Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.

Harry's New Boggart – Chapter 26 – Epilogue

"And Harry Potter has caught the Snitch! The Chudley Canons have won the World Cup for the tenth year in a row!" announced Lee Jordan, the official announcer for the Chudley Canons, while the crowd cheered.

As Harry, clad in an orange Quidditch uniform, flew to his favorite teammate, one of the Chasers, and kissed her rather passionately while they were still on their brooms, the announcer continued.

"As you know, this was the last professional game for both Harry and Ginny Potter. Mr. Potter just turned thirty last month and feels that it's time to move on, and his wife is only one year younger, and has elected to leave the Canons with her husband, and they have both accepted teaching positions at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"I can only guess that the team manager is quite disappointed that his sister and her husband are leaving the team. Mr. Potter has been the Seeker for eleven years, and has never failed to catch the Snitch, while his wife joined the team one year later, and has been one of the best Chasers I've ever seen. Let's hear a round of applause for these incredible Quidditch players!" The crowd went wild with applause as Harry and Ginny's kiss broke apart.

The still-very-much-in-love couple held hands as they flew down to land and continued holding hands as they walked toward the locker rooms. "Well," commented Harry, "if I'm going to quit playing, I'd rather quit with a perfect record instead of waiting until I ruin it. For a minute I thought that young kid was gonna beat me."

Ginny giggled. "That would've made him an instant celebrity. The only Seeker to ever beat Harry Potter while he was conscious."

"Those two times were from our Hogwarts years, and don't count in the official records," he replied defensively. They separated to the different locker rooms, kissing briefly before parting.

After his shower, while Harry was still putting his shirt on, a thirty-year-old man with red hair walked up to him with a smile on his face. "Great game!" The man sighed. "Well mate, it seems you still have a perfect record. Are you sure you want to quit?"

Harry chuckled. "Yes, Ron. I'm sorry, but I feel that now's the time to do it."

"I'm gonna have a hard time finding a Seeker with half your talent. And on top of that, you're taking Ginny with you. We've turned the Chudley Canons into a championship team, and I'm afraid that with both of you gone…"

"Ron, you turned the team around by finally getting some good players and…"

"I know. You gave me that speech last week, and you also pointed out that the longest anyone plays Quidditch is until they're thirty-five." Ron shrugged his shoulders. "That's another five years."

Harry sighed. "I barely caught the Snitch today. I'd rather leave as a champion than a has-been everybody is waiting to drop dead. You retired from playing three years ago when you recruited John. You told me that you needed to make room for better players. That's one of the things that used to be wrong with the team. The old manager kept players past their prime. That's why it was so easy to get his job once the owner knew that you were interested. Besides, with Tonks moving with her family, McGonagall needs a new defense teacher. Not to mention Madam Hooch's decision to finally retire made it perfect for Ginny and I to go together."

"I guess so. I hope that American research center for Lycanth…lychan…werewolves can help Moony."

Harry frowned. "Just the fact that werewolves have a lot more rights over there should help. Did you know he's already gotten a job teaching at that school in Salem? And he doesn't have to keep his condition a secret."

"He's gonna be busy, then," commented Ron.

"He's worked it out. He'll be helping out at the research center two days per week and teaching for three days. The center's happy to have him at all." Harry grinned. "He's as famous as me with the werewolf population. Anyway, I'm dressed now. Let's go to the victory party?" As he got up, Harry asked, "Is Hermione gonna be there?"

"Of course! She wouldn't miss your last victory party. She's just got to help mum get the kids to the Burrow first."

As they walked out the door, five kids that were crowded around Ginny ran toward Harry. It was hard to make out what exactly was said in between the shouts of 'Daddy' and 'Uncle Harry' as several sets of arms went around him.

Harry's oldest was a nine-year-old girl that had red hair, freckles, and green eyes. She was named Lily Molly Potter. He also had a seven-year-old boy with messy raven-colored hair and brown eyes named James Ronald Potter. His youngest was a four-year-old boy with messy red hair and brown eyes names Sirius Remus Potter.

