Winds of Change – Alternate Endings
A/N: I originally had an ending that would shock most of my regular readers. I then went to one that I was not happy with, so here are all of them for you to read.
Ending One – Ignoring and Disregarding a lot of events in the finished story.
"What happens if you win?"
"You would die"
"And if I win?"
"In that unlikely event" Voldemort said, "I would presume one of my followers would exact some sort of revenge against your first child"
"Easy to get around that" Harry circled around a little bit more. He wanted Voldemort in exactly the right spot.
"How?"
"Adopt"
"Oh" Voldemort was surprised, "I'd never have thought of that one"
"You know what I had planned?" Harry asked the Dark Lord.
"No, but I'm simply dying to know..."
"I had a speech all written out in the event I actually faced you. It went into the morals of defending against an all out attack. Into the roles of the attacker regarding the attacked. It was rather nice, you know. But... after seeing all these bodies littered around the school... I find it degrading and demeaning. So, I'm afraid, you'll not hear my big speech"
"Well I suppose you'd better kill me" Voldemort sneered.
"You're a remarkable man, Thomas Riddle, so I suppose I better had" Harry's wand came up. "Accio Godric Gryffindor's Sword" and the sword flew into the air and was lodged at high speed into Voldemort's body. Just as the blade pierced his flesh, the dark Lord hit Harry with a weakened cutting charm. The body of what was once a man dropped to the ground with the sword sticking out of his back like a flagpole. "Got him" Harry spat out blood, "...Bastard..." and sank to the floor. His last vision was of the doors opening and Hermione rushing in screaming his name.
#
The damaged school was evacuated as quickly as possible, the wounded taken to better facilities and clear up operations launched to arrest the remaining Death Eaters. The only seriously wounded occupant remaining was Harry who refused to respond to anything that Pomfrey tried. When one internal injury was sealed, another one would open up. He was losing a lot of blood, and that was of great concern as nobody could make Harry take a replenisher. Hermione stood with her parents as they watched the teams of Healers all work on the still form, but, sadly, it seemed as if nothing could be done. Whatever Voldemort had done, it was causing the organs to shut down and hinder efforts to restore his health.
"Miss Granger, I am sorry, but there is nothing that we can do now" Pomfrey said after the seventh hour straight.
"No…" Hermione buried her face into her mother's chest and started sobbing. "Isn't there anything you can do for him?" she mumbled.
"I can allow him to be awake until the moment he dies" Pomfrey said. "But that would cause him great pain, and he doesn't deserve that at all" she added.
"I want to see him" Hermione pulled away from her mother.
"I do not think that is very wise" said Pomfrey. "With your emotions as they are, they could cause Mr Potter to die"
"HE IS ALREADY DYING YOU FUCKING BITCH!" roared Hermione – stunning her parents, Pomfrey and the other people gathered there. "WHAT MORE CAN HURT HIM?"
"I can not let you harm my patient" said Pomfrey. "I am going to have to ask you to-" but whatever Pomfrey was going to say was cut off. The moment the older witch touched Hermione's shoulder, the younger one whipped out her wand and blasted the Nurse out the Hospital Wing, down the corridor and out through a shattered window.
"Slag" Hermione muttered, replaced her wand and moved to sit next to Harry. "Oh why does this have to happen to you, Harry?" she whispered. "You defeated Voldemort, you've done what was needed… Why can you not be allowed to enjoy the happiness that was to come?"
"Just my luck…" Harry said as he opened his eyes and looked dimly at his girlfriend. "I didn't think it would come to this" he said sadly.
"I didn't think that either" said Hermione. "Harry, I have something to tell you before you go"
"I know" Hermione opened and shut her mouth in surprise.
"You do?"
"I figured it was you that took the chocolate pudding from my dish"
"It isn't that" said Hermione with a faint smile. Harry, as normal, was thinking of others first. "Do you remember that time before all this started when we took a boat and, well, you know…"
"Yes…" Harry wondered why it was getting darker.
"Well I've got a problem" Hermione leant down and whispered.
