Chapter 14
All the Rest

After the Dumbledore Duel

When Harry removed Albus's magic, Albus was 115 years old. The few Muggles who lived to be 115 all followed a healthy lifestyle. Albus had not lived a healthy lifestyle for even one day since 1st September 1892, when the Welcoming Feast had been presented to Albus the Gryffindor firstie.

One week after the duel (Friday, 15th November 1996)

Albus Dumbledore died when the crone cut his thread. His unique thread-colour in the Tapestry of Life became Day-Glo pink.

The autopsy ruled that he had died of massive organ failure.

Albus's scowling brother Aberforth was the only person present at Albus's funeral.

The Spirit of Hogwarts decreed that no bloody way would former headmaster Dumbledore be given the honour of a posthumous headmaster-portrait, even a nonmagical one.

Albus found himself in a whited-out version of the Hogwarts headmaster's office. Waiting there were James and Lily Potter, who were furious with him. Albus discovered that the door was locked—he could not escape the Potters screaming at him and hitting him.

After an hour of James and Lily hurting Albus enough to draw blood, a black phoenix with glowing red eyes flamed into the room. The bird landed on Albus's shoulder—the claws' grip was painful—then the black phoenix flamed Albus to his next great adventure—

—which was neither great, nor an adventure. Instead, the next part of Albus's life was hot, painful and eternal.

The next day (Saturday, 16th November 1996)

The wizards and witches of the Gold Thirteen went on a Hogsmeade weekend—though such a thing was not the rare privilege it had been during the Dumbledore years. In 1991, Headmaster Kellner had declared a new Hogsmeade policy: Any Hogwarts student, second-year or older, could go to Hogsmeade on any weekend whilst Hogwarts was in session, unless a parent had written a letter to the headmaster denying their child permission to go.

So far as Hermione knew, no parent had been mean enough to do this.

Anyway, today Harry and Hermione were on a date. Also on a date: the betrothed couple of Lavender and Justin, whom Lavender called "Juice-Juice." (This second pairing was obvious in hindsight. Justin was by far the richest Muggle-born in their year, and one day would become the Earl of Grenforst in nonmagical Britain; whilst Lavender was the sexiest-looking—and sexiest-moving—witch in their year.)

Right now, somewhere in Hogsmeade was Daphne Greengrass, who was currently the subject of much gossip. During the summer prior to Daphne's sixth year, Sam Flint (the younger brother of deceased Marcus Flint) had written Cyrus Greengrass that he wished to become betrothed to Lord Greengrass's elder daughter. Such a letter had been a violation of custom. (Harry, as Head of House Flint, should have written the letter.) Cyrus had asked Daphne what she thought about Sam Flint's letter; Daphne had told her father, "I'd sooner marry Harry Potter's broom than marry a Flint!" Cyrus's reply-letter to Mr Flint had been more polite than his daughter's words, but no more encouraging.

Anyway, now the gorgeous Daphne was unattached. She was known to send longing glances towards Neville Longbottom—who was flattered by Daphne's interest, but who was much more smitten with Hannah Abbott. Today, Daphne was on another Hogsmeade date with Blaise Zabini—a dark-skinned and mysterious wizard who excited many Hogwarts witches. Hermione was no Seer, unlike Lavender and Luna, but Hermione predicted that Daphne and Blaise would marry.

A quick Floo-walk inside the Three Broomsticks, in Hogsmeade, and Harry and Hermione were inside the Leaky Cauldron, in London. A little more walking, and Harry and Hermione were in Diagon Alley. They walked straight to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

On the front window of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes was a big sign in pink and purple, "Opening 1st December!"

(This being Fred and George's sign, the pink and purple alternated every second, which colour was the foreground colour and which was the background colour. For Hermione, the sign made her eyeballs want to melt.)

Harry knocked on the locked door. Fred answered, scowling till he saw who his visitors were. Once Harry and Hermione were inside the shop (they had to step round a stack of boxes that were just inside the door), Fred gave the couple a tour of the mostly bare shop, then went off to fetch George. George and Hermione got into a technical discussion about toad hearts versus frog hearts, when used in potions.

Meanwhile, Fred, as soon as he had locked the front door, had yelled, "Ron! Come get these boxes like I told you!" Now, as Hermione and George were discussing potions and Harry was listening in, Ron walked up from the back of the shop.

Ron scowled at Hermione and Harry, but said nothing. Because Ron's wand had been snapped, Ron had to carry the stack of boxes like a nonmagical man, one box at a time.

