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!

91. Hot and Cold Quidditch

Chapter Ninety-One – Hot and Cold Quidditch

The first of what she was sure would be a long line of consequences for her choices on Saturday night began to catch up with Lily on Sunday morning – and every new problem just fed her anger and kept it burning hot and bright. Her goodbye visit with Jaimie and Lorie had been strained – and she hadn't been happy with Malorie for pointing out that history was at least rhyming for another back-to-school trip – even though Lily only advised her that she'd broken up with Jonah without offering any details. Sure, Malorie had included her own drama in that reference as well as the problems Al had faced during many of his returns to school in September or January, but that hadn't helped. Neither had Malorie's brilliant happiness – and it didn't matter to Lily that being newly-engaged gave Malorie lots of reason to feel that way.

She said goodbye to her parents, Al, and Gwendolyn before heading for London, but didn't invite any of them to see her off; so she was on her own once at King's Cross. Getting there early allowed her to have the pick of the train compartments, but she didn't save extras; and didn't care who she ended up sitting with – and would have preferred to be left alone. That didn't happen, since bad news travelled fast on the gossip network; and she ended up having all of her girlfriends either sit with her or stop by for visits pretty much from the time the train left the station in London.

Their advice wasn't wanted – especially when it was based on nothing; since she'd refused to explain what had happened – and couldn't tell them even if she wanted to do that. She put up with that for a little while; and then she pretended to play nice after that – as long as they didn't try to keep talking about her personal problems. Keeping her nose stuck in her portable mirror or a book more-often than not to discourage being bothered helped a bit, but she was still acutely-aware of everything going on around her; and hated the reactions that her friends – and cousins – were having to the top gossip story of the day. There was other gossip making the rounds of the train that she overheard too, but even she couldn't bring herself to care about most of them – not even the top news from Slytherin that their senior team might have lost another player, and Andrea's replacement Captain, because Derrick Selwyn wasn't on the train and apparently wasn't returning to Hogwarts for unknown reasons. Nothing she did helped at all with the burning fury within, and any attempts to help just added fuel to the fire; so it ended up being a very, very long trip that Lily regretted taking by the time they reached Hogwarts..

Regardless of how mad she was, there was no way she was going to become a hermit like Al had while having trouble with Gwendolyn, so she went to the Great Hall for dinner; hung out in the Gryffindor common room after that; and then she didn't go up to bed until nearly an hour after curfew. She was able to completely avoid getting anywhere near to Jonah; and pointedly didn't even look at him because she wanted to continue pretending that she didn't know how much pain her break-up had caused for him.

The repercussions really kicked up a few notches on Monday as they got back to their classes – and she didn't share any of that with Jonah anymore. Her Quidditch training was for one now too; and Jonah quietly switched study groups so that he wouldn't force their friends to choose between them. He didn't become a hermit either, but there was no fighting on either side – there was just nothing at all. Lily couldn't decide whether she was happy about that or angrier with Jonah, but she wasn't going to be a hypocrite too; so she didn't say anything about Jonah at all and worked toward getting on with her life – even as she still had no clue at all about what she was going to do beyond sticking to her new, everyday routine.

Not spending time with Jonah at all was just one of the changes – if the most-obvious; she put more effort into her studies; less into Quidditch; and wasn't really interested in watching league Quidditch matches at all. That was especially-true for the Harpies and Cannons – and her first test for that came on Wednesday night when her cousins and friends wanted to set up their study classroom for game-watching and studying while she only played along as if she cared.

On second thought; there was one thing more-obvious than the absence of Jonah in her life – it was the fact that she didn't care about anything!

She was too busy hating for that!

Staying happy and continuing to have fun took extra effort for Al from Sunday morning through to game time on Wednesday evening, and Lily's new drama affected everyone on the team – if in different ways; so that was a challenge too – even as Lily was also always in his thoughts.

"Don't go out there and play your worst," Gwendolyn teased in a whisper as they lined up at the stadium entrance. "It wouldn't really help Lily at all if we lose; and you'd have more to worry about from the rest of us when we got home later tonight."

Al smiled at her. "I won't do that, and for all we know; she's not going to watch our matches – at least while she's mad at me. I still haven't come up with any good ideas for ways to help her right now; and even the best of the not-so-good ideas end in a me-getting-blasted sort of way."

"Then we'll stay out of it – at least until we do come up with ideas that might help her," Gwendolyn offered. "Put that aside for now; let's get our heads in this game; and have fun with our team mates."

Harry watched from the team owners' section of the stadium as Ginny led the way for the Cannons as they did their lap above the pitch and then landed. The Magpies were next, and then, as with their first match; their pre-game fun included quite a few hugs and a couple of kisses before the referee had his moment in the spotlight and then soon had the match started. While Renee was hosting some VIP guests, and Harry was part of the entertainment, he was also sitting next to Ron while Hermione had decided to do anything else that didn't include freezing in a stadium to watch Quidditch – even when her daughter was on the team. Ron was happy, but for a life-long, long-suffering fan, that was tempered by doubts and a need to protect himself from getting his hopes up too high – even with an undefeated record heading into the second-half of the season.

"Relax, Dad; the kids are going to be okay," Harry joked quietly to his brother-in-law and best mate.

"Will they be?" Ron asked seriously. "This wouldn't be the first time that a Potter-drama messed up a Quidditch season."

"We have had more than our share of those moments," Harry conceded easily, "but that isn't a worry for you tonight. We're ready to play."

"I hope so," Ron told him. "The Magpies aren't the worst team to play against for ending an undefeated season, but they're close to it; and you'll have a tough time living it down if the streak does end tonight."

Harry laughed. "We'll have a tough time regardless of whom we play against when we get that first loss." He grinned then. "I'd be okay with it if that didn't happen before I retire again."

"You're hoping for two undefeated seasons?" Ron asked after laughing too. "We've both lost our minds. You're having impossible visions; and I'm worried about a loss tonight despite the fact that my team is sure to have it's first winning season since before I was born! Anything beyond that should just be an awesome bonus!"

Jonah sat at one of the worktables in the Heads' office; working on his assignments; and watching the Cannons' match on the mirror that Al had left behind as a donation to the Heads' office – along with the two toy sofas that had originally been used after expanding the room at the start of Brandon's year as Head Boy. He'd joined Patrick's study group on Monday; and been welcomed. While Patrick was a year older, his group of friends included other sixth-year students too, so getting one of the best students in their year helped everyone; and made the change easier for Jonah too. He knew everyone, of course, but Patrick was likely the closest friend in the group; so he was also glad that nobody put any pressure on him about his problems with Lily. In fact, they all basically ignored that drama entirely – or as much as was possible when the news was still a top story on the gossip network.

"Did you see that play?" Patrick asked him; drawing his attention away from his studies – and mental musings; since he hadn't been watching the match that closely.

"No. What happened?"

"Brandon just did some kind of flip before hitting the bludger in a completely-different direction – and it was still a hard hit that was right on the mark for breaking up a Magpies' play. I've never seen that before – and have no idea how he did it."

"Talk to Katrina about it later," Jonah suggested. "I didn't see it, but can guess at what you're talking about. Brandon and Seth work on that sort of thing a lot; and they're always learning new tricks – usually from, um, Al's parents. Fred and Katrina work with them a lot more than I do; so she could likely explain it to you. The Hurricanes can do more than other brooms, though, so if you want to learn how; you might need to adapt the trick to work with your broom."

"I do that with some of the tricks I work on with katrina," Patrick advised him. "The Cannons are playing great again tonight. I wasn't expecting the Magpies to win this match, but did think that the other teams might do better in their second matches against your team."

Jonah smiled at him. "They've scored two goals on Rose," he pointed out. "That's double what they got in their first match."

"I didn't even think to look that up," Patrick admitted. "It's no wonder that Ryan's team Captain instead of me. Landon seems to be doing well-enough working with Ollie. I'd have never guessed that, but the Magpies do seem to get the best out of the players they hire. I wonder how good they'd be with a few of the really good players?"

"Are you thinking about signing up with them?" Jonah teased; and Patrick shrugged.

"I don't know what I'll do once I'm out of here. My current Beater partner has other plans that don't include me; and it's tough breaking into the league as a solo Beater."

"That isn't impossible," Jonah agreed, "but Orlando's in the same situation. Have you thought about getting together and finding out whether you'd play well together? You each work well with Katrina or Fred; so I wouldn't be surprised to find out that your skills compliment each other too."

"That's a thought," Patrick agreed. "There haven't been any inter-House Beater pairs make it in the show that I can think of off-hand, but I'm sure that has happened in the past – and some Beater pairings get changed up for various reasons – like one player getting injured."

"Mum had a handful of Beater partners between Hogwarts and the Harpies," Jonah advised him. "Siblings are actually the most-common pairings of Beater duos that stick together from a young age. Fred and Katrina are going to be one of those inter-House exceptions; and I think that it'd be awesome to have two examples make it to the show at the same time – just as we're seeing with Chasers in a big way over the past few years."

"I guess that is true," Patrick agreed. "It's working out pretty well for some of those teams too – and not quite so much for teams like United that hired their Chaser trio from Gryffindor graduates."

"I'd say that United is still doing pretty well," Jonah suggested – "though it's funny that you mention them. Al told us from the start that he wasn't sure if what United was doing would work out for them. I guess he was talking more about how they were keeping their 'old' team players on the reserve squad to help train their new players, but he also thought that they were intentionally trying to keep the type of team they had the same – even though the players they were hiring had different strengths and weaknesses."

"Well, that analysis was coming from a future Cannons' Chaser," Patrick joked. "We should probably take it with a quaffle-sized grain of salt."

"That's funny, but in truth; Al's brilliant at analyzing Quidditch teams and players. That's something that helps the Cannons out a lot – along with his perfect memory."

"How does that help in a Quidditch match – other than for his own game play?" Patrick asked.

"You know they communicate with each other," Jonah reminded him. "Now imagine how helpful it would be to have someone up there with you that can recognize every offensive or defensive play he's ever seen; can recognize when they're being set up; and can help everyone on his team with ways to stop or get around those offenses or defenses. I'm not suggesting that he does that constantly, but Al does communicate with his team mates a lot during every match – and during their workouts and scrimmages too."

"With the scary part of that point being that there seems to be a lot of reasons for why playing for the Cannons would be brilliant – and that's something that most of us can't mesh with a lifetime of experiences where the Cannons are the worst team in the history of the league." He nodded toward the mirror; and they could both see Ollie going in on goals against Rose. "Do you think that he still refers to them as the Cannons' clown brigade?"

"He hasn't done that in public in a long time that I've heard of," Jonah answered. "He's having fun too – even though the Magpies are behind. That's what I've loved about training with Gwendolyn and her team, Patrick – how much fun they have all of the time. I visited the Harpies' practice pitch a lot when I was a kid, and they had fun too, but it was really different; and their players take pride in working harder than most teams in the league – or anywhere. That's on Al too, and while the so-called experts keep insulting their training program; I'd say that Al's been proven right – at least so far this season."

"It does seem to work for the Cannons," Patrick agreed. "I don't know if that would be true for all teams and players."

"Al's said as much before too," Jonah advised him; and then paused while watching his sister score a goal that was beautiful to watch – especially seeing the fiery joy on her face with that little success. "Would you be willing to only play in half the matches each season? The majority of players I aske about that wouldn't be happy with that."

"I don't know," Patrick answered with a shrug. "The Cannons have only done that with their Seekers so far too; so I'd want to see how fair they are about that when they do get around to sharing their jobs. There'd be a real temptation to put their best players up against the best teams; and use their weaker players against the bottom-five or six teams. That's only one of the issues, though, since I'd want to know the difference in pay compared to the other league teams and other details first too." He shrugged again. "It doesn't matter in this case anyway; since I won't be getting one of those jobs with the Cannons."

"Maybe not, but if they do prove successful; some of the other teams may try to follow their lead," Jonah suggested. "We're already seeing some teams trying to be more like the Catapults."

"My brother-in-law plays for them; so I'd better not comment on that," Patrick half-joked; and Jonah laughed.

"I keep forgetting about that connection between your family and, um, my brother-in-law's family."

"You can say her name," Patrick suggested gently.

"Not very easily right now," Jonah disagreed. "I'd better get back to my studies; or I'll be up late."

"Only if you try to get all of your major projects finished tonight too," Patrick disagreed. "I should've cut back more than I did in sixth year. Be glad that you did; since next year will be a lot worse."

"Merlin, I hope not!" Jonah deadpanned.

Lily didn't join in for the round of cheers when her mother ended the Cannons' match at the three-hour and eighteen-minute mark with a really great snitch catch – because she hadn't been in their study classroom by then. She'd finished her revision for the day more than an hour earlier; tried and failed to use the Room of Requirements because it was apparently in-use by someone else; and then she'd gone of to another empty classroom where she decided to spend some bonus time practicing her hexes, jinxes and curses. That's also why she didn't find out about the two-seventy to fifty final score – and then she didn't even try to get any other details because she didn't want to care.

No – she wanted to hate on Al and his team! They were still-perfect; still-happy; and it didn't matter how horribly her life was going – the Cannons' love and happiness express was on a roll; and apparently unstoppable!

She was back in her dorm room – just ahead of curfew; ready for bed; and cuddling with Holly and Poofy – the two friends most-helpful because they didn't judge, gossip about her; or offer their unwanted opinions.

"Lily?" She groaned silently as the thought had apparently triggered a reaction from one of her friends. She opened her eyes and steeled herself for whatever 'help' she was about to get while focusing her attention on Denise.

"yes?" she asked in return.

"I love you," Denise advised her with quiet sincerity. "Have a good night's sleep."

Lily nodded, but closed her eyes tightly against the anger that welled up for no good reason when her friend hadn't done anything but be kind. She didn't trust herself to respond in any other way; so she didn't and just pretended to go to sleep.

With their first Quidditch match of the New Year out of the way, Al and Gwendolyn had a bit of a break – at least compared to all of the extra activities they'd had over the holidays. The only extra event on their schedule through the weekend was a dinner in Romania for Julianne's fiftieth birthday; and that really was just a blast over there and back; since Charlie took her on a winter vacation that started immediately-after that dinner party; and they'd been excited about getting to spend a couple of weeks where it would be warm. Going on winter holidays wouldn't be an option for Al and Gwendolyn while playing in the show, but that visit with his aunt and uncle did motivate Al for his own plans for the team – and even got him working on an idea for another new invention.

There were still work-related activities including interviews and two social-charity events, but Al also had time to work on his own projects – and 'made' quite a bit of extra time for that too; since he needed to keep busy to avoid worrying about Lily. He and Gwendolyn talked to Jonah every day, and Lily would have mirror chats with them too – as long as they had nothing to do with the Harpies, Cannons, or Jonah; but it was still tough knowing how unhappy she was; and not being able to do anything to help. Al did what he could in the background to get a few things ready so that when – or if – Lily wanted to try and work out her problems; she'd be able to do that with some happy bonuses, but he didn't try to even do things like send gifts that she'd just hate because he was trying to be nice.

The week leading up to their match against the Wanderers on the third Saturday of the month was busier; and their practice pitch became very popular with the reporters. Sure, they had the excuse of watching the training ahead of that match, but it was getting to be indoors – at least when the retractable roof was closed – that had them staying far-longer than needed; and the hot food and drinks that were readily available at the cafe was a great bonus too! Those welcomed comforts didn't keep their favorite reporter-haters from trashing their team in their reports and opinion pieces, but Al and Gwendolyn still had fun all week; and continued to get a lot of extra work done too.

