Occasionally a Beta rejects a chapter, and I have a major rewrite. Thank you, Deb. Both Diane and Deb also saved me by rejecting a sentence.
*
"Cuckoo Cuckoo, wake up Ginny," the little bird sang. Ginny Potter glared at the cheery little bird coming out of the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes clock, wondering just how George had talked her into buying the clock with the cheeky little bird. Well, it was partly her nephew Fred the second, who seemed so eager for her to have the blasted clock.
"Cuckoo Cuckoo, Harry has been up for an hour and you need to be at breakfast soon," the clock insisted.
"I'm up!" Ginny snapped at the clock. The bird stayed out, and Ginny shouted, "I'm up! Go back into that blasted clock."
"I'm just doing my job," the little bird sniffed, before slowly turned around and going back into the clock.
Ginny sat naked on the edge of her and Harry's bed at the Palace in Switzerland, looking at her fully dressed husband, who was sitting at a desk looking at some papers.
Ginny wiggled provocatively. "Time for a quick shag?"
"Unfortunately no." Harry turned and smiled at his wife before getting up and kissing her and sighing with regret. "We tried to make up for a week apart last evening, but it left you rather short of sleep, and we really do have to be going. We are meeting the children in less than half an hour."
"I know you are right, but I do not have to like it," Ginny complained.
Harry hovered make sure Ginny's lack of balance would not give her any problems, and together they went to the bathroom. She came out of the bathroom with her undergarments on, and Mitzi was there to help her finish dressing. The couple and Mitzi then made their way to a modest sized dining room in the Palace.
*
"Just what are we doing today, before the opening ball?" Ginny asked again, once they were seated at the breakfast table. "Reviewing documents for an hour, and then meeting with people?"
"Just don't Bat Bogey anyone, mum," Albus teased, laughing.
Ginny scowled at Albus. It was not like she would really Bat Bogey anyone, as much as these meetings were harder on her than on her husband and son.
Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Ron and Kingsley Shacklebolt were eating breakfast in a private room in the castle with Albus, Cleo, Rose and Scorpius, along with their MELL Elves Martin Luther King P/W, the son of Dobedo and Harriet Tubman P/W, and Rosa Parks, the Malfoy Elf. Mitzi was, of course, also with Ginny, and Dobedo was with Harry, but they were eating at a nearby table, not needing to be part of the discussion at the table. Jo and Mo, the other Elves that guarded various Potters, ate at the same table, along with Frerin and Dis, the Elf guards for Albus and Cleo.
Harry was worried because of all the unfamiliar Magi attending this session of the International Conference of Witches and Wizards. There were unofficial guests as well, some of them there just to, Harry thought, cause trouble.
"Most of the parents of the MELL students, their students, and their Elves, are going to be available to meet with people from their area, or who speak their language, to answer questions," Harry explained. "There are going to be other people available as well."
"I know it is part of your job," Ginny sighed. "It is something you are very good at." She sighed again. "I can do it, if I have to. I'm just not near as good as you and Albus as listening to these complaints."
"You are one of the Regents," Harry nodded. "Ron gets out of this, and Kingsley will be with Hermione, Rose, Scorpius and Rosa. But you are just going to have to pretend you are not utterly bored or frustrated by this whole exercise."
Albus and Rose looked skeptically at each other. Ginny's occasional very visible lack of patience was well known in the family.
"So how many angry people are going to be yelling at us?" Ginny wondered.
"I am sure we will have some angry people, but more are going to be confused or frustrated," Harry suggested. "It helps that the Elves have done everything they could to make the transition as easy as possible. They have not demanded any huge salaries, or expensive housing. Mostly they do not want to be abused.
"Albus and I are really rather good at letting angry Magi vent, and then calmly explaining the situation. It usually works."
"What if it doesn't work," Ginny persisted,
"We get yelled at," Harry admitted. Harry looked at Albus, who shrugged and smiled a wry smile.
"You get used to it," Albus grunted. "It is not fun, but you get used to it."
"What does Cleo do?" Ginny wondered.
