A/N: Hello everyone here's the next chapter updated as promised! This takes place in the same day as the bridal shower from last chapter. Most of the chapter occurs in England with the last third in France but the sections are pretty easy to pick out.
Many of you left your suggestions in the last chapters reviews about who will be James's new quidditch trainer. The suggestions put forth were Gwenog Jones, Selene Spiros, and even Valentin Krum was suggested (a really creative guess by the way). Most people thought it might be Selene. Start the chapter down below and you will find out very soon who was right.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Practice, Card Games, and Secrets
Sunday, April 28th 2024
1:25 PM
James Potter was lazily flying his broom around the full-sized regulation quidditch pitch in the backyard of his parents' home. His Firebolt was cruising about as slowly as it could go and he was only a few feet off the ground, nowhere near as high up as he'd need to be to properly reach the tall quidditch hoops. His state-of-the-art practice quaffle was sitting on the green grass directly below him and he stared at it idly while he waited for the hands on his watch to hit one-thirty.
Cecilia Wood had pulled through with her promise to arrange for someone to help coach him on how to properly play centre chaser. However, since she was in France at Victoire's bridal shower along with all of the other female members of his family, Cecilia had organized for Louis to bring his new 'trainer' to James's parents' house where they could practice that afternoon.
As James glanced back to his watch he heard a loud popping sound that signalled that someone had apparated just at the edge of the magical boundaries of his parents' backyard. His broom angled down towards the grass, only needing the barest of direction from him, and he had touched down onto the ground just as he saw a pair of figures walking towards him in the distance. James carried his broom with him as he walked towards the pair with the intention of meeting them halfway, but he stopped in his tracks the moment they had gotten within a distance that made it easy for him to recognize the person Louis had brought with him.
James's heart started to beat anxiously within his chest cavity and he had to readjust the grip of his left hand on the shaft of his broomstick because he could feel his palms starting to sweat for no apparent reason. The pair spotted him just a few seconds after he did, and Louis raised his hand above his head to wave at his cousin while the slim figure next to him kept her grip on her own broomstick and offered James a friendly smile at that distance instead.
The eldest Potter child swallowed thickly as Louis got closer to him, the dark haired woman with him only a few steps behind the part-veela, and James plastered what he hoped was a welcoming expression on his face as the two came to a stop an appropriate distance from him.
"Hey James, good weather for some practice huh?" Louis asked in his normally jovially tone.
"Uh –yeah– yes, yes the weather is very nice," James replied a little dumbly. He'd made the mistake of glancing at the dark haired woman's face and his train of thought had stopped momentarily.
From beside Louis, Selene Spiros unobtrusively adjusted her loose grip on her own broomstick and met James's enigmatic gaze, "Hi James."
"Hi Selene," James replied, cringing as soon as the words had escaped his mouth because his voice had cracked at the beginning of her name.
He pushed his fingers through his hair awkwardly to try to cover for his voice crack, and his mind wandered back to the conversation he had with Cecilia about her finding an extracurricular trainer for him, "So, uh, you're the person Cecilia found to coach me? To teach me how to properly play centre chaser outside of regular team practice and all of that because you don't have a life?"
The words spilled out of his mouth before he could stop them and he visibly cringed again when he realized that even though he meant to paraphrase Cecilia's words, he'd accidentally ended up repeating the part about her not having a life.
"Shi–I mean sorry. I mean I didn't mean to say what I said-"
Louis reached out to clap James on the shoulder, "Quit before you dig yourself a deeper hole there mate."
James listened to his advice and clapped his mouth shut with one hand while the other dropped his broomstick and immediately went to stressfully push back his dark fringe.
Selene watched the entire scene, including Louis's intervention, with an inscrutable look on her face. The only emotion she gave away was the slight raising of her dark eyebrows above her grey eyes, and a slight quirk at the left side of her lips that made it seem as though she was holding back a smile.
As James looked at her with dread in his eyes, she met his gaze and suddenly her expression wasn't as indecipherable as before. Her pearly grey eyes softened and she allowed her lips to turn up into an amused smile, "Cecilia told me that you're garbage at catching across your midline and that if you don't improve soon you're going to cause Nadia Cassano to go into early labour. The latter half of her explanation didn't make much sense to me because I'd just read the article about Cassano being pregnant and saw the she's only like six weeks along, but it's not the it's first time I've ever heard Cecilia abuse hyperbole."
"Yeah, uh, Cecilia does like to exaggerate sometimes," James said dully as he was still rather embarrassed about uttering the 'not having a life' thing.
Selene sent James a smirk that made his insides twist, "So you're not totally rubbish at catching across your midline?"
"No, that she was completely honest about," James recovered and said in a tone that was so charming and smooth that it even surprised himself.
She chuckled and the sound made his chest feel warm and his brain a little fuzzier than before, "Well then we've got a lot of work to do."
James's mind had got caught on the word 'we' and it ran on a loop in his head in her sweet voice, hindering him from properly replying to her comment.
