Epilogue: Home
A/N: Hey guys! This is our final chapter! Sorry it took so long, between work for me and school for Kacey, we've had a time of it trying to figure out when we could get together and post this. Enjoy!
They landed with thumps on a hard wooden floor. When Harry opened his eyes, he realized they were in the kitchen at Grimmauld Place, and quickly looked over at the twins, Jose, and Draco. They were there and seemed perfectly fine, which was strange because they'd never been to Grimmauld before.
Everyone got to their feet and began brushing themselves off. Draco, the twins, and Jose looked around curiously, surprised at the dark feeling of the house. Draco pulled his wand out. "Does anyone know where we are?" he asked urgently.
"You can put your wand away," Harry answered. "We're at Grimmauld Place. It's mine, although I don't know how you guys are here, because it's under a lot of wards and enchantments."
Draco hmmed. "Maybe there was something put into the potion that sent us back to override them. Occasionally that's possible, as long as the people being sent there have no thoughts of harm in their heads."
"Maybe," Harry said. "We should probably make sure it's the right time, though. Kreacher!" he called.
It only took a few seconds before the elf appeared in front of Harry with a CRACK and bowed low. "Master Harry has returned, Kreacher is relieved."
"Hi, Kreacher. Can you tell us what the date it?"
"It's July 31, 1999. What can Kreacher do for Master and his friends? Kreacher sees Mister Ronald and Miss Hermione. And Mister Draco, Kreacher is surprised to see Mister Draco!" Kreacher bowed low to each of them in turn, and Harry tried to hide his smile.
"I don't think we need anything for now Kreacher, although…" he glanced over at the fireplace. "Do you know where any Floo Powder is?"
"Yes, Master Harry, Kreacher will return in a moment." Kreacher disappeared and reappeared a moment later, true to his word, with a burlap sack full of Floo powder. Harry thanked him and sent him back to Hogwarts, where he was working for now.
"Alright," he said. "Let's go to the Burrow. I'll follow you all."
They passed the bag of Floo Powder around and only when Harry, Ginny, and Draco were left, did Draco speak hesitantly. "Are you sure it will be okay for me to be there?" he asked, holding the bag tightly in one fist.
"Yes," Ginny sad firmly. "They better be fine with it. If not, well, they'll have to suffer the consequences."
Draco didn't laugh as she'd intended him to, and instead threw a handful of powder in the fireplace and disappeared in a flash of green flames.
"Ready?" Harry asked, amused at Ginny's look of apprehension.
She sighed, nodded, and pulled him into the fireplace with her.
When they stepped out into the Burrow's living room, it was chaos. Molly was yelling, Arthur was trying to calm her down, the Weasley brothers were staring in silence at Draco, and Ron was trying to argue with his mother.
With a sigh, Harry put his fingers in his mouth and whistled to get everyone to shut up. When everyone turned to him in surprise, he smiled slightly. "Hey, everyone. We're really sorry if we worried you all by disappearing like that, but we didn't realize we'd be gone, and we definitely didn't realize how long we'd be gone. I…we went back into the past," he paused for a moment. "To my parents seventh year."
He looked around at them all, saw the looks of shock, and then his eyes fell on George, whose face was unreadable, but whose eyes showed satisfaction. Without hesitation, Harry crossed the room and hugged him for a moment. George hesitated and then hugged Harry back. When he pulled away, he looked at George and swiped his fingers under his eyes. He'd cried too much today, but he met George's gaze straight on.
"Thank you," he said sincerely, and though he spoke quietly, everyone in the room heard loud and clear. "You gave me something I never thought I could have, and for that…I could never repay you enough."
"You know, the last time I heard someone whistle like that, it was your mother as she tried to get your father and Sirius' attention. Worked, too."
Everyone spun around and the time travelers froze at the familiar face in the doorway. She looked older, with some lines in her face, and the little girl on her hip was new, but the brunette curls were the same, and so were the bright blue eyes that shone with tears. There was a long moment of silence, before Harry spoke.
"Celeste?"
A/N: Well, that's the end! We hope you enjoyed it—please review to let us know what you think! Thank you so much for reading our story! We've started planning the sequel, and will start writing soon but it may take us a bit—so we're sorry about that. What you read in the prologue will come back into play in the sequel, which has quite a few twists to the original canon—it's way AU. Sign up for Author Alert and it will let you know when we start to post! Thanks again!
-Sarah and Kacey 3
