When Neville Longbottom's wedding to Hannah Abbott came around, Harry and Hermione portkeyed to Britain for a long weekend. Knowing that they could return instantly by magical means, General Hammond had agreed to let them travel overseas for these few days, on condition that they kept their mobile phones with them at all times, in case they were needed. As Harry and Hermione had both given up their rented flats in London, they were staying together in Grimmauld Place, something that was not remarked upon by their friends until they went to the Burrow for dinner and it was noticed how much closer Harry and Hermione had become.

All the Weasleys were present, with their spouses and partners, apart from Charlie, who was at work on the dragon reserve in Romania. Molly had also invited Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minerva McGonagall and Andromeda Tonks, with her grandson, Teddy Lupin. Harry, who was feeling guilty about having moved so far away from his godson and hoped to spend as much time with Teddy as he could during their very short visit to Britain, was delighted to see 'Dromeda and Teddy.

"He's grown so much," said Harry sadly.

"That's what children do, dear," observed Molly with a warm smile.

"I know, but I didn't realise just how much I'd be missing until I saw him again."

At that moment, Hermione came over to Harry, who was holding his godson in his arms. "Hello, Teddy," she said with a smile for the little boy. "Do you remember me?"

Teddy looked at Hermione with wide eyes, but did not say anything. After a moment, the young Metamorphmagus changed his appearance to the same brown eyes and bushy brown hair as Hermione. As Harry and Hermione both smiled at the little boy who now looked so much like Hermione, the Weasleys raised their eyebrows at the sight of the threesome, who looked exactly like a mother and father doting on their son.

When they were sitting eating, Ginny leaned forward, in excited curiosity. "So, how long have you two been together?" she asked.

Harry's jaw dropped. "What?" he stuttered. "We're not together."

George started laughing. "Who are you trying to fool? You can't kid a kidder, Harrikins!"

"But we're not together!" exclaimed Hermione, her bewilderment clear for all to see.

The Weasleys fell silent. "Merlin!" breathed Ginny. "You're actually serious. You're not together?"

"No, we're not," said Harry decisively. "We're best friends. You know that. Why would you think otherwise?"

"Well, if you really don't know…" teased Ron.

"We'll leave you to work it out for yourselves," chortled George with glee.

Seeing Harry and Hermione's embarrassment, Minerva intervened, although she privately agreed with everyone else that Harry and Hermione were deeply in love. 'They just haven't realised it yet,' she thought. Out loud, she asked, "So, Harry. If you've been living with Hermione, does that mean you know what her mysterious job is?"

Harry blushed. "Yeah. Yes, I do."

"Oh, so you can tell us," said Ron eagerly.

"Actually, I can't," Harry admitted.

"How come you get to know and we don't?" asked Ron indignantly. "I'm your best friend!"

"I know because I'm working with Hermione now and, like her, I swore an oath not to tell anyone what we do," Harry explained.

"You're working with Hermione?" asked Minerva sharply. "I thought you planned to do a Mastery in Defence and then come and teach at Hogwarts."

"I'm still doing the Mastery, just like Hermione's doing her Arithmancy Mastery at the same time as working," Harry assured his former Head of House. "But I don't know if I'll be teaching at Hogwarts any time soon. I'm happy for now with what I'm doing, and it's important."

"Working for Muggles? How important can that be?" Percy scoffed.

Hermione gritted her teeth. She had never particularly liked Percy and his ignorant dismissal of all things Muggle angered her. It was attitudes like his that made life so hard for Muggleborns in wizarding Britain and that was causing wizarding Britain to fall far behind the rest of the world. Fortunately, Kingsley spoke up before Hermione could lose her temper with Percy.

"As Minister of Magic, I've been made aware of what Hermione and Harry are doing and, while I can't tell you what it is since I'm under the same oath of secrecy as they are, I can assure you it's of the utmost importance. As important as taking down Voldemort and his Death Eaters was, perhaps even more so."

