Different Paths

Chapter 27: Let it be an Epilogue

5 years later...

The village of Hogsmeade secluded deep within the Scottish Highlands was the sole entirely magical settlement in all Britain, perhaps because of its close proximity to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It had been five years since the defeat of Lord Voldemort, and the Wizarding World had just about settled into a well-deserved time of peace. There were still some renegade Death Eaters and Dark Wizards running around claiming to be the heir or successors of Lord Voldemort and were planning on continuing what he had begun. But most of these were second-rate wizards and were slowly but steadily being hunted down by the Aurors.

Hogsmeade was generally exempt from all of that, but there were still happenings. As the young American waitress, Margaret Chapel, dressed in a somewhat revealing uniform, was carrying out some garbage from the Three Broomsticks where she worked, out into the alley behind the pub she noticed that some shady looking punks were approaching her. The Auburn haired young woman rolled her eyes and turned toward the punks demanding, "Can I help you?"

"Well little lady," said the leader of the punks whilst leering at her. "We were hoping that you could play a little with us. Spend some time with us." The other two punks laughed stupidly.

The young woman rolled her eyes and said, "Well, as the present company pertains a resemblance to the hind quarters of a chimaera I am disinclined to acquiesce your request." At the confused looks of the punks, she said, "That means no."

The faces of punks instantly twisted from confusion to anger. "You better not have said that lassie," said the leader, "'cause now you're gonna have to pay for it." He and his buddies pulled out their wands and some knives.

"Oh please. Don't you three realize that you're on the very verge of getting a severe beating?" said Margaret.

"Beating?" said the leader. The punks burst out laughing. "Oh really, what can you do? Spank us?"

"Oh I'm not going to be doing the beating," said Margaret. "He is."

"Expelliarmus."

"What?" The punks spun around just as their wands and knives flew out of their hands.

The disarmer had come from a tall, red-haired young man dressed in the blue robes of an auror. He had an aura of power and an attitude of no nonsense around him. "I believe the lady said that she was disinclined to acquiesce, or something like that, so step back chimaera hind. I'll play with you punks instead," he said.

The punks' faces started growing red with anger. "Who are you to call us 'chimaera hind', Red?" demanded the leader. The punks started to rush the red-haired man when Margaret smiled and said, "Why hello, Ronald."

"'Ronald'?" exclaimed the leader of the punks. All three of them stopped in their tracks, their faces paling with fear. "You mean, that guy there is Ronald Weasley? The first class Auror who single handedly defeated and brought in 67 Death Eaters and Dark Wizards? The so called 'Big Time Super Wizard'?! That Ronald Weasley?!"

"Well, looks like I don't need to introduce myself," said Ron, giving the punks a death glare. "So who wants to go first? Or shall I just take care of all three of you at once?"

The blood completely drained from the punks' faces, as they turned white with terror. After remaining rooted in their spot for a few seconds they bolted out of the alley, screaming like little girls.

"You chased them away with just a glare and your name. That's quite impressive," said Margaret giving a once over her boyfriend. "I guess its true what they say, that you're now amongst the five most powerful wizards in all Britain."

"Huh? Who's been saying that?" asked Ron.

"Why, just about everybody in the wizarding world," said Margaret. "It even made Witch Weekly. They've listed you as most eligible bachelor in England as well."

"Well I can assure you that they got it wrong," said Ron, sticking his nose into the air. "I am the second most powerful wizard in all the world."

"Well you're sure not lacking in confidence," said Margaret. "Who's the most powerful by the way?"

"Harry."

"Of course."

"Of course indeed," exclaimed Ron pointing at Margaret's revealing uniform. "Why the bloody hell, are you dressed up like that? That's like begging punks to pay attention to you!"

Margaret blushed a little. "This? This is the new uniform for employees at the Three Broomsticks."

"Don't you sometimes worry about Rosmerta's tastes?" asked Ron.

"I sure do," said Margaret. "By the way, I'm on my lunch break right now. Would you like to join me?"