Ginny had managed to make sure she had the babies in the off season so that she didn't have to miss games because of it. Each of them was born in January. The way she'd insured that was simple. She didn't take her potion in April and let whatever would happen, happen. She'd surprised everyone a few months before by announcing that she was pregnant yet again. Harry wasn't comfortable with her playing three to four months pregnant, but couldn't stop her anyway so he avoided the argument. She was allowed protection around her stomach in case of a Bludger hit, but as one of the team's fastest fliers, she rarely got hit. She was just starting to show.

The other two kids belonged to Ron and Hermione, who had married a month after they graduated Hogwarts. They had an eight-year-old that had bushy red hair named Arthur Adam Weasley and a six-year-old girl with very manageable long brown hair named Marissa Ginevra Weasley.

"Congratulations, Harry!" greeted a muggle woman in her late fifties as she embraced her nephew.

"Thanks, Aunt Petunia, and thanks for coming to the game." Harry's kids now started hugging their Aunt Petunia.

She smiled at him. "It was fun, although I must say I'm glad you're retiring from Quidditch. With those dangerous dives, I'm surprised you haven't killed yourself yet."

Harry made no comment on that. He got the same lecture from his aunt at every game she attended, which was two or three per year. "Have you heard anything from Dudley?"

She lowered her eyes. "I haven't seen or heard from him since Vernon's funeral." She sighed. "I wish I hadn't even gone."

"I know what he said, but his heart attack wasn't your fault. Uncle Vernon never took care of himself before the divorce or after."

She took a deep breath and gave a small smile. "I guess you're right. I've got to go. I promised Robert I'd meet him in an hour."

Harry chuckled. "How long have you been dating him anyway? When are you two gonna get married?"

She blushed and simply said, "Bye, Harry. I love you."

"I love you, too, Aunt Petunia. Have fun. Maybe he'll pop the question tonight."

She turned and walked away without answering that comment and the kids started complimenting Harry's performance in the game, until Hermione showed up with Molly and herded them away.

After an enjoyable, yet sad party (knowing that it would be the last one for Harry and Ginny) wherein they all complimented each others' performance and laughed at the Irish team's blunders, the team presented both Harry and Ginny with gifts. Ginny was crying before long.

The next day, Harry walked into the trophy room of Gryffindor Manor to see Ginny staring at the wall. This particular mansion was very close to Hogwarts, and, in fact, was connected by a secret passage that wasn't put on the Marauder's map because it was unplotable, not to mention that the portrait in Hogwarts that guarded the entrance would only open for a member of the Gryffindor family. Harry had introduced Ginny to the portrait when they found the passage while exploring the mansion. They decided to move from Potter Manor when they chose to teach and were just inspecting the house elves' work in setting up the mansion.

Hermione was using Dumbledore Manor (which had a library that made Hermione faint) as headquarters for a society dedicated to working toward equal rights for all sentient magical beings (Society Encouraging Welfare and Equal Rights for Sentients – S.E.W.E.R.S.), which she worked at part time during the school year while she was teaching Transfiguration and full time during the summer. They mainly sent out informative booklets on the way centaurs, werewolves, goblins, and (of course) house elves, among other magical creatures, have been treated by wizards. They also had a section in it about muggleborns and half bloods, which included notable ones (both Harry Potter and Tom Riddle were always in the notable half-bloods list). It also gave Hogwarts statistics about the scholastic success of those three categories of wizards, showing that they're mostly the same, except that purebloods have been slowly falling behind due to intermarriages (like Crabbe's and Goyle's families).

She and the other people she forced (by guilt-tripping) to volunteer (mostly Weasleys except for Harry, Neville, and Luna – even Percy who'd recovered and eventually reconciled with most of the family – he joined S.E.W.E.R.S. in hopes of getting on Ron's good side – he and the twins put up with Percy for their parents' sakes but didn't really like him) had had success in getting some laws passed. Percy had helped a lot with the legalities. It was now illegal to physically harm a house elf (or to order it to do so).

She was still working on getting some type of affirmative-action on hiring werewolves, which she'd already done with half-bloods and muggleborns, but so far hadn't had any success. She'd gotten the famous Boy-Who-Lived, Man-Who-Conquered, Order-of-Merlin-First-Class, Most-Famous-Quidditch-Player-Ever to make a few guest appearances and speeches. The fact that he owned the house that she used for the society's meetings didn't hurt either (nor did the fact that Dumbledore owned it beforehand). She also knew that her and her husband's Orders of Merlin didn't hurt her society's popularity either.