Kingsley looked around at all the shocked faces and smiled. "Muggles are capable of incredible feats, things that we magicals can't even begin to imagine, and they shouldn't be dismissed just because they're not magical," he said mildly, before turning to Arthur and engaging him in a discussion on Muggles. Arthur's obsession with all things Muggle was well-known, and even Percy was not about to dismiss his own father; he had already done that during the war and knew that if he were to do so again, the damage he would do to his relationship with his family this time would be irreparable.

Truth be told, Harry understood why Hermione had no desire to return to live in Britain, and Percy had just demonstrated perfectly what was wrong with the country of his birth—and the reason why so many Muggleborns of their generation had chosen to leave Britain or the wizarding world, or both. Although Harry was in a better position than they, being a Half-blood and the Boy-Who-Lived, he nonetheless sympathised more with the Muggleborns than he did with the prejudiced Pureblood agenda. The anti-Muggleborn legilislation may all have been repealed but attitudes had not changed. He may not want to give voice to his reservations here and now, but Harry did not want to be seen to give tacit approval of the situation by teaching at Hogwarts, where he would no doubt be expected to gloss over for his students the problems faced by Muggleborns in the wizarding world. Harry knew that the Weasleys and all their other friends currently gathered around the Weasley dinner table sympathised with the Muggleborn predicament in theory, but in practice, they did not truly understand it, as they had only witnessed the prejudices of the wizarding world and had never actually been on the receiving end themselves. Harry was therefore glad to escape to a country that was more tolerant.

Harry and Hermione had returned to London on Thursday evening, and had gone to the Burrow for dinner on Friday night. Saturday was the wedding and on Sunday, Harry went to spend the day with Andromeda and Teddy, taking Hermione along with him. After an exhausting day, Harry and Hermione were gratefully relaxing with Andromeda once Teddy had finally gone to sleep.

"Teddy's just a bundle of energy, isn't he?" asked Harry with a laugh.

"Yes, he is," Andromeda agreed. "Although he was particularly excited today because you and Hermione were here."

"Andromeda," said Hermione with a frown. "Please don't take offence, but are you managing all right on your own with Teddy? I'm sure Molly and Fleur Weasley are happy to look after him any time for you, but I know Harry used to spend a lot of time with Teddy, so with him in the States, you must have less time for yourself now."

"Thank Merlin for the Weasleys," Andromeda agreed. "Molly and Fleur really have been an enormous help, especially now that I'm working again, even though it's only part-time. Even Kreacher has also been helping me. Harry, please don't feel guilty," she added when she saw the look in those expressive, green eyes. "You were very depressed before. I was worried about you, and in all honesty, you weren't much use to Teddy when you were empty like that. I know you made a point of spending time with him, but you were just going through the motions, because you couldn't be happy even around Teddy. I haven't seen you as alive as you were today for a long time and I'm very pleased to see it. Just don't forget to stay in touch and to visit Teddy whenever you can and that'll be enough."

"You know, you and Teddy can also visit us, 'Dromeda," Hermione suggested gently.

Andromeda smiled. "That would be nice, dear. It would be nice to get away for a while," she agreed, looking around the room sadly.

Hermione said nothing, but her brain was racing. When she and Harry returned to Grimmauld Place that evening, Hermione dragged Harry into the kitchen for a cup of tea. "We need to talk," she said firmly.

"Is something wrong?" Harry asked when they were sitting comfortably at the table.

"Not exactly," said Hermione hesitantly, before taking the plunge. "Harry, what do you think about inviting Andromeda and Teddy to come and live with us?" The words all came out in a rush.

"What?" asked Harry, not sure he had understood properly.

"Harry, 'Dromeda is still living in the house in which she lived with her husband, in which they raised their daughter. It's full of memories and I think it just emphasises her losses. We shouldn't say anything to her now, but let's encourage 'Dromeda to come and visit us as soon as possible. We can decide if it's a good idea to invite her to move to Colorado Springs while she's there."

