(A/N: Thank you to all of my diligent readers! I hope you enjoy this very ending-like ending! I had some alternate endings but this I decided worked the best. Hope you like it!)

Coughing slightly, I wiped the dust off of the old tome's faded green jacket.

What dialect of Ancient Gaelic is this? I marveled inwardly. The letters were strange to me. I'd have to get out the decoder again. Groaning, I dropped the book irritably on the pile next to me. Seven books worth of decoding. Holy cows, sheep and cattle. The third lower level of Avalon's Books was dry and dusty, unlike the fourth and fifth lower levels, which were damp and humid. Pieces of dust and dirt clung to my jeans, shirt, and hair like hungry bugs.

Something behind me made an odd noise. I turned around to look.

Nothing.

Frowning, I turned back to the shelf and kept my ears perked for the scuttling sound.

Probably another acromantula offspring. Damn, this place is full of them. I kept my hand poised over my wand and cautiously continued wiping dust off of the same book. Or a chizpurfle, I'm not sure which would be worse.

"Hey Fynn,"

I squealed and leapt into the air, throwing the person's hand off of my shoulder. No sooner was I up than my wand was at the man's throat.

"Tynan!" I took my wand down. "You scared the hell out of me,"

"At least it's gone now," he grinned mischievously, black eyes flashing. Tynan had a dark face with dark hair and thick eyebrows. His nose was straight, sharp and strong. He had a very serious face, but he wasn't always so serious.

"Haha." I said sarcastically. "What's up?"

"Well, you have a couple of visitors on main-level," he spoke in his thick Scottish accent.

"Who?"

"If I told you that, where's your jolly surprise?"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, I'll go up in a minute." I crouched down to grab my books.

"Need a hand?" Tynan offered.

I pushed four thick books into his chest. "Righto."

"Four?"

"Seven," I picked up the other three. "I'll be working late tonight, friend."

"I feel sorry for you,"

"Liar,"

"I know."

We walked through the maze of bookshelves and mysterious trap doors. Candle light flickered across the floor but provided weak light in such a large room. There was a transport pad glowing gold up ahead. We stood on the buzzing and crackling plate and Tynan demanded that it take us to main-level. A few seconds later, we were in the large marble library of the main floor. It was by some called the "safe" floor. The higher up you went, the more dangerous the books and the more guards were on duty. No one was allowed downstairs except highly experienced and trained workers, such as Tynan and myself. It was a jungle down there. Sometimes literally. Part of our training had involved becoming Animagi. I had predictably become a dove. Tynan was a spider. He had probably been the one scuttling around on fourth bottom.

"Favian!"

"HERMIONE!" I dropped my books and ran over to greet her. My bushy-haired friend was holding two babies in her arms. "Twins?"

"Not identical, thank goodness," she said, beaming at me.

Ron stood next to her, hunched over a bit awkwardly. "We were worried they'd turn out like Fred and George."

"You mean incredibly good-looking, intelligent and wealthy?" Fred and George were there too! They stepped out from behind a shelf. "Hey Miss Fynn, it has been awhile."

I laughed and clapped my hands together. "Can I hold one?"

Hermione handed me the one dressed in pink, presumably a girl. "That one is Favian."

I looked at the small child and felt tears welling in my eyes. Her eyes were closed firmly shut as I held her against myself. She was beautiful.

"Thank you," I whispered. "Who's the big boy?" I asked, indicating with my head the second child.

"Oh, this is Albus,"

"Good name," I said grinning. Professor Dumbledore had died a decade ago during the final battle. Harry had come a few seconds too late to save him, but Dumbledore had gone down with a smile on his ancient face. His last words had been to express how proud he was of everyone. He would have been pleased to know that his name lived on.

"FAVIAN! You're up here now!" Ginny peeked over the railing of the stairs. She ran downstairs, a small baby in her arms too. There was a tuft of jet black hair on his head.

"Don't jostle that kid too much! He's beautiful; you don't want him getting hurt!" I laughed.

Ginny smiled, flushed and out of breath. "I see you've met Favian and Albus. Say hello to little Sirius."

"Amazing," I breathed. "Everyone's here…. Where's Harry?"

"I'm here," Harry arrived downstairs, a book on Dark magic clutched to his side.

Harry had become Defense teacher at Hogwarts after he hadn't achieved desired scores on all of his NEWTs. Hermione was teaching Arithmancy and Transfiguration at the school. Ron was working for the Ministry in Magical Games and Sports. Ginny was a stay-at-home mom now and Fred and George still had their joke shop.

"It's out-done Zonko's," George told me eagerly. "It's brilliant."

"Never see your smiling face in there," Fred scolded.

"She's a steady worker," Tynan said, punching my shoulder. "Rarely leaves to eat."

I shook my head at him and rocked little Favian gently. "And you never do any work unless it suits you, worthless turd."

"So you must be the famous Harry Potter," Tynan said, striding eagerly forward to grasp his hand, "I was a few years ahead of you in Hogwarts, Ravenclaw."

"Nice to meet you," Harry said nodding deeply.

Tynan moved around, recognizing everyone quickly.

"Fred!" Tynan laughed. "You hit a Bludger at me about a zillion times!"

"I'm George,"

"Don't be stupid, I am," George shoved Fred away.

"Where are you all staying?" I asked eagerly.

"Oh, right in the hotel nearby," Ginny answered.

"How long are you all staying?"

"Well, Harry and I have a lot of research to be getting on with, so probably until mid-August," Hermione chattered. "Avalon is positively massive. I'm so excited to be here, so much to learn…."

"And of course, there's you, which adds icing to the cake," Fred winked.

"Of course we won't disturb you while you're working," Hermione said sternly.

