Epilogue

"and his children shall have a place of refuge" Proverbs 14:26

Hermione had known by the six month mark that she was definitely having twins, one boy and one girl. They were born a few weeks early on Halloween night. "What's with all the twins around anyway?" Hermione had grumbled, when she'd first found out.

"Wizards and witches are prone to them," Severus had informed her, secretly rather pleased that he'd have the pleasures of both a baby boy and a girl.

They decided to name the girl Charlotte after Hermione's grandmother and Severus as per his family tradition.

Due to wizarding medicine, childbirth was quite easy and painless so the twins' birth was a happy event with no real trauma. Severus' dark eyes had quickly examined the tiny babies immediately after they were born and was relieved to see their mother's features. The premature babies had looked ridiculously small in Severus' large, beautiful hands and the sight had made Hermione smile.

To Severus' satisfaction, they had his colouring but their mother's fine, symmetrical features. Charlotte had her mother's curly mop and Severus his father's fine, silky hair but both were dark eyed and ebony haired. Neither of them were out-going babies particularly but Charlotte had a strong will. Her first word was "no". Baby Severus was quiet and sensitive and watched everything going on around him with his large, dark eyes. Hermione could see his father clearly in the child's personality. Of course, he claimed that Charlotte was just like Hermione, particularly when she threw things in a temper.

Their first year passed peacefully with Hermione back at work less than a month after the babies were born. The Ministry was happy for her to continue her research with Luna between the Ministry labs and the Snape Manor, so she got to see the babies quite regularly throughout the day. Severus spent his holidays from Hogwarts and his evenings with the babies nearby. Whilst not the type of father who would get down on the floor and play with them, he did like to have them playing in the same room where he was reading or working. Occasionally he would even give them a bottle although it was rare, the House Elves did nearly all the tedious chores of child rearing. Hermione would lecture him about holding them every day so they could bond with him. He had no objection to that if they were clean and fed, and would often pause in his work and scoop them up in his arms just for the joy of holding them.

There were times that it felt surreal to be holding a beautiful baby in his arms, knowing it was his own. Other times, it felt like life had never been anything else but this and he couldn't imagine how else his life could have turned out otherwise. He had a secret soft spot for Charlotte because she reminded him so much of Hermione. Likewise, Hermione tended to indulge baby Severus because she wanted to nurture the sensitive spirit in him that had nearly been crushed out of his father.

The babies' first birthday was celebrated with a huge Halloween party at Snape Manor. Severus insisted on the decorations not being too scary for the babies' sake so they had to make do with jack o'lanterns and fake cobwebs and the ghosts of some of Severus' ancestors who the babies were already acquainted with and squeeled happily at whenever the ghosts dropped by the nursery.

Lily was there, still in her Chudley Canon overalls. She liked the twin babies and would play with them for hours, animating their toys for them while the adults looked on in wonder. Molly had come too of course, clutching one of the many plushies her daddy had won for her at Brighton that day. With Molly came the twins, now only a few years off Hogwarts' entrance age and already studying the first year texts as Padma told the other guests proudly.

The same retinue filled the Manor as two Christmases ago just before Voldemort came back. This time however, both Bill and Charlie were on holiday and visiting home so they came along too. "And when are you two going to settle down?" they could hear Molly Senior saying to them both at one point during the party. Severus and Hermione exchanged an amused glance. "Everyone else is married and settled with children and you're the only ones who haven't! You need to both find nice girls and start a family," she continued. Luna and Hermione burst out laughing but escaped to another room so they couldn't be overheard.

"But Mum!" Bill was saying. "Draco isn't married yet!"

"He's getting married in two weeks as you very well know!" Molly Senior said shrilly.

"I haven't told you," Luna said to Hermione. "I found out I'm pregnant."

Hermione grinned and hugged her. "I'm so happy for you both. How far along?"

"Only a few weeks. Won't show for the wedding thank goodness," Luna replied said nervously. "Feels weird, doesn't it? To be grown up and living in a stupidly big mausoleum with House Elves, and to be getting married and having kids. I still feel like a teenager. I don't feel old enough to be this responsible."

"I know exactly what you mean. There are days I still want to run away to Hogwarts and be a teenager again," she admitted ruefully.

Just then Draco walked in and came up to Luna, circling her still slender waist with one arm. "You aren't trying to put her off marriage now, are you?" he drawled, his pale eyes cool although Hermione knew he was joking.

"Nah. We're just mourning having to grow up at all," Hermione replied with a grin.

"It has its compensations," Severus said, coming into the room with baby Severus and Charlotte on each arm. He handed her Severus.

"So it does," Hermione said, making goo-goo noises at her son as she held him close to her face.

* * *

Luna and Draco got married at the Malfoy Manor, near the obsidian fountain that Hermione still didn't like. Draco asked Dumbledore to officiate as he had done at Hermione and Severus' wedding.

