Playing Defense

Chapter 5: Post-Season

Early July, 2017

The leaving party was Ginny's idea. Harry knew that Athena wouldn't outwardly want the party, and would grumble about it, but in the run up to the date she had asked enough questions and had made enough of her preferences known that he knew she actually liked it. They'd talked about it enough, but never in the official 'let's sit and have a chat' way. It was more along the lines of a quick comment while Harry was getting ready for work, a note sent to him at his office, those kinds of things. The big hint was when she showed up at Hogwarts when he was finishing up his grades.

He and Daphne were sitting along with Neville in the Staff Room, the three of them at different tables, stacks of parchment alongside them in distinct piles. In the background a wizarding wireless was playing. It was Neville's turn to select the music and he'd chosen his usual station, the swing music station, making him wag his eyebrows at Daphne. Also, as usual, she gave him a smirk, rolled her eyes and continued working.

As the music filled the room, along with sunlight, all three paused when a knock on the door interrupted their grading. Before anyone could say a word, though, Athena came in with a nervous wave and sat down next to her father.

"Um, Dad? I need to talk to you."

Harry sat down his quill. "Ok, what can Gringotts do for you today?"

"Merlin. Dad. Please." Athena sighed at the old Dad-ism and looked over quickly at Daphne, who was continuing her grading, but then caught Neville's eye. "Hi Professor."

Neville nodded. "Hello, Athena. You know..."

"Yeah, I know. Besides you don't grade my NEWT exams." She seemed flustered, then stopped, lowered her chin and concentrated. After a deep breath she turned back to her father. "Dad...you invited everyone, didn't you?"

Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw Daphne give him an 'I told you so' tilt of the head and had to stifle the urge to laugh. "No, Ducky, not everyone. Your Gran wants to have a thing for you out at the Burrow, Ginny sent me an owl on that, this is just a small thing at the house. Look at it this way, the Burrow will be your thing, this is more for me. That I can say 'look, she's not in Azkaban, she finished Hogwarts, I did ok as a dad.' That's it."

Athena sat almost still for a moment, only the slight bounce of one of her legs betrayed any movement. "Ok. That's fine. But I'm not going to be there all night, I'm going out with my roommates. One last time before we all go everywhere."

"Fair enough." Harry smiled. "Kreacher will be very happy to hear that."

Once his daughter had said her goodbyes and made it out of the room he turned to Daphne. "You were right. Big thing would have been a bad idea."

"Obviously." Daphne didn't look up fully, but her glance caught his eye. And Longbottom smirking enough that she contemplated sending a small jinx his way just on principle, but there were still too many exams to grade.

-ooo-

Grimmauld Place was lit up both inside and outside, as several strings of fairy lights criss-crossed the garden. Music played in the background throughout, loud enough that it gave the background some texture but not so much that anyone had to really raise their voice. It simply wasn't that type of a party. The newness of the changes hadn't really sunk in yet; Athena and some of her friends were out in the garden while Harry and his friends and colleagues were dispersed throughout the house.

Harry stood next to the improvised bar, mixing a drink, watching as Daphne stood two rooms away in conversation with her sister. As that conversation could go on for Helga knows how long he headed off towards Ron, completely missing the fact that Ginny had arrived.

Saying hellos to a few friends took a surprising amount of time, so much so that when Ginny began her move past a couple she hadn't met before, Daphne was alone. Seizing her opportunity, with a quick nod in affirmation she made her way over, unable to notice that while Daphne did see her approach there wasn't any nervousness on the professor's face.

"I wasn't aware you'd be able to make it. Thank you, I'm sure Athena will appreciate her mother's attendance."

"Pffft." Ginny half-snorted. "She won't care, not tonight. It's good you're doing this." Quickly following, so Daphne wouldn't misunderstand, she continued. "For Harry. Good for him. We've talked, the two of us. Me an' Harry, that is...well, not like we haven't talked. Ok, not really..."

Suppressing a smile Daphne nodded. "You must have been a treasure in class." Now the smile came, there was no holding back once she'd seen Ginny's eyes sort-of roll in slight embarrassment. "It's fine, really. Honestly. It is. He does deserve a celebration, I offered to assist more but..."

"Oh Merlin, I know exactly what you mean." Ginny nodded emphatically and began gesturing as if she'd taken off her glasses and was waving them in a specific direction. "Have to have things just right..."

