The Odyssey

I woke up the next morning wrapped up in Albus’s arms. Even before I opened my eyes, I knew he was awake and watching me. As he noticed me stir, he leaned down and kissed me. I began to deepen the kiss, but ended it quickly as my cat-like hearing picked up the faint sound of a child running towards our room. As a grief-stricken Penelope flung the door open, the sadness on her face turned into joy as she leapt onto the bed and immediately snuggled between myself and Albus.

“Sweetheart, why were you crying?” Albus asked her as I stroked the hair that was so similar to my own.

“I thought Mummy coming back was a dream, so I was sad,” Penelope said, her reply a bit muffled as she was pressing her face into my shoulder, as if she was trying to reassure herself that I was still here.

“I thought it was a dream too, sweetheart,” Albus responded as he draped his free arm around my shoulders, tightening his grip as I wiggled closer to him.

As Penelope fell back asleep (it was only six in the morning, and she had been up late last night), Albus and I watched our daughter sleep.

“Albus?” I asked tentatively, reluctant to break the silence that had fallen over us as we watched each other and our daughter.

“Yes, dearest?” Albus responded.

“Why did you name our daughter Penelope? Did you pick it out by yourself, or…” I couldn’t bring myself to ask him if his Minerva had picked out the name or if they had picked it out together. Luckily, he understood my unasked question.

“I thought of the name. I always called Minerva my goddess, and when she conceived, we were thinking up names, and I suggested Odysseus if we had a boy and Penelope if we had a girl. When Minerva asked me why I chose those names, I told her that they were our ‘demi-gods’, because she was a goddess and I was only a mortal. I personally thought that in the Iliad and the Odyssey, the goddess Minerva was a little too fond of Odysseus, so I suggested that we name our children after the hero and his wife.”

By the time he had finished recounting the story behind Penelope’s naming, we were both in tears, and Penelope had started to wake up. Albus snapped his fingers, and a house-elf appeared. He ordered breakfast for the three of us, and we had breakfast in bed.

For the first time, we were a family.