2011

The Office of Professor Severus Snape, MDADA, Mpotions

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Scotland

"Good morning, Professor Snape."

"Potter."

"Cheer up, Severus, at least it's after dawn this time," Harry said, walking cheerfully over to Snape's desk, conjuring up a tea set as he did so.

"And what, pray tell, do I owe the dubious pleasure of your company at half past seven in the morning nearly a month before the start of term?"

"Well, I've got meetings for most of the morning, a Wizengamot session this afternoon, and we're taking Jimmy and Danny to their first Quidditch match tonight," Harry said. "And your owl indicated you'd rather get this over with sooner than later."

"Indeed," Snape said. "I was wondering if you might have time to come speak to my NEWT students about Tom Riddle and his methods again this year. As much as it displeases me, your presence seems to have a positive effect on the students."

"When were you thinking?" Harry asked. "I know the last couple of years we've done it in the Spring Term."

"I see nothing wrong with the way things went the last couple of years," Snape said. "April, the Monday after the Easter Holidays."

"OK," Harry said. "Professor Flitwick wants me in around that time to help demonstrate the Patronus Charm as well, so that works fine."

Snape sneered. "How long will it be until I have to put up with the first of your blasted children, anyway?"

"Next year," Harry replied with a smirk. "Jimmy's already trying to think up ways to introduce himself to you."

"Potter, you may inform that child that you cursed with your infernal father's name that if I am pranked any time after his arrival in this castle, Headmistress be damned, I will have Filch hanging him by his thumbs in the dungeons until Christmas."

Harry simply laughed. "I'll see you in April, Severus," he said, walking out of the office.

Just a little over a week into his thirty-first year, The Noble Lord Sir Harry Potter, KCSK, Order of Merlin, First Class, GCB, GCVO, PC, Earl of Atcham was enjoying his life. Shortly after graduating from Hogwarts in 1998, he'd accepted an offer from the English National Team to play Seeker in the 1998 World Cup, held in Germany. The team, happy to have their country's Saviour on the team, had improved greatly on their 1994 result, coming in tops in group play (beating Poland, Uruguay, and Italy) before losing to Bulgaria, still led by Seeker Viktor Krum, in the quarterfinals.

Harry had thoroughly enjoyed his matchup against Krum, but in a reversal of fortune from the last time he'd seen the Bulgarian team in action, it was Harry's English team whose Chasers couldn't find the hoops, and thus despite Harry catching the Snitch, Bulgaria won 300-200 in a six-hour match.

He'd married Hermione in 2000, shortly after leading England to a bronze-medal win in the 2000 European Championships (defeating France 430-90). She'd chosen a career in magical law, as an advocate for the Muggleborns and others mistreated by the blatant bigotry on the statute book that had been enacted by the Wizengamot. Harry, with his votes in the Wizengamot and his seat on the Privy Council, had supported her in her efforts to improve the situations of house-elves and werewolves, which he had a sneaking suspicion had factored into her agreement to marry him.

They'd had five children: three sons (James Sirius, age 10; Daniel Edward, age 8; and Harrison Charlus, age 2) and two daughters (Lily Emma, age 6; and Rose Mary, age 4). Harry was now more or less a stay-at-home Dad, as Hermione had expressed her desire to continue her career and had explained to him that his jobs (Quidditch player and nobleman) weren't exactly time consuming, leaving him plenty of time to raise their kids. Harry had accepted this argument, and loved all five of his kids. Personally, he thought he'd done a damn good job raising them, for a guy who'd spent ten years of his childhood in a cupboard. Basically, he'd been the complete opposite of Aunt Petunia, and everything seemed to have worked out great.

"Weasley!"

"Yes sir?"

"You're on guard duty for their Lordships downstairs today. Meeting starts at noon, be there at half past eleven. Take Smith and MacMillian with you."

"Yes sir."

Sir Ronald Weasley, KLSK, Order of Merlin, Second Class, had entered Auror training after graduation from Hogwarts after being refused a contract by the Chudley Cannons after a trial period. With a chip on his shoulder from being referred to as "Harry Potter's sidekick", Ron had thrown himself into his studies at the Auror Academy and graduated top of the class. Within five years, he was an Auror, First Class, and he'd recently sat an exam to screen for promotion to Auror Captain.

