Ron arrived to the locker rooms a bit late, he was glad he hadn't made plans with Susan or anyone else before the match. He had overslept his alarm, he didn't want them to be waiting for him at all.

Although I wouldn't have minded Susan waking me up, he thought as he grinned to himself. Then he thought of what happened the other day with his mother. His lips pursed, face turning red as he was still embarrassed over what had happened. Maybe if she does, he thought while thinking of Susan, she can put a locking charm on the door beforehand.

Shaking his head to get rid of the distracting thoughts, he quickly undressed and put on his Keeper gear, his teammates already yelling at him to get a move on.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Susan stepped into the box feeling a little uncertain. She'd been wanting to watch one of Ron's matches for quite some time, but he'd gotten her a seat in the box reserved for players' wives and families and she felt rather self-conscious. Susan was neither wife, nor family. That wasn't the entire reason for her discomfort, though.

Since the impromptu introduction to Ron's mum, Susan had been bracing herself to be grilled. It wasn't that there was anything to hide, or that she disliked Mrs. Weasley. The woman had seemed quite pleasant, actually. She'd also seemed rather, well nosy was a rather rude way to put it, but it fit. Susan couldn't blame her for wanting to be informed about her children's lives; she just wasn't wasn't comfortable having all that curiosity focused on her.

There was nothing for it, though, so Susan settled into one of the seats and tried to put it out of her mind. Ron's team would be announced soon. If the thought of him in his Quidditch kit wasn't enough to distract her, nothing was.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Maria settled herself into the Ministry box and looked out over the field. There was nothing happening yet, of course. Just some last minute cleaning from the men that dealt with that sort of thing. She firmly ignored the looks everyone else was casting her way. Those that believed that rag of a paper were looking at her as if she were about to sprout horns and attack at any minute.

Other looks were more considering. Purebloods who had not been approached and who wondered if talking to her would be their in. As if they had not each been considered for recruitment and found wanting already.

Still, it was nice to be out in public. To be seen, both by the people she controlled and by the masses. A calm facade was often enough to calm others.

And maybe the rumors that she'd blasted the cat out of anger would finally fade away. As if she would do something like that. Pangur had been a gift from Calanthe, a pure-blooded Bengal, reputed to be the most expensive cat in the world. What's more, she'd liked him and had been terribly upset when he disappeared.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Owen settled himself down in the press box of Cannon Stadium, waiting until the game started so he could start photographing. He really needed this commission. He'd had to go to Witch Weekly a few times in the last couple of weeks, but their pay wasn't as good as The Daily Prophet. He looked around and saw that he was the only photographer in the box for The Prophet, so his tension eased some.

In the last few weeks Barnabus had come up with this reason or that for not choosing his snaps. Either they were no good, he already had others to choose from, or they were not going to run pictures with the articles. There not being another photographer in the box lessened the chance that he wouldn't take his.

Owen remembered that Ellie was supposed to come to the match, he looked around for her in the stands. Seeing her after a few minutes of searching, he waved. She had already found him and had probably been waving for some time now. Owen smiled to himself, looking back toward the field and waiting for the match to start.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Well... This certainly has gotten built up," Arthur Weasley told his wife as they made their way from the apparition point to the stadium. "See how they've got the ekeltric lamps there in the car park? That's to fool the muggles into thinking that it's a football pitch."

"Ah," Molly said, placating her husband with feigned interest in the lights. "That's wonderful. Good thinking on their part." Arthur's interest in muggle things was cute, and she'd found herself being thoroughly interested in his conversations many times, but this was Ron's day. She was so excited for her son, she was practically radiating with it.

Arthur pulled the tickets out of his pocket, and gave them to the man at the turnstile. He held out his hand to his wife after passing through the device and they made their way over to the stairs. "So, how many of the kids do you think will be here?"

"All of them?" Molly grinned, gripping Arthur's arm. "I think Fred might even be here with Katie. I hope she doesn't get jostled in the crowd, not in her condition."

He looked at her over his glasses. "Molly, she's pregnant... Not terminally ill. She'll be fine, and so will the baby." He reached over and pecked her on the cheek.

"Says the grandfather to the terminally worried grandmother," Molly countered, smiling when she recognized the bright red of her daughter's hair. "There's Draco and Gin. Let's go say hullo."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Brody was carrying Jack on one arm and had Penelope's hand tucked in the other as they made their way to their seats. Penelope was excited. So was Jack. They had not been to a match since Spain.

