Rowen was already in his dormitory, as his father had dictated for him to do so, when he heard a light tapping on the window. Thankfully, his roommates were still at the dinner he made quite a show out of, so he was alone when he went to let Victoria in. He stepped to the side after he swung the window open, and held his hand out to her. She placed her hand in his, and stepped into the room, putting her foot on the ledge as she slowly entered.

After she jumped down from the window ledge, Rowen took his broom from her and set it on his bed as she wrapped her arms around his body. After putting a soft kiss on her forehead, he moved to his chest, opening it with a flick of his wrist, only to find most of her things neatly packed beside his own.

"You didn't have to send him into two walls." Victoria finally spoke as she sat on one of his roommate's trunks across the room. Rowen didn't respond, though he had glanced over at her before turning back to his chest. When he didn't respond, she continued. "Though it was a bit of a show, I'll admit. I suppose he expected me to accompany him to the hospital wing."

"With how deluded he is, I wouldn't doubt that." Rowen replied as he finished locking his trunk. "And my father tried to explain to me that something like that would never have happened to him, despite how horribly he holds a wand, and his need to protect things that don't belong to him."

"Namely me?" Victoria replied.

"Namely, your love." He responded as he tapped the trunk with his wand and watched as he shrunk to the perfect size to escape with. After lifting the tiny trunk and slipping it into his pocket, he pulled a piece of parchment from one of his roommate's trunk and start to scribble words with a quill he'd found inside the trunk as well.

Love you all. Not sure when we'll be back. Don't wait for us.

Rowe and Riah

"You're just going to leave a note?" Victoria asked and Rowen glanced back at her once more.

"Should I run down to the Great Hall and announce it?" Rowen replied, before he turned back to the parchment, which he folded up and left on his bed. "If we're lucky, Rowena, Evelyn, or my father will beat my roommates here and be the first to find it."

"And if we're not?"

"Something tells me two of the greatest witches and wizards of the age will be clever enough to figure it out." Rowen replied, then after a moment of silence, peered over his shoulder to see an upset Victoria, even in the slightest. He sighed before turned back to her completely and pulled her up into his arms, a gesture she wholeheartedly accepted.

"I'm sorry my love." He whispered in her ear as he put soft kisses around her cheek. "I'm just frustrated. I tried to explain to my father, but he wouldn't pay close enough attention, and then before I could even tell him that we're leaving your father walks in, and I didn't want to leave like this."

"That's the way I have to leave no matter what."

"I know," He replied, still holding her close. He shut his eyes and put a kiss to the top of her head, before he rested his face against her hair. "All will be well, in the end, love."

"Your father was right." Victoria mumbled against his chest.

"He often is."

"He was afraid." Victoria continued as if he hadn't replied at all. "My father was completely afraid of me when I stood up to him. He kept asking me about the wedding, and I just told him my honest opinion. I mentioned my mother, and how he was chosen to be a part of Hogwarts, and he just froze. He stared at me as if he were looking at ghost haunting him."

The room went silent for a moment as she pulled back to look up at Rowen, who peered down at her with caring eyes. "He was glad to be rid of her. He benefited from her death. He never cared at about her at all."

"I know, my love." Rowen whispered as he put a comforting kiss on her forehead. "We'll be rid of him soon enough." He told her before they broke apart. Rowen turned back to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything, while Victoria lifted a hand to call the broom from the bed. Holding the broom securely in hand, she moved towards the open window and mounted the broom. She hovered for a moment before she flew out of the window, then hovered just outside as she waited for Rowen to climb on behind her.

As he filled the space behind her, he wrapped his arms around her small frame and took control of the broom, letting her simply relax against his body. It took only a few moments before they reached the edge of Hogwarts grounds.

"Ready?" Rowen whispered in her ear and she nodded softly in response. He lifted one hand from the broom stick to draw his wand from the inside pocket of his robe, as she did the same. All the time he'd recently spent in the Restricted section of the library had done him well for he'd formulated the perfect combination of spells to use so the two could escape Hogwarts without setting off any alarm.

Victoria casted her spell first, and Rowen waited, watching a small opening was created in the protection charm casted around the entire school grounds. Once it was big enough for the two to leave through, he casted his spell and the opening was frozen long enough for the two to dash through, leaving Hogwarts behind them, both full aware of the damage to the school they were causing.

