Nineteen Years Later

Harry could not have been more comfortable, warm under sheets and a blanket, his face nestled in Ginny's bright red hair. He took slow breaths, basking in the warmth of the moment, before opening his mouth to speak. "Gin," he mumbled sleepily.

"Yeah?" she answered back in a whisper so soft, Harry had to strain his ears just to be sure he had heard her.

Nineteen years later, there were still a lot of things he wanted to say, things he hadn't had a chance to talk about yet. He wanted to know how she was coping with losing Fred. He knew it had been a while but he also knew the pain of losing a loved one never fully went away. It had been well over nineteen years since he had lost his parents and Merlin knew he still missed them. "Gin," he repeated, this time with more purpose. "Do you ever... do you ever still miss everyone?"

Everyone was a word that, in this context, had come to represent Fred, Tonks, Lupin, Dobby, Dumbledore, Sirius, George's ear and anyone else who had died fighting Voldemort the second time around. "Yeah," she said after a long moment. Harry could hear her breathing heavily, as though the question still hurt to answer. "You?"

"Yeah," he answered without missing a beat, as though he had been waiting for her to ask that question. He wrapped his arm around her, listening to her heart beat and remained still for a few moments.

"Harry--how long will we miss them this much?" Ginny whispered, her voice constricted with emotion.

"For a long, long time," he answered truthfully, he pulled her chin up so that her gaze met his. That was all they needed to say. There was no point in going on about Fred or Tonks or how the war had been cruel in its lack of discrimination on who it had taken. "Er, I was thinking," Harry began with the clumsy air of someone trying to change the topic.

Luckily, Ginny seemed to sense that the conversation, as short as it might have been, had run its natural course. "Oh, after all these years, finally doing something productive!" she giggled.

Harry shot her a sneer and then smiled. "No, well, alright. I think we should build a pool," he stated simply, watching as complete bewilderment swallowed his wife's face. "It's a muggle thing. It's basically a whole in the ground filled with water so that the kids can swim in it."

"Why on earth would we build one of those?" Ginny asked, slightly appalled.

Harry couldn't help but laugh. "Well, I just thought it'd be a good idea. You know, the kids could exercise and it's a bit relaxing..."

The look didn't change on Ginny's delicate features. "So it's a mini-version of the lake at Hogwarts?"

"Minus the merpeople," Harry offered.

Ginny seemed to be thinking it over. "I don't see why not... though I still don't see an explicit reason why either," she laughed, kissing Harry gently. "But if you want to dig a hole, fill it with water and throw Lils in before Al and James come back, you go right ahead," she said a bit teasingly, as though she still thought the whole thing was a rather bad idea.

Harry nodded, quite pleased with himself for the answer he had gotten out of her. She was as stubborn as hell and the fact that she was going to condone his little idea was something he hadn't really expected. After all, not many children born to the Wizarding World were familiar with swimming pools. "I think..." he began when an owl hurled itself at the window. Harry groaned, not wanting to get up.

"Fine. Be a lazy prat," Ginny teased, rolling back the covers and walking over to the window, letting the owl in. She took the envelope from its leg and walked back over to the bed. "Look," she cooed at the picture, which showed a beaming Lily, Hugo and Kate, George's daughter a year younger than Lily, on broomsticks, Hugo struggling to maintain his balance and Lily unsuccessfully trying to stop herself from laughing at him.

"That's my girl," Harry said proudly, examining the picture. "Kate's pretty good too, especially for being younger than the both of them," he said, pointing to the beaming red head at the far left of the picture.

"That's the Weasley gene," Ginny gushed excitedly.

"Is that so?" Harry countered, raising an eyebrow curiously.

"Well, I was, after all, the better Gryffindor seeker," Ginny argued playfully.

"No, you were the never-banned-from-the-team Gryffindor seeker," he pointed out carefully.

Ginny rolled her eyes and tucked herself back under the blankets. "Of course," she acquiesced leaving Harry slightly confused.

*******************************

Rose's 'Weasley' was close to Dalton's 'Wood' and Al could see the two of them chatting happily near the back end of the line. His 'Potter' had put him a little past the middle, completely separated from the very few friends he had made so far. 'Dad said not to worry. Mum will love me no matter what,' he thought to himself over and over, repeating it like some sort of mantra. Still, each glance he cast over at the Gryffindor table made him queasy. The Weasley-Potter family was a close one. There was James, keeping a group full of second and third years rolling with laughter seated right next to Victoire who was gossiping away to her group of pretty seventh year friends. While they had their backs turned to each other, it was clear that they were next to each other, because they were family and because they stuck together. And what if Al was in Slytherin? He'd have to sit apart from his brother and cousin. 'Don't be scared, Al,' he tried to assure himself. 'Maybe... maybe I'm not brave. What if I'm too scared to be in Gryffindor?'

