Chapter 13
Afterwards, Part 2

Two and a half months later
Saturday, 14th November; afternoon
(Six months and twelve days after the Battle of Hogwarts)
At the Dursley house

When Vernon Dursley answered the doorbell, he found two women on his doorstep. The one in back was a natural blonde, about the same age as Petunia—but much better looking. The woman in front looked to be eighteen and just out of school, but had her curly hair pulled back in a bun to make herself look older.

The strange thing was, Vernon had seen both of these women before—but he could barely remember when or how. He remembered only—I've seen them on the telly.

The younger woman was holding a clipboard. "Good afternoon, sir. Are you"—her eyes went down to her clipboard, before returning to Vernon's face—"Vernon Dursley of Number 4, Privet Drive?"

"Yes I am," Vernon replied. I wish I could figure out how I know these women.

"We're with the Surrey County Council. We're conducting a survey. May we come in and interview you and your wife, if she's in?"

"I guess," Vernon said. He let the two women enter the house, before shutting the front door.

"How many people are in the house right now, Mr Dursley, over the age of fourteen?" The young woman spoke the question as if she were reciting it.

"Three," Vernon said. By then he had led the two Council women into the sitting room, where Petunia and Dudley were watching a movie on the telly.

When the two women entered the sitting room with Vernon, Dudley casually glanced over. Vernon's eighteen-year-old son did a double-take.

"Dad," Dudley asked, confused, "what is Harry's wife doing here?"

Both women smiled cruelly, and the clipboard that the younger woman was holding, suddenly changed itself into a wooden wand.

Vernon got angry: "You freaks get out—!"

The blond woman now also held a wand; she pointed it at Vernon. "Incarcerous!" she said.

Suddenly Vernon could not move, because tight ropes tied him up.

Bollocks! thought Vernon.

Narcissa pointed her wand at skinny, blond-haired Petunia, then at Dudley who was Harry's age: "Incarcerous. Incarcerous." Now all three Dursleys were bound with ropes.

The elder Dursleys started yelling then, but Narcissa's Black-family Laryngitis spell got rid of this annoyance.

Hermione said, "Hello, Vernon, Petunia and Dudley Dursley. She's Narcissa Black and I'm Hermione Potter, at your disservice. You Dursleys have been mean to our Harry—Narcissa and I are here to fix this. Let's start with giving you abusers the entertainment you deserve."

Hermione stepped behind the television, which was showing a Muggle film. She pointed her wand down, and said, "Diffindo. Diffindo."

The television went black. Hermione told the Dursleys, "I cut the power cords for your television and your DVD player. No more films for you Dursleys, no more footy or other sport till you can get out to a repair shop. Which reminds me: doors and windows, Narcissa."

As the Dursleys watched and waited helplessly, Hermione and Narcissa walked into every room of the house, casting a timer-version of Colloportus on every window, on the kitchen door and on the front door.

Narcissa walked up to the roped-up Dursleys and told them, "Hermione and I have locked the windows and outside doors of this house till 7 a.m Monday. Just as you used to lock Harry in the cupboard under the stairs for days at a time, for the next almost-two days, you're trapped in this house."

Hermione walked into the sitting room and grinned cruelly at the Dursleys. "In the kitchen, I also magically locked shut the cupboards, the biscuit jar and the refrigerator. You're not eating till 7 a.m Monday—because you starved Harry, Narcissa and I are starving you. We think it's fair."

Narcissa asked Hermione, "Are we ready for the Frangeret fun?"

"Just one more thing," Hermione said. "Back in a minute."

Hermione magically unlocked the kitchen door, then walked out that door. Seconds later, the overhead lights in the Dursley house all went out.

When Hermione walked back into the sitting room, she told the Dursleys, "We don't intend to poison you with food that has spoiled, so I put a Stasis Charm on your refrigerator till 7 a.m. Monday. Aren't we kind witches? When you can finally open your refrigerator door on Monday morning, you'll discover that the food still is cold."

