Chapter 4

The Thrill of Victory

Harry walked back to Auror's Headquarters in a daze. His security team made sure to a clear a path through the crowd exiting the courtroom so he, Ron, and Hermione got to the lifts quickly. He was vaguely aware that Ron and Hermione were talking, but he made no effort to be a part of the conversation.

"This is great, now I don't have to testify!" Ron said, grinning.

"Ron!" Hermione said with a severe look. "It's great because a dangerous murderer was brought to justice! It's great because the community can sleep easily knowing she'll be locked in Azkaban."

"Yes, of course, it is great for those reasons. It's also great that I don't have to testify."

Hermione rolled her eyes and looked to Harry for support, but he said nothing.

"Harry, do you Aurors still go out for drinks after these things? All joking aside, it is good to know Hogsmeade is safe and life can go back to normal. I can't think of a better way to cap off this whole situation than knocking a few back at The Three Broomsticks. I know the old crowd prefers going out in London, but I say we ought to celebrate the liberation of Hogsmeade by supporting its local businesses. It's bars, it's joke shops…" Ron trailed off with a grin but Harry didn't react. "Harry, are you listening?"

"What? Oh, yeah. We still go out for drinks. Talk to Flint, he usually takes the lead on that. I can't make it though."

"How come? The case is closed, I thought you said this is all you'd be focusing on this week?"

"It is, well, it was. Another case wrapped up yesterday too, raids in Belfast. I need to review the paperwork and make sure everything is filed properly."

Hermione chimed in, "Harry, surely that can wait until tomorrow?"

It definitely could. "No, it can't wait, unfortunately. I'll get it done as quick as I can and then try to meet you lot out." The doors to the lift opened and the cool female voice announced they were on the second floor. Harry moved to leave but Ron grabbed his wrist. He leaned in so he was close to Harry's ear.

"Harry, are you OK? Is everything alright?" he whispered so no one else could hear.

"Yes, Ron, I'm fine. Annoyed I've got extra paperwork to do today but that's it."

Ron looked unconvinced but let go of Harry's wrist. "Alright, mate. Don't work too hard though, I know for a fact you do your best work when you half-ass it."

Harry grinned, gave Ron and Hermione a wave and left the lift. Amanda jumped out of her seat as Harry approached his office.

"Mr. Potter! I wasn't expecting you for hours. Is everything alright?"

"Better than alright", Harry said still wearing a smile he didn't feel. "The accused plead guilty. Belvina Greengrass has been convicted of all charges and is on her way to Azkaban. This might have been my quickest trial ever."

"Oh, Mr. Potter, that's incredible!" And she did look like it was truly the most incredible thing she'd ever heard. "All your hard work paid off! Up all night working on the case and everything worked out perfectly. Some people work so hard and others take all the credit; it must be so nice that everyone knows this is your accomplishment!"

Harry could feel every muscle in his face as his forced himself to keep smiling. "Yes, it's wonderful. But I do have some paperwork to do to put the finishing touches on this. You should go home for the day. In fact, the other Aurors should be going out for celebratory drinks right about now. You should join them! It will be a great way to get to know the rest of the team."

"Are you sure, Mr. Potter?"

"I insist!"

"Well, this is just wonderful. Thank you so much! I do hope you can come out and join us later!"

"I'll be there as soon as I can. So long now!"

Harry entered his office and shut the door hard. He slumped down in his chair, fake smile finally off his face. He pointed his wand at the door and magically locked it. Alone at last. He didn't move for a while. He felt terrible. He should have felt happy, relieved, anything but this. The Hogsmeade Huntsman was convicted. The scare he'd gotten from Doxon leading her defense was unfounded. He knew he felt bad because he didn't do anything. He wasn't involved in the mission, wasn't involved in the investigation or arrest. They just gave him updates and asked if he would approve the use of certain Ministry resources. Useless. And now, despite his best efforts, he wasn't even involved in the conviction. Useless again.

