The weather held. In the afternoon sunlight the standing stones at Castlerigg, in Cumbria played host to a wedding.

Standing stones have long been the places where births, marriages and deaths were marked and today was no exception.

In her blue-grey dress, only the best from Madam Emaness (worn once) and in her pocket their hair, Cecilia Frobisher stood, facing Remus. Around them, their friends stood, arranged in concentric circles, as had been done since the days of the very first wizards.

Remus gave her a ring. It was the one Aloysius had given Bessie, and the one Bessie had slipped off her finger to give to their son, John, on his wedding day for Remus''s mother. Now it was on her finger. As the baby moved in her stomach she wonder whether she would pass it on to him.

Cecilia refusd to think of the baby as Septimus - that would be tempting fate, even though Remus really liked the name. She smiled at Sirius, who had performed the ceremony beautifully. Now, they were husband and wife.

A flash of green, once they had kissed, and a mass floo to outside the Great Hall at Hogwarts transported the whole of the wedding party.

"What will you do now? " asked Remus of Sirius, as the guests lined up to shake hands with the bride and groom.

"Dumbledore has passed on the Head of the Reciprocarors to me. I intend to be very busy with forging muggle-wizard connections. I may need your wife's help, seeing as she has first hand experience,so to speak." He stepped past Remus and took Cecilia's hand.

"May I kiss the bride?" he asked, and Cecilia nodded. He took her hand and kissed the back of it.

"Thank you, Cecilia, for giving Harry back to us."

"If it hadn't been for you, Sirius, I could not have done it."

"My cowardice, more like." He dipped his head. But Remus put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey both of you, it was the right outcome, in the end."

Harry thanked her as he and Ron and Hermione came over as a group to shake hands.

"Not me; there was another wizard: you saw him, Harry. Lindvald Halen...Aloysius Lupin. I did all I could, he added the final flourish, so to speak." And then, there were the greetings from ex Order in turn.

Tonks had come with Nick. By rights she was Nymphadora Smith, having got married quietly in May, but Tonks had stuck. They had adopted Freya. Both were delighted to see her, Freya had a beautiful dress and had been delighted to see Aunty Celia and the Slippers man.

"She is bearing up; she saw her parents killed," said Tonks. Cecilia thought about Libby Mitchell, who had just told her fhe was expecting. That had been at Christmas. The last time Cecilia had seen her best friend before she and Derek were murdered by death eaters looking for her. Cecilia had long since realised how guilty she had felt about that and it had been one of the reasons she had insisted she go through the veil.

"Come on, Tracy!" shouted Nick, using the name that she had introduced herself to him as when she and Cecilia had come to use his laboratory facilities.

"Severus." Cecilia knew no words she could say to the wizard - his bravery, his resilience, his patience, his grudging acceptance of her. She had stepped into their world and he had been the first she had seen, who had answered the door when she had arrived not suspecting what her life would become, chronologically a year ago, but, in her lifetime, so many, many more.

"You look enchanting, Mrs Lupin," he murmured, Tabitha Penwright to his left, smiling ethereally. Cecilia looked up when a piece of stale toast came hurtling from the rafters of the hall. It was joined by the castle ghosts, looping and diving, and holding onto Peeves' legs to stop him trying to divebomb the cake. Cecilia smiled at Snape. "I do not believe Lupin would harm you in any way, but, should the need arise; if the potion has not been enough then -"

"I will be in touch with you, Severus," Cecilia whispered, then leaned across and gave him a kiss on the cheek. As Tabitha passed, Cecilia asked, "You and Severus?"

"Indeed," Tabitha waved an arm. "Although, this is not really...we have jumped the fire..."

"And, one day, we will make it permanent?" Snape's eyes looked bright, something Cecilia had never seen them like before. As Remus's potion had given him hope, so too, it seemed, that Tabitha had, for Severus.

"Yes," Tabitha agreed, before leaning up and kissing him gently on the lips.

When all the guests had made it into the Great Hall, sitting, probably without oonscious thought, at their own house tables, Remus pulled Cecila towards him.

"You have made me the happiest wizard in the world."

She looked into his eyes, then put his hand on her stomach. It was as if Aloysius had made time stand still, Cecilia thought. And maybe he had.

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At the end of the wedding ceremony, when the dancing had finally been enough for everyone's feet and the butterbeer and everlasting wine had been threatened with extinction, Hermione Grainger approached her.

It took Cecilia some moments to realise she was not the confiden young woman working in the European Ministry, but the frightened teenager whose life was threatened because of her parentage.

"Mrs Lupin, I want to thank you for teaching me science." And she continued by telling Cecilia that she wished to study science at University. News was that Dolores Umbridge, who had been tried for treason and would be sent to Azkaban, and would Cecilia take a look sometime at the work she could do legitimately now. Cecilia was just about to agree but Ron interrupted.

"She has just got married, Hermione. She doesnt want to be bothered by this now!" Ron Weasle leaned past Hermione. "Sorry, Mrs Frob- Mrs Lupin - "

"Ronald!" Shouted Hermione. "This is none of your business! How dare you apologise for me!" And they went off towards the entrance of the Great Hall, still arguing.

"Young love," said Sirius, aporoachibg them, then to Remus asked, "may ai kiss the bride?" Remus nodded, and Sirius pecked Cecilia on the cheek. "You look wonderful, Cecilia."

"Thank you for the ceremony, Sirius, we couldn't have asked for anything more perfect." She held his gaze for a moment. There could have been, if things had been different. Between them, there could have been something.

Music began to play, and Sirius broke eye contact with Cecilia, smiling at her broadly.

"A polka! I do love a polka!" Sirius declared, his face alive with exuberance, "danced well and in good company, of course. Nymphadora, would you partner me?" He scooped up his cousin's hand despite her protests at him addressing her as Nymphadora and led her into the centre of the floor.

And there we will leave them, at high summer, in a magical castle in Northumbria, the air filled with happiness and merrient and fierce hope for the future.

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In the early hours of the morning, hand in hand, Remus and Cecilia Lupin would cross the edgestones that marked the boundary of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and wizardry, and would step out into the non-wizard world for the last time. Beyond them, the whole world beckoned.