epilogue

So, what happened after the final battle?

The day after the fall of Tom Riddle, Amelia Bones was officially named as the new Minister of Magic, with Cornelius Fudge being summarily dismissed for incompetence and corruption and quickly forgotten by the public.

Whilst her tenure as Minister wasn't long, staying just long enough to clean up the Ministry, a task made easier because all of the work they did before the final battle, she proves to be a very popular Minister.

When she stepped down, declaring her job to be done, she was surprised by the offer of becoming Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, a position she accepted with some reluctance and on which she served with distinction until her retirement. During her tenure as Head of the Wizengamot, she was put on a chocolate frog card, the first of which was given to her niece.

When she retired as Minister of Magic, the people had to choose between Rufus Scrimgeour and Kingsley Shacklebolt to replace her. At first, it seemed as the more political Scrimgeour would be chosen but after endorsement from both Amelia Bones and the Chosen Couple, Kingsley was chosen as the new Minister, becoming one of the most popular Ministers in recent history, leading Britain's wizards and witches with confidence and a calm demeanour. He, too, became a subject of a frog card.

Albus Dumbledore, having survived the battle with only a bump on the head, learned that he had made one mistake to many when he tried to force the issue of Harry facing off against Tom.

When he returned to Hogwarts, he was verbally, and physically, assaulted by those who had remained at the school. It was only out of respect of his past achievement that his deeds weren't made public knowledge, but he was strongly advised to go into retirement. So, Albus Dumbledore, once renowned as the Greatest Wizard that ever lived, quietly announced his retirement from the positions he held and lived the remaining years of his life in relative obscurity, spending his days thinking about the mistakes he made.

He was granted a funeral befitting the great man he once was, although his request to be buried on the grounds of Hogwarts was denied (but his portrait was still placed in the office of the Headmaster).

With his dismissal, Minerva McGonagall was elevated to the position of Headmistress, proving to be a highly respected Headmistress of Hogwarts. Even though her duties took up a lot of her time, she always made the time to be there for her pupils, especially those in first and second year. This marked a significant change to Dumbledore, who always maintained an air of mysticism and who was, despite his grandfatherly appearance, not really approachable.

When she finally retired, she became something of an unofficial grandmother to the children and grandchildren of the Potters and Weasleys, and to a lesser extent their close friends.

When she passed away, having lived a full life, the turnout for her funeral was massive and it was deemed fitting that one of the most popular and beloved Headmasters of Hogwarts was to be buried on the grounds.

As for Severus Snape, at his trial it was accepted that he turned away from Tom Riddle before his first fall and that the pardon given to him was justified. However, due to his behaviour and his appalling methods of teaching, he was stripped of his position as professor and while he was allowed to continue his work as a Potion Master, it was under the condition that he would work solely for the Ministry and under supervision. He was also put under lifelong probation.

Sirius Black. Well Sirius Black was Sirius Black. He flirted with Amelia Bones, but she quickly shut him down. He remained single for most of his life, finally settling down in the twilight of his years. While always remaining a Marauder at heart, he did take his responsibilities as godfather serious (no pun intended) and always looked out for the interests of his godson together with Remus.

Once his name was officially cleared, he, reluctantly, took on the mantle of the Head of the House of Black, his first order of business being to reinstate Andromeda and Nymphadora as members of House Black. Through the fact of being the last remaining true Blacks and both having been outcasts, the two cousins grew close, becoming more like brother and sister then cousins, with Andromeda often reigning Sirius in when he threatened to go overboard with one of his schemes.

Furthermore, when it came out in her trial that Narcissa Malfoy never was a supporter of Tom Riddle, in fact, she always found the 'purebloods are better' idea ridiculous but she was taught, or rather indoctrinated, to act in a certain matter and when she was betrothed to Lucius Malfoy it became a matter of simple survival, Sirius was all too happy to annul the marriage, making her a Black once more and reuniting her with her sister. Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, her son followed in his father's footsteps and tried to attack Harry and Ginny and in his arrogance believed that his name and money would see him safe only to discover that both meant nothing, and he was sentenced to life in Azkaban.

