Author's Note: I love writing the kid chapters, especially because I planned what each kid would look like and their personality, house, and likes/dislikes. I'm super attached now, so I had to give each family their own chapter. Spoiler: I don't keep it completely canon, but in fan fiction, who does? I'll have all of the kids' full names in an A/N at the end of the chapter so you can know what they are if they're not mentioned in the chapter.
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I've been getting this question a lot so I need to clarify. Each family is getting a chapter before the epilogue. Don't worry, George and Hermione are still here! They just get the last of the three because I like them the most! :D Sorry for the confusion!
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Fifteen years later…
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Ginny was walking out to the backyard, holding a tray laden with sandwiches and pumpkin juice, when she heard a distinctive squish and felt her bare foot sink into something that was definitely not the grass. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking down. Her foot was encapsulated in blue goo that was squirming unpleasantly. She shook her foot, but the goo clung on. She sighed and continued walking towards the table, where her husband was seated, glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose as he read the Daily Prophet. He glanced up as she set the tray down.
"Lunch. Lovely." Harry smiled at his wife and stood halfway up, kissing his wife on the cheek as she leaned to pour herself a drink.
"Would you happen to know about this goo that someone has created and left right outside the back door?"
"Goo?" asked Harry, looking down at the foot she was pointing to. "Eurgh. One guess as to who it was." He looked at Ginny, his eyebrows raised, as if to say, "Not a surprise."
"If you really want to know, it was a potion that went wrong," said a voice from high above. Harry and Ginny looked up to see their fourteen year old daughter high up in the branches of the oak tree that grew in the center of their backyard. Lily, her wavy red hair falling out of her messy bun, looked down at them with her hazel eyes, so often trained on a book, but now staring down at her parents with a disapproving look on her face. "Albus thought he could turn Sirius into a frog. Instead, it made Sirius sick and he threw up blue goo. He turned an interesting shade of purple, but then it faded."
Harry took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, breathing deeply. "Again?" he muttered exasperatedly. Ginny, however, kept watching her daughter.
"Honey, why are you up so high? There are lower branches."
"Yes, but they can reach those. I'm the only one who can climb this high. I'm protected. Well, rather, they're protected from my fist." Her face broke into an evil grin, her eyes glinting. Ginny smiled at her daughter, who was so much like her mother and grandmother, vivacious and sarcastic with a biting wit, and had surprised the family by being the first Weasley or Potter to not be sorted into Gryffindor. She was thrilled about being a Ravenclaw, and had written about it to her Aunt Luna, the only Ravenclaw graduate in the family.
"You should come down, sweetie. Lunch is ready," Ginny called up to Lily before charming the goo off her foot. As Lily began to climb down the tree, the whistling of a fast-moving broom was heard from around the corner of the yard. A broom shot towards the ground and James did a nosedive off of it, somersaulting and jumping up like an Olympic gymnast that had just stuck the landing, catching his broom as he beamed at his father.
"Showoff," Harry said fondly as he ruffled his eldest's dark brown hair. James, out of all the boys, was the most like his father. With his messy hair and constantly broken glasses, he was the leader and the protector, especially of his sister, although she didn't need much help. After growing up with three brothers, she had developed a nasty right hook and a perfect execution of the Bat Bogey Hex. James, in turn, had developed quick reflexes from mock fights with his sister, which had helped him gain his spot on the Gryffindor quidditch team as the seeker, taking the place his father had vacated almost twenty years ago. He grinned at his dad as he set his broom on the porch.
"Dad, do you think I'll ever get to use that? I hope so. Wouldn't that be brill?" His hazel eyes were brimming with excitement as he leaned over his sister and snatched the sandwich she had been about to take.
"Hey!" James chuckled and gave her the sandwich, reaching for another one. Harry leaned over from his seat and picked up his son's glasses, shattered again, to no one's surprise.
"I swear we're going to have to permanently stick these to your face. You keep breaking them no matter how many times we put Impervius charms on them. Oculus reparo!" James' glasses returned to normal and Harry handed them to his son, who was already halfway done with his sandwich.
Ginny looked around. "Where are those two? BOYS! LUNCH!" Footsteps were heard as a messy-haired twelve year old barreled around the corner, beaming, his usually dark brown hair a vibrant purple. His twin, his jet black hair neatly combed to the side, walked forward slowly, his nose buried in a book much too old to be one of his textbooks.
