The days following the final battle were a whirlwind of change for the wizarding world. Amelia Bones, armed with irrefutable proof of Voldemort's crimes as well as defeat and a renewed, iron-willed sense of purpose, was a force unmatched. The Honest-Citizen Loyalty Oath of rooting out corruption was implemented across every level of the Ministry. The result was a political purge of stunning speed and efficiency.
Death Eaters who had hidden in plain sight for years, protected by wealth and influence, were exposed. Those who had bought their freedom with lies found their deceptions unraveling. Auror raids, based on intelligence from the now-cooperative goblin nation (who were deeply impressed by the bounty, now redundant though and the reclamation of their stolen sword which was handed over to them), cleaned out nests of dark-magic users across the country. Azkaban, for the first time in a generation, was filled with the truly guilty. It was a monumental victory, a cleansing fire that left the Ministry stronger and more unified than it had been in a century.
Even famed Death Eaters such as the Lestranges, Pettigrew, Lucius Malfoy were all caught and imprisoned. No amount of money was going to free them. This was a fact that Draco Malfoy learned, a cold hard truth, slamming on his head with the force of a bludger.
Amidst this grand political restructuring, Ariana conducted a series of quieter, more personal consolidations. She decided, with the logical precision she applied to everything, that secrecy about her personal life was an inefficient and unnecessary complication. Her alliance with
Hermione and Daphne was a core component of her strength; to hide it would be to devalue it.
First, she told her friends. She gathered Harry, Ron, Neville, Ginny, Sirius, and Remus in the drawing-room of Grimmauld Place. With Hermione and Daphne standing at her side, their hands linked, she explained their new reality.
"Hermione, Daphne, and I have entered into a formal, committed, polyamorous relationship," she stated, her voice calm and factual, as if explaining a new magical theory. "We have concluded that our intellectual, emotional, and strategic bonds are most efficiently and happily expressed through this structure. We consider ourselves partners in all things."
The room was silent for a moment. Harry looked between the three of them—at the fierce loyalty in Hermione's eyes, the proud confidence on Daphne's face, and the serene certainty in Ariana's— and simply smiled. "Okay," he said. "As long as you're all happy."
Ron, after a moment of intense mental gymnastics that made his ears go slightly red, just shrugged. "Blimey. Well… alright then. More people to help with homework, I guess."
Sirius threw his head back and laughed, a loud, barking sound of pure delight. "A Dumbledore, a
Granger, and a Greengrass Together? Merlin's beard, The Chaos rating is off the charts on Marauder scale. Good on you!"
The acceptance was total, a testament to the deep bonds they had all forged.
Next were the parents. The Grangers, when told, were initially bewildered, their Muggle sensibilities struggling with the concept. But when they saw the profound, unshakeable happiness on their daughter's face, and the deep, loving respect between the three girls, their confusion melted away into a simple, parental joy. If their daughter was happy and loved, that was all that mattered.
The Greengrasses' reaction was more complex. Lord and Lady Greengrass listened in their formal drawing-room, their faces impassive masks of pure-blood decorum. Ariana laid out the arrangement not just as a matter of romance, but as also a strategic alliance between three powerful magical practitioners, a union that would create a new, formidable power bloc in the changing political landscape. It was a language they understood.
"An alliance of three of the most powerful and influential witches of the next generation," Lord Greengrass mused, stroking his chin. "Unprecedented. But… politically sound." He looked at his daughter, who was glowing with a confidence he had never seen in her before. He gave a single, decisive nod. The House of Greengrass would support it. Astoria was just happy that Ariana was now going to be even more close to her as her sister-in-law.
With her personal life now a stable, acknowledged, and fortified variable, Ariana turned her formidable attention back to her grandest ambition. The war was over. The work of healing and rebuilding had begun. But her own path lay beyond the horizon of their world.
She brought Hermione and Daphne back to the Room of Requirement, which now permanently held the configuration of their celestial workshop. The past few years, with their constant crises, had allowed for only theoretical work and small-scale experiments. Now, there were no more distractions.
"It is time," Ariana announced, standing before a vast, empty section of the room. "To move from theory to construction."
With a wave of her hand, the blueprints for Project Chimera appeared in the air, shimmering and three-dimensional. At her command, the Room began to provide the materials. Great, magically strengthened titanium alloy panels appeared in neat stacks. Spools of enchanted silver for the runic wiring materialized. And in the center of the room, a large, uncut Sunstone, the size of a pumpkin, rose from the floor, waiting to be carved into the heart of their engine.
The progress they made was staggering. With their combined focus, the spaceship began to take shape. Ariana, using her immense power and precise control, assembled the physical superstructure, fusing the Muggle alloy panels together with spells of molecular bonding, creating a seamless, impossibly strong hull. Daphne oversaw the alchemical treatment of the materials, ensuring they were perfectly receptive to the enchantments to come.
The magical generator, the contained star they had designed, was built and installed. When Ariana activated it for the first time, a low, powerful, and perfectly stable hum filled the workshop, a sound of clean, limitless energy.
Now, only the final, most intricate pieces remained. The navigation and communication systems.
"The Marauder's Map gives us the principle of real-time positional tracking," Hermione said, pointing to a complex diagram. "But adapting it to a three-dimensional, celestial scale is a monumental arithmantic challenge."
"And the Two-Way Mirrors provide the theory for instantaneous communication," Daphne added. "But amplifying the sympathetic magic to work across the void of space will require a level of enchantment that hasn't been attempted since the age of the Founders."
They stood before their creation—a sleek, beautiful, but still inert vessel. It had a body and a heart, but it did not yet have a mind or a voice. The work was far from over.
But as the three of them stood there, side-by-side, united in their shared, audacious dream, they felt no doubt. They had defeated dark lords, cured ancient curses, and reshaped their world. Conquering the stars? It was just the next logical step. The final frontier was waiting, and they were, as always, ready for the challenge.