Suddenly, the entire Great Hall fell silent and he saw Professor, er, Headmistress McGonagall begin her speech. He had met her before, on numerous occasions when she had come to dinner at his house. His dad had told him she had once been Gryffindor Head of House, before the job had gone to Professor Finnigan. Al craned his neck looking for Seamus, who, much like McGonagall, frequented his house for supper.

In his great worry for what Seamus would think if Al wasn't put in his house, he had neglected to move up with the line, which had been moving with unexpected speed.

"Davies, Anne!" Silence.

"Hufflepuff!" the hat proclaimed and cheers erupted from those bearing the Hufflepuff crest on their robes.

"Malfoy, Scorpius!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

The far side of the hall exploded with cheers.

The boy looked perfectly pleased with her house. Al took a steadying breath and watch the rest of the ceremony until....

"Potter, Albus!"

The Hall filled with excited whispers. Albus approached the stool and sat down. He looked to McGonagall for some kind of reassurance. He saw her smile briefly at him but his view was soon obscured by the rim of the hat.

"Another Potter," the hat began thoughtfully. "Much like your brother, your father and your grandfather, you prove an interesting personality. Much like them, you would do well in Slytherin but my guess is that Salazar's house is the last you want to be in.... very well... might I interest you in Ravenclaw? Perhaps instead of marauding, you can study.... No? Are you quite sure? Fine. Fine. You are like your family, I suppose.... GRYFFINDOR!"

Albus let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. If he wasn't mistaking, McGonagall was beaming with joy as he shakily made his way to the table of cheering children. He looked around for a place to sit and saw that somehow, Victoire and James had cleared an opening between them for him. He sat down and watched the rest of the moment with the serenity of a freshly sorted first year.

Finally, the hat had arrived at Rose. It had barely sat upon her head when it shouted "Gryffindor!" She traipsed down to the table and sat across from Albus.

"I told you we'd both be okay," she whispered merrily

"Wood, Dalton!"

A moment of suspenseful anticipation.

"Gryffindor!"

Soon, the sorting was over and McGonagall turned to address the students. "Houses, my dear students, while as much a place for loyalty and comradery, are merely a formality. Almost twenty years ago, students from every House helped bring upon the defeat of the Darkest wizard of our time. It took an event of such magnitude to unite the four Houses, as Hogwarts has always striven to do. Now, however, this school has experience a surge of school loyalty rather House loyalty and I couldn't be more pleased...."

As she continued, Al could feel the heat of stares being shot at from every direction. He wasn't naïve enough to ask why. Instead, he merely feigned polite attention and soon enough, the food appeared.

"Eat up, little brother! Put meat on those bones! If not, you'll go too far to return when the Whomping Willow tosses you," James joked between bites.

Al laughed heartily. Now that he was sorted, everything James said seemed loads funnier.

"Delicious, non?" Victoire's unmistakable voice sounded on his left.

He nodded and wolfed down successively bigger bites of steak and kidney pie. Finally, when he had finished, he reached for some Treacle Tart, looking up at Rose and Dalton.

"I'm so excited!" Rose squealed. "Mum said we get our schedules tomorrow and she's already given me loads of advice on classes and professors and you," she said, pointing an accusatory finger at Al, "had better not be like my dad and copy off of my homework because I won't stand for it. I'll help you though," she softened as her goblet was replenished with pumpkin juice.

"Merlin, you sound like his mother," Dalton observed from where he sat next to Rose, licking the frosting off of a cupcake.

Rose crossed her arms across her chest and huffed, attempting to be offended but giving up as she reached for a slice of pie. Finally, the food disappeared and McGonagall began her closing speech. Al couldn't bring himself to pay attention, he was just so thrilled to be there. While he had grown up with magic and was relatively used to it, there was something enthralling about the enchanted sky and about the magnificent tapestry that hung proudly above each House table. The hourglasses filled with rubies and emeralds were captivating and he could see at once while his mum, dad, aunts and uncles all adored the place.

James prodded him in the side and got up. Al, blinking his green eyes, saw that many students were getting up and spilling out of the hall, saying hello to friends in other Houses and filing to their respective dormitories. Dalton, Rose and Al stayed together, following an authoritative voice that called out "First years!"

Al and James cast a wave towards Hagrid who saw them and waved back merrily.

"First years!" the voice persisted and Al quickly united with Rose and Dalton as they began the journey up to Gryffindor Tower. He took in the scene with reverend awe. Everything was more than he could have ever imagined. So immersed in the scenery, he was surprised when they finally got to the portrait of the Fat Lady he had heard stories about.

"Password?" she asked lazily.

"Lemon drops!" the voice spoke sharply and the portrait swung open.

