Content Harry Potter
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Author Notes:

All but one of the Quidditch teams mentioned are named in canon or "Quidditch Through the Ages," one of Harry's books that JKR wrote for charity. The "London Lions" is a Quidditch team I made up specifically for this story. I mention some rules in this chapter about who owns the copyrights on photos - that information is based on American copyright law. I didn't take the time to research it with Brit law, but my Brit-picker didn't fuss about it, so it's probably okay. And when I had someone thank a D.A. member for what he'd done to protect their world - I feel very strongly about that, and thank military people for their service whenever I have the chance. They don't get paid enough for what they do - our thanks is a small way of repaying them for their willingness to serve our country. They deserve far more than that, IMO, no matter how any of us feel about the politics involved. Every time I've thanked one of our service people in person, they've been so pleased that someone expressed that gratitude. Each and every one has said in reply that it's an honour to serve the country, bless them. Try thanking someone in uniform for what they do for us sometime - it will touch your soul, I promise! Many thanks to my brilliant Brit-picker, Kelpie, and my fabulous beta team, Blakeavich, Starfox, Iris and Asad.


Time was passing swiftly, and Harry’s seventh and final year at Hogwarts was drawing to a close. Late May arrived, and with it, the final Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. The Ravenclaw team had done well this year and was tied with Gryffindor in points. A win in this game would give them the Cup. Harry and his team were determined to keep the trophy on McGonagall’s desk.

The professional Quidditch team scouts were already seated with Professor Dumbledore, clipboards in hand. They smiled and shook hands with people around them as the headmaster introduced them to the other staff members seated nearby.

Harry pulled his head back into the Gryffindor Changing Rooms and gulped. This was it. He had to do his very best so they’d want him for a team. His eyes locked with Ron’s and he nodded slightly, letting Ron know the scouts were, indeed, in the stands.

"So they’re here, are they?" Colin said cheerfully as he passed Harry. "Cool!" He clapped his captain on the shoulder as he moved to the bench and plunked himself down next to his brother.  

"Yeah," Harry said, feeling a bit green with nerves. "Cool." He forced a smile on his face. He was a good Quidditch player. So was Ron. All they could do was their best. If the scouts didn’t want them, well, he’d . . . he’d . . . he’d be an Auror. After some long talks with Tonks, he was once more seriously interested in being an Auror. But what about Quidditch? Suddenly Harry realized it was bloody convenient to have money. He could start his own team if a professional team didn’t scout him! Yeah, that would be amazing! Then the reasonable side of his brain kicked in and reminded him that starting a Quidditch team would probably be more expensive than he could imagine. Why bankrupt himself to play a game he could only play for maybe ten years before having to retire? But for those ten years . . . what fun! Harry shook his head ruefully and brought his mind back to earth. Glancing at Ron, he could see his best mate was going through the same kind of visions, probably without the "start your own team" variation, but still . . . their minds were both caught up in the dream of playing on a professional team — hopefully, the same team!

"Knut for your thoughts, cutie," Ginny teased as she came in from the girls’ locker room. She tweaked his bum very lightly as she passed, making him blush and think about the matters at hand again.

"I’m thinking one of our Chasers is a cheeky little witch," he said in mild reproof.

"And you’re right!" she said with a bright grin. "Get on with it, Captain. What are your orders?"

"Right. Everyone’s here," Harry said, glancing around. "OK. Remember, their Chasers use an arrow formation a lot — watch out for that. Beaters, try to break up that formation as often as you can so they can’t pass to each other so easily. Chasers, look sharp. When Colin and Dennis go after that arrow formation, the Quaffle will drop, or else you’ll be able to steal it. Ron, watch that girl Chaser, she’s sneaky. She feints one way then shoots the other, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember," Ron said. He and Harry had observed some of the Ravenclaw practices to see what they were up against. The Ravenclaw captain and some players had done the same to the Gryffindors.

"All right, any questions? No? OK! Let’s do our best out there! GO, GRYFFINDOR!" he cried, leading their cheer.

Soon both teams were racing around the pitch, trying to outdo each other. Dean Thomas’s commentary was often garbled because the play was progressing faster than he could announce it.

"And it’s Ginny Weasley with the Quaffle — look at that Firebolt go! And she scores! Now the Ravenclaw Chasers have the Quaffle and have gone into their arrow formation. Gryffindor Beaters Dennis and Colin Creevey seem to have a plan. They’ve hit their Bludgers at the same time, breaking the arrow formation apart and the Quaffle is dropped! It’s saved by Euan Abercrombie of Gryffindor, who reverses and races toward the goal! He’s fouled by Ravenclaw Beater Anthony Goldstein for cobbing — that’s excessive use of elbows.  Euan takes the foul shot and SCORES!"

It was a hard-fought match, but finally, with the score at 80-20 in Gryffindor’s favour, Harry saw a flicker of gold near the ground far below him.

"Potter’s seen the Snitch! There he goes in one of his trademark dives! He’s . . . no, he’s going to get ploughed! Pull up, Harry, pull up!" Dean called in a panicked voice. The crowd screamed as the Gryffindor Seeker plummeted downward at breakneck speed.

Harry knew exactly what he was doing. He’d pointed his Firebolt straight down and hurtled toward earth at 150 miles per hour, leaving the Ravenclaw chaser far behind him. At the last instant, as the front of his broom handle was about to brush the top fringe of grass, he wrestled his broom to fly mere inches above the grass. He reached for the elusive golden ball, which changed course suddenly and zoomed skyward once again, Harry in hot pursuit. Su Li, the Ravenclaw Seeker, had never caught up with Harry, but the Snitch’s change of direction favoured her, and she was much smaller and lighter than Harry. She pelted toward the ball. She and Harry were on a collision course now. When Harry saw her coming, he remembered a game against Ravenclaw years ago when Oliver Wood had yelled at him to stop acting like a gentleman and knock Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw Seeker and a girl Harry fancied at the time, off of her broom. He didn’t knock Cho off of her broom then, and couldn’t see himself knocking little Su Li off of her broom now. He managed to dodge her and the two of them grabbed for the ball at the same time. Her hand skittered across the back of his just before he pumped his fist triumphantly in the air, the Snitch fluttering helplessly within his hand.

Harry’s heart was full as he hovered in mid-air, waving his Snitch-filled fist at the screaming crowd. They’d won! They’d won the Quidditch Cup! And he’d just caught the Snitch for the last time as a player on the Gryffindor team. He swallowed hard, forcing himself to savour the joy of the moment and not think about the poignancy of it. Soon he couldn’t think at all, surrounded as he was by the milling mass of his team mates who were pounding him on the back, Fiona hugging and kissing him. Harry turned his cheek to the young girl and kissed her cheek in return, then felt someone wrapping arms around his waist and pulling him close. He glanced down and saw laughing brown eyes and beautiful red hair coming loose from its plait. Harry lowered his face to Ginny’s and kissed her resoundingly, to the cheers of his team and the Gryffindor fans.

They landed in front of Professor Dumbledore, who had come on the field to present the Quidditch Cup. The headmaster held the huge, beautiful trophy up and turned around so all those in the stands could see it clearly.

"It is my great pleasure," the old wizard said as Harry stepped confidently up to him, "to present the Quidditch Cup to the victorious Gryffindor team. Team captain Harry Potter will be accepting the trophy on behalf of the team." He handed the gorgeous cup to Harry and shook the young man’s hand. "Well done!" he said as he clasped Harry’s hand.

"Thank you, sir," Harry responded with a grin. He took a step back, looked up into the stands and held the cup aloft as the cheering crowd cried, "Well done, Gryffindor! Well done, Gryffindor!" Harry laughed and turned to his team, holding the Cup out so they could all touch it as the cheering continued.

The Gryffindor fans spilled onto the field and lifted the team members onto their shoulders. With Harry and Ron holding the cup between them, the team was carried toward the castle for a party that would probably last the rest of the day and well into the night.

As the happy throng passed Professor McGonagall, she called, "Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, a moment, if you please?"

Harry and Ron managed to get to the ground without being dropped and made their way through the celebrating crowd to their Head of House. "I believe this is yours. . .again," Harry said with a huge grin as he handed her the Cup.

"Thank you!" she said with a huge smile. "I cannot tell you how I enjoy having this on my desk." She gazed at the Cup in satisfaction for a moment, then said, "You have guests," gesturing behind her where the Quidditch scouts stood applauding along with the rest of the still-excited crowd.

"Well done, lads!" Mr. Terwilliger said enthusiastically. "What we saw today confirmed our judgement. I’m happy to tell you that there’s already a bidding war going on over you two. Each of us have several teams who want you."

"Really? Wow!" Harry said with an ear-to-ear grin.

"Me, too?" Ron said in disbelief.

"Yes, Mr. Weasley, you too," Terwilliger assured him.

"I think you’ll find several offers to your liking," Mr. Washburn said with a smile.

"How do we decide which one to take, then?" Ron asked in confusion.

"You compare the benefits involved, as well as the salaries," Mr. Thornton said, handing each boy some envelopes. The other two men followed suit.

"You boys look these over. Contact us if you have any questions," Terwilliger said warmly.

"Erm . . .," Harry said nervously, "are any of these offers for both of us?"

"One of mine is," Terwilliger replied. "The London Lions want both of you."

"All of my offers are for one or the other of you," Thornton said.

"Mine, too," Washburn agreed.

"Are you especially interested in staying together?" Terwilliger asked.

"We’d like to. We’re best mates, and we can share my house in London," Harry began, then glanced at Ron, who was gazing in awe at the orange-emblazoned Chudley Cannons envelope in his hand. "But it’s not a requirement."  As he finished speaking, Harry wondered if Ron would take the Cannons offer even if it wasn’t the best one.

"Things can change, too, lads, so we may have more offers to bring you," Thornton said with a smile. "If a player sustains an injury and needs to be replaced, another team might express an interest in you, or another position on one of these teams might open up."

"Take your time looking through the offers, boys," Washburn said. "This decision will affect your lives for some time to come, so choose wisely!"

"We’ll do our best," Harry said with a broad grin. Ron nodded mutely, still stunned to be holding an offer from the Chudley Cannons in his hands.

"Right then. Off you go! I suspect you have a wonderful party to attend!" Terwilliger said jovially. "We’ll be in touch!"

"Thanks for coming!" Harry said sincerely, clutching the envelopes to his chest with his left hand so he’d be able to shake hands with the three men.

Ron gulped and finally found his voice, which came out sounding squeaky and strange. "Yeah! Thanks!"

The three men laughed good-naturedly and shook hands with both boys. "Our pleasure. Talk to you soon," Terwilliger said. Washburn and Thornton also said goodbye and moved off with Professor Dumbledore, and were soon deep in conversation with him.

"Harry?" Ron said, his voice crackling as it hadn’t for years. "Is this what I think it is?"

"Looks like an offer from the Cannons to me, mate," Harry said with a grin, happy for his friend, but feeling a serious twinge at the idea that they would no longer be playing Quidditch together.

"Wow!" Ron breathed. "Did you get one too?"

"Not from the Cannons," Harry replied, riffling through his envelopes as they walked slowly toward the castle.

"Not from the Cannons?" Ron repeated, aghast. "How could they not recruit you?"

"They must not need a Seeker," Harry said reasonably. "You’re a great Keeper, Ron. They must need a new one."

"Yeah, O’Banyon hasn’t done too well this year," Ron agreed. "Out of fourteen teams, I got five offers, and you got how many, six? Seven?"

"Six — and there are only thirteen teams we could be on, since the Harpies is an all-witches team," Harry reminded him with a grin.

"Yeah," Ron commented. "Six offers, Harry! That’s great! I can’t wait to look these over!"

"Yeah, me too!" Harry enthused, glad Ron seemed to be open to at least looking at the other offers. They started walking toward the castle, shuffling envelopes in their hands and looking in awe at the team names and logos emblazoned on each one.

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"D’you mind being late for the party?"

"No."

"Let’s go to the Changing Room and look at these, OK?" Ron said eagerly. "I can’t wait, and we can’t look at them properly with everyone around us partying."

Harry grinned. "Right! Let’s go!"

A few minutes later, each of them had their offers spread across separate benches. Harry walked the length of his bench, trying to work out how to make good comparisons between offers. He glanced up at Ron, who held the opened Chudley Cannons offer in both hands, staring at it with a shocked face.

"What is it, Ron?"

"S-s-s-s-. . ." he gasped.

"S-s-s what?" Harry said, walking over to him and looking over his shoulder at the letter. "Starting Keeper? They want you to be on the starting line-up?"

