A/N: For those of you who have requested the epilogue, it is below. I hope it wraps everything up in a nice little package for you. Thank you for your on-going support.
Epilogue
Harry sat at his desk in the early evening hours, and for the moment the house was silent. He smiled at the thought that in just a few hours the house would be bursting with people and the noise level would be unbearable. However, Harry would bear it, though. It was something in the sounds that his house made when it was full to the rafters with people. It made him really feel at home. Harry looked down at the sheets of parchment resting on his desk. This had been Hermione's idea, him writing his memoirs. He had laughed when she had mentioned it, thinking that he wasn't but in his thirties and it was very premature to be writing his memoirs.
Sometimes what we want most out of life is never realized until we have to make decisions that are neither easy nor desired. Sometimes what is right is hard and undesirable. Hermione and I had to make many decisions like this over the years, but the hardest decision we ever made was to return Ava to Angela and Tom D'Agostino. By then, she had been missing a few days; after all we didn't rush Ava back to them after Ginny was hauled away to Azkaban Prison in the North Sea. We had spent three glorious days in the house at 12 Grimuld Place, Hermione, Ava, and me. While keeping Ava was an option, we knew it would not be for the best. We created Ava, but Tom and Angela had been her parents.
Harry ran his fingers over these difficult words to write. At one point in those early months, both Hermione and Harry had both changed their minds at least half a dozen times. More than a thousand tears were shed. In the beginning, neither Harry nor Hermione were certain that they were going to be able to survive the heartbreak. Luckily, they had plenty of work to keep them busy in the early months and Ava, while always on their minds, had slipped from the newest hurts to the hurts that only haunted them at night.
Harry had gone to Ginny's trial, stood beside Mrs. Weasley, and held the woman when her daughter was sentenced to fifteen years in Azkaban. Ron and Harry, Draco and Hermione, and dozens others went to her defense pulling out studies of post-traumatic stress disorder. In the end, it was Harry's plea to the high court that Ginny be spared the kiss that had swayed them.
"She fought beside me in the war, and she is a hero," Harry had said. "War changes people, warps their minds and destroys their reasoning. To have her be kissed by the Dementors is not only bad practice, but also bad publicity for the ministry. It is true, a lot of lives were destroyed at her hand, but this is the time for forgiveness."
Harry hadn't visited Ginny in Azkaban and he knew that she would be getting out in a few years. He knew he and everyone else would have to face her, but he didn't need to rush things. Everything would happen in its own good time. He could hear Kreatcher at the door and he heard Neville's voice. Harry couldn't suppress his grin as he pushed away from his desk. It was Neville's suggestion that Harry leave the ministry, and Harry had never been happier. He had stay on with the ministry just long enough for Shacklebolt's replacement, Henry Downy, to be settled.
"Hullo Harry!" Luna crooned as she embraced him, kissing his cheek. He glanced down at the newest little Longbottom, nestled in her arms.
"How's Quidditch? Are we going to give the Belgium team a run for their money this year?" Neville asked as he reached down and caught two identical Longbottoms by the arms. "No running inside, do you understand? Star? Skye?"
"Aye, we got it dad!" The twin girls shrieked before running off toward the back of the house and out the back door.
"Twins! Seriously!" Neville sighed. Harry smile grew larger.
"Tell me about it," Harry laughed. The Longbottoms were up to five kids now. Two sets of twin girls and the newest baby. Harry peered at the baby. "Boy or girl?"
"Alas, another girl. Harry, I am out numbered in my own home," Neville groaned with a huge smile on his face. "Even the damn hamster turned out to be a girl and now the place is crawling with invisible hamsters. Thank god Gram insists we travel to her place. She'd die!" Harry laughed as Ron and Rebecca entered the house.
"Ron!" Luna had squeaked as she hugged and kissed Rebecca and Ron. Ron had finally made a relationship work and the half dozen kids proved it. They all looked like little miniature versions of Ron.
"Did you find out if Draco is coming?" Ron asked making a face.
"Come on, Ron," Harry chastised gently. "He's not that bad, and luckily he never made Auror, so you don't even have to work with him."
