Chapter 50: Mr. Ross

Voldemort fired a killing curse at Kate and she laughed as she made it fall away into nothing.

"I'd stop you from using magic," Kate began, "but I want to duel you." Her eyes glinted with uncharacteristic malice. She fired a spell at him viciously and Voldemort was forced to physically side step the spell and nearly got hit by her follow up curse. He shot a spell—not a killing curse this time—and Kate side stepped it without batting an eyelash and continued to fire faster than Voldemort could dodge until he was clipped with a cutting curse of some kind.

"You'll pay for that!" He snarled.

"You can put it on my tab." She shrugged.

Suddenly, he charged at her with a roar, opening fire. Kate met his onslaught easily.

"Harry, come quickly." A voice said softly, startling him out of his focus on his sister.

"Why is he fighting her so much harder than you?" For indeed, Voldemort was using spells as advanced as the ones he'd used against Dumbledore, but at far faster a rate. Kate didn't seem to be having any issues, however.

"Because he thinks he will win." Dumbledore told him as he ushered him towards the fireplaces where, Harry noticed, a crowd was gathering.

"What do you mean?" Harry frowned. "I thought Kate—"

"Kate will disabuse him of that notion shortly." Dumbledore said, not unkindly, though his eyes glimmered with some satisfaction at the thought. Harry's grin was rather shark-like.

He turned to look at the duel again, though it rather looked more like Kate's wand was flying at an alarming rate as she moved while Voldemort dodged and shielded like his life depended on it.

"You have done marvelously tonight," Dumbledore said when they stopped, "now let us handle the rest." He gave Harry a nudge and he turned to see that the Atrium was full of people.

The floor was reflecting emerald green flames that had burst into life in all the fireplaces along one wall, and a stream of witches and wizards was emerging from them. As Dumbledore pushed him gently towards where Harry spotted the Order—including Sirius he noted with no small amount of relief, he saw the tiny gold statues of the house-elf and the goblin leading a stunned-looking Cornelius Fudge forward.

"He's right there!" shouted a scarlet-robed man with a ponytail, who was pointing at the duel on the other side of the hall, where Bellatrix was still laying trapped.

"I see him, Mr. Fudge! It's You-Know-Who!"

"I know, Williamson, I know, I see him too!" gibbered Fudge, who was wearing pajamas under his pinstriped cloak and was gasping as though he had just run miles. "Merlin's beard—here—here! —in the Ministry of Magic!—great heavens above—it doesn't seem possible —my word—how can this be?"

"If you proceed downstairs into the Department of Mysteries, Cornelius," said Dumbledore, walking forward so that the newcomers realized he was there for the first time (a few of them raised their wands, others simply looked amazed; Fudge jumped so much that his slipper-clad feet left the floor), "you will find several escaped Death Eaters contained in the Death Chamber, bound by an Anti-Disapparation Jinx and awaiting your decision as to what to do with them."

"Dumbledore!" gasped Fudge, apparently beside himself with amazement. "You—here—I—I—"

He looked wildly around at the Aurors he had brought with him, and it could not have been clearer that he was in half a mind to cry, "Seize him!"

"Cornelius, I am ready to fight your men—and win again!" said Dumbledore in a thunderous voice. "But clearly we have a much more important situation. I have been telling you the truth for a year. Lord Voldemort has returned, you have been chasing the wrong men for twelve months, and it is time you listened to sense!"

"I—don't—well—" blustered Fudge, looking around as though hoping somebody was going to tell him what to do. When nobody did, he said, "Very well—Dawlish! Williamson! Go down to the Department of Mysteries and see...Dumbledore, you—you will need to tell me exactly—the Fountain of Magical Brethren—what happened?" he added in a kind of whimper, staring around at the floor, where the remains of the statues of the witch, wizard, and centaur now lay scattered.

"We can discuss that after I have assisted Kate," said Dumbledore. "Harry, I think your godfather would like to see you."

"Harry—Harry Potter?"

Fudge spun around and stared at Harry, who was still standing behind Dumbledore.

"He-here?" said Fudge. "Why—what's all this about?"

"I shall explain everything," repeated Dumbledore, "when Voldemort is no longer a threat."

Dumbledore walked away and Harry eagerly made his way over to Sirius. Voldemort was, it appeared, trying to escape.

