A/N: So sorry it took so long to post this. Anyways, here's the epilogue of the Without the mask where will you hide? I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the songs 'Sound the bugle' (Bryan Adams) and 'Lovesong' (Adele)
o/song\o
Epilogue: Twelve Years Later
"I don't wanna go, Dad. I wanna stay here with you, Papa, Sara and the twins." An eleven-year-old girl pleaded her father.
"I know Sweetie." Ethan sighed and pulled the small, red-haired girl on his lap and hugged her tightly. "But you need to learn to control your magic and Salem has the best teachers to help you to do it, Anna. Besides, you can come home every weekend. It won't be that bad."
"I'm still gonna miss you, Daddy." Anna said and looked at him with her deep emerald eyes before snuggling closer to him.
"I'm gonna miss you too." Ethan said smiling faintly. It was hard for him to think that he wouldn't get to see his daughter every day and he was going to miss the father-daughter moments they had together. He felt like he was losing her to the world, which was silly, since she was only going to school and would come back every weekend.
Ethan and Fred had given Anna the choice of schooling in Hogwarts or in Salem and she had chosen Salem. She said she wanted to be closer to her family and Salem had the plus side that students were allowed to leave the school on weekends if they so wished. Fred and Ethan couldn't have been happier of her choice, as neither wanted to be parted of their eldest child for so long.
Ethan smiled as he remembered the moment he saw Anna for the first time. She was only a little over a year old, with light brown hair, blue eyes and chubby cheeks. Ethan had fallen in love with her in that very second. He and Fred had been just coming back from their honeymoon when Will had sent Ethan a message of a magical child found in a muggle orphanage and had asked him to pick her up and bring her to the Orphanage. Ethan had agreed and he and Fred had gone there and that was it.
They had spoken about adopting a child before and had been having a bit of a baby fever when Zoey had given birth to her and George's daughter Evangeline, but hadn't seriously discussed it. After seeing Anna, Ethan knew they would adopt her and so they did. Few months later she was legally their daughter and Ethan and Fred couldn't have been happier.
They had decided that they would wait till their children were old enough to make their own decisions before offering them the choice of a blood adoption, which was why their three-year-old 'twins' Tim and Oliver didn't look like them, but Anna did. Anna had decided she wanted to have them as her parents in every way possible when she was eight and so they had performed the ritual and now she looked a good mix of Fred and Ethan with a bit of her biological parents too.
Their eight-year-old daughter, Sara, too had wanted the blood adoption and she looked mostly like Ethan with her raven-black hair, but she had Fred's blue eyes. Her they had adopted, when her parents had died when she was four and she had been brought to the Orphanage.
The newest additions to their family were the 'twins' Oliver and Tim. They weren't biologically related to each other, but were inseparable, which was why they called them the twins. Oliver had been abandoned outside the Marauders Orphanage the same day Tim, who had lost his parents, had been brought there and they were put to sleep together till the staff could find a place for them. Since then the two boys couldn't be separated from each other. Fred and Ethan, who had been planning on adopting another child had happened across them and couldn't help but fall in love with the two adorable babies cuddled next to each other and decided to adopt both of them. Fred especially had been overjoyed as he had always wanted twins and Ethan loved them too. He finally had the family he wanted.
"What are you thinking, Daddy?" Anna asked bringing him back to reality.
"I was thinking of how lucky I am to have all of you." Ethan smiled. "You are everything I ever wanted."
"I love you Daddy." Anna said smiling.
"I love you too Sweetie." Ethan said. "Now go pack the rest of your stuff, so that you are ready early."
Anna nodded and jumped off of his lap before running back to the house. Ethan sighed contently as he sat on the beach watching the sunset and thinking back to his life as both Harry Potter and Ethan Summers. He had come to terms with his past with the help of Fred and could now think about it without feeling pain or anger. His masks were all finally destroyed and he felt at peace.
Ethan smiled as he listened to the sounds of his family back in the house. He could hear Fred's voice reprimanding the twins, who ran around the rooms chasing their cat and Sara playing her violin in her room.
He picked up his guitar that lied next to him and started to play. He hummed along with the music before starting to sing.
o/ Sound the bugle now... tell them I don't care
There's not a road I know that leads to anywhere
Without a light, I fear that I will stumble in the dark
Lay right down and decide not to go on
Then from on high, somewhere in the distance
There's a voice that calls, "Remember who you are
If you lose yourself, your courage soon will follow,
So be strong tonight... remember who you are"
Yeah, you're a soldier now,
Fighting in a battle,
To be free once more
Yeah, that's worth fighting for \o
"You finished it?" A voice asked from behind him. "The last song for the new album?"
