SCREWED

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 1 – The Murder

"This is what happens to those who steal from the Goblin Nation."

A loud "whack" was heard as the sharp Goblin axe struck off the head of the Goblin enemy. The head hit the platform that had been erected in front of Gringotts while blood gushed out of the body that had fallen over the platform. Cheers and applause came from the audience that had gathered to witness the execution.

The head was picked up by Ragnok himself. The head of Britain's Gringotts carried the head into the bank and magically placed a stasis charm on the bloody object and then hung it over the poem at the bank's entrance warning about the penalties that would befall anyone that would even think about attempting to rob the Goblins. This would serve to impress upon the arrogant and stupid wizards that dared to think they could insult the Goblin Nation by robbing one of their banks – no matter who the wizard was.

The body was picked up for dishonorable disposal. It too would be put in stasis until repairs to the bank were completed and a new dragon could be secured. It would then become the imprisoned dragon's first meal at its new home. The platform was magically dismantled to be stored for future use, with the blood staining it to be left on as a further warning.

Actually this was the first public execution of a wizard by the Goblin Nation in nearly 1,000 years, much to the Goblin Nation's dismay. The platform would be reassembled in the bowels of the bank in a trophy room and visited during the various feasts and ceremonies held periodically by the Goblins. It would give British Gringotts great prestige throughout the Goblin Nation and no doubt the Dwarfs and other rivals would be not only be envious, but cowered by the might of the Goblin Nation.

The wizards and witches who had witnessed the execution then went back to their personal business. Shortly after the execution, the Ministry representatives and Aurors, led by Temporary Minister Shacklebolt tried to enter the bank for negotiations but were told to go away until the Goblins told them to come back. Once again the Goblins had the wizards in their control and at their mercy (although Goblins didn't have a word for mercy in their language).

Yes, life was good for the Goblins once more and Harry James Potter, late savior of the Wizarding World was finally and truly dead.

It had all happened so fast. One moment Harry Potter was assisting in the rebuilding of Hogwarts and the next moment his "best mate" Ron Weasley was leading a contingent of Aurors to the room where Harry was working in saying "There's that slimy, dark lord – get him."

Harry was then stupefied and carried off much to the shock of the others who had been working in the same room. It might have been the swiftness of how it had happened, or in some cases, maybe indifference, but no one had said or done anything – before they had also been stupefied themselves and fallen to the fall.

Ron Weasley followed the Aurors out of the room but separated from them to finish his assignment, namely, the vilifying of one Harry James Potter and the glorifying of one Ronald Bilius Weasley.

While this was happening in the world of the living, in the realm of the dead a very angry woman was pacing in what served as a waiting room in that place. Several other deceased people had wanted to join her in her wait but had been denied – vehemently. No one but Lily Evans would be allowed to greet her only son when he had finally served his usefulness.

Oh there were many who claimed to "love" him as after all he was a son, a godson, an honorary godson, a grandson, a friend or whatever, but no, she, as the only one who really loved him, loved him for himself and not as a trophy, a substitute or whatever else they considered him as, none of them had done anything to really protect and love him, only Lily.

Besides, they didn't deserve to claim him as they had all, in reality, used him too or at the very least put his care way down their list of what was really important in their selfish lives.

On no, they would try to lie to the boy to win his approval of them in the afterlife. Not that they really could get away with it. There were no lies allowed in the great beyond, but those who wanted to win the boy over could come to greet him and play on his love or need of love and therefore hope to lessen the sins they had committed against him and interrupt the telling of all the things he needed to know with puppy dog looks, distracting amusement and words, all working together to get his attention and distract him from the truth. Those people who needed the boy's forgiveness for the things they had done or not done in life that resulted in misery, suffering and loss for the boy. People like James, Sirius and Remus.

In the shadow world where Harry had appeared after the Horcrux in his mind was destroyed, lies were allowed by the powers of evil to confuse the soul or trick it to complete the nefarious plans of the damned, those who had contracted some evil with the powers of Death and Evil for their own iniquity or gain to be allowed to continue after their deaths. Dumbledore was one of those.

He had negotiated with Death after realizing his cursed hand would kill him, denying him the time needed to complete the plans for the personal gain and glory that would assure his fame and position in the World of Magic that would equal – or hopefully surpass if his publicity machinations worked as planned – those of Merlin himself. Granted there were many wizards more famous and powerful than Merlin, but they had lived in Asia, Africa, the Americas and the Pacific Rim. In Dumbledore's mind, only the European Magical World counted, as that was the best that a Wizard of his power and accomplishments could hope to obtain.

