If I'm not too careful, I could end up waxing poetic for far longer than this chapter is about this story, how it's probably my favorite one I've written, and how I feel to see it finished and done. This has been a culmination of 5 years' worth of work, and I feel rather sad to see this story, these characterizations, and this alternate universe all get tied up and finished after so long. I have already decided to create separate, short stories circulating around these characters some more, but as for Hermione and Sirius and the rest of the Marauders, I feel that their story has come to a well-deserved end.

Thank you so much for all of your wonderful reviews, your kind words of encouragement that kept me motivated, even when it may have seemed like I had dropped off the face of the earth. Thank you for every time you decided to read this story and let me and my words keep you company. I hope they will continue to do so in the future.

Without further ado:

"Let's go in the garden, you'll find something waiting/ Right there where you left it, lying upside down/ When you finally find it, you'll see how it's faded/ The underside is lighter when you turn it around/ Everything stays right where you left it/ Everything stays, but it still changes/ Ever so slightly, daily and nightly/ In little ways, when everything stays…" – Rebecca Sugar, "Everything Stays"

Harry James Potter awoke on a Thursday morning the summer before his seventh year with a start. He sat straight up and began feeling around his forehead. If anyone had been watching, they would've found this behavior strange. What would've been even stranger was watching him leap from his bed and make a mad dash to the bathroom to check his reflection.

He had green, almond shaped eyes and dark hair that stuck straight up all over his head. His clothes fit him well, and he was well-fed. He had a few scars along his arms from playing quidditch, but nothing more. His forehead was clear.

He ran back into his room to change clothes, throwing on the same pair of jeans he'd worn yesterday. He stuck his wand in his back pocket, which felt like a habit even though he'd never done it before. He dashed down the stairs and nearly ran over his younger sister.

"Watch it, you prat, you almost squished me," she griped sleepily, stifling a yawn before he wrapped her up in his arms and squeezed tightly. "What's up with you? Harry?"

"I'm just happy to see you, Primmy," he grinned, patting her arms. Primrose Potter glared at him. She had hazel eyes and dark hair that was better tamed than his hair. She had their mum's face though, and often sounded just like her. "Where's Mum and Dad?"

"Grocery shopping," she answered as she passed him on the stairs, "We're out of cereal. If you cook, wake me back up."

Harry, instead, stepped outside and started running down Godric's Hollow, nodding to a few neighbors he'd grown up by. He paused at the gate to the cemetery before soldiering on, pounding on a door until it opened before him.

"Sirius," Harry said in awe, as the man blinked blearily at Harry. He had some scruff around his jaw, and his hair hadn't been brushed nor had it gotten a large chop, but he looked healthier than how Harry was picturing just before he opened the door.

"Hey mate, bit early for the summer to go knocking on doors," he joked, even as he opened the door wider for him to enter. When Harry just stood there, he paused. "Harry? Kid, you okay?"

"Is...is Hermione here?" He hesitated. He wasn't too sure how things were adding up. It was very disorienting, to have two versions of yourself suddenly wake up in one body.

Sirius regarded him closely for a minute or two before he gently tugged him in. "Have a seat, I'll make some tea. Hermione's at Moony's shop, he had a big shipment come in over night, and you know how she loves sorting those books."

Harry stepped inside. He remembered dimly that they'd moved down the street once Hermione was pregnant. His parents were the baby's godparents.

Harry sat at the kitchen table as Sirius whistled to himself and got the tea going. It smelled like cinnamon and Christmas. Sirius took a seat beside him and smiled warmly at Harry.

"I'm guessing you woke up different today," Sirius acknowledged. Harry nodded. "It's alright. All of us already know the main bits, it's the little details that we're in the dark about."

"You...you were dead," Harry said, and he was surprised as to how choked up he was when Sirius was very clearly right there.

Sirius seemed unbothered though, smiling instead. "Heard that. I'm all good though."

"Where's…?" He looked around the house. They had two kids. What were their names?

