Epilogue - New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve became a very special day for us. Not only was it the anniversary of our first date, but it was also the day we moved in together just days after our engagement. And, a year after that, we were married on the two-year anniversary of our first date. It was just a year after that that we welcomed our daughter, Amelia Rose.
I watched her now on the eve of her fifth birthday as she played with the many animals entrusted to our care. Charlie was playing with her, but he left her snuggling the baby mooncalf that she was particularly fond of to come and stand with his arm around me.
"You seem deep in thought love."
I snuggled close to his shoulder. "Do you ever look around and just stare in amazement at how this all came to be?"
And it was amazing. The last eight years with Charlie were so far outside my expectations of what I thought my future would be. Every day was filled with love, wonder and appreciation. I worried for a little bit that I would miss healing, but I realized quickly that life on the sanctuary was the life of my dreams. I've nearly lost count of the number of animals we've taken in to either give them a place to live out the rest of their life in peace or to rehabilitate them for life back in the wild. And my healing skills weren't completely unneeded. Some of the injured animals we received were unpredictable and led to us receiving some serious injuries. Having a healer specializing in animal injuries on site was a must here.
Charlie's arm wound tighter as he pressed a kiss to my head. "I think about it all the time. It happened one holiday, didn't it? That's all it took to completely change our life's trajectory. I thought I was happy before I met you, and maybe I was, just in a different way. It doesn't compare to this even the slightest. I'm thankful I had so much leave to take and that you were at my sister's that night. Despite all the other times our paths had crossed, that was just the moment we needed to end up here and I'm grateful for it."
"Me too, Charlie. Me too."
The sun began to set on our beautiful home as we watched Amelia help care for the creatures running around. Life is made up of all these beautiful little moments and as I watched our daughter while I snuggled up to my husband, I was grateful for them all.
A/N: And that's a wrap! This was such a fun little story that was so stuck in my head I got it written in less than a week. There's something about Hermione and Charlie that I just love! If you're enjoying my writing, I'd love to hear about it! Also feel free to check out my other stories. I'm just finishing up editing a Hermione/Oliver Wood story that I should be starting to post in the next week so be on the lookout for that too 😊