"I know, but we're not even friends really," Ron moaned as he watched his kids exit out the back to join the Longbottom children in the yard.
"That just hurts, Weasley," Draco drawled as he entered. His family was smaller than the other families, only having two children. They looked like Draco so much it was scary, but their mother looked a lot like Draco, too, so that was probably why.
"Here we are," Harry heard her say before she had even seen the person whose voice brought him to his highest highs, higher than even playing Seeker on the England Quidditch team. "Harry, they are here."
Harry went towards the front door, following the voices. Hermione stood, looking more beautiful than she had ever looked. Harry felt his heart swell with pride and pleasure. Her hair was a little shorter than it had been in previous years, probably for the best as it was being pulled quite a bit as of the past few years. She was wearing slack and stood near Tom and Angela D'Agostino. Harry's eyes fell in awe on Ava. Now nearly sixteen, she was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined.
"Uncle Harry!" She screamed as she took off into his arms. He embraced her tightly and felt a lump form in his throat. He loved her so completely.
"Ava, wow, you sprouted up over the summer," Harry choked out as he grinned.
"Yeah, and she finally got boobs and a boyfriend," a boy said as he stepped around his father and mother. Tom and Angela had reunited after Harry and Hermione explained everything to them. They had gone on to have three boys.
"Tell him what else," Tom pressed proudly.
"I got a letter!" The boy screamed excitedly as he waved his Hogwarts letter up so that Harry could see. Harry had high-five-d the boy as he headed toward the back yard and the masses of other children.
"It really explains so much," Angela said smiling as she shook her head. He would be the fourth D'Agostino to head off to Hogwarts. The other two boys were already heading toward the yard to join their schoolmates and friends. Tom and Angela joined them, leaving Harry and Hermione.
Hermione stood there with Harry, a smile playing on her lips softly. They were inviting and Harry strolled up to her lazily, his own smile warm and playful. He glanced at the young man who was up until that moment silent beside Hermione and embraced him.
"Dad, come on. If you do this every time we come home, I swear, one day, I might just not come home," the boys said rolling his eyes. "Why don't you go hug Sirius or Remus like that."
"They are napping, and the triplets are still out visiting their muggle friends up the block. Sorry, James, you the one that gets the hug," Harry laughed as his nearly thirteen year old son pulled away.
"Maybe this is why they all run when you come, Dad," James teased as he took his sister from his mother's arms and pushed her toward Harry. "Just kiss Lily so that you give a well rounded welcome and I can go talk to Henry Malfoy about our plans for Hogwarts domination this year."
Harry planted a kiss on the chubby little girl's forehead as she went to grab for his glasses. Harry laughed and took her from James a moment. The boys were all like him in looks, just as Lily was, but Lily was his kindred spirit. At just a few months old, she was already stubborn and determined. Harry couldn't help but think of Ava for a moment before he laughed and passed Lily back to James. Ava was nearly grown and they had made the right decision. She was perfect.
"Harry," Hermione said as Harry took her into his arms, planting light little kisses on Hermione's face and lips.
"Mmm?" Harry murmured as he held her in his arms, his mouth touching her neck slightly, causing Hermione's heart to race just a little bit.
"You know how we said when we finally got Lily that maybe seven was enough?" Hermione moaned slightly as she felt herself slipping under the spell of her husband's touch.
"Yeah, twins and triplets, us being exhausted, school costs and the boys getting too big for the house, I remember the whole conversation," Harry breathed as his mouth met hers.
"Yeah, well…" Hermione said pulling away from him. She placed her hand to her stomach slightly and looked at him uncertain. Harry's eyes slid from her face to her stomach and back. He felt his heart swell to a bursting point and pulled Hermione into the deepest kiss he could muster with a huge smile on his face. "You're not mad?"
"Having children with you is the only thing I ever wanted to do, Mione," Harry laughed as he rested his hand on her stomach, thinking below her clothes and flesh, deep within her womb, another sweet little Potter grew.
A/N: So that is how I leave you. I hope you enjoyed, and thank you.
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