Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, and I'm merely allowed to play around with them. No copyright infringement is intended.

I'm very sorry that this came some four months late... But, anyway, here it is, the one you've all been waiting for, the last chapter of 'The Right Path'.

Chapter 43 (Last Chapter)

-o-O-o-

The eight or so remaining months of Hermione's pregnancy were long.

And tiring.

And, unfortunately, full of fighting.

Or, should I say, bickering. You see, Regulus was the sort of overprotective daddy that doesn't let his pregnant wife do anything that might hurt the baby. Sometimes, it was useful, like when she went baby-clothes shopping and he agreed to carry all the bags, or when she tried to find a place for the cot and he wouldn't let her push it, and even when she wanted soda from the kitchens.

And the best thing was: he never complained.

However, he now kept her on a strict diet. Even students noticed how he kept her from sipping Butterbeer at dinner! The wondered what was going on with her, until, over the months, as she got bigger, one student asked her: "Miss! When's the baby due?"

To which she had answered: "Beginning of September."

Of course, Hogwarts being a place where a secret told was no longer a secret after a couple of hours, the next day, everybody knew that Professor Sinistra was married with Professor Vector and that they were gong to have a baby together.

Regulus, being overprotective, also started being over-anticipating. One day, Hermione was coming back from a walk around the castle, when she found her husband on the sofa, a huge stack of books about babies on his side. He had blushed profusely and she had laughed it off.

Then they started discussing baby names. "I like the name Jeremiah." Hermione admitted once, as they both lay in their bed, on the side, with Regulus' arm around Hermione's slightly swelled stomach.

"How do you spell that?" he asked, looking at her with curiosity.

"J-E-R-E-M-I-A-H." she answered. "If it's a boy, could we name him that?"

"Well…" Regulus sounded insecure. "I…"

She turned around to face him. "What is it?" she asked.

He cleared his throat. "I kind of wanted to… upload the family tradition and name our child after a… star or constellation." he admitted, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh." Hermione said, sounding surprised. "I…"

"If you don't want to, I won't hold it against you!" he said quickly.

"No! No!" she answered. "I'm perfectly fine with it… It's just that we're restricting our choice of names here."

"Well…" he said. "I kind of like the name Leo."

Hermione thought about it. "Leo Jeremiah Black…" she mused. "I like it." She turned to her husband and smiled broadly.

He smiled back. "What if it's a girl?"

She frowned. "It's a boy." she declared firmly.

He arched his eyebrow delicately. "How would you know?" he asked, seemingly amused.

She snorted. "I don't know… Maybe because he lives inside my body?" she asked sarcastically.

Regulus smiled teasingly. "Well, if it is a girl, I get to choose the name." he declared.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine." she gave in. "Whatever helps you sleep at night." She then caught his eyes and stared right into them. "But it's a boy."

Silently, Regulus laughed, thinking about her friend Lily Potter, who'd also been convinced of the sex of the baby… How wrong she had been! But, as he stared at his wife, slowly falling asleep, Regulus couldn't help thinking that now was probably not the best moment to mention her name.

-o-O-o-

The rest of the school year passed in a blur, and soon, the summer vacation was over too. Regulus and Hermione got back to work. The latter was rather annoyed that her husband didn't want her to work, but she held her position, and she resumed her job on the second of September, like classes did.

However, something went horribly wrong, just the next day. Or right, depending on the way you look at it.

Hermione was in the middle of teaching her fifth year class when she stood up rather abruptly and felt a big rip come from seep within her.

"Oh!" she exclaimed in shock as a big pool of water splashed down on the stone floor of the Astronomy Tower.

Her students were all staring at her in shock. One of her students, Theresa Smith, asked: "What are we going to do?"

"Get Professor Dumbledore." she said. "Tell him to notify Madam Pomfrey and Professor Vector."

The girl nodded frantically and ran off. The rest of her students stared at her whilst she walked towards a chair and sat down on it, breathing heavily.

After she had caught her breath, she declared: "When I get out of here, class is dismissed, and you are free of any homework."

Her students cheered and she couldn't help smiling.

-o-O-o-

Regulus now understood what James Potter had felt like when Lily had been about to give birth.

Then again, whereas James had been pacing, Regulus was pacing, biting his nails and looking at the time every five seconds. She should be done by now he thought. Was there a complication?

As a matter of fact, he knew that giving birth plus cleaning of the baby plus whatever else had to be done took at least one hour, and that was in a proper hospital. Yet, there he was, after thirty minutes, wondering what the hell could be taking them so long.

He had been in the middle of lecturing a third year about blowing up a girl's ink bottle to get her attention when Madam Pomfrey popped her head through his office and asked: "Professor Vector, may I have a word?"

He had gotten out mid-yell and asked: "What is it?"

"It's Mrs. Vector, Hershel." she said. "She's going into labour."

He had run back inside his class, dismissed his students and run back out, leaving a very confused third year boy who had just evaded detention.

A couple of hours, twenty cups of tea, three visits to Severus' quarters, two to Dumbledore's office and seventeen third floor turns later, Madam Pomfrey emerged from the room, looking exhausted.

"So?" he asked anxiously. "How did it go?"

"Very well." she said, running her hand through her hair. It was sweaty and matted, but she looked happy nonetheless.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" he asked, anxious to know.

She fidgeted a bit, as if she wasn't quite sure what to give him as an answer. "I think it's best if you come in and see." she said finally.

He twisted the door knob and pushed, entering the room, slightly afraid of what he would see there. Hermione was lying down on a bed on the western wall, two perfectly identical babies sucking greedily on her breasts.