He too was married, to Lavender Brown. The affection she had for him was nearly sickening, and wasn't even halfway returned by him, but it was enough to keep her happy. They had three kids, Richard Arthur, age 8; Mallory Mauve, age 5; and David Bilius, age 2.

"Neville!"

"Harry, good to see you again, mate."

"Have you seen that proposal from the ICW representatives?"

"Yes. Are they completely mental?"

"They must be. Nobody sane would ask for me to give a speech about my opinion on the conflict between the French and Bulgarian Veela tribes."

"They might as well ask Seamus for his opinions on pornography. No male wizard is going to give an opinion other than 'are they selling tickets?'"

"Too right. If our noble colleagues decide to send me, I'm going to end up in my own prison for hexing and cursing them all until their bits fall off."

"Very funny, Harry. Hey, is that Ron down there?"

Lord Sir Neville Longbottom, KLSK, Order of Merlin, Second Class, Earl of Braxton Moor had succeeded his grandmother in the senior title of the Longbottom line the day of his seventeenth birthday. Harry's earldom had been conferred on him the next day, Harry's 17th birthday. They had celebrated their ascension to their official majorities by turning the Clerk of the Wizengamot into a canary.

Along with Harry, when the younger man could be pulled away from the Quidditch Pitch, they had formed a stalwart bloc in favour of the numerous reforms advocated by the Minister and activists like Hermione. While they took their fair share of rhetorical bruises and bloody noses (excepting the one time in 2003 when Neville had actually decked Lord Grey in defence of Remus Lupin during a debate on Werewolf rights), they still had succeeded more often than not.

In 2001, he had married Hannah Abbott. She had so far borne him four children, Franklin Harry, age 9; Alice Hannah, age 7; Nigel Algernon, age 5; and Thomas Joseph, age 3. In 2009, she'd purchased The Leaky Cauldron from the aging Tom, running it just as smoothly as he ever had.

There was talk that Neville would soon put politics on the backburner and take up the position of Herbology Professor at Hogwarts. He had, after all, obtained a Mastery in the subject in the two years after graduation at the urging of Professor Sprout, and his private greenhouses were a highly profitable side-business for him, supplying apothecaries and potioneers with some very rare potions ingredients for the right price. Neville hadn't decided either way yet, but he had hinted to Harry and Professor Sprout that when she decided to call it a career, he would probably jump at the chance to teach anyone willing to learn about Herbology.

"So you think the Government's plans to cut more spending in Whitehall is a positive?" the newsreader asked.

"Absolutely, John," Sir Justin Finch-Fletchey CSK MP PC, Order of Merlin, Second Class replied. "The TUC is only raising a fuss because so many of the unproductive bureaucrats getting the sack under the Government's reforms are members of the union, and of the Labour Party. The point is that we are saving the people of Britain's money that would have been wasted on high-priced consultants and special advisors by Labour, and instead that money is going to go to much better causes, like reducing our massive deficits and paying for better front-line services for everyone in the United Kingdom."

Justin's life after the defeat of Voldemort had been one of the more interesting ones. A couple weeks after the battle, he'd received an owl notifying him that his father had lost his seat to Labour in the general election that saw Tony Blair become Prime Minister. The letter had reassured Justin that he would be able to return to Hogwarts for his seventh year, paying for his tuition with money from the Finch-Fletchey's portfolio of investments.

Upon graduation, Justin had used the year to, with more than a little bit of assistance from Hermione Granger, who decided he'd had a brilliant idea, revise thoroughly for and sit both GCSEs and A-levels in maths, English, chemistry, physics and History. He then applied for, and was accepted into, a place at Trinity College, Oxford where he read PPE.

After graduation in 2002, he was approached by Harry Potter, who explained he was looking for someone who could help liase between the Muggle and Magical governments. He explained that he had convinced both the Minister and the Wizengamot of the usefulness of such a person, and that with Justin's pedigree and his own skills, he was a natural first choice. The challenge, Justin had explained, would be getting him into Parliament and into Government.

