A/N: This came from a prompt and I have no idea where it was going when it began.

The Tiger that Bit you

Chapter One

Hermione Granger bit her tongue and looked at Harry who was driving as they crossed the Australia desert. They had left England two weeks ago and he had surprised her by knowing how to drive. He had merely smiled that innocent looking smile of his and suggested that she navigate using the map. They had been searching for her parents since the day that they had arrived on the continent and she was scared that they wouldn't find them.

As she had expected, he had been at least helpful on this trip, while the redhead in the passenger seat had proven that he was an idiot again and again. She had not wanted to bring Ron with them, but he had wished to escape from what was going on at home and was also determined to regain the ground he had gained by being himself. Too bad all it had done was remind her why she had always disliked him while at school. This past year had to have been a mistake, fueled by the life or death situation and the fact that Harry was in love with Ginny, it had to be.

When the redhead looked up from where he had changed the radio station for the tenth time in as many minutes, she tensed up and sure enough, he announced: "I'm hungry."

"Ron, we can't just stop along the road and get something to eat, we have to stay on schedule." She pointed out as reasonably as she could in spite of how they had been delayed at least twice by his stomach.

"Why?" He asked. "It's not like you know where your parents are and 'sides, Harry is hungry too."

"Leave Harry out of this," Harry said as he kept his foot pressed to the gas. He had been snippy for the last day with their red-headed friend and she was sure that he was now regretting backing up Ron's request to come along in spite of the pressure from both Ron and his girlfriend.

"C'mon, Harry, you are driving, plus, you were the one whose name is on those paper things that came with the car. You get to decide." Ron whined.

"Harry,..." Hermione stopped speaking when she saw Harry's hands were white with tension where they gripped the steering wheel. She wanted to say for him to keep driving but realized that they might need to stop to deal with the tensions that Ron kept creating.

"Fine, Ron," Harry said as he saw a petrol station up ahead. "There is a place to get something to eat up ahead. I am going to need to get petrol anyhow."

Once they had filled the tank and were now inside, Ron was not happy with the limited choices and strange food options that he was given. "But I want..."

"Ron, you were told when you came along on this trip that the food would be different than it was in England." Harry tersely stated. "Now, choose something to eat, we don't have all day to be wasting.

Ron's face flushed with anger and he finally settled on chicken and mashed potatoes and a fizzy drink. By the time he had finished his meal, part of Hermione's and had gotten himself a large slice of chocolate cake, he was complaining about having to use the bathroom.

Once he had left to use the restroom, Hermione couldn't take it, not one minute longer. "I don't know why you had to insist on his coming along, he has done nothing but complain and is offering up no help."

"He wants to be here to support you." Harry gently stated. "After all, he is your boyfriend, Hermione. That is what boyfriends are supposed to do.

"He isn't my boyfriend." Hermione snapped. Seeing Harry flinch, she thought about how awkwardly Harry had tried to broach the subject before they had left England, she sighed and said "I should have talked to you before about this, but it was so weird and I was afraid you would abandon me if I told you that I don't like Ron. It was some sort of infatuation, I mean, the more I spent time with Ron, at least after the battle, I realized that I don't love him, most of the time, I barely can stand to be around him."

Harry's shock had her frowning and she tensed up expecting to be told that he didn't understand but then he looked up and saw Ron approaching. "When we get more time, we will be talking about this, but I rather fear that we have been talking at cross purposes."

The three friends were soon driving, and Ron once again in spite of not being able to navigate insisted on sitting in the front passenger seat. Hermione was growing frustrated and couldn't help it, in spite of the intention of not using magic, used the stupify charm to put Ron to sleep.

"Peace and quiet at least." She said with a heavy sigh. "Harry, what did you mean in the restaurant?"

"Once and for all, are you dating Ron Weasley?" He asked quietly.

"No, I have to admit that I thought about it. But between Mrs. Weasley all but having us engaged when all we did was kiss after he did something kind, and how he was making plans for our future that have nothing to do with anything that has any interest to me, I just wanted to get my family back so that I could es-escape." She confessed leaving out that the urge to escape after hearing from Ginny how Harry had asked her father for permission to court her.

"I am glad to hear that." He said, his eyes meeting hers in the rearview mirror. "I can't imagine anyone least suited to marry you than Ron. The two of you would be miserable together. You need someone who would care about you and what you like, who understands that you have your feet in both the muggle and magical world. That you don't necessarily wish to marry right out of school."

