Epilogue

Epilogue

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters belong to JKR. I'm not making so much as a Knut from this story.

AN: Many thanks to septentrion and LadySunflower for betaing.

Daily Prophet, 9.4.99

Ron Weasley has promised to try to be more discrete and to clean up his act, knowing that he is a role model to his fans and also to his nephew Roy, who starts his schooling at Hogwarts this September after having refused his mother's demands that he be schooled at Beauxbatons.

Hogwarts, Defence Master's quarters, 15.3.2019.

Flicking the scrapbook shut, Severus wondered where his children's birth announcements were. He had a sneaking suspicion Minerva, their godmother, had them framed in her office. Hermione would not be pleased to find them gone, not when she had gone to the trouble of putting the newspaper cuttings together for their tenth anniversary. Perhaps Minerva would not mind if he 'borrowed' hers?

The wizarding photo on his desk of his wife and children caught his attention. They were glowering up at him, in an unspoken message that they would mind.

A belated wedding present from Weasley and Potter chimed from the wall. It was a clock based on Molly Weasley's, with the hands showing the locations of the family. His son had just returned home.

Stretching, Severus pushed back his chair and stood, moving to stand in the doorway to the sitting room from his study and he watched his son saunter in from the hall. He frowned. While still undeniably moving around with his habitual strut, Silas looked downcast.

"What's wrong? Didn't you get the job?" Imogen sprang up from her seat, also noticing her brother's unusual mood.

Silas looked irritably over at his sister. "Of course I got it! But the Head of the department is a tough nut to crack. She didn't respond to me at all!" He sighed miserably. "Other than laughing, anyway."

"Seriously? That's a first. Who is she?" Blinking, Imogen looked baffled - something that Severus understood to a certain extent, as Silas possessed better looks than the youthful Tom Riddle, and equal charisma. But his son was also just as arrogant, something that would put some of his would-be admirers off.

"I don't know. She wasn't introduced to me; it was just an encounter in passing."

Imogen made an inquiring noise at the back of her throat.

"You see, Unspeakables are so secretive that they wear robes disguising their identities. These robes change the pitch of their voices, even change the way they look," Silas explained.

"I see." Imogen couldn't restrain herself from sniggering, earning herself a filthy look from Silas. "You poor thing! Slighted because the Head found your charm laughable."

"I am not surprised." At Severus's words, both of his fully-grown offspring looked over at him with a start. They hadn't noticed him... he had hoped that their observational skills were better than that. He walked over to his favourite chair, the worn leather moulding to his body.

"Father," they murmured in greeting, waiting until he had seated himself before continuing to speak.

"What do you mean?" Silas asked him, raising an eyebrow, mirroring Severus's expression.

"You seem to flirt with any woman with a pulse, so it was inevitable that you would encounter one that cannot be charmed by your looks or charisma," Severus said reprovingly.

Opening his mouth to object, Silas was interrupted by the entrance of his mother from the fireplace with a flash of green.

Imogen instantly jumped at the opportunity to indulge in a bit of sisterly love. "Mum! Silas was..."

"Laughed off, I know," Hermione said, a hint of mirth in her voice as she shook the soot off her robes and tucked the amulet powering the disguise into her pocket, having removed it before travelling.

"The Unspeakables gossip?" Imogen blinked in surprise.

"Not as much as other departments, but I was there when it happened."

"Why didn't you give me a bit of support, Mum?" Silas complained. "Do you really need to keep your identity from me when we both work in the same department now?"

"To tell the truth, I was too busy laughing at the time. That, and you did need taking down a peg."

"Mum!" Silas moaned, glowering at his sister as she erupted into muffled giggles. "Think what this has done to my fragile ego! I'm losing my touch."

"Silas, there were three reasons why your flirtations failed: she's your boss," Hermione held her hand up, extending a finger.

"She's happily married." Another finger.

"...and she's your mother." As the third finger was raised, Severus saw her lips twitch.

He himself had been well prepared, knowing exactly who the Head of the Department of Mysteries was. The only giveaway of the amusement he felt was the crinkling of his eyes.

As Silas flushed crimson, mortified, Imogen laughed uproariously. "That'll teach you to hit on someone when you have no way of knowing who they are!"

From the way Silas was hunching his shoulders up and eyeing the floor, Severus guessed that the young man was wishing that the floor would swallow him.

The front door banged open, slamming shut with the same amount of force.

"Ysabel?" Severus called, rising to his feet. No answer came from the hall.

Forgetting his embarrassment, Silas walked into the hall. He returned moments later, leading his oldest sister into the sitting room. To Severus's increasing distress, her face was tear-streaked.

"What's Roy done this time?" Imogen asked, sounding resigned.

"I c-caught him wi-with Ursula Lu-lupin. It's over!" Ysabel buried her head in Silas's chest.

Patting his sister uncertainly on her back, Silas looked relieved to hand her over to her twin.

Growling under his breath, Silas stalked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked, distracted from her attempt to join Imogen in consoling Ysabel.

"To have a few words with Roy Weasley. This is the last time he's screwing my sister over."

Severus wouldn't be surprised if those words were the incantations of curses. He was left staring after his son, feeling more than a little lost. It was as if his role as the protector of his daughters had been usurped.

"Come on, let's get you tidied up," Imogen murmured, tracing her wand over Ysabel's puffy eyes. "You need a drink."

After Imogen had dragged Ysabel off, Hermione met Severus's eyes. She also looked more than a little lost. "They really have grown up," she said softly.

Moving over to her, Severus tugged her into his arms. "And grown up well, even if Silas is a womaniser in the making and Ysabel has terrible taste in boys."

'Do they need us anymore?' was the unspoken thought that Severus felt they both shared.

