"Mum," Jarvis said, looking so serious.

"Yes, Jarvis?"

"Garrett and I decided this weekend we want to be healers."

She glanced to their father for some sign that this was a joke. And if it wasn't a joke that he wouldn't find this possibility of occupations for them … wrong. She didn't think he thought healers should be females, but there was still that assumption in the magical world that healers were witches. No indication one way or the other from their father. That left her to respond as she thought she should.

"A worthwhile and more than honourable occupation. What made you decide this?"

"Well, we were talking with Grandma today, and she told us how much healers helped her. We decided we want to do that. We want to help make sure kids have their grandmas."

Oh be still her heart. If that wasn't the most precious thing she'd heard.

They were ten, so there was nothing saying that they would stick with this idea. However, it was the first time they'd ever talked about a career so she realized they must be at least for the moment serious.

"A sound reason."

"Your mother is the one who gave me the idea to enlist the help of a healer with your grandmother," Severus said. So he had been listening!

"You did?" they both said.

"Yes. I love the magical world, but there are things that they are truly so far behind with when it comes to the muggles and they just shouldn't be. Mental health is among them. Also, long-term care. Someone falls and breaks their leg, they will need help once the cast comes off learning how to use that leg and make it strong again without hurting it in the process. Or as in the case of your grandmother, severe emotional trauma needs help, too."

Both her sons listened intently.

"But Dad's older than you."

"Mm," she said, glancing at Dad for help.

"Good grief. It doesn't matter how old she is. She helped me. Her age doesn't mean she didn't help me," he said simply.

"Reggie can help, too," Garrett said as if their father hadn't just scolded them for seeming to imply she wasn't capable of helping him. (That wasn't what they were imply, Severus knew that as well as she did. They were trying to put the pieces together of how Mum could have helped Dad before Mum knew Dad.)

"Reggie?" Hermione said, concerned now. Their youngest son was only six. What kind of help did the twins think that he would give them?

"You cannot experiment on your brother!"

Severus chuckled and Jarvis and Garrett bore identical shocked expressions on their faces.

"Mother!" The word sounded the same right down to the inflection. Ten years old and it was still nearly impossible to tell them apart. Their interests to this point hadn't diverged that drastically where one was sporty and the other not or one was bookish and the other wasn't. It was frustrating at times.

"We just meant," Jarvis said. "He's already good with numbers."

She nodded. It was true. Reginald was quite clearly a genius. He was doing first year arithmancy problems at the age of six.

"Oh. Well, you have time yet to figure out such a thing, but yes. That sounds like a good idea."

"Linnea's too little to say whether she can help us."

Hermione stared at them, wondering at ten years old why they were thinking so deeply about this. Her husband, for his part, was smirking in that way of his that told her that he knew she was not sure what to do with these boys of his. And when they confounded her, they were his. He'd come along and distract them from pushing her buttons. Of course Linnea was too little. She was only two. No comment on the child that wasn't here yet, evidently. None of the boys seemed even curious as to whether they were gaining another sister or brother. It was clear Linnea wanted a sister. (And would be pleased with the outcome of Hermione's fourth, and last, pregnancy.)

"She'd make a good healer, too, though. Right? She's a girl. Like Madam Poppy. She says she cared for Dad a ton."

She chose to ignore the comment on Poppy, though she noticed Severus' grip on the potions periodical he was reading tightened to the point she saw a few of his knuckles whiten. She was certain Poppy wasn't gossiping about him, probably just filling his sons' heads with "boys will be boys" stories. "I'm sure she would, but we'll let her choose for herself in her own time." She looked at both of them. "There will be no telling Reginald or Linnea that they are expected to become healers. Do you understand me? They will have free will to do whatever they please the same as you both do."

"Yes, Mum."

"Thank you. Now, tell me more about your visit with Grandma," she said, setting her quill down. 

They knew this was a sign that they had her undivided attention now. Reggie crawled into her lap while Jarvis and Garrett proceeded to do just that. She was so glad that they had a relationship with Severus' mum. It had taken him a while to leave the twins alone with her, but once he decided that she would truly never harm them (with Hermione's agreement) days with Grandmum happened often. Her being a muggle nurse and telling them about how a healer helped her probably led to their intrigue with the profession. Hermione's parents were retired now and took them as well.

