September 1, 2020

There were a great many Muggles sporting masks, which was par for the course, although Hogwarts, Ilvermorny, and the rest of the magical schools had remained open. There were no reported cases of Covid 19 within the Wizarding World, and it seemed as if it was truly a disease that only Muggles were forced to contend with. Hermione Snape surveyed the crowd around them and smiled from behind her red mask, which sported a golden lion upon it, and looked up at her husband of over a decade, who was sporting a green mask with a silver serpent stitched onto its center, curling his brow at the crowd around them.

"Come on," she told him gently, and Severus nodded, placing a hand upon their daughter's arm, who looked up at her father eagerly.

"Shall we, Persephone?" Severus asked his oldest child.

Persephone's brown eyes widened in a moment of wonder as she witnessed several other magical children darting through Platform 9¾, and was pleased that, at last, it was finally her turn to do so. Tossing her black mane proudly, she replied, "Yes, Daddy."

Hermione smiled, holding onto the hands of her two sons, nine-year-old Athen and six-year-old Bronte, who watched as their father and elder sister hurried towards the brick wall, and ultimately vanished through it, and she pulled them closer to her. "Come on," she said to the pair of them encouragingly, and hurried forward, as much as she could, whilst pregnant with her second daughter, whom she and Severus had already named Vanesse.

The threesome passed through the brick wall and onto the platform, looking up to see Severus smiling indulgently down at his daughter, who was grinning up at the Hogwarts Express. It didn't take too much to join them, and Severus placed his arm around Hermione's shoulders as they, plus their children, removed their masks, and walked through the crowd, seeing a messy raven head, plus a red mane of hair, surrounded by children themselves, upon the other end of the platform, which is the direction their three children made for.

Ginny Potter looked up and through the crowd at the sound of familiar footsteps, and grinned and waved to Hermione and Severus as they stepped closer. Once they arrived, she accepted Severus's polite greeting and kiss on the cheek, whereupon she and Hermione drew themselves into the customary embrace they had shared from the moment they had first met face-to-face, when they realized that they were to be sisters-in-law sooner rather than later. Ginny beamed as she pulled back, looking Hermione over.

"Just look at you!" she gushed, placing her hands upon Hermione's belly when given permission to do so. "You look wonderful—you're positively glowing!"

"I don't feel too wonderful," Hermione joked.

Ginny giggled lightly at that. "Oh, come off it," she said; she had gotten the British lingo down very quickly, especially after moving there permanently by Valentine's Day, and Harry's surprise proposal at Easter, after that Christmas season. "You look several times better than I ever did," she continued, looking over her shoulder at her twin boys, Percy James and Patrick Sirius, who were speaking animatedly with Athen and Bronte.

Hermione rolled her eyes playfully, and looked over to see Severus and Harry discussing something; Harry was Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement now, and Hermione was now Official Barrister for Werewolf Causes at the Ministry of Magic. She had been pleased when Severus agreed to return to Britain, and it had been a nice surprise to have Draco and Astoria follow them, so Scorpius, their beloved son, and their daughter, Arabella, were now Hogwarts students as well.

"How is Pandora doing?" Hermione asked, remembering that her oldest niece preferred to be addressed as her full name now, given that she was seventeen and quite grown up.

Ginny grimaced at the notion of her adopted daughter; with Luna's full permission, Ginny had adopted both Pandora and Mina the second Christmas, and she and Harry had been married a mere two months after he'd proposed. "A bit nervous, what with her appointment as Head Girl and all," she put in, and Hermione nodded.

"Of course," she responded, remembering the advice Hermione had given her over the summer, once they'd gotten the letter from Remus, who was now Headmaster of Hogwarts, of Pandora's appointment come September. Hermione had been Head Girl in her day, and, as a Gryffindor, Pandora would have the same rooms Hermione had had whilst she had held that title. "I do hope that Stephano hasn't been giving her too difficult a time," she continued, as it had been Sirius and Gwenog's older son, Stephano Black, who had been given the appointment of Head Boy over the summer as well.

Ginny raised her eyebrows. "Well, given that they've been an item since the summer after fifth-year, I don't rightly know how much trouble he could give her," she joked, and Hermione laughed along with her as well.

