When You Wasn't Famous

By: Sam Lincoln

Disclaimer: The characters from Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling and are used here without permission.

"When you're a famous boy/it's gets really easy to get girls/It's all so easy you get a bit spoiled/but when you try to pull a girl who is also famous too/It Feels Just Like When You Wasn't Famous

-When You Wasn't Famous, The Streets

Chapter 20: We Can Never Be Friends

Later that week, after a hard day of training, Ginny was sitting in their section of the VIP lounge at the Lonely Mermaid with Harry and the others. She was curled up next to Harry with her legs tucked under her and Harry's arm casually draped across her shoulders. Much to Ginny's surprise it felt completely natural, like slipping on a comfortable pair of shoes. A quiet, and very traitorous, part of her brain said that she could get used to spending nights like this. She quickly squashed that voice by running through all the reasons it was a terrible idea.

"Still, I can take advantage of the moment while it lasts," she said to herself as she snuggled in closer to Harry. She found her eyes starting to grow heavy, it had been a very hard day of training, and she was very comfortable.

A tap on her shoulder roused Ginny from her nap. As she blinked the sleep out of her eyes she saw that the rest of the group had vanished only to be replaced by Fred and George. She opened her mouth to say something but Fred held a finger up to his lips. She looked to her right and saw that she was entangled with a still asleep Harry.

"Well don't you two look cozy," George said.

"Cabbock ran us ragged today," Ginny said. She kept her voice low so as not to wake Harry. "Where did everyone else go?"

Fred shrugged. "No clue, they had all scampered off by the time we got here."

"They probably didn't want to disturb you two." Almost on cue Harry gave out a gentle snore.

"It's not, er, it's not what it looks like," Ginny said.

"I don't know Fred, what does it look like to you?"

Fred leaned back and scratched his chin as he stared at Harry and Ginny. "It looks for all the world to me George like the two saviours of English Quidditch are taking a well deserved kip."

"And look adorable while doing so wouldn't you say Fred?"

"Oh that they most definitely do George."

Ginny glowered at her brothers. "We most certainly do not look adorable."

Fred made a show of shrugging his shoulders. "If you insist, but you didn't see the two of you lying there looking ever so content."

"If a bloke didn't know any better he might think there was something on between the two of you."

"But that would be,"

"Clearly impossible," George said, finishing his brother's sentence.

"Precisely George, two busy people like that, they could never make a real relationship work."

"Not unless they wanted to," George said.

Fred threw up his hands. "Oh of course, a couple of strong willed gits like them could accomplish anything if they put their minds to it, but obviously they haven't."

"Oh yes, that much is painfully obvious."

"I don't see what's so painfully obvious," Ginny said.

"You're not having some secret affair with Harry because you're both too bullheaded to give a toss for what the press might say about it," George said. "If you were to have a go at Harry you'd let the whole world know it."

"But George what about the fact that Harry broke Ginny's heart?"

"True enough Fred, but Ginny's just as Quidditch mad as Harry, she probably appreciated spending her last year at Hogwarts focusing on Quidditch and not trying to do a long distance relationship with a Quidditch star, or do I miss my guess?" He peered at Ginny's face.

"You're not completely wrong," Ginny said as she ground her teeth.

"See like you said, you two aren't up to any shenanigans," George said. He and Fred leaned back on their couch and crossed their arms in front of their chests.

"But," Ginny glanced over at Harry before continuing. "What if, hypothetically speaking mind, Harry and I were carrying on a secret affair for the duration of the tournament?"

"Hypothetically?" Fred asked. He and George both raised an eyebrow at Ginny.

"Yes hypothetically, it means in theory," Ginny said. She rolled her eyes at her brothers' attempt to extract more information out of her.

"In that case, hypothetically speaking mind, we'd say good on you. He's quite the fit bloke after all," George said.

"Know a lot about that then George?" Fred asked. "Been hiding something from me? That hurts mate."

George punched Fred in the arm. "It was your wife who was going on and on about how fanceable Harry is. I'm just repeating what I've been told."

"All the more reason to get Potter settled down then. The man is a danger to matrimonial harmony everywhere!"

"I'm not doing anything simply because you can't keep your wife satisfied Fred," Ginny said. "But back to my hypothetical, the two of you wouldn't, wouldn't, you know try to prank Harry, or do anything to try and intimidate him would you?"

George let out a short laugh. "What makes you think we'd do such a thing?"

Ginny glared at George. "My entire life that's what," she said with a growl. "You even owled pranks to Dean when we dated my Fifth Year."

"And yet we didn't do anything of the sort when you dated Harry. Didn't you ever wonder why that was?"

"I never noticed," Ginny's voice trailed off as she thought back to that time. "You didn't did you, why was that?"

George shrugged. "It's simple really we approved of you and Harry. Plus, we'd never seriously prank our first investor."