While their training curfew wouldn't let them go to most evening matches – or at least be able to stay to the end, the Harpies' match on Wednesday night would have been one that they could have attended. They did watch the match with some friends and team mates at the cafe; and it only took Gabrielle a bit more than two-and-a-quarter hours to catch the snitch over the Kestrels' Seeker to earn the easy-looking two-ten to ten victory. Since the weather had been frosty, they weren't too-disappointed with the warmer game-watching option – even if being at the stadium in person would have allowed them to see more of the Quidditch action than was possible when following the mirror network shows.

That mid-week Harpies' match was the only extra activity on their schedule through to the weekend, so after taking that little break; Al and Gwendolyn spent the rest of the week getting ready for their match against the Wanderers – and they were fired-up and happy by game day on Saturday.

Lily was tired of playing nice all of the time while keeping all of the mad bottled up. That was why she told her family – including Jaimie and Lorie – to stay home – claiming that it was too-cold and lousy out for anyone to bother coming to town even for a short visit. When it was time to head for town; she used playing on her hoverboard for an aexcuse to go on ahead of her friends; she apparated to town once beyond the gates; and then she did all of her supply shopping on her own too before apparating to Camp Cannonball and staying for as long as she could at the cottage there instead of going back to the castle to watch the Cannons play what would surely be another brilliant match against the Wanderers. She could even picture Erin Connelly's post-match interviews where she'd tell reporters that she'd had more fun losing the match to Harry than she'd had getting the tie against his son and the Catapults!

Instead of watching Quidditch, Lily entertained herself by creating ice sculptures – and then blowing them up in various; creative ways; she cooked a meal for one; and then she sat and spent some quality time letting the anger out to play – even if that was verbally while continuing to try and figure out what she was going to do next – particularly when it came to some revenge and also to find a new path to the brilliant future she wanted; yet hadn't been able to really imagine without the Harpies being at the heart of her successes. She did have to go back to Hogwarts eventually – at least until she came up with a better plan that might include quitting, but she didn't want to meet up with the usual game-watching gang, so she dropped off her supplies; picked up her gear bag; and headed for the Room of Requirements.

"Leanne?" she asked as she rounded the corner and saw Leanne Jordan in the hallway in front of her – and next to a door to the Room of Requirements that she'd obviously just summoned. "I didn't expect to see anyone out here – let alone anyone looking to use the Room of Requirements too."

"Hi, Lily," Leanne said first; smiling at her and shrugging. "I watched the Cannons match, but didn't want to switch to the Catapults' match like everyone else did; so I thought that this would be a perfect time to get in a bit of extra training. You can join me if that's what you were doing too." She smiled then. "I promise not to use anything I might learn against you next month."

Lily laughed. "I might be worried about that – if I was a Chaser. We can at least do the warm-ups and some flying together if you'd like, and I suppose that I can toss a few quaffles your way too, but I don't do that very often, and I'm not very good at it compared to most of the good Chasers; so don't expect too much of a challenge."

"I'll be happy for the company," Leanne told her. "Training on my own isn't as much fun as it is with friends or team mates."

"It helps me out sometimes – especially when I want to work on new tricks," Lily told her as she followed Leanne into the Room of Requirements. "Do you train in here very often? If you do, then I'm surprised that we've gone this long into the school year without crossing paths before now."

"I've just started coming here since we got back from holidays," Leanne explained as she opened her gear bag and pulled out her broom. "Al suggested it to me when he gave me my new broom," she added; and laughed when Lily's mouth dropped open in astonishment. "You didn't know?" Lily shook her head; still in shock. "I hope that I'm not in trouble. I thought that you knew about Al's deal with the Harpies. I'm not supposed to talk about it with anyone – or even show it to anyone else. You've been training with them over the holidays, and your brother makes these brooms; so I just thought that you knew."

"I did," Lily answered; shifting mental gears and scrambling to take advantage of news that she surely wasn't supposed to know about. "I just didn't know that you'd gotten one already too." She sighed in silent relief as Leanne's momentary worry vanished; and she smiled happily again.

"Glynnis and Gwenog had Al give it to me at my meeting when I signed up with them. I can't use it in matches here – or even tell anyone else about it. That's why you had me so worried when you looked so surprised."

"I won't tell anyone," Lily promised – "and congratulations. That must have made for a very happy Christmas for you."

"It was brilliant," Leanne agreed. "Learning to use this new broom has been a bit frustrating, though, so I'm glad that I do have you to talk to about it. I'd love it if you could help me out. We'll only be Quidditch rivals for another month; and then we'll be team mates once you're out of school too; so maybe we can help each other to get ready for playing in the show!"

"I'd like that," Lily assured her – while doing a brilliant acting job to hide the fury that was again building up inside of her. "What sorts of problems are you having with the broom?"

That question, and the others that Lily carefully doled-out as they got ready and then did a long lesson that was all about what the Hurricanes could do allowed Lily to get as much of Leanne's story as was possible short of the financial details that players weren't allowed to talk about with anyone including team mates; and that included things that she hadn't known – such as that Vicky was going to semi-retire and play on the reserve squad instead for at least a few years so that Leanne would have a talented back-up if needed. Keeping the anger under control took more-and-more effort as she compared Leanne's dream-coming-true to the sorry excuse of an offer that Gwenog had presented to her. In light of Leanne's news; that offer was even more of a bitter betrayal. Furthermore, Vicky was only two years older than Gabrielle, so she had to wonder if they'd been treated the same – or if Vicky had been 'encouraged' to make way for Leanne – and do what was best for the team too.

The more she thought about it; the angrier she got! Leanne was a talented player, but not even close to being as good as some of the other Keepers that the Harpies could have gotten – or would be coming up to the show in the near-future! She wasn't even in the same talent league as Lily – just as Alicia had been a good third Chaser; but not a star. She'd need to look it up later, but Leanne hadn't even won many matches in her Hogwarts career; yet she was the one getting a starting job with the Harpies straight out of Hogwarts while Glynnis and Gwenog had, apparently, thought that she'd be happy with a job on the reserve squad while waiting for Gabrielle to grow old and feeble. That now seemed worse than delusional! Merlin! She'd won fourteen of sixteen matches so far at Hogwarts – and she would make sure that it'd be fifteen of seventeen after their match in February now that she had the added incentive – and that would also be yet another loss for Leanne!

Well, at least that could be a first step in her revenge against the Harpies – besting the team of the player that they'd decided was more-valuable than she was to the future of the Harpies! Playing nice with Leanne was going to be very challenging – especially when she was so happy to have someone she could talk to about her little Harpies' job secret, but Lily was motivated; and needed to do that to keep getting information that might help her revenge plans – and keep Leanne from getting suspicious and reporting her 'mistake' to Gwenog or Glynnis.

What they didn't know was sure to hurt them – if she had any say in the matter!

Al and Gwendolyn had enjoyed their comparatively-short match against the Wanderers. The two-sixty to naught score had actually been understated thanks to Harry's snitch catch at the two-hour and thirty-eight minute mark of the match; and Rose had loved earning another shut-out – especially when the weather conditions had benn very unpredictable. The cold weather kept the post-game interviews short too; and only the hardiest of fans stayed to get autographs and meet with their favorite players. While that was all good, the one downside was that Al and Gwendolyn were able to get home early – and watch the Catapults' match that was still in progress in a horrid sort of way. They hosted that game-watching at their townhouse; and had both sets of parents and the twins with them while Malorie was getting a night off to spend with Patrick and their friends.

"So, should we talk about the worst Quidditch news of the week – or discuss the Catapults-Wasps' match while we watch the rest of it?" Gwendolyn joked.

"I wouldn't say that having Lily politely tell us to leave her alone instead of visiting Hogsmeade the worst news of the day – and not even really Quidditch-related," Ginny told her. "Is there gossip that you got from Ray's visit with Cyndia that we haven't heard yet?"

"Probably not," Gwendolyn answered. "Ray barely got a nod out of her when she hover-boarded to the gates and then apparated to town; and the gossip at school is all speculation because Lily and Jonah aren't talking about why she broke up with him – because they can't."

"Jonah didn't want to see us – me – either," Gwenog advised them. "He's being so quiet and polite; I'd really like to hex him into any other reaction."

"It wouldn't work," Gwendolyn assured her mother. "He's being like that with Al and me too – and likely everyone else at Hogwarts. I thought that Lily might go on a rampage once there, but Al thinks that she's making sure that their break-up is nothing like ours; which is why she's playing nice with everyone too – if not her usual, happy self."

"She wasn't acting like that over the holidays either," Gwenog pointed out. "We've been over this too many times already, but no matter how much she hates me right now; I still never thought that she'd take that out on Jonah too." She sighed. "I guess that I did hope that talking to her about it right before she went back to school would give her until June to get over being mad at me – instead of having that happen at the start of next summer."

"As long as Gabrielle wants to keep playing; that was going to be a problem," Ginny offered. "None of us like this, Gwenog, but unless you were going to offer her the Seeker job; no other option was going to be good-enough for her – and we both know that she's far too-talented to stick on a reserve squad for any team."

"Including the Cannons?" Gwenog joked a bit darkly; and Ginny laughed.

"We're not going to have a reserve squad by the time we have our full team. I'm not going to get into a debate over whether that'll work for us or not, but you do know what we have planned; and the Harpies could have looked at going that route too – if the owners would have been willing to pay the price to make that happen. I'll guess that you either don't want to do it; or they don't want to share more of the profits – or both."

"We agree that Lily's too-good to play on a reserve squad; yet you're okay with only having her play a half-season," Gwenog pointed out – "and get paid, I presume, as if she's doing as much work as a player working a full season. You can't really wonder at why all of the other teams and owners will think that's crazy."

"I don't," Ginny agreed – "I just believe that they're wrong." She nodded toward the mirror and the scene being shown with James once again trying to knock Aaron around – if not out of the match. "The Catapults are wrong too; since I don't think that a league full of cheats and players with no honor will have much of a future, but it's just as true that making money at all costs isn't the way to the future either."

"You want to make a lot of money with GO MagiSports," Gwenog pointed out.

"So do I," Kirley joked with a grin; earning a round of laughs.

"We do," Ginny agreed. "There are differences, though; and money is only part of the plan – and not even that important compared to the rest of it – like the charity and the communities we're building."

"I don't see much of a difference between making seven dreams come true and making fourteen of them happen," Gwenog admitted. "The Harpies' owners don't see that as important either."

"Well, it was important to Lily," Ginny reminded her friend. "It should have mattered to them too; since she is going to be one of the best Seekers of her generation – possibly the best."

"There are a lot of exceptional Seekers right now," Gwenog offered. "No team can hire them all." She sighed again. "I hate this, Ginny, but it's business; and I'll have to live with the decisions we've made. In Lily's case; I'll hope that she can get over hating me eventually – and stop taking the mad out on Jonah sooner; since he's done nothing to deserve it."

"He's part of the other side of her problem – our team," Al interjected quietly. "She's dealing with the end to her Harpies' dream, but doesn't want to admit that what we're doing could be brilliant for her too – including the part where she'd do that with Jonah. The only way he might have been okay last weekend would have been if he hadn't been involved with the Cannons too."

"Is this a bad time to suggest a music career for Jonah instead?" Kirley asked.

"It's still a bad time," Gwenog assured him.

"It is," Gwendolyn agreed, "but that gives us a chance to change the subject to music; and Dad will like something that Al and I have been working on."

"You have new songs?" he asked hopefully.

"New songs; and we're looking at recording them ourselves – with a little help from our team mates to use next season."

That news had made Kirley very happy; he kept Al and Gwendolyn busy talking about that; playing the songs for him; and then that play time transitioned into dinnertime – and kept them from focusing on the worst of the Catapults' Quidditch – though they kept track of that too. There was a lot of ugly to watch; Scorpius and the McClaggens teamed up to knock one of the Wasps' Chasers out of the match; and then James entertained himself by trying to put Aaron into his hospital bed too while Scorpius led the way to run the score up on the Wasps. That plan worked until midway through the ninth-hour – and then it didn't. The play that ended the match wasn't much like the one that had led to the end of the Catapults' match against the Wanderers, and Aaron had to settle for catching the snitch for what was still a huge loss, but he did avoid another attempt to knock him out of the match; used the miss to get a shot at the snitch before James could catch up; and had the bonus consolation of infuriating James by winning their Seeker duel despite everything that had been done to him and all of the injries he'd picked up all afternoon and evening.

That didn't make a six-forty to three-eighty loss any easier to take, but then it was heading toward eleven o'clock by then thanks to all of the injury time-outs; and even the Catapults' fans were just happy that the match was over and they could go home – or anywhere else that was warm. Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and Gwenog went home soon after the end of that match, and the twins were in bed by then; so Al and Gwendolyn wrapped up their day with some quietly-hot play time for two; and then went to sleep so that they'd be ready to keep up with the twins again in the morning.

"Thanks for throwing me under the Knight Bus out there," Brock said angrily as James stalked into the locker room. "Tiberius took the hit last match – even though I'd say he actually only deserved half the blame, and you'll notice that I didn't say anything out there, but for your information; you're the one that messed up that last play – not me."

"The hell I did!" James retorted; and he was angry too. "You were late."

"You were early," Brock disagreed. "Tiberius hadn't even hit the bludger yet. All I did was try to catch up so that we still at least got some kind of hit in on Aaron – and then get out of the way before the bludger got there too." He snorted at James' reaction. "Feel free to watch a replay. I also didn't get in your way – you got in my way and started yelling instead of paying attention to what Aaron was doing. That's on you too."

"Keep that rubbish up and see where it gets you," James warned.

"Be glad that I waited until you got in here," Brock countered. "I'll keep protecting the King of our team out there, but when it's just us, I am not going to sit back and keep letting you talk me down when I've done nothing wrong, and if you don't shut it, James; we'll go somewhere private where I can explain that to you in a me knocking some sense into your head sort of way."

James laughed derisively. "As if you could – or do you actually think that I'd have a fight with you and not bring my wand?"

"I think that you ought to pay attention to my point – not the consequences," Brock suggested. "We still won the match – by a lot; the fact that you lost the Seeker duel wasn't on any of us; and I seriously-doubt that I'm the only team mate in the locker room that is sick and tired of the fact that you're incapable of ever admitting that you're wrong or made a mistake!"

"Well, if that's all you want; I'll be happy to admit that I made a mistake recommending you for the job!" James offered scathingly. "It's bad-enough that you go soft in the head when it comes to doing your job against Witches, but now you're taking it easy on senior citizens too. Maybe we should just get you some bludgers made out of foam that blow bubbles when you hit them to play with instead!"

Brock shook his head. "I don't know why I bothered. Is there anyone that you don't treat like dirt, James?"

"That's King James; and that should be all the answer you need!"

The Cannons' next match was against the Prides in a bit more than a week and a half; so Al and Gwendolyn started getting ready for that battle on Sunday – though they still made sure that having fun was a top priority too. They were also looking forward to an off-weeekend that would also include getting to watch two Quidditch matches – Jonah's match against Slytherin on Saturday morning; and the Harpies-Tornados' battle in the afternoon. There was still lots of work to get done before they got to that play day, and Al added in liberal doses of time-stopped wprk-play too, but they could 'make' time for extra sleep when needed too; they wrapped up a great week with a quiet evening on Friday; and got a good night of rest so they'd be ready for all of the family and friends' Quidditch fun!

"Thank you," Al said quietly as he hugged Lily. "Jaimie and Lorie have really missed you a lot."

"But not you?" Lily asked; keeping her voice low too – though tinged with just a bite of the anger that he sensed within her while she outwardly smiled and played nice for her nieces' benefit.

Al laughed. "I might be in less trouble if I answered that with a lie," he suggested. "Have fun with Jaimie and Lorie this morning; and forget about your problems for a few hours – starting with a sleigh ride to the stadium."