It had been just slightly shocking when Pandora and Stephano had announced their relationship, but everyone had taken it in their stride. Stephano looked like a mirror image of Sirius had done in his Hogwarts days, and Pandora looked quite like her late mother, Luna. They made quite a lovely pair, and, even though Pandora had aspirations of being an Auror and Stephano enjoyed creating potions, opposites did, they all assumed, attract.

Mina walked and stood beside Ginny, her Gryffindor uniform in place, as she beamed up at her aunt lovingly. "Mummy and Daddy say I can date this year," the fourteen-year-old declared, and she practically bounced up and down on her feet, her dark red hair untamable, just like Harry's had always been.

Ginny's hand came up to smack upon her forehead. "I said we'll see, Mina," she responded to her younger daughter, obviously not wanting to break the teenage girl's heart, but also wanting her to toe the line.

"Do you have your eye on anyone, love?" Hermione asked.

Ginny shot Hermione a, Why are you encouraging her? expression.

Hermione, meanwhile, looked at Ginny like, I'm her aunt, not her mother.

"Declan Finnigan-Thomas," Mina proclaimed, naming the fifteen-year-old son of Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, a fellow Gryffindor, who had a wonderful sense of humor, and excelled in Charms class.

Ginny raised her eyebrows at that; she and Harry had had both Seamus, Dean, Declan, and their daughter, thirteen-year-old Saoirse, who had sorted Ravenclaw, over to Grimmauld Place many a time for various birthday parties and other gatherings, and she had warmed to them almost immediately, due to them being close friends with Harry, alongside Neville Longbottom and his wife, Hannah Abbott. Neville was now the Herbology professor at Hogwarts, as well as Head of Gryffindor House, whilst Hannah was now its resident Healer, while the pair raised their two sons, sixteen-year-old Theo and fourteen-year-old Hamish, plus their daughter, twelve-year-old Ivy; their sons had sorted Hufflepuff, while Ivy herself was a Gryffindor.

"Declan is a wonderful boy," Ginny complimented her younger daughter, and smiled indulgently as Mina burrowed into her side at the compliment. "I couldn't be prouder that you picked one so fine to set your sights on."

"Thank you, Mummy," Mina replied, grinning.

"How's Persephone feeling?" Ginny wanted to know, knowing that Persephone was definitely excited to begin her education at Hogwarts, but likely could be nervous to live for nearly a year away from home.

Hermione sighed at that; she remembered becoming pregnant with Persephone during her honeymoon with Severus. She and Severus had agreed to a double wedding with Ginny and Harry in June, and Hermione had found herself pregnant just before Harry's birthday at the end of July. She had had Persephone Gunhilda Snape on the twenty-first of April the following year, and couldn't be happier with her little girl. Her boys, Athen Libatius and Bronte Tilden, followed in due time, and her fourth pregnancy had been an unexpected, yet delightful, surprise, and she and Severus had already decided to call her, in entirety, Vanesse Dorothy Snape.

"Severus is convinced she'll sort Slytherin, of course," Hermione responded.

Ginny raised her eyebrows. "And you don't?"

"It honestly doesn't matter to me," she replied, and smiled at hers and Ginny's boys playing together on the platform across the way. "I already know that Ath and Bron will be in Slytherin, no question, but Severus is betting on Ravenclaw."

"For them both?" Ginny asked.

Hermione nodded. "Yes."

"The Sorting Hat said I'd do well in Ravenclaw," Mina put in, as Ginny stroked her head. "But I knew it was Gryffindor for me."

"I wouldn't have minded, you know," Ginny said quickly, who always told her girls that Luna was always going to be there for them, and that she would always respect their relationship.

Mina looked up at Ginny and smiled. "I know, Mummy," she responded; she had taken to calling Ginny her 'Here Mummy' and Luna her 'Portrait Mummy', which Luna thought was altogether inspired, although Ginny had made it clear that she would never take Luna's place. "But I wanted to be in Gryffindor, because Pandora is."

Ginny smiled, stroking Mina's hair again. "I know, love," she assured her, and looked over her shoulder again; Percy and Patrick may have only been ten years old, but they were rambunctious enough that Ginny called them 'mini Fred and George' more than once.

