After Ever After

Al didn't even have to open his eyes to know which of his children had crawled beneath his sheets to rest beside him. Turning on his side, he kept his eyes closed for a moment.

"Dad?"

Cracking an eye open, he asked, "What is it Lynette? You're too old to be crawling into bed with me."

Her lip quivered in the shadows. Like it once did when she was no higher than his hip and had nightmares about being eaten by werewolves (he used to lie then, tell Lynette that werewolves were myths, because that's what Muggles believed, and he couldn't have her going to nursery school scaring real Muggle children with the truth). "I miss home," she said.

"We've only been here two nights," Al reminded her.

Pressing the heels of her hands to her eyes, Lynette whispered, "They keep talking about her. If they aren't asking me questions, they tell me stuff about her from when she was my age."

Al reached out to pet his daughter's hair. "They mean well," he told her. "They just… For some people, it's comforting to remember happy moments they had with the one they lost."

"It's not for you, though."

He swallowed thickly. He and Lynette were alike in this way, just thinking about Rosemary – Rose – caused their stomachs to feel as if they'd been pummeled with fists and their eyes to sting with tears neither was willing to admit were even there. They'd decided weeks ago they'd be the strong ones. Though, really, Lynette was their family's lone pillar now. Al had crumbled at the sight of his mother. Fingers pausing in their ministrations, Al admitted, "No, it's not."

Snuggling close, his daughter laid her head on his shoulder and asked, "When are we going home, Dad?"

"Not for a while yet," Al said.

Sighing, Lynette mumbled, "If we stay here too long, people'll forget all about Frog Prince."

His heart stuttered at the reminder of his wife's second love. "If we don't go home by Friday, we'll take a trip to check on the Frog Prince Saturday morning, okay? We'll clean out the fridges and plan a date for re-opening."

Al's daughter smiled. "I like that plan, Daddy."

Kissing her forehead, Al whispered, "Go to sleep, darling."

"Mmm."

Albus could no longer tell if he was dead or alive. For hours, people had walked past him and Rose. Some were alone, moving quickly, as if they had a place to be; others, just as alone, trudged along. It was like they dreaded where they had to go next. There were those who walked in pairs (couples, mothers and sons, brothers, coworkers and best friends) and finally, large groups. For his part, Albus tried to pretend all groups were made of friends and coworkers. In his deepest hearts, though, he knew most groups who passed him were families.

Like the ones he and Rose had just this morning. His heart crumbling inside of his chest, Albus placed a hand atop it. It did nothing to ease the pain, but at least he knew he was alive once more. But if he allowed this to go on much longer…

Turning his head, he asked, "What do we do now, Rose?"

"Rose mary. I'm Rosemary Smith. Soon-to-be Lawson, though. We're in love and you're planning to propose as soon as we turn eighteen," Rose informed him.

Albus nodded. That sounded quite reasonable. Eighteen was the best age for things like that. "Lawson, huh? What's my first name?"

She narrowed her eyes. Thumb tapping away at her chin, she said in a halting tone, "Al–vin." A smile lifted her pink lips. Reaching out to caress his cheek, Rose whispered, you're Alvin Lawson. My one and only love."

The crumbling of his heart stopped. Staring into beautiful, shining blue eyes, Alvin felt it begin to piece itself back together again. His family from the morning might be lost, but a new one was just around the corner. Covering Rose, now Rosemary's, hand with his, Alvin smiled. "How about we're already eighteen? And engaged? We could marry right now if we are."

Tears sprang to Rosemary's eyes. "Yes. Let's get married right now, Alvin."

"I love you," Alvin whispered before leaning in to capture his fianc ée 's lips in a kiss.

-v-v-v-

Al almost fell out of his chair as a plate of eggs, sausage, and toast was put down in front of him. His mother sent him an amused look. "Thinking, dear?"

He smiled meekly. "Yes, a little," he answered. Picking up his fork and knife, he began to cut his sausage up as he said, "This Saturday I promised Lynette we'd go to the Frog Prince and clean it up a bit. It's been sitting closed going on three weeks now. The food that's in the fridges is probably rancid."

Taking a seat across from him, his mother leaned forward, mug of tea clutched in her hands. "Frog Prince?" she repeated, tone questioning.

Al nodded. "Rosema- Rose's restaurant. We serve New Orleans-inspired cuisine."

Mum sipped her tea. "That's an interesting choice of food. How'd you come up with it?"

"Remember that Disney movie Rose used to obsess over when we were little? The Princess and the Frog? It inspired us."

Setting down her cup, his mother's gaze turned distant. "I can't say I do," she said after a minute. "Rose always seemed to like a good princess story no matter who the princess was."

Al frowned. "She didn't like all of them. She hated Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves especially. The princesses never did anything in those ones."

Mum shifted her gaze back to her tea. "How about your girls and boy? Do they have a favorite movie? You've been raising them Muggle, haven't you?"

He couldn't stop himself from smiling. Frog Prince had been Rose's pride and joy, but the kids? Al was most proud of them; his four beautiful, loving, obstinate children. Waving his fork around, Al chattered happily, "Julie loves The Princess and the Frog, just like Rose did. Lynette's always been a Pixar fan, though. Her and Jack were bonding over the Toy Story series before… Well, before. As for Laurel, she doesn't really do favorites. Honestly, I think she'd rather like it if we left her to the drum-set we keep in the playroom instead of making her sit down for movie night with us!"

Mum chuckled weakly, a smile that was more a grimace stretched across her lips. "You sound like you were happy," she said.

