So... I did at one point write an ending to the Up In Smoke trilogy (see previous chapters). I could take the other 3 chapters out, flesh this one out more, and make a full story. But I'm lazy. So I won't. But here's closure for the story, if anyone cares.

Chapter 4 Up in Smoke - The Fallout

There was fallout. Of course, there was fallout. The goblins released a statement the day after Harry's interview explaining that several people who had failed to pay their rent to the Potter vaults would be pursued for those payments now, with interest penalties. The makers of the "Boy Who Lived" paraphernalia would be required to pay a percentage of their back profits, and cease and desist orders were established on all production until contracts could be put in place for disbursement of profits (if production was allowed at all).

The managing directors of three separate charities came forward and thanked the goblins and Harry for ensuring their continued operations – allowing most people to understand that Potter galleons were the primary support of those charities.

When some tried to push back in the Wizengamot, suing to not have to pay or to pursue what they considered "stolen" heirlooms they had purchased in good faith, or to retain the right to inhabit Potter properties or… full documentation was released by the goblins. The defrauding of the Potter accounts, with no permission from the Potter family, was astonishing. Heirlooms sold to the highest bidder but no payment to the Potter vaults. Leases gone for nothing. No recompense for the Boy Who Lived items. The list went on and on. And the source of the malfeasance?

The chief warlock. Rapidly, a "former" was put in front of that title.

People were angry, and at first, they wanted to blame the "spoiled" boy-hero, even though they now knew he had a rather terrible childhood. Even though it had been revealed he hadn't entered himself into the Triwizard tournament, statements of his "preferential" treatment at Hogwarts started to gain credence. Harry's newly hired lawyer put paid to that almost immediately. When the details of the abuse perpetrated by some teachers and Hogwarts "encounters" came to light? The blame went straight back to Dumbledore.

Not all was sunny for Harry. He'd survived strife before, but this storm was quite a lot for the boy hero to weather. When the Weasley tribe were pulled from Hogwarts for inability to pay, others knew no favoritism would buy a scholarship from the Potter vaults. Like many others, Ron and Ginny and the twins ended up at Saint George's academy – for lower income magicals. This was fine for the twins – it was better than Hogwarts in many ways because the education at Saint George's was more practical than esoteric. Ron had a much easier time guiding himself with that curriculum but was still quite bitter that Harry hadn't made an exception for him, after what they'd gone through together.

Harry, though, knew Ron was a fair-weather friend at best. He'd have been more likely to help the twins than Ron. Ron had tried to turn the school against Harry for months. When Harry beat the dragon, Ron offered a crap apology that Harry didn't accept.

"You know what?" Harry asked rhetorically to his former mate. "I think we're better off the way we were. You keep talking shite about me, and I'll keep ignoring you. You keep trying to steal my things, and my trunk wards will keep giving you burns." Ron quickly put his now-scarred hands into his trouser pockets as his complexion reddened further and the other champions looked on with interest. "Literally nothing has changed since this morning. I am still, in your mind, a cheater. But I'm popular again, and you want to be my mate? In muggle terms, Ron, you're a loser. And we're done."

Hermione had looked on, aghast. Since the summer, when Ron had thrown a tantrum upon finding out that Harry was poor, things had been strained. When Harry's name came out of the goblet, Ron had shown his vicious side. And it was pretty obvious that Harry was done with being treated like crap. Harry wouldn't accept Ron's apology, and then he had gone and disappeared over break.

When she'd confronted him – asking why he didn't tell her he was leaving for break and what he was doing, he replied that he didn't trust her not to tell. And if she'd told, the consequences for him would be dire. Being honest with herself, she admitted she probably would have told Professor McGonagall or Professor Dumbledore if she'd known that he would leave over break. And if she'd done that, he would have lost his entire family legacy, he would lose the ability to be healed… it was a nightmare. From that point on, Hermione checked her instincts to tattle a whole lot more.

Learning from her mistakes, she asked Harry why so many were being pulled from Hogwarts. Sighing deeply, Harry decided to tell Hermione all of it. It was nice to have a friend to confide in.

Hermione was absolutely horrified at what the Headmaster had done to Harry. She wondered why the man would stoop so low, as most agreed he was a wizard of the light.

Harry nodded. "It's almost like he didn't expect the Potter family to survive," Harry said. "Like he figured, since I was bound to die, at least he'd use my family's resources for his greater good crud."

