A/N: Apologies for the incredibly long wait between the last two chapters. I'm amazed at how busy I've been, with exams and numerous projects on the go. However, I promised to keep writing this, and as such, I will. The next chapter will take a lot less time to write as I get back into the flow of it. I will not stop, and will follow my plan to the end, hopefully writing another seven books. I thank all those who have stuck with me over this long period, and will never let you down.

Harry walked into the transfiguration classroom grinning broadly, still running his first lesson ever through his head. He was very proud of the young Slytherin who had asked him whether Voldemort had been in Slytherin. Harry had taken the opportunity to say that, although Voldemort had been in Slytherin, the house was no less noble than any of the others.

"Each house is defined by who is in it now, not by who used to be in it," Harry had announced. He had no clue where that had come from, but it sounded good nonetheless. Ginny had smiled at him, at least. Ah, her smiles were like gold. Each of them were worth more to him than anything else in the world. He closed his eyes and smiled as he thought of Ginny.

"Oi, Harry! Wake up! McGonagall's just asked you a question!" Ron was nudging him in the ribs while hissing this warning.

"What was the question?" Harry asked subtly. He could see McGonagall was watching him expectantly, and put on an expression of deep thought.

"She asked why making something invisible was harder than vanishing it," Ron muttered. Hermione scowled at him in disapproval, reminding Harry of something she had told him during one of their revision sessions last year.

"Is it because of the fact that rendering something invisible involves the creation of an image of what is behind the object from all sides while maintaining the structure of the object, whereas vanishing an object merely moves it into nothingness?" asked Harry. Professor McGonagall smiled at him and nodded.

"Yes," she confirmed. "That is the general gist of it. It's incredibly hard to maintain the form and not the image of an object, which is what true invisibility is. Some attempt to create an image of what is behind an object to make it seem invisible, but the image has to change depending on what angle you view it at. It is therefore easier to do this if you are only trying to hide something from a few angles, such as disguising a door as part of a wall, or making a wall invisible from the outside in observation rooms in Azkaban. However, in most cases, true invisibility is preferable and easier."

"Thanks, Ron," whispered Harry. Ron grinned and winked at Harry, who knew Ron wouldn't have been so helpful if he'd known what he was thinking about. He grinned back, however, happy also at the glowing look he was now receiving from Hermione. She was probably amazed that someone had bothered to listen to her, but Harry and Ron both secretly hung on her every word when it came to the exams. They would never admit it, though.

The day ended like a DA session, where the fifth years were being taught by Harry, with the help of a few DA members, about duelling. A couple of people could cast expelliarmus, but the first lesson was spent teaching this for those who didn't know it, just as in the first ever DA meeting. Everyone was smiling, and the fifth years claimed it was the best lesson they had ever had.

Harry plonked himself into his favourite carved chair beside the fireplace and the others settled around him. Ginny and Luna hadn't yet arrived in the common room, and so the seats rapidly began to fill up without them. Almost the last to arrive, Luna eventually floated in, followed by Ginny. They searched for a seat, but found none, so eventually settled on the arms of Harry's seat, making George snigger like a cheeky schoolboy.

Harry scowled at George as the redhead winked at him and turned back to Angelina. They were having yet another avid discussion, which looked something like shrewd bargaining. Harry wrapped his arms around the two seventh years on his seat to raucous laughter and began to address the group of people who had approached them, announcing that he was too lazy to start anything now.

Instead, Harry pulled Ginny onto his lap, folding her in a big hug. As he did so, there was a tapping on the window behind him. Ron stumped over to the window to let in a greying barn owl. Just as he was turning away from the window, something occurred to him, and he stuck his head out of the window.

"How is there a window in here? I thought the armour gallery was behind us."

"It is," replied Hermione. "That window shouldn't exist. But anyway, come back here." Ron reluctantly closed the window and traipsed back over to Harry's chair, where Harry was opening the letter. "Read it out," he urged. Harry cleared his throat and began to read, having decided that there was nothing he needed to leave out.

"Dear Mr. Potter,

Thank you once again for thinking of me for this position in the present diplomatic affairs. I am greatly honoured. However, I am having some trouble creating goblin wands.

The wands only work for wizards as the materials we use are powerful only to us. Goblins derive their power from other sources. Of course, the wands do work in a diminished capacity, more diminished than when trying to use another's wand, but the deal you made was for fully functioning wands.

Do you have an idea as to what goblin wands may need to be made from to enable quality spellcasting? If so, please reply as soon as possible, as we cannot continue without this information.#

Kind Regards,

Mr. A. Ollivander"

Harry looked up from the letter to see that it had amassed quite a crowd. Rolling his eyes, he folded the letter and put it back in its envelope.

"Clear off, you nosy parkers!" said Ron, reminding everyone of the way his mother cleared unwanted crowds of people. "Harry, Charlie always told me that they really like money and gems and stuff. You know how they're always going on about their silver artefacts. Why not make goblin wands out of silver?"

