THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER
It was indeed a hectic day at work. There were too many interviews at the ministry today regarding the case of the Elves also known as 'Dobby's Law'. The war had ended 11 years ago and the wizarding world knew peace again, thanks to the green eyed boy who lived. But there were a few death-eaters lurking here and there. Harry has been the Head Auror for the last 5 years since the death of Shacklebolt, and is married to the love of his life. He and Hermione had fallen in love in their 4th year during the tournament, when Ron had left them. Through the quest for the Horcruxes, it was Hermione who had accompanied him, faced Tom with him and now was happily married to him despite their differences. They have two beautiful girls aged 7 and 5. His eldest daughter, Lily Minerva Potter, was an exact copy of her grandma lily much to everyone's surprise, and their youngest, Alice Hermione Potter was a mix of both her parents.
After Ron decided to pursue his Quidditch career with the National Team, Harry and Hermione moved in together in their cottage at Godric's Hollow. Harry had spent enough time in renewing his parent's old home. He had also taken time to accustom himself to the practices as the Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter. In terms of Galleons, property and other investments, Harry owned more than half of the Wizarding Britain. And was one of the richest wizards in the magical world. Together with Hermione, he started many trust funds for muggle-borns and other unprivileged children to attend Hogwarts, brought about many reforms with regard to the treatment of House Elves; he even took initiative to develop the conditions of patients at St. Mugnos after the death of Neville's parents. He put his money to a good cause and being Harry Potter had its benefits in both Muggle and Wizarding world. He still kept in touch with the Weasleys out of the respect for molly and not anyone else. The war had taken a toll on them all, coping with Charlie's death and Ginny's 4th pregnancy in the last 10 years; they still had dinners once a month at the burrow, but kept their distance from both Ron and Ginny due to their bad history. Ginny had married Malfoy- who turned out to be far different in person after the war and was very much in love with his red head wife. Ron was still unmarried but was dating Luna Lovegood to the surprise of everyone. It turned out that they were together since before the war.
Hermione Potter was a proud mother of two girls and was currently expecting their third, hoping it was a handsome young chap just like her lover. "Mommy!" her daughter's voice sounded through the hall, "will you please ask daddy to come home soon. So that we can go to Diagon alley and get me more books?". "Now princess, you know very well that daddy is away at the ministry on important business. Why don't we wait till he is back, and then we all can go out for dinner and have pizza?". "Oh! Thank you mummy!" she squealed and ran off to find her sister in the library and tell her the news. In the meantime, Hermione sat in the armchair by the fire and was thinking about her marriage to harry. They had married as soon as the war was over and because of her persuasions, they returned to Hogwarts to complete their education. Hermione of course had gotten all Os in her NEWTs and harry had gotten 4 Os and two Es. Harry joined the Auror training program and became an Auror soon afterwards. Hermione took a year off and went travelling around Magical Britain for a few months. She married harry as soon as she returned from her expedition. Their wedding was attended by people from all over the world. It was even the front page article in the Daily Prophet "Most Magical Wedding of the Century" it said. They had honeymooned on one of Harry's family homes at Fiji Islands and returned soon to continue their works. She started as a ministry worker at the Magical Law Enforcement Department and was later promoted as its head. The roar of the Floo brought her back to the present.
"Mia!" harry yelled. It was his nickname for her and only he was allowed to call her so. Once when Fred had called her Mia, she almost hexed him into oblivion. "In here, Harry" she called. He came through the door and found his wife on the armchair. Upon seeing him, she stood up and snaked her arms behind his neck and kissed him full on the lips. "I could get used to this kind of welcoming you know." He said as he smiled down at his wife. "And I'd always be home to welcome you", she said, playing with his work robes. "The kids wanted to go out for tonight, to buy new books". "And I said we'd go after you're home. Is that fine with you?" Harry looked at her with warmth and a promise of a surprise later, said "Of course I'm fine with it. Anything for the beautiful women in my life". He kissed her again soundly before going to change for the evening. "Daddy!" he heard both his girls before he could even enter their room. They ran towards him and hugged his legs. He picked up them both and gave them sloppy kisses. "Daddy! Don't do that!" they whined in mock protest. "Alright missies, let me get ready and we can go grab pizza for dinner after buying you limited books". "But daddy, you said we could get as many as we wanted. And besides, we've read all the books you've got us so far.", Said Lily. "And mommy said that we could each have 3 books, daddy please?" Alice asked, with tears threatening to spill out of her dark green eyes. "Princess, we'll get you as many books as you like, okay? Come on now; let's get you ready for dinner."
Half hour later, they found themselves in the crowd of a muggle book signing. Both the young parents had to hold on tight to their girls as there was too much crowd. After getting their new copies of Alice in Wonderland, the Potters stepped into the muggle world through Leaky Cauldron. The girls enjoyed their meal as much as the adults did. On their way back, they bumped into their uncle Big D. Dudley had grown close to harry after the war much to the dismay of his parents. But he didn't seem to care about anything else when it came to his favourite nieces. He'd go mental without seeing them at least once a month, besides, his own daughter was magical and they all enjoyed muggle outings every now and then. After a little chit chat, the Potters made their way back to their cottage and called it a night. Harry went to tuck in his girls into bed and ended up reading stories to them.
Once he entered his bedroom, he found his lady in one of his Quidditch jerseys and nothing more. He changed and got into bed with Hermione. She kissed his cheek and rested her head in the crook of his neck. He smiled and snuggled closer to her, savoring her warmth and love. "Thank You Mia" he said and she looked at him questioningly. "for giving me something worth living for. You've loved me from scratch even when I wasn't good to you. You've given me the one thing I want the most in this world Mia – a family. I'm sure; my mother is looking down on us from somewhere and smiling at us. For everything that you've don't for me, I'm forever grateful, because if not for you, I'd probably be dead by now. Despite our differences, we've grown to love and respect each other more. Thank you for giving me my happily ever after!" Hermione sighed and cuddled closer to her husband. It was indeed their happily ever after.
Aishwarya Vaithyanathan