"The magical world..." Hermione went silent, she wasn't sure what to say, almost positive that for Harry the words she was about to say was going to be off-putting. "I mean, I understand you wishing to marry, to start a family because of your losses, but I guess, I mean, Ginny, her family being as big as it, she kind of expects to live like that."

"I know," Harry said and then with a worried look at Ron told her his own confession. "Mr. Weasley asked me for a few minutes the night, before we left, and outright told me that he was fine with my choice to marry Ginny. I think I shocked him when I told him that I wasn't ready for marriage and that that wasn't an option for me at this point in my life."

Seeing her shock, he pressed forward and hastily added "It's not that I don't appreciate all that the Weasleys have done for me, but I feel like I am leaving one cage for another. I made it very clear that I won't be proposing and he seemed confused, said that Molly had told him that I was making plans to marry Ginny. I didn't leave anything behind when we left the Weasleys. I am, uh, not going back to England. I am going to take a few months to explore the world, all that I didn't get to see and do all the things that I didn't get to do because of the way the headmaster controlled my life. I have plenty of money and well, while I am gone, I am going to finish my education someplace where they don't know the boy who lived nonsense."

Hermione thought about it and then said with a pained voice. "That is why Ron is with us, to push us to return. I am, I am thinking the same thing. I told Professor McGonagall that I was considering not going back to Hogwarts after finding my parents. She was so shocked, so sure that I would be back. I saw her speaking to the Weasleys, Shacklebolt and some of the others. I uh, I heard them mentioning something about the Black inheritance and yourself and then Molly got really loud until they silenced her."

Harry pulled over to the side of the road and got out of the car, struggling to control his anger and need to hex something. When Hermione touched his arm, he pulled her into his embrace and pressing his head into her neck told her what he had kept silent. "When I spoke to the goblins, after everything was straightened out, the Potter inheritance while large is tied to England, but the Black funds, Sirius met with the goblins, I can go anywhere, can do anything I wish and I am talking about anything and never having to work a day in my life even with spending huge amounts of galleons."

"They don't wish you to leave England," Hermione said. "Why didn't they try to stop us?"

Harry went quiet and thought then said: "Ron, he must be their safeguard, somehow."

"Or Teddy." She quietly suggested. "They know that you aren't likely to leave your godson behind."

Harry chuckled and said "I didn't like the way that Amos Diggory was looking at him at the awards ceremony, I talked Andromeda into leaving England already. She went to the States, where Remus fled to when my parents died. I gave her funds, she went the muggle way so that means that they don't know she is gone. It is where I intend to end up with my education."

Hermione looked at Ron sleeping in the front seat and then at the boy standing next to her. "What do we do now?"

"We keep him with us, give the goblins enough time to tie up my Potter estate so that they can't claim it and to get my Black funds out of the country. At least until we find your parents." Harry suggested.

This plan worked for several days and in spite of their urge to hex the redhead, they were finally able to locate the Grangers. Hermione went to speak to them privately and after she returned, Harry distracted Ron by pointing out the window to the nude beach nearby and went to locate Hermione.

"They are angry with me." She quietly explained as she shed tears. "They said that they wished that I would leave and not return, that they were aware that I would choose the magical world over them and that they would prefer to have forgotten I existed over having their heart broken."

"Oh, Hermione." Harry let the curly haired girl sob her heart out and then when she was finished, suggested that she let him go talk to them. When she turned down his offer, he merely raised his eyebrow and saw her fighting back the tears before giving in.

Telling Ron he was going to get petrol and getting a grunt as an answer, he told the redhead that Hermione was going to the park before leaving him alone in the hotel suite.

First making a trip to the muggle bank and being connected to the Australian magical bank, Harry was finally connected to the goblins who filled him in on information that left him in a rage. Counting to ten, then twenty and finally to one hundred, he gave the order to bankrupt them when he sent the signal and went to fulfill his duty to Hermione.

A trip across town, a long conversation, and confession later and Harry had convinced Hermione's parents that a trip to America was a necessary move. He had been gone a while and was worried about Ron exposing them so he hurried back. Returning to the hotel, he entered the room in time to see Hermione's shouting at Ron.

"What is going on?" He asked as he placed a silencing charm on the room.

