You Raise Me Up

Ace - *gushes* Oooh, I just might do that. I have several good ideas for a new story floating around, and as soon as I finish my other story, The Malfoy Chronicles: A Witch in Time, I'll start putting it down.

Everyone else - You guys have been terrific! This is the final chapter, and I hope you have enjoyed the ride. Do check in to my other stories, I think you might like the one I have in the works! Lurv you all!
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Seven Years Later

“Draco! You get your arse away from that grill right now! Do you happen to remember the incident with the rosebushes at Malfoy Manor?” Hermione yelled, half-amused, at her blonde husband. Draco looked over from where he was, looking quite sheepish.

“That wasn’t my fault…” he said. Harry snickered softly beside him, earning a playful punch in the arm. “Shut it, Potter! You’re wife will probably be out here any second yelling at you to go clean your room, or some tripe like that…” Draco snapped. Harry threw back his head and laughed.

“I cleaned my room this morning, mate. I know better than to cross my wife.” He retorted, and flipped a hamburger patty on the grill. “So…what did happen to the rosebushes at Malfoy Manor?” Harry asked, trying to suppress a grin.

“The same thing that will happen to your face if you keep prying, Potter…” Draco pouted, and walked off.

There were suddenly several whoops, and several children exited the Potter house, all wearing pointed party hats. Lyra latched herself onto her father’s leg.

“Papa! James told me I have poopy breath!!” she cried, burying her face against his leg. James, celebrating his fifth birthday, put his hands on his hips and shook his messy black head viciously.

“No!! I said you were a poopy head!” he corrected. Harry flipped the last burger, and leaned down to his son.

“Was that a nice thing to say?” Harry asked, going down on one knee to be level with his son. James looked down, and began to squirm slightly under his father’s gaze.

“No, papa.”

“Apologize, then.” Harry said, his voice leaving no room for wiggle room. Little James turned to Lyra, still frowning.

“I’m sorry I called you a poopy head, Lyra.” James said, sounding as if the words caused him great pain. Orion stepped forward, his yellow eyes flashing mischievously in the sunlight.

“Let’s go, everyone! We still have to play with the twins!” he said, a little too happily. The twins were his brothers, Castor and Pollux, and were only two. Lyra’s face reappeared from her father’s leg, and she grinned.

“M’kay!” she said, grinning as if she had never been affected by James’ words. Draco shook his head gently, knowing full well that she probably hadn’t been affected. Orion, Lyra, and James ran towards where Bellatrix and Severus were sitting with Molly and Arthur, sipping lemonade and munching on crisps.

Although Harry hadn’t married Ginny, he was still very close to the family. In fact, they had all been very supportive when he had married a fiery American Auror who had transferred across the sea. They were in fact planning a trip to North Carolina that Christmas so that he could meet her family.

It was almost as if thinking about his dark-haired lover brought her out of the house, Ginny Longbottom in tow, with bowls of condiments for the hamburgers. Hannah was on the petit side, only slightly taller than Hermione, with dark straight hair and sapphire blue eyes. James had inherited his mother’s eyes, as his father before him had received his mother’s eyes.

Harry’s wife, Hannah, held up her bowl proudly. “You guys are in for a treat! I made my special southern-style slaw! Garaunteed to go with hamburgers or hotdogs!” she said happily. Harry grinned brightly as he began to take the finished patties off of the grill. Ginny recruited the nearby Severus to help her set up the table, much to his displeasure. He looked very much awkward in a black t-shirt and dark-colored jeans.

“I am not your bloody maid…” he mumbled. Hannah giggled. She had always loved to hear any male British person speak. In her exact words: ‘It’s hawt.’

“Come on, Snape-a-doodle! Lighten up. You’re killing the mood.” She said brightly. Severus looked at her, his fingers itching to hex her.

“Never….in the rest of your existence, are you to call me….that.” he said, but Hannah only giggled again.

“You’re so cute when you’re trying to be menacing. But we both know that I could totally kick your- what do you people say?- oh yeah! Arse.” She said, and flashed him a perfect smile. He blinked once, and then went back to where he was sitting, Castor and Pollux at his feet instantly.

“Baba!” Castor cried. It was his special name for his father. Castor pointed at the three older children coming up behind him, and grunted. “No!” he cried, and clung to his father’s leg. Pollux stood his ground, however, and pointed at the children for a different reason.

“No pway! Big kids mean!” he said angrily. Lyra cocked her head to the side.

“We’re not mean!” she said, sounding very ‘shocked’ that Pollux would say such a thing. Severus raised an eyebrow.

“I beg to differ. Last time you three got hold of the twins they ended up with dirt in places that shouldn’t be mentioned in polite conversation.” He said, his voice soft but menacing.

James grinned. “S’not our fault they decided to take off their trousers and sit in the mud! They just weren’t smart enough to get rid of the evidence!” he said, standing straight and tall, because he was smart enough to do so.

“They’re two, you little hell-demons.” He said. Orion gasped dramatically.

