Okay, here it is. It's over! I wanted to wrap it up quickly because I really want to try and finish another story before the last book comes out. I loved writing this and thanks to everyone again for your support! I hope you like the ending and look for the next story by HM coming soon! Thanks!
~HM
Chapter 13
"I can't believe you're leaving already," Hermione said as she looked at her son with sad eyes, while Harry wrapped an arm around her. "I mean…you just got here."
"Don't be sad, Mum," James said as he put the Time-Turner around his neck. "You'll see me again and in the mean time you'll be too busy with Sirius and Kylie to even think about it. They're a handful. Especially Kylie."
Harry laughed as he knelt beside him. "We'll still miss you and count the days until you come back into our lives."
James grinned. "I come into the world fast. Mum was only in labor for a few hours with me."
Hermione paled. "Oh, that's nice," she said dryly. "Just a few hours."
"Well, it's better than Kylie who too longer and…"
"Okay, maybe you should stop talking," Harry said quickly when he saw the panic look in Hermione's eyes.
"Oh. Right, sorry."
"Hey there, Mini-Harry, not going off without telling us goodbye are you?"
James turned to see his Aunts and Uncles walk in through the portrait door. "Wouldn't dream of it," he said as he ran and threw his arms around Draco.
"Oaf," Draco grunted at the force of his hug, then chuckled as he ruffled his hair. "Travel safe, kid and have fun at school. Don't you and Clark and Mal get into too much trouble."
James giggled. "We try not to, but sometimes it finds us," he admitted than turned to Ginny. "Bye Aunt Footie."
Ginny accepted his hug whole heartedly as tears started to merge. "Bye sweetie, you take care."
"Uncle Ron, Aunt Luna," James said hugging them both at once. "I can't wait to tell Mallory about this, she's going to be so jealous."
Ron smiled. "From what you've told me about her, she sounds wonderful. We both can't wait to meet her."
"You will soon enough," James said stepping back. "You'll have to deal with the twins first though."
Ron paled and Luna gasped. "Twins?" they both asked.
James slapped a hand over his mouth. "Oops, sorry."
"Okay, son," Harry said holding back a chuckle. "Let's get you home before something else slips from that mouth of yours."
"Good idea," he said and smiled when his mum knelt in front of him and started to mess with the Timer.
"Now don't worry," Hermione assured him. "McGonagall told me exactly how it works and once I'm done it should take you back exactly to where you left. So just relax and let me work this, I don't want to make a mistake."
"Don't worry, Mum, I trust you," James said with a grin which she answered.
"And it shouldn't take a great toll on you this time. Last time you turned it too fast and that can cause blackouts, but at the right pace you should be fine."
"Okay, I'm ready."
She gave him one last smile before turning her focus to the egg-timer. Her hands were steady as she carefully turned the knob clockwise over and over again until finally stopping. Her eyes than shifted to his and Harry knelt next to her as they looked into their son's eyes. "We love you, James," Harry said as he James started to fade away. "Be safe."
"I love you too," James said as his vision started to blur. "Both of you."
Than the world dissolved around him and everything turned black.
His Mum was right. When his feet hit the floor he stumbled onto it, but he didn't pass out. He was face down and when he opened his eyes he heard someone chuckle.
"See Dad, told you so."
"Well I'll be damned, you were right. Good call about not telling your, Mum. She would have freaked."
James may not have passed out, but he still felt a little dizzy so he shook his head clear and started to push himself up to his feet. He put a hand to his head wincing at the slight headache and then blinked in his surroundings. He saw two people sitting at the foot of the bed with an identical grin on their faces.
His eyes were immediately drawn to the man that looked like him, but still looked too young to be his Dad in his time. "Dad?" he asked anyway scared that the Time-Turner didn't work.
The man chuckled and lifted his bangs to reveal a blank forehead. "Nope, sorry. He's Dad."
James turned to the other man who also had his features but his face was older and his hair was still as messy as ever, but was now silvery gray. "Dad?" he asked in amazement when he saw the scar.
