Epilogue and Author's Note:

No one knew where they came from at first. It had started in London. Children on death's doorstep, those beyond any treatment, the ones the doctors had quietly realized were going to die no matter what was done, started getting better. Men and women in strange clothes would walk into hospitals and those children would suddenly be well again. Children with advanced AIDS and HIV would suddenly have healthy, vibrant immune systems. Those with cancer that had metastasized into multiple organs were found to be free of any abnormalities and were once again healthy. Those who needed organs where none could be found suddenly had theirs regrown in mere hours, and quickly regained strength and health.

Great Britain was in an uproar. All across the world, families desperately tried to bring their sick loved ones to the United Kingdom in the desperate hope that this miracle cure would work for them. And to everyone's shock, they were cured. Children first, then the rest. No matter how severe the disease all were made healthy, save only for those for whom the only real malady was time itself, and those whose illnesses were of the mind.

Where did these people come from? Who were they? Their leader, one Ronald Weasley, spoke for them. They were witches and wizards. They had gone into hiding because of persecution, but now they were back, and with them they brought gifts for mankind. They were not to be found only in Great Britain, but the witches and wizards of Britain now faced persecution from their fellows for coming out of hiding.

The world was outraged. Some because they thought magic was evil, some because they had lost loved ones in the long years magic had abandoned the world, but most because their saviors were being threatened for saving them.

Over time, the other witches and wizards in much of the rest of the world also came out of hiding. They too brought gifts. Most were wonderful; diseases cured, pollution cleaned up, famines ended. Others were dark and terrible. Several nations fell under the sway of Dark Lords for a time.

Until the Master of Death revealed himself. It did not matter if one was the Dark Lord of the Rus, ruler over a vast and powerful land with terrible dark creatures at his call, or the Dark Lady who instilled terror over a small village in remote Papua New Guinea. Harry James Potter would come for you. And when he did, with Neville Longbottom, bearer of Excalibur and Heir of Arthur at his side, and the fiery lady Ginevra mistress of the broom and ace of the skies above him, you were doomed. No Dark Lords held power for long, though a terrible price in blood was paid. In the end, Harry Potter met a dark and terrible end, as the one who bears the Elder Wand is fated to do. But Potter's son Albus took up the Wand, and continued his father's legacy. The world, it seemed, would never lack for a protector.

After a time, the world became used to magic. It did demand magical solutions to things, but it also provided science to solve many magical problems as well. As science and magic found uses for one another, a golden age of mankind dawned. Soon, humanity left its cradle, and ventured beyond. First came Venus and Mars. With magic and science working hand in hand, the once lifeless and barren worlds became lush gardens. Venus became New Eden, a verdant world of sprawling hot jungles that would be the breadbasket for humanity for millennia. Mars became a great foundry, renamed Vulcan as its fiery forges produced the ships that would seed the stars.

Ronald Weasley did not live to see all this, nor did Gisela, his first patient. He died not long after his brother, Harry Potter, when a plague that not even magic could cure at first swept his hospital. However, the children he healed did live on, and they carried his legacy with them. First thousands, then millions, and then billions, then uncountable teaming masses lived because Ronald Weasley had decided to heal them or their ancestors. In time, even Ron's name was forgotten as humanity forged on to a new future, leaving behind Earth and its legends. But his legacy endured, and it was one of life.

Authors Note:

Thanks for reading. I confess, this work was a passion project of mine, but I hope you enjoyed it. I've read one too many arguments that wizards, for whatever reason, should not use their magic for the good of humanity at large for any number of good reasons. Personally, I have to disagree. There is so much good that could be done if we stopped fearing the unknown and got out there and just did it. We've all been given something, and called to use it for the good of all. I know it's not a standard I live up to, but I do pray that one day, when I am called to account, my Master will not look at me and cast me out into the darkness. Instead, I hope for only one thing: Well done, my good and faithful servant.

I'd like to think that in this story, Ron lived that kind of life. In my writing, I can only hope to inspire the same in myself and others.

This story, and a lot of my moral reasoning, is of course inspired by the teachings of Jesus Christ, particularly the parable of the Three Servants found in Matthew 25, and Luke 19.