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┄┄ .•* 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄 *•. ┄┄
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10th September 1998
Hermione sat on hers and Fred's couch, a notebook in hand as she crossed names off her list. Fred and Hermione had been living together since a month or so after the war had ended. They bought themselves a house in Godric's Hollows, where they had decided to start a community—Harry had been restoring his parents' old house, even after discovering the existence of Potter Manor ("It's too big, if I can grow up in a cupboard under the stairs, my kids can grow up in a bloody normal sized house with rooms for everyone. Certainly not a manor," he had said promptly, and Hermione had laughed—Harry and Ginny hadn't even talked about getting married and the former was already thinking of bloody kids. They decided they would use it to reunite everyone for the holidays.).
For the last few months, Hermione's stomach kept getting bigger and because of overprotective, fathers, boyfriends, and friends, she could do less and less manual labor every day. That meant she couldn't help as much as she would like in restoring Hogwarts to its glory days; though it had already been finished as another year in Hogwarts began.
Ginny had gone back to school, and Hermione had promptly decided she would not be going back even if she might need her N.E.W.T.S. She hadn't decided yet what she wanted to do, but she always had a position in the Ministry as an Auror or anything really without the N.E.W.T.S since she had a hand in saving the world and whatnot. Besides, she was about to pop out a baby in a couple of weeks.
Harry took the Auror offer and began studying for the position; Sirius had been reinstated as an Auror and was beginning to climb the ladder rather quickly, with Moody being retired there was really no one to stop him by whacking him with a cane. Hermione was quite surprised though when Ron announced he would be finishing his N.E.W.T.S in the States—he didn't want to go back to Hogwarts and in the US he had the means to have his N.E.W.T.S as well as a good education of wandless magic and understanding of it.
Remus had been reinstated as the DADA professor at Hogwarts and the twins continued to run their shop that had been booming with ferocity since the war—thus why they had been able to afford the house together (Hermione had her mother's money) and move out of the beloved flat.
Hermione's mind drifted back to the list in her hands as a crack of apparition sounded behind her. Straining her neck over the couch she saw Fred grinning at her, dressed in Magenta robes from the shop. He walked over to her, placing a kiss on her forehead, and snorted at her list. "Canis? Really? And you say my ideas are bad," he said in amusement as Hermione scowled at him.
"Georgina Fabiana Black-Weasley?" Hermione asked incredulously.
Fred gave her a cheeky smirk and sat down, putting her legs over his lap, leaned forward to her stomach that was nearly bursting, and kissed her skin. "How's it going in there, Georgina?"
"My daughter will not be named Georgina!" Hermione hissed at him and Fred laughed. "Besides I don't want to give our kid other people's names, alive or not. That's not original. I want to name them without naming them."
"And Canis is the way to do it?" Fred snorted and burst out laughing when Hermione tried to hit him, only to not be able to reach him due to her stomach. He groaned in pain when she lifted her heel and kicked him in the leg. "Alright. What other ideas do you have? I'm not saying I don't want my daughter named after your father, a bloody Marauder, but Canis sounds too doggy."
23rd of September 1998
Fred was pacing down the hall, his eyes glancing at the bluish door every two seconds, waiting for someone to come and get him. He had been promptly kicked out of the room, after having made a not-so-funny joke as Hermione screamed bloody murder for their daughter to get out of her.
"Fred, you have to calm down, mate," George said from the chair he was sitting in. Harry and Ron were on his other side, Sirius too, tapping his foot against the ground, and Remus was glaring at him.
"I can't, George, I'm about to be a father," Fred said in a panic, "I'm a bloody wanker, what do I know about being a father?"
"Next time try and learn the bloody contraceptive charm, wanker," Sirius said from his seat, a smile tugging at his lips—he had gotten over it by now, but still had fun teasing Fred.
"They're taking so long," Ron groaned from his seat, where he was desperately trying to get into a more comfortable position. "Hermione does everything so quickly, why can't she just pop out that baby?"
"Say that inside and you'll be hit by a Stinging hex," Fred warned as he scratched the side of his abdomen, "Our bloody sister is a menace."
The only ones allowed inside the room were Ginny, Tonks, and his mother, who were all jokeless and supportive—apparently being only the latter and the father of the child wasn't enough. Daphne Greengrass, the recently trained Mediwitch, and the actual Healer birthing the baby were the two extras.