Not that there was anything wrong with her sons becoming healers. She'd be proud if that was what they chose to do with their lives.

2020

"Grandma never told us how tough this was," Garrett said. They were in their first year of university, both studying the muggle way to be nurses. They wanted to ensure they could help a patient in every way not just magically. (Evidently, they had actually been paying attention when she explained to them why she'd pursued a university degree.)

"It's not easy," Severus said. "Nothing you truly want and aspire to do is easy."

"But Mum writes books…"

"It's not easy. Please don't think because we work here and you are able to see us every day means that what we do is easy. I have to think about the future of every child that walks through these doors to ensure they will leave here prepared to do anything. Your mum has to think about what every book is saying and who might take one sentence the wrong way. Those books have to include everyone who might read them."

Both nodded. Reginald for his part was well on his way to either a career or arithmancy or math. At fourteen he still had time to figure it out, but his older brothers going to muggle university certainly captured his attention and drove him to do that, too. He wouldn't say that he idolized them, but he preferred their company to that of his younger sisters'.

"Do your work and you will achieve what you want. I have every faith in both of you."

"Thanks, Dad," Jarvis said and the two boys disappeared into their room. They'd surprised Reginald by coming home this weekend unexpectedly. Severus took it as an indication they truly were succeeding at parenthood.

2026

Hermione saw Severus roll his eyes as Garrett's latest girlfriend asked him who James Potter was to him after hearing James call Severus Grandpa.

"Well, he's my uncle."

"He's younger than you," Janelle said.

"He is, but Harry is our brother so he's our uncle."

"I see," she said, clearly not seeing.

Severus snorted and Hermione squeezed his arm. Hermione had to admit Janelle was not what she was expecting from any of their sons. She was … well, Hermione would never say anything to Garrett but she was not very smart. Just wait until she found out that Viktor Junior was technically their uncle, too, since Harry and Viktor had been a couple going on over twenty years now. They'd never married, but their commitment to one another was no less complete and binding than Severus and Hermione's.

James Severus Potter had just finished his sixth year. Their oldest daughter, Linnea, completed her fifth year. Viktor Junior his fourth year along with their youngest, Charlene.

Linnea had been planned and discussed. Reginald was four years after the twins and Linnea was four years after him. Severus really wanted to try one final time for a girl. They'd had Linnea and both been happy with three boys and a girl. (He'd seemed so surprised three years after Garrett and Jarvis that she mentioned another one. Her pregnancy with them while tiring and somewhat a pain in the arse toward the end there wasn't their fault and she hadn't minded the first eight months or so.) They'd even talked of the surgical alternatives to ensure no more children came so they wouldn't have to worry about potions or charms.

She'd loved how much he seemed to want a girl. They both did more than just well career-wise to where having a fourth child was not going to be a hardship or put a crimp in their lifestyle. So they'd tried one last time for a daughter.

Less than a full thirteen months later, Charlene came onto the scene.

Those wivestales about not being able to get pregnant while breastfeeding?

Just that, wivestales.

She wasn't sure how or why she hadn't ended up pregnant soon after having the first three because she hadn't used potions to prevent it then either. She did not want to ingest anything that might be bad for the babies while breastfeeding. So it must have just been a question of timing, because she knew they'd forgotten the charm more than once after the kids were born.

Fate, Merlin, God. Whoever or whatever. Someone wanted them to have a second girl.

So their family of three was now a family of nine, including Harry, Viktor, and their boys. It would likely continue to grow from there as their kids started to have kids. She imagined Harry's and Viktor's would, too.

Garrett didn't seem serious about Janelle (that meant there was hope) but Jarvis was newly married and their third son, Reginald, had been seeing the same witch since his third year at Hogwarts. She liked to think their parents' relationship influenced that to some degree, wanting to be with someone and knowing it could work. Garrett just didn't seem ready to settle down yet, which was fine. (She was secretly glad there was finally a difference between the twins!) There was no law that said someone had to be married before they were twenty-five.

