Shoutout to Trahald of Uru, who pointed me at a biological impossibility in two women having sons. Thanks again!

8. After Rain Comes Sunshine

In hindsight, Lord Voldemort had to admit he had gone a bit too far with his Cruciatus curse on Lucius Malfoy, but the words would never leave his lips, because it would make him look weak. The man wasn't capable of anything anymore, at least not within any reasonable timeframe, which is why he had failed his latest mission as well.

Even if that mission was to go get a few potions from Knockturn Alley. Simple, right? No, Lucius' tremors meant he stuttered at the wrong time when taking the floo, throwing him out of the wrong fireplace and snapping his wand on his landing. A quick peek with Legilimency showed that Lucius had practically fled back to base without the potions, and he really didn't fancy going anywhere anytime soon.

Really, it was a mercy to kill the man rather than let him live on in shame. He couldn't even serve his lord anymore, what use was living then? "Sadly, your use has come to an end, Lucius. Avada Kedavra."

Narcissa Malfoy burst into noisy tears and fell to her knees, which was beyond irritating and caused him to raise his wand with a Crucio already on his lips.

"My Lord! I'll get her out of here, please forgive my mother for her outburst at seeing father die." Draco Malfoy hastened to his mother's side and put a Silencio on her before levitating her down the corridor.

Thank Merlin the youngest Malfoy had some sense! With a sneer, Lord Voldemort turned back to plotting his next move in blessed silence. With Dumbledore and Harry Potter gone, the world lay at his feet.

-..-

Draco Malfoy forced his tumultuous emotions down and got his grieving mother out of the room and out of danger. He put her in a chair in the kitchens, right in front of the secret escape exit. They would be escaping today, there was no other choice.

His father was dead, and it was his own damn fool fault! He could recognise that now and realised that Lord Voldemort would spell the end of the great Malfoy line if he kept following the madman's whims like his father had. No, that was not going to happen, not on his watch.

His magic burned as it recalled the vow Dumbledore had forced him in. Right. Before he could leave, he had some unfinished business to take care of, but luckily for him, he knew where to go to fix that issue. The dratted snake had taken to using his own bedroom for its nest! The Dark Lord had laughed at him for asking him to remove it. Laughed!

With as much haste as he could manage, he avoided all the Death Eaters and made his way to his room, which was on the other side of the manor and two stories higher up as well. He recalled his Godfather's spell for enemies and opened the door. The snake reared its head as he stated forcefully, "Sectumsempra!" White light flashed just as the snake struck, slicing diagonally down the head and taking the top third of the monstrous snake with it. Draco had to sidestep the upper half as it flew past him and got the shock of his life as a black cloud got expelled from it with a wicked scream.

His skin drained of his blood and got even paler than usual before he snapped out of it. "Right, I should go." Making a quick turn, he rushed off to get his mother and get the hell out of there.

It was a ridiculous relief to no longer feel the pressure of the Unbreakable Bond, and he couldn't keep a small grin from spreading on his face. This Malfoy would not bend the knee, not anymore!

-..-

Voldemort staggered as he felt another piece of him get ripped away, leaving a gaping void behind. It was the last, and he now felt empty all around him. "Nagini!"

Getting to his feet, he sprinted down the hall with thoughts of vengeance. If he found who did this, he was going to torture that fool for eternity! "MEN! LOCK DOWN THE MANOR! NOW!"

-.-

Draco felt the Dark Lord pass down the hall just as he cleared the corner and nodded to another junior Death Eater, "I'm going to block the wards, find out what our Lord wants!"

He received a nod and picked up more speed on his way to the kitchens. Everyone who knew anything about wards would know that he was lying, because he could do that from anywhere in the house, but Draco knew that the idiot didn't know that, after all, he was just a second son from a minor family; it would be a miracle if he was ever taught about wards.

