Chapter Ten
A/N: No reviewers.
The time had come. All the necessities had been purchased, the trunks had been packed and tearful goodbyes had been said to the rest of the Weasleys. Now, all that remained to be done was to let Teddy and Selena leave for Hogwarts at last.
At ten o'clock, the family left their home, with the destination of King's Cross Station on their minds. It was not a long way away, especially if they used the Floo system, but there were seven of them to think about, due to the arrival of the new baby, Lily, adding to the family, and so they had to allow for extra time, in case of any dramas with the children. This was something that both Ginny and Selena had been particularly glad about, as they had been surrounded by boys until her arrival, making the arguments they had utterly unfair by number, which is how they would remain for a while yet, as Lily could not yet talk.
As they stepped through the wall and onto the platform, Teddy and Selena shared a common thought, the words reverberating through both of their minds at once, as often occurred between magical twins. It was a bond between them that could be shared by no one else, and one that Ginny only knew of through the connection between George and poor Fred.
'All the other adults here are their parents.'
It had been eleven years since Death had snatched the parents that the children had hardly known, and still they were missed with every day that went by. Every so often, the two would dream of what their lives would have been like, had their parents survived the terrible battle that had ended the Second Wizarding War. Perhaps they would have been happier, perhaps they would have grown to become different people. Perhaps they would have finally felt that they really belonged.
Throughout the entirety of the time they had lived with their godparents, the twins, Teddy in particular, had always felt the clear divide between themselves and the Potter children. Harry and Ginny had made certain that they never showed preference, but the children knew that there would always be a love for the younger three, a physical bond that Ginny in particular would never have with them. And of course, they felt precisely the same way as the couple did. They had other children, and Teddy and Selena had had their own parents, if only for the shortest time. That was never going to change. Perhaps at Hogwarts, they would finally be able to learn about their parents, and finally feel that they belonged.
As the hand of the clock approached the mark of five to eleven, Ginny bent down, wrapping her arms tightly around the two. Tears were flowing from her eyes and trailing down the cheeks of the children she held, though Selena's cheeks were already wetted, from the trails of water escaping her own eyes. The only one in the trio who did not cry was Teddy, although unbeknownst to any around him, he was merely attempting to be strong, for the sake of his sister, if no one else.
"I'm going to miss you so much, both of you." the woman sighed, her voice choked with a sob that she attempted to hold back. Although the two children were not her own, they had been the first that she had ever had, back when she had still been a young woman, and she had come to love them as if she had given birth to them herself. To say goodbye to them now was the most painful thing she had done.
Once the redhead had released them, the two boys gave their foster siblings a hug, and then it was the turn of Harry. Having been the first to have brought Teddy and Selena home, the dark haired man had formed the closest bond with them out of all of the family. He had known their parents extremely well, and had loved Remus as Sirius' friend, and Tonks for her clumsy attitude. Every time he saw them, he was reminded of the two people he had lost, and at first he had thought that it would be too painful to care for them, but over time, he was proven so wrong. He knew that he would need to let go of them one day, and now that the time had come, he was sad to finally let the children go.
"Goodbye, Teddy. Goodbye, Lena." Harry bade the two farewell, batting back the tears that stung his eyelashes. As a whistle sounded, the man realised that he was out of time, and so he hurried the children onto the train, giving each of them a final embrace before they went off to find a carriage.
A few seconds later, and the train whistled a final time, smoke filling the platform as the Hogwarts Express began to move away from the station. As it moved further away, the two toddlers began to run along beside the train, their mother holding the hand of Albus, while James was old enough to run independently. They continued to run, smiling and waving until the concrete came to an end, and the train pulled out of sight. That was when Harry finally allowed the tears to fall.
As the train finally lost sight of the platform, Selena let out a shuddering sigh, tears continuing to fall down her pink stained cheeks. As soon as he saw the state that his twin sister was in, Teddy crossed the length of the compartment, seating himself down beside her and wrapping his arms so tightly around her that he was sure Molly Weasley herself would have been put to shame. He did not attempt to stop her from crying, but instead began to do so with her, finally allowing the tears he had hidden so long to fall. Perhaps the Potters were not their true family, not their true blood, but they were all that the twins had ever had. But maybe they would not be all they would ever have.
Maybe Hogwarts was the place where they belonged.
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