Chapter 26: Clear Eyes, Full hearts, Can't Lose
"Thank you for coming." Ginny cricked her neck left to right and flexed her shoulder blades.
"An invitation to sit in a private box to watch the Harpies is a tough offer to reject. Thank you for having me." Draco bowed his head in gratitude and offered Ginny a small smile.
"How could I pass up the opportunity to show the two boys who thought they were the best seekers in Hogwarts what real talent looks like." Ginny punched Draco on the shoulder a little harder than he'd have liked and turned to her husband, their baby strapped to his chest in a papoose.
"If it looks like I'm going to die, cover his eyes." Ginny whispered as she pressed a kiss on her husband's chin, "we don't need another generation of traumatised Potter babies."
"nice Gin, real nice." Harry laughed and grabbed her face between his hands. "Do you know what's better than being a world-famous seeker?" He asked quietly, peppering tiny kisses on her lips. It felt too intimate to be observed, but Draco found he couldn't pull his eyes away. He felt Hermione's fingers wrap around his as he watched Potter hold his wife, their baby happily squeezed between them.
"What's better?" Ginny asked, tension visibly melting from her shoulders.
"Being married to one. I'm proud of you, always." Harry muttered, "Now go fuck the Chudley Cannons up." The Boy Who Lived took a step back and swatted his wife's arse.
"You're going to be amazing, Ginny." Hermione lunged forward, wrapping Ginny in a one-armed hug, her other still in the custody of Draco Malfoy.
"If he faints," Ginny nodded in Harry's direction, "Save James." She turned from them and marched down the player tunnel towards her team's dressing room.
"Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!" Draco shouted, overwhelmed by the sudden rush of endorphins that had hit him.
"You got that from T.V, didn't you?" Hermione chuckled as she let go of his hand and stepped away from him. They'd agreed to keep things private to avoid further press intrusion. Though, the sight of Draco Malfoy sitting with Harry Potter at a quidditch match seemed to invite curiosity.
"I did."
After seven minutes of play, the Chudley cannons were up two goals. Ginny was not playing her best. She'd been grazed by a bludger in the opening seconds, which seemed to have spooked her. While the opposing seeker circled high above the pitch, Ginny hung low, nervously glancing at the box where her husband and son sat. Draco felt a knot twist in his stomach as he watched the match. Storm clouds had started to gather, which would make the snitch harder to find. What was worse than the tense game were the two frantic Gryffindors who sat on either side of him. Hermione was bent double, her face in her scarf only taking sporadic peaks at the match through her fingers. While Harry kept jumping and forgetting he had a small human strapped to his front until said tiny man screamed to remind him.
"You take him, Malfoy." Harry pulled James out of the sling and passed him to Draco, using his wand to transfer the harness onto the blonde. "Just slip him in," Harry commanded, stepping forward to lean over the railing and get a better view of the match. Draco Malfoy held a baby for the first time and managed to secure the infant into the complicated loops of heavy-duty fabrics after a few attempts. He was amazed at how intoxicating the smell of a babies head was and found himself bending his neck to take a few whiffs. "We should bottle this, little man. Make you a millionaire." He spoke to James, who kicked his legs happily. "Don't tell your dad I said this, but you're the sweetest baby I've ever held, you're the only baby I've ever held, but I can tell the rest would be drab by comparison." Draco whispered as he took another hit of 'parfum de bébé Potter'.
Hermione's eyes shot to the large screen on the other side of the pitch, Ginny's confused face was plastered on it, and the commentator was wondering 'whether she's come back too soon'. Fifteen clusters of four wizarding camera's, took 15-second loop after 15-second loop, ensuring a smooth multi-angled replay for the large screens mounted at either end of the pitch. Ginny was known for playing to the lens, shooting winks and grins as she zoomed about. She'd been hailed as a 'showman' and a great player by Quidditch Enthusiast Bi-Monthly magazine. That gusto seemed to have left her as she circled aimlessly with her lip trapped between her teeth.
Nine minutes of play down, and the Harpies had managed to score twice, bringing them level. "Come on, sweetheart! You can do this!" Harry yelled desperately. Hermione's eyes were fixed on the screen, willing every ounce of confidence in her body to transfer to her friend. "I've seen your wife face down death Potter," Draco whispered, gripping Harry Potter's shoulder consolingly. "She didn't wilt then, and she won't now."
