Disclaimer: I do not own it.

I really like this chapter, especially the beginning. Somehow I always seem to write better when I've been reading Terry Pratchett.

Hours later, after the last of the partiers had stumbled tipsily home, the moon stared disapprovingly down on four teenagers. To the casual observer, it would look like these teenagers are trying to break into a pretty yellow two storey house dressed in party clothes. They would be entirely wrong, in fact, they would be witnessing the exact opposite. These teenagers had snuck away from their respective parties inside the house, and are now trying to get onto the roof via a large, twisted sycamore next to the house.

The only problem is that the two redheads are abysmal climbers, the boy most of all. And he's in front.

'Hugo! That was my head!' Lily whispered irritably.

'Well, sorry. Just slow up a bit and you wouldn't get thunked!'

'It's not my fault that you're slow!'

'Is thunked even a word?' Asher asked.

'No idea.'

'Hugo! Why'd you stop?' Lily demanded.

'I don't know where to go! There's no where to put my foot!'

'Stay still, I'll be up in a minute,' I said.

About four seconds later I was beside him, showing him where to put his hands and feet.

It took another five whole minutes to get to the roof. I waited to help the others across to the roof, then disappeared back down the tree. A minute later, I was back again, clutching a small, heavy bundle.

I climbed onto the roof myself and set the bundle down.

'How do you do that so fast?' demanded Hugo.

'I'm part cat,' I replied casually. 'Didn't you know?'

'What've you got there?' asked Lily from her spot against the chimney. I held up my prize; a bottle of champagne. Everyone applauded very, very quietly.

Now don't get us wrong, we aren't patent alcoholics with drug addictions. We're just stupid teenagers who like the taste of champagne.

I sat down on the warm, dry roof, and quietly twisted off the top of the champagne bottle. (rocketing corks and spewing foam are for amateurs.)

'So, Hogwarts next week,' Lily said.

'OWL year,' Hugo added. I took a swig of champagne and passed it to Lily.

'Time is moving way too fast,' Ash said.

'Or are we?' I asked the universe at large, in a whisper, though, so it couldn't hear.

'What's that, Sha?' asked Asher.

'Nothing,' I replied. Then, 'Do you ever wonder what the world would be like if you were never here?'

'What d'you mean?'

'Like, if you'd never been born. You'd just never have existed. What would change? Like, Lily, your dad basically saved the world. If he'd never been born, none of this would have ever happened. We wouldn't be here. But what've I done?'

This question hung in the air all big and pink for a minute, and nobody spoke. Then the warm breeze knocked it away and Lily said,

'If you'd never existed, Gryffindor wouldn't have won the Quidditch Cup last year.'

We all laughed, and I pushed these thoughts to the back of my mind. The four of us spent the rest of the night on the roof, talking, laughing and drinking champagne, not falling asleep until the sun was creeping into the sky.

We woke a couple of hours later, and crept down the ancient sycamore. Yawning, we tiptoed into the yellow house. Everyone else was out cold, sleeping off that night's fun. We each drank a big glass of water, so we wouldn't get hangovers, then crept off to bed to sleep it off.

No one got up until noon the next day. When we did get up, we were all ravenous, and breakfast was on my head, so I created a pancake extravaganza, assembly line style. Hugo sliced fruit, Lily mixed batter, and Asher and I manned (womanned? Peopled? No, not peopled; that makes it sound like we lived there) the two stovetops (the second one courtesy of the oh-so-magical Teddy, who was also making endless pots of coffee). Partway through this, Victoire shuffled in, kissed Teddy, grabbed a mug of coffee and took charge of Scarlet, who was around our feet and in constant danger of being stepped on.

Victoire was beautiful in an absolute perfection personified kind of way. Instead of her mother's Veela hair, hers was read-gold, thick and too shiny to be all human. Her eyes were a clear sky blue, and her skin was flawless. Truth be told, it was kind of intimidating to even be in the same room as her. But she even managed to smooth that out with her mother's elegance, combined with her father's easygoing charm.

Her calm control made the perfect match for Teddy's frazzled chaos, his good-natured insanity. He had this sort of intenseness to his blue hair and steely wolfs eyes, a sort of magnetic truth.

Honestly, they were the coolest people ever. Just being in the same room with them made you feel good, like their amazingness was being absorbed through your skin, like sunlight.

Finally, when we were all settled around the room, (most of us on countertops or the floor) eating and drinking coffee, tea, or (in Scarlet's case) hot chocolate, Teddy stood, coffee mug in hand, with Victoire beside him.

He raised his mugless hand for silence. 'As you all know, Victoire and I have been dating for six years, and living together for three.' At this, George and Ron wolf-whistled. Hermione elbowed Ron and Lily, a romantic, whacked George on the back of the head. 'And three days ago,' he continued, 'She made me the happiest man in the world by agreeing to marry me.' A cheer went up around the room and everyone rushed to congratulate them.

I took pictures of them all, absorbing it in through the lens.

Teddy was positively glowing, his hair changing from blue to red to purple to green as the men all clapped him on the back. I heard Harry tell him how proud his father would be of him, and Teddy flushed with pride.

Victoire was radiant, hugging and kissing all the women, showing everyone her ring. In a pair of worn jeans and a white button up belonging to Teddy, she looked happier than I had ever seen her.

They said that they were going to be married in March, when the crocuses came up, at Shell Cottage. (Will Bill' and Fleur's consent, of course) (Which they immediately gave) (Like we all knew they would.) I just sat on the countertop, taking pictures of it all. Asher was leaning on the door frame, looking at me with that same look he had last night. I snapped a shot of him, standing there with that look, in his jeans and t-shirt. I wanted to study it later.

After the crowd around the happy couple thinned a bit, I dropped my camera to dangle on its strap around my neck, and went to hug and congratulate them. I took some pictures of them posing for me together, then went back to my countertop to drink coffee while the crowd swarmed around again.