Luckily, Louis had enough suave and charm for the both of them and he did his best to try to cover for his cousin's lapses in politeness, "Since you've got your work cut out for you with James's garbage catching across his midline and his shite aim with his non-dominant throwing arm, I guess I should just let you lot get to it then."
Despite Louis's further dig at James's quidditch abilities, he appreciated Louis trying to smooth things over. Unfortunately he instantly regretted his cousin's politeness when he realized that said cousin was actually about to leave him alone with his new quidditch trainer, whom he'd already insulted within the first five minutes. Selene thanked Louis for side-along apparating her to James's and then Louis's tall form loped off so quickly that he was out of their sight within a few seconds. The loud crack of his disapparating signaled that he had disappeared, and then James was well and truly left alone with his old quidditch teammate.
Selene turned to look back at James and gave him a smile that was slightly shier than the one she'd given him when Louis was still around, "So I guess the first thing I should do is congratulate you on getting bumped up to Puddlemere's first string team."
James felt his ears go warm but he couldn't help but smile at the excited and laudatory tone she used. He –only slightly awkwardly– thanked her before he noticed that she was slowly reaching towards him to give him, what he assumed was going to be, a congratulatory embrace. Even though he felt his face go as red as his ears must have been, he met Selene halfway in the hug and seconds later he had her lithe body wrapped in his arms; with hers squeezing him around the neck. His mind went blank as he felt the soft pressure of her curves press against his body, which meant that he heard her next words very clearly.
"Obviously Puddlemere knows that you've got enormous skill and potential. I'm really proud of you James," Her voice told him gently. Since her head was right next to his, he imagined that he could practically feel the soft whisper of her lips next to his ear when she murmured her congratulations to him.
After she said the words her arms tightened infinitesimally around his neck. He squeezed her tightly in response, one arm wrapped around her waist while the other moved slightly to rest on the middle of her back. James's body froze in surprise when he realized that the palm of his hand that was at the middle of her back was touching bare skin, while the very tips of his fingers were touching what felt like the firm band of a sports bra.
Selene pulled away from the hug only a few seconds later and she avoided his gaze as she turned slightly to pick her broomstick up off the ground as she had set it down just before giving James the hug. As she moved, James inspected her back and noticed that the long-sleeved grey workout shirt she was wearing –which upon first glance from the front seemed both practical and conservative– had a long slit down the back for air ventilation which also made the scarlet fabric of the back of her sports bra rather visible. He blinked and swallowed thickly upon seeing the smooth skin and taut muscles of her back, but had the presence of mind to finally respond to her when she met his gaze after having picked up her broom.
"Thanks, and thank-you so much for coming here to help me. I know I said something really stupid about you not having a life and I'm really sorry about it-"
Selene waved off his apologies, "It's fine James, really. Cecilia already mentioned that my not having a life outside of quidditch practice would come in handy with helping you become a proper center chaser, so it's not like you were the first person to mention it."
"Oh I know that you have a life outside of quidditch. I mean the last time I saw you, you were at a club with your best friends," James reminded her as he too picked up his broom.
She looked down at her feet awkwardly, "Yeah, well Teagan only convinced me to come out because she used a mix of begging and emotional blackmail, so it's not like me going out clubbing is a common occurrence."
"Me either," James blurted suddenly so that he could impress upon her that he was taking being a professional quidditch player just as seriously as she was, "I only really went because Freddie thought it'd be a good place to find dates for Victoire and Teddy's wedding. Which it wasn't, by the way, in case you were wondering."
Selene looked back up at him and quirked a dark eyebrow "You're telling me that you didn't meet any nice, wedding-date appropriate girls at the club?"
"Just you, Jordan, and Teag-" James cut himself off as he consider his own words, "Just you and Jordan."
He expected her to laugh at her words, but instead she started to fidget with the shaft of the broomstick in her hands, "Well I could always set you up with Jordan then."
"I don't exactly think Jordan and I would be very compatible," James said quickly, his memories of Jordan's previous harsh glares and harsher words towards him slowly turning the blood pumping through his heart into ice.
Selene shrugged her shoulders and continued to avoid eye-contact with him as she continued to absentmindedly inspect the shaft of her broom, "Oh I think you might have more in common with her than you think."
"I think the only thing I have in common with Jordan Simpson is you," James blurted out without really thinking through his words first.
His candour was enough to get her to stop her previously thorough broomstick inspection and ended with her finally glancing back up at his face. She made such piercing eye contact with him that it made both his heart and his next words stutter.
"I –I– What I meant to say was that the only thing I have in common with Jordan is that we're both friends with you."
She smiled prettily at him, "What else would you need to have in common? Discussing your love for me should be enough to keep the two of you busy through at least one wedding date."
He knew that she was just teasing him and that she'd been going for a jovially joking tone, but his brain had heard the word 'love' and had gotten stuck on it.
"Love?"
Apparently the word was all his mouth could come up with too.
Selene's fingers started to fidget with her broomstick again but she didn't break eye-contact with him like before, "Yeah, in a friendly way. You know, like affection. That's probably the word I should have used actually. You and Jordan can discuss your shared friendship and affection for me on your date."
