In no time, the first guests had rung the doorbell. Harry and Hermione Potter ran to open the door to the five Weasleys standing on their doorstep.
"Ron, Luna!!" exclaimed Hermione. "Finally, we get to see you two again!!"
"Aw, hey, Mione!" said Ron, giving her a hug. He turned to Harry. They both grinned broadly at each other before hugging, too.
"Come on in, come on in," welcomed Hermione as Harry gave Luna a hug. "Hi, John! Hi, Jacob! Hi, Mara!"
"Aunt Hermione! Uncle Harry!" Ron and Luna's three kids squealed before launching themselves onto them. Even though John was already ten years old, he was still there squealing and hugging.
"Hi, guys!" came a fourth excited voice.
For Sarah had come into the hallway, and she stood there eagerly looking at her friends.
Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Luna smiled as the four children kicked off their shoes and ran with Sarah to the backyard.
"That's beautiful...." said Luna softly. "The sights of children playing innocently.... so beautiful...."
Hermione nodded. "Their shouts... their giggles... their mischief..." she sighed. "So beautiful, indeed."
Harry and Ron looked at each other and rolled their eyes. "God, Harry," said Ron, "I think all this being married to you has made Hermione into a sentimental!"
Hermione glared at him. "As if I wasn't before," she sniffed, her nose in the air.
Harry and Ron glanced at each other, then dissolved into laughter.
"What, what?!" Hermione exclaimed. "What's the joke?" She glanced over to see Luna giggling, too.
"Oh, wife!!" Harry exclaimed. "Come here, you." He swooped down on her with a big bear hug, making her giggle and squirm.
Ron smiled at the sight of them and leaned over to give Luna a kiss. As he did so, he heard the sound of more people arriving.
"Hey, Potters! Weasleys!" came a familiar voice. The four adults turned to see Draco Malfoy striding up the walkway, complete with his wife, Ginny, and their kids, Caleb and Alexandra (Alex for short).
"Malfoy!" exclaimed Harry, striding up to him. They shook hands and hugged. "How have you been?"
"Oh, excellent," said Draco, smiling. He went on to greet Hermione, Ron, and Luna, as Harry gave Ginny a hug.
"Hey, Gin. How've you been?"
"Oh, wonderful!" Ginny replied. "Caleb, Alex, say hi to Uncle Harry!"
"Hi, Uncle Harry! Hi, Uncle Harry!" the two kids exclaimed, jumping on him.
Harry laughed and knelt down to hug them. As soon as he had let them go, they were off to greet Aunts Hermione and Luna, and Uncle Ron.
"Hey, you two," said Hermione. "John, Jacob, Mara, and Sarah are in the backyard. Why don't you go join them?"
"Okay! Okay!" Caleb and Alex exclaimed, immediately running off to the backyard. The now-six adults watched them go, smiling.
"So, Weasley," said Draco, punching Ron lightly on the shoulder, "when's John starting at Hogwarts?"
Ron smiled. "This August," he stated proudly. "His eleventh birthday's coming up in June, and he'll be off to Hogwarts this year."
"Oh, wow," cut in Ginny, smiling. "The years sure have passed fast."
"They sure have, but remember, we had John exactly nine months after we got married," said Ron, grinning and nudging Luna, who blushed. "Got pregnant the night of our honeymoon, I'd say!"
Luna swatted Ron's arm. "Hey Ron, while you're at it, why don't you tell everyone exactly what we did on our honeymoon, now!"
They all laughed. "Go ahead, Ron," urged Draco. "Spill it out!"
Ron grinned. "You and Ginny first, I insist," he replied.
Ginny giggled. "Let's just say - you don't want to know," she finished, smiling.
"I agree," said Draco, putting his arm around her. "I totally agree."
Harry groaned. "Can I remind you that we have six kids in the backyard?" he said. "With any luck, they already have some magical connection set up and are listening to every word we say."
Ron laughed. "Hey, Harry," he teased, "are you trying to change the subject before we get to asking you what you guys did on your honeymoon?"
"Well, no," replied Harry, grinning, "in fact, I can tell you right now what we did. We-"
"Oh, please, please!" yelled Draco, covering his ears. "Spare my delicate, innocent, little ears the details, please!"
Ginny swatted him. "Your ears aren't so innocent, hun," she said. "They've heard some pretty- shall we say- racy things during our marriage! Need I remind you of last Tues-"
"Oh, God!!" exclaimed Ron, now covering his ears. "Please, please! My ears are innocent!"
"Oh no they aren't," cut in Luna. "Hmm, should I tell everyone what we did a couple weeks ag-"
"Oh, man," Harry groaned, smiling at Hermione. "Are we the only ones here who've actually been clean?"
Hermione smiled back at him. "No," she replied, to everyone else's great amusement. "Did you already forget what happened that last Friday in the-"
"Ahh, ahh," breathed Draco, "there go my ears again, there go my ears again!"
At this, all six of them finally burst out laughing.
"Oh, jeez," laughed Ron, "the six of us have waay too much fun whenever we get together."
"We do, we do," agreed Draco. He smiled, and raised an imaginary glass. "Here's to being Hogwarts students in mind and soul forever."
"Cheers," they all agreed, clinking imaginary glasses and then pretending to take sips. Hermione giggled.
