him. Brock Bletchley had bounced around quite a bit for the first half of the day, but then he'd taken the Floo Network to Tutshill; wandered around aimlessly for quite a while; and then, suddenly, he'd disappeared right in front of Harry's eyes. Since Harry hadn't sensed that the Wizard had apparated or used an invisibility charm; he'd immediately suspected a Fidelius charm location – one for which Bletchley was not the secret keeper. Finding a good place to wait and watch, he was there for more than an hour before Bletchley suddenly re-appeared again – this time a half-block away; and walking away from Harry's hiding spot. There wasn't much more to the work day for him after that; but he was happy to follow Bletchley home with only a few side trips that were useless for throwing off anyone following him without apparating between locations. He went straight to Auror Headquarters after that; filled out another report; and then went to see Emma right away too.
"Well, this wouldn't be the first time they've used that trick," she told him after quickly scanning his report while Harry gave her the condensed version of his work day. "It wouldn't be your first time dealing with one either; but do you think this is a worthwhile lead to work with? You could get lucky and have the secret revealed to you fairly quickly; but it could also stay a secret for years."
"That's true," Harry agreed, "but I do think that it's worth watching the area there for a while – if for no other reason than that it could lead to identifying the other Witches and Wizards visiting the place – or whatever it is that's being protected. We shouldn't presume it's a place. For all we know, it could be a person or object." He smiled at Emma, and she laughed.
"You think it'll be more than that," she surmised. "What do you have in mind?"
"I'll watch the place for the rest of the week, but if nothing comes up; I'd like to watch the place around the clock starting next week – just move the stake-out Ron and Casey are doing over there and give it a shot."
"The biggest problem I see in this is that one or more of you discover the secret,' Emma told him seriously. "You'll know; but won't be able to tell anyone – and might even have other restrictions; depending on how carefully the Fidelius charm was crafted."
"That's true; but we'll deal with that if we must. You will at least know what's going on if one of us suddenly can't talk about what we're doing, though – at least I think you will."
Emma nodded. "That's true, and yes; it is possible that a Fidelius charm could mess with what we remember – though that's not very likely. We will keep this bit of information restricted to just a few of us, though. We wouldn't want word to get out that we're on the trail of something like this and scare off the bad guys."
"No, we wouldn't," Harry agreed. "I'll keep you posted on how it's going, and can talk to Ron and Casey too – unless you want to do that."
"You can take care of that," Emma decided. "Be careful; and make sure that they're ready to be especially careful too in case either of them find out something that you don't and need to try dealing with it on their own."
"I will," Harry promised. Emma had a couple of unrelated things to talk about with him; but then Harry went home for the night.
Ginny had invited Gabrielle over for dinner and some Quidditch play time; though she wouldn't let Harry fly full-out while having a little Seeker battle with Gabrielle after dinner. Instead of doing that; they mostly just worked on some flying tricks – and particularly some variations on some of Ginny's now-classic moves. Mostly, Ginny had just wanted to help Gabrielle out with the nerves she was dealing with now that her first pro game was just days away; and the play time along with some feedback on the Harpies' game plan for the Kestrels did seem to help out a lot.
Harry wished that solving his case could be as easy as flying around a bit and talking about it over dinner or drinks; but he wasn't that lucky. He found a good place to set up his stake-out in Tutshill early on Thursday morning; and then spent the last two days of the week watching the street with the only action at all being the occasional disappearing Wizard or Witch. He recognized some of them from his current or other investigations; kept track of the ones he didn't yet know; and found out absolutely nothing else at all. The length of each of those disappearances varied; there were never more than two people together at one time; and didn't even overhear any interesting conversations. Everyone was being extremely careful, and while that worried him a bit; Harry still felt as though he was on the right track for the first time in months.
When he went home on Friday night, it was time to put work aside for at least one day and enjoy some family, friends, and Quidditch time. Having a quiet play evening at home with Ginny on Friday night had been a great way to start off that little break, but Ginny was as excited as any Harpies fan about the start of Quidditch season – and their opening day match-up against the Kestrels. Their opponents were probably feeling pretty good about their chances in this championship game re-match now that Ginny and Gwenog had retired; but Harry and Ginny both expected that the Kestrels players, managers, and fans were going to be very disappointed.
Before getting to the fun part of the day, though, they did their house and yard chores in the morning; and then they got cleaned up and ready for a play day before going to get Teddy from Andromeda and taking him out for lunch in Diagon Alley on their way out to the Exmoor stadium. They hadn't set up a big lunchtime event because Bill and Fleur were hosting a party and dinner after the game; but they did meet up with most of their family and extra guests before the game – and got to visit with quite a few others while wandering the concession booths and picking up everything from game programs and souvenirs to drinks and snacks. One thing that was noticeably different this year was that Harry and Ginny didn't have any members of the Campbell family with them because they were all at the United game to watch Dawn and Jonathan in their debut match. That wasn't likely to change much all season either, since Christine's fellow Aurors had all pitched in and picked her up a set of four season tickets for Puddlemere United so that they'd be able to go to all of Dawn's games – and hopefully take an Auror or two along now and then too.
Harry and Ginny gave most of their season's tickets to Bill and Fleur for the game; so they mostly had Fleur's family with them; along with Arthur and Molly. There was an additional, fairly large group of Gabrielle's cousins at the game too, but they hadn't been able to get a block of seats for them in the same area; so they were in a different section of the stadium – as were a few other guests that Harry and Ginny had given other tickets to for the game – something they'd done pretty much every year since Ginny's first in the league. The only difference between then and now was that most of the tickets they gave away this year were for certain kids and teens that were special to them – and their parents; instead of for old friends and co-workers.
"Your little girl is going to do just fine, Mom," Harry leaned in and whispered to Ginny. He could feel the tension and nervousness as they waited for the Harpies to be introduced; and she turned her head to smile at him.
