Voldemort's Demise
By: CNJ
PG-13
4: Victorious Gryffindor Champions
Harry:
What a weekend we had! Actually,
what a week the wizard/witch community of London had! The Gryffindors came
back to Hogwarts late Saturday afternoon to an overwhelming hero's welcome.
The dinner that night was a spectacular feast and several members of the
ministry were there to congratulate us and McGonagall and Dumbledore formally
awarded the Gryffindors ten thousand points. McGonagall and Hooch also
were formally awarded by the Ministry for their courage. The Great Hall
fairly shook with whoops and mirth.
"...and for each of the
Gryffindors..." the Minister of Magic, Merle Branswith announced. "A medal
of honor." With that, a medal appeared around each Gryffindor's neck.
"Wow..." several of us gasped.
The medals were beautiful! I gasped as I looked at mine and the others
examined theirs.
"Wicked..." Ron grinned.
"And with that joyous note..."
Dumbledore added with a huge smile. "Let the feast begin!" The food was
more fantastic than usual and we dug in. Word about my scar being gone
spread through Hogwarts like a spilled potion and I lifted my bangs an
awful lot that night to show them my now-scarless forehead. My bangs are
sort of parted on the left side since I was sixteen, so finally I ended
up borrowing Neville's comb and combing my bangs so they parted on the
right side where my scar had been, so the others could peer over. Of course,
I blushed all over again and had another ton of food with a red face.
"Wow, I'm finally stuffed,"
Hermione leaned back and stroked her stomach with a grin.
"Me too," Ginny added. "I
hardly had room for dessert." I was full too and the fullness made me pleasantly
sleepy. The Daily Prophet had appeared in the middle of the table
with the food and of course the headline read Voldemort Finally
Permanently Defeated!!! It went on to read about us Gryffindors
gathering around to squash the evil out of him and had brief interviews
with McGonagall, Hooch, and Dumbledore. And it also added that at this
moment wizard/witch towns and cities all over were celebrating, including
Hogsmeade, Godric's Hollow, and Lyric's Lot. Hogwarts has proved itself
one of the finest schools in the world to turn out fine young women and
men of courage and love, the article finished. There were magical photos
of the celebrations and of a groups of aurors examining what had been Voldemort's
robe and footage of Quarry Grounds where we'd defeated Voldemort. The issue
was extra-thick.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next week passed in a
haze of triumph. Classes were canceled for Monday and Tuesday, so we had
a bit of a holiday. Owls poured in all week congratulating us and Aunt
Miranda sent me one as well as Sirius. My friends also got letters congratulating
them. If only your mum and dad were here to see what a fine young
man you've developed into, Aunt Miranda had written. They would
be speechless with pride and joy. Thinking of my dear, dear parents
brought tears to my eyes and I had to wipe them away as I re-read the letter
on Tuesday evening and owled her back. Once classes were back on Wednesday,
it was still a bit of a circus, especially since reporters from various
newspapers, mostly from the Daily Prophet came and interviewed various
students and took several group shots of the Gryffindors. And naturally,
they had plenty to say on my scar's disappearance. Rita Skeeter caught
up to me in the hall and took a photo while using her wand to blow my bangs
upward some. I grinned sheepishly and obliged her. Friday's Prophet
had the picture and there was a short article that announced, The
scar that had so long marked the forehead of the young wizard Harry Potter,
who is now a seventh-year student at Hogwarts, is gone. Supernatural
analysts believe it is the vanishing of the evil spirit of Voldemort that
finally dissolved the scar tissue, which allowed the skin to heal and the
scar to vanish. Harry says he still is just beginning to believe
that he is finally free of the scar and it'll take some getting used to.
I smiled ruefully as I read the article at breakfast that morning. Me,
the fodder for supernatural analysts, I thought. Yes, it would take a bit
of time to touch my forehead and not feel the pitted lightening-shaped
scar there that had so long dominated my forehead.
"I say you still look the
same," Cheria grinned at me.
"Kind of like a haircut
or something," Ron added. "A little different, but still basically the
same. I noticed your part is on the right side now." It was true. Up until
I was sixteen, I'd just had my hair straight down and no part really, but
once I started my sixth year, I'd layered my thick black hair and sort
of parted it down the left. I still had the bangs, but they were parted
too and had covered the scar. Now I didn't have the scar to worry about
any more.
"More flexibility without
the scar," I quipped. We all laughed some, then finished our food and got
ready to head to class. We took the outdoors way and headed across the
courtyard to get to the classrooms.
"Hey, it's snowing!" Hermione
called. Sure enough, in the early December wintry light, small flakes were
meandering down from the sky.
"I hope we have snow for
Christmas," Ginny added.
"Me too," I added. It wasn't
a heavy snow and it didn't appear to be sticking, but it gave enough of
a holiday feel to remind us that Christmas was less than a month away.
In addition, with Voldemort gone for good, we all knew this holiday season
would really be a reason to celebrate.
75 % Storyline Copyright 2002 by CNJ