A/N: So like I said before, I originally wanted to have a two-part Epilogue. The first part is what you can read here. Unfortunately, it got too long for my taste, and I didn't want to end up with like a five-part Epilogue. It'd be like the end of Return of the King, where it had too many endings, and people wouldn't want to read the final Epilogue, which I think is more important.

However, I put plenty of thought and time into this, so I figured I'd share it at the end as an outtake.

I was thinking about maybe doing some kind of sequel that was an extended Epilogue, so I could actually write this out like I wanted, but it wouldn't bog down the end of this story. I'm still thinking about it. Not sure I'd actually do it, but at the same time...

Epilogue Part 1 – Windows

September 1, 1998

Lucy looked around Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, a bit of anxiety filling her chest. She was surrounded by some of her friends: Jeremy, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna. It seemed surreal to her, going back to Hogwarts, especially without Harry, Ron, or Neville.

~LJ:TW~

The last four months since Harry had defeated Voldemort had been very difficult for Lucy. The first two had definitely been the hardest. Lucy couldn't bear to go back to living in Sirius's cabin in the woods; there were too many memories of Remus and Tonks there. She only went back once during that time: to help Andromeda and Teddy move out, and to collect her cat Evie and her Pygmy Puff Orion.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had come through for her, as they always had. They let Lucy and Jeremy stay at the Burrow until they could find their own living arrangements. All of the Weasleys—including Bill and Fleur, even though they had their own place—plus Harry and Hermione stayed at the Burrow, as well, making it quite cramped, but Lucy found it comforting to have everyone around her.

However, the grief following the battle nearly choked the house for the first few weeks. There was so much that they all had to work through, especially Fred's death and Harry's PTSD, which was manifesting in horrible nightmares and panic attacks.

There were two good things that happened right after the battle, though: first, Ron and Hermione officially started dating only a few days after they returned to the Burrow. Now Mrs. Weasley had to try and keep them in separate bedrooms, along with Lucy and Jeremy. Secondly, Daphne and Jake got engaged, much to Lucy's and Jeremy's delight.

~LJ:TW~

Thankfully, Kingsley Shacklebolt had been made the temporary Minister of Magic, and he had rallied what was left of the Ministry wonderfully. The first thing they did was to get rid of the dementors guarding Azkaban, and then they start rounding up the Death Eaters that were on the run after Voldemort was killed.

~LJ:TW~

At the beginning of June, Jeremy's mother Eveline had sent Jeremy a message: Jeremy's father Gareth had been arrested and was awaiting trial. Eveline, who hadn't seen her son in nearly two years, begged Jeremy to come to his father's trial. Lucy and Jeremy discussed it, and Lucy ended up convincing Jeremy to go, at least to support his mother.

The trial, while an awkward place for Lucy to meet her fiancé's mother for the first time, was pretty quick. There was plenty of evidence against Gareth, and he did not try to defend himself. He was sentenced to life in Azkaban. Some Ministry officials offered Jeremy and Eveline a chance to have one last conversation with Gareth, but they both refused.

After the trial, Eveline quietly filed for divorce. Out of the divorce, she got about a quarter of the Whitlock fortune and the France house. She immediately moved back to France, where she could be close to her family. This left the rest of the fortune and the Whitlock estate to Jeremy.

Jeremy had never wanted to live in his family's house. He was hesitant to move back in, so instead, he and Lucy decided to stay with the Weasleys until they decided whether they were going to live at the Whitlocks' mansion, Sirius's cabin in the woods, or get their own place.

~LJ:TW~

On July first, Kingsley came to the Burrow with an offer for Lucy, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Jeremy. The Auror Office was busy tracking down and arresting the remaining Death Eaters, and they were willing to put the five of them on a fast track to becoming Aurors. It was an easy decision for Lucy; as much as she wanted to help, she had never wanted to be an Auror. Jeremy and Hermione chose not to join, either, but Harry and Ron eagerly signed up.

