There were two great mysteries that kept post-Voldemort Wizarding Britain entertained.
The first mystery was: ' What is the identity of Salazar Slytherin's wife?'
That mystery had been debated over for centuries and centuries. Many prominent families had "found" evidence that Slytherin's wife was a member of their family or their House. Those claims had always been refuted but it hadn't stopped those families from trying. All that was known about Slytherin's wife was that her first name was Ariana and that she had been the first ever Headmistress of Hogwarts.
The second big mystery of post-Voldemort Wizarding Britain was: 'What happened to Harry Potter, the Girl-Who-Won?'
Harrianah Lily Potter, also known as Harry, had been famous in the Wizarding World ever since Lord Voldemort had attacked her and her family on Halloween 1981 in Godric's Hollow. The Wizarding World lost trace of their new hero after the attack and Harry didn't reappear until her birthday in 1991, a month before she was set to attend Hogwarts. Harry Potter's years at Hogwarts weren't easy and the wizarding populace didn't make things any better thanks to their belief that the Daily Prophet and Minister Cornelius Fudge could not lie. In her sixth year however, Lord Voldemort struck while Harry had been visiting Diagon Alley for Christmas shopping with her friends Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley. Harry managed to kill Lord Voldemort in front of the public but it came at the cost of her two best friends. While everyone celebrated the death of Voldemort, Harry went through a depression. The Girl-Who-Won became more and more secluded from everyone else to her friends' great concern. In her seventh and last year, Harry started talking and laughing more and her fellow students couldn't miss the hope visible in her eyes. To everyone's shock, shortly after her graduation, Harrianah Lily Potter disappeared.
Her close family, Sirius Black, Remus and Tonks Lupin and the Weasleys were horrified at her disappearance and mourned the loss of their dear friend. The Wizarding World learned quickly enough about her disappearance. Everyone wanted to know what had happened to their saviour and theories started flowing everywhere. Some believed that Harry moved out of the country to try to live a peaceful life away from celebrity. Others came up with a more macabre theory that Harry's depression had never left her and that she had killed herself to join her parents and best friends in the afterlife.
One thing was sure however was that nobody knew what had happened to Harrianah Potter. No note had been left behind. Her processions and all of her money at Gringotts went missing which supported the theory that Harry had left Britain and moved somewhere else in the world.
Scholars and important political figures would spend the next few years trying to find the answers to these questions. An inquiry about Harry Potter's disappearance in front of the whole Wizenmagot didn't lead to anything and the mysteries remained just that. Mysteries...
Henry Redwood-Gaunt was a pureblood wizard from a cadet branch of the now defunct House of Gaunt. Henry Redwood-Gaunt had been interested in the mystery of Slytherin's wife his whole life. Henry knew that the House of Gaunt were the latest known descendants of Salazar Slytherin and after graduating from Hogwarts in the late 1960s, Henry started tracking back the history of the House and its various heirlooms and books. Henry had found the journals of a few members of the House of Gaunt, most notably Corvinus Gaunt who hid the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets during the Great Renovation of Hogwarts Castle in the eighteenth century and Epona Gaunt, the first female and fifth British Minister of Magic.
However, today's find had been one of his greatest achievements. While in talks with a German pureblood House, Henry had found within their library the Journal of Salazar Slytherin which had been preserved since 1757. Nobody alive had ever read the Journal nor was it referenced in any modern work of the last few centuries. As a matter of fact, Henry had only found two references to the Journal of Slytherin. The first reference he had found was in a book from the Potter Family. At the time, Henry was following a lead that the Potters of today might be related to the legendary Hogwarts founder and Fleamont Potter had allowed him to research his library. The mention led to nothing however, just spoke of the existence of the Journal. His second lead had been within the Hogwarts library in a book about the House of Gaunt. It mentioned that the House of Gaunt had Slytherin's Journal but either lost or sold it somewhere in the late seventeenth century.
Now, after decades of research, Henry Redwood-Gaunt had found the Journal of Salazar Slytherin. The German family didn't mind selling the Journal to Henry as they had no interest in the history of Wizarding Britain and Henry departed Germany with a priceless heirloom.
Upon his arrival in Britain, Henry sent a letter to the Daily Prophet where he said that he had found the personal Journal of Slytherin and offered to have it read in public in front of the Wizenmagot. The public interest skyrocketed and the Wizenmagot were left with no choice than to accept. The public reading was scheduled for the 16th of April 2000.