As soon as he told their Lord about Draco's words, all hell would break down, so there was a real need for haste now. He was able to avoid another two Death Eaters before reaching the kitchen to find that his mother had stopped crying. "Mother, we need to escape now, follow me and be silent. We will never be safe with the Lord."

She nodded darkly and followed as he opened the escape tunnel. When they left the wards, a portkey took them to France where they had another warded property. "I hope we'll be safe here." He silently blessed Merlin for the foresight his father had shown when arranging for that Portkey.

-.-.-

"Send a team after them immediately!" Voldemort hissed dangerously, standing before the twitching body of the junior Death Eater who let Draco Malfoy escape. "I want them found and brought before me, or dead, that works too."

The location tracker in Draco's Dark Mark placed them in France, but he couldn't get the direct coordinates, likely because of unplottable wards, which meant they were in a safehouse. Voldemort was livid by the betrayal and murder of his soul-bound familiar. He cursed the Malfoys for betraying him, conveniently forgetting how he had murdered their Head of House not thirty minutes earlier.

But he would get them, no doubt about it. And when he did, they would suffer for a very long time!

It took two days to determine that they would not be getting through the wards unless Voldemort himself would go with a few of his stronger lieutenants, which was a bad idea because it was in France, and their DMLE was a bit better than their British counterpart. If he attacked there, he would be inviting a response from the whole of France, something he could ill afford at this time. First, he would need to take control of Britain and the Ministry, then France could be the next step.

A week of planning took care of the plan, and it would use all his humanoid forces. Nobody would expect a full-frontal assault on the Ministry, and they would get in without issue due to the relaxed settings of the current wards, not to mention their people in the necessary departments. Bringing any creatures was just asking for screw-ups because they just weren't able to listen to orders, something Lord Voldemort understood was only natural for creatures. They had their uses, but fighting a protracted invasion was hardly one of them. Thankfully, it was child's play to get a floo connection setup for their infiltration, and the ministry people would fall like wheat for the scythe.

Voldemort could hardly wait; his bloodlust was at an all time high with the recent betrayal and the knowledge that most of his enemies were already dead. All they needed was a Wizengamot meeting to ensure an effective take-over. The first one happened to be scheduled for that very morning.

"Death Eaters, my loyal servants! Today, we will strike a decisive blow and start our reign of Magical Britain. Kill to your heart's content and you will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams! Go now and spread my power!"

He laughed wickedly as his men disappeared through the green flames of the floo system. "Let's see what happens next."

-..-

Neville Longbottom was nervous as he shuffled into the courtroom behind his Gran, it was his first Wizengamot meeting and he was here to learn. With his parents unlikely to ever wake up, it was his duty to assume the Longbottom seat and Lordship after he turned seventeen. That date was fast approaching, hence his presence here today.

"Gran, aren't there supposed to be many more here? Where's the Dark section you said sits there?"

Augusta shivered as she looked over the empty seats her grandson had noted, the incongruous sight gave her a very bad feeling, and she looked at the visitor section. There, she locked eyes with her brother Algernon who nodded, she watched his head before disappearing back into the depths of the Ministry and hoped he would be alright. Not many people knew this, but Algernon was Croaker, an Unspeakable. She really appreciated the fact that he came out here today; if anyone could help, it would be him.

If there was something wrong, he would find out and set up an appropriate response. "You know your uncle was here today, he's checking if everything's alright. For now, all we can do is wait."

"Yes, Gran." Neville said as he sat down.

Not five minutes later, a siren started blaring throughout the building. "Shit! We're under attack."

Neville gazed at his Gran in wonder; she never swore! That told him how serious the situation was, and he snapped out of it. "Right, wands out and no stunners."

Augusta gave him a proud grin. "Exactly right. Follow me, we're heading towards the Atrium."

They didn't get further than the door when spells erupted from the outside, striking some Wizengamot members and pushing them back broken and bleeding. Insane laughter followed as the craziest witch in Britain strolled through the doors, with Lord Voldemort in tow.