Although she was upset by the choices of her son, the sadness was more than offset by the happiness of being reunited with her sister and getting to know her niece, who, with the help of the Heir to the House of Black and his girlfriend, aka Harry and Ginny, finally managed to knock some sense into Remus, who despite earlier statements still felt he wasn't good enough for her, and a couple of months after the battle they got engaged, also helped by the fact that Harry had no difficulty in persuading McGonagall to invite him back as DADA professor.

Tonks, whose sister-brother relationship with Harry only grew over time, and Remus finally got married in the first week of the new year and 10 months later their first child, Edward 'Teddy' Lupin, was born, followed a year later by their second child, Andi Ginevra Lupin, although she would insist in being called AJ. Both children inherited their mother's Metamorphmagus abilities. Years later they would unite the families even more when Teddy married the eldest of Bill and Fleur's three children, Victoire Weasley.

Of course, the families were already very close with Fleur, who was declared the winner of the tournament by the unanimous vote of the other three Champions, taking her role of being Harry's sister even more seriously than Tonks. She married Bill two years after Tom's final demise and had their first child on the anniversary a year later, hence the name Victoire, followed a year later by another girl, Dominique, and a little over a year after that a son, Louis, giving Arthur, who found himself sleeping on the couch for a couple of nights after his wife learned that he had encouraged Ginny to go with Harry to the graveyard, and Molly the first of many grandchildren which they spoiled rotten and bringing them much joy. In fact, when asked if she preferred being a mother or being a grandmother, Molly was hard pressed to give an answer, finding fulfilment in both roles. Over the years, it was a common sight to see a horde of children, which of course included Teddy, running around the Burrow under the watchful eye of Nana Weasley, joined after his retirement by Grandpa Weasley.

The only thing she complained about was the fact that Charlie never seemed to settle down, one day saying loudly that she didn't even care if he settled with a boy or a girl, to the embarrassment of Charlie and the male friend he brought along on that occasion.

When he later confessed that he was equally interest in both, he was surprised when his mother gave him a look indicating that she knew all along, even telling him in confidence that she also knew that AJ wasn't into boys. Still, Charlie never settled down, preferring to relish in his freedom as he called it.

Luckily, the attention was drawn away from him by the announcement from Percy, who did quite a bit of soul searching after everything that happened leading to him loosing up a bit, that he asked Penelope Clearwater to marry him and that she accepted. They gave Arthur and Molly two granddaughters, Molly and Lucy.

While Molly had her doubt about the Twins opening a joke shop, she decided to keep an open mind and she was quick to congratulate them when their shop became a success. Fred and George married Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson, respectively. The joined wedding became a very memorable one when, as a joke, they decided to switch places. Unfortunately for them, they hadn't counted for the fact that their brides knew perfectly well how to tell them apart, leading to a very confused minister, two angry brides, a very angry mother and family and friends who were rolling on the floor with laughter as well as two grooms who were thoroughly chastised. The story became even better when the two new Weasley wives told everybody that they made Fred and George sleep outside on their first night as husband and wife while they slept comfortably in a nice warm bed.

Both couples gave Arthur and Molly four grandchildren, including a set of twins each.

Fred had a son, Fabian George, a daughter, Raven Angelina, and the twins, Finn and Felix.

George had a daughter, Roxanne, a son, Gideon Fred, and the twins, Grace (aptly named as she was always graceful in everything she did) and Ginny.

Ron and Hermione, well even after becoming a couple they spend a lot of time fighting and the rest of their family and friends just learned to live with it, figuring that it was just their way. They got married a couple of years after finishing Hogwarts, with Hermione wanting to go to university before applying for a job at the Ministry. She ended up working at the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and quickly rose through the ranks to become the Head of the Department, making many, much needed, reforms along the way. She ended up becoming the youngest Minister of Magic after Kingsley stepped down, as well as the longest sitting one, continuing on the path that Amelia and Kingsley started on.