Harry nodded slowly. No matter how often people told him he was not abandoning Teddy, he still felt guilty for having moved so far away from his godson. Having grown up as an orphan himself, Harry knew how important his own godfather had been to him, even though he had only known Sirius for two years. Harry's living situation as a child had not been good, having been sent to live with relatives who feared and hated magic, and consequently, Harry himself. Andromeda adored her grandson, who was all the family she had left, but despite that, Harry was determined to be there for Teddy in a way that Sirius had been unable to be for Harry. This was the reason why Harry still thought in the back of his mind that perhaps he ought to return to teach at Hogwarts after he completed his Mastery, instead of staying at the SGC, which was his preferred option.

"Where would they stay? We don't have much room."

Hermione considered that for a moment. "When they come to visit, I'll sleep on the sofabed in my office and give 'Dromeda my room. Teddy can sleep in your room with you." Teddy was now six years old, and Hermione was sure Andromeda would rather not have him in her room with her if there was an alternative.

"And if 'Dromeda decides to move to Colorado Springs?" asked Harry pointedly. This was not a long-term solution, after all.

"If 'Dromeda decides to move to Colorado Springs permanently, she'll either get her own place for herself and Teddy, or else we can easily move to somewhere large enough to accommodate us all. It's only a rented house, after all. We just give notice to the landlord and move on."

Once back in Colorado Springs, Harry and Hermione sent a portkey to Andromeda, urging her and Teddy to come and visit. Andromeda had been unable to send Teddy to Muggle primary school, because he still could not control his Metamorphmagus abilities perfectly. As there were no magical primary schools in Britain, most magicals home-schooled their children prior to sending them off to Hogwarts, some because they had grown up in the Wizarding world and were scared of the unfamiliar Muggle world, but mostly because it was simply too difficult to contain accidental magic in children. Therefore, Andromeda and Molly were taking care of Teddy's pre-Hogwarts education; they had both done so for their own children and Molly was now doing the same for her grandchildren, so the addition of Teddy to the group of children she cared for while their parents were at work made no practical difference to the motherly woman.

It was not long before Andromeda and Teddy came to visit Harry and Hermione. Because the United States was so large, there was a main Ministry for Magic in Washington DC and subsidiary offices in most State capitals. Hermione had arranged a portkey for Andromeda and Teddy through the branch office in Denver, and she and Harry were both waiting there for their guests' arrival.

"Uncle Harry!" cried Teddy, racing over as soon as he saw his godfather. Harry caught the little boy up in his arms and swung him around, as Teddy screamed in laughter.

"It's good to see you, 'Dromeda," said Hermione, seeing that Harry was too caught up with Teddy to acknowledge Andromeda.

Neither Harry nor Hermione had been able to take time off work for the week-long visit, but they had managed to avoid having any missions scheduled during that period, so they were only working office hours. Andromeda met SG-23 and SG-27 and their families, plus Healer Anthea Jason, and everyone fell in love with Teddy.

In fact, Andromeda had a very interesting conversation with Anthea after discovering that the younger woman was not only a Muggle doctor but also a magical Healer. Andromeda herself was also a Healer, but as her interest was in medical research, she had undertaken a Potions Mastery as well.

Before Janet Fraiser's death, Janet had discussed with Anthea the possibility of adapting some of the magical potions for the use of non-magicals. In Britain, this would be completely forbidden, however, in the States there was more flexibility in the application of the Statute of Secrecy. Manufacturing potions for the muggle commercial market would not be acceptable, but with special dispensation from the Minister for Magic, producing them for the specialised use of the Armed Forces might well be permitted—especially in the case of the SGC, whose personnel often picked up off-world infections and diseases that did not always respond particularly well to standard Muggle medications. If the magical equivalents could help, then this would be a boon to the SGC.

Of course, Anthea was not able to explain all of this to Andromeda, but she did take the opportunity to pick the older woman's brains in general terms regarding adapting magical potions for Muggle use. Andromeda found herself fascinated with this conversation and began asking Anthea about working as a Healer in the States. Andromeda, who was often frustrated by the small-mindedness and lack of vision of the British wizarding establishment, and the narrow parameters and restrictions under which she was forced to work—not for safety, moral or ethical reasons but due to lingering blood prejudice—began to consider whether she might be better off working outside the UK.

