Epilogue
Three years after the Corvins and Draco left Hogwarts, news came to America that the war with Voldemort had ended.
On a plane now, returning to the place he'd called home for the first 15 years of his life, Harry took a moment to reflect on those past three years.
-:-
They'd settled in Long Beach, California, expecting that the warmer climate would dissuade would-be vampire hunters from suspecting their presence.
The sunnier weather, however, had had the greatest impact on the settlers. To Harry and Draco, used to the cooler, rainier clime of England and Scotland, the sudden change in weather had been enough to make them sick. And, though originally from America, Michael had hailed from New York, and even then, had been living on the nocturnal schedule of a medical intern in Hungary long enough to find the climate change jarring. The only one who didn't seem effected was Selene; something Michael and Harry complained about incessantly behind her back.
-:-
Harry glanced over at Draco, asleep in the window seat. The sod had shoved his way past Harry for the seat during boarding, and then fallen asleep as soon as the plane took off!
-:-
There'd been an owl waiting for them when they landed in America. Malfoy had sent a letter to his mother before they'd left but none of them had been expecting an answer so soon.
The scathing letter disowned Malfoy. Harry only knew this because he'd snuck into the other boy's bedroom one night soon after arrival, burning curiosity driving him to riffle through the drawers until he found his prize. He'd never mentioned it to Malfoy, but he was pretty sure the blond knew.
They'd all four gone to a hotel together, and Malfoy followed Selene into her room without a word. What had transpired there, Harry didn't know details, but they'd emerged much as they'd gone in, and four days later, Selene and Michael Corvin moved into a nice home in Long Beach with their sons Harry and Draco.
Those "sons" hadn't gotten along very well at first. Eventually, after almost a month of nearly coming to blows over the smallest of things, Selene had locked the two in a room together informing them that they were not to be allowed out until they'd sorted themselves out. In the end, not even permission to beat the snot out of each other had been enough and Michael very calmly informed them that they either stopped their squabbling on their own, or he would do it for them.
-:-
Hair tickled Harry's neck. Hermione glanced up at him when he shifted ever so slightly. She offered him a slightly apologetic smile when she realized his dilemma, pulling her hair around to the other side. Then she settled back against him, turning her attention back to her book.
-:-
Honestly, it had probably been the arrival of Hermione and her parents two weeks after their own that had saved Harry and Draco from each other.
For all that Harry was certain Hermione would eventually join them, he really hadn't expected her quite so soon. Not until the end of the school year, at least.
Apparently, Hermione had written to her parents almost immediately after Harry and his family left. Mr. and Mrs. Granger had seen no reason not to follow in the footsteps of the Corvins, and so, as soon as they knew where Harry and family had ended up all three Grangers were on a flight to join them.
Hermione had come brimming with excitement: about America, about school in Salem, even about living next door to vampires. Those first few days, when the Grangers stayed with the Corvins before finding a house of their own, Harry and Hermione had been inseparable. She'd cooled him down better than anyone else had been able to, and eventually Harry had been able to approach the situation with Draco in a somewhat rational manner.
-:-
Michael and Selene were seated about three rows up with Pierre, a French lycan.
-:-
It turned out that Selene had been planning for the possibility of fleeing Europe since she'd chosen Harry as her own. This apparently meant that she had contacts within the immortal world in almost every country. It was through her American contacts that Pierre had come to them.
Pierre hadn't been completely blindsided when the lycan bit him. His older brother was a wizard and hadn't held much of anything back when telling his younger brother tales. Which meant that Pierre was more surprised to learn that his brother was wrong about a lycan's nature than that werewolves and vampires existed.
It was at about this time that Harry received his first communication form Lupin and Sirius. Feeling guilty, Harry had invited the men to join him and his family in America, at least for a time. They'd come, and then spent days locked up with Selene, Michael, and Pierre. When all five emerged, they'd announced plans to unite as much of the vampire, lycan, and wizarding world as they could and soon after Sirius, Lupin and Pierre left once more.
Now, three years later, there were several joint clans, and Paris sported the first vampire/lycan/wizarding community.
-:-
Michael gathered them together at the airport. They'd be going separate ways: Michael, Selene, and Pierre to their meeting, Harry and Hermione with the rest of the just-arrived ambassadorial party, and Draco to find his mother.
Sometime, Harry wasn't sure exactly when, Draco had taken note of some discrepancies in the letter his mother'd sent. Turned out, those discrepancies actually composed a secret message wherein his mother explained that as much as it broke her heart the only way she could think of to assure her son's safety was to sever all ties. They'd begun exchanging letters again shortly after the news of Voldemort's demise spread, and Draco was off to meet her.
When everyone was gathered into a secluded corner, Michael took a moment to look everyone over. "Everyone make the flight okay?" There was a series of nods, and he seemed to relax. "Alright. Keep in touch. If only to keep us from worrying."
Draco rolled his eyes but nodded. He shook hands with everyone and disappeared into the crowd. Harry and Hermione watched him go before turning back to the adults to say their own goodbyes; then they too were gone, off to a day of meetings.
