this chapter has been edited
Epilogue—The Good Life
Harry and Ginny Potter were the first to arrive at platform 9 ¾ on September 1st. They were about to begin their 16th year as professors at Hogwarts. They arrived with their children in tow and quickly reserved seven compartments for the train ride. This would accommodate all of the Potter, Weasley, Longbottom, and Lupin children comfortably as well as Hermione who could have easily apparated to Hogsmeade and been at the castle quickly, but apparation made her feel queasy while she was pregnant and the comfort of the train was very appealing.
"Ginny Weasley?" Ginny turned around to see two slightly familiar faces with an obvious first year.
"Wow, no one has called me that name in over sixteen years," Ginny said with a genuine smile. "It is Ginny Potter now."
"You married Harry Potter? That is…wow! Blaise and I left Britain right after the Malfoy murders. We figured being Slytherins in Britain who did not support you-know-who was probably a bad idea. Anyway, I married Blaise and dropped the Parkinson and we went to the States. We have not monitored the area at all but now that our Penelope is 11, we decided to return. I really didn't want her going to some unusual American school when she could go to Hogwarts." Comprehension dawned on Ginny mentally that it was Pansy with whom she had been speaking too. "So I hear that you are a professor now and that Harry is too. I didn't realize that professors had to accompany the train when it was leaving."
"Oh professors don't, parents do. I am technically here as a parent." Just then, Percy ran over.
"Mum, dad wants to know if you are riding with Aunt Hermione or apparating with him."
"Tell him, I will ride with your aunt, but he is taking Maddie with him," Ginny said with a smile.
"Okay, thanks mum."
"Percy, this is Pansy and Blaise Zambini and their daughter Penelope who is your age. Pansy and Blaise were in your fathers year, only were in Slytherin. They had quite a few classes together over the years."
"Oh, nice to meet you sir, ma'am, Penelope. If you will excuse me, my dad needs some help with my sister Maddie." Percy ran off and Ginny gave a smile to Pansy.
"He's a little like his name sake, my brother Percy. Apparently we named him well."
"Yes. So…you have 2 children! I guess you did not take after your parents and have a Quidditch team's worth. Good thing too, your figure already lost a little over the years." Pansy said with her nose slightly in the air. The action was mimicked by Penelope.
"Oh no, I have six kids and two more on the way," Ginny replied with a sassy smile. "James is 15, Hannah age 13, Michael and Jonathan age 12, Percy is 11, Madeline will be six this month, and Sirius and Liam will arrive in just under seven months. Therefore, my figure is still almost perfect; the slight bulge you see is the twins. I have only gained about two kilo's (5-6lbs.) of non pregnancy weight over the years." Ginny shot another grin since it was relatively obvious that Pansy had put on more like ten kilo's (approx 22 lbs).
"Wow, I guess you are going for the litter feel. You must have the most kids out of anyone," Blaise added in a smug voice.
At that moment, Hermione and Ron walked through the barrier and Ginny smiled. "No the most children, currently is in the hands of Ron and Hermione with nine and two more on the way. Personally, I keep telling them that when they get to a dozen, Hermione needs to develop a charm or potion that is strong enough to keep her from getting pregnant," Ginny said with a laugh.
"11 KIDS!"
"Yeah, four sets of twins. Lets see: Caitlin and Amanda are 15, Lily is 14, Jacob and Jason are 13, Samantha is 10, Polly and Molly are 5, Andrew is 2, and Kevin and Derrick are due in 2 months as you can see," Ginny said pointing to a Hermione who was currently the size of a house and waddling towards them.
"Hey Gin, sorry we took so long getting here. The devil twins took an hour to get dressed," Hermione said, referring to Polly and Molly.
"Mione, you remember Blaise and Pansy." Ginny said gesturing with a fake smile. "Their daughter Penelope is beginning today. I was just giving a quick blow by blow of the last 16 years."
"Oh you mean the one where no matter what I do, I keep ending up pregnant with twins?"
"The very one!"
"Well, it is nice to see you both again." Hermione said mimicking Ginny's fake smile. "I apologize, but I need to go review my lesson plans for the classes the headmistress will be teaching after the twins arrive."
"The pleasure was ours," Pansy said as her nose began going a bit further in the air.
"Gin. Are you riding with me?"
"Yeah, but Harry is taking Maddie. Did you lock up good before you left?"
"Yeah, Dobby and Winky are meeting up with us at the castle after the house is clean. I grabbed all your maternity robes that you let me borrow even though they don't fit me anymore, you will need them, and possibly before Christmas."
"Great thanks."
After she had walked away, Blaise turned to Ginny, "I didn't realize she taught as well."
"Oh yes Transfiguration, and Ron teaches Charms."