Ron nodded mutely. The best either of them had hoped for was a position in the reserve squad to begin with. Harry had some offers in starting positions as Seeker, but none from a team he’d followed with devotion his whole life, as Ron had the Cannons. Harry’s heart sank. No way was Ron going to look at any other offers now. He swallowed the pain in his heart and clapped his best mate on the shoulder. "Wow!" he said as sincerely as he could. He hoped his voice didn’t sound as strained to Ron as it did in his own ear. "Congratulations, Ron. I guess we’ll be seeing you in orange robes soon."

"Or . . . or . . . orange robes," Ron stammered. "C-c-c-c-cannons . . . they want ME!" he said, finally catching his breath and becoming somewhat coherent.

"That’s great! I’m happy for you," Harry said, meaning it this time. He really was happy for Ron. His best mate’s dream had come true — the Chudley Cannons wanted him on their team, and not just as a reserve player, but as Starting Keeper! Could Ron hope for anything better? Harry thought not. They’d just have to enjoy their time together in Auror School and get past the odd feeling of playing Quidditch against each other.

"What . . . what. . . ." Ron gulped and tore his eyes away from his letter, looking at the long row of letters on Harry’s bench. "You got a lot of offers! What teams? What did they offer? Anything good?"

"Yeah," Harry said with satisfaction. "Several good ones." He watched Ron walk over and look at Harry’s offers.

"Starter Seeker. Starter Seeker. Reserve Chaser. Starter Seeker. Reserve Seeker," Ron read as he walked down the line. "Reserve Beater." He looked up at Harry and shook his head, a sarcastic sneer on his face. "Beater? Nah. That’s a waste of your talents, mate. Wow, look at all these offers, Harry! Congratulations!"

Harry had turned from watching Ron to look at Ron’s other offers. "Have you looked at all of these letters?  You’ve got Starting Keeper offers from two more teams! Well done! Reserve Keeper from another — no, from two other teams. Excellent! There are real choices here for both of us!"

"How do we choose, though?" Ron said, looking confused, the Cannons letter still clutched tightly in his hand.

Harry swallowed hard, trying to be careful how he answered, but he just had to say it. "I, erm, thought you’d already decided," he said, nodding toward the Cannons letter.

"This?" Ron said, looking at the letter, his face lighting up again at the sight of it. "Yeah," he breathed in obvious ecstasy. As Harry’s heart sank still further, Ron shook his head. "No. I haven’t decided yet. I’m just blown away that the Cannons want me."

"You haven’t decided?"

"Harry," Ron said patiently, "do you really think I want to play against you?"

"But it’s the Cannons . . ."

"And there are four other offers here," Ron said with more maturity than Harry had expected under the circumstances.

Harry laughed, a relieved sound.  "Yeah, there are!" He thought a moment. "Remus used to work as a mediwizard for a local Quidditch team, so he knows a bit about how the teams work. Maybe he could help us sort out which offers are best. I mean, there are so many things to consider — location, salary, the days they want us, the team standing — besides which position they’re offering. I’m sure there are other considerations besides these that I just can’t think of."

"Yeah, let’s ask if he can help us this evening. The party may still be going on then, but we should be able to sneak out!"

"Yeah, OK," Harry agreed. Just then he heard Ginny’s voice.

"Harry Potter!"

"Ginny?" He looked around, but she wasn’t there. Then he looked at his left hand and saw her translucent face hovering over his ring. He pressed the ruby and said, "Ginny Weasley. Hi, baby!"

"Hi, yourself! Are you and Ron all right? People are asking where you are! Where are you? What happened?"

"Are you somewhere private?" Harry said cautiously. He didn’t feel like sharing his and Ron’s news with everyone just yet.

"Hang on. Shall I bring Hermione?" Ginny said.

Harry could tell from the way her head moved that she was standing up and looking around for her best friend. "Yes, bring her along."

"Right. Hermione? Could I see you a minute?" Ginny said. The motion of her head above the ring showed she was moving again. Finally she said, "OK, what’s up?"

"Ron and I got several offers from Quidditch teams," Harry said with a grin. "We couldn’t wait to open them, so we came to the Changing Rooms to look them over. They’re really good offers, Gin. Tell Hermione that too. We’ll come in now and tell you everything. Sorry we worried you. Don’t share our news yet, OK? I just want to savour it for a bit before telling." He glanced at Ron, who grinned and nodded. "Yeah, Ron feels the same way."

"OK," she said happily. "Congratulations!" She turned her head and repeated Harry’s news to her best friend in a quiet voice, then grinned at Harry’s face hovering over her ring. "Hermione says to tell Ron she’s proud of him! I’m proud of both of you!" She hesitated, looked off to the side, then laughed. "Oh, now Hermione says she’s proud of both of you too. Just come in and we’ll talk, OK?"

"We’ll be right there," Harry replied. "Bye."

* * * * *

Gryffindor Tower was rocking with noise, music, laughter and celebration when Harry and Ron climbed through the portrait hole. When the other Gryffindors saw them, cheers went up, adding tremendously to the noise level. Both Harry and Ron grinned broadly, blushing a bit at all the adulation they were receiving. The cheers rolled on and on, and finally, glancing at each other conspiratorially, Harry and Ron both said, "Cheers!" and bowed rather dramatically, making everyone laugh and get back to partying.

"That was fun," Ron said with a chuckle as he and Harry helped themselves to snacks and butterbeer. Ginny and Hermione were standing by the steps to the boys’ dormitories, looking both excited and expectant. Harry and Ron had to run a gauntlet of well-wishers to get to them, but they finally managed it.

"Well?" Ginny said, her eyes dancing as she looked from her boyfriend to her brother and back again. "Show us!"

"We’ve been waiting so patiently while you dealt with your adoring fans," Hermione teased, reaching up to push Ron’s hair out of his eyes.

"It’s a burden, being so popular," Ron joked.

"Yeah, dead awful," Harry agreed, laughing, as he and his friends sat on the stairs so the boys could eat their snacks.

"You know, I’ve noticed something," Hermione said suddenly, gazing at him.

"What? Dirt on my nose?" Harry teased. She was looking at him rather intently.

"No. It’s you. There’s something odd about the way you enjoy the attention you get when you win Quidditch games, but you can’t stand the attention you get for other things you do."

"Huh?" he said intelligently.

"I mean, you seem to enjoy being the centre of attention and having people congratulate you on a good game. But if people thank you for saving their lives, or for standing up to Voldemort, it bothers you. If people recognize you on the street, that bothers you. If you become a famous Quidditch star, you may be recognized on the street even more," she said reasonably. "Will that bother you, or will you like it? And why the difference?"

"Erm . . ." Harry said, not really wanting to get into any kind of serious discussion in the middle of a party.

"Oh, come on, Harry!" Hermione urged. "I’ve wanted to ask you this for ages. This is the last Quidditch game of your Hogwarts career. I won’t have a chance to ask ‘schoolboy Harry Potter’ this question again! The next time I have a chance, you’ll be ‘professional Quidditch star Harry Potter.’"

He looked at her oddly, then across her to Ron. "What’s with her?"

"She’s got a point, mate," Ron admitted. "You may as well answer her now and get it over with. Otherwise, she’ll never give you a minute’s peace."

Hermione poked him in the ribs with her elbow for his comment.

"Ow! You’ve damaged me! No pro team will ever want me now!" Ron wailed, teasing her.

"They’ll just have to deal with damaged goods, then," Hermione said pertly, then poked him again, a bit more gently this time. She turned back to Harry after she’d made up with Ron. "Well?"

"Well what?" he said, being deliberately thick.

"Why—"

"Oh, yeah, I remember the question," Harry interrupted. He sighed, looking around the room at his classmates. This was the last Quidditch Cup celebration he’d attend as a Hogwarts student. The thought made him sad. He sighed again. "I don’t know, Hermione. I suppose I don’t mind the attention I get when we win games because I’m part of a team effort. And . . . well, what I do on the Quidditch team is my own work, using my own talents, my own efforts. It doesn’t involve anyone dying or being threatened with death or torture or anything like that. It doesn’t involve people admiring me for my accidental defeat of Voldemort when I was a baby. Quidditch is fun. Being part of a team is cool." He shrugged. "That’s all I can think of. Satisfied?"

She thought a minute. "Yes. Thank you." She leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"What’s that for?" he asked.

"For answering my question. For winning the Cup. For being my best friend.  Just because," she said with a shrug.

Ron wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. "Are you flirting with Harry again?"

"Not yet, but that could be arranged," she teased.

"Don’t bother. You need to flirt with me. I’m a potential professional Quidditch star. I need to get used to having girls fawn all over me," Ron said, his eyes sparkling with laughter.

"Yeah, Ginny, you want to help me practice how to deal with fan girls?" Harry said, grinning down at her.

"I’ll hex them all, so you won’t need to worry about it," she said with tremendous self-assurance.

"OK," Harry said easily as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Just as long as the problem is dealt with."

"No worries," she assured him.

"Hey, Harry, Ron," Neville said as he approached them. "Great game!"

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "Thanks!"

Neville sat down near them and noticed the letters sticking out of Ron’s pocket. "What’s all that? Is that what those men gave you down on the pitch? I saw them talking to you."

"Erm . . . yeah," Ron said, blushing madly.

"Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be nosy," Neville said immediately.

"No, it’s not a problem," Ron replied. He pulled out the envelopes reverently and held them out for Neville to see. "They’re . . . they’re . . . erm . . ." He cleared his throat and glanced nervously at Harry.

"They’re offers from professional Quidditch teams," Harry said, helping Ron out.

"Offers? You mean they want you on their teams?" Neville said, delighted.

"Yeah," Harry said with a huge grin.

"You got some too, right, Harry?" Neville said eagerly.

"Yeah, we both did," Harry agreed.

"From the same team?"

"In one case, yeah, but they told us there may be other offers coming in the next week or two," Ron replied, finally finding his voice. "We’ll wait until then to make a final decision."

"Wow! You’re both going to be on professional Quidditch teams!" Neville said admiringly. "Congratulations!"

"What’s that?" Dean said, overhearing part of the conversation as he passed by. Neville filled him in and Dean announced the news as if he were in the stadium. "QUIET! May I have your attention please? It has come to my attention that two of our own Gryffindor Quidditch team players have — drum roll, please —" he waited while several people pounded on tables in an approximation of a drum roll, "been offered contracts by several PROFESSIONAL QUIDDITCH TEAMS!!! Lift your wands for Harry Potter and Ron Weasley!"

The Common Room, already noisy, nearly burst with the cheering that resulted. Many people let off sparks from their wands. Parvati and Lavender released pretty little birds from theirs. Harry and Ron accepted the congratulations, pats on the back, ruffled hair, hugs and other forms of good wishes with bright red faces and huge grins.

"Which teams?" Colin called out.

Ron and Harry looked at each other. Did they really want to reveal everything? At the same time, they shrugged and got out their letters. Ron nudged Harry to go first.

"Erm, OK. I have offers from—" he began.

"Tell us what positions they’re offering!" Dean prompted.

"OK," Harry said, pulling the first letter out of its envelope. "Falmouth Falcons, Reserve Chaser." There were cheers as well as groans and protests that Harry was a Seeker, not a Chaser. Harry raised his hands to quieten them. "Let me get through this, all right?" he said, laughing, as he opened the second letter. Ginny had taken his stack of mail from him and was opening them and handing them to him, and stuffing the ones he’d read back into the proper envelopes. He smiled at her gratefully, then read the rest of his offers. "Tutshill Tornados, Reserve Seeker." Huge cheers met this offer. "Wimbourne Wasps, Reserve Beater." This announcement was met with groans and boos, which made Harry laugh. "Pride of Portree, Starter Seeker." Loud cheers greeted this announcement. "Appleby Arrows, Starter Seeker. London Lions, Starter Seeker."

When the cheering died down, Colin quipped, "Well, we know which position he’s going to take! Pride of Portree Starter Seeker!" He was shouted down by others who were standing up for their own favourite teams.

"HEY! Guys! Quieten down, OK?" Harry said, shaking his head and grinning at their enthusiasm. "I don’t know which offer to take yet. There are a lot of things to consider. I’ll let you know when I decide. And they said there would probably be a few more offers coming in the next week or two anyway, so we can’t make a firm decision until all the offers are in."

"I haven’t heard of the London Lions," Lavender said. "Are they new?"

"Yeah, this was their first season. They’re really good," Harry said with a grin. "They recruited a bunch of fantastic players and are providing for them quite well. They have a new stadium and they’re doing well in competition this year. They’re worth a look, even if they are new."

"Ron, which teams contacted you?" Hermione asked.

