Song - Helig by John Lunn and Eivør (from the Last Kingdom Soundtrack)

An End and a Beginning: An Epilogue (of sorts)

28 years (give or take a few days) later...

Draco's head was pounding. He wasn't entirely sure whose idea it had been to invite everyone – literally everyone and all of their demonic offspring – over for the birth, but as soon as he found out who was responsible for this wretched idea, he was going to hex them into next year. It was almost unfathomable that he'd forgotten how loud this group could be, and yet, after all these years, decades really, of dinner parties, celebrations, and just for the heck of it gatherings, he still hadn't quite gotten used to all the noise.

And looking around the room, Draco realized it really was quite the spectacle.

James Potter and his husband were trying to talk to one another over the high pitched squeals of their incredibly adorable infant daughter. Albus Potter was rocking one of his twin baby girls in his arms while Narcissa held the other one in her lap as she sipped on a glass of wine, both of whom were simultaneously engaged in a deep discussion with Harry (who was most definitely still as insufferable as a semi-retired Head Auror as he'd ever been when he was full time in charge).

Edmund and Odilia Thomas Nott were bickering with one another in the corner, which was still as comical to watch as it had been when they were children, while their significant others stood awkwardly at their sides. Dean stood nearby, ignoring his two offspring as was best whenever they argued, and laughing at whatever story Lucius was telling him all while restraining James' three year-old son who appeared to be moments away from one of his infamous meltdowns – which boded well for absolutely no one (or anything) within a five yard radius.

Of course, the Weasley clan was also well represented. Nearly every single one of Ginny's brothers, spouses, and their own children and grandchildren, were congregated near one corner of the large sitting room demolishing one of the many towers of food Hermione had pulled together for them earlier in the day. Even Teddy and Victoire had made the trip, their hair standing out dramatically amongst a sea of red.

All-in-all, Draco was pretty sure that it was louder than it had ever been in the Manor, and as joyful as this day was supposed to be for him, he was going to need a fucking drink.

"Try not to look so glum, grandpa," someone said as a hand came down on his shoulder. "It's supposed to be a happy day."

Draco turned, but he really didn't need visual confirmation to know who it was. "Theo," he said. "I thought you were – how did you put it – far too busy being old and retired to come celebrate?"

Theo waved his hand in the air. "The fact that you believed a word of that…" He paused, conjuring two glasses of firewhiskey, and handed one to Draco. "You didn't think I'd actually miss the very moment I'll finally be able to call you grandpa, did you?"

"At least I'll be the least grandfather looking grandpa of the whole lot," Draco quipped, looking around with a smile at his graying friends and family.

Theo snorted. "That is, until Dean and I join the club," he said, lifting his glass in cheers.

Draco laughed, returning the small gesture and quickly brought the glass to his lips, relishing in the burn that filled his throat as he swallowed the amber liquid.

"How's Lily doing?" Theo asked sincerely.

"As far as I know, she's doing perfectly fine," Draco replied, trying to hide his annoyance with the fact that he had been banished to the same room as everyone else.

Theo, who was mid-sip when he caught the look on Draco's face, nearly choked on his drink as a chuckle erupted from deep in his chest. "I suppose we all knew she would be," he said when his airway was finally clear. "Too much of Ginny in her to be anything else."

"There is definitely no doubt about that," Draco agreed, unable to keep himself from smiling.

Lily had always been the polar opposite of Scorpius, even when they were kids, and so the fact that somewhere along the line, they had fallen in love had come as a bit of surprise to their respective families. Where Scorpius was quiet and reserved, Lily was loud and boisterous; where Lily was hotheaded, Scorpius was unyieldingly patient; and although many tried to invoke the age-old "opposites attract" explanation for their relationship, Draco had always known that it wasn't quite as simple as that. Lily gave Scorpius the confidence he had always struggled to find, and Scorpius provided Lily a sense of calm that she had never thought possible. They were two halves of a proverbial whole, and their differences weren't just differences – they made them an impressively powerful match.

"And Scorp?" Theo said, lowering his voice slightly.