Seeing Ron work, Hermione realised: He looks ... my oh my. Ron was tall now, and broad-shouldered. His arms had muscle, and his stomach was flat. If he were to smile the mischievous smile of which Ron was capable—though Hermione had never seen this smile directed at her, only at Romilda Vane—then Ron Weasley today would be sexy.

At last, Hermione understood.

Since October 1991, Hermione often had wondered about her prophecy, Why did I need to be told this? Ronald Weasley was a collection of faults and vices, and much dislikable besides; why did Hermione need to be warned, "Don't marry him"? But now, a small, primitive part of Hermione's brain said, A wedding night with Ron would be fun.

But then Hermione glanced away from Ron to look at Harry. Hermione thought, A wedding night with Harry will be much more fun.

A bit over eight months later
Thursday, 31st July 1997 (Harry's seventeenth birthday)

Harry, Hermione and Sirius went to Gringotts. Harry claimed his Lord Potter ring.

Then Harry declared all seventeen of his Right of Conquest Houses (including Slytherin and Gaunt) to be extinct. Meaning, Harry would acknowledge no already-appointed heir to any of these Houses, Harry himself would appoint no heir, and after Harry died, nobody could claim Lordship of any of these houses.

Not quite five weeks later
Tuesday, 2nd September 1997
(Almost) the start of Harry's and Hermione's seventh year
Hogwarts SOW&W, Slytherin's Library

After putting a cushioning charm on the conference table, Hermione offered Harry her virginity, there on the table in Slytherin's Library.

To honour the Founder in whose library Hermione was making love for the first time, Hermione's bra and knickers each were green-and-silver.

Once Hermione had been deflowered and both she and Harry had climaxed, the couple cleaned off the table; then the lovers walked into Slytherin's suite.

In Salazar's bed, Harry and Hermione made love for the rest of the night. She showed Harry once again that she was an advance-planner and a determined researcher—in short, Hermione melted Harry's socks.

The next morning Hermione, with a brassy smile, handed Professor Flitwick an incomplete essay—her first.

Ten and a half months later
About a fortnight after Harry and Hermione finished seventh year and sat their NEWTs
Saturday, 18th July 1998

Harry and Hermione got married. Their magical wedding was at Hogwarts—in the "troll lavatory." Their nonmagical wedding was at Saint George Church of England in Crawley.

For both weddings, the eleven other members of the Gold Thirteen were pressed into service as bridesmaids and as groomsmen/ushers.

At both weddings' wedding breakfast/wedding reception, Hermione wore the gold-and-red RIR pin that Harry had given her on her thirteenth birthday, almost six years ago.

Dobby the house-elf made sure that his "Great Miss Hermininny Grangy Ma'am" looked perfect for her weddings.

One of the couple's first invitees to the Hogwarts wedding was Rita Skeeter. Skeeter had given Hermione her first paying job, back in December 1992.

Other early invitees to the Hogwarts wedding: Director Croaker, Unspeakable Twenty-Two and Unspeakable Sixty-Five.

The next day (Sunday, 19th July 1998)
In a hotel room in Ibiza

On the morning after the Potters' wedding night, Harry handed Hermione a small bottle of Joy™ Dishwashing Liquid.

"What's this for?" Hermione asked. "I see no dirty dishes here."

"Put a splash of it in your bathwater. Remember your prophecy? You've married me, so now the prophecy promises 'you will bathe in joy.' "

Other weddings within the Gold Thirteen quickly followed the Potter wedding, except Luna had to wait a year.

As Hermione had predicted, Blaise and Daphne married each other (to Hannah Abbott's relief).

The Justin-Lavender wedding was written up in the London Times.

About a fortnight later
Monday, 3rd August 1998

When the Potters returned to Wizarding Britain from their honeymoon, they discovered that the Daily Prophet's front page had a story about Harry Potter—but not a story like Harry and Hermione were expecting.

Saul Croaker had, almost seven years late, reported a major news story.

.

HARRY POTTER IS NO LONGER A SECRET HERO

by Saul Croaker, Director, Department of Mysteries, Ministry of Magic

Almost seven years ago, on 12th November 1991, all Death Eaters suddenly screamed and dropped dead at the same time. Some of the Dark Marked wizards were Heads of House, and their Houses were awarded to Harry Potter, then aged eleven, by "Right of Conquest." Why Potter was awarded their Houses was never explained—after all, it was never the case that any Dark Mark-tattooed Head of House began a duel with Harry Potter but lost, yet Magic acted as if this were what had happened. Young Potter also was given House Slytherin and House Gaunt by Right of Conquest, but had not those two Houses died out before Harry Potter even was born?

