The entire school had been in chaos most of the day, especially since the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws watched the battles, and they snuck out of their dormitories to tell their friends in other houses that it was over. After the death eaters that were convicted had been taken to the ministry to stand trial on another date, everyone in the school was invited to the Great Hall to hear Harry's explanation of things. Which of course sparked an argument.
"What do you mean I promised an explanation?" Harry asked Ginny.
"I promised them one, and I have no idea what's going on, so you're explaining everything." Ginny said.
"That doesn't even make sense."
"You're just saying that because you don't like talking in front of large groups."
"What are you on? I have no trouble talking in front of groups. I just don't want to spend some three days explaining everything to everyone."
"Pretend it's a story, just tell them your life story. No one knows anything about you anyways. They've always wondered."
"So now I'm telling them my life story?"
"Tell it in third person if it helps."
"Talking in third person makes you sound like you have a mental disorder."
"Since when have you cared what people think about you?"
"Good point." Harry said then pointed at Draco, Ron, Hermione and Vaughn, "Come on,"
"How did we get dragged into this?" Vaughn argued, but followed anyway.
"Because I got dragged into this, and I'm going to spread the misery." Harry said going to the Head Table that had remained empty throughout the day. The room was an amazing mix of people actually. At the usual Hufflepuff table, the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins were talking, and the Ravenclaws were hosting the Gryffindors as well. The Staff took up the Slytherin table, and the Order took up the Gryffindor table. Finally, houses didn't really matter anymore. Of course, Harry would never get used to Sirius and Severus getting along. It was something akin to bird being friends with a bird, it was unnatural.
Everyone stopped talking after a minute and started looking on the five at the head table with interest. Harry sighed realizing that he would have to start this torture eventually, "Well, I know that many of you have been involved with the final battle and want to know why the hell what happened happened, but you're going to have to wait a while. Some things I decided to do were… unusual at best, and that's because my upbringing were unusual. Last year before Dumbledore died he informed me that no one ever knew that I wasn't being brought up by my relatives until I went to Hogwarts. I'm going to tell you what my life was before Hogwarts before telling you about this, and I apologize in advance for rambling on. I'll try to make this interesting."
Harry took a deep breath and began, "I've always been told that my parents were the best parents that ever lived. I wouldn't know that, I was barely a year old when they died. When they died, I could have been taken in by my godfather, or my father's best friend, but no, it was decided that I was to live my magiphobic relatives. Until I was three, I was just neglected, but then I was starved, beaten, and molested repetitively until I couldn't take it anymore. I ran away when I was about eight years old and went to London. After about two weeks or something I was half dead, severely sick and stuck in a storm. I don't specifically remember what happened, but I remember trying to get away from someone touching me and then being warm for the first time in years."
"When I woke up I found myself with five other people, they called themselves Stalker, Lulu, Pyg, Sable and Ferret, and the oldest was nearly seventeen. We were all orphans that had had tragic lives and didn't want to live in an orphanage for different reasons, fear of authorities, fear of being returned to relatives, fear of being taken from their sibling. Either way, they took me in and for the next two years I lived on the streets with those five as my family. I was educated far more than I would have in any school, I was taught to fight, I was taught to use weapons and I was taught to trust again. When I was almost eleven we were caught and taken to an orphanage and split up. I was adopted by Remus Lupin after only one day."
"I was depressed, I didn't talk, I didn't eat, I flinched every time he said anything because I was afraid that he would turn out to be like my relatives. He never pushed anything onto me, just sat and talked even though he doubted I was listening, but I soaked in everything he said. When I went to Hogwarts, I guess I scared people because I refused to trust the adults there. I refused to trust them because they didn't trust me. Dumbledore was especially bothered by this fact, he was so used to blind trust that when I doubted him as Voldemort had it scared him. And for the sake of cheese, it's the name of a dead guy, why the hell are you flinching?" Wolf said rolling his eyes before continuing.
"I became friends with Hermione and Ron because they were kids that didn't expect me to be more than just a kid. They were one of the few people who never thought of me as the-boy-who-lived. We banded together to save the sorcerer's stone that year, and that's when I first confronted Voldemort, if you're going to flinch every time I say his name you're going to find this to be a very long explanation." Wolf said, "That summer I was reunited with my orphan friends and found that Vaughn was a witch. That year at school I was up against a basilisk that was being controlled by Voldemort's (flinching) diary that was controlling two of my close friends Vaughn and Ginny. Keep the diary in mind, it's important later."
"Third year I faced dementors, learned how to repel them and taught my friends to do so as well. At the end of that year my godfather was proved innocent, Peter was on the loose, and I had thought I had seen Voldemort (twitching) for the last time. Unfortunately, at the end of the triwizard tournament I was illegally entered in by a death eater, Voldemort (wincing) was brought back to full power, I was somehow able to save both Cedric and my life through some lucky turn of events." Wolf shook his head, "The summer brought to dementors to downtown London to attack me and the person I've always considered to be an older sister. And I was nearly expelled for saving our lives because the ministry thought I was clinically insane for thinking Voldemort (shuddering) was alive. Of course, most people thought that wasn't half as bothersome as the fact that I wouldn't talk to my godfather. Or acknowledge his existence. At the time, all I saw him as was another adult that could potentially hurt me."