He didn't wait for an answer while silently conjuring the sleigh; Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and Gwendolyn helped Lily with getting the twins onto it and all of them under warm blankets while Al hooked himself up to it in Sabre-stallion form; and then they were off and running. Al knew that Lily both loved and hated the blast of fun; and then she went on to build a snowman and make snow angels with Jaimie and Lorie while staying away from the Ravenclaw locker room during the good luck pre-game visit. Jaimie and Lorie had wished Jonah good luck first; and then hurried to play with Lily – neither of them even aware of the problems between Lily and Jonah. When they got into the stadium; seats were being held for them on the Ravenclaw-Gryffindor border so that most of them could cheer for Jonah's team, but Lily sat as far away from the Ravenclaw section while still being able to spend time with Jaimie and Lorie; and definitely wasn't cheering for Ravenclaw.

"Is there any new gossip about Slytherin that we should know while we're waiting for Colin to get his pre-game show started?" Gwendolyn asked her younger cousins.

"You know that Derrick Selwyn didn't come back to school after the holidays," Meg answered. "We don't know who they're using from the reserve team for the job, but don't think that it will be Derrick's back-up because we've heard that he isn't very good. We're hoping that they don't use one of their back-up Beaters and just try to beat up on our Chasers instead of worrying about making saves."

"They'll have a bigger problem at Seeker," Gwendolyn predicted. "Jordan may be a decent Seeker someday, but he's out of his league against Lily or Jonah right now – unless he's gotten a lot better than the last match I saw him play."

"He won that match," Meg reminded her; and Gwendolyn nodded.

"Yes, but that was against a Chaser – not one of the best Seekers in the school. I'm sure we'll find out soon-enough, but if he's expecting the competition to be even close to what he had last year; then he's in for a bad shock."

They didn't have to wait long to start getting some answers because Colin blasted through a short pre-game recap of the season so far; introduced the teams; and then Mr. Peakes got the match started in short order. Despite a lot of bravado, Al sensed that the Slytherin team was a mess. New Captain, Jonathan Wilkes, had only taken over after their Keeper, Derrick Selwyn, hadn't returned from holidays; he'd already been dealing with a new Seeker; and had to replace his Keeper just three weeks before this match. Terrance Timms had apparently been the best he had to put in goals – and Terrance had only recently joined the team to be Jordan's back-up Seeker after Andrea quit school. The fact that they still had five of their original seven players didn't seem to matter; and Al could sense the lack of confidence because they hadn't played together long-enough to work as a coherent team.

The Quidditch match wasn't the only drama going on in the stadium. While Ravenclaw jumped out to a quick, early lead, and Stephanie, Alyssa, and Robin soon had Terrance more than a bit shell-shocked with a couple of quick goals on a half-dozen shots; Lily pretended to be bored; talked Jaimie and Lorie into going back outside of the stadium for more snow play; and then she didn't return. Al and Gwendolyn stayed, and enjoyed the one-sided Quidditch match, but then it didn't last long; since Jonah caught the snitch at the one-hour and twenty-one minute mark for the two-forty to naught victory. The Slytherin players and fans weren't happy, but ending the match early was just about the kindest thing that Jonah could do for them – and he had tried hard to make that happen instead of running it up on Slytherin – something that had the potential to help his team in the event of any tie-breaks for the Quidditch Cup or Senior team title.

With the match at an end, Harry and Ginny went to get Jaimie and Lorie so that they could spend another few minutes with Jonah before going home; Lily didn't come back with them; and she wasn't around when their group headed for the gates after the post-game visit was kept short due to the extreme cold. Jaimie and Lorie were not going to the Harpies' match too, so Harry and Ginny took them home while Al and Gwendolyn went on to Diagon Alley a bit early to pick up a few supplies before going to the Leaky for their game day lunch. The Ravenclaw win was really the only good part of that visit to Hogwarts – along with spending some time with their favorite younger Hogwarts students; and Al was feeling unsettled as they wandered around the Diagon Alley shops.

"I thought that you'd feel better," Gwendolyn told Al quietly. "That visit to Hogwarts went better than I expected; all things considered."

"It was just an act – for all of us," Al pointed out quietly so that he wasn't overheard by anyone else around them. "Lily's angrier now than she was three weeks ago, Gwendolyn. She doesn't want to work things out – she wants revenge."

"Other than playing nice; how is that really any different from the way I acted when we had our own break-up drama?" Gwendolyn asked. "I got angrier at you the longer it went on."

"There are quite a few differences," Al answered, "but for just one example; you didn't break up with me to try and hurt someone else."

"Maybe not, but what I did almost do right before I came to my senses again would have been as bad – or worse," she countered; and sighed. "This is tough, Al, but have as much faith in Lily as you had in me back then; and she'll make the right choice." She looked at him after he didn't comment for long moments; and then shook her head. "You didn't know what choices I'd make either," she deduced. "I'd decided that you were just being kind back then."

"I was trying to be," Al assured her – "and ready to become a permanent Hermit if things didn't work out for us."

Lily wished for a diversion as good as the one that Jaimie and Lorie had given her as she sat down to watch the Harpies-Tornados' match that would have given her an excuse to miss it. Leanne was there too; so that made it even tougher to smile and play nice – especially when she sat next to Lily; presumably because they were on the way to being best friends and team mates thanks to the 'secret' they now shared. The usual Ravenclaw members of their group weren't available while at their victory celebration, but Lily was sure that they'd be watching the match too – and wondered a bit darkly about the Ravenclaw Witches that might be trying to cozy up to Jonah now that he was the hottest bachelor at the school – according to pretty much every Witch she'd overheard talking about him.

When the expert predictions came in; she'd hoped that Lee and his usual gang would pick the Tornados, but only one of them did; while the majority went with Lee and the Harpies. Lily steeled herself for putting up with watching the team that she currently hated-most while smiling and faking the happy, but then everyone in the room had their attention diverted when the Tornados were introduced – and they found out that Derek Selwyn was going to be their Keeper – completing the transition to a team filled with former Slytherin players.

"Well, I guess we know why Derek didn't come back to Hogwarts!" Leanne exclaimed; and then shook her head. "I know that Slytherin won their match over my team, and Derek played well-enough, but I wouldn't have thought that he was ready for the show yet."

"Maybe Andrea put in a good word for him," Hugo suggested. "The Tornados definitely needed a better Keeper."

"They did," Leanne agreed. "I didn't think that Andrea was close with anyone on her Slytherin team – at least not since Scorpius quit school. I'd be surprised if she recommended him – and we've already seen that she's still having trouble with the Harper brothers."

"Well, either way, that's one less Keeper job out there for the rest of us – unless he really sucks," Hugo offered next; and Leanne laughed.

"Easy for you to say, since you have a job to go to after school – even if it's only part-time. I'd never fit in with all of the Slytherins on that team anyway; so I seriously doubt they'd hire me – even though their scout did talk to me last year."

"At least you were playing last year to have scouts talk to you," Hugo told her. "I finally got my first chance for that; and promptly lost my first senior team match. It's probably for the best that my big sister does want me to come and play with her on the Cannons."

"Maybe," Leanne teased, "but you should still talk to those scouts. It might give you some leverage when the time comes for you to work out your pay for that part-time job with the Cannons – or you could even get a full-time job offer!"

"We've talked about that a lot – especially over the last year or so," Hugo advised her. "The problem we kept coming up with was that there just aren't many job opportunities for some of us – especially Keepers and Seekers. Now that we've seen how well the Cannons are doing; which team would you suggest would be better for me – or for Alyssa and the others that have been recruited and trained with the team for the past two summers? Would we have a better shot at a championship with any of the few other teams that are looking for new players? Most of those teams don't have top players now because they pay less than the top teams – sometimes by a lot."

"You won't know unless you take a look around – and talk to those teams," Leanne counseled. "The Cannons might be best for you, since you have been a fan, but don't get too-excited about how they're doing quite yet; since they're still a long way from breaking that championship drought. I actually hope that the Cannons get a first loss soon; since it'd really be tough for the fans to get to the first round of the playoffs and get knocked out with a first loss."

"That would suck," Hugo agreed, "but that's coming from a Harpies-United fan; so you'd be hoping for my team to lose in the first round – especially if that was against one of your favorite teams."

"That's true," Leanne agreed easily, "but I'd still feel better if you and the other five Cannons fans got to have a reality check sooner instead of later in the season. It isn't easy to win one of those league titles – and that's getting harder to do even for the top teams. I know that Alex is getting frustrated – especially since he didn't see the Catapults or Prides coming along and winning the last two championship matches."

Hugo laughed; and Leanne smiled at him. "Sorry, but I always find that sort of thing funny," Hugo explained. "It always seems to be the fans of teams that actually have won championships in our lifetime that say things like that. For those of us who haven't ever experienced that for our team; every win is great; and most of us aren't looking too-far ahead or getting our hopes up too much because we've always been disappointed in the end. Whatever will you do should one of your favorite teams go even five or ten years in a row without a league title?"

"Nothing – 'cause that'll never happen," Leanne told him. "Gabrielle and Lily will make sure that doesn't happen for our favorite team; and maybe United will win now and then too – if they're lucky. I've only been a fan of their team since Alex and Lucy joined anyway."

"Has there ever been a time in the league where the teams actually had regular turns winning championships?" Denise asked. "It must be fewer than half of the teams in the league that have won a championship in the last twenty-five or thirty years. Lily's Mum had five championships in seven seasons – including the two she played while Gabrielle took time off to have her kids. United has won a handful of them too, and a few other teams have won one or two titles; while the rest have been shut out entirely."

"For up to one-hundred and thirty-five years," Leanne added and teased.

"And counting," Lily added; joining in for the first time.

"Don't worry, Lily – even if the Cannons win a championship in the near-future; it's a safe bet that the losing streak record will stand for a long time. The next-worst record is less than half that; and the next-longest current losing streak is only something like forty years."

"Well, we've talked through the start of the match," Melissa pointed out. "How about we switch topics and discuss what's happening on the mirror for a while? Derek's survived his first few shots on goals; though they haven't been the best chances for the Harpies. That's still a good sign for the Tornados."

Lily thought so too, and hwile her friends talked Quidditch; she spent some quality time imagining a future where the Harpies did go on a losing streak that lasted a century or two – thanks entirely to being bested in every playoffs by whatever team she could work with instead to exact her revenge. After having Andrea for a rival Seeker, it should have felt wrong to silently cheer for her to best Gabrielle, but it didn't – and she happily hoped for the worst for one of the Witches that she held responsible for crushing her dreams! She couldn't openly cheer for the Tornados, but the match began in their favor; and she enjoyed watching them earn a small lead and then keep it as the afternoon rolled along. The weather took a turn for the worse too; and Lily couldn't feel even a little guilty for hoping that all of her not-so-favorite Harpies players and fans were miserable thanks to the snow and wind.

That did affect the match-play, though; the scoring slowed down; and neither Seeker seemed to even find the snitch very often let alone get a chance to catch it. With the match still going on as they headed toward dinnertime, the decision was made to leave the classroom set up for the game watching when they headed to the Great Hall, and while Lily enjoyed the dinnertime Quidditch and chat entertainment at first; that ended when Gabrielle caught the snitch near the end of the fifth hour to give the Harpies the two-thirty to one-ten victory. She lost her appetite then; had to fake it like crazy the rest of the way through dinner and dessert; and then go back to their classroom and pretend to celebrate the Harpies' come-from-behind success.

Celebrate outwardly; and silently plot her revenge!

The biggest effect that the winter weather had on Al during the Harpies' match wasn't anything obvious to anyone else – not even Gwendolyn. He enjoyed the Quidditch battle; the cuddle time with Gwendolyn; and the family and friends fun time – and multi-tasked that with mentally designing a retractable roof for the stadium – including doing some calculations on a magical expansion that would increase the height of the 'ceiling' to give the players more room to play – something that he was still thinking about adding to the Cannons' practice pitch. Add in some musings about new ways to get spectators to and from the stadiums; and he managed to have a really good afternoon without worrying too much about Lily. Doing that without feeling a bit guilty was another matter, but without any way to help her; he needed to stay focused on what he could do to enjoy every moment in what was, except for that new little drama blip, as amazing as their best-imagined dreams!

It was easy to have fun as they moved on from the Harpies' match toward the end of the month. Al and Gwendolyn had a late dinner with their parents after Gwenog got finished with the Harpies; a family and friends play day on Sunday with only two work-related activities on their schedule – including one kid-related appearance at a small winter festival; and then it was time to get focused on Quidditch again as the Cannons got ready to play their second match against the Prides on Thursday evening. There was just one event on the schedule for the last five days of January that Al wasn't excited about – the Catapults' match against the Falcons on Tuesday night. Compared to two fun, busy training days on Monday and Tuesday; the change to watching the season rematch between the two worst teams in the league was something that Al would have preferred to skip in favor of doing anything else. They still had to play both teams at least once more, though, so Al and Gwendolyn met up with the rest of their team mates and quite a few of their neighbors in the cafe to at least share the pain together.

"Would you like us to try watching this with the sound off and soft music playing in the background instead?" Rose teased as she and Brandon sat down at the table with Al, Gwendolyn, Ray, Lacey, Susannah, and Seth. "I really hate seeing you looking so grim – especially compared to all of the smiles we saw during the rest of the day so far."

"As soon as you said that; I was thinking about adding in funny sound effects with every hit," Brandon advised her with a grin. "That could make this match more-entertaining."

"That might work for some hits," Gwendolyn suggested, "but it might be tough to make fun of anything if any of the players on either team get knocked out of the match again tonight."

"That's a good point," Brandon conceded; and then grinned at Al. "Maybe we should send Al and Harry to bed now – just in case they need to spend the rest of the night at St. Mungo's again."

"Thanks for trying," Al told him; smiling wryly; but we'll just stay and watch this until our curfew – and then likely need to wait until morning to find out the worst of what happens."

"Okay, boys," Tiberius declared as they reached the player entrance – and in a bad imitation of King James – "I want you to get out there tonight; remind those Falcons that we're the defending league champions; and above all; do not, under any circumstances, let them bash my head in again!"

"You forgot the parts where we're going to embarrass them and put a few of our favorite Falcons into their hospital beds too," James told him after joining in on the laughs with Brock and Scorpius. "The rest of that was spot-on!"

"Just trying to help," Tiberius told him modestly. "If you actually got that afternoon nap you insisted that you needed; we shouldn't have any problems. You'll be able to fly circles around Bletchley and the Nott brothers all night."

"That's the plan," James agreed – though his grin suggested that he might not have been napping all afternoon instead of working with the team.

The stadium announcer called for them; and James was smiling viciously as he turned to lead his team out into the stadium.

"Let's go and have some of our second-favorite kind of fun!" he invited.

Lily sat at a work table with her usual group of study mates as the Catapults and Falcons took off and began their Quidditch battle. She was working on a project because she already had her daily assignments finished; and only did that to avoid annoying her friends. Unlike the most-recent Harpies or Cannons matches; she was in the perfect mood for the kind of Quidditch that she was sure that they'd be in for tonight; though she had to work a bit harder than normal to ignore the little voice in her head that insisted that happiness could not be found in watching a bunch of players that were more-interested in injuring each other than they were in winning or losing the match. The hits began right from take-off, but since the worst plays were the ones that appalled her friends the most; she couldn't do more than silently cheer – for the protagonists on both sides of the quaffle!

"This looks like a very different match than the last one," Hugo stated; gaining Lily's attention and interest; since she hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary – for the Catapults or Falcons.

"What do you mean?" she asked; and he smiled and shrugged.

"So far, I'd say that James and the McClaggens are just going head-to-head against Brand and the Nott brothers while they're all pretty much ignoring the rest of their team mates. Even with all of the dirty tricks and cheap shots; I don't think that game plan will work out well for the Falcons. Scorpius is the best Chaser out there; Louis beats Rupert hands down; and Miya's a lot tougher than she looks, so Davis is not going to win that battle against her no matter how horridly he plays."

