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!

92. March of the Cannon's Clown Brigade

Chapter Ninety-Two – March of the Cannon's Clown Brigade!

The top family event for Sunday was Roxanne's sixteenth birthday, but while her Hogwarts cousins and friends helped her out with celebrating her special day, her family at home had to settle for the early birthday wishes they'd been able to offer while at Hogwarts on Saturday; and mirror chats at breakfast or on Sunday evening. Since most Hogwarts students had already taken Friday and Saturday off from their studies, even Roxanne's party had to be multi-tasked with working on revision, but that didn't keep them from having fun; and they managed to keep up with the workload too.

Work was the name of the game for Al and Gwendolyn on Sunday too – though most of their work was at home. They caught up on chores in the townhouse and around the Atrium and practice pitch; had some toy-making fun; and Al used his time-stopper to get work done on the Camp Cannonball buildings. They only had one team-related activity, but that early-morning interview didn't get in the way of their work-play time; and that general need for domesticity seemed to be contagious around their community before they'd all be getting back to work on Monday – and ready for their second match against the Falcons on Tuesday night.

While the Cannons had a busy training day that was most-challenging for Al as he tried to keep the fun level high without the holiday-themed entertainment and heading into a battle against one of the teams that wanted to hurt them even more than they wanted to get revenge and win; Al and Gwendolyn once again only had a mirror chat involvement with Caylee Fawcett's thirteenth birthday – along with a group gift that had been left with Riley on Saturday. The training was lighter on Tuesday morning; they only had a meeting and then rest time in the afternoon; and met up at Ilkley two hours ahead of game time for warm-ups and a light snack meal. Finally, Al helped all of his team mates with making sure that they started the match at full-power – a strategy that he was trying out for the first time to find out whether it would make a difference for him later in what they were prepared for and expecting to be a long, tough Quidditch battle.

"Lee and his team of experts ought to make predictions tonight on whether the Falcons learned anything from their last match against the Cannons," Hugo suggested as he sat down and began getting ready to study soon-after they'd finished setting up their classroom for the game watching, work, and play time – including having the portable pool ready for anyone that needed the break from either the revision or Quidditch action.

"I'll predict 'not' for that one," Alyssa told him – "though they won't get away with another pre-match attack even if they're dim-enough to try that one again."

"Even if Al didn't have the talent to heal; I'm not sure that they thought that one all the way through anyway," Lily offered. "If it had worked and the Cannons had needed to forfeit; the Falcons fans would've been mad that they didn't get to watch their team pound on the Cannons and run up the score on them too. It would've been much-smarter to launch that attack on take-off. If they'd knocked Gwendolyn and Rose off of their brooms; the match could have continued; and they'd have had the seven-to-five advantage."

"I hope that you didn't offer that advice around any Slytherins," Hugo told her – "though I still think that getting Al that mad would end badly for the Falcons – even if our team was down a player or two."

"We know that the Falcons haven't been reformed since that last match," Cyndia reminded them, "but I think that this match will be different than the last – maybe more like the match we had against the Catapults. The Falcons will try to pound our team and wear them down over the long haul."

"That'd be a mistake too," Alyssa said as she nodded in agreement. "Rupert Avery probably isn't even a top-eight Keeper, and while Blaise and Davis Zabini have some talent beyond the horrid way they play; they're no match for Al and Gwendolyn."

"Brand will be sure that he can best Mum," Lily stated – "and probably knock her out of the match too."

"They nearly-ended Louis' Quidditch career in their last match against the Catapults," Stephanie reminded them. "I wouldn't be surprised if they try that tactic again – make it look like they're doing one thing; and then try a surprise hit on Rose – or on someone else on the team."

"Maybe," Lily agreed. "The Falcons do have a knack for lack of imagination, so once they do something that actually works; they go back to it over and over again."

"That's true," Hugo agreed. "Let's see if most of Lee's experts do the same – and pick the team that isn't the Cannons for the win!"

They watched as Lee and just one of his experts went rogue and picked the Cannons for the win, but the majority still went with the Falcons; and earned a round of laughs from the teens and tweens in the room for those choices that seemed to be based on nothing but a deep-seated hope for the worst for the Cannons. The team introductions followed; their gathering at center pitch did not include any inter-team hugs and kisses; the referee made short work of getting them lined up and ready to play; and then the Falcons saved the first hits for immediately after the quaffle toss.

"Check the cupboards – we may have a Slytherin spy in the room," Hugo joked – which he could do; since the Falcons' attempt to do exactly what Lily had suggested on take-off failed miserably.

"I said that's what they should have done," Lily reminded him. "They're idiots to think that only changing that up to be after the quaffle-toss would be a surprise for the Cannons. Theo came closer to knocking Blaise out than Gwendolyn with that stupid play."

"Their fans do like to see heads getting bashed in," Hugo reminded her. "Do they care whether they do that to their own players?"

"I'm pretty sure that they do," Alyssa answered – "unless one of those players tries to do something radical – like playing fair and being nice to everyone."

"Speaking of that – I haven't seen Al complimenting any of the Falcons or offering any high-fives," Denise told them. "Is that because he's being nice – or not?"

Al smiled brilliantly as he watched Gwendolyn score a goal; laughed while dodging another attempt from Blaise to bash into him; and then he only had time to share a micro-hug with Gwendolyn before they were rushing back onto defense again.

"Gregor trying to get in behind you," Al warned Rose. They were keeping the 'all-player' mode for their magical earbuds on all of the time and watching out for each other.

"Saw him," Rose assured him.

"Don't worry," Brandon interjected. "Gregor's the one who needs to watch out right now."

Al was too-busy to watch and see why that was true, but he sensed what was going on behind him as he took up the goalsline position for their defensive stand; and then everyone heard the hit that Gregor took from the bludger that Brandon had bashed his way – but not directly at him.

"I'd have missed if he hadn't changed directions," Brandon offered without apology; since Gregor had been trying to get set up for a blind-side hit on Rose. "I guess he didn't hear it coming."

"No, but he is feeling it now for sure," Rose suggested as she watched Al keep Blaise from even getting a shot on goals. Blaise didn't lose the quaffle; so he tried to set up another play – only to have Ray break it up and earn an interception. "Come on, guys – I like shut-outs as much as the next Keeper, but they aren't that impressive if the other team doesn't get any shots on goals; so quit playing so brilliantly!"

Rose had actually faced a couple of dozen shots by then, but her Chasers had stopped a lot of offensive plays too; and that really wasn't many scoring chances for a match that was already into the third hour. Gwendolyn's most-recent goal was the twelfth for the Cannons; and it wasn't looking good for the Falcons to keep them from earning the one-sixty lead no matter how hard they tried to knock any of the Cannons out of the match. Al didn't give their opponents credit for playing hard when that also meant trying to do their worst, but he did wonder why they kept on with a game plan that wasn't working for them at all.

"Animorphmagus sandwich in two..." Gwendolyn warned; and then joined in on the round of quiet laughs as Al pivoted his broom vertical; bounced like it was a pogo stick; and then Theo and Blaise crashed into each other – though that was just a glancing blow as they avoided a head-on collision that might have ended up injuring one or both of them. "Nice move – remind me to get you to teach it to us tomorrow."

"Can do," Al promised – "though if this ends up being another all-nighter; let's take tomorrow off."

Ron cheered as Rose made another save and kept her shut-out going – and then cheered again when she avoided Davis' attempt to bash into her from behind after taking the shot and then swinging around behind the goals.

"That was brilliant!" he told Harry enthusiastically. "I thought they were finally going to score a goal on that one."

"I'm not saying that they won't, but Rose had the angle covered on that play," Harry advised him.

"I saw an opening," Ron disagreed.

"Yes, but Davis doesn't play the game in three dimensions very well," Harry explained. "Rose knows that; and played accordingly."

"How do you even know that?" Ron asked; and Harry shrugged.

"Al has a knack for noticing things like that. Davis never tries moving in more than two dimensions at a time – and when he's trying to do something vertically; he's not very good at doing anything else. It's likely a vertigo issue for that; and the rest is possibly because his idea of a third dimension is all about trying to get the next hit in on his opponents."

"He's pretty good at that – against most of the other teams," Ron offered. "What are the chances that Brand will try to catch the snitch for the loss? Their fans certainly aren't very happy right now with the total lack of success they're having so far tonight."

"You know they won't do that – even if that would be what's best for their team," Harry told him. "That could come back to haunt them if there are any tie-breaks at the end of the regular season."

"I'd say that they ought to worry about making the playoffs at all, but that win over the Catapults helped them; and they'll likely be okay if they win the rest of the matches they'd normally win every season," Ron suggested; and then grinned before adding – "except for this one."

Lily had stayed in the common room once there ahead of curfew, but by midnight, she was more-interested in getting sleep than waiting to see whether the Cannons and Falcons ended up playing another all-night match. Melissa and Kathryn decided to head for their beds when she advised them that she was calling it a night; they all got ready for bed; and then they ended up using their special team magical earbuds and Lily put the match on again – to the show that Teresa and Kylie were doing – so that they could all listen to it while they drifted off to sleep – or didn't. The last score that Lily remembered before crashing and napping was two-fifty to naught near to the end of the fifth hour – not including time outs; so she went to sleep sure that it was only a matter of time before her mother ended the match with the snitch catch.

Getting there might take an unknown amount of time; there were sure to be more brilliant goals from her brother, sister-in-law, and Ray; and as many cheap shots and dirty tricks as the Falcons could manage before proving that their style of Quidditch was useless against the Cannons.

That confidence didn't make Lily happy – and neither did the dreams that followed with her playing for the Cannons – even when those imagined Quidditch battles always included winning every Seeker duel against Gabrielle and the Harpies!

James sat on his usual sofa in his sitting room; still=awake hours past his game-day curfew; and still drinking steadily as he watched the ongoing battle between the clown brigade and the Falcons. He kept hoping that the Falcons would do him a favor and end the loser's Quidditch career – or his life, but they were too-incompetent; and that was, apparently, too much to hope for from the supposedly-toughest team in the league.

"Three-fifty to naught," he called out aloud as he watched the loser share yet another mid-air hug with the Potty-trainer. He held up his glass with a one-finger salute; and then took another large swallow of the fire-whiskey. "Go ahead, dog – run it up on them again. As long as you smile and act as if you're being nice; everyone will keep believing your lies!"

The mirror-cams continued to follow the Chasers as the Falcons went on the attack again; Blaise only managed a shot on goals that he shouldn't have even bothered trying to make and that the Weasel saved easily; and then the scene switched to the Seeker duel again in time to show Brand and Theo attempting to crush his ex-mother again while Gregor was on-duty to bash the bludger their way too. James couldn't resist the surge of hope that was dashed at the last moment as Ginny somehow flipped her broom by the tail-end at the last moment and the crash that followed only involved Falcons' players and the bludger. He laughed derisively; and then grimaced as the mirror-cam view switched from that crash to Ginny as she raced for the snitch. His mouth dropped open when she vaulted over Gregor's attempt to get in her way with another impossible-looking direction change; adjusted her trajectory at the last moment; and still caught up to and then captured the snitch!

"Son of a B-Witch!" he slurred before draining his glass. He stood; nearly fell over; and then staggered over to refill his glass while continuing to watch the mirror and hoping for a bad end to the night for his ex-mother and the clown brigade as one of the mirror-cams showed three Falcons converging on Ginny from a wide-angle view.

He spilled some of the fire-whiskey as the view on the mirror changed to a close-up; the loser blasted into view out of nowhere; took Brand and Gregor head-on; and pushed both Wizards back as if they weighed nothing at all. The on-mirror view followed the three Wizards; Al kept pushing until they were behind the Falcons' goals; and then the two Falcons players kept going for another ten yards while Al hit the brakes; spun; and flew back toward center pitch. All of the mirror network viewers had to wait for a replay to find out that Ginny dodged Theo's attempt to bash her; and then it was over because she had back-up from Seth and Ray while Brandon made sure that none of the Falcons would take advantage of the main distraction to go after Rose or Gwendolyn.

"Son of a B-Witch," James repeated in disgust. "Five-hundred to naught. Now I'll have to put up with all of the idiot reporters throwing that in my face all day tomorrow. I should call in sick and then make a miraculous, game-time recovery!"

Why not? They were only up against the Kestrels. He could drink all day; go into that match drunk and with an arm tied behind his back; and still beat that fool Santini with his eyes closed!

A nearly-seven-hour match along with time-outs and the post-game interviews and fan fun kept the Cannons' players out until past-four, but the only change that Rose made for their normal training was to push breakfast and the start of their work day back by an hour; and then Al helped out the rest of the way with another round of fatigue healing. They needed to get to work right away because the Tornados were up next – and that match was on Ron's birthday; so they wanted to do everything possible to make sure that their most-dedicated fan would get to have a very happy day! The late night and near-normal work day gave Al and Gwendolyn a good excuse to skip watching the Catapults' match with the group that gathered to do that in the cafe – or at home.

Spending the evening playing together was much-better for Al – especially just a day after dealing with all of the hate from the Falcons and their fans. Ignorance could be bliss too; and they didn't miss much of a match. Louis was still recovering and couldn't play, so the Kestrels were able to score some goals against the Cataputls' back-up Keeper, but Scorpius and the McClaggens took care of that problem when they knocked one of the Kestrels' Chasers out of the match early in the second hour; and left their Keeper playing with injuries that were serious-enough to leave him all but useless. Once they'd earned those ugly successes; Scorpius happily led the way as the Catapults began to run up the score on the Kestrels – until James got bored and put Santini out of his misery at the three-hour and forty-five minute mark to end the ugly debacle with a final score of five-ten to one-twenty. Missing out on the post-game nonsense was for the best too; though Al and Gwendolyn did hear all about it – along with the match high and low-lights – at breakfast on Thursday morning.

'Proving' their superiority by earning ten more points than the Cannons had the night before – and doing that more than three-hours sooner could only be amusing; and even one of the reporters covering the post-game interviews apparently had thought so too; and pointed out that the Catapults had only won by three-ninety. Al didn't get into the mix for those stories – other than to get some bad press for having the audacity to not even watch his brother's match. Fortunately for Weasley clan members of the Cannons, they had a family event that was much more fun – Dora Lupin's first birthday. They had to get through the work day first; Al and Gwendolyn had an extra, evening news interview to do in-studio; and then they had to hurry to get ready for the party and then over to Grimmauld Place.

"Welcome," Ginny told them as she opened the door and waved them in out of the cold. "We're so glad that you could come to Dora's party!"

"You have been working a few matches in a row," Gwendolyn reminded her with a grin. "Another part-time job wasn't necessary." Ginny laughed as she shared hugs with them; and then directed them to put their cloaks into the large, walk-in closet before leading them up to the drawing room.

"Teddy and Victoire were both busy; so I volunteered," she explained. "Dora is a bit fired up today; and a handful to keep up with – even with all of the grandparents and great-grandparents here and helping out."

"That might just be making the problem worse," Gwendolyn suggested. "Dora has a crowd to show off for – and seems to enjoy the spotlight."

"She really does like the attention," Ginny agreed. "I'd say something about Victoire having her in training already for her future with the Harpies, but the timing for that right now isn't very good; so I won't go there."

"While doing that anyway," Gwendolyn teased. "Is everything going okay so far with Jaimie and Lorie?"

"Better than usual," Ginny answered. "I'll guess that some of your aunts, uncles, and cousins have had a recent change of heart – or they're just playing nice because Dora wants to play with her cousins."

"She doesn't get to spend as much time with other kids – at least compared to Jaimie and Lorie," Al suggested. "We should talk to Teddy and Victoire about that and maybe have Dora join us for one or two of our kid-time workouts every month."

"That might be against Harpies' rules," Ginny joked; "but we can ask. Percy and Audrey will be here for dinner – though they haven't arrived yet; so stick with plan A, please."

"It's all Al's fault?" Gwendolyn teased. "Oh, wait – that's the first rule; not the plan."

"If it gets weird; I'll turn into something and keep the kids entertained," Al offered. "Uncle Percy doesn't have a knack for talking with animals, does he?"

"Not that I know of," Ginny answered after joining Gwendolyn for the laugh. "Just don't make that animal a Hippogriff. The last time we had to clean up after one in here; it took years."

They were at the drawing room door by then, so that chat ended; and they were soon all involved in the last half of the social time that Teddy and Victoire had set up before having everyone move downstairs again and into the dining room for Dora's birthday dinner. Al and Gwendolyn were on the fringes for that meal – along with the cousins that were able to attend. Victoire still managed to keep Al as far away from Percy and Audrey as possible; and Al helped out with that by staying as close to invisible as possible without using magic. That was easy-enough to do while they enjoyed the meal and while Dora enjoyed all of the usual birthday-themed fun. Percy conveniently needed to leave almost-immediately after Dora opened her gifts; so there weren't any drama issues after that. Al was happy to sit down with Dora, Jaimie, and Lorie for some play time with new toys; and there was some Animorphmagus entertainment too – though Gwendolyn instigated that part of the fun; and then Al had to go along with the 'suggestion' because the kids thought the idea a brilliant one. It was still a work night for most of the guests – and Dora's parents, so the party wrapped up in time for all of the players to get home ahead of training day curfews; while Dash and Misty took care of the post-party clean-up for their Masters.

