DISCLAIMER! This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy. New Movie is coming in April! Hurrah! Yeah, for Fanfiction – a great place to stretch your imagination and enjoy someone else's creativity too!
One-shot that leapt into my mind this morning while thinking about next episode for Birdshot. 15 October 2022.
Pray for Peace in Europe!
Ghost of A ChanceChange Scene: Autumn 1995, Hogwarts
Harry Potter stumbled back to the Gryffindor dormitory, his brain pounding with a headache worse than any the Dark Lord caused in his scar even when he was furious about something. Hermione and Ron tried to help him up to his bed and left him there to sleep in his robes. Dobby appeared after Harry's friends left and the elf brought a potion he'd stolen from Snape's stores to help the young wizard. Then the elf changed the robes for the teenager's sleepwear and sat beside the sleeping boy for a few minutes, praying that someone would help the best young wizard in the whole world.
"Somebodies somewhere must come help Mr Harry Potters!" Dobby prayed. "Please!"
Change Scene: PLOTTING MADNESS
The next afternoon, Severus Snape entered Dumbledore's office and the headmaster asked, "How did the lesson go?"
"To begin with, the boy had no defences in his mind. My 'lessons' will tear open his mind so completely that the Dark Lord can get inside whenever he wishes."
Dumbledore nodded and pretended to be sad when he said, "I understand this is extremely painful for Harry and will lead to madness in a few years. But the boy-who-lived must die in the next few years so madness in his thirties or twenties is not a concern. It is for the greater good."
"And Umbridge's detentions with the quills? Is that pain necessary?" asked Snape.
Dumbledore nodded. "Harry Potter must be utterly broken so that he'll welcome his death when it comes at the hands of the Dark Lord."
'Or mine,' thought Severus. 'If only the dark lord can kill Potter, I don't have to hold back. I can torture him to insanity with Dumbledore's blessing.'
On the fourth night, Harry collapsed after only five minutes of the 'tuition', and Severus Snape sneered imagining James Potter screaming in pain instead of the boy. From his place on the floor, Harry was almost conscious and thought he saw the form of a redheaded woman appear and approach Severus Snape.
'Lily?' Snape wondered as the graceful woman's figure approached him. There was only the thinnest of gossamer wrap across her form, leading Snape's eyes from her face to her breasts and figure. The smile on the figure's face remained lovely but her eyes glimmered with something more. Snape didn't move as Lily drew closer and her lips grew close to his for the long-desired and imagined kiss from the beautiful witch.
Harry was unconscious as the figure lay upon Severus Snape and melted into his body. Unseen by anyone in the castle, Snape fell to the floor, spasmed and arched his back in pain.
Change Scene: Mum
As he swam up from unconsciousness, Harry heard a woman's voice calling him to wake up. Harry awoke to find the figure of Severus Snape kneeling beside him feeding him a potion. He was on a sofa in Snape's office and the professor spoke with a totally different voice.
"Harry, drink this slowly. It will end the pain."
"What happened? I saw a ghost…I think it was a ghost."
Snape glanced away and his voice returned to normal, "It must have been a dream. How do you feel?"
"The potion helps," the teenager replied but then suddenly pulled back. "Why are you helping me? You've been torturing me."
"Not anymore, Harry. Snape's not going to hurt you again," the woman's voice came back. "Now let's check your mind's protections."
In his mind, Harry felt gentle pressure and then the image of the red-headed woman appeared in his mind. The teenager asked, "Mum?"
"Hello, my baby!" Lily cried as she took him into her arms for a long hug, and many kisses on his face. "I have missed you so much!"
"Mum! Is this real? How can you be here?"
"Yes, as real as it can be within your mind. Now, Harry let's get you healed."
"How is this possible?" asked Harry.
Lily grinned and said, "A good friend of yours prayed for help and Heaven decided to send me to check on you."
"Heaven!"
"Yeah, your dad and I are both in heaven where things are really great. Anyway, I got to come back first to start making things better for you. Your father will visit next, and I am certain that Snape and Dumbledore will regret the day they meddled with the Potters."
After a half-hour repairing the natural defences in Harry's mind, Lily hugged and kissed her son one last time for the evening. She said, "Now, we'll leave your mind and I'll send you to your dorm for the night. Remember, this is Severus's body, but I am in control."
Once Harry found himself back on the sofa he asked, "Mum, do you know all the things Snape did and said to me? Starting with my first potions class in potions."
