The Monument Keeperoliver One: The Ceremony

It was to be a momentous occasion. It was to commemorate the fall of savior of the wizard world at the hands of Voldemort. It was a monument to the great Harry James Potter. A statue that was found in Carlisle Castle, deep within it's dungeons that had been hidden from view by magic.

It had been found by a class of students who were there on an excursion with the Professor from their school. One of the students happened to stop to examine something that appeared on the wall, like runes. As she ran her fingers over the runes, the wall disappeared from view, and the stairway leading down into the dungeons was shown to the students. There were six cells in the area, and skeletons were found in five of them, while in the sixth, the statue was found.

What amazed the class, was that it was so life like that tears were shown on the cheeks of the face of whoever it was. Pictures of the statue were taken, and sent to all major publications in Great Briton.

This was how the minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt learned of the find. Upon seeing the face of the statue, he knew right away that it was Harry James Potter. He thought that it might be that he was solidified ten years ago, but all attempts to terminate any spell cast on it failed. So rather than put it away from view, he decided to have a ceremony celebrating the final achievement he accomplished. That of saving all who were thought dead. Fifty one people died, and fifty one people, and one elf returned from the dead, while one more left them. Kingsley thought back on that evening, remembering all that Ron Weasley and Hermione Weasley, nee Granger told him of their mission. However, he was missing some very key elements to the story. The true story of that fateful evening went like this:

The Battle:

Ron and Hermione sat to the front of the fleeing dragon, and Harry sat to the rear. Neither of them could believe what just took place. They had actually broken into Gringotts, got the Cup, and escaped on dragon back. Even the treachery of Griphook could not stop them.

They had been flying for over an hour, and they began to fear the dragon would never land, so that they could get off. They finally made it over a body of water that was more than familiar. It stretched out from the base of a great castle. Black Lake.

Harry was ready to tell the others to jump into the water, when he felt his head start to split in pain. The thoughts of Tom Riddle began to flood his mind. He knew what the three were doing, and was on his way to get the last item he had hidden. It was the Diadem and it was in the RoR. Harry now knew what it was, and where it was. However, the pain was so great that he lost consciousness and fell from the back of the dragon, with out Ron and Hermione knowing. The cold water revived him, and he swam for the shore. He had to get into the castle quickly, and make his way to the Chamber to get another fang. He knew that Tom was on his way here, and time was of the essence. He made it to shore, and found his way to the Shrieking Shack. He entered the tunnel that led to the roots and freedom. He hit the knot on the tree to quiet the Willow, then dashed across the field to the castle. He had donned the cloak before he left the tunnel. He entered the front entry, and made his way to the dungeon area and the loo that was the home of Moaning Myrtle. It was also the entry to the Chamber.

Once he pulled the fang from the mouth of the dead Basilisk, he used his charm skills to make a weapon from the fang that would not only destroy the cup, but hopefully Nagini as well. However, knowing how close he would have to get for a dagger to kill the snake, he instead used a small sliver from the fang, and made a dart. He then searched the chamber for something top launch his dart. He found a stick that he changed into a hollow reed. He stuck the dart into the reed, and checked one end to see if there was any light showing through. There wasn't, and he marked the end where he was to blow into to launch the dart. He didn't want any mistakes, as it would cost him his life. He placed the reed in his back pocket and removed his wand. He made it back up to the loo, where Myrtle was waiting for him. "Hello Harry. Nice of you to visit me again."

"Hello Myrtle. It is nice to see you as well. Myrtle, I was wondering if you could do me a favor?"

"If I can Harry."

"Do you think you could go to the RoR and if any one is there, tell them, that I am in the castle, and need help."

"I can do that Harry. Be back in a bit." and she was gone. Then so was Harry, as he made his way up to the RoR. By the time he got there, he saw the students running from the hidden room and heading for the Dungeon area to look for Harry. Having worn his cloak once again, Harry was hidden from view, and once the last person went by, Harry walked to the place he knew so well, and paced three times in front of it, looking for a place to hide something.

He entered the room, and looked for the Diadem. He didn't know what it looked like, but he did know what a dark object felt like when he was near it. The past year taught him this. He looked for five minutes, when he felt the evil presence of the Horcrux. He went to the area it felt the strongest, and had to laugh, when he saw the crown that sat on the head of the bust where he placed it last year. He knew that the protection on the diadem would not let him get the crown with magic, and he didn't want to touch it, so he pushed the bust over, and the crown fell to the floor. Harry took the knife he fashioned from the fang, and stabbed the crown.

