Chapter Twelve – What Really Changed?

July 2001

Elder Ogdon read the Oath – "Hermione Jane Granger, do you swear to work toward the betterment of Britain, be just in your decisions and work toward the betterment of all magicals residing in the Isles?"

"I will."

And so she was sworn in as the 1535th member of the Wizengamot; the first to use the new oath referencing the betterment of all magicals, rather than wizardkind. It was a bittersweet moment for her, as she felt that some of the newer light gray members such as Oliver Wood or Colin Creevey had done more to actually earn their seat, even if they had been sponsored and groomed for the position. Her greatest accomplishment relative to her Wizengamot appointment was inheriting a bit of wealth by means of outliving Hector, who previously held the seat.

Colin had done very well for himself. His latest follow-on was a device that could be used with most current cell phone models. With it, his phones could be used almost anywhere in Britain and receive an excellent signal. He wisely patented the process and then in a stroke of determined genius, offered it for sale at a very reasonable price – only to his subscribers, magical or unmagical. To further increase his market share, he offered a limited contract buyout option (with his own even longer-term contract) and offered a (limited) guarantee for his phones against breakage. He simply misted on a hardening/impervious potion, let it imbue into the case for a minute and wipe off the residue. Via simple word of mouth, he quickly became the number one phone distributor in Britain. Money literally poured into his shops.

However, Colin was a lonely man and wisely asked Hermione to marry him. They were very well suited for each other. They married that December and eventually had three boys.

Other new members who were voted into the Wizengamot included Order of Merlin holder Ron Brown (Weasley) Oliver Wood, and four muggleborns. Augusta designated one to specifically represent the Goblin nation and another to temporarily specifically represent all other magicals with the specifications that as the next openings became available, they would be filled by the magicals who they represented. Their other task was to find candidates within their represented group who would qualify.

By the end of the year, Dobby the elf and Grimreaper were the newest members. The other elves pooled their money together, happily gave it to Dobby and he easily made the vault balance requirement.

… - …

December 2001

Harry was in his last year of Clinical training at Empire College working at Charing Cross Hospital. It had been years of long hours but he was very happy with the work. .

Their usual Friday lunch at the Black Dog pub was a bit different this week in that Hermione and Emma had also come along.

Dan stated, "The building will be ready to occupy and fit up in six months. A fourth of the equipment on your list can only be ordered by a licensed physician. In short, if you want to move ahead, you need to hire a physician, ideally a senior person to guide the two of you along. Do you have someone in mind?"

Hermione mentally went through the list of the staff at Empire. Any would be adequate for 18 months, then become a liability when both sides of the clinic opened. Additionally, she doubted that any could be convinced to leave a tenured position to join a startup clinic run by students.

As she was about to say so, Harry replied, "I can ask Poppy. I believe she'd join us."

Hermione stated, "But she's been at Hogwarts for over 50 years."

Not rising to the bait, Harry calmly replied, "Almost 60 years; that's exactly my point. I expect that she'd jump at a change of scenery. She could have a place of her own if she wanted, or a flat with a posh address in London if she'd prefer. We could find her a three bedroom home in Notting Hill and she could have the Hogwarts staff over for weekend sleepovers. Honestly, I expect that she'd prefer a nice cottage by the ocean in Brighton or Folkstone to a bunch of overachieving neighbors in London."

Emma asked, "Could you afford her?"

"Her home would be a signing bonus. I'd happily double her Hogwarts salary; triple it if needed."

Emma rephrased her question, "Could the business afford her?"

Harry replied, "In your dental practice, you have your share of well-healed clients. One of them comes in and states that his wife has stage-four cancer. You send them our way and a week later, they're as good as new. What would that be worth to them?"

Emma admitted, "Everything."

"So we charge them a hundred thousand pounds and they tell their cousin and a month later, we have five new patients. We're able to cure four of them and put the fifth into remission. They tell four people and a year later, the waiting room is full."

