Disclaimer: Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written.

Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, foul language, brief mentions of implied rape (no descriptions), alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), angst, drama, Dumbledore and Snape bashing, implied bashing of select Weasleys (no specifics mentioned), OOC moments, and who knows what else.

AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.

Chapter 65: Mission's End

Taliesin grunted softly as he dropped out of Seastar's cockpit and landed on the moonlit beach with a light splash as an incoming wave reached for the tide line. He then headed towards the large pavilion that had been set up as a makeshift infirmary several meters above the tide line and roughly a mile to the west of the warded stretch where Grimstar had cremated the basilisk while a small crew of mechanics from the Maganacs Corps swarmed Seastar to service the aquatic suit. As he walked, Taliesin stripped off the dive suit he'd been wearing; pausing only long enough to step out of the legs before he allowed one of the guards to whisk the suit off to be cleaned.

Seth's half-hearted complaints about the cool salty air caressed his ears for a moment before the cobra retreated into the wing pocket of Taliesin's undershirt now that the excitement was over. Taliesin would have reminded the cobra that he'd been the one who had insisted on coming along for the ride if he'd thought it would have done any good but the mage knew the snake well enough to know Seth had a very selective memory. Though whether that was a quirk of the cobra or a result of the fact that snakes in general had rather small brains was up for debate.

Pushing his legless friend's antics (and complaints) out of his mind, Taliesin ducked through the canvas door-flap of the tent pavilion and stopped walking for the five seconds it took for him to adjust to the interior of the brightly lit tent. Once his eyes were no longer burning from the bright light, Taliesin headed over to where the five petrified pilots had been laid out on portable camp beds; their stiff forms stuck in a seated position.

"Are you injured, Taliesin?" Jack inquired as the knighted field medic glanced up from where he'd been making notes on Wufei's medical chart.

"Just a few bumps and bruises," Taliesin replied as he moved to stand over Duo's petrified form.

"Good to hear the others kept you out of trouble for once," Iria teased as she ducked into the infirmary carrying a large box stenciled with the words 'fragile, handle with care' and 'this side up' beneath a couple of arrows pointing upwards on the outside. "Are you prepared to administer the Restoration Draught or will you need time to recover from your little underwater adventure first?"

"I'm ready to start," Taliesin replied as he drew his holly wand from his holster and glanced between Nagini's final five victims as he contemplated the order in which he would administer the potion.

"Who do you plan to start with?" Iria inquired as she set the box she'd been carrying down on an empty bed and opened it to reveal ten securely sealed and carefully packed one gallon beakers of Restoration Draught.

"Wufei and his co-pilot as they were both knocked about enough to pick up minor injuries during the fight," Taliesin replied as he moved away from Duo's petrified form to join Jack beside Wufei.

"How exactly are you supposed to get them to drink the potion if they're frozen solid?" Jack asked as he shifted a few steps to the side in order to avoid getting in Harry's way.

"You don't want them to ingest this particular potion; the potion's main ingredient Mandrake Root, or Mandragora Officinarum*, is highly toxic. The Restoration Draught is actually misnamed as it is a topical lotion that is applied to the skin and not an oral medication like most draughts."

"If the potion is applied topically, why couldn't we immediately start applying the potion the moment they arrived," Iria asked with a slight frown as she lifted out a single beaker and passed it to Taliesin.

"While the restorative can be applied manually, it is dangerous to do so," Taliesin explained as he gently shook the sealed beaker in order to ensure that the potion hadn't started to separate but not hard enough that it formed bubbles within the thick fluid. "The potion needs to be applied evenly over the entire form (including over the clothes the person was wearing) and it needs to be applied everywhere simultaneously; otherwise the process through which the draught reverses the petrified state of the individual will be done in fits and starts instead of in a smooth and timely manner. Imagine, if you will, a person's brain being unfrozen fifteen to twenty minutes before their heart and lungs; they could potentially sustain brain damage from a lack of oxygen."

"What happens if you miss a spot? Or if you don't coat their clothing?" Jack asked as he made several notes on the process for future reference.

