EPILOGUE 5

Author's Note: I don't own any of the characters.

The Weasley Household-By The Lake

Though they looked good for their age time had finally caught up to them all. Harry and Ron were both starting to show some gray hairs in their hair and to her great surprise neither tried to hide it. For her part she had decided to grin and bear her own signs of aging, at least the ones that she could do little to nothing about. Then again she thanked her lucky stars that her looks had never been incredibly important to her. For all that they were worth she still felt her heart skip a beat whenever she looked into Ron's eyes and saw the depth of the love that he had for her reflected back in them, regardless of her physical appearance. Harry had finally become less and less well known over the years until now only the older generations still stood in awe of him, though it had taken over twenty years for that to happen. That had made going out in public far easier for the quartet and so now finally they could come and go as they pleased without worrying about being watched and monitored by anyone and everyone.

Much to his astonishment Ron was now fully in charge of the entire company that Fred and George had built, as the latter after so many years had decided that he needed to move on and do something that wouldn't be a constant reminder of what he'd lost. That and who better to turn things over to than Ron, who most of the employees already loved and knew. To that end Ron and Hermione now had a level of wealth that left them both stunned, though they weren't filthy rich money now was no longer at the top of their worry list, even with now fourteen children to care for. The total had come to seven sons and seven daughters, a surprise to them both. Only the ravages of time and age stopped them at fifteen, though neither had set out for that number or aimed for it. Thankfully given the gaps between the children's births the house was not full and almost half of them were already on their own and more soon would be.

"They actually came," Hermione admitted with a clear tone of surprise in her voice as Ron stepped up beside her and handed her a cup of pumpkin juice, which she received with a warm smile.

"Who," Ron wondered with a bit of an impish smirk starting to curl up the corners of his lips as he slid an arm around her waist and leaned in for a kiss on her cheek.

"Santa and the Tooth Fairy, who do you think Ron…Lexi and Rachel came," Hermione let slip with an impatient sigh, though she couldn't help but smile as she knew that he probably didn't know who she was talking about, as she melted into his embrace and took a small sip of pumpkin juice before laying her head on his shoulder.

"Oh…uh yeah, and they brought their daughters too, uh what were their names again," Ron replied softly, more than a fair amount of uncertainty and confusion clearly evident in his words, as he tightened his grip on her.

"Michelle and Kelsey I believe, they call Lexi mum even though they're both adopted, orphans that the Italian aurors discovered at two different crime scenes, they were only supposed to stay with Lexi and Rachel for a few days until their ministry could find them new homes but…by the time that happened…," Hermione answered as she screwed up her face in thought and held her cup of pumpkin juice almost up to her lips the whole time before she lowered it back down closer to her chest level as she hoped that she had her story straight.

"What do they call Rachel then," Ron wondered aloud softly with a casual glance back towards the front door of their house to where Rachel and Lexi were having a little time to themselves.

"Er…you know, I'm not sure that I've ever asked…does that make me a bad person," Hermione admitted with a guilty expression before it turned more sour and she looked almost upset with herself for not knowing and she pulled back away from Ron enough so that they could be face to face and she could judge his reaction with her own eyes.

"Of course not luv, you're just a very busy woman with me and the kids and work, things are bound to fall through the cracks, probably doesn't help that we see so little of them either," Ron tried to counter her somber attitude as he pulled her back into a warm and tight embrace before he leaned back up against their favorite tree, the one with the rope swing attached to it so that the family could swing out with it over the lake, and pulled her along with him.

"Well…yeah but, I feel like I should still know all of that," Hermione declared as she looked more than a bit worried and very unhappy with herself, sounding as if she had failed her job of being Lexi's mother.

"You can't know everything Hermione, trust me," Henry commented with an empathic smile as he walked up and laid a reassuring hand on his daughter's shoulder, the lines in his face clearly visible as he was now showing his age.

"I know Dad, but I just wish that…," Hermione tried to object a bit with a weak smile towards her parents as she leaned heavily into Ron before her mother spoke up and tried to help her out a bit.

"These things happen dear, trust me…and after all it's not like you intentionally forgot or didn't know what the girls call Rachel," Jean answered with a slightly pleading smile as she wrapped an arm around Henry's waist and leaned into him, all the while making sure to notice each and every minute action that her daughter took to gauge her reaction to her words.

"Maybe they call her Rachel," Mr. Weasley supposed with a helpful tone and nervous smile as he tried to cut the tension a bit but failed before he took a large sip of his pumpkin juice so for something to do.

