Author's Note:

Revision of this chapter from the original fest entry.

The story, thus far, has been told in Hermione POV exclusively. Now, for this last chapter, you get to see things from Ral's POV.

Without further ado... here is the end for you!

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Epilogue

19 September, 1998

The Granger Home, Lingfield, Surrey

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Rabastan wiped his sweaty hands on his pressed trousers, letting the fine wool absorb the moisture, and then tugged at the hem of his fashionable and strapping Gabardine blazer, settling it more snugly over his wide shoulders. He'd gone with the Muggle look tonight, shunning wizarding robes, but a wardrobe change was hardly the cause of his fidgeting; besides, he was used to wearing jeans, crew-neck jumpers, and trainers by now. No, he was bubbling over with nervous energy because of what tonight represented: a new beginning.

Hermione had helped him pick the outfit for tonight's momentous dinner, knowing how important it was for him to impress her family, and now he was glad for her advice, for the clothing was doing wonders holding up under his elevated stress levels. Anything made of that god-awful Muggle synthetic poly-whatsit stuff would have suffocated him right off.

Bloody hell, he hoped he passed the parent test tonight! It would suck a hearty one if Mister and Missus Granger hated him.

He straightened his silk tie for the thousandth time and smoothed back his hair again, then raised his fist to knock.

He paused as a bout of nerves writhed through his guts, threatening to make him vomit.

For Salazar's sake, he was a month away from being thirty-six years old, had survived deceiving a powerful, cold-blooded, sadistic Dark Lord, endured two wizarding wars, and suffered a brief stint in Azkaban under the torment of Dementors. Meeting the Muggle parents of the woman he loved should be a cake-walk in comparison.

Still, he'd never experienced shaking the hand of a girlfriend's mum and dad before, knowing that they knew he was happily shagging their one and only daughter. He'd never let any other woman this close. He'd never loved anyone this much.

He squared his shoulders, attempting to latch on to his courage once again. He could do this, because just on the other side of this door was the one thing he'd waited years to have, and he bloody damn well wasn't going to throw it away now, not after everything he'd endured to get here!

Rabastan didn't fool himself; he would never be half as brave or as smart as his Hermione, but he was cocksure and clever enough to know that she was it for him. He'd known it the first time they'd kissed, and he knew it now standing here on her family's front step: there would never be anyone else for him. The thought of reuniting with her again in the Department of Mysteries had been his only beacon of hope in the dark months and years after her disappearance from the Leaky Cauldron that last afternoon they'd shared in the past. He'd survived every day for five years in that god-awful prison afterwards believing that they were destined to meet and love again someday, and convincing himself to just hang on a little longer. Then, after Dumbledore had arranged on the down-low for his eventual release, Rabastan had pretty much driven himself into the grave to assure things came out the way they were supposed to, at least according to Hermione's last words to him. He'd lived the life of a hermit and he'd done his best not to call attention to himself, knowing that in the future, Voldemort would rise again and his services as a spy for the Order would once more be required, and that it wouldn't do for him to be seen freely wandering around if he intended on one day fooling the Dark Lord into believing he was still a devout loyalist. That's why he'd transfigured his features every time he stepped out his front door, and why he'd learned to live with one foot in the Muggle world as well. It was why he'd watched over her from the shadows, keeping her ignorant of his true identity for years. Yes, he'd gotten the rare and wondrous chance to watch her grow up as a result, but it had still hurt to hold back and not reveal himself to her.

He'd gotten through that. He could get through a simple meet-and-greet of the parental units.

He knocked. The door opened, and Ral's breath was stolen from him once more.

God, he was a lucky fucker. Hermione was a goddess—a delicious configuration of luscious curves and warm, honey-coloured skin, all grown-up and more than ready for him. He'd traced every inch of that body after their reunion at the train station, carrying her into the same luggage carriage where they'd first met and bringing things full circle as the train had headed off for London, carrying a few wounded fighters who couldn't be Floo'd or Apparated to St. Mungo's due to the nature of their injuries. By the time they'd arrived at King's Cross hours later, he and Hermione had thoroughly christened that railway coach, as he'd wanted to do the first night they'd met there years before.

Her eyes flashed with irritation, a sight he was well-familiar with by now. It made him smile.

"Were you planning on standing at my doorstep all night long, or did you actually intend to ring the bell?" she hissed, one hand braced upon a gently sloping hip.