~LJ:TW~

About a week later, Professor McGonagall was officially declared as the next Headmistress of Hogwarts. And then a week after that, the Ministry announced the fate of the next school year. All students who were planning on attending that year would have to repeat their previous year. Because of the battle, the school year had ended earlier than normal, and nobody had taken their exams. This also gave any students who hadn't come to school the previous year the opportunity to continue with their education. However, with everyone repeating their past year, it meant that the first-year class would be twice as large as usual—the first-years who were repeating their past year, and the first-years who were coming to Hogwarts for the first time.

There was one exception: the students who had been seventh-years the year prior. They were given the choice to return to Hogwarts, with a deadline of July thirty-first to send an owl with their decision. The Ministry was offering a day in August for those who didn't want to attend Hogwarts but wanted to take their N.E.W.T. exams.

Hermione immediately decided that she was going to go back to Hogwarts for her seventh year. Harry and Ron, since they were working with the Auror Office, opted not to return. That left Lucy and Jeremy to make their decision. Lucy spent many nights contemplating whether she should go back to school, and ultimately decided that she should. Jeremy came to the same conclusion just after she did; they both figured that, since they didn't have jobs at the moment, they might as well try to advance their education.

~LJ:TW~

Halfway through August, Lucy and her friends were invited to the final match of the Quidditch World Cup. They were even given a special box to sit in as thanks for helping save the Wizarding world from Voldemort. The people in the box with Lucy were Jeremy; Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Luna; Sally-Anne and Oliver; Daphne and Jake; and the rest of the Weasleys—Ron, Ginny, George, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Percy, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

Because of the recent battle, and what had happened at the last World Cup, the security had been greatly increased that year. Lucy was honestly happy that the security seemed to be working; the entire match went off without a hitch, with the exception of Senegal's mascots nearly getting sent off from the field. Malawi beat Senegal 260 to 180, and all in all, it was a very enjoyable night.

~LJ:TW~

Before Lucy knew it, it was September first. Mr. Weasley had escorted Lucy, Jeremy, Hermione, and Ginny to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. After they had said good-bye to Mr. Weasley, they immediately met up with Luna, but they hadn't gotten onto the train yet.

"I'm weirdly nervous," Lucy finally admitted to the others. "After everything that happened last year… and now we're going back to school like nothing happened…"

"It's definitely going to be weird," Jeremy agreed, putting his arm around Lucy's shoulders comfortingly.

"But finishing our education is very important," Hermione said, repeating her mantra for what seemed to be the millionth time since she'd decided to go back to school. She had been having a rough time lately; not only was she leaving Ron behind—they were going to be trying the long-distance thing—but she had tracked down her parents about a month prior and lifted the Memory Charm she'd placed on them. When she'd explained to them what she'd done, they were upset, and her relationship with them had been strained ever since.

"I agree," Lucy said. "That's why I'm here, too. Doesn't mean it's not going to be weird."

"I'm more interested in seeing who all is going to be here and who decided not to come back," Jeremy commented. "Daphne and Jake are both coming back."

"I just realized that Seamus and Dean are going to have their dormitory to themselves," Lucy said with a giggle. "Neville's working in the Auror Office with Harry and Ron."

"We should get onto the train, I suppose," Ginny suggested. She, too, seemed a little bummed out. Just after they'd gotten back from the Quidditch World Cup, Harry had asked her out again, but they hadn't had a lot of time to reconnect before Ginny had to go back to school.

The five of them stepped up to the train and filed inside one-by-one. Before Lucy climbed on, she paused and looked towards the front of the train. A small smile formed on her face; even after everything that had happened, she was excited to finish her final year of school, so that she could move on to the next part of her life.

~LJ:TW~

June 26, 1999

The past school year had flown by. Lucy couldn't believe that she was now a Hogwarts graduate. Earlier that day, she'd stood up with the rest of the seventh-years in the Great Hall, while the remainder of the school applauded them. Then they'd crossed the lake in the same boats that they had in their first year.

~LJ:TW~

The beginning of the year had been a bit of a struggle for Lucy. Since she hadn't been in formal classrooms in over a year, it was difficult to get back into the swing of things. She found that she'd forgotten a few more things than she thought she had. However, she felt like she did well on her N.E.W.T. exams at the end of the year, and she'd had a lot of fun times with her remaining friends.