Jarvis was busy talking to Reginald about their business venture on the patio. The brothers, all three of them, ran a business that offered home health care services to the wizarding world. The twins had both chosen to be healers just as they'd said they would when they were ten. Hermione could admit that it was fitting they chose the same profession. Reginald was the business manager, keeping numbers and ensuring they got paid (and paid their bills). It seemed to be working well for them.

Today was the first weekend after the end of the school year and everyone was here at their home to unwind and spend time with everyone as a family. It was something they'd started doing as the twins got older and wanted to do things with their friends during the summer. This one weekend was marked off for everyone, barring an actual commitment that couldn't be changed.

They never did figure out Hogwarts' secrets. They apparently weren't supposed to. Neither felt as if they were being interfered with or lacked free will. So while curious they eventually stopped trying to figure out how they'd been allowed to do what they did. How they'd been allowed to even meet to begin with. Hogwarts for its sentience, wasn't revealing its secrets.

There was the night that Severus came to bed to find Hermione in an exquisite nightie. He learned after he'd taken her almost immediately that she hadn't bought it and assumed he had. He had not. Hermione knew that her husband was fairly certain that was the night their daughter Linnea had been conceived. They hadn't completely decided for certain as to whether they would try once more for a girl, but it appeared Hogwarts had other ideas as his potions had never failed.

Charlene had been a fluke, not that she was viewed as an accident but she was definitely a surprise to them both. Neither could deny being glad their daughters had one another. They weren't twins in the true sense of the word, but being only thirteen months apart they were almost as inseparable as Jarvis and Garrett.

Hermione by now had written and published new textbooks for most of the wizarding schools around the world. There were a few that didn't want new books. There were some who might have wanted them, but did not want a foreigner writing them no matter how much research she did.

She'd done so well, and garnered such respect that original wizarding families were flocking to her to do genealogy research and write family history books. Not just British wizarding families either. She traveled somewhat frequently, but the deal for doing the research and writing the books was that she could make copies of everything she needed and take it with her. One family had initially said no but had come back to her about a year later when they found there wasn't anyone else better. To this date, no one but Harry, Viktor, and Severus were aware of her blood status. One day when all of the children were old enough to understand the war and the reasons they withheld that information they'd bring them in on the secret, too. It was too risky to do so now. Teenagers and children sadly had loose lips, however unintentionally. Not that it would matter any longer.

"Garrett and Jarvis' father was Harry's guardian from the time he was fifteen months old, so he is essentially his son. Our children have all grown up thinking of Harry as their oldest sibling despite him being twenty-two years older than our oldest two," Hermione said when it was clear the witch really wasn't understanding.

With that explanation, Janelle finally seemed to get it. Hermione supposed it was possible Janelle wasn't aware her husband had raised Harry.

It was strange that there were people now, over forty years removed from the events who did not automatically know Harry's history. And a far cry where his fame seemed to be firmly implanted in the wizarding world. (Albus' doing? Wanting Harry to be a curiosity in addition to him not knowing anything about the wizarding world when he got to Hogwarts. Yet something else they'd likely never known the answer to.)

So odd.

In fact, now that she thought about it, Hermione couldn't remember the last time they'd been out in public and Harry had been interrupted or pointed at. They didn't go out in public often, choosing instead to come here to their home.

The home near Forest of Dean that Albus had left to them had become their refuge. Like Hogwarts, it seemed to be sentient and grew and adapted to their needs as two children turned into three then four and finally five as well as accommodating James and Viktor Junior. A room for Harry and Viktor was obviously included. Aiyanna had a room, too, for her visits. She and Hermione remained close. She would say that Aiyanna was really Hermione's only real friend. Minera counted, certainly, but the age difference made it difficult sometimes. And Hermione knowing what the witch allowed to happen when Severus was at school always made her hold back. He'd forgiven her, Hermione didn't hold it against her, but it was hard to be forthcoming with someone who'd hurt her husband.

The home was private, peaceful, and it suited their needs. They were still, all these years later, a rather private couple and preferred the security their home or Hogwarts offered.

Aiyanna had eventually returned to America. An apothecary that Professor Brown invested in sought her out to be the manager. She and Hermione still saw one another and as far as Severus or Hermione knew there were absolutely no hard feelings on Aiyanna's part toward Viktor and Harry. Did she still join them once in a while? Severus said he suspected so but neither had proof nor was it their business to ask. If it worked for them then that was all that mattered.

