A/N: One last round of thanks, for this is the last Author's Note for Guided by a Star… :( It's been a long ride, I'm glad you came along with me!

Epilogue

Once the fact that the war was actually over settled in, people began to react, shouts of laughter, screams of joy and disbelief, exuberant hugs and more than a few kisses that would never have come about if not for the great release of emotion. Grief settled in not too long after as witches and wizards, magical creatures and beings alike began to realise who they had lost.

Once again Harry Potter was the golden child of the newspapers and everyone and anyone wanted to speak with and see their Saviour. Harry could have cared less. As he reminded the one reporter who accosted him as they were leaving Hogwarts for the last time, "My name is Harry Black and it was not too long ago you all believed the worst of me. I have done what was expected of me, find someone else to bother with your 'praise' and camera flashes."

They took Cian and Rohan back to Lux Eterna, laying them to rest on a cliff face overlooking the sea. Harry chose it due to Cian's griffin form, it was a reminder of the proud and graceful guardian and their first meeting. He couldn't have known that this was the very cliff where the two had often sat centuries before, when they were young and thought love could overcome duty and heritage.

With the war over they had gone back to their normal lives, Severus had his potions, Remus wrote texts and explored meetings with various surviving packs of Lycans, Sirius took both his and Harry's seats in the Wizengamot and began pushing through new laws and codes that would make the everyday wizard and magical creature's life a lot easier and Harry was more than content to raise their son and prepare for the birth of their daughter.

In 8 years Polaris Sirius Black would attend Hogwarts and prove his godfather Remus' mate correct, he was a little snake to the core. Minerva McGonagall, who repaired her relationships with the Black family and friends after the war, would often be heard wishing for the Marauders again as the little snake made her life interesting to say the least over the next 7 years.

Still, Polaris would graduate at the top of his class and be surrounded with a close-knit group of friends all his life. After two years of travelling he took the Potter family seat from his Father and the two sat in on Wizengamot sessions together, discussing pros and cons as they went.

In 12 years Polaris Black would take the Black seat from his father as well, who wished to retire from politics and spend more time with his bondmate and children, glad to hand over the reins to his enthusiastic and capable 22-year-old son. It was a very good choice as Polaris Black held a young but wise voice and possessed the ability to truly make people listen to his words.

By age 30 Polaris would have pushed through enough laws of reform and equality that they became known as the "Black Laws" and filled many a child's home history lessons. The tiny baby born in Azkaban prison could never have been foreseen as the youngest-ever Minister of Magic, elected at age 42. The deaths of Albus Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort had indeed paved the way to a future that looked brighter and brighter the farther one looked.

For now though, 3-year-old Polaris had no idea of his future, nor did anyone else sitting in the spacious private sitting rooms outside the master bedroom. He was bouncing excitedly on his heels, having just been informed that his Papa was having the first of what would be 3 siblings.

When they were finally ushered into the room 4 hours later, Sirius gave his son a very goofy smile and lifted him up onto the bed where Harry lay so that he could see his sister. He giggled and smiled over her, eliciting smiles from everyone in the room. When Harry handed over his daughter to her godfather Severus Snape, the bright windows caught just a slight glimmer of moisture in his eyes as he smiled at the tiny girl with dark reddish-black curls and huge green eyes.

"Everyone," Sirius beamed, "we would like to introduce you to Ianthe Elpis Black."

At that moment, the future couldn't have been brighter.

Name: website is Behind the Name, Yahoo or Google bring it up easily enough.

Ianthe: Means "violet flower", derived from Greek ιον (ion) "violet" and ανθος (anthos) "flower". This was the name of an ocean nymph in Greek mythology.

Elpis: Means "hope" in Greek. In Greek myth Elpis was the personification of hope. She was the last spirit to remain in the jar after Pandora unleashed the evils that were in it.