Augusta put her hand on Neville's shoulder and said, "Shh!" Neville froze, they stood a dozen yards from the door from the side and were practically located in a blind spot for their enemies.

Gasps rang across the Courtroom at the sight of them, and Amos Diggory stood in front of them. "What is the meaning of this? Where are the Aurors?"

Bellatrix laughed again. "The Aurors are entertaining My Lord's forces for the moment. No help is coming!"

Voldemort smiled and waved his wand, summoning a black flame that formed a circle on the floor and bathed the chamber in an eerie light. "All of you will either swear your allegiance or die where you stand. What say you?"

"Never!" Diggory shouted, his rage clearly showing. "You killed my son!" He lifted his wand and shot a red curse at Voldemort, which was intercepted casually by a shield. "You have chosen death." Voldemort hissed with a laugh.

Bellatrix pointed her wand at Diggory and sing-songed. "Avada Kedavra!"

Augusta's Reducto hit her shoulder blade a fraction of a second too late, and Diggory fell, his eyes lifeless. The Reducto tore through Bellatrix's upper back and destroyed all the organs in its path without discrimination, leaving Bellatrix a bleeding husk of a woman. Neville couldn't tear his eyes away from the rapidly growing crimson puddle forming around the most fearsome woman in Britain. His Gran did that!

"No!" Voldemort shouted as he turned around, angrily blocked the curses raining down on him from the Courtroom seats. His wand struck out and spat a curse at Neville's Gran that glanced off her shoulder, dropping her to the floor with a crack as her hip broke. Neville's shock broke him out of his stupour and made him look up at the Dark Lord who'd hurt his last remaining family.

Prioritizing the danger in his back as more important, Voldemort twisted again and started killing Wizengamot members with a vengeance.

Neville looked down at his Gran and felt a fury rise up in him. His wand rose and he yelled his hatred, launching a dark gray bolt of magic that hit Voldemort in the back of his head, pulping it and ending the assault. A wind came from nowhere and Voldemort's body turned to ashes right there on the floor, and he could swear he heard a drawn-out sigh as a dark cloud dispersed from where the body was.

He had no clue what sort of spell he had used, only that it was fuelled by his anger. After a quick look at his wand, he dropped at his Gran's side and shook her. "Gran! Gran, are you alright?"

"Blood Boiling curse!" She managed to hiss. "Get help."

The moment Voldemort dropped, everyone still alive froze, but the spell broke as they heard Lady Longbottom wheeze. One member rushed over and spoke. "Step back from your Gran, Heir Longbottom, I am a healer and can fix the curse, but you can't touch her when I do."

Neville stepped back and watched carefully as his Gran got healed. Tears stung at his eyes as Augusta opened her eyes and sighed in relief. "Thank you, Lady Healer!"

"No, thank you, Heir Longbottom. You just saved all our hides; it was the least I could do." The Lady smiled. "I dare say we still owe you a lot."

"Yes, you can say that again." Another member muttered.

"Hey, we need to help the Aurors." A man Neville recognised as Lord Greengrass spoke up.

"That would be appreciated, but the worst part is over, it seems." Algernon spoke up from the doorway. "We were fighting for our lives when the Death Eaters just dropped unconscious a minute ago. Looking here, I think I know the reason."

"Yes," Lord Greengrass smiled. "Young Neville here killed You-Know-Who just a minute ago, it can't be a coincidence."

"Are they just unconscious, or did they lose their magic or something?" The Healer asked Algernon, who shook his head. "As far as we can tell, it's just unconsciousness. They probably had a magical shock when their Master died, but I doubt we'll get lucky enough to have them lose their magic."

"We'll just have to push them all through the Veil." Augusta breathed heavily from her place on the floor. "Without Dumbledore's preaching ways around, and with a few of the more anti-death-penalty crowd gone, we might be able to see some justice done. It's long overdue, I'd say."