"I am not going on a date with Jordan Simpson," James replied with an eye roll and a level of nonchalance that he was secretly surprised he was able to muster up.
She shrugged again, "That's alright. I don't even actually know if you're Jordan's type. The specific type of men she's interested in is hard to pin down."
"She'd definitely get bored of me talking about nothing but quidditch," James said as he played along.
Selene nodded slowly, "She just doesn't appreciate quidditch like she should."
"Speaking of, are you ready to get started? According to Nadia Cassano I have a lot of work to do," James nodded in the direction of the quidditch pitch and the both of them began walking towards it.
As they walked there was a pep in Selene's step that made her long ponytail bounce around as she strode beside him, "Not many people appreciate how difficult it is to learn a different position. Even between chasing positions it's difficult. Not only do you have to practice how to catch and throw in a way that is sometimes counter-intuitive to how you're used to playing, but you also have to change how you think about playing. It's mental just as much as it is physical."
"So what are we going to start with today? Mental or physical?" James asked easily as he glanced at her.
She met his gaze and his blood starting pounding through his ears when she announced, "Physical."
His mouth was suddenly dry and it was a good thing she had continued her explanation because he didn't think he'd be able to reply vocally.
"Since you're going to start playing in Cassano's position right away you'll have to get your fundamentals down first. Or as Louis and Cecilia both so eloquently explained it, we have to make you less shite at playing on your non-dominant side," Selene said with a playful smirk.
James nodded sagely and pretended to be surprised, "Oh, so that's why Cecilia asked you, a professional second-string center chaser for the Holyhead Harpies, to teach me the fundamentals of playing the positon of center chaser. It's all making so much more sense now."
She giggled and the sound warmed his insides again, "Look at you, cute and smart."
James stopped in his tracks and the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them, "You think I'm cute?"
"Actually according to Teagan I'm so obsessed with quidditch that I wouldn't even recognize a cute bloke even if he walked up to me and told me he desperately needed me in his life. Coincidentally after she said it one Saturday afternoon back in seventh-year, you walked up to me a few minutes later and told me you'd really appreciate my help setting up for quidditch practice that evening. After you left she decided that I was completely hopeless and decided to helpfully point out to me that you are cute."
James felt the hippogriffs in his stomach start to fly around, "So you only said I was cute because Teagan told you I was?"
"No, I said that she was the first person who thought it was imperative to forcefully bring this fact to my attention. I realized on my own that you were cute back in second year when I stumbled upon you and Al having a brother-to-brother chat after the first week of school in the Gryffindor common room. He was homesick and you were very sweetly telling him that it was okay to miss your parents, that it didn't make him a baby or childish, and that you'd always be there for him if he needed you."
James remembered the situation perfectly but he was surprised to hear that Selene had witnessed the incident let alone that she could recall it in such vivid detail, "You heard that?"
Selene nodded her head and reached out to grab James's free hand. She squeezed it tightly, "Mmmhmm, you were terribly gentle and kind about the whole thing. It was cute . . . and I thought you were cute."
He stood there stunned into silence, the warmth from her hand in his the only thing keeping his mind grounded in the present.
Too soon she pulled her hand away, cleared her throat, and then announced that the first thing they were going to do for training was to run a few warm-up laps. She dropped her broom, started to count down from three, winked mischievously at him, and then started sprinting ahead of him before she got to number one. He stared after her in a shocked daze before he realized that she had cheated and that she was presently beating him.
James dropped his broomstick and hastily took off into a run. He had to push much harder out the get-go than he usually did when he knew he had to run a long distance, just so that he could catch up to her. When he did she was breathlessly giggling at his expense. It was such an adorable look on her that he couldn't help but join her in her laughter as they ran.
1:47 PM
Teddy Lupin pursed his lips as he considered the collection of cards he held in his right hand while the fingers on his left hand drummed against the solid wood of Xavier Wood's dining room table. He glanced at the face of the person sitting across the table from him, but when he realized that the other guy's face was unreadably inscrutable, Teddy looked back down at his cards and tried to decide which one he wanted to play.
"Hurry up already!" Xavier complained as he set down his own hand of cards and reached for a pretzel from the bowl next to his elbow.
Teddy ignored his rushing, "Shhh, I'm strategizing."
Next to Teddy, Oliver Wood let out a warm chuckle and took a sip from his tumbler of scotch as he shook his head at the argument the two younger men were having.
"It really shouldn't be taking this long," George Weasley commented from his spot next to Oliver, he was always up for fanning the flames of even the smallest of disputes.
Sat diagonally across the table from Teddy was Freddie Weasley, and he seemed much more interested in trying to finish eating an absolutely monstrous submarine sandwich that he'd made himself for lunch, which he made instead of choosing to make a much more reasonably sized sandwich like all of the other men at the table, than to try to pay attention to the card game that was presently going on around him.
"Just one more second," Teddy requested to the group of men who were getting antsy waiting for him to make his play. He placed his hand above the card he thought it was best to go with, but he wanted the time to make sure that it would be the right play.
