I feel like I say this after every chapter with a big fight scene but…damn this should be fun following up. :)
Chapter Fifty One: Rebuilding
It took a few moments for it to totally sink in to Harry, as his eyes averted to the broken, battered form that was Lord Voldemort. There was no movement and taking a few deep breaths, Harry walked over to the fallen form of enemy. He looked down and sure enough, he had done it. Finally, Voldemort was gone and Harry relaxed as he had done it. He had proven without a shadow of a doubt who the most powerful, the greatest, the strongest, wizard was. The state that Voldemort's remains were had illustrated who that was and Harry smiled, as his head was still buzzing from the over abundance of dark magic. He threw more magic at Voldemort in one sitting than it was recommended.
"Deactivate magical protection barriers," stated Harry finally, as the buzzing in his head had finally cleared. The protective barriers around the chamber where the D.A. had watched the battle between the two great wizards, that kept them in and anyone else out, began to fade. Seconds later, Harry heard footsteps, and he watched with a smile as Ginny rushed him, with a triumphant look on her face. She threw her arms around Harry and kissed him. Harry returned the kiss, it was a true moment of triumph. The one wizard who could stand up to Harry and disrupt their plans had been destroyed.
"Finally, he's gone," breathed Ginny after she broken the kiss but her arms were still around Harry's neck, as they looked in each other's eyes. "You did it Harry…not that there was any doubt in my mind or there should have been but I'd be lying if I tried to say there were not times that I was worried."
"Believe me Ginny, I was too, I was fighting him, I threw everything that I had at him and if that last curse didn't hit, there was nothing else I could do that would put him down," stated Harry as he ran his fingers through Ginny's hair, as they held each other in their arms, smiling. "But there is nothing to worry about now, I've done it, Voldemort's finished and now we can take the step."
"Let's take today off Harry, you deserve a break, and then we can take the next steps tomorrow, you can reveal that Voldemort had been finished off," remarked Ginny as she gave Harry another kiss. "You deserve it Harry, after what happened."
"Yes that would be for the best, I'm not in the mood to deal with anyone today, we can close the bank and stay here for the day, then I can reveal to the world that Voldemort was gone," said Harry. "Although I'd imagine some people will find out sooner or later."
Ginny nodded, but she and Harry moved. She had requested that the D.A. not bother Harry, he looked worn out but he was in a lot better condition than anyone else would have been after a battle with Lord Voldemort. The sun set today on the reign of Lord Voldemort and a new era will begin tomorrow, with a slow rebuilding process.
-
A pair of Ministry officials dropped to the ground, screaming out in agony. Their forearms burned and the dark mark appeared on their arms before it faded completely. They were dazed before they got to their feet.
"The mark it's not there anymore," muttered one of the officials. "What happened to it…"
"I don't know, it's happened before, you weren't a follower of the Dark Lord then," said one of the Ministry officials. "When Potter managed to stumble into a victory against him, they all faded at once. They came back when he returned to power and he'll return again. I just know it."
"What do we do now?" asked one of the Ministry officials in a fearful voice but the older official just shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head.
"I'd prepare for anything if I were you, claim the Imperius, it's worked before, the Ministry will buy it, that is if there is a Ministry anymore," said the official. "After what the Dark Lord did, I doubt the Ministry will be around for much longer. Everyone will be too busy worrying about what they need to do to rebuild, than to worry about the Dark Lord's followers. By the time everything is up and running, they're forget about us. Trust me, after a couple of years, no one really cared about uncovering Death Eaters the last time and that's with a Ministry fully running."
The younger official nodded, but his face looked unsure. He had just been marked weeks ago, because he feared for his life. Now, if the Dark Lord had met his demise, he would have nothing to turn to, accept hope he could fly underneath the radar. He walked into the corridors, as many people stood around. Some of them were whispering, perhaps if they were followers of the Dark Lord who knew he had fallen or those who had been forced to remain at the Ministry of Magic, out of fear of the Dark Lord.
