Harry Potter. Mr Potter I presume.

Chapter 2 Epilogue. What happened.

Summary: A twist on the Hogwarts Express at the end of the Philosopher's Stone where Hermione is concerned for her best friend as his mood darkens as they leave his home of Hogwarts and he has to return to Durzkaban. Hermione comes thru big time and that changes everything. HHr

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

Thank you so much for your kind reviews.

02/05/20 07/06/20

Beta alix33 04/06/20

- Mr Potter I presume.-

Okay, okay, I know the story was marked complete, but your kind reviews have asked what happened next and my muse wanted to know too!

The good bits have full dialogue, but my apologizes, as the rest is in summary form with minimum dialogue that normally would have expanded out for some chapters. The sections overlap to form complete arcs rather than interweave into the timeline.

So here we go.

- Mr Potter I presume.-

Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Madam Amelia Bones and Acting Chief Witch Augusta Longbottom had no problem springing Sirius Black, former Auror and long time resident of Azkaban, and they were surprised how well he had survived his years under the care of Dementors with his mind intact and his body only showing a little malnutrition.

Typically for Sirius, his first questions were, "About time, where is Harry and when am I getting my trial?"

They couldn't answer that so they left him to the gentle care of his cousin Andromeda Tonks who gave him an all-embracing scrubbing and make over to get rid of all his long unkempt hair and fleas.

- Mr Potter I presume.-

Surprisingly, Percy and Ronald were having their best summer ever. While they didn't quite understand why their mother was so upset at finding them asleep together on the Hogwarts Express, after all the twins were inseparable, but she had given them a long loud talk about proper wizard social distancing and banished them to their rooms to practice quarantine. Fortunately, wizards have no need of Muggle toilet paper when they had a wand to work out the difficult bits and scouring charms to purify and sterilize plus add a sweet scent of rose or lavender. (Now you know why you only hold a wand by the handle, why you never touch another wizard's wand, why it was socially bad form to not have a spotlessly clean wand, and why there are special wand cleaning kits. But of course, none of this is explained to Muggle-born or raised.)

For Percy, this meant that he could stay in his room and not be disturbed by the twins and he could advance his plans for his future with the Ministry and for total World Domination as he followed the example of his two most favourite wizard heroes, Albus Dumbledore and Tom Marvolo Riddle, who before he was even Head Boy, had single handed defeated the Heir of Slytherin, saved the school from a terrible monster and stopped it from closing. He had seen the Special Award for Services to the School and the Medal for Magical Merit that had been given to him.

For Ronald it meant that he could eat all the food he wanted and didn't have to do any chores nor be the subject of any experimental lollies the twins had cooked up, while leaving his summer assignments for the last week when he would dump them on Hermione. It wasn't that Ronald was dumb, stupid or lazy, it was far from that. It was that Dumbledore had given him one job to do, and that was to keep the Boy-Who-Will-Pay-For-His-Future, isolated, ignorant, underachieving, and totally dependent on the headmaster, and Ronald worked very hard at perfecting that.

More than that, Ronald showed his brilliance with that chess match that earnt him fifty points. During his summer of quarantine and social distancing, he followed up that brilliance with this amazing discovery that if he rotated his wizard chess board by one hundred and eighty degrees after each move, he could have a really great match against someone truly worthy of his skills and talents. That one epic chess match went on for two weeks until he had almost won, when he discovered that his unworthy opponent had in fact cheated. His brilliant Prewett mind quickly reached that conclusion as Ronald Bilius Weasley would never lose a chess match, and therefore if he was losing it is only logical to assume that the unworthy opponent must have cheated. That foul deed caused his infamous Prewett temper to rage and explode as he took out his wand and destroyed the chess board, along with that half of his bedroom and worse still, he broke his hand-me-down wand before his mother could stop him and confiscate what was left of his broken wand.

Still banished to his repaired bedroom, Ronald discovered that he could still eat all he wanted and sleep all day. Leaving him free to sneak around the Burrow in the dead of night when his mother was asleep. He would go flying on his broom and enjoyed the warm still air until the sun rose.

After he got bored with his broom, Ronald found the keys to his father's flying car and he would sit in the magical flying car as he pretended to fly it as he pushed buttons, moved levers and turned keys. Until he did something like push the wrong button and the motor started as the car came to life. The car took flight and flew around the Burrow and over the small village of Ottery St Catchpole. After not crashing immediately and being absolutely terrified, Ronald assume he was actually flying the car, when the car was actually a lot smarter than that, being alive with its own brain hidden in the glove box. Arthur had added his own magical version of an autopilot. So Ronald would take it for practice flights in the dark. Always returning before his father awoke in the morning. He assumed that he had got surprising good at flying the car that he thought that he wouldn't bother asking the twins to help him fly to Durzkaban to rescue Potter. Dumbledore had given him very strict instructions to write Potter two letters and then two weeks before the end of the holidays, use the flying car to save the Boy-Who-Will-Owe-Me and if he managed to save Potter all by himself. Then Potter would owe him big time. So he sent the two letters to the tosser with Errol, the old Weasley family owl.

Then the night, two weeks before the end of the summer holidays arrived and Ronald had stocked the car with snacks so he wouldn't go hungry. So Ronald was feeling a little bit miffed as the tosser hadn't bothered to reply. That wasn't a good start to the trip as he drove the flying car to rescue the tosser. He took out the specially charmed magical artifact that the headmaster had given him to point the way to Durzkaban. Unfortunately, Ronald had never seen a Muggle compass before and had no idea how it worked or what the letter 'N' and 'S' stood for as he circled around the Burrow. But the magical artifact seemed to be working as the needle seemed to point to only one location. Unfortunately the compass needle was diamond shaped with two points and Ronald had to choose which point to follow. 'N' or 'S'. So he chose 'S' for 'Shorter' as that would be the quickest way.

