EPILOGUE

July 31st, 2013

FIFTEEN YEARS LATER

Harry and Hollyn's birthday was always a big party, even now that they were both in their thirties. It was the last chance for the whole family to get together before the stresses of getting kids ready for school took over; even though only Teddy, Victoire, Molly and Eliana were even in school. I groaned, dreading next year when we would have to ship off Fred, James, George, and Dom as well.

"Freddie, if you don't come back here right now, I swear to Merlin you will never step foot in Hogwarts!" Alicia screamed, running after her ten-year-old son as George encouraged him to see how far he could get with one of Louisa's bras. Louisa, fresh out of the Auror training program, merely laughed at her cousin's foolishness while showing off her sparkly new ring to Fleur, who was ignoring Louis as he begged to be allowed to fly with James and Dominque. Hollyn and Draco were asking her questions about her new fiancé, Oliver Wood's son, while Hollyn kept an eye on Selene, their five-year-old, as she toddled over to Ron and Harry, who were pouring drinks for their wives. Ginny and Hermione were standing a few feet away, whispering to each other as they watched Lily and Hugo play centaurs and giants in the middle of the pig pen.

"Calm down, Alicia," Fred laughed. "Besides, I think that's Georgie, anyway." Fred and George, to no one's surprise, had managed to knock up their wives within days of each other. Their sons were born minutes apart, and nearly identical. In true Fred and George fashion, and much to their wives' dismay, they had decided to name their son's after each other. Molly had nearly had a fit, claiming that there were thousands of other names to choose from, so why did they have to pick a name that was already in the family? She was quiet a few months later when Percy's daughter was born, and he announced that they had named her Molly, a fact that Fred and George never failed to bring up when she was nagging them.

"Is it?" Angelina asked, bemused. "I honestly can't tell those two apart anymore. You'd think they'd grow to look less alike as they grow up, but they just keep looking more and more alike."

"It's the Fred and George charm," the twins said together, grinning toothily at each other. The two had been inseparable, more so than they had been as children, ever since Fred had nearly died at the Battle of Hogwarts. He'd been in St. Mungo's for two months, and not allowed visitors for the first two weeks; it was the longest they had ever gone without each other, and it had created a separation anxiety that had not lessened with time. They currently lived in a two-family home with each of their individual families, never more than a minute's walk from each other.

"It's the Polyjuice potion they've been nicking from you for two years," Max said, plopping down at the table with a beer and rolling his eyes at the two redheads. "You lot really need to lock up your storeroom better."

"That's why we hired you!" Fred exclaimed.

"Right. Better vet your employees better next time," Max laughed. "I'm terribly forgetful, especially when Verity is around."

"She's a little old for you, huh?" I laughed, shaking my head at my nephew.

"Nah," Hollyn interjected. "Cougars are in." She winked at Max and he nodded his head appreciatively.

"See! At least someone around here supports me."

"We support you plenty," Lewis said, limping towards us from the makeshift bar that Sirius was manning. "Otherwise, you'd be a healer, like your grandpa."

Max had been three quarters of the way through his healer program before he realized it wasn't what he wanted to do. He'd felt pressured in to it, especially since we'd lost my dad during his first year of training to a heart attack. A terribly muggle way to go, as Sirius had put it, as he'd held me close to his chest and stroked my hair. It had hit us hard – the first death since the war. It was easier to manage the pain, though – because he had died a natural death, there was nobody to blame. It was nature playing its course, and we had to accept that.

"Not all of us follow in our family's footsteps," he said, shooting a significant glance at Eliana.

"Oi!" She protested, throwing a bit of roll at him. It hit him square in the face.

"See!" He gestured towards her. "Those chaser skills? You inherited those from Aunt Addie."

Eliana was every bit the chaser that I was, and was already being scouted by Puddlemere United. Sebastian, Louisa's fiancé, had told her on the down-low that Oliver was all but ready to send the paperwork over; he had to wait until at least half-way through her last season for it to be considered above board, which was the only reasons he wasn't already signed. Wesley had owled me last week that his son was more excited to have Eliana than he had been to recruit his own son, who was their current Keeper.

