Epilogue.
Harry found himself standing in the main hall of his house, waiting as usual, while Ginny rushed around the place checking to see if they had forgotten anything. This had become part of her routine over the last year, and even though it always made them late nothing he did or said ever made any difference. He closed his eyes, and tried to will the irritation he was feeling away. On opening his eyes again though the hall seemed to have changed subtlety, and he couldn't quite pin down what it was, but before he was able to work out what it was he heard voices coming down the stairs.
"Look Ron there's no need to get uptight, Ginny Weasley is just smarter than you, and she always has been."
"I'm not uptight. I just hate the way she always asks what my marks are, and when she finds out hers are better than mine, off she goes with that superior smirk of hers. That wouldn't be so bad, but on the odd occasion I beat her, the first thing she does is rush back to the teacher querying her mark and mine."
"I don't know why you let her get to you, it's been six years it's about time you let it go. This is our last year at Hogwarts, just enjoy it. She's not going to change." Harry was in shock this wasn't the Ron and Hermione he knew. This Ron had wild black untamed hair, and apart from a number of freckles on his nose and brown eyes could have been him, and this Hermione had the standard Weasley red hair, even if hers went half way down her back. Who were these people and what were they doing in his house?
"Hi dad, mum will be down in a minute or two. You know how she is," the red haired Hermione said to him, as she walked past heading towards the open front door.
"After twenty years of marriage I hope dad does." The black haired Ron added. "You shouldn't let her get to you dad." These were his children he realised with a jolt, when on earth did that happen Harry asked himself, but before he could think any further two more boys started to thunder down the stairs followed at a more sedate pace by a third.
He guessed that they could be a year apart from each other, judging by their slight height difference. The oldest was in the lead, and was an exact replica of him facially, apart from the fact that he wore no glasses. He was carrying a Firebolt, which was looking a little tired and battered.
"Hermione, when are you going to be holding Quidditch tryouts for the team?"
"I've no idea James, and will you stop asking me that. Until I can book the pitch I won't know, and I can't book the pitch until we get to Hogwarts, so shut up."
"Will you let me know as soon as possible? I really want to get the Seeker position now that it's free."
"Quit bugging her," the second boy said. He had bright red messy hair, and Harry couldn't help feeling the poor boy had got a bad mixture of both his and Ginny's hair. "Anyway Seeking is so boring. Being a Chaser is much more fun and challenging."
"You don't know what you're talking about Sirius. We never saw dad fly professionally, there was nothing boring about that, or unchallenging from what I heard, was there Hermione?" James said glancing at Harry as he said this.
"I don't want to see any of that sort of flying on my team, do you understand me. I'm not having mum or worse Gran yelling at me, for your stupidity when you crash, do you understand!" even Harry flinched at this sudden outburst. "Not that mum was much better from what Uncle Ron told me. He said she was completely mental."
"Alright, alright I'll fly within my limits, I promise."
"Right outside you lot and we'll wait for the cars there," Ron said and Harry noticed him adjusting a Head Boy badge on his robes. The youngest lad who had his nose deep in a text book looked up at Harry as he passed, smiled briefly at him, and followed the others out the door, his nose once again back in the book.
Harry had been unable to say anything the whole time as he tried to absorb what he was seeing and hearing, was this really happening, or was magic mucking him about again. Before he could ponder this any further he heard two higher pitch voices, and much lighter footsteps running down the stairs. He couldn't stop himself and drew in a huge breath when he saw the identical twins. If it was possible they looked angelic and wicked all at the same time. Both of them had Ginny's looks, and his mind flashed back to the station platform all those years ago when he first met the Weasley family. Each of them had their mothers red flaming hair, and a bright sunny disposition.
"Hi Daddy, mum promises not too be much longer," one of them said.
"And you're to stop feeling annoyed. We have plenty of time before the train leaves," the other one finished. Their body language and attitude reminded him so much of Ginny it physically hurt.
An unbidden tear trickled out of the corner of Harry's eyes as he looked at both of them. The emotions he was feeling were almost too much to bear and his heart felt as though it was going to burst. Up close he could see that they weren't completely identical, one had Ginny's chocolate brown eyes. The other had green eyes, just like his own. No he thought they were his mother's eyes. He didn't need to be told what their names were, he instinctively knew, Molly and Lily. They could be called nothing else.
"Don't worry Daddy we'll see you again in no time," Lily said, and as Harry bent over to give her a kiss that he seemed to desperately need her green eyes, which were twinkling like Dumbledore's used to, locked onto his and seemed to penetrate to the very depths his soul.
Instead of actual kissing the seventh child of a seventh child, Harry suddenly found himself standing in front of a very worried looking Ginny. Disoriented he looked around and found himself back in the original hall.
"You ok Harry? You were spaced out there for a moment," Ginny asked looking intently at him.
"I'm not sure," he asked shaking his head to clear it. "I think I might have had a vision or prophecy or something. Merlin that was really weird."
"What did you see? Is it trouble?" Ginny looked anxious and Harry couldn't blame her, their experience with this sort of thing hadn't been good. Was it trouble? Harry suspected it was going to be plenty, but not the sort they usually had, and he smiled. The tight tension left Ginny's face when she saw him smile.
"I think I saw a glimpse of our future family."
"You're joking!"
"No… no I don't think I'm."
"Well go on then what did you see."
"Are you sure you want to know, none it may be real."
"What you think I can carry on not knowing what might happen, when you do." Harry couldn't stop the smile appearing when he saw Ginny's cheeks flush in irritation.
"Well since you put it that way. The good news is it looks as if you're only going to be pregnant five times."
"Five times, five times and you call that good news!"
"What else can I tell you," Harry said ignoring her outburst. "Oh yes, I know the names of six of our seven children, and I think I can guess the other one."
"Seven, we're going to have seven children!"
"Yea two sets of twins, or at least I think Ron and Hermione were twins. They were certainly both in the seventh year at Hogwarts. I suppose it's possible they could have been born apart within the same school year."
"Trust me Harry they'd better be twins," Ginny growled trying to get a grip on her shock.
"What were they like?" she asked after a short silence, her curiosity getting the better of her. Harry thought for a minute he had only seen them very briefly, how could he sure what they were really like.
"I guess a good description would be to imagine the current Hermione and Ron and swap them about. Hermione seemed to be the Quidditch Captain, and Ron was Head Boy, and worrying about competing with some Ginny Weasley over grades."
"Was he winning?"
"No, at least not often, but that's hardly surprising if I'm right about this other Ginny's mum."
"Ah, I see your point," Ginny said understanding who Harry must have been talking about.
"Then there's James who wants to be a Seeker, and Sirius who wants to be a Chaser, you should see his hair, oh right you can't. The other boy seemed to be quiet and bookish, but I could be wrong. I only had a quick glimpse at all of them. It's strange they all seemed so real, and I only saw them for just a moment. I miss them already."
The thought caught in his throat that they were gone, and it prevented him from speaking any further. Ginny stretched out her arms, and Harry moved into them, holding her tight easing the unexpected pain away
"What can you tell me about the other twins?" she asked after she sensed he could speak again.
"Molly and Lily, a right pair they remind me so much of you. They were gorgeous."
"They look like trouble then?"
"Yea real trouble, I think we're going to do something stupid, and get Fred and George to be godparents, or something."
"Well perhaps we better not do that."
"You must be joking, where's the fun in that."
"So what did I look like?"
"Vanity, vanity woman, you're all vanity."
"Harry, I need to know."
"Come on we're late, yet again tubby!"
"What did you call me?" Harry opened the door and pushed her through it, without answering. Life was good and it was time to live it. Let the future worry about itself.
The End.