"Yeah that would be bad for business," Fred said.

Ginny sat up with a jolt. "Wait your what?" She said in a loud voice that caused Harry to stir.

"Is it that time already? Come dearest brother we must be off," George said to Fred as he stood up from the sofa. "Congratulations on making the final little sister." He leaned over and kissed Ginny on the cheek before walking away.

"And best of luck with your, er, hypothetical," Fred said. He spared a meaningful glance at Harry then kissed Ginny and followed George.

"Where did everyone go?" Harry asked as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Don't know, I guess we fell asleep and when I woke up they were all gone, but the twins were here."

"Should I be checking myself for any strange charms?" Harry asked. He reached out to Ginny to pull her back into his arms.

Ginny caught Harry's arms. "No they didn't prank you. In fact they said something very interesting about why they didn't."

Harry leaned back from Ginny and a concerned look crossed his face. "Er, what did they say?"

"They said they'd never prank their original investor. Care to explain what they meant by that?"

Harry's body tensed for a moment, then relaxed as he sighed. "It's like they said. I gave them the money they needed to start up their shop."

"I need more details than that. Merlin Harry, their secret investor has been a family mystery for years. We even had a betting pool going."

A smile flashed across Harry's face. "Who did you have your money on?"

"That they stole it from goblin gangsters, but the best odds were on Sirius Black."

"That's not far from what actually happened," Harry said. "Though not Sirius, his family cut him off ages ago and my parents have been supporting him ever since."

"So they went to your dad for the money?"

"Close," Harry said. "At the start of my sixth year they sent me an owl out of the blue. They were trying to raise the capitol to launch the shop, but couldn't get the fund because would lend that many Galleons to a pair of delinquents who just finished Hogwarts?"

"I remember that, they were trying to raise the money through their owl order business, but since they were still living at the Burrow at the time they didn't have the space to keep much stock. So they went to you to ask your dad for the money, is that it?"

Harry nodded. "Yes that's it exactly. Which I did since I knew they were brilliant and the joke shop would be a big success, and I told my dad that, only he said no."

"Obviously, why else would they call you the investor."

"Precisely, my dad thought it would be a good lesson for me to learn the value of a Galleon. So he lent me the five thousand Galleons the twins needed and I turned around and lent it to the twins. Actually I bought a stake in the company."

"That's someway to teach someone the value of a Galleon. Still it's turned out nicely for you," Ginny said. "The shop was a runaway success from the jump. How much money did you make on it?"

Harry waved a hand dismissively. "Enough to pay my dad back, and that's all that really matters. But I didn't do it for the money."

Ginny cocked her head to the side. "Oh? In that case why did you help my brothers?"

"Because it was the right thing to do," Harry said. "Fred and George had worked so hard to make that shop a reality. It didn't seem fair to me that nobody else recognised that."

Ginny nodded her head slowly. "I can understand that, but why keep it a secret for all these years?" Harry's face turned red but he didn't say anything. "Wait no it wasn't because of me? It was, wasn't it? Bloody hell Harry why?"

Harry scrubbed his fingers through his hair then took a deep breath before speaking. "You know that was right around when I realised I fancied you right? Well I didn't want you to think I was doing it to get into your knickers or something like that."

"Did you?" Ginny asked. She did her best to hold back a smile when she saw the panicked look that crossed Harry's face.

"What? Merlin no! Of course not. Ginny I'd never do something like that. Like I said, helping Fred and George was a sound business decision." Harry fell silent for a moment. "And the fact that they were your brothers didn't hurt either. But I didn't do it to impress you. In fact you could just as easily say I did because Ron was one of my mates."

"So now you're trying to shag Ron then?" Ginny asked.

"I don't have to sit here and take this abuse you know," Harry said. He started to stir from his post on the sofa as if to leave.

"Harry wait no. You did a beautiful thing for my family, and this isn't how I should be saying thank-you." She caught his jaw in her hand and delicately stroked it before pulling him in for a long kiss. "That's how I should thank you," she said when they finally broke apart for air.

"I like that way more," Harry said.

"I figured you would. Why don't we go somewhere more private and I can show you just how thankful I am."

"I like that idea," Harry said before biting back a yawn. "Or we could just go to bed. I'm knackered."

Ginny nuzzled Harry's throat. "No trust me, you'll want to stay awake for this."

Harry smiled at Ginny. "If you insist." He allowed Ginny to drag him off the sofa and to the private Apparation spot.

The next day as Ginny was getting changed after another lengthy training session when she heard a knock on her privacy screen. "Ginny are you decent?" Westerman asked, continuing the squad's long running joke .

"I'm dressed if that's what you're asking," Ginny said. "Decent is another matter all together."

"Do you have a moment? I'd like to talk to you about something in private," Westerman asked as he stepped around the screen.

