"Ginny, can you please explain to me why you insist that we spend time with these people?" Harry asked as they dressed in their bedroom. He was bitter to be spending, yet another, Sunday afternoon in the company of the Malfoys. No matter how much times have changed, and no matter how much the Wizarding World had supposedly changed over the last twenty years, nothing on God's green Earth could make Harry Potter befriend Draco Malfoy.

He watched as his wife cast a quick glamor charm to hide a developing wrinkle and pin her fiery red hair into an elegant French twist. One thing that had always amazed him was that, though she was by no means old, her hair color had never faded or faltered in the nearly thirty years that he had known her. In his opinion, she was as beautiful as the day that they had met.

Ginny rolled her eyes, tired of having this ridiculous conversation over and over again. She stood up from her seat at the vanity table and walked over to her husband, looping her arms around his neck. "Darling, just because you still don't like Draco, that does not mean that I am not allowed to be friends with Astoria," she explained condescendingly. "Honestly, Harry, she's a lovely woman, and Albus has become quite good friends with Scorpius over the last two years."

"But why do I have to go, Gin?" he whined.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Harry James Potter," she scolded, "you have paraded me around Ministry balls, press conferences, and so many other monotonous affairs that bore me nearly to tears, and I have been your dutiful, loving wife. If you can't get over the fact that you and Draco are not friends so that I can spend an afternoon having tea with Astoria, then I swear to Merlin that I will make the rest of your life miserable." She gave him a plastic smile. "Understand, darling?"

Understanding quite fully the concept of quitting while one was ahead, Harry nodded, defeated. For the eighth Sunday in a row, Harry decided to willingly comply with his wife's request for tea at Malfoy Manor.

"Draco, dear, please have the elves prepare the tea service in the garden, would you?" Astoria called politely.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Are the Potters coming again?" he asked.

Astoria smiled brightly, her chestnut brown hair waving in the light breeze as she sauntered over toward her husband. "Darling, you know how much I enjoy spending time with Mrs. Potter. Can you just be a dear and join us?" She fluttered her eyelashes, hoping that her husband would give in.

"Why is it that we host for these people?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest like a small child.

She smiled at him adoringly. "You act as though they are strangers. Why, you've known Harry and Ginevra for even longer than I!"

"That's my point. I've known them for almost thirty years, and I've never liked them." He threw his hands up in defeat, knowing full well that his argument was pointless. Whether he liked it or not, tea with the Potters was inevitable. "Why do you call her that, anyway?"

Astoria blanched. "Call who, what?"

"Ginevra," he spat, almost as if the word was poison on his tongue. "Merlin, woman, she has been Ginny all her life, and no one else ever calls her that."

She continued to smile adoringly at her husband, who returned the expression with a bitter scowl. She approached him, straightening his tie and taking in his appearance. "Darling, please go and put on something a bit less formal, would you? You know the Potters do not like to dress quite so nicely for tea."

He eyed his wife's slim-fitting black cocktail dress and raised an accusatory eyebrow.

Whatever she meant to say was cut off by the ringing of the doorbell. "Oh, dear, I suppose your current attire will just have to do!" she exclaimed, smoothing down his suit and her own dress and hair. "I do believe it is quite improper to be late when we are the ones hosting!"

The four adults gathered around a small, elegant table in the middle of the garden. The sun was shaded by a white-laced umbrella, and the smell of the orchids blooming made the atmosphere quite pleasant. Four house elves bustled around, serving tea and scones to the hosts and the guests.

Astoria and Ginny sat across from one another, their husbands sitting at their sides, each looking miserably bored. Neither woman seemed to notice as they tattered on about all sorts of things that neither man cared much about. They talked about gardening, baking, their children, child bearing, how much they adored the prospect of grandchildren, and other womanly sorts of interests.

"So, Ginevra," Astoria said, sipping her tea, "have you heard from Lily at all?"

Ginny nodded, a rather proud smile adorning her freckled face. "Yes, she sent me a letter the very first day!" she replied. "She's been sorted into Gryffindor with her brothers, and she is so excited. I'll tell you, she's so much like I was when I was a girl. I was so jealous when Ron went off to Hogwarts and I had to wait another year."

