Chapter 946 - Ch: 9 Part 2

From the Journal of Harry Potter (Private Entry), Mar 1st 1998, London...

I talked with Remus and Tonks today. I teleported up to Hogwarts, after a very nice dinner with Dan and Emma, so I could confer with them. Starting tomorrow, the lower levels of Hogwarts are going to be cleaned like they've never been cleaned before. Then the elves are going to lay out the traps.

I had to remind Remus that the Headmistress should not patrol in her cat form. She'd make a nice Nagini snack, which is what we are trying to avoid.

I don't expect the snake to be awake yet, but the rodents are, especially in the warmer rooms in the castle. By starting early, I hope we'll cut back on the only local food source for that blasted snake. Remus also convinced the Headmistress to allow the juvenile elves to move into the Shrieking Shack. Some of those elves are just the right size for Nagini to take them.

Hermione and I have been talking a lot via our mirrors. She's been studying hard and I've been helping by questioning her using the mirrors. Last night was typical of our conversations.

"Next, it can be used as a stabilizing element in potions requiring erumpent fluid. And finally, it can be used as an oven cleaner..."

I smiled at her image. "Very good. You got the twelve uses of Dragon Blood down pat. Now, what's the incantation for a light spell?"

"Lumos, Lumos Orbis for a free floating point."

"And the counter?"

"Nox. Come on, Harry, these are first year spells," she complained.

I grinned at her, then I started snapping questions at her as quickly as I could.

"Fine. The final incantation of the Fidelius ritual?"

"Securus falsus dissimulo fidelita."

"To harden or solidify a liquid, and I don't mean freeze it."

"Congelo."

"To detect magic?"

"Deprehensio veneficus."

"Name five poisonous plants used in potions."

"Digitalis purpurea, Hydrangea macrophylla, Nerium oleander, Onvallaria majalis and Wisteria sinensis." 

"Good. Now, quickly name five reasons why you love me," I said with a grin.

She stared at me for a moment as if she couldn't understand the question. "Five? I'm not sure I can come with that many," she replied with a smirk.

"Hey!" I exclaimed.

"Well, stop fishing for compliments," she replied with a large grin.

"I was just seeing if you were paying attention," I muttered.

"Uh huh. When am I not paying attention?"

"Well, when I nibble on your earlobe you seem to lose..."

"Harry!"

"Yes?"

"Back to the topic. And trust me, there are a lot more than five reasons. There are too many to name here."

"All right," I replied smugly, then went back to reading questions off my list.

I won't say she's becoming obsessive, but I think this is giving me an interesting insight into her. For all the years before Hogwarts, she had few friends except her books. Hogwarts broadened her horizons and our being a couple broadened them even further. But her books and studying is like an emotional safety net for her. I believe that she still thinks of books as her friends and a test isn't really a test of her knowledge, but a test of how well she knows those friends.

It's silly, I know, but it's a very real part of who she is. I wouldn't change it for all the galleons in Gringotts. Emma is pretty much the same way. Dan even told me that when she was pregnant with Hermione, she spent her time reading books on pregnancy and child rearing.

As I see it, I have a couple things I need to do. I need to help her prepare as much as I can, even if that just means quizzing her via our mirrors at night. I also need to help keep her calm, which means she may have another couple baths and massages coming up.

Sirius and Remus didn't give me baths and massages, thank Merlin! But they did the same thing with jokes and humor. N.E.W.T.s are very stressful and having someone who can pull you back and make you breathe is essential.

Speaking of Sirius, he's changed his plans again and he won't share them with me! I swear he should have gone into show business.

I've told him that once I have the snake, he'll get notice from me and I'll wait only so long after that. Then I'm going to destroy the thing, with or without his dog and pony show.

I understand where he's coming from. I do have an obligation to the Internationals, especially the Pacific Rim Ministry and the Yanks. But it's my life we're talking about and I want it back. Since I was eleven, I've had this hanging over my neck like an axe ready to fall.

I want to be Harry again. I need to be Harry again. Every time I visit Hermione, I go as Evan and change back into my regular form once I'm sure she's alone. Just once I wish I didn't have to sneak around. I'd like be able to say "Hi, Ron!" and have him reply normally.

Somewhere along the line, Voldemort stole my parents, my friends and my life. And through all that, Hermione hasn't caught on to just how important she is. It's like she's my last link to Harry. Harry, Evan. Harry, Evan. Who am I? I know who I want to be, and once I catch that blasted snake, I'll be Harry again. I'll be me. The rest of the world can go hang, for all I care.

And here I go again, depressing myself and it's way too late to call up Hermione and talk to her. I think I'll go over that banishing ritual again.

Defense Against the Dark Arts Office, Hogwarts, Mar 25th1998...

Remus looked up when Tonks walked in and smiled. "Back so soon?"

She nodded unhappily. "Yeah. The Department Healer says if I come back I'll be on desk duty until I can re-certify the fitness exam."

"I thought you were doing all right with that?" Remus asked worriedly.

"I thought I was, too," she replied. "But my leg went lame five kilometers into the ten kilometer run."

"But all that exercise you've been doing?"

She sighed and shook her head. "I have an appointment with a specialist at St. Mungo's this weekend. I was warned this might happen and that I may never recover completely."

Remus frowned. "You have healed, unless you've been hiding it from me."

"I'm not hiding anything, Remy. The Healer told me if I go back I'll be stuck at a desk until I can pass that exam. Then she told me it was likely that I'd never pass it. You know how difficult that exam can be."

"A desk job," he murmured and she grimaced at him. "I know what that will do to you," he said softly.

She pulled her chair away from her desk and sat facing him. "What am I to do? All my life, all I wanted to be was an Auror." Her hair changed to a dull flat brown and she looked at him with watery eyes.

He stood and walked over to her, then knelt down and took her into his arms. "I know, but we'll find something. There are a lot of things you can do, it's just a matter of finding something you like." He cradled her in his arms and she sniffled against his shoulder. This was a far cry from the normally spunky ebullient young woman he knew. This was the Tonks who hid behind the metamorphmagus.

"You sure?"

"I'm positive," he replied. "In fact, I know the school on Fiji still has positions unfilled. They sent me a notice about them, asking if I knew anyone capable of filling any of them. I was going to ask Sirius about the Transfiguration position, but maybe I should ask you, instead."

Tonks pulled her head off his shoulder and looked at him uncertainly. "Really?"

He grinned. "I have the note on my desk. As I said, I was thinking about talking to Sirius about it, but frankly he's enjoying his political games too much, and Cindy is now involved in that practice in London. Besides, I just happen to know an Auror who will be moving to Fiji with a certain Magical Creatures Professor. She might want something to do with her time that would allow her to be close to her husband."

Tonks wiped her eyes on her sleeve and smiled at him. "You always know how to cheer me up."

He chuckled. "I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen you really upset like this."

She pulled away and stood up. Stepping up to his desk, she rooted around the papers, looking for the note he was talking about.

"Help yourself," he said.

"Thanks, I will," she replied with a grin.

He shook his head, climbed to his feet and moved back to his desk. He pulled out one of the drawers, reached in and drew out the parchment she was looking for, and handed it to her.

She gave him a pouting look. "You said on your desk."

"I wasn't being literal."

Tonks smirked at him and walked back over to her desk to sit down and read the note from the Pacific Rim Ministry about the new Fijian School of Magic. Her eyes widened, seeing the large number of job openings they were trying to fill. Surely there's something in here that would interest me, she thought.

"Have you noticed anything?" Remus asked.

She tore her eyes from the parchment. "Huh?"

He motioned to a wall parchment that he'd tied to a ward. He had explained to her a few days earlier that it tracked the number of times Harry's traps triggered. Big block numbers read four hundred and seventy two.

"In just three days?" Tonks exclaimed.

"That was my thought, too. Although the number is slightly incorrect."

"Incorrect? How so?"

Remus grinned. "Four hundred and seventy one rodents have been Portkeyed out of the school, and one feline."

Tonks' expression broke into a huge grin. "Mrs. Norris?"

"Near as Minerva and I can determine, she chased a rat into a trap and reached in with a paw to grab it when the Portkey triggered," he replied, grinning back at her.

"Oh, boy," muttered Tonks, shaking her head.

"I'll say. Argus is most upset about it. I didn't want to tell him, but Minerva insisted on it. According to her, Argus has refused to leave his office. She even went so far as offering to find a kitten to replace Mrs. Norris. He refused, rather rudely, so she reminded him that he'd been warned to keep her locked up while the traps were in use and that the staff was too busy to be bothered to retrieve her."

Tonks snickered. "The castle is going to become snog city now. That blasted cat caught more students than he did." She paused and looked at the parchment on the wall again. "Still, that is a lot of rats. That snake is going to be without any morning snacks when it wakes up."

"Hopefully Harry's plan will work, but I'm not keen about other parts of it."

"Why not?"

"He's still talking about coming to the school to check the Chamber sometime in mid-April. I'm not happy with the idea of him exposing himself like that."

"He'll be here as Evan, and it can't take ten hours to check the Chamber. He'll be fine. Besides, he can always do that Auror teleport. While we're on the subject of Harry's ideas, have you moved in the ward?"

"Sirius and I pulled in the ward this morning, while you were at the Ministry."

Tonks smiled and stood up, then she walked over to him, swiveling him in his chair so she could straddle him. "You were never this lively two days after a change. That new potion seems to be working well."

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. "It's great," he said huskily, then he leaned in and sniffed along her neck.

Tonks smiled to herself. She knew he couldn't help it. It was the wolf in him. She thought it was kinky and rather enjoyed it.

Hogsmeade, April 1st 1998...

Severus Snape groaned and refrained from going downstairs to kick Gustav's body again. His leg had been badly broken and he had resorted to field medicine, which fixed the break without setting the bone properly, all because Gustav had forgotten the key to the locking spell on the Holy Room.