"Any part of the body that is not coated would not be restored. For the clothing, it would be the parts beneath the clothes that don't get restored. The reason for that is because in the moment they are petrified, the clothes they are wearing are fused to their bodies and essentially becomes an extension of their skin due to the rather fragile nature of most fabrics (including most synthetic types) being unable to withstand the dark and volatile nature of the basilisk's magic."

"Is that why you ordered everyone to leave their helmets off until after the basilisk had been dealt with?" Trowa asked as he and Heero joined them in the makeshift infirmary in time to hear Taliesin's answer.

"Yes; the air gap between the surface of the helmet and the skin would have posed a significant problem because the draught would have been unable to reach their head. The helmets also would have been locked onto the suits by the petrification process; making it impossible to remove them in order to bypass the gap. And no, smashing the petrified helmets would not have been advisable because such a blow would potentially shatter the rest of the body; killing the victim instantly."

"Is that how you are going to ensure that Grindelwald is dead?" Heero demanded with a slight scowl that Taliesin knew was strictly over the possibility that the dark wizard might yet live and not the possibility that Taliesin would shatter the petrified dark lord's form.

"No, I will restore him, judge him (if he is still alive), and sentence him accordingly. If his body turns out to be a soulless husk, then I will euthanize him and cremate his remains alongside the remains of Dumbledore and Riddle."

No further questions would be asked as the magical monarch cast another series of spells. The first one levitated Wufei's body off of the bed. The second one cleaned Wufei's petrified body (to prevent dirt and oils from interfering with the Restoration Draught). The third one removed the lid from the draught while the fourth one levitated the entire mass of gray-green sludge out of the glass beaker. The fifth spell separated the dose into two equal globs and spread them out in a pair of flat sheets that roughly matched Wufei's dimensions; one of them floating just under Wufei and the other floating just above him.

The sixth spell pressed the two sheets of thick liquid to Wufei's body and sealed the seams. The seventh spell encased Wufei's potion covered body in a cocoon of air to prevent the draught from being wiped off prematurely. And the eighth and final spell gently lowered Wufei back onto the bed. The same eight spells would then be repeated on each one of the other four basilisk victims one right after the other.

"How long will it be until we can expect them to wake up?" Jack asked after the final body had been 'treated'; when his question would not break Taliesin's concentration as he continued to make notes.

"The entire process takes somewhere between two and three hours; the first hour will see their bodies reverting from stone to flesh and normal bodily functions resumed, the second hour will see the draught drawing out any toxins that were in their bodies at the time of petrification, and it will then take them anywhere from ten minutes to a full hour for them to regain cognitive awareness. There is no specific guide to judge how long it will take each person to wake up because there are far too many variables involved and the fact that each person responds differently to the treatment."

"Will the Restoration Draught poison them if it comes into contact with an open wound?" Iria asked with some concern as she gestured to the shallow scrap that could barely be seen through the residue of the potion on Wufei's cheek where he'd hit it on the pilot's chair at one point during the fight with the basilisk.

"No, by the time any open wounds start bleeding again, the toxicity of the draught will have been neutralized by the petrification magic that the draught is leeching from their body," Taliesin replied with a small shake of his head. "The potion will actually start flaking off around the end of the second hour; so you won't have to worry about the residue polluting the wounds either."

"How soon after the second hour can we begin treating their injuries?"

"Not until they wake up; it is very important that the de-petrification process be allowed to fully run its course to ensure that the petrification is fully reversed."

Taliesin spent another twenty minutes answering questions before he left the infirmary to grab something to eat and to check on the progress of the salvage. He would then return to the infirmary tent to take a short catnap while he waited for everyone to wake up (so he could make certain that there were no complications with the de-petrification process). It felt like he'd only just closed his eyes when he felt a hand falling on his shoulder to wake him up. A brief check of the time let him know he'd barely been out for thirty-eight minutes. He then immediately focused on the person who'd woken him up.