"Now why would they do that dear, you could always just ask her you know," Mrs. Weasley countered her husband with a rather odd look at him before she walked up and lightly patted Hermione on the shoulder and brushed a few stray strands of hair back off of her face.

"I'd rather not…I'd hate to offend her," Hermione softly argued with a less than certain look in her eyes and a quiver to her voice before Ron gave her a quick one armed hug and then leaned down and kissed her on the top of her head, holding her close the entire time.

"Or you could perhaps ask Alexandra, that…I believe, would be a far safer choice," Henry interjected with a cheesy grin as he joined his parents and grandparents near the tree, having had been very curious as to what they had been talking about with such serious faces.

"Heh, my son…the voice of wisdom, thank you Henry," Hermione quipped softly with a relieved smile as she pulled away from Ron just enough to lean forward and lightly pat Henry on the cheek before setting back into Ron's warm and loving embrace.

"Always mum," Henry proudly answered before his ears glowed and he was forced to stare down at the surface of the cup of pumpkin juice in his hands to avoid the knowing looks from his parents and grandparents.

"Why aren't you having fun with the others," Ron wondered aloud with a curious frown as he gave his oldest son a careful looking over to see if he could tell that anything was wrong, but finding nothing he calmed down and focused more on how Hermione felt in his arms and how he knew that she was right where she wanted to be.

"Well Ana and Angie aren't exactly up for much, given how far along they are and all…," Henry reminded them all with a tired shrug of his shoulders and an impatient frown as he started to take a sip of his pumpkin juice but stopped halfway through and instead just flung the juice onto the ground and scowled.

"You know that you do have other siblings, you and Shawn could always play chess," Hermione impatiently countered his answer with an idea of her own as she smiled sweetly at him and hoped that he'd at the very least brighten up a bit and smile.

"We could…right, but he's no fun to play anymore, you can't have a rivalry if one of the participants always wins," Henry answered with a solemn frown as he shuffled his feet a bit and tried to smile at Hermione but just couldn't quite manage it and looked to his father instead, feeling that he'd understand.

"I know the feeling son," Ron said with a sly grin and a wink towards his oldest child before he let out a choked gasp as Hermione elbowed him in the ribs, while wearing a completely innocent smile, truly a bit harder than she intended to and knew that she'd have to make up for it later.

"Chess was never my game Ron, I only played you because you loved it so much," Hermione admitted a bit sheepishly with a slight blush to her cheeks as she pulled one of Ron's arms a bit tighter around her until she could almost feel his heartbeat.

"It certainly wasn't because it gave you an easy excuse to spend time together either…right Mum…," Henry called out with a clearly sly grin and edge to his words as he put the lip of his cup up to his mouth to try and hide his grin even though there was no pumpkin juice in it before Hermione could get a word in edgewise.

"Hush," Hermione snapped with a suppressed tone of anger in her words and a light fire in her eyes that disappeared about as quickly as it showed up and after she spoke she suddenly felt very embarrassed and foolish and had to look away, knowing that her son had been totally correct.

"If I had known that…then…," Ron whispered softly to her after several almost totally silent moments as he spoke it into her frizz as he held her close and made her wonder about how things could have been different if she had told him the truth way back when instead of keeping it all to herself.

"Then what…," Hermione asked back in a soft hush as she was suddenly very interested in what Ron thought would have happened had he known about her want to be near to him back during their school days.

"We would have been together long before we actually were," Ron answered her with a truly honest answer, one that gave the brunette in his arms an overly happy shiver and a feeling of crushing disappointment that neither had acted on their feelings before that kiss after the quidditch match.

"If only," Hermione admitted with a very longing tone to her voice as she truly regretted the missing time for them before she noticed the odd looks that they were getting from Henry and the others and she smiled sweetly at them all, trying to allay any and all of their unspoken questions.

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The Weasley Household-Lexi's Old Room

"Does it feel a bit strange, being back in your old room," Hermione called out softly with a hint of concern in her words as she cautiously brushed the door open a bit more and poked her head into her daughters old room, finding her eldest one sitting on the bed and staring blankly out of the window.

"Not really mum, whenever Rachel and I take the girls on vacation we all stay in one room to save some money, it'll be fine," Lexi replied with a small sigh as she smiled softly and turned away from the window before widening her grin as Hermione slipped into the room and smiled back at her.