Meanwhile, Ron had his dream come true as he successfully tried out for a position with the Chudley Cannons. Unfortunately, despite the fact that he won the Rookie of the Year Award, as well as being named the best Keeper in the League, his skills were not enough to change the Cannon's fortunes, though their opponents did say his presence made the games more exiting. After his retirement from the game, he decided to help out in his brother's shop parttime while looking after his and Hermione's three children: Rose, Hugo and Minerva.

Frequent visitors to the Burrow were Luna and Neville, who remained good friends. In fact, it was a gentle push from Luna that saw Neville asking Hannah Abbott to be his girlfriend, which she happily accepted.

Neville's life, already looking better than it ever had, took a turn for the best when he took his new girlfriend to St Mungo's to meet his parents. Unbeknownst to him, a muggleborn Healer had suggested a novel treatment for his parents based on muggle medicine. Figuring that she had nothing to lose, but not wanting to get Neville's hope up, Augusta Longbottom gave her permission but didn't tell him.

So, when Neville and Hannah visited his parents, they were surprised when his mother reacted in an almost normal way to him.

The Healers quickly came and did some test, and while she still had a long road to recovery, they declared the treatment successful. She made an almost complete recovery, although she would always show little signs of what she went through, like suddenly stopping what she was doing and staring into nothingness, and she was released in time to be there for her son's wedding, smiling widely. Unfortunately, while his father did show some promising signs early on, he never recovered, so when their first, and only child was born, they named him Frank to honour his father.

Continuing his study of Herbology, Neville would eventually take over from Pomona Sprout as Professor of Herbology at Hogwarts.

Meanwhile, Luna became a Magizoologist and travelled the world looking for new species, finding many of them, including Nargles. During one of her travels, she quite literally ran into Rolf Scamander, the grandson of Newt Scamander, and the amused young man took an instant liking to the young blond and asked her to join him on his travels, seeing the worth in the special way the unique young woman saw the world.

The two continued to travel together, making many discoveries as well as writing several books, all of which ended up in the Hogwarts Library. They finally married after discovering that Luna was pregnant with twins, Lorcan and Lysander. While marriage and the birth of their sons did slow them down a bit, they never settled down and they continued travelling, often bringing their sons along.

As for the three who set the ball rolling?

Having seen what happened to Harry, Susan Bones, who would remain a close friend, decided to follow in her Aunt's footsteps and joined the DMLE after graduation, becoming a renowned investigator known for her keen eye. Seeing the changes she brought to the department, Kingsley offered her the position of Head of the DMLE. At first she was hesitant but after getting endorsement from her co-workers, she gratefully accepted.

Working together with Hermione, she completely overhauled the department, increasing the number of staff and vastly improving the way they worked. Any critics that she had were quickly proven wrong and she proved to be a worthy successor to her Aunt. She married Ernest Macmillan.

As for Harry and Ginny? They were shocked and embarrassed, and not a little annoyed, to find that in the three days they were in the Hospital Wing all kind of stories had been written in the papers and that they had been named the Chosen Couple. They spend the next few days retelling what happened to Ministry officials and their friends until a very forceful Molly Weasley bustled them off to the Burrow for some rest, hexing a very nosy reporter named Rita Skeeter in the process.

While at the Burrow, they were visited by the now Headmistress McGonagall. After giving them a warm greeting, she offered Ginny the chance to skip a year. At first Ginny was hesitant, amongst other things worried what Hermione's reaction would be until she learned that Hermione was in fact the one who had suggested it to McGonagall. Having learned that, she joyfully accepted.

McGonagall then asked Harry what he wanted to do.

Having already discarded the idea of becoming an Auror, Harry thought about what he wanted. Having heard a lot from both Bill and Ginny about being a Curse-Breaker, he liked the idea of becoming one himself more and more.