"The first two and a half hours have passed and as of two minutes ago, Duo has begun to show signs of regaining consciousness," Iria informed him the moment she saw that he was both awake and giving her his undivided attention.

"Huh, strange; I had half expected Duo to be one of the last to regain consciousness simply because he was one of the first to be petrified," Taliesin replied as he levered himself out of the camp bed and made a bee-line for his loudest brother. "Not to mention the fact that he was the last one to be coated with the draught."

"That's just Duo's contrary nature shining through," Heero drawled with a snort from where he'd taken up residence beside the entrance so that he could guard those inside.

Taliesin snickered under his breath over the teasing comment even as he began casting a series of diagnostic charms over Duo to make certain there hadn't been any complications due to the fact that Duo was a squib and therefore had very little magic of his own to supplement the magic in the Restoration Draught. He was only half way through his casting when Jack announced that Wufei was beginning to come around as well. Taliesin hummed a wordless acknowledgement as he continued his casting.

"The prognosis looks good," Taliesin announced a few minutes later as the final spell he'd cast over Duo faded out of existence. "He should be up within five to ten minutes based on what my scans revealed." He then moved over to Wufei's bed and began casting the same set of spells again. Once he was finished he stated, "Wufei has two cracked ribs in addition to the scraps on his face and a few bruises on his shoulders and back but otherwise is fine and he'll probably be awake within minutes of Duo."

"Which side are the cracked ribs on?" Iria inquired as she dug out the supplies that would be needed to tend to Wufei's minor injuries.

"Left."

"Can you check on the other three pilots?" Jack requested a heartbeat later. "I'm a little concerned because they haven't shown any signs of waking and your three hour estimate is nearly up."

"I'll start right now," Taliesin agreed as he made his way around Wufei's bed to reach the bed holding Wufei's co-pilot while a small frown made its way onto his face over that revelation. It wouldn't take him more than fifteen minutes to scan all three pilots and once he had finished, he turned contemplative as he compared the results of their scans to the results from Duo and Wufei's scans. After another two minutes, he inquired, "Can anyone confirm whether or not these three gentlemen are Newtypes?"

"They're not," Heero answered without hesitation.

"Is that going to be a problem?" Iria asked with more than a little concern from where she was currently monitoring Duo's awakening.

"No, it just means that it's going to take them a little longer than expected to wake up since they lack even the low levels of magic that Duo and Wufei both have as Newtypes. Healing potions will work on anyone but they work best when the magic in the potions is able to draw on the magic of the patient to help speed the healing process up. I probably should have taken that into account when we were putting the reconnaissance teams together but I was more concerned with making certain everyone assigned to the search teams had the skills necessary to face Nagini or a potential dark lord."

"We'll need to make certain that we remember to take it into consideration next time we put together a strike force to handle a magical problem," Heero stated on the heels of Taliesin's answer. "We'll need to look into a specialized training program for those that could potentially be tapped to handle a magical problem to ensure that everyone has the proper training for any potential mission."

"Urgh… did any one get da name of da idiot that ran me over?" Duo weakly demanded before the royal wizard could reply to Heero's statement.

"Maybe next time you should avoid having a staring contest with a basilisk," Taliesin dryly quipped as he returned to Duo's side in time to see the other teen open his eyes.

"Maybe next time ya could warn a guy he's about ta face a snake da size of a bullet train," Duo snarked back as he cracked open one eye to weakly glare at Taliesin.

"Did you sleep through the entire debriefing?" Heero demanded incredulously.

"That ugly mug was twice da size of da rotten one sittin' back at da castle! Da damn thing shoulda been half da size of da older one because it was half da age!"

"A basilisk's growth is not based on age, it is based on consumption; much like the growth of your ordinary garden variety snake," Taliesin reminded the newly revived pilot. "Nagini was not sealed within a hidden chamber under a castle with limited access to prey outside of the occasional rodent or pet that got lost in the pipes. Riddle's little pet monstrosity also consumed the magic and life force of far more magicals; which would have sustained the younger basilisk for longer periods of time between meals. There's also no telling just how absorbing the magic and life force of the dementors would have affected the creature's growth rate."

