A Family Reunited (A Teddy Lupin Afterlife Story) (Book 4)

Epilogue: Perfection

17 years later...

All had gone perfectly in those years that followed.

Teddy was raised by his parents at last and lived a happy childhood in Heaven. A childhood worth living, with no blame, no hate and no despair and mourning. He lived with Remus and Tonks in Heaven Hogwarts. They taught him magic, Harry, James and Sirius taught him how to fly and he spent every single day with his parents as well as his wife turned girlfriend, Victoire.

Teddy and Victoire spent each day playing Exploding Snap and Wizard's Chess either in the castle or at Heaven Shell Cottage. They swam together in the lake in the grounds and they played mazes in the tame Forbidden Forest.

Fortunately, their own children did not die in the seventeen years that they were children again, or there would have been many more complications. Eventually, their two beloved kids came to Heaven three years after they reached maturity again, and Tonks and Remus were absolutely delighted to meet their grandchildren, and get to know them too. Remus noticed that Samuel had his hair, albeit no greys, and Tonks saw the resemblance of herself and her own mother in Andromeda, whose hair was pink with the joys of Heaven.

But Teddy and Victoire were not the only ones who now had perfection in Heaven.

Albus had decided to move out of his family home to build a new Heaven home, a quaint mansion in a country field, similar to the Hogwarts grounds, complete with a lake and a forest to explore with Gellert Grindelwald, whom married him not long after their reunion. Aberforth was best man, Elphias and Ariana made speeches and Harry and his group were strongly respected guests of honour.

Amongst the guests were the happily united Black brothers. Although James was at first a little jealous, he knew that Regulus would never replace him as the brotherly figure that he provided for Sirius in both life and death. Eventually, however, James and Regulus became good friends and they both listened to each other's adventures concerning Voldemort with equal admiration, and hearing the full story of Kreacher's role in Voldemort's downfall earned him some extra respect from both James and Sirius, even though Harry had seen to that some time before.

Regulus was still friends with the Malfoys and with Crouch, whom had also grown much more friendly, even though forgiveness was still a long stretch, but with Regulus and Winky by his side, he was safe as houses around the others. Sirius let the matter go whenever Regulus defended his friend as much as he possibly could, as he wasn't exactly an innocent soul either. He still felt he should have been there for Regulus when he died, he still felt the need to say sorry to Kreacher and Severus now and again. But his guilt didn't go too far into his head as it had for Teddy and Harry. So Sirius, back with his brother as well as his friends, was as happy as could be. Regulus also felt some happiness when eventually, his parents tried to contact him...it would be a while before he and Sirius forgave them as well, but they knew that eternity is a long time to bear a grudge. It was only a matter of time, a few centuries, give or take.

Something else that made Regulus happy was the change in fortune for Crouch, ten years or so later. Someone came to Heaven...she was welcomed by Harry and Albus with great sympathy. The girl looked positively distraught. She had seen her father. He was the first thing she saw after she died...her heart broke. She knew at once who it must be...Harry collected her and brought her to Heaven Hogwarts. He offered to take her to the mother she so wanted in life...and she met her mother. But the mother was horrified to see her daughter in the company of Harry Potter and tried in vain to jinx them out of her sight.

Harry knew it would take some time for the mother to take any heed of her daughter again. But the girl, now in her twenties again, when she was at her finest yet darkest hour, was able to find common ground in being an outcast. Crouch befriended her and almost worshipped her upon finding out who she was...he had by then felt full remorse for his crimes and could see that the girl had spent a lot of her life feeling remorse too. He took her to meet the prefect she had killed and although he did not forgive her immediately, Albus eventually brought him round. Not long after that, Crouch and his new friend became a lot more than friends...and they both now live happily in their own piece of Heaven, patiently awaiting a reunion with their respective parents.