"Try to read the emotions of the people talking to us," Cleo replied. "I've never done anything quite like this, though."
*
The breakfast group were led into a large room in the castle, on what was called floor minus one, one level below the main floor. The castle was three floors high from the level of the plaza out front, one very high ceiling story and two more stories that had more modest ceilings. There were ten stories below the plaza level, numbered level minus one to level minus ten. It was a very accurate, if somewhat strange, way of labeling the floors.
"Most of the meetings are going to be held at the governmental buildings," Harry informed the group. "These are not exactly official meetings, however, so we thought holding them at the castle would be better."
Scorpius noted that the tables they were going to be sitting at were in a line along one side of the room, dividing the parents, students, Elves and others from the people they were going to be meeting. Every other table was empty, mostly, but the line of tables made a barrier between the two groups of people.
"It reminds me a little of the table at Azkaban where we meet with my grandfather Malfoy," Scorpius remarked. "I doubt if anyone we meet with will be wearing leg shackles, though."
"How often do you have to meet with your grandfather?" Rose wondered, looking somewhat concerned.
"About once a year," Scorpius admitted, shrugging his shoulders. "It is never very pleasant. He says I'm a huge disappointment. I don't know what would happen if I brought you along, Rose, but it wouldn't be pretty."
Rose frowned, sighed, and shook her head. She would gladly live life and never visit Azkaban, and from what she had read about Scorpius's grandfather, she would just as soon never meet him.
"We are somewhat worried about security," Harry explained, pointing to the guards in the room. There were Magi guards from the Swiss Department of Magical Law Enforcement, along with Elves who worked for the Swiss DMLE. Most intimidating, however, were a few Goblin guards.
The two groups sat down at their respective tables, and one group after another came to talk to the assembled parents, students, Elves and others.
*
They were about two hours into the meetings when an angry looking witch and wizard were escorted in, accompanied by two surly looking Elves. The Magi who led them in stayed behind them, as the wizard started to harangue Harry and Albus.
Ginny looked at Cleo, as Harry and Albus took notes. Cleo was noticeably upset. Ginny looked at Harry with that silent communication spouses have. Something about the emotions were really bothering Cleo, so Ginny asked, "Could I take Cleo out for a moment?"
Harry looked at Cleo, at Albus, and back at Ginny, and then told her, "Good idea."
Ginny took Cleo's hand, and led her to a room behind the meeting room. Then she asked Cleo, "What is the matter, Cleo?"
"That couple are both sociopaths, Mum Ginny," Cleo explained as she held one of Ginny's hands, Mitzi at Ginny's other side.
Cleo continued, "They are smart enough to stay out of prison, but they need to be watched all the time. I'm usually really good with emotions, reading them and even understanding them, but the ... I cannot even say it. It is almost like they don't have emotions, no empathy at all, and I just have a hard time handling it."
"I was not very comfortable with those two people either, Cleo," Ginny agreed. "I've felt those emotions, or lack of them, with a few other people, and it is upsetting.
"I would rather not be at these meetings, but I guess it helps if I am. I would rather calm Harry down after he is through with these confrontations," a visibly frustrated Ginny complained. "That I know how to do."
"I do not think that is allowed in public," Cleo smirked. Cleo sighed. "I'd like to make Albus feel good the same way you make Dad Harry feel good. You were married at seventeen. I will be sixteen this coming Christmas, but Albus will not be sixteen until next summer. I know we should wait until we are seventeen, but I sometimes hope that when Albus is sixteen ..."
"Be careful what you wish for, Cleo," Ginny cautioned. "Having your wishes come true can be a curse."
"Has it for you?" Cleo wondered.
"I am really rather happy," Ginny admitted. "I guess I cannot complain about having to do stupid things like listening to all these arguments once in a while."
"Thank you for taking me out of there, Mum Ginny," Cleo told Ginny, hugging her tightly. "You have been the mother I have needed, better than Grandmother Malfoy, although she tries. You are a mother to so many of us, and I really appreciate you. Sometimes you are a substitute mother for Rose. You help Ivana too, although I think Grandmother Weasley is almost more of a mother to her."
