Chapter Twenty

Aspen had seen him only a few times before, at King's Cross, but she recognized him well enough.

Polyjuice potion clutched in his hand, flushed cheeks and desperate eyes. She pointed her wand in half a second. "Petrificus totalus!"

The cloak fell off with the sudden motion and he fell to the floor. Aspen stared in shock. She had never expected to find him so easily. She could hear the aurors on the stairs. There wasn't much time, and she had to act fast.

"Depulso!"

He flew across the office and fell behind the desk. Behind Aspen, the doors flew open, the cloaks having broken them down. Aspen stared into the gaping holes and raised her wand, trying to think fast. Spell, spell-

The aurors all raised their wands. "Expelliarmus!"

Her wand flew out of her hand and Aspen was flung back into the wall. She landed with a hard thump and blurred vision, just in time to hear it:

"Levicorpus!"

"Stupefy!"

"Incendio!"

"Reducio!"

One auror flew up into the air, the cloak following open into a blanket. Another was blasted into the wall puffed into dust. A third burst into flame, causing Aspen a faint twinge of horror. A fourth shrank to the size of a pygmypuff and dropped its full-length wand. Behind them stood Aubrey Jordan, Ben Dursley, Sarah McLaggan, and Claire MacMillan.

Aspen fought off the daze, sitting up. Her head swam and ached, her hip still throbbed, but as the four of them marched into the office, Aspen felt it might have been better she did this alone.

Then Professor Potter came clattering up the stairs as well, placing himself between the students and the desk. He glanced at Aspen. "Where is she?"

"Not she," Aspen said, pointing at the desk. "He."

Professor Potter walked to the desk, wand out, as Aubrey and Ben raced to Aspen's side.

"Aspen?" Ben greeted her. "You alright in there?"

She smiled half-heartedly at him. "Remember that time you fell in the ditch and got a concussion and I carried you home?"

He nodded.

"I think I'm in way more trouble now than that day. Still…" Her gaze wondered to Claire. "It's not me I feel so bad for, because I'm not the one the worst hurt by this."

Claire's head tilted to the side, innocent blue eyes unassuming, and then Professor Potter's gasp drew their attention back to the desk.

"Ernie!?"

The counter-curse to Aspen's petrification was quickly cast, and Professor Potter even helped the Hufflepuff to his feet before binding his legs and after taking his wand. Ernie MacMillan faced the six of them stoic and wordless.

"Dad!?"

Claire's shriek surprised them all. Aspen had expected confusion, disappointment, grief- the usual responses to discovering someone you trust or love isn't what you thought. Instead, Claire MacMillan- for the first time Aspen had ever witnessed- was truly, completely, outraged.

"Hi, sweetheart," Ernie greeted her, and Claire stormed forward, thrusting her wand under her chin. Her blue eyes blazed, not an ocean but a hurricane.

"How could you! How could you do this to my friends! To McGonagall! To all of us!"

"Not like it affected you, is it?" he said. "You always follow the rules. One of the only ones who do." Ernie turned to Professor Potter. "I had rather hoped it would affect you more. That you might get mad and lash out and I could just fire you."

"Not likely," Professor Potter said, his voice and eyes steel. "Why'd you do it, Ern? I can't think of a single reason the Ernie MacMillan I knew would do something like this."

Somewhere in the castle, a great howling started and then abruptly stopped. Ernie laughed.

"That's why. This place was always chaos. When I read the Clearwater girl's letter for Hermione, I knew something had to be done."

Professor Potter's jaw clenched. "And where's Hermione?"

"She's fine," Ernie said, meeting Professor Potter's eyes. "Anyway. She was easy to get hair from- bloody girl sheds like a cat, and I, her worthless assistant, always find that kinky, knotted hair in my notes."

Professor Potter's fists had balled. Aspen stood up, shrugging off Ben's concerned hand.

"So I took over for her. Her job, her life, everything. Just long enough to get here and send McGonagall home. She always was a little too soft- strict, until it suited her. And I wasn't about to have my little girl go through the same hell that I did at Hogwarts."

Professor Potter, aghast and disgusted, clenched his fist till his knuckles were white. "What do you mean? You didn't have it that bad. Worst you got it was second year, when you thought I petrified Justin."

