Fade Into You
Chapter 25 – Epilogue
6 ½ Years Later…
The Black Lake is shimmering in the bright sunlight and the giant squid is basking in it happily. The grounds of Hogwarts are alive with the excited chattering of teenagers and their gossiping parents.
Draco and Hermione stand by the lake hand in hand. They are watching eagerly to see the boats emerge carrying the 7th year students who are graduating today. At the moment however, the lake is still.
"I can't believe she's leaving Hogwarts," Hermione says, "It feels like only yesterday that she left for school and now she's 17."
"Time flies love," Draco says, wrapping his arm around her, "She's had a good run of it. Prefect followed by Head Girl, the only downside is the Head Boy…"
Hermione grins, "Oh shut up, you're just upset that she's dating a Weasley."
Draco scoffs, "I find the Weasley's quite manageable these days. I just can't believe that she and Ross went from hating each other to…"
"Loving each other?" Hermione finishes. She chuckles, "I can understand it just fine. It's very similar to the way Ron and I were and that was because we liked each other. Don't get too worked up about it though, they're young. Look at how different things ended up being for Ron and I."
Draco hums thoughtfully, "That's true."
Hermione is about to glance back to the lake when she spots Harry and Sophie out of the corner of her eye. She smiles and waves them over to their spot by the lake, they are sitting on a blanket and enjoying the sunshine while they wait.
"We aren't too late are we?" Sophie asks, biting her lip and shifting the child on her hip, "Callie decided to have a tantrum before we left."
Hermione laughs, "It hasn't even started yet, don't worry," Hermione says, smiling at the little girl, "Hey Callie!"
Callie is short for Callidora and she is the Potter's youngest child. Her full name is Callidora Lily Potter but Sophie has always joked that this is the child that she actually got a say in naming. Callie has her Mothers hazel eyes and her Fathers jet black hair.
"Terrible two's," Sophie says with a roll of her eyes.
"I couldn't do all that now," Draco says, stretching out, "I'm too old to be dealing with babies."
"You're too old for everything apparently," Hermione retorts, "Is this because you turned 40 this year? Are you going to have a midlife crisis?"
"He's already had it," Harry snorts, "Jamie, stay over here!"
James Sirius Remus Potter is the Potter's eldest child and he has just tried to run towards the lake. He pouts, James has Harry's emerald eyes and is his Father's spitting image, apart from the mousy brown hair that he gets from Sophie.
"But I wanna swim in the lake!"
"Well I don't want you to drown so stay over here please," Harry says.
James sighs heavily and drags himself over to the blanket, "Fine."
"What's his excuse? Terrible 6's?"
"No, he's just a brat," Harry replies, ruffling James's hair.
Draco raises an eyebrow at him, "Anyway, how have I had a mid-life crisis?"
"You became Minister for Magic," Harry points out.
"How does that constitute a midlife crisis?" Draco asks in disbelief.
"Because you did it honestly and legally," Harry grins, "That's totally not your MO."
Hermione glares at Harry, "That was a really clever career move, not a midlife crisis. Everyone thinks Draco is a great minister, his reforms are really changing things around here!"
"I know," Harry chuckles, "I voted for him Mione, remember? I was just kidding."
Hermione humphs and Draco smiles, "Thanks for the ego boost though love."
Harry snorts in amusement and Hermione glares at her Husband. She looks back to Harry, "Is Ted coming today?"
"Course he is," Harry replies, "Cass is like a little sister to him, he said he and Vic might be a bit late because they're in France at the moment. But they'll be here."
"It's nice to see everyone here for Cassie," Hermione smiles, "Especially since she lost her Grandma this year."
Draco's hand tightens in hers and Hermione glances at him sympathetically, "It's nice that our family has extended quite so much."
Draco manages a small smile as he nods. He is still struggling with his Mothers sudden death after her unexpected battle with dragonpox. Hermione's thoughts drift as the boats slowly begin to make their way across the lake. As she cranes her neck to look for Cassie, she reflects on how much has changed since Cassie started school.
The big change is that Harry is married, of course. He and Sophie had gotten married the summer after their engagement and they have been together ever since. Their wedding had been an interesting affair, Neville had been the best man and Draco had been one of the ushers. Their tentative acquaintance had become a friendship rather quickly once Harry began spending time with Cassie regularly. Cassie and Scorpius had been involved too, as the flower girl and the pageboy.
Hermione smiles to herself, she loves Sophie and has become fast friends with her. She and Harry are perfect together. Hermione knows that they are far better together than she and Harry ever were. Draco is the Minister for Magic, having run a completely clean campaign led by Hermione herself. His reforms have been a huge success, especially one put forward by Harry called Lupin's Law which ensures fair treatment of werewolves in the workplace.
