Great Hall, The Next Morning

The "Golden Four" were sitting today at the Ravenclaw table. Hermione seemed extremely happy about something, but she was keeping mum about what. Daphne was very pensive.

"Look," she whispered fervently. "I talked to Harry last night. Be prepared for anything at all today. And please go see him before dinner. This is really important."

"What's going on?", Kamiko asked.

"Yeah," said John. "Where's Harry?"

"I can't tell you right now. But if you get the Prophet or see one lying around, be sure to read it."

At that moment, many owls came in with letters and newspapers, many more than usual. It seemed that almost every child whose parents were keeping up at all with the Wizard World had sent their child a letter. As they read the prophet and the letters from their parents, pandemonium erupted. Some children ran out of the room to write a reply, while others sat quietly, staring at their food. Finally one of the seventh years yelled, "Where's Potter? Our parents are threatening to take us out of school and it's all his fault!"

"Yeah, where is he?"

"Yeshua? What's all that about anyway? What gave him the right?"

Draco wasn't joining in, though. He was sitting thoughtfully. The Malfoys always chose the winning side, and it was very clear now who the winning side would be. It was inevitable. He would have to find Harry as soon as possible.

As the pandemonium reached a fever pitch, the Headmistress stood up and cast "sonorus".

"SILENCE", she yelled. The room began to calm down. She waited for a moment for the hubbub to wind down, and then she spoke again.

"That's better. Regarding Mr. Potter, there will be an announcement tonight. Rest assured that I am communicating with all of your parents, there is no need for panic. Nothing changes in this school for now. Please continue going to your classes and stay calm, for the love o'..." Looking embarrassed, she cast "quietus" and sat back down. The hubbub rose a little again, but not nearly as badly.

Daphne looked at her friends meaningfully. "That's why.", she said quietly. "He will explain everything, it's not my place. But I spoke with him last night. He is fine. He just needs to speak with you."

They nodded and resumed eating their food. Hermione still looked very happy, but it was a little muted. Finally, she went over and found a discarded Prophet. Then she read it.

Her eyes opened wide. "He did it," she said. "He really did it."

"Did what?", Kamiko asked. Hermione handed her the paper.

Kamiko's eyes widened as well. "Nyuusu wa totemo bikkuri desu yo", she breathed. Then she looked up embarrassingly. "I mean, that news is very surprising. But it seems like something he would do."

John read over her shoulder. "Well, spank my ass and call me Charlie," he said.

They all looked at him.

"What?", he said, defensively.

"Is that how they express surprise in Texas?", Kamiko said.

"Sometimes," he said, embarrassedly. "It's not the most polite way, though."

"Aho yo", she said under her breath, but there was a look of affection on her face.

"What does that mean?"

She blushed. "Nothing."

He decided to drop it.

Hermione sighed. "Way to stir up the hornet's nest, Harry."

Daphne smiled. "You know what, Hermione? This may surprise you, but I think he has it completely under control. With Yeshua's help."

Hermione asked, "Have you ever met Yeshua?"

Daphne frowned. "I don't think so. But if he's anything like Harry, I think I would like him."

Hermione smiled widely. "He is," she breathed. "He is."

The rest of their breakfast was spent silently, trying to keep a low profile. The atmosphere in the room was very tense.

Great Hall, That Evening

That evening, there was a surprise. Harry was there, but he had been offered a seat at the staff table. He was chatting pleasantly with the Headmistress on one side and Nick on the other. He was surprised to find that they didn't have any different fare than the students, but they did need to ask the table for it, because there wasn't as much room for the food as on the large student tables. He was getting a lot of very venomous looks from the room, but also some rather starstruck looks. He didn't know what to make of it, but he decided to ignore it. No one could use their wand, and he'd know if anyone tried something otherwise.

Finally the end of the meal came, and the Headmistress stood up. "Now that we are done, Mr. Potter has a few words to say. Mr. Potter," she said, and waved her arm.

He stood up and amplified his voice.

"I'm sure by now you've read the prophet, been contacted by your parents, initiated fruitless plots for revenge that will never come to fruition, or planned out our marriage already."

One girl at the Slytherin table dropped her fork and the room giggled.

"What you have read in the Prophet is true, and in light of that, there have been many request to remove students from school, of which I'm sure many of you are aware. After some consideration, I have decided that the best course of action for me to take is to withdraw from the school. As of now, I am no longer a student at the Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

There was a collective gasp, and a rumble that took a minute or so to die down. He waited patiently.

