Chapter Twenty-Two

Here Comes the Sun

Harry and Ginny were still in bed late the next morning. She sat perched between his legs, her back resting against his chest. They'd been apart for so long, neither was in any hurry to separate and begin the day, but Ginny's stomach was beginning to grumble its displeasure over its empty state.

"Someone's hungry," Harry said, chuckling after a particularly loud growl. He was twirling one long strand of her hair between his fingers absently.

Ginny sighed. "I am hungry, but I don't want to get up yet," she said, her eyes drooping lazily. Although they'd been in bed for ages, they really hadn't spent much time actually sleeping.

"I wish I could call Kreacher and ask him to bring something up," Harry said. "I don't want to risk his health, or sending anything back to Teddy and Andromeda with him, though."

Ginny shook his head. "No, that wouldn't be fair. Besides, it's not like I'm ill any longer. I'm just being lazy."

"I like being lazy together," Harry said, snuggling her closer. "But I should get you something to eat. You need to get your strength back up. You stay here, I'll be back with some breakfast."

Ginny refused to budge in order for him to get up. "No. I want you to stay here. I like having a place to be where I'm sure Ron won't barge in," Ginny said, snickering.

Harry grinned. "It's probably best if you don't say that out loud, or he might just start. He's probably down there eating all the treats your mum sent you, you know."

"No, he isn't," Ginny said smugly.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "What did you do?"

"I left a note on the basket that it was mine, and no one was to touch it until I'd had a look," she said, smirking.

"And you think that'll hold either of your brothers off?" he asked.

Ginny continued to smirk. "It will if they know what's good for them."

"You put a hex on the basket, didn't you?" he asked, grinning.

"Very good. And I also ensured it was reversible only with the same wand that cast the spell – and my wand is sitting right there," she said, nodding toward her bedside table where her wand rested.

Harry let out a bark of laughter. "And I can see you're quite pleased with yourself for doing it. That's my girl. So… your parents were happy about the engagement, yeah?" he asked, and Ginny could hear the very faint note of insecurity that he tried to cover. He'd come a long way, but she wasn't certain if he'd ever completely lose that vulnerability, and she really hated the Dursleys for it.

"They're over the moon. You know what, though? I kept waving my hand all around my face, and leaving my finger right over my mouth, and my mum never caught on. I was really disappointed in her," Ginny said indignantly, remembering the Floo call she'd had with her parents the previous evening.

Harry chuckled. "To be fair, it was probably hard to pick up since it was only your head in the fire. I'm certain it would've been different if you could've seen them in person. Plus, they were so thrilled about your good health, she probably just wasn't herself."

Ginny rolled her eyes, scowling. "Once we're married, you'd best not always take her side, you know."

Harry grasped Ginny's hand and raised it so he could examine the ring sparkling there. "I can't believe she missed this. I mean, it's so obvious. She must be barmy."

A slow, reluctant smile spread across Ginny's face. "You're such a prat. And she is barmy. It's perfectly noticeable."

"Perfectly," Harry agreed.

"Shut it. She actually asked me if there was something wrong with my hand, because I was waving it around so much," she said, grumbling.

Harry snorted, though he tried to recover quickly. "I'm glad you like it. I like seeing it there."

They both stared for a moment at their entwined hands, the ring glistening between them. "You'd obviously been thinking about this for a while to have the ring ready, since we've been quarantined so long," Ginny said.

Harry's shifted, and a light dusting of pink colored his cheeks. "Yeah. I wanted to give it to you on our holiday that never happened. I kept thinking I'd make it up to you, but when you got sick, I thought I'd ruined everything," he said in a low voice.

"You could never ruin everything, Harry," she said, kissing his rosy cheek lightly. "Have you given any thought to when you'd like to do this? Any particular season, I mean? How about a location? Did you have any place in mind? Would you prefer robes, or Muggle-style clothing?" she asked, her mind whirring the more she thought about all the details.

Harry stared at her, wide-eyed and looking rather panicked.

"There's no right or wrong answers, Harry. I'm asking for your opinion," she said, laughing at his expression.

"Yeah, unless my opinion is different from yours," he mumbled, squeezing her around the middle to soften his words.

"Oh, don't worry, we'll go with my way if there are any big differences, but I'd like to hear what you think. Everyone imagines their wedding day," she said.

"Er… they do?" he asked, perplexed.