A grumbling Sirius Black arrived in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic on the 16th of April. Sirius had never cared about the identity of Slytherin's wife and only wanted to go back and investigate the disappearance of his goddaughter.
However, today's attendance was mandatory for all Wizenmagot seat holders. As Sirius Black was holding the Black Family Seat, Sirius had to attend.
"Oh, relax Padfoot." said Remus Lupin, dragging his friends toward the lifts. "It won't be that bad." Remus Lupin also had to attend as the Potter Family Seat proxy, a role he had been fulfilling ever since Harry had turned sixteen.
"We will have to listen to old men reading us about history." complained Sirius. "It's going to be like in Binns' class."
"And how is that different from the usual Wizenmagot sessions?" asked Remus with a smile.
"We won't get to annoy pureblood pricks?" he said. "Now, today, we will have to read about a pureblood prick. The most prickest of them all!"
"Is that a word?" asked Remus.
"Don't know. Don't care." said Sirius while the duo entered the lift. "How's Teddy?" he asked.
"Good. He's really friendly with Bill and Fleur's daughter Victoire." he said. "Tonks told me that she and Bill even saw them kiss once."
"Kiss?" said Sirius in shock. "That's my boy!" he said proudly.
Remus rolled his eyes. "They are three-years-old Sirius. I doubt they even knew what they were doing. They probably saw their parents kiss and tried the same thing."
"Don't ruin the moment Moony!" whined Sirius, making Remus laugh.
"I just wish that Teddy would have been able to meet his godmother..." added Remus quietly.
"Yeah..." said Sirius sadly. Neither Remus nor Sirius had forgotten the lost daughter of their two best friends. Remus and Tonks had named Harry Teddy's godmother but hadn't been able to tell her as she had disappeared only a few days later.
The duo arrived on Level One where the Wizenmagot met every month (Unless if it was for a criminal trial in which case the Wizenmagot would meet in the courtrooms on Level Ten). The room was magnificient which, Sirius knew, was only that way to make pureblood pricks feel superior. The room was composed of two floors with the lower section having all the various seats of the Wizenmagot and the upper floor being the public balcony. The floor of the room was a deep brown and the dark green walls all around the room were covered in paintings of various important moments in the History of the country. The first painting was about the founding of Hogwarts while the lastest, which was added only a few years prior, represented Harry defeating Voldemort in Diagon Alley, representing her as much the heroine as everyone was making her to be. Sirius and Remus knew that Harry would have hated it if she had known about its existence. The duo quickly took their seat and waited until the reading started. Looking up, Sirius saw that every public seat was already taken, including the media section where a wireless station was installed. Today's session would probably be one of the most listened sessions in recent history.
Sirius heard Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore tap his gavel three times on his desk. "Everyone, take your seats." he said. The half of the Wizenmagot that was still standing and talking quickly sat down. The room went quiet. "Today, on the 16th of April 2000, we hold a special session of the Wizenmagot to read the Journal of Salazar Slytherin to the public." said Dumbledore. Sirius could see the greedy interest in the eyes of the few pureblood supremacists left after Voldemort's defeat. "The Journal was found by Mr. Henry Redwood-Gaunt in Germany and brought back in Britain. We have verified and studied the original Journal and we can guarantee that it is real." A few people started muttering. "Mr. Redwood-Gaunt made us a copy of the Journal written in modern English thanks to a translation spell so that we can safely read it without damaging the original product." said Dumbledore.
"Which Translation Spell was used?" asked one member of the Gray Faction.
"Liber-Magus-Translatus." answered Dumbledore. The chatter increased. The 'Liber-Magus-Translatus', or L.M.T. spell was the best translation spell for written work but to make it work, one needed a lot of magical power. Unlike many other translation spells, the L.M.T. completely and properly translated everything in another language, even meaning and expressions. It was even better than a human translator because while humans could interpret the original text differently, the L.M.T. would always use the proper interpretation of the intent and meaning as if the author himself had written his work in the translated language. Because of that, translated works under the L.M.T. were considered as good as their original version.
"Can we get on with it?" asked Sirius loudly. He didn't care about Slytherin's love life and only wanted to go home.
"Soon, Lord Black." said Dumbledore with a disappointed look toward his former student. "A last thing to mention is that nobody in living-memory as ever read the Journal, not even its owner Mr. Redwood-Gaunt. The knowledge in this journal has been lost until today...
"Now, the first entry in the Journal of Salazar Slytherin..."