Outside of the castle, life continued on, as well. Lucy had given Harry and Ron one of her two-way mirrors so that they could call each other, which they often did. Lucy made sure that both couples—Harry and Ginny, and Hermione and Ron—had plenty of time to have private conversations with one another.

Harry and Ron also kept them up to date on what was happening in the real world. The Ministry was still rounding up former Death Eaters and Snatchers to put them on trial. In May, Kingsley Shacklebolt was officially elected as the Minister of Magic, and he was continuing to improve the inner workings of the Ministry.

The rest of the Weasleys continued their various jobs, with the exception of Percy, who was staying at home with his mother, and was also helping George out with not only the joke shop, but also working through his grief at losing his twin. In February, Ron told Lucy and the others that Percy had started dating a girl named Audrey Pierce, and then in May, Percy accepted a job at the Ministry again, this time in the Department of Magical Transportation.

~LJ:TW~

Lucy rode the train home in a compartment with Jeremy, Ginny, Luna, Hermione, Sally-Anne, Oliver, Daphne, and Jake. It had been a bit cramped, but they had a lot of fun playing Exploding Snap and eating candy from the trolley. For most of them, it would be the last time they ever got to do it.

When they had gotten to London, they went their respective ways. Hermione was going home to her parents to try and repair her relationship with them, and Ginny was, of course, going back to the Burrow with her family.

Lucy and Jeremy, on the other hand, had finally decided that they were going to move into the Whitlock family estate, with the idea that they would be remodeling the entire house. It was probably going to take a while—Jeremy said that there were things from multiple generations still in the house—but Lucy felt like it would be a good project for them to tackle.

Firstly, however, they needed to let Mrs. Weasley know, and she took it just about as well as two years prior, when Lucy had told her that she would be staying at Sirius's cabin instead of going to the Burrow.

"You can't go and live on your own!" Mrs. Weasley gasped after Lucy had told her the plan. "You're not even married, for one thing—"

"Mrs. Weasley, I love you and appreciate everything you've done for me," Lucy interrupted, "but Jeremy and I don't care about whether we're married or not. Besides, we're engaged, and we plan on being engaged for a while—at least long enough to get ourselves settled with our house and our jobs, whatever those end up being."

Mrs. Weasley looked tearful, and she quietly sobbed into her husband's shoulder.

"It'll be all right, Molly," Mr. Weasley said soothingly. "This is what happens when they grow up; they have to go and find their own way." There was a pause, and then Mr. Weasley added, "You all seem to be moving out around the same time. Harry and Ron are looking for a flat together that'll be closer to their office, Hermione's off home with her parents, and Percy just moved into his own place last month."

"At least I don't have to share my room anymore," Ginny joked, trying to lighten the mood.

~LJ:TW~

Twenty minutes later, Lucy and Jeremy had Apparated to the Whitlock manor. Lucy was a bit nervous about it. Two years ago, Lucy and Jeremy had spent practically their whole summer together, but there had been other people in the house. Now this house—this mansion—was theirs.

"Master Jeremy!" Boppin, Jeremy's family's house-elf, came bounding down the stairs into the foyer.

"Hello, Boppin," Jeremy greeted. "Boppin, this is my fiancée Lucy Jones. Lucy, this is my house-elf Boppin."

"Hi, Boppin," Lucy said. "It's nice to meet you."

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, miss," Boppin replied, bowing low to her. Then he turned back to Jeremy and said, "Boppin was wondering if Master Jeremy would come home soon, sir. Is Master here to stay?"

"Yeah, Boppin, Lucy and I are going to be moving in," Jeremy said. "And I would very much like it if you would be willing to stay on and help us with the cleaning. We want to transform this place from top to bottom, so it truly is our house."

"Of course, Master Jeremy," Boppin said, bowing again. "Would Master and miss like some dinner? Boppin will put the kettle on."

