Skip to the non-bold for the story if you're in a rush, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd come back and read my authors notes.

Hello potential readers this is my first go at writing fanfiction! So I thought it would be a good idea to provide some background about myself and where I want to go with this story.

I love reading and writing and have been doing so since I was kid. The first book I ever loved was Harry Potter (all hail Queen Rowling). Anyway, I guess I've been going through some kind of Harry Potter withdrawal because I've been scouring the web for Harry Potter fanfic. So far I've managed to sate my Potter addiction by reading and waiting for the films. But now that those are over, reading fanfic just doesn't cut it for me anymore.

I think I've started this story to help myself grieve over the end of the Potter series. This story is sort of my way of looking out for the characters that I've loved since I was a kid. I suppose I want to see them into young adulthood. I'm not going to be ready to part with them until I've seen them though a few more hardships and know that they are dealing with the aftermath of war well. So Rowling fans, I call upon you to join me as I say goodbye to the world of Potter with one last hurrah! ;)

Chapter 1

The Elephant House

Minerva McGonagall sat in the headmasters' office with no small sense of discomfort. She'd always been an ambitious young witch and had often dreamt that one day the role of headmistress would be hers. But she never could have imagined the post would come to her like this. In her mind's eye she'd envisioned a wonderful celebration in which a wizened but spritely old Dumbledore in ridiculously colourful robes would suddenly announce his desire to dedicate the remainder of his life to collecting muggle candies; an ambition that would unfortunately take him away from his role as headmaster and leave the school in her hands. Of course, there had been a significant amount of trepidation as to whether or not she could live up to the greatness of her mentor but she always knew Dumbledore had every confidence in her to lead Hogwarts into a new era of success. But instead of such happy circumstances, she was taking over after the death of not only Dumbledore but Severus Snape as well; becoming headmistress at the end of a war so destructive that there was barely any school left to preside over. As she waited for the rest of the staff to assemble in her office, she watched as Dumbledore dozed quietly in his portrait, his glasses so far down the bridge of his nose they looked in danger of falling out of the paintings frame.

"Minerva?" the muffled voice of the school nurse floated towards her.

"Come in Poppy."

From behind the heavy oaken doors came the frail frame of the school nurse. But McGonagall knew that it held within it a woman of great strength and courage. The last year had proven this to her.

"Has Slughorn finished the dreamless sleep potion?" she immediately questioned.

"Yes, I've just administered it to the patients that have been having particular trouble falling asleep."

McGonagall glanced back at Poppy before asking, "Dennis Creevey?"

"Finally asleep," Pomfrey replied and the two women simultaneously let out a sigh of relief. McGonagall had been particularly disturbed at the news that Dennis Creevey had been discovered outside the grounds in a state of shock, disturbingly close to the spot that his brother's dead body had been found. McGonagall wondered if he had seen it happen, but there was no way to know as he hadn't moved or spoken since the battle ended four days ago. He had been levitated to one of the impromptu tents that Flitwick had conjured for the injured to rest in. The hospital wing had reached full capacity and there was very little inside the castle that wasn't in complete ruins. But it was a relief to know that the eyes that had been staring unblinkingly at the tent walls these past few days were finally shut and resting.

"How are the rest of your potion stores, Poppy?"

"There's still plenty of blood replenishing potion, burn healing paste and skelegro. Hagrid's still in London buying more wound healing potion and I asked him to pick up bruise paste if he can find it. Slughorn says he'll have more of the anti-paralysis and restoration ready by late tomorrow. Revive will be ready within a few days, but some of the more complicated antidotes won't be ready for at least a week. He's working on getting a few bezoars-"

"Not anymore," came the triumphant voice of Slughorn, as he entered with Sprout behind him, "I've managed to find a couple more bezoars. Had to call in quite a few favours to get them, mind you," he added with the quirk of a brow.

"We don't need to know how you procured them Professor Slughorn, just make sure you put them to good use."

"Of course, Headmistress," replied Slughorn solemnly as Flitwick, the final head of house brushed under his large belly and into the office.

"Kingsley will be reconnecting the floo network for a short while so he can speak with us," McGonagall immediately announced. "Before he arrives I want to know how everything is progressing. Poppy, Pomona, Horace how are the injured?"

"Well..." began Poppy, "I think as well as can be expected. We're doing the best we can with what we have. Professor Sprout and Professor Slughorn have been most helpful with keeping the hospital well supplied with potions and antidotes. Most of the survivors are recovering quite well physically it's just...we're having trouble getting through to some of them."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, Dennis isn't the only one that's having trouble recovering from the shock. A lot of the patients have become very subdued and withdrawn. Of course, it's to be expected after such an ordeal and it'll take many of them years to move past what they've been through, but I wonder if it would be a good idea to help things along a bit?" she gazed around the room unsurely.

"You mean a euphoria potion?" Sprout questioned.

"Perhaps," Poppy glanced at Minerva asking her approval.