Dora's special day was the last 'extra' activity of the week for Al and Gwendolyn, and they were happy about that because it gave them a chance to spend more time on other work or activities – especially when they had an open weekend too. They trained with their team all day on Friday; decided to spend the night at their Camp Cannonball cottage; and used Al's time-stopper to 'make' the time they wanted or needed so that Al could do more work on the other camp buildings; and they could have as much play time for two as they wanted while enjoying a micro-getaway. Gwendolyn helped with the work where she could too, but she also took the opportunity to enjoy some personal pampering time too – like a long soak in their Jacuzzi tub and a couple of hours of quiet reading while enjoying a nice bottle of wine. Spending the entire weekend there wasn't an option because they had two interviews, a luncheon, and a party to attend for the team or charity, but Al also got work done from home too when they weren't busy with those other activities or some play time with their parents and friends both days. They 'made' time for extra, newlywed-rated fun too; so by the time they went to bed on Sunday night; they were very happy and ready to get back to work again for the last week of February.

The final five days of February proved to be a near-opposite to the previous week – at least when it came to the work and play schedule for Al and Gwendolyn. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday proved to be the quieter days as they trained for the Tornados' match and put in extra time on other work they wanted to get done before their 'extra' activities kicked up a few notches – starting with the Harpies-Arrows match on Thursday evening. Attending that match on a training night wasn't an option, but unlike Catapults matches; Al was happy to meet up with his parents, team mates, and other neighbors in the cafe to watch as much of the match as they could before curfew. The Arrows kicked off their evening entertainment with a game-time surprise – putting Tory Summers in to play against the Harpies instead of Mark Goldstein. That news affected all of the Cannons' players as they watched Tory fly with her team for the first time in the show – though that was for different reasons.

"This is brilliant for Tory, but we played with Mark at Hogwarts; and he can't be happy about the Arrows taking him out of the game," Brandon told the others at his table – including Al and Gwendolyn.

"Maybe this is a birthday gift for Tory," Gwendolyn suggested. "Her birthday was last week; and getting a chance to play against her mother tonight will be really awesome for Tory."

"That could be it," Rose agreed – "or the Arrows might just be trying to shake things up against the Harpies. I don't see how that would help – especially having Tory play against her Mum. Vicky will likely play better – not worse. Mark does well-enough against the third Chasers on all of the other teams; so this might actually be a mistake by the Arrows. I hope they're not thinking about putting Tory up against Victoire. She'd lose that battle – and probably by a lot."

"We'll have to see," Ginny said with a nod. "Tory may have improved a lot since joining the Arrows. We don't even know if they're moving her up earlier or later than they'd planned. That might depend on how long it has taken her to get up to speed on that Lightningbolt. She didn't have one at Hogwarts; so the move up from a Firestorm may have taken a while. The timing for this match isn't random, though, and you could be right about this being wrong for the Arrows, Rose – unless Tory can best her Mum on a regular basis tonight."

"I wasn't thinking about the training issue just now," Gwendolyn admitted. "Mark is a good player too, though, so I hope this isn't just a publicity stunt. That wouldn't be fair to him if he's playing better than Tory in their practices."

"That wouldn't be good for Tory either if she's not ready," Harry pointed out. "I'll vote for the Arrows just trying to change things up to try and get the win tonight. The publicity they'll get from having the mother-daughter Quidditch battle will just be an added bonus – one that might make up for the bad strategy choice."

Al expected that there was a bit of truth for several of those theories, but he tried not to form a personal opinion. Player changes were part of the game and business, and while he thought that Mark and Tory were likely a close match for skill; he had no doubt that Tory had the greater potential for earning money for the Arrows. If that was the goal, then launching Tory's debut in the show against her mother's team was very likely the right move – win or lose. Add in the confidential information he had about the Harpies' plans for next season; and having Tory play this match against her mother would look brilliant in hindsight by the time training camps opened again in July.

The fun continued as the two teams met up at center pitch – particularly with the few moments that Tory and Vicky got to spend together. Al would have needed to be there to know whether there were any issues going on under the surface, but while Tory may have once truly dreamed of playing for the Harpies as much as Gwendolyn and Lily; he expected that she would be better-off making her own mark on the league with the Arrows instead of trying to follow her mother's brilliant career with the Harpies.

Lily had been as surprised as anyone else in the room by Tory's introduction as one of the Arrows' Chasers, but the impact on her had likely been different than for anyone else because of her ongoing problems. Watching Tory with her mother had her wondering whether the Harpies had made an offer to her as well – one that Tory had rejected too. Now that would have been a statement if Tory's next-best offer had been for a spot on the Arrows' reserve squad – and she picked that over an insulting offer from her mother's team. That was pure speculation on her part, but Lily had fun with the idea – and hoped more than a little bit that Tory could help the Arrows to best the Harpies. That wasn't a realistic expectation, but it was enough to keep her interested in the match – and she didn't have to fake that for the first time since getting the dream-crushing bad news from Gwenog nearly two months ago.

Tory's insertion into the Arrows' Chaser trio looked pretty good right from the quaffle toss, but wasn't without a few issues that the Chasers and Keepers in her study and game-watching group were happy to discuss – particularly when Tory had problems working with Susan and Lee. That was inevitable with new Chaser combinations, but the Arrows were playing conservatively; and the Harpies didn't earn many goals on those blown plays. They – the Harpies – did earn and keep a small lead, but it wasn't until late in the second hour before they earned a two-goal lead and then the Arrows couldn't tie the match again anymore.

The Arrows probably got everything they'd hoped for in the match – a slower, defensive pace; a decent Chaser match-up; and an awesome Seeker duel effort from Madison. What they didn't get was a scoring advantage. That went to the Harpies; and Victoire led the way as the Harpies scored almost three goals per hour while the Arrows couldn't quite manage two. A bit more than a goal per hour advantage wasn't going to get the Harpies to the one-sixty lead anytime soon, so while the battle between Chasers and Keepers got most of the mirror network attention; the victory was almost-certain to come down to Gabrielle and Madison. They were both still going strong by the time that Lily and her friends needed to pack up ahead of curfew, so after getting back to the Gryffindor common room; Lily joined the game-watching gang already there – along with Melissa and Kathryn. Hugo was out on Prefect patrol with Alyssa – and Lily suspected that he'd be gone at least until after midnight – and the start of his seventeenth borthday.

"This is a really good match, but if it goes on too much longer; I won't be able to stay up and watch it," Kathryn advised her friends as they settled around a work table because the comfortable furniture was all still in use. "We have Hugo's party tomorrow night; a bunch of Quidditch matches and Melissa's birthday on Saturday; and that'll only leave us with Sunday for studying. Having another late night tonight isn't an option for me."

"I shouldn't stay up late either," Melissa told her, "but it'll be tough for me to turn this off and not know how it ends until morning. It's a lot easier to do that when one of the teams already has the one-sixty lead and the outcome isn't in doubt except for whether a Seeker makes the snitch catch for the win or loss."

"I'd comment on that, but since the Seeker expert in our group isn't saying much tonight; I'm not sure whether that's good or bad for the Harpies."

"Maybe she's silently cheering for Madison," Melissa suggested with a grin. "She does want Gabrielle's job; so having her lose some of these matches against other top-eight teams would be good for Lily."

"Well, Madison never bested Lily – though I guess that they only played three matches against each other," Kathryn pointed out. "Madison got the last catch for the loss against Gabrielle, so unless they meet in the playoffs; the best she can do between now and when we graduate is three Seeker dule wins and one loss."

"You've been talking about the Chasers and Keepers most of the night," Lily reminded them. "The Seeker duel is too close to call right now, but you did make a point about this match; since the Arrows are playing better and haven't given up the one-sixty lead like they did in their first match against the Harpies."

"So we stay up and see it to the end – or wait until morning to find out what happens," Melissa said with a nod. "I'll pick option one – unless I get too tired and need to crash."

Al and Gwendolyn didn't stay up late – though they didn't go right to sleep at curfew either. A bit of time-stopped fun-for-two helped to tire them out – and have them very happy when they did go to sleep. They didn't find out that the Harpies won the match until morning, but then it took Gabrielle until the eight-hour and twenty-minute mark to finally best Madison for the three-ninety to one-forty victory, and with time outs; they were just waking up by the time the Harpies and Arrows players and managers were going to bed! While they were happy with that news, the early-morning highlight of their Friday was the birthday mirror chat with Hugo that Rose and Brandon had a small gang with them for while sharing that blast of breakfast-time fun with her brother, Alyssa, and some of their cousins and friends.

There was just one training day left to get ready for their match against the Tornados, but Al made sure that everyone still had fun – even when it came to doing interviews and dealing with the inevitable criticism and comparison to James and the Catapults. The top Quidditch news should have been Louis' return to match-play readiness in time for the Catapults' game on Saturday, but James and the McClaggens made fun of their Keeper; and were more-interested in promising the worst for Pauline and the Prides. It wasn't always easy for Al to deal with the questions about that from the usual group of reporter-haters, but he managed well-enough without getting into any trouble; and tried his best to entertain without controversy. There was some quiet stress involved in juggling everything, though, so Al was ready to head for bed with Gwendolyn in time for their game night curfew; entertain themselves until they were ready to sleep; and then get rested up for what was sure to be a long, busy day and weekend.

Rose and the Cannons were hosting a birthday breakfast for Ron at the cafe on Saturday morning in case they wouldn't be able to do a birthday dinner later in the day. Unlike Dora's first birthday, this meal wasn't attended by the entire available family. Al and Gwendolyn were the only 'cousins' and Ginny, Bill, George, and their spouses were the only 'siblings' to join in on the early-morning entertainment. Al and Gwendolyn weren't at the 'head table' for the meal, but they were happy to get that time with Jaimie and Lorie instead before they'd be busy for most of the day with work and Quidditch.

While Ron's birthday wish was surely for even more than a Cannons win over the Tornados; celebrating his birthday didn't even end up being the most-exciting event of the morning. That came via Owl Post; and Kendall had to wait until after breakfast to pass a very special letter along to Rose while the team was getting together after they'd finished eating to go over their schedule for the rest of the morning. She was seriously fired-up when she met up with them; and Al was grinning by then too; since he'd already gotten the foresight that he'd kept to himself so that the news would be a surprise for everyone.

"Sorry to interrupt," Kendall told Rose as she stepped up next to her boss and held out an envelope that was face-down while she smiled brilliantly and the excitement was obvious in her voice. "I don't think that this can wait until Monday."

"What is it?" Rose asked while taking it; and then her eyes opened wide as she flipped it over and saw that it was from the Europe Cup Committee. "Merlin!" she exclaimed breathlessly. "We've been invited to play in the Europe Cup!"

"I'm fairly sure they don't send around letters to all of the teams in the world that they don't invite," Kendall teased. "Open it to be sure; and then I'll be the first to congratulate all of you!"

"You can do that; but we keep this quiet," Rose told her. "I'd have to look up the date for when they announce the teams that are selected, but it wouldn't be until after their offeres have been accepted – and not all teams do go when invited."

"The Harpies have declined before," Gwendolyn added with a nod. "It's a lot to ask of players to give up most of their off-season – especially when players will be hoping to be playing in the Quidditch World Cup next summer."

"It is," Rose agreed, "but do I really have to ask any of you about this for our team?"

"No," Ginny assured her. "This will be a first for Harry and me; and you're all young and can handle the extra month of work."

"Not to mention that some of us have a much-lower chance of getting picked to the National team," Seth added. "Well?" he asked Rose because she was reading the letter by then.

"We're invited; it starts the Saturday after shcool is out in June; and in case you didn't know; it is a sixteen team competition played over four weekends."

"Yeah for us," Ray offered. "Now let's move on so that I can go and see Cyndia for a little while – I mean go and wish my sister a Happy Birthday – before I'll need to meet up with you again for the pre-game warm-ups and the rest."

"Be at the stadium by eleven; take Melissa's gifts from us; and fly and be free," Rose told him. "Fast enough?" She laughed when Ray hugged her in thanks and then practically ran off to get the gifts and then apparate to Hogwarts. "I'll take that as a yes." She turned her attention to Kendall. "If you can draw up an acceptance letter; I'll sign it and we can get that back to the committee."

"I'll get that done soon so that you can do that before you leave for the stadium," Kendall promised. "Congratulations again. This is going to be brilliant!"

"We hope," Rose agreed. "It will be great for GO MagiSports too." She laughed after looking at Al. "Are the wheels already turning?" she asked. "We'll have to wait and see about the other teams before you'll know whether you'll have a new line of toys to make for that competition."

"That's true," Al agreed, "but I still have ideas – and will need to look at my long-term schedule to see if I need to work a bit harder now that I won't have the off-season for other projects – like the camp."

"Let's talk about that sort of thing tomorrow," Gwendolyn suggested. "this is brilliant; but we don't want to get distracted from the match at hand."

Al wasn't in danger of doing that; and he was also sure that they were all going to be more-excited than usual to get out there and have fun playing Quidditch. Getting invited to the Europe Cup had been on their to-do list, so that was really amazing, but being in the tournament was just another step toward making all of their dreams come true; so they still had everything to prove before they'd earn any of the accolades that Al didn't really care about but wanted for his Cannons' family and their friends.

Lily frowned as she checked an incoming mirror message and saw that it was from Jonah, but she selected it, since he hadn't sent even one message to her since they'd gotten back to school; and likely only did it for good reason. She swore silently when she read the note advising her that his parents were bringing the twins to the school with them for the match so that they could see her; and wanted to know whether she wanted to meet them at the gates or have him do that instead.

"Do what you want – I won't be there," she answered; hoping that the malice she was feeling would be sent along with the message.

"I'll ask Alyssa to bring Jaimie and Lorie to you at the stadium," he responded; and she wanted to hex him for trying to be nice when what she really wanted to do was head out to the gates after breakfast; wait for his mother; and then blast her back off of the school grounds!

Jonah smiled as Jaimie and Lorie ran up to him and nearly knocked him over with a pair of enthusiastic hugs.

"Hello," he told them. "I've missed you a lot!"

"We've missed you too," Jaimie assured him.

"Where's Aunt Lily?" Lorie asked.

"She's probably saving seats for you at the stadium by now," he answered. "Hi, Mum, Dad," he said next. "I'm surprised that you wanted to come to this match."

"Isn't your mother allowed to miss you and want to come for visits when we can?" Kirley asked with unconvincing innocence.

"Yes, but you must know that this is causing more problems for me."

"Maybe it's past-time for you to do something about those problems," Gwenog told him quietly.

"We can't have this discussion right now," Jonah told her meaningfully. "Do you want to visit with the Hufflepuff team before we head into the stadium?"

"We can do that," Gwenog agreed. "Then we can take the girls to meet up with Lily."

"Alyssa can do that for us while you're busy," Jonah told her; and didn't really care that his mother was annoyed by that 'offer' of help. "You are going to sit with me, aren't you? I have to be with my team to do the game analysis."

"Sit with us!" Lorie told him.

"Aunt Lily has to be with her team today and I need to be with mine," he advised them. "Maybe you can take turns visiting with us – if you're not too-busy having fun with Lily."

The anger was burning bright and hot within Lily as she pasted a smile on her face and welcomed Jaimie and Lorie with hugs and kisses.

"I thought that you were going to stay home for this match," she told them. "It's going to be a very cold day. If my House's junior team wasn't playing today; I'd have been tempted to stay in the castle."

"We wanted to see you – and Uncle Kirley and Aunt Gwenog offered to bring us with them while everyone else is busy today," Jaimie explained.

"They did?" Lily asked. "That was nice of them."

'Uh-huh," Jaimie agreed. "Can we go play in the snow again after the Quidditch starts? You have way more snow than we do at home."

"We'll see," Lily answered. "How long can you stay today?"

"Dunno," Lorie answered; seeming to need to take a turn because she jumped in to do that before Jaimie could. "Lunchtime, maybe?"

"Mummy said home for lunch," Jaimie reminded her, "but we're not going to see the Cannons play today 'cause they're playing one of the bad teams."

"The Tornados," Lorie added with a nod. "They just pretend to be bad – like Daddy and his team."

They were getting on a roll by then, and Lily pretty much kept busy keeping up with them while waiting for the match to start. Having two junior cuddle buddies to help keep warm with was much nicer than being on her own or trying to share a blanket with one of her friends, but then it wasn't long before Jaimie and Lorie were bored with the defensive battle between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff and wanted to go out of the stadium for some snow play time. They had fun for nearly an hour; and then the 'intervention' she'd been expecting happened as her nieces were distracted by Kirley and Jonah as they bribed the girls with hot chocolate and snack treats while Gwenog used that opportunity to meet with Lily.

"You must know that this is a bad idea, but you're here anyway, so say what you have to say; and then get away from me," Lily told Gwenog bluntly. "It's all I can do right now not to blast you all the way back to Holyhead."

"Fine," Gwenog agreed; sounding angry too. "Be mad at me all you want, but stop taking it out on Jonah. He doesn't deserve it."

Lily laughed derisively. "Blame yourself for that," she retorted. "Everyone encouraged my dreams from the time I was old-enough to have them, but that was all a pack of lies; and you're lying to yourself too if you believe otherwise!"

"I want you to play for the Harpies," Gwenog insisted; "and there's no way I could have predicted the way things would be now back when you were a child. It's part of business; and I'm just trying to do what's best for everyone."

"Except that you're not," Lily disagreed emphatically. "That's a lie too. You're choosing to do what's best for some at the expense of others – including the team you supposedly love so much."

"I've given my life to the Harpies," Gwenog told her angrily. "You've no idea what you're talking about!"