Harry turned his eyes to Draco. A moment was shared between the men, one anxious and one assured. "She's got this." The blonde added, Harry nodded, and James screamed loudly and excitedly. The whistle blew.
"Penalty?" Hermione asked.
"Injury?"
"Ginny Potter has caught the snitch in nine minutes and forty seconds, a personal best for her and a record here at the Chudley stadium!" The announcer was bellowing.
"WHAT?" Harry almost climbed over the railing into thin air as he scrabbled to get eyes on the massive screen. A close up of Ginny looking scared and confused played before them, and then her face changed as a lazy smirk crept onto her rosy cheeks, and her eyes tightened with mischief. The camera pulled back enough to see her whole body, her gaze narrowed in on the camera's lens, and without breaking that eye contact, she reached out and blindly picked the snitch that had been imperceptibly flitting beside her head out of the air. She wiggled her eyebrows at the camera once before rocketing into the sky.
"OH MY FUCKING GOD!" Harry Potter had managed to leap onto his chair. His body was full of unbridled pride and joy. It needed to vent. He hopped onto Draco Malfoy's back in a half hug, half piggyback. In a bid to try and reach Harry to hug him, Hermione had clambered onto Draco's other side. The blonde was in a golden trio sandwich, the next generation squawking happily as he dangled from Draco's chest.
"SHE DID IT!" Overcome with emotion, Hermione was sobbing into Draco's collar, her arms wrapped around him and Harry.
The stands were erupting as people slowly realised what had transpired. Ginny Weasley flew victory laps around the stadium at breakneck speed. Dispelling any notion, she'd lost her edge.
"Our experts have been analysing the footage. It appears Potter trailed the snitch from the fifteenth second." The announcer... announced.
"That's right Tom, if you look here," A slow-motion clip of the earlier bludger incident appeared, "We thought Potter's reflexes had taken a dip when she nearly collided with Simmons rogue bludger, but as we can glimpse here she's actually spotted the snitch and took a hit to keep near it." a second announcer explained as the grainy image played back and forth.
"She pulled a blinder on the other team and had us all fooled Mark. Why do you think she didn't catch the snitch when she first saw it?" Tom queried in a voice only a sportscaster could have.
"I think we'll have to ask her, ladies and gentlemen Ginny Potter has joined us in the box." the crowd went wild, and suddenly images of Ginny greeting the two portly men flashed on the big screens.
"Yay, it's mummy!" Hermione told James, the three adults now disentangled and standing like normal humans again. James cooed at the image of his mother on the floating cube that had descended into the centre of the pitch. The new media system had been implemented by Lee Jordan after Hermione helped him apply for a grant. It had proved immensely popular with the Quidditch fans, who often missed things given the lack of actual action replay.
"Hello, chaps," Ginny Potter beamed at the men and waved at the camera. Another explosion of applause followed.
"You saw the snitch in the fifteenth second, but you chose not to catch it. Why?" Mark and Tom stared at Ginny.
"We all like a fast catch, and maybe I'll do that at some point in my career. Today was about the fans, though…." Hermione looked around at the hundreds of cheering humans, hooked on Ginny's every word. She could easily be the next despot if they weren't careful. "They didn't come all the way out here for fifteen seconds. Besides, when will I ever get the chance to pull 'The confused new mum' play again?" three hundred Harpies fans laughed as one, a disconcerting sound.
"You must have seen in the press that the Cannons' coach questioned your early return so soon after childbirth. Did his words have any impact on your play?" Mark, ever the insightful of the duo, asked in a sombre voice.
"I worked something out this morning when I was worrying over the same thing, Mark. One hundred and twenty-seven days between me having my beautiful son James and playing this match… which is the same number of days between fighting in the war and competing in my first game with my team. When I worked that out, I knew it was the right time." Hermione could see people crying in the stands. Even the cannons were cheering her. "I hope I can show some of the other new mums and dads out there that it's okay to pursue your dreams and still love your family."
"And what are your dreams?" Tom asked with a gentle smile.
"To win the world cup for my country, Tom." Ginny grinned, and the whole stadium erupted. The world cup was something everyone could get behind.
"THAT'S MY FUCKING WIFE!" Harry Potter was back to climbing the walls and declaring the obvious to the three other humans in the box.