"A baby? You're going to have a baby?" Harry was pleased for Hermione, but angry at himself for leaving her in the lurch like this. "I'm dying, aren't I?" and Hermione nodded.
"You're… too sick to get better" the girl let the tears run down her face.
"Life is a bitch, Hermione. I'm sorry I can't be around to help with the child, but I know the group will look after you. You are the named person in my will" Harry told her. And they hugged each other as they cried together.
"I promise to tell our son everything about his father" Hermione promised.
"A son?" Harry's eyes blazed with light for a moment before dimming again. Something behind Hermione caused her to look behind, but she saw nothing.
"Harry?" she questioned him
"Mione?"
"Mmm?"
"It was… fun" he said in a brief laugh. His eyes suddenly picked something out. "Oh my" and spoke no more. Hermione let loose such a wave of magic that it set earthquake detectors in every single country around the world off. It took a full three hours for them to get Hermione away from Harry's body, and it was after Neville and Daphne promised to ensure that no autopsy was carried out on him.
#
"We're ready whenever you are, Ma'am" said an Auror respectfully. Hermione nodded and continued making her final checks on the Firebolt. As she did so, she couldn't help but think about how Harry would have enjoyed one last flight on the Firebolt. Her mind also drifted to the funeral held for him a week after the Battle of Hogwarts, as the press had called it. Harry was buried by the lakeside at Hogwarts, and Hermione was planning and speaking to him when she arrived. A few minutes later, she stood with Harry's broom underneath her. If anybody would be riding it to retirement, then she would be the one to do it.
"London Broom, Good Morning. Firebolt Alpha Foxtrot at Diagon Alley. Requesting flight to Hogwarts" she spoke to the person that controlled broom flights over the capital.
"Firebolt Alpha Foxtrot, Good Morning. London Broom. Flight to Hogwarts approved. All other take offs have been stopped until you have cleared airspace"
"Thank you. Taking off in three, two, one… now" and Hermione lifted into the air with some of Harry's ashes mounted in a small urn on the broom handle. Harry would be getting his last flight after all.
"Firebolt Alpha Foxtrot, climb and maintain flight level four. Weather information, clear and sunny skies. Firebolt Alpha Foxtrot, we have some traffic information for you. A flight of Aurors is joining you at your six. They will escort you part of the way and remain clear at all times"
"Acknowledged, Alpha Foxtrot" Hermione glanced behind her and saw a flight of Aurors wheel in behind and assume formation on her.
"Firebolt Alpha Foxtrot from Escort One. We're honoured to escort you and your cargo part of the way. We shall remain behind you to stop any interference"
"Understood, Escort One" Hermione said.
"We shall endeavour to keep up with you" the Auror said.
"Want to bet?" Hermione asked, and pushed the broom to the very limit. The Aurors were left behind for several minutes until Hermione slowed and allowed them to catch up with her.
"Firebolt Alpha Foxtrot from London Control. Final clearance to Hogwarts is granted. For the last time, come left to 010, climb and maintain flight level five. Contact Oxford on 118.9 Goodbye"
#
"This is harder then it looks" Hermione muttered.
"Nothing to it" Harry said in her ear – even if it was just her imagination. "Come right by twenty degrees and steer 340" he said. Hermione did as her imaginary Harry told her, and found the broom handled better. She had encountered some turbulence passing over Hogsmeade, and figured it was the Anti-Muggle protections which she would encounter as she entered Hogwarts.
"Firebolt Alpha Foxtrot requesting permission for a flyby" Hermione knew it was in Harry's adventurous spirit. It would have been something that he would have liked very much.
"Go for it" said McGonagall's voice. Hermione flew over the broken castle and rolled as she passed over Harry's grave.
"Coming in for a landing" Hermione shook her head as she gave the broom a touch of the helm and brought it around – drifting towards the castle. With not a single trace of any bounce, she landed and shut the broom down as the group gathered around her.
"Do you think he liked that?" asked Daphne. As if in response, a light wind picked up and scattered leaves around.
