FOR SERVICES RENDERED

Thanks Kim and Anne for making my journey so much easier. Thanks to all of you for reading and reviewing and supporting me along the way. This fic is slowly being edited for earlier typos etc, so if you see it popping up from time to time, that is why. ~Lucie


Epilogue

It was summer again. They had just enjoyed a glorious spell of weather, and today Severus and Farid were undertaking another kind of bond: today they were to hand fast, today they were to marry.

There was a magical tent on the lawn of Severus and Farid’s cottage. It was already swarming with people, even though it was so early in the day; no one wanted to miss a thing. Friends and family thronged about and children were everywhere. A number of them belonged to various friends. Ron and Hermione alone had five children, their oldest girl Ginny was to be a bridesmaid today. Remus had married his Nymphadora, though nobody dared call her that; an erstwhile Auror, she had retired when she married Remus and started having babies (three in all so far) and was currently helping to run the orphanage of which Remus was one of the directors. Apparently she got far more excitement working with the children than she ever did as an Auror, evil had gone very quite since Farid had killed Voldemort.

Then of course, there were the Potter Children, forty-three in total, mostly boys. They were a cheerful, generally good-hearted bunch that were fortunate to be cared for and supported by such dedicated, loving guardians. Both Sirius and Adrian had had difficult childhoods and they were determined to make sure that none of their boys or girls ever felt lost or unwanted. Farid spent large chunks of time with them, and there were several possible future quidditch stars in the making amongst them. Severus spent time there too, especially when Farid was away, and he was always assured of a warm welcome. It felt very strange to him to be surrounded by children who were once his contemporaries. Many of them had endured dreadful childhoods, but were, this time, growing up in a place that was close to perfect.

Of course, a bad childhood was not the only thing that made someone decide to make so many wrong choices. Look at Farid - his childhood had been nightmarish, horrific. He should have been bitter, vengeful, and unable to love. But Severus suspected that Farid was a very special case; there were not many souls as pure as his in the world. But as far as these particular children were concerned, Severus thought that their second upbringing had definitely been a triumph on the part of so many people and had more than proved the experiment a success on the whole, so far anyway.

Their cottage was quite a large dwelling set deep in the Quantock Hills, well away from the prying eyes of Muggles and Wizards alike. It had a huge four-acre garden, which included a small clear lake. They had bought it six years ago now, as a retreat from the rest of the world, somewhere that they could spend time together, safe and private and secure. They called it ‘Summer Cottage,’ and no matter where he was in the world, which team he was playing for, Farid made sure that he could be at home during the long summer break so that he could spend most of his time with Severus.

They would just be together then, reading and walking and pottering about. Swimming on the lake, making potions and spending time with a cat that had grown into a formidable mouser, but who nonetheless still liked a nice cuddle, a warm lap and to have his ears tickled.

Sometimes Severus had worried about the age difference between him and Farid and, when his boy had first hit the International Quidditch circuit, Severus had been convinced that Farid would fall for someone else and not want him anymore. But that never happened; he always came home to his lover.

Farid had matured too; he had grown several more inches and was now 5ft 9ins, still smaller than Severus, but big enough. He had wide shoulders and laughing eyes that crinkled when he smiled and hair that was as unruly as ever but that only curled as far as the base of his neck these days. He was strong too, Severus’ lover, with a firm muscled chest and rock hard thighs. They made love often and, over the years, Farid became more forceful; but nevertheless, no matter how strong he was, how famous he became, he always submitted to Severus only these days he did it by choice.

Severus could never express how much this meant to him - to have a world class quidditch player, the most powerful wizard in the world, quivering beneath him, trembling with need, begging for release. Often when they made love, Farid would forget himself, forget that he was now Harry Potter, International Quidditch Star, Saviour of the Wizarding World and part time guardian to the Potter Children and give in completely to Severus’ ministrations, just as he had when he was a little slave.

For years Farid had begged Severus to marry him, but until now he had always refused. It was not that he did not want to be bonded as a husband to his erstwhile slave; it was just that he wanted Farid to experience true freedom, to be able to leave if he wanted to.

He finally gave in when he realised at last that Farid wasn’t planning on going anywhere; and, having played quidditch at an international level for five years - playing for England three times now, twice as captain - Farid had had enough of travelling the world and was coming home for good.

And right now, he was standing in front of his mirror, trying to tie a cravat. Draco had been the one to choose the wedding outfits and he had decided on cravats as part of the outfit. Draco and Seamus were the leading rivals to Madam Malkin these days, though Draco was not often seen without a very exuberant Lucius in tow.

Lucius Malfoy was an active, jolly little boy, full of energy and excitement; he was usually filthy dirty and totally dishevelled. This Lucius was very different from the supremely elegant, narcissistic boy that Severus remembered from his childhood. Severus suspected that, this time round, he was seeing the true Lucius, not the one who had had manners and decorum beaten into him by an ogre of a father.

Today Luc was one of the page boys, and had been loudly complaining to a despairing Draco about having to wear white, rather than his favourite apparel - of all things, a pair of muggle jeans.

Lucius did not spend a lot of time with the other Potter Children, but he did have lessons with them and as ever he was still a natural leader, with many friends. Severus suspected that his outfit would no longer be totally white by the time the ceremony began.

There were so many people here today to celebrate their union. Amelia Bones, who was still known as ‘the new Minister’, even after several years in office. She presided over a magical world that had long last found peace, and didn’t that make things so much better? The Heads of a number of magical families were of Farid’s generation. They saw things very differently from the way that their parents had and reform was under way in a number of areas of life. Those who had revelled in hatred and promoted distrust were either dead or reliving their childhood.