"Yes, please," Jeremy agreed, and Boppin scurried off. Jeremy turned to Lucy and said, "Would you like a tour of the place? Or we could put your stuff in my room and then eat, and then we can take a tour."

"Well, I am getting quite hungry," Lucy commented. "Let's put our things away and get some dinner, and then you can show me around."

~LJ:TW~

August 1, 1999

Lucy was nearly vibrating with excitement. She and Jeremy had done a lot of work on the house, and it was mostly to their liking. There were a few piles of things, some of which they wanted to let Jeremy's mother look at before they got rid of it. They had created a master suite—a large bedroom with walk-in closet, a connected bathroom, and two separate office areas, so that they had their own space if they needed it—on the first floor where Jeremy's room used to be. The rest of the rooms on the two floors above had been turned into modest guest rooms for the time being, ready to be turned into children's bedrooms if they ever decided to have any.

But it wasn't the house that had Lucy excited; her old friend Noelle Watson from back in America was on her way for a visit. Lucy and Noelle had reconnected after Voldemort had been defeated, and Lucy had invited the other girl when Noelle found herself in between jobs. Lucy was going to introduce Noelle to all her friends, because they were going to be throwing a Dumbledore's Army party at hers and Jeremy's house.

"Mistress Lucy," Boppin said, bouncing up to Lucy. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, and Miss Weasley have arrived."

"Thanks, Boppin," Lucy said, grinning at the house-elf. "You can let everyone out to the garden; I'll be right out."

Boppin bowed and then left to tend to their guests. Lucy put the last few touches on her makeup before getting up and hurrying after him.

"The house looks great," Ginny said in greeting as Lucy met up with her, Hermione, Harry, and Ron.

Lucy hugged her friends, grinning. "It's great to see you," she said teasingly. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."

Mrs. Weasley insisted on having family dinner at the Burrow every Saturday evening, so Lucy had just seen all four of her friends the night before. It had been a particularly rowdy dinner, since it had also been Lucy's and Harry's nineteenth birthdays, and they had been celebrating Hermione's new job at the Ministry in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

"Hey, everyone," Jeremy called, exited the house with four other people following him—Daphne, Jake, Sally-Anne, and Oliver had arrived.

Lucy hurried to greet their new guests, and just after she'd finished saying hello to them, another wave of people joined the party.

Ten minutes later, Boppin scuttled out of the house and up to Lucy. "Mistress Lucy, Miss Watson is here!"

Lucy squealed and followed Boppin back inside to find Noelle standing in the foyer, looking around in awe. "Noelle!" Lucy screeched, launching herself at her old friend. "You're here!"

"Yes, I am," Noelle giggled, hugging Lucy back. "This house is absolutely amazing."

"Thanks," Lucy said, beaming and pulling away. "We've been working on it nonstop for the past month. It feels so much more like home than it did when we moved in."

"Is it weird to be in your own house?" Noelle asked. "I'm still living with my mom and dad—makes it hard to feel like I'm really an adult."

"It's been very interesting," Lucy replied. "Boppin has been a lifesaver, honestly—but don't tell Hermione I said that. C'mon, let's introduce you to everyone that's here so far."

Before Lucy could lead Noelle outside, however, there was a knock on the front door, and Boppin let in the rest of the Weasleys—Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Percy, George, Bill, and Fleur. Lucy grinned as her extended family piled into her foyer, and she moved forward to greet them all and introduce them to Noelle.

"And this is George," Lucy finished. "George, this is Noelle, my friend from back in the States."

"Nice to meet you," George said warmly, holding his hand out to Noelle.

Lucy glanced at Noelle, who was a bit flushed as she returned his handshake. A sly smile grew on Lucy's face; maybe George and Noelle would go well together. George was still slowly dealing with his grief, but maybe Noelle would give him the chance to be happy again.

"Everyone else is outside for now," Lucy announced over everyone's heads. "Go on out there, I'll be right behind you. There are more people at my door." She shooed Noelle along with the Weasleys, specifically George.

