Ch 66 The Aftermath of the Battle

I do not give Deb enough credit. She was immensely helpful with this chapter, and I want to acknowledge it. Thank you, Deb.


Every adult at the New Burrow was terrified. They did their best to hide it from the children, but all of the adults were aware that a major battle was taking place, and there was no news. A large kettle of tea was sitting on the table, cups were poured, and people sat down as those left behind stared idly into the air or stirred endless cups of now cold tea.

Victoire was worried, but she knew Teddy was going to be at the headquarters with Uncle Harry, and she thought Teddy would be safe. She could at least hope that Teddy would be safe. Her fingers alternated between stirring her tea or destroying a piece of short bread on her plate.

A nervously pacing Roxanne Longbottom was more than terrified, however. She felt that her chances of being a widow at the end of the day were all too real. No one could give her any realistic hope; they all knew how dangerous the Honor Guard job was going to be.

Ginny brought Minerva and Gregory to the New Burrow. "I'm going to be going to see Harry in a bit," she told the group when everyone crowded around her.

"Let me know about Frank, please," Roxanne told Ginny, the young woman grabbing Ginny's hand.

"I will," Ginny responded, squeezing her hand and nodding the rest of the group before she left.


Neville Longbottom announced to the Hogwarts class, "We have several teachers missing today. They are on a dangerous mission, helping the Peverells. If your teacher is missing you are excused from class."

The students, knowing what was going on, didn't cheer about missing the classes. They just huddled together and whispered as they left for their classroom, anxious to see who was here and who had left to do battle.

Neville waited for some news, but when there was no news by noon he began to get worried. He stayed away from the greenhouse knowing that he would probably kill any plant that he tried to work with today.

Eventually he received a text message from Harry. "Assume all Hogwarts professors are not coming back. We won, but at a terrible cost. Harry."

Neville sat down in the great hall and looked at who he had left, and tried to figure out how they were going to handle classes for the rest of the term. He tried not to think too much about his son Frank; if the professors were dead or disabled what chance did his son have? Harry had been worried that the Honor Guard would take the most casualties, and Neville could not forget that his oldest son was one of the Honor Guard.


Harry looked at the list of people he was going to have to notify. Ginny came over to him and asked, "What can I do to help you, what do you know about casualties?"

"Horrendous," Harry replied.

A grief stricken Teddy added, "Andromeda was one of the first. You might ask Bill. He is outside helping with the dead and wounded."

Ginny moved outside as quickly as her feet would take her and found Bill, tears streaking down his face. "What can you tell me?" she asked.

"Percy is wounded but not seriously. Fleur has a very serious facial wound, and I'm not sure if they can save the eye. We will match, both with scarred faces. There is no way I'm ever going to be pretty enough for both of us, though.

"Mum will recover, but dad ... and Ron, he was supposed to be in with Harry, but they found him outside dead. Plus Andromeda. That is all the losses from our family."

"Ron, and dad!" Ginny exclaimed, staggering back but remembering Roxanne's plea. "What about Frank Longbottom?"

"I think they transferred two of the Honor Guard here, but neither was Frank," Bill told Ginny, putting his hand on her shoulder and drawing her in for a hug. "I think most of them died." He kissed the top of her head then turned and walked away when his name was yelled from the other side of the room.

Taking several deep breaths, Ginny went back inside. "What do you know about Frank Longbottom?" she demanded.

"Nothing definite, but it's not good," Harry responded. She could see he was suppressing his grief until he got the job done, then… then the grief would catch up to him. His best friend, his father in law, his grandson, so many people.

"Albus and Cleo?" Ginny wondered. "They won, but are they all right?"

"I think they are," Harry replied, "but baby Samson seems to have been born in the middle of the battle, or maybe at the end of it, and he is dead."

"Cleo lost her baby?" Ginny gasped. She went into Harry's arms. "Oh Harry," she sobbed. He soothed her as much as he could at the moment, but he still had much to do, needing to work with Sammy and the others to make sure the battle was really over, and that there were no more enemy waiting to take out one of the unsuspecting survivors.

Ginny remembered her dream, between Albus's first and second year at Hogwarts, of Cleo holding her dead baby, Ginny's grandchild, beyond grief. 'Damn prophesies' she thought, silently crying.

