All Grown Up

It's been a very long day. We just got back from Hugo's graduation. He's done with Hogwarts now. Hugo! Our youngest... all grown up now.

It's strange. The last time I wrote in here, I wrote about saying goodbye to him on his first day and now he's finished.

I must say, though, Hugo and Rosie have grown up into a fine witch and wizard.

Two years out of Hogwarts and Rosie has a steady job at St. Mungo's as a Healer (it's what she has always wanted to do) and is in a steady relationship (most unfortunately) with Scorpius Malfoy. But, he treats her well, so who am I to complain? He's actually a very nice young man if I'm being honest.

But it looks like Hermione was right. She knew Rosie had a thing for him.

As of eight months ago, she moved in with him (at the Malfoy's) and as far as I know she's very happy there. She comes to visit all the time and I never see her with anything but a smile on her face. So that's good.

Oh, and she travels when she can with Scorpius – he is on the reserve team for Puddlemere. Rosie only tends to go on the occasion that Scorpius actually is playing. She doesn't even like Quidditch.

As for Hugo... well, I'm very proud of him. He was a prefect since fifth year and was quite well liked amongst the other kids at Hogwarts. He tried out for the Quidditch team every year, but only managed to make it in his fourth year (he was very down on himself about this for a long time, but at least he kept trying – I'm not going to lie, that was Hermione's doing, giving him hope and all).

He started out as a reserve Beater, then became an actual Beater and when James finally left, he made Keeper (my position and the one he always wanted!).

I'm not really sure what Hugo's plans are now that he's finished with school. He's got to wait for his NEWT results before anything, I guess.

He says he wants to become famous for something (I don't think he's overly fussed what that something is). I think, if he puts his mind to it, he can do it if that's what he really wants. He's good at plenty of things, though, according to Hugo, the only thing he's good at is creating spells.

He's got quite a collection on him, actually. Most of them don't do much other than change the colour of his shoelaces or something, but I'm guessing the ones he doesn't tell us about do more than that.

I'm not sure if I want to know what some of his other ones are...

His best subject was always Charms, so I guess if he wants, he can become some spell inventor if a job like that even exists. He's good at it.

I'm just not sure if he sees it as a career path or a hobby. But, either way, it's a pretty cool interest.

Oh, and I know this doesn't really matter, but Hugo is yet to find himself a girlfriend. I'm sure he will one day; I just don't think he's really into girls. I don't think he's into any form of relationships to be honest. Not yet. He's a lot shier than Rose, who – by the time she was about fourteen – would talk to any boy who would pay her the slightest bit of attention.

I know he once liked a girl called Destiny Tippet, but he never once acted on those feelings and I'm not sure if he ever will (if he's still interested in her).

He kind of reminds me of me in that sense. Let's face it, if Hermione hadn't made the first move, I probably never would have done anything about my feelings for her. I was too scared, even though at that stage, I thought she might have liked me too.

There are actually a lot of things about Hugo that remind me of myself – the good and the bad. I've spent eighteen years trying to drill more confidence into him, but I don't think it's had much effect. I don't think being made prefect, being on the Quidditch team, excelling in every Charms test has done much to him, sadly.

That leaves Hermione... well, Hermione's, Hermione. There's not much I have to say about her, but that's a good thing. She's simply Hermione – still as wonderful as ever as far as I'm concerned.

We've been together for so long now (our children are older than we were when we first got together). I'm not going to lie, there are days when I wake up and wonder how I managed to get so lucky. Me... she chose me!

I know I should be over the shock of that by now, but it still amazes me. I'm not sure what amazes me more, though; that I have managed to stay in a relationship for this long (of course, not without trouble here and there) or that she seems happy to stay with me for this long.

I love her and she loves me. I think that's as far as I need to go with this. Nothing else matters... not really.

It's just amazing that we met that day, or that Harry insisted we find her when Quirrell let the troll into the castle. Things could have been completely different otherwise.

I never thought I would be one to fall in love, but it happened and it's about time I admitted it (openly). I'm no good at that kind of stuff. I mean, Hermione knows... everyone knows how I feel (we're married!), but I don't really talk about it.

I tell Hermione I love her and I try to show her, but it just never really goes right. Romance isn't my thing – I'm no good at that. Thankfully, Hermione's learned to accept that and just appreciates that I try (although, she never says that – she's always really nice about it).

