Happy Endings
By: Sleeper 3173
The steam on the platform was unusually thick today, and Harry made a mental note to send an owl to the ministry to have someone sent over to check the charms that were supposed to dispel stuff like that. Regardless, it made the whole situation surreal, with obscured figures seen moving through the steam clouds, as well as prompting most people to be casting cooling charms on themselves.
The first time he had come back to King's Cross, it had been hard for him to remember that he was dropping someone off, and not getting on himself. It had gotten better with time, but Harry figured that some part of him would always regard Hogwarts as his first home, even if most of the castle had been rebuilt following the battle.
He grimaced as he always did when he thought about the battle. This year would be the 20th anniversary, and he didn't know what bothered him more, the fact that the lives lost still dug at him, the fact that so much time had seemed to have passed so quickly…, or the fact that it reminded him that he had already lived far longer then his father did.
His hand tightened its grip on his wife's as they started to move through the throngs of adults and children that were scurrying though the steam clouds. Their oldest child had already pulled away in search of his friends who still had a year left at Hogwarts, while she kept a firm shepherd of their twin daughters, who had already surpassed the Weasley twins as the Queens of Pranks at Hogwarts, and George had already confided in him that he fully intended to hire them the second they graduated from Hogwarts. Harry was not looking forward to that conversation with his wife.
Meanwhile, Harry had his other hand in a tight grip on their youngest son, and could almost feel the tension radiating from him. He couldn't remember anymore if he was that nervous, but knew he would have to say something to him soon.
He grinned brightly, and his wife released his hand so they could wave when they spotted Hermione through the steam with her daughter Rose, who would also be a First Year. He idly wondered if they would see Ron there to see her off, but it looked like once again he had decided that the Cuddly Cannon had taken importance over anything else. It had been no surprise to anyone when Ron and Hermione's marriage had fallen apart mere weeks after Rose had been born. The scandal from it had been in the papers for weeks, and Molly had become famous again for inventing a new Howler spell that was ten times louder then the normal one.
They tried to get over to her and say hello, but the combination of the crowds and steam prevented them from getting close. Harry glanced at his wife and she nodded. They would have to invite her over to dinner later that week. Their kids would get to say hi on the train.
As they walked, his mind drifted to everyone he had met when it was his first time in the train.
Neville had never really left Hogwarts. Professor Sprout had been hit hard by the events of the battle, and eventually turned to Muggle medicine for help when St Mungo's had failed her. There she was quickly diagnosed with PTSD, something that many of the survivors, including himself, were also diagnosed with, and magical medicine had never heard of. However, while most of them had been helped with muggle psychotherapy, Sprout had not been able adjust and 2 years after the battle pointed her wand at her head and used a piercing curse. Neville, who had become her assistant after the battle, was quickly named her replacement and became one of the youngest professors in Hogwart's history.
Draco Malfoy and Gregory Goyle were both tried under the new Ministry rules that anyone with the Dark Mark would be tried under Veritaserum in front of a full public court. Like everyone else who had the mark and survived the battle, it was discovered that while Malfoy had had a hard time killing other magicals, he had had no problem torturing muggles to earn it. Both of them, along with all the other surviving Death Eaters, were now serving life sentences in Azkaban.
Hermione had gone back to Hogwarts to officially complete her Seventh Year, unlike most of the rest of their year, which opted to not to return to the scene of so many nightmares and heartache. As a result, she had the distinction of being the oldest Head Girl of Hogwarts in 200 years. After her graduation, she got a short-lived job in the Ministry's Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. She had been almost thrown out after she had tried to push through regulation that would free House Elves until Minister Shacklebot pulled her aside and explained that House Elves had a symbiotic relationship with the wizards and witches they served, pulling magic from them to keep themselves alive in exchange for service. He had then made her his Undersecretary, where she had excelled in the role, and used the position to overturn dozens of pure blood laws that had discriminated against muggle-borns for decades. Now that he was retiring, she was the popular choice to replace him.
Ron, like him, had accepted the offer to join the Auror Training Academy after the battle. However, he had only last a month before word reached him that the Cuddly Cannons were looking for a new keeper. He had immediately quit, and before long became first their reserve keeper, then their starting keeper, then finally hailed as the best keeper in the history of the team. Not that that helped the team advance any higher then the bottom of the league anyways. That didn't phase Ron at all, and he started to brag loudly that it hadn't mattered after all that he hadn't done well at Hogwarts. Considering the fact that he had married Hermione, needless to say this had added extreme tension to their life. When he decided to skip the birth of their first child for an optional training session, Hermione had had enough and filed for divorce. Ron quickly slipped into rage and jealously, blamed Harry and his successful marriage for the failure of his own, and broke off contact with his friends.
Ginny, like her brother, had also been picked up by a Quidditch team, the prestigious all-female Holyhead Harpies, where she caught the winning snitch in the 2002 World Cup. Molly never approved of her daughter's chosen path for her life, feeling that she should have married and had kids. Instead she shocked the wizarding world when it was discovered that she had been secretly dating Luna Lovegood, who had been practicing an open marriage with Rolf Scamander. The outcry that came from this almost destroyed her, till several other members of the Harpies also came out as lesbian or bi-sexual. What resulted was a wave sweeping across the magical world that finally did away with the last foothold of prejudices from the rigid pure-bloods. She was now the current team captain and was already being eyed to become the team coach once she retired from playing.
