Epilogue: Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived

Pius Thicknesse was revealed to be under the Imperious curse as he was released from it by the death of Voldemort whilst he was sitting in front of the Heads of several of the Ministry's Departments. He was placed back into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement under the direct supervision of Amelia Bones after it was determined by Auror Alastor Moody that he had been in no control of his own body. Amelia was found bound and tortured in her home, but otherwise of sound mind. Rufus Scrimgeour stepped up and took temporary office as Minister for Magic, until he was replaced permanently by Kingsley Shacklebolt. Dumbledore reassumed office as Headmaster of Hogwarts, and Minerva McGonagall stepped back down to Deputy Headmistress.

A memorial service for Harry Potter's final sacrifice was held at Hogwarts, and a life–size marble statue of him was later carved and placed in the centre of the restored courtyard, the very spot where he sacrificed his life to bring down Lord Voldemort. Fleur Isabelle Delacour was given Harry's post–mortem Order of Merlin, First Class, and was given one herself, as well as the title of 'Chevalier' in France for her efforts in securing transport for the persecuted Muggleborns and their families to France, as well as her participation at the Battle of Hogwarts, where she killed four Death Eaters, and defeated several more. Several others who participated were granted honours and medals, and a large portrait of Harry and Fleur was placed in the Great Hall, with a plaque on the frame reading 'Our Saviours'.

A few months after the battle, Britain was still recovering from Voldemort's regime. While it had been short, he had been brutally efficient in his take–over, and the scars ran deep. A list of names written in Harry Potter's hand, as authenticated by Fleur Delacour herself, was found in the pocket of her jeans hours after the hero's death. The list was of every single member of the Death Eaters, which were coerced into the services, and which were under magical influence. Even months after his death, Harry Potter's work could be felt and seen. Exactly thirty days after the battle, an anonymous person released documents drafted by Lucius Abraxes Malfoy, revealing the Ancient and Noble families involved in Voldemort's cause, as well as the extent and nature of their involvement. A small 'HP' in Harry's writing was scratched on the bottom of the final page beside a small smiley which winked with a thumbs–up hand.

Around two years after the battle, Fleur simply disappeared, leaving just a note for her family that she was going to 'find herself' after she had lost her love. No one had raised any questions. It had become public knowledge that Harry had asked her to marry him before his death, and she had said yes. As per the marriage laws of France, and as a special service in the magical communities, Fleur had been allowed to 'marry' Harry after his death, even when there was no body to find. Fleur Isabelle Delacour had become Fleur Isabelle Potter, but she hadn't taken Ladyship of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter, nor had she even touched the Potter vaults, except to cancel the apartment Harry had purchased for them. She occasionally exchanged a small amount into British Pounds, and her little sister Gabrielle had commented that she had started living as a Muggle, just like Harry had until he turned thirteen. She was praised to high heavens in the media as a brave warrior and loyal woman, yet no one had been able to find her to get a statement.

Hermione joined the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to promote her S.P.E.W., or Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. It had actually taken off a bit, and many house–elves were now paid a small amount for their services. Hermione was also slowly rising through the ranks of the DRCMC, and stood to take over as Department Head.

Ron Weasley had joined George in running Weasley Wizard Wheezes, since Fred had died during the Battle of Hogwarts. The business had taken off after the dark times of Voldemort had passed. There were rumours going around that he had started dating Hermione.

Ginny Weasley became a professional Quidditch player as chaser for the Holyhead Harpies. She played really well, and quickly became team captain after the current captain suffered a really bad accident during a game. She took the team to new heights, and she was featured as a guest player on England's national team.

Arthur Weasley had been promoted to Head of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects. It was established by Rufus Scrimgeour since there had been a period of time where people thought that the defeat of Voldemort was, once again, only temporary, and this time they wouldn't have Harry Potter to save them. As such, counterfeit protective charms and amulets had appeared on the market, driven by fear of the return of the greatest Dark Lord to ever exist.