Harry put his glass down and said, "The business will start out debt free. Hermione, I never asked before, would you prefer to be a partner or an employee?"

Dan and Emma wisely remained silent. This was their daughter's decision. Hermione replied, "What did you have in mind?"

"The building will end up about six million sterling after the fit-up. The furniture and equipment would probably be another million to be properly kitted out. I'll cover the building and write the business an inexpensive lease on it. You could cover half of the equipment and if you'd like, I'd write you a loan on it. We could be equal partners in an LLC."

Hermione didn't answer immediately, so Harry continued, "Another option would be to come in as an employee. You would be paid either a good salary, or a percentage of your net revenue."

Dan was completely impressed with the thought and prep work that Harry had obviously put into running a successful business, as well as the variety of options that he was offing his daughter. He remarked, "Before you talk numbers or draw up papers, the two of you should think through if you're planning on being open to NHS or pro-bono patients."

Harry asked, "What do you do?"

Emma replied, "Three days a week we accept appointments from NHS cases; the rest of the time, patients pay full price."

Emma added, "On a related topic, Dan and I would be interested in working with you at some point. We're qualified to do lab work, or we could take medical histories, or do the billing."

Hermione asked, "What about your practice?"

Emma admitted, "Once you've treated werewolves, fillings don't hold the same allure. We've paid our mortgage and put some money away. We could sell the practice in a year or two, if you both were interested. Once you get your business off the ground, you can make a decision."

Dan picked up the bill for lunch and he and Emma left the two to finish their discussion.

Hermione admitted, "You've put a world more thought into this that I have. I've only kept my nose in the books and prepped for the next clinical."

Harry observed, "I've talked with Dan about this a few times and I like his ideas. For their paying patients, he collects when they leave, usually by credit card – effectively eliminating having a big accounts receivable. He told me that the NHS stuff is a nightmare, submitting documentation paperwork and waiting months to finally get paid. My preference would be to not go there. We literally have the ability to cure what is widely considered the uncurable. We don't need to peddle flu shots. If we want to give summer wellness checkups for kids before they go back to school, we can do that on the magical side and get paid that day."

Hermione thought about what he said and replied, "If that doesn't work, we can always take those cases on Tuesdays. What about Madam Pomfrey?"

"Simply stated, we need her. She's add a world of credibility to our team. I'll go see her next week. We'll finish at Empire in seven months. On the short side, she could order the equipment and leave Hogwarts after Christmas and do set up until next June. On the long side, she could order the equipment in January, we could do the set-up on Saturdays and open next June."

"I like that better."

"Hermione, regarding getting paid, Dan told me that they have what's called a draw – basically a salary, except for owners, where they get a check twice a month. He said twice a year, they write bonus checks if they did better. That way, you've got money coming in that you can count on to pay your bills. Are you going to stay with your parents or get your own place?"

"I'm going to get my own place, later next summer. How about you?"

Harry replied, "The same. I think Sirius needs to get out of #12, live in London and meet a lady who will put up with him. The only thing he does is go out on his boat. I currently own a bunch of properties and I want to get rid of most of them."

Curiosity won out over tact and Hermione asked, "How did you get so many properties and what's a bunch?"

"About 20 and Barchoke bought them at estate sales."

"Why so many? What are you going to do with them? Who is living in them? Where are they?" She stopped for a second and said, "I did it again, didn't I? Sorry."

Harry smiled at his friend and replied, "To answer your questions, they came on the market and I got a good deal on them. Ron is cleaning them out and selling the furniture in his shop. No one is living in any of them as far as I know. I intend to sell them. My parents had two properties in Britain, besides the cottage in Godrick's Hollow. There is also one in Nice France and one in Bermuda. I haven't been to any of them but expect that Susan and I will go have a look sometime. As for the others, I'm not sure where they are. Barchoke handles them. Last but not least, it's who you are Hermione; you never need to change."

She smiled in appreciation of his true acceptance and said, "Thanks Harry."