She turned her head to meet his eyes. "Regulus…" she whispered. She sounded tired, relieved, happy, fulfilled, and, most of all, she sounded amazed.

He was speechless as he walked over to her to sit down on a chair on the side of her bed. He kept looking from her to the babies and back to her again in awe. "I..." he said, and then gulped. "I don't know what to say."

She laughed, but it was a nervous laugh. "Is that a good or a bad thing?" she asked. Her voice was teasing, but he detected a hint of worry in there too.

He looked straight into her eyes, as if he was trying to see right into her very soul. "It's definitely a good thing." he declared.

She laughed a little, relieved. "So?" she asked. "I guess we both won in a way."

"Huh?" he asked, not quite getting where she was heading with this.

"We've got one baby boy," she nodded towards the baby in her left arm. "And one baby girl." she said, wriggling her right arm.

He smiled. "Leo Jeremiah Black." he said in awe.

She smiled too. "In know right." She sighed. "And you get to name our daughter." she gave in.

"Our daughter…" he repeated, as if in a daze. "Cassiopeia." he declared. "Cassiopeia Carly Black."

"Baby Leo and baby Cassy." Hermione cooed.

The two of them broke off and yawned at the exact same time. Regulus gave a short laugh before looking up at Hermione: "Doesn't this feel slightly surreal to you?" he asked.

"Totally." she declared, laughing. "It feels as if yesterday we were giddy teenagers and today we're parents."

They both laughed a little and then were quiet, focusing on watching the twins fall asleep. "Here." Regulus said, stretching his arms out for Hermione to deposit on of the babies in his arms. She put Cassy in the crook of his elbow and he cradled her awkwardly. "Is this how you're supposed to do it?" he asked, slightly scared of doing something wrong.

She smiled reassuringly. "You're doing great." she told him.

After a few more minutes of cradling and hugging, they put both babies in their cribs and then sat down on the Hospital Wing bed, snuggling.

"Welcome to the world, sweethearts." Hermione whispered lovingly, as a tear escaped from her eye.

Regulus wiped the tear off her cheeks and whispered: "Welcome to the family."

-o-O-o-

Eleven years later…

-o-O-o-

Hermione and Regulus both sat down at the staff table as the first years entered the room in a clumped group, whispering excitedly about the stool and the old, battered hat in the middle of the room. McGonagall pulled out a piece of parchment and cleared her throat, before she started calling out names.

Near the end, she got to: "Vector, Cassiopeia."

The two professors smiled as they watched their nearly eleven-year-old daughter run to the stool and jam the hat onto her head eagerly. After a little while, it yelled out: "SLYTHERIN!"

The whole Great Hall clapped, but no one clapped longer or louder than Regulus Black himself.

When the little black haired girl had stridden off to her house table, McGonagall called out: "Vector, Leo."

The shy little brown-haired boy walked to the stool uncertainly, but was sitting very straight when the Deputy Headmistress placed the Sorting Hat on his head. It took over three minutes, but the hat eventually called out: "GRYFFINDOR!"

Hermione was the one who clapped loudest this time, earning her a disapproving glance from her husband.

They finished the Sorting and had the traditional 'beginning of year feast' in peace. After that, Hermione and Regulus walked back to their quarters, both sporting proud smirks on their faces.

"Well," she said, clapping her hands together as Regulus closed the door behind them. "That went well."

As he was taking off his disguise with a couple waves of his wand, Regulus declared: "You took the words right out of my mouth." He cleared his throat. "It surprised me that Leo ended up in Gryffindor." he said.

"Really?" Hermione asked. "Why?"

"I don't know… I always thought he was too much like you to become one." he said, shrugging.

She laughed. "I'm a Gryffindor too!" she contradicted him, her hands on her hips, her hair back to its usual bushy self.

He smirked. "Keep telling yourself that, honey." he said sweetly.

She went over and whacked him playfully on the arm. "Why aren't you surprised about Cassy?" she asked, changing the subject.

"My baby girl was born like me." he declared proudly. "She was bound to end up in the same house as me, right?"

"You're sure right about that." Hermione said, before walking over to the balcony and opening the door wide. Regulus followed her outside and they waited there for a while.

"What do we do now?" he asked her.

She shrugged. "I don't have a clue." she admitted truthfully. "In less than three years, I'll be going back to my teenage life I left behind sixteen years ago… And from then on, let Fate be our guide."

"So we just wait?" he asked, as if for confirmation.

"We just wait." she said, nodding.

There was another pause. "I could get used to this." Regulus declared after a while.

"Me too." Hermione admitted, before turning around to face her husband, smiling. "In fact," she added. "I already have."

She stood on her tip-toes and kissed him lightly on the lips, and he smiled before wrapping his arms around her, lovingly, protectively, and, in that small instant, everything was perfect. In that small instant, there were no worries about past, present or future.

In that small instant, there were just two people who had taken the right path.

-o-O-o-

The End

-o-O-o-

One Last Note From Your Author: This is it. :) It's been quite the ride, hasn't it? I know this is very late in update and that it turned out to be a chapter shorter than I initially planned it to be, but… Here it was. You have now finished 'The Right Path'.

For those of you who are interested, I am currently working on the sequel and the first instalment should be out shortly. I'll post another chapter on this as an announcement, okay? Also, I'm working on another story, derived from this one, which gets Sirius and Hermione to end up together to fulfil their 'Unwound Future'.

I'd just like to give one last thank to all my readers, reviewers, followers and favourites out there… You guys are the best. I could never have asked for a better public. Thank you. :) I'll miss this story, and I'll miss you, but it sort of feels good to finally wrap things up, you know? Anyway, thank you very much. I mean it from the bottom of my heart.