Another wave of people had entered her house, and she rushed to greet them. It was a large group of people: Luna, Neville, Hannah Abbott, Seamus, Dean, Ernie MacMillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Dennis Creevey—he'd been to a lot of the Dumbledore's Army events; Lucy made it a point to invite him, to make sure that he was doing okay after the death of his brother.

It seemed as though people kept pouring into the house, but Lucy was loving it. The party went well on into the night, and Lucy was very glad that they lived on a large amount of land that was quite isolated. Everyone seemed to have a good time, including, Lucy noted, George and Noelle, who spent the entire evening together. The night ended with Daphne and Jake announcing that they were getting married that Christmas, to the cheers of everyone there.

~LJ:TW~

December 25, 1999

The next four and a half months for Lucy were a blur of growing up. Just after hers and Jeremy's party, Sally-Anne and Oliver had gotten engaged. Meanwhile, Lucy and Jeremy had offered to help Daphne and Jake with their wedding preparations, seeing as Jeremy would be standing by as Jake's best man, and Lucy was going to be one of Daphne's bridesmaids.

There had been a lot of job offers being accepted amongst Lucy's group of friends, as well. In the middle of August, Jeremy got a job in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, which had always been a goal of his. Then, at the beginning of September, Sally-Anne joined the Auror Office, and a few weeks later, Daphne became a writer for the Daily Prophet.

In October, Lucy accepted a job in the Department of Magical Education. She had been so happy to get into that department, although she had been so excited to start looking at reform that she was getting frustrated at how slowly things seemed to move at the Ministry. Jeremy had spent many nights since then calming her down and keeping her grounded in reality.

The only downside over the past few months was when Noelle went back to America at the end of August. Lucy had really enjoyed having Noelle to stay, and she hoped that her friend could come back for another visit soon.

~LJ:TW~

Daphne's and Jake's wedding had arrived, and Lucy was wearing a blood red dress and fussing with Daphne's hair.

"I'm nervous," Daphne finally admitted to Lucy.

"You? Nervous?" Lucy repeated, shocked. "I didn't think you'd ever been nervous about anything before."

Daphne laughed. "I'm mostly nervous that I'm going to repeat something wrong and make a fool of myself in front of everyone," she clarified. "I didn't want to have a big wedding—not that our wedding is that big, mind you—but Jake's got such a large extended family."

"Is your mom going to be here?" Lucy asked carefully. She knew that Daphne's father had been arrested and sent to Azkaban, same as Jeremy's.

"No," Daphne replied with a scoff. "She's never forgiven me for turning my back on them, and she especially hasn't forgiven me for not going to Dad's trial. But she's got perfect Astoria, so what does she need me for, anyway?"

Lucy gave Daphne a sad smile and continued to do her hair in silence. She knew that there was a part of Daphne who was disappointed that her own mother wouldn't be at her wedding.

Soon, Lucy had finished with Daphne's hair, and before they knew it, they were lining up to begin the wedding. As Lucy walked down the aisle with her bouquet, she looked at Jeremy and grinned. He looked as handsome as he ever did in his classic black dress robes. He gave her her favorite half-smile that made her figuratively weak at the knees. Oh, he'd be getting lucky tonight.

The wedding was lovely and made Lucy cry happy tears. As Daphne and Jake shared a tender kiss, Lucy couldn't help but hope that this was only the first of many more weddings between her friends to come.

~LJ:TW~

May 2, 2000

Lucy was sitting in the waiting room at St. Mungo's hospital, her right ankle up on her left knee, and she was jiggling her foot impatiently. They had gotten the message via Bill's Patronus that Fleur had gone into labor: the first Weasley grandchild was going to be born that day.

Jeremy came back into the waiting room and handed Lucy a cup of tea. Lucy took it from him gratefully, and he retook the seat next to her. Lucy glanced around at the rest of the Weasley family who were present—Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Percy, his fiancée Audrey, George, and Ron. Harry and Hermione were there, as well, as was Noelle, who was sitting next to George with her hand in his.

Lucy grinned at the pair of them. Noelle hadn't been able to stay away from Britain or, more importantly, George. In February, Noelle had officially moved to England—she was currently living with Lucy and Jeremy—and accepted a job at the Department of Magical Education with Lucy. A month later, Noelle and George had begun dating. They didn't have any plans to move in together yet—both were a bit more traditional than Lucy was—but they spent all kinds of time together when they weren't at work.