This time it was Daphne's turn to laugh, except it came out in a most unexpected snerk, complete with an involuntary move forward of her shoulders, causing her to almost spill her drink. "The glasses bit..."

"Athena loves to mimic that and you know how much he loves to be imitated. Teddy does a wonderful Harry, especially if he's changed his...probably shouldn't have brought up Ted, should I?" Ginny paused. "Has she said much to you? She's hinted at a few things, but every time I try to talk to her about it she just says Ted's a 'useless piece of shite who can't stick with a decision' or ignores me altogether."

"No. Not since New Year's. She was rather focused on the topic then, as it had just happened, but not since." Tilting her head slightly Daphne looked past Ginny's shoulder. "It appears our conversation is making some nervous."

Ginny looked over he shoulder to see Hermione and Luna giving them an appraising look. "Oh for fuck's sake, we're talking about Athena...like we can't get along. You know, I get asked about you after matches." She waved at Hermione and Luna to join them and turned back to Daphne. "And like I tell them, Harry's happy, Athena likes you and I'm married to Oliver. What do they expect, hexes, poison and wizard's duels and..."

"Please don't make me arrest anyone. I've had too many of these for it to be legal." Hermione held up a cocktail glass that only held ice and a small remnant of liquid. "And I'm not dressed for it. Do you know how long it's been since Ron and I have been out? Ages. Ages." She tilted her head towards Ginny. "Your wedding."

"Why is it that we only see each other at parties and weddings?" Ginny sighed. "We should set something up. A lunch thing. Something other than events that require uncomfortable shoes."

"Daphne and Harry see each other all the time at work." Luna took a sip of her drink. "Maybe that's why it took a wedding for them to realize things."

As everyone turned to her Daphne sighed. Luna was an acquired taste, after all. Thankfully with her creature hunting she didn't visit that often. For Daphne it always took her a good two hours and a headache potion to recover from an extended visit, but she was one of Harry's dearest friends, not to mention that Athena loved her so. For Harry some of Luna's announcements seemed to simply cut through to the heart of the matter but she'd roomed with Tracey Davis; Tracey was blunt beyond belief and said that Luna just pretended to be odd so she didn't have to be polite. Regardless, there was some truth in the statement. Turning to Hermione she smiled slyly. "To be quite honest, it was all your husband's doing. I had no idea he was so romantic."

"Ron? Romantic?" Ginny busted out laughing, chuckling harder when she saw Hermione's face. "Right. I bet loverboy an' Harry are planning a romantic getaway right now."

-ooo-

"Wait, how much?" Ron looked at him oddly. "An original Nimbus 500. Unmodified. Unrestored. Nimbus 500. At that price you could buy it, stick it in a shed for a couple of months do fuck all and then double your price. And probably double that."

"I know." Harry shook his head in an exasperated fashion and leaned against the windowsill. "But I don't need it. Still, at that price it makes me wonder what's wrong with it."

"Who cares? It's a frikken Nimbus five-zero-zero. Is it slower than the new ones? Absolutely. I can probably hop to Hogwarts faster than that thing can fly. Does anything fly like one of those? Personally I have no idea. All I know is...seriously, if you don't buy the thing I might. How many of those did they make? 500. And that was ages ago. There can't be many left that aren't in a museum. Or private collections. Really, it's all original?"

Raising an eyebrow, then his drink, Harry pondered things. He was pretty sure he was going to skip out on buying the Nimbus, after all he didn't really need it, but Ron's reaction was causing a bit of reflection. It also gave him a quick moment to take everything in, all the people, all the little pockets of conversation. It was then that he saw Daphne in conversation with Hermione and Luna. That made him smirk, thinking how Luna had made Daphne form the most hilarious expressions, but the smirk slowly faded as Luna moved slightly and he saw Ginny laugh, pull a face and then said something to Daphne.

"Um, Ron? Let's go find Neville."

"Are you telling him about the Nimbus? Because if you're not going to buy it I am. Neville's crap on a broom anyway, be completely wasted..."

"Not about the broom. Come on."

Ron gave him an odd look but decided to follow. They found Neville in the library with Hannah. When Hannah saw the look on Harry's face she tapped Neville on the arm, whispered something to him and left the room, giving Ron an odd look on the way out. Ron reciprocated, the 'I have no clue' expression of befuddlement.

Harry began pacing. "I'm not sure about this."

