Epilogue
Ginny sat back in her chair, staring at the clouds moving over the tops of the trees that flanked the back of the property.
"Mum, you'll catch a chill sitting out here," her daughter said.
"I know, I know, I just like to watch the sky." She smiled at her daughter. "Help me back inside, dear. I think I'd like to sit in the eastern sunroom."
Ginny leaned on her youngest daughter's arm as she helped her inside. The house was a rambling estate which she had bullied Draco into purchasing ten years ago. That had been before the cold stiffened her knees.
"Dad will be home in two hours. I'll make some tea and join you in the sunroom. Here we go, mum."
Isabelle helped her into the chair facing the window. "That would be lovely, dear. While you're gone, I think I'll get started on some knitting."
"You were making a blanket for Aaron's son?"
"I finished that, I think. I am making some booties."
Isabelle nodded. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
Ginny watched her daughter go. She smiled. Who would have thought that, sixty years later, her heart would still race at the thought of Draco returning home? She picked up her knitting and let her thoughts wander. She had a full and wonderful life. Four children, her second grandchild on the way, a wonderful house (whichever house they were living in at the time), and an ever-young husband. Who refused to retire, but that was another argument for another day.
Isabelle returned with tea, cakes and the scones she had been baking earlier. "Here you are, mum. And the apple and cinnamon cake that you like."
"Thankyou, Isabelle." Once they were both seated, she continued the conversation. "Have you heard from Evita?"
Evita – Pansy and Ron's only child – was Isabelle's age, and the two had been close friends from the time they could toddle. "Yes, she's been working in Belgium these past months with a new apprentice-master." Her daughter laughed. "She said the weather's terrible, but the chocolate's good and the company is better. I think she's trying to find a husband."
"Tell her to finish her apprenticeship first, because all men want is babies," Ginny joked.
"Hardly," a voice came from the doorway, and both women turned to see Draco Malfoy – still attractive in his eighties – listening attentively. He joined them. "I seem to remember that I wanted a wife when we were married, not children…"
"You warmed to the idea very quickly, however," Ginny reminded him, remembering the way his eyes lit up each time she told him she was pregnant, the way he spent tireless hours with the children while they were growing up.
He smiled. "Oh, definitely. Eleanor sent me an owl, by the way. She said to expect James and her for dinner on Saturday."
"Good."
"Oh, mum, don't start bugging them about children again…"
"I know, that's the reason they haven't visited for six months. I understand. They have been married for seven years, though…"
"Ginny, darling…"
"I know, I know, I'm as bad as my mother." She waved the comment off, but didn't pursue the issue any further. "Aaron and Michelle will be with us on Saturday as well, assuming she's not in labour. If she is, we get William while they go in to St. Mungo's."
"That's fine. Isabelle can look after him," Draco winked at his daughter. She rolled her eyes.
"We all know that none of us will get a chance to play with him if he's here. You two are so bad," Isabelle smiled. "I also heard from Aunt Hermione – Joshua and Ingrid are getting married in September, and Gretel is being published in Ars. Archema next issue."
"Oh, that's lovely!"
"I wonder if Severus will frame the issue, the way he did for all of Hermione's papers?"
"I think that's a good way of encouraging them in their hard work," Ginny replied.
"Yes, but it's not a very exciting wall display," Draco added.
"This from the man who wouldn't let me take up the carpet to see the floorboards…"
"Yes, but that makes the floor cold."
"So wear shoes," she replied.
Draco smiled indulgently at his wife. "Yes, dear."
They both laughed. "We've also been invited to the 500th Anniversary celebration at the Leaky Cauldron," Ginny said.
Draco nodded. "I had heard about that. I think we are the guests of honour," he added.
"That means I'll have to buy a new dress," Ginny murmured.
Draco grinned. "I don't know if the accounts can handle it," he teased.
"Oh, mum, before I forget, Elizabeth asked if she could bring her new boyfriend along on Saturday," Isabelle interjected. She loved the way that her parents still loved and appreciated each other, even now in their eighties.
"Is that the Zambini boy?" Ginny asked.
"Yes," Isabelle replied. "Julian, I think his name is."
"It was such a shock," Draco said absently, staring out the window. "To find out that Blaise had taken up with a muggle…"
"And a chronically ill muggle, at that," Ginny said. "But what a lovely woman she is," she said.
"Lucky that Severus could figure something out to make her better. What was it she had, again?"
"I don't remember. Lymphoma? Something like that. Tell her we'd love to meet him. It's about time she brought him home. They've been in the tabloids for months."
"I know, but she wanted to make sure it was serious before she brought him into our lives."
Ginny nodded. "She's a sensible girl. Speaking of sensible girls, were you going to take that apprenticeship with the man in Florence?"
Isabelle frowned. "I was holding out for an apprenticeship with Uncle Severus. But I doubt he'll take me on."
"Did you ask him?"
"I wanted him to offer."
"He'll never do that, dear. Ask him. He might even say yes," Ginny winked.
Isabelle smiled. "On Saturday I'll corner him."
The three sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes. Isabelle got up. "I'll begin on dinner, I think."
"Ok, dear. Call me if you need anything."
Draco looked at his wife. Age had marked them both – the lines, the grey hair, the bodies that were wearing out slowly. But in her eyes, he could still see the fire that had drawn him to her all those years ago, the determination that had kept them together for all this time. Ginny smiled at her husband. "Aren't you glad you were poor?" Draco asked.
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Not particularly. What do you mean?"
"You climbed in through my window one night and stole my heart, you were so poor. And now look where we are," he said.
Ginny chuckled. "I'm sure I could have made a different path to your heart if I hadn't been so poor."
Draco shrugged. "Perhaps. But who are we to question the ways of the magic?"
Ginny shook her head. She smiled. "I'm very happy with how everything has worked out," she said.
"As am I, my darling," Draco replied, holding her hand. "As are we all."