"I was about to have dinner with a friend, but he'll understand if I'm a little late," Ginny said.

"Good, I don't want to keep your friend." The emphasis he placed on the word made Ginny suspect he knew she was meeting Harry. "But this really is important." He lead Ginny into an empty meeting room and cast a Silencing Charm on the door. "If anyone ever asks I will deny this conversation ever took place because I'm about to violate a host of league rules."

"Steve, what?" Ginny started to ask.

"Ginny have you enjoyed your time on the National Team?"

"What? Of course, it's been the highlight of my career. You and Shets have been amazing to me."

"And hypothetically speaking would you like to play with us on a more regular basis, like in league play?"

"That would never happen. There's no way the Harpies would agree to transfer me."

Westerman reached out and rested a hand on Ginny's upper arm. "I hate to be the one to tell you this, and don't ask me how I know, but yes that's exactly what they're about to do."

Ginny pulled away from Westerman and backed into a nearby table. "But why? We just had our most successful season in years."

Westerman gave Ginny a sad smile. "And that's precisely why; they're going to buy Inés once the transfer window opens, and to afford that they need to move someone on."

"And I'm the only one on the squad who'd bring in an equal amount of Galleons on the transfer market," Ginny said. "I get that, but still."

"Do you honestly think the Harpies will do anything in the Champions Cup with your current Seeker? And having Inés means the Harpies will be in contention for the top of the table for years to come. As much as the two of us might deny it, having the best Seeker on the pitch does win most of the time."

"All right fine, I might not like it, but that makes sense from a Quidditch perspective. How does Puddlemere fit into all this? You already have a full compliment of Chasers."

Westerman wagged an index finger at Ginny. "That's where you're wrong, and this part is even more confidential. Tomas asked for a transfer back to Sweden."

"And you're letting him?" Ginny asked.

"Of course, Tomas Zetstrom is a talented Chaser, but you're younger and better."

Ginny felt her face flame at the compliment. "But why tell me? It's not like I have any say in the matter. I stupidly it seems, never had any clauses about transfers put in my contract."

Westerman laughed and clapped Ginny on the shoulder. "You've never read your contract have you? As long as you say you want a transfer you can pick your spot, and it's important you do because we're not the best offer on the the table for the Harpies."

"You're not? Then who?"

"Barcelona, and I'm reasonably certain you don't want to play there."

Ginny frowned. "Not especially, I like playing close to home, but I'm also not thrilled about having to play for some other club than Holyhead."

"I know, but this is a business as much as it is a sport." Westerman paused and a smile broke out across his face. "But I haven't told you the best part, our Seeker."

"I know your Seeker, it's Sergei Lordonov, he's good, but so what?"

"Wrong again, a mad Russian is offering us far too much money for Sergei's contract."

"Then who?" Ginny asked, then the realisation hit. "No it couldn't, there's no way, how?"

"Tutshill's ownership has made some disastrous investments over the years and they're at risk of losing the club if they don't raise some quick money."

"Selling Harry's contract certainly would do that," Ginny said. "Does Harry know?"

"Not from the club, but I talked to him about it earlier this week. I won't lie, he didn't take it well, but he also didn't say no outright. I think he's waiting to hear what you decide to do."

"Why would he care about my decision?"

Westerman rolled his eyes. "Maybe because the two of you fancy each other something fierce and have been shagging like rabbits ever since we arrived here."

"You knew?" Ginny asked. Her face turned an even deeper shade of red.

"The way you two keep making moon eyes at each other? Of course we did. Not that it was any of our business, and considering how well you played there was no reason to mention it. So how about it? Care to play for the best club in the league?"

Ginny stuck her tongue out at Westerman. "I already do."

Westerman laughed. "Okay fine, the best club that wants you on its roster then?"

Ginny's expression turned somber. "I, I need to think about it. I can't just turn my back on the Harpies, and this is a bloody terrible time to think about anything."

"I know, and I hate to spring this on you now, but I wanted to talk to you about this before the Harpies did."

"No concerns I'll be thrown off my game?"

"Nah, I know you, it'll make you fly better." He reached out and squeezed Ginny's shoulder. "Take as much time as you need. Just let me know before the transfer window opens."

Ginny nodded. "I will, I promise."

"That's all I wanted to hear, and regardless of your decision, it's been a real pleasure to fly together." Westerman walked out of the room leaving Ginny alone with her thoughts.

Author's Notes: In retrospect, I feel the name of this chapter is maybe a bit of a tease, but it's a Streets song, so I don't feel too bad about it. Fun fact, I plotted this story out around the time Gareth Bale transferred to Real Madrid, plus LeBron's Heat were at the height of their powers. So high value transfers and super-teams were very much on my mind. And as much as I dislike writing the twins, I'm not good at their brand of humor, that is a fun exchange with Ginny up at the top. Thanks for reading folks, just four chapters left.

-sam