Epilogue:

Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his comfortable chair behind his headmasterly desk and looking every inch the eccentric headmaster he was. To one side sat his dish of lemondrops. An organiser filled with quills, inkpots, empty scrolls of parchment and unanswered mail sat next to the lemondrops, it was his tactful reminder of all the work he wasn't doing if he tried to enjoy his lemondrops for too long. Today he was not thinking about either. He wasn't thinking about the piled books which should be returned to their various shelves and owners respectively. He wasn't even thinking of lists of things he might need to do, for the remembrall he'd bought as a boy had long since turned permanently red, he didn't even need to hold it for it to remind him that he'd forgotten something. Today Albus Dumbledore was bewildered. Sixteen years ago a prophecy had been made which had never become invalid, though today it was registering as fulfilled and a Dark Lord lay dead under Auror Guard as evidence of the prophecy's fulfillment. His issue was the fact that the second party identified in the prophecy had died three and a half years ago and been haunting the school ever since. Ghosts can't kill.

"That's what you think, Headmaster." The Sorting Hat was rocking gently on its shelf and wearing a very satisfied smirk.

"You're saying that ghosts can kill?"

"Oh no, intangible manifestations cannot be responsible for death for they are invisible to those whom the sight of them might be deemed detrimental." The Sorting Hat was clearly enjoying itself.

"Then how does the Prophecy work?"

"Malfoy figured it out at the end of his second year."

"Hat!" Dumbledore was beginning to feel stressed.

"Ghosts cannot kill, and yet apparently a ghost was responsible for the death of a Dark Lord. What does that tell you?"

"That our theories on ghosts are in error and they can kill."

"No, Headmaster. Ghosts cannot kill, it is a fundamental law of magic." The Hat snorted.

"Then it's impossible."

"Or Young Potter never became a Ghost."

"Hat!"

"Headmaster, Hogwarts is united for the first time in a thousand years. Has it ever occured to you that the Power young Potter supposedly wielded was the power to unify what was broken? One Dark Lord cannot defeat a unified Hogwarts."

"That might explain the power, but it does not explain the prophecy. The Wards of Hogwarts were what destroyed the Dark Lord, that is hardly by the hand of Potter."

"Do you remember discovering the screams embedded in the Wards?"

"Yes." Dumbledore grimaced, he remembered those hideous screams all too well and he wasn't too fond of where the Hat was headed with this idea.

"Why did you never check to find out if there was more than just screams incorporated into Hogwarts?"

"Because I didn't want to know." Dumbledore scowled at the Hat. "Is he only in the Wards?"

"No, Headmaster." A new voice, a familiar voice and a nasty feeling.

"Harry?" Dumbledore turned to face the small ghost who'd wreaked havoc in his school and managed to never be seen by the Headmaster in three and a half years. Such a little ghost, he didn't really seem old enough to have been a first year. Guilt boiled uneasily in his chest as he studied the small boy.

"Professor Dumbledore."

"Why didn't you leave? Desert us to our just fate." He had to know for he couldn't figure out why the boy had remained to fight even after death.

"Is it just fate to damn future generations to the rule of a Dark Lord? I consider it just fate to ensure that you dealt with the mess you made and protected the future generations from your actions." Harry gave a small smile. "Besides I cannot leave because I never died."

"Harry?"

"I'm Hogwarts, Headmaster, and you can have no idea how much fun that is."

"I can imagine." Dumbledore fingered his beard, remembering just how much of it he'd lost to floos in recent years. "You never died?"

"I exhausted my magic to neutralise the curse and then was offered aid by Hogwarts...and I discovered that if I remained in Hogwarts I had an advantage that Voldemort could never even begin to challenge...I also gave Hogwarts a voice and guaranteed that anyone who resided a minimum of twenty-four hours within the wards was immune to the Unforgiveables."

"It is because you chose to stay as Hogwarts that Minerva survived?"

"Yes, Headmaster...and I'll thank you not to tell her. We enjoy our war and it makes her a better teacher than she would be otherwise...I will not be party to the unnecessary destruction of a life and she is much improved since she has realised that I am very like my parents for all my being a Slytherin."

"What advantage did being Hogwarts give you over Tom?" Dumbledore shifted the conversational focus to the side, that topic was just too potentially dangerous for misunderstanding.

"Dear me, don't you consider it an advantage to have a thousand years of memories and learning?" The tone was so mild, the expression so innocent that Dumbledore couldn't help it, he snickered. "Admittedly I did enjoy the 400 tonnes of weight advantage I had...and stonework, mortal flesh has nothing on well carved stonework."

"Does Sirius know?"

"Of course he does." Harry snorted. "Why do you think he attended every board meeting and made a sufficient fuss about every half-witted issue that they invariably ended up here in your office?"

"Then you are probably in some way resoponsible for the fact that they made their peace last year?"

"Bloody stubborn wolf. Have you any idea how hard it is to change a were-wolve's mind? I had to drop Scabbers on his head before he even began to consider that something had to be odd. I've still to figure out who he thought was responsible for his supply of Wolfsbane...and what logic he used to explain why Black would supply him with Wolfsbane though never a trace of guilt for having supposedly sold my parents to the Dark Lord...I believe they're currently roasting the rat over a low heat in the Potions Dungeon."

"I don't want to know." Dumbledore shook his head gently. "What now, Harry?"

"Oh, life continues as it has. Green Harry haunts the school, bickers with McGonagal, makes potions with Snape and guards the Forbidden Forest. Hogwarts will occasionally talk, will send Green Harry to deal with school issues she considers to be her jurisdiction...why should things change?"

"Well..." Dumbledore stopped and considered things. Life was good at Hogwarts these days, the house rivalries flourished healthily without the edge of prejudice they'd held before. Why should it change?

"Where is he!" It was McGonagal's voice which came up the stairwell. "Headmaster that..."

"Oops." Harry drifted hastily through the nearest wall just in time to not be seen by McGonagal as she stormed into the Headmaster's Office.

"I don't care if Green Harry is not within the Bloody Baron's jurisdiction, you need to find a way to control that ghost, Albus, he's a menace!"

"What has he done now, Minerva?"

"Nothing...except for making it impossible for me to intercept the Weasley Twins with the stash of firewhiskey which they're intending to celebrate the Dark Lord's downfall with." McGonagal stopped for a breath. "I have seven years worth of drunken Gryffindors, Headmaster!"

"Dear, dear." Dumbledore almost lost his struggle to not giggle, this was why he was not going to say anything. "I'll speak to Severus about sobering potions and headache elixirs."

"That's not..." McGonagal abruptly flung her hands up in despair. "I don't know why I even bother. You can explain the mess to the House Elves."

"I'm sure the elves already know and are prepared for the situation." Dumbledore smiled soothingly, offered McGonagal a lemondrop and watched as her mouth twitched. Why was McGonagal suddenly on the verge of laughter? No reason at all really, but Hogwarts was snickering.

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