I've always thought that my ability to name chapters was pretty good, but I went through a bit of slump with some of them in this story, sorry.
Harry noted a change for the better in the twins during the week after their duel. They had not missed a class, and were back to normal in every way that Harry could see. He had promised to include them in any plans for the retaliation, but as of yet he had none. He also hadn't spoken to their mother about the situation yet, and didn't plan to until he had a plan in place. It was better to ask forgiveness, after all.
He was sitting in front of a class of fifth year Hufflepuffs and Slytherins, watching them write a short report on the differences between werewolf laws before and after the last war. He wished Remus had been able to see the world as it was now, the wolfsbane potion was being mass produced, and was easily obtainable. Hermoine had made werewolf rights her first priority when she joined the ministry. More than a few even worked at the ministry now. Harry considered his third year when he had first met Professor Lupin, the werewolf had become almost a father figure to Harry and was still the only Defense professor he had that left a good impression after the year was over.
More than half the class had finished their reports when the class ended, Harry gave them each a house point, and told the ones that hadn't finished to return with their completed paper at the next meeting. After the entire class had cleared out of the classroom, signaling the start of Harry's weekend, Harry walked to his fireplace and threw a pinch of green floo powder in, followed by his head, which appeared in his fireplace at home. "Gin!" he yelled, waiting for her response. Judging by how distant the following "One second!" was, Ginny was upstairs. Harry waited much longer than a second, and then his wife stepped into view.
"Hiya," Ginny said, smiling radiantly.
"Hi, Gin. Are you ready?" Harry replied.
"Do I look ready?" She asked, spinning once. She was wearing a full set of Gryffindor robes, as she usually did when they went to a quidditch match at the school. Harry admired her dedication to their house, but it did sometimes raise an eyebrow or two when she wore school robes in the staff and adult stand.
"I'd say so," Harry said, "You want to come through here?" Ginny nodded and Harry pulled his head out of the fireplace, followed closely by Ginny. He embraced her briefly, and led her down to the ground floor of the school.
As they walked across the grounds, Ginny asked, "So, when did they start scheduling quidditch matches on weekdays?" Harry shrugged, he was glad for the new schedule in any case. It meant he could stay home on the weekends without missing anything. They reached the pitch, which Harry still felt strange entering without his broomstick, and realized that they were the last to arrive. "Should we sit with the staff? Or Albus?" Ginny asked, Harry knew that his son wouldn't want his parents sitting with him at his first house match as a student. So, he led his wife to the staff stand.
They found a seat, directly behind Neville and Draco. Ginny's scowl when Draco first spoke to them was obvious, so Harry was thankful that he was distracted by the arrival of the teams. Gryffindor flew out of the tunnel first, with James flying in a circle as close to the stands as possible. He did pull away a bit when he passed the Slytherin stands. Harry thought this was smart, considering they were playing against them today. House relations, while much better than Harry's years, were always strained during quidditch matches.
Harry noticed that the twins seemed to be in much better spirits than usual, he supposed flying did that for people other than himself. Harry always assumed that the winner of the first game of the season, always Gryffindor versus Slytherin, was a clear indication of who would win the cup. Following the Gryffindor team's entrance, the Slytherin team flew from the tunnel in a much tighter formation than the Gryffindors had. None of the showboating that Harry had noticed from his house's team was present in the Slytherin entrance. Harry knew this was mostly because of the dominance that Gryffindor had shown in the competition of late. Slytherin hadn't won the cup since Teddy joined the team in his second year as a seeker. Malfoy and Harry had made a substantial bet on the winner of the cup this year, which meant that this game was much more important than usual to them.
The match began, and Harry thought back to his first game against the Slytherins, today's game was a much more subdued affair. Even though it was incredibly competitive, the malice that had been involved in this game during Harry's years was nowhere to be seen. After only three minutes, the score was tied at thirty, and Harry was sure he had seen the snitch at least twice. James and the Slytherin seeker, a seventh-year girl with blonde hair that Harry recognized as Juliana Seymour, one of the Slytherin competitors in the recent dueling competition, had not even glimpsed it so far. The reason why, to Harry, was obvious; James and Juliana were both busy attempting to interrupt the other team's chasers. After Gryffindor scored another twenty points, Victiore called a time out because a bludger had collided with the Gryffindor keeper from behind, nearly knocking him from his broom. While they waited for him to catch his breath, Harry motioned for James to come over to him.