Across the room Ron and Neville looked at each other, at Harry, then shared a look and reacted non-verbally. Neville leaned against the windowsill and began softly rubbing his temple while Ron was more emphatic, letting his shoulders slump, gazing upward and rolling his eyes. After seeing Neville wave off his attempt at rock-paper-scissors Ron nodded, straightened his shoulders and picked out another bottle of beer from the small cooler on top of the side table.

"Here." After Harry took the beer Ron looked hopefully over to Neville, but seeing Neville's 'get on with it' look made him take a drink and look at his best mate. "What do you mean you're 'not sure' about it? Athena's gonna be fine. But it isn't Athena, is it? Daphne, right? Her an' you?"

"No. Yes. I mean..." Harry took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes and put his glasses back on quickly, then started walking around the room. "It's not Athena, I know she'll be fine even though she's been entirely too tight-lipped about her plans..."

Neville motioned to Ron to be quiet as he saw Ron mouth 'Slytherin,' then watched as Harry continued to slowly pace around the Grimmauld library room.

"But it's kind of a big step, her moving in here. Will she..."

"Oh for fuck's sake." Neville stood there, hands gesturing in frustration. "I mean...for fuck's sake."

Harry stopped almost mid-step and looked over at Neville. Ron shared the same surprised expression, although Ron looked as if he wanted to bust out laughing. "Nev?"

"Stop bloody over-thinking this. Stop it. Just...stop. At least this time you can't walk into anything venomous while we having this conversation. I can tell you two work. Ron can tell you two work. If Ron can tell..."

"Hey!" Ron flipped Neville a two-fingered salute.

Ignoring the interjection he continued. "Remember when you were out in the greenhouse after you'd been chucked? All those things you said you wanted?" Neville pointedly looked at Harry, as if saying 'think about it, you great idiot.'

After some hem-hawing around Harry eventually nodded. "Ok, right, but then there's the living with someone thing. I haven't really lived with anyone I didn't help create since..."

"Oh. Oh, don't worry about that." Ron laughed. "We're all great idiots there. You'll figure it out. That's the little stuff, things like who sorts the laundry, who sorts the laundry correctly, who's the last one in bed, who cooks breakfast, who does the dishes, who does the dishes correctly...shut up, Nev. That's part of it. Figuring it out. The difference is that you don't mind being corrected because you know it makes the other person happy. And it makes you happy making them happy." He took a drink of beer and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Listen, if she's willing to put up with all the 'oh Merlin it's Harry Potter can I have your autograph' shite, can handle your moody, speccy git self for all that time you two teach up at Hogwarts...what makes you think it'll be that different? Besides the sex part, which really does makes me question her taste just a bit."

"He and Ginny have Athena." Neville laughed.

After rolling his eyes and taking a drink, Ron continued. "Well, yeah, 'Thena didn't just show up like the myths...but...anyway, you like her. She likes you, somehow. You've known each other for ages, liked each other for ages, finally got your head out of your arse and I...I just don't see the fucking problem? If it works? Great. If it doesn't? Well, she is head of Slytherin...ok, you're fucked there, mate. Don't be stupid." Seeing both men give him a 'come on, really?' look Ron barreled ahead. "I know, it's not funny anymore, old habits. Nah. Always funny. But here's the deal, and if either of you two gits say a word I'll empty the Experimental drawer at the shop on you, and that won't be pleasant, trust me...but who do you want to spend the rest of your time with? And why? If you want to go to a Quidditch match and she doesn't mind, or if she wants to go to some Arithmancy thing in Indiana-nana or whatever it's called, you go and don't mind..."

"It's just Indiana." Neville kept a serious face, as if he was discussing something with the Wizengamot. Or worse, first year parents after grades came out. "Unless their new speciality is growing bananas. Difficult in that climate, would be some impressive..."

"Fine." Ron took a large drink of beer and took a seat in a chair by the fireplace. "Be that way, Longbottom. I'm imparting important life knowledge here and you're being a wanker about bananas." He turned to Harry. "You get it, right?" Putting a hand on Harry's shoulder he looked him dead in the eyes. "You've done a brilliant job with Athena. You an' Ginny. Both of you, but let's be honest here, it's mostly been you. She's a good kid. Time to think about more than being Dad."

"Ron?" Neville gave him an odd, appraising look.

"I have my moments." He paused, looking over Harry's shoulder. "Look what the kneazle dragged in. Teddy's here."