“Oh, papa! You said a dirty word! You’re setting a bad example! Hell, hell, hell!” he said, and ran around in a circle. Severus chuckled darkly.

“Keep that up, my boy, and it will feel like your backside is there…” he warned. Orion stopped immediately, a grin on his face. He knew his father was serious, and therefore he shouldn’t push him too far.

“Yes, sir!” he said.

James ran up to his father, and tugged on the grilling apron he was wearing to protect him from the grease. “Can we go play in the lower yard?” he asked. Harry nodded.

“Yes, but stay away from the pool. There’s no adults down there and none of you can swim.” He said, looking James in the face. “Okay?”

“Kay, papa! C’mon, guys, let’s go!” he said, calling to his two older friends. The three children disappeared at the same time that Percy poked his head through the back door.

“Hello? Anyone here?” he called. Ginny stood, and called him down.

“C’mon, Perce! We’re just setting up!” she said. Percy appeared, a bright blue box in one hand, his other hand intertwined with a very pregnant Nymphadora’s. She waddled behind him, a brilliant grin on her face. Ginny and Hannah pounced on her immediately, cooing at how beautiful she looked in her maternity sun-dress.

“I found a few vagrants along the way!” Percy said, grinning as Fred, George, and Ron trailed behind him. Fred and George were both still unmarried, but with girlfriends, and Ron had married his pretty French girl, Maude, who was only slightly less pregnant than Nymphadora. Each of the ginger men were carrying a present for Harry’s son.

The presents were placed on a table out of the way, and everyone gathered round a few picnic tables to talk. The adults caught up with each other, each conversing happily. Hermione tapped Draco on the shoulder, and leaned down to his ear.

“Aren’t your parents supposed to be here?” she asked.

“Yeah, they’ll be ‘fashionably late,’ though. You know how those two are…” he said. It was at that time that the two blondes decided to make their appearance, each toting a separate gift for the young Potter. They were welcomed warmly into the fold by the rest of the party-goers, and Harry put the hamburger patties down on the table.

“I’ll call the kids as soon as Hannah brings out the cake.” He said. Hannah took that as her cue to go inside to retrieve James’ birthday cake.

Harry leaned over to Ginny. “How’s Charlie and Dragomir? Last I heard they were vacationing in America. Are they back yet?” he asked. Ginny giggled softly.

“Nope. They stopped in Las Vegas for some sight-seeing. They’re supposed to be coming home next month.” She said. Harry grinned. The two had taken time off of their dragon-taming to vacation all over the world, their last stop being America before they came home.

As Hannah came outside with the cake in her hands, the box of tiny candles and the matches in her teeth, Orion came running around the house from the lower yard, his feet pounding the ground as he ran at full speed.

“Somebody help!” he cried. The adults stood from their places. “James and…Lyra…were…arguing near the pool….they’ve fallen in!” Orion gasped, holding his side as a stitch overtook him. The adults seemed to move in a group, all of them running to the lower yard towards the pool. Nymphadora and Maude stayed with the twins and the out-of-breath Orion while everyone else ran, knowing they would be of no use for either running or…well…anything…

James was clinging to the buoy rope, sputtering as it bobbed, not quite buoyant enough to hold him up completely. Lyra was near the edge, tantalizingly close to a ladder but unable to get there. Harry reached the pool first, and dove headfirst into the water towards Lyra, who had gone under the water completely.

It was Draco who dove in after James, wrapping his arm around the boy’s waist and pulling him the few feet to the ladder. Percy reached down to receive James from Draco, and Fred and George helped pull the water-sodden wizard from the pool. Lucius received Lyra from Harry, and Ron and Severus helped pull him out. Lyra was sputtering and sobbing, a terrible mix for catching one’s breath. Lucius pulled off his robe, and wrapped it around her, pulling her close as she tried to calm down.

“Papa!” she choked, gasping for air. “Mummy!” she sobbed. Her parents were at with her immediately, Hermione stroking wet blonde strands of hair from her face.

“What possessed you two to come down to the pool?” she asked, tears in her eyes.

“We just *hic* wanted to put our *sob* feet in!” she said. “B-but James didn’t want *hic* to, and I came anyway, and I slipped in. He tried to get me out, b-but he fell in too!” she said, and buried her face against her grandfather, who was still holding her.

James was breathing hard, and Harry couldn’t tell if it was just stray pool water or tears streaming down his face. Harry took James from Percy, holding him close as Hannah sobbed.

“You two could have been killed!” Harry snapped.

“I didn’t want to come to the pool! You said no! But Lyra came anyway! And she fell in, and I tried to help her, papa, but she was too far away, and I fell in too! But I got to the rope…and I’m so sorry!” he said, and finally burst into open sobs.

Ron ran his hand through his hair, observing the scene at the poolside.

“Well…this party was a splash…”

Draco shook his head as Fred clapped Ron across the back of the neck. In a way, though, the man was right. There was never a boring social event with this particular group of people, and there probably never would be.

Life was just funny that way.
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When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

There is no life - no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.
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THE END