Silence fell on the floor, and Neville racked his brains to figure out why. Oh! The people who opposed the death penalty were mostly the dark and the light crowds. The dark crowd are gone because they are in custody, and a few of the light side were just murdered by Voldemort himself. His Gran's words might have been a little premature, however pragmatic they might have been intended to be…

"She's not wrong." Algernon broke the silence. "I doubt many would oppose the Veil now. Not after today."

Greengrass nodded. "I'll vote for that. We just need to see if we can still get a quorum after today, or we might just have to wait for more young heirs to take up their mantles."

Neville watched and listened the rest of that afternoon and learned more about politicking and governance that day than he had ever suspected. People even listened to him when he talked, and he had already heard some whispers about the Vanquisher of Voldemort.

Oh, Merlin, I hope it won't be just like the legend of the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry had never had it easy with that and he didn't want anything to do with such expectations either…

9. Dreaming of a Future

Iris heard the small pop that announced the arrival of the paper, "Thank you!" She spoke for the elf and she sipped at her morning tea. It was another beautiful day, and she was going to relax and "SHIT!"

Droplets of tea sprayed all over the photograph of Neville and his Gran, weird hat with a bird on it and all.

Ministry Attacked, Dozens Dead!

Yesterday at eleven o'clock in the morning, the Ministry was invaded by Death Eaters, led by You-Know-Who himself, with his second in command Bellatrix Lestrange at his side. They wreaked havoc all over the first two floors and engaged the Aurors in battle as the two main threats moved on to the Wizengamot Chambers, where a session was scheduled to start at the same time.

None of the Traditional (Dark) section were in their seats at the time the session was supposed to start, so an unnamed Unspeakable set out to sound the alarm, and it was a good thing he did. The Auror Corps were losing ground fast until the Unspeakables assisted them in the raging battle, putting pressure on the Death Eaters from a second front, which allowed them to be driven into a stalemate while events unfolded in the Courtroom below.

The Dark Lord and Bellatrix Lestrange entered the Wizengamot Courtroom just as the attending members planned to investigate and immediately killed a few light sided members before demanding an oath of allegiance or he would kill them all.

Amos Diggory, still angry with the recent death of his only son and heir on what he now knew to be You-Know-Who's orders, cast a spell at the Dark Lord that was blocked easily, after which He ordered Lestrange to kill Diggory.

Long story short, she did, only to receive a Reducto curse in the back from Augusta Longbottom, which killed the mad witch where she stood. The Dark Lord got angry and cursed Madam Longbottom, before starting to curse the rest of the room's occupants. But in doing so, he forgot about Neville Longbottom, who used an unknown magic to crush You-Know-Who's skull and ended the war in one fell swoop. Madam Longbottom was healed by a nearby member with Healer credentials and survived.

Later, it became known that killing the Dark Lord shocked all his Marked Servants into unconsciousness, allowing the Ministry Defenders to quickly overcome their opposition and stun and disarm them. Trials will follow shortly to see Justice served, and there is already a lot of talk suggesting that the Wizengamot, or what remains of it, will ask for the Veil punishment. This reporter hopes that motion carries so that we won't have to fight them a third time. Why do I say this, because many Death Eaters were so-called Imperiused upstanding members of society that once more followed their Lord in battle. This included the entire Dark section of the Wizengamot. The unmasking was done publicly so many faces were recognised.

Longbottoms End The War!

Man-Who-Vanquished!

The next two articles were about Neville and his unknown Dark Lord killing magic, praising him even more than they had Harry Potter, calling him the next Dumbledore.

Iris couldn't help but laugh incredulously, feeling a bit of pity for her old friend Neville. "You poor, poor boy. They'll never leave you alone now."

That was the unvarnished truth, and there was just something very funny about it. Oh, that was it! Neville, the man who was once regarded as a squib, is now the saviour of the Wizarding World. People who know him are going to be so surprised, Ha! Also, the prophecy was true, just very wrongly interpreted. Iris hoped Dumbledore choked on that in his next great adventure. In the end, everything Dumbledore had ever done to her ended up unnecessary. She would probably never learn the full extent of it, but had made her peace with that.

