Epilogue
Two years later
“Harry Powell!”
Harry couldn’t stop the grin unfurling across his face as, dressed in blue academic robes and a mortarboard, he crossed the stage through the shimmering California summer sunshine to get his high school diploma. The principal shook his hand, and in the crowd, Harry could hear Sirius, Remus, Ginny and Los Dos all shouting and whistling. Severus did not shout, but Harry knew he was one of the people clapping.
Sure enough, when Harry turned away with his diploma in hand, he spotted Severus, sitting by Miguel, smiling and applauding. Nearby sat Ginny, also clapping, her face aglow in the crowd.
Harry returned to his seat, flushed and euphoric. A part of him marveled that this day had ever come. There had been times, over the last two years, when it had seemed most unlikely.
Severus had not been arrested, the day of Voldemort’s final defeat, but it had been a near thing. The British Ministry of Magic had been most displeased to learn that a Death Eater had, in their view, kidnapped a child and gone into hiding. The American magical government, meanwhile, was not terribly amused by said Death Eater living the life of an illegal immigrant on their shores, not to mention selling magical potions to shady Muggles.
Harry had been right, however: all of Severus’s crimes were overshadowed by the vast, mitigating factor of having finally rid the world of Lord Voldemort. Not only that, but he had been instrumental in destroying Voldemort’s Horcruxes, as Dumbledore explained. Dumbledore vouched for Severus all through the official inquiry, which was a good thing, as Severus Snape, to put it mildly, did not make a gracious or polite interrogation subject. Dumbledore’s intervention had done much to smooth ruffled feathers.
That had been a strange time, Harry reflected now. He and Severus had not been arrested, but neither had they been completely free. They’d been allowed to stay in their house on Mesquite Drive, but they’d also been summoned to both London and Washington, D.C. repeatedly to give testimony under interrogation, and Aurors from both the American and British governments had kept them under watch. Their relationship had suffered, too. Stressed out, with too many lies revealed, Severus and Harry had gotten into more than one shouting match with each other. It was a good thing Maya and Los Dos came to see them so frequently, doing much to keep them both calm.
Reminded of Maya, Harry craned over to catch his friend’s eye. Maya waved and beamed.
Harry still couldn’t believe how forgiving Maya had been of him, Severus and Los Dos, considering the brutality of her introduction to the magical world. Once she’d recovered from her wounds, she’d naturally demanded a full explanation of what had happened, but she hadn’t seemed at all angry at her fathers for hiding the truth from her, or Harry and Severus for lying.
“They did it to protect me,” she said with a shrug when Harry asked her about it. “And honestly, it does explain a few things. You and Stephen were living in hiding, so I guess I can understand. Give Tomas time. He’ll come around.”
Speaking of which, now Tomas was crossing the stage for his own diploma. Harry clapped hard, and Tomas turned to look at him, face unreadable. Harry tried a smile, and Tomas nodded in greeting before taking his seat.
Harry sighed. Tomas had not been nearly so calm as Maya about learning that magic was real and one of his closest friends had been lying about it—and that Harry’s lies had gotten him kidnapped by the world’s foremost Dark wizard. After his initial surge of incredulous fury at Harry, Severus and Los Dos, Tomas had started avoiding Harry and Severus like the plague, not returning Harry’s texts and keeping far away from him in public. Slowly, however, Maya was proven right: Tomas had come around, sort of. He still refused to discuss Voldemort or anything about magic, but a few months ago he’d invited Harry to go surfing, and slowly, they got back on speaking terms.
At last, the graduation ceremony came to a close with a final short speech from the principal. The new graduates all stood, to tumultuous applause, and Harry joined the others in tearing off his mortarboard and flinging it into the air. His bright blue mortarboard flew into the bright blue sky and flipped over before falling to earth once more.
Harry swooped down to grab his mortarboard before joining the general throng, all the graduates surging off to meet their families. Harry made his way through the crowd to Severus, Remus, Sirius, Los Dos and, of course, Ginny. “Well done, Harry!” cried Ginny, throwing herself into his arms.
“Thanks!” Harry bent his head to kiss her, reveling in the fact that he could now do so openly—even if Severus crossed his arms and scowled. Harry discreetly rolled his eyes at his guardian and broke the embrace. “Thanks for coming.”
