Snapshots From Life

Chapter 2 - Ireland

Harry arrived at the quidditch pitch earlier than what he told Ginny. He wanted to surprise her. Harry also brought her a little gift that he picked up that he wanted to give her. It wasn't much. It was just a little figurine of a house-elf holding a sign that said 'love.' Harry saw it at a street vendor cart in Diagon Alley and thought Ginny would find it cute.

As Harry walked across the pitch, a woman dressed in Holyhead Harpies quidditch robes yelled to him, "Harry Potter!"

Harry looked up and replied, "Gwen! How are you?"

Gwenog Jones, captain of the team, trotted up to Harry and gave him a one-arm hug and said, "I'm doing good. Ginny said you were coming to the match today! It's good to see you."

Harry replied, "Good to see you too. How's the road trip going? I haven't been able to follow lately."

Gwenog beamed with pride as she stated, "Really good, so far, we're three and one on this trip and this one is practically in the bag so I'm sitting out and Ginny's running the show out there. She's really tearing up the pitch. She's getting good looks and she's managed 230 points this road trip. That's well over 1,000 for the season so far and we still have five matches left. She should clear 2,000 and get the MVP award for the second year in a row." Harry smiled at the praise that Gwen was giving Ginny. He was always proud of her accomplishments on the quidditch pitch. Gwenog continued to tell Harry, "Our regular seeker's out with a head injury but Allen's patching her up. Dara should be ready to go next match and I got Annie riding the pine for a penalty from the last match."

Harry replied, "Sounds like you got your hands full then."

Gwenog just nodded and said, "I wish I had a team full of Ginnys. I tell you; she's got the best instincts I've ever seen and her vision on the pitch in unmatched. I don't even know where to begin with her dedication." Gwenog then gave Harry a sideward glance and said, "Ginny told me you used to be quite the seeker back at Hogwarts. You should bring your broom to practice one of these days."

Harry laughed and replied, "Gwen thanks for the invite but no thanks. First I don't think my old quidditch robes would still fit and second I really don't feel like being embarrassed."

The pair started walking over to the player's bench to see the rest of the team. Harry missed coming to the matches, he made a mental note to ask for more time off to watch Ginny play.

The rest of the team was in a huddle discussing different plays they should run against their opposition. Harry could hear Ginny tell them, "I'm telling you it'll work. I was studying tape last night. Ireland almost always leaves their right flank open. If we run the odd-man rush on that side, we'll catch them with their pants down. After that, we just run the same play on the left. It'll be two easy goals. Then we make them play our game and we'll have this match won in less than an hour."

Gwenog called out, "Potter's right and she's in charge today. Run it in warm-ups."

All the ladies looked over to see Gwenog and Harry walking towards them. Ginny took one look at Harry and grinned ear to ear and said, "Hi Love!"

It was like a switch flipped. Ginny went from fierce quidditch chaser with her game face on to a humble wife with a sweet smile in less than half a second. They reached the huddle and Gwenog lightly elbowed Harry in the ribs and said in a very serious tone, "I found this bloke wandering around the pitch. Tried saying he knew you. You know him?"

Ginny chuckled as she put her arms around Harry's neck as he smiled, "Yea, I know this bloke."

Harry kissed Ginny very deeply to a chorus of wolf whistles while somebody called out, "Get a room!" Ginny loved it when Harry kissed her like that. Her knees always went a bit week, and it made her heart soar to the clouds. Harry looked into Ginny's eyes and told her, "I've missed you."

Ginny put her hand on Harry's cheek and replied, "I can tell."

Harry reached into his robes and said, "I picked you up something a couple of days ago. I saw it and thought of you." Harry then handed her the figurine.

Ginny took one look at it and she melted. She loved getting Harry's little gifts. They were never anything expensive or extravagant, just trinkets and knick-knacks to remind Ginny that Harry was always thinking of her. Ginny kissed Harry and said, "That's sweet Love. Thank you. You hold on to it until after we beat these guys." And just like that, Ginny went back to being a fierce quidditch chaser with her game face on in less than half a second.

The rest of the ladies greeted Harry by either handshakes or one arm hugs as they walked out to the pitch for warmups.

Harry walked over to the player's bench and noticed the team's trainer, Allen. Harry said, "Hey Allen! How are you?"

Allen greeted Harry with a handshake, a quick smiled, and replied, "Hey Mr. Potter! Since I didn't pull your misses out of the last match, I'm doing well."

Harry chuckled and asked, "Let me guess she threatened to curse your" and both men said, "ear off," and shared a good laugh.

That was Ginny's go-to threat anytime she didn't want to leave a match due to injury, which was always. If there was one thing that Ginny hated more than losing was getting pulled out of a match. Harry could hear her yelling at Allen 'If you bench me, I'll curse your ear off!' Allen always fixed her up and got her back out there before the snitch was caught.

As the ladies walk out to the pitch to start warm-ups, Abagail asked, "What did he get you, Potter?"

Ginny smiled and replied, "Just another little figurine. This one was a house-elf holding a sign that said love."

Abagail responded, "That's it? By the way you reacted you'd think it jewelry or something."

Ginny smiled at the thought of that little house elf and said, "That's not Harry's style. He always picks me up little trinkets and he always says that it made him think of me. I have a cupboard full of them."

Abagail just scoffed at her.

Ginny retorted, "At least I don't have to worry about my husband shagging the slut down the street."

All the other ladies laughed.

Matilda stated, "The one thing I don't get is why he gets to walk the pitch when it's closed off to everybody else."

Ava responded, "He's Harry fucking Potter. If he asks you for a favor, you do it. No questions asked."

Ginny and Ava may not be more than teammates, but Ava had a lot of respect for both Harry and Ginny for what they did in the war and that went a long way with Ginny.

Ginny just smiled as she said, "Let's go girls. We've got a match to win."