AN: So here it is. The last chapter. I'm not going to say to much here, as I have an authors note to post after this, but I would like to say thank you all for your support of Hawthorne/Luna in the last chapter. It was part of my plan for the character since the beginning, and I was a little nervous, but I should have known better. I know I don't need to thank you for being good people, but thank you anyway :)


Chapter 56– The Hardest Goodbye

The day had finally come. The triplets had gotten their Hogwarts letters. While Hermione knew it was going to happen, as the kids would be eleven at the beginning of the term, she wasn't quite ready to admit they were growing up. It seemed like just yesterday that she brought them home from the hospital, and now they were buzzing about learning all the secret passageways of the castle and getting their own wands.

Naturally, they wanted to go shopping right away, and while Hermione tried to insist that they wouldn't need to go back to school shopping until August, it was late June when they went to Diagon Alley.

"Can I have an owl, Mom?" Sophie asked, tugging her in the direction of Eeyop's.

"No, we have to get wands first!" Thalia insisted pointing the other direction.

"Maybe we could start with spellbooks?" Luna added thoughtfully.

Hermione looked at Fred. "You decide."

"Pets and books last, because they're loud and heavy." He said decisively. Hermione thought that sounded like a perfect plan.

"Wands then?" Thalia said excitedly, and at Fred's nod, she and her sisters raced down the sidewalk towards the Ollivander's.

The three of them were already testing out wands when Fred and Hermione got into the store, Ollivander's nephews having taken over the store. The two of them moved quickly through the stacks of wand boxes, trying to find the perfect wands for the girls.

Sophia's was found first. Vine wood, ten inches, with a phoenix feather core. Triumphant, she sat down next to her parents. Luna joined her next, with an eleven inch wand mahogany wand, with a phoenix feather core like her sister's. Thalia's was last, with a phoenix core as well in a nine inch wand made of Alder.

The next few stores didn't take nearly as long, as they picked up writing utensils at Flourish and Blotts (all three of the girls insisted on getting fun colors of ink), as well as cauldrons and potions ingredients. Next were textbooks.

"Harry sure has assigned a lot of books." Fred noted, looking at the required reading list as the girls picked up the books they needed.

Hermione looked over his shoulder. "Only three. Not as bad as Lockhart." And one of the books she had helped write, so she already had a few copies.

Luna had grabbed far more books than was assigned, for light reading. Hermione, proud, grabbed a couple of her favorites and added them to her daughter's reading list. She was a troublemaker like her sisters, but at least she was a well read one.

However, to their credit, Thalia and Sophie had requested extra books as well. Sophie had a couple on potions and greenhouse plants, and Thalia had history books (as well as one on prank spells that Hermione pretended not to see).

Lastly, was pets. While Hermione had tried to convince her daughters that they only really needed one owl between the three of them, they pleaded and promised to take very good care of their own pets. Begrudgingly, Fred and Hermione agreed.

Luna and Thalia both went for owls, Luna choosing a small brown owl that she dubbed Chester, and Thalia going for one of the largest owls in the store, a grey and reddish brown barn owl that she would take forever to name, before finally deciding on Cassiopeia.

Sophie looked over the owls, then the toads, was gently persuaded out of a rat, and looked back over the owls before meandering over to look at cats. Houdini, who had died a year ago, had left Sophie missing her kitty, and Hermione should have known that was what she was eventually going to choose.

While there were plenty of kittens to choose from, all mewling for her attention, Sophie choose the fat gray and yellow cat that was snoozing in a spot of sun. The cat yawned lazily when Sophie picked him up, before purring and falling back asleep.

"Are you sure you don't want a more active cat?" The clerk asked when she carried him to the counter. "All that one does is sleep."

"He's perfect." Sophie replied. "Does he already have a name?"

"We call him Sandman, but he'll respond to about anything."

"Do you want to come home with me, Sandy?" Sophie asked the snoozing cat. It opened one eye to look at her before going back to sleep. "I'll take him."


It was the night before they would have to take the triplets to King's Cross station to get on the train, and Fred wasn't sure how to feel. He was excited for them to finally be able to go to Hogwarts, yes, but he would also miss them an awful lot.

Hermione's eyes, of course, were a little misty after telling the girls goodnight, but Fred needed to talk to them alone, so he let her head off to bed alone.

"I'll be there in a minute honey, I promise."

She nodded, and Fred waited until he heard her close their bedroom door before turning back to his daughters.

"What's the big secret, Dad?" Sophie asked.

"I have one last present for you all, but you can never let your mother know that I gave it to you."

