Eight years later...
It was August 31th, 2006, and I was at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries in the Potioneer department, working late there that night. It was my last day here, seeing as I was going to take a year off from work after tonight.
After the Battle of Hogwarts, I had stayed one more year at school to get my N.E.W.Ts. Afterwards, I wasted no more time to enter St. Mungo's as a trainee. My Potions' results were perfect enough for them to take me in immediately.
After spending two years there as a trainee and making potions for the healers to use on patients, I finally got a permanent job at the hospital.
Just then, my head shot up when there was a knock at my door as I was adding the last bit of fluxweed to my cauldron.
"Come in!" I called out, stirring the potion.
"Is the Wolfsbane Potion ready?" said the healer, peering her head inside.
"Oh, yes." I nodded, making my way over the cupboard and handing her the goblet.
"Thanks, Lexi." She smiled, taking it. "You're a life saver."
"We all are in a way, quite literally," I joked, making her laugh.
"Why are you leaving, again?" she asked.
"Er... let's just say I'm just going on a very long journey."
When I was told that I could leave that night and my shift was over, I bid my colleagues goodbye and left the hospital, wrapping my traveling cloak around me.
I was supposed to meet the Weasleys at the Burrow that night for a small goodbye party, seeing as I was leaving tomorrow, first thing in the morning.
Even though it wasn't going to feel like a minute to me after passing the portal back to my future, the rest of them still had to wait for me for a whole year.
Although when I Apparated outside the Burrow and entered the house, I saw that the small goodbye party was actually rather big.
"SURPRISE!" everyone shouted in glee and I took a step back in shock, my eyes widening at their sight.
Everyone was there; Fred, Mr. And Mrs. Weasley, George, Angelina, and their two little kids; Fabian and Roxanne. Fleur and Bill were there too with their kids, along with Tonks and Teddy, who was now around six years old. There were so many others and even more kids that I was losing count of, such as Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Ron and their little babies.
"Welcome, dear!" said Mrs. Weasley, coming forward and hugging me. "I'm sorry the others couldn't make it. Because of their jobs and all..."
"It's okay," I smiled at her reassuringly, "I understand. Besides, I've already said my goodbyes when I saw them a few days ago."
"Ah, yes... all hail Professor Snappy the wise for her ever so deep speeches!" George said dramatically, making everyone laugh.
I walked into the living room, hugging everyone and thanking them for showing up. But Fred was last, who was standing in a corner with his hands in his pockets, smiling at me.
"Hey, Freddie," I whispered, going forward to peck him quickly in the lips before hugging him.
A few years back, Fred and I had moved out of the flat above the Joke Shop for more privacy and bought a house in London, somewhere near Diagon Alley. George and Angelina had done the same once they were engaged.
Even though I wasn't around to help the twins at the shop anymore because of my own work, they had hired enough employees and Ron was working alongside them as well, so their business was going as well as ever.
Until that year, pretty much all of them now knew who my real father was as I had explained it. Everyone, including Draco Malfoy. Although this time the secret remained between the two of us and the ex Order members.
Throughout the years, I had stayed in touch with Draco. We got together four or five times a year either at our house or at their manor, where he lived with his wife Astoria Greengrass, and their newborn son Scorpius.
"So when will we see you again, Lexi?" Ginny asked as we were all gathered around, enjoying a drink.
"Well, I would spend some time with my parents first, but I'll come visit as soon as I can," I said. "I mean, it will feel like a short while for me, but a year for the rest of you."
"How are you going back, again?" Ron questioned.
"Ron, I told you last week!" said Hermione, rolling her eyes with a smile. "The portal opens every year at September first, so Lexi has twenty four hours to pass it —"
"Yeah, but how?" Ron interrupted her.
"I'm getting there," Hermione said impatiently. "The portal will be opened up within the barrier between platform nine and ten in King's Cross station. All she has to do is to pass through it. The portal only opens up to her, so no one else can pass it but her."
"Now come to think of it," George started, "you never told us how you were sent to the past, Lexi."
"Well," I started, everyone going silent to listen to my story, "it was around two months since the last Harry Potter book was published, in 2007. And being big fans, my friend, Kiara, one day called me up and suggested we should take a trip to King's Cross Station, seeing as we didn't live too far away."
"Aww, you little kids," Fred said mockingly, ruffling up my hair.
"Yeah..." I smiled at the memory. "So we put on our Hogwarts robes which we had bought, ready to go. Kiara's mother had agreed to drop us off there. We were just taking pictures under platform 9 and 10 when my friend suggested that we should take a video and recreate the scene when Ron and Harry had run into the wall in their second year, only to fall down. I never said no to silly ideas, so as she was recording, I started running toward the wall, careful not to hit it too hardly. But the shocking part was, the barrier disappeared and I found myself in platform 9 3/4, back in time, to year 1994."
"Isn't it kinda fishy, though?" said Ginny, turning on me. "You said your father had created the portal in the first place. But what were the chances that your friend would suggest that you should run toward it, and that you agreed?"
"Well, Dumbledore said that the portal attracted me toward it magically," I said thoughtfully. "But you're right. Now that I think about it, it was pretty lucky that Kiara suggested the trip in the first place."