Chapter 73: All the Years Thereafter

Daphne Potter (neé Greengrass) briefly paused in the foyer on the way to answering the doorbell. On the small side table, an understated photograph of her and Harry on their wedding day beamed back up at her. She smiled at it fondly.

Nearly a year into marriage, and she couldn't believe how far she had come with the man. Certainly, it had been a path that had had its fair share of twists and turns: first as his legal client, then as friends, then as his neighbor, then as his subordinate at work, and finally as his wife.

She opened the door to find her grown stepdaughter standing on the stoop. Her red hair tumbling like curtains around and framing her lovely face, Lily was starting to look more like her late mother every day. An odd twinge went through Daphne at the thought. Hell, Lily seemed to resemble her late grandmother every day, and the new Mrs. Potter now took a glance over the younger woman's shoulder, towards the cemetery just the street. Her husband had taken her to visit his parents' graves soon after they had been married; the moment had touched and moved Daphne deeply.

Lily's eyes darted down to the laundry hamper in Daphne's hands and smirked. "Kreacher used to do that, most of the time."

"Well, I've more and more come to see the value in doing something yourself if you want it done right," Daphne stood aside to let the young woman in. She appraised Lily up and down with a touch of amusement, causing her stepdaughter to flush sheepishly.

"Thanks for doing this – I'm hoping my dryer will be fixed soon…."

"Haven't you tried Reparo?" Daphne asked, beckoning Lily into the sitting room, where together, they began to sort out Lily's clothes from the general pile.

"I did, but it didn't work. Must be a Muggle mechanical failure…. The handyman's coming to take a look at it tomorrow…." Bending down, Lily now procured a large handbag from her sock.

Daphne stared. "You're going to try and lug home all of your laundry in that? Christmas isn't for another few months, love, and forgive me for saying so, but you're no one's idea of a St. Nick!"

"Why not?" Lily shrug. "I have the space – look!" And taking a large chunk of her laundry, she poured it into the bag, smiling proudly. "Undetectable Extension Charm. Aunt Hermione taught me!"

Daphne pursed her lips in an impressed smile. "Well, all right, then!" And the two women helped to load the rest of the laundry into the bag. Lily stood back with a satisfied smile.

"There. Just like Mary Poppins."

"Who?" Daphne blinked.

"Muggle movie. Uncle….. Uncle Ron always used to claim it was one of his favorites. Though he said you have to let it grow on you. Or something." Lily shrugged. "At the very least, he'd always sit through me and Rosie watching it when we were little." With a grunt, Harry Potter's only daughter hefted the sack over her shoulder. "Thanks again, Mu-" she cut herself off abruptly. "Daphne…"

Daphne smiled. "You can call me whatever you're most comfortable with, you know. I won't mind one way or the other."

Lily shrugged. "I know. You certainly aren't what I would have expected from a stepmother – all the Muggle stories Dad and Aunt Hermione grew up on had stepmothers doing really awful things."

Daphne internally winced, and fought to keep the expression from appearing on her face. "I've…. done some things in my past that I'm not proud of, Lily. So I might fit the mold of an evil stepmother more than you might think…" A part of her was almost secretly hoping that Lily might ask for more detail, but her stepdaughter just shrugged it off.

"Nonsense! You've made Dad happy."

Daphne chuckled. "Well, that only happened thanks to effort and a lot of risk on our part." Hesitating, she swayed on the balls of her feet before going for it and wrapping her stepdaughter in a hug. "Apparate safe, now."

"Bye, Daph!" Lily waved, sweeping into the foyer; a moment later, Daphne heard the door close behind her. Staring after her with a fond smile, Daphne finally bustled over to the landing and climbed the stair.

She found her husband in his home office, spectacles pushed down to the bridge of his nose. For a moment, she just leaned against the doorjamb, admiring him. The man had aged like a bottle of fine firewhiskey, at least in the years she had known him.

"Hey, Scarhead…" she murmured.

Harry glanced up, grinning softly at his second wife. "Come on in," he beckoned to her. Daphne closed the door behind her and crossed to his desk, perching her bum on one corner. "Was that Lily Bear I heard just now?"

"Yeah, come to pick up her laundry."

Harry snorted. "I don't see how she can't just…."

"….fix her dryer with Reparo? Oh, I asked her – she said the mechanical failure is a Muggle thing."

Harry smiled at her. "You're a good mum."

Daphne flushed. "I'm not really their mum….."

"You're as good as," Harry countered. "I mean, they'll always have Ginny, their memories of her…."

"Do you think she would have approved of me?" Daphne blurted out abruptly, biting her lip.

"What? Who would have approved of you?"

Smirking, Daphne rolled her eyes. "You know who, Harry!"