"Shouldn't you be saying that to Gabrielle's mother?" she asked; and Harry grinned at her.
"She's your Quidditch protégé; and I'd guess that you're even more nervous than Mrs. Delacour is right now."
Ginny laughed. "Compared to having a Tri-Wizard Champion daughter dealing with things like dragons; I'd say a first professional Quidditch match is mild. It is funny that I feel more nervous right now than I did at the start of my first game."
"That doesn't surprise me. Do you wish you were going to be out there playing too?"
Ginny shrugged. "Yes, but only a little." She put a hand over her stomach and smiled. "The trade-off is going to be fairly amazing; and being pregnant makes it easier to deal with not being out there with my friends today."
The Harpies were introduced then; so Ginny didn't need the diversion anymore; and she and Harry were both on their feet cheering for their team – and Gabrielle. Harry and Bill each put Teddy and Victoire up onto their shoulders so that the kids could see better while most of the Harpies' fans were on their feet too; and the two kids happily waved and shouted at Gabrielle; trying to get her attention as she flew past them. She probably couldn't hear them over the roar of the crowd, but she did know approximately where they were sitting; and waved as she passed them. Since the Harpies were introduced last, it wasn't long before the game started; though there was a bit of extra pomp and ceremony first to celebrate opening day – and the top match-up of the day.
The Harpies weren't the favorites for most of the Quidditch experts for the match despite being the defending champions; mostly because Gwenog and Ginny had retired. Lee had been one of the few exceptions among that group, and while Harry, Ginny, and everyone else at the stadium didn't hear his broadcast of the game on the mirror network; they were sure that he was enjoying being proven right as the game went on. Melody Moran wasn't Gwenog's equal at Beater yet, but she was still one of the best in the league after two seasons as Gwenog's reserve team back-up. Vicky was as much of a match for the Kestrels' Chasers as she'd been during the championship game. It was no surprise to anyone that Angelina, Alicia, and Demelza were still among the best Chaser trios in the league; though the Kestrels' Keeper was playing an awesome match against them too.
What had been a surprise for a lot of the spectators both in the stadium and watching on the mirror network was that the Kestrels' veteran Seeker, Aidan Kiely, was fairly obviously mesmerized by Gabrielle right from the start of the game. He was a step behind her throughout the game, and even when he managed to pull it together and defend her first few attempts at early catches of the snitch; he'd quickly lose it again the moment they made eye contact or she flashed her brilliant smile at him. That unexpected advantage for the Harpies was the only major difference between the teams; and it ended up being the deciding factor.
Angelina and Demelza had only managed to score two goals each on the Kestrels; and Vicky had given up just one goal when Gabrielle earned her first professional Quidditch win in the forty-seventh minute of the game with a fairly easy catch of the snitch. She'd taken full advantage of Aidan's infatuation, and after catching sight of the snitch; she'd moved in close to him; smiled brilliantly while saying something sweet to him; and then blasted off to make the catch while he sat there on his broom for far too long with a dopey, vapid expression and grin on his face before remembering to give chase. The one-ninety to ten score looked worse than it was; but the Harpies and their fans were delighted to get the season off to another amazing start!
"I'm crushed that Aidan was never that dazzled anytime he played against me," Ginny joked with Fleur and Apolline as they watched the post-game team meet and greet and the reporters descended on the pitch to get first interviews with the players and managers.
"It worked today, but I'll guess that the other teams will start working on that little problem before going up against the Harpies," Mr. Delacour suggested. "Their Seeker may have been the most obvious; but did their Beaters even send one real bludger hit at Gabrielle today? She didn't seem to need to dodge any of them even compared to playing fun matches at your house," he suggested to Ginny and Harry.
"She didn't," Ginny agreed with a nod after thinking about it for a moment. "I wasn't really paying attention to that; though Karla and Melody were supposed to take extra-good care of our rookie Seeker today too; so they may not have had many chances in such a short game."
"It seems that Aidan isn't the only Wizard feeling the effects of Gabrielle's smiles," Harry pointed out; waving toward the pitch. Gabrielle had more than half of the Wizard reporters around her while the only interviews being done with the guys on the Kestrels' team were being done by Witches.
"That'll get old for her fast," Bill predicted. "Since we have lots of extra time left in the afternoon, though, I vote for getting out of here and back to our place. We could even take the kids for a swim before the dinner and party we'll be doing for Gabrielle whenever she can catch up with us."
"I second the motion," Ginny said enthusiastically. "The kids aren't the only ones here interested in some water and beach play time – especially when it's so hot out today."
Bill and Fleur had planned on hosting that party win or lose, so the extra time was just a bonus that allowed all of the family and friends guests to enjoy the beach and water entertainment that they might not have been able to do if the game had lasted all afternoon or even into the evening. They'd ended up with a very large group at Shell Cottage; including visits by most of Gabrielle's cousins, the usual group of family friends, and at least a drop-in cameo from all of the Harpies' players and managers. Harry wasn't on the work crew all of the time, because he needed some play time with Teddy, Victoire, and the other kids too; but he did help more than most both before and after dinner.
That didn't leave him much time to spend with Gabrielle, or even most of the non-kid guests, but he still had fun; and all of that normal – at least for their family – continued to help him out with getting back to feeling like himself again. The party was still going on at dusk, but Ginny was ready to go home by then and get to the do-nothing plans that she and Harry had for the rest of the weekend. They had at least two disappointed kids still at the cottage when they left, but since Ginny had just finished her two-week long auntie daycare gig while her mother was away; she was ready for a break and they hadn't caved in when Teddy and Victoire had all but begged to go with them for a sleepover.
