Epilogue

You're a Lousy Best Mate

A screaming bundle sat on Remus' hip, small hands pulling and yanking at the man's clothes. The child's splotchy face was scrunched up in stubborn defiance, crocodile tears rolling down his chubby cheeks. "No go! No go!"

Muffled laughter came from behind the duo, but Remus refused to pay it any mind, "Come on, squirt, we need to leave."

"Dada no go! Stay! No leave!"

"You're coming along."

"No wanna! Stay stay stay stay stay!"

He took a moment to close his eyes in an attempt to stop the oncoming headache. He then sat his son on the counter and stared right at him. "Edward Lupin, you will quiet down and listen."

Eyes darkened to a deep blue and the boy's hair went nearly black. He stuck his thumb in his mouth and kicked his legs out against the counter. Remus reached behind the boy to grab the soft yellow blanket and stuffed wolf toy. He gave those items to Edward and ruffled the boy's hair.

"Don't you want to see Caelum?"

"Caelum come?"

"Yes, Caelum will be there tomorrow."

"Here? Caelum here?" He tried to look around his father, but Remus gently gripped his son's face so their eyes locked.

"We're going to go now so we can see Caelum tomorrow."

"But... Want Caelum here."

"Uncle Fynn will be there. Do you want to see him?"

The little boy's eyes widened at his mother's words and immediately lunged at his father. "Go now! Go now!"

Remus caught his son and placed him once more on his hip before turning to Nymphadora. "Must you, Dora?"

The woman grinned unrepentantly, her hair a vivid pink and eyes a dark green. "Yes. Teddy loves his Uncle Fynn, doesn't he?" She swooped in and scooped their son up to nuzzle their noses together. Teddy squealed and his hair brightened to match his mum's.

With a put upon sigh, Remus smiled at his little family. "Then let's be off."

Arms wrapped around Draco's shoulders and lips pressed gently against his cheek. A low humming sound came from the woman who had snuck up on him.

"What are you still doing up?" He turned, drawing the dark haired woman onto his lap and rested his forehead on hers. "You should be resting." One hand dropped to her belly where a small bump resided.

"How can I, without my husband? I sleep better with you, you know this."

"I figured you'd sleep better without me tossing and turning."

Delicate hands reached up and cupped his face. "Why are you worrying?" She glanced at his desk and saw scattered parchment everywhere with bits of writing on them. A smile spread across her face, but she quickly wiped it away before Draco could say anything. "Another row?"

Draco could feel the heat rise in his cheeks and he muttered under his breath about typical Gryffindors and how they infuriated him and how they should be careful before running head first into fire.

"So the row is with Charlie this time? With how you're reacting, you're at fault." She chuckled when he blustered his denial. She maneuvered her way out of Draco's grasp. She grabbed his hands and gently pulled until he followed her not so subtle hint and stood. She backed up towards the door, leading him, until he dropped an arm around her shoulder to turn her around. "Did you not tell him?"

"Of course I did."

"In the midst of insults and demands?"

"I wouldn't -"

The floo flared to life behind them and an irritated Charlie stepped through the fire, arms bandaged and face burned. He also had a scowl featured prominently on his face as he stalked towards the subject of his ire. "Draco Malfoy, I have a-" The man stopped short in surprise, "Astoria, I - hullo. I didn't - I thought you'd be asleep. I knew the berk would be up, but..."

Astoria laughed and pecked Draco on the cheek. "Good evening, Charlie. I'm heading to bed now. You have an hour with my husband before I expect him. I want to get some rest before the sun rises. Don't make me come get him again."

"Yes, ma'am." Charlie gave her an apologetic grin. Astoria stepped out of Draco's loose hold and walked out of the study. Astoria closed the door softly behind her and left a wistful Draco staring after her. "Draco."

The blonde sighed, "Yes, hello, Charlie. What are you doing here so late? What is so important that it couldn't wait until tomorrow?"

