Upon the ending of the war, there was still a great deal of work to be done. The castle needed to be repaired, Death Eaters rounded up and imprisoned, giants to return to their homes and people came rushing out of hiding to join the celebrations which went on for weeks and weeks. Honestly, it was a difficult job trying to keep the muggles unaware of the wizards celebrating up and down the country at the certified defeat of the notorious Lord Voldemort, whose body had been turned to nothing more than dust, not even granted a physical burial. Kingsley Shacklebolt was appointed temporary Minister of Magic, something I approved of with great satisfaction, though I only had one real request. "Make sure you fire all the Voldemort supporters. Especially that toad faced hag, Umbridge." Kingsley had then smiled at me.
"Only if you take her position."
"Uh…what?" So I ended becoming the senior undersecretary to the new minister, which the twins thought was hilarious all things considered, but somehow I managed to do a pretty good job, managing communications and helping Kingsley to reorganise the ministry into something we could all be proud of. Bias and prejudice was discouraged, movements were being made for more equal rights among magical creatures, the previous laws passed to force people into subjugation were removed, but I can quite honestly say, the best moment of all was when I took up Umbridge's office and kicked her out of it, because she did not go quietly, screaming in protest all the way.
"You have no right! Unhand me you fiend! I am Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic! I REFUSE TO BE OUTED!"
"Come, come now, Dolores." I smirked with a broad sense of smug satisfaction as I lifted up my hand to show her the faint white scars on the back, marred into my skin in a blissful tone of irony. "We must be obedient, mustn't we?" Then with a final grin, I slammed the door of her old office in her face, the new plaque reading my name instead. It took a great deal of time, but with everyone working around the clock, we had our world back in order just before the new term started for Hogwarts. A full investigation was also launched into the actions of Severus Snape, but Harry and I both appeared at his hearing to speak on his behalf, something that seemed to surprise him, and he was cleared of all charges and even given recognition with an Order of Merlin, First Class.
He relinquished his position as headmaster at Hogwarts and decided to return to his old teaching post as potions master clearly with no intention of taking up Defence Against the Dark Arts again, as Slughorn had announced his intention to retire and the position need to be filled. Thankfully, it was much easier to find a new teacher for the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts post for the new school year, and it was none other than my dad, Sirius Black. He proved to be an excellent teacher, and our famous trio returned to Hogwarts to complete their final year alongside everyone else who went back in order to retake the year and take their exams. It made things a little cramped, especially with all the muggle-born children who had not been permitted into school their first year on account of the anti-muggle movement, but McGonagall was a tirelessly devoted headmistress who orchestrated the academic year and after two or three years, everything was back to normal.
Kingsley was kept on as Minister of Magic, and he invited me to continue my post too but I had other things I wanted to be doing with my life, so we settled for a part time position as a Magical Liaison Officer, which meant that I would go to other countries to keep up communications and solidify friendships just as I did before, though I only went if I was requested by name. Now that things had calmed down, I took off with my dad and Harry, the three of us exploring the world together for an entire year before returning, and our lives proceeded towards settling as the three of us moved into Grimmauld Place, making it our permanent home.
Teddy Lupin was a strong fixture in my life, often visiting him and spoiling him rotten behind his parents' backs, and all of us were happy with our new lives, free from danger and threat. Every month I continued to brew Remus his potion, and I studied ways to increase its potency and develop means to make safety a more accessible feature for werewolves. I released my magical theory paper and wrote a book which was now part of the school's curriculum for sixth year upwards, which made me exceptionally wealthy once more, and I continued my research, and for my recreational time I took care of magical creatures and researched them as well.
I saw a great deal of Cedric, working closely with him on another part of my research for the medical application of my magical theory pertaining to the equal and opposite existence to all magic, and with Neville's permission, I began my work in trying to heal his parents. It took many sessions with me and my wand, as well as therapy and potions to help their minds recover from the torture they endured, but upon Christmas morning two years after the Battle of Hogwarts, Alice and Frank Longbottom had opened their eyes almost at the same moment, looked around in confusion but asked with perfect comprehension where they were and that they wanted to see their son. Neville cried. His gran cried. Hell, even I cried as I hugged Cedric who was now a fully qualified Healer and working towards his advanced qualifications.