In the final realm, Dumbledore had no power. His fate was sealed in a different realm, although if the rumors heard were true, he was trying to negotiate in his favor in the depths of Hell. Lily sniffed at recalling this. What did he want: a shiny new pitchfork made of lemon drops with his name engraved on it or, more than likely, a chance for reincarnation – on his terms, of course. He wouldn't settle to come back as a slime worm or an equally low life form. He must come back as a Wizard, and a very powerful one at that. Perhaps the next Dark Lord – one who could not be defeated. He would then be able to create as many damned souls as Evil wanted. So the rumors said at least. It sounded like something he would do.

Lily was drawn out of her thoughts as the axe struck, the deed done. Although she was in the Elysian Fields, a heaven-like realm, her mother's heart still broke.

A human moment passed before the soul of his son, her baby, left his body, the earth and ascended to the realm of the good, just and pure.

"Mum" whispered the boy as he assumed his heavenly consciousness.

"Baby" the reply came.

The pair hugged and touched and looked until Harry asked "I was screwed my whole life wasn't I?"

"Years before your conception. You and I had no chance in the scheme of things, although you entire life was doomed while mine only started when I entered Hogwarts. But for everything there is a reason whether we mortals understand it or not. Evil exists so that Good can defeat it."

"Does this mean I can rest?" he asked.

With a sigh she replied, "Yes and no. You are finally dead. You served the purpose for which you were burdened with since before you were born. Tom Riddle is dead but I do not truly know his fate. He was doomed from before his birth also."

"How?"

Lily reached out and touched his mind. The life of Tom Riddle a/k/a Lord Voldemort flooded into Harry's consciousness.

"Ah, I see," he replied back. "And my life," he asked.

"Not so simple as Tom's. His mother had no purpose, no life and no hope. The best thing for her would have been to die young at the hand of her father or brother. It would have happened within a year or so at the rate things were going. But the Fates were cruel and cursed her for daring to hope, to love."

"Her mother had managed to teach her to read and write and some basic magics before that unfortunate woman died. Despite having most of her magic beaten or belittled out of her, she managed to concoct the love potion she gave to Tom, Sr. Had she only kept giving him the potion, she and Tom, Jr. might have had a chance at life and happiness. Unfortunately, Tom, Sr. had seemed to be so happy with her especially when she told him they were having a baby that she dared to hope that for once in her life she was actually loved, so she stopped the potion."

"You know what happened next. Her luck, or lacked thereof, almost rivaled yours. At least you eventually had a few friends, such as Hermione, the Weasley Twins and others when that, that…Ronald wasn't looking" she spat out. "Granted many betrayed you while you were at school, but at least you had the semblance of friendship and some actual friends, while Merope had NO ONE, especially not her family.

"Merope knew she could never return home as she would be killed. Normally she would have welcomed death, but she carried her only treasure. She was utterly alone, penniless and deserted and she was pregnant. At least you never had that problem!"

"It was a struggle to survive having no one, no help, no job and basically being robbed of her only thing of value by Borgin and Burkes. She held on only to give birth to her son, look at and name him, and to experience real love for the first and only time in her sad life."

"I've talked to Merope and she regrets that she couldn't hold on to raise her son or at least to arrange for him to be adopted, hopefully by a witch or wizard who would love him, but she had used all the magic and personal strength that she had to keep him alive in the womb. She had nothing left at all."

"I'd like to meet her," said Harry.

"Oh she wants to meet you also for many reasons but that will come after our talk. Now do you know what happened to cause your death?"

"No."

"Well this will take some time," said Lily, "so let's get comfortable." Harry then found himself in a beautiful garden full of fragrant flowers and herbs. They were sitting on a cushioned bench under a Weeping Willow. Birds were singing and Harry felt something land on his shoulder.

"Hedwig," he cried joyfully, touching his owl as she started rubbing her head against his cheek. "I've missed you so. I don't know why I didn't let you just fly to the Burrow and wait for me."

"Because that…hell hag…who calls herself a loving, caring mother, talked Moody into having the bird caged. Oh she loves her children but only used you."