A sound of rattling came from the door and everyone sitting down clambered to their feet as it opened. Daphne peeked out her head and smiled at Fred, "You can come in now. Hermione calmed down so she won't hex you right away. She's holding the baby so she's got quite full hands."
Fred's grin was as big as they come as he entered the room and saw Hermione sitting on the bed, her face sweaty and her curls frazzled and looking as beautiful as he had ever seen her. She held a bundle in her arms and looked up as soon as she saw him in the door. "Hey, Freddie. I'm sorry about the hex, darling. But good news! You have a daughter!"
Fred chuckled at Hermione and walked to her side, sitting on the chair beside her, ignoring the way his own mother was weeping in Ginny's arms—the latter was grinning along with Tonks. He looked at the baby in Hermione's arm, a mop of brown dark hair and bright grey eyes looked up at him. She crinkled her face and made a noise as she closed her eyes again. And for the second time in his life, Fred fell in love. "She's beautiful," he murmured and looked up at Hermione.
"I think she'll have your eyes," Hermione said as he put a kiss on her forehead.
"Mia, she has your eyes."
Hermione shrugged with a small smile, "I have a feeling they'll turn blue."
"I thought you didn't know things anymore," Fred said in amusement as his finger was caught in his little daughter's tiny fingers.
"I'll always have inklings, I reckon."
"So? What's my grandaughter's name?"
Fred and Hermione turned to the door, where everyone was standing looking at the pair with grins or tears in their eyes. Fred's father had apparently shown up in the meantime. Hermione grinned up at them, "Everyone, meet Adhara Julie Black-Weasley."
That was the first time Hermione had made an exception to her rule of not giving her kids other peoples' names. Julie was the reason she was there and she wasn't known by many. It was only fitting.
"Adhara? Like the star in my constellation?" Sirius said with a wide grin, his eyes tearing up and Hermione laughed.
"Well, had to put a marauder name somewhere in her name," Fred said promptly and they all laughed.
"Are you crying, Pads?" Remus asked teasingly and Sirius sniffed shaking his head as he stepped closer to the bed only to be pushed out of the way by George. Sirius scowled.
"Welp, Freddie, you're hogging my goddaughter!" George said, and pushed him aside, as he looked down at Adhara.
"Speaking of godparents," Hermione said and turned to Tonks, "Dora? Will you be Adhara's godmother?"
"Addie's," Sirius corrected just as Dora beamed, her hair turning bright yellow as she yelled, "YES!"
18th August 1999
The sun was setting as her feet touched the warm sand of the beach in Southern France, where the Delacour Beach House was located.
Hermione gripped her dad's arms strongly as she looked down at her dress nervously—she had been getting ready all afternoon and was nearly quite perfectly content with how she turned out. Her dress was a simple silk dress, that opened in the back much like her dress from the Yule Ball, only this one was white and quite flowy as the breeze hit, making the slash across her right leg to leave the bottom of her leg bare. Her hair was in long curls along her back, braided in some places and she'd use pearls to scatter around it.
"You look absolutely beautiful, Mia," her dad reassured her with a grin—even though he was the one nearly crying but a minute ago because his little girl was all grown up and that wasn't fair because he said so—, "but if you're having cold feet I'll be the first one to give you a ride away from the wanker."
Hermione rolled her eyes and hit his arm. And her mom from her side, who could unfortunately not be 'officially' present at the wedding chuckled, "He's right, honey, you look perfect. But Fred's not a wanker." She kissed Hermione's cheek, "Go be happy, Mia."
Hermione smiled.
Much to Mrs. Weasley's displeasure, Fred and Hermione had decided to marry in the south of France, feet bare (for those who didn't want the hassle of walking in the sand with shoes), with no unnecessary fanciness. Fleur had been more than glad to convince her parents to let them use the beach house. Mrs. Weasley didn't miss out on organizing the wedding but had in fact missed out on making it the big fancy party she wanted to make.
The father-daughter duo began walking until they reached the end of the aisle, lined by glowing flowers in the sand, and everyone stood to see her pass, only Hermione's attention was on Remus and Dora walking down the aisle, Addie on Dora's hip as she threw petals at people's faces; Teddy on Remus's hip, he too throwing petals around, though much less violently than Addie. Hermione let out a laugh at her daughter and godson.