"Henry moved out about, ohh, two years ago?" Sirius scratched his scruff under his chin. "Norma is at a sleepover at the Malfoys, she's wanting to help Narcissa with some charity ball that's tonight."

Harry blinked. He didn't remember a Henry from...before. Henry was adopted, he remembered clearly. "What would've...I know Norma wouldn't have been born, but...Henry?"

Sirius's smile stiffened. He shared a look with Harry. "I don't like thinking about that one too much. Neither does Hermione."

Harry nodded. He'd heard the story about Henry's real family a few times before. It always got worse the more he heard it. New details added in or some careful lying finally slipping away. Henry was about seven or so years older than Harry, and they always had a brotherly relationship. He didn't want to imagine a life without Henry either.

"What happened to Hermione when she stayed?" He asked.

Sirius smiled again. "Had a bit of a thing where she periodically loses her senses, but she hasn't had an episode for quite some time now. I adopted Henry, and then we started dating. We got married after we had Norma for a few years. She helps out at Moony's mostly, and does some boring Ministry stuff when it's something she cares about."

"Her parents?" Harry asked.

Here, Sirius gave a big sigh and scrubbed his face. "Dunno. I've rode my bike around where she said she grew up hundreds of times. Can't find any sign they ever existed, at least not in Britain."

Harry pursed his lips. He didn't think it was fair that he got his parents back, and a little sister and all the love he never had from before, only for Hermione to get nothing.

"My family adores her now, though," Sirius admitted with a roll of his eyes. "Think my mum prefers her most days, I definitely know Reggie does, he says so every time he visits. And the Potters, of course, treat her like their own."

"Wait, wait, back up," Harry pinched the bridge of his nose. There was a big thing that had suddenly clicked. "You and Hermione. You and Hermione. How did that…? There was, like, a twenty year age difference!"

"If she'd gone back, there would've been," Sirius pointed out as he stood to get the tea kettle, pouring two mugs and setting one down in front of Harry before he retook his seat. "She was my age when she popped here, you know. We'd gotten close, I was madly in love with her months before her departure date, and something happened and she got to stay."

Harry mulled this over, blinking when he realized that he shouldn't be surprised that Sirius knew how he liked his tea, when the back door knocked again. Sirius stood to answer it, and Harry leaned to see the visitor.

It was a short, pale girl with almost silvery blond hair and eyes bigger than the moon. Harry felt his face flush when he realized that, in the Before, he had been dating this girl.

"Oh, you must be Luna, right?" Sirius asked, and she blinked before nodding. "Come on in, Hermione'll be home in a bit. Would you like tea?"

"Yes please, Sirius," she answered. She stepped inside and laid her eyes on Harry, and he swore she got paler. He wondered what she was thinking.

"You're in Norma's year, right?" Sirius asked as he got out another mug. "With Primrose and Ginny?"

"Yes," Luna answered as she took a seat, trying to avoid eye contact with Harry. "Norma is my Herbology partner."

"Ahh, then we thank you for helping her pass," he said jovially, getting a grin out of her as he passed her a mug. "The girl may have inherited my lackluster educational skills."

"Oh she's smart as a whip, just never puts it to use for books," Luna said before shrugging, "Can't say I blame her, books aren't the only measure of wisdom."

"Don't let Hermione hear you say that," Sirius beamed before taking in their avoidance of acknowledging each other's existence. "Ah. Do I need to leave you two alone for a bit?"

"Not yet," Harry grimaced as Luna clenched her jaw. That was one awkward conversation he wasn't sure he wanted to have any time soon.

The Floo roared to life soon after, and a sigh of relief as someone wandered to the kitchen.

"We've got everything sorted, managed inventory, and already tagged everything for resale," Hermione announced, smiling happily as she leaned down to press a kiss to Sirius's cheek. Her hair had been cut to shoulder length, and her curls seemed to have been tamed to some degree. There were faint laugh lines along her face, but when she looked between Harry and Luna it seemed as if her eyes had never changed at all.