As Devon where the Burrow is to be found, is due west of Surrey where Durzkaban was, and Ronald, with his bad habit of not listening to instructions combined with the headmaster's bad habit of keeping secrets, and had omitted to explained that he had charmed the compass 'N' for "Nearer' to point towards the boy's prison. It will be clear to my dear readers that Ronald was heading the wrong direction as he merrily ate his snacks as the car flew west pass Exeter, Plymouth, Penzance and out over the Celtic Sea.

And perish the thought that a proper Pure-blood wizard like Ronald Bilius would ever need to stop and ask for directions.

Sadly with all the midnight flights Ronald had enjoyed over the summer, he had never learnt that a magical flying car needed magical petroleum to power it. So before the sun rose, Ronald had the misfortune to discover that the engine of his brave little flying car, coughed, farted and died leaving him stranded at an altitude of one thousand feet with no visible means of support.

My Muse wished to leave the rest to your imagination. Leave a review with your favourite likely scenario.

- Mr Potter I presume.-

The start of summer for the twins was not so good as their favourite test subjects for their magical experimental lollies had been banished to their respective rooms for strict quarantine for the rest of the holidays. And they would never subject their little sister to those lollies as their mother would kill them and besides Ginny was busy preparing for the visit of her favourite Boy-Who-Will-Marry-Her.

So the twins decided to venture out to the small village of Ottery St Catchpole where they soon discovered that their little sister's former friend, Luna Lovegood, had attracted a number of older children who were tormenting the lonely girl. The twins thought that was just not right, and decided to come to the aid of their newly adopted little sister. Anyone who thought they could bully an innocent sweet free spirit such as Luna, deserved to become the subject of their magical enchanted lollies. Canary Creams, or their Skiving Snack box range of Fainting Fancy, Fever Fudge, Nosebleed Nougat, Puking Pastilles, Ton-Tongue Toffees and Farting Delights. Plus their pièce de résistance, U-No-Poo – the Constipation Sensation that gripped the little monsters and sent them running home as fast as their little legs could go.

Soon, Luna observed that she was being followed by these amazing magical giant canaries while another child's tongue had grown or they were sick with vomiting and nosebleeds or rushing home for some reason.

And Luna also discovered that she had not one but two redhead guardian angels that were definitely not a figment of her imagination and she hoped that they would follow her to Hogwarts. She told them about all these other magical creatures and the mischievous grin on their faces said, 'Challenge Accepted!', as they took notes of what these creatures could be. They were very interested to create even more amazing magical transformation lollies for creatures that were only limited by the imagination of her twin redhead guardian angels.

Best yet, Luna's twin redhead guardian angels realised that an innocent sweet free spirit such as Luna, would attract a lot of bullies at Hogwarts and the twins will have an endless supply of volunteers for their test subjects for their magical experimental lollies, sweets and anything else they cooked up.

For Luna, it turned out to be her best summer ever!

As the twins even excelled themselves with lollies that combined bits of different creatures and Luna soon found Moon Frogs, Blibbering Humdingers and even a Crumple-Horned Snorkack magically appearing around her.

So the moral of the story is, if Luna smiles sweetly and offers you a sweet, don't pick the purple ones unless you want to become a Crumple-Horned Snorkack.

The twins would be working on Heliopaths, Umgubular Slashkilters, Nargles, Aquavirius Maggots, Wrackspurts, Gulping Plimpies, and Dabberblimps, when they returned to Hogwarts.

- Mr Potter I presume.-

Even for an experienced Auror like Mad-Eye Moody, the crimes of the rat were too much for him to stomach. He didn't question the evil Wormtail but used his magical electric blue eye to search through its memories. The rat being a useful low level flunky with a special skill set, it had been involved with most of the Death Eater raids and knew where all the magical and Muggle bodies were buried. Moody was able to take notes of what happened and where it happened and who was involved, both marked Death Eaters and unmarked dark wizards and witches who had joined in the evil. He was sickened at how many times Fudge's toad had been present and how many victims she had personally tortured and murdered.

Moody passed on the information on where the Muggle bodies were buried to an old contact at Scotland Yard with the note that the perpetrators will be punished. The discoveries made headlines in the Muggle press and brought closure to the family and friends of the victims.

He passed his notes on the magical victims to Madam Bones so she could return the remains to the families and establish their cases against the Death Eaters and their evil friends.

As the rat was a member of the old goat's flaming bird club, the memories also exposed how much Dumbledore knew and how little he did to save the many friends and victims who had trusted him as they were sacrificed for the Greater Good. Sadly they were Moody and Amelia's family and friends who had perished.

Moody and Amelia reassured the families of the victims that when the time was right, By Grabthar's Hammer, by the Sons of Warvan, their loved ones shall be avenged.

- Mr Potter I presume.-

The Unspeakable Croaker had his loyal team studying why Voldemort was not dead by examining the frozen Popsicle of Flintmort. From the information Moody had given them, they focused their effort around the dark evil magic of Horcruxes and quickly found that the idiot had made more than one that did not include his familiar, Nagini. They speculated that Voldemort was going to use the murder of young Harry Potter to make his final Horcrux but that didn't work out for him. Fortunately they realised that the dark wizard had made the rookie mistake of using inert non living objects for his anchors. Which meant that the only Horcrux anchor attached to living life force that was powering all the other anchors and maintaining Wraithmort's existence in this world was the one that had been anchored to Harry Potter's scar. With that connection destroyed, Flintmort was deteriorating quickly. Far quicker than Quirrellmort, and Wraithmort would not last long even with Flint's youth.