"I was always what they call a 'tomboy,' not very soft and feminine," Ginny reflected, smiling happily at the teen. "I am not sure how being raised with older brothers, and being fierce, prepared me to be a mother to all these girls. I mean, I always figured I would be a mother, and if you become pregnant there is an equal chance you will have a girl, so I should have been ready for girls, but it still surprises me sometimes."
"I think you are doing a great job!" Cleo exclaimed. Cleo looked through the door of the room where Ginny had taken her, over to where Harry and Albus were still deep in a contentious discussion with the Magi couple. Martin, the Elf, was keeping quiet, but you could see frustration on his face. Ginny and Cleo talked until those two Magi had left.
*
The same group of beings that met for breakfast was sitting at a large table in the room behind the meeting room, eating lunch.
"How were your meetings?" Albus asked Scorpius and Rose.
"Very technical," Scorpius replied. "We are sitting next to Gabrielle DuMond and her family, and most of what we are dealing with are very technical issues dealing with changing laws or standards. At times we consult with each other.
"I see some people yelling at your table. What is going on?"
"I've been blamed for these changes," Harry volunteered. "The situation is, of course, much more complicated, but some Magi who want to blame someone or complain seem to want to blame me."
"People want to blame the MELL students as well," Albus added. "Gabrielle is not very patient with emotional arguments, so I understand they have steered all the angry people away from her, and away from your table, Scorpius, and towards us, or a few others who can handle the haranguing."
Ginny had a big scowl on her face.
Albus looked at his father. "Are you sure mum needs to be here with us?" he asked.
"Some Magi are grateful that they can meet with both of you, and with Albus and Cleo," Martin the Elf suggested. "I think what we are doing is important, even if sometimes it seems that our table is just listening to people complain."
"I have seen Mrs. Hudson close to you," Scorpius observed. "She asked me to pay attention to what Gabrielle and our group were doing, so we could write about it. I think she is going to try and write something about how you and a few of the others are listening to all the complaints and confusion, and how patient you are.
"Mrs. Potter, I do think you being there is important."
Ginny continued to scowl. "It is a good thing I love you," she told Harry. "This is definitely a worst part of the for better or worse part of the wedding vows."
"Really, Aunt Ginny?" Rose wondered.
"Well, I guess it is not that bad," Ginny admitted sheepishly.
"I'm glad you were there to take me out when those sociopaths were there, Mum Ginny," Cleo added.
*
"The Finkelsteins," Harry whispered to Ginny as a new group came up to the table shortly after lunch, an older man with his wife, his son and her wife, his grandson and his wife, and a great-grandson with his very pregnant wife.
Old Mr. Finkelstein started right in, "I still do not see why you are the Regent! I am the closest living relative of the Rothchild family that has ruled this valley for hundreds of years. How does defeating that evil wizard entitle you to be the Regent?"
"As I understand it," Harry replied, "Tom Riddle could not inherit the kingdom, even though he killed the Rothchild family according to old laws, in duels, and was entitled to, because he could not father children. I fulfilled some old prophesies, and the prophetesses, the Goblins, and the Magi rulers of this valley all said that I was the rightful Regent."
Ginny jumped in with, "When I first came here the fountain outside the palace caused a pull on my womb, like I wanted to have children. It was rather strong, and when I shared it the prophetess Nausicaa Scheria told me that my feelings confirmed that we were the Regents. Not that I wanted to be a Regent, and I certainly don't want to live here!"
Old Mr. Finkelstein looked at the women in his family, asking, "Did that fountain ever cause you to want to have children?"
They all shook their heads 'no.'
The old man looked at Albus and Cleopatra. "Are YOU going to live here?"
"If we survive, and fulfill certain prophesies, I guess we will," Albus admitted.
"I would LOVE to live here!" Cleo exclaimed. "It is like a fairy tale, and we can make this castle a fairy tale castle, beautiful and full of love and children."
