Epilogue – The Undiscovered Country

All in all, Harry mused, it had been a brilliant life.

He had spent fifty years as Headmaster at Hogwarts and saw the school flourish. When it finally became time for him to retire he did so willingly, knowing that he had done all that he could do and that it was time for another to take on the responsibility. He knew he was leaving the school in good hands.

Their family had flourished too. And not just theirs. Rose married Scorpius and sealed the rift between the Weasley and Malfoy families forever. There were children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren from all parts of the family. Every year Harry and Ginny would host a huge Christmas party for the entire family in Godric's Hollow. In later years it had become quite crowded as more and more children were added. Harry and Ginny didn't mind though as they loved seeing them all.

One decision they had taken was that, since their birthdays and wedding anniversary were so close together, they would celebrate all three occasions on the same day with a lavish party to which everyone was invited.

The most recent such occasion – Harry's ninetieth and Ginny's eighty-ninth birthday – they wanted to be extra special, to which they would invite everyone they could. The reason for this, even though they didn't tell anyone else, was because they knew it would be their last.

The event was indeed special. Everyone who was there had stories to tell and memories to share of the lives they had all led together. Their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren all listened and contributed their own stories. There was an atmosphere of finality about it and they could all feel it. They felt like they were saying goodbye.

A week later Harry and Ginny were lying in bed gazing at each other but not saying anything. Ginny's flaming red hair had long since turned grey, as had Harry's, and her face and skin were covered with wrinkles but her eyes were still the same eyes he had fallen in love with all those many years ago, full of fire and strength and determination and passion, and he could feel that she thought exactly the same about his eyes. They shared memories through their soul-bond of their lives together – the day they had first met on Platform 9 ¾, the day Ginny started Hogwarts, the day they first kissed, the day the war ended, the day they got married, all of it passed silently between them as they lay in each other's arms.

Gradually their eyes closed and they drifted off into a sleep from which neither of them woke.


Harry was lying on something hard. This wasn't his bed. He opened his eyes and looked around. He appeared to be at a train station. He could only see a few feet around him as the rest was obscured by mist. Then he realised. He had been here before. This was the same King's Cross he had come to when Voldemort cast the Killing Curse at him on the last day of the war.

But that meant...

He felt a weight in his arms. Ginny. Ginny was with him. He looked at her. Her appearance had changed. Gone was the grey hair and wrinkles, instead she looked exactly the same as she had on the day he married her, her flaming red hair pooling on the floor. Her eyes slowly opened and she looked at him.

"Hi." she said.

"Hi." he said.

"You're here."

"I'm here."

She sat up and looked around her. Harry noticed that she was not wearing anything and knew that he was not either. He got to his feet and helped her up. He noticed the puzzled look on her face.

"Where is this?" she asked.

Harry smiled. "This is the station I came to before, when Voldemort tried to kill me. I met Dumbledore here and he said this is where we would go on from."

He held out his hand to Ginny and she took it. He led her forward. The mist cleared and there in front of them was a train, like the Hogwarts Express, with its door open waiting for them.

"But where does it go?" Ginny asked him.

"I don't know." Harry said. "Shall we find out?"

Together they entered. Even though they didn't know what was before them they knew that they would be together forever and that was enough for them.

The door of the train closed and it began its journey to the next Undiscovered Country


Daily Prophet Special Edition

August 9th 2071


It is with great sadness and regret that it falls to the Daily Prophet to report the deaths of Harry James Potter and his wife Ginevra Molly Potter at their home in Godric's Hollow last night. While details are still largely unknown it appears that both died peacefully in their sleep.

A spokesman for the family said the following: "While this is an extremely sad occasion for us and for the world at large, we can find comfort in the fact that they died as they had lived – together. We know that this is how they would have wanted to go and we are most grateful for all the support we have received from our friends and from everyone else."

On behalf of the wizarding world we at the Prophet offer our condolences to the family and friends of Harry and Ginny Potter.

Further details and an account of the lives of these two incredible people can be found inside on pages 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10.


A/N This chapter was probably the hardest for me to write and those last two words were harder still. I never thought when I uploaded the first chapter that I would get such an overwhelming response. I want to thank each and every one of you who read this, favourited it, story alerted and reviewed it. The support you have shown has been really mind boggling.

This story was called the Undiscovered Country and of course there's a Star Trek reference there but really this epilogue was inspired by the final episode of Bablyon 5 (those of you who have seen it know what I mean. Those of you who haven't are really missing out). Originally I was going to end it with Harry becoming headmaster of Hogwarts but, as I re-read chapter 19, and especially Snape's speech about the soul-binding, I realised this had to be how it ended. Harry and Ginny have been together for life and so I had to show them together beyond that. Even after writing this whenever I think back on it I always get a tear in my eye.

There will be more stories to come though, I've been brewing some other ideas and I should be able to start writing them up soon so stay tuned.

And to JK, if you ever read this, thank you for making such a fantastic world with such brilliant characters.

Well there it is. My first Harry Potter fanfic and my first real foray into the world of fanfiction. What do you think?