Croaker's team managed to use some dark ancient soul magic to summon the remaining anchors to their special chamber in the Department of Mysteries, so they could be studied. Surprisingly one, a gold locket, came with an old house-elf hanging on for dear life, and another came with a note from Gringotts informing them that the Goblins didn't appreciate having such dark magic stored in one of their vaults and not to make an unauthorized withdrawal again, plus a fine of one thousand galleons had been deducted from the vault. The other anchors were, a Muggle made small black diary, an ancient diadem and an ancient family ring that was set with a stone with a strange triangle carving, that came with its own enormous vicious guardian snake. These all came with various dark curses that would possess or fatally curse whoever touched them. They soon removed the anchors that attached to Wraithmort, and cleansed the artifacts. Sadly they had to put the guardian snake down.

At their meeting one week later, Moody, Croaker, Amelia and Augusta discussed their progress and decided what to do next. Croaker wanted to study Voldemort's dark mark on the rat's left arm and see how the marked Death Eaters were connected. While Moody, Amelia and Augusta continued returning remains of Death Eater victims to their families as they prepared their cases against the murderers.

Moody was glad to be rid of the rat and Croaker soon discovered that the dark mark was connected to the Death Eater's soul and life force which explained why the evil minions were so loyal to their dark lord and that the dark marks were all interconnected together. Which meant that if they connected the rat's dark mark to Flintmort, they could use the Death Eater's own life force to power Flintmort and slow down his deterioration.

At their next weekly meeting, Croaker explained his results and what he thought they should do next. Moody suggested that they use the dark mark from Severus Snape as the rat had shown him how Snape had tried to redeem himself but Dumbledore had screwed him royally. Amelia and Augusta vetoed that as they explain how terribly Snape had treated Susan, Neville and Harry for all their first year at Hogwarts.

So Croaker removed the rat's dark mark with his left arm and attached it to Flintmort whose condition quickly improved while marked Death Eaters felt their dark marks tingle as their life force was drained to sustain Wraithmort. Sadly the marked Death Eaters in Azkaban had been weakened by their stay with the Dementors and soon died after two weeks. Augusta was only sad that she didn't kill Bellatrix and the Lestrange brothers herself but she was happy that her family had been avenged.

Severus Snape felt his dark mark start to burn as the weakened Death Eaters died off and being in the castle, he had been close enough to feel the anger of his master when Potter destroyed Quirrellmort. This new pain could only mean that his lord had foolishly attacked Potter again and he didn't want to be around to find out what the boy had done to the tosser this time. So he decided to make good his escape before the headmaster returned from the ICW. He used his potions knife to cut off his left arm and it fell to floor as it turned black and crumbled into ash. He used his wand to seal the wound and then he summoned three gold cauldrons and molded them together to form a new magical left arm and attached it to his stump. He summoned all his possessions and disappeared from the castle, never to be seen again.

After that the remaining Death Eaters faded fast as Wraithmort sucked their life force dry. Malfoy was the last Death Eater to go and he died a terrible painful death. With the marked Death Eaters gone, Croaker threw Flintmort through the Veil in the Death Chamber during their next weekly meeting and they all went out to celebrate.

Then came the unexpected shock when a house-elf called Winky, sought help for her master, only to discover Barty Crouch senior had taken his own life after his hidden convicted Death Eater son had died a terrible death like all the other marked Death Eater scum.

That only left the unmarked Death Eaters but they were all too terrified to think straight after what happened to Malfoy which made it easy for Moody to round them up. Without Malfoy's gold to save them, and with all the irrefutable evidence Moody and Amelia had collected, they got a fair trial, this time with Veritaserum, and then fed to the Dementors within the hour.

Even Dumbledore couldn't save them.

The toad went screaming, "I was under the Imperious Curse!" and "Dumbledore made me do it!" Until the Dementor's kiss silenced her. While Moody, Amelia, Augusta and Croaker wouldn't be surprised if Dumbledore had actually let her do it. No one believed that she needed to be under the Imperious Curse to do all the evil things she had done.

The scandal involving his Senior Undersecretary destroyed Minister Fudge and he resigned in disgrace before they could boot him out. He was replaced by Madam Bones and that was the start of a new era as she ignored the old goat and did what right and not what was easy.

With all of Voldemort's supporters gone, the mood of the Wizengamot and magical world changed as if it was a brand new day and the witches and wizards sick of all the hatred of the dark, became more friendly and happy.

That angered Dumbledore as he needed the conflict of the dark to divide and conquer and so maintain his position and control over the magical world.

- Mr Potter I presume.-

Now we come to the important part. What happened to Harry and Hermione. Thank you for reading so far.

Well the Gringotts' curse breakers had establish powerful protective wards around the Granger residence and Dental Office that made them equally protected as the castle was stated to be in Hogwarts, A History, (But ignored all the changes the headmaster had made to weaken the wards that allowed a troll, a Cerberus, and a dark lord to wander the castle.) and the Goblins had integrated the controls into the Grangers' Muggle security system so Dan and Emma could control it themselves. The wards allowed Hermione to perform magic for her parents for the first time and hid their home from the Ministry and their snooty neighbours.

Harry awoke early on the first day of his holiday with Hermione and earnt a huge amount of Brownie points with Dan and Emma as he prepared and cooked them a marvelous breakfast that fill their home with the scent of coffee, fresh baked bread, bacon and eggs. Hermione and Emma rewarded Harry with a kiss and hug while Dan took notes on what sort of man Harry would grow up to be.

