(Thank you everyone who has read my stories, whether you are a new reader or have been with me from the start, you are unbelievably appreciated. Now you may have some questions after this epilogue and I'll be happy to answer them, but just note I am compiling all my notes for this series which I'll post [along with Potter family tree in relation to my fic] sometime later this week that will start with what happened between the Battle of Hogwarts and this epilogue. Thank you all again so much.)
First half of book:
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003829962
Previous Chapters:
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003833123
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003838588
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003840013
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003841380
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003842029
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003842653
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003843726
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003844089
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003844089/r/4400000000017564493
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003844352
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003844924
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003845391
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003845905
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003846382
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003846656
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003846902
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003847038
Tags:
@SaphireStark @Missy Clara Oswald @CatsAndRoblox @Pervaza972 @Mega.mind.harry.potter
Epilogue: Nineteen Years Later
Autumn was taking its time to arrive that year. The morning of the first of September was warm and as golden as fall leaves, with only a hint of the soon to arrive cold, and as the little family bobbed across the rumbling road towards the great sooty station, they tried to enjoy their last couple moments of summer holiday. Two large cages rattled on top of the laden trolleys the parents were pushing; the owls inside them hooted indignantly, and the little brunette girl trailed tearfully behind her brothers, clutching her father’s arm.
‘It won’t be long now, and you’ll be going too,’ Harry told her.
‘Two years,’ sniffed Lily-Balance. ‘I really want to go this year!’
The commuters stared curiously at the owls as the family wove its way towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Dobby’s voice drifted back to Harry over the surrounding clamor; his sons had resumed the argument they had started back at home.
‘I don’t want to be Sorted into Slytherin! I want to be a Gryffindor, with Sirius and Roxanne!’
‘Sirius, please stop making your brother worry!’ said Allison in the tone she had perfected for temporary stopping her and Harry’s kids. ‘And Dobby, there is nothing wrong with Slytherin, your father and I were both from that House.’
‘But Sirius says you guys got lucky, you found each other, and uncle Theo, and auntie Tracey, what if I’m Sorted there and I have no one?’
‘One it’s Professor Higgs now while you’re at school,’ Allison said to her middle child before turning to her eldest, ‘and you, why would you tell him that?’
Sirius shrugged, ‘Because it could happen. He could en—‘
But Sirius caught his mother’s eye and fell silent. The five Potters approached the barrier. With a slightly cocky look over his shoulder at his younger brother, Sirius took the trolley from his mother and broke into a run. A moment later, he had vanished.
‘You’ll send me owls, right?’ Dobby asked his parents immediately, capitalizing on the momentary absence of his brother.
‘We’ll write one every day if you’d like,’ said Allison.
‘Er, not every day,’ said Dobby quickly. ‘Sirius told me that most kids only get an owl or two a month.’
‘I spoke to my parents every chance I got while I was at Hogwarts, and we have been writing Sirius three times a week whenever he’s at Hogwarts,’ said Harry with a chuckle. ‘Don’t believe everything your brother tells you at face value. He’s a trickster, like his namesake.’
Dobby and his mother proceeded to push the second trolley forward, gathering speed. As they reached the barrier, Dobby winced, but no collision came. Instead, the family emerged onto platform nine and three-quarters, which was obscured by thick white steam which was pouring from the scarlet Hogwarts Express. Indistinct figures were swarming through the mist, into which Sirius had already disappeared.
‘Where are the others?’ asked Dobby anxiously, peering at the hazy forms they passed as they made their way down the platform.
‘We’ll spot them eventually, don’t you worry,’ said Allison reassuringly.
But the vapour was dense, and it was difficult to make out anybody’s faces. Detached from their owners, voices sounded unnaturally loud. Harry thought he heard Percy Weasley discoursing loudly on broomstick regulations, and was quite glad of the excuse not to stop and say hello…
‘I believe they’re over there, Dobs,’ said Allison suddenly.
A group of five people emerged from the mist, standing alongside the very last carriage. Their faces only came into focus when Harry, Allison, Lily-Balance, and Dobby had drawn right up beside them.
‘Hey,’ said Dobby, sounding immensely relieved.
Wendelin and Teagan were already wearing their brand new Hogwarts robes, but the eldest triplet, Aemilia, was still in her favourite black satin dress. She looked like a little doppelgänger of her mother, with the exception of her father’s greenish-blue eyes. When she spotted Dobby her eyes lit up and she came over to greet him.
‘How ya, you two?’ Terence asked the two Potter parents as they entered ear range. ‘Got here alright?’
‘Took a muggle taxi from Charing Cross road for Dobs, like my folks did for my first year,’ said Harry happily, shaking his old friend’s hand. ‘And we’re good.’
