Epilogue

"It took a week for Hannah to be recovered enough to leave Hogwarts under her own power. Everything was transferred to the rebuilt Ministry in London and we were the last to leave the school. If there was nothing else about that period of peace afterwards, it was that I should be the last one out on account that I'd been the first one in"

"What happened?"

"We tried to go on…"

#

"What do you think we should do for now?" asked Hannah as she eased herself into an oversized armchair. Their daughter, who they had decided to name Rudi, had just been settled in her crib for the night. The young couple were exhausted with the emotions of the war and the formative days of a new life brought into this world in a shadow from war.

"Go to bed for a week and sleep" Harry chuckled as he slid in beside her. "I just want to retire and live in peace all my life, Hans, and only appear when either I want to or it is needed of me. I talked to Hermione this afternoon and we're going to sort out the government, put a working system into place and call for elections"

"Are you going to deal with loose ends like Gabby and Lav before you give it all up?"

"Aye – what Lavender's family did to her was unforgiveable. As for Gabby, I was thinking of just putting her under my protection or straight up adopting her" Harry shook his head sadly. "Maybe we should get some sleep before the morning – I'm not looking forward to it at all" and Hannah could only agree with her husband. The funeral of their friends that had perished would be held in the grounds of Hogwarts resting at a spot between the castle and the lake.

"No" Harry heard the sadness in Hannah's voice. "At least we didn't lose as many people as we thought"

"Personally, not many, but we lost far too many people…"

"Lets forget about that for now" Hannah told him. "Hitting ourselves over the head is not going to do us much good. Have you decided what you are going to say?"

"Its been nagging at me all day, but nothing seems to come to the forefront… I was thinking of winging it"

"That is what you are good at! Changing the subject, have you spoken to the Greengrasses yet?"

"No" Harry said, sipping his tea. Daphne's return had been the subject of much discussion amongst the group, and nobody could come up with a suitable answer. The best one they had so far was that Daphne's soul was in limbo and found itself and her body returned to the living world. Needless to say, Astoria was pleased and had not left her side in almost a week – convinced she would vanish if she did. "I awarded them all the Order of Merlin First Class… It was the least that I could do after what they did"

"I heard talk that the Goblins are planning to send a delegation to the ceremony"

"It's to honour all of those lost, but mainly for our friends" Harry sipped his tea. "Centaurs are doing the same and a deputation from the Mer Folk want to show up too"

"You know… You know I hate the thought of our friends sitting at St Mungos all alone in their coffins – ain't right" Hannah stared into the fire.

"No" Harry said quietly, "No it doesn't" and there was silence as he swilled the last of his tea around the cup. "Earri?" and the elf popped into sight with a paintbrush in his tiny hand.

"Master Harry be callings?"

"I want you to wait five minutes and then go round each of our friends and ask them to meet me in the atrium at St Mungos. If they ask why, tell them just to turn up in their armour and with all of their weapons as they are now" Harry said. "When you have done that, return here and protect our daughter at all costs"

"Yes, Sir" and Earri popped away.

"Harry?" Hannah rose, crossed over and sat on the arm of his chair, taken from the ruins of Gryffindor's common room and placed a questioning hand on his shoulders. She knew, just as much as Hermione did, that Harry was not one for ceremonies and for showing his emotions. Their relationship at the start had been rocky at times, but she understood the reasons why and she accepted Harry and all the baggage that came with him.

"None of them deserve this" Harry finished his tea and slammed the mug back on the table. "They deserve to be buried with honour and dignity… Not to have their funerals carried out like some fucking media circus – we'll bury them ourselves at Hogwarts tonight"

#

The sudden appearance of the surviving members of the group with the returned to life Daphne dressed in torn, twisted and blood stained armour caused many at the hospital to fear for the worst. They silently went down to where the bodies were stored and returned to the Portkey area to transport them. As they stepped out of the lift, they were confronted by a small group of Aurors.

"Minister? What are you doing?"

"Taking care of my own… Our own" he amended.

"Sir, with respect… The law is clear – the bodies can not be moved without the permission of the hospital administrator and she's gone home for the night" the bravest of the Aurors stepped forward.

"Are you intending to stop us?"

"If I have to"

"Try it" and Harry and the others flipped their cloaks out of the way and drew their swords and adopting a fighting stance. "Auror, you will move out of my way or I will walk through you… And my sword is in front of me"

"But the law states…"

"THE LAW WAS THE WAY WE ENDED UP LIKE THIS YOU FUCKING DICKHEAD!"

"I must insist…"

"Insist on this!" Gabby said as she stepped forward and brought her sword to sit on the Auror's nose.

"I just took on Voldemort and Dumbledore – you really think that you can stop me? Once the war is over you think you can go back to the way things were? You are dismissed for the Aurors right now. If I ever see your face again, it will be to put a bullet between your eyes" Harry growled. The Auror started to shake and stepped aside as the group carried their precious charges and portkeyed away.