-
Amelia Bones walked through the shadows of a village. It was mostly abandoned but rumors reached her that there was some resistance to Voldemort here. She walked down the path towards a shed. It looked to be the place and she opened it up, an opening in the floor lead to an underground tunnel that she climbed down, where a mish mash group of witches and wizards, from just barely out of Hogwarts to over a hundred years hold, sat around.
"The Minister of Magic graces us with her presence," said one of the wizards with a slightly sarcastic look on his face. "Too bad it was too late to do anything."
"You lost the Ministry and you decide to come here, you lost Gringotts," stated a young witch.
"I find it rather sad that an underage wizard is the only hope for the Ministry," remarked an old wizard.
"He just turned seventeen," offered one of the members of the resistance, a look on his face.
"Doesn't matter, the Ministry might have avoided this problem if they just executed the bastards, instead of throwing them into Azkaban," said an older man in a gruff voice. "Not that I trust that Potter kid much myself, he was close to Fudge early on and to Dumbledore as well, who didn't do us any good with his little games."
"And just who do you think you are to pass judgment," said Amelia. "We are all against Lord Voldemort…on the same time, perhaps…"
"There is no perhaps about it, we are the true victims, not your Ministry, not Dumbledore's people, not Potter," stated one of the members of the resistance. "One thing is for certain, Lord Voldemort was created by the continued inaction of the Ministry. Dumbledore had his own agenda. At one point, we thought he might be the answer to our problems but apparently we were wrong on that account. Dumbledore could not be trusted and neither could his little protégé. It is a shame, he did have potential as a wizard, but he was corrupted by Dumbledore's influence. A real shame indeed."
"Now, I'm certain that you wish to help our attempts at resistance, but be warned, we don't play by the restricted rules the Ministry has laid down," stated another member of the resistance gruffly. "If we find some Death Eaters, they get struck down accordingly. We don't put them on a trial to throw them into a revolving trial."
"I see," said Amelia, unsure of what to say. Some of the members of this resistance force regarded the Ministry as a whole with distrust and given what she had to deal with during her time as Minister, she could not say that she really blamed them. Still, as she searched for the right words to gain their trust, a figure stumbled down a pathway. There appeared to be more than one path to headquarters but the members of the resistance held their wands, all looking uncertain before they relaxed.
"News from the Ministry, some of the officials have scrambled around, muttering, I managed to figure out what was going on, the Death Eaters in the Ministry, their marks are fading it seems, they are gone," said the Ministry spy as he looked at them.
"Happened before, how can we be sure that You-Know-Who is dead," said one of the resistance members calmly.
"Well, move in, we have word of where some of them have been known to stay, attack that and then we'll know for sure," said a gruff resistance member. "I trust there won't be any problems with that."
Right there, he looked at Amelia who looked back at them.
"I'm not the Minister as of right this moment, there is no Ministry to speak of if the rumors you brought back of his defeat are true," said Amelia calmly as the resistance members exchanged looks before they grudgingly nodded in agreement. Even if she was still the Ministry, it was highly unlikely she would be able to keep this group under control for long. They looked like the type that would do was they wished, despite the consequences. All she could do was have they locked up and that had proven to not work on more occasions than she could remembered.
"Right, let us leave then," said one of the resistance members before he turned to Amelia. "If you must, stay here, you should be protected or as protected as we are in this world."
Amelia just responded with a nod, as she held her wand steady as they departed, one by one, to this supposed Death Eater stronghold. A worn wireless sat in the corner and she tuned it in. It was mostly dead air but there was always a chance that there would be some late breaking news. If Voldemort was gone for good, it would come out sooner or later. In the Wizarding World, people had the tendency of knowing such things.
-
"Yesterday, you saw me defeat Lord Voldemort, using tactics that I hope you never have to use and by methods contrary to what I teach you in the Defense Association," said Harry. "The reasons for this is simple, I wanted no hallow victory over Voldemort; I wanted a decisive victory in a duel. Could I have set some sort of trap for him and then leveled him with a few powerful spells as he struggled to break free? Yes. Could I have had you all attack him simultaneously and finish off the scraps? Absolutely. Could I have beat his brains him with a tire iron? Yes, I could have done that as well, but anyone could have done those things. The point I wanted to prove was that not only could I defeat Voldemort but that I'm better than Voldemort."