"If you would only realize how silly we look," she laughed, "clinking imaginary glasses and taking sips from them!!"
They all grinned as Harry came over and wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Silly, silly Mione," he said, smiling.
Ginny sighed. "That name certainly goes back, doesn't it," she said. "How did you guys begin calling her Mione, anyway?"
Harry and Ron looked at each other and smiled. "In our sixth year," Harry explained. "She got asked out by... who was it again, Mione?"
Hermione smiled. "Blaise Zabini," she explained. "You know - that one Slytherin?"
"Oh, right," recalled Ginny, the others also nodding in agreement.
"Well," continued Harry, "Blaise thought she was the kind of girl who would turn on her best friends for her boyfriend. So he asked her out, and he was initially really sweet and all-"
"He was," interjected Ron. "I mean, even me and Harry couldn't tell that he was scheming something, and you know how protective me and Harry are about our Mione."
"Oh, we do," agreed Draco, smiling. "Remember how you two cracked on me at the end of sixth year and beat me up because I called Hermione- well- you know what I called her-"
Harry nodded, grinning. "Best day of my life," he remembered, as Draco swatted at him. "Anyway," he continued, "around the middle of the year, Blaise began asking Hermione to do all this crap to me and Ron, like put spells on us and such. He tried to get her to give him the password to Gryffindor Tower several times so that he could go in and steal our stuff."
"Oh, my gosh," breathed Ginny. "What a jerk! Just because Hermione was his girlfriend and all... what an advantage-taking jerk!"
Harry smiled at her and continued, "Yeah, so Hermione of course refused to do any of that to us two, so Blaise got pissed at her and divorced her. So-"
He paused, because everyone had started cracking up. "What?" he asked, puzzled. "What happened?"
"Divorced her?" choked out Draco through his laughter. "Divorced Hermione?"
"You said divorced!!" giggled Luna.
"Oh, goodness, Harry!" laughed Ginny.
"No, Harry, not divorced!" exclaimed Ron.
"Well, gee, Harry," giggled Hermione, "it didn't go that far...."
Harry smacked a hand to his forehead. "Okay, okay, I'm an idiot," he said, smiling. "Back to story?"
"Okay," they all agreed, but still with the slight inclination to break out into giggles every once in a while.
"So," continued Harry, "Blaise got pissed at her and- uh- broke up with her- and so Hermione came to me and Ron in our dorm at night, because old Blaise had broken up with her when she was studying in the library late one evening, and she was crying and all upset and all. So Ron and I were comforting her and everything, and that's when we began calling her Mione. We were just like, it's okay Mione, calm down Mione, and I guess that's where the name got started."
"Oh, wow," said Ginny, "that is really, really nice. But jeez, what a jerk that Blaise was! I mean, my God, that's so malevolent!"
Ron nodded. "Harry and I got him good, remember that, Harry?" he added, glancing at him.
Harry nodded, grinning. "Oh man, we got in so much trouble for that...." he reminisced. "It was just our luck that ol' Snape had to come along just as we were beating Blaise up."
Hermione gasped. "Snape?!" she squealed. "Snape caught you?! But- but- you never told me it was him!"
Ron nodded. "We didn't want to make you feel bad or anything, Miones," he said. "It wasn't that bad, just-"
"Just Snape deducting three hundred points for each of us from Gryffindor, until Dumbledore stepped in and told him he couldn't do that," finished Harry, grinning. "Ron and I told Dumbledore the whole story, and he agreed that even though us fighting hadn't been the right answer, we had still had the right intentions, and he gave us back the points - all six hundred of 'em."
"But boy oh boy, Snape was mighty bitter with us for the rest of that year," recalled Ron, grinning.
"Oh, my gosh," said Hermione softly. "I never knew... I never knew that Snape caught you... oh man, I feel so horrible now..."
Harry and Ron exchanged pained glances, and Harry came over and wrapped his arms around Hermione. "Aw, Mione, don't feel bad," he said, cradling her, "it wasn't so bad at all, see, we got all our points back and me and Ron got in some good fighting in the meantime...."
Ron grinned. "That was certainly satisfying," he said with relish.
Hermione smiled, not feeling as bad now, as Draco cut in. "Hey, I remember that Blaise kid! Oh, man, most of us hated him... he was just this good-for-nothing kid always trying to cheat people out of their stuff... what a loser he was!!!"
"I wonder where he is now?" wondered Luna.
"In Azkaban," replied Draco.
"What?" everyone asked, shocked, looking at Draco. He nodded grimly.
"He was a double spy. Spying for the Ministry one day, Death Eaters the next.... well, we caught up with him soon enough. There are most definitely some Death Eaters who work for the Ministry, and they most certainly figured out what he was up to.... well, before they could get to him, the Ministry did, and bam- locked up in Azkaban he is."
"God," burst out Ginny, "that's horrible. I'm glad he's locked up in Azkaban. What a good-for-nothing jerk... jeez...."
Draco smiled, hugging her. "Yup," he agreed. "Yup... a good-for-nothing jerk he was and still is...."
They all stood there in silence for a little while, reminiscing on the doings of Blaise Zabini. This silence was broken only when Harry noticed someone tugging on his trousers.