DISCLAIMER: Teddy Lupin, Victoire Weasley and all the other Harry Potter characters are property of JK Rowling, not me; no copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed so far – I really appreciate your comments! Please take the time to review fics – not just this one – as even a simple "I liked this!" or "Can't wait to see what happens next!" can really make an author's day! :)

The Art of Being Subtle

Chapter Eight – Harry and Lily II

Harry & Ginny Potter's house – 19th July – 4:27pm

"Hey, Lily-lou," Harry Potter swept into the dining room behind his eight year old daughter, who was sat at the table, building a house of cards, and picked her up.

"Da-ad," she moaned, wriggling. He placed her gently back in her chair.

"Fine, if that's the way it's going to be . . .!" he stuck his nose in the air, folded his arms and looked away. Lily laughed at her father's antics, and then shrieked in fear as the house of cards exploded, nearly setting fire to her eyebrows, burying her face in her father's arm.

"Oh, Lily," he said, giving her a hug. "Did you build your house with exploding snap cards?" She nodded woefully.

"Dear, dear, dear, dear," he said, shaking his head. "Still, best get this cleaned up before Mummy sees, hmm?" With a sweep of his wand, the pile of ashes on the table vanished, and the dining room was once again spotless. Well, maybe not spotless Harry thought to himself, surveying the inevitable chaos that came with living with three still relatively young children, but at least it no longer looks as though a pyromaniac lives here.

"Daddy," Lily whined. "I'm bored. There's no one to play with."

"Of course there is," he said. "You've got your brothers, and—"

"They went to play Quidditch with Fred and Louis," she said. "And they wouldn't let me come because they said I was a baby." Her voice trembled with indignation. "And because I was a girl!"

Harry made a mental note to speak to his two sons privately, later. "You know why I think they wouldn't let you play?" he asked. Lily shook her head dolefully. "It's because you're too good for them. They're scared you'll beat them. In fact, they know you'll beat them, and they're too embarrassed to play you."

"Really?" Lily asked, wide eyed.

"Really," Harry said seriously. "But forget about them – why don't you go and see Hugo and Rose? Or the Salamanders?"

"Silly Daddy," Lily said. "It's the Scamanders," she corrected him.

"Oh yes, of course it is," Harry said.

"But they're on holiday, looking for the crumply . . . the crumple horned snackpack, or something ridiculous," she told him gravely. "And Hugo and Rose have gone to Lancashire for the day to visit their Grandma and Grandad Granger. So I can't go over there. And I'm all alone. I wanted to play with Mummy," she said. "But Mummy said she couldn't play now, because she has to write an article or the deadline man will be cross."

"Well, you could always help me," Harry suggested. "I've got an enormous load of peas to pod for dinner, and then I think there's a leaky pipe somewhere that needs fixing, and I'll always need someone to pass me my hammers. Do you think you could do that?" Lily nodded. "Come on, then," he said. "Let's get started with these peas."

He handed his daughter a large bowl, and watched affectionately as she carried it out oh-so-carefully into the garden, placing it gently on the steps, and waited for him to come and join her with the bag of peas.

"Here we go," he said, placing the bag between them and joining her on the step. "Lots of peas for prodding."

"Podding," Lily corrected. "Honestly, Daddy, you don't know how to talk very well, do you?" He tried to hide his chuckle.

"I guess I don't," he said, making a start. "So, tell me about your day, Lily-lou."

"Well, this morning when I woke up I was very hungry," Lily launched into her tale immediately. "So I had cornflakes and toast for breakfast." If nothing else, she seems to have inherited the Weasley stomach Harry thought, grinning at her.

"And then we had to go to Diagon Alley, because we needed to get Albus's school clothes. Well, we got his winter cloak at least, and that was boring because I just had to stand in the shop by myself, but there was a magazine and I read that to myself, but it wasn't a very exciting one – it was mostly just women in dresses. And shoes. There were a lot of shoes in it. So I was quite bored. But Mummy said I was good, so when we picked James up from Uncle George and Auntie Angelina's, we went to the ice cream shop, and we had a sandwich and Mummy let us choose what ice cream to have, and I had chocolate one, with a flake in it," Lily's monologue continued.

"Did you have chocolate sprinkles on the top as well?" asked Harry. Lily nodded enthusiastically. "That's the best – that's my favourite ice cream."

"It's mine too!" Lily said, nearly up ending the bowl of peas in her excitement.

"Careful!" Harry said, catching it before irreparable damage could be done to their dinner. "Anyway, what did you do this afternoon?"

"I went to Teddy's," Lily said. "Mummy let me floo by myself. And that was fun. Victoire was there, and she let me plat her hair, and then she did mine, look!" She pointed at her plats.

"Very lovely," Harry said.

"And then I came back, and James and Albus were going out and said that I couldn't come with them." Her face fell. "That wasn't very nice."

"No, it wasn't," Harry agreed, reminding himself to speak to his sons later. "But tell me about going to Teddy's – that must've been nice," he encouraged, not wanting his daughter to dwell on the lower points of her day.

"Yeah, it was fun," Lily said, lapsing into silence. "Daddy?" she asked, after a pause.

"Yes, sweetie?" he asked.

"You and Mummy . . . are in love . . . which is different to loving each other, because when you're in love, you kiss the person you're in love with on the lips, right?" Lily asked.

"Yes, that's right," Harry answered, wondering where his daughter was going with this.

"Well," Lily said. "You and Mummy kiss on the lips, because you love each other," she said, and Harry nodded. "And Auntie Hermione and Uncle Ron do, because they're married, and even Grandma and Grampie do, but what about Teddy and Victoire? I saw them kissing, so are they in love?"

Harry looked at his daughter, who was giving him a very serious look across the bowl of peas, and launched into a fifteen minute explanation about 'changing bodies', 'new feelings' and 'when and boy and a girl grow up . . .' before realising firstly that Lily had no idea what he was talking about, secondly that he wasn't actually answering her question and thirdly, when it came to talking to their children about puberty, he would arrange for Ginny sort things, whilst he went on a very important mission to Thailand or somewhere equally far away, so he wasn't around for any awkward questions.

A thought struck him.

"Lily, when you saw Teddy and Victoire together, what did they say to you?"

"Well, they went really red and got all embarrassed, and they said that I shouldn't tell anyone. They said it had to be a secret, and that I couldn't tell anyone. They kept saying that. A lot. But I don't say why don't. Is it because of what Uncle Bill said, about if Vic or Dom got a boyfriend, and he would rip—"

"Eh, yes, I should imagine that that might have had something to do with things," Harry cut in hastily. "However, I think you should keep their secret, if that's what they've asked you to do."

"Why?" Lily asked.

"Well, they obviously trust you enough to let you in on what's going on, so you should show them that you deserve their trust," Harry explained. Or you just walked in at a really, really awkward time. "And plus, you know a secret that your brothers don't know!"

Lily's face lit up. "That's right!" she exclaimed.

"So, you shouldn't say anything to them. But next time you see Teddy, will you ask him something for me?" Harry asked. His daughter nodded. "Say to him, 'Harry says, have you told Bill yet?'. Let me know his response."

"Of course I will," Lily replied seriously.