Knowing that he needed an OWL in both Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, he asked the professor if he could switch electives. After a moment's thought, she confirmed that yes, he could switch electives but that it would mean studying very hard during the summer.

After a brief consultation with Bill and Fleur, who promised to help him, and the enthusiastic response of his girlfriend, he told McGonagall that he wanted to switch, earning him a smile from his former Head of House.

So, for the last few weeks of school and all through the summer, Harry and Ginny were studying hard, helping each other, and being helped by Bill, Fleur, Remus, Tonks and, to everybody's surprise, Sirius.

The end result of all the studying is that at the end of the summer, they are once more visited by a very proud looking McGonagall, who hands them their letters and confirming that they had both succeeded in their goals. In fact, while Harry received an Acceptable in Ancient Runes (and an Exceed Expectations in Arithmancy), there was an additional note that said that seeing that he only had a short amount of time to learn the subject, his Acceptable was really an Exceed Expectations at the very least. Harry got an additional surprise when he learned that, together with Hermione, he was made the Gryffindor Prefect.

The following years were as different from his early life as could be. He enjoyed his studies, and did exceedingly well, he enjoyed spending time with his family and friends, even making some new ones in Slytherin, and he especially enjoyed spending time with his girlfriend and at the Burrow (he actually found it difficult to decide which of the two he enjoyed more).

They were once more surprised by a visit by McGonagall just before the beginning of their seventh year.

She proudly handed Harry the badge for Head Boy and then, to her surprise, handed Ginny the badge of Head Girl.

Seeing the crestfallen look on Hermione's face, McGonagall quickly explained that this year the choice was a difficult one. Both girls were considered as Head Girl, however, because Ginny had a far better report with the other students, especially the younger ones, it was decided to give her the position.

While Hermione conceded the point, accepting that she never really got on well with the younger students, it was clear that she was hurt by the decision. This quickly changed when McGonagall told her that both the Staff and the Board of Governors believed that her academic achievements did deserve a reward. So, after a short deliberation, it was decided to give her an internship as an Assistant Professor, a position which would mainly consist of helping out the Headmaster and the Deputy Headmaster.

To say that Hermione was ecstatic was an understatement.

In the end the position worked so well that it was decided to implement the program on a permanent basis.

When Harry and ginny graduated from Hogwarts, with excellent marks, they both joined Gringotts although this did lead to a small argument between the two.

Knowing how much Ginny loved Quidditch and also knowing that she got an offer for the try-outs for her favourite team, the Holyhead Harpies, something she had always dreamed of, he told her that she should follow her dreams instead of simply following him. She quickly, and effectively, shut him up by the expedient of a kiss and told him that, yes, playing professionally for the Harpies was a dream of hers, but it was just one of her dreams. She also dreamed about being a Curse-Breaker like her favourite brother Bill, and more importantly, she dreamed about being with Harry. So, while she had to forego one dream, by joining him, she would be fulfilling two and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Any resistance Harry had, crumbled in the face of her arguments and with a big smile on his face, he hugged her before snogging her thoroughly, leaving her with a goofy smile on her face. Little did they know that her other dream would also come true in a fashion.

It was a pleasant surprise for them when they learned that they would be apprenticed under Bill and Fleur, the partnership quickly turning out to be a very successful one, as well as a profitable one for the Goblins.

Under the tutelage of Bill and Fleur, they quickly became one of the most successful Curse-Breakers teams in the Wizarding World. In fact, they proved to be so good, so natural at it, that in an unprecedented move, the Goblins gave them full Curse-Breaker status after their first year.

Working alone, or together with Bill and Fleur until they retired from field work, they soon became the team to call when there was a particular difficult job.

It was during one of these jobs, almost two years after they left Hogwarts, that Ginny's dream of playing professional Quidditch came true.

