Chapter 52 epilogue -

Harry's last year at Hogwarts was no less interesting than the previous ones. He had come back in his final year, not as the boy-who-lived. But as the 'man-who-conquered', that was one of his many titles given to him by the press. Harry was glad that he was able to spend a year without an attempt on his life, not a single attempt to kill him.

Though it was kind of sad that that was his standard for a good year.

That did not mean that Harry's year was an easy one, he became head boy and he had captained the quidditch team and was able to lead it to victory, earning the quidditch world cup. But that wasn't the only thing that kept Harry's attention this year, it was also the fact that he was the top student in his year. Before he took Dumbledore's magic he was already the strongest in terms of power, but now he was more so, to the point where he had to spend several days before school simply trying to get used to his powers.

The need for that had increased when he had accidently vanished Tonks's clothes when she entered his room one time, funnily enough neither of them complained about that but it did mean that he had to seriously work on it unless he wanted to accidently kill people.

Harry had also been spending a lot of time studying for his 'Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests' which were often abbreviated as 'newts', Harry was hoping to get the highest marks he could possibly get. He knew he would pass any practical aspect of his exams, so he was spending most of his time working on his theory knowledge.

Which was why he was currently in the library, and reading through some books. Unfortunately a problem that Harry was suffering through was the fact that it felt like his number of fans had tripled at least, Harry could hardly remember the last time he had lasted an entire day without some girl asking him out, most of them (like ninety percent of them) would often come back a few days later in the hopes that Harry would change his mind later. And the boys didn't ask him out, apart from a small few, but they did look at him with fear, jealousy and awe. The other day Harry had walked past Colin Creevy and the younger boy upon seeing Harry froze, a few seconds later he looked like he had just gone twelve rounds with a veela.

Harry wasn't too surprised by the high amount of attention he was receiving, as far as everyone was concerned Harry was an unstoppable mega wizard who was even better than Dumbledore seeing as Dumbledore was still an adult when he fought Grindelwald while Harry had defeated Voldemort twice. Voldemort was concerned by most to be even worse than Grindelwald, so the fact that Harry had been able to defeat him once as a baby and a second time as a teenager, meant that Harry's reputation had increased to the point that he could probably kill half the people in the school and get away with it.

Though he probably could get away with it if not for the new Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones. Amelia Bones was well respected in the wizarding world, not just for her family name, but also for her work as an auror and as the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (DMLE). She competed for the position against Rufus Scrimgeour, who didn't get the position he wanted but was made head of the auror department, which wasn't the worst consolation prize.

Amelia Bones as the new head of magical Britain, was making waves, and had begun pressing down on as many criminals as she could. Fortunately for her all of the death eaters (or at least all of the marked ones) were dead, something which Harry had explained as being an 'unfortunate' side effect of Voldemort's death. Though one other thing that interested Harry was the fact that Miss Bones could in the future become Mrs Black, as she was now in a relationship with Sirius who was now working as an auror again.

So not only was Harry rich, handsome, a powerful wizard who had defeated the worst dark lord of all time twice but he also had good family connections. No wonder so many people desired him.

"Harry." A voice huffed. Harry looked up to see none other than Hermione Granger staring at him with an irritated expression on her face as she held a book against her chest, noticeably using one arm to do so. Her hair was more bushier and less tame than usual, showing just how stressed the seventh year girl was.

"Hello Hermione, you look...well...like Hermione. Anything I can help you with?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, can you please just leave?" Hermione spoke in an annoyed voice.

"Leave what? Leave where?"

"Can you just leave the library?" Hermione spoke through gritted teeth.

"Why should I?" Harry responded. "I am studying for my newt exams, I have the right to be here, just like anyone else. You know just because you practically live here doesn't mean that it's your actual home."

"I am asking you to leave so I can study."

"How is me being here stopping you from studying?"

"Because of them!" Hermione growled as she pointed to nearby tables full of girls that were gossiping and talking to each other while looking at Harry. "I can't study in the Gryffindor common room because everyone there won't shut up about you and now I can't study here because everyone wants to keep gossiping about you."