"You may make your parents aware of this fact, and I know for a fact that the Headmistress will do so as well. It may not prevent all of your parents from removing you, but I intend on taking myself out of the equation.

"However, I am two of the heirs of Hogwarts", there was another gasp as this also was not common knowledge, "and I have no intention of leaving this castle for good. I have business here that is my responsibility to take care of, and I will be coming here at times to work on those other projects. I have assured our Headmistress that I will be avoiding interacting with any students I am not already familiar with unless there is a legitimate need for me to speak with them. However," he said, "If you wish to speak with me, there's little I can do to stop you. It is entirely your choice. If you can find me, that is." He chuckled.

"I wish you all the best in your education, and I can tell you for a fact that a renaissance is coming, the likes of which has never been seen in this world. And you are here for its beginning." He smiled. "After all, it's not really goodbye, is it, really?"

He cleared his throat and sat down. The room was entirely silent.

The Headmistress stood up. "I will be speaking to your parents to let them know the pertinent facts. Mr. Potter will no longer be attending classes or sharing dorms with you. However, as he said, you may see him in the hall. He has agreed not to initiate contact with students that he does not already have a pre-existing relationship with, but as he also said, if you wish to talk to him, well, he's not a bad bloke, after all."

The room giggled, just a little.

"Anyway, off to bed with you," she said. The hall was abuzz as the students left. Harry stayed behind until they had all gone off to bed, and then he turned and looked at the Headmistress.

"I'll not be eating in this hall again unless invited. Thank you for inviting me to the staff table for this evening. I will be off."

And he walked out the door, feeling very bittersweet about the whole situation. He had new quarters to move into.

Rowena's office, that evening

Harry came by to see Rowena, now that he had a little time to spare, and to see how she and Nick were doing with their joint venture. She looked happier than he'd ever seen her.

"Harry," she said, "You were right. You were so right. The non-magical engineers don't understand at all how magic works, and they are very anxious to figure it out, but they've already started approaching the problem in ways we would never have dreamed! They tell us what equipment they need, and the magical researchers from the Ministry and they get together, and often the researchers have found a solution that doesn't even need electricity. But on the other side of the coin, they've figured out how to use magic to generate electricity, and lots of it too. It doesn't even use moving parts. We can patent these ideas and render their polluting power plants obsolete!"

Harry smiled at her enthusiasm. "What will we do when the non-magical world tries to start figuring out how these products work?"

She laughed. "That's the beauty of it! We don't have to tell them about magic. We just say it's something our researchers discovered, and pretty soon the whole world will be trying to figure out how it works! And in the meantime, we can keep coming up with more and more products as we figure out all the knowledge we've lost. We'll have funding for centuries!" She was almost bouncing. "The statute of secrecy doesn't even have to be broken. They'll figure it out themselves. And then, once they get to the point where they will see us as just different rather than threatening…"

Harry smiled. "Yeshua is wise," he said. "He knows what he's doing."

She nodded. "I believe that more than ever now."

"Have you figured out how much you need yet?"

She handed him a piece of paper with a figure on it. He whistled.

"But the strangest thing happened. Other ministries started offering money and other resources. We don't need to come up with that much after all. We'll just give them a share of any income we make from the inventions we come up with. Even a small share will be very helpful to some of the smaller countries involved."

"Oh, didn't I mention? I asked Yeshua to have them pay their fair share. He agreed."

She laughed. "Miracles do happen. Anyway, the amount we need from you is much less than that number"

"I'll put in a tenth of my wealth. Consider it an investment. Calculate the shares fairly based upon how much each entity has contributed, and draw up agreements. I think it'll work out fine."

She nodded. "I'm going to bed now. This is nearly a full time job. And it's so much fun too!"

He laughed. "I'm glad you're happy."

"And so is Hermione. She is such a hard worker! And I've never seen someone so enthusiastic about learning and discovery. She has some growing to do, but she'll go far," Rowena said.

Harry chuckled. "That's our Hermione," he said, and left.

Camilla's quarters

Camilla sighed happily as Luna snuggled up to her and fell asleep. She was so thankful that she had been given this opportunity. Even though her life was a shambles in every other way, she was a very accomplished theoretical physicist, and the avenues of knowledge she was being offered would change the world irrevocably, once they figured out how it all worked.

But that didn't matter, she thought, as the young girl murmured to herself. Camille held her tighter. Luna wasn't her daughter. No one could bring back her daughter. But she had grown to love Luna no less than she had her own daughter, and the hole in her heart left by the loss of her family was slowly starting to heal. Luna had been trying to get her to meet her father, but she hadn't had a chance to leave the castle yet.