"Don't be silly, Ron," scoffed Hermione. "You can't make wands out of silver. You have to use wood from a wand tree. The core is useless without wand wood."

"Well," Harry called over the two of them, "it's the best option we have at the moment. We may as well give it a try. I'm going to write to him now, just suggesting it. There's no harm in that." Hermione's cheeks grew flushed and Ron cheered up visibly. Harry quickly scribbled his reply, then released the owl, which flew to the window that Ron now held open.

The distraction over, Harry settled back in his chair, thankful that there was no homework, as there usually was on the first day of term. He closed his eyes and lay back, almost drifting off to sleep, were it not for the slight pressure on his lap as Ginny sat on him. As the murmur of voices in the background faded, he became vaguely aware of someone standing behind him. He opened his eyes, blinking in the light of the common room.

"Could I... talk to you... in private, Harry?" asked Draco Malfoy tentatively.

"Sure thing," Harry replied. "Sorry, Ginny." Ginny got up so that Harry could do likewise. He followed Draco to a secluded corner doused in a light shadow. Draco was looking at his feet, seemingly unable to begin speaking. Puzzled at this, Harry began to speak, but Draco then found his voice.

"I... I just wanted to say... Thanks..." he muttered.

"But why?" asked Harry. "I mean, we were on different sides, right?" Harry knew he'd put it bluntly, but he didn't know any other way to say it. A crimson flush blossomed on both boys' cheeks and they both avoided each other's gaze.

"Well, yes, I suppose so. But I couldn't say no. He would have killed me. But if it weren't for you, I'd... I wouldn't be here right now. This place is more like a home to me than my family's manor." Draco paused, not used to opening up to someone, especially not someone who used to be, as Harry subtly put it, on the other side. "And I wanted to thank you for what you did for my parents."

"It was no problem, Draco. I mean, in the end, your parents wanted to leave Voldemort." Draco flinched at the sound of the Dark Lord's name. "Sorry," Harry muttered. "There was no way your parents could get away, and that's as bad as Azkaban in my opinion. Why should they spend two sentences, especially your mother? There's no need to thank me."

Draco nodded curtly to Harry, and hurried off to his dormitory. Baffled, Harry continued back to his seat, marvelling yet again at the luxuries of the eighth year. By the time he had returned to his seat it had been commandeered by both Ginny and Luna, both of whom beamed at him as he approached. Since last year they had become so alike. Luna was no longer called Loony by anyone, and she was almost as fun-loving as Ginny herself.

"What was that all about?" asked Ron nosily.

"Mind your own business," chided Hermione, smiling. Harry sat on the floor beside his now-stolen chair and thought back to the case involving the Malfoys. Harry had received a letter from the Ministry a few days after the Battle of Hogwarts. He had been escorted to the Ministry in one of the Ministry cars, and had eventually been taken up to the Minister's office.

As he passed the hall where Umbridge's office had been, he noticed with a smile that the witches and wizards sat at the rows of desks were now folding mundane leaflets. They had titles such as How to Hide your Home from Muggles and 20 Spells you Need to Know. Looking past the desks, Harry's eye rested on a single door. No longer was there a circular hole in the door, but instead a new bronze plaque, glinting in the magical sunlight, indicated who the new occupant of the office was. Harry tried to read the curly script from afar.

"Mr. A. Weasley. – Head of the Department of Muggle Cooperation." Harry spun around to see Mr. Weasley behind him, grinning broadly. "It's only a small department, sharing Level Five with the Department of International Magical Cooperation, so they thought we ought to be named something similar. Nevertheless, we're the foremost authority on Muggles, their lives and how to get on with them now. And it's all thanks to you, Harry. I just got the owl today from the Minister and you're the first to know."

"Is he officially the Minister then?" asked Harry.

"He'll be officially asked to stay on fully by the Wizengamot later this week, but he's already started with the reforms. The Ministry will be back up and running in no time." Harry shook Mr. Weasley's hand and bade him farewell as he turned to enter the Minister's office at the prompting of his secretary. "Good luck," replied Mr. Weasley.

"Do take a seat, Harry," said the new Minister, Kingsley Shacklebolt, kindly.

"I hear your position has been made permanent, sir," said Harry as he sat down. "Congratulations."

"Thank you, Harry," smiled Kingsley, "but there's no need to call me sir. But anyway, Harry, seeing as you are widely regarded as the saviour of the wizarding world, which you are, I thought I ought to first thank you for everything, and secondly to ask you what you think the new Ministry should focus on."

"An extremely wise hat once told me I would do well in Slytherin. However, what I'd heard about Slytherin made me ask to be put in any house but that one. Later on, that hat told us all to stick together through the toughest of times. Eventually, that hat led to the downfall of Voldemort, not once, but twice. Also, a good friend of mine gave me one of the best insights into the mind of that man, telling me that he would want disarray and for me to be alone. Friendship has always been the Dark Lord's downfall, in one form or another, and so there's just one thing I want from the Ministry.

"Friendship and cooperation with all, whether they be house elf, Muggle, centaur or Malfoy."