"Nothing." Ron spat out as he stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

"He kept trying to kiss me when I returned," Hermione said as she wiped her mouth. "He wouldn't take no for an answer. Kept going on and on about how I was playing hard to get and how of course we are going to be married this summer."

"I think it is time to move on." He quietly stated. "We tell Ron that it was the wrong couple and that we are going to head down to Perth. We go to the airport in Brisbane and send him home, without his wand so he can't cause any havoc on the plane. We need to leave the muggle way because I don't trust the aurors here and how happy they were to help us."

When Ron came out of the bathroom, Hermione went to her own room and was packing up her suitcase when she heard loud voices from the other room. Opening the door a crack, she listened as Harry laid into Ron about attempting to kiss someone who wasn't interested.

"I am her fiancee, of course, I get to kiss her." Ron was telling him. "She is just a little shy because you came back. It's going to work out, you will see. We will be getting married in August, you and I will begin auror training and she can stay with my mom, learn how to cook food how I like it and well, you know all those wife things that she needs to know."

"Ron, there are no words," Harry said shaking his head. "We need to get going to the next name on the list, so pack up your things."

"I don't get why we are going to this much trouble for a couple of muggles, Hermione's parents or not." He grumbled as he went to do as Harry suggested. "It's not like they matter, she will have my family and once we are married, it's not like she would see them after all."

"Why wouldn't Hermione see her parents, Ron?" He asked wondering what the thought process was behind this stupidity.

"Well, why would she. I mean, it won't look good for my wife to be talking to muggles, I mean, it's enough of a determent to be marrying a muggleborn, I wouldn't want my kids of my family to be fighting against that." He replied. "Besides, why would she even want to?"

Harry quietly replied. "If my parents were alive, I would still talk to them."

"Well, of course, you would, your parents were magical and besides, it's not like you would wish to stay in touch with the Dursleys, right?" Ron pointed out.

"Different situation, Ron. Hermione's parents aren't abusive pricks and she loves them, of course, she is going to want to stay in touch." He replied.

"Well as she would be my wife and as my mum said, if I ordered her to not talk to you, she couldn't talk to you. It's why she likes my relationship with Hermione." He replied. "She feels she is too independent and controls you too much."

Harry fought the urge to hex Ron right there and then but instead suggested that they get a move on. Going to the door, he saw it was open and the wide-eyed anger in Hermione's eyes as they met his. Knocking at the door and opening it the rest of the way, he saw she had her suitcase ready and suggested that she go check them out of their room.

Once back in the car, Ron didn't realize that he was the only one speaking as he went on and on about the upcoming Quidditch season and how he couldn't wait to get back to England. When he made a comment about how Ginny was sure going to be happy to have Harry back home where he belonged,

When the fourth day had passed and they were exiting the Outback, Harry casually picked up the dropped conversation that he had had with Ron in the hotel room regarding his mother being glad that he was marrying Hermione.

Ron's eyes nervously went to the apparently sleeping girl in the back seat and said: "You know, Mum just has an issue with how much Hermione bosses you around and how much you listen to her."

"Why would this matter to your mother?" He asked well aware of the reason and merely wishing to turn it to the topic that the goblins felt he needed to know more about.

"Because, that is your wife's job, not Hermione's." He replied. "Anyhow, now that we have had no luck finding Hermione's parents, it will be fine. We will return to England, all I have to do is use the portkey that the aurors gave me to take us back to England."

"They gave you a portkey?" Harry asked. "Why you and not me?"

"I am on extra special assignment, it's why I came along on this trip." He said bragging. "I have been already getting paid to watch over us."

"So, this portkey can take us back to England, without the long trip in the jet, huh?" Harry asked, hoping Hermione stayed calm enough to keep up the ruse. He needed to get a hold of that portkey and it would take calm heads to prevail.

"Yes, Shacklebolt gave me the necklace and the password in case things went bad." Ron kept bragging, forgetting about being told to keep this information silent. "Its why I am so sure that Hermione will be marrying me. I will be so important to the Ministry. I told her I didn't need to study that hard to get a job working for the Ministry. All that studying she did, for what? Mum didn't study that hard, all she did was pay attention to the classes that mattered. I can't wait until we have everything back to the way it should be."

"Way it should be?" Harry asked innocently.

"You know, Ginny and yourself, Hermione and me," Ron said. "Mum said that we will be one big happy Weasley family, plus with the money, we will get the rewards, no one will be able to look down on us."

