Times like this were limited between them all. In their own personal lives, they are already incredibly busy so when they did have the time off at the same time they always spent time together. They never even cared what they did on these rare days, most of the time it was them just meeting up and chatting about their crazy school years. After all, nobody had just as crazy school years as Harry James Potter, Hermione Jean Weasley (formerly Granger) and Ronald Billius Weasley. No matter what they did, they always ended up in the middle of something which mostly was never good.
They had all been through a lot together and this is probably why their friendship never fizzled out and also probably why two of them were now married to each other. Harry can't deny that it was awkward for a few weeks once Ron and Hermione first got together but then again he wasn't the right person to complain. He was after all married to Ron's little (and only) sister. There were times when they had fought a lot and didn't speak to one another but they somehow drifted back together again like nothing had ever happened between them.
They really couldn't ask to have better people to call their best friends.
Harry himself worked a lot since he was the Head Auror now in the Ministry since Kingsley Shacklebolt had retired a couple of weeks before. Hermione worked a lot as well in the Ministry but in the Department of Magical Law as opposed to where Harry worked. For eighteen months Ron had also worked alongside Harry but he eventually crumbled under the workload and left the post to work with George. The pay might not have been as good but he wasn't going to complain. Ron had been used to having almost no money so it wasn't anything new to him.
They were all happy and living their lives albeit a lot more peacefully but neither were ever going to complain about it. They had already had too many insane encounters throughout their school years and now actually relished being a bit more normal. They never would be normal though, they were all famous considering they had joined forces a lot and if they hadn't then the horcruxes wouldn't have been destroyed and therefore they would still be in the middle of a war.
The peace was nice, but there were the odd few occasions where they missed breaking rules (occasionally laws) to do something. Not much had changed between them all look-wise. Harry's hair was still midnight black and was impossible to tame and his very individual scar had never faded. Ron still had that flaming ginger hair that was a signature for the Weasley family along with his impressive height. Hermione's hair was still on the borderline of being classed as an afro but one thing had changed about her and it still made the two men chuckle slightly.
At the start of their school years, Hermione had the largest set of front teeth and she was bullied for it. She'd always been bullied since she always got amazing grades in her exams and never seemed to stop studying- but her teeth made everything worse for her. One day their biggest rival Draco Malfoy had cast a spell on Hermione that caused her teeth to grow at an alarming rate and she had to be taken into the hospital wing. Instead of asking for them to be put back to normal- she had managed to trick Madam Pomfrey into giving her a perfect smile.
They did miss school. Not the learning side of it (well, everyone but Hermione), but the whole experience. Not many kids got to say they went to a school of Wizardry and Witchcraft so they were already incredibly lucky. On top of that they made great friends along the way and also fell in love. Yes, they missed all of this but if they were all being completely honest they missed the shenanigans they always got themselves into. Even when they weren't trying to get in the middle of something they ended up in it anyway. They had just come to accept it.
Right now the three of them were sitting in the Hogs Head laughing loudly over a specific memory. The old pub hadn't changed in the slightest. It still smelled horrible, that same insane bartender was here and there was the occasional goat walking around. They could have gone to the Three Broomsticks instead but they had been here many times and lots of memories were created.
"Remember the look on Crabbe's face?"
This only caused them to laugh even more than before. Currently they were reminiscing on a specific antic in their third year of Hogwarts. Double Trouble- as everyone called the Weasley twins in school- had given Harry the Marauder's map so he could sneak into Hogsmeade after Vernon refused to sign his permission slip. He somehow found his way over to a fence surrounding what was supposedly the most haunted building in all of Britain and met his two friends. Then Malfoy and his clique showed up and Harry decided to play ghost with his invisibility cloak.
The look on their faces was priceless and it most definitely bruised their large egos. It certainly gave them all the perfect material to blackmail them all with. Then again, Crabbe wasn't even alive anymore after he ended up getting stuck in his own synthetic flame in the Room of Requirement. They hadn't really heard from Draco since they left school but they weren't going to complain with that. They had never gotten along the entire six years they spent at school so they definitely wouldn't get along now.