The old man looked hard at Cleo. "You don't look much like a fairy tale princess."
"But I'm a princess, not a prince!" Cleo exclaimed.
"Just because you could tear down that defensive wall?" the old man asked.
"And redecorate the castle, and charm the children of the valley, and just because of who she is," Albus exclaimed.
Harry ended the conversation as soon as he could. This was not the first time the Finkelsteins had complained, and Harry thought it would not be the last.
*
About three-thirty the meetings finally ended, and everyone left to dress for the opening dinner and ball.
"I've been told," Harry announced, "that both the opening and closing balls this year are going to start with a dinner very much like last time, with mixed Magi and Elf at most of the tables. There are Elves, Goblin Elves, Dwarf Elves, and a few other beings that all are descendants of the original Elves. All of them at the tables are acknowledging their common High Elf ancestry."
"Do you anticipate as much tension as last time two years ago?" Albus wondered.
"At least," Albus's father responded. "There will be even more of the descendants of the High Elves there, and over the last two years they have more and more accepted that they are equal to Magi. Not the same, with a different culture, but equal not lesser beings."
"Will you have teams to defuse the conflicts like last year?" Albus asked.
"Twice as many, twenty-four teams, and all twenty-four will have an Elf Negotiator, a Magi psychologist, an Auror, and an Elf or Goblin who is their equivalent of our Aurors," Harry explained. "Several of those teams were at the meeting we were at this morning and afternoon, and there were other meetings that could get contentious where they were also deployed."
The group separated, with Harry and Ginny walking ahead, the four young Magi talking, Hermione and Kingsley bringing up the rear.
"Did you have a couple of good talks with Cleo?" Harry asked Ginny as they went to their rooms to change for the opening ball. The couple was holding hands. She and Cleo had escaped a couple of additional brief times to talk and get away from the confrontations.
"I did," Ginny replied. "We talked about all the witches I seem to be mothering, and I do appreciate Cleo's insights.
"Rose is head over ... I don't want to get gross, but she is, over Scorpius. Rose was sure she would never fall, fall, in love, because she is too logical. Well, she has fallen, and Cleo and I talked about it. I'm going to need to go clothes shopping with Rose soon, so she can look sexier for Scorpius. You know Rose. Sexier but not too sexy.
"Cleo and I talked about Ivana Romanoff as well. I'm not sure what is going to happen if Charlie dies in the next couple of years. Cleo and Lily have both spent some time with Ivana, and I'm not sure Ivana wants to be raised by my mother, although she is, more or less, when she is back from Hogwarts. Ivana spends as much time with Lily as she can, and she likes spending time with Minerva and the other little children, so I guess I do as much mothering as my mother, even though Ivana lives at the New Burrow. I may inherit Ivana as well. And of course I am mother to Minerva. I have no idea how I became a mother to all these girls!"
"Is it a problem, Love?" Harry wondered.
"If we act as grandparents to all those girls' families, do you have any idea how many grandchildren we could have?" Ginny made a face. "I don't really mind, but we may need Potter's New Burrow just to hold the mob."
"I only had the one cousin, and always thought a big wild crazy family would be wonderful, especially after meeting the Weasley family," Harry reflected. "I guess you have to be careful what you wish for."
*
Albus and Cleo went to their rooms to freshen up, and then went to the dressing rooms where Harry and Ginny were being dressed for the formal opening dinner and dance. Cleo went into the room where the three witches that had done Ginny's hair and dressed her were just putting the finishing touches on her dress.
The hairdresser looked at Cleo's hair. It was even longer than two years ago, and Cleo walked in with a multitude of small plaits, ribbons and beads woven into her hair. The hairdresser took out all the plaits, washed Cleo's hair, and re-plaited it with jewels, silk ribbons, and flowers. It would have taken hours to do the hair without magic. The same tiara was on Cleo's head, and she wore the same elegant peasant dress with the colorful embroidery. One look and you could tell she was a princess, but a princess you could talk to, an approachable princess. She actually looked more like a fairy tale princess than what most contemporary princesses looked like.
