A Bittersweet Ending...or is it...?
Harry was having the best day; earlier in the day, Ginny had surprised him with news that they were having another child. He was going to have a daughter!
April 1998 8
May 2004 2 1/2
December 2005 1
September 2007
December 2006
Harry loved his children and he knew that Ginny was excited to have a girl. Of course, he was as well. You wouldn't need to be a legilimens to see that; the long list of baby names that he proudly kept in his pocket was proof enough.
Family meant everything to Harry, especially as he had lost so much. His parents, Sirius, Hedwig, Dobby, Remus, and Fred. He'd also lost too many friends. He'd do almost anything to bring them back but he had known for a long time that it was impossible to bring back the dead.
He stayed in touch with everyone who he considered family.
There was the Weasley-Granger family, with his siblings in all but blood, and his niece and nephew. Hugo had been born recently and everyone was thrilled that the cousins would be in the same year at Hogwarts.
There were the other Weasleys of course. Molly and Arthur his parents-in-law. Bill and Fleur and their children: Victoire, Dominique, and Louis. Charlie.Percy, his wife Audrey, and his two daughters Molly and Lucy. George, Angelina, their son Fred and their daughter Roxanne.
He also had his Godson Teddy Lupin who mainly lived with him and his family but occasionally stayed with his Grandmother Andromeda.
There were his close friends Neville and Luna, who he saw as often as they could. There were friends from Hogwarts that he tried to keep in touch with: Seamus, Dean, Padma, Pavarti, Cho, Oliver, Alicia, Katie and Grawp.
He even kept in touch with Minerva, his old Head of House, as well as some other dear professors, including his longest friend Hagrid.
To be honest, the only ones who he didn't keep in touch with was his Aunt Petunia, his Uncle Vernon.
He had a very awkward relationship with Dudley. When they had first started trying to repair a bond they had never had with each other, it had consisted of very curt, stilted conversations. Over the years their friendship had developed into something they were both content with. Without the fear and bad example of Vernon Dursley, Dudley had become a better person. This was helped by his wife and their children. Vernon had died a few years after the war of liver failure.
Dudley had met an adventurous young woman who didn't put up with any disrespect towards others. Evie Phoebe Alistair was curious about anything and everything so she was always convincing Dudley to try new things with her. Dudley was shocked when the woman he fell in love with revealed she was a witch.
Dudley and Evie had four children: Petunia Hope (the oldest), Lilly Mae (the second oldest and a show of respect towards the Aunt he had never known), Cedar Hadrian (the only boy of the group and named after Harry), and little Holly Jane. They had decided to use the flower/plant theme that ran in the Evans family. Dudley, who wanted to learn from his parents' mistakes, made sure that his children grew up exposed to the wonder of magic.
Ironically, all of the children had magic except Petunia who turned out to be a wizard-born. Dudley, Harry, Evie, and surprisingly Petunia Sr. helped Petunia Jr. come to terms that she would never be able to attend Hogwarts with her siblings. Luckily though, with her mother being a witch and her uncle being a wizard, Petunia quickly grew fascinated with other aspects of magic that she would be able to do. In particular, she had an interest in potions and magical creatures.
The Dursley-Alistair children and the Potter children were close friends and saw each other every other week. Of course, that didn't stop their children from sending letters to each other.
After Hedwig died, Harry could never bring himself to bond with an owl again but his eldest child James had a tawny owl named Rose. The name had annoyed his cousin greatly. They also had a family barn owl crossed with a hoot owl named Dobby because he was always happy to help and had large green eyes. The Dursley-Alistairs were given an owl from Evie's aunt after she died. They called the owl Vernon as both Vernons never wanted to do anything and were quite obnoxious.
Overall, he was having a good day. He had learned he was having a daughter which reminded him about his family as they were all gathering at the Potter household that evening as a celebration. All of the Potter's alive family and friends would be there. His wonderful wife Ginerva Potter had planned it in secret. He felt that nothing could go wrong.
...Until it did.