"I don't think I'd be able to work for Muggles, like you do, though," said Andromeda to Anthea, shaking her head. "I was born into a highly prejudiced Pureblood family and even though I rebelled enough to marry a Muggleborn wizard, we still lived and worked in the wizarding world. We had no choice really, since our daughter was a Metamorphmagus and began to show signs of that ability right from the very day she was born. I don't think I'd be able to blend into the Muggle world well enough. I don't have the knowledge or experience for that."

Anthea nodded in understanding. "There's a large magical hospital in Denver. It's only about sixty miles away as the crow flies, or about seventy miles by car. That's a short apparition jump, or you could easily hook up to the floo network. You could live here in Colorado Springs, near your family, or if you prefer to live in Denver, it still shouldn't be a problem to see Harry and Hermione frequently. The hospital has some good Potioneers who are capable of brewing highly complex potions, but they don't have anyone who's capable of adapting the potions when need be, or of creating new ones. We do have some very good Potions Masters here in the US but none in this part of the country, so I'm sure the Colorado Magical Infirmary would be delighted to be able to employ a Healer and Potioneer of your calibre."

This gave Andromeda food for thought and she discussed it with Harry and Hermione that evening after Teddy was asleep.

"What would your feelings be if I decided to move to Colorado?" Andromeda asked cautiously.

"We'd love it," replied Harry promptly.

"We were actually going to ask if you might be willing to consider it," Hermione clarified.

Andromeda nodded. "I think so. It would be best for Teddy to be near Harry…"

"Is Teddy your only reason? You need to do what's best for you, too," Hermione interrupted. "You need to be sure it's what you want for yourself, or you might come to resent having made the move, and that wouldn't be good for either you or Teddy," she added more gently.

"No, it's not the only reason," said Andromeda decisively. "Healer Jason was telling me about the magical hospital in Denver; she says they could really use someone with my skills and she promised to put me in touch with the right people there. From what she was saying, I'd have much more freedom with my research there than I do in Britain, which is very tempting. Plus…" Andromeda looked sad, "I'm haunted by memories back home. I'm beginning to understand why you two have found a new start so appealing, and I'm finding the idea of starting over somewhere else very attractive. I may not ever have considered it if you weren't here, but you are, and it's not like I have any family left in Britain, after all."

That was true. Although Narcissa Malfoy and Andromeda Tonks were sisters, Andromeda had been disowned when she married Ted Tonks and the two sisters had neither seen each other nor spoken since. Not even the end of the war and the Malfoys' realisation that times were changing had brought the sisters together again. Although the Weasleys had welcomed Andromeda into their midst, it was as a family friend, rather than as family. To Andromeda, her only remaining family was Teddy and his godfather, Harry.

"If you're sure it's what you really want…" said Harry hesitantly, not wanting to influence Andromeda by how happy this made him.

"Then we'd love to have you here," finished Hermione. "There's a good magical school—with both a primary and a secondary division—in Denver. The school has a good reputation and flooing back and forth every day isn't a problem. I believe they have a central, secure, floo point for all their students. The school takes children from all over the State, and beyond, so you'd have no problem with enrolling Teddy. The junior school is a day school but the high school has the option of daily attendance or boarding. Regardless of whether you end up living in Denver or Colorado Springs, though, Harry and I will be near enough to see you and Teddy regularly." Hermione had checked out the magical schooling options before Andromeda arrived, knowing that it would be an important factor when they tried to persuade her to move to the States. Fortunately, it did not look like much persuasion would be necessary.

"Unless you want to live with us?" asked Harry hopefully. "We could easily move somewhere larger."

"No, I'd rather have my own home. I'm used to my own independence," replied Andromeda with a smile. Besides, like the rest of their friends, she could see that Harry and Hermione had feelings for each other and did not want to get in the way of a burgeoning relationship. "But I wouldn't mind living nearby," she added, and Harry, who had been looking disappointed, immediately brightened.