"I daresay that they'll still need us from time to time," Hermione muttered, making Severus wonder if he'd spoken that thought aloud. "Although hopefully not in taking care of grandchildren for a while yet."

Choking in his alarm at the thought, Severus drew back to glare at his wife when she chuckled at his reaction. His glare faltered when he looked beyond the too-bright smile on her face.

"How was your day?" he asked, abruptly changing the subject to follow up on his concerns.

Her smile faded. "The Ides of March is never an easy day for either of us, is it?"

"It would be so much worse for me if you had never returned." Severus pulled her closer, tightening his arms around her as he crushed her to his chest. Hermione did not complain about the rougher treatment, squeezing back as hard as she could. Tipping her head back, she accepted his fervent kiss.

Some time later, entangled on the sofa, Severus had only just Summoned a blanket to cover them when Silas blundered in. His usually jet black hair was fluorescent pink, and one eye was swollen shut.

"Mum, could you turn my hair back to normal? I can't figure out the counter... for the love of Merlin! Can't you save it for your bedroom?"

"Perhaps this will persuade you to fly the nest, now that you have acquired a job," Severus said, calmly tucking the blanket around their cooling bodies and handing Hermione her wand.

After healing his eye, Hermione looked over Silas's hair with a practiced eye. "You'll have to wait for it to wear off. It shouldn't be anymore than a week," she said, shaking her head, the movement mussing her hair even more.

"Does this mean that Ysabel's honour has not been adequately defended?" Severus growled.

"You should see Roy Weasley now. I knew better than to go alone to pick a fight with an older wizard. I got Jamie Potter to come with me; one advantage of having a friend fancy your sister."

"James Potter is attracted to Ysabel?" Severus asked, feeling his blood boil at the thought of a Potter wooing his daughter.

Silas smirked. "Yes, but I think he might realise that Imogen fancies him... and that he's been chasing after the wrong sister."

"Imogen and James Potter?" The only thing stopping Severus from leaping to his feet to hunt the unfortunate Potter boy down was Hermione shifting her hand beneath the blanket and shaking her head warningly at him.

"Surely Jamie's better than Uncle Ron? I saw the way he looked at Imogen and Ysabel the last time he was here."

"Weasley?" Severus roared, grabbing for his wand. Hermione was too shocked to stop him.

"Just kidding!" Silas dashed out of the room before he could be hexed.

"He'd better be," Hermione growled. Severus frowned, feeling a little chilly even when curled up beside her under their warmest blanket. He turned to look at her, taking hold of her jaw so that her eyes met his.

"Hermione," he murmured warningly.

"What?" she snapped.

In answer, he reached down to bring her right hand into view. The ring on her forefinger was cracking before their eyes.

"Fuck," Hermione breathed. She sprang off the sofa, throwing her robes on. "I knew it was too much to hope that the latest improvements would hold! At this rate my job will be on the line. They can't have a Necromancer as Head of a Ministerial Department." She hurled a handful of Floo powder into the fireplace, waiting until the flames had turned green before dropping to her knees before it and put her head through, calling out the destination of her Floo call at the same time.

Within a minute, Croaker was stepping through. Severus had taken the time before his arrival to get dressed. It was bad enough having their son walk in on them without having Croaker do the same.

"Right, we're ready for it," Croaker said, pulling an identical brand new ring from a pocket. "At least you won't reduce anything to ash this time."

Hermione grimaced. From what Severus had heard of the last incident, she had almost atomised her secretary, only just managing to make the sparks hit the desk instead.

As the ring split apart and fell off, Croaker handed the new one to Hermione. Her breath hissed between her teeth as she slid it onto her finger. Severus watched the Necromantic darkness instantly vanish from her eyes as the ring cut her off from those dark powers.

Dampening rings had been in development when Atropos decimated the Ministry, but the first had only been completed when Hermione's powers had eventually returned a year after she had been stripped of them. Even if there had been one available, it would not have been possible to deal with Atropos using it, for the simple reason that the wearer had to willingly put it on. The wearer also determined exactly what the ring 'dampened'. In Hermione's case it was just her Necromantic powers, leaving her magic otherwise intact.

"We'll get them perfected one day, 'Ermione. Perhaps your son could put 'is mind to that, now that 'e 'as joined the department?"

"Perhaps," Hermione said flatly, sitting down. "Goodnight, Croaker. I'll see you after the weekend."

After handing Croaker some Floo powder, Severus turned to his wife. She was slumped on the sofa, pale-faced. Gaining her Necromantic powers back and losing them within a second took a lot out of her.

Sitting beside her, he took her hand. "Silas is certainly more than intelligent enough to help."

Hermione cleared her throat, smiling half-heartedly. "I know. But it would mean telling him more than I wanted any of our children to know."

"It may be difficult for him to know that..." Severus paused, giving the partly closed door a suspicious look. He cast Muffliato just to be sure that Silas could not eavesdrop. If the boy was to know, he would find out in a more controlled situation. "To know that you, for lack of a better word, merged with the infamous Atropos beyond the veil. It was hard enough for me to deal with it."

An awkward silence descended. Neither of them liked to discuss the first year of their marriage. While Hogwarts was being rebuilt and the Ministry rekindled, their marriage had come perilously close to failing. It was only saved when Atropos offered to stay within Hermione's subconscious on the condition that they raised her child as their own.

Severus had devised a potion to ensure that the parentage of the twins could not be discovered by magical or Muggle means. Neither he nor Hermione knew whether Ysabel or Imogen was the cuckoo in the nest, as both favoured their mother in looks.

"I'm never going to be completely free from her, am I?" Hermione broke the silence, staring moodily at the fireplace.

"That would be akin to running from your own shadow," Severus murmured, pulling her into his arms. "It is true that darkness never dies. But you are living proof that it can be held in check."

Nox.