4. Hogwarts
Shell Cottage had become a center of activity overnight, literally.
It was first Remus, who came to inform everybody of the birth of his son. He was followed by Percy, informing his brother that all the high officials at the ministry were absent and unreachable. "You know whom to tell this," he said, before going back.
Arthur was the next, with similar news, augmented by the information that aurors were sent to Little Hangelton after some mysterious blast, but could find nothing amiss, except for the many broken windows.
Fred came even before Arthur left. "Our sources tell us that all marked death Eaters have disappeared this evening. None can be contacted. Only Snape is still out there, staying in the hospital wing due to some sudden weakness."
George brought them the morning paper with a list of those missing. The numbers coincided with the list left by Hermione.
Harry and Hermione slept late. Hermione woke up early, really, but feeling Harry at her side, she just snuggled into him and fell asleep again. When Harry started waking, he was alarmed when he noticed where his hand was, resting on a round soft mound of Hermione's breast. Yet he couldn't move his hand away either, as it was held in place by Hermione's hand. He decided to leave it be and simply enjoy it. They only left bed when the pressure in their bladders became too high.
Everybody seemed to be celebrating by the time they reached the kitchen. The whole Weasley family, sans Ginny, seemed to be there, along with quite a few members of the order as well as many friends. They all had a feast on a long table which was placed in the garden.
Once Harry and Hermione ate their fill, Harry asked for volunteers to escort them to Hogwarts. Despite the night's victory, he could not be sure that all opposition was defeated. With a group of ten, half of them Weasley, they apparated to the gates of Hogwarts. The gates were open and no malevolent magic could be detected. They preceded, with Arthur at the lead, as he didn't want any of the younger people to be in the first line of fire if anything happened.
They encountered no opposition. Once they approached the school, Professor McGonagall opened the doors and stood there, waiting for them. She was especially glad to meet Hermione and Harry again.
"The Carrows left last night in a hurry and didn't return. Some of the seventh year Slytherins also left at the same time and didn't return either," she informed the group. "Severus started feeling extreme weakness a few minutes later. He collapsed in the middle of a staff meeting and seems to be in coma since. Madam Pomfrey is not sure he can survive."
"Are there any other Death Eaters at school?"
"I don't think so. Despite his master, Severus kept the whole staff, and grudgingly accepted the Carrows. He even seemed to really try to keep the school as free of any external influence as possible." Minerva sounded a bit confused about Snape's behavior.
Harry set some of the group to guard the entrances and then followed Minerva, along with Hermione, Luna and Ron, to the hospital wing.
"What are you doing here, where everybody can see you? Go back into hiding if you treasure your life!" Madam Pomfrey looked frightened at seeing him.
"I believe that I no longer need to hide. Haven't you seen the morning paper?"
She only frowned, looking still worried.
"How's Snape?" he asked.
"In and out of conscience. He seems to have passed a shock which almost depleted his magical core. There's very little one can do in such a situation. He should rest and take restorative potions. He's so far out that I can't be sure he'll recover." Despite her personal dislike of the man, she was not ready to lose a patient.
Harry approached the bed, holding Hermione's hand tightly.
Snape opened his eyes and looked at Harry, as if he had always been waiting to see him. "Potter... You've finally come..." His hand was resting near his head. He moved it slightly, pointing to his temple. "You... must take... this," he mumbled, as a silvery substance started seeping out of his temple. Hermione was quick to conjure a vial and collect the silvery substance into it. Once done, Snape's breathing calmed down and became very shallow. Harry thought he was dying. He put his hand on the man's forehead and whispered, "Get well," not quite understanding why he did it. Not even he could see some kind of current flowing from his hands into Snape's body.
They turned around, intending to leave, not noticing that Snape's face was gaining a bit of color and a shadow of a smile appeared on it.
They now moved to the headmaster's office, where Harry intended to view the memories. As soon as they entered the room, Dumbledore's portrait noticed them. "What brings you here, Harry? I hope it's good news."
"Well, that depends. I believe that Voldemort is gone for good, along with most of his followers," Harry said.
"You killed them?"
"Not directly. I've planted some high power explosives in Riddle's hideout and detonated them when they were all assembled there, after getting rid of all the Horcruxes. I had to release Riddle of his suffering afterward, though."
"Alas, my boy, it may still be too early to rejoice. Your scar..."
"...is no longer a Horcrux, Headmaster. It was removed by Bill Weasley with the help of my friends a few days ago. See?"
Harry moved his bangs away, revealing his forehead, where a faintest reminder of the scar could be seen only when looking very attentively.
"That's the best news I've had in a long time," the portrait said. "I didn't even know this was possible. Have you told Severus?"
"Why are you so interested in him? He's the one who murdered you!"
"Not so, Harry. I had asked him several months earlier to kill me when the time was right. We had to give young Malfoy a way to redeem himself."
"So, you asked Snape to kill you?"
"I was already dying. That cursed ring made my hand wither and it was only a matter of weeks, at most, before it would have killed me anyhow."
Harry sighed. "There were two Malfoys there, although I don't know which two."
Hermione didn't hesitate. "Dobby!" she called.
"Yes, Mistress. How can Dobby serve you now?"
"Dobby! I'm not your mistress!"
"Oh, you are. You're my master's mate, so you are my mistress. Now, what do you want me to do?"
Hermione only filed his answer in her mind to contemplate later on it. "Can you find either Narcissa or Draco Malfoy and see how they are?"
