Just Harry

Epilogue

~Epilogue~

Harry smiled as he tossed his keys into the slightly lumpy bowl that sat in their entryway. Draco had finished it in secret and gifted it to him their first Valentine's Day, proving himself to be a sentimental sap. It had quickly found a permanent place in the entry to their dorm room, as it was the perfect size to hold the random detritus from their pockets.

It had been the first thing they unpacked when they'd bought a house in a muggle neighborhood near -- but not too near -- the wizarding neighborhood where their friends had settled. Now, five years later, it still brought a smile to his face every time he came home.

"Draco!" he called as he toed off his shoes and unwound his scarf. "I'm home."

Draco appeared in the doorway, lounging against the frame. "Did you expect me to bring you a drink like some 1960s housewife, Potter?" he asked, eyes twinkling with merriment.

Harry laughed. "No, Malfoy. I was going to say I brought takeaway. Think you could take some of this off my hands?"

Malfoy straightened up. "Ooh. Did you get Chinese?"

Harry held up the bags, wiggling them slightly. "All your favorites. Come on and help me get them to the kitchen."

Draco swooped in to plant a kiss on his cheek as he grabbed one of the bags, and Harry's smile widened.

"Hermione called. She said she and Ron would be by with the kids shortly. I hope you brought enough."

Harry nodded, looking around his cozy home with a smile. It was everything he'd ever wanted; sometimes he could hardly believe he'd actually gotten it. All of it, even the things he'd never admitted to himself that he wanted, back when he'd wanted it all so badly. He looked over at Draco, setting the table and humming to himself, and smiled.

A life. A partner. A home.

And friends, he added mentally, as his godchildren Rose and Hugo Granger-Weasley tumbled in through the front door in a rush of cold air, their parents following more sedately behind them. Harry smiled widely at Ron and Hermione as he tossed Hugo into the air, ruffled Rose's hair, and led them all into the kitchen, where Draco waited with dinner.

He wished he could send a message to the lonely boy staring into the Mirror of Erised and tell him that it would be all right in the end; that one day, he'd have all of the love and affection he'd always craved. That he'd have a home beyond Hogwarts -- better than Hogwarts, he thought fondly, as Draco turned and smiled at him, inclining his head toward the table.

Harry nodded and sat, basking in the glow brought on by a night at home with his family.

~end~