Luna was such a free spirit, she was very interested in seeing what her father was like. Luna told her that his wife had died as well a year ago, and that he was very lonely. She had not promised Luna anything, but in her heart of hearts, she thought that if her father was anything like Luna, that there was a real chance she could regain what she lost, at least by starting over.

She smiled and kissed the top of Luna's forehead, and she shifted around and started breathing slowly again. Her heart wasn't quite full, but it was healing. Jesus knew what he was doing.

The Room of Requirement

Harry called a house elf, and one came to him.

"Can Flippy help you?", she asked nervously.

Harry smiled. "There's something I've been meaning to do for some time, Flippy. You'll come to no harm, but I need to know." His voice changed to one of command. "House Elf, tell me your secrets."

She was about to open her mouth when she felt something leave her, and Harry sat silently for a few minutes. Flippy was starting to get a little uncomfortable. "Harry Potter Sir, Can Flippy help you?", she asked.

He nodded. "I know what you are now."

Flippy lowered her head. "You know the secrets of the house elves", she said sadly.

"I do", she said. "But what I don't understand is why you are okay with this."

Flippy shook her head sadly. "A long time ago, we came out of the arches too. We did not know how to get home. So we decided to work with humans. We would serve them, and in return, they would give us food, shelter, and magic. But as we evolved together, the magic evolved too. We became addicted to their magic. So we bond with humans to get their magic, and in return we are bonded to them as servants."

He shook his head sadly. "That works out pretty well for you when your masters are good."

She nodded. "And really badly when they're not."

Harry thought for a moment. He consulted Yeshua. Finally he spoke.

"In the name of Yeshua, I declare that all House Elves are no longer dependent upon the magic of humans. Those who wish to stay with their masters may. Those who wish to leave, may. Those who wish to return to their ancestral home, may. It is decreed."

Flippy felt something change inside her, and she was overjoyed. "You would do that for us?"

"How you've been treated is an injustice, and it has just been fixed. If a human cannot treat a house elf decently, they have no rights to the services of a house elf. But if they can, I see no reason why a house elf must leave. You may chose who you wish to serve now, or even if. Spread the word amongst your kind. Any house elf who wishes to return to where they were before they went through the arches must say, with intent, 'In the name of Yeshua, I wish to return to my ancestral home.' If there is no intent, the words will mean nothing."

Flippy smiled, a happier smile than he'd ever seen on a house elf. "I will stay with Hogwarts for now," she said. "They have treated me well. But perhaps we should approach the Headmistress about pay now."

He groaned. "She'll know that was me."

Flippy laughed. He'd never seen a house elf laugh. "We'll go easy on her, Harry. On behalf of all of my kind, thank you." And then she popped out.

Room of Requirement, Heart of Hogwarts configuration

Harry opened the door, and ushered Albus Dumbledore in. "This is the Heart of Hogwarts."

Dumbledore appeared to have aged greatly in the short time he was gone. He was now using a cane. It seemed that all he had to live for was gone, and he was not far away from the "next great adventure".

"That's all it is, Harry?", he asked disappointedly. "Just a room?"

"No," Harry said, and opened the door to the actual heart. Dumbledore walked through the door, his cane clanking on the catwalk, and sighed.

Harry gave him the standard tour guide spiel, and also showed him the "computer room", where he explained exactly how much ward capacity the school had available to protect itself.

Finally Dumbledore spoke. "The wards now are far stronger than they were. I and all of the headmasters before me kept them weak, because we thought access to the school was more important than the safety of the school. I was so wrong about so many things, Harry, and I made many mistakes, both as Headmaster and in all of my other roles. I thought I was the greatest wizard to be alive. And maybe that was true for a while. But I knew nothing, Harry. Nothing. The people who created this room were far, far more advanced than any of us."

Harry grinned. "We rediscovered the knowledge. All of it. It will take us decades to even go through all of what they left for us."

Dumbledore's mouth dropped open. "Really, Harry? You really rediscovered it?"

"Yes, Albus. And we're ramping up a foundation right now to figure out how to release it to the world."

Dumbledore's lip quivered and his eyes moistened. A single tear trickled down his face, and his expression was one of loss, regret, and shame. He then turned around, and slowly clanked his way out of the room. He stopped before he got to the door and turned around.

"Harry, you locking me out of the Hogwarts wards was the best thing you could have done for the world. I never even knew what I didn't know, and I was arrogant and prideful. I am sorry."