The train whistle blew and Persephone rushed through the crowd, her trunk having been placed into the baggage car, and her cage with her familiar, a Siamese cat called Tara, were already in a compartment Severus had inevitably helped her find. Persephone dashed towards her mother and threw herself into her arms, gripping her tightly.

"You're going to make so many friends," Hermione whispered to her, knowing that she was saying what she wished her own biological parents had said to her upon her first visit to the platform, all those years ago. "You're going to learn so many things. Pandora and Mina will be there for you, and everyone else, too..."

"I just don't want to disappoint Daddy," Persephone whispered back.

"Why, love?" Hermione asked.

Persephone dropped her voice to a whisper that only Hermione could hear. "Because Uncle Harry said that you can choose Gryffindor," she informed her mother. "He said he chose Gryffindor when he was sorted. I'm going to choose Gryffindor."

Hermione pulled back and stared down at her daughter lovingly. "Don't choose Gryffindor to make me happy, love, or to be close to Pandora and Mina."

"I want to choose Gryffindor because I am a Gryffindor," Persephone responded. "You said that we should never hide who we are, Mama. I know who I am; I'm not who Daddy wants me to be, or who you want me to be. I'm just me, Persephone Snape, who knows in her magical core that she is a Gryffindor."

Hermione smiled and nodded her head, and her heart nearly stopped as she saw Ron and Lavender themselves across the platform, whispering to a beautiful pair of twins with red hair, one of each, who would be joining Hogwarts that year as well. She had seen their wedding announcement in The Daily Prophet, as well as the birth announcement of Reginald Winston and Regina Winefrida Prewett, and all their hopes for them down the line. Hermione turned and looked down at her daughter, who followed her gaze, and her eyes darkened.

"Don't go getting any ideas," Hermione said softly.

Persephone looked up at her mother. "I won't," she replied, "I'll just be sure to beat them at all the examinations and whatnot."

Hermione found herself grinning at her. "That's my girl," she replied. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead as the whistle blew again. "I love you," she whispered.

"Love you, too, Mama," Persephone said, hugging Harry, Ginny, and, finally, Severus, before she waved goodbye to her brothers and cousins and sped onto the train.

Severus came and stood beside his wife and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her on the cheek as Persephone waved to them out the window of her compartment. "You told her to beat the Prewett twins, didn't you?"

"Yes," she replied as Harry and Ginny waved goodbye to Mina, who moved to join Persephone's compartment, so as to stave off her cousin's loneliness. "Do you think badly of me for it?" she asked her husband, looking up at him.

Severus smirked lovingly down at his wife as the Prewett twins got onto the train, and began searching nervously for a compartment, and felt prideful as they were turned away from Mina's and Persephone's. "Of course not," he responded. "They'll be as air-headed as the former Miss Brown, or as presumptuous as their father. While it is hardly their fault, I would rather they kept their distance from any of our children."

Hermione was about to say something further as a rather dashing fourteen-year-old Scorpius Malfoy came strutting onto the train, eleven-year-old Arabella in tow, and took seats in Persephone's and Mina's compartment, and they all began speaking to one another, as Arabella and Persephone were the best of friends; it was rumored that Arabella would sort Ravenclaw, and become the first of the Malfoy family not to be sorted Slytherin. As Hermione moved to speak again, as the train roared to life, and all the children began waving to their families, it was then that Hermione noticed the way that Persephone was staring at Scorpius, and found herself smiling at that notion.

"No," Severus said firmly.

"Darling," Hermione said gently to him, and turned to regard her husband. "There are ten years between us, and only six between Scorpius and Persephone."

Severus harrumphed. "I still don't like it," he put in.

Hermione patted his arm. "You're not supposed to," she told him gently. "However, perhaps we can amend your thinking to a 'not yet', instead of an outright 'no'?"

Severus sighed. "If they are truly meant to be," he said softly, looking up as he watched the train begin to make its turn out of the station, "I suppose I could eventually come around to it."

Hermione beamed up at her husband. "There you go," she said, standing up on her toes and kissing him, hardly believing that something as simple as a home exchange could mend both her and her brother's—along with her sister-in-law's and her husband's—mutual broken hearts, and create new lives for them all.

All was well.

THE END