Tears continuing to fall, Ginny went back to guarding the door.

Eventually Harry told her, "They just brought Bob Hudson to one of the medical tents. He was in the cave, and maybe he knows something."

Harry pointed out on a map where Bob was, and she and Mitzi rushed out to see him. Bob looked awful. "I should have had this wound taken care of hours ago," Bob told Ginny.

"Frank Longbottom?" Ginny asked.

"I saw him, his body, Ginny," Bob told her. "From where he was I would think he would have been killed early on."

Numbly, Ginny went back inside to see Harry. "Bob Hudson saw Frank Longbottom's body," she told her husband. "I should get back and tell Roxanne. Ron and dad are also dead, plus Andromeda, and of course baby Samson, but everyone else should survive."

"Go," Harry told Ginny, he touched her cheek. "It will probably take a day to finish up here, and then we have much more to do."

Ginny went into Harry's arms, and they both cried. Harry released Ginny. "I have a lot to do, Ginny. I will be home as soon as I can."

"Do what you have to do, Harry," Ginny responded. "I don't think I will be back, unless you need me." Ginny looked almost as defeated as she had looked when James had died.


The room stilled as Ginny came through the Floo at the New Burrow the late afternoon of June first, everyone both eager for and dreading what Ginny was going to tell them. Almost immediately Ginny spotted Roxanne. Roxanne looked momentarily hopeful, and Ginny sorrowfully shook her head 'no.'

"No?" Roxanne said, so quietly you could hardly hear her, and then, "No, NO! NO! NO! NO!" she screamed, hyperventilating. Ginny held out her arms, and Roxanne rushed into them. "No! No! NO!" she repeated, tears pouring out, as Roxanne tried to control herself. "Oh Ginny, no, please, no. Are you sure?"

"I'm sorry, Roxanne," Ginny sniffed, crying. "I'm so very sorry. Bob Hudson saw his body. He's gone."

Ginny held onto Roxanne as Roxanne bawled, howling out her grief.

Wilkie Longbottom, almost eight, came into the kitchen, holding hands with his sister Irma, almost six. Benjamin Longbottom, three-and-a-half, followed with the rest of the adults and children.

Wilkie looked at the stricken faces, his mother beside herself with grief, and asked, "What's wrong?"

Ginny replied, "The big battle we were all fearing just happened. Albus and Cleo won, but there were terrible casualties."

"Is my daddy OK?" Wilkie wondered.

"Your daddy died in the battle," Ginny told the young boy. "I am so sorry, but most of the Honor Guard, including your father, died."

"Dad?" Irma asked.

Frank told his sister, "Dad told me how sometimes people die in battles. Uncle George's twin that we never met died at the Battle of Hogwarts, and he knew it was risky, but grandmother and grandfather Longbottom were Aurors and heroes and someone had to do it but," he signed. He started to cry. "I'm supposed to be brave, but right now I'm just sad."

Wilkie hugged Irma, and then took his sisters hand and went over to their mother. Roxanne broke down again, hugged her two oldest, and just bawled, as they held her and cried with her.

"Anyone else?" Victoire wondered.

"Dad, Ron, Andromeda," Ginny replied. "Cleo must have had baby Samson in the middle of the battle, and he died as well. Others are wounded, but will survive."

"Uncle Ron?" Victoire gasped as the others in the room cried out in denials. "Grandpa Weasley?"

Ginny nodded her head. "I don't know everything."

"Are you going back?" Victoire asked.

"I think I may just be in the way, and I'm not sure I have enough energy to go back," Ginny replied. Ginny sat down and started to cry. This wasn't much of a victory. The others in the room, comforted each other in their grief.


Hermione looked in horror at the text from Harry. "Albus and Cleo won, but at a terrible cost. Don't count on any of the people that left the Ministry to help us coming back. Harry."

Did that mean that Kingsley was not coming back? Ron's father? Was she supposed to be in charge of the Ministry now, until they could hold an election? She looked over the list of the dozen people who had accompanied Kingsley. Two older Aurors and two DMLE people, one young, one old. Arthur was the only department head, but there were other senior people.

