Teddy walked next to Harry and took his hand, "Harry, what are we going to do today?"
Harry smiled, "It's a surprise!"
Teddy giggled, "We're going to see Gin Gin today aren't we?"
Harry shook his head and chuckled, "You're too smart for your own good sometimes. How did you know?"
Teddy smiled, "Every time you say it's a surprise, we see Gin Gin."
Harry replied, "I guess we do huh?" Harry scooped up Teddy and placed him on his shoulders with a smile.
Teddy asked, "Where is Gin Gin? Is she home?"
Harry shook his head, "Nope. She's at the pitch with the team."
Teddy then asked, "Does she know we're coming?"
Harry shook his head again, "Nope. We're going to surprise her. After she's done at practice, we're going to go to Diagon Alley for ice cream."
Teddy yelled out, "YEAH! Ice cream and quidditch!"
As Harry and Teddy got closer to the quidditch pitch, they could hear the girls yelling out. Every so often they would see one of them fly up and around before diving back down. Teddy pointed up to them. His excitement grew as the gap between them and the pitch got smaller. Teddy loved watching Ginny play quidditch and he loved the Harpies. They were his favorite team and Ginny was his favorite player. Andromeda had decorated Teddy's room in the team colors and hung up posters of Ginny and the girls. One of Teddy's favorite things was a photo of him and Ginny from a match that Harry had taken him to last season. It was on his nightstand next to his bed. He looked at every night before bed and every morning when he woke up.
As they walked into the stadium where the team held their practices, Allen the medical trainer saw them and waved. Harry waved back as Teddy let go of Harry's hand and ran over to him.
Teddy shook Allen's hand, "Hi Allen! We're here to see Gin Gin!"
Allen smiled, "Hi Teddy. Is that so?"
Teddy grinned as he nodded.
Harry caught up to Teddy and shook Allen's hand, "Hi Allen. How are you?"
Allen smiled, "Hi Mr. Potter. I'm doing good."
Harry looked out to the pitch to see the team in a huddle, "How's the team looking today?"
Allen replied, "Not bad. Your misses is putting them through their paces though. She wasn't too happy about the losing the last match and Gwen really laid into them too."
Harry shook his head, "Ginny never likes to lose. I hope she doesn't work them too hard though."
Allen chuckled, "I'm sure seeing you two here will lighten the mood. Does she know you're here?"
Teddy piped up, "Nope! It's a surprise. After we're going to get ice cream too!
Allen smiled, "Sounds like fun. I better get going. I've got some potions to brew."
Harry and Teddy said their goodbyes to Allen and continued to walk over to the players' bench and took a seat behind it. Gwen was there looking at her clipboard muttering something.
She looked up from her clipboard, "Hiya Harry! Hiya Teddy! Ginny didn't say you guys were stopping by today."
Teddy smiled and Harry said, "She doesn't know. It was kind of a last minute decision."
Gwen nodded and smiled, "I hope seeing you two here helps change her mood. Ginny took the loss pretty hard. I did my duty as a captain and lit them up, but she took it to a whole new level."
Harry was taken aback after hearing this. He knew Ginny was upset over the loss, but he never knew her to take things personally. She always put it all in perspective and put in some extra time studying plays and film. Thinking back she was pretty angry after the match and brooded over it for longer than usual. Harry started thinking coming here may have been a mistake.
Harry replied, "Well, I hope we can change things around a bit." Teddy nodded in agreement as Gwen reached over and tussled with his hair.
The two of them watched the girls go through some drills. Teddy couldn't take his eyes off them. He was mesmerized by them. Teddy watched the chasers climb and dive as they passed the quaffle back and forth and dodge the bludgers hit by the beaters. Teddy watched the keepers defend the three hoops with skill and grace. He whooped and cheered when the keeper stopped the quaffle. Harry smiled as he watched his godson have such a great time.
Once the girls were done, they landed and started walking over to the players' box. Teddy's excitement went into overdrive. He still found it hard to believe that his godfather's wife was a professional quidditch player and he knew the entire team.
Teddy exclaimed, "Here they come! Harry, here they come!" He started jumping up and down, "Here comes Gin Gin! I think she sees us!" Teddy started waving feverously, "GIN GIN!" His excitement finally got the better of him and he climbed over the wall onto the pitch and took off running for Ginny. Harry chuckled at him and shook his head.
Ginny had been walking back with her broom over her shoulder and looking at her feet muttering something to herself. She hadn't seen Harry and Teddy yet. Ginny was so caught up in her own thoughts she didn't hear Teddy yell out to her either. She finally raised her head to see the little boy running as fast as his legs could carry him straight to her.
Ginny passed her broom to Abagail, "Hold this for me," and took off right for little Teddy. She spread her arms wide as she got close to him and when she reached him she scooped him up and held him above her head.
Teddy laughed, "Gin Gin!"
Ginny smiled, "Ted Ted!" and placed him on her hip even though he really was a bit old for it. Ginny spoiled him a bit anyway. She tickled him and Teddy let out a giggle. Ginny looked at him, "I'm so glad to see you!"
Teddy smiled and threw his arms around Ginny's neck, "Me too!"