"What rewards?" He inquired. "The Ministry was practically broke, Ron."

"They found a source of funds, at least that was what I heard. Something about funds left sitting around for a while and taxes." He carelessly stated fingering the necklace around his neck. "Anyhow, it's pretty much over, I was told that we had to stay until at least the thirty first, which is tomorrow.

Harry knew that Ron wasn't the brightest color in the box, so he played up the idea of returning and doing so without flying. "Just think, in a couple of days, no more long drives and muggles."

"Yeah, it's why the word to take us back is pureblood, it's not a word that muggles are likely to use," Ron replied. "At least, not likely. Still, it's been hard waiting, I am so sick of muggles and muggle food and muggle travel."

Ron yawned and said, "At least the seats are comfortable enough to sleep in, how much longer is it?"

"Seven or eight hours," Harry replied. When Ron fell asleep, he waited until he heard the snoring and then asked "Hermione?"

"I heard, everything." She replied with anger in her voice. "I still think we need to contact the Australian aurors."

"You are so right because in case you forgot, they have very strict rules about bringing in foreign portkeys." Harry grimly replied. "I am going to stop and make a call when we get gas next."

"Should we remove the portkey?" Hermione asked.

"It's inactive for now, so let him keep wearing it, but this cinches it, I won't be returning to England, anytime soon." He replied with a glare at their so-called friend. "How dare they?"

"I can't believe McGonagall." Hermione's voice sounded pained as she thought about her formerly favorite professor.

Harry grimaced because Hermione had not called the witch by her honorific, which told the entire story to him. "I was told that the goblins have information that I need to see, that Albus Dumbledore created a problem that I would have to solve. I would be willing to bet that the former Order members and the Weasleys are still fulfilling some greater good scenario."

Two hours later, Harry had filled the tank, made the call and then had waited for Hermione to return to the car with the water bottles she had purchased inside for the three of them. Once she had returned, he used the elder wand to put Ron into a deeper sleep and then in a devastated tone filled her in.

"Confirmation. But they have a way around the mess. I am going to become a United States citizen when we get to their embassy and then the plan the goblins came up with goes into play. Albus Dumbledore set up a betrothal agreement for me with Ginny Weasley."

"After you had what, two dates with the girl?" Hermione asked skeptically.

"No, before we ever even met. Try when I was a baby and oh, there was one for Ron and yourself created between third and fourth year." He told her. When he saw her ready to curse the idiot, he stopped her and said "The government has plans to claim my Potter inheritance on my eighteen birthday because get this, I haven't done so myself like I should have when I was fourteen and declared an adult to be eligible to compete in the TriWizard competition."

"What?!" Her shriek had him covering his ears. "How dare they?"

"It's fine, we just have to get me declared a US citizen and then I can use that portkey to return to claim the estate. The minute I do, I can take it out of the country and this is the best part, I bankrupt a major part of the economy. I own portions of certain businesses and when I demand payment for stock, they have to pay it." He grimly replied. "Oh, and Neville Longbottom fled England last week, along with several other of our classmates who also found out that they had betrothal agreements. As far as most know, they are traveling to Europe, but in truth, they are in the states too."

"Wh-why?" She asked blinking in surprise.

"That part I don't know, but I do now know something that sickens me." He said shaking his head. "Turns out, that the war, the entire bug begotten war started not because of pureblood bigotry, but because of the headmaster's plans with Grindelwald, turns out that Rita Skeeter was keeping some things back and all hell broke loose in the magical world when she released her book. They threw her in Azkaban for telling the truth."

"What?"

Harry chuckled and said "I will tell you later, but for now, we have to get to the American embassy and quick. Oh, and we have to get the portkey away from Ron immediately. And ditch him, so that they can distract him from getting to England if he has another way."

"Got it." She said as she walked around and with ruthless efficiency removed the portkey and placed it on a small sack that had contained their water bottles. The redhead didn't even wake up when she used a stick of wood to transfigure into a copy of his wand.

When they were on the outskirts of the city lights, Ron woke up and yawning, wiped the sleepy bugs out of his eyes as he noticed it was just about dawn. "Do we have anything to drink?"

Hermione silently handed him the water bottle, kept cold and watched as he drank some and spat it out. "This is water."

"Oh course it is." She replied. "I don't like the fizzy drinks, they rot your teeth."