"You're really on a roll for everything that you're wrong about so far this morning," Lily assured her – "and you can't stand there and suggest that the choices you have made and are continuing to make now are best for the team anymore without lying to both of us!"

"You're entitled to your opinion about all of that – just as I am. None of that needs to have anything to do with you and JOnah," Gwenog tried, but Lily waved that off; and shook her head.

"You've lost me, Gwenog. Would you now make Jonah choose between us and risk losing him too? Would that be what's best for all of us?" She shook her head again. "I'm not Al – or Gwendolyn; and trying to have a nice little chat with me isn't going to fix this. You've made your choices and I'm still making mine; so deal with it."

"So you'll just throw everything away just because you didn't get what you want?" Gwenog demanded as Lily turned and started to walk away from her. She stopped and turned to face Gwenog again.

"Which one of us is doing that?" she challenged. "You think I'm being childish and selfish, but if I truly am as good as I think I am; then you're the one throwing away what might have been a brilliant future for the Harpies! You think that I'm throwing Jonah away; and I think that you've already thrown away the future daughter-in-law that would have loved to share your work and family with you – and don't give me any of that good times and bad rubbish. I'm not throwing anything away – I'm choosing to be who I'm meant to be – despite the fact that you decided that my future won't be with the Harpies."

"You decided that too," Gwenog disagreed.

"That offer was an insult!" Lily retorted hotly; though they were both continuing to keep their voices low. "I've kept that private, but only because I'd be the laughingstock of the school if anyone found out; not to keep any confidentiality agreement that you didn't have me sign first anyway. This is just making me furious all over again, Gwenog, and we're going around in pointless circles. You've picked Gabrielle over me. Great. I'll guess that she'll suddenly decide to step back in time for you to pick her daughter when Caylee graduates. That's great too. Now all I have to do is go out there with one of the other teams; play my best; and see which of us will be proved right about whether you've done best by the Harpies or not."

"I've been here before – made these mistakes," Gwenog tried next. "It doesn't have to be like this – and Jonah..."

"...Doesn't deserve it," Lily finished. "You're repeating yourself. What does he deserve? A girlfriend or wife that doesn't want anything to do with his Mum anymore because I'm just collateral damage of a business decision that makes no sense at all if business is truly the only measure for doing what's 'right' for the team? I know – he deserves to be with someone who will resent him if he continues to have a life with his family that I want no part of anymore – or he'll resent if he leaves all that behind in some grand sacrifice!"

"You love him and he loves you," Gwenog stated. "It doesn't have to be more-complicated than that."

"Now you sound like Al," Lily told her. "Love isn't going to get me my Harpies' dream, is it? Al's love and happiness seems awfully-selective too, but at least he admits that his plans aren't for everyone – you're either with him; or you don't get to play in his happy little world."

"You've seemed happy-enough with that – until last Christmas," Gwenog pointed out.

"Are you trying to tell me that you made that offer so ridiculous because you wanted to push me over to the Cannons too?" Lily challenged. "I'm sure the Harpies' owners would be fascinated to know why you'd think it a good idea to push all of the best new players away from your team and have them sign up with one of your competitors – especially when that team is one that you haven't lost to in more than a century before last fall!"

"That isn't what we did," Gwenog insisted. "I am sorry that you were insulted, Lily, but I truly did expect that you cared more about the Harpies than about money or whether you had to wait a while before taking over as our Seeker."

"I might have been okay with that – if I didn't know I was better than Gabrielle," Lily insisted – "though that offer was insulting for even an average reserve squad player. "I'm at least two years ahead of Gabrielle on learning to use my Hurricane. She may never be able to do as much with it as I can already; and I'm going to keep getting better from here – for a long time to come."

"You could have put that theory to the test – the summer after next," Gwenog pointed out.

"Sure – and look like the bad guy so that you didn't have to take that kind of hit," Lily challenged.

"You're making me out to be the bad guy now anyway," Gwenog declared.

"You are the bad guy here – but nobody else knows that," Lily retorted. "I still don't know why you're here. You insisted on giving me the bad news before we came back – likely so that I could be mad about it for six months before you'd have to see me again; so that part of your plan worked out great for you. If this visit was entirely because you thought that all would be well with Jonah and me by Valentine's Day at the latest; then you're wrong about that too. Can I go now? I'll say goodbye to Jaimie and Lorie; and then I should get away from all of you for a while so that I really don't do something I'd likely not regret at all – but that you definitely would!"

"They're not going to understand," Gwenog protested; and Lily shrugged.

"Tell them some lies," she suggested. "They're young and gullible. Maybe if you promise them dream jobs with the Harpies they'll even grow up and one of them can marry Jonah. They look a lot like me; so that ought to work for him – and they all love each other already too!"

She didn't wait for an answer. This time she walked away; offered goodbye hugs and kisses for Jaimie and Lorie while ignoring Kirley and Jonah; and then she headed for the castle instead of the stadium – because she really did need to get away before she decided to draw her wand, start blasting, and not ask questions later.

"If they were attempting an intervention; I'd say that it didn't work," Cyndia told Ray as they watched Lily head into the castle. "I was hoping for the best when we saw Gwenog talking with her. They're the happiest most-miserable break-up I've ever seen, but it still sucks not to have Jonah in our study group anymore; and we all know that they're both just faking the 'we're okay' happiness."

"Isn't that better than what Al and Gwendolyn went through?" Ray suggested.

"I don't know," Cyndia admitted. "Maybe all of the venting that Gwendolyn did kept their fight shorter than it might have been if she'd played nice too – and they still won't even tell anyone why they broke up."

"Maybe they're too embarrassed to admit that it was something stupid – and cant' figure out how to fix it without looking foolish now."

Cyndia shook her head. "I doubt it, but we don't have much time left; so let's get back to you and me before you need to go to work."

"You still have a minute to spare," Al told Ray with a grin. "Stop running."

"Already done," Ray pointed out as he took the last few steps at a fast walk.

"How's the Quidditch match going at Hogwarts – or is it done already?" Al asked; and Ray grinned at him.

"Was there a Quidditch match going on? I didn't notice."

"You didn't even check in on the score before coming here?" Gwendolyn teased; and Ray shrugged.

"No, but I'm sure we can find out if you really want to know. We ran out of time; and I didn't even say goodbye to Melissa."

"I'm sure she'll understand," Gwendolyn assured him. "Is there anything you can tell us about from Hogwarts that isn't about you and Cyndia snogging each other senseless the entire time?"

"Well, we saw Gwenog try what we think was an intervention with Lily outside of the stadium that probably didn't work; since Lily left and went to the castle instead of back to the stadium. We didn't talk to any of them, though, so that's just our best guess."

"That's likely a good guess too," Gwendolyn suggested. "It was a good thing that we still didn't have our parents coming to the school back when Al and I had our break-up; since I wouldn't have listened to anything they'd have had to say about it – and I did end a few mirror chats when they tried back then."

"Do you think that they'll work things out?" Ray asked – "and pretend that I'm not actually initiating any gossip requests."

Gwendolyn laughed. "I don't know. Lily was always worried about being compared to Al and me, so even if she did want to get back together with Jonah; she likely doesn't know how to do that without that looking too much like what we went through."

"I'd comment on that, but have been dumped over a Quidditch match; so I've no right to say anything."

"I'll wager that we were all thinking about that during Tory's match against the Harpies," Gwendolyn suggested. "That worked out for you; so there's no reason for us to think that whatever happens with Lily and Jonah; they'll be okay too."

"Manager at two o'clock," Al warned. "She won't care that Ray was a minute early if we're all late for warm-ups!"

"I heard that," Rose told them. "Let's get to work – and I'll hope that Cyndia didn't snog Ray senseless; or we might be in trouble this afternoon!"

Lily went back out to the stadium when she saw that lunch was being set up out there; timed it to get in line for food when there were a lot of teens and tweens out of the stadium; and then headed in again with her food and was able to sit down in the spot she'd had at the start of the match while most of her friends and team mates were busy getting food or doing other things like washroom breaks or visits with friends in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. the teams took a food time-out too, but she caught up on the match news so far; and was happy to see that Gryffindor was up by a score of one-twenty to naught after a bit more than four hours. That didn't look good for Hufflepuff, but they'd been playing well – and were just up against a hot Keeper performance from Elle Kirke. Christy and Cameron were closely-matched, though, so Hufflepuff was still in it – as long as Gryffindor didn't get the one-sixty lead.

"Welcome back," Alyssa told Lily as she and Hugo caught up to her and then sat down next to her – with Alyssa next to Lily. "Let me guess – the twins tired you out and you needed to go and have a late-morning nap."

"Sure, let's go with that," Lily agreed. "This is looking good for our House so far."

"Your house," Alyssa reminded her. "This isn't going well for my House – though it's still a bit early in the season to know that for sure. We still have both of our matches against Hufflepuff; so it might be better for us to be in the Quidditch Cup race against Gryffindor instead of more than one House."

"Especially if that motivates Hufflepuff," Lily agreed. "You still have three matches to go after today. We may need this win to keep up."

"That sounds good, so let's go with that; and not talk about how likely it is that my House teams will win all of our final three matches," Alyssa suggested. "We may be here for a while. Are you going to watch the Cannons or Catapults matches on your portable mirror?"

"I'll probably just listen to one of them," Lily answered. "It's too cold out to hold onto my mirror and watch either match."

"I'll watch the Cannons match anyway," Hugo advised her. "It's Dad's birthday; and I'll guess that Rose is going to play brilliantly today!"

"Hasn't she played brilliantly in every match so far?" Alyssa teased. "I agree with you, but that might not be entirely-good against the Tornados. They're sure to get mad and then things could get ugly."

"Ugly is what I'm expecting from the Catapults-Prides' match," Hugo countered. "We all know that James is going to try to get revenge for losing their opening day match."

"I've waited nearly seven months for this match," James told his team mates as they lined up at the player entrance of Exmoor stadium. "It's time for some payback; so make that happen for me – or else!"

"Should I ask?" Tiberius asked Brock.

"No," Brock answered, "but all of the threats this week were enough for me, so I actually went to bed ahead of curfew so that I'd be rested up and ready for the marathon match that James is going to want today."

James snorted. "You ought to be able to do that on no sleep, but I'm glad to hear that you've no excuses; so do your job today – and help us knock a few Prides' players into their beds at St. Mungo's. Knocking them all out would be great, but I'll settle for three or four." He turned his attention to Louis next. "Try not to blow it for us again today the way you did in your last match with us – though I doubt that you could stink worse than you already do just from the leftover stench of Animorphloser that's still sticking to you even after a month!"

"Maybe that'll just help him today," Brock joked – "by making the Prides' Chasers puke everytime they get near!"

James laughed raucously. "That might work," He agreeed; and then nodded toward Scorpius. "How many goals would you like to score today once we've softened up a few Prides' heads? Fifty? One-hundred? I'll be happy to help you out with that all weekend!"

"It's cold and wet out there," Scorpius answered. "I'd be okay with you going for the quick snitch catch; and then we could go out and party for the rest of the day."

"That wouldn't prove anything to the Prudes," James told him. "I'll consider this a job well-done if they need to use their entire reserve squad for the rest of the season – because they're too-embarrassed to show their faces in any of the stadiums again!"

Harry sat with Ron and Hermione; Kirley and Gwenog were in the row behind them; and the rest of their game-watching gang was either in the owners' seating or in nearby seats in the team section for season's tickets holders. They didn't have Jaimie and Lorie at this match because they expected it to be tough; and that proved out even before the quaffle toss – thugh that wasn't due to any attempts at dirty tricks. There were no inter-team hugs and kisses; and the Harper brothers were shooting their mouths off before they even landed at center pitch.

There were first-hit attempts on take-off, but that just messed up the start of the match for the Tornados and led to a quick first goal that Al earned because Rachel got blocked out of the play by Dave Harper when he missed his hit on Gwendolyn so completely that he nearly ran into Rachel despite the fact that she'd been twenty yards away and shadowing Al by then.

"Do they have something on the Harpers?" Ron asked Harry. "That was too-easy."

"We may try a few new tricks today," Harry answered with a grin. "Al had a new theory about Dave Harper that we're going to test out against him."

"Are you going to give us any hints?" Ron asked.

"Why don't you try to work that one out for a while first?" Harry asked in return – "though if it proves out that Al was wrong about that; I'll let you know."

"Okay," Ron agreed; and then cheered as Rose earned her first save – against Lacey Zabini. It was a low-quality shot, but every save counted!

The fight was on, and all of the players were pushing hard right from the start, but that only showed up on the scoreboard for the Cannons – and did so in a big way. While Al's first goal had been a clean beat past Derrick Selwyn, most of the goals that followed were thanks to a combination of amazing Quidditch and Tornados' defensive mistakes. Seven goals in the first hour had Derrick looking shell-shocked, but most of those goals came thanks to those mistakes – including four 'assists' from Dave Harper. Harry was not surprised when Hermione figured out what was happening first.

"He has a problem with target-fixation," she said quietly.

"What was that?" Ron asked; and then gave her his full attention. "What is target fixation – and he whom?"

"Dave Harper," she answered; "and target fixation is when you focus on something ahead of you to the point where you'll run into it instead of trying to avoid it. A common problem with Muggle drivers." She nodded toward where Dave was now trying to bash into Gwendolyn; missed; and then Licentia had to dodge out of his way. "Your Cannons' players are setting up those dodges so that he's surprised when someone else is there; he focuses on them; and then can't stop in time."

"Is that it?" Ron asked Harry.

"Yes," he confirmed. "The trick is to get out of the way fast-enough for him to get fixated on one of his team mates. We didn't think that it'd be quite this effective, though, so the Tornados better adjust quickly or this match will be over sooner than any of us expected."

That did and didn't prove true. The Cannons earned the one-sixty lead in just a bit more than two hours, but while Ginny backed off from defending the snitch; Andrea was apparently ordered to play on without trying to get the catch for the loss. Al, Gwendolyn, and Ray let up a bit in response to that, but the Tornados kept making the same mistakes over and over again; and the score continued to rise – if more-slowly than it had to that point. While Ginny waited patiently for best-chances to catch the snitch; Hermione found out from Hugo that Gryffindor's junior team won their match by a score of one-eighty to one-fifty late in the sixth hour. Cameron had backed off from defending the snitch after her team earned the one-sixty lead too; and then Christy caught the snitch for the Hufflepuff loss. While most of their favorite Hogwarts students went on to dinner in the Great Hall and then a birthday party for Melissa; the Cannons' fans watched their team continue to play brilliantly until Ginny ended the match and her duel with Andrea Avery at the four-hour and forty-five minute mark of the match. Her snitch catch wasn't particularly-amazing, but it was fitting that Dave Harper was again part of the problem for the Tornados as Ginny used him to get Andrea out of her way so that she could have the clean shot at the snitch. The finals score of four-eighty to naught looked worse than it should have been; but Rose was very happy about getting the shut-out for her father's birthday along with the win; and Ron was just as fired up – if a bit shocked to realize that his team was undefeated and in first place after his birthday for the first time in his life – if not for the first time in the living memory of any Witch or Wizard!

With their match finished, tentative birthday dinner plans were enacted; Harry led a small gang of family and friends home, and while he got to work on that dinner; most of those guests wandered over to the cafe to have drinks and watch the ongoing Catapults-Prides' match. It was past-seven by then because there had been extra time-outs during the Cannons match due to some self-inflicted Tornados injuries, but the Prides had been dealing with injury issues too; so their match was still late in the fifth hour by then. The Catapults hadn't knocked anyone out of the match yet, but they were pounding on the Prides' Chasers, Keeper, and Seeker; and Peter, Alice, and Francine were all playing injured by then. That showed up on the scoreboard, but Scorpius, Miya, and Roman were only able to grow their lead slowly; and there was no imminent danger of a one-sixty lead. The battle was really ugly on one side, though; and Harry was glad to have the work so that he didn't have to watch every cheap shot and dirty trick.

Lily hopped into the portable pool; floated over toward Hugo and Alyssa; and smiled at them. "Are you staying away from the Catapults' match again?"

"Yes," Hugo confirmed. "The Cannons won; Gryffindor won; and this party is fun. I don't want to mess with all of that really-awesome by watching the Catapults try and put all of our favorite Prides' players into their hospital beds – again. How's the party going in our common room?"

"Good – though you might not think so; since the common room is packed solid with teens and tweens cheering for James and his team. I guess that most of them are too-young to remember that the Prides have three Gryffindor alumni too along with those pesky Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs."

"Pauline and Peter had a pretty good record against Gryffindor," Hugo reminded her – "with most of those wins against James, Louis, and the McClaggens. It's no wonder that those losses are remembered."

"If they were really remembered very well, then your fellow Gryffindor ought to be cheering for the Prides," Alyssa suggested. "It's those pesky Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs playing with bravery and honor today – not the Gryffindor-Catapults."

"I wouldn't include Louis in that, since he's playing very well in his first match back in nearly a month, but didn't you get enough of that from the Gryffindor-Cannons to last you for one day anyway?" Lily joked. "You should invoke Rule Number One now anyway. That four-eighty to naught win is going to bug James; and he'll want to win by more than that over the Prides."

"At the rate they're going; that'd take a day or more," Alyssa suggested. "The Catapults are out-scoring the Prides by about two-to-one now; and that'd be sixteen hours just to the one-sixty lead if all-else stays the same."