Ginny shrugged. "Well, I have, anyway. Come on, you must have some idea on what you'd like if you went out and found this gorgeous ring."

"I did imagine you once in a wedding dress, but it was before we left hunting Horcruxes. We were doing all those preparations for Bill and Fleur's wedding, remember? I thought I might not make it back, and you'd be marrying someone else, so I didn't want to think about it anymore," he said, staring at her hair that he was still curling around his finger.

"That wasn't going to happen. I always knew you were the one for me," she said, leaning into him. "You said a wedding dress though, not robes. I think that's what I'd prefer, too. Something long and flowing, but fitted on the top, I think."

"That sounds sort of like a blend between a dress and some robes. I like that idea," Harry said, glancing at her quickly to see her reaction.

She smiled. "A blend sounds perfect, and you could do the same – blend robes with one of those tuxodos."

"Tuxedo," he corrected automatically. "I don't know about that. You'll have to come with me to pick something out, all right?"

"I'd love to do that if we're ever allowed to get out of here," she said sulkily. She'd had more than enough with being confined indoors. She'd even take a shopping spree – something she'd never really had much patience with – if it meant being allowed to leave. She'd rather go to the orchard behind The Burrow and fly, to be honest.

"Maybe the Patil twins could make something for you, if you told them what you wanted," Harry suggested.

Ginny's eyes flew open wide. "Harry! That's brilliant. I think they'd do an excellent job, and we'd never have to worry about them leaking anything to the press."

"D'you really think the press will be interested in what we're wearing to our wedding?" he asked, still playing with her hair and sounding unconcerned.

Ginny blew out an exaggerated puff of air. "Harry, you're still the darling of the wizarding world, and once the Quidditch League gets wind of this, they'll want to hype it to their own advantage. We need to stand firm and get as many details out of the way as possible before any of them know."

"I'm not the darling of anything," Harry said, pouting and exceedingly disgruntled.

"Of course, you're not," Ginny said, giggling as she patted his hand. The most endearing part was that he actually believed that. Silly boy. She was lost in her own thoughts for what felt like only a second, but it must've been longer, because the next thing she became aware of was Harry's hands on her shoulders, shaking her gently.

"Ginny!" he said, sounding alarmed.

"What's that?" she asked, disorientated.

"You sort of went somewhere else again," Harry said, attempting to sound cavalier but failing miserably.

Ginny had had several bouts of this since awakening from her coma. The Healers told her not to worry about it, but she couldn't help it. She didn't like hearing the panic in Harry's voice. To her, it didn't seem as if any time had passed at all, but she could feel his heart thumping madly when she leaned back against his chest once again. She knew Ron was still having some side effects, as well, and she wished they would stop.

"I'm all right," she said, trying to reassure them both. "I wish that would stop happening."

"What were you thinking about when it did?" he asked, burying his face in her shoulder.

"Nothing, really. Our wedding, I suppose. We were talking about getting ahead of the press," she said, decisively.

"No, you were talking about getting ahead of the press. I was checking that my answers lined up with yours," he replied, chuckling.

"You're awfully good at this husband stuff. Are you certain you don't have another wife or two stashed away somewhere?" she asked.

Harry let out a bark of laughter. "Oh, now there's a story the press would love to run with. Where do you suppose I keep these secret wives of mine, and how on earth do I find the time?"

"Honestly, Harry. As if that would be a problem. You work at the Ministry, and half of Britain still doesn't believe all the Time–Turners were destroyed when Voldemort first returned. The press will run with that. As to the identity of your other wives… hmm… I seem to remember Rita writing about an attractive tutor back when you were in Auror training," she said, tapping her finger to her chin.

"That was George!" Harry sputtered.

"And how about a Muggle wife? That would explain why no one ever sees her, and they know you grew up in the Muggle world," Ginny said brightly.

Harry rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "You're enjoying this a bit too much."

"Ooh, I know. How about someone from a rival Quidditch team? They could play off your own love of the sport, and create some drama and gossip about us. I bet the League would love all the publicity," she said, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at his incredulous expression. "Well, what do you think?"

"I think I should thank my good fortune that you didn't decide to take a job with the press," he said wryly.

Ginny smirked. "I thought about it. I've always enjoyed writing, but I enjoy playing Quidditch more."

"Maybe when you decide to retire, you could write about Quidditch, and leave the gossip pages alone, please," he said.