"Yes, I suspected it at times but I guess all those loyalty and compulsion charms placed on me…."

"Yes. One good thing about death is that your body and soul revert to what they truly should be. All the charms, spell, hexes, curses and potions placed on you by various people – mostly Dumbledamn and Molly Bitch, are dissolved and all the scars and abuse you received are gone." Lily produced a mirror. "See no lightning bolt or other magical scars and none of the scars the Dursleys gave you exist. No glasses either. You might also note that you no longer look like a clone of James. You are a combination of me…and others."

"But back to Hedwig. Molly managed to slip Hagrid and Remus a potion compelling them to make sure that Hedwig was caged and that she was riding with you. She was hoping the owl that you loved so much would get killed because Ron and Ginny used to get so envious that you had such a lovely owl and they didn't. Moody was too involved in running the "rescue" that it never occurred to him that you carrying your famous, noticeable owl with you would make you a target. He was so involved he wasn't as "vigilant" as usual and since he trusted the people he was with and was so occupied when his back was turned Molly managed to cast a confundus on him to not even consider this situation."

"She was trying to get me killed, wasn't she? Why?"

"She didn't know about the Horcruxes. Albus had arranged a marriage contract with her as the last remaining Prewett for her only daughter, Ginerva, thus negating the need for Arthur Weasley to know anything about it. He also showed her a phony Will he made 'on your behalf' leaving half your money to Ginny, as your fiancée and the other half to Dumbledore to use on behalf the Order of the Phoenix and Hogwarts. Naturally, none of this was legal, but she didn't know that. She thought there were only two vaults - your trust vault and the Potter vault. You know how Albus neglected to tell people all of the details, if any, of things they wanted to or should know about."

"With Dumbles dead, Molly thought that the war would definitely be lost and she and her children would all be killed unless they signed up with Voldemort. She knew that Percy, Ron and Ginny would do so, but didn't think Bill, Charlie or the Twins would. Therefore, if you were killed, Molly, as guardian and Head of House Prewett, would inherit the money on Ginny's behalf. She thought that she would force all of her children to flee with her and they could all live very comfortably for the rest of their lives some place where Voldemort could never find them. She would have grandchildren and would continue to rule the roost so to speak as Head of House Prewett. Naturally, Arthur would be left behind and everybody would be forced to change their last name to Prewett to enjoy her largess."

"How disappointed she must have been when I showed up alive. Why didn't she try again?"

"She thought you would be killed looking for the Horcruxes. Ron finally got around to telling her about them. He wanted to go with you for the fame and glory, but if things got too risky, he'd come home for a while, which is what he did. He wanted to stay home because of all the hardships you were enduring, but she forced him to go back as she found out from Bill that Dumbledore had been doing some rather illegal things concerning your trust vault and a freeze had been placed on your accounts once you had disappeared. Bill also told her that if you had a Will it wasn't on file with Gringotts and Dumbledore must have hidden it. Therefore she needed you alive long enough to come back, be dosed with more love potions, marry Ginny and thus give her access to your money before you died."

"Well I guess I messed up all of her plans by living but not long enough to be dosed and marry Ginny. I gather the Goblins confiscated all of my money and heirlooms."

"Of course they did. They used the excuse of your breaking into Gringotts, robbing the Lestrange vault, stealing their dragon and ruining the reputation of the Goblin Nation to freeze all accounts of all wizards until such time as you were given over to their justice. The Ministry, or rather Kingsley, had no choice but to give you over or face a complete collapse of the British Magical economy."

"To his credit he was told by Bill and Percy Weasley that you would be given you a trial and things could be negotiated so that you were going to be fined the hell out of, but you would be alive and free. You would be destitute due to the complete seizure of all the Potter and Black assets, but Kingsley would give you an Order of Merlin first class and you would have 50,000 galleons on receiving that, a job as an Auror as well as endorsement opportunities, book deals, etc., so he thought you should be all right."

"But Bill and Percy lied didn't they?"

"Of course they did. Bill was threatened in no uncertain terms that he and Fleur would be killed due to the various oaths they took while working for Gringotts and probably Ron for abetting you. Percy was told that no British Wizard would ever again see any of their money or heirlooms as Gringotts would confiscate everything and move it to other Goblin branches while closing their British branch and destroying the building, thus taking out Diagon Alley in the process. The entire nation would be destitute and destroyed permanently and the blame would be on the Weasley Family's shoulders for harboring Harry Potter.