Snape gritted his teeth and bit back a snarl. He might be insane, but he wasn't stupid. He had misunderstood Gustav when he told Snape about the Holy room. He should have suspected it, considering the fact that he had a room that saved time, and the great sock repository.

The Holy room contained a hole. A thirty foot deep, rock lined shaft, to be precise. Obviously someone had tried to build a well and had come up dry. Or perhaps it was intended to be a cistern.

Snape didn't know and he didn't care. He just knew that after days of working to break the locking spell, he had accomplished it. He threw open the door, stepped into the darkened room, and promptly fell to the bottom of the shaft.

It took Snape nearly four excruciating hours to climb out of the hole once he found his wand and managed to heal the broken bone. When he got to the top he found Gustav waiting calmly, hoping his friend would be proud of his excellent holey room.

He lay panting and shivering on the cold basement floor while Gustav waxed poetic over the majesty of his glorious holey room and, in a snit, Snape uttered the one set of words one should never say to someone controlled by Liquid Imperius.

"Merlin, I wish you would drop dead already and be quiet!" he snapped.

Gustav, ever obedient, nodded happily and did just that, keeling over on top of Snape's injured leg, causing him to scream in pain and pass out. When he awoke, many hours later, Gustav still lay atop his injured leg, dead as a doornail.

That had been exactly five days ago and Snape was starting to worry. Gustav was making the house smell, despite the preservation charm and an air freshening charm. He had been tempted to burn the body, but the smoke might have attracted unwanted attention.

As far as his leg was concerned, the bone had healed, but at a strange angle, giving him a rather difficult limp and he ached continuously because of it.

"Stupid Gustav! He must have been a Gryffindor," muttered Snape as he rummaged through the larder. Finally, he stepped back and grunted. The cupboard was bare!

That thought made him giggle. "No bones for the doggie. Oh, Lupin, I'm coming for you."

His head snapped up and he turned to glare into one corner of the kitchen.

"Dammit, Longbottom! I said counter-clockwise, you dunderhead! Don't you know which way the clock goes? Follow the tick tock!"

He turned away and limped to the cold box. He opened it and saw it was still empty. It had been empty the last five times he had checked it, too!

"Blast and damnation! I must have food," he grumbled. A foul odor wafted up from the basement and his nose crinkled. That source of food was no longer an option.

He glance out the window and remembered the road leading out of the small village and up to the castle. There would be food at the castle, and dunderheads who needed punishing, and Lupin.

He hobbled out of the empty kitchen, muttering to himself. He would need to make plans and quickly.

The Great Hall, Hogwarts, April 2nd 1998...

Hermione stepped sleepily into the hall. She had been up late last night revising for her N.E.W.T.s, despite her promise to Harry. She had made a mental note to talk to him about it. She just couldn't help herself and she was worried that she was starting to obsess over the exams.

She skidded to a halt and blinked in surprise. The hall wasn't very full, perhaps twenty students in all, but they, and the one teacher were crammed into a corner. Professor Vector glared at someone behind Hermione.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Miss Know-It-All," sneered a voice she thought she'd never hear again.

Slowly she turned around.

Severus Snape stepped out from behind the door. He held a first year Hufflepuff by one arm. The boy's other arm flopped uselessly at his side and he whimpered in pain. Snape held his wand to the boy's temple and the boy gave Hermione an appealing look that tore at her.

"So, they made the bushy haired rabbit Head Girl?" Snape asked.

"What do you want?" she spat. Time! I must delay him, she thought frantically. Harry! Oh, Merlin, what would Harry do in a situation like this? Help isn't far away. Keep him talking.

Snape tightened his grip on the Hufflepuff and the boy whined in pain.

"Now, now, Miss Granger, that is no way to talk to your betters. Mudblood bitch! You're just like the others. You want my supply of boomslang skin!"

"I wouldn't do that to you, sir," she said in a meek tone.

He glared at her. "Ten thousand points from Gryffindor, you slut! And tonight in detention I will teach you to spank Longbottom's bottom until he glows."

He's nuts! she thought frantically, though she nodded as submissively as she could.

Her hand shifted and his eyes narrowed. "Your wand, bitch. Toss it behind me."

She reached for her wand, then froze when he snarled, "Your other hand. Use your other hand to draw your wand."

She reached for the wand with her left hand. Someone behind her coughed and his eyes darted to a point over her shoulder. She snapped her hand outwards and as soon as the wand left her fingers, at the same time she cast a stunner at Snape using her ring.

Snape's eyes jerked back to her. He had enough time to shove the student away violently and then the beam made contact. He went down in a heap. Hermione leapt over him and snatched her wand up in her hand, then she spun on one heel to face him.

"Stupefy! Incarcerous!" she shouted, stunning him again and binding him tightly with ropes. "Levicorpus!"

Snape's bound body rose and she moved him away from the pile of wands.

Professor Vector ran over to get her wand and assist, if she could. She pressed a hand against a wall and a two tone alarm began to ring through out the castle. Heavy gears began to grind and the mammoth doors in the entrance hall slowly swung shut.

Vector looked at Hermione, who was staring at her. "It's an emergency lock down. The Headmistress will be here any minute, along with all of the other teachers. Those students still in their houses are being locked in."

The sound of running feet prevented Hermione from responding to Vector's comment. Remus and Tonks ran into the Great Hall, wands drawn. A moment later, Minerva appeared in her cat form, which she quickly discarded.

Tonks knelt over the injured Hufflepuff, who was cradling his arm and sniffling, while Remus restunned Snape, just to be on the safe side. Tonks waved her wand, stabilizing the injury, then she conjured a stretcher and gently lifted the boy onto it. Just then, Professors Sprout and Flitwick arrived.

Minerva signaled to Sprout, who gasped, seeing one of her students injured and visibly distraught.

"Pomona, take Mr. Winters up to Poppy. Filius, go to my office and use the Floo to contact the DMLE. Tell them that Hogwarts is in lock down and we've captured their missing prisoner," Minerva ordered.

Hermione walked over to a table and sat down heavily on the bench. The morning's events were taking their toll on her.

Tonks sat down next to her and conjured a steaming cup of hot chocolate. "Are you all right?"

Hermione wrapped both hands around the cup, but her hands were shaking too much to lift it. "I'm not sure," she said softly. She looked at her shaking hands with a touch of disgust.

"You know, when Evan captured that Death Eater, his hands shook afterwards, too. It's because your body is washing out the adrenalin," Tonks said softly.

Hermione looked up. "He never told me that," she replied quietly.

Tonks grinned. "Well, you know men. They don't want to admit they have the jitters from time to time."

"I'll have to ask him about it."

Tonks laughed. "Just be prepared when you see him next. If he's like Remus, he'll be trying to hug the stuffings out of you."

Hermione smiled, then cautiously lifted the cup to her lips. Her jitters were noticeably decreased. "I can live with that," she murmured. A hug from Harry would have been very welcomed right then.

"Miss Granger?" Minerva said. "Professor Vector says you are responsible for capturing Mr. Snape and releasing Mr. Winters."

"Yes, Headmistress. I stunned him. I didn't know what else to do," Hermione said warily.

Minerva stepped closer. "She also seemed to think you managed to cast a stupefy from a wand that had already left your fingers?"

Tonks nudged Hermione under the table with her foot. Her focus ring was still hidden and no one knew about it. "No, Ma'am. I had my wand, but I was so nervous I actually threw it after casting the spell."

Minerva's lips tightened and she leaned in closer. "Then that will be the story you'll tell the Aurors when they arrive," she said, then her voice dropped to a whisper. "I won't press, Miss Granger, but you're still a terrible liar."

Hermione looked down at the table and blushed heavily. It didn't help that Tonks was busy chortling next her.

Minerva straightened and closed her eyes as she connected to the wards of the school. Her wand glowed a soft pink while she worked the magic. Around the school, shutters screeched and banged open. The massive locking bolts on the main doors swung back into their rest position and the doors opened again.

When she opened her eyes, she turned to Hermione. "Miss Granger, you and Professor Vector will join me in my office. I will let the Aurors interview you there. Miss Tonks, Professor Lupin, once the Aurors arrive, please pass the word that all scheduled morning classes are canceled. Students should confine themselves to either their Common Rooms, the library or the Great Hall."

Tonks nodded and walked over to join Remus, who was guarding Snape.

Deep inside Hogwarts, April 2nd 1998...

Nagini raised her head and tasted the air. She was hungry and a little grumpy. There had been a loud grating noise and her hiding place trembled several times. Something was happening above her and she could feel it in the stones she lay upon.

It was early, but not by much. Besides, the warm air from the eternal furnaces heated the room nicely, making it difficult for her to stay asleep much longer.

Inside her, Tom roused from his strange dreams. He had nightmares of green eyes burning with an internal light and glowing hands that threatened him. He could feel anger from the one with the green eyes, but it wasn't anger fueled by hatred. No, this was anger fueled by righteous indignation and a desire for justice.

Tom tried to put those dreams out of his mind and concentrate on the task at hand. His connection to the snake had improved during the long hibernation. He had made no demands on the snake and used the long sleep to rest and let his strength accumulate.

Nagini looked around and tasted the air again. Her belly was empty and she had a burning need to put something in it. The air tasted of the furry food that scampered along on little feet, but the taste was old, as if it had been here and had gone away. That worried her. She wanted something to eat.

She slithered off her perch and examined the room again. There were three passages into the room that she could reach. One of them, she knew, would take her outside. Of the other two, one went up and the other went down.

"Down! Down! Take the downward heading passage!" shouted Tom.

"Down! Down! Take the downward heading passage!" whispered the voice in the back of her head.

Nagini examined the downward passage for a moment, but she could taste nothing from the hole. Either there was nothing to eat down there, or some kind of two legged magic prevented the tastes from coming up the passage.

With that in mind, she slithered up the other passage. She decided she would nest in the warm room, so she left her scent, which she could use to find her way back. Another time she'd listen to the voice in her head. Right now, she needed food.