Harry was out of his seat and hugging her in an instant, taller than her and holding her close, vaguely aware that Luna had joined them. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine her nineteen and squeezing him back.

"I'll be close," Sirius whispered as he left the kitchen, leaving the three to hug it out for a bit.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione," Harry murmured, feeling tears roll down his cheeks.

"What on earth could you be sorry for, Harry?" She asked, pulling away just a bit to rub the tears away before doing the same for Luna.

"You gave up everything," Luna answered. Her eyes were welling up again. "You saved my mum."

"My whole family," Harry agreed. "But you didn't get anything in return."

Harry knew he was in trouble when he saw her shoulders square back and she arched a brow. When she put her hands on her hips, he knew he was a goner.

"Just because I lost what I knew, and my family and all of the friends I had made, does not mean I lead a miserable existence, you two," she pointed out, not unkindly but intending to leave no doubt in their minds. "If I had gone back, I would've been leaving behind all the friends I had made here. I wouldn't have allowed myself to love Sirius, and I would've missed out on raising two amazing kids and you rugrats. I doubt you and Draco would be as close as you are if not for me, which I cannot wait until you see how amusing that's been for me, and I'm not too sure if you would interact with the Weasleys at all if not for my intervention."

"Don't you miss everything?" Luna asked.

Hermione softened. "Of course I do. But I would miss my life here just as much, possibly if not more. I've lead a good life. I'm happy, and safe, and very, very loved."

"Yeah, about that," Harry sniffed before insisting, "You and Sirius?"

"That is my husband and your godfather, young man," she insisted, lips twitching when she heard Sirius snort from the doorway.

"Now you've done it," Sirius told Harry before kissing his wife's temple. She reached up and rubbed the stubble on his chin, which he leaned into with a soft smile.

"Oh, I believe I know why you had to stay," Luna spoke up. They all turned to look at her as she rubbed a knuckle against her temple, as if she was trying to get the gears turning again. Harry understood the feeling. "I don't believe you would've been able to come back at all."

"Why not?" Hermione blinked. It had been a question she'd been wondering for over a decade.

Luna motioned between Hermione and Sirius, "If you believe in destiny at all, you two were meant to find each other. Explains why there's no trace of another, younger Hermione. She'd be in Harry's year, and we would've noticed."

"And if we don't believe in destiny?" Hermione muttered dully as Sirius chuckled, wrapping an arm around her waist.

She shrugged, "You had gotten close with everyone by staying here. Going back to us would have messed things up with their timelines even more than originally planned. The universe changed to allow you into this time, like adding a wick to liquid wax. Once the wax hardens, you can't remove the wick without severe damage. The wick, ergo you, needed to stay put."

Hermione wrinkled her nose but nodded. Harry grinned when he recognized that she'd been given an answer to something, but she would still obsess over it. Sirius seemed to take it just fine, and pulled Hermione closer to him.

It was a long process getting to a decent normal. The rest of his friends were informed of how he was going to be different now, and Draco and Ron took immense pleasure in bothering the piss out of him about the future.

"It's not the future," Harry insisted just a week before Hogwarts started, doing all the homework he hadn't done over the summer. "It's - it's the past."

"It's close enough," Draco insisted, lounging on Harry's bed and charming his Gryffindor banner Slytherin green. Harry glared at him for it. Draco had been done with his summer homework for months, but hadn't offered to help at all. "It's closer to the future than being the past, isn't it?"

"Who wins the World Cup?" Ron questioned.

"I know who won the one in fourth year," Harry answered as he scribbled out an answer to his Potions homework. He waved the parchment to Draco to have him look over it, which he did with a sigh. As Potions partners, he needed to look after Harry's answers. As the son of the professor, he needed to keep his partner in check. Lucius was a strict grader, and Draco didn't want to tutor Harry all year again. "Ireland, but Krum caught the snitch."