Rabastan's smile widened. "I knocked. Besides, I'd actually hoped that by lingering out here long enough, you'd show up spitting fire at me. I so look forward to facing your temper, my love."

She dropped her arm and stared at him aghast. Then, she laughed. "You are an absolute, unrepentant rascal, aren't you?"

He stepped forward, shut the door behind him, and took her into his arms. "You mean, the naughty spells I non-verbally cast at you in the Department of Mysteries didn't clue you in?" He pressed a small kiss to her tight mouth. "Is that why you let me—"

"Ahem!"

Rabastan immediately dropped his arms and stood up straighter as Hermione's father stepped into the foyer.

The moment Richard Granger spotted him, Rabastan knew he'd been found out.

The older man narrowed his eyes. "The man at the park, who used to feed the birds," Richard stated, recognising him from years before. "You used to watch my daughter play." He didn't sound in the least bit appreciative of that fact.

Rabastan sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "All on the up-and-up, I promise," he offered. "Just wanted to make sure Hermione was safe."

His girlfriend whirled on him, eyes and mouth rounder than giant-sized 'O's'. "You!" she proclaimed, stepping back and pointing one ink-stained finger at him. "Your eyes—they're the same! Merlin, why didn't I put it together?"

Gently, he gripped her finger and kissed the tip, making her bend it inwards and away from him. Although he wasn't an overly-superstitious man by nature, tradition stated it was bad luck to point at a wizard, and Rabastan had had enough bad luck in his life. "I was afraid for you. The world was different after the first war, but still just as dangerous for Muggle-borns. You knew nothing of your talents, and I worried what would happen if you manifested your magic early, or if some rogue Death Eater discovered what you were. I wanted to protect you."

She pulled from his grasp. "You protected me by secretly stalking me all through my childhood?" she asked, placing both hands on her hips this time and giving him a scary glare.

"Perhaps we should sit down if we're to talk," Missus Granger suggested, coming up alongside her husband with a gracious smile. "Hello. I'm Helen," she introduced herself, holding out her hand.

Rabastan shook her hand and her husband's, and introduced himself. He then allowed Hermione's mother to direct him (under Richard's and Hermione's matching glares) into the living room.

"Tea?" Helen asked him.

"Yes, thank you."

Given how dry his mouth felt just then, her offer couldn't have been better timed.

Once he had the cup and saucer in hand, he sipped at it, letting the warm beverage soothe the back of his throat. When no one spoke for a solid minute, and Rabastan began to sweat under the scrutiny, he took the bull by the horns. He knew Hermione had already explained the situation to her parents about their magical relationship, so they understood the age issues between them and why they were dating now. Perhaps that would be enough to keep him from being skinned alive by Richard for sleeping with the man's daughter. "I admit, it was a tad stalkerish to hang around a children's garden, and outside your home—"

"My home, too?" Hermione asked, surprised, pausing with her cup half way to her lips. "And you never once thought to approach me?"

He gave a heavy sigh. "Of course I did, love, but I'd promised Dumbledore I wouldn't. First, it wouldn't have been appropriate to approach you until you were of age."

"At least you've some sense in that regard," Richard Granger growled.

Rabastan swallowed another gulp of tea. "Yes, well… Second, you asked me to spy for the Order not only when I was nineteen, but when the Dark Lord reappeared at some point in the future. To do that, I had to maintain my cover that I was a suffering loyalist, just as Severus did. I couldn't appear to be on any sort of friendly terms with—" He abruptly stopped, glanced over at Hermione's parents.

"Muggles," Helen easily supplied.

"Yes." He put his empty tea cup down on the coffee table nearby, careful to place it so it didn't clink. "I did the only thing I could to assure the future turned out as you'd explained: I stayed at a discreet distance. I also wrote down everything you told me that day in the Leaky Cauldron, the last time we met. I used the parchment and ink on the table in that room after you'd left, and scribbled down everything I could remember. I Owl'd it to Albus Dumbledore that same night, and let him know I wanted to defect."

"The letter!" Missus Granger gasped. She turned to her husband at her side and gripped his hand in a firm hold. "That letter we received the same day Mister Dumbledore came to visit us to discuss Hermione's magical heritage. You remember it, don't you, Richard? It was from him!" She waved a hand in Rabastan's direction.

Hermione looked between her parents. "What letter?"

Her father's tea cup rattled, and he quickly put it down on the coffee table. He seemed truly disturbed. "Do you remember the day Albus Dumbledore came to our house and sat down with us in the kitchen?"