"I don't think that everything will stay the same," Hugo predicted. "One-forty to eighty is a pretty low score for five hours into the match – especially when Peter's playing hurt. I am so glad that we're going to have Al there to help us anytime we get hurt once we're in the show."

"The two of you – not me," Lily reminded her cousin; and he grinned at her.

"Yeah – it's too bad that the Harpies don't hire Wizards. You might have been living in a new Harpies community near Holyhead instead – and Dad and I would still be cheering for the worst team in the league!"

"I get wanting to have an all-Witches team, and wanted to play for the Harpies when I was little, but I haven't felt that way for a long time; and am glad that I'll be on a team with you instead," Alyssa told him.

"I hear that from other Harpies kids a lot," Lily interjected. "Why give up on that dream? You're probably a better player than all of the Harpies' Chasers except for Victoire. They ought to be offering you a job – especially since your Mum played for them too."

Alyssa paused and seemed to think about that before answering. "I think that a lot of things went into that, Lily. I'm okay with working hard, but the stories our Mums tell about how hard they worked back in the day – and I don't think that's changed now – never sounded like fun to me. For a long time, the job was everything to my Mum; and as I grew up; I saw that same thing with the Harpies' players too. It affected their families; how much time they could spend with their husbands and kids; and I didn't like what I saw compared to what I had at home and how I saw other families live. Sure, parents can be obsessed with their jobs no matter what they do, but it still changed how I felt about the Harpies. What's changed me most, though, is this past couple of years we've spent with your parents and training with Rose as she's been working toward her dream." Her smile turned a bit sad at what she saw on Lily's face. "I'm sorry, but I can't answer your question without going there. What they're building is way beyond Rose's dream for the Cannons – we all know that, but it's also better than any best dream I've had for my own life; and I'm glad that they want us to be a part of that."

"Maybe Al's just convinced you of that," Lily suggested; and Alyssa laughed.

"He's definitely done that – but not in the way you're suggesting. Maybe it's because I look at that differently than you because your Mum was the star of the team when she was with the Harpies while my Mum was one of the 'normal' players – more like a side-kick to the stars on the team. I love the idea of being part of a true team. Look at the Cannons' match today. Who would you pick for the star? They all played brilliantly!" She nodded toward the mirror. "Can you say that about the Prides or Catapults? James and Scorpius get all of the attention for their team; and Pauline and Peter get most of the credit for how great the Prides have been since they joined the team."

"While none of the Cannons players get credit for anything," Hugo joked. "That probably doesn't help you with making your point."

"Maybe it does in a way," Alyssa disagreed. "Rose doesn't get credit; yet she's the best Keeper in the show to this point in the season. Lily's parents are both undefeated Seekers – both for their Seeker duels and match wins; and they're the only Seekers in the league that can say that. Al, Gwendolyn, and Ray are likely all in the top-ten for scoring and assists; yet get all of that bad press anyway. Brandon and Seth are brilliant, but because they don't bash heads in and knock players out of the match; their ranking among the Beaters is lousy – possibly the worst-ever for the top-ranked team."

"That'll just get worse once you're sharing playing time," Lily pointed out; and Alyssa nodded.

"It will," she agreed – "and that's one of my points; since I don't care about that if we're still playing brilliantly as a team. Championships count just as much for every player on the team, and I think that the Cannons can win some of them with what Al's doing – which is why Rose is letting him do so many unconventional things. You must get that the Quidditch is just part of what I love most about what they're building, Lily. At the risk of getting hexed, if that isn't for you, that's okay, but I want to be part of a community that puts family and friends first, love and happiness second, and then trusts that success at work will follow if we get the rest of it right."

"We've talked about getting jobs on other teams," Hugo added, "but that's one more thing that we've noticed more this season than ever before – how many players on other teams that just arne't happy regardless of how well they're doing." He nodded toward the mirror too. "I never see Louis looking happy and the Catapults are defending champions. Name one player on any of the other teams that are happier than the Cannons. I can't think of one."

"They're undefeated," Lily pointed out. "Let's see how happy they still are after losing some matches. You're not telling me much that's new here, guys. Is there a point – other than a very long answer to my original question?"

"Actually, no," Alyssa admitted with a laugh. "I don't want to get blasted for wishing that you would want to play with us too – even though I do."

"Yet you went there anyway," Lily said with a shake of her head. "I'd better go again. I don't want to mess up Melissa's party by blasting you – not to mention that Butt-Bogeys might be a bit embarrassing when all you have on is a swimsuit."

The party at the Cannonball Cafe had grown and spread out onto the practice pitch by the time Rose led her victorious team there at a bit after nine o'clock. By then, Harry had needed to provide snack foods for Ron and the other guests, but dinner was ready by then too; so there was just the shortest round of greetings before they sat down to enjoy the late meal. Al and Gwendolyn were past-ready to sit down and relax – and could do that because Rose and Brandon took the lead for the rest of Ron's birthday celebration while they were able to fade into the background a bit and sit with Susannah, Seth, and some other friends and neighbors.

"Have there been more problems at Exmoor?" Gwendolyn asked Toni and Michael. "There must have been more time-outs for the match to still only be mid-way through the seventh hour."

"Another injury time-out," Toni agreed. "The Prides nearly ran out of time to get Alice patched up enough to play again or they'd have been down a player."

"Not that they're not basically down a player anyway," Michael added. "All of those injuries likely add up to only having six healthy players out there."

"I don't know how they're doing it," Toni told Gwendolyn. "It's a good thing that I'm not in Quidditch. I'd want someone to tuck me into my bed at St. Mungo's after just one of those awful hits; and some of the Prides' players have taken dozens of them by now. The usual Catapults' culprits collectively need a time-out or something for being such rotters!"

Gwendolyn laughed. "That's a fun mental picture. It's too bad that stadiums are ovals. There aren't any corners to put them in for those time outs."

"I'm sure that the league could come up with something – if they actually wanted to clean up the game," Toni suggested. "That might not happen anytime soon. There are still too-many Witches and Wizards that like the darker side of the game."

"Al hopes that it won't take too many years to do that," Gwendolyn suggested with a smile for her husband. "Instead of going there, though, let's talk about what you've been up to this week. We've been a bit busy; and I'm behind on my best friends' gossip."

"Some of your friends don't have anything to report that would be gossip-worthy," Toni only half-joked. "We work; we hang out together when we aren't working – and talk about work."

"You do more than that – and we think that you're doing an amazing job with the adverts business. You must be hanging out with your parents and families, though, and while we don't need to discuss details; I'll guess that you still have regular sleepovers at your flat or Michael's; and we know that you help Susannah with some of her Charity projects too."

"We're never bored," Toni assured her. "Our lives are just quieter than yours for obvious reasons. That's fine with us; since we're not the thrill junkies that you are. I'm not even much of a fan of the more-extreme Virtual Mirror games."

"Maybe not, but that's a good point for our resident game-makers," Gwendolyn suggested. "There ought to be more games that are fun without the extreme scare factor that most of the adventure games have in them. What kind of games would you like to see, Toni?"

That question led to a chat that kept them entertained while they enjoyed the food; Ron's party continued with mingling and lots of conversation along with maybe a bit too-much drinking for some of the guests while the Catapults-Prides match rolled along on the mirrors in the background. That battle was the focus of the entertainment for some of the sports fans, but Al only kept track of the score and tried to ignore the worst of the Quidditch action as the Catapults continued to try and pound on the Prides' players and knock them out of the match.

While Ron's special day was the main reason for the celebration, it was a bit of a victory party too, and since they didn't have work in the morning – or most of them didn't; staying up late was an option. That's why Al and Gwendolyn were still at the cafe and having fun when the Quidditch match at Exmoor finally came to an end. The Catapults had a three-ten to one-ninety lead; they were almost two-thirds of the way into the eleventh hour; and the Seeker duel came to an end because James flat-out got beat by Pauline. Al was sure that Pauline won because she'd been sure that James wouldn't even try to actually catch the snitch while his team tried to run up the score on her team. She'd focused most of her attention on avoiding any serious injuries; hadn't made any runs for the snitch in nearly two hours; and caught James completely by surprise when she finally did go after it. The unexpected three-forty to three-ten loss infuriated James; and that led to an ugly start to the post-game action.

Al didn't want to watch that either, but couldn't really avoid it when nearly everyone still at the cafe quieted and focused their collective attention on one of the mirrors as they watched James lead an attack on Pauline that was partially-successful before she got help from her team mates. The mid-air brawl was nasty, but short because there were Aurors in the stadium that took steps to put an end to it – Aurors that were led by Peter, Pauline, and Daniella's fathers. That intervention didn't make James any happier, and some of the spectators at the stadium voiced their disapproval too, but the small group of Aurors didn't care; and stayed at center pitch to make sure that there wouldn't be any additional problems.

"You can go," Gwendolyn told Al with a knowing smile. "Try not to get hugged by too many of those Witches – and ask your Dad if he wants to go along and help."

"Do you want to come too?" he asked; and she looked around the cafe before shaking her head.

"No. I'll stay here and help with the party clean-up. I expect that everyone will head home now."

"Okay," Al agreed. "We'll try not to be too long helping out our favorite Prides' players."

"But not the Catapults?" she teased; and Al shrugged.

"If they will take the help; we'd give it. I just don't know whether Louis, Miya, or Roman would let us help – especially after a loss."

"I'm sure we'll find out once you're there," Gwendolyn suggested with a nod toward one of the mirrors. "Stay out of trouble."

Harry had wanted to go to Exmoor with Al; they apparated there; and then had a short wait while getting cleared to enter and then head out to center pitch. By then, the players on both teams were beginning post-game interviews, but Meghan welcomed their help with grateful hugs; and then rotated her players out of the interview circles so that Al and Harry could help them out with the healing that even Jensen and Stanley needed after nearly eleven hours of brutal Quidditch action – not including the hours of time-outs that had kept the battle going into the wee hours of Sunday morning. Al and Harry had already had a long day by then, so healing seven players of some moderately-serious injuries took a toll on them, but it was a price worth paying – and not just for the hugs and kisses from Pauline, Alice, Francine, and Daniella! They did not get to help any of the Catapults, but Harry's Auror friends also made sure that there weren't any problems with James and his mates either; so they got the Healing finished; left the stadium; and went home again.

James strode into the Catapults' locker room; saw all of his team mates waiting for him expectantly; and his fury was renewed as he took in the scene around him.

"Would any of you care to explain what happened out there?" he demanded – snarled. "Every Prides' player was still standing; you only managed about three goals an hour against a Keeper that was barely able to fly; and you gave up nineteen goals to three half-wit Witches! Which parts of the game plan didn't you understand? It was so simple that even Miya the Mutt should've been able to understand!"

"Aren't you forgetting the part where you were supposed to win your Seeker duel?" Miya asked.

"I wasn't supposed to win that duel – Pauline was supposed to be out of the match; and preferably out with career-ending injuries!" he shouted at her.

"But you don't need the rest of us," Miya challenged. "Which is it, James? You had nearly eleven hours to best Pauline, so if we couldn't do our jobs; what kept you from doing yours and saving the day for us?"

"I was sticking to the game plan," James spat derisively. "Don't try to blame your incompetence on me!"

"Of course not," Miya agreed. "Merlin forbid that the Quidditch King take responsibility for anything that goes wrong. That's what you really need us the most to do for you." She shook her head. "How long would you like to shout at us for before we can go home?"

"I'm just getting started," James advised her spitefully. "You're obviously more-interested in going home, curling up like the dog you are, and licking your wounds than you were in winning that match!"

"I was being sarcastic," Miya advised him. "If the guys want to sit around and let you bash on them for a while, they're welcomed to do that, but I'm not going to put up with your rubbish accusations; since some of us will want to get up tomorrow instead of on Monday or Tuesday and start getting ready for our next matches. Maybe if you'd try spending as much time on your training as you do with all of the drinking and hooking up with as many Witches as you can get; you wouldn't have been bested by an injured, half-wit Witch – your words; not mine."

"How would you like to get ready for never playing again – from your bed at St. Mungo's?" James threatened; and headed toward her; his fists balled and ready to use.

"Don't," Roman warned as he stood and stepped up next to his fiancee protectively. "Say what you want, James, but you really don't want to try hitting Miya."

"Yeah, I really do," James disagreed; but then scowled when Louis stepped up next to Miya too.

"No, James," he stated; his tone steely-quiet. "We played a tough match and didn't get the win in the end. None of this is helping, and while you may truly want to get some or all of us sacked; I'd suggest that you hold off on that – unless you've got six players in mind that are at least as good as we are – or better; since you don't think we're playing well-enough for your high standards now."

"As if we need you – and obviously would have been better-off if you hadn't recovered and returned to the team," James scoffed. "Either way, you won't be on this team much longer if you keep getting in my way, ex-cousin, Fine – take the mutt's side; and get out of here. It's no surprise that the three of you are sticking together. You're the reason for why we're playing like half a team – because only half of us are showing up when it really counts!"

Sunday was Riley Fawcett's sixteenth birthday, but other than sending a group gift; Al and Gwendolyn weren't even involved in his special day for a mirror chat. His sister, girlfriend, and friends took care of that celebration – along with all of the weekend revision they needed to get done after taking Friday night and Saturday off, but while they missed out on that fun; the Cannons' players had a very entertaining day too. The highlight for that was a morning meeting about the Europe Cup and plans that needed to be started for that competition. They'd need to wait for some details before getting too-far into the planning, but they talked about working the extra training and actual matches into their off-season; brainstormed some special souvenir ideas; and enjoyed sharing that little secret – though it was one that they'd only need to keep for a couple of weeks before the formal team announcements would be done by the Europe Cup committee.

There was work to be done too – and that was especially-true for Al as he used his time-stopper and began to kick his own work schedule plans up a few notches now that he'd be busy for most of the off-season. He and Gwendolyn had an interview and a visit to St. Mungo's on the work schedule too; they did some chores around home; and had dinner with their parents at Kirley and Gwenog's home. The highlight of that visit was some work on the songs that Al and Gwendolyn were getting ready for the Cannons; and they talked with Kirley about setting up some sessions so that the other players on their team could record those songs as a group and have them ready in time for training camp. Their next match was a week from Tuesday against the Kestrels, so they were back at their training again on Monday, but they didn't have any extra activities booked until Saturday; so the first week of March proved to be another great opportunity for Al to get a lot done – especially while using the time-stopper every day to work on his current batch of favorite projects.

The Harpies' match wasn't the only thing to look forward to on Saturday. It was a Hogsmeade weekend too; Rose set up a meeting with Fred, Katrina, Hugo, Alyssa, Cyndia, Stephanie, and Jonah for shortly-after they could be in town from Hogwarts; and Harry, Ginny, Al, and Gwendolyn were all bringing Jamie and Lorie along so that they could have some play time with Lily. It was also Cyndia's eighteenth birthday on Sunday; so some early birthday fun was planned for her too. With all of that to look forward to, Al and Gwendolyn were happy campers when they were done work for the night on Friday; they kept Jaimie and Lorie overnight; and were fully-rested and ready to play by Saturday morning.

"Is there some reason for why the entire gang is here today?" Lily asked suspiciously as she met up with six of her favorite – and temporarily, occasionally hated – people outside of the Three Broomsticks – while also being double-team-hugged by her nieces.

"To see you; and help out with some day-early birthday fun for Cyndia," Ginny answered. "Would you like to get right to the fun shopping; do the boring stuff first; or start with drinks and snacks?"

"We're doing an early lunch for Cyndia," Gwendolyn reminded her. "Maybe we should get right to the shopping – of either kind."

"Al has a couple of meetings set up first, but I could take care of a bit of that boring shopping if Lily has a list ready," Harry offered. "Jaimie and Lorie would much rather play dress-up or something with you instead."

"What kind of meetings?" Lily asked; and then shook her head. "Never mind – I don't want to know about your latest plans to make the entire world a happier place."

Al knew that she really was curious anyway, but kept his mouth shut; joined in on the round of hugs and kisses; and then headed into the Three Broomsticks and up to the room that Rose had reserved. She and Brandon were already there; and they didn't have to wait long before their 'guests' for the first meeting arrived – all of the Hogwarts members of their summer reserve squad except for Lily. Ray was with Cyndia; and had met her at the school gates instead of waiting in town for her.

"You must want to see us in person for something good to be smiling that brilliantly," Stephanie told Rose. "What's up?"

"We – the Cannons – have been invited to be one of the sixteen teams competing in the Europe Cup this summer," Rose answered simply without bothering to have more fun with the announcement.

"Seriously? That's brilliant!" Cyndia exclaimed; laughed; and then punched Ray. "How long have you nown and not told me?"

"Since last Saturday – and this is still confidential until the official announcements are made," Ray answered.

"It is – and that announcement will be a week from Monday," Rose added.

"Are you talking to us now because some of us will need to start work early once we're done school?" Stephanie asked hopefully. "I suppose that I could cancel that holiday I was planning if needed."

"We want to have all of you play in that tournament," Rose advised her; laughing when that statement earned a buzz of excitement. "The graduating students would need to start their full-time jobs right away; and the rest of you will all be seventeen by then; and can sign up to play too – and play the holiday matches for us next season too. If you all agree, most of us will play in two Europe Cup matches – if we make it all the way to the championship match. Jonah would only get one match at Seeker – probably the third round match."

"What about the summer matches next season?" Katrina asked.