… - …

The discussion with Poppy was surprisingly simple. Harry presented his offer, including the home of her choice at double her current salary. She picked out a seaside cottage in Brighton near the Abbots, gave a six month notice and started her shopping project. It turned out that all of the healers working during the war had received physician licenses to make it easier when working on the nonmagical side.

She also presented Harry with a schedule of potions to make with quantities and a schedule with dates to make them.

… - …

The last year of Medical school flew by. They were busy during the week with assignments and clinics and were even busier on the weekends. They finally decided to take Sundays off and just get as much done on Saturdays as they were able to.

Poppy and Dobby did much of the setup for the magical side while Dan, Emma, Hermione and Harry set things up on the medical side.

… - …

June 2002

Harry and Hermione had finished all of their board examinations and with a week of school left, happened to meet Dr. Wallace in the hallway. Harry still thought that he was a dead ringer for Amos Diggory.

"Dr. Potter, Dr. Granger, how nice to see you both again."

"And you, sir."

"Dr. Potter, what can you tell me about Lycanthropy?"

Harry gave a quick glance to Hermione and replied, "Quite a bit, sir. What specifically were you asking about?"

"Is there a cure?"

"Not as such, sir but there are a handful of people in Britain that I'm aware of who have been successfully treated and have displayed no symptoms for years."

"Interesting. I've investigated treatment plans for years and never came across one that was viable without killing the patient."

"If you know someone who is infected and they are healthy, you might want to contact Healer Erika Smith. She can be reached at this number. On a different subject, sir, might you happen to know a man named Amos Diggory?"

"Yes. He is, or was my brother until I turned out to not have magic and was disowned by my family. My wife has the disease. Can she be treated?"

"Absolutely. I'll contact you when a treatment course can be scheduled. It runs 28-30 days depending on the patient – probably in August, the day of the full moon. What blood type is she?"

"AB, the same as me. What is the cost?"

$350,000 pounds."

Dr. Wallace could easily afford the cost. He replied, "Thank you, Doctors. Thank you both."

… - …

Antiseptic, wipes, boxes of exam gloves, an EKG machine, exam tables, PCs, software, telephones, business cards, more software, waiting room furniture, printers, patient record jackets, lab equipment, sample vials, scales, sharpies – the list seemed endless. They received and signed for packages, interviewed people, got a phone system, took a seemingly endless stream of calls from salespeople, inspections, more inspections, and suddenly it was the evening before they opened.

Hermione wanted to have dinner at the Fox and Hound, so a reservation for twenty was made in the private room.

Amelia observed everyone. Ragnok, Barchoke and Windwalker were there from Gringotts. Erika Smith and an elf she hadn't previously met named Tiffin arrived. Flitwick and Babbling were there talking with Susan and Hermione. Dan and Emma Granger were talking with Poppy. Dobby, Winky and Sirius were there. Remus Lupin was sitting next to Ms. Smith.

It was Hermione's turn to say a few words. "When I was eleven, I met this young man on the train. Within two months, he had saved my life. I've come to realize that he was destined to save lives."

Harry gave Amelia the smallest of head shakes. He had never discussed horcruxes with Hermione.

She continued, "Harry has invited a distinguished group of extraordinary people here who all have something in common – you all have changed peoples' lives – for the better. Thank you all for being here."

There would be more to say; however it could wait.

… - …

June 28 Day -3

Five patients were selected for the July Lycan clinical trials.

Penny Wallace, age 57 had been a Lycan for 17 years. Like Remus, she had been attacked by Grayback. Aside from her lycanthropy, she was in perfect health. She was a nonmagical with blood type AB

Payton Patil, said to be age 17 was the younger brother of the twins. Though magical, he hadn't attended Hogwarts. He had been bitten a year ago.

Jim and Rose were the two lycans who hadn't been accepted for the first clinical trial. At the time, Sirius had given then each G5,000. They were in much better health this time

Stewart, age 40 was a Canadian acquaintance of Erika.

Wallace and Patil were both paying patients.