"It's funny that you've been thinking that while I've been trying to picture the Catapults and Falcons trying to out-nice each other," Alyssa advised him; earning a round of laughs that even Lily joined in on; since she did try and fail to see that image in her mind – and ended up with an image of each team acting that way toward the Cannons and Harpies while cheerfully beating up on them.

"Are they being that nice while still pounding on each other?" Lily asked without adding the darker re-direction of her thoughts. "No, don't hit me like that, Brand," she added in a near-perfect imitation of James' voice – "if you're going to hit me; do it like this!"

"Why thanks for the advice," Alyssa offered in a growl that sounded nothing like Brand Bletchley, "but with all due respect; I've found that hitting you like this works much better!"

"You've both been working too hard," Denise told them. "I wish you'd just turn that off and we'd all be a bit happier without it."

"You'll get to have the happy match on Thursday," Alyssa suggested; and then laughed. "This is practically opposites week for league Quidditch – the darkest tonight; and the happiest for the Cannons-Prides' match!"

"I will love that match," Denise assured her with a smile and nod – "and I'm not just saying that because I like watching the Cannons' Wizards flying around in their uniforms!"

"No, that's just an added bonus," Kathryn added; grinning too. "There's no way the league could've known that these match-ups would work out this way when the schedules were drawn up, though; since the match on Thursday was likely meant to be an easy one for the Prides."

"That's been true for every Cannons' match," Hugo admitted, "but I've always thought that it was funny that they schedule the so-called easy part of the schedule for the top teams to start later in the first-half of the season; but earlier in the second-half."

"That could simply be that the top teams hope for some short winter matches," Melissa suggested. "That doesn't fit with the timing for this match, since I doubt it'll be a short one, but maybe that's intentionally-tough for the defending league champions. Mum's told us before that the league has been known to do things like that to try and keep teams from winning a bunch of titles in a row."

"That's true," Lily agreed with a nod. "The defending champions have some perks too – like usually getting the best available stadium when the rotation allows, but they also almost-always get the toughest starts and ends to the season out of all of the teams."

"That proved true for the start of this season for the Catapults," Hugo added. "I guess we'll have to wait and see whether that's true at the end."

"I'd take a bet or two against that," Lily offered. "James has had strong ends to every season so far – even if that didn't extend far into the playoffs until last year."

"I must have a short memory," Kathryn told her. "I didn't know that."

"James is sixteen-for-eighteen over the last quarter of his first three seasons," Lily advised her. "I don't know if he'll keep winning at that kind of rate, but I wouldn't bet against him to have as bad an ending to the season as the start was this year."

That statement kept her from getting any takers on that bet, and as they watched the match until curfew while getting their studies done too; the advantage definitely was in favor of the Catapults all evening too. When it was time to pack up and head back to their dorm rooms – or on to Prefect patrol or other duties for some of them; Lily opted to head for her bed instead of continuing to watch the match in the common room; used her magical earbuds to listen to it without really watching much of the action on her portable once she was in bed and cuddled with Holly and Poofy; and then she fell asleep far-sooner than she'd expected when she just seemed to run out of steam before even realizing that she was that tired.

James laughed as he and Brock teamed up to bash Brand – again; and enjoyed the sounds of his opponent's grunts of pain and the reaction of the crowd to the hits. He wasn't even looking for the snitch, but used Brock to get separation from Brand and then race off as if in chase of it – knowing that Brand would have to suck it up and come after him – while still watching his back in case Brock or Tiberius came after him again. He headed toward the Falcons' goals to try and make life harder for Brand by mixing it up with the Chasers that were battling it out around Rupert – which was why he didn't see the double-teamed hits that the Notts blind-sided Louis with – he only heard them. Everyone in the stadium did, since the loud cracks and tumbling, crashing noises were impossible to miss even over the noise of the Quidditch action at the other end of the pitch and the crowd noise. James swung around to see what had happened – and then had to dodge out of the way as Brand tried to bash into him in return. By the time he recovered – after making Brand miss; the referee was blowing his whistle; and he finally saw that Louis was on the pitch in a crumpled, unmoving heap.

"Son of a B-Witch!" he cursed angrily; and then swore again as he caught sight of the Nott brothers celebrating their successful sneak attack – and it was that; since they'd spent the entire evening to that point trying to best the McClaggens to knock him out of the match instead.

"What's wrong, Potty?" Brand taunted. "Did you forget to protect the rest of your team mates tonight? Big mistake!"

He didn't give James a chance to respond, since he'd kept on flying toward the team benches for the Falcons; so James could only fume impotently as he headed toward the pitch too – to where his team mates were already gathering around Louis while a pair of Medi-Wizards were already there and working on him. After landing; he stepped up next to Tiberius, but ignored his injured cousin and focused his attention on Tiberius.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"I didn't see," Tiberius answered. "We were all at the other end of the pitch; and I was getting ready to bash a bludger."

"Did anyone see what happened?" James demanded a bit more-loudly.

"Look up," Miya told him; and he did that in time to catch a replay of the hits that Louis didn't see coming until it was too-late that was being shown on the jumbo mirrors at each end of the stadium. He swore again; and Miya frowned at him. "Do us a favor and at least spend one or two moments worrying about your cousin," she suggested.

"I'd say he needed some sense knocked into him to get caught in that trap so-easily," James retorted – "and he's being well-tended; so let's go and talk about what we're going to do next now that he's left us short a player."

"Go do that," Miya told him. "I'll be there once I know more about how Louis is doing."

James snorted. "Badly. Are you happy now? Let's go."

"No," Miya refused. "Go on without me."

"That can be arranged," James promised angrily. "I think we'll put you in goals next and see how long you last!"

Al woke and answered his mirror on the first chime – already knowing in advance that he was getting another call for help thanks to a waking flash of foreknowledge. He was still surprised to see that it was Victoire's image in his mirror; though he couldn't really explain that internal reaction – and didn't bother to try and do that.

"Hello, Victoire," he said quietly. "Did Louis get hurt tonight?"

"How did you know?" she asked; though the surprise didn't outweigh the worry etched on her face. "Yes. I'm sorry to wake you, but Dad says it's bad. We're getting ready to go to St. Mungo's too. Can you meet us there – and help?"

"Of course," Al promised. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thank-you," she said gratefully. "See you there."

Al ended the mirror chat; woke Gwendolyn; and she insisted on getting up and going with him too. They were at the hospital by twelve-thirty; Al was invited into Louis' room almost-immediately; and he soon learned that his cousin's injuries were even more serious than James' had been in their last match against the Falcons. The challenges were much different too; since the hits that Louis had taken had caused the worst injuries to his neck and back – damage that could be permanent if Al couldn't help the Healers with healing all of the broken vertabreae and repair the damaged spinal cord. Just the thought of someone he loved winding up unable to walk – or even move from the neck down – was all the motivation Al needed; so he joined in and got to work.

"We are going to be in so much trouble with our Managers this morning," Gwendolyn predicted; smiling tiredly at Victoire while enjoying the cuddle time with Dora – her third turn since getting to St. Mungo's with Al.

"I don't care," Victoire told her seriously; and didn't smile in return. "I love the Harpies; but family comes first." She sighed in frustration. "I wish they'd give us another update! They've been at that for hours!"

"Al will make sure Louis will be okay," Gwendolyn assured her confidently. "Try to be patient. Fron what we've heard; this is going to be a really tough Healing. It took Al more than two days to fix Pauline's eye; and I have no idea how those injuries that Louis has compares – other than that nerves are involved too."

"I forgot that it took so long for him to do that," Victoire admitted. "Maybe I should take Dora home and let Dasher and Misty care for her for the rest of the night."

"We can keep her here," Gwendolyn offered. "It'll give all of us something to do taking turns with her while we wait."

"You should go and get some sleep too," Victoire said next; but Gwendolyn shook her head.

"I'll try to nap a bit; but I won't leave yet – at least until we know more."

Ginny woke slowly – and then more-quickly as she realized that it was the sound of her mirror chiming that was 'calling' to her.

"Hello?" she asked before being able to focus on the image in her mirror.

"Ginny – it's Mum," Molly said quietly. "I'm calling you and your brothers to let you know that Louis has been badly hurt in that match against the Falcons."

"What time is it?" Ginny asked.

"A bit-past four o'clock," Molly answered. "I'm more than a little put-out with your brother because we weren't called when it happened – your father found out when he was awake and restless; and heard about the news when he saw that the match was still going on but Louis wasn't still in the game." She shook her head. "That's of no matter now. You need to know that he's at St. Mungo's; Victoire called Al and he's helping; and from what little we've heard so far; Louis might not be able to walk or even use his arms again if they can't fix him!"

"Oh Mum, I'm so sorry! Are you on the way to the hospital now?"

"Not yet," Molly answered. "I'll keep making some mirror chats first; and then we'll head over there. Gwendolyn went there with Al, though, and I'm sure that Bill and Fleur could use the support too – if you can come."

"Of course we can," Ginny promised. "We'll be there soon."

"You'd better call Rose and let her know," Harry suggested quietly after Ginny ended the mirror chat. "She'll want to know – and will have to deal with possibly missing some or all of her team mates when we've only got one day left to get ready for our match against the Prides."

"I'll call her – and we'll worry about that later," Ginny decided. "Family comes first."

Lily woke up slowly at first; and then more quickly when she heard a fair bit of noise going on around her. That didn't fit with the still-mostly-dark room; and she opened her eyes to try and figure out what was going on.

"What's up?" she asked quietly when she saw three of her room mates all huddled together on Melissa's bed.

"Sorry if we woke you," Melissa answered; whispering too – "but you'll want to know what's going on with the Catapults' match. Louis got knocked out of the match – probably not long after you fell asleep; and the Catapults have been playing brilliantly – and horridly – to try and keep the Falcons from getting the one-sixty lead ever since."

"How's Louis?" Lily asked first.

"Pretty bad, from what we've heard so far – though they're not saying much other than that the Healers have been working on him all night," Melissa answered. "There's a rumor that Al's helping too; but we haven't had that one confirmed. I'll call Ray later and ask him – if you don't find out more first. I don't know if your parents know yet or not; but it's early; so you probably shouldn't wake them – and if Al is there; he's likely a bit too busy to chat."

"If he's there; then I'm sure that Louis will be okay," Lily stated. "You said that the Catapults are holding the Falcons off from the one-sixty lead?"

"Still," Kathryn agreed. – "for more than six hours without a Keeper!"

"James is running out of time to save the day and catch the snitch," Melissa added, "but he's getting pounded by the Falcons, and while the McClaggens are hitting back; they haven't managed to knock any of the Falcons out in return."

"What's the lead now?" Lily asked even as she was getting up; grabbing her own portable mirror; and going over to Melissa's bed.

"Three-thirty to one-ninety," Melissa answered. "Miya got the last goal to give them the two-goal buffer for a bit longer, but that was the Falcons' first one-fifty lead; so it's just a matter of time now, I think."

"Any news?" Gwendolyn asked as she woke from her latest nap and immediately got the attention of Ginny; since she'd been resting against her shoulder.

"Yes, but we didn't want to wake you," Ginny answered. "The Healers that are coming off-duty have advised Bill, Fleur, and Deanna that the healing is going very-slowly; and they don't even want to guess at how long it will take or even whether they'll be able to fully heal Louis or not. Harry checked in on Al, and he's still going strong, but if how tired those Healers are is any indication; it's tough in there. There are four new Healers with Al now. Harry wants to give us a bit of help with being tired and send us off to work while he stays here and helps out."

"That is what we should do," Gwendolyn agreed; smiling as that admission seemed to surprise Ginny. "I'll trust Al to take care of Louis, and whenever he gets done; I'll trust that Dad will help him so that we'll still be okay tomorrow night."

"One way or the other," Ginny agreed. "I'll explain that later. We still have time to go home and get cleaned up before breakfast at the cafe, so let's go and talk with everyone else before we get that help from Harry; and then we'll get going."

"Don't get mad yet," Brand taunted as he bashed into James while celebrating the goal that finally started to pad their one-sixty lead – even if that was only by one extra goal. "We're just starting to have fun – and we'll be happy to keep this up for days!"

James cursed under his breath – and then cursed the snitch when he finally spotted it again – the early-morning sunlight making it's gold gleam. He flipped under Brand when he tried to bash him again; took off; and continued to silently curse in cold fury as the surprise move caught Brand off-guard; and he was too-far behind to catch up before James snagged the snitch. He didn't try to get away from Brand – he hit the brakes; spun around; and punched him in the mouth while doing his best to use Brand's momentum to shove the snitch down the stupid git's throat.

"Congratulations," he said derisively; his expression dark and satisfied as Brand began spitting out teeth and blood. "It only took you all night to get that amazing, blow-out, twenty-point victory!"

Lily hated the jeers and cheers from the Slytherin table – including a lot of shouts directed at her – when James caught the snitch for the loss; and then enjoyed the sudden silence when nearly every student in the hall saw James knock Brand's teeth out with the fist holding the snitch. That move by James had likely saved some of those Slytherins from finding out what it wa like to spend some quality time dealing with a Butt-Bogey hex – and that was likely for the best; since she'd be the first suspect that the Prefects would come looking for once the problems were reported to Madam Pomfrey. Then again, no Slytherin with any self-respect ought to go running to her for help with that kind of problem; so maybe she'd be okay.

"I'm glad that's over," Denise told her; and sounded relieved. "Now we'll just have to wait and hope for the best for your cousin."

"Have no fear – Al doesn't only rescue damsels in distress," Lily joked.

"I know, Lily, but he also can't heal everything and anything. Quidditch players get permanently knocked out of the game every year – especially reserve squad players. Aren't you worried for Louis at all?"

Lily thought about that; and then shook her head. "I guess that I'm not," she admitted. "Al will do whatever it takes to help Louis, and if that isn't enough; he'll likely just invent some new way to heal him anyway."

"I hope you're right," Denise said a bit doubtfully; and then shook her head at something she saw on Lily's mirror. "Turn that off, please – or switch to your magical earbuds. I know they look a lot alike; but I sometimes can't believe that James and Al are brothers. James might have that same healing talent as your Dad and brother, but even if he does and learned how to use it; I wonder if he would even help his friends – let alone the Witches and Wizards that haven't been very nice to him."

"Maybe the healing talent comes with the green eyes," Lily suggested. "I haven't shown much talent for it – at least not yet. Dad didn't start getting better at it until he took his Auror training at St. Mungo's, though; so I suppose I could get better at it than what I've managed for what little we're taught about it here."

"I could suggest a project for you to take on to practice some healing on a couple of friends that I love a lot," Denise offered with a meaningful glance toward the Ravenclaw table, but stopped smiling when Lily gave her a dangerous-looking glare.

"Don't go there," she warned.

"Okay – but I wish you would," Denise told her.

Renee Bradley stepped out onto the observation platform and looked around at the group of busy-looking reporters. She spotted two of her favorite Cannons-haters sitting together and smiled as she headed toward them.

"Good morning, Ms. Skeeter, Mr. McAdams. How are you this morning?"

"Better than you, apparently," Rita answered first. "I'm surprised that they're keeping you on; since you continue to prove incompetent. I put in my request to see you more than an hour ago."

"You did," Renee agreed easily, "and I apologize for the delay, but I'm sure that you understand that your request has been one of dozens – including the one from Mr. McAdams. How may I help each of you today?"

"For starters, would you like to comment on why your team seems to be short a couple of players this morning?"

"Of course – though I'm sure that you've already heard elsewhere that Al and Harry are at St. Mungo's; and that Al is aiding the Healers with the healing his cousin is in need of due to the injuries he sustained last night during the Catapults-Falcons' match."

"Yes, I've heard that your Animorphloser is pretending to be a hero yet again," Rita said dismissively. "I've also heard from someone close to the patient that his heroics were unwanted – and are unwarranted."