"No. What's he been doing?" asked Lily before she frowned and reached out one of Snape's hands to caress to view his memories with more care. The frown on Snape's face grew deeper and his eyes flared with green flames.
"Go on back to the tower, Harry. Snape is here in a corner, and I need to have words with the greasy git!" Lily hissed.
Change Scene: Inside Snape's Head
"I'll get loose! And when I do, I shall show you what a Death Eater can do to your soul, Lily Evans!"
"No, you won't. I am here at the invitation from Magic and Heaven. Your time on Earth is limited to the length of time needed for James and me to fix things. Then you have an appointment with the gatekeepers."
Severus twisted and turned but he could not escape the bonds that held him fast.
Change Scene: The Next Lesson
Harry was cautious when he entered Snape's office the next evening. Professor Snape looked up from his desk and pointed toward the sofa.
"Was last night real?" asked Harry with concern evident in his voice.
Laying aside the quill and rising, Snape's figure walked around the desk to sit on the sofa beside Harry and said, "Close your eyes and just listen to my voice."
Harry did close his eyes and the voice modulated to be Lily's voice once again. She took Harry's hand as she said, "Yes, Harry. I'm here to set things right. Snape is tied up and I'm starting to change things already."
"Mum!" Harry cried as he reached out and hugged the figure in front of him.
"There now, my sweet baby boy, let's continue working…" Lily's voice said before she broke off and held up the teenager's hand.
"What is this scar?" she asked careful to control her anger.
Harry explained about the new DADA professor and Umbridge's detentions where she made him use the Dark Quill. Rising from the sofa, the Snape figure pulled out several potion bottles that she checked and then poured on his scars. The skin tingled and Harry grinned even though it was Snape's face he looked at.
When Dolores Umbridge left her office for the evening, she vanished and was never seen again. The following morning, Deputy Headmistress McGonagall searched for Umbridge and when she entered the DADA professor's quarters and office, her belongings vanished so it appeared that Dolores had done a runner. Later that same morning, Snape's mouth with Lily's voice summoned Dobby Elf. The little elf appeared but knelt on the floor and wrapped his arms around himself without saying anything in the presence of the angry angel from heaven.
"You did well with Umbridge's belongings. Does the toad appreciate her new quarters?"
Without looking at the spirit-possessed professor, Dobby replied, "Toad Lady screams and cries in dark. Then lights come on and snakes come out to rocks to snip and squeeze. Toad Lady screams and runs into the dark then runs back when she sees giant snake rotting on floor. She be running around screaming when Dobby leaves."
Snape's face smiled and Lily's voice once again said, "Very good Dobby Elf. You're helping protect Harry Potter by giving Professor Umbridge, new permanent quarters."
"And Missy Ghost Mum sure Toad Lady never gets out?"
"She'll never get out. Harry's the only one who can open the door and Dumbledore's warned him to stay away." She smirked and added, "Keep up the good work. After this minute, you will spend every minute of your life protecting Harry Potter with your magic. Don't let anyone hit him with curses or potions."
"There's be potions already…"
"What potions?" hissed Lily's voice in Snape's mouth making the elf faint. There were curses thrown in Snape's quarters after lunch that shook the whole lower half of Hogwarts castle. The ghosts fled and elves hid in the kitchens. The portraits refused to go and investigate and the students in Slytherin fled to the Great Hall. Trembling stones crumbled in several locations and cracks appeared in the walls around Dumbledore's office.
By supper time, the castle settled, and Dumbledore became convinced that sympathetic magic reflected from under the earth caused by a terrible earthquake in Chile in South America the week before. Severus Snape sent word that he was busy brewing potions and would not appear in the Great Hall.
During the night, Dumbledore's lemon drops were doused in a wit-numbing potion, his ever-full bottle of water beside his bed was filled with nightmare drops that would be refilled every night, and hate-me potion was prepared for his morning cup of tea. That night began a tough week for the headmaster as he proved slow to respond to questions, suffered restless nights without end, and found that none of the staff would remain in his company for longer than necessary and in the Wizengamot, he was subject to resounding boo's whenever he rose to speak.
Scene Change: Slytherin Problems
The students in Slytherin found their head of house did not pay attention to any of their problems. When they were assigned detentions and lost points, Professor Snape raged at them for being clods and imbeciles with all the worst characteristics of Gryffindors! In Potions class, he shielded the cauldrons of the other houses and when a Slytherin attempted to sabotage one of their potions, the ingredients always fell into a Slytherin's cauldron and caused explosions that sent the snakes to the infirmary.