"I can't wait to get home, I am so sick of this food," Ron muttered as his stomach rumbled. Rummaging through the bag with the snacks, annoyed to find that all that was left was the granola stuff that Hermione and Harry liked so much, he whined about wanting some chocolate for breakfast.

"Nothing is open yet, Ron," Harry stated as he drove the ute around the edge of the desert and towards the city limits.

"Harry, you need to slow down, we are reaching city limits." Hermione cautioned knowing that in his anger Harry was pressing down on the gas.

With a look at the gauge, Ron's eyes went wide, as it showed a speed of 90 whatever that meant. To his eyes, it seemed as if they were driving as fast as Harry did on his Firebolt broom.

"Why aren't we there yet?" He asked, annoyed to realize that they had at least a few hours to go. "It's ridiculous, you should have had them get you portkeys or better yet, left your parents here, Hermione."

"Get out, Ron." Harry snapped.

"Get out? What do you mean?" Ron asked frowning.

"I mean, open the door and get out of the car. Pretty self-explanatory, Ronald." Harry retorted.

"Uh, Harry, the car is going 90 miles per hour according to the thingy," Ron said. "We are in the middle of nowhere driving down the road. Shouldn't we stop first? And why are we stopping and why am I getting out of the car."

"Did I stutter?" Harry asked in an icy cold tone.

"No, but you haven't explained why I am getting out of the car," Ron said sounding confused.

Harry slammed on the brakes, leaving tire tread on the asphalt and watching with satisfaction as Ron's head connected to the windshield while Hermione and he were merely jerked forward. "See that is why you were told to wear a seatbelt, Ronald."

"Fuck it, Harry. What did you do that for?" He snapped as he held his head and looked for a bump and not finding anything.

"Get out," Harry said. "Get out of the car, Ronald."

Harry watched as Ron did as ordered, clearly about ready to go off on Harry and he was reaching for his wand when Hermione reached up to pull the door shut and Harry floored the gas pedal.

They drove off, leaving Ron cursing his best friend, not getting what the purpose of the prank was and with his growing hunger blinding him to the stupidity of his thought process, remained where he was for about fifteen minutes.

In those fifteen minutes, Hermione and Harry had traveled twenty-five miles and were now hitting the residential areas of Sydney. Locating the street on the map and following the directions it gave, they arrived at the US Embassy just as Ron woke up to the fact that his friends had left him in the middle of the road.

Reaching for his wand, he went to perform magic only to have nothing happen. "What on earth.."

A few more curses later, he was beginning to get that there was something wrong with his magic, still, he didn't worry, after all, Harry was his mate, he wouldn't desert him, he just wouldn't.

An hour later, he was beyond angry and making threats against his friends, while they were becoming citizens of the United States of America and newly magical citizens of the North American Wizarding Association.

By the time that Hermione had been handed the Daily Prophet with the report that Rita Skeeter had escaped Azkaban, by the time that Harry had signed the paperwork calling in all debts to his family estate and all life debts to himself, Ron had realized that the portkey was missing.

When he was almost run down by a lorry, he was shaking with his anger, so he never stopped to consider that he might have convinced the muggle driver to give him a lift, in his superiority to them, he never realized that as he walked the long walk towards the lights up ahead. He had been gone into a muggle store and have not paid any attention to the muggle funds that Hermione had given to the clerk any of the times he had seen it, never realized he had given the clerk a fifty dollar bill for a candy bar. He never realized that money had different denominations and when the bus driver refused to allow him to ride without paying for a ticket, he pulled out yet another one of the fifties.

This took him to the center of Sydney and in spite of his insistence that the driver drive him to a magical center, he was kicked off the bus and told to get help for his illness. He wandered around the center of Sydney, desperate to reach the magical world, but in his ignorance merely kept going around in circles.

He also missed the man wandering around after him, watching amused as the redhead offended Aussie after Aussie and only intervened when there was a serious danger to his health.

By nightfall, they watched as the boy settled down on the nearest beach and curled up, whimpering because he had spent all his money on food and had nothing to pay for a room with.

Harry entered the London branch of Gringotts and signed the paperwork offered to gain control of his Potter funds and then took the floo network to the Ministry while under his invisibility cloak and in the presence of those who were hired to protect him using American stealth technology.

