May 2, 2021 (Evangeline)
~Five years later~
In a quiet, rural region in northern England, on a quaint ten-acre plot of farmland, sat a house. And in that house lived the strangest family you'll ever meet.
The locals thought it was strange when the once-dormant plot of land was developed and occupied in record time. The timing was odd, with the new family moving in just weeks after the incident that would become known as the Reckoning. By the end of the year, it was a fully-functional dairy farm, complete with a hundred-odd cows that appeared on the property seemingly overnight, run by two young women who looked barely out of high school.
It was an oddity to say the least. But the new occupants kept to themselves, so the locals did too.
Evangeline preferred it that way. The last thing she wanted was strangers nosing into their business and figuring out this odd little family's secret. She just wanted peace. The chaos in the weeks following the Second Battle of London, and the repercussions of the Reckoning, had nearly threatened to break her.
Once the public got word of what had happened in the Department of Mysteries – what Eva had done – she was a household name overnight. The girl who destroyed the leylines around the world. The girl who took the magic away from the magicians. The girl who caused the Reckoning that put everyone on an even playing field again. Former witches and wizards wanted her on trial for her actions; Muggles wanted her on talk shows and in magazines. The attention was too much to bear.
Eva had the Hopkins family to thank for her great escape from the limelight. John Hopkins repaid his life debt to the Granger line with the discreet purchase of a plot of land, far from prying eyes, for Evangeline to disappear to. No paper trail, no advance notice to the press. She was able to vanish without a trace, free to start a new life far from the mess she'd gotten caught up in.
And there was no one she'd rather disappear off the face of the planet with than Roxanne Morrison.
They'd rekindled their romance shortly after the battle, picking up right where they'd left off before the machinations of war had torn them apart. Roxanne had her own reasons for wanting to disappear – her father continued to labor under the delusion that his family could be whole again, that Roxanne would return to her parents with open arms. Roxanne would not forgive and forget so easily, and she wanted nothing to do with the man who had abandoned her at age eleven. So she ran off with Evangeline without a second thought, content to fade into obscurity with the only person who had ever truly cared about her.
And they were not alone in their escape. A week after the Reckoning, a very angry couple arrived in Britain from the Midwestern United States. Nearly twenty years' worth of Memory Charms had faded from their minds after the leylines fell, and Eric and Jane Granger demanded answers. They wanted nothing more to do with Harry or Hermione, who had each contributed to their lives being uprooted and disrupted against their wills. But they were willing to spend their twilight years with the only daughter who hadn't betrayed them, who welcomed them home and promised to never leave them or lie to them again.
So it was that the odd little group of four moved into the farmhouse to start their new lives. Roxanne had always wanted to try her hand at farming, so within days, John Hopkins arranged for the delivery of a hundred healthy cows to start their new business. It was hard work, and it took the full attention of both Eva and Roxanne – plus the occasional helping hand from the Grangers, who relished in the chance to stay active in their retirement and bond with their granddaughter and her new partner.
It was a simple life, but a peaceful and happy one, and Eva could think of nothing she would change about it. Nothing, that is, except for the unfortunate secret they were keeping in the bunkhouse at the far end of the property.
A fifth and sixth arrival joined the odd family some months after the initial move-in. For a while, it appeared that they wouldn't make it at all. Hermione Granger's back had been so badly broken that Muggle doctors were unsure if she would even survive the multiple surgeries required to keep her alive. Harry Potter refused to leave her side once throughout the ordeal, vowing to do whatever it took to save her life. His bank account had been exhausted with the heavy cost of her survival.
But she did survive. And it came with a price that even Harry couldn't pay off: she would never walk again. She was paralyzed from the waist down, permanently confined to a wheelchair thanks to the severe damage she'd sustained in the Death Chamber. She would need a permanent caretaker to live with her for the rest of her life, to tend to every need and complication that arose. Harry volunteered at once.
But where could they go? The whole world knew the truth about them by now – the crimes they'd committed in their desperate power struggle over magical Britain. They were reviled in every corner of the globe, by Muggles and former magicals alike, unable to settle down anywhere without a target being painted on their backs. There were a lot of people with grievances against them, and without magic to defend themselves, it would only be a matter of time before someone took retributive action.