After that marvelous start, the first thing Hermione and her mother did was to take Harry shopping for a completely new wardrobe and Harry had made the mistake of offering to pay for his stay at the Grangers by paying for Hermione's books and Hogwarts tuition. Hermione encouraged her parents to accept the deal as that mean that they could spend whatever they wanted and Harry would have to accept everything they bought him. Harry didn't understand why Dan had avoided coming on the shopping trip, but after eight hours of non-stop; try this, change that, what do you think of this, that won't work, and does this make me look fat, Harry had a very good idea why men avoid shopping like the plague, but it seemed to make Hermione happy and that was all that mattered.

Emma and Hermione helped Harry to pack away all of his new clothes in the wardrobe of the guest bedroom next to Hermione's bedroom. Then Harry opened his trunk and started unpacking his school robes while he happily dumped all of the oversized rags from Dudley in the bin.

Serendipitously, Emma had happened to notice the broom in the trunk, well actually she had been surreptitiously looking for it after Hermione had mentioned it in her letters.

"What is that?" Emma innocently asked as Hermione rolled her eyes.

Harry looked. "Oh, that's my Nimbus 2000 broom."

"Oh? Does it fly?"

"Mother!" An exasperated Hermione said while Harry put his hand above the broom.

"Up!"

The beautiful looking broom rose slowly out of the trunk in to Harry's hand.

"Oh, how fascinating."

"Would you like to ride it?"

"Well if you insist." Emma said as she mounted the broom. "How does it work?"

"You hold it like this." Harry showed Emma where to place her hands. "And you just push forward to move forward."

Emma pushed forward but the broom didn't move.

"Maybe you need to ride it with me?" Emma suggested hopefully.

Harry looked at Hermione who nodded as her eyes told him that her mother has always wanted to ride a broom.

Harry climbed on in front of Emma as she wrapped her arms around him. He gently pulled up and the broom rose a foot above the floor as they slowly did a circuit of Harry's bedroom.

"Faster!" Emma encouraged.

Harry did another circuit of the room around Hermione and then turned to go out of the door and down the corridor.

"Faster!"

Harry sped up as Emma squealed. Seeing how much she was enjoying the ride, he flew down the stairs and pass Dan into the living room.

"Faster!"

"Mother?"

Harry went faster as the flew around the house.

"Faster!"

"Mother!"

Emma squealed again as Harry pulled some G's in the turns to avoid priceless objects and family heirlooms as well as the walls, floor and ceiling. While Dan watched in amazement as Harry did a barrel roll in the kitchen and he smiled at the sheer joy on his wife's face.

"He is very good at that." Dan remarked to Hermione.

"Yes, you should see him play Quidditch. He scares me to death with some of the moves he pulls." Hermione replied. "Just don't ask him to do a Wronski Feint."

"Oh?" Dan said as Harry and a very aflutter Emma stopped next to them. "My turn!"

"Father!"

"And what is a Wronski Feint, Harry?" Dan said as he climbed on behind Harry for the indoor flying broom ride of his life.

"No, Harry. Not in the house!" Hermione warned as she felt that she was being the adult while Emma wrapped her arms around her as her legs were a little unsteady.

"That was such a buzz, Hermione." Emma enthused. "You must really love flying with Harry."

They watched as Harry and Dan cheered with joy as they flew around with barrel rolls and loop de loops, and Harry even managed to do a Wronski Feint down the stairs as Emma gasped as she wondered how on earth they missed hitting the floor. She wanted to try that next.

Seeing the joy in Harry and her father's face, convinced Hermione that she wanted to be part of that and when Harry and Dan landed next to them, she said. "My turn!"

Hermione hugged Harry tightly and had the ride of her life and she loved it as she felt the freedom and joy radiating from Harry. Maybe next time she might be even brave enough to fly with her eyes open.

- Mr Potter I presume.-

Harry had never felt so full energy and magic since the removal of the Horcrux in his scar as its loss had unlocked his potential in magical power and intelligence. It didn't magically double his IQ but certainly unleashed it and without the distraction of the redhead, Harry proved to be more than a match to Hermione and she loved the challenge.

Together, Harry and Hermione had completed the summer assignments in two days and they were looking for new challenges. As Dan and Emma were still busy with their practice before their summer holiday in the south of France, they had no one to take them to Diagon Alley so Harry telephoned Tonks and asked if she was free to take them as Hermione wanted to purchase their second year textbooks early and to get books on the ancient runes that Tonks had carved into their trunks. Tonks said that she would love to take them and she would free in two days time.

That gave Hermione an opportunity to take Harry swimming and to show him her new bikini that she had got for their summer holiday at the beach. Only to discover that Harry didn't know how to swim. He got two days of intense hands on instruction and Hermione rewarded every milestone he achieved with a kiss.

Their swimming lessons was interrupted by the appearance of a house-elf call Dobby who warned the Great Harry Potter must not return to Hogwarts as terrible things were to happen. Harry refused to leave his friends in danger and Dobby tried harder to warn him.

Harry tried a different tack and told the elf. "Dobby, my friends were in danger last year and we worked together to defeat Voldemort. Will you be my friend and help me save them again this year?"

The shocked elf looked at Harry will tears in his eye and asked in a little voice. "The Great Harry Potter wants Dobby to be his friend and help save his friends?"

"Yes!" Harry said definitely and the little elf nodded his head as he wrapped his arms around Harry's legs to answer yes.

Harry told his new friend to keep in contact and he popped away.