He knew, deep down, that he was being incredibly selfish. Hermione was right (as usual), a dangerous murderer had been brought to justice, Hogsmeade and Hogwarts were safe. It was a great thing. And yet Harry felt worse than before they caught her, just because he hadn't been personally involved. How pathetic was that? He thought about Malfoy. At school he'd called Harry "bigheaded", claimed he was desperate for glory and recognition. Harry had always laughed it off without a second thought. But how could he do that now, with Harry so upset that he hadn't got his moment in the spotlight at the trial?

Harry pointed his wand at a wooden cabinet at the far corner of the room. "Accio!" he said, and a crystal bottle flew out of it. Harry snatched the firewhisky out of the air. He could've used the Summoning Charm again and gotten a glass as well, but why bother? Harry popped the top and took a swig straight from the bottle. Determined to make himself as miserable as possible, Harry thought about Podmore and Nigellus. Two of his best Aurors. Surely they'd still be furious at him, despite the conviction. He'd taken something away from them so he could feel useful - and it didn't end up mattering at all. That was the sign of a good leader, right? Alienating your team for no practical reason whatsoever. Harry took another swig.

Harry sat there in silence, drinking occasionally, thinking about what a selfish fool he was. He didn't know how long he sat there, but when he finally decided to move it was dark. He got up, slightly unsteady, gathered his things and got ready to go home. As he exited his office four grey shapes leapt to attention. Right, his security wizards. He'd left them to stand outside his office the whole time he was in there. Selfish again.

"I'm going home. Feel free to do so yourselves."

"Mr. Potter, we must escort you to your residence, we've been instructed not to let you travel alone."

Harry looked at the wizard who spoke and shrugged. "OK. Let's go."

It was a relatively quick trip out of the Ministry. His security escorted him through the Thief's Downfall and out to the public section of the Atrium. From there they went to the designated Apparition Space and, holding hands so all five of them went together, they Apparated to Harry's street.

"Thanks, guys!" Harry said with a wave and he walked towards the end of the street. It was a dead end – or so it appeared. Harry crossed some invisible line and suddenly a house sprang into existence. What had been an empty lot before was now a three-story house. The lawn was pristine and they even had a driveway, not that anyone had ever driven a car to the house. Harry shouldered the front door open (maybe a little too hard) and took off his traveling cloak.

"Harry, is that you?" A woman with long red hair entered the hallway. She was beautiful. Harry still couldn't believe how long it had taken him to see that.

"I thought you'd still be out celebrating", she said, walking towards him and giving him a kiss. She jerked away with a smirk on her face. "And it smells like you were celebrating pretty hard. As you should be! It was all in the Prophet. The capture, your announcement, the conviction the whole thing. It's just such a relief this whole thing is over."

"Yeah it is. It's just too bad that I had-"

"Harry James Potter, if you say you had nothing to do with this I swear, I'm going to smack you." Harry looked at her, startled. "Don't you dare give me the 'woe is me, I didn't physically put the handcuffs on her, therefore I did nothing' crap. You run the entire department!"

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean anything."

Ginny took a deep breath and closed her eyes, as though praying for patience. She took his hand and said, "Why do you always give credit to everyone else and not yourself? Remember what you told me after you defeated Voldemort? You actually took some credit for yourself for once (less than I thought you deserved, but still), but you kept saying how influential Dumbledore was. How Dumbledore really brought about the defeat of Voldemort. And Dumbledore had been dead for a year! You said he had been instrumental, it couldn't have been done without him."

"So?"

"So, Harry, Dumbledore didn't track down those last horcruxes, Dumbledore didn't destroy them, Dumbledore didn't lead an army at the battle of Hogwarts and defeat Voldemort. You did!

"Yeah but that doesn't mean I could've done that stuff without him. He figured things out behind the scenes, passed the knowledge on to me, he…." Harry trailed off as Ginny smiled at him. "You're saying I'm Dumbledore now? That I'm guiding the Aurors and they couldn't do all this without me?"

"Yes, you're Dumbledore now. And, remind me, who's the greatest wizard you've ever known?"

Harry smiled broadly. "Oh, stop." He said and he hugged her.

A noise from upstairs separated them. "Oh, Harry", Ginny whispered. "Be quiet, I just got them to bed right before you came home." Harry looked at his wife and then looked upstairs. "Harry. Don't."