So Harry had come to Evangeline, hat in hand, asking for forgiveness. For a place to stay – for a place in their daughter's life. Hermione needed special care facilities – a home designed to accommodate her disability – and above all, they needed anonymity. Besides, as Harry pointed out hopefully, it would give them an opportunity to reconnect, to live the life they should have had all along.
Eva had forgiven them. She had offered them a place on their property, in a bunkhouse specially designed for them to live in. But it came with conditions. Their relationship would be on Eva's terms. She decided when they saw each other, how involved they would be in her affairs. They would live in a separate house, apart from the main family. Eva and Roxanne ran the farm; Harry and Hermione would merely be tenants, living and eating there out of the goodness of her heart. They would renounce all their ties to their old lives and disappear completely, never to return. And if they couldn't accept that, they could find somewhere else to go.
So Harry and Hermione moved in, the former dedicating himself to the latter's care. He cooked for her; he helped her wash; he did all the things she could not do herself. And, Eva had to admit, he did it all without complaint, without a shred of resentment or regret. He seemed genuinely happy just to be with her, to have a chance to start over fresh. And Hermione looked content with her new life as well, no longer burdened with responsibility, her basic needs cared for – the man she loved no longer consumed with anything else but her.
Harry was finally starting to show his age, too. After a decade of appearing like a youthful twenty-three year old, he was beginning to gray and display the wrinkles that had begun gracing the faces of his generation. It was as though time was greedily acting upon his body again in earnest, after being deprived of it for thirteen years thanks to the Hallows. Harry accepted his rapid decline with grace, the same as his new lot in life as personal servant to Hermione. This was his penance, his path to redemption after all he'd done wrong in his past life. As was it Hermione's, accepting her new physical limitations as a fair punishment for her own misdeeds.
Still, Eva could not bring herself to fully accept them into her life. The hurt ran too deep; the manipulation still fresh in her memory. The Grangers felt similarly – they consented to their presence on the land, apart from their own lives, but wanted to keep them at arm's length. They would never truly be part of the family – outsiders looking in, allowed to observe but not participate in their daughter's life. Eva's act of forgiveness was also one of pragmatism – she wanted to keep an eye on them, to make sure they couldn't hurt anyone else again. So long as they were in that bunkhouse, just visible across the fields, they could not damage society any more than they already had.
But Eva still wanted a proper family. So she and Roxanne decided to make one of their own.
Calvin Hopkins readily offered to be a donor, and after much discussion, they both agreed. Nearly a year later, Roxanne gave birth to their first child, a beautiful and healthy baby boy. Roxanne had offered to carry Eva's fertilized egg so that she would be the true mother, but Eva had declined. Something in her knew that her genes oughtn't be passed on. They had been corrupted, her unnatural abilities warped by magic, and she didn't want to risk any such mutations carrying on in the world. The Potter and Granger lines would end with her.
There was much debate over what to name the child. Neither Eva nor Roxanne were keen on naming him after their own fathers. There was talk of Calvin Jr., but they figured that would raise too many uncomfortable questions from the child. Eventually they settled on René, meaning "rebirth", hoping that he would carve his own path independent of his ancestry. He deserved a fresh start, unburdened by the sins of his ancestors.
As for a last name, again, neither mother wanted to use their own names. Potter, Granger, and Beckett all carried too much emotional baggage, and Prewitt was simply an insult. So they settled on the name of the only loving parents either woman had ever known, even if the name was false: Thomas. The elder Grangers had been delighted by the news, knowing that they had contributed as a namesake despite not truly sharing the moniker.
And so they watched René Thomas grow and thrive on the farm, blissfully unaware of the uncommon circumstances of his existence. He had inherited his father's dashing good looks and his mother's wild, rebellious nature, and both Eva and Roxanne knew he'd grow up to be a real heartbreaker one day. Eva raised René as though he was her own, because he was hers – by choice, if not by blood. If Eva had learned anything in her life, it was that one was more important than the other in the end.
Sometimes Eva wondered if René would have been magical, in the time before. He was a bright boy, clever and cunning in his own ways, and she found herself wondering which House he might have been Sorted into at Hogwarts – which subjects he might have excelled in. But that didn't matter anymore. There were no wizards and Muggles anymore – only human beings. And René had the makings of becoming a great one, regardless of the nature of his genes.