"The point Harry is trying to make is, he can do many things that the normal person can't, it astonishes me even and I know him better than anyone else," commented Ginny. "Do not duel like Harry under any circumstances, no matter how talented you are, no matter how much improvement each and every one of you have made, and believe me you have all done well. Each of you has shown improvement between the moment you joined up with the Defense Association and now. That improvement has turned into real talent…"
"Yet, that talent will never surpass Harry's," inputted Luna. "Nothing wrong with that, just stating a fact. There will never be another Harry and I would not advise trying. It could be hazardous on your sanity."
"Besides there is nothing wrong with not being as good as Harry, because it still gives you room to be powerful in your own right," said Neville.
"In the D.A., we taught something that works for most people and as you've seen, it works well for the group and in most cases, Harry does stick with that," said Susan.
"However, what works for Harry, really works for Harry and hardly anyone else," concluded Daphne as Harry looked to the Defense Association, before he nodded.
"This is just one of many things that must be done, before the Wizarding World is changed for the best and it is closer to reality than before with my victory over Voldemort today," said Harry with a deep breath. "However, still work to be done, now that the country is in shambles, the government is in disarray, and people don't even have access to their gold. The power of the Wizarding World is in our hands and we can reshape it into something that will prevent the mistakes of the old world. Not easy, but it has to be done, by any means necessary, as everything is reshaped. There will be those who will be against what we're doing for many reasons, but that can't stop us. Those people will be dealt with accordingly. They won't be allowed to stand in our way and the way of the changes. We will lead this world into a bright new future."
The D.A. cheered as Ginny craned her neck looking towards the door, as footsteps were heard before she began to speak.
"If I'm not mistaken, Fred and George are back from the outside from the mission you sent them on," said Ginny and certain enough, right on schedule, the twins walked into the room, with tired looks on their faces.
"What do you have to report?" asked Harry.
"All sorts of rumors are flying through the air, as you expected," said George. "Whoever remained of Riddle's followers were informed that their master died when their dark marks faded."
"Everyone else has put two and two together, but no one is doing anything right now, as no one knows anything for sure," added Fred. "Outside of a few riots, targeting pureblood estates of known Death Eaters, it has been pretty quiet on all fronts. There has not been an attack since right before you defeated Voldemort."
"Everyone's remaining quiet in other words, waiting and seeing what's going to happen," concluded George. "They won't act on anything yet other than select few."
"Typical," responded Harry as he shook his head. The Wizarding World could not act in any way, without someone in a position of power telling them what to think and how to act. With the Ministry in shambles and Voldemort and Dumbledore dead, no one knew what to do. It was quite fortunate that Harry was in the perfect position to take charge, with help of the D.A., and give the confused masses the direction they need. "It is time to squash all the rumors, to inform everyone what happened."
"Time to restore order then Harry?" asked Lily with a smile, as everything was going exactly how Harry and Ginny planned it. It just showed that they planned everything to the detail so well, that if anything went wrong, it could be turned into an advantage.
"First we need to get word out somehow, that I'm going to have a press conference, talking about everything that happened, where everything will be revealed," said Harry as he took a breath. "I will drop some news of things I plan on doing so we can see where everyone's loyalties truly lie in this entire mess. Than anyone who is against us…well I regret the necessity of what has to be done but there is little can be done to correct the misconceptions of the ignorant."
"We'll do everything we can to get the word out then, to make sure as many people know," offered Neville as several members of the D.A. got to their feet, to volunteer and Harry turned to them, with a deep breath.
"Tell them to be here at noon tomorrow, where I will confirm all the rumors about what has happened with Voldemort and what I hope to do to help the magical people in this country build the civilization that they should," remarked Harry and they nodded, before the group prepared to make plans for the next stage.
