A/n: I know it's been a long wait and this isn't the best ending to the story as it is fairly vague. Will it appease you to know that there is a third story being planned out already? I hope it does.

Songs for this chapter: Starry Eyed by Ellie Goulding and Honey I'm Good by Andy Grammar

HPOV

I was not prepared for the aftermath of agreeing to Grindewald's plan. The moment I drug the nearly unconscious man into St. Mungos things exploded and it did not slow down from there. We were swarmed by healers, and the Aurors, and later the senior under secretary and a front runner for minster for magic Mrs. Bagnold. Not to mention the press. Questions from at me from every possible angle, but the only one that truly worried me was Rita Skeeter, she was just such an unknown quality at this point in time.

Severus appeared shortly after the Aurors with a look of panic in his eyes. It seemed to bleed away when he saw that Grindewald had already been taken away and that I was in perfectly good health, but he still attached himself to me and refused to be moved. As the sun was rising most everyone was sent away and Severus and I were shuffled quietly back to my room. As soon as we were alone I had him cast muffliato and I explained what had happened when he had gone home to our cottage to shower and get some sleep at my instruction.

"What is this life of ours?" he asked as I settled in beside me on the hospital bed and pulled me into the crook of his shoulder.

"Insanity," I said with a chuckle. "I think perhaps the worst of it is over now though."

"Well it should be interesting to see how this all plays out in the press later today," he said with a laugh of his own. "Likely to be good for business at the shop though."

"Very true. Very true," I said before I snuggled down further into him and closed my eyes. "Let's get a little bit of sleep before the wave of nonsense begins again shall we?"

"I feel as if I have done the wrong thing," I murmured from behind the mug of hot chocolate Severus had brought me where I was nestled amongst the blankets on our couch.

"The healers said it was okay to release you," he said reassuringly as he set a mug of his own on a coaster and then dropped down onto the couch and pulled my feet into his lap. "And besides you aren't even up and walking around. Your body is under the same amount of stress it would have been in at St. Mungos."

"I meant about Grindewald," I sighed. "The curse of dreams… I know it's what he asked for, but was it right?"

"It isn't as if the curse isn't reversible," he pointed out as he turned to fully meet my gaze. "Not to mention that I am not sure I wouldn't have asked for the same thing in his place. If I were confronted with a world where you lost to me it would be beyond painful, but to be without you and still have to see you day to day… no I think I'd ask to forget as well."

"But perhaps I should have offered him an obliviate instead," I pointed out. "I am quite skilled at completely removing an individual from all memories. I could have taken his pain without his personality."

"And what if you had attempted that while your magic is in flux as it has been and you had turned his mind to mush?" Severus countered. "At last with this there is an option for undoing it."

"Thank you," I murmured before returning my attention to the hot chocolate with just a bit of my guilt draining away.

"Always," he said with a smile as he began to massage my feet.

The amount of owls pouring in with fan mail was absurd after the article ran about my defeat of Grindewald. It was a sham to call it a defeat, but that was the word they used. I had thought that we had achieved an unprecedented level of celebrity after the end of the war, but this was something else entirely. I pondered if this was what a day in the life of Albus Dumbledore had been like while I wrote out a description for a job opening as a personal assistant. Technically I was running it as a job through the apothecary, but this person was going to be responsible for things like screening this ridiculous mail, and making sure I got things done that I needed to get done as my memory got more and more ridiculous.

"They are posting the Headmaster position today," Severus told me as he came out of the bathroom half dressed with a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. "I think Minerva might make a run for it."

"I am not sure that's correct," I told him.

"Oh?" he asked, returning to brushing his teeth and offering me a quirked brow.

I held up a letter for him to see, but that didn't answer his question at all.

"This one is from her," I explained. "Suggesting that I consider putting in for it. It seems she isn't quite ready to give up the Deputy role or her position as the head of Gryffindor, but couldn't in good conscious not pursue the job without putting forth the best possible candidate. It seems that if I don't apply I would be forcing her hand though."

"Well have you ever considered a position in the education system?" he asked as he walked back in to the bathroom to spit and rinse. "I mean it isn't as if you are required at the shop anymore. Sirius and Remus have it well under control."

