Harry looked at his papers. There was a new Auror joining the force today who he had to show around the place. He was older than Harry, and had switched jobs mid-career, which made Harry a bit apprehensive about hiring him, but his credentials were good.
When the man entered the office, Harry smiled. "You must be Alan Strathermore?"
"Yes, that's me, Mr. Potter."
"You can just call me Harry."
"Very well, Harry. It's an honor to meet the famous Harry Potter-"
"Well, here I'm not the famous Harry Potter, I'm just your boss." He'd come to learn that in time, as the others had.
"Right, of course. Sorry, it's just I've heard so much about you."
"Yeah, I know. But I'm really just a normal bloke, I swear. Tomorrow I'll be off in the morning dropping my sons off at King's Cross."
"What are your sons' names?"
"James and Albus. Al is starting his first year, James his third."
"And you have a daughter too, right?"
Harry sighed. Everyone knew all the details of his personal life, and they always wanted to know more. He hated being a celebrity. "Lily. She's still a couple years out of Hogwarts. What about you? Any kids?"
"No, no, I was never really the type for them. Anyway, you were going to show me around the department, right?"
"Right. Over here is where we file our papers..."
Lily half-ran, half-slid down the stairs and twirled when she reached the bottom. Al was sitting on the couch, looking oddly forlorn. "What's wrong, Al?" she asked, frowning.
"I'm trying to figure out if there's any way I can make sure I don't get in Slytherin."
"Why?" Lily cocked her head to the side. "There's nothing wrong with any of the houses, Mum and Dad say that all the time."
"But James said-"
"Who cares what James said? James is kind of an idiot sometimes."
"I heard that!" James exclaimed indignantly, walking into the room. "That's not a very nice thing to say."
"Neither is scaring Al about being in Slytherin."
"You wouldn't understand, Lily, you haven't been to Hogwarts."
"I don't have to have been to Hogwarts to know that just because a few dark wizards were in Slytherin-"
"A few?" James said. "Voldemort was in Slytherin."
"And Peter Pettigrew was in Gryffindor. Are you ashamed, James?"
"I-"
They all stopped talking when the door opened and their father walked in. "What's going on in here?" Harry asked, eyebrows raised.
"James is teasing Al about Slytherin again," Lily snitched.
Harry sighed. "James, we've talked about this. There's nothing wrong with Slytherin or with any other house. Stop teasing your brother."
Lily shot James an I-told-you-so look, and he made a face in return. Then she headed upstairs and found Mum.
"Hey, Lily, what's going on?" Ginny asked.
Lily sighed. "I want to go to Hogwarts. It isn't fair."
"I know, dear. Trust me, when all your uncles went off to school I felt like it was the worst thing in the world. But I got my turn eventually. And so will you. You just have to be patient."
"Patience doesn't really run in this family."
Ginny laughed. "No, it doesn't."
"At least with just me at home I'll have more time with you and Dad."
Ginny grinned. "There's that bright side."
Ashley took a deep breath and headed into the school, ready to start at her new job. Teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts was like... like a dream come true. In the six years since graduating, she had done various odd jobs, but nothing had excited her like this prospect. When she had heard the previous Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was retiring, she had jumped on the chance, and Headmistress McGonagall had thankfully given her this opportunity. The idea of leaving Mary, her five-year-old daughter, for most of the school year was strange, as she hadn't ever been apart from her for very long. But her father was taking good care of Mary, and she wouldn't have been seeing her as much anyway now that she was starting at her Muggle primary school. And she had wanted this forever. There were two other new professors starting this year, both from the year below her at Hogwarts. She didn't know them very well, but she was sure she would be introduced.
Almost as soon as she entered the school, she was greeted by Professor Longbottom. It was so strange to her that he was a colleague now, when he had once been her teacher. "Ashley," he said with a nod.
"Professor Longbottom."
"You're going to have to start calling me Neville now, I think."
"That's going to be a bit strange to do, sir."
"I understand. I still can't call Professor McGonagall anything but. Hopefully you'll warm up to the idea. We're both professors now, Professor Emerson."
She smiled. It was the first time anybody had called her that.
Hermione blushed as she walked outside to a trail of fireflies in the backyard. "I wonder what this could be," she said with a laugh. When she reached the end of the trail, Ron stood waiting for her, and music started to play. She grinned. "If we hadn't been married over a decade, I'd think you were proposing."
"Can't a man just do something nice for his wife?"
"Of course. Ginny told me once we were married I should stop expecting romantic gestures from you, but she was wrong, of course."
He smiled. "I love you, you know that?"
"I love you too."
"Care to dance?"
She took his outstretched hand as they spun across the yard. "Might I ask what brought this on, or...?"
"Our Rosey's going off to Hogwarts tomorrow."
She sighed. "I know. It's strange to think about. Hugo won't say it, but he's going to miss her."
"We're all going to miss her. And it had me thinking..."
"Hmm?"
"What if we had another baby?"
She laughed, then looked into his eyes. "You're serious?"
"Yeah. Why not?"
"Why not? We have two kids already, I just became the Minster of Magic, and I'm nearing forty."
"You'll always be young to me."
"I think you forgot how hard having young kids was, and that was when we were in our twenties."
"I'm just saying. It would be nice."
She smiled. "It might be."