Hogwarts, Gryffindor Head Girl's apartment, Apr 2nd 1998...

Hermione stepped into the small Common Room and trudged over to her desk. The day had been exhausting. She had been interviewed, multiple times, by different Aurors. Then the Aurors compared stories and come back for clarification on points. And everyone that had been in the Great Hall with Snape had to see a mind healer to make sure that Snape hadn't Confunded them, or used something darker.

By the time they finally released her, it was after the dinner hour and she was emotionally and physically drained and very hungry. Minerva had sent for some food for the people being interviewed, but she hadn't had much chance to eat anything.

She barely had a moment to place her book bag on her desk when a pair of arms engulfed her. She turned in the embrace, a smile pulling at her lips. It slipped when she saw the look of intense worry on his face. His eyes swept over her face, then up and down her body as if he were looking for something.

"Harry?"

"I nearly lost you," he said, then he pulled her close, burying his face against the nape of her neck.

She tightened her grip on him. "Hey, I'm fine. The training you helped teach me did the trick." She felt him shiver in her arms. "Harry, look at me."

He reluctantly lifted his head away and looked into her eyes. The worry and fear were clearly written in his expression. She reached up with one hand and touched his cheek. "I'm fine. You're fine. We're fine. Snape is heading back to prison and everything is going to be all right. How did you find out?"

"Your Mum called me on my mobile from the surgery. I was in London, at the library. She apparently heard from Sirius, via an owl, and was very upset. She said you dueled with Snape and a student had been injured."

Hermione blanched and let go of Harry. "My Mum? Oh, Merlin, what did Sirius tell her? I wasn't injured, a first year Hufflepuff was. And I didn't duel with him, I surprised him with a ring based stunner."

Harry blinked and for the first time in over an hour relaxed and smiled a bit. "Sirius must have heard it from Remus and got the story mixed up."

"Maybe," she said dubiously. "But my Mum is probably worried sick by now if you're any example of what she thinks."

She turned and paced in front of him for a moment before turning back to him. "I'm going to pop down to my parents and let them know I'm fine. Do you want to come with me?"

Harry frowned for a moment, then shook his head. "No, I think I'll meet you there. First I'm going to stop by Grimmauld and talk with Sirius. I hope he just got things mixed up and this isn't a joke of his. Do you want me to follow you to Oxford first? This will be your first long distance teleport."

She grinned saucily at him. "There's a first time for everything."

He grinned back, knowing full well she wasn't talking about teleporting.

"Let Remus know where I'm going, so he can tell the Headmistress?" she asked.

He nodded and pulled out his mirror. He also made a mental note to see about adding the charms to her mirror so that she'd be able to talk to more than just his. Creating the mirrors was a complex process and very time consuming, which was why her mirror was one of the simpler ones. "I'll take care of that now."

She nodded and teleported away.

An hour later, Harry appeared in the shadows in front of the Granger's home in Oxford. It was full dark and only a small sliver of a waning moon and only the streetlights lit the street. He walked up to the door and rang the bell. He didn't want to barge in if Hermione was still dealing with Emma.

The door opened and Dan grinned at him. "Well, I was wondering when you'd show up. What took you so long?"

Harry slipped in through the open door. "I had to talk to Sirius. I wanted to find out why Emma had the story so wrong."

Dan frowned. "He wasn't pulling a fast one, was he?"

Harry shook his head. "No, but let me explain this in front of everyone. It'll save me having to repeat it."

Dan nodded and led him into the living room where Hermione and Emma sat. Emma's face showed that she had been crying, but she was calm now. Hermione smiled broadly, seeing him enter.

"Look what the cat dragged in!" Dan quipped from the doorway.

Harry walked in and sat next to Hermione. He closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head, then he turned and split his attention between Hermione and Emma. "All right, I spoke with Sirius. It wasn't a prank of any sort. He had been speaking to Remus about what happened and Remus was talking to several people at the same time, Tonks, the Headmistress and an Auror named Shacklebolt. Between all of them, Sirius got confused, but he could see he wasn't going to get anything out of Remus. So he decided to go with what he knew; Hermione fought Snape and a student was injured. He wanted your parents to know that something had happened. He never meant to scare anyone."

Harry paused and he grinned slightly. "I think Cindy was planning on talking to him rather sternly about scaring your parents. But he was sorry. Sirius is too much of a practical joker to resort to something subtle like this."

His grin became a smirk. "On the other hand, I couldn't leave him without some form of revenge. When I left him, his hair was growing as the rate of about a foot a minute. It was really disturbing to see the hair sliding out from under his short sleeves."

Harry watched Emma and Hermione laugh. He was relieved to see that the tension was almost entirely gone.

Dan winked at him. He knew exactly what Harry was doing by telling about Sirius' hairy little problem.

Hermione turned back to Emma. "So are you all right now, Mum?"

Emma nodded and sniffed a little. "I'll be fine, dear. It's just that..."

"It's been a difficult year," Dan said, finishing for his wife. "Between Harry off on his snake hunt and you in a school that might be housing that snake, we've been dreadfully worried."

Harry leaned back on the couch and he gently rubbed Hermione's back. "I can understand that. But I think things would have been so much direr if Dumbledore were still around."

"That's not really it, Harry," Dan replied. He walked over to stand behind Emma and placed a hand on her shoulder for support. "I won't say we've grown used to the idea of you being in danger. But I think we've come to accept it. No matter how much we hate it, we know you hate it even more. The only consolation was that, for the most part, Hermione was safe.

"I think that, today, a lot of illusions were shattered. I know she's fine and wasn't injured, but she had to fight an escaped prisoner, and a child was injured. It's a jarring wake up call, no matter how you try to explain it.

"It was only a short while ago that the two of you were shyly holding hands and walking barefoot down the beach on Fiji. Now you're a trained wizard and Hermione will be one in a matter of months. Emma and I sit back and wonder where the time went. Where did the kids go?"

"We grew up, Daddy," Hermione replied softly.

Dan smiled a bit wistfully. "I know, pumpkin, and I couldn't be more proud of either of you. But your Mum and I wish it hadn't happened so soon. It's a scary thing for a parent to realize that he or she can't shield their child from the world anymore."

Hermione's eyes glistened and she gripped Harry's hand tightly.

"We'll be careful," Harry promised. The emotions from the elder Grangers was deeply moving to him. Sirius and Remus loved him and he knew that, but both would gleefully run into the burning building with him. Dan and Emma were asking for something more difficult; caution.

Emma smiled at him. "I know you will, Harry. Everything you've done for Hermione since you were forced from that school has been designed to keep her safe and in your life. We owe you for our daughter's life. She fought and won today, because she had you showing her how."

Harry flushed looked down and Hermione shot him a warm glance. Her mother's words were true. She wouldn't have been able to beat Snape with just her Hogwarts training. She sighed and looked over at her parents. "It's all over. I did what I had to and Timothy, the student who was injured, will probably be released from hospital by tomorrow. There are no more escaped prisoners to worry about, so I think I can safely go back to worrying about my exams."

She glanced at her watch. "I should be getting back to school."

She stood and smiled at her parents, then she turned to Harry and gave him a grin before vanishing again.

Harry stood uncertainly. He knew he couldn't go back to Grimmauld tonight. "Maybe I'll go up to the manor. The elves had the bedrooms fixed up now."

"Go to her, Harry. She'll need you tonight," Dan urged quietly.

Harry nodded and another thought occurred to him, then he too vanished from sight.

Thirty minutes later, he reappeared in Hermione's rooms. She looked up from her desk, startled by his appearance. "I didn't think you were coming back."

She looked at him, puzzled, when he held up a shopping bag. Then the smell hit her. "You brought dinner!"

"That Indian curry you like," he replied.

"I just may have to keep you."

"I hope so. I was going to head up to the Manor, since I doubt Sirius is going to want me around tonight, but your Dad told me to go after you, and I wasn't sure if you ate or not today."

"No, Sirius would not appreciate you showing up now. Not unless you know a nice depilatory spell," she replied, taking the bag from his hands. She pulled out several warm containers, then looked at him. "Stay. I mean, stay the night. I know it's not our regular meeting time, but I think I'd like to be held, especially tonight."

He grinned and reached for a container. "I'd like that."

Daily Prophet Headline, Apr 3rd 1998...

Escaped Prisoner Severus Snape captured at Hogwarts!

Severus Snape, the last of the at large prisoners who escaped from their parole hearings last August, was captured yesterday in desperate combat with the Head Girl of Hogwarts.

Hermione Jane Granger, a Muggle-born, engaged the wanted criminal after he had forced his way into the school and was holding students hostages. Miss Granger, of Oxford, England, encountered the deadly criminal on her way to breakfast. Snape was said to be torturing a first year student named Timothy Winters. Mr. Winters was injured, but was treated at the school and did not require further hospitalization.

Snape escaped from a parole board hearing along with four other dangerous inmates. Investigation and questioning under Veritaserum has revealed that while on the run, Snape committed a number of additional crimes, including casting Unforgivables and murder.

Escaping automatically added ten years to his prison sentence. However, Ministry spokesman Perky Weatherbee told the Prophet that the added charges would result in the DMLE seeking the Kiss for Snape.

In an unusual twist of fate, Miss Granger is one of the students, along with Harry Potter and others from Gryffindor house, that Snape was sent to prison for abusing. Miss Granger is said to be engaged to a cousin of Sirius Black. Black was a childhood friend and schoolmate of Mr. Snape. 

Hogwarts suffered no damage during the incident and Headmistress McGonagall praised the quick thinking and actions of Miss Granger. "Her actions resulted in a timely end to what could have been a dire situation. Hogwarts owes a debt of gratitude to Miss Granger and, with the approval of the Board of Governors, she will receive an award for special services to the school," McGonagall said.

The Office of the Minister agreed with the Headmistress's comments, adding that, "Miss Granger will receive the reward for capturing the wanted felon and the Minister herself will petition the Wizengamot to award Miss Granger an Order of Merlin, Third Class."

