When Harry Met Gabi

Chapter One: Harry

You know my story. So it won't surprise you to hear that there are parts of it I wish I could change. I know better than to try to rearrange history with time-turners by now, of course, but if I could, if I knew it wouldn't ruin my life as it is... there are things I would undo, mistakes I would take back if I could.

The day of Teddy Lupin's wedding is one of them.

It was a Saturday in July, the middle of the school holidays. James had come back from his final year at Hogwarts and was employing his right to use magic at home rather too liberally. Albus had barely left his room all summer, sulking over Scorpius being in Italy with his parents, and Lily was... Lily was loud. That morning she was screaming at James for tranfiguring her collection of eyeliners into a variety of worms, and Albus had ignored so many calls to get up that Ginny had been forced to leave a knocking spell on his door.

I'll admit, there had been a few split seconds where having three children had made it onto my list of things I would change. Oh, not really. But sometimes... it was a close call.

As rushed and stressed as we were, I remember thinking about Teddy as I fumbled with my tie.

'Twenty-four. Bit young to be getting married, isn't it?'

Ginny glanced at me in her dressing table mirror. 'You were twenty-three when we got married.'

'Yes, but... well, it didn't seem so young back then.' I readjusted my glasses and smoothed my hair over my scar. 'And to be honest, I just don't know what I think about him marrying a muggle.'

I looked down and realised I'd done up my tie wrong. Before I could fix it, Ginny pointed her wand at my neck. The tie loosened and readjusted itself, forming a neat knot just above my collarbones.

'Bit prejudiced of you, Harry,' she said drily, going back to her makeup. 'What's next? Joining the Mather League?'

This was before the Cardiff attacks, back when the Mather League was still just a joke. They were a group dedicated to stamping out wizard-muggle marriages, name after a once-great family of wizards that had become extinct after too much "cross-breeding" with non-magical people. (Of course, the Mathers weren't extinct at all – according to Ministry records, most of them were living perfectly normal lives in or around Tunbridge Wells. There just hadn't been a wizard or witch born in the family since the 1960s.)

Still, I scowled at Ginny. They could try and distance themselves from Death Eaters all they wanted, say it was about magical survival and not about racial purity until they were blue in the face, but the Mather League were spouting out the same pure-blood nonsense that Voldemort and his cronies had for years. Of course I didn't agree with them.

'That's not what I – I only meant that Teddy's such a talented wizard. I just can't picture him staying in on Saturday nights, eating chicken kiev and watching The Vicar of Dibley.'

Ginny pulled a face. I wasn't sure if she disagreed or if she was just confused by my rather outdated muggle cultural references.

'Magic stole Teddy's parents from him,' she said, flicking her wand at the pair of earrings I'd bought for her fortieth birthday. They flew off the bedside table and attached themselves to her ears with a click. 'I don't blame the boy for wanting a bit of ordinary.'

There was a cold tone to her voice that took me by surprise. Magic had stolen my family, too – but it also gave me a new one. I didn't agree with the Mather League; of course I didn't. But I couldn't imagine spending my life with someone who couldn't even understand it, let alone do it.