Epilogue: "Nineteen Years Later..."

"I- I mean, we were always taught that Ministers held the position for life once elected. In truth, that was part of the reason I was hesitant to run. If that's not true, maybe it changes things."

His eyebrows lifted sharply at Robert's apparent desire to hand over his role - his title, power, prestige. Sure, that likely meant less to Lupin than it did to someone from a family like Apollo's. But, still.

More surprise followed, though it perhaps should've been easy to expect after so many years. He and Robert had ended up on the same page on many, many things despite their wildly different backgrounds. And yet approval was still so important. Like it would be for a son hearing it from a father.

Apollo prepared to voice his agreement: he did want to help, and would if he could. But then she spoke, and he froze. Muscles clenched, he turned his head to stare at the portrait.

His mouth opened a bit, uncertainty halting his greeting in the back of his throat. Introduce himself. Family. How much would a portrait remember, anyway? Would he come back later and have to explain again? They knew Robert. Apollo rolled his lips together, took a moment to wet them, and tried again.

"My name's Apollo. As far as where I stand, I like to imagine it's about where you do. My brother is on the same page, though he's much more quiet about it. His wife, however... She'll give people hell to make up for it." He smiled a little, shaking his head.

"As for the rest of my family?" His mouth turned down a little, a near-sigh filtering out between his lips. "Well. My parents... Let's just say they're very like my grandparents on the.. Zabini side." He shot the portrait group a pointed look. Apollo just about grinned as he went on, though. "My new family, on the other hand. They're perfect. My wife and I, we adopted a little girl. I'm even happier about that now than I was before I knew all of this. But... my wife.. Well, Mrs. Potter -- her father named her after you."

He blinked heavily, slowly. Tried hard to suppress the fact that he actually felt a little choked up about it. What in the world was he even getting into? Merlin, if Lily could see this -

Robert hadn't mentioned. Best not to ask or suggest it unless someone else did. So he just offered portrait-Lily and portrait-James a half smile, hoping they'd put two and two together for him. And that they wouldn't be disapproving.

Robert had no doubt that James and Lily, oil renderings though they were, would be thrilled at Apollo's news. He watched Lily's eyes grow bright with excitement. And here we go, Robert thought, an amused smile on his face.

"We have a granddaughter," James looked at Lily with a smile.

"And great grandchildren. What are their names? What are they like..."

"It didn't all end with Harry. Robert, you never said a word--all these years..."

"It never came up," Robert shrugged. "I know of them but I don't know them, to be fair."

"No excuse for not keeping us informed," Remus reprimanded him.

"Congratulations, Mr. Zabini, and welcome to the family," James said.

"Tell us more. Tell us everything," Lily said, waving at the others to hush, eager to know more.

"More importantly," Sirius said, "have you given him a key?"

"Given him a key?" Robert frowned, not having thought of it. "He's only just got here. I don't even know if he wants a key."

"You haven't asked him, have you?"

"He needs to know what he'd be getting into before he'd know if he wanted one. Did someone paint you lot in a hurry or something?"

"He is family now," James pointed out. He looked at Apollo. "If you want a key, just get one from the old curmudgeon. Robert, if he's going to be your successor at the Ministry, he needs someone to train him for espionage." He looked at Apollo. "You would be the spymaster for all of England, you know." Robert closed his eyes and shook his head.

"He is your protégé, after all," Sirius said. "You owe it to him to bring him up right."

"There's nothing wrong with his upbringing. He's one of the best healers and potions makers St. Mungos has."

"That very well may be," Lily said seriously, "but if he's going to change directions, you need to prepare him for it..."

"You're a day late and a quid short," Robert sighed. "Why do you think we're here? Oh, why am I arguing with the artwork? Could I get you something to drink while you talk to them, Apollo? I know there's always tea and French roast both in the kitchen, and there's always firewhiskey in here, if you'd prefer. Merlin knows they're capable of driving a man to want to drink something."

He couldn't help it. His jaw fell as they went on, the excitement palpable and their assumptions shocking. It was irrationally pleasing to hear them speak so highly of him, and of his long-term partnership with Robert. Finally, there came a question he could answer easily. But it still made him pause for a second.

"You don't need to do that, Robert. I'm just fine," he assured the Minister. Making an older man do something so simple for him? No, Apollo didn't need anything.