Just as Teddy was finally about to make his decision, Malcolm Wood walked back into the room and asked Teddy if he wanted a refill on his drink. All the other people at the table groaned loudly at the distraction, but Teddy rolled his eyes at them and told Malcolm he'd take another butterbeer. Malcolm was back a few seconds later with a butterbeer for Teddy and another lager from himself. He sat back down in his empty seat on the other side of Teddy and made a comment about how he was surprised that Teddy hadn't made a move yet when he'd been gone for five minutes at least.
"Well if it will get you lot off my back, here it is," Teddy complained as he made eye contact with the person across from him, "Got any sixes?"
Five-year-old Brogan Wood looked at his cards intently before glancing back up at Teddy with a smug smile, "Nope. Go fish."
Teddy pouted and pretended to be put out, his actions succeeding in making Brogan giggle, and then he made a show of picking up a new card.
"Your turn Daddy," Brogan instructed Oliver once Teddy had finally picked up his new card.
Oliver smirked smugly, the expression eerily similar to the one that had been on his youngest son's face a few seconds previously, and glanced at Teddy, "Give me your six."
Teddy's sigh was real this time as he pulled out his six of hearts and handed it over to Oliver.
"George's turn!" Brogan dictated excitedly as he reached for the snack bowl between him and Xavier and grabbed a handful of fish-shaped cheese crackers.
George looked at his own hand for only a split second before turning his head so that he could look down the table at Baxter, "Got any Morgan le Fay's?"
Baxter glanced at his cards, which were a mix of a normal deck and a stack of famous wizard cards from chocolate frog packages, and then back at his uncle, "Go fish."
George picked up another famous wizard card from the stack at Oliver's elbow, took a sip from his bottle of butterbeer, and then addressed his son-in-law to be, "Alright, Xavier it's your turn."
Before Xavier had the chance to play, there was a small interruption in the shape of Louis arriving along with a large pastry box that had the name of a certain Diagon Alley bakery embossed in fancy writing on the side.
"I brought donuts!" Louis announced in an airy tone as he stepped up to the table and sat down in the empty chair next to Baxter.
Baxter eyed his cousin and best mate, "Well that explains your tardiness at least."
Louis raised an eyebrow at him and then grinned mischievously, "Oh, Lia says 'hi' by the way."
Baxter's ears went red and he glared at Louis for what his roommate had just unleashed.
"Who's Lia?" George's voice asked nosily from the other end of the table.
"No one," Baxter enunciated firmly as he continued to glare at Louis.
Freddie reached for the box of gourmet donuts and opened it up, "So get James all situated then?"
"Yup, didn't take too long," Louis said with a nod.
"Where is James?" Xavier asked curiously, "You did invite him to hang out today, right?"
When Brogan Wood had found out on Saturday about Victoire's bridal shower in France the next day he had gotten very excited and had started jumping around Katie and Oliver's home cheering about how eager he was to go to Vic's party. Katie, being the more disciplinary parent of the two of them, had to be the one to break it to her poor besotted five-year-old that he wasn't invited to the party in France because it was a party just for girls. Brogan's happy face immediately slipped into the biggest pout the pair of parents had ever seen on any of their children's faces. He pouted so terribly adorably that he almost had Oliver ready to champion his case against Katie, which Oliver would have done if Xavier hadn't interrupted and suggested that they have a boys day at his and Ally's house while all the girls went to France. Xavier had promised his little brother snacks, sweets, sugary drinks, a few rounds of his favourite game of the moment (Go Fish with two card decks and famous wizard cards), and some manly bonding.
Even on short notice Xavier had scrapped up participation from Teddy, Malcolm, and Louis –knowing that all of their girlfriends would be busy in France– along with his future father-in-law and brother-in-law, and Baxter who Xavier knew didn't work on Sundays. He figured that they along with himself, his father, and Brogan would round out a guys day pretty well.
"Yeah I gave him the invite, he already had plans for today though," Freddie clarified.
Oliver quirked an eyebrow as they discussed his team's newest starting chaser, "Doing what?"
"Cecilia set him up on a date with a fit brunette who's going to help teach him how to properly play the position of centre chaser," Louis explained as he handed Teddy the donut with the most chocolate on it.
Malcolm looked at Louis confusedly, "Nadia?"
Xavier gave his cousin a disbelieving look, "She's in France right now you plank."
"Although it's super sweet that you heard the words 'fit brunette' and automatically thought of her," Teddy told his best mate as he clapped him on the shoulder.
"So who did Cecilia set James up with to train him?" Oliver enquired.
"Selene Spiros," Louis said as he pushed the box of donuts down the table so that the others could reach them.
Oliver nodded his head approvingly, "She's the Harpies reserve centre chaser right? You guys played with her at Hogwarts didn't you?"
Freddie nodded his head, "Yeah, Selene played on the Gryffindor team with James and I at Hogwarts."
"Is she any good?" Malcolm asked curiously.
Freddie shrugged while Xavier and Oliver nodded their heads.
