Chapter Two

The summer of 1997 saw some huge changes to the Granger household. Emma Granger, undisputed head of the house, had manipulated Hermione into acknowledging that it was Harry Potter, not Ron Weasley, who she liked, and had furthermore tricked her husband Daniel into not only accepting that his daughter was in a relationship, but she had him send the two into a literal shotgun marriage.

Hermione and Harry were now deserving some well-earned rest (or not) in southern France, and would not have to be back until the end of July, for the marriage of the oldest Weasley son.

With a little luck, Harry and Hermione would soon give her the first of many grand-babies to coo about. The saddest day in her life so far had been when the doctor told her, shortly after Hermione's difficult birth by Caesarian section, that it was unlikely she could ever have another child.
She and Dan had been trying for years, but eventually had to acknowledge that it was most likely Hermione would remain a single child.

She was having tea with N. Tonks that day, a charming young woman who was in Harry and Hermione's circle of friends and associates, and who had been one of Hermione's bridesmaids at the small ceremony a few days earlier.

'Tell me Tonksie, how goes the pursuit of that man of yours?' she teasingly asked. She had noticed Tonks was very close to Harry's honourary uncle, Remus Lupin.

'Can you keep a secret Emma? We got married about a week before Harry and Hermione did... there's a new Lupin on the way to meet us,' the young metamorphmagus patted her still-flat belly.

'Oh my sweet girl, congratulations! How can you tell so soon?'

'We've spells for that. I had the feeling my wolfie had been very... amorous earlier this month, so I checked, and found he had knocked me up.' She grinned a bit.
'That finally got him to propose to me. I'd been trying to get him to do so all year. My mum was not pleased, until I told her why we had to get married: she now is over the moon and arranged our wedding for us. We had to keep it a secret because of Remus' condition though,' she ended with a slightly sad smile.

'I'm sure it will work out dear. Maybe you should have a chat with my daughter, I want her to get started on little Potters starting the next winter break at their school... that should be right in time for their graduation.
'She'd look just perfect with a nice big stomach on the photos, and having a baby will ground her a bit,' Emma was daydreaming some. She and Dan had started rather late having children, and with the problem after Hermione's birth her dream of a big family had never become reality. She would not let her only child waste any time: with witches living as long as they did, Hermione would have literally decades after having her child grow up to get a career.

'Err, about that Emma... how much did Hermione tell you about the situation in the Wizarding World?'

'Oh just the basics dear. There is this little insurgency going on and I think their school's headmaster has gotten himself killed when he tried to interfere with this, nothing serious.
'My silly daughter even planned to mind-wipe Dan and me and send us off to Australia! Well, I quickly told her that was out of the question. With her new husband, she has no time for silly plans in any case,' Emma grinned.

Tonks paled. What had Hermione all been lying about?

'Emma... that's not exactly the truth. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but...'

The next two hours were spent informing Emma about the truth of the Second Blood War, including that it was looking bad for the Wizarding government, and that it was unclear if Hogwarts would even open that year.

'Well! I see I need to have a chat with my honey badger when she is done getting herself shagged silly on every beach in France. Thank you for your honesty Tonksie, it was a pleasant chat disregarding the subject matter. Do give Remus my love, ta!' she expertly manoeuvred Tonks out of the door.

Emma was furious. Not at Hermione, her daughter was simply withholding information so as not to worry her dear old mum, or at least not give her any information with which she could manipulate her daughter. Emma could respect that.

No, she was angry with this upstart Voldemort. How dare he interfere with her perfect plan to have Hermione be Head Girl at Hogwarts, get knocked up by her rich and easily controlled husband, and make Emma a proud grandmother?

It was time to take Voldemort out of the picture, and she knew exactly how. Before getting injured and leaving to become a dentist, her Dan had served in a little club she liked to refer to as Sports and Social back when the Falklands nonsense was going on, and still had proper contacts in that world.