“I couldn’t miss your graduation.” Ginny beamed. She herself had just graduated from Hogwarts School and was now interning at the wizarding newspaper, The Daily Prophet. Somehow, she’d found time to Apparate to California for the graduation. “Hermione says she’s sorry she couldn’t make it,” Ginny added to Maya when the older girl joined them, still beaming. “They’re working her really hard at the Ministry.”
“It’s okay,” said Maya. “We’ll meet up later. And least I can do Zoom calls with her now that she’s not stuck at Hogwarts all the time.”
“How’s Ron doing?” Harry asked. Ron was a lot nicer now that he’d accepted Harry and Ginny’s relationship, and he and Harry had developed a long-distance friendship.
“He’s good. Still working with the twins at the joke shop. Apparently, he’s a natural salesman.”
Harry shook his head, remembering his trip to Diagon Alley, and Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. “Is Fred still with that Edward guy?”
“The Slytherin bank manager? Yep.” Ginny shook her head in wonder. “Talk about the attraction of opposites.”
Mike and Miguel came up now, pulling Maya into a hard hug. “Well done, sweetie!” said Miguel.
Harry couldn’t stop beaming at the sight of the Muggle family, all of them still alive and, even more remarkably, with their memories entirely intact. Harry still wasn’t sure how the Smith-Gomezes had avoided having their memories wiped, but he suspected money had changed hands at some point. The one time Harry had delicately brought up the topic, Mike had given a most indelicate snort.
“The wizards might like to pretend they can stay completely separate from Muggles,” he’d said dryly, “but the fact is they need us. They especially need Muggles who can provide an interface between the magical and non-magical communities. Do you think wizards would be so wealthy if they confined all their economic activities to other wizards? The wizzos might talk a good game about erasing every Muggle’s memory and staying isolated, but they don’t want to have to do without the money we bring in.”
And here Harry had thought Severus was cynical about the wizarding world.
“Harry! Well done!” Sirius came up, beaming, followed by Remus, and Harry forced a smile on his face. He still felt a bit uncomfortable around Sirius Black. Not only did Sirius’s history with Severus stand between them, but Harry often got the impression that Sirius was trying to turn him into a copy of James Potter. Harry also didn’t appreciate Sirius’s occasional snide remarks about Severus.
“Thanks,” said Harry, standing back before Sirius could try to hug him. “How’s it going with your trial?”
Sirius grinned. He was looking much better these days, though the shadow of Azkaban still haunted his eyes. “I’ve been officially cleared of all charges.”
“Took them long enough,” said Remus equably. “Of course, the Ministry’s had their hands full dealing with those Death Eaters who escaped, not to mention the rest of Voldemort’s aftermath.”
“They’ve nearly got everyone, right?” said Harry anxiously.
“They’re all in custody,” smiled Remus. “I’ve been telling Sirius he ought to train to be an Auror. He’d be a very good one.”
“An Auror!” Sirius tossed his head. “We’ll have to see about that. But Harry! You’re off to Hogwarts now, just like me and James!”
“Not just like you and Dad,” said Harry firmly. “I’m taking summer classes there, like I did last year, but I’m going to go to school in L.A. next fall.”
“A Muggle college?” Sirius frowned.
“A Muggle college.” Severus, who had been hanging back until now, stepped forward. “You will agree, Black, that Harry has the right to make his own way in life? Between the Muggle and magical worlds if he chooses.”
Harry turned to face Severus. His guardian was smiling at him, face full of love and pride. “Congratulations, Harry,” Severus said. “I’m proud of you.”
Harry reached out to grip Severus’s shoulder. “I know.” Then, after a pause: “Oh, come on…” He pulled Severus into a hard embrace. Severus stood rigid a moment before relaxing into Harry’s arms.
“Well done, Harry,” he murmured. “I’m so proud of you.”
Harry held him at arm’s length. They were of a height now, he realized with a jolt of surprise. “I should thank you, really,” he said, “for insisting that I could finish my high school education.” He made a face. “All those wizards, thinking I was just going to drop everything to join the magical world…”
“Well, they did have a point when they said you were very behind in certain magical fields,” sighed Severus. “I didn’t teach you everything. I’ll confess, I never really saw the point of many kinds of magic.”