"Yes." Ethan said smiling as Fred sat down next to him.
"Sounds good." He said.
"Thanks." Ethan said and leaned his head onto Fred's shoulder. "Where are the kids?"
"Inside. Matt, Susie and Ryan are here. I asked them to keep an eye on the kids for a little while." Fred said sneaking his arms around Ethan.
"Mmm…" Ethan sighed contently as he leaned to his husband's chest. "I have missed this." He said.
"What?" Fred asked.
"This." Ethan said gesturing to them. "Just being with you alone. It's been too long since we have been able to just be like this."
"You're right; we have been quite busy with work and the kids." Fred agreed. "The twins being in their awful threes don't really help either." He added fondly.
"Yeah. I have been thinking of leaving the bakery to Matt and retiring." Ethan said.
"Really?" Fred said raising his eyebrows. "I thought you loved the place and baking."
"I do, but I can bake at home too and I just want to concentrate on making music and spending time with the kids. I'm always too busy with all the orders, having to work sometimes the nights too so that I can have everything ready in time. This way I have more time for you too." Ethan said turning around.
"It will be nice to have you in bed next to me more often." Fred smiled.
"I'm sorry for not being there for you lately." Ethan said.
"It's okay love. I know how stressed you have been with work and the new album coming out. And in all that you have managed to find time for the kids."
"I love you Fred Summers." Ethan said and kissed him gently.
"I love you too Ethan." Fred said returning the kiss.
They were silent for a moment, just enjoying each other's company before Fred spoke:
"Dad, Bill, Charlie and Percy are coming in the morning." He said.
"I'm glad they could make it." Ethan smiled. "It means a lot to Anna to see her uncles and grandpa before going to school. She doesn't want to leave as it is." He continued. They had a good relationship with the mentioned Weasleys, and they had even attended their wedding, though none of them knew that Ethan had once been Harry Potter. Ethan liked to keep it that way – Harry Potter was his past and it should stay here, though perhaps he would someday tell his kids about it. Perhaps.
"I don't want her to leave."
"Me neither." Fred said with a sigh. "But we need to let her go. School is good for her, helping her to become more independent and I'm sure she'll have lots of friends. Besides, it won't be as bad as it would be had she chosen Hogwarts."
"I don't think I would have survived if she had." Ethan shuddered. "I'm gonna miss her as it is and we're gonna see her every weekend. Had she gone to Hogwarts, it would have been hell." He said. "How do parents do that? Let their children go without seeing them more than a few months a year during summer and a few weeks at Christmas. She's our baby, our eldest. I almost relented when she begged me to let her stay."
"I know." Fred sighed. "We just need to bear it. It's all part of growing up."
"When did you become the adult in our relationship?" Ethan asked teasingly.
"Me? An adult?! Never!" Fred said mock horrified, making Ethan laugh. "Just don't tell George. He will never let me live it down." He added in a stage whisper before kissing Ethan's neck.
"Are they coming tomorrow too?" Ethan asked still laughing.
"Yeah. Though, George is going nuts, hovering over Zoey as she's nearly nine months along. I mean seriously it's a fifth time, I would think he would be used to it by now." Fred said rolling his eyes.
"Easy for you to say, you have never had to live with a pregnant woman." Ethan shuddered remembering the time Zoey had been waiting for her first child. She had been living with him for a little while when George and Fred had had to leave for England and it had been hell with her mood swings.
"Touché." Fred grinned.
"Where are you going?" Fred asked after a while as Ethan untangled himself from his arms and leaned to pick up his guitar.
"I wrote us a song." He said leaning back to Fred.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Would you like to hear it?" Ethan asked and as Fred nodded he started to play:
o/ Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am home again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am whole again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am young again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am fun again
However far away, I will always love you
However long I stay, I will always love you
Whatever words I say, I will always love you
I will always love you
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am free again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am clean again
However far away, I will always love you
However long I stay, I will always love you
Whatever words I say, I will always love you
I will always love you
However far away, I will always love you
However long I stay, I will always love you
Whatever words I say, I will always love you
I'll always love you, I'll always love you
'Cause I love you \o
"Thank you." Fred said quietly his eyes shining with tears.
"I wrote it to show you how much I love you and have loved you since we were in school back in England. And I never stopped. Even though we didn't see each other for years, I still loved you and there wasn't a day when I didn't think about you." Ethan said.
"And I never stopped loving you either." Fred said before pulling him into a deep lingering kiss.
All was well.
THE END
A/N: There it is! I had no idea how to end this, which is why it took me so long to write it, but I think it's good enough. Please review and tell me what you think.
Thank you for everyone who read the story!
- Dalnim