He picked the bust back up, and then placed the crown back on the bust. If Tom was looking for it, then let him find it. He already knows what Harry had been doing. Harry turned to leave the room, when he heard a scraping noise. He knew that noise, and luckily he was prepared. He backed into an area that allowed only one area to strike from. Then it appeared. Nagini had been let loose in the room, possibly to find the crown. Nagini raised it's head testing the air. It felt another presence. She swiveled her head, and noticed Harry in the little area. She felt confident in what she was about to do. There was no place else for him to go. She went to Harry and was about to raise herself up to strike, but before she could do that, she saw the boy lift something to his mouth, then she felt a sharp pain in her left eye. Then she felt a greater pain, as the venom began to take affect. She died soon after that. Harry had cut off her head, and carried it to the door. He opened the door, and saw the Carrows standing outside waiting. He stunned the two, and dragged them inside the room, then he jabbed them both in the arm with Nagini's fangs. They would never wake up again. He placed the head in Amycus' hands as if he was carrying it, then he left the room, wearing his cloak.

The sounds of fighting could be heard, and Harry went to see if he could help. What he saw was devastation and death all around. He saw Percy and Ron kneeling beside their dead brother, Fred. Hermione was crying beside Ron. Harry could not help there, so he started down the stairs. There was even more death here. Remus Lupin and his wife Tonks were dead. As were many more, both students, and Aurors. There were also many death eaters that were dead. Fenrir Greyback, the Lestrange brothers, and many more he did not know.

Then he heard a voice that carried through the air, "Defenders of Hogwarts, I am going to stop the fighting so that you may gather your dead and mourn their loss. You have one hour. If you turn Harry Potter over to me before that hour is over, then I will retreat my army, and let you live. If you do not turn him over to me, then my army will destroy every last one of you. Harry Potter, if you can hear me, and I know you can, then spare the rest and face me in the forest. You have one hour."

Harry made his way through the rubble of what was once the main entry of Hogwarts. He walked to the woods where he was to meet his destiny. However, he stopped when he saw Tom make his way across the field coming from the shack. He called out, "Tom Riddle, I hear you are looking for me. Well, here I am."

Both sides of the battle had heard Harry's words. He heard a shout from behind him, "Harry, what are ya doing. We can help you now that we know you are here." Hagrid yelled.

Then he heard another voice, "Please don't do this Harry. We haven't found it yet. You will die if you face him now." It was Hermione.

Rather than turn and face his friends, he walked on to face Tom. He stopped half way there, and Tom walked the other half, and they faced each other. "So, Harry Potter, you have come to meet your destiny alone. You have no one here to die for you this time Harry. How are you going to survive this. I can honestly tell you, that you won't. Not this time. I know what you have been doing Harry. You and your friends. But it will not save you. When I am done, there will be nothing left of you. It will be as if you never existed. However, since you came early, I will give you fifteen minutes to say goodbye to your friends. Then if you still have the courage, meet me in the nest of the spiders where we will part ways." Tom then turned and walked into the woods, taking his army with him.

Harry turned then, and looked at his friends, he waved to them and smiled. Then he turned back and went to the woods. He stopped once he entered them, and pulled out the snitch. He brought it too his mouth and said, "I have come to my end." and the snitch opened up, and out fell a stone. Harry knew what it was, The Resurrection Stone of the Hallows. He now had the Cloak, and the stone. He knew that Tom had the wand. Harry also knew that the wand was not working right for him, as he was not the true master.

He started to turn the stone in his hand, then stopped. If he brought his mum and dad back to him, he felt he may change his mind about what he had to do. He put the stone in his pocket, hoping that if what Tom said was true, then when Harry disappeared, the Hallows would be useless with out the cloak and the stone. He could not leave that kind of power behind if he failed.

Ron was the only one who had been to the nest of the spiders, besides Hagrid. The two led the rest to the site, to help Harry in the upcoming fight. They were stopped however, by a force of about twenty Death Eaters. They didn't fight, but they would not let them pass right away. It was about ten minutes when they heard a whistle, and the DEs let the group pass. When they got to the clearing, they saw Harry and Tom standing in a protective dome where no magic could enter or leave the area where they stood.

They all could see Tom and Harry talking, but they could hear nothing. In side the dome, Tom was getting frustrated with Harry. No matter what Tom said, it didn't get to Harry. In fact, for everything Tom said, Harry told him that it was not the truth. Then Tom said, "No matter what you say Harry Potter, the truth of the matter is I am in control of the One Wand, and with it, I am unbeatable."

"In order for that to be true Tom, the wand would have to recognize you as it's master. Have you noticed that you have not yet seen it's full power. Why is that Tom? Is it because you are not its master?"

"Now there you would be wrong Harry. You see, I did notice that the wand did not function properly for me. I remedied that in the shack, just before you came to me. I killed Severus who was the master. Now I am in control."