"That's probably a good idea," said Hermione, chewing her lip thoughtfully. "As part of our jobs, Harry and I frequently have to travel. It's rarely more than a few days at a time, but we do go away quite often. If you were in Colorado Springs, you'd have the support of the other magical, military families, who also have to put up with people disappearing frequently on missions. You'd be more alone in Denver."

The very next day, Andromeda got in touch with Healer Jason, and Anthea immediately arranged for Andromeda to meet her contacts at the Colorado Magical Infirmary, from which meeting Andromeda walked away with a firm job offer. The world of potioneering was not large and Andromeda's reputation was well known. Andromeda immediately began house-hunting, with Harry and Hermione's assistance, quickly finding a home comfortably near Harry and Hermione, but still far enough away that they would not be living in each other's pockets. The house she found was in a very nice neighbourhood, and was very reasonably priced because the neighbourhood did not have a top school, which did not bother her as Andromeda promptly enrolled Teddy in the junior section of the Colorado Academy for Arcane Studies.

When Andromeda returned to the UK after her holiday in Colorado Springs, it was to hand in her notice at St Mungo's and pack up her home. St Mungo's was shocked that Andromeda would leave after so many years, and Andromeda was quite forthright in explaining her frustrations.

"My research has been continually hampered by people who wish to ration healing only to those who they deem worthy. In America, I'll have no such restrictions," Andromeda declared acerbically, and this silenced the Head Healer, who had to agree with Andromeda's frustrations. Healers had to swear a magical version of the Hippocratic Oath, one which was based on the Declaration of Geneva⁴, and which required Healers to treat all who required healing without prejudice. Healers were at risk of losing their magic if they violated that oath, so those at St Mungo's who did have lingering prejudices were not the Healers but rather the administrators and the bean counters, both of which categories, unfortunately, had far more power than the Head Healer would have liked.

With that, Andromeda received the Head Healer's blessing to move on and within a month, she and Teddy were happily settled in Colorado Springs. Kreacher had finally joined them also, having been spurred on to make the move by his desire to help Andromeda with the 'Young Master.' Apenimon Wolfe, the American Minister for Magic, had been of great assistance and had issued green cards for them, after receiving a request from Kingsley and Hermione. Harry was now ecstatically happy, as it meant that he was able to see Teddy almost every day. Between the three adults, it was very easy for one of them to floo Teddy to and from school every day, as he was still a bit too young to floo by himself.

By the time Andromeda and Teddy had been in Colorado Springs for a year, Harry and Hermione no longer had to worry about where Teddy would sleep when the little boy stayed over with them. To no one's surprise, Harry and Hermione had become a couple and when Harry moved into Hermione's room, the pair of them had taken great delight in decorating Harry's old room for Teddy. The walls had been painted in a bright, sky blue colour, and there was a green carpet on the floor. One wall was covered in decals—neither Harry nor Hermione was particularly artistic, so it was easier to use wall stickers than to try and paint a scene themselves—consisting of a number of animals in amongst some trees and grass. Not surprisingly, prominently displayed amongst the myriad of animals were a wolf, stag and black dog, representing Remus Lupin, James Potter and Sirius Black respectively. There was also a cat to represent Hermione and a falcon to represent Harry. The fact that Harry's Animagus was the speedy Peregrine Falcon was of no surprise to anyone who had ever seen him play Quidditch.

Two years later, Colorado Springs was invaded by magicals from Britain for Harry and Hermione's wedding. The engaged couple had flatly refused to get married in Britain, not wanting to have to deal with the British magical press, in particular one Rita Skeeter, who had a vendetta against Hermione, and a nasty habit of writing fictional articles which she then presented as fact. By this time, the existence of magic was more widely known in the SGC, especially as Hermione had managed to create a spell that would enforce secrecy on the non-magicals, much like a magical oath. If anyone refused to have the spell applied to them, they would be Obliviated, but so far no one had refused the application of the secrecy spell. With that, Harry and Hermione were able to invite both magicals and military to their wedding without having to worry about their friends sending up warning flags by showing their lack of familiarity with the Muggle world.