For Harry, though, it was certainly a far cry from the existence he'd had in her original timeline. There, he'd survived a second time, which would have certainly caused a media frenzy worse than the first time he'd done so. He asked her questions a few times here and there over the years. She told him what she could remember. She still had the memories, but as she got older it was harder to pick them out compared to when they'd first been returned to her.

The school aged children were engaged in some games, well most of them were. Charlene was nearby, but sitting on a blanket by herself reading a book. Close enough so as to be close to the others but far enough away to do her own thing.

"She reminds me of someone else I know," Severus said against her ear when he saw where she was looking.

"Me, too," Hermione said. "And don't tell me you weren't like that, too."

Their other four children were all smart and good. There wasn't anything about them not to be proud of.

The twins were identical down to the shape of their toes to one another and their father. It was eerie for Hermione to see them at fifteen and sixteen when she had memories of their father from that age.

Reginald was a mix of both of them when it came to appearance, mainly Severus' colouring but her hair (and sadly her teeth). He had a mind for numbers, which was more Hermione's thing than Severus'. No doubt he'd find success in whatever he did if he tired of being business manager for the twins.

Linnea was the spitting image of Hermione, down to the curls that hated to be tamed. Her personality, though, was quite different. She was the social butterfly of the five of them. She was always having sleepovers and what not growing up. She loved being the centre of attention, not in a bad, monopolizing way. Her hobbies growing up included dance and piano, things where she had recitals that people would go to watch.

Charlene, though, she was pretty literally the best of both of them. Smart and reserved but not at all socially awkward. When she wanted to be she could very much be engaged. Her hair was a perfect blend of their colouring and texture.

"I have something for you," he whispered. It wasn't necessary, no one was really paying them any attention.

"Really now?" she asked. She knew she sounded cheeky and looked at him with a flirtatious smile.

"Not that."

"Well, that is very disappointing to hear."

"Later."

"Still disappointing but not as much. At least I have something to look forward to later."

He chuckled.

"Do you know what day it is?"

She frowned slightly. "It's the end of the year?"

He scoffed. "You're being obtuse. The date, Hermione."

"Oh, sure, June 30."

"June 30. Almost thirty years ago the Room brought me to you for the first time, and I have no doubt that I was brought to you and to your time instead of the other way around. To this day, I do not understand what was at work, how it happened, or what I did to deserve it. Fate, I suppose, had a different path for me. One that involved me being my own man. Being free for far longer than I was when you first knew me."

"Severus," she whispered.

"Almost thirty years from the date of Albus' death, fifty for me since I first met you. Since I first kissed you and, if I'm being honest, fell in love with you."

She felt tears in her eyes as he opened a jeweler's box for her. In it was a rather dainty but nonetheless lovely gold necklace. The charm was simply a gold heart. On the heart was a garnet for his birthstone and a sapphire for hers. The stones were nestled in between an engraving of the infinity symbol.

"I know that you to this day feel guilty because you think that I felt as if I had to wait for you, but it was a different form of being indentured than that which I endured with Albus. I was able to make the choice. You know, deep down, nothing was stopping me from looking elsewhere. I chose you, Hermione. Again and again, every day for the past fifty years. I will always choose you."

She threw her arms around him. The charm bracelet he'd given her almost thirty years ago was around her left wrist, worn and a little worse for wear in places on some of the charms, but still very much a symbol of them. (A wampus was added long ago. She'd swatted his hand away when he'd offered to remove the lion's head.)

There was a second charm bracelet, too, on her right wrist. This one had seven charms on it. Each was round with the wampus and snake forming the circle similar to their wedding rings. On each charm was the first name and date of birth of their children, and their two grandsons.

He didn't give her pointless, meaningless baubles. She didn't want ten different necklaces to choose from. When he did give her something, though, it was something she cherished and wore proudly. She already knew this necklace was no exception.

"I love you," she whispered, kissing him.

"And I you," he said. "Happy fiftieth," he said with a wink.

~The End~

Story ©Susan Falk/APCKRFAN/PhantomRoses.com