Ron cleared his throat nervously, going through his envelopes with Hermione’s help, as Harry and Ginny had done. "Erm . . . Puddlemere United, Reserve Keeper. Wigtown Wanderers, Starting Keeper. Ballycastle Bats, Reserve Keeper. London Lions, Starting Keeper." He stopped and swallowed hard before continuing. "Ch-ch-chudley Cannons, Starting Keeper."

The Common Room exploded with cheers. Everyone knew how devoted Ron was to his favourite team.

"There’s no question there!" Dean said with a grin. "You’re taking the Cannons’ offer, aren’t you?"

"I don’t know yet. It wouldn’t be smart to just ignore these others," Ron said with a shrug, but he was blushing and grinning madly as he gazed at the Cannons’ offer.

"The London Lions wants both of you," Ginny commented. "If you took their offer, you could still play together."

"Yeah, that’s something to consider," Harry agreed, glancing at Ron, who was still gazing at the Cannons’ letter in awe. He sighed, then lifted his eyes to the crowd pressing in around him and his friends and smiled. "Thanks for being excited about this for us, guys. It means a lot."

The party went on for hours. When he was able to get away from well-wishers, Harry pulled out his communication mirror and contacted Remus, asking if he and Ron could have Remus’s help with the decision they needed to make. Remus immediately invited them over, whenever they could get there. Since the game had ended at noon, and the party had gone on since then, Harry and Ron decided to go to Remus’s in the late afternoon. After that decision was reached, they joined in the festivities again for a while, then just couldn’t stand not looking at their offers. They sat in a corner, pouring over the letters, trying to compare this offer to that one, conferring on the good and bad points of each. Ginny, Hermione and other friends stopped by to chat, but the boys were so engrossed, they barely noticed anyone’s approach.

Around four, Harry and Ron got up and headed for the portrait hole, their heads still together, talking quietly as they walked. The girls trailed behind them.

"Aren’t you going to invite us?" Ginny asked, looking a bit hurt.

Harry turned around and smiled at her, looking a bit startled to see her there. "I’m sorry, Gin," he said sincerely. "We were so involved with this stuff, we sort of forgot anyone else was around," he said sheepishly. "We’re going to have our noses buried in paperwork for hours. Wouldn’t you prefer to stay at the party?"

"No," she said definitely. "I want to go, if you don’t mind."

"Me, too," Hermione said, taking Ron’s arm.

Both boys grinned. "Let’s go, then!" Harry said, swinging the Fat Lady’s portrait aside so they could leave.

"How are we getting there?" Hermione said. "It’s not a Hogsmeade weekend."

"Remus said to flash right into the house. That way, we won’t be seen and possibly get in trouble," Harry replied. "Ready?" At everyone’s nod, he changed into a phoenix. They all grabbed his tail and he flashed them to Remus’s living room, where he quickly changed back into himself.

Greetings were exchanged, Tonks making sure to give each of them a hug, and give Harry extra kisses on each cheek in greeting. "What can I get you lot to drink?" she offered.

"We’ve been eating and drinking all afternoon," Harry said with a laugh. "Nothing for me right now, thanks!" The others agreed. "Thanks for seeing us, Remus."

"I’m looking forward to this, boys," his godfather said warmly. "What fun, helping you choose which team’s offer to take!"

"Yeah!" the boys chorused.

"Bring your letters over here to the table and let’s see what we have to work with," Remus suggested. The girls and Tonks sat in the living room chatting comfortably while watching their men concentrate on their task.

After a bit of study, Remus moved to his desk and got two pieces of parchment, two quills and two pots of ink. "All right, here’s what we’ll do," he said, handing each boy a parchment, quill and ink. "Make a list down the left side of the team’s names. Then make a list across the top of all the variables they’re offering, or other things that are important to you. For instance," he said in response to their questioning looks, "it might be important to Harry that the team be located near London, since his house is there, and it will save him money to not have to pay for lodging elsewhere."

"OK, got it," Harry said, then set to work.

"Yeah, thanks!" Ron agreed, bending to his task as well.

When they’d finished their lists, Remus said, "Now take your wands and create a grid on the parchment, so there are lines separating each part of the list. Then you can write into each box what each team has to offer for each criterion."

"Has anyone ever told you that you’re brilliant?" Harry laughed.

"Not today," Remus said, grinning. "You could have sorted this out by yourselves once you got over the first shock of the offers."

"Yeah, probably, but this is more fun," Harry said, beaming at his godfather.

"For me, too," Remus agreed.

Finally, the boys had their grids filled. "Now what?" Ron asked.

"Now you go through and mark which ones you like the least. Perhaps they’re not offering enough money, or they’re offering a reserve position instead of a starter position, or they’re in a location you don’t like, or the team isn’t doing well. That kind of thing," Remus suggested.

"OK," the boys said, then went back to work.

"We’re supposed to get more offers in the next two weeks," Harry said suddenly. "We probably shouldn’t go too far in this before we get those offers."

"We can eliminate the ones we like the least, anyway," Ron countered. "Then we can just add the new offers and see how they fit in."

"Yeah, that’s right," Harry agreed, and went back to work.

* * * * *

"Aren’t they precious?" Tonks said fondly, watching the three men bent over their work so seriously.

"They are kind of cute," Hermione agreed with a fond smile.

"Yeah," Ginny said dreamily, smiling as she watched Harry concentrating on his work, running his hand distractedly through his hair as he considered his options. She wanted to be the one running her hands through his hair, but she knew better than to sidetrack him when he was so focused.

"So what do you two think?" Tonks said brightly. "Do you have any preference about which team they join? Hermione, which team would be closest to your school?"

"I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter," she said with a shrug. "I’m going to live with my parents while I go to college, and Ron will be living with Harry. We’ll get together as often as we can," she assured her friends, "but I realized recently how much time I’ve spent away from my parents all these years. I want to spend some time with them before I start my career or move out on my own or whatever else takes me away from them."

"That’s sweet," Tonks said, smiling. "Your parents are such nice people. I’m sure they’ll enjoy having you at home for a while before you move away permanently."

"Does Ron know this yet?" Ginny asked with a slight frown.

"Well, yes, he’s heard me mention it. We haven’t really talked about it much, though," Hermione said with a shrug.

"I thought maybe . . .," Ginny began, then left her statement hanging.

"Maybe what?" Hermione replied.

"Maybe you’d be getting married," Ginny said quietly.

"No, we’re not ready for that," Hermione said, her tone quite definite.

"Why not?" Tonks asked.

"I have a lot of studying I want to do yet, and I want to travel more before I settle down," Hermione replied. "Ron wants to play Quidditch and go to Auror School, both of which require staying in one place. He won’t have much time for travel."

"The Quidditch teams travel all the time," Ginny countered. "Their games take them all over the UK."

"I want to travel abroad, Ginny," Hermione said patiently. "Ron hasn’t expressed any interest in that at all."

"He loved our trip to Egypt! Have you asked him about this?"

"No. I love him, but we want different things right now," Hermione said, shrugging. "It’s no big deal."

"It is to Ron," Ginny said in a fierce whisper. "He loves you!"

"I love him, too!" Hermione insisted. "But we’re not as ready to make things permanent as you and Harry seem to be."

"Well, you’re right about that, at least," Ginny snarled angrily.  "I’d marry Harry today if he’d let me."

"He probably feels the same way," Tonks said, smiling as she glanced over at her godson.

"Yeah, but he insists I finish school first," Ginny said with a sigh.

"He’s a wise young man," Tonks said approvingly.

"Maybe so, but still. . . ." Ginny said with a sigh. She looked back at Hermione. "You do need to talk to Ron about all this."

"I know. I’ll do it after we finish our N.E.W.T.s. We’ve been so busy revising that there hasn’t been much time to talk about things. And I don’t want to distract him."

"You don’t want to distract him because you know he’ll be heartbroken," Ginny said darkly.

Hermione sighed. "If it really upsets Ron . . . well, I don’t know. I do want to spend some time with my parents, and I have so much research and study I want to do . . . and I want to travel —"

"Don’t you remember what happened when you travelled to Italy without Ron?" Ginny hissed, angry again. "You broke up with him and it broke his heart. Don’t do that again."

Hermione looked at Ginny seriously. "I remember, and I do regret that."

"It can’t be because Ron can’t afford to travel — he’ll have money, between the award the Ministry gave him last term and the salary the Quidditch team will give him," Ginny reminded her, her eyes snapping furiously. "If you can’t stick to the commitment you made to him, you don’t deserve my brother."

"Ginny," Tonks interrupted quietly. "It’s Hermione’s life. She has to do what she thinks is best. Let her and Ron work it out. If it’s meant to be, they’ll be together. If it isn’t meant to be, then they’ll never be happy together. Very few people find their true love as early as you and Harry did. Hermione’s a researcher. Maybe she wants to live a little, ‘research’ life as an adult, so to speak, before she marries. There’s nothing wrong with that."

"There is if it hurts Ron," Ginny said, still huffy, "and she made a promise to him when they made up." She sat stewing angrily for a few minutes, then finally sighed. "I see your point, Tonks. I’m sorry, Hermione. You weren’t here when Ron was going through hell from your breaking up with him. I don’t want to see him go through that kind of pain again."

Hermione put her hand gently on Ginny’s. "I don’t want to cause it, either. I am committed to Ron, but I want to spend some time with my parents before moving out for good. He does know that I plan to live with them for a while after I get out of Hogwarts, and that doesn’t bother him. He and I will work all this out somehow. I’ll be careful, and will do my best not to hurt him. All right?" Ginny nodded. "Honestly, though, I don’t think Ron’s any more ready to get married than I am. He’s never mentioned a promise ring or anything like that, and we’ve never talked about our future together the way you and Harry have. We just enjoy each other now. If he’d talked about a future together, I might feel differently."

"He’s never —?" Ginny said, aghast. Hermione shook her head, her eyes a bit sad. "I’ll have a talk with him," the redhead said determinedly.

"No, don’t do that," Hermione said urgently. "It has to be his decision. Since he hasn’t made any such decision, I’ve made my own plans. When he’s ready, things will change."

Ginny was quiet a moment, trying to sort things out in her mind. "If he proposed today, would you accept?" she asked curiously.

"I don’t know. I don’t think so. I wouldn’t refuse, but honestly, I don’t feel ready. I can’t explain it any better," she said uncomfortably.

"Wait a minute," Ginny said suddenly. "He already proposed. At Christmas, when Mum and Harry had that fight, Ron said it should have been a triple ceremony."

"What?" Tonks said, completely lost. No one had ever told Remus and Tonks about the falling out that had happened between Molly and Harry on Christmas Eve.

"I’ll tell you later, Tonks," Ginny said urgently. "Hermione, he did ask you then."

"But he’s never mentioned it since then," Hermione said hesitantly.

"Why should he have to? You said he’d never talked about your future," Ginny said reasonably. "But he did propose, and he was serious. And when you two made up after your summer fling—"

"It was not a fling!" Hermione hissed, blushing and furious at the same time.

"Whatever. When you made up, you told him you were ready for whatever kind of commitment he wanted. Harry and I heard you tell him that," Ginny insisted.

"Well . . . yes, but—"

"But nothing! Have you acted as if you wanted to talk about your plans for the future together? Have you even brought it up, or have you been waiting for him to do it? He already made the first move, Hermione. He proposed. He’s probably waiting for you to talk about what your plans together will be, you know. You’re known as the one who makes the plans, remember?" Ginny pressed, hoping her friend was listening with an open heart.

"Erm . . . no, I haven’t said anything like that to him," Hermione admitted.

"Then you can’t blame him for not talking to you about it. I know Ron. I expect he’s waiting for you to say something. One of you is going to have to start the conversation." Ginny sat with her arms crossed in exasperation, trying to decide whether Hermione or Ron was more thick-headed.

"So why not bring up the subject and just see what happens?" Tonks suggested.

"Which subject? We’ve covered so many," Hermione said nervously.

"Your futures. Marriage. What you’re going to do after school. Any of the above," Tonks said, grinning. "Maybe he’s just been afraid to say something. You do know I had to nudge Remus into talking about a future together, right?"

Both girls leaned toward her. "No! Really?" Ginny said in surprise. "But he’s been so . . . I mean, he’s seemed so . . . I mean . . . I don’t know what I mean," she ended, laughing.

"You could see he loved me, right?" Tonks said, and both girls nodded. "So could I. But he was afraid to think we might have a future together because of his lycanthropy. And, as he told me later, he couldn’t see why I would be interested in an ‘old man’ like him. ‘Old man,’ my hat! Whoooo!" she chortled gleefully, making both girls giggle.

"What are you girls laughing about over there?" Remus asked, giving his wife an amused glance.

"I’m just telling them how hot you are, sweetie!" Tonks said brightly. All four young people chuckled as Remus blushed madly.