I guess that's why our relationship's lasted, right? We love and accept each other for who we are? Well, I do, anyway.

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it before, but Hermione's really high up at the Ministry too (in the Magical Law department). She's practically in charge (no, she is in charge, actually). She's really good at what she does too (I guess it suits her... she likes telling people what to do).

I'm pretty high up in the Auror Department and frankly, being an Auror is still the best job in the world. I couldn't imagine me doing anything else. Harry is pretty much the boss and seeing as we're best mates, in-laws and the likes, we pretty much run it together.

And Hermione's and my department do a lot together (we catch them, she deals with them after that… that kind of thing). It's really good.

You know what? The other day, I was just thinking back to when I was a kid, fighting in the war against Voldemort. I was thinking about how much has changed. When I think about everything we went through at Hogwarts, I'm thankful that Rosie and Hugo made it through seven years with nothing worse than a detention. They didn't have to worry about Voldemort, or Basilisks, or pet rats or anything like that. It makes me happy, because I would never want my kids going through what we did.

They deserve so much better than that.

We've all grown up a lot since then, obviously, but it's not just us. The whole wizarding world has changed.

The Ministry isn't like it used to be when Dad worked there. It's completely changed, for the better. Laws about Muggles have changed (we're still not allowed to do magic or anything like that in front of them, but they're definitely not considered as a 'lower class' anymore. That was Hermione's doing).

The laws on underage magic has changed as well. When I was a teenager, the slightest bit of magic outside of Hogwarts would more than likely get as expelled (except for Harry, because... it was Harry). Now, the laws are less strict. Simple spells (although not allowed) are overlooked by the Ministry.

Even Diagon Alley is different. Only two shops remain exactly the same compared to when I first went there – Ollivander's and Madam Malkim's. Knockturn Alley still exists, but it doesn't hold such a harsh reputation anymore. I still wouldn't go down there at night, but it's a lot less dangerous than it used to be.

And, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes is the most popular shop there. Fred and George really knew what they were doing when they set that up. It's been successful for many, many years.

I'm glad. The Weasley name is no longer associated with the word 'blood-traitor' or the likes. It's great. Rose and Hugo didn't have to deal with much of it (except for those whose parents didn't like to change their ways) at school. I'm just pleased they didn't grow up like me.

Anyway, so basically, everything has turned out well. From an eleven year old boy who was terrified about going to Hogwarts and feeling the pressure of being the second youngest in a family of nine, I have pretty much done better than most of my siblings (no one else got on a chocolate frog card). Okay, so some of that has to do with me making friends with the right people (I mean, if I hadn't met Harry on that train on my first day, then things might have turned out differently) but a lot of it is due to me actually being able to do it. There is only so far someone can go with friends. The rest comes down to ability.

I doubted myself a lot of the time, but I have come to learn that I can actually do a lot of the things I never thought I could do.

It was me who made a lot of these things happen. In the instance of being with Hermione... well I went the long way about that, but we still managed it right? I still made it happen eventually.

And pretty much, everything that has happened, it has happened for a reason, right? It was fate that I met Harry on that train and we became best mates and later brother-in-laws. It's fate that I fell in love with Hermione, because she has made me the happiest in life. And if I hadn't met Hermione, then we wouldn't have Rose and Hugo, meaning we'd be short two wonderful people in the world.

For a long time, I never saw it like that. I saw it as luck (it was luck that I met Harry, or that Hermione just happened to love me back). But it's not.

It was all meant to happen, because... well, none of us would be who we are if it wasn't.

Ta da! Finished. The end. I posted the first chapter of this like 18 months ago, and finished it probably about 8 months ago. It's just taken me so long to finish posting. But I finally have, and it feels like a massive achievement.

I'd just like to take the time to thank all of you who have reviewed this story, but especially:DobbyLovesSocks, LillyMay77, heronlove and Oriondruid, who have each reviewed a HUGE chunk of this fic. I haven't replied most of the time, but I love your reviews. Truly. And, I'll be PMing each of you after I post this, offering you a little something for your time and many, many reviews :)

And thanks to everybody else too.Luna Baudelaire, Melbel, Four Leaf Clove and NerdyAthlete too. You have also been awesome reviewers :)

I hope you enjoyed this fic, and thanks. It was my second fic ever in Harry Potter, so... yeah. Thanks.