"Couldn't if you wanted to," I rolled my eyes. "I work downstairs most of the time. But we'll all have dinner together, right?" I asked eagerly.

"Excellent! We were hoping you'd want to!" George clapped his hands together firmly.

"Wish granted," I winked. "But I will see you all this evening; I have to get started on this poo-load of work." I jabbed my thumb irritably over my shoulder at the pile of books on the floor.

"Right then, let's go look for that spell that old mister Zonko never told us about," Fred and George charged off. Hermione took little Favian back and went upstairs with Ron and Ginny. Harry stayed last.

"I just wanted to say," he said softly, trying to block the ever-curious Tynan out of the conversation, "that I'm sorry I haven't kept in touch."

"Pshaw, don't worry, we've all been busy," I waved a hand.

"You've been a good friend, don't forget it," he pat my shoulder. "See you tonight."

"Later," I agreed.

Tynan helped me bring the heavy books upstairs and we grabbed a bunch of decoder scrolls. Sitting at the large oak table, we took quills and parchment and set to work.

"Something I don't understand," Tynan muttered, "is why you and Harry didn't get married."

I sighed and sat back. Tynan looked up. "Well, we broke up in the middle of seventh year." I explained.

"Why?" He frowned.

"It was too hard dating him anymore. It felt so awkward. Furthermore, our career choices wouldn't have meshed at all."

Every time we kissed during our last weeks together, I was reminded of Voldemort. It was too wrong. I didn't tell this to Tynan because I didn't want to say it to anyone. Only Harry and I knew about it. Our relationship after we broke up was really distant for awhile but near the time for NEWTs, we began talking like old times and were good friends again. Hermione and Ron began to date in the middle of sixth year and were like a constant comedy show. It was disastrous but good fun. When Ginny and Harry got married, I won't deny that I was jealous in the beginning. She was so beautiful on her wedding day, I couldn't help thinking "that could have been me."

"Oh, that's crappy,"

"Eh," I shrugged. "We're still friends, it's all good."

Tynan looked down at his book again and frowned. "You still have nightmares sometimes, don't you."

"Yeah, but that's okay," I shrugged.

"Why don't you keep in contact with your friends more?"

"Too busy," I admitted.

"What about your muggle friends?"

I started. "I haven't talked to them since the plane crash."

"Oh, that's right," Tynan shook his head. "Sorry."

"'S okay," I thought about Ming and Julie and wondered how they were doing.

"You chose an odd life to live,"

"Thank you," I said sarcastically.

"No, seriously," Tynan twiddled his quill while looking for a letter in his decoder. "Obviously you have a lot of friends who love you very much, yet you chose a life of seclusion."

"I wouldn't say that."

"Then what do you call locking yourself up in your work?"

"Staying on task, fool,"

"You don't stay in contact with friends," Tynan said darkly, "that's not healthy,"

"You're a friend."

"Yeah, well, I mean life friends. You only just met me a few years ago."

"My 'life friends,'" I trailed off looking for a letter, and then returned to my thought, "all think I'm dead."

"I mean like Potter and Granger… rather Hermione Weasley now, and the Weasley's."

I shrugged. "I've never really been a part of them. Harry, Ron and Hermione were best friends,"

"I know that,"

"…and Ginny and her brothers… I came along and left again."

"They came to visit you. Those are good friends,"

I drew up tall in my seat. "Tynan, I don't know if you've noticed how much we have to do or not, but we really don't have time to get all chatty about my ethics. I'm happy with the life I've chose. You are a good friend. Lars, Petyr, Jurgis, Mark and Janis are good friends. Sylvia is a good friend. I have a life here."

"Yeah, but what about the one you left behind?"

"Which one?" I retorted. "The one I was forced to leave or the one that left me?"

"The Hogwarts group," Tynan responded smoothly. "They were with you through thin times,"

"And I with them, but a lot of it is too painful…." I cut myself short. "Tynan, let's leave this conversation for another time, please."

"Alright, alright," Tynan retreated in defeat to his scrolls.

After dinner that night, I realized how much I had missed the company of my old companions. I certainly loved the new very much but the old ones had something that the new didn't. We had memories, good and bad, and I loved the way they could make me laugh. It made me want to return to the States to find Ming and tell her everything that had happened, but I was afraid to. I couldn't do that. I couldn't confuse her. It would be cruel and selfish. However, I could remain in contact with these friends. Tynan had been right, I shouldn't have underestimated how much old friends can mean to a person.

When the Weasleys and the Potters left, we made a vow to visit at least once a year. I had a withstanding invitation to 12 Grimmauld Place, where Harry and Ginny and little Sirius lived now. The Burrow was always open to me. Hermione even said that I could come as a guest speaker to Hogwarts sometime, or even just for a visit. Tynan reassured me again and again that I could easily get time off. I hadn't missed a day in all my years of working there.

Tynan and I were hanging out one evening on the shore. The mists were creeping up to the grounds. Tynan had asked cautiously for a description of what life had been like at Hogwarts for me. I told him about the Aviata business, about how the school had been really strange after the defeat of Voldemort, how awkward I felt from thereon in, how people sometimes talked about me as though I were some bizarre thing, how they all knew what I had done with Harry to help win the war, how I hadn't dated anyone since.

"You need to get laid, Ms. Fynn."

I rolled my eyes.

"If I weren't your best friend, I would give you a mercy lay,"

"Why does that stop you, hm?"

"Because, then you'd be awkward around me too, and I don't want you running away just because we had sex once."

I laughed.

Life, I knew, didn't need to end badly just because it started that way. I would visit my friends and I would live somewhat happily ever after. I would forever miss my parents but maybe I would one day "meet" Ming again. Maybe I would tell her everything.

Tom Marvolo Riddle hadn't destroyed my life, he had simply given me another.