Also in November 1991, rumours came out of Hogwarts that Voldemort was involved somehow in the Death Eaters' deaths, even though the Dark Lord supposedly had died in 1981; that Harry Potter and Voldemort had fought a magical battle; and that Harry somehow had killed Voldemort. But back in 1991, those who knew the facts were keeping silent; and Harry Potter was keeping silent most of all.

So what truly happened on 12th November 1991?

To explain what happened in 1991, I must go back ten years to Halloween 1981. We all think we know the story: Voldemort killed James Potter and Lily Potter, and tried to kill their fifteen-month-old son Harry. We know that the Killing Curse was cast on the boy. But what happened next is a mystery. Voldemort's robes and wand were left behind, but his body disappeared. Harry Potter survived the Killing Curse, but with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, even though the Killing Curse never marks its victims (or leaves them alive).

I still do not know, and cannot guess, how Harry Potter survived the Killing Curse, but I know what happened to Voldemort: He did not die. Instead, he became a wraith for a time.

Voldemort kept himself from dying in 1981 by means of evil magic (which I shall not describe). We Unspeakables did what we could to stop the evil magic, but we could not stop Voldemort. According to a prophecy, only Harry Potter could stop the Dark Lord.

On 12th November 1991, at age eleven, Harry Potter fulfilled the prophecy: After a frightening battle that I witnessed, Harry Potter killed forever, Voldemort a.k.a Tom Marvolo Riddle. When Voldemort died, everyone who bore the Dark Mark died at the same time.

For your information, Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as Voldemort, was the son of a Squib witch, Merope Gaunt, and a love-potioned Muggle, Tom Riddle. When Voldemort died, he was Head of House Gaunt and Head of House Slytherin.

I have talked to Harry, and he thinks his fame as the toddler destroyer of Voldemort is all undeserved. Harry thinks it was his mother Lily who wraithed the Dark Lord on Halloween night, 1981. I have spent enough time near Lily Evans Potter that this explanation is much more believable to me than most other explanations I have heard for that night's events.

But even if Harry Potter was not the magical person who destroyed Voldemort when Harry was one year old, Harry deserves praise and fame at age eleven as the vanquisher of Voldemort and as the conqueror of Death Eaters. Thank you for saving all of us in Magical Britain, Harry Potter.

.

When Harry, not at all calmly, asked Croaker why he had outed Harry when Harry had wanted no such thing, Croaker replied, "Remember the other prophecy about you? This prophecy says that if Hermione marries you, you both will achieve greatness. Harry, the first step for you to achieve greatness is to be rightly famous as the slayer of Voldemort."

Hermione argued that Croaker was right. She convinced Harry that he and she do a joint interview with Rita Skeeter. The press-averse Boy Who Lived should use this interview to end all the false rumours about him that had been floating about since 1981, and to tell Wizarding Britain what his life was truly like.

Soon afterwards, in the Daily Prophet offices

Rita Skeeter had, since 1991, owled Harry Potter every few months, asking him for an interview. Those notes to him from her always had been ignored. Today, before Rita could send Harry Potter another such note, she received a note saying, "Harry and Hermione invite you to meet with them at Potter Manor and to discuss his life. Tea will be served. Your Quick-Quotes Quill is not invited." Rita recognised the handwriting as belonging to her one-time research assistant, Hermione Granger-Potter.

Rita spent her workdays talking to, and writing about, liars, braggarts and greedy bastards. She could name only a few people in Wizarding Britain who held her respect, but the witch formerly named Granger was one of those few. Because of this respect, Rita agreed to Hermione's terms.

Rita was sure that Hermione in 1998 had no idea what the thirteen-year-old Hermione had done to earn such respect, on the day in December 1992 when Rita had interviewed Hogwarts students in order to hire one of them as her research assistant—

Hermione had told Rita, "...So Lavender, Parvati and I heard a lock click, then a door slam, then the troll burst in. I was so scared, I screamed, along with Lavender and Parvati. Then I was still scared, but I started thinking..."