Then, when the babies had been passed to their grandmothers and Remus had sat down, Dora going to stand next to Ginny, Hermione's eyes caught Fred's. He was looking at her with teary eyes that made hers tear up too. He was dressed in dress pants but only had a white shirt on, his hair looked a right perfect mess. He was grinning at her, as she walked down the aisle, his eyes never once tore away from hers, and without thinking, he had sprinted off the aisle and was running towards her.
Hermione laughed as he nearly fell on the sand and let go of her dad's arm, as Fred's arms slipped around her waist and he kissed her softly. "You look dashing, Mrs. Hermione Black-Weasley—"
"—Not yet, Weasley," Sirius said from their side and the crowd chuckled.
Fred stood upright, clearing his throat, and grinned down at her, "Right. I'm going to go back there." He kissed her cheek, and then her jaw, whispered "I love you" in the crook of her neck and smiled happily at her before he went back down the aisle, bowing as people clapped their hands and kissing Addie's cheek making her giggle, before standing next to George again.
Hermione didn't stop smiling for the rest of the day.
6th May 2000
Two babies lay on a crib side by side, both sporting whisps of red hair and an expression that deeply resembled Fred and George's mischievous grins. Hermione looked down at her newborn babies fondly as she lay a head on Fred's shoulder. "I hate you for being a twin, but I love you for being a twin," she said and Fred snorted.
Giving birth to the twins had been worse than with Addie, not to mention that it was double. Hermione was sure that at some point during their birth, she had spewed something about them being the devil's spawns. As she looked at their faces, already so maraudery on day one, she couldn't exactly take it back but she could say that she loved them with all her life.
After having Adhara, Hermione and Fred waited until they married to talk about having other kids. (Un)fortunately, they didn't seem to have much control over that department, so Hermione got pregnant just after the wedding, conveniently at the same time as Angie—or as she was now known Angelina Weasley after she married George. Fred and George had been delighted to hear they would have kids at the same time, so they made Hermione and Angie promise that if they were boys they would be named after them.
That was the second and last exception Hermione made to her rule. And as twiningly as possible both Angie and Hermione gave birth to twins, one boy and one girl each. Hermione had hexed Fred for putting her through so much torture (again) while she birthed the spawns of the devil in St. Mungos (who she loved very much after they were out of her).
Angie and George were already home with their own set of twins, Fred the second and Roxanne, as they had been born a couple of weeks before their own.
The boy, they'd name him George Taylor Black-Weasley. George because of the twins' stupid twin bonding, and Taylor because it was a reference to her mother and grandmother—Sirius had yet to come up with the name for the boy as none of them had sounded just right. Fred and Hermione had decided to have Harry and Ginny being Georgie's godparents.
The girl, who looked up at her with grey eyes like her twin's, they'd name her Accalia Flora Black-Weasley, or as Sirius had named her, just Lia—Hermione very much enjoyed paying respect to people without actually mentioning their names and so it had become quite the game, Accalia was Remus' and Romulos' mother in the Roman Myth from where Remus's name had come from, the she-wolf, and Flora was a mention to Lily (and to some point even Fleur), her godmother. Fred hadn't argued at all this time around, not wanting his kids to have Fabiana as their middle name, and he gladly named their daughter after another Marauder and his wife's (dead) godmother. Ron and Fleur had happily taken the role of godparents.
"We can't have another one," Fred whispered to her, "they'll drive us mad. Addie's already a bloody menace, a Marauder in all her might, and these two scare me to death—they look like me and George and that's not good."
Hermione chuckled as she held her son's hand and tickled Lia in her stomach softly, "Well, what did you expect? Quiet kids? You do know we made them right?"
"I do," Fred said as he whispered in her ear, then as he kissed down on her jaw he added, "I have quite the memory of how we made them."
Hermione elbowed him, a flush on her cheeks and chuckled when Fred groaned. "Don't remind me. I won't be doing that again for a couple of weeks and I miss you."
Fred grinned smugly at her and Hermione kissed his lips softly before turning her gaze to their babies again as she leaned her head against his shoulder.