Ginny also wore the same dress she had worn two years ago, one that showed she was a prosperous middle-aged woman, very curvy and a little heavy. The only thing that showed she was royalty was the tiara, but as the Regent it was appropriate to her position.
Albus met his father, and was dressed in the outfit they needed to wear. Their dress was a cross between a normal Muggle suit and a military uniform, more colorful than an understated suit but far less fancy than most uniforms. Harry was grateful that few Magi wore robes, and none of the key leaders of the Magi were wearing old fashion robes.
*
Just like last year, the ballroom had been radically transformed by magic. Normally the castle was built around a large atrium. The main floor of the castle had been transformed into one large room, with a floor over what was usually the atrium. The atrium continued up to the next two floors, however, giving the room the appearance of having two balconies surrounding it. A roof had been added atop this big open space, enclosing the large ballroom. This gave the castle room a banquet space for all of the witches and wizards who came to the International Conference of Witches and Wizards, all their families, plus other key families from Switzerland and elsewhere. Representatives of all the various descendants of the High Elves were there, and at this dinner there were enough of them so there were some of them at every table.
It was becoming harder to tell Elves from Goblins, and just in the last two years you could tell things had radically changed.
*
Harry, Ginny, Albus and Cleopatra were led into a waiting room, where waiting for them were Gerhard Richter, the chief wizard of Switzerland, and his wife Giselle. Also in the room were John and Mary Rivendell, the chief Elves in Switzerland, the Elves of the Palace of the Regent, their daughter Arwen and her mate Elrond, and their granddaughter Galadriel, and Goblin Zefenslot, the chief Goblin at the Swiss branch Gringotts and the acknowledged head of the Goblins, and his wife Mutnesut, along with their grandson Thorin Oakenwand.
Galadriel welcomed Harry, Ginny, Albus and Cleopatra. She then said, "I have been consulting with the prophets, Elf and Magi, and with many other beings. We need to make a statement. Things are moving faster than we would like, and we need to be confident in our position.
"Gerhard and Giselle will enter first, and alongside them John and Mary, Zefenslot and Mutnesut. Then Harry and Ginny, Arwen and Elrond. Bringing up the rear will be in this order Albus, Cleopatra, myself and Thorin.
"We will be at the head table, and again I will speak first. But first we need to wait until most of the people are seated."
Galadriel then turned to Cleo, and the two of them spent some time talking between themselves.
The twenty-four teams of Magi and Elf were circulating, keeping the peace, and by looking over the large group of people you could tell that the teams were busy.
Right at five in the afternoon the beings who were going to be seated at the head table were introduced, and they stepped out of the room where they had been waiting at the back of the hall to go to the head table. Everyone sat down except for Galadriel and Cleo. Galadriel started out saying, "This is the first wand, not made on Earth. I am wielding it on behalf of all the beings descended from the first Elves, and we are all becoming what Elves were, High Elves. Some of us are High Elf Goblins, others High Elf Dwarves, and others still other types of beings, but we are no more different than the various races of humans.
"The second wand, made by the first Elf Princess for her consort, is now being wielded by my consort, the father of our child, grandson of the chief Goblin Zefenslot, Thorin Oakenwand.
"Magi, there are High Elves seated at your table. Talk to them, and listen to them. We do not want to rule over you, but we no longer want you to rule over us."
Cleo then put her hands on her hips, and spoke to the crowd like Molly would occasionally speak to her unruly brood. "I was embarrassed by how some of the Magi reacted at the ball two years ago! I am embarrassed that we need teams of Elves and Magi to defuse tension and calm arguments. All of you, act like civilized beings!"
Cleo turned and went to her seat, flopping down just like a mother who had just chastised children.
Rose and Scorpius were sitting at a table with her mother and father, plus Kingsley Shacklebolt, Dobedo and Harriet Tubman. Rose, always a keen observer of clothing, asked, "Does the dress of the people at the head table look very different than it did two years ago? I cannot tell you why, but it does to me."
"Harry and Albus look more like princes, and I think Thorin does as well," Hermione agreed.