Stop the presses! A girl in Gryffindor, the House of the brave, had admitted to once being scared? A minute later, Rita had offered the position of research assistant to Miss Granger, surely to the disappointment of all the Ravenclaws who had thought they were better qualified than a second-year Gryffindor girl.

Once Rita and Hermione had become employer and employee, Hermione had never disappointed Rita. Hermione had never tried to renegotiate their agreement or to shirk her work. Indeed, Rita had been amazed by the hidden gems that Hermione had uncovered, in the form of old and yellowed parchments that each had Albus Dumbledore's name on them somewhere.

On the day of Rita's interview with the Potters
Early August, 1998

Once Rita had arrived at Potter Manor and the interview was about to start, Rita was amused to see her protégée visibly relax, once the trio entered the Potter Library. The three took seats at a large table in the library—

—and on the table was a pensieve. Harry Potter was threatening Rita, but it was a threat artfully done. (Rita suspected that leaving a pensieve in sight during the interview was Hermione's idea.) Lucius Malfoy and Albus Dumbledore each had threatened Rita at least once; their threats had been heavy-handed.

The Boy Who Lived need not have worried about Rita word-painting him as a bad person. Until and unless Hermione Potter spoke a divorce declaration against Harry Potter, Rita Skeeter was resolved that she would not write one nasty word about Harry Potter.

Lucius Malfoy had been smooth when he had talked to Rita, and Albus Dumbledore had been smooth too. This was one of the reasons that Rita had distrusted both wizards—anyone who could talk so well could lie well. In contrast, when Harry Potter spoke to Rita in his library, some of his words were stammered, hesitant, brutal and honest—raw. Sometimes the only reason Harry Potter could speak a painful sentence aloud was because Hermione was hugging him and she was speaking to him quietly and calmly.

When Rita returned to her desk at the Daily Prophet office, she knew she had the words for a world-class news story. But more than this, she had met a hero today, and tomorrow her readers would meet the hero she had met.

Harry Potter was a hero not because he lived in a palace and had battled a village of vampires when he had been five years old, as those silly books had claimed. No, Harry Potter was a true hero because when he was eleven years old, he came face-to-face with the Dark Lord and nobody else could stop the Dark Lord, so this abused but determined first-year boy stepped up.

On her deathbed, Rita would say that her write-up of her Harry Potter interview in 1998 was the best writing she had ever done. Certainly her interview had changed the wizarding public's view of young Harry Potter.

After the interview is published

After seven years of Hogwarts, a honeymoon and the interview with Rita, Harry and Hermione began writing books. These books told two Muggle-raised magicals' views of the magical world, whilst other Potter books explained some parts of the Muggle world to magicals.

In the books the Potters wrote, Hermione presented a wealth of information about the book's topic, which Harry rewrote into "mates drinking Firewhisky together" language. The Potters' books far outsold books by all other wizarding-world authors; their book-signings at Flourish and Blotts packed the store every time.

The young Potters also became active in the Wizengamot. (Hermione had done a heritage test and had discovered that she was entitled to claim the Dagworth-Granger Head of House ring.) Sirius, Harry and Hermione made a formidable voting bloc in the Wizengamot, all by themselves.

Also, the Potters, however they decided to vote on a bill, could persuade other Wizengamot seat-holders to vote with them. People listened when Harry Potter spoke—he did not like this fact of his life, but by age seventeen, he had accepted it—and Hermione would give him an outline ahead of time of what to say in a speech. The actual words were his, and Harry Potter always talked like a regular wizard, even when he was wearing the plum-coloured robes of a Wizengamot seat-holder. As for Hermione, when she rose to speak, she cited facts and laid out logic in a way that nobody could counter. Each Potter alone would have been a more than effective legislator; together, they were as unstoppable as a Hungarian Horntail dragon.

Whenever anyone in the Wizengamot tried to say some version of "Purebloods are better," Harry would brag on Muggle-borns—

"When my Muggle-born mother Lily Evans was in her seventh year at Hogwarts, she was Head Girl because for six years she had scored higher marks than everyone else in her year, including the Head Boy. Roughly twenty years later, Muggle-born Hermione Granger, my future wife, repeated this feat. On the other hand, do I need to talk about Squib children in Pureblood families, which is your so-called secret shame? Meanwhile, the Potter family, which regularly married Muggle-borns, has never given birth to a Squib child. Not to mention, the Muggle world has better food and better art, and you Purebloods are missing out on all these things."