-
Minerva McGonagall sat outside the windows of Hogwarts, in thought. Normally she would be getting ready for another year at Hogwarts, but would there even be a Hogwarts? All of the letters to the new students had been sent out before the entire mess with Gringotts went down but the fact remained that now Hogwarts lacked the funds to sufficiently help those students who did not have the means to afford an education at Hogwarts. The world had fallen to pieces. Many would pinpoint the cause to be when Dumbledore died but Minerva found herself disagreeing with that fact. She could go further back to that entire mess involving the Goblet of Fire as being the day everything went wrong. The entire world was turned on its ear based on many scandals coming from that day and the events had directly lead to Voldemort returning to power. It also lead to Harry directly taking a more active role in everything and his changes would be felt for sometime.
"Hello, Alastor," said Minerva calmly at the clunking of the leg she heard behind her and Moody stood, his magical eye whizzing around.
"This damn leg just gets worse and worse every time, it's like an advanced warning, I can't sneak up on anyone anymore and catch them by surprise," grumbled Moody. "The rumors, I trust you have heard them…"
"No, I've been busy worrying about what had to be done about Hogwarts," responded Minerva crisply and Alastor responded with a nod, before he regarded her calmly, taking a deep breath.
"They've said that Voldemort might have met his end last night, again," said Moody and judging by the look on his face, it was obvious that he was extremely skeptical about the validity of this claim. "A bunch of people are looking over their shoulders at the Ministry or what's left of it, they're running scared."
"What do you believe is going on?" asked Minerva.
"I don't buy he's dead until I see the corpse," responded Moody. "He's pulled the die and come back trick before. I'm not sure if he's even human any more, as much as I hate to say that but it may be true."
"That might be the best policy," agreed Minerva. While she would pleased that he was finally gone, they had let their guard lower too much last time and had cost them big time. Now, she hoped that more people would follow the idea that Voldemort's not considered dead until they see the body. As she thought, a message came down the hall and Moody nodded, before he flicked his wand, causing it to vanish.
"Potter is making an announcement, outside of Gringotts tomorrow at noon," responded Moody in a surprised voice, almost if he could not believe it. "All over the Wireless, and I bet the Daily Prophet will have news of it when it comes out in a few hours."
"Outside of Gringotts, with what's happened with the goblins, is that really wise?" asked Minerva.
"Perhaps it might not be, but I intend to find out what is happening involving Potter along with the rest of the world," said Moody firmly. "The rumors that have reached me, I'm not sure what to believe but if we here what Potter has to say, then perhaps we have a better idea of what exactly is going on. The Order should be on guard just in case this is a carefully orchestrated trap set up by Lord Voldemort to lure everyone into a false sense of security and crush his remaining opposition."
"Does this really have much of a chance of occurring?" asked Minerva in a slightly skeptical voice. "Would Voldemort go to the extent he has to do so if people are talking about their dark marks vanishing?"
"You can never be too careful," said Moody. "I will contact all of the members of the Order of the Phoenix, and inform them of our current plan of action. If this an attack, we will fight and make Voldemort regret the day he was born. There is a chance that it won't be and if that is the case, perhaps Potter may enlighten us with what he is up to. Dumbledore was rather tight lipped about the subject and he died without us finding out anything. Then Potter vanished after his little battle with Voldemort and that was just before everything went to hell."
-
A respectable amount of the remaining Death Eaters, about eighteen or nineteen at all, had crowded around. The others who remained had gone underground.
"We have a problem, and that problem is Potter, he's claiming that he will explain everything," stated one of the Death Eaters. "He did something to the Dark Lord, but obviously we know the Dark Lord can't be killed. He came back before and we will make sure he comes back again."
"So what's the plan?" asked another Death Eater.
"Capture Potter, kill as many of his friends as possible, and force him to lead us to the Dark Lord," stated the leader of the group. "Once we do so, we're be heroes among all people with the proper Wizarding mindset. Now do any of you have a problem with our plan?"
The Death Eaters shook their heads, some of them gracious that someone decided to take up a leadership role so they did not have to. They would go to this little press conference of Potter's and capture him there. It was no problem, he was just a half blood and perhaps got lucky again against the Dark Lord. Then their master would be reborn again and they could resume maintaining the traditions of the Wizarding World.
