Everyone who complained about Ginny's comeuppance: How did I know it was going to be this that was the biggest problem with last chapter? Several of you brought up the fact that Ginny was depicted as being mentally ill in this story, to which I have only this to say: yes, she was, but that does not change the fact that she understood what she was doing when she gave Harry dosed chocolates. From a legal standpoint, she was still fully competent. Therefore, I don't feel bad about having her be punished, not for her obsession, but for the actions she took. Also, and I know this is going to sound cold, she went from having a obsession towards Harry to having a obsession towards herself, so I'm not sure that she's necessarily all that much worse off. If anything, now that Molly's in prison and the DMLE and WCS would step in as a matter of course, she's actually going to be in a better position since the Ministry wouldn't hesitate to call in Healers from St. Mungo's, which Molly chose not to do.
And on a related note…
Power Taco: If while under Harry's compulsion Ginny had denied knowing anything about the potions, the trio wouldn't have done anything to her. They only retaliated because she knowingly tried to enslave him to fulfill her fantasies.
Guest: Molly went on to spend the next several decades in Azkaban for line theft since she used a love potion on Arthur, a Pureblood, and the twins were already more or less employees of Harry's; check chapter 2 for more details on that if you wish.
HJPotterReader: Considering the many, many ideas I have bouncing around in my head? Yes, I most certainly will continue writing fan fiction; it's fun for you guys to read, but for me, it's also a lot of fun to write.
Disclaimer: After seven years of constant fighting, did Harry look down at Voldemort's body, throw up his hands, and say, "Okay, I've fulfilled my destiny. I think I deserve a vacation!"? If not, I don't own the Harry Potter franchise; it belongs to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Press, Warner Bros., and whoever else she sold the rights to.
Epilogue
Nineteen Years Later
Waves lapped at Harry's toes as he refolded the letter in his hands. He grinned and muttered, "Which would be better? Letting them bumble about all on their own, or 'helping' them? Decisions, decisions."
"Uh-oh. You using that tone is never a good sign." He turned his eyes to the blonde coming his way and allowed himself a moment to simply enjoy the view. Even after giving birth to three children, Luna loved proving that she could still rock that skimpy blue bikini, and neither he nor Hermione would dare try convincing her otherwise. Offering him one of the fruity drinks in her hands, she asked, "Who's that from, and why are you plotting to embarrass them?"
"Tonks sent it; she wanted to know if we would mind her and Teddy visiting for a week or so. Considering how he and Helen look at each other…" Luna nodded, understanding exactly what he meant. The only ones who didn't see the crushes Tonks's only child and his and Hermione's eldest were nursing for each other were the kids in question. "And I wasn't going to embarrass them, necessarily, but Merlin, they need help."
"Well, she is your daughter. She comes by it honestly." He sighed and nodded at that jab. Much to Luna's amusement, Helen could be said to be a perfect mix of Hermione and him. She had her mother's brains and obsessive need for organization, his eyes and penchant for being found by trouble, and the worst head of hair the world had ever seen. Thankfully for the trio, none of her siblings, full or half, brought nearly so much drama to their lives as his fifteen-year-old. "And come to think of it, you're the closest thing Teddy has to a father-figure since Tonks never married her mysterious baby-daddy, so you are partially to blame for his obliviousness, too."
"Hardy-har-har. I guess it's a good thing Mark takes after you, then, or I'd have drawn the line at two."
"And is Tonks wanting to bring sweet little Drakie with her, hm?" she continued in a sugary voice.
"Don't even go there," Harry answered with a shudder. "I know he's been a whole different person ever since the Tonkses took him in after we erased his memory, but having what looks like a younger Lucius be nice to us is just… too weird for me."
She snickered and sat down on the sand beside him. Staring over the water surrounding their home in the British Virgin Islands, she sighed and said, "Hard to believe sometimes that it's already been twenty years, isn't it?"
"That it is," he agreed. "And you know what? I still don't regret coming back in the slightest."
Luna clinked her glass against his. "Neither do I." They sat in silence for a moment, just watching the waves, before she spoke again. "I'm thinking about writing a book."
"Oh?"
"Mm-hmm. About us and our adventures."
He blinked once, twice, but unfortunately it still did not make sense. "Er, sweetie? Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, the Argentinian Ministry still has a kill-on-sight order out on us, and I don't think the Saudis would exactly pass up an opportunity to get even for that job we pulled for the Swiss dwarves…"
"Oh, it wouldn't be anything that incriminating. Just what we did during our first year back."
"So just thirty-some counts of breaking and entering, the same for larceny, and a few murder charges thrown in for flavor. Yes, that's much better."
She scoffed at his comment. "Besides, I wasn't going to publish it in the Wizarding World, anyway. The Muggles have a thriving market for fantasy literature."
"Still might be a good idea to publish it anonymously," he muttered.