"You know what's worse?" Hermione whispered as she realized something, "It'll be two sets of trouble-making twins."
Fred winced with a laugh.
17th April 2004
Much to their simultaneous delight and horror, they did have another kid. Leo Hartley Black-Weasley was cocooned in Fred's arms as Hermione slept on the bed at his side.
Hermione had gone to great lengths to find the name of their youngest boy, and after so many years Fred just waited for the day she would come ask for his opinion, certain he would like whatever she said, well, apart from Canis.
But he was proud to say he had found the name Hartley, usually a surname, but also the last of the marauders they had to name. He had been looking at a random book that had been wrongly delivered to the shop when he found the name's definition, which summarized meant "deer meadow" or in other words, Prongs. The name Leo though had been the easy one, it represented their Gryffindoriness as well as Sirius's brother Regulus, whose star was from the Leo constellation.
And as they ran out of people to pose as Godparents, Hermione, who had become quite close with her cousin Malfoy picked him and Fred had the job of picking the godmother. He, after a thorough search, had tried to pass George as Georgina, but Hermione saw right through them—how, they would never know. So he chose Angie for the job.
"Dad, can we come in?"
Fred turned his head to the door, where a little head was peeking through. He grinned and nodded as Addie ran into the room, her dark curls bouncing up and down and her blue eyes glinting, as she softly looked over at her younger brother. Fred couldn't believe his little girl was nearly five years old.
Soon, two wobbly toddlers were running into the room, his mother after them looking quite tired. "These two can be worse than you and George," she said with a sigh and Fred chuckled.
"Georgie's kids are worse," Fred said and the twins giggled with a nod. His mother smiled fondly.
Addie helped the twins sit on the bed with the help of her grandma and they stared at Leo with big smiles on their faces, they exchanged a look as Leo looked up at them, with grey eyes, and auburn hair, a mix between Fred's and Hermione's hair color. "Leo's ugly," Georgie snickered as he looked at the baby and Fred rolled his eyes. "Right, Callie?"
"He's small, too, Georgie," Lia said with a nod to her twin. "Tiny Leo."
"He's cute," Addie said sternly and softly took her brother's hand, giggling when he grabbed onto her finger. "Hi, Leo, welcome to the family."
1st September 2017
Hermione ducked quickly as a trunk flew over her head and turned sharply in the direction of her eldest daughter who was grinning sheepishly her way, through the shouting that came from upstairs. "Sorry, Mum. Leo asked for help but I'm in a hurry. Grandad Sirius needs me at the Ministry."
"I'll help, Leo, darling," Hermione said waving her wand to shrink her son's trunk. "You go. Dad's probably grumpy he can't take the kids to the train anyway, so you need to cheer him up. First Grandaughter's duty and all."
Addie laughed as she pulled her brown curly hair up into a ponytail, her blue eyes glinting. "Well, that and the fact that I'm in the process of training. Being an Auror isn't handed to you just because your Grandfather is Head of the Department."
"Thank God you weren't so boring at Hogwarts," Hermione teased her daughter as she walked onto the fireplace of their living room. "Tell Dora we'll see that Mia makes it to the train. See you at the Burrow?"
"Wouldn't miss it," Adhara said with a smile before disappearing between the green flames. Just then Hermione heard a shriek and flinched.
"MUM! GEORGIE VANISHED MY OWL!" Lia shouted from up the stairs as she ran down, her wavy red hair, flying behind her, sparkling, as she fumed in all her seventeen-year-old teenage anger. Her grey eyes reminded Hermione too much of herself when she was angry. "He's an arsehole, that son of yours."
Hermione laughed as her daughter slumped down on the couch, just as George stumbled down the stairs and nearly headbutted the floor. He looked more and more like her father as he grew up, which was quite odd seeing as he had Fred's hair and freckles. Though his grey eyes and face were all from the Black side. He glared at Accalia, "I did not vanish your bloody owl! It fled! Bloody right idea, seeing as I consider jumping out of the window every time you screech like Wally!"
Lia gasped offended, "Do not compare me to that banshee, George Taylor Blak-Weasley! I will hex the Marauder out of you!"