"I can find Narcissa. Draco is no longer alive. Should I go now?"
"No Dobby. I think I've got my answer."
Harry turned back to the portrait, after listening to Dobby. "It looks like Draco was not redeemable, after all."
Dumbledore lowered his head. "I tried my best..."
Viewing Snape's memories didn't give them any new insight. They were glad to see that in his case, at least, Dumbledore was right; Snape was really on the light side.
By the time they finished viewing the memories, Kingsley arrived with some additional news. "The aurors had finally managed to find the source of the trouble at Little Hangelton. It was a Manor House that collapsed for unknown reasons, killing Voldemort and many of his followers. A few, who were elsewhere, didn't escape that fate either. They were killed of magical exhaustion at about the same time as the explosion. Snape seems to be the luckiest, as he is still alive, even if just barely."
"What's going on now?" Harry asked.
"I've set our people on the move. We've already taken the Ministry back. Some are tracking down all the groups of Snatchers, to be put on trial later this month. A group of volunteers is searching the ruins of Riddle manor for all the corpses, trying to identify as many as possible. Quite a gruesome task, if there ever was one."
"What happened to the Minister?"
"He's among the missing. As we've currently found out, his mark was not on his arm. He had it on his thigh, where nobody would have looked for it."
They were already leaving the office, when a group of students approached. They all looked as if they had passed some rough times, yet they were all smiling. "You've done it!" Neville greeted his friends.
Ginny followed suit, hugging Harry tightly and kissing his cheek, although Hermione looked a bit apprehensive at seeing her. Ginny then held Harry at arm's length and looked him over. "You've changed," she said.
Harry looked her over as well, she seemed to be in good health, She even looked a bit fatter than expected. Ginny noticed his glance pausing over her abdomen. "I'm expecting," she said quietly.
Harry raised his brows. Ginny grabbed Neville's arm. "We were seeking some comfort at these times. We needed to hug each other every night, so..." She blushed a bit.
"Do your parents know?"
Ginny shook her head. "Will you stand with us when we tell them?"
Harry smiled, hugging both Ginny and Neville. "What are friends for, if not for helping their friends?"
It wasn't too bad, eventually. Molly was first appalled at seeing her little girl pregnant, but she then understood the circumstances. It was also very clear that Neville had only honorable intentions. He asked Arthur's permission to propose and then knelt in front of Ginny, asking her to be his wife, in front of all the assembled group of students, Order members and teachers. She was glad to agree.
Neville was quite frightened, though, when Fred and George decided to have a talk with him. He could confront Voldemort, if needed, but these two pranksters were much more intimidating.
Things returned to normal quite quickly after that. Hogwarts resumed functioning normally the next day. Without the Carrows and with the Death Eaters and their spawn removed, even the Slytherins seemed more relaxed and much friendlier than before. Snape stayed another fortnight in the hospital wing, recuperating gradually. He had transferred all the responsibilities of the headmaster to his deputy, intending to go on a long vacation to relax somewhere, far away from the British wizarding world.
Harry and Hermione stayed at school. "We still needed to finish our studies," Hermione was quick to point out. Yet not everything worked out as she expected
Harry was approached by Minerva that first evening. "I'd like you to fill-in for the DADA instructor for the upper two classes," she said. "Based on your DA performance during fifth year, I'm confident you can do a very good job."
Harry was stunned. "But... I don't even know all the spells."
She smiled at him. "The spells are all in the books. They are not the most important part, though. You can learn them in no time, just as you've done for the DA, and you'll get help from the other teachers. I, for one, as well as Filius, will be just glad to help you."
Remus was appointed as the DADA professor for the lower classes. Hermione was also asked to teach the Muggle Studies class and she considered it a great opportunity to show the pureblood children how more advanced Muggles are in anything not concerning magic.
Both Harry and Hermione were getting a lot of help from the staff in order to be able to pass the NEWTs without needing to spend another year at school. "I'd rather have you teaching here than studying for those exams," Minerva told them with a smile. She was smiling a lot now, especially out of class.
Ron didn't join their studies, though. He preferred to repeat the seventh year, doing it with his girlfriend, Luna, at his side. Luna seemed to have a good influence on him, even making his table manners more tolerable.
NEWTs proved to be less of a problem than Harry thought they would be. He believed it was mainly Hermione's beneficial influence and the lack of Ron's distracting one. Being able to concentrate on his studies without worrying for his life was certainly beneficial as well.
It was only after their last NEWT that Hermione called Dobby for a discussion.
"What did yo mean when you said that Harry and I are mates. We had not had any sex yet." She blushed saying this.
Dobby dismissed that. "Ever since before the attack on Riddle Manor you've become a couple. I think you've made some promises to each other, resulting in this bond. I've already checked with the Ministry and with Gringotts. You are registered as a married couple in both places." He then winked at her. "You can have sex freely now."
It only made Hermione blush harder, yet she grabbed Dobby's hand and walked to Harry, who was losing another game of Chess to Ron.
"You are now registered as a married couple," Dobby told Harry as soon as they found a secluded place to talk. "You must have said your vows, in a way, shortly before the attack on Riddle manor."
Harry remembered making Hermione and her children his heirs and her insistence on her children being his as well. Could that be interpreted as a magical vow? It had probably had the same effect, and Harry was actually quite glad of it, yet he felt that he needed to propose and marry her the traditional way as well. Hermione deserved as elegant a wedding as he could give her.
Please Review!