"Thank you, my dear. Now my students will never look at me the same way again," he said, laughing despite his embarrassment. The four students all laughed louder at this.

"Just go back to work over there, boys, and leave us to the girl talk!" Tonks said cheekily.

"Gladly!" Remus said, shaking his head and grinning as he bent over the parchments again.

"Isn’t he the cutest thing?" Tonks said happily, finally tearing her eyes away from her husband and looking at the two girls.

"He is cute," Ginny agreed, "in a godfatherish, professorial way!"

"Yeah," Hermione said, laughing. "I can see that too."

"Good!" Tonks grinned. "Now, where were we? Oh yeah. So he was too shy to say anything to me about a future together, so I just sort of nudged him into talking about it a bit. You could try the same thing, Hermione."

Miss Brightest-Witch-In-Hogwarts looked at Tonks blankly. "I don’t know how! What would I say?"

"How did you get Harry started talking about your future, Ginny?" Tonks said, turning to the younger girl.

"I don’t know. We just sort of always understood we’d be together, once he admitted that he loved me," she said with a gentle smile. "One time we were talking about something and I asked if we’d always live in London, and he said he’d like to live in the country, that Grimmauld Place was no place to raise children, since they couldn’t play outside, nor could he." Her face softened at the memory. It was one of those times when Harry’s heart had done the talking, with his brain nowhere in the loop, no worries, no reservations, no Voldemort to deal with, nothing but looking toward a normal, happy future. "We’re going to build a house in Godric’s Hollow on the land he inherited from his parents," she said quietly. "He says there’s room for a Quidditch pitch there." She sat looking off in the distance, seeing a future her friends could only imagine.

"That’s sweet," Tonks said quietly after a moment.  "I can see him saying that. How lovely."

"He wants Ron to buy the land next door so we can always be neighbours and our kids can play together," Ginny added.

"Harry said that?" Hermione said suddenly.

"Yeah," Ginny said, turning to her. "He and Ron have talked about it."

Hermione gulped. "They have?" Ginny nodded. "Did anyone ever plan to tell me?"

Ginny shrugged and smiled. "I think Ron intends to tell you at some point. Try to act surprised when he does, OK?" Hermione nodded mutely.

"So are you more ready now?" Tonks asked Hermione, giving her a grin.

"Erm . . . ." Hermione cleared her throat and looked over at Ron. Had he been planning the details of their future together and simply not told her yet? "Um, I’ll, um, have to think about it."

Tonks and Ginny both laughed. "You do that," Tonks encouraged her. "You’ll make the right decision when the time comes. You’re young yet, you have plenty of time to make all those life-changing choices."

"Yeah," Hermione said uncertainly. "Plenty of time." He’s planning a future for us, she thought, amazed. There’s a war on. We don’t know what the future holds for us, or if we’ll even have one. We don’t know if any of us will survive the war. And getting married during a war seems like a bad idea to me. I mean, anything can happen! It’s just not a logical choice! Tonks and Remus are right in the middle of the war and got married anyway, but Ron and I — we’re just not ready for such a commitment — are we? But I did tell him I was ready for whatever he wanted . . . and really, shouldn’t we grab whatever happiness we can? Harry and Ginny are. So are Tonks and Remus. She settled back on the couch, lost in her thoughts. Ginny and Tonks noticed and left her alone, chatting about inconsequential things while the men worked.

* * * * *

"I think that’s the best we can do for now," Remus said, straightening up.

"It makes more sense now, anyway," Ron said. "I wish I could talk to Dad about this."

"You’re welcome to use our fireplace," Remus offered. "The floo powder is in that little red pot on the mantle."

"Thanks!" Ron said, then moved to the fireplace, knelt in front of it and tossed in some floo powder, saying "The Burrow" in a clear voice. Soon his head was in his parents’ kitchen fire. "Dad! Mum! Is anyone home?"

"Ron, dear, what’s wrong?" Molly said, hurrying into the kitchen, her knitting in her hands.

"Nothing! I’d like to talk to Dad. Is he home?" Ron said with a smile. "How are you?"

"I’m fine, dear. Your dad’s out in the shed working on some project or other. I’ll go and call him. Are you sure nothing’s wrong?"

"No, nothing’s wrong, I just want his opinion about something," Ron said, grinning happily.

"Right. I’ll go and call him."

Soon Arthur joined Molly by the fire. "Ron!" he said brightly. "What’s up?"

"Harry and I got some offers from professional Quidditch teams!" Ron said with obvious excitement. "We’re at Remus’s house in Hogsmeade, trying to sort out which offer is best. I wanted to get your opinion on it."

"I’d be delighted!" Arthur said. "Do you want to come here, or do you want to just tell me about them?"

"You could come here," Ron said. "The girls are here chatting to Tonks — Mum could come too. It would be fun."

"Right. Let me get cleaned up and we’ll be right there, then," Arthur said with a smile. "Congratulations! I know this means a lot to you, and Harry, as well."

"Yeah! Dad — I got an offer from the Cannons!"

"Then there’s no decision to be made, is there?" Arthur said, tilting his head and smiling at his youngest son. "You’ll be wearing orange robes soon."

"Yeah. But I want to make the best choice, and the Cannons may not be it," Ron said, surprising his parents.

"That’s wise of you," Molly commended him. "We’ll be there soon, dear."

A short time later, Arthur and Molly stepped into the Lupins’ living room from the fireplace. As greetings were exchanged, Molly handed Tonks a heavy basket, saying, "I’ve been baking. I thought I’d bring along some fresh pies, and I had a shepherd’s pie in the oven when Ron called, so I brought that, as well. I hope you don’t mind. I thought you lot might enjoy them."

"Wow, that’s great!" Tonks said with a grin. "Thanks, Molly! I’ll go and put these in the kitchen."

Arthur joined the men around the table. "Let’s see then," he said with a smile as he draped his arm around his youngest son’s shoulders.

Ron and Arthur discussed Ron’s various offers while Harry and Remus did the same with his. Finally, silence fell over the four of them.

"Amazing, that’s what it is," Arthur said finally. "Our boys recruited to professional Quidditch teams! I’m proud of both of you!"

"Thanks, Mr. Weasley," Harry said with a smile as Ron grinned at his dad.

"Are you lot finished?" Molly asked from the kitchen.

Arthur looked around the other men’s faces. "Well?" They all nodded.

"Good! Dinner’s ready!" Molly said. Soon the parchments were all cleared away, extra chairs were conjured and the eight of them sat down and enjoyed a wonderful meal.

"It’s a good thing you’re used to cooking for an army," Tonks said, smiling at Molly. "I would never have enough in the oven that I could easily feed six extra people!"

"I have trouble cooking for only two, after all the years of cooking for nine," Molly said with a smile. "We would have been eating this shepherd’s pie for days and days." She shook her head and smiled ruefully.

"That’s never a problem, dear," Arthur said supportively.

Ron leaned back, patting his tummy. "That was great, Mum! I’m stuffed!"

"Me, too," Harry agreed, scraping up the last of the apple tart from his plate.

"What a fun afternoon!" Remus said, smiling around at his friends. "I’m so glad you all came over!"

"So have you narrowed down the offers yet?" Ginny asked. She’d forced herself to leave them alone about this until they were finished eating.

"Yeah," Harry said with a smile. "Once Remus gave us a system to use, it was a lot easier to compare the various offers."

"So? Which ones made the cut?" Ginny prompted.

"Better to ask which ones we eliminated," Ron corrected. "The ones that are left are all still in contention and we aren’t going to think about them any more until we get the rest of the offers."

"You aren’t going to think about them any more?" Ginny said with a snort of laughter. "That’ll be the day!"

"Yeah, well, that’s the plan, anyway," Ron replied, blushing a bit.

"You two still haven’t answered the question," Hermione reminded them.

"OK, if you insist," Ron said. "I’ve eliminated the Ballycastle Bats and Puddlemere United, who both offered reserve positions. The Wigtown Wanderers offered a starting position, but the pay isn’t that good. The Cannons offer has the best money, so they’re right on top of the heap. The London Lions have the advantage of being in London, offering a starting position and good money, and doing better in the league than the Cannons. They also require fewer days per week than the Cannons. But then, it’s the Cannons—" he said with a shrug, knowing everyone understood how much he loved that team.

"So it’s the Cannons or the Lions for you?" Ginny prompted.

"Yeah. I won’t ignore Wigtown, either. Mr. Terwilliger said they might start a bidding war if things got tight while we’re deciding." Ron’s face shone with excitement at the thought of professional Quidditch teams actually vying for his services.

"So, Harry? What about you?" Hermione said.

"I’ve eliminated the Falmouth Falcons and the Wimbourne Wasps, so far. The Wasps want me to be a Beater, and I’d rather be a Seeker, and the Falcons offered a reserve position, not a starting one. I’m keeping the Tutshill Tornados on my list despite their offering me a reserve position because they’re leading the league and the money is good. The Appleby Arrows, Pride of Portree and the London Lions have all offered me Starting Seeker positions, and the money’s good there, as well. The London Lions have the advantage of being in London, where I’ll be living, and where the Auror School is. They also only require three days a week of practice, and the one game day per weekend, of course."

"How can they only do three days per week? What do the others require?" Molly asked.

"I think the people in charge of the Lions must be very modern-thinking. Their offer says they’ve studied Muggle training methods as well as magical. They said there are a lot of studies that show your muscles get built up better by working out every other day, and giving them a day’s rest in between. Since all of us should already have decent game skills, the main thing we need to work on in practice is strategies and fitness. So, rather than five half-days of practice like the other teams do, they do three full days of practice, but about a third of the day is spent in strategy sessions, learning the plays and developing new ones, so you aren’t too exhausted after a whole day’s flying. Still, some games do run an entire day, so it’s good to have longer practices so you’re used to that kind of time on a broom, I think. There was an article in one of the Quidditch magazines about their training method a few months ago. It sounds like a good system."

"You’re really leaning toward the Lions, aren’t you, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"Their schedule will give me time for homework, and to come up here and see you," he said, blushing under the gazes of all the adults. "I like that as much as the location."

"The fact that they want both of you is a point in their favour, as well," Ginny said, glancing at her brother. "I can’t imagine you two on opposing teams."

Harry was silent for a moment. "I can’t either, and I’d love to be on the same team as Ron, but we’ll have to make the decision that’s right for each of us," he said fairly.

"Well said!" Arthur said. "You boys will have to make the best decisions possible about a great many things in the next few months — which classes to take at school, where to live, the right Quidditch team, so many things. It’s an exciting time for you! What fun!"

"Yes, but in the meantime, we have N.E.W.T. revision to get back to," Hermione said reluctantly as she glanced at her watch. "This has been great, but we should go."

Harry and Ron looked at their watches and sighed, then pushed back from the table.

"We’ll help you clear up," Harry said, picking up his dishes and some of the serving dishes as well.

"Harry, you just put those down and go on!" Tonks encouraged him. "We can take care of it!"

Harry looked at her a bit sternly. "My godfather taught me that a good guest cleans up after himself," he said primly, then grinned cheekily as he carried his load to the kitchen. Remus laughed when Harry said this.

"And a good lesson that was, too," Tonks agreed, grabbing a few things to carry herself.

Soon the senior Weasleys were standing by the fireplace saying goodnight, and the students were near the door, waiting for Harry to turn into a phoenix. He was busy getting a hug and kiss from his godmother.

"You pop over whenever you want, sweetie, and bring your friends," Tonks told him. "We’re your family, and this is your home. I want you to treat it that way. Come and slob out some weekend, leave a sock hanging on a lamp or something, get comfortable!"

Harry bent down and hugged her tightly. "You are so good to me. Thanks."

"That’s what families are for, luv," she said, tweaking his chin playfully with her fingers. "You take care of yourself, you hear? Ginny, make sure he does!"

"I will," Ginny replied with a grin.

"I think I’m becoming henpecked," Harry mused, his eyes sparkling with humour.

"Oh, you do, do you?" Tonks said impertinently.

"Yeah! And I love it!" he said, giving her another squeeze, waving to his godfather and the Weasleys, then changing into a phoenix and flashing his friends back to Hogwarts.

* * * * *

"Wow, look at this!" Hermione said over breakfast the next day. She held The Daily Prophet up so Ron and Harry could see an article halfway down the front page.

"‘Hogwarts Heroes Recruited,’" Ron read aloud. "Huh?" He and Harry gaped at the picture of the two of them in their Quidditch robes on the front page of the paper.

"What’s all that about?" Harry said.

"Hang on," Hermione said, turning the paper around so she could read it to them. "Here we go.

Hogwarts Seventh Year students Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, both of Gryffindor House, have been recruited by several professional Quidditch teams, the Daily Prophet learned yesterday.