Friday the 18th of July that 1997 there was a clandestine meeting just outside the gates and wards of Malfoy Manor. Thirty men of the SAS R Squadron had gotten special permission to take part in this operation. Somehow the wife of one of their own, Dan Granger, had managed to convince new Prime Minister Tony Blair of the importance of this mission.
Blair had called an emergency meeting with his counterpart Scrimgeour, and a deal had been worked out. The SAS soldiers would be given special authorisation to know about the secret magical world, and Aurors and members of the Department of Mysteries would play a support role to bring down the wards around the Manor, so the Muggles could see and attack it.
The SAS soldiers were armed with M-16 rifles and M203 grenade launchers, and a special RAF air-strike was ready to be called in. Dan Granger was among them on a special commission, once again defending his country.

Suddenly two men appeared out of nowhere on the narrow, moonlit lane leading to the Manor. Spotters recognised them as targets Yaxley and Snape, the last two missing high-ranking members of the terrorist organisation they knew was gathering there this night.
The SAS soldiers waited until the duo had entered the manor, and called in the troops for the rest of the mission.
The Aurors and Unspeakables began breaking down the wards.

Just as the unfortunate Professor Burbage was being killed, her eyes on a man she had believed to be a friend up to the moment of her death, a Canberra suddenly could see the manor it had been searching for in the area, and dropped its payload of two 500-lb. bombs on the manor. Directly following the explosions, the SAS troops swarmed over the remains of the house, killing any survivors on sight.

Voldemort had been distracted by strange and painful-to-him emotions coming in over the link he shared with Harry Potter, and had not been paying attention to the wards of the Malfoy Manor, which he had taken over from the disgraced Lucius. As such, he and his terrorists were caught completely unaware.

Most of the Death Eaters had been caught in the explosion, costing the lives of Voldemort's entire inner circle. Snape would no longer be around to ruin the lives of school children, the incestuous Carrows would no longer get off by torturing children under the Cruciatus curse, Bellatrix Lestrange would never again be able to carve a Mudblood open with a knife, and Dolohov had fired his last dark cutting curse as well.

One-by-one the stragglers were hit by bullets, and died. The SAS found a snake among the victims, its head crushed by collapsing stone works.

'You... fools... you cannot hope to stop me...' rasped out a mortally wounded snake-like figure who had been partially crushed by a part of the ceiling.
This was target Prime, aka 'Voldemort', the SAS soldiers recognised. It was Dan Granger who lined up his rifle, and a single bullet helped the Dark Lord out of his misery.

As they combed the mansion for more terrorists, they did not see a black mist rise from Voldemort's corpse and speed away through the walls.
Draco Malfoy and his mother would be found cowering in the dungeons, along with several prisoners, Florian Fortesque and Garrick Ollivander among them. Fortunately the remaining prisoners had been unharmed, as the dungeons were separated from the now destroyed mansion by a good many metres of the hard Wiltshire soil.

The mission a success, Scrimgeour's Aurors were finally allowed access, and they quickly arrested the Malfoys, and freed the prisoners, taking them to St Mungo's.

Voldemort still survived, but with his Inner Circle dead and he himself discorporated once again, his War was over. The remaining lower ranking Death Eaters were rounded up by Scrimgeour's men over the following weeks.
Voldemort was too weak to do anything, and again fled for the Dark Forest of Albania, where he would have to recover for a few years.

A very sated Hermione and Harry returned to the Granger residence from their honeymoon.

'Welcome back my dears!' Emma greeted them. Harry would be turning seventeen in two days, and Bill and Fleurs wedding was planned for the day following.
'Harry, Hermione, will you bring the bags upstairs and then join Dan and me in the living room for a little talk?'

The Potters joined the Grangers in their living room.

'Now Harry, whatever notion you had of taking Hermione running, stops here and now. You two will finish your education, and start building a family of your own.'

Stopping their protests with a glare, Emma continued.
'I've taken care of that little Voldemort issue for now. Whatever things you were planning to look for can wait until next summer.'