Then Hermione said, "Now for the candles. Guided Accio candles." A ten-inch-long candle came out of the kitchen door, swerved round the staircase and laid itself on Hermione's open free hand. A scented candle floated down the stairs, through the bannister and into Hermione's free hand. Hermione vanished both candles.

"Let's review what awaits you," said Narcissa to the Dursleys. "No food till Monday morning. You're trapped in the house and unable to leave till Monday morning. Once the sun sets, it'll get dark in this house. Have I missed anything?"

Hermione said, "When I was in the back garden, I cut the telephone cable; and the television is dead, even once you turn the master circuit breaker back on. You'll be bored to tears, Dursleys, and you can't call out for help. Now you're just like Harry was, when you locked him in the cupboard."

Hermione paused, then said, "But surely you remember, Dursleys, that when Harry was locked in the cupboard, sometimes he suffered pain. From broken bones. Has Harry ever mentioned a spell called 'the Bone-Breaker Curse'?"

All three Dursleys looked frightened.

Minutes later

All three Dursleys had been de-roped, but then all three of them had been sticking-charmed to the wall.

After this, Vernon and Dudley had each gotten his arms, legs and collarbone broken.

Whilst the male Dursleys were crying from pain and were (silently) screaming, Hermione and Narcissa turned their attention to Petunia.

Hermione said to Petunia, "You haven't broken any of Harry's bones, other than once fracturing his skull with a frying pan. But neither Narcissa or I feel confident we can fracture your skull without killing you. So we won't attack your skull or your brain. That's the good news."

Before Petunia could ask What's the bad news?, Hermione brought her wand down to point to Petunia's left upper leg. "Frangeret," Hermione said.

Petunia's left femur snapped; she screamed.

"Skele-Gro," Narcissa reminded Hermione, who nodded.

Hermione pulled three tiny phials out of various pockets and enlarged the phials. She explained to the Dursleys, "This is a potion to heal broken bones. It works shockingly fast—by Monday morning, all your bones will be as healthy as though Narcissa and I never stopped in for a friendly visit."

Hermione tried to give the potion to weeping Petunia, who turned her head away.

Hermione said, "Let me spell it out for you three. Your house is locked up till Monday morning, your phone service is dead, one of you is in severe pain and the other two are in severe pain and are immobile besides. Neither Narcissa or I have lied to you since we entered your house, and I tell you that this potion will heal your broken bones. Listen, if we'd wanted to kill you, we wouldn't bother with tricking you into drinking a poison. So drink the potion, because you three don't have a Plan B right now, do you?"

Petunia drank her potion. For Vernon and Dudley, Hermione had to bring the phial to each of their lips, because neither male Dursley had an arm that worked.

As Hermione shrank and repocketed the empty potion phials, Narcissa looked at Vernon Dursley. "My dead husband hated Muggles. He had no good reason at all, he just hated them because they had no magic. When your nephew killed the Dark Lord Voldemort, I realised what a disgusting person my husband was. You, Muggle, are just like him, and you're disgusting like him. Harry is lucky to be shot of you and your pathetic family."

Dudley said to Narcissa (with much gasping and groaning), "Tell Harry I'm sorry."

"Freak," Vernon muttered.

Hermione said, "Thank you, Dudley." She asked the adult Dursleys, "Do either of you apologise to Harry?"

Petunia said nothing.

Vernon said, "Apologise? Never."

Hermione said cruelly, "Then I hope you two are in much, much pain before the Skele-Gro works its magic. I hope you suffer, I hope you're in agony, this entire weekend. Goodbye."

Hermione and Narcissa Apparated away from the Dursleys' sitting room.

Five months later: April 1999

The sixty-four Death Eaters that had been transferred to nonmagical custody, plus Draco Malfoy and Dolores Umbridge, all had been tried for "terroristic homicide." Results varied.

The Death Eaters all were found guilty, in trials that were heavily covered by wizarding radio, the Daily Prophet, La Magie du Monde—English Edition and by the Quibbler—not to mention, nonmagical news media.

The interesting thing about the Death Eaters' trials, from a legal point of view, was that whilst they were found to have a right against self-incrimination in a Queen's Court, this right did not retroactively apply to transcripts of their testimony under Veritaserum during their Wizengamot trials.