"Bill and Percy made a deal to give you over while sparing Bill, Fleur and all Weasleys and completely absolving Ron. You would be publically executed immediately upon apprehension but not before the Goblins had publically defamed the unnamed Wizard for attempting to destroy Magical Britain due to crimes committed against the Goblins. The Ministry wouldn't know about let alone be able to do anything about it until after you were killed. The mob witnessing your execution never knew your name and didn't even see who was being killed, so that was why they applauded and cheered when you were executed."

Harry sighed. "Well that sounds about normal for my life. I gather that Ron was tipped off probably by Percy and that is why he called me the new dark lord. No doubt he is running around Hogwarts denouncing me as such and telling everybody how much a hero he is for "discovering" this fact and that it was him who was the real hero for all these years and an even bigger one now."

"Of course. Look down and you can see him doing so. He had already isolated and stupefied Hermione and has flooed her to the Burrow and after explaining things to Molly and getting instructions from her, he's going back to 'enlighten' McGonagall and everybody else."

"Now if you look over there," said Lily pointing towards the Ministry, "You can witness Kingsley finding out that you have been killed. Oh look, he just soiled himself. Oh now he is jumping up and down and cursing up a storm. I haven't seen anybody act that way since I announced to James I wouldn't go out with him and he screamed that I had just cost him 50 galleons he lost to Sirius betting that I definitely would."

Lily and Harry spent a while watching the antics and reactions of Magical Britain.

Neville Longbottom and a few others had cornered Ron then Neville started beating the hell out of the lying Weasley. Ron was de-wand and taken to McGonagall's office where Slughorn administered Veritaserum to him and McGonagall asked the questions. Ron had no alternative but to spill EVERYTHING, including the Horcrux hunt, Hermione being held by Molly, Bill and Percy tipping him off, etc.

Then it was Minerva's turn to beat the crap out of Ron Weasley before she left Flitwick in charge while she and Slughorn left for the Ministry. They were just in time to witness the last of Kingsley's tantrum, the part where he was pummeling the last of the Aurors who had delivered Harry to the Goblins and stood by and watched as the boy was executed but had neglected to tell him that it had happened.

Naturally the Ministry was in full panic mode. The panic varied in regard to whether it was truly in fear and/or outrage in response to Harry's murder (which it really was) or the fact that Gringotts still had all Magical Britain's assets frozen and would not inform the Ministry when the assets would, if ever, be unfrozen. Pandemonium ran rapid and people just didn't care anymore.

The only good things that happened were some people finally getting what was due to them. Somehow Delores Umbridge had not been arrested, let alone punished, for the crimes she had been committing throughout the years. She made the final mistake of cheering at the news of Potter's murder literally chirping (or in her case croaking) her pleasure that that "nasty little Half-blood finally got what was coming to him and hopefully it would shortly be happening to all the Mudbloods, creatures and..."

She never got to finish her rant because apparently one of the Unspeakables, who had been crying softly upon hearing the news, heard what she was saying and decided to test a dark curse that his Department had discovered in one of the dark arts books that had been confiscated from Malfoy Manor. The Fires of Hell hex was literally that. Flames would burn and torment the victim with unquenchable fire while not consuming the person's physical body. It could not be spread to anyone else by touch and no one could stop it except for the castor. The Unspeakable had summoned a clipboard and was heard saying while he walked off "Yep, that one works."

Umbridge could do nothing except scream horribly. She couldn't touch any one and no one came to her aid. She just basically ran around the Ministry alternating between screaming and begging for help and mercy. She received as much mercy as she had given to others during her career. Eventually what passed for her heart, or at least the physical organ that was her heart, gave out and she dropped down dead, but not before annoying the entire Minister for about an hour. She would not be missed.

Once things finally calmed down at the Ministry, plans had to be made. The first order of business would be to find out what exactly the Goblins were planning. That was simple - total and complete control of all things monetary.

They had frozen ALL assets and vaults until they had finished figuring out the new laws that the Ministry would be forced to agree to or face serious consequences. As reparations to the insults given to the entire Goblin Nation in Britain, ALL the vaults and assets of any Death Eater, whether living or dead, would be confiscated by the Goblins and NOT the Ministry.

