Chapter 45: The End
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER. IT BELONGS TO JK ROWLING.
A/N: Read, enjoy, and remember not to take either life or my writing too seriously.Then Ron Weasley woke up.
Ron immediately started proclaiming how You-know-Who had imprisoned him in a graveyard and started a rambling of fighting the Dark Lord with a sword until he lopped his head off.
When people started laughing at him because Pettigrew had produced memories of exactly what happened, Ron started to tell the truth. But since Ron couldn't tell anyone how he got to the graveyard and how he came to look like Harry Potter, people laughed at his story.
When he was able to give exact descriptions of what had happened, people presumed he had read the Daily Prophet articles describing the scene, but enough doubt was entered into the public's mind for Cornelius Fudge to open a public interview of Ron Weasley to put the issue to rest. With Harry and Hermione constantly denying Harry had anything to do with it and with them both denying all interviews, it was something Fudge felt was necessary.
In the largest courtroom at the Ministry, every seat was packed as Ronald Weasley took the chair and waited for the questioning so he could prove his claim. Fudge looked down at the redhaired young man and opened with the first question.
"Mister Weasley, you claim you were the one who killed You-Know-Who on June Twenty-Fourth. Can you tell the courtroom exactly how you killed him?"
"Uh… I... I farted and he blew up," Ron answered honestly. The interview and investigation ended at that moment as the entire courtroom exploded in laughter.
Harry and Hermione had attended the interview in hopes of supporting their old friend, but as the laughter continued minute after minute, Ron Weasley snapped.
He charged at his old friends with fists raised, causing Harry to respond with a stunning spell before he could hurt Hermione. More articles appeared about the young man defending his lady and the legend grew larger and the ridicule of the youngest male Weasley continued.
Ron was found to be insane and put in confinement at St. Mungo's.
"We'd like to see Ronald Weasley," Hermione said a couple of weeks after Ron's hospitalization.
"If you'll just sign…." The nurse on duty started and then stopped as she saw the scar on Harry's forehead. "Wait a minute please." She disappeared down a hallway. A short time later, the nurse reappeared followed by doctor.
"I understand you wish to see Ronald Weasley?" The doctor asked.
"Yes, is something wrong?"
"I…I don't think it would benefit his eventual recovery for you to see him," The doctor explained.
"What? Why not?"
"Maybe it would be best if I showed them," The nurse said.
The doctor nodded. "Maybe so. Just remember that we're doing all that we can…but I feel it will take time."
"When Mister Weasley was admitted, he was placed in a standard room for observation," The nurse said in a quiet voice as she led Harry and Hermione down a hallway. Sounds ranging from violent argument to gentle crying could be heard from the various rooms as the passed them. "There was a bottle of ink and a quill in the room," The nurse continued.
"Yes…so?" Hermione asked.
They stopped in front of a door at the very end of the hallway.
"This is Mister Weasley's room," The nurse said as she pulled out her wand. "You'll be able to see him, but he won't be able to see you. I think you'll understand…" She tapped the wall next to the door and the wall became transparent.
"Oh…." Hermione gasped as she saw their old friend.
Ron was sitting at on the floor in the corner of his room rocking back and forth muttering. It became readily apparent what the nurse had meant about the quill and ink. It seemed that Ron had emptied the bottle on ink into his hair, turning it completely black. He had also used the quill to carve a lightning bolt on forehead.
"What's he saying?" Harry asked.
The nurse glanced at the Boy-Who-Lived for a couple of seconds before nodding. She made another gesture with her wand and sounds came from the room.
"I'm Harry Potter…I'm Harry Potter…I killed You-Know-Who…I'm Harry…" The words faded when the nurse gestured again.
"He's been saying that ever since he...well since he's been here," the nurse said.
"Well, let us know if anything changes or if we can help," Hermione said as the nurse led them away.
In another show of unity, the three Triwizard champions donated the winnings they had split to St. Mungo's to help in the care of Ron.
One of the most intriguing side effects of the death of Voldemort was his marked followers. The Dark Mark connected the follower to their master via Voldemort's soul magic.
The smell that had joined into his soul immediately before his death was sent over the connections to that mark. Each marked Death Eater might have been able to hide his tattoo under their robes, but the smell that followed them everywhere they went made sure everyone knew who they were.
No additional charges could be brought against them, but they became social outcasts when no one would invite them into their homes. Even their owls refused to return after a while.
Wives divorced their Death Eater husbands and the courts were merciless in giving all the properties to them. Most of those wives followed Narcissa Black's example and started enjoying the more pleasant aspects of life.
Severus Snape was one of those marked men. Because of the smell he carried with him for the rest of his life, he was forced to give up his classroom. He opened a small apothecary shop that specialized in extremely difficult potions.
The orders were filled by mail owl as the Potions Master had been fortunate to stumble upon an owl that had lost its sense of smell. No one ever saw him again, they just knew he existed. He died eighty-nine years of complete solitude later.
June twenty-fourth was proclaimed Harry Potter day and celebrated throughout the magical world.
All charges were dropped against Sirius Black and since he never was formally charged or convicted, his record was completely clean. He was reinstated at full rank and seniority in the Aurors. He received his full back pay, including all the overtime computed as if he was working twenty-four hours a day for the last thirteen years.
He even got a bonus for showing a weakness in the defenses of Azkaban prison. Once the deed to Malfoy Manor was filed at the Ministry of Magic, he had the name officially changed to Marauders Mansion. Remus Lupin took up residence there as well. Kreacher found the last Black after several days of searching and joined the household.
