Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his world, and the characters belong to J K Rowling, I only own the story.
Chapter 2 - The Announcements
Harry grabbed Ginny from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist, lifting her and twisting her to face him. He took the opportunity to kiss her again, he had long wanted to just be able to kiss her, with no fear of having to say goodbye to her. Finally, he could look forward to their future together. Her lips seemed to be moulded perfectly to fit his, so soft that he could hardly feel her.
"Harry!" She giggled, "Put me down!"
He happily obliged, catching her hand as it fell to her side.
"Harry?" She asked.
"Yeah?"
"Are you going to tell me what you've been up to exactly for the past year? And when are you going to explain why Voldemort thought you were dead?"
"Gin, there is loads of time for me to tell you all of that. Right now I just want to savour that I'm walking with the most beautiful witch at this castle, and that she is crazy enough to want to be with me!" Her head fell backwards, her hair tumbling down her back as she laughed at the delusional boy she was walking along with.
"Harry, I think almost all the witches here would kill just to be walking hand in hand with you!" Harry's face turned a beetroot colour as his embarrassment to being a desired wizard sunk in, Ginny laughing at how cute and teenage like he was.
They laughed together as they walked up towards the castle, and heard McGonagall shouting about not being able to find Harry Potter.
"POTTER! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!" She yelled as soon as they entered the great hall. "The temporary minister for magic would like you to announce to the wizarding world about the Battle of Hogwarts, and the outcome of it. Lee Jordan is going to broadcast it on the Wizarding Wireless Network."
"Eugh, professor, do I have to?" Seeing the hard stare that he received back off her made him quickly change his mind.
"Good, right then, I am going to address the school, then Kingsley will say a few words. We'll leave it to you to announce that Voldemort is gone. I do require that you do not give any details about the battle, Potter, or about your whereabouts for the past year, as the ministry wants to get a full account before releasing it to the public. Okay?"
"Yes professor, that's fine. Have I got time to take a shower? I feel really gross and dirty right now."
"Of course Potter. Feel free to use the prefects bathroom, I think it was left undamaged, I'm not entirely certain. The password is 'gladiator'."
"Thanks professor."
He turned back to face Ginny, gave her a quick peck on the cheek, and waved to the rest of his friends. As he left the great hall, he could feel everyone watching him, smiling, in awe of the boy who had saved all of their lives.
"Everyone, may I have your attention please. We are going to commence this evening with a few words from the newly appointed Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt. I would like to say that I am very happy to see that so many of you are sitting before me, and I express my sincerest apologies for those who have suffered losses in this battle. Know that they have not died in vain. Minister?"
"Thank you Minerva. I would like to start by saying how proud I am of the wizarding community, for being able to stand together in such desperate times, for supporting one another, for not losing faith in the one hope we shared, Mr Harry Potter. I address the whole world, in telling you that yesterday, a great battle took place, between the Dark Lord Voldemort, and many wizards and witches, at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Voldemort has been terrorising our world for nearly 50 years, since he first opened the Chamber of Secrets, and I'd like to highlight that we have stood tall against him and his supporters. They will not get away with the crimes they have committed. I am very proud to present to you all, Mr Harry Potter." There was deafening applause that exploded from the great hall, everyone turning to look at the chosen one, many people sobbing with happiness. Harry looked shocked that it was his turn to say a few words already. He stood up and took his place, and the whole hall went deadly quiet, the only thing you could hear was Peeves singing his victory song. He was totally unprepared for this. What was he supposed to say, other than, Voldemort is dead?
"Er, hi everyone, I'm Harry.." Great start Harry, he thought to himself. "As Minister Shacklebolt has already told you all, yesterday, there was a great battle, in which nearly 50 people lost their lives to Lord Voldemort. All of our lives have been affected by him, but I stand before you today, to tell you that he will never touch any of our lives again. He is dead, and unlike last time, there is no way which he can return. My friends and I have ensured that he will never, ever come back. So to those that fought, thank you, you have all helped us to achieve a brighter future. To those that were unable to fight, please now live free in the knowledge that he is gone. I know that it is of little consolation to all who have lost people they cared about, but they died fighting for this future, and we have it. The best we can do to commemorate them, is to live our lives to the full. It is what they would have wanted. They will be happy that we achieved our goals, and that they didn't die in vain." Again, the hall burst with noise, crying, laughter, joy and clapping arose and filled the whole hall. Harry took in a deep breath after having seen that he had succeeded in his task, and was a little confused when Kingsley gave him a piece of parchment with some announcements to make. When he went to speak again, the noise died down.