"It is at least dead?" Wufei tiredly asked before Duo could work up the energy to make a retort.

"Yep, deader than a door nail; its remains were cremated as planned to ensure that it wasn't just playing opossum."

"Good. I have no desire to experience petrification a second time."

"Wuff-man got stoned?" Duo crowed only to start coughing when he tried to laugh.

"At least I was able to strike a blow on the beast before I was taken out of the fight," Wufei countered haughtily.

"Yeah, well, I was da one that found da stupid snake."

"I would have said that the snake found you first," Heero interjected with more than a little amusement.

"Are you two boys done with your pissing contest yet?" Iria demanded in exasperation. "I have tests that need to be run sometime this year in order to ensure that neither one of you suffered any lasting harm from your brief attempts to impersonate a pair of gaudy lawn ornaments."

Taliesin burst out laughing over the woman's dig at both of his brothers and got himself temporarily kicked out of the tent as a result. He took a short walk to check on the progress of the prison salvage in order to give himself time to calm down before he returned to the makeshift infirmary. By the time he did return, all three of the non-magical pilot were finally coming around and Taliesin re-cast the diagnostic scans on them to make certain that there hadn't been any issues due to their non-magical status.

Once he had confirmed that all three men would make a complete recovery, Taliesin spent a few minutes with each pilot to thank them for their efforts and assure them that the basilisk was dead. The young monarch then allowed Heero to chivy him onto a plane headed back to New Avalon with his protection detail since there was really nothing more for him to do until it was time for him to drop the wards maintaining the ruins of Azkaban. He would end up spending the majority of the flight home sleeping; since his earlier cat nap in the infirmary had not been anywhere near long enough.

By the time they landed at the New Hogsmeade Airstrip the next morning, Taliesin was feeling somewhat refreshed and eager to spend a few hours winding down before he had to get back to work. He would spend those hours in the Great Hall regaling those who had been left behind with tales of their underwater expedition over a late breakfast while Wolfstar provided imagery with videos and photos that had been taken during the mission by pulling them from the systems of the underwater suits.

When he could no longer put off the inevitable, Taliesin excused himself from his audience and headed up to his office in order to face the paperwork that was waiting for him. Once he had tackled the urgent stuff that couldn't be put off much longer, he escaped the tediousness of doing desk work and headed out of the Wizard's Roost so he could grab lunch and check on the progress of the renovations being done to the castle. After making certain that there were no magical issues preventing the crew from continuing their current project, Taliesin headed outside to check in with the clinic.

"Ah, excellent timing, your majesty; the thestrals are about to be born," Dr. Watanabe announced the moment he caught sight of Taliesin entering the clinic's genetics lab.

"That's today?" Taliesin asked with some surprise; he'd lost track of which creatures were due on which day since he'd not had as much time to dedicate to monitoring the cloning program as he'd once had due to how busy he'd been in the months leading up to the Azkaban mission.

"Yes, I would have informed you of their scheduled birthdate if I had known that you would be here this afternoon."

"The expedition to Azkaban ran smoother than expected and we were able to complete our main objectives ahead of schedule," Taliesin remarked absently as he eyed the artificial wombs that held the soon-to-be born thestrals.

"That is refreshing news; can we expect any new specimen samples for our department to work with?"

"No, there was nothing in Azkaban that I would wish to have cloned. I should have new samples for you to work with by the end of the month though; the group that I assigned to catalog my potion ingredients is almost finished. I will also resume my weekend forays to once we've finished wrapping up things at Azkaban."

"That is excellent news," Dr. Watanabe replied with more than a little enthusiasm. "Do you have a preliminary list on which creatures and beings we can expect to be working with soon?"

"Griffins, sphinxes, billywigs, and mooncalves for certain. There were also a number of dragon samples but we don't have the facilities to house them yet. I also suspect that the earth's magic levels have not yet recovered enough to support even a single dragon at this time; since they are creatures of pure magic, like phoenixes."

