The war was over.
No casualties.
He looked over to Hermione, who was helping to tend one of the injured, with Fawkes cradled in her hand.
She looked back at him and smiled and he smiled back.
She had been through so much, she would never be the same again.
Hermione Granger was not the same girl.
But with all his heart he loved the woman she'd become.
oOo
~ One Week (After the Death of Tom Riddle) ~
They'd tried to arrest Severus, along with some of the family men. It hadn't gone down well.
When they'd tried to arrest Hermione though, all hell had broken loose.
Quite literally…broken loose.
Hogwarts herself had prevented the Ministry taking either Severus or Hermione from the grounds, when the great stone guardians at its gates and entrance broke loose from their moorings and drew swords aimed at the invading Ministry officials. Those that were smart, sheathed their wands. Those that weren't that smart, ended up evicted by the Castle's wards themselves. Hogwarts was built upon Ley Lines, and it was a somewhat sentient entity because of the ancient powers that ran through it, just like at stonehenge.
When the castle itself essentially banned the Ministry from entering its grounds, more people started questioning the Ministry itself.
Kingsley along with the loyal Aurors who had actually been there, testified to what had actually gone down on the day of Tom Riddle's death, and the planning leading up to it and despite numerous more attempts by the Ministry and the Daily Prophet, the public would not be swayed. Especially when there were so many records of all the Order's planning and action. Thanks to their quick thinking, and the Quibbler launch, very few members of the public believed anything that the Ministry nor the Prophet tried to convince them and even less so after Hogwarts shut its gates to them once and for all.
~ One Month ~
The wizengamot was taken to a public vote, for the first time in centuries where a vote of no confidence was received. The Minister was removed from power, pending an independent inquiry and each Wizengamot chair person had to undergo rigorous testing from neutral examiners brought in from MACUSA and the French Ministry of Magic. After the judicious application of Veritaserum and Legilimency, over half the Wizengamot was found to be corrupt or at the very least unable to sit impartially. Kingsley Shacklebolt took the position of Interim Minister for Magic after being voted in by a landslide, and one of the Aurors that had been present on the day of Tom Riddle's death, was appointed head of Magical Law Enforcement.
The next few months were also a drudgery and monotony of bureaucracy as they attempted to repair the corrupt Ministry from the inside out, into a just and fair one.
Younger, estranged and even illegitimate family members came forward to claim the Wizegamot family seats their corrupt relatives had lost, and each was tested to see if they could do the job impartially as they should always have been done in the first place. Freedom of speech was fine, and everyone was entitled to their own opinion and beliefs, but blatant bias and an unwillingness to change or hear the other side was not. Most were accepted, while the odd few were declined. There were no charges filed against those who failed the test though, they hadn't done anything wrong and it was not a crime to be selfish or self-serving, though they were firmly denied the Wizengamot seat or any other positions of power or decision making in the new department of magical law. For the first time since it's founding, new wizegamot seats were added. Any family that had 3 generations or more of magical children, regardless of their backgrounds were able to make a claim for a family seat. It wasn't perfect and Hermione had grumbled that it still screamed of Nepotism, but it was a start and one in the right direction.
It was over these next few months that the trials for the deserted Death Eaters took place.
The Wizegamot used these trials to implement their new structure for the first time. Based on the Muggle justice system , the new wizengamot still had the majority vote of each case , but instead of acting as judge, jury and executioner; the wizegamot was only acting as the Jury, while the Minister gave the sentence according to their ruling. The accused were no longer gagged and shackled, unless necessary for theirs and others safety, and each Witch and Wizard were given the opportunity to say their piece, and defend their cases, those that would struggle to plead their own case, were appointed a lawyer to fight their case for them.
While many were guilty of various crimes of war, the new focus of the Ministry was to heal and repair and not to destroy and so Azkaban was for only the most depraved of witches and wizards who enjoyed causing suffering for the sake of suffering had no hope of rehabilitation. It was finally being acknowledged that throwing a wizard or witch in Azkaban for minor crimes, often led to them becoming worse criminals than they were before they were incarcerated, so for that reason only those with no hope of release or recovery were held in the dreaded prison in the North Sea and a new prison was built for the holding of prisoners on short sentences. The new Ministry offenders detention facility was based on muggle prisons also. Each prisoner had their own room, which had all the basic human rights such as their own bed, bathroom and access to reading materials. Counsellors were hired to help prisoners work through their issues and at Hermione's insistence, and a vote in her favour, educators were brought in also, so detained prisoners could spend their sentences learning new skills or honing old ones.
~ One Year~
Hermione finally won the vote to allow her to remove azkaban brands from reformed prisoners. It was agreed that if after a probationary period that prisoners were keeping their noses clean and making a true attempt at reformation, verified by legilimency or Veritaserum, then their brand could be removed to allow them the chance of a new life without the stigma of the old one being branded on their flesh.
Hermione had done over 100 tattoos already for various reasons including other dark curses, not just the dark mark, though she was yet to remove her own.
~ Two Years ~
Hermione and Severus wed at Hogwarts, their union blessed by the ley lines of the castle itself as the magic of their bonding washed around them and awed the select few who'd been there to witness.