"You're right Hermione," Harry spoke in a bland voice. "it was so selfish of me to stop the worst dark lord of all time, I should have known that doing so would result in people wanting to stop you from studying just so they could talk about me."

"Harry, I..."

"Why don't you just use a silencing charm?" Harry interrupted before she could reply. "I mean if I want quiet then I'd use a silencing charm, it's very simple magic. If it's too advanced for you then I can perform it for you."

"It...is not...too advanced for me." Hermione spoke after several calming breaths. "Madam Pince has forbidden the use of silencing charms in the library, apparently people get up too much mischief and they can't hear when she tells them to not do something."

"Well in that case, tough shit Hermione."

"Harry language." Hermione said, almost automatically.

"Hermione, I don't give a shit about language, I agree that there is a time and place where it shouldn't be allowed. But I'm British, swearing is a thing that we do daily."

"Not every British person swears Harry," Hermione glared at him before another look took over her face. Harry very easily recognized the look that was currently on her face, it was the same look that Hermione would always have when she desperately wanted to know something. "how did you do it?" Hermione whispered so others wouldn't hear.

"Do what?" Harry asked, not bothering to whisper.

"Defeat you-know-who," Hermione spoke, still whispering. "how did you do it?"

"It was quite simple, I acted like myself." Harry shrugged.

"What?!" Hermione blurted out, forgetting that she was supposed to be whispering.

"My first few years at Hogwarts were spent being someone else, being the Harry Potter that everyone wanted, the simple minded Gryffindor. After you all betrayed me in my fourth year I realized I would be better off being who I really am and I am glad I did so. Because if I didn't then I'd be relying on you for help even now." Harry said as he stood up ad closed his book. "I'm going to be in the library tomorrow, you can have the library for today, you'll need it more than I do." Harry added before he walked off.

Harry was walking down the hallway when suddenly he came across another person he most definitely did not want to talk to, Ron Weasley.

"What do you want?" Harry asked bluntly. Ron had been acting odd for most of the year, whenever he saw Harry his face would go red and he would make an effort to avoid him by moving to a far part of the room. Harry, who wanted nothing to do with Ron, didn't complain or try to fix that. But it looked like today Ron had something to say.

"How did you do it?!" Ron blurted out, his face redder than usual.

"Can you be more specific?" Harry drawled. "How did I do what?"

"Defeat you-know-who! How did you stop him?"

"By defeating him." Harry shrugged.

"Tell me!" Ron demanded.

"Sorry Weasley but it's a secret only known to a few, even the Minister of Magic doesn't know the full story. So you can see why you're not going to get an answer."

"I bet you didn't even do anything!" Ron spat, glaring at Harry. "I bet Dumbledore did all of the work and you just took all the credit!"

"Ha, isn't that a laugh?" Harry softly chuckled. "Someone else doing all of the work and someone else taking all of the credit? Who does that remind you of? Oh yes, me and you!" Harry spoke as if he had suddenly been told an unbelievable idea. "I mean after first year you went around telling people that you had heroically defeated McGonagall's chess set, never mind the fact that Granger and I did all of the rest. Didn't you one time in my first year claim to have taught me all I know about riding on a broom?" Harry smirked at Ron's reddening face, if it went any redder then the sixth son of the Weasley family would likely pop. "What's the matter Ron? Cat got you tongue?"

"It all goes your bloody way doesn't it?!" Ron shouted, pulling his wand out. "Harry Potter gets this! Harry Potter gets that! Harry Potter saved the school! Harry Potter won the tournament! Harry Potter defeated you-know-who!"

"Oh is the ickle wickle redhead jealous?" Harry spoke in a baby voice before shaking his head at Ron. "Grow up Weasley, you were with me for my first few years at Hogwarts and you knew that I never took advantage of my fame. You knew that I worked for those accomplishments, if it wasn't for me then your bushy haired girlfriend would have been paste on the side of a troll's club."

"I'm the one who knocked the troll out!"