"Puddlemere was actually looking into recruiting her last year before she graduated, but Coach Bissinette convinced us that he'd get Hawthorne into perfect playing shape for this season and that we didn't need to put the effort into trading him and recruiting her," Oliver supplied.
Xavier, who was helping Brogan pick out a donut from the box, added his own two sickles worth in, "Considering how brilliantly she's played for the Harpies every time they've called her up this season, you might be regretting that decision to listen to Bissinette. Selene's a very consistent player and a hard worker."
"Well if I'd know that someone was going to knock-up our star centre chaser I might have given more consideration to recruiting her," Oliver said, looking pointedly at Malcolm during the part of his statement that directly referred to him.
Malcolm glared at his uncle and godfather, "Did you get this much flak from your teammates back when you knocked up your team's star centre chaser?"
"Trust me, it was much worse," Oliver muttered darkly as he remembered the ribbing his teammates had given him when he impregnated Katie the first time.
Xavier rolled his eyes at his father, "I'm not going to apologize for being born."
"I'm not asking you to. I take total responsibility for-" Oliver paused here and glanced at his youngest son. Brogan didn't seem to be paying too much attention to the conversation, he was much more interested with liking the icing from his donut off his fingers, but Oliver was still careful about how he worded the rest of his sentence, "For not having a clear discussion with Katie about protection beforehand."
"Yeah, that's a lesson I could have used about seven weeks ago," Malcolm said with a heavy sigh.
Teddy patted Malcolm on the back comfortingly, "Get over it. I happened, it's done with, and now you're going to be a father in less than nine months."
"Yay!" Brogan said excitedly as he clapped his hands together, "I'm gonna be an uncle!"
Oliver's lips twitched and he chuckled at his son, "No Bro, we talked about this yesterday. Malcolm's baby will be your cousin. Like how Duncan's son Callum is your cousin."
Brogan pouted, "When do I get to be an uncle?"
"When Ally and Xavier have a baby," Freddie explained helpfully before his face took on a musing expression, "Or I guess if Cecilia and Lou-"
Before Freddie could finish saying whatever he was going to say to embarrass Louis in front of his girlfriend's father, Louis grabbed a handful of pretzels and chucked them at Freddie's face to stop his words.
"Freddie!"
Freddie frowned and pulled a pretzel out of his hair, "Fine, when Ally and Xavier have a baby then."
"When are you going to have a baby?" Brogan asked Xavier curiously.
"Yeah Xavier," George repeated with a wicked grin, "When are you going to have a baby?"
Xavier avoided eye-contact with his father-in-law to be, "Whenever Ally and I decide that we're ready."
"Good answer," Oliver said with a wink.
Brogan turned his piercing glance to Teddy, "When are you going to have a baby Teddy?"
"Well, Vic and I are getting married in two months and it takes a baby nine months to grow, so probably in eleven months," Teddy replied calmly, knowing that his math was probably a little too much for Brogan to grasp at the moment.
George snorted with amusement, "Yeah, Fleur's counting down the days on a calendar."
"Until the wedding?" Malcolm asked.
"No," Louis replied with a sad shake of his head, "Until she gets a grandchild out of Vic."
Oliver frowned, "Isn't that a little bit obsessive?"
"Dom and I are just glad that her obsession with Vic giving her a grandchild right now will be enough to allow us to fly under that particular radar for several years," Louis muttered.
Oliver also seemed relieved to hear that his daughter's boyfriend didn't have any current intentions to impregnate her, "That's something at least."
"My turn!" Brogan announced excitedly once he'd decided that he had gotten bored of the grown-up talk. Once he'd found out that he'd have to wait a while to become an uncle he didn't have much attention span left to follow the rest of the conversation.
Even though it was technically Xavier's turn (they'd already skipped over Freddie because he had been occupied with his ridiculous sandwich), they allowed Brogan to play so that they could at least keep the game going.
Brogan's little face took on a very serious expression as he considered the cards in his hand, and when he began muttering under his breath Xavier surreptitiously looked over to his brother's hand of cards in case he ended up needing some help to make his play. Brogan muttered something else under his breath that was unintelligible to everyone but him, and then he nodded to himself. He glanced at Louis, who had just been dealt a hand of cards by Teddy so that he could join the round.
"Got any Dumberdores?"
"It's Dum-ble-dor," Xavier enunciated slowly for Brogan, "And you don't have one."
Brogan frowned at his big brother, "Yes I do."
Xavier glanced back at Brogan's cards, "No you don't."
"Yes I do."
"No you don't Bro-"
"There!" Brogan said pointing to the card that was at the very edge of his hand.
Xavier inspected the card he was gesturing to, "That's not Dumbledore Brogan. That card's the king of spades."
"But he's got a beard," Was Brogan's bright reply.
Xavier sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Just because a picture has a beard doesn't mean that it's Albus Dumbledore."
"Huh?"
Xavier was racking his brains for another way to describe it to Brogan when Baxter took a card out of his hand and slid it down the table towards the pair of brothers. Xavier picked up the card, showed it to Brogan and let out a relieved sigh, "This is a picture of Albus Dumbledore."