A sense of peace and happiness descended on Iris as she realised the scope of just what this change would bring for her. Not only would both sides now leave her to live in peace, but she was also now free to pursue a relationship with Lily! Speaking of, she wanted to share the good news immediately, if she didn't already know.

Oh yes, this day was brilliant, and that paper would definitely be framed and put on the wall!

-.-.-

Almost two years had passed, and Iris had gotten her NEWTs with great scores. She was now working most of the hours at Ollivanders while he only came in part-time. Iris was taking over the business with the intention of teaching the next Ollivander when he finished schooling himself. Ollivander's grandson Oliver was only eight, but he was already very eager to become a wandmaker. It helped that because of the better familial relationship, his father didn't discourage this.

If all went well, Iris would never have to man the shop alone, just as she wanted.

Now it was the day of Lily's graduation ceremony, and she was standing next to her girlfriend's parents, Tobias and Annette. Marco, her brother, was abroad visiting his steady girlfriend, after he finally found that heart-warming first kiss in a date with a Polish half-blood Witch.

McGonagall gave the word to the best scoring graduate, Daphne Greengrass, who delivered a speech that spoke heavily of her making friends of muggleborn and half-bloods. That sort of thing was practically a requirement for pure bloods these days if they wanted to be seen in a good light. It helped that Daphne seemed genuine, helped along by the fact that her best friend since childhood was a half-blood herself, one Tracey Davis.

Lily took her NEWT certificate from the Headmistress twenty minutes after that and approached us, happy as could be with her five NEWTs; a respectable score. She had regained some of her ambition after all the pure blood bullies were subdued or simply gone.

Iris kissed her on the lips and left her to greet her family, which was now also hers. To make that official, she had asked permission to ask Lily for her hand and gotten it. Now it was time to get her answer.

Lily turned around to see Iris looking at her with a smouldering look of love and pride, smiling as she took a knee and extended her hand with a ring box. "Lily Ambrosia Moo-"

"Yes! A thousand times yes!" Lily interrupted loudly before jumping her for a fierce kiss.

Dazed and also very satisfied, Iris regained her breath and laughed. "You'll marry me then? I never got to finish my question."

The whole Moon family was smiling widely as Lily nodded quickly. "Of course I will! Iris, I love you more than anything, I want to marry you."

"I love you just the same, Lily." Iris couldn't stop smiling if her life depended on it.

Very few people were paying any attention to this little byplay because Neville Longbottom, He-Who-Vanquished, had just asked both Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott to marry him. That was much more interesting for the public and none of the Moon family minded that in the least.

Annette patted Lily's shoulder and looked at Iris. "Shall we plan a summer wedding, a small one?"

Iris was all for it, and so was Lily. Now she only had to come clean about her past, otherwise the Potter and Black families would end. She wasn't looking forward to that conversation at all.

-.-..-.-

Not two months later they were married in the garden of Moon Place, a nice quiet wedding with about a dozen Slytherin school kids in attendance, and a bunch of recent or not so recent graduates. Lily had a good impact on the Slytherin House after the worst sort got sorted out, and many of the younger years she had taken under her wing took control of the house to make it a better place. The older Slytherin who she had formed bonds with came as well, bringing their significant others with them and some parents who knew her.

For Iris, nobody who wasn't already on the list came to watch her get married, and she was quite content with that. It gave her a sense of peace to know her old life was not coming to haunt her ever again.

"Children?" Iris heard someone ask and she pulled her attention back to the conversation. "Oh, yes, Iris and I want to have children, at least three of them." Lily answered for them both.

Patricia smirked. "You know, I saw this coming from the moment you two were blushing at each other in Fortescue's that day you met. I have never met a more adorable pair than you. You'll make great mothers!"

