Epilogue: Graduation
*****
The day was bright and sunny. A perfect day for the end of their stay at Hogwarts; most of the seventh years were wandering the grounds with their friends and family. There was no official graduation ceremony, but Dumbledore had planned a 'simple' reception for later on in the afternoon.
Alinora wasn't expecting any family to come today. There was no easy way for her mom to travel to the school and they'd decided to just wait until she and George arrived for their visit to celebrate. So, instead, she was waiting with George, his siblings Harry and Hermione who were all waiting for the rest of the Weasley clan to arrive. As Ali had not yet met his family, she was trying not to get too nervous. She would be visiting with them for a while after the visit to see her mom.
She was, therefore, quite surprised to glance around and actually see a familiar figure heading in their direction.
"Hey, is that…?" Harry began to ask.
"Uncle Remi?!?" Ali screamed as she went tearing off across the lawn towards a middle aged man with gray flecked brown hair.
"…Professor Lupin?" Harry concluded distractedly as they watched Ali throw herself into the man's arms.
"Looks like it to me. He's her uncle?" Ron responded, looking slightly confused.
George only smiled and shrugged. "Ali's definition of who's family is a bit different than ours…"
Remus Lupin, otherwise known as Remi, glanced up in surprise and looked rather startled until he recognized who was running towards him.
"Alinora!" He hugged her, then pushed back to stare down at her in shock. "What have you done to your hair?!? No wonder I didn't recognize you at first. Your Grandmother is not going to like this at all."
Ali laughed and ran a hand through her mass of short curls that had replaced her normally waist length wavy hair.
"Ginny wanted to know what my hair would look like short. She didn't believe me when I told her how curly it would get. Don't worry, I'll definitely be growing it back out before I visit Grandmother- I'm sure she'd take it as a mortal affront that any woman in her line wouldn't have the stereotypical long hair…" Ali grinned mischievously. "Though even if I can't grow it out soon enough it still was worth it to see George's expression when I showed up this morning for breakfast." she said, turning to smile and sticking her tongue out at the redhead in question. He was quick to return the favor.
"George Weasley?"
"Uhh huh."
"Ali… are you seeing George Weasley?"
"Oh, everyday Uncle Remi."
"Don't give me that troublemaker. Are you dating George Weasley?"
"Of course. You mean Mom or Dumbledore hadn't mentioned it to you?"
Remi laughed. "Dumbledore had mentioned that I would be amused by whom you had 'captured', but it didn't occur to me whom he was referring to."
"And why would you be amused?"
"When I was teaching here, Albus had asked me about you; since I'd been teaching you off and on over the years and had gotten to know you quite well. I mentioned a few of your more memorable stunts that I'd been witness to and stated that I pitied anyone here if you ever met up with the Weasley twins since between the three of you I felt you'd probably tear down the school."
"Humm, I'm sure you're right, but we've managed to keep the damage to a minimum. In fact, I think I've had rather a good effect on both of them." she said, grinning cheekily up at him. Remus only laughed and reached out to ruffle her hair and give her another hug.
As she stepped back, Alinora caught a glimpse of someone coming around the corner of the building, walking in their direction. "Remi, is Sara coming today too?"
"Possibly. Albus did mention that he'd notified a few of your former teachers about today and had invited them to attend."
"Well, if that's really Sara I'd better go grab her before she gets into any sort of trouble… though she actually looks rather normal today, which I find even more disturbing. You'd better go join the Weasley clan- you can explain the whole 'Uncle' thing which I'm sure has confused them completely!" She lifted up on her toes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek before she was off running again, this time yelling for "Sara!"
Remus chuckled and walked over to check out the supposedly reformed Weasley twins…
*****
By the time Alinora caught back up to Remi later on that day, she'd picked up not only Sara, but another former teacher who'd come to help celebrate the day, a big, bear-like man known to Ali as Unca Gerry. To everyone else, they were known as Remus Lupin, Sara Reinhold and Gerald Blackstaff, but to her they were family; and therefore had their own unique identities, which she happily continued to refer to them by.
They had finally gotten away from the various Professors who were interested in meeting Ali's 'family' and had found a secluded area of the grounds to talk for a while. Alinora had searched in vain for George and his family, but, despite her best efforts, had been unable to successfully be in the same place as them the whole day. If nothing else, she had arranged to meet George a little later on to leave for home.
"So, Ali, are you sure that this is such a good idea? Moody isn't quite the most…" Remi broke off, searching for the right word for what he wanted to say.
"…stable of individuals?" Sara finished for him, shooting Ali a grin.
Remi gave a short laugh and then nodded. "That'll do. He was a great Auror, don't get me wrong, but have you thought this through? Is this really how you want to do things? The music career you want will be more than enough to keep you busy. Adding in espionage, or whatever it is that Moody's been suggesting, could be very dangerous! If you're sure this is what you want, is he the best one to be training you?"
Alinora smiled and reached out a hand to briefly grasp his. "Remi, I have thought this through, long and hard in fact. And he didn't come to me; I went to Dumbledore, and this is what we decided would work best. We considered what I want and the needs of Mr. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" She fell over on the grass, laughing at the startled jumps of those around her as she yelled Moody's notorious catch phrase. Sara reached over and hit her.