She explained to a completely confused duo that the Death Eaters were no more, and the Dark Lord had been killed. Dan confirmed having fired the shot himself.

'But Mrs Granger –' Harry began, to be met by a Glare of Doom. 'Erm, but mum,'

'Better, Harry. And no buts, you will need to get your N.E.W.T.s.'

'Mum, dad, you don't understand,' began Hermione. 'Voldemort cannot be dead, Harry is the only one who can kill him.'

'Says who honey badger?' asked Emma.

So Harry recited the Prophecy.

'And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives?'
Emma thought it over.
'How long have you been dead then, Harry?

'What?'

'If you interpret this nonsense literally, you can't live as long as Voldemort survives. So if the Prophecy is true, you cannot have been alive since we know Voldemort was prancing around.'

'But, but –' began Hermione.

'Shush dear. And do you not believe your father-in-law when he tells you he shot Voldemort himself, and that his dead body has been found and identified by not just our side, but by your Ministry forces as well?'

Harry and Hermione had to accept defeat.

Plans to go Horcrux hunting postponed, they followed Emma's request and agreed to simply return to Hogwarts after all.

With Voldemort out of the picture, Bill and Fleur's wedding succeeded off without any problems, except for minor issue with the two jealous younger Weasley siblings.

The following school year Harry had been named Head Boy, and Hermione Head Girl. They had their own private dorm room as part of the privilege, which the newly married couple made good use of.
It was a quiet year, with no Snape, no Draco Malfoy (Draco had been sentenced to twenty years in Azkaban for his role in the murder of Dumbledore, and Narcissa had been sentenced to five), and few Slytherins. Many Slytherins from Dark houses had been withdrawn as they had to take over for their killed parents, and the remaining ones such as Daphne Greengrass turned out to be very decent people without a Malfoy to ruin their image.

Despite Emma's wishes, Hermione did not get pregnant during the school year, nor during the winter holidays. They were asked to become the godparents to Remus and Nymphadora's son Theodore Lupin, a role they gladly took.

Harry and Hermione took a year off after graduation to hunt down the Horcruxes. These proved ridiculously easy to find: the locket was recovered along with other stolen Black items when Mundungus Fletcher ran into an undercover Auror posing as a fence, Hufflecup's Cup was found in his own Black family Vault, having come from the Lestrange Vault that had been merged with the Black's after the family had been wiped out at the Death Eater strike, and Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem was found in the Room of Requirement by Headmistress McGonagall, who called in the Potters when she realised what she had found.

Following graduation they moved in to a new house in Crawley, fifteen minutes by car away from the Grangers. Hermione found a position in Scrimgeour's Ministry, and would rise up in the ranks of the DMLE over the coming years. Scrimgeour was finally making clean ship, with the DMLE Department Head Kingsley Shacklebolt as a staunch supporter.
Most of the Death Eaters had been killed in Malfoy Manor, and the remainder was caught and tried. No Imperius defence was accepted this time.

Harry became an Auror, and quickly rose through the ranks, until he was called in for a bad case.
Ron Weasley had barely managed to scrape by his last year in Hogwarts, without Hermione's help. He once again hooked up with Lavender Brown, and had knocked her up during the school year. Forced to marry, after graduation he had tried to become a Keeper for the Chudley Cannons, but didn't make the cut. He took a low-ranking position at the Daily Prophet's sports division instead.
Disillusioned and angry, he took to drinking.
Lavender grew tired of him, and divorced him, taking their son Hugo with her.
Then one night Ron arrived at Lavender's door drunk and angry, and began breaking down the door. Lavender called the Aurors for help, and Harry was part of the response team.

'Potter!' yelled the enraged red-head when he saw his former friend. 'You took everything from me! My Hermione, my job, and even my good-for-nothing wife!'
He aimed his wand at his wife, who had opened the door when Harry arrived, and Ron yelled at her 'You've taken my son you whore, now die! Avada Kedavra!'