"Exactly." A pause punctuated the word, accented by Ernie's deep breath. "You- perfect Harry Potter, famous no matter what, center of every rumor- you were the bane of my existence. Every year, you did plenty of things that would have gotten anyone else expelled. You brought so much chaos- absolute anarchy- and everyone else tried to follow the rules, but it was bloody impossible."

"I knew you didn't like your time at Hogwarts," Claire said, her voice quivering with anger, "But I thought that was because of Voldemort, not the one who defeated him."

"Don't say the name," Ernie hissed.

"I'm not scared of a name," Claire replied, shoulders squared.

"Anyway," Professor Potter said. "Go on."

"So. Voldemort took over the school. And you know what? That was the most structure we ever had. The most consistency."

Professor Potter burst. "Students were being bloody tortured! Did you forget that!? Did you forget my wife was tortured?"

"I was, too!" Ernie snapped. "And then I complied! I did whatever they wanted! And you know what? It worked. Fear- fear works. You can't run a school if you let the students love you. If they don't fear you, you'll never win."

"Who won now?" Aspen asked. "There's more chaos tonight than there's been since the Battle of Hogwarts."

"Yes, because Potter is still here," Ernie said. "Get rid of him, and McGonagall, and Hogwarts might stand a chance at running like a real school."

"Not a chance," Aspen said. "Potter and McGonagall are the best things to happen to this school."

"And you're one of the worst," Claire said.

Ernie met his daughter's eyes, anger mixing with confusion. "Claire-bear, you're the reason-"

"Don't call me that."

"Claire-"

"Don't." Claire turned to Professor Potter. "This… Is personal. If you could take care of this, I'd appreciate it. Is there anything I can do in the halls?"

Professor Potter nodded. "Tell the students the situation is handled. Tell my son to write to his mother using my owl, to get the Ministry here for a full investigation as soon as possible. And then… Let poor Flitwick out of his office to put the school back together."

Claire nodded and walked out, past the still-floating blanket, and disappeared. Professor Potter turned to Aspen, Ben, and Aubrey.

"You know, once upon a time, I was part of a group like you three. I'm glad the redhead gets all the glory this time."

ooo

The clean-up process took almost a week to put everything back together, but there were some messes that would never be properly put back together. Claire's image of the world was one of them. Hana Rhee's jaw, thankfully, was not. She sported her scars with pride, however- they both did.

Aspen turned in her tower of finished assignments and finally got some grades on them, just in time for winter break to nearly approach. Snowball fights decorated the courtyards and filled silences. For a week, Professor Flitwick was standing Headmaster while the hearings took place. A delighted Charlie Weasley took over for Professor Potter during that week, as the retired auror gave his perspective to the Ministry and explained, in full, the multitudinous reasons nothing had been done prior to.

It was December 4th, a Thursday, when the best change of all came along.

Aspen got in from Care of Magical Creatures and sat at the Gryffindor table for dinner, famished, when Claire- apparently her new best friend- elbowed Aspen roughly. "Look!"

Aspen's eyes followed Claire's. At the center of the teachers' table sat Minerva McGonagall, in all her glory. Aspen leapt up. "Professor McGonagall!"

McGonagall sent her a wrinkled smile and a wave. Aspen felt like crying. She had never been so happy to see the headmistress. Surely enough, Professor Potter was back, too. Aspen lowered back to her bench with an unretainable smile.

The hall filled with students coming in from classes, all having a reaction equitable to Aspen's. James came in as Aspen started on a slab of turkey and sat down.

"You know, it's a little strange," he said. "I always found it convenient that my dad's yearly Hogwarts drama wrapped up nicely at the end of the year. I don't know how to feel that my big adventure ended after only one term."

Aspen grinned. "There's always next semester. You know, I'm still thinking about trying to become an animagus- and there's still BTBSS, Hogwarts Weekly, and the Prank War to revive."

James grinned. "With you around, it's always going to be an adventure, isn't it?"

"Merlin, I hope so."

