A Better Fate *COMPLETE*

Epilogue

No one was quite prepared to see Severus Snape walk out of the Shrieking Shack, least of all when he was followed out by a strange woman that no one had seen before. They had been frantically searching for Hermione by that point, for a few hours in fact, when she walked out of the tree line of the Forbidden Forest near where she disappeared, right around the time that Snape showed up.

When everyone gathered in the Great Hall to hear the duo's accounts of where they had been and who these strange new people were, they were astounded. Yet it was so unlike Hermione and Severus to pull such an outlandish, and frankly inopportune prank, that they had to be believed. Added to that were the manners and strange lilting accents of the newcomers as well, not to mention the fact that they all wore wedding rings and Hermione and Severus now had in their possession a set of very fine weapons, for each had awakened with not only the sword and scabbard but a large wieldy staff each as well.

Through Lasair's assistance, though, in the weeks to come certain heretofore doubted historians and geneology experts were proven quite correct in their assertions that wizard kind had evolved from the fairy race. The Malfoys, in fact, brought to light several large tomes, which delineated their family's roots right back to the unity between an Etruscan fae named Feronia and a Merovingian king--ostensibly to unite their two kingdoms.

No one at all, however, could doubt the quartet's knowledge of the new magics they brought with them. In time, Hermione did in fact write many books on what she had gleaned during her time abroad; there were how-to books using the nature magics, which became bestsellers for the older generations, plus treatises on the fae people and an account of all that took place during their time away.

It was Cian, however, who took on apprentices, as he came to be the better judge of character for those who would use the old ways well and with good conscience. He spent the bulk of his time farming in the countryside around Hogsmeade and training his pupils in the martial arts.

Lasair, much to Trelawney's chagrin, set herself up as a Seer in Hogsmeade proper. It was there that she and Severus bought the little house he had seen during his vision quest, and there that she gave him the children he had watched during his experience and longed for.

Hermione and Cian as well, had a boy and girl each, both with the bright eyes of the fae and an almost unearthly bearing.

As for Severus, he did not become the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Rather, he began a new position, as instructor in nature magics. From there he chose students who stood out in his classes to continue their seventh year doing independent study abroad, in the land of Tir na N'og.