"I think Harry said yes…" and Hermione went into the school to start a life without Harry.
# # # # #
Ending Two
This was an ending that almost made it to the finished version, but I decided to go with another thread. This ending would missed out by the toss of a penny – so it was that close. Some of it made it, however, to the finished chapter – mainly the flying idea.
Harry Potter watched the ground flying underneath him as he sped through the air on his Firebolt. After some thought, he had decided to donate his Firebolt to the museum built to commemorate the war. He was going to take it on one last flight before putting it on a sealed glass display case.
"Firebolt Alpha Foxtrot, you are cleared to land at Hogwarts. Come right to 340 – ahead half speed"
"Understood" said Harry. He turned the broom towards the repaired castle, slipped through the wards and gently landed on the lawn in front of the main doors.
"Attention!" called one of the Aurors. "Face to front. CnC, Devon" and the line of Aurors saluted Harry – a gesture he returned in kind.
"Mr Potter, I am glad you made it safe and sound" Professor McGonagall said.
"As am I, Professor. As am I" Harry laughed. They strode to the building which housed the museum for the ceremony. It was brilliant and made a big mention of those lives lost to the battle, and he could not believe that it was ten years to the day he had killed Voldemort.
#
"All the time I was Headmaster, I don't think I ever came in here" Harry said, looking around the staff room. He had been invited in with Hermione for a drink with McGonagall and the rest of the DA.
"Well this place is mine" said the Headmistress. "Don't think you can claim it back from me" she added with a smile.
"I wouldn't even want this mouldy place" Harry shot back.
"Good" Hermione said. "Besides, I want you to spend a lot of time in our bed"
"Yes, Mistress" Harry hissed.
"How is your new job going, Mrs Potter?" asked McGonagall.
"Hermione, please, Minerva" Hermione smiled. "I am having a good time dealing with Muggle Relations, as it happens. We're working with the Prime Minister on a number of ideas that we ho-" Hermione was cut off by a loud booming noise.
"An explosion in the main potion lab" said McGonagall. "Quite a few people in there. Gas spreading through the classroom" and Harry grabbed Hermione's arm and vanished on the spot.
#
"Is that all?" asked Hermione. Harry had brought out the last person a moment before, but he was unsure if everyone was truly out.
"I better check" he said, and went back inside the swirling cloud of gas. As he did so, the wards kicked in, slammed the door shut and begin venting the entire classroom of gas.
"HARRY!" Hermione shouted. "Open the door" she demanded from McGonagall.
"I can't" the older witch said. "The ward is designed to work until the entire gaseous content of the classroom is vented"
"All of the gas?" and McGonagall nodded.
"What about oxygen?" Hermione asked, and the Headmistress's eyes widened in horror and the pair started blasting away at the door – joined by the rest of the old DA.
#
When he heard the gas being vented, he knew what was going to happen to him and so he sat on a chair and waited for the end. In his mind, he wondered what Hermione was going to tell him after the ceremony if a reporter had not barged in and ruined the moment.
"What a way to go" Harry said aloud. "I suppose we all have to pay the ferry man some time" and waited for the end to come.
#
"He would have been in little pain, if any, at all, Miss Granger" Pomfrey was comforting Hermione. "I do not know if this helps in any way or not, but he saved the lives of seven students. If they had been in that gas for a minute longer, they would have been no hope of saving them"
"He died doing what he believed in – saving people at all costs" McGonagall said.
"I know, but to survive Voldemort and then die like this…" Hermione shook her head.
"I understand there is nobody to take care of his family issues, at the moment" McGonagall continued. "And that would include his burial. I know that Mr Potter considered Gryffindor House to be his home. With your permission, I'd like to lay him to rest below it" and Hermione smiled.
"He would like that" she said. "But I suppose he would have liked my news even better" the girl added as she kissed Harry's cold forehead and pulled the sheet over his head.
"What is that?" asked both elder witches at the same time.
"I'm carrying his child"
#
A service was held in Harry's memory, followed by a private funeral by invited people only. As the DA stood together to protect and support Hermione, they wondered what life would be like without Harry.