**********************************

"So I take it you told both Harry and George that we won't be returning their daughters tonight, right?" Hermione asked as she charmed a few dishes in the sink into cleaning themselves.

"Yep," Ron answered instantaneously, sounding proud of himself.

A thud sounded in the sitting room and there were shrieks of laughter.

Both Hermione and Ron walked quickly into the room, surveying the scene. On the rug, in a fit of hysterics, was Kate, who seemed to have found her abrupt landing rather funny. Lily was sitting on the toy broom with natural ease, laughing quietly and Hugo was in a fit state like Kate, laughing so hard, tears were streaming from his eyes.

"Merlin, you had us scared," Ron breathed, the red that had risen to his face quickly residing. Another thud sounded, this time from the room of which they had left. Hermione motioned for Ron to stay and went to go fetch the owl that had no doubt flown into the window. She let in the dark colored owl, letting it perch precariously on the sill as she opened the letter. Her breath caught. She shooed the owl out with sudden urgency and slammed the window, almost running back to Ron. Without a word of explanation, she thrust the letter into her husband's hand.

She watched as his blue eyes scanned the letter.... she could see his face contorting with sheer confusion. "Bloody hell," he muttered, looking from the letter to Hermione then back to the letter.

None of the children seemed to notice. In fact, they had zoomed out of the room and were now wreaking havoc in another part of the house.

"You reckon Harry got one of these?" Ron uttered quietly, shaking the letter in his hand.

"Well, I assume so. I don't see why not. We'll ask them first thing when we take Lily back. I don't want to bother them tonight, it's late," Hermione answered in a crisp tone of voice.

Ron's face still wore an incredulous look. "Who'd have guessed?" he asked, more to himself than to anyone else.

"What do you make of it?" Hermione asked, falling into a rather sumptuous arm chair.

"I don't know. You're still the brilliant one, you tell me," he shot back, walking behind her and absentmindedly massaging her tense shoulders.

"I.... I...." she stammered but could come up with nothing. "I guess... we'll talk to Harry and Ginny in the morning. If anyone knows what we should do, Harry should."

"Yeah," Ron agreed half-heartedly. Another thud, another fit of laughter. A crash. Glass breaking.

"Alright, I think it's bedtime," Ron wandered off to collect the kids, depositing the letter into Hermione's lap and giving her a quick, reassuring kiss. Hermione read the letter one more time, to make sure she had read it correctly. It still read the same.

"Merlin," she muttered unbelievingly, and she wandered off to help Ron gather the kids.

****************************

James let out a soft yawn and tried to blink away the soft daylight that was now pouring in through the windows on either side of him. It was the first day of class. He grudgingly got out of bed and stumbled into his chest, bending down to unlatch it and father his robes. His brother and cousin were now at Hogwarts as well, he thought. He knew he gave Al a tough time but it was all brotherly affection. James continued thinking, still in a state of half-sleep.

"Oi, Potter, you're up early," came the groggy voice of Sebastian Smith, son of Zacharias and Lavender Brown.

"What?" James asked in reply, acting as though his senses had yet to wake up.

There were rustles as the other four boys in the room began to stir. James walked back to his bed and groped for his wand and glasses on the nightstand. Bad vision ran in the Potter family.

"Almost ready?" he called out to no one in particular. He didn't like to be alone, especially not walking down to breakfast when he always hoped conversation would perhaps cause his brain to wake up before classes began.

"Yeah," Daemian's voice drifted over from the next bed.

"Same," Sebastian added, sounding more awake than both James and Daemian, and tucking his wand into his back pocket.

"Don't put your wand there, your buttocks will blow off," James spoke nonsensically.

Sebastian shot him a perplexed look. Potter children.

Once the three boys who had been the first to wake were ready, they began the haphazard journey of making it to the Great Hall in a near catatonic state.

"Get along with your brother?" Sebastian asked curiously.

"Well, he is younger than me so I do hold up with the regulatory brother bullying system my Uncle George taught me about," James babbled. "But yeah, dad doesn't like us fighting."

There seemed to be a moment of silence for James' dad.

"Oh, don't do that, he's the same as any of your dads," James continued rambling.

"Our dads didn't kill Voldemort," Sebastian offered.

"No, but yours helped," James pointed out, making slightly more sense the more they walked.

"Good morning!" came two sing-song voices James recognized immediately. He turned to see Nat and Abby caught up with them.

"I didn't know you left right after us," Daemian mumbled, looking as though he should have still been asleep.

"We didn't. You lot just walk so," Natasha offered nonchalantly.

Suddenly, James perked up, attracting curious looks from his friends. "Hey you four, I have an excellent idea for our first weekend here," he said mysteriously.

"Yeah?" both Daemian and Sebastian asked in anticipation.

"Ever heard of the Marauders?"