-:-
The first few meetings Harry and Hermione attended as part of the ambassadorial party were exceedingly dull. This was all about banking, finance, relief and repair. These things Harry didn't care much about. He was much more interested in reform.
It wasn't until they broke for a late lunch that anything very interesting happened at all.
"Hermione! Harry!"
They turned to see, quite frankly, the last person Harry had been expecting to see hurrying towards them.
"Ron." Hermione stepped forward to embrace the man. They had parted on significantly better terms than he and Harry had, though Hermione had been quite clear as to where her loyalties lay. When their embrace ended, Ron turned to Harry with no small amount of trepidation.
The anger Harry had felt towards Ron after the slight to his family had simmered in Harry for years. And then Draco had taken him aside one day and given him what-for. Draco had reminded Harry that at 15 no one is perfect. And that holding the grudge of a fifteen-year-old only made Harry just as much of a prat.
Apparently the muggle girl Draco had been dating since his 17th birthday had been a good influence. Harry still had no idea how that one had happened.
Of course, Harry wasn't the type of person to just suddenly give up anger, so he was still a little stiff when he offered Ron his hand. When he took it, the redhead's expression displayed his understanding, and his gratitude.
"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, I," Ron's ears turned red, "I, uh, stared at the Auror program."
"That's great Ron!"
"Yeah, look, have you guys got plans for lunch?"
Hermione glanced at Harry. They hadn't, but she didn't want to presume. She was well versed in dealing with Harry's temper by now, and knew that if he perceived himself as being pushed he'd strike out without thought.
Harry caught Hermione's look, and barely managed to keep from rolling his eyes. "No. Do you know anywhere good in the area?"
"Yeah. Yeah. Let me take you guys to lunch."
-:-
Sequestered into a private corner booth some time later, Ron related the tales of Voldemort's defeat.
"We owe your parents a lot, mate," he said to Harry. "If they hadn't taken you out of school the way they did…" He shook his head. "Everyone knew about it the next day. Hermione knows some of this. It was all over the papers, and not just about you leaving. Apparently someone wrote to the Profit about your mum because everything she'd said was on the front page. Turns out vampires control almost half the magical world. Everyone had just forgotten.
"That got a lot of attention. Next thing you know, everyone was clamoring to find out what else we didn't know anymore. Lucius Malfoy almost got forgotten in the madness, then someone came forward to say they thought Voldemort had made a Horcrux."
"A what?" Harry interrupted.
"Oh, that's right. I'd forgotten, you were in Africa with your parents when we heard about that," Hermione said. "A Horcrux is a creation of unspeakable evil. In order to make one, a person must split their soul, and place a piece of it inside of something, or maybe someone, else."
"How do you split your soul?"
"By committing murder. Harry..."
By the look on her face, Hermione had come to the same conclusion he had.
On his 17th birthday, as promised, Selene had turned Harry into a vampire. The transformed state, Harry had found easy to adapt to. The transformation itself, however… The pain had started small, localized in his forehead, in his scar. But it had expanded quickly, filling his head and body until he felt he couldn't move. Then, suddenly, it felt like something in him had snapped and the pain was gone.
He'd awoken in his mother's arms, sweaty and confused, but otherwise fine. Once his parents were sure nothing had gone wrong with his transformation, it had been mostly forgotten. If what Hermione was saying now was true… could that have been a Horcrux?
"How do you get rid of them?" Harry directed his question to both Ron and Hermione.
"Basilisk venom, I think," Ron said. When the other's looked at him in surprise he shrugged, his ears coloring slightly, "We have to learn these things in Auror training."
Harry nodded slowly, glancing at Hermione. He'd faced a basilisk before, almost died by its venom. He'd need to know more about Horcruxes. If there was any possibility that he was one, that his scar… The only thing he knew for sure right now, was that he couldn't be more grateful for the fact that his ability as a Parselmouth, the one thing that made him like Voldemort, seemed to have faded with age.
"Right," Ron said, "Turns out Voldemort made a bunch of them. Everyone went completely bonkers. Fudge was sacked immediately, that's why we got Minister Bones in now. And McGonagall took over Hogwarts.
"She kicked Dumbledore out, told him the time for quiet words and shadowed actions was over. He ended up heading a special task force to find and destroy all the Horcruxes."
Hermione nodded. "What happened to Hogwarts?"
"They used it as a fortress, Hogwarts and the other schools. Every wizarding child, if they were of age or not, and anyone that wasn't fighting stayed to keep us all safe.
"It was…" Ron shook his head.
"Yeah," Harry glanced at Hermione, who took his hand, "Yeah. I think I understand that."
Ron nodded. Hermione glanced between the boys, "If you'll excuse me." She gave Harry's hand a squeeze and slid out from the booth.
Ron watched her go. "Are you two…?"
"Not right now. Maybe. We've talked about it," Harry shrugged.
Ron nodded slowly, "Yeah, yeah. I think I understand that."
I would like to thank everyone for reading. Doubly, for everyone who left a review- particularly since I've only just been able to start getting back to you.
Should you have any comments, questions, concerns, etc. let me know. Everything done in this story was done with a reason and I don't mind my logic being questioned. In fact, I welcome it.
Thanks again,
Thyme