"You were caught eavesdropping," her mother supplied with a twitch of a smile.

Blushing, Hermione nodded. "Yes. That was the night I received my Hogwarts letter."

"Your old Headmaster had another letter with him that day. He gave it to us first to read, before he gave you your official invitation envelope," Helen explained. "The letter was about you, sweetheart—about your role in the future of the wizarding world. It said you were to become friends with a boy named Harry Potter, that you were to fight a war in the future against an evil wizard, and that during your third year in school, you were to be given the use of some magical time device, the one you told us about. It stated that it was imperative that you receive that device then in order to do what you had to do to help fight the evil wizard."

"I remember that!" Hermione announced, round-eyed and filled with wonder. "I saw dad holding this piece of funny, yellow paper. It was stained and looked old…" She gasped and pointed again at Rabastan. "It was the same paper from the Leaky Cauldron. I saw it in the room that time!"

He gave her a lopsided smile. "You told me to defect right away, if you'll recall. So I did, that same afternoon."

"No wonder Dumbledore knew Voldemort wasn't defeated completely back then, and that he'd be coming back for Harry." His witch put her hands over her eyes. "He didn't know how, though. I'd never told you about the Horcruxes." She dropped her hands back into her lap, looking a tad melancholy. "If only I had…"

Rabastan took her hands in his. "Love, you said it yourself: time is circular. You could have done nothing to change the events as they were meant to unfold."

Firmly, Hermione shook her head. "I've been questioning that belief ever since I first learned of Eloise Mintumble and how her jump five-hundred years into the past completely contradicts the Ministry's official time-travel dogma. As far as my reading could determine, her experience in time-travel had been with a broken Time-Turner that had spilled hot dark matter all over her. That error had resulted in her going back in time further than anyone ever had before, and had resulted in an altering of the timeline she'd known. I'd hoped that, because of the Blood Magic between us and the interference of the hot dark matter on myself, we'd be able to circumvent the natural order, too, Ral. By telling you about my future that day at the Leaky Cauldron, I'd wanted to influence your decisions in such a way as to alter the course of the war," she told him. "And, as far as I can determine, it did exactly that... which bins the Ministry's primary theory on the subject. It wasn't until recently, however, that I'd come to realise exactly why that was, however."

"Well, if anyone was going to blow a hole straight through the middle of a government bureaucracy's belief system, it was going to be you, dear," Richard stated quite sincerely.

"Be serious, Dad."

"I am, believe me."

"Why don't you tell us what you believe," Rabastan interjected, heading off any opportunity for Hermione to get her feathers ruffled. He may love her feisty spirit, but he also knew she was quick on the defence as a result of having been the brunt of much criticism during her school years by the Malfoy brat and his friends. As he intended on seducing her later, he wanted her to remain in as good a mood as possible tonight.

"Alright," she readily agreed, and Rabastan sat back to enjoy the show. His Hermione certainly enjoyed a good lecture, he now knew.

"In my studies of Muggle science, I realised something important," she began, "there are two different views on time theory. One idea, called A-Theory, states that there is a definitive past, a present, and a future. Events are split into moments that are catalogued in our memory as happening before, happening now, and happening someday. In this theory, a time-traveller can change the past and thus change their own future. The other idea, called B-Theory, what is also called Novikov's Self-Consistency Principle, talks about time in a circular function: events are described as interconnected, using terms such as 'earlier than', 'simultaneous with', and 'later than others'. B-Theory states that an event cannot exist as a single moment in time, but rather it is part of the whole cosmic event called 'life'. It says that a time-traveller changing the past will not alter the future they know, because they were meant to go back in time to set that event into play anyway. The official Ministry theory on time agrees with B-Theory. My own experiences of time-travel, however, make it clear that neither theory is absolutely correct. Time is not an either/or function. We live in a universe that is not A-Theory or B-Theory, but rather the combination of the two."

"Darling, you're beginning to make my head ache," Helen stated, touching a bird-thin, lightly freckled hand to her forehead.

Rabastan hid his smile behind his own hand in agreement. Sometimes, Hermione could talk circles around people, making their heads spin.