Emotions were high, everyone was happy, and in that moment, Cedric had swooped down and planted a kiss upon my lips, cutting off my laugh owing to surprise. I hadn't expected it, but his kiss suddenly woke me up to a great many things that I had been unable to recognise before due to my short-sightedness, and from that point on, we were a couple. Dad took some time to come around to this fact, utterly convinced still that no one was good enough for me, but I would then repeatedly point out that in this case, it was probably me who wasn't good enough for a guy like Cedric, but that didn't exactly help our case. Still, mum came to the rescue.
She gave my dad a real row and made him see sense, saying that as long as I was happy and felt loved, then there was nothing he could do to stop me since I was a grown woman now. Dad looked thoroughly scolded, and I'd laughed when he sheepishly agreed to accepting the fact that I was now dating Cedric Diggory so I'd kissed his cheek and promised that I was still his precious little girl no matter what. This mollified him a great deal. Everywhere I turned, people were settling down and creating lives for themselves. Harry, after moving into his own home with Ginny as his fiancée had dinner with us several times a week, often with Ginny, and they were planning to get married soon, as were Ron and Hermione.
The twins were as successful as ever, and when Fred did actually get married, he made good on his promise and put a full body-bind lock on Molly and allowed everyone to wear whatever they wanted. It was one of the best weddings to date. My home in Grimmauld Place remained just that, my home. Kreacher kept it perfectly clean even as he continued to grow older, and I had to insist that he took longer breaks until he was so old that he couldn't see much anymore, or move his stiff joints without them creaking. I took care of him myself, moving his bedroom to one of the guest rooms with a large alcove at the window where I set up his bed so he had an beautiful view of the park and nursed him in his waning days until he passed away in his sleep. I missed him after he was gone, even dad had warmed to him in his later years.
It was hard to lose things that were precious to you, and I cried for days after Orion closed his eyes for the last time, but Fawkes was always with me, as of course, he could never die and he seemed content to stay with my family for now. In fact, on the day of my own wedding where I married Cedric, Fawkes had flown over the ceremony singing with his beautiful voice as everyone came together to witness our vows, and as dad gave me away, even he had a tear in his eye. We settled down at my family house, where I was determined to raise my own family and recreate the name of house Black, as Cedric had rather surprisingly decided that he wanted to take my name instead.
He said it was because he could see how much the name meant to me, and how adamant I was to improve it's reputation, and it made me love him all the more, and so the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black continued through our children. My firstborn was a girl, my daughter whom we named Diana Helena Blac, after my mother and Cedric's, and she became very close with Fleur's girl Victoire, and everywhere they went, they announced themselves as sisters and refused to be told anything different. My son was then born two years after his sister, and he was named Amos Fredric Leo Black, after his grandfather, my step-father and Fred, since it was wizarding tradition to continue names throughout the family line. Then my second son came along a year after, Sirius Harry George Black, then his younger sister Celeste Fleur, and then, to Fred and George's great amusement, my twins. One girl and one boy.
I couldn't believe it when I had first found out and yelled at Fred and George accusingly, saying that they had jinxed me somehow, which only made them laugh more. Thankfully, they didn't come out as redheads like they joked, but with heads of jet black hair and startlingly bright blue eyes once they were opened and settled. We struggled for the twins, trying to find the right names for them, and I refused on principle to name them directly after their Uncle Fred and Uncle George, but in the end, we got there. My son, Remus Peter Black, and my youngest daughter, Seraphina Minerva Black.
Amongst all the children, many were named after someone else. Ron and Hermione named their eldest daughter Rose after my codename on Potterwatch, and Harry named his first son after his father and mine, James Sirius Potter, whilst his second boy was named after two headmasters of Hogwarts. Albus and Severus. Next came Lily Luna Potter, the sweetest little girl imaginable, and their family concluded with the angellic red haired girl who took so much after her mother, with hints of her grandmater after whom she was named. Fred and George also had children of their own, George marrying Angelina Johnson and had two children together. Fred Weasley II and Euphemia Weasley, named after yours truly.
Fred also named one of his girls after me, but not in a direct way. His girl was named Mia Ebony Weasley, a tribute to my pet name, but also my surname, as ebony was black, and my wand was also made from ebony. I loved all of my friend's children as I did my own, and often we would all gather at either the Burrow or Grimmauld Place to celebrate Christmas and birthdays, as well as the anniversary of Voldemort's defeat which became a momentous day in wizarding history, becoming a national holiday. There we would all tell the children the story of the Dark Lord's defeat whilst keeping our involvement rather quiet, glossing over many of the details so that they knew what the day was all about, before then proceeding to recount stories of our youths at Hogwarts, making their eyes widen at the adventures we all had, including the many list of pranks the twins and I would pull together with dear Uncle Lee, who often visited also.
