Dress to Impress.
"I don't see why I can't come with you," Ginny pouted as she lay sprawled over Harry's bed as her boyfriend emerged from the shower.
Harry was going off for a business dinner, and he was refusing to take Ginny with him. Ginny had hoped that his decision to sign her for The Cannons would herald a change in their relationship, but so far it had made no difference. So far he was still showing no signs of taking things to the next step and proposing to her, or even asking her to move in with him.
"I've told you, Ginny, this is business," Harry said, trying to keep his exasperation under control as his girlfriend continued to pressure him into getting an invite for dinner.
"I'm aware of that," Ginny replied primly. "But I could still be there as your partner."
"Hermione is my partner," Harry gently pointed out. "Besides, I've told you before, you're one of the players now and you can't have special treatment. I can't take you to business meetings, it's not fair on other players."
"It's not like I would gossip about what I heard," Ginny muttered.
"That's not the point," Harry replied.
Although to be honest, he suspected that Ginny would rush off and tell Ron anything she heard about the club. After all, that was how the news of Theo's deflection had broken. Harry had made the mistake of mentioning Theo to Ginny, and the next thing he knew, Ron was asking him if the rumours were true and that Theo was joining the club. And of course, since Ron knew the rest of the players knew and one of them, probably one of the ones Harry had let go, had leaked the news to the papers. Luckily, Harry and Theo had already sorted things with The Falcons, but it was still annoying for both clubs that the news hadn't been broken by them. Since that incident, Harry had made sure not to speak about business where Ginny was. He hadn't even told her that the previous day he'd signed both Angelina and Alicia. A statement was due to be made by their respective clubs at the end of the week, so Ginny would find out the news at the same time as everyone else.
"But I am your girlfriend, Harry," Ginny whined. "People take their girlfriends out on an evening."
"I'll take you out tomorrow night, just the two of us," Harry vowed, giving his girlfriend a genuinely warm smile. "Wouldn't you rather have a romantic night, then sit bored out of your skull as Hermione and I discuss business?"
"I suppose so," Ginny admitted reluctantly.
"There we go, I'll take you out tomorrow just the two of us. We can go anywhere you want. And if you want, you can always hang around here tonight, I'll not be too late back," Harry suggested. The thought of coming home to Ginny really appealed to him, and all of a sudden he wanted the dinner over with so he could enjoy the night with his girlfriend.
"I guess I can stick around," Ginny said, stretching languidly against the silk sheets of Harry's bed.
"You do that," Harry replied, his eyes roaming over her toned, naked body. As a professional quidditch player, Ginny was rather petite and not very curvy, but she still looked good naked and she was dynamite in bed.
"Shouldn't you be getting dressed?" Ginny asked as she got out of bed. "You wouldn't want to keep Hermione waiting," she added as she padded into the bathroom.
Harry heard the shower in his bathroom turn on, and the urge to go and join Ginny was strong. However he steeled himself to be strong and refused to dwell on the thought of Ginny all wet and naked in his shower. Instead he focused on getting dressed and by the time he was ready to go, Ginny had emerged from the shower. Harry gave her a quick kiss goodbye, promising to be back as soon as he could, before heading off to the quiet restaurant where he was due to have dinner with Hermione, Theo, Draco and Blaise. As promised, Theo had arranged the meeting, and since they didn't want anyone to find out about the meeting, Draco had arranged for them to dine at an exclusive restaurant where the staff wouldn't dare gossip about what went on in the premises.
When he arrived at the restaurant, Harry wondered if he was underdressed in a pair of dark blue trousers and a light grey shirt. However, as the waiter led him towards a table at the back of the room, he found he needn't have worried. All three Slytherins were already at the table, and they were all dressed like Harry in a pair of trousers and a shirt.
"Harry," Theo greeted with a grin.
"Hey, Theo," Harry replied.
"You know Blaise and Draco," Theo said, waving a hand in his two friend's direction.
"I should hope so, since we're the reason he's here," Blaise said with a chuckle as he shook Harry's hand. "Potter."
"Harry's fine," Harry said with a chuckle.
"In that case we expect Draco and Blaise," Draco said as he also shook Harry's hand.