Noting his smirk, Hermione nudged him with her elbow in silent censure. "In a nutshell, every person who has ever used a Time-Turner creates a splintered timeline," she stated. "That's why events seem to transpire on a closed timelike curve, and why the Ministry of Magic outlawed them completely." She Accio'd her wand to her hand and used it to draw a straight, glowing yellow line in the air. "Let's say this was time before the first Time-Turner was ever manufactured. Now, I build one of the devices and activate it to go back fifty years." She drew a curve from that point to an arbitrary point back down the line. "A-Theory states that if I do this, I could change events, creating splinter realities." She drew a branching line off of the main line."Or, I could potentially kill someone in my direct lineage, and therefore erase myself. Muggles call that 'the Grandfather Paradox'." She erased both lines with a simple wave of her wand.

"Cause and effect," Rabastan said. "All action has consequences."

"At least according to A-Theory, yes," she agreed. "If I were to go back and kill my ancestor, the effect would be to create an untenable situation that would unravel everything from fifty years ago and going forward. Every life he would have touched, every child he would have had would be gone in a blink." She snapped her fingers. "That's what happened when Eloise Mintumble went back accidentally five-hundred years and got stuck there. Twenty-five people were 'unmade' from her perspective as a result."

Richard whistled. "Unmade, as in they never were?"

Hermione nodded. "From how she remembered the world should be, yes. Those souls were never born. Everything they did in her world, everything they touched, every child they created never was, either."

"But how does anyone travelling through time remember what their original world was like if time changes as a result of their interference?" her mother asked.

"Because, as I said, the universe is not governed by A-Theory alone," Hermione explained. "B-Theory is also involved, and here's where things get interesting." She drew a new straight line, this time in blue. "B-Theory states that if I build the Time-Turner and go back fifty years, it's impossible for me to kill my grandfather, because—" She drew a circle from the end of the line back to the fifty year mark, and then back around to the end of the line. "—I was meant to go back to that time and do whatever it was I was going to do. If I hadn't, I wouldn't end up where I began."

Richard Granger sighed. "Honey, I'm a dentist, not Mister Spock. In English, if you please."

Hermione harrumphed, and it was such a cute sound coupled with an adorable expression that Rabastan couldn't help but chuckle. She tapped him on the knee with her wand in censure, primly cleared her throat once, and then turned to her father to explain things in terms he might understand.

"Do you remember that American film with the silver car that could travel through time?"

"The DeLorean!" her father exclaimed, warming up to the topic. He was, Rabastan had learned from Hermione, an Muggle automobile enthusiast. "Yes, a marvellous vehicle! Silly film, but a wonderful machine, that!"

"Do you remember the premise of the film?" she asked her dad. "The main character accidentally went back to the past and altered things between his parents, almost erasing himself from history. That's A-Theory and a perfect example of a Grandfather Paradox."

"Ohhhhh," her parents both said at the same time, obviously understanding the example. Rabastan, on the other hand, was thoroughly lost, having never seen said film, despite his forays into Muggle cinema over the years.

"Now, as for B-Theory..." Hermione tapped her wand against her knee, trying to come up with another model to illustrate. "Ah, yes! Do you remember that scary film about the robot played by that hulking Schwarzenegger fellow? He was sent back in time to try to kill a woman before she could become pregnant with a child that was destined to become a great leader of the human resistance against the robots in the future?"

Helen Granger shuddered. "Yes, we watched it that summer you'd been injured in that awful fight, after you'd come home from the hospital. You put up a fuss until we all agreed to sit through it with you. I remember there was a lot of violence with guns, and car chases, and something about a nuclear war." The woman frowned. "Didn't a young man also go back in time to save the woman, though? I seem to recall there was a handsome, young man in the show."

Hermione nodded. "Yes, and it turned out he was the father of the unborn child that the robot was trying to kill. He'd been sent into the past by his own son purposefully to put into motion the events that would lead to the son being born. That's a perfect example of a closed timelike curve, or a time loop. That's B-Theory in action."

"I think I understand," her father said. "He couldn't change the past. All he could do was set the future he knew in motion."

"Exactly!" Hermione said, really gaining momentum now. "What I'm proposing is that our universe actually works somewhere in between those two theories. Both A-Theory and B-Theory affect us." She again erased her 'air model' and redrew a straight line. "I think that just the act of jumping through time creates a splinter reality. An alternate dimension or multi-verse, so to speak." She drew another forking branch off of the original line, and then extended it forward. "I think this is what Madam Eloise Mintumble did when she went back to 1402 and ended up causing the 'un-birth' of twenty-five people, and why she was the poster-child for outlawing the use of Time-Turners altogether. The fact that those twenty-five people were even remembered as having once existed at all by her tells me she splintered reality and not erased it completely. If the universe were as B-Theorists state, she wouldn't have been able to go back and do that kind of damage to begin with."

