A Place of Contemplation
by Jardyn39
Chapter 14: Epilogue
Years later, the Potters and the Longbottoms made their annual trip to the Weasley family plot to pay their respects at Ron's graveside.
Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Neville stood side by side in quiet reflection.
They preferred to make this trip alone, leaving the children with the Weasleys. There was plenty to keep them occupied, getting ready for the afternoon and evening celebrations that marked Ron Weasley's birthday.
Ron's birthday also happened to be one of the few dates when the Wizarding Wireless Network's most popular nightly show didn't broadcast due to its host attending the regular Weasley party.
Severus Snape's laconic monologues, on anything and everything that annoyed him, regularly broke listening records. This was perhaps mainly due to the regular anonymous callers, most of whom only called for the privilege of being insulted by an expert.
It had all begun with Snape having been a reluctant guest, invited on the pretext of being asked to give potions advice but actually quizzed on the heroics of one Harry Potter. A very displeased Snape had proceeded to effortlessly reduce the host to tears before proceeding to give his own more balanced account of Harry's activities.
Listeners deluged the station with requests for more appearances by Snape and a star was born.
One caller in particular would Floo the live show regularly and complain, in a number of different accents about, "that mad Potter," and demand something be done about him. Harry would always deny that he ever made any such calls, but not many people were fooled, least of all Snape.
As they walked back through the meadow, a group of five over excited children ran up, vaulted the stile and proceeded to drag Ginny and Neville off to see what they had discovered at the bottom of the field.
Hermione smiled, looping her arm around Harry's.
"I hope you feel ashamed, Harry. Those are our kids dragging the senior Wizengamot judge into that river."
"They're not all ours. Anyway, I think Neville's doing most of the dragging, actually."
"It's a good job they won't be appearing before him anytime soon, though."
Harry didn't answer. He had been meaning to mention the warning letters.
Harry had been secretly teaching their youngest son James wand use every chance he got, as indeed, he had for Ron and Lily as they approached school age. Grundock had shown them a large local cave that blocked the Ministry's monitoring of underage magic.
Ron and Lily had each arrived at Hogwarts with Charms, Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts skills about two years ahead of their contemporaries.
James, their youngest son, though, had progressed much more quickly. Harry quickly realised he had the makings of a very powerful wizard, and felt he should encourage him as much as possible.
He only found out later that Ginny and Neville had been doing the same thing. Each of their children would often stay over at each others houses, and Harry was never quite sure how many children would be there for breakfast.
Hermione, though, didn't at all approve of breaking the laws on underage magic and had preferred to teach the children using only books before they went to Hogwarts. She also thought a Wizengamot member should show more of an example.
Harry knew his contribution to their pre-Hogwarts learning would be rather limited if it were to be limited to non practical tuition, and he was keen to help all he could. Besides, he reasoned, they would soon lose interest if they never actually tried a few things for themselves.
Hermione had known that Harry was teaching James some wand use. She had been present when they bought James his wand in Diagon Alley. Her questions why he needed a wand so young were answered when James' wand chose him.
James had immediately known he had the right wand and the very first thing he did was to transfigure Mr Ollivander's still squashed and distorted shop window to its original glory, even though it had been damaged since before he was born.
Once Hermione got over the shock she decided they needed to redouble their efforts with their studies. To Harry's surprise, James had clearly inherited his mother's enthusiasm for books.
"But, you were going to tell me, about the Ministry letters?"
Harry snorted.
"I will, when the time is right."
"When will that be?"
"When you're less likely to be mad at James. And me."
"You're too soft, Harry," she replied, sounding amused.
"I know."
They continued along the path, smiling as the children laughed and screamed as they played.
"I've decided to sit in on the Wizengamot again. The regular sittings, I mean, not just the full court."
"Assuming Neville will put up with you, I think it will do you good."
Neville had presided over almost every major trial since his appointment and had recently taken to summoning and grilling Ministry representatives that were drawing up new laws.
"Hey, Neville knows I'm entitled to ask at least one stupid question per sitting. Mind you, I think I may have to ask for a few more now that he's decided the Wizengamot should regularly examine the Ministry's activities."
"Harry, asking why the Minister's personal expenses exceeded many of his department's budgets wasn't stupid. Now tell me, what's been bothering you?"
"What do you mean?"
"You had the dream again last night, didn't you?"
"Yes," he admitted.
Hermione smiled sadly and squeezed his arm. He knew he should have woken her as she'd insisted.
"I suppose I still worry that Voldemort found some other way to leave his mark. What if-"
"Shh," she interrupted him, placing her arms up around his neck. Harry smiled and leaned down to kiss her.
"Mum! Come and see what Aunty Ginny can do! Ew!"
Their son James quickly departed, no doubt to ask Uncle Neville once again if he was absolutely sure it was legal for his parents to kiss in public.
***
Still later…
Harry sat in his favourite arm chair facing the French windows. It was raining today, but Harry could clearly see most of the lush garden he spent most of his time tending these days.
To Harry's immediate right sat his classmates for today, two sitting on chairs but the remainder happy to sit or lie on the living room carpet. Together they formed a small semicircle around a small easel and chalkboard.
Harry's attention was wandering a little at that moment, as their teacher was presently admonishing one of her pupils for not sitting up properly. Unfortunately, Ted was one of the more unruly members of the class.
Harry smiled warmly, as he did whenever his eyes fell upon his youngest granddaughter, the daughter of his own adopted daughter Greta. He loved few things better than to be with her and join in with her games as required.
Although she joined in with games involving her elder brothers and cousins, she often preferred to play alone. Her favourite game by far, was playing at schools. Harry actually made quite a good play companion for this game. He was endlessly patient and actually loved nothing better than to be told off for being naughty or passing notes to one of the dolls.
