For the Want of a Horse-shoe Nail
For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost
For the want of the horse, the rider was lost
For the want of the rider, the battle was lost
For the want of the battle, the kingdom was lost
And all for the want of a horse-shoe nail
Disclaimer: I own the rights to nothing of the Harry Potter stories, movies, merchandise, sexy underwear, or other paraphernalia, which are owned by J.K. Rowling and her associates – I am definitely not her, nor them. I have written this for my own entertainment and hopeful the amusement of some others as well. I have invented some characters of my own, so any blame for those does rest with me. Absolutely no money being made in any fashion at any time from this exercise in ravings of a lunatic.
Rating: T. Seriously AU. Warning, some character deaths, some character bashing. Horcruxes
Chapter 7: Epilogue
Thursday, April 2, 5,700,567, 043 (roughly) – Due to the slowing rotation of the earth due to the conservation of angular momentum with the receding moon, the lengthening of the year due to the mass loss of the expanding sun approaching its red giant phase, and the extinction of the human race some 5 and a half billion years earlier (making human calendars kind of pointless), the date is somewhat uncertain.
As the envelope of the expanding sun approached the surface of the dry earth (the oceans having evaporated some billions of years ago), the surface of the earth was melting. Those ghosts who had not managed to complete their destinies (and so still remained in their spectral forms) had moved to the outer planets or had transcended planetary life entirely and now lived among the stars.
As the depth of the molten surface increased, the incandescent rock finally reached the deepest of the vaults which the goblins had warded with the strongest protections known to magic, many many years ago. Eventually, even the remaining magic was overcome, and the vaults themselves melted, followed immediately by the contents which had been placed there for what the owners hoped was eternal safety.
In one of the oldest and deepest vaults, a golden cup once owned by Helga Hufflepuff melted into the molten rock and the soul fragment which had been stored within its metal was released to be incinerated with the rest of the vault's contents.
At this point, the last Horcrux of the late and unlamented Lord Voldemort ceased to exist, and Harry Potter's war was finally and completely over.