Their Veritaserum-testimony transcripts, once allowed as evidence, was damning.

The sixty-four Death Eaters had, by April, all been found guilty of terroristic homicide. They all were sentenced to having their magic bound—even though Harry Potter already had removed their magic—then sentenced to hang. By 30th April 1999, the sixty-four Death Eaters were dead.

By similar legal process, Draco Malfoy was found guilty of one count of terroristic homicide. However, by the queen's laws, he had been technically underage at the time he had committed the crime. As punishment, Malfoy was sentenced to having his magic bound; but instead of death by hanging, Draco was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Narcissa visited her son in prison every Monday.

Dolores Umbridge's trial also was heavily reported, by both magical and nonmagical news media. In her trial, the Queen's Court could not prove that she had committed terroristic homicide; but they could prove that she many times had abused the Wizarding Britain legal process to sentence many Muggle-borns to prison undeservedly, where some of those Muggle-borns had died. The legal distinction here was that whilst those Muggle-borns had died as a result of Umbridge's ideologically driven actions, she had not killed them; therefore she had not committed terroristic homicide.

Umbridge's Veritaserum testimony also had revealed that Umbridge had risen to the post of Senior Undersecretary by committing four murders—but "regular" homicide would not earn her a hangman's noose under United Kingdom law.

Umbridge was found guilty of four counts of homicide, one count of attempted homicide (Harry Potter), and 145 counts of abuse of office. She was sentenced to having her magic bound, then life in prison without parole. But whilst she was not sentenced to death, by March 1999 she was dead.

In December 1998, Dolores Umbridge was sent to Holloway (women's) Prison. Her new neighbours included other convicted murderesses; like Dolores, the other murderesses had been sentenced to life in prison instead of sentenced to death. One such murderess, whom everyone at Holloway called Maiden, had killed her would-be rapist in a way that led to disgusting scene-of-crime photos.

Dolores begin her life in prison by doing what had worked for her before: simpering up to those in authority, and trying to bully and to bluff when other prisoners were about.

Simpering up to those in authority, pretending a willingness to help and sometimes pretending moralistic outrage, only worked for Dolores when the people in charge were willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. At Hogwarts, Slughorn mostly had taken Dolores at her word and Headmaster Dumbledore had been completely gullible; but at Holloway, the prison guards expected her to lie to them. Her attempts to ingratiate herself with the prison guards resulted only in responses of Whatever, sweetie. Run along now.

And bullying? Dolores was a short and flabby woman in her forties; the idea that she could physically intimidate another woman was laughable. Umbridge as a bully was ridiculous, but she did not realise it.

This left only bluffing—making scary threats that the speaker knew could not be carried out. During Dolores's upper years at Hogwarts and during most of her time at the Ministry, bluffing worked for Dolores because the threatened people assumed that Dolores was truthful more often than not. But at Holloway, the prisoners knew they were liars, and they expected Dolores to be a liar too. The prisoners acted accordingly.

The first time that magically bound Dolores threatened to "hex" Maiden, Dolores expected Maiden to cower and to grovel. Instead, Maiden's response was to punch Dolores in the face. "Well, Umbitch? I've earnt a hexing, haven't I? Well? Come on, hex me! Make me scream in pain! I'm waiting."

Ten minutes later, Maiden and five other women had beaten up Dolores so badly that the former Senior Undersecretary wound up in hospital.

All of this explained how that on 23rd February 1999, two months after Dolores had threatened to "hex" Maiden, Dolores was stabbed to death in the prison dining room. When the bloody knife eventually was found, it had no fingerprints on it; but no person in that prison doubted that it was Maiden who had thrust the knife (four times).

A month or two later
Tuesday, 1st June 1999
Hogwarts SOW&W

The Potters, Harry and Hermione, were as stressed-out now as they had been during the Battle of Hogwarts. Because—

Firstly, Harry and Hermione were days away from sitting their NEWTs—the examinations that seven years at Hogwarts had led up to, the examinations that were end-of-year exams on steroids. To say that Hermione was anxious about the NEWT exams was putting it mildly.