‘We’re better than good, you’re lucky you jumped to the Irish National team Higgs, because I whipped the Kenmare Kestrels sorry behind in the last match,’ teased Allison.
‘Yeah, they just haven’t been the same since they lost me as their captain,’ said Terence in a jokingly disappointed tone, ‘but speaking of national teams, I hear England’s Beater Indira Choudry is at last retiring. Have you considered moving up?’
‘Nah, I’m thinking of finally slowing down just a pinch. I plan to play for the Tutshill Tornados a couple more seasons, then Beau here will put in a good word for me at the Auror office.’
‘So we’ll both be going down new paths, how exciting Alli,’ said Tracey, herself wearing brand new robes for her return to Hogwarts.
‘I still can’t believe Professor Flitwick postponed his retirement a couple years just for you,’ said Harry. ‘He’s ancient!’
‘Filius was understanding that I wanted to stay with the girls until they were Hogwarts aged, but yes I bet he’s happy to be resting his feet today instead of getting rea—‘
‘Mam, you aren’t really going to be riding with us for our first train ride, are you?’ asked Teagan, a little nervous.
‘Well of course, it’s my first ride in twenty years too,’ said Tracey simply.
‘No, Mam, please. That’s so embarrassing!’ said her identical sister Wendelin. Her and Teagan’s hazel eyes were wide with apprehension.
Tracey let out a laugh, ‘I was just joking. I’ll floo over to Hogsmeade in a couple hours.’
‘Oh, maybe you could say hi to my folks,’ said a new voice, and they all turned to see the last four kin arrive.
‘Oh Terry, Theodore, glad you made it,’ said Allison as she hugged her second cousin.
‘Sorry we’re late, I’m this close to a breakthrough so I stayed up and ended up over sleeping,’ said Theodore, who Harry knew had been spending many hours in recent weeks at St. Mungo’s Alchemy Room trying to create a better Wolfsbane Potion he had plans to call The Remus Dreamus. ‘But no amount of sleep deprivation would keep me from missing little Colin’s first day, or from seeing all of you.’
It had taken Theodore many years to recover from the loss of his first love, but at the five year reunion for the class of ninety-eight Allison reintroduced her cousin to him and they ended up hitting it off. Then eleven years ago when they had their first son, Theodore went to Dennis Creevey to ask permission to honour Colin’s memory and name, and he happily said yes. Not that this Colin resembled his namesake much, tall for an eleven year old, darker brown hair, and ocean blue eyes.
‘Is Dora here?’ said the little voice of Theodore and Terry’s youngest, Jason.
‘No, sorry, but Lily-Bali is,’ said Harry to the little boy. He had become quite close with Canini’s adopted daughter, but being five years old with no other siblings, her mother didn’t really have a strong enough excuse to attend today’s drop off.
A few minutes later, back on the platform, they found Lily-Balance and Jason having an animated discussion about which House they would be sorted into when they finally went to Hogwarts.
‘I bet the Hat will say “Ba, this isn’t a Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff, but a little Beauxbaton girl! What are you doing here?”’
‘Theo!’ said Harry, but he was suppressing a laugh.
‘I love being an uncle,’ Theodore grinned.
Before Harry could say anything else, Terence had gestured to a spot about fifty yards away.
‘Look, the old Slytherin Quidditch team is nearly all together again.’
Harry looked in the same direction as his old friend, the steam had thinned for a moment, and three people stood in sharp relief against the shifting mist.
Draco Malfoy was standing there with his wife Astoria and their son, a dark coat buttoned up to his throat. His curse had begun to take a minor toll on his looks as Draco’s hair was receding somewhat, which emphasized the pointed chin. The new boy resembled Draco as much as Dobby resembled Harry. Draco caught sight of Harry, and the others staring at him, nodded curtly, and turned away again.
‘I guess that is young Scorpius,’ said Allison with a smile, ‘Dobby, make sure you’re better at him in everything.’
‘I know you are joking, but let’s be honest that it is Colin who will be beating them both,’ said Theodore while laughing. ‘In all seriousness, Draco has been donating a lot of gold for my research into Remus Dreamus, and he also did the same for my preventative Lycanthropy bite treatment potion, and unlike most large donors he wanted to be anonymous.’
‘Hey, he can be a humble philanthropist and still be the jerk we knew from school,’ said Tracey.
‘Be careful Professor Higgs, I don’t think Hogwarts likes its teachers using language like that,’ teased Terence.
‘Hey guys!’
Sirius had reappeared; he had divested himself of his trunk, owl, and trolley, and was evidently bursting with news.
‘I saw Teddy back there,’ he said breathlessly, pointing back over his shoulder into the billowing clouds of steam. ‘Right over there! And he’s snogging Victoire!’
He gazed up at the adults, evidently disappointed by the lack of reaction.