Finding Shacklebolt in the office of Minister along with a few others he considered traitors, he yanked off his invisibility cloak and glared at them. "Ron won't be showing up, he is a little lost."

"Harry." Molly Weasley beamed at him and went to hug him only to receive a magical shock. "Where are Hermione and Ron?"

"Hermione is straightening out her school records with the US Ministry, while Ron, well as I said, he is a little lost," Harry replied with a shrug. "Now, that I have everyone here, I felt that I should inform you that as of ten minutes ago, I have taken control of both of my inheritances and have called in all debts."

"Harry, the headmaster didn't want that for..."

"The headmaster, are you talking Snape or Dumbledore?" He politely inquired. "One was a dark wizard, the other well, a pawn. Neither of whom is alive and neither of whom is available to be offering me advice and I hate to admit it, but at this point, I would rather take advice from Snape than his master."

"Well, of course, you wouldn't take advice from He Who Must Not Be Named." Minerva McGonagall replied in a cross tone.

"I was speaking of Dumbledore," Harry replied while shaking his head at those gathered. "And by the way, Mr. Weasley, by calling in all debts, I mean literally ALL debts."

"I don't understand, what are you saying? Are you talking about the loan to the twins? Surely once we are family..." Arthur stated, "All will be forgiven."

Looking around the room at the two Hogwarts professors plus Madame Pomfrey, the Weasley parents and Percy, at Shacklebolt, at Ding, at Hestia Jones, he shook his head and added "In spite of Dumbledore's wishes that I remain ignorant of things in this world, I wasn't completely kept in the dark. As I was saying, I called in all debts, magical, which by the way means that as the defeater of the dark lord and master of the cloak, stone, and wand, heir of two different ancient and noble houses. Financial which means that all companies I own stock in, have thirty days to purchase back the stock or close and be liquidated. That includes the Daily Prophet, I was quite sickened to realize that I owned the paper slandering me and my true friends. The only exception was the twins business as I am not sure of their part in this mess."

"Harry, that was not what the headmaster wished for you to do." Minerva gently chided the boy she was sure was merely confused. "He has such great plans for you."

"Let me guess, head auror, married to a pureblood witch, maybe Hogwarts headmaster someday?" Harry mocked and then shaking his head stated "Not happening, none of it. I know about the betrothal contract, Molly."

"It's for your own good, Harry. You need us to guide you, after all, we are your family." Molly replied while the others were beginning to see that the anger was deeply embedded in Potter's soul and Shacklebolt and Hestia had their wands in their hands.

"My family?" He laughed in a sharp tone and said "Not likely. As for needing to be guided, I am done with being guided, I have taken up the reins of my own life and frankly, it isn't going to be the one that the master manipulator had planned for me."

"Harry, you don't have a choice." Arthur firmly stated. "This was decided long before..."

"I said I called in all my debts, Mr. Weasley." Harry interrupted his conversation. "See, while being manipulated for the so-called Greater Good, and with my life being planned out behind my back by those I called friends and family, there was one little wrinkle in the plan, and I did the ritual to call in those debts before I returned."

"I don't understand," McGonagall replied, not getting why Harry was so calm in spite of being surrounded by wizards and witches who could ensure that the headmaster's plans were enacted.

"Young man, you need to sit down and let us decide what is for the best. Now, we will be taking you home and you will be making an offer to my daughter, it was what was fated." Molly snapped.

"That is because you like the headmaster missed one small fact, one little wrinkle in your plans for my betrothal agreement." He said with a huge grin on his face. "Care to guess what it was? What the great wizard missed? What sort of problems would cause my betrothal contract to be voided?"

"If you married someone else, but because the contract was in place when you were a child, it would make your marriage null and void if we protested and we will protest it," Shacklebolt replied.

"Nope, not the reason," Harry replied merrily.

"If you were dead, which clearly you aren't."

"In truth, I did die, which would have magically voided the contract, you can ask Narcissa Malfoy if you like, but nope, not the reason," Harry said becoming even more cheerful to the point that Molly truly wished to hex him.

"If Sirius was your true guardian, but I checked, the Wizengamot voided his guardianship after your third year and we rewrote the contact," McGonagall replied.

"Not even close, Sirius had nothing to do with it, but I think that he would have appreciated the irony of someone ACTUALLY checking to make sure that something was done legally unlike his getting tossed in prison without a trial," Harry said.