"I cannot comment on the 'unwarranted' part of that, since you'd have to ask the Healers about that, but I can tell you that Al's help was requested by Louis' sister, Victoire, and as of the last update I've received from St. Mungo's; Al has been working with the Healers there for a bit more than nine hours."

"Do you have an update on Louis Weasley's condition?" Kellum McAdams asked.

"No," Renee answered. "His condition is still listed as critical, but stable."

"So you have no information about Mr. Weasley's condition; the Animorphloser and Chosen Chump are likely AWOl for spurious reasons; and your team Manager and Captain don't seem to have a problem with that just a day away from your match against the Prides," Rita summarized; and then scowled when Renee laughed. "I do not think this to be a laughing matter," she declared stiffly.

"I do not consider Louis' injuries a laughing matter either," Renee told her seriously. "Neither do the members of the Cannons that are related to him – or know him through school or the family connections; and that's why our Manager and Captain don't have a problem with supporting Al's choice to help his cousin – and Harry can be there in support of the family too because he isn't scheduled to play tomorrow night anyway. Would you not drop everything and do the same for your own family or dearest friends?"

"My character is not at question here," Rita told her acidly. "The same cannot be said for the loser and Chosen Chump."

"As always, I'll respectfully disagree," Renee told her. "Do you have any other questions for me?"

"Yes. Do you actually 'respectfully' disagree?" Rita demanded.

"No," Renee admitted candidly. "Do you honestly believe that Al isn't working his hardest to help Louis right now – even after experiencing him healing you on two occasions?"

"Yes!" Rita declared vehemently; and then her eyes went wide as a giggle erupted even as she futilely tried to clamp her mouth shut. She scrambled to her feet; grabbing her bags and notebook; and apparated away – but not before everyone on the platform heard the mad giggling take hold.

"I guess she was late for a deadline or something," Renee joked; and Kellum laughed.

"Or something," he agreed. "Do you still have time for my questions?"

"Of course," she agreed; and played nice despite the fact that he always turned on the charm and then wrote his hit pieces anyway.

"One of my sources reminded me that Mr. Potter spent more than two days healing Prides' Seeker Pauline Boot last May. Are the Cannons working on a back-up plan if he's unable to play tomorrow night?"

"Yes, but we won't be discussing that with anyone outside of the team; and that will be a game time decision."

"So you would not be forced to forefeit the match?" he pressed; and Renee shook her head.

"No – that is not a concern. We will be ready to play tomorrow night."

"That's a bit surprising; since your reserve squad Chasers are all at Hogwarts right now."

"I will not comment on any details," Renee reminded him. "Speculation is premature – and as Quidditch fans; we should all be more-concerned about one of our own in his time of need."

"That's an interesting point that I have been thinking about this morning. I've noticed that Al Potter seems to be quite selective about whom he does and doesn't help at St. Mungo's or elsewhere. Is there some reason why he doesn't just help every player that gets injured?"

"I doubt that any one Wizard or Witch could do that," Renee answered. "I'm glad to hear that you do, at least, believe that Al actually can and does offer his Healing talents when needed or requested, Mr. McAdams. It gives me hope that one day you'll come around and become a Cannons fan!"

James answered the door; stepped back; and waved Tiberius and Brock into his flat. He wore a pair of scrub pants that he'd stolen from the set of The Healer; didn't have a shirt on; and glared at them in annoyance.

"You woke me up. What's so bloody important that you needed to bother me? I was going to sleep until tomorrow – or maybe the day after."

"I'd laugh – except you're obviously not joking," Tiberius said before answering. "If you'd answered one of my first ten mirror chat requests; you could have stopped in at St. Mungo's for a visit while most of your ex-family was out having dinner at the Leaky, but you didn't; so we came over here to give you the update on how Louis is doing."

"Let me guess – the Animorphloser has saved the day; Louis will be back to work tomorrow; and then I can have him fired for gross incompetence," James offered scathingly. "Is that about it? Can I go back to sleep now?"

"Cut it out, James," Tiberius told him angrily. "Have you really not even kept up with the news at all – haven't asked anyone about what's going on with Louis? For Merlin's sake, mate – they're not sure he'll walk again!"

"That's crap," James retorted. "It's always life and death with the loser – how else is he supposed to be the hero? Nobody is going to give him a medal for healing a few bruises and scratches!"

"You don't know what you're talking about," Tiberius retorted – "and this was a waste of our time."

"It seems so," Brock agreed. "I thought that he'd at least decide to pay a visit – even if that was only to impress the Witches – or maybe hook up with a couple of the nurses."

James snorted. "Why? I've got one keeping my bed warm right now that's hotter than any I've seen at the hospital."

"Seriously?" Tiberius demanded; and then shook his head. "Sometimes, I can't believe that we're friends, James."

"And then you look at that league championship medal and photo of the trophy and our team on your sitting room wall and remember," James retorted dismissively. "You'll see that I'm right," he added. "Louis will miraculously recover; the Animorphloser will get patted on the head and told that he's a good doggie; and then we'll all get back to work again – or most of us will. I still haven't decided whether to keep our incompetent Keeper around."

"Well, then I'll hope that the loser really does have some talent for Healing," Tiberius suggested. "Louis might need the help again if you're just going to toss him out of his bed at St. Mungo's and under the Knight Bus."

Waiting through seemingly-endless hours as Al and different teams of Healers worked on Louis were toughest on Deanna, Bill, and Fleur; but took a toll on everyone in the family. It also brought some of them closer together again – and tested other relationships that weren't as strong as believed. Al was oblivious to all of that drama while he worked, but Gwendolyn was often on the edges of it – especially whenever she was at St. Mungo's. There were moments that could be very trying – particularly when members of their family or Louis' friends weren't happy to see her there – or basically any of the 'Cannons' members of the family; yet there were some heartwarming moments too that gave her as much hope for the future as Al always tried to have for everyone. The Healers were still being cautious with their reports to the family as it neared time for the Cannons' game day curfew, but they did expect to know more by morning; so Harry, Ginny, and Gwendolyn made the decision to head home for the night – as did everyone except for Deanna and Fleur.

Al finished one last, thorough check of Louis' entire body before stepping back; opening his eyes; and smiling tiredly at the group of Healers around him.

"The rest will be up to him now," he said quietly. "We've done the best that we can."

"Better, I'd say," the lead Healer offered. He looked tired too, but he was smiling and looked just a bit astonished by what they'd collectively accomplished. "I still don't know how you even saw half of the injuries you found let alone how you healed them, but your cousin's fate is now assured to be much better than it otherwise would have been without your help."

"That's all that matters," Al suggested with a nod. He looked at his watch and shook his head. "I'd better get going now. I'm sure to be in trouble with my Manager and Captain for being out past two curfews in a row and missing an entire day of training."

"We can write you a Healer's note," one of the other Healers joked; earning a round of laughs. "That might help."

"It might," Al agreed – "or at least give my team mates a laugh. I'm surprised you'd offer the help, though, since you did tell me that you're a Prides fan."

"I am," he agreed. "You've been at this for more than a day, but if your manager suspends you from playing tonight; it won't matter that you'll be too-tired to play your best!"

Al laughed again. "That's a brilliant plan – and one that I really hope won't work." He looked down at his cousin's handsome face and nodded to himself. "He'll likely need to sleep for a week or more, but that'll just help him to mend the rest of the way; and then, hopefully, he'll make a full recovery."

He was actually sure about that as he left the room, but he followed the Healers out; left them to go and give Fleur and Deanna the good news update – along with some cautions; and thanks to the time of night; only had to answer the questions from two reporters that had managed to stay – and stay awake – on his way out of the hospital. He apparated home; went up to the guest bedroom; flopped onto the bed; activated his time stopper; and crashed into unconsciousness for as long as needed.

"Good morning," Al said cheerfully as he stood and welcomed Gwendolyn with a bright smile – and then a warm hug and kiss. "How are you this morning?"

"I'm fine," she answered; and then laughed. "Let's start with how Louis is doing; move on to when you got home; go from there to telling me how long you were sleeping in a time-stop to make up for all of that Healing; and wrap up with how you plan on explaining that little miracle to anyone other than your parents and me with anything even close to something believable."

"Louis is going to be okay, but the Healing was tough on him; and he may need to sleep for at least a week before waking again. The Healers won't be completely-sure about his full recovery until they can check him out while awake, but I'm sure he'll be fine. The only thing that will be up to Louis will be how long it will take to get all the way back to normal – and I really can't say how long that will take. I got home a few hours ago; and got out of the hospital at a good time; since only two reporters managed to be there and awake to question me. I didn't try to talk to Aunt Fleur or Deanna; since the last thing they needed was any extra family drama. My time-stopped nap lasted about two-and-a-half days; and I've been awake again since then – catching up on the news I've missed over the past day and a half while doing some chores and other work. Finally, I wasn't planning on trying to explain anything, but if you have any good, entertaining ideas; have fun with that."

Gwendolyn laughed. "I've some ideas, but none that you'd want getting turned into news stories; since that'd just mess up your boring reputation."

"While spicing yours up a bit?" Al guessed with a grin. "Let's save that thought for later – like after the match tonight."

Harry sat in the Cannons owners' section of Exmoor stadium and enjoyed the show while cuddling with Jaimie and watching their team as they did a lap of the stadium while being introduced by the game announcer. Rose had not changed anything up from normal despite all of the attention that Al had been getting all day. Most of the reporters were at their worst and happily predicted a long-overdue defeat for the Cannons – again; so it wasn't really a surprise to Harry that Rose wanted to make a display of business-as-usual for their team. It had been a crazy day – starting with the morning visit to St. Mungo's that he and Ginny had done before breakfast; a light training day ahead of a night match had ended up being more of a media circus than anything else; and then the dinnertime visit to St. Mungo's before coming to the stadium had been a bit unpleasant because other well-wishers that were there and visiting Deanna definitely did not wish him well.

The Cannons' players landed; and then the Prides were called out for their introductions and lap around the stadium. The smiles on the faces of all fourteen players was great to see; and then the inter-team hugs and kisses earned laughs, whistles, and only a few jeers as most of the fans of both teams seemed to be enjoying a new, friendly rivalry. The referee was eventually able to break up the hug-fest; he made quick work of the usual pre-game formalities; the players lined up for the quaffle-toss; and then the 'good' Quidditch battle of the week was on!

Lily had been having a tough couple of days – at least mentally – while dealing with the aftermath of the Catapults' loss to the Falcons. She hated on James for the way he talked about Louis to the reporters even before knowing whether their cousin would be alright or not; and then she also wanted to hate on Al for once again being the 'good' son – but couldn't do that when he had once again put family first above all else – even if that might have put an undefeated season streak at risk!

Or had he actually done that?

The part of her that wanted to keep the fury at full-boil suggested that Al maybe hadn't sacrificed much at all to help Louis; since he helped Gwendolyn to earn the first goal of the match in just eighteen minutes; and they were definitely taking the game-play to the Prides. Her problem with that line of thought, though, was knowing without doubt that if he'd needed to stay and help at St. Mungo's; Al would have done so without question – even if that had meant missing the match entirely.

"Yes!"

That excited exclamation came from more than half the teens and tweens in the room, but Lily had to look over at the mirror – and then guess that Al had scored his first of the match – and the second for the Cannons. Francine already had the quaffle and was going on the attack again; so there wasn't an immediate replay of the goal.

"Congratulations, Hugo – I think that you officially have more than three other Cannons fans here with you tonight," Lily told her cousin.

"Some of us are just making a special exception just for tonight," Stephanie offered – "and I'm still cheering for the Prides too."

"You're supposed to do both now," Alyssa reminded her; and Stephanie laughed.

"I meant that first part for some of the other teens and tweens in the room," she explained. "Peter and Pauline would've taken a win if Al hadn't been able to play tonight, but they'll be much-happier if they can win against the Cannons when they're all playing their best – and that seems to be the chance they're getting now."

"We still haven't heard what they'd have done if Al couldn't play," Cyndia pointed out; and then grinned. "Did you get a mirror chat request that I didn't?"

"No – though I'd have gone in a second if Rose had asked," Stephanie assured her. "I'd have love to be playing in this match against my brother and sister!"

"I'm sure that they'll make sure that you get a chance to do that starting next season," Cyndia assured her. "Ray wouldn't tell me what their back-up plan was either, though, and I couldn't tell whether that meant that there wasn't one; or they want to keep it quiet in case they do need it later in the season."

"Everyone's likely just forgetting the simplest answer," Lily interjected quietly; smiling when that statement got the attention of everyone at her work table. "Mum was a Chaser before she switched to Seeker," she advised or reminded her friends and cousin. "Rose could have just put Mum in for Al; and had Dad play Seeker tonight."

"I did totally forget about that," Stephanie admitted with a laugh. "Was she any good – as a Chaser?"

Lily laughed too. "I expect that she was – though to be honest; the stories I remember best from the Hogwarts matches when she played Chaser were about other things that she did – like crashing her broom into the game announcer in one match because he'd spent the entire match insulting my Dad and the other Gryffindor players."

"I heard that story from my Dad," Cyndia said with a grin and nod. "I'm pretty sure he told us that she crashed into Roman Smith's Dad. It's funny to think about our parents having rivalries like that."

"Why?" Stephanie asked. "We have some of those rivalries too – even with some of our Hufflepuff friends."

"I heard that," Leanne told her from where she was working at the table next to theirs. "We're playing Gryffindor next; so save the Hufflepuff jokes for when we're close to our match; since I'll never remember them this far in advance."

"Especially when we're busy trying to cram all of this NEWT information into our brains so that we'll pass those exams," Cyndia agreed and added. "I should likely stop watching Quidditch matches while studying. I'm almost positive that the scores and player stats will not be on any of my exams in June."

"Unless there are Arithmancy questions using Quidditch references in the questions," Leanne suggested. "Then again, after Al's marathon healing session for Louis; we're more-likely to be asked to calculate the magical power usage that went into making that happen instead of getting any questions about Quidditch."

"I'd throw in a trick question," Hugo told them with a grin – "like asking to calculate the odds that the Catapults will send Al a thank-you card for helping to save their Keeper."

"If they actually did do that – I'd wager it would be a Howler," Lily joked; joining in when that comment earned a round of laughs.

"I could totally picture that," Hugo told her. "It's no wonder that you're Dad's and Uncle George's favorite niece or nephew!"

"That's not really true anymore," Lily reminded him. "Your Dad likes all of his Cannons' nieces and nephews the best now."

"I'd comment on that; but don't want to spend the rest of the night with any kind of bogey affliction," Hugo teased.

"While risking that fate by implying something you shouldn't without actually saying it," Lily added. "Get back to work, cousin – you're bothering me!"

"That's another goal for the Cannons," Miya advised Louis quietly; though he was unconscious; and she doubted that he was hearing her at all. "It's now eighty-to-naught; and only a quarter-way into the third hour. You did your best trying to tire your cousin out, mate; but it hasn't paid off yet." She smiled when her attempts at humor earned quiet laughs from Roman and Deanna.

"I don't know if he'll remember any of this; but it'll be a fun story to tell him when he wakes up," Roman suggested.

"This helps me more than Louis," Miya advised him. "I've never had the patience for sitting around and waiting for anything. I don't know how you've managed so far, Deanna."

"With a lot of help from our families," Deanna answered seriously. "This is still tough, but much better than when we didn't know whether Louis would be okay or not." She nodded toward the mirror in Miya's hands. "My biggest problem right now is having all of this extra time to sit around and feel guilty about how badly I've treated the Wizard that is due most of the credit for saving my husband from spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair – or worse."

"Miya's never felt the way we have about Al," Roman advised her with a smile for his fiancee, "but maybe that's not entirely our fault. Her Mum liked his Dad quite a lot back when they went to Hogwarts – even if he didn't end up being a very good boyfriend; while our fathers had their issues with one or both of his parents."

