The Stonehenge Solution
01 - After The War
By Brian N. Johnson
A free fan fiction
(Edited 10/28/23)
Chapter 1 - After The War
Harry Potter had barely gotten through the emotionally crushing weight of the last two months after the Battle of Hogwarts and the killing of Tom Riddle, a.k.a. Ol' Voldy. The unending days of Harry attending funerals and special events for family, friends, and people he never even knew weighed heavily on him. He missed the family and friends he had lost. They were not there when he turned to speak to them, having forgotten for a moment that they were gone forever.
For everyone else, he tried to carry them, to be strong and supportive. Even those who were disappointed and felt he should have done more and should do more even now. So it made him ask, "How much more must I do?"
Still, Harry survived the war. He thought the worst was over. The bodies had been cleared from the field. But life was never easy, never forgiving, especially for him, The Chosen One. So when he learned that his two best friends had been killed in more senseless violence, it was the end. That last bit of weight broke his back.
After attending the cold and wet funerals of Ron and Hermione, Harry was truly broken. Oh, he put on a convincing mask, even at the Ministry's inquiry. During that macabre circus, he was stoic and strong for the public.
Wilks was a salesman of lumber, a husband, a father, a muggle, a mundane, a normal person, or whatever you wanted to label him. He was responsible for striking the match. He may have reignited the war, but most everything was already in ashes.
Wilks's wife and two daughters were gang-raped, tortured, and finally murdered while he was away. So he became a husband and father seeking justice for his family. But he was told, "Muggles don't have rights in the magical world." Meaning his wife and children didn't deserve justice. To them, not even his "witch" daughter deserved a modicum of fairness. But Wilks's outrage and furry demanded otherwise.
Wilks sold all of his and his family's things, even the family home. A home that was cared for and improved upon by the family many times. A home that had been passed down through the family for generations. A family that had more history than many who called themselves "purebloods." With the large sum of money, the distraught father acted. He contacted friends of friends to purchase his tool of revenge and justice.
Wilks knew where to wait, he'd been there a few times before with his family to go school shopping. It had been a strange and wonderful place then, but it had since become hated.
Without his daughter, Wilks could not see the pub's door. He waited nearby for one of 'them' to emerge. It didn't take long to spot an oddly dressed woman who he swore had appeared from nowhere. He grabbed her hand and dragged her to the door. He released her only once he had opened the door to step through. He had determinedly walked through the old pub without saying a word. Then he reached it, the brick wall with the magic door that his daughter once was so thrilled to open. Now it was only a gateway to misery and pain. Someone called out to him. Wilks turned with a fake smile as he pushed a hand into his pocket and flipped a simple switch. It was just a light switch he had stolen from his hotel room this morning. It still worked.
The Leaky Cauldron and a good portion of the Alley no longer existed. It was there one moment and gone the next. Dozens of people in the pub and behind the wall were torn apart just like the wall and buildings. Shards of glass, chunks of brick, jagged pieces of wood, and even slivers of bone, flew in every direction, furthering the range of death and injury.
Having just emerged from the pub's fireplace was a tanned and happy family returning from Australia. Ron, Hermoine, and her parents never knew what happened. They, like so many others were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or perhaps they weren't, Wilks, who ceased to exist after he engaged that switch, thought everyone there deserved to receive his justice. Was Wilks wrong? Harry never could decide.
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Three months after the war, Harry had retreated to Number 12, Grummond Place. Access was denied to everyone but Andy and Teddy after Harry and Kreacher locked the house down. Non-family house elves couldn't pop in. Owls couldn't find Harry and just flew back to their senders. Only loyal Kreacher went out to buy food and supplies for Harry. Kreacher always returned without messages unless they were from Andy, select booksellers or Gringotts.
Harry's world had been reduced to the house he inherited from Padfoot. A world changed to fit his desires. All the windows had been blackened so Harry couldn't see out, but spelled to still let the sunlight and moonlight in.
During those first months, Harry had wondered about the house cleaning, repairing, and redecorating. Harry destroyed every cursed or dark object with Fiendfire, regardless of value. He had included all of the dark items from the vaults as well. Dark books he kept, after curses were removed.
