Author's Note: This is a continuation of my story Unlikely Alliances. I write this story in one large word file and the original story was posted in very large chapters... I will try and avoid doing that for this one. I usually post at since they update immediately. I only write one chapter per week. I have the first 13 chapters written and be prepared... I write LONG stories. Also, I work full time and do not have the time to bother with a beta... if my occasional spelling errors bother you then this is not a story for you. I write simply because I love it. I hope you enjoy. Redfrog

I do not own Harry Potter or any of JKR's wonderful world; I only hope I do it justice.

Harry Potter and the End of an Era

Chapter 1: Home is Where the Heart Is

Hermione left the Ministry of Magic with a smile, clutching he new apparition license. She knew she would pass the test, but it felt so great to hold the certification in her hand. The test wizard had looked at her skeptically when she told him she was a fully qualified wizard and had checked her papers three times before she lost her patience and suggested he ask the Minister if he was so skeptical. The man had looked shocked when she passed the test perfectly on her first try.

She attempted to apparate into her bedroom and found herself sprawled on the back lawn. She hadn't even had time to figure out what had went wrong when Mr. Longbottom appeared at her side with his wand drawn. He let out a sigh of relief and Hermione shook her head and let him help her off the ground. "That wasn't what I would have hoped my first solo apparition would have been like," She said smiling at the man. They had obviously done a great job with the wards on her parents' house if even she couldn't get through them.

"I'm glad it was just you," Frank said with a grin. "I was hoping the wards were acting up and it really wasn't an attack. I may be an auror but we tend to work in groups when facing the unknown like this. I'll re-set the wards to let you apparate in and out. Everyone else will have to apparate out here. You'll have to hook up the floo so you can make calls while you're here, just make sure to disconnect it before you go to headquarters." He quickly adjusted the wards, gave her a quick smile and disapparated.

Hermione finished brushing herself off and hurried inside. "Mum, Dad, I'm home!" She called out as she opened the backdoor. Her parents hurried in from the front of the house to greet her.

"We're so glad you're home! Did you have a nice rest of the year?" Her mother said while wrapping her in a big hug.

"Yes, it was very interesting." Hermione told them wondering how to tell her parents about all that went on after the dueling tournament. "There is a lot I have to tell you. I don't want you to worry about me, but I haven't exactly been telling you everything that is going on." She looked down at the floor. Now that she was fully qualified to do magic she needed to explain things to her parents. She had never lied to them, just left out about 80 of the details.

"Let's go sit in the living room and you can fill us in over a cup of tea," her mum said with a smile. They sat on the couch together, with Hermione in the middle. "I'll just go get the tea started."

"That's all right, let me," Hermione smiled and summoned the tea set from the kitchen and conjured a nice earl grey, her father's favorite. Her parents both looked at her with wide eyes as they saw her perform magic in the house.

"Um, hun, I thought you weren't allowed to do that outside of school." Her dad said while pouring them each a cup of tea.

"That's one of the things I need to tell you," Hermione said. "A lot of things happened after the dueling tournament..." They talked for the next few hours about what was actually going on in the wizarding world, the threat of Voldemort and the death eaters and both how and why she could use magic now.

"So my little girl is a hero," her dad said holding her close. She was surprised how well her parents were taking the news. He looked at his wife and she nodded to him. They hadn't been completely honest with her either. "We knew most of that already sweetheart. You see we took out a subscription to the Daily Prophet that very first day we took you to get your supplies."

"So you already knew why I wanted to stay at school all those holidays and that's why you let me?" She asked them shocked. "Why didn't you ever tell me? I was afraid you would pull me out of Hogwarts and the magical world if you knew all the dangers."

"We know how important magic is to you; we wouldn't take you away from that unless we had no other choice. As long as you are as safe as you can be, we'll support you," her mum told her. "We were just waiting for you to tell us."

"Are you mad that I kept this from you?" Hermione asked them. Her respect for her parents had just doubled in the last hour. She never expected them to take it that well.

