A/N: Hey, everyone. This has been a long, wild ride to say the least. It's been one of my favorite stories to write, and I thank everyone who stuck with it and left me reviews. You guys are awesome! I'm going to miss writing this story, though I am excited to get cracking on the Jacob/Mione. I'm still deciding if I want to write it so he imprints on her or not. I've got ideas both ways...
Anywho... enjoy the epilogue. And thanks again for reading. If you want to leave me a final review, I'd love you for it!
"Connor, maybe we should go back," the shorter of the two boys muttered nervously, scrambling over a fallen log. "We're not supposed to be in here."
"Shh..." Connor shot back, holding his lit wand aloft. "Alyssa Weasley told me there are a whole herd of centaurs in here. I want to see."
"Alyssa Weasley comes from a whole line of troublemakers," the first boy mumbled. "I'm going back."
"I hear something," he hissed, standing in the middle of a small clearing. The first boy froze in terror five feet away from him, eyes glancing in all directions.
Suddenly something white flashed by them. Then another. Then a third. They heard the white blurs making a wide turnaround in the woods, and crashing through the brush back towards the clearing.
"What do we have here, Jasper?" the first one, a large, muscular man the color of marble smirked, moving slowly forward, looking menacing.
"A couple of snacks," the second, a blonde entered the clearing and a feeling of fear washed over them. "Don't you think, Edward?"
A third marble-white man entered the clearing, sniffing the air dramatically. "They sure smell delicious."
"Vampires," Connor whispered shakily.
"I told you we should have stayed at the castle," the first boy whimpered, eying Emmett.
"Hogwarts students!" Edward hissed excitedly. "Don't you just love it when they don't listen to the warning to stay out of the Forbidden Forest?"
"It makes it so easy for us, doesn't it?" Jasper hissed, advancing on the boys, causing the shorter one to howl in terror.
A fourth blur suddenly came into the clearing, stopping short next to Edward. "Play nice, boys," the female vampire muttered, placing a restraining hand on his arm. "You should get back to the castle. And remember there are far more dangerous things than a herd of centaurs in here."
The boys scurried back towards the castle. As soon as the sounds of their rushing feet died out Emmett let out a booming laugh.
"That never gets old!" he chuckled.
"I shouldn't let you do that," Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Oh, come on. It's just a bit of fun."
"Besides, it's not going to work after next year, Professor," Jasper added with a smile.
"Just because she's teaching doesn't mean we can't have our fun," Edward chuckled. "There will always be students who think they don't have to follow the rules."
"You're her husband," Emmett pointed out. "You're willing to defy a direct order?"
"I'm my own man!" he stood up straight. "I don't take orders from anyone."
"And I don't sleep with men who go terrorizing schoolchildren," she shot back, looking playfully annoyed.
"They're not sleeping with you," he retorted. "I can live vicariously through them."
"And I can recruit Alice and Rosalie to my cause."
"You wouldn't!" Emmett looked horrified.
"Don't give me reason to."
"Ouch. Hey, Jasper, we need to go do that thing for that guy, and let the lovebirds get back to their nest."
"Yeah, we do," Jasper replied quickly, and without any explanation the two rushed off into the woods.
"Care to enlighten me?" she turned to Edward.
"Nope," he replied, reaching for her hand and leading her towards their house.
"You guys have been acting weird for a week. There's something going on, and it's starting to get on my nerves."
"Luckily for us you're too nice to use your magic against us."
"I'm thinking about it," she muttered.
He sighed and pulled her to him for a passionate kiss. "You'll enjoy our little secret. I promise. And you'll find out in fifteen minutes."
"Damn you. You have to be all sexy and everything, don't you?"
"The best defense is a good offense. If I'm irresistibly sexy you aren't going to want to hurt me."
"I don't want to hurt you," she playfully punched him.
"Your fist connecting with my arm would tell me otherwise."
She giggled. "We should probably get back. We shouldn't have pawned babysitting duties off on Rosalie."
"Are you kidding me? She's probably loving it."
Hermione rolled her eyes and ran towards the large house. Edward took off after her, catching up and easily outstripping her. He didn't slow down to run with her, he instead put on another burst of speed and was quickly out of her sight. By the time she made it to the house he was sitting at the piano, fingers playing a tune while Rosalie sat next to him, clutching a small red-headed baby who was mostly asleep.
"Took you long enough," Edward whispered.
"Shhh..." Rosalie hissed. "We don't want to wake him up."
"Sorry," Hermione mouthed, going to get a pacifier for the baby who had let out a small fuss.
With the pacifier stuck in the baby's mouth Hermione went to go sit next to Carlisle, who was poring over an article she had found about crossing over Muggle and magical medicine.
"She looks so happy," she muttered, gazing at Rosalie.
"She's always wanted a baby," Carlisle muttered back, folding the article. "We've just never been stable enough for her to adopt or anything. It would be very difficult to ask a child to live our life."
"We've been here almost a hundred and sixty years," Hermione pointed out. "I think most people would consider that stable."
"I would still think it might be difficult for a child to grow up around a group of vampires. There would come a time that they would naturally want to become one of our number. And we'd be forced to make the choice. Watch them grow up, get old, and eventually say goodbye while we continue to live, or make them into something we'd never choose to become ourselves."
She nodded.
"Besides, the way your friends continue to reproduce Rosalie has a never-ending stream of children to be a very attentive aunt to."
She chuckled with him as the doorbell rang. Alice nearly fell over herself as she ran to go answer it.
"Hi, everyone," Melinda Weasley-Malfoy, great-great-granddaughter of Ron and Luna walked into the room. "Sorry I'm late, Aunt Rosalie. I got caught up at work."