Gabrielle Delacour had grown up and finished her time at Beauxbatons. Fleur had been seen at the party which was held for her little sister's graduation, happy as ever and in the company of an unknown man with blond hair and blue eyes. Pictures had been taken, showing that Fleur had developed thin, fine scars from the wounds she sustained on her face and neck in the Battle of Hogwarts, and she kept her hair as short as she had asked Sirius to cut it since some had been singed off by curses narrowly missing her skin. When someone talked to the man she was accompanied by, he reportedly talked with a heavy Italian accent. Apparently, Fleur had met him in Florence. Many people were outraged at the news, but Fleur's family seemed to take it well, as did the people around them invited to the party, including the Weasleys, Sirius and Amelia, and Remus and Tonks. No one seemed to have been angry with Fleur for finding a man who made her happy again. Gabrielle then left on a trip around the world with her boyfriend, a certain Kristian Strasbury from England.

The Delacour parents moved to the home Harry had given them as a Christmas present, and Sebastien had become a senior member of the International Confederation of Wizards, seeing as he was father–in–law to Harry Potter, and father to Fleur Potter, not to mention his assistance in the matter of getting refugees from Britain to France.

Remus had married Tonks, and they had started a family. Their son, Edward Harry Lupin, was born a few days before the Battle of Hogwarts, and Harry had been named his godfather post–mortem to honour his memory. Remus and Tonks had also begun advocating for the rights of werewolves, and with contacts in the Ministry like Hermione and Sirius, some of the anti–werewolf legislations instated during Fudge's reign had been abolished, making the lives of werewolves much easier.

Sirius had joined the Auror Office in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and had quickly become a senior Auror, all his experience during two wars and having brushed up on old Black magic and lore, he quickly became Head Auror when Shacklebolt became Minister for Magic and Alastor Moody retired. He and Amelia had gotten close from working together, as they were both members of the DMLE, and announced their engagement five years after the Battle of Hogwarts.

James Evans had returned to the Auror Office in the MACUSA, but he occasionally visited and helped in larger cases in Britain.

And Meerlinda… well, no one knew what became of her. The new Fidelius charm James cast on her and the chantry ensured it.

But through everything, even after eight whole years of nothing, people still wondered if maybe, just maybe, Harry James Potter was still out there, waiting in the shadows for the magical world to need him once again. The more pragmatic were adamant that he could not rise from the dead, but others, more hopeful, were steadfast that he had, indeed, survived the Battle of Hogwarts.

Only Harry himself, if he had indeed survived, would know for certain.

•••

March, 8 years after the Battle of Hogwarts Rome, Italy

"I don't know anything, I swear!" the small man said with desperation.

"It's a simple question, ghoul," Fleur Potter snarled, her hand gripping the front of his shirt tightly. "Where. Is. Your. Domitor?"

The music was thumping throughout the nightclub, and Fleur was in no mood for games with the music hurting her recently heightened hearing. Her hair was still short, there were still a few scars on her face and neck, and she was wearing black, tight jeans, a somewhat low–cut, black tank top, and a black leather jacket with short sleeves, revealing a brand–like mark under her left forearm. The outfit was crowned off with a pair of low–heeled leather boots. Her eyes lit up and glowed bright golden. She pulled back her upper lip and revealed large canines.

"You should know not to keep a hungry wolf waiting."

"Christ, fine!" the small man yelled out. "He's at the construction site that shut down construction a few nights ago! Shit!"

She held him close to her face, making sure he could properly see her sharp teeth.

"If there's nothing there, I will be back."

She then roughly threw him over his desk, into a private bar, and turned around before she sauntered back downstairs. Despite being slightly beaten, and having a bruising back, he couldn't help but admire her behind as she walked away with slightly swaying hips.