"Boys!" Harry yelled, "Daddy's home!" His cry was met immediately by high pitched yells from upstairs, followed by the soft thumps of tiny feet.

"Daddy!" came from upstairs. Harry looked at Ginny with a huge smile on his face. She shook her head but smiled too. It was amazing how long it took their little legs to carry them from the bedroom to the stairs, but soon enough here they came. James at the front, four years old with jet-black hair just like his dad. Two-year-old Albus followed his big brother as quickly as he could, but he couldn't keep up. He tripped on the second stair, but Harry was ready.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted, with a swish and flick, and little Albus floated off the ground, over the bannister and into his father's arms. James came sprinting off the staircase at his father and Harry bent down to scoop him up as well. Harry spun them both in circle before carrying them to the living room and depositing them on the couch amid cries of laughter.

"So, boys, what'd you do today?"

"I got five new chocolate frog cards!" James shouted at once, holding up 4 fingers. "There was Dumbedorr and Merwin…Merwyne, Merrin?" He looked at his mother.

"Merlin", Ginny said with a smirk.

"Yeah Merlin!" James shouted, his enthusiasm impervious to mispronunciation. "Can I show him, mom? Can I?"

Harry looked at Ginny with big puppy dog eyes, "Yeah, honey, can he?"

"Oh enough, already!" Ginny said rolling her eyes. "Everyone is up, so we might as well enjoy it. Get the chocolate frog cards and I'll get the new broom I'm sure they were going to tell you about next."

"Yayyy!" James and Albus cheered and that gave Harry his biggest smile yet. James leapt up but Harry held out a hand to stop him.

"Woah, not so fast, son. I'll get the cards." Harry drew his wand and James looked at his younger brother with excitement. Harry made a big show of covering his eyes with his left hand and shouted, "Accio chocolate frog cards!" All was still for a moment but then a handsome leather binder came zooming into living room. Harry caught it in his left hand, bowed to James and said, "Your cards, sir."

Albus clapped as James took the binder. He flipped through dozens of pages; he must've had hundreds of cards. The cards were in no order whatsoever; Harry smiled as he saw several of them were put in upside down. "Here!" James shouted when he got to the last page. Ginny had re-entered the room with a thin package roughly three feet long, but James took no notice and she said nothing. Harry had seen all these chocolate frog cards a hundred times but couldn't help but smile as James bragged about collecting "Dumbedorr" and "Merwin". Harry's favorite part was the stories James made up. James couldn't quite read yet, but he made up stories about the witch or wizard on the card based on the picture. Apparently Dumbledore was famous for inventing a beard-growing spell and Merlin had created a "color spell" that turned things green. Albus said nothing but stared intently at each card as if it would reveal to him the meaning of life.

Once James had exhausted himself inventing backstories for his collection, Ginny cleared her throat and held up a 3-foot-long broomstick. James slammed the binder aside and leapt to his feet at once. "Can I try it now, mum, can I?"

"Well, you've had your fun showing off your chocolate frog cards. I think we should give Albus a try first." Harry looked at Ginny and raised an eyebrow. Harry opened his mouth to speak but Ginny cut him off before he could do so. "Harry, as far as I know, I'm the only professional quidditch player in this house. Therefore, I should think that, as far as broomstick related activities, what I say goes. Besides, this only gets about two feet off the ground."

"Well, I can't argue with that. What's the plan?"

"You use a Sticking Charm to keep him on the broom, I'll be ready with a Cushioning Charm to prevent him from crashing into anything."

"Sounds good to me." Harry looked at his youngest son. "Albus, you want to go for a ride?"

Albus looked at his father with wide eyes, too overwhelmed to speak. But he nodded and squirmed off the couch. Ginny held the broom horizontally at approximately knee-height. When she let it go it hovered there, perfectly still. Harry scooped up Albus and placed him a astride the broomstick. Then Harry pointed his wand at his son's backside and said "adhersco". Well, at least he wouldn't fall off the broom now.