"I'll still have the Weasley left so you can try all the fu—"
"Alrighty!" Hermione said loudly, looking at her son with a pointed look. George clamped his lips together and looked at her sheepishly. "Now, what the bloody hell is going on with you two? Just last night you were doing you're creepy twin talk and yapping our ears off about your last year at Hogwarts."
"George stole the owl!" Lia said, "I don't know why he didn't just ask. Everyone knows he's owling his bloody girlfriend!"
"What—How did you know that?" George asked his twin, and Hermione looked at him wide-eyed.
"You have a bloody girlfriend?" she asked him, "How come she hasn't been introduced? You should've brought her to Potter Manor when we were staying there."
"Mum, he didn't bring her because he's ashamed of us."
Hermione turned to the sound of her youngest son, as he quickly hid away his teasing grin and replaced it with his practiced angel face. Hermione pursed her lips. "What?" Leo asked innocently, "Why else wouldn't he have introduced her to the family?"
"Introduce who?" Fred asked as he came down the stairs.
"Georgie's girlfriend," Lia muttered and George glared at her.
"What?" Fred asked turning to George with a raised eyebrow, as he came to stand next Hermione, "How come we haven't been introduced, son?"
"Cause she's Head Girl," George said reluctantly, looking at both his parents with a sheepish look, "And perfectly organized and smart and you lot are uncontrollable beasts."
"Oi, there, Georgie, you're part of this family, too," Lia said with a pointed finger, and then turned to Hermione with a big grin, "Isn't it brilliant though? It's like Prongs and Flower. He has been secretly pining after the bloody witch for two years now."
"Callie, shut it," George said with a scowl. "And I haven't been pining, Milla was just difficult to approach."
"Milla's in our house," Leo said with a snicker.
All three of their younger children had been sorted into Gryffindor, unlike Addie who had been put into Slytherin proudly.
"Your problem was trying to approach her every time you were running from trouble." Accalia smirked, looking at her parents with pride and cheekiness, "He got more points taken away because of her than any of us did because of Minnie."
"Well, did it work?" Fred asked with a grin, "Is she falling for your prankster side?"
"Yes," George said promptly, smiling for the first time, "she is."
"That's great, Georgie, you'll have to invite her for Christmas," Hermione said and grabbed Fred's wrist, groaning at the time. "Let's go family! We're late!"
"I won't! I won't be a Slytherin!"
Leo snickered from beside Hermione as they met with the Potters right before they passed to the platform 9 and 3/4. Hermione whacked him on the head as Ginny said, "James, give it a rest!"
"I only said he might be," said James, grinning at his younger brother. "There's nothing wrong with that. He might be in Slytherin"
But James caught his mother's eye and fell silent. Before turning and spotting Leo. He grinned. "Look who it is, Potters. The Black-Weasleys have arrived," he announced. He stepped up and kissed Hermione's cheek dramatically, "Godmother."
"Tone it down, JP," Hermione said with an amused look at her godson.
With everyone greeted, the five Black-Weasleys and the five Potters approached the barrier. George and Lia were the first ones to cross over, not even looking back. With a slightly cocky look over his shoulder at his younger brother, James took the trolley from Ginny and broke into a run along with Leo. A moment later, they had vanished, one after the other.
"You'll write to me, won't you?" Albus asked his parents immediately, capitalizing on the momentary absence of his brother.
"Every day, if you want us to," said Ginny.
"Not every day," said Albus quickly, "James says most people only get letters from home about once a month."
"We wrote to James three times a week last year," said Ginny. Hermione and Fred snickered.
"We tried doing that," Fred said, "Addie wrote back every month, and then the twins started tagging along and scribbling on her pages to say they were alive. You'll be fine, Al, don't let James scare you."
Harry nodded in agreement. "You don't want to believe everything he tells you about Hogwarts," Harry put in. "He likes a laugh, your brother."
"Leo told me we have to fight a troll to get sorted," Albus added, "James told me we had to survive a werewolf bite. They didn't sync the stories so I don't have any idea what to expect."
"Expect a sharp sting on your head and passing out—"
"Hush, Fred," Ginny said with a glare. "It's just a magic hat, Albus. Don't listen to them. It won't hurt, you don't need to know magic or survive a bite."
Albus sighed in relief and Lily Luna giggled. Hermione smiled at her.
Side by side, Harry and Albus pushed the second trolley forward, gathering speed. Then the rest of them and soon the family emerged onto 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 twins, James and Leo had already disappeared.
