A/N- Hi everyone. After a discussion on the Harmony Reddit, I decided to try my own hand at writing an alternate epilogue to Harry Potter. I hope you guys enjoy! Also, this is actually my first ever attempt at a fanfic so I would love to know what you guys think of it.
Of course, all rights to source material, characters etc. belong to J.K Rowling and Warner Bros.
3 Years Later
The Burrow was a refreshing familiarity. The beautiful meadows that surrounded it, the lake glistening from behind it and the cosy, ever-humble building itself never failed to put a smile on Harry's face these days. It was this view, then, that Harry was enthusiastically breathing in when he was summoned out of his revery by Molly Weasley handing him a surprisingly high pile of dinner plates.
"Could you start setting these out please, Harry dear?"
"Of course I can" he replied as he took the plates from her and marched towards the long table set out a short distance away, halfway between the house and the lake. He set down the plates one by one and looked up to see Ron approaching with a tray of cutlery on his arms and George levitating a large group of glasses towards the table.
"Are you seriously setting those plates out by hand, Harry?" Ron asked incredulously as he waved his wand, sending the cutlery to the table, arranging neatly with a second swish. "When are you going to realise you really are a wizard?" he continued with a chuckle.
"Shut up, mate. It was instinct." Harry replied.
"No need to have a go at him Ron." George chimed in. "You've got the opposite problem. And worse. The other day I caught you holding the Cannons' newsletter and then picking up your wand to turn the page!" Harry didn't even try to suppress a guffaw at that. As Ron's ears starting turning red and he opened his mouth to respond, Angelina and Hermione appeared from the house with bowls of salad options and Hermione smirked playfully at Ron at what they'd heard.
"At least he's reading something." Ron looked playfully outraged and turned to her but was yet again beaten to a response.
"Exactly, we have to give him some credit. He only learned the alphabet a week ago. Baby steps, right?" Ron's jaw dropped at Angelina's comment in disbelief.
"Whoa! Hang on!" but the others were all too busy laughing to listen to anything he may have wanted to respond with.
Bill and Fleur were next to appear from the house, holding pigs-in-blankets and crisps respectively.
"Guys," Bill started, "Dad made the gravy from scratch. Without magic. He's very proud of it but..." he left a dramatic pause. "We aren't optimistic. Just be polite and nod... And put as little as you can on your plate, but some so he isn't offended." Everyone nodded gravely, all trying to hide amused grins at the same time.
"Eet looked a little green to be honest." Fleur added on. After that, it was clear no one was hiding any amused grins anymore, but all sets of eyebrows raced up into the sky.
"Make way for the gravy!" bellowed and clearly enthusiastic Arthur Weasley. He marched out of the house with a large gravy boat and a splitting grin on his face. Harry's eyes followed the gravy boat until it was placed in the table and the gravy itself in view. At that point, he didn't want to look at it anymore. Arthur let out a satisfied sigh and marched back into the house to help Ginny and Molly with the rest of the food.
A few moments later, a faint, metal creaking could be heard and everyone looked towards the gate to see who it would be.
"Look!" Harry exclaimed as they two arrivals got closer, "it's Professor Longbottom!" Everyone around the table clapped and Neville approached with a somewhat embarrassed grin on his face as everyone else approached, congratulating him for finally joining Hogwarts full-time. "And of course its wonderful to see you too Minerva." Harry added in with a smirk.
"Ha, thanks for the enthusiastic welcome, Mr Potter!" McGonagall responded sarcastically. Harry's smirk transformed to a wide grin as he went up to hug them both and everyone else gave a little chuckle.
As people came in and out of the house with food, more guests arrived. The next arrival was Luna Lovegood. There were lots of hugs and lots of questions about Luna's various jewellery. Most remained just as confused after the explanations. Then came Kingsley, thankfully able to take the day away from the Ministry for the occasion. Hagrid arrived with a massive grin on and profuse apologies having, mercifully for the others, not brought Grawp along and Percy arrived with Penelope in tow with toothy grins and an expensive bottle of wine. The final guests to arrive brought a grin to Harry's face like few others ever could. A woman in her late 50s and a young toddler sprinting across the grass with, amusingly, bright ginger hair.
Harry jogged forward to meet his godson and picked him up in a great big hug.
"Unka Harry!"
"Hello Teddy! How are you my lovely? I see you've been excited to come to Aunt Molly and Uncle Arthur's house!" Everyone chuckled a little, noticing his choice of hair colour as well.
"Yup!" Teddy responded succinctly. "And Nana said I get to stay with you today!"