After signing an additional nondisclosure, Harry was given a list of ingredients and purchased them for a total of G2,200.

The phase one potion greatly interested him as it forced the bone marrow to produce normal red blood cells. He was fairly certain that he could use his Sight and the blade that Windwalker gave him along with a hemodialysis machine (normally used in kidney dialysis) to expel the mutated cells within a few hours. On the other hand, at Poppy's insistence, he had been able to sell a very small amount of basilisk venom for G50,000, about a fifth of what Erika had acquired it for.

Additionally, Amelia told them that the Ministry could reimburse them G25,000 each for the two lycans, as they were British citizens from the funds clawed back from Fudge. That brought their revenue to G190,000 – G52,200 = G137,800. Poppy insisted on charging the project G1,800 for use of Harry's clinic. They offered Erika G11,000 to brew the potions, leaving G25,000 for each of the five. Poppy refused a share for herself as she would be tending the other patients for the month.

Day 5

Hermione and Emma were discussing the patients. Hermione commented, "They all seem to be tracking to the results that we saw from Oliver Wood and the sisters last time."

Emma replied, "You need to focus on the differences. We assumed that the one sister was completely without magic. No one actually tested that theory. Penny Wallace is not what you refer to as a squib – she's a true mundane."

"You're right, mum. I'll ask Harry to look at her cells and see if he notices any differences. Thanks."

Day 6

Harry Looked at Penny and saw that her white blood cells were less aggressive and robust than those of the magicals. For a comparison, he Looked at Emma and her white cells were similar.

He pointed that out to the others that evening and asked, "What if the less aggressive cells aren't as capable of fighting off the mutant cells and the transfused blood is more likely to mutate?"

Erika summarized, "Are you suggesting that her white cells are putting up less resistance to the disease than a Witch's blood would?"

Harry replied, "I believe that may be the case. It would also explain why magicals rarely catch mundane diseases."

Hermione knew her friend's thought process and asked, ""What do you have in mind?"

"If we used a hemodialysis machine, normally used for kidney dialysis, I think I could See her blood easier and remove most of the mutated cells. Hopefully that would get rid of the bad ones before her normal cell count would get reduced too much by the phase two treatment. My second idea is to transfuse her with magical blood."

Poppy who was sitting in on the discussion and Erika both admitted that they didn't have a better idea. Dan asked, "What's the lead-time to get a machine like that?"

Harry replied, "I'll ask Barchke to order one. Hopefully we'll have it by noon tomorrow."

Day 7

The machine arrived at ten AM along with two technicians to uncrate it and set it up. Harry and Hermione both donated a unit of blood and didn't fuss when Poppy forced a unit of blood replenisher each on them.

After an hour of rest, Harry and Hermione hooked Penny up to the dialysis machine while Poppy distracted her with small talk. Penny had two shih tzus at home and missed them horribly.

Three hours later, Harry was exhausted but he hadn't Seen a mutated cell in the last half hour. Penny's blood cell count was quite low, so Harry asked Dobby to ask Susan to come over. Harry transfused Susan's blood and Penny's color was visibly better. An hour later, Hermione did five tests and didn't find any mutated cells. Her red blood cell count was 60 percent of normal.

Day 11

Erika reported, "All of the patients are producing normal cells. Jim and Rose's (the previous candidates) counts were not as good as Professor Lupin's but were better than McGinty's were at a comparable date.

Day 15

No mutated cells had been found in five samples from Penny. As a precautionary measure, she was placed on the phase two potion along with the other four.

Day 19

Penny's red blood cell count was at 54 percent of normal due to the phase two potion. The magicals were in the mid to high 60s by comparison. All of her cells were normal. Erika asked for opinions about Penny.

Emma replied, "My suggestion is to return her to the phase one potion and keep testing for mutates cells."

Dan said, "I agree. It will also provide information about her red blood cell counts for the next ten days. In a program like this, more data is better."

No one disagreed and Penny returned to the phase one potion.