Deanna laughed. "So jealousy runs in the family – and Teresa didn't get that toward Al because I'm the twin that was named after Dad?" she asserted more than asked; and then laughed again. "I could work with that!"

Pauline raced after the snitch – again, and Ginny was right there with her – again, but her team was down by one-forty; so the exhilaration and fun was tempered by the urgent need to try and catch the snitch before it was too-late to do that and still earn the win. That's why she was pushing harder and taking bigger risks than she normally would – anything to find a way to best a Seeker that had been one of her childhood heroines – and had been proving to her all night exactly why she might still be one of the best Seekers in the world!

"Gwendolyn Potter scores!"

It took a moment for that announcement to hit home because Pauline had been so focused on the snitch catch; another moment for her to realize what that meant; and then she said something bad about her friend and former team mate while her mind switched gears from offense to defense. That hesitation proved to be a mistake; and she had to fight to keep the next bad words to herself as Ginny took advantage of the tiny opening to reach out and catch the snitch that she'd only been able to try to block Pauline from getting right up until that last moment.

"And Ginny Potter has caught the snitch!" the stadium announcer proclaimed cheerfully as the referee blew his whistle to officially confirm the end of the match.

"I know that you love Gwendolyn anyway – and didn't really mean that," Ginny teased as they both slowed – and were still close together. Pauline laughed and couldn't help but smile too despite the disappointment.

"I'm only surprised that it wasn't Al doing that to me again – though that time; I caught the snitch for the tie when I thought that it was going to be for the win."

"I remember," Ginny assured her – "though that was before any of our kids would let us come to Hogwarts to watch their matches. You're a brilliant Seeker, Pauline, and I'm really glad that I've gotten the chance to play against you tonight." She laughed then. "I'm also glad that this match is over because I'm really, really tired!"

"You and me both," Pauline assured her. "Now let's land so that I can have a few words with your daughter-in-law about her newfound sense of incredibly-bad timing!"

Rule Number One was invoked soon after the end of the match – particularly once Gwendolyn pointed out that it was Al's fault that Pauline had hesitated this time around because of that tie back when they'd been on their respective junior teams, but while he wa happy with the three-thirty to thirty victory; he would have been just as happy to have earned another tie – even if nobody else on either team would have felt the same way.

An undefeated season could still include ties!

Ginny's catch had come a quarter-way into the sixth-hour, though, so the post-game interviews and fun was shorter-than-normal as reporters wanted to make deadlines and fans needed to get home on a work night. It was still closer to three than two by the time Al and Gwendolyn got home and went up to bed, though, which was why they were too-tired to celebrate their victory with anything hotter than a few hours of quality cuddle-and-sleep time. They were still up at normal time for breakfast at the cafe and work; Al and Hary helped most of their team mates with some fatigue Healing; and then they got right back to work again – this time because they only had six training days to get ready for their second match against Puddlemere United.

Taking the entire weekend off wasn't an option, since they did have some work commitnments, but after a rather-extreme work week; Al and Gwendolyn were ready to have a bit of fun too – which for them meant a play and work weekend at Camp Cannonball. They weren't the only couple to go there for parts of the weekend – when word got around that they were going to work on their family cottage; some of their team mates and friends decided that they'd do the same. There was fun for everyone to be had – whether that was going shopping for furniture; decorating, or other entertainment that went along with setting up a new holiday home; or just hanging around and playing with family and friends. Al and Gwendolyn had Harry and Ginny stay at their cottage on Friday and Saturday nights; her parents joined them for Friday night only because they had other plans for Saturday night; and Malorie, Patrick, and the twins came over for Saturday night and Sunday morning.

While the play-work was something Al had wanted to get done so that their cottage would be ready to use for the rest of the winter and spring; the cameo moments of snow fun – especially with Jaimie and Lorie – was great; and so were the evenings spent by a warm fire enjoying the company of people they loved and loved to share those special moments with. They kept up with those work responsibilities too, but while they sent gifts to James as always; their weekend adventures did not include helping him out with celebrating his twentieth birthday. That didn't really affect them beyond a bit of time spent thinking or talking about James; and they were feeling pretty good by the time they got home again on Sunday evening ahead of their training day curfew.

James the First, King of the Quidditch World – and all of the hottest Witches and Muggle women at his command – smiled happily as he swayed drunkenly to the 'mood music' while carefully pouring glasses of wine for himself and the hot little playmate that had been his lucky pick for spending the rest of his birthday with him. She was the third hot playmate in three nights – plus the other Witches he'd hooked up with for cameo moments during the past two days or at the party in his honor last night, but it was his birthday; so he didn't bother keeping score!

Okay, he did, but that was something to brag about with his mates on Monday – or maybe Tuesday; since he might not be ready to go back to work in the morning.

"Happy Birthday to me; thanks for all the great bling," he sang to himself in a horridly off-key, slurred voice – "along with all the hot Witches; it's so great to be King!"

There was so much going on around the family and with Quidditch for the Cannons, Harpies, and elsewhere that the week leading up to the Cannons' match against Puddlemere United felt like a non-stop, crazy blur for Al and Gwendolyn – whether they were directly involved in those events and activities or not. On the 'not' side, Audrey Weasley's fiftieth birthday was a big deal that they were only involved with through a group gift, but they weren't invited to the major party that Percy threw for his wife – and neither were any of the other 'Cannons' Weasleys or Potters. There were two events that they were out of the loop for on Tuesday – though they watched as much of the Harpies' match against the Wanderers as they could ahead of curfew; and then had to wait until morning to find out that the Harpies had won while Erin Connelly caught the snitch for the loss early in the sixth hour.

Arthur's seventy-fourth birthday was on Wednesday, but while Harry and Ginny hosted a birthday dinner for him at the Cannonball Cafe, with Louis still unconscious in his bed at St. Mungo's; that celebration ended up being very low-key – and more than a little strange. The family came together for that meal – in part because of Louis, but then the changes that had begun happening a week ago had more to do with Al; and proved that some relationships within the family were stronger-than-understood while others falthered when tested under duress. While Al tried to stay out of the spotlight, it was impossible to keep some of those changes from being noticed by everyone – like the hugs and-or kisses that he was given by Bill, Fleur, and Deanna.

While Molly and Arthur were happy about most of those changes, Al knew that there were still problems; and he definitely sensed more than he'd ever tell anyone other than Gwendolyn. Dominique and Lucy, for instance, would not share hugs with him, and while they joked about that being because of their match on Saturday; he knew that there was more to those sentiments; and being grateful for his help with Louis didn't get in the way of those other feelings. He stayed out of the way for Percy, Audrey, Molly, and Jared, but there was lots of weird going on around them – especially when it seemed that their emotions clashed with a lot of what was going on with everyone else – even when that came to Deanna. She was definitely dealing with inner conflicts thanks to Louis' current condition and how that affected her loyalties to her boss and Percy's faction at the Ministry that she'd supported since going to work for him.

Their birthday meal was special and appreciated, but while there was some roasting for Arthur, that was low-key; and even some after-dinner play time out on the practice pitch with his new toys was subdued while Jaimie and Lorie also added in some fun too as they played with their great-grandfather until bedtime. It was a work night, and the Quidditch players in the family needed to head home ahead of training curfews; so that non-party ended early too. Al and Gwendolyn helped with the clean-up, but then they headed home and to bed too; ready to get some sleep after another very long, busy day.

The final two work days were comparatively-quiet for Al and Gwendolyn because there were so many other distractions for everyone else – including the reporters. That made it easier to finish getting ready to play on Saturday; and then they took the night off after finishing work on Friday to relax ahead of what was sure to be a busy weekend. That quiet time included watching the special Valentine episode of The Healer. That was sure to be the most-watched show on the mirror network, since it had been hyped heavily over the past week; and Al and Gwendolyn enjoyed watching the special episode that had Scorpius and James making another appearance – this time while on Valentine's Day dates with Lysandra and Bristol.

Those dates went horribly-wrong as Lysandra and Bristol were on-call and needed to deal with the emergency case of the week; the usual problems kept Scorpius and Lysandra from getting to have much time together at all; and while Bristol was busy too; James happily chased other Healers and nurses around to keep himself entertained while his 'date' was busy – though that didn't keep him from having a couple of hot little moments with Bristol too when she had the time to spare. In contrast to James, Scorpius' character used that time while Lysandra was busy to comfort and help her patient while she worked her brilliant magic to save him; so he and James both earned a lot of fans – if for totally different reasons. All was not lost by the end of the show for Lysandra, though, and in addition to saving the day again; she found out that Scorpius was interested in her for all of the right reasons; and their first date still managed to end with a sweet little embrace that left their audience hoping for more – and no doubt that both Wizards would continue to make guest appearances on the show.

Al and Gwendolyn wrapped up their work week with some quality play time for two that they definitely wouldn't want an audience for, but they used Al's time-stopper too; and still managed to get a full night of rest so that they'd be at full-power for their match against United.

"Don't you have a Quidditch match to play today?" Lily asked while walking over to the booth that Malorie, Jaimie, and Lorie were sharing with her parents, brother, and sister-in-law – four extra visitors she hadn't expected to see when she'd agreed to spend some time with the twins and Malorie because her nieces missed her so much.

"Rose is giving us an hour to see you before we need to get back to work," Ginny advised her. "We may not get to see you next weekend while you're playing Quidditch, and after what happened to Louis last week; we're all feeling the need to see you – and make sure that you know how much we love you."

"We're not playing against Slytherin next weekend," Lily reminded her; trying to make light of the moment while the surge of love blew away her initial reaction of anger at the surprise. "I'm not going to need Al or Dad to heal me – not to mention that I do have my special uniform too; and Louis didn't have that advantage. Speaking of him – is there any news? Has he woken yet?"

"Not yet," Ginny answered. "My comments weren't about worry over your safety, honey – even though we all know that anything can happen in Quidditch. We're just very aware of what should and is most-important in our lives right now." She was still hugging Lily then; and squeezed more-tightly. "I do love you with all of my heart, Lily," she whispered.

"I love you too," Lily assured her – and she did hug her back while adding – "even when I'm really, really mad at the lot of you."

"That's okay," Ginny assured her. "We dont' have time for that this morning, though, so sit down with us; we ordered a hot drink for you; and we'll have a little chat – and then maybe do a bit of shopping before we have to go back to work."

She did that – after sharing hugs and kisses with everyone else; they had their drinks; and then four of them still had about twenty minutes left to go before needing to leave; so they headed for one of the 'fun' stops so that Jaimie and Lorie could enjoy the supply shopping with some of their favorite people. They spread out around the store, and ten minutes into that part of their Hogsmeade adventure; Al got to have a perfect opportunity to talk with Lily alone – if only for a minute.

"What?" she demanded in a whisper. "You've had that look on your face that always means you want to try and say something that you think will annoy me; so out with it – and I won't promise not to send you off with a Butt-Bogey affliction!"

"I love you," Al said first; and smiled wryly as she waved that off.

"Quit stalling," she chided.

"Okay," he agreed. "This situation sucks for you, but I still think that we'd be brilliantly-happy if you'd play Quidditch with us; there's nothing either of us can do about the choices the Harpies are making for their team; and I don't see why you can't just delay that dream until they are ready to have the best Seeker of our generation play for them – after you've proved that to everyone with the Cannons," he whispered. "Fast enough?"

"Yes," she agreed while glaring at him. "Now get away from me before I do decide to blast you."

Al hugged her first; she only resisted for a moment before deciding that he'd leave sooner if she hugged him back; and then he did as ordered – while hoping that another little moment would grow into something better for all of them.

Lily was ready to do some quality venting as she walked into the family cottage after saying goodbye to Malorie, Jaimie, and Lorie; finishing her shopping; and having an early lunch at the Three Broomsticks with her friends. That plan was temporarily forgotten when she saw the changes since her last visit – and then she needed to tour every room to check out all of the wonderful furniture and decorations. Family photos of happiest moments that were on the hearth above the fireplace had her tearing up; and then she ended up just sitting down on one of the beautiful, comfortable sofas and curling up under a warm blanket that was there just for keeping warm and comfortable on cold winter days – or nights.

"Merlin – I really hate it when he's right!" she declared aloud.

She sat and thought about all of her problems; fought the changes in perspective that her parents and brother had each brought to her in different ways – either the 'life is short' or 'make the plan fit the dream' views that just didn't fit with the revenge she'd been trying to plot for the past month. Then again, even as she hated to admit it; Al's suggestion could still give her the revenge she wanted – whether he'd approve or not! Even imagining winning league championships with the Cannons still seemed impossible to her despite the fact that Rose's team was still undefeated and showed no signs of faltering at all; yet her instinct shouted at her that their plan was much better than hers – and truly could help her to get her revenge and her dream too.

There was only one problem.

Jonah was part of their plans – and one of the ways she'd chosen to most-hurt the Witch that had crushed her little-girl dreams. She had no doubt that she could never work with him that closely every day and have that part of her revenge plan too.

James smiled wolfishly when he walked into the 'employee' entrance to Exmoor stadium; and saw Lysandra stand up and start walking toward him when she saw him arrive.

"Let me guess – you want to give me my good luck snogging – or more – out here so that Scorpius doesn't notice! We might be seen; but I'm okay with that!"

"No," she told him frostily; and then lowered her voice once she was just a step away. "I'm here for Scorpius and Andrea – and this visit is to warn you that my adopted sister better not get hurt by you or your goon brothers today, James. You will not want to find out what happens when you get me angry!"

James laughed. "I'm so scared," he retorted. "Andrea's my friend too, but we play to win, and if she can't handle the job – both the good and bad; then she should get out while she can still do that in one piece."

"I'm not asking you, James – I'm telling you to leave her alone," Lysandra advised him. "If I see so much as one cheap shot or foul against her; I'll curse you where it will definitely hurt you the most." She looked down meaningfully and then back up into his eyes. "You can let Tiberius and Brock know too; since that threat applies to them."

"The last time someone went there on me; I had a lot of fun with the jelly-legs jinx," he joked; and Lysandra shook her head.

"Would you still have fun with it if you get to spend the rest of your life, um, losing interest every time you so much as look at a beautiful Witch?" She laughed at his reaction to that. "I'm only giving you one example, James. I'm very creative; and could come up with far-worse. My family has centuries of knowledge about the darkest, ugliest curses; so do yourself a favor and play nice today – at least when it comes to Andrea."

Harry felt a bit lonely as he settled into his seat and waited for the Catapults-Tornados' match to begin – though that was just a sentiment; since the stadium was sold-out for the match. With Louis out of the match, though, most of the family tickets had been given away to friends or co-workers; so he was the only member of the Weasley clan in attendance. He wished that he could be at the Cannons-United match instead, but after the Falcons' success over the Catapults; he'd wanted to be at this match in case he was needed; since it was a certainty that the Tornados would at least attempt to learn from that Falcons' victory.

He really wanted to hope for the best, but was prepared for the worst; and expected that to come from both teams.

"Lily's not here; so I'll pick the Cannons' match for the big mirror," Hugo advised Alyssa and the handful of friends that were there for the game-watching party already. "I don't know what she's doing all day in town, but that works out great for me today; since she'd pick the other match instead – even though this one will be the best match."

"In more ways than one," Alyssa added with a nod – "though I doubt that United will be quite as nice as the Prides were last week. Belinda is sure that she's the best Keeper in the show; and didn't like being bested by Rose last time."

"They're so closely-matched that I don't see why that has to be such a big deal," Hugo told her while nodding in agreement of her comment. "Trying to make that comparison without taking the Chasers into account doesn't make sense either. There are other teams with great Keepers and weaker Chasers – or the other way around. I'd rank Belinda a step or two ahead of her sister and my cousins – just as I'd do with Peter for the Prides. I'd reverse that for the Cannons and Harpies."

