Extinguished 🩵 Harry Potter [2]

Epilogue ⟶ Thea's Outro

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Epilogue. Thea's Outro
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ROSES, TULIPS AND daisies wave at them as they make their way up the vibrant garden path. Thea's hair is being tugged rather hard by the excited toddler in her arms, and it takes everything within her not to wince as he giggles loudly. She huffs, and Harry knocks on the curved, blue door, and it swings open within seconds, to reveal a beaming Desmond Cindercroft, who pulls Harry into his arms and into the house, babbling excitedly about the Chudley Canons, she thinks.

"Nice to see you too, dad!" she snaps, following after them and shutting the door.

"Pa!"

"Yes, Nicholas, grandpa," she mutters, as she makes her way into the kitchen.

Her father rushes forwards, and kisses her cheek, before he takes the child in his arms. Thea allows herself to relax, and flicks on the kettle.

"I'm going to have no hair left," she mutters, pulling her hair up into a ponytail.

"I'd still fancy you," Harry grins, earning himself an eye roll as she pours out the boiling water into three mugs.

"You know," she says. "My dad likes you more than he likes me."

Harry looks at her. "What can I say?"

"Nothing. Don't say a word," she hisses, flipping him her middle finger.

"Charming, love," he muses. "Didn't you say he's got a girlfriend now?"

"Yep. She's a Muggle, I think she's called Lucia, Lucy for short. She's nice, actually. She works at the hospital."

"That's nice for him."

"Yeah. He's..." she frowns at the ground, and her stomach hurts as she carries on speaking. "...he's been missing Remus a lot, it's been getting him down. I hate how hard this must all be for him."

Harry sighs. "We're all getting through it. How are you, anyway?"

"I've never felt so sick in my life, I was nowhere near as bad as this with Nicholas." She groans, her hand going to her stomach. "But it'll be worth it. As long as you don't suggest we call her Bellatrix –"

"We're bringing this up again?"

"Harry, you asked me to name my child after Snape and Dumbledore! How could you not know that would go down like a lead balloon?"

She glares at him over her steaming tea cup as she takes a sip.

"We're never ever going to agree on those two, so we might as well just forget about them, OK?" Harry says, rather nettled.

"That's the smartest thing that's ever come out of your mouth."

Harry rolls his eyes.

"So, do you have any names in mind?"

She looks at him, her mouth pulling into a smile, and her face warms with a glow.

"I really love Clara. So then we'd have Clara Lily and Nicholas James."

She sees Harry smile. "I love it too."

Her radiant beam fills her face. "Good."

The sky is melting into a pale scattering of pink and orange when they finally reach home. They take the train, neither of them wanting to risk Apparating with Nicholas, even though Thea is finally able to do it confidently on her own. This prompted her to write to Professor McGonagall, to let her know she was right about not letting Thea take the Apparation classes. And about the baby. McGonagall had asserted that, of course she was right, and congratulations, and Thea felt a strange mix of warm and cold. Her mind had filled with the still-clear memory of those sad, caring eyes and maternal embrace that picked her broken heart up off the floor of a battlefield, and started to put it back together, even if it will never be fully healed.