A/n: Thanks for the responses from the last chapter and thanks to everyone who added me to their story and/or author alert. I'm going to keep this short and just say that it would have been up sooner, except I thought it looked a bit short so I added a flashback to Ginny's days at Hogwarts. Please enjoy and review!

Unorthodox

Chapter 2: Welcome Dinner

As the three women and I walked to dinner, it became more and more apparent that I may be the only normal person here. While India was nice, she had obviously done her homework on finding out who could be invited and quite possibly, how she could take them down. I also learned I was the youngest of the group at 20. This surprised me since I knew Harry was only 21. The oldest of the women was Alicia at 27.

As I entered the great hall of the castle, I noticed the table in the middle was set for 12. That would mean in addition to the six of us and Harry and Sirius, there would be four other supposed judges joining us tonight. Each seat had a name card placed on the plate indicating where each of us where to sit. As I glanced around the table, I found my seat next to a Dora Lupin. The name seemed familiar and while I was familiar with one of Harry's mentors from the short time he had taught at Hogwarts, I knew I recognized the name Dora from somewhere also. I didn't have to wait long as a shock of pink hair entered the room. It wasn't her hair though that drew my attention but rather her pregnant belly. As she walked over to me I knew exactly who Dora Lupin was.

"Tonks?" I asked as we sat beside each other.

"My, my, the youngest Weasley all grown up and at this ridiculous game of Sirius. I would have thought you would have avoided this, or do you still have the little girl's crush on the boy who lived?" She teased with a smile.

The last time I had seen her was during the war when she was one of the aurors stationed at Hogwarts. She had also briefly dated Charlie when they were in school together. We had formed something of a friendship when she discovered I had a love of flying at night.

"The Harpy management thought this would be good for my image. I think they are just hoping for a boost in ticket sales." I replied. "More importantly, I had no idea you were married!"

"It happened shortly after I finished my Hogwarts assignment. Remus, as I'm sure you know is an old friend of Sirius. I helped him and Harry through the years and Remus and I where always running into each other, sometimes even literally. It took me a few years, but he finally saw things my way." She explained. "We got married near the end of the war and didn't want to make a big deal of it. You remember how things were; we just wanted to live in the moment."

"Well, a belated congratulations then." I replied with a laugh. "I hope the other girls don't think I'm out to find an advantage since I know you. In all honesty I find this a little ridiculous, but even Hermione pushed for me to come. I think not breaking my Harpy contract had a lot to do with it though."

As we continued to talk, her husband, Remus joined us on Tonk's other side. The girls were spaced around the table with Betty sitting one side of Harry and Alicia on the other. Dinner, like at Hogwarts, was served magically with each course appearing as the previous course disappeared.

"I would like to take this opportunity to welcome everyone here," Sirius said standing up at his end of the table at the end of the meal. "On behalf of my godson, I hope all of you enjoy your time here as you get to know him and each other. This is supposed to be a friendly competition and I hope we can keep it that way, so please ladies, I know it may be tempting but no hexing each other to get to me, I mean Harry, during your time here." He said with the brilliant smile. While Harry at the other end of the table looked almost uncomfortable with the attention, Sirius seemed to truly enjoy it.

"Tomorrow, we will have a few activities which will begin after breakfast. Afterwards, one of you will have dinner with Harry while the rest of you will have the opportunity to have dinner with me. Over the next few days, all of you will hopefully have the chance to spend time with him and get to know each other. I hope all of you enjoy your time." After Sirius finished he looked across the table at his godson with a questioning looks. With a nod, Harry stood.

"I do look forward to getting to know each of you. While my godfather's way of getting me to meet women is… out of the ordinary, I hope all of you enjoy your time here." After speaking Harry took his seat once more. Once everyone had finished dessert, we slowly began to move around the room to get the opportunity to talk to each other. For the most part, each of the girls worked their way over to Harry, in what seemed to be as quickly as they could without shoving each other. Tonks smiled over me.

"Shouldn't you be pushing your way over as well?" She asked with a laugh.

"Maybe I've decided to play hard to get?" I asked in response. "Honestly, I'm not going to push myself in front of him. Really what is the point? My main reason for being here is because the Harpy management thought it would be good for my image. Not that I'm not interested in Harry." I said before Tonks, and more importantly, Remus, got the wrong impression of me. "But I don't think fighting the other girls for his attention is the best way about it either."

"From what Sirius said, you already made you first impression by falling into Harry's arms as soon as you arrived." Remus said from beside his wife. "And then you started talking about quidditch instead of him."

"It's an exciting topic." I replied.

The rest of the evening passes with few excitements. Harry and I spoke briefly, but I could tell the other girls were getting restless waiting for more attention, and I let them have it. No matter how much he knew about quidditch or how good looking he was, I was here for a laugh and just that. I would certainly not be fighting any of the girls for Harry's attention.

India and I began talking about our experiences at Hogwarts as we walked back to our rooms. The rest of the girls soon followed and most of us, with the exception of Alicia and Scarlett gather in the common area outside of our rooms.

"You seemed to really hit it off with the lady with pink hair, Dora was it?" Olive said as she sat down across from me.

"Oh, Tonks? I've actually known her since during the war while I was at Hogwarts. She dated my brother briefly and was one of the aurors assigned to Hogwarts in my fifth year. She recognized me from my hair and we hit it off from there. She was always good for a laugh," I explained. "I actually had no idea she even knew Harry. She never mentioned it back then. And I haven't really seen her since then, so it was a nice chance to get to catch up with her and meet Remus."