"Actually, I think perhaps you could use someone on your side in the gossip pages," she said thoughtfully.

Harry grinned, nuzzling her neck. "Let them spin their wheels. I like my life just as it is."

Ginny turned her face and kissed him soundly. They snogged for several moments before he pulled back, frowning.

"You know, they are going to be even more relentless once this all comes out," he said slowly.

"Chosen One selects his Chosen One and all, you mean? Yeah, I know, I can see the headlines now. What's she got that some of our fine young witches don't? Or perhaps, Could she be brewing a love potion to control our hero?" Ginny said, rolling her eyes.

"No! I meant the Quidditch reporters. They already insinuated you only were placed on the first team because of your connections, and now they'll probably accuse you of being too distracted to play, or some other nonsense," he said, getting riled.

He'd been outraged and indignant on her behalf when the articles about her had started appearing. It was all she could do to stop him storming into the Daily Prophet to demand a retraction. She knew it would only make it worse. He was probably right, however. Their wedding news, although it was making her deliriously happy, was going to spark a lot of spite amongst the vapid press, and some of the witches constantly trying to catch Harry's eye.

Ginny hoped he could withstand the pressure. He always took it much better when they directed their speculation on him rather than when they aimed it at Ginny – or even worse – Teddy. And the vultures seemed to have caught onto that fact. The surest way to get Harry to lose his cool was to insult or disparage the people he cared about.

She never really considered it before, but the press was ironically like Voldemort that way.

She supposed she ought to warn her mum, too. Molly never handled it well when they printed anything remotely unflattering about either of them. Oh, and she suspected her mum would want this wedding to take place at The Burrow, so they better decide quickly if that's what they wanted.

"Where do you want to get married?" she asked abruptly.

"What?" Harry asked, nonplussed.

"Where? I mean, in a church? On location somewhere? We can always have it at The Burrow like Bill and Fleur, but I want to know if you have anything else in mind?" she asked.

"Do you have something else in mind?" he asked carefully.

"I want your opinion, Harry, and I'm starting to get seriously aggravated," she said, frowning.

Harry's eyes widened. "Well, give me a minute. You change topics faster than I can collect my thoughts."

She knew it was true. Her brothers had always accused her of talking incessantly, and she knew Harry liked to ponder things before making a decision, but once she started, she needed to get it all out.

"I'm sorry. I'm excited, and I just want to be sure we're on the same page before anyone else tries to change our minds," she said, lightly kissing his shoulder.

Harry shook his head. "No, don't be sorry. I like that you're excited about our wedding. I'm excited. too. Our wedding – I really like the sound of that."

"Me, too!" she said, beaming. "Truthfully, I'm not really sold on any particular location, though. That's why I want to hear your thoughts."

"Well… I wouldn't want to upset your mum," he said hesitantly.

"But?" she prompted.

"It's not really a but. I was just thinking, you lot all grew up there, so obviously it holds special meaning. I was trying to think if there was anything special to me, and all I kept coming up with is Hogwarts. It was the first place where I felt I truly belonged," he said softly, avoiding eye contact.

"Hogwarts," Ginny said slowly. "Actually, I think that could work."

Her mind was exploding with possibilities of the Great Hall glowing with the ceiling reflecting a starry night, no matter what the weather. It was true, The Burrow did hold all her childhood memories, but the wedding was bound to be filled with loads of redheads and family she couldn't even all name. She wanted there to be something there for him, too. She couldn't bring his parents, though she would if it were possible, but this was something she could do for him.

"I don't know if it would work. There's bound to be students, and there's probably all kind of liability with bringing alcohol into a school. I don't think McGonagall would go for it," he said, shrugging.

"We could do it in the summer, when the students are at home," she said, brushing off the concern. "Or! We could do it over the holidays. A winter wedding at Christmas time. What do you think of that?"

Harry smiled brightly. "Well, if it's going to make your face glow with that much excitement, how could I do anything but love it?"

"That's only a few months away, but I think we could do it. The quicker it happens, the less chance of anyone finding a reason to stop it," Ginny said, thinking out loud.

"No one is going to stop it, or I'll whisk you away and marry you in secret," he said, nuzzling her neck once again.

Ginny snorted. "Oh, then you'd definitely have to deal with my mother's wrath. I don't even think your orphan puppy eyes would save you from that one," she said, grinning widely.

