Dark Pasts { A Harry Potter Story }

Epilogue (Pt. 2) - All Is Well

19 years later

I drifted on the verge of sleep, slowly pulled back to consciousness by the patter of small feet on the wooden floor. Harry groaned beside me.

"Your kids are awake," he mumbled, his arms tightening their hold on me.

"They're your kids, too, if I recall."

He chuckled before placing a lingering kiss on my neck, awakening something else within me.

"Harry..."

Without even opening my eyes, I could see his eyebrows raise in question at the sound, but whatever he might have attempted next was cancelled when the bedroom door was thrown open.

"Muuuuum, James won't stop . . . "

My half-awake state didn't register the rest of Remus' whining, but I stood up and smiled at him.

"Just ignore him, sweetheart — "

"But mum, he won't stop! I don't want to go to Hogwarts — "

"What?" Harry jumped up, looking at our son with wide eyes. "How can you say that?"

"If I go, James is never going to leave me alone!"

"Remus, sweetheart, you'll make tons of new friends at Hogwarts, and James will be with his own friends. He won't have time to pick on you, and if he does, you'll have people standing out for you."

Remus gave me a dubious look.

"And if he does keep bothering you, then you tell a teacher, and he'll get detention and learn his lesson," I added before kissing his forehead.  "You've nothing to worry about. You'll love Hogwarts."

He merely mumbled in response as he walked out of the room, making me sigh.

"Yeah, he'll learn his lesson, unless he's like his parents, and he just keeps getting detention over and over again," Harry said, still sprawled out on the bed.

"Don't include me in that!" I said. "You had detention way more often than I did, and when I had it, it was because of you."

"I remember very well a few times when it was the both of us, and maybe even mostly your fault." At my puzzled expression, he went on, smirking. "Our seventh year? Sneaking off to the Room of Requirement, the Astronomy tower, the prefects' bathroom . . . "

"Alright, alright!" I said with a dismissive shake of the head, laughing as I gave him a quick peck before going down to the kitchen.

Sun was pouring in from the windows behind the dining table. This day always felt so special.

Two years ago had been James' first year at Hogwarts and also Teddy's last. Today, it was Remus' turn to embark on this journey.

I started reminiscing on my own time at Hogwarts as I prepared breakfast. I remembered the first time I had passed through the barrier to Platform 9 3/4 and stood before the scarlet Hogwarts Express. I had bumped into Hermione not two seconds after stepping onto the train, and the two of us had immediately become friends. I remembered walking into the Great Hall and looking up at the enchanted ceiling before being sorted into Gryffindor, the house both my parents had been sorted in during their own time at Hogwarts.

I remembered studying in the library with Hermione, cheering for Ron and Harry on the quidditch pitch, and just laughing in the common room with all my friends as though I had walked through the castle only yesterday when in fact, I had completed my last year at Hogwarts 18 years ago.

Mostly, I remembered becoming friends and falling in love with the man I was now lucky enough to call my husband.

I smiled to myself as times spent with Harry in the castle floated to my mind. Those were memories I would cherish forever, but now it was our kids' time to make memories in that magical place.