The girl's eyes grew wide, knowing that he had something truly special for them. From his pocket, he retrieved the best gift he could give his perfect, troublemaking daughters.

"It's just an old piece of parchment." Thalia complained.

"An old piece of parchment?" Fred said feigning offense. "My precious little girl, you have no idea what I'm giving you." He pulled out his wand and tapped the map, saying the timeless words. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."


"Which platform is it again?" Sophie asked. Whether Hermione was ready for it or not, it was time for the triplets to get on the Hogwarts Express.

"Nine and three quarters!" Thalia said excitedly, garnering the most Muggle attention with her very large, very loud owl that had been waking everyone up in the middle of the night all summer. Hermione was not at all sad to see that owl go.

"Nine and three quarters? Are you sure?" Serendipity asked skeptically. As Harry was already at the school, he had asked Fred and Hermione to make sure that she got onto the train. Even though they all lived in Hogsmeade and could easily just take them over to the school, they had all decided that it was important for the kids to ride the Hogwarts express with all the other students.

"I'm very sure." Fred said with a smile. He took Hermione's hand and squeezed it gently, and she squeezed back, with a small smile.

"You two aren't going to start kissing, are you?" Thalia complained.

"Oh hush." Hermione chided gently. "There's the platform."

"But it just says nine and ten." Sophie said, looking around.

"You have to run into the wall between the platforms. Quickly, or it won't work."

"That's not funny, Dad, where's the platform?"

"He's not kidding. Look, there's Calvin and Noah, watch them." It was their fourth year, and they wore their Gryffindor ties with pride.

Calvin took off at a run, and while the girls winced, expecting him to hit the wall, he melted through it, like Hermione and Fred knew he would.

"Oi! Georgie! Fancy seeing you here!" Fred called to his twin.

"I knew I'd see your old mug eventually! Get over here!" George replied.

Hermione shook her head and laughed at the twins, acting as though they hadn't seen each other just yesterday.

"Did Fred warn you all about the first year initiation?" George asked the girls.

"We know all about the sorting ceremony." Sophie replied.

"Oh no, before that, where they make you fight your way out of the forbidden forest, armed only with a sharpened stick. There are all sorts of terrible beasties in there, right Freddie?" He winked.

"You can't fool me, Uncle George." Serendipity said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"They won't make you do it, Lucky, you're a professor's kid. You'll have to duel the professors one by one before you can even get sorted." Fred teased.

"Don't scare them." Hermione chided. "Do you want to go through the platform first, Lucky?"

She nodded, jogging timidly at the barrier before breaking through. Undaunted, Sophie went next, followed by Thalia and Luna.

Following her children, she pulled them aside for few last bits of wisdom before getting onto the train. "Now don't forget to be polite to your teachers, and make sure you at least try to eat some vegetables. There's plenty to chose from. And of course –"

"We know, Mom, we know. We'll be nice to the house-elves, and always write more than is required for essays." Thalia said, repeating what she had already been told.

"And we'll always be in bed by curfew." Luna added.

"And we won't do anything that you or Harry or Dad or George did. We know."

"Oh all right, get on then." The girls turned to get on the train, but she held Luna back for one last word.

"What is it Mum?" Luna asked.

"I just wanted to remind you that you don't have to look like your sisters to fit it. Be yourself."

"Thanks mom." Luna grinned, her hair changing back to it's usual color, and her freckles reappearing (her sisters had decided to get rid of theirs a couple weeks after getting them). Slowly, her daughter reappeared from her usual guise.

"I love you, Luna." She said, pulling her daiughter in for a hug.

"Even if I get sorted into Slytherin?"

"Even then." She replied.

All too soon, they were saying their goodbyes, Hermione hugging her children a little too tightly before trying her best to hold back tears as the Hogwarts Express chugged away, taking her three children with it. Even Fred got a little misty eyed. It had been a long road, after all, since they had last been on that train, and it was hard putting their children onto it, even though they knew it was a much safer place than when they had gone there. There would be no opening of the Chamber of Secrets, as the monster was dead, no trolls set loose in the dungeon by professors bent on disruption, no three headed dogs behind locked doors, and especially, no more battles. They had made sure of that.

Most importantly, her children would never be made fun of for their blood status, or called a Mudblood by a sneering Malfoy, like Hermione had too many times.

Hermione was almost jealous of the Hogwarts that her children would get to experience, but only almost. After all, she thought, looking up at Fred, she wouldn't want to change a thing.

"So what do we do now?" Hermione asked.

"We celebrate, of course." Fred replied, pulling her in for a kiss.


I hope you enjoyed! Please be sure to review and tell me what you think :)

- Zen and Sirius