"As of right now; we're thinking about having you play in all three of the matches in August and both Christmas matches – though we don't want to tell anyone else about that either." Rose started handing out folders to each of the Hogwarts students. "These contracts are either new or side-agreements to adjust your existing contracts for those of you who have signed your deals with the team already. Where needed; hold onto them and send them in when you can sign them."

"What about Lily?" Jonah asked in a near-whisper that still got everyone's attention.

"I'm going to talk to her in private," Al advised him. "There's no point in all of us being at risk of getting blasted. "She'll get the same choices the rest of you have – including just taking the summer job again this year."

"That works for me," Ray half-joked. "I do not want to find out what it's like to have one of those Butt-Bogey hexes put on me!"

"You really don't," Al agreed – "and no, that's not from personal experience. I have figured out how it works, though; and we don't need to discuss the details."

"Well, I'm in for this change in plans," Stephanie told Rose. "The more playing time we get; the better chance we'll have of getting invited to play for our National team in the Quidditch World Cup next year."

Everyone else either signed up then too – or promised to do so once they were seventeen and could do that. Rose wrapped up that meeting; and everyone except Al left the room so that he could have a meeting with two other students that he wanted to talk to about jobs with GO MagiSports businesses that he was, at least temporarily, managing. Those two meetings didn't take long; and then he went to meet up with his family again for the time they had left for shopping until they all met up at the Three Broomsticks for the early birthday lunch that Ray hosted for Cyndia. Lily joined them for that too, but stayed far away from Jonah; and then she left as soon as they finished the birthday cake dessert. Harry, Ginny, and Gwendolyn took the twins home after that and had some time to spare before they'd need to be at the stadium for the Harpies' match; and Al headed for Camp Cannonball.

"How do you like our cottage?" Al asked Lily as he walked into the main room. She was sitting on a sofa; and glared at him angrily.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have a Harpies' match to get to as part of yet another brilliantly-happy day in your perfect life?"

"I do," he agreed, "but we need to talk first; and I wanted to have this discussion with just the two of us."

"I don't need another intervention by you or anyone else. Consider that done and a failure; then get lost!"

Al ignored her demand; walked over; and sat down on the sofa to the left of the one she was on. She drew her wand and pointed it at him.

"This isn't an intervention in the way you're thinking. I've some news; and it won't cause any permanent damage for you to hear me out."

"It might cause permanent damage – to you," she threatened, "but it's your risk; so spit it out."

"The Cannons have been invited to play in the Europe Cup this summer," he told her. "The official announcement won't be out until a week from Monday, so please keep that news to yourself – or only among the Cannons players – including the summer reserve squad."

"Good for you. What does that have to do with me?"

"We're going to have everyone play in the tournament – assuming we make it through to the final match." He summoned a folder and held it out to her. "You're being offered your summer job again with the extra work of training and playing in the Europe Cup tournament – along with the summer and Christmas holiday matches next season."

"You're still trying to mess with me," she declared.

"We love you and want to share this part of our lives with you too," Al countered. "This has nothing to do with the permanent job offer you've already been given – other than if you took that job too; this holiday work would apply to your five years toward your ownership percentage."

"That means nothing to me," Lily lied. "What makes you think I'd take that job again this summer?" She'd taken the folder and started reading through it despite her professed disinterest.

"You know that I want you to play with us on the Cannons, but whether you do that or not after school; being part of a Europe Cup team – whether we win the championship or not – would be a big deal; and the playing time next season would get you noticed ahead of the Quidditch World Cup next year – along with getting attention from the other teams in the league – or even throughout Europe. I'm biased; but doubt that you'll get a better summer job offer than that one."

"Except that you're not telling me everything," Lily guessed. "Let me guess – I share the Seeker job with Jonah. In case you haven't heard – we're not together anymore."

"You're not with the other guys on the team either," Al pointed out, "so that's only a problem if it is one for you. Getting back together with Jonah isn't a condition of the job, Lily, but wanting to be happy and help take the team where we want to go is part of the deal. I also need to tell you that Mum and Dad have picked the first two rounds of the Europe Cup; Jonah's tentatively in for the third round; which would give you four weeks to get ready for the championship match."

"If the Cannons get that far," Lily added; and Al nodded.

"Yes, but I like our chances," he assured her. "None of the other teams will have gone up against my brooms; we have all of the other advantages; and at least some of the other teams won't even have Lightningstorms. Switching to the summer matches next season; I'll guess that Jonah would want you to play in two of them while he takes the middle match; and then you'd split the Christmas matches."

"You've got it all figured out, don't you?" Lily asked in disgust.

"Most of that isn't me," Al advised her. "I only volunteered to take the getting hexed risk of coming to talk to you. I don't need an answer now – though everyone else is going to play. Rose will need to know by early next month one way or the other."

"Why then?" Lily asked.

"Each team deals with their own souvenirs and gear – including some of the Europe Cup souvenirs that are team specific. We'll need to know if you're in or not in time to make your posters, action figures, and the rest and have them ready by mid-June."

"I hate this," Lily declared.

"Do you also hate your part in helping us to get the Cannons to where we are now?" Al challenged. "We're offering this to you for all of the reasons we've already discussed before, but you've earned the right to play with us this summer too, and love it or hate it; you have helped us to become one of the best teams in the league this season."

"Not 'the' best?" Lily joked; though her tone was dark and annoyed. "You never brag about anything – at least not directly."

"We won't know which team is 'the' best until the championship match is won," he countered. "That could be us, but we're not there yet; and I'd never brag about something that's still nothing more than a dream until we get one of those titles."

"Now you're in the danger zone for real by bringing up that stupid 'dream' word!"

Al sighed. "I'm sorry. That isn't something that I think about the same way everyone else does."

"Of course not," Lily agreed scathingly. "You're too busy telling everyone else what their dreams ought to be if they want to be happy."

"I meant that my dreams are about a state of mind while most others have dreams about acquiring things – the job of their dreams; recognition and awards; wealth; personl relationships; or other things."

"That definitely sounds like back-handed bragging now," Lily decided.

"Malorie would say the same thing," Al agreed with a rueful smile. "You get my point, though; and I'm not suggesting that I'm right and everyone else is wrong – though I do wish that we'd all change our perspectives about how important those 'things' are to us."

"Including you?" Lily asked; and Al nodded.

"I'm not immune," he assured her. "Just because I'd rather avoid the recognition doesn't mean that I don't want and have the best I can get or afford. Those townhouses didn't need to be that nice or large, for instance." He waved a hand to indicate the cottage. "This is hardly a shack in the woods either – and a step or three up from our family tents."

"Enough already," Lily interjected. "I don't need you to keep going on endlessly about stuff like that – things that I won't have if I don't join the Cannons or get back together with Jonah."

"Well, you could stay at home and live with Mum and Dad indefinitely," Al joked. "They'd be okay with that."

"I'm not sure whether I even want to return home again in June," Lily admitted. "If I'm not even sure about that; I still don't get why you think I'd want to do this too."

"I know that you want to do it," Al disagreed – "and so do you. What neither of us know, though, is whether you can let go of the hate from having your Harpies' dream crushed – though as I've suggested before; you could just defer that dream for sometime in the future."

"I could multi-task," Lily joked; but frowned when Al shook his head.

"No, you can't – not for this, Lily. There is not going to be any place on our team or in our community for the kind of hatred you've been dealing with – anymore than there would be a place there for James."

"So it's your way or get out?" Lily demanded.

"Yes," he agreed bluntly. "I keep trying to explain that what we're doing won't be for everyone. I think that you do want to be as happy as you have been to work and play with us, Lily, but you do need to choose that; or you truly won't fit in with our team or new home – and wouldn't be happy if you tried to do that without really feeling that way. All of that still doesn't mean you can't choose your own way and be happy with whatever you do decide to do. It also doesn't mean that we can't have a good relationship if you do choose to work for another team and live somewhere else. I don't really need to explain any of that – you already get it. There is a time limit on our offers – all of them. You're our only choice for the second Seeker job right now, but if you choose not to take it; we will eventually need to find a fourteenth player. That isn't a threat – just fact," he added when she bristled at that statement. Jonah will wait for you forever, but we will have to adapt our plan if you don't want to join us."

"That still feels like a threat," Lily told him; and Al shrugged.

"As I've said, we need to know about this summer by early next month – or sooner would be better. The permanent job offer is open until next year, but if you decide against that too; it'd only be fair for you to let Rose know instead of leaving her hanging – not to mention that Mum might like to know if she might be able to play for longer than two seasons."

Lily sighed. "I don't know why I've listened to you for this long," she declared – more for herself than him. "Get out of here. I'm sick of this!"

"Okay," Al agreed. He stood up; walked over to her; and leaned over for a long, fierce hug. "I love you so much, Lily. I want you to remember that because I'm not going to bug you about this again – I promise. Whatever you do decide, though, I hope you'll still choose to include us in your life – and be happy too. I know it doesn't seem like it sometimes, but I'm just as happy for everyone we love when they're happy with their own lives and choices. You're focused on what we're doing with GO MagiSports and the Cannons, but I'm thankful for the successes that everyone else in our family – and our friends – are having too; and I'm not involved in most of that at all. I only feel bad for anyone that makes choices that hurt them in any way – or hurt others."

"So you feel bad for Gwenog?" Lily asked seriously.

Al smiled ruefully. "I feel bad for her – and for the Harpies. I'll also keep hoping that their loss will be our gain; since you're brilliant and could help us to win a lot of championships – starting with one this summer. Gwenog – and Glynnis – are in a lousy position for this, but try to remember that the Harpies' owners have never done things the way we're trying to set things up with GO MagiSports – and it's still going to take years before we'll know whether what we're trying will work for everything – and I'm talking about the money side of things now. We may never know, but I will guess that their owners would not give up a big chunck of their profits for no gain."

"You sound like Gwenog now," Lily accused.

"Actually, I'd hope that I sound more like Mum for something we've talked about before – the difference between the upside for top teams compared to the upside we have with the Cannons. The changes we've made will pay off for the investors in a big way if we succeed. If the Harpies tried to repeat what we're doing; they wouldn't get a huge increase in sales or income; so from the owners' perspective; there's no advantage or reason to change – only new costs." He shrugged. "The Harpies still do better than most other teams for their players, but use rule number one for your perspective on that, since if you didn't know what our offer was to play for the Cannons; you might not have known whether the offer Gwenog gave you was a good one or not. I don't know that either; since Gwendolyn and I didn't see the details when we helped them get out of your shield and deal with their butt-bogey problem. Nice job with that, by the way. I was impressed – though I still wish that Witches and Wizards didn't spend so much time coming up with new hexes, jinxes, or curses when there are so many great things we could use our magic for instead."

"Gee thanks – now get lost before I decide to try a few new hexes on you; since I've had lots of time to work on that sort of thing over the past couple of months."

Al laughed; hugged her again; and headed for the door.

"Al?"

"Yes?"

"I love you a lot too – even when I'm still this mad and want to blast you too."

The Harpies-Magpies' match that kept Al, Gwendolyn, and everyone else watching it entertained all afternoon and into the early evening was a pretty good Quidditch battle. Al enjoyed the show and sharing the fun with Gwendolyn and everyone else with them at the stadium, but he multi-tasked mental musings that wandered all over the place too – with the events of the morning a big part of those thoughts. It was inevitable that watching Harpies Quidditch would lead to thinking about Lily. There were a lot of emotions jumbled together for everything that was going on with her; so it wasn't easy to sort that out – especially when what he hoped for the most might not be what Lily would choose for herself. Then there were the images of Lily playing for the Harpies instead of Gabrielle in a near-future that he already knew wasn't going to happen; yet those pictures didn't match up with Lily's dream either – not because she didn't play brilliantly; but because her dream of league championship glory ran into the orange brick wall of Rose's dreams.

While he'd done what he could for LIly now and needed to wait and hope for the best; the hours of sitting and cuddling with Gwendolyn left him with lots of time to think about other plans and ideas. He mentally worked on some of the ideas that had been tossed around over the past week for Europe Cup Cannons gear and souvenirs. The upcoming need for international travel around Europe had him thinking about another pet project that he had been tinkering with for a while; and then there was still more going on in his mind – so many ideas and random thoughts that they were sometimes nearly as jumbled and chaotic as his emotions about Lily. That did keep him busy during the entire match – in a sit down and do nothing sort of way. He was fired up by the time that Gabrielle caught the snitch for the win mid-way through the sixth hour; and might have gotten straight to work on making some of his ideas into actual things, but he had family and friends fun to keep busy with for the rest of the evening; and the work had to wait while he played for a few more hours instead.

Celebrating the Harpies' three-sixty to ninety victory over the Magpies with a late dinner that Gwenog joined them for once she was finished at the stadium didn't keep Al from having the ongoing mental diversions; though that did have him wondering a bit about why he was feeling that way while everyone else was more-interested in talking about the match; how well Victoire had played for the Harpies; and how much better Ollie, Landon, and the Magpies had done to stay with the Harpies for five and a half hours. Sure, they'd still lost, but they were getting better; and were starting to earn a few wins that they hadn't been getting in recent seasons. Gwendolyn's plans for some much-hotter play time for two after they went to bed for the night definitely didn't leave Al with any interest in thinking about anything else for quite a while; so getting back to any work at all had to wait for morning.

Cyndia's birthday was the family and friends' event of the day, but they couldn't celebrate it with her; so Al and Gwendolyn spent most of the day doing work of various kinds. There was a breakfast-time interview for Teresa and Kylie; a team event luncheon; chores around their townhouse and community; and a fair bit of time-stopped project work on everything from Camp Cannonball buildings to Europe Cup toy and souvenir prototypes. They had another family dinner that Malorie, Patrick, the twins, and his parents joined in on so that they could enjoy the meal and talk weddings; and then Al and Gwendolyn played with Jaimie and Lorie until bedtime while Kirley and Gwenog went home; and Malorie and Patrick continued their planning session with 'their' parents. Wrapping up their weekend after curfew with more play-time-for-two kept Al and Gwendolyn happy and then it was time to get back to the Quidditch work again on Monday.

Al wasn't getting over-confident about any match the Cannons still had ahead of them for the rest of the season, but their match against the Kestrels on Tuesday evening was one of the easiest – especially compared to the work they put into getting ready for that battle. Santini's first match against Ginny in fifteen years didn't end up being much of a Seeker duel at all as he found out that there was a big difference between watching someone using a Hurricane and trying to keep up with one. It only took Ginny an hour and a half to catch the snitch for the two-twenty to naught victory; and they'd all needed to hold back a bit to keep from scoring more points – or ending the match sooner; since the other Kestrels' players were no longer playing with any of the hope they'd had when Santini was first hired and joined their team. If they were worried about going into the record books as the second-half of the two teams Santini might lead to last place in the league, that didn't translate into their match-play; and Al thought that they might be on the way to helping Santini to earn that dubious record.

While the Cannons played nice with Santini and the Kestrels, the opposite was the case for the Thursday evening Quidditch match between the Catapults and Bats. The thirteenth of March may as well have been a Friday for as scary as that match was for the Bats. Al had to wait until Friday morning to get all of the worst lowlights of that battle, since Gwendolyn convinced him to spend the evening working on their projects and playing instead of sitting through any part of that ugly match. Al didn't like any of that news; and didn't understand why even the Catapults fans weren't getting sick of James, Scorpius, and the McClaggens running up the score and intentionally trying to injure the players on weaker teams when it was obviously some sort of vicarious revenge or retaliation for losses to the other top teams. The only reason that that match ended in five hours was because James decided that he was bored and put the Bats out of their misery for the five-twenty to seventy blow-out victory.

While Al was able to avoid most of that nasty little blip in the week, the rest of the Quidditch action in his work week was great as the Cannons moved on from the Kestrels and got ready for their second match of the season against the Harpies. They only had seven training days to get ready for that game – including the day of the Thursday evening match, but Al made sure that they all had fun with that work through the end of the day on Friday; and then they were all ready to take most of the weekend off except for the team-related activities that Rose kept to a minimum for everyone so that they could all actually get some rest as they headed into the second-half of March.

Harry and Ginny each had a twin in their arms as they walked onto the school grounds at Hogwarts on Saturday morning. They were all smiling as they met up with Lily and the small group of friends that had walked out to the gates with her – though most of them were there to welcome other incoming visitors.

"It's only been a week since I saw you last," Lily teased as Jaimie and Lorie each wanted to share enthusiastic hugs and kisses with their aunt.

"We still miss you," Jaimie advised her. "Is Uncle Jonah coming – or are you still broke?"

"Shhh," Lorie told her sister while looking worriedly at Lily. "Don't hex Jaimie. We don't know what a Butt-Bogey is; but it sounds bad!"

"I would never hex you – either of you," Lily assured them. Why would you think that?"

"'Cause everyone is afraid that you'll hex them if they talk about you and Uncle Jonah being broke," Jaimie explained. "What is a Butt-Bogey? We really want to know. You should talk to Uncle Al about being broke. He's really good at fixing broke stuff for us."

"Don't look at us," Ginny told Lily while fighting not to laugh and grinning at them. "Kids hear things no matter how hard we all try to avoid that." Lily shook her head and then returned her attention to her impatiently-waiting nieces.

"You know what Bat-Bogey hexes are, right?" she asked them and they nodded. "Butt-Bogeys are the same – except they come out the other end, if you know what I mean." Ginny wasn't the only one trying not to laugh at the reaction from the girls.

"Ew!" Lorie exclaimed; though she and Jaimie both giggled too while looking at Lily with wide eyes.