"My orphan puppy eyes?" Harry asked, taken aback.

"Yes, and they absolutely wouldn't work if we eloped. My mum would kill you. Slowly," she said firmly.

Harry grinned. "Well, we can't have that. I wouldn't want to make you a widow before you'd even had the chance to be a wife. All right then, Hogwarts in winter – if Professor McGonagall gives us the okay," he said decisively.

"Definitely use your orphan puppy eyes for that request. It'll work there," Ginny said, tilting her head.

Harry looked skeptical. "I dunno. McGonagall's never had a problem saying no to me in the past. She might've taken the most House points from me surpassed only by Snape, and that's saying something as she was the Head of Gryffindor."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic. She adores you."

Harry made a face, causing Ginny to laugh outright.

"Didn't you hear her when she thought you were dead? Those orphan puppy eyes had definitely worked their charm on her," she said.

Harry shook his head stubbornly. "I don't recall. All I could remember was your voice, and what I was putting you through."

"Yes, well, I suppose the orphan puppy eyes might've worked on me, too," Ginny said fairly.

Harry perked up. "Really? That's very interesting news. I suppose I might find a way to put that to my advantage, then," he said, reaching up to fondle her bare breasts.

"Don't push your luck, and I'm way too hungry for another round now," she said, pushing his hands away.

Harry made a ridiculous pleading expression, batting his eyes dramatically. Ginny tossed her head back with laughter as she continued stopping any movement of his hands.

"Enough!" she finally shouted. "Even orphan puppy eyes don't outrank hungry Ginny eyes – particularly after I've been the one on her death bed. That's usually your game, so I'm going play it up."

"All right, then," Harry said, easily scooping up both her and the sheet and bounding out of the bed, buck naked. "M'lady needs food."

Ginny shrieked with laughter. "Harry, you have to get dressed. We're not going down there like this.

Harry paused, considering. "So, let me get this straight. You're too hungry to fool around, but not hungry enough to go downstairs starkers?"

Ginny kicked her feet, laughing. "Put me down, and at least throw on a dressing gown."

Harry placed her on her feet. "Not even married yet, and she's already bossing me around," he said, pulling on a pair of track pants that he found on the floor.

"Food, first. I can't think straight I'm so famished," Ginny insisted.

"Never let it be said I came between a Weasley and food," Harry said, grumbling as he led her out the door.

/* /* /* /*

They could hear voices as they descended the stairs into the kitchen. As Harry pushed open the door and allowed Ginny to enter first, he could see Ron, Hermione and George over the top of her head. Ginny's shout of mirth alerted him to take a closer look.

Ron sat at the kitchen counter with Hermione hovering over him. George sat beside him, grinning. Ron's nose had been replaced with a pig's snout, and every few moments, he grunted.

"Ha!" Ginny said, grinning and sitting at the counter. "You tried to take something from my basket despite my note, I see."

"Remove this,' Ron snarled, although it came out in an oddly harsh – pig-like – grunt.

"The note clearly said it was mine," Ginny said, pouring coffee for both Harry and herself, plainly unconcerned. Harry put a few slices of toast on a plate between them. This ought to be fun.

"Ginny, this really is uncalled for. I can't find a counter-curse, and he's been like this for an hour," Hermione said, sounding frantic, and flipping through the pages of a book on jinxes.

"Ron was too easy. I don't think anyone is surprised that he tried to nick your stuff, but it's quite impressive that you outsmarted Hermione," George said gleefully.

Hermione glared at him, her face pinched. She turned her scowl towards Ginny. "How do you know this isn't causing permanent damage by being left in place so long?" she demanded. "I'd think you'd show more concern for your brother, who has been quite ill, if you recall."

"Not too ill to steal treats Mum made for me," Ginny said blithely. She calmly spread a large amount of jam on a slice of toast and bit into it, closing her eyes in pleasure.

"Er… Ginny, perhaps you ought to…" Harry said, waving vaguely at Ron's pig-like countenance. He knew Ron deserved it, but he hated when they all rowed. He couldn't help but be reminded of the time Hagrid had given Dudley a pig's tail. Dudley'd had to have surgery to remove it.

Ginny swallowed her toast. "Oh, all right," she said, sighing. She removed her wand from her pocket, pointed it at Ron, and simply said, "Finite."