"Fifth year I was introduced to Voldemort (quivering) being able to break in my mind, and I couldn't stand having my mind invaded by an adult. At the time it didn't really matter that it was the darkest wizard known to man trying to get in my head in order to kill me. I immediately found someone to teach me occlumency. Before that happened though, I saw myself in the Department of Mysteries trying to save someone, who turned out to be Remus Lupin who wasn't even there. After that fight, Remus was dead and because of… bizarre circumstances, I was under the belief that I had no reason to live. So I set out to kill myself, or more accurately, get myself killed."
"I used my mental connection with Voldemort (flinching) to find Voldemort, became an animagus to escape Grimauld Place, and ran away. When I got to Voldemort (twitching) I pretty much asked him to kill me, and he sent the killing curse at me. Then I was convinced in this limbo between life and death that I did in fact have something to live for and that I got to go back to life because a piece of soul caught inside me was killed, not me. And this is because I was so willingly accepting death. It was only later that I realized that it had to have been Voldemort's (wincing) soul that had saved me. I did some research that summer and found out that I had been a horcrux since I was a year old."
"A horcrux being a piece of soul ripped from the whole of the soul by the killing of innocent people and then placed in an object or person. There are very few things that can destroy them, and as long as one horcrux remains, the owner of the soul cannot be killed." Hermione explained.
"The first horcrux was the diary, it was the piece of his soul that was possessing me and Ginny. Wo- Harry destroyed that with basilisk blood." Vaughn added.
Wolf nodded slightly in thanks for them allowing him a short break, "We did research that summer and found out all we could on horcruxes. Compared with Voldemort's (shuddering) general way of thinking, it was decided that he had broken his soul into seven pieces, seven because it's the most magically powerful number. Only it was in eight pieces because he wouldn't have been trying to kill me if I was the key to his immortality. Dumbledore had come to the same conclusion and had destroyed a third horcrux, Voldemort's (several people twitched) grandfather's ring, his connection to a pureblood. But there was something else going on at the same time."
"Through the first year of the SET, I was secretly a member and I was their spy in the Inquisitorial Squad." Draco spoke up, "Before joining I had a few friends, but these four along with Neville, Luna and, of course, Ginny became my best friends. That summer Voldemort (a few people flinched) asked, well ordered actually, that I kill Harry. The two of us talked and realized that at the end of this both of us would be dead, and neither of us wanted that. So we planned and practiced all year to fake our deaths and make sure no one interfered with our fight."
"I personally have never forgiven myself for the actual deaths that day." Wolf said quietly before speaking loudly again, "We ran to London, where Vaughn would likely commit suicide, we stopped her, collected Hermione and Ron and went searching for the remaining horcruxes. There was the locket of Slytherin that we found easily, near Christmas we broke into Gringotts and stole the Cup of Hufflepuff and a blind dragon, while the rest of our group accidentally found the diadem of Ravenclaw and then Draco and myself pretended to be death eaters in order to give them an escape route without revealing that we were alive and lose the element of surprise. We apologize for that."
"But… Who crucioed Ron?" One of the twins, Gred perhaps, asked.
"Well, I had to make it look realistic." Wolf said in defense of himself, "After that point you may have noticed that Voldemort (only about five people shuddered this time, because after hearing one time after another they grew used to it) started to act strangely. That's because I used legilimency to make it so he could see me as a ghost, and no one else could. I pretty much gave a slight push and he jumped off the deep end, that way I would have to fight an enemy that couldn't reason. That's why he was crazy enough to ask Ginny to join him. Among other things. Like killing his own followers, forgetting to protect Nagini, crying yesterday, blowing up a toaster that was apparently plotting against him, and wanting to be a sparkly Dark Lord. I… I can't even describe to you how messed up that guy was. And that's the story of my life. Any questions?"
From the group from the ministry that had arrived midway through the whole explanation, one old man ho looked like he was about a decade past when he should have died spoke up, "When will you be taking over as minister?"
Harry blanched for a few seconds, then looked around to see if there was anyone else he could possibly mean. The old man just confirmed that he did mean Harry. Harry shook his head, "What the hell makes you think I would make a good minister?"
"You saved the world." The old man replied.
"I also broke the law. Repeatedly. I'm not a good influence on people, I just killed a man in front of young impressionable children and don't feel guilty about it. If I was minister I would probably end up killing everyone. Or at least the stupid people." Harry pointed out, "You don't want me as minister."
The old man thought for a moment, "True, you don't seem to be one to have much patience. Though I will ask you to appoint the next minister."
