Chapter 5: Epilogue

For the next few years, the situation was this. Sid and Cassie were a happily married couple. They were living in a rented flat in Bristol next door to Neville and Luna, who were also happily married. Living in a house not far away were Tony and Michelle. They all counted each other as close friends, and frequently enjoyed meals and other social occasions together. Because of their accidental, but fortuitous shared relationships with each other's partners, the friendship between Sid, Cassie, Neville and Luna was particularly close. Neville and Luna's friends, Ron and Hermione Weasley lived some miles away in Ottery St. Catchpole, but would occasionally come up to Bristol to spend time with the other six.

However, nothing in this ephemeral world lasts for ever. Neville's main ambition in life was always to become the professor of Herbology at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. After he had spent four years as the resident Auror in the Bristol office of the Ministry of Magic, he was advised that Pomona Sprout was due for retirement in about a year. Naturally, he applied for the post as her replacement. Over the four-year period, he had studied the subject thoroughly, and had kept right up to date with current developments. Luna had not been idle either. She continued her studies in Magizoology. She was pleased and relieved to learn that Wrackspurts, Nargles and several of the other creatures she believed in had been recognised by the Ministry biologists as creatures that did actually exist. When Neville moved to Hogwarts, she would be involved in the teaching of the subject of 'Magical Creatures' in addition to her duties as a Liaison Officer with the Ministry of Magic. She was also likely to be called upon now and again to assist the Astronomy department due to her extensive knowledge of that subject.

Naturally, this was to be a sad time for Sid and Cassie. Their two closest friends in the whole world were going to be five hundred miles away. To give Sid and Cassie something to remember, them by, Neville organised for the four of them to go on a month long 'Once in a Lifetime' farewell cruise, which began in Miami and ended in Vancouver, taking in the Caribbean Sea and the West coast of North America, including Alaska. Neville had been thinking about this for some time, but had not done anything about it until his departure for Hogwarts was imminent. This long-awaited holiday was welcome. Also, on the cruise, and quite by coincidence, were Sam and Anthea Stonem, Tony's parents, who were celebrating having got back together again after a long separation.

To ease Cassie's worries about losing her closest friends, Neville assured her that Luna's 'muggle communication' duties would frequently bring her down to Bristol. He would apparate down with her whenever he could, and they would visit Sid and Cassie when they were there.

They were pleased, however, that Neville and Luna's replacements would be Ron and Hermione Weasley. Not only that, but that they would come to live in the flat vacated by Neville and Luna, as it was provided by the Ministry of Magic. This couple's extensive knowledge of the ways of muggles ideally suited them for the posts of Auror and Liaison Officer in Bristol. Another person pleased by this development was Michelle, as she could resume her close friendship with Hermione. Cassie also found that Hermione had the potential to become a very close friend, as she was quite similar to Michelle in a number of ways.

When the couple reached Hogwarts, Neville acted as professor Sprout's assistant for a year before her retirement, while Luna assisted Hagrid, who had been reinstated as professor of 'Magical Creatures'. She was able, not only to instruct her students about the usual creatures, such as Dragons, Unicorns and Thestrals, but was able to use her knowledge of the 'new' magical entities now recognised by the Ministry. Another benefit was the result of her extensive research into dragons in the Far East. She was now the world's expert on different species of dragon.

In Bristol, it took some months for Sid and Cassie to get used to the absence of their closest friends. The arrival of Ron and Hermione in Neville's old flat did, to a certain extent, soften the blow, but they did still miss Neville and Luna. Fortunately, Luna's work with the Ministry did bring her down to Bristol at frequent intervals. On these occasions, she often came with Neville, and they would stay for a meal with Sid and Cassie before apparating back to Hogwarts.

While Ron and Hermione would never be so close as friends to Sid and Cassie as Neville and Luna, they did, over the next couple of years become very close friends to the couple. However, their close association with Tony and Michelle did make for a harmonious group of friends. The occasions when all eight friends, four wizarding people and four muggles, were able to share an evening were memorable. This small network of friendships also proved to be invaluable to the work of the Ministry of Magic's Muggle Liaison Division, because of the informal exchange of information that occurred during their meetings. If anything, these informal meetings were even more useful than the scheduled formal meetings between Luna and Hermione.

Now it appeared that there was some long-term stability in their lives, all four couples began thinking about the next generation. Luna in Scotland was the first to become pregnant and gave birth to a pair of non-identical twins, whom she called Lorcan and Lysander. Cassie was not far behind with her daughter Hermia. Not long afterwards, Michelle had a daughter, Siobhán. Ron and Hermione waited a bit before they had a child. She also gave birth to a daughter and named her Rose.

Due to her wizarding ancestry, Cassie's daughter, Hermia qualified for a magical education at Hogwarts. She joined Lorcan and Lysander, and all three were sorted into Ravenclaw. A couple of years later, Rose Weasley followed the rest of her family members into Gryffindor.