Out all of them, Hermione was the only one to go complete her seventh year and get her NEWT's. It wasn't much of a surprise that she walked out of there with an Outstanding on every paper. Harry and Ron contemplated going back but they eventually decided against it because they knew that they would get themselves into something as a trio and they didn't necessarily want more drama or trouble following them. No surprises where their nickname of 'the terrible trio' came from...
For a couple of hours, they all continued reminiscing and once again they were glad they chose the quieter pub because they probably would have been kicked out by now with the noise they were all making. Ten years. That was how long they had known each other for and it was going onto eleven. That was a very long time to know someone. They hadn't been friends the whole time, in fact it was only after Hermione took the blame for the troll drama that she was welcomed into their small friendship group.
They would still never change it though. They all had to do things that no teenager should have to do. Harry was always the centre of everything, Ron always helped them keep it together and Hermione was the brains behind it all. It was both a perfect and disastrous combination depending on who the spectator was. They are already pretty certain that almost every single teacher in Hogwarts hated them for always causing trouble wherever they went but they also secretly loved them.
Their laughter only continued when Hermione took another sip of her butterbeer since she tended to stay away from any alcoholic beverages unless it was an event and ended up with some of the creamy froth stuck all over her lips. Ron had simply joked that she looked as though she had rabies which caused his wife to glare at him both in a mixture of amusement and annoyance. That was how it worked for them though. They couldn't go a day without at least a dozen arguments but they were all extremely stupid and then they would make up.
Which was why Harry looked away awkwardly when they decided to lay on the PDA.
As much as he was happy for the couple, he couldn't deny that it was very awkward watching his two best friends snogging. He missed this, spending time with them that is. A lot of people automatically assume that because they had probably the craziest teenage years out of everyone in their world that they would get bored doing normal jobs. The answer was pretty simple. They did miss the craziness but they all agreed that they much preferred being 'normal'. They never would be normal and that was something they unfortunately had to get used to.
The year they went hunting horcruxes though really tested their friendship. After all they were filled with parts of a psychopath's soul and it did a lot of things to them. Of course it didn't affect Harry quite as much considering he himself was one of the objects even though it was completely accidental. They had gotten into numerous fights and one got too much that Ron even left where they had camped to sort his thoughts out. Hermione though was a whole other story.
Before it had all happened, she had made easily the bravest decision a child could ever make. She erased herself from her parent's memory so that when Death Eaters came looking for information there was no way they could get any. She also did it to protect her parents because she didn't want them to face the same fate of Neville's. Last year though herself and Ron had managed to find where her parents were seen as they moved to Australia not long after the memory wiping and Hermione reversed the spell.
Despite her parents being extremely upset with her decision to do what she did, they understood where she was coming from. They weren't exactly comfortable with their only daughter who was still so innocent in their eyes to be in the middle of a war. They couldn't be mad at her though because her intentions were for the better. It was a good thing that she found where her parents exact locations were because she wanted to be traditional and have her dad walk her down the aisle when she married Ron.
They had been married for ten months and unsurprisingly not a single thing changed. They already fought like a married couple anyway before they were even together. If anything, their silly fighting lessened after their wedding. Harry chuckled a little bit when they all began reminiscing on the first time they met each other on the Hogwarts Express. Ron definitely didn't win over Hermione the first time they met nor did she win him over either. Ron had attempted to turn his 'rat' yellow, spoke with his mouth full of numerous sweets and to top it all off he had a large spot of dirt on his nose.
For the next hour they sat there and continued their catching up before they decided to go their separate ways again. More likely they separated because Molly had decided to cook a large meal for herself, Arthur, Ron and Hermione. Neither of them wanted to anger Molly because she had a more vicious temper than Ginny and that was saying something. Speaking of Ginny, Harry was wondering what she was doing with Felicity.