Harry had attained his Defence Mastery before their wedding, his Auror training having given him a head start on his studies, but Hermione, who had a heavier day-to-day workload than Harry, had not yet completed her own studies. By the time their first child was born a further two years later, however, Hermione had finally attained her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Mathematics and her Arithmancy Mastery, although she was still shy of being awarded her Doctorate in Mathematics.

Knowing how worried Harry was that their children might grow up orphans like himself and Teddy, with the birth of James Sirius, to her husband's great relief, Hermione decided to withdraw from SG-23 and work full-time in the labs.

By this time there were no longer any serious threats against Earth. The Goa'uld and the Replicators had both been defeated. (Magic had indeed been found to fry the Replicators' circuits but this had proved to be of limited use in the war against them, since the Replicators had been spread out throughout the galaxy and magic could only be used in individual encounters, rather than as a widespread weapon; however, the Replicators had eventually been defeated by means of an Ancient superweapon.) Even the new enemy which the SGC had encountered after the defeat of the Goa'uld and the Replicators, a race known as the Ori, had also been defeated.

However, this did not mean that every step through the Stargate into the unknown was without danger, and so Hermione withdrew from the field teams for the sake of her children. This proved of great advantage to the SGC as a whole, as Hermione began to become more involved in mission planning at a strategic level; her Arithmantic predictions were not infallible as there were too many unknown variables, but applying Arithmantic principles to the planning helped cut down immensely on the danger the off-world teams experienced nevertheless.

Teddy, with his Metamorphmagus abilities, understandably showed a decided talent for Transfiguration, completing a Mastery and becoming a much-loved teacher at Colorado Academy for Arcane Studies, where he was joined on staff by his wife, Victoire Weasley, who was a Charms Mistress. While the British wizarding world was no longer the dark place of Harry and Hermione's childhood, the young part-Veela had still experienced prejudice in Britain and had therefore chosen to join her old childhood friend, Teddy, at the Colorado Academy for her Mastery studies.

James Sirius, the most flamboyant of Harry and Hermione's children, became a professional Quidditch player and then a professional coach after retiring from play, rising to manager of the American national team; their second child, Lily Luna, who had much of the insight of her namesake, Luna Lovegood, became a wandmaker; Hugo Brian, named for Hermione's father and Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, became an Auror; their youngest child, Rose Tobi, named for Hermione's mother and Severus Tobias Snape, became a Potions Mistress like her namesake.

None of the children showed any desire to move to Britain, and all found spouses in the States. Like his grandfather and namesake, James fell in love with a classmate at a very young age but, unlike his grandparents' story, his regard was returned from the start, much to the disappointment of his Quidditch fans when they realised James was devoted to his wife, who was employed by his Quidditch team as a Mediwitch. Lily married the youngest son of Alexander Paxton, who joined the Air Force and later the SGC like his father. Albus married a Wards Mistress who frequently worked with the Auror Corps. Rose married Louis Weasley, Victoire's younger brother, who she met when he came to visit his sister and her family; at his Uncle George's request, when he came to visit Victoire, Louis had taken the opportunity to assess the potential of opening a new branch of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, near the magical school in Denver, and after meeting Rose, had remained in Denver as the manager of the new shop. Although all four Potter children were brought up to be as comfortable in the Muggle world as the magical, they all pursued careers in the wizarding world. As they watched their family flourish, Harry and Hermione never regretted making their fresh, new start in Colorado Springs.

.o.O.o.

⁴ en dot wikipedia dot org / wiki / Declaration_of_Geneva

.o.O.o.

A/N: I'm sorry that this is an abrupt ending—I know some readers would have liked to have seen more of Harry and Hermione at the SGC—but thanks to some truly vivious reviews from people who didn't have the guts to log in, I've decided to end the story here. Perhaps the anonymous reviewers who like to flame without contributing anything positive ought to consider that if they keep doing that, people will stop posting stories altogether, and that would be a very great shame.