A few more people chimed in with agreements, and we both blushed as we looked at each other. Iris knew they would start trying after the honeymoon, and she couldn't wait. Even with a Potion there was still a chance it wouldn't take, they had to plan it exactly at the right phase of the cycle to make it work. With the brewing and the ingredient preparation, it would be a trick-and-a-half to get it right. Lily would take the first potion since she was home the most, and after that Iris would take on the task.

The first child would be a Potter, the second a Moon, and the third a Black. After that, they would see.

The reactions of Annette, Tobias, Marco, and Lily were just as pronounced as she had feared, but they didn't start hating her or anything like that. Instead, they sat down and had a long talk. A very long talk. Everything about Harry Potter got explained and she even learned what could have caused her transition because Tobias was familiar with certain dark and illegal potions due to his import export business. That was a shock, and it even gave her a likely suspect in Lucius Malfoy. Not that it mattered, because the man was very dead.

With Draco Malfoy in self-exile in France, the matter would never come to haunt anyone.

Lily would eventually birth a daughter, Eveline Potter.

Iris would then birth another, Ciri Moon.

Lily's last child would also be a daughter called Andrea Black. whose first-born son would be able to bring House Black back to politics.

When Eveline turned nine, Oliver Ollivander became the owner of the Ollivander shop and took over most of the work. Iris stopped working more than two days a week and decided to get pregnant once again, adding to the family for the final time with non-identical twins, both daughters. That was the one drawback of having two mothers, no Y-chromosome to pass on.

First came Jamie Potter, who was followed by Elly Moon three short minutes later.

With that, their family was complete, and they lived peacefully thereafter.

(~,~)

As for Magical Britain, it got a great shock when sixty-five pure-blooded Death Eaters died after either dying in the Battle of the Ministry or being pumped full of veritaserum and being sentenced to the Veil of Death. None of those who were tried got off without a death sentence; they were that bad!

The shock proved to be precisely what the country needed after the gruesome list of crimes perpetrated by those same pureblood Death Eaters managed to find its way into the paper, shocking the local and global magical community in a stupor.

It was insane how much they had gotten away with before their fall, and after that day nobody could deny that the Ministry of Magic in Britain was in desperate need of a total overhaul, which it got.

In five years, the whole rulebook got thrown out of the door and rewritten in a logical and efficient way. Veritaserum was now mandatory in capital crimes, which did away with another forty-six sick individuals in the first four years after it was implemented. With the newly effective law enforcement and justice system, crime took a nosedive after that.

Without Dumbledore around, Minerva McGonagall found herself having to rely on her own thoughts, and they proved not to be enough to keep up with the rest of the country. She was replaced with a half-blood woman who had worked ten years as a teacher at Salem Academy, someone who had a much better head for managing a school. McGonagall continued to teach Transfiguration, but never took up the role of Head of House again.

Two years after the new Headmistress got instated, the number of classes had doubled, and the costs had gone down even if there were now three times the number of teachers as before. Some of that came from Government assistance, but most of it was because the Headmistress allowed the House-elves to grow enormous amounts of food to decrease operational costs by a huge margin. The house-elves loved the extra work, the teachers had a manageable workload, and the grade-averages went up considerably.

The economy bounced back with a vengeance with the elimination of pure-blood favouring law, which meant that starting a business was easier by far, and tax incentives were given in the short term to get interest up. It worked to such a degree that the demand for more labour attracted the muggleborn back from the muggle world.

Restructuring the Ministry had another effect in that the increased efficiency required less workers to do the same amount of work. Instead of just laying off those newly hired people (a lot of ministry personnel died in the invasion), programs were started to educate them for other work, and these programs were successful. The programs were set up with the muggle government in order to solve some problems with magic, such as the vanishing of waste, cleaning up of nature, that sort of thing.

Britain got rid of their waste at a fraction of the usual cost, and everyone was happy. This program eventually solved climate change some sixty-nine years later, just in time to prevent major disaster. It was the single most effective argument in favour of playing nice with the magicals when they were eventually found out and exposed in the year of 2053.