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: le gasp An update! And I only updated yesterday! *is shocked* Thank you for the reviews! :)

The Art of Being Subtle

Chapter Ten - Ginny

Ministry of Magic – 26th July – 9:17am

"You will not believe what happened this morning," Ginny Potter said, walking into Hermione's office at the Ministry and handing her one of two paper cups of coffee.

"Thanks," Hermione said, accepting the coffee. "And what? Make it quick – I've got a meeting with the Minister in fifteen minutes."

"Ooh, get you, Ms. Fancy-pants," Ginny teased. Hermione pretended to flick her hair about and preen. "Anyway – you know the phrase déjà vu? I finally got what they mean by it this morning."

"Oh? Do tell," Hermione said.

"You remember when—well, you remember me telling you about the unfortunate incident with the butter dish when I was eleven? And how, previous to that I'd yelled at my mother for not warning me that Harry Potter was downstairs in the kitchen, and I'd walked down in just my nightdress?" she asked. Hermione nodded. "Actually – I'd like to amend my statement: it wasn't déjà vu I felt – it was a full blown flashback being played out before my very eyes."

"Don't tell me – all the bludgers you got knocked on the head with during your Quidditch career suddenly asserted themselves, and you temporarily forgot you were married to Harry and had an eleven year old fangirl moment when you walked into the kitchen this morning?" Hermione deadpanned.

"Oh, ha ha," Ginny said. "No, the story is much better than that. It all begins a very long time ago – last night in fact."

"Was it a dark and stormy night?" Hermione asked.

"No, of course not. It was quite warm and very pleasant – or is it your memory that's starting to go?" Ginny teased.

"My memory's fine, thank you," Hermione replied. "I was just trying to introduce some pathetic fallacy to the story. But anyway, do continue."

"Well, Harry and I had to go to one of those god-awful conventions that he was supposed be speaking at in his capacity as saviour of the wizarding world, or whatever," she pulled a face. "So I asked Victoire round to babysit the kids for me, and she agreed, and I suggested to her that she stayed over at ours, to save disturbing her parents when she got back in. So that was the plan – she'd sit for us, then spend the night on a camp bed in Lily's room and blah blah. Anyway, the sitting went fine, except for an unfortunate incident with James and some unidentifiable gloop he'd managed – Merlin only knows how the kid does it – to spread all over her clothes, and it was impossible to remove with just a cleaning spell."

Hermione frowned. "What's this got to do with your—"

"I'm getting there," Ginny said. "Anyway, I couldn't get the mess of her clothes, or her pyjamas, and it was nearly midnight by that point, so I just gave her one of my old nighties, and she went to bed. In the morning, I was up early, and I decided to let her sleep in for a bit, 'cause she deserved it and all, and anyway, I was busy getting Albus ready and sorted – he was going out with Ted and Rose to the Quidditch today, as you know. Anyway, Teddy stopped by at about eight, and Al was just finishing his toast, so I got Teddy to just wait in the kitchen for a bit, as you do, but then, who should come downstairs but—"

"Oh, no," Hermione said, cringing and laughing at the same time.

"Oh, yes," nodded Ginny. "Who should come down in my old maternity nightdress whilst Teddy is munching his way through half a wheat field's worth of toast but Victoire Weasley."

"And did she squeak in embarrassment, go redder than a tomato and rush back upstairs?" Hermione asked.

"Something like that," Ginny replied, with a grin. "I bundled Ted and Al out the door – well, chimney, but you get the idea – and went upstairs to deal with her. She'd buried her face in the pillow and said that she'd about died of embarrassment and why hadn't someone told her that he was going to be there . . . and on and on. I refrained from pointing out that she'd been asleep, so I hadn't actually been able to talk to her about anything at all only because I realised that, had I done so, I would have actually turned into my mother, as that's exactly what she said to me, however many years ago it was . . ."

"Weird for you to be on the other side of things," Hermione commented.

"Just a bit," Ginny said. "But I explained to her about the whole thing happening with me and Harry all those years ago, and said that I'd ended up married to him, so these things didn't always matter."

"What did Victoire say?" Hermione asked.

"She laughed, sort of, and stopped looking as though the world had ended. She apologised for going off the deep end, saying that she hadn't expected her boyfriend to be there, seeing her in her Aunt's old maternity nightie," Ginny said. "And I said, 'Oh, next time I'll be sure to lend you something small and lacy—wha?! Boyfriend?'" Hermione laughed. "And then she did a major double-back on that – I thought she was going to try to obliviate my memory she was in such a panic, but I was all 'Come on, you can tell your Auntie Ginny all about your boyfriend' . . . she didn't buy it though."

"What we need," Hermione said, "is good, solid proof. I mean, we have our suspicions, but technically she could argue that she just has a crush on him, and is imagining the day she'll be able to say that he's her boyfriend and it'll be true—"

"Yeah, yeah, we're not in a court of law now," Ginny teased. "But seriously, we're unlikely to get—oh, Merlin! I'm so dense sometimes!" She smacked her forehead. "The other day I was walking past as Harry was putting Lily to bed, and she said to him, 'Don't worry Daddy – I won't tell anyone about Teddy and Victoire snoggling!'."

"Snoggling, eh?" Hermione asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Indeed," Ginny deadpanned, then the two women burst into giggles. "Now, I know you're not a gambling person, and neither am I," Ginny said. "But five galleons on her parents finding out before the end of the holiday."

"I'm not taking a bet that I know I'm going to lose," Hermione replied scornfully. "However, if you happen to be there when Bill finds out, do bring me round to watch the show, won't you?"

"Only if you promise to let me see Ron's face when Rose brings home her first boyfriend," Ginny said.

"Deal," replied Hermione.