Hermione had always tried to be prepared, to be two steps ahead of any problem, but his was more than she was prepared for. Although in another way this is what she had been preparing for all her life, but she never wanted it to come at such a price.

Assuming that there would need to be a round of promotions and reassignments, Hermione got to work.


Victoire started on dinner, assuming that there would be a big crowd. She would have enough food, in any case. She let family members know that they would be gathering to share information at six that evening.

Just before six Rich Hudson came through the Floo. "Is Lucy here?" he asked.

"He didn't die too?" Victoire gasped as she motioned for someone to get Lucy.

"No, but he is in the hospital in Switzerland, and is asking for Lucy," Rich said.

Someone went to get Lucy, and she came in looking worried.

"Bob is in the hospital recovering," Rich told Lucy. "He is asking for you. I think he needs a little incentive to be a little more careful."

"Let me get some things, and then I will go with you," Lucy replied. She quickly Apparated to her room and gathered a few clothes and things she would need before Apparating back to the New Burrow. Bob and Lucy left before dinner.


Harry saw the message about dinner at six, and decided someone needed to be there. "Teddy," he told his adopted son, "they are having a family dinner at six GMT, and I think you should be there to let people know what we know. I will send you a message if we need you back here. Tell Ginny I will probably need to be here another day or so, but I'm going to try and get a little sleep here as soon as I can."

"Yes, sir," Teddy replied, his tone very subdued.


The prophetess Nausicaa Scheria and her granddaughter Sibylla Papadopoulos looked at the fountain as water flowed from the top down the seven tiers. It had been prophesied that when water flowed all the prophesies would be fulfilled, the two wands and three Crystal Balls would be reunited, and the world of the Magi would be at peace. Well, more at peace than before. Nothing was ever perfect.

"Albus and Cleopatra must have won," Nausicaa told her granddaughter.

"Yes, but at what cost?" Sibylla sighed. "Fifteen of the Honor Guard were from here. We had others Apparate there because the situation was desperate."

Albus tried to spread the membership out over as many of the areas of the world as he could, but the Swiss thought that they should be well represented in the Honor Guard, and they were.

The prophetesses went down to their offices and tried to read the signs and omens. They did see that the prophecy had been fulfilled that one of Albus's and Cleo's children would die protecting them, and they knew Adam, Morgana and Eve were safe in the castle, so they were reasonably sure that somewhere in the battle the son Cleo was carrying had died.

Nausicaa and Sibylla went into each other's arms and cried, for all the people from Switzerland that had died, and for their families.


About six Hannah Longbottom came through the Floo at the New Burrow, and almost bumping into her was Angelina.

"I'm so sorry about Frank," Angelina told Hannah.

"Is Frank alive?" Hannah gasped, and Angelina realized she hadn't been told yet.

"No, he and almost all the Honor Guard died," Angelina sadly told Hannah.

"I was afraid of that," Hannah moaned. "Roxanne is going to need a lot of support. We will be there for Roxanne and the children."

Angelina and Hannah hugged, and cried.

They went into the kitchen, where they spotted Roxanne. The new widow ran into the arms of her mother and started to cry again. Hannah sat down and tried to comfort Wilkie and Irma, her grandchildren. Benjamin stood next to his brother and sister, mostly confused.

Hermione came bustling into the room. She asked, "What do we know? Harry texted me not to count on anyone from the Ministry coming back, but that is the last I heard."

Ginny looked at Hermione and sadly told her, "I am so sorry, Hermione."

"It is going to be difficult, but I think we can cover all the positions in the Ministry. Very few of the Aurors went over there," Hermione suggested. "Who did we lose?"

"Frank, and dad," Ginny told her, "and Ron."

Hermione's visage turned from I'm busy but I've got this to HORROR, causing her to collapse into a chair. "Ron? He was supposed to be safe with Harry!"

"He went out to make sure everything was safe at the end of the battle," Ginny told Hermione. "I guess it wasn't."

"Ron?" Hermione repeated, very softly. Ginny went over and hugged Hermione hard, and she hugged Ginny back.

Hermione sat back down at one of the tables, and put her head on the table. She looked up, looked back at Ginny, looking as lost as Ginny had ever seen her. "Ron?" Hermione whispered again. "He was supposed to be in with Harry, guarded, not out where he could get killed."