"Tom, you still have a chance to atone for your misdeeds. Give up this hate you feel for everyone. You have this one chance to redeem yourself. I must tell you that you are not now, nor ever were the master of the Elder Wand. You see, that night on the tower, Severus did not defeat Professor Dumbledore. Yes, he did kill him, but he was already defeated, by Draco Malfoy. Draco disarmed him when he first got to the tower. Severus killed an unarmed man. And just so you don't go getting any ideas, Draco has since been defeated. You will never guess who did it."

The look of fear in his eyes told Harry Tom knew. "YOU! Well, it is still more than enough to defeat you Potter." and the two started firing spells that never reached their targets. You could see the spells hit against the barrier.

The people outside the barrier watched as Harry was able to handle everything Tom could toss at him, and return some as well. The power of the spells that hit the dome was causing it to weaken. It would soon collapse, and they would be able to help out which ever side they were on.

It never came to that, as the two stopped and glared at each other. "It seems you have learned your lessons well Potter. But there is one spell you cannot defend against. I had hoped to do away with you in a different manner, but I have to do what I have to do, and that is to kill you Harry. So, good bye Harry Potter. AVADA KADAVRA!" and Harry could not dodge this one However, he did cast one of his own, as As Harry was hit in the chest, He saw his spell about to hit Tom as well. Harry did not fall, as Tom did when he was hit. He was sent flying through the air, and then, everything was frozen in place. Harry was lying flat but in the air with no support. People outside the dome were frozen in different stances and yells.

A light began to shine between Harry and Tom. A form began to take shape. A cloaked figure was standing there. He began to speak but there was no one that could hear him. "So, the master of the Hallows has been found. Let him be with the three Hallows." and the Elder Wand flew to Harry's hand, where it stuck there. "Now that he has them, let evil that threatens the land be abolished, and let those who died protecting others from the evil return."

Harry's body began to glow. Two different colors began to form around him, then in a burst, red and gold beams shot out from him. The red beams went to the death eaters who had killed that evening. Those that the beam struck died. There were three figures left standing. Lucius, Narcissa and Draco Malfoy. They had refrained from fighting that evening.

The golden beams shot out to the fallen heroes, bathing them in the glow. One shot out that traveled to a spot outside of a home near the beach. It was a burial site of a very brave elf. All of the glowing bodies were soon sitting up, wondering what was going on.

Finally the figure looked to Harry and said, "Since you are not dead Master of death, I must let your fate continue on the way it was headed. I wish you luck young sir, and hope all comes out well for you in the end. Then just like it never happened, Harry continued to fly through the air, but he never landed, as he just disappeared. This is what everyone outside the dome saw.

It was Ginny Weasley that was the first to respond to it. "HARRY! What happened to him? Where did he go? Some one please tell me what just happened?"

No one was able to answer her. They were all at a loss for words. Then they heard voices calling out to them from the castle. There coming towards them were the people who they thought were dead. Fred. Remus, Tonks, Colin, and a pop showed the arrival of the thought dead house elf, Dobby. The emotions were so mixed, that no one knew what was being said. The tears were shed for those who returned, and for Harry who was gone.

Lucius, and his family were joined by Severus Snape, and they stayed away from the rest of the crowd, fearing they may get hurt by the emotionally unstable crowd.

However, Kingsley Shacklebolt, was of sound mind, when he took the four into custody, with out a fight. They were taken to the holding cells in the ministry. Once that was taken care of, he gathered people to help in the search for Harry. He was not found on the grounds of Hogwarts, either inside or outside. A search would begin the following morning, as soon as the people were rested.

Hermione joined the Weasley family, as they sat around Fred. Mrs. Weasley was crying, and no one knew if they were for Fred, or Harry. Probably both. Hermione saw Ginny crying as well, but she knew why she was in tears. She loved Harry. Fred was alive because of Harry. As were Remus, Tonks, Colin, Snape and the rest. She heard people whispering things like 'Harry sacrificed himself for the others.' or, 'No one could survive another Killing Curse.' All of this made matters worse with Ginny, as she heard them too.

Ginny jumped up and yelled, "He is not dead. Harry is not dead. He is alive some where, and we have to find him. We will find him." and with that, she ran up the stairs to the Gryffindor dorm.

Hermione was going to run after her, but, Ron stopped her. "No one will be able to get through to her tonight Hermione, let her go. Until we find Harry, or a final decision is made, she will not be herself. In the meantime, mum wants us to go home and she wants you to join us. She doesn't think you need to be alone." Ron said this as he was stroking the side of her face, wiping away her tears. Hermione collapsed into his chest.

