Sable comes before Sophie, but not by much. It's Ali who chooses her name, saying it's just a pretty sounding word, and she's a pretty looking dog. That's entire true. She's a black lab puppy who causes substantially less trouble than we'd anticipated, mostly because Nev knows to keep the greenhouse locked and Ali does more than his share of work with her. Actually, once he leaves again for Hogwarts, we're going to have our hands full. But I try not to think about that even as we make our way into King's Cross. It's not what I want to dwell on when things are so incredibly perfect the way they are.

A month after we got Sable, Neville, Ali, and I had a meeting with Andromeda Tonks at her orphanage, just to discuss preliminary paperwork and the like. That's when we saw an almost aggressively adorable little blonde girl dressing herself up as a Holyhead Harpy and pummeling a boy with a stuffed Beater bat.

"That one," Ali said, pointing to her. "She's going to be my sister."

Umpteen forms and three weeks later, she was. Sophie's parents were dragon tamers who'd fallen prey to a Hungarian Horntail that hadn't been properly anaesthetized. She had no conscious memory of them, as her now deceased grandmother had taken care of Sophie after her parents died. Around the time she turned four, Sophie arrived at the orphanage, by far the most talkative, active girl Andromeda had ever seen, with a wild imagination and ambitions of mediwizardry, professional Quidditch, and Lord knows what else.

What with all the recent additions to the Potter household, Ali's not quite so excited to return to Hogwarts this year. He lets Sophie hold his hand as we walk through the station. Nev and I stay a few steps behind them, overhearing snatches of conversation as Sophie explains why Chinese Fireballs are by far the greatest dragons in the world.

"You wanted a child who appreciated dragons, didn't you?" Neville asks me, intertwining his fingers with mine.

"I did. And she does. Far more than I ever have."

"It'll be kind of nice to have someone around the house again during the school year. Not that I'll ever get any work done with Sophie there."

"You'd never complain about that," I say, giving his hand a squeeze.

"Definitely not."

"And you'll be there, too. Something tells me the journal's about to become a quarterly." He smiles wryly. I'm taking time off work for an indeterminate period, like I did when Ali joined our family.

"I'm not too bad a distraction, am I?" I lean over to nuzzle against his neck.

"Oi! There are kids everywhere, Harry. Don't want to give them any ideas."

"Are you kissing?" Sophie looks over her shoulder at us, keeping a tight hold on Ali's hand. "Don't kiss at King's Cross. Ali's not going to kiss Bonnie when he sees her."

Ali blushes as we approach the platform. "Bonnie's not my girlfriend, Sophie."

"Yes, she is, and you're not going to kiss her, because I'm here, and I'm your sister."

"Why would that mean anything?" He tickles her and she shrieks with laughter. "Dads! Make him stop!" Sophie's picked up Ali's habit of calling the two of us "Dads." It's not the only habit of his she mimics, but it's probably the most endearing.

"You have everything, Ali?" I ask him.

He gestures to the trunk he's dragging by its handle and holds up Loki's cage. Loki hoots and Sophie giggles. "And my robes are at the top so I can change before we get there. Don't worry, Dads. I have this." Ali grins and gives us both a hug—no kisses, now that he's a teenager. Sophie gets a free pass, though, as she hugs him tightly and kisses him on the cheek.

"Love you all," he says with a final wave, running to catch up with the already seated Hugo Weasley and Teddy Lupin. Ron, Hermione, and Rhiannon come over from dropping off Hugo and a tearful Rose, who always has trouble saying goodbye.

"When's he coming back?" Sophie asks, taking one of Nev's hands and one of mine.

"For Christmas," says Neville. "But we'll probably visit him in Hogsmeade sooner than that."

"I'm going to miss him," Sophie declares. Hermione smiles at me.

"We'll miss him, too, Soph," I say. "But now you get Sable all to yourself. Just don't play dress up with her anymore, OK? We've talked about that. She doesn't like it very much."

"But she looks so pretty with a crown on."

"I know she does. But it hurts her, the same way your black shoes with the straps hurt you."

"Can I get new ones?" Sophie asks, sidetracked. "Ones that fit and don't pinch my toes?"

"Maybe Rosie or Rhi have some that you could wear," says Nev, looking at Hermione hopefully. Hermione shakes her head, and he groans, adding, "Or maybe we could go into town and go shopping later."

Sophie squeals and Ron laughs. "I didn't know girls could love shoes as much as they loved dragons," he says.

"Neither did we," I say. "But there you have it."

"If you didn't want to go shopping, Rhiannon just got a new Exploding Snap set that she wants to try out," says Hermione. "Rhi, do you think you could play with Sophie?"

"Only if you let me win once," Rhiannon says to Sophie. "You always beat me."

"Why would I let you win?" Sophie wrinkles her nose. "That's no fun for me."

"But it's fun for me!"

Sophie lets go of her hands and runs to Rhiannon, presumably to finish their argument. Within a few hours, the Exploding Snap games have drawn to a close, dinner has been enthusiastically consumed, and we're back at our place. By the time Nev comes back from the kitchen with the milk Sophie requested a glass of, she's asleep on the couch. I carry her to her room and Neville comes along with me, tucking her favorite blanket under her shoulders, along with the stuffed Chinese Fireball she sleeps with every night.

"It's only 6:30," says Nev quietly. "She's never asleep at 6:30."

"Apparently we need to go to King's Cross more often," I say as we walk out of the room and down the stairs. "Looks like we don't have anything else to do for the rest of the night, then, do we?"

"Makes me wonder why we even came back downstairs," says Neville, pulling me to his chest. He kisses me and, as ever, I melt into him with the enthusiasm of a 16-year-old who's finally getting to second base.

I pull back to tell him I love him, and he smiles. "I love you, too. And I love our son, and our daughter, and our stupid dog who's probably chewing up some shoes to get our attention right now."

"Poor dog. We can afford more shoes, but Sophie going to bed early, you can't put a price on that."

"Bedroom?"

"Bedroom."

"Want to race?"

"Do you have to ask?" I shoot past him and up the stairs, casting a Silencing Charm over the area so Soph doesn't have to hear her parents doing things she won't understand for years to come.

"You cheated! There wasn't a countdown or anything!" Nev tears after me, and I laugh as he nearly catches up with me on the landing, reaching the bed only seconds after I lay down.

"You're so cute when you're pissed at me," I say, pushing his hair out of his face and kissing him on the forehead.

"Not as cute as you are when you're all sweaty from running all of a hundred feet," says Nev. "I bet I know what'll make you sweatier, though."

"Oh yeah?"

"Oh, yeah, I think I do."

"Well, then. I think it's your turn to show me, Mr. Potter."

"I'll do so willingly, Mr. Potter," he says. After he has, we lie facing each other, tracing each other's facial features and appreciating the afterglow like we so often can't.

"Do you think it would be OK if I never fell out of love with you?" Nev asks me, tucking some stray strands of hair behind my ear.

"Only if it's OK if I never fall out of love with you."

"I guess I'll allow it."

"Then I guess I'll allow it on your part, too."

"Forever?"

"Forever."

"That's good enough for me."