"I was the same way, darling, with Daphne being two years older," Astoria said. "Well, good, I am glad that she is enjoying school."

The redheaded witch nodded in agreement. "Have you heard from Scorpius at all yet?" Ginny asked, looking more toward Draco in an attempt to persuade him to join into the conversation.

Draco, who was absent-mindedly tapping his fingers on the table, looked oblivious.

Astoria cleared her throat, gaining her husband's full attention almost immediately. "Draco, darling, how about you show Harry that new Muggle thing your company has just begun investing in." She looked sweetly at the dark-haired wizard. "Harry, they have found a Wizarding adaptation to Muggle cellular phones! They work around magic and it will be so much simpler to communicate! It is quite thrilling, is it not?"

Harry blinked, shaken out of his daze when Astoria said his name. "Oh, that's interesting," he said, clearly demonstrating that he felt the exact opposite way. When Ginny kicked him in the shin, he winced and straightened up. "I mean, that sounds great! If Mal - er - Draco wants to show me, I'd be glad to, er, see it." He rubbed his shin, glaring at his wife out of the corner of his eye.

"Lovely," Draco said dryly. He stood without another word and led the other man into their home.

When the two men were clearly out of earshot, the expressions on the faces of both women dropped. They simultaneously rolled their eyes, sipped their tea, and then took a bite of their scones. Each nibbled their pastries while shaking their heads irritably at the childish nature of their husbands.

Ginny was the first to break the silence. "You know, I just don't understand what Harry's problem is," she said, exasperated. "I mean, I go to so many Ministry events and I am always being paraded around and getting attention from the Daily Prophet for being married to the great Harry Potter, but he can't act civil through one afternoon a week here! Is it so much to ask?"

Astoria shook her head. "No, darling, and my husband is the same way! I have to sit through boring press conferences when his company begins investing in something or other, and I get dragged around the world doing this and that, but he simply refuses to sit down for tea once a week, free of argument!"

"And it isn't you, I want you to know that," Ginny added. "Harry apparently has yet to grow up and get over the fact that he and Draco were rivals at Hogwarts."

The younger witch nodded in agreement. "Exactly, Ginevra. Draco has never said an unkind word toward you." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Although, I am quite certain if he did, he realizes that I would not take too kindly to it."

Ginny smiled at her friend. She put her head in her hands. "And now this evening he is dragging me to the annual Halloween Ball at the Ministry. I can't stand those bloody formal affairs!"

"I wish my husband would take me to one of those! Instead, this evening, we are meant to go to see the Falmouth Falcons play because he bought the team. Heaven knows how much I hate that dreadful sport!"

"Goodness knows how much I love Quidditch!"

The two women sighed dramatically and sat in silence for several minutes. As time passed, and they each began to think, twin thoughts entered their minds. It was dreadfully insane, and each knew deep down that no good would possibly come from it, but their rational minds were pushed aside in favor of a temporary solution.

It became apparent in those few minutes that the two women spent entirely too much time around each other. They each looked up, locking eyes, each woman sporting her own devilish glint.

Ginny smirked a smirk that would rival Draco's classic. "Do you have any in your lab?" she asked, lowering her voice to a whisper.

"I believe I do," Astoria said. "I think we have got quite enough to last through the week."

The redheaded witch glanced around, ensuring that neither of their husbands had returned. She said, "Let's go now. Before the men come back."

Astoria grabbed Ginny's hand, and they walked briskly toward the manor.

There were so many twists and turns as they ran through the long corridors that Ginny would have sworn that they were going in circles had it not been for the changes in Portraits and decor. Finally, after what seemed like forever, she was pulled into a room that had a very strong resemblance to a Potions laboratory. She watched as her friend rummaged through cabinets, searching for what they needed.

After only a few moments, Astoria grabbed what she had been searching for, holding it up as though it were buried treasure, and walked toward Ginny. She had a wicked grin on her face and a glimmer in her eye to match. At that moment, for the first time in their friendship, she looked very Slytherin.

"There is plenty here for us," Astoria informed Ginny. "I think this will work."

Ginny nodded in agreement. "For one week, yeah?" she asked.

Astoria nodded.

Ginny smirked. "Cheers."