Ron's snout disappeared and his long nose returned with a popping sound that made him wince.

"I tried that! It didn't work," Hermione said, sounding as if some sort of prank had been played on her rather than Ron, who was rubbing his nose.

"It had to be reversed by the same wand that cast it," Ginny said, shrugging. "Next time I leave a note on something, perhaps you ought to pay attention."

She primly took another bite of her toast.

George roared with laughter and leaned over the counter to give Ginny a high-five. She grinned back at him.

Hermione's face had gone blank before she pressed her lips together, draining them of color. "That was quite reckless. What if something had happened to your wand in the meantime?" she asked stiffly.

"What? You mean if it suddenly broke it two while I was sleeping?" Ginny asked scathingly. "Yeah, I hate when that happens."

Harry couldn't help it. He snorted.

Hermione turned her flashing eyes upon him. "This isn't funny. I can't believe you're supporting this juvenile behavior."

"Of course, it's funny," George said. "You're just angry because you couldn't undo it. It was a good spell, Ginny."

Hermione's face darkened dangerously. Harry knew George was right, but he also knew Hermione wasn't to be trifled with when she became this worked up. "All right, Ron?" he asked, diverting attention back to his other best mate.

"That was a dirty trick, Ginny. I shared the treats Mum baked for me with everyone," he said.

"And I'll share mine, after I get to pick first, which is more than fair, I think," Ginny fired right back. "Don't tell me you hadn't eaten half of yours before you offered some to anyone else."

Ron's ears turned red. Hermione huffed and folded her arms across her chest, her lips still pressed into a thin line.

Harry stood up and walked over the fireplace, lifting the heavily laden basket in question and bringing it over to the counter, placing it in front of Ginny. It still had her note pinned on top. "Let's see what you have in here, shall we?" he asked.

Ginny beamed, pulling off the note and untying the ribbon around the contents of the basket. As she began pulling the linen off the top, Ron asked, "How come you were able to do that, and I got turned into a pig? I didn't see you cancel a spell."

"The note said it was for me, so the spell I cast only worked against anyone who wasn't me," Ginny said, shrugging. "Ooh, look at this. Mum must've been baking for days."

The inside of the basket was full of shortbread, banana bread, assorted biscuits, snow pudding, a wide variety of scones and an egg custard tart. Ginny pulled out the tart first and cut herself a slice. She then pushed the basket toward Harry, who selected a cheese scone.

"Dig in," Ginny said, reaching to grab another scone before the others examined her haul.

Ron very cautiously reached his hand inside, looking ready to pull it back at the slightest provocation.

"Oink!" Harry shouted, making Ron jump and drop the scone he'd selected onto the table.

"Sod off, Harry," he said, scowling and putting it on his plate while Harry and George laughed at him. A reluctant grin eventually spread across Ron's face as he dug into his scone.

Hermione very stiffly cut herself a slice of the egg custard tart while George dug in enthusiastically. As the meal progressed, the slight tension emanating mainly from Hermione seemed to lessen, and they were all in a fairly decent mood when Vivian came down the stairs to join them – still wearing a Bubble-Head Charm.

"Good morning, everyone," she said, sitting down on the stool next to George. "I'm glad to see you all up and about. How are you feeling today, Miss Weasley?"

"I feel great, actually," Ginny said brightly.

"She might've had a lot of rest. She did just get up fairly recently, but she's been with Harry the whole time, so it's questionable," George said, smirking.

Ginny threw him a filthy look. "What's going on? Why are you here? Has something else happened?" she asked, reaching for her scone.

"Congratulations," Vivian said, nodding at her extended hand. "The ring is beautiful. I wondered when you'd reveal it."

"You knew?" Ginny asked, blinking.

Harry looked up quickly. This was news to him.

"I recognized the Concealment Charm when I did one of your scans the other day," Vivian said.

"You can read the diagnostic scans?" Hermione asked, her head tilted. Harry had long suspected that Hermione had been using a lot of her free time trying to discover what they revealed.

"Well, I'll admit I'm not a Healer, but I've had a bit of a crash course in diagnostic scans recently, as you can imagine. I've learned a bit of the advanced spells, but a Concealment Charm is fairly basic magic, so it's not difficult to recognize," Vivian said, reaching out her hand as Ginny held out her own for Vivian to examine the ring. "It's quite lovely."