“Me neither, to be honest.” That had been yet another shock: the consistency and frequency with which most wizards actually used magic. Severus had taught Harry to regard magic as a tool to use in their everyday lives: a highly useful tool, but just one of many. But for the inhabitants of the wizarding world, magic was their lives. During the extended inquiries in D.C. and London, Harry had been amazed by the way wizards used magic for everything, from sending memos to commuting to work—and he couldn’t help feeling a certain contempt, too. All these people would be completely helpless without their wands.
But, according to the wizards, it was Harry who was the backward and helpless one. When testing Harry’s proficiencies at Hogwarts Castle last year, Professor McGonagall had been shocked at how advanced he was in some fields, like defensive charms and potions, while radically far behind in others—and even more bewildered when Harry had asked why anyone would even want to turn a teapot into a tortoise.
Now Harry grinned slyly. “Well, at least you’ll be able to teach me at Hogwarts this summer.”
Severus groaned, rubbing his forehead. “You had to remind me.”
Severus had been found guilty of illegal immigration, practicing Dark magic and evading justice; the charge of kidnap had been dropped when Dumbledore explained the mitigating circumstances. But the court was somewhat stymied about what to do with Severus. They clearly could not imprison the world-renowned hero who had finally finished off Voldemort.
Dumbledore, in his inimitable way, had stepped in. Professor Slughorn had been killed in the final battle, he told the court, and so Hogwarts School was missing a Potions Master. Severus Snape could put his considerable genius with potions to the aid of the magical community by assuming the empty post at Hogwarts. The court seized upon this solution, sentencing Severus to twenty-one years of teaching potions at Hogwarts School. The sentence was delayed by two years, however, since Harry, Severus and Dumbledore all insisted that Harry be allowed to finish Muggle high school. Now that Harry had graduated, however, Severus had no more excuses.
“It’s a shame Dumbledore’s dead,” Severus said dryly. “He would have greatly enjoyed seeing me as the new Potions Master at Hogwarts.”
Harry felt a pang at the reminder of Dumbledore’s death from the Horcrux’s curse last year. He’d never truly grown to like Albus Dumbledore—the old wizard had used Severus ruthlessly, and no doubt would have used Harry in just the same way—but Dumbledore had done much to defend Severus from his criminal charges, and defend Harry’s right to keep living with Severus and finish school. “Don’t be so glum,” Harry said now, trying to cheer Severus up. “You did a good job of teaching me, after all.”
“You were but one student, Harry, and a boy I loved at that. I suspect teaching a whole roomful of strange children is going to be something quite different.”
“Hey—you got through The Daily Prophet interview, didn’t you?” Ginny chimed in. “If you can do that, you can do anything.”
Severus grimaced at the reminder. He had absolutely loathed his skyrocketing rise to publicity, and Harry hadn’t enjoyed it much either. It was weird and horrible to have strange wizards show up on Mesquite Drive just to take a look at Voldemort’s greatest enemy and the boy who had enabled his triumph. Harry had actually been glad for their Auror guards during such incidents: at least they were on hand to chase the gawkers off. But it was still dreadful to leave school after a long day only to see a group of wizarding tourists pointing at him and gabbling, “Look, look, there he is!”
Finally, following their lawyer’s advice, Harry and Severus had agreed to conduct one interview with The Daily Prophet. It had taken place in their living room in Mesquite Drive, and Harry had been glad he’d been there: Severus, cornered and angry about it, had regressed to his most waspish and uncommunicative, about as approachable as an irate snapping turtle. Harry had done what he could to smooth things over, but the reporter had left with a definite air of being glad to see the back of them. No, the interview hadn’t been much fun, but the article it produced seemed to have eased the onslaught of wizarding onlookers.
“Come on,” said Severus now. “Let’s get out of the crowd.”
Harry waved goodbye to Ginny before he followed Severus, weaving out of the crowd and along the pavement, until they fetched up under a tall, graceful jacaranda tree shedding blue-purple petals over them. There Severus came to a halt. “I’ll miss you, Harry,” he said in a low voice.