By the time Harry led Ginny home, the only thing that she was interested in doing was going straight to bed – and sleeping once she was there. That got their little break off to much more of a do-nothing start than either of them had hoped; and then the trend had continued through to Sunday night as Ginny had a not-so-fun bout of morning sickness on Sunday morning; and then mostly felt tired and lousy all day as she tried to rest up after a too-busy week and first half of the weekend. That didn't exactly make for a brilliantly exciting or romantic time off from the usual work and family action for them, but Harry did what he could to take care of Ginny while he could; and they were each as ready as they could be when it was time for him to get back to his stake-out in Tutshill on Monday morning – and for Ginny to start her week out with a morning helping Molly out with the kids at the Burrow.
While Harry was intensely interested in his work and stakeout; he didn't have anything at all happen while watching the area where Bletchley had disappeared in Tutshill. There weren't any disappearances that he witnessed; though he couldn't be sure whether that was due to the suspected Fidelius charm or just simply that no Witches or Wizards went there while he was watching the area. The next blast of action – and fun – started on Tuesday afternoon. Harry met up with Ron at Auror Headquarters; they collected Hermione from her office; and then they surprised their girls with a combination anniversary-birthday, overnight getaway. That was to celebrate Ron and Hermione's second anniversary, which was on Tuesday; and Ginny's twenty-third birthday, which was on Wednesday.
"This was a great idea!" Ginny told Harry enthusiastically when they were left alone in the seaside, Muggle hotel suite that had a gorgeous view of the water, beach, and cliffs. She put her arms around Harry's neck and kissed him for a long minute. "You and Ron totally surprised us too; since Hermione and I were both sure that you'd be too busy with your current case to do anything like this with us."
"We booked this little sleepover a while ago," Harry admitted, "but I'd like to think that we'd never pick work over a mini-getaway with our amazing wives – unless there was some major emergency to deal with."
"Then I'm really glad you didn't have any major breakthroughs in your case yet," Ginny told him. "What's the plan for tonight?"
"Dinner, dancing, and maybe a moonlight walk on the beach," Harry answered with a smile. "We didn't plan anything for tomorrow except a play day at the beach."
"You just want to see me in a swimsuit again before I start getting huge and people might start mistaking me for a beached whale in a few months," Ginny joked; and Harry laughed before hugging and kissing her again.
"You'll be the most beautiful expecting Mom ever."
"That's sweet, but moderately delusional," Ginny disagreed; and then laughed. "I've seen Fleur through three pregnancies; and you won't lie to me and suggest I'll look better than she did."
"You will – and do – to me," Harry assured her. "We need to get ready for dinner and meet up with Ron and Hermione. If we hurry; we'll have enough time for a little walk and tour first."
There were more hugs and kisses while they unpacked, got changed, and had a bit of to-be-continued-later fun; and then they met up with Ron and Hermione in their room before heading out into the bright, hot, late-afternoon sunshine. Wandering around the little seaside town for a while kept them entertained until they needed to be at the restaurant in time for their reservation, and they all especially enjoyed their meal and a conversation that only included a very little bit of roasting for Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. They'd ended up spending nearly two hours at the restaurant; they followed that up with another walk that included a visit to the local marina; and then they moved on to a dance club and pub for the rest of the evening.
"I thought that it'd be quieter in here on a weeknight," Harry told Ginny as they sat at their table after spending more than an hour out on the dance floor. Ron and Hermione were still out dancing; but Ginny was running out of steam after a long, busy day.
"This probably is quiet compared to the weekends," Ginny suggested with a nod and smile. "There's really only two more full weeks for summer holidays after this week before the kids will be going back to school; and this is a popular place. The beaches will likely be full tomorrow too."
"That doesn't sound promising for the quiet play day we wanted to shoot for," Harry told her seriously; "but I guess there isn't much we can do about that. Even Bill and Fleur have competition for beach space during the summer at their place."
"They do," Ginny agreed; "but that isn't nearly as bad as it would be if their cottage was closer to town than it is. Bill's used Muggle-repelling charms now and then too when he wants some privacy on the beach."
"There's an idea," Harry said with a grin. "We could stake out a spot tomorrow and then make sure we have it to ourselves all day."
"Or not," Ginny countered. "I don't mind busy – especially when we'll be able to have fun without any of the problems we'd have if we were staying at one of the favorite spots for Witches and Wizards."
"That was definitely part of the plan," Harry confirmed; though she'd known that anyway. "You look really tired, honey. Maybe we should go back to our hotel sooner instead of later."
"Are you suddenly in a hurry to get me alone?" Ginny teased; and Harry laughed.
"Yes, though I'm not sure that either of us will be staying awake as long as we might wish."
"That'd be a terrible waste of that amazing hotel room if we don't."
"If you don't what?" Hermione asked as she and Ron joined them.
"Stay awake long enough to enjoy our hotel sleepover and those great rooms the boys set us up in for the night," Ginny answered; and then laughed at Ron's reaction. "Why do you always do that? It's not as if you're planning on celebrating your anniversary by going back to your room and falling asleep straight away. Maybe you should even work on a belated anniversary gift for Hermione while you're at it. How cool would it be to have our kids in the same year at Hogwarts when they get older?"
"There is no place I can take this conversation that won't end very badly for me," Ron declared evasively; "so quit trying to get me in trouble." He grinned at Harry. "My Auror partner is doing enough of that at work – or will be soon if that feeling he's getting is any indication."
"Nice diversion; but we're not talking shop tonight," Hermione told him. "If you're getting tired, Ginny, we can get out of here. This music isn't really my thing anyway – though it's been fun getting out and dancing for a while."
"You guys don't have to leave," Ginny told them; "but I guess I have hit my dance limit for the night." She smiled at Harry. "I was actually thinking that a swim in the hotel pool before bedtime might be nice."
She and Hermione both laughed when Ron picked up his drink and drained it. "Girls in swimsuits and a moonlight swim – I'm in!"