- Mr Potter I presume.-

Tonks arrived two days later with a big black grim that seemed oddly familiar to Harry, but he couldn't quite remember why. Tonks and the grim escorted Harry and Hermione on the Knight Bus to Diagon Alley. The big black grim called Padfoot, was particularly friendly with Harry and no one recognised Harry without his scar and glasses. As the school rush didn't happen until the end of summer, so Diagon Alley was fairly empty which suit the trio plus one, just fine.

The trio first went to Gringotts so Harry could get some gold to pay for all the books Hermione was about to buy and they, Tonks, Padfoot and the Goblins, discovered that Harry didn't have his little gold vault key as Hagrid had kept it after their first visit to the bank. Then Harry discovered that he had an account manager who had been trying to contact him for years but had failed to do so. Two hours later he had a Gringotts Platinum debit card that would be accepted everywhere in Diagon Alley and the Muggle world, plus he had paid Hermione's Hogwarts tuition and gained a lot of knowledge about his heritage that the headmaster had kept him ignorant of. Surprisingly it was Padfoot who had growled angrily every time the headmaster's name was mentioned.

The trio plus one grim had lunch at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour as Tonks refused to take Padfoot to the Leaky Cauldron. Padfoot really enjoyed being in the sun and ate an enormous bowl with ten flavours of ice cream and then begged for more with his big sad eyes. He was so good with the sad eyes that Padfoot got three servings.

The trio plus one very full grim then hit Flourish and Blotts for an afternoon of book hunting. Hermione was going great until she happened to touch the cover of one of the new textbooks selected for DADA and Tonks noticed a change in her eyes and attitude towards Harry. She took out her wand to scan the colourful textbooks with a big magical picture of the famous author smiling on the cover, and found that the books had been laced with a clandestine surreptitious compulsion potion to cause young witches to fall madly in love with the author. Angrily she took out her coin and summoned her friendly neighbourhood old Auror mentor.

Moody soon arrived and his electric blue eye saw the problem as Tonks smiled sweetly and pointed to the tainted books. He grinned as he confiscated all the illicit potioned books as evidence and went off to arrest the clueless author.

After Moody had told Madam Bones what the idiot had done and what had happened to Miss Granger, she threw all the illicit potioned books at the pompous imbecile which caused him to fall hopelessly in love with himself. Well even more hopelessly in love with himself. There was a quick fair trial where the tosser pleaded guilty as charged and was locked away in Sirius Black's old cell in Azkaban and Madam Bones threw away the key. Those books would have affected her Susan and she would never allow that to happen.

Unfortunately, Gilderoy Lockhart was super charged with the potion induced positive love of himself and was so bright and cheerful that it drove the poor defenseless Dementors insane as they were dazzled by his gleaming smile, and he wrote his next book, Dreaming with Dementors, as the draining negative action of the terrible Azkaban guards, made him remember every little memory of how much he loved himself.

- Mr Potter I presume.-

Harry had to summon up all his courage to kiss Hermione with all of his heart, to cure her of the potion induced obsession with Gilderoy Lockhart. It was difficult but so worth it.

Tonks returned Harry and Hermione home on the Knights Bus with a mountain of books for them to read and study. Padfoot really didn't want to leave Harry so Tonks invited Harry and the Grangers to come to tea at the Tonks the next evening.

The next evening Tonks' father, Ted, and Moody arrived at the Grangers' residence and set up a private floo connection that only went between the Tonks' second fireplace and a conjured up fireplace in the back room of the Grangers' residence. Allowing the Grangers and Harry to easily travel between the two domiciles. The first to try the new private connection was Padfoot who pounced on Harry the moment he arrived. Ted went first on the return trip, followed by Dan, Emma and Hermione who managed to step through gracefully while Harry fell flat on his face as Padfoot and Moody followed after. Harry was wondering what sort of dog Padfoot was as the grim rolled around the floor laughing hysterically at the poor boy covered in soot and lying flat on the marble floor.

Ted introduced Dan, Emma, Hermione and Harry to his wife, Andromeda, daughter, Nymphadora, who ground out 'Tonks', and their other guests, Mad-Eye Moody, Amelia Bones with Susan and her friend, Hannah Abbott, Augusta Longbottom and Neville with his Unspeakable uncle Croaker who was still wearing his black hooded Unspeakable robes. Dan, Emma, Hermione and Harry said their hellos when Padfoot barked at Ted as if he wanted to be introduced as well.

So Ted made a grand gesture towards the grim and said. "Of course you all know, Padfoot."

To which the grim suddenly transformed into a wizard and took a bow, while a surprised Emma and Hermione squeaked in shock.

Deadpan, Ted continued. "Also known as Sirius Black!"

"Harry. I am your dogfather." Sirius said in his best Darth Vader voice as he hugged the surprised boy who now remembered where he had seen the grim before, but Harry hadn't seen the movie as some of the others laughed at the reference.

Hermione added that movie to their to do list.

That set the tone for an amazing magical evening that Dan and Emma enjoyed very much while Harry and Hermione caught up with there friends, Neville, Susan and Hannah. Susan wanted to confirm Harry and Hermione's status and Harry confirmed that Hermione was his girlfriend. Then Susan and Hannah dragged Hermione off to a corner to get all the details while Neville congratulated Harry and invited him and Hermione to his birthday party at Longbottom Manor, and even suggested to make it a double party to include Harry's birthday.

Harry replied. "I would like that but I better check with Hermione and Emma first."

Harry bravely rescued Hermione from Susan and Hannah, and then asked her and Emma about Neville's suggestion. Emma thought it was a brilliant idea as it would be the day after their return from France and it would give Dan and Emma another magical home to explore.