The first happened in 2005, with Justin standing for election in his father's old constituency and taking it easily from the Labour MP. With what he expected was a bit of clever politicking from Harry, he found himself appointed to a junior shadow cabinet post.

Then, after the 2010 general election, he found himself as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Cabinet Secretary, able to bend the ear of the Prime Minister whenever the owls sent him a message asking him to.

He had not expected his relationship with Daphne Greengrass – born out of what, he'd had no idea, but he'd not exactly complained when she'd seized him that morning in Avebury and dragged him off to her bedroom – to last much beyond Hogwarts, but evidently he had some quality that she quite enjoyed and consequently she had taken "great pains" to Apparate to his house in Oxfordshire once a week during his gap year to give him a "break" from his revision.

After making his agreement with Harry, Justin had found himself with a job offer from the Conservative Party as a researcher (the timing, to him, was not so coincidental). At Daphne's suggestion, he'd arranged to visit her father and ask for her hand in marriage. The irate pureblood had terrified the poor Hufflepuff initially, before being dragged into a side room by his daughter. When he came out, he immediately agreed, and the two were married the next summer. By the time 2005 came around, they'd already had a son and a daughter (Jacob Daniel, born 2003 and Sarah Marie, born 2004), guaranteeing Justin's selection to stand for Parliament.

Now, he was an informal liason between two governments, probably the most important Muggle-born wizard in several generations, and showing up all those who he had expected he would have attended Eton with. He had a wife who remained smoking hot even after going through three pregnancies (David Alistair had been born in 2008), and three wonderful kids.

Life was certainly good for Justin Finch-Fletchey.

Sir Seamus Finnigan CSK, Order of Merlin, Second Class, to the surprise of absolutely no one, had used his award money from the Order of Merlin and Death Eater bounties to buy Playwizard. He was unmarried, but took his role as Wizarding Britain's Hugh Hefner seriously, constantly surrounding himself with attractive young witches.

Sir Dean Thomas CSK, Order of Merlin, Second Class, was one of his photographers. He also did work for the Daily Prophet, which was now run by Harry (the court case had indeed gone favourably for him, and Barnabas Cuffe had been forced to resign in disgrace by Harry once he took possession of the paper) when Seamus wasn't plopping him in front of well-endowed witches in skimpy outfits and telling him not to touch. He, unlike Seamus, was married, to Romilda Vane who had, despite Seamus' admonitions, taken a liking to the "tall, dark and handsome" photographer. They had married in 2008, and had not yet had any kids.

Sir Zacharias Smith MSK, Order of Merlin, Second Class and Sir Ernie MacMillian CSK, Order of Merlin, Second Class were both Aurors, along with Ron Weasley. More often than not, they accompanied him on his assignments, particularly when they consisted of guarding the Wizengamot. Before and after meetings became small informal reunions of a particular group of Hogwarts alumni, especially considering that Sir Terry Boot MSK, Order of Merlin, Second Class and Sir Anthony Goldstein CSK, Order of Merlin, Second Class both worked in the Ministry of Magic (Terry in the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Tony in the Department of Administration and Finance) and had risen to positions that meant sometimes they appeared before the Wizengamot to discuss reports and proposals, and that the three Slytherin Knights had all taken up positions within the Wizengamot (Urquhart because his father had been killed by Aurors during the final battle, Harper and Vaisey because Harry had seen to it that they were given titles upon their majority to add to his support bloc in the body).

Sir Kevin Entwhistle MSK, Order of Merlin, Second Class had gone to work for Gringotts Bank following graduation from Hogwarts. He became a Warder, maintaining the security protections on the Gringotts vaults and devising and implementing new protection schemes.

Sir Fred and Sir George Weasley, both CSK, Order of Merlin, Second Class, returned to running their shop after the end of the conflict with Voldemort. Their business was quite successful and paid heavy dividends to both the twins and to Harry, who preferred to take his reward in products from the shop, which he used to play pranks on and give as presents to his kids. Not long after taking the reins of Hogwarts as Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall had been dismayed to find the twins' plans to expand their business to Hogsmeade had come to fruition. Many a swamp sprouted in random corridors throughout Hogwarts for many years to come.