"That's fine by me," Rosalie beamed, giving light kisses to the baby. "Take all the time you need. If you ever need to leave him overnight..."
"Maybe I should just give him to you," Melinda laughed.
Rosalie gave a half-hearted laugh as she handed the baby back to his mother.
"Sorry to grab and run, but I have to get dinner on the table, and I'm sure you're going to be busy as well," she said, grabbing the baby's diaper bag and heading towards the front door.
"She knows, too?" Hermione said in irritation. "Why am I the last to..."
"Hello, Professor," came a voice from behind her.
She stood with a start and turned around. There stood a man whose salt-and-pepper hair was the only indicator of his age. His pale face had few wrinkles, he stood straight and tall, robes impeccable, hair parted so only part of his legendary scar was visible.
"Harry!" she said, launching herself over the couch and embracing him tightly. "It's been too long."
"Fifteen years," he said into her hair before pulling back to look at her. "But who's counting?"
"You look wonderful," she said, smiling widely.
"As do you. Every time I look at you I try to find that one thing, one tiny little thing, that tells me you're older than me. And every time I fail miserably."
"You're starting to sound like Dumbledore," she chuckled.
"Harry," Edward appeared next to her. "How have you been?"
"Good, Edward. Time has been good to me," he reached over to shake his hand.
"I've heard there was a big event in your life this year."
"Please. I've officially had the longest-running term as Minister of Magic. That only reminds me of my age."
Edward chuckled. "Tell me about it."
"Unfortunately for the rest of us we can't all look eighteen when we're pushing two hundred and fifty."
"Two hundred and sixty, if you want to count the eighteen years it got to be this ruggedly handsome."
"And he's had all that time to stroke his own ego," Hermione shot Edward a look before taking Harry's hand. "Come sit down."
"Thank you. You know, I really am starting to think my age is catching up with me," Harry smiled as he sank into an oversized armchair.
"It was bound to happen eventually, half-vampire or no," she smiled, sitting across from him.
"Would you like something to eat?" Esme asked, standing in the door to her kitchen.
"You know I would never turn you down," he smiled and gave her a quick wink.
"Give me a couple minutes," she smiled as she turned and made for her stove.
"And you would never turn us down, right?" Emmett's voice came from the door to the clearing.
"What do you come bearing?" Harry looked at him.
"A big, frothy mug of Acromantula blood," he said, hoisting up several glasses.
"A favorite in the household," he accepted his with a nod. "By the way, I have several of the school governors complaining to me about a rather large vampire, occasionally with friends, terrorizing students by the Forbidden Forest."
"In the Forbidden Forest," he corrected. "We're just helping with the upholding the rules at the school. We haven't hurt a single one."
"I told them so and to sod off. If the students didn't wander into the forest their chances of meeting a vampire would be dramatically reduced. Though, starting next year, that is pretty far from the truth. I have to say, Hermione, you're the most controversial Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher since Umbridge."
She chuckled. "Honestly, you'd think that after a century and a half working in the Ministry of Magic would make them think that I'm not some wild vampire out to kill their children."
"Unfortunately for you, you will always be a vampire, and that comes with one or two stigmas."
"Think of what the Daily Prophet would be saying if they could get a picture of you drinking that," she said, motioning towards his glass of blood.
"I'm too old to give a damn what the Daily Prophet thinks of me," he said, taking a swig. "Freshly caught, Emmett?"
"Still twitching the yard," he replied loudly.
Esme appeared with a plate of food, which she sat on the table in front of Harry and smiled. "Let's leave them to each other, shall we?"
The rest of the vampires cleared out. Edward pulled Hermione in for a kiss.
"See you at home," he muttered.
"I won't be too late," she replied, kissing him again.
"Take your time. You have a lot to talk about." He stood and left the house.
"Still in love after all these years?" Harry smiled at her.
"We have our ups and downs, like all couples," she replied with a warm grin.
"What's your secret?"
"Honeymoons. Loads of them, whenever we get the urge."
He paused and gazed at his plate of food. "Do you ever get... tempted?"
"You mean like the hundred and seven year itch?" she raised her eyebrow.
"Something like that."
"We keep it new and exciting enough that, while there has been temptation, we haven't strayed."
"Wow," he said, taking a quick bite.
"You're missing Ginny, aren't you?" she said knowingly.
"Horribly," he replied. "I'm not looking for any kind of lasting relationship, but it has been thirty years..."
"Thirty years is a long time," she replied kindly, placing a hand on his arm. "Especially when you have the prospect of spending another fifty alone, and that's what Carlisle thinks you might live, if not more. I'm sure Ginny will not consider it cheating if you get a little release."
"Would you be mad if Edward 'got a little release' if you died on one of your missions?"
"If he did it the day after," she shrugged.
He chuckled. "But not if he waited thirty years?"
"Honestly, I'd want him to do what made him happy. If that means going out and sleeping with someone else, I wouldn't object."
"You are the coolest woman ever, 'Mione."
"Finally time you acknowledged it," she smirked before taking a drink from her mug.
"Have you heard from your Italian friends at all?"
"Not a peep in twenty five years," she shook her head. "Carlisle thinks that the vampires know I'm willing to come and help take them down, and that's stopping them from doing something stupid."
"Carlisle is a smart man."
She smiled at him.
"What?" he asked.
"You. You've never called us anything other than 'man' or 'woman'. It's like the whole vampire thing doesn't matter."
"Sorry. It doesn't. You'll always be bushy-haired, know-it-all Hermione."
She laughed.
"Life has been good, 'Mione," he said, standing and sitting next to her on the couch, putting an arm around her.
"Yes, it has," she agreed.