Epilogue

A week after Godric and Hermione were engaged, the President of the United States of America announced to the world that he had signed the bill to allow vampires the same rights as humans. It caused a huge uproar around the globe but not even numerous assassination attempts had the bill rescinded, and the first couple to be married were none other than the Louisianan loves. Despite the pair's many arguments against it, as a personal favour to him, the President won the fight to have the wedding televised so that everyone could see that they were deeply in love. It had worked to mollify the not so fanatic of the vampire haters, but nothing could stop the hatred that the hard-core vampire haters from being as they were.

With the Granger Philter hitting shelves, more and more vampires were mainstreaming, drinking the Tru Blood, but even those in the family enjoyed a sip from their loves every now and then. Hermione gained international celebrity status for her creation, not that she wanted it at all, and when you have a group of 13 personal body guards on you at all times nearly, no one was getting too close to her.

When the houses in the forest were completed, the couples all moved in the same day, all very happy at the distance between the places, but they could still hear whenever Hermione and Godric forgot to put up the heavy duty silencing charms, meaning they just went about trying to outdo them in noise.

With Teddy, Kendra and Romulus raised amongst such a diverse and odd family, it was not surprising at all when Hermione and Remus stated that they were going to home school the trio, not that Salem, Hogwarts, and Beauxbatons didn't try their damnedest to poach them for themselves when the time came; the representative from Durmstrang was lucky to be able to walk away after his arrival.

Sadly it wasn't all happiness because in 2016, at the age of 86, Adele 'Gran' Stackhouse passed away in her sleep. Her death shook everyone, none of them had ever thought that she would die, but they moved forward, not forgetting about her in the slightest, they even named the rebuilt hospital after her, paying for it to be rebuilt and completely updated after it was destroyed in the 2018 hurricane.

There was no surprise when Sookie, Jason, and Sam all went missing one night only to return the next as fully fledged vampires, it was the day after their wedding night, they didn't want to miss out on the fun they could have then. Luna had impatiently waited for her 25th birthday, but she was at least allowed to marry Eric on her 18th birthday. After she was changed, no one walked into the office of Fangtasia without first knocking loudly, Pam and Chow had learnt that the hard way, and also learnt that Luna was far more flexible than she looked.

After much discussion, Lafayette and George both agreed that they didn't mind growing old and passing on, and it did help that the government finally got their heads around to allowing gays to marry. Ever flamboyant, Lafayette wore a purple wedding dress and even had a garter that was thrown.

Sam wanted to spend as much time as possible with his bride, so while not fully selling the bar, he did let Terry Bellefleur and his new wife Arlene to become the managing partners. Sookie, Isabel, and Hermione would still occasionally go in and do a shift but when Arlene's daughter was old enough, she was eager to start working, and was a much better waitress than her mother.

With age not a problem to them, Godric and Hermione waited until the twins were 4 years old, and Hermione was 23 before she too joined her family in becoming a vampire. Kendra and Romulus were excited that their Mummy had joined their Daddy; they had been able to see that she was just waiting for them to get old enough before doing so.

A bet started when Kendra was 5 between the men in the family, it was who or what the little witch would fall in love with. On her suggestion, Godric put down that she would fall in love with Teddy, and wouldn't you know it, 12 years later, on the girl's 17th birthday, Ted Remus Lupin walked bravely up to his Uncle Godric and Aunt Mia to ask permission to marry Kendra. Bill and Sam were spitting mad at losing the bet but the entire family was pleased as punch at the news.

Romulus decided he would go into politics, much to his mother's worry and constant exclamations of him turning her grey. Moving quickly up the ranks in the magical sector, he moved across to the Muggle sector where he moved just as quickly. By the age of 30 he was in line to be in the running for presidential candidateship when he locked eyes with his opposition's daughter. It took him dropping out of the running and publically stating that love was far more important than politics for Susanna Fox to even go on a date. They were married 2 years later, with kids coming every couple years after that.

When the first trio of kids were all grown, Hermione and Godric went for a holiday over to her homeland, seeing all of her old friends, and initiating the Harry Potter Home for Orphaned Magical Children. It was constructed on the site of Potter Cottage and took in 10 children the first year, growing to become one of the largest homes in the magical community, no child would ever go through what her first love ever had again. It had been placed in the managing care of Ron and Ginny, and then their children once they were passed on, Hermione would never be able to live in the UK ever again but it would always be her motherland.