Secondly, Hermione was four months pregnant. But one bit of good news in June: Hermione was over her morning sickness.

Thirdly, Harry's and Hermione's adopted child Familie, who was only a fortnight away from her second birthday, had discovered the glories of the word No! It was a word the child spoke constantly.

By June 1999, Harry still needed to marry a witch who would become Lady Black. Who this woman would be was of keen interest, worldwide—of keen interest in Wizarding Britain, yes, but also in the rest of the magical world, in Muggle Britain, and in the Muggle United States. Harry was invited to many parties, by the parents of young witches; Harry always made sure to bring Hermione and Narcissa along. Sometimes the hostesses frowned at this.

On 1st June 1999, when Narcissa was eight months pregnant with Sol Haroldus Black, Harry upgraded Narcissa from concubine to wife.

Harry's logic was simple: by then he trusted Narcissa, Narcissa and Hermione got on well, and a hypothetical Lady Black who was not Narcissa would have to get on with Harry and Hermione and Narcissa, which Harry could not see happening.

The wedding was held at unoccupied Malfoy Manor, at Narcissa's suggestion. Then Harry and Narcissa returned to Hogwarts. Narcissa moved temporarily into the Gryffindor Lord's Suite's third bedroom.

International Witch Weekly reported that Ginevra Weasley, the reserve seeker for the Holyhead Harpies all-women Quidditch team, destroyed the club's locker room in an accidental-magic tantrum when she was told about Narcissa's marriage to Harry. Weasley was promptly sacked.

In the years after Harry married Narcissa, many interviewers asked about relations between the trio. Harry would say only "Hermione and Narcissa are competitive, but they are not mean or vicious to each other." Harry never explained the full truth: that his two wives were each determined to melt Harry's socks better than the other wife melted them, so Harry's sex life was brilliant.

Harry never guessed why his wives were so erotically generous with him: they were simply repaying what Hermione called Harry's "pleasuring-wives thing."

A year later, in 2000

Harry, Hermione and Narcissa jointly wrote Dark Lord: The Biography of Tom Marvolo Riddle. The book was packed with Hermione's research, but the book also contained Harry's and Narcissa's (and Dumbledore's) memories of their encounters with Voldemort. When published, the book became an international bestseller amongst both magical and nonmagical readers.

A British single mother on the dole, Joanne R, wrote a speculative screenplay that was loosely based on Dark Lord. In Joanne R's screenplay, Harry and Hermione are children who form a close bond during their first year at magical school, whilst Narcissa is the wife of one of the Dark Lord's favoured minions, who begins to question everything she thinks she knows.

Joanne R's screenplay was purchased, and premiered as a film in 2002; a child actress named Emma Holmes played child-Hermione. However, what was shown on the screen was different from Joanne R's script in two major ways: Joanne R portrayed Ron Weasley and Albus Dumbledore favourably, which was not supported by the facts.

Meanwhile in 2000

Now that everyone in the world knew that magic was real, the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy had been clarified. It was still illegal for someone to reveal a living person as a witch or wizard, with two exceptions. A Head of State or Head of Government was allowed to the revealing, without limitation; and any magical person was allowed to reveal his or her own magical nature.

Because of the "Magicals may not be outed" rule, whilst nonmagicals knew that there were roughly one million magical people on Earth, most nonmagicals could name only five magical people: Harry, Hermione and Narcissa; Chester Chadwick; and Anni-Frid Fältskog (a Swedish singer who had outed herself).

In July 2000, Hermione started up "Hermione's Site," a website dedicated to web-savvy magicals. The site used both Java and runes to validate new members; the membership list was kept under a Fidelius Charm.

In the Nonmembers area, the site offered the world's first online test for magical ability. (The maybe-witch or maybe-wizard tried to make things happen on a computer screen, by pointing his finger at the screen without touching the screen.)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, despite the British Isles having about eight thousand wizard-raised magical people, only eight such people were members of Hermione's Site: Susan Bones, Neville Longbottom, Daphne Greengrass, Astoria Greengrass, George Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Padma Patil and Ophelia Burke.