"Where are they?" asked Albus anxiously, peering at the hazy forms they passed as they made their way down the platform.
"We'll find them," said Ginny and Hermione reassuringly.
But the vapor was dense, and it was difficult to make out anybody's faces. Detached from their owners, voices sounded unnaturally loud, Hermione thought he heard Percy discoursing loudly on broomstick regulations, and was quite glad of the excuse not to stop and say hello...
"I think that's them, Al," said Ginny suddenly.
A group of four people emerged from the mist, standing alongside the very last carriage. Their faces only came into focus when Fred, Hermione, Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Albus had drawn right up to them.
"Hi," said Albus, sounding immensely relieved.
Rose, who was already wearing her brand-new Hogwarts robes, beamed at him. Hermione smiled at the little girl who looked so much like Ron's wife; a blonde American Muggleborn he had met while he was away, Emma Weasley (nee Hunter). From what Hermione understood she was very similar to Hermione Granger or Julie Stone or whoever, and she had fit right into their group like a missing piece.
"Parked all right, then?" Ron asked Harry. "I did. Emma didn't believe I could pass a Muggle driving test, did you? She thought I'd have to Confound the examiner."
"No, I didn't," said Emma, "I had complete faith in you."
"As a matter of fact, I did Confund him," Ron whispered to Harry and Hermione, as he and Harry lifted Albus's trunk and owl onto the train. "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.
"If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you," said Ron, "but no pressure."
"Ron!"
Lily and Hugo laughed, but Albus and Rose looked solemn.
"He doesn't mean it," said Emma and Ginny.
"Addie was in Slytherin and she's still in the family," Hermione said, looking at Fred smiled sheepishly for having the same speech when they first had to leave Addie off at the train when she was eleven. "Teddy's not in Gryffindor. And Dominique and Louis and if you want me to start naming all the others I might be here until noon. You'll be fine."
"As long as you can pull off a prank," Fred added and Rose looked at him aghast.
"Uncle Fred!" she reprimanded making the adults chuckle.
"Uncle Fred is jesting, Rose," Emma said, glaring at Fred, "It's his job to be a clown."
Fred gasped and Hermione had bury her head in his arm to stifle a laugh.
"Look who it is," Ron muttered suddenly and they all turned to look.
The steam had thinned for a moment, and three people stood in sharp relief against the shifting mist.
Draco was standing there with his wife and son, a dark coat buttoned up. Scorpius was grinning at Albus and Rose and Draco looked at Hermione with a small smirk.
Hermione walked up to hug him and kiss Astoria and Scorpius on the cheek. "You took my godson away from me," Hermione said demandingly as she hugged Scorpius tightly, "He looks so sullen without my happiness."
"Missed you, too, Aunt Mia, but I have to breathe." Scorpius gasped as she let him go.
"And where is my godson?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Somewhere," Fred answered as he approached her side, shaking hands with Draco. "Took off with James as soon as we got here."
Draco scoffed in what sounded like, 'bloody Potters and Wealsleys'.
"Where's Theo and Daphne?" Hermione asked Astoria, and the latter smiled.
"They both had to work, dropped off the kids early, and took off."
"Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie," they heard Ron say from behind them and Scorpius scowled at the man, "Thank God you inherited your mother's brains."
"Ron, for heaven's sake," said Emma, half stern, half amused. "Don't try to turn them against each other before they've even started school! It hasn't worked for their whole lives."
"You're right, sorry," said Ron, but unable to help himself, he added, "Don't get too friendly with him, though, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood."
"DAD!" Rosie shrieked as Scorpius turned red and Albus turned green.
Hermione laughed as Draco glared at Ron.
"Hey!"
James and Leo had reappeared, sans baggage, and with an extra piece of their Marauder puzzle by the name of Mia Hope Lupin—Remus' and Dora's daughter, who was the same age as them and together with the other two Minnie's worst nightmare. They were obviously bursting with news.
"Teddy's back there," James said breathlessly, pointing back over his shoulder into the billowing clouds of steam. "Just seen him! And guess what he's doing? Snogging Victoire!"
He gazed up at the adults, evidently disappointed by the lack of reaction.