But then it was time to explain. Apollo shifted in his chair so he could face the portrait. "I'm not sure where to begin," he confessed. Best to go back to the start. "Well, Harry married Ginny Weasley, which you might know? They took in Teddy after-" He hesitated, glancing at Remus. He'd seen pictures of them all before, of course, during their History of Magic courses. He cleared his throat. "They took in Teddy but they also had three other kids. The oldest is called James Sirius. And then there's Albus Severus and Lily Luna. They obviously just go by first names, but I thought you might want to know anyway."

He ran a hand up to the back of his neck, rubbing at it for a moment. He couldn't even begin to imagine what they thought of Snape, or about Lily's middle name. Best not to get into that unless it was relevant.

"They... Well, it was rough. They lost both parents before Lily was even a second year. Sort of drifted apart over the years, though things seem pretty well patched up, now. Teddy married this woman named Avery, and adopted her daughter Sophie. I-- Well. I should probably just explain now that our family tree is just.. ridiculous by now. I'll try to make it as simple as I can. Avery was sort of taken in by extended family of the Rookwoods, but they were - luckily - not bothered by that lot too much.

"My brother, Christian, married Alice - Ace - Longbottom. They've got two lads of their own, and her brother Frank is fascinating. I imagine you might like him a lot. Albus became a potioneer, and James an Obliviator. He loves Quidditch, too, though, so he still writes articles sometimes."

Apollo let his mouth quirk upwards as he went on, thinking back on how he and Lily started out. "During her school years, Lily was turned into a werewolf, and was utterly brilliant at hiding it. That's probably why she's spent so many years on improving potions for other werewolves, to make things easier. Unfortunately for her, I was raised to take over the Zabini family, and hadn't really grown up before we properly met. I was two years behind her. So one evening, we were having a party - unsanctioned, of course - in the Room of Requirement. And I didn't realize she was changing or anything, so when I provoked her, she scratched me pretty badly. It was... rough, for about a year. But then she came back and we started figuring things out. I never turned, but the full moon was never easy.

"Ace and Christian, they took over this club at school, named after Harry. It's meant to be like a training ground for future Order members - to teach them to protect themselves. So Lily took the Potions professor position to help keep an eye on them. It was a bit mental, though. I'd fallen for her before I even knew too much about her. I just hadn't known it." He offered a chagrined smile, surprised even still that it was so easy to admit.

"A lot happened to slow us down, but I'm lucky enough to say that she was just as determined as I was. And it took longer than it really should have for us to get our act together and have the ceremony. But after we managed that, and after we got settled, the question of a family... it started to hurt. Ace and Christian - they're a bit odd, compared to some, but they had it easy. We knew from the very beginning that kids wouldn't happen for us. Lily couldn't - y'know. So a few years back, we adopted, just, the most wonderful little girl." He drew out a picture of her and Lily from his wallet. Ever since they'd taken up using cell phones, other things had come easy. Like their need for muggle money to have a place to live - thus, the wallet.

Standing, he stepped closer to show them. "We wanted her to understand where she came from, so we named her Emiko. Emi. These two- .. They're everything."

"They're completely gorgeous. I see so much of my Lily in your Lily, and Emi--she's amazing," James said, touched.

"Harry would have loved to have been able to see how things turned out," Sirius said, approving.

"I can't believe that's our granddaughter and our great granddaughter. Time passes so much more quickly for you than it does for us," Lily told Apollo. "They're lovely, and I'm so glad we've gotten to meet you. Apollo, James and I were so young when things were cut short for us, but what was always, always important to us were two things--family, and doing what we believed in. I have no doubt whatsoever that you love Lily and Emi because it's written all over your face, and if you want to run for Minister, better that you try it than to never try it at all and wonder if you could have made a difference if you had."

"She's right, you know," James said. "There are many ways to save a life and to make a difference. Being a healer is only one way. If you want to try for Minister, know we would have stood behind you if we could. From what you've just told us, our best efforts are never in vain. Listen to the history you've just given us--the generations, the family ties, the desire for good, the love--it all weaves together and moves forward and somehow it works, even in times when we think perhaps it shouldn't. You and Lily have fought through some odds that a lot of people wouldn't have known how to do. Don't listen to what any outsiders say because they don't deserve that much of your heart or your soul. Do what you and Lily decide to do."

