Author's Note: This is the final chapter / epilogue of this story, and this was always how I intended to end it. I started this story in 2008...and finished it in 2019. But I always said I would finish, because this is one story that would never leave me alone in my head.

Disclaimers: Obviously the author does not own Harry Potter, as if anyone actually thought that. /eyeroll

Epilogue

29 October 1981

He moves silently through the streets of the town, invisible to the world. It is mid-morning, and the autumn colors are bright and cheery, but he pays them no heed – very little cheers him these days.

Few people are out. Children are in school and mothers are shopping at the market, but here and there he sees someone: a little elderly lady calling to her small dog, which is running around a yard chasing leaves; an old man with a cane picking up the newspaper from the pavement; a delivery truck rumbling down the street.

He remains tense as he eyes these unknowing citizens – men and women who have no idea of a war raging around them, or that they live in a village with magical brethren as neighbors. He smiles sadly, and he hopes no harm comes to them. But just in case he casts a few protection spells on those he sees.

Just in case.

As he nears a certain point in the neighborhood road, he thinks of an address, and magically, a house squeezes between two others, suddenly appearing before his eyes.

It is not an unusual sight, for he has seen the house many times in the past few months, and he hates that it must remain hidden. But it is imperative that it stays that way for now.

Two raps on the door and fourteen seconds later, he hears a man's voice from the other side of the wood.

"Declare yourself!"

"Albus Dumbledore," he responds placidly.

"Why did you let me out of Professor Slughorn's detention in February of my sixth year?"

"Because you were only trying to impress Miss Evans," he chuckles, remembering that particular episode. "And I thought it rather callous to put you in detention when you seemed so despondent about the entire evening. Though that hideous red Muggle velvet leisure suit was probably a bit much, even for you. I do hope you burned that thing; it was absolutely ghastly."

The latch has already clicked before he's finished the sentence and the door opens, revealing James's untidy mop of hair and twinkling eyes.

"Ghastly? Really? I liked that suit, you know! It wasn't hideous or ghastly, it was snazzy. And very Gryffindor-esque. Couldn't see why Slughorn disagreed, really."

"Which is precisely why you nearly ended up in detention."

James steps back to allow him into the foyer. "Lily wondered if you were going to stop by today."

"I do hope she made those delicious shortbread raspberry tea cookies in anticipation of my potential visitation?"

Lily's voice calls out from the kitchen at the end of the front hall. "Of course I did! I know they're you're favorites."

From the living room, a blur enters the hall, laughing and zipping about, and James snags it in midair as Dumbledore seals the door with a number of charms. A light clatter tells him that the toy broomstick has fallen to the floor, and he looks back into the bright green eyes of Harry, who has two fingers in his mouth and is looking mildly startled that he is no longer flying about. His hair sticks in all directions, just as James's hair does, and he eyes Dumbledore shyly before burying his face in James's neck.

James gathers the broomstick, too. "Can't keep him off of it," he says cheekily. "He'll be a bloody brilliant Quidditch player one day. Sirius is betting he'll be a Beater – he nearly killed the cat a few days ago, flying around too fast, and then ran headlong into Sirius, who probably deserved it for being such a sorry excuse for a godfather. I'm banking on him being a Chaser myself, though. You have big footsteps to follow, don't you?" James tosses Harry up and the boy laughs as his father catches him deftly again. "Sirius was trying to teach you an inappropriate charm the other day too, yes he was! Which is why he deserved a knock in the shins."

"Don't float him down the hall," Lily calls from the kitchen. "You nearly whacked him into the transom the other day!"

"That was because Sirius distracted me!"

"Which really just means that neither of you should be allowed near children!"

Despite the cheerful banter, Dumbledore smiles sadly as he enters the kitchen behind James. Lily is bustling around, setting the tea tray with a pretty autumn-colored tea set. The cozy is knitted to look like a pumpkin, and a plate of raspberry cookies sits beside it. It breaks his heart that they must hide like this, and that they still smile and laugh and talk about Harry playing Quidditch one day. If the war ends before the boy is scheduled to go to Hogwarts, of course.

"It is time for your nap," Lily adds, taking her son from James as Harry yawns widely. She beams at Albus and stands on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Help yourself while I put him down, won't you? If you don't mind pouring the tea yourself. I'm a terrible hostess, I know."

Albus chuckles. "You are not a terrible hostess, and I can certainly pour a cup of tea." His wand is already out; the teapot lefts and pours gracefully into Lily's pretty china cups.

Ten minutes later, Harry is sleeping soundly upstairs with a charm around his bedroom to alert them if anything happens, and Lily has rejoined the table and helped herself to a cuppa.

"Are you just here for a social call?" she asks, offering him another raspberry cookie. "Or something more serious?"

"A social visit today. Though there is plenty of bad news I could share."

