Thank you all so much for reading! Enjoy! 3 Brooklyn
Epilogue: Nineteen Years Later
Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first of September was crisp and golden as an apple, and as the family bobbed across the rumbling road towards the great, sooty station, the fumes of car exhausts and the breath of pedestrians sparkled like cobwebs in the cold air. Five large cages rattled on top of the laden trolleys the parents and three oldest child were pushing; the owls inside them hooted indignantly, and the girl with curly, unruly black hair trailed tearfully behind her three brothers and adopted sister, clutching her father's arm.
"It won't be long, and you'll be going, too," Harry told her.
"A whole year," sniffed Lily. "I want to go now!"
The commuters stared curiously at the owls as the family wove its way towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Teddy's voice drifted back to Harry over the surrounding clamor; his sons had resumed the argument they had started in the car.
"I won't! I won't be a Hufflepuff!"
"James, give it a rest," Stella begged.
"I only said he might be a Hufflepuff," said James, grinning at his younger brother. "There's nothing wrong with that. He might be—"
But James caught his mother's eye and his twin brother, Remus's, elbow and fell silent. The seven Black-Potter's approached the barrier. With a slightly crooked grin, James pushed his trolley through the barrier, Remus going directly behind him and both vanishing. Annabella rolled her eyes before following after her brothers, her hair turning to a turquoise as she did so.
"Will I really be put into Hufflepuff?" Teddy asked Harry.
"I'm a Gryffindor and your mum is a Slytherin. My galleons would be on one of those," Harry assured his son.
"Your galleons are on one of those," Stella smirked.
"You bet on me?" Teddy asked, looking shocked.
"We bet on all of you," Stella shrugged. "Now, come. We need to find your cousins."
Side by side, Harry and Teddy pushed the trolley forward, gathering speed. As they reached the barrier, Teddy winced, but no collision came. Instead, the family emerged on to platform nine and three quarters, which was obscured by thick, white steam that was pouring from the scarlet Hogwarts Express. Indistinct figures were swarming through the mist, into which the other three had already disappeared.
"Where are they?" asked Teddy anxiously, peering at the hazy forms they passed as they made their way down the platforms.
"We'll find them," Stella assured him as she and Lily joined Harry and Teddy.
But the vapor was dense, and it was difficult to make out anybody's faces. Detached from their owners, voices sounded unnaturally loud. Stella swore she could have heard Percy discoursing loudly on broomstick regulations with Wood and pushed her family to move a bit faster so they didn't have to stop and say hello.
"I think that's them," said Harry, pointed forward.
A group of twenty people emerged from the mist, standing alongside the very last carriage. Their faces only came into focus when Harry, Stella, Lily, and Teddy had drawn right up to them.
"Hi," said Teddy, sounding immensely relieved.
Rose, who was already wearing her brand new Hogwarts robes, beamed at him.
"Parked all right, then?" Ron asked Stella. "I did. Lavender didn't believe I could pass a Muggle driving test, did you? She thought I'd have to Confund the examiner."
"No, I didn't," said Lavender. "I had complete faith in you."
"As a matter of fact, I did Confund him," Ron whispered to Stella and Harry as the two wizards lifted Teddy's trunk onto the train and Stella lifted his owl in. "I only forgot to look in the wing mirror, and let's face it, I can use a Supersensory Charm for that."
Back on the platform, they found Lily and Hugo, Rose's younger brother, having an animated discussion about which house they would be sorted into when they finally went to Hogwarts.
"Of you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you," said Ron, "but no pressure."
"Oi!" Stella, Tracy, and Draco all yelled as Scorpius hid behind Teddy, looking like he was about to cry.
"Only joking," Ron rolled his eyes as he jumped out of the way of Stella trying to slap him upside the head.
"Get him, Aunt Stell!" Bell, Ginny and Luna's adopted daughter, yelled with a laugh.
"Oh, don't encourage them," Hermione begged as hers and Fred's children, Hugo and Rose, laughed.
"Yes. Encourage me," Stella smirked to Bell, shooting a wink at James and Remus.
"Well look who finally arrived!" George shouted and Stella turned, finding her Dad's rushing towards them.
Both men, who had more grey hair than the last time they'd been on the continent, hugged Stella tightly before all thirteen of the children basically tackled the two, shouting about how they'd missed them and asking if they had any presents for them. Stella laughed as shouts of "Grandpa Moony!" and "Papa Sev!" were heard from all of them. It was amazing to think of how much the children all loved the two men, especially considering they hadn't seen the two in person for two years.
"Let them breathe," Stella laughed as Hermione, Angelina, and Luna helped her gather the children back together. "Merlin, you're all worse than me."
"Oh, I highly doubt that about at least half of them," Remus smirked.
