Chapter fifteen

On Thursday, Harry was once again sitting inside the circle in the ritual room in the department of mysteries. The moment he began to recite the wards to call Voldemort's magic, he felt the same pull as before. This time though he was surrounded in a pure white glow.

Auror grey was standing beside Sirius with the two unspeakables keeping an eye on Harry. Amelia was with a full team of aurors at the old riddle manor, ready for a big fight with the death eaters when they entered the house. There was an unspeakable with them who was dismantling the wards around the house. The aurors were keeping watch, not only for anyone leaving the house but they were told about the snake, so they were watching for Nagini as well.

Sirius and Auror Grey had to help Harry back to the safe house where the house elf had a pepper up potion ready.

'Are you okay pup?'

'Yeah, fine, it was just strange, and different from when I called the rat,' Harry looked up at his godfather and Auror Grey, 'I hope the others are okay.'

'They know what they are doing Harry, there are also more of us then them. Naturally there might be injuries, especially with that lot, but they are trained for this. I'm sure everything will be fine.'

'You would like to be there, wouldn't you?'

'Yes, but we all get our assignments. So even though you are safe here, this is my job.'

'It's hard though, knowing the people you work with are fighting and you're not there to help.'

'True, very true, but we've all done this before. We've had to stand back or wait to hear from our friends.'

'Amelia will make sure everything goes as it should. Now though, the house is finished. If Amelia says its safe, then we can officially move in tonight or tomorrow. Since we haven't really spent a lot of time together, I basically did a quidditch theme in your room, but it can be changed. There is one bit I believe you will want to leave, and it's got nothing to do with quidditch.'

'That's great Sirius, so tell me what this bit is?'

'Winky happens to be a great artists. Right now Prongs and Tiger Lily are prancing around in a meadow. Occasionally Padfoot and Moony will join them.'

'Wow, I can't wait to see that. So my mother's nickname was Tiger Lily. Did she become a tiger?'

Sirius laughed, 'No, James called her that because when she got angry she growled like a tiger and Lily's favourite flower was a tiger lily. Her patronus was a doe, then when she learned to become an animagus she also became a doe.'

'They matched,' Harry said with a wistful smile.

'They did. At first we were surprised, then we realised they were meant to be, even from a young age. James tried to get Lily's attention for years but she only agreed to go out with him during our sixth year. Not long after they got married, Lily admitted that she liked James from the age of thirteen but because he kept acting like a prat she refused to have anything to do with him. Your grandfather told us that all Potter men will find their true love when they are young even if they don't approach the girl until years later. They will see them when they are twelve or thirteen, from then on they will keep an eye on them. Your grandfather approached your grandmother just before his fourteenth birthday, his father was sixteen before he approached the girl he liked. Even though James liked Lily from the age of eleven he didn't show Lily any interest at the age of fifteen but Lily rebuffed him until the following year. So if this is part of being a Potter then you would have already seen the girl you will end up with.'

'I notice a lot of girls,' Harry whispered as he blushed.

'All boys do, but this is different. Come on pup, tell us who this girl is?' Sirius and Auror Grey heard Harry mumble but couldn't make out what he said, 'Stop mumbling.'

Harry sighed in resignation, 'Susan, happy now.'

Sirius grinned, 'Yes, I win the bet.'

'What bet?'

'I knew you would end up with someone with red hair. It didn't have to be like Lily's colour, just a red head. Since all of you were babies the last time I saw you I wasn't sure which girl would end up with red hair as many change as they grow. Remus went with an intelligent girl but he never mentioned hair, just that she would be brilliant like Lily. It's like the old saying Harry, boys will often find a girl like their mother's. I'm different to that, I wouldn't want anyone like my mother. When I spoke with Remus after you and Hermione helped me escape, he believed Hermione to be that girl.'

