It's time to move on

All canon characters belong to JKR.

Thank you to June, for her suggestions and adding a few extra interesting tidbits. I appreciate all of your help.

Chapter 22 – It's time to move on.

It was now New Year's Eve. The house-elves were scurrying about, preparing the castle for the celebration that evening.

Breakfast was served outdoors in the gardens, as it had been the past several days. They all ate in silence, enjoying the sight of the surrounding mountains, and taking advantage of their last days at the beautiful castle. Before everyone got up to go about their day, Hermione cleared her throat and looked to her children.

"Odin, Sage, isn't there something you would like to say to Harry?"

The two Snape children stood and walked to Harry, with their heads bowed.

"We're sorry, Harry," said Sage.

"It was us that did those things to you," Odin confessed as he looked at Harry.

At first Harry was a bit confused, then it dawned on him that his tormentor had not been Lucius at all: it had been the seven- and eight-year-olds in front of him.

"You did all that to me? Why?" asked Harry.

"Well, you were being a butt," Sage said as she looked at Harry, then she turned towards Lucius and Ginny's direction.

Harry understood. He realized that the rest of the guests suspected him of bringing the transcript of Lucius' confession, and they were right. He knew the children to be curious – much so like their parents, and there was something new he found out about them as well. They were vengeful little fuckers.

"You're right. I was being a...butt." Harry smiled and hugged the two children. He forgave them. He wasn't physically hurt and his pride would eventually heal. All in all, they may have actually done him a favor by tormenting him. The time he spent alone avoiding the rest of the group had given him time to think on what he had done and how he had been living his life.

Hermione and Severus smiled. They stayed behind and finished their coffee as everyone went about their day.

"Was that part of their punishment?" Severus asked his wife.

"Yes. That and cleaning their own rooms for a month when we get back to Hogwarts." Hermione took a sip of her coffee as she observed her husband out of the corner of her eye.

"It's odd though," she said.

"What is?" asked Severus.

"Well, the Veritaserum was easy enough for them to find. And the Concentio hilaris spell was easy enough for them as well. But when they told me the last spell they used on Harry, I had to go to the Count's lab to look it up."

"You? Look something up in a book?" taunted Severus, as he feigned shock.

Hermione smiled and turned her body towards him. She began to make circles on the back of his hand with her finger.

"It seems that the spell they used was quite difficult. In fact, a wand is needed to perform it properly," Hermione whispered in his ear as she leaned forward. "Now, where do you suppose they got hold of a wand at their ages?" she asked sweetly.

Severus' face remained expressionless. Being a spy for as long as he'd been taught him a thing or two.

"Where indeed. I imagine they made one themselves. You know how resourceful our children are." He smiled, the proud father. If she was trying to trap him into giving something away, she would be sadly disappointed. While he felt badly for his children, they did deserve to be disciplined for their actions. He had not put them up to any of it; he merely facilitated the placement of the final straw on Harry's back.

Hermione knew it was futile to get any information from Severus. Deep within her mind, she knew that Harry had gotten what he deserved. The children hadn't hurt him, and he might have even learned a lesson of his own. She did have to admit, though: Harry had a great singing voice.

Lucius and Ginny were walking in the gardens with Draco. The younger Malfoy was talking to his father about their family business ventures overseas. They were very successful in the textiles market, and had several new orders from many of the fashion houses not only in Europe but also in America.

Minerva and Albus were in the study planning the rest of the school year. Meanwhile, Hermione, Severus and the children decided to make one last go at a family picnic; Severus assigned the children to watch everything the house-elves put into the food basket, even in Crookshanks' absence. The demon cat would be staying permanently with Hermione's parents, as his "incontinence" mysteriously disappeared at his in-laws house.

Harry had been in his room. He decided to begin packing his things. All the guests would be leaving Sunday just after breakfast, and he wanted to make sure everything was packed so that he wouldn't have to waste time the following day. As he was almost finished, he noticed one of his scarves missing. Thinking he may have left it in the living room the previous day, he went downstairs.

He noticed his scarf hanging off a chair as he walked into the room. Then he saw Cho standing and looking out the window.

"Oh, hi, Cho," he said quietly.

Cho turned to him and smiled.

"Hello, Harry."

"I'm just packing my things. Don't want to leave it to the last minute." Harry waved his scarf as though to punctuate he was on a mission.