-
Pretty much every witch and wizard in Britain was crowded an area outside of the bank of Gringotts. The crowd is buzzing, they had all heard the news, either first hand or from someone else that Harry Potter would be here, to address the rumors that had been spreading about Voldemort's latest defeat and perhaps his ultimate demise. Everyone had their own theories and there were some who believed it, while others who were skeptical after what happened last time. Still, right next to them was an elevated stage area, with several individuals dressed in exquisite robes with their identities obscured. They were the leaders of the D.A. and the Aurors that Harry had drafted into his employ, even though no one knew this. Other members of the D.A. and their allies were spread throughout the crowd, ready to signal at the sign of any trouble so it can be taken care of.
Harry walked through the podium with Ginny right next to him. Lily was closely behind, standing at the side, wand at her hand. Ginny gave Harry a kiss before Harry turned, tapping his throat with his wand, so his voice could be heard by all.
"Welcome everyone, I'm sure you have heard the rumors by now and yes, I will address them as being true, Lord Voldemort has met his end yesterday when he battled me in a duel, this time for good," responded Harry in a calm voice. "You can choose not to believe me but the fact of the matter is that Lord Voldemort will no longer be a threat based on the nature of his defeat. As for how it was done, it wasn't easy and it wasn't pleasant, but it had to be done. I will give Riddle credit; he was tough to put down for good. I threw pretty much everything that I had at him and a lot that I never could have believe I had. However, any way you look at it, the end result is the same, Lord Voldemort is finished, once and for all. I made sure of that this time."
The crowd was excited with some smiles around but there were some sour looks and some rather skeptical looks as well. Despite the fact that Harry sounded confident, there were still those who were not going to believe Voldemort was dead until there was proof.
"How do we know you're not lying and just have him locked up somewhere?" demanded one of the people in the crowd.
"Yeah that's what Dumbledore would have done!" shouted another heckler and Harry just smirked, he never knew his job in acting that he was Dumbledore's man all the way was with this much conviction.
"You don't have anything to prove to these people, Harry, they should be lining up to thank you for dealing with Voldemort so they wouldn't have to," muttered Lily in Harry's ear and Ginny looked like she thought along the same lines but Harry just nodded before turning to the crowd.
"You want proof, well I believe I can offer that, now those with weak stomachs, I would highly suggest you turn away, because the final fate of Riddle was quite ghastly," remarked Harry and he turned to the crowd, giving them enough of an opportunity to turn away. Then with a wave of the wand, the remains of Lord Voldemort appeared, levitated in the air for all to see. His face was still visible but as for the rest of him, he appeared to be mangled to shreds as if some type of powerful and deadly magic destroyed him. There were several gasps from the crowd, as many wondered what Harry could have done to him. Some respected him for taking the necessary steps to rid the world of Voldemort but others reacted with fear and disgust, turning away, almost shocked that someone could do such a thing.
The group of Death Eaters made their move; they had to retrieve that body and perhaps Potter but they only got about two steps, before the strategic placed D.A. members saw them moving forward towards the stage, wands raised and quickly dropped them with stunning spells. The Death Eaters were caught off guard, they were not the cream of the crop by any means and they crashed to the ground, where Harry just looked at them, as the Death Eaters were lead off into the containment cells beneath and he continued the speech as if nothing had happened.
"As I was saying, Voldemort's gone and this is the proof right before you, now while I wouldn't recommend resurrecting him after what he went through, but there will be people who refuse to listen, so to make sure there is no doubt about Voldemort returning," said Harry as he pointed the Elder Wand to the levitating corpse of Voldemort and a blast of orange shot into it. The body burst into flames, being reduced to ashes in a matter of seconds. They fluttered to the ground, before Harry calmly pointed at them, before a vanishing spell caused the last remnants of Lord Voldemort to fade into oblivion. "Now with that out of the way, Riddle's little sadistic campaign has caused the entire government of this country to be turned upside down. It started with his little well orchestrated power play at Gringotts and just went down from there. First I would like to address former Minister of Magic Amelia Bones, to say that she did about as well as could be expected given the laws of the Ministry of Magic. I understand the handcuffs that are placed on our leaders, even thought I absolutely hate them. Still, she managed to make the best of a bad situation and escaped with her life intact. I have no doubts in saying that she may do her part to rebuild our government and move beyond the era of Voldemort. However, to fully move beyond, we must truly move forward, not staying rooted in the same outdated traditions or move two steps back like we historically do in these situations."