Without thinking, Harry jumped in the path of the curse to protect Lavender, and was hit by the green light.

Harry woke up in a bright mist, and found himself naked. Then he heard a pitiful wailing noise, and began to feel ashamed, as if he was intruding on something. He wished he was wearing clothes.
And poof, he was dressed.

He stood up, and looked around. Was he in the Room of Requirement? Then he slowly saw the familiar sight of King's Cross railway stadium form around him.
Under a bench not too far off, laid the thing making the noises. It resembled a naked child, but Harry felt evil from it. Still, he approached it, wishing to help.

'You can't help.'

Harry spun around. Sirius Black was walking towards him, a bounce in his step.
'Harry,' he said, spreading his arms wide. 'My godson, you brave, brave man. Let's walk.'

Stunned, Harry followed him.

'But... you're dead,' said Harry.

'Oh yes I am,' Sirius replied calmly.

'Then... I am dead too?'

'Not exactly Harry. You see, while you were hit by a Killing Curse, you are special.
'Do you remember from Crouch's class what a Killing Curse actually does?'

'It severs the soul from the body, and forces the soul to move on,' Harry replied.

'Exactly. So what, d'you suppose, happens if it finds a body with two souls?'

'Err... it severs both of them? No wait...' Harry turned around, and pointed at the... thing.
'Sirius, what is that?'

'Something evil, Harry. Remember the Horcruxes and how the Unspeakables told you Voldemort was still alive, even after you had destroyed them all?'

'Then you mean... that is another Horcrux? And it was in me? Are you serious?'

'I always am, Harry,' Sirius grinned briefly, then became serious again.
'That night at Godric's Hollow, Voldemort created a Horcrux by mistake... you. And it's now finally over. Even as we speak here, Voldemort's spirit form has been destroyed, with no Horcruxes to anchor him to the world. You have finally won.'

'So what happens next? Do I need to die as well? I don't want to leave my Hermione...'

'You have a choice pup. The train is arriving, and someone needs to go on it. Either you, or Tommy over there...'

'Then there is no real choice, is there?' Harry embraced Sirus, 'I miss you, old man. Say goodbye to my parents for me.'

'I will, I will. Now get back to your body, and get yourself a few little boys and girls! You can name one after your dad and me, James Sirius!'

'Not Albus Severus?' Harry laughed, as he faded away. The last he saw of his godfather was the man doubling over in laughter at the absurd idea that Harry would name a child after the two men who had caused him so much pain and trouble.

Harry woke up in St Mungo's hospital, his wife at his bedside.

'Oh Harry!' Hermione rushed in to embrace him. 'I knew you'd never leave me. Your partner told me all that happened.'

'Lavender? Ron?' Harry groggily asked.

'Lavender is scared, but fine. When Ronald seemed to murder you, your partner took him down with a blasting charm. The foul git is in the secured wing now, waiting to be healed before his trial.'

Hermione blinked away a tear.

'How could he Harry? I still remember the boy that was joking with us, and we were having fun with in Hogsmeade...'

'I don't know Hermione,' Harry replied. 'Something like this has always been there. Remember our first year, or the broom stick thing, or how he abandoned us in fourth year, let alone how he reacted when we got together.'

They held each other for a long time.

Harry was eventually released, other than magical fatigue nothing was wrong with him. After the unpleasant trial of Ron resulted in a life time sentence to Azkaban for firing the Unforgivable, Molly and Ginny Weasley never contacted him again. The other Weasleys realised it was not Harry or Hermione's fault, and remained friends.

Hermione did get pregnant that year, and Emma had her first grandson to spoil.

Fifteen years later, as Harry and Hermione were sending their third and youngest child off to her first day at Hogwarts, Emma and Dan were standing with them on platform nine-and-three-quarters, waving after James, Lily, and Catherine (Katie) Potter who were en route to their school.

Emma reflected on her plan, and how it had worked out perfectly.

All was well.


A/N: I could not resist expanding on this premise. Should now be complete.