Chapter Text
Harry opened the door, a grin on his face. “Hello, there.”
Ron’s eyes widened with pretended terror. “Please tell me you haven’t left Ginny alone in the kitchen.”
Hermione rolled her eyes, the shadow of a smirk on her lips, but Hugo snickered without restraint, and Harry ruffled his hair with affection.
“Hello to you too, mate,” he said, stepping aside so they could enter. “Dinner’s set, but don’t let Ginny hear you complaining about her cooking skills, you don’t know what poison she might casually drop into your food,” he added with a wink.
Ron shrugged, nonplussed. “Reckon you’ll save me with a bezoar.”
“Mm, not sure I want to waste –”
“What’s a bezoar, Mum?”
“It’s a stone taken from the stomach of a goat that can save you from most poisons, dear.”
Ron narrowed his eyes. “I knew that too, for the record,” he said with faux annoyance, poking Hugo’s belly and making him giggle. “Why you always ask your mum for this kind of stuff is absolutely beyond me.”
“Hugo!” exclaimed Lily, darting in the hall with an empty plate in one hand and a fork in the other. “You’re here!”
“Er, I stand correct, dinner’s almost set. Why don’t you go put that plate down, flower?”
“I wanted to see if it was Teddy!”
Hugo’s eyebrows shot up. “Teddy will come too?”
“Yes!” exclaimed Lily. “I can’t wait to know everything about him kissing Victoire!”
“He kissed Victoire?! I didn’t know!”
“It was James who saw them! I wish I had too, they must be so cute together!”
The kids walked away, their red heads drawn together while they chit-chatted with glee, and Harry shared an amused look with Ron and Hermione. “It’s going to be a very long night,” he said, shaking his head, but in truth he knew he was going to love every minute of it.
When Teddy finally arrived, for the delight of Hugo and Lily, Harry prompted the kids to move their interrogation to the table.
As such, it was between juicy slices of roast beef and mouthfuls of roasted potatoes that they enjoyed the tale of what Teddy called was the silliest thing he’d done for her: offering to look like the professional Quidditch player Osmany Juantorena – her long time teenager crush – in case she didn’t like him enough in his normal features.
As it turned out, it was his usual look she liked the best.
They had almost finished their puddings when Lily suddenly looked at Harry, curiosity written all over her face. “Dad! What’s the silliest thing you have done for Mum?”
“Ooh, I wanna hear that too!” joined Ron, too amused for his own good, if Harry had a say in it.
Ginny smirked. “You know, I do too. I’m sure Dad is thrilled to answer.”
She wiggled her eyebrows at him, and Harry chuckled. “I really have no idea.”
“C’mon, Dad! Please!”
“Yeah, Uncle Harry, you have to tell us!”
Teddy shrugged. “It’s only fair,” he said, a challenging glint in his eyes.
“Okay, okay, let me think, then,” conceded Harry with a smile, raising his hands in surrender. A moment later, an idea struck him. “You know, I’m not sure I ever told you this, Gin…”
“Dad, it must be something you’ve done because you liked Mum!”
“It is! But it happened when we weren’t together, so I don’t think she knows.”
“Aww, that’s so romantic!”
Ignoring the chuckles, Harry glared playfully at Teddy, who had laid a hand on his chest and put on a soppy expression.
“What happened, then?” pressed Lily.
“Well, we were at Aunt Fleur’ and Uncle Bill’s wedding, but I was in disguise as cousin Barny Weasley, because back then I was still wanted by the D–”
“We already know that,” cut in Hugo, rolling his eyes.
Hermione brushed his curls, a smile on her lips. “Perhaps we should let Uncle Harry speak, so he’ll get to the interesting part.”
“Thanks, Hermione,” said Harry with a grateful nod, starting to feel oddly giddy at the idea of sharing that story. “So, do you remember that among the guests there was Victor Krum as well?”
The kids nodded, but Ron suddenly straightened up, becoming very attentive, and Harry felt a spark of delighted satisfaction for this little revenge.
“Well, I – or better, cousin Barny – Ron and Hermione were all sitting at a table with Viktor, and he really, really wanted to dance with Hermione,” he explained, smirking at his best friends. A light blush spread on Hermione’s cheeks, but Ron’s ears got downright scarlet.
“Krum wanted to dance with Mum?”
“He wished, but I got there first!”
Hermione, resting her head on Ron’s shoulder. “Sure you did.”
“Yeah, for once in his life,” teased Harry, but Ginny looked at her brother with a naughty smile.
“Actually, I heard it wasn’t the only time you got there first.”
Ron’s indignant spluttering was covered by Hermione, Teddy and Harry’s laughs.
“What’s so funny?” asked Lily, perplexed.
“Nothing, love,” said Ginny, her impish smile still in place. “Go on now, Harry. I’m dying to hear the rest of it.”
Harry bowed his head. “As milady commands. So, after Ron asked Hermione to dance, I was left alone at the table with Viktor, and –”
“Aww, that’s so romantic!” exclaimed Teddy once more.
Among the laughs, Harry shook his head in amusement. “ And , he started to look for a cute girl to dance with, and it didn’t take long for him to find the most beautiful girl out there.” He beamed at Ginny, but then he realised how that might have sounded. “Er, no offense, Hermione,” he hurried to add.
“None taken.”
“And for the record, the most beautiful woman out there was Fleur,” teased Ron, earning a frisky slap on the head by his wife.
“I’m sure you were all very beautiful!”
Ron grinned. “Thanks, Lils. I can confirm I was pretty handsome.”
“Was being the keyword there,” mocked Ginny, eating a mouthful of pudding.
“I was clearly more good-looking than cousin Barny here, since I found someone to dance with and he didn’t,” retorted Ron with mirth. “But please, go on with the story, mate. Who knows, maybe I’m about to find out that you turned down one of the Veela cousins.”
“Or Aunt Muriel,” joked Teddy.
Lily and Hugo snickered with gusto, but Harry rolled his eyes with dramatic exasperation. “No, I’m happy to say that Aunt Muriel wasn’t interested in dancing with me. But after Krum said that Ginny was very nice, he asked me if we were relatives, and then…”
“And then?” asked Lily with wide eyes, leaning forward on the table, her long hair almost falling in her pudding.
“And then I said that yes, we were relatives, but I also added something like, ‘she’s seeing a big jealous bloke, so you’d better not cross him’. And that’s the story of how international Quidditch star Viktor Krum never got to dance with my amazing wife,” concluded Harry with smugness. He received a round of applause and wolf whistles, but he ignored them all to glance at Ginny.
She was looking at him with a grin, obviously pleased. “I can confirm that you’ve never told me this before, Harry. Oh, if only I had known… Who knows how wonderful my life could have become. I might sue you for the missed opportunity.”
“Be my guest,” he replied with glee. “I’m sure I can prove that everything turned out pretty well.”
“Ginny, imagine what Rita Skeeter would have written if she’d known that you bewitched not one, but two celebrities,” said Hermione, forcing Harry to take his eyes off Ginny, not with a certain amount of regret.
“Yeah, no thanks,” he said with a grimace. “I really prefer not to imagine it.”
“What about you, Mum?” asked Lily.
“Oh, the less I hear about Rita Skeeter, the better.”
“No, I meant, what’s the most silly thing you’ve done for Dad?”
“I want to know too!” exclaimed Hugo with his mouth still full of pudding.
Harry gave Ginny a wicked smile. “Let’s hear it, then.”
“Oh, but you’ve already heard it,” she said, biting her bottom lips, surely to keep herself from smiling. “It starts with ‘His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad…’”