Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Just my ability to recreate canon.
A/N: This is a reinterpretation and reformat of two scenes in Deathly Hallows including the crapilogue epilogue and the first time Harry and Hermione visited Lily and James' graves. The majority of the writing is canon, including many subtle H/Hr dynamic. J.K. wrote them, I merely revealed and reinvented what she wrote. Please R/R.
Epilogue: Brave New World
Winter seemed to arrive early that year. The late afternoon of the 25th of December was as crystal as a glacier, and the little family bobbed across the sleet filled road to and from the great sooty station, the fumes of car exhausts and the breath of pedestrians sparkled like cobwebs in the cold air. Two large cages rattle on top of the laden trolleys the parents were pushing; the owls in side them hooted indignantly and the redheaded girl trailed tearfully behind her father, clutching his arm. "There there, they're staying over for Christmas." Harry told her. "A week!" sniffled the little girl, "I want to see them everyday!"
The commuters stared curiously at the owls as the family wove its way towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Albus's voice drifted back to Harry over the surrounding clamor; his sons had resumed the argument they had started at the station.
"What is so wrong with Slytherin? So what I'm in Slytherin."
"James, give it a rest!" said Hermione.
"I only said he might be," said James, grinning at his younger brother. "And what do you know; he is. There is nothing wrong with that-"
But James caught his mother's eye and fell silent. The five Potters approached the barrier. With a slightly cocky look over his shoulder at his younger brother, James took the trolley from his mother and broke into a run. A moment later, he had vanished.
"You got my letters, haven't you?" Albus asked his parents immediately, capitalizing on the momentary absence of his brother.
"We wrote back every day," said Hermione.
"Don't write everyday," said Albus quickly. "James says most people only receive letters about once a month."
"We wrote to James three times a week last year," said Hermione.
"And you don't want to believe everything he tells you about Hogwarts," Harry put in. "He likes a laugh, your brother."
Side by side, they pushed the second trolley forward, gathering speed. As they reached the barrier, Albus winced, but no collision came. Instead the family emerged onto the station between nine and ten, which was obscured by the thick crowd of people that was pouring from a nearby steaming ebony train. Indistinct figures were swarming through the glacial mist, into which James already disappeared.
"Where are they?" asked Albus 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 though he heard Percy discoursing loudly on broomstick regulations, and was quite glad of the excuse not to stop and say hello…
"I think that's them, Al," said Hermione suddenly.
A group of four people emerged from the barrier, standing alongside the very last platform. Their faces only came into focus when Harry, Hermione, and Albus had drawn right up to them.
"Hi," said Albus, sounding immensely nervous.
Rose, who was already wearing her red and gold Gryffindor House sweater eyed him insolently.
"Parked all right, then?" Ron asked Harry. "I did. Hermione 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 Hermione, "I had complete faith in you."
"As a matter of fact, I didn't Confund him, Luna did," Ron whispered to Harry, as together they lifted Albus's trunk and owl onto the car.
"I only made him a bit confused and perhaps inebriated." said Luna serenely, "Ronald was fine after that."
"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 their two youngest Potter and Weasley, having an animated discussion about which House they would be sorted into when they finally went to Hogwarts.
"If you're not in Gryffindor, you can be in Ravenclaw, but that's it," said Ron, "If you're in Slytherin, we'll disinherit you."
"Ron!" cried Luna as she eyed Albus in a meaningful sympathetic manner.
The two children laughed, but Rose looked solemn as Albus looked dreary.
"He doesn't mean it," said Hermione, but Harry was no longer paying attention. Catching Ron's eye, he nodded covertly to a point some fifty yards away. The mountain of people had thinned for a moment and four people stood in sharp relief against the shifting crowd.
"Look who it is."
Draco Malfoy was standing with his older son with his wife carrying the younger; a dark coat buttoned up to his throat. His hair was receding somewhat, which emphasized the pointed chin. The older boy resembled Draco as much as Albus resembled Harry. The younger had long dark hair, and a hook nose, possibly inherited from his mother. Draco caught sight of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Luna staring at him, nodded curtly, and turned away again.
"So that's little Scorpius," said Ron under his breath. "I'm sure you beat him in every end of term exam Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's Ravenclaw brains."
"Ron, for heaven's sake," said Luna, half admonishing, half amused.
"Don't try to turn them against each other before the end of first term!"
