The Other Black - Book 7

Epilogue - Nineteen Years Later

Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first of September was crisp as an apple, and as the haphazard family bobbed across the rumbling road toward the great sooty station, the fumes of car exhausts and the breath of pedestrians sparkled like cobwebs in the cold air. Two owl cages sat atop rattling trunks, and behind them walked a little brunette girl, a blonde boy, and several other young children pushing similarly strange carts and adults

"Is it really as great as you say?" asked the little brunette girl, looking up at her adoptive mother.

"It's better!" exclaimed a blonde boy, elbowing his sister in the side. "I can't wait for you to be here!"

Aurora laughed, but when Callie aimed to fight back, Aurora said, "Now now, you two, play nice."

"But he started it!" Callie whined, pointing at Jacob.

"And you continued. He didn't mean anything by it."

"I don't want to wait!" hollered a young boy behind Aurora.

"No one ever does," replied Rose, holding the boy's hand. "But people do."

The commuters stared curiously at the owls as the family wove its way toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

"What's the best house?" Callie asked.

"Slytherin!" called Jacob, puffing his chest.

"I'd say Gryffindor!" boasted another, older child.

"Ravenclaw!"

"Hufflepuff!"

These calls, as they often did when young Bekker Street wizards asked about the houses, started some arguments among the children, and, as they always did, took nearly all of the four adults chaperoning to settle them.

"It depends on where you go," Maggie said. "Everyone always says their own house is the best."

"But Gryffindor had Harry Potter in it!" proclaimed Logan, another Bekker Street kid.

Aurora smiled, and the agreeing comments did not end as they all made their way through the barrier, vanishing through one at a time, careful to not draw too much attention to the barrier. Aurora and Callie were the last to push through, running straight at the solid wall -- but there was no collision. 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 Jacob and several others had already disappeared.

"Where's Uncle Harry?" Callie asked, looking at Aurora.

"He's here somewhere. We'll find them."

But the vapor was dense, and it was difficult to make out anybody's faces. Detached from their owners, voices sounded unnaturally loud, Aurora thought she 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, Aurora," said Ryan suddenly.

A group of quite a few people emerged from the mist, standing alongside the very last carriage. Their faces only came into focus when Aurora and Calle had drawn right up to them.

"Hi," said Callie, sounding immensely relieved. Little Rosie, who was already wearing her brand-new Hogwarts robes, beamed at her. Callie hugged her cousins Rose and Albus.

"Parked all right, then?" Ron was asking Harry as Aurora walked over. "I did. Hermione didn't believe I could pass a Muggle driving test, did you? She thought I'd have to Confound the examiner."