"I can't believe he is gone" Hermione sobbed into her mother's side. "I just don't think I can go on" and there was a long silence.
"He isn't really gone" said Fliss, quietly, "Not so long as we remember him"
#
The grief felt by Hermione was so much that she lost the baby. This, and Harry's death had driven her to suicidal limits. Over the following three months, she tried to kill herself on no more then twelve times, and it depressed her parents and friends to see the brilliant girl act like this. It was, however, Fliss, Charity and Bubbles that came up with the solution on their own, and the three of them launched a raid on Hermione's hospital room.
It would have done the SAS proud!
After knocking out all of the guards and most of the medical staff at St Mungos, they had taken Hermione from her room and taken her to Harry's grave.
"Harry is not coming back" Fliss said. "He wouldn't want you to act like this – would he?" and Hermione shook her head.
"How can I live without him?" she whispered.
"How could he live with you?" Fliss replied. "Easily – he overcame and adapted to what happened to him"
"But it is so hard…" Hermione said. Fresh tears ran down her face as she looked at the marker stone.
"Didn't somebody once say that the secret to living life is to live it?" Fliss asked. Hermione sniffed as she regarded the girl in front of her.
"Maybe you're right" she said at last. "But it is going to be hard… It is going to be so very hard"
"Let us help" said McGonagall. Hermione turned around to see the Headmistress, the DA and her parents all watching her. Mr Granger held out his arms and hugged his daughter in comfort.
"Lets go home" he said. "We'll take a nice long break away from all of this. You can come back here only if you want to" and Hermione looked oddly at her father.
"Of course I have to come back" said Hermione. "Who else would look after his grave?"
#
Hermione would tend Harry's grave every day for the next hundred and fifty years, and she never forgot the good times she had had with Harry for that entire time. When she died, it was agreed by all of their surviving friends that she should be buried alongside him so they could spend eternity together.
# # # # #
Ending Three
Inspired by the episode Call of Silence from Season 2 of NCIS
"You know something, Jess?"
"What?" asked Jess.
"I didn't know you had to take lessons in Japanese to order from the menu"
"You don't have to speak Japanese – you just accept what's in front of you with a smile" Jess replied.
"Brilliant…" the man's eyes rolled round. He would have said something else, but a man came through the wand detector and set a number of alarms off.
"I hope this doesn't mean I can't come in. Now just hold your horses. I wasn't going to hurt anybody with it - its evidence" said the man as he took out his wand and put it on the desk in front of him. The two Aurors looked at each other before Jess shrugged.
"Your turn, Dave" she said.
"Come on in" said the Auror. He got his wand and started to cast detection charms around him – passing the wand over his body slowly. When it got to his neck, he found it vibrated quite a lot. "You wearing jewellery?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah" the main rubbed his neck. "I forgot" and reached into his shirt and pulled out a long ribbon with metal on the end.
"Merlin…" breathed the female Auror. "That is an Order of Merlin 1st Class with a Ruby. Less then twenty have ever been handed out" she said. "Senior Auror Jessica Parker, DMLE. Mister…?"
"Potter" said the man. "Harry Potter. Senior Auror, huh?" he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Just the woman I am looking for"
"It would be an honour to help you, Sir" said Parker.
"Say that after you know why I am here" the man said.
"Is that something to do with the 'evidence' you are bringing in?" asked the woman kindly. The front desk of the Ministry sometimes got people thinking they had brought important stuff in, but they were all a little mentally unbalanced. The man straightened to look into her eyes.
"I killed someone with that wand"
#
"Smith, make Mr Potter comfortable" the head of the DMLE himself said.
"Yes, Sir" and Auror took Harry to a chair.
"If you want to make me comfortable, why not slap a pair of cuffs on me?" he asked.
"How abut something else?" asked Smith.
"Any good at back rubs?"
"Sir? Are we really going to investigate this?" an Auror looked at Harry who was talking with Smith.
"No" replied the Director.
"Ah" said the Auror.
