Author Note: A view of what happened to some of the players in the tale. Bookended by Minerva McGonnegal.
===xxx===xx
Minerva McGonnegal woke up, did her usual morning ablutions and had breakfast before moving to her office. She looked at the painting of the former headmasters and greeted them before settling behind the large oak desk to review the upcoming new students.
She had gone through the list making a few notes, assigning professors to visit the muggle-borns and introduce them to the wizarding world. She was glad that their world had changed so much after the war. The old guard finally having fallen, if not completely at least enough that they no longer ruled with an iron fist.
Telling the person who knocked to come in she greeted her assistant headmaster Filius Flitwick.
"Minerva? Going over the new students list?"
"Yes. The numbers are coming up nicely. Society is recovering rather well after the last two wars." She happily said.
"Anyone interesting?" He asked setting his Jumja tea cup down carefully.
"Well the oldest Potter child will be joining us." Minerva casually said.
"Oh dear. Do you know anything about them?"
"Well his name is Daniel James. After each of his parent's fathers. He is getting high marks in primary school. Has already had several experiences with accidental magic and is apparently a prodigy with the broom." She said deadpan.
"So in other words a fine blending of the two of them." Filius said with a smile as Minerva passed along the file to him.
"The second Longbottom child will be joining us as well."
"Ah yes. Luna wrote me about her. Celeste is probably going to wind up taking more after her father than herself she said."
"Oh such a pity that Gryffindor gets another Longbottom." Minerva smugly chuckled.
"I still have her older brother Phoebus. And they have one more in the nest and one on the way." He heartily laughed.
"Yes. And with their parentage who knows where they will wind up." She said shaking her head.
"So any Weasleys?"
"Well Ginny's son will be joining us. He will be going by her name since she and his father divorced."
"Ah. Her second one isn't it?"
"Third. With a child from each husband." Minerva sighed distastefully.
Filius shrugged, "Humans. Eh."
Minerva continued, "Her brother Ronald has a son as well coming in. Although from what it seems he might not be as well prepared as I would have hoped."
"I lost track of Ronald, Who did he marry?"
"He married Lisa Turpin." Minerva stated after checking the files.
"Loose legs Lisa?" Filius snorted then took a sip of his tea to try and cover.
"Excuse me Filius?"
"Uh well I'd heard a few of the boys in the upper classes call her that. Apparently she would uh. Help a boy become a man for the right price, if you understand what I mean."
Minerva was frowning so hard Filius, for a moment, felt he was going to wind up in detention before he remembered he was a fellow professor. "What is done is done. I have no idea the sort of woman she grew into but they appear to be happy and stable, enough."
"Well still a sad turn out for one of the trio. Janitor at the Ministry." Filius shook his head.
"Yes well he had to start somewhere after his breakdown." Minerva pointed out.
Filius shrugged, "Anyone else?"
"Not this year. According to the book we will eventually have a few more Potters, Longbottoms, George Weasley's child. Finnigan, and Bones among a few others."
"Ahh. It is good that the school is starting to get full again."
"Yes, the hum and bustle of the students is music. And a full complement of professors as well."
"Ahh yes getting rid of that curse was tough but worth it. His death weakening it certainly helped." Filius agreed.
===xxx===xx
Healer Longbottom had arrived at the castle a week before school started. He strode to the headmaster's office before pausing to knock on the door. He had been graduated almost two decades and this door still made him nervous.
Getting permitted entry he walked in wiping his hands on his pants. "Headmistress."
"No need for formalities Neville. We are equals here."
"Yes ma'am. I suppose." He said with a awkward smile.
"Its been two decades and you still need to relax. Shall I send for some tea?"
"No thank you ma'am. I'm alright."
"Well then let us get down to business. Have you considered my offer?"
"To take over the hospital wing? I suppose it could be interesting to do so. What about madam Pomfrey?"
"She will be cutting back her duties as she has developed Irumodic Syndrome. Although please keep that under your hat, she doesn't want anyone to feel sorry for her." Minerva said gently.
"Oh. I see. Well. That's unfortunate." He said gently, "She would be staying on?"
"Oh yes. I've told her we will not cast her to the winds."
"And the fact that I've been working with Padma, Lavender and Cho on diseases of the brain had nothing to do with the offer?"
"Well maybe a little bit." Minerva said with a smile.
Neville leaned back in the chair and considered things for a few minutes, "When I'm not putting ribs back together from Quidditch or fixing first years and their spell failures I want to be able to continue my research. I also want my team from Mungo's to have full access and communication with me here."
"I think that can be arranged quite well."
"Good. I think we can take care of things then, Minerva." Neville said with a grin.