Those compensations would be the price for the late Dark Lord Voldemort's insults. It would not matter if say, just a father was a Death Eater, the entire estate would be confiscated leaving wives/widows and all offspring destitute without a home or possessions. That was their problem not the Goblins. The fate of the wives/widows and offspring would be the problem of the Ministry.

All of Harry Potter's vaults, heirlooms, assets were forfeit to the Goblin Nation. A blood sample dripping from his severed head was taken for use to see if he was entitled to other inheritances. It seemed he was and they also were confiscated. It was none of anybody's business but the Goblins as to what these inheritances consisted of, but since it was rumored that after the first defeat of Voldemort, many estates without heirs had been left to Harry due to his defeating the Dark Lord that had taken the lives of so many heirs and destroyed so many families.

The Ministry was fined just because the Goblins thought that they could. Despite the confiscation of Harry's estates, the Ministry was given a bill for the estimated costs of repairing the damages done to Gringotts due to Potter and Voldemort's actions. The Ministry was also obligated to obtain a new dragon of choice for the bank once a suitable one was located. These demands were NOT negotiable and Gringotts would be closed until the prices asked were paid. It was pointed out by the Minister that since ALL vaults and assets were frozen by the Goblins, how was the Ministry to pay the invoice without access to Ministry money.

The Goblins smiled (or what passed for a smile from a Goblin) rather nastily. "Arrangements can be made," the Head Goblin sneered. The "arrangements" referred to consisted of a committee of Goblins having access to the Department of Mysteries of the Ministry to evaluate the rare objects there, assigning what the Goblins considered a "fair monetary value" and then permanent possession of such objects.

In other words, a bunch of greedy Goblins would bring a shopping cart (or probably more than one cart), see exactly what the Department had in the way of rare and valuable objects and helped themselves. Since the Goblins would be assigning the value of the item, Kingsley had no doubt that they would help themselves to just about everything the Department had and, knowing the Goblins, the Ministry would still come up short and have to find more funds.

Last but not least, all fees for everything would be raised and could be further raised and interest rates for loans would also be increased and further increased without notice.

To put it bluntly, Gringotts would OWN Magical Britain and all its inhabitants and all wizards and witches would, in all actuality, be slaves of the Goblins.

The Ministry had three days to agree to ALL TERMS demanded by the Goblins and ALL TERMS WERE NON-NEGOTIABLE.

The only thing worse than a Goblin sneering was a Goblin smiling, especially when they had you by the balls.

A full session of what remained of the Wizengamot convened. Augusta Longbottom was the temporary head of the Wizengamot and she would be presiding over the planning meetings and then later, the emergency trials of the bastards that got them in this mess.

At the advice of Minerva McGonagall, Hermione Granger was rescued and ALL the Weasleys were rounded up. The Weasleys (even poor Arthur and George) were sharing cells with Death Eaters. Mercifully for others, Molly had been silenced as not even Death Eaters should be forced to suffer from her rants.

The Goblins' demands were, naturally, out of the question. After three days the horrid creatures would be packing up all vaults and transferring everything to places outside of Britain. Or, the slimy hellhounds would be staying put and just enjoy watching Magical Britain crumble. Either way, Magical Britain was SCREWED.

As ideas (all bad) were thought of and passed around, Hermione Granger was sitting in the audience with some of her surviving classmates. They half listened to the debates going on while some of them were trying to think up some ideas of their own.

A soft barely noticeable breeze caressed Hermione's ear, but all it did for some reason was to make her think of Harry. Every time she thought about Harry she started crying. The caresses just made things worse. Finally, Luna Lovegood got up from her seat, went over to Hermione, lifted her chin and looked into Hermione's eyes.

"Bazookas," said Luna. The students stopped talking as Hermione just stared at Luna. "Bazookas and tanks and guns and knockout gases," Luna said.

"Harry" shouted Hermione, who now realized that the caressing breeze had been words whispered into her ear.

Hermione jumped up and out of her seat and raced down to the assembly. "Bazookas, tanks, guns, gas – Muggle weapons," she shouted at Kingsley. "The Goblins won't know what hit them and couldn't defend against them."

Kingsley realized what she said and so he jumped up and raced out of the room yelling for her to "explain things while I contact the PM."

"Well finally" said Harry to Lily. "I thought she'd never listen to me."

Lily smiled at her son, "Well at least Luna did and Kingsley knows what to do. Seems you will save the world again, Baby."