The prompt didn't give anything away, but Theo, like anyone else in the know, tended to err on the side of caution when it came to discussing the thing that was so often left unsaid. Theo's own children, the gossips that they were, had never been told about the power that Hermione wielded. Even the Weasleys, who's genetic code would now be intertwined with the gift, had been kept in the dark, a decision that Lily had been quite adamant about when Ginny and Hermione first sat her down and explained everything.

Draco sighed. "It's Scorp," he said after a moment, dropping his voice as well. "How do you think he's doing?"

"I always told you that kid was going to worry himself to death," Theo remarked.

"Can't say I can blame him in this instance though," Draco replied, pausing to take another sip of his drink. "If it was me, I'm not sure I'd be handling the impending transfer any better."

"Well, at least he's only half yours," Theo said, raising both of his eyebrows. "Otherwise, I'd say the poor kid was doomed."

Draco merely grunted in response. Theo wasn't wrong but telling him so wasn't really an option either – Theo wasn't just aggravating when he was right; he was intolerable.

"Which reminds me," Theo continued, unperturbed with Draco's silence. "I hope your other half is prepared to rejoin us mere magical mortals."

Draco smiled as he felt Hermione's consciousness brush against his own at the mention of her name. She was, like she so often did when she couldn't be next to him at one of these family gatherings, eavesdropping, hoping someone would slip up and forget about the bond.

And I'll still be able to kick his arse in a duel regardless, she said quite confidently, and Draco laughed.

Theo simply shook his head, knowing Draco's laughter meant Hermione had said something less than flattering about him. "You tell her I'll be waiting outside once the power's finally gone," Theo said, pointing a long finger at his friend.

"The fuck you won't," Draco said a bit sternly. "There will be no dueling on my grandchild's birthday."

Of course, there is always tomorrow, Draco told Hermione quickly after. Three decades of Theo moaning about how he'd be able to beat you in a fair fight. You better flatten him.

A chuckle rang out in Draco's head, the sound still as intoxicating as it has always been. I'll try not to bruise his ego too terribly.

Draco laughed again, this time clutching his stomach as images of Hermione embarrassing Theo flashed through his mind.

But a voice calling for him suddenly interrupted his thoughts. "Dad!"

Oh, dear, Hermione noted, knowing immediately who the voice belonged to. I'll leave you to deal with whatever today's catastrophe is...

Cruel, Draco told her as he quickly swallowed the rest of his drink. She's your daughter too.

In case you've forgotten, I'm a little busy at the moment, was her response as she immediately began retreating back across the bridge, clearly uninterested in whatever it was their daughter had managed to make a mess of this time.

How convenient.

"Oh, Eldrid," Draco muttered under his breath as his daughter approached.

Theo merely chuckled beside him.

Eldrid, or El as she insisted everyone except her parents to call her, was a near spitting image of her mother, the only obvious physical difference between the two of them being the color of their hair with Eldrid's being as platinum as any other Malfoy before her. It was strange, seeing so much of her mother in her when so much of her personality was drastically different, but no matter how old, or difficult, she got, she would always be Draco's baby girl.

"Now that one is definitely yours," Theo observed, the amusement obvious in his voice as he brought his glass to his lips.

And Draco groaned quietly because he knew it was true. But she was also partly Hermione's… and a bit of everyone else who had come before her.

Eldrid was, by anyone's definition, a force to be reckoned with, a fact that had been obvious from the moment she had come barreling into this world, and although she was small in stature, it did nothing to dim her shine. She may have been sorted into Ravenclaw, but the time it had taken for the Sorting Hat to make a decision hadn't just been a record – it had blown every single sorting before her (and likely after her) out of the water. She was as cunning as any Slytherin, brave as any Gryffindor, and as loyal as any Hufflepuff, but her wit surpassed even that of her mother, and in the end, despite the sorting hat famously stating to the entire school that she would never truly belong to a single house, it was her intelligence that had won out. She was an enigma and proud of it, and yet, she never acted as if she was above anyone around her.

But she was also a complete pain in the arse, and Draco loved her so much for it.

Eldrid called for her father again but paused when she finally noticed the man standing next to him. "Oh, hi Uncle Theo," she said, her voice a few octaves lower than it had been a second ago as she finished her approach. "I didn't see you there."

"And that is precisely why you'll never be my favorite," Theo remarked, shaking a finger at her.