"We were," Al replied, uncertain about the displeased expression she wore. What could be wrong with that? Mothers and fathers were supposed to be pleased when they heard that their child had found their bliss.

Dark eyes shimmering with tears, she whispered, "You would have never come back if Rose hadn't died, would you? We would have never met those darling children and I doubt even your sister would have known they were yours when they came to Hogwarts. You were going to let me, your father, your brother, and sister, aunts and uncles, and cousins die wondering what happened to both of you! For all these years we've hoped… feared…" Standing now, his mother, shaking, hissed, "You, Albus, have no respect for us, do you?"

Setting down his fork, he squared his jaw out and asked with icy precision, "If we had stayed after Lily discovered us, would those darling children even exist?"

His mother stared at him, mouth open ever so slightly, but unforthcoming with an answer.

Snorting, Al pushed away from the table and muttered, "I thought not."

From behind, an unsure voice called, "Daddy?"

Turning around, he forced a wide grin at the sight of his little boy. "Jack!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing over there? Come have some breakfast with Daddy and Grandma Ginny."

The little boy glanced between the two of them before scuttling into Al's waiting arms. Swinging the boy up, he sat back down and asked, "Want to finish Dad's breakfast? I don't think I can!"

Jack gave a shy smile as he nodded his head. Cutting up the eggs and sausage even smaller, Al talked to his son about the day's plans. Aunt Lily would be stopping by around lunch to finally meet them, Al was going to take him and his sisters out back for a ride on his old broom, for supper he was thinking about cooking jambalaya for everyone. Little by little, Jack relaxed and began to talk back and by the time the girls wandered into the kitchen, the tense atmosphere was nearly gone. The only thing that lingered was the pinched-expression on his mum's face as she put together plates for the rest of the children.

Lily stared at his children all lined in a row with assessing eyes. Approaching Lynette, she asked, "You're about eleven, aren't you?"

Al's daughter nodded. "Next month's my birthday."

His little sister flashed him a grin. "Should I be expecting her at Hogwarts, Albus?"

"It's Al. And I don't know. Rosema- Rose and I were thinking of homeschooling," he replied.

What little impishness had been in his sister's smile faded. "Think you can handle that alone?" she asked.

He scowled at his little sister. He didn't. Not really, anyway. Without Rose, a lot of things that once seemed possible felt impossible now. The last thing Albus wanted to do, though, was send his children to Hogwarts known as the grandchildren of Harry Potter. Flicking imaginary lint from his jacket, he said, "Even if she does go, she'll be a Lawson. No child of mine will go there with the Potter or Weasley name hanging over their heads."

"You know, Al, us Potters and Weasleys have done okay for ourselves these past seventeen years."

Al gave his sister a cool stare. "Really? You call two divorces in the span of a decade okay for yourself?"

Lily's face went red. "You are such a prat!" she snarled.

He said nothing and felt nothing. What did it matter if an all-but-stranger called him a prat? Turning to his kids, he told them, "You go on and play now. Dad and Aunt Lily have some things to discuss."

Lynette grabbed Jack's hand. "I'm not a little kid," she said before marching her siblings away and toward the old swing Al used to play on when he was their ages.

"She's…"

Al felt his lips quirk. "Lynette has Mum's temper."

"The others?"

"Jack's too young to say he's just like anyone yet. Laurel and Julie, though, I know them. Julie and Rosemary always got on like a house on fire. A perfect pair they were. Laurel's more… She's her own person. Quiet except for when she's whaling away on her drums."

"Not too different from you, then."

Al raised an eyebrow.

Lily shrugged. "You were quiet too. The only one you ever seemed to open up around was Rose."

He looked away. "You told Mum and Dad about us, didn't you?"

"Kind of had to, Al. When Mum and Dad are asking, 'Where's Albus? Where's Rose? When did you last see them?' You have to say something if you don't want feel like some kind of accomplice."

"After they heard, did they… Were they? Were they upset?" Al asked, dreading the answer.

"Mum cried," Lily said. "Then Dad told Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione and they started making plans for you two. They were going to send Rose to school in France, when they found you guys. See if that didn't fix things. Being with your cousin, like you were with Rose, it's backwards, they said."

Al curled his hands into fists. "I love her and she loved me like no one else ever was going to." Heart hammering in his chest, he growled, "If they'd separated us, we would have killed ourselves."

His little sister turned her head and stared at him. He stared back and found something akin to understanding in her eyes. "It's a good thing you two knew how to disappear then, huh?"

He looked toward his children. Somehow, Lynette had found a way to make both of her sisters and brother fit on the swing. She was pushing them, eliciting shrieks from Laurel as she wobbled where she stood on the back of the swing. Julie and Jack grinned and laughed at Laurel's feet, jubilant. They never would have been, if not for them running away, he thinks.

"If we hadn't run, would you have told Mum and Dad?"

Lily hugged herself. "Then? Yeah. Now? No. I've tried to find the kind of love you two seem to have had. I failed to twice. When I found you and Rose, I didn't understand how rare or precious romantic love truly is."

"Then I'm not sorry for leaving," Al said.

His sister turned her gaze to the children. For a moment, there was silence. Lily uncrossed her arms and they fell loosely to her side. She seemed far more at ease than she had been the past fifteen minutes. Chancing a quick smile in his direction, she replied, "Good. That's good."

He grinned back, feeling much lighter now that he knew his sister accepted – and even embraced – his life choices.

Thank you for reading and please review :)