Day 22

Dan took Harry aside and said, "We have an issue with one of our patients."

"What's up?"

"According to immigration records, Payton Patil isn't 17, he's 15."

"Damnit. She lied."

"Who?"

"Parvati. If that's his real name, she'd be his sister. She initially contacted Erika."

"Damnit." A moment later Dan added, "He'll have to be taken off of the phase two potion. By your law, he can't have a transfusion."

Harry asked, "What's his count?"

"As of this afternoon, 61 percent of normal with 11 percent mutated cells. If he keeps on potion two, he'll need a transfusion in three days. My first suggestion is to use the hemodialysis machine and the technique that you used for Mrs. Wallace. My second suggestion is to talk it over with Hermione and as your business partner, get her buy-in with the plan. My third suggestion is to get the Patils' arses down here and have them explain their actions. You may want to contact Amelia. Last but not least, our vetting process clearly needs work."

After a minute he added, "If this were my clinic, I'd charge them for the additional treatments."

"How much?"

"100,000 pounds."

If Payton stops the phase two treatment in two days, he won't be clear of the mutation. In a month he'll be back to square one."

… - …

"… In short, they told him to lie about his age. By wizarding law, minors can't receive a transfusion.|"

Erika exclaimed, "That Bitch. She lied straight to my face. Without a transfusion, he'll be in a coma before he gets a clear cell reading."

Day 23

Hermione looked at Parvati, Mr. and Mrs. Patil with a look of utter anger. "In clear violation of British law, you falsified medical records. Do the three of you understand that?"

Parvati replied, "Strictly speaking, only Payton and I filled out that form. He filled it out and I witnessed it and signed as closest living relative."

Sanjay Patil asked, "Are there other options?"

Hermione replied, "Perhaps."

He replied, "Let us return in an hour then."

After they left, Hermione asked Harry, "Can you help him?"

"Yes."

There was no wavering in his voice. She replied, "OK. It's my turn to play bad cop – worse cop. How much did Dad suggest to charge?"

"One hundred thousand pounds."

"No. He can drop out of the treatment today, come back in two years and pay another G70,000, or they can pay G100,000 now and you can treat him this afternoon, or they can walk and try to find somebody else. We put in eight years to get here and she's willing to jeopardize all that with the stroke of a pen."

Harry asked, "What about Erika?"

"She got her money. This isn't her call, this is clinic business."

"OK but that will probably jeopardize our relationship with her. I signed a nondisclosure agreement,"

"Nondisclosure, not noncompete. I could replicate her phase one potion tomorrow, or a similar one. That was the easier of the two potions. The only reason that I went along with her this time was so you could sell some venom. Besides Sanjay can afford it. He has more money than Sirius."

Five minutes later, Dobby returned with a voluntary withdrawal from the treatment program form and a blood cleansing treatment contract with complete disclaimer against their Ottertail clinic that Barchoke had prepared for them.

Sanjay returned ten minutes later. He immediately accepted their offer and handed them a bank draft. He happily paid the money rather than subject his son to seventeen more transformations.

By ten PM that evening, Payton was mutant free.

Day 29

All five patients left the clinic that afternoon. Jim and Rose, along with Erika's patient, Stewart had all needed Day 26 and day 27 transfusions. All five patients had been clear of mutant cells since day 27. Sanjay was beyond relieved to hear that his son hadn't transformed the night before.

Erika hadn't asked about the arrangements made with Sanjay. She recognized that it had been clinic business.

That evening, Harry and Hermione delivered a baby. They went to their homes tired but happy.

… - …

August 4, 2002

Harry was ready for the big day. Winky had been expecting for two years now and told him that she would be having twins tomorrow. Harry consulted with Tiffin, the elf healer, who agreed to come and observe.

The next day at ten AM, Winky and Dobby were the proud parents of two healthy seventeen-ounce baby elves.

After the babies were cleaned up and handed to the proud parents, Tiffin remarked, "You displayed much kindness today, Healer Potter. I shall recommend your services to other magicals. Thank you for helping them."