Between Harry killing off Voldemort and the Death Eaters in 1991, the books that "Harry and Hermione Potter" wrote, Lord Potter's speeches in the Wizengamot beginning in 1998, and Lady Dagworth-Granger's own speeches in the Wizengamot beginning in 1998, these two Muggle-raised magicals modernised Wizarding Britain.

About twenty-one years later
Saturday, 21st December (the Winter Solstice) 2019
Potter Manor

The late-thirties members of the Gold Thirteen, plus their husbands, wives and children, were enjoying a Yule feast together in Harry's and Hermione's house.

The meal was interrupted when Lavender and beehive-hairdo'd Luna spoke a prophecy—in unison.

The gist of the prophecy: Pansy Parkinson, of Conquered House Parkinson, was gathering followers to serve her as a Dark Lady, and would make trouble for Wizarding Britain in 2022 unless she was stopped before then.

Harry, acting as Head of House Parkinson, Apparated to Parkinson Manor. As Head of House Parkinson, he questioned Pansy, compelling her to answer truthfully.

Not liking her answers, Harry then Squibbed Pansy.

Harry returned to Potter Manor in time for dessert.

Eight years later: Wednesday, 12th April 2028

When the current Minister for Magic, Cyrus Greengrass, announced he was resigning for reasons of health, then the question became, "Who becomes the next Minister?"

The seat-holders of the Lightning-Bolt Coalition came to Harry and Hermione. They said to Harry, "If you announce your candidacy, we've enough votes to elect you."

Harry replied, "I'm flattered and I thank you, but I've no interest in being Minister. But do you know who would be brilliant at it? Hermione."

Hermione blinked, then she hugged Harry in front of the other seat-holders, not caring if this was "decorous" or not.

At the next Wizengamot session, Harry gave a speech nominating his wife, then the seat-holders discussed the candidates, then the seat-holders voted. Forty-eight-year-old Hermione Dagworth-Granger-Potter became the first Muggle-born Minister for Magic in 649 years.

Within a day, Hermione was interviewed by BBC News.

Back in 2019, an American Muggle-raised Squib who had not known he was magical, had discovered the magical world, then had outed the magical world in a blog post. Now nine years later, British magicals and British nonmagicals lived in an uneasy peace with one another—and Hermione was determined to improve relations.

Thus the BBC interview.

Before the interview with BBC News began, Hermione sat under hot television lights and she recalled her prophecy of thirty-seven years ago—

"Daughter of tooth-healers, you can change the world unless you choose the unfit man."

Now Minister for Magic Hermione Potter had the power to improve magical-nonmagical relations in the United Kingdom, and she had a platform with which to improve magical-nonmagical relations all over the world. But none of this power, and none of this influence, she realised, now would be hers if she had married "the unfit man," Ronald Weasley.

Ten years later: 2038

Harry and Hermione, about the time of their fortieth anniversary, wrote a book, Arrange to be Happily Married (Even when Your Marriage is Arranged).

The book sold well to magicals, because by then everyone in Wizarding Britain know that the Potters were ridiculously happy in their marriage, and everyone wanted to know their secrets.

What happened to the three evil Weasleys?

In 1994, Ginny Weasley was sentenced to five years in Azkaban, for attempting to love-potion the heir of House Potter. But when she was released from prison in 1999, she was shunned both personally (she never married) and professionally (the Holyhead Harpies pretended she did not exist). Ginny Weasley was not permitted to perform magic, but at least her mind was intact.

On the other hand, in 1994 Molly Weasley was sentenced to Azkaban (and its Dementors) for ten years, not five, because Molly had brewed the potions that her underage daughter had put in Harry Potter's pumpkin juice. Molly Weasley, when she was discharged in 2004, was a babbling, shrieking madwoman. She died in June of 2005.

Ron never was arrested for trying to love-potion Hermione; he never served time. On the other hand, he had owned no wand since the day he had been expelled; and was not permitted to buy another wand or to perform magic. To add to his woes, in 1998 Parvati Patil went to work for Witch Weekly, and every few months she found a way to "remind" (warn) readers that Ronald Bilius Weasley was not worth any witch's time. Ron never found a witch who was willing to marry him; even Romilda Vane (Ron's former broom-cupboard playmate) turned him down.

What happened to Remus?

Sirius and Remus quickly repaired their friendship after Sirius's acquittal, so it soon became commonplace for Harry to find Remus there when Sirius brought Harry to the Black mansion. For Sirius's sake, Harry was civil to Remus, but still distrusted the werewolf as Dumbledore's lackey and spy.