Eleven years later: July 2011
At the home of Dudley and Dorcas Dursley

Dudley's seven-year-old son, "V.V" (Vincent Vernon) Dursley, went to "Hermione's Site" and took the online "Can you do magic?" test. He passed it.

With his father watching, V.V took the test again, and passed it again. (Dudley, by the way, then took the magical test and failed it.)

Dudley and his wife Dorcas were fine with V.V being magical. Dudley's parents, on the other hand, were not at all fine with V.V being a wizard, when eventually they learnt this fact (1st September 2015).

Four years later
Tuesday, 16th June 2015; evening
The Hogwarts kitchens (directly below the Great Hall)

Standing by the end of the "Ravenclaw" table, the youngest of four magical humans hugged the other three, though she was not smiling.

Familie Potter had turned eighteen today. She should have been happy. She was not.

Familie sat down at the Hogwarts kitchen's "Ravenclaw" table, directly below the piece of bench where she usually sat as a Ravenclaw seventh-year. Now sitting down on the other side of this same kitchen table were Familie's father Harry Potter, Familie's mother Hermione Potter and Aunt Narcissa (Black). On the table, dishes of food and gold dinner plates popped into place, near to a pile of wrapped birthday presents.

Familie looked at her adoptive parents and said, not entirely jokingly, "I hate you both. If you hadn't sent that letter to the prime minister, I'd have reached my majority at the end of sixth year instead of at the end of seventh year. A big blowout birthday party during sixth-year end-of-year exams? I could've handled it. But nooo, you two had to ruin my big birthday party with that bloody letter, didn't you? Now that the U.K law says I'm an adult at eighteen, how can I enjoy my big birthday today when I have two more days of NEWTs to sit? And A-Levels after my NEWTS!"

Aunt Narcissa grinned and said, "Don't blame me; I tried to talk these two out of sending the letter. If they'd listened to me, we'd still have the world we three grew up with, and you'd have been an adult witch at seventeen."

Familie's mum grinned at her. "Didn't you make the same complaint to Sol? Remind me, what was your half-brother's reply?"

Familie sighed. "Sol said that if my dad and mum, the slayer of Voldemort and the girl he always gave credit for making this possible, had not sent that letter, then nothing would've changed in Wizarding Britain. In this other 2015, all that the Purebloods would care about me was that I was a halfblood and the daughter of the most famous mudblood in Wizarding Britain. Meaning, I could forget any kind of good job."

Familie's mum Hermione scowled, hearing the word mudblood, but did not rebuke her daughter.

Familie's dad asked, "So did you Stinging-Hex Sol for saying all that?" Familie had earnt a reputation at Hogwarts for Stinging-Hexing everyone (except professors) who made her angry.

Family replied, "I wanted to Stinging-Hex him, yeah. But then I realised that the prat was right."

Familie's dad said, "I hate being famous, much of the time. But the truth is, Voldemort was so evil—Adolph Hitler with a wand—that when I killed him, I became this hero. Then all I had to do was to sign the letter your mum wrote to the prime minister, and this guaranteed that the prime minister actually read Hermione's letter. Once Tony Blair read Hermione's genius letter—bam, soon no more Treaty of Separation."

Familie nodded. "I've read Dark Lord. Yes, Voldemort was evil. I'm glad you killed him, Dad. I'm glad all his evil crew are dead too."

Familie's mum laughed. "This segues nicely into why we suggested that on your birthday, we four eat in the Hogwarts kitchen, not in the Great Hall; and why we four eat here but the rest of 'the Potter-Black horde' eat elsewhere."

Familie said, "Huh?"

Familie's dad asked her a seemingly irrelevant question: "Have you ever wondered why you call Narcissa 'Aunt Cissa' and you call Andromeda Tonks 'Aunt Drommy'? One of the meanings of aunt is, the sister of your mother."

Confused Familie asked Aunt Narcissa, "You had a third sister?" Then realisation hit, and Familie blurted, "Bellatrix Lestrange was my real mother?"

Mum Hermione nodded. "And Tom Marvolo Riddle was your real father."