They weren't the only couple who had gotten together recently. A month before Noelle had come back to England, Neville and Hannah had arrived at one of the Dumbledore's Army parties with the announcement that they had officially started dating, surprising nearly everyone. Lucy had given Neville a knowing smirk; as one of his best friends, Neville had been talking to Lucy about how he felt about Hannah. Lucy was very happy for them.

Along with the new couples, there was another Weasley who had gotten engaged just a few weeks prior: Percy had asked Audrey to marry him, and she had accepted with the condition that they have a small wedding as soon as they could. They already had a date set in August.

Not much else of note had happened; just Jake getting a job in the Department of Magical Games and Sports at the beginning of April. Lucy had been enjoying a quiet few months, with all the good news from her friends. She and Jeremy had tentatively started planning their own wedding, but they hadn't set a date yet.

Lucy had just taken a sip of her tea when Bill joined them in the waiting room. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"Well?" Mrs. Weasley asked, clutching her handkerchief tightly between her hands.

"I have a daughter," Bill announced, and there was a cheer from the crowd, which was immediately shushed by a grumpy-looking witch nearby.

"How's Fleur?" Lucy questioned immediately.

"Tired but so happy," Bill answered. "She did such an amazing job. Her mum is sitting with her right now—Mum, Dad, you can come back and meet your granddaughter, if you'd like."

Mrs. Weasley stood up so quickly that Lucy giggled. The woman looked like she was about to jump through the roof, she was so excited. Mr. Weasley followed his wife, and Bill went to lead them to Fleur's room.

"Wait!" Audrey spoke up. "Do you have a name for her?"

"Oh, right," Bill said, shaking his head slightly. "Sorry about that—crazy day. We've named her Victoire Abigail—Victoire because today's the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts."

Lucy hadn't even realized what day it was. Two years ago, Harry had finally beaten Voldemort, and Lucy couldn't think of a more fitting name to honor the anniversary. Lucy also found it hard to believe that it had already been two years since that equally terrible and wonderful day.

~LJ:TW~

About half an hour later, Lucy was gathered with the rest of the Weasleys to see Victoire. Lucy knew immediately that she was the most beautiful baby that she'd ever seen. She definitely took after her mother's Veela side, although Lucy had heard that Bill had been very handsome as a young man, as well.

Later on, when Lucy and Jeremy had returned home, Jeremy pulled Lucy into his arms.

"Do you think you'd ever want one of our own?" he asked.

Lucy looked around at him curiously. "I haven't really thought about it," she told him. "We've been busy getting the house to how we like it, and starting our jobs—we're not even married yet. But—maybe in a few years, I'd be willing to have a child. Did you want to have one?"

"I want to have more than one," Jeremy admitted. "I was an only child, and there were times when it was incredibly lonely—although I also hope to be a much different father than mine was."

"You will be a brilliant father," Lucy stated, leaning forward and kissing him. "I know it, and I'm looking forward to that point when we get there."

~LJ:TW~

December 7, 2000

Lucy was looking around at her very large group of friends, still in slight disbelief that she was so lucky to be surrounded by such happiness and love. That night, they were officially celebrating Hermione's and Ron's engagement: another Weasley wedding was on the horizon.

~LJ:TW~

The past seven months since Victoire had been born had been great. Lucy was settling into her job at the Ministry, especially now that she was working alongside one of her best friends. They were currently working on their first piece of educational reform, which they were both very proud of.

At the end of June, Ginny and Luna had graduated from Hogwarts. Lucy felt very grown up when that happened; she now only knew a handful of people who were still in school, and of those people, she really only saw Dennis Creevey, who was still coming along to Dumbledore's Army events.