"Why Harry Ron. Why is it always Harry. He never did an evil thing in his life. Well, almost never. That thing with Malfoy last year was not nice."

"But Hermione, Harry didn't know what it would do. In the heat of battle, you do what you can to win and survive. Malfoy was trying to hurt Harry."

"Yes, but Harry knew enough to defeat Draco with out resorting to an unknown spell. Because of that, he lowered himself to Malfoy's level."

Ron and Hermione got into some real loud disagreements, but none matched what Ron spoke next, "HARRY NEVER WAS NOR EVER WILL BE IN THE SAME CATEGORY AS MALFOY. I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU SAID THAT, HERMIONE. WHAT IN THE WORLD MADE YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT?"

Ron's outburst got Hermione crying again. "I'm sorry Ron. Our fights have brought out the bad side of me, and I sometime say things I don't mean. Of course Harry is better than Malfoy. It's just..." She never finished her sentence.

Ron tried to get her to calm down. "Hermione, no one knows what went on the loo that evening. What spells were cast, and why it even started. With the two sides of the story, we have to believe Harry's side, but that doesn't mean he was right with his actions. But what caused him to use that curse. What kind of curses was Malfoy using. Do you see what I mean Hermione. We don't know the whole story."

"I know Ron. Again I'm sorry for what I said. You know I love Harry. I would Never say anything bad about him." She saw the look on Ron's face, and knew she said the wrong thing again. "Ron, I love Harry like I would a brother. Why are you so jealous of him?"

Ron looked down to his feet. "I don't know Hermione, but it's been this way since first year. As a matter of fact, it started on the train. Harry bought enough food off the cart to feed an army. He did it, when I passed on the cart, showing my corned beef sandwich. I felt so embarrassed. It only grew worse as time went on. What ever Harry wanted, he could get. Now, before you start saying family, remember that Harry had been accepted into the Weasley family almost from the first time we met him. Fred and George sent letters home to mum and Ginny about his adventures, but they never mentioned me. Actually, I'm glad they didn't, as mum would have come unglued. So Harry did have a family, mine. Then Harry always had people talking about him, patting him on the back or if they were girls, just staring dreamy eyed at him. Again, I know what you are thinking, as he didn't want any of that. Whether he wanted it or not, he got it. I know better now Hermione, but it still comes back and bites me now and again. I am not proud of the way I feel, or the way I act at times. My self esteem is my weakness."

Still leaning against his chest, Hermione hugged him just a bit tighter. "You have gotten over it fairly well, except for the hunt."

She heard Ron chuckle, "Don't even go there Granger. I told you I wasn't in my right state of mind."

That was the way the day ended.

TM-}

Kingley went over his speech he was to make at the ceremony. He wished there was more to add, like where the statue came from. He couldn't put that in the speech, because it was a tourist site. Besides, he didn't know how it got there. If it hadn't been for the unspeakable he sent, things might have gotten out of hand. That was another thing he couldn't understand. Luna showed up at the precise time they needed a new member of the force. That was five years ago, and it was the best move he ever made. Her insight had made all the difference in the world. She was the reason they solved so many cases. Not that she solved them all, it was because she passed on her feelings of certain matters, and they were taken in by her comrades, and they took the same stance as she did.

Luna Lovegood was sent to fetch the statue of her friend Harry, and the moment she saw it, her brain went to work. It was too real looking to be just a statue. Once she had it back in the Dept. of Mysteries, she tried every spell she could think of to see if it truly was Harry. Nothing worked. She had others try to break the spell as well, but, all failed. Even Kingsley tried, as did Hermione. It was a very disappointing time for Luna, and she brought it home with her. Her husband Rolf noticed this, and he tried to get her to talk about what was bothering her, but because of the privacy act in her department, she could say nothing. It was the one thing that Rolf regretted about her becoming an unspeakable. She didn't come home like this often, but when she did, it lasted a few days, and she shut her self off from her family when she did. Even Lorcan and Lysander couldn't get through to her, and they were her life.

What ever it was that was bothering her, Rolf obeyed her wishes, and did not try to get her to open up.

A/N: Well, there it is, the first chapter of my new story. This will be the last you hear of the ceremony for a while, as I take you back to what went on during the ten years between the battle, and the ceremony. I will try to show how every one coped with their loss, and moved on with their lives.

Of course with my writing, there will be times of humor, but that will not be the normal thing in the story. It will mostly be a sad story, and how it ends, I don't know yet. All I can say is that there will be at least three chapters filling in the 10 year gap, maybe more. At that point, I will go back and show what happens at the ceremony. Just bear with me. As always, Ollie the Keeper.