5

What about Voldemort, you ask?

Well, he didn't get much chance to bother us. That summer proved to be his undoing, and just as well. The day after we got married, Snape reported that Voldemort felt extremely sick for a night, as if he drank too much cheap whiskey, despite not having drank anything but water. Although we weren't allowed into the order meeting, Sirius was pleased to keep us informed. A few days later, it also became clear that Voldemort was suffering extreme pains whenever we were copulating, and that was about six times a day at that stage.

As Hermione found in the library, the kind of bond that we shared was enhancing our sexual drive and stamina. It didn't make much sense to me, though. Any couple our age had ample drive and stamina, I was sure. She also found some information that made her understand why Voldemort felt that way at those times. I failed to follow her explanations, though.

I didn't know what to do with that kind of information, but Hermione had a certain idea and then Dumbledore, whose knowledge still surpassed Hermione's, worked it into a plan. You see, she thought that if whenever we shared our love, Voldemort suffered, then it could possibly be used to weaken him to the point that he would be easy to defeat. We didn't know how it worked at that time, and Dumbledore, who had some suspicions, didn't share them with us until much later. He still managed to form a plan that seemed promising.

That chosen evening, about a week before the end of the summer vacation, Mrs. Weasley made some special portions just for us, as prescribed by Dumbledore, designed to help us stay sober even after drinking more than is normally advisable. Sirius visited us in our room a bit later, making us each drink a full bottle of the best firewhiskey he could find. Unlike the cheap kind, this one let us stay coherent much longer after drinking. Once we were left alone, we used that time to make love with each other until we were no longer able to. At a certain point, I saw some dark smoke coming out of my scar, but our mutual activity, along with the alcohol in our blood, didn't let any of us dwell on it.

We fell asleep for a while and then woke up and made some more love. We repeated this sequence a few more times, using a timed alarm charm to wake us as needed. The last time, our heads hurt badly, but our love and our lust won. When we woke up again, it was already early morning. Our heads hurt so much that we could barely believe it was possible, but we still showed our love to each other for a while, before we were forced to take the hangover potion. We then collapsed into dreamless sleep that lasted until after lunchtime.

Hermione used a spell to close my scar, that seemed to have opened during the night, and it healed well. We then showered together, got dressed and went down for a belated lunch. Nobody could tell us if the plan had any success.

Snape didn't report anything for a few days. When he finally reported, he looked extremely ill. "The Dark Lord is dead," he told the order. "He suffered severe pains and loss of power, which he tried to counteract by using the magic of his followers, accessible through their dark mark. He took out so much, that most of them died of magical exhaustion. Dumbledore had managed to change a few lines in the dark mark on my arm before that night, and that's probably what saved me, just barely. When there was no more magic to soak up from others, his reconstructed body started to disintegrate. It was then that he tried to summon his hidden soul fragments, hoping they would keep him alive. Several wisps of tar-like smoke seemed to appear in front of him and vanish as soon as he tried to soak them in. The last was in his snake. As the snake became free of that soul fragment, it regained its own instincts. Being surrounded by dying people, it got frightened and bit the closest one – the disintegrating body of its master – at its throat. This seemed to be the final blow, as Voldemort's body disappeared in a flash, leaving only some black smoke that quickly vanished as well. His robes stayed behind, empty, and the snake disappeared. Maybe it fled away."

"Where were you at the time, that you know this?" Moody asked. He had become even more paranoid after his misadventure during the previous year.

"I was there, near him, that night, as he had summoned most of his followers for a meeting, trying to find the cause of his pains. I fell on the floor like everybody else, but my modified mark prevented him from sucking my magic all out. I was still weakened so much that I could barely move from where I fell, even when the cadavers around me started decaying. Luckily, a house elf that came looking for its master, decided to help me, nursing me back to life and then bringing me to the hospital wing, where Poppy is still working on restoring my health."

I found it hard to believe that our night of alcohol, love and lust had such far reaching results, but the newspapers were quite clear about it. Riddle Manor, where Voldemort had set his throne, lost its protection when Voldemort died. It took a few days before the authorities started an investigation, after some nearby citizens complained of the stench, and it was soon turned to the aurors. Snape's story was confirmed. It was a severe blow to many families. It even ended several lines of dark families, letting the lighter families set the tone in the wizarding society.