Ron had to wait for Harry and the girls to finish their drinks too, though he helped Hermione with hers; and then they walked back to the hotel; split up to get changed; and then met up again at the pool. They weren't alone, but there were only a handful of Muggle teens and couples hanging out around or in the pool; and they were able to enjoy a fairly quiet swim and wind down time before Ginny was ready to have Harry take him up to bed. She'd still planned on spending some quality play time with him by then, but after getting changed and ready for bed; a few too many minutes of quiet cuddling led to a deep sleep that claimed her until morning.
"Happy Birthday!" Harry said with a bright smile and flashing eyes when Ginny woke again; and he leaned in to kiss her for a long, tender moment before handing her a small gift.
Ginny laughed and kissed him again; then snuggled in close while opening her gift. There were happy tears in her eyes when she saw the beautiful little ring with three colored stones and four diamonds winking at her in the bright morning sunlight. She laughed, and then kissed him again for a long time.
"It's beautiful – thank-you," she breathed after leaning back again so that she could look at Harry and smile brightly at him. "Are the number of diamonds a hint about something you see for our future family?"
"You're welcome; and that would be a yes and no," he answered with a grin; and Ginny laughed.
"Well, at least there isn't six or more diamonds," she joked. "You must be fairly sure about that third birthstone being right too; so I guess that an extra-early delivery is out for me."
"We can always change that stone too if our baby does get here early," Harry pointed out.
"But you don't think we'll need to do that," Ginny added with a nod and knowing smile. "Since I fell asleep too early last night, though; let's change the subject to you and me – and discuss that for a while in a mostly non-verbal sort of way."
Harry was good with that offer; and they were both doing really great when they met up with Ron and Hermione a couple of hours later for a mid-morning brunch. After eating, they checked out of their hotel; sent their overnight bags home; and headed for the beach. Their play day wasn't exactly lazy and quiet; but that was as much because Ginny chose to have some more adventurous play time; and Hermione and the boys were happy to play with her. They rented jet skis for an hour; went on a guided canoe trip after lunch; and then spent the rest of their time swimming and playing on the beach – including getting involved in a Muggle beach volleyball game with some other young adults and teens. Ron was best at that, but Harry and Ginny did fairly well too; and Hermione seemed to surprise herself with her sporting abilities that were helped out quite a bit by her expertise in Arithmancy.
They had a snack for lunch; and wrapped up their day with dinner at a waterfront cafe with outdoor seating on a fairly large, cobblestone patio. Staying into the evening had been an option, but Ginny had been tired out by then, so Harry took her home; and Ron and Hermione decided to go home then too since they'd be going back to work in the morning and had been up – awake – quite a bit later than Harry and Ginny had been while celebrating their anniversary. Harry and Ginny did make a short stop at the Burrow on the way home so that Ginny could have a short happy birthday moment with her parents; but then they were home again before dark and ended Ginny's special day with an early bedtime that was again a bit too short when Ginny fell asleep without getting around to the play time for two she'd wanted to share with her husband.
Harry started to put in extremely long days at work again starting on Thursday. He hadn't found out anything new by Friday night, and while he planned on continuing his stake-out in Tutshill all weekend; he put in his recommendation to Emma to have Ron and Casey start helping him out with the work there beginning on Monday so that they could try keeping an eye on the area day and night. He didn't talk about it with the two Wizards because they were off for the weekend by the time he stopped in at the office; but hadn't planned on messing up their weekend off anyway. That plan ended up being moot anyway when he had a breakthrough on Saturday night.
"What do we have here?" Harry asked himself silently as he watched a group of three Wizards approaching his hiding spot from around the corner of the closest side-street on what he thought of as the 'other side' of him from where he suspected the Fidelius charm location was hidden from him. "Rolando Lestrange!" he added; once they were close enough for him to see their faces. "One of the big boys has come out to play tonight." Rolando, and his wife, Tessyndra, were the new leaders of the Lestrange family, and as with the other new family leaders for the bad guys; they had, so far, managed to avoid being implicated in any of the crimes that their followers had been caught and convicted for since taking over from the old Death Eater leaders.
"Which house is it?" the man on the far right asked in a quiet, but harsh-sounding voice. Harry didn't recognize that man – or the Wizard in the middle between him and Rolando.
"I already told you – number two-seventeen," Rolando answered; his voice just as quiet, but cold and derisive instead of harsh.
"Yes, sir," the other man agreed; looking ahead to the house that Harry could now suddenly see too – and recognize that his mind had been incapable of noticing the missing house number in the series along the street. "Now that I have seen it; I will not forget."
Rolando laughed scornfully. "If you had much talent at all for charms; you'd know that you can sense which house is the correct one even if you were blindfolded." He waved that off dismissively. "Let's go inside and get on with this. I must be on my way again soon, and don't have time to waste; so don't make me keep repeating everything to you."
The three Wizards had passed Harry by then; and then they were soon walking up to the house that had been revealed to both Rolando's associate – and inadvertently to Harry too. He did not attempt to follow; but instead watched them – and the house – with all of his senses. It was easy enough to sense the Muggle-repelling charms, but he continued to watch the place for the entire time that the other Wizards were in there – and then for more than an hour more after they left to make sure that there weren't any other wards or magical traps around or in the house. They were in the house for about a half-hour; but Harry did not get any clues about what they'd been doing while there as they left because they didn't talk at all – and they split up then too; with Rolando heading back the way they'd come while the other two Wizards went the other way.
After doing his thorough check of the place; Harry finally went inside the house and began exploring cautiously while still under his invisibility cloak. Unfortunately, there was nothing of interest to see. There were sparse furnishings in a modest sitting room, kitchen, and dining room on the ground floor; three bedrooms and a bath on the first floor; and nothing to suggest that anyone lived there at all – other than the place did look clean enough instead of dusty and un-kept. There was certainly nothing there to give Harry any hints as to why the place was being protected by a Fidelius charm. It took him another hour or so to check out every room, closet, and cupboard; but then he left after coming up empty and decided to just head home. It was heading toward one o'clock by then, and Ginny was sleeping; so he got a glass of wine and went into the office to sit and think about everything he'd learned and what his next steps could be.