Harry paused, as there were sounds of protest but they died down. They had saw what happened to the Death Eaters who had attempted to get at Potter and they were not about to suffer a similar fate.
"First, before the entire business with Voldemort, I managed to gain an audience with the goblins," remarked Harry as he looked at the crowd. "They are intense negotiators but after several hours of us going back and forth, we came to an understanding. The goblins have realized that their time has passed them and will enjoy a nice retirement from magical society, handing over the control of the bank to me. Within the next couple of days, Gringotts will be reopened to the magical public and will be regulated by worthy individuals that are more than up to the task. I would like to say we have seen our last goblin rebellion but only time could answer those questions. No matter what will happen on that account, Gringotts will be rebuilt and the Wizarding World will achieve the status I feel it deserves."
Once again there was another pause, as Harry allowed his comments to set a little bit, as the Defense Association Army and their allies retained their grips on the wands, ready to attack anyone who had attempted to try something. There were a few mutterings that did not compliment Harry at all, but that was to be expected.
"The Ministry of Magic will be restructured and rebuilt as well, it is in shambles and basically nonexistent right now, a brand new Ministry will be formed in the coming months, in the meantime, the members of the Wizengamot who still live will help run the country until we have a new Ministry and Minister of Magic," responded Harry. "And before we start up the Ministry, we must determine who would be a positive to progression and who would just stand in the way of the future. Therefore, all witches and wizards, seventeen years and older, will be required to take part of an investigation, under Veritaserum, where we will determine where your loyalties truly stood during the conflict. Last time, too many people escaped with excuse they were under the Imperius Curse and it burned us badly in the end. This time, no follower of Voldemort will be left out there, to continue his work without him at a later date. Anyone who attempts to flee the country without taking part of this investigation will be considered to be committing an act of treason. You will be contacted in a matter of days and also use of any antidotes will be prohibited. Extensive magical tests will be given before each investigation, at any potions in the bloodstream before the truth serum is performed. Anyone who has ingested an antidote will once again be considered to be committing an act of treason."
Needless to say there were several uneasy mutterings from the crowd.
"What gives you the right to do this Potter?" demanded one of the members of the crowd.
"Now everyone will have a proper chance to state the truth and to prove that they are not a detriment to what needs to be done, but I do find that those who protest the loudest are usual hiding something," remarked Harry. "As for what gives me the right to do this, well a number of things. I am using my own resources to help rebuild the Ministry of Magic. I got Gringotts back, when people said it was impossible. I defeated Lord Voldemort when a lot of people said it was hopeless. Perhaps some of you have done great things as well and I thank you, but most of the magical people in this country are nothing other than people willing to wait for others to do the work for them. If I didn't seize the opportunity to rebuild, then what would happen? Perhaps this country would have ambled along in ruin, until another threat much like Voldemort, perhaps even worse, would have taken advantage of the sad condition that it was left in. Who would stand up if I was not here? Dumbledore's gone, the Ministry of Magic is in shambles, and let's face it, most of you still can't utter the name of Lord Voldemort. He's just nothing but a half blood psychopath with a wand. More or less, the vast majority of you are a bunch of sheep who would be lambs sent to the slaughter if I didn't constantly break my neck trying to be the hero."
Harry took a deep breath, as his eyes were widened and he was red in the face with anger. Some people looked put off, but others were nodding in agreement. Potter had done a lot for them and there were a lot of people who relied on what was done by others. However, that could not be them, they were not that.