Potter House never changed name, Godric didn't have one that he remembered so he had taken Hermione's first married name, and it became the family home, where every descendant would be born or visit, just as her Gran's had been before. None of the original 7 couples ever left Louisiana, outside of going on holidays, and when the sad day that Lafayette died from old, but always colourful, age, with George following on quickly afterwards, they were buried in the family plot, and visited every day by someone in the family.

As for the family, by the time that Kendra, Teddy, Romulus and his Susanna passed, there were 25 kids between them, a few sets of triplets by both women helped in that sense. The house was never quiet, the sound of little feet a pleasant one that everyone enjoyed. All of the second Louisiana born generation children grew, married and had their own broods, causing Hermione to build even more houses in the forest and add 2 more floors onto Potter House, just to hold the expanding families whenever the holidays came around.

The Potter name never died out, and 2 of Kendra's daughters even took on the Stackhouse name when they were told that there were no others around to do so. Margaret Stackhouse, Kendra's 4th daughter, moved into Adele's house, never marrying but having 3 sons by in-vitro as she truly wanted to have children, making the house rarely ever empty of life again. When George Potter, Romulus' eldest son, became the Minister for Magic in America, the first person to congratulate him was his grandmother, who happened to be 12 years his junior in frozen age.

Every wedding, birth, and graduation was attended by the entire family, usually to the embarrassment of whichever descendant it was that it concerned, especially when their 'uncles' would bet on the outcomes of their lives. None of the men had learnt not to do it, no matter how many times they were cursed by their magical family members.

Funerals were a large sober event; it never got easier no matter how many they attended or how far along the person was in the family tree. Hermione and Luna had returned to England for every funeral of their old friends, sometimes taking their husbands. When Hagrid finally passed on at 200 years old, the two women had been carried by their mates, they were too distraught at the death of their old friend and professor.

Over the years war, both magical and Muggle, had a Potter or Lupin descendant fighting, always for the side of good. There had been cops, lawyers, authors, inventors, and then there had been stay at home parents out of the children, but no one was ever pushed to become something that they weren't, or made fun of if they were different. A few of the children had been changed, usually after falling in love with a vampire, and there was even a shapeshifter in Teddy and Kendra's great granddaughter, Shannon. Sam and Shannon would spend hours every day talking about the talent she had and she then went on to use it for good, bringing awareness to their kind.

Through everything though, there was one thing that no one ever lost, and that was love. The first thing the family ever did when they greeted someone home was tell them that they loved them and they were always welcome home. Love was what made their portion of the world go around, and at the levels of love that they all had for each other, it was lucky that they didn't spin out of control half of the time.

Hermione was sitting on the front porch in her Gran's old rocking chair, her latest descendant suckling on a bottle in her arms as the sun set, looking out over the horizon at how different everything had changed in the world but here, in Bon Temps, the only things that had changed were some of the faces. From behind her she could hear her husband trying to sneak up on her as he did every day, "I can hear you Godric."

The eternally youthful vampire grinned widely as he leant over her, resting his head beside hers and looking at the baby in her arms, "It would seem that Remus is nearly finished love."

"That he is," moving him up to burp, Hermione sighed heavily, remembering the man he had been named after.

"He's in a better place Hermione, they all are," Godric had damn near had to force the Granger Philter down his wife's throat the day that Remus had died, she had wanted nothing more than to join him, "He was 150 and already lost two wives, it was his time."

Tara had lasted far longer than she would have as a human, making it to see her 101st birthday before age simply took her. Everyone was certain that grief was the true cause of Remus' death, grief and loneliness at not having his mate by his side any more. No one was surprised that he too passed but it had not taken the hurt away any less, for any of them.

The witch gently kissed her love, "I know and I know it has been years but he was my father in all but blood. How are the others?"

"Running hell around the house. Kendra, Teddy and Romulus never made such a racket in their entire lives as our latest batch have."

"Well there are 20 now dear, of course they'll make more noise and I know you love having a household full of children," laughing lightly at the look on Godric's face, Hermione passed a sleeping Remus over to his teenage sister Lily before coming to sit beside him, "You never have been able to fool me."

"It has only been 300 years of marriage, I'll get there one of these days."

At the passionate kiss that the couple shared, Hermione looked quickly back into the house and was pleased when she saw the children's parents awake. Grabbing Godric's hand, she sped off into the forest with him, pinning him against a tree and whispered, "Happy anniversary my husband."

"Happy anniversary my wife"

THE END