"So would I," Alyssa assured him – "though in Rose's case; that's just because Al and Gwendolyn are so brilliant together."

"They'll need that today," Cyndia suggested. "Ray and I didn't get to have much time together while I was in town either; so he's going to be motivated."

"Especially when you're playing next weekend and won't be able to spend much time with him then either," Alyssa agreed. "That must be a tough one for Olivia to pick today too – going up against her cousin and hoping to best him; or going up against Gwendolyn because she's the tougher challenge."

"Ray's hoping for the match-up with Olivia," Cyndia advised her. "It's always bugged him that his cousins all underestimate him just because their Dad is more-famous than his Mum – even though she was at least as successful in the show as her brother-in-law."

"He may have gotten some of his natural talent from both sides of his family," Hugo suggested. "They're ready for the predictions. Would anyone like to bet that they unanimously pick United?"

Al smiled and shared a hug and kiss with Gwendolyn before they split up to get ready for take-off and the quaffle toss. He'd hugged his mother and cousin too, but none of the United players had wanted to share good-luck hugs and kisses. Alex had nearly forgotten that when his Aunt-in-law Ginny had greeted him after the United players had landed at center pitch; and there'd been some laughs when his wife pretended to punch him and pulled him back away from a hug with another beautiful Witch.

"We'll have fun whether they want to have fun with us or not," Gwendolyn promised.

"We will," Al agreed. "I love you."

United had spread out more-quickly; and their smiles brightened as they saw Olivia at center pitch; looking at them expectantly to find out which of them were going to take up the challenge against her instead of Dominique. Ray was grinning too as Rose used their magical earbuds to tell him that he was to stick with the Chaser match-up that they wanted to have – and he strode over to stand next to his cousin.

"A lot of fun," Al had time to add before he went to stand next to Dominique while Gwendolyn paired up with Lucy.

"Yes!" Trish Wood exclaimed excitedly as her son won the race for the quaffle; faked a move back toward his own goals that Olivia tried to mirror; and then completed a flip that she couldn't replicate before blasting off toward the Unitied goals.

"Aren't you glad that you're over here instead of in the United section with the rest of my family?" Wesley asked his wife; and they both laughed.

"Definitely," she agreed – "though none of us would have ever predicted that three former Harpies players and the brothers of famous Prides and United players would be watching a match like this from the owner's seats in the Cannons' section of the stadium!" She smiled at Gwenog. "I'm surprised that you're not breaking some rules to even be here."

"I'm not," Gwenog assured her – "and I'm glad that we're actually getting to be at one of our kids' matches together. Our schedules don't usually match up very often anymore."

"As in hardly-ever," Lysa Graves agreed. "I think that it's tougher to be a Quidditch Mom than a player sometimes."

"As you've mentioned in some of your wireless web articles," Trish said with a nod. "I've loved doing that since Ginny asked us to help out with that new business."

"It was a..." Lysa began to say, but then had to pause as Trish cheered – for Belinda's first save of the match. "...brilliant idea – and long overdue for a Quidditch site geared to Witches. Are you going to cheer for both teams all day?"

"We love our nieces too," Trish pointed out unapologetically – "and I like to cheer for the Keepers in every match!"

"Well, you'll have a lot to cheer about today with these two Keepers," Ron leaned forward and interjected. He and Hermione were in the row behind Gwenog and Kirley; and they were sitting with Seth's parents, Ryan and Serena Bradley. Al had his mother playing in the match with him; so Ginny was the only Cannons' player without at least one parent in the stadium because Molly and Arthur had decided to watch the match with Muriel from the warmth and comfort of home. "It's nice to have another Keepers-fan in the group. I'm usually stuck with a bunch of fans that only want to see a lot of goals or a brilliant Seeker duel."

"Gwenog and I used to say the same thing about not having enough fans of the Beaters part of the game around us," Lysa told him – "and we'll be in for a good battle for that today too. Brandon and Seth play a lot differently than Gwenog and I did back in the day, but they have skills; and Tina reminds me a lot of Gwenog."

"Especially if her opponents get her mad," Kirley added. "Ryan has the Chaser support covered; so I guess we're only lacking a cheerleader for the Seekers today while Harry's away at the Catapults' match."

"We'll cheer for our former team mate," Trish promised – "though some of us hate her just a little bit right now for coming out of retirement and making the rest of us wish that we could do that too."

"I only wish that until I take a turn playing one of the afternoon scrimmages against Brandon and Seth," Lysa advised her. "Then I remember why I don't want to train like that every day – even though the Cannons have so much more fun than we did back when we were in the show."

"We had fun too," Gwenog protested defensively. "I still do now."

"Your kind of fun was more-painful and exhausting," Trish advised her. "I've loved taking turns playing with our kids too, and those workouts really are more-fun; but it's far too-soon to say whether what they're doing will pay off. None of us would trade the work we did for an easier time of it if that also meant giving up on the championships and other awards we won along the way. Those moments are the ones we all remember – not all of the work and pain that went into getting to the top."

"I remember some of the pain," Lysa disagreed – "especially on cold days like this one!"

The two league matches of the day were nearly complete-opposites in a lot of ways right from the start. Spectators at Exmoor stadium watched a brutal battle with a lot of hard hits; cheap shots; and scoring. It was a tough, ugly afternoon for the Keepers as the Catapults' reserve squad Keeper and Derrick Selwyn had to battle the weather; high-powered Chaser offenses; and an onslaught of attacks from the opposing Beaters. James and Andrea were having a brilliant Seeker duel – and that was one of the few things that their match had in common with the one at Yorkshire. The Cannons and United players were having a brilliant match too, but their battles were all about pitting their Quidditch skills against each other; and the Keepers and defenses won most of those little contests.

That didn't mean that the Chasers didn't score goals – only that each one was a hard-fought and deserved victory. Belinda wasn't happy to give up her first goal early, but Rose only kept a shut-out going until early in the second-hour; and it took time for the Cannons' advantages to start showing up. It was the cold that began affecting the United players the most while being no problem at all for the Cannons thanks to their uniforms. While all of the players on both teams continued to play their best, the Cannons began to build on their lead by two or three goals an hour as the sun set and it got colder and colder outside.

Meanwhile, back at Exmoor stadium, the cold affected all of the players on both teams, but the game-changer happened in favor of the Catapults when Scorpius and Tiberius teamed up on yet another ugly play that knocked Lacey Zabini out of the match near the end of the third hour. At that point in the match, the scoring advantage had all been with the Tornados as they took advantage of the back-up Keeper weakness, but their lead hadn't gotten out of hand because Scorpius, Miya, and Roman had done well against Derrick too. After the lengthy time-out while Lacey was triaged and then moved to St. Mungo's; the match resumed; and the advantage switched to the Catapults. Rachel and Licentia redoubled their efforts to try and compensate for being down a Chaser; which was why the turnaround on the scoreboard took much-longer than anyone watching expected – even when Scorpius and the McClaggens focused their worst attention on Derrick to try and knock him out of the match next.

The two matches came to an end at nearly the same time too, but that was only because there were so many more time-outs at Exmoor. Timing was really the only thing that those epic battles had in common at the end. The Cannons had earned the one-sixty lead over United, but while Ginny backed off from trying to catch the snitch; Alex didn't try to catch it for the loss as his team mates tried for the comeback. Indefinitely defending the snitch against Ginny was an impossible task – a fact that Ginny proved at the eight-hour and twenty-minute mark of the match to help the Cannons to the three-eighty to fifty victory.

In contrast to that, while James and Andrea had been having a brilliant Seeker duel all afternoon and evening; it ended somewhat bizarrely when Andrea won that battle at the seven-hour and twenty-four minute mark to earn the come-from-behind, five-ten to five-hundred, shocking victory. What was even more-bizarre, though, was James' reaction to that defeat because instead of his usual post-match awful; he actually smiled and reciprocated when Andrea enthusiastically hugged him once he'd caught up to her again.

"Okay – we are officially in an alternate universe," Melissa declared. "James Potter lost a Seeker duel and match against a Slytherin – and they're hugging instead of fighting; while here on the big mirror; the happiest team in the league isn't getting any love from the United players – espite the fact that they played a brilliant match without any cheating at all!"

"Maybe their brains have just frozen solid and their hallucinating and acting the opposite of normal," Hugo suggested; earning a louder round of laughs than the one that Melissa had gotten for her comments.

"James didn't play the same against Andrea all day," Lily advised them. "He played hard, but I didn't see any cheating; and the McClaggens played nice with her too – though that might have just been part of their game plan; and they were sure that James could best Andrea without the help."

"Something still happened there at the end," Kathryn pressed. "Andrea gained an advantage on that last race for the snitch; and I don't know why James wasn't able to catch up and stop her."

"The reporters are about to ask him about that," Alyssa interjected. "Let's switch matches so we can all hear what he has to say."

Lily did that for them; and then they were all soon laughing again as James claimed that Andrea made him an indecent proposal that he couldn't refuse – which was also why he momentarily-forgot that his team hadn't quite earned the one-sixty lead when she'd raced off after the snitch once she'd so successfully distracted him. That entertaining admission was followed by Andrea's confirmation that she might have done exactly that; and then more laughs when she added that she hadn't made any promises about the 'when' for that offer. That was news that James seemed to have fun with while acting as though he'd been tricked – all of that banter between the two Seekers far more-entertaining than anyone watching had expected.

"That all sounds more like a really good acting job," Denise offered once that part of the post-game show ended. "Stay tuned for a future episode of The Healer for the next scene in that little drama."

"Lysandra's family has basically adopted Andrea," Stephanie offered. "I could see them getting Andrea on the show too."

"As a love interest for James?" Alyssa asked. "That sort of thing could get a former Slytherin disinherited! Oh wait – that's not a problem for Andrea."

"Well, that worked out nicely for James – and maybe you too," Deanna told Louis. "He can't blame you for this loss too now; and can't insult you for winning the day without you playing either." She sighed; but then she was shocked and on her feet when she heard Louis groan.

"We lost?" he croaked out in barely a whisper. "What... happened?"

"Let's talk about that later," Deanna told him. "How do you feel?"

"Awful... thirsty," he answered. Deanna got the glass of iced water they'd kept at hand and refreshed in case he'd wake and need it; and then needed to sponge his lips before he could even manage a sip from the straw. "Thank you," he said gratefully. "That's better."

"How do you feel?" Deanna repeated; and Louis focused his attention on her while noticing the traces of worry and fear.

"Weak, tired, and fairly-awful," he answered. "What's going on, Deanna? How long have I been out?"

"A week and a half or so," she answered. "I've been so worried – we all have been."

"But you said we lost," he reminded her; and then trailed off. "I've missed the Tornados' match."

"Yes," Deanna agreed, "but don't worry about that now. We need to focus on you – starting with me going to fetch a nurse or Healer."

"I'd rather start with a hug and kiss," Louis told her. "You haven't even tried to hug me yet."

"We'll get to that soon-enough," Deanna promised, "but first we need to get you checked first to make sure that even hugs can't hurt you."

"That bad?" Louis asked; looking confused. "I don't remember anything."

"That's likely for the best," Deanna suggested. "Let me get that nurse – and make a few mirror chat calls to let your family know that you're awake."

Louis' waking was just the start of the good news for him from St. Mungo's, but while Al and Gwendolyn loved finding out that he was truly on the mend and would likely make a full-recovery; they didn't try to push their luck with the family drama; and stayed away from the hospital – especially when Louis' regular visitors included some of his team mates. Louis' return to consciousness put the Quidditch matches on Saturday into a different perspective for a lot of people; and was also a factor for why Valentine's Day fun became more-important for Al, Gwendolyn, and a lot of their favorite Witches and Wizards. Sure, they were going to be up against the Falcons next, and only had six training days to get ready for that battle, but the holiday dedicated to love and happiness gave Al the chance to change up the Cannons' training all week – and they had extra activities going on so that GO MagiSports could express their collective love for everyone that was helping to make their season and year so amazing!

While Al put the extra effort into spreading more love in the world one Quidditch activity at a time, Lily had her team work harder to get ready for their match against Hufflepuff on Saturday with a very-cold, extended work-out on Sunday and near-double practices during the week. Gwenog was busy getting the Harpies ready for their Valentine's Day weekend match on Saturday too; and Kirley and the band were booked for Friday night – a job that was going to keep him away from his favorite Valentine for most of the day between her work, his, and a game night curfew. Regardless of how much fun they were each having at work or school, nearly-everyone that Al and Gwendolyn loved-most was excited about Valentine's Day; and even the one or two exceptions were at least interested in what would happen on Friday – if not excited or hopeful about the holiday.

"Okay, that had better be the last Owl Post for you!" Denise told Lily as she watched her friend send Winter off toward the Owlery with a treat after she delivered a package from her brother and sister-in-law. "Eight of them is just a bit ridiculous; and every Witch in the Hall has taken notice – your best friends included."

"Especially for the owls that delivered the anonymous roses, the anonymous, favorite chocolates, the anonymous card, and three anonymous gifts," Melissa added.

"I don't want to talk about that," Lily warned. She knew who had sent all of those gifts – and so did her friends. The problem was, she wanted to be furious about that; and would be – if not for all of the warm fuzzies that kept bubbling up and smothering all of the mad.

"That's okay – every other Witch in the school will be happy to gossip about this without you," Denise teased. "Did your family send you anything interesting with that last post? Jaimie and Lorie usually pick out funny gifts for you – or at least toddler-rated gifts."

Lily hadn't gotten into that package yet, so she provided ongoing entertainment while doing that – and sharing some of the treats that her parents, Al, Gwendolyn, and the twins sent for her. Getting toys that Jaimie and Lorie would want to have her 'share' with them had been more-entertaining when her friends wanted to play with them too, but they all eventually had to get to their first classes or study periods; and work until they'd all be taking the night off for the Valentine's Day dinner and dance.

The Cannonball cafe, practice pitch, and Atrium were all being used by Susannah and the GO MagiSports charity for their dinner and dance. She set it up to be family-friendly, but to also give some of the families they helped a chance to celebrate Valentine's Day as a family – and then allow the parents or other guardians of the children to enjoy a party while their kids were cared for and entertained in the Atrium. All of the team players were there – mostly for the kids; and Susannah was very happy with the support she got from a lot of the GO MagiSports managers and employees too. That charity and team event had everything to do with why the team practice wrapped up early-enough so that the practice pitch could be decorated and set up for the party, and even though they had a lot of fun all day anyway; an early end to the work week was popular with everyone – even the reporters covering the Quidditch beat.

Al and Gwendolyn had started out their Valentine's Day with some fairly-hot early-morning fun for two; a gift exchange; and then all of the fun before and during breakfast with their family and friends before getting to work. There'd been more fun at lunchtime along with the holiday-themed training; and then they helped out with the party set-up – with Al taking on a lot of the work that required magical muscle to get done in a short amount of time. They had a bit of time left before the start of the social hour to get cleaned up and ready for the party, but since they were also the kid-favorite players; they dressed accordingly instead of dressing up. Even with all of the busy, they still made it to the practice pitch in time to join Susannah, Malorie, Rose, and the rest of the group they had with them to begin welcoming their guests.

"I'd say something about this not being a very romantic first Valentine's Day for our newlyweds," Brandon told them as he handed them drinks, "but this is Al's idea of a perfect party; and he'd likely hate being at one of the big parties like the one at the Magick Hall tonight."

"I will pick celebrating with the people we love-most over partying with hundreds or thousands of people we don't even know," Al agreed.

"We had fun at those big parties during the last Quidditch World Cup summer," Gwendolyn reminded him; and Al nodded.