Immediately after Ginny had graduated, she had joined the Quidditch team the Holyhead Harpies. They had been scouting her through her last year at Hogwarts, where she'd been Captain of the Gryffindor team. Harry in particular had been very supportive, going to nearly all of her matches and all too happy to gloat that his girlfriend was playing Quidditch professionally. He had admitted, though, that if he didn't feel obligated to work in the Auror Office, he may have thought about playing professionally himself.

There were others starting new jobs, as well. In July, Luna began her job as a Magizoologist—someone who studied magical creatures. Lucy was definitely not surprised when she heard that that was Luna's chosen career path.

Hannah Abbott also got a new job in September as the new landlady of the Leaky Cauldron after Tom, the previous barman, had retired. She seemed to be a natural at it. Then Neville surprised them all by moving into the flat above the bar with Hannah. Some of the more traditional people whispered about how it was improper, but Lucy was happy for her friend.

Other than new jobs, there were a couple of relationship changes. Percy's and Audrey's wedding was that past August. It was a wonderful time, further changing Lucy's opinion of Percy in a positive way. Then in November, George and Noelle had gotten engaged. It seemed like everyone Lucy knew was getting married—including herself, of course; she and Jeremy had finally set a date for their own wedding.

~LJ:TW~

The Burrow was bursting at the seams with the amount of people who had shown up for the party. Even though the party was supposed to be about Hermione and Ron, Victoire was, of course, stealing the show. Neither Hermione nor Ron seemed to mind, though; everyone doted on that little girl.

Teddy Lupin seemed especially fond of Victoire; well, as fond as a two and a half year old could be of a seven month old. Teddy—although he was Lucy's and Harry's godson—lived with his grandmother Andromeda, and they had been welcomed into the Weasley/Dumbledore's Army fold with open arms.

Throughout the party, Hermione and Ron were asked question after question about their upcoming wedding. Neither of them had thought much about it yet; Hermione only knew that she wanted to be engaged for at least a year, so they had plenty of time to get everything together.

Towards the end of the party, Lucy found herself standing next to her twin brother, watching as a bunch of their friends danced—many of them were a little intoxicated, too.

"So…" Lucy started suggestively, "do you and Ginny have any plans to get engaged anytime soon?"

Harry blushed darkly and ran a hand through his messy black hair. "I've been thinking about it," he admitted. "I just don't know how to do it."

"Well, it helps to start with a ring," Lucy commented. "Do you have one of those yet?"

"No, but I've been to a couple shops, just to see what's out there," Harry answered. "I'm just trying to find the right time, too. I mean, watching everyone else get engaged and married, and even starting to have kids.… I think I want that, and I think I want that sooner than later." He paused and added, "I never thought I'd say that out loud."

Lucy gave him a small smile. She knew that his PTSD had gotten a lot better over the last two and a half years, but it still hit him hard some days.

They stayed silent for a few moments before he spoke up again, this time in a lower voice, "Do you think she'll say yes?"

Lucy stared at him for a moment. "What do you mean by that? Of course she'll say yes. She loves you so much."

"I know," Harry said. "Sometimes I just get this feeling—that I don't know why she would want to be with me when she could be with anyone."

"Sounds like something that the two of you should talk about at some point in the future," Lucy commented. She raised her glass of firewhiskey to her lips and drained the remaining liquid. "Anyway, good luck. I'm going to go and find my fiancé." She winked and then headed towards Jeremy, who was across the room.

~LJ:TW~

February 21, 2001

Pride—that's what Lucy was feeling. She and Noelle had just presented their first piece of reform to both the Department of Magical Education and the Board of Governors of Hogwarts. It hadn't been voted on yet, but both Lucy and Noelle were feeling quite confident.

The reform they'd proposed would hire more teachers, so that there was more than one professor per subject. This way, class sizes would be smaller, and the teachers would actually be able to take breaks during the day.

While they were waiting for the vote to occur, Harry and Ron came over from the Auror Office to see how Lucy and Noelle were doing. Lucy was still extremely happy that her friends and family had accepted Noelle into their group—not that they had much choice now that she was going to be a sister-in-law to many of them after she married George.

