By the time Amelia Bones had processed that Harry Potter was in her friend's study and had just seen her, he was already pointing his wand at her and looked like he was a second away from stunning her. Ophelia was about to help her when Harry Potter had another wand trained at her with his left hand. Great. Amelia was just thankful that Alastor Moody wasn't alive to see this. If he knew that both the former Head of DMLE and the Head of Unspeakables were caught off guard, and in wartime to boot, he'd be rolling in his grave.

Harry, for his part, was only thankful that he didn't return Malfoy's wand, using which he won his duel with Voldemort. Malfoy didn't seem to be overly concerned about getting his wand back when they last met, and he had more pressing concerns at the time, so he failed to return it. Taking a few steps back to keep both of them in his line of sight, Harry debated what to do internally. He didn't want to hurt Mrs. Greengrass, not just because she had to help him with the ritual but also because she was Daphne's mother. She didn't really seem like she was a bad person. Maybe a bit shady, what with the 'don't ask how I know things', but she has only been helpful so far. Still, one thing Harry learned from the war was that it was better to be safe than sorry. Just to make sure there wasn't anyone else present, he cast the Homenum Revelio spell. Apart from the occupants of the room, there seemed to be two more people in the cottage. Probably Daphne and her sister. Seeing that Mrs. Greengrass was about to move again, he quickly said, "Mrs. Greengrass. I don't want to hurt you, and you know why. I know you know more magic than me, but I'm a quicker draw, and I'd rather not prove it if I don't have to." Taking a moment to make sure that she wasn't making any more moves, he explained himself to avoid any misunderstandings. "Susan is a friend. Not just to me, but to Daphne too. I just want to make sure who is going around disguised as her aunt to make sure she doesn't hurt Susan."

"I'm not an imposter", Amelia Bones grumbled. Still, considering that he just ended the war and, more importantly, because he was Susan's friend and seemed to be looking out for her, she still explained to him, "I won't go into details, but we knew in advance that Voldemort was coming for me, so we left some traps for him and a body to look like me using Polyjuice. We wanted someone to lead operations in the dark because we knew Voldemort always had spies everywhere. A lot of the missing reports you've been hearing about have been our work. We are staging people's homes to look like snatchers or death eaters are attacking and taking people to a secret location. It was meant to be a refuge and seeds for future resistance in case we completely lose this war."

Harry relaxed slightly but didn't lower his wand. "Well, that's a wonderful story. So, you should have no problem answering something only someone close to Susan would know?", he asked her challengingly.

Amelia Bones looked at him amusedly and said, "Sure. But do you know anything personal about her that only I would know?"

Harry calmly looked at her and asked simply, "What was the last conversation you had with Susan just before you sent her to Hannah's house prior to the attack?"

All mirth vanished from Amelia Bones' face as soon as she heard the question. Looking at Harry's cold face, she sighed and said, "She wanted to go to the movies—Golden Eye. She really likes the James Bond series. I said I was busier than usual due to the war and she should go with her friends. She said she would wait for me so that we could watch together." She hesitated for a bit and asked quietly, "How is she doing now?"

Listening to her answer, Harry lowered the wands and shook his head. "She was devastated after your 'death'. She became very withdrawn, and coming from me, that's saying something. In the end, Hannah helped her come out of her shell, and she's doing better now." Harry frowned and asked, "Why didn't you take her with you?"

Amelia Bones rubbed her face and answered tiredly, "I couldn't take her when I died. Her disappearance just as I died would make people suspicious that I was alive. I wanted things to cool down before I took her with me. But there was never an opportunity. She stayed in the public eye so that death eaters couldn't do anything to her without hurting their pureblood cause. But it also made it difficult for me to approach her."

Harry's tone mellowed a bit, but it was still cold when he said, "Well, you still owe her a heck of an apology."

"That I do, Potter," she said regretfully. "That I do."

Then everyone became silent. Before things became awkward and Harry was about to step out, Amelia Bones spoke up again. "Well, since you both are here, I think this would be a good opportunity to go over a few things." Seeing Harry's curious look, she explained, "Well, now that the war has ended, when everything blows over, I will probably end up as Head of DMLE again. And since the Head of Unspeakables is also here, I thought we could go over a few things regarding Voldemort's defeat sooner rather than later. We want to make sure that this time he stays down for good."

"Oh!", Harry exclaimed. He finally found out Mrs. Greengrass' identity. Remembering what they did to the Department of Mysteries at the end of their fifth year, Harry winced and said, "Um, I'm really sorry for what we did to your department."

Ophelia Greengrass chuckled and said, "It's fine, Harry; the department is just a place to hold non-essential and failed experiments. Our real base is in a different place. Technically, we aren't even part of the Ministry. We only pretend to work there to appease them."