Sources close to Miss Granger told the Prophet that she was a close friend of Harry Potter and was helpful when he received his award for special services in his second year. Rumors persist to this day that the young student is in contact with Harry Potter. Miss Granger will neither confirm nor deny those rumors.

The trial of Severus Snape is scheduled to be held on April 25th in Courtroom 10...

Snape, a complete list of the charges, page 2.

Wand mishap injures 4, St Mungo's stymied by magical buttockremoval, page 3.

Veela-made products improve Wolfsbane potion, page 5.

Minister eases hiring restrictions, page 5.

Quibbler Headline, Apr 3rd 1998...

Ministry in Cahoots with Muggles!

In an exclusive report, the Quibbler has discovered that Ministries all around the world are participating in a conspiracy to allow the enslavement of magical creatures. We first became aware of the problem during a field expedition to America and something called a super market. And we'll freely admit we never did find out why its super, but there's no understanding those strange Americans.

In the super market we discovered that a company called Keebler has enslaved a race of elves and forced them to live in trees, baking biscuits for Muggles! Shocked by this discovery, we searched deeper and discovered that Leprechauns are being forced to make enchanted marshmallows for a Muggle breakfast food. A marshmallow is a sweet made from unripened peat bogs, or so we've been told.

Another Muggle company has enslaved a fairy and forces her to fly around their castle anytime they want.

This cannot be allowed to continue. We contacted the American Department of Magic to ask them about it, but they suggested that since we're a British publication, we should contact the British Ministry, who refused to return our Floo calls. 

So we waited outside of the Ministry building until we could find our good friend, Mr. Weatherbee. After he got over his anger for our stunning and tying him up, he turned out to be rather cooperative. Perky reported that the Ministries worldwide don't care what the Muggles do, as long as it doesn't affect them. He then noted that the elves and fairies were being fed regularly and were as happy as our house elves.

To insure that Perky didn't get in trouble for telling us this, we did as he requested and Obliviated him, multiple times. Get Well cards, flowers and candy can be sent to Perky Weatherbee, c/o St. Mungo's long term spell damage ward.

Coming next week.

Harry Potter hired as Seeker for Holyhead Harpies. Says Polyjuice is wonderful stuff! 

Ministry Spokesman attacks Newspaper publisher. Ministry Covers it up!

Hogwarts, Apr 10th 1998...

Nagini was not a happy snake. She had managed to avoid being spotted several times by the elves working in the castle. Unfortunately, the room in which she found the elfling was empty and tasted of misuse. Obviously, the children had been moved into areas of the castle that she couldn't risk entering.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the lower levels no longer smelled of food. She had caught some tantalizing tastes near some strange boxes, but nothing else. She had almost caught a small tasty creature, but it had run into one of those strange boxes and vanished from sight.

She sat patiently in front of the box for three days waiting for the food to come out, but it never did. Desperate, she made her way through the drain pipes until she found herself at an opening that led outside.

Tom looked at the opening through the snake's eyes and could see all sorts of magic covering it. He screamed at the snake to be cautious, but it was too late. Nagini had the scent of a rabbit that had been eating grass near the drainage opening.

Driven by hunger, Nagini slithered out of the pipe, practically on top of the rabbit, and struck with lightening speed.

Up in the Defense Against the Dark Arts office, a parchment with a map of the castle turned red and started emitting a soft bell tone. Unfortunately, the office was empty. The map stayed red until Nagini recrossed the boundary an hour later. A small notation was made to the map to mark the time of the crossings and the map color reset. The ringing stopped.

From the Journal of Hermione Jane Granger (Private Entry), Apr 10th 1998, Hogwarts...

The Headmistress told me today that I will be receiving an award for special services to the school at the leaving feast. Honestly, I never gave much thought about it, but then she told me that she'll make sure my award sits next to Harry's in the award case. That made me smile.

Of course, Harry's award means more. I mean, he saved the whole school from the basilisk in the Chamber. I just saved one student from a deranged ex-professor. Snape's quite mad, but there is no insanity plea in the Wizarding world. I wouldn't wish it on anyone, but they say he's going to be Kissed for killing that poor man in Hogsmeade.

The Headmistress said that there is a lot of support for giving me an Order of Merlin. Frankly, I don't care about that. I didn't do what I did for awards or rewards. I won't even admit this to Harry, but I did it because I was scared out of my wits. I knew Snape was insane and I didn't know what he'd do. For a brief moment, I even forgot I was wearing my focus ring!

Note to self: In the future, when faced with deranged ex-professors, remember I'm wearing an extra spell focus.

The Headmistress also gave me a Gringotts draft that the Ministry sent over. It's a thousand galleons; the reward for capturing Snape. The money will help. There's this bridal robe I like that will cost nearly two hundred galleons. I had been saving up money for it, but now I can buy it outright. I haven't told Harry this, but I think I'd like to enroll in Mitsumi in the fall as Mrs. Potter.

Harry was so sweet that night. He brought dinner, which was fabulous. I was starving!

And afterwards, I think he stayed up most of the night watching me to make sure I didn't have nightmares. And I haven't had any, when he's here. It's when I'm alone that the nightmares begin.

Sirius sent me a note, apologizing for scaring Mum and Dad. And he sent them a rare bottle of Napoleon Brandy, which I know they will appreciate. He also offered to let Harry and me use the house on Fiji for a week, without supervision. When I told Harry that, he nearly exploded. Then he rather bluntly told me that he owns that house, not Sirius.

Sometimes I think Sirius and Ron must be brothers. They both have an amazing ability to get themselves in trouble by opening their mouths.

The morning after Snape's capture, Ron asked me why I risked my neck over a Hufflepuff. Hannah, who was sitting next to him, dropped her fork and turned to stare at him. She is rather proud to be a 'Puff, and she's been making her displeasure at that comment known ever since.

I never thought I'd say this, but she's got Ron groveling for forgiveness and he grovels rather well. I'd take lessons from her except that, for the most part, Harry rarely does anything that makes me mad enough to make him grovel.

That isn't to say he's perfect. The same curry that I love so much apparently gives him gas, much to his embarrassment. And he'll occasionally blurt something out, but usually nothing as bad as what Ron seems to do on a routine basis.

Hmmmm... Could it be an act? Could Ron be doing it deliberately? He's not that stupid; he can't be. But Hannah seems to enjoy pushing him around. Maybe he enjoys it. Just who wears the pants in that couple? Considering Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, it is possible that Ron likes an assertive woman.

I wonder if I can ask Ginny? Maybe not. Ginny seems to be channeling Mrs. Weasley a lot, too.

The Chamber of Secrets, Hogwarts April 11th 1998...

Nagini slithered out of the hole and immediately knew something was wrong. The air tasted of death. Big death.

She reared up in an instinctive reaction and looked around.

Tom crowed. Finally, they would get the help they so badly needed. With the Basilisk to aid them, they would take the school and chase out the wizards. Then, he could spend the time researching what needed to be done to fix his problem. He'd transfer the Horcrux to the Basilisk and use its magic to give himself a new body!

Tom pushed his connection to Nagini with all his power. "Lights!"the snake hissed in response to his command.

Torches flared and Nagini raised her head higher, looking around warily.

Then her eyes fell upon the body of the Basilisk. It lay in a pool of stagnant water, barely affected by the death that claimed it years ago. The poisons within the body and the cold environment of the Chamber had slowed the natural process of decomposition.

Nagini slithered forward through the stagnant pool. It was foul with mud and the accumulated muck of the centuries. She stopped inches away from the great snake and took in its injuries; its eyes were destroyed, a fang lay on the ground nearby and blood had spilled from its mouth.

She backed away, leaving grooves in the mud, and turned, heading straight for the exit. Whatever killed the great one was a powerful force, and one that she did not wish to encounter.

"Nooooooo!" Tom howled in the silence of his prison. In his despair, he lost his tenuous grip on the snake and slipped into the Horcrux.

Nagini paused just in front of the exit. The voice in the back of her head suddenly cut off and it puzzled her. The torches flared and went out as what little that remained of Tom's magic collapsed back into the Horcrux with his consciousness. To Nagini, that was an ominous signal. She dived straight into the hole.

It wasn't far to her nest, where she could rest for a while before she hunted again. This was a good place to live.

Defense Against the Dark Arts Office, April 13th 1998...

Tonks opened the door to the knock and Harry slipped inside. "I got your message to come immediately."

He wore a hooded cloak that concealed his face, and was dressed in soft blue dragon hide from head to toe. Even the gloves he wore were dragon hide. It was the closest thing he could come up with to a bite proof suit.

"Harry, come in," Remus said quietly.

Harry stepped into the room and pushed back his hood. Tonks closed the door and leaned against it. Remus sent off a messenger Patronus to inform the Headmistress that Harry had arrived, then he passed a parchment across the desk to Harry.

He took the parchment and examined it. "This looks like a map of Hogwarts, like the Marauder map, but not as detailed. And what's this in the corner? A date and time?"

Remus scowled. "I'm sorry, Harry. I screwed up big time. I brought the ward in like you suggested, then Sirius had an idea of tying it to a map. I took the idea and hooked the ward into this map, but I didn't take into account the snake recrossing the ward. The time and date indicates when the ward was triggered."

Harry looked down at the map and grimaced. "That was three days ago! Why are we finding out about it now?"

Remus wiped his face tiredly. "The map is charmed to turn red and make noise when the ward triggers. I wasn't careful enough, I'm afraid. I made a mistake when I made the map. It reset once the snake recrossed the ward."

Harry paced back and forth for a moment. A knock came from the door and Tonks opened it a crack, then opened it all the way to let Minerva into the room.

"Good evening, Headmistress," Harry said, halting his pacing long enough to acknowledge her.

"Good evening, Mr. Potter. I take it from wear and tear you're inflicting on my castle that they've told you about the snake?"