Potter is well known as ‘The Boy-Who-Lived,’ the survivor of numerous battles with You-Know-Who, and a hero with numerous awards to his credit. He is the youngest recipient of the Order of Merlin, First Class, in our history. He has played Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team since his first year, was the youngest Seeker at Hogwarts in a century, and has served as Captain of the Gryffindor team for two years.

Potter was recruited by the Appleby Arrows, the Falmouth Falcons, the London Lions, the Pride of Portree, the Tutshill Tornados, and the Wimbourne Wasps. Most of the teams have offered him positions as either a Starter or Reserve Seeker, although the Falcons offered him the position of Reserve Chaser, and the Wasps offered him Reserve Beater.

When asked why the Wasps offered him the position of Reserve Beater when Potter is well-known (and considered by many to be nearly unbeatable, even at a professional level) as a Seeker, Wasp management said, ‘It doesn’t matter what position that boy plays. Can you imagine the crowds that will come to see him? It will be the best thing that’s happened to the Wasps since Ludo Bagman was on our team. The only position we have open is Beater, so that’s what we offered him.’"

"Bloody hell," Harry growled. "Is that the only reason those blokes recruited me? To bring in crowds to see the sodding Boy-Who-Lived? Damn!"

"Harry, calm down. That was only the Wasps. There’s more," Hermione said, hoping to stave off any real anger from him.

"What about me? Did they recruit me for publicity too?" Ron said anxiously.

"Let me read it, OK? And you both need to remember that a lot of what’s written in the paper isn’t worth the ink they used to print it," she reminded them.

"Yeah, all right," Harry grumbled. "Go on." Ron sighed, looking rather forlorn. Ginny wrapped her arm around Harry’s back supportively and patted her brother’s hand, hoping to comfort him.

Weasley, who is Head Boy at Hogwarts, became famous as the General of Dumbledore’s Army, a Defence Against the Dark Arts club led by Potter, which has participated in battle against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his Death Eaters. Weasley has acquitted himself quite well in these encounters and earned a reputation as an excellent strategist. In his early days on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, where he began playing Keeper in his fifth year, Weasley got off to a rough start, but ended the year by winning the Quidditch Cup for his team. The Gryffindors have been unbeatable since then, with Potter’s skills as a Seeker guaranteeing them at least 150 points per game, and Weasley’s long arms and good judgment keeping the opposing team from scoring more than a few goals per game.

Weasley has been recruited by the Ballycastle Bats, the Chudley Cannons (Weasley’s favourite team), the London Lions, Puddlemere United and the Wigtown Wanderers. All of these teams offered him either a Starting or Reserve Keeper position.

Informed sources say more offers may be forthcoming in the next week or two. It will be interesting to see which team each boy chooses. There are rumours floating around that a bidding war may be in the offing, particularly for Potter, whose name alone would bring in tremendous crowds even if he weren’t a highly-skilled Seeker.

"There, Harry," Ginny said, giving him a squeeze. "They said you’re a ‘highly-skilled Seeker.’ They’re not just after you for your name."

"It doesn’t hurt, though, does it?" he said darkly. "Is that all?" he asked Hermione.

She swallowed hard. She’d been reading ahead and knew they wouldn’t like the rest of the article. "That’s . . . that’s about it, yes," she lied, putting the paper down.

"You’re fibbing," Harry said, snatching the paper from under her arm. "I can tell by now, you know."

"Please, Harry," she began.

"We may as well hear the rest," he said grimly, then began reading.

Quidditch game attendance has been in a slump the last few years for many of these teams. Apparently the fickle public only wants to watch the games of those who are leading the league, not follow their local or favourite team as loyally as they used to. Weasley, a loyal Cannons fan himself, will certainly bring in a good crowd to their games if he joins them, and he is quite a competent Keeper. Potter will add panache to whatever team he’s on, not to mention the skills he’ll bring, which will help his team climb the ranks in the league. It will be interesting to watch the teams vying for the services of these young men, and to see if their presence on a team really does help the team not only win more games, but also draw bigger crowds.

Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, good luck in your choices. We’re looking forward to watching you play professional Quidditch, no matter which teams you choose."

"Great. They’re going to want front row seats at the bidding war," Harry grumbled.

"Well, you have to expect that kind of thing. I mean, it’s just interesting to the average person when something like a bidding war happens, don’t you think?" Hermione said carefully. "It probably means more money, too. And you both thought it was cool when you were told about the bidding war by the agents." Both boys looked grim.

"A bidding war may also mean more perks," Ginny added, trying to help.

"Perks?" Ron said, suddenly brightening. "Like what?"

"I don’t know. Whatever perks they give players to try to get them on the team," Ginny said with a shrug.

"New brooms, then," Ron said with a shrug, "but we both have Firebolts."

"Yeah," Harry muttered. He crossed his arms on the table and rested his chin on them, staring unhappily at the article. "Why can’t anything ever just be simple?"

"How does this complicate things?" Hermione said. "They may offer you more money. They may give you nice things. And of course you’ll both be a draw for crowds! I mean, you are both famous for these battles. People would be stupid not to honour you for what you’ve done."

"They won’t be honouring us, they’ll be looking at us as if we’re freaks," Harry snarled, sitting up suddenly. "Maybe they won’t look at Ron that way, but—"

"Stop it, right now!" Ginny commanded. "Just stop. You are an outstanding Quidditch player. They’re recruiting both of you for your skills. Don’t brood about what the paper said. You know what idiots those writers are."

"Yeah," Harry said darkly. He glanced up at Ron, who looked a bit ill. "What’s wrong, mate?"

"They recruited us because we’re famous. That’s what happened, isn’t it?" Ron said, looking rather queasy.

Harry sighed. He was used to dealing with these feelings even if he hated them. Ron had never been forced to deal with true celebrity. "Ron. They need our skills, mate. Just remember that. That’s what’s important."

"Yeah," Ron said, nodding his head but still looking ill. "Our skills."

"Yeah," Harry said, glum again.

* * * * *

The next morning, Ron received a package from the Cannons amidst a flurry of post-owls bringing good wishes from Quidditch fans across the UK.

"Wow, look at this!" Ron said, holding up the Cannons jersey with his name on the back.

Harry forced himself to smile. "That’s cool!" he said in a horribly hearty voice. "So you’ve signed with them, then?"

"Nah," Ron replied off-handedly. "I told you I wasn’t going to sign with anyone until we got the rest of the offers." He dug through the package and pulled out a button with his picture on it in Chudley Cannons robes. "Wicked! Wonder how they did that?"

"Magic," Harry replied dryly. "What else did they send you?" he added, doing his best to be supportive.

Ron named things as he dug through the box. "Some programs, some noisemakers, a Cannons hat and scarf . . . looks like most of the stuff you can buy," he said, looking up from his digging, an amused look on his face. "Silly, since I have nearly all of this stuff already!"

"Yeah, but do they know that?" Harry replied, smiling back at his friend.

Ron shrugged. "It’s kind of cool, though, right? I mean, we’re getting all this free stuff! Who sent that package to you, mate?"

"The Appleby Arrows," Harry said, lifting out a jersey with his name on it and the Arrows logo on the front. He snorted with laughter. "It looks like they have the same idea as the Cannons," he commented, as he pulled similar items to Ron’s from the box.

"Yeah. That’s funny, isn’t it?" Ron said, grinning.

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "Isn’t Euan an Arrows fan?"

"I think so, yeah," Ron replied.

"Oy! Euan!" Harry called, leaning back so he could see along the seats at the Gryffindor table.

"Yeah?" the younger boy said, leaning back to see Harry.

"You’re an Arrows fan, right?"

"Yeah!"

"Come here, then." When Euan reached him, Harry handed him the entire package. "Here you go, mate. A whole box of Arrows stuff."

"Wow, Harry! Thanks! Are you sure you don’t want it?" Euan said, transported with delight over the gift.

"Yeah, I don’t need it. You enjoy that stuff, OK?" Harry said, smiling at the boy.

"Thanks!" Euan said, then carried the box back to his seat and started showing his friends the bounty he’d received.

"So that means the Arrows are no longer being considered, right?" Ron said wisely.

"Yeah," Harry said, smiling. "Their offer just isn’t as good as the Tornados, Pride of Portree or the Lions. If the Tornados weren’t offering just a Reserve Seeker position, I’d be more interested in them," he mused as he went back to eating his breakfast.

"But the Arrows offered you Starter Seeker," Ron responded.

"Yeah, but they’re near the bottom of the league this year, and haven’t done well the last three years," Harry replied. He and Ron had been researching the teams that had contacted them quite thoroughly.

"Are you giving away stuff?" Ginny asked curiously as she sat next to Harry again. She’d left to talk to a friend about a homework assignment.

"Yeah, I gave Euan stuff the Arrows sent me. I’ve decided against them," Harry said with a shrug, stuffing another forkful of eggs into his mouth.

"Why?"

"Offer’s not good enough. They want too many days a week, and they aren’t offering enough money to make it worthwhile," he replied.

"And they haven’t done well the last few years, nor this year," Ron added.

"Oh, OK," she said, settling on the bench and tipping some bacon onto her plate. "Who’s left?"

"Portree, Tornados, Lions," Harry replied, reaching across her for the pumpkin juice.

"How about you, Ron?" she asked, noticing the Cannons stuff spilling out of the box in front of him.

"I’m weighing all my options," he said, affecting a snooty, Percy-like air, then dissolving in laughter.

"Sounds like a good idea," she replied.

"I can’t believe they’re sending bribes like this," Hermione said, shoving the Cannons box out of the way so she could reach the platter of toast.

"I’d hand that to you if you asked," Ron reproved her, lifting the platter and offering it to her. When he set the platter down, he removed the box from the table and set it on the floor at his feet.

"Thanks," she said, smiling sweetly at him as she bit into her toast.

"Busy day today, eh?" Ron said with a sigh. They faced several double classes as well as hours of N.E.W.T. revision.

"Yeah," Hermione said with a sigh. "I don’t think I’ll ever feel prepared for these exams."

"Blimey, Hermione, don’t say that!" Ron said, frowning. "If you aren’t prepared, the rest of us are doomed."

"Then we’re all doomed," she said sadly. "I’ve been working so hard, but there’s just so much to revise!"

"You’ll manage," Harry said supportively.

"Ha. Spoken like the man who isn’t required to take N.E.W.T.s," she said tartly.

"Hey, if you want to fight Voldemort by yourself, feel free. I’ll be happy to take your exams for you," he said mildly.

"Sorry," she said, immediately chastened.

"No problem," he said with a shrug. He started to rise. "I’ve got to work with Dumbledore again today. See you lot later." He bent down and kissed Ginny on top of the head. "Have a good day."

* * * * *

For days thereafter, every morning brought scores of post owls with letters from people encouraging Harry and Ron to join this team or that one. And then there were more packages, which were increasing in size, value and complexity as the days went on. Most of the teams were plying Harry and Ron with various gifts, all aimed to entice them to sign with their team. Accessories for their brooms, magnificent broom cases, jerseys and t-shirts with their names emblazoned on the back and the team name on the front, and a wide variety of other things arrived every morning.

"What are we going to do with all of this stuff?" Harry said in exasperation one morning several days later.

"I’m keeping the best stuff and giving the rest to whoever wants it," Ron said, sorting through another box of team-related merchandise.

"Is this influencing you one way or the other?" Hermione asked curiously. "I mean, is there a team you prefer now that you’ve had all of these presents from them?"

"You know what?" Harry said. "Neither of us has been sent a thing from the Lions, and I actually appreciate that. This stuff bothers me somehow," he said, indicating the overflowing packages strewn across the table. At the moment, several of their friends were picking through them to see what they wanted.

"Yeah, that is odd, isn’t it?" Ron said. "I mean, the Lions gave us a good offer. I wonder why they aren’t sending this kind of thing?"

"Maybe they don’t think you want to be courted this way," Ginny said wisely.

"Courted?" Harry said, smiling down at her.

"Plied with gifts so they can have their way with you," she said cheekily.

"Oh, you are the saucy one, aren’t you?" he said, lifting a lock of her hair and tickling her nose with it.

"At times," she admitted.

"Hey, Harry, here’s something from the scouts!" Ron said excitedly as another post owl landed in front of him. "It’s really thick!" A second owl had landed in front of Harry, holding its leg out expectantly. Both boys gave the owls bits of bacon and removed the packets.

"These must be the other offers," Harry said as he opened the envelope.

"Yeah!" Ron said, grinning across the table at Harry.

Harry had already opened the cover letter. "Terwilliger says these are all the offers that will be coming in, so we need to make a decision soon."