Amelia Bones threw her a disapproving look and shot Harry a glare, saying, "You better keep that to yourself, Potter." Harry just shrugged in return. When he saw her in Wizengamot during his trial, he was really intimidated by her. But now, maybe due to the last few years or maybe due to his impending death, she doesn't seem nearly as intimidating.

"You can call me Harry", Harry said distractedly. He was still processing what they said. He didn't think that the Department of Mysteries had such a crazy background. He wondered who they actually worked for. Harry shook his head; it was really none of his concern. Harry thought for a minute before saying, "I don't mind sharing the details regarding Voldemort's defeat, but before that, I need an oath from both of you not to reveal the conversation to anyone else without consent from either me, Ronald Weasley, or Hermione Granger, and that you won't use the magic yourselves."

Amelia Bones looked disgruntled and said, "That's not how this works, Harry. The Ministry needs to have all the details so that we can be completely sure that Voldemort will never return."

"Well, you could have done that after the end of the first war." Harry pointed it out.

"The only one who knew the complete details of the end of the first war was Dumbledore. And he never shared it with anyone. Just like you aren't now." Madam Bones snapped.

Harry snapped back, "I am nothing like him. I am sharing it with someone. I am telling the Head of DMLE and the Head of Unspeakables. I think that that should be more than sufficient rather than letting such knowledge spread to the next budding dark lord." If there was one aspect of Dumbledore that he hated, it was his penchant for keeping secrets. He didn't like it when he revealed that he hid the prophecy from him at the end of the fifth year. He didn't like it when he didn't give the clues regarding horcruxes and Hallows straight up. And he certainly didn't like it when he hid the fact that Harry was a horcrux until the last minute of the war. Shaking his head, Harry continued, "Either way, the point is moot. It's either the oath or the only thing you'll be getting from me is that the killing curse rebounded and killed him."

Amelia Bones' face turned red, and she looked just about ready to explode. Before she snapped, Ophelia Greengrass tried to calm her down. "Deep breaths, Amelia. Deep breaths. You don't want to blast the wizarding world's hero just after he won the war. It's bad press." Leaving Amelia Bones fuming, she turned to Harry and said, "I don't mind the oaths. But please remember that I will only keep the details I find in your conversation and not elsewhere. I research a lot of magic, including dark magic. So, I might already know and might even have discussed it with my colleagues."

Harry turned that over in his head and nodded. He can't really stop her from talking about things she already knows. After getting oaths, though reluctantly, from Amelia Bones, Harry started to explain things to them. "Have you ever heard of a horcrux?", he questioned them. Amelia Bones looked at him blankly. Ophelia Greengrass grimaced and nodded. "Well, it's good that you know. I only know the basics, which is already far more than I want to know. horcruxes are soul containers. Anyone who wants to create a horcrux needs to break their soul and put it into an object by committing murder. As long as someone has a horcrux, even if they die, their soul will pass on, or something like that. So, they won't truly die and can come back."

Ophelia Greengrass rubbed her temples and said, "Although crude, that's the basic description of what a horcrux is. But the horrible thing about it is not that they're committing murder." When Harry looked at her in consternation, she corrected herself, "Well, murder is horrible, but that's practically nothing in the dark arts. What is truly horrible about it is that the person who wants to create a horcrux should make someone be affected by fear and powerlessness to the point that they feel that they want to die, and then grant them the release of death. And that is just to split their soul. I...don't even want to describe what it takes to put a torn soul in an object. That is an even worse action; I feel disgusted just by saying it out loud."

Everyone remained silent. As Harry listened to her description, he remembered the victims Voldemort used to create horcruxes. At least the ones he knew. Myrtle Warren, Hepzibah Smith, Tom Riddle Senior, his mother—as he got to this point, he tamped himself down. That was a line of thought he did not want to go down.

Amelia Bones cleared her throat and started speaking again. "So, Voldemort created a horcrux? And that's what you were searching for throughout the last year?"

Harry corrected her, "Actually, he created seven." Receiving incredulous expressions from both women, he explained more clearly, "Well, it seems having one failsafe wasn't for him, so he created multiple ones. And seven is apparently a powerful magical number."

"What a psychopath!", Ophelia Greengrass was the most surprised and disgusted one, as she was the person who most understood horcruxes in the room, even better than Harry. She turned to Amelia Bones and said, "You should be feeling lucky that we can't reveal this information. Forgetting about the outcry from ICW if they find out that the Ministry let someone who has delved so deeply into the dark arts not just come back to power and take over the Ministry, even if you consider the interest the other dark lords show in this information, you can't even begin to imagine the chaos it would cause."

