Chapter Thirty Seven After Voldemort

Harry made his way to Barkaxe's office when he and Ted got back to Gringotts. "Did anything happen to Pettigrew and Crouch while we were gone?" he asked.

"As a matter of fact something happened to them while you were still here, but we didn't find out about it until after you left the bank. A piece of their right arm exploded and I believe something similar happened all over Britain as well." Said Barkaxe.

"Are they still alive?" asked Harry.

"Of course, Mr. Potter. Nobody dies in Gringotts unless we wish them to." Barkaxe said, showing a toothy grin.

Harry was reminded that it was a bad idea to piss off a goblin. "Where are my friends?" He asked.

"They are watching over your prisoners. Would you like me to take you to them?" asked Barkaxe.

"Yeah, that would be good." Said Harry, and then he and Ted followed Barkaxe to another room that had Sirius, Remus, Dora and Andromeda watching over the unconscious bodies of Pettigrew and Crouch, both of which had a bandage wrapped around their arm.

Sirius was the first to notice the newcomers; Remus and Dora were paying more attention to each other than their surroundings. Sirius said, "Hey pup, did everything go well? Is he really gone?"

A smile broke over Harry's face and he said, "Tom Riddle Jr. is dead!"

Everybody had hoped that Voldemort was gone for good, and hearing Harry's statement made them all let out a 'good' or 'yes' or something similar. They then congratulated Harry and Andromeda asked, "And what about them?" pointing to the unconscious Death Eaters.

I was able to get the Unspeakable to join you and Nym… Tonks" Harry corrected himself at her glare. "in bringing in the prisoners. He agreed to say that he asked for your help in capturing them because of your ability. Hopefully it won't cause you too many problems in the Auror department."

"Why should she get in trouble? She's bringing in two Death Eaters, both thought to be dead. She's a hero." Sirius said with a smirk at Nymphadora.

"Andromeda said, "You know that the Ministry doesn't reward good work."

"Hopefully it will get better with Bones as the Minister." Said Nymphadora.

"We'll see." Answered Andromeda.

"Yeah, we can hope. Anyway, the Unspeakable has agreed to meet you at five this evening to bring in the prisoners. I had him agree to bring them in through the Ministry atrium so that everyone can see them, I don't want the Ministry to hide their capture from the public. Ted, you should have several reporters and photographers at the Ministry at that time."

"I will." Answered Ted.

"Good. The Unspeakable gave me a Portkey to another location that he will meet you at. I didn't think that you guys should arrive from Gringotts." Harry said and looked over at Barkaxe who gave him a head nod. "I'll join you to introduce you two, then the both of you will Portkey to the Ministry. The Unspeakable said he had a Portkey that will bypass the wards in the Ministry atrium."

"OK." said Nymphadora.

"I'll come with you to the meeting too." Said Remus.

"Fine by me. We still have a few hours until the meeting and I'm starved. Who wants to join me for something to eat?" asked Harry.

I'll join you." Said Remus.

"I should get to the Prophet and get them ready." Said Ted.

Andromeda said. "I gave the prisoners a dose of Draught of Living Death, and I should stay and watch over them."

"I'll stay with them too. That way I can honestly say that they were always in my custody." Said Nymphadora.

"l'll bring you both something back to eat. What do you want?" said Remus

"Some sandwiches will be fine." Said Andromeda and Nymphadora agreed.

"In that case, Sirius, why don't we go back to the chamber and have lunch together?" said Harry.

"I don't mind joining you and Remus in Diagon Alley. I have my glamour necklace." Said Sirius.

"I don't want to take any chances now that you are so close to your freedom, besides I want to see Luna… OH MY GOD! I left Luna in the chamber. Come on, we have to go." Harry said and grabbed Sirius and dragged him out of the room to the sound of laughter.

The return Portkey dropped Harry and Sirius in the chamber to the sight of Luna at a table set for three. All of Harry favorite foods were on the table and Luna said, "Congratulations!"

"I'm so sorry for leaving you down here." Harry got out, not noticing the table or the food on it, he only had eyes for Luna. "Please forgive me?"