Neville was very happy to make all the arrangements and invites. He wrote to invite Ronald and the twins with Ginny but Ronald wasn't allowed to go and Ginny was too busy so the twins decided to go with their other little sister Luna.

With the floo connection, Padfoot would visit Harry and Hermione everyday and tell them many stories of Harry's parents and their time at Hogwarts while helping Hermione and Harry with their research into Ancient Runes and other magical arts. When Moony finally showed up Sirius spent more time with him giving Harry and Hermione some well deserved alone time.

Dan and Emma accepted Sirius' offer to stay in one of the Black family shacks in the magical part of the French Riviera. They were able to reach the old shack via floo from the Tonks home and the shack turned out to be a beautiful forty room chateau right on the beach next to another magical family who had two daughters; Fleur and Gabrielle. Harry had a great time with Hermione, Dan, Emma, Sirius, Fleur and Gabrielle. While Hermione had an even better time as Harry only had eyes for her, no matter how hard Fleur and Gabrielle tried to distract him.

Dan, Emma, Harry and Hermione had another great time at the combined birthday party with Neville at Longbottom Manor and met many new friends including Luna and she introduced her twin redhead guardian angels, Gred and Forge. Hermione wasn't too sure about these magical creatures Luna talked about until a Moon Frog, a Blibbering Humdinger and even a Crumple-Horned Snorkack magically appeared and ran past looking for their parents. It turned out that Neville had to invite some relatives with annoying small children. Luna's redhead guardian angels gave Neville his own Skiving Snack box with the new expanded range. The Moon Frog, Blibbering Humdinger and Crumple-Horned Snorkack, brought the twins to the attention of Padfoot and Moony and they found a lot in common and managed to get a certain map for Harry to use.

- Mr Potter I presume.-

The headmaster returned to Hogwarts exhausted and feeling each and every one of his one hundred and ten years. He wondered what the hell had happened since the end of the school year. He checked his instruments that monitored the boy and the wards around Durzkaban and they were operating normally. He had connected them to the boy's blood but he didn't realise how much of the boy's magical blood had seeped into the rough floor boards of his cupboard under the stairs after all the beating by his relatives. There was enough magical blood shed there to power the wards and instruments for years.

The trials of the unmarked Death Eaters had been a complete scandal to the magical world and far worse than even a certain bug could dream up. In the cold light of day, the evidence had shocked the headmaster and he was very disturbed by all of the terrible evil crimes that they freely confessed to under Veritaserum. Those crimes were so bad that not even he could save them from the Dementor's Kiss. Along with the demise of the marked Death Eaters, he knew Tom's support network that he had gone to great lengths to maintain, had been completely destroyed and it would take years for Tom to re-establish when he returned if it was even possible.

Then the headmaster discovered that Severus had abandoned him and all he found of his pet Death Eater was the remains of his dark mark on the ashes of his left arm on the floor of the Potions office. Then he received an owl from the Ministry notifying him of the trials for Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black would be held in the Wizengamot the next day and he knew he had to act fast to silence the rat who knew too many of his darkest secrets and save what was left of his reputation and his Greater Good.

The headmaster let out the breath he was holding as he calmed himself, with Severus gone he realised that he had run out of useful evil minions, and he would have to do his own dirty work. Something he knew that he really should avoid.

Dumbledore disillusioned himself and went to the holding cells beneath the Ministry of Magic only to be spotted by his old friend's electric blue eye and stunned. He woke up next to the arch in the Death Chamber with magic suppression cuffs over his wrists, his beard ripped out by the roots and a very sore nether region.

"It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Albus." Amelia warned coldly.

Dumbledore looked up to find Moody, Croaker, Amelia and Augusta waiting for him and he knew this was very bad as these four had all lost family and good friends to Tom due to his inactions, lies and manipulations for the Greater Good.

"Missing your pet Death Eater?" Moody asked slowly. He had used his electric blue eye to purview the memories of the hidden dark lord while he was unconscious, and he was thinking of writing a tell-all book when this was all over. "It is always hard to find a good evil minion when you need one."

"Er, I do find myself short a Potions Professor." Dumbledore answered carefully as he ignored the evil minion reference while his mind was racing for a solution to his predicament.

"Minerva reported Severus Snape had disappeared from the castle after all she found of him was the ashes of his left arm and dark mark and three gold cauldrons were also missing." Amelia explained.

"Oh?" Dumbledore said as a desperate idea formed in his mind after the mention of the castle. "Fawkes!"

"He can't hear you down here!" Croaker warned while the other three just looked on in disgust. "Not in the Death Chamber."

"FAWKES!"

Croaker cocked his black hooded head to one side to challenge the old fool to try again to call the phoenix.

"FAWKES! YOU STUPID FLAMING BIRD!"

"Language headmaster!" Croaker chastised as he waved his hand and used his wandless magic to raise up the fallen light wizard onto his feet as he was given his options.

Croaker continued. "I threw what was left of Wraithmort AKA Tom Riddle through the Veil after Malfoy, the last marked Death Eater, died."

"What?" Dumbledore gasped as his eyes opened wide. That focused his complete attention as he wondered what had happened to his friend. "Severus?"

The four looked at each other as Moody hadn't had the time to share all the information. They knew Snape's body had not been reported or found and leaving his dark mark behind meant that he had chosen life.

"He may have given himself a final second chance." Croaker answered. "I didn't think one of the cowards would have been brave enough to defy both of their masters."

"Just hope that he uses it well." Moody added malevolently.