"Hey! I was drafted too!" Sirius called from the bar, pouting.

"Yeah, by the Chudley Cannons," Teddy called sarcastically. He was sitting at the end of the table playing a game of exploding snap with Victoire. She was kicking his arse, but I figured that was because he spent more time staring at her in awe than he did looking at his cards. She had definitely inherited Fleur's veela looks; she practically glowed to look at.

"Oi! Great team, that is," Ron said, walking over to the table to join the conversation. Before long, there was a raucous debate about who the best team in the league was – everyone screaming their own opinion over each other in one large dim of noise.

Hollyn got up at some point, her very large belly forcing her to waddle, rather than walk, as she went over to check on the kids in the apple orchard; they were being far too quiet. Draco's eyes never left his pregnant wife; he had never stopped making sure she was safe, even though the war was well behind us.

We all handled the war in different ways. Sirius and I had woken up screaming for months after, as nightmares had plagued us at night. Once everything had calmed down, we'd really had the time to actually face our demons. It had taken us a long time, lots of long conversations, lots of tears and sleepless nights; but we were better now. We still had days where we felt like we were back in the war; when we woke up screaming for Lily or James, or the family we had lost. But we were always there to bring each other back to reality.

Harry had handled the war by throwing himself in to his family. As he sat back, a drink in his hand, a smile on his face, just watching his family interact, I knew that this was all he'd ever wanted. He'd gone from being an orphan, only his terrible Aunt, Uncle and cousin in his life, to having one of the largest families in the wizarding world. He'd gotten everything he'd ever wanted; peace and love. A simple life full of laughter and happiness.

As I settled down with Sirius later that night, Hollyn at home with Draco, Eliana curled up in her bed, fast asleep, I laid my head down on his chest. We stared in to the fireplace for a while, enjoying the silence and the warmth of each other. We enjoyed the security of the quiet life that we'd come to depend on. After a while, I rolled over so that I was looking up at him. He looked down, cupping my chin with his hand and leaned down to kiss me sweetly.

I pulled away, smiling at him lazily as warmth filled my entire body. "Do you ever regret it?" I asked suddenly, the thought hitting me out of nowhere.

"What?" He asked, a small smirk on his lips. He'd come to anticipate my crazy questions; always humoring me with an answer.

"Marrying me? Do you ever think you would have had a nice, quiet life if you hadn't fallen in love with me? If James hadn't been your best friend?"

Sirius barked a laugh. "You know me, kitten. Never have been one for a quiet life."

"I'm serious!" I protested.

"So am I!" He countered. I rolled my eyes; even after all of these years, he'd never been able to give up that over-used joke.

"Okay, okay. No, Addie, I have never once regretted out life together." And suddenly, his voice was deep and sincere, full of undeniable love. "Even after all of these years you are still everything to me. You may not be the comfort of a leather jacket anymore; but you are the comfort of a life filled with love. You may not be the slow burn of good firewhiskey; but you are the deep burn of gut-wrenching laughter. You may not be the joy of flying on a brisk day; but you are the joy of watching our children grow up and become successful, kind adults of their own. You are still the warmth of a loving family; something that I never thought I would have, and that you provided me ten times over. I love you more today than I did all of those years ago. The oddity of the bond we formed, kitten, is that it is infinite. From the moment we felt it, it has never stopped growing. Forever and Always."

I leaned up to kiss him, deepening the kiss and rolling over to straddle him. My heart filled with love as I spent this moment with my husband, who after thirty-five years still remembered his wedding vows.

He pulled away slightly, looking me sweetly in the eye. "Plus, you've still got the arse of a twenty-five-year-old!"

"Can you ever just be serious?" I asked, amused.

"I'm always Sirius!"

"Prat."

THE END.