Minister Shacklebolt observed, "I did not know how to put it into words, but I could sense something has changed.
"Galadriel doesn't look any different than she did two years ago, but just, I do not know how to put it, more. Like she is more the queen of the High Elves than she was."
Rose suggested, "Aunt Ginny doesn't really look much different, but Cleo looks, she really does look like a fairy tale princess."
Ron wryly observed, "She sounds like Mum when she was telling the beings in the room to behave, and it just felt like she had every right to say what she said and say it the way she said it."
Rose took another good look around the room. "Every female, Magi or Elf, is in a dress, and most of the dresses are very, not revealing though some of them are, but very feminine." She looked at her own dress, with the sweetheart neckline, showing the start of the swell of her breasts. Her mother's dress was very similar. "You didn't wear a trouser suit, Mum," she observed.
Hermione told her daughter, "I think I wear trouser suits most of the time to emphasize that I am equal to all the male managers. There is something about tonight that wants to emphasize that we are male or female, but that the female is not subordinate to the male. The two beings at the center of the head table are Cleo and Galadriel.
"Rose, just how powerful is Cleopatra?"
"She just about levitated the whole of Hogwarts castle her first year, mum." Rose remembered. "I don't think she has any idea how powerful she is. Sometimes I think Albus's main job is controlling her power."
"Very important that all beings show they are male and female, and that magic comes from the female," Harriet emphasized. "All High Elves ordered, no, ordered not right word, hard to say except in Elfish, all High Elves to be dressed as female or male. Sometimes female has better paying job, but Dobedo protecting Harry Potter just as important. Mitzi taking care of Ginny Potter just as important, even though Fritz the Finance Elf has big high paying job for Elves."
*
The dinner ended at six-thirty, without any major confrontations. The twenty-four teams were not all that busy, although their very presence seemed to keep the peace. Tables were magically changed and rearranged to allow a large dance floor on the main level and smaller areas for dancing on the two upper levels. There was an orchestra on the first floor, the first balcony, and on the other side a more modern although reasonably large band.
The head table was not removed, but additional chairs were put on the other side of the table so other beings could meet and talk when the occupants of the table were not dancing.
Albus and Cleo found Rose and Scorpius as the first dance started, and Jesus Rios and Ginny Wang worked their way over to them during the dance. Harry Wang and Maria Rios followed.
Cleo remarked, when she and Albus were slow dancing and could talk privately, "If Harry and Maria keep acting like they are now, I think the parents have identified the wrong couple that needs chaperoning."
"Are they a good couple?" Albus wondered.
"Their personalities are compatible enough," Cleo replied. "Who is a good couple is partly who is available and willing. I know we are soulmates, but that is rare. Before people get to know each other I have no idea if they could be a good couple. But encouraging Harry and Maria to spend time with Jesus and Ginny may backfire spectacularly for the Wang parents."
"Church tomorrow?" Cleo wondered.
"Yes, at the cathedral here," Albus confirmed. "For the last thousand years the church here has anointed new rulers, even though less than half the Magi are in any way Christians. That is another awkward situation. The Rios family is going to be with us, and I understand that Harry and Ginny Wang will be there as well, to the frustration of and the anger of Mr. Wang and Mrs. Wang."
"Then what?" Cleo wondered.
Albus replied, "I think we are free. I know that my father has meetings, and mum will be at some of them. He is trying to keep people from inviting me to the meetings. We should be free to roam the castle, as long as we are well guarded. The meetings are mostly elsewhere."
"Hello, Mrs. DuMond," Albus said as Gabrielle DuMond's mother walked up to the foursome, Rose and Scorpius having joined Albus and Cleo between dances.
"Hello," she responded. She turned to Scorpius. "I want to thank you for writing about the translation project, and how you are giving credit to Gabrielle."
"She is keeping the project on track," Scorpius replied, "and she does deserve credit for it."
"You make it sound like it is proceeding very smoothly, without much friction," Emilie DuMond warily remarked.
The four young Magi giggled.