The rest of the girls caught up to them and fussed over Teddy too. He loved every second of it. Ginny put him down as Abagail handed her broom back. And the group continued to walk over to the players' box.
Teddy took Ginny's hand, "Are you surprised?"
Ginny looked down at him and smiled, "Very!"
Teddy grinned, "Good. Harry said after practice, we're going to go get ice cream in Diagon Alley."
Ginny tussled with Teddy's hair, "That sound like a great idea."
When the group got to the players' box, Ginny let go of Teddy's hand. Teddy went over to where the spare brooms were and started to straighten them out and leaning them up against the wall neatly. Harry was smiling as Ginny walked up to him and gave him a kiss, "Hello, Love."
Harry wrapped his arms around his wife's waist, "Hello. I'm sorry about Teddy. He just couldn't contain himself anymore."
Ginny smiled, "Don't be. I know how much he loves quidditch and the team. Besides, I needed it."
Harry replied, "So I've heard. Anything you want to talk about?"
Ginny shook her head, "Not here." Ginny picked up her broom, "Hey Ted Ted! How would you like to go for a ride?"
At the sound of his nickname, Teddy stood up and smiled a grin the stretched from ear to ear, "You bet!"
Ginny smiled, "OK then, grab a quaffle and let's go! Ava, can you play keeper for us?"
Ava smiled as she nodded her head, "Let me get my broomstick!" Ava was always ready to defend the hoops against Teddy. She really loved playing with the boy.
Ginny mounted her broom and picked up Teddy and set him in front her while Ava took off for the three hoops. She asked Teddy, "You got the quaffle?" Teddy nodded.
Ginny kicked off and they set off for Ava, "Let's go then!"
Harry watched them fly across the pitch towards Ava, who was waiting to block Teddy's shot. Teddy always scored but Ava made sure he worked for it. She would make it look good and block the first few shots, but in the end, Teddy always scored. Before long more girls grabbed their brooms to join in the action and it turned into a pickup game with Teddy and Abagail being captains. Harry could hear Teddy squeal with delight and a lot of the girls laughing right along with him. Ava rotated out of goal and another player took her place. Pretty soon the whole team was out there just having fun. No drills, no running plays. It was just a bunch of quidditch players having a good time and showing a little boy the time of his life.
Harry smiled as he watched them. Ginny and Teddy laughed while flying through the air on Ginny's broom. He watched Teddy take shot after shot and score goal after goal. Every time he scored all the girls cheered and gave him high fives. Harry figured it would take days to get the smile off Teddy's face. Harry watched him pass the quaffle just like Ginny had taught him so many times. His affection for them both just grew and grew as they played on and on.
Gwen walked over to Harry, "After the last match, this was exactly what they needed. Just some good clean fun." She handed Harry a broom, "It's only a Cleansweep 7, but it'll do. Get out there." Harry took the broom and smiled. He shed his jacket and mounted the broom and kicked off.
Harry felt so great to be up in the air flying on a broomstick. It didn't matter to him if the broom was just a Cleansweep. He was back where he wanted to be, in the air, headed for his wife and godson. The smile on his face grew and grew as he flew through the air.
Teddy was the first one to see Harry flying towards the group. He let out a squeal, "HARRY!"
Ginny turned her head and caught sight of Harry flying towards them and smiled. Harry saw Ginny's smile and leaned down against the handle of the broomstick to pour on the speed. Matilda passed him the quaffle when he got close enough. Harry caught the quaffle and raced to the hoops.
Teddy yelled out, "SHOOT HARRY! SHOOT!"
Even though he was a natural seeker and they weren't playing with a snitch, Harry knew how to fly fast. Harry tucked the quaffle under his arm just like Ginny did and leaned into it. He picked up speed on his approach as he zig-zagged to the hoops. Everybody just stopped and watched. Ginny often spoke about Harry's quidditch days back at Hogwarts and the rest of the team wanted to see if he still had it. He sized up Alice, who rotated into the keeper position a bit ago. He feigned left and then feigned right. Harry suddenly pulled up on the broomstick to slow his speed and reached back and shot for Alice's short side. Alice was thrown off guard by his drop in speed and got caught. She didn't get back quick enough and the quaffle went through the hoop.
Teddy was ecstatic and squealed out in glee while Ginny just smiled at the feat that her husband just accomplished. Harry grinned from ear to ear while Alice just hung her head. Alice was actually a beater but was the backup keeper for the team.
Harry glided up to Alice and extended his hand, "Thanks for that."
Alice smiled, "No thanks needed. You earned that one. Nice moves by the way. It's not often I get caught on the short side."
Harry smiled. He felt good and with that goal, it signaled the end of the impromptu quidditch match. Everybody started descending to the grass. Harry dismounted the broom and walked over to where Ginny and Teddy were coming to land.
Teddy was beside himself. He yelled to Harry, "Can you believe it! We played quidditch with a professional team! And we both scored! I can't wait to tell Gram! She's not going to believe it!" Ginny came to a soft landing and let Teddy run to Harry. He jumped into Harry's outstretched waiting arms, "That was so much fun!"
Harry laughed, "I'm so glad you had fun. How about we go get some ice cream?"