"Oh, fuck off," she mumbled in reply, smiling broadly now despite whatever was bothering her. "I am most definitely your favorite and always will be. You're still just bitter that dad picked Harry to be my godfather."

Draco glared at his daughter. "Eldrid," he warned. Baby girl or not, he didn't particularly enjoy the way she spoke to people sometimes.

"What?" she asked, feigning confusion. She knew he didn't have a leg to stand on, not with Hermione as her mother, and so she just smiled innocently, waiting for Draco to give up his meager attempt to chastise her for her choice of words.

Theo laughed, watching the standoff with amusement. "I'll give you two a moment," he said, winking at Draco before walking away.

"Eldrid," Draco said again when they were finally alone, shaking his head slightly as the words left his mouth. "How many times do I–"

"Oh stop, dad," she said. "It's just Theo."

Draco merely looked at her, his eyes a dark steel.

"Alright, fine," she said, throwing her head back in frustration. "I'll watch my language around the guests. Happy?"

Draco rolled his eyes but conceded that was the best he was going to get from her.

"Can we talk?" Eldrid asked quietly, looking nervously around them. "Alone?" she emphasized.

"What's going on?" Draco asked, quickly leading his daughter into the empty hallway outside of the room everyone else was cheerfully settled in.

Eldrid frowned. "It's Scorpius," she said, chewing at the inside of her cheek. "I may have–" She stopped, clearly trying to keep herself from saying something incriminating.

Draco sighed heavily, immediately understanding. "What did you do this time?"

"I didn't do anything!" she told him, throwing her hands on her hips in a way that was eerily similar to something her mother would do. "I promise!" she added when her father wouldn't stop glaring at her.

"Then why do you look so guilty?" Draco asked, tilting his head in an accusatory way.

Eldrid was silent for a moment, once again nibbling at the inside of her cheek as she shifted awkwardly on her feet. "He's not doing so well," she told him finally.

Draco studied her, trying to decide if he should push for more details, but quickly decided he could only put out one fire at a time, and this time, Scorpius just happened to be a bit more of a priority. He would deal with whatever Eldrid had done or said another time.

Or not, he thought, almost laughing out loud at how ridiculous it was that he was still intervening in his children's squabbles. She's twenty-five years old and completely capable of solving things on her own.

"Alright," he said, his eyes still locked on hers. "Where is he?"

"Up in the hallway outside Lily's room," Eldrid told him, looking somewhat relieved that she hadn't been interrogated further. "He looked like he was about to pass out."

Draco nodded and placed his empty glass on the small table next to him.

"You know," he began, placing a hand on his daughter's shoulder before he walked away. "Just because you're not scared of the power now doesn't mean you won't be when you're faced with the inevitability of it."

Eldrid rolled her yes. "I know, dad," she said, her voice betraying how bored she was with his statement. "I really didn't mean to make him upset this time. He's just…"

"He's a worrier," Draco supplied, but it really wasn't quite that simple, and they both knew it. "Go on," he said, gesturing toward the door. "There are people in there who'd like to see you."

"There are always people who want to see me," she mumbled, but after another stern look from her father, she turned and walked back inside the room.

Draco smiled softly as he watched Eldrid disappear before turning and heading up the stairs. He took them one at a time, moving slowly and hoping that whatever had transpired between Eldrid and Scorpius hadn't been as big as their last argument. It had taken nearly a month for them to speak to each other again, and Draco wasn't sure Hermione could handle another incident like that, especially not now with everything that was about to happen.

Wasn't retirement supposed to be easy? he groaned inwardly as he ascended the last few steps in front of him.

He turned the corner into the hallway that led to Lily's room, and stopped when he caught sight of Scorpius, pacing back and forth in front a closed door, he couldn't help but shake is head.

"Scorpius," Draco called. "You know you don't actually have to wait out here, right?"

Scorpius turned, breathing a sigh of relief when he caught sight of his father. "I told Lily I was just stepping out for some air," he replied with an obvious tremble in his voice. "Mother and Ginny are in there with her now. They said it could be awhile."

"And you call this air?" Draco asked, lifting an eyebrow questioningly.