"Do you know if there are any phoenix samples to be found in your personal inventory?" Dr. Watanabe inquired as the two of them migrated towards the decontamination chamber that separated the viewing chamber from the rest of the lab in order to reduce the chances of germs and bacteria being introduced to the vulnerable fetuses.

"I know there are several vials of phoenix tears; however, I suspect that they were obtained from Fawkes during his tenure at Hogwarts under Dumbledore. I am confident that a wide selection of tail and/or wing feathers from multiple sources will be found amongst the stock that formerly belonged to Ollivander's Wand Shop since I know for a fact that he used phoenix feathers as wand cores. There is also a good chance that phoenix ash and tears will be found in the stock from the various apothecaries that once did business in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade."

"Is there a chance that there might be phoenix blood amongst the apothecary stock?"

"There would only be a slim chance and only amongst the stock of the less reputable stores; simply because obtaining the blood of a phoenix was exceedingly difficult five hundred years ago. A dead phoenix leaves no body behind to drain of its blood and because they were considered rare even in the time that I was born, there weren't a lot of domesticated phoenixes that could be asked to donate blood. In fact, I only ever knew of two domesticated phoenixes; Fawkes and the mascot of the Moutohora Macaws who went by the name of Sparky."

"Will you be limiting the number of phoenixes cloned to reflect the rarity you knew from the past?" Dr. Watanabe carefully asked as the two of them began the decontamination process.

Taliesin hummed thoughtfully as he carefully considered the question. After a couple of minutes, he replied, "No, I do not believe it would be beneficial to restrict their population to such a small number. However, I do believe it would be best if their numbers were slowly brought up to more acceptable levels to ensure that there is enough magic to support them and the rest of the magical creatures and beings we are bringing back."

"Is there a way to increase the amount of magic available to support those species we are bringing back?"

"Yes, each new witch and wizard born increases the number of beings capable of breathing new magic into the world. It just takes time for them to grow up. Centaurs and goblins will be added to that list in time as will mermaids, satyrs, and veela. There are probably a dozen other species of sentient magical beings that will be included in that list but those are the only ones that I can think of off at the moment. The fact that our population of Newtypes is constantly growing will only help in the long run since their children will most likely be born will fully functioning cores so long as they live on or near a ley line nexus."

"Speaking of Newtypes; have you given my proposal to create a nationwide D.N.A. database any further consideration?"

"Yes, but I am going to hold off on making a decision until after the E.S.S.C. decides if it is going to implement the Family Restoration Act or not since the F.R.A, if implemented, will have an impact on whether or not all citizens of those nations recognized by the E.S.S.C. are required to register and provide blood samples under the Act."

Nothing further was said on the matter as both men entered the birthing area where the artificial wombs holding the five thestrals were being prepped for the birthing process. Taliesin was soon helped into a pair of sanitized scrubs and elbow length latex gloves by one of Dr. Watanabe's assistants so that he too could participate in birthing. Less than ten minutes later, the young king was playing midwife and mother to one of the five thestral fillies that had been cloned under the supervision of Dr. Watanabe.

It was a messy process that probably would have grossed him out a few years earlier but he currently felt nothing but pride and wonder as he removed the remnants of the amniotic sac the filly had been held in throughout the gestation process and gently sponged the little thestral clean. By the time he'd toweled her dry, the newborn filly had found her legs and she was impatiently waiting for her first meal. Taliesin couldn't help but chuckle at the impatient filly as one of the assistants handed him a bottle filled with a special formula made up of one quarter thestral milk (which contained traces of blood in it), two quarters mare's milk (purchased from a horse farm), and one quarter nutritional potion.

The baby thestral happily guzzled the proffered meal down in record time before Taliesin handed the little filly over to one of the assistants so that she could be weighed, measured, and have her health checked. The other four fillies had been dealt with by the staff during that time and Taliesin was inordinately pleased with the latest successes of the cloning program that had been implemented to repopulate the magical world. He didn't think he'd ever get tired of seeing new life breathed into the world around him.