The first order of business for him was fairly obvious – find out what the bad guys were using the Fidelius charmed place for. He'd been a bit disappointed that there hadn't been anything there to at least give him clues to that – even if he hadn't really expected it to be as easy as it had been when he'd found out about the Montague's memory-hiding spot in Falmouth. It was certainly an important place for the pureblood elitists; or the secret keeper wouldn't have been one of the new family leaders. His biggest problem with the new lead and discovery was that he couldn't bring in any help; and working around the clock, seven days a week wasn't possible to do alone. As he thought about that, though, and giving it a try without having any magical blocks keeping him from doing it; he discovered that the Fidelius charm didn't keep him from passing on information about the two Wizards that had been with Rolando – though he couldn't include any part of the conversation about the house; or the secret keeper himself.
Bottling up memories of what each man looked like was an option; so he decided to ask Emma to have Ron and Casey find out everything they could about them next week instead of continuing their current stake-out or moving their show over to Tutshill. If his own stake-out showed that Rolando gave out his secret on a regular basis, then they could change that plan and try to get someone else to learn the secret too; but even suggesting that seemed to be treading very close to the edge of the magical line for the charm that would be big trouble for him if he crossed it – deadly trouble.
"There must be a very good reason for why you're home and not cuddling in bed with me right now,' Ginny said softly as she walked into the room; and she smiled when he turned and looked up at her in obvious surprise. "Should I start worrying about you even more than usual?"
Harry laughed and then shared a warm hug and soft kiss with her as she also sat down in his lap after nudging him to roll his chair away from the desk. "Probably,' he agreed, "but before you ask; it isn't something I can talk about."
"Even if you really wanted to," Ginny guessed with a nod. "Since you can't talk about it, though, and you'll probably start working even crazier hours than you already have been while dealing with this; come to bed and get some sleep. I definitely don't want you too tired out to do your job."
Harry grinned and kissed her again. "If you wanted me to be sleepy; you shouldn't look this amazing. Having a nap isn't even top ten for what I'd like to be doing with you right now."
"Then take me upstairs and we'll see what we can do about tiring you out first," she suggested before kissing him again for a long minute that didn't end when he picked her up and carried her up to their room for some play time that began in the shower and eventually ended a couple of hours later in their bed when they did finally fall asleep together.
Sleeping in was an option on Sunday morning, and Harry cooked a large brunch for Ginny once they were ready to come to life again for the day. They went out to do a little shopping and visiting; and then Harry left Ginny with her parents at the Burrow so that she could stay there for dinner before going on to Auror Headquarters to write up another report for Emma with the new recommendations he had for Ron and Casey. After doing that, he went back to Tutshill and spent an extremely boring eight hours or so inside the Fidelius charmed house. There were no visitors at all, and though he would have liked to just be there day and night until he learned anything about what the bad guys were using the place for; he wasn't going to try to work the case when he was too tired to stay as safe as possible. He went home again by a bit after one; got some sleep with Ginny; and then headed into Auror headquarters again in time to have a meeting with Emma and a small group of Aurors that she put together after reading over his weekend reports.
After talking it out with Emma, Ron, and the others; Harry decided to mostly switch to the night shift for a while; hoping that more activity would happen on his stake-outs than they expected would happen during the day. That meant going home to spend the rest of the day with Ginny and try to have a nap or two before going to work for the night after he was finished at Auror Headquarters; and he was there again by late morning. Ginny wasn't thrilled with that news, but it wasn't unexpected either; and that did at least allow them to go to the Leaky for Alice Longbottom's third birthday dinner – which she'd expected to be doing on her own if Harry ended up working late again. They took Teddy and Victoire along for that and enjoyed a couple of hours of kid-rated fun – which was pretty much the last bit of entertainment Harry had for the rest of the week.
He missed out on going to the Harpies' second game of the season so that he could sleep instead. Ginny took Teddy on a 'date' while he was having his afternoon nap; and they got to enjoy watching a six-hour and change match that ended in a four-ninety to three-ten win for the Harpies when Gabrielle finally out-raced Erin Connelly to catch the snitch and continue the Harpies' five-plus year domination over the Prides' star Seeker. Erin had definitely expected to change that with Ginny's retirement; and she was not happy to discover that Gabrielle was just as talented as her mentor – and the Witch who had replaced Erin on the Harpies' team back in ninety-nine. With a total of sixty-five goals scored between the two teams, or more than ten goals per hour, the fans watching the game had a lot to love about the game; though Vicky and Meghan didn't have a best-ever kind of day playing Keeper for their teams.
On the work front, there wasn't any entertainment keeping Harry amused while he was on his stake-out. There wasn't a lot going on either; but he wasn't totally bored either. He began each evening with a long check of the house that took more than an hour to complete; and that proved to be a good decision; since he had one occasion when there was one Wizard in the house already before he arrived; and one other when a Witch and Wizard arrived while he was still making sure that it was safe to enter the place. He was nearly as careful when leaving the house before dawn each morning; though there hadn't been any visitors at all while he was inside the house during that entire first week.
When he wasn't working or sleeping, Harry tried to do as much as he could with Ginny – whether that was helping out around the house and yard; going on little outings; or a bit of pre-or-post nap time fun for two. When he couldn't be there, she had some evening support from her friends and family; and usually felt too lonely during the rest of the night while he couldn't be there with her. While some of that wasn't any fun for either of them; Harry's stake-out plan did finally start paying off on Monday night – and that was once again thanks to another mistake by Brock Bletchley.