"You're also the one who caused Granger to be there in the first place." Harry reminded him. "And it that wasn't enough then how about the fact that in my second year it was me who saved your sister by going up against a basilisk of all things, if you were with me then you'd likely end up getting yourself or both of us killed. There were plenty of more useful people to befriend than you, your best quality was your loyalty. Your unwavering loyalty and even that didn't last."

"You git!" Ron yelled before he aimed his wand at Harry and fired off a high powered flame blast, which if it Harry would have caused substantial damage. Harry didn't show any sign of fear, he instead simply raised his hand and cast a wandless shield which easily blocked the flame blast. Harry's power boost from Dumbledore had made it so wandless magic was almost as easy for him as regular magic with a wand. "What?!" Ron blurted out.

"You always were an idiot." Harry said before he wandlessly cast a stunner that hit Ron square in the chest. Harry took his wand out before casting the patronus spell, Harry's tiger flew off to get Headmistress McGonagall after Harry had given it a message. Harry didn't fully trust Professor McGonagall, she had been Dumbledore's 'yes woman' for so long that it was difficult to not see her as anything but that. However since the knowledge of the fact that Harry defeated Voldemort came out, she had been more respectful towards Harry. Harry didn't really know if it was because she felt guilty for her previous actions or if she simply thought he deserved more respect, but he didn't really care too much since it benefitted him.

"What has happened?!" Headmistress McGonagall asked as soon as she arrived on the scene.

"This git tried to attack me." Harry said as he revived Ron.

"What?" Ron blurted out as he woke up, he shook his head then nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Professor McGonagall standing in front of him. "Professor?!" He squeaked.

"Mr Weasley, Mr Potter told me that you tried to attack him." Professor McGonagall spoke in a disappointed voice.

"I didn't!" Ron denied.

"The boy is lying," One portrait said, Ron looked around and appeared to have only just remembered that there were portraits on the walls. "I saw the whole thing Headmistress, the boy demanded questions from Mr Potter on how he defeated you-know-who then began making baseless accusations where he accused Mr Potter of being a fraud who took credit for Dumbledore's work, and that was before he began complaining about how everything was going Mr Potter's way.

The redhead attacked him with a dangerous flame spell that would have caused a lot of damage if Mr Potter hadn't blocked it with a wandless shield."

"Wandless magic?" Professor McGonagall gasped.

"He wandlessly stunned him as well." Another portrait informed her.

"I...I...Mr Potter, ten points to Gryffindor for such a mastery of magic, I dare say that you will not have much to worry about when you take your newt exams." Professor McGonagall said to Harry before turning to Ron. "As for you Mr Weasley, this is hardly your first time where it has been reported that you have used violence against other students, you will follow me."

"But I..." Ron began only to be interrupted.

"Now." Professor McGonagall said in a stern voice, Ron looked like he was about to argue but wisely chose not to, he got to his feet and sent Harry one last glare before following Professor McGonagall to her office.

"I'm going to miss you." Astoria admitted as she sat with Harry and the others. They were all outside, sat by the lake with Tracy sitting with Daphne and Scott and Jean while Harry was sat against a tree and Astoria sat next to him, leaning into his side.

"I'll miss you too, squirt." Harry smiled.

"Don't call me that," Astoria rolled her eyes. "I'm growing."

"Really?" Harry asked in a fake surprised voice.

"I don't care how many dark lords you defeat, I will hex you." Astoria said in a warning tone.

"She'll do it Potter." Daphne smirked in amusement.

"Of that, I have no doubt." Harry replied.

"What are you guys going to do when you leave?" Scott asked.

"Daphne and I intend to spend some time at the potions apothecary in Diagon Alley," Tracy replied. "just to earn some money while we both get our potions mastery."

"What about you, Harry?" Jean asked.

"I've been scouted by a few quidditch teams," Harry admitted. "I've got an invitation to try out for Puddlemere United this weekend."

"What?!" Astoria squeaked. "That's my favorite team!" She said in an excited voice.

"And that is naturally why I chose it," Harry joked. "but I plan to play quidditch part time, or if that doesn't work then get another job part time. I want to get my mastery in defense, then I plan to get a job at Hogwarts."