"Sorry, I'm going to have to take a rain check on that," said Ron. "I'm on my way to Hogwarts. How about dinner instead?"

"OK. But why do you need to go to Hogwarts?"

"I'm not really sure," said Ron. "Harry just said he wanted to see me today."

* * *

Since it was early in the summer vacation, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was rather quiet with the lack of students milling around. Ronald Weasley walked through the main gates of the castle. "Hello, Ron's here. Anyone here to see me to the castle?"

What Ron received was not a friendly greeting but the high-pitched wail of a young child in distress. Ron jumped and looked up at the top of the gates to see a young boy sitting on the roof of the gate bawling like it was the end of the world. He had messy, raven black hair, was about four years old, and emerald green eyes could be seen between the tears that were falling.

Ron sighed exasperatedly. "Alexander Potter! Don't tell me you climbed up the gates and can't get down now again!" He pulled out his wand and said, "Wingardium Leviosa." The young boys wails instantly changed to laughter as he was lowered to the ground. Ron sighed again. "You know Alex, you might look exactly like a miniature version of Harry, but you sure can be a bit of an idiot at times. If you want to live up to the Potter legacy, you should shape u... ACK!" The "ack" was the result of a book being thrown at the back of Ron's head. Ron spun around to see who had abused him so.

"What are you doing picking on my son?" exclaimed Hogwarts Transfiguration Professor Hermione Potter. It was she whom had thrown the book.

"Why would I pick on my own godson? Look at how giddy he is! Its rather that he enjoyed the fact that I took him down from the gate!" yelled Ron.

Meanwhile, young Alexander Potter ran up to Hermione gleefully exclaiming "Mommy!" Hermione scooped him up and started cooing at him. "There, there now, its all right now. Mommy's here," she said.

"Hey, don't I get my apology?" exclaimed a disgruntled Ron.

"Oh I'm sorry Ron," said Hermione with a laugh. "But it did look like you were picking on Alex from where I was. I guess I should've trusted you more."

"The day you trust me more Hermione, will be the day my sister marries Draco Malfoy."

"Ron, they did get married," said Hermione. "You were even one of the groomsmen."

"That's besides the point!" exclaimed Ron. "And besides, why did Ginny have to go marry that lousy ferret anyways? Sure he helped Harry in the battle against Voldemort but he's still a git. I mean I don't think Ginny's still been able to get him to laugh."

"You have to admit though, she does make him smile," said Hermione.

Some merry laughter sounded from behind Hermione. It had come from her husband, Defense against the Dark Arts Professor Harry Potter. "Ah how much I miss the banter between you two," he said. "Ron, sorry about calling you here on such a hot day."

"Ah, not a problem," said Ron. "So why did you call me out here anyway? Don't tell me you want me to give a lecture your students again. Just once is tiring enough: I can't understand how you two can stand being teachers. Besides, its summer right now, there shouldn't be any students here."

"All in good time," said Harry. "For now, just follow me to the Quidditch Pitch."

Ron shrugged and followed the Potters out to the Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch. As it was summer, the pitch was completely deserted as Harry led his family and Ron out onto the field.

Ron looked around while asking, "OK, so now that we're on the pitch, will you tell me why you called me here?"

Harry merely turned around, his wand drawn. "Ron," he said, "Draw your wand."

Ron starred at Harry. "What?"

"Ronald Weasley, I challenge you to a one hit duel."

Ron's jaw dropped. "What! You can't be serious! Why would you challenge me?"

"He is serious Ron," said Hermione. "Years ago, you claimed that some day you would become a great wizard. Harry wants to test you and see if you've really become one."

"You're the challenged Ron, so you can forgo the one hit duel and ask for a regular one or you could not accept the challenge all together. The choice is up to you," said Harry. "Don't you want to prove yourself?"

'Yes I do. And I understand that you want to know firsthand what I've become,' thought Ron. 'But this is Harry Potter I'm facing. This is the guy who beat Voldemort and his Death Eaters. And I can already tell just by the power he's radiating that Harry won't hold back just because I'm his best friend. How am I even supposed to stand a chance?'