Dad Harry said, "Your birth name was Delphini Riddle."

What followed was thirty minutes of the most surreal conversation that Familie had ever had.

Meanwhile, in the headmistress's office

Minerva remarked to Portrait-Albus that "Lord Potter-Black" and his two wives(!) were in the castle, visiting with Harry's eldest child, Familie.

Portrait-Albus had never had the conversation with Harry, after Tom's death, that Portrait-Albus always had felt entitled to have. So now Portrait-Albus insisted that the headmistress summon Harry to her office.

Minerva snapped, "I'm not any painting's messenger girl, Albus!"

A compromise was reached: The headmistress summoned a house-elf, and ordered the elf to go to Harry and to tell him that Portrait-Albus "requested" a meeting in the headmistress's office. Pop—the message was delivered.

After Familie and her family walk out of the Hogwarts kitchens

Soon the four had climbed the stairs to the Great Hall.

A minute later, Harry, Hermione and Narcissa said goodbye to a still-stunned-looking Familie. Familie walked away towards Ravenclaw Tower; the older three walked through the Great Hall towards the outer doors and, two minutes after that, walked to the front gate.

As the trio walked, Narcissa said to Harry and Hermione, "Familie mentioned a what-might-have-been, a 2015 in which you two never wrote the prime minister. Let me throw out another what-might-have-been: How do you think today would be different if I'd never claimed Harry's Life Debt, back in 1998?"

Harry said, "I'd never have known Hermione loved me more than she loved Ron. I wouldn't have lifted a finger to stop her marrying Ron; then Ginny would've been pushing for me to marry her. And rather than tell Ginny no and date other girls, I would've gone along with it, to keep the peace. So in Summer 1998, I would've married Ginny, then entered the Auror Academy with Ron."

Hermione laughed scornfully. "I'd have The Mouth for a husband, you'd have Ginny the Jealous Ginger Stalker Slag for a wife, and we'd both have Molly for a mother-in-law. Meaning, no 'happy family' for either of us."

Harry said, "No lie—Merlin, the stories Daphne tells about Molly as a mother-in-law! Narcissa, in the other 2015, you might've been the only happy person out of the three of us, you being a scandalous 'merry widow.' "

Narcissa said, "No, probably I'd be married to some widower Pureblood now, leading a stodgy life. Even if I'd had the same epiphany back in the other 1998, I'd never have been allowed to act on it."

Hermione said, "Thinking about it, I'm not sure that Harry's and my relationship would've stayed good if we'd married jealous Ron and jealous Ginny. Anytime I'd talk to Harry for more than ten seconds, my redheaded husband would've yelled and screamed for hours afterwards."

Harry nodded. "Same with Ginny. More than ten seconds a week talking to Hermione, and I'd have been banished to sleeping on the sofa for a week."

Hermione said, "Narcissa, I could see it where, after enough years of both Harry and me getting yelled at, we'd stop speaking to each other, in order to avoid the redheaded melodrama. Eventually Harry and I would've regressed so badly that even when we'd stand just a few feet apart, at King's Cross Station, say, we'd never speak a word to each other."

Narcissa asked, "With you married to those two, would you two still have written that letter to the prime minister? The letter that suggested war-crimes trials?"

Hermione replied, "I would've started the letter, yes. But as soon as Ron and Molly found out I was writing it, they would've pushed me hard to tear it up."

Harry said, "And if Hermione did write the letter, Ginny would've threatened me with bedroom penalties if I'd signed the letter. Ginny would've done this in a heartbeat, because if I'd signed the letter and word got out, Ginny and I wouldn't be invited to the grandest Pureblood parties anymore. Which for Ginny would've been unthinkable tragedy. Even Arthur Weasley would've tried to talk me out of signing the letter; he would've said to me, 'Things can't be that bad for those adorable ickle Muggle-borns, can they?' "

Hermione said, "If I'd mailed the letter to the prime minister but Harry hadn't signed it, I'm sure that the prime minister never would've even seen the letter; somebody in his office would've binned my letter. If both Harry and I had signed the letter but we'd written down different surnames in our signatures, then"—Hermione made the rocking-hand gesture—"maybe the prime minister would've read the letter, and maybe not."

