Theodore had never imagined this version of his life, but here it was—warm, golden, perfect. The sound of waves crashing gently behind him blended with the laughter of his son, who was giggling as they shaped the towers of their sandcastle with clumsy enthusiasm. The little boy, only three years old, was covered in specks of sand, chubby fingers gripping a plastic shovel while his father crouched beside him in a pair of swim shorts, dark curls pushed back and sunglasses sliding slightly down his nose.

Just a few feet away on the soft towel lay his entire heart.

His wife, his amore, in a bikini that made his throat tighten with want even after five years of marriage and two children, held their newest little miracle baby girl. She was barely a month old, so tiny, her soft baby skin pressed to her mother’s chest, wrapped loosely in a lightweight wrap. Her eyelashes fluttered with each breath, asleep and untouched by the world.

Theodore glanced over as his son started babbling excitedly about needing a moat, and while he responded with a warm chuckle and playful instruction in Italian, his eyes kept flickering back to them—his girls.

The sun caught the golden strands of his wife’s hair, her skin kissed by the light, and he swore he’d never seen anything so beautiful in his entire life. Not during his days at Hogwarts, not during the darker times, not even in the luxury of his family’s Italian villa. Nothing compared to this.

He could build empires, run businesses, carry old family legacies if he had to. But nothing, nothing compared to the kingdom he had now—in the form of laughter, sea salt, and the soft weight of love resting against his chest.