She wasn't the only one getting married soon—true to his word, Harry did end of proposing to Ginny soon after Hermione's and Ron's party. Ginny said yes, surprising no one. They were having difficulty picking a date at the moment; Harry was very busy with the Auror Office, and Ginny had her hands full with her Quidditch schedule.

"No word yet?" Harry asked his sister.

"Not yet," Lucy replied, "but we presented them with a lot of information. It's only fair that we give them as much time as they need to process everything."

"How soon would the reform go into place if it passes?" Ron questioned.

"Hopefully by next school year," Noelle told him. "If it passes, then we can get right into interviewing for the jobs that need to be filled."

"I always thought it was ridiculous with how big the school is that there was only one professor for each subject," Lucy commented.

They were interrupted by one of the witches on the Board of Governors calling Lucy and Noelle back into the presentation room.

"Good luck!" Harry and Ron chorused before heading back to their own office.

Lucy and Noelle looked at each other and grinned. They nodded to each other and proceeded to the vote.

~LJ:TW~

"So?" Jeremy asked once Lucy had Apparated home. "What happened? Did it pass?"

Lucy grinned at him. "It passed," she announced. "Pretty much everyone said yes to it. I even got a comment or two from people wondering why we'd never done it before."

"That's great, Lucy," Jeremy said, smiling in return.

"Noelle asked if we wanted to meet up tonight and celebrate," Lucy continued. "I think it'd just be her and George, but you never know with our friends."

"Sure, I'd love to go out and celebrate," Jeremy answered. He wrapped his arms around Lucy's shoulders in a bear hug. "I love you and am so proud of you."

"Thanks," Lucy said. "I love you, too."

~LJ:TW~

October 6, 2001

Lucy heaved a steadying sigh. Hers and Jeremy's wedding day had finally arrived, and she couldn't help the nerves she was experiencing. She had absolutely no doubts about marrying Jeremy—they had been acting like a married couple for a while—but this was still a big day that she wanted to go right.

"Keep breathing," Daphne said, entering the room that Lucy had been getting ready in. In her arms was her newborn daughter, Holly—Lucy's goddaughter.

"I'm breathing," Lucy replied, smiling. "I'm just so nervous. I understand what you meant now on your wedding day."

"Everything is going to be fine," Daphne assured her. "We're just about ready out there for you. Are you ready?"

Lucy's heartbeat sped up. "I feel like—like I'm missing something," she confessed. "Like there's someone who should be here but isn't." She felt tears welling in her eyes as she realized that she would always feel like this on big occasions, because there was always going to be someone missing.

Daphne sat down in a chair, bouncing Holly in her arms. "You shouldn't be crying," she said softly. "You know that they're watching over you today, even though you can't see them."

"I never knew how hard it was going to be," Lucy admitted. "I knew that there were going to be a lot of people missing today, but it didn't hit me until just now. My parents, Sirius, Remus and Tonks, Fred, Mary—they should be here—but they're not."

Daphne nodded but remained silent; she knew that Lucy just needed to say this out loud to make it real.

"I know we'll get through it," Lucy went on. "I know that I'm going to get up and walk down the aisle to Jeremy, and at the end of the night, we'll be married. And we're all going to have a wonderful time—I just needed an extra moment to come to terms with how many people I wish were here, you know?"

Daphne nodded again. "Well, whenever you're ready, the rest of us are, as well," she said. "Take your time—this is your day, after all."

Lucy gave her friend a small smile, and Daphne exited the room again.

Taking another few breaths to calm herself, Lucy thought back to the other two weddings she'd been to that year. Noelle and George had gotten married back in April, and Sally-Anne and Oliver had their wedding in June. Both had been wonderful celebrations, and Lucy was ready for hers to be another good memory to add to her pile.

Taking one more breath, Lucy felt a grin tug at the corners of her mouth as she stood up, facing the door. She was ready to become Mrs. Lucy Whitlock.

~LJ:TW~

A/N: I am officially done posting This is War, and I am most likely finished with this series. Like I said before, this has been 10 years in the making. It's been a great creative outlet for me, and I'm partially sad to be finished with it, but also excited to look at other story ideas now.

Thank you so much for reading.

Happy Holidays!