Harry replied, "It was my pleasure, Healer Tiffin. Thank you for coming here today. I do appreciate you spending your time to be here."

"We both benefitted. I hope to see you another day."

When she left, Hermione said, "Harry that was so… perfect."

That evening, Harry asked Susan to marry him. She said "Yes, please."

They both wanted a family – not Molly Weasley large but four children sounded like a nice number to both of them. They also enjoyed travel – especially above the Arctic Circle in the summer. So far they'd been to Norway, Sweden and Finland. Greenland was on their list for their next trip, followed by Alaska and the Yukon Territory.

They also found that they truly enjoyed each other's company. Harry enjoyed hearing about her day as much as she enjoyed hearing about his. Neither of them had a jealous bone in their body and they always made time for each other. Their extended family now included Dobby, Winky, two little elves and Amelia.

… - …

The Pareto Principle certainly seemed to apply to the business end of their little clinic. Their most lucrative hours seemed to be treating the nonmagical cancer patients. Ten 15 minute treatments for ten consecutive days over the course of a month had largely covered their equipment startup investment. Dan's suggestion of 100,000 pounds had proven to be a good price-point. Better yet, they had eleven booked so far for the next month.

On the low-end side, the scrapes, cuts, broken bones, and the like was good practice. They had a five galleon minimum.

The great consumer of time turned out to be well-care visits, primarily among Hogwarts-age girls and first-generation students or pre-students who have just received their letter and wanted to get inoculated for wizard-borne diseases such as dragon pox. Harry seemed to be the one requested for most of those, much to Poppy and Hermione's amusement.

Hermione was easily spending two thirds of her time on the nonmagical side. Her 15 minute appointments invariably went 20-30 minutes, to the point that they realized that they would eventually need a change in procedure. As they were a new clinic, there were no existing patient history files that could simply be updated.

Last evening, they took their first vampire patient – a broken tooth. She paid them very well for their time, thanked them profusely and wished them well. Dan and Emma each laughed when they heard that story – until they realized that it was real. All were truly welcome.

Their little clinic was thriving.

… - …

At R-L Brown Estates Sales and Collectables, Ron came to realize that he fundamentally enjoyed fixing things and Lavender was very good at negotiating her way to getting full asking price on saleable items and rock bottom prices on purchased items. He didn't mind her flirting a bit with the customers. It seemed that he'd finally matured enough to be comfortable with himself.

Their little company had received a gigantic boost from working through Harry's various properties. Unquestionably the Malfoy home had eliminated any financial concerns that either of them may have had. Their business seemed to operate best when buying pieces from the nonmagical side, repairing them and selling on the magical side, or the other way around. Hermione had suggested going to muggle estate sales and buying damaged, repairable quality items for practically free.

Business was good and they were happy with their life together. They never had any children but were quite happy with the ever-frequent title of Aunt and Uncle.

… - …

A week before their wedding, Harry had Susan and Amelia over for dinner. When the afters had been finished and cleared, Harry announced, "There's something that I need to tell you both. I don't think that big secrets and a happy marriage are a great combination so I wanted to get this out in the open."

Susan said, "I'd like that." Amelia nodded.

Harry opened a case and said, "This wand belonged to Tom Riddle." There was also a crystal vial that contained a memory.

Amelia immediately made the connection and asked, "I suppose he didn't willingly give it to you?"

Harry replied, "No. I took it from his hand, shortly after he'd been re-embodied in June of 1995."

She asked, "That's where the cup took you?"

He nodded, "Ragnok thinks that it was Barty Crouch Junior who was impersonating Moody all of that year."

She pondered his words for a moment, thinking about what was spoken and what had been left unspoken. She asked, "And the others?"

"He called them and I defended myself. There were 19 of them. There was also the extra horcrux that we'd never talked about. I defended myself."

