Disclaimer: Disclaimed. Harry Potter is not mine. Several AU characters are.
Voldemort was dead, the world had been saved.
But Harry Potter had sworn on his parent's graves that he would not raise his children in a world with so much evil. Maybe it was Lupin's death, or Fred's or Tonks'. But either way, Harry couldn't stand the thought of magic for long after. He moved to the English countryside and bought a house with his parent's fortune.
He married Ginny two years later, after she magically appeared on his doorstep and kissed him in the foyer. He told her that he would never tell his children about the magic of Hogwarts.
She married him anyway.
Twenty years later, Harry feels comfortable in his own skin. At thirty-seven, maybe it's because he never expected to live past sixteen, maybe, because he died once-in the dark of the Forbidden Forest, in the woods behind the famous castle. Either way, middle aged, he lives in a Muggle house with his Muggle family and feels content.
He can't help but stay away from the castle though. Hogwarts holds a magic many don't realize. Beyond the spells and the teachers, the lessons and wizards, there is a magic there that not many have discovered.
Maybe you have to be an orphan, such as Harry, to experience the magic of Hogwarts, of the castle that becomes your house, the stone walls that hide away your home. Maybe you have to be lonely and scared, to find peace inside these walls.
Harry Potter can't stay away.
Moments before he proposed to Ginny, he swore to her that he would never tell his children about the magic of Hogwarts. He would never speak of the War. Of the Death Eaters. She had no problem with his decision, maybe she thought he would change his mind.
Harry is tempted now.
As an Auror, he visits the castle occasionally. Sometimes to wander the wide stone halls and watch the students pass. Other times on business. To see the headmaster about a dark wizard. A fugitive.
He can still feel the magic, as he tries to avoid the open stares, the whispers. But sometimes Harry feels just guilt in his stomach, as tight as a knot, when he thinks of his children. James is already fifteen, a spitfire if he'd ever seen one, and brave. Harry is sure he would be in Gryffindor. He has never seen a wilder child.
And Albus-Al, is a scientist-in Muggle terms-and Harry tries not to picture him in front of a cauldron instead of his beakers and bottles.
Lily is eleven and bright, with bright red hair and warm brown eyes, and Harry knows, knows she would love Hogsmeade. The candy shops. Would love the Gryffindor fireplaces, the Quidditch field, the Owl Towers.
Harry shakes his head as if this will chase away all of his guilty thoughts. When he swore twenty years ago never to let his children see the wizarding school, he did not imagine the grief it would cause.
Ginny, always the smarter one, just sits by and lets him think. Perhaps she knows, better than he will, if Harry will change his mind.
Only time will tell.
This story (if I decide to continue) will be short mentions by many of the Potter, Weasley and several AU children. Should I continue? Any recomendations for the characters? I thought Dominique Weasley would be in love with Teddy, James would be a sarcastic troublemaker, and Lucy Weasley would be a badass. Review?