"Did Harry doubt me?" their box had filled with well-wishers and none other than the woman of the hour Ginny Potter, who was very much a Weasley.
"Not for a second." Malfoy, who for some reason was still in possession of James, called over the group.
"You're lying for your little friend, and that's cute!" Ginny trilled back.
"Did you guys know?" Harry asked the Amazonian keeper Kathy Morton. She nodded with an enthusiastic grin. Her short dreadlocks bounced and entranced a nearby baby James, who attempted to grab one, but she was just out of reach.
"When she told us she was going to mess with them, we couldn't wait." The woman grinned as she grabbed Champagne from a passing waiter, "especially since it was the Cuckly Cannons." She whispered, remembering they were still on enemy territory and surrounded by shareholders and the likes. The Cannons and the Harpies were the Glasgow Old Firm or the Manchester Derby of Wizarding sport. They were diametrically opposed. The Cannons were historically all-male, while the Harpies were all female. The Cannons had a traditionalist and aggressive view of the sport and how it was played, while the Harpies embraced new and out-of-the-box plays… as demonstrated by Ginny's ruse.
"Miss Granger." Hermione turned from half-listening to Morton and Potter picking over the game's finer points to come face to face with Robert Ashcroft. He looked nervous, scared even. He nodded down, and Hermione followed his gaze.
"Hello." A nervous-looking girl in a thick wool coat and a Harpies bobble hat stared at Hermione in awe.
"Hi," Hermione responded, squatting low to find herself at eye level with the girl. "I'm Hermione. What's your name?"
"Maggie." The little girl whispered.
"My daughter, I get her weekends." Robert explained, a protective hand on the girl's shoulder, "she's a big fan of yours."
"I have curly hair too." The small child explained, tugging a loose raven lock by way of explanation.
"I can see that!" Hermione grinned. "Are you in the third year at Hogwarts?" she asked very seriously indeed.
"NO!" The little girl who'd whispered a second before squealed with delight, "I'm only seven!" she raised her mitt covered fingers to show.
"I thought for sure you were the head girl." Draco Malfoy said, taking up a position behind Hermione with a sleepier James lolling in his sling. Draco had felt his heart constrict with something very primal at the sight of his girlfriend kneeling beside a little girl with curly hair like hers. Suddenly, he'd wanted, nay needed, to stand close to his woman.
"Who's your favourite Harpie?" Hermione asked conspiratorially.
"Ginny Potter," Maggie whispered, her eyes darted to the spot across the room where here hero held court.
"Lucky for you, she's my best friend." Hermione grinned. "GINNY!" She called, and the redhead was there within a matter of seconds. "Meet Maggie." Hermione inclined her head towards the girl whose eyes were suddenly welling with tears. Her chin shaking, so overwhelmed in the presence of her god.
"Hello Maggie," Ginny potter knelt and opened her arms. The little girl ran into them with a full-on wail, almost knocking the redhead to her back with the force of the impact. Ginny held the girl and whispered kind and soothing words.
"Thank you, Miss Granger." The head of Sports and Games lowered his hand to Hermione to help her up and also to shake it. "That was very kind of you, given…."
"It's not her fault you picked the wrong team, Bob." Hermione shook his hand and smiled, watching as his Adam's apple bobbed. She felt Draco laugh silently beside her.
"I was wrong. What we did was wrong. I let my ego get the better of me." He took a breath. Hermione wasn't sure if it was sincere or just a defeated man trying to climb out of his dug hole.
"I don't hold grudges. It was good to see you." Hermione said plainly and patted Robert on the arm, turning to Malfoy a living testament of her statement. "I'm tired. I think I'm going to head home." she gave the blonde a questioning look and grinned when he leaned into her as if he intended on giving her a brief embrace.
"Carrying about this baby all day has made me broody and biologically needy, my darling. Give me a minute to return him, and we'll pop to mine and put some practice in," he whispered into her ear. Hermione gasped and nodded, a blush creeping up her cheeks. When she turned to look at him, he was close, his eyes full of thunder and promise. When he turned away, she felt her stomach flip, put some practice in … implying he saw babies in their future. You're reading too much into this.
A/N: My Cannon facts are non-canon. Also this might be a bit self indulgent, I just really wanted Ginny to show she's the main character in her life. Not just the sassy sidekick.