Disclaimer: I do not own anything and I never will. Dur!

A/N: Okay, I just want to say thank you for joining me on the Magic Carpet Ride. Please don't stand until the carpet has come to a complete stop! Thank you!

Chapter Fourteen: Epilogue...

It had been countless decades since the tragedy of the phantom of Hogwarts had taken place. His story had appeared in the Daily Prophet for months on end after the whole affair had taken place. It was a good eleven months before the story had been forgotten from the papers. But it would never leave the hearts and minds of those who had lived through it.

Rufus Scrimgeour and Cornelius Fudge had remained in office, but only under the circumstance that they would no longer be involved with the school in any way. The school itself had been shut down and all the students sent off to other places. Jane Umbridge had resigned from teaching and decided to spend the rest of her life alone, away from people. She was last seen somewhere in Dublin, looking sad and weather worn. It is said she lived out the remainder of her years as a recluse in her family's old, worn out mansion. The only people known to go in and out of her house are the few house elves she allows to be amongst her. Not the best way for an aging prima donna to live out her golden years, but then again she had been through just as much as the others had. She had never thought she would live out the last of her years without her lover by her side. Truth be told, she really had loved him and had grieved his death for countless years. No doubt she never got past what Tom had done to him. Some claim she lived out the latter years of her life half dressed in a set of wedding robes, much like the notorious jilted bride from Charles Dickon's novel "Great Expectations". But that is uncertain.

Poppy Pomfrey had continued her healer's training at St. Mungo's hospital under the careful watch of her mother, Rose. The two women never spoke a word about what they had experienced during that horrendous year with the phantom of Hogwarts. Instead, they opted to just let people speculate about what had happened. For Poppy, she just figured that no one would believe her even if she told them what had happened. But for Rose, she did it out of a certain sense of loyalty to the phantom. She might not have approved of what the phantom had done to the members of Hogwarts, but she certainly did not feel as though she should add to his pain by telling everything she knew about him. He had been through enough.

As for Albus and Minerva, they may have had their happily ever after, but it was hard at first. Minerva had suffered from numerous nightmares for two years before she was finally able to make it through a full night's sleep without waking up. It took another year after that to shake the feeling of being followed. Every time the lights went out... Every time she turned the corner... Every time she was alone, she felt as though she were being watched. It seemed an eternity before she felt as though she could settle down fully with Albus and continue her life in the art of Transfigurations. She did become a teacher eventually and continued her teaching at the new school they had built for young wizards and witches. Hogwarts had a new location in Scotland and they had resumed their education training with Albus as the headmaster and Minerva as his deputy headmistress... And wife.

Albus was so glad that the whole ordeal was over that he thanked every diety he knew for the chance to start a new life without the threat of Tom hanging over his head. But despite his happiness, there were moments when all was quiet that he sometimes wondered about that man... If he had, indeed, been a man. What was he doing now? Was he even still alive? Who knew?

Now, it had been decades since that had happened and Albus exited the castle which had been the original Hogwarts. The auction was over and he had with him the one item he had come for. In his hands rested the small music box... A papier-mache musical box in the shape of a barrel organ. Attached, the figure of a wizard in Persian robes looking into it. It played a musical tune. Albus stared at it. It was everything Minerva had said it would be. He felt a hand touch his shoulder and looked to his left. It was Poppy. She smiled and he smiled back.

Oooooooooooo

Albus slowly made his way through the graveyard. He visited this grave every week without fail and had done so for the past month. To the left was the grave of Aires McGonagall... How fitting, Albus thought. The father buried next to the daughter. He felt his heart beat heavy within his chest as he thought of the daughter. He looked down in front of him and felt his heart break. There she was... Minerva Katherine McGonagall-Dumbledore. His wife, his love... His best friend. They had gone through so much together, and last month she had died from cancer. Of all the things they had been through, a disease was the one thing she could not beat. Just like time itself, the sickness had taken its toll.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Albus bent forward and placed the musical box on her headstone. As he pulled back, he could not help but notice that on the other side of the headstone was a singular object. An object which held so much meaning. He looked around, but saw no one. There was no one there.. Nothing, except Albus, the grave of his one true love, a musical box... and a rose with a black ribbon around it. Attached to that ribbon? An engagement ring... The last thing given to a despairing man with a broken heart and an unrequited love so pure, yet so sinister and selfish, it drove him even further into his life of eternal lonlieness...

THE END!

A/N2: All done! Always Hopeful