Suddenly it all made sense. Bellatrix Lestrange, perhaps his most devoted follower felt him return and shortly after, felt his demise causing that enormous burst of accidental magic that ended the lives of the dozen Death Eaters residing in Azkaban.

She was silent for nearly ten minutes, pondering the situation from every angle. A 14 year-old boy had effectively ended a war before it began. Whatever method that he used, it was a clear case of self-defense by a boy who had already been abducted. He hadn't yet been declared the winner, so he wasn't yet an adult. Hopkirk hadn't reported any massive displays of magic. The bodies had never been recovered, or at least reported to the magical side. The goblins obviously knew about the deaths and Harry had probably told them about it, accounting for Harry's close relationship with their head of state. The British wizarding world currently was as safe a place to be in as she could remember. Fudge and friends who might wish to grind an ax if it ever came out had been retired. Harry and Sirius had actively stacked the Wizengamot deck in their favor in the event that anything ever came out. She hadn't seen any direct evidence of anyone's death, so there was nothing to investigate. Harry clearly didn't want a medal or any notoriety.

She replied, "You should put that case back in your vault if you want to keep it, Harry. If you'd rather, snap it and toss it in the fireplace – same with the vial. My suggestion is to put it behind you once and for all. You've always had my blessing to marry Susie and you still do."

You don't want to s…?

Amelia replied "Susie and I don't need any horrible dreams. I'm guessing that Ragnok helped you…"

"He is a great listener and a wonderful friend. He spent countless days listening and helping me."

"Good. He clearly did a great job. We love you, Harry."

The fire crackled as the items burned up.

… - …

October 2004

They selected the Ladywood Estate near Oakham for their wedding and reception. It was a wonderful venue and easily accommodated the 300 Must Invites that Amelia listed. On Harry's side, it was far simpler. There were a dozen friends from medical school, a dozen friends from Hogwarts, a dozen friends from Gringotts and the Hogwarts professors.

They were fortunate to have had excellent weather. Everyone had fun. Bill Weasley wished that he'd done the same rather than let his mum seemingly replan her own wedding.

From Harry's perspective, it was simple – agree to everything and write a dozen bank drafts. They and their 375 guests all had fun and the next morning, he and Susan were still happily married. They decided to defer a honeymoon for a few months.

Three days later, Harry delivered a baby and Susan rolled out a new series of memories – Days of the Founders based on the memories of the gray lady ghost. Jammed full of action, history and tawdry romance, they were another best seller

… - …

…After 147 years, the Chudley Cannons finally won their division. They got quite a decent seeker when they hired Cormak, who had been working in sales for the Tutshill Tornados. Cormac wasn't great. They didn't need him to win games, they needed him to end games. Dennis Creevey proved to be an amazing keeper. Many of their games were complete shutouts. The other teams realized this and as often as not, if their team hadn't caught the snitch in the first thirty minutes they would be down by a hopeless spread and occasionally pointed out the snitch to Cormac to finish the game - while they still had a shred of dignity remaining.

Ron turned out to be a much better fan than player. Their store ran celebratory promotions and had giveways for a month. They did better than ever.

… - …

June 2005

The last lycan in the British Isles had been treated. Harry had received help from Amelia, Remus and most of all, the Lycans that he'd previously treated. He'd gotten the process down to three half-days of mutant cell removal on consecutive weeks followed by a recheck the day of the full moon. Effectively he could treat six patients a month but even at the reduced price of 100,000 pounds, there were only so many patients who could afford, or who could find sponsored funding for the treatment. His oaths with Windwalker and Tiffin prevented him from passing his techniques along.

He gave Erika an ounce of basilisk venom and expected that she traveled during the summers and treated Lycans around the world. Three years back, she had received an order of Merlin award and her picture was on a chocolate frog card. She later admitted that the fame had caused her many more problems than she ever expected.

She and Remus remained friends with benefits for all of their lives. They never married. Each was too set in their ways.

