The Future Awaits
Chapter 37: Epilogue

"So, if a man can finish 4 cookies in a minute, how many cookies would he have eaten in 5 minutes?" questioned a man to an eight year old boy.

The dark haired, grey eyed boy looked up at the ceiling, apparently calculating before looking back down at his father. "Should I also consider the time he takes to pause for drinks? He might as well choke if he stuffed all those cookies non-stop."

Sirius Black stared at his son with a stern face, before heaving a defeated sigh, muttering to himself, "Like mother like son."

"Well, just cut that logic out, will you?"

The boy shrugged and went back to calculating the problem sum. "Twenty! 4 multiply by 5 is twenty!" he exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Good," Sirius patted the boy's head.

It has been almost nine years since he and Hermione were married. They had moved in to Sirius' old apartment which he had bought over again. The apartment itself was pretty big considering it was a maisonette. And also, it has been eight and half years since Ron was born.

Yes. Ron. They had decided to name their first child, Ron. Ronald Jamison Black. It was Sirius who suggested the first name, while Hermione chose the middle one, in the memory of their friend, James Potter.

Even at the age of eight, his son was already a lady killer. All the women who occasionally came for a visit never failed to dote upon the Black junior. Hermione had expressed that their son had definitely inherited his 'dashing' looks. Sirius snorted at that thought as another memory flashed back at him; the day he left his dignity behind and proposed to her.

xxx

It has been months since they went out. Hermione's parents, though quite reluctantly, did accept him as their daughter's 'boyfriend'. To them, they would accept anybody who could have brought their daughter 'back to life' again.

They were sitting in the park when Sirius subtly brought up the subject. "You know, Hermione, what do you think of children?"

The woman looked up from his shoulder and smiled. "Mmm… I would love to have a boy and a girl."

"Only two?" Sirius asked in a rather dejected voice, making his woman chuckled.

"Why don't we get married then?"

"Married..?" he pondered. "There's a glitch though…"

"What?" Hermione asked, sitting up straight suddenly, looking worried.

"It's like this, Hermione. The two of us do want to get married."

"Hmm…" she nodded, urging him to go on.

"But… who will marry us?"

"Hmm…" Hermione nodded again, tilting her head slightly to the side looking glum.

It was a moment before she finally caught on to the mean joke, making Sirius laughed out loud earning him a hard whack on the shoulder.

"You're so slow! HAHA!"

"SIRIUS! You're so… Sirius!"

They laughed together on the wooden bench as they cuddled.

"So…" he ran a nervous hand through his hair, "What do you say? Want to have a family with me?"

Hermione stared at him dumbfounded. "That has to be one of the most unromantic proposals I've ever heard in my life!"

"Hey! A bloke could only try."

His protest made Hermione grinned. "But I guess I do. Yes, I do want to have a family with you."

Sirius grinned back at the brown eyed woman in front of him, not believing that he was finally getting married. Slowly, he slipped in a ring he had purchased with the help of his godson onto one of her delicate fingers. Hermione admired the jewellery before indulging in a slow passionate kiss with her new fiancé.

xxx

"Dad! Are you even listening to me? I said Jenny just flooed in, inviting me to Diagon Alley. Can I go, please?"

Sirius chortled at the puppy pout look his son was giving him. It was for sure his son inherited that trait from him too. "Yeah, sure. Just make sure uncle Harry's with you two lovebirds all the time."

"Dad!"

The boy glared at his father before happily running up the stairs to get ready. He came down minutes later in a white shirt and black pants. He was already about to leave the fireplace when Sirius stopped his son.

"Don't forget your jacket, young lad."

"Thanks, Dad. Love you."

"Love you too. Take care, and don't wander around by yourself!"

Sirius waved a goodbye as his son disappeared through the green flames. His eyes naturally travelled up to those photo frames which were arranged above the fireplace - pictures of their wedding, their one year old son, friends and relatives and etcetera.

"Sirius? Can you come up here, please?"

He smiled at the sound of her voice. Strange that after all these years, she is still the only person who could put a smile on his face that easily.

Darting up the stairs, he immediately struck a pose at the bedroom door. "You talking to me?"

But to his disappointment, his wild haired wife was reading a very thick book, not even caring to give him a glance.

"There, there now. This is not right. Your handsome, bare-chested husband's standing here in all his glory, and all you do is read that bloody book!"

"Love, I called you to close that running tap in the shower," replied Hermione with her nose still in the book.

"What! Look Mrs Black, I'm no slave of yours. How many times have I told you to hire a houseelf –"

"Sirius, we've been over this. No houseelf in this hou-"

But whatever she wanted to say was left unsaid as Sirius had thrown her heavy book on the floor and captured her mouth on his.

"Mmm… Now isn't this much better?"

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK!"

THE END

A/N: Finally! The story's done! I thank all of you who have been emailing me to finish this up since it's just a chapter away to completion. So there you, go. And uh… I know 'Orion' is not Sirius' middle name, coz JKR haven't told us about it yet. But still I like the name on him. Heehee!

Anyway, thank you ALL of you who have been reviewing this story. I seriously really, really appreciate it.