•••

Fleur and Catherine walked together down an empty street. They both had serious expressions on their faces and were looking around, clearly looking for someone. They came up on the mentioned construction site, looked at each other, and then nodded. They spread out and went in from separate directions. Fleur slowly and quietly walked through half–finished hallways, listening for hearts and lungs. She counted three or four, beside her own. Her face remained as stoic as ever as she neared the source of the sounds, and she peeked around a corner. She saw seven people, three sitting around a table, each one having a human or near–human bodyguard. They were relatively young men, everyone gathered, but the three at the table were definitely vampires, and the humans might be centuries–old ghouls. Fleur had paid attention when Catherine taught her, however. And she was no ordinary human. Her eyes glowed a dim golden colour, allowing her to see perfectly in the dimly lit room.

"Go!" she shouted, and she ran out from the wall.

She ran up to the closest vampire and pulled a wooden stake out from it's holster under her jacket, strapped to her back. She quickly drove it into the vampire's heart through the back, and then cracked the glass it had sipped blood from on the table, before throwing the very sharp object right into the nearest ghoul's throat. She then pulled out stake number two, and jumped at another vampire. The vampire grabbed her hand and yanked, throwing her off–balance. She was then grabbed by the waist of her pants and the back of her jacket, and hurled through the room. She crashed into a concrete wall, but when she landed, she quickly got back up and pulled out a knife from the third and final holster under her jacket. She was breathing a little heavily as Catherine was making short work of her vampire and the two remaining ghouls. When she was done, she stood back and watched Fleur take on the vampire herself, and Fleur was glad she did. She had spent the past three years training like a madwoman. It was time to see how far she had come.

"Foolish mortal," the vampire said with disgust in it's voice. "You think you can beat me, little ghoul?"

Fleur smiled, adrenalin rushing through her body and exciting her.

"I'm no ghoul, bloodsucker."

She then ran straight at him, using her lycanthropic strength and speed, and stabbed him in the throat with the bayonet. She managed to force him to the ground, and then started hacking the knife into his throat, spraying blood all over herself as the vampire desperately tried healing the wound, but she kept stabbing and hacking, until his spine snapped and his head fell off. He slowly crumpled to nothing but dust, just like the vampire Catherine had taken care of. Fleur was breathing heavily, more from the adrenalin–induced excitement than exertion. She had a little cut on her forehead from a sharp piece of concrete, which healed in mere seconds. She stood up and walked over to the remaining vampire. She then began hacking away at his throat as well, until he too crumpled to dust. Fleur turned to Catherine and looked at her with expectant eyes half covered with stray hair.

"Alright," Catherine said with a small smile, "you are better than I expected."

Fleur grinned and chuckled. She then ran a hand through her rustled hair, pulled it out of her face, and looked around.

"Verdammt," Catherine said. "There's no sign of what they were discussing."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Fleur said, and pointed at the ceiling.

Catherine looked up, and saw some strange symbols drawn in a circle. It was all drawn in blood, but Catherine thought the symbols themselves were more ominous. Fleur pulled out a phone and took a few pictures as Catherine pulled out a torch and pointed it at the symbols. The women then stacked the bodies of the humans neatly and set fire to them. Well, Fleur set fire to them, as Catherine would just start freaking out if she was anywhere near the fire. When Fleur came out to her vampiric mentor, the vampire held out her fist, and Fleur bumped it.

"You still happy with being the same thing as him?" she asked carefully.

"It took some getting used to," Fleur admitted with a small sigh. "The sounds and lights," she waved her finger around, a little unsure what to do with it, "are still a little… strong. I never imagined that he'd always hungered for my blood, though. I still feel the pulses and the… the blood, around me. It isn't as strong as it used to be, but…"

"Well, James said that he had refined the ritual," Catherine said understandingly. "Purged the weaknesses, enhanced the powers… I can't blame you for a little sensory overload. I'll see you tomorrow night," Catherine said with a small smile.

"See you," Fleur responded with a smile of her own, and the two women headed in their separate directions.

•••

Fleur entered the small apartment, where the lights were on, and someone was in the bathroom.

"Everything go okay?" a male voice in a thick, Italian accent came from inside.

"Kind of," Fleur answered. "I need you to take a look at some symbols we found at the site."

