Order was all that Hermione Granger had left in this world. The young witch felt like she was truly and utterly broken when she looked out of the windows of her office in the Ministry of Magic. There would be very few that would stay out of loyalty. They weren't getting paid and that was not something that Hermione could not fault them for.

Hermione wondered if she should have turned and walked away and kept walking when everything got good.

The British Magical community was about ready to collapse. Magical creatures were most self sufficient and they would be fine. It would be the humans that would suffer for the first time in a long time.

Hermione wondered what happened. She wondered why people would turn their backs on the Ministry after all that it did from them.

She wondered why Harry would turn his back on her after all she tried to help him. Hermione gritted her teeth when she walked down the hallway.

"You realize that it's over," Kingsley said. His voice seemed oddly calm, tranquil, accepting. It was almost like he didn't give a fuck anymore.

It was an opinion that was not mutually exclusive for Shacklebolt and several others. Hermione reached into her desk and saw the papers. Laws which would be drafted but they were not worth the piece of paper they were composed on.

"It's over because he destroyed us, out of spite, just because we did the right thing," Hermione said.

"There's no right thing anymore, nothing we could have done would have saved this, all it took was one last push," Daphne said when she showed up. She looked oddly smug about all of this. Then again, she had her investments outside the world and enough money to keep her on her feet for years to come while she rode out the storm. Anyone who could see this coming had money outside of Gringotts. History showed that if the goblins refused to play ball, then their gold was worthless. "He just kicked over the dominos that had been set up from generations of the Ministry. And all he did was reveal what you had planned."

"What's your point, Greengrass?" Hermione asked.

"Harry paid for the consequences of his actions," Daphne answered her. "Don't you think it's fair that you and the rest of the Ministry pay for the consequences of yours?"

"We needed to protect everyone, to stop another Voldemort from happening," Hermione protested.

"Yes, and that worked out really well, wouldn't you think?" Daphne asked her. She was inches away from looking her in the eye. "You know, Granger, you amuse me sometimes. You think that you have all of the answers, don't you?"

Hermione looked back at her. Her greatest failing was thrown in her face. She just wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

This was a point where she didn't have all of the answers. And when she thought that she had all of the answers, Harry Potter kept changing the questions.

"Maybe I can talk to him one more time," Hermione suggested. She grasped at straws, grasped at anything that she could do.

"A fool is one that redoubles her effort constantly through the same avenue that has led to failure," Daphne said. She had the last of her things packed up. A few of them actually had some connections in the Muggle government where they could get jobs there easily. They would be okay.

Funnily enough, the Muggleborn girl had no such connections. She threw herself completely into a world of magic and wonder. She lost everything that connected her to her world.

Daphne may have felt sorry for her in normal circumstances. But given that this was Granger, she felt it difficult to drum up even token sympathy.

Hermione left them. She walked down the completely vacant hallways of the Ministry of Magic.

There were distress calls that came from Diagon Alley but there was no one to stop them. It was being ripped apart by angry and vengeful wizards and witches who wanted their money and were pissed that there was an order signed to kiss Harry Potter, even though it was an unsuccessful one. Hermione kept walking down the hallway.

People passed her. They swept past her like she had the plague. Hermione knew why. She had to co-sign that order to give Harry Potter the kiss.

He wasn't kissed. The Wizengamot disbanded and most of the Ministry was on strike until they got their money. There wasn't anyone around to negotiate with the goblins. Hermione certainly wasn't going to do it because she was on the top of the list of the people the goblins wanted to kill.

Hermione wrapped herself around a cloak. This was going to be a cold night for her.

One last trip to Azkaban and she would need to look him in the eye this time. She couldn't bend, she couldn't break.

She was strong, she believe that.

"So, how does it feel to be a pariah?" Harry asked the second Hermione showed up.

"Why did you do this to me?" Hermione asked.

"Come on now, Hermione, do you really need to make this about you?" Harry asked. "I didn't do anything to do. In fact, on the list of people that I hate, you're actually further down than you think."

Hermione wasn't certain to take this as a compliment or an insult. And that was the enigma of Harry Potter.

"I'm surprised that you're still here," Hermione said. "There's no Ministry law to hold you here."

"I'm waiting for the official world to free me," Harry commented. He actually got the word of his pardon just a few minutes ago. He couldn't resist rubbing Hermione's face in it one last time. He would have been disappointed if she didn't show up, squawking for answers. "There are more surprises along the way for you people, just wait."

"WHY DID YOU DO IT?" Hermione asked.

"There's no need to shout, my hearing is impeccable," Harry answered her. He looked at Hermione. He could tell that she was just one nudge away from going into a full blown nervous breakdown. "Why did I do it? Do you really want to have this discussion now?"

"People are dying!" Hermione yelled.

"People die every day," Harry answered. "I'm going to explain something to you, and this is the last time I can do it. I know that you have to have the last word."

Harry drew a deep breath.

"The Ministry was doomed, they just didn't know it," Harry commented. "They might have not fallen as fast as they did, but I just expedited the process. All I did was kill a woman who everyone in the Ministry considered doing in themselves at least once. But naturally, I'm the villain."

Harry sighed.

"Guess, you're always the hero in your own story and the villain in everyone else's," Harry said. "You would know about that better than anyone else, wouldn't you, Mione?"

Hermione's eye twitched. She hated when anyone retarded her name. She knew Harry knew that.

"This has to be something for you, cold, alone, desperate, reminds me of the first ten years of my life," Harry said. He placed his hand on the barrier, just coming short of touching it. "Do you understand me, Hermione?"

