Chapter 30: 20 Years Later
"Sally, we don't have time for this, we need to go now or we're going to be late!"
"Just two more minutes, Dad!"
I groaned and fell back on the sofa in the living room. My hands came up to rub my face wearily. "Your uncles and aunt are not going to let me live this down." I muttered into my hands.
"She gets it from you."
I peeked between my fingers to see Penny walk through the kitchen door with a platter of her mother's and my mother's famous cookies. I leapt up from the sofa to grab a blue cookie before she could tell me otherwise. Through a mouth full of cookie, I said, "What do you mean she gets it from me?" I asked. "It's most definitely you. Do you know what she's doing right now? Homework. That she requested from Chiron so she could do it during the school year. Who asks for homework?"
"A Ravenclaw." Penny acknowledged with a nod. "But who doesn't have great time management skills?"
"That's not my fault," I pointed at her with what was left of the cookie. "Blame her grandfather for that."
"Alright, I'm ready now."
We turned to see our 15 year old daughter bouncing on her feet at the foot of the stairs. She took after Penny generally with her blonde hair and face shape (Penny disagrees with me on the face shape) but she definitely got her eyes from me. Among a few other things.
"Great!" I said, grabbing the cookie platter from Penny. "Let's go."
Floo was the more practical travel method for this trip because I had cookies and have gotten very good at not getting very ruffled when I walk through. Besides, we were only going to the Burrow. I only really used Vapor traveling when we were going to school or camp nowadays.
"Mum! We're finally here!" I called just as I walked through the flames on the other side.
"It's about bloody time, Percy! She wouldn't let us eat a thing until you got here!" Ron said from up the stairs.
"It's not my fault this time!" I protested. "Sally insisted on finishing a homework project before we came!"
There was some muffled words as if he was talking to someone else up stairs. Then I heard a small yelp and a muffled whack. I could only assume that Ron made some disparaging comment about school work and Hermione decided to whack him to set a better example for the kids. Not two seconds later, I heard some laughter very loudly from their direction.
I smirked as I walked through the Christmas decorated living room to the kitchen. It was there that I saw Harry, Molly, and Teddy working in various places on the Christmas dinner we were all to share in a few minutes.
"Oh, Percy dear, how are you?" Molly was suddenly in front of me and squeezing my lights out. "I'm glad you could make it."
I only barely managed to keep a hold on the platter of pastries in my hands even as Molly released me and moved on to one of her oldest granddaughters. I decided it would be a good idea to put it down on the table before something horrible happened to the contents.
"Sally!" She exclaimed. "I am so glad you are taking your studies seriously, do not listen to your Uncle Ron, he only made it in school because he made friends with Aunt Hermione."
"Mum!" Ron had appeared at the door way of the kitchen right behind Penny. He seemed slightly offended at her words.
"It's true, Ron, don't deny it." Harry said from the sink.
"Everyone knows it, Ronnikins, best to face it head on." Fred appeared right behind his brother in the door way with George not too far behind.
"Is it finally time, Mum?" George asked, trying to be taller than Ron to see into the kitchen.
"Just about," Molly said, putting her hands on her hips. "Are the tables outside set up?"
"They have been for ages, we've just been waiting on Percy," Charlie's voice came from even farther behind Ron.
"What are we all doing right here and not at the tables or in the kitchen?" Another voice I recognized spoke up somewhere with Charlie. "Did Percy finally show up?"
"You know what, Dad? You try getting your ADHD daughter out the door on time while being ADHD yourself and see if you get anywhere on time!" I shouted over the sea of redheads.
"Uncle Percy is that you?" Yet another voice I knew spouted from the other room. "Making excuses for your constant tardiness?"
"James, you know I learned some new tricks from Connor and Travis when they came to visit last week," I started. "I could very well just test them on you instead of teaching them to you and see how you fair."
...
"I'm so glad you could make it, my favorite Uncle Percy!" Came the corrected response. "Right on time, too!"
"Percy, teach my son those tricks and you will have a hard time getting rid of the ghost of Zoë Nightshade." Harry threatened suddenly.
"Oh, shoo! The lot of you!" Molly finally had had enough of all of us crowding her kitchen doorway. She waved her hands at all Weasleys and Greek gods alike. "Go sit, Teddy and I will bring the food out."
I sent a mischievous wink Teddy's way before following my wife out the door to the large tent Charlie and Bill had set up so our rather large family could eat together. Hecate, Tyson, Triton, and Amphitrite were already there, waiting patiently.
"Brother!" Both Triton and Tyson called cheerfully once they saw me. I smiled and went to sit between them as Penny moved to sit with Amphitrite and Hecate. They struck up a friendly conversation about the sea life in Atlantis and Triton and Tyson both tried putting me in a head lock.
Dinner was a chaotic event. Molly had all the kids sit at one end of the table and the adults at the other end of the table. Not only we're all the Weasleys and part of my Greek family there, (including Lilith somehow, I think she and Harry have gotten closer over the years) but we also had Medusa, Remus, Tonks, Sirius, and Hagrid. Minerva had been invited but they preferred to stay at the castle with those who had stayed for the holidays. Blackjack was sitting with a two dozen box of donuts in the corner of the tent. He was living with Hagrid on Hogwarts grounds at the moment, having gotten to be best friends with Buckbeak—sorry, Witherwings.