He made a dash towards the nearest fireplace, completely ignoring Bellatrix, but did not get far before he was pulled back by Dumbledore, as his Death Eaters had been some time before. Harry wanted to laugh as Sirius threw an arm around him and Voldemort slid across the floor unceremoniously.

He broke free of the spell about halfway across and shot up with a roar of outrage. Blood poured down one side of Voldemort's body and covered parts of his face, but he did not seem to care as he attacked Kate and Dumbledore ruthlessly.

He looked truly insane as he flung spell after spell with no apparent thought leaving Kate and Dumbledore to spilt. Kate went down the left side, running as she ducked and rolled under a beam of flames and responded by firing off six spells of her own in quick succession while Dumbledore was about 70 degrees to her right. He conjured a whole mess of vines and wrapped them around Voldemort forcing him to have to free himself before he could block the last of Kate's spells. The first two hit him and one broke what must have been his hip bone with an audible crunch while the other burned his robe clean off and left a charred arm exposed to the world.

Voldemort had barely conjured and banished a serpent towards Kate when she lit the vines around him on fire, which he doused while Kate banished the serpent and Dumbledore blasted him clear into the wall. He didn't have enough time to react and slammed into it, crumpling to the floor. He twitched and Kate let out a volley of hexes and jinxes, which, it quickly became clear, were just to torture him. An overpowered tickling charm, a spell that caused him to sprout elephant ears, a concussion hex, and jelly-legs jinx that caused him to collapse as he tried to stagger upright.

He let out a roar of pain as he landed on some clearly broken bones. She then bound him in rope to the wall. He looked a mess, and had it been anyone else, Harry would have been horrified.

He couldn't even slur out words as Dumbledore approached him and the building had fallen dead silent.

The elderly Headmaster got right in his face and put his wand up to the Dark Lord's temple. "Obliviate!" He said evenly.

The spell was over, rather anticlimactically. Dumbledore stepped back with a nod at Kate. She took one glance at Harry, winked, and then walked up to Voldemort.

He was nearly unconscious by this point and beyond words—if he still remembered how to talk, that is. She tucked her wand away and rolled up her sleeves. Harry imagined her eyes were closed even though he couldn't see her face from his angle.

Magic began to gather around her and a chill seemed to go through the air, like an arctic breeze from nowhere, squealing around the pair. The world turned purple, the color of Kate's magic as her aura made the air thick with magic. It was nearly comforting to be surrounded by something so quintessentially Kate.

Nothing seemed to happen for a moment as she put her hands, palms out, in front of her. Then Voldemort's back arched unnaturally and he strained against his bindings. He let out the most inhuman of shrieks as he thrashed like his body hadn't been broken. He roared and suddenly the magic was stifling in intensity and he couldn't breath. The purple seemed to become more blinding white than the sun and Harry had to look away. He closed his eyes and put his arm over his eyelids when that failed to block the light. Voldemort was screaming, crying, howling. There was an unnatural ripping sound and Harry's very magic seemed to recoil.

It ended abruptly. The light cleared and suddenly everything was silent and still. Voldemort was unconscious.

All hell broke loose. Voices were exclaiming incredulously as Aurors ran around and those that had been sent down earlier appeared with the captured Death Eaters

"Wh-what?" said Fudge. "What just happened?"

Everyone ignored him. Jake bolted over to where Bellatrix lay screaming and sobbing as she tried to escape to get to her master. Kate tried to fend people away from Voldemort's unmoving body though it seemed everyone was eager to crowd around anyway. Thankfully they had just watched her do something—they didn't know what—fearsome enough that they would not cross her.

Dumbledore appeared in front of Harry and Sirius with the statue of the golden wizard's head in his hand. He pointed his wand at it and muttered, "Portus." The head glowed blue and trembled noisily against the wooden floor for a few seconds, then became still once more.

"Now see here, Dumbledore!" said Fudge, as Dumbledore handed it to Harry. "You haven't got authorization for that Portkey! You can't do things like that right in front of the Minister of Magic, you—you—"

His voice faltered as Dumbledore surveyed him magisterially over his half-moon spectacles.