"That was unnecessary." Sara remarked, but Ali could tell that she was trying to hide a smile. "Fine then, if you're quite set on it you know we'll help you all as much as we can. Just let us know. But, to turn things to much more important topics… so, when are we going dancing?" Both men groaned and Ali laughed. Sara's fondness for muggle dance clubs was notorious.
"Well, I'm spending the next week visiting Mom, the week after that will be with the Weasley's then I'll be returning to the place in Hogsmeade where I lived last summer. Katie's moving in with me. Other than that and the big party for Harry's birthday- which I'm sure you're invited to Remi, but don't mention it as it is a surprise- I could go whenever. If you find somewhere that will allow 15 year olds, we can drag Ginny and Katie too and have a complete Girl's Night Out."
The look in Alinora's eyes, as well as the expression of glee on Sara's face, was beginning to scare the other two. Gerry was making mental plans to be as far out of the country as possible before the two would have a chance to get together to do anything. He was very relieved to see a tall, red-haired boy walking in their direction. "Is that the 'George' I've been hearing about?"
Alinora glanced over her shoulder in the direction Gerry was pointing and they watched as her face lit up. "Yes, that's him!" Jumping up, she quickly went to meet him and bring him over to join them. Returning arm in arm, they joined the others seated on the ground.
"George, I know you know my Uncle Remi, but this is Sara Reinhold- who refuses to be called anything other than Sara, despite my best efforts- and Unca Gerry Blackstaff. I've known them all for many years- I've known Gerry so long that when I first met him I couldn't even say 'uncle' which is why he will forever be 'unca' to me." She laughed and smiled mischievously at them. "And this is George." she said simply, leaning in towards him with a very content look on her face. They were exchanging general pleasantries about holiday plans and future aspirations when they were interrupted.
Looking up and behind her, Alinora was surprised to see Professor Snape standing there. "Miss Roane, might I have a word with you?"
"Of course Professor." Rising to her feet, Ali turned back to say she'd be back soon, before following Snape a short distance away.
The others watched them leave with various expressions. Finally, Remi turned back to George. "You will look after her, won't you? She often tries to do too much and I'm afraid she may get herself into trouble over it. I do feel better knowing that she won't be alone, but… I've had to bury her father, and watch her mother leave as well. I don't want to see anything bad happen to her like I've seen with so many others over the years." He looked very tired and sad.
"Of course I will. She means the world to me and I will never willingly let anything bad happen to her. She has a mind of her own though, there's only so much you can do to protect her from herself, but I'll do what I can. We all will." George's response was as serious as he could make it. Nothing bad would ever happen to Ali if he had anything to say about it.
*****
"You had something to say to me Professor?" Alinora stared curiously up at the one Professor she had least expected to search her out today.
"Yes." He paused for a moment, considering her gravely, yet without his customary evil smirk. Finally, he extended his right hand out to her, "I wanted to wish you… good luck with your future endeavors. I have a feeling you'll need it, not because of any lack of skill on your part," he clarified, Ali still staring at him in confusion, "but because I think you and your friends have taken on a very difficult role."
Still reeling in shock, Alinora extend her hand to shake his. Withdrawing her hand, she stared at him intensely. "I appreciate that, but I admit to being a bit confused as to why you bothered. You've spent the past year alternating between ignoring me and pushing me to the breaking point. Why this? Why now?"
Snape gave her a slightly frosty smile, considering his answer. "I've had an idea of what you've been planning for quite a while. I also felt you were too young, not well enough trained and not qualified to handle such a responsibility- let alone drag your fellow classmates in with you. But through my testing, I've changed my mind. I still think you have a ways to go before you're ready, but I think you'll do. Though it pains me to say that to someone from Gryffindor." he concluded in a more normal, sour, tone of voice.
"I'll accept that, though it does appear that I have my Slytherin connections too, if that makes you feel better." Ali smirked at him. "If that's all Professor, I need to be gathering up my belongings and heading home…"
He simply nodded and, smiling in farewell, Ali turned to rejoin George and the others. As she walked away, she thought she heard one last comment…
"… and you're the only student who has ever been brave enough to ask me to dance…"
Ali smirked. Maybe that random invitation to dance hadn't been quite so stupid after all…
*****
Finally having escaped from friends, family and the staff, George and Alinora had been able to collect their very shrunken and lightened trunks. Hands clasped, they made their way up through the halls of the school until they reached Professor Dumbledore's office. They had been given permission to use his fireplace to floo to a safe location not far from Ali's home.
Entering the office and looking around, they saw no sign of Dumbledore. Carefully, they made their way over to the fireplace. George began looking around for the floo powder, but quickly stopped as he noticed Ali head directly towards a large lion figure standing nearby. Stopping directly in front of it, she stuck her hand out, saying Watermelon Jolly Rancher before placing her hand into the mouth of the lion. Though it growled faintly, she was able to retract her hand safely holding the necessary floo powder.
Handing half of it to George, Alinora grinned mischievously at him. Tilting her head to the side, she cocked one eye brow and looked at him. "Last chance. Sure you're up for this?"
"Bring it on," he grinned in return, "compared to my family, this is nothing!"
"Okay then. Let's go." she said, flinging her handful of powder into the fire. "Wayfarer's Inn" she stated firmly, stepped into the green flames and was gone.