Once confirmation had been given that all five fillies were healthy, Taliesin congratulated Dr. Watanabe and his staff on a job well done. He then cleaned himself up and allowed Dr. Watanabe to give him a brief update on the progress of the other creatures and beings that were currently gestating. After Dr. Watanabe was finished with him, Taliesin headed over to the actual veterinary side of the clinic where the newborn and newly hatched magical creatures were being raised by the veterinary staff he'd hired to ensure that there weren't any problems cropping up.

Aside from the newly cloned critters that they were raising, the veterinary clinic also housed those creatures that were in the twilight years of their life (such as the elderly parents of Orsa) and those naturally born creatures that were orphaned shortly after birth. In fact, there were so many animals living in the facility that it wouldn't be too long before they were overcrowded due to the fact that few of the creatures wished to return to the wild. That was especially true of those animals that had commonly been domesticated in the past; such as the kneazles, crups, postal owls, and winged horses.

Due to the growing risk of overcrowding, Taliesin made arrangements for a facility expansion (which would include hiring additional staff) and discussed wildlife reintroduction programs that would acclimatize those animals that were not normally domesticated (such as the unicorns and bicorns) to living in the wild once more with the veterinary staff. They also discussed the merits of fencing off a few acres of the Forbidden Forest to create a 'control ground' where the newly cloned wild creatures could be reintroduced to life in the wild with minimal risk until it was confirmed that they could survive on their own and therefore released into the forest at large.

After he finished his inspection at the veterinary clinic, Taliesin headed back up to the castle; there were a few more things he wanted to get done before the day was over. His plans were derailed before he even reached the castle when he was waylaid by several of the older New London orphans that he'd taken in several months earlier and a few of his employees' teenaged children. Somehow, he and his usual contingent of guards had gotten roped into playing a pick-up game of cricket. The fact that Taliesin rather sucked at the game (he technically hadn't played it in over four hundred years – though it was really closer to ten years since he'd last played) really seemed to amuse the children.

Once it got too dark to play, Taliesin led the tired but exceedingly happy band of children to the castle so they could get cleaned up for supper. During that short walk, the young mage heard more than a dozen complaints that the castle grounds didn't really have a proper park or play area for the children. In fact, the old Quidditch Pitch was the only section of the grounds that was actually level enough for them to play any games on and even then there were parts of it that wasn't a hundred percent safe. Another complaint was that there wasn't any place inside of the castle for them to play inside when the weather turned wet or nasty.

The lack of recreational activity zones was something that had existed in Taliesin's time at Hogwarts as well and it wasn't one that he'd given all that much consideration to since he'd been far more worried about staying alive back when he'd been attending Hogwarts and restoring the wizarding world once he'd returned two years prior. It had taken a few whining complaints from a bunch of children to even make him think about such things. Their honest desire to have a 'proper park' to hang out in had brought back bittersweet memories of a little, broken down park in Little Whining.

"Is there something bothering you, Taliesin?" Dorothy asked halfway through the meal when she'd noticed that he wasn't really eating.

"I think the older children are bored," Taliesin replied as he set his fork down and reached for the goblet of pumpkin juice he'd poured himself earlier while his eyes sought out the children that were seated throughout the hall.

"They don't look bored to me; in fact, they seem livelier tonight for some reason."

"Oh, I don't mean right this second; they're all still hyped up over the fact that I performed so poorly during the cricket game they suckered me and a few of my guards into playing with them. Maybe bored was the wrong word to use. I guess it would be more accurate to say that they are disappointed that there are so few places for them to play during their free time. They were complaining earlier about the distinct lack of parks, playgrounds, and indoor courts to play in."

"You have plans for such things to be added in the future though, don't you?"

"Actually, no, I don't. Or, at least, I didn't. I'd always intended to have the Quidditch Pitch and Stadium repaired once the castle had been restored but aside from that, I had no plans for a playground or indoor recreation room."

"Why ever not?"

"It never occurred to me. I hadn't even considered the necessity of having a playroom installed in the Wizard's Roost for the children until you ladies insisted on turning my original potions lab into one. I doubt that would have changed if I hadn't overheard the children's complaints earlier."