Harry stopped pacing and looked sheepishly at her for a moment. Why does she always make me feel like I'm a first year? he thought. I haven't been her student for four years!

"I think we need to check the Chamber of Secrets," he said. He raised a hand to gesture to the map. Before he could do so, the sword of Gryffindor appeared in it. He stared at it, unsure about what had just happened.

Tonks stared at the sword and Remus began to laugh.

"What the hell?" Harry muttered.

Minerva smiled. "It should be obvious, Mr. Potter. You are the last remaining heir of Gryffindor. The sword knows you may need it, and you are its rightful owner."

He shook his head, then turned to Remus. "Well? Are you up for a trip to the Chamber?"

"Now?" Tonks asked incredulously.

He grinned at her. "Why not? At best, there's a live snake down there. At worst, a big, stinking dead one."

Remus stood. This was a chance he wasn't about to pass up. "I'm going."

Tonks looked at him as if he was nuts, then she shrugged. "Why not? I'm sure it's more fun than spending my evening with my fiancé."

"Hey!" Remus protested.

Tonks stuck her tongue out at Remus.

Harry grinned, then turned to Minerva. "Headmistress?"

"The cat in me is curious. It's an area of the Castle I've never seen."

He smiled and reached into his bag. He pulled out a tight fitting hood, which he slipped on, then he put a pair of fingerless gloves on.

"Dragon hide?" asked Minerva.

Harry nodded as he went about checking the fitting of the suit. "Yes. If you spot the snake, don't approach it. Let me deal with it."

When the others nodded, he pulled the hood on his cloak up and walked out of the room.

"I guess we follow him," Tonks muttered.

Remus was already heading for the door.

The trip down to the cavern was smoother than the last time Harry had taken it. Once the sinks had moved away, he tried calling for stairs in Parseltongue. The stairs appeared smoothly and Harry shook his head.

"Last time, Ron and I jumped into the hole and fell down a long chute. This time, we'll walk. I didn't think Slytherin would jump down a slide every time he went to his chamber."

Myrtle watched silently as they vanished down the hole. The presence of the Headmistress was enough to keep her silent. She pouted a little about it, though. She would have liked to have asked that boy to stay and talk to her for a while. He reminded her of someone she once knew.

The group stopped at the cave-in. Harry frowned for a moment, then he lifted his hand, concentrating hard. The rock shimmered and flowed into a series of buttresses, holding up the ceiling.

Minerva nodded approvingly. "Excellent work, Mr. Potter, I couldn't have done better."

Harry smiled and led them deeper into the tunnel.

"You came here when you were twelve?" Tonks said in a whisper.

"Yeah. Voldemort had taken Ginny Weasley. I didn't want her parents to lose her," Harry replied as if the answer really was just that simple.

Tonks shook her head and followed along, looking around nervously.

He stopped them in front of a large iron door. "You might want to use a Bubble-Head Charm. The Basilisk is still inside and has been lying there all these years."

They nodded and cast the spell on themselves.

When they were ready, Harry turned and faced the door. "Open!" he hissed.

The door swung open silently and he led them inside.

"There are wards on this chamber," Remus commented.

"I felt them, as well," replied Minerva. "But they aren't part of the main castle wards."

"Could they be from Slytherin? They feel old," Remus asked.

Minerva frowned and stopped. Remus stopped and turned to look at her. "I can't access these wards at all. I think we might want to consider breaking these down, instead of trying to hook them into the castle. They don't feel the same."

"Could they be cast in that hissy language Harry's been speaking?" asked Tonks. She stayed close to Remus. There was an eerie atmosphere in the chamber and it was obvious that Tonks was nervous being there. The torches had lit automatically when the door opened. From their vantage point, just inside the door, they could hear the echoing drip of water. The torchlight danced and cast strange shadows among the snake statues.

Harry had moved deeper into the chamber, not waiting for the others.

Remus sniffed loudly and looked up from the doorway they had been examining. "Do you smell it? Even with the bubble charm, it comes through."

"Yes. Let's catch up with Harry," Minerva said distastefully. The quicker they could leave, the better.

The three hurried down the central avenue between the statues until they came upon Harry. He was kneeling on the floor, his knees in the stagnant water, peering at some grooved markings in the mud.

All three adults stopped next to him, but he only looked up when he heard Remus gulp audibly.

"What's wrong?"

Remus tore his gaze from the body of the Basilisk. "You killed that thing?"

"Well, actually, we killed each other. Or we would have, if Fawkes hadn't stepped in and saved my life," Harry said, standing up. He pointed to a broken off tooth on the ground. "That fang was embedded in my arm as I stabbed it. I used it to destroy the diary."

He glanced over his shoulder at the beast. Truthfully, he didn't like looking at it. "Maybe we should just burn it."

"No," Minerva said. "I didn't realize it was this big. My word, what a boon! I'll make a Portkey to allow us to return here. The staff and I will salvage what we can for potions ingredients. With the proceeds from the sales of the ingredients we'll be able to fund so many programs."

Harry nodded and turned his attention back to the tracks in the mud, crouching down next to them. "She's been here and gone. See, this set of tracks shows her moving away from the body of the Basilisk."

"How can you tell?" asked Tonks.

He looked up and smiled. "You can tell the direction she went by the way the tracks are formed. The ridges are higher in the direction she came from because she's pushing against the ground in that direction. Of course, it wouldn't be that easy to tell ordinarily, but this is mud and she's a large snake. It would be impossible to say if it were sand. Besides, there are two distinct sets of tracks."

Minerva blinked in surprise and looked at Harry with a new sense of respect. Remus had mentioned in passing that he had been learning about snakes from Muggle specialists, but she didn't know he was that knowledgeable.

Harry pointed his wand and a bright beam of light arced out across the puddle. He trained the light against the wall, looking for something.

"There, see the hole in the wall?"

Everyone turned to look at it.

"Notice how it seems cleaner than the surrounding pipes? She must have used it to enter the Chamber," he said softly.

"So, what now?" asked Tonks.

Harry shrugged. "There's nothing to be done here. I'll set up my tent just inside the tree line by the castle. Remus, I'll need a copy of your map. That, or you need to carry it with you so you can see when the ward is breached and call me on the mirror."

Remus nodded and Minerva pulled out a Knut from her pocket and quickly cast a Portkey.

"Won't the ward prevent that from working?" Tonks asked.

"Maybe, but I'm guessing that there's no Portkey ward on this place. Portkeys are new inventions. Salazar Slytherin would have never known them," Minerva replied.

"Makes sense," agreed Remus.

Tonks walked over to Harry, who was staring at the pipe Nagini had used, and she put her arm around his shoulders. "Come on, then. There's nothing more we can do tonight. Besides, this won't be the last time as an Auror that you'll come up empty handed. Mad-Eye used to say any shift you can walk away from in one piece is a good shift."

He smiled briefly, then turned to walk to the exit.

The Forbidden Forest, Apr 23th 1998...

Harry reached into the oven and pulled out the large roast. He placed it on a platter and took it over to the table where Tonks, Remus and Hermione sat. Behind him, several dishes slowly levitated from the little cooking area of the tent to the small table that barely fit the four of them.

Harry handed Remus a bottle of wine and summoned two butterbeers for Hermione and himself.

"I don't understand it, Harry," Tonks said. "Shouldn't that snake have come out yet? I mean, it's been ten days!"

Remus poured the wine into two cups, then handed one to Tonks. Harry didn't drink, except on very rare occasions, and Hermione didn't want to touch any wine tonight. She still had three hours of studying to do when they were done.

Harry looked down at the meal he had cooked for his friends, then back up to Tonks. "Snakes don't eat like we do. In fact, it's not unusual for a snake in the wild to go days or even weeks between meals. Depending on the prey she took down, it could be as little as a week, or as much as a month. Personally, I think we won't have to wait that long. If she took a rat, she'll be hunting by now. We know she slipped out of the castle not far from the Greenhouses, and we know that Professor Sprout has a fondness for rabbits. She probably got one of them. If that's the case, she'll start hunting any day now."

Hermione smiled, the pride evident in her expression. When he realized that he couldn't search the forest in the winter, he had taken the opportunity to learn all he could about snakes. He had joked that is was just something to keep him occupied, but it was turning out to be time well spent. It reminded her of his third year, when he worked so hard to learn the Patronus spell.

"So, you think we should see her any day?" asked Remus.

Harry nodded. "I think she took down a fair sized rabbit, but it's got to be digested by now. She'll be poking around, looking for something to eat."

"Speaking of eating, Harry this is the best!" gushed Tonks. She was rapidly eating her meal and grinning at him.

He smirked. "Are you sure you're not part Werewolf? You seem to be wolfing that down."

"Oi!" she exclaimed to everyone's laughter.

Harry leaned back and grinned. He had cooked many a meal for the Dursleys and he hated it. When Sirius and Remus rescued him, he learned that it meant something for him to be able to cook for his family and friends. It meant something when the people eating appreciated the effort he put into cooking.

Hermione loved his cooking. She was only a fair cook and she had told him that cooking would be his job after they were married. When he protested, she commented that until he could figure out how he could nurse a baby, it was only fair for him to cook.

"All right, so Harry has the snake all tied up, or he will when it shows. What I want to know now is how often you two are doing the hugga chugga in Hermione's private rooms."

"Tonks!" both Harry and Hermione exclaimed.

"Merlin, Tonks, what a question," Remus said, dabbing the wine he had spilled on his robe with a napkin.

"Hermione and I have spent a fair amount of time together," Harry admitted candidly. "But I've been helping her study for her N.E.W.T.s."

Tonks hooted loudly. "Is that what they are calling it these days?"

Harry blushed and looked down at the table.

"Seriously, Tonks, Harry and I spend at least two hours a night talking via our mirrors. He hasn't come up to the castle since he set up his tent here ten days ago," Hermione said defensively.

Tonks stopped laughing and stared at her for a moment, then looked at Harry, who nodded.