"This was your revenge for being sent to the Dursleys," Hermione said.

"You must simplify the issues," Harry said. "Bullies exist in all walks of life. You just step over them. True evil pretends to be your friend."

Harry looked Hermione dead on the eye.

"I don't owe you anything, in fact you owe me something," Harry said. Hermione blinked. "Do you realize that if I wasn't your friend, you wouldn't have made it out of Hogwarts alive?"

Hermione wondered what the hell he was talking about.

"You would have been killed a long time ago," Harry responded.

"The Slytherins wouldn't have gotten away with it," Hermione said.

"Who said anything about the Slytherins?" Harry asked. "There were plenty of the people in the other three houses that were willing to do you wrong. Your roommates might have smothered you in your sleep if they thought they could get away with it. The only reason you were alive because I was your friend and they knew that you were under the protection of House Potter. To harm you would be political suicide."

"Dumbledore wouldn't have allowed anything to happen to me," Hermione said.

"If you weren't my friend, all you would be to Dumbledore is another name on the Hogwarts register," Harry answered. "Dumbledore was good at playing the game better than anyone. The Weasleys were good soldiers but don't think that he wouldn't sacrifice them if it meant improving his reputation."

Harry waved his hand and smiled.

"And he manipulates you like a puppet on a string from beyond the grave," Harry whispered. "Oh, Dumbledore, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!"

It was almost like Harry respected Dumbledore despite all that.

"Do you think that you're a hero for what you've done, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"I didn't…..I just wanted to do what's right," Hermione said.

"What is right often feels very wrong," Harry replied. "It's not wrong to lie. It is wrong to get caught in one. That means you just aren't very good of it."

Hermione took a step back.

"I don't know you at all," Hermione whispered.

"No, no one in that world ever bothered learn it at all," Harry said. "I look into your face and I see the little eleven year old girl who spouted off all of the books that she read about the famous Harry Potter in."

Harry continued in a picture perfect imitation of her.

"Oh, if I was you, I'd want to find out more about you," Harry commented. "Or maybe it is because I don't want to learn about myself from people who didn't know me."

The barrier in the cell dissolved and Harry stepped out.

Perhaps Hermione was too paralyzed to use her wand or she forgot that she was a witch.

"And you thought that you knew me or perhaps you wished that you did," Harry whispered. He backed Hermione against the wall.

Hermione was breathing in and out about to have a panic attack. Harry had her trapped and could do anything that he wanted to her. That was actually scary.

"What….what are you going to do to me?" Hermione whimpered. Her Gryffindor courage failed her completely.

"Nothing, but it's time to you to leave me," Harry said. He picked up a rock off of the ground and placed it into Hermione's hand. He tapped his finger to the rock.

If Hermione had her wits about herself, she would have realized that Harry created a Portkey without using a wand and inside the walls of Azkaban. The Ministry said that neither could be done.

The Ministry was wrong.

Hermione vanished from the walls of Azkaban. Harry smiled when he saw her where she stood.

"Harry, your ride is here."

Harry turned and smiled. "Thank you, Kara. This place was a nice vacation home, but I think that there's a change of venues."

"So, where did you send her?" Kara asked.

"Diagon Alley," Harry commented. The two of them were ready to head onto bigger and better things.

Harry walked past the Dementors and his human female guards followed him out of the door. Their work wasn't needed.

"Bye Steve, see you later Rob, have a nice day Betty," Harry commented, addressing each of the Dementors. "Stay of trouble, Joe. Adios, Jesus. Bye Walter. Take care, Eliza."

Kara raised an eyebrow. "Okay, you're a little bit strange, sometimes, Har."

"Well if you live the life that I lived, you would be a little bit strange too," Harry answered, shrugging his shoulders.

Once Harry Potter left Azkaban, the Dementors threw a raucous party. Finally that menace was gone and they could be safe again!

X-X-X

"Over the past couple of months, the general public has come to terms that witches and wizards are not something that are a part of fantasy books, they are real. While some have considered it to be a relief, because that would explain very much, there were others that are reluctant to embrace the fact that empowered people are behind us. This information was released after the fall of the British Ministry of Magic. The Charter of 1697 stated that should the Ministry fall, then the dominion of their magical community would fall underneath the British Prime Minister and the government."

"We are pleased to announce that to help us transition into this world, a young man who has lived in both worlds and a true hero who has fought in the shadows," the Prime Minister stated. "Please welcome the new head of the Department of Meta-Human Affairs, Lord Harry James Potter."

There was loud applause as their recently liberated hero made his way to the stage, with his beautiful wife. Lord and Lady Potter stood at the front of the stage.

"I know that this is going to be a rough transitional period for some, more so than others," Harry said. "And I'm sure that you've heard the news that there are many people in the Ministry who have been accused of war crimes. I can assure you that none of this will be swept underneath the rug. The Ministry officials will get a chance to state their case in front of a grand hearing. They will get a proper trial that is issued to them by law in front of a jury that will judge their actions."

The evidence was pretty damning. Harry thought that he would be better than the Ministry and give them a chance to state their defense. That might actually dig some of them in a worse hole.

"I can assure you that we will prove those in the Ministry wrong who say that we can't live side by side, but I'm afraid that we can't solve all of your problems," Harry answered. "We can hardly solve ours with magic after all."

There was laughter from the crowd. Harry had charisma that had them eating out of the palm of his hands.

Of course, the state of the game would be changed. Harry couldn't even begin to guess what was going to happen. All he knew was that those who could adapt could help rebuild something new over the ashes.

Those who caused this mess suffered the consequences. Harry smiled, the good guys won in the end, for now.