"I didn't think he'd come." Harry took a drink. "How good are your reparos? Probably gonna need a few."

"Expert." Ron lightly slapped his hand on Harry's shoulder. "It's a miracle the shop's still standing. C'mon. You too, Nev."

-ooo-

Even though he wasn't that old, not really compared to some, as he sat in a chair by the fireplace Harry felt as if the party had somehow doubled the aging process and had left him twice his age. People had finally starting drifting away, commenting as they left about their congratulations; all for successfully having Athena finish Hogwarts, but some adding to their words with some variation of the 'so glad you found someone, about time' theme. To those he smiled, thanked them and felt slightly embarrassed, but for the most part it made him laugh ever-so-briefly, nod and agree. That process had started a little before midnight and stretched out until finally, finally, he sat with mostly-empty wineglass, spectacles perched upon his head and with the only people he expected to be with him at half-two in the morning.

"Here." Ron poured a bit more into Harry's glass, topped off Daphne's and then his wife's. With the remaining portion in the bottle he sat down on the sofa with his wife, across from the others. "Doubt it'd last, probably taste like something you clean cauldrons with if we didn't finish it."

"Undoubtedly." Daphne smirked at him. "The only proper thing to be done."

Harry and Hermione caught each other's eyes, Harry chuckling enough to make his chest move but without much sound as Hermione rolled her eyes. After a sip he sat back in the chair, kicking off his shoes and sighed deeply. "That went better than expected."

"The party or the Thena an' Ted talk?" Ron lifted his arm as Hermione put her back against him, stretching out her feet on the sofa. "Or when she told you about her job?" He felt Hermione slightly stiffen her shoulders, glanced down at her and then muttered 'fuck.'

"Her job?" Harry lifted his head from the back of the chair. "She got a job? She hasn't said a word to me. Daphne?"

"No." She crossed her ankles and gestured minutely with her wineglass. "It appears that..."

"Well it's your fault, really." Ron gave Daphne a look and took a swig from the wine bottle. "Asked you for the Arithmancy results, right? You could've told us to sod off."

With Hermione prodding him Ron related the story; as he had informed Daphne ages ago, he regretted not taking Arithmancy at Hogwarts as he used it all the time at the shop. After talking with George they'd decided to bring on someone to concentrate on Arithmancy but wanted someone new, so they wouldn't have what George called all those 'pesky adhering to workplace rules habits' or something like that. Basically, someone who knew Arithmancy that they could also train to 'think like a Weasley.' Ron had used the letterhead from the shell company he and George used when they wanted to conduct business and not have it known that it was them, contacting Daphne inquiring about the top Arithmancy students in the year. The top three students had already accepted positions, but the fourth was available. They'd put together a small practical knowledge test for Arithmancy, along with areas that they thought were important for the shop and sent it to Athena. She'd scored wonderfully so an interview was scheduled.

"George was beside himself, couldn't wait." Ron's enthusiasm for the story was growing, as Harry seemed in shock and Daphne was about to burst. "Well, we couldn't have the interview at the shop like usual, because, you know, so we rented out a room at one of the Muggle office parks and gave her the details, said to dress Muggle, all that. Soon as she opened the door George walked over, shook her hand and said 'Congrats, you're hired!' Said she could obviously think like a Weasley because she's half-Weasley as it is, and for some reason her being Slytherin was even better for him." He shrugged. "It's George. Merlin knows."

Harry sighed deeply. He'd been so worried about what was next for his daughter, but working at the Weasley shop was such a relief. "So will it be the Diagon Alley shop or the Hogsmeade branch? If she's working at Hogsmeade..."

"Oh. Right." Ron looked over to Hermione. "Um, wine's gone...be right back."

She lifted up and peeked over the sofa back. "Coward." Turning back to Harry she took a deep breath. "Not one of the original shops, sorry. The opening's for the Texas shop."

"Texas?" Harry looked over to Daphne. "Texas?"

"You always knew this would be a possibility, Harry. That she wouldn't stay close to home."

"I know, but..." He sighed.

Daphne reached over and put her hand on his arm. "She'll be fine. She's a smart girl." After a pause she continued. "She spoke to me about Ted."

"Really?"

"Don't get your hopes up, dear. I'm afraid that she was rather happy that she had discovered why Kreacher was so upset with him."

"This oughta be good." Ron settled back into the sofa. "So she's working for the shop, Texas branch. That's been said, right? Good, ok, what the hell was Kreacher's problem?"