"Yes, but I only use it on Wizards or Witches that really deserve to be hexed with something that yucky," Lily advised them. "As for Uncle Jonah and me – we're not broke; he's just not my boyfriend anymore. You probably heard people say that we broke up; not that we're broke."

"You should not be broke up," Lorie told her. "We love Uncle Jonah a lot."

"He could be our boyfriend instead," Jaimie suggested; suddenly smiling brightly. "Then we could marry him when we grow up – just like Mummy and Daddy-Patrick are getting married this summer!"

"Are you still sure that you'll never want to hex them?" Ginny leaned close and whispered while joining in on the round of laughs too. "In case you had any doubt that they're a lot like their aunt; I'd say you now have proof."

"Or I'm being messed with – again," Lily countered suspiciously.

"You should know better than that," Ginny admonished; though she continued to smile as Jaimie and Lorie took that idea and ran with it. "Are we waiting for the other parents; or going on to the stadium now?"

Al and Gwendolyn did not go to Hogwarts because he didn't want to push Lily anymore than he already had – and they had lots of other things that they could do with that time instead. They only had one interview to deal with for the day; got that out of the way after breakfast; and then they spent the day at Camp Cannonball. Al had temporarily moved the Quidditch pitch shed that he'd made for his parents over there so that he could work on the buildings while it was still winter and he couldn't do any construction work outdoors while everything was snow-covered and frozen; so they worked in there; used a time-stop to get even more work finished; and then they ended up spending the night at the cottage – along with their parents, Jaimie, and Lorie. They all came over after the Quidditch match at Hogwarts or late-afternoon for Kirley and Gwenog; so the snow play, dinner, and fun-by-the-fire evening was all about enjoying a break from the work – even if that was only for a handful of hours plus the good night of sleep that they all got once they were ready to turn in for the night.

Lily was happy as she landed at the edge of the practice pitch in the Room of Requirements – happy to be tired out. Leanne Jordan had landed by then too; and they both sat down on the sidelines bench that the Room of Requirements had provided for them.

"You were on a tear up there tonight," Leanne told her in between first drinks of water. She grinned then. "I heard that your nieces have decided to marry Jonah. Is that why you're so motivated tonight?"

"No, but that's funny," Lily answered after a half-faked laugh. "Why do you ask? Are you one of the Witches that wants to line up to go out with him?"

Leanne shook her head. "No – and I'm not just saying that because I'm afraid of your new Butt-Bogey hex." She laughed when Lily looked skeptical. "Jonah's an amazing guy, Lily, but he's in love with you – and I think that you still love him right back. Maybe other Witches can overlook something like that, but it's a deal-breaker for me when it comes to dating someone."

"Contrary to popular myth; love doesn't conquer all," Lily offered.

"I've noticed that on occasion," Leanne agreed; surprising Lily; and she laughed. "That isn't really from personal experience – just empirical observation. Love just makes everything better. I think that it's forgiveness that conquers all – especially if a good Butt-Bogey hex can't solve the problem."

"You sound like Al – for the first part of that," Lily told her after laughing at the last part.

"That doesn't surprise me; since part of that sentiment comes from watching him – or how he's handled all of the bad stuff that has been dumped on him. You've been hit by some of that rubbish too, but when you add all of it up; I'm a bit in awe that Al can still be the way he is instead of bitter and jaded. He must need to forgive a lot to stay that happy. I try to do that more than I used to, but I doubt that I'll ever be that nice."

"I get what you're saying; but not the why," Lily told her. "Everyone around here assumes that my break-up with Jonah is my fault. If that's true; then I'd have nothing to forgive; and you should be having this chat with Jonah."

Leanne laughed. "Would you like me to do that?" she teased; and then got serious again. "Neither of you have told anyone what happened; so everyone is just speculating. You've made it clear that whatever happened; it's none of our business. I get that – especially around here, but the only thing I'd add to what I said is that it is possible to need to forgive yourself. That might actually be the hardest thing to do; since we can't go back in time and fix anything that we did wrong." She smiled ruefully at Lily's reaction. "I'm not joining that club for blaiming your problems with Jonah on you. We have all noticed that neither of you have even tried to move on with someone else, though; so I expect that you'll need to work that out together and either get back together or find some closure so that you can move on. You might want to think about doing that before summer; since I don't know how you'd be able to have Jonah's Mum boss you around all summer while in this dating limbo."

"I'd say it's time to change the subject," Lily decided. "What'd you think about that junior team match this morning?"

Leanne went along with that diversion, but since she was going to be done school in June; she wasn't really all that interested in the junior team players or whether the Slytherin senior team might become a more-serious competitor to the other House teams as some of their junior players moved up to the next level. She agreed that Preston and Priscilla were two of the best junior team Chasers, but thought that the Slytherin win was as much because of their Beaters and the cheating they brought to the match against Ravenclaw. The Seeker duel hadn't been anything great; and Lauren Madley's catch had been for the loss because her Slytherin opponent gave her the chances to do that – several of them before she actually managed to make the catch. They did both like the win for Slytherin when it came to their own chances for the Quidditch Cup; though Lily knew that the Ravenclaw loss was better for Gryffindor than it was for Hufflepuff because Leanne's house had the tougher final senior team match – even if their junior teams might each win their final matches.

They eventually moved on – and back to their respective Houses, and Lily went up to her dorm room soon after getting 'home' again, but the first half of her chat with Leanne kept her awake for a long time; and led to a restless, uncomfortable night without a lot of rest.

Sunday was a bit of a reverse to Saturday for Al and Gwendolyn. They had family food and fun time in the morning, and then, while their parents, Jaimie, and Lorie moved on to other activities; they stayed at the camp and worked from late morning until late afternoon – including doing more time-stopped work. They got a lot done; moved on from there to a pre-dinner interview at one of the mirror network studios; and then they had a late dinner for two and quiet evening at home before going to bed ahead of their training day curfew. Monday began as a normal training day; and then it wasn't anymore when the official Europe Cup news came out by late-morning home time – early-afternoon from where the announcment was made at the new Quidditch World Cup stadium in Bulgaria that was also going to host the Europe Cup championship match. It was not chance that all of the mirrors around the Cannons' practice pitch just happened to cover that press conference, and with lots of reporters on-hand covering the training ahead of their match against the Harpies; that news caused enough of a reaction that Rose opted to take the lunch break early and let her team take on all of the interview requests.

"What's going on?" Lily asked innocently as she sat down in her usual spot at the Gryffindor table to have lunch. She'd opted to go to her dorm room to switch up books and take a washroom break before lunch; and Denise had been the only room mate to do that first instead of after lunch.

"Haven't you heard yet?" Melissa asked. "The Cannons have been picked to be one of the teams playing in the Europe Cup this summer!"

"Good for them," Lily offered; pretending indifference. "You looked so excited; I thought that I'd missed something important."

Melissa laughed. "I'll wager that you'd be excited if the Harpies had gotten that invitation instead. It is the second-best international Quidditch competition in the world, Lily – and our brothers are going to be in it!"

"Plus her sister-in-law, parents, and cousin," Denise added. "No wonder it's no big deal for Lily – two-thirds of her family will be playing in the Europe Cup this summer."

"I think that it's brilliant," Kathryn told them – "though I'm a bit surprised that they picked the Cannons over the reigning league champions or one of the other teams – like United."

"Are you really?" Melissa asked. "The Cannons would have been my first pick – just for the chance to get Lily's parents in their competition. They'll likely sell out every match the Cannons play in – and get millions of mirror network viewers too."

"They don't always pick league champions for that competition," Lily advised them. "A lot of teams get picked for other reasons. Melissa's likely right about my parents – or it could be the brooms, uniforms, or a combination of everything that led to the invitation."

"Hey – let's watch this interview," Kathryn suggested; pointing to Melissa's mirror. "It's that guy that suggested that your Dad get a job – interviewing your Mum and Dad!"

"We're coming to you live from the Cannons' practice pitch," Kellum McAdams told his audience with his signature smile that supposedly melted the hearts of Witches everywhere. "As you've just heard, the Quidditch news story of the day is that the Chudley Cannons have been named as one of the teams that will be competing in the Europe Cup this summer. I have Harry and Ginny Potter here with me; and we're going to get their reaction to the news!" He paused and turned his attention to his guests as the mirror-cam view opened up to show him sitting at a table with Harry and Ginny to his right. They were smiling too; though that seemed to be in amusement.

"Let's start with you, Harry," Kellum suggested. "Do you think that the Cannons have been invited to compete in the Europe Cup because you're on the team; and they're looking to use your notoriety to promote their competition? I've heard that they're not doing very well and may be willing to try anything to keep from losing money."

"The Europe Cup is the second most-successful international Quidditch competition in the Wizarding World," Harry answered. "The last one was six years ago because they don't hold it during Quidditch World Cup years, and that was the year after the twenty-eighteen Quidditch World Cup; so it was normal for attendance to be lower than usual for them. I would think that Ginny's name recognition in Quidditch circles would have more to do with our selection than mine, but you'd have to ask the Europe Cup committee members that question. We're honored to be given the opportunity to compete in such a historic tournament."

"You were unemployed less than a year ago; so I can understand that," Kellum joked; the malicious barb hidden behind the smile and levity. "You may wish that you stayed that way instead of risking not just being embarrassed here at home; but internationally."

"I signed up with the Cannons because you suggested that I try playing in the league before offering my opinion on how league players chose to act – in that instance, because of what happened after the end of a match. I'm having fun doing that; think that we've shown that it is possible to play by the rules and still do well; so I'm not embarrassed about anything we've accomplished so far this season. The wins we've had along the way are just an awesome bonus."

"Victories that you've had no hand in for months now," Kellum pointed out. "Will we actually find out whether you can still play the game on Thursday against the Harpies?"

"Yes – though we'll have to wait and see how I'll do against Gabrielle," Harry answered. "Win or lose; we're going to have fun!"

"Will your team mates agree with that if you lose and end their undefeated season?" Kellum asked.

"I hope so; since I'll try my best. If the Harpies win on Thursday; they'll deserve it, and they are our favorite team; so we can be happy for them too."

"That's very sportsmanlike of you – and not very believable," Kellum told him; and then turned his attention to Ginny. "Do you feel the same way about what will be your first international competition in more than twenty years?"

"I'm thrilled about getting to have my first chance to play in the Europe Cup," she answered. "This is wonderful for our team, GO MagiSports, and our fans, but we will have to wait until after the end of our league season to focus on that tournament." She laughed then. "Fortunately, the kids on our team are all young, and as you pointed out already, Harry and I were unemployed for a few years; so we should be able to handle the extra work instead of getting to rest up during the off-season!"

"So you're not worried about looking the fools to the entire Quidditch world?" Kellum asked.

"We will continue to play our best; have fun together; and represent our team and country with pride and honor. Let's leave it up to each Witch and Wizard to decide for themselves whether we succeed at that regardless of how well we do – both for this league season and that competition."

Kellum's interview with Harry and Ginny was far from the harshest criticism or attempts to lead the Cannons' players into quotes that could be used against them – or the team. There were few positive reports; and worse opinion hit pieces that popped up in the news from some of their favorite haters – like Rita Skeeter. All of the extra hype was a distraction, but that didn't keep Rose from making sure that her team was ready for their Thursday evening match. They resumed a full afternoon workout on Monday; the only bit of extra family-and-friends fun on Tuesday was a morning mirror chat with Stephanie for her eighteenth birthday; and the full days of work on Tuesday and Wednesday went very well – in complete contrast to the reports suggesting yet another training fail and inevitable loss. Their training was lighter on Thursday ahead of the big match, but with more ongoing nonsense from the reporters that were obsessed with tearing them down; all of the Cannons' players were just ready to get the match started by game time and have some fun with their Harpies' friends!

Ginny smiled happily as she watched Harry and the rest of their team mates share an enthusiastic round of hugs and kisses with the Harpies' players.

"Are you supposed to look that happy while your husband is hugging and kissing other Witches?" Hermione teased; and Ginny joined in on the round of laughs.

"All of those Witches are family to us," she reminded her sister-in-law. "I love seeing this. The reporters and nay-sayers can disagree all they want, but this is what every match ought to be like – the same as if we were just getting together for a family scrimmage."

"You didn't think that way when you played for the Harpies," Hermione suggested; and Ginny nodded.

"I didn't," she agreed. "Quidditch with my brothers was a lot more competitive – when they'd let me play at all. I never really even thought about the differences when I first started with the Harpies. That was work; and my Seeker duels with Harry or other family and friends' scrimmages were play time. Now, I wonder why we didn't care more about having more fun and weren't so serious."

"You ought to be wondering why you and Harry didn't try this with the Cannons twenty-five years ago," Ron suggested.

"We'd have never thought about most of the things that Al and Rose have done when we were their age," Ginny pointed out. "You and Harry were a bit busy back then too; and we all got to have our dreams come true."

"I wouldn't say that for me," Ron said; and then frowned when Hermione elbowed him. "Really?" he asked her. "You know what I mean; so quit trying to turn it into something it isn't – and stop elbowing me like that."

"I'd say that you did get your dream to be famous – though maybe not in any way that you expected that to happen," Ginny disagreed. "As for your dream to see a Cannons' league championship in your lifetime – we're working on that one now; and you're still fairly-young so if we do get that for you sometime in the next few years; you're almost-certain to survive the shock." She nodded toward center pitch. "Here we go. I'm so glad that I can't bet on Quidditch matches with you this season. You're likely making up a bit for all of the losses you've had in every other season."

"Only at the start of the season," Ron advised her. "For some reason; nobody wants to take the other side of those bets anymore – despite all of the experts insisting that the Cannons are going to lose every match."

Don't get too over-confident," Ginny warned. "We're not unbeatable; and anything can happen in Quidditch."

"Seventeen minutes before giving up the first goal to the Cannons," Alyssa announced. "Is that a record for this season?"

"I have no idea," Hugo answered, "but Vicky did get a few good saves; and the Harpies are trying some new things against the Cannons to try and slow them down."

"The way they're smiling; I thought that their game plan was to out-happy the Cannons," Melissa joked. "Victoire has been matching up against Gwendolyn a fair bit so far tonight. Do you think that's part of the Harpies' plan – or do the Cannons want that match-up?"

"I'd guess that Gwendolyn wants to find out how she does against Victoire," Stephanie offered first. "Al's playing nice against Candice when he's matched up against her. I like her, but she's not fast-enough to keep up with him if he was trying his best."

"That might be a mistake that teams could learn to take advantage of," Kathryn suggested. "I'd want to try and get the one-sixty lead as soon as possible in this match; since Gabrielle is good-enough to win every match."

"I get what you're saying," Cyndia told her, "and that is something of a risk, but considering how good Harry and Ginny are; I'd say that the Cannons don't have much to worry about for that – unless they get a bit of bad luck."

"Aren't they due for some while still undefeated this far into the season?" Denise teased.

"I'd say that we've had more than our fair share of bad luck – for the past century or so," Hugo pointed out after joining in for the round of laughs. "This could just be the start of a century of good luck!"

"Give a Cannons' fan a few wins in a row; and they get totally delusional," Lily teased. "Your team's losing streak is legendary, Hugo, but the league has been around for three-hundred and fifty years, so with thirteen teams; that'd work out to an average of twenty-seven title wins per team. The Cannons had twenty-one up to their last championship; so you're not that far off the average – and not the worst."

"Another twenty-one championships sounds good to me," Hugo told her. "I hope that won't mess things up for your Harpies. I get razzed about being a Cannons fan – even now that we're winning matches; and I really hope that the fans of some of the other top teams get a taste of their own potions – though I wouldn't wish a century or more of losing on anyone."

"Not even on the Falcons or Catapults?" Alyssa asked. "I might be willing to make an exception or two."

"Well, the Catapults just won a championship; so I'd be okay with it if they go on a bit of a losing streak," Hugo admitted – "at least until they stop playing the way they have been over the past few seasons."

"I'd just like to see them stop trying to end the Quidditch careers of the players they like to hate the most," Stephanie told them. "We're watching the happy match of the week, though; so let's save talking about the Catapults until their match on the weekend."

"I don't want to think about that match," Kathryn told her. "My sisters are two of those players they want to beat up and knock out."

"I can relate," Stephanie assured her. "That's something we can talk about on Saturday too – ways to keep from being on the hospital visit side of those matches once we're in the show too."

"Do you really have to worry about that when you'll have Al on your team?" Melissa asked. "It'll be those of us getting jobs on other teams that'll have something to worry about."

"Either that or Al will be very busy," Cyndia suggested. "He has been helping cousins and friends on other teams when needed. If you end up on enough different teams; he'll be helping most of the teams and players before he knows what hit him."

"That's a funny choice of words," Stephanie told her with a laugh. "You could be right, though, since he would do that when he can. I have no idea how many times a week anyone could do that without burning out, but I guess that Healers do that full-time; so maybe it isn't a problem at all."

Lily had listened in on that chat more than participating, but then she studied and kept an eye and ear on the Quidditch match too. As the Cannons slowly and steadily built their lead and her friends talked about Quidditch and their future playing in the show; she also took all of that in and thought about her own future – one that was not going to include playing for the Harpies. She wanted to stay furious about that, but it was getting tougher to stay that angry all of the time – especially when she needed to keep that mad to herself. She hadn't expected to be in the same position as some of her friends and cousins – with a desire to play in the show; but limited options when it came to getting a job with one of the best teams. There weren't any happy thoughts to go along with knowing that she actually did have a job offer that her friends would take in a second – if it was for one of the other spots on the team.

