Epilogue

Marcus Flint was not a patient man. Five years after the war had ended, his life had completely flipped upside down. His family had cut him off, his girlfriend was a muggleborn, and he was about to be a father. The nursery was furnished and decorated. The baby shower had happened. A name had been chosen.

He just wanted to meet his daughter now.

Hermione was days from giving birth, and she constantly reminded Marcus that it was his fault she was so uncomfortable. "I recall you being there that night too," he reminded her. She balled up a napkin and tossed it at his face.

"I want her out, and I want her out now," she groused. "Do witch pregnancies last longer than muggle ones? I feel like I've been pregnant for six years."

"Scorpius came out in nine months, Daisy and Demi came out in nine months. I'm pretty sure that's the standard," he told her. "And we haven't known each other for six years. Is now really the time to tell me she isn't mine?"

Their friends, seated around the kitchen table, laughed. "Stop calling my son Demi," Adrian objected. "His name is Henry."

Hermione shot him an apologetic look. "Sorry, I've read Little Women about ten times too many," she replied. "You can't name one fraternal twin Daisy and not expect me to call the other Demi. My brain is just hardwired that way. Besides, it's not nice to get mad at a pregnant woman."

"They're two. You came up with that nickname long before you were pregnant," Pansy pointed out with a laugh, holding her sleepy daughter on her lap.

Marcus stood behind his girlfriend to massage her shoulders. "Hey, when you did you two realize that you weren't like your fathers?" he wondered.

Draco smiled as he watched his son and nephew play in the living room. "Scor spilled pumpkin juice when he was about a year and half. It went all over - the table, the floor, his clothes. He screamed. He was wet and sticky, and instead of caring about the mess, all that mattered was calming him and making him happy."

Adrian nodded. "Daisy knocked an inkwell over on my desk, screwing up a bunch of contracts," he said. "My father would have cursed me to my tenth birthday if I'd done something like that. I can't get mad at those kids though. Could you imagine our fathers crawling around on the floor playing horsey?"

Hermione looked up at Marcus, brows furrowed. He'd often worried that his children would view him the way he had seen his father. It had fallen to her to assuage his fears, pointing out that he was his father's polar opposite. While his father believed in pureblood superiority, Marcus had fallen in love with a muggleborn. He'd given up his family for a new one, one that would make him happy and feel loved. She assured him daily that he would be a wonderful father.

"So, when are you two crazy kids getting married?" Pansy asked. "You've been together four years, I think Hermione deserves a ring."

Hermione shrugged. "I don't need one," she said.

"A piece of paper isn't a commitment," Marcus added.

Draco nodded as Scorpius climbed onto his lap. "The whole no marriage thing works for us," he concurred.

"Slightly different circumstances, love," Astoria said to him, running her fingers through her son's dark hair. Despite her infidelity, Draco had thrown himself into being a father to Scorpius. The little boy was the love of his life, and it was an added bonus that he and Astoria managed to get along. "I agree with you though. You've got the house, the baby on the way. What's the point of marriage?"

"I'd love to continue the conversation planning out our lives, but I think my water just broke," Hermione announced.

"Is this a ploy to get rid of us?" Pansy asked.

Hermione winced as she felt a contraction. "You're the godmother and an actual mother. You're coming with me," she stated.

Adrian paled. "Do I have to go too?" he asked, hoping the answer would be no.

Noticing his friend's distress, Marcus assured him he could stay behind with the kids. He helped his girlfriend to her feet and led her to the fireplace to floo to the hospital, despite Pansy's protests that it was far early. The star Quidditch player and the war hero were admitted to the nicest room the hospital had and promised a mediwitch would be in soon for an examination.

While Marcus left to call their friends, Pansy sat by her side. "So, what if I can't do this?" Hermione asked. Brows knitted, Pansy asked for clarification. "What if I can't be a mother? I'm good at babysitting and being an aunt, but I get to give those kids back at the end of the night. What if I'm bad at being a mother? And then Marcus realizes I'm terrible at it and he leaves and then I'm stuck alone with a child that I'm bad at mothering. What if she's left handed? I don't know how to do things left handed. I'm going to ruin our daughter because I don't know how to do things left handed."

