I, SweetSouthernGal, solemnly swear that throughout the time while I was writing this story did not gain posession of Harry Potter or any of the related paraphenalia. I don't know who exactly owns it even, and I don't care so long as they don't sue me for writing this story for my own pure pleasure and enjoyment.

September 2013: Edited/tweaked from original epilogue posting in March of 2008. See AN in Chapter One for details.

Harry Potter stood in the opening of his Gringotts vault with a calculating look on his face. He had never really been through the vault before, he had always just grabbed a few Galleons, Sickles, Knuts and left. That wasn't to say it had escaped him that there was far more in the Potter vault than money, because it certainly hadn't. He had just always had better things to do, places to be and whatnot.

It was now in the aftermath of the war, however, and Harry Potter was currently avoiding all the praise and gratitude he had been receiving for days on end now. He was glad that Voldemort was finally, truly gone- but he was still not happy persay. He had lost a lot because of the war, more than most- though he wasn't foolish enough to say more than all. He had lost his parents, his godfather, a trusted mentor and professor, a beloved pet, a man who was a second godfather to him, and countless friends.

The Burrow, where Harry had been staying ever since the Battle of Hogwarts, was currently rather a somber place as the loss of Fred Weasley was mourned. It pained Harry to see the once lively place so sullen, but it pained him more to know that the place need not have been so sullen had it not been for him. Harry shook his head, trying to keep the nagging thoughts at the back of his mind. He had come here to sort through the other things his parents had left him in order to get his mind off those thoughts of guilt and despair. He knew his loved ones wouldn't want him to blame himself, but that didn't make it any easier to shrug off the feelings of guilt mixed in with his grief.

Harry coughed, and allowed himself to step into the large room. He carefully avoided the stacks upon stacks of various coins, and headed towards the back left corner that he had noticed had a couple of stacks of boxes. He managed to make it to the corner without causing any real mess, and grabbed a couple of boxes from the top of one stack before sitting down on the vault floor and opening them.

In the first box he found a plethora of legal documents, he had not realized that the Potter estate included so many properties- including a fair few that extended beyond the United Kingdom. He'd have to look into the condition of the properties sometime soon. In the second box he found a map of his family tree (well, of the Potter side) and while it wasn't uninteresting, he lacked the desire to examine it at the moment. The box also contained birth and death certificates of many (if not all) the members of the family tree, but those too failed to capture his interest.

As Harry stood back up to grab a couple more boxes, he noticed two near the bottom of the stack- labeled "Correspondence." For some reason, this did peak his interest, and he moved the couple of boxes on top of them so they were situated on his recently discarded boxes. Harry sat back down, and opened the first Correspondence box.

On top was a parchment that began with Dear Harry…

Dear Harry,

We have saved these boxes here for you so that you were certain to receive them one day. You never know what may happen outside in the real world, but Gringotts is surely a safe place to keep anything. We have kept these letters for you, darling boy, so that one day you may read them and know how I finally managed to fall for your father.

While if you've grown up with us, you surely have heard the story- I can't shake the fear that you may not have grown up with us, and have never heard the story. If that is true, I'm so sorry, my darling boy. I wish I could have watched you grown up to the man that you certainly must be now as you sit here. While I hope that I have indeed watched you become a man, I seem to believe that it is much more likely that you have grown up without me, and without your father.

The letters enclosed in this box, and in the box similarly labeled to this are from a project your father and I were assigned in our Sixth Year at Hogwarts. We both took an experimental "Cultural Studies" course, and everyone in our course was given a secret pen pal, and we were assigned to write for one year. Your father and I were paired up. While we managed to stop fighting during Sixth Year, and I even began to fall for him- I doubt we would have gotten together had it not been for the correspondence project. The project allowed us both to see a different side of the other, and it was this project that brought us so close, and ultimately together.

While I didn't fall all over him after the project was over, as I found out he had known my identity for some time- I did allow myself to finally admit I had feelings for him. And from that day on, he was more insufferable than I'd ever known. Don't get me wrong though, Harry, he was wonderful- and we were happy…so happy. Our happiness was only magnified by your birth, and not even learning of that stupid prophecy and the necessity that we go into hiding could diminish it.

Dear son, I hope you read these letters and that you are able to gather from them how much I loved your father, and how much he loved me. I hope you are able to better learn who we are, and I hope you like who we are (or perhaps were). I hope, dear Harry, that you have found a woman you love as much as your father and I loved each other. I hope that if you have not found her yet, that you will- and that you will be happy together.

Please read these letters, Harry- and as you read them, remember how much your father and I not only loved each other- but how much we loved you.

I love you, my dear sweet boy,

Mum

Harry wiped away the tears that had begun to stream down his cheeks at reading the letter to him (to him!) from his mum. He swallowed the lump in his throat, and gave a sniffle. He looked in the box, and saw that it was filled with parchment. He smiled- two boxes full of letters to read from his parents.