"That's good, any problems getting here," Hermione softly answered as she walked across the room and sat down on the bed beside Lexi, laying a hand on her shoulder for a moment before pulling her into a relieved hug.

"Not really, I had to have a talk with Rachel about some of her clothes though, the bikini that she wanted to bring was so revealing that…I think that Grandpa Weasley would have had a heart attack if he saw her in it," Lexi explained slowly as she took a deep breath and let it out, trying not to let her ears glow red to show how embarrassed she was about the topic that she was discussing before she couldn't help but grin hungrily at the thought of Rachel in a tiny and revealing swimsuit.

"It was that bad, the rest of her clothes are not…," Hermione started to point out to what in her mind was fine as to the style of Rachel's clothes that she had seen the younger woman wear before she was corrected by Lexi.

"Don't worry mum, she's saving anything risqué until after we get home," Lexi admitted with a sheepish look to her as she hunched her shoulders noticeably and became more than a bit nervous about talking about such things with her mother of all people before she was rescued.

"That'll be enough talking about sex," Ana stated sharply with a clearly irritated and tired tone of voice as she bumped the door open with her protruding stomach and waddled into the room with her little sister right behind her.

"Especially since it's the cause of all of this," Angie agreed as she waddled in after her sister and was grateful that Lexi and Hermione hopped up off of the bed to help them find a seat, one on the bed and the other in the only chair in the room.

"Both of you knew what you were getting into so there's no sense moaning and groaning over it now," Hermione told them both with a scowl of disapproval and her hands on her hips as she coolly regarded her two present pregnant daughters and hoped that the pair were only joking.

"But Mum," Ana weakly started to object with a very uncomfortable expression as she tried to shift her seat a bit to get as settled as possible before her mother spoke up.

"Come back and talk to me when you're on your tenth baby…then maybe you'll have something to say about being pregnant…," Hermione announced with a slightly stern and disapproving tone as she sat down on the bed beside Ana and could have sworn that she caught Lexi in the act of staring jealously at her sister's enlarged stomachs.

"Sorry Mum, we didn't mean anything by it…honest," Ana and Angie chimed in together at the same time with regretful looks as they set their hands on their stomachs and just looked uncomfortable, though given that they were both weeks away from giving birth it wasn't any big surprise.

"I know, I'm just teasing," Hermione shot back with a subdued laugh as she caught sight of the scowls that she got from her daughters before she shrugged her shoulders and continued, "Sorry, you father must be rubbing off on me more than I thought."

"We hadn't noticed," Lexi commented with an exaggerated rolling of her eyes as she forced herself to smile and tear her gaze away from her sister's stomachs and instead focus on her hair, still in her mind one of her best features, being very glad that she hadn't inherited her mother's hair like some of her younger siblings.

"I said I was sorry, but the two of you shouldn't worry, your due dates are almost here and if anything were to happen before this family gathering is over we have everything set to get you girls to St. Mungo's," Hermione exclaimed in a bit of a huff at first as she pushed herself up against the headboard and surveyed the room, making sure to look each of her daughters in the eye so that they'd know that she was serious.

"Mum's right, if either or both of you go into labor while we're here there's plenty of family to help," Lexi reminded them with a relieved smile before she began to fiddle with the bottom hem of her dress, noticing that a bit of it was coming loose and hoping to remember to fix it when she had the chance.

"That's what we're afraid of," Ana commented softly with a very nervous frown as she tried to smile at her big sister but suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable and her attention was focused back on her stomach, hoping that it wasn't a contraction.

"Can you imagine, Dad would be a wreck," Angie added happily with a hearty chuckle as she thought of Ron irritating everyone at St. Mungo's until the birth was over, and how many of them she would have to apologize to afterwards, and she didn't like the number that she came up with in her head.

"And what about me," Hermione scoffed angrily as she leaned away from the headboard until she was almost looking Angie right in the eye before they were interrupted.

"You'd be in the delivery room with them of course," Shawn interjected with a sly grin as he made a grand entrance into the room and then shut the door behind him as he leaned back up against it, grinning from ear to ear.

"Stay out of this little brother," Ana grumped out loud with an annoyed frown before she caught Hermione glaring at her and she settled down and smiled as warmly as she could at the eldest of her younger brothers.

"Why, it's a free country and all…and we're family," Shawn told Ana with a teasing twinkle in his eyes as he tried to keep from laughing before he crossed the space between them and sat on the bed behind Ana, using his own body to help her stay seated upright.