It was a good thing that they had struck up such a good friendship with each other. They may be polar opposites but they seemed to balance each other perfectly. He hadn't seen Dudley for about a week since he had been helping Petunia move into her new house. Their old house on Privet Drive had quickly been purchased within a month of it being on the market and Petunia wasted no time in handing over the keys. She was the happiest out of everyone to get rid of the place.
---
Another powerful kick was swung her way but she knew it was coming. Felicity held the pad up a little higher and barely budged when Ginny's foot came in contact with the leather. They had both decided to try out something a bit different today. Most of the time when they hung out they would go shopping or eat a lot but now they were introducing each other into their different lives. Right now, they were concentrating on sport.
For the past hour, Felicity had been teaching Ginny the standard karate moves and the younger was loving every single second of it. She was never a girly girl and occasionally there was still a few people who assumed that she wasn't quite as tough as she was. She's always been a bit more of a tomboy and now she had a close friend who understood her. Felicity may be the more girly of the pair but at least she wasn't afraid to get dirty and didn't necessarily care what she looked like at all times.
Ginny doesn't look down on girls though who are rather stereotypical- she was just never one to stick to stereotypes. She had always been very interested in sports and considering she was now in training for a huge match she knew she had to put a lot of effort into this. This wasn't just one of her regular matches, this was the semi-final round so if her team won the game then they were either going to win the English Quidditch championship or they were going to come second.
Ginny never settles for lower than second place though, she was determined to win. She had already managed to fool all of her brothers for years when she always snuck around behind their backs and stole their brooms to practise. She sized up the space again and aimed another kick at the pad. She was actually quite enjoying this. Whenever she heard Harry and occasionally Hermione speak about muggle sports they sounded boring but this one she was definitely enjoying. A lot. It was a good thing that she had a good friend to help teach her.
Felicity was glad though that Ginny was genuinely enjoying herself. Not many females are interested in forms of martial arts so she was very excited to now share something she loves and she doesn't need to be shy about it. However, the blonde had not expected Ginny to take to it so well but again she wasn't going to complain.
Both women had their hair tied up in tight buns and were wearing regular attire for karate. Ginny had brought more common sportswear as she had occasionally joined Hermione at a gym previously but she was glad she did not need to wear the tight leggings as she was not comfortable in them. She never was entirely comfortable in muggle clothing as a whole to begin with. Then again, she was born a witch and had lived her whole life wearing robes of numerous colours.
Kick, punch, kick, kick and punch. She wasn't exactly sticking to a specific pattern but somehow Felicity knew exactly what she was going to do. Ginny had yet to figure out the elder's knack for seeing a person's thoughts and feelings by looking straight in their eyes. That was the one part of the human body that always betrayed body language, and the short blonde had mastered the art of it. She had her dad to thank for that. She'd always been a daddy's girl.
The pair of them continued this for the next hour until eventually Ginny gave in to her aching limbs. They sat down on the hardwood floor and gossiped a while until they had a bit more feelings in their joints before changing into their normal clothes and exiting the gym. Around this time the place was almost always deserted so this was usually when Felicity and Dudley usually kept in shape.
They both then proceeded to walk around the Fulham high street, stopping in a few shops along the way when they felt like it. They didn't really buy anything but they wanted to spend as much time with each other as they possibly could. It was only now that Ginny had an idea but she really wasn't sure how Felicity would react to her question. Muggles may not be able to fly on a broom by themselves- they could however fly on a broom with a witch or wizard on the broom with them.
"Felicity, since you just taught me how to fight in a muggle way, how do you feel about learning to play Quidditch?"
What Ginny didn't expect was for a massive grin to form on Felicity's face which immediately gave her the answer. So the redhead held her arm out for the blonde to take and they were soon both standing in the Potter's back garden. The older pulled out a bandana from her pocket and tied her fringe out of the way since she didn't like the idea of having her hair stuck in her eyes. She was very nervous about this, but she was also extremely excited.
