Thanks to FlamesOfAPheonix for her beta-ing. I tried to make this close to JKR's epilogue as I think I'm one of the few Harry Potter fan, let alone one of the Harry/Hermione fans that actually like it, but I still changed it to fit the character's and situation. I still think Luna's not dreamy enough, but let me know what you think.
Here is who: Tonks and Remus still died at the end of DH, but they weren't married. Tonks married Bill and had Teddy, and Bill actually dies at the Battle of Hogwarts also. Teddy was raised by Molly, Arthur, and Andromeda. Charlie married Katie Bell and they had Roxanne and Hugo. Percy never betrayed his family and was the one who married Fleur and they had Victoire and Fred. George married Cho and had Rose and Lucy. Neville and Lavender married and had Frank and Alice. I thinking of making a bigger fic, told in different stories and maybe a 10, possibly 20, things, with ages, dates, middle names, and Houses in it. Tell me if I should.
Yes also I made Ron's eyes brown. In fairness though, I made Ginny's eyes blue. That's just how I see the characters
Written for the 'How It Should Have Ended' Challenge at HPFC.
Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first of September was crisp and golden as an apple, and as the little family bobbed across the rumbling road toward the great sooty station, the fumes of car exhausts and the breath of pedestrians sparkled like cobwebs in the cold air. Two large cages rattled on top of the laden trolleys the parents were pushing; the owls inside them hooted indignantly, and the brown-haired boys trailed tearfully behind their siblings, each one clutching one of their father's arms.
"It won't be long, and then you two will be going too," Harry told them.
"Two years," sniffed Sirius. "I want to go now!" Remus nodded his agreement.
The commuters stared curiously at the owls as the family wove its way toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten. James's voice drifted back to Harry over the surrounding clamor; his two elder children had resumed the argument they had started in the car.
"I won't! I won't be in Slytherin!"
"Lily, give it a rest!" said Hermione.
"I only said he might be," said Lily, grinning at her younger brother. "There's nothing wrong with that. He might be in Slyth –"
But Lily caught her mother's eye and fell silent. The six Potters approached the barrier. With a slightly cocky look over her shoulder at her younger brother, Lily took the trolley from her mother and broke into a run. A moment later, she had vanished.
"You'll write to me, won't you?" James asked his parents immediately, capitalizing on the momentary absence of his sister.
"Every day, if you want us to," said Hermione.
"Not every day," said James quickly. "Lily says most people only get letters from home about once a month."
"We've written to Lily three times a week for the last four years," said Hermione.
"And you don't want to believe everything she tells you about Hogwarts," Harry put in. "She likes a laugh, your sister."
Side by side, they pushed the second trolley forward, gathering speed. As they reached the barrier, James winced, but no collection came. Instead, the family emerged onto platform nine and three-quarters, which was obscured by thick white steam that was pouring from the Hogwarts Express. Indistinct figures were swarming through the mist, into which Lily had already disappeared.
"Where are they?" asked James anxiously, peering at the hazy forms they passed as they made their way down the platform.
"We'll find them," said Hermione reassuringly.
But the vapor 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 discoursing loudly on broomstick regulations, and thought to remember to say hello when they left the platform. . . .
"I think that's them, James," said Hermione suddenly.
A group of three people emerged from the mist, standing alongside the very last carriage. Their faces only came into focus when Harry, Hermione, Sirius, Remus, and James had drawn right up to them.
"Hi," said James, sounding immensely relieved.
Selene, who was already wearing her brand-new Hogwarts robes, beamed at him. The one of two of the Weasley cousin's who didn't have the bright red hair, she was the only one with the Weasley name who didn't have it, instead preferring to looked a lot like her mother, though she was already tall and lanky like her father, and had his freckles with his brown eyes.
"Parked all right, then?" Ron asked Harry. "I did. Luna didn't believe I could pass a Muggle driving test, did you? She thought I'd have to Confund the examiner."
"No, I didn't," said Luna, "I had complete faith in you."
"As a matter of fact, I did have to Confund him," Ron whispered to Harry, as together they lifted James's trunk and owl onto the train. "I only forgot to look in the wing mirror, and let's face it, I can use a Supersensory Charm for that."
Back on the platform, they found Sirius and Remus having an animated discussion about which House they would be sorted into when they finally went to Hogwarts.
"If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you," said Ron, "but no pressure."
"Ronald! I was in Ravenclaw, remember."
"Oh yes. Ravenclaw would be fine, and I suppose Hufflepuff would be okay, but no Slytherin please. Just no Slytherin."
Sirius and Remus laughed, but James and Selene looked solemn.
"He doesn't mean it," said Luna and Hermione, but Ron was no longer paying attention. Catching Harry's eye, he nodded covertly to a point some fifty yards away. The steam had thinned for a moment, and three people stood in sharp relief against the shifting mist.