"I don't think a euphoria potion would be appropriate just yet Poppy. But I'll see if I can get the house elves to slip a few drops of invigoration potion into the foo-"

McGonagall was drowned out by the sudden crackling of an emerald fire. As she turned towards it the strong dark face of Kingsley Shacklebolt appeared within.

"Headmistress," he greeted in his smooth baritone as he smiled up at the room's occupants.

"Minister," she replied with a twitch of the lips.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," chuckled Shacklebolt, "I'm only acting minister; filling in on a job too daunting for anyone else to consider".

McGonagall offered a small smile in sympathy. She felt a certain sense of camaraderie, being left in a similar situation. She wasn't sure how she would rebuild Hogwarts from its ruins. But she did know that like Shacklebolt she would not rest until the job was done, "How is the situation at the Ministry?" she asked.

"Disaster. The ministry's destroyed; a total mess. But I don't even have the time to focus on anything like infrastructure or finance. I've been busy putting together a team that are working on rounding up any last death eaters. But we don't have enough of a magical law enforcement squad left to handle such a task. Even if we did have the manpower to bring in all of Voldemort's supporters it would take us months to fairly try them and in the meantime we'd have trouble keeping them at Azkaban safely. The Dementors have gotten out of hand, feeding on all that despair when Voldemort was in power. They aren't as eager to stay at Azkaban and act as prison guards anymore. They've become too used to acting recklessly these last few months. Going into non-magical parts of England and preying on Muggles up and down the country."

"If you need help Kingsley, you only need ask".

"No, no. I didn't mean to worry you. Leave the Ministry matters to me, you need to focus on Hogwarts. You're already taking a great weight off my shoulders in agreeing to oversee the restoration of the school," he smiled gratefully towards her and changed the topic before she could dismiss his thanks, "To business now. Will you be reopening the school in September?"

"I haven't yet come to a final decision. I know we all want to," she received nods of agreement from the other heads of house. "But," she sighed, "the damage Kingsley, I don't know that we'll able to repair it in such a short time."

"We won't be able to," confirmed Flitwick, "some of the magic in place takes years to build up. And some of it we won't be able to reinstate because it was done by the founders and we've simply never known how. The moving staircases were done by Ravenclaw herself and I'm at a loss as to how she managed them".

"But surely we don't need a castle with thousand year old enchantments to teach?" exclaimed Slughorn, "All we need are teachers and students."

"I agree," chimed Sprout, "perhaps we should just focus on restoring classrooms and teaching facilities at the moment, maybe then we can still reopen".

"Yes, but even just repairing the classrooms will take extensive work that I'm not sure we are capable of doing in a few months. On top of that we've lost a number of staff. We may have a small chance of finding a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in time. But I doubt we'll find anybody willing to take on the Muggle Studies post just yet. Not after what happened to Professor Burbage".

"But surely now that You-Know-," started Sprout, but after a pointed look from McGonagall she began again, "I mean now that V-Voldemort's really gone nobody would be worried of teaching such a subject".

"Pomona, I wish that were true but it's just too soon. The war may be over but the fears will be with us all for much longer," McGonagall reasoned.

"Yes," agreed Shacklebolt, "and it certainly doesn't help matters when Voldemort's supporters are still out there".

For a moment McGonagall was weighed down by the enormity of the two wars she had lived through. By the magnitude of their destruction and the awful knowledge that though they were over, there would always be the possibility of another. There would always be wizards out there that would believe in the superiority of bloodlines. She could only hope that they would never amass such support and power again.

The conversation broke into her thoughts once more, "Aside from the classes and the teachers we also have to worry about the students," Flitwick paused a moment, "that is if they decide to come back. If they do we face an enormous logistical problem. Who will we ask back and how will we run classes? Keep in mind many students have been in hiding and missed out on a year of education. Not that those that were here were any better off. This last year they've been taught magic completely inappropriate which means the majority of them will have to repeat a year. Then we will have double the number of senior students as well as double the number of first years. If students decide to return to Hogwarts how will we feed and accommodate them? The Ravenclaw and Gryffindor towers are nothing but rubble."

The room was left in silence. Up until now, reopening had seemed a hopeful possibility if enough hard work was put in. But as McGonagall thought to herself she realised that even if the entire staff of Hogwarts and a great number of the ministry utilised as many wands as possible it was still a hopeless case.

Shacklebolt broke the silence, "I think perhaps I have a few ideas..."

The Elephant House is one of the cafes where J K Rowling would have a cup of coffee and spend time writing 'The Philosophers' Stone'.

Let me know what you think of the story so far?

Wow, I'm getting readers from all over the globe.

WHERE ARE YOU reading from? Let me know some interesting facts about where you are and I'll share them in the next chapter as a way for us all to get to know each other ;)

I'll start, I'm in Australia. And contrary to popular belief, there aren't kangaroos jumping around in the city. Thank god, cause those things can support their whole body weight on their tail. Then they'll lean back and use the claws on their feet to disembowel you. If you're ever out in the country, don't get too close...