"I don't think Robert necessarily brought you here to indoctrinate you into this side project of his," Remus said. "He brought you for the bigger lessons that this can hold for you, whether you ever choose to come here again or not, and, potentially, I can see many of them. Heaven knows Robert can bugger up a lot of things, but the one thing I think he eventually worked out for himself was the love for life and the love of preserving it. Sounds like you have a similar hunger yourself, and I don't doubt that when it comes down to it, you'll make the right choice. He probably wouldn't think to tell you how many nights he's sat in here in the dark, with just the light of the fireplace, a glass of firewhiskey and a cigarette. Sometimes he talks, sometimes he listens. But he knows this is one place he can come to balance out all of the crap he sometimes gets caught up in, in England. If you and Lily and Emi can find a way to balance yourselves against it and keep your heads, you'll be fine."

Apollo smiled and tucked their photo back in his wallet and then into his pocket. It warmed him to know that they were proud of a woman who had always needed and deserved such praise. He'd always given her what he could, but he was only able to hope it was enough. Still, he wasn't at all sure that she would agree with them. Not that he'd brought it up, yet, since he'd previously had no intention of running at all.

"She's always been really good about letting me try things without forcing any opinion on me. Y'know? Like, she'll initiate a conversation about it, but it's always about helping me work things out." Apollo leaned back against Robert's desk, smiling a little. "Don't get me wrong; I know exactly what she's doing. But... she won't be on board with this. Maybe if we didn't have Emi. I don't know."

He shook his head, unable to say for sure. After all, hadn't Robert's daughter gone through some dangerous mishaps because of his position as Minister for Magic? He couldn't even begin to imagine, but moreover -- he never wanted to see Lily's reaction to something that awful.

The only hope he'd have, really, would be a desperate belief that he wouldn't make anybody angry enough to incur such action against them. But the odds of that were certainly slim with the way the world so often was.

His fingers slipped into his pocket, reaching for the charm she'd given him so long ago.

"I don't know the rules of this place, yet, but I do wish they could come and see you all. I can't wait to tell her about this. That is.. I mean, I'll keep parts out if I need to, but y'know what I mean." Apollo shrugged sheepishly. "But I get what you mean about Robert. He's always been great about instilling lessons without just lecturing on about things."

"He's the rule maker here now," Sirius said, looking behind Apollo and nodding in Robert's direction.

"Despite the fact that one night over some pints, we did vote him least likely to hold that position," Robert's image in the portrait said. Robert frowned.

"That's always a whole new definition of talking to oneself when my own image decides to pipe up," Robert told Apollo uncomfortably.

"The thing is," James said to Apollo, "some of us didn't have the most It was that sense of commitment to family and to love that kept us together and that, ultimately, made us take a stand here to fight for children. We made a clear choice at that time that love would always be welcome here."

"For you to have gotten in here at all means that you're part of that family," Remus said. "And that means that your family is welcome too, if you decide to return and you decide to bring them. Bring them if you like. You just need to ask him for a key, that's all. It's bloody unplottable otherwise. You'd never find this place again."

"I cannot tell you how much we'd love to meet Lily and Emi," Lily said. She was about to continue when there was a quiet knock on the door.

"Come!" Robert called. It was Owens.

"Sorry, Captain," Owens said. "We're missing a 4 year old lad named Freddie. Apparently, someone was making hand shadow puppets and young Freddie thought we were keeping a dragon. Might I look at the map?"

"Of course," Robert said, looking at the floor plan on the wall with what looked be now countless moving footsteps. He had to concentrate for a moment, looking closely. The figures in the portrait leaned closer, trying to see the map too.

"There," James said, pointing.

"There where?" Robert frowned, not finding James' information entirely helpful.

"Broom closet off the kitchen near the back door," James replied. "Don't you see him?"

"I see lots of children," Robert said. "Ah, yes--there he is. You're quite right, James. I have no more sweets to give you to soothe him with, Owens, and we do not need to alarm him any further than his present circumstances already present for him."

"Your wife made some cookies earlier," Owens replied. "Perhaps a cookie might be strong enough to fend off a shadow dragon."

"Let us know if it doesn't work, and perhaps Apollo and I could try to help you coax him out of the closet," Robert said. He looked over at Apollo. "That is, if you feel up to battling a shadow dragon, Apollo?"

Apollo didn't know what he could say to Lily to make her understand what this place meant, or what it meant to him that portrait versions, at least, of her grandparents had given him their approval. It wasn't exactly what he had expected, since Robert hadn't explained before they left, but he knew that they would have a lot to discuss if she was still awake when he got home. Emi, he suspected, would not make it too much later and then he would miss her if he wasn't careful.