===xxx===xx
Susan Bones sighed looking in the mirror. She had just turned 42 a few days ago and was feeling contemplative. Her life had not gone quite the way she had thought it would. Her entire family had been killed in the war and she was the last member of her bloodline. Her friend Harry Potter was the last of his. She had joked that the two of them should get together but he had fallen head over heals for Hermione Granger and turned her down.
She had dated and looked for someone she felt enough emotions to settle down with only to not find anyone. One reason or another they didn't measure up to her standards. Maybe it was she had been pushed by her aunt to not accept anything or anyone less than the best. Her aunt had been a single woman all her life for that reason. Susan was sure she had taken lovers to bed. After she had died Susan had found a box in her aunt's house with pictures and notes from several men and even a couple of women. When she had looked for these people she found that they had been killed during the first Voldemort War as it was being called now. The death toll had been horrible she had known intellectually but that reminder just made it seem so much more real.
Looking at her reflection she smiled a little bit as she acknowledged she was still a good looking woman. A bit on the heavier side of average, gold rimmed glasses from working in the DMLE as a prosecutor in the DMLE under Minister Granger. Her Auburn hair still didn't have any grey in it and when she wore it loose it flowed like silk as one of her boyfriends had waxed eloquently.
She had eventually had two children. Both boys which carried on the Bones family name at least. The father of them was Harry Potter. She had convinced Harry and Hermione to help her and they had agreed. To Susan's amazement Hermione had agreed to let Harry wine, dine and impregnate her the natural way. The fact she was several months pregnant and not in the mood to have sexual relations might have helped with that. Officially both boys had been the result of magical implantation but her, Harry and Hermione knew the truth which would be going to the grave with them.
She got dressed and ready to go to the office. Leaving the boys with the sitter was still a bit of a worry after all this time. Even though the Death Eaters had been gone for two decades she still woke up occasionally with nightmares. One of the things her and Harry and Hermione would sometimes sit and talk about after dinner while the kids played.
Hugging the boys Edward and Jacob as she got them heading out the door she smiled, the usual grey clouds parting and a smile forming on her face. Yeah her life was not all that bad.
===xxx===xx
Daphne Greengrass-Nott stepped out of the Bentley limo on her husband's arm. She forgot which ambassador or was it a congressman from the States they were meeting for dinner tonight. She checked to make sure her decolletage was properly on display as she had heard he was a chest man. Theodore's corporate holdings spanned the globe and he had real power and wealth. Something any Slytherin would be proud to go after. That it came from muggles, magicals or squibs didn't matter, money was money.
Their children had gone to the best private primary school and would of course be going to Hogwarts. Their behavior and attitude would of course be a credit to their family and upbringing. Nott and her having rejected the blood purity long ago. Power had no relation to the type of blood.
Putting on a smile she shook the hand of the gentleman from Canada it turned out. She laughed inside as she knew from the way he smiled that two things would come from this dinner, Theodore's business request was going to get the go ahead and that the man would never remember what color her eyes were, much less she had them. There was definitely more than one way to have power over people.
===xxx===xx
Draco knelt at the grave of his wife. Astoria had been a good woman and given him a strong son, even at the expense of her health. She had kept it hidden from him during the time he had courted her and even into their marriage. She had hoped the curse would skip over her. Maybe it had faded enough she would be spared it she had told Draco when she finally started becoming sick. Her health fading after giving birth of their son had caused Draco to spare no expense, pushing for someone to help her. The best healers, muggle doctors, even going so far as to bring in voodoo practitioners before Astoria forbade him doing anything further. To let her spend her final days with dignity and grace.
He missed her deeply. Many of the people he went to school with still regarded him as a questionable person, a potential backstabber due to his shifting loyalties during the war. That was fair as the only people he was really loyal to were Astoria and his son Scorpius. His mother had broken his trust but he had reconciled with her before she died at least. He missed Astoria but the pain was fading a little bit each day.
As he was leaving he noticed a heavy set woman he thought he recognized putting flowers on a recent grave. He had a random thought cross his mind that he didn't mind the view of her backside when she bent over, full plump and shaped like a ripe apple. Then a part of his mind berated him for having such a thought, even though his wife had been gone for five years by now.
He was standing there when the woman started walking towards the gate he was standing beside. She stopped and smiled briefly as she recognized him. "Hello Draco."
"Millicent? Is that you?"
"Yes. How are you?" She said politely.
"I'm. I'm fine enough. How are you?" He asked before kicking himself for how stupid that question had to be, she was putting flowers on a grave that was so recent it hadn't even had grass grow on it yet.
She sighed deeply, causing Draco to notice her bosom was rather well developed as well. She had always been a big girl but now that bigness was distributed in ways that were softer and rounder than she ever was in school. She had been a thick block of muscle in school, now there was padding in all the proper places. Again he winced internally as his desires reared their ugly head.