"What's a Krum?" Ron questioned dubiously, sprawled in the midst of his abandoned homework all over the floor.

"Bulgaria Seeker, Viktor Krum," Harry answered as he checked his Transfiguration notes. "Hermione went to the Yule Ball with him." It was odd, thinking of Hermione with anyone but Sirius now. He still hadn't brought up that she and Ron had dated, and he doubted he ever would. That was just plain weird.

"Bulgaria didn't play our fourth year," Ron scratched his nose with a pen. He got ink smudged on it. "Zimbabwe did."

"I know that," Harry sighed, "In my old...the other...it used to be Bulgaria, alright?"

"Speaking of dates," Draco remarked with a smug little grin, "I've got several pieces of information I figured either of you might like to know."

"If you say my sister and Harry's sister are dating again, I will pummel you," Ron sighed. "Can't go around corners without catching them snogging each other's faces off, honestly."

Harry gave an agreeing sound as he checked off something on his parchment. Primrose and Ginny had been dating for what felt like ages. Hadn't even bothered dating boys, it was like they'd been in love since they knew what love was.

"I've got bits on the Black siblings," Draco remarked.

"Oh, I'm pummeling you," Ron groaned as Draco snickered. "I'm well aware Charlie is dating Henry. They came to Sunday dinner. That's old news."

"What about Norma's crush?" Draco smirked. "Is that old news?"

Ron and Harry blinked at each other. Norma was tight lipped about most of her emotions, and mostly hung around with Primrose and Ginny since they were all in the same class. Harry didn't really talk to her much, mostly because she tended to open up around Primrose more than she did him. Draco, however, was her cousin, and quite possibly her closest friend.

"She'd murder you if she swore you to secrecy," Harry observed, homework abandoned for the time being.

"She didn't," Draco answered. "She just didn't know I could hear her when she was talking to my mum the other night."

"Oh, so she'll murder all of us," Ron scoffed, "Harry, it was nice knowing you."

"Likewise, Ron, you were a great friend."

"Oh, please, like I would willingly throw Norma under the bus for my own amusement," Draco glared. "I'm not evil." Harry bit the inside of his cheek. Hermione was right. Everything comparing the new Draco to the old one was amusing now. "I actually want her to date this one."

"It's Neville, innit?" Ron asked, rubbing the side of his nose and getting the ink everywhere. Neither Harry nor Draco mentioned it to him.

"What? How did you know?" Draco frowned.

Ron shrugged, "You've mentioned the only decent blokes in all of Hogwarts for Norma to date are Neville and the Fat Friar. Doubt she's got a crush on the Friar."

Harry chuckled, rolling his eyes as he turned completely to his friends. How weird that he could almost see Hermione, younger and her old bossy self, striding through and berating him on his homework. He almost missed having her in such a way.

"Well - I don't see Neville plucking up any sort of courage to ask her out, or Norma mentioning it at all," Draco said with a resolute nod.

"Neville's going to be doing that Herbology internship correspondence throughout the year, mate," Harry pointed out. "For his certification or something, he said. He won't have time to even think about breathing near a girl."

"What are you lot talking about?" James Potter asked as he rounded the corner to the doorway, amused as hell as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"How I'm an excellent matchmaker but people have to go and bugger it all up," Draco grumbled.

"Draco wants to set his cousin up with the only bloke he's approved for her, and he thinks because the bloke is busy that it's going to be his only setback," Ron answered.

"Right, lemme know how that one goes," James barked a laugh before quirking his head at his son. "Got a minute? Wanna see you in the kitchen."

Harry nodded, following his dad downstairs and sitting at the dining table, where Remus, Sirius, Hermione and his mum were chatting amicably. There was an owl perched on the back of a chair, and Harry blinked at it before a smoothed envelope was placed before him. After a brief hesitation, he opened it up to find a letter and a shiny Head Boy badge.