She watched as her husband sat back in his plush office chair, deep in thought. At last, he shrugged. "I don't know, love."

Daphne snorted. "Such a diplomatic answer…."

"I do know Ginny would have wanted me to be happy with someone else, whoever that was!" Harry stated confidently.

"Except me," Daphne spun about to face him. "Come off it, Scarhead – I know she always hated me, and…. probably for good reason."

Circling his desk, Harry took her by her arms, searching her eyes. "Daph…. Did…. during the war, did…. did you….?" He stopped, tried again. "Ginny claimed that you tortured first-years. Is that true?"

Daphne blinked back tears, staring at him helplessly. "I don't know. I don't remember."

Harry nodded. "Then that tells me everything I need to know. If you were Imperiused, of course you wouldn't remember doing any of those things, which means you weren't acting of your own free will. You were doing the Carrows' will! We made a distinction regarding free will during your trial, remember?"

Daphne nodded, though she was still biting her lip.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

Daphne was wringing her hands.

"Daph…."

She looked him square in the eyes. "If I asked you to have a baby with me, would you do it?"

Harry chuckled, bemused. "What? Where is this coming from?"

"I don't know…." Daphne shrugged. "It's just that…. downstairs, your daughter almost referred to me as 'Mum' and, well, it got me thinking…. I am on a clock, and the window that I could…. get pregnant would be closing soon…."

"I thought you once said that you never wanted to be a mummy. The night Al was born."

Daphne blinked at him, amused. "You remember that?"

"Of course." Harry shrugged. "Plus, Scorpius couldn't have made it easy on you, hellion that he is!"

"No indeed!" Daphne laughed. "I used to babysit him all the time when he was little…."

Harry sat on the edge of his desk. "So, what's changed?"

Daphne worried her bottom lip. "I suppose… I have, I guess. I mean, no one lives forever, and I've been thinking about my legacy."

"Daph – neither of us are even at fifty yet! Plus, if anyone should be worrying about their legacy, between the two of us, it's me!"

She snorted. "Yours is already done and secured, love. Mine….." she gestured helplessly. "I'm still working on. To atone."

Harry pondered her. "And you think carrying my kid will help you atone?"

"Yes. I want to leave my own little piece of the wizarding world, leave this place better than when I found it! Isn't that you and Ginny wanted, for Lily and the boys?" She took a deep breath. "So, how about it, Scarhead: do you want to have kids with me?"

There was a long silence. Harry folded his arms and studied the hardwood floor for a moment. Finally, he lifted his head and spoke:

"I thought I was done. With the feedings, and the nappies. I…." He sighed. "I guess we would have to discuss with Lily, James and Al how they'd feel about it…."

"Absolutely," Daphne agreed. "But right now, I want to hear how you'd feel about it?"

Another pause. Harry bit his lip. "Could you give me a little bit to think about it?" He hoped that in punting, he wasn't insulting her or suggesting that he in any way didn't want her. Thankfully, Daphne understood.

"Of course, love. Just don't be too long."

Harry Apparated onto the grounds of Malfoy Manor. For all of a beat, he felt a triggering pinprick of cold and fear make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, but he pushed it down. That cold, spring night from the war as decades and decades in the past, and since then, he had been back at this place a couple of times before, more recently for the wedding of his best mate to their former schoolyard enemy.

Scorpius greeted him warmly at the oaken, double front doors. "Wotcher, Uncle Harry!"

"Scorp, I told you – you don't have to call me that."

"Bollocks. I married your niece, didn't I? Plus, you're now married to my aunt, which I suppose makes you doubly…." He faltered. "Bother this family! Everything's so bloody complicated now!"

"Such are the ties that bind," Harry hummed. "Speaking of, is your mother-in-law about?"

"You mean my mother-in-law/stepmother?" Scorpius quipped. "Godric, make it make sense, please." When Harry didn't answer, the young scion gestured towards the small cottage on grounds with a jerk of his thumb. "They're having tea time," Scorpius explained using air quotes.

Harry laughed. "Boy, if you ever say the words 'tea time' as a euphemism again, I'd have to hex you on principle!"

"Get on, then!" Scorpius chortled, turning to head back inside.

As Harry approached the small cottage where Hermione now lived with her second husband, he couldn't help but wince at the sounds of what clearly was lovemaking emanating from the little abode.

"Huhhhhh….. Uhhhhh ….. OHHHHHHH! Fuck, yes….. Godric, yes, Draco, that's it! Harder…. Faster….."

Inside the cottage, Hermione Malfoy (formerly Weasley, neé Granger) was spread-eagled halfway on the floor and halfway against the door, the bodice of her blouse unbuttoned and parted like curtains. Thrusting into her madly, Draco had his face buried in the swell of her breasts, suckling on her hardened nipples. The beautiful brunette witch rocked against him, panting at the exertion which they were giving their ardor.

