SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER EVERYONE!

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Within the Chamber she Lies

Chapter 26: Return to the origins

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Serena and Remus were awakened pretty quickly the next morning and also pretty rudely as a bunch of aurors all but forced their way in the infirmary. Poppy was immediately after them and threatening them very seriously that if they so much tried to touch her patients she would hex them into oblivion.

"Dumbledore, you will calm the ardor of your staff members or else we will do it for you!" Auror Shacklebolt said angrily as he tried to pry Madam Pomfrey off of him.

The old headmaster frowned but told the nurse to stay back nonetheless so he could deal with this himself. Since classes had been canceled until all this mess was sorted, all the teachers were present and trying to retaliate against the ministry emissaries.

Serena glowered at the chaos they created and when she spotted a still sedated Sirius beginning to frown and groan in his sleep it was the last straw. "Can I do something for you gentlemen? Because if you're only here to disrupt the peace in this room I will kindly ask you to leave. If you are unwilling to cooperate I'm sure that Salazar will make himself the pleasure to escort you out of MY castle."

Everyone stopped talking as she glared at them from her place in the infirmary bed. The aurors calmed down even if some of them continued to eye Sirius suspiciously. The fear of being in the presence of the Basilisk, though, stifled their enthusiasm.

"Listen, we don't want to cause a commotion but we need to be sure that the Dark Lord has indeed been killed definitively or not and until proven otherwise we will at least have to keep Black under tight surveillance," Shacklebolt dedicated himself to speak to her since the others found it wise to keep their mouth shut.

Remus growled and jumped out of his bed only to stop beside Sirius in a protective manner. "You're not touching him! The man's under bloody sedation because he's been kept under petrification for too long, for Merlin's sake! Are you afraid he'll jump on you when you're not looking!"

The aurors looked at the Werewolf disapprovingly but Serena's warning glare stopped them from talking, and in consequence digging their graves even deeper.

"You will leave Sirius Black alone. I am ready to go back to Riddle Mansion with you all and when the proofs will all be delivered you will allow the Daily Prophet to write all of the Death Eaters' names, including those who might have survived elsewhere; I'm sure the headmaster has a list of names somewhere. And I will look into the matter of electing for a new COMPETENT minister who will not turn to the evil side as soon as someone threatens him or his position. I will also look into the Black case and I will reinstall ALL of Sirius' rights and privileges, as well as his wand. He's been wrongly imprisoned and I WILL expect a letter of excuses published in the Daily Prophet and claiming that he is indeed innocent."

The aurors looked outraged. "That's complete bull! You don't have any power over the ministry! You don't have anything to do with the new election, and no right whatsoever to enter the ministry and ask for the file of Sirius Black!"

The girl smirked darkly. "Then Harry and his friends will divulge the dirty secrets along with the incompetence of the people of the Ministry of Magic and you will all be replaced to make way for a younger and more righteous generation of leaders."

Their eyes widened and they stuttered. "W-wait! We can certainly arrange something! We'll go to the Riddle Mansion and if we find enough proof we will drop all charges off Sirius Black and do as you asked!"

The teachers in the room looked at each other and smirked as the heiress of Gryffindor and Slytherin toyed with the flustered Aurors.

They quickly made all the necessary agreements and, after saying goodbye to Remus and kissing a sleeping Harry on the cheek, she bade them to touch her arm and they vanished without the usual loud popping sound of Apparition.

………

To say the Aurors were surprised when Serenity hissed to the great painting of the snake near the kitchen was an understatement, and even more so when it actually opened.

Before they could walk in, however, Serena held her arm up to them from walking into the death trap. "Wait. I need to do something first. Stay here for a minute and DON'T MOVE."

With one last warning glance she entered the passageway, leaving a couple of annoyed Aurors.

"I don't see why we can't enter damnit!" one of them muttered under his breath while the others nodded their agreement. They weren't prepared to see at least fifty snakes of all sorts slither out the passageway and hissing at them as they glided away and out of the house.

They yelped and readied their wand, but lowered them immediately after when they remembered Serena's warning. If they attacked the snakes now the creatures would retaliate and bite them to death.

"You can come now. There aren't any snakes left."

The aurors looked at each other with uncertainty but walked in the tunnel nonetheless. The smell inside was old and murky but tolerable enough for a short amount of time. The walk was long and silent, with the silver haired girl leading the way confidently. She first showed them the cell where Sirius had been held prisoner; the atmosphere was still glacial, remnants of the passage of many Dementors. Luckily for them the hidden underground tunnel was entirely deserted.

Serena then led them to the main chamber and the aurors nearly gagged at the strong scent of blood and decay. The carnage was evident, the cold bodies laid out in the same untouched positions, as well as Nagini's spoils and Tom Marvolo Riddle's deformed, cloak clad body.

