-----> Final part of an epilogue

Tom felt himself being grabbed from behind. He wanted to scream, to let others know that he was attacked, but he couldn't. His abductor's one hand went around his neck while the palm of his other's hand covered his mouth. At that point, the boy even struggled for breathing. He pushed his feet on the ground to steady himself, to free himself, but it looked like the strength of his abductor overpowered his own by folds. He panicked when he realized that he was getting dragged in an unknown forest behind them. Frantically, he bit the palm that covered his mouth and screamed with all his remaining strength. His desperate cry for help pierced through his ears.

Tom woke up startled. His body was drenched in sweat. It had been a long time since he had that nightmare. To be honest, it wasn't a nightmare. It was a memory from his past. It was the past where he was attacked by that vampire. For 31 years now, he knew that the vampire was taken care of, yet some part of him still feared him. Tom sighed as he ran his hand through his black locks messing them more than Alexa had done before they fell asleep. He smiled as he looked down. She was sleeping beside him. Despite being naked under the covers he felt warm and cosy. All thanks to his wife who acted as his personal heater. His wife. Tom thought affectionately.

Alexa's hairs were sprawled across his chest. In the light from a fireplace in their bedroom, Tom could see some strands of her hairs were purple. His heart warmed again as he realized that the woman in his arms loved him with all her heart. She had been loving him selflessly with all her heart since the start. And even after all these years, that little fact placated his mind but forced his heart to beat faster. It took him quite some time, but Tom could finally distinguish some grey strands in her hairs. A smirk danced on his sinfully attractive lips when he figured their activities from the night before had tired her out. Despite bearing him three kids, the petite beauty was wild in bed. Perhaps, it is always the demure ones who are passionate lovers. Tom didn't know if the statement was applicable for the demure ones in general, and he had no desire to find that out. This woman in his arms was his only woman. She was the only woman whom he had confessed all those years ago.

Tom leaned down and kissed her forehead. Then pulling her body on top of his and locking her in her place by sneaking his arms around her, he went back to sleep. She had the power to make him forget all his fears. Even the terrible ones.

~*~

King's Cross station

"Anthony!" Tom greeted his best friend with a hug.

"Tom!" Anthony hugged him back, only tighter. "How many days did you say that you are here for this time, again?"

Tom rolled his chocolate brown eyes, but he couldn't fight a smile from dancing on his lips as he looked at his pal. Of course! Avery forgot because he was too busy being a dutiful Auror that he was. "Tony, we decided to shift here this summer, remember?"

After studying under the guidance of Nicolas Flamel for 23 years, Tom gained a title of promising Alchemist. After completing his punishment of social service for 5 years, he had decided to continue learning under the famous Alchemist in France. When he had come to meet Alexa that evening, he wanted her to join him in France. He knew her passion for the subject and was truly pleased to see her improvement with Potion-making. He had put forward an idea to take her back with him to Flamel who had promised to continue teaching him Alchemy.

With a little consultation from Adrian, Alexa agreed. Together they moved to France when Adrian chose moving with them. Despite achieving huge success for their musical band, Adrian continued staying with Tom and Alexa. It was his way to fulfill his childhood dream of living with a family.

After years of moving around for shows and establishing his career, he decided to settle down with a half-blood manager of their band Arabella Smith. Together they had two kids -  Samantha Winters and Jacob Winters. The kids were starting their Hogwarts journey that year. Factually speaking, it was Arabella who wanted to move back in their original home - Tinsworth - to be closer to her kids. And Alexa agreed in a blink of an eye. Tom wanted to smile serenely as he realized, with all children going to Hogwarts, his home would finally be emptier and quieter.

However, he sighed as he also realized how fast his own kids have grown. His eldest - Anton Riddle - named after Antonio Avery - was starting his sixth year. He was his father's son in everything - looks, talent, and personality. His aristocratic features had unknowingly broken many hearts. Standing over 6 feet, the still-growing boy was appointed as a Prefect for the second year in a row for the Emerald house, and Tom was incredibly proud. The only thing that he inherited from his mother was her compassion, her purple eyes and his ability to change the colour of his hairs. He was a metamorphmagus with very restricted abilities. Anton's looks didn't need any change anyway.

It was his daughter who inherited her mother's metamorphmagus genes fully. Lyla Riddle was a female version of Tom with a knack of getting revenge. Lyla didn't cross anyone herself, but the girl sure knew how to get back at people. She was strict and ambitious. Sometimes Tom even wondered how his fiery princess landed herself in the house which was known for being the most kind. Yeah, she might not be academically as gifted as Anton was, but the girl had managed to grab Prefect-ship while being one of the best keepers on Hufflepuff Quidditch Team. She too had inherited her mother's eyes.

