Author's Notes: Please, PLEASE be patient. I haven't been able to get ahold of my beta, so this has been gone over by me a few times but may still have mistakes. I wanted to post now rather than wait. If she gets back to me, I'll update it.

Thank you all... I've finished the story and I'll be posting the rest in the next few weeks. I appreciate all of you and please consider following me on FACEBO0K or on at Sarah Jaune

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

"Oh, goodness it's hot!" Rose complained as she walked out of Nat's house towards where Nat stood with the house elf, Polly's, son Skip because he wanted to water the grass.

"It is hot for June, but we're almost to July," Nat said as she glanced over to Rose and blinked as she spotted her friend. "Uh… where's Emma?"

"She went to play with Victoire's girls," Rose told her as she walked over to Nat and knelt down to smile at baby Wyatt, who was lying on a blanket in the shade. "Hello sweet boy! How are you?"

Wyatt let out a happy gurgle for Rose as Nat studied her friend, who was very newly pregnant… but Rose wasn't paying attention to her, so she turned back to Skip and tried again to make water flow from her wand. "It's no good," she told the small elf.

"Okay," Skip said easily. He wasn't working for anyone, as yet. He was still fairly young and carefree, but he really liked playing in the gardens. He actually seemed to enjoy the playing part of cleaning and she was sure if they have a hoover, he'd have played with that as well. He'd recently started going to all the families houses to deal with the yards and plants flowers and trees.

Nat couldn't water anything because she couldn't make the Aguamenti Charm work. "Never mind, then. Let's try that hosepipe I had Al pick up yesterday," she told him.

Skip grinned and ran to get the long tube that would allow water to flow from the plumbing in the house. It wasn't something they'd used before, since Al had been home the previous times Skip had wanted to water the back garden, but Rose was right and this was a very hot day.

Nat was feeling it, but she was standing in the shade and really hoped she'd be able to stay outside a bit longer. "There you are," she told the elf as she helped him to water everything. "Do you want my help or do you have it?"

"I have it," Skip told her so she turned and went to sit with Rose on Wyatt's large blanket.

Nat smiled down at her son, still in awe that she was able to be his mother. She bent to press her lips to his forehead and grinned as he reached up to grab for her face.

"Catie is back," Rose told her.

Nat glanced up at Rose and blinked in surprise. "Hugo's girlfriend? Or is it ex? I admit I lost track since he was seeing her in Hogwarts."

"I think they stayed together," Rose told her, "But Hugo is a bit dodgy on the details. She wanted to do that internship with animals down in east Africa to study the… oh blast I always forget the name of them. The Nundu, I believe? The big cat like thing."

"Yeah, I think that's what it's called," Nat confirmed. "So, she's done with that study?"

"Hugo said she left before she was done," Rose explained as she held up a leaf for Wyatt to examine. "She was supposed to be there another year, but she wanted to come back."

Nat considered that for a moment and then asked, "Are they back together then?"

"Yes," Rose confirmed with a long sigh. "And it's good. I always liked Catie, but I'm curious about why she'd give up her dream to study the… I've already forgotten the name again," she admitted with a laugh. "That's terrible! I never forget things like that."

Nat took a deep breath and smiled. "Well, you're pregnant… so get used to forgetting a lot of things as the pregnancy brain kicks in."

Rose was quiet for a moment before her face burst into the happiest smile Nat had ever seen her wear.

The heat ended up being too much for Nat, so later that afternoon when Wyatt went down for his nap, she lay down as well and wished she could perform the cooling spell on the room, but that was beyond her limited magical skills. It wasn't too hot, but it was warmer than she'd have liked. She could have called for Polly, but she didn't want to bother the elf for it.

She didn't sleep, but she had long winding conversations going through her brain. She thought of Rose and her first baby and she wasn't jealous. She adored Wyatt and while she'd thought she wanted to be pregnant before, she realized now that her health was just not going to be able to sustain that. She was a little envious that her friends could pick when they would have children and Nat was at the mercy of someone else's personal tragedy if she wanted more kids. It was not something she took lightly.

"Hey."

She glanced over to see Al in the doorway and smiled for him. "Oh, good! I need the room cooled please."