#

"We are assembled here today to pay final respects to our honoured dead. And yet it should be noted, in the midst of our sorrow, these deaths takes place in the shadow of new life, the sunrise of a new world; a world that our beloved friends gave their lives to protect and nourish. They did not feel this sacrifice a vain or empty one, and we will not debate their profound wisdom at these proceedings…" Harry knew he was quoting from a Muggle film, but it seemed the most fitting and was the only thing he could think of at the moment. "They all knew the risks of coming here, of fighting and of the high chance that none of us would survive. Once they had been freed, they all had the chance of leaving for safety, but they battled alongside me and paid the ultimate price in their self sacrifice" he looked around. "Does anyone want to say a few words?"

"We are here to honour our friends and comrades. A wise man once told me that coming to terms with the loss of a friend is perhaps the most difficult task we must face in the work we have chosen to pursue. I know that we will all find time to grieve for them in the days that are ahead… When I heard about Harry's message saying he was going to seal off the country, I knew I had to come here and help. There was no family and friends to fall back on, as you might say, but I found them in you all… I only knew them for a short period of time, but I'm proud to have been able to call them my brothers and sisters" Gabrielle wiped a tear from her eyes as she bowed her head.

"For most of the fight, I was in a state of being between two worlds – but even with that into account, I could still see what was going on. I saw how they guided and protected my sister from as much harm as possible, how they served her from having to kill for a long as possible and just to be there when she needed somebody" Daphne unexpectedly went next. After she finished, there was a pause but nobody else wanted to talk, so, with heavy hearts, they lifted the bodies of Dean and Parvati into the ground and sealed their tombs with all of the magic they could muster. Natalie reached into her pocket and pulled out a set of bagpipes which she returned to normal size and held them tight against herself. After a moment of thinking, she started to play a combination of Hector The Hero and The Black Bear which, to Harry and the others, seemed oddly fitting in the quietness and stillness of the night. As the last note faded quietly, Hermione gasped and pointed to the edge of the forest where what had to be the entire Centaur horde had lined up with their bows drawn and they fired a hundred flaming arrows into the sky in tribute. As he watched them arc into the sky, Harry held Hannah's hand and wondered what to do next.

# # # # #

"What did you do next? I mean all of your new laws and decisions are part of history, but what happened in your lives?" asked Shah.

"After the Ministry was in working order and we had enough Aurors to go around, we held the elections we had promised and a new minister was elected. Me and Hannah took our family seats in the Wizengamot and tried to do our best… I ended up adopting Lavender and got her full and decent restitution for what her family did to her when they threw her out. She ended up getting together with Padma and they married with twins – one of each named Dean and Parvati. As for the rest, they all settled down and found people to either marry or live their lives with in peace. Seamus, Rionach, Natalie and Susan joined the Auror Corps, Hermione went into law and became a successful lawyer who became Chief Witch for over sixty years, Hannah also went in the legal way of things and had her own law firm, Luna turned her talents towards predicting the future with the Department of Mysteries and Auror Corps, Fay and Megan became Healers of great renown and very much respected, Astoria had a great career in Runes and Arithmancy, Daphne opened a refuge for people abused by the families and worked with Hermione to bring them to justice and Gabby…" a small smiled graced the old man's face. "On my last day as Minister, I gave her a title so the country would respect her for what she did and gave up to do it. After ten years working at Gringotts, she became a sort of warrior who would take care of people's problems very quickly and quietly"

"She lived with you and your wife, didn't she? There were rumours that you fathered her children"

"I suppose that it doesn't hurt people to know this, but I guess I can confirm that I did father her children. Hannah knew about it and was very supportive"

"She was?"

"Hans knew that Gabby found it hard to find a man with her condition… Susan joined us too and, though it was only me and Hannah officially married, we treated each other as equal partners in what we thought of as a group marriage. Whatever people thought of it, and will think of it when they read your article, I was happy enough and had found myself a family and friends that would go through hellfire for me"

"How did you take to not having many duties to perform after you stood aside as Minister?"

"I had the family businesses to look after, but I also stayed at home and looked after our children. My hobbies were going out and sailing boats on the massive lake we had at the time"

"You stayed out of the limelight, didn't you?"

"For the most part, yes, but I never missed a Wizengamot session or meeting if I could help it. None of us did, actually, because what we wanted to go through always did – though I often used to think that was mainly because we attended them in our old armour that we never cleaned or repaired… Complete with all our rifles, pistols and swords!"

"That upset people"

"Yes, but I could never care about them. Whatever people say about me, I did my duty and tried to do my best. You know what I want on my tombstone?"

"What?"

"After the normal stuff, I just want it to say 'He Did His best'" Harry sighed tiredly.

"Isn't that what all of us would really like at the end of the day?" Shah asked. She looked up when she got no reply to see Harry had slumped down ever so slightly in his chair, his head tipped gently back and his eyes closed.

Harry Potter had passed

A/N:

I know its somewhat short for a final chapter, but I think I did my best to round things up in a nice way – I do hope that you enjoy it and find it well worth the wait

Regards

Pixel