Epilogue
Albus's POV
September 1st, 2044
September the first seemed to come quickly this year, and before the five of us knew it, we were entering King's Cross Station, pushing three trolleys, all filled with school trunks, owls, and broomsticks.
It had been 25 years since I had first boarded Hogwarts Express, and the thought of that day stirred up some distant memories; of Lily clutching our father's arm and complaining about how she wanted t o go NOW and not two years later, my father's advice on my Sorting, James and I arguing about my chances in Slytherin...
"No! I won't be in Slytherin! Not now, not ever!" Leo said defiantly to his 14 year old brother, Jace.
Jace smirked, his grey-blue eyes twinkling mischievously and ruffled his already messy dark hair. "How do you know? You could be sent back home, saying that there was a mistake and they couldn't Sort you." Leo's emerald eyes widened considerably and his skin paled, contras ting to his dishevelled jet-black hair that he inherited from me.
"Oh, give it a rest, Jace!" Thalia scolded him.
"I was only suggesting - " He stopped short when he met his mother's blazing glare.
Belle rolled her blue-green eyes. "Jace, how can you manage to be such a git?"
He glared at his 13 year old sister. "How can you manage to be such a prat? What with you already sucking up to the teachers with perfect grades, and not to mention getting on the team as Chaser for Gryff indor in your first year, you've practically earned yourself your Head Girl's badge. Aunt Rose would be proud."
Belle stuck her chin out. "Jealous, Jay-Jay?"
Leo watched in relief as his two dark-haired siblings continued to argue, taking the subject off of his Sorting. I patted his shoulder sympathetically, and he relaxed under my touch.
The conductors gazed curiously at the items in the trolleys as we pushed them down a special conveyor belt, as we rode down alongside them via the escalator.
Retrieving them, we continued on our way to Platform 9 3/4. When we reached the barrier, I looked around, checking for Muggles. "Alright, Jace, you go first."
My eldest child threw one more smug smirk over his shoulder at Leo before rushing forward and disappearing through the brick wall.
"Mum, can you go with me?" Belle asked.
"Of, course, honey. On the count of three. One, two, three!" At the last word, they disappeared, taking the barrier head-first.?
Leo looked at me imploringly. "Can you help me, dad?" he asked, and I felt a surge of affection for my son.
"Sure," I said, smiling, and grasped one side of the handle of the cart, while Leo took hold of the other.
"Ready?" Leo nodded, his eyes fixed ahead.
"Go!" We sped forward, and as we neared the barrier, Leo winced, waiting for the impact that never came, for we passed through it smoothly and was met by Platform 9 3/4, the Express gleaming brightly as it spewed steam.
Leo and I walked over to Belle and Thalia; Jace must have either sped off to see his friends or his other male cousins, but he had left behind his trolley.
Belle kept on standing on her tip-toes, trying to see through the thick haze of smoke. "Where are they? I need to talk to Ricardo!"
"But you already spent most of your summer with him!" Exclaimed Leo.
"Still! He went to Italy for two weeks! I need to know the details!"
I was glad Leo didn't comment. Belle's temper and patience s eemed to be strung thin today, what with Hogwarts starting for the year.
"I think it's them!" Thalia said, pointing somewhere off to the distance.
Sure enough, a family consisting of a red-head, two blondes, and a strawberry-blonde walked toward them, pushing two trolleys forward.
"Hey, you two!" Said Rose, coming to hug Thalia and then me.
"How's it going, mate? How was Italy?" I asked, shaking hands with Scorpius.
"Good and good. It was absolutely marvellous there, too k Ricardo to a famous broomstick shop; he couldn't take his eyes off of the new Firebolt 55, he's looking forward to trying out for the Quidditch team, probably Keeper. I can't blame him, he was too shy to step up and show off his skills like your daughter did in their first year. I have NO idea how they get along."
I looked over at the pair of them; they were both chatting animatedly about Italian broomsticks and the Quidditch teams that endorsed them. Ricardo was the spitting image of his father, only he had Rose's eyes.
I nodded and Scorpius said, "So, how about you, Thalia and the kids?"
"We're all pretty good, Leo's nervous about his Sorting, Jace has gotten into trouble with Thalia about pranking our next-door neighbors - don't worry they're not Muggles, and Belle's been begging me for the new Nimbus, since we had established that the Firebolt 55 is too expensive. Well, at least Dark wizards aren't running around the place. Thalia and I are taking different shifts so that one of us will be able to stay at home with the kids. But still, it's pretty hectic."
Scorpius gave me an understanding sort of look as we made to heave the kids' trunks into the luggage carriage."That's a lot going on. Ours is probably as hectic or more. Rose and Natalie have been going crazy with preparing for Hogwarts; I think they check her trunk about 3 times a night, ever since we bought everything at Diagon Alley. Ricardo has also been begging me to take him out to see a Quidditch match when he knows very well that I wasn't getting paid as regularly that week."
"Tough break, mate." I said, heaving Belle's trunk onto the carriage, her owl, Artemis hooting indignantly and flapping her snowy white wings.
"Yeah, well," Scorpius said, shrugging, "What house do you think Natalie's going to get into? I'm thinking either Slytherin or Gryffindor; she IS pretty brave, but she also has a cunning and sneaky side, too."
I shrugged. "I don't know, most likely Gryffindor, but I think there's a chance for Slyherin, too. Remember when Jace pranked her for the first and last time?"
He laughed. "Yeah, I do. I think she just meant to prank him back, but instead she gave him boils where the sun don 't shine. Ironically, that was her first sign of magic."
I laughed along, and when we had heaved the last trolleys up into the carriage, we went over to Thalia and Rose.