As the third day dawned, all Goblins were assembled at the bank in gleeful anticipation of destroying the wizards one way or another for good. Outside the bank, the sun was just beginning to rise, but Gringotts did not have windows to witness the beauty of the beginning day, nor would they have cared to look upon such beauty. They were already toasting their successes when the noise was heard.

KABOOM. Several Muggle tanks had been silently and invisibly airlifted and put in position and now blasted in the doors of the bank once considered invincible. One by one the tanks entered and started blasting at everything. They were followed by both Muggleborn and Half-blood Wizards who had left the Magical World due to the lack of jobs and respect and had joined the Royal Military as well as most of the Aurors. Both military and Aurors wore Muggle battle armor, which had also been enhanced with various protection charms and shields. All wore gas masks and carried assorted weapons ranging from the suggested bazookas, to fire throwers and various lethal items that most Wizards had never seen or guessed at, let alone the Goblins.

Vicious Goblin warriors tried to swarm into the lobby but were blasted to bits by the tanks or the weapons carried by the invaders. As advances were made, gas canisters were thrown down the tunnels. The Goblins went to battle as they always had, but nothing worked in their favor. Although there were casualties on both sides, the Goblins were basically slaughtered. When the air cleared, Dementors were sent into the tunnels to finish the battle. The Ministry was the undoubted victor.

As the battle had started, the other European Ministries were contacted and warned what was happening. Although the other Ministries had been made aware of what the Goblins in Britain were doing, they had not been advised of the plans of the British Ministry for security sake. They were advised to start runs at all Goblin-run banks, with both transfers of funds to Muggle banks or to the Dwarf banks as well as actual withdrawal of any and all cash and heirlooms people could acquire.

It took a while for things to settle in Britain and things still had a long way to go, but at least the Goblins were defeated and rebuilding could start.

The trials took place. Lucius Malfoy was as guilty as sin, that was a given, but Narcissa had been promised by Harry to intercede for her and Draco. Unfortunately Harry was dead. He had, however, told Hermione about Narcissa saving him so Hermione gave evidence at Narcissa's and Draco's trials.

Since Narcissa had never taken the mark and had been seen by others not fighting for the Dark Lord, she escaped with fines. Her dowry and some other personal possessions had been kept separate from the Malfoy estate so she didn't lose everything.

Draco, however, despite testifying under Veritaserum that he had been forced to take the mark, was still found guilty of letting in the Death Eaters via the cabinet, participating in the harassing of his school mates during his seventh year as well as other various crimes. Although he had never really killed anyone, he had tortured on occasion and that was held against him. The verdict was a 5 year incarceration in a Muggle prison, with a possible parole in 2 years for good behavior. Considering Death Eaters such as his father were being given life sentences in Azkaban and/or the Kiss, Draco got off lucky.

Fleur had had no knowledge of the deal Bill and Percy had made. Since her father was a member of the French Ministry he dissolved her marriage to Bill and she was let off without punishment but was banned from Britain for her own good as anybody named Weasley would not be very popular ever again

Bill and Percy were sentenced to life in Azkaban for collusion, enabling of the murder of Harry Potter and for being just plain stupid. "The Ministry would have protected you and your family from the Goblins," Kingsley had shouted at them, "All you had to do was to ask for sanctuary and tell us what the Goblins were planning. If Bill couldn't reveal it, Percy certainly could have."

Ron was also sentenced to life in Azkaban for his part in Harry's murder plus his involvement in endangering and ruining Harry's life at the behest of Dumbledore and Molly.

Naturally Ron tried to tell everyone of the large and heroic part he had played in the war, but his confessions under Veritaserum and actions in Harry's murder negated anything worthy that he had ever done.

Ron didn't realize it yet but the most terrible thing that would happen to him in Azkaban would not be the Dementors, as their use and participation would be severely limited because people wanted the inmates to be cognizant so they could really dwell on their crimes. No, for Ron it would be the two dreadful, monotonous and inadequate meals per day. He would eventually starve to death. Also, there was nobody who he could really talk to let alone brag and besides food, Quidditch and listening to the sound of his own voice he really had nothing else.

Arthur and George were found guilty of nothing other than being unfortunately enough to be related to these people. They were free to go on with their lives. Arthur quit the Ministry and joined George at his store.