Most of Harry's time was spent reading the books from the library. A library that was constantly expanding. Every book and scroll from every accessible vault was brought to the house after Hermoine's entire collection was retrieved. Her copy of 'Hogwarts A History' was placed on a pedestal with a brass nameplate and glass cover. The nameplate listed her full name, birth date, and date of death. Below that it simply said, "Best Friend Forever."
Harry ignored Kreatcher's behavior, if he had noticed at all when Kreatcher 'found' other books. A surprising number of Black and Potter books were returned to the library if one cared to note. One night the entire Malfoy library was added while Harry slept. A few walls were removed on occasion to make the library larger when expansion charms reached their considerable limits when Harry performed them. Duplicate books were sold or traded for other books. Any remaining funds were used to buy more books.
It was Kreacher who recognized that his master was happy or at least content when studying new books. Kreacher was devoted to fetching more books for his master and he was rather uncaring about where they came from. Well no, the house elf was happiest when he acquired 'lost or unattended' books. This activity seemed to restore the elf's health and improve his disposition.
Eventually, two of the spare bedrooms were converted into additional library space. This is where the 'misfit' books were stored when Harry found one very poorly written or fallible but still wanted to have it on hand.
Harry had studied mind magics all day every day until he mastered them. The initial effort to firmly grasp the subject took ten months, then Harry continued strengthening the skill with daily maintenance. With this skill, he learned he could sleep. His anger with Albus and Snape reached new heights.
Next, Harry dove into runes and arithmancy until he felt he could pass the ICW NEWTs for both subjects. All the while he continued studying the other subjects taught at Hogwarts when he had attended. Again he pushed until he thought he could pass the ICW NEWT for each.
At some point, Kreacher asked Harry for permission to bring in another house elf for the House of Potter. Harry agreed and added Bob to the Potter family. Between the two elves, they soon found magic books everywhere, and in more places than they should have.
This led Harry to begin work on enchantments for the library. Once he was ready, Harry and the house elves got to work remodeling. They cleaned out the attic and the house's fifth or top floor. Many of the items went to the second-hand shop while the rest went into the Black vault. Then they removed as many walls as possible to open up both floors.
The attic was maximally expanded into a reading room with many skylights. The many bookshelves held his favorite books. All of the magically defended Family books were placed on shelves behind locked glass doors. The rest of the room held many items, a large brass telescope under the largest skylights, several chairs and couches, a desk, many plants, and more. In a place of honor was Hermione's book under a large portrait of her. Over the mantle was the sword of Gryffindor between the crests of Black and Potter. An exceptionally thick and very plush dark green carpet covered the floor. Yes, the attic space was an incredible space for reading and studying in comfort for hours without end.
The top, or fifth floor was given the same extension charm treatment as the attic, plus expanded vertically with tall bookshelves in mind. Bookshelves which filled the room.
Before adding any books to the new library Harry placed many enchantments on the entire house. Every square meter in the house would perfectly preserve books at the best humidity and temperature. Books would automatically be protected from water, fire, and insect damage. They would also be automatically cleaned, repaired, properly cataloged, and sorted onto the shelves with a Magical Decimal System. A new version of the Dewy Decimal System. The extensive card catalog cabinet was set up for use. Each book added to the library had multiple index cards magically created for all the ways needed to find that specific book. Harry's final work was an automatically updating book listing every book in the library. The elves constantly used a copy while hunting for more books.
Eventually, Harry's account manager and a magical American book dealer got a copy of Harry's extensive auto-updating book list too. That opened doors for selling or trading copies of Harry's rare books to others, usually in trade for much older or other one-of-a-kind books. Bob crossed the Atlantic so often that Harry asserted there was a path in the water between London and New York. Not to be outdone, Harry's account manager got him 'first right of refusal' for every book the goblins confiscated from vaults and access to many books in their library. After that, Harry told the elves to carefully trade all goblin-made items in the vaults for the rarest scrolls, books, and tomes they could get.
Black, and Potter, crest stamps were created and linked to the library magic as well. Each book was officially added to the library upon getting a stamp. Normally on the inside of the front cover or first page. Adding a book automatically labeled each book with the proper card catalog information and updated the card catalog. Books were then levitated to their assigned location. Even books placed elsewhere in the house showed their current location on the cards. Any book someone might try to remove from the house would instantly be ported back to a library table unless it was taken by Harry or his elves temporarily for copying.