"So is that your strategy then?" India asked from her seat beside me.

"Am I supposed to have a strategy?" I asked in response.

"Oh come on now, we all have a strategy." Betty replied from my left. "Although I may not need much of one if I get the chance to keep sitting beside him at meals. Who do you suppose will get the dinner date tomorrow night?"

"Who ever made the best impression tonight and during the day tomorrow I'd guess." Olive said. "Although I doubt it will be you or Alicia since you had the prime seats tonight. That'd hardly be far to the rest of us."

"Don't you think this whole dating game seems a little off the wall?" I asked.

"Hardly, how else would we ever get this chance. Besides, why else would we be here if it wasn't for a chance to date Harry. More than likely the next Mrs. Potter is sitting in this room." Olive replied. I could tell she and I wouldn't be fast friends. "And even if we don't end up with him, our names, and more importantly our families names will get the extra attention that Harry brings."

"But isn't that why he so rarely is seen in public?" India asked. "He doesn't seem to really like this attention. If anything, I think this is more Sirius's doing more that his."

"Either way, I'm not letting this opportunity slip through my hands." Betty said. "My sisters are already jealous that I was invited instead of them."

As the girls continued, I stopped pay much attention before leaving the room to go to bed. I knew I was here only because my team wanted me to be, but I wasn't certain I liked the other girls' reasons much better.

That night as I lay in bed, it was hard for me to forget a conversation Tonks and I had had during the war while she was station there. I had recently broken up with my first boyfriend, Michael and had gone for a late night flight to stop myself from thinking about it anymore.

As I landed, I noticed Tonks walking around the perimeter of the pitch.

"You know you aren't supposed to be out here and that if caught, I'm supposed to tell Flitch right away." She said as I walked over to her. She had caught me a few weeks earlier flying past curfew and that was how our friendship had begun.

"Michael and I broke up." Normally, I'd give her a ridiculous reason for why I had snuck out. I needed to patrol the giant squid, or one of the stands looked a little off and I wanted a different angle, or my book had run away and I needed to find it. That night however, I lacked the creative answer.

"Who did the breaking?" she asked as we walked over to one of the benches on the sidelines.

"I did, but I think he would have if he had the chance." I said looking off into the distance. "I noticed he'd been giving the eye to another girl in his year and he just didn't seem interested in me or the relationship anymore. I guess I thought if we could make if through the summer, we could make it through the school year and beyond. It was silly really."

"A first love is always hard to get over." She said playing with the bristles at the end of my broom until one broke off.

"I don't think he was my first love. I don't even think I loved him. It was nice to spend time with him and I really liked him, but I don't think it was love." I said moving my broom out of Tonk's reach.

"Break ups are always hard." She said. "I remember when Charlie and I broke up. It was the summer after we had finished school. I think both our mums thought we would get married soon, but then I got accepted as an Auror and Charlie got his job in Romania. We cared for each other and were more than likely in love, but we both wanted our careers more and we knew that neither of us would put their career on hold to see if things could work."

"So is that love then? Wanting to put someone before your career?" I asked.

"In a way. But love isn't all about sacrifice." She said. "Other times it is." She added the last part softly and I knew that it wasn't fully meant for me. Looking back, I suppose this was around the time she and Remus had grown close but for whatever reason, he was holding her at arm's length. Sirius, when he had briefly joined our conversation, had even referred to this period of time as when 'Remus decided to be a total prat'.

"Who would you prefer to be your first love than?" She asked after we sat in silence for a period of time.

"I think it was Harry Potter." I said with a laugh. "It's ridiculous. I always enjoyed hearing the stories about him growing up. I never really realized he was Ron's age until a few years ago. I don't know if you would call it love though. Maybe first crush. My brothers still tease me about it sometimes."

"I can just imagine Harry's face if he found out girls had crushes on him." Tonks said with a laugh.

"You know him?" I asked turning to her.

"Oh." She said. "I'm not really supposed to mention it… so can we act like that part of the conversation didn't happen?" I could tell she was nervous. Where Harry was even at that point in the war was a highly guarded secret.

"Yeah, no worries." I replied swirling this new bit of information around my head. "I think I should go back to my dorm now. Thanks for the advice."

As I lay in my bed in a castle far from Hogwarts, I thought about the conversation and the image of Harry I had conjured in my head five years before. It didn't really compare to the man who caught me falling out of a fireplace earlier today.

Witch Daily

Let the Games Begin

It was reported last night that the women selected have all convened in a castle on the Isle of Wright yesterday evening for Mr. Potter to begin his selection.

A dinner was held to welcome the girls during which time Mr. Potter was seen speaking mostly with only two of the women vying for his attention.

Betty Alderton, whose parents own the Cleansweep Broomstick Company, is 22 and was in Ravenclaw during her time at Hogwarts. Since then she has been seen a variety of social events with her parents.

The second woman to catch Mr. Potter's attention was Alicia Fenwick, 27, the daughter of a prominent ministry worker Alexander Fenwick, 60, who serves as the head of the Magical Transportation Department. Her uncle also fought against He Who Must Not be Named during the first Dark War.

Could one of these two women be the next Mrs. Potter? And what about the other women who are in attendance? How soon until they make their move or pack their bags?

It has also been confirmed that four other women were in attendance last night; Heiress to the Honeydukes fortune, Olive Flume, 25, Holyhead Harpies Chaser, Ginny Weasley, 20, Scarlett Maklin, 24, granddaughter of Madam Makilin, and India Barbary, 22, the daughter of Heathcote Barbary the rhythm guitar player for the Weird Sisters.