Always || Tom Riddle

Epilogue ~ Always

You may be wondering what exactly happened to us after that, well, Tom became the Minister for magic; much to Slughorns pleasure. Penelope and Charlus married, becoming Aurors for the Ministry, and having two children, a son; James Potter, named after his brother, and a little girl, Aleena Potter whom Penelope's parent's doted on. Tom and I married after we graduated from Hogwarts, moving into a charming manor house in Godrics Hollow to remain close to mine and Tom's parents, all of whom had moved there to try and move on from the past. I currently worked in the Ministry for magic, as the head of the department of magical transportation; a year ago, we were reunited with Amber, Gina, and Tom junior thanks to Dumbledore; the twins were eagerly awaiting the day they went to Hogwarts. I had just returned home from a long day at work, it was December, Christmas eve, and the children had spent the past couple of weeks begging for early presents, and decorating the house with trimmings, to say it did not look like a thirteen-year-old, and two three year olds had been decorating would be lying, but at least they had tried their best.

"Mummy, come look outside!" Tom Jr grabbed my hand with his tiny clammy hand and used all the strength he had in his tiny little body to get me to follow him. "But it's dark and past your bed time, Tom" His blue eyes looked up at her pleadingly as he pouted, his dark curls falling into his face. "Pleeeaaseee, Amber gets to stay up for hours!" I sighed, finally giving in to the puppy eyes, I know I shouldn't have, but how could I not? He was exactly like his father, it was uncanny. Being led as quickly as Tom's little legs would allow outside to the garden, he stopped, turning around to look at me. "Mummy, you have to close your eyes" I frowned at Tom, but did as he requested for the sake of not hurting his feelings. "You have to trust me, mummy. Open your eyes when I say"

Tom Jr led me excitedly under thick low hanging tree branches and bushes, unaware of just how much taller than him I truly was. The garden was quiet, aside from the occasional hoot of owls, or crickets chirping in the background. After a few minutes of being led blindly through the garden by my three-year-old son, he stopped. "Mummy, you can open your eyes now" I had expected to be surrounded by darkness, but upon opening my eyes revealed the garden path lit up by only small candle shaped lights, I looked down to Tom Jr, who sent me a wide toothy grin. "Come on!" He beckoned for me to follow him, running as fast as his little legs would go down the path. I trailed behind him as we descended the path, a smile curling at my lips. We eventually made it to the wooden gazebo, lit up with small fairy lights tangled beautifully around each pole. My eyes moved from the beauty of the lights and flowers, to my husband, looking as handsome as ever smartly dressed in a black vest waistcoat, he smiled, outstretching a hand for me to take as Amber rushed to turn on the radio behind him.

"Tom, you really didn't need to do this. When I suggested we should do something nice as a family, this wasn't exactly what I meant" I said contentedly, taking his hand and beginning to dance in small slow circles. "Is my queen not pleased with what I have done for her?" I laughed, shaking my head no. "I am not just pleased, I am more than overjoyed with what you have done, it's beautiful, Tom, thank you" He sighed happily, pressing his lips to mine, pulling away to brush his lips against my forehead. I rested my head onto his shoulder as we swayed to the gentle hum of the music. I caught a glimpse of the children dancing together as a three, Amber trying her best to get the twins to stop bouncing around, she was failing, but ended up dropping the serious act and giggled with them, starting to bounce around herself. The girls little white dresses floated beautifully as they spun in circles, their hair curled into small ringlets, while little Tom was a mini me of his father.

The dark days were over now, of that I was certain. We would go on with our lives, acknowledging everything that had happened, because it was a part of us now, but we would live normal lives, our parents would visit nearly every weekend bringing cake for desert for us and the kids, and while to many 'normal' may seem boring, for us it was sweet perfection, something that should not be taken for granted. This day and many days in the future we would live as one happy family, fighting whatever the future may bring together. Yes, there would be ups and downs and everything in between, but we would be there for one another, Always.