As it was not her wedding, Hermione could relax and watch the ceremony with interest. It was quite different to a Muggle wedding in that there were definitely magical elements to the ceremony. For one, when the vows were said, a silvery light glowed around them both and then joined into one entity. "And the two shall become one," Hermione murmured, as the idea struck her for the first time.

"What?" Severus asked, leaning down to her as they stood in the circle formed around the couple.

"And the two shall become one. It's from the Bible," Hermione said. "It's just that with wizards, you can physically see it," she observed. Severus stood close to her throughout the ceremony and she leaned in to him. In some ways, the bond had been similar when Severus had been her guardian. Again, the magical bond had been seen in light. Marriage was more encompassing however and seemed to take in the whole person, and the difference interested Hermione in a vague way.

As everyone's children had been left at Snape Manor with the House Elves, the celebrations lasted far into the night. Luna and Draco set off for their honeymoon in Norway (they both preferred the cold), and Ron and Harry had pulled Hermione onto the dance floor for most of the night in between dancing with Padma and Ginny. The butterbeer flowed freely and the trio got quite giggly as they danced with their arms around each other.

Much later, they were sitting around exhausted but too cheerful to leave. The delicate fairies that had lit up the garden for the party still hovered around but their light was dimmer close to dawn.

"I think Lily will be the one to defeat Voldemort once and for all," Hermione said quietly, sipping some water.

Harry looked at her keenly, suddenly more awake. "Do you think so?" he asked with a frown.

"We all thought that you would, 'boy who lived'," she teased. "But I think your role was to keep him at bay until all the right circumstances and powers came together in little Lily," she postulated.

"Do you really think he'll get out of Azkaban 'Mione?" Ron asked seriously.

"Yeah," Hermione said softly. "I think he will. It might hold him for longer than we hope but it won't hold him forever. It wasn't designed for the likes of Voldemort."

Severus' mouth thinned. He didn't want to think about Voldemort rising again. It had been bad enough when he had little to care about and even worse when he'd wanted to protect Hermione. Now he had little Severus and Charlotte to think of too. They were both already showing magical talent although nothing like Lily's power but he didn't want them exposed to a war the way he had been as a young man. Although they would not have the pressure to become Death Eaters hanging over them the way he had, he did not want that for his children - not on either side.

"We'll prepare our children the best we can but continue to hope Azkaban does hold him. That's all we can do," Padma said sensibly. Her common sense calmed Ron down immediately, as it always did.

"Yes," Ginny agreed, her brown eyes serious as she stroked her husband's unruly hair.

* * *

Christmas came around quickly after that and Luna and Draco hosted it at Malfoy Manor that year. "I would have thought you'd be sick of parties after the wedding," Ron joked as he arrived laden down with presents for everyone.

"Well actually, it's easier. The Manor has already been cleaned from top to bottom for the wedding so there is little to do apart from catering and decorations," Luna said with a smile, hugging Padma as she arrived.

New Year was held at the Snape Manor however and was a much more relaxed affair as there had been so many celebrations recently. The only real preparations that had been made were a spectacular fireworks display for midnight. The children were camped down in the nursery early on and left with the House Elves. Before that, Lily and Dumbledore had been having serious discussions sitting on the rug in front of the fire.

"I think she's telling him how to run Hogwarts," Ginny said anxiously, watching her extraordinary child.

"I don't think he minds," Harry replied as he watched Dumbledore's solemn expression at Lily's chatter and the twinkle of pleasure in his blue eyes.

Luna discovered that sitting on the floor meant that small children assumed you were a piece of furniture. Luna had not spent much time around children and so tended to be cautious in approaching them. The children she encountered at these parties had no such qualms. They came and sat on her whenever they felt like it. Draco found it vastly amusing to see a small person solemnly sit on her legs without hesitation or much regard for Luna's own comfort. Once Luna got used to their breath-taking unselfconsciousness, she rather liked it.

"I wonder what Luna and Draco's children will look like," Hermione mused aloud to Harry.

"I'd say the Malfoy genes are dominant. Look at his father - as blonde as Draco," he replied.

"Yeah but his mother was blonde too," Hermione pointed out.

"Not as blonde as Lucius or Draco," Harry said mildly.

"True," Hermione agreed.

"Wouldn't it be amazing to see a child with Draco's hair and Luna's eyes?" Padma interjected.

"That would look very striking," Ginny said thoughtfully.

"I hate to think what the child's disposition will be like taking into account that Luna and Draco are every bit as bad as each other," Severus said drily.

"Don't worry. We had misgivings about any child you produced as well Severus," Ron replied cheekily.

"Just as well he had Hermione's genes to counteract the damage," Harry snickered.

"Yeah, they're both really cute. Who'd have thought?" Ron said, laughing outright.