"We're just disappointed you didn't trust us enough to be able to handle it," her dad told her. "I understand why you did it. Let's just not keep any more secrets unless we have to, alright?" Hermione wondered why he added the 'unless we have to' onto the statement. She knew there was something in her parents past that they refused to talk about and hoped one day they trusted she was ready to hear that information.

"Does that mean that someday you'll tell me what it is in your past that you won't talk about?" She asked hoping they wouldn't get upset.

"I promise that as soon as it's safe to tell you we will," her mum said giving her a hug. "I wish we didn't have to keep anything from you hun, but believe us when we say it's for a very good reason."

"I know," Hermione said with a smile. "You wouldn't keep something from me if it wasn't. I love you," she said as they had a family hug and decided to go out for dinner as a treat for her being a full witch.

"You don't need to be shy while you're here. Just be yourself. Ron likes you for who you are and mum and dad will to, so just relax." Ginny told Susan as she was helping the girl settle into Percy's old room.

"Thank you Ginny," Susan said with a smile. "It's just kind of strange to be staying in the same house as the minister of magic. I mean, Ron is just Ron, he doesn't seem like his dad would be the most powerful person in England."

Ginny laughed at the idea. "Yeah, I know what you mean. To me my dad's just a really nice guy who likes muggle stuff and has a big heart. I'm still not used to the fact that he's the minister. Our family is laid back; you remember Fred and George from school. How could we be an uptight family if they are part of it?"

"Did you get settled in?" Ron asked from the doorway. He was glad Ginny was trying to be nice and get Susan to relax. Susan nodded and smiled at him as Ginny excused herself to leave them alone to 'talk'. "I know this is still kind of new, but why are you so nervous all of a sudden?"

"My mum, she kind of made some comments that I wasn't good enough to date you." Susan said hanging her head.

"What?!" Ron shouted, "Why would your mum say something like that? Why would she even think something like that? Of course you're good enough for me, if anything I'm not good enough for you."

"My mum thinks I'm a disappointment to the family for getting sorted into Hufflepuff. She was in Slytherin and she married my dad who was in Ravenclaw. She says the only people Hufflepuffs are good enough for are muggle-borns and other Hufflepuffs. She wouldn't have even let me come but my dad put his foot down and my aunt helped as well." Susan said with tears falling down her cheeks.

"I hate to say this about your mum, but she should have her head examined at St. Mungo's. You are an amazing witch and I don't think there is anything wrong with being in Hufflepuff. In fact I hold that it is a way better house than Slytherin. I'm guessing your parents had an arranged marriage?" Ron asked and she nodded with a smile. "Well at least your dad seems to be normal. Don't worry about what she says." Ron gathered his new girlfriend in his arms and held her until she stopped crying. He realized he was falling fast and hard for her. Just seeing her cry made him want to murder her mother for making her feel inferior. "Come on, mum is making dinner, let me show you the rest of the house."

Ginny had walked by and heard Susan's story. She decided her mum needed to know so they could all make her as welcome as possible. No one deserved to be treated like that and especially by their mother! She didn't know if the relationship with her brother was going to last, but she was going to try and befriend the girl either way.

The whole family (minus Percy) was over for dinner. Charlie was in town so he could take Ginny back with him for a visit. Bill and Fleur were planning their wedding for the Christmas holidays and the twins were finally admitting they were dating Angelina and Alicia. Mr. Weasley got home just in time for dinner and they all sat around the table talking about what was going on in each other's lives. The twins were telling about the boom in business thanks to the mail orders from Beauxbattons and Durmstrang. They were planning on sending fliers to the American schools next.

"How are wedding plans coming Fleur?" Ginny asked smiling. "Have you decided where to have the ceremony yet?"

"We are still trying to find a location. I always wanted to get married on the beach at sunset but that doesn't really work with all the security measures we need. I always thought a party under the stars next to the ocean would be perfect. Just family and a few friends, nothing too fancy." Fleur said as the girls all got misty far off looks on their faces.

"You could always get married by the lake at Hogwarts," Fred suggested. "It's not quite the ocean, but it's safe and you can still have your party under the stars.