Hidden away in a vault, a never-ending logbook recorded every change made to the card catalog. A chalkboard was magically linked for requesting searches. Harry only had to write what he needed for the proper books to be listed.
Once Harry finally got the library magic to function just as he wanted he enchanted for fun a special book stand. It had no legs, only a flat surface to lay a book on and a lip to keep it from sliding off. Enchanted to stay floating wherever the user positioned it with the command, "bookstand hold" or to be moveable again with the command, "bookstand release." Thus anywhere Harry happened to want to read, it was hovering there and flipping pages automatically for him.
Harry lost himself in learning and creating revision books that he hoped Hermione would have treasured like she treasured Hogwarts a History. So he studied like mad to learn Arithmancy, Astronomy, Blood Magic, Charms, Defence, Herbology, the History of Magic, Rituals, Runes, Potions, and Transfiguration.
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(scene break)
Sixteen years after the war Harry finally felt he could pass the ICW NEWT tests for each of the eleven subjects he had pursued so intently over many long years. Hermione would surely have accomplished this feat much faster than the twenty-two total years it had taken Harry, but he got there with pride.
There were still many more branches of magic Harry wanted to delve into, such as Alchemy, Healing, and the Mind Arts. They were certainly on the top of his list.
For a great many years, one subject demanded Harry's attention far more than the others. Rituals. He just could not believe that an entire country turned its back on such a powerful tool. So he continued his habit of reading and taking notes while writing another revision book on the subject. The information mainly came from sources outside of Europe, especially Britain. Most were from America or the Far East. Many branches of magic were not allowed in his head-stuck-in-the-sand home country, not that it slowed Harry much.
For each subject, he previously had created a handwritten 'revision' book in memory of Hermione but they became much more. Each was a large tome, that he constantly reviewed, updated, or added to. Each book was a complete learning guide to a dedicated subject, from beginner through OWLs and NEWTs. Eleven books in total. Each one of them had seven sections, matching Hogwart's seven years of study. Focused on stepping a witch or wizard through learning each subject completely and with sensible methodology. Each book also pointed out ties to many of the other ten books he created.
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Harry started his twelfth book on rituals when he was thirty-three years old. It took another seventeen years to finish it, just before his fiftieth summer.
Harry believed it would teach someone with a NEWT in Rituals to become a Master in three years. The book had three sections to support the idea. This by far had been the most difficult book for Harry to write. Hundreds of books were studied and hundreds of letters to other ritualists were exchanged. It took dozens of trips sneaking out of Britain to attend conferences, meetings, and simple discussions with other experts in the field over those long years to accomplish creating the book to his high standards.
By the time the 'Mastery of Rituals' book was completed, no one had seen 'The Boy Who Lived' since the end of the war. It made Harry laugh hearing where people thought he might be hidden or that someone was an impostor. Not that Harry ever let any fairly outrageous tidbits slip out about his own life. No, he'd never do that. He certainly never mentioned many times to anyone that he lived in a tropical, clothing-optional, vast villa on top of a mountain in Antarctica with a large Veela harem.
Kreacher had passed many years ago, but Bob and Sally Mae were just as enthusiastic about finding books for Harry's ever-growing library as Kreacher was. Harry still very rarely left his home. He ultimately did have to convert the entire fourth floor to match the fifth floor. By that time he was also sending books out to be copied, as there were far more requests than he could handle. Sally Mae managed this aspect of the library wonderfully for him.
Working with Bob and the American book dealer, Harry found an experienced wizard book publisher in New York. The printer was extremely happy to keep Harry's secrets for producing and selling copies of Harry's twelve books after he had them thoroughly and professionally reviewed. At least two of the thrilled reviewers' glowing comments made it into each book.
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By the time Harry was fifty-five the success of his 'Hermione' books was remarkable to him. So for the fifth anniversary of the texts being published, he decided to sign one hundred sets of the books, one time only, 1,200 books in total. He swore an oath to it as well. After keeping the first signed set of twelve for himself, he released the other signed copies to be sold. The auctions for those 1,188 books earned him more money than he got for the first five years of standard sales. He was shocked by this result.