Brogan stared at the picture of the long-bearded man who had started to wave at him, and then he glanced back at his hand of cards, "So who's this again?"
"He's the king of spades," Xavier repeated.
"So what'd he do?"
"Nothing, he's from the normal deck of cards," Xavier explained.
Brogan frowned at the king of spades, "But he's also waving at me."
"Because we're wizards and even our normal playing cards have moving pictures," Xavier reminded his brother with a level of patience that he was surprised he still had at that point in the day.
The younger brother let out a long sigh, "This is a lot to remember."
"I know," Malcolm agreed sincerely.
Xavier tossed Baxter his card back and then Brogan pulled out his king of spades and put it on the table.
"You got this bloke Louis?"
Louis frowned apologetically at his girlfriend's little brother, "Sorry Bro, you're going to have to Go fish."
Brogan shrugged his shoulders and then reached forward to grab a famous wizard trading card. When he looked at it he smiled brightly and then turned it around and tried to show it to Oliver.
"Look Daddy it's you!"
Oliver smiled lovingly at his youngest child's enthusiasm at picking up a card with his picture on it. He missed the days when Xavier and Cecilia were young enough to still get excited over seeing pictures of their parents on posters in store windows and covers of magazines. He gazed fondly at Brogan, and then glanced at the miniature picture of himself from two decades ago that was printed on the famous wizard trading card.
Brogan glanced back at the picture and then frowned, "Or is that Xav?"
"No, it's me Champ," Oliver reassured the five-year-old, "It's an old picture from back when I was Xav's age."
Malcolm reached for the card in Brogan's hand, "Is that the rare collectible one then?"
Teddy glanced at the card once it was in Malcolm's hand, "Looks like it. I don't know how rare they're supposed to be though. Vic has like five of those at home."
"I didn't know that Victoire collects chocolate frog cards," Xavier remarked with disbelief.
Teddy held in a smirk as he glanced at Xavier, "She doesn't."
Louis, Baxter, and Malcolm began to chuckle while Freddie looked confused, "Then why does she have five cards with Oliver's picture on them?"
"Because she was put on this earth with the sole purpose of making my life miserable," Xavier complained as he freely dropped his head forward and banged it against the polished dining table.
Brogan glanced at Xavier confusedly, "What's wrong with Xav?"
Freddie, who now that he was in on the joke had started to chuckle along with the other men at the table, explained the situation in terms Brogan could understand, "He's upset that Victoire thinks that your Dad's cute."
"Oh," Brogan said as he contemplated Freddie's words, "But does Vic think that I'm cute?"
Oliver, Malcolm, Louis, and Teddy all answered his question for him, "Yes."
"Okay!" Brogan accepted the answer happily, "Whose turn is it now?"
2:58 PM
"So has she spilt any details about Wesley yet?" Victoire Weasley asked her friend and work colleague Cassidy Hopewell as the two sipped on glasses of her Uncle Marc's exceptionally expensive but delightfully flavourful red wine.
While the beginning of Victoire's bridal shower had been crazy and hectic, mostly because Dom and Alexandrie enjoyed flitting around and encouraging the other women in the room to start a fight or to over-indulge in alcohol, as the afternoon wore on things started to calm down and everyone seemed to be having a good time despite a language barrier between half of the guests.
At the moment Victoire had carved out some time to talk about work and gossip about their colleagues with Cassidy, and they were having fun chatting in a more secluded corner of the room where it would be difficult for other people to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"I got a glass of wine and a cup of that not-so-secret punch Dom made into her before she realized what I was trying to do," Cassidy explained as she tapped her fingernail against her wine glass.
Victoire pursed her lips, "At this point it might be easier to accidentally spill a few drops of veritaserum in Wesley's morning tea and get the story out of him instead."
"But wouldn't that make you feel like you were abusing his trust and autonomy?" Cassidy queried.
Victoire's expression immediately turned from contemplative to taken aback, "No. Do you even know me Cassidy?"
"Are you guys really going to keep talking about me as if I'm not even standing here?" Sarah MacGregor asked disbelievingly as she crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at her two friends.
Cassidy glanced at Sarah for the first time since Victoire had started talking to her, "That depends . . . are you finally going to tell us what's going on with you and Wesley?"
Sarah snorted, "You'll need to accidentally misuse some veritaserum before you'll be able to get it out of me."
"Don't tempt me," Victoire warned Sarah only somewhat playfully as she pointed a long finger at the other healer.
"I wouldn't accept any food or drink from her for the next six months at least if I were you," Cassidy stage-whispered to Sarah.
Victoire frowned at her colleagues, "If I wanted to get verbally abused by people who are supposed to care about me I'd go strike up a conversation with some of my Mum's bitchier cousins."
"Everyone's been very nice to us so far," Sarah assured Victoire.
Victoire nodded, "That's only because after the first half hour I charmed all of the drink glasses to nip at the fingers of anyone who says something rude or passive aggressive to someone else."
Cassidy sent a fleeting glance to Victoire's hands, "Is that why you've got some newly healed skin patches on your fingertips?"
