Epilogue

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and my original characters. All hail JKR!

Author’s Note: All author’s notes are at the end of this chapter.

Epilogue

—King’s Cross Station (Fourteen Years Later)—

“Eileen! Elizabeth! Don’t run!” Hermione shouted over the noise of parents’ shouts and students trying to board the Hogwarts Express this September morning. The twins stopped and looked back to where she was standing with Ron Weasley and his wife, the former Lavender Brown, and their children, Rose and Hugo.

“But, Mum,” Eileen said, “I just saw Uncle Harry come through the barricade with Aunt Ginny. That means James and Albus and Lily are here.”

“And they’ll find us soon enough,” Hermione said sternly. “You don’t want to run in this crowd. Hi, Harry.” She reached out and hugged her friends. “Ginny, you look great.”

“You don’t look too bad yourself,” Ginny said. “I see you finally talked Severus into letting the girls ride the train.”

“Mum told Daddy it was a rise of passion,” Elizabeth said. She giggled to see the shocked looks on the adults’ faces.

Eileen nudged her twin in the ribs. “Not rise of passion,” she corrected didactically. “Rite of passage. You know… when all the first years cross the lake in the little boats with Hagrid and come into the Hall to be sorted. Mum told Daddy we’re only first years once, and we really needed to come into Hogwarts with the rest of our class.”

Harry smiled. “Well, she’s right. You’ll help Albus out, won’t you? James has been teasing him again about what House he’ll be sorted into.”

“Sure,” the twins said as one.

Elizabeth took Albus’ hand. “C’mon. We’ll find a good seat,” she said, towing Harry’s youngest son down the platform. “Scorpius Malfoy is supposed to start this year, too.”

“Yeah. C’mon, Rosie. We can save a seat for him,” Eileen said, grabbing Rose’s hand. “Uncle Draco!” She waved at three figures standing further down the platform.

“Eileen, please!” Hermione reproved with a smile. “You don’t need to shout.” She also waved at Draco and his little family as they stood by the train. “Don’t run, girls. The train doesn’t leave for a while yet.”

She laughed, shaking her head at the antics of her children as she turned back to her friends. “I’ve been dreading this day for the past eleven years,” she sighed. “So has Severus. Living at Hogwarts during the year was bad enough when they weren’t in classes, too. This year…” her voice trailed off softly.

“Has Severus gone north already?” Harry asked, eyes bright behind his glasses. “I had hoped to catch him before he left. Minerva appointed him Deputy Headmaster when Flitwick retired this year, didn’t she?”

“He left first thing this morning,” Hermione confirmed. “Filius worked with him all last year so he could take over. Severus said something about looking at the list of incoming students one more time before he had to pronounce their names and making sure the Potions classroom was prepared for the first class of dunderheads tomorrow morning.”

She smirked. “It’s just an excuse, of course. He doesn’t like the idea that his little girls are growing up into witches or that he might catch them snogging some boy in a dark corner one day. I think if he could, he’d keep them as babies forever.” She looked fondly over to where her twins were talking to, or was it haranguing, Draco and Astoria about letting Scorpius sit with them and their friends. “I think I know how he feels.”

Porters finished loading the luggage car, and the engine’s whistle blew as Hermione and her friends watched students scramble for the train. The twins got hold of both Rosie’s hands, as well as one hand of each of the two boys, and towed them toward an empty compartment to the evident amusement of several parents nearby.

Once inside and seated, one of the children dropped the window and Albus leaned out. “Good-bye,” he shouted, waving as the train started to move. Hermione, the Potters and the Weasleys tried to keep pace with the compartment as the Hogwarts Express started its trip north.

“Don’t forget to write,” Harry shouted.

“Yeah, let us know when you get sorted into Gryffindor,” Ron yelled.

“Not me,” Eileen shouted. “I’m for Slytherin. Daddy said so.”

Hermione started laughing again and had to stop to catch her breath. “She’s probably right.” she said, wiping the tears from her eyes as the train receded into the distance. “Severus has always said she was the quintessential Slytherin. Of course, the Sorting Hat may have other ideas.”

“Like it did with you, Herms?” Draco asked, coming up behind them.

“Exactly.” She hugged him hard. “So, how are your parents enjoying the South of France?”

“Surprisingly well,” Astoria said. “I was surprised, though, that your parents have gone as well.”

“Why not?” Draco interjected. “They’ve been friends for years, you know that.”

“Well, yes. But Matthew said just last Christmas that he wasn’t ready to retire, remember?” Astoria reminded him. “Now all of a sudden they sell out and move to France?”

“I think it was Mum’s health scare that did it,” Hermione said quietly. “Having heart arrhythmia last spring really did it for them.”

“Well, I hope they’re happy,” Ron grumbled. Lavender rapped him across the bicep. “What?”

“Be nice,” she said.

“I was being nice,” he protested. “Wasn’t I?” He looked at Harry and Hermione and then at Draco. “Sorry.”

“No hard feelings,” Draco said, holding out his hand. “After all, we are supposed to be adults.”

Ron grinned wryly as they shook hands. “A good example to our children, is that it?”

“Exactly.”

“And, besides, it’s not like Rosie’ll end up in Slytherin. What?” he said as Lavender rapped him again.

“Come on, everyone,” Hermione said with a laugh. “I have just enough time for someone to treat this Hogwarts’ Transfiguration Professor to lunch before I have to Apparate north so I can be there when the students arrive.”

“Do you want Chinese?” Draco asked eagerly. “I know just the place.”

“Of course you do!” his friends said together, their laughter echoing as they left the now empty Platform 9 and 3/4 to the ghostly sounds of parents’ calls of good-bye and children’s laughter.

* * *

~~FIN~~

A/N: And so we come to the end of my little tale written, with the dubious help of Lucius Malfoy, between November 1st and November 30th of 2009 for the NaNoWriMo. I hope you enjoyed reading my interpretation of what happened after Harry did in Tom Riddle and my take on the so-called Epilogue of Deathly Hallows.

In reminder, I own only copies of the Harry Potter books. All characters and descriptions from the books belong to JK Rowling. The original characters in this story are figments of my own imagination, and resemble no person living or dead.

I really want to thank SlytherinsHeirx for his assistance in Britpicking the chapters before he had to quit and GrammarPolice for her indulgences as a beta after my first beta had to drop out due to computer problems. A very big thank you to noybate for taking over for GrammarPolice when she had to step aside.

Of course, many ‘thank yous’ are owed to the admins as well for their insistence that my writing be the best it could be. Cheers to you all.

Blessed be

MsTree