Harry walked past the display of Quidditch cups to see that she was looking at the two Order of Merlin certificates hanging there. Harry's was first class, while Ginny's (along with Ron's and Hermione's) was second class. Harry would have protested but Ginny calmed him down at the award ceremony.

"Has it really been over twelve years?" she asked when she noticed her husband approaching.

"Yeah," he answered with a smile. "Do you remember what we did after the ceremony?"

"The first time we visited here?" He nodded. "Mm Hmm," she replied seductively, causing him to blush.

"Not to mention all the times we snuck into the manor after school started."

She giggled. "I couldn't believe that McGonagall made us – a married couple – sleep separately. I mean you were Head Boy and had your own room…"

"That no female could take one step into without being thrown backwards," Harry finished, laughing.

"With a scarlet 'S' for Slag branded on my forehead. I would've killed McGonagall for not warning me if Hermione hadn't been able to remove it!"

"I thought it stood for Sexy."

"What was really funny is that Hermione didn't warn Ron," she commented, joining Harry in his laughter.

Harry was turning blue. "Instead she invited him into her room."

They both laughed at the recollection of that memory for about ten minutes until Harry declared, "I think the place is ready. We should go tell the kids."

"Okay." Ginny then went to the fireplace and called the Burrow. About a minute after she pulled her head out, the kids started flooing in (Lily held Sirius' hand while James flooed alone).

As soon as they were inside, Sirius ran up to Harry shouting, "Daddy, Daddy! I gots yer choclat frog card! Look!" He was proudly holding it and showing the picture of Harry that was taken over a decade ago.

"They still make that card?" he asked, surprised.

"Of course they do, Harry," replied Ginny. "They still make Dumbledore, don't they? They even still make Merlin."

Despite the fact that there were ten identical bedrooms available for the kids to choose from, they ended up arguing about it until their parents decided to assign one to each kid. None were given the one they'd fought over. Once that was settled, the elves brought the kids' stuff to the appropriate room.

A few days later, Headmistress McGonagall made her speech at the opening feast of Hogwarts, introducing Ginny as the new flying instructor and Quidditch sponsor and Harry as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Ginny got a lot of applause, but nothing compared to Harry's. They had sat down between the Herbology teacher, Neville Longbottom, and the Transfiguration teacher and Head of Gryffindor House, Hermione Weasley. Ginny, who was next to Hermione, began chatting with her once the speech was over while Harry spoke to Neville.

"How have you been, Neville?" he asked. "I haven't seen you for about a year."

"Yeah, when I watched you beat Bulgaria for the cup. I heard Krum retired after that game."

Harry chuckled. "I think I'm the only one that ever beat him."

"But how many years in a row?"

He chuckled but changed the subject. "How's your family?"

"Oh, Luna and the kids are great. I just wish running the Quibbler didn't take her away so much. She makes it a point to spend the whole weekends with us, though. She says that if she didn't some wiltfighops would start to grow in her hair."

Harry laughed with Neville at that statement.

Harry nervously paced in front of his classroom on the first day of classes. He'd always kept up his defense skills, even when he was playing Quidditch, mainly because there were still a lot of left over Death Eaters, not to mention nuts, who wanted to see him dead. He was a bit miffed that his very first class would be seventh years. Tonks had written down what she'd taught them so he knew where in their N.E.W.T. preparation they were, and he had the lesson planned, but he'd hoped to start off with first years. He knew that Tonks was a great teacher, but he had his own ideas of how defense should be taught and was really looking forward to starting his seven-year program with the new students. All too soon, the students filed into the classroom.

He noticed that most of them were staring at him in awe. After the bell rang, he began. "Hello, everyone. My name is Harry Potter, and I'd…Yes Miss?" While he was speaking, a dark-skinned girl from Ravenclaw raised her hand.

"Jackson, sir. Linda Jackson. Is it true that you used a sword to kill you-know-who?"

Harry smiled. "Who?"

"You know, he-who-must-not-be-named."

"Who must not be named, and why?"

She really looked uncomfortable. She whispered, "V-V-Voldemort." Most of the students flinched.

