The Extraordinary Lessons Life Taught George and Felicity

Epulogue: Happy until Their Dying Day

"Courage, dear heart."
                                               ~C.S Lewis

A ninety-seven year old Alabaster Weasley stood alone in a graveyard, looking over the many gravestones belonging to his family.

The oldest grave belonged to an uncle he had never met. He didn't dwell much on Fred Weasley's grave, but the grave that stood next to it, identical in almost every aspect, caught his attention. The only difference between the two graves-besides the date of death- were the words "husband" and "father" engraved next to  the words "beloved son and brother".

There wasn't a grave for Alabaster's mother. She had insisted that George be buried beside his brother when he passed away, but had refused to allow her children to bury her, so her body had been cremated and her ashes were poured into her husband's coffin. Now their bodies lay together for all eternity, in a twisted, morbid fashion that Alabaster's mother would probably have approved of.

Behind the graves of the first set of Weasley Twins lay the graves of the second set of Weasley twins. Fred Weasley II and Roxanne Weasley-Scamander's graves were as identical as those of their father and uncle's, however, on either side of the twins lay their spouse, Heather Knight-Weasley and Lysander Scamander. 

Alabaster's older siblings and parents had long ago departed from this world, but the legacy they had left behind lived on. Their children and grandchildren took excellent care of Alabaster and his wife in their old age, and, although Marie Finnegan-Weasley had been unable to mother children, the two were not lacking any love or care at the end of their long, happy lives.

"Great-uncle Al," Little Rolf tugged at Alabaster's sleeve. "Tell me a story about my grandfather." Alabaster laughed heartily at the young boy, and pulled him over to the grave of his grandfather, Lysander Scamander.

"I didn't know your grandfather all that well, lad." He explained. "At first I thought he was a no-good scoundrel who wasn't worthy of my sister's time."

"But you liked him in the end, didn't you?" Little Rolf looked desperate to hear something good about his grandfather, and Alabaster conceded.

"O'course I did. He was a good man. He'd have loved you very much." The old man poked the boy in his side and was rewarded with a giggle and a mad dash away from him.

"I thought I'd find you out here, my love." Marie cooed, as she came upon her brooding husband several hours later.

"I-I just miss 'em, 'Rie. All of them, I don't feel right being here without them."

"You're not without them. Their spirits remain, Al, they always have. It's like your father always said, their spirits linger in the places and the people that they love. Your father's in that old jokeshop of his, the one Fred's son is running now, and your mother, well, she's probably in that old flat of theirs, the one above the shop, judging all the customers with her demon eyes."

Alabaster laughed at this. His mother had always been particularly fierce and protective, especially when it came to her children's love lives. She never did fully approve of Marie, but had confessed to Alabaster on his wedding day that she had never fully understood her mother-in-law's dislike of her until her own sons brought home their girlfriends.

"Your sister's probably still at Hogwarts, scaring kids and throwing around your dad's old dungbombs or something, and your brother's  haunting his old studio, trying to tell whatever poor artist working in there now that he's doing a terrible job at painting portraits.

"I love you, Marie." Alabaster answered simply, in awe, even after over fifty years of marriage that his wife always knew exactly what to say.

"And I love you, you great git. Now come on, Nadine's got dinner in the oven and she'll have kittens if we're not there when it's done." With that, the elderly couple left the old graveyard behind, Alabaster casting one last glance at the graves of his family before turning back to follow after his wife.

He couldn't describe the odd feeling that knotted his stomach, but he was sure it was something akin to excitement mingled with a foreboding sense of dread, the kind of feeling one experiences right before one embarks on an adventure into the unknown.

Soon, he thought, with peace and joy resting in his heart. Soon, he would join his family again. He could already feel his old heart giving out, maybe in a week, or in a month, or even in a years time, Alabaster knew that he'd hear his sibling's argue about insignificant details, see his father's infectious smile and feel his mother's warm embrace again.

He was ready to go home.

Fin

19 October 2016
798 words

And that's that, everyone. I feel really emotional after that ending, but before I go sob in a corner I feel the need to explain the very sudden ending to you all.

Truth be told, I could probably write another 40 chapters about George and Felicity's lives, but I think that's the point; life doesn't ever tie everything up perfectly.

I know that, technically, it's unprofessional to end a book with loose ends, but, this book is about the lessons George and Felicity learnt, not the way their lives suddenly fell into place and everything was perfect.

Everything was never perfect, and because of that, I have ended the book in a way that would make Felicity proud. I did try to provide some closure with the epilogue, but I wanted to keep some mystery about George and Felicity's lives, so I jumped ahead a couple decades. (Okay, a lot of decades.)

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Felicity's character was definitely a challenge to write, and I think that's why I made her so complicated; I wanted to challenge myself.

Thank you so much for reading the book and for all your votes and support. Feel free to check out my other books, and for those of you who are also comic book fans (particularly DC) my next book is a Batman fanfiction.

Keep Reading (even if it's not my books 😉) and stay awesome

xxx
Faye