Epilogue to an Epilogue
AN: This is my first fanfic so yay! Hopefully you like it. :) I uploaded this about a month ago, but there were so many errors that I'm updating it. Anyway, enjoy!
The gleaming, scarlet train grew smaller and smaller as it approached the horizon, belching white steam behind it. Harry waved until the distance absorbed the train and it disappeared with a wink. Harry felt Ginny's hand slip into his own and he gave it a gentle squeeze. With one last second of watching what had already gone, he turned to his wife. She smiled sadly as if to say, There goes another one.Harry returned it with his own smile and squeezed again as if to say, It'll be alright. He and Ginny hardly needed to speak anymore to know what the other was thinking. Harry pecked her freckled cheek and gave her hand a final squeeze before moving it to the small of her back, guiding the redhead through the maze of teary parents and little witches and wizards. Occasionally turning his head to make sure Lily was still following along with Hugo, Ron, and Hermione, Harry dodged his way back with Ginny to the barrier.
Ginny walked through the brick as if it were air, Lily and Hugo in hand. Harry turned to Ron and a bleary-eyed Hermione.
"What's the matter 'Mione?" Harry asked, trying to keep a grin off his face as Ron blatantly rolled his eyes.
"Noth-, nothing. Just being si-, silly," she hiccupped.
"It's all right. We've done this before, you know," Ron said almost exasperatedly.
"I, I know. Don't mind me," she replied tearfully as she pulled Ron through the barrier.
Harry grinned after them and stepped through a moment later. Muggle King's Cross was quite tame after the jumble and mayhem of Platform 9 ¾. Harry glanced around and spotted the fiery hair of Ginny a couple meters away. Just as he reached them, a sobbing Lily threw her arms around his waist and cried, distraught. Harry was getting a little overwhelmed with all the crying, but he knelt down and pulled his little girl against his chest.
"What is it, Lily?" he asked kindly.
Lily replied with a stream of unintelligible wails. Over her shoulder, Ginny caught his eye and mouthed, "Lost her wand."
"You lost your wand?" he asked quietly.
Lily nodded into his chest. Harry gently pushed her away, but still held her tiny frame. He met her reddened, bleary eyes and spoke a little louder.
"How about you and Momma head back to the car with Hugo? Aunt 'Mione, Uncle Ron, and I'll go look for it."
Lily nodded and managed a smile before rushing back to Ginny. The trio of redheads made their way to the door and out into the sun. Ron turned to Harry and said, "How's she got a wand already?"
"It's not a real wand; it's fake. She waves it and it turns into a doll or a flower or something," Harry answered.
Platform 9 ¾ was almost completely empty when the three stepped back through. It was quite easy to find the wand. Ron bent down to grab it and with a small bang, the wand turned into a rubber chicken. Ron looked at it sadly for a moment before, "Reminds me of Fred and George's."
Hermione wound her arm around one of his and gave him a small smile. He returned it and gave her a quick kiss before handing the rubber chicken to Harry. The three pushed through the barrier (again) and Ron began, "Well that was qui-." He was interrupted by yet another child throwing their arms around Harry's legs. This time, the arms belonged to a blonde-headed boy, and one much younger than Lily.
"Hello," Harry said cautiously as Hermione chuckled behind him.
"Harry Potter!" the boy cried out and gripped tighter.
"Yeah, that's me," Harry said, amused. "How did you know that?" he continued, confused as to how a Muggle boy knew who he was.
"Everyone knows who you are!" the boy cried, still clinging to Harry.
Harry had to agree as he had been stopped plenty of times to be thanked (as well as Ron and Hermione), but that was usually on the otherside of the barrier. The blonde let out a horrified gasp.
"You must think I'm a Muggle," he whispered in surprise and pulled away to look up at Harry.
Green eyes pierced Harry's and he was stunned at how similar they were to his own, to his children's. Harry brushed it off. Of course there were other people in the world with green eyes. The blonde boy was still staring up at Harry, horror etched into each dimple. Harry heard Ron snicker softly at the animation of the boy's face, but he ignored him and bent down to the boy's eye-level. Harry turned his head side to side and gave the boy a knowing look. Harry tried not to smile and asked with as serious a tone as he could manage, "Are you a wizard?"
The blonde boy's face lit up, green eyes shining in glee before flashing the widest grin, round pink cheeks pinching his eyes small.
