Epilogue

The war was still going on, I had been a teacher at Hogwarts for ten years now. Looking up around the Great Hall, it looked as it did at the start of every year, a group of new students looking terrified at the frayed sorting hat on the stool.

The hat opened its brim to begin a new song:

"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me."

I looked up shocked, I had heard many songs at the start of term. I won't pretend I can remember all of them, yet I do remember the first song I heard the hat sing.

I began to look at the students with much greater interest, there was unmistakably Draco Malfoy, Goyle and Crabbe. My eyes were then drawn to the bright red hair of Ron, of course I had taught his older brothers, yet there was my best friend of seven years. I then caught sight of Harry, looking at him I was reminded so much of James and Lily I felt tears come to my eyes. I had tried so hard yet I still couldn't save them.

Lastly my eyes were drawn to the girl stepping up to the sorting hat, I hadn't recognised the name, Geraldine Hanson, yet the bushy hair and big teeth were unquestionably a characteristic she shared with me. As the hat shouted out her House, and she made her way smiling over to the Gryffindor table, I suddenly realised, however much we played with time, whatever we tried things would always come right in the end.