Lastly, it was their little Devon. He was just starting his second year. Unlike his elder two kids, his youngest one had weaker immunity. His looks were a perfect blend of both of his parents, but definitely, it was his mother from whom he had inherited his shy and awkward personality. Tom was almost afraid that he would get bullied in the Slytherin house if he didn't grow up. He looked back to see that Devon was standing beside his mother as she schooled Lyla and Anton to look after Devon, Samantha, and Jacob. That was his family. He smiled with pride.

"Really?" Anthony brought Tom out of his thoughts.

Tom nodded. "Where is your family?"

As if on cue, a beautiful trio joined the men. Tom looked up to see Suzanne Avery jad made her appearance with fourteen-year-old Pierre and fifteen-year-old Quincy. Riddle smiled as Suzanne smiled in his direction. He was happily married and hence, was not affected by her Veela beauty.  He looked back at his friend and was happy to see that Anthony was indeed in love with a woman who loved him back. He smiled to himself in content. It had taken Anthony years to move on, and when he finally managed to do so, he moved on to a full Veela, completing his beautiful family with two half-Veela kids. After everything that had happened with him, Anthony did deserve only the best.

"Mr Riddle!" Pierre greeted, as he looked at the man he admired. His father had told him so much about the eldest Riddle. Pierre was also the best friend of Anton (despite being two years younger than him) and was about to ask his whereabouts when Quincy beat him to it,

"Where is Anton?"

Tom smirked as Quincy's cheeks reddened on her outburst. The Ravenclaw was on good terms with Lyla, but she had been crushing on the Anton Riddle (as she liked to call him) since the moment she laid her eyes on him. And to her horror, everyone knew that. Everyone except Anton, of course. The boy was too oblivious for his own good. Perhaps, she was too much like her father. A big part of Tom hoped Anton will be smart enough to not let her go.

On some distance from them, Alexa was whispering to her eldest son,

"I want you to look after Devon as always, Anton." She moved forward and adjusted his tie. "You both are in the same house, so it would be easier for you."

The Hogwarts express whistled persistently, signalling it was almost the time for them to leave. Lyla had taken upon herself to help Devon, Samantha, and Jacob in finding their seats. It was her excuse to cut the impending talk with her mother short. She knew her mother would lecture her about controlling her temperament just a little bit. It wasn't like, she already didn't know that.

Back on the platform, Anton placed his hand on his mother's that was still attached to his tie. "You know I will, mum." He looked at her with love and promise. "Don't you worry about it."

Alexa smiled. Anton was always the one who was responsible. She sighed as she recalled her temperamental daughter. "And Lyla too. You will try to keep her out of trouble as much as you can, won't you?"

Anton threw back his head as laughter bubbled inside his throat. "You know that is one difficult task, don't you? Nobody can save the person who crosses my sister, mother. In fact, I will back her if she ever needs me."

"Anton!" Alexa narrowed her eyes in displeasure. She still remembered how Lyla had made Potter's son cry a few years back. Granted it was James Potter's fault to pull a prank at her, but that didn't mean that she should get back at him on his birthday, in front of all the guests by dumping his birthday cake on the birthday boy.

Potters were a reputed family, and she remembered heroic stories that she heard about Fleamont  Potter during her Hogwarts years, but that also didn't mean that their son could annoy her daughter. A big part of her was really proud of her daughter for standing up for herself, but a smaller part, a very small part mind you, had felt bad. Anyway, voicing out her pride in Lyla will only motivate her headstrong daughter to act that way.

"Ready to board, Anton?" She turned around and smiled as Tom came and stood beside her.

"I am, dad." Anton nodded at his father, and Tom felt warmth in his heart at the word dad.

They were about to say something to each other when someone called Anton's name from the door of the train. Riddles looked back to see it was Pierre who waved his hand yelling that the train was about to leave, while Quincy nudged him silently. Anton nodded at his parents one last time and hurried to the train.

Tom sneaked his hand around Alexa as he felt her tremble. Despite them doing this for the past five years, she always grew emotional every time either of their kids left for the school. She was an emotional fool.

She loved her family.

He was also her family.

She loved him.

He smiled to himself as he looked at her.

Salazar! He did love her back.

~*~*~

I hope you enjoyed this story, and I truly hope that the end was logical.

For those of you who are wondering of what had happened to Rebekah, honestly, I don't care about her. And I didn't want to write about her. Is it not enough that Anthony doesn't care about her either and has moved on with life? He is happy now, isn't he? Isn't it bad enough that she had lost a gem of a man? Yet if you still want to know, please read the last Author's desk note.

In the end, thank you all for reading this story and giving me a chance. Your support truly means a lot to me.