Innocence is fleeting, Death stays true forever: EXTRA's

The hairpins

Ron approached his best friend with caution.

"Harry, there was something I wanted to talk to you about."

Hary looked up from the large, evil looking book he was reading. "Yes?"

Ron fidgeted. "Well, me and some other guys, we were thinking and... er, don't you think your hairpins are a bit girly?"

Harry stared at him. Then he unclipped the pins and looked at them speculatively. It were plain black bobby pins, with tiny silver skulls at one end, barely larger than a pinhead. When the Atlantean Counsel had decided all Necromancers had to wear those, they hadn't specified how large they should be. Harry could have picked huge jewel-encrusted glowing skulls, but that, he thought, would have been too much.

He clipped them back on. "I don't see it, Ron. What would you suggest, then? Skull rings? A skull necklace? Do you know how many Muggles have those?"

Ron looked surprised. "They do? Really? The boys too?"

"Yes, Ron."

:-:

The clean-up

Minister Scrimgeour wasn't happy.

"Ministries all over the world are desperate! The Secrecy Act is completely ruined now, with all those Inferi and demons that Voldemort made! How are we going to explain this? I cannot help but feel this is all your fault, Mr. Potter."

Hermione cleared her throat. "Actually, Minister, there may be a way to explain this to the Muggles without telling them of magic."

Scrimgeour huffed, not believing this girl, still a student, could find a solution when the smartest wizards of the world couldn't think of one. "Pray tell me, Ms. Granger."

"Well, sir, we could claim there had been genetic testing, sir, or some kind of virus excaped that killed people and took over their body, to infect others."

"What nonsense is this? No one would believe that!"

"Tell me sir, have you ever seen films like Resident Evil, or Dawn of the Dead?"

:-:

The Ministry had made it clear that Harry could forget being an Auror. If it was up to them his wand would have been snapped as soon as the battle was over, but the other Ministries had butted in and there was nothing they could do. Despite being a Necromancer (and proud of it), Harry was still a hero. People were a bit uneasy around him, but that would have been the case even if he defeated Voldemort with a hammer. They'd been afraid of You-Know-Who for so long...

Harry had found a way to live a fairly normal life, even with his Necromancy. He joined a small Muggle circus, which quickly grew in popularity because of him.

After all, who wouldn't like a medium that could actually speak to the dead?

He had Muggle customers as well as magical ones. Sometimes a desperate person would come, and beg him to please resurrect a loved one. Hary never promised anything, but he did contact the spirit in question. They couldn't lie to him. If he saw they had been good people, they wanted to live again and it was still possible to revive them, then he would do it. For free, too.

Shadowy businessmen had offered him bags of cash to bring back another shadowy businessman, but that he declined. A short talk with the spirit they wanted alive had been enough to decide that.

It was a quiet life. There was always something going on in the circus, yes, but it were ordinary things. Harry doubled as a magician and snake-handler in their shows, and the 'Amazing Harry and his Educated Serpents' became well known.

:-:

A/N: a small wink to the movies mentioned, and to Terry Pratchett's 'The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents', as you may have noticed.