Our very esteemed minister, Mr. Fudge, took a personal blow in that. Not only were all his heaviest financial supporters dead, but his eldest son was found among the bodies at Riddle Manor, also putting his integrity as a minister into severe doubts. He resigned two days later, stating his personal loss as the reason. This didn't really help him. The new Wizengamot, now definitely on the light side, elected Madam Bones as Interim Minister and she started investigating some of her predecessor's questionable decisions. A few days later, he was arrested for bribery and misconduct, along with most of his personal staff. Percy Weasley, despite being quite close to the minister and his undersecretary, was found innocent. He actually lost his respect for authority and decided to resign and join the twins in designing jokes, proving just as mischievous.

You're now wondering about Sirius, aren't you?

The new minister canceled the "kiss on sight" order of the previous minister. She also checked the records, finding, as expected, that Sirius had never been given a trial. She then published a call for Sirius to turn himself in and get a proper trial and a chance to redeem himself.

I brought the paper to him.

"Do you know this minister?" he asked me.

"She's a fair and honest person. She'll make sure that you get a proper trial, and with Petigrew's body found among the dead at Riddle Manor, you're sure to have them listen to you."

He didn't trust my judgment alone. He also consulted with Hermione and Remus. They advised him to invite the press and make it a public event, so that if anybody thought of just 'making him disappear' it wouldn't work. I thought it was really a good idea. I volunteered to accompany him, but he preferred to let Dumbledore do it. "He owes me at least that. Had he believed in my innocence from the beginning, he could have spared me several years at Azkaban." He refused to elaborate.

Eventually, it was an open and shut case. Interrogation under veritaserun proved him not guilty of any charges, except for failing to register his animagus form. He was declared innocent and free, with all his rights as Head of House restored, and his wand was given back to him. He was even paid a few thousand galleons for being illegally imprisoned, out of which he had to pay a hundred and ten as a fine for not registering as animagus. He paid it gladly.

I wish I could say that the next years at school were quiet and peaceful. They were much better than the first four, I admit, but as Sirius became our DADA teacher, you can not even imagine the teasing we had to suffer, and for two of these years, the twins were on his side as well.

Ron proved to finally be a really good friend. It took him a few weeks to come to terms with the new development and a bit more to really understand what it meant, but he then stood strongly at our side, even protecting us from his twin brothers as much as humanly possible. That cost him a few feathery days and other similar mishaps, though.

Ginny also proved a fierce protector of us, and Sirius was hard pressed when she wanted to retaliate for a prank, learning on himself how effective her spell casting was. She was even more effective at retaliating against her brothers, and being their "baby sister" she could do almost anything to them and not fear their reaction.

Despite Hermione's fears after that first drunken night, she didn't get pregnant, although we used no precaution. Evidently, as she calculated a few days later, it was too close to her period. She made sure to use the contraceptive charm every day since then. Well, almost every day.

It was during the winter vacation on our seventh year, when we stayed at the Weasleys for a weekend. Sirius was there, of course, with his current date – a blonde who had only graduated the previous summer, and so were the twins with their girlfriends, soon to be wives. The three pranksters were joking on how a bit of firewhiskey got us so drunk.

"We were still children at the time," I said.

"And now you are adults, so you can probably hold your liquor much better, I assume," Sirius teased us.

The twins procured a bottle – this time it was really of the finest and costliest kind, as they could already afford it – and suggested to test us. Hermione wasn't glad at all, but she wouldn't back out of a challenge either. We each drank half a bottle almost in a single gulp and then continued talking and joking with the others as usual. Evidently, the firewhiskey was not affecting us too much. Yet.

Two hours later, and with another glass of firewhiskey imbibed, when we returned to our room, we felt a bit tipsy. It didn't seem to affect us too much. Our speech was still clear and our reasoning sound. As proven that night, when it got rid of Voldemort, being tipsy only made us much hornier, and that was no problem, since we were already a married couple. It was practically expected, at least at our age.

We had several sessions of sex during that night, and after taking the hangover potion, we had some more. It wasn't too much different than any night on vacation. Only a few weeks later, when Hermione didn't get her period, we suspected that the firewhiskey had another effect as well – it made us both forget about the contraceptive spell before going to bed.

James was born at the end of September, about three months after we graduated. Both Sirius and Remus wanted to be the godfathers. We gave Remus the honor, along with Ron. When Sirius asked why we didn't choose him, Hermione answered, "Blame it on the firewhiskey."


Now it's all wrapped up. I hope you enjoyed it. I did. And as usual -

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