Epilogue

Minister Harry Potter lasted a good five decades longer than anyone expected before stepping down and retiring to somewhere far removed from the public eye. The official word was that he thought it time to give one of his grandsons a chance, but there were rumors that he was simply bored with how smoothly everything was running. These rumors came from the same people who insisted that he was actually Voldemort reborn and that he'd only stopped at ruling just Britain because it would be boring if all the countries cooperated too well.

Whatever the reason, his many consecutive terms had seen Magical Britain take massive strides forward in areas like equality, education, economics, and magical innovation. In short, everyone in the magical world wanted to live in Magical Britain now.

Part of this was due to Minister Potter's policies. Much more of it was because of the people around him. His wives, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna Potter all supported him fully and, it was said, provided much of the inspiration for his policies. Ron Weasley had been one of the most well-liked Head Aurors in generations, surpassing even Amelia Bones. Before their deaths, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin had headed a number of charities that contributed to the near-equality most beings now enjoyed.

And finally, there was James Black, Sirius Black's mysteriously revealed son.

"Former Minister Potter Actually Vampire Shill?" The former minister's bodyguard (and occasional body double) read out loud as he set down the newspaper in front of his boss. "How are you still pissing people off when you don't even talk to them?"

Tom eyed the paper and looked up at the real Potter with a grimace of distaste. "Bones is still mad I wouldn't approve her proposition to mandate Hufflepuff's Longbottom worship."

Harry shuddered. "Are you ever going to stop them?"

"Why? With as old as he is, Longbottom should die before too long and they'll stop being a problem." Tom sniffed and pushed the paper away. "What are you doing here anyway? You're supposed to be touring France with that Veela girl, I thought."

Harry sighed and sat down across from Tom. "She caught me sneaking some potion."

Tom winced. Without aging potions, neither looked any older than the day of the Battle of Hogwarts, which sometimes caused problems. Especially with dating. For Potter, of course, since Tom's wives were still just as young as he was. "You could get back together with Bella," he offered. "She's in… Japan right now, I think?" he said, focusing on the thin trail of the bond leading back to her. "Or Stori. She's been complaining about Germany lately. Maybe you should go distract her for a bit."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I hate having partners you're connected to. It's too much like having sex with you."

"That seems like a bit of a stretch," Tom grumbled. "Given that we've got completely different parts and all."

"Either way, I mean, they're fun on occasion, but neither one's the type of girl I want to settle down with, you know?"

Tom didn't have an answer to that. Harry's dating pool if he was looking for long-term commitment was quite limited, unfortunately.

"Morning loves, how're you?" Luna sang. She swirled into the kitchen like it was part of a dance and promptly set to making pancakes.

Neither man could help themselves as they smiled at her. Tom rose to give her a kiss before heading back to the bedroom. "I'll get the other two up."

Ginny and Hermione were easy enough to wake up, though they wanted morning sex, and Tom had to turn them down. Now that Harry was here, Tom definitely wasn't in any kind of mood for it. Hermione had the audacity to give him a knowing look. "Harry mentioned it again didn't he," she said lightly as she let him brush her hair.

"I wish he wouldn't. It's hard enough."

Ginny kissed him on the cheek. "You could just tell him and get it over with," she suggested, as she had every time the subject came up over the past few decades.

Tom wandered off, disgruntled.

By the time he got back to the kitchen, everyone else was already there. Ginny looked up at him pensively for a moment, then announced, "I'm just going to say it."

"Oh goody!" Luna squealed, clapping her hands together. This had been hardest on her after all.

"Finally," Hermione muttered.

Tom moved to stop her, but a sharp glare from Luna of all people made him pause. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Almost fifty years had passed since Severus had decided to pass on, and it wasn't like the issue was an emergency, but it did still weigh on his mind. "Fine."

Harry stared at them all in trepidation. "So… what is it?"

"Tom wants you to take over for him," Ginny said. "With the sex, I mean."

"Oh god," Harry breathed. "That's what this has been about?"

Tom furrowed his eyebrows. "What did you think it was?"

Harry shrugged. "I thought you wanted to have sex with me." He promptly burst out laughing at the sheer amount of disgust Tom's expression alone managed to convey. After taking a moment to recover himself, he glanced around. "So, wait, I don't want to have sex with Bella and Stori, because I know you can watch, so you want me to have sex with your wives too? Gotta say, I don't follow."

Tom sighed heavily. "Severus' passing was a problem," he began. The man had mourned Lilith and Lily both for another century before giving in and asking Tom to end it. Tom, having seen it coming, had already spoken to Death, and he ferried his first bondmate to meet with his dead lover not long after. The funeral for the most hated Potion's Master in Britain was one of the most fondly remembered events for many years. "Not long after he died, I realized that I… well…" He grimaced. "My libido had also died. Again. Making my first horcrux did the same, though I hadn't really noticed at the time."