"Hey Mum!" exclaimed Sirius, running over to her and wrapping his arms around her, burying his face in her stomach.
"Oh no you don't, mister. You can't get away with this by being cute."
A snarky voice across the table muttered, "Why not? He always does anyways."
"Lily," Harry said, seriously, although he was grinning at her.
"But Mum, isn't it cool? It wasn't what we planned, but I like it. If it fades, can we turn it back again?" He pleaded, his emerald eyes going big and round like a begging puppy's.
"Definitely not. You're going back to school in a month. You'd probably give your professors a heart attack."
"Not Professor Longbottom! He likes me!"
"And you're lucky he does! He's the only one I haven't gotten owls from, complaining about you and your brother's behavior."
"Correction," said an identical voice from across the table. Ginny looked up to see Albus' hand raised in the air, his emerald eyes sparkling with mirth despite his serious expression. "Sirius' behavior. And my alleged assistance and/or design. Innocent until proven guilty."
"We already know you're guilty," said Harry, grinning at his son. "Just because you're in Ravenclaw and Sirius is in Gryffindor doesn't mean you two can't cause mayhem. I know where my Marauder's Map disappeared to. And we all know who was behind Scorpius Malfoy's hair turning red."
"I take full responsibility for that prank!" shouted Sirius. Albus jumped up, affronted.
"You liar! I was the one that made the potion!"
"Yeah, but I slipped it to him!"
"But I came up with the idea!"
"But I'm the one that pulls all of the pranks!"
"But I'm the one that designs them, you git!" Albus ran at Sirius and tackled him. James grinned and pulled his brothers apart.
"You prats, we all know you're a team. And plus, you just told everyone how you did it."
"I can't believe you were the ones that did that to poor Scorpius! I should have known!" cried Lily, furious.
"Oh, did we upset you because we hexed your boyfriend?" jeered Sirius. Lily blushed scarlet and ran towards him, shouting, "HE'S NOT MY- HOW DARE YOU- YOU LITTLE GIT, I'M GONNA RIP-"
Sirius burst into peals of laughter and ran as his twin grabbed two sandwiches and, giggling madly, ducked under his sister, who was being held back by James. They ran off, probably to make more mischief and see what they could blow up today.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Lily yelled in frustration. "Mum! Dad!"
"I know, love. Think of it this way: at least you have one normal brother." Harry grinned at his son and daughter as James hovered next to his sister, ready to restrain her if she tried to kill their little brothers again. With a hmmph worthy of Hermione, Lily stomped off towards the house. James rolled his eyes and looked at his parents eagerly.
"Mum, will you help me practice later?"
"Why don't you ask me anymore?" asked Harry teasingly.
"Because you were a seeker, not a chaser, honey. You don't have the throwing arm he needs for speed training." Ginny kissed Harry lightly on the lips.
"Eww blech gross!" James said as he made faces. "Mum! Really?"
"You're fifteen. Once you kiss someone, it'll seem less gross. That day is coming soon, don't you worry," said Ginny, smiling at her son. "And yes, but give it an hour or so to let the food settle. I don't need more surprises in the grass."
"Great! I'll go find Albus and Sirius, just to check on them." He grinned and started running off. "Don't forget we're going to the Burrow tonight!" Ginny called after him. He flashed a grin back at his parents, then ran off, in search of his trouble-making little brothers.
"I need to talk to Hermione about loaning Albus books," said Harry, who had been examining the dusty tome Albus had been poring over. "He seems innocent, but then we end up with our little punker over there." Harry sighed and looked down the instructions for the potion.
"He's going to go mad until he figures out what's wrong. Honestly, sometimes I think I accidentally had Hermione's kid, he's so much like her."
"Except for the fact that he's determined to break every rule possible," muttered Harry. "That's what we get for having Rose and Freddie mentor them during their first year."
Ginny sat down and leaned her head on her husband's shoulder. He stroked her hair and thought idly how peaceful it was, just sitting there in the backyard on that beautiful summer day.
A piercing scream rent the air, followed by the war cry of "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU TWO!" Harry and Ginny sighed. Just another day in the Potter household.
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Author's Note: They're James Arthur (15), Lily Ginevra (14), Albus Severus (12), and Sirius Remus (12). PS: A big thanks to smartykat for giving me the idea of Sirius Remus, which gave me the idea of twins. :D