Pansy could help but laugh. "There has never been anything you've been bad at," she said calmly. "Besides, Marcus is left handed. He can teach her to do the things that need to be done left handed. You need to stop freaking out."

"Great, so she'll like him better because he's more helpful than I am," Hermione muttered. Marcus returned to the room, receiving a glare from his girlfriend. "She likes you better."

"Who?" he asked.

Try as she might, Pansy couldn't hide that she found the whole situation humorous. "The baby," she told him. "The baby who hasn't been born yet, who may or may not share her father's...handedness."

The mediwitch entered, asking Pansy and Marcus to step out so she could examine her patient. "Any freak outs you'd like to have?" Pansy asked, taking a seat in the waiting room.

Shrugging, Marcus sighed. "You know how we all grew up," he explained. "It's helped watching Ade and Drake and you parent your kids, but I can't help but worry sometimes that Laurence's influence will slip in at some point."

"You're not him," she reminded the man who had been a big brother to her. "You'd never call your kids stupid or hit them for doing something every kid does. You'd be surprised what you let slide when you love them. Daisy smeared her face with my makeup and insisted on giving Adrian lipstick kisses for five minutes. It was messy, but adorable. Besides, they'll be off to Hogwarts in a few years, at which time they'll be too old to want to spend time with us, let alone smother us with lipstick kisses."

Marcus chuckled at the hopeful thought that his little girl would love him as Daisy did her father. "I just hope she's never afraid of me," he confessed.

"You'll make her see that, despite being large and intimidating, you're not scary," Pansy assured him. "She'll think you're a big teddy bear. You'll protect her, and when she's old enough to protect herself, hopefully she'll have inherited Hermione's right hook. Yours isn't bad either."

Smiling, he kissed her temple to thank her. They were called back into the room, and told that the baby would come soon. "This is going to hurt, isn't it," Hermione said to Pansy.

Her friend held her hand. "But so worth it," Pansy replied.

It was two hours before Hermione held her daughter for the first time. Exhausted from labor, she could do nothing but smile. "She's perfect," she declared.

"Do I finally get to know her name?" Pansy asked, hating Hermione for keeping it from her until the baby was born.

"Well, I guess as godmother, you should know first," Marcus reasoned. "Aunt Pansy, meet Phillippa Jo Flint."

Tears welled in Pansy's green eyes as Hermione moved her newborn into her friend's arms. "We've got a girl," she murmured, laughing gently. "Our little Pippa."

"Get that going before Adrian can exact revenge on me for Demi," Hermione instructed her.

The new family returned home two days later to a clean house that smelled like a home cooked meal. Scorpius, Daisy, and Demi were the first to greet them. "Daddy cooked," he informed his aunt and uncle. "I hold the baby, Aunt Miney?"

"No," Daisy argued. "I hold first, Unca Moe."

Astoria came to their rescue to corral the kids. "Let Miney and Moe sit and breathe for a moment," she told them. "Go see if Tansy, Aday, and Daddy have any snacks in the kitchen."

Reluctantly, the trio did as they were told, allowing Hermione and Marcus a moment to breathe. "Want to hold her, Aunt Story?" Marcus asked, transferring his daughter to his friend's arms.

Pansy, Adrian, and Draco joined them, the kids in tow. "Hey, how come I'm just Uncle Drake while everyone else gets a fun nickname?" Draco asked, sitting beside his girlfriend. "Gods, she looks just like you, Hermione. Just beautiful. It makes me want a girl."

"Wait until they grow up and the hormones kick into overdrive," Pansy warned.

"We'll just take Hermione's. She'll be perfect," Draco decided, taking the baby from Astoria. "I still want a fun uncle name."

"Dodo," Adrian proposed, which their friends quickly accepted. "Daisy, Demi, say 'hi, Uncle Dodo!"

The twins joyfully parroted their father while Scorpius climbed onto the couch to carefully get a look at his new cousin. "What's her name?" the little boy asked. Hermione told them all, and Scorpius nodded in approval. "My Pippy."

Marcus wound his arm around Hermione's shoulders, watching their friends. "This is a family," he told her. "This is the perfect family."

"Hey, thanks for holding my hand at Draco's trial," she replied.

"Thanks for still holding my hand."

Hermione smiled. "I always will."

The End