"Yeah, too bad we can't just simulate the ocean someplace," George added.

Ginny and Ron both looked at each other and grinned. "But we can!" Ginny said happily. "It can look exactly as you want it too!" Everyone looked at the two youngest like they were loosing their minds.

"The Room of Requirement, just use it as the location and it will turn into exactly what you want. It'll make itself big enough for as many guests as you want and will feel just like you are on the coasts of France. All while being safely inside Hogwarts." Ron told them as Fleur just looked to Bill hoping they were serious.

"We'll talk to Dumbledore at Remus' wedding and see if he thinks it will work," Bill said kissing his fiancé and grinning at his family who had just found a solution that would make Fleur happy.

"Professor Lupin is getting married?" Susan asked surprised. "I kind of thought he had a thing for Professor Tonks." Everyone started laughing and she wasn't sure what she had said.

"Sorry," Ron said getting control of himself. "Remus is marrying Tonks. We thought everyone knew that, that's why we were laughing. You're right; he has a thing for her, so much so they are getting married in two weeks."

"Good, they are perfect for each other." Susan said happily. "So are you two going to be getting married soon?" She asked the twins. Ron had made her promise to ask just to riel them up.

"Ah! No way!" Fred exclaimed. "I won't get married until she threatens bodily harm and I know there is no other way out."

"We've only been dating since Christmas, we haven't even brought them over to meet mum yet. Don't go pushing us into anything resembling a 'relationship'." George added. The whole family laughed again knowing they were way too immature to get married anytime soon.

"Nah, Ginny's probably going to be the next one married." Fred said making Ginny blush bright red.

"Give your sister a break, she is still very young and has 2 years of school left. Don't go pressuring her. I know Harry is an honorable boy, but they are still too young." Mrs. Weasley chastised to them.

The following morning Harry awoke to a tapping on his window. The owl brought a message from the English team, they had moved up the tryout. The tryouts would start that afternoon and run for two days. He was supposed to be at the stadium at 2 pm to sign in. It had taken a lot of work but between Remus, Dumbledore and Arthur they had convinced the scouting board for the national team to transfer Harry's tryout to Xavier. They made sure to include that it was Harry's idea and that he just didn't want to put anyone in harms way by being in public with the death eater threat still existing.

Harry hurried down to breakfast to tell Remus, who was planning on taking him to get his apparition license and then to the tryout. Remus apparated them to the ministry's atrium and they hurried by security and onto the lift before anyone could sidetrack them. The examiner was looking suspiciously at Harry when he told him he was a fully qualified wizard. Remus finally stepped in, "This is Harry Potter, haven't you read the paper. He won an Order of Merlin 2nd class along with his friends and they were all awarded the status of fully qualified wizard." The older man just shook his head and agreed to test Harry.

"They need to let that guy out more," Harry said to Remus as they were heading back to the atrium after he passed his test. "Can you believe he had no idea of what has been happening recently?"

They went into the men's room and Harry changed into Xavier before they apparated to the training facility. The training facility was on the 13th floor of a 12 story building in the middle of London. It was a large office building that didn't know it had any wizarding connections. The pitch was on the roof, magically shielded from the muggle world. The 13th floor held all the offices, equipment, changing rooms and workout equipment. Harry was amazed at the space.

"Welcome to tryouts, if you would just step over to the reception desk and present your invitation we can show you to the pitch," a nasally receptionist said to them once they arrived.

Harry clung to his broom and headed over to the desk. "Good afternoon Mr. Lupin, they are expecting you. If you head straight out those doors you'll see the pitch," a different secretary said and directed them to large double glass doors.

Harry was trying not to be overwhelmed by the grandness of the place. Remus kept a firm hand on his shoulder the whole time for support. Everett Smith recognized Remus and approached the duo. "Mr. Lupin, we are pleased to have you tryout. I understand that Mr. Potter felt you would be a good asset to our team in his stead."