"Don't worry," said Harry.

"What?"

"You're a lot more powerful than you give yourself credit for Ron. Just one spell is all I ask for. Just one. Put everything you have learned into this single spell Ronald. Then, you will see the path."

"Path?"

"We all travel along different paths," said Harry. "I'll explain soon after the duel."

Ron finally seemed determined. "OK," he said as he pulled out his wand.

"Excellent," said Harry. "And now, Hermione would you do the honors?"

"Right," said Hermione. Still carrying Alex in one hand, she lifted her other hand in the air. After a brief pause Hermione flung her arm downwards shouting, "GO!"

There was a flash of light as Harry and Ron's wands blazed forth; the image of the two duelers forever being imprinted into young Alexander Potter's mind. When the light had dimmed, both Harry and Ron were still standing.

"A tie?" said Hermione. A moment later, Ron dropped his wand and fell to his knees.

"Ah, bloody hell," he said with a weak grin. "Guess I still was no match for you after all."

"Perhaps," said Harry, smiling. "But that was still one heck of a spell." He offered Ron his hand. "Can you stand?"

"I think so," Ron took the hand and Harry pulled his to his feet. Hermione caught Harry's eye and Harry nodded.

"Ron," said Harry. "I'm offering you my Invisibility Cloak and my Firebolt. Oh, and the Marauder's Map in case you need to find somebody at Hogwarts."

Now Ron was really shocked. "Wha... what are you talking about? I can't just take your stuff. And besides, I just lost the duel."

"The duel wasn't about winning or losing," said Harry. "It was test: I wanted to see if you have finally found your own path. You see Ron we all travel along different paths. Many of those paths can be connected, but I've known for a long time that you were ultimately destined to take a path independent of me: to finally strike out on your own like you've always wanted, out of my shadow. The fact that you were able to use your full strength against me without turning back proves that you are ready to truly be on your own. But I still want to help you at least get started so I'm letting you borrow my stuff." Harry looked at Alex and grinned. "At least until Alex is ready to go to Hogwarts. I expect all of those items to be passed to him at that time."

Ron pondered over all of this for a few moments before finally smiling and said, "All right, I accept."

* * *

Sometime later, the Potters were standing in the courtyard looking out to the horizon. They could see Ron leaving the school and heading down to Hogsmeade from there.

"Well, I guess that's one last obstacle down," said Hermione. "People really do follow their own paths don't they? Ginny and Draco got married, Sirius has spent the last few years traveling around the globe upon getting cleared, Cho has become a healer at St. Mungo's..."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Do you regret giving all your possessions to Ron?"

Harry thought for a moment before answering, "Not really. I guess I might ask myself 'what did you think you were doing?' in the near future but at the moment, no regrets." He took Alex from Hermione and said, "OK, Alexander. Someday you're also going to grow up to become a good wizard and... oh for crying out loud when are you going to get used to me?" Alex had started tugging on Harry's hair, clearly annoyed about being taking away from his mother.

Hermione chuckled. "Don't worry, he loves his Daddy very much, don't you Alex?" The young boy grinned and started nodding vigorously. Harry laughed and started tickling his son, resulting in Alex squealing in delight.

Hermione smiled before stepping up to her husband and running a finger over the scar on his forehead. "Dumbledore once told me that a curse scar usually is a sign that the bearer of it with have a difficult life before him or her. The scar is a symbol of a cursed life of sorts that the person will be forced to live with so long as that scar remains." She traced her hand over the scar again and said, "Your scar has faded so much, Harry."

Harry smiled at her. "Yeah, but I believe it will never completely disappear," he said. "The scar is a part of me. Its my doom that the curse Voldemort placed on my life will always haunt me to a certain extent, no matter how my life turns out. That is the path I am both doomed to walk upon and that I have chosen to walk upon. Sure it'll get easier and better because of you and Alex, meaning that the scar will fade, but it will never disappear."

"Perhaps so," said Hermione. "But that's why I will always be by your side, supporting you as you go along."

The End