"Aw, don't you think we were exactly like that when we were our children's age?" Cooed Rose, gesturing to Natalie and Leo, who were talking about Hogwarts.
"...and I read from Hogwarts, a History that the ceiling is Charmed with a super complex spell to change according to the weather! Isn't that cool?" Natalie beame d at Leo, her light, grayish powder blue eyes sparkling as she tossed a strawberry blonde curl over her shoulder.
"Yeah, she's a chip off the old block, Rosie." I joked, and she swatted me playfully.
"Oh, they grow up so fast," Sniffed Thalia, who gripped my hand and was looking over at Belle and Ricardo.?
"Have you seen the new Nimbus 4000s? They are AMAZING!" Said Ricardo ecstatically.
"I know! I couldn't tear my eyes away from it at Diagon Alley! They are certainly worth 50 Galleons," Belle said.
"I hear Christie got one!"
"No way! I'm sure I would know if my best friend has the new spankin' hot Nimbus!"
"Apparently she did," Jace said, joining them. "I just saw her with it, along with her fine - "
"Don't you DARE hit on my best friend! Or else." Belle said threateningly.
Jace raised an eyebrow."Or else what?"
"Or else I'll hit you with 20 hexes and jinxes you've never heard of," She said, taking out her wand. "Aunt Rose's books can be quite helpful."
Jace backed away, arms raised. "Alright, alright, you don't have to go all grandma Ginny on me. Sheesh, Belle, get a grip."
The Hogwarts Express let out a warning whistle, and parents surged forward towards the train, helping their child to get on board and giving goodbye hugs and last minute reminders.
"Now, Jace, be good, and remember, NO sneaking out into the halls at night. Filch is not very pleasant to Potters and Weasleys these days ever since you and your cousins set off that dungbomb firecracker in his office. I'll be speaking to your Uncle Fred and James about discontinuing those products. Nothing that shoots around a room, throwing dungbombs as they go is ever pleasant. I swear, ever since they took over for your grandpa George, things have been getting pretty hectic."
Jace rolled his eyes. "Aw, mum you're no fun. See you! Bye, mum, dad, I'll see you later." He let his mother kiss him on the cheek and gave me a quick hug. He was about to say something to Leo when Thalia gave him a warning look. He hurried onto the rapidly filling train, running down the corridor to meet up with his friends.
"Bye, mum, dad. I'll write to you as soon as possible. I CANNOT wait to start Quidditch and classes again!" Belle gave us each a kiss and a hug, and stopped to ruffle Leo's hair. "Be careful at Hogwarts, little bro. I may not be around to protect you."
Leo rolled his eyes. "Belle, I don't need protection!"
"Sure you don't. Bye!" and off she went, joining Ricardo and her friends.
"Dad?" Leo asked me quietly.
"Yes, Leo?" I said, crouching down so that we were eye level.
"I-I'm worried about if I'm going to end up in Slytherin." He said.
I looked him straight in the eye. "Leo, it doesn't matter to us if you get into Slytherin or not. Whatever house you get into, we'll give all of our support to. Besides, you can tell the Sorting Hat what house you'd like to be in. He really takes your opinion into account."
His face shone with awe. "Really?"
I nodded. "I was able t o choose Gryffindor over Slytherin. Whatever you feel is right for you, you go ahead and speak your mind."
He hugged me. "Thanks, dad."
"No, problem, Leo."
He quickly rushed over to Thalia, who gave him a swift hug and promising he'd write before hopping onto the Express. I shut the door behind him and watched his face light up with excitement.
As the train sped away, I took Thalia's hand, her head leaning on my shoulder. "They'll be fine." She murmured.
I looked at her, a small smile on my face. "I know."
Catching one more glimpse of Leo's awestruck face, the train sped away.
I smiled softly to myself. He was in for a lot of things he'd never see coming.
Come to think of it, everything that had ever happened to me, starting about 25 years ago, were things I never expected.
And you could say that everything turned out pretty damn well.
~The End~
A/N: OMG! I have just finished my first fanfic! Oh. My. Gosh. :')
You know, the idea of this fanfic started when Thalia first popped into my mind. It's sort of like J K Rowling's situation at King's Cross, only I wasn't boarding a train when the idea of creating this fic and its plot, but reading Harry Potter over again because I was bored for the day. When I reread the Epilogue: 19 years later, my eyes kept straying over to the part where they all look at Draco and his family, and what Ron had said. I strangely found the next generation interesting.
When my friend introduced me to FF, the plot bunnies started to enter my mind, and after reading a bunch of Rose/Scorpius fics (NO! I did NOT commit plagiarism! Now stop giving me evil looks! This is all from original idea - based on the books, and I didn't steal any of my fellow authors' ideas. Now stop looking at me as if you're thinking of suing me!) the plot started to form. I kept it in my head for a while until I couldn't bear it any longer and voila! 'Things I Never Expected' was born.
Yeah, I know, big deal, big deal. I'm just ecstatic to see what you thought about it. CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is allowed. AKA, no flamies. Pleasies?
Shout outs to my faithful reviewers who have reviewed this while it was still in-progress! I really hope you enjoyed it!
Since school is rolling around, I probably won't have enough time to start a multiple-chapter fic. Maybe occasional one-shots here and there, but when Christmas and summer holidays arrive, I'll definitely go for it. I'll try out a new pairing, maybe Lily /James, Harry/Ginny or Ron/Hermione. Ooh, or maybe a Time-Turner fic! :D we'll see. If you want more, just press the Favorite Author button!
I hope you loved it as much as I loved writing it.
Your author,
TheFanfictionInator
PS. If you'd like to request a one-shot subject for me to tackle, please include it in a Review! I might not get to it right away, but I WILL write it sooner or later! :)