"So, doesn't mean that we want you around," Angie replied with a slight sneer as she tried to sit up in the chair but found that she couldn't distribute her weight far enough forward and so just relented and leaned back.

"Doesn't mean that any of you can make me leave either, unless you use magic that is…and I have my wand," Shawn declared proudly with a slight nudge to Ana in the middle of her upper back with his shoulder before he ignored the light glare that she sent back towards him.

"So do I, and I don't have to speak to cast spells either…so be careful," Lexi chided her younger brother with a nervous frown as she laid back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling as Hermione moved her legs so that they could all easily fit on the bed.

"I don't either Alexandra, so don't test me," Hermione countered with an eerily calm tone to her voice as she smiled at her children, suppressing a giggle at the cold shiver that she knew they were all feeling as they knew well her ability to cast spells without having to say a word.

"Yes Mum," Lexi somberly pouted back as she stood up and smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress rather than catch the look that Hermione was sending her way.

"Now come on you lot, we should get back to the others before they notice that we're gone and come looking for us, if not your uncle Harry will start telling jokes again," Hermione explained with a tired and weary sigh as she shook her head and forced herself back up to her feet and starting to take a step towards the door before being interrupted.

"Sweet Merlin no…," Lexi gasped in utter shock and horror with her hands clamped over her mouth, an expression that her sisters and brother copied without checking with each other, before their mother had to struggle to collect herself and keep her voice calm and not laugh in agreement.

"Anything but that, Uncle Harry couldn't tell a joke if his life depended on it," Shawn moaned out in agreement before he dropped his head into his hands and then slumped to the floor, though no one in the room bothered to give him much of a glance as they knew that he was only joking and that there was not any actual emergency in the room.

"I know…but we must never tell him so…maybe we can convince your father to be the one to tell him, come on let's go," Hermione relented through a lough sigh as she then had to bite her lip to keep from openly laughing at the absurdity of it all before she waved her children out of the room, only to have them give her pleading looks to not make them go. Moments later the entire room was filled with roaring fits of laughter and Hermione was left wondering how she had gotten so lucky.

THE END

Author's Note: Thanks again to everyone for reading and reviewing this and the other chapters. As always reviews, comments, and questions are greatly appreciated. Now it's time for my epic rant, but thankfully not a really angry one or anything like that. This story was originally supposed to be only like twelve chapters long but things kept coming up that made it longer. Glad so many liked and/or loved it. I can't read stories with Harry and Hermione or Draco and Hermione. In the books Ron is the only guy for Hermione to me as Rowling never fleshes out any other female character that could even be a maybe for Ron, with Luna he could only tolerate her in small doses and with Lavender she never goes beyond being the stereotypical teen girl in love, she never does anything with Harry except talk about Ron. For her part Hermione has no friends outside of Harry and Ron and Ginny. Harry wants nothing to do with the muggle world and to me Hermione does as her parents are still in it and Ron doesn't mind the muggle world since it's where she came from and all. Always wish that we'd get more stories about how the trio told their friends and families about what happened after the wedding, wonder how the families and such would take Ron leaving, Hermione tortured, and when and how would they and Hermione ever find out about what really happened with the locket when it was destroyed. Stories about how and what they told Hermione's parents and their reaction, with again it not just glossed over as saying that they told them everything and all.

After the trio left Shell Cottage did Bill immediately tell his parents and Ginny that they had been there or did Luna or Dean or Ollivander do it whether on purpose or by accident. Would also love the idea of during the Yule Ball if there was a bright flash of light and out popped Albus, Rose, and Scorpius with them in their fourth year as well and then they try to find their way home and interact with their parents and such. That or in the movie timeline in the sixth movie when Hermione asks Ron what Ginny would think if she looked over and saw them kissing, and Ron can't come up with anything to say back to Hermione and she gives him a pleading look, I just wonder if Ron had seen the look or said and/or done something then. I see two children for Ron and Hermione as being too, and no fourteen is more than enough, more like five would be the correct number, two boys and three girls. One boy within three years of Hogwarts, as after Ron and Hermione got past knowing that they were in love and the jealousy of Krum and Fleur and such it wouldn't take them many years to move forward, to marriage and kids to me. Maybe find a way for them to have the son where neither pressured the other into sex or anything like that, and then after that twin girls that would be little like Fred and George, where they wouldn't be much for jokes or making things, at least any more than anybody else. Then next would come Rose and Hugo. I just know that I'll think of something to say after I post this but ah well… Thank You.