"I don't want to be caught unprepared if Nagini shows up," He explained. "As much as I want to be with her, I know I would be a distraction, so we limited ourselves." He reached across the small table and gripped Hermione's hands. "We have years ahead of us. A few sacrifices now won't kill us."

"What will you do when you catch the snake?" asked Tonks.

"I've prepared a place in the forest where I can perform a ritual to remove and dispel the spirit. The steps are fairly simple until the end. Kill the snake, remove the gem and confirm it's a Horcrux. Then I'll destroy it in the location I've prepared. That should confine the spirit long enough for me to send it on."

He scowled then. "Unfortunately, Sirius managed to convince me to destroy the Horcrux in front of witnesses and he won't tell me who he's going to invite. He spoke about the Internationals, and the British Ministry, as well as some reporters he trusts."

Remus nodded. "Yes, he sent us our Portkeys, and I understand Minerva got one, as well."

Hermione's expression soured. "I didn't get one," she said softly and Harry blanched.

"I can get you one," he stammered. "But if you're in your N.E.W.T.s..."

"He has a valid point, Hermione," Remus said. "Your first N.E.W.T. exam is in just fifteen days. Besides, your presence would require explanations that the Ministry might not want to deal with. I know you've been involved in this since the beginning, but this is one time where it would be better if you weren't there."

"I'm sorry," Harry mouthed silently to Hermione.

She smiled at him, letting him know she wasn't mad.

Harry levitated the mostly empty platters towards the small sink. Nearby, a pot of coffee turned on and his radio started to play a music broadcast from Italy that he had come to enjoy.

"I hope everyone has room for chocolate cake," he said with a large grin.

"That's it!" Tonks said, slapping the table and making everyone jump. "Hermione, you can have Remus. I want Harry. Remus can't make cake!"

"I tried!" Remus protested. "I can't help it if it came out flat."

"Yeah? Explain why it tasted more like Pizza," countered Tonks.

Harry leaned back and smiled, just listening to them. This is what life should be like. Friends and family and just living well, he thought.

Hogwarts Grounds Apr 25th 1998...

Madam Sprout smiled at her class. They were second years and they were helping her prepare next year's crop of Mandrakes. She glanced away from the class when something caught her eye. Frowning, she walked to the glass wall and peered through. What she saw made her blood run cold.

All of the teachers had been warned about the possibility, but she never thought it would actually happen. There, outside the greenhouse, was the largest snake she'd ever seen!

She waved her wand in a complex pattern and a bell started clanging, then she turned back to her class.

"Children! Put the pots down and listen to me. Come closer. That's it, everyone gather around," she called. Help would soon arrive, but for now it was her job to protect her children. "In a few minutes we are all going to back into the castle. There will be several teachers and some elves helping. I want everyone to stay in a line and do not stray for any reason. We're going to walk straight to the Great Hall. Does everyone understand?"

"Yes, Professor," echoed the confused class. It wasn't time for class to end yet!

Sprout waited worriedly by the door to the greenhouse. Meanwhile, house elves started popping in from the castle. Pomona could see a cloaked figure race out of the tree line of the forest, a wand at the ready.

A shout from the side of the greenhouse drew the attention of the class and they rushed to look out the side windows.

"Children! Come back here," Sprout shouted worriedly.

"An elf is fighting a snake, Professor!" shouted one of the students excitedly.

"Here comes a man and he's got a sword!" added another.

Sprout moved to join her class. She reached the window in time to see the snake lash out and bite an elf. The elf staggered back and fell. The snake coiled and turned to face the cloaked figure, who raised his sword.

Nagini stuck, making firm contact against his thigh, and bounced off. Harry swung the sword of Gryffindor, cleaving her head from the rest of her body. He stepped back as Nagini's body thrashed around, spewing blood. The head rolled a few feet, coming to rest not far from where Harry stood.

"Children!" Sprout said shuddering slightly. She clapped her hands to get their attention. "Everyone is to follow me, right now!"

With that, she moved as quickly as she could to the exit. Once outside, she stopped by the door and urged the students to run for the castle. She turned and looked through the greenhouse, but rather than the cloaked figure, all she saw was a group of elves clustered around something.

She tore her eyes away from the group and noted the greenhouse was empty and her class was almost to the school. She gasped her robe, lifting the hem, and ran to catch up. The class was already entering the castle when Remus and Tonks came running out.

Minerva stood by the door, calming the students and instructing them to go to the Great Hall. Sprout eventually made it to the entrance, huffing and puffing all the way.

"Are you alright, Pomona?" asked Minerva.

Pomona nodded, still too winded to talk. "What... No, who was that person? He killed that snake you told us about!" she gasped.

Minerva's expression worried expression eased into a bright smile. "A friend, Pomona, a good friend to us all. Now, go to see to your students. If you need, cancel the rest of your classes for today."

Pomona nodded and slowly walked up the stairs to the Great Hall. Minerva watched her for a moment, then turned and purposefully strode out of the castle.

She quickly came upon an unusual sight. Remus and Tonks stood nearby, while Harry had pulled off his trousers.

Minerva arched an eyebrow.

Harry looked up, spotted her and blushed furiously. "I'm sorry, Headmistress. The snake bit me and I wanted to make sure her teeth didn't penetrate the dragon hide armor."

She nodded, noting he was dressed in a form fitting armor under his clothing. "A wise precaution, Mr. Potter," she said softly.

Harry looked up and grinned. There were two slight indents on the armor, but no holes. Remus placed a hand on his shoulder to steady him while he put his trousers back on.

Once he was dressed, he conjured a basket and levitated the snake pieces into the basket.

Remus ran a quick spell on the remains and smiled. "It's here."

Harry nodded and returned the grin. "I'll contact Sirius and let him get his show ready. I'll probably see you later tonight or tomorrow. It all depends on Sirius now, I guess."

Tonks walked over and hugged him, then Minerva did the same. "Well done, Harry," she whispered. "I see the Gryffindor in you is still alive."

He smiled at her, then picked up the basket and teleported away.

Minerva turned and her expression fell, seeing the dead elf. "Oh, no," she said in a horrified tone.

"He fought with the snake, Minerva," Remus said quietly. "From what I've heard, it sounds like he was trying to delay Nagini so the students could get away. Whether that was necessary, we'll never know. Obviously, he thought it was."

"Then he'll be honored for his sacrifice and his bravery," she replied, before levitating the body to bring back inside.

From the Journal of Hermione Jane Granger (Private Entry), Apr 25th 1998, Hogwarts...

He did it!

The whole castle is in an uproar today. Apparently, there was some kind of attack outside of Greenhouse Four and an elf was killed. That's basically what the teachers have told anyone, including me! As a result, the rumors are flying fast and furious and the teachers had to press all of the Prefects into service tonight just to keep the students calm.

I know the story, or I know most of it, now. A few hours ago I didn't. Apparently, the Headmistress is waiting until she has more information, but I think she's making a mistake. The rumors spread by some of the second years are scaring the firsties.

Harry called me around midnight. He's been trying to reach me all evening, but I've been helping the Prefects and only got back to my rooms around midnight.

He killed the snake!

I can't believe it. It's almost over! He says Remus verified that the snake contains a Horcrux. That was one of Harry's biggest fears; that he'd find the snake and discover they had been chasing down the wrong lead.

Tomorrow he's going to destroy the Horcrux in front of witnesses. He hates the idea, but even I can see Sirius' point of view. This needs to be done in such a way that people can believe it's finally over once and for all.

I also found Harry to be downright funny tonight. I think he inadvertently showed me what he could have been like had he not grown up with the Dursleys. Honestly, for a moment I thought he had been drinking!

He was pacing and talking to me a mile a minute. I sat on my bed, astounded and barely managing a grunt or nod where appropriate. He babbled, barely letting me get a word in edgewise. I was hard pressed to keep from giggling.

Now, don't get me wrong. I've seen Harry happy before, but this was different. He even reenacted the fight with the snake twice before I managed to drag him away from the topic by reminding him to contact my parents and tell them the news.

Now I'm sitting here and, for the first time in years, I feel like jumping on the bed and shouting for joy. Voldemort will be gone forever in a matter of hours and the British Wizarding world has no clue what is going behind its back.

The only bit of sour news is that Sirius has asked him to remain in his Evan persona for now. Harry is hoping he won't have to be Evan much longer.

I too wish he could go back to being Harry. I want the whole world to know just who my future husband is.

Soon.

The Forbidden Forest, Apr 26th 1998...

He had spent most of the night talking to Hermione via their mirrors. He was still excited about killing Nagini. She wept with joy hearing the news. There had been many rumors running around the school and no one had thought to tell the students any more than that the danger had passed and an elf had been killed while protecting the school.

She wanted to teleport to him, but the teachers were making heavy use of the Prefects last night and she couldn't get away until she was exhausted.

Before Harry spoke with Hermione, he had contacted Sirius, who told him to hold off doing anything until the following morning. Harry reluctantly agreed, then broke off the contact so he could talk with Hermione.

That morning he walked into the clearing. He wore most of his dragon hide armor under his clothing, but his primary disguise was the fact that he was morphed into Evan Black. He surveyed the clearing and checked the wards he had put in place.

Off to one side was a long stone tablet lying on the ground. Along its rim Harry had etched a deep groove. Just inside the rim were carvings of animals and a set of runes. He had been meticulous in reproducing this tablet and had sent several photographs to America so it could be examined by an expert, who approved of his work.

He sat on a log and wished that expert had been able to travel to Scotland to help him. But the man was too old, he was pushing two hundred years old and probably couldn't survive the trip.

At Harry's feet lay a small bag containing several leather pouches of sacred powders and sands; items he needed to contain the spirit long enough to send it on. Next to that bag lay the basket containing the body and head of Nagini, Voldemort's familiar.

At precisely nine in the morning, several groups of people Portkeyed into the clearing, looking around curiously. Harry stood up, then picked up his bag and the basket and took them over to stone tablet.