The boats reach the shore and the graduates spill out into the grounds where a little stage has been set up. They take their seats in alphabetical order in a long line and the Headmaster steps up to speak. Hermione smiles proudly, "I'm still so pleased that McGonagall named Neville as her replacement when she stepped down last year."
"I don't think Frank and Ali are," Harry says with an amused smile, "Having your Dad as Headmaster isn't exactly the coolest thing ever."
"Everyone loves Neville," Draco says offhandedly, "He's everyone's favourite teacher."
"Hey! What about me?" Harry objects, "The kids love me!"
Draco snorts, "They only think your cool because you're famous."
"And Defence against the Dark Arts is always a favourite subject for the boys in particular," Hermione adds.
"Although the older girls all fancy him," Sophie smirks.
Harry grins, "That's because I'm both handsome and talented, hence why the kids love me."
"Nah, most of them just think you're too big headed for your own good, Harry," A new voice says from behind them.
"Ted!" Harry beams, he stands up and hugs him, "I haven't seen you in weeks."
Teddy hugs him back, "I know, it's been a hectic few weeks," he admits.
Victoire smiles broadly and waves her hand at them, "Very hectic."
Harry's eyes light up, "You're engaged?"
Teddy nods, "I was going to tell you but I didn't know if you'd be able to keep it a secret and I wasn't convinced I was going to have the guts to go through with it either."
"That's so wonderful," Hermione says, hugging both of them, "How did he do it Vic?"
"At the top of the Eiffel tower," Victoire replies, grinning broadly.
"That's so romantic!" Sophie says.
Victoire laughs and says, "It was very romantic," as she sits down on the large blanket with them.
Harry looks a little tearful as he says, "Congratulations Ted. I can't deal with all of this pride today, one of my kids is getting married and another one is graduating from Hogwarts."
Teddy pats Harry on the back, "There, there old man. Now, did we miss anything?"
Hermione shakes her head and ushers Teddy into sitting down, "No, Neville has just officially started the graduation, they'll be calling her name soon."
"What does she even do?" James asks.
"She walks forward, takes the certificate, says thank you and gets her Hogwarts crest changed into a gold one because she finished school," Teddy replies.
James huffs, "That's boring."
"Everything is boring for you Jamie," Teddy says, grabbing the little boy and wrestling him into his lap, "Be a good boy and watch your sister, it's a big moment for her."
"Fine, but I want you to take me to Zonko's after."
"Oh, I'm sure I can handle that," Teddy says, ruffling the boy's hair.
Harry smiles at Teddy's interaction with his son and glances over at Hermione. She smiles back at him and they both watch the stage, they are only on the letter 'C' so Cassie is still quite far down the line.
Watching all of her extended family makes Hermione sigh, "I wish Scorp could be here today."
"He said he would try and make it in time to see Cass graduate," Draco says, glancing down at the gate, "But he couldn't turn down the chance to play for the England under 18's this weekend."
"I know, but I don't want him to miss this," Hermione says.
"He'll be here if he can be," Draco assures her.
On the stage Lucille Greengrass-Thomas steps up and a loud cheer comes from behind them. Hermione bites her lip in amusement as she sees Dean and Seamus sharing a blanket with a rather miffed looking Daphne. Astoria is sitting by her side, patting her on the back supportively while Georgie runs around them in circles.
Daphne catches Hermione's eye and rolls her eyes. Hermione chuckles to herself and looks away. Lucille steps off of the stage and goes to join her family, as each student does once they have received their certificate.
There is another wait until anyone that they know graduates so they fill the gap with small talk.
"When is your graduation, Ted?"
"Next week," Teddy replies, "But it's a closed graduation so you can't come, sorry."
"Is that to keep all of the Aurors secrets concealed?" Harry jokes.
Teddy laughs, "Probably, they wouldn't want anyone sniffing around the Auror training campus. I have two weeks off after graduation then I start my placement, my mentor is Uncle Ron so that's gonna be pretty awesome."
Victoire smiles proudly at him, "I just graduated too Uncle Harry, last week in fact. I'm a fully qualified Healer now, I just need to keep applying for jobs until someone decides to hire me."
"Someone will Vic, you're brilliant," Teddy says, wrapping his arm around his fiancé.
"Ooh Dad, it's Cassie's turn!" James calls, pointing to the stage.
Sure enough, Cassie has just walked up to Neville. He smiles proudly at her, hands her a certificate and converts her crest. She gives him a hug and steps off of the stage. She spots her family right away and hurries over to them, "I graduated!"
"With amazing grades because you are fabulous!" Hermione says, hugging her daughter, "I'm so proud of you."