"Still, all will get a fair shake to prove themselves, I'm not going to condemn anyone but this has to occur if we are to move forward," continued Harry. "The problem doesn't just exist in this country, everyone country in the world has the same degree of problems with its magical people, some worse. We need to progress forward. In the Muggle World, they don't live pretty much the same way in the twentieth century as they did in the sixteenth century. While I'm not saying embrace Muggle technology, whether or not its better than magic is irrelevant, but we need to think forward. Maintaining traditions just because they are tradition is ludicrous. The thinking is very outdated which brings me to my next objective, Hogwarts."
Everyone remained silent, wondering what Potter had to say about Hogwarts. He had proven that he was willing to rock the structure of the Wizarding World, but the traditions held at Hogwarts were older than any other. Even older than the first detailed records of the Ministry of Magic, predating it by a few centuries, even though no one could be certain exactly when the school was established.
"I respect the founders in many ways, they were ahead of their time in certain regards, as no one had established a school for magical children prior to them, so they did pave the way for many magical achievements, and we really do need more people in the vein of those four, as they allowed progression in an area where there was less than there was today," stated Harry. "However, the four houses remained in place for many years and long since stopped being a plus to Hogwarts. Rather, it really caused our society as a whole to be crippled, stalling the cause for advancement and change. I'm referring to the house rivalry between the Gryffindor and Slytherin houses."
Everyone had their attention towards Harry now. That argument was brought up every few decades, when people petitioned for the Hogwarts house system to be abolished. It rarely got far but no one held the power and the influence that Harry had.
"Some people just never stop being eleven years old and retain those common misconceptions, how everyone in the Slytherin house is evil and how the Slytherins loathe Gryffindors because they are nothing but blood traitors and…Mudbloods," stated Harry, as he choked the last word out, it pained him to say it even if it was a direct quote of the reflections of many Slytherins. "It is one vicious circle. What Salazar Slytherin did or did not do, I have no idea. History is reflected by people with their own biased opinions. However, Gryffindors believe all Slytherins are evil and do nothing to hide that option. Slytherins react accordingly, lashing out against Gryffindors because of what they believe to be prejudice beliefs. Gryffindors feel validated and continue to react. This sadly spills over into adult life and we have people driven to charismatic nutcases like Voldemort. All because of a disagreement between Gryffindor and Slytherin a millennium ago that may have been blown out of proportion for all we know and history has exaggerated what happened. We will never know. What we do know is that it is something that has long since outlived its usefulness. I am still Hogwarts High Inquisitor and I hereby abolish the Hogwarts house system."
Several gasps could be heard and everyone muttered in shock. They wondered if Potter was serious.
"The legacy of Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff should be remembered for their accomplishments as people and the founding of the first and perhaps most prominent magical school in the world, but the house system is outdated, the first outdated system that I attend to place in the annals of history where it belongs," stated Harry. "The sun set on one world and then rises on a new world. The first steps of progression will be made and I hope that we find many people willing to move forward or learn to. There will always be the unenlightened; I realize that but the barriers for progress will be knocked down one by one. I bid you all a good day and in the next few days, the changes I described will begin to take place. We move beyond what Voldemort put us through and the stagnation of a world trapped in another time. Progression begin soon but right now spend some time with your families and enjoy the fall of Lord Voldemort."
People began to leave, muttering. Some of them were very intrigued about where this was going and very excited as well. Others felt uneasy and really uncomfortable, with the impression that the power had gone to Potter's head. Very few of them were willing to do much at the moment, other than grumble about a seventeen year old wizard was calling all of the shots and some did have something to hide. Many had just adopted an attitude of wait and see what Potter's plans did in practice as opposed to be in theory.
All did agree with one thing. The Wizarding World as they knew it may never be the same again.
That's Chapter Fifty One as we rapidly head into the home stretch. The next chapter, the reactions of many people about what is going down and Harry moves full force into the plans that he informed the world of, as he, Ginny, and the rest of the D.A. plot to carry them out by any means necessary. Also rumblings of resistance against the changes mandated by Harry, with people who just don't want to let go and others who just have an axe to grind with Harry for many reasons.
See you again soon.