"I can do that," Harry said with a grin as he sat down in one of the empty seats.
"I don't mean to be rude, but shouldn't you have a partner with you?" Blaise questioned.
"Hermione said she'd meet us here," Harry said.
"And here she is," Draco said with a low whistle. "Damn, Granger grew up well."
Turning round in his seat, Harry's mouth dropped open as he took in the sight of his best friend and partner approaching the table. She was wearing a stunning, fitted, emerald green floor length dress with a plunging neckline. Her brunette curls had been tamed and gathered at the nape of her neck with a diamond studded clip. The look was completed with a pair of sky high black heels a silver heart necklace, earrings and bracelet set, and understand make-up.
"Wow, Hermione you look amazing," Harry said.
"You said dress to impress," Hermione said with a smile.
"Boy have you done that," Blaise muttered as he got to his feet and shot Hermione a dazzling smile. "Blaise Zabini, at your service."
"Hello Blaise," Hermione said with a laugh.
"Ignore Blaise, he gets excited when faced with a sexy witch," Draco said, shooting his best friend an unimpressed look.
"Sexy?" Hermione questioned, blushing at the compliment.
"Sorry, very sexy," Draco amended, his grey eyes scanning Hermione's body.
"Ignore both of them," Theo said as Hermione settled herself next to Harry.
"It's alright," Hermione said with a smile. "I have no problem with two handsome wizards flirting with me."
"You know it could be worth changing team just to have a boss like you," Blaise said flirtatiously.
"Harry would be your boss, not me," Hermione said. "I'm more behind the scenes. It would be Harry you were dealing with on a day to day basis."
"I'd much rather be dealing with you," Blaise smirked.
"Sorry, I'm not part of this deal," Hermione replied.
"Shame," Draco muttered. "You're quite the incentive."
"Damn you're screwed, Harry," Theo laughed. "I don't think your charms compete with Hermione's."
"No, I don't suppose they do," Harry agreed with a chuckle. "I'll just have to do my best to sound appealing."
"I'm not sure how appealing you can make the bottom quidditch team," Blaise chuckled as they paused to order some drinks and their meals.
"I thought you were going to talk to them," Harry hissed at Theo. The plan was that Theo would have done some ground work with his friends.
"Theo's given us the speech, but we want to hear it from you," Draco said. "At the end of the day, Theo is just an employee. We want to hear from the big bosses on what they can offer us."
"Honestly, not as much prestige and victory as The Tornadoes," Harry admitted, causing everyone around the table to look at him in shock. "But we can give you something they could never give you."
"And just what is that?" Draco asked, his eyes briefly flicking over to where Hermione was sitting.
"Not me," Hermione said with a smile.
"Shame," Draco replied, returning the smile.
"What we can offer you is a challenge," Harry said, steering the conversation back to the reason for their meeting. "At The Tornadoes, you don't get that. You walked into a championship winning team, and let's be honest you could leave and the team would still win the championship."
"What a nice bit of flattery there, Harry," Blaise chuckled. "Is it really wise to imply the players you want to sign are worthless to the team they play in?"
"I never said you were worthless, I just pointed out you're not vital to The Tornadoes and their success. They were successful before you two, and they'll be successful after you," Harry said. "At The Cannons you'll have the chance to help shape a new team. You will be vital to the team, because you'll be in a team of people eager to prove all the doubters wrong. You'll have a chance to show people just how talented you are. After all, everyone will remember the players who won The Cannons their first league title in over a century."
"You think The Cannons can win the league?" Blaise asked.
"I do," Harry replied with a nod. "Not next year, and maybe not the year after, but in a few years I think it can be a real possibility. Of course, to do that we need the right players and personally, I think you two are just the players we need."
"It's still a big ask, wanting us to leave the champions to join the club at the bottom of the league," Draco pointed out.
"It is," Harry agreed. "But I can also offer you something else The Cannons can't. A dual role."
"Dual role?" Blaise asked with a frown.
"I was meaning Draco," Harry said. "I'm willing to give you a contract that says you can play either Seeker or Chaser, depending on what the team needs for each match."
"You told him," Draco said, turning his gaze to Theo.
"I may have mentioned something," Theo admitted with a shrug.