For a time, Eva tried to keep in touch with her old classmates. Victoire and Chris had married young, using their parents' connections to enter the world of banking and sports management, respectively. Candace Clearwater had entered British politics, while Amy Burton started a nonprofit helping former magicals adjust to Muggle life. They each exchanged letters periodically, keeping her informed of what was happening in the wizarding community – or what was left of it, anyway.
Originally the old pure-blood families had tried to circle the wagons, to maintain their isolation from the outside world. But that made them targets – once the Muggles realized they had all lost their magic, they sought revenge for the decades, no, the centuries of superiority they'd enjoyed. There were violent attacks on ex-wizards almost daily, acts of public humiliation to subjugate the magical population to the same mistreatment they'd faced during Voldemort's reign.
It took the final heroic acts of President George Rodriguez to save the former wizarding world from certain annihilation. He signed legislation classifying ex-wizards as a protected minority, then lobbied the U.N. to ratify it worldwide. Acts of violence against former witches and wizards carried heavy punishments akin to a hate crime, and greatly discouraged acts of retribution against them. The move was widely unpopular and all but torpedoed Rodriguez's political career. But in doing so, he had saved the old wizarding families and allowed them a gradual path to reintegrate into non-magical society.
Over time, Eva lost touch with all these classmates, preferring the private company of her odd little family on the farm. Between running the dairy farm and raising René, she felt she didn't have time to keep up with the everyday lives of her old classmates. Only Calvin was ever allowed to visit, to see his birth son (officially his godson) – otherwise all connections and memories from the wizarding world faded away.
And Eva was okay with that. Life was harder without magic, there was no doubt about it. She missed the little things about it, like the ability to summon things to her without standing up, or lift heavy objects without breaking a sweat. But she was happier than she'd ever been with magic in her life – and everyone else was, too. The Grangers no longer felt inadequate compared to their offspring; Roxanne no longer felt like an outcast; even Harry and Hermione were better off, deprived of their powers but content with each other.
It had been five years since Eva last felt the pull of magic, since she'd closed the door on her old life. But in the sixth year, things began to go wrong.
It started with small coincidences. René's favorite toy was confiscated after a tantrum and locked in a cupboard, only to reappear in his bed hours later with the cupboard still locked tight. But he could have just figured out how to pick the lock – he was sneaky and resourceful like that. The Grangers began displaying worrying signs of memory loss...but surely that just came with old age, right? And Harry and Hermione seemed more irritable than usual, with Eva walking into the bunkhouse into the middle of a heated argument multiple times. Oh, well...it couldn't always be perfect in paradise, could it?
Still, something didn't seem right to Eva. So one night, after Roxanne had fallen asleep, she dug deep into her closet, into the lock box she'd kept shut tight for five years, and withdrew her old wand. She snuck out into the fields, into the pitch-black night, and listened. She closed her eyes and smelled the fresh grass, listened to the rustling wind, the crickets chirping in the night. And then she whispered the word she hadn't spoken in years.
"Legilimens."
And there they were. Invisible currents, gently rippling through the air around her. Not nearly as strong or as numerous as before, but they were there nonetheless. She hadn't felt their presence since the Reckoning, had forgotten what they felt like moving through her. But it had to explain the odd occurrences of the past few weeks. The Grangers' Memory Charms were flaring up again...René was starting to display accidental magic...and Harry and Hermione's Dark tendencies were returning, triggered by the foreign influence to their brains.
As one door closes, another must soon open.
Magic was returning to Great Britain.
She kept her discovery a secret for a while, hoping against hope that she was wrong. But a few days later, Calvin came for a standard visit, showering René with gifts and flattering the Grangers with his typical effortless charm. But before leaving, he pulled Eva and Roxanne aside for a private chat, looking positively giddy.
"Can you feel it?" he asked excitedly. "The magic? Mum reckons a new leyline must have opened up somewhere nearby, and it's just now starting to spread. We can't cast spells like we used to, but it feels like it's getting stronger, don't you think?"
Roxanne looked to Eva in confusion. Eva could only frown. "Yeah, I've felt it," she sighed.
"Why so glum, Eva?" asked Calvin. "This is great news! We can go back to the way things were before! If we keep this quiet from the Muggles, we can re-establish the Statute and go underground again! Dad's already been approached by some of the other pure-blood families about re-forming the Ministry of Magic."
"They'd have to, I reckon," Roxanne said thoughtfully. "If magical kids are gonna start popping up again, they'll need looking after, need educating. We can't have them losing control among Muggles and blowing the secret all over again!"