"I've known you for about seven years. I knew you'd be awake and Astoria would come storming in to find you soon. Apparently I was a bit late to get to you before she woke up."

"Yes, brilliant job. Can you just say what you came to say?"

Charlie threw himself in an armchair, pain lancing across his features as his arms banged into the arm rests. "I'm too tired and in too much pain to be angry right now, though I'd like to be. Can't you worry like any other person instead of being such a brat?"

"You usually just blame my upbringing."

"There's only so much I can handle right now. Why did you have to tell me in the middle of your ranting and raving?" Draco ignored the blush creeping up his neck, not bothering to try and hide it because it was impossible to with his pale complexion. Charlie sighed, "A letter is a lousy way to -"

"I didn't know how to tell you in person," Draco cut him off with a huff. "Astoria refused to say anything, said it was up to me to tell you." Draco turned his back to Charlie and waved his wand, sending the unfinished letters from his desk to the hearth.

Movement behind him told him Charlie had stood up again. "All you had to do was come over and ask."

"Oh yes, right after I found out one of those dragon's ended up nearly burning you to a crisp." He sniffed in disdain, eyes intent as he watched all the failed correspondence attempts turned to ash.

"You're a lousy best mate," Charlie muttered from where he was standing beside Draco, and even though Draco could hear the fondness in the words he couldn't help the small flinch. The redhead nudged his friend's shoulder.

"Well, what does that say about a man who decided to befriend someone eight years younger than -"

"Oh hush." Charlie chuckled. "In all honesty, I'm not mad at you." Draco's head snapped up to stare in disbelief. "You have an odd way with words. But I managed to learn to read Malfoy-nese long ago. I've learned to read between the lines and figure out what you're really trying to say. So instead of doing the whole arguing thing, how about you pour us a bit of brandy in celebration?"

"Getting too old to handle a bit of bickering?" Still, the blonde went to the cabinet behind his desk and pulled out the alcohol and two tumblers. He poured the drinks and handed a glass over to the other man.

Charlie simply raised his tumbler with a grin, "To you and Astoria. And to your coming child."

The two drank to the toast. With his tumbler empty, Draco soon began fiddling around with his glass. He stared over Charlie's shoulder, leaning against his desk for support. "Did you... consider the other bit of the letter?"

"Which bit? The need to be more careful? The part about not walking into danger every chance I get. To -"

"No... the other bit."

"Remind me." Draco glanced over to see Charlie staring straight at him, all hints of humor gone.

Draco managed to get the words past his tight throat, "Will you be the godfather?"

"Of course," Charlie smiled and raised his glass to Draco with a nod, "All you had to do was ask."

Fenrir held a laughing Teddy who was changing his features to match those of the werewolf.

Remus stood with Dora, trying not to smile when his son smacked Fenrir in the face, the boy was in the midst of telling a thrilling story to his uncle.

Carina was speaking with her birth parents, standing on the veranda so they could look out at the sandy beach.

Draco had an arm wrapped around Astoria as they conversed with Bill.

Charlie was berating the twins for trying to spike the juice when they had just been told that Astoria was expecting.

Sirius was chasing his daughter - their middle child, aged five - around while Amelia kept a watchful eye on their three year old son as she laughed at their antics.

"Caelum?" The soft voice had Caelum turning and smiling at the recently graduated young man.

"You made it."

Elijah handed Caelum a drink, rolling his eyes as he sipped his own. "Yes, Caelum. I wouldn't dare miss it." He glanced over at Carina, who now had her attention on them, a bright smile on her face.

Caelum laughed at the younger man, "She didn't threaten you, I hope."

"Of course not. She just... how to put this delicately?"

"Threatened you."

"Yes, fine, she threatened me. As if she thought I wouldn't come of my own volition."

Caelum smiled fondly at him, "You're family, Elijah."

