Please don't have a heart attack, but yes, this is an actually update to a fan favorite, and yes, it officially concludes the story. I recommend, as it's been a while, that you read it start to finish now that it is "COMPLETE". Enjoy!
Minerva smiled as she pulled her head out of the Pensive. Today was the ten year mark of what she and Hermione considered their anniversary. While they had legally wed nearly a month prior to admitting that there were feelings developing between them, they didn't celebrate that day. That day had meant nothing to either of them, even if it had been the beginning of what the Headmistress of Hogwarts considered to be her wonderful life.
Two months after they had moved into Phoenix Cottage, Hermione had gotten confirmation that she was indeed pregnant. A month after that, Poppy had told them they were expecting a daughter. While they had only months prior both been praying for twins, to expedite the dissolvement of their arranged marriage, Minerva and Hermione had both been pleased that only one child would be entering their lives six months later.
Those six months had been a true test of their resolved to bring love into what had begun as an unwanted contract. Hermione, hormonal as all get out, had been short tempered and impatient towards the end of that pregnancy, but Minerva had by then fallen totally, irrevocably in love with the younger witch, and so holder her tongue had been an exercise in deep affection, rather than one of control.
Christmas morning that year had brought them the best gift they could have asked for. Healthy and screaming, Madeline Rose McGonagall had come into their lives at nine-eighteen in the morning, after cancelled dinner plans with the Potters and Weasleys, and sixteen hours of laboring on Hermione's part. Nearly two years later, Minerva had her beloved wife welcomed a son into their lives, Riley Hugo, on November the second. When Maddie was six, and Riley was four, Minerva had been surprised when her wife had expressed interest in having another child. Two McGonagall heirs had been the original contract, and while Minerva had longed for more children, she never expected Hermione to want the same. After all, prior to being forced to marry her former Professor, Hermione had not intended on having children at all.
That said, exactly nine months after that request, Hermione and Minerva welcomed twins into their now very crowded home, a boy and a girl. Helena Kathryn and Kiehl James had been the cause of the addition onto Phoenix Cottage in the form of three extra bedrooms and a large playroom for all four children to make use of. When the children were older, Hermione and Minerva hoped to turn that room into a formal dining room. Their home's current dining room was small, and could later be converted into an extension of their current kitchen.
Minerva sighed as she carefully put away the Pensive, feeling a sense of awe at what her life had become. Ten years ago, she'd still been mourning Amelia's death, and been living with the guilt of never having produced an heir to carry on her family name. Now, she had two sons to carry on the McGonagall mantle, and two daughters to carry on the bloodline with whomever they chose to marry down the road. She and Hermione were very happy together, and while legally were no longer considered wed in the eyes of the Ministry, it pleased Minerva that Hermione had continued to introduce herself as Mrs. McGonagall.
That very thought had been what brought Minerva to the Pensive today. Today, on the ten year mark of expressing their love for the first time, she had realized how, regardless of their friends' support over the last decade, that love deserved to be publically recognized and celebrated. She did not want the twins to go to Hogwarts a few years from now being considered bastards in the eyes of the ministry.
Hermione McGonagall ushered her four children into the front door of Phoenix Cottage, exasperated. The trip to the zoo today with her nine year old, seven year old, and two rambunctious three year olds had been something akin to a disaster. It hadn't been the childrens' fault, ironically. Her own temper had been to blame today, when a lady from the Ministry had addressed Helena and Kiehl as those McGonagall bastards, within her earshot.
"Mother doesn't think of the twins that way," nine year old Maddie proclaimed as she dropped her knapsack on the kitchen table. "So neither should you."
Madeline was pure McGonagall, Hermione thought ruefully. Logical to the core, and well on her way to becoming the brightest witch of her own generation. At not even ten, she already had all of the first and second year Hogwarts textbooks memorized.
"Yeah, mum," Riley echoed his elder sister. "Don't worry about that old hag."
The first born son, according to Minerva, was the spitting image in looks and personality of her own deceased brother, Malcolm. The boy was an example to all Gryffindors; proud, tall, brave and loyal. It gave Hermione some solace in knowing that neither Minerva, nor their two older children, thought any less of her precious twins because the Ministry considered them to be illegitimate children.
"Is everything alright?" Minerva asked, coming into the kitchen. She was greeted by two small blurs of green eyes and chestnut hair.
"The lady at da zoo calleded us bas'ards," Kiehl explained with a pout. "I don' like it when that happens."
Helena squeezed Minerva's leg tightly. "Mama's hairs gots frizzy afters. And she said words that we is not allowed to ever, ever, ever repeats."
Minerva looked at Hermione with an amused expression. "Is that so?"
"Sorry," her younger wife huffed. "I just…
"Hermione, darling..." Minerva said, standing up and walking toward her.
Gentle arms wrapped Hermione into a warm embrace, and the residual anger faded from the younger woman's heart. "I'm sorry," she murmurred.
The next thing that Minerva said took Hermione by surprise. So much by surprise, in fact, that she felt compelled to ask her long time partner to repeat herself, just to be sure she'd actually said what Hermione thought she'd said. "Excuse me?"
"I said," Minerva replied, taking a small step back so that she could look Hermione in the eye. "Marry me. Enough is enough. You don't deserve to have others look down on you because they believe you've stayed with me for the money, nor do the twins deserve to be considered bastards. So, Hermione, I think we ought to get married. What do you say?"
Hermione didn't know what to say. She'd loved, and lived with Minerva for ten years now - seven of those years of which the Ministry had considered their marriage voided, and six of which she'd been hoping, praying, that Minerva would ask that very question. They had talked about it before, over the years, but Minerva had always said that it didn't matter what others thought, and she didn't see the sense in a big to-do for the sake making legal what should never have been made not legal in the first place. "Why now?" she finally uttered. "Why not six years ago, or five, or four, or three, or two, or even last year?"
Minerva had the good grace to look ashamed of herself. "I've been selfish," she admitted. "I didn't really stop to think about how our love not being legal really impacted you and the children. No one gives me grief for shacking up with a beautiful, younger woman, and the elder of our sons is considered a legal heir. It was… enough."
Hermione pulled away slightly, upset at the lack of consideration her partner was just now recognizing.
"Please, let me finish," Minerva pleaded, holding on.
The younger witch took a moment to glance at all four of her children looking expectantly at their parents. "Go on," she said to Minerva, offering a curt nod.
"I was a fool," she said. "And I am sorry. I don't honestly know how I could have been so blind. I've been scared that if we legally married that this dream of a life we have would come to a screeching halt; that it would change everything. In reality, the only thing that would have changed was to lose the safety net we've always had - the one that said either of us could walk away at any time. Today, I've realized I don't want that net there anymore. I don't want to wonder if today will be our last day together. Merlin knows I don't deserve it, but I want forever with you, Hermione."
The younger witch tried to keep looking upset. Failing that, she tried to look as uninterested in the notion as Minerva had seemed all these years. That, however, did not work either, and Hermione found herself pulling her partner, lover, and mother of her children into a deep, passionate kiss. "Yes, you crazy, stupid witch. Yes, let's get married," she whispered into Minerva's ear.
The week before Maddie was to begin her first year at Hogwarts, they did just that.
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