Chapter 22

A few days later the country was in mourning. According to the press, the minister of magic had committed suicide in despair of his actions. It came to light that Dumbledore had lied and twisted the truth so much that he believed Harry Potter needed to be killed. Fortunately, Mr. Potter survived the attack, and was recuperating at home.

The witches of the family never discussed the matter. To them, the former Minister of Magic had committed suicide - by plotting against their family.

Narcissa's brief expulsion from the family never made the paper. Lord Black felt he had been cursed. Cursed to bless her with such horrible spouses. He bade her follow her heart, and find love as Ares and Persphone had.

Narcissa sniffed at that. What did love have to do with marriage? Love was for children, respect and consideration was for husbands. She had a toddler to think of though. It wouldn't be right to raise children without a wizard around. She would find a better man this time. For her family.

Family was everything, after all.

Draco and his sister were to share the Ogden fortune with Ogden's three daughters from his first marriage. A tidy sum and the house in which she lived was given to the first Lady Ogden.

Narcissa was to be Draco's regent and hold the vote of the Malfoy seat in the Wizengamot. The position previously held by the Minister of Magic.

Persephone's reaction to Harry's near death was as expected. She hugged him, let him know how much he meant to her.

Then grounded him for a month for lying to her. He said he was going flying with friends, then left to save the world without permission. Honestly! How did other mothers deal with mages? It was in none of the parenting magazines that SHE had read.

Neville Longbottom's parents had been cured. They would be staying at Potter Manor to reconnect with their son Neville, and allow Lady Longbottom the chance to get to know her godson Harry even better. There was plenty of room for family after all. The plan had been to live together for a few months. It turned into years before they moved back to the Longbottom's ancestral home.

Nothing reached the paper about Augusta's response to this. Her tantrum in St Mungo's was epic, and the old woman tried to put a motion in the Wizengamot making her Lady Longbottom, and putting Frank and Alice, as they were mindless drones under her care.

The Wizengamot had listened to Frank and Alice's petition, given verbally by themselves, that asked for a short time to spend with the boys before returning to public service. They did thank the healers for all of their hard work in coming up with a cure.

Augusta Longbottom was thanked for her service, and was formally retired from the body of lawmaking.

There was a short notice in the paper that said that Lord Longbottom would be rejoining the Wizengamot at Yule.

Severus Snape refused any type of remuneration for his many services. He did accept free access to all Potter and Black grounds for potion making supplies whether herbal or animal freely given. He wasn't allowed to hunt the wild Griffons that would occasionally roost there, but he was welcome to shed feathers, fur and of course all of the dung he could cart off.

It was Fred who did name a child after him, not Harry.

Mrs. Weasley was freely forgiven, as were many of the Order, as they had been manipulated by an expert. The twins were never told about Ares being Padfoot, but they somehow found out about Moony. He became a consultant for Marauder's Next Gen, the supreme pranking supply store of Britain and kept Hadrian's name away from any product sold (especially after Harry became Lord Potter and some of his pranks ended up 'entertaining' the Wizengamot). Remus was the secret conduit of enchanting projects and many ideas for a long time between the store and House Potter.

And continued to write Harry Potter books for a long, long time. Entertaining the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of the man.

The Weasleys continued to grow. Charlie and Dora eventually married, but were more interested in animals than politics. So other than family get-togethers, they were not seen much. The Blacks continued to have warm feelings for the Weasleys, but Hadrian ran from the youngest.

She was convinced that she would make a great Lady Potter even after there was one. And only one.

Nothing reached the paper about the Black family other than an announcement of a new security company being sponsored by them. Headed by Mad-eye Moody, the business offered personal protection for a day or longer. The company employed anyone - goblins, centaurs (the stars revealed that they were needed), and even squibs. No job too dangerous.

No fee too large.

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Harry Potter lived a long life. Married his best friend Hermione after she graduated from uni while he worked on his triple mastery in charms, enchanting, and runes. And no matter how many times others asked, he was never interested in another bride. He held several offices, did enchanting for many years, taught it for longer, wound up as Headmaster of Hogwarts in his later years. Fawkes popping in now and then to check in on him.

After Neville and his parents moved back to Rose Hill, Neville's ancestral home, Hadrian looked to expanding the family beyond just having more children.

Harry revived several lines by having distant relatives take on old last names. Fredrick Slytherin and his wife Angelina had five boys,1 girl. George Peverell and his wife Alicia had 3 boys and 3 girls.

All of the children sorted to Gryffindor. The parents thought it was a worthy prank. Severus Prince Slytherin liked to talk to the portrait of his namesake upon occasion. Headmaster Snape had been a memorable and feared man who took the spot when Minerva McGonagall retired.