"It must be tough to raise 11 kids on two Hogwarts salaries; though I guess they have experience without money and you Potters to fall back on." Pansy said with a smile.
"Oh, believe me; they don't need to fall back on us. Haven't you ever heard of the potion Lily's Eyes?"
"Of course, who hasn't," Blaise said.
"Well if you have heard of it, no doubt, you know who invented it."
"Oh, well I know I knew at some point, I believe it was a famous wizard who loved this woman named Lily correct?" Pansy said.
"Kind of, the potion was started by Harry's mum Lily and Severus Snape, and yes he did love her. When he died, he left their research to Hermione. Every time that potion is used, Hermione's vault gets a little fuller."
"Oh. So you all live together? With all of those children?" Blaise asked trying to push Ginny down by any means.
"Yeah, it is a busy house but we have two free house elves that we pay to help out."
"Free house elves?" Pansy said with a laugh.
"Yes, we are all very happy with the arrangement."
"How in the world do you all fit in one house?"
"Oh well the house is very large and we are only there for the summers. Right now, we have nineteen people. The kitchen table seats 20 people comfortably. We also have a large library, a potions lab, a game room, two small bedrooms for the house elves, two master suites each with a bedroom, bathroom, and living area, two more bedroom suites, each with a bathroom to share, six regular bedrooms and three more bathrooms. Once the kids get a little older they get to sleep in the six bedrooms on the third floor. Right now, they are three to a room I believe and they have four rooms. Younger children sleep on the same floor as the adults in one of the suites. Maddie, Polly, and Molly have one room; Andrew has another and the other suit is our perpetual nursery. Harry and I use one-half; Ron and Hermione use the other. Kids are constantly visiting cousins and grandparents and such throughout the summer, and we always have visitors too."
"Wow, I guess it is a little crowded in the bedrooms."
"No not really, the bedrooms will fit about five each, but three gives room for them to each have a little more private space. They are each about the size of the dorm's at the castle." Ginny was all smiles realizing that they had yet to be able to put down her family.
Changing the subject Pansy gave a fake smile. "So who else teaches at Hogwarts?"
"Neville Longbottom teaches Herbology, Luna Lovegood, now Luna Longbottom proctors Muggle Studies and Susan Bones teaches Astronomy. Well technically she is Susan Weasley now; she married my brother Charlie who took over as game keeper when Hagrid left."
"My goodness, how many Weasleys are there?"
"Total? My parents have…26 grandchildren I believe…with four more on the way. Only 15 go to Hogwarts currently. It will go up to 19 before any begin graduating."
"Well, this conversation was certainly…enlightening. If you will excuse us, we must get our daughter on the train without her getting a bad reputation." Pansy sneered at Ginny, and Ginny sneered right back as they turned away. Ginny was about to begin muttering to herself when Susan walked through with she and Charlie's three kids; Cora age 12, Mark age 10, and Matthew age 7. After her kids began running to say hi to their cousins and Susan settled into a conversation with Ron, Ginny looked back to see a steady stream of Weasleys. Bill came first with Fleur and their two daughters Isabella who was 15 and Andrea who was 13. Ginny could not help but roller her eyes at the only sane grandchildren of Molly and Arthur Weasley. Fleur had taught the two silver hair girls Veela grace and charm and the two were much more well behaved then any of the other Weasleys. Next through the barrier were Fred and Angelina with Meghan age 13 and Joseph age 9. Followed quickly by George and Alicia with Leigh age 12, Katherine age 9, and Zachary age 6.
When Luna walked through with she and Neville's three children Ginny decided to go say hello. The Longbottoms had been vacationing in Italy for the past month and had just gotten home the night before. "Hey Luna, where's Nev.?"
"Diagon Alley. We got back too late to go yesterday." Ginny nodded in understanding as Elisabeth, their 15 year old, ran off to join Ginny's son James.
"Mum, can I go see Sam and Mark?" Inquired Luna's ten-year-old Jeremy.
"Sure, but no getting on the train, we are apparating."
"Okay mum." Jeremy's departure left Luna with only their four-year-old Anthony to monitor so she and Ginny were able to begin discussing the vacation to Italy.
It was five minutes before the train was set to leave when the five members of the Lupin family rushed onto the platform. "Remus!" called Harry. "I was wondering where you were!"
"You know Dora," nodding at his wife, "she ran into someone and all of the luggage toppled." Their fourteen-year-old Anne Marie was already boarding when Harry looked down at Stephen.
"Are you nervous to begin at Hogwarts?" Harry said with a smile.
"A little, but I will hopefully be sorted with Percy and we can stick together."
"Good, come on, I will help you load your luggage. Remus, could you and Dora possibly watch Maddie for a minute while I finish here? I am going to apparate with her once the train leaves."