Hermione started to gently cry.

Rose and Scorpius and their children came into the kitchen/eating area. Hermione looked at her daughter. "Your father," Hermione whispered, obviously distressed.

Rose panicked. Her mother never whispered. She didn't cry. She spoke quietly at times, but she was always in control. "What happened?" Rose asked.

"Killed," Hermione answered. Hermione stood up, opened her arms, and Rose went into them and hugged her mother, as both of them cried. When they eventually separated Rose asked, "Who else?"

"Grandpa Weasley, and Frank Longbottom," Ginny volunteered. "Actually all but three of the Honor Guard, and all or almost all of the Hogwarts professors and Ministry employees who followed the Honor Guard into the cave of The Lord of the Dementors. Al and Cleo won, but at a horrendous cost. Somehow in the battle baby Samson was born and killed as well. I don't know what happened. I have to imagine that losing Samson will be hard on Cleo."

Ginny tool a deep breath, and it looked like she would cry. "Hard on everybody," she sniffed. "All these losses are going to be hard on everybody."

George and Hugo showed up in the middle of dinner. Angelina quietly told them both what had happened. George and Hugo both gave Roxanne a hug, and the George Weasley family quietly talked for some time.

George eventually asked Ginny, "Do you know when mum will be back?"

"I don't know," Ginny replied. "She donated all the blood she could to heal other people, but I think she will recover reasonably quickly. That's mum, always trying to help others."


Rich Hudson took Lucy to the hospital to see her husband.

Lucy saw her husband lying in a hospital bed. "Bob? she tentatively asked.

"I've been grounded," Bob told Lucy. "They tell me they can save my leg if I don't go anything stupid, like Apparating, taking the Floo, or leaving this Swiss valley for a few months."

"What happened?" Lucy wondered, taking Bob's hand.

"I got one hell of a story, was actually in the cave where the battle took place at the very end of the battle, but didn't get the leg treated in time," Bob admitted. "I've books to write about the battle, but can do most of the writing here in Switzerland."

Bob looked at Lucy, and squeezed her hand. "I'd like you to stay here with me."

"While you write your books?" Lucy asked.

"Until death part us, isn't that the marriage vows?" Bob replied, looking hopefully at Lucy.

Lucy leaned over and gave Bob a gentle kiss.

Bob told Lucy, "I think it is time for us to live together, again, or maybe really live together for the first time."

Lucy nodded yes.

"Will you be married to me?" Bob asked. "We didn't do it very well the first time."

"I will be married to you, and live with you, and we will support each other," Lucy responded. She grinned, and kissed Bob again, and they held the kiss a long time this time.

"The fountain that is supposed to give fertility is flowing again," Lucy shyly smiled. "Ready to work on being a family again?"

"I love you Lucy," Bob replied. "I've always liked you, but yes, it is time to be lovers, and if our love results in more people that is just more love."

Lucy was a little worried, but it was time to give this marriage and family thing another try. She would just work hard to make it work, to make it good for both of them.

And then she thought of Roxanne, of Aunt Hermione, and all the others who had lost a family member, and she started to cry. She had Bob back. It was time to be in love; too many people would not have a chance for that again.


Albus woke up after just over three hours of sleep, still groggy. He looked over to the next bed, where Cleo was sleeping. A healer was giving a bottle of milk to the baby from the accursed village, and in a cot next to Cleo was the little body of baby Samson.

'Damn prophecy' thought Albus. He sadly looked at Cleo. The next days were going to be hard on everybody, including Cleo.

"What do I need to do?" Albus asked another healer, who was treating someone in another bed.

A short time later the healer came over to Albus, examined him, and told him, "You need to go back to sleep and heal. I have a potion for you. In another few hours you should be awake and ready to take up your duties again."

Albus took the potion and slept for another four hours. When he woke up a couple of members of his staff, and several other people, were there.

"We need to formally notify the next of kin to all those who died," one told Albus. For the next couple of hours, they composed and send notifications to the next of kin of all the dead, letters that Albus signed personally.