Hermione's spine stiffened, and she viciously stabbed at her egg tart with her fork. Harry quickly turned back to his own breakfast, desperate to avoid eye contact. It was a rare day when someone outsmarted Hermione. He didn't think two people doing it in one morning was something Hermione's competitive ego could withstand.

"Do you need to do another scan on Ginny or me?" Ron asked.

Vivian nodded. "I'll do one on both of you before I leave to monitor any progress. I wanted to let you know that everyone who'd been afflicted and was then given the Draught has recovered. We've also successfully put it in place in Muggle hospitals, and their recovery rate has also been outstanding."

"That's excellent," Harry said, looking up. "Does that mean the restrictions will be lifted? Can we all go back to work?"

Vivian shook her head. "Not so fast. All the houses that have had someone ill are to remain isolated. The plan is to gradually allow more and more social contact to be certain it doesn't flare up again too quickly. Unfortunately, that means this house is still in isolation, but some of your friends and families will begin returning to work. Arthur Weasley is actually starting back full time at the Ministry tomorrow."

"That'll make Dad happy," Ron said, smiling.

"That'll make Mum happy, too," Ginny said.

"How long are we still in quarantine if the results have all shown the afflicted have recovered?" Hermione asked, sitting stiffly with her legs tightly crossed.

"We believe Ronald and Ginevra," she paused, her lips twisting upward slighting at the look Ginny was giving her. "Ronald and Ginny have recovered and most likely cannot contract it again. The uncertainty lies with the rest of you, and whether or not either of you two," Vivian said, nodding at Ron and Ginny, "could still pass it onto anyone else. It's been less than a week that the Draught was administered, and it's an unknown entity. We realize it's been frustrating, but precautions need to be maintained."

"So… the shop can physically open, but I just can't get there?" George asked grimly. "And I still can't see Angelina?"

"Since there were two confirmed cases in this dwelling, we're proceeding with an abundance of caution. The shop can open if you minimize crowds. We still don't want people gathering in large numbers just yet," Vivian said, and she really did look apologetic.

George still looked sour, however. "Unlikely, since people are going to be petrified to go out at first."

"What about the communication mirrors, George? Did you ever get those to work? Maybe you could be there virtually to keep an eye on what's happening," Ginny suggested. George had discovered the old Marauder mirrors and how Harry and Ginny had kept in touch using them when she'd been at school.

George shrugged. "They still have several glitches that I haven't found a work around for, but admittedly, it hasn't been my main priority."

"Well, since you have help from all of us on the production end, and I can help keeping in touch with Verity at the shop, maybe it's time to put your focus on the mirrors. I bet Hermione would be able to help. She's brilliant with stubborn problems," Ron said, causing Hermione to sit up straighter.

"I could take a look at what you've done so far. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes is all you need," she said graciously.

Harry was impressed by how subtly Ron had cheered her up. His mate had come a long way since their school days. Ron seemed to know he'd done something right, as well, as he smirked quite smugly and took some biscuits from the basket.

"I wish we could offer you something, Vivian. Mrs. Weasley has really outdone herself celebrating Ginny's release," Harry said, indicating the heaping basket.

"It does look extremely tempting, but I think not. The Bubble-Head is for my own protection as well as your own. I'm still going in and out of all the sick houses, despite the recovery rate. I truly hope it won't be for much longer," she said pleasantly. "Now, I'm due back at the Ministry, so if neither of you object, we can just do the scans on each of you, and I'll be off."

Ron and Ginny both stood, Ron shoving the last of his scone into his mouth.

"Hold on a minute. This all began inside the Quidditch League, so all the contaminated houses are most likely connected in some way. What's going on with the season? Does that mean it will be delayed longer?" Ginny asked, frowning.

"You are correct that the vast majority of cases stemmed from that exhibition match. While the Holyhead Harpies and the Montrose Magpies were affected most heavily, there were representatives from all the teams there, and none of them came through it unscathed," Vivian replied.

"That doesn't answer my question about the season," Ginny said, and Harry noticed her fists were clenched. She had a lot of friends in the League.

"The Department of Magical Games and Sports will be issuing a statement, but I'm uncertain on the details. The Ministry is still getting up and running at the time," Vivian said apologetically. "Now, if we can get those scans done, I can get back to the Ministry. I'll certainly let you know if I hear anything."

Ginny didn't look thrilled, but she nodded.