"Cool!" Ron said. "We have time before classes to look at them, don’t you think?"

"Yeah, if we hurry," Harry agreed. Today was one of the days he attended classes with his friends, and he didn’t want to be late.

"Let’s go," Ron urged. He, Harry, Hermione and Ginny all hurried out of the Great Hall and found a quiet spot in the courtyard to go through the new offers and add them to the grids they’d created with Remus’s help.

"Anything jumping out at you?" Ron asked as he finished adding to his parchment.

"Yeah. I still like the Lions, Tornados and Portree best," Harry said with a sigh.

"Did you get some new offers from the original teams?" Ron asked carefully.

"Yeah. Did you?"

"Yeah. Looks like they’re starting a bidding war, eh?" Ron said gleefully. "Wonder how long it will go on? And how high they’ll go? Some of these new offers really increased the money!"

"Terwilliger’s letter said we have to decide based on this stuff," Harry said with a shrug. "How do yours look?"

"I got an offer from Portree, but it’s not a very good one. Reserve Keeper, and the money’s not as good as some of the other offers."

"But that’s another we could be on together," Harry said hopefully.

"Yeah," Ron agreed, smiling at his friend. He knew Harry was doing his best to let him make his own decision, but that he’d prefer they were on the same team. Ron felt the same way, but knew it was important to make the right choice, not just the choice that would be the most fun or the most comfortable.

Harry looked at his watch. "Uh-oh, we need to go," he said, getting to his feet and holding his hand out to Ginny to help her up.

"Let’s ask Remus if he can look these over this evening and see if we’ve missed anything, OK?" Ron asked.

"Yeah," Harry agreed.

* * * * *

Several days later, Harry and his friends were once again at the breakfast table in the Great Hall, being inundated by owls. The Daily Prophet was running editorials and opinion pieces about the prospects for the various teams once either Ron or Harry had joined them. The articles were prompting fans to write even more letters encouraging the boys to choose the fans’ favourite team.

Professor Dumbledore walked up behind Harry and put his hand on the young man’s shoulder as he leaned across the table to include Ron in the conversation. "Good morning! Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, could I have a word?"

"Of course," Harry said, getting up from his seat and following the headmaster. Ron followed suit.

When they were in the corridor, Dumbledore said, "I’ve received an owl today from the London Lions. They have representatives who would like to speak to each of you. Can you be in the Defence classroom at three, Harry, and at three-thirty, Mr. Weasley?" Both boys nodded. The headmaster looked at the numerous unopened envelopes in the boys’ hands. "Excellent. I believe you’ll find a letter from them in your morning post. Have a lovely day."

"Wonder what they want?" Ron asked, digging through the envelopes until he found the one with the Lions red and gold logo.

"Dunno," Harry said, ripping his Lions letter open. He and Ron were walking back to their seats as they talked. Each of them dropped into his seat with his eyes glued to the letter in front of him.

"What’s up?" Ginny asked.

"What did Professor Dumbledore want?" Hermione said, a puzzled frown on her face as she watched the variety of expressions flitting across Ron’s mobile face. "What’s that?"

"Nosy, aren’t you?" Harry said, grinning at Hermione, then at Ginny. "This, dear ladies, is a letter from the London Lions. Ron has one as well. They’re coming today to meet us."

"Why? All of the others just sent presents," Ginny said, confused.

"Dunno," Harry said with a shrug.

"Oh, come on, what’s in that letter? Ron’s about to have kittens just from reading it," Ginny replied, grinning at her brother, who was beaming.

"It’s a really nice letter," Ron said dreamily.

"OK. What’s in it?" Hermione pressed.

"Words," Harry said cheekily.

Hermione harrumphed impressively. "All right, you two have had your fun. Exactly what words, in what order, are in those letters?"

Harry looked at Ron, his eyes twinkling. "You first."

Ron sighed dramatically. "All right, if you insist."

"I do," Harry said, grinning.

Ron sat up straight and shook the letter importantly, clearing his throat for dramatic effect. "Dear Mr. Weasley," he read. "The London Lions Quidditch team is most desirous of acquiring both you and Mr. Potter for our team. We have spent a lot of time, effort and money in recruiting the very best players for the Lions. We believe you and Mr. Potter are exactly the talent we need to fill out our roster of top-of-the-line talent. As stated in our initial offer, we practice three days a week, leaving both of you gentlemen two completely free days during the week, and one free day on the weekend. We submitted a fair offer in our initial contact, but would like to meet with you to discuss terms that we will find mutually satisfactory. Signing bonuses will be offered, of course, as well as other perks. Our current Keeper and Seeker are aging and wish to cut back on their playing time. They will, of course, be available to fill in for you should your services be needed on the battlefront, or if your studies at the Auror School interfere with our schedule. We are willing to be flexible with your timetables until such time as you complete Auror School and/or defeat You-Know-Who, or both. We look forward to speaking with you in person this afternoon.

"Yours very sincerely,

Chauncey Dalrymple, Owner, London Lions

Oswald Murphy, Manager, London Lions

Matthias O’Doule, Coach, London Lions

Bob Smithers, Captain, London Lions"

"Mine says the same thing, if you replace ‘Weasley’ with ‘Potter’ and vice versa," Harry chuckled.

"So how is this different than the other offers?" Hermione said. The boys had kept their offers pretty close to their chests.

"For one thing, the schedule is great!" Harry said enthusiastically. "For another, they’re willing to be flexible if school or the war gets in the way of us playing. No one else has said that, and it’s a very real consideration, for me, at least."

"For me, too," Ron insisted. "I’m in the Order, too, mate."

"I know," Harry replied. "So that concession to our schedules sounds really good to me. Dumbledore told us they’re coming to see us this afternoon."

"I can’t wait!" Ron said eagerly.

"So you’re really not going with the Cannons?" Ginny said, looking surprised.

"How many times do I have to say I’m going to consider all options very carefully before deciding?" Ron replied, looking a bit exasperated.

"It’s just that . . . it’s the Cannons!" Ginny replied.

"Yeah, I know," he said, sounding a bit despondent. "But you know what? All they’ve done is talk about how big a crowd I’m going to draw. They haven’t said anything about doing stuff to benefit me. It’s all about them. I don’t know how I’ll manage school with the schedule the other teams all have — five days a week of practice, not counting game days. There will only be a few hours between practice and school, and I’ll have to Apparate to London from wherever I am, and I’ll have to get my own lodging. It would be difficult for me to live very far from the team." He shook his head. "There’s a lot to consider."

"Yeah," Harry agreed.

* * * * *

After a day in which the hands on his watch seemed to stand completely still, it was finally three o’clock and time for Harry’s appointment with the Lions’ representatives. He entered the Defence classroom, nervous and excited. Four men waited for him there. All of them rose when he entered the room.

"Mr. Potter, thank you so much for coming," a portly man said genially, extending his hand to shake Harry’s. "I’m Chauncey Dalrymple, owner of the London Lions."

"Hello, sir," Harry said, shaking the man’s hand. Dalrymple made the introductions of the team manager, coach and captain and Harry introduced Remus, who he’d asked to attend the meeting with him. Soon they were all comfortably seated around a conference table Dumbledore had provided for the meeting.

"Mr. Potter, what are your goals in regard to a Quidditch career?" Dalrymple asked.

"Erm . . . what do you mean?" Harry asked carefully.

"Do you have any idea how long you intend to play? I know you plan to attend Auror School, so you’re brighter than many who want to play professional Quidditch. At least you’ll have a career after your playing days are over," Dalrymple said with a smile.

"Oh. Yes. Erm . . . I’d love to play Quidditch as long as I’m physically able — possibly ten years or so." Harry knew ten years was a long career for a Seeker. "I do plan to be an Auror, and I will be attending Auror School with that as my long-term goal. As for Quidditch — I love the game. There’s nothing like it! I can play Seeker or Chaser, but I prefer to play Seeker. That’s where I have the most experience. I’ve been Captain of our house team for two years now and have enjoyed coaching them, helping the young ones with their flying, working out plays, planning strategies with Ron — erm, that’s Ron Weasley, my best mate. He’s a chess master and wonderful at strategies. Someday, it would be fun to coach a team, I think, but that would be a long time from now." He fell silent, watching their reactions carefully.

"Wonderful," Dalrymple said with a warm smile. "We know you have an excellent record with your team here at Hogwarts. We’ve watched you play — and by the way, all four of us are Gryffindors, as are all of the team members! We didn’t plan it that way, but that’s the way it’s worked out."

He chuckled and Harry smiled in return, beginning to relax with these men, all of whom appeared to be friendly and good-natured. He glanced at Remus, who was also looking more relaxed than when they first entered the room.

"Now, then, Mr. Potter, what’s the most important thing to you in choosing your professional Quidditch team?" Matthias O’Doule, the team coach, asked.

"Honestly, there are a lot of criteria I’m considering," Harry began.

"Such as?" O’Doule prompted.

Harry looked at Remus, who winked. "Erm. . .we made a list," he offered, then pulled out his parchment. "The criteria I’m considering include location, timetable, salary, the team’s standing, that kind of thing. I’d also like it if my friend Ron and I could be on the same team," he added diffidently. "We’re used to playing together, and we’re planning to room together after Hogwarts as well as going to Auror School together, so it would be convenient if we were on the same team."

"You do know we made an offer to him, don’t you?" Dalrymple said.

"Yes," Harry replied. "It’s just one of the criteria I’m considering."

"I see," the owner replied. "Very good."

"Bottom line, Mr. Potter," Dalrymple said seriously. "I have a contract here that only requires your signature and you’ll be a London Lion. It’s a three-year contract, with the salary re-negotiated each year, with the potential for annual bonuses, as well. I’d like you to look it over and see what you think of it. I think you’ll see we’ve met all of your criteria rather well, with the possible exception of Mr. Weasley’s participation. That, of course, is up to him."

"I understand," Harry said, taking the proffered document. He pulled his chair closer to Remus’s so they could read it together. The room was silent for a long time. Finally, Harry looked at Remus, his eyes shining.

Remus smiled. "Well?"

"What do you think?"

Remus leaned over and whispered in Harry’s ear, "Go for it! It’s a great offer."

Harry beamed. "Yeah, that’s what I thought, too." He turned to the four men across the table and took a deep breath. "I’ll be happy to sign your contract. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mr. Potter! I hope you noticed the one-hundred-and-fifty galleon bonus for each Snitch you catch. We’re expecting a lot from you, but we also plan to make it worth your while!" Dalrymple said with a smile.

"I did notice that, sir," Harry grinned. "I’ll do my best!"

"And your best is better than most," Coach O’Doule said, looking pleased as they watched Harry dip a quill in the ink bottle, preparing to sign the contract. They were surprised when he stopped with the quill poised over the document. "What’s the matter, Harry?"

Harry gulped. In his joy over the offer, he’d nearly forgotten. "Voldemort," he said dully. He looked up at the men, studying each face in turn. "I may miss games or practices if I get attacked, or go after him. Mr. Terwilliger said he’d explain that to you. You did say something about it in your letter, but the contract . . . . "

"He did discuss it with us, Harry," Dalrymple said. "The clause in the contract that covers absences is quite flexible. We didn’t want to put You-Know-Who’s name in the contract as the possible cause of your absences, but if you have to go and fight him, we will not penalize you in any way, nor release you from the team. He is nothing more than a terrorist. If terrorists think they can disrupt our lives, they win a victory. We simply won’t allow that. So we’ll be as careful as we can be, and will take the best possible care of our players, staff, families and friends, but we’ll live our lives as normally as possible, too. You should be able to live a normal life too, and we want to help you with that. We’ll support you, Harry, in whatever you have to do. It’s that simple."

"You really are Gryffindors, aren’t you?" Remus said with a smile.

"Yes, we are," Dalrymple agreed. "So, Harry, does that ease your mind?"

Harry swallowed hard. They were putting tremendous faith in him, allowing him to join the team with the threat of Voldemort hanging over his head. He nodded and said, "Yes, it does. Thank you so much!" Grinning now, he bent his head and quickly signed the contract.

"We’ve brought some signing bonuses for you, Mr. Potter. I hope you’ll be pleased with them," Dalrymple said as team captain Smithers stood and picked up a large bag lying against the wall. "First off, we want our Seeker to be blindingly fast. With your flying skills, you are already one of the fastest men in Quidditch on a broom. We think this will be a help to you."

Harry gasped as Smithers pulled a new Firebolt Excalibur, the best racing broom in the world, out of the bag. "Whoa!" he said in awe. "That broom has a top speed of over 230 miles an hour!"

"Yes, it does, and it goes naught to 200 in 10 seconds. We hope you’ll learn to use it well before you start practicing with us. We have high-speed, hard practices, and we don’t have time for you to be mucking about trying to sort out which pedal does what. All right?" Smithers said with a smile.