"It's only fair of me to accept the same punishment for rude behaviour as everyone else," Victoire commented with a shrug.
Sarah raised an eyebrow at her inquisitively, "So what'd you say to earn those nips?"
"They were worth it, my Mum's cousin Mariette was being a bitch about Dom behind her back," Victoire explained.
Sarah and Cassidy nodded, and then they switched topics to a new healing study that had been published by one of their professors from healing school. Once they finished discussing the intricacies of the study Victoire excused herself to go talk to more of her guests.
As she walked through her Aunt Gabrielle's large sitting room, Victoire looked around at all of the guests and did a mental tally to make sure that she'd at least spent a few minutes chatting to each of her great-aunts during the party. At the end of her mental intake Victoire noticed Sandra standing by herself near the empty marble fireplace and she strode over to her best friend.
"Are you feeling alright?" Victoire asked her best mate from Hogwarts in a hushed tone of voice that she didn't want to carry to anybody else around them.
Sandra seemed surprised at being greeted in such a way, but she recovered quickly, "I'm fine, why?"
Victoire thought about how she wanted to say what she'd intended to say to her friend, but before there could be too much of a pause she decided to just go ahead and say it.
"I couldn't help but notice that you haven't been drinking alcohol today."
Sandra froze in shock upon hearing her friend's observation, "Was I that obvious?"
"No, I think I'm the only one who was paying close enough attention. I just wanted to make sure that you're feeling okay and that-"
"Just ask me what you want to ask me Vic," Sandra interrupted her so that they could get to the chase.
Victoire grabbed Sandra's hand and squeezed it comfortingly as she met her gaze, "Are you avoiding alcohol because you're pregnant?"
Sandra bit her lip and her two second hesitation made Victoire's stomach clench with anxiety.
"No. I'm not pregnant," Sandra said softly. It seemed that she was done with her statement, but then she swallowed thickly and started to talk again, "But the healer still suggested that I avoid alcohol if I'm trying to get pregnant."
Victoire felt her eyes bug out of their sockets, "So you and Kyle are trying though?"
Sandra breathed a deep breath in through her nose and exhaled out her mouth before replying, "We've been discussing this for a while –since before we found out that Stasia and Colton and everyone else were expecting– and we only just decided a few weeks ago that we wanted to start trying."
Even though Victoire would have appreciated a few minutes to take stock of her own feelings over hearing that her married best mate had decided that she was ready to start trying to have a baby, she knew that she needed to be extra supportive of Sandra considering that she was the woman who almost had a panic attack a few years ago when she and Kyle first got married because she felt that she wasn't ready to have a baby despite the fact that her parents seemed to be putting pressure on her to get pregnant after the wedding.
"And you think you're ready to have a baby now?" Victoire asked her friend gently.
Sandra smiled sadly, "No I don't think I'm ready, but I don't think anybody is ever completely ready to have a baby even if they think they are. I do however, finally believe that waiting longer isn't going to make me feel any more ready for a baby. So I figured that if waiting is no longer going to make me feel better, then why bother waiting? Once Kyle realized that I was starting to lean towards looking at procreating with him favourably, he started trying to make having a baby with him seem even more appealing. He's been pointing out adorable babies everywhere we go, holding up the tiniest little baby clothes for me to look at when we go shopping, and he's been commenting left and right about Stasia's pregnancy and how excited she and Colton are to become parents."
"He was bringing out the big guns then," Victoire mused with a half-smile, "But eventually he got to you, didn't he?"
Sandra chuckled, "I was making him sweat it out a bit before telling him that I was ready to start trying; and then he started a big spiel about how you and Teddy are going to have a baby before next summer hits and how fun it would be to have babies together, and raise them together, and have them go to Hogwarts together-"
"Did he go on to say how he wanted our kids to get married to each other and have kids together?" Victoire asked more than a little sarcastically.
Sandra smiled candidly, "I stopped him before he could get to that point because I was honestly worried about what I might hear."
Victoire smirked and pulled Sandra into a hug, "It would be fun to raise our kids at the same time though."
"I know," Sandra practically sighed as she hugged Victoire back tightly.
"So a healer told you to avoid alcohol while trying to get pregnant?" Victoire asked. She figured discussing the medical aspects of the situation would not only help ground her, but help make Sandra feel more at home because she would have come to expect it from her healer best mate.
Sandra pushed a piece of her curly hair behind her ear, "Yes, that was the advice we were given. I was also told that I'm slightly iron deficient and that I should start taking a supplement so that I can get my levels up before I end up conceiving."
"Did your healer explain that-"
"That even though I've gone off my contraception potion that it may still take a few or even several months until I'm able to conceive," Sandra filled in for her.
Victoire pointed her finger at Sandra, "Yes, that. That was what I was going to ask. So your obstetric healer is treating you well then?"
Sandra nodded.
"Who do you go to anyway? Is it someone from St. Mungo's?"
Sandra smirked and crossed her arms over her chest, "Vic . . . it's Healer Jarvis."
"That Arsehole!"