The duels in the common room grew worse as neutral students stood up to the worst blood purists. The two seventh years who had already taken the Dark Mark grew sick and rather than go to the infirmary for treatment left Hogwarts.
Then Draco Malfoy fell ill and despite Madam Pomphrey's best efforts, the boy did not recover. She defied Dumbledore to contact his father who told her to keep his son at Hogwarts not wanting the boy brought back to the manor where the Dark Lord now held sway.
Finally, in the middle of one morning, Mrs Narcissa Malfoy appeared at the gates, bullied her way past Dumbledore and his minions into the infirmary. There she persuaded Poppy to declare Draco's illness life-threatening to override Dumbledore's control of an emergency floo connection to Saint Mungo's and took her son to the hospital.
PRANKS ON DEATH EATERS
In early December, Harry arrived at Snape's office for his extra tuition to find Severus Snape staring at his reflection in a mirror.
"Hey, Harry," came a different voice. "Your mum had to go rest for a while and it's my turn to have some fun."
"Da…dad?" asked the teenager.
"The one and only!" replied the ghost of James Potter. "Come give your dad a hug. Can't let your mum have 'em all."
Father and son held each other for a long time and James whispered, "Sorry about the messy hair genetics. Your mum explained to me about that being a family trait passed down from father to son in our line."
"My hair's fine," Harry said without looking at his dad. "It's great to hear your voice."
"It's great to hold you, Harry!" James replied. "But I don't blame you for not looking. Snape's an ugly fellow."
"Mum and I are working on my defences for my mind and she's running roughshod over the headmaster and the Death Eaters who were in the castle."
"Just remember to never tick your mum off Harry. She is one crazy woman when she's mad."
"So, what will we work on?"
"Well…it's been a long time since I got to pull any pranks on anyone. And I know there's a bunch of death eaters thinking they're above the law again. How about we prank them?"
"Okay but how?"
Rolling up his sleeve and revealing the Dark Mark, Severus Snape (James Potter) grinned and said, "Can you imagine what casting spells through the Dark Mark might do at the next meeting when they get together to kiss someone's feet?"
"What kind of spells?" asked Harry.
"Explosive farts would be first, then sleep spells, urges to run naked through Diagon Alley," James suggested. "Know any of those charms?"
"No, I can't say I do," Harry admitted.
"Then you'll have to learn! Now 'winds' is a simple spell…" James said, pulling out Snape's wand and demonstrating how to cast the jinx into the moving dark mark of the Dark Lord.
A half-hour later, Harry asked, "Dad, can we do any time delays on these jinxes?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, right now all the Death Eaters have been breaking wind, crying, and falling asleep. The dork lord will be getting suspicious."
"Dork Lord…I love that!" James said.
"Anyway, can he figure out it's you…us…Snape and cut him out of the network.
"That's good thinking Harry. What do you suggest?"
"We make a jinx hit 'em and then wait three hours before another one – a different one – takes over. They need to fart while they are with other wizards like at the ministry. And running naked through Diagon Alley has to be during the daytime."
"Okay, timers are a qualifier you have to add to a jinx immediately after casting it," James said as he explained how to cast the charm to add the tempus spell to a jinx.
"How do we keep him from finding out this is you and me doing this?"
James grinned and said, "Well, since I'm not Severus Snape, the Dark Lord or Dork Lord…yeah Dork Lord…can't find me.
"But this is still Snape's body."
"And the dark mark is tied to Snape's pitiful soul. Lily left him tied up, knocked out, black and blue, gagged, and hairless."
"Hairless?"
"Yeah, it's a terribly painful hex your mum created when we were in the fifth year," James admitted. "It's why the marauders quit hexing and jinxing anyone except for Slytherin students."
"Teach me!" Harry begged his father.
Dumbledore became concerned as the days passed and the Daily Prophet carried photos of naked Death Eaters dancing along the length of Diagon Alley. They didn't fire any spells at anyone – they just danced back and forth a few times until they collapsed from exhaustion. Reports from Azkaban were that the prisoners danced naked at least once a day and excited the Dementors into frenzies that made them dangerous.