"Yeah! I’ll work on it!" Harry promised, his eyes huge as he ran his hands along the beautiful broom’s glossy handle.

"Also, we have some casual, Muggle-style clothes for you — not your robes yet, you’ll need to be measured for those. Just some fun logo wear for you to enjoy," Smithers said as he began pulling items out of the bag. "And it will be wonderful advertising for us for you to be seen in them. All of our players wear them," the captain continued. He spread the clothes on the table for Harry to look at. They included a jersey, several t-shirts and a jacket all in the Lions red and gold colours, with the Lions name and logo emblazoned on the front, with "Potter" and the number "7" on the back in glittering gold.

"Whoa! Thanks!" Harry said, his face shining with delight.

"One more thing, Harry," Murphy, the team manager said. "We’ll have a reporter and a photographer come and interview you in the next day or so for articles in the press. Signing you, and hopefully, Mr. Weasley, will be worth some publicity to our team. We’ll try not to interfere with your class timetable too much, but I hope you’ll cooperate with the reporter. There are many such interviews in your future as a professional Quidditch player."

Harry hesitated a moment before speaking. "Erm . . . I’ll be fine with that, as long as they don’t go on and on about the Boy-Who-Lived stuff. If it’s about Quidditch, I’ll talk to them as long as they want. But if they’re going to get into that other stuff, I won’t like it."

Murphy stood considering Harry for a long moment, long enough to make Harry rather uncomfortable. "You’re not happy with the articles they write about you being a hero, are you?" he said sagely.

Harry blushed. "No, sir. They rarely print the truth, and even when they do, they exaggerate things so much . . . I’m not comfortable with that at all."

"We’ll be using sports reporters, Harry. They should stick with the Quidditch topic. But if they stray, what will you do?" Murphy said, tilting his head as he watched the young man’s reactions.

Taking his time to answer, Harry chewed the inside of his cheek, trying to work out the best and most truthful response. "As long as they treat me with respect, and not like . . . an object, I guess you could say, I’ll be fine. And I’ll do whatever I need to do to promote the team."

"That’s good enough for me," Murphy said with a smile.

"Right, then. Let’s put these things back in the bag and let you go so we can speak to Mr. Weasley, all right?" Dalrymple said with a smile. "And Harry? Don’t tell anyone what we’re paying you, nor about the bonuses. Each player’s salary is a private matter between team management and the player. All right?"

"Yes, sir, I understand," Harry replied, holding the now-refilled bag in both hands and grinning broadly.

"Not even Mr. Weasley," Dalrymple added.

"Not even Ron," Harry agreed.

"We look forward to you joining our practices when you finish Hogwarts, then, Mr. Potter," Dalrymple said, holding his hand out to shake Harry’s. "We’ll send you a practice and game schedule in a few days."

"Thank you, sir. I’m looking forward to it," Harry said, shaking each man’s hand in turn. He walked out of the room feeling as if he were floating on a cloud.  

Ron, Ginny and Hermione were waiting outside the door. "How did it go?" Ron said nervously.

"They’re really nice. You’ll like them," Harry assured him. He was smiling so broadly, his face was glowing.

"What’s in the bag?" Ron said, tearing his eyes from Harry’s obviously happy face.

"It’s a goody bag," Harry said with a chuckle. "And I can’t show you the goodies. You have to go meet them now. I’ll show you later."

"And maybe I’ll show you some of my own," Ron said with a sudden grin. He looked up and saw Remus standing behind Harry. "Would you stay for my interview as well?"

"Of course," Remus said, holding the door open for Ron and following him back inside.

As they closed the door behind them, the girls crowded around Harry. "Tell us what happened!" Hermione demanded.

"Show us what’s in the bag!" Ginny said, bouncing on her toes. "You signed with them, didn’t you?"

"Yeah, they gave me a great deal!" Harry said, laughing in delight. "I still can’t believe it. I can’t tell you how excited I am. I feel numb, sort of, and as if I’m floating at the same time! It’s fantastic!"

"I’m so happy for you!" Ginny said, pulling him into a tight hug and kissing him thoroughly.

"Wow, Harry, this is so great!" Hermione said sincerely. "Congratulations!" She gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek as soon as Ginny released him.

"I can’t believe it! I’m a professional Quidditch player!" Harry cried excitedly, grabbing both girls around the waist and spinning them around until they squealed with laughter.

Finally, the three of them sat on the floor of the corridor and Harry showed them his new broom and the logo-bedecked clothing. "Huh, this t-shirt’s a bit small for me," he said in surprise as he separated everything and held it up for their inspection. "But it would fit you nicely," he added, opening it up and tugging it over Ginny’s head, making her laugh. He helped her pull her hair out of the neck opening and grinned. "Your hair clashes magnificently with this shirt, m’lady."

"Just think how awful it would be if you were on the Cannons!" she countered.

"Yeah," Harry said darkly. He was still worried that Ron might join his favourite team and they’d have to play against each other.

"Don’t worry, Harry," Hermione said, sensing what was bothering him. "I don’t think their offer pleased him that much."

"But they offered him a huge salary!" Harry said, surprised.

"Money isn’t everything, as you well know," Hermione said pertly. "He didn’t like the way they wanted to exploit his status as ‘hero of Hogwarts.’"

Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise. "He didn’t tell me that,"

"You’ve dealt with that kind of thing all of your life," she replied. "He was surprised by how uncomfortable it made him. He didn’t need to talk to you about it — he knows how you feel about people treating you like ‘famous Harry Potter.’ He’s so fond of the Cannons, it’s hard for him to sort all of this out. He’d love to play for them, but their attitude toward him — well, that’s why he’s considering other offers so seriously, despite the money the Cannons were offering."

"Maybe the Lions will make him a better offer," Harry said with a hopeful smile.

"Did they give you more money than they first said?" Hermione said. "Their first offer wasn’t as high as some of the others."

"I’m not allowed to talk about it," Harry replied, doing his best to stifle a delighted grin, "but yeah, they improved the offer. I’m very happy with it."

"Great!" Hermione said. "I’m so happy for you!"

"Me too," Ginny said, squirming around to try to see how she looked in the t-shirt now engulfing her small frame.

Harry pulled out the small mirror he carried to talk to Remus and did an enlargement charm on it, then held it so she could admire herself in it. "Despite that colour clash," he said with a grin, "it looks fantastic on you."

"I’ll bet it will look better on you," she said. "Try one on!"

"OK," he agreed, then pulled out the jersey. He removed his robes and tugged the jersey on over his shirt, standing up and modelling for the girls. "Well?"

"Gorgeous, simply gorgeous!" Ginny enthused. She held the mirror for him and he preened dramatically to make the girls laugh.

"Look at this!" Harry said, his eyes shining as he pulled out the Excalibur.

"Whoa! That’s the best broom in the world!" Ginny breathed in awe. She kept up with the reports on new brooms almost as much as the boys did.

"Yeah, can you believe it? It’s fantastic! I can’t wait to try it out!" They spent a long time examining the broom before Harry very carefully put it back in its custom made broom case, which was labelled "Potter 7" like everything else the Lions had given him.

Sooner than he would have expected, Ron and Remus came to the door. Harry held his breath anxiously, waiting for Ron to say something.

Ron kept his face serious, wanting to savour the moment when he shared his news. "I signed," he said finally, a huge grin splitting his face.

"YES!" Harry cried, grabbing Ron in a bear hug and lifting him off the ground. "YES! YES! YES!"

When he set Ron down, he saw a large bag by Ron’s feet, exactly like Harry’s, only it said "Weasley" by the opening, where Harry’s said "Potter."

"I see you’ve already sorted through your goodie bag," Ron said, chuckling as he plucked at Harry’s jersey. "Looks good on you!"

"Let’s see how yours looks on you!" Harry chortled. "It clashes with Ginny’s hair, but yours is more ginger — it might go quite well!"

"So now you’re a fashion expert, eh?" Ron laughed as he pulled out the jersey and tugged it over his head.

"Absolutely," Harry said, straightening the shoulders of Ron’s jersey. "Yeah. Your hair looks better with this colour than Ginny’s."

"And both clash horribly!" Ginny teased. "But that’s OK. You look fantastic, Ron! Congratulations!"

"I’m so happy for you!" Hermione said, giving him a big hug and kiss.

"I see your ladies are pleased with your decisions," O’Doule said with an amused smile from the doorway.

"Yeah," Harry said, blushing a bit.

"And I see that you noticed there was a smaller t-shirt in the bag for your girlfriend, Harry," O’Doule chuckled. "It looks lovely on you, Miss Weasley."

"Thank you," she said, spinning around to show off her shirt.

"You and Miss Granger will be excellent advertisement for the London Lions," Murphy said with a grin. "Who can resist a pretty girl in a t-shirt? We’ll send you some in smaller sizes. We didn’t realize how petite you girls are."

"Thank you!" Ginny and Hermione said together, both of them beaming.

"Now, lads, if you don’t mind, we’d love to see you try out those brooms," O’Doule said with a grin. "Smithers and I brought our brooms so we can fly with you a bit."

"Wicked!" Ron said with a grin. "Let’s go!"

"Remus? Come with us!" Harry invited, grabbing his godfather’s arm as he quietly started to walk away, a bemused smile on his face.

"All right. I’d love to," Remus agreed, grinning broadly.

As they walked toward the pitch, Harry pulled a small bundle out of his pocket. "I want you to have this," he told his godfather, placing it in his hand.

"What?" Remus said, knowing what the bundle contained. "No, I don’t need it. Thank you, though. You should keep it. It was Sirius’s birthday gift to you. I know how much it means to you."

Harry tucked his new broom under his arm and held up both hands, counting off points as he spoke. "Number one, you are my godfather and I want to keep you as safe as possible in battle and otherwise. You’ll be safer on this broom. Number two, Sirius would agree with me that you should have it if I don’t need, it and why do I need two brooms? And number three," Harry added with a grin as he folded down a third finger, "you need a better broom so you can keep up with us when we play Quidditch at the Weasleys!"

Remus could see the sincerity in his godson’s eyes. He beamed at the young man. "Thank you, Harry. What a lovely gift! I can’t wait to try it!"

"I’ll give you a lesson now," Harry said. "I don’t want you to get hurt!"

Soon Harry, Ron, Remus, O’Doule and Smithers stood on the pitch, their brooms all vibrating and eager to take to the sky. Harry gave Remus some instructions on how to handle the Firebolt, and then Smithers explained the Excalibur’s controls and features to Harry and Ron. Soon all of them kicked off, Harry, Ron and Remus whooping with delight as they felt the power of the brooms beneath them.

Harry flew alongside Remus until he was sure his godfather would be safe on the powerful broom. Once Remus was comfortable on the Firebolt, Harry turned his new broom upward and kicked it into high gear. "WHOOOOOOO!" he cried as he zoomed away, leaving a laughing Remus in his wake.

"You know, we have friends who’d love to see this," Hermione told Ginny.

"Yeah. Let’s let them know," Ginny agreed. A few Adferos later, Gryffindors and D.A. members began streaming down to the pitch, cheering wildly as the fliers zoomed overhead.

Harry was in heaven. This broom made flying his Firebolt feel like driving a lumbering old truck! He streaked heavenward. "HA! WHOOOOO-HOOOOOOOO!" he cried as he raced toward the clouds, then turned and zipped down in a spectacular dive.

"Oh no! He doesn’t know that broom yet!" Ginny cried anxiously.

"He’ll be fine . . . won’t he?" Hermione said, growing more nervous the closer he got to the ground. Soon the girls were clinging to each other in terror. Harry wasn’t slowing down. He was going to hit the ground at over 200 miles an hour!

Harry watched the ground approaching at a speed he’d never experienced before. He was exhilarated, filled with a rush of fierce joy. He saw the girls grab each other in fear and grinned. A few feet from the ground, he hauled up on the broom’s handle and it instantly responded. He was skimming along just above the ground now, his toes nearly touching the grass. Just before he would have hit the wall, he hauled on the handle again and shot straight up in the air.

"Look at that!" Murphy told Dalrymple. "The boy can do ninety degree turns! That’s damned good, especially on a new broom."

"We knew he was good," Dalrymple said, smiling. "But he’s even better than I’d hoped. I think we did quite well with that one."

"Weasley’s good too," Murphy said fairly as he turned his attention to the redhead streaking above them. "He’s not as flashy as Potter, but as a Keeper, he doesn’t need to be."

