15 Years and 6 Months Later
There was already snow on the ground as the sun rose behind the large hill just beyond the boundaries of the Burrow. It glistened in the sun, casting odd rainbows off everything in sight and creating an odd illusion of the scenery.
Suddenly, a flash lit up the sky, and in the wake of blinding light, a little family of five appeared. The family appeared to be crowded around a small object, which was subsequently thrown to the side by the father. The family separated, revealing three children: two dark-haired boys and a bright redheaded girl. Shouts and squeals echoed down the field as the two little boys charged down the hill while their little sister tottered and called after them.
"Carefully!" called their mother after them, but her warning lost in their much louder squeals of joy.
Her husband slipped his arm around her. "They'll be fine," he reassured her, and Harry and Ginny followed their children to the Burrow.
The door opened before they reached it, and countless redheaded children spilled out. Harry caught a glimpse Victoire's fair strawberry-blonde, Rose's deep burgundy curls, and even Teddy's vivid turquoise before he was overcome by nieces and nephews.
When Harry finally emerged from the mob, laden with children all chattering happily, he saw in the doorway of the Burrow the two people he had been most anxious to see. He stepped forward, kissing Hermione's cheek and giving Ron a brief, one-armed hug.
Hermione laughed, plucking her son Hugo from Harry's arms. "You've kept all the children waiting," she informed Harry sternly, but the smile on her face told Harry how glad she was to see him. It had become increasingly more difficult, as both Harry and Ron moved up in the Auror department, to make time to see each other's families. In fact, Harry reflected, today would make three months since the last time both families had all been together without at least one member missing.
"All right, mate?" said Ron, grinning. He pulled his other child, Rose, towards him by the hand. "Not too busy with work?"
Harry grinned back. "Not on Christmas." Suddenly, he was interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. Turning, Harry found himself face to face with an almost unfamiliar human being. It was only the bright turquoise locks that alerted him to the fact that this was his godson, Teddy Lupin. Other than the hair, Teddy was unrecognizably older; taller, and somehow more filled out, less gangly than the last time Harry had seen him. Granted, it had been over six months, Harry realized with a shock, since the two of them had last met.
"Blimey, Teddy," said Harry, shaking hands with his godson. "You look like a grown man now!"
Teddy grinned proudly, his cheeks going a little red. "And I sound like one, too," he answered, and sure enough, when he spoke, it was the deep voice of an adult that emerged, not the voice of a child Harry remembered. Suddenly, Harry felt a great nostalgia for the times when Teddy was young, when he fit in Harry's lap, when he would cry when his parents left the room and laugh hysterically when his mother morphed her face for him. It seemed like so long ago that Teddy was that small. Harry felt a great longing for that time, just after the war, when the only obligation he had was to be free.
Just then, Albus tugged at his hand, eyes tearing and lips quivering, and Harry was jerked back to the present. "Daddy, James said I look like a Death Eater because I'm ugly and stupid, and he said nobody wants to play with a Death Eater, so I can't play with them and I have to go de-gnome the garden," Albus whimpered, becoming more distraught with each sentence.
Harry sighed, taking his son's hand and walking toward the corner of the sitting room, where James, Fred's daughter Roxanne, and Bill's son Louis were gathered, giggling conspiratorially. "James," he admonished, "I want you to include your brother this evening, okay?"
James, with all the stubbornness and defiance of a true Marauder, stuck out his chin rebelliously. "But he's a Death Eater," he intoned. "You always told me not to play with Death Eaters."
"I said nothing of the sort," stated Harry firmly. "Now, if you do not include Albus, I'll take you to Azkaban to play with a real Death Eater." He dropped Albus's hand, and turned away once he was satisfied that his sons were coexisting peacefully.
He was then left to greet all the other members of his extended family and friends—he greeted George and Alicia Spinnet, who was heavily pregnant with their second child, and Fred and Angelina Johnson, who were in the middle of a heated debate over allowing Roxanne to have access to Skiving Snackboxes and Extendable Ears, and who immediately appealed to Harry for a second opinion. After escaping them as quickly as possible, Harry was then faced by Fleur and her eldest daughter Victiore, both of them giggling with Mrs. Weasley over some exploit of hers as a young girl. Harry bestowed Mrs. Weasley a quick kiss on the cheek and a perfunctory "Happy Christmas," before finally locating his wife seated next to Ron and Hermione on the battered sofa in the sitting room.
"Who are we missing?" he asked them, settling in beside Ginny and slipping his arm around her.
"Neville and Luna are coming later, and Remus and Tonks are coming here after dinner to pick up Teddy," replied Hermione. "He was here hanging out with Victoire and Dominique and Louis before we all got here."
"He never leaves, does he?" Ron joked. "We should just adopt him and have done with it."
Harry, Hermione and Ginny laughed, and Hermione launched into a long-winded story involving Ron, Rose, and an encounter with Draco Malfoy's son Scorpius at a park that culminated in Ron forcibly removing a screaming Rose from the park as Scorpius tottered after them begging Ron to adopt him. The story and the ensuing conversation took them through Neville and Luna's arrival with their twin sons, and all the way to dinner, which was to be held in the garden.
Dinner was, as always, loud and robust. The tables were laden with more food they could possibly eat, even for the entire Weasley clan. Harry laughed with Ron, Fred, and George as the twins told story after story of odd incidences at their shop, and listened respectfully to Hermione lecture him about the changes she planned to make as the newly-appointed Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Lupin and Tonks arrived just as Harry was helping himself to a third helping of treacle tart, their purple-haired daughter Amelia and mercifully sandy-haired son Sirius in tow. After their arrival, the party moved back to the house, where everyone collapsed onto chairs and sofas, too full to sustain a conversation.
As Harry sat, Hugo on his lap and one arm each around Ginny and Amelia, he observed his family through the haze conjured by fatigue and a full stomach. He saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley standing in the corner, staring proudly at their brood of children and relatives. He saw George with his hands resting on Alicia's swollen stomach, smiling as he felt his child kick. He saw Lupin and Tonks cuddling in a massive chair, Teddy and Sirius at their feet. As he watched, Victoire reached over to tousle Teddy's hair, and Teddy shivered visibly. Harry was suddenly and vividly reminded of a Christmas some 16 years prior, when he shivered in this very room as a girl ran her fingers through his hair to rid it of maggots. And suddenly, Harry was struck by the realization of just how lucky he was.
He turned his head to Ginny. "I love you," he murmured, touching her forehead with his.
"I love you, too," she replied, leaning in to kiss him.
As they drew apart, Ginny brushed the hair out of his face, her fingers accidentally grazing his scar. It had not hurt in nearly sixteen years. All was well.
. . .
The breakdown of the family:
(set in 2012)
Living: Lupin; Tonks; Fred
Dead: Percy; Charlie; Seamus Finnigan; Mundungus Fletcher
Harry-Ginny
James (2004)
Albus (2005)
Lily (2006)
Ron-Hermione
Rose (2005)
Hugo (2006)
Fred-Angelina
Roxanne (2002)
George-Alicia
Molly (2008)
Lucy (2012)
Bill-Fleur
Victiore (1998)
Dominique (2000)
Louis (2003)
Remus-Tonks
Teddy (1997)
Amelia (1999)
Sirius (2001)
Neville-Luna
Lorcan (2004)
Lysander (2004)