Harry abdicated his Heir status officially to Sirius Black IV on his 17th birthday. Hermione was never named Lady Black except by the house-elves.

Harry refused all marriage proposals from all witches for the rest of his life as gently as he could. He had a form letter that the house-elves knew well.

Harry had eventually tracked down all of the missing Potter portraits except for his parents. Charlus and Dorea didn't remember them being painted, so Harry had his parents painted using memories from several friends. They weren't as animated or talkative as the others, but it was nice having them in the house.

Hadrian continued with Grandfather's policy of hiring smart, beautiful muggleborn women to help the various stores and businesses he owned. And try to protect the magical gene pool. (And not a few handsome young men). Of course, Harry's idea of beauty was different than most, as everyone had something that made them special.

Before the Muggleborn Coalition, it was estimated that 90% of muggleborns returned to the muggle world after school.

The current estimate was less than 10%, and most of those were people who dropped out of school before Owls.

Harry ignored Dumbledore's portrait, and would frequently leave it in random closets or broom cupboards around school.

Punished both the viewer and viewees when caught.

Daphne had been determined to become Hermione's friend in order for her to one day accept her as the future Lady Black. Hermione would be Lady Potter. She was adamant about them both being Harry Potter's wives! No matter how many times Harry said no, she wouldn't accept it.

Miss Greengrass and Neville had a horrid fight on her sixteenth birthday because she had tried to kiss Harry and Neville caught her doing this. Harry didn't need to say he had nothing to do with it. Neville knew.

That was it as far as Neville was concerned. While technically he couldn't reject the betrothal contract until he was 21, he began courting Sally-Anne right then. When Hannah found out about what Daphne had done, she also showed interest again in the boy. He was quite happy to escort both.

His first bride was Sally-Anne Perks. She was interested in the business side of herbology, and not the growing part. It was a good match. Neville eventually turned over the flourishing herbology business for Sally-Anne to oversee, while he took on the teaching role at Hogwarts when Sprout retired. They had 3 boys and a little girl that brought them much joy. The youngest boy took the Black surname, and one of the properties to help build the family up.

His second wife, Hannah, took on the official Lady Longbottom title eventually, and went into politics. She had seen that Daphne was not letting go of Harry Potter, and kept up her friendship with the boy.

Justin and Susan married, and she dabbled in many careers, but raising their small herd of progeny is what gave her joy. When the last had graduated Hogwarts, she opened up a school in Hogsmeade, saying that she needed the young ones in her life.

Daphne had never gotten over her feelings for Hadrian. She tried to propose secretly to Harry three more times. She eventually moved to Australia, and the family lost track of her over time.

Harry and Draco maintained an odd friendship of sorts, but were never as close as they would have liked to have been. The minister's accusations to the boy that Harry had killed Lucius were deep set, and a pain that didn't heal. Hadrian did find a curse-breaker to heal Draco's wife and she gave him three beautiful daughters. They blood adopted a muggleborn baby that showed magic young and had been abandoned by his frightened parents who thought him a demon. Draco named him Arcturus after his great-grandfather. They too lived a long life, full of ups and downs, but with more joy than sorrow.

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Harry was feeling old, and sad. Tired. Nothing interested him anymore. He had nothing new to do. His wife of 130 years had preceded him in death, and the sun just wouldn't shine for him anymore.

Fawkes came to him in a dream, and sang a sweet, mourning song. And he awoke.

Harry felt young and good and surrounded by white. Love, Happiness. Joy.

"Mum!"

"You wife got here a little while ago, I wondered when we would see you!"

Shared hugs. Then he was ambushed.

"Padfoot!"

"Four children? You could have had a quidditch team." Sirius said. No need to hide anymore.

"Just following your example." Harry said. "Is Rosie here?"

"Shh. You'll wake her." Hermione said, holding their baby daughter who had only lived a few minutes.

"She's beautiful." Harry said as the baby woke up, and looked up at him with her grandmother's eyes and her mother's naturally curly honey-brown hair.

"Grandfather?" Harry asked.

"He's in what we call 'time out' for a little while more. Want to see Moony?

"Of course! Neville and Sally-Anne, and Susan too! Mum, Dad, are you coming?"

"What's the hurry? We have all eternity."

"But there's so much to do."

And there was. There really was.

-Fin-The-End-Fin-

A/N - Thank you for reading. If you liked the story, leave a note. If not, well, there's a lot of great fan fiction out there.

I appreciate my favorite authors and their inspiration.