Amelia Bones grunted but didn't disagree. She at least understood the ramifications for the Ministry, but she didn't have nearly enough sources outside Britain, especially ones who knew about the currently active dark lords. But if Ophelia Greengrass said so, she had no choice but to believe it.

Harry continued his explanation. "Anyway, a couple of them were already destroyed, so we were searching for the rest of them for the last year. The last one was Nagini, Voldemort's familiar, which was destroyed in the last battle. So, Voldemort was mortal at that point, and we were able to kill him." Seeing a raised eyebrow from Amelia Bones, he said exasperatedly, "Well, obviously there's a bit more to it. But he was stupid enough to use someone else's wand since it was a powerful wand. And coincidentally, the wand he was using chose me, so his spell backfired and he died." Seeing that Amelia Bones was still not letting up, Harry said exasperatedly, "What I said should be more than enough, if it's to reassure the Ministry that Voldemort is truly dead."

Amelia Bones' face turned red again, and this time he saw a vein throbbing on her forehead. Ophelia Greengrass tried to mediate between them, saying, "Amelia, sometimes it's better to not know some information, even under an oath. Some things are better left forgotten."

Amelia Bones retorted, "It's not a matter of secrecy, but trust and accountability. In the first place, he may not have told the truth and lied his ass off, and even if he hadn't, what if there were more horcruxes? And what about the 'powerful wand' that he got from Voldemort? Even if he doesn't use it to do something bad with it, there's no guarantee that it won't fall into some dark wizards' hands."

Harry grumbled and took an oath to the effect that he did not and would not utter lies in the conversation he was having and continued, "Since I swore an oath, I obviously didn't lie. If he had more horcruxes, when he died, instead of turning into ashes, he would have turned into a wraith and fled." Amelia Bones looked towards Ophelia Greengrass at this point, and she nodded in confirmation. "And I snapped the wand I got from Voldemort after the war was over. Even through the pieces in the canyon near Hogwarts. Besides," Harry snorted, "you're the one to talk about trust and accountability. Even if we ignore the things from last war and the stupid things the Ministry did just in this war and get away scot-free, the whole idea of accountability goes out the window."

Just when it looked like she was about to jump out of her chair and strangle Harry, Ophelia Greengrass interjected, "He's right, Amelia, and you know it. Whether it's because the previous ministers were stupid or because the families sympathetic to Voldemort were ample in number, the fact remains that the Ministry currently has the least amount of trust in the public. And now isn't the time to come after the good guys, holding them accountable for what the Ministry should have done. Doing that will let death eaters slip through the net again. Round up all the death eaters, throw them in Azkaban, and elect someone competent as the minister. Then raise a motion to take away votes from the houses of death eaters. At least when the war is raw, the vote shouldn't go against you. If things don't change even after this much bloodshed, then frankly, wizarding Britain deserves the next dark lord it gets."

Amelia Bones' face darkened at this, but she stayed silent. Harry thought she was a bit harsh, but he wasn't going to say it out loud. Still, Harry thought that if it meant that Madam Bones would work that much harder to clean up the Ministry, then it was worth it. Waiting for a few more minutes, he listened to them talk about the reformation of the Ministry and Wizengamot before Madam Bones kicked him out, saying he wasn't needed in the rest of the conversation since he didn't have anything to add. Harry thought she was just sore that she was held at wand point by a teenage kid.

Still, his purpose for coming here was done, and he had things to do before performing the ritual. And considering his impending death, Harry thought of all the things he left unfinished. He had to leave a will, then smooth over things with the goblins to make sure that they didn't rob his vault, make someone help Andromeda take care of Teddy considering both his parents are dead and his godfather was about to kick the bucket, check how the Dursleys were doing, and the list went on. Just thinking of all of them was causing him exhaustion. Apparently, putting affairs in order before dying was rather hard. Who knew.

A/N:
1. I've never liked the setting of horcrux in canon. It seemed way too simple to me. The above additional setting about horcrux is from I'm Still Here by kathryn518. (One of my favourite authors. Check out her stories. They're awesome.)
2. I know there are a lot of unanswered questions that may seem like plot holes. Why did Harry become a horcrux with the above setting? Why did Daphne's mother allow her to go to war and act like it wasn't a big deal? Some of them will be answered in the next chapter. Some may be answered after a few tens of chapters. My point being, don't assume something is a plot hole just because things aren't clear now. Of course, I concede that there may be actual plot holes that I may miss, but if you do find something, PM me, and I'll either reply that it's a plot hole or say it'll come up in future chapters if not.
3. I'll be busy next week moving cities, so I may not release a chapter next week. Will release every Monday starting the week after next.