Ben and Aubrey settled themselves near her, Ben placing himself conveniently between Aspen and Zachariah. Levi Scoundrel and Carlisle McKinnon both greeted Aspen with friendly waves; Aspen and Levi had a long talk after everything was settled, and while she would never again fall for his romantic charms, she agreed to friendship. Carlisle was something of an anomaly to Aspen by now- she was ceaselessly impressed by his prowess at wrecking Hogwarts that night. A small part of her was in love with him for it, though that was only admiration and no serious inclination.

Once the entirety of the student body had settled in, Professor McGonagall rose from her seat and approached the podium. A hush fell over the Great Hall more absolute than perhaps any before. Aspen didn't think it was that silent even when it was empty.

"Students of Hogwarts."

Warmth pricked Aspen's eyes already. She'd been teary since everything went down, and she felt it about to come to a head. She blinked back the tears and faced her headmistress.

"I enrolled at Hogwarts in 1947. From the ripe age of eleven, when I received my Hogwarts letter, the school and its inhabitants have never ceased to surprise me. The castle has never run out of hidden rooms or passageways, or new types of students or need for rules." A few chuckles as McGonagall met mischievous eyes. "And yet, what has surprised me more than anything else, in all these years, is the ability of Hogwarts students to display immeasurable bravery." She took a heavy breath. "I knew when the imposter entered the hall that something was awry- but this time, I could not be there for my students. When Voldemort entered the school, I stayed. I bore the horrors because I could not leave my students behind. This time, I could not stay- and still, I was never abandoned. My sincerest gratitude extends to all those students who participated in- how did they put it?- 'reigning chaos upon Hogwarts the night of November 25th.'"

A grin stretched across McGonagall's face, and Jeremy Wood shouted, "Here, here!"

It echoed, not quite simultaneous, from hundreds of mouths: "Here, here!"

McGonagall raised a hand, and silence followed once more. Her thin smile faded. "However, it comes down to this: Hogwarts students should not feel that they are in danger. Many of you this year faced serious injury. One Ravenclaw suffered a badly broken jaw. As I heard it, the true extent of wounds could not be accounted for- and the emotional scars you all have suffered cannot be healed by a poultice.

"Over the coming months, more rules will be put into place- and disciplinary procedures created with policy and secured by magic. The word 'discipline' will never be so abused again as it has in the past few months. To put it simply: rules will be specific, and consequences specific."

"Professor?"

McGonagall turned, surprised, to see Professor Potter standing behind his chair, a twinkle in his green eyes. "Yes, H- Professor Potter?"

"While I agree Hogwarts' disciplinary systems require serious reform, I think the students, right now, are just happy to have you back. Perhaps we save the procedural stuff for start of next term?"

McGonagall glowered briefly, and then turned to the student body with a smile. "Very well. For the next week, we will continue as we have the past ten years! Do as you please and get detention, and I'm not entirely worried about the rest. Dine and squabble and prank and, for the love of Godric Gryffindor, try not to kill each other."

McGonagall sat back, content, as the students cheered and sang.

For a night, all was well in the world of Hogwarts.

ooo

"Ha! Missed!"

"Oh, watch this miss!"

The snowball whirled by as Aspen danced out of the way. "Just did!"

She turned and chucked the snowball in her hand; it landed squarely on James' face, where he'd been poking his tongue out. "Pleh! Aspen!"

Laughter filled the air. The Gryffindor and Slytherin quidditch teams had united for an epic snowball war, splitting into two groups- Aspen versus Levi. James, following an argument between them about whether Aspen was better than him at quidditch, had sided with Levi. Aspen had Jane Nott, however, who was absolutely ruthless, and Sarah and William.

The game had been going most of the day, with James taking the most snowballs to the face. Aspen had become quite skilled at spiking the snowballs out of the way- often causing them to explode, scattering snow on her and whoever was nearby.

"Aspen- this is it!"

Aspen turned to see Sarah McLaggen and William Thomas had created the ultimate snowball, and balanced it on the end of a branch. It was just right to catapult into Levi's team's fort. Aspen grinned.

"Alright- let's do it!"

"Three… Two… Victory!"

The war ended with the obliteration of Levi's team's base. His team sat with gaping mouths and wide eyes.

"That did not just happen!" James exclaimed, looking around.

"I'm afraid it did, my dear boy," Aspen said, as a sneeze shook James. "Now get inside and warm up before you die of cold."

"People don't die of colds," Levi said. Aspen cocked an eyebrow and grinned.