"But we'll humour him" the Director added. "Jones, he says he has been reporting this for the last three weeks. Told me that he couldn't get anybody to believe him"
"What a surprise…"
"Find out who was on call that day and get hold of the Floo call recording" the Director turned to another person. "Tony, dig up Mr Potter's records"
"How? Got a security number I could use?"
"I don't think they had them when he was younger" the Director said.
"Then how?"
"If it is really Harry Potter, you can get his details by checking his address"
"Sir, I don't think he knows what his broomstick registration code is"
"HARRY POTTER!"
"YES?" Harry shouted back.
"BROOM NUMBER!"
"ONE SEVEN ZERO ONE SEVEN FOUR SIX FIVE SIX"
"Or" the Director said, turning to look back at the Auror, "You could look under Order of Merlin 1st Class recipients"
"He won a First Class?" the Auror looked back at the old man.
"You don't win the First Class" the Director told him. "You are awarded it for going above and beyond the call of duty"
#
Some time later, and most of the DMLE had found an excuse to pass by the office with Harry inside it. It was not, after all, every day that you met a living legend.
"Sir, we've found records of Mr Potter's calls to the DMLE and direct to the Auror offices" said Smith.
"What do they say?" asked the Director.
"He keeps claiming to have killed somebody called Luna Lovegood. We did some checking, but we can't find anybody with that name. We checked the records and found nobody alive with that name. We did find a Rebecca Lovegood, but she is alive and well"
"Do you know when he killed her?"
"If his memory is correct…" muttered Smith. "He says he killed her over a hundred and fifty years ago – nearer two hundred"
"Then he would have paid for his crime already…" mused the Director. "Check records for that period, and see if you can find a Luna Lovegood. Check out the education department first" he added.
"Director!" another Auror came rushing into the offices.
"What is it?"
"I found the citation from back in Minister Fudge's days" and the Auror handed the slightly aged parchment over. The Director looked it over and let out a gasp of astonishment.
"Lord Harry James Potter, Student, Gryffindor House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Hogwarts Castle and Grounds, Sixteenth June, Nineteen Ninety-Five. In combat littered with bodies and magical booby traps, Harry Potter led an attempt to rescue Luna Lovegood from captivity whilst Death Eaters and followers of Lord Voldemort were attempting to infiltrate under the cover of darkness. He immediately waged a fierce battle during which cutting and grenade spells gravely wounded his right hand, fractured his thigh and caused severe internal injuries. Near exhaustion from profuse bleeding, he continued to defend his forward position, engaging in hand-to-hand combat when he was out of magical power. At battle's end, Harry Potter was found amid the bodies of twenty six Death Eaters, four Goblins and Lord Voldemort whom he had killed in his self-sacrificing defence of innocents. We are forever in his debt…"
"Gods…" said somebody.
"He started calling four months ago after he said his wife died" said Tony, and they all looked at him.
"What?" Harry asked.
"We just heard about your wife, Mr Potter. You have our condolences" the Director said.
"Thank you. Marrying Hermione was the second best thing to have happened to me" Harry said.
"What was the first?"
"Meeting her" Harry laughed – the first laugh in a long time. "So, when do I get locked up?" he asked.
#
"It is very rude to keep an old person waiting" Harry said.
"We're still looking into your story" said the Director.
"It is not a story" said Harry. "I killed her, and I did it without thinking about it"
"Why not tell me about it?" said the Director.
"Then will you lock me up?" Harry asked hopefully.
"Maybe"
"Mmm" Harry sounded untrusting. "The fighting was terrible. A lot of people had been evacuated after the Death Eaters and their allies had taken over. I was going to be one of the last ones out of Hogwarts. The school was badly damaged and almost a complete loss. We'd tried to hold on to as much as possible, but nothing that we did seemed to work. The second to last group was just about to go when I found out two things. The first was that Luna had been taken by the Death Eaters, and that some of the Portkeys had been broken and therefore could not be used. I refused to let her be left behind, and a few of the others agreed to stay behind. Susan Bones, Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas elected to join me. We had to fight a desperate battle just to get out of the room we were in, and Seamus was badly injured. None of us had any kind of medical training, so we just did what we could and left him behind. We found Luna being dragged by a Death Eater to Voldemort. He was hoping that he could use her mental abilities to find where we were now hiding. I saw her, saw the only way in or out of the room the bastard was in, raised my wand and killed her"
"Killed Miss Lovegood?"