Several of the people looked at him curiously, but he ignored them. He set the basket down and removed the pouches from his bag.

Sirius nodded to Tonks and Remus, who started conjuring chairs for everyone.

"May I have everyone's attention, please?" Sirius called. His wand shot sparks, causing most to turn to face him.

Everyone scrambled to find chairs and Harry watched, smirking to himself. Sirius seemed to be enjoying this immensely.

"You've been invited here to witness something that will probably never be repeated in the history of the wizarding world. But before we begin, I need to provide some background information so you understand the significance of what I'm about to show you."

"Four years ago at the opening of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, a small group of people decided that Harry Potter's life was in danger if he continued to stay at the school. So we gambled. We took a chance, and we discovered we were right.

"Harry lived under the onus of a prophecy; he was Fate's chosen instrument. So when he refused to participate in the Tournament, he lost all of his magic. That much is true. Every bit of magic in Harry died that day... for about two seconds."

Sirius paused and grinned at the dumbfounded expressions among the British wizards and the two people from the press. Harry recognized several people from the Pacific Rim Ministry, as well as his former Defense professor, Julius Caesar Murphy, who nodded to him.

"Two seconds after the Goblet of Fire exploded, Harry's magic returned to his body, minus the tracking charms, bindings and other spells that were placed on him without his permission or knowledge. Harry withdrew from Hogwarts at that point, vanishing from sight. The simple fact, ladies and gentlemen, is that the man-made magic of the Goblet could not hope to compete against the will of Fate.

"Now, the members of the press who are present may print this story, but only when your respective Ministries allow you to. And I believe Minister Bones has something to say to you before I continue with the explanation."

Amelia stood up and faced everyone. "Part of what you will hear today is covered under the Official Secrets Act. You will never speak of the methods used by Voldemort to keep his spirit bound to this world. If I hear so much as a whisper, I will send you to Azkaban for the rest of your natural lives."

The representative from the Daily Prophet gulped and looked nervously about. His companion, representing the New York Global Cauldron, looked at him smugly, until Murphy stood up and looked at him.

"The American Department of Magic is classifying this information as Top Secret. Divulging any of this information will result in an extensive stay at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas," Murphy said coldly.

Murphy turned and nodded to Amelia, who smiled sweetly at the two reporters. "We will set a date upon which you can publish this information, and you will have an exclusive story for the first twenty four to forty eight hours, since you'll be publishing ahead of everyone else. Gentlemen, cooperate with us and wait until we say so, and you'll have a story of a lifetime. Or, you can choose to be Obliviated and leave now."

"I'll stay," croaked the man from the Prophet.

The other reporter nodded his head in agreement. He was an old news reporter and he smelled that this story had Golden Cauldron written all over it. He'd cooperate. After all, it didn't do well to annoy the government. Hell, he'd sit on this story for years if it meant he'd be able to break it to the wizarding world. He discounted the man from the Prophet, since that was strictly a British tabloid these days.

Amelia smiled and nodded to Sirius.

"Good," Sirius said. "Now that we have that unpleasantness out of the way, I want to tell you what we discovered and what we did."

Sirius grinned broadly. "We pulled the hoax of the century on the British wizarding world. Oh, I'll admit, when I thought of the idea it wasn't my intention to do so. But the simple fact is that a couple of people, who had no clue what they were talking about, spoke about matters they didn't understand and the British press ran with it."

Remus started to laugh and shake his head and Tonks started to snicker. Minerva shook her head ruefully and wished, not for the first time, that Sirius Black had never been one of her Lions.

"To be blunt, ladies and gents, Harry Potter is a wizard, and has always been a wizard. And that means that Voldemort still had his power. However, you gentlemen," he said, pointing to the reporters, "continued to harp on the idea that Harry was less than a Squib and, therefore, Voldemort was powerless as well. You pulled all his support away from him and gave us the opportunity to train Harry to face Voldemort, as well as track down and destroy all the items that made him immortal."

The man from the Global Cauldron glanced over at his compatriot and started to chuckle. The Prophet's reporter was staring at Sirius, his mouth opening and closing over and over.

Amelia stood and faced the crowd. She looked rather sheepishly at them. "I confess that I discovered this hoax just a few months ago and I looked carefully at what happened. It would have been different if the Blacks and Potters owned the media, but they did nothing to perpetuate the hoax. It was all done, innocently enough, by our media and our own smug attitudes.

"When Sirius finally told me the whole story a few days ago, when he handed me the Portkeys to this place, I was at first outraged. But that soon turned to shame. We let the welfare of our nation rest on the shoulders of one boy who had been ill treated most of his life."

Sirius nodded. "I gathered you here today because it's time to witness the final destruction of Voldemort. It's time to banish him forever from this world."

"You-Know-Who is here?" shrieked the reporter from the Prophet. The man stood and promptly fainted.

That was all it took. Remus and Tonks both began to laugh. Minerva sat next to the pair, her lips twitching wildly as she tried to control her own laughter. The American reporter pulled his wand and woke his fellow journalist, while every chuckled.

Harry, standing off to the side, waited for Sirius to give him the signal. He's having way too much fun with this, he thought fondly.

When the Prophet reporter returned to his seat, Sirius looked at him sadly. "No, Voldemort," he said stressing the word, "isn't here in a form that can hurt you. He's trapped at the moment as a spirit. We're going to free that spirit, then banish it to the next world."

Remus coughed and Sirius looked at him for a moment in confusion, then he remembered. "Oh, right! Um, Amelia, Mr. Murphy, would you like your experts to come up here and assist us?"

Murphy turned to "Mr. Smith", the Head of the Pacific Rim DMLE and Smith nodded. A nondescript Asian man next to Smith stood and walked up to stand next to Harry.

Amelia nodded to a very old man who was sitting next to her. He stood and walked over to Harry.

Sirius beamed at him. He was reported to be the Head of the Department of Mysteries. "I see we have Mr. Croaker, from the Department of Mysteries, but I don't recognize this other gentleman. Mr. Smith, would you provide the introduction?" Sirius called out.

Smith stood. "Mr. Yamada Taro is a member of our Department of Mysteries and an expert in the field of spirit magics. I've briefed him personally on what he will be doing today."

Sirius nodded and signaled to Harry.

Harry conjured a small table. "Last night I removed this object from the body of this snake," he said, then he carefully levitated a fist sized crystal onto the table next. The crystal was cloudy and seemed to pulsate, getting darker, then lighter.

"The crystal is a smoky quartz of rather pure quality and highly charged with very black magic. I strongly suggest no one touch it with their bare skin."

"Mr. Black!" shouted the reporter from Global.

Sirius turned around. "Yes?"

"Where is Harry Potter?"

Sirius smiled. "I daresay if things progress as planned, he'll be here in due time."

Amelia smiled to herself. She had no doubt who Evan was.

"Now, while our experts run their tests on the object, let me explain some of what was entailed in reaching this point," Sirius said.

Harry tuned Sirius out, listening instead to the two experts as they ran multiple tests on the crystal.

Croaker ran a test and then turned to Harry. "You really think you can destroy this, young man? This is no ordinary crystal. In fact, if my readings are right, my Department will want this to examine and study."

"That is not an option, Mr. Croaker," Harry replied. "I intend to destroy this today."

"But the research possibilities..."

"Are not worth the potential of you accidentally releasing Voldemort on the public again," Harry snapped. This delay was getting on his nerves and he didn't like the idea of this old man wanting to take away the Horcrux for study.

Croaker reached with one hand to grasp the crystal and Harry's hand shot out, catching him by the wrist and stopping him.

Taro stepped back and watched the two men intently for a moment. "I think perhaps we should leave this young man to perform his duty, my friend," he said softly.

Harry became aware of the utter silence as he stared down Croaker. Sirius had stopped talking and it seemed everyone was aware that something was going on.

"What's this?" demanded a voice sounding suspiciously like the Minister.

"Madam Minister, I must protest!" exclaimed Croaker. "They are talking about destroying a priceless magical artifact. It must be studied. We have a standing order that all objects of this nature are to be turned over to the Department of Mysteries. I will not allow the destruction of this object!"

Amelia stood, her expression furious. "Mr. Croaker, you will step away from that table and return to your seat, or I will have you stunned and placed into custody! You are interfering with sanctioned Ministry business."

Croaker glanced over to Amelia, his own expression turning angry. "You can't fire me, Amelia. I have as much support in the Wizengamot as you do," he retorted.

Harry, who was still holding Croaker's wrist, sighed. His hand flashed and Croaker crumpled to the ground.

Taro's mouth twitched slightly and he nodded to Harry. It was obvious to him that the young man had a hidden magical focus on him, probably a ring.

When Amelia gasped, Harry looked up. "Don't worry. He's not dead, just stunned. But I guess we'll have to Obliviate him."

Amelia nodded and stepped forward. Harry pulled his wand and Amelia reached out and stopped him with a hand. "Have you ever Obliviated anyone before?"

Harry swallowed nervously. "Ummm... just Sirius one time."

"What?" shouted Sirius.

Remus, Tonks and Minerva started to laugh.

Harry looked at the ground and shuffled his feet. "Yeah, he burst into my room when Hermione was naked."

Sirius stopped and looked crestfallen. "I saw her naked? I thought that was just a dream. And you took that memory away?"

"You thought it was a dream?" Harry asked, astonished. "You shouldn't be able to remember any of it, even in a dream!"

"Gotcha!" Sirius gloated. "That'll teach you to fool with the memories of your elders!"

Amelia shot him a look, then turned back to Harry. "Let me do it. I've more experience."

With one last glare at Sirius, Harry finally nodded and backed away from Amelia and Croaker.

It was over quickly. Amelia Obliviated Croaker, then wrote a quick note, attaching it to his jacket along with a Portkey. A second later, he was gone.

"I've sent him on to the Obliviation squad," she explained quietly. "They'll build him a new memory."

"I'm sorry that had to happen," Harry said softly.