Two years ago, Severus had discovered what had happened to Fudge after he had been deposed. He had a job cleaning Muggle toilets at Hyde Park Corner. Severus took great pleasure in telling everyone what had happened to the man. Sirius then took even greater pleasure in visiting the facilities regularly, just to check how clean they were. Especially as Fudge had to do his cleaning by hand - there were far too many tourists about for him to be able to use magic.

But on the whole, even Sirius Black had matured. Thanks to the work he had taken on and the support and love of his big American.

All the members of staff from the Potter House were here today, with the exception of Stuart Johnson, Farid’s erstwhile rapist. He had come out of prison, with nowhere to go and no-one prepared to give him shelter. Colburn disappeared, he had not been seen since, but Johnson it seemed was still wracked with guilt. Farid had finally taken pity on him after he had started to haunt whatever building Farid was in, looking lost and forlorn. He had been taken on as caretaker to the Potter Children and, after a very tough time at first, had finally settled down. But he was not here today; Farid could not have borne that.

Farid still had dreams; he still woke screaming from time to time. Once in a while he had flashbacks and nothing except being held and soothed by Severus would make them go away. Of course since his time in Farid’s memories, Severus knew vividly just how terrible those memories were. For the last five years he had carried an emergency portkey on his person at all times and would instantly travel to his lover’s side whenever he was needed.

When flashbacks happened, Farid would climb naked into his lap and tremble with fear; Severus would affix his collar and just hold him and let him mutter in Kazakh and stroke him gently and tell him how much he was loved. And for now at least, most of the time, for both of them, that was enough.

They had not lessened over the years these incidents; oh they were less frequent than they had been, but when they did occur they would last for longer and he and Farid had just accepted them as a part of life, whilst he had his Severus, Farid insisted, he would always make it through the terrifying interludes.

Farid had changed beyond all recognition in recent years. He was strong, confident, powerful. At least these were the qualities he showed to the outside world. Only Severus saw the other Farid, Severus or sometimes one of their friends. The Farid that would always remain a lost and frightened little boy, the Farid that sometimes fell apart, that couldn’t quite cope on his own. But of the two of them Severus thought that he had changed the most. He had always been a bitter man, one who angered easily and forgave only rarely. Thanks to Farid all that had changed.

He was still irascible, sarcastic, bad tempered. But he also laughed so much more; he had friends now, whose company he enjoyed. No in many ways he was very like Farid, he too was a frightened child inside who needed his lover to keep him strong

Severus turned around to find himself being watched by a pair of sparkling green eyes.

“You need some help, Severoos?” Farid still had a Kazakh accent, but it was a gentle one these days. He had moved closer to his lover and was adjusting the cravat. His lashes were lowered as he concentrated on the job he was doing, and for a moment Severus had a flashback of his own - to a sweet boy, kneeling naked in front of him, offering his body for Severus’ pleasure. It could all have been so different, such a different world without Farid in it: if he had left the boy behind; if Yusuf had spotted his potential; if Severus had been given another toy that night. Severus couldn’t help himself, he took Farid in a fierce embrace and kissed him firmly demandingly, and Farid smiled into the kiss then just melted against him and let him have his fill.

As he often did when they were making love, Farid vanished his clothes. He still preferred being naked, and spent much of their time together wearing very little, or indeed nothing at all.

Severus lowered his Farid tenderly to the floor and proceeded to kiss him even more passionately, and Farid responded; he wrapped his arms around his lover and returned each kiss and caress. Severus, who as usual was enormously aroused by this beautiful powerful man writhing underneath him, took full advantage of the privilege he had been given, and wasted no more time and ravished his beloved Farid.

Afterwards as they lay entwined together on the floor, with Farid’s head resting against Severus’ chest; he wished that they could never move, just lie here together in the sanctity of their own bedroom, skip this whole wedding thing and simply be together.

But later, when he stood by the dais where Albus waited to marry them and watched his beautiful boy, now all grown up, walk towards him in a simple blue robe, he changed his mind again: this time the bond would be an equal one; this time it really was unbreakable and could only be severed by death.

And later still, as the day was ending and he and Farid prepared to leave, he knew that the ceremony had been truly beautiful and moving and that he would remember it for all of his days and that somehow, thanks to the powerful magic, he felt, if anything, even closer to Farid.

They stood by the small lake that they loved so much hand in hand and this time Farid kissed Severus, his eyes dancing with the promise of further delights to come and together they transformed and took to the wing.

Six months after the final battle with Voldemort, Farid had decided that he was going to be an animagus too; he was going to be a swan. It had taken him that amount of time for his magic to be strong enough to even attempt the transformation. Everyone had told him that he would not be able to choose his animagus form, that it was unlikely that his form would be the same as his Patronus, that he was still too weak to attempt it.

But everyone had to eat their words when they turned from their arguing to find a large white Hooper Swan, sitting in Farid’s place on the sofa.

After that, Severus and Farid would often transform together and take off for a remote loch somewhere for a day or two, or even just spend time together lazily gliding around their own private lake.

But now the two of them flapped their enormous white wings and flew just once around the garden, over the tent in a farewell to their guests. Whilst the music played on all night and the fairy lights twinkled in the trees and people laughed and danced and fell in love all over again.

And Severus and Farid headed north, to a remote lochan in Caithness and a little magical inn near a glorious beach where they might just spend some time. This time Severus had no doubt that his relationship was indeed forever and always, because didn’t everyone know, after all, that swans mated for life?

finis