Harry said, "If Tony Blair didn't read the letter, if there still were a Ministry of Magic and Wizengamot in 2015, then professionally speaking, both Hermione and I would be miserable. I the halfblood would be an Auror, but for seventeen years, I'd have watched Pureblood Aurors get promoted faster than me—hell, Ron might even be my boss! Meanwhile Hermione, who was the brightest Hogwarts student in decades, would still be working at whatever entry-level job she'd taken in 1999. She'd regularly be denied promotions because 'Purebloods deserve not to take orders from mudbloods.' And forget Hermione having any hope of becoming Minister for Magic!"

Hermione said, "So, Narcissa, in the other 2015, Harry and I would be unhappy at home and probably unhappy at work. Everyone else in Wizarding Britain would see us as losers and has-beens, and nobody would respect us. As for law and politics, nothing would have changed from the night of Voldemort's resurrection, unless the prime minister and the queen stepped in to make those changes. Merlin, without the queen ending the Treaty of Separation, Draco might even be Minister for Magic now."

Harry said, "Thank you, Narcissa! If you hadn't done what you did, if you'd let us both marry a Weasley, we both would be unhappy now, we'd be stifled, and we'd both have this feeling that long ago we'd made a wrong choice, taken a wrong turn—"

Hermione took over: "—but we'd never know where we'd gone wrong, never know when we'd chosen a second-rate life. You saved us both, Narcissa."

Narcissa grabbed Harry's hand. "And you saved me, Harry James Potter. You washed away the shame of all the vile things I did as Lucius Malfoy's wife, and—sorry, Hermione, but I must say this—you, Harry, made me a woman as Lucius never did."

Meanwhile, in the headmistress's office

Minerva told Portrait-Albus that Harry & Co. had left the castle—still without Harry and Portrait-Albus ever conversing in the headmistress's office. Portrait-Albus was offended and angry; his portrait-eyes were not twinkling.

The days after Familie's eighteenth birthday

Wednesday, Familie was required to sit the Charms Practical NEWT exam. She was a robot as she did so, because of the shocking facts that her parents and aunt had told her.

Thursday was the NEWT examination for Ancient Runes (Theory). Familie wrote things down to answer the essay questions, but her mind was elsewhere.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Familie had no tests and no schoolwork of any kind. Monday, she would sit her A-Levels—examinations in nonmagical subjects to test her suitability for university. These were exams that neither Familie's parents nor her Aunt Narcissa had sat during their own times at Hogwarts.

Someone who thought they knew Familie would have expected her to spend the three days prior to her A-Levels, revising English, maths, chemistry or British history. Instead, Familie reread Dark Lord, taking notes.

Sunday night, Familie Potter owl-mailed her parents a note: "Why did you adopt ME? I'm Voldemort's kid!"

Greyclay, the head Potter house-elf, delivered Harry Potter's almost-instant reply note: "Because even the child of Lord Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange deserves to be loved and to have a place where she belongs. I adopted you because it has never, ever been in my nature to spot a problem but then say, 'Let Joe fix the problem.' I'd be especially at fault if I abandoned you to your fate, since I know how bad an orphan's life can be."

Often, when Familie had been growing up, her mother Hermione had told her, "Your father is a true hero." Now as Familie reread her father's note, she understood at last what her mother had meant.

Familie smiled. When she had been born, Voldemort had been her father; but now Harry Potter was truly her father. All was well.

Two years and 2½ months later
Friday, 1st September 2017
(Nineteen years, four months after the Battle of Hogwarts)
King's Cross Station, Platform 9¾

George and Daphne Weasley were seeing off their four children, the two oldest of whom were Hermes and Harriet Weasley, who were fraternal-twin seventh-year Ravenclaws.

George and Daphne were the only Weasleys of their generation who were at Platform 9¾ this day. Neither Ron Weasley nor Ginny Weasley were loading children onto the scarlet train, simply because they had no children. By 2017, neither of the two youngest Weasleys had found a magical person who was willing to marry them.

THE END