"Exactly!" Calvin nodded vigorously, turning once more to Eva. "And I'm sure once everyone gets their powers back, you'll be forgiven for what happened in the Department of Mysteries. Dunno if the same can be said for Potter and Granger, though; it's probably best they stay out of it this time."
"You think they'll listen?" Eva groaned. "You think Potter would be content to live anonymously once he gets his powers back?"
"He has Granger now," Roxanne pointed out. "They're happy together; you said so yourself. Why would he try to ruin things again?"
Eva wasn't so sure. She had seen firsthand what happened to Tom Riddle, how he'd completely gone mad once he was no longer contained within his cell. And as soon as he was exposed to the Elixir of Clarity, he was back to the same docile old man she'd met at Nurmengard. She'd once believed he was simply being deceptive, trying to win his freedom through a convincing façade of remorse. But his final act of sacrifice convinced her otherwise – choosing death over a return to the monster he knew would be waiting for him once his magic returned.
Had Harry corrupted his mind with Dark magic to such an irreversible extent? Was he also beyond saving if that corrupting influence returned? Would he too devolve into the selfish, manipulative, power-hungry force he was before the leylines fell? Were his recent bouts of irritation unrelated, or were they a sign of something more nefarious? Would he abandon Hermione and his daughter in pursuit of some greater glory, some measure of the power and influence he wielded before?
Roxanne was less sure it was a concern. Harry had everything he'd ever wanted: the woman he loved, a life of peace, and an opportunity to watch his daughter thrive with her new family. His destiny was fulfilled; his enemy was destroyed. What could he possibly stand to gain from another attempt to seize power? Why would he give all of that up and risk breaking apart the family he'd fought so hard to reunite? It was a fair point, and Eva found herself curious if his love for Hermione and Eva would be enough to overcome the darkness plaguing him. Voldemort had nothing to lose and everything to gain; Harry's situation was the opposite.
But Eva simply couldn't take that risk. And she knew what she needed to do. The fate of both worlds depended on it.
She set out in the dead of night, with an armful of carved stones, and set to work. Each stone was buried along the perimeter of the fence marking their property and activated with the tap of a wand, flashing white in recognition of nearby power and fading again. One was placed every few meters along the fence line, each standing guard against the magical currents returning to Britain, each keeping the tides of power from entering the property.
When she was done, Eva knew she'd been successful. Using her Sight, she could see the currents changing direction around an invisible dome hovering over the farm. And when she stepped within the boundary, she could no longer feel the pull of magic tempting her. The runes did their job wonderfully, repelling the evil temptress that was Magic from ever corrupting the minds of those within again.
And the odd little family on the farm was none the wiser. Harry continued to care for Hermione with love and affection, his hair growing grayer by the day, René continued to grow and test his strengths, while Eva's maternal grandparents entered a peaceful retirement, having raised two girls of different generations to adulthood. Eva and Roxanne settled into their new lives, secretly knowing what they had lost but relishing in everything they had gained in return. All was right within the little world they'd constructed for themselves, and no outside influence would ever again disrupt the peace they'd forged.
What Harry and Hermione didn't know couldn't hurt them. Not anymore.
A/N: The end! I can't believe we've arrived here, as I once believed this crazy idea for a story would never work on the page. But I'm unbelievably proud of how it all came together, and grateful for everyone who left kind comments along the way, keeping me going through the rough patches. I managed to tell exactly the story I set out to tell, for better or worse, and that's all you can really ask for as a writer.
In my mind, Evangeline's story is complete, but the door is technically open for a sequel if I decide to continue with these characters someday in the future. We'll see how I feel after I've let the story sit for a while! Do you think Eva made the right choice? Or will she, too, one day suffer from her selfish actions to protect her family?
I'm really bad at promoting my own work online, so if you enjoyed this fic, please spread the word and share it with others! I haven't set up any kind of personal website or other means of connecting to an audience, but perhaps I will in the future. I'm nearing completion of my first fiction novel (an action-thriller) and would love to share it with anyone who enjoyed this fic – I think there will be significant overlap in those who enjoy both!
In any case, thanks for sticking around to the end. I don't know what my next big fan fiction project will be, but stay tuned to my profile in case I begin a new journey in the near future. Peace and love!
-bachau