The job they were on turned out easier than expected as it only needed Harry's ability to speak Parseltongue, which he had retained, and they were playing a friendly game of Quidditch with some locals when a surveyor of Gringotts stopped by to scout a suspected site nearby. Seeing Harry and Ginny fly, he was stunned and quickly wrote a letter to his brother who worked in the Department of Magical Games and Sports for the British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters and was looking for players for the English National team for both the upcoming European Cup and the World Cup the following year.

After having come to see them play for himself, the brother was quick to extend an invitation to the both of them to try-out for the national team.

It didn't take Harry long to convince Ginny that they should do it.

At the try-outs it quickly became clear that Harry was the best Seeker out there and he quickly got selected for the team. Likewise, Ginny was also an easy pick for the committee, who confirmed her as Lead Chaser, much to her surprise.

They were joined on the team by Ron, who as the best Keeper in the League didn't even need to try-out but was selected automatically.

Ginny was especially excited when she learned that Gwenog Jones of the Holyhead Harpies had been chosen as one of the Beaters as well as the Captain for the team, the famous Harpy having declared that she would retire after the World Cup.

While everybody agreed that the team that had been put together was one of the best, if not the best, that England had ever fielded, Gwenog, Ron, Harry and Ginny were especially credited for bringing the team to the final, in which they managed to defeat the Germans in a hard fought battle.

They repeated the performance the next year, this time defeating the Brazilian team and winning the World Cup after some spectacular saves from Ron, some impressive scores and assists from Ginny and what was deemed the most incredible catch of the Snitch by Harry that anyone had ever seen.

The celebrations were equally memorable and a month after, Harry and Ginny learned that they received another gift from them. Ginny was pregnant with their first child.

Eight months later their son, James Sirius Potter, was born.

They took a year off from Curse-Breaking to spend time as a family after which they either took him along, if the job wasn't deemed too dangerous, or left him in the loving care of his grandparents, although they always made sure not to stay away too long when this was the case.

They were again asked to join the national team for the European Cup two years after the World Cup.

They accepted, more to help out Ron, who was made Captain, then for the desire to play, having already got their fill with the first European Cup and the World Cup.

They won the Cup in a brutal match against the Vratsa Vultures and they discovered that they received another present.

Like James before him, their second son, Arthur Remus Potter, was conceived in the aftermath of the celebrations.

After the birth of Arthur, they both decided to transfer back to London, only going out to dig sites on rare occasion.

A year after Arthur was born, their family grew again with the birth of their daughter, Lily Luna Potter.

In a move that surprised some conservative wizards and witches, it was Harry that quit his job to stay home and take care of his kids, doting especially on his little Lily, although Ginny tended to work from home more often.

On Lily's second birthday, they were surprised when Minerva offered them teaching positions at Hogwarts.

After having talked it over, they both decided to accept and Harry became the new Ancient Runes Professor, having proven to be a natural, and the new Head of Gryffindor House while Ginny became the new DADA professor.

A year later, their twins, Jasmine Dora Potter and William Rubeus Potter, were born. Two years after that, Minerva stepped down as Headmistress, handing the reins to a surprised Harry. At the same time, Filius Flitwick also announced his retirement, handing his reins to an equally surprised Ginny.

They proved to be even more popular than Minerva and became the longest sitting Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress in Hogwarts long history.

They finally retired themselves after almost a hundred years as Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress at the age of 126 and 125 respectively, having decided to enjoy the rest of their lives alternating between seeing the world and staying at home.

They finally joined his parents and her parents, and all that went before them, at the respectable age of 155 and 154 respectively, passing away at the same time, in their sleep, holding each other in a loving embrace and smiling.

Feeling that it was wrong to separate them, even if it was only in a painting, it was decided to place a single painting of the two of them in a place of honour in the office of the Headmaster, next to the portrait of Minerva McGonagall, as well as placing a painting of them in the Ministry of Magic.

It was noted that seeing the obvious love on their faces, even in the paintings, always brought a smile to anyone seeing them.

Like all of their extended family, they had already been made the subject of a chocolate card. After their passing, a new one was made, featuring them together.

In life as in death, they would be together, always.