"Erm, I've got a few extra announcements to make. The first is that Minerva McGonagall will become the well deserved Headmistress of Hogwarts school, and can I personally say that I don't think there is anyone better suited for the role," He caught McGonagall's eye, and say that she was crying with how proud she was of her student. "I have also been told that the Ministry has so far arrested nearly 20 death eaters, and that Azkaban will be guarded by top aurors until further notice." This was received by many cheers from the audience. "The Minister is going to say a few more words."
"Thank you Mr Potter, for that truely inspirational speech. And can we hear a huge round of applause for the man who has saved our world, may he never be forgotten. Lastly there are a few matters with the Order of Merlin to be dealt with. Firstly, the Ministry wishes to award the Order of Merlin First Class, to Mr Potter." The crowd roared and shouted their approval as Harry received the Order from the Minister. "We would like to also award the Order of Merlin First class to Mr Ronald Weasley, and Miss Hermione Granger, for their part in aiding Mr Potter in defeating Voldemort." Another round of cheers of approval. "To all you who fought in the battle, including the dead, you will all get Order of Merlin second class for your contributions to the wizarding world. As there are too many of you to announce, we will save that for a later date. We would like to specially mention Mr Severus Snape, who unfortunately died during the battle, he will receive the Order of Merlin first class for his aid in defeating Voldemort aswell. We are revoking the Order of Merlin first class that was given to Mr Peter Pettigrew after his supposed brave confrontation of Sirius Black. The Ministry has since discovered that Pettigrew lied, and he was in fact the one who murdered 12 people that day, and then hid in illegal animagus form. Sirius Black is hence pardoned for all crimes, and the ministry wishes to award him the Order of Merlin first class for his contribution to the defeat of Voldemort. Last but not least, we want to give the house elf Dobby, without who, Harry Potter would've died several times, the Order of Merlin first class, and he is the first non wizard to ever receive one, so a huge round of applause for him please, and may the free elf, rest in peace. Now, that all that official stuff is out of the way, I think we should celebrate that we never again have to worry about Voldemort! Let's party!"
Everyone stood up as Kingsley vanished all the tables and chairs that were in the hall, and the Weird Sisters started to play. Harry, Hermione and Ron all looked at each other, as the people who had fought alongside them in the battle were cheering, "Golden Trio!"
They all blushed, but they could see from each others eyes the relief that they had achieved their task. They shared a hug, in which Ron gave his blessing for Harry to date Ginny, then Hermione pulled Ron towards the dance floor. Harry looked after his friends, wondering how on earth he would've got to this point without them. They were brilliant. Hermione was the smartest witch of their time, and Ron was the bravest wizard he had ever met. The prophecy had said it had had to be him, and he thought it had meant he had to do it alone. Thank God he had such good friends to see him through it.
"What are you smiling stupidly about Mr?" Ginny whispered in his ear as she liked his arm.
"Just how amazing your brother and his girlfriend are. If it wasn't for them I probably wouldn't be here today."
"And if it weren't for you Harry, it's likely that none of us would be here in ten years. You should be proud of yourself Harry. You saved us." She replied, with the biggest smile on her face, that Harry couldn't help smiling back at.
"Oh Harry, great, could I have a quick word with you, Hermione and Ron if you don't mind me interrupting the festivities?" Kingsley said as he approached Harry before he joined Ginny on the dance floor.
"Yeah sure minister,"
"Please, Harry, call me Kingsley."
Harry quickly went and grabbed the other two and followed the minister to the little side room off the great hall that had been used during the triwizard tournament. Inside the room, there was a long table, that had bottles of butterbeer, and a bottle of firewhisky. It was surrounded by plush armchairs, one of which was already taken by professor McGonagall.
"Hello professor," all three said at the same time. Minerva smiled back at them all,
"Please, take a seat and help yourself," she said, pointing at the drinks and sweet treats that were on the table. Harry sat down closest to the fire, accepting a bottle of butterbeer of Hermione and relaxed, looking curiously at the minister of magic and the new headmistress of Hogwarts.