"Fine, fine. I'll give it some more thought. Oh, you missed it today since you had that staff meeting, but Neville sent us an owl. Apparently he's taking a year's sabbatical to travel the world and give a series of lectures about his research."
"You mean his experiments with cross-breeding Devil's Snare and Puffapods? I guess Herbology professors have an easier time with research," he said with a chuckle. "Just stick it in the dirt and leave it alone."
Luna rolled her eyes. "Jealousy doesn't become you, Harry."
Years ago, the three of them had had a hearty laugh when Neville – who, along with most of the new D.A., had exchanged the occasional letter with them over the years – had sent a letter announcing that he had been chosen as Sprout's successor at Hogwarts; who could have predicted that both of Trelawney's potential Chosen Ones would go on to teach the next generation? A year later, Harry had been forced to turn down McGonagall's offer to take over Flitwick's place after the quarter-goblin's retirement. One of the best aspects about teaching Charms at Tortola Magical Academy, and a big reason they had made their home in the Islands, was that it was a day school, which allowed him and his kids to come home at the end of each day.
There would be no spending ten months away from their family in a drafty old castle for the five youngest Potters.
"Let me guess, you want to attend his talk?" Harry asked in a knowing voice.
"Of course. I don't care about the plants, necessarily, but it would be good to see him again. The hospital's already scheduled Mione for a couple of days off, too, so we could all go and maybe invite him and Hannah to stay for dinner."
"It would be nice to see him again," he admitted. Though they had kept in touch with their students from the D.A., only Astoria had regular contact with them; being an widely renowned warding and home security consultant – a lingering result of their raid on her parents' house decades earlier – she could come enjoy the Caribbean sun basically any time she wanted to. They could not count the number of times she had spent between a few days to a week borrowing their guest room and basically just lounging around. Colin was now a big-shot journalist for the Daily Prophet and spent quite a bit of time mingling with Susan, who rather than go into law enforcement like her aunt had instead carved out a place for herself in the Department of International Magical Cooperation; the trio suspected that their relationship was not strictly business in nature. Ernie, however, made the most surprising decision by making his way into the Muggle world and setting himself up as a professional investor. Apparently he actually had a touch of the Sight, which he freely used to guide his trading and rake in money by the barrow-load.
Letting him handle their own investments – for an appropriate fee, of course – was probably the best financial decision they had ever made.
"See? Even you like this plan. He's giving a talk in Nassau in three weeks, so—" She cut herself off when a loud pop preceded a house-elf appearing in front of them. "Dobby? We weren't expecting you back for another few days."
The only slightly older-looking elf gave her a wide smile. "Dobby knows, but Dobby knows Master and Mistresseses would wants to know that the bad Russian Minister's advisor and advisor's wife left their house. Dobby followed them and heard they bes going on vacation now."
"Excellent," Harry said with a grin. "You have the notes?" Dobby shoved the sheaf of mixed parchment and paper depicting the house's defenses into his hands, and he could not help but turn his mind to the three well-cared-for bodysuits behind a false back in their closet. Thanks to his and Hermione's jobs, his inheritance, and the interest off their earlier ill-gotten gains, they did not need or even want the extra money. This was purely to weaken the blood purity cause around the globe, and if those people's sizable fortunes then found their ways to orphanages and soup kitchens and charities…
Well, who would really hold that against them? Other than the people they robbed, obviously.
"Should I tell the kids that Grandpappy Sirius will be responsible for them tonight?" Luna asked facetiously.
"You mean tell Helen and Mark that they'll be in charge of three kids and an overgrown man-child?" he shot back with a grin. Once the Death Eaters were taken care of, Sirius had communicated with Madam Bones through Tonks to get an official pardon, though he had eventually decided to hang around Jake and Miranda while the trio were doing their 'self-study' rather than get a real job, and even came with them to the Islands when they moved. Late one night – and having drunk not a few beers beforehand – he had explained to Harry that after missing fourteen years with his godson, he was not going to chance it again. "Might as well. You know, I keep expecting them to confront us one of these days about just where we run off to late at night without warning."
She laughed. "Oh, Mione and I already took care of that. Gave them a few details about what goes on in swinger clubs, and strangely enough, they never asked again."
He gaped for a moment before laughing heartily. If traumatizing his children alongside the loves of his life wasn't the greatest reward of a life well-lived, he didn't know what was.
That's it. The end, finito, the fat lady singing. I've had a great run with this story: 50 chapters, almost 250 thousand words, about 8,000 favorites and follows (after adjusting for duplicates), and an average of 15,000 regular viewers in total. Thank you so much for sticking around with this and me over the past two years.
And as one last reminder, the story you guys voted on as my next project, What Happens in Vegas, will be replacing this in my writing cycle. First chapter will be posted in two weeks; if enough people want one, I'll add a temporary reminder here when it's up.
Silently Watches out.