Epilogue
Five years later.
Draco Malfoy shook hands all around the luxurious box of the stadium while following his wife, the head of International Magical Cooperation, who was required to stop and chat with every dignitary present.
"Bet you could not get us better seats than these, Malfoy. Pays to be married to an influential woman. This is as good as it gets," said Harry Potter, teasing him while he picked two glasses of firewhiskey from a levitating tray and offered one to the blonde.
"Shut it, Potter. My wife may be the one that gets the best seats, but I was the one who got you a wife," Draco said, raising his glass in a toast.
Harry smirked and chuckled. Four years ago, in yet one more strange twist of faith, Hermione had named one bridesmaid, Ginny, and one bridesman, Harry, to her wedding. Draco, on the other hand, decided to match her up and named Greg his best man and asked Pansy Parkinson to be a groomswoman. When Pansy found out who she was walking the aisle with she took the opportunity to write a letter to Harry apologizing for their nasty history and expressing hopes for a newfound friendship. Harry wrote back accepting her apology, but when they met for the rehearsal dinner he realized friendship was not going to cut it.
Pansy had finished her schooling at Ilvermorny and then stayed in New York at a school of Magical Fashion Design, and now that she was back in England she was a breath of fresh air. She was now open and liberal in a very American way, but she kept a stripe of Slytherin mischievousness to her. And it didn't hurt that she had grown into her features and was now a gorgeous young woman with big dark eyes and an adorable turned up nose. The night of the rehearsal she repeated her apology in person and people saw them sitting alone on a table on the corner, where she seemed to be tearing up while Harry hugged her sweetly. The day of the wedding they were all stolen gazes and flirtatious smiles during the ceremony, danced all night and then rumor has it that she didn't spend that night in her own room at the posh hotel where the wedding was held. One year later, Harry proposed.
The two men took a seat on the luxurious leather armchairs but Draco was too busy following his wife with his eyes like a hawk. At that moment Pansy walked in, sat on her husband's lap and kissed him and then followed her friend's gaze. She chuckled.
"Someone is jealous. Afraid of a little bit of competition, Draco?" she said wiggling her eyebrows mischievously while her husband laughed at her quip.
"Jealous? Me? Of that oaf? Never!" Draco said, unconvincingly.
"I thought Viktor was your friend, from back in school," she said, smirking and throwing some more salt in the metaphoric wound.
"That was before he started sending my wife an unnecessary number of owls with the excuse of the World Cup organization. We are not even the hosting country this year, neither is Bulgaria. Keep it in your pants, Krum!" he scoffed into his firewhisky glass.
Harry and Pansy awed and laughed. Draco was crazy about his wife and it was very hard for him every time someone flirted with her. Pansy knew that Hermione had been very clear with Viktor about not being available, but the two girls had agreed to let the curly witch's husband sweat a little. It was good for him to not forget what he had at home.
When Hermione was done with the formalities and the guests at the box were all happily drowning their firewhisky tumblers and not paying much attention to anything else she approached her husband and tried to take a seat next to him. He pulled her on his lap and shamelessly put one hand on her arse and with the other grabbed the back of her hair and pulled her for a kiss and nibbled her neck, obviously trying to leave a love bite.
"Draco Malfoy are you marking your territory?" she asked mischievously.
"You bet your gorgeous arse I am. Now enough work for one day. Let's get drunk and watch our friends win this match."
Hermione smiled and kissed him passionately until the Potters interrupted them with catcalls and yells of "yeah girl, ride that stallion" and "get a room or share the wealth." The Malfoys rolled their eyes and composed themselves before their friends got even more raunchy.
The sonorous system on the British booth started up
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Berlin Stadium, to the opening game of the Quidditch World cup! My name is Lee Jordan and together with Seamus Finnigan we will be your commentators tonight."
"Thank you my friend, and here comes the English team! As you probably know, this team has an unprecedented lineup: a husband and wife playing together! Star beater Gregory Goyle, from the Wimbourne Wasps and lead chaser Ginevra Weasley-Goyle, from the Holyhead Harpies. Rumor has it that if you want to stay in your broom you keep your bludgers away from Goyle's wife. The Wimbourne Wall, as his fans know him, has very little tolerance for those messing with the gorgeous chaser. I wouldn't want to get between them, Lee."
"You got that right, Seamus. The combination of Weasley's speed and ability to score and Goyle's ability to keep her path clear makes this one of the best teams England has had in years."
Back in England, an unprecedented gathering was taking place at the Burrow. Two older Gryffindors and two older Slytherins were sitting by the wireless listening to the game while two toddlers flight on toy brooms. Molly and Arthur Weasley had invited Mrs. Goyle and Mrs. Parkinson to listen to the game while they all shared the babysitting of their grandchildren, James Potter-Parkinson and Liam Goyle-Weasley. Molly and Mrs. Goyle had grown very close, the shy woman had been very grateful to be welcomed into the family after the loneliness and fear that her horrible marriage had left her with. And Mrs. Parkinson was still a bit of a snob but in her opinion, the biggest accomplishment of her daughter's life had been to marry the Chosen One, so Molly was happy to have at home someone who would talk wonders about her surrogate son Harry and praise him non-stop.
Molly sigh
"All my sons played the game, but I will never get used to the fact that Ginny is the professional one, so much risk."
Mrs. Goyle patted her arm softly
"Fret not, dear. My Greg is right there with her, and he would put himself in the way of any bludger before letting anything happen to his beloved Ginny."
Molly squeezed the hand. Years ago when Ginny brought home Greg they were very hesitant. The son of a Death Eater, a known school bully. It took Molly only a few hours of watching Greg follow Ginny around like a lost puppy to understand that the boy was good at heart. When she met Mrs. Goyle the woman confessed that having her criminal of a husband locked in Azkaban had been the biggest blessing of their lives. Her son was free to be himself and he found Ginny. That was more than the poor woman ever dared to dream of. At that moment little James fell off his toy broom. All the grandparents moved but they were not fast enough. With a small hop, Liam got off his broom and picked up James, who was at the brink of tears until his pint-sized friend hugged him and clumsily patted his head. Arthur Weasley cleared his throat and quickly ran to the kitchen mumbling something about more tea before the tears prickling his eyes run down. The grandmothers didn't feel the need to mask their emotions. Their grandchildren were a symbol of hope and of life coming full circle, with second chances for all.
Back in Berlin after a phenomenal game, England won by an amazing 350 points. After the celebrations, Gregory Goyle cornered his wife in the locker room showers. They had both undressed already and were wearing only towels.
"I flew like a maniac too keep up with you and even took a bludger straight to my body for you, witch. Time to get my reward."
Ginny smirked and let her towel fell to the floor.
"Take whatever you want, Big Bear."
The End