"Really?" Daphne asked.

"Yeah, I'll work at Hogwarts and attend Wizengamot meetings when I can or send a proxy when I can't." Harry shrugged.

"Well, I think you'll be a great teacher." Astoria grinned at Harry.

"Thanks." Harry smiled. "That means a lot."

"I'm just glad that we can get through the rest of our lives without all of that you-know-who crap." Scott commented.

"Aren't we all?" Harry grinned.

Harry was calmly walking along the lake, enjoying the peaceful and calm atmosphere. Today was his last day in Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, tomorrow he would be returning home so he could face the rest of the world. Harry didn't really know how to describe what he was feeling, it felt like finishing a big book, only to know you had to write another.

"Harry!" Tonks called, Harry turned around to see Tonks, Sirius and Fleur all walking towards him.

"Hey guys," Harry smiled before pulling each of them into individual hugs. "I'm so glad you're here."

"And miss your graduation ceremony? Never!" Sirius said as he clapped Harry on the back.

"You're going to behave yourself?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow at Sirius.

"Yes he is," Tonks grinned before Sirius could reply. "old Bonesy will be here to keep an eye on him."

"Yeah," Sirius rolled his eyes. "and unlike my lovely godson over here, I can't survive any and all spells."

"I can't 'survive any and all spells'," This time it was Harry who rolled his eyes. Harry raised his left hand and allowed his palm to change and become covered in green scales, "my skin can become thick enough to let me survive most spells, but that would hardly matter if I got roasted in fiendfyre." Harry said as his skin changed back. "Besides, you can do it as well if you happen to have a spare basilisk around." Harry added.

The secret to Harry's incredible ability to survive so many spells without injury came from a secret ritual invented by not just Salazar Slytherin, but also Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Godric Gryffindor. According to the books in the chamber of secrets, Merlin had used this very ritual. It had involved a lot of blood, hours of chanting, a few rare ingredients, nearly all the energy Harry had possessed and the complete trust of a magical creature.

That was preciously why Tom Riddle had never done the ritual, he could provide all of the requirements apart from the last one. The basilisk that Tom had access to didn't completely trust Riddle, nor did Riddle completely trust the basilisk. Harry had been able to do it with the help of Selena who naturally trusted him as he was her father as far as she was concerned. The ritual granted him the ability to transform his skin, covering it in basilisk scales.

If Harry had taken the ritual all the way then he could have gotten the basilisk death stare and teeth, but he had chosen not to do that. He didn't go for the teeth, because he couldn't risk someone seeing them, he also thought it was unnecessary, not to mention he didn't really want to feel what it would be like to accidently bite your tongue or the inside of your cheek with basilisk teeth. Harry had also chosen not to get the killer death stare of the basilisk for obvious reasons, mostly because he didn't want to accidently kill someone by looking at them.

"I'm so proud of you," Fleur said as she kissed Harry on the cheek. "you've grown so much from the skinny boy you used to be." She smiled at him.

"Thanks Fleur." Harry smiled at her. "Word's don't describe how happy I am to have you all with me."

"Oh, you flatterer." Tonks smiled back as she ruffled his hair. "You can properly express your gratitude later when we get rid of the old dog for some alone time."

"Hey! I'm not old!" Sirius objected as the others laughed while walking away. "I'm not!" He added as he followed the others towards the castle.

At the end of the graduation ceremony it was reveled that Harry had taken the place for top student of the year while also getting the highest score for his year on his newt exams, something which didn't really please Hermione Granger.

Speaking of Hermione, after Hogwarts she had gone to work at the ministry. She had originally tried to work to make a law that would force people to free their house elves, unfortunately for her that didn't work as well as she would have liked. She was barely able to get some laws to prevent abuse of house elves before she found herself working in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office, which she eventually became the head of. Her job was hardly the best paying, nor was it what she desired seeing as her original plan was to become the first muggleborn Minister of Magic. As far as she was concerned it was not fair for her to have such a low paying job and a failed marriage with Ron Weasley while Harry had two beautiful partners and was working at Hogwarts. Hermione would eventually grow old and die alone, with nobody but her pet cats for company.