When they sat there stumped, he shook his head and sorrowfully said "And this is considered the magical world's best and brightest. Too bad that I wasted all that energy saving so many of your lives, just so that you could stab me in the back first chance you get."

Percy felt something tickle the back of his spine, something that nagged at him but his anger took over and he snapped "You are nothing more than a snot-nosed kid who..."

"Called in the life debt owed to me by one Geneva Molly Weasley, the life debt owed to me by the head of the Weasley family and oh, the life debts owed to me by the entire British magical world," Harry said with a smug grin on his face as he saw the way that it hit everyone at the same time.

"Yeah, no one bothered to mention that by saving Ginny, she owed me a life debt, or that the entire Weasley family did for my saving your life, Arthur. Oh, and in case you get the idea to renege, I claimed your entire family as vassals, oh and McGonagall's for saving her from Umbridge, and Jones' for saving her from Snape."

"You seem to forget that as Minister of Magic and that I am operating under the articles of Martial law due to the war that I can order you to marry Ms. Weasley or someone else."

"Nope, actually you can't. I renounced my British citizenship at the same time as Hermione did. As of nine AM yesterday morning, I became a citizen of the United States of America and the North American Wizarding Association."

"You can't do that." Molly snarled.

"These gentlemen with me, assure me that I can." With that, the three wizards released their stealth bracelets and made sure that the group saw their hands were on their wands. "Oh, and if I had known then what I know now, I would have declared a detente with Voldemort and gotten all the muggleborns out of the country and left the rest of you to his tender mercies."

With that, Harry took a long look at each of the wizard and witches in the room and then said in a sorrowful voice "You let a power-crazed man lead you into war and when someone tried to tell the truth, you threw them into Azkaban. Rita was right, the headmaster merely refined the plan he had with Grindelwald."

"He Who Must Not Be Named..."

"Was a young boy who could have been turned around and nurtured, but in the same blindness that Ron had against anyone in Slytherin, Albus Dumbledore let his ignorance create a monster who turned on him and those who followed him. I don't blame the tiger that bit you because he was hungry, I blame the zookeeper who didn't nourish the tiger until it had no choice but to bite you."

With that comment tossed at them like a hand grenade, Harry walked out of the office, ignoring the calls for him to come back, the comments of how he was escaping from Molly Weasley and how his former Transfiguration teacher was lamenting how disappointed the headmaster would be in him. Arriving at the floo, he was preparing to exit when he saw the Unspeakable exiting from his own fireplace. The man in the gray cloak bowed to him and then with a soft chuckle went to deal with those who were about to be very disappointed in what he had to say.

Two years later, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger graduated from Salem Academy with honors and were plotting out their plans for the summer. They intended to take up their trek across the world. They had already gone to spend the previous summer in Africa and had finished their Australian holiday along with Hermione's parents but this year, they were plotting on spending it traveling through Europe. maybe even visiting London while there.

"Harry." Turning to greet Neville Longbottom who had also attended Salem after his grandmother had smuggled him and many others out of the country, horrified by the very thought of them being forced into arranged marriages that Albus Dumbledore had set up. "Hannah and I are returning home, later this summer. I was hoping you would reconsider your plans."

"I am still banned, Neville." He reminded his former roommate and friend. "Shacklebolt and those who bowed to the cult of Dumbledore may be gone, but most have not forgiven me for not dealing with the mess myself and sending in help."

"I am sure that that can be overturned, you do know that the United Nations is still running the government, especially after Lucius Malfoy tried to run for Minister of Magic." He said shaking his head in disbelief. "Anyhow, they have brought in fresh staff for Hogwarts and only Professor Flitwick survived the purge. He was even removed as head of Ravenclaw house, because of the bullying situation even if he is still teaching."

"Hello, Neville," Hermione said as she walked up and hugged Harry, her boyfriend of two years. They had quickly come to realize that there had been outside forces keeping the two of them apart when Ron Weasley had eventually been picked up by the Australian Aurors, he had been questioned under veritiaserum and all that had come out had done a number of both of them.

He had been a true friend, but the third year, when Harry had been sent the firebolt, it had twisted something inside of him, to the point that he had been ripe for the picking by the man who now was known as the master manipulator. They had found his diaries, his so-called manifesto and Harry had been thrilled to learn that like his girlfriend, his mother had disrupted the headmaster's plans by falling in love with his father. Lily Potter and her brains and ambition had tossed a wrench into his plans for the Potter and Black heirs, it was why he had been so determined to pair Harry up with a pureblooded witch, why he had been so determined to control his destiny.