"Afraid so," he said with a sigh. "Your old man is getting old."
"But…But…"
"Not to worry," the other man said as he got up and knelt in front of him. "Mum just made a little mistake and went about a quarter of an inch too far."
James' jaw dropped when he realized who he was talking to. "You…You're me."
"Yeah, about twenty years from your time," he said but then laughed when he saw his younger self turn pale. "Not to worry, I get you back safe enough. I've been waiting for this day for twenty years and I'll be damned if I mess it up."
A sixty-year old Harry knelt beside the older James and in front of the younger one. "Wow, you were so young back then." Harry grinned as he touched young James' cheek. "You have your whole life ahead of you."
The older James sighed in envy. "Yeah. I'm telling you James, you are going to have lots of adventures at Hogwarts."
"I am?" he asked still very confused.
"Oh, yeah you are," his older self said with a grin and then picked up the egg-timer. "Now, let's get you back to your time so you can start your life."
The younger James watched him work and then his eyes fell on the simple gold band on his left finger. "You have a ring," he said with wide eyes. "You…You're married?"
He chuckled. "We are married," he corrected with a twinkle of amusement in his eye. "And have two kids and one on the way."
James could do nothing but sputter out protests he couldn't form.
"Now you know how I felt, son," Harry said with a laugh. "Not to worry though, you're a great father."
James couldn't think. He couldn't even think about being a father he was only eleven for Merlin's sake! And he was married? "Who? Who do I marry?"
The older James looked at his younger self and gave him a wink. "To the girl who always had our heart." He then gave the egg-timer a quick turn the other way and stepped back.
James opened his mouth to ask more but once again was lifted off his feet and he was gone.
"He's gone," James said when he watched his eleven year old self disappear. "All this time of waiting and it's done."
Harry put a hand on his son's shoulders. "You got him back safely, James. If you didn't you wouldn't be here right now."
James smiled at his father. "I know. Time-Travel. It's so strange, isn't it? If I think about it too much I get a headache."
Harry barked out a laugh. "You're telling me. I've only done the time-travel thing once with your mum and
it was enough for me and we only traveled a few hours back, not even close to what you did."
"It was just the first of many adventures I participated in."
"It was a hell of an adventure," Harry said as he gave him a half hug. "Let's go on downstairs. The party is just getting started, most everyone is outside by the pool."
"You go on ahead," James said with a smile. "I'm just going to sit here for a bit."
"Okay, I'm going to go downstairs and see my grandkids, Merlin knows Hermione's already hogging them."
"You do that," James said with a chuckle. "Oh and please, Dad…no conjuring up any sweets for the kids, okay? Especially Peter. He'll be up all night."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Harry said with a bright smile as he crossed his fingers behind his back.
"Uh-huh," James said dryly not believing a word he said. "I'll be right behind you."
Once he was alone he sat back down on the bed and his mind drifted back to that night when he finally returned to his time. He had been so excited as he ran in the halls waking up all his brothers and sisters so he could tell him of his adventure through time.
He didn't tell any of them about his pit stop to the future. He told his wife on the night of his wedding, after they had made love for the first time as man and wife. He had told his dad only a week ago because he didn't want him worrying for twenty years like he had. Not that he wasn't confident with himself, but with time-travel and magic you never knew.
He remembered being seriously freaked at the answer his older self had given him about his future wife. He didn't know what to think about it, so he tried not to, but it didn't take him long to figure out who that person was. He had been right, she did always have his heart, ever since he could remember.
"James?"
James looked up to see his very pregnant wife standing at the doorway of his parents bedroom, with a slight frown on her face while a hand caressed the slope of her belly. "Mal, hey." James got up and walked over to her, giving her one of his charming smiles as he reached for her. "You doing okay?"
"As good as a seven month pregnant witch could get I guess," she said as she reached up to kiss him. "You doing okay?"
"Yeah, just thinking."
"Did you get yourself home okay?" Mallory asked with a smile. "I really wished I could be there, I'd have loved to see you when you were eleven again."