"Yes" Harry nodded, tears running down from his eyes. "I just blasted a hole right through her…" he looked at his hands. "I've still got her blood on these" but the Director knew he was only thinking it.
"Let me see what is going on" and the Director stepped outside and went down the corridor. "Anything?" he asked.
"Only that there was a Luna Lovegood, and that she did die during the Battle of Hogwarts" said Parker. "Sir… there is something that you should see" and she activated the portable viewing globe – something like a Pensieve. It activated with a swirling cloud before settling on the image of Harry being questioned by a pair of Aurors. "This is what happened when we asked him how he supposedly killed Lovegood"
"I pointed my wand and I killed her with it. I smashed her apart! Luna… I blew a hole right through her… I slaughtered her without a thought! I was totally covered with blood!" and the recording showed Harry heading into a break down.
"What happened?" asked Parker.
"He was remembering something he had done. Something I think he had to do" the Director said.
"How do you know?"
"You ever been in a full scale combat?"
"No, Sir. I haven't had that privilege yet"
"Then I hope you never have to. What he did was make one of the worst decisions you could ever make – kill a friend to complete your mission" and the Auror mused on that one for several moments.
"If it is proven that he killed Lovegood without good cause, what could happen?"
"Trial and imprisonment" said the Director. "And a loss of his Order of Merlin"
"I hadn't thought of that" said Parker.
"And neither has Potter. And there's worse. A hero… could go to the grave carrying a guilt he doesn't deserve. I won't let that happen to him" and a disturbance cause him, Parker and a few others to go back out into the corridor. "What is going on here?" he asked.
"We have orders from the Minister to arrest Harry Potter" said an Auror.
"Countermanded"
"I'm afraid the orders came directly from him" and the Auror reached out to grab Harry's arm. As he did so, Parker fiddled with Harry's robe so that it opened out and showed what was around his neck.
"Ten Hut!" and the Aurors saluted Harry and the Order he wore around his neck.
"Now I don't know about you" said the Director, "But I think the Minister can wait a few minutes to have him"
#
"So I didn't kill her?" asked Harry.
"Well you did, but it was a mercy killing really" said the Director. "You are a good man, Mr Potter. That Order of Merlin you wear confirms that to anyone that doubts you" he looked at Harry. It had taken some time, but they had shown Harry Luna's memories of the event, and her thoughts captured before her brain had degraded too badly. He had never seen them before, and finally had the shadow lifted from his mind. "If there is anything that we can do…?"
"How can I be really sure?" Harry asked.
"I don't know. You said that you and your wife were married at Hogwarts. Who was your first choice of Chief Bridesmaid?"
"Oh, that would have been Luna. She said there were no hard fe…" Harry trailed off as he smiled at a long remembered memory. "She told Hermione she had a crush on me, but that she had no hard feelings towards her"
"Sir, you did what you did what you had to do to save the magical world. No other reason" the Director said. "Is there anything that we can do for you?" he asked again. Harry thought for a long time but shook his head.
"I'm just an old man now" he said, "And I'd like very much to go home"
#
Free of doubting and pain, Harry died just a few hours later. A full state funeral was held for him, and hundreds of thousands of people filed past his coffin to pay their respects. After the service, he was carried by members of Hogwarts to his resting place alongside his beloved wife, Hermione. As his coffin was lowered into the ground, the current Gryffindor Quidditch team flew overhead – the Seeker peeling off and turning away towards the setting sun.
Harry Potter was at rest, and it was much deserved.
Ending Four
Didn't get past the thought stage, but would have involved the Power Rangers, the cast from Playdays and Thomas the Tank Engine