"Wait, wait, didn't that also make you absolutely crazy too?" Harry demanded. "Because if you're going down some long slippery slope back to Voldemorthood, I'm willing to sleep with you if that's what it takes to stop you."

"I didn't sleep with Severus," Tom snapped.

"Might have done the old bat some good if you had," Harry muttered.

Tom rolled his eyes. "Anyway, we've monitored me, and it seems like I'm mostly fine in that regard. However, I'm not fine with my wives not being fine."

"We don't mind," Luna started.

Hermione cut her off. "We do. Because if we just don't have sex, or if we decide to just have sex with each other, he can feel us being not as happy as we could be, and he's such a bloody perfectionist that he ends up dosing himself up to the gills in aphrodisiacs." She gave Tom a fond look. "We love him, and we'd really rather not keep finding him dead from overdosing on the stuff."

"I only died the once," Tom complained. He returned his attention to Harry. "But it's a moot point anyway, because I've developed an immunity to them. They don't do anything at all anymore."

Harry blinked. "So… how does that equal asking me?"

"Because you love them as much as I do," Tom said plainly. The other man turned red and tried to protest, but Tom stopped him. "Don't bother saying you don't. I've watched you often enough."

"Like that's not creepy," Harry said.

Tom shrugged unapologetically. "I needed to know if you'd be able to take my place like this."

"And only like this," Luna said adamantly. "Tom is still our husband. We don't want that to change." She gave a sheepish smile. "But if you could be… also our husband, or something along those lines, we'd enjoy that. There's just a few things you really can't properly do with another girl, you know."

"And you happen to love all of them," Ginny teased.

"I am a woman of many passions," Luna claimed virtuously.

"So?" Tom asked. "And honestly, Harry, I only watch you and Bella because I'm not fully convinced she won't try to murder you."

"And Stori?"

Tom turned red, and it was a sympathetic Hermione who had to answer, "She asked Tom to watch when she has sex. She always wanted him to watch her with Draco too. It's… a thing. For her. He wouldn't be paying attention when we have sex unless one of us asks him to, and we won't if you don't."

"It's not even really watching," Tom started, but the flat look Ginny gave him made him shut up. The bonds had deepened enough over the past century and a half that he supposed it wasn't really that much of a difference.

Harry nodded slowly. "Alright, well, I'll consider it anyway." He gave Tom a mischievous smirk. "A shame. Here I was hoping Tom was finally going to ask me to join his harem. After that kiss…"

"Ugh." Tom scowled at his friend and left, heading outside. He'd been quite drunk and thought his wife was behind him on New Year's Eve. It hadn't exactly been traumatic, but Tom hadn't enjoyed spending the next several years enduring the ribbing his wives put him through.

The breeze stilled, and he turned to find Death. They smiled at him. "It's time."

"Mhm," Tom agreed. He'd been feeling it all morning. A necromancer was operating out of South America, and they'd finally crossed the line, tethering themselves to life.

"Are you happy, my Tom?" Death asked suddenly. "I know humans typically do not enjoy sharing their lovers as you've proposed to do."

"I'm not ecstatic about it, but…" Tom had exactly one secret, but telling Death wasn't the same as telling someone else. "I love him too, and I want him to be happy. He's not right now, because he's fallen in love with them after so many years, and he's having no luck replacing them."

"It's because of the bond between all of you," Death commented. "I apologize for binding him to you without your consent, but it was necessary for your survival."

Tom nodded. "I know. Thank you for helping me lie to them. Given the bond, it'd be impossible without you."

"Of course, Tom Riddle."

With Voldemort's never-aging body, which Tom had seen no reason to alter, Harry hadn't noticed or questioned when he suddenly became as immortal as Tom and his bonded. Death had only announced to him after Severus's death that They'd bound Harry to him in Severus's place. Tom had, naturally, taken it poorly and had instantly demanded that Death make sure Harry never realized. He smiled at Them and reached out. "Let's hurry."

Back inside the house, Harry slumped, dizzy, as soon as Tom disapparated. "Merlin, where's he going that he needs that much magic?"

"South America," Luna commented absently.

Ginny frowned. "Alright, so does anyone get the feeling Tom gave in way too easily? I was expecting him to at least curse me before I could say anything."

Hermione nodded. "My money was on killing you. He already knows Death'll let him take you right back after all."

"Gee, thanks," Ginny said without any bite.

Harry did his best to look completely innocent. Hermione stared at him. "What do you know?"

"Nothing," Harry said quickly. That didn't seem to have convinced her at all, and now Ginny and Luna were staring at him too. He bit his lip. "Um, something I promised not to tell anyone?"

"Promised who?"

"Death."

All three girls' expressions fell. They knew they couldn't ask Harry to betray a promise to Them. They weren't even sure why Death wasn't bothered by his still being alive, and they certainly didn't want to change that.

Harry closed his eyes in relief that they'd bought it, then sighed. Someday, Tom was going to have to come out and admit that Death had bound them, but until he got around to it, Harry wouldn't push his friend. Much.