Without any pressure at all, Harry would admit he'd splurged on the tent. This was their first holiday trip in years and he wanted to give the kids the best experience possible. Plus the spaciousness made it hard to compare to the small tent he'd shared with Ron and Hermione during the horcrux hunt.
Hopefully there'd be no Dark Marks in the sky, either. That was unlikely to happen here in Argentina, but he still had no desire to deal with it if an attack did occur. His Auror days were over, thankfully. He was no longer Harry Potter, the Man Who Conquered - he was just Harry Potter, a happy father of four wonderful, if sometimes exhausting children and professor of Hogwarts.
He eyed the bed speculatively. Perhaps he could be a happy father of five children, if his wife was amenable to the idea.
"Whatever you're thinking, stop it right now," Daphne said as she walked into the bedroom. "The kids would ruin anything we tried to do."
His smile dimmed a little. Unfortunately, she was right. Still, he enjoyed watching her change out of her casual clothes into something more fitting for a party. Tonight they'd be hosting all of Dumbledore's Army members. That included Ginny; thankfully, Ron and Hermione had sworn to keep an eye on her.
"What was all the yelling about?" he asked, lying back on the bed and crossing his arms behind his head.
She huffed. "They were fighting over the top bunk. I'm older, I called it...The typical nonsense."
"I thought Calla was afraid of heights," he said, frowning.
"She is. This was Teddy and Damon. I still have no idea what she was yelling about." Daphne sat down on the bed to put on her heels. As she did so, she finally noticed Harry in his best sexy position. "Hmm. Maybe later tonight, if I'm still awake."
He grinned. "Fair enough."
She leaned over to kiss him, murmured, "Later," again when he tried to prolong it, and then headed for the bathroom. With a sigh, Harry got up to change into his robes. Then he went to check if all the children were alive.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief and made a note to praise Daphne's forethought. The kids' bedroom had been rearranged since he'd last entered. Instead of proper bunk beds, the beds were pressed together, with one taller bed against the wall and the other one in between the shorter beds. The taller beds had also been lowered down to chest-height. He hadn't hadn't been thinking of their three-year-old children climbing around at such a tall height when he designed the room.
"Time to get ready," he announced to the room. "Clean up everything, change clothes, and brush your teeth. All of you brush your teeth. Those cheese poppers make your breath reek."
There was a loud chorus of groaning at the last order. Harry followed them into the bathroom to help the twins and make sure the older boys obeyed. Teddy barely stuck his toothbrush in his mouth before declaring he was finished. After catching Harry's eye, James did a more proper cleaning.
"Ted, can you push the suitcases under the beds?" Harry called.
Through the open doorway, he could hear grumbling and huffing. From the sound of it, Teddy had decided to kick rather than simply push the suitcases.
"Hey," Harry said quietly to his middle son. "Did you give up your right to a top bunk?"
James shrugged and bent to spit into the sink. "It didn't matter to me," he said once he'd straightened back up. "Can I go now?"
By some miracle, Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Yes, yes, you can go."
When he got back to the room, he saw that Teddy had elected to stay in his Muggle clothing. Harry decided not to fight that particular battle. At least the chosen outfit didn't look too ratty.
"Can some of my friends come to the party?" asked Teddy.
Harry pretended to think about the question, even though he'd anticipated it. "Two friends max," he said.
"That's fine, only Leif and Matthias are here."
Neither of whom were his favorites of Teddy's friends, but he trusted them to not get into too much trouble. That was better than Harry could say of some others.
Unsurprisingly, Astoria and her husband of two years, Elias, arrived thirty minutes early to help set up for the party. Soon afterward Ron and Hermione ushered their two children into the tent. Harry immediately pulled his best friends aside.
"Remember Daphne's reporter cousin? She's going to be in the same box as Ginny and Skeeter. Should I warn her about… you know?"
"My sister's temper and Skeeter's sliminess, especially in regard to you?" said Ron wryly.
Harry resisted the urge to fidget. "Er, yes."
"I'm inclined to say you should," said Hermione, "but what does Daphne think?"
"She thinks so, too, but I still wanted to ask you. Not because I doubt her," he added at her expression. "I just wanted another opinion. I never know how to handle Ginny."
Ron rolled his eyes. "Mate, I've been saying that for over thirty years now. I love her but she has issues."
For a moment, it looked like Hermione was about to rebuke her husband. Then she sighed and nodded in agreement.
"You should definitely warn Daphne's cousin," she said, getting them back on topic. "But speaking of Skeeter, do your kids know to keep an eye out for a beetle?"
"They're supposed to find Daphne or I if they see any bugs. Hopefully they don't just step on it."
Ron muttered that it'd solve their Skeeter problem if she did end up squashed. This time Hermione smacked him lightly on the arm.
"Well, he's right," said Harry fairly.
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, sounding like she didn't know whether to laugh or be angry.
Her cry drew the attention of Astoria, who stomped over to them. His sister-in-law stabbed him hard in the chest with one finger. "You better not be letting your wife do all the work," she warned.
"I'm not," he protested.
Then to prove his point, he took out his wand and turned to the table next to them. It was easy to transfigure a coaster into a vase. More difficult was creating flowers, and the result looked more than a little droopy. There was a reason he preferred buying flowers for Daphne from the local store. She'd even laughed at his first attempt to make a bouquet for her.
"It is a wonder you ever managed to woo my sister," said Astoria in a tone of great grievance.
"Hey!" He often wondered the same thing, but it was the principle of the matter.
"It definitely wasn't with his sexy pose," Ron put in.
Harry scowled at his best friend. "Traitor," he muttered as Hermione snickered.
The first guests arrived at that moment, saving him from any more haranguing from his friends and family. Lee and Parvati looked mildly disturbed as Harry approached them and he wondered if his smile was a bit too happy.
Nevertheless, he wouldn't change his happiness for the world.
AN: Remember that fight between Ginny and Skeeter mentioned in another chapter? It makes it into the Danish papers, courtesy of Daphne's cousin.
Oh, and in reference to Teddy's attitude: he's the son of Remus Lupin, related to Sirius Black, and partially raised by Harry Potter... which means he's more than a little prone to moodiness.