Epilogue

A/N: It's been a strange ride, but now the roller coaster is coming to a stop. There will be another trip to take as soon as the track can be changed to make us go in another direction… this epilogue is pretty crappy, and pretty much doubles as a prologue for the sequel.

Thanks to everyone who read this and thanks again to everyone who reviewed. You guys are the reason why I attempted something other than a oneshot. If you're not interested in the sequel, which I still can't think of a name for, I'll be working on a post-HBP AU fic detailing how James and Lily got together and how Harry got to know the parents he never had. Now! On with the fic!

Eleven year olds Morgana Potter and Andrew Weasley ran through Diagon Alley, nine-year-old James Potter clinging to his sister's robes. Ten-year-old Vulpecula Lupin was ahead of them, mad because of her mother's insistence of calling her by her proper name rather than her nickname.

Harry and Amanda Potter, Ron and Hermione Weasley, and Remus and Nymphadora Lupin had brought their children to Diagon Alley to shop for school things. Vulpy Lupin wouldn't be starting until next year, but she wanted to accompany her best friends. Remus had promised to help his daughter and her friends with their secret desire, and promised that she could get a book on the subject, which she had clutched to her chest.

Rejoining her friends after calming down, Vulpy put her head together with Andy and Morgana as they walked. The three used James as a shield, keeping him in front so they could read and walk at the same time. "Ok, you lot, come on!" Harry's voice called from Ollivander's wand shop. This was the part of the trip that Andy and Morgana had been looking forward to.

"Ah, the young miss Potter and the elder cousin of the terrorists who roam Diagon Alley." Ollivander said, coming from a back room in the shop. "Mr. Weasley, we'll get to you in a second, I want to test my theory with Miss Potter." The wand maker said, pulling a dusty box from one of the innumerable shelf. He handed Morgana a pristine cherry wand. "Ten and one quarter inches, phoenix feather," he said, "give it a wave." She did so, sending red sparks across the room. "Excellent, excellent! Ah, Mr. Potter! Your second feather has been taken. Your daughter, it seems, will do great things." Harry smiled at Morgana, examining her new wand; it felt just as natural to him as his own.

"Now, Mr. Weasley, for you we'll try… yes, I think Hornbeam and dragon heartstring, ten inches," the wand was taken back before Andrew could try anything. "Redwood and phoenix feather, nine and a half inches," again it was snatched back before Andrew moved. "Holly and unicorn hair, sixteen and three quarter inches," he took the wand back and replaced it with another, "Willow and unicorn hair, fourteen and a quarter inches." The wand shot silver sparks across the room. "There we are!" Ron and Harry handed over the galleons for the wands and ushered the two children from the store.

Morgana, Vulpecula, Andrew, and James sat at a table outside of Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor, the three older kids reading Vulpecula's book. "This looks hard, Vulpy. Do you guys really think we can do it?" Morgana asked, trying to make sense of the words on the page, willing herself to learn something that most adult wizards would find difficult.

"Sure, why not? You can do anything you want, all you need is determination." Vulpy replied, studying the book. "Besides, I'll be able to study all year, and you two can look in the books at Hogwa…" she trailed off when a pair of redheads came bouncing toward them. Allison and Michael Weasley were heading toward them with broad grins on their faces. Though she was only ten, Vulpecula had fancied Michael for as long as she could remember; she wasn't sure what to do about feelings like the ones she had for him. All she knew was that she couldn't speak around him, and she felt as though she walked on air whenever he spoke to her.

"Hey guys," Allison began "Uncle Fred gave us these." She held out her hands, which held a small hard candy each.

"Dad says they're called Sorting Sweets. Uncle George told us that you two should eat one. It tells you what house you're most likely to be in at Hogwarts." Michael said, waiting for Morgana and Andrew to take the candies from his cousin. When they did, they looked at the candy with a suspicious eye, not wanting to turn into anything in the middle of Diagon Alley. They ate the candy with trepidation. With a pop they both turned scarlet and their hair turned gold.

Amanda gasped, seeing her daughter change colors. Fury and fear overtook her before she realized that it was most likely a joke, considering the people who joined their table. Ron and Harry laughed, earning them a slap on the back of their heads from Hermione.