"Voldemort," Harry answered, ignoring the reactions, "is made from the letters of his real name, Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was an evil wizard who was born and eventually died like any other wizard. Fear of a name, or in this case an anagram, only increases fear of the thing itself. If you want me to answer a question about Voldemort, you'll have to say his name loudly and clearly."

"Is it true you killed V-Voldemort with a sword?" the seventeen-year-old girl asked.

"Yes. You see, defense against the dark arts isn't just about memorizing a bunch of spells and throwing them at dark wizards. The whole time you're facing them, you know that there's nothing between you and dying except your own – your own brains and guts or whatever – like you can think straight when you know you're about a second from being murdered, or tortured, or watching your friends die." He had the whole class's undivided attention.

After waiting a few moments, he continued, "I hope none of you has to face that situation, but if you do, you won't have time to prepare then. You use whatever is available. Yes, I'll teach you the right spells, but it's very easy to lose your wand in a fight. I plan on starting a club that teaches physical fitness and unarmed muggle-style fighting. If I get permission from the headmistress, I'll include muggle weapons like swords as well." He took a deep breath. "I knew I'd be facing Voldemort, so I trained in everything I could think of. I even had to use a muggle gun on one Death Eater." When he saw the shocked looks on their faces, he added, "It may surprise you to know that Professor Weasley trained with me, her husband, and my wife in those weapons as well."

Another hand went up. "Did she fight V-V-Voldemort?"

He smiled. "Professor Weasley is the cleverest person I ever knew. She won a battle of the minds with Voldemort. Has anyone ever heard of the Fidelius Charm?" He then explained how Hermione had gotten Tom to reveal the location, but didn't mention Horcruxes, instead calling it a special weapon. The class got him to talk about several battles with Death Eaters for the hour. He felt it was on topic, so it wasn't a wasted hour. He eventually took attendance before dismissing class and assigning an essay on fighting dark wizards.

At lunch, Harry noticed the way most of the students were looking at Hermione and whispering. Harry asked her, "Didn't you ever tell the students about your role in the last war?"

Her cheeks went pink. "No. It's not something I really like to talk about."

"Oh. I didn't realize that. Some of the class asked about the war and I answered their questions."

She then noticed the students who were looking at her. "What did you tell them?" asked Ginny, who was sitting with them.

"That Hermione won a battle of the minds with Voldemort, and participated in several attacks against Death Eaters, and that you can fight with a sword."

Ginny giggled. "I think they're almost as impressed with her as they are with Harry."

The Potters had generously and anonymously donated enough new brooms to the school for flying lessons, so that they wouldn't have to use the ones originally purchased while Dumbledore was a student. Ginny was glad about that. It made accidents much less likely during the class that she was about to teach.

When the nervous first-years lined up in class, Ginny kindly greeted them. "Hello, everyone. My name is Professor Potter, and I'm going to teach you how…Yes?" A little hand had gone up.

"Professor Potter, is it true that you can fight with a sword?"

She smiled. Harry didn't say he'd mentioned that she could fight with a sword. "What's your name?"

"Alice Jordan, ma'am."

"Well, it is true that I can fight with a sword, but I can also ride a broom. That's what this class is about…"

They went through that lesson without any problems. Time went quickly from there. Ginny had the baby – a boy with red hair and freckles they named Brian Albus Potter – in January just like her other children. Ginny gave a lot more flying lessons than Madam Hooch had. She taught kids much more than the basics of flying. Harry's defense lessons, as well as his club that he'd gotten Hermione and Ginny to help him with, were successes, and soon became the lessons the students looked forward to the most. He soon adopted a policy of one Voldemort question per class. Harry and Ginny both were very happy with their new lives of teaching, and were glad that they still could live in their own house, but were dreading something that neither of them would mention to the other. 'What happens when their own kids start attending Hogwarts?'

The end?

Author's note: This has been an enjoyable experience for me, and I hope for you as well. Now if I can only get J.K. Rowling to use this story.

P.S. In my stories, I use Adam and Marissa as Hermione's parents' names. Using the same names in each story is less confusing for me, so after I chose them, I decided to stick with them for all my stories. Her kids are partially named after them.

Brian Albus Potter is named after Dumbledore. I wasn't cruel enough to name an innocent child Albus. Brian is one of Dumbledore's many middle names, so I thought it was appropriate.