Harry had been on the job for a couple of hours by the time that Brock became the first Wizard or Witch to come into the Tutshill house while Harry was in the place. Even now that it was coming up on two months since the attack on Harry and Ginny, Bletchley did not seem to be recovering from his injuries; which strongly suggested to Harry that it had been dark arts curses hitting him – or rebounding due to his or Ginny's defenses that had caused those injuries. Whatever the reason; Brock Bletchley was not functioning at his best – whatever that might actually be when he wasn't in a state of constant pain and discomfort. Ginny, their family, and friends had helped Harry to get over his rage from that ambush; but he still found it impossible to feel bad for Bletchley – though he did give himself a mental admonishment for thinking that he hoped that the other Wizard didn't hurry along and give him an excuse to arrest him sooner instead of later; since Emma would insist on having those injuries treated by the Healers at St. Mungo's.
"I need to go to Brock's super-secret hiding place," Brock said aloud as he walked along the hallway on the first floor. Harry couldn't see him yet, since he'd been on the ground floor when Brock had arrived; but he could hear the other Wizard's voice clearly and could tell that he was stomping along the hallway as he silently climbed the stairs. He stopped half-way up when those footsteps began returning in his direction. "I need to go to Brock's super-secret hiding place," Brock repeated; and Harry's heart-rate jumped into high gear as he suddenly knew what Brock was doing. He continued to climb again as soon as he heard Brock make another turn; and was in the upper hallway too by the time that Brock repeated that line for the third time.
A door appeared in the hallway mid-way between the doors to two of the bedrooms; Brock walked back to it after having passed it on his third trip along the hallway; and the door then disappeared as soon as he closed it. Harry waited several minutes; and then hurried down to the far end of the hallway – though he also made sure to do that silently in case the noise might pass through to the room that had appeared for Bletchley.
"They've made a room of requirements!" Harry thought to himself in amazement; his mind racing as he processed that – and what it could mean for both his investigation and the possibilities it offered the bad guys.
As far as he knew, there were no limits to what the room of requirements at Hogwarts could do – how many rooms it could create; what could be stored there; or anything else. If this room was the same; then the dark Witches and Wizards that knew about the house could be using a room of requirements for many different things. Storage rooms might even been the least important possibility; and Harry's thoughts immediately jumped to other uses he'd known about at Hogwarts – like the passage between Hogwarts and the Hog's Head tavern or the vanishing cabinets. The one limitation he did see for the house and room was how many Witches and Wizards that the family leaders would trust with the secret and also be in positions of power that were high enough to have need of the place.
Discovering the room of requirements was an amazing break, but the mistake that Brock had actually made was in summoning 'his' room aloud instead of just thinking about it. Harry hadn't been positive that he'd be able to summon the room too until he was able to try it for himself after Bletchley left; but he wasn't surprised when he was able to do it by thinking about the exact phrase that Brock had chosen for his room. Harry hadn't been able to try that for nearly two hours because Brock had been at the house for nearly an hour; and then Harry had waited for quite a while before making the attempt.
After carefully opening the door and stepping into the room, Harry's first thought on seeing Bletchley's super-secret hiding place was that the Wizard didn't have much of an imagination. The room was a decidedly seedy, disorganized office. There was lots of room for what was in there; but everything was left in such a mess that it was a wonder that Bletchley could even find anything he was keeping in there. Then again, that might just explain why he'd been there for so long. It wasn't exactly an inviting hang-out destination; and the Wizard hadn't even been able to imagine a comfortable office chair let alone a nice, comfy sofa, armchairs, or recliners. Harry didn't see any obvious clues about what Bletchley had been doing for that hour or so at a glance; but the only hints to that in such a mess would only be whatever was near the top of the piles anyway.
He didn't expect Brock to return for the rest of the night; so Harry took off his cloak and got to work searching the place – though he expected it would take days or even weeks to do that properly without making it obvious that someone had disturbed the mess. Bletchley might not be the type to notice that sort of thing; but he didn't dare take the chance on that unknown. Most of the time, he read documents that were negligently tossed into boxes or just out on the desk, cabinets, or tables around the room. The place wasn't just filled with reams of parchment; but most of the things that were there would likely mean nothing out of context – though it was a safe bet that most of it was being kept there because Bletchley acquired them through less-than-honest means.
"This has got to be a room that Bletchley hasn't given anyone else access to," Harry said thoughtfully after reading one sheet of parchment that contained information about a crime that Bletchley was ordered to help with committing; and it was also fairly clear that he was supposed to destroy that written evidence and was defying his masters by not doing it. "I'll bet that Rolando Lestrange wouldn't be happy if he knew that his dedicated little henchman was keeping stuff like this – probably to cover his butt." Harry smiled at that. "Too bad it wouldn't work. When we catch him, Bletchley won't be able to tell anyone about this place; and it's not as if Emma would let him go free to come here on his own."
He mused about that for a while, considering whether there were any ways around that. Nobody other than the Secret Keeper could reveal the house; and he sensed that he couldn't talk about the room of requirements either. He couldn't discern why that was true; but either the room of requirements was included in the Fidelius charm, or it was simply considered part of the house the same as any physical, normal room; and included by default.
Whatever the reason, he wouldn't even be able to suggest to Emma that he could keep an eye on a released prisoner while he or she came to retrieve something from one of the rooms; and he definitely didn't want to give away the fact that he was on to the place by hauling anything to Auror Headquarters himself and lose what could be a huge advantage for the Aurors. What he was getting, though, was information that he could use to pass on leads to Ron, Casey, and the other Aurors; and that was the main reason why he wrapped up his search early enough to carefully get out of the house and head over to the Ministry of Magic so that he could write up a report for Emma before going home in time to make breakfast for Ginny.
The rest of the workweek was more of the same for Harry. He did meals and some short outings with Ginny during the day when not napping; and spent every night at the house in Tutshill. Getting in and out of the house took a while; but then he spent most of his time in Bletchley's super-secret room. Going through everything took longer after that first night because he worked while using his cloak – in case Brock stopped in for a visit. He didn't show up for the rest of the week; but other Witches and Wizards did stop in – three of them while he was in Bletchley's room. That was how he found out that he could hear someone else in the hall of the house – and that he couldn't hear them once they'd entered other rooms in the room of requirements.
