Epilogue

Lily stared at her father and the woman she still considered her aunt, at least by one-time marriage, in disbelief and even horror.

"No…. NO! This… this has to be a joke, right?! You're joking!"

Glancing at each other from where they sat across the table in Godric's Hollow, Harry and Hermione shook their heads.

"It's not, sweetie," Hermione tried to explain as gently as she could. "Your father and I… well, we've fallen in love."

From where she was seated on her husband's lap, Rose looked equally horrified, and even nauseous. "You and Uncle Harry aren't going to get married, are you?"

"Whoa, whoa – we're nowhere near having that discussion yet!" Harry held up his hand.

"But we are going to have it, eventually, right?" Hugo inquired tremulously.

James made a face. "Course not, prat! That would be gross. It's like…. incest!" Rose nodded fervently at her cousin's side.

"It's hardly that, James," Hermione tried to reason.

"How the bloody hell else are we supposed to interpret…. whatever this is, then? You're our aunt! Dating our father!"

"I'm not married to your uncle anymore, James," Hermione reminded him. "Technically, I'm no longer your aunt."

"You always will be to me! To us!" Lily threw out almost desperately. "You're still family! I just don't know if I can handle…. My aunt potentially also becoming my stepmother too!" She made a face.

Harry studied his daughter. She had emotionally been improving ever since the trial. As the legal case had progressed in court, Lily had even begun to soften her defense of her mother as all the facts of the case were brought to light. After Ginny's conviction was handed down and the tome released from evidence, Lily had even begun pouring over her grandmother's diary, trying to understand why Grandma Weasley and Mum would have done what they did.

But the news that her father had decided to move on with the woman who had once been her aunt…. Well. Harry wasn't sure Lily could be brought around to that.

"Um….. Hermione. Mr. Potter…."

Harry sighed. "'Harry' or 'Uncle Harry,' Scorp. You're family now; we've been over this…."

"That's just it. Erm – what does this mean? Exactly? For this family? Does this mean that my wife and I are going to be related – like, stepsibling related to the Potters?"

Rose's blue eyes expanded under a dawning horror. Cousins and stepsiblings all at once?

Related?... Related?!

"Daddy, you can't do this to me!" James blasted.

"Mummy, you can't do this to me!" Rosie wailed.

Albus just stood there laughing.

Hermione held up a hand. "No one is getting married. Not yet, anyway. Harry and I thought it would be best for all involved if we didn't keep you in the dark for too long. You're all adults, or nearly."

"Would a wedding even be legal, though?" James wondered, baffled.

"Enough with the wedding already!" Harry snapped. He laced his fingers through Hermione's. "This is more of a courtesy informing, more than anything. Rose, Hugo, you've managed just fine accepting a stepmother into your life, and soon a new baby brother to boot! We believe you all are mature enough to handle this. Although…. We will give you the time and space needed to wrap your heads around this."

The five kids, plus Scorpius – well, all the kids except for Albus, who still found this hilarious –all looked at each other, stunned and fuming at a simmer.

Shocking as this announcement was, the group of young adults had little choice but to watch and see how this relationship between their parents progressed. Either way, they would soon find out.

Eleven Years Later

Rose Malfoy shifted her and Scorpius's teething toddler onto her hip.

"Uhh…. Where are there?"

"They'll be here," Hermione assured her. "Try to be a little more patient with your stepmother. After all – there was a full moon last night…."

Next to her, Harry bent and kissed her temple. "Ron and the girls will get here on time. They wouldn't want Lyz to miss her first Hogwarts train!"

"True," Hermione sighed as she leaned into the man she loved, Harry throwing an arm around her. From where it rested on her mum's shoulder, Rose could see the gold of a wedding band glinting in the mid-morning sun percolating onto Platform 9 and 3/4s.

The wedding of her mother to her godfather, the man who was once her uncle at least by marriage, had occurred seven summers ago now. By that time, Rose had evolved from a place of dismayed disgust to acceptance and even tepid happiness for them.

Still, there was something about the wedding rings that…

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that…." she mumbled, half to herself.

She was startled when Harry heard her anyway, glancing at over her over the top of Hermione's head with a smirk. "I'm not asking you to get used to it, Rosie. Just be happy for us."

"I am," Rose nodded. A beat, and then: "You've been good for her." If Hermione was listening in on this conversation, she was doing a good job of pretending not to hear. "But…. thank you. For being willing to meet us where we are, Uncle Harry."

Harry chuckled. "I'm not your uncle anymore," he pointed out.

Rose smiled hesitantly at her…. her stepfather. "True. But you were my uncle first. Plus, just calling you 'Harry'…. it feels wrong."

Harry now laughed. "Fair enough."

Hermione nudged him. "Here they come."

The mist parted to reveal a little family of three, hustling up from back near the very last carriage. Lyzbeth's strawberry blonde curls were bouncing as she pushed her trolley at a moderately punishing jog.

"Thank Merlin! Halloo all!" Ron called, diving in for hugs from his daughter, son-in-law and best mate, then a ruffle of his grandson's curls before platonically giving Hermione a peck on the cheek. "Parked all right, then? We did!"

"Lav, how are you feeling?" Hermione drifted into her ex-husband's wife, the two women embracing warmly. The former Minister for Magic winced at concern at the dark circles under the new Mrs. Weasley's eyes.

Lavender smiled weakly, tiredly. "The full moon's work is never done."

"I'm just relieved you got here! Did you manage to park the car all right, Ronald?"

"Yes, Mum," Ron frowned, causing his former lover to laugh. "Have you managed to not spoil our grandchild?"

"I must report that that has been a resounding failure!" Hermione trilled, nuzzling her nose against her grandson's cheek. Cassius Malfoy shrieked with glee and reached for his grandmother.

Lavender now knelt and murmured to her daughter lovingly. "Best get onboard, dearest!" Bestowing drive-by hugs upon all, Lyzbeth clambered aboard. Finding a compartment not too far down the train, she gratefully accepted her trunk from where her father, brother-in-law and Harry passed it to her through the window; it took all three men to lift it.

The clock struck 11; the train whistle blew. Trying to hide her tears and doing a horrible job, Lavender leaned into the compartment window to kiss her little girl goodbye, followed by her husband. The blended family watched as the scarlet locomotive began to pick up steam, raising their hands in farewell.

Hermione leaned into her husband. "She'll be all right," she murmured.

Harry turned to smile at his wife, then bent down and kissed her firmly on the lips, grinning.

"I know she will. We'll all be all right. We are."

He could say that because it was true: all was truly well.