As she kept watching the Cannons play so brilliantly and have so much fun together, though; she couldn't come up with a single, better option for other jobs that would lead to the successes she wanted to earn – while also getting her revenge on the Harpies. All of the same problems were still there, though; and she didn't see any way around them. Daydreams of turning Gabrielle into a Butt-Bogey were hard to have fun with when Riley and Caylee were in the room, but then even if she did that; she wasn't sure that she could even play for Gwenog and the Harpies anymore after everything that had happened over the Christmas holidays and since then.

Maybe she just needed to think bigger – like turning a whole bunch of players and managers into Butt-Bogeys; make room on both teams for herself and her friends; and that'd solve all of their problems!

"Quit looking at your watch," James told Brock. "You're out with the King; and I'll give you an exemption from the curfew that we all ignore anyway."

"Maybe I don't want to be late for a sleepover date," Brock suggested; and James laughed.

"If you really had a date while looking that scruffy, you should skip it; since that Witch must be hag-of-the-month ugly."

"Some Witches like scruffy," Brock declared. "The truth is that I've had enough of the clown brigade to last me a month; and there's nothing left to learn from this sorry excuse for a Quidditch match. The clowns have the one-sixty lead; Gabrielle will catch the snitch for the loss or your ex-Dad will catch it for the bigger win; and that'll be the end of it. We've done our homework; so let's just finish our drinks and get out of here."

"We can stop watching the circus and get serious about some partying instead. It's way too-early to head home – and if you wait a bit longer; even a few of the Witches in here might be drunk enough to be willing to go home with you!"

Tiberius laughed. "We'd need to be a lot drunker to take any of these Witches anywhere at all. You must have picked the pub where all of the ugly Witches go to play."

"Would you have rather gone to the Cannonball Cafe and spent the night drinking milk and snacking on cookies?" James retorted. "I picked this place for the complete lack of a single Cannons' fan in the place."

"Yeah," Brock agreed – "no fans; yet everyone is watching; and most of them look happy."

"Only because they like seeing the Harpies bested by a bunch of clowns," James retorted dismissively. "They're just picking the least of two evils."

"You really do have a gift for substituting reality and replacing it with your own version of it," Tiberius told him in amusement. "Brock's right about this being over except for the final score, though, and while it will bug you; I'd like to head home now and get some sleep. You might not be worried about our match on Saturday, but Brock and I are going to be the Beaters playing against Tina, and if your game plan works for us; then we're going to have our hands full when she gets mad and wants to start knocking us out – and by us; I mean you."

"So knock her out instead," James told him seriously. "I know you're both sweet on her, but you have got to stop letting her push you around."

"She has a Beater bat too – and isn't afraid to use it," Brock reminded him with a shake of his head. "There is a reason for why Beaters rarely get knocked out of a match." He nodded toward the mirror closest to them. "Those two Beater-clowns hardly get any bludger hits on any opponents; yet they've never been knocked out despite the incompetence."

"And we tried," Tiberius added.

"Try harder when we play them next," James suggested. "By the time we're done with getting our revenge on them; those fools running the Europe Cup will want to withdraw their invitation to the clown brigade."

"Let's not get started on that again," Brock told him with a shake of his head. "Some of us don't care about that tournament. We want to be playing next summer – in the Quidditch World Cup."

"Hopefully the Catapults' owners can help us out with that," Tiberius suggested. "I want to play next summer too, but not if it'd mean being on the team with any of the Harpies or clowns – especially if the Harpies' Queen B-Witch is put in charge again."

"Most of the clowns will only be part-time players by next season," Brock reminded him. "I doubt that any of them would rank high-enough to get nominated to the national team at all. We will have competition from all of the players that were on the last national team – along with the Queen B-Witch."

"If she's back as manager; I'd turn down the invitation," James told them. "Somebody seriously needs to put her out of our misery!"

"I'll drink to that!" Brock declared; holding up his glass in salute. "Maybe when we play them, we'll accidentally knock her head off with a bludger too – once we've put her team in the hospital first."

"That sounds great," James agreed, "but let's start with destroying United; show the clowns for the joke they are on April Fools' Day; and then you can have your fun with the Harpies."

Ginny didn't say anything to anyone else about her opinion regarding Gwenog's choice to keep the match going after the Cannons had the one-sixty lead, but she wondered at it when she'd have given Gabrielle the green light to catch the snitch for the loss – and Harry would have been happy to let her do that. Sure, Al, Gwendolyn, and Ray didn't try to run it up on the Harpies, but they could have done that; and there was no way that they'd be giving up the one-sixty lead. Gwenog should and likely did know that; yet didn't take advantage of the opportunity. That was without considering that Gabrielle wouldn't be able to defend the snitch from Harry indefinitely – no Seeker could do that.

Those thoughts became irrelevant as they were heading toward one o'clock because Gabrielle and the Harpies ran out of time and Harry finally earned an advantage that Gabrielle couldn't overcome in time after nearly five-and-a-quarter hours of brilliant Quidditch – not including the time-outs. The four-hundred to sixty score hadn't needed to be that one-sided, but that had been the Harpies' choice; and they'd have to hope that tie-breaks didn't become an issue for their team because of that.

"There he goes again – hugging other Witches," Hermione teased. "Yeah for the Cannons! Can we go home now? We do all have to work in the morning."

"I think you just need to have more hugs at the Ministry of Magic," Ginny suggested.

"Or Beaters and bludgers," Ron joked. "I've always thought that a good idea."

"You would – and have," Hermione agreed. "With all of the nasty politics going on around there this year; the last thing we need is to do anything that might make things even worse."

"That could happen if you started hugging the wrong Wizards or Witches," Ron suggested. "Bludgers would just be to keep everyone on their toes."

"It's more-likely that we'd just end up with a lot of injured workers and big bills for medical care, sick pay, and overtime pay for the people that would need to pick up the slack."

"Then you definitely shouldn't do that," Ginny told her. "That'd just give Percy and his faction the idea to give jobs to all of those poor, unfortunate Dark Wizards and Witches."

"Let's pack up and get out of here," Hermione told her. "I definitely don't want to get into another discussion about any of that absurdity. We should all be glad that Percy doesn't have the votes to get any of those proposals passed. If he ever gains control of the Ministry and Wizengamot; we may all need to think about moving to another country."

"That'd be a bit of a problem when we've got all of these new commitments – and Ron has the wheezes stores," Ginny pointed out. "Let's just make sure that doesn't happen. I'm not interested in moving again anytime soon."

With the Harpies' match won and behind them, Al, Gwendolyn, and the rest of the Cannons had the rest of the month to get ready for their battle against the Catapults on April First. While the work for that began in earnest on Friday, Rose made watching the Catapults-United match part of their weekend homework to get ready for their next match too; which was why Al and Gwendolyn were at Exmoor stadium on Saturday afternoon to watch and take notes while Al wished he was doing anything else. The family and friends seats were all spoken for on the United side of the pitch; so they were also in the Catapults' section with Harry, Ginny, and the rest of their third or so of the overall game-watching gang that had met up at the Leaky for their usual gameday luncheon.

"Smile, Al," Gwendolyn told him quietly as they watched the action at center pitch as the Puddlemere United players landed and the interaction with the Catapults' players did not include any hugs and kisses. "In case you haven't noticed; you're much-better at being happy when you're the one in direct danger from teams like the Catapults and Falcons than you are at sitting back and watching them battle against other teams – especially when there are people you care about involved."

"I have noticed that," Al admitted; and the smile he shared with her was rueful; not happy. "We should actually be cheering for the Catapults to have a good day – when it comes to what's best for our team. They always play worse after losses."

"Do you think that your theory will hold up today?" Gwendolyn asked. "The Catapults bested the Bats; so they should be much-happier today."

"No," Al admitted. "They lost to the Prides and have our match and then the Harpies on the Easter weekend up next. They'll want all three of these wins; so I expect them to be on their worst behavior today."

Gwendolyn agreed with him; and they didn't have to wait long for James, Scorpius, and the McClaggens to prove that as they came out hitting hard. Despite playing their worst, the early advantage went to United as they took a narrow lead and held onto it. Some cheating was required, but Belinda didn't keep her shut-out for long before Scorpius earned his first of the match, but she was still playing brilliantly – which was why the McClaggens spent some time trying to 'soften her up' with random attacks when they weren't busy trying to help James with knocking Alex out of the match or bashing on Dominique, Lucy, and Olivia. The first game-changer came mid-way through the third hour when Scorpius, Tiberius, and Brock teamed up to knock Belinda out – and out of the match. The bludger hit to the face was the worst of that attack, but the fall hadn't been good either – which was why Al didn't hesitate to apparate to the pitch at the foot of the United goals and immediately got to work on helping Belinda – though he was sure she'd hate the help nearly as much as James had hated his healing interventions.

"Stay here," Ginny told Harry when James led the way toward Al and Belinda; looking ready to start a brawl. "It's one thing for Al to help Belinda; and another for you to get in the middle of a match-time fight – even during a time out."

"Al has help anyway," Gwendolyn pointed out as they could all see Tina racing to land and put herself in-between her injured team mate and the Catapults' players. Her brother and the rest of their team mates weren't far behind; and it didn't end up being a problem for very long because Al was having a chat with one of the on-duty Medi-Witches; they got Belinda ready to transport to St. Mungo's; and he apparated away with his 'patient' while the Medi-Witch called the hospital to let them know they had an incoming injury.

"I hate this," Harry said quietly. "That wasn't so different from the attack on James; and it's ridiculous for the Catapults to take what happened to him and use it against other players."

"It is," Ginny agreed, "but now we'll find out whether that nasty strategy pays off or not. We have talked before about what a bad idea it is to get Tina mad; and I'd say she's there and then some right now."

That was obvious to everyone before the match even resumed, but while she was on a mission, the McClaggens appeared to be ready for that; and the advantage turned heavily in favor of the Catapults as Scorpius led the way to a fast and furious comeback – and then a push to get the one-sixty lead as quickly as possible. Everything was working perfectly for the Catapults right up until it wasn't anymore – on the last play of the match. United was almost out of time – from a scoring perspective – near the end of the fourth hour when Tina finally got an attack past the McClaggens that was the second game-changer of the match. The bludger hit on James wasn't serious – just well-timed and placed as the bludger smashed James' left knee; and Alex was able to use that opportunity to catch the snitch for the two-thirty to two-twenty comeback victory.

Al stepped back from Belinda's bed; rolled his shoulders tiredly; and smiled at Belinda's mother. He'd known she was there the entire time he'd worked on Belinda – or she had been there within the first half-hour or so; and she hadn't left the room since then.

"She's going to be fine," he toldher quietly. "That bludger hit looked worse than it actually ended up being; so my guess is that Belinda did something to soften the hits. There's only a mild concussion; and it was the broken nose and damage around the eye that took the most time to heal – for what I've worked on."

"We'll have the rest of her fixed up soon too," the Healer in charge of Belinda's treatment added while still working on one of her legs that had been injured when she'd landed on the pitch. "Thank-you, Al," he added with a nod. "We're always amazed with your talent for putting the injury puzzles back together again."

"You're welcome," Al assured him. "Is there any chance I'll be able to get out of here without running a gauntlet of reporters?"

"I doubt it," Katie answered first," but you have my thanks too. The match is over now; so I expect that there is quite a gang of visitors, well-wishers, and reporters waiting for any news about Belinda." She shook her head. "I've heard that James is here too; though his injuries aren't too-serious from what I've been told so far. He's likely angrier about the loss than he is about getting his knee smashed by a bludger."

"No doubt," Al agreed. "Is there anything I can do to help you before I go?"

"We're fine here, but I'll come along and let everyone know the good news. Is there anything else I should know about Belinda's condition?"

The Healer-in-charge answered that question; Al didn't comment, but agreed with that assessment; and then he followed Katie Wood to the nearest waiting room.

Gwendolyn was waiting for him there, but his parents had stayed away, and his reception in that room was a mix of warm and cold; so they didn't stay long before leaving Belinda's family and friends to stay and support her while they headed for home. Running the gauntlet of reporters might have been worse than it was, but he hadn't needed to help with Belinda's treatment for all that long compared to other Healing he'd done; and most of the reporters were willing to take his handful of quotes; downplay his involvement in Belinda's medical care; and add their own opinions to make it sound as though he'd made a big show at Exmoor over nothing. By then, Al didn't care; let Gwendolyn take him home; and they shared a late dinner and visit with their family and some neighbors before he needed to get some sleep – despite the fact that two or three hours of extreme healing apparently wasn't really that big of a deal anymore.

The final, full work week of March followed another alternate work and play day on Sunday – or at least that's what Al and Gwendolyn did as they spent the day doing chores, working on some of their 'extra' projects; and adding in a bit of play time with their family and friends along the way. Their training was fun every day, but the highlight of the work week was Rose's nineteenth birthday on Friday and all of the bonus entertainment that her family, boyfriend, team mates, and friends provided starting at breakfast and continuing on through to a special birthday dinner and a night out with her friends that was possible because they didn't have a game day curfew to worry about. Al and Gwendolyn went along for that night out in London; though they were the first couple to head home because they were booked to be at Hogwarts in the morning with Jaimie and Lorie for the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff junior team match. Early was relative, though, and they didn't go straight off to sleep either; so Al needed to help Gwendolyn out with some fatigue healing in the morning before picking up the twins; going for breakfast; and then heading for Hogwarts.

Lily watched as Cyndia welcomed Ray very-enthusiastically; and tried not to think about her lack of that kind of fun with Jonah – or any other Wizard. She knew why the last-half of that reality was true, but didn't want to even think about that; so she didn't – and soon had a pair of happy diversions as Jaimie and Lorie ran ahead of Al and Gwendolyn when they arrived and saw her; so she was soon busy with the hugs and kisses that her nieces shared with her.

"Good morning," Gwendolyn told Lily as she took the next turn for a warm hug. "Are you ready to keep up with both girls this morning; or should we have you take turns with them?"

"We can sit on the border between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sections today," Lily pointed out.

"I didn't think you'd want to do that," Gwendolyn admitted.

"We're in the same classes every day," Lily reminded her sister-in-law. "I already expected to have the inter-House couples sitting together today." She raised her voice while looking over toward Cyndia and Ray. "Are you going to come and watch the match too – or just stand there snogging each other senseless for the rest of the day?"

"Is that an option?" Cyndia asked. "We were going to waste some of that time finding somewhere to hide first, but I suppose that we could just conjure some furniture and stay right here."

"That's totally up to you," Lily told her. "I'm sure that all of the visitors passing by this morning will appreciate the bonus entertainment."

"Maybe we'll go and hide instead," Cyndia decided. "We can walk with you to the stadium before doing that, though; and maybe Ray would like to say hello to Melissa too."

"She won't be surprised if you don't," Lily advised Ray. "I'm sure Melissa's date for the game will be able to help her get over the disappointment if she doesn't see you again today."

"She's dating someone?" Ray demanded; and Lily and Cyndia both laughed.

"In case you haven't noticed, your sister has grown up; and dating is an option," Lily joked, "but don't get all mental about it; they're not getting serious – just hanging out together since shortly-before the Valentine's Day dance."

"You did know," Cyndia advised Ray. "This news was ignored because you didn't want any details."

"Maybe that's for the best," Ray suggested; and then shrugged. "I know it doesn't make sense, but it's still weird to even think about her dating any of the Wizards I know – especially Gryffindor guys."

"Yeah – that is weird," Lily agreed with a grin. "I don't know why any Witch would want to go out with a Gryffindor Wizard. They're the worst!"

Cyndia and Gwendolyn didn't try defending their favorite guys, but they did have fun with the joke as they started walking toward the stadium. Al and Gwendolyn made a side-trip to the Ravenclaw locker room to wish her – their – cousins good luck while Lily had some play time with the twins nearby; Jonah met them there so that he could help to get their cousins outside for the visit; and then they all headed into the stadium together. Jaimie and Lorie wanted to spend time with Jonah too, but he kept that fairly-short so that he didn't get in Lily's way; and sat a half-dozen seats away from her when they picked seats along the border between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor sections while Al and Gwendolyn sat in the adjoining visitors' section.

The play time before the match started included the pre-game Quidditch report and the team introductions; though Jaimie and Lorie were too-busy to pay much attention to the action on or above the pitch until after the quaffle toss. While Al and Gwendolyn were glad to have the time to spend with Lily, Jonah, and their cousins and younger friends; the Quidditch soon proved to be one-sided – and the match was short too. That was the only good news for Ravenclaw – the fact that Christy only needed seventy minutes to win her Seeker duel. Ravenclaw gave up five goals before she did that; and only earned one against Brett Jones. That early end to the match allowed Al, Gwendolyn, and the twins to have a bit of extra time with their junior team player-friends, but they were still on the way home earlier than needed for the Harpies match and luncheon; and Ray was not happy with the too-short visit with Cyndia either – though he stayed as long as possible before leaving the school grounds.

Al had actually hoped for a marathon match at Hogwarts, but that was entirely because he could have missed out on some or all of the Harpies' match against the Falcons. He still went to the match with Gwendolyn – and the luncheon at the Leaky too. Their food break was a lot of fun; and then the afternoon Quidditch action was not – at least when it came to all of the awful match-play from the Falcons.