"Oh sure," Remus said as Maddie scampered over to Remus's youngest Ryan. The two were both five and liked to play together.
"Thanks."
Soon, parents were waving goodbye to their kids and apparating away leaving Luna, Susan, Ron and Harry and their kids who weren't school age. Fred, George, and Remus stuck around, while their wives went home, to help them apparate since they had only four adults and seven children to get to Hogsmeade. Hermione and Ginny decided to take the twins, Polly and Molly on the train to make the apparation journey a little easier on Ron. Ron picked up Andrew and was gone, while Remus took Ron's daughter Sam. Luna took Anthony and left Jeremy to go with Fred. Harry only had Madeline so his choice was easy. Susan took Matthew and left Mark to leave last with his uncle George.
As they reached the castle, all of the professor's children who were not school age were whisked away by their teachers so that the professors could get ready for the opening feast. Before they knew it, they were sitting up at the head table watching the students file in for the sorting. Hermione was out with the first years instructing them on their sorting.
"Bloody Hell, You know mate," whispered Ron, "Hermione has been pregnant so many times during the school year now that she needs new maternity robes. Her regular robes are fine, but her maternity ones are wearing thin. I'm telling you, I already have my Quidditch team, this may be the last go round."
Harry chuckled, "you know, if you two weren't acting like rabbits all the time, maybe you wouldn't be preparing for numbers ten and eleven. You are on your way to having two Quidditch teams."
"You're one to talk, getting ready for seven and eight. I am telling you it's the bloody twins…they just keep coming. Plus, Hermione loves being pregnant. She says that it makes her feel beautiful, which she is regardless. In addition, of course the fact that the bloody contraception charm and potion do not work on us. We are so bloody lucky nothing happened before we got married. We always assumed that the charm worked. Then when the girls came while we were using the charm, we switched to the potion, which lead to Lily. Its craziness, I am telling you it is the bloody twins."
"We think more twins will be somewhat cute."
"your off your rocker…twins? Cute? Maybe when they are really tiny and you can fit one in each arm, Hermione always loved when they were small enough that she could dress them alike. I, of course, hated that because then I never know which is which. The first set was fun which you well know, but the second set and third set…no way…and preparing for a fourth set makes me want to scream." Harry couldn't help but laugh. He knew Ron loved being a father, but soon he was going to be over his head with eleven children. Truth be told, he was over his head at nine children. "We need to get another new set of cradles too. Polly and Molly really gave them a work out and even though they still had enough left in them for Andrew to use, the next two will break them for sure. Hermione turns 34 this month. As a witch, she could keep having kids for another 20 years…or more. Every time we use the charm, hoping against hope that it will work, we end up with twins." Just then, Hermione walked, rather waddled, in with the sorting hat and its stool. She set the sorting hat down and walked back to the line of first years.
"I know I'm very warn and old
I have rips all over me
But, if I can be so bold
my importance, you will see
I read your head, you cannot hide
I put you where you belong
So slip me on and wait to see
Listen to the journey of my song
I'm the Hogwarts sorting hat
Into four you are divided
But stay friends with all and learn a lot
Your fate is not decided
There once were four wizards
Who were so very bright
They wanted to empower all young minds
So they thought with all their might
They all wanted to teach
The next wizards of the land
But, each wanted something different,
Unique like grains of sand
They said we'll start a school
And teach them all we know
We'll divide them by their qualities
And watch their little minds grow
Slytherin is a tight nit group
Of cunning this you'll see
They disregard all the rules
To get where they need to be
Ravenclaw is sure of mind
And has the brains to spare
They look for those whose intelligence is great
And see just how they fare
Brave Gryffindor is a fine house
For those with nerves of steal
Their chivalry is a specialty
Their hearts with which they feel
Hufflepuff is the house
Where loyal friends are made
They'll stick with you through anything
Your friendship will never fade
Three founders lived in harmony
though, one had pulled away
While three wanted to teach anyone
Slytherin said "some should stay at bay"
When the founders had to leave
They set me here instead
To choose where you each belong
Gryffindor took me off his head
So put me on, don't be afraid.
I've never yet been wrong
I'll have a look inside your mind
And say where you belong"
Everyone clapped at the sorting hats new song and Hermione spoke "Let the sorting commence. You must sit down and put the sorting hat on."
"Ackerley, Ryan"
"RAVENCLAW"
"Bletchley, Caroline"
"SLYTHERIN"
"Bole, Kenneth"
"SLYTHERIN"
"Boot, Amy"
"RAVENCLAW"
"Bradley, Anthony
"HUFFLEPUFF"
"Cadwallder, James"
"HUFFLEPUFF"
"Corner, Andrea."
At this name Ron leaned over to Harry, "she looks an awful lot like Lavender…did she marry Michael Corner?"