Harry shook his head, he'd go through the rest of the boxes, and the rest of the vault, later. All he wanted at the moment was to go back to the Burrow, to go home, and read the letters his parents had carefully penned. So, Harry picked up the two boxes, picking up the legal document box as an afterthought, and gingerly made his way out of the vault. He was silent as he rode a cart back up to the Gringotts lobby, the Goblins had grudgingly forgiven him the break-in given his defeat of Voldemort and his followers (the fact that the Lestrange vault was now ownerless and had subsequently been turned over to be split between the Ministry and Gringotts had helped. He maintained his silence as he made his way outside the bank and quickly Apparated back to the Burrow before he could be harassed by well-wishers once more.

Harry arrived just inside the front door, and made his way up the stairs to the room that was no longer called simply Ron's, but rather "Ron and Harry's room." He passed Ginny's room as he made his way to his own, but didn't notice her standing in the open doorway. She trailed after him as he went, curious about his haul, and stopped in the doorway as he walked in and set the boxes on his bed.

"What are those?" She asked, pointing to the boxes Harry snapped around, wand in hand, and let out a sigh when he saw it was merely Ginny.

"Merlin, Gin, you scared me." Harry breathed as he dropped his wand and relaxed his stance one more, Ginny gave a meek smile,

"Sorry." Harry shook his head,

"It's fine."

"So…" Ginny said, "What's in the boxes?"

"Oh!" Harry said, "Well, I don't know if you know, I mentioned something to your mum when I left this morning, but I went to Gringotts to go through my vault."

"What for?" Gnny asked, a confused look on her face as she finally entered the room, and sat down on the bed. Harry sat down next to her, situated so that he was in between her and the boxes.

"Well, I long ago noticed there's loads more in the vault my parents left me than money, but I'd never gone through any of it…I've kind of been needing something to do, something to get my mind off everything, so I thought I'd go through the vault."

"How angry were the Goblins with you?" Ginny asked, "After everything before…"

"Well, they weren't particularly happy with me- but they weren't too mad because I did get rid of Voldemort, and they really didn't like him either. Plus, it was decided that the contents of the Lestrange vault as well as a few others were to be split between the Ministry and Gringotts, and since my actions helped with that..."

"That's good."

"Yeah."

"So, I repeat, what's in the boxes?" Harry laughed,

"Well, one of them is full of legal papers, deeds to houses and stuff that I have apparently inherited. I'm going to have to look into them."

"Houses?" Ginny asked,

"Apparently."

"Merlin, you really are rich aren't you?"

"Well, my parents were; well, really- my dad was."

"But you inherited the money." Ginny pointed out, "It's yours now."

"Yeah, and I inherited all of the Black estate too. It still doesn't feel like mine though, my parent's stuff feels like mine…but I don't much care about it. I'm grateful for it, but…"

"I think I get what you're saying."

"Good, because I'm not sure how to say it." Ginny laughed,

"So what's in the other two boxes?"

"Oh!" Harry cried, "Apparently my parents got together because of this Correspondence project in their Sixth Year. They were assigned secret pen pals, and they had to write for a year. My parents were partners. My mum wrote me a letter explaining it all, she said they didn't get together right afterwards- but ultimately the project was the cause of it."

"That's neat, but why didn't you ever mention it before?"

"I never knew. I just found out when I found the letter my mum wrote explaining it all, along with all their letters."

"Wow. That's…amazing." Ginny paused, "But I can't believe Sirius didn't tell you."

"Me either." Harry said, "But I never asked, and I think he liked telling me stories where my dad was humiliated trying to impress my mum much better." They both laughed.

"That does sound like Sirius."

"Say, Gin?" Harry asked, looking at her carefully.

"Yes, Harry?"

"Well…I was going to read these letters, but I'm not sure I want to read them alone- and there's no one else I'd rather read them with…would read them with me?"

Ginny smiled.

"Of course, Harry."

And so Ginny and Harry read the letters together, and in the end that one Correspondence project not only brought Emerald and Raven together, but it brought their son that much closer to reuniting with his own redhead. After all, you can't have a story without a happy ending.

And, that's the end. I like this epilogue a lot better than the preceding chapter- and I hope you all enjoyed it as well.

Thank you to everyone who stayed with me as I wrote this story. I know my updates were inconsistent at best, and I wasn't always wonderful about producing my best work. I have always tried, however, and I've always appreciated your support.

I have another Lily and James story in the works, and little bits of it are already written. I plan on publishing it one day- but I want to wait until I have most of it done so I can give regular updates. Please add me to your author alert if you'd like to read it. It's currently one of my favorite story ideas that I've had. The working titile is "And Lily Makes Five" but I can't guarantee that it will be published under that name.

Thank you again, I hope you'll give me one last review- or perhaps a first review.

Mischief Managed.