Brody's cousin Duff was behind them helping Nana MacDougal. That woman was spry for her age. She used her cane less for walking and more for hitting people. Jack adored her. Nessa scared the crap out of Penelope though. She asked the tough questions, questions Penelope wasn't sure even her subconscious had answers for.

They sat in the Cannons section. Nessa had Duff buy Jack a little orange flag to wave. All of the MacDougal were quite fond of Jack and treated the little boy and Penelope like they were part of the family. Brody was holding the boy up. Duff was telling people that Jack's uncle was the keeper. Penelope's eyes were wide. The MacDougals were a lively and loud bunch.

This should make for an interesting time.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Draco loved Quidditch. He loved Ginny. This was two of his favorite things together.

This was a bit trying, though. He was watching Ginny's brother play. Ginny had already told him that no, he was not allowed to cheer for the other team. They were here with Ginny's parents and had a box. That was plenty exciting. The last match he'd watched outside of Hogwarts had been the Quidditch World Cup before his fourth year. Ginny's arm was tucked into his as they followed Molly and Arthur. He had not seen anyone he knew, but he felt certain he'd been noticed. He might need to owl his mother and tell her about this before someone else did. Not that Draco cared what anyone thought. He adored Ginny and rather liked her parents. He was even coming around on most of her brothers - just not the prat he'd be watching.

As they entered the box, he spotted a familiar face. "Bones?"

Hearing her name called, Susan turned toward the voice with a smile. "Hello, Malfoy. Hi, Ginny. Great seats, aren't they? I've never had box seats before."

Just then she noticed the two elder Weasleys. As the last time she'd seen Mrs. Weasley flashed through her mind, Susan's cheeks flushed bright red. "It's nice to see you again, Mrs. Weasley."

Draco raised an eyebrow. He was missing something here, something important. Why was Bones in the family and wives box? Why was he for that matter? Well, he was with the family. So why was Susan Bones - Oh bloody hell. No.

"Susan!" Molly grinning, taking a step away from her husband to wrap an arm around Susan's shoulders. "It's so great to see you here!" She turned to Arthur, Ginny and Draco. "Isn't it wonderful that she's here?"

"Figured she would be," Ginny said with a knowing smile, nodding towards Susan, as she made her way to the small table full of food.

"Well, I think it's wonderful, and I bet Ron does, too," Molly said, squeezing Susan's shoulders again. "You'll sit by us, dear?"

Looking rather like a deer in the headlights, Susan nodded. "Of course." She gestured to the table. "I was just about to get something to munch on. Can I get you anything, Mrs. Weasley?"

Draco got up with a sly grin on his face. "What would you like, Bones? I'll get it for you."

Ginny snorted, shaking her head as Draco approached the food table, a knowing grin on her face. "You're horrible," she said with a bump of her hip against his.

"She best get used to your mum," Draco said. "And Ron had better be nice, or I'll do to him what I did to Charlie."

Ginny gave him a look.

"Oh stop. I told her Charlie had baby thoughts about sodding Greengrass. You should have seen his face when your mum started in on him about it."

Draco looked at Susan. "Bones? Food?"

Mrs. Weasley turned her head and Susan took advantage of the moment to stick her tongue out at Draco. "Any sort of fruit and cheese would be great. Thanks, Draco," she said sweetly.

Draco held two thumbs up at Susan. Her discomfort amused him. Huffles did nervous and uncomfortable better than anyone else.

Draco started heaping fruit and cheese on a plate for her. He looked at Ginny with a toothy grin.

Shaking her head at her boyfriend's antics, knowing it was useless to say anything, she turned back and started refilling her plate. Next to Hannah's, this place had the best bread. Only the best for the family of players...

"So, Susan," Molly said, turning toward the Hufflepuff. "How's the clinic been treating you? Ginny's not too much of a slave driver, is she? If she is, you can blame me. I think I'm the one she took after in that area."

"No, Ginny's been great," the pink-faced Huffle answered, laughing softly. "In fact, she probably gets tired of me from time to time. I'm a little overzealous about organization." Tossing Ginny a wink, she joked, "It's her own fault, though. When she hired me, she gave me free reign over the office administration."

"My daughter? Gave up some sort of power?" Molly grinned over her shoulder at her daughter before leaning into Susan. "You'll have to teach me how you got her to do that. Twenty-two years and I haven't managed it yet."

Susan giggled, waving off any suggestion she'd gotten one over on her boss. "I think she was just happy not to have to do her own filing anymore. Although I suppose it's possible she was afraid of what I might've learned living with Professor Snape."