Harry did not begin to form a friendly attitude towards Remus till after Dumbledore died in Harry's sixth year.

What happened to the Philosopher's Stone?

Back in December 1992, Sam Houston Kellner had been headmaster of Hogwarts for a bit over a year when he received a strange note by international owl—

"Your castle has something that belongs to us. We wish to meet with you at a time of your convenience, to discuss reclaiming the object. We ask only that you keep our discussion secret. —NF and PF."

At the agreed-upon time (during Yule break, 1992), Kellner was visited in the headmaster's office by a man and woman in their thirties. They put up French-language silencing charms, then told Kellner that they were Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel.

Kellner did not believe them.

Then they proved it.

After this, they told Kellner why they were here: They had been played for fools by Nicholas's former alchemy apprentice, Albus Dumbledore. Red-faced Nicholas Flamel then told an embarrassing tale of pretty words, lies, half-truths and evasions—and how he and Perenelle, a centuries-old couple, had been fooled into "loaning" to Dumbledore the most precious thing they owned: the Philosopher's Stone.

The three walked out of the headmaster's office then, intending to track down the Philosopher's Stone. As they walked, they realised that they each knew part of a disturbing story. By talking together, they worked out that Dumbledore had had murderous plans for Harry Potter—

Without Voldemort realising he was being manipulated, Dumbledore created a situation where Voldemort would try to steal the Philosopher's Stone, which Voldemort could access only by passing through traps on "the third-floor corridor, right-hand side" within Hogwarts. Likewise, first-year Hogwarts student Harry Potter was manipulated into believing that no adult would stop the Stone from being stolen by Voldemort; only he could save the Stone. Thus a battle to the death between Voldemort and Harry Potter would occur—which Dumbledore had made sure that Potter would be even more unprepared for than most first-year students would be.

But before this grand battle happened, three departments of the Ministry came to Hogwarts and dismantled the traps. The next day, the Unspeakables captured Voldemort and arrested Dumbledore. Harry Potter was safe.

But back when the traps had been dismantled, a magic mirror had been moved to somewhere else from where it had been placed as the final trap. Only Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel knew that the Philosopher's Stone was embedded in this magic mirror. Nicholas was here at Hogwarts to find the mirror.

Fifteen minutes after leaving the headmaster's office, after getting lost twice and after Kellner, by then red-faced, twice had been forced to ask directions from Hogwarts house-elves, the headmaster and the Flamels found themselves in a gigantic room on the seventh floor of the castle.

The room had, literally, a thousand years' worth of junk in it.

Somehow Nicholas was able to guide his wife and the headmaster to a large, flat object that was covered by a coverlet. Nicholas removed the coverlet to reveal the tall mirror they sought.

Kellner saw himself in the mirror—as an old man. Older versions of current Hogwarts students were shaking his hand, and telling their wives/husbands and children, "He's the headmaster who saved Hogwarts."

"Ahem." Perenelle Flamel said, "Headmaster, whatever you think you see in that mirror is not the future, but what you want the future to be. Stop looking in the mirror; it shows you a pretty lie."

Meanwhile, Nicholas Flamel had drawn his wand, and had cast a French-language spell that hit the frame of the mirror. The left side of the frame spit out a bright-red stone, which dropped to the floor.

As Nicholas Flamel pocketed the red stone, he told Kellner, "If you ever meet Albus, do not trust him. When he is not being a thief, he is being a fool. God help Harry Potter if that man had stayed in control of Potter's life."

"Oh? What do you think Dumbledore would have done to Mister Potter?" Kellner asked.

"Assuming that Potter somehow had survived his Hogwarts years—which is a shaky assumption, with Dumbledore in his life—the young man probably would have been potioned to marry a Dumbledore loyalist and to name his second son Albus."

Kellner made an iron resolution then: that if Dumbledore showed up at Hogwarts whilst Harry Potter was here, Kellner would do everything in his power to keep "the whiskered wanker" away from Mister Potter.

Kellner said to the Flamels, "None of those bad things will happen to Mister Potter. I'll do whatever it takes to stop Dumbledore from further wrecking Harry Potter's life. Harry Potter has earned a happy life, and I will give him this, as much as I can. I fully intend that, years from now, when Mister Potter slides out of his chair after taking his last Hogwarts NEWT, he will take Miss Granger's hand, look around at the school he is about to leave, and say, 'All is well.' "

The End