Sirius sat down and started to eat and Luna said, "Oh Harry, I could have gotten Ssssliter to let me out but I wanted to be here when you got back. I see the Nargles have left you, it looks like the necklace worked."

Harry didn't know how to respond to that so he did the next best thing, he came forward and gave Luna a passionate kiss. After a few minutes, Sirius cleared his throat and said, "You're spoiling my appetite. Come on and eat something already."

At four thirty, Harry arrived back at Gringotts with a smile on his face. He was led to the room that the prisoners were being kept in. When he got there, he saw Swiftdeath waiting for him. "Congratulations Mr. Potter. I heard that you confirmed that Voldemort is indeed dead." Said Swiftdeath.

"Thank you Swiftdeath, and thank you for all your help." Said Harry back.

"It was my job, but you're welcome." Replied Swiftdeath.

"Did you find anything at Riddle manor?" asked Harry.

"There wasn't too much at the manor. There were a few ancient ritual books along with several magical supplies. From the supplies that were found, we believe that Voldemort was preparing a ritual to create a more permanent body. It also looked like one of the ingredients for the ritual was blood of the enemy. We believe that your entrance into the Tri Wizard Tournament was part of a plot to get your blood. It was a stupid plan and just goes to show how far gone Voldemort was. One Horcrux was terrible, seven was just folly." Answered Swiftdeath.

"Is there anything that I have to be worried about"? asked Harry.

"There are always things that you have to be worried about, but not from Voldemort's plot. Other than the last task." Said Swiftdeath.

Harry thought that Swiftdeath was in a good mood. That was the closest thing to a joke that the goblin had ever said to him. "Yeah, there is that. I know that the contract that I signed said that I would get whatever was found, minus Gringotts fifteen percent, but why don't you keep it all, as a thank you. Make sure that Josh gets his share." Said Harry.

"Thank you Mr. Potter. The tomes and ingredients are very valuable."

"Harry turned to Remus, Andromeda and Nymphadora who were giving him and Swiftdeath as much privacy as they could. He asked, "It's almost time to go. What do we have to do to wake them up?"

Andromeda answered, "I have already given Nymphadora the antidote. Give it to them and five minutes later they will wake up. You can stun them again then if you need to."

Nymphadora glared at her mother when she used her name but didn't comment, she was her mother after all. She said, "I think that we should leave them under the whole time, but I'll ask the Unspeakable what he wants to do."

"Good idea." Said Harry. Turning back to Swiftdeath, he asked, "What happened to the snake Horcrux's body?"

"As far as I know it has been moved to your vault, as a trophy. Just like the other Horcrux's." said Swiftdeath.

"Oh, good. I promised the Unspeakable's one of the Horcrux's and don't want to give up any of the founders items." To himself, Harry thought, 'I also don't want to give up the ring. I feel like I should keep it.'

Before five, Swiftdeath called several goblin guards to escort the prisoners to the Portkey room. No wizard could do magic in Gringotts without permission, and Remus, Nymphadora and Andromeda hadn't been given permission so the goblin guards were required to move the unconscious prisoners. At five the Portkey activated and dropped Harry, Remus, Nymphadora, Andromeda, along with the prisoners in an empty grassy field. The Unspeakable was there waiting for them and examined the prisoners before acknowledging Harry or the others. "Draught of Living Death?" he asked.

Andromeda answered, "Yes, and my daughter has the antidote." Nymphadora showed the two vials in her hands.

The Unspeakable just turned to Harry and said, "And the item we discussed?"

"I will have it delivered as soon as the prisoners are in custody. It was Voldemort's last one, and the one most recently destroyed." Answered Harry.

"That is acceptable." Spoke the Unspeakable. "We should be off. Don't answer any questions and only say that I approached you and that you are sworn to secrecy." The last he said to Nymphadora. She just nodded and the Unspeakable said, "Good." He then pulled out a piece of rope and wrapped it around the prisoners and had Nymphadora grab on. He said "Activate!" and they were gone.