"Still a coward." Hermione eased back into him.

"Pick your battles." He smirked back at her. "So?"

Daphne enjoyed spinning the tale of two strong personalities irritated at the other very different reasons. Ted held a grudge against Kreacher for telling Harry that he'd taken Harry's Firebolt F1 out for a broom ride one summer night to go see Victoire. He'd known that Harry would never have let him borrow the ultra-rare broom so he hadn't bothered to ask, so when he returned back to Grimmauld to find both Harry and Kreacher waiting for him he knew he was in trouble. That was the reason Ted held a grudge, but it was only in conversation with Athena, when Ted was going through all the stupid things he's done (like break up with her) that he recounted using a permanent marker and drawing a mustache and angry eyebrows on the portrait of Walburga Black, along with various cartoon pigs and other animals around her feet. After Ted had called it one of the stupidest things he'd done Kreacher had appeared not long afterwards, bringing Athena and Ted a drink. Athena had related to Daphne how she was glad those two had finally made up, but that she wasn't sure about Ted. They agreed to meet for Quidditch when the Sasquatches visited the Oklahoma Owlbats, the closest team to the Texas Weasley shop, but that was it.

"Well, I'm glad that's sorted, but some of us have to work tomorrow." Hermione slowly stood up, handing Ron her glass.

"Yeah, at four in the afternoon." Ron smirked as he stood. "Aurors, live in their own world, they do."

"Hush." She turned to Harry and Daphne, who had risen as well. "So now it's just the two of you. For a while, Athena's still here." She raised an eyebrow. "With all of her planning to get to this point, you'd better watch out or before you know it there will be secret plans to get you two married."

"Oh no. We're good." Harry looked over to Daphne. "No big thing. Matter of fact, Tuesday work?"

"Hmmm..." Daphne pulled her hair back over her shoulders and feigned being in deep contemplation. "Perhaps. I do believe everyone else will be occupied so it should work. Please tell me that..."

"Ministry. Ted doesn't leave until Wednesday. Minimum of fuss, you don't even..."

"Thank Merlin, for that at least. Very well. Tuesday, then. We'll tell Athena tomorrow." She glanced at her watch and raised her eyebrows. "Rather, later today. I had no idea of the time."

"Huh?" Ron looked confused. "I didn't have that much wine. What are you on about?"

"Congratulations. I'll just explain to him on the way home." Hermione hugged Harry and then, after a small hesitation, hugged Daphne. Taking Ron's hand she began the preparations for Floo travel.

"Oh!" Ron turned back from the Floo and pointed at Harry. "Seriously, if you're not gonna buy that broom, tell me, ok?"

-ooo-

On a Tuesday afternoon in a small, out of the way Ministry office Harry and Daphne were married. Their magical witnesses were Athena and Ted, appropriately enough. For a while afterwards, at the restaurant to celebrate, Harry thought that it would all go swimmingly but then Ted mentioned something about Seattle and that made things come back into focus; Athena would be leaving at the beginning of August.

When September rolled around, and the Hogwarts welcoming feast was in session, there were many people who congratulated Professor Potter and the new Professor Potter. Professor Longbottom, however, still liked to tease the two of them that they cost him a good bit of Galleons.

The new Potters settled into a rhythm of teaching, teasing each other as always, and a very happy married life. Despite George Weasley's comments the two decided that they were quite happy having Athena as an only child and traveled during the summers, sometimes to America, sometimes to other locations.

Athena found working at the Texas branch of the Weasley joke empire quite rewarding, challenging and irritating simultaneously; she developed a close group of friends, some from work, some from other areas and even dated a wizard from New Mexico on and off for a year or so. Ted's experience with the Seattle Sasquatches went through a few rough patches, mostly due to coaching and other regime changes, but his experience in the front office at almost the beginning of the team's existence made him in demand from other Quidditch teams. A stint in Australia was followed by Bolivia, ultimately ending up with the Tutshill Tornadoes again after the team changed ownership. Athena and Ted did end up married, years and one odd owl tattoo later, but that is a different story.

As for Harry and Daphne? Even Ginny called them 'revoltingly well-matched.' Oliver laughed and, as always, said it was Athena's fault.

A/N: So there's the end. As for Athena and Ted? That story might come later, but it's time to wrap this one up.

As always, thanks for reading and review if you wish.