"Apparently," Harry shrugged. She did look a lot like Lavender; he would have to remember to ask her when she came into his class.
"GRYFFINDOR" Harry began clapping as Andrea because the first Gryffindor of the night.
"Davies, Susan" Harry looked to see the spitting image of Cho Chang walking up to the stool.
"Blimy Harry, I guess Cho ended up with Roger Davies after all." Whispered Ron and Harry nodded.
"RAVENCLAW" Harry drifted in and out until he heard a name that made him look up.
"Lupin, Stephen."
"GRYFFINDOR." Harry clapped enthusiastically and drifted in and out again until he herd another familiar name.
"Potter, Percy." Percy was still somewhat small for 11 and as he put the sorting hat on his head, it fell down to his chin.
"Well," said the sorting hat, "like your father you would be great in Slytherin; however you are very similar to your namesake. The son of a Weasley and a Potter belongs no where else but in GRYFFINDOR!" Harry and Ginny stood and clapped, they did not like to show favorites, but it was there son, so they figured the others would understand. Percy went down to Gryffindor and began receiving hugs from his siblings, cousins, and friends. Penelope Zambini was placed in Slytherin as the last first years to be sorted.
Professor McGonagall got up, "Let's eat." Another year of Hogwarts had begun.
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When Ginny arrived in their rooms that night, she stood in their common room for a long time before going to bed. So much had happened in the last sixteen years, but there was so much more to come. On the walls, Ginny could see the smiling faces of her children, brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews. Over the couch was a huge portrait of the entire Weasley extended family including the Lupins and Longbottoms. They took a picture at each wedding of all of the pregnant girls. Ginny was the only one pregnant for Hermione and Ron's wedding, though by the time Luna and Neville got married the following February, Ginny was 8 months along, Hermione was six months along with twins, Fleur was five months along, Tonks two months along, and Luna herself was three months along. Hermione was seven months pregnant with their third by the time Fred and Angelina got married. The pregnancy picture from George and Alica's wedding included Fleur, seven moths along with their second; Hermione, six months along with numbers four and five, and Angelina who was five months along with their first. Ginny was the only one pregnant at three months along with twins when Charlie and Susan finally got married three years after Hermione and Ron. The mantle held framed pictures of each couple at their wedding, and their invitation. Life had become so good and Ginny just thanked Merlin every day for her fortunate life.
Minister of Magic Arthur Weasley, his wife Molly Weasley
And
Mrs. Petunia Dursley
Cordially invite you
To the marriage of their children
Ginerva Molly Weasley
And
Harry James Potter
On the seventeenth of June
At three o'clock in the afternoon
At the Cottage, Home of Arthur and Molly Weasley
Reception to Follow Please R.S.V.P. by the tenth of June
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Minister of Magic Arthur Weasley, his wife Molly Weasley
And
Mr. Charles Granger and his wife Mrs. Anne Granger
Cordially invite you
To the marriage of their children
Hermione Jane Granger
And
Ronald Bilius Weasley
On the fifteenth of July
At two o'clock in the afternoon
At the Cottage, Home of Arthur and Molly Weasley
Reception to Follow Please R.S.V.P. by the sixth of June
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Agusuta Longbottom
And
Harvey Lovegood
Ask that you make your presence
At the marriage of their children
Luna Emily Cassandra Lovegood
And
Neville Andrew Francis Longbottom
On February the twentieth
At one o'clock in the afternoon
At the Godric's Hollow Home of Harry and Ginerva Potter
Reception to Follow Please R.S.V.P. by February the seventh
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Minister of Magic Arthur Weasley, his wife Molly Weasley
And
Charles and Anabeth Johnson
Request your presence
To the marriage of their children
Angelina Marie Susanna Johnson
And
Frederick Joseph Weasley
On the twelfth of February
At half past five o'clock in the afternoon
At the Cottage, Home of Arthur and Molly Weasley
Reception to Follow Please R.S.V.P. by the first of February
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Minister of Magic Arthur Weasley, his wife Molly Weasley
And
Bradley and Katherine Spinnet
Cordially invite you
To the marriage of their children
Alicia Elisabeth Leigh Spinnet
And
George Zachary Weasley
On the twenty-fourth of January
At noon
At the Cottage, Home of Arthur and Molly Weasley
Reception to Follow Please R.S.V.P. by the fourteenth of January
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Minister of Magic Arthur Weasley and his wife Molly Weasley
Cordially invite you
To the marriage of their children
Susan Amelia Bones
And
Charles Arthur Weasley
On the sixth of July
At three o'clock in the afternoon
At the Cottage, Home of Arthur and Molly Weasley
Reception to Follow Please R.S.V.P. by the twenty-ninth of June
The End