She sat down on the couch, her back facing towards the bathroom door. The man from the bathroom walked out and placed his hands on her shoulders and started rubbing them. Fleur moaned in pleasure at the skilled ministrations of the hands.

"Could I perhaps interest you in some entertainment first, Mrs Potter?"

"Mmm, definitely," she replied with a smile and eyes closed, relishing the touch, "Mr Potter."

The man's blond hair slowly turned black, and blue eyes slowly faded to bright green as Harry leant over and started trailing warm kisses down Fleur's neck, and she hummed in pleasure at the sensation.

"How about the bedroom?" he whispered in her ear, now in his native English dialect and sending chills down her spine.

"Thought you would never ask," she replied, and quickly stood from the couch.

She eagerly jumped over the back of the sofa and was caught in his arms. Her legs closed around his back, and her arms around his shoulders. His hands held her up by her tight derriere, and he chuckled into her lips on his, making her giggle. He then carried her to the bedroom and fell forwards on the bed, making her shriek at the sudden fall, but instants later she was laughing as he started tickling her.

•••

"Do you ever think about going back to England?" Fleur asked as she cuddled against Harry, both naked under the covers of the bed, and both having worked up a sweat from the intense lovemaking.

Before, Harry could easily outlast her. Now, with the enhancements, he could still outlast her, but she could last for hours.

"Once in a while," Harry admitted as he absentmindedly stroked her head. "Then I remember that they think that I'm dead."

"It wouldn't be the first time you came back from the dead," she pointed out. She started gently kissing his shoulder and chest, before moving up to his jaw.

"True," he said and gave her a few chaste kisses as her lips captured his. "How about this summer?" he asked. "We could surprise them and go work at Hogwarts, together? Be a real shocker for the kids," he started chuckling.

"I think I'd like that," Fleur said and looked him deeply in the eyes. "Nothing can hurt us this time."

Harry took her left hand with his right and lifted their linked hands. They then looked at the identical Marks of Cain, his on the right arm, hers on the left. He then returned his gaze to hers.

"I will love you for as long as I walk this Earth," he muttered.

"And I will love you even longer, mon amour," she whispered.

"Touché."

They shared another long gaze into each other's eyes, just relishing the prospect of spending forever with the love of their now eternal lives. They then closed their eyes and joined together for another kiss, which rapidly heated up to another intense few hours of unimaginable euphoria, sealed by whimpered declarations of everlasting love between moans and cries of pleasure.

•••

1 week after the Battle of Hogwarts Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean

Harry sat on the deck of the fishing boat, right beside the steel coffin. His golden eyes looked out over the dark ocean, and the rain did little to deter him. The cold was bearable, and the boy was in a generally otherwise good mood. He looked back towards the captain of the vessel.

"Are we there!?" he called loudly over the rain, thunder and rough waters.

"Yeup!" the captain shouted back.

Harry smiled as he got up and opened the coffin. Inside lay a snow–white man with rather serpentine features. A wooden stake was sticking out of his stake.

"Good evening, Tom," Harry called with a laugh.

The man's eyes shot open and glared furiously at Harry, yet the former wizard couldn't move an inch.

"Looks like it's time to go," Harry kept laughing, "but it was a little fun, at the very least. Now, look into my eyes."

Tom glared into Harry's eyes, and Harry then projected what he knew to be the old wizard's worst nightmares into his head, putting the fledgling vampire into torpor and forcing him to witness his greatest fear over and over and over again. Harry then pulled out a few more stakes and stabbed them all into the area around his heart… better safe than sorry. Harry then closed the steel casket and locked the heavy chains around it, not to mention that there was almost a metric ton of weights in the bottom of the coffin. With a few spells, he made sure that the coffin would never be opened again, and then with a mighty roar of victory and relief, he pushed the ton–heavy coffin off the boat and into this deep trench of the ocean. He watched as it quickly sank, rendering him unable to see it. Harry smiled and turned back towards the captain.

"Let's go home, Captain!" he roared.

"Aye, let's!"

Harry stood on the deck and looked towards the direction they had come from. He was now free. Voldemort would never be a bother again.