Amelia smiled warmly. "It wasn't really your fault. I should have known better. Croaker has been at that job for fifty years and he's become a bit obsessive." She wouldn't ask, but she was extremely curious how Harry had managed to stun Croaker without a wand. She was of the opinion that wandless magic was hard to do and few could master more than a few simple spells.

"Mr. Taro, might we have your opinion on the object?" asked Amelia.

Everyone settled and waited to his Mr. Taro's views.

"The object in question does, in fact, contain a piece of a soul. I do not wish to speculate on how that piece got there, but the object exudes black magic of the vilest form. There are several curses and a heavy compulsion charm laid on the object. I daresay it is dangerous to the touch. I recommend that we proceed with its destruction immediately," Taro said in a softly accented voice.

Amelia looked to Mr. Smith. She knew he would be reporting back to his government, just as Murphy would report to the Americans. Between them, they represented the Internationals. When each man nodded, she in turn faced Harry again. "Please, proceed then."

Harry stepped forward, then levitated the crystal to the center of the prepared tablet. He knelt by the tablet and pulled out a black leather pouch from his bag. Opening it, he carefully poured out the powder so that it was spread around the edges, contained within the notched groove.

"What you are seeing is a mix of Muggle and magical methods designed to destroy the object and contain the spirit long enough for it to be banished," Sirius said, while everyone watched intently.

Harry sprinkled a silvery powder over crystal until it sat in nearly an inch of the stuff, then he carefully placed several red leather pouches around the crystal.

"The powder is a metal called Magnesium," he said softly. His audience strained and leaned forward to hear him. "It will burn very quickly and very hotly for a brief moment, but it will be sufficient to ignite the Australian Brimstone pebbles in the red pouches. That will take the temperature up to nearly eight thousand degrees."

"Fahrenheit?" Murphy asked incredulously.

"Centigrade," Harry replied. "The stone tablet is protected so the stone won't be touched, but it will crystallize the Bison and Sasquatch blood powder around the edges. Before that happens, Sirius will hit the powder with a simple spell that will energize it. That will provide a shield to trap the spirit."

Harry stood and stepped away from the tablet. As he did, he drew his wand.

"Sirius, if you would?"

Sirius nodded and stepped forward with Remus on his heels. Sirius touched his wand to the powder in the groove and muttered something. The dark red powder turned a fluorescent blue. He backed away and Remus cast a shield in front of the tablet to protect the watchers. Harry was in front of the shield, holding his wand out. He was aiming for the silvery powder at the base of the crystal.

He stood with his wand aiming and those present could see him concentrating on his spell. The air around him began to hum and crackle, then his body was engulfed in a golden aura. His wand flashed with a bright light and a tight beam lanced out, hitting the powder. There was an enormous flash of blindingly white light and then the brimstone pebbles caught fire.

A deafening crack filled the clearing and Harry was sent spinning away from the stone. He hit the ground about ten feet away and didn't move. Everyone ducked.

When the light and smoke cleared, everyone looked around warily. Remus lay on Sirius' legs. Tonks was next to Minerva on the grass.

Sirius lifted his head and looked at Remus. "I haven't been that drunk since seventh year," he muttered.

Harry blinked and wondered why he was looking at the sky.

He painfully pushed himself up onto his feet and looked at the tablet. The crystal was gone, vaporized by the intense heat, and the rock itself was scorched and blackened.

A transparent wall of blue light extended from the stone and came to a dome at a height of about six feet above the surface of the stone. Within the shielded area of the tablet, a black cloud hovered. Its surface roiled and bubbled like some boiling cauldron, then it slowly formed a face.

"Who dares?"

Harry walked shakily over to the tablet. Behind him he could hear the murmur of the people watching, and the terrified gibbering of the Daily Prophet reporter.

"I do," he said quietly to the wraith of Voldemort.

"Foolish child, you cannot kill me! You have set me free!" snarled the wraith. "I will enjoy watching you beg for a quick death."

"No, Tom, I have killed you. You just don't know it yet."

The wraith rushed Harry and bounced off of the shield. "What is this? What magic is this?" it cried, looking around wildly. There was no escape.

The Wraith bounced off the shield several more times, including one attempt straight down. Then it came to rest hovering at eye level with Harry.

"Release me and I will give you power and wealth," it said.

Harry shook his head sadly. "You have neither to give. You could have been great, you could have been the hope of your generation, instead you became a monster. It's your time, Tom. It's time to pass over," he said, raising his wand.

"WAIT! You can't! Who are you? I cannot be killed by you!" wailed the Wraith.

Harry closed his eyes and, releasing the hold on his form, changed back into Harry.

The Wraith recoiled and its smoky eyes bulging in horror. "Potter!" he hissed. "You can't do this."

Both reporters gasped, seeing Evan change into Harry.

"Oh, but I can, Tom. In fact, I'm the only one who can. Hopefully, in time, history will forget you," Harry replied, then he raised his wand again. "Ay chee ee who he ah ah doe nuh doe," he chanted.

Murphy's eyes widened and he grinned, hearing the Native American chant. "So mote it be," he whispered.

The Wraith recoiled from Harry's glowing wand and started to wail. It was a pitiful sound, as if it had glimpsed an eternity in Hell and was protesting the injustice of the judgment. The shield flared and began to shrink. As it did, the wailing grew louder and more tormented, then it changed, as if it were being pushed away. The sound shrank as if receding in the distance. The shield flared one more time, then it vanished, leaving nothing behind of its presence.

The Wraith of Voldemort was gone.

Harry stood, pale and trembling, weakened by the use of so much magic and by what he had seen. The price of the magic was to catch a glimpse of the punishment. It took all of his resolve to hold his wand on the tablet and not vomit up his breakfast.

He turned to Amelia, who was looking at him with something akin to awe. "It had to be done. I just wish I wasn't the one that had to do it."

Mr. Taro ran up to the stone tablet and quickly cast a Necromantic spell. Harry stared at the man, who watched his wand and the results. Then the little man grinned. "Voldemort is gone! His soul is finally summonable!"

"Thank Merlin Necromancy can't summon his soul back permanently," muttered Amelia.

Harry nodded tiredly, then he walked over to sit next to Tonks and Minerva. He ached from his fall, and from what he had been forced to do.

"All right there, Harry?" asked Tonks quietly.

Minerva sat silent, watching the pair. Around them, the others were milling about, talking in hushed tones. Everyone seemed to be heavily affected by what the had witnessed.

Harry ran a hand through his hair tiredly. "Suddenly I feel tired all the way to my bones," he said. "I've spent the last four years training to do this and now when its done, I almost feel sorry for him." He looked up at Tonks. "He could have been great. He had both the power and the intellect. He could have been as famous as Dumbledore, or maybe even Merlin. It just seems like a terrible waste now."

"You used a lot of magic today," Tonks said. "I don't think I could have done those spells and still be awake."

"Mr. Potter! May I ask you some questions?" said the Daily Prophet reporter.

Harry flinched back and Tonks steadied him. Minerva glared at the man.

The report backed away. "Maybe I'll talk to Mr. Black, then," he muttered.

"Mr. Potter?"

Harry looked up to see Amelia Bones standing close by.

"Minister?"

"Mr. Potter... Harry, I'm going to impose on you one last time and ask that you do not reveal yourself to our world just yet. With the final destruction of Voldemort, there are legal functions that we must perform and they could be performed more easily if no one knew you were still a wizard."

Harry nodded. "I wasn't too keen on letting anyone know I'm still around, anyway."

Amelia frowned slightly and adjusted her monocle. "That will happen soon enough, Harry. There is no way to avoid it, I'm afraid. But with the last heir to the Slytherin line now dead for good, we can maneuver to close the seat in the Wizengamot and close any outstanding Gringotts accounts. I imagine no more than four to six weeks would be necessary, assuming the Wizengamot doesn't leak the information sooner."

He nodded tiredly.

"Harry, go home and get some sleep," Tonks said gently.

"Yes, do so, Mr. Potter," Minerva added softly. "You did wonderfully today. A truer Gryffindor never existed and your parents would be so proud of you."

"It's good advice, Harry," Amelia offered. "Go rest. You've done your part; now let us do ours."

Harry nodded again. "Tonks, tell Siri and Remus I'm going home to Oxford."

Tonks grinned and gave him a wink, then she hugged him. He smiled back, then stood and faded from view.

Amelia stared at where he once stood. "That wasn't apparition."

"No, it wasn't," Tonks said. "It's something Aurors outside of this country learn. Because it was invented by a Muggle-born, it's been largely ignored here."

Amelia sighed heavily. "So much to do, but things look brighter now." She turned and walked over to Remus, who was talking with Murphy and Smith.

The Granger Residence, Oxford England, Apr 26th 1998...

Hermione appeared in her parents dining room, scaring Emma and making her drop her cup of tea.

"Good Lord! What is it with you wizards?" Emma exclaimed. "Can't you ring a bell and enter through the front door like everyone else?"

"Sorry, Mum," Hermione replied. She waved her hand, cleaning up the mess and repairing the tea cup. "Is he here?"

Emma nodded. "Yes. He said it was over and he was going to lie down for a bit. That was a couple of hours ago. He's still upstairs, unless he's popped away somewhere."

Hermione nodded and looked relieved. "Did he tell you anything?"

"Only that it was finally over. I didn't press him. He looked so tired."

"The Headmistress told me to come check on him. She said he had used a lot of high powered magic, which explains why he's tired. But she also said he seemed depressed about it now that it was done. I don't have all the details, though. I left as soon as I received permission."

Emma made a shooing motion with her hands. "Well, go check on him. I'll call your father and let him know you'll be joining us for dinner."

Hermione smiled and tried to resist the urge to dash out of the kitchen. That resistance lasted long enough for her to close the kitchen door behind her. At the soft click of the door latch, she bolted for the stairs.

Emma poured herself another cup of tea and shook her head as she heard Hermione running up the stairs. Some things never change, she thought with a grin.