If Hermione thought that she had it bad then that was nothing compared to Ron Weasley, Ron had never completed his last year at Hogwarts thanks to being expelled. Apparently there were too many complaints about him resorting to violence when getting angry, angry being something he often became, Ron in his last year had tried attacking many Slytherin's because they were 'evil death eaters'. He had also bullied a few younger years into doing his homework for him, the fact that he tried to attack 'savior of the wizarding world' did not help matters in any way or form. After school he and Hermione had gotten married and then Ron had to suffer through a new collection of problems.

The first being how difficult it was for him to get a job, for some reason the Chudley Cannon's wouldn't let him play on their team, he couldn't imagine why. At one point he was able to get a job working for the twins but after a few months they grew tired of his behavior at work and fired him. He had tried to get both Bill and Charlie to give him a job, both brothers quickly refused as their jobs were dangerous and they were not going to bring someone as unqualified as Ron to work with them. That was how Ron ended up going to Percy and his father for a job, the best the pair were able to get him was a janitor job. It was simply because nobody wanted to hire someone who had gotten expelled from Hogwarts, especially one who had attacked Harry Potter. Ron was convinced that Harry was constantly sabotaging his attempts at getting a job.

Ron's lack of jobs was connected to one of his main problems with Hermione, as far as Ron was concerned it was the husband's job to bring in the money while the wife stayed home and cooked, that was the way that Molly Weasley had raised him after all. Hermione had disagreed with that, something which lead to a large amount of arguments. Eventually the whole marriage just became the two arguing constantly until one night when Ron had gotten angry enough to call her a 'mudblood', that was the night that Hermione left to go get a divorce. Ron would grow old and eventually die in the burrow which was left to him by his parents.

Though life wasn't bad for everyone, Sirius had gotten married to Amelia Bones and when he wasn't spending time working at the ministry or with Amelia then he would be Harry's proxy at the Wizengamot. Fleur on the other hand had a very successful career as a curse breaker, she would eventually become Lady Potter and would give birth to two kids, one boy called James Potter and a girl called Victoire Potter. Tonk's became Lady Black and continued to have a good career in the auror department, and would give birth to a few children of her own. One would be a boy called Teddy Potter, a girl called Lily Potter and a third girl that was named Astoria Potter.

After Hogwarts Harry had made a name for himself on the quidditch pitch when he wasn't trying to get his defense mastery, he had switched between a few teams and proved that it was his skill and not his fame that earned him his spots on the teams. After Harry had gotten his mastery he had been prepared to quit quidditch when what else but the world cup came around the corner, Harry stayed as a quidditch player just long enough to play for England at the cup. It was a close match but England had won, the celebrations lasted for days.

After that Harry had gotten a job as the DADA professor at Hogwarts, something which made most people happy, after all their children were getting taught by the defeater of Voldemort who would also help look after the school. Harry would also attend Wizengamot meetings when he could, but sent Sirius when he couldn't. Between the two of them, plus their allies, they were able to improve many laws, making life easier for many people, including but not limited to muggleborns and werewolves.

Harry would also end up eventually becoming Hogwarts Headmaster Potter, he lived to an old age, enjoying each and every moment that his life had to offer. He would spend his last few years at Hogwarts, apart from his last year which he spent with family.

One week after his death a statue was created in his honor, many books were written about him. Some people would happily talk about how they knew what many considered to be the greatest wizard of their age. It was hard to find a person in magical Britain who didn't know about the Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived who became the man-who-conquered.

A.N: Hi guys, this is an epilogue chapter, in case you couldn't tell. I've put this up mostly because someone helpfully pointed out that I had forgotten to explain how Harry could survive the unforgivables, that's mostly my fault because previously I had intended to have Apophis be a golem or magical creation which would have made it self explanatory, and I only changed him into a time traveling Harry at the last moment. Either way I hope you like the chapter, and if you don't then...just imagine your own ending.

Just be happy, it's not that hard.

Thanks for reading, I hope you all enjoyed the story, and feel free to leave a review.