'No, oh no, I mean I like Hermione, but she gets to bossy for me. Sometimes I want to petrify her just to stop her going on about work all the time. Also, she has this thing about authority figures and refuse to listen to me when I said that not all people in authority deserve our respect. I heard what Snape said but I still can't respect the man. I want to say to Hermione, see, the man was a lying piece of shit but she respected him. No, Hermione's attitude annoys me too much. We'll always be friends, I doubt that will ever change but that's the most that will ever happen. I admit I did like looking at Cho Chang, I even asked her to the yule ball but she was already going with Cedric. It was months later that I found out that she was a snob and a bit of a bully. Her and her friends would pick on Luna, they even took her things and hid them. I look at all the good looking girls, until I realised that they might be nice to look at but some aren't very nice at all. It was then that I realised that it's what's in someone's heart and soul that makes them a good person and that's all I want. Susan is a good person, she's also pretty,' Harry blushed again making Sirius laugh then hug his godson.

'Thank you.'

Harry's eyes widened as his head shot up to see Amelia and Susan standing at the door. He blushed brightly making Sirius laugh. Before Harry could decide what to say, Susan took his hand and pulled him from the room.

'I would say we're on our own for a while.'

'What is it with Potter men and finding their ladies while still young? I was hoping for at least another year or so before I would need to threaten some boy for dating Susan. But now it's Harry, I can't really be the angry aunt, can I?'

'Not really, but think of this. Harry is such a good person, his noble and caring, and faithful to those that show him they're loyal. One thing I do know about my godson, he will not be like a lot of boys who will try something on the girl. He will wait until she tells him it's okay.'

'I know, I've got to see what type of boy Harry is. So even though I would like another year, he has my approval, not that my niece would allow me to say no. While we're waiting I should explain what happened. First none of us had to fight at all, and the snake ended up with a dozen spells hitting it. There wasn't much left by the time the aurors finished.'

'So everyone is fine, Ma'am?' Auror Grey asked.

'Perfectly fine.'

'They wouldn't just give up, so what happened?'

'He felt his magic being drained so he used the connection to the dark mark to drain his followers. By the time we got inside every one of the death eaters were reduced to almost a squib. I've got the aurors visiting the other names on the list to find out if they have also lost their magic.'

'So those like Malfoy and Nott are basically squibs.'

'Yes, I got word from Azkaban. The death eaters all died within minutes. It was a combination of losing their magic and the years of exposure to the dementors that their bodies just gave up.'

'Do you know if he marked younger ones?'

'We believe he marked seventeen year olds that still had a year at Hogwarts to go. There is speculation that he might have marked sixteen year olds. We will find out soon.'

'My brother was marked when he was fifteen. My mother was the one that took him to Voldemort. I know he had to do something to receive the mark but I never found out what that was.'

'With what Harry wanted for Hogwarts, I will find out if any student has the mark, if they turn up. If they also lost their magic then I doubt we will see them again. But I would not be surprised to hear he marked young teenagers.'

'I was telling Harry that the house is finished, and now he is basically a squib along with his followers, is it safe to take Harry home?'

'You can leave whenever you want.'

'I've already connected you to the wards and after the other night I added Susan as well,' Sirius looked up at the auror, 'I added you, I hope you will visit.'

'I might be talked into visiting you,' the auror smiled at Sirius who grinned back. Amelia could see exactly what was going to happen between her auror and Sirius Black. The same thing that was happening between her niece and Sirius' godson. It made her think that maybe she will find someone to share her life with. She has been dreading the day when Susan moved into her own home, it would be lonely at the manor. But if she did find someone to love, then maybe she will have the life that she hoped she would have, one day.

With their world safe, and Voldemort being left a squib, it was time for all magicals to have the life they always wanted. One that was safe, but one where couples could raise a family without having to worry about the danger. Amelia did wonder how long before she found out she was going to be a great aunt. She hoped it wouldn't happen for years, but she would be happy if her niece was finished at Hogwarts, just like Harry.

The end:

I wish to thank everyone for reading, and hope I can continue to bring interesting stories for the fans of fanfiction. I may continue this story some time in the future, so I left it open in case I did want to add more.