This is the eighth of my stories following on from the epilogue, so reading of the first seven is recommended. With two generations of new characters to deal with, everyone's getting confused including me, so here's a recap who's where in the Potter family.

Harry and Hermione married after Ginny died and Hermione and Ron broke up. They have one daughter together, Nymphadora.

James married Emily Longbottom, the daughter of Neville and Luna and sister of his best friend Martin. They have two children, Tracey and Joshua. Albus died young, his girlfriend Melissa Dorrans gave birth to his son, who she named Albus after him. Lily married a muggle, Gordon Preston, and they have a daughter Amy.

Rose married Scorpius while still at school. She and Hermione were pregnant at the same time so her daughter Gemini is in the same year as Nymphadora. They also have a son, Balthasar. Hugo is engaged to his old classmate Maria Lucas.

Aside from Gemini, Nymphadora's main friends include muggleborn Beverley Cardogan and Bradley Wood, the grandson of Oliver Wood and Katie Bell, who is vaguely related to the Longbottoms since Martin married his mother's sister.

Harry recently learned he has another son, Phillip Nave, as the result of sleeping with Romilda Vane under the influence of a love potion.

Same rules apply: These stories are in continuity with the seven books and eight movies, everything else is ignored.

CHAPTER ONE:New Beginnings

Nymphadora Potter sat at one of the tables, smoothing down her bridesmaid's dress irritably. She was afraid to move anywhere for fear of messing it up, especially after everyone had spent the day telling her how pretty she looked in it. It was one of many reasons why the day had not been the happy occasion she had expected it to be.

Nymphadora glanced across at the bride and groom: Her half-brother Hugo Weasley and his new wife Marie. At least they both looked happy, with the occasion even seeming to cause Hugo to overcome his natural shyness and dance with Marie in full view of everyone. The wedding had gone well and everyone around her seemed to be enjoying themselves, so Nymphadora wasn't sure why she was the exception.

Actually, that wasn't true. She knew exactly when the shine had been taken off the day. She had been looking forward to it until about a week or so earlier. She wanted to see Hugo have some happiness and all of the family together after the repeated traumas of the last few years: The attacks by the muggleborn True Way that had resulted in the death of her half-brother Albus, the civil war that had pitted her parents Harry and Hermione against the Ministry led by their former friend and Hermione's former husband Ron Weasley which had nearly torn the family apart, and her own absence the previous year after being sent back in time and preventing an attempt to kill her father as a child.

But if she was honest, the main reason she had been looking forward to the wedding was a chance to see her friend Bradley Wood. Life at Hogwarts could be strange at times: You spent every day with someone and then the holidays came round and that someone wasn't there. But the bond between them had been increased by the previous year. Bradley had been sent back in time with her and become the only person she could really talk to while lost in the past. So when he suddenly wasn't there, she had missed him more than ever. Thus, the realisation, a week and a half before the day, that no-one had actually said he was invited had caused her rushing to owl him and ask some oh-so-subtle questions, the answers to which had made it clear she wouldn't be seeing him that day at all. And suddenly she'd been a lot less excited.

An energetic blonde girl, the same age as Nymphadora and wearing the same dress, came bounding over to the table and sat down. Gemini Malfoy, Nymphadora's niece. "Are you going to dance, Auntie Dora?"

Nymphadora managed to smile. "Are you asking me?"

Gemini reddened slightly. "Of course not, you're my aunt. But I was just thinking: We'll be back at Hogwarts in a couple of weeks. This could be our last chance to let our hair down."

"Your hair looks far enough down already."

Gemini rolled her eyes."Come on, Auntie Dora, live a little!"

Nymphadora was saved from having to respond by the arrival of another member of the bridal party: Her half-sister Rose, Gemini's mother. She placed a small glass of butterbear down on the table in front of each other of them. "And that's all you're getting,"she told Gemini firmly. Gemini's response was another eye roll. Rose turned to her sister. "Dora, Scorpius and I are taking Gemini and Balthasar to Diagon Alley on Monday to pick up some things for school. I can ask Mum and Uncle Harry if you can come with us if you like?"

It crossed Nymphadora's mind that she could have arranged to go with Bradley and his family. But the offer was a kind one so she nodded. "Of course, I'd love to."She nodded over to the top table, where Scorpius' position as best man had resulted in him being accosted by Marie's muggle parents, who were asking him what seemed to be a constant stream of questions."Are you going to rescue him?"

Rose gave a slight smile."Eventually."

Across the hall, Ron Weasley watched his son fondly. Parvati Patel, his deputy and date for the event (in a purely platonic sense they had been quick to point out to everyone), handed him a glass. "You've finally offloaded both of them now then."

Ron laughed mildly. "Rose got married while she was still in school, Hugo waits until he's twenty-eight. We always said they were different."

"I can't believe that Aishi's starting Hogwarts in a couple of weeks."

Ron nodded in agreement. It only seemed like yesterday that Parvati's daughter was born. "You get used to it."

"Which neatly brings me to…would you like to come with us to the Hogwarts Express?" Parvati obviously saw Ron's surprised expression since she went on quickly. "I know that you might want to be there with Rose's children instead, or maybe you've got something else on that day, but…"

"You think it might give her a bit of kudos with her classmates having the Minister of Magic in her entourage?"Ron asked.

"That and…I think it'd mean a lot to her."

Ron smiled, touched at the remark. "Well, tell her I'd be proud to be there."

At another table, Harry Potter was watching his newly-wed stepson. His gaze shifted briefly across the hall, taking in Nymphadora chatting with Rose and Gemini, his eldest son James sharing a joke with his wife Emily (no doubt their own children were creating havoc somewhere nearby) and his other daughter, Lily Preston, and her husband Gordon playing with their daughter Amy. But as ever, he found himself pondering the gaps in the family gathering.

His wife Hermione had got quite used to picking up on his moods over the years they'd known each other. And she knew that there could only be two people he was thinking about. She went for the safer one first. "Are you wishing Albus could be here?"she asked.

"That's part of it,"Harry confirmed. She waited for what came next. They'd had the conversation many times since the revelation of some months earlier. "Is it wrong that I'm thinking about Phillip?"

As ever, Hermione tried to force down the memories that sprang to mind: Her discovery that Harry had slept with Romilda Vane under the influence of a love potion. The reveal that that liaison had resulted in a son, Phillip Nave, who had promptly travelled back in time to try and commit an act of pre-emptive patricide, had understandably shook Harry to the core. "I'd say it's natural."

"Part of me dares to think that one day he might be at gatherings like this, one of the family. Then I think about how twisted he's become and I almost dread seeing him again. And we will see him again. He and those purebloods hiding him, they're not just going to disappear."

Hermione took his hand. "Then we'll deal with whatever comes. Like we always do."