Hermione chewed on her lip for a moment, wondering if that really could justify the perpetual abuse, the theft, the misrepresentation. But also knowing that Harry needed some way to excuse his former hero. "That sounds logical. He believed Voldemort would come back, and he knew Voldemort would aim for you, whether for revenge or some other weird reason. The headmaster has just used what he figured would go to the pureblood government if he didn't use it himself? In any case," she sighed, "there's really no justification for keeping you in an abusive home, for not correcting things like your glasses, for goodness sake, let alone not making sure you had enough food. If he had a justification, he'd have brought it forward when Gringotts released the statement about the changes to your vaults and showed that Dumbledore and his friends had been defrauding you for a decade."

Harry shook his head. "Aside from my personal issues, it's really hurt the cause of the light – if he's their leader, then they all must be crap. The worst part is that I have to kind of commiserate with Draco these days."

"Tell me." She rolled her eyes. "The uproar in the Wizengamot – they want someone to blame, they want to blame Dumbledore, but they let him seal the will. They let Crouch throw innocents in Azkaban. They are to blame, too, but Dumbledore's getting the blame, and it's all just ridiculous."

"At least Sirius is free now. He's talking to me most every day on the mirror and he's finally getting medical aid. They never would have found Pettigrew and that Voldieturd thing if Sirius hadn't sued Crouch. I can't believe that Moody – supposedly Dumbdork's best pal – was really Crouch Junior, under Polyjuice."

"Well, no matter. Both Crouches, Pettigrew, and that baby-thing all took a one-way trip through that thing they call the 'veil of death.' It was a rush judgment, if you ask me."

"We couldn't have the regular man in the streets thinking or questioning too deeply. Crouch threw at least 10 people into maximum security without trials, but kept his own sprog free-ish. The level of privilege in the pureblood class is scary."

"There're a lot fewer of them making laws, now, though. They all got squibbed when the unspeakables threw Voldemort through the portal."

"Portal. Huh." Harry's unfocused eyes stared into the distance. "Maybe it's a portal to somewhere else, and it's like Magic's Australia. All our worst criminals get shipped to some poor, unsuspecting dimension."

"Well, that's a horrifying thought. Maybe," she bit her lip in concentration, "now that the neutrals rule the Wizengamot, maybe some of the more stupid laws will get repealed?"

Harry chortled. "A politician? Doing something for other people without getting paid off? I love that you've spent four years here and still think that's possible."

"Well, there has been a lot of change, already. So, so much was uncovered, just because you went to the Goblins. No one will be holding more than one key position, ever again. No one will be allowed to seal a will, ever again. Muggle born and raised kids will get checkups now – and orphanages are going to be scanned regularly, just in case."

"Yeah, they're lucky I didn't go evil like Riddle. They know it. And Dumbledore will be leaving all his positions - even Hogwarts – to live out what's left of his stupid life in obscurity."

"Did you listen to his public apology?" Hermione asked, curious.

Harry shook his head, rolling his eyes. "No. He's a word gymnast. He probably said things that could be interpreted in so many ways… But his arguments have very little way of making way around the truth. Between the revelation of how he spent my family's investment income – and man, some of the rich purebloods wanted to crucify him for that alone, thinking he could do the same to their families – how he let my belongings be sold, how he let his friends never pay rents… I guess I probably should make a statement." Sighing, Harry kicked at a clump of grass.

"A statement?"

Harry nodded, looking into the distance. "That I don't blame the scholarship recipients. There are some who have already graduated. I feel kind of bad that Fred and George and Ginny can't be here anymore, but I can't make an exception for them and I can't afford to send everyone to school. The orphanage and the rest home are supported almost in total by Potter funds."

"Did Dumbledore know that?" Harry noticed that Hermione had dropped the Headmaster's honorific.

Harry shrugged. "He was approached by Grimsneer when my Dad died. He ignored Grimsneer. He liked the status quo."

"Well, he probably didn't trust the goblins were telling him something that would benefit humans. Like most wizards, he didn't trust them. For all his talk, he's as xenophobic as any."

Harry shrugged again with a dry chuckle. "I didn't have much choice. Every adult human I knew had betrayed me. I figured if the goblins screwed me over, it would be no surprise. Instead they healed me, they fixed my vaults, and they stood by me when I was vilified over it. I think they appreciate how I trust them. I don't know that anyone else of my standing truly does. I know they believed if Riddle came back into power, Riddle would kill them. That being trusted no one but himself."

"And your ability to trust put an end to him. Serves him right."

And though no one knew it, a prophecy orb had gone dark as Voldemort's soul.