"And the others? Everyone deserves a second chance." Especially him, Dumbledore left unsaid as he tried to guilt trip them as he spun for time to work out how to get a second chance for himself.

"Obviously, they refused that option and died for their master." Croaker replied.

"The burden was on the Death Eaters to actually change their ways to prove that they were worthy to have their own life spared." Amelia continued. "That is how a second chance is supposed to work."

"But.." Dumbledore tried to reason but was cut off by Moody.

"You wanted them to follow your own example, Albus? Sneaking around like an Assassin in the dead of night to tie up loose ends."

"Well.."

"We know what you did to our family and friends, Dumbledore. So your options are to walk through the veil and save your legacy, or we will destroy you and your reputation at the rat's trial in the morning." Augusta explained with all of the bitterness of her loss and betrayal in each word.

He hesitated as he looked for a way out.

"No, I think I will take my chances." The old manipulator arrogantly hissed as he assumed that he still had enough supporters left in the Wizengamot.

"Against Veritaserum?" Amelia threatened as Croaker added. "A special brew just for you. A final gift from the Department of Mysteries!"

"You wouldn't!"

"For you, we most certainly would!"

"But?"

"We would make an exception for you." Augusta added. "You're just too damn slippery and dangerous!"

"No, I am not!" Dumbledore protested as his blue eyes twinkled. "Everything I have ever done was for the Greater Good."

"Really?" Augusta spat.

"We know you didn't sneak in here for Pettigrew's greater good." Amelia reasoned. "You came here to sacrifice him for your Greater Good as he knew too many of your darkest secrets. That's attempted murder and an action to pervert to course of justice. That's actually illegal you know, even for you! And deserves to be punished with life in Azkaban for a start."

"Everything Tom and his Death Eaters did, all their evil deeds happened on your watch, Dumbledore." Moody added. "And after what you did to the Potters and Longbottoms with your bogus prophecy by an imbiber, you won't have to worry about Azkaban as we will be back here tomorrow afternoon where the only question would be whether you are kissed by a Dementor before you are tossed through the Veil!"

"What the hell, make it two Dementors!" Augusta demanded. "And we will throw them through after you!"

Dumbledore paled in fear as Moody spoke. "They were our family and good friends, Dumbledore, and you knew what was happening and you still sacrificed them."

He took a step back in shock that they knew that many of his darkest secrets.

"You set up my family and used my Frank, my Alice, and my Neville as bait! Your spy had told you that they were coming, but you already knew that, and you still delayed everyone until it was too late." Augusta spat out. "They were only caught because Bellatrix was enjoying herself too much and wouldn't leave until she really found out what happened to her master."

Amelia continued. "You came here tonight to silence the rat and that shows that you are still a threat and far too dangerous to be anywhere near Neville or Harry! Or any other student. You had that monster, Quirrellmort, teaching them all year. Are you that insane?"

Moody hissed. "Move your ass!"

Croaker looked like a grim reaper in his black hooded robes as he just silently pointed towards the Arch and they were all close enough to hear the voices coming through the Veil. They were not happy voices that wanted to have a word with the illustrious headmaster.

Albus Dumbledore tried to speak in his defense, when he noticed the small pile on the floor next to the arch containing a black diary, an ancient diadem, a small gold cup, locket and a ring with the stone he had been searching for. He reached and tried to take a step towards the gold ring, but his feet wouldn't move in that direction.

Slowly he realised that something terribly wrong had happen to all his plans, schemes and manipulations. But he had to ask. "How many?"

"Six, including Mr Potter's scar." Croaker answered.

With Croaker involved Dumbledore knew Harry's scar wouldn't have not been overlooked. "Nagini?"

"Dead, but she wasn't one yet. She was guarding the ring."

Dumbledore hung his head as he finally accepted that Tom was never going to return.

Harry had somehow won.

But the boy still needed his guidance for the future of his legacy of the Greater Good.

Dumbledore hid his grin as he thought that he at least could take his Elder Wand with him to use as a bargaining chip with Death.

As a plan quickly came together in his mind, Dumbledore whispered. "I'll be back!"

"No you won't." Whispered a grinning Mad-Eye Moody as he noticed the look on the old goat's face when he saw him holding up the Elder Wand.

With all his options exhausted, all Dumbledore said was. "For the Greater Good."

Albus lifted his head up and walked bravely to the veil until he saw who was waiting for him on the other side. He knew his next journey will be long and painfully great. His mother, sister and Lily were not at all happy with him.

He hesitated for a moment and three pair of female hands reached through the veil and pulled him in.

"HOLY CRAP, NO!"

Was the polite translation of the great manipulator's last words.

- Mr Potter I presume.-

The trial of Peter Pettigrew was a scandal and exposed all the evil of the Pure-blood dogma with the idea of some Greater Good that divided the magical world with such hatred and death. He was sent through the veil screaming. "It was all Dumbledore's fault!"

But no one was listening to the rat and they ignored any mention of Dumbledore's part in it, as the missing leader of the light would never do such a thing.

The trial of Sirius Black was a cleansing of the soul and the start of a brand new day as he set the example of forgiving others to start the healing process.

- Mr Potter I presume.-

It had been the best summer ever for Harry and Hermione, and Dan and Emma loved all the magic they saw and experienced, particularly flying with Harry after Sirius had given him a Firebolt for his birthday. Hermione had grown in confidence and ability under Harry's careful tutelage and guidance, and she rejoiced in the freedom and joy of flying with Harry. So he gave his Nimbus 2000 to her, and now Harry and Emma can race Hermione and Dan flying around their home.