Ginny admitted that she had wanted and DESERVED to marry Harry because he was the Boy-Who-Lived and had fame, money and was the last of an Ancient and Noble House. She really didn't know about the illegal marriage contract or about the fake Will when knowledge of their existence was made known or any of the other machinations between her mother and Dumbledore and while she herself didn't dose Harry with love potions, she had a good hunch that her mother did. She was therefore not guilty of any real crime, but would be forever known as a gold digger. She lost any respect she had ever had from her peers because of this and eventually she left Britain to live with Charlie in Romania.

Molly was vilified for all the despicable things she had done or had tried to do. She never considered any of her actions as evil, just sensible and reasonable and informed the Court that they should be ashamed of themselves for putting her on trial. Fortunately for her there were many questions she was not asked otherwise she would have been in real trouble, but what people didn't known wouldn't hurt her.

She joined her three sons in Azkaban. Every day that was left of his miserable life Ron used it to curse out his mother while at the same time demanding, screaming and finally begging for food. She could hear Bill cry himself to sleep and then his nightmares until he died within four years. Percy went insane despite not being exposed to Dementors. His entire career was now non-existent and he had nothing – not even a book to read to pass the time. He eventually died by smashing his head against the walls of his prison. Molly outlived her sons and her punishment was to hear their curses, decline and eventual deaths.

"Well, Baby," asked Lily after the last trial was done, "What do you think will be the future of Magical Britain?"

Harry and Lily were still in the garden. They had been mostly alone except for Hedwig and occasionally Dobby who had popped up with refreshments. Although eating and drinking were not necessary in this realm, popcorn, butter beer, Cokes and other snacks were a nice touch while watching the trial and some of the other goings on.

Harry thought for a moment before replying, "Probably the same old same old after a while. Kingsley is trying very hard and I know Hermione will give her all but even with the Goblins gone and the Dwarfs providing financial services, Wizards are still – well Wizards - and I don't think the Purebloods, despite so many of them losing so much, will ever give up their ways. Give them a few more years and a different Minister and they will creep back into power."

"I think they will continue to be sheep as they are too lazy to think for themselves and most of them have no common sense. Wizard and Muggle cultures are too different. From the looks of things even before Dumbledore's reign as Headmaster magical education was being dumb down at least in Britain."

"There are too many laws limiting and typecasting magic. There is the old guard like the Malfoys who want to keep the old ways, but keep them for themselves so that they will have the most magical power. I think they are afraid of being bested by the 'new blood' – people like Hermione. At the same time, people just like Hermione come into our world with their own beliefs and prejudices and since they have no pre-Hogwarts briefings concerning the customs and manners of the Magical World and our History of Magic course is nothing more than a boring collection of Goblin rebellions, they never really learn, do they?"

Lily sighed, "No they don't. It is a vicious cycle and no side seems willing to change or listen to the other."

"Has it always been this way, or is it something that is fairly modern?" asked Harry.

"I really do hate to admit this because the Gryffindor propaganda I grew up with is still strong, but Slytherin was right with his theory of taking Muggleborn children away from their non-magical parents and raising them in the Magical World. I know my situation would have been a lot better. Tuney wouldn't have come to hate me due to jealousy and her mistreatment by our parents. I think it would have been better if I had "disappeared" or "died" after my first accidental magic surfaced. It would have hurt my parents and Tuney, but they would have been better off and I probably would have been too."

"But you would have been raised as an orphan without love."

"Not necessarily. There are always plenty of magical couples who can't have children and failing that, if a well-run foster system could be put in place – one without corruption and after rigorous background checks of the employees – it would probably be better than growing up confused and afraid and/or abused in a Muggle home. That happens a lot and still does."

"I don't think that anything like that is going to happen any time soon," said Harry.

There was a time of silence for a while until Harry asked, "So what is the reason that I haven't been allowed to go on?"

Lily remained silent.

"Mum, I know there is a reason. I think that I've been here for a while even by eternity standards. I haven't had a briefing or even a judgment and I believe that a judgment is regulation," joked Harry. "So what is the reason? This is a really nice place, the nicest I've ever been to in, but it is definitely not Hell but I don't think it is Heaven either."

She sighed. "You're right Baby this is limbo, the in-between place. You are here because there are things that still need to be decided."

"Let me guess, I have another purpose, another mission that someone, hopefully not Dumbledore, wants me to do."

"Yes. The Powers that Be think things should be changed."