"Look who it is."
Draco was standing with Ginny and their son, Julian, a dark coat buttoned up to his throat. His hair was receding somewhat, which emphasized the pointed chin. Julian resembled Draco as much as James resembled Harry, though like James also, his eyes were his mother's. Draco and Ginny caught sight of Harry, Ron, Luna, and Hermione staring at them, waved hesitantly, and turned away again.
"Well that was rude. Why didn't they come over? So I brought up the ferret incident in front of Julian and the George tried to reenact it. I don't see what the big deal is. Selene, try to beat him in every test. You too, James. Thank God you two have your mother's brains."
"Ron, for heaven's sake," said Luna, half stern, half amused. "Don't try to turn them against each other before they've even started school!"
"And do you mean to imply that I don't have brains for any of my children to get?" Harry said with faux-anger in his voice.
"Both of you are right, sorry," said Ron, but unable to help himself, he added, "And of course that's what I meant Harry. And your children need to know that the brains they got did not come from their father."
"Hey!"
Fred had appeared; he had divested himself of his trunk, owl, and trolley, and was evidently bursting with news.
"Teddy's back there," he said breathlessly, pointing back over his shoulder into the billowing coluds of steam. "Just seen him! And guess what he's doing? Snogging Lily!"
He gazed up at the adults, evidently disappointed by the lack of reaction.
"Our Teddy. Teddy Weasley! Snogging your Lily! Our cousin, Sel! And I asked Teddy what he was doing he said he'd come to see her off! And then he told me to go away. He's snogging her!" Fred added as though worried he had not made himself clear.
"Oh, it would be lovely if they got married!" whispered Selene half ecstatically, half dreamily like her mother. "You guys would really be part of the family then!"
"We already go for dinner to the Burrow about four times a week," said Harry. "How much more part of the family do you want to be?" Hermione playfully shoved Harry after he finished. He smiled, though not happy at the thoughts of his fifteen year old daughter getting married to a boy that he had been quite fond of until five minutes ago, and then checked the old battered watch that had once been Fabian Prewett's.
"It's nearly eleven, you'd better get on board."
"Don't forgot to give Neville our love!" Hermione told Lily who had recently appeared and then give her daughter an impish wink. Lily at least had the courtesy to blush.
"Mum. I can't give a professor love!"
"But you know Neville –"
Lily rolled her eyes.
"Outside, yeah, but at school he's Professor Longbottom, isn't he? I can't walk into Herbology and give him love. . . ."
Shaking her head at her mother's foolishness, she vented her feelings by stretching a hand and messing up James's hair even more.
"See you later, James. Watch out for the thestrals."
"I thought they were invisible? You said they were invisible!"
But Lily merely laughed, permitted her mother to kiss her, gave her father a fleeting hug, grabbed Fred's arm, and then leapt onto the rapidly filling train to find Victoire.
"Thestrals are nothing to worry about," Harry told James. "They're gentle things, there's nothing scary about them. Anyway, you won't be going by the carriages, you'll be going in the boats."
Hermione kissed James good-bye.
"See you at Christmas."
"Bye, James," 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 Lily wind you up."
"What if I'm in Slytherin?"
The whisper was for his father alone, and Harry knew that only the moment of departure could have forced James to reveal how great and sincere that fear was.
Harry crouched down so that James's face was slightly above his own. Fittingly, only Lily had gotten Lily's eyes, as well as her dark red hair and features. But Sirius and Remus were male versions of a nine year old Hermione and would continue looking more like her with age, though they did have the original James's eyes. But Harry marveled at how James looked just like him, but had Hermione's eyes.
"James Severus," Harry said quietly, so that nobody but Hermione could hear, and she was tactful enough to pretend to be waving at Selene, who was now on the train, "you were named for two men that if you ask me, are probably some of the bravest men I knew. And one of them was a Slytherin."
"But just say –"
" – then the Slytherin House will have gained an excellent student, won't it? It doesn't matter to us, James. But if it matters to you, you'll be able to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin. The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account."
"Really?"
"It did for me," said Harry.
He had never told any of his children that before, and he saw the wonder in James'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. James jumped into the carriage and Hermione 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 toward Harry.
"Why are they all staring?" demanded James as he and Selene craned around to look at the other students.
"Don't let it worry you," said Ron, "It's me. I'm extremely famous."
James, Selene, Sirius, and Remus laughed. The train began to move, and Harry walked alongside it, watching his son's thin 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 if steam evaporated in the autumn air. The train rounded a corner. Harry's hand was still raised in farewell.
"He'll be alright," murmured Hermione.
As Harry looked at her, he lowered his hand absentmindedly and touched the lighting scar on his forehead.
"I know he will."
The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.
Sappy enough? Please review.