It was a straight shot from the living room down the hallway and Ginny had walked down to the far end. "Alright, Al, lean forward and aim the broom towards mummy." Albus didn't seem to hear her. He was staring at the floor, apparently astonished that he wasn't on it. "Albus!" His head jerked up. "Point the broom at mummy and lean forward." Suddenly Albus' wide eyes narrowed with purpose. His open mouth clenched shut in determination. He gripped the broomstick in both hands and, ever so slightly, leaned forward. The broom flew down the hall towards Ginny. It was going maybe five miles per hour, but James gave a gasp as his little brother took off.

"A natural flier, just like his mother", Harry said as Albus arrived safely at the far end of the hall.

"Like both his parents", Ginny replied smiling, turning Albus around to fly the other way. Albus flew length of the hallway another 5 times (Ginny only had to use a Cushioning Charm twice on wayward flights) and then it was time for bed. Harry had been the one to get the boys out of bed in the first place, so he felt he had to be the bad guy now.

"It's time for bed, right now! And no, you can't have five more minutes, don't even ask. Don't look at your mother, she can't help you! Bed! Both of you, go!"

Once Harry had put the boys to bed, he came back downstairs and sat on the couch next to Ginny. "I missed you last night", she said as she snuggled close. "I think it's high time that you arrested all the Dark wizards so you can skip the long nights and come home early forever."

"Honestly, I should", Harry replied. "The more time I spend there, the more I wish I was here instead." They sat in silence for a few minutes, eyes closed; Harry enjoying the quiet and the feel of Ginny pressed up against him. He opened his eyes and saw the child sized broom hovering in the kitchen.

"Why did you buy that broom anyway? I thought you said you wanted to wait another year before teaching the kids how to fly?" Ginny sat bolt upright.

"Oh, Harry! I forgot to tell you. I actually found out yesterday, but I wanted to tell you in person. I made – wait, no. Go read the broom!"

Harry had no idea what was going on. "'Read the broom'? What does that mean?"

"There's an inscription on the handle of the broom. Go grab it and read it!" Ginny seemed genuinely excited and Harry was curious himself so he got up, walked into the hallway and grabbed the miniature broomstick. There were gold letters adorning the entire shaft.

"'All-England Select Team'", Harry read. "I don't – wait. No. You got picked for the National Team!?" Harry shouted. "You're playing for England in the World Cup!"

"Shhhhhhh, not quite yet", Ginny said jumping off the couch and making her way to Harry. "I've been chosen to try out. They invited the top 50 players to try out for the team. The top 14 will make it. Obviously only 7 start, but they want a backup at each position in case of injury or if they need substitution. I have experience playing both chaser and seeker, so I think I have a real chance of making the team! At least as a reserve."

"Ginny this is wonderful!" Harry whisper-shouted. "You have a chance to play in the World Cup! And you definitely deserve it, you've been top five in the league in scoring each of the past three years! They have to pick you, they have to! As a matter of fact, who's in charge of selecting the final roster? Maybe I'll talk to them and imply that if they make the wrong decision they might wind up sentenced to life in Azkaban."

"Harry, stop!" Ginny giggled. "I'm thrilled just to be one of the finalists, but your support means everything", she said as she hugged him. "There is one thing though. Tryouts start the day after tomorrow. I need to leave tomorrow and I'll spend the next few weeks in London with the National Team."

Harry leaned away and looked at her. "Well, I'll certainly miss you, but if that's what you have to do to play in the World Cup, I mean, you have to go."

Ginny smiled. "I'm glad you agree, but I wanted to talk to you about our children. You know, the two small humans who were just running around our house."

"Ah not those guys!" Harry said and Ginny laughed.

"Obviously you still have to go to work, but my parents agreed to watch them during the days while I'm gone."

"Are your parents okay with that?"

Ginny laughed, "Oh, yes, they're positively thrilled about it. All my mother does is complain that my father has nothing to do all day now that he's retired and that 'it would be good for him to spend some time with his grandchildren'. And my mother", Ginny shook her head, "she spent half her life raising seven Weasley children. I think she's feeling a little purposeless now with the empty nest. I think she would love to have them too."

"Sounds like this is all working out perfectly then. My wife, the international quidditch star." Ginny smiled and Harry kissed her. Harry wondered how it was possible he could've been in such a bad mood earlier.