"But I'm dead. I was decapitated; my head and body bounced around and damaged until someone noticed it and gather it together and hastily buried me, without fanfare – not that I would have wanted that anyway – but without any notice in the obits in case a friend or two would like to say goodbye."

"True, but all things under Heaven are possible."

Now it was Harry's turn to sigh. "What is it and do I have a choice?"

Lily looked deep into her son's eyes, eyes the same as hers. "Harry, I don't know exactly what is being decided, but I do know once it is decided you won't have a choice."

"Is that why I've only had contact with you, Hedwig and Dobby?"

"Yes. It seems that only we three have loved you unconditionally and respected you. We've never tried to use you in life just as you never tried to use us."

"Ah but that is not stopping anyone else from using me, even the Powers that Be."

"Unfortunately yes. Were it up to me, you would get to move on into eternal bliss."

"Mum, have you ever been to eternal bliss?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't exactly know. I think it is because once I go to eternity, I cannot contact you. I can watch you, but not ever interfere or directly communicate with you."

"But the only time you ever contacted me was at the graveyard during Voldie's resurrection and when I was going to meet Voldie and die and you urged me on as I started to falter. And Dad was there both times also but I haven't seen him since I've been here. Why is that?"

"At the graveyard, James and I were manifestations created from Tom's wand, based on our last conscious thoughts and our actions were created by your unconscious need to hear from us. We were only images of the last spells Tom cast before his death. Peter killed the Muggle and Cedric. The Muggle was an image from the wand and you never met him, and only knew of him from the image you had when Peter killed him. Cedric had yet to cross over and thereby was the only one who really contacted you."

"In the forest our images had been created and sent by Dumbledore to make sure you actually went through with his plans. Dumbledore had managed to stall his final judgment, how and why I don't exactly know, but he thought that when Tom AK'd you again the same thing would happen and he would die again, leaving only Nagini as the last Horcrux. He had to convince you to return to finish the job. I witnessed Dumble's surprise and saw him frantically negotiating with a cloaked figure, but I couldn't hear anything being said. Then you were here and he gave his speech, played upon the guilt compulsions that he had placed on you and back you went."

"After all that, why were the Goblins allowed to have me killed?"

"As far as I know, that was just a plan of the Goblins to take over Magical Britain or at the very least rob Britain of everything. I have never been told exactly when or how you were to die."

"Now although I never really contacted you, I did heal you many times when your injuries overpowered your magic. You would have died at least nine times had I not intervened. Unfortunately, I could not get justice for you. I couldn't contact Petunia to warn or even threaten her, or Severus to warn him about the charms and hexes that Dumbledore had placed on him to hate and torture you. Petunia was hexed to hate and hurt you every time she looked at your eyes – my eyes. Vernon just did it because he could and he's a sadist. Dudley was just raised that way and was rewarded every time he hurt or belittled you. The Dementors really started him thinking and I would like to think that had you lived he and you might have finally had a decent relationship."

"What about Dad."

"James, Sirius and Remus are in another place. They were considered not evil enough for eternal damnation, but not worthy of eternal bliss. They walk in the realm of atonement and must exist with the knowledge of their sins and seek forgiveness of those they have wrong. It is a place of mist and shadows. It is not a place of pain but not a place of pleasure or contentment like the place that we are in."

"Severus is there also. He is there for reasons entirely different then the Marauders. However, he is one of those that the Marauders must seek forgiveness from but now that he is there and not in the land of the living…well let's just say the Marauders' atonement process will probably be set back for an unspecified amount of time."

"All of this is interesting to know but you have still not given me an answer."

"But I can't because I don't have an answer, so we will just have to wait here until we are told."

There was silence for a while until Harry thought of another question. "Mum, what do Dad, Sirius and Moony have to atone for? I know that they were not entirely nice to Snape, but Dad's been there for what 16 years or so, and wouldn't Sirius' suffering in Azkaban have atoned for his youthful indiscretions? Moony suffered his entire life just being a werewolf and he was basically a good man so why is he still there?"

"Well Baby that is a very long story so I better ask Dobby for more snacks because we will need…."

But Lily stopped talking and stared at something behind Harry. Harry was about to turn to see what his Mum was looking at when he heard "THE DECISION HAS BEEN MADE" in a deep rich voice not unlike Snape's in its tones.

"Oh Baby," said Lily, "We're going to find out your fate."