Sirius blocked Dumbledore's efforts to send Harry back to the Dursleys and in enforcing the Potter's will, he took up guardianship. The Dursleys were extremely happy with the freak being gone.
They never made the connection to Harry departing and the horrible streak of luck they encountered over the next couple of years that finally left them bankrupt and Vernon out of a job. It was a classroom demonstration of exactly how magic can be used without it being known. Something the Marauders were very adept at.
Dumbledore continued to patiently wait for Harry to die as he knew it would happen any day. He eventually found the ring Hallow buried in the floor of the old shack and his arm had started to wither, since Severus Snape was no longer in the castle he had no one to help him. The withering curse spread throughout his body and he slumped over his desk dead a short time later. His body was a mere husk of completely dried up, black skin. He wasn't found for two weeks.
Neville and Ginny stayed together and eventually married. They remained close friends with the Potters. Ginny got over her crush on Harry when she found out what true love really was.
Harry and Hermione spent the summer together. Whether at Marauders Mansion, the Grangers' residence or during the trip through Europe, they were always together. On their return to school the next year, they were both made Prefects which gave them many more opportunities to work their way through Harry's favorite book.
When that book was found by Mrs. Granger in Hermione's book bag the summer after their fifth year, a long discussion took place between Mrs. Granger, Harry and Hermione.
Fortunately, she decided to spare Harry's life and not tell Mr. Granger until the following summer. By that time, enough hints had been dropped to allow Richard Granger to accept the situation without actually killing the young man, but another dental exam was administered.
When Dumbledore was unable to secure a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, the Ministry stepped in and provided two Aurors for the job. Hogwarts was never the same once Sirius Black and Nymphadora Tonks spent two years teaching there as co-professors. Tonks also took over as Slytherin's Head of House.
With her ability to morph into anyone, the subtle plans that were developed in the common room of the snake house were quickly defused and Slytherin was guided back into a respectable part of Hogwarts. When Sirius wanted to leave teaching behind and return to field Auror work, Harry decided to use his fame for the Greater Good and made a plea to the public to allow Remus Lupin to return to Hogwarts to take up the reins of DADA instructor once again.
Those ex-students who remembered his brilliant lessons joined in and Remus was once again Professor Lupin. Tonks stayed on as co-instructor. The two of them finally fell for each other and married just a year later. With the curse of the DADA broken, they spent many years teaching together and raising their two children in the halls of Hogwarts.
During their seventh year, Harry and Hermione were made Head Boy and Girl by Headmistress McGonagall. A unique opportunity opened up for them that year.
A French book collector heard of Harry's parselmouth abilities and offered him a substantial amount of money to help translate several Parseltongue books into a readable language. Harry and Hermione worked on the project together.
As the word spread, offers from all over the world poured in for help from collectors and libraries to do similar translations. When they left Hogwarts after their seventh year, they spent the next six years responding to those offers.
They traveled the world and visited all the renowned magical libraries. Of course one of the conditions always put down in any contract they took was for Hermione to have unlimited access to the entire library they were working at. With Harry being the only parselmouth remaining in the world, he commanded huge amounts of galleons for his work and no condition he put forth was rejected.
Two other conditions were also always required, one was that if the work was deemed for dark purposes only, Harry and Hermione would not complete the translation and the last was the two of them were to always be left alone in the library at least for one hour away from everyone else. No one knew that two of their three children were conceived during those times. All in all they made love in forty-seven different libraries around the world.
Harry proposed to Hermione just a couple of months after leaving Hogwarts. Instead of being on a knee as he asked the question, he did it while Hermione was descending a library book ladder at the Magical Library of Paris, the City of Love.
He thought it was the perfect way and place to propose to his Mione.
She agreed and, of course, said yes. The two of them married less than a year later and were surprised and shocked when Sirius handed them the deed to Marauders Mansion.
He told them that it was the only reason he bought it in the first place. Harry insisted that Sirius take some of the land and build his own house, which he did.
Sirius settled down several years afterwards with a lovely muggleborn witch. He told everyone that would listen that he only picked her because he knew how much it would upset his mother. Of course, anyone who saw the two together knew she had Sirius Black wrapped around her little finger, and so did the little girl they had two years later.
When Fleur left Hogwarts following the Triwizard Tournament, she had friends for the first time in her life. She, Michelle and two other girls spent several weeks touring Germany.
When the summer was over, she requested and was allowed to take an eighth year at Beauxbatons. Madam Maxime recognized the change that had occurred in the young lady and knew she needed time to come to terms to what it meant to her life.
It was during that year she noticed a shy seventh year who occasionally glanced at her. When she asked her new friends about him, she found out the boy's name was Pierre and he liked Fleur but was too shy to approach her. She broke the ice between the two of them and developed a friendship which became more.
Two years later, the confident Pierre proposed to Fleur and, as she looked at him, she remembered the much older red-haired man from the Triwizard Tournament. 'Pierre might not have an earring or wear dragon hide boots,' she thought, 'but he has something the other man can never have. He has my heart.' With tears of happiness in her eyes, she answered yes to the man who loved her for who she was and not lusted for what she was.
THE END
~•~•~•~•~••~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
Thank you for reading!
Thank you very much for all the support and donate power stones!!
Do Comment, anything just comments and Donate Power stone!!
If you're enjoying the story, don't forget to leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating! Your feedback means so much. And feel free to comment on where you think the story should go next—I'd love to hear your thoughts on the future direction!
This is it, Final chapter of Harry Potter: The accidental Champion
See you in the next Book ✨