At one point during dinner, I looked over the entire table and smiled. It was amazing how things have changed over the years because of my coming here. In the Weasley family alone there was significant growth.
Charlie now owned a dragon reserve and was marrying a fiery redhead he worked with this upcoming summer. Bill and Fleur were expecting their second child after Victoire. They had yet to announce a name or gender but I had a bet with the twins it was going to be another girl.
Speaking of the twins, they were down on the other side of the table with James, Harry's son, showing him yet another new creation of theirs from the store. They had opened another storefront in France with the help of Fleur and her father. Fred married Angelina Johnson several years ago and has been hounded by George for a niece or nephew to corrupt. His efforts have yet to prove very successful.
Hugo and Rose were Ron and Hermione's kids. Rose in her first year as a Gryffindor somehow made it onto the Quidditch team. Minerva apparently has gotten rid of the first year rule as Headmistress. Ron will proudly tell everyone in sight that Rose took after her mother almost exactly in brains and Hugo after him in Quidditch. Never mind the fact that Ron had a bit of a rough patch when he was first starting out and Hugo isn't even in school yet.
Harry was still Master of Death, if the threat of Zoë Nightshade's ghost was anything to go off of. He and Ginny were stubbornly ignoring the fact that Harry hasn't aged a day since the summer of before his sixth year and were determined to cross the inevitable bridge when they came to it instead of worrying about it. The both of them have had three children; James, Lily, and Albus. James was in his third year as a Gryffindor and Albus was in his first year as a Slytherin. I personally can't wait until Harry and James were physically the same age. Either it would be confusing since James is a spitting image of his father when he was thirteen or...no it's going to be hilarious how confusing it's going to be.
Lilith has taken to living almost permanently with her father, Thanatos. She joined him on his runs to reap souls often but would hang out with Harry in his duties as the Master of Death occasionally. She would often be the messenger between her father and Harry if Thanatos couldn't come personally for whatever reason.
Medusa was still teaching Mythology at Hogwarts and Penny and I were still teaching Latin. Neville has taken Professor Sprout's place in Herbology. Sirius has taken the DADA position and that is an ordeal all in itself. Albus had gone into retirement after Harry's sixth year, leaving Minerva in charge of the school and Remus to be the new Transfiguration teacher. The former headmaster died not much longer after that, the curse from the Horcrux-Hallow having caught up to his heart.
Tonks is now going by Dora because she is no longer a Tonks having married Remus and had Teddy in Harry's seventh year. They named him godfather. Sirius was still holding being ignored as a candidate over Remus' head. Teddy had been a Hufflepuff Head Boy but was now an apprentice to the notorious Newt Scamander almost immediately after graduating Hogwarts.
Molly has been known to love all of her grandchildren but has shown signs of favoritism towards one that isn't even her grandchild. Teddy will join his pseudo grandmother in cooking, knitting, and scolding the older generation. Sally will tag along occasionally but will mostly join James in his junior marauder antics. As they have gotten older, Hecate has mentioned that they sound almost exactly like Lily Evans and James Potter when they were that age and it makes me just a little nervous for the future.
"Harry, we need to go!" Lilith suddenly stood up from her seat next to Teddy and Victoire.
"What is it, Lilith, dear?" Molly asked. She had fallen in love with the adorable little girl Lilith had been the first time she met her and even showed favoritism toward her over Teddy occasionally.
"Dad said there was a sorcerer somewhere who has made a deal with some space being to extend their life." Lilith said. "We need to go make sure that they know to follow the rules that go with immortality."
"Can it wait?" Harry asked. "Maybe until after dinner?"
Lilith looked thoughtful. "Yyyyeeess?"
"Alright we'll go after dinner." Harry said firmly.
Lilith shrugged and sat back down.
"Out of curiosity, where are you needed?" Remus asked.
The daughter of Thanatos didn't answer right away, looking as if she were having a conversation with someone in her head. "Kamar-Taj."
The End.
Hey, all! I've got a few bonus chapters lined up for you and then we can see this story finished! If you tell me what sort of scenes you want to see, I can make sure they end up in the bonus chapters before I call it good with this story. Honestly, this might be some of my best work so far. I'm very proud of this one.
As I'm sure you've guessed, there might be another book to go with this one. I have been wanting to explore Harry's Master of Death duties more but thought it would fit better in another book. You might have also guessed that it'll be a crossover with the Marvel Universe. Not sure how connected the two universes are going to be but I know I'll have Harry meet Doctor Strange and maybe do a bit where Harry helps in Endgame. Not sure. It will be a long time until I start writing it so don't hold your breath!
I have a Harry Potter spoof I've written out that I think will be fun. Mostly a joke but fun. It'll only have a few chapters so make sure to keep an eye out for that.
I already have one out called Sailing Solo that is solely Percy Jackson. It's got quite a few chapters already and it holds a lot of promise, give it a shot!
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