Soon enough the time came for our children to begin attending Hogwarts, all of them going with at least one or two of their cousins, siblings or close friends who they had grown up with since birth. Our families just continually grew closer and closer. Rather amusingly, McGonagall had written when my daughter's name had come up on the registry for future attendees for Hogwarts, congratulating me on the birth of my twins, noting how she was honoured I had named my daughter for her, but added with hope that they would not prove to be as mischievous as the Weasley boys and myself.
Unfortunately, there was no luck on that count. The twins seemed to learn almost directly from their twin uncles, they were like two peas in a pod, and since all of our children grew up together, it was just a recipe for disaster. Now as a mother, I could appreciate how exhausting it was having to run after my children trying to keep them from blowing up the house with their pranks, which always made my mother laugh and tell me that she was glad I now knew how she had felt raising me all those years, to which I would haughtily point out that she only had the one child whilst I had six. Diana and Amos took after their father, so I never had any trouble with them, Amos being the spitting image of Cedric, whilst Diana had a pleasant mix of the both of us.
She went to Hogwarts at the same time as Victoire, and they were both sorted into Gryffindor, which made Fleur and I chuckle. Amos went into Hufflepuff, Sirius into Gryffindor with his eldest sister, and Celeste joined Amos in their father's house. Every year when one of the kids would start school, Cedric and I made a game of wagering which house they would be sorted into, and we'd eagerly await for the letter to arrive home each time to announce the result. My twins were the same age as Harry and Ginny's oldest son, James, and we were all very happy to learn that they had all been sorted into Gryffindor together, though knowing James and my twins, I knew they were going to be a handful.
It was strange being on the platform but not actually getting on the train, instead watching my own children leave upon it as I had done two decades before. Their faces all grinned at me, Diana in her sixth year with Victoire, who had been caught kissing my godson Teddy Lupin by James so she had a rosy hue to her cheeks as she waved goodbye to Bill and Fleur. They stood with us, Harry and Ginny also with their youngest, Lily, whilst Ron and Hermione had Hugo as they waved to Rose, their eldest girl who was the same age as Albus, Harry's second son. I couldn't help but feel curious how Professor Snape would react when he finds out that Harry named one of his sons after him. Albus Severus Potter. I hope dad writes to tell me.
There had been a slight disagreement when I had announced Remus's name to also include Peter, after Peter Pettigrew. Dad had rejected it at first, but then I had reminded him that Peter Pettigrew had saved my life, and if he hadn't jumped in front of that killing curse, then I wouldn't be standing here today and neither would any of my children. That had sobered him up, and he'd sat in guilt for a while, torn over the feeling of anger and regret that sometimes tortured him over the years. He would never forgive Peter for what he did, but since his final act had been to save me, both dad and Uncle Remus had lessened their hatred in him, and gradually, they were beginning to look back on his memory with fondness, which would have been exactly what he wanted.
He still taught there, going grey in his maturing years, but loving each and every year, especially due to the fact he could see his grandchildren and his grand-nephews and nieces whenever he liked. I just hope they stay out of trouble this year, though that being said, none of my kinds could hold a candle to the stuff their uncles Fred and George got up to with me back in the day, there were still legends about the Weasley escape and the mysterious Night Owl to the day.
Our children had grown up largely unaware of the part their parents had played in the ending of the war against Voldemort, we had all decided to keep it quiet so that it didn't go to any of their heads, though they found out soon enough and I'd heard Sirius bragging that I was his mother to a number of his friends before I'd ushered him onto the train with a threat to hex his ears unless he hurried up. I guess my practices never changed really, even after becoming a mother.
As the train pulled out we all waved to our children, calling out our goodbyes as Cedric wrapped his arm around my shoulders, the two of us leaned against one another contentedly. As the smoke filtered away, I caught sight of Harry touching his scar, but this was more of a habit now more than anything. After all, it hadn't hurt him once in the past nineteen years. I smiled to him as he turned around, catching his eye and he grinned back at me, the reflection of his younger self still clear in his matured expression. The feeling of family having solidified over the many years through marriages and the raising of our children, all of us together had never felt closer, and I was satisfied to think that in my old age, I would have plenty of children to run around me descended from all of us. We were linked, and linked again, the thought encouraged a smile as I thought back to the new family crest which now adorned my home.
Familia ante Sanguinem.
Family before Blood.