Just at the moment that Hermione came against her husband with a sigh of pleasure, there was a knock at the door. She and Draco looked at each other before scrambling to hurriedly redress.

"If it's Scorp, tell him to go away!" Draco muttered.

"Nonsense," Hermione smiled, kissing him softly. "It's probably just Rosie or one of the grandkids…." She opened the door, her hair still looking too incriminatingly mussy and disheveled, blinking in surprise at the sight of her brother-in-law. Was her still her brother-in-law? She frowned as she tried to map out the new branches recently forged in their family tree.

"Hi, Harry!" she gasped breathlessly.

She flushed at her best mate's smirk. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Of course not!" Hermione turned back to pull the door to her and Draco's little cottage to.

"Godric! Is that Potter? Tell him from me he's still a git!"

Hermione smirked. "I'll be sure to pass on the message, darling!" She turned back to Harry. "What have you got for me?"

"Daphne wants to have a baby."

She blinked in bemusement. "Bloody….. I….. goodness! Congratulations! Um….."

"Do you think I should?" Harry searched her brown eyes.

Hermione shrugged. "Not for me to say, love…." she crooned gently. "Do the kids know? How would they take it?"

"We're not sure, which is why we'd ask them if…. something came of it." Harry studied his best friend. "I mean, of course I'd want your advice on this! You're my bloody sister-in-law!"

"Am I?" Hermione asked, lips squirming in amusement.

"Always! Even after Ron and Ginny! Besides, you still sort of are since…." He frowned. "Well, I married Daphne, Draco's sister-in-law, and he married you, so I suppose technically…." He groaned. "Bother it, Scorpius was right! This family tree is making my head hurt!"

Hermione burst out laughing. "Well, if we want to be technical, then…. yes. I suppose we still are siblings by marriage…." She bit her lip. "Even then, I don't know what sort of advice I could give…."

"Would you and Draco ever have a baby, if he asked you?"

She laughed. "Well, the man hasn't asked me in so many words, but if he did, I suppose we would have to seek a blessing from Rose and Scorpius. Stepsiblings being married to each other is one thing. Stepsiblings with a half-sibling shared between them by their parents…. well, that might muddy the marriage waters, that."

Harry sighed. He felt Hermione lightly touch his arm.

"I would say…. you and Daphne should do what makes you happy."

Harry nodded, and hugged her. "Thanks, poppet." Glancing over her shoulder to the little cottage she shared with her new husband, he smirked. "Don't do anything in there that I wouldn't do."

Letting out a gawking half-laugh, she swatted him in the chest.

Daphne was back in the sitting room of Godric's Hollow reading when there was a knock at the door. Crossing into the foyer, she opened the door and blinked.

"Back so soo….? – Mmmmmmm…"

Taking her in his arms and bending her back, Harry crushed his lips to hers in a deep kiss. Weaving her fingers dreamily through his wild black hair, Daphne snogged him back and they staggered into their house. Someone kicked the door closed behind them with their foot.

They barely made it to the couch before making love.

Eleven Years Later

"Dad? What if I'm in Slytherin?"

Glancing down to his youngest daughter, Harry exhaled a long breath and knelt before her. He tried not to let the feelings of déjà vu wash over him, yet he was also mindful of them while weighing his words. He wanted to be sure not to make the same mistakes he had in the past, with his middle son.

"Astoria Ginevra Potter: you were named for a Slytherin. Your mum was in Slytherin. Your cousin and your brother were both in Slytherin. It would be nothing less than a fine house for a fine young witch. But…. if it really matters at all to you, you do have a choice. The Sorting Hat takes your own preference into account."

"Really?" Astoria brightened.

"It did for me," Harry told her.

He watched as his little girl's ice-blue eyes brightened with wonder. Then the whistle of the Hogwarts Express was blowing and parents were quickly ushering their children onto the train, giving last minute reminders. Further down the platform, Harry could see his niece and Scorpius waving goodbye to their own kids; further away still, he thought he could make out the turquoise curls of his godson, as Teddy and Lavender waved farewell to their daughter.

Harry grunted as Astoria launched her full weight into his chest for a hug and he cuddled her close.

"Bye, Daddy!" And she scampered aboard, finding a compartment near the front and leaning out of it so as to permit her mother to kiss her.

"Have a good term, love!"

The Potters watched as the train bearing the next generation of Hogwarts students pulled out of the station; Harry's hand was raised in farewell long after the locomotive had rounded the bend.

"She'll be all right," Daphne murmured.

With a smile, Harry bent and kissed his wife, chuckling as her fingers reached up to lightly caress the lightning scar on his forehead.

"I know she will."

Save for once, the scar had not bothered Harry for some 45 years. All was truly well.