"You will give the order to remove Dolores Umbridge, Mr. Fallow, and Mr. Redbird from Hogwarts, as well as anyone else you've snuck in," said Dumbledore. "You will tell your Aurors to stop searching for my Care of Magical Creatures teacher so that he can return to work. You will issue a pardon for Sirius Black. I will give you..." Dumbledore pulled a watch with twelve hands from his pocket and glanced at it, "half an hour of my time tonight, in which I think we shall be more than able to cover the important points of what has happened here. After that, I shall need to return to my school. If you need more help from me you are, of course, more than welcome to contact me at Hogwarts. Letters addressed to the headmaster will find me."

Fudge goggled worse than ever. His mouth was open and his round face grew pinker under his rumpled gray hair.

"I—you —"

Dumbledore turned his back on him.

"Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger." He beckoned Harry's best friends to them. "Take this Portkey, Harry. Sirius you will need to stay here."

He held out the golden head of the statue, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione placed a hand each upon it, grateful to get out of there.

"I shall see you as soon as we've finished up here, please try to get some rest" said Dumbledore quietly. "One...two...three..."

Harry felt the familiar sensation of a hook being jerked behind his navel. The polished wooden floor was gone from beneath his feet; the Atrium, Fudge, and Dumbledore had all disappeared, and he was flying forward in a whirlwind of color and sound and he landed, slamming into the ground.

He glanced around relieved to be in familiar territory as he went straight for Kate's extremely comfortable couch. Ron and Hermione followed suit.

"You guys all right?" He asked.

"Yeah, mate." Ron said, "gonna take more than some Death Eaters to hurt us!"

Hermione simply sank into an armchair, her eyes already closed.

SEVERAL DAYS LATER

The Hogwarts Express had already left but Harry had elected to just stay at the castle and wait for Kate to finish whatever work she needed to do before she left. He was already packed and ready to go, his trunk having been stuffed full and forced shut. He had even helped Kate pack her belongings (Merlin had that been odd) and convinced her to fit some of his things in her trunk.

Now, he was bored and determined to go off in search of something to entertain him. Mainly, people. He wandered towards the staff room, mentally reviewing the events of the previous days.

Voldemort had unceremoniously been dumped into Nurmengard by Kate and Dumbledore (Harry had managed to avoid the brunt of the hero-worship), barely aware of who he was and unable to wield magic at all. He didn't even register as a wizard when scanned at St. Mungo's (they'd dragged him in to patch him back up, reluctantly). His Death Eaters had, likewise, been dumped back in jail and even Lucius Malfoy failed to avoid Azkaban.

The Daily Prophet article covering the events at the ministry slammed Fudge and his cronies so brutally that he was forced to resign and an election was scheduled for the beginning of July while the government organized itself. It looked as though Amelia Bones, with full endorsements from Dumbledore, Tiberius Ogden, and several other important people, was poised to win. Dumbledore had been reinstated as Chief Warlock, but had declined to retake his position of Supreme Mugwump of the ICW, which instead was offered to Drake. Surprisingly, he agreed, claiming that he quite enjoyed "putting twists in the knickers" of all the "high strung snots" that made up the international diplomats. Harry, for one, was happy he'd found a new hobby.

All of the ministry hacks had been forced out immediately upon the return of Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick, and Hagrid and the prancing ceased almost instantly. Even Kate laid off for a few days.

Professor Umbridge left Hogwarts the day after Voldemort's defeat. It seemed that she had crept out of her office, where she had hidden herself, during dinner-time, evidently hoping to depart undetected, but unfortunately for her, she met Peeves on the way, who seized his last chance to torment her and chased her gleefully from the premises, whacking her alternately with a stick and a sock full of chalk.

Many students ran out into the entrance hall to watch her running away down the path, and the Heads of Houses tried only half heartedly to restrain their pupils. Indeed, Professor McGonagall sank back into her chair at the staff table after a few feeble remonstrances and Kate had happily jogged with the students to make sure none of them "tripped or anything" (they didn't).

As for the Rogues, Cella's campaign for re-election had taken center stage. Never ones to relax, that became the new project everyone was working on as they took turns helping find people to run the campaign, come up with ideas, and write speeches. Hermione was quite excited to join them and Cella had even set up a formal internship for her which would allow her to travel and debate the points she was most eager to push.