**

"We still need a name, love." Victoria said softly as she looked down at the baby boy in her arms. Rowen was moving about the room as he picked up blood stained pieces of cloth and finished wiping down the dirty surfaces in the room. They were momentarily alone in the room while the medi-witch had left to inform their family of a safe delivery of a perfect baby boy.

"We'll think of something." Rowen assured as he finally came to his wife's side. He peered down at the boy with a black mop for hair and brilliant blue eyes, resembling his mother. "Don't worry."

"Mr. Potter?" The medi-witch appeared in the door way, and Rowen looked up, responding to the new name he and Victoria had agreed to use three years prior to insure their identities were kept secret. "Is there anything else you should need?"

"No. We won't need your assistance anymore. Thank you." He responded, turning back down to his son and wife. The medi-witch nodded and escaped the room, closing the door behind her.

"We should name him something that'll be carried on through the family." Victoria commented. "Something strong, something brave."

"Something fits a Gryffindor and Slytherin all tied up in one?" Rowen asked and Victoria looked up at him, with playfully narrowed eyes.

"Mr. Potter, I'm afraid I haven't a clue what you're referring to." She told him and Rowen narrowed his eyes back at her, until he kissed her lips, when he let his eyes drift shut.

"Mrs. Potter, I think you have some faint idea."

"Perhaps Gryffindor and Potter, for I am not a Slytherin in any way." Victoria replied.

"You were sorted into Slytherin." Rowen answered, though he was looking down at the sleeping child in his wife's arms. "Perhaps Potters are Slytherins, just without the specific name. You have been known to always get your way."

"We still need a name," Victoria changed the subject when she felt Rowen had proved her wrong, but she didn't want to admit the loss. "Something that will always be carried on."

"Thomas."

"No."

"Alexander."

"No," Victoria sighed, as if the two suggested names had worn her out completely. For a moment, the new parents stared down at the perfect child in silence as each of them thought hard for a perfect name.

"Harold." Rowen finally said, looking to Victoria who stared down at her son.

"Harold Rowen Potter." Victoria said the name aloud with a smile on her face. "Little Harry Potter?" She asked the sleeping child with a widening smile. "Perfect Gryffindor Harry Potter?"

"Or Slytherin." Rowen mumbled earning only a smack from his wife in the stomach.

"Or maybe we'll just let your aunt Evelyn teach you, and we'll get luck and you'll be in Ravenclaw." Victoria suggested with a grin though Rowen rolled his eyes at the idea.

"Don't be ridiculous, love. You can't force intelligence on a person. He'll only be stronger than us, probably combined, but he won't inherit intelligence that neither of us has."

"It's only wishful thinking for what's best for him." Victoria replied, as she started to rock him back and forth in her loving arms. "Gryffindors and Slytherins are forever entwined in the rift we created."

"Not to worry, love." Rowen told her. "He'll be strong enough to protect himself, no matter the house he's in."

"I'm only afraid for him, Rowen. I should hate myself if the rifts we caused affect him. Our difficulties should only be ours. What if it falls upon him as well?"

"That's something out of our control, love, and that was precisely why we took the name of your mother. It's not around anymore, except us, and nobody would suspect it were us, either. We're not Victoria Slytherin and Rowen Gryffindor anymore. We're the Potters."

"Darius Malfoy will never forgive us."

"Since when did we ever require that from the Malfoy?" Rowen replied.

"He knows who we are, Rowen. He has a son, now. Our Harry and his Draco shall be in the same year. Malfoys and Potters will never get along. He's probably teaching the boy that we're against him."

"Stop worrying, love. Malfoy can do what he wants. For the rest of his life he'll be the one who flew into two stone walls for no other reason that his stupidity. I'm afraid his perfect little Draco shall have to accept his inherited idiocy." Rowen replied as he looked down at the boy again.

"We cause so much, Rowen, and for our own love." Victoria told him. "My father left Hogwarts, blamed your father for the Muggle born witches and wizards at the school, and now Slytherins loathe Gryffindors. My family knows who we are and so do the Malfoys. No Malfoy child will ever accept a Potter. And all because we loved each other."

"Victoria," Rowen spoke her full name, and she felt as if it was first time in years that he had done so. "Look down at our son. Our perfect little Harry Potter, and tell me that everything you just said wasn't worth it for this." Rowen challenged, and watched as she silently peered down at the boy, then back up at him.

"Everything was worth it for this, Rowen, but nothing will take back what we've done."

"Then I'm afraid we'll forever have the love that started it all."