"No, that wouldn't do." Cho looked uncomfortable. Their relationship had ended badly, and this was the first time they had actually been in the same room alone since she and Draco began seeing each other out in the open.

"I'm sorry about Ginny," Cho said. "I mean...I know you and she were seeing each other." Cho turned and looked outside again. "Ginny seems very happy, though."

Harry approached the window and stood next to her, but kept a good distance.

"You seem happy too." Harry laughed slightly. "Maybe I should find myself a Malfoy."

"Harry," Cho started, but stopped when Harry shook his head.

"No, I'm sorry. I just...I just don't understand why you had to marry Draco of all people," said Harry, as both he and Cho looked at the garden.

"Harry, do you remember that year I twisted my ankle before the Ministry Halloween ball?" asked Cho.

Harry looked at her. "You never twisted your ankle."

"I did. That was the year you and your Ministry buddies went off to Australia on an emergency – to go surfing." Cho looked through the window at Draco and smiled. "Draco saw me at the bookstore that day and asked me if I was going to the ball. I told him that I couldn't go since I was unable to get to a healer for my ankle, and I hadn't found time to buy anything to wear."

She turned to Harry. "Draco took me to see his personal healer, who fixed my ankle. After I was able to walk on my own again, Draco offered to buy me coffee and I accepted. He was nice. He didn't seem anything like the boy he was at Hogwarts, even though you told me he was still the same ferret boy."

Harry said nothing, too embarrassed to speak. He walked back to the couch and sat down.

Cho continued to look at him.

"Do you remember my great-grandfather's last birthday party?" she asked as she smiled.

"Um...no, I...I think I was away on business," answered Harry, as he tried to remember.

Cho laughed. "Yes, business with some of your fellow Gryffindor buddies in Las Vegas, inspecting every bar and lap-dancer in town. Your friends talked about it for months." She walked towards him and knelt down in front of him. "That was the last straw for me, Harry. You had done that to me so many times, I'd lost count. I was closing the family shop early that day, when Draco came by. He wanted to buy the Muggle antique desk I loved so much. He said I sounded sad when I spoke, that my voice was different. Did you ever notice that my voice changes when I am sad?"

Harry bowed his head in shame.

"No, I never noticed," he admitted.

Cho stood and walked towards the fireplace.

"I told Draco why I was sad. He said that I shouldn't go to my great-grandfather's party sad, and he offered to go with me. He said that I should be happy and enjoy myself." She smiled and looked back at Harry, who was not looking at her, yet she saw the tears in his eyes threatening to spill.

"Draco was so good to me, all those times you left me alone with another story. More and more, he started coming by my shop. We started going out a couple of times a week. You never knew because you were never around. I know you were never serious about me, but there was a time I hoped you were.

"I fell in love with Draco probably when you were climbing the Alps with Fred and George Weasley, and then flirting with every pretty barmaid." Cho turned towards the window and saw Draco and Lucius laughing at something Ginny had said. "And now, you've lost another one, haven't you?" said the dark-haired witch sadly.

"Oh, Harry. Just because you are too afraid to face the future, it doesn't mean the rest of us have to stay behind and suffer with you." Cho walked back to Harry and reached out to him and stroked his cheek affectionately. "I loved you, Harry, and I know Ginny loved you as well. Don't hate us for wanting to be happy, to feel loved."

"I did love you," said Harry shakily. "I just didn't know how to show you."

Cho wiped the tears falling down Harry's cheek and kissed him on the forehead. They both jumped when they heard the French doors behind them open up. Draco walked in from the gardens smiling, and then frowned as he saw his wife and Harry.

"Sorry, I didn't know I was interrupting anything." Draco turned to walk away, when he heard Harry's voice.

"No, Draco, it's all right. Cho and I were just talking about a few things."

Cho smiled. She'd hoped that both men could learn to get along with one another.

"Thanks for the talk, Cho." Harry smiled and walked away.

Draco walked to her and took her hand.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine. We just needed to talk and have closure," Cho said, and then kissed him. "He honestly thought I'd believed all his lies."

"Come on, then. Ginny's talked my father into a game of hide-and-seek." Draco laughed as he dragged his wife outside.

Harry, who'd been listening from outside the entrance to the living room, smiled at the thought. Who would have ever believed that former Death Eater Lucius Malfoy would be playing hide-and-seek. Deciding to take Albus' and Cho's advice to heart, Harry knew it was time to make a few changes in his life.

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll have another one up at the beginning of the week.