"I'm dealing things." She said in a sad tone.
"Right, of course you are. I understand completely. Its been a while since I spoke with anyone socially."
"Astoria is a few rows over isn't she?"
"Yes. May I ask who you are here for?" Draco carefully asked.
"Darius Flint. My husband. He was killed in an accident last month."
"Oh. My condolences. He was Marcus' older brother wasn't he?"
"Yes. We met at a Quidditch game of his brothers. We hit it off and well, here we are two decades later, I'm a widow with three children and not much else to say. Other than it was a good life."
"Oh. I know how you feel. Well, have you had lunch yet?"
"No. But I'd like to make sure you understand it's only as an old friend." She nodded with a gentle smile.
Pushing the impure thoughts down he smiled and held his arm out, "Quite understandable. I have no problem with that. Well, my treat then."
She took it with an awkward smile. "Thank you."
===xxx===xx
Minerva woke up on her 150th birthday. She was moving slower and with the help of a cane these days but she was still the headmaster and still proud to be teaching the children of the wizarding world.
She settled in her office. Flitwick had retired to his goblin warrens and Professor Potter, Harry and Hermione's son DJ, was her assistant and someday he would be sitting in the big chair. As she moved and felt a twinge go down her back she wondered once again how many more days that would be before it happened.
She looked over the paperwork and the cards and well wishers. Not as many of the old names were in there as far too many had crossed over already. Poppy long ago, Pomona a decade later. Even Hagrid with his giant constitution had finally crossed only a few years ago. Ronald Weasley had finally given up trying and had one relapse too many of the old addictions after his wife had left him, his children estranged from him. Harry and Hermione the only friends he really had left at the end.
There were new teachers, new spells, even a new form of magic was being taught by the techno-mancers. After Hermione had solved the wizarding world's problems she had retired from politics and with Luna's help revolutionized the way magic looked at muggle items. Now the two worlds were getting ever more closely blended.
Now she was dealing with the grandchildren and in a few cases the great grandchildren of the Hero generation as they had become to be known. Rather against their will in some cases as Harry Potter had hated being called a hero. He eventually gave up fighting the name and just sighed and smiled, without it ever reaching his eyes, whenever anyone used that name.
She filed the papers she had meant to complete today and thought that maybe a slight nap would be a good idea. Laying down and making herself comfortable on the couch in her office she pulled the clan tartan comforter closer around her. She smiled as she thought she heard the pipes and drums of a band off in the distance. She did miss the Highland Games her father had taken her to when she was a child. Before the wars, before the darkness and the pain. She sighed as she closed her eyes.
===xxx===xx(Review Responses:)
alaskan-dracolych: Thank you. I was thinking about how Dudley would have changed and reacted. Would he be a Vernon or would he be a man about it.
The Ghostly Minion: Wow. I appreciate how much you must have liked these ideas with all your comments. Uh where to begin though. Yeah I try to stay consistent at least within the same story I'm working on. These short visits more or less are all one brief window into a facet of the multiverse I guess. Not as a full 10k story like the slide by slide story. That has its own AU world that I'm kinda brainlocked on right now. True sometimes I play a bit fast and loose with the characters, having Hermione not read the fine print in the one is an error we can all make. (I've missed a step in a repair manual before and almost caused a minor job to turn into a huge clusterfrak. And I've been working on cars since I was 9, if you count holding the flashlight for dad..lol) And yeah the suicide hotline people are awesome. I love and appreciate them so very much. For a multitude of reasons. Anyhow thanks for your comments. I'm glad I could give you something you enjoyed. Oh and thank you for the 19th September story recommendation.
Katmom, OfficerdonNZ: Thank you, glad you liked it and yes. Kids from that sort of home turn out one of two ways usually they either repeat the abuse or they rise above it. Given the "I don't think you're a waste of space." statement by Dudley It really seemed like he was going to be on the road to rise above it.
Timekeeper: Yeah I agree about Vernon and Petunia. I thought about how Vernon would go out and that definitely was what came to mind.
DennisUD: Thank you. I hope you liked this one then too. Neville's wife is either Luna or Ginny, I hadn't really thought about it strongly enough to put it in dialog. Luna would complete him. He is the stoic, calm, patient tree and she is the ray of sunshine bringing beautiful days and the storm that brings rain and wind into his life but only to support and nurture him. Ginny is the sort of strong, open girl who would balance and complement his quiet reserved nature. So whichever of the two you would rather see with Neville in that situation is the one that he wound up with is the politician's answer I'll give you. (Votes for House Elves! LOLOL)((Yes I was watching Mary Poppins with the cousins.)