"Great job so far, have you seen it?" Harry asked, already knowing the answer. James, who was slightly out of breath, shook his head. "I didn't think so, you need to get out of the fray, you'll never see it if you're surrounded by people and flying like a madman. Get up above the action, don't worry about their chasers." Harry knew his son already knew all of this, they had competed in countless family games with the Weasleys, usually both as seekers. James nodded, and the whistle blew indicating the match had resumed. James took off like a red and gold streak and began circling above the goal posts, only dropping into the fray when he could easily interrupt a Slytherin attack. The Gryffindor team had fallen behind by forty points, when Harry spotted the snitch for a third time.
This time, however, James had seen it too. Harry watched as his son flew like a bat out of hell, following the snitch on a journey that brought the two of them dangerously close to running into one of the towering stands. James was joined in his pursuit by Juliana, but his broom was simply too fast. He was well ahead of her when he caught up to the snitch, reaching out and catching it with his left hand. For a moment all of the spectators were silent, as James pulled up on his broom, narrowly avoiding a collision with one of the goalposts. Then, when James raised his arm, opening his hand to show the captured snitch, the entire crowd went mad. The score was announced as three hundred seventy to two hundred eighty, and Harry could already see the beginnings of a large Gryffindor party that was sure to extend well into the night.
Ginny was screaming her lungs out, beaming at the display her son had just shown. Harry was smiling, also, and shaking hands with Malfoy, who looked subdued after his house's loss. Harry moved swiftly to the ground level to join in the festivities forming there. He wanted to congratulate the team before the party got too far out of control, he would leave Neville to deal with that disaster. He found James surrounded by Gryffindors of all ages, he was basking in the attention and Harry realized that his son hadn't inherited his distaste for attention. He was thankful for this, being a Potter did carry with it a large degree of fame, and it wasn't easily avoided.
"Well played, James." Harry said, patting his oldest son on the shoulders.
"Thanks dad," James said, "I would've never seen it if I stayed in the thick of it and tried to help the chasers. Your suggestion won that game."
Harry laughed, "I'd say a fair bit of it was your flying. I thought you were going to smash into the goalpost for a second there at the end." James looked hurt.
"I know how to fly, dad." James said, realizing his father was kidding he, too, started laughing. Harry left his son to his adoring fans, and found his wife laughing with Neville and Draco. "What's so funny?" He asked, curious.
"We were just talking about what we're going to do with Malfoy's money," Ginny said, "The cup's as good as ours if James keeps flying with reckless abandon like that."
"As much as I hate to agree with a Weasley, I think your wife may be right." Malfoy agreed, "I won't be giving up my galleons until the cup is well and truly won, mind." He amended swiftly.
Harry shrugged, "I'll be just as glad to take them at the end of the year, I assure you. It'll help recoup the cost of James' broomstick, before we have to buy Albus one for next year's tryouts."
Neville burst out laughing louder than before, "A team with two potters? How unfair," he said, not looking too concerned about fairness.
Malfoy spoke, composing himself, "You know, Potter, the professors usually go for a drink after the quidditch matches, you should join us," he looked at Harry for a moment, before adding, "You're welcome to bring Ginny along too, Hannah and Astoria should be joining also be joining us."
Harry looked to Ginny, who shrugged, "Oh, why the hell not?" She said, smiling.
They left the grounds of the school, after calling Molly on the floo and making sure she was okay with keeping Lily for the night. Of course, they knew she would be. Molly Weasley never turned down a chance to dote over one of her grandchildren. After the brief conversation, they flooed to Hogsmeade, where they met Neville, Hannah, Draco, Astoria, and Flitwick at the Three Broomsticks. Harry and Ginny both smiled when they saw the group, they were all listening intently to the story Flitwick was telling, he was gesturing wildly during the story, but paused mid-sentence when he noticed Harry and Ginny approaching. "Oh look, the Potters arrive!" he said, lifting his mostly empty glass in their direction. "Oh dear, I suppose it's time for a refill." He got up, and before he left he conjured two more chairs for Harry and Ginny.
"All right, Hannah?" Ginny said, before asking Harry to go order their drinks. When he asked her what she wanted, she responded with, "Surprise me." Harry walked to the bar and returned with a bottle of Firewhisky and two butterbeers.