He pulled out his wand and a moment later the room was cooling off nicely. He kicked off his shoes and walked over to the bed, climbing in beside her. "Have you heard the news?"

For a moment, she thought he was talking about Rose's pregnancy, but then realized there was no way he could have heard about that. Their family grapevine moved quickly, but that was asking a lot for only a few hours when she probably hadn't even told Andrew yet. "You mean about Catie?"

Al blinked in surprise and shook his head. "How did you hear about that? No, I mean the World Cup."

Nat turned immediately to him and beamed. "Oh, I can tell from your face he made it!"

Al laughed, a huge happy sound, and beamed. "He did! England finally beat Peru this morning. I bet they're all exhausted, though. I can't believe it took four days to catch the Snitch."

They'd heard tales of teams having to do this, rotating players in and out so everyone could eat and get some sleep, but this was the first time it had happened for multiple days on end in at least a decade.

"We're going to the World Cup," Nat told him excitedly and then realized she truly meant it.

She wanted to go watch the World Cup in France. It was happening in a few weeks, and there was one more game to see who England would be playing. Ukraine versus Malaysia would happen in a couple of days to find the winner of that match would head to the Cup.

Al traced a finger along her cheek. "You really want to go, don't you?"

"I know it's crazy and a huge risk," Nat admitted. "I know we have to take Wyatt with us… but I really want to go. It's been so many years of staying put in England and I used to travel all the time with my dad. It would be really good to see the cup this year since James is playing."

Her husband considered her and then shrugged. "I think we can do this safely. We went to one of James' matches years ago and it was fine. You weren't even under the cloak. No one would expect you to go, and so far she's not targeting Dad. She's going to expect that Mum and Dad will go, but I can't imagine she thinks anyone else will."

"Do you think Caroline will want to go?" Nat asked and knew the answer would be yes, but bringing the boys would be a major hassle for her.

"I don't know what the plan is," Al admitted. "I think if we go, we should ask Polly to come with us and leave Wyatt back at the tent with her. I know," he said forestalling what she was going to say, "that you don't like to ask her to watch him, but you know she doesn't mind and if the game goes long, we can always leave early to come back to him since we will be very close to the pitch at Aunt Fleur's parents' home."

She considered it and realized that he was right. "But Skip…"

"Skip will come or he doesn't," Al pointed out. "He's nearly full grown and he can stay with anyone here, or go along. It doesn't matter which. We'll have to take Dad's magical beast of a car that he turned into a bus."

She nodded. There would be plans to be made, but most of them would involve security that she wouldn't be involved in working out. "I don't have to go if they think it's too dangerous, but I would like to go."

Al leaned in to kiss her. "That's settled then."

"So, about Catie…"

Al laughed and flopped back on the bed. "Hugo said she was back and asked Dad to clear her to come to family events."

"Did he say why she'd left the study program early?"

"He didn't say anything to me," Al told her with a cheeky grin. "But he did tell Lena, who felt I needed to know, that it wasn't anything like she thought it would be and she's been miserable the whole time and waiting for a chance to leave."

"Oh, that's not good," Nat said, but was cut off when Al kissed her again. And again.

"Can we leave off talk of Hugo for a bit?" he asked her quietly.

"Sure," she said as she smiled her way through the next kiss.

~*~

Harry rubbed at his forehead as he stood with Teddy and Bill in his office. Malaysia had beaten Ukraine in a narrow, but short match up the night before and plans were now firmly underway to get England's team safely to the cup.

But that also included his family, who wanted to go and support James.

"Who do we have that's going?" Harry asked his brother-in-law and godson.

"I spoke with James and Caroline earlier today," Teddy told him. "They'd been talking about it a lot, but ultimately decided that Caroline would come to the game but leave the boys with Honor at the house. I cleared it with George and Angelina that Honor could take the time off and that's no problem."

"I am going to go, but Fleur is going to stay behind with Victoire as she's too far along to go anyway," Bill told him as he nodded to Teddy. "Her parents understand and have said they will come when the new babies are born. Teddy can go if you feel like he needs to."

"But I think I should stay here and we send Rick, instead," Teddy explained.

Harry considered that for a moment and then nodded. "Good. Who else?"