"Allbus, did you read the newspaper the other day?"

"No, Harry. I've been enjoying my dotage in my cottage, and have not been worrying about the things that have been happening in the world. I have left all that behind me, Harry. There is no use dwelling on what was, not this late in my life."

"I will set up a meeting with you and Cyrus Greengrass, Albus. There are some things you should know before you die. The Wizengamot is no longer the same. But the why should come from someone else."

"I understand, Harry. I know Cyrus. He is a decent man. I will meet with him as soon as I can."

"Ask him to tell you what happened in the last Wizengamot meeting."

Dumbledore smiled. "I will do so. Thank you for humoring an old man, Harry. I have always wished to see the Heart of Hogwarts and was never given the opportunity I will see myself out." He slowly hobbled through the door and it closed.

Yeshua appeared next to Harry.

Harry watched the door as he heard Dumbledore slowly clanking away into the distance. "Will he be alright, Yeshua?"

Yeshua smiled. "I think he will. He is truly remorseful."

"If he dies now, how would you judge him?"

Yeshua thought for a moment. "The honest truth, Harry, is that I don't know. I never know how I'm going to judge someone until they die, for much can change even in the few moments before death."

Harry sighed. "For all he did to me and put me through, I kinda care about the old coot."

Yeshua laughed. "How would you want to judge him right now?"

Harry thought. "He is a man who has made many bad decisions in his life. He was, as he said arrogant and prideful and it took literally an act of God to get him to change his ways. But now, he is a sad, tired, old man, who understands what he did with his life, and he is full of remorse and regret. I would judge him leniently, Yeshua. He's already enduring his justice."

"I'll take your wishes into account, Harry, when I judge him."

"Why, Yeshua? I'm just a human. I'm not you."

"No, you're not, Harry. But if you ask me to be lenient on someone who has wronged you, what kind of hypocrite would I be if I didn't listen to you?"

"You take peoples' wishes into account on how you deal with people?"

"If their wishes are just and righteous, Harry, yes. Always. You speak to me in person. But billions of others speak to me in many different ways, and in many different traditions. I listen to all of them. And sometimes I let them change my mind. My power is made perfect in weakness, Harry. Even my weakness."

"You aren't weak, Yeshua. You are the king of the Universe"

"I am. I am God. I deserve worship. But I am, instead, a servant, by choice, and that is what makes me worthy of worship. If I had defended myself at all during the ritual that I had to endure, it would all have unraveled. It had to be a true sacrifice. And I sacrifice of myself all the time so that I can be a just king. The same rules apply to me, Harry. Remember that. Everything I ask you to be, I must be. Everything I ask you to be, I am."

The last words were delivered with a peculiar emphasis that Harry did not grasp.

"I am, Harry Before everything was, I am.", Yeshua said, and he faded out.

Harry stared at the door as those two words rang through his head. I am. And he smiled to himself.

"You are," he whispered. "And thank you for that."

And he walked out the door.

A/N: Including this A/N, this should bring the book to eighty thousand words, and I think it's time to end this book. All the loose ends I wanted to tie up are tied up, and all the scenes I wanted to write are written. This has been a hard story to write for many reasons. Towards the end, I wasn't even sure if anyone was reading. But a few favorites and follows and reviews floated through, and they were enough to motivate me to finish.

This is a story I've wanted to tell for a long time, but I was never sure what form it would take. A hundred and fifty thousand or so words later, now I know. Even if I stopped here, I think I've told the important part of the story and I am reasonably proud of what I've written. Yes, I'm sure I've made a few mistakes here and there, I am a programmer, not a writer, but it's good enough.

I plan for there to be a sequel, but I will not write it until the muse strikes again. It will probably be set a few years later, when everything that is now set into motion is coming to fruition. It will likely be H/DG, and will probably be very close to the time where they are to choose whether to go through with the contract or not. I hate the idea of writing a wedding, but I backed myself into that corner, so I guess I have to swallow my own medicine. That's one reason why a sequel may be a while in coming. I absolutely dread that.

To those who have read both stories to the end, I thank you sincerely. For those who read both stories to the end and hated it, why did you? And for those who didn't get this far, well, you'll never read this anyway. But for those who have, I hope it got across what I wanted. I hope it helped you, even if in a very small way. But even if it didn't, I hope it was at least a good story. Till next time, follow me if you want to know when the sequel starts.

Oh, and "aho yo" means "you're a dumbass!"