"Well, let's not spoil the mood," Lily says cheerfully. "It's a nice day."

"I fear the mood is already spoilt. Keeping the two of you locked away like this…" Dumbledore sighs and glances out of the window. "It reminds me of the war in Europe during the 40's. Jewish Muggles hiding in rooms for years, not going outside for fear of being killed by the Nazis..."

"Oh, don't worry about us. We're fine," James answers.

"Besides, we have – " Lily's sentence trails off suddenly with a sharp look from James, and Albus raises his eyebrows.

"Have what?"

"Nothing." James gives him a disarming smile that he used to employ to get out of detentions. It may work on some people. However, Albus and Horace are excluded from this set.

Dumbledore sighs with annoyance. "You may as well just tell me. If you're sneaking out without my knowledge, I should probably at the least remind me you that you have a son you need to be extremely concerned for –"

"Oh no," Lily looks horrified, "It's not what you're thinking at all, Professor. We aren't sneaking out!" She turns to her husband helplessly. "Oh, for crying out loud – James, just go get it and show him, otherwise he'll think we're unfit parents! I didn't mean to let it slip, truly, but what's done is done."

"It's supposed to be a secret," James grumbles.

"We're just telling Albus, not the whole world. And besides, Sirius, Remus, and Peter already know."

Albus must admit that his curiosity is piqued now, and he ventures, "I'm quite baffled, I must say."

James rises, annoyed, and skulks out of the kitchen.

"It's marvelous really," Lily says brightly, smiling at him. "It will all make sense when you see it. We use it to go into the back garden, so Harry can get some fresh air, that's all. I promise. And the back garden is under protection anyways, so it's probably not even necessary, but James insists..."

A few minutes later, James returns, holding something silvery and light in his hands. "See?" he grouses. He looks incredibly sullen. "It's perfectly safe, I promise. I've been using it for years and nothing dreadfully bad has happened to me yet."

Albus's eyebrows raise in surprise. "An invisibility cloak?"

Lily beams as James throws the cloak on over himself, disappearing from view. She says, "Yes, James inherited it from his mother."

James re-emerges and hands it to Dumbledore, before taking his seat again and resuming his tea, looking highly disgruntled that one of his best secrets is out of the bag.

"Well, this certainly explains a lot of unexplainable things that happened while you were at school," Albus admits, gliding his hand along the fabric. He can't quite be annoyed, however. The cloak is most unusual – not like Alastor's cloak in the least. The fabric is different. He frowns slightly as he examines it. "Where did your mother get this, James?"

"It's been in her family for generations. She always said it was an heirloom, and to never let it leave the family." James pours another cup of tea for himself. "She said her great-grandfather passed it down to her mother, and before that, his grandfather gave it to him. So..." His brow furrows slightly as he thinks and does the math in his head. "I suppose our family has had it for centuries, really."

He has no idea, Albus realizes. A jolt of horror and excitement coarse through him. James has no earthly idea what he owns. Slowly, he murmurs, "But most cloaks only last a few decades. It is highly... unusual... for one to last centuries."

James shrugs. "That one must have some different charms on it, then. Maybe the charms were lost over time and aren't used on cloaks today? I don't know."

"In truth, I have never seen anything like this before. It is truly extraordinary. Do you mind," Albus says slowly, "if I borrow this for a day or two?"

Lily and James look up in surprise, then at each other.

"I suppose not." James shrugs. "But I didn't think you needed a cloak to make yourself invisible?"

"No, I don't. But I'd like to examine this one more thoroughly than I have time to do at present. It is just so highly unusual."

"It's just an invisibility cloak." James's voice is bemused. "Moody has one just like it."

"No, he does not. Alastor has an invisibility cloak, yes. But it is not remotely like this one. The fabric is entirely different."

"What do you expect to find?" Lily asks. He can hear the curiosity and surprise in her voice; Lily always did appreciate Charms more than James.

"I'm not sure." Albus lies easily, though he hates to lie to Lily and James. So few people know about the Deathly Hallows, and he would rather not startle them unless he is absolutely correct. "Something quite unique, I expect."

"Well, I don't mind," James replies. "Though we'll wait for you to return it before we go back into the garden. I feel safer knowing Harry is under it if we take him outside." He and Lily exchanged an uneasy look.

"Not to worry – I should have it back to you in two days' time," Albus assures them. "November the first, you have my word. It is yours, after all. An old man's curiosity, I fear, is a dreadful thing. And as you know, I am most interested in unusual magic."

When he leaves, thirty minutes later, he only feels a twinge of guilt. He will return it to James, for James is likely the rightful owner... although Albus will have to check Wizarding Nobility to be sure. Still... if it is what he expects...

He is now in possession of two of the Deathly Hallows.

FIN~