Remus just said, "Nice guy."

The next mornings' Daily Prophet was thicker than Harry had ever seen. Harry had risked having breakfast in the Great Hall because he wanted to see the student's reaction, and he wanted to see his friends. He had only seen Luna the other day and left his mirror in the chamber so he wouldn't get disturbed. Last night he mirror called everyone and apologized for not talking for them earlier, and to say that he would meet them for breakfast. Harry had also arranged to have a copy of the Prophet delivered to every student and teacher, even the other visiting schools. He had noticed that Karkaroff was missing and when he asked he was told that his arm exploded yesterday and that he was in the hospital wing. The tale was exaggerated and it sounded like Karkaroff's whole arm was missing but Harry knew that only a small piece of flesh had been removed. It was Harry's fault for asking the twins what happened. Harry had a little smile at the thought that Snape would also be missing a chunk of his arm. Dumbledore was also missing, but Harry knew that he was at the Ministry.

There were many 'Oh my god's' and yelps of fright or excitement when the papers had been opened. Harry opened his copy and on the cover was a picture of an Unspeakable and Nymphadora levitating an easily identifiable Peter Pettigrew and Barty Crouch Jr. through the Ministry atrium. The title proclaimed, 'BACK FROM THE DEAD!' On the bottom of the page there was a smaller picture of a wizard on a stretcher with his arm bandaged. The smaller title proclaimed, 'MYSTERIUOS AFFLICTION CAUSES ARMS TO EXPLODE!'

Harry had talked to Ted the night before and knew that the Prophet was going to say, so he just looked around to see how everyone was taking the news. All his friends had their heads buried in the paper and so did most of the hall. Many of the younger years just didn't care and by looking around, Harry also saw that Ron was ignoring the paper and focusing on his food.

Hermione was the first to finish reading the paper and turned to Harry and asked. "Isn't it amazing Harry? Peter is in custody and Sirius can now get his trial!"

Yeah, amazing." Responded Harry.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at Harry's tone of voice and asked. "Did you know that he was caught before it was in the paper?"

Harry sighed and said, "Yeah, I did. Now before you ask anything else, let's get everyone together and talk somewhere a little more private."

Hermione huffed but agreed. The twins were the next to finish and also agreed to wait until they had some privacy. Neville was the last to finish and when he raised his head he was muttering, "They're dead." It took a moment for Harry to realize that he was referring to Belatrix and the Lestrange's. One of the articles listed all the prisoners in Azkaban that had died because they didn't receive treatment for their injuries. Harry was able to get Neville's attention and they all left the Great Hall together.

They made their way to Harry suite and Luna was there waiting for them. Of course Hermione was the first to speak. "OK Harry, what do you know?"

"Alot of things. I know that the sky is blue and that water is wet. You're going to have to be more specific." Harry said with a smirk.

The twins laughed and the corner of Neville's lips curled up. Hermione on the other hand found nothing funny in Harry's remarks. "You know what I mean, about what's in the paper!" she said.

Calm down Mione. OK, I do know about what's in the paper because… I did it." Harry said while looking at anything other than his friends. He was glad that he could finally tell them all of what he had been doing the whole year, now that Voldemort had been defeated.

"WHAT!" they all shouted, and then all started to ask Harry questions over each other so that Harry couldn't understand anything they were asking. Even the twins were asking questions at the same time, forgoing their usual twin speak. Luna was just quietly humming to herself.

"QUIET!" Harry yelled. "I will tell you everything, but you have to calm down and let me talk." Everyone quieted down but Harry could tell that Hermione was bursting to ask a question. "OK, first of all I need to apologize to all of you."

"Why?" asked Neville, beating Hermione to the punch.

"Because, I had to keep some secret's from you. It's not that I didn't trust you guys, it was just that I needed to keep the group that knew small and there was nothing that any of you could do to help." Harry said, looking at their hurt expressions. "There are some pretty messed up things and you were better off not knowing some of them. If you want I can tell you all now but some of it is not pretty."

