Epilogue
And so time passed. Slowly at first. Messily.
Harry would spend most of his days and nights dozing – never really sleeping, always on the edge of wakefulness. He would rouse from that shallow slumber abruptly, disorientated and sad.
There was always someone with him in those days and nights, though he was never quite aware enough to know who.
Around him, things changed. (Not that he noticed, but later, much later, he was told of how Kreacher had rallied and cleaned up the house from top to bottom.)
He knew he was fed regularly. He knew he left his bed, sometimes – to use the bathroom mostly. He never remembered those trips.
And then one day, he woke up and looked around him. Andromeda was there. On her lap, a blue-haired baby drooled profusely as he tried to shove his entire first in his mouth. Light was pouring in through the windows. It smelt like autumn.
Harry breathed lightly and watched, unwilling to disturb the quiet scene. Instead, he revelled in the sensations around him – it was as if he felt them all for the first time.
He felt awake.
He felt alive.
THE END
A/N: Well… here we are! More than three years and +40k words later, we've reached the end. I've loved creating this alternative world and family for Harry, and I'll miss having them around as my little escape from reality.
Thank you, kind readers, for sticking with me.
Thank you to everyone who has followed and favourited the story – it makes me so happy to see that so many of you thought it was worth your time.
And a very special thanks to everyone who has taken the time to leave me a review. Your words of encouragement mean the world to me!