Remus and Nymphadora were due back at Hogwarts to prepare for the feast the following day, so they had to hurry home. Nymphadora stood up and looked over to her daughter's table. "Vulpecula, come on, we have to go home!"

"Don't call me Vulpecula!"

Morgana and Andrew were soon carted off to their homes as well. They had lots of new things and had to prepare for their first year at Hogwarts.

Harry and Ron took the following morning off from work to see their kids onto the train. Since they were partners in a sort of detective agency they had started (sometimes the methods they used were less than ministry approved, but hardly illegal. They could do as they pleased, unlike the M.L.E.S. or Aurors), it was fairly easy to skive off. Amanda was working at St. Mungo's that night, so she was free to see them off, and Hermione was working at home on a project regarding House Elf rights for the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures; a morning off would be good for her as well.

As the kids got on the train, their mothers looked like they were about to cry, and claimed that they were growing up too quickly.

Morgana walked back from the prefect's meeting to find her brother, her boyfriend, her best friend, and the twins' terrors sharing a compartment. Despite living in Hogsmeade, Vulpy always rode the train with everyone else, and like the previous year, she was the first to welcome Morgana back from the prefect meeting.

"What's new in prefect land?" Vulpy asked, blushing profusely. Morgana quickly saw why, the small compartment was rather crowded, and she was squashed between Michael Weasley and the compartment wall. Mikey, of course, was oblivious. Must be a Weasley boy thing. She guessed, taking the only available seat: Andrew's lap. Andrew woke suddenly and smiled at his girlfriend. "Nothing new, really, Parkinson is still a prefect, somehow… that cow. I heard that she slept with all the Slytherin Quidditch team last year, McGonagall knows about it too!"

"Don't worry about that cow, as long as she doesn't try to sleep with the Gryffindor team." Vulpy said, laughing. Everyone else snorted with laughter.

"Let's see," Michael said, looking as though he were deep in thought, "I don't think she would ever try anything like that with a Weasley, so we're safe. The Potters are out too. She hates the pair of you. Then there's you, Vulpy, and I don't think you're her type." Vulpy laughed, blushing faintly as she did so. She had known him all his life and still he could make her feel incredibly shy. No one else could ever hope to do that.

"Oi! Morgana and I aren't exactly her types either, dear cousin. Who knows, she might brew a love potion for James, Andy, and you to get revenge or something." Allison said, laughing.

"Can we change the subject?" Morgana's tone suggested that it wasn't a question.
"Time for a bit of a break, I think. Sixth year should be easier, right between O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s, the most we'll be doing is helping Vulpy with her work!" Morgana shifted slightly and turned her upper body to face everyone else. "Maybe we can help you three too." She said, laughing at her brother's glare.

"You'll help us or we'll tell Uncle Ron and Uncle Harry about your dirty little secret!" Michael said, his eyes daring them to refuse helping them. Vulpecula raised her eyebrow.

"What secret? I don't know what you're talking about. Any secrets we have aren't dirty, and Vulpy knows all about them." Morgana countered, Vulpy's eyebrow lowered.

"Of course Vulpy knows, but we won't tell on her. She'll be too busy with her own work to help anyone. Besides, it's her secret too."

The Weasleys, Potters, and solitary Lupin rode the rest of the way playing chess and exploding snap; the younger students assured that they would have help if they asked. As the train pulled into Hogsmeade station, they left for the carriages in good spirits and looking forward to another year at Hogwarts.

A/N 2: On with the sequel, I'll try to make it better than this one. It'll be mostly about the younger students but the adults will be there as well.

I don't have a title for the sequel yet, but as soon as I think of one, I'll put the first chapter up.

If the names don't come from JKR, then they're creations of my dear friend and co-author, Amanda. Blame her. She mostly stole our friends' names. She wanted James Potter's middle name to be Albus, but I had to intervene. Too many fanfics use that name… then again a lot use James Sirius too… Sometime in the next fic I'll give everyone a middle name and a birthday or something.

Like many members of the Black family, Vulpecula's namesake can be found by looking at the night sky. Sirius, Regulus, Bellatrix, Andromeda, and possibly more names from the tapestry at Grimmauld Place are either stars or constellations. Andromeda, if I'm not mistaken, is also a galaxy. Vulpecula is a constellation, known to most English speaking people as Little Fox.