While typically as immaculately put together as any of the Malfoys, Scorpius looked, for lack of a better word, a hot mess. His face was ashen, his platinum hair was slightly tangled and matted, and his clothes… well they looked like they hadn't been changed in days. There were dark circles under his eyes, which in combination with the paleness of his skin made him look rather sickly, and his lips were dry and cracked, no doubt from incessant lip biting – a nervous habit he had unquestionably inherited from his mother.

He was stressed, that much would have been obvious to any of the dozens of people (animals, all of them) who were waiting downstairs happened to wander into the hallway, but Draco knew better. Scorpius' stress wasn't born from the knowledge that any minute he would officially become a father, not even a little bit; he had been talking about this moment since he had first realized his feelings for Lily were anything but platonic. His stress, the real reason he looked like he was about to fall apart, was forged in something else entirely.

Fear. Specifically, fear of the power that he would soon be inheriting from his mother.

"Come on," Draco said, placing a hand on Scorpius' shoulder. "Let's go for a walk."

"But–"

"Bond, remember?" Draco interrupted, already turning to head back down the stairs. "Your mother will warn me when it's time. We won't go far."

Scorpius hesitated, glancing back toward the closed door behind him as if he expected it to fly open at any moment, before quickly following.

Hermione, Draco called through the bond as he moved back down the stairs. I'm taking Scorp outside.

Is he alright? Hermione replied, clearly worried as was her tendency when it came to their two children, even despite the calm that Draco was trying to project across the bridge.

He looks a bit green around the gills, Draco told her, glancing over his shoulder to make sure that Scorpius was still following. Nothing a walk around the lake can't help, he added, satisfied that his son wasn't going to change his mind and run back up the stairs.

Perhaps I should join you, Hermione said, her worry still not quelled. If he's nervous about the transfer…

Let me try talking to him first, he insisted as he turned the corner.

Are you sure? He told me he was alright when I spoke to him earlier this morning, but I'm sure this is all a bit overwhelming.

I think he just needs a bit of support for someone who isn't quite so… involved.

Hermione chuckled. Can't say I blame him, she said. Halvor has been absolutely unbearable the past couple of weeks – he's far too excited about finally being able to train one of our offspring.

I won't be sorry to have him out of our heads for a while, Draco replied, excited even now at the prospect of the ancestors focusing on someone who wasn't Hermione for the first time in three decades. Scorp will be fine. Just let me talk to him down from whatever ledge he's found himself on now.

Let me know if you change your mind – Ginny can handle things without me if needed.

Draco muttered a quick 'will do' and 'I love you' before refocusing his attention on where he was walking, careful to keep a wide berth around the room holding the myriad of visitors. He navigated to the back of Manor and paused at back door that led directly into one of Narcissa's favorite gardens.

"Lake?" he prompted quietly, turning his head.

Scorpius simply nodded.

Draco pulled open the door, and ushered Scorpius outside, letting his son lead the way. They wandered quietly down a familiar meandering path, not bothering to pause at any of the small garden plots along the way. It was chilly, but it wasn't far to the lake, and so Draco didn't bother casting a warming charm over the two of them, instead choosing the revel in the cold that filled his lungs. When they came to to the end of the path, Scorpius paused, taking a deep breath as his eyes scanned the horizon in front of him, and Draco moved next to him, careful to give his son the space, both physically and mentally, that he needed before he spoke again

"I'm not ready," Scorpius said finally, taking a few extra steps off the path so that he could move closer to the water.

Draco sighed. "I know," he said, his eyes scanning the dark water in front of him. "But it's time."

"I wish it wasn't," Scorpius admitted. "El is much better suited for this," he asserted, waving a hand in the air as if to gesture to everything that was going on.

Draco sighed. "Your sister isn't the one who's about to become a parent," he told him. "And you know she only talks about how excited she is to inherit power because she knows it gets under your skin, right?"

"It would be nice, even just this once, if I could borrow a little bit of her confidence," Scorpius admitted, sadly. "She's always so sure that everything is going to be okay. I can't…" but he let his words trail off.

"You really think she'll be able to hold it together when her time comes?" Draco said when it became clear that his son wasn't going to continue.

Scorpius shrugged, unable to look back at his father.