"George wants to go, so does Fred and Roxy, and they have the coverage for the shop," Bill said, looking at his list. "Neither Angelina nor Eva wants to go and Eva will keep the baby home. Percy and Audrey are out. Molly isn't going and her husband said he wouldn't mind going, but is okay if he doesn't go. Lucy wants to go. If Charlie wants to go, he's on his own, but I sent him an owl." He let out a long breath. "Let's see… Ron is going, Hermione is a no but said she'd help with any of the children left behind. She's taking that week off. Yes," he said with a small grin at Harry's astonished face. "The great Hermione is taking a vacation, things are really serious. I think learning her daughter is pregnant had something to do with that."

"Rose said she'd have loved to go but doesn't want to take the risk, which was also what Andrew said," Teddy went on. "Hugo wants to go, Louis wants to go, Al and Nat want to go, and Lily said no, but doesn't know if Scorpius wants to go. I told her I needed an owl tonight if he wants in, but I haven't heard yet."

"What about Arthur and Molly?" Harry asked, but saw Bill shake his head. He finished his own list and scanned it again. "Yeah, I didn't think they'd want to travel for it. It's a lot. So, for those who want to go we have myself, Ginny, Bill, Louis, Lucy, Brayden, George, Fred… you didn't say if Dominique and Gwen are going."

"Uhhhh…" Teddy scanned his list. "Yes, they are."

"Alright, we have Dom and Gwen, Roxy, Ron, Hugo, Caroline, Al, Nat, Wyatt, and maybe Scorpius. If I'm counting that correctly, that's eighteen of us with only Wyatt for the children, and they're going to leave him back at the Delacour's place with Polly."

"That's what I have," Teddy said, then glanced over as Harry's assistant, Daniel, opened the door and held out a scroll. "Thanks, Daniel." He ripped it open and read quickly. "Scorpius is in to go."

Harry let out a breath. "Alright, let's talk more strategy for security. I'm going to drive with Al, Nat, Wyatt, Ginny, Caroline, the dog, and Bill over to France," he told Teddy. "Everyone else is getting a Portkey over. Before that happens, we're going to France to set up the tents and set the security parameters to make sure it's going to be safe. Teddy, you and Bill and Rick are going along on that to help with the set up."

"Alright," Teddy agreed. "I had a lot of Aurors volunteer to go for security, since it meant also getting to be at the game, but we still have a decent number who are staying back to protect things here. The only one I had questions on was Lena, who said she wouldn't mind going, but didn't care either way."

"Let's see how the numbers shake out," Harry said as he went back to his list. "The Minister is going to the game, which complicates everything, but I've insisted she sit with us and she's agreed. It keeps my security headaches contained in one location."

The whole thing was going to be a nightmare, but Harry knew it was also probably a once in a lifetime opportunity to see his son play in the World Cup.

He'd make it work. They had a family dinner that night at Lily's to go over the details of transportation to the cup and when they'd be leaving. For most of them, they would be driving over the day before so they only had a short window for security. It was a lot, but when Harry thought of his and Ginny's child playing… he knew it was worth it. She was a nervous wreck, but she was also so proud of him.

Ginny had admitted she'd thought about wanting to play for England and the cup, but never enough to sacrifice everything else. He was grateful for the sacrifices she'd made, and he knew she wouldn't change it, but this felt like a win for them and it didn't even matter if England won or lost. It was an honor just to have made it this far.

"Alright, I think we have everything we need," Harry told them. "Let's get out of here so we can get this things settled. We go to set up security in a week and the cup is in ten days." He grinned at the other two men. "I'm going to be glad when it's over." He clapped Teddy on the shoulder. "I know you need to get home to drive your family over to Lily's."

"I'll go with him to help," Bill told him and Harry nodded.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the cup?" Harry asked Teddy.

His godson shook his head. "If Victoire has the babies early, I am not going to be in France and miss it. If she weren't so far along, I might, but I told her that in a few years we'd take all the kids and go… hopefully once all this mayhem with Crabbe is finished."

Harry wanted it to be over, as well, but he doubted it would be any time soon. They'd been hunting her for years with nothing to show for it. He didn't think they would get lucky any time soon.

He knew now it was only going to be luck or Crabbe screwing up that would see the vile woman caught.