Jamie's Quidditch season was in full swing by this point and took up most of her time, meaning that Harry would be living in their apartment in London with her and Kate for the first part of the summer. Sirius, rather than being upset by this, got Jake to help him get an apartment in the same building and promptly burned Grimmauld Place to the ground. He had gotten a full pardon a day after the ministry incident and a promise from Kate and Jake to help himself and Remus hunt down Pettigrew over the summer. Remus neglected to move in with Sirius and instead moved in, much to Harry's surprise and with much ribbing from Sirius and Jake, with Tonks.

"KATE!" He called loudly as he bathed into the staff room, ignoring the other occupants because it wasn't term time (which meant they couldn't give him detention).

The entire staff stared at him with varying disagrees of dismay (and amusement).

"Is there any particular reason for the racket, Mr. Ross?" Professor Snape demanded in annoyance.

That particular cat was out of the bag as well, at least amongst the Hogwarts staff, the Order, and the DA. It hadn't been a hard decision when some pointed questions were asked about how the plan to defeat Voldemort had come about. Jake's cover had also been blown voluntarily and most of them had taken it quite well. Moody had grumbled about spies and constant vigilance but also respected both Jake and Kate enough to be fine with it. Snape had taken it predictably and been even more unbearable than usual until Kate had finally had enough and blown up at him.

"If you must hold a petty, childish, pathetic little grudge against a dead man then that is your prerogative." Kate began angrily after Professor Snape had made another comment about Harry's status as an attention seeking liar (like his father of course). "But if you take it out on my brother, who has never met James Potter, no thanks to you, then it becomes my business as well. In which case I am obligated to warn you that the last person to put himself on my radar via Harry does not know who, where, or what he is. The only man Harry has ever known as, or called, 'Dad' is my father and if you say such things about Harry's father then I shall assume you are speaking of a Ross and respond accordingly."

Snape had glowered at her but backed down when she met his gaze steadily and nobody came to his rescue. Even Harry was a little surprised by the outburst. He didn't say anything.

"You have no idea what Potter is responsible for-"

"That is, frankly, no concern of mine. Harry is responsible for none of it. If it will help you tell the difference between a dead man and my brother," she had continued mockingly, "you are welcome to call Harry 'Mr. Ross', I assure you he responds to it just fine."

And he'd been Mr. Ross ever since then. Snape had also managed to be civil ever since then.

Harry gave him an innocent shrug, "I just wanted to know if she was done yet."

"I'm not." Kate interrupted tartly, while everyone else went back to their work and Harry wandered over to her. "It's your fault I have work to do anyway, so why are you complaining?"

It was his fault, that was true. Kate hadn't been planning on returning to teach next year, though she had broken the curse on the position (that was a whole other tale) that would allow someone to actually hold the job. Harry had told the whole school and she had been ambushed nearly all day, every day, by students begging her to stay, until she'd been forced to give in. Harry couldn't have been more pleased by the results, having made several of those appeals himself.

"Can't you do it at home?" Harry persisted.

"No," Kate said, "now if you don't shut up, I'll never finish and we'll be stuck here forever."

Harry rolled his eyes at her dramatic exclamation. "Sure."

"Potter, why don't you sit down and make yourself useful?" Professor McGonagall cut in with some exasperation.

Harry threw himself onto the couch next to Kate, and tried to stay quiet. Until he began tapping his foot.

"Harry!"

"Mr. Potter!"

"Ross!"

"Potter!"

Several professors eyed him in irritation and he blushed.

"If you don't cease that tapping, I shall put you in-" McGonagall began, before cutting herself off.

Harry grinned slightly as she realized she couldn't actually do anything.

"No," Kate began, smirking, "he's right. We could use some entertainment. Have I ever told you all about the time that Harry tried to ditch-"

"KATE!" Harry exclaimed in alarm, going bright pink as he realized where this story was going.

"What?" She asked innocently, "term is over, you're not a student right now. I can treat you like my little brother."

He stared at her, horrified.

"Do continue, Kate." Dumbledore prompted and several professors were looking curious and/or amused.

"I think we should be quiet, so you all can finish working in peace!" Harry said quickly.

Kate smirked but, to Harry's relief, they did just that. Maybe getting his sister to be his teacher hadn't been the greatest idea after all. Who was he kidding? It was brilliant. Embarrassing, but brilliant.

THE END.

A/N::: Thank you to everyone who stuck with me through this whole crazy process of writing my first novel length fic! I know my writing improved a lot and I'm so grateful to all the reviewers who helped me do it! You guys are the best!