:EPILOGUE:
After everyone had returned home after the year at Hogwarts, things changed. Some were for the better, some for the worse.
In Great Britain, the Minister of Magic, one Mr Kingsley Shacklebolt was forced to acknowledge publicly that the exchange program with students from different worlds, had been a not been a good idea. Especially when you considered that everyone from all three worlds were still mourning what they had lost, mourning the sacrifices made in war. The exchange program, despite its good intentions had only cemented the anger and the prejudices that were firmly directed at some areas of British wizarding society.
No matter how well the students of Hogwarts had risen to the challenge, and had been able to make and maintain friendships across all walks of life, the exchange program would not be continued. It was a bitter blow to Kingsley, who had pinned his hopes in the program helping heal the rifts that had plagued their world for so many years – since well before the First Wizarding War. But as the first black Minister of Magic, Kingsley knew that he had a real chance to make lasting change, and despite scrapping the exchange program that he had believed in, he would be keeping the lines of communication open between all three worlds. By doing so, Kingsley hoped to effect a lasting change in wizarding society.
Minerva McGonagall recovered surprisingly well from the brutal attack inflicted upon her by Manon Blackbeak and Petrah Blueblood, who had been undeniably vicious indeed in their bloodthirstiness. In fact, the Healers of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries had bluntly told her that she should have died of bloodloss alone before arriving at the Hospital, and that was saying nothing of the tiny deposits of rusty iron filings that had been left to fester in the wounds. After spending weeks in St. Mungo's Hospital, recovering from her injuries, Minerva resigned from her post as the Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. During her convelasence, she had come to the conclusion that she was no longer fit to to continue her life's work as an educator. The horrors that she had witnessed during the last year of the war had left their impact on her psyche. Hurt and wounded, she'd found comfort in making others others feel as downtrodden as possible; hence why she had been so downright unpleasant and appalling to all of the students who had come from Erilea and Prythian. While her experiences during the war explained some of her cruelty to them, she had also been troubled and disturbed to find that so many of them were, in fact, centuries older than she. So why on earth had they wanted to – agreed to – go to school? The reason was simple enough, though far too simple for Minerva McGonagall to figure out by herself. To learn and to heal. They were much better people than McGonagall had ever given them credit for.
As for the students who had attended Hogwarts for a year with the students from Erilea and Prythian, many of them were changed people. They had gained a wider, more open, perspective on the world. They had learned that there were many different ways to see things, and that they should be kinder and more compassionate to those who were different than them. They had learned respect and kind-heartedness. If Professor Dumbledore were still alive, he would have been so proud of them – he would have been delighted to know that there was a bit more kindness, humanity, charity and love in the world. They had learned that just because some one was different from them, it did not necessarily mean that they were mean, or nasty or evil. They were aware that their Headmistress McGonagall had seen different that year, and had automatically thought evil. But after the last year, those who saw different and thought evil, were now most definitely in the minority.
Although, certain Dark families like the Malfoys, would never be converted, and would forever continue to insist that their ways were the best, they would never have political power again. Minister Shacklebolt would make sure of it. But in a way, Minister Shacklebolt's efforts weren't needed.
Lucius Malfoy would forever mourn the fact that his long lost daughter Astrid (Hermione Granger) had not wanted to move into Malfoy Manor, that she had not wanted to grow close to him, to the family. His son, Astrid's brother, Draco, never seemed to care; he was quite glad, in fact, that he would never have to see her again. He had long since hated that "Granger Bitch."
Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley were quite happily married in the winter after the exchange program with Erilea and Prythian had ended. The wedding was attended only by close family and friends. They were very happy together for the rest of their lives, and had three children.
In Prythian, life continued more or less as normal after their return. The Seven Courts of the land reamined at peace for many years after the defeat of Hybern during the war, and the trials that they had gone through only made them all stronger and wiser rulers.
In the Night Court, Feyre's bond with her sister Elain continued to grow stronger than it had ever been. However, their relationship with their sister Nesta continued to deteriate. Feyre was quite pleased, though startled when Elain announced that she had decided to accept her mating bond with Lucien.
Lucien was quite startled several decades later, when he was discovered to be not the son of Beron, High Lord of the Autumn Court, but the son Helion, High Lord of the Day Court. It had been just one more time that he had been knocked for six in his long lifetime, and it was the one that took him the longest to wrap his head around. However, with the love of his mate and the support of his friends, he was able to rise above the shock and became a good and respected High Lord after Helion's death.