Several meetings of the Wizengamot didn't go as expected when the members suspected of having the Dark Mark would suddenly explode with noxious winds that brought loud complaints from other members. And air freshening charms proved ineffective. The smelly members left each session and seeing they held the balance, the neutrals and light members worked out several deals on new businesses, taxes, fired ineffective members of the Wizengamot and put Fudge on notice of review.
Change Scene: LILY POTTER'S PAYBACK
The Daily Prophet didn't have any wild stories to report about Death Eaters doing any wild antics on a Wednesday and when he arrived for his 'extra potions tuition', Harry realized his Mum was back in possession of Snape's body. After his happy reunion with his mum, Harry told her about the pranks and how funny the pictures had been.
"Your father still loves his pranks," Lily confessed.
Sighing, Harry said, "Dad wanted to give them some payback."
Lily snorted and her voice from Snape's mouth said, "Your Dad's a child at heart. Watch the next few days for reports of real payback."
The headlines of Daily Prophet for the next week reported that reformed and suspected Death Eaters began duelling each other and dying any time they met in the ministry, the Wizengamot, and Diagon Alley. Two wizards even pulled their wands out in the lobby of Gringotts Bank before the goblins gutted and beheaded them on the marble floor. The death eaters killed each other with overpowered cutting curses, entrail exploding spells, beheadings, and impalement by silver or icy stakes. The werewolf Greyback was found skinned with his head removed and his pelt missing. (Reports of King Ragnok in Gringotts receiving the werewolf pelt and head as gifts were never confirmed nor denied.)
One evening, Lucius Malfoy led a team of three Death Eaters in an attack on Saint Mungo's Hospital. The healers and Aurors on duty positioned themselves in the hallway where Sirius Black was receiving treatment, but Malfoy and his compatriots attacked the rooms on the other end of the hospital and killed all death eaters in the hospital for treatment as well as his wife and son.
CHANGES TO SCENE: Dumbledore Grumbles
When Dumbledore could get Severus to come to his office for a meeting, Snape reported that the boy had suddenly developed incredibly powerful defences in his mind.
"He'll keep the Dark Lord out without trying," Severus said. "It appears to be completely natural too. A very rare but powerful skill."
"That's unfortunate," the headmaster replied. "How strong are they?"
After a moment's thought, Severus said, "Why not try them yourself?"
"I don't want to be seen testing Harry's Occlumency defences," replied Dumbledore with some distaste evident on his face.
"Then do it tomorrow night. He has Astronomy at 10:30 at the top of the school. Hide under a disillusion spell and from the shadows you can cast Legilimency and test them yourself," Severus suggested.
"And no one will know!"
"Exactly."
"I appreciate your intelligence my boy, but tell me, have you had a summons from the Dark Lord?" Dumbledore inquired.
Snape sneered and replied, "He seems to have forgotten about me. With the antics and stupidity of the other Death Eaters running around starkers and then killing each other, I believe the Dark Lord has become senile."
"Surely not…he's only in his late 70s."
CHANGES TO SCENE: Dumbledore Stumbles
The next night, Dumbledore placed himself under a powerful invisibility spell with the Elder Wand and apparated inside the castle to the top of the astronomy tower just before the start of the boy's astronomy call. He would rifle through Harry Potter's mind in the darkness of the Astronomy Class, and no one would ever know.
Snape (Lily) was also present underneath the Potter invisibility cloak that she'd removed all of Dumbledore's tracking and monitoring charms to watch the headmaster.
When Harry arrived with his friends, Dumbledore barely waited for the professor to begin before he cast Legilimency with the Elder Wand. The probe reached Potter's mind and was grabbed by giant hands, rolled into a ball, and thrown back at Dumbledore with ten times the original power in the spell Albus cast. The headmaster was thrown back and over the balustrade. He fell gracefully and silent for almost two hundred meters before the rocks broke his fall – and most of the bones in his body.
CHANGES TO SCENE: Change the Ghost
The next day, Harry was glad to find his dad back and Snape (James) said nothing to when his son mentioned the headmaster had vanished. It was another two days before anyone became worried and Harry talked to his dad. James replied, "Disappeared? I don't pretend to understand how his mind works. He might have gotten a call from Fudge and gone to the ministry."
"You didn't do anything did you?"
"No, not me," the voice of James replied. "Now, let's see your defences in your mind and then we'll work on some transfiguration spells."
The invisibility spell cast by Elder Wand lasted for three more days. The Aurors were called when the students going to Care of Magical Animals saw the mangled body lying on the rocks. In their investigation, the Aurors determined the headmaster had fallen from a great height, possibly from a broom that had flown on to vanish in the forbidden forest.