‘You’re sure it’s our Teddy? Teddy Karasu-Tonks? With Bill and Fleur’s oldest girl?’ asked Harry, his godson had mentioned for a while that he had a girlfriend, but Harry had not known it was the daughter of a friend.
‘Yes! And so I went over to him and asked why h—‘
‘You interrupted them while they were snogging?’ said Allison, befuddled by her eldest.
‘—he was here, and he said he had come to see her off! That’s when he told be to bugger off! They’re snogging!’ Sirius added as though worried he had not made himself clear.
‘If Teddy marries Louis’ older sister, would that mean he’d come over less?’ whispered Lily-Balance, sounding a little nervous.
‘I don’t think so Lily-Bali, he already comes round for dinner about four times a week,’ said Harry, he then added sarcastically, ‘In fact at this point why don’t we just invite him to live with us and have done with it?’
‘Yeah!’ said Sirius enthusiastically. ‘I could move in and share a room with Dobs—Teddy could then have my room!’
‘No,’ said Harry firmly, ‘you and Dobby will share a room only when I want the house demolished.’
He checked the now over forty year old gold and silver watch which had once been Harry’s godfather’s.
‘It’s nearly eleven, you’d better get on board.’
‘Oh, and don’t forget to give Neville our love when you arrive!’ Allison told Sirius as she hugged him goodbye.
‘What, Mum, no! I can’t give a professor love!’
‘But you know Neville—!’
Sirius rolled his eyes.
‘I do during holidays, but while I’m at school he’s just Professor Longbottom. I can’t go into the Herbology greenhouses and give him love…’
Shaking his head at his mother’s foolishness, he vented his feelings by aiming a kick at Dobby. ‘See you in a few hours, Dobs. Be mindful of the thestrals.’
‘But aren’t they invisible? I thought you said they were invisible!’ But Sirius merely laughed, permitted his mother to kiss him, gave his father a fleeting hug, then leapt onto the rapidly filling train. They saw him wave, then sprint away up the corridor to find his friends.
‘Thestrals are nothing to worry about,’ Harry told Dobby. ‘They’re gentle things, there’s nothing scary about them. Anyway, you won’t be going up to school in the carriages, you’ll be going in the boats.’
Allison kissed Dobby good-bye, ‘See you at Christmas.’
‘Bye, Dobs,’ said Harry as his son hugged him. ‘Don’t forget Hagrid’s invited you to tea next Friday. Don’t mess with Peeves. Don’t duel anyone till you’ve learned how. And don’t let Sirius wind you up.’
‘But what if I do end up in Slytherin?’
The whisper was for his father alone, and Harry knew that only the moment of departure could have forced Dobby to reveal how great and sincere that insecurity was.
Harry crouched down so that Dobby’s face was slightly above his own. Alone of Harry’s three children, Dobby had inherited Lily’s eyes.
‘Dobby James Potter,’ Harry said quietly, so that nobody but Allison could hear, and she was tactful enough to pretend to be waving to Colin and the triplets, who was now on the train, ‘being a Slytherin is what you make it to be, you can fall into peer pressure, or strive to be something greater. Two Hogwarts headmasters helped me become who I am today and the bravest of the two was a Slytherin.‘
‘But what if—‘
‘—then Slytherin House will have gained an excellent student, and you’ll make lots of friends both in and outside your House. It doesn’t matter to us, Dobs, where you end up. But if it matters to you, I want you to know that deep down I had chosen to be a Slytherin, so if you want to be apart of a different House you can certainly choose that too. The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, the other headmaster who was very wise let me in on that little secret,’ said Harry.
He had never told any of his children the true story of his sorting before, and he saw the wonder in Dobby’s face when he said it. But now the doors were slamming all along the scarlet train, and the blurred outlines of parents were swarming forward for final kisses, last-minute reminders. Dobby jumped into the carriage and Allison closed the door behind him. Students were hanging from the windows nearest them. A great number of faces, both on the train and off, seemed to be turned towards Harry.
‘Who are they all staring at?’ demanded Dobby as he, Aemilia, and Colin craned around to look at the other students.
‘Oh, just this internationally recognized Quidditch player right here,’ said Terence jokingly.
‘Don’t listen to him, Dobs, I’m the famous one around here,’ said Allison.
Dobby, Aemilia, Colin, and Lily-Balance laughed.
The train began to move, and Harry walked alongside it, watching his son’s round face, already ablaze with excitement. Harry kept smiling and waving, even though it was like a little bereavement, watching his son glide away from him...
The last trace of steam evaporated in the autumn air. The train rounded a corner. Harry’s hand was still raised in farewell.
‘He will be okay,’ murmured Allison.
As Harry looked at her, he lowered his hand absentmindedly and touched the lightning scar on his forehead.
‘I know he will.’
The scar had not pained Harry for over nineteen years. All was well.