It was odd, they always thought, how completely changed the other two had been when they came back. Not only that they changed, but how they continued to change. It was rarely spoken of out loud, never referred to in their company, but looks and raised or furrowed brows could be seen passing over huge, food-laden tables, or floating across happy, quiet, and sleepily-sated sitting rooms.

They hadn't changed for the worse. In fact it was the opposite: their taking-on of their places in the world and quietly stepping into previously huge and terrifying shoes to find that they were the perfectly right size. Everyone could see that they were both better because of the change.

Even her.

Especially her.

Previously everyone thought that it had been he who was most likely to change for her. That he was not quite beneath her, exactly, but just hardly with her. She who was smart and clever and charming enough that she could make people like her. She would be the one to find her very own place in the world. She would cross bridges no one had dared before, and make a name for herself.

Everyone un-spokenly assumed that he, on the other hand, would fall into a life of slightly elevated mediocrity. That he would like his job and his place in life and love her. She would be the bright spot in his life and though he was just as loved by her as she was by him, she would find room for true accomplishments, on her own, without him.

This was what people thought of them, of their future together, and the two both knew it. Both were willing and ready to accept their allotted places in life, because they had been planning this for themselves all along. Having the other was icing on the cake. A pleasure that both had yearned for, but also expected.

They had known for years that there was no other for them and now, having lived their

lives to the fullest and youngest and most dangerous possible, were ready to solidify what both had been sure of since the age of fifteen (though she had been sure of it since thirteen).

So while their relationship was fun, tingly, and new, it was still part of the plan, which was perfect. Neither them nor the others could possibly know how much better it could get.

oOo

It was Harry Potter who was the first to notice a bit of what was to come. This was partially because he was their best friend, therefore with them the most, but also for another reason.

You see, Harry Potter, a few short weeks earlier, had died.

Not only had he died, but he'd been resurrected: brought back a minute later to save the world from certain doom. As a result, Harry had begun to see just what his justified self-centeredness over the past few years had caused him to miss.

Namely, the things he'd thought about on his walk into the forest. He now paid special attention to these things.

He was there for their first meeting, their first hug, first kiss. He would be there, later, for their engagement and their wedding, the birth of their first and second born, though none of them knew about any of that yet. Because he'd been there so often, for the big and small moments, Harry felt a sort of cautiously fond and detached affection for the fledgling relationship.

Harry well knew that if things went sour, his life would be altered. Though he knew he would still see them both, refusing to give up one for the other, one would have to be left behind and, even while telling himself that he couldn't possibly choose one over the other, he knew it would be hard not to see her as much.

Knowing this, it is perfectly reasonable to say that, besides the two, themselves, Harry Potter was the happiest and most affected by the change. But I digress. Perhaps, first, you would like to know what the change was, and how it came about, before I tell you of its happily shocking and well-noticed effects?