Rabastan thought about that, turning her argument over in his head. What she was saying could explain how it was that he hadn't ended up staying in Azkaban for the entire time. According to Hermione, she knew his sentence had been 'life imprisonment', and she'd read he'd been one of the Death Eaters who had been broken out of prison by Voldemort when the Dementors sided with him and helped destroy the Maximum Security Level in 1995. Yet, that hadn't happened from his point of view. He'd been sprung from prison by Dumbledore in 1986, when the old man had cut a deal on his behalf with the Minister at the time, Millicent Bagnold. He'd lived an entirely different life from the one she'd known before she'd begun hopping through time.

"So, you're saying you and I created a whole new reality by accident?" he asked, astounded by the mere idea.

She nodded. "We did."

"Then, what happened in the reality that might-have-been, the one where you didn't end up covered in hot dark matter in the Department of Mysteries, which set everything into motion?"

She shrugged. "If I hadn't gone back in time and we hadn't fallen in love, you never would have reformed and turned spy for the Order, and probably would have been either killed in the second war or locked back up in Azkaban again with the rest of the Death Eaters after Voldemort's final death, never to see the light of day again. Whereas I—" She tapped her wand against her chin, contemplating an alternate future for herself. "—I'd never have met you in the past, obviously, and as such, probably would have never let go of my childish feelings for Ron. He and I would probably have dated, maybe even married, had two-point-five children, which we'd later send off to Hogwarts with Harry's children some nineteen or twenty years hence." She giggled and shook her head. "Honestly, isn't that the most bizarre idea you've ever heard? First of all, I can't see as how Ronald and I would ever have made a solid go of it except in some fictional fantasy world. We're just too opposite for it to work long-term. Then there's the idea of having his children." She shuddered. "I think I like this new reality better, thanks ever so."

Mindful of remaining proper in front of the parents, Rabastan reached for Hermione's hand and brought the back of it to his lips to bestow a small kiss to her knuckles. "I'm just glad we don't live in fantasy, but in reality—this reality, anyway."

"I'm happy this isn't all a dream, either," Hermione agreed, blushing prettily.

Lost in his lover's deep, glittering eyes, the colour of which reminded him of a lovely golden-brown tourmaline or the rich, velvety shade of a fine, aged whisky, Rabastan couldn't help but feel the circle of his life was finally complete. Unfortunately, he'd lost Rolph to Bellatrix's poison (ironically, the same formula he'd intended to use for his own suicide years ago), but he knew that even if he had a Time-Turner, he wouldn't attempt to go back and alter that event, for fear it would destroy the future that he had right here and now with the only woman he'd ever loved. Some events in the past should be left alone.

"Well, now that my head is sufficiently spinning... It's about time for that dinner, isn't it?" Mister Granger said, setting his tea cup and saucer aside and standing. He was giving Rabastan the 'you're an alright fellow, but I'm watching you' eye.

Rabastan stood and offered his lady a hand up. "Shall we?"

The four headed into the small dining area off the kitchen, and sat at the table to partake of their meal... and to begin creating a brand new family with a wide, open future ahead of them.

~FIN~

AUTHOR'S FINAL NOTES:

Scenes directly borrowed from J.K. Rowling's novels and re-written into Hermione's POV:

Chapter 34 - "The Department of Mysteries", from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Chapter 25 – "Shell Cottage" from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Chapter 26 – "Gringotts" from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Chapter 27 – "The Final Hiding Place" from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The films referenced by Hermione in the Epilogue were "Back to the Future" and "The Terminator".

Well, our tale has finally come to its end. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. Tackling this story has been an amazing journey for me as a writer. Months of research regarding the theoretical science of time-travel and of particle physics was time well spent (and it was fun finding out how vast & magnificent the cosmos really is!), but figuring out how to combine that information with the fictional concept of magic -specifically within JKR's canon material in the HP universe- was a wonderful challenge for me. I have come to love the ship of Rabastan & Hermione over the past two years, and it's my hope you've come to appreciate them a little more through sharing this Alternate Universe tale with me. I'm hoping to find more fics with these two involved, as the age difference is about the same between them as between Severus and Hermione, which seems to have a big following. Perhaps we'll see more Rabastan x Hermione fics around here in future? *hopes* Anyway, thank you for sharing this road with me, dear readers! I hope you'll consider leaving a review, letting me know what you thought. :)