Albus and Cleo Peverell and the ICWW regret to inform you that …

The next of kin of almost one hundred and fifty Magi were notified that their witch or wizard had died in the battle. Widows and a few widowers. Grown children who had lost both their parents. Parents who had lost a child.

It took over twenty-four hours between the time Albus and Cleo first were captured until everyone had been transferred off the mountain. Albus, Cleo and the two babies were transferred back to Switzerland only after all the initial letters had been sent.

Fawkes and the other phoenix seemed to want to stay with Albus and Cleo. No one was sure where the other phoenix came from, but they guessed it accompanied one of the many Magi who had died in the battle. Harry asked Fawkes if he wanted to go with Albus, and the colorful bird indicated that he did. Both birds stayed with Albus, and worked with the Swiss Auror Department from time to time.

Phoenixes had been extremely rare, and they stayed rare, but the other phoenix was a female, and she did have offspring. Eventually Harry and the British Auror Department received one of the offspring.


Roxanne and her children stayed at the New Burrow property that night. George and Angelina and their two young children stayed as well. George went into work the next morning, but Angelina announced that she was staying with Roxanne for as long as Roxanne needed her, and it was a couple of weeks before Angelina put in any time at the store.

George notified all the staff that Ron had been killed. Ron's job was divided up among two other Magi, so life, and the business, could go on. And in the midst of all the necessary work George would occasionally go up to the apartment above the store to cry.

Hugo didn't cry, but he did have a hard time at work for the next several days. And many of the customers, upon seeing George or Huge, expressed their sympathy.


Teddy went into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement the next day. Many people wanted to know what had happened, and Teddy found that he needed to spend most of the day relaying what he knew about the battle. Dennis Creevey and Hermione both told him that he was doing what he needed to do by telling the story of the battle.

That night he went home to hug his wife and children. "I've spent much of the day with Roxanne and Angelina and the children," Victoire told Teddy, tears in her eyes. "It has been very hard." After exchanging hugs and kisses Victoire helped the Elves finish up dinner.


Hermione worked to reassign people as acting Minister, between letting people console her and accepting their sympathy. She knew that allowing other people to share her grief was important. That evening she had dinner with Rose and her family, and she and Rose had another good cry.

Then she went home to her mother, grateful that she had a couple of Elves taking care of mother, and her mother had been having a bad day, remembering even less, and unable to speak clearly, and Hermione grieved losing her mother gradually as well as losing Ron suddenly, and went up to her lonely marriage bed and cried some more.


Harry finally came home, back to Grimmauld Place, after well over twenty-four hours gone. It was the middle of the morning, but he was exhausted. Ginny had Harry take a shower and put him to bed. Harry slept fitfully until the middle of the afternoon. When he arose Ginny fed him, and they talked quietly about the battle, and life. "I need to go into the office tomorrow," Harry told her, "but today I just need to process what has happened."

"At least we didn't lose Albus or Cleo," Ginny observed. "I'm worried that Roxanne may be worse off than Erica and I were when we lost James, though."


Wednesday morning Harry walked into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and on his office door found a sign that said, "Dennis Creevey, Head Auror." Mary Lou pointed Harry to the office that had been occupied by his father-in-law. On it was a sign, "Harry Potter, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

He sighed.

"Less excitement, but more paperwork, Harry," Mary Lou kidded.

"Hermione?" Harry wondered.

"She suggested it, but we all agreed," Dennis responded. "Don't fight her on this. She is handling her grief the only way she knows how, by working through it by working. She is also asking for advice so she doesn't do something stupid just because she is grieving."

Harry was head of the British DMLE for many years.

It wasn't unanimous, but Hermione was the overwhelming choice for the next Minister of Magic.


"I'm going to name the baby Delilah," Cleo told Albus the day after the battle. They were back in Switzerland, in their bedroom. "I've asked Sammy to find out what her name was, but none of the Magi want to go back to that cursed village. Apparently there is too much carnage, and too much evidence of perversion, and they just want to bury the village, or at least ignore it. There is too much else to do."

Albus agreed. He let Cleo recover, concentrating on their children and just recovering. He personally signed a second letter to the survivors of all of the about one hundred and fifty dead.

He worried. The next days were not going to be easy.

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