"Wanna bet?"

But she saw something behind Levi- across the courtyard, Claire MacMillan passing a row of windows, looking particularly morose. Aspen stretched.

"Well, as the game has ended, I do have duties to attend to. Thanks for an excellent match, and farewell!"

Her team called behind her. "Aspen! Where you going? We only just won!"

"It was great! You're all great! Levi, I'd shake your hand for a fair game, but I have things to do!"

She hurried into the hall after Claire, and caught up with the blonde by following the curls. "Hi!"

Claire glanced over, surprised. "Oh! Hey, Aspen."

"Why so blue?"

"What?"

The two walked along as Aspen gestured to Claire. "You looked pretty upset. Do you need to talk about it?"

"Oh… I'm quite alright, thank you though."

Aspen took Claire's arm in her hand, halting them. "Claire. What's going on? You can talk to me."

Claire sighed, and started walking again, Aspen beside her. Nervously, Claire tucked her hair behind her ear. "I just… I tried so hard to follow the rules and do the right thing, and I didn't realize my own dad was breaking so many laws. Six years in Azkaban, he got. Can you believe it? How can I keep being a prefect when my own father tortured my classmates?"

"Well, you can't go judging people by their fathers."

Claire sent Aspen a skeptical look, and the redhead smiled lightly, patting Claire's back.

"You haven't heard much about my dad, have you?"

Claire looked over, surprised, and shook her head. "No…?"

Aspen sighed. "He's a Muggle, writes fantasy series about magical worlds… Thing is, he's not actually a Muggle. He's just so bad at magic, and has no memory of magic at all, that St. Mungo's decided to release and rehabilitate him."

"The hospital?"

Aspen nodded as they turned a corner, her hands in her pockets. "Gilderoy Lockhart… He used to be famous for his daring adventures. They've gotten rid of all his books now, after he was exposed as a fraud and a coward. As it turned out, the only thing he was very good at was memory charms. He would watch a succcessful wizard do some great feat, and then obliviate that wizard's memory and take credit for it. It was actually Professor Potter that found him out. Dad tried to obliviate Potter, and the spell backfired."

"Oh, my…"

"Exactly. He spent seven years in St. Mungo's, and they decided he wasn't a danger. Let him out as a Muggle and kept an eye on him. Now he writes books about magic, which he loves. He was thrilled to find out I'm a witch- no idea about his past."

Claire took a deep breath. They were in the frosty archway that housed the front doors, standing facing the snowy front lawn, speckled in gathering starlight.

"I suppose you're right," Claire said, breath puffing out in a cloud. "If the bravest girl I know can have all that for her father, then I can't let my dad's shortcomings stop me. It's just… It's a shock, y'know?"

"I know," Aspen said, smiling gently. "I didn't know about my dad until third year, when Teddy told me, just to make sure I knew and wouldn't find out in some awful way."

"Is there any good way to find out something like that?"

Aspen met Claire's blue eyes. "You'd be surprised how much easier it is coming from a friend than a bully."

Claire smiled. "Actually, I'd believe that. Anyway… Thank you for talking to me. It's been a wild year, hasn't it?"

"Oh, definitely."

"You're already planning next semester's pranks, aren't you?"

"Absolutely. Do we still have our pact that you don't say anything?"

Claire snorted. "I'm ignorant, alright? I don't even- what's a prank? Mischief? Never heard of it. Who's Aspen Lockhart?"

Aspen grinned. "Oh, hush. Let's go get dinner, shall we? I'm starving after pummeling Levi Scoundrel's pride."

Claire laughed. "That was fun to watch, even if I was down."

They started back down the hall.

"Hey, so, what's the deal with you and James?"

Aspen kept her eyes ahead. "What do you mean?"

"Aren't you going to date him? If you don't, I think Jazz might."

"What makes you say that?"

"Why do you think she stopped being friendly to you?"

"Ah, there it is- the final piece to click into place."

Claire chuckled lightly. "The world makes sense again?"

Aspen smiled. "Not entirely- but enough. Just enough that I can start planning next term's adventure."

A/N: The final chapter! Next Tuesday will be an epilogue, but so far, this is the end of the story! Thank you for the reviews & I hope you all enjoyed! ^^