Lily's afternoon Quidditch-watching fun began normally-enough as she led the post-lunch set-up of the mirror, sofas, and portable pool; and then watched the start of the Harpies' match. That morphed over time because the horrid match-play from the Falcons led her to thinking a lot about the hatred she'd been fostering toward her former favorite team. A personal guilt trip wasn't involved in those mental musings – just a realization that she didn't want to hate anyone to the point of wishing the worst on them when the reality of what she was watching clashed with her own darker thoughts about best revenges against the Harpies. While that was a change in perspective; it was far from the only thing that she noticed or thought about while watching Victoire and Gabrielle lead a brilliant effort to win the match despite the horrid hits and cheating from the Falcons' players.

One of those realizations – or admissions of something she'd known and hadn't wanted to accept – was because of those amazing displays of Quidditch from aunt and niece. While she hadn't been involved in Gabrielle's birthday celebration on Friday, she had known that it was her thirty-ninth birthday because Rose shared the special day with her – and was born twenty years after Gabrielle. It wasn't age alone that prompted those thoughts – it was the fact that Gabrielle was playing as brilliantly as Victoire. That didn't mean that Lily didn't still think that she was better – because she believed that she was better and would prove it to everyone. What it did mean, though, was that she knew that Gabrielle would be able to play for the Harpies for as long as she wanted and still be one of the top Seekers in the world. Glynnis and Gwenog were wrong, in her opinion, but they'd made their choice to stick with Gabrielle, and even their offer had been a lie; since there's no way they could expect her to wait years or decades for Gabrielle to decide that she was ready to step down.

From there, Lily's thoughts turned toward the Cannons because she couldn't avoid comparing their matches against the Falcons to the battle the Harpies were having. The Falcons played as horridly against the Cannons – if not worse. The differences, though, weren't about the goals scored or which team won – or would eventually win this match. It was about how the Cannons and Harpies played in the face of adversity. The Cannons had fun anyway regardless of how awful their opponents were toward them. They smiled most of the time; there were still hugs and kisses – even during the ongoing match; and they played brilliantly too. The Harpies' players all looked grim and determined; and they were definitely not having fun. That was an important distinction, because she had seen them have fun during Quidditch matches – including the most-recent one against the Cannons. The difference was that their collective mood always seemed to be in reaction to their opponents while the Cannons took their 'fun' game to their matches regardless of how the other teams and players reacted.

The Quidditch action rolled along through the afternoon and into the evening while Lily quietly struggled with her thoughts while keeping on a 'game' face and playing with her cousins and friends. The Harpies earned a big lead, but then the Falcons turned the match around after knocking Amber out of the match in the sixth hour. Even down a Chaser, Victoire still continued to play brilliantly; so while the Falcons began making up ground on the Harpies' lead; that happened slowly. That was why Lily was still watching the match in the Gryffindor common room after curfew – and sitting with Cyndia while doing that had everything to do with why her thoughts transitioned from Harpies-Cannons' Quidditch to thinking about the 'other' messed up part of her life – Jonah. After only getting to spend a couple of hours with Ray in the morning, Cyndia had done her best to be happy during the rest of the day, but she was quiet and sad as they continued to watch the Harpies battle against the never-ending assaults from the Falcons. Lily wasn't surprised – it was tough to be in a room full of happy, cuddling couples and not feel lonely.

In Cyndia's case, lonely was a temporary part of her life because 'her' Wizard was a year older; and she'd chosen to finish school instead of dropping out early to be with Ray. That reality wasn't where Lily's thoughts turned, though, since she instead took a look at a comparison of her brothers. While they were opposites for that part of their lives too, Lily believed that they were each, for the most part, happy with their choices. Neither of them were lonely – if for very different reasons; and it wasn't fun for her to admit that the reason for her own recent and self-inflicted loneliness was because she hadn't been willing to make one choice or the other the way James and Al had done. Thinking about the why for that was pointless, since she knew the answer without reviewing her options, but it was a change from within that had her finally accepting that she wouldn't ever choose to be like James when it came to how she would treat Wizards – or herself – when it came to romantic or intimate relationships.

The problem with that admission, though, was that she had, in fact, treated one Wizard badly – if not in the same exploitative ways that James treated every Witch he fancied. There was some guilt creeping into her heart because of the hurt she was causing all in the name of revenge, but she didn't know how to fix it – even if she wanted to do that.

Then, suddenly, she knew the answer to both.

The warm fuzzies that went along with the sudden happiness could be concealed in the dim lighting being used in the common room while the Quidditch match continued, but then she was able to join in on the cheers with real enthusiasm too when Gabrielle finally won her Seeker duel against Brand to give the Harpies the five-thirty to two-seventy victory. It was near-midnight by then, though the game time was 'only' nine-hours and nineteen minutes. There had been quite a few time-outs, though – including Amber's injury time-out. Lily's happiness didn't erase the bitter anger she was still feeling toward Gwenog and the Harpies, but she was letting go of the worst of the hatred and darkest revenges.

When she went off to sleep after some post-match girl chat time with a few of her roommates; Lily was happy and content; and happier-still when all of that happy went along with her into some really great, occasionally-hot dreams!

Al and Gwendolyn were having breakfast at the cafe with their team mates at a pair of tables that they put together so that they could talk Quidditch ahead of their match against the Catapults when Winter arrived with an Owl Post from Hogwarts. Al took the package, offered her a couple of treats; and then she headed for their townhouse to get some sleep.

"That was weird," Gwendolyn told him. "She usually gets here earlier and comes straight home."

Al shrugged, but then smiled as he opened the package and began pulling out the different letters. "Maybe she's having some holiday-themed fun with us," he suggested while sensing that they had more April Fools' Day entertainment on the way as he began passing along letters to his parents, wife, and cousin.

"Maybe, but a delayed delivery doesn't seem like much of a joke – especially compared to your Cannons' Clown Brigade snap-dragons," Rose told him; and then frowned as she noticed that there was an extra letter for her than she'd expected after handing one to Brandon from his sister. "I wonder who sent this one? I don't recognize the handwriting."

"That's from Lily," Ginny advised her after just a glance while already opening her own letter from her daughter. "Doesn't she ever write to you?"

"No," Rose answered while choosing to open the letter; and Al had to hid the grin as his foresight allowed him to know the contents. He still had to laugh aloud when Rose's eyes went wide and she offered an exclamation that earned the attention of everyone at the table. "This must be an April Fools' Day joke!"

"What?" Ginny asked; and Rose held up the small stack of parchment – more than should have fit into the envelope without magical help.

"These are the job offers we gave her," Rose answered; sounding shocked – though she half-whispered to make sure that noebody else overheard. "They're signed!"

"That's brilliant!" Ginny said enthusiastically.

"not if it's just a stupid prank," Rose disagreed; and then frowned when Ginny just laughed.

"I'm sure that it is," she agreed. "The question, though, is who might be the true targets of her joke." She leaned in closer to Rose. "I'll guess that when you check those contracts; they're valid and binding. Let's not tell anyone else about that. It'll be fun to find out whether Lily's going to pretend that she out-smarted herself when you advise her that she's stuck with her new job; or admit that she's just using the joke and prank holiday opportunity to make her choice about joining our team."

Lily smiled brilliantly when she saw Jonah step out into the hallway from the Ravenclaw tower stairway. She hadn't been sure what his reaction would be to seeing her, but was glad when he left his friends behind and hurried straight toward her.

Good morning!" she said happily while welcomeing him with a warm hug that he returned – and then kissed him rather-enthusiastically. "How are you today?"

"Brilliant – now," he assured her. "You?"

"Pretty good, but before we head to the Great Hall for breakfast, I wanted to ask you about my ring. I know I had it the last time we were hanging out together, but couldn't find it this morning. Have you seen it?"

"I have," he agreed with a nod; and his smile was heart-warming as he drew his wand; summoned it from his trunk; and then put it on her finger again when she held her hand out to him instead of taking the ring and doing that herself.

"Thanks. I'm so glad that I didn't lose it anywhere. I was a bit worried about that."

"You didn't need to be," Jonah advised her. "Shall we get going?"

"Yes," Lily agreed; then looked past him to where a small gang of Ravenclaws were gathering around the team mates and friends he'd been with when they left their House. "Why are all of your friends gawking at us?"

"I have no idea," Jonah answered. "We can go ahead without them. They'll catch up eventually."

"I expect so," she agreed before kissing him again; taking his hand; and heading toward the Great Hall.

Jonah was still smiling brilliantly when he eventually left Lily with her friends at the Gryffindor table – all of them looking stunned by the sudden shift in their reality; and laughed when the only spot open for him was going to have him surrounded by his team mates.

"He has lost his mind," Stephanie decided as Jonah sat down between her and Alyssa. "You do know what day it is, right?"

"I do," Jonah agreed. "Is that a problem?"

"It will be for Lily if this is some rotten prank on you," she answered. "Aren't you worried about that?"

"No – and you'll leave her alone even if this does turn out to be a prank," he advised her seriously; though he was still smiling happily.

"No, we won't," Alyssa disagreed.

"Yes, you will," he insisted. "If getting pranked means spending one brilliant, happy day with Lily – I'll take it and be grateful. Leave her alone, and don't even think about messing that up for me."

"What are you up to, Lily?" Denise asked in a whisper after Jonah had left for the Ravenclaw table.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked with feigned ignorance.

"Don't give me that," Denise told her sharply; though she was still whispering. "Are you playing some horrid prank on Jonah?"

"Why do you say that?" Lily challenged. "I'd say that he looks quite happy – not horrified."

Denise paused and studied her friend for a long, drawn-out moment. "Okay, Lily," she finally said. "Have your fun, but if I find out that you are just being intentionally-cruel to Jonah; you are going to find out in a bad way that your best friends will not be happy with you for doing something that awful."

"And we'll likely get help with that from all of Jonah's friends too," Melissa added.

Lily's 'prank' news from Hogwarts reached Ginny, Gwendolyn, and Rose before the end of their breakfast, but that news, in combination with the signed contracts that Lily had sent to Rose just had them sure that Lily was using April Fools' Day to finally make at least some of the choices she'd been struggling with for the past three months. They didn't talk about most of that with anyone outside of the team except for Malorie, but the news helped to make for a brilliant start to their day. They had some of their own April Fools' Day fun during their morning workout – including the entertainment from Al's snap-dragons; since that was an all-new experience for the reporters that got to play with the flowers while doing their last round of reports and interviews ahead of the Cannons-Catapults' match. The meeting and afternoon rest break allowed them to get away from the media circus; and then they headed for Exmoor a couple of hours ahead of game time.

Lily was still having a brilliant day as she cuddled with Jonah on one of the sofas after dinner while waiting for the Cannons' match to start. Most of their friends were starting the studying first, but she didn't care; and wanted to enjoy every minute that she could with Jonah. They'd done that all day too whether that was while sitting together during classes; studying, having a Quidditch workout in the Room of Requirements, or the brilliantly-hot snogging moments that they'd fit into their first day together since the Christmas holidays. They'd laughed at the majority pick for the Catapults to win; had fun with their friends even while they were both being treated with extreme caution; and then they focused their attention on the mirror as the pre-game ended without any hugs and kisses; and the two teams lined up for take-off.

"Dad, Gwendolyn," Al said quietly into his earbuds while lining up for take-off against Roman Smith while Ray was at center pitch because they'd decided to try to mess up whatever game plan the Catapults had come up with for the night. "Let's have a bit of un-planned fun."

"Meaning?" Gwendolyn asked. She was lined up against Miya on the far-side of center pitch from Al.

"The snitch is behind me," Al answered. "We'll run interference, Dad, if you'd like to go for it." The snitch was behind Harry too; but Al knew that he didn't try to look around for it. "Thirty feet up, ten o'clock.. eleven o'clock..."

The referee tossed the quaffle. Harry blasted off and went inverted and backwards as James tried to go straight vertical and then tried to adjust and follow when he realized that his father hadn't tried to just keep up with him. While Ray raced after the quaffle against Scorpius; Al kept calling out snitch positions to Harry; he and Gwendolyn caused a traffic jam as Roman and Miya stayed with them despite the odd take-off; and James had to go around all four of them while Harry had already passed behind Al and Roman.

"Zigging left now," Al said, but then he laughed as he sensed that his father had zeroed in on the snitch; anticipated the change in direction; and used a twisting pivot to adjust while reaching out and catching it! "Yes!" he shouted happily; and then focused his attention on his father and brother while spinning to face them. The referee hadn't seen the catch; and was still watching Ray and Scorpius as Ray surprised everyone still watching that little battle by beating Scorpius to the quaffle. "Look out!" he warned his father as James hurtled toward him; his face a mask of rage as he saw his father holding the snitch. Harry waited until the last moment; and then sent his broom into a freefall that had James blasting past where he'd been while he simply continued to drop until he settled gently onto the pitch.

Everything seemed to go crazy all at the same time as Harry landed. By then, the stadium announcer had declared that Harry had caught the snitch, but that didn't register for half or more of the spectators; and even the referee took nearly six more seconds before he could accept that he saw the snitch in Harry's upheld hand with his own eyes. Al and Gwendolyn were together by then; they'd shared a victory hug and kiss; and then went to join Harry while Miya and Roman just watched on in stunned disbelief.

"No way!" Lily exclaimed, but then she laughed as the mirror-cam view switched from the race for the quaffle to a view of her father with the snitch in his hand. James raced into view; the mirror-cam followed Harry as he missed the attempt to hit him by 'falling' to the pitch; and then it was surreal to watch as a bunch of mirror-cam views were used to show the reactions and craziness going on at Exmoor.

"Yes way," Hugo assured her happily. "Do not adjust your mirrors – this is not an April Fools' Day prank!"

"How fast was that?" Jonah asked.

"I don't know," Lily answered. "Ten seconds?"

Jonah shook his head. "Maybe ten to the whistle," he agreed. "Your Dad already had the snitch by the time the mirror-cam switched to showing him; and the whistle didn't come until at least a few seconds after that."

"You think he's close to Mum's record?" Lily asked incredulously; and Jonah shrugged.

"I don't know. We'll have to wait and see once they've checked the game time and made it official. I hope they can show the full replay. Either way; that was brilliant!"

All fourteen players were on the pitch, but the Catapults were not offering any congratulations; and the McClaggens were physically restraining James from going after his father. The Cannons were celebrating, though, and the fun level kicked up a few notches when the replays being shown of the catch on the stadium mirrors was replaced by the official game time – three-point-zero-nine seconds!

"You beat Aunt Ginny's record!" Rose told Harry; and then she laughed while hugging her uncle. "That's brilliant!"

"It will be," Brandon agreed – "if anyone will believe that it isn't an April Fools' Day joke!"

"Dad will love it – and it's an awesome birthday gift for Uncle George too," Rose offered cheerfully.

"You should dedicate it to Uncle Fred," Al told his father quietly. "He'd think this was funny too."

"He would," Harry agreed; and then he laughed too as he met gazes with Ginny and she stuck her tongue out at him. "I always wondered what this felt like for her," he added; turning his attention back to Al and Gwendolyn. "It's even better than I imagined."

"Even with doing that against James?" Gwendolyn teased; and Harry laughed again.

"He won't think so; but I'll take this over a marathon match against him."

"I like this better too," Al assured him, "but now what do we do for the rest of the evening?"

James summoned a bottle of fire whiskey from home once he was in the locker room; skipped the putting some of it in a glass first and took a long pull directly from the bottle. He swore another streak of ugly insults directed at his ex-father, the loser, and the rest of the clown brigade; and waved Tiberius and Brock off.

"Get away from me," he spat at them angrily. "If you were as good at your jobs as those two idiots were at getting in my way tonight; maybe we'd still be out there and having fun with our game plan instead of being stuck with this debacle instead!" He'd indicated Miya and Roman with a wave of his hand; and put a lot of the blame for their loss on them – or at least the blame that he didn't place on the loser.

"We thought that we played brilliantly for the entire match," Brock joked. If it had lasted for just a few more seconds; we might have even gotten our first hits in on Rose and Gwendolyn – as planned. Just have a few dozen more drinks and forget about this match. There was no way to defend what happened when nobody has even tried to go for that record in a long time; and it was total luck that it actually worked."

"It wasn't luck – they cheated!" James insisted. "The referee should've called interference at the least; though they likely charmed the snitch too."

"The referee didn't even see the play or catch," Tiberius reminded him. "If you're going to keep on about this, though, then at least share the bottle; since I'll need to have a few drinks too to keep listening to your complaints."

"Get your own," James retorted before taking another pull from the bottle. "I don't even want to share this locker room with a bunch of losers!"

Lily watched most of the post-game show while cuddled with Jonah; they did the rest of their homework after that; and then went off on their own so that she could snog him senseless until shortly before curfew. The Cannons' record-breaking, one-fifty to naught victory over the Catapults had been brilliant and appropriate for the day, but she was still very proud of herself as she headed for her dorm room after Jonah walked her 'home' and then went out on Prefect patrol.

They were only through the first day of April; and still had weeks to go before the late school break for Easter, but their day had been so amazing that Lily was sure that they were going to have an amazing month – and months through to the end of the school year! While her roommates and friends worried about what would happen with her by morning, Lily simply enjoyed the drama while keeping her little game going; and wasn't at all worried about getting into trouble with them – or with Jonah's friends either.

Her future wasn't happening at all as she'd dreamed and planned, but if an unemployed, middle-aged, former Head of the Aurors could get a part-time job with the worst team in the league and then go on to earn the record for fastest-ever snitch catch along the way to what might be an undefeated season; then maybe there was hope for her too!