"Quite repulsive, if you ask me," Mia said with a scrunch of her nose, "The prat came to leave me off and abandoned me as soon as the Veela showed up."
Leo laughed at Mia's face but it seemed James was still on the matter. "Our Teddy! Teddy Lupin! Snogging our Victoire! Our cousin! And I asked Teddy what he was doing—"
"You interrupted them?" said Ginny. "You are so like Ron—"
"—and he said he'd come to see her off!—"
"—lying bastard," Mia muttered.
"—And then he told me to go away. He's snogging her!" James added as though worried he had not made himself clear.
"I think they get it, mate," Leo said with a grin.
"Oh, it would be lovely if they got married!" whispered Lily ecstatically. "Teddy would really be part of the family then!"
"He's already part of the family," Hermione said, when Lily pursed her lips, Hermione chuckled. "What do you call his parents?"
"Uncle Moony and Aunt Dora," Lily said and frowned. "Then why is he snogging family?"
Leo snickered. "Because they're not related by blood. Well... If you don't look too far."
"Don't look too far," Draco said sternly and Leo grinned.
"It's nearly eleven, you'd better get on board," Harry said suddenly.
"Don't forget to give Neville our love!" Ginny told the trio as she hugged James. "And Uncle Moony."
"Mum! I can't give a professor love!"
"But you know Neville—"
James rolled his eyes.
"Outside, yeah, but at school, he's Professor Longbottom, isn't he? I can't walk into Herbology and give him love... And Uncle Moony would give me detention if I professed the family's love for him."
"He wouldn't," Mia said, and then her face broke into a grin, "He would profess his love for you and everyone would know how loved Jamie is."
"Shove off, Lupin."
"I love you, Potter," Mia teased.
"Careful, Mia, one might start to believe you do," Leo said and Mia's face scrunched up in a grimace.
With that, the trio turned around, after saying goodbye to the respective parents and uncles and aunts and whatever, but not before James turned to Albus once more, "See you later, Al. Watch out for the thestrals."
"I thought they were invisible? You said they were invisible!" but James merely laughed, then leaped onto the rapidly filling train. They saw Leo, James, and Mia wave, then sprint away up the corridor to find their compartment.
"Thestrals are nothing to worry about," Harry told Albus. "They're gentle things, there's nothing scary about them. Anyway, you won't be going up to school in the carriages, you'll be going in the boats."
Ginny kissed Albus goodbye.
"See you at Christmas."
"Bye, Al," said Harry as his son hugged him. "Don't forget Hagrid's invited you to tea next Friday. Don't mess with Peeves. Don't duel anyone till you're learned how. And don't let James wind you up."
Hermione listened proudly as Harry gave Albus his little Slytherin-or-not speech as she leaned against Fred who had been talking to Draco about expanding the business, they were having too much success at the shop—though even in deep discussion his arms snaked around her waist and pulled her flush against him.
Then the doors were slamming all along the scarlet train, and the blurred outlines of parents swarming forward for final kisses, last-minute reminders, Albus jumped into the carriage and Ginny closed the door behind him. Students were hanging from the windows nearest them. A great number of faces, both on the train and off, seemed to be turned toward Harry.
"Why are they all staring?" demanded Albus as he, Scorpius, and Rose craned around to look at the other students.
"Don't let it worry you," said Ron. "It's me, I'm extremely famous."
Hermione burst out laughing along with the children. After twenty-four years in the wizarding world, in her world, Hermione could say for sure: she was enjoying all life had to give and wouldn't stop until her very last breath.
She felt Fred kiss her cheek and realized the train had already gone, "Where's George?"
"Kid or Uncle?"
"Twin," Fred said with a grin.
Hermione shrugged, "Angie told me he's at the store. She had an early practice and apparently you forgot some sort of shipment. They dropped Freddie and Roxy off. The latter two must've disappeared with Georgie and Lia. Bloody kids didn't even say goodbye."
"They'll be home for Christmas. But today is my day off, and there are no kids in the house," Fred said with a suggestive grin and Hermione smirked.
"I suppose I could skip work," she said as she grabbed the lapels of his jacket and looked up at him through her lashes, "Let's go home?"
Fred bent down to kiss her lips and with that they both fell into the darkness as they apparated.
At the end there were fireworks.
⚡︎