Harry just stared at him for a moment as he thought. His eyes scanned over the order, one of them. They were older, had more experience, patience, and knew more about the world and knew what should be done to fix problems. His eyes rested for half a second on his choice and considered the man's reaction with his eyes closed. He smiled as he opened his eyes, "I would like appoint Sirius Black."
Sirius froze and blinked a few times as if to question whether he had heard it correctly. The old man pursed his lips, "You expect me to accept a criminal as our minister?"
"He's less of a criminal than I am, he's never even killed a man."
"He was convicted!"
"Not really, to be a true convict he would have had to not only do the crime, but have a trial. Which he didn't. He'd be a great minister." He then looked to Sirius, "You are okay with this, right?"
Sirius nodded, finally smiling when he realized his godson was showing support of him.
The old man's shoulders fell, "If you say so, we will trust you judgement.
Tempus praeter
"Sable!" Vuaghn said as she ran towards the man who hugged her back without a second thought. She was back, did anything else matter.
Wolf being back.
He felt Wolf hug him from the side as well. From what he'd heard the war had ended nine days ago, it had taken these two that long to get away from that mess. He'd opened the door and quickly been embraced. He couldn't be happier. They finally pulled away from each other and he got a good look at them. Vaughn had recently cut her hair, it was only long enough to barely touch her shoulders and all the blue was gone from it. She definitely had a more mature nature. She also had four knives tucked into her belt. That was one of the things he was proudest of.
Wolf looked way older than he should have. He had dark skin under his eyes from days of doing the paperwork the end of the war had elicited, and he had a slight stubble and a tired look in his eyes. Sable was having a hard time with the fact that he was eight years older than Wolf and looked ten years younger than Wolf. Wolf also had no sign of a wand, but had his pocket knife in his front pocket, which could be seen by the odd bulge. When asked, Vaughn said something about telling them all at once with a peculiar look in her eyes.
"Vaughn," Lynn said from the back of the room.
"Wow, so, Stalker's here too?" Vaughn asked as she walked to hug her sister.
"No, he ran off with another girl." Lynn said quietly, she received a squeeze from his sister.
"Where exactly is he?" Wolf asked, accompanied with the familiar sound of his pocket knife opening. They all laughed, Lynn telling him that if she knew Sable had already offered to take care of it.
"Come on guys, Ferret wants to see you." Sable said smirking as he led them to the living room, that instead of one occupant, it had two.
"Oh, she's so cute!" Vuaghn said and was pulled by some force to the almost two year old toddler on the floor trying to bite off a teddy bear's ear. The toddler had a bright pink bow tied in the black hair adorning it's head.
"Ferret, why do you keep putting the ribbon on Jet's head?"
"Because it's cute, Sable."
"He's a guy though, he shouldn't be wearing pink. It's girly!"
"What about the pink shirt you wear?"
"I'm man enough to still look masculine wearing it. He's almost two, a pink bow makes people assume he's a girl."
"Don't be silly, he'll be fine."
"Next you'll be getting him to play with dolls.
"What's the difference between dolls and action figures?"
"One's for boys, the other's for girls."
"And you think I'm being irrational? Fine, no dolls. What about make up?"
"Absolutely not." Sable said, even though he knew she was just trying to get on his nerves. They kissed quickly before realizing that Wolf seemed to want a question answered.
"Sable, you think of Vaughn as your daughter, right?" Wolf asked.
Sable gave him a strange look, "Pretty much, just like I think you as a brother. Why do you ask?"
"Well, the question I have is one you'd generally ask a father, so since you're as close as I can get, I'll ask you." Wolf looked nervous for half a second, "Can I have your blessing to marry Vaughn?"
Sable just looked at him, then glanced at Vaughn, who was presently pretending that she couldn't hear them. Sable laughed, "You two were meant for each other, you had my blessing from the second you found each other seven years ago."
"Thanks." Wolf said before kneeling at Vaughn's side and pulling three red roses from his coat, where they had miraculously stayed pretty. He got her attention and she looked at the roses, awestruck. He smiled and quietly said, "On a hot summer night, would you offer your throat to the Wolf with the red roses?"
Vaughn smiled, "Y-yes, what kind of idiot do you take me for?"
"Only thought it was polite to ask, even if the answer was obvious." Wolf said, slipping a silver ring on her left ring finger. She just stared at it for a moment and then attacked him.
With a hug, not her knife. That would be wrong.
"It's even better than it was in my vision."
"Vaughn… Can't… breathe…" Wolf chocked before letting go.
"I had a feeling this is what you meant by leaving the wizarding world for a while." Vaughn said, "From one journey to another."
"From Cub to Wolf, and now Wolf to dad." Sable said.
-
(A/N: Nooo! That's the end. Minus a roughly five hundred word epilogue. If you want a sequel, please review and say so. Also, without going back and counting or using the 'find word' thing, how many times is Voldemort said in this. Closest guess gets a virtual cookie!)