Molly's eyes widened. "You lived with-" She turned and pulled on Arthur's arm. "Arthur! Did you hear that? She lived with-" She turned back to Susan. "You lived with Severus? When? Why?"

"Most of last December and January," Susan said in response to the easy part of the question. "As for why... The short answer is that I worked for him. The long answer doesn't make much sense. I guess you could say it started out as punishment for irritating him, but in the end it wasn't so bad. The professor and I got along pretty well."

Arthur knew it couldn't possibly be the way it sounded, so he ignored his wife's question. "You must have a better than average knowledge of potions then, having worked for Severus," he commented.

Susan considered the statement, trying to quantify her knowledge of potions. She wasn't a potions master or anything like. Just a shopgirl whose job necessitated a certain level of expertise. "Not the making of them, really, but between working with Professor Snape and the clinic, I can identify just about anything. And in general I know what they're used for and the dosages they require."

"Excellent skills to have," Arthur responded.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It had been an age since Remus had attended a Quiddich match, and he could feel the familiar excitement in the air. Why he didn't go more often, he didn't know, but he was glad that Aubrey had asked him along.

Aubrey stood out of the Three Broomsticks, the portkey, an old sock, in her hands. It was sweet of Remus to agree to me meet her at Hogsmeade rather than apparate directly to the game.

He turned the corner and smiled as he caught her eye. Walking to where she was standing, Remus raised his eyebrow at the sock in her hands. "You'd think they could try to make the Portkey as attractive as the traveler."

Aubrey grinned. "That would be lovely, wouldn't it? I had a great silver necklace that I thought would work, but the portkey office refused and gave me the sock instead. It was quite curious. A woman came in with a gold necklace and that was approved." She shook her head. "But that's neither here nor there. Are you ready to go?"

Nearly frowning, Remus decided to ignore anything unpleasant about the day and enjoy the time with Aubrey. "Sure am."

"Great." She grinned. "I can't wait to see the game. I've actually never seen a professional one. So who are you rooting for?" she asked. "Cannons or Tornados?"

"It all depends on where we're sitting. If Molly catches me barracking against her son, I'll be in for it, but I'm sure you'll be yelling out for the Tornados?"

She nodded. "That's right. Or more accurately, for Cho. I couldn't care less for the team she plays for, but she's been a fan for about forever so I'll be a fan as well. And now I'm babbling." Aubrey shook her head. "You'd think this baby would have screwed up with my inhibitions rather than my hormones."

Remus grinned. "Don't worry about it, honestly. I'm sure Cho would appreciate you losing your inhibitions to yell for her. It's been a while since I last saw a match, so chances are I'll just be yelling at whoever has the Quaffle." He could feel himself getting giddy in the atmosphere, and told himself to calm down. It was only a Quiddich match, and it was only with Aubrey... Yeah, right. Only.

"So are you ready?" She held out the sock. "I would cast a cleaning charm on it, but that apparently interferes with the charm already on it."

Wrinkling his nose in faux disgust, he took hold of the sock and held his breath for the imminent upheaval. They really should figure out a way to make this more comfortable, he thought as he felt the tugging in his belly.

Aubrey felt the ground slam upwards, almost bringing her to her knees. She would have collapsed if Remus hadn't grabbed her. "Sorry," she said after a moment. "First time I've used a portkey since I've been pregnant. I forgot my center of gravity is totally different."

Holding her until she was stable, Remus loosened his grip on Aubrey. "Then it's lucky I didn't let you Portkey alone," he said, looking towards the grounds before looking back at her face. "So where to now? Do you know which entry we need to take?"

Aubrey glanced at her tickets. "I think it's that one," she pointed to a nearby gate. "Cho guaranteed these would be good seats."

They made their way to the seats and Aubrey was happy find not only were the seats good, they were excellent. "So, what have you been doing since we've last spoke?"

"Nothing terribly exciting, I must admit. Reading. Catching up with friends. Keeping Zach out of trouble. The usual." He still hadn't told her about the Order, and with the day being as beautiful as it was, he really didn't want to spoil it. "What about yourself? Much spoiling of the baby?"

"Lots of spoiling. Cho threw me a surprise shower a week ago." Aubrey smiled at the memory. "We're also shopping for a house together."

"Wow," Remus said. "So lots of things going on. Where are you looking for houses?"

"Hogsmeade, hopefully. Oh, look!" Aubrey pointed. "They're beginning to fly out. Lets see if we can spot Cho!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Summary: Ron and Cho have their Quidditch tournament, Owen, Aubrey, Molly, Draco, Penny, Susan, Ginny, Arthur, Maria, Eleanor and Remus come to watch.