"Is it about Vol, Voldemort?" asked Neville.

Harry was proud of Neville for saying the name and he responded, "Yes. Almost everything that happened this year was because of him, but you don't have to worry anymore. Yesterday I killed him, for the last time."

Harry was expecting another outburst, but was met with stunned silence. Hermione was the first to recover and said, "Yesterday? Is that what caused all those arms to explode? Were they all Death Eaters?"

"You really are the brightest witch of your age, Yup."replied Harry.

Hermione continued, "And you killed Voldemort? Is that when Pettigrew and Crouch were captured?"

Again, yup."said Harry.

Hermione launched herself at Harry and engulfed him in a bone crushing hug. "You stupid, stupid, brave, stupid man." She had tears in her eyes and continued. "I would have helped you if you asked. Why didn't you let me help?"

Harry looked over to Luna, who just smiled at him, and then back down at Hermione and answered, "It was too dangerous and there was nothing you could do."

Hermione replied, "I don't care about that."

"But I do. Besides it involved a lot of sneaking out of Hogwarts and performing magic. You would have been caught by the Ministry right away because you're still under age."Harry said.

Hermione didn't like it but accepted his answer. She let go of Harry and moved back towards Neville. Luna took her place in giving Harry a hug. Neville asked, "So you're also responsible for all the Death Eaters that died in Azkaban?"

Harry hung his head and Luna held him a little tighter before he responded. "Yeah, I guess I am. I didn't know that would happen."

"It's OK Harry, I'm not blaming you. In fact I want to thank you." Harry's head snapped up and he had a curious look on his face. Neville continued, "Some of the Death Eaters that died were the ones responsible for what happened to my parents. I would have liked to kill them myself if I could, but them being gone is the next best thing. You also caught the fourth person who was responsible for my parents and I hope he gets the Kiss."

Harry had never seen the expression that was on Neville's face before. It was almost a cruel smirk. 'If anyone else deserved justice it was Neville' thought Harry. "OK Nev, glad to be of service"

The twins spoke up next, "Does this mean"

"That Sirius will"

"Get his"

"Trial?"

"I hope so, but you know about the Ministry. If it can be done wrong, that is how they will do it." Said Harry.

Hermione said, "They can't be that bad."

"They"

"Are."

"You Know"

"How little"

"Our dad"

"Knows about"

"Muggles yet"

"He is"

"in charge"

"of the "

"Department that"

"deals with"

"Muggle things." Said the twins.

Harry was getting a headache and Neville and Hermione looked like they had one too, Luna just looked as serene as ever. Harry said, "OK if you want to know what has been going on this year, I will tell you." Everybody nodded. "OK. It started when I snuck to Gringotts earlier this…"

Harry spent the next few hours explaining everything that happened to him and that he did over the summer and during the year. Everyone laughed and cried during the telling and they all were horrified when he explained what Horcrux's were and that he was one. They asked him many questions and he answered them to the best of his abilities. He didn't mention switching goblets with Susan. At the end Harry agreed to show everyone the Chamber of Secrets. Harry thought that the twins were more excited about seeing Sirius again than the chamber. Harry checked everybody for tracking charms and found one on Hermione. Luckily it was just a tracking charm and not a listening charm. It was on one of her shoes and Harry transferred it to a quill that he would have Dobby sneak onto Ron or Draco later. Hermoine was furious when she found out about the charm and Harry could see the last remaining faith that she had in Dumbledore evaporate.

They entered from Myrtles bathroom and spent the rest of the day in the chamber. As expected, the twins spent most of their time with Sirius and Hermione constantly asked Harry questions that he couldn't answer. Harry did have a laugh when Sssloker, Sssslisssser and Ssssliter suddenly appeared and made Sirius and the twins jump about six feet in the air. Harry introduced the snakes to all his friends and the twins loved them, they recognized fellow pranksters. Hermione and Neville never truly warmed up to them.

As Harry was escorting his fellow Gryffindor's to their dorm, Hermione asked, "What now?"

"Now, I have to complete the third task." Harry answered.