"For the table," He said, placing the bottle in the center of their party, followed by cups for everyone. This was met with a cheerful response from his friends.
"So, professor, we saw you telling what seemed to be a captivating story when we arrived and interrupted you so rudely." Ginny said, clearly curious about the story Flitwick had been telling.
"Oh, it's not so captivating as that," Flitwick said casually, nursing his new drink. "I was only telling Neville and Draco about the years that I taught our new headmistress."
"You taught Rebecca?" Harry asked, surprised. At his friends' looks, he assumed they were not used to hearing the headmistress called by her first name. "What? She's not much older than we are," he said, earning a chuckle from Neville.
"You really don't care about people's names, first Voldemort, and now Rebecca. Next thing you know you'll be calling Ginny by her real first name, and we know how much she hates that." Neville said, earning him a light punch in the shoulder from Ginny.
"I wouldn't dare," Harry said, refilling his glass with Firewhisky. They stayed at the pub until well past closing, and well past when they should have left, if they were planning to do so without stumbling over one another. Flitwick left first, followed by Draco and Astoria, leaving the four friends there.
"So, Harry, any news on your new Dark admirer?" Neville asked, it had become a bit of a joke between them that dark wizards couldn't resist trying their luck against the 'Great Harry Potter'. In truth, Harry disliked the topic immensely, but he was willing to let his friend have his fun.
"Not really, ever since he leveled my old apartment building it's been really quiet." Harry said. He had expected this, whoever was behind all of the attacks was clearly patient. The dark clouds that seemed to plague Britain since the arrival of the Americans had even been less frequent, almost to the point of being nonexistent. Harry knew the fighting wasn't over, but he hoped that it would be a while before it returned, so that they could all be prepared for it.
"How are your houseguests?" Neville asked afterward, "It must be pretty packed with all of them there." Harry nodded, but Ginny was the one that responded.
"I actually enjoy having them there, it almost reminds me of being back at the Burrow." She said, finishing off her last glass of Firewhiskey, they had drained three bottles in the end. Ginny, in Harry's estimation, had nearly finished one on her own. He was in for a long night if he was correct, Ginny may be able to hold her liquor under normal circumstances, but using the floo afterward was sure to mean he was in for a night of holding her hair back. "Hannah, can I ask you something?" She said, eyeing her friend dangerously. Hannah nodded, smiling back, until Ginny finished, "When were you going to tell us?"
"Tell you what?" Hannah responded, feigning confusion.
"Oh, come on. You know what I'm talking about," Ginny continued, "you haven't touched any of the alcohol, and you've been picking out the cinnamon flavor every flavor beans, even though we all know you hate them. You're obviously pregnant, I'm just wondering when you were planning on telling the rest of us about it."
Harry was completely surprised at this revelation, he hadn't noticed any of the things his wife had pointed out. "What? You're pregnant?" Harry asked, when his friends both nodded, his confusion changed suddenly to excitement. "Well, this calls for a celebration!" He tried to get up, but he had apparently had more to drink than he realized, and found himself right back where he began, in his seat. "Another time, then." He said, the next thing he remember was being pulled out of the pub by his wife and Neville, and being put on the Knight Bus to a jovial greeting by Stan Shunpike.
"'Arry Potter! 'Ad a few, 'ave ye? Best to gettim to the back, then. Close to th' bins. Jus in case."
"Thanks, Stan." Ginny said, in the years after the war, She and Harry had spent more than a few nights getting driven home by the Knight Bus. It was, after all, hard to floo when your words were slurred.
"Tis nuffink," Stan said with a bow, as they walked toward the back of the bus, Harry barely heard Stan say, "Les go to Godric's Hollow firs, Ern. Don tink we should keep em on here too long." Harry had to agree, especially after the bus shot forward and he found himself hunched over the trash bin, losing what had to be the entire contents of his stomach. After that the last thing Harry remembered was reaching his bedroom, and waking up the next day to the sun streaking through his window.
A/N: I really enjoyed writing this chapter, it also led me to writing more than a few one-shots that I'm going to be releasing during the time between when I finish uploading this one and when I finish writing book 2. I really enjoyed writing them also, and I think they'll make for a decent distraction while I wait to release the longer stories. Most of them are set during the years directly following the war, when Harry, Ron, Hermoine, and Ginny are dealing with the aftermath. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, the next one should be released on Thursday I think.