James let out a chuckle as he kissed her fingers. "Yes, I know, but seeing you would have freaked me out and if I had known it was you, I don't think I would have known how to act around you."
"I know," she said smiling when he pulled her in his arms and she nuzzled her cheek against his chest. "Didn't take you too long to figure it out though."
James kissed the top of her head with curved lips. "No, I guess not. First kissed you on a dare by Clark when we were fourteen."
"I remember," Mallory tipped her head up to look at him. "Changed everything."
"That it did," he said giving her a long sweet kiss. "As much as I'd love to stay here with you and snog you senseless, we better get down. Our kids out by the pool?"
"Yes, Peter and Caleb are asking for you," Mallory said as she took his hand and they made their way down the stairs. "They want to swim with their father."
"Well, I better accommodate them. Why don't you go find a place to sit, get off your feet, then tonight I just might give them a rub down."
Mallory groaned at the idea. "That sounds heavenly," she said as they walked outside where all the noise and commotion was taking place. Kids and grownups were splashing in the pool while others were lounging around by the pool. "I'll be over at the table with Sirius and Riley. Riley can't drink alcohol either so we'll keep each other company."
James kissed his wife one last time before running to the pool, screaming "Cannon Ball!" as he landed in the water right between his kids.
Harry smiled as he watched his son jump in the water than laughed when James' oldest son, Caleb dunked him back under the water. "I'm telling you Hermione," Harry said as he bounced his youngest granddaughter, Nora, Lily's little girl, on his knee. "We're the luckiest people alive. Have the best family, the best friends and the cutest grandkids," he added nuzzling Nora and sending her into a fit of giggles.
"Yes we are," Hermione said with a smile as he watched everyone around her. "So much has happened since that day James popped into our lives when we were still so young."
"Tell me about it and look what resulted from it?" Harry asked as he displayed the scene with a sweep of a hand. "All this…Us getting married, followed shortly but Ron and Luna, then Draco and Ginny."
"Then we had kids…all of us and then we blinked and they were all grown up."
"And getting engaged to your ex-arch enemy's daughter," Harry said as he looked over at Riley and Sirius who were talking with Mallory. "Remember when we first found out? Thought Draco was going to have a heart attack."
"Well, you two did walk on them snogging Christmas Eve when they were sixteen," Hermione reminded him as she picked up her glass of Merlot and took a healthy sip. "Ah, memories."
"Riley Malfoy became Riley Potter, Hermione….you know that had to rub Draco the wrong way."
"Well, he got over it, didn't he? Anyone could see how happy she was with Sirius? Are you going to give her up?"
Harry held tightly to Nora. "No. Mine." He then flicked his wrist and a Sugar Quill appeared his hand.
Nola gurgled in delight as she held out her pudgy hands for it. "Hurry up and suck it down, baby," Harry said as he gave it to her. "Before your mum…"
"I saw that, Dad!"
Harry winced and then looked over at his youngest, who was in the pool with her older son Jack, clinging on her back. "I don't know what you're talking about? I didn't give her that."
"Uh-huh," Lily said dryly with a roll of her eyes and knowing it was hopeless turned her attention back to her son.
"I use to be more subtle than that," Harry said to Hermione. "I'm losing my touch."
"You still mean well," Hermione said leaning over and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "And I love you for it, even though you bribe the kids too much with that little trick."
"I use my weapons when one needs to," he said with a grin and then kissed her on the lips. "I love you…so much. We've had a pretty incredible life together, haven't we my love?"
"The best," she said and then sighed as she put her head on his shoulder. "I love you too, Harry. We've made such an awesome family and it continues to grow. We still have so much life left to live."
"So we will." He kissed her forehead smiled at his family that surrounded him and knew he was loved. His wife and family meant everything to him and even though he had just celebrated his sixtieth birthday, he knew it was only the beginning. "We'll live together, my love." He kissed her again, but this time found her lips and felt complete. "Always together."