"I know," the quiet voice belied the answer, but Caelum let the obvious lie pass. They still had time to work on his young cousin's feelings of abandonment and insecurities. After all, who better to relate to those feelings of being unloved by blood relatives than Caelum? Yet Elijah had something he never had. The young wizard now had a family that loved him, parents that adopted him, a brother and a sister who adored him, and cousins... lots of cousins. Even if one of them was a scary witch.

He nudged Elijah's shoulder with his own, which his cousin paid in kind by poking a finger into Caelum's side. Caelum squawked, and sidestepped away with a faux scowl before chuckling under his breath, his hand coming up to sooth the hissing snake draped around his shoulders.

Caelum stood beside his cousin, watching as his extended family enjoyed the beautiful day and thought of all the steps he had to take to get where they were. It was a long road they traveled and Dumbledore, in all his manipulating ways, had a part to play. When the old man had fallen off his pedestal before his death in May 1997, Caelum was finally free of Dumbledore.

But even after six years, Caelum still had contradictory feelings about the old man. Bitter, yes. Angry, not as much. Grateful... a smidgen, and only because of how events unfolded, not because of the man himself.

After all, if Dumbledore hadn't interfered with Sirius' trial Caelum would have probably been raised by Sirius and Amelia.

But saying that, if life hadn't played out as it had, he wouldn't have befriended the others here and Remus wouldn't be as healthy as he was. A smile drew Caelum's lips up. While Moony still remained a lone wolf, he enjoyed running with Fenrir and Tonks - the latter changed into whatever form she wanted to in order to keep up with the two werewolves. Caelum imagined Teddy would soon be joining in and making it more of a play date than a run.

"Are you just going to watch everyone all day?" Elijah finally asked.

"For a few more minutes."

The young man glanced over, "Alright." He started to walk away before throwing a glance over his shoulder, "Happy Birthday, Caelum."

"Thanks, Elijah."

He watched as the younger man headed towards his adopted family. Elijiah had only gotten halfway there before his little sister, Lyra, had caught sight of him. She scrambled away from their father who was chanting, 'I'm gonna getcha! I'm gonna getcha!' and made a hasty beeline towards her big brother.

"Eli!" She called, trying to breathe while she ran and laughed. "Save me, Eli! Save me!"

"Hey! No reinforcements! Not fair!" Sirius started to speed up, trying to get to Lyra before Elijah could, but his son raced forward, snatched up Lyra, and bolted away from a now sputtering Sirius.

The elder man narrowed his eyes at his children. His lips pulled up in a smirk before a big black dog stood where he had been. The sound of barking chased Elijiah as he ran from the hound, Lyra squealing, 'He's catching us. Hurry, hurry!' and their younger brother's shout of, 'Snuffles!' had the others cackling in amusement.

Caelum chuckled at their antics, but his mind still wasn't entirely in the present.

Tom, after Dumbledore's death, had taken over the Ministry with his people and was changing the Wizarding World through them. There were no more Muggle hunts or Muggle-borns killed. They had a use and Tom wasn't going to simply throw them away. Still, he wanted power and Harry wasn't going to get in his way.

The only worry Caelum had left with Tom was the probability of living forever, but that would be a problem for another day. A day long in the future and hopefully something he didn't have to resolve himself.

After Tom had control of magical Britain and with Dumbledore dead, Caelum and Carina could have gone back to being Harry and Hermione, but... Caelum didn't want to go back to being Harry Potter. And of course with Caelum's decision to stay as Caelum, Carina stayed with him. Even after all these years, he couldn't find it in himself to care that Harry Potter was dead. He had his family, he had his revenge, he learned more than he had thought possible.

Downing his drink, he sent the glass to the table and grinned. Besides. He had more fun as Caelum.

A/N Cheesy ending is cheesy. I hope you enjoyed my crack story. I sure did!

Thank you all for your comments, I've enjoyed them all! You guys are all awesome and I'll see you next time! :)