The Witness and the Wife-Epilogue

By Marmalade Fever, your orange-loving author!

Things did not go quite as smoothly as all had hoped. No sooner had they finally breathed a sigh of relief, than Draco was sent to trial. The Golden Trio all took turns testifying, even Ron, much to his chagrin, and Draco was eventually let off on probation. Lucius Malfoy was sentenced to the Dementor's kiss, but Hermione managed to pull some strings and allow him to meet his granddaughter first. Lucius, for his own reasons, had had a very hard time believing that his son was even alive, nevertheless a father. The meeting between the eldest and youngest Malfoy was crude, and Lucius spent most of it squinting at the baby, remarking that she didn't look a thing like "that bushy-haired mudblood."

Severus Snape was sentenced to ten years in Azkaban, despite evidence that he had been working for the Order as a spy. He and Fidget spent his last days of freedom together, though it was hard to say whether he enjoyed it or not. (It was hard to say if he enjoyed anything, really.)

Draco and Hermione were married exactly a year after their first meeting at the bar. It was a hot July day, and Fidget attended, feeling only slightly confused that her married friends were only now getting married.

During the bouquet toss, Ron had the unhappy fortune of catching the bouquet. His spirits were lifted slightly when the attention of every available female, Ginny excluded, landed on him. Ginny herself latched her arm firmly onto Harry's. They were engaged within the hour.

It was a short while after the wedding, when, sitting in the kitchen together at the Manor (they had decided to leave their obnoxiously cute home) Draco and Hermione received an owl. Madelyn burst into instant tears at the sight of the bird, and Hermione did her best to console her little daughter as her husband picked the letter from the owl's leg.

"It's from Hogwarts," he announced, confusion written clearly across his face. "McGonagall's reopened the school."

Hermione stood, and rushed over to read as well. "What the…" she muttered, as she yanked the letter right out of her hands.

"What?" Draco asked, running a hand through his hair.

"She's inviting us back for our seventh year. And…" Hermione clapped a hand to her mouth. "I'm Head Girl!" she cried aloud, doing a little dance.

Draco didn't look nearly as surprised. "Of course you are," he said. "Your initials were H.G., after all. H for Head, G for Girl…"

Hermione's elation deflated as she cast a glance at Madelyn. Surely McGonagall had heard about her. She skimmed further down the letter and breathed a sigh of relief. "She says they're willing to give us a joint apartment, and day care service (poor little elves…) for Madelyn." This news perked her up quite a bit. "I guess this means we'll be seeing everyone again."

Draco nodded. It also meant facing a lot of his old friends (and non-friends) who had only heard about their wedding via the Daily Prophet. He sighed. School wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind for his first year of marriage. "Who's Head Boy?" he asked, going over to pick up Madelyn, who had started to whine again.

Hermione shushed him as she continued to read the letter with fervor. She sighed, grinning happily. "Harry," she answered.

Draco didn't even try to hide his disapproval. "Yuck. Classes, homework, diaper changing, and Potter's the Head Boy?" He looked down at Madelyn. "Not fun." The little girl just cooed, her now-brown eyes beaming up at him.

Hermione frowned. "It won't be all bad. You've been made Quidditch captain."

He just groaned. "I'm not going to get any sleep at all this year, am I?" He planted a kiss on Madelyn's petite blonde curls. He sighed. "Aw well. I'll have my girls in any case, and being married to the Head Girl's got to come with its perks."

Hermione looked affronted. "If you think for one moment, Draco Malfoy, that I'm going to relax the rules and let you do Merlin knows what…"

"What? You think I want to set off dung bombs?" he asked.

"Well, no, I suppose not, but…"

Draco just smiled. "I'll have the prettiest girl in school all to myself… her mother, too," he added. Hermione gaped at him for a moment before he kissed her. "And as it happens, she's the second prettiest girl in the school."

Hermione smirked. "Well, if I had to be second, I'm glad Madelyn's the one who beat me."

He smiled thoughtfully. "Remind me to break up with Pansy when we get back to school, will you?"

They lived, well, happily ever after, of course, although Draco did sport a rather nice black eye for several weeks directly after this point in our story.

The End

A.N.: Okay, not the best epilogue, but if you're familiar with my other epilogues, then you really shouldn't be all that surprised. No, no sequel. It took me a year to write this, and I'd rather not dedicate that much of my time to something that I have no interest in writing. (Sorry loves.) Well, I'd very much appreciate it if everyone who reads this sends in a review. (Puppy dog eyes.) Well, it's been fun. TTFN, and thank you all.