"Yes. We’ll have to give Terwilliger a bonus for finding them for us," Dalrymple said, laughing as Harry zoomed by upside down and screeched to a halt over his girlfriend, hovering there long enough to give her a kiss and ruffle the hair of Weasley’s girlfriend before taking off in a spiralling climb diagonally across the pitch. "That boy’s amazing. I’ve never seen such flying."

"I’ve never seen some of those manoeuvres!" Murphy said. "He’s quite creative. Interesting!"

Up in the air, Smithers called Harry to him. "Potter! It looks as if you have a decent feel of the broom now," he commented dryly, then laughed. "Some of those moves of yours are new to me. I didn’t know you could do such things on a broom."

"I love to fly," Harry replied, grinning broadly as he spoke.

"It shows," Smithers said approvingly. "Let’s see how you do with a professional Snitch. I’ve brought one with me." He pulled it out of his pocket. "I must warn you, though. School Snitches are slow compared with the kind we use."

"Cool!" Harry said, grinning gleefully as his eyes locked onto the tiny golden ball in the team captain’s hand. The instant the man released it, Harry was after it, lying flat on his broom for extra speed. This Snitch was not only fast, it was elusive, zipping here and there with blinding speed, changing directions in the blink of an eye. Harry was fully concentrated on getting it, sliding smoothly between the other men flying over the pitch, streaking toward earth one moment, straight up toward the sun the next. The Snitch fled earthward again, and Harry pushed the broom to its greatest speed as he dove. People screamed as his dive neared the ground, with no reduction in speed at all. Harry reached out as far as he could and grabbed the Snitch, turning his broom horizontal just as the front of it touched the grass. He pumped his Snitch-filled fist in the air to cheers of "Well done, Gryffindor!" and "Well done, Lions!" He glided back up to where Smithers and O’Doule waited, both of them grinning broadly.

"Well done, Potter!" O’Doule said, clapping him on the back. "Excellent!"

"You gave us a bit of a scare there," Smithers said, laughing. "I didn’t know if we were going to lose our new Seeker just as we’d signed him or not!"

Harry laughed. "There was no danger of that," he assured them.

"Tell my heart that," Coach O’Doule said dramatically, then laughed. "It stopped beating until you levelled off!"

Harry handed the Snitch to Smithers, who said, "Let’s give Weasley a bit of a workout as well. Mind playing Chaser for a bit?"

"No, not at all," Harry agreed. Soon, he, Smithers and Remus were playing Chaser, trying to get a goal past Ron, who was having a bit of trouble getting his broom to stop and turn in as short a distance as he needed to guard the hoops. Despite his not being used to his broom yet, he managed to stop most of their goal attempts.

"Well done, gentlemen!" Smithers said at last. "I’m looking forward to your first practice with us. You’ll like the lads. They’re a fun bunch."

"Great!" Ron said happily.

"Yeah!" Harry agreed. He, Ron, the coach, the captain and Remus circled in the air chatting for a while before landing.

Meanwhile, Team Manager Murphy had gone into the stands. He couldn’t let a publicity opportunity like this pass him by.

"Good afternoon! I take it you’re all Quidditch fans?" he said jovially as he walked in front of the first row of seats. His question was met with cheers. "And you’re also fans or friends of Potter and Weasley?" More cheers. "Then I’d like to invite you to watch the London Lions next season, where your friends are both starting players!" Huge cheers greeted this news. "I have brochures here listing our game schedule. If you will tear off the bottom portion where you see a number, put your name and address on it, and owl it to us, you’ll be put in a draw for a free season’s pass to the Lion’s home games!" The cheers grew louder at this news. "And I believe I won’t be out of line offering a discount on ticket prices to Gryffindor House members and D.A. members!" He glanced at the team owner, who smiled. "Right! It’s been approved! So come one, come all, and enjoy the best in professional Quidditch at the London Lions stadium! A map to the stadium is on the back of the brochure!"

As he passed out the brochures, Murphy noticed a tall young man taking photographs of the fliers above him. He could tell the boy was concentrating on Harry and Ron. "What are you up to?"

"Oh. I hope it’s OK. I take pictures of our Quidditch teams and make posters of them. Some of the proceeds go to a charity fund Harry set up to help those who’ve lost family members to the war," Colin explained hastily.

"Oh, you’re the lad who made the posters and took the photo that’s on Harry’s Famous Wizard card, then?" Murphy said with a smile. "You’re quite good. Have you thought of a career as a photographer?"

"That’s what I want to do, sir!" Colin said eagerly. Dennis, seated next to him, nodded earnestly.

"What’s your name?"

"Colin Creevey, sir," Colin said politely. "And this is my brother, Dennis."

"Nice to meet both of you. You like Quidditch, then?"

"Oh yes, sir! We’re Beaters on the Gryffindor team."

Murphy ran an experienced eye over the broad-shouldered, muscular young men before him. "Are you now? Well, well. And you’d rather do photography than play professional Quidditch?"

"Yes, sir," Colin said immediately. "I don’t think I’m good enough to play professionally, but I love photography."

"Tell you what. We should have brought a photographer with us today, but we didn’t think of it. Send me copies of the pictures you’ve taken today, and maybe we’ll be able to use them for some publicity. If we do, we’ll pay you for them."

"Cool!" Colin said excitedly. "Uh — will I still own my copyrights?"

"Oh, you are a wise young man, aren’t you?" Murphy said with an amused chuckle. "Yes, since you took these on your own, you will own the copyrights. If we hire you to do photography for us, we’ll own the copyrights. There will be a contract covering all of the details if we decide to hire you. How’s that?"

"You’d . . . you’d . . . you’d consider hiring me?" Colin said, gulping as realization hit. "Really?"

"Really. Do you finish Hogwarts this year?"

"No, sir, I have one more year," Colin said quietly, seeing that one year of study killing the opportunity he was being offered.

"All right. If, and I said ‘if,’ we like the pictures you’re taking today, we may give you a position for the holidays and see how you work out. If that goes well, we’ll see what happens after that," Murphy said with a smile.

"Really? Honest? You’re not kidding me?" Colin said in disbelief.

"Nope. I never kid about business," Murphy said. He saw Colin glance skyward again, watching Harry streaking by. "You’re a friend of Potter’s, then?"

"Yeah, of both of them, actually, but Harry — he’s just brilliant! I’ve admired him ever since I first heard of him. He’s my hero."

"Is he?" Murphy was intrigued. They hadn’t spoken to any students about their feelings about the boys they were recruiting. He wondered if he might find a good publicity angle from speaking to this young man. "Why?"

"He saved my life," Colin said, suddenly serious. "I was dying, and he saved me."

"How did he do that?" Murphy asked curiously.

"Erm . . . ." Colin suddenly realized he might be better off to not reveal too much about Harry’s hidden talents. "I was injured in battle and he saved me," he said, not revealing Harry’s healing powers.

"Oh, that’s what those ribbons are for on your robes, right?" Murphy said, noticing both of the Creevey boys’ award ribbons. He glanced up in the stands and noticed that nearly everyone there had at least a few ribbons. Colin had more than many of them. "Can you tell me what they represent?"

"This one’s for the Battle of Little Hangleton," Colin began. "That’s where I was injured. This one’s for being injured. This one’s for courage, but I was stupid, not brave," he said in disgust.

"What do you mean?" Murphy said, quite interested now.

"I got ahead of my squad. I’ve always been impulsive and I just kept going, you know? And then I was cut off from the others because I was too far ahead of them. That’s when I got hurt. Minister Bones thought it was brave of me to keep going forward, but it was just me being impulsive again," he said with a shrug.

"She doesn’t give awards lightly, young man," Murphy said quietly. "She must feel you earned it."

Colin hung his head shyly. "Yeah, I guess."

"I’m honoured to meet you both," Murphy said sincerely. "I appreciate what you’re doing to protect us." The boys smiled sadly at him, obviously remembering painful things. Murphy decided he’d heard enough for now. "Right then. I didn’t mean to make you relive bad memories. Thank you for talking with me. And do send me those photos, all right?" he said, preparing to leave.

"Yes, sir! Thank you for the opportunity!" Colin said, brightening again.

* * * * *

Two mornings later, Harry and Ginny were seated across from Ron and Hermione as usual at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. As Harry tipped bacon on his and Ginny’s plates, the post owls soared in. Two Great Horned Owls bearing large packages landed in front of each of the girls. Soon the owls had been given some bacon and released of their burdens.

"What is it?" Ron asked as Hermione unwrapped the package.

"I don’t know," she said. She and Ginny got the boxes opened at about the same time. Ginny’s was full of buttons showing pictures of Harry in his Lions jersey, zooming along on his new broom. Above his picture were the words "London Lions" and below it was, "Harry Potter, Seeker." She also had buttons with pictures of Harry and Ron together, with "London Lions" printed across the top and "Seeker Potter and Keeper Weasley" across the bottom.

"Cool!" Ginny exclaimed as she pulled out one of each kind of button and pinned them to her robes.

"I have the same thing!" Hermione said, looking at Ginny’s buttons, "except that the photo of only one of them is of Ron!"

"Wicked!" Ron said, looking at the buttons.

"These are Colin’s pictures, I’m sure of it," Hermione said, studying them closely.

"Oy! Colin!" Harry called down the table. "Can you come here a sec?"

"Sure!" the excitable boy said eagerly. He hurried up to Harry’s seat. "Yeah?"

"Look at these!" Harry said with a grin, handing him the buttons.

"Cool!" Colin exclaimed. "They said if they liked them, they’d use them and pay me for them." He admired the three styles of buttons, then looked up as his brother called him. An owl had arrived for him down at his seat. "Maybe that’s my payment now!"

"You can keep those buttons, Colin," Ginny said with a smile. "We have plenty. I imagine we’re supposed to give them out."

"Thanks!" Colin said, taking extras for his brother, then racing back to his seat to read his letter.

"Ooooo, look!" Ginny said as she dug deeper in the box. "A shirt that will fit me! No, two. . .three! Wow!" She pulled out two t-shirts and a scoop-necked, sleeveless, feminine top, all of which matched Harry’s jersey, complete with the name "Potter" and the number "7" on the back.

"I got some too!" Hermione said happily. "Oh, these are fun! Too bad we can’t wear them with our robes."

"Yeah. But after class, I’m changing!" Ginny said gleefully.

"Me too!"

Harry and Ron sat back and watched the girls with bemused expressions, then glanced at each other. Huge grins crossed their faces.

"They’re not only taking care of us, they’re taking care of our girls, as well," Harry said happily. "You can’t ask more than that!"

"I can — I’m going to need shirts like that for the whole family, or there will be trouble!" Ron said with a laugh.

"Yeah, I can see that," Harry agreed.

"We need to save some of these buttons for the family, as well," Ginny said, "and make sure we give some to Remus and Tonks."

"I hope you also have some for me," Professor Dumbledore said with a smile, leaning past Harry’s shoulder to look at the items in the box. "I’m sure Professor McGonagall would also like buttons with her star Quidditch players."

"Right!" Hermione said as she and Ginny passed buttons to their headmaster. "Let’s count out enough for Weasleys, then we can pass the rest out — remembering, of course, to give Remus two of each so Tonks will have them too!"

Dumbledore admired the buttons, then pinned them to his gorgeous purple robes with a broad smile. He winked at the boys and proceeded toward the Head Table, stopping to speak to students here and there as he went.

Ron and Harry sat and chuckled at the girls as they raced to the Head Table and began offering buttons to the staff. Harry was amazed to see nearly every professor take at least one button. Even Snape took one of the buttons showing Harry and Ron together. He looked directly at Harry and held it up for a moment, giving the briefest of nods and smiles.

"Did you see that?" Ron breathed. "Snape!"

"That’s Professor Snape," Harry said teasingly. "Yeah. I would not have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes."

"Amazing," Ron breathed. He and Harry could hardly wait to begin practicing with the Lions. They’d been out on their brooms every chance they had, learning to ride them by instinct. Hermione had fussed quite a bit about all the revision they were missing by playing, but they just had to point to the London Lion on the shirt she wore after classes were over to quiet her. She, like Ginny, had been wearing one of the boys’ shirts, which fit the girls like dresses, they were so big for them.

Now, watching the girls still handing out badges, Harry mused, "Did you ever think we’d really make it to a professional team?"

"Nah," Ron said dismissively. "I always thought it was a kid’s dream, nothing that would ever happen."

Harry looked at Ron quite seriously. "I still can’t believe it."

"Me either. I can’t wait to get on that broom again!"

"Right!" Harry grinned. Except for the fact that N.E.W.T.s were breathing down everyone’s neck, and there was still Voldemort to deal with, life couldn’t get much sweeter. He was a professional Quidditch player, he and his best mate were on the same team and he was in love with a beautiful girl who loved him in return. Who could ask for more than that?

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