"Just half?" Stella asked.
"Well, five of them are yours and your brother named his daughter after you," Severus offered. "I expect at least those ones to be worse. The rest are absolute angels."
"Hear that, Stell," Arthur smirked at his sister, whose face was almost as red as her hair now. "I'm an angel."
"You forgot that some of the other ones are Weasley," Stella smirked.
"Ah, yes. How could I forget," Severus sighed.
"It's nearly eleven," Harry announced, looking down at the battered, old watch that had once been Fabian Prewett's. "You'd better all get on board."
"I'll see you up at the school," Stella reminded her children. "If you have any problems, just come find me. Teddy, you'll follow Hagrid in the boats and James, Remus, you'll take a carriage. Just follow the older students."
"Give Neville our love," Ginny told Bell as she hugged her.
"Mum! I can't give a Professor love!" Bell complained loudly.
"But you know Neville—"
"Outside, yeah," James interrupted. "At school he's Professor Longbottom, isn't he? We can't walk into Herbology and give him love…"
Bell and James shook their heads before James aimed a kick at Teddy, who simply glared in return.
"See you later, Teddy. Watch out for the Thestrals."
"I thought they were invisible? You said they were invisible!"
James laughed before hugging Harry and leaping onto the train before waving and sprinting away.
"They are invisible," Remus assured Teddy. "You've got to ignore him."
"I knew naming our son James Sirius was a terrible idea," Stella sighed to Harry, but spoke loud enough that Teddy could hear. "One Marauder would have been fine, but two? It's like we were asking for trouble."
Harry chuckled before pulling Teddy into a tight hug.
"Thestrals are nothing to worry about. They're gentle things, there's nothing scary about them. We even rode them all the way to London once," Harry told him.
"Don't give him any ideas," Stella pointed a finger at Harry. "It's bad enough that all of them will be getting into trouble without help from us."
"Yes, love," Harry nodded, sending a wink to Teddy and Remus as they laughed.
Remus got onto the train with Autumn, George and Angelina's daughter, the two talking excitedly back and forth. Harry hugged Teddy before kneeling in front of him. Alone of their children, Teddy was the only one who had inherited Lily's eyes, the rest all looking far more like their mother than the others, besides Annabella obviously, who had darker skin and caramel brown eyes, with dark brown hair, lighter brown streaks running through it, that she'd wanted combed out to show her 'fro for the first day.
Teddy whispered something to Harry and Harry smiled at him, speaking softly in return. Stella gave them their privacy, turning to her dad's instead.
"How long are you staying this time?" she asked them.
"Well, we think we'll just stay permanently this time," Remus smiled to her and Stella wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly.
"Yes, we thought you may need help with the orphanage while at the school. I'm sure Harry, Ron, and Tracy are more than willing to handle it, but we thought an extra pair of hands wouldn't be minded," Severus told her as she pulled him into the next hug.
"I can't tell you how much that means to me," Stella whispered to them.
Teddy hugged Stella before getting on the train. The doors were slamming all along the scarlet train, and the blurred outlines of parents were swarming forwards for final kisses, last minute reminders. Ginny shut the door behind Scorpius and Teddy, the last two to get on the train of the group. Students were hanging from the windows nearest them. A great number of faces, both on the train and off of it, seemed to be turned towards Harry.
"Why are they all staring?" demanded Teddy from where he hung out of his own window in front of them.
"It's because I'm a Professor," Stella shrugged.
"Oh, please!" Ron shouted at her. "It's because of me! I'm extremely famous."
Teddy, Rose, Hugo, Scorpius, and Lily laughed. The train began to move and Harry walked alongside it, watching his son's thin face, already ablaze with excitement. Harry kept smiling, and waving, even though it was like a little bereavement, watching his son glide away from him…
The last trace of steam evaporated in the autumn air. The train rounded a corner. Harry's hand was still raised in farewell.
"He'll be alright," Stella promised, arms wrapping around Harry's waist from behind and her chin resting on his shoulder.
Harry turned his head slightly to look at her. He lowered his hand absent-mindedly and touched the lightning scar on his forehead.
"I know he will."
The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.
For anyone wondering:
Stella Harry = Annabella Grace, Remus Severus, James Sirius, Theodore "Teddy" Blaise, Lily Luna
HermioneFred=Rose, Hugo
RonLavender=Arthur, Stella
GinnyLuna=Bell
TracyDraco=Scorpius
GeorgeAngelina=Autumn
BillFleur=Victoria
Stella, with the help of Harry, Tracy, Ron, and Minerva McGonagall opened an orphanage in Grimmauld for mistreated Muggleborns and other magical children. Walburga's room is where they keep pet supplies!