"Yes you do! I have been looking forward to it very much! We're gonna have a lot of fun this week!" Harry responded with what everyone could tell was genuine excitement.
In lieu of a vocal response, Teddy simply buried his head into Harry's neck and tightened his hold around him. Andromeda approached with an amused smile and gave Harry a brief hug around the three year old and then moved to say hello to everyone else.
With everyone having arrived, they all took their places at the table. Harry sat down with Ginny on one side of him and Hermione on the other, having placed Teddy on his stool next to Andromeda. As everyone settled, a sudden silence lay over them. Looking around, they all shared knowing smiles before everyone joined hands and closed their eyes. This was common custom nowadays, especially for this group when they all got together. This was a moment they took to remember all those they had lost in the war a few years ago. Harry, however, hesitated before closing his. This moment always scared him a little. When he closed his eyes, so many faces made there way into his mind. Sirius, Dumbledore, Dobby, Remus, Tonks, Ted, Fred, Moody, Colin, his parents, even Severus Snape crossed his mind. He reflected on the scars that had been gained in the process, Lavender and Bill, Neville's burns from the Sorting Hat, Hagrid's bites from the spiders and many more. He thought of the families who had lost so many, he thought of people who had to fight and kill and how that had been effecting them since, and he thought of Draco Malfoy. His hatred for him had waned of late, but developed into pity. While Harry wished he had a family growing up, Draco did but was lead down a path that he, seemingly, did not want to go down by that family.
Then, he remembered everything else. He remembered the hunt, he remembered the fight with Ron, he could feel the Locket strangling him while he was in that pond and he could feel Hermione's tortured screams ripping through him as he knew he was helpless to stop it. He remembered holding Dobby's lifeless body on the beach, he remembered his helplessness in front of the Dementors, he remembered forcing the potion down a traumatised Dumbledore's throat, witnessing Snape's murder and, finally, he remembered his own death. A bright green flash and a powerful hit to the chest when, mercifully, the pressure tight around his hands brought him back to the present.
He realised he had been shaking, crying and tensing his entire body all this time. However, he opened his eyes to see Hermione's pained expression, clearly having experienced the same. She experienced her torture again. She experienced the grief of letting her parents go again. She experienced seeing his dead body again. There eyes met and a silent understanding past between them. The trauma still got to them sometimes, especially in these moments. They were gradually improving but they still couldn't go 6 months without some kind of episode. They still needed the comfort of each other sometimes.
He squeezed her hand in support and she squeezed his back. He also felt another squeeze to his right hand, and turned to see Ginny eyeing him sympathetically. He then put on a brave smile to encourage her. From the other side of Hermione, Harry felt Ron's hand meet his shoulder in an act of comfort and solidarity. He turned and gave Ron a look of gratitude. He glanced ahead of him and saw George directing a wide smile his way with a single tear rolling down his cheek. Harry continued looking around the table and saw clear signs of similar experiences in that moment, but none quite as significant as his or Hermione's.
After another moment or two, there was a collective deep breath in and out before leaning forward to start the meal. Some comfortable conversation started. Neville spoke about how it was, starting at Hogwarts, the arrangement with Professor Sprout, who was only semi-retired at the moment, and definitely how weird it was sitting at the staff table. Arthur, Percy and Kingsley spoke about how the Ministry had been progressing, Harry and Andromeda told story after story about Teddy and everything he'd been doing and learning while Ron spoke often, and loudly, about what it's like training with the Cannons. He hadn't quite made the team yet but he was a reserve.
As one might expect, there was also a lot of reminiscing about Hogwarts, comments from Arthur, Molly and Hagrid about how strange it is to see all the kids grown up and there was, of course, some relentless teasing. Apparently, Harry and Ron weren't particularly good dates at the Yule Ball. Who would have thought!... Poor Padma and Parvati.
As the day went on, Harry looked around the table, chatted, laughed at the jokes and joined in for some of them too. But he also started thinking. For the longest time, he had tortured himself over all of the things these people were willing to do for him and how awful that made him feel. However, it all being over, it was finally sinking in. These people genuinely cared about him. They loved him. After growing up in a household he was not welcome in, he had found a group of people that loved him. And he loved them too. It seems, he'd finally started to get used to the fact that he might just have found his family and doesn't have to worry about being a danger to them anymore. No Voldemort, no prophecy and a world that was progressing. For the first time he could remember, he was letting himself be excited for the future.
But then Teddy started complaining about vegetables so he couldn't bask in those thoughts for long.