Unfortunately there would always be subtle undercurrents of tension between the Night Court and the Summer Court. Amren would forever regret renouncing her rights to her only child and was horrified when she discovered that Varian had not respected her wishes in regards to the baby's name. After giving away her daughter, Amren never took another lover, and never had another child, considering it disrespectful to the child she had loved in her way and that she had chosen to have nothing more to do with her after her birth.
Varian, however, had no such regrets about the end of his relationship with Amren. He was an excellent father to his beautiful daughter, and baby Ayesha was doted on by every member of her family.
Out of all of them who had spent the year at Hogwarts, Tamlin was the one who was unhappiest. He was to discover that while Hermione was his mate, she did not make a good wife for a High Lord. While Hermione did not interfere with inter-court politics, she constantly interfered domestically.
From alienating many of his subjects to making increasingly unreasonable demands to the servants who had worked for him around the Manor for centuries, Hermione was most definitely not a welcome presence in the Spring Court. She was deeply resented for her limited knowledge of Prythian, and the effort she put forth to "modernise" the Spring Court, to bring it into line with the world she came from.
Eventually, Tamlin had to order Hermione to stop interfering with Spring Court affairs and she was relegated to the role of a High Lord's Consort and the tasks of child-bearing and party-planning. Much like Feyre, Hermione hated the idea of being reduced to a merely ceremonial role, and the role of a mother to future baby High Lords. In this way, Hermione felt like she could finally understand Feyre better.
It took Hermione many years to adapt to her new life in Prythian, and during that time, there was at least one suicide attempt, which quickly became the talk of the land. Hermione had always hated the attention, and always gave the same reasons for attempting to take her own life – the lack of privacy, not being able to see her family and the friends she had from her own world, not being able to put her intelligence to proper use.
To the surprise of many, Hermione's failed suicide attempt only served to bring Tamlin and Hermione closer together; with Tamlin becoming much more open and understanding, paying much more attention to her than ever before.
For those from Erilea, much like in Prythian, life had its ups and downs after Hogwarts. Aelin governed Terrasen well, with Aedion and Rowan always by her side. While Aelin eventually started a family with Rowan, she never forgot the rest of her family – the ones who had been slaughtered by Adarlan during the invasion so many years ago now. She remained friends with Chaol for the rest of her life, and was devastated and heart-broken when he died, but with the support of her family, she remained whole.
As Queen, Aelin found peace in serving a higher purpose and was eventually able to let go of her Celaena Sardothian identity once and for all. Many said that Aelin's greatest accomplishment as Queen was the banning of the slave trade that she had so long despised. Aelin thought that she worked so hard to be the Queen her people deserved because she wanted to make her parents and great-uncle proud of her. She wanted to honour their memories and their bloodlines. She wanted to make the Great Fire King of Terrasen, Brannon Galathynius himself, proud of her.
Much like Aelin, Dorian ruled his kingdom of Adarlan well, but was always hindered by the legacy of his father. It would take many years before Adarlan was able to stand with its head held high before the rest of the world. Dorian merely took the challenges in stride and continued pressing forward, even when he thought he would collapse from the pressure of governance. While Dorian ruled well, there were many who felt that he was not as good a ruler as Aelin, because unlike Aelin, he had no relatives ever living or dead that he wished to impress. He had no one left that he wanted to make proud of him. His relationships with Manon, Chaol, and Aelin may have foundered, but Dorian was able to form new bonds around the world, despite Adarlan now being a backseat player in world affairs.
Life wasn't just about the demands of Royalty and governing kingdoms, though. Nesryn abandoned her royal born fiancé on the Southern Continent and was never seen nor heard from again. It was widely rumoured that she had joined Captain Rolfe's band of pirates in the Dead Islands and that she bore Captain Rolfe twelve children in as many years.
As for Lorcan Salvaterre, despite everything that had happened during the last year at Hogwarts, he was always considered a pariah for the part he had played in betraying Aelin to Maeve during the war, and was never truly trusted. Aelin only allowed him into Terrasen because she felt that she could not trust him not to spill her secrets to enemy kingdoms. A few years after the exchange program, Aelin only reluctantly gave her permission for Lorcan to marry her Lady in waiting, Elide Lochan. It may have seemed that Aelin gave way for the wedding out of kindness for Elide, but in reality, it was so she could keep an even closer eye on Lorcan. She never trusted him again.
But despite all of their differences, one thing they all had in common was the close bonds that they had made with each other. They never met again, but always remembered the friends that they had made and tried to keep the lines of communication open between each other and wrote as often as they could.