That first visitor answered a question that Harry hadn't even thought about while in the room – whether more than one room could be 'open' at a time. It was a good thing that it hadn't been a problem; since he would have had a real problem getting out without attracting suspicion. From what he'd witnessed so far, it also appeared that there was never more than one visitor – or group of them – at the house at one time. That suggested that the leaders didn't want their underlings co-mingling – or it could also be that they didn't know the answer to that same question about the room of requirements and thought that only one room could be used at a time.
The more he thought about that, the more he realized that he shouldn't have been worried about it anyway. His first related memory at that moment had been of Draco throwing Trelawney out of the Room of Requirements when she tried to use it at the same time he was there; but the room had been in use for the passage between Hogwarts and the Hog's Head the night they'd also been searching for Ravenclaw's diadem and escaped the fiendfyre. Ron had wondered at the time whether the room would survive the fire, and while they later found out that it had; they didn't know whether both 'needed' rooms had been open at the same time or not – and it was quite possible that in the heat of the fight that nobody would be able to answer that question. In the case of this room of requirements; it was more likely that a schedule was used to keep the different bad guys from getting together – unless the leaders wanted that to happen. He hadn't seen a gathering for a meeting yet; but that was an obvious possible use for the place too.
Having a lot to do at the house made the work very satisfying for Harry; and he ended each night with writing up a report for Emma that gave her more leads for the other Aurors to track down and work on. Since Brock was directly involved in the Selwyn shop in Falmouth that Harry and Ron had been investigating for so long now; he especially loved that they'd be able to make progress on that case through the information he was gathering – even while not using the direct evidence he could get from Bletchley's room. The leads would give Ron and the others the ability to gather 'clean' evidence; and it was just a matter of time before they'd be able to put that lot out of business – along with bringing the murderers of that shop-keeper to justice. Harry knew for certain now that Brock Bletchley was one of those murderers; and he was going to enjoy seeing him get his lifetime membership at Azkaban – even if he couldn't yet prove that the man had been one of the Wizards and Witches who had attacked him and Ginny the night of their anniversary.
That was one thing that he didn't find in Bletchley's room. There was absolutely nothing there about that attack. Whoever had ordered the hit had made sure that there wasn't any evidence – or at least none that Bletchley could keep and use for insurance. While he still had a lot of work to do in that room, Harry suspected that meant there were one or more of the family leaders involved in that; since almost all of the evidence he was finding so far stopped before getting to any of those leaders. The paper trail ended with what he was thinking of as 'middle management' for the bad guys – like the Wizard who was in charge of that shop in Falmouth, Seth Selwyn; and that part of their criminal network.
Work kept him busy through until Saturday morning; but Harry finished up early; and took the weekend off – at least until Sunday night. He stopped in at headquarters; wrote up his report; and then got home in time to have a nice long nap with Ginny while she slept in so that he could get a few hours of rest before they both got up and needed to get moving. They had another Harpies game to take Teddy to; and then Christine and Bryce were throwing their usual back-to-school party. That was only for Jeremy and Kate this year now that Dawn had graduated; but that was even more special because the Harpies were up against Puddlemere United – and Dawn and Jonathan for the first time. That was why Christine and Bryce weren't going to be sitting with Harry and Ginny for the game. They were in their own season's tickets seats on the United side of the stadium. Harry and Ginny were getting Jeremy, Pauline, Kate, and Aaron for the game too; though the four teens were all going to be cheering for Dawn, Jonathan, and the United team.
The first order of business after waking up was a bit of quality play time for two; followed by some multi-tasking in the shower; and then Harry put a little snack breakfast together while Ginny finished getting ready to go out for the day. He had that ready by the time she joined him in the kitchen; and they were both smiling happily as they sat down to eat and go over their plans for the day.
"I've got the back-to-school gifts ready to go; but you can summon them later when we're at the party," Ginny suggested. "We're only going to have Bill, Fleur, and their kids with us – and Teddy – for lunch in Diagon Alley; and we'll meet up with everyone else at Ilkley stadium."
"Christine is probably making everyone in their gang help out with getting the house and yard ready for the party right up until they go to the stadium," Harry said with a nod and smile. "Dawn and Jonathan aren't going to miss helping out with that."
"Or going back to school next week," Ginny agreed and added. "Jeremy and Aaron will miss having Dawn on their Quidditch team this year; but maybe they'll get lucky and find a decent replacement for her."
"They didn't sound hopeful on that the last time I talked with them; but you never know. Depending on how things go at the game today; we might wish that Dawn and Jonathan were going back to school instead of playing for Puddlemere."
Ginny laughed and shrugged. "Maybe, but I'll still give our team the edge – even if our Chasers and Keepers are going to be closely matched this season."
"Whatever happens, it should be a good match – and an even better rivalry than it already has been recently for the next few years too."
Ginny had agreed with that, and they'd continued to chat about their plans for the rest of the day and weekend while having their breakfast snack until they were ready to clean up and head out to pick up Teddy and do a few other errands before meeting up with Bill, Fleur, and the kids to have lunch with them. All of that was fun; but the game was definitely a highlight of the day and weekend too; if not for the entire month.
All of the Harpies and United players were fired up and ready to play; and the game was off to a roaring start right from the moment the quaffle was tossed into the air. Angelina scored the first goal of the match after only a few minutes; but it was soon obvious that the two trios of Chasers were even more evenly matched than most had expected with two rookies on the United team. What Laura, Dawn, and Jonathan lacked in collective experience, though, they made up for with the closeness that came from either being siblings or boyfriend and girlfriend. As with her years playing Quidditch at Hogwarts, Dawn was the playmaker, and while she had two very talented Beaters trying to make the job tough for her; she was ready for that and still managed to complete most of her passes and plays to Laura or Jonathan – and leave the scoring up to them.