Dan and Emma were sad to see their little girl and her boyfriend disappear through the barrier between platforms nine and ten. And they were so looking forward to their return at Xmas as they were all going to Sirius' old shack on the French Riviera. Although they didn't have to wait that long to see Harry and Hermione as Sirius had gotten them tickets to travel to Hogwarts to watch Harry play Quidditch.

All too soon Harry and Hermione were back on the Hogwarts Express with their friends, Neville and Luna with her twin redhead guardian angels. Along with Moony and Padfoot who were the new DADA and Potions professors.

With the mystery surrounding Ronald, Molly was too afraid and upset to let Ginny go to Hogwarts. That of course drove poor Ginny insane until her father could save her.

Harry remembered his little friend, Dobby, and the danger he had warned them of, and so he called Dobby to their compartment. The little guy appeared with a pop.

"The Great Harry Potter has called Dobby?"

"Hi, Dobby." Harry greeted. "What ever happened to the danger, er, matter you spoke of?"

Dobby looked at the floor and spoke softly as he hid his broken fingers behind his back. "The very dark evil artifact disappeared and bad master was so angry. So angry he... Then bad master got sick. So sick he died before he could…"

Winky could sense Dobby's distress and popped in to help him as Harry picked up the shaking elf and sat him on his lap. "It's okay, Dobby, The danger has passed."

Sirius saw what was happening and asked in a Pure-blood tone. "Who is your master, elf?"

Winky had to answer such a demand, shyly. "Winky is a good elf, Winky's master is Mistress She-With-The-Unmentionable-First-Name Tonks, sir."

The answer lighten the mood as everyone chuckled, while Sirius looked at the elf on Harry's lap.

Dobby answered shyly. "Young master Draco, sir."

Sirius grinned. As Lord Black, he had welcomed the Tonks, and taken back Narcissa and Draco into the Black family. "Kreacher!"

The old elf appeared and sourly bowed to the unworthy master.

"Kreacher, how would you like to be young master Draco's elf?"

The old elf looked at Sirius to see if there was some trick.

"Kreacher, I know that you don't like me and I don't particularly like you, but this is a one off offer. Would you like to be young master Draco's elf?"

Seeing that Sirius was actually being serious, the old elf brightens up and nodded his head.

"Very well, As Lord Black, Kreacher, you are Draco's new elf. Go and tell your new master the good news."

The old elf happily popped away.

Sirius turned to Dobby but Harry spoke first. "Dobby is my friend!"

Which made Hermione very happy as she hugged Harry.

Sirius smiled. "Of course he is, now and forever."

Dobby sat on Harry lap all the way to Hogwarts as Winky, Hermione and Luna fussed over his injuries. It was so good to be a friend of the Great Harry Potter.

And with the bond to Harry's magic, Dobby was completely healed by the time they arrived.

They a great laugh when Draco showed up at the door of their compartment with his two girlfriends to share his load of bile, and an angry Kreacher popped in to grab him by the ear to drag him away saying. "A proper wizard of the Black Family doesn't behave like Malfoy scum."

They laughed even more to hear Draco complain. "Just wait until my mother hears about this!"

"Kreacher has already reported to the good Lady Black, and the good Lady Black has ordered Kreacher to deal with young master's improper behaviour as a wizard of the Black Family."

"NOOOO! Not the…. Glub, glub!"

And they heard Draco start to choke as Kreacher had dragged him to the bathroom and washed his mouth out with soap. Which brought tears to Sirius' eyes as he laughed so much as the old elf had done the same thing to him, so many times.

- Mr Potter I presume.-

After the sorting of the new students with Luna demanding to go into Gryffindor to be with her twin redhead guardian angels. The new Headmistress McGonagall announced that headmaster Dumbledore had left on his next great adventure.

And that was the last mention of the old goat at the school as he had kept himself aloof from the students and they didn't really get know him. In fact the only students who were disappointed that the headmaster was gone, were the Weasley twins as they really wanted the challenge of replacing the headmaster's infamous lemon drops with their new magical treats. They had figured that having the headmaster or better still, Snape, running around the castle as a Moon Frog, Blibbering Humdinger or Crumple-Horned Snorkack would be great publicity for their new shop and Sirius had told them how to sneak into the headmaster's office.

So the memory of once great Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore just faded away and his portrait never woke up. Which was a pity as it had a perfect view of the castle's cesspool under the dungeons.

Then the Headmistress announced that Professor Snape had left the castle, and that got a big cheer.

Then she announced the new DADA and Potions professors Lupin and Black, and that got an even bigger cheer.

As Potions with Professor Black became everyone's favourite subject and magic became fun with the DADA Professor Moony.

And the mood of the castle became light and positive without Dumbledore encouraging the rivalry and hatred between the Slytherin and Gryffindors.

Even Draco grew up as Kreacher painfully taught him how to be a proper wizard worthy to be a member of the Black Family, and not a pompous idiot Malfoy. Kreacher had already banned Draco from associating with unmeritorious riffraff like Crabbe and Goyle.

Sirius had heard Draco's boast how his father had bribed the Slytherin house Quidditch team to have Draco as seeker by supplying new Nimbus 2001 brooms to the team. So he went one better and replaced all the old school brooms and then gave the other three Quidditch teams Firebolt brooms to be Gryffindor fair.

And that was the start of a great new Voldemort / dark lord free year for Harry and Hermione, and all their friends.

- Mr Potter I presume.-

And it was!

- Mr Potter I presume.-

Thank you for reading and don't leave Ronald hanging on.

Share your favourite scenario of what happened to the brave little flying blue car.

- Mr Potter I presume.-