"So am I sweetheart," Draco says, grabbing her from the other side so that they have a full on family group hug.
"I'm even a bit proud of you sis."
"Scorp!" Cassie says, breaking free from her parents to look at her brother. He is wearing an England strip and he's covered in mud, "You made it!"
Scorpius, who has just finished his 4th year, pushes his mop of blonde hair out of his eyes and grins, "Like I'd miss my big sister's graduation, congrats Cass."
Cassie hugs him tightly, "Thanks Scorp."
Harry smiles at his daughter, "I'm proud of you too sweety."
"Thanks Uncle Harry," Cassie says, hugging him too.
"We both are Cass," Sophie says, kissing her step-daughter on the cheek.
"I'm proud too!" James pipes up.
Cassie picks her little brother up with ease, "Aw, thank you Jamie!"
"Ugh, no kisses!" James objects, "Put me down!"
Cassie laughs as she puts him down and smiles around at her large, weird, wonderful family, "I'm pretty proud of myself to be honest. But I couldn't have gotten through it all without you Mum or without my Dads."
Draco and Harry both smile. They have become known as her two Dads, although she has still always called Harry her Uncle Harry. The news about Cassie actually being a Potter came out at the start of her 2nd year. It had been all over the papers and she had a hard time at school for a little while. Some Slytherins bullied her for it but she managed to find her way through that tough year, mostly thanks to her wonderful friends at school. It eventually stopped when Harry and Draco went up to the school together and gave McGonagall a piece of their minds. They actually found that they worked rather well together when they were on the same side.
Coincidentally, that was also when McGonagall asked Harry to interview for the position of Defence against the Dark Arts Professor and, for the first time ever, he had agreed. He loves teaching up at the school and has been doing it for a good few years now. However, he knows that James and Callie will hate it when they have to be taught by their Dad. Harry had decided after marrying Sophie and finding out that she was pregnant that the radio lifestyle really wasn't for him anymore.
Hermione was still doing it though, very successfully at that. She and Chelsea are stars on the visual radio, the audience love their friendship and their combined sense of humour. They have been doing a weekly panel show together for the past 6 years and it is still a huge hit. Chelsea got her life together after the QWC, having a positive female role model like Hermione to look up to had really helped. She and Oliver are still together, they got married 2 years ago and Chelsea is now very heavily pregnant with their first child. From all of the complaining she has done, Hermione is fairly sure that this first child will be the last child too.
"Ooh! Sal is getting his certificate!" Cassie says, flopping down onto the grass with her family.
Surely enough, on the stage Salvatore Turpin gets his certificate and heads over to his Mother. After him there are only three people left on the stage, all Weasley's.
"Ah, there's Louis," Victoire says, glancing around the lawn, "Where are Mum, Dad and Dom?"
"Over there," Draco says, pointing to the other side of the stage.
"I'll go over and break this news to them once Louis has graduated," Victoire says, chuckling as she looks down at the diamond ring on her finger.
"Good luck breaking that one to your Dad," Harry says.
Teddy rolls his eyes, "I'll be the one to break it to him."
"And you're gonna do it now," Victoire smirks. Louis has just joined his parents on the lawn.
Teddy looks at Harry, "Help."
Harry barks out a laugh, "Uh no, you are beyond help now boy. On you go, tell Bill you're marrying his oldest daughter."
Teddy glares at him, "Thanks for being so supportive," he says sarcastically as Victoire drags him away.
"Now it's Molly's turn," Cassie says, watching Molly smile proudly as she graduates. She rushes over to her parents and her younger sister after she has done so. They are sitting on the other side of the lawn close to Bill and Fleur. Ron is over there too with Alicia and their three younger children.
"And Ross," Cassie says with a goofy smile.
Draco tuts and Hermione hits him playfully, "Hush," she murmurs.
Ross gets his certificate and has his Hogwarts crest converted. He steps off of the stages and mouths '1 minute!' to his parents before running over to the blanket that Cassie is sharing with her family.
"He better not propose to her," Draco mutters under his breath as Cassie gets to her feet to greet her boyfriend.
"They're 17 Draco," Hermione mumbles, "He won't."
"Well done Ross!" Cassie says, hugging him tightly.
"Well done to you too," Ross beams, "Hey Mr and Mrs Malfoy, oh and Mr and Mrs Potter."
"Hi Ross," Hermione smiles.
Draco and Harry just narrow their eyes and nod at him. Ross swallows and mumbles, "It's pretty intimidating when you have two overprotective Dads, Cassie."
Cassie just laughs, "They won't hurt you-"
"We might," Harry cuts in.
Draco nods, "If you do something crazy like, oh I don't know, hurt our daughter-"
"- in any way-" Harry continues.