Draco Black had spent the battle of Hogwarts pacing in his room at Potter Manor, and had given serious thought several times to stealing a sword out of the Manor's armoury and making his way to Hogwarts to join in, despite Potter's promise to his mother. He couldn't deny, though, his relief at the news the next day that Potter had come out victorious.

He'd re-dedicated himself to his studies for the fifteen months and ended up with such an exceptional Potions NEWT score that Professor Slughorn offered to mentor him for a Mastery in the subject, with eyes to replacing him as Potions Master. They achieved this in 2005.

Draco married Astoria Greengrass in 2003, and they'd so far had four children: Scorpius Hyperion Black, born 2004; Antares Sirius, born 2006; Cassiopeia Callidora, born 2008; and Orion Regulus, born 2010. Harry had congratulated Draco heartily on each birth, and had written Scorpius into his will as the next Lord Black right in front of him.

After the graduation of Harry from Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore decided it was time to scale back his activities (he was over a hundred years old, after all, and nearer to 120 than he was to 110) and retired as Headmaster, passing power to Minerva McGonagall and returning to his old home in Godric's Hollow. He continued to train Harry in Transfiguration, allowing the young lord some leeway, given his other commitments. Regardless, Harry did manage to achieve a Mastery in the subject under Albus' tutelage shortly after his marriage to Hermione.

Albus died in 2005, of a heart attack. His funeral was one of the most memorable occasions in Britain, attended by nearly a thousand witches and wizards. A memorial to him was erected on the grounds of Hogwarts in memory of his nearly 80 years of service to the school.

Amos Diggory's first term as Minister for Magic had gone quite swimmingly considering the situation he found himself dropped into at the start. With Voldemort gone within nine months of him taking office, he'd found himself with loads of political capital to bring in several reforms to the Wizarding World, most of which were well-received (despite the objections of the Albriton faction in the Wizengamot). He had won a second term in 2001, and a nearly unprecedented third term in 2006. After fifteen years in office, though, he was ready to give up power.

The rumours swirled over who would be chosen as his successor, but Amos knew that if Harry got his way, and he almost certainly would, the next Minister would be someone close to him. He idly wondered if it wouldn't be such a bad idea if that Muggleborn, Finch-Fletchey, succeeded him. The young man was quite well versed in the politics of both the wizarding and muggle worlds, and he was already known to the Prime Minister as a wizard.

If not Finch-Fletchey, it could be one of the Weasleys. They were a respectable, open-minded family, for Purebloods, and they more than deserved the respect the family would get should one of them be elected Minister.

After the death of Voldemort, and Snape's continued employment as DADA Professor, it was determined that the curse he had placed on the position had been broken by his death. In the next fourteen years, only five staff changes had taken place at Hogwarts.

Professor Dumbledore had retired, and been succeeded by Professor McGonagall as Headmistress in 1998.

Professor McGonagall became Headmistress in 1998, and was replaced as Transfiguration Master and Head of Gryffindor by Alistair McGowan, a Scotsman who graduated Hogwarts in 1968.

Professor Slughorn retired again after the death of Professor Dumbledore, and was replaced as Potions Master by Draco Black in 2005.

Professor Binns was exorcised the same year, and replaced by Professor Remus Lupin after the passage of a more accommodating Werewolf Act in 2000 by the Wizengamot. His affliction was accounted for by simply cancelling History classes around the full moon. The students didn't seem to mind.

Finally, Professor Trelawney had died of cirrhosis in 2006. Nobody mourned overmuch, and Firenze was simply given the Divination job full-time once again.

Since the death of Voldemort in April, 1997, Harry's scar had not bothered him one bit. It had even started to fade. If you looked hard enough, you could still see it, but barely.

Most everything was well, but Harry was sure he'd take care of what was not eventually. Hermione would never let him fail to do so.

Fin

A/N: Well, that's it! I'm currently working on two different HP stories (strangely enough, they're both twin!fics). I might post one of them next, I might post something completely different! I'm kind of in the mood for something dark (which should tell you a lot about what I've been reading lately). Some of the early details are on my profile, if you care to check that out.

Until next time, Mischief Managed!

-Phoenix II