Ginny soon emerged with a large box hovering over the ground along with her Firebolt. Herself and Harry usually fought over what broom belonged to who since they had the exact same model. It eventually got to the point that Hermione cast a spell on each of them so if the wrong broom was picked up it would give off a similar sensation to an electric shock. It may have been mean but it worked wonders in stopping their stupid bickering.
She signalled Felicity to sit down and proceeded to open the box to show her the four balls. Felicity was a bit startled at seeing just how vicious the bludgers seemed but she was relieved when Ginny said she only ever brought those out of the box when they had family over to play a small match. She decided to leave the snitch until last because it was the fastest of them all and she didn't want to frighten Felicity too much because this was a very dangerous sport.
So she picked up the quaffle and let Felicity get a feel of the oddly shaped ball. It kind of reminded her of a planet with a lot of craters on it but it was surprisingly light and during Ginny's talk they had walked over to the makeshift pitch her and Harry had built. Harry might have not gone further with the sport other than team captain but he still loved to play. Ginny pointed to the three large goalposts and explained the scoring system of the game and Felicity listened with rapt attention.
It sounded a bit complicated but she was sure that once she saw it in action it would all make sense to her. The younger had soon mounted the broom and she understood without words and took a similar stance behind her. It was a little awkward and she was glad that Ginny took the quaffle from her so she could grip tightly onto her waist. For a few minutes she made the broom hover so she could get used to the sensation before slowly getting higher.
Felicity wasn't going to deny that she was scared because that was a very high drop but adrenaline was pouring through her veins and she knew she really wanted to try this. Dudley would probably be terrified when she told him but this was something she wanted to do and not something she was told to do. Within twenty minutes of flying around she asked Ginny to go faster and by the end of the hour she had bravely tucked the quaffle under her right arm and only holding onto Ginny with her left. She only managed one successful throw into one of the hoops but she still felt extremely pleased with herself.
They were soon back on the ground and now Ginny brought up bringing out the tiny snitch. She didn't want to scare Felicity too much because they would have to fly very fast in order to catch the winged golden ball. She needn't have asked though because the blonde had already caught the bug for Quidditch and they had soon mounted Ginny's broom again after putting the quaffle away and letting the smallest and fastest ball out of the box. Felicity's eyes had tried to catch sight for a tiny fleck of gold but she gave up after a few seconds.
"Ready?"
Ginny looked back and gave her friend and wide smile whilst Felicity replied;
"Let's catch this ball."
With the permission given, Ginny kicked off from the ground and sped around in pursuit of the snitch. The entire time Felicity was letting out whoops of delight at the huge adrenaline rush she was experiencing. She'd never felt anything like it before and she knew she wanted to experience it again. She knew though that there was no point in her trying to convince Dudley to partake in the dangerous sport since he had an acute fear of heights and also because she knew he would not enjoy it at all.
It was a good thing she tied her fringe away considering the excessive speeds they were both travelling at. After a few minutes though Ginny caught a tiny flicker of gold out of her peripheral vision and Felicity spotted it too. They grinned at each other and it only took them a couple of minutes to catch the snitch. It struggled a little bit in Ginny's palm before admitting to being captured. It was getting late now so they both decided to call it a day and Ginny apparated Felicity back to her own house.
She was very lucky to have someone like Ginny as a friend. She hadn't really met that many females who were interested in the same hobbies but now she had and she didn't want that to ever change. She was on her own tonight since Dudley was still helping Petunia move into her new home. Felicity had offered to help but her husband had point blank refused and there was no point in trying to change his mind because he was far too stubborn for his own good. She opened the window and let Arnold fly around outside considering it was normal for owls to fly around at night and played a little with Bon Bon before letting sleep take over after her exhausting but exhilarating day.