"She won't," Draco continued, watching as his son stared absentmindedly across the lake. "And I would know – she's much too like me. Underneath her facade, she's just as scared and worried as you are now. Don't let that deceive you."

"Maybe," Scorpius muttered quietly, dropping this gaze to the immaculately groomed grass at his feet.

"Definitely," Draco asserted, trying not to laugh. When it was all said and done, Eldrid would be more terrified about the transfer than Scorpius ever was.

Scorpius turned back toward the water, and Draco followed suit, listening to the soothing sounds of water lapping at the shore.

"What does it feel like?" Scorpius asked suddenly, his voice almost a whisper.

"I'm sure your mother has–"

"She's explained what the transfer feels like, yes," Scorpius interrupted before Draco could finish his thought. "And she's tried to explain what it's like to cast with the power, but I think it's hard for her to remember what it's like to live without it. She seems so comfortable with it – like it's as much a part of her as her own DNA."

"She is, and it is, just as it will be for you," Draco said. "Your mother didn't have years to prepare for this moment, like you've had," he reminded his son. "Waking up with it after nearly dying giving birth to you–" Draco paused, shivering even now at the memory. "It was difficult for her to wield something that was so strange and foreign, but it also saved her life – both of your lives actually – and she grew accustomed to the feeling over time. So will you."

"But will I still feel the same?"

"Ahh," Draco muttered in understanding. So that's what he was really worried about. "I'm not entirely sure I'm the right person to answer that question." He stopped turning to face his son. "I'm not the rightful heir–"

"But you've wielded the power through the bond," Scorpius asserted, cutting him off again. "Mother loaned it to you. And I know you used it in the field anytime you were faced with a particularly difficult assignment – Harry told Lily about the incident with the dragons."

"Bloody chosen one," Draco mumbled under his breath. Leave it to Harry to declassify highly classified information so he could tell his kids a bedtime story. "Yes, your mother loaned me the power from time to time," he admitted after a moment. "But never for more than a few days and only when we had no other choice."

"So you know what it feels like to use it," Scorpius said, his eyes searching his father's face for some sort of understanding.

"Yes," Draco began, running a hand through his hair, "I know how it feels." He paused, looking back out over the lake before speaking again. "Wielding the power is invigorating, but for me there was always a hint of strangeness that came with it," he explained finally, his fingers tingling as he allowed the memories to flood the front of his brain. "Everything is amplified – your senses especially, and magic just seems to come more naturally. But it was never mine to keep, and so the fit was never quite right."

"Does it–" Scorpius stopped, and Draco could see he was struggling to articulate something. "Do you still crave it?"

"The power is alluring but it isn't corrupting," Draco said, guessing, and correctly it seemed, what his son was trying to ask.

"But the man who tried to kill mother, to kill all of us – didn't it corrupt him? Couldn't you say having the power made him into the monster that he was?"

Draco shook his head. "It wasn't the power that corrupted him," he said. "It was the idea, his obsession with hanging on to something that wasn't his to keep."

"What if the same thing happens to me? What if I become so addicted to the power that I don't want to give it up?"

"You won't," Draco assured him.

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Because you're your mother's son," Draco told him. "Because you're worried about it at all. Because being a father is more important to you than inheriting some ancient power."

"Lily said the same thing," Scorpius said quietly after a moment.

Draco smiled. If there had been any doubt that Lily was the right person for his son, this would have been the moment that the doubt left him. "You should listen to your wife," he said. "She's clearly smarter than you."

Scorpius lifted his head, and Draco could see that he was grinning broadly.

And Draco was about to make another joke, happy that his son was finally feeling anything other than melancholy, when he felt his wife's consciousness crash against his own.

Draco, it's time, Hermione said hurriedly, followed by a series of images that Draco could only assume meant this baby was coming – and fast. Best to Apparate if you can.

On our way, Draco replied quickly.

"Time to go," Draco said out loud, grabbing a hold of his son's hand and Apparating them quickly back inside before Scorpius had a chance to reply.

They landed in the same hallway that Draco had found Scorpius pacing in, and even from outside, the commotion from behind the door was audible, startling both men.

"Lily needs you," Draco said when he caught the now terrified look on his son's face. "Try to focus on her... if you can."