"We couldn't take the risk of having death eaters attach a match. With Harry playing it would be too good a target. Xavier is just as talented as Harry; he just didn't have the ability to showcase his skills since my brother home schooled him. Harry felt he deserved the chance to tryout." Remus told the man.

"I see you have a broom to tryout with, that's good." Smith said with a smile. "If you show it to the man in red over there he will take its measurements and serial number for our records."

"This is Harry's broom. He leant it to me for tryouts; my new one is on order and won't arrive until next week." Xavier told him. "He also offered to lend it to me for the season if my broom doesn't turn out the way I intended."

"Are you getting a custom broom then?" Smith said interested. He loved talking broom mechanics.

"Yes, I have an agreement with the makers of the Firebolt series to modify and streamline that model specifically to meet my requirements." Xavier told the man. "It was supposed to be finished two months ago but they were having problems applying all the anti-jinx wards I asked for."

"So you anticipate it to be better than the Firebolt?" Smith asked unbelievingly.

"Yes, although I don't believe I will allow them to mass produce it. Perhaps I'll allow them to use some of my ideas to incorporate into a new model." X said with a smirk. He knew just talking about the broom was making Smith want to see it.

Xavier approached the pitch and the rest of the seekers trying out. He recognized the seekers from the Cannons and Puddlemore but didn't know which teams the others were from. He saw they were having chaser and beater tryouts as well. Oliver Wood was defending one side while another keeper blocked the other. Harry had to remember not to wave and call out to Wood, since he would have no idea who he was looking like Xavier. The group of 8 seekers took off for laps around the pitch at the instruction of the man running the seeker portion of the tryout. The stands were full of scouts and others who would ultimately decide who would make the team.

Wood flew down to where he saw Remus watching. "Where's Potter?"

"We couldn't risk his safety incase death eaters attacked a match. He didn't want any innocent people getting hurt. So he gave his invite to my nephew instead." Remus told him with a shrug. "Xavier is pretty good; I think he has a great shot of making the team."

"Well tell Harry hello for me," Wood said trying to hide his disappointment. He had hoped Harry would make the team so he would have at least one person to hang out with, plus it would have been a good excuse to see Hermione more often.

"Hermione told me to say hello to you if I saw you," Remus told him, making Wood break out into a grin before flying back up to his position.

That afternoon's tryout was really more of a test of flying skills. They were required to do specific moves and dives and such. An obstacle course was set up for them to maneuver through as well as many sprints. They finally set off four bludgers and had the beaters who were trying out aim for the seekers. A seeker from one of the smaller teams was hit badly by one of the bludgers. Xavier was the only one not to be even grazed by one of the bludgers. He was feeling pretty good when they all were called down to the ground.

"That was a great start to the tryout today!" Gene Kaine the national team's coach told everyone present. "I want to thank you all for coming out today. We will be starting early tomorrow at 7am. Breakfast will be offered for anyone who wants it starting at 6:15. You may leave your equipment here in the changing room. There are lockers available."

Harry went to change out of his sweaty clothes and lock up his broom. He warded his locker heavily and was interested to note that the other players didn't ward theirs. The other 7 of them all seemed to know each other and Harry felt left out. "Yo, kid, what's your name? You flew real well today, I'm impressed," one of the other seekers called over to him.

"I'm Xavier, Xavier Lupin," he said, "thanks. I thought it was a lot of fun. Can't wait to see what they throw our way tomorrow."

"I thought Harry Potter was given the other tryout slot?" A different one asked.

"He did, but he couldn't play this summer so he offered it to me. I'm his cousin, sort of. His adoptive father is my uncle. I never got a chance for a tryout since I was home schooled, so Harry offered his spot." Xavier said with a shrug.

"I can't believe they went for that," one commented. "I can't believe Potter didn't show. Wonder why he couldn't make it."

"I heard that he has to stay at Hogwarts over the summer to train with Albus Dumbledore," Xavier told them all, they were all hooked. Even Quidditch stars wanted to hear about him, it was annoying. "My uncle is getting married this summer and will be away on his honeymoon so they are trying to keep Potter safe." Harry told them as he made his way back out to Remus so he could escape the questions.