"This is fun for those of us who like a lot of scoring, and a bit too much fun for some of us; but it doesn't look as though Vicky and Oliver are having a good time of it right now," Ginny told Harry and the kids after they watched Laura score another goal on Vicky. She was smiling at the four teens in their group; since they were all on their feet and cheering for Laura and Dawn. They were just into the third hour of the match by then; and there was more scoring happening than usual for a Harpies-United game.
"Our team hasn't been in the lead over yours very often lately," Jeremy pointed out; and Ginny laughed.
"Your team wasn't Puddlemere United until this season – and still isn't unless you've decided not to support the Wasps anymore."
Jeremy laughed too. "My Wasps' team hasn't been ahead of yours in many games either; and I won't be cheering for United when they play the Wasps. They're still my favorite team."
"You won't be their favorite fan, though, if your sister plays this well against them this season," Harry suggested with a grin; earning some laughs too. "Vicky's having problems with the new offense they're using; but I'm surprised that Oliver is having such a tough time today too. He usually does very well against our Chasers."
"He isn't sleep deprived from babies this season; but maybe he can't keep up with two toddlers," Ginny suggested; smiling and putting a hand over her stomach.
"One toddler doesn't seem to be slowing Alicia down," Fleur leaned in and told Ginny. "Maybe our girls are just getting better at playing against him."
"They are," Ginny agreed; "though it'd be nice if they were doing better against Oliver than United is doing against Vicky."
Angelina, Alicia, and Demelza actually had a really great game against Oliver; and scored twenty-eight goals on him. Unfortunately for the Harpies; Laura, Jonathan, and Dawn scored thirty-two goals on Vicky. Fans of both teams were thrilled with that, but it was the Harpies and their fans who got to celebrate the victory when Gabrielle finally out-dueled the United Seeker to catch the snitch at the five hour and thirty-four minute mark to earn the come-from-behind win. The long match meant that the back-to-school party at the Campbell's house started late; and Harry and Ginny took their gang of kids and teens there as soon as they could so that they could help Christine and Bryce with the work to get their late dinner ready to go as soon as possible. They had everything pretty much ready to go by the time that Dawn and Jonathan were able to get there from the stadium; and Harry and Ginny were both in the kitchen when they came in and started doing the round of hugs and kisses with everyone in the room.
"Was helping out with the work the only way that Mom and Dad would let any Harpies' fans stay?" Dawn joked as she hugged Ginny. "We were having so much fun today right up until Gabrielle went and ruined it for us."
"We volunteered, and have only had a couple of dozen jokes tossed at us about whether we got lost and ended up at the wrong party or other similar lines," Ginny answered. "That was a really great game for everyone; so you can't be too disappointed."
"We'd really rather be telling you that right now; but we'll get over the loss and move on anyway." Dawn told her with a smile. "Have we missed much, Mom?" she asked Christine.
"Not really," Christine assured her. "The kids are playing; and the adults are mostly talking Quidditch or about what we'll all be doing once the kids are back at Hogwarts."
Dawn grinned at her. "I'm not sure that Jonathan and I want to find out what you and Dad have been doing with your kid-free school years since Kate started at Hogwarts. It's probably a good thing that we'll be so busy with work."
"Probably," Christine agreed, "but you don't have to rush that plan to move out and get your own place over that."
"Busted," Jonathan whispered loudly enough that everyone could hear him. He was grinning; and Dawn looked a bit sheepish before laughing along with everyone else.
"We were just looking around to see what was out there," Dawn said; and then laughed again at the look on her mother's face. "Not as in one place for two," she added quickly – "yet."
"That's not going to work on us," Bryce advised her with a grin. "We're not worried about things like that – with Jonathan. He knows your Mom's an Auror with a lot of Auror friends."
"And that happens to be exactly the same sort of reason why Ginny's dueling master mother was never worried about me either," Harry joked. "That kind of thing is sure to keep a Wizard in line."
"Definitely," Jonathan agreed fervently; grinning too.
"We can talk later," Christine told Dawn and Jonathan; "but you should get outside and hang out with Jeremy, Kate, and the other teens while you can – especially since you won't get to see them much next week before they head back."
Dawn and Jonathan did that, but the members of the little group working in the kitchen were soon all outside too; and then they had everyone fill plates and sit down for dinner. That was an entertaining hour or so of food and fun; the clean-up was magically expedited; and then it was time for a little campfire and wind-down time – at least for the adults and kids. Since the game had been so long, Harry and Ginny had decided to keep Teddy overnight instead of taking him back to Andromeda late; and that also allowed them to stay at the party later too – though Teddy fell asleep while cuddling with them during the campfire. For Harry, that was definitely the last chance he was going to have to see any of the Hogwarts-bound teens and tweens before they left for school; so he and Ginny took some extra time with them when they needed to say goodbye and head for home.
The game and party had been a great way to spend the first half of their weekend, and then Harry and Ginny had played with Teddy all morning on Sunday before taking him back to Andromeda after having lunch with him too. Harry had needed to get some sleep after that before heading back out on his Tutshill stakeout again on Sunday night; and Ginny had been happy to have an afternoon nap with him that was mostly about getting the rest and only included a minor snogging session before they were ready to doze off for a few hours. There were still a few days to go before September first, but those two days off had felt like the end of summer for them – and for a lot of the adult Wizards and Witches that would be going back to work as usual on Monday.
Harry wasn't expecting the next few weeks to be summertime fun and games kind of great, but with his case moving along very quickly now and the potential to discover so much more about what the Dark Wizarding families were up to now; he was fired up, enthusiastic, and ready to have the kind of fun that made being an Auror such a great job!