The tragedy grew strange when under the headmaster's corpse, they found a cage with a wounded but living rat that proved to be an Animagus. Peter Pettigrew's sudden reappearance was explained by Professor Snape as a secret that Dumbledore was investigating.
"Albus believed that Sirius Black was innocent and spent many hours investigating and looking for Peter who is a rat Animagus. Obviously, the headmaster found Pettigrew and tried to return to Hogwarts with the criminal. Perhaps he'd been injured and fainted…that would explain falling from his broom."
Amelia Bones took custody of Peter Pettigrew and called for an emergency meeting of the Wizengamot where Cornelius Fudge was ignored. Peter ratted out the Dark Lord, the few death eaters who remained alive, and confessed that he had been the traitor who led the Dark Lord to James and Lily Potter's home on Halloween 1981.
While everyone was distracted by Pettigrew's trial and then the yelling match between Bones and Fudge about the innocence of Sirius Black, Severus Snape slipped away from Hogwarts to collect the Dark Lord's great treasures. He returned with the Gaunt family ring, Ravenclaw's Diadem, Slytherin's Locket, a petrified and miniaturised snake. The final piece was moved from Harry's scar and confined to the glass Dumbledore's candy dish.
In a carefully worded letter, Snape informed the goblins in Gringotts about the presence of a Horcrux in the bank as well as the identity of the vault holder. Azkaban reported a break-in(!) and the death of the LeStrange family members held prisoner. In the aftermath of Sirius being declared free and blameless, he inherited the LeStrange fortune and in a lucid letter (written by Snape (Lily) and signed by Sirius at Harry's urging) the goblins brought the cup to the Department of Mysteries on February 28 where Harry Potter threw every Horcrux through the veil.
When he was taken into custody the next morning as all the remaining death eaters collapsed, Lucius Malfoy reported that that the previous evening, the Dark Lord collapsed and turned to goo when the magic holding him together recalled.
CHANGES TO SCENE: FREE WILLY!
It was only one week later that the body of Severus Snape lay dying in Hogwarts infirmary. There were only minutes left and nothing Poppy could do would delay the inevitable. The death of the Dark Lord drained away Snape's magical core and he would die this morning. To ease his passing, she cast a privacy spell and allowed Harry Potter to sit beside his potion's professor.
She and Minerva saw the boy sit and take Snape's hand and speak with him. Harry kept his eyes closed while he held the hand of the wizard in the bed. He heard his father's voice, felt his dad squeeze his hand, but didn't have to see the withered face of Severus Snape.
"Harry, your Mum and I are very proud of you," announced the voice of James Potter.
Smiling and keeping his eyes closed, Harry asked, "Is there any part of Snape that is good?"
"No," replied James. "Your mother tried to find some part – any part – that was good in his soul, but he played both sides of the war, and wanted to take revenge on you just because you are my son. He raged at your mother and me while we possessed him. He's dead now and your mum is dragging his soul to the gatekeepers. Last time I was in heaven, they had Dumbledore tied up in a bundle waiting for Snape to arrive…I think Death plans to let them keep each other company for a thousand years."
"Dad, you and mum saved me again," Harry said, a few tears falling down his face.
"You're our boy! Of course, we saved you! We love you Harry, don't ever doubt that," replied the voice of his dad. "But now I need to go and be with your mum. Snape is dead and Death won't let me linger here much longer."
"Okay, I'm glad I got to know you some," Harry said. "But what do I do now? Do I have to go back to the Dursleys after school?"
"No, never," replied his father's voice from Snape's face. "Once Padfoot is out of Saint Mungo's in another week, you two take a vacation for spring break."
"Where should we go? I've never been anywhere."
The voice replied, "Anywhere outside Britain and once you get there, stay there!"
"How long should we stay there?"
"Stay as long as you want; a year, a month or forever are all fine. Once you're someplace safe and far from here, send a letter to Miss Kitty that you've resigned from Hogwarts…or better make Padfoot send the letter as your guardian. And then you write letters to the parents of your friends who are muggle-born advising them to get the hell out of Magical Britain. Don't say anything to your friends themselves before you leave. This place will never change. Have Lord Black write letters to the purebloods who are your friends and advise them to move but you write the letters to the muggle parents. Tell 'em everything and urge them to leave."
"Moving to another country is expensive," Harry reminded his father's ghost.