"Your daughter is a rather forceful individual," Scorpius admitted. He rolled his eyes, thinking of just how demanding Gabrielle could be. All four of the young Magi had at times worked to smooth over issues caused by Gabrielle's demanding and at times abrasive personality.
"Your body language suggests that there are things you are not writing about," Emilie remarked. "I know my daughter and husband, and they can both be rather abrasive at times."
"Forceful is a better word than abrasive," Scorpius replied. "Maybe less accurate, but more in keeping with the story we are trying to tell."
"Gabrielle may not be the most tactful person," Albus added, "but she is really responsible for managing the project, and she deserves credit for it. Our goal is the translations."
"Has Gabrielle been fighting with her father?" Cleo wondered. "I have only seen them together once this past week, but I thought I could feel great tension between the two of them."
"As you have said," Emilie admitted, shaking her head, "they are both forceful personalities. Their views on the changes going on, in the status of Elves, are rather different."
"I can guess," Albus replied. "Gabrielle has worked for years with Elves as equals, and your husband has had house elves as servants, almost slaves, for even longer. They view the world through very different histories."
Emilie looked at the two Aurors close to Albus and his friends, and the Elves also close by. "Are you really in that much danger, Albus, Cleopatra?" she wondered.
"You heard what happened the beginning of last year?" Scorpius asked. "Cleo was captured, and they both almost died. I mean, it took months for them to be totally healed."
The music started to play. Emilie waved goodbye, saying, "Thank you for all you are doing," as she left.
"That was unexpected!" Rose exclaimed.
"I think Mrs. DuMond does a lot of peacekeeping," Cleo reflected. "She is a strong person in her own right; you have to be to survive in that family."
The couples moved to the dance floor, and the couples focused on each other.
*
"I've been in meetings most of the last week," Harry explained to the tenth person to approach him at the dance, "and I will be in meetings or at the ICWW sessions all next week. Try to see me next week. I am trying to spend a little time with my wife tonight."
"I'm sorry I cannot be out on the dance floor during those fast dances," Ginny commiserated. "Slow dancing to that fast music just doesn't work."
"I'd rather just talk to you, and try to ignore everything else," Harry replied. "I've been available to talk to people most of last week, and you saw how I made myself available today."
"I don't see how you have the patience to listen to some of those people complain," Ginny reflected.
"You just try and not take it personally," Harry explained, again. He knew that Ginny had a harder time than he did not taking criticism personally, and she was a fierce defender of her family.
Ron and Hermione came up to the head table after dancing one of the faster dances.
"Trying to shake a little of that belly off," Ginny kidded her brother.
"Your whole metabolism changes as you get older," Ron griped. "And then, when you have been married to Hermione for as long as I have, you use words like metabolism. She's ruined me!"
Hermione laughed. "It is Winky who feeds you too much food, Winky and mum. You are not the only one who is heavier."
"Well, your weight went to your nice feminine hips, not a pot belly," Ron looked at his modest stomach, frowning.
"You could exercise like most of our Aurors do, Ron," Harry kidded. "I cannot guarantee you would lose weight, but it might be distributed better."
"How come you do not gain any weight?" Ron wondered.
"Good genes, exercising, and watching what I eat," Harry replied.
"I watch what he eats," Ginny ruefully remarked, "and am amazed he can eat as much as he does and not gain any weight. For a little guy he can sure put away a lot of food."
A slow dance started. Harry and Ginny arose and went to the dance floor, trying to avoid still another Magi coming towards him.
The last dance ended at ten-thirty, and the band and orchestra packed up and left. All the people seated at the head table disappeared as quickly as they could, heading to their quarters and rest.
*
2021
Author's notes for Wattpad. I am posting this note 8/19/2021.
This story started on the late Harry Potter Fan Fiction web site, and it has also been posted on the Fanfiction web site. I started posting it on Wattpad in 2019, and have been editing the chapters and reposting them here since. I am now caught up on Wattpad. This means that chapters will not be posted any sooner than once a week, and it may be two or three weeks between chapters.
Jet