“I’ll miss you too, Severus.” Harry gave a small smile. “But I had to grow up one day, right?”
“I suppose.” Severus took a deep breath. “Now my charms are all o’erthrown,” he quoted:
“And what strength I have’s mine own,
Which is most faint. Now, ‘tis true
I must be here confined by you
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardoned the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell.”
“Should I burst into applause here or something?” Harry asked, a grin tugging his mouth.
Severus gave a short laugh. “Right, Harry.” He placed his hand on Harry’s shoulder, as he had so often before. “I’ll say it again: I’m proud of you, Harry. And your parents would be too.”
Later, when the sun was sinking into the sea, Harry and Ginny walked the shore, their shoes in their hands, the waves washing over their bare feet.
“That was quite the celebratory dinner,” said Ginny. “I loved that restaurant.” She sniggered slightly. “Not to mention the present Los Dos gave Severus.”
Harry couldn’t help sniggering slightly too, remembering Severus’s expression when he opened the gift to find a copy of Romeo and Juliet: The War. “A graphic novel depicting Romeo and Juliet as cyborgs in a sci-fi universe,” he chuckled. “Los Dos said it was so Severus wouldn’t forget about them when he’s teaching at Hogwarts.”
“Well, I don’t suppose he will now.” They shared a laugh, together on the wave-washed beach.
“Are you sure you won’t come live in England?” Ginny asked when they’d sobered.
Harry squeezed her hand. “Maybe in a few years, Ginny, but not yet. I really want to go to college first.”
Ginny nodded. She was one of the few witches or wizards who had accepted without question Harry’s decision to attend Muggle college. Most of the wizards Harry had met had just assumed that Harry would of course give up his place in the Muggle world, cut off all his old contacts, and leap into magical society without a glance behind. They all seemed bewildered when Harry said he wanted to stay in the Muggle world for a while at least. A few had even asked if Harry was quite right in the head, or if Severus had enchanted him.
It was all very annoying, especially as Harry learned just how maddeningly insular the wizards were. They didn’t know the first thing about anything outside the magical world and didn’t see why they should learn. More than once, Harry had found himself wondering how Severus had borne it as a teenager and thinking it was no wonder he’d gone to the Dark Side.
“I guess it’s all kind of overwhelming,” said Ginny now. “And…well, you haven’t had the best impression of the British wizarding community, I suppose.”
“Criminal trial meets unwanted celebrity status around a gruesome battle and bloody murder,” said Harry wryly. “But…even aside from that, it’s all kind of too much. This whole secret world that thinks I belong there when I definitely don’t.”
Ginny looked out over the fire-painted water, the seagulls circling in the clear lighted sky. “I can see why you want to stay here, for sure.” Sea breezes lifted bright strands of her hair. “Actually, I was thinking of getting a job with a wizarding newspaper here in California, once my internship’s over.”
“Really?” Harry beamed. “That’d be great!”
“I want to be near you.” Ginny gave her wonderful smile up at him. “And…honestly, I’d like to learn more about Muggles and their world. There are too many wizards who think we don’t need them.”
“Just ask Los Dos if wizards need Muggles,” Harry said dryly. “That would be wonderful, Ginny. I hope you can do it.”
Ginny stopped, water running up her legs in crystal fountains. The light of sunset turned her face to golden rose when she turned to look at Harry. “Harry…I’m sorry I forced the truth on you like that two years ago. You were happy in your world, and then I…”
Harry squeezed her hand again. “I might’ve been happy, but I was living a lie, Ginny. Severus and I are good now, but…we did have a few arguments about that. Actually, more than a few.” Harry winced, remembering those quarrels. “Besides, if you hadn’t dragged me into the wizarding world, we might never have defeated the Dark Lord.”
Ginny gave a weak smile. “Funny how that works, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is.” Harry sighed. “Severus did everything he could to stop the prophecy coming true,” he said, “and all he did was end up fulfilling it.” He drew Ginny into a hug. “And I’m glad. Glad we’re all safe, and that I’m with you.”
Ginny hugged him back. “Me too, Harry.”
They stood in their embrace, at the edge of the blazing ocean, the eternal waves murmuring in, before turning at last to rejoin their family and friends.