Hermione shook her head at Ron and Harry, and sighed. "You two! Well, one thing is for sure. They'll both be bright," she said smugly.

"Just as long as they don't go lugging huge tomes all over Hogwarts the way you did 'Mione," Harry grinned.

"Yeah, boring all their friends to death with schoolwork!" Ron complained.

"She saved your skins quite a few times because of what she knew as I recall," Severus said a touch frostily.

"Yeah, she saved us from your detentions quite often too!" Harry said, laughing.

Severus smiled thinly. "I'll have a word with her about that later," he said, his deep voice more caressing than severe as his dark eyes flicked over her.

They all went outside for the countdown to midnight, standing around blazing braziers in the cold. The grandfather clock in the Manor struck Midnight and the sky exploded with brilliant fireworks. The crowd of friends and family cheered. The display went on for a good half hour. "Happy New Year" was etched across the sky in huge letters of silver and gold when it happened.

Suddenly, over the woodlands on the Manor grounds, rose something familiar and horrible. The crowd went silent. A grinning skull with a serpent coming from its mouth formed from lurid green stars rose up out of the darkness.

"Who dares!" Severus hissed furiously, his deepset eyes gleaming with fury in the half-light. He took out his wand and was about to stalk into the wood alone.

"Severus! Wait. Hagrid, Harry, Ron, Padma, Draco, Luna and Hermione will go with you," Dumbledore called, holding up one hand commandingly. "Ginny and Remus, go and check that the children are safe and keep guard over them. The rest of us will spread out over the Manor and check all the rooms."

The small group apparated into the heart of the woodlands. It didn't take long to find where the incantation had been done using tracking spells and the still bright Dark Mark as a guide. To his annoyance, the Dark Mark on Severus' arm tingled as they got closer to it. He exchanged glances with Draco in the shadows under the trees. He obviously felt the same sensation as one pale hand went to his forearm unconsciously.

Of course, whoever had done it was long gone. The woods were too big to search and they couldn't do a location charm without knowing who they were looking for. Lighting up their wands, they searched for clues. They found footprints but only one set and they were lost in the dead leaves on the forest floor outside the small clearing so they could not follow them. Remus found a small shred of cloth caught by a tree root. It was fresh and was black with a strip of the same lurid green as the Dark Mark in the sky above them. "Death Eater robes," Severus said flatly, having looked at them. Draco nodded in agreement.

"But only one," Hermione said, thinking aloud.

"A rogue?" Luna suggested. "Just a lone nutter?"

"Could be," Draco replied softly. His eyes met with Severus' again and they exchanged a knowing look.

"Let's report back to Dumbledore," Harry said seriously. They apparated back to the Manor.

Dumbledore examined the cloth gravely. Nothing had been found in the Manor and the children were safe. "It does appear to be a lone Death Eater but why would he or she want to operate alone with Voldemort in Azkaban?" Dumbledore said meditatively.

"Maybe they know something we don't," Ron said, his freckled lips tight.

"Or maybe they knew we would all be gathered here tonight and just chose to upset us for the hell of it," Padma said quite rationally.

"They risked being caught with all of us here," Ginny said, having left the nursery when the others got back.

"Not really. Not using the woodlands for cover. As soon as the incantation was said, all they had to do was run to a different part of the woods and apparate before we could get there," Dumbledore said gently. "I don't think we should waste anymore time worrying about it. If it was a serious Death Eater attack, something more would have happened by now," he added.

"It means they are still out there; still loyal," Remus said in his quiet way.

"Undoubtedly. We could never get them all. Still, if it is only one Death Eater tonight and it looks like it is then the wizarding world is the safest it has been since before Voldemort's rise over 30 years ago. They might want to remind us that they are still out there but all they can do is try and frighten us, they don't have the power to harm us any longer," Dumbledore said reassuringly.

Severus and Hermione said goodbye to a subdued group of visitors in the early hours of New Year's Day. They would meet and discuss the matter again soon, Hermione knew but for now everyone just wanted to get home with their sleepy children.

Severus was saying goodbye to the Hogwarts teachers who were the last to leave. Hermione went to the large, leaded windows and looked out over the grounds. The Dark Mark had faded to just pale green smoke by then and would soon be gone. She didn't know if what happened that night was a warning of things to come or just the last echo of something that had ended for good. She wondered if the black unicorn would ever run again and her eyes were drawn to the dark forest beyond their own grounds and woodlands. Only time would tell.

Severus, who had spotted her by the window, guessed her thoughts. She always had a certain look on her face when she was thinking about the black unicorn - a mixture of seriousness, longing and sadness. He came and stood behind her like a tall shadow and put his hands on her shoulders. She turned around and lifted her face to his, and he kissed her. There would be time enough to worry later, she thought as his kiss deepened and he pulled her closer to himself.

FINIS

A/N - Chapter titles throughout from Jewel's album "Spirit".