"- whatsoever," Draco finishes.
"Dad!" Cassie exclaims, looking at them both in exasperation.
"Anyway Ross," Hermione chuckles, "I think your Mum might be the one hurting you if you don't head over there."
Ross glances over at his parents, "Yeah good thinking. See you tonight at the after party Cassie?"
"Yeah, see your there," Cassie says, steeling a quick kiss goodbye.
"Ew!" James objects, "Dad? Did you see that? She kissed him! Gross! Girls are so gross!"
"That won't last long," Draco says, glancing at his son, "I remember when Scorp was like that."
Scorpius grins, "Girls are anything but gross."
Hermione rolls her eyes, "How did your game go?"
"We won," Scorpius smirks, he has flopped on the blanket and looks quite comfortable, "Obviously."
Draco shakes his head, "I can't quite believe how much you've changed Scorpius."
"From the timid little boy that everyone thought would be a Hufflepuff to the little heartbreaker you are now," Harry agrees with an amused smile, "I reckon you're the next Neville Longbottom."
"No, he hasn't killed any snakes yet," Neville says as he approaches the family.
"Yet," Scorpius grins, "So you have faith in me Uncle Nev."
"It's Headmaster Longbottom today Scorp."
Scorpius waves his hand nonchalantly, "It's always Uncle Nev to me, Uncle Nev."
Neville rolls his eyes, "As sassy as your Father, as always Scorpius. If you find any snakes to behead, then we can have that chat about you overshadowing me."
Scorpius grins broadly, "Just you wait, I'll find a snake and I'll cut its head off."
"Make sure you're wearing a cardigan for the full effect," Harry sniggers.
Draco snorts in amusement, "Anyway Neville, did you come over here for a reason or are you just missing our glorious company?"
"Well since none of my kids are graduating today I thought I'd congratulate my goddaughter," Neville smiles, "Well done Cassie, I'm really proud of you."
"Thanks Uncle Nev," Cassie beams.
"And I also have a job offer for you Harry," Neville admits sheepishly, "Filius told me this morning that he wants to step down as Deputy Headmaster after this year and I really need someone to fill the gap."
Harry's eyes widen, "You want me to do it?"
Neville smiles slightly, "Well I need a sidekick, don't I?"
Draco lets out a loud laugh, "Oh I am loving this! How times have changed."
Hermione bites back a grin, "Oh behave yourself Draco."
Draco shakes his head in amusement, "Who would have thought when we left school that Harry Potter would be a measly Deputy Headmaster to the great and glorious Headmaster Longbottom. While me, Draco Malfoy, presides over the wizarding world as the most revolutionary and handsome Minister for Magic ever seen."
Sophie and Hermione look over his head at each other. They share an amused grin and smack him around the side of the head at the same time.
Harry sniggers, "Not that you're at all cocky about it."
"Not at all," Draco chuckles.
Cassie laughs, "You are Dad, being Minister is the most important thing ever to you."
"No, it isn't," Draco smiles, "You are, you and your crazy, reckless pain in the arse Gryffindor of a brother."
Hermione snorts, "I certainly never expected you to be sorted into Gryffindor Scorp, I always thought it would be the other way round but Cass ended up in Slytherin."
"Cass is sneakily smart though," Sophie says with a proud smile, "The perfect Slytherin-Ravenclaw combination in fact."
Cassie grins, "Thanks Sophie. Anyway, Scorpius is totally a Gryffindor, he's reckless and stupid."
"I'm stupidly reckless but I'm not stupid," Scorpius objects lazily.
The others laugh as Hermione shakes her head in exasperation. Cassie bats Scorpius out of the way so that she can sit on the blanket and this starts a mock wrestle to determine who gets the most comfortable spot of the blanket to sit on. James jumps on top of them both and joins in while Callie giggles and claps loudly.
Hermione glances around at Draco, Harry and Sophie's smiling faces, and a smile lights up her own face. She knows that she is blessed to have such a wonderful family, blood doesn't seem to mean anything anymore because they are all connected and they are all family.
Maybe it's a big dysfunctional family, but Hermione knows that she would never have it any other way.
THE END :)
A/N: To those of you who stuck with this story, thanks so much! It's had a lot of bad reviews, so from my perspective it's the worst story I've ever written. Nothing else has quite gone down this badly on before this one. It's a bit gutting because I loved writing it and I loved the story it told, to me it's the most real story I have ever written because I'm married and I know how hard it can be when things get monotonous and boring. But at the same time, domesticity is something you only miss once it's gone. But anyway, enough of my rambling thoughts.
If there is at least one person out there who has enjoyed reading this story, then it's worth the bad reviews from those who didn't.
Thanks,
Holly
:)