"We did, but that was still because we were sharing all of those experiences with our families and friends; and those crowds were large-enough that we didn't really have to worry about any major drama moments. Since you brought that up, though, remind me later this year to talk to Susannah about ways we could help the charity and take advantage of the next Quidditch World Cup series to support the charity and help more families."

"Merlin, give him some kids to play with or something," Seth suggested. "We're busy-enough without taking the GO MagiSports charity global!"

"That would be awesome," Susannah told them with a grin for Al, "but there's no way we could do that without a lot of help – or maybe partner teams in all of the other countries."

"Which we might be able to work on when there will be players we connect with from all of those countries," Al pointed out; grinning too.

"Saved by the first group of incoming," Brandon declared quietly with a nod toward the 'public' entrance to the practice pitch. "Seth and I are on drink duty. Let's get this party started!"

Lily was not happy – and knew the cause for that was self-inflicted. All of her friends had dates for the dinner and dance, but she hadn't accepted any offers – there had been three of them; and was still both mad and glad that Jonah hadn't tried to ask her out the way that Al had done for the Halloween dance during his break-up with Gwendolyn. She would never have accepted that offer either – or become the butt of jokes for doing everything exactly the same as her annoying, perfect brother! She'd still gotten dressed up for the party, though; played nice with everyone during the dinner in the Great Hall; and then she made her getaway during the break between the dinner and dance while the hall was set up for the dance.

She'd had no intention of sitting around all night and doing nothing but watching happy couples playing, dancing, and snogging each other; so she started out the rest of her evening with a long, lonely walk around the castle before eventually deciding to head for the Room of Requirements. That choice had more to do with being anywhere else other than the Great Hall or Gryffindor tower, but as she neared the hallway in front of the Room of Requirements, her thoughts were so random that she couldn't even come up with an idea for a room that she needed or wanted; and she didn't even notice that she wasn't alone when she arrived.

"You're a bit far from the Great Hall and dance."

Lily had to control herself to avoid jumping; and then frowned at Jonah. "What are you doing here?"

"I volunteered to do pretty much all of the dance patrols around the castle," he answered as they both continued walking until they were a couple of steps apart; and then they both stopped and stood facing each other. "You look beautiful."

"You're not here by coincidence," she challenged.

"No," Jonah agreed.

"Why? You haven't even tried to talk to me in a month. What do you want?"

Her eyes widened when he took those last two steps; put his arms around her waist; and then answered that question in a non-verbal; seriously-hot sort of way for a minute or hour. They were both smiling and breathless when he stepped back again.

"I am going to love you forever," he told her earnestly. "You're my best dream; and I'll wait for you for as long as it takes for it to come true – even if that means forever too." His smile turned a bit sad then. "I'd better get back to my patrols. Have a happy rest of the night; and good luck in your match tomorrow."

With that said, he walked away; she didn't respond because she refused to allow herself to do that; and after spending long minutes unable to really think at all while battling emotions; she gave up on the Room of Requirements non-plan; went to her dorm room; cuddled with Holly and Poofy; and eventually went off to sleep.

"You're still newlyweds, we're newly-engaged, and most Witches and Wizards would think that we're crazy to find this party so much fun; but I'm glad that Malorie and I are here instead of the Ministry party tonight," Patrick told Al, Gwendolyn, and Malorie as they sat around a table near the lagoon in the atrium and each couple had one sleeping twin to cuddle with after finally getting them tired-enough to get that rest.

"Careful, Patrick, or Malorie might start worrying that she's agreed to marry a Wizard nearly as boring as Al," Gwendolyn teased.

"I get why he gets teased about that, but the only complaints about not being exciting-enough are either related to extreme partying or Al's public displays of modesty," Patrick pointed out. "I like my fun and adventures to be family-friendly; get more than enough extreme excitement that isn't appropriate for the kids at work; and at least two of us think that romantic relationships don't have to be boring just because they're kept private."

"Well, then it's no wonder that neither of you guys have been invited to guest star on The Healer," Malorie joked.

"We love those ideas for an Animorphmagus-gone-wrong storyline," Patrick reminded her, "but I suppose there's no reason for why they couldn't just use an actual animal for the show and claim it was stuck that way."

"The recorded Animagus-gone-wrong cases were really bad," Al reminded him seriously. "I suppose that they could have Lysandra make the Healing possible by permanently completing the transformation to animal form, but then they could get any actor and animal for those roles."

"I'll pass that idea on to Wendy and Wanda," Gwendolyn promised. "We should get the girls into their beds; and then Malorie and Patrick can move on to having some fun at the dance side of the party while we play with the kids that are still awake."

They did that, but Al and Gwendolyn ended up getting a turn for some dancing after that too while Harry, Ginny, and some of the other parents took a turn with the kids. Tents were available in the Atrium for the kids when they needed to sleep; and they were all in beds by a bit after eleven o'clock. The dance and party continued until a bit past-one, though, so Al and Gwendolyn watched over the sleeping kids; helped out with the clean-up when the party was over; and then headed for their own bed by a bit after two o'clock. That wouldn't have left them with any time for hotter-rated fun – or even much sleep at all before the twins would be up again and ready to go again, but the time-stopper allowed them to do that – and add some quality nap time to their night too. That was a great way to wrap up their day and holiday; and then getting to start their weekend with Jaimie and Lorie to entertain them was amazing too.

Breakfast for four was out on their atrium patio; they met up with Harry, Ginny, and the rest of the gang going to Hogwarts for the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match; and then they headed out just in time for when the school grounds would be opened to visitors. Jonah and Alyssa were leading the reception committee for the guests they were expecting for the day, so once they were together; the fun level kicked up quite a bit while hugs, kisses, and belated Valentine's Day best wishes were exchanged. Ray soon went on ahead to see Cyndia for as long as he could before the match, but everyone else waited until all of the expected parents were there; and then they headed for the stadium together. Jonah walked with them until most of their group split off to offer good luck wishes to Lily and her team mates; and then he went on ahead to help with saving seats for everyone while Jaimie and Lorie happily led the way for the pre-game cheer time with the Gryffindor team.

"Play nice today," Al whispered seriously when he finally got to have a turn to hug Lily and wish her luck – and she'd managed to avoid him until last too.

"Why should I?" she whispered back. "I don't get to have my dream whether I'm good or bad; so why should I care?"

"Because it's wrong – and you do care," Al answered. "If you truly didn't; none of this would hurt so much. I love you. Good luck. You're going to be brilliant out there."

"You won't think so if I'm brilliantly-bad," Lily suggested.

"That's your choice," he pointed out, "but you won't look brilliant at Seeker or as Captain if it takes you all day to catch the snitch against a player like Luke Summerby. Whatever you decide to do after school, the choices you'll have will be more-limited if the team scouts that are here today aren't impressed."

"They all think that I'll be playing for the Harpies," she reminded him; and Al shrugged.

"Yes, but you know who they are; and can talk to them first," he pointed out. "That's up to you too."

"So you keep saying – except that you want all of us to make the choices that you want," she accused.

"Well, I do hope that what I want for all of the people I love the most is also what's best for them – and possible; since I'd never try to convince anyone to do things that would be bad for them or lead to hurting others."

"Now you're scolding me in your usual back-handed way," she decided. "Go away."

Hogwarts Quidditch in mid-February could be as much about the weather as the player and team skills, but while it was a cold winter day, the conditions were pretty good at game time as Colin got his pre-game show started and the spectators settled in. The Quidditch Cup and senior team standings were simple-enough for everyone to keep up with heading into the last match for the first-half of the season. Ravenclaw had the lead in both with two wins; and Gryffindor and Hufflepuff each wanted the win to keep up with Ravenclaw for the Quidditch Cup race. Only one of them would end up with a win for the senior team title race, but a second loss for Gryffindor would put them out of that race; while Hufflepuff would both need the win and then win their match against Ravenclaw in May by enough points to win the tie-break too.

Colin's news didn't really change anything about the mix of spectators cheering for Gryffindor or Hufflepuff – the advantage for that definitely went in favor of Leanne Jordan and her team. That fact wasn't good news for Hufflepuff because it was a fact that Lily took note of and found annoying. By the time Mr. Peakes tossed the quaffle, she was leaning toward including Hufflepuff in her early revenge plans against the Harpies – and away from Al's 'play nice' request. The early Quidditch action between the Chasers and Keepers was close-enough that their battles didn't sway her either way – though she hated seeing Leanne play well – even against a team with one Chaser on a Hurricane. Cyndia had a definite advantage over Justine Finch-Fletchley, but it took her twenty minutes to get the first goal past Leanne.

What did happen that changed Lily's mind was her first true attempts to start wearing Luke down in their Seeker duel. He was a nice guy, but hadn't played against her since third year while on the Hufflepuff reserve squad behind Madison; and despite training for two years with the Arrows' new Seeker; it was obvious that he wasn't prepared to go up against Lily – or her much-better broom. She hated finding out that Al had been right about that part of his talk with her, but she knew that it would both be wrong to make Luke look incompetent and she'd look bad to the scouts she really did want to impress – especially the Harpies' scout that would report back to Gwenog and Glynnis.

She did not want to look like the weaker player compared to Leanne – or anyone else!

The timing for when she did put the match to an end didn't really have anything to do with the scoring or score, but she was happy that Cyndia, Kathryn, and Melissa each got to earn a goal against Leanne before she caught the snitch at the forty-four minute mark to give her team the one-eighty to ten victory. A shut-out for Hugo would've been nice, but he gave up a goal to Drew Summers shortly-after Melissa earned the second goal for Gryffindor; and that was still a great Keeper performance that Lily knew would look even more-impressive in hindsight once everyone found out that he'd won that little Keeper duel against the Harpies' future Keeper! Her own duel win was impressive without being embarrassing to Luke because she set up some help from Fred to give Luke a good excuse for the early defeat, so the only part of the match that hadn't been great was the fact that it had been too-short and she hadn't gotten the chance to burn off any of the mad.

"Quit smiling like that," Jonah told Al; and he was frowning. "Rule Number One may apply when Lily finds out that she was being too-kind to Hufflepuff."

"Ravenclaw has the tie-break?" Gwendolyn guessed; and Jonah nodded.

"By just ten points," he confirmed.

"Trouble-magnet," Gwendolyn joked; directing that at Al while still grinning.

"I don't want to thank you for winning today," Leanne told Lily as they met up at center pitch for the inter-team niceties, "but I will thank you for not playing the points game for the Quidditch Cup race at our expense." She smiled ruefully when Lily looked confused for just a moment before what Leanne meant hit home. "And now I'm wishing that I'd said nothing and hoped that you didn't notice that until later." She stepped close and hugged Lily – mostly so that she could whisper what she said next. "Don't worry about it," she counseled. "We both know that Gryffindor now has the advantage in the Quidditch Cup race because of Ravenclaw's junior team Seeker problem. I seriously doubt that a tie-break will be an issue this year – unless it's between our Houses; and you do have that advantage right now."

"All true, but that won't keep my favorite haters from throwing it in my face," Lily pointed out.

"Well, your brother is here today; and you can always invoke Rule Number One," Leanne offered with a grin that had Lily laughing even though she was mad – and truly was already blaming Al for messing her up to the point that she forgot about the points side of her own game plan.

"I wonder whether he'll still enjoy the Harpies match this afternoon while dealing with a Butt-Bogey afliction?" Lily asked.

"Probably not – win or lose." Leanne answered.

Thanks to the short match, Harry and Ginny were able to make sure that Lily got to have extra time with Jaimie and Lorie that even included a bit of snow play time. Visitors were allowed that extra time before needing to leave the school grounds; and that worked out great for Ray and Cyndia too; though they wandered off on their own; and their smiles suggested that they made the best of that time when they met up with everyone else at the school gates. Al and Lily had one little moment of drama when he needed to disarm her because she'd tried to hex him. Advising his sister that he was done with letting anyone blast him for any reason didn't go over very well with her either, but she didn't try to take that disagreement to the next level; and he just stayed out of her way after that quiet little confrontation that only Gwendolyn had witnessed. This time, Al and Gwendolyn took care of getting Jaimie and Lorie home before going on to the game day luncheon at the Leaky – and they were happy to have that break to get warm again before heading over to Exmoor stadium for the Harpies-Wasps' match.

"Keep smiling for all of our fans," Bristol whispered through her own brilliant smile – without moving her lips. James thought that she could get a job as a Muggle ventriloquist with that talent, but he looked away from the giant mirror showing the start of the Harpies match; and did as ordered.

"Did you forget to mention something to me about this party?" he whispered in return; and Bristol shrugged imperceptibly.

"I didn't know," she answered, "though I'm not surprised that they'd be showing one of the Quidditch matches at a party meant to promote the show – and the connections we've made to it for Quidditch. Maybe we can work on that for next season – make up videos for your fictional team and league. We only have the one Quidditch scene so far. It's a bit too-short to use at a party like this one."

"Well, if we're going to have to put up with that nonsense; let's get started on the drinking," James suggested; and Bristol laughed.

"Wouldn't that be high on your list anyway?"

"Yes," James admitted. "We'd have been having fun all day with the one activity that's always at the top of my priority list if you'd let me talk you into blowing off this party, though, so I'll have to settle for working on number two and three."

"With both of those activities meant to get you back to the top of the list," Bristol joked knowingly. "Lucky for you that those are three of my favorite activities – if farther down on my to-do list behind getting world-famous, obsenely-rich, and staying young and beautiful forever."

"All worthy goals," James approved – "though you still might have been happy with that job I offered you to be my live-in housekeeper."

"No, I wouldn't have been," she disagreed. "I want to be famous, not infamous – which I would have been by now if I'd taken that job; and then killed you within the first week."

"Then it seems we're both doing what we should be; since that might have been unpleasant for me – to have to keep you from doing that."

"Saved by the super-fans," Bristol had time to say – and imply – before the first trio of what was sure to be hundreds of fans wanted their attention, autographs, or more. Bristol loved all of the attention and adoration; spending a couple of days with James to promote the show and storyline had more, um, ups than downs as they played in public and private; and getting paid a lot to play and party was the perfect job for both of them too!

The Harpies and Wasps were having a great match – until late in the second hour when one of the Wasps' Chasers made a rather-serious mistake and crashed himself out of the match. Aaron tried everything he could to catch the snitch over Gabrielle in a non-stop race after that, but couldn't get that done before Victoire led the way to the one-sixty lead for the Harpies. That took another couple of hours, and then the Harpies extended that lead just a bit more while Gabrielle stopped defending the snitch and until Aaron could make the catch for the loss. The three-forty to two-hundred victory was great for the Harpies and their fans, but just a bit of a let-down for all of the spectators that hadn't expected such a one-sided battle.

Al and Gwendolyn didn't really mind the way the win had happened – things like that happened in Quidditch. They loved getting to go home; get warm; and then share a late dinner with their parents and some of their family and friends in the atrium; and the play evening that followed was a great way to wrap up another really amazing day. Well, the bedtime fun for two was actually a much-hotter and exciting end to their day, but then most of that happened after midnight anyway; so they could count it as the start of their Sunday instead!

Saturday had been the start of the second-half of February, but it felt like the end of the Valentine-holiday 'season' because of the two-day blast of fun; and Sunday was going to be the unofficial start of the transition weeks from winter-to-spring and Valentine's Day to Easter. Al and Gwendolyn were going to be experiencing that from home for the firs time since before they started at Hogwarts, and it wasn't as though this time of year had been particularly-boring for them while at school, but they had a very busy schedule booked even without any extra additions or surprises; so Al was sure that they would continue to have fun and hopefully have even more success!

Al didn't think about any of that when he did eventually get to sleep in the wee hours of Sunday morning, but starting that nine-week stretch to Easter so brilliantly kept Al and Gwendolyn happy, and since that was their daily goal; they were willing to simply try and make that happen one day at a time; keep their fingers crossed; and continue to hope for the very best for themselves and everyone they loved-most!