"You wanna know a secret?" the little boy asked, mischievously.
"What?" Harry asked with a grin.
The little boy looked behind him for a moment before he said, "My name's Harry too."
Harry's already huge grin pulled even higher at the green-eyed boy's revelation before freezing in shock, staring at the man Blonde-Harry's eyes had flashed to only a moment ago. How he had not seen the striking similarities before, Harry would never know, but he saw them now. Round cheeks, dimples, dirty blonde hair, all of which, he hadn't seen for nearly twenty years.
Dudley was quite different now, but also much the same. He had lost an exceptional amount of weight, but still had extra in muscle. He was huge, but with more of a wrestler's build than Vernon's immense girth. Dudley's watery-blue eyes met Harry's across the platform from where he sat on a bench.
"That's my dad," Harry said excitedly.
Harry the elder was quite stricken with shock and only nodded faintly in response. Dudley. Dudley, the father of a wizard,Harry thought in disbelief. Hermione recognized the man Harry was staring at before Ron, but both were dumbfounded. Harry was still smiling, though faintly. How fitting,Harry thought, that Dudley would end up with a wizard child.His aunt, Harry's mother, was a witch so maybe the ability just skipped a generation in the Dursleys. Harry was suddenly terrified for the little boy, Harry, in his arms. Was he put in a cupboard too? Was he called a freak incessantly, estranged from both worlds he belonged to? Harry looked down at the smiling, green-eyed child and could find no hint of malnutrition, abuse, sickness, or even ignorance on Dudley's part. He seemed to glow with life and energy. He shone with health. This surprised Harry even more. Had Dudleyreally changed? It was a far cry from where he'd been nineteen years ago, but seeing Dudley's look of love and adoration when his eyes fell upon his son, Harry could believe that he had. Dudley finally met Harry's gaze and smiled sheepishly, as if to say, Guess those years spent torturing you were quite uncalled-for, but Harry took it in stride. He forgave Dudley for everything in that instant as he held the hand of his cousin's little boy.
"I guess that makes us, er, second cousins," Harry told little-Harry.
"What's a second cousin? Who's my first cousin?" the blonde asked, confusion twisting his mouth and brows.
"Let's just say he's your uncle," Ron cut in, Hermione laughing.
Harry (Potter) didn't notice Dudley walk up during their little conversation, but when he did, he let the blonde escape his embrace and run to his towering father.
"Hello, Dudley," Harry said, sending giggles racking through little-Harry at the name.
Dudley smiled at his son and Harry said, "I guess you still go by 'Big D.'"
Dudley reddened at the nickname, but still smiled.
"No. Nowadays, it's just 'Dad' or 'Mr. Dursley,'" Dudley replied.
Harry nodded before fiery hair caught his eye.
"We'll be just over there with Ginny," Hermione said.
"We will?" Ron asked.
"Yes, Ronald. Come on," she said before leaving with a smile in Harry's direction.
Harry saw the three talk a moment before walking out the station doors, sunlight pouring in and leaving Harry with the after-image of three burning spots where the light had glinted upon their hair. Dudley cleared his throat awkwardly and Harry turned back to him.
"Harry, can you go wait on that bench over there?" Dudley asked.
His son nodded quickly and sped off to where an elderly man sat, striking up a conversation. Within seconds, his story became so intense that he had to use the whole of his arms to tell it. Dudley smiled in his direction before turning back to Harry. After a couple moments of awkward silence, Dudley began in a rush: "I'm so sorry, Harry. I was such a horrible person to you since the day you were left with us. Every day, I remember some odd thing that I did to you, something I tortured you with and it makes me sick. And then to find out my son's a wizard too, I am just so afraid of how he'll look back and remember me because I knowyou must not have many fond memories. I'm sorry, Harry. I'm sorry that I can't think of one time I treated you like at least a human being."
Harry stayed silent for the longest time until words found him in jagged phrases and clipped words and he tried to string his thoughts together.
"I, um, I didn't know you, well, what I mean to say is…I forgive you. And from watching the two of you together, I couldn't say you are anything but a good parent," Harry said.
Dudley looked quite shocked.
"You, you forgiveme?" he asked, incredulous.
After a couple moments of watching little-Harry jumping up and down in front of the bench, acting out the death of a villain and the glorious victory of a hero, Harry turned to Dudley and said, "Yeah, Dudley, I do."