Harry looked over to his left and smiled. Whispering quietly to each other were her two elder cousins debating their next move. The beautiful chess set and marble chequer board, a present years ago from his son Ron, was one of the few material things that Harry treasured.
He watched as they prepared to move, and then changed their mind again.
Turning back to the classroom, Harry realised he was being offered tea. It must be break-time. He took the tiny cup and saucer, and pretended to drink before realising he would need about fifteen teaspoons of pretend sugar to go with it.
"It looks like its stopped raining, if you wanted to play outside for a bit," suggested Harry.
The boys didn't need telling twice. Soon they were rushing to get back to work. They were building a den for themselves at the bottom of the garden.
*
Harry wiped the rain from the garden bench and then sat, toying with his walking stick. He found he needed his walking stick more and more these days. Although fit and healthy for his age by non-magical standards, his encounter with Voldemort was gradually catching up with him.
He wiped his glasses. The frames were of the finest Goblin gold and still carried the inscriptions he lived by. The outside of the frames were gold now. Hermione seemed to think they matched his silver hair.
When his granddaughter finished on the garden swing, she ran over to join him.
Jane lent towards him, looking serious. Harry leaned too, as best he could, to listen.
"Mummy's having a baby," she whispered.
Harry smiled and nodded.
"I know," he whispered back. "Won't it be wonderful?"
She nodded and smiled before running behind the trees to inspect whatever her cousins were up to.
Harry knew that would be the full extent of their discussion. He'd had almost the same short whispered conversation with her brother before she'd been born as well.
Harry and Hermione had formally adopted Greta when her grandfather Grundock had died unexpectedly. Greta had been raised by Grundock since she was orphaned as a baby.
Inevitably, Harry's mind wandered back to Grundock and the tokens he had presented.
Harry too now continued that tradition. The token that Harry and Hermione would shortly present to Greta was almost ready. The quality was nowhere near as good as Grundock's work, but that wasn't the point.
From behind the tree canopy, there came a sliding, crunching sound. This followed by a muffled cry and then out came Jane. She looked a little shaken but otherwise okay.
She beckoned for him to come.
*
Harry climbed through the wet undergrowth with some difficulty. He stopped hurrying when he saw the two boys standing up, inspecting the damage.
"You two okay?" asked Harry.
They turned to him and he could see one had a bad graze down one leg and the other had a cut arm.
"It collapsed," one said.
"Never mind about what you're building," said Harry. "Look at the state of you."
He could hear running behind him and suddenly Jane appeared carrying Harry's "magic" First Aid Box.
"Thank you, dear," he said gently, taking the old tin box.
Harry placed the tin on a convenient board and opened it to reveal an assortment of bandages, plasters and creams. He rummaged around and finally took out a lotion bottle that contained purified water together with a small purple coloured sponge.
He wetted the sponge and said, "Let's clean you up first."
Harry proceeded to clean the boys' wounds. The sponge was actually clever invention by Hermione, many years ago. This actually sterilised and healed minor wounds, but additionally amplified the pain for a few hours. It was a remarkable deterrent.
The arm wound was a little deeper than the sponge could cope with, so Harry resorted to using his wand for that.
"You'll have to come up to the house to get bandaged," Harry said packing away the first aid box.
"No, we're okay."
Harry gave a mock sigh of sympathy.
"You know the rule," he said smiling. "If I use the box, Jane gets to play nurse."
The boys groaned.
*
Harry was wiping away tears of laughter as Nurse Jane finished her work.
The two boys, alternately laughing and grimacing with pain, were now covered from head to toe in white bandaging. They had enjoyed playing patients as much as Jane had treating them. They'd even helped with the wrapping.
The two mummies were just about done when Hermione and Greta stepped out of the fireplace.
Hermione, still wearing her gown with wand and bone emblem, sat next to Harry as Greta chatted happily with the children.
She slipped her hand in his and whispered, "I've decided. It's time."
He turned to her, smiled and nodded.
Hermione had dedicated years as a Healer at St. Mungo's, and Harry thought, she planned to spend many more years there too. However, Harry's suggestion that he was ready to retire to his garden had got Hermione thinking.
Harry had by now almost entirely withdrawn from public life, dedicating his time to their extended family and his beloved garden.
Harry even formally gave up his seat on the Wizengamot, even though that was usually a lifelong appointment.
The one thing Harry didn't give up, and he was sure that Hermione wouldn't give up hers either, was his governorship of Hogwarts.
The elegant mantelpiece clock chimed gently. A wedding anniversary gift from Snape, the clock from the white room was the centrepiece of the room.
Harry had tried to get Snape to explain how he knew about the clock and the white room several times. Snape, who may have mellowed over the years but who still enjoyed the occasional waspish remark at Harry's expense, insisted his intellect would never cope with such knowledge.
Harry didn't mind really.
As he sat there with Hermione, he knew that here, with the family they had made, was his real place of contemplation.
The two of them couldn't help laughing as the two boys competed to unwrap themselves first. Jane was trying to help them both as well, but for some reason the bandages kept re-wrapping themselves around the boys' limbs.
END
AN: Well, that's it. Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone for your kind comments. All are appreciated.
You probably realised, but the office described in the first chapter was from the 1980s, as was the Routemaster bus journey.
The building has long since been demolished but the back room where Harry was had an extraordinary bow in the main supporting wall. The heavy records store was directly above. The floor can only have been kept up by magic!
The inspiration for the Operations Room was, "The Royal Air Force Air Defence Radar Museum," in Norfolk, which can be found at http://www.radarmuseum.co.uk/ (see "featuring"), although the pictures really don't do the place justice.