As for himself… Harry had jumped at the chance to fulfill his dream of becoming an Auror, and graduated from the Academy at the top of his class. He was partnered up with one of Moody's protégés, who took great delight in showing him that even after fighting a war and 10 months of grueling Auror training, they were absolutely nothing compared to what he really needed to know. For once, his name did not open doors and he finally felt normal for the first time since entering the magical world. He climbed quickly through the ranks till he was a shoe-in to becoming the youngest Head of the Auror department when suddenly, he decided to quit. He and his family vanished for 2 years, during which time they explored the world using various disguises. Once they finally revealed themselves, the resulting press almost drove them back into hiding. Since then, he had taken to writing a successful series of text books for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and was finally starting to consider taking the position at Hogwarts that Headmistress McGonagall had been offering to him since he turned 21.
He felt his wife start jumping up and down and turned his head to watch her wave to one of her former colleagues who was dropping off her own child. He turned to look at his wife, a loving smile on his face.
Long waist length pink hair framed the heart shaped face of Nymphadora Potter. After her revival at her own funeral, and even though both of them knew they loved each other, their "courtship" had been a long one. It had been full of more then a few awkward moments and tense fights, as well as both needing treatment for severe cases of PTSD that made them gun-shy about relationships. It wasn't until Teddy's first words were calling Harry "Daddy" that they realized they weren't fooling anyone but themselves anymore, and Harry proposed on the spot. The news of their engagement caused a stir due to their age difference until the Quibbler pointed out that not only once they got just a little bit older, it wouldn't have been an issue anyways, and if the two people who had literally cheated death couldn't be together, then what right did anyone have on getting together?
Their wedding was one for the history books. Not so much from the crowd or the amount of press that it drew, but the fact that both Harry and Tonks (who still insisted to be called that by anyone other then Harry) decided to completely ignore magical traditions. Harry and his best man Neville wore muggle tuxedos, and Tonks completely stole the show when she walked down the isle wearing a black leather mermaid dress with long pink hair. The shocked look on Harry's face convinced Tonks then and there to always wear her hair long unless it was more convenient or trendy to go back to the short spikey look.
While Teddy was beloved by Harry, and Teddy viewed him as his only father, the birth of the twins, Iris and Lily, was still special to Harry, finally fulfilling his dream of a family of his own. They had originally planned stopping at the three, but after a drunken night of partying, Sirius James Potter was born 9 months later.
Now, 11 years later, his final child was on his way to Hogwarts for the first time. And Sirius was quite literally shaking from nerves. As they neared the train, he caught Tonks's eye and gestured that he wanted to talk to him. Pulling away, they stopped next to a pillar and he crouched down to look Sirius into the eyes.
"Alright." He said as softly as he could in the crowded station. "Spill it. What's wrong." Sirius hesitated before letting out a long sigh.
"I just worry that I'll get lost in the crowd. I know we all like our privacy, but I want to be able to have the chance to stand out of the crowd on my own merits. But what if I never get the chance?"
Harry had no choice but to chuckle in amusement.
"Sirius, It will probably be your children's children before we ever have to worry about that. Add in the fact that at the very least you are related and named after some of the greatest pranksters Hogwarts has ever known… I dare say they are all watching you with some interest and great hopes. As for everything else…"
He stopped to think back over his own school years for inspiration, and had to repress a laugh as Sirius's hair shifted involuntarily to resemble his own. It turned out the metamorphmagus gene was strong in Tonks, and she had been overjoyed when after she had forced him to get a haircut for his Auror ID, it had grown back before her very eyes. While his control didn't extend much past his hair and eye color, it did answer a few long unanswered questions he had had…. And helped insure that all of the Potter children were metemorphmagi whose abilities surpassed even their mother's.
"No one at Hogwarts is ever lost in the crowd." He said slowly. "Everyone has something they excel at, that allows them to stand above everyone else. I was a star in Defense against the Dark Arts and a Quidditch Star. Your mother and grandmother excelled at Charms. Hermione… well… she was good at pretty much everything. You will find what you are good at. You just have to keep your mind open."
Sirius nodded and Harry could see him start to calm down.
"You know, I felt for sure that you were worried about what house you might end up in." Harry said with a soft chuckle. Sirius frowned even as the train whistle blew to announce that it was time for everyone to board.
"Why? I'm either gonna end up in Gryffindor or Slytherin. If I am in Gryffindor, I'll have the twins backing me up. If I'm in Slytherin… well… maybe its time they learned to fear the name Sirius again."
Harry beamed in pride and ruffled his son's hair as they rejoined the others waiting next to the train. Out of the corner of his eye he caught Teddy giving Victorie Weasley a goodbye kiss, and idly wondered when Bill or Fluer would come by to have a "talk" with his oldest son.
Lily and Iris quickly kissed their parents good-bye then scampered onto the train to find their friends, and to make plans for a prank on the trip. Sirius climbed onto the train then turned around and looked at each of his parents in the eyes before giving a cheerful wave and disappearing inside.
Putting their arms around each other, Harry and Tonks watched the train start to pull out of the station, a wistful smile on his face.
It had been almost 20 years since the Battle of Hogwarts and he was finally free to live the life he had wanted. And he had to admit.
Life had been good.
A/N: After many months, and numerous health problems, I am finally back and starting work again on several of my projects. This story brings the Missed Opportunities trilogy to a close. Soon you will see updates on Fire and Ice, as well as Birds of a Feather.
This is one of those stories that I was never quiet happy with, but in the end decided that if I kept sitting here and doing endless revisions on it, that it would never get out and I would never get to work on my other projects.
I hope you have enjoyed this, and if any of you have an idea on how to continue the story of any of my characters in your own story, let me know.
As always, leave a review, and see you next time.
A/N2: If any of you were curious what Tonks's wedding dress looked like. Remove the spaces.
I . pinimg 736x / 43 / 48 / 86 / 4348865b1b6fc4d0b9fc30320a85b8e2 –- black – leather – dresses – mermaid – dresses . jpg