A/N: EWE

A/N: This story follows on from the books, everything has happened exactly as the books have described, however the only difference is that in my mind Hedwig didn't die.

A/N: I have changed the Potter family tree and histories to suit my own purposes.

A/N: I have adjusted many muggle historical events to suit my own purposes.

Prologue

It had been four months since the Battle of Hogwarts, summer had come and gone and families were crowding Platform 9 3/4 for the first day of the new school year. Rather than the normal hubbub of laughing children running around and slightly sad parents there was a more cautious and tempered crowd than usual. There were still smiles, cheerful hugs and waves goodbyes, but there was a nervous tension that filled the air. Children hung close to their parents and parents held firm hands on the shoulders of their offspring. It was a representation of the cautious feelings that Magical Britain held as a whole. Voldemort was dead, thanks to their hero Harry Potter, but their world as they knew it had been left in quite a mess. The ministry had been shown to be corrupt and sympathetic to the Dark Lord's ambitions. Over the last year they had been at the forefront of the muggle born persecution, snapping wands and imprisoning Wizards and Witches who had done nothing but exist. Gringotts had been heavily damaged thanks to the dragon incident. The Goblins were quick to respond and ensure that no one took advantage of the destruction and tried to steal some gold. They had repaired the hole almost overnight and positioned Goblin guards around the entirety of the building. It had been a long time since Goblins had been seen with weapons drawn in Magical Britain and it was causing all manner of unease among the Magical population. Hogwarts, the symbol of magical education and strength in Britain had been left in a pile of rubble and had only now been finally restored. The three pillars of the British Wizarding world had been brought crumbling down.

It wasn't soon after Voldermort had been killed that Umbridge had styled herself as Minister of Magic, hoping to grab the open position after Pius Thickenesse recovered from the Imperius Curse and had retired quickly from public life. Umbridge felt this was finally her time but immediately struggled to find much support from the angry hoards of Muggle-Borns and other Witches and Wizards who had felt her strong hand during the past year. Although many had died and had their wands taken there was still quite a large number of Muggle-Borns ready to stand against her and they were not standing alone. Many half-bloods and even pure blood families who had either fought for the light or remained neutral now stood side by side by side with the Muggle-Borns. In fact it soon became apparent that with Voldemort gone and many of the pure blood families killed or captured during the battle for Hogwarts, the pure bloods were now outnumbered. There were still many strong Wizarding families that remained, but their position as the leaders of Magical Britain was severely diminished.

The original elation of Voldemort's demise soon turned to anger for those who had been so recently oppressed and the ministry, in whatever state it was, was finding it hard to handle. Riots in Diagon Alley and inside the Ministry Atrium had become commonplace with many Muggle Borns demanding that they were given wands immediately and be compensated for the pain and suffering they had endured. It was then on one Tuesday afternoon, one and a half months after the Battle of Hogwarts, when suddenly a new hope emerged. One that no one would have ever expected; Arthur Weasley. He had been an avid lover and supporter of muggles his whole life. A pure blood, but not one of power and riches who looked down on others. His family had twice faced Voldemort and his followers, and during this last battle had suffered greatly losing one of his sons. The death of Fred had changed Arthur and on that fated Tuesday morning, the public finally saw the man Molly had always known. He strode out from his office to meet the protesters and began an impromptu and impassioned speech. The kind, easy going man became a true leader. He began talking about reform to the Wizarding society, an end to old prejudices, rights and privileges. A groundswell of support came with it and Umbridge was powerless to stop it.

Elections were called and Arthur trounced Umbridge. It wasn't even close. Arthur's first act as Minister was to put on trial all those who had profited from the War or exploited muggleborns for their own desires, the Nuremberg version of Magical Britain took place. Umbridge found herself locked in Azkaban with a life sentence. Since then Arthur had worked continuously to try and put some sense of order back into the Wizarding world. He had appointed Kingsley Shacklebolt as head of DMLE as he had continuously proven himself as a strong and capable leader. Both had been working tirelessly to help everyone move forward and find some sense of peace and normality.

After the destruction of Gringotts and Umbridge briefly seizing power, the Goblins had been ready to go to war. But with the help of Bill, Arthur had managed to secure peace. His even handed and fair approach to all magical creatures was showing immediate results. The Goblins left the negotiations with a much more equal part of society than they had ever had, however the armed guards remained around the Bank. And slowly with only a month and a half before School started Magical Britain had calmed enough for people to see a future and for hope to emerge from the ashes of Voldemort's destruction of the last year. It is here then that the families of school aged children were assembled on the Platform quietly hoping that things were finally going to get better. Many had lived through two wars now and were desperate to raise their children in a peaceful, loving society. The Minister of Magic was there himself, not only to farewell his youngest child, but also to show the other families that all was well, that Hogwarts was ready for their children and all would be fine. Arthur had to deal with many handshakes and quiet words of thanks and it was clear that he had become the epicentre of hope for a new future. Molly was bursting with pride as she walked on his arm, holding her head high as the new wife of the Minister of Magic.

It was an interesting group of 7th years getting on the train. Hermione as Head Prefect was helping First Years onto the train, who were staring at her with great admiration as she was one of the Golden Trio. Ginny, Luna, Dean and Neville were seen walking together towardsl. a compartment. Despite attending School for the whole of last year Neville felt that he had missed out on quite a bit and decided to go back. Two people who were obviously missing were the other two members of the Golden Trio. Everyone knew where Ron was; on a very public holiday in the south of France with an array of beautiful witches on his arm. Ron was taking his 'victory lap' around Europe as one of the most famous Wizards in the world. However the whereabouts of the great saviour of Magical Britain, the Hero of two wars and vanquisher of the Darkest Lord Britain had ever seen was completely unknown. Harry Potter had not been seen or heard from by the Magical public for almost 3 months now. Necks turned left and right hoping to see if their Hero was going to show up, however to the small group of people who knew where Harry Potter was they knew he wasn't going to show. His location was known to only a few people while the rest of Britain were left wondering what had happened to their Hero?