The Mini Mischiefs - Stories from Mastering The Mischief

Simon, 26

"Nine," I laugh, "we just can't seem to have one at a time."

"Man, I feel sorry for your wife," he says, "anyway, speaking of wives, I've got to go find mine. See you next year."

He winks and jogs off. I shoulder my broom and take a moment to look around at the now empty stands. I close my eyes and let the memory of the cheering fill my ears.

"Told you he'd be here."

The voice of my wife reaches me and I instinctively turn towards her. She's walking over with Alithea, Luke, little Maddison, Paul and Fred. I smile and walk over to my family. Maddison breaks away from her parents and jumps into my arms.

"You won!" she squeals, "we won!"

"We did!" I laugh, "how'd I do?"

"You were pretty good," she says, cheekily, smiling.

"How would you like a lap of the stadium?" I ask, "if it's okay with your parents."

She looks around at them and Alithea nods. I put her on the broom in front of me and kick off, keeping one arm around her. I fly right up to the top of the stands and decide to give Alithea a heart attack.

"Hold on," I tell Maddison. I tighten my grip on her and pull the broom up and over, doing a full loop. Maddison squeals in delight.

"AGAIN!" she cries. I do it one more time before heading back down to where my oldest sister is glaring at me, her face pale. Maddison runs over to her.

"Mummy, did you see?!"

"Yep," she says, narrowing her eyes at me. I laugh and stroll over to her.

"She was perfectly safe," I say, "where're the other kids?"

"Ari is taking care of them," Luke says, "we should be getting this one to bed."

"Where are you staying?"

"Luke's uncle has a couple of tents," she says, "come on, Maddie, say goodbye to Uncle Simon."

"Bye!" she says, taking her mother's hand.

"See ya."

"I'd better go too," Fred says, "good job, mate."

I turn to Lisa and Paul and smile.

"Not bad, huh?" I ask, slinging an arm over Lisa's shoulders. She nods, smiling at me.

"You did pretty well," she says.

"Very well," Paul says, "the ministry will probably give more funding to-"

"Paul, mate," I interrupt, "just say 'good job'."

Paul purses his lips and checks the time.

"We should be going," he says, "you should have left with the rest of the team, you're going to cause a fuss."

"I always cause a fuss," I say, guiding Lisa towards the exit. She smiles at me.

"No one could accuse you of being modest," she says, running her hand over her stomach.

"How're you feeling?" I ask her.

"Tired, fat," she shrugs, "there are two things inside of me taking nutrients from my body."

"Horrid little parasites, aren't they?" I say fondly, "how's Katherine finding it, Paul?"

"She's fine," he replies shortly. I frown slightly, he sounds nervous.

"And how're you doing?" I ask.

"Also fine."

"Not nervous?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Yes."

I grin at my brother.

"Fair enough," I shrug, "where're you pitched?"

"The foreign ministry officials are over there," he says, motioning, "I'll see you back in England."

"Yeah, Christmas is at Harry and Ginny's this year, right?" I ask.

"I believe so," he nods and disapparates.

"I cannot believe you two are twins, let alone related," Lisa says as we walk towards our tent, "you couldn't be more different if you tried."

I laugh.

"He's always been a bit uptight, like Uncle Percy," I say, "still, got a good heart."

We walk through the campsite, stopping frequently so that I can sign an autograph. Lisa is just as patient as always, waiting to the side. When there are particularly large groups of people she finds someone's camp chair and settles in it until the crowd disperses.

"I'll never know how I got a girl like you," I tell her.

"I think I had some kind of head trauma," she says, making me laugh.

"Remember when we were at Hogwarts? You wouldn't so much as look at me."

"Well, you were Mr. Popular," she shrugs, "you were always surrounded by girls, always had a different date. I thought you were pretty up yourself."

"Well, I was," I admit, "I didn't have that many dates, though."

"Tell me one time you went to Hogsmeade without a girl or with the same girl twice," she challenges. I think for a long moment, then give her a guilty look. She nods smugly.

"But that was just because I never found one I really liked," I say, "they were more interested in being seen with me, than getting to know me. I think that's why you interested me so much."

"No, I interested you because you didn't interest me," she smiles, "I was the only girl in the year you hadn't taken to Hogsmeade."

"So what changed?" I asked, "I mean, we'd been out of school a year or so when we saw each other again, what was different then?"

"Well, you were making a lot of money..."

"Hey!" I nudge her gently, making her laugh, "I'm being serious."

"It was how you treated everyone," she says, "every time the team came in to the ministry, they'd sweep through as if no one mattered, but you'd hold doors open, talk to people. You didn't act like you were above it all. It made me think I'd been wrong about you."

I can't help grinning and Lisa rolls her eyes. We reach our tent and she ducks in, heading straight to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. There are dark circles under her eyes. I wrap my arms around her and hold her tightly.

"Thanks for coming here," I tell her quietly. She rests her head on my shoulder and yawns.

"You go in to bed," I tell her, "I'll bring the tea in."

I lean against the sink waiting for the kettle to boil. I'm still buzzed from the game and the fans. I make Lisa her tea and take it in to her. She's already fast asleep. I sit down on the edge of the bed and stroke her hair. I lay one hand on her stomach and feel movement. A smile creeps on to my face as I think of the two lives growing in there. Lisa and Katherine are due around the same time and I'm excited that this time I'll be sharing the journey with Paul.