Sandra rolled her eyes at Victoire's ire and resentment, but listened passively as Victoire began to badmouth her co-worker.
"That absolute Prat! My best mate –and he knows that you're my best mate– comes to him wanting medical advice on how to get pregnant and he doesn't even tell me! The plonker!" Victoire continued to complain.
Sandra let out a heavy sigh, "He's my healer Vic and I'm his patient. Ergo, it was covered under healer-patient confidentiality."
"Pssh, he's my colleague and my friend and he was keeping it a secret that you want a baby!"
"Whatever," Sandra said with a small snicker, "You can hash it out with him tomorrow at work."
Victoire looked at Sandra seriously, "And you can bet that I will be talking to him about it."
"Why does that sound like a threat?"
"Because it is one, to him," Victoire said before she decided to change the topic and pull Sandra back into a hug, "Oh my goodness you're going to be a mum!"
Sandra slapped her hand over Victoire's mouth, "Not so loud! There's nothing official to share yet and there probably won't be for a few months."
"Got it, I'll push it down until I hear something official," Victoire said, her words a little muffled since Sandra's hand was still covering her mouth.
It was only when Sandra knew for sure that Victoire wasn't going to out her secret that she slowly began to pull her hand away from her friend's mouth.
"Can I give you some advice?"
"Is it medical conception tips? Because I love you Vic, I really do, but I don't quite feel up to discussing it with you right this moment," Sandra told her.
Victoire rolled her eyes, "No it's not conception tips. It's a tip on how to make it seem like you're drinking when you're really not. Which you will need to utilize if you want to keep yours and Kyle's new understanding a secret."
Sandra opened her arms and gestured for Victoire to go ahead.
"So, when you go to take a sip of an alcoholic drink make sure to keep one hand on your wand in your pocket so that you can inconspicuously vanish small amounts of the drink when you pretend to sip it," Victoire explained.
Sandra nodded, "That is a good tip, thanks."
Victoire smiled and then went on to explain in detail another, much more complex, way that Sandra could pretend to be drinking heavily while actually avoiding alcohol so that nobody else would be able to figure out that she was abstaining.
A/N: Well everyone I hope you enjoyed this new chapter. Many of you really wanted James new trainer to be Selene, so let me know if it lived up to your expectations. Also, how cute is Brogan?
A lot of medical doctors will suggest that women avoid alcohol if trying to conceive because by the time a women realizes she's pregnant she's usually already a few weeks pregnant. Obviously if a woman hadn't been trying to get pregnant and has been drinking, and realizes after six weeks that she is pregnant the chances of those few weeks of alcohol causing permanent damage to the fetus is slim (assuming of course that the amount of alcohol consumed over the past several weeks was of an average amount).
There is some debate in different countries and culturally about whether drinking even a little bit of alcohol is safe while pregnant or trying to become pregnant, but according to the Public Health Agency of Canada "There is no safe amount or safe time to drink alcohol during pregnancy or when planning pregnancy" and since I live in Canada that is the information that colours what I'm going to impart in my writing. Obviously in real life (as with my story) accidental conception can occur, so when it does it is best to stop drinking alcohol from that point on and consult a licensed medical professional.
Next Chapter: We are still going to be at Victoire's bridal shower, but the day takes an interesting turn and there will be a lot of Dom and Victoire doing what they do best: bickering with each other but somehow still ensuring that the other person gets the respect they deserve.
Next Update: In two weeks!
I want to thank everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!
BIG thank yous as always to:
rosesnlilies, Bobulus, LilyGinnyLunaMcGonagall, Guest (1), no cure for crazy, RebekahGrace, audrey3horses, Shinethedown, cjaben1, Lostinwords23, Guest (2), Strangerdangerbaby, saagarika, Beckster384, NicoleTheSmith, Dakota1, Jily71102, and Miriam.
cjaben1: Sorry couldn't update any sooner. We will see some Tabitha eventually in this story, but since this chapter about the bridal shower turned into three I can't promise a timeline until I get to writing that part. Tabitha definitely would have been invited, but she felt worried about leaving Zach to go to France for the party (as you will see when we finally see her) even though Clark definitely offered to look after him.
saagarika: Even though there was still a lot of awkwardness, and there will be a lot of awkwardness to come, they both care about quidditch too much to let that get in the way of anything quidditch related. We will find out what happened between the two of them, I promise, but not quite yet.
Dakota1: Teddy and Xavier both clear six feet. I think it's mentioned that both men are near the same height, Teddy might be an inch taller. I don't think I was ever more specific than that. I originally went tall because I have a lot of tall people in my family and most men I knew (at that point in my life when I started writing this and before I went off to university in a much bigger city) were six feet or taller.
Miriam: Thank you, I'm glad that there's such an obvious increase in writing proficiency actually. I was about fourteen when I started writing Try and Tri Again, and about fifteen when I first uploaded it, so obviously I'd prefer to have my writing increase over the last decade.
I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,
Please leave me your thoughts or any questions or concerns you may have in a review or PM,
Until next time, DFTBA!