Scorpius nodded and moved toward the door, but he hesitated for a moment, his hand on the doorknob. "See you on the other side," he said quietly, turning back to acknowledge his father one last time.

"See you on the other side," Draco repeated as he watched his son disappear into the room.

First there was a small cry, and then there was a light so blinding that it knocked him off his feet.

But the light wasn't quite as disorienting as what came next.

A shock ran through his body, rendering him unable to breathe, and time slowed exponentially, each second passing slower than an eternity. The sensation wasn't exactly painful, but it wasn't comfortable either, and even though he couldn't be sure it was real, he could feel the cool track of a tear moving down the side of his face as the seemingly endless waves of a strange power passed through him.

He had been told what this would feel like, warned that he would likely be afraid, but actually experiencing it was something else entirely. He felt like he was swimming in a debilitating current of electricity, as if he had been tossed headfirst into a torrent so strong that he'd never be able to get out, and he was worried if it continued much longer that he would drown. But he wasn't drowning.

He couldn't.

Slowly, or perhaps it was more quickly than he thought, the surprise wore off, and he began to settle into himself, into the power that was now coursing through his veins. The terror disappeared next, the void filled with comforting images of things of things that had come to pass. There were memories he had been shown before, and there were some he hadn't yet seen, but what made him gasp, what shocked him harder than the power itself, was the image of his mother, a much younger version of herself, laying still and bloodied in a room he didn't recognize.

He knew the story. He knew what happened next, and yet, being there, being able to witness the moment she nearly died… it was…

But suddenly the image changed. His mother's eyes opened, and for the first time in a long time, a powerful calm settled over him.

And suddenly, it was over. He felt... well, he felt different, but surprisingly fine and ready.

Scorpius opened his eyes, groaning as he tried to reorient himself, and he realized that someone was standing over him. His mother.

"Scorpius," Hermione said softly, smiling.

"Is it–?" he began but stopped, swallowing heavily. He already knew the answer to the question he was going to ask. He could feel it in his bones.

"Yes," she told him simply. And then she reached out her hand to help him off the floor. "It's yours now." She paused as another cry echoed off the walls. "And you have a daughter."

a/n: At last! It took me much longer than I thought it would to decide which of the many scenes I had in my head to put here, but this one (even though it's a huge flash-forward and mostly from Draco's point-of-view) just felt the most right. I hope everyone enjoyed it!

As promised, a short excerpt from my Good Omens inspired multi-chapter AU is below. I'm not entirely sure when I'm going to start posting this one nor do I have any idea how long it will be, but I can (probably) safely promise you that I will have the first chapter posted by the end of Jan 2021, if not sometime before. There might also be a short holiday one-shot or two before then as well.

Anyways, thank you to everyone who stuck with this epic story until its bitter end. I love you all!

And lastly – Eldrid is a name I've been obsessed with for years, so I really couldn't resist using it here. It's Old Norse for 'fiery spirit.'

Party Till I Die - an excerpt (which reads much more serious than the story will actually be)

"We can't keep meeting like this," she said as she climbed out of bed, the pearly white sheen of her tattooed wings glistening in the morning sun.

"We always meet like this," he replied, leaning back against the pillow, his arms folded behind his head. "That much will never change."

"They'll find out eventually," came her reply, her voice just as angelic and pure as the rest of her.

He almost laughed but thought better of it. No one was watching them. No one really cared what they did in their free time. The space in between their worlds would always just be a playground of sorts for their respective sides, a test-ground for what was to come.

"And would it really matter if they did?" he asked seriously, pushing himself upright so that he could sneak behind her.

"Perhaps not for you," she replied, moaning softly as he arms wrapped around her. "But it would be a much longer fall for me."

She wasn't wrong.

"Ahh, but the creatures of the dark get to have all the fun," he told her, pausing to kiss her neck. "Black would suit you," he added, running his fingers over her back.

Despite having done this with her at least a thousand times, and once a few minutes ago, the black wings tattooed on his own back still shivered in anticipation. Being with her, even if just for an hour, was the only thing that got him through his annoyingly mundane existence.

"Well, do you want me to stop?" he asked when she remained quiet, his lips hovering near her pulse point.

She turned to face him, the gold in her eyes threatening to consume him.

"Never."