"Oh, I'm so proud of you, Harry!" Lily exclaimed, James ruffling up his hair as he grinned.

"You alright?" Remus questioned when Harry wasn't really responding.

"It's just…" he huffed a bit, looking to Hermione and shrugging. "It's nice, and great, and all, but…it's not the biggest thing in my life, you know?"

Hermione nodded, setting her chin in her hand, "This time last time, we were going on the run. Bill and Fleur's wedding, remember?"

He nodded, rubbing his thumb across the smooth enamel of the badge. A hand reached out to take his own.

"Just because it's not the biggest moment of your life, doesn't mean you can't celebrate it," Sirius insisted, everyone else agreeing with him. At Harry's small smile, he finally cracked a grin. "If you really don't want it, I'll take it! McGonagall herself would ban me from the castle."

"It's mine, get your own," Harry laughed good-naturedly.

Harry became the Head Boy and Quidditch Captain all in his seventh year. He got decent enough grades, O's in Defense, Transfiguration and surprisingly Potions, and E's most everywhere else. His biggest accomplishment, however, was probably becoming Luna Lovegood's proper boyfriend, if you asked him. Hermione had seemed so pleased that they were together, even if she hadn't said anything to prod them closer to each other. He knew he still loved Ginny, both from the Before (as both he and Luna had taken to calling it) as well as currently, but he was well aware that he saw her better happy, healthy and with his little sister, and he loved Luna madly to the point it was almost sickening.

He got signed on to the Puddlemere United after graduation, with his former Gryffindor captain Oliver Wood giving him a sparkling recommendation, and he proposed to Luna a year after she'd graduated herself.

"Hermione," Harry said, standing in her kitchen as she hummed and washed her mugs by hand. He was the same age as he had been when they'd all put their heads together and started hopping through time, to the exact day to be in fact.

Hermione lifted her head to look at him, a smile quirking up the ends of her lips. Her hair was up and out of her way, although tendrils escaped to caress her cheek and jaw and the nape of her neck. She dried her hands off on a dish towel. "Yes, Harry?"

"What's it like?" He asked, and she blinked at him. "What's it like growing up and knowing you never have to worry about anything, not really, not like you used to, ever again?"

She smiled and moved to cup his cheeks, smoothing down with the pads of her thumbs from the soft part of his skin to the stubbly parts. She'd held him the day he was born, her very best friend, and here he was standing in her kitchen very nearly a fully grown man.

"It's like this, Harry," she murmured with that soft smile. "It feels just like this."

He rest his forehead against hers, and wondered if she could tell how grateful he was to her, how much he loved and cared about her. He wondered if she knew how much he really missed her, even when she was standing right beside him. He sometimes thought she felt the same, but that she'd had more practice at not growing up together like they had Before.

"Come on," she insisted, parting and patting his shoulders. "We'll be late to Sirius's birthday party."

He nodded, grabbing the cake and opening her own backdoor for her and following her out across Godric's Hollow, back to his parents' house where James, Lily and Remus had spent all day trying to get it perfect. Henry had picked out the perfect present, and Norma had insisted that Henry was a big fat liar and that she'd picked out the best present in the history of presents. Sirius had thrown his head back and laughed, practically beaming when Hermione had leaned over to kiss him soundly only to loudly proclaim to her children that she'd won.

Harry watched on as Hermione smiled and laughed and stayed by Sirius's side, and he could practically feel the happiness and love radiating from her every pore. He knew Sirius was mostly to blame for that, although he wouldn't discredit all of the rest of her friends as they congratulated her husband and wished her luck in putting up with him for another year.

"Thinking hard, I see," Luna said as she sidled up next to him, tucked into a corner of the backyard as he watched everyone.

"Yeah," he agreed as Luna settled into people watching with him. "I'm glad she's this happy."

Luna smiled back up at him, squeezing his hand. "Me too, Harry."

Harry grinned, looking up and catching Hermione's gaze and smile upon him.

All was well.