"Don't you think that would make our relationship a bit odd?" I asked him candidly. "I'd be your boss after all."

"I think I could handle it with grace," he said with a shrug as he walked back into the room, more focused on the task of buttoning up his shirt than anything else. "Besides you seem to handle it alright that I was apparently your professor for six years. It's just a switch in the dynamic this time."

I blushed at the wink that he offered me, irrationally irritated in how quickly he could make me think dirty thoughts despite how his words should have doused any arousal. It was that damn wink!

"That's hardly a fair example since you've never actually experienced it and don't know how you will react," I pointed out.

"Fair, but let's be realistic," he said as he sat down on the couch for me. "What would being appointed to the role actually mean? You'd be in a position to really effect change in the education system, and our thoughts are in alignment there so it isn't as if we are going to fight over it. We'd move to bigger chambers, which frankly is a good thing right about now what with our impending joy on the way. You'd have an official spot at the castle, so that feeling that you shouldn't be eating at the staff table would go away. I only see positives here."

"There could be backlash from the staff over it," I argued. "They could argue that I shouldn't have the role because I've never taught. Or that I show you favoritism no matter what choices I make just because of our marriage. Or that I'm awful and should be fired, because lets be real I can't manage my own life all that well right now what with the memory issues and the wild magic."

"It was a staff member that suggested you go for it," he argued back "And I am certain should you get the role she would public give her stamp of approval which would deal with the rest of the staff. You don't teach as the head of the school so their argument really wouldn't be valid. Running your own business is actually better experience than teaching for this particular job. And we would keep it professional outside of our chambers so I sincerely doubt there would be talk of favoritism. In fact, should you get the role you might consider going by the title of Headmistress Granger in order to head any of that nonsense off right from the get go."

"That wouldn't bother you?" I asked, seriously considering the option.

"I am not a caveman," he said with a sultry laugh as he leaned over to give me a quick kiss. "Besides if I really needed to assert some sort of claim over you I could gesture to that wedding band on your finger, or better yet the slow swell of your belly where my child grows. I need no further proof of your love. Call yourself Potter for all I care."

My eyes pricked with tears at that, and I couldn't be sure if it was hormones or just love that he had grown so much since I'd known him that there was no trace of rivalry between him and the marauders any longer.

"Alright, I'll do it," I said as I wiped at the tears. "Now get out of here and go to work."

It was less than a week later that I was all over the papers again. I had gone through a short visit that could hardly be honestly called an interview with the board of governors and then I found myself appointed the Headmistress of Hogwarts affective immediately. There were articles discussing how great the appointment was as well as articles dissecting the implications of my choice to use my maiden name. It was an even split of people in support of such a future forward move, and people questioning something that supported the feminist movement they were hearing about in the muggle world.

Overall though the feedback seemed to be extremely positive. The first staff meeting I held started with Minerva giving her stamp of approval of me in front of the staff and that seemed to head off any nonsense. They also as a group seemed to collectively approve of my choice to decline my salary as Headmistress.

It wasn't something that had happened at Hogwarts before, but I felt it was the right choice to make. Between what Severus was already making, all the royalty money we made off of other apothecaries buying our potion recipes, and the ever-increasing revenue flow from the apothecary I really didn't need the money. Not to mention that I felt it was better invested back into the school. So I opened an account at Gringotts for it and it began collecting money to pay for war orphans to attend Hogwarts. There were not currently any attending the school, but over the course of the next eleven years they were going to start trickling in and by then my monthly salary should have stacked up enough to pay for all of them.

When the board of governors saw fit to publish that little factoid in the Daily Prophet I found that the last of people concerned with my choice to be referred to as Granger fell silent.

Overall I was surprised by how positive the experience had been. Maybe it was because of all the stress from the past few years… I couldn't be sure, but sometimes I found myself just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Really it was all working out though. Even the disturbances in my health and magic as my pregnancy progressed weren't an issue as Minerva volunteered to take on some additional administrative duties until a few months after delivery so I could properly manager my transition into the role. I was hesitant to think it, but it felt like things were finally going to be perfect for Severus and me.