"I suppose you're wondering why we pulled you away from the celebrations?" All three teens nodded. "Well," said Kingsley, "We want to know what you're doing next year. I also will need to get accounts off all three of you of what you've been doing over the past year, and how it happened that Harry was able to die, come back and still defeat Voldemort but that can wait. The ministry is severely understaffed at the moment. We need to know whether the three of you would be interested in joining our ranks. I know that you, Harry, and you Ron, are both interested in being Aurors?"
"Yeah," Harry nodded, and Ron agreed.
"Well we would be happy to accept that your experience in fighting dark wizards rivals that of most of the department and therefore we would be willing to take you on without your NEWTs. You would also have fast tracked training so that we are able to get you out in the field straight away. The training would be about two weeks, we really want to get you out catching death eaters as soon as possible, so it'd be hard and really intensive. Are you up for that?"
"Well Kingsley, I don't think it's very fair that you're trying to poach my top students without letting me provide them with an alternative option! You are both more than welcome to come back and study here as your seventh year, take your newts and then you can join the Aurors after that. Miss Granger, you are of course also more than welcome to come back to Hogwarts."
"Yes, Miss Granger, we've noted that you're very interested in aiding non-wizarding creatures, notably house elves? We would like to start up a whole new department, with you at it's head, to repair the damage that wizards have done to magical creatures. We now see the importance of having good relationships with these creatures. Dumbledore always told Fudge that he should've sorted this out, that man was definitely omnipotent," Kingsley laughed. "We also want your help with eradicating the pure blood laws, and making the whole wizarding community more accepting of half bloods and muggle borns. In the future we hope that there will be no way of distinguishing, and wizards and witches will be categorised as just those, male and female. So, what do you three think?" Kingsley finished, looking expectantly at the three amazing young people sat in front of him, eager for them to join the Ministry.
"Professor," Harry started, "There is nothing I want to do more than clean up after Voldemort, and help the ministry. I feel that it's the only way I can ensure that there are no more dark wizards haunting our community. I'd love to come back to Hogwarts, but the ministry needs me now. I hope you understand, so Kingsley, I would love to join the aurors." After this both Kingsley and McGonagall were smiling.
"Great, Harry, we'll sort out the details at a later date." Kingsley said, happily.
"Yes of course Potter, I understand that you need to be helping to catch the death eaters. And I fully expect Mr Weasley to join you." Ron turned the deepest shade of red, it even stretched to his ears.
"Er yeah, I'd like to join the aurors too," Ron added.
"I am very grateful for your offer Kingsley," Said Hermione, "And I would love to one day pursue that adventure with you. I feel that it is necessary for us to rebuild the bridges to some of the magical creatures, but I have to say that I want to come back to Hogwarts. I need to get my NEWTs, and I don't want to just get into the ministry because I helped beat Voldemort, I want to prove that I am good enough to do it."
McGonagall beamed at Hermione, "I knew you would want to come back. I could really use your help with running the school. How would you like to be head girl?"
"Oooo! Yes, I'd love to professor!" Harry and Ron sniggered at how she had turned back into that first year snotty suck up, and noted to themselves to make fun of her later.
"Great, thank you, all three of you, get back to the party. We can sort out the rest of the details tomorrow."
And with that, Harry, Ron and Hermione left, and went to find the other Weasley's to share their good news. Ginny looked worried when Harry told her he was joining the aurors straight away, and Mrs Weasley fussed around Harry and Ron, saying that she didn't think they were old enough to make the decision to join such a dangerous profession.
"For gods sake Molly, Harry's been fighting dark wizards all his life, and Ron has since he met Harry! I think they're more than old enough and experienced enough to run the whole department!" Arthur said, with an exasperated look at his wife, who was still trying to hold on to her babies. He whispered in her ear, "You have to let go Molly." She whimpered as she knew he was right, and she agreed that she thought it would be a good idea for them to join up straight away.
Harry whispered to Ginny, "It's alright Gin, you'll only be at Hogwarts for another year, and it'll go so quickly. We can be together after. And I promise I'll be safe."
"Er... yeah.. coming back to Hogwarts.. Of course Harry.." Ginny replied rather shadily, trying to hide from her boyfriend that she didn't plan on coming back to Hogwarts. She either did a good job, or he was just too dense to notice, so she let it lie. She would have this conversation with him another night, tonight, it was all about letting go, and knowing that Voldemort was gone for good.