"You're right, sorry," said Ron, but unable to help himself, he added, "Don't get too friendly with him, though, Rosie. Grandad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood."
"Hey!"
James had reappeared; 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 crowd. "Just seen him! And guess what he's doing? Snogging Victoire!"
He gazed up at the adults, evidently disappointed by the lack of reaction.
"Our Teddy! Teddy Lupin! Snogging our Victoire! Our cousin! And I asked Teddy what he was doing-"
"You interrupted them?" said Hermione, "You're so like Ron-"
"-and he said he'd come to pick her up! And then he told me to go away. He's snogging her!" James added as though worried he had not made himself clear.
"Oh, it would be lovely if they got married" whispered Luna ecstatically. "Teddy would really be part of the family then!"
"He already comes around for dinner about four times a week," said Harry. "Why don't we just invite him to live with us and have done with it?"
"Yeah!" said James enthusiastically. "I don't mind sharing with Al-Teddy could have my room!"
"No," said Harry firmly, "you and Al will share a room only when I want the house demolished."
He checked the emerald dial on the watch that Hermione had given him for his birthday.
"It's nearly noon, you'd better get going."
"Did you give Neville our love?" Hermione asked James as she hugged him.
"Mum! I can't give a professor love"
"But you know Neville-"
James rolled his eyes.
"Outside, yeah, but at school he's Professor Longbottom, isn't he? I can't walk into Herbology and give him love...besides, Aunt Ginny already stops by often enough. It is embarrassing watching them together as it is…"
Shaking his head at his mother's foolishness, he vented his feelings by aiming a kick at Albus.
"See you later Al. And watch out for the thestrals. They almost ate him on his first day in."
"I thought they were invisible? You said they were invisible!"
But James merely laughed, permitted his mother to kiss him, gave his father a fleeting hug, then leaped onto the rapid filling waiting area. They saw him wave, then sprint away up the corridor to find his friends.
"Threstrals are nothing to worry about," Luna told Albus. "They're gentle things, there's nothing scary about them. They are like dark unicorns; you won't be able to see them anyway."
Hermione kissed Albus, "We still love you, even if you're not in Gryffindor."
"Hi Al," said Harry as his son hugged him. "Don't forget to give Hagrid our New Year's present next week when you go back. Don't mess with Peeves. You haven't dueled anyone yet have you?"
Albus shook his head.
"Good, don't duel until you learned how. And don't let James wind you up."
"So you're not upset I'm in Slytherin?"
This question was for his father alone, and Harry knew that only the moment of short privacy could have forced Albus to reveal how great and sincere that fear was.
Harry crouched down so that Albus's face was slightly above his own. Among his children, Albus had inherited not only his messy black hair, but also his emerald eyes.
"Albus Sirius," Harry said quietly, so that nobody but Hermione could hear, and she was tactful enough to pretend to be waiving to Rose, who was now on the muggle car Ron was driving. "You were named after two of the finest wizards to have ever set foot to Hogwarts. One of them came from a family of Slytherin and he was probably the most noble man I ever knew.
"But just say-"
"-then the Slytherin House have gained an excellent student, haven't they? It doesn't matter to us, Al. But if it matters to you, you'll be able to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin. We can write Professor McGonagall and transfer you to a different house, but-"
"Really?"
"Really. But is it what you want? Is it truly necessary? I'm sure you can excel no matter which house you're sorted into."
He never said this to any of this to his children before, and he saw the wonder in Albus's face when he said it. But now the doors were slamming all along the parking lot, and the blurred outlines of parents were swarming forward for welcoming kisses as the last few students trickled from the barrier.
Albus jumped into the muggle SUV and Hermione closed the door behind him. Students were hanging from the windows nearest them. A great number of faces, both on the platform and in the parking lot seemed to be turned toward Harry.
"Why are they all staring?" demanded Albus as he craned around to look at the other students.
"Don't let it worry you," said James. "It's me. I'm extremely famous."
Everyone laughed. The car began to move, and Harry drove swiftly, watching his son's thin face, already fatigued by the long train ride. Harry smiled, he couldn't help but feel a little bereavement, watching his son glide away from him...Slytherin…
The last trace of snow trickled down the winter air. The car rounded another corner. At last, they had reached Godric's Hollow. Harry remembered that a long time ago, the first time he had visited Godrics Hallow, he and Hermione were hunting for horcruxes and had polyjuiced themselves into a muggle man and his wife.