As the trio was crossing the quad, they saw Teddy Lupin rushing their way, the young toddler had inherited his mother's skills and thankfully had not gotten his father's illness. He was a handful but between Andromeda and Harry, he was being raised to be a healthy and happy little boy. When he rushed forward and crashed into Harry's knees and begged to be tossed into the air, the young godfather fulfilled his duties and was soon wrestling with the three-year-old.

The group was gathering, having celebrated graduation, the former Hogwarts students were saying goodbye as some were returning home to take up the mantle of fixing their broken world, others had come to love their new land and were making plans to become citizens and yet others were making plans to emigrate to foreign lands.

"So, you two, what are you thinking of doing now that you have graduated?" Oliver Wood asked as he approached with Daphne Greengrass his fiancee.

"We aren't sure, but we will eventually return to England, Hermione's parents are living there after all," Harry stated then looking at Neville who was going to be apprenticing as a healer, a career that a mere four years ago he would not have had the option thanks to the bad decisions of the headmaster to hire Severus Snape as a potions professor, and then at the rest of the Hogwarts crew and couldn't help thinking of all the ways that their lives had improved by making their own decisions.

"You should know, that Ginny Weasley has been making comments about how you own here and how she is your vassal and that that means she is to be your slave and such nonsense," Daphne warned. "My sister ran into her while buying her wedding dress for her marriage to Draco."

"I heard he cut tied with his parents," Harry stated.

"Yes, mainly because they wished for him to marry Petulia, the younger Parkinson girl," Daphne stated. "His father can't disown him, mainly because he filed paperwork during the last war, so Draco had a measure of independence. His mother was fine, but old Lucius has become a paper tiger and hates it. Still, at least they took his wand this time."

"Oliver have you heard about the other Weasleys?" Hermione asked biting her lips, hating that they had hurt some innocents while doing what needed to be done.

"George is running his store, with help from Angela and Alicia, he still hasn't recovered from losing Fred and then what his parents tried to do. I mean, he lost his other half and they tried to push him into marriage. Not that there was anything wrong with Susan Bones, but seriously, I can't imagine a worse pair than Hermione with Ron." Oliver replied.

"Charlie has been avoiding his family, living in Romania and you know that Bill and his wife have moved to France. or at least they had, I heard that they were returning to England at the request of the goblins... Percy Weasley obeyed the edict and is married to a right old fishwife of a witch, Marietta Edgecombe who from what I heard is barely keeping her job at the Ministry even as Percy lost his and is employed by the Daily Prophet. Ron, well I am sure you heard what happened there."

Harry and Neville grimaced as they agreed that they had heard of Ron being fired by the Chudley Cannons after begging, borrowing and stealing everything he could to get the job as assistant coach. His hot temper had cost him his dream job and he now worked as a groundskeeper for Cannons. not quite the glamour job he had been sure he would get someday.

Old Arthur had been completely and totally flabbergasted by the United Nations witches and wizards and he had tried to defend himself and his position, right up until his lack of true knowledge about muggles was proven. He had quickly retired and was living at home, hiding out in his shed to escape his wife's shrill complaints about everything that she felt had gone wrong after the war.

Hagrid had been the only person that Harry had felt sorry for, the half-giant had been in denial about all that had come out about the headmaster and had been replaced at Hogwarts. Even when he had been exonerated for the crimes he had been expelled for he had refused to believe that it could have been done earlier by the headmaster and that he had suffered as a result. Now, Charlie Weasley had taken pity on him and had gotten him a job at the dragon sanctuary.

When they had departed from the others, Harry, Hermione, Andromeda, and Teddy were returning to their Boston brownstone, all were tired as they settled in for dinner and a long talk. By the end of it, Andromeda had convinced them to return home, by pointing out that by avoiding England the master manipulator was winning.

So the spent the summer traveling Europe, learning about other cultures and finally returning home to England with the intention of getting married there, but alas, that is another chapter, so for now, they spent the last remaining days of summer, opening up the Potter estates, clearing out the Black manor home and reminding England that the boy who lived and the smartest witch of her age was not to be trifled with.

The end? Well possibly, unless I find another chapter on a thumb drive. I know they are out there, just need to find the time to post them.