"Don't blame, Theo, I just wanted an edge to get you interested," Harry said. "It has got you interested, hasn't it?"
"It has," Draco admitted. "I admit the chance to play Chaser is very tempting."
"As is the opportunity to be part of something from the beginning," Blaise added. "You're right, you can't offer us the same thing as The Tornadoes, but you can offer us a challenge. I can't speak for Draco, but I like the idea of a challenge."
"I do too," Draco admitted. "But before I commit to anything, I would like to know more about your plans for the future of the club."
"Hermione, I think it's your time to shine," Harry said, turning to his partner with a grin.
"I'll do my best," Hermione replied.
As the group ate their delicious meal, Hermione went through the plans she and Harry had for the club. Since she'd come prepared to dazzle, in her bag she had the plans for the stadium, as well as the new strips and logo, which she showed to Draco and Blaise. She also ran over a few of her ideas for the relaunching of the team, including her magazine idea.
"I do like these new strips," Blaise said. "And the logo is very catching. I admit, I wasn't over keen on having to wear the hideous bright orange that the team wear now."
"I wouldn't want anyone to wear that, it's disgusting," Hermione said. "But seriously, we've done this to signify our new start. We're still The Cannons, but we're a new breed of Cannons."
"And the stadium?" Draco asked. "When will it be finished?"
"It's not even started yet," Harry confessed with a snort. "We've actually got the capital to start building, but until we find a sponsor we can't get it finished. We've been putting it off until we're closer to finding a new sponsor."
"I could help there," Draco said. "Have you ever heard of Silver Ink publishers?"
"Can't say that I have," Hermione replied.
"They're a new firm, and I know for a fact their owner is trying to build up their profile," Draco said.
"Would a new business have the money to sponsor a quidditch team?" Harry asked with a frown. One of the problems he and Hermione had ran into was that newer or smaller businesses just didn't have the money to invest in a sponsorship deal.
"Money isn't an issue," Draco replied with a chuckle. "Father has plenty of that."
"Father?" Hermione spluttered. "You want your father to sponsor us?"
"I can't guarantee it, but if this relaunch is going to be as big as you say, it's the perfect opportunity for his new business," Draco replied.
"But if you sign for us, won't there be a conflict of interest?" Harry checked.
"Not really," Draco replied with a shrug. "Silver Ink is a subsidiary of my father's main business, I don't suppose many people will even know he's behind the business. He doesn't run it day to day, he has a team of managers. And if it's public knowledge, I don't suppose it matters. It's not like he bought my place on the team."
"Does that mean you want a place on the team?" Harry asked with a smile.
"Blaise?" Draco asked, turning to his best friend. They'd already discussed the proposition, and although they hadn't decided which way to go, they had decided that they would stick together whatever they decided.
"Sounds like fun to me," Blaise said with a grin. "But what about our contract with The Tornadoes? I have another year on mine."
"As do I," Draco said. "But if you can sort that, count me in."
"I can sort that," Harry replied confidently. "Although, I do want to point out that your contract won't guarantee you first team quidditch. It's the same contract every player has. I'm going to have one big squad and the team will be picked on a week to week basis, based on performances in practices, matches and which team we will be playing. Every player will also play for the reserves, if I name them in the team."
"Basically, we have to earn our places on the team," Draco summarised.
"Pretty much," Harry agreed. "There will be no favourites at The Cannons."
"Even with your best friend and girlfriend in the squad?" Blaise checked. It had been all over the papers when Ginny had switched teams, and a list of the current Cannon players to be released from their contracts had also been published, but Ron's name wasn't among them.
"Even Ron and Ginny won't get special treatment," Harry confirmed. "No-one will. So are you in?"
"We are," Draco announced with a nod of his head.
"This calls for a celebration," Harry said, summoning a waiter and ordering some champagne.
"To The Cannons," Theo suggested when the drinks arrived.
"To The Cannons," Draco said with the others. "And all the fun we're going to have," he added, giving Hermione a lingering look.
Hermione blushed slightly at the intensity of Draco's gaze, but she raised her glass and drank to the toast. It certainly looked as though it was going to be fun with Draco and Blaise around The Cannons, on both a professional and a personal level.