James's voice chuckled, "And your mum and I planned a great prank. Ole Snivellous had access to Dumbledore's vaults. There were millions of galleons stolen in the last fifty years. We took Snape to Gringotts and set up everything to pay for muggle-born and half-blood families to do a runner to anywhere in the world. Tell them it's easiest to move to Canada, Australia, or the USA. And tell them to communicate with a Goblin named Free Willy. He has all paperwork and can fast track them out of Britain."
"Free Willy?" asked Harry, opening his eyes and seeing a weak grin on Snape's shallow face.
"I got the last prank! Score! Make sure…cough…you tell Padfoot this story someday. Anyway, Free Willy isn't the goblin's real name but a code word for your friends' parents to use with the tellers at Gringotts or with a letter. There was a movie from a couple of years ago that made your mum laugh when we watched it about a giant whale getting set free."
Harry asked, "Do you get to watch movies? The afterlife sounds very strange."
Closing Snape's eyes, the voice of James Potter laughed one last time and said, "Heaven is different but good."
Poppy Pomphrey and Minerva McGonagall were amazed that Severus Snape and Harry Potter had bonded so completely before the potions professor passed away. The boy didn't attend the funeral and seemed to recover from his grief quickly. In the last week of the Winter Term, Harry seemed to visit every part of Hogwarts and was seen talking to house-elves on several occasions. Keeping her opinion to herself for once, Minerva didn't interfere when the boy-who-lived signed up to leave for Spring Break. Even when she heard he was to travel in the company of his godfather, Sirius Black, she managed to remain silent. She did make certain Remus Lupin was aware of the plans and the werewolf replied that he would reach out to Sirius, but they were not speaking often since the Grim's release from Saint Mungo's.
CHANGES TO SCENE: The Aftermath of Ghost of a Chance
No.4 Privet Drive burned to the ground on a Friday morning while Vernon and Petunia Dursley attended the trial of their son who had stolen and wrecked an expensive automobile on a lark. Dudley had severely injured two passengers in his car, killed the driver of another car and injured eight people on a sidewalk. Vernon and Petunia only learned about the fire after their son had been sentenced to three years in juvenile detention and then twenty-five years in prison. The bad press of the trial cost Vernon a promotion and their insurance policy on the house had lapsed – the money for the solicitor to defend Dudley had taken all their money.
Sirius Black apparated his godson away from the Hogsmeade train station when the boy left for spring break in March 1996. The day the students' returned to Hogwarts at the holiday's end, Acting Headmistress McGonagall learned that Mr Harry Potter's guardian had withdrawn the boy-who-lived from Hogwarts to continue his education with tutors or another school. The DMLE was too busy to look for the boy and his crazy godfather.
In the next week, letters arrived for a few friends in his class and when she demanded to read the letters, found the pages to be blank but for cartoon characters blowing raspberries or worse at her. The students reported that Harry wrote he wanted a change from dreary Scotland. While that didn't satisfy the Headmistress, her attention was diverted by someone delivering bombs of catnip in her private quarters for the next week. Minerva was frazzled and worn after her Animagus form spent hours running wildly about the castle each night and she put Harry Potter out of her mind.
When the students returned to London at the end of the school year, many of them found surprises waiting for them. The Creevey family departed from the station and were never seen again in Magical Britain. Hermione Granger and her parents didn't even return to their old home in Crawley but used the tube station to go to another train station where they boarded a train headed for Paris using the Chunnel.
In the French capital, Hermione was allowed to read the letter they'd received from Harry Potter that detailed all the adventures their daughter never shared with her parents. Without too much protest, Hermione travelled with her parents to Australia where they began a new life and she enrolled in a magical school that combined muggle classes with reasonable magical classes. The fact that Harry Potter and several other students (the Creevey brothers being two) from Hogwarts were also enrolled there eased her transition to the new society.
In August 1996, McGonagall grew more disturbed. None of the new muggle-born students accepted their places at Hogwarts and none of the older muggle-born returned on 1 September. Select purebloods such as Luna Lovegood had moved to other schools and only Neville Longbottom and Ron Weasley remained in the sixth-year dorm in Gryffindor. By Christmas, half of the staff was laid off because there weren't sufficient funds for salaries and at the spring break in 1997, the school closed. The castle's house-elves vanished, and the first major migration of the magical fellows occurred when a large number of them appeared in Australia.
END OF STORY