"How bad were the Chudley Cannons affected?" Ron asked, eyes wide.

"You know I can't answer that. Why don't we just go up to the sitting room since I don't have to do a full exam?" she said, leading them toward the stairs.

"Would it be all right if I observed?" Hermione asked suddenly. "I'm trying to work out how the Diagnostics scans work, and I have a few questions."

"Certainly, as long as your friends don't mind," Vivian said.

George watched until they'd all clearly left before he said, "Odds on Hermione coming back bitching that Vivian didn't explain clearly enough?"

"I'm not taking that bet, that's a given. How about if she comes back pleased and eager to check her book?" Harry countered.

"You're on. Let's say the winner has to do the cooking on the loser's night?" George asked.

"Deal," Harry agreed, shaking George's hand.

They were interrupted when the fire burned suddenly green and Angelina's head appeared inside.

"Angelina!" George said, sounding very pleased. "How are you, love? Is everything all right?"

"It's fine," Angelina said, beaming. "Hi, Harry! Sorry to call earlier than our usual time, but I had to tell someone. I have an interview at the Ministry."

"An interview? They're doing interviews now?" George asked.

Harry knew that Angelina had been trying to secure a position in the Department of Magical Games and Sports before the contagion had spread, but everything had been put on hold.

"Well, we did the first one through a Floo call, but now they're asking the finalists to come in for in-person meetings. I have no idea who my competition is, but I do know there are three of us," Angelina said, bouncing with excitement.

"We just heard that they're working on an announcement about the delay of the season," Harry said. "Let us know if you find out anything more."

"Yeah, you know most of this bloomed from the Quidditch League, right?" George asked.

Angelina nodded. "Yeah. Oliver has been keeping me informed. He still has to remain quarantined, but he was never sick."

"We have to remain quarantined here, as well, since this was a sick house," George said glumly.

"Hang on, if Oliver was never sick, why is he still quarantined?" Harry asked. "I thought it was just those houses where someone was ill?"

"From what Oliver said, the League is recommending all teams stay where they are for now. They're really spell–shocked by the whole ordeal. They lost several players," Angelina said. "How is Ginny doing?"

"She's much better. She's upstairs now having another diagnostic scan along with Ron, but she seems back to herself," Harry said, knowing his relief was clearly showing, and unable to mask it.

"And as you can see, Harry wasn't worried at all," George said, rolling his eyes. "She did prank Ron really good this morning, so I might have to have a chat with her to see if I can market it."

"Stop your piggy friends from eating the last Chocolate Frog," Harry said, grinning.

"Try our new Bovine Balm," George said, giving Harry a high-five.

"All right, you two," Angelina bellowed. "We need to get back to my job interview on Friday. I want congratulations and assurances that, of course, they'll hire me over the others. I'll be brilliant at this job."

"Was that ever in question?" George asked without missing a beat. "Of course, you're the only logical choice. They'd be mad not to hire you."

"Congratulations, Angelina. I hope you get it," Harry said sincerely.

"Because I'm wonderful, and they'd be mad not to hire me," Angelina prompted, grinning widely.

"Absolutely bonkers," Harry agreed, nodding his head vigorously.

"So, you should know by Friday?" George asked. "I don't think I have any hope of getting out of here by then, but I promise a night on the town to celebrate once I'm sprung."

"Well, the interview is on Friday. I don't know when the others are, so the job offer probably won't come until next week," Angelina said.

"There's my girl. Confidence gets the job done. Call me the night before and we'll all try to prop you up so you go in feeling strong," George said.

"Will do," Angelina said, grinning. "Have a good day, you two. Try and get something done to pass the time."

The fire briefly flared green before going out entirely.

"Easy for her to say. She actually gets to get out of her house," George said, grumbling.

"Our day is coming, George. Our day is coming," Harry replied, trying to reassure them both.

Author's Note: First off, thanks so much to all the lovely readers over at SIYE for their votes. Contagion won the Best Drama category for the October Silver Trinket Awards. Thanks so very much!

For readers on Harry Potter Fanfiction, I've begun adding a short Christmas story – A Potterverse Christmas Carole – with Petunia Dursley in the role of Scrooge. Check it out!

Thanks to my beta team, Sherylyn, Arnel, and Sue for their patience, feedback, advice and fixing all my type-ohs! I'm always thankful for you lot!