6 months after their bonding, Hermione finally removed her own brand. Few were aware of her brand as she kept it hidden beneath her long hair, but one morning she turned up with no fanfare and her hair tied back, and there was no mistaking the beauty of the phoenix who's midnight blue plumage coiled from her wrist to her elbow. She was reborn.
~ Three Years ~
She walked out of the bath relaxed and comfortable, a halo of steam around her that hinted at the sauna-like heat that she preferred. Severus was in bed, reading glasses perched upon his nose, bare chested with the sheets slung around his hips. Fawkes and Crookshanks slept in the living room. Fawkes, now almost fully grown, wrapped himself around the Geriatric cat, in an echo of how the cat had cared for the young chick. After smiling fondly at them, Hermione closed the door on the living room and Severus pulled back the blankets as he extinguished the reading light, leaving one small candle on the dresser to chase away the shadows in the room. Even now, her time in Azkaban many years passed, and Hermione still didn't like the complete pitch dark.
They had been married a year. 365 days together as a married couple, and 365 nights she thought to herself as Severus warmly beckoned her in and she snuggled to his side. Something was different about tonight though, she didn't know what it was and she did.
It was everything, and yet it was nothing at all.
But that night as they kissed and he held her, Hermione pulled him atop her and asked him to truly make love to her.
And he did, for the first time.
~ Eight Years ~
It had been five years since the first time Hermione and Severus had made love, and her love for him and need for him hadn't waned at all .
Each night they would pull each other close and whisper to each other as he worshipped her like a goddess, and she would love him back with just as much enthusiasm.
Night terrors would occasionally still grip her, but they would be quickly washed away with whispers of love and adoration as well as gentle hands.
So a want and a desire for her husband was not something she ever would consider unusual but when she woke one morning with such a burning need for him that it rocked her to her very core, she sought him out where he was ingredient collecting in the forest.
She ran to him as the wolf, in her haste to get to him as soon as possible. He looked up questioningly at her, but then his eyes dilated and he was soon shifting himself, giving chase throughout the forest as each others laughter echoed through their bond. They chased and ran as she evaded and he pursued, when he finally caught her in a clearing they wrestled playfully until he dragged her underneath him and they both quickly shifted human once again as he made love to her with great desperation as beams of sunlight lit up the forest clearing, highlighting the lovers in the earth's embrace surrounded by wild flowers.
Just over 8 months later their daughter was born.
Her pregnancy had been frought with complications, struggles and danger but she had stalwartly refused any suggestions of terminating for her own safety, even as the babe in her belly sent her through every single pregnancy malaise she could possibly endure. Risky from the start she'd gone into early labour at 8 months after placental abruption, the sight of his wife dripping with her life's blood as her skin went pale as the ice wolves had sent Severus almost out of his mind. But a long 24 hours later, the longest in his life, he cradled his daughter, his little Rose in his arms. There would be no others for them, no siblings for Rose to grow up with, as Hermione had needed a complete hysterectomy after the traumatic birth, but neither of them cared, for they already had their miracle babe in their arms.
Crookshanks had held on just long enough to greet the newest member of their family and passed away a few days later. Hermione, already wrought with hormones, was distraught, and though Severus himself shed a few tears for the old tom, it was Fawkes who was inconsolable. He'd wept tears over the old tom, big fat tears that could not do anything for the elderly feline, and then he'd cried in his father's arms. Asking Severus with his actions to make it right, to fix him father please, but Severus could only shake his head and hold his family close in bittersweet grief.
Though the whole castle cooed over the newest inhabitant, there was one who would not. Fawkes, seemed to blame the arrival of little Rose for the departure of his beloved Crookshanks and refused to acknowledge the baby in any way, promptly leaving whichever room she was in, no matter how much Hermione and Severus tried to cajole him into at least giving her a try.
Time went on and the world kept moving, They published their books and more thereafter with Hermione eagerly sought for her magical illustrations both on paper and on people. Soon all standard curriculum books contained images and illustrations by Hermione as Severus finally updated the old and outdated texts for Potions and Defence..
It wasn't until a very "teenaged" Fawkes began attempting to sing, for the first time since his burning, that things changed. Love him though they might, the phoenix's voice was effectively breaking and he belted out tunes night and day that went from sounding like beautiful melodies to nails on chalkboard and undignified squawks. It seemed he was a little rusty, so Hermione and Severus had tried to avoid the singing bird as much as was able, without offending the vain creature but it was at this point that a now toddling Rose caught sight of the singing Phoenix and was transfixed. She squealed, clapped and laughed in delight at the Phoenix's antics and when he finally decided to come down to her level and get a closer look at the little beast that smelled like his parents, Rose promptly grabbed a handful of his beautiful blue plumage. "Gently Rose" Hermione reprimanded carefully and the astute toddler stroked him with a look of wonder and awe, which made the vain bird preen before the affectionate child kissed the jet black beak as though he was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen, and with his regal plumage it seemed he may well be, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. The ever vain phoenix, decided that the little beasty might be alright after all.
Later that night.
"Severus have you seen Faw-?" Her words were cut off by a quieting motion from Severus, as he nodded towards the nursery, where their daughter slept quietly with a great blue phoenix roosting carefully atop her crib.
The end
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