The men accompanying Serena shuddered in both awe and disgust at the sight and they started to "catalog" the names of the dead people. They were appalled to find out so many men from the ministry and of important stature and bloodline.

"That's all so great and such –I'm not touching the Dark Lord's body, by the way- but that doesn't show me that Sirius Black is innocent," Kingsley Shacklebolt said with a frown.

Serena gazed around her and walked toward the nearly broken door lying on the stone floor and used levitation on it to toss it aside. "Hey! Will he help?"

The wizards approached and gasped at the mangled body of another Death Eater (the dark mark being evident on the arm), and shiny metal hand.

"Impossible! He was killed sixteen years ago! Black killed him and there was nothing else found of him but a finger!" they all exclaimed in pure shock.

Serena kneeled down and showed them the good hand made of skin. "You mean the missing finger of this hand? This man is…was Peter Pettigrew, the true Secret Keeper and betrayer of the Potters. Shocking isn't it?" she mocked them while glaring.

They didn't quite know what to say but they sure acted. The bodies were all gathered and the aurors created a Portkey. "You can be sure that will get to the bottom of this. Pettigrew's body will be tested to be certain that it is indeed him and as soon as the results come out you will be the first to know. This will create one hell of an uproar in the Wizarding World," Shacklebolt muttered under his breath. "We'll have to find all the remaining Death Eaters and Dementors. I feel we won't be sleeping for a while."

They disappeared as they touched the Portkey, leaving the heiress behind.

Serena vanished not too long afterwards only to reappear in the infirmary, shocking the hell out of poor Madam Pomfrey who was tending to Sirius.

………

3 days later

The Wizarding World was still in the dark, except for a few selected people. School had been canceled undeterminably so the students were free to do what they wished in the castle and Hogsmeade.

They didn't understand, though, why the Infirmary was strictly off-limits to everyone. Rumors were spreading but none of them were confirmed.

Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger had gone there once or twice but even they had difficulty to persuade the Headmaster.

It was now pretty early in the morning and one could see a silver haired girl sitting on the bed of a sleeping black haired boy, who was no longer in a comatose state.

Sirius Black, who had awakened the day before and was treated by Pomfrey and Serena, was talking quietly to one Remus J. Lupin not too far from Harry's bed. Sirius was getting restless again from being cooped up inside but at least Harry was with him this time.

He had been drilled about Serenity Gryffindor-Slytherin but was still gawking at the girl once in a while. It would take some time to get used to the fact that she had been created by Salazar and Godric about a thousand years ago. But he liked the girl already and Serena liked Sirius, so things were clearly looking up.

Suddenly there was a sharp tap in one of the room's windows and Serena opened it to let the Barn Owl in. It hooted in thanks and presented its clawed paw with a rolled paper tightly attached to it.

Albus and his fellow teachers chose this very moment to enter the Infirmary and they blinked at the girl who was now unrolling what looked like a very early delivered edition of the Daily Prophet. Sirius and Remus hovered curiously over her shoulder until she squealed in joy uncharacteristically.

In his bed Harry groaned, awakened by the sudden exclamation of happiness. Serena ignored everyone altogether and ran to him, showing him the paper. The tired boy squinted his eyes but couldn't read anything without his glasses. Serena helped him sit and all but tossed him his glasses with an impatient whine.

Harry took too long to put his glasses on so she turned the newspaper toward the second person it included. It took Sirius five seconds to read and re-read the title and he sat heavily on Harry's bed with wide and tearful eyes.

Harry and Remus immediately understood what the paper was about and the boy's own green eyes started to tear-up. The teen gathered Serena, Sirius and Remus in a big group hug while he let out some "Finally! Finally it's over!" phrases and shaky laughs.

Serena smiled, closed her eyes and said out loud: "We will come back."

Before the teachers and Dumbledore could ask what she was talking about or interfere, the quartet vanished right before their eyes, leaving them crying out in surprise in the Infirmary.

Albus Dumbledore walked slowly toward the fallen newspaper and retrieved it.

The Dark Lord is DEAD! Sirius Black is acquitted after the results on Peter Pettigrew's body were received! Harry Potter and heiress Serenity Gryffindor-Slytherin: the heroes of the Wizarding World!

More info in pages two to twenty. Exclusive: the story behind the heiress of Hogwarts!

Severus Snape walked toward Albus with a frown. "What was that all about! Where have they gone to?"

Albus turned in the direction of the other curious teachers and grinned peacefully. "A new era had begun. It is as she has said: they will be back. Gryffindor and Slytherin Mansion will be visible to the common eyes once more. Peace, is what the future now offers us."

Everyone smiled.

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Hi guys! I hope you liked the ending! Wah! Last chapter! It's so sad! But at the same time good that it finally ends!

I hope to see you in my other story entitled "The world Without Me".

I love ya all!

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