They were standing hand in hand in a snowy lane under a dark blue sky, in which the night's first stars were already glimmering feebly. Cottages stood on either side of the narrow road, Christmas decorations twinkling in their windows. A short way ahead of them, a glow of golden streetlights indicated the center of the village.
Years later, Harry and Hermione did indeed become man and wife; it became a tradition for Harry and Hermione and now their children, to visit the graveyard in Godrics Hallow every year on Chistmas Eve to pay respect to Lily and James, like they had done so many years ago.
"The...they'll be in there, won't they? Your mum and dad? I can see the graveyard behind it."
Harry felt a thrill of something that was beyond excitement, more like fear...Perhaps Hermione knew how he was feeling, because she reached for his hand and took the lead for the first time, pulling him forward…
There was a kissing gate at the entrance to the graveyard. Hermione pushed it open as quietly as possible and they edged through it. On either side of the slippery path to the church doors, the snow lay deep and untouched. They moved off through the snow, carving deep trenches behind them as they walked around the building, keeping to the shadows beneath the brilliant windows.
Behind the church, row upon row of snowy tombstones protruded from a blanket of pale blue that was flecked with dazzling red, gold, and green wherever the reflections from the stained glass hit the snow.
"Harry, they're here...right here."
And like the first time, Hermione had found his mother and father's grave.
The headstone was only two rows behind Kentra and Ariana's. It was made of white marble, and this made it easy to read, as it seemed to shine in the dark.
"They last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." said Albus, "What does that mean?" he asked, looking to his parents.
"It means," Hermione explained to him gently as she did many years ago to Harry, "...living beyond death. Living after death."
"Hi Mum, Dad," Harry said to the gravestone, "It's been another year; the kids have all missed you, this year we brought someone special to visit."
"Mum, Dad," Hermione added gently, "You already know James and Al. James is bigger now and Al just started his first year at Hogwarts. We've brought a special person to meet you this year. This is our daughter. She is five now. We figured, she is old enough to come visit her grandparents."
A red headed little girl peeked at the marble stone behind her mother's legs. "Hi Grandma, Grandpa." She uttered in a small voice. "I'm Lily. Daddy says, he named me after you. Your name is Lily as well. Mommy says that you're very pretty. I want to be pretty like you too."
Harry moved toward Hermione, feeling as if something heavy were pressing on his chest, the same sensation he had had right after Dumbledore had died, a grief that had actually weighed on his heart and lungs.
Hermione had taken his hand and was gripping it tightly. He could not look at her, but returned the pressure, now taking deep, sharp gulps of the night air, trying to steady himself, trying to regain control. He should have brought something to give them, and he had not thought of it, and every plant in the graveyard to leafless and frozen.
But Hermione had raised her wand, moved it in a circle through the air, and a wreath of Christmas roses blossomed before them. Harry caught it and laid it on his parents' grave.
As soon as he stood up he wanted to leave: He did not think he could stand another moment there. He put his arm around Hermione's shoulders, and she put hers around his waist, and they turned in silence and walked away through the snow, past Dumbledore's mother and sister, back toward the dark church and the out-of-sight kissing gate.
They stopped only briefly at the kissing gate, and shared a warm tender kiss.
It was another Harry and Hermione tradition they added, that each year, when they visit Lily and James's grave, they would kiss under the gate, so nicknamed the kissing gate, to make up for the first time, which they did not.
"I wish you kissed me then." Hermione said softly as she looked up to Harry's emerald green eyes.
"I do too, we were too young and naive about our feelings. But we have the rest of our lives to make up for those mistakes we made back then." Harry replied tenderly.
James and Albus were play-fighting in the snow as Lily giggled happily between. The five Potters marched merrily back out of the now snow covered kissing gate, so aptly named.
As Harry looked at Hermione's trailing back, he lowered his hand absentmindedly and touched the lightning scar on his forehead.
The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.
~fin~
A/N: I tried to integrate Harry's first visit to his parents' graves to the present. The italics were taken from Deathly Hallows. The time alterations can be a little confusing, but I want to show how well J.K.R. had written Harry and Hermione's dynamic. They really flowed as a couple. Please R/R; any suggestions and recommendations are much welcome.