"I would be happy to help," he agreed, though. "But I really ought to get home after that. Lily and I have a lot to discuss before... well, before I return, hopefully." Apollo shot Robert a slightly questioning gaze, though he genuinely knew better than to think he would be told No after being brought in by the Minister himself.

So he turned back to the portrait, thanking them all for their advice and expressing his gratitude for having met them. Apollo had to wonder, for a moment, whether Robert had known they would be able to sway him. Was that partly why he'd brought the younger man in? Perhaps. But it had worked. The risks were real, and Apollo probably should have tried for Deputy Minister or some sort of advisory role if he really just wanted the reforms to come to pass. But that didn't quite occur to him as they left the room in search of the frightened child, learning that the cookie had not quite done the trick.

Pulling a scrap of parchment from his pocket, Apollo also drew his wand, transfiguring the piece into a small stuffed dog. Wand away, he also put the animal in his pocket, intending to give it to the boy if he needed something to keep him company. Having any sort of friend could be helpful, Apollo knew.

Approaching the closet, he slowed, expecting Robert to take the lead considering his role in the house.

Robert went to the kitchen and saw two of the men and a lad of perhaps ten or eleven standing in front of the closet, trying to talk to Freddie.

"He's blocked the door from the inside somehow," one of the men said.

"Freddie," the boy said, "there are no dragons. Open the door."

"No!" a defiant little voice said.

"Oh, stand aside," Robert said to them. He waved his hand at the door, not wanting the casting of a spell to alarm a small child. All he wanted to do was to unblock the door.

"No fair, no fair, no fair!" the little voice shouted angrily. Robert opened the door and was met with a great flailing of broomsticks all trying to smack him. Robert took half a step back from the closet, seeing the little boy throwing a bit of a tantrum and being the one to wield the broomsticks to fend everyone away. "Don't you dare send your dragon in here. I got a dragon of me own, and he's so fierce he's got farts o' flame!"

Robert turned away for a moment, but it was to try to stop himself from laughing at the boy's attempt at being fierce.

"I'd be careful which way you aimed him, then, Freddie," Robert told the boy. "That could be a problem if he set all those brooms in front of you on fire."

"Yes, well, he hates grown ups," Freddie said more quietly now. "You can't come in." Ah, Robert thought. Now we're getting to it. I can't blame him for not wanting to trust grown ups after what he's been through.  

"Freddie, we've got more cookies," a man tried

"I don't want no stinkin' cookies," the boy said.

"The Captain's here. He can cast all sorts of magical stories on the ceiling if you like," a man said.

"I don't care," Freddie said, starting to sound a little more vulnerable now. "I want me dad. I never gone to bed without me dad." Robert was fairly certain he heard the sound of a little sniffle, but right at the moment, until Robert knew whether Freddie's parents were honestly looking for him or whether they had been the sort to give him up, Robert did not intend to return Freddie home, at least not any more tonight. Tomorrow, perhaps, if he had found whether Freddie's home was safe to send him back to. Robert looked at Apollo.

"I'd rather try the path of least resistance first," he said. "Got any ideas?"

Apollo's eyebrows lifted almost comically at the boy's antics, but couldn't really blame the poor lad. Magic had to be scary for those who weren't used to it and didn't understand it. Dragons, in particular, would be pretty disturbing. Unfortunately, Robert wasn't having any luck and Freddie just wasn't interested in sorting this out. So when the Minister turned to Apollo for help, the younger man scratched a little behind his ear as he tried to come up with something.

After a moment or two, he shrugged but crouched down in front of the door anyway. "You must have gone through a lot, Freddie," he began gently, his expression apologetic on behalf of the people who had done the boy wrong. "I'm very sorry to hear that. It's not fair. My parents were terrible, but I can't imagine what you went through. If there's one thing I know, though, it's that Robert has never lied to me. If he says you're safe here, I'm confident you really are."

He tilted his head to the side a little, eyebrows pulling together. "The dragon wasn't real, mate. Trust me, real ones are something fierce, so you're right to be wary of them. But most dragons wouldn't fit in this building. I could make you a fake one to keep with you if you wanted, though?" It wouldn't actually offer protection, but sometimes just the idea of safety was enough. And Apollo was more than happy to provide that much, if he couldn't do more.