… - …

Sirius had loaded up his tugboat two years ago, said his farewells and spent the rest of his life on the sea or in ports. Harry and Susan met up with him a few times over the years. He enjoyed the life of being on the water, either by himself or in the company of expensive young women. He'd previously put most of his money in a trust for Harry, except for ten million galleons, which he kept as spending money.

May 2008

"Your old headmaster grew up seeing horses pulling carriages. He must have been sleeping the years that the Americans visited the moon. He was as insular, spending all those years in that castle as my people have been, living in the ground. I hope my grandchildren spend half of their lives in the sunshine. Do you recall the conversation that we had years ago about enemies and opponents?"

His eyes dazzling, Harry nodded

"I'd always wondered if he chose to view so many of the dark one's followers as mere opponents rather than the enemies that they were because he knew their parents and he taught them when they attended his school. It is unfortunate that he never taught them to think for themselves, to respect others, or that there were consequences for acting badly."

The old goblin's breath was labored. He said, "You always displayed courage, Harry – courage to fight the dark one and his followers, courage to destroy his pieces. Most of all, you displayed courage to make the world a better… a better place. I have always felt honored to be friends with you, Harry. I hope that you find happiness every day." He gave Harry's arm a squeeze.

Those were the last words that he spoke before passing away. Harry and Susan were honored to have been invited to his passing. His son, Ragnok the fifth saw them out and said, "Thank you for honoring my father as you have, Harry Potter."

Harry smiled at the younger goblin and said, "Your father's friendship was always a great honor to me, Director Ragnok. Please call me Harry."

The goblin replied, "I would be honored to, Harry. Please call me Ragnok as you did my father." He watched with much satisfaction as Harry helped his very pregnant wife out to the lobby to meet their two other children who were happily being entertained by Greentooth. The future looked brighter every day.

End

ooo ccc ooo

Thank you for following along. It had been a long time since an interesting story concept plopped onto my lap. It was a great time dusting off some of my favorite OCs.

I've always enjoyed doing the research for stories. I'd never had cause to look into degradation of fingerprints in water, or what first year medical school might look like. My favorite topic remains the Centurions that I used in Tom and Harry. This week it was real estate in Palermo Italy.

I was delighted when someone wrote a note telling me additional details about the school that I'd modeled Empire after.

It is fun learning about a topic, then distilling the concepts into a single, simple enough to follow metric. That was done magnificently in the movie Das Boot, where out of the thousands of pipes, pumps and the lot, they focused on the depth gauge. I used red blood cell counts.

It is also fun to develop back-story on some of the less-used characters. I've enjoyed doing so with Poppy, Amelia and the dentists and appreciate it when I see other storytellers take the time to add those details into a tale.

I'm actively working on Dan Granger again. I finally found my folder of chapter notes. I miss writing chapters out longhand but life goes on.

…

Last but not least, a few thoughts on leaving a note every now and then;

"I promise to review (kindly) every fanfic I read whether it be fantastic, useless, or anywhere in between. I make this pledge because I know how frustrating it is for an author to have hundreds (or thousands) of hits and only a handful of reviews." Copy and paste this onto your profile if you promise to do the same.

…

Positive reviews are essential to the continuance of fanfiction. A chapter note is not the place to rip on a tale, be it your superior knowledge of physics, secondary schools, a slip in grammar, a continuance error, or the story concept itself.

Beyond that, there is little sense in arguing a point that has already been written. My favorite remains;

A pistol...ew. I know you wanna change the story, but adding something so anathema to Harry Potter is not the way to do it.…

That said, here's one storyteller's advice;

If you dislike a story, walk away.

If you absolutely feel the urge to write a clever flame - Write it out, read it to your cat then delete it. You've made your point. No storyteller ever wants to read it.

If you just spent three hours reading a tale, pay for it by spending three minutes leaving a thank-you note. You might inspire a storyteller into spending all of their free time for six months to write another.

Last, but not least, if you wanted the plot to go in a different direction, write your own tale. As Robst has mentioned, that way the rest of us will have something to read.

cheers