"What do you plan to do now that the lack of recreational areas was brought to your attention?"

"Talk to Cathy since she might have already put together a committee to handle public works projects since I doubt it is just the kids up here that are feeling a bit bored at times," Taliesin answered with a slight grin. "I know for a fact that there are quite a few children running about New Hogsmeade that would undoubtedly benefit from having places to go to unwind or just hang out."

"Not going to try and do everything yourself this time?" Dorothy lightly ribbed as she sent him a knowing look complete with a small smirk.

"No, I think I've gotten myself into enough trouble trying to run the show by myself."

The two of them shared a small laugh before they returned their attention to their supper. Now that he was no longer distracted by the complaints that the children had made earlier, Taliesin made short work of the food on his plate and turned his thoughts towards the ever-evolving and never ending list of things that needed his attention. After the meal, Taliesin would escort his pregnant wife back up to the Wizard's Roost using the shortcut that ran from the dungeons to the seventh floor to spare her the need to climb seven flights of stairs in her condition.

The two of them had barely entered the tower when Taliesin found himself being irreverently hailed in stereo by the portrait of Fred and George (better known these days as the Wisecracking Wallflowers courtesy of Duo), "Oi, beggin' yer pardun yer royal hairiness but yeh've been summoned by one of ye olde fossils up'in ye olde goat's former throne room."

Taliesin chuckled in response to the good natured teasing from the twins (the fact that they treated him in much the same way they had prior to his coronation something he appreciated from his old friends) before he asked, "Did they say why they wanted to see me?"

"Nah, not really; those old codgers don't like to tell us much of anything," Fred answered with a shake of his head.

"That's probably because they're still sore about the fact that we've an endless supply of in-canvas pranks that we can unleash on them thanks to our foresight in having our products painted into our portrait," George drolly pointed out as he waved a box of painted fireworks in Fred's direction.

"Bah, they're only sore because they didn't think to have plenty of entertainment on hand in their portraits," Fred shot back as he picked up the painted copy of a fake wand and activated the prank so that the fake ward transformed into a painted chicken.

Taliesin rolled his eyes at the pair before he turned to Dorothy and stated, "I'd better go see what the portraits wished to see me about. Once I've finished with them, I need to check on the progress of a few of the on-going projects about the castle; so, don't wait up for me."

"You spent the afternoon playing with the children in order to avoid your paperwork again, didn't you?"

"No, not this time; the paperwork was the first thing I looked over after breakfast," Taliesin countered before he stole a quick kiss from his wife.

Dorothy's laughter over his unintentional confession that he'd snuck out to spend time with the children to avoid his paperwork in the past would chase after the young mage until the door to the Wizard's Roost clicked shut and sealed the sound inside of the tower. Shaking his head, a fond smile tugging at his lips, Taliesin headed for the second floor in order to meet with the portraits of the former Headmasters and Headmistresses of Hogwarts. Fifteen minutes later, he was standing in front of the numerous portraits of the wizarding world's historical figures once more.

"Good evening, honored elders," Taliesin greeted as he let his eyes sweep over the vast collection of ornate frames that held the animated portraits as they in turn murmured greetings to him. "The twins just informed me that one of you wished to see me."

"I was the one that sent the redheaded menaces to track you down," Everard announced in the hush that had fallen over the portraits once pleasantries had been exchanged. "We received word of your return earlier and I wished to confirm whether or not you had successfully found and destroyed the last of the horcruxes."

"We did," Taliesin replied without hesitation. "We also confirmed that Riddle and Dumbledore are both dead but that there is a slight chance that Grindelwald still lives; his body was petrified by Nagini at some point."

"There was never any doubt in our minds that Dumbledore was dead," Phineas snidely barked out. "His portrait would not have activated otherwise."

Taliesin blinked a couple of times before an embarrassed flush began to creep up the back of his neck when he realized that he'd completely forgotten about the fact that magical portraits only 'woke' up after the death of the subject. After a couple of minutes, Taliesin shook off the slight mortification he felt and replied, "Right, well, the basilisk is dead, those dementors that were present at the prison were exterminated (bar a few that were petrified by Nagini), and we're in the process of salvaging anything worthwhile from the ruins as well as collecting the bones of the dead. I'll be returning to Azkaban once the ruins are cleared in order to collapse the wards and demolish the ruins."

"Oh, and I reclaimed what I believe is the Peverell ring from Dumbledore's corpse," Taliesin added before any of the portraits could comment in his plans to destroy the ruins of Azkaban.

"Show it to me," Everard instructed in a tone that demanded immediate compliance as he moved through the portraits to eject Armando Dippet from his portrait so that he [Everard] was standing level with Taliesin.

Taliesin frowned at the portrait for a second before he pulled the items he'd confiscated from the three dead dark lords out from the hidden pockets he'd tucked them into so that they wouldn't be lost. The three wands that he'd taken from them were set aside on the desk as he pulled them out before he could reach the cracked ring. As soon as he had the ring in hand, he held it up so that his ancestor could inspect the ring only to find that the portrait's eyes were glued to the three wands sitting on the desk.

"So, you have managed to accomplish what thousands of others have tried and failed to do through the centuries; you have collected all three the so-called Deathly Hallows," Everard stated in a rather dramatic tone.

Notes:

Mandragora Officinarum – is the Latin name for Mediterranean Mandrake (and may also include the Autumn Mandrake or Mandragora Autumnalis) and is also the mandrake often referred to in folklore

AN: Finally! This chapter was a bit of a pain to write because I had to figure out what I was going to do with the Deathly Hallows in addition to working in that bit about Dumbledore's portrait. I'd actually completely forgotten that I'd made a requirement of a portrait's activation was for the subject to be dead when I wrote the previous chapter. It wasn't until I went through and edited/revised the entire story that I picked up on that little clue. So, it took me a while to incorporate a way to remind Harry/Taliesin of that fact.

In any case, I've found myself needing to add yet another chapter to handle the Deathly Hallows since I wasn't able to fit it all in here in this chapter like I had originally hoped to. It is also possible that I'll be adding another chapter after I'm done with Deathly Hallows since there is at least one other plot point I need to wrap up that won't properly fit into the Epilogue and I am not certain if I'll be able to squeeze that into the next chapter alongside of the Hallows.

So, I guess that means that there are still at least two, potentially three, chapters left of this story (contrary to the author's note I left at the bottom of the last chapter). The good news is that everything that needs to be covered has already been outlined and researched so that all I need to do is write it up for posting. The bad news is that I don't know how long that will take. I've been focusing most of my attention on this story though because I really want to get it wrapped up; so keep your fingers crossed that it won't be yet another year before I post the next chapter.

I have, as some of you might have noticed (for those that spend any time on my author's page) already started writing the next chapter. For those of you who didn't know that, you can find a current progress report for all of my stories on my author's page so you can see at a glance how close I am to updating my incomplete stories. I also keep a list of which stories are on hold until I can find the time to work on them again. On that note, I'm also going to ask that you not PM me to ask when I'm going to update a story since that info is posted on my author's page and replying to dozens of PMs all asking me about it only takes away from the time I could be spending working on those stories.

Speaking of updates, I am in the process of replacing the older chapters with edited/revised chapters (some of you might have even noticed that chapters 1-5 have already been replaced). I'll be replacing between five and ten chapters per day until they've all been replaced. I didn't make any drastic changes to the story, so you don't have to go back and re-read everything but I did add roughly 11,800 words (spread out over all 65 chapters) to the story's content in order to improve the flow of the story and smooth out a few rough spots. That's on top of the spelling & grammatical errors